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The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

Sixpence None The Richer guitarist Matt Slocum met vocalist Leigh Nash in New Braunfels, Texas. Their new EP, “Rosemary Hill,” is named after the street Slocum grew up on and takes inspiration from his and Nash’s childhoods.

Return to roots

Will Gonsior, Opinions/A&E Editor October 23, 2024

When guitarist and lyricist Matt Slocum, singer Leigh Nash, drummer Dale Baker and bassist Justin Cary named their Christian alt-rock band after a C.S. Lewis theological treatise, it would have been hard...

On “The Joshua Tree,” U2 expressed their love for the ideals that founded the United States — and their disappointment with our country’s efforts to live up to those values. The album outlines the stark difference between America as popularly conceived and America in reality, reminding the country that we have a long way to go but delivering a hopeful message about our ability to get there.

The two Americas

Will Gonsior, Opinions/A&E Editor September 24, 2024

Political. Religious. Activist. “The Two Americas” renamed as a National Park. U2’s career-defining album “The Joshua Tree” has a message that transcends their music — but also music that transcends...

Resting on a map of Gaza, surrounded by a littering of lyric cutouts from the recently released diss tracks from rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar, sits a phone playing rapper Macklemore’s newest single “Hind’s Hall.” Dedicated to student protesters in the United States and current victims of the conflict in Gaza, the song addressed national leaders who ignore the current conflict as well as the public community in a message of resistance. “Art, in its purest form, is resistance. Art, in its purest form, is from the heart, and it connects with people. It brings people together. The day that I stop following my heart and talking about things in the world that matter is the day that I don’t need to be on stage anymore. Today is not that day,” Macklemore announced at a live concert in Wellington, New Zealand on March 13.

Music for a movement

Risa Cidoni, Editor-in-Chief May 29, 2024

Disclaimer: Some links in this article contain explicit lyrics or profanity.  The age of peak modern hip-hop controversy has begun.  Arguably, the most thrilling topic in music news amidst the...

Though the 13 year anticipation of graduation has finally culminated to its climax, the conflicted emotional baggage that comes along with it hasn’t settled down just yet. With one final summer left with the class of 2024, reminiscing in the good times, while making memories and preparing for the future, the tracks associated with the season are bound to become, in the words of singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, “Future Nostalgia.” So blast that song, scream that tune and anything else that’ll solidify the moments and memories made with the graduated seniors.

You’re gonna go far

Triya Gudipati, Editor-in-Chief May 20, 2024

This weekend, Parkway West said its final goodbye to the class of 2024. From entering high school as confused teenagers, navigating education through Zoom boxes and online learning, to exiting as mature,...

Students’ favorite songs from the Greek, Urdu, Telugu, Haitian Creole, Cuban Spanish and Sanskrit languages.

FINAL six songs for your international playlist

Sravya Reddy Guda, Staff Writer May 16, 2024

Welcome back to the international playlist series, featuring the FINAL six bilingual students, and languages ranging from Greek to Haitian Creole to Sanskrit. This series has featured a total of 18 students...

Rested against a rainbow of colored pencils, a phone plays singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams’ single “Risk.” Abrams released the song as the lead single to her upcoming album “The Secret of Us.” “We had real, true fun writing this album. There were also the occasional tears. Audrey [Hobert] and I wrote ‘Risk’ on our couch at home,” Abrams wrote on Instagram.

“Risk”-ing it all: Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams captures the most universally frustrating feeling

Emily Early, Editor-in-Chief May 8, 2024

On the deluxe version of her last album, singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams sings “We could go yellow to black overnight” in “Two People.” Coincidentally, her new song, preceding the black and gray...

Before there was Apple Music or Spotify, there was the Sony Walkman. Now reduced to only the latter word, a Walkman was just a portable cassette player, but in the ‘90s, they were a vital accessory. The Sony Walkman was the first piece of music media to allow people to travel with their music.

30 years later: The albums of 1994

Mikalah Owens, Staff Writer April 11, 2024

The music industry was forever altered in 1994 by a series of groundbreaking albums that emerged from various genres. It was a year marked by artistic innovation and genre-defining releases. From the gritty...

Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker of boygenius raise their arms in front of a fire that hearkens to the cover of Audioslave's titular debut.

Supergroup supremacy

Will Gonsior, Opinions/A&E Editor February 20, 2024

It’s not hard to trace the path from Audioslave to the boys, but the two groups are also clearly distinct. Audioslave is the last vestige of the old rock order: smothered in grunge, aggressively male...

No matter the form of music —  vinyls, cassettes, CDs and playlists — anti-love songs have been apparent for decades. Whatever the genre or the context of the source material, when artists choose to be open about the realities of their relationships, it leads to vulnerability in their writing, ultimately, making timeless tracks.

Love bites

Mikalah Owens, Staff Writer February 14, 2024

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, classic love songs — and way too many Taylor Swift songs — are plastered everywhere. For people in a relationship, the hallmark holiday is a sentimental...

A raised fist has been a staple piece for protests amongst the United States for decades. The forceful salute is intertwined with some of the most tumultuous events involving racism. A powerful medium that artists have used is music, which has been used to push back against the constant oppression that happens in society.

Honoring Black artists

Mikalah Owens, Staff Writer February 1, 2024

From jazz, blues, R&B and hip-hop, Black artists’ creativity and talent have heavily influenced the music industry. By bringing soul, rhythm and powerful storytelling to music, they broke racial...