AURAL WES

2011-04-29T04:38:00.000-04:00

Anthony da Costa THIS THURSDAY

2011-04-26T14:16:00.000-04:00

This Thursday, April 28th, folk legend Anthony da Costa is coming to 200 Church. Not only is Anthony a YouTube sensation, but he is one of the finest young writer/song-singers around today. What's more, he's coming with friends: campus favorites Plume Giant and their northern companions Tall Heights!

This will not be a show to miss, especially if you're seeking some respite from the danceable-at-all-costs concerts that trade songwriting for thong-sighting. Each of these bands is guaranteed to turn that last week of class frustration into some genuine inspiration; you'll laugh, cry, and/or get laid, but you won't go into epileptic shock. This is real life folk, people singing some beautiful songs they wrote, only accompanied by strings (including guitar, cello, and two bitchin violins). If you still need some hipster cred, though, I guess this video of Anthony is pretty vintage:

Anthony's starting his set at 9:30 pm, so get there early!

ENTER THE ZONE

2011-04-23T21:16:00.002-04:00

tonight (sunday, 4/24) the memorial chapel, 11pm
one hour of elevated tones, chromatic cocoon projections, and unspooled ghostly radiance
a live, stained-glass meditation on space, memory, and pulsating future bass

presented by // Sam Silver and Sam Hart

a live sound collage // video synthesis // immersive sculptural installation
more details to come.

senior recitals

2011-04-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

There are two great senior recitals happening this weekend:

Saturday, April 16

The concert will present a combination of traditional Gamelan music and original pieces inspired by Balinese compositional practice. My focus is on the use of interlocking patterns that create fluid melodies out of fragmented parts. I will exploring how this technique can be translated to new musical settings outside the traditional instrumentation and repertoire of Balinese Gamelan. The program will last one hour.

Interlocking: Balinese Kotekan Outside the Gamelan

Saturday April 16th at 7:30pm

World Music Hall

Sunday, April 17

Please join our gang of lovely and talented people as we culminate four years of me hitting everything I can get my hands on. We'll hit some some metallophones, we'll hit some membranophones, and you know there's going to be some gong.

Evan Schnoll's Senior Recital
Sunday, April 17th at 8:00pm
World Music Hall

wtf?

2011-04-09T12:09:00.003-04:00

I'm still baffled that this show is happening, but if anyone is going to be at Uconn tonight then you should definitely check this out. Pissed Jeans, Japanther, Unstoppable Death Machines, and some local bands are playing at Uconn Hillel.....what? The show will cost you 5 dollars and is supposed to start at 6:30 pm. If you caught Japanther and Unstoppable Death Machines in the Westco Cafe last semester then you know this is gonna be good. More info in the link: CTindie <-Click this.

A Warm Ghost for a Cold Day

2011-03-31T21:11:00.007-04:00

Warm Ghost, the project of Paul Duncan and Oliver Chapoy, uses hazy synths and softened drums. They hide dreary vocals amongst the song’s mix, choosing to use them as another instrument instead of a dominating force.

Listing these traits (check them out in Claws Overhead, above), one might think Warm Ghost isn’t doing anything different from a lot of other music made the past couple of years. One couldn’t be blamed for thinking they would fit in with Causers of This-era Toro y Moi (track Blessa below), Washed Out, and their chillwave peers.

Though I want to emphasize this isn’t quite accurate, it’s hard to say exactly why. Primarily, Warm Ghost’s music just feels different. While Blessa, by Toro y Moi, makes me want to go to the beach, Claws Overhead, by Warm Ghost, prompts me to draw my shades and lay in bed.

One explanation for this drastically different result is a difference in tempo. The slow tempo of many Warm Ghost songs tends to drag out synth melodies to an almost droning texture. The fact that, like most chillwave, Warm Ghost’s songs feature several concurrent synth melodies means that the effect of changing synth sounds is especially poignant.

Importantly, chillwave often relies on these interacting synth lines to form the basis of their harmonic movement. The relatively quick synth lines (or, in some cases, sampled sounds) in standard chillwave often leads to quicker harmonic progressions, while Warm Ghost’s harmonies move very slowly, dwelling on moments of music longer than other artists usually would.

The result of all this is that Warm Ghost’s music is, well, dreary instead of cheery (Uncut Diamond, below).

In the rush to create as many genre titles as humanly possible, some have labeled Warm Ghost as “cold wave”. Though the title seems a little ridiculous, it is hard to disagree with. It’s almost fortunate that we’re not getting a particularly warm early spring, because this concert just wouldn’t feel right after a day out on Foss.

Warm Ghost plays this Saturday, April 2nd, at Eclectic House. The show begins at 10:00 PM, with Nelsonvillians and Saurus opening. No cost. Facebook event page here for more info.

Mid-Week Eclectic, Post-Dubstep Bliss

2011-03-17T01:23:00.013-04:00

On Wednesday, March 23, Eclectic is hosting post-dubstep artist Baths. Baths is the current project of Los Angeles music Will Weisenfeld.

I’m going to start out my discussion of Baths with a bold, seemingly unrelated, statement: One day, dubstep-influenced releases will be categorized as either before James Blake’s James Blake or after.

Though it is impossible to forecast the exact influence that this record will have, James Blake (Wilhellm Scream embedded below) already provides a new light to interpret the music of his contemporaries. Whereas artists such as Gold Panda and Mount Kimbie, two of James Blake’s post-dubstep peers, create tracks focused on central beats, James Blake composes songs with instrumental and vocal progression. On James Blake, he transforms dubstep’s trademarks from sonic into songwriting tools. James Blake changes the expectations for post-dubstep; it can produce real songs, not just static jams.

Some of Baths’ 2010 debut LP, Cerulean, fits right in with the likes of Gold Panda and Mount Kimbie. Aminals, for example, is more or less structurally static. The brief lapses of the main sample only serve to emphasize the sample’s reintroduction instead of moving the track to new places. None of this is to say Aminals is in any way “bad”. In fact, it’s an excellent track. Its ethereal samples and challenging percussion make it beautiful, surprising, and danceable. When Baths focuses on making tracks, particularly on Aminal and Hall, the results are worthy of the genre’s upper echelon.

Other songs toe the line of James-Blake-style songwriting. Lovely Bloodflow employs many of the same strategies used in James Blake: minimal production, multi-layered vocals, and dubstep-influenced percussion. It progresses through various stages of instrumentation, such as the jazzy piano featured at two and a half minutes and the acoustic guitar that comes into focus around three minutes in as the percussion drops out. On top of the instrumentation, the vocals feature bold and creative melodies that are often catalysts for the instrumental shifts. Like James Blake, Lovely Bloodflow is a veritable song.

These two examples illustrate the conflict that Baths has been struggling with: pitting his penchant for songwriting against his skill in electronic production. Ultimately, the winner of this struggle is the listener. Cerulean, almost perfectly split between songs (7) and tracks (5), strikes a great balance between well-crafted songs and freer-flowing tracks. Whereas James Blake can be jarring emotional experience, Cerulian’s variety lets it breathe and, importantly, have a little bit of fun.

Wesleyan band Apache Kid is the night's sole opener and is scheduled to perform at 10:00 PM. The whole night is free, so make sure to take advantage of it.

shades of visuals

2011-03-10T20:45:00.003-05:00

Easy Peasy by Ponytail

Here is a cool video from director Ray Concepcion, who filmed the visual at the Siren Festival. The ultimate visual effect is pretty cool and very like Ponytail.

sprang burk

2011-03-09T16:34:00.004-05:00

the second in a series of recent music videos

just a couple of dudes hanging out
fantasy spring break, for some

for those who are in Olin, traveling to wes-hop for some delectable treats, or staring at the ceiling of your less-than-exciting room at home, entertain those scholastic thoughts with images of SoCal waves and all the treasure in the chest

a series of videos

2011-03-05T14:24:00.010-05:00

Perhaps it is because I am from the west coast, but spring break always reminds me of those special first moments when the sun first intoxicates you just enough to be a real person. I like to think in my mind that spring break [in college] is still one of those times - when I can sit outside and entertain my imagination, while perhaps sipping a juicy drink. Now, breaks such as these are usually filled with, "how much of that huge paper are you going to get done in the two weeks they tell us is a break?" I can respect that, but sometimes it is good to be reminded of the seasons around us.

So, during this break I am bringing you a series of videos that I stumble across in my efforts to impart wisdom on the spring experience. The first, is a video that reminds me of what spring break is all about. To get you pumped for those upcoming, delightful days when the sun is shining and going to Foss Hill is a tangible reality.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - 40 Day Dream from Edward Sharpe on Vimeo.

40 Day Dream is the third installment of SALVO!, a 12-part music video series from Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. 40 Day Dream finds Edward and Brother hiding out in the desert after their violent jail-break.

FLORA & FAUNA hit up NY

2011-03-02T22:27:00.003-05:00

After a stellar show at Wesleyan last week at Awesomefest, Flora &Fauna hit up NYC this weekend.

March 4th with Railbird
Putnem Den, Saratoga

March 5th with Apache Kid
Spike Hill, Brooklyn

Music from Big Pink! Live?!

2011-02-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

If you thought last year's screening of The Last Waltz was the closest you'd come to seeing The Band live at Wesleyan, have no fear...

This Wednesday, Wesleyan's own The Band will present Music From Big Pink, their legendary debut album, in its entirety. It'll look something like this.

Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity! The Band, live, brought to you by some of the fellas who brought you Arcade Fire's Funeral last year - featuring a veritable who's-who of the Wesleyan music scene. It'll all be going down in Wesleyan's biggest, pinkest (more of a reddish really) venue, 200 Church!

So take a break from "midterms" and come witness Music from Big Pink:
10:30 pm
Wednesday, March 2nd
200 Church

Public Service Announcement

2011-02-21T17:28:00.003-05:00

Do Whatever You Want All The Time from WEAREFREE on Vimeo.

Baltimore's favorite noise/math/punk/awesome band, Ponytail, may be on an indefinite hiatus, but that doesn't mean new stuff can't be released. Posted above is a teaser for their new album titled Do Whatever You Want All The Time (best album title ever?), scheduled to be released on April 12. While the quick 2.5 minute preview shows that they've shifted away from their punk roots, there's still the amazing melodies, vocalizations, and drumming that kept you tuned in on their previous albums. Enjoy.

Bomb the Music Industry! @ Westco Cafe

2011-02-17T22:05:00.006-05:00

Bomb the Music Industry! will be invading the Westco Cafe tomorrow (friday) and infecting our ears with their ska punk tunes. Expect to hear awesome horn solos combined with keyboard, guitar, drums, and bass. Its essentially hardcore with a horn section, synthesizer, and everything that your 16 year old self would mosh to but that your 2011 self would still love. So let the inner 16 year old in you out and come to this show! Static Stamina and The Hand Me Downs will be opening.

Show starts at 10:00 pm and is FREE.

Flora and Fauna Part II

2011-02-17T12:06:00.006-05:00

This Saturday, February 19, is Eclectic’s Awesomefest, a competition for newly formed bands. Ironically, Eclectic scored an old-timer, or at least as much of an old-timer as any campus band can be, to cap a day characterized by inexperience: Flora and Fauna.

For the majority of readers, who either have never heard Flora and Fauna before or need a refresher, Flora and Fauna have created, or better yet forged, their own brand of bright Indie-pop. Their songs are fun and somewhat danceable, but far from heavy-handed. Their music is very meticulously crafted, with each instrument balanced carefully against every other, but they’re also not afraid to employ silence or open space. There is rarely a single instrument driving a song, but a continuous blend of guitar, bass, and drums.

The exception to the rule is, well, Rules, which comes from their Young Rivals EP (embedded below. if it doesn't work go to the actual post page). Rules’ rhythm and dissonant guitar intro bleeds into a first verse that features an intriguing harmonic riff. The second verse starts anew; it’s hard to pick out an identifiable riff. Instead, the guitars “doodle”, but behind the messiness is meticulous orchestration. There are few elements of this song that are continuous from beginning to end. The baseline is the only constant, and drives the song through its rhythmic activity. This song demonstrates something Flora and Fauna do very well; their songs undergo creative evolutions yet remain cohesive.

Trying to trace Flora and Fauna’s influences can get messy, but the first one is easy. From the guitars to (especially) the vocals, these guys like Pavement. Unlike some of Pavement’s material, however, these guys seem set on progression. Though many of their songs have a certain Pavement attitude at their backbones, the things they build on top of those backbones are completely unique. Of course, that’s a good thing, since Pavement’s catalogue, though I love them, is large enough as is.

Flora and Fauna is Casey Baird, Adam Gunther, and Matt Bernstein (all ’11), though on Saturday they will be playing with two more musicians. On Tuesday I sat down with Adam and Matt to talk about how the band has changed since they last played and where they want the band to go.

John: You’ve been on break for the past year due to members going abroad, etc. Have you had other projects in the meantime?

Adam: Mostly just writing new material. The sound of the band has changed a lot in that year, not actively, you know, just because a year has passed, and that’s a year’s worth of new songs. So this show, coming up, is kind of a homecoming, and a restart for a more intense process.

Matt: We’re only going to play one song that people have heard. Everything else is going to be completely new to people.

J: So if I talk about your old EP, am I just going to be completely misinforming people about what your show’s going to be like?

Both: Yea. (Laugh)

A: But, you can still talk about it. That’s what we did, and that’s what people know, so that’s a touchstone for anything that’s coming.

M: We’re aiming to get into the Wesleyan studio, with Casey, and probably before the end of the year, we’ll have something small for people to listen to. Another EP, short one.

J: I’ve noticed a lot of different sounds in your earlier recordings. Is finding a consistent sound for Flora and Fauna something that you think about?

A: More now than we used to. It used to be that we would write songs whenever they would pop up, and get to record them once in a while, so we’d have all these songs from different time spaces. It would be like, “Well, I hear this one as this way, and I hear this one as this way.” The approach now is to be a little more consistent in the treatment so it’s not necessarily about when the song was created but about where the band is when the recording was created. So, definitely in the next batch of recordings it’s going to be more about a cohesive sound and live interaction.

J: What would you list as your band’s major musical influences?

A: In band practices, when we’re talking about stuff, there’s a lot of conversation about the economy and style of Talking Heads, the popcraft of Big Star, and sort of the nonchalance of Pavement. It is as much about mood and pulling characteristics from people. But Matt and I write the songs, well Matt writes most of the songs now, and that process takes place a lot outside of band practice, and that’s where personal influences have more traction.

J: So you write songs individually?

M: Yea, but everybody takes a really active role in shaping them and writing parts.

A: There’s a pretty intense editing process too.

J: Let’s switch gears a little bit to Wesleyan’s music culture more generally. What do you see as some of its advantages and disadvantages?

A: The best thing about going to school here was that, you know, I would see 20 bands a semester that I’d never heard of. That’s not happening as much anymore, the focus has sort of shifted, but certainly freshman year was just one mind-opening musical event, the whole thing.

J: What do you think the focus is now?

A: I mean, I don’t think that they’re exclusive, but I definitely think there are more big-name on campus than there used to be, and that there are less unknown band shows than they’re used to be. Westco Café is used way less than it used to be and Beckham Hall is used way more.

J: Do you have any goals for Flora and Fauna, or are you just seeing where it takes you?

A: Being at Wesleyan has been about doing that, incubating. Every time we get our shit together to play a cluster of shows, the band is different in some way, and it’s been nice to have that time that doesn’t have that pressure. And so, once we leave here, with 4 years worth of development, we’re going to try to do something bigger, because it would be such a same to squander all of that energy, and it’s so much fun to do together.

Flora and Fauna play at midnight at Eclectic on Saturday night.

Nat Baldwin @ Westco Open Mic

2011-02-15T16:32:00.011-05:00

Wednesday night we’re in for a real treat. Nat Baldwin (of the dirty projectors) and the Forms will be playing at Westco’s weekly open mic. To summarize: Nat Baldwin is a champ and definitely a familiar face at Wesleyan. Not only does he play upright bass, but he uses a bow, something that far too few players do these days. Combine this with his singing and you get some really soothing and transcendental songs. The blend of alternating harmonics mixed in with double stops and growling bass tones keeps you listening and begging for more. His music was even featured in a UK tv commercial. While most of his recorded songs include guitar and drums, the majority of his live shows are solo, which is what you can expect to see tomorrow.

The Forms produce a more pop/electronica influenced sound, yet still create soothing and interesting songs that should make for a nice opener.

Plume Giant at Earth House!

2011-02-14T16:44:00.000-05:00

This Thursday (2/17), at around 9:30 pm, you may ask yourself, "What's that joyful noise I hear? Why am I uncontrollably aroused all of a sudden?"

Look no further than Earth House, where Plume Giant, Yale's favorite folk trio, will be melting faces with their glorious harmonies. You may remember their album release show at Earth House last Fall, or you may remember weeping the next day when you found out you missed it. Well HERE'S YOUR CHANCE to see the mighty Plumes in action!

You'll want to learn all of the words to this song:
http://plumegiant.bandcamp.com/track/honey-pie

Opening the show will be:

Wesleyan's own Appledaughters, playing original spirituals by Sam Long and Howe Pearson! Check out Sam's new ep:
http://tomfooleryandtheadhesiveband.bandcamp.com/album/lovevolves

AND all the way from Conn College comes the lovely Fleur de Lise:
Shades of 90's one-hit wonders meets Joni Mitchell, if she had been spending a substantial amount of time with James Mercer. Delight your senses with guitar, cello, and cajón.

What the folk! Come see these liberal arts bands connect(icut)!

Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet

2011-02-13T15:32:00.004-05:00

Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet

Saturday the 19th

Memorial Chapel 9pm

This Saturday, the 19th, come to the Memorial Chapel at 9pm to hear the minimal stylings of Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet.

Both have had prolific solo careers beyond their collaboration: Lambkin with avant-garde outfit The Shadow Ring and Lescalleet with nmpreign. In their work together, first with 2008's The Breadwinner and 2010's Air Supply, they blend naturalistic sounds recorded in Lescalleet's Maine house with simple melodies that range from gentle to downright menacing. Think Stars of the Lid, if Stars of the Lid were more haunting and also really wanted you to hear the awesomely everyday noises of their house.

If nothing else, come to see how they'll go about replicating their subtly sinister sounds in a live setting. It promises to be something unique.

In the meantime, learn more/listen at their label, Erstwhile Records.

some music for today

2011-02-12T18:30:00.001-05:00

Local Natives | Who Knows Who Cares | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Here is a cool video from Blogotheque, that chronicles Local Natives in Paris. Blogotheque produces great videos of acoustic, spontaneous performances from bands touring through Paris. The visual catches the band playing in a Paris mall, as some random citizens join in.

Senior Thesis Recital: Donovan Arthen

2011-02-11T14:20:00.002-05:00

"Ending at the Beginning" is tonight.

Donovan Arthen performs his senior music thesis "Ending at the Beginning" tonight in the Memorial Chapel. The show starts at 9pm.

The show incorporates the types of music that brought him to Wesleyan as a freshman. As a member of the a capella group Slavei, his thesis will be a singing performance with 35 of Wesleyan's warmest singers. Slavei is a student a capella group that focuses on Eastern European songs. The music is full of surprises and intriguing melodies, along with thoughtful sound layering.

The second of many senior recitals this semester, but a unique experience that is not to be missed.

"Ending at the Beginning"

Memorial Chapel

9pm, Free

Concert Preview: Dr. Dog @ Beckham Hall, 2.12.11

2011-02-10T20:03:00.011-05:00

What do you get when you have a PB&J sandwich composed of only elements on-foot?

Peanut butter jogger and pedestrian jam.

Bah. Causalities of my violently bad joke: Dr. Dog is your pedestrian jam. Whether ambling, sauntering, or engaging in some activity more challenging for that ticker (see racewalking), the five-piece band from Philadelphia should be your ear bud's sonic juice (see earwax). "Shadow People," a song off the band's 2010 album release "Shame, Shame," eases into the fullness of its drone -- electric guitar and insistent piano chords -- like an urban wake-up; the streets are hushed at dawn -- an eerie, and unpopulated light -- but soon, and without fail, they break into a whir of howling cabby and howling caffeine. Walk through these metro days, and with caution -- Dr. Dog sings, "Streets are swimming with the sharks" -- try to discern the shadow people. They are there. Dr. Dog says so. Believe in Dr. Dog.

Seattle's The Head & The Heart, along with Wesleyan's own Almonds & Elephants -- both fans of the ever-popular ampersand -- will open the show. Saturday, February 12th. Beckham Hall. Bring only your most mundane friend and a jar of orange marmalade -- unless of course, these things are mutually exclusive, in which case I'd have used wordplay to invoke the phrase 'pedestrian jam.' Again.

weekend round up

2011-02-04T14:32:00.004-05:00

Hello and welcome to the rest of your lives.

Here, at auralwes, we are dedicated to spamming your inbox and reminding you of all that is musical in this very snow globe of ours. This weekend is light in actual music events, but heavy with some goodness.

FRIDAY

Tonight is Nick Luby's senior recital.
Young Luby began playing piano at the tender age of 4 years old. As a chap, he never thought that his dexterity would take him as far as it has today, in the culmination of his piano career to date, with his senior recital. But he kept playing those keys and even won an award at Wesleyan his sophomore year!

The program will consist of works by Rachmaninoff, Bach, Prokofiev, Beethoven, and Chopin.
Nick Luby is quite talented and the senior recitals are events that just can't be missed. It displays what the Wesleyan music department is all about, and this is a beautiful thing.

Crowell Concert Hall, 7pm
FREE

SATURDAY

Buru Style with Men with Bad Manners @ Westco Cafe

Buru Style is one of those bands that has amazingly not died, even as the founding members have graduated and the line-up continues to rotate. It really is amazing. And so is this reggae fusion collective. Always fun, plus, it will be a nice respite from the bump-and-grind electronic RAVE that is happening the night before in the defunct cafe.

Westco Cafe
10pm, FREE

earth haus tonight

2011-01-30T16:27:00.001-05:00

LITUYA BAY

Microtonal, drone-laden patience gaze from Oberlin, OH. Megatsunamis of sound

NOAH CHEVAN

Based in New Haven. Harsh noise attacks, smooth noise jams.
And a TBD band

An early show, starting at 9pm

with an early ending

Come early,

leave satisfied.

Olin is overrated.

alumni shows

2011-01-27T18:55:00.007-05:00

It's great to see that the Wes bands we loved seeing on campus are still going strong even after they graduate. The Brooklyn venue Death By Audio is hosting two back-to-back record release shows tonight and tomorrow featuring Wes alums. The first is for Duchampion's new album. They're playing with Tidal Arms, who rocked our faces off in the Westco Cafe last spring.

The second show is for White Suns,possibly the noisiest and most energetic band I've seen here so far. Basically, if you're in the city for the next two days, GO TO THESE SHOWS. You will not be disappointed.

DUCHAMPION

2011-01-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

listen // buy HERE

not to be missed

status: post punk Middletown

It was only last year that Duchampion played on this very campus, but as of recently, they have very much so finished their official album! This is a great moment. A review to come soon, but for now check out their bandcamp site and take a listen

call for writers

2011-01-19T12:47:00.002-05:00

Interested in writing // graphic design // web layout for AURAL WES?

JOIN THE TEAM!

Contact us at auralwes@gmail.com

give this year a hand

2011-01-05T16:34:00.008-05:00

Well, hello 2011. It is great to see you. The magical year when some of us who remember the nascent stages of BEAR HANDS will graduate and move on to smaller residences, ramen noodles and funemployment. Now now . . . no need to panic.

Bear Hands returns to campus for the first time since I can remember with TONY CASTLES and APACHE KID. Bear Hands, in good Bay Area fashion and hip Brooklyn following, dub their music "hyphy" - an interesting categorization, but in this day of mash-up music, this seems just as meaningful as the term "indie." So, a fair title. But some reverse Manhattanization, if I have ever seen some.

Bear Hands has been touring this fine country for some time now and will make the rounds back to the east coast and to their roots on January 29. The success of Bear Hands is really a great tribute to what living in Brooklyn, having a cool sound and style, and some networking can do for a relatively young/recently graduated band. Like all the press lately from DAS RACIST, it is always fun to have that Wesleyan connection to people that are way cooler than I will ever be. Like the MGMT show spring 2008, when those two started to become all famous and techies of all shapes and sizes flocked to Beckam Hall, ~~this show will~~ probably ~~cost money. But it's~~ probably ~~only $5 and outside of our beloved bubble,~~ that is quite the deal. To my great surprise and touching shout-out by the cooler, older sibling Wesleying this show is on the January 29 and totally free, which is super cool.

While the most recent music video for Bear Hands is both amazing and terrifying, I will leave you all with an oldie, but goodie. One of my favorites and definitely a catchy one.

happy holidays

2010-12-24T15:54:00.003-05:00

see you in 2011. expect some great shows when you get back.

woohoo! music during finals

2010-12-14T16:26:00.008-05:00

Bear Hands @ Toads Place

Dec. 16

Indie-pop favorites Bear Hands, featuring alums Dylan Rau '07 and Ted Feldman '09, are playing a show at Toads Place this thursday. They recently released a video for their song "Crime Pays." Its off their new album Burning Bush Supper Club which is definitely something that you should get your hands on. Check it out below. The Tony Castles will be opening.

Link

Myspace

straight outta wesleyan/bqe

2010-12-08T13:49:00.001-05:00

Another article done about Das Racist. boooom.
Check out LE1F's Kickstarter and make a little capitalist donation. ye.
Das Racist in NY Times Magazine

Happy Holidays y'all.

Westco Open Mic ft. The Mattabesset String Collective

2010-12-01T13:16:00.003-05:00

Tonight Westco Open Mic will be featuring a faculty band known as the Mattabesset String Collective. Come by the Westco Cafe at 9 to watch/play/sing/yell/read/breath/dance/cry/gawk/relax

What: Open Mic

Where: Westco Cafe

When: 9pm Tonight

Why: For Pleasure

How: Walking

SUCKERS and RIOUX @ Eclectic this Thursday!

2010-12-01T01:54:00.005-05:00

shamelessly copying from the Facebook event page so that I can get work done and actually check out the show:

SUCKERS are a five piece pop outfit from Brooklyn that have opened for the likes of Yeasayer and Menomena, and will be gracing Eclectic this Thursday for what might be the last chance to rage prior to finals.

http://www.myspace.com/suckers

Opening for them will be NYU's own RIOUX, a one-man band making ample use of guitar, layered vocals, and plenty of 8-bit synth sounds. This will not be an opener to show up late to.

http://www.myspace.com/riouxnyc

~~~~ THURSDAY | 9PM | ECLECTIC | FREE ~~~~

Harry and the Potters at ADP!

2010-12-01T01:00:00.010-05:00

So when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 came out a few weeks ago, I tried to play it cool because I figured, hey, I'm at Wes where everyone is chill about everything and if I ranted and raved like the fanfiction-writing twelve-year-old I was everyone would think I'd drank too much of the ~~Kool-Aid~~ Butterbeer.

Yeah. I was pretty damn wrong. Ended up slouched perpendicular to the screen in the second row of the cinema, staring right up at Dobby's huge eyes. So you can bet I'm gonna get to Alpha Delt nice and early this Friday to rock out with my wand out to pioneering wizard rockers Harry and the Potters.

(Check out those shades. Hipster potential.)

HARRY AND THE POTTERS WIZARD ROCK EXTRAVAGANZA

THIS FRIDAY, DEC 3

5.30 pm, ADP Greene Room, Film Screening of We Are Wizards
7.30 pm, ADP Greene Room, Q&A with the band
9.30 pm, ADP Living Room/Foyer/Front Porch, Concert

While ADP is awesome it sadly does not have a ROOM OF REQUIREMENT and so you need (FREE) TICKETS for the concert.

The lovely Cheryl Tan will be at ADP at these times giving out tix. 2 per WesID.

Wednesday 5-7 pm
Thursday 12-12.30 pm
Thursday 5-7 pm

Harry and the Potters are brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge. They started the band in 2002 and since then have produced lots of sweet Potterific tunes.

Two of my personal favorites: the brilliantly succinct tribute to Hagrid's three-headed dog Fluffy and the classic Save Ginny Weasley,that includes the excellent line are you petrified of being Petrified?

Dig out your Mrs. Weasley sweaters, kids. You don't (pre-teen you doesn't) want to miss this show. And it's all based on a series of books so it's totally, like, educational and everything so it doesn't matter that FINALS ARE SOON AND WILL COME HURTLING AT YOU LIKE A BLUDGER.

Still not convinced? Download some FREE groovy remixes from the golden boys' Bandcamp here.

(bad Potter puns brought to you by sleep deprivation, sorry, EXCEPT NOT REALLY)

video daze

2010-11-28T13:30:00.006-05:00

It's been too long since one of these has been posted. Here are some new-ish videos that have been distracting me from all the work I should be doing. Hopefully they'll please your eyes and ears.

First up is "Tin Man" by Baltimore favorites Future Islands. Its off there latest album "In Evening Air" which is probably one of the best things to come out of Baltimore this year. Bass, synth, and vocals never sounded this good.

Dustin Wong (one of the guitarists from Ponytail) has been working hard writing his own music. With just one guitar and some loop pedals, he plays songs that sound better than a lot of full bands I've heard. "Infinite Love" is off his second full length album.

I really don't need to say much about Maps & Atlases. Their first EP "You and Me and the Mountain" blew my mind. They just released a new album called "Pertch Patchwork". Here's the brand spankin new video for "Solid Ground"

DAS CRAZIE

2010-11-21T23:30:00.004-05:00

Das Racist was mentioned in Monday's upcoming online New Yorker Check it out here

This article is trying to be serious, in its articulation that "Das" is not a German quotation, but rather a slang way of saying "that's" but it is hard when the biggest hit that Das Racist has is about going to a combination pizza hut and taco bell.

Sasha Frere-Jones writes:

"In fact, the band’s best-known song, its 2008 début, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” is the kind of thing Das Racist might make fun of . . . Suri answers back with the same words. This goes on, unchanged, for a long time. Eventually, it emerges that Suri and Vazquez can’t find each other and may be at different Pizza Hut / Taco Bell franchises. It is not hard to imagine a bunch of wobbly college kids yelling along.

This kind of dumb fun is an appropriate supplement to what Das Racist describes as its “deconstructionalist” approach. If the band members want you to think about the ways that skin color can affect consciousness, they also don’t mind if you go ahead and party. They rap over a variety of tracks, mostly made by producers outside the group, and the music is rarely difficult or abrasive."

stuck indeed. pass das froot.

FOLKING FOLK FEST

2010-11-19T01:08:00.008-05:00

Folk show at Music House tomorrow night featuring bands that are both to and from Wesleyan. Elison Jackson and Sidewalk Dave will be rolling through with Cinderblock and The Gribbles supporting.

Be there:

Elison Jackson ||||| Sidewalk Dave

Cinderblock |||||| The Gribbles

@ The House of Music

9pm

Friday 11/19

woaaaaowaooaoa

2010-11-19T00:09:00.014-05:00

Japanther

Unstoppable Death Machines

and Chinatown!

Westco Cafe

Sat. Nov. 20 9:00 PM

FREE

Brooklyn-based punk duo Japanther is coming back to give us another unforgettable sonic experience. Part punk, part bass, part drums, and a slight dash of beats from cassette tape samples, they’re a band that creates tunes you won’t be able to stop listening to. They play catchy songs about revolution, divorce, girls, and River Phoenix that will get you moving. You might dance, you might mosh, but regardless, you’ll certainly be pleased with what you hear.

Unstoppable Death Machines is a band that stays on the noisier side of the spectrum. With bass, drums, and microphones strapped to their heads, they create a sound that’s reminiscent of Lightning Bolt and Hella. Get excited for what’s described as “a space jam noise odyssey, infected with punk rock, rage, weed, beer, and more noise.”

Wesleyan’s own punk band Chinatown will be starting the night off with raw tunes embodying loudness, rock n roll, and the fun-drunk-party-truth. Chinatown is a self-proclaimed “simple band with simple desires and a high tolerance for your mistakes. Don’t feel bad. We’ll show you how to fix it. There are four of us.”

NEON BLUD (andwith) Cancer Dance

2010-11-13T17:24:00.011-05:00

Tomorrow night (yes a Sunday night) Neon Blud will be playing at Music House with Cancer Dance. Although you may be studying (nerdxzzzz), take a study break and get your ears exploded. It is going to be a short show!

Holla:

Neon Blud w/ Cancer Dance

9pm

Sunday Sunday Sunday [11/14][11/14][11/14]

@@@Music Houze

Titus Andronicus w/ Linus and The Parents

2010-11-12T17:44:00.004-05:00

A very last minute post, but FYI:

Tonight Titus Andronicus, hailing from New Jersey, are playing at Eclectic with Wesleyan bands Linus and The Parents.

Titus Andronicus ft. Linus w/ The Parents

House Eclectic

10pm

Tonight! (Friday)

Concert Preview: Kayo Dot @ Eclectic, 11.11.10

2010-11-10T22:28:00.004-05:00

Kayo Dot, a self-defined 'avant-and-or-compositional-rock band,' is bringing the manifold winter to Eclectic tomorrow, Thursday November 11.

Maybe it's the fact that the Monday Blues this week were on ice -- the dreaded word, 'snow,' whispered in grief and disbelief from Pi to Usdan, up and down Foss Hill -- but Kayo Dot is infinitely wintry -- the beauty and doom of the season -- in their musical output. On the band's "Blue Lambency Downward," off their 2009 album release of the same name, they build a wave -- teasing in it's come-and-go, inconsistent plucking -- of electric guitar, bass, and what I can only reason to be Santa Clause's sleigh bells. Really. They sound so magical, so undoubtedly reindeer garb. Either way, the song is wondrous. It is the start of winter, the honeymoon phase.

But, as we all know, the Winter Wonderland persists for months, and disenchantment -- along with cracked dry skin, constantly numb toes, and rosy cheeks that make everyone look like an Irish newborn -- slowly sets in. Appropriately then, Kayo Dot's "Aura on an Asylum Wall" is an interspersion of bass and saxophone, both aggressive in their melancholy, the latter shrilly calling out -- perhaps in search of life? -- into the cold, cold enclosure of snow and ice.

Fan of Frosty the Snowman? Live by Jack London's The Call of the Wild? Wish there was a musical rendering of one, or both?

Come out to Eclectic tomorrow night at 8PM when Kayo Dot performs. Be made cold.

Kathleen Hanna is coming...

2010-11-04T22:15:00.008-04:00

Guess what? Kathleen Hanna will be on the Wesleyan campus to give a lecture on Riot Grrrl music and Feminism tomorrow!

She will be discussing the music that she has created over the course of her career with her bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and how her involvement in Third Wave Feminism in the 1990s affected the type of music she chose to create.

Kathleen Hanna

Woodhead Lounge, Exley Science Building

Friday, November 5
FREEEE (first come, first serve)

8pm

ZIMMERMANIA @ EARTH HOUSE

2010-11-02T19:28:00.007-04:00

Thursday, November 4th

EARTH HOUSE

9:00 pm

FREE

Unless you aren’t familiar with Robert Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan (the legendary musician who, with a crackly voice and chilling harmonica, first emerged on the American folk scene nearly 50 years ago), this annual event is fairly self-explanatory. So I’m going to share a few of my favorite Dylan songs:

Come sing your favorites on Thursday! Don't be shy; I plan on shakily warbling a rendition of Tangled Up in Blue with my housemates, and god knows Dylan's voice does not fit the conventional description of "beautiful." If it did, it wouldn't be Dylan.

Blink 182/Nirvana @@@@ Music House

2010-10-28T18:36:00.002-04:00

This Friday 10/29 Music House Presents Blink 182 and Nirvana together for the first time since... ever.

They are really pulling out the big guns for this show. Prepare yourself for a night of memories and "angst-ridden, nostalgia-laden power cords," as the event page says.

More info here

weekend round-up

2010-10-28T15:27:00.007-04:00

EARTH HOUSE
Hailing from Maryland, Rosemary Krust, gazes into your inner hermit through their contemplative lyrics and meditative musical arches. Russian Tsarlag boasts an impressive graphic array of discography, but it is the group's creepy yet so intriguing sound that makes Carlos Gonzalez performance anything but just a music concert - experimental, visual, and so fitting for this spooky weekend. Robedoor sounds like going to Burning Man - it is intimidating and full of doom in the beginning, but as you spend more time with them the sound evolves and becomes the most amazing culmination of creativity, innovation and craziness.
Saturday
Free

ECLECTIC
Omar Offendum continues his movement to raise money for various humanitarian efforts by gracing Wesleyan's campus and helping out Wesleyan's Pakistani Flood Relief Initiative. His single Destiny from album "SyrianamericanA" hits the core of what it means to be an indie rapper conscious of the world around him. Bones Complex, a Wesleyan 2013 band, continues their concert streak with reggae, rap, rock jams that set the stage eloquently for the Omar Offendum concert.
Friday, 10:30pm
$3 ticket, $4 at the door

BUDDHIST HOUSE
The Shade returns to Wesleyan, keeping the hope alive that a music career outside of Wesleyan is so possible. Linus, Wesleyan sweethearts - and maybe heart-throbs now, seeing as they are big and bad sophomores - open for The Shade in one of their first appearances this semester.
Thursday
Free
:::
Power Kegs combine organic folk with a contemporary indie, soft sound. There is happiness in lyrical mysticism and prominent bass lines.
Flearoy will play your party, while maintaining that they play what they want to hear - oh thank goodness, because I was hoping to get some jams for my upcoming clam bake on Home Ave.
Saturday
Free

LONG LANE FARM*
Pumpkin Fest, this not to be missed Wesleyan event, combines live student music, tours of the farm, leaf crunching, little children making crafts and a small farmer's market.
Saturday 12 noon to 4pm
Freer than Free
* Long Lane farm is located past the Rugby fields, on the way to Wadsworth (corner of Long Lane and Wadsworth St). This event is worth the walk!

OMAR OFFENDUM

2010-10-27T23:11:00.010-04:00

This Friday night, Syrian-American hip-hop artist OMAR OFFENDUM will lay down some rhymes at Eclectic, in aid of Wesleyan's Pakistani Flood Relief Initiative.

Offendum, "born in the KSA, raised in the USA, and repeatedly hassled by the TSA", recently launched SyrianamericanA, his first solo release. Check out the video for the bilingual track Destiny here.

WesBand Bones Complex will get the party started.

Get your tickets in Usdan for just $3. All proceeds will go to Oxfam, Red Cross and Islamic Relief.

Okay, RECAP TIME.
WHO: Omar Offendum and Bones Complex
WHEN: Friday, 10.29.10
WHERE: Eclectic
TIME: 10:30 pm - 1:00 am
TICKETS: $3 in Usdan and $4 at the door

FANTASIZING

2010-10-26T16:42:00.007-04:00

ON NOV 5TH, THE HALLOWED HALLS OF THE ECLECTIC HOUSE WILL BE GRACED WITH PERFORMANCES BY THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST YOUNG NAMES IN DANCE MUSIC.

The Eclectic Society presents:

TEENGIRL FANTASY--PHYSICAL THERAPY--MAGICK MOUNTAIN--DC/AC (Destiny's Children Africa Choir)

Teengirl Fantasy:
Hailing from our Midwestern rival in liberal artsiness, Oberlin College, Teengirl Fantasy blends shoegazily reverbed synths, four-to-the-floor house beats, and infectiously altered pop vocal samples. Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss have created a chilled-out dance juggernaut that will make you even more embarassed you ever bothered to torrent that Washed Indian album last summer. Don't miss this one; when it comes to banger shit, Teengirl is diarrhetic.
http://www.myspace.com/teengirlfantasy

Physical Therapy:
One of the greater NYC-area's finest lesser-known DJ's, Physical Therapy plays woozy, dubbed out dance remixes of top-40 and blog-bangers alike. The source material is half-recognizably shrouded in reverb, overdubs, and delayed snares. No joke, it's been about twenty minutes now since I've taken his "REAL HEAVY VIBE" remix of Alicia Keys's "Unthinkable" off repeat.
http://soundcloud.com/physical-therapy

Magick Mountain:
New York's Magick Mountain has only two tracks on his myspace, and the first one, "Pieces," is a positively beautiful piece of ambient, apocalyptically pretty house, complete with churning pop-moans, underwater bass, and swoon-worthy synth-string swells. Pretty as hell with an attitude to match.
http://www.myspace.com/magickmountainlovesu

DC/AC (Destiny's Children Africa Choir):
Two of Eclectic's finest, Khalif Diouf (A.K.A. Leif) and DonChristian Jones recently formed a band with possibly the best name I've ever heard, and this show will mark their live-debut. I haven't heard them, but I'm willing to wager that DC/AC is going to be pretty famous one day.

Show Recap: Freestyle Love Supreme, 10.23.10

2010-10-25T12:42:00.010-04:00

When Andrew "Jelly Donut" Bancroft '00 rapped about his parents I saw visions of a habit-wearing, cue stick-wielding infant; his mother, a former Catholic nun, fell in love with his father's pool-playing, hustling ways. Their union, unusual in many ways, seems fitting for the talented, albeit silly, performer they produced -- Bancroft had just closed a squirmy, but witty and news-relevant rap about bed bugs.

During the "Parents" number Bancroft sat stool-side Anthony "Two Touch" Veneziale '98 and Wesleyan's favorite successful alumnus of the moment (MGMT was on stage?!) Lin-Manuel "Lin-Man" Miranda '02, the youngest, but arguably most talented of the emcee trio. Miranda rapped of his grandmother, sans blood relation, familiar to those of us who have seen In The Heights and recall Usnavi's abuela ("Paciencia y Fe" songstress). Veneziale, on the other hand, took an alternative route, laying down rhymes about his expectant wife, and his impending -- nah, he was much more optimistic about it -- fatherhood.

Luckily, an audience member provided Freestyle Love Supreme with the word "parents" in one of four rounds of Audience Word Elicitation: An Excuse for Some People To Shout Out the Most Obscure Words They Can Think of in an Attempt to Sound Intelligent (my title). In the fourth and final round Veneziale asked the Crowell crowd, "What is one moment in your past that you would like to do over?" A young audience member named Ezra, called out, "When I broke my mom's vase!" Veneziale laughed, then asked for more details. "How old were you when this happened?" "It happened today!" exclaimed Ezra; cue audience roar, cue rap number of insurmountable hilarity.

Miranda played Ezra, the delinquent vase-breaker, and then Ezra in an alternative universe, one in which the vase incident was nothing but a figment. In onstage spontaneity, a verdict arose: if Ezra had withheld from playing rough with his mother's art, he would have developed an unrestrained appreciation for Picasso (according to Miranda, the vase was Pablo's doing), realized his artistic talent, and garnered millions with his visionary work -- or so Miranda rapped.

Audience interaction crowned with Dylan '14 (last name unknown, year inferred from her talk of dorm location and roommate situation) who was pulled onstage to describe her day. It was less mundane -- or blurry by way of hangover -- than one might expect of a college student. Dylan attended two theater rehearsals, one for "Machinal" and a piece in Dirty Kinky Short Plays, before taking a nap, eating cookies for dinner, and then leaving for the FSL show. Narrative rendition over, Dylan left the stage as Chris "Shockwave" Sullivan, the beatboxing genius (I don't throw this word around) of FSL played her body, and Miranda rapped her thoughts. Arthur "The Geniuses" Lewis provided keyboard accompaniment, as Veneziale and Bancroft acted as supporting characters: Dylan's mom, her hallmates, etc. This final piece was artfully constructed; as Dylan's day, rap-realized, wound down to the present moment, FSL replayed the opening of the show -- a chorus of mic checks and "Thank you for coming!" -- as witnessed by Dylan 1.5 hours earlier.

The full-circle ploy worked well; I felt genuinely satisfied -- my extemporaneous witty wordplay quota had been reached as I led (pushed? "Oh you know, gotta go study up a storm Mom!") my parents out of Crowell and safely to their car.

For more fun, FLS plays NYC on Saturday, November 8th.

PLUME GIANTS w/ CHURCH ST. REVUE @ EARTH HOUSE

2010-10-20T00:20:00.008-04:00

This thursday, an evening of folk music and harmonic vocalizations will be brought to you by three of Connecticut's finest acoustic enthusiasts. Newcomers Sam Long and the Appledaughters will lead off the night, premiering their own brand of folk music, potentially interspersed with some Velvet Underground covers??!?!?

Next is Plume Giant! - a stupendous folk trio, from the streets of Yale, coming to make harmony-laden music that is as beautiful as it is bad ass. This is going to blow your minds and simultaneously break and mend your hearts. Buy their brand NEW album here. Closing will be Church Street Revue, Wesleyan's most sensational, sassy, and sensual bluegrass band since 2009. Things they enjoy include wyverns, beer, and long walks on the beach.

Come on out if you like raucous fiddle tunes, melancholy waltzes and above-average solos. Featuring the inimitable Scott Infusino on bass fiddle.

Thursday, October 21

EARTH HOUSE

9:30 pm
FREE

XIU XIU @ ECLECTIC

2010-10-10T15:14:00.006-04:00

Celebrate the completion of your midterms at Eclectic's dining room with California-based indierokk veterans XIU XIU. Their new album, Dear God, I Hate Myself, is a collage of pop, balladry, and 8-bit new wave, all rolled into something wholly unique - beautiful, sad and exciting all at once. Stewart's aching melodies, broken bells and Nintendo DS are not to be missed on this coming Wednesday night.

Also, ALMONDS AND ELEPHANTS will be continuing their march through Wesleyan for their second consecutive billing at Eclectic.

XIU XIU.
ALMONDS AND ELEPHANTS
Wednesday October 13, 10 to 12pm

FREE FREE FREE

brought to you by Clube de Futebol

CEREBRAL BALLZY @ MUZIK HOUSE

2010-10-09T13:18:00.005-04:00

Music House will be throwing down for a second night in a row this weekend. Tonight Cerebral Ballzy will be playing along with The Parents!!!!!!!

@Music House (316 Washington St) - 10pm

weekend round-up

2010-10-08T17:07:00.005-04:00

MUSIC HOUSE
Static Stamina: here to make savage romance to your ears, wesleyan's finest bring mash-ups and pop references to a whole new level. bring your party hands! Friday, 10pm
Cerebral Ballzy: a crew of young drunken lunatics carrying the torch of eighties skate punk to wreak havoc. Saturday, 10pm

ECLECTIC
Ultrasound

Saturday, 10:30pm

$4

EARTH HOUSE
Swear and Shake: an indie folk rock quartet based out of New York with singable, lyrically based songs ft. the Flying Dutchmen

Friday, 10pm

PORTLAND FAIR
Fly Machine

Friday, 7pm

Static Stamina @ Music House 10/8

2010-10-07T22:48:00.002-04:00

This Friday.... STATIC STAMINA featuring The Japanese and O Presidente at Music House. This will be Static Stamina's first show of the semester, and it is going to be out of control. Make sure you get to Music House by 10pm to catch The Japanese, who killed it at Fallapalooza just a week ago, and O Presidente who will also be having their first show of the semester.

Recap:

Static Stamina ft/ The Japanese and O Presidente

@Music House (316 Washington) 10pm

ohhmmm

2010-10-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

At Buddhist House tonight, Owen Callahan and Matthew Hurwit bring you Almonds and Elephants. In addition to their usual routine around campus, it will feature an interpretative dance showcase as well as the outstanding writing of Angela Allan.

Angela Allan's writing stretches the imagination through her untraditional use of imagery and rich language that leaves you wanting to keep biting. Both entrancing and accessible. What a mind!

This collaborative performance with Almonds and Elephants, interpretative dance, and creative writing holds promise as a beautiful sit down and meditation time at Buddhist House. Wipe the rain stains off your boots, shake out that keyboard typing cramp and join this group tonight for a memorable experience.

Buddhist House (Meditation Room)

Thursday, October 7

10 PM

ULTRASOUND

2010-10-06T17:28:00.006-04:00

The night will feature some of Wesleyan's most beloved DJ's/Performing Artists/Performance Artists:

GAY PEOPLE TECHNOLOGY
DC/AC (DESTINY CHILD AFRICA CHOIR)
KWANZAA PARTY
BABY SWEAT
BAROQUE OBAMA
ETHER_NET
SCHAAF AL-QAEDA
DOME CHOMSKY
COP MAGNET

ULTRASOUND. LET'S SEE WHAT'S INSIDE OF YOU.
October 9th. 4 dollars. Tickets being sold during lunch and dinner for the rest of the week.

Yours,
Eclectic

musical inquiry

2010-10-06T13:39:00.004-04:00

In a band? We want to know about you!

Shoot an email to auralwes @ gmail . com

weekend round-up

2010-10-02T13:54:00.008-04:00

ECLECTIC
Bear in Heaven

Their most recent album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, received the "Best New Music" award from Pitchfork Media. Beast Rest Forth Mouth is as familiar-feeling as it is difficult to pinpoint. Mostly made up of textural, spacious three- to four-minute pop anthems with towering choruses, it is a welcome reminder that an album doesn't have to be bombastic to feel huge and important. Take out the earbuds and let it fill a space: This is music that's bigger than your iPod—music you'll want to feel all around you. Though not quite coming out of nowhere, BRFM seems like a surprise gift—a striking consolidation of the spiky psych-prog tendencies of their debut into a pop framework.

Oberhofer
Almonds & Elephants
10 PM
FREE

200 CHURCH
WordSmith & the Concert G's

WordSmith tailors contemporary music toward a new realm, as the innovative, orchestral hip-hop group returns to the beauty of classical music. Josh Smith ‘11 (the WordSmith) rhymes with raw emotion on a serious level as images of late night innovation, childhood innocence, and liberating contemplations concerning coming of age, soulfully dance through the lyrics. Through the incorporation of the Concert G’s, WordSmith embodies a sophistication and depth that is often lost in music today. The juxtaposition of rap with amplified cellos, guitars, trumpets, and saxophones shatters the boundaries of confined musical categorization, and thus produces a musical metropolis.

Fly Machine
Bones Complex
10 PM
FREE

Like it unplugged? AURAL WES is bringing you a whole selection of unplugged tunes on campus and in the greater Connecticut region.

2010-09-29T14:16:00.008-04:00

Menomena in Milford @ Daniel Street

Saturday, October 2, 8:00 pm

Menomena is playing a show in Milford this Saturday. They just released an awesome new album called “Mines”. You should all go...the only problem is that the venue is 21 and over….FUCK. But if you're 21, then have a blast. Link with details and video posted below.

!!!LINK!!!

2010-09-25T15:40:00.003-04:00

FALLAPOLOOZA

CFA Green

TODAY

5 - 8 pm

Featuring: Thelonious Funk, Bones Complex, The Japanese, Linus, and the Clover Street Band

Free Wesleyan 2013 t-shirts for sophomores, so bring your WesID
In celebration of the class of 2013, but open to all

Thursday Night Delight

2010-09-22T22:35:00.007-04:00

Almonds and Elephants

Buddhist House

Thursday, September 23, 10:30pm

Almonds and Elephants are playing a show on Thursday night at Buho. Friday morning classes/other obligations don’t matter. Get out and hear some awesome music.

I could try and describe what these guys sound like, but it wouldn’t do them justice. Hopefully this video can give you guys a good idea of what to expect.

oui, n'est pas?

2010-09-22T10:30:00.005-04:00

The Crowell Concert Series with Le Vent du Nord.

Donovan Arthen '11 writes:

"Oliver Demers, initially a classically and jazz trained violinist who's devoted the last ten years to mastering traditional Québécois folk technique, and brings a strong and melodic sound. Simon Beaudry is a guitarist who comes from a strong family background in folk tradition adds a driving rhythm to the groups music. Réjean Brunet has been playing traditional music since he was a boy and brings the harmonic sound of accordion style instruments. Finally, Nicolas Boulerice plays the piano and the hurdy-gurdy, a medieval era instrument that adds a unique and engaging sound to the group's music.

I first saw them in the summer of 2008 at the Old Songs Music Festival in New York State, and I was thoroughly impressed by their energy, talent and personality both as a group and as individuals. Their performances are both beautiful and exciting. If you have even the slightest inkling to see what these fantastic musicians can do I encourage you to go to the box office and get a ticket for just $6."

Friday, September 24, 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall
Pre-talk by Alec McLane at 7:15pm
TICKETS or at the box office

czech it out

2010-09-21T18:02:00.004-04:00

UZ JSME DOMA @ MEMORIAL CHAPEL
this friday//8 PM//free with wesid

Uz Jsme Doma is an experimental punk band who formed in the 1980s in communist Czechoslovakia, whose strict regulations forced them to play underground shows. Uz Jsme Doma is internationally famous, and the government of the Czech Republic actually gave them a grant to fly to the United States to tour because their music is considered culturally important. Musically, comparisons to The Residents and Pere Ubu are on point.

The show is presented by WESU on Friday, September 24th, at the Memorial Chapel at 8:00 PM. The show is open to the public and free with a Wesleyan ID and $5 without. Facebook event here.

new year, new music

2010-09-19T10:57:00.001-04:00

We're starting back up. Hear about a show? Tell us! Interested in writing? Pick up your laptop and let's begin.

CONTACT: auralwes@gmail.com

It's a new year and there's plenty of new music to blog about.

SHOW TONIGHT

2010-05-05T19:14:00.004-04:00

BIG SWEATY FUCKIN CRUNKDANCE PARTAAAY!
It's CINCO DE MAYO! Get crunk n' freaky at Music House tonight with the party jamz0rz of FUCK CONNECTICUT and recently battlin' band STATIC STAMINA and SO many more!

SuperSabadoGigante: VERSION DOS!!!

2010-04-30T11:39:00.003-04:00

No, not the West Coast powerviolence festival, you crazy kids. Every Spring Sabado here at Wes is Super Gigante, and this coming Mayday is no exception.
If you're not too busy celebrating International Workers' Day (you did know that's what May Day is, right?) by setting cops on fire, smashing windows of corporate chains, etc. you should try heading over to the Memorial Chapel at 9pm for the Wes stop on the Sister Spit Roadshow. And what could be a better day and a better way to creatively desecrate a former Methodist place of worship than coming out for the gender-insurgent spoken word stylings of Michelle Tea and Reggie Cabico along with work from queer zinesters and graphic novelists Nicole J. Georges and Elisha Lim, and a "trans psychic memoirist" Len Plass. Do you know what that last one means? I absolutely do not, but it definitely sounds worth finding out.

I've also received a cryptic tip about a mysterious rock show at Music House this Saturday. All I know is that Wes' favorite grunge-punx Beat The Grave will be performing their rambling balladry of grease and grit. Ask your friends. Don't have any friends? Make some...then ask them.

2010-04-28T22:27:00.003-04:00

ZOMGZ!! EPiC DAnCePArTy@PsiU
w/Gigamesh and Pictureplane
Friday//10pm//3bux

So, you all basically know how this goes at this point, right? You're gonna get your party on, you're gonna go to Psi U, and you're gonna dance. You're gonna dance hard. Why? Cuz Gigamesh got the beats to make your booty go [---]. It is worth adding that Pictureplane also has the beats to make your booty go [---]. I'm pretty sure PicPln is just one dude...but NEwayz, you know what to do Wesleyan. Despite the fact that we're only the 89th happiest campus in these untied states, if we know how to do one thing it's get sloshed and pay a nominal fee to get our collective freak on to some electro-thump in a dark, sweaty room. Go do yr thinggggg, brah

Phenomenal Handclap Band, Toussaint and Buru Style, Mamarazzi at Beckham Hall this Saturday

2010-04-27T14:52:00.001-04:00

This Saturday at Beckham Hall a free, 3-band mega show featuring the Phenomenal Handclap Band, Toussaint Liberator and Buru Style, Mamarazzi, and DJ Lord Lewis is scheduled for lift off.

Like so many band bios The Phenomenal Handclap Band’s write up declares their sound an amalgamation of sorts, or in their words, a “harmonious culmination of numerous diverse musical backgrounds [that] resulted in a sound that is equal parts anthemic, dancefloor-oriented and orchestral, embracing elements of progressive rock, disco, electro, and psychedelia.”

Yet PHB is different in that this is pretty much true. Perhaps because their roots are as a studio band rather than a live unit, meaning they honed a sound by laying tracks, editing, and cutting some more rather than by writing a few songs and then having to fill out a set with covers, jams or whatnot, PHB doesn’t do the usual musical-diversity bit of following a funk tune with a disco number and then a mambo or whatever.

I could write a bunch more about PHB’s sound, which overall I like very much and find intriguing even in the moments about which I’m not 100% sure, but again their bio is pretty freaking eloquent: “[PHB’s music] pulses with a savage rhythm that provides the ultimate foil for cascading guitars, electrified washes of organs and synthesizers, and hypnotic 6 part vocal harmonies. The variety of songs and performers fuse together with delirious sermonizing that whips crowds into an elated frenzy.” I hope it really does. At least their video is pretty sweet for sure.

Toussaint Liberator & Buru Style (which I play in) is not a new face on campus. We’ve been beating around for a while and gigging all over the Northeast together this last year. I’ll just put a link here so I don’t have to talk about myself…

Buru Style

Toussaint Liberator

Mamarazzi is a band made almost entirely of Wes alum who moved to--you guessed it--BKLYN: Tavi Fields (’01), Sam Bathrick, Sam Franklin, Tacuma Bradley (all ’04), Eric Herman (’05) Andrew Aprile and Rob Cohen (both ’06) describe their music, somewhat in jest, as “afro-gypsy-funk,” and though I don’t really hear the gypsies, I can dig the rest. What can be said for certain is that they’re a tight band, they can individually play their asses off, and they sound like a band that came from Wesleyan in a way that you may not expect them to. They’re definitely worth coming early.

WESU’s resident funk n’ soul spinner DJ Lord Lewis the Velvet Knight will open the show and spin twixt sets. It all starts at about 9 and it's free free free

green-grosser

2010-04-25T19:24:00.003-04:00

Featuring Wes alums Max Horwich ('08) and Mike Hurder ('07) along with the guitar stylings of Elliot Conely, Green Grocer comes out of the endless collaborations between three roommates in a Pilsen loft. One morning, when the cold creep of winter transgressed the plastic sheeting over the windows, these gents accidentally spilled some Gary Numan into the hot cups of Joy Division they were nursing to keep their body heat above hypothermic levels. The odd, hard-to-stop-drinking brew that resulted can be heard in its most developed form on the band's new EP available to one and all through the good folks at bandcamp. They've also got a hot new video, whose production required the use of advanced time-travel technologies to take the band and the video's production crew back to 1992. Obviously a worthwhile investment:

These gents also have a summer tour upcoming, dates for which can be found on their myspace, which will magically appear to those pure of heart who click on their name at the beginning of the post.

...and now back to our regularly-scheduled programming

2010-04-22T20:12:00.002-04:00

The Loom w/ Linus
Eclectic//10pm//4-23//Free
Somebody once said "a picture is worth a thousand words." In the case of Brooklyn sextet The Loom that anonymous commentator was right on. The Loom sounds like they look above: they are beardy and scarfy, heavy on the earth tones, and densely orchestrated. They bring a serious and studied sound to the well-trod territory of orchestral indie-folk to produce a result heavy on the feeling of satisfaction, like you heard just what you were supposed to hear and that fact was assured by hours of carefully-penned arrangements and rehearsals. While it makes sense that they're a band from Brooklyn, it also makes sense that they manage to stand out from their at this point laughably enormous pool of peers.

The Loom will be supported by our fair campus's official new hotness: Linus. After tidily securing victory in Battle of the Bands with a laudably tight set, the band seems to be on the tip of a bevy of new tongues. For those of you yet to come across their catchy jamzs, Linus plays what can loosely be called garage rock with a heady dose of twee; the result is, as one BOTB attendee put it "tooth-meltingly sweet" and so adorable as to disqualify the pronunciation of "r" (e.g. adowable). What's really remarkable about this band is that they bring the cute without coming off as gimmicky or just plain irritating. It's a guilty pleasure you don't have to be guilty about as thoughtful song-structure and some damn fine musicianship allows fans to bop along to their uber-catchy pop rock without a tinge of remorse.

COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE ELECTION EDITORIAL

2010-04-22T14:37:00.005-04:00

Hey all; I have no defense for this one. Unlike the last time GJ ran for elected office, there ARE still shows going on and unlike other rambly editorials I've written on here, this has nothing to do with music. So very sorry to the easily offended and trollish out there.

***AD HOMINEM ACCUSATIONS AHEAD. BEWARE!!***

I want to begin with a personal experience I've had with one of the candidates. To preface, I have no personal stake in this election, am not voting for anyone but Giant Joint, and don't care who wins. That said, I do feel impelled to relate my own personal experience with the "getting things done" ethic of Micah Fiering. While I have never met this kid, I don't think I've ever been more enraged at anyone who goes to this school and, while the indirectness of this experience means this account should be taken with several grains of salt, I came away from it fairly convinced that he's a dishonest sack of shit.

Since the beginning of my freshman year, myself along with several friends have been trying to set up an infoshop on this campus. An infoshop is one name for a multi-use community space oriented towards anti-authoritarian politics and activism; while they come in many forms, the typical infoshop is a clearing house of politically radical 'zines, books, and newspapers, a free space to socialize without having to buy anything, and a venue for sympathetic groups to have meetings, events, etc.

Our attempts at making this happen here have met with ridiculous and discouraging obstacles which say as much about the spoiled brattiness of parts of our student body as they do about the structural hostility of the administrative bureaucracy to free student initiative. At first we were naive enough to set up in the room adjoining the Westco Cafe, only to have our personal collections of books and zines which we compiled to start the infoshop vandalized and/or stolen by drunk assholes. The remainder of freshman and the entirety of sophomore year was spent trying, with equal naivete, to secure space through the "official channels" offered us by the WSA. The result was filling out several applications for space, especially in the newly-unoccupied 190 high, only to have no results, no communication, nothing. We didn't fit into the agenda, we weren't a sexy achievement to campaign on, and so we got fucked.

Finally, we got a space in 190 last year as a result of working directly with then UOC intern Cris to share space with the anti-oppression library. It was awesome! We were so excited to see two years of work realized and wasted no time in decorating the space, populating it with books and zines from our own collections as well as paying out of pocket to make new copies of online PDFs. Aside from providing a nice spot for student socialization and non-classroom-bounded critical thought, we held small events in the space and even organized a Mayday music and arts festival at Eclectic where people could take a break from moshing to Grocery Thief and dancing to Japanther to sit and read in the mobile-mini-infoshop set up in the ballroom. We were even getting in contact with other groups like New Haven's Elm City Infoshop and getting alot of excitement about there being a radical space like this at Wesleyan.

I left for the summer at the end of junior year excited for the possibilities that a full year of a stable, open infoshop promised. All that ended however when I learned over the summer that a fellow member of the collective that ran and maintained the infoshop went into our space only to find the floor ripped up, our posters and decorations trashed, and perhaps most egregiously, our stock of publications, many of which were the personal donations of ourselves or our friends, stuck in boxes marked to be trashed or "stored in MoCon." I was shocked, angry, and sad by this, the most egregious in which our efforts to have this space were maliciously destroyed.

Over the next few weeks, it came to our attention that the reason why our time and energy had been trashed was that Micah Fiering had decided that the UOC/infoshop space was for HIM to use in order to open up his much-hyped student cafe. While this information is not first-hand, what I have been told and what I have yet to hear convincingly contradicted is that Fiering lied to everyone. He told the administration that he had permission from student groups using the space, he told individual student groups that he had the permission from all the other ones, and basically manipulated everyone necessary to gain access to the building. Once there, he started trashing publications, ripping up the floors, and generally making the room uninhabitable without so much as a thought as to how or why those materials got there, whose efforts he was singlehandedly ruining in order to realize his grand dream of late-night coffee availability. If someone from our group hadn't happened to be around while this was going down, we probably wouldn't have even gotten our books and 'zines back.

While all this was brought to the attention of the WSA at the beginning of this year, they were true to form in not requiring Fiering to take any responsibility or make any public apology beyond paying for the damage he caused. And now he's running on the platform of opening this cafe. While I originally decided to move on and not make a big stink about this (the best revenge, after all, is living well), I think it's worth mentioning now that people have the option to vote for this asshole. Like the politicians whose campaigning tactics he and his running mate have been so avidly mimicking, the rhetoric of being "results oriented" translates to a cynical willingness to lie and manipulate anyone necessary to maintain and grow his own power. As I have said, not all this stuff is firsthand and if I've included any inaccuracies I'm sorry. This is not written out of a desire to see anyone lose or win this election. I simply think people have a right to know that my lone dealing with this kid resulted in his acting like a cynical, dishonest piece of shit with seemingly no regard for his fellow students or anyone but himself and furthering his goals of holding what fantasies of political clout the WSA offers.

I do not think it's surprising that someone who acts like this in private would be instrumental in pushing the already impoverished culture of WSA campaigining even further to aping the inane miasma of contemporary politics. At the risk of sacrificing my avowed lack of support for any candidate, I will say that this is yet another good reason to vote for Giant Joint. This, in turn, gets me to the larger point:

There are lots of reasons people vote for Giant Joint, not all of which I personally identify with, and that's a good thing. Part of why I think something like GJ is so appealing is that it doesn't require the stifling logic of consensus, of signing on to a platform that's supposed to "represent your interests." Instead, it presents the simple logic that nobody but us can talk about defending "our interests" without re-creating the condescending and manipulative attitude that characterizes politicians of all stripes. I like putting my own little spin on it towards my anarchist political beliefs, because that's how I think about it. The beautiful thing is that's neither a more nor less legitimate reason to support GJ than a vague dissatisfaction with the WSA or simply loving to get fucked up. GJ is what we make of it, and we don't need to be made anything other than we are by anyone claiming to know what's good for us. Cool? Cool. Let's go get high.

I think the current WSA election cycle has shown just how necessary this is. The over-the-top campaigning by people like Firke and Feiring is not only annoying, it's damaging because it distracts people from the fact that we go to a private institution which means that the WSA only has as much power as it is given by the administration. So, effectively, it has no power at all. Regardless of the positive things that can be done with it, no one running for this office has the honesty to explicitly state what everyone already knows: if the WSA does ANYTHING the administration, trustees, alums etc. don't like, it will be blocked and there isn't shit we can do about it.

Why hasn't there been a single candidate who has put that fact at the forefront of thier campaign? I for one would find such honest cynicism refreshing and empowering since at least the candidates running for WSA would be honest about what they're doing: competing to become caretakers and functionaries for a completely unaccountable administrative power structure which has significantly better things to do than deal with a bunch of whiny, overprivileged college students who, by and large, have been taught their whole lives that they know what's best for everyone (look at me writing this rant...ha ha ha). Instead, a couple times a year a handful of self-selecting bureaucrats-in-training try to delude us into thinking that opening a small cafe and starting the green fund are examples of student empowerment. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a place to get coffee at 1am and the green fund sounds totally legit. What I object to is the pretense that those things are anything more than bones thrown by the administration, let alone valuable enough to justify the self-important posturing of current and aspiring members of the WSA.

So, regardless of the positions of Firke and Fiering, or Spahn and whoever the fuck, and whoever else is running, I don't want to vote for them because I think that their campaigns are not only annoying and overdone, they're based on a premise that is fundamentally misleading. With this election cycle, the illusion of agency is being jammed down our throats with redoubled energy. Regardless of their content, the inane "debates," the truly disgusting rise of "negative campaigning" and the idea that spending ANY money on this shit is acceptable are but a few of the most obvious ways in which the WSA elections are increasingly coming to mirror the banal theater of falsehood and manipulation that is American politics. Not to say that these tactics are unique to the current slate of candidates, but they are being deployed with an unprecedented intensity and, to my mind, a really disturbing sense of self-righteousness combined with a lack of critical self-awareness about the type of campus atmosphere this kind of shit creates. All this simply points to what I said last time around: people are frustrated with the WSA because, in many different ways, the body has shown itself time and time again to mostly be a space where kids who are training to become the self-involved, electioneering liars of tomorrow's political elite can "play politics" and hone their skills in marketing themselves and securing power by all means available. I simply resent being made to play along.

2010-04-20T14:36:00.002-04:00

Travis LaPlante, Nat Baldwin, Duchampion
!!TONIGHT!!
Eclectice//9pm//free//SMOKEW33D

Hey dudes, I totally almost didn't write this post cuz I'm like super high and stuff...NEWayz there's like a totally rad show goin on tonight and you should totally go. Plus it's gonna be hella trippy so you and your freinds are all gonna be like "woah" and be glad that you're high because it totally enhanced your experience. Nat Baldwin is gonna jam your strawberry-red eyeballz out with his unreal bass skillz. And then Travis LaPlante is gonna attack your earholes with saxovibrations to re-assort your brain molecules. Plus his name is French for "The Plant" so you know he's cool. Plus Duchampion will play and everybody likes them because they play music for people who were kinda punx when they were teenagers but now they like art and smoke weed because its "a fun thing". And they're like a giant cargo train full of shredding pulling up in front of your house and being like "here, I'm supposed to drop this off at your house. Sign plz? Ok, bye." And then you're all "Since when was there a train track in front of my house?" and the train guy is like "How the fuck am I supposed to know? I just deliver the shredding, that's why I'm an important aspect of the Duchampion experience."

ZWMNBND

2010-04-16T17:00:00.001-04:00

From WestCo president Mickey Capper:

So you’ve looked at weather.com and you see statistics like 60% chance of precipitation and temperatures forecasted for 50-40º F this Saturday, and you might have feared that Ze-day might be cancelled or sad or something.

Fortunately, no matter what the weather forecast says, the WestCo/DKE forecast tomorrow is 100% chance of awesome.

The electrical equipment and bands will have a tent, but we’re not electrical, we’re human. When you were a little kid, and it was raining outside, you didn’t want to stay inside and whine. No, you wanted to go outside and jump in puddles, and roll in mud, and throw mud at people, and talk about how ridiculous it is that rain is probably God’s pee, and enjoy Dan Deacon, Anamanaguchi, Movement, The Gentlemen’s Bet, Linus, Sweaty Boys, Apache Kid, and Ishmael.

It’s cold? You have sweaters!
It’s raining? You have rainboots! And rainjackets! (If you don’t have a rainjacket, we’ll cut some holes in a trash bag for you, or something)

It’s WesFest and if Mother Nature’s MAKING IT RAIN, then we’ll party in the God Piss! We’re human and we’re youthful and we go to Wesleyan and we are going to have a great day, forecast be damned.

Yes, if it’s totally intolerable outside, we’ll move the bands into the westco café, but otherwise that space will be protected as a warm safe environment with blankets, hot chocolate, towels and comfortable things for people to rest between music sets. We’ll also have Cold Stone, Tandoor, and Typhoon there so bring some money!

Long and short of it is come to WestCo tomorrow at 1 PM for some Ze-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Day. If there's nothing outside, check the café. Make sure to come on time, because if it is in the café, only the first 150 or so people will be allowed in.

Happy WesFest!

DAN DKE'N: http://hypem.com/track/765238/Dan+Deacon+-+Snookered

weekend er III: wesfest shows

2010-04-16T15:04:00.003-04:00

!!!WESFEST MUSIC UBER-POST!!!

As you probably are aware, this weekend is Wesfest when our campus social life is infused with the boundless energy of hundreds of high school seniors busily making the ephemeral friendships and fuzzy half-memories of inebriated adventure so essential to shaping the early college experience. It's also marked by our student body pulling together to show off all the totally awesome no-parents college-kid fun we have to an excitingly impressionable population of doe-eyed youngsters. And what could this mean for our fair campus other than a bevy of sick shows. Here's what's up:

FRIDAY
WES WOODSTOCK is going on right this very minute over on lovely Foss Hill, and will continue til 10 tonight. Featured amongst the performers are campus hip-hop fixtures Wordsmith and the Concert G's and Linus, whose teeth-meltingly adorable and admirably well-crafted pop stylings rocked the Battle of the Bands at Eclectic last night. It's a, like, super chill event, so you should totally wander over if that's your vibe, man...

Later tonight, Eclectic will play host to a couple of bands riding the recent wave of good-time 1960s surf-n-fuzz-rock-n-roll revivalism. Nashville/Thrashkill/Trash Hill TN's TURBO FRUITS play honorably unpolished garagey trash-pop appropriate to the hometown of Goner Records and the extended family tree of unapologetic rock-n-roll fundamentalists that has grown up around it, despite being a good deal more pop-oriented than the best-known exponent of that scene, the late great Jay Reatard. While everyone and their mother seems to be hopping on the surf-garage-psych revival bandwagon, Turbo Fruits are a great example of the fact that behind the buzz lies the simple fact that this is some extremely enjoyable, satisfying music capable of spreading joyous abandon like a grin-inducing plague.
Along with Turbo Fruits, New York's THE BEETS will be tossing their collective hat in the ring for who can most convincingly appear to have been cryogenically frozen at an early 1960s youth hop. Pretty and understated, the trio's simple pop tunes evoke warm n' fuzzy memories you may or may not actually have, but it doesn't matter. This shit's all about atmosphere and The Beets pull it off with a virtuosity that might be missed in the un-self-conscious simplicity of their songs. In a similar sense as Turbo Fruits, these kids are definitely benefiting from the vultures of the "tastemaking" world circling around the bedroom/lo-fi aesthetic with a particularly noxious opportunism, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that they're a really solid band and deserve the consideration of anyone who loves pop music.
And DUCHAMPION will be kicking things off with their lush, complex, and catchy post-punk jamz. Word.

SATURDAY
Daytime activities are looking like they'll be centered around ZONKER HARRIS DAY. This year, Westco formed an unlikely team with the burgeoning DKE music conspiracy to bring none other than Dan Deacon to this annual celebration of all things vaguely druggy. While Deacon has proved a slippery fish stylistically, the manic insanity of his live shows is reputed to be an awesomely ridiculous experience, considerably raising the stakes of event usually typified by crunchy college reggae jamming.

Tomorrow night, the OSTRANENIE BENEFIT SHOW at Eclectic will be continuing in its tradition of bringing together rad tunes, fun people, and a diversity of avant-garde creations across an impressive diversity of media. The night's musical fare looks promising as the damaged pop of Bananahead, and the unrelenting manic energy of Sweaty Boys will be joined by newer projects like Slothrust, Devolver and Slava. While this would already make an excellent event, the folks over at Ostranenie will be going above and beyond, turning the first floor of Eclectic into a multi-mediascape with performances, video installations, and even motherfucking chatroulette!

SUNDAY
Sunday brings with it the comforting prospects of rest, recovery, and scrambling to salvage the tatters of your academic standing after the weekend's chaotic fun. BUT, be sure and work in some time for a study break since this Sunday also marks the SECOND ANNUAL WESU RECORD FAIR which will be occuring in Beckham Hall from 11am-4pm. While vinyl-centric, you can expect a panoply of music across all genres and formats as vendors throughout the region will descend on our campus to hock their wares at this free event. And if the prospect of drooling over the exciting prospects for enhancing (or starting) your personal music library isn't enough to get you to haul your hungover ass out of doors before the sun goes down, there will be live sets from WESU DJs, a raffle with fun and sexy prizes, and tasty food from local establishments like Iguanas Ranas. Plus you'll be helping to support your favorite freeform community radio station! Come on down!

this saturday...

2010-04-13T17:41:00.002-04:00

more info coming soon

(don't) call it a comeback: Godspeed You! Black Emperor to return, play overpriced music festival, be rad

2010-04-09T16:37:00.002-04:00

Here's a bit of news that will make you want to lift your own skinny fists like antennas to heaven: post-rock legends Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced in characteristically aloof and pretty fashion that they will be gearing up to play together again after almost a decade of silence. The Quietus reports that the group will be curating All Tomorrow's Parties Nightmare Before Christmas festival in England this December, and are already set to bring along the likes of Montreal dronester Tim Hecker whose unmitigated badassery in the world of noise deserves special mention. Godspeed also make noises about playing a few dates in the US at some point in the futre. Keep your ears and eyes peeled, kids; you're gonna have to fight legions of long-starved Godspeed fans for those golden tickets, least of all myself.

Also: WOO HOO!!

breaking news: malcolm mclaren dead at 64

2010-04-08T20:42:00.003-04:00

Whether you think he was a genius visionary or a poorly-disguised opportunist who sowed at least as many bad seeds as good, Malcolm McLaren founded the Sex Pistols and was a pretty important guy in terms of getting people to recognize the word "punk" in 1970s England and by extension the world. I've got a thesis to edit, but here's the NYT obituary for those of you that want to learn more.

BEST COAST + APACHE KID at ECLECTIC

2010-04-05T19:45:00.009-04:00

Thursay

April 8th

Eclectic

9:30 PM

Free

Best Coast is a catchy blog-friendly, low-fi, surf, pop, gospel, rock band from Los Angeles with a girl singer and a beautiful sound.

Vice:

Bethany Consentino and Bobby Bruno are Best Coast, and they make the music that Brian Wilson’s kids really should have made instead of forming famous Californian singers’ sprogs supergroup Wilson Phillips. They are drop-outs who hung around on the beach all day getting stoned, listening to My Bloody Valentine, Guided By Voices and, yes, The Beach Boys. There isn’t really much better preparation for starting a band.

Best Coast Myspace

Blog

Apache Kid is a loopy, shoe-gazing, electro-pop, rock band from Wesleyan that will make you dance and sing-along.

Apache Kid Myspace

"Their fuzzy hooks and 1950s-inspired pop have become the epitome of blog cool since 2009. Named one of SPIN's Must-Hear SXSW acts, Best Coast's solid live performance -- less fuzzy than their reverb-y recordings -- proves they deserve the buzz, which should only grow as they near the release of their debut record later this year." -Spin Magazine

"Thanks to a string of garage-pop 7" singles in 2009-- peaking with the careening, girl-group-via-Liz-Phair Best New Track "When I'm With You"-- L.A.'s Bethany Cosentino, aka Best Coast, has quickly become one of indie-dom's most promising new acts." -Pitchfork

ATTN: WESBANDS

2010-04-04T22:17:00.002-04:00

Just another reminder, cause this might be your only chance to open for Big Boi... (but maybe not, I dunno)

Wesleyan's annual Battle of the Bands is taking place on April 15th at Eclectic House! The winner will open for Spring Fling in May. If you're interested in playing, leave a demo with three songs in Wesbox 91579 or email mp3s to acbernstein@wesleyan.edu by 5:00 PM on Sunday, April 11th. Bands chosen to play will be notified later that night. Sets are 20 minutes max.

SABADO GIGANTE!!

2010-04-03T17:03:00.007-04:00

Tired of only doing one thing? TONIGHT ONLY: You can do 2 Things!

THING 1.0: PNK@DKE
Tonight at 9 be prepared to witness perhaps the most momentous cultural encounter in Wesleyan's long and storied history: PNK @ DKE. Perhaps the most powerful stronghold of the culture of beer pong, sports, unironic heterosexual masculinity, and boat shoes referred to (for some reason) as "the tech" will be invaded by all manner of punks, hipsters, art fags, and slackers to share in the time-honored tradition of the punk show. This will not be just any punk show, however. This will be a non-stop round-robin 10-band 1-night punk festival insane party extravafuckingganza. Campus favorites like The Creeps, Scroats, Beat the Grave, and Sweaty Boys will be joined by newcomers like Chinatown and The Mexican'ts. And as if that isn't enough Hartford's The Inclined Plane, Brown's Circle Side Out, and Temple's Cobra Lung are coming to get in on the fun. Oh, and Lighten Up is coming too. They're from Jersey. They shred.

Thing 2.0: Beach Fossils at Music(k) House
Also this evening Music House (formerly 316 Wash) will play host to the lazy, hazy indie pop of Beach Fossils along with campus faves Ishmael tonight at 11. Despite a deep and, I would argue, well-reasoned hatred of the moniker "lo-fi" as a musical descriptor, I do have a soft spot for the hooky, reverb-drenched odes to 60s pop and wake-n-bake days that has become the signature sound of labels like Captured Tracks, who released Beach Fossils' debut 7''. This is some really lovely pop music to get stoned and space out to, a soundtrack to reminiscing about long car rides to exotic locales with friends, or to sit in the back of the room listening to as you scheme about how you're going to become the internet's latest bedroom pop darling.

2010-04-01T17:51:00.010-04:00

Male Bonding, Stupid Party, The Creeps

Fri. April 2 - Westco Lounge - 9 pm - FREE

Cafe is flooded, its moved to the Westco Lounge

Male Bonding is a trio from England, and they’re the guitarist, bassist, and drummer from PRE (holy fuck!), so you know these guys are good. Their punk/tropical/surf/grunge tunes are full of energy and will get you moving. Complete with British accents and awesome music, these guys rock. They just got off their tour with Vivian Girls and are playing a bunch of shows before they head back home. Don’t miss ‘em!

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/malebonding

Stupid Party is a band from Brooklyn, New York. They play grunge-ish punk with a don’t care attitude and tons of energy (if that’s possible). They own a house called the Fort where they throw punk shows in their living room. What more do I have to say? They’re fucking awesome.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stupidparty

Wesleyan band the Creeps are going to start things off on friday. They play loud, uninhibited punk that, as said previously on Aural Wes, “you can shake your ass to.” Rayna Edwards '10, Emily Meyer '10, Mary Longley '10, Oriana Korol '09, and JM Jaffe '09 are definitely a band to see.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thecreepsjams

2010-03-31T22:04:00.002-04:00

Those Darlins and PAPA at Eclectic
Thursday, 4-1//9:30-midnight// for FREE

It may be April Fool's day, but I am not kidding when I say that the near-painfully attractive "country punks" of Those Darlins will be heading our way tomorrow. Without further ado, let me defer to guest expert Ethan Berger

10 PM Papa will make their triumphant return to Wesleyan. In the midst of their tour with the Morning Benders, the band has been preparing the release of their first LP. Lead by Darren Weiss on vocals and drums, “Papa have found a way to reconcile their inborn melodious eclecticism with a face-punching wham-bam that only slightly suggests the old, old punk rock it’ll invariably be lumped in with…..their live set is reportedly a total sandblast." -LA Weekly

At 11 Those Darlins, staight outta Murfreesboro Tennessee, will grace us with their presence. Those Darlins who have characterized themselves as a country/punk/indie/pop group, have a sound reminiscent of groups like Deer Tick and The Black Lips. These three women most recently accompanied The Black Keys and King Khan & BBQ and are looking forward to their first show at Wesleyan.

Critics seem to like them. Pitchfork calls them the most "legitimate heirs to the country-punk throne," while the New York Times reports "in a world of emo-boys and reluctant band leaders, Those Darlins, country-punk pals from Murfreesboro, Tenn., had a comically leering sexuality and the kind of abandon that seems scarce these days."

Comically leering sexuality? Intriguing...

Garotas Suecas and Apache Kid at Eclectic TONIGHT

2010-03-31T15:26:00.005-04:00

Wednesday is traditionally bar night, but the bars traditionally suck ass. Therefore, instead of being cramped in a stinky, smoke filled room listening to "Empire State of Mind" on repeat you should come to Eclectic in order to rock out with GAROTAS SUECAS and (Wesleyan's own) APACHE KID.

Garotas Suecas is going to be MASSIVE LIKE U2 OR COLDPLAY in about a month, so if you wanna tell your grand children about how you saw them in a dining room at an epic house built by Henry Bacon at your own unviersity, you should definitely come out tonight. If you are ignorant and have never heard of them, Garotas Suecas is a Brazilian garage rock/jam band who are embarking on their US tour but stopping by Wes. As Alex Chaves (2012) writes, "They're kind of like if The Strokes and Os Mutantes had a child that liked to move."
So yeah, come dance your ass off. If you still wanna go to the bars because your single and you want everyone to see the new dress you just bought from H&M, you can stop by before because the show must end at 12 midnight. Oh, and its FUCKING free, so you have no excuse not to go.

Check out this sweet youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpwCtBFmCy4

Apache Kid's catchy electro-pop tunes on MYSPACE:
http://www.myspace.com/apachekidapachekid

Yeah!

PNK@DKE

2010-03-28T16:37:00.009-04:00

awwww yeah. This is gonna be good. 9 punk bands, one night, round robin style, two stages at Delta Kappa Epsilon.

NEON BLUD

2010-03-27T15:01:00.003-04:00

This Sunday, Wesleyan welcomes Neon Blud. Featuring members of Slavescene and Cult Ritual, these nice, young Floridians make guitar muck-drenched noise punk. They penned a few songs that appeal to the prurient interest on their last tape/7" 'Whipps'. Alienating and intriguing. Adeptly described by their label, Fan Death, as possessing a NYC '78/Olympia '92 vibe pounded into Tampa heat and Ybor City sleaze and by Cult Maternal as sounding "like all those people in Mary Ellen Mark photos got together and tried to rip off the first Saccharine Trust record and failed miserably". HOT COLLEGE BOYS, COME OUT.

listen to their song "Neon Blud Neon Anxiety" on Fan Death's MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/fandeathrecords

Drunkdriver, anticipated headliner, has canceled. They are no longer a band.

Music House (316 Washington)
9:00 pm (short set, get there on time)
free, but bring money for merch

MTV makes me hate my life...an ongoing narrative

2010-03-26T23:14:00.003-04:00

Das Racist Uncensored Interview
Das Racist

you know what would be super FUN and EDGY? interview liberal arts buzz band Das Racist about random in-crowd factoids about their liberal arts buzz college!
you know what would be super FUN and EDGY? put an "uncensored" interview on the internet and bleep out the cuss words!
you know what would be super FUN and EDGY?
DO YA!?!?!?

weekend er II

2010-03-26T17:04:00.003-04:00

Chillin w/ Beach House@ Eclectic
Saturday, 9pm
There's not much to say about a show that's been sold out for quite some time already. If you've got your ticket, congratulations, you're in for some fun. If not, I'm sure there are some ethically unscrupulous douchebags on the ACB who will sell you one for far too much money. Either way, it's happening.

weekend er I

2010-03-25T15:12:00.005-04:00

Its a big weekend here on campus, kids...Kicking things off on THURSDAY
WEEDSLAYER MELTDOWN 666 w/
ELKS
and
VAPORIZER
at
ECLECTIC//9pm//FREE
Get your skull bong ripping Wesleyan, because we are getting a heady dose of stoned-out brutality the likes of which have not been seen on this campus for some time. Featuring recent alum Josh Scannell, Elks play stoner metal like it's supposed to be played: epic riffage, mythical creatures, and vocals that sound like they're being done by Gandalf in that one part in the Lord of the Rings when he gets really REALLY angry. Tourmates Vaporizer, as the name may suggest, provide more of the same to get your stoned head banging like you're trying to snap off your own head. It's awesome. It's free. What's holding you back? Your mom said it'll make you stupid?

DAN ΔKE-ON

2010-03-24T15:23:00.007-04:00

Confirmed: Dan Deacon will headline a music and arts festival in the WestCo courtyard on April 17th.

What?

This festival marks the beginning of an unholy alliance between the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and WestCo, with DKE contributing a substantial amount of funding to ensure that the festival is the biggest and best in recent memory. Dan Deacon strives to make the music that evokes the spirit of "the coolest six year-olds ever," making for the most outrageous soundtrack possible to what is sure to be a fantastic day in the courtyard.

Another confirmed act for the day are the Nintendo-metal forefathers Anamanaguchi. Self-described as a "loud, fast band with a jacked NES from 1985," they will guarantee an equally bizarre and fun backing track to a day of debauchery.

boredom is always counterrevolutionary

2010-03-21T16:15:00.001-04:00

from fuckyeahanarchopunk

happy st paddy's day

2010-03-17T14:54:00.002-04:00

this doesn't have to do with music, you'll have to deal with it. you might have seen this before, and again, you'll have to deal with it. maybe i'm just a crackhead who got ahold of the wrong stuff and it told me to repost fairly old but nonetheless hilarious youtube videos on major-to-semi-major holidays. the world is a mysterious place.

band-o-tha-day

2010-03-14T11:47:00.003-04:00

Box Elders!!

I've been digging this unadulterated, wide-eyed throwback pop for a few weeks now. Solid toe-tapping material to ring in the spring. But wait, if they're a trio, who's playing that awesome sounding organ? THE FUCKING DRUMMER. WOAH. GNARLY.

THBM's Not Dead! The emergence of Total Hipster Black Metal

2010-03-10T17:42:00.005-05:00

Is the future of black metal, whose fearsome Norwegian iteration led to a rash of church-burnings and murders in the 1990's, embodied by a skinny kid from Brooklyn who seems equally comfortable alternating between short-sleeved flannels and Bathory tshirts? The answer may be different than you think. With the recent emergence of a black metal theory conference in Brooklyn attended by academics from across the country and globe, reviews of bands like Krallice and Nachtmystium on sites like Pitchfork, and the release of yet another ill-concieved American Apparel product line the place of black metal in popular culture is changing rapidly. Even if the sights and sounds of black metal aren't exactly your cup of tea this interview gives a glimpse into Liturgy founder Hunter Hunt-Hendrix's idiosyncratic and endearingly over-intellectualized approach to playing black metal and into some of the changing ways the wily subgenre is being reconceptualized by some of its own key players.

ALSO...

videoverload

2010-03-07T13:24:00.004-05:00

As the mercury passes 50 degrees here in Middletown, Spring is roaring in. While you may have left campus with some frost still on the ground it's beautiful and balmy here and phantasms of wandering Foss Hill in a daze passing into a barely-remembered backyard party passing into the next day's barely-remembered class haunt every corner of campus. Brimming with anticipation, I've found some serious satisfaction in the musical analogue to the sun-fueled debaucherous summer camp that is Wes in the Spring: pop punk. No, I'm not talking about those ultra-distilled shit cocktails for which the Warped Tour is an open bar, but the exquisite manic pop in the tradition of the Ramones on one side of the pond and The Buzzcocks on the other.

Kicking things off, Hunx and His Punx' eternal mission of "gayin' up the punx" continues in earnest as the sun turns its smiling warmth North America-way. In this cleverly disguised intelligence document, we see the tri-partite strategy Hunx has been employing with unending success: glitter, choral harmonies, and CRUISING

While I've heard some derision, and some confusion, I for one am EXTREMELY excited about the Black Lips being part of this year's Spring Fling lineup. Regardless of your music proclivities it is objectively true that the Lips' psyched-out, drugged-up flower punk is the perfect soundtrack for getting blotto in the middle of a beautiful day, which is of course the undying mission of Spring Fling. Case-in-point: this great song of a less-than-great-but-still-pretty-good album, Let it Grow from 2009's Two Hundred Million Thousand.

This next video comes a band that has recently wormed its way into my hardened, black heart: Mean Jeans. This Portland trio does an all-too-common thing uncommonly well: ripping off The Ramones. Yet where so many of their colleagues have fallen flat, dribbling foul detritus onto the internet and vinylverse like a leaky musical colon Mean Jeans have somehow managed to kick things up a notch, using shameless repetition of a great musical formula to deliver dangerously concentrations of amped-out, party-hardy rock n' roll as you can see below in their videographic celebration of afternoon drunkenness and kiddie pools Steve Don't Party No More:

Finally, we have a bit of a deviation from the theme, which requires a significant disclaimer. I think OK Go is a shitty, shitty band. They do not make me want to go outside and party, they make me want to fucking hang myself. Their music is terrifyingly generic and uninteresting and under other circumstances I would hope that such a band would be the last to be supported by this blog.
But even a hypercritical killjoy like myself cannot deny a totally fucking badass video when I see it, and the hollow shells of men that make up this band have made a truly badass video. So get that finger on the mute button and prepare to witness some true amazingness.

Wesleyan Bands on Tour Over Spring Break

2010-03-02T10:53:00.005-05:00

Worried that you might let this spring break pass by with nothing but reruns of Battlestar Galactica and a full read of the archived compendium of hipsterrunoff.com? Well, things could be worse, but there are other options. Good options too, like feeling that little home-away-from-home feeling whilst taking part in the show of a Wesleyan band that's going down in some faraway locale.

Duchampion and The Shade will be ping-ponging through the Northeast on a package tour this Spring Break, and many of the members of my own group Buru Style will be joining the vocalist Toussaint Liberator for a run of shows in the San Francisco area as well as a little studio sesh with Bay Area mastermind Nino Moschella. The dates are below. If anyone knows of other Wes-related shows happening elsewhere over break let me know and I'll add them to this post.

Also, resident cowboy psych trio Metacomet will be following up their recent release on Pizza Night Tapes with a couple of sick shows in Brooklyn this Break. And if you missed post-new age synthscaper Oneohtrix Point Never at Earth House last weekend, you've got a second chance if you're in the NYC area since he'll be teaming up with Metacomet this very Monday down at Bruar Falls. Do yourself a major favor and check it out!

Duchampion and The Shade on tour
Tues. Mar 9 2010 8:00P Boston, MA
@ Church w/ The New Underground & The Dirty Dishes

Wed. Mar 10 2010 8:00P Annandale Hudson, NY
@ Bard College w/Adam LaMotte (http://adamlamotte.bandcamp.com)

Thurs. Mar 11 2010 9:00P Bronxville, NY
@ Sarah Lawrence College w/ Big Tree (http://www.myspace.com/bigtreesings)

Fri. Mar 12 2010 9:00P Philadelphia, PA
@ The Fire w/ The Bad Doctors, The Roddies, and The Parsnip Revolt

Sat. Mar 13 2010 8:00P Allston, MA
@ The Basement w/ The Stereo Flys

Sun. Mar 14 2010 9:00P Brooklyn, NY
@ Public Assembly w/ Wailing Wall, & Will Stratton

Toussaint and Buru Style on Tour
Thur. March 4 - Ella Lounge, NYC. 9 Ave. A (between 1st and 2nd), 10pm FREE!

Fri. March 5 - Church, Boston, MA. w/ Meta and the Cornerstones, 10pm

Sat. March 6 - Bishop's Lounge, Northampton, MA. 10pm

Fri. March 12 - Mojito's, San Francisco, CA

Weds. March 17 - Moe's Alley, Santa Cruz, CA (opening for Junior Reid)

Thurs. March 18 - Oakland show TBA

Fri. March 19 - The Boom Boom Room, San Fran

Metacomet Fades Out NYC

Monday, March 8- Bruar Falls (245 Grand St. in Williamsburg) w/ Oneohtrix Point Never, Luke Perry, and Sweetheart (heavy psych jams from members of Religious Knives and Blank Dogs). 9pm FREE

Friday, March 12-Howe House (175 Stockholm Apt. 202 in Bushwick) w/ Luke Perry, WO, and Polyester Raincoat. Party O'Clock FREE

Washed Out, Small Black, and Apache Kid at Eclectic

2010-02-28T20:28:00.003-05:00

Date: Thursday, March 4th.
Time: 9 pm.
Price: Free. Tickets given out at Usdan on Tuesday. First come, first serve. One per person.

Lineup:
9:00: Apache kid
10:00: Small Black
11:00: Washed Out

Washed Out
Crafting impossibly gorgeous pop, Washed Out mixes up woozy synthesizers, droney shoegaze textures and funky, danceable beats. Washed Out has enjoyed getting solid buzz in the music blogosphere, thanks to killer tunes like “You’ll See It,” which evokes French synth-pop group M83 and “Feel It All Around,” which features soaring, angelic vocal chorales and was “Best New Music”-ed by Pitchfork. (Cool fact: Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould is a big fan and was spinning Washed Out tracks during his DJ set at this year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival).

Small Black
After disappearing into the attic of Uncle Matt's house on Long Island for a long winter with their casios & samplers, Small Black emerged with their debut EP. The Brooklyn band make the sort of lo-fi jams that wouldn't sound out of place blaring at a house party at 4 am or pulsing through headphones in your bedroom. Strange beats, dreamy synths, tape hiss & laid-back melody, somehow form themselves into coherent & hummable pop songs described by Pitchfork as "absurdly addictive" & "soul-stirring."

Apache Kid
Shoegazing G Stars Gil Sunshine and Casey Feldman make dreamy, looping, danceable rhythms that envelop your soul. The lyrics are catchy. The beats are bumping. The guitar riffs are sexy. Music from two students has never looked or felt this good. Prepare to be mind-fucked by a wall of sound that penetrates every orifice on your body. Pitchfork will probably pick them up in a week or two.

Oneohtrix Point Never / Human Teenager / Autre Ne Veut / Metacomet

2010-02-27T13:43:00.002-05:00

Oneohtrix Point Never
Human Teenager

Autre Ne Veut
Metacomet
Saturday, Feb. 27th ~ 9pm ~ Earth House ~ free

Sometimes white is hard to deal with. You're not alone this week if, faced with seemingly insurmountable fields of supersaturated whites, you recognize in snow the highest expression of the indifference which lies beyond all that is relative and partial.

SNAP OUT OF IT.

zone out to the heady psych-vibes of the VHS subterranean this SATURDAY NIGHT at EARTH HOUSE ... presenting...

O N E O H T R I X P O I N T N E V E R (http://www.myspace.com/pointnever)
dan lopatin's visionary solo synth project deep in the hypnagogic vein, the in-between of the 80's-00's cultural milieu. past versions of imagined & unrealized futures. analog arpeggiations, psychedelic minimalism, plastic noise & mystical new age mantra. welcome to the blendwave. hyper-dimensional reformulated nostalgics humming from beyond the PC wasteland. totally evocative and immersive

H U M A N T E E N A G E R* (member http://www.myspace.com/infinitywindow, http://www.myspace.com/garywargarywar)
new duo of taylor richardson [1/2 synthscape duo Infinity Window (w/ dan lopatin), Purple Haze (w/ marcia bassett of Double Leopards), tape release as Prehistoric Blackout] & greg dalton [Gary War].

* - as of today, Sun Araw's flight out has been canceled due to mass flurries and has yet to be rescheduled - prospects are grim.

A U T R E N E V E U T (http://www.myspace.com/autreneveut)
mystery man with some wax droppin 2010. smooth jams, alien karaoke.

M E T A C O M E T (http://www.myspace.com/metacometjams)
wesleyan's own desert-psych tales of an ectoplasmic journey. somebody slip something into that cowboy coffee? a fox on the melting moon horizon and its shape is you made of 6 blue strings. new "Depression Ceremony" CS out now on Pizza Night

$ = cosmic merch
your saturday night ≠ $

QUEER PUNX 4 EVA

2010-02-27T12:34:00.004-05:00

J.D. Samson (ex-Le Tigre)
F to Embody
The Creeps (Wesleyan's own punk rock wonderteam)
Eclectic/10pm/$3

From Wesleying:

This Saturday night, come to one of the most transformative shows you’ll ever see at Wesleyan.

F to eMbody, a multi-media hip-hop/spoken word show, features two transgender performers: Athens Boys Choir (right) and Katastrophe (left). Athens Boys Choir is a one man explosion from Georgia known for his heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics and award-winning videos. San Francisco based rapper Katastrophe performs passionate hip-hop about lives lived outside the mainstream.

DJ JD Samson (center, from le Tigre and MEN) will finish the night with a queer dance party dj set sure to please.

Come on out for this equally thought-provoking and booty-shaking event!

Tickets sold at the door, and all week during lunch at Usdan. Get yours before it’s sold out!

Jordan Knecht/Almonds & Elephants/Dustin Carlson Trio

2010-02-19T11:40:00.004-05:00

avant/out/americana/space/free/improv

Jordan Knecht
Almonds & Elephants
Dustin Carlson Trio
Buddhist House
10pm
Saturday, the 20th
Free

This Saturday, at Buddhist House, some free improv psychic journeying. No synthesizers, no PA system, just instruments:::

Jordan Knecht, from Hampshire College, with an acoustic guitar going deep, excavating the Neil Young form, really kind of a spelunker. Long form compositions, joined by a looping pedal, repetitive and trance bringing. Also - really incredible album packaging. Hear more at his myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jordanknecht

Almonds & Elephants Matt Hurwit '12 and Owen Callahan '12, "duets in the spirit of outer space and all night wails!" They're the ghosts of the CFA, echoing underground after classes get out. Hear some Owen improvisations on his space: http://www.myspace.com/owencallahan

Dustin Carlson Trio three musicians, working in a number of idioms, but blending beautifully bowed acoustic bass and electric guitar, going way out but loving melody, exploring many multiple possibilities within each instrument and in combination. Hints of bebop, hints of doom metal, odes to Bill Frisel and Polanski soundtracks. Very excited for this group. Also on the myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dustinjcarlson

A song 4 the Weekend

2010-02-19T01:34:00.003-05:00

Anthony Martello '10 brought this video to the attention of Prof. Eric Charry's class "Special Topics in Contemporary Pop Music" as an example of Chicago house music:

Hope to hear this on some dancefloors this weekend, Wes.

Ep 3p

2010-02-17T21:38:00.003-05:00

Following up on the previous post, this week we are privileged to marshal together not 1, not 4, but 3 brand new EPs from Wes bands.

As you have no doubt already read, Duchampion is the first amongst these with "One or Several Wolves" finally capturing their Deleuzo-Surrealist postpunk that has captured so many of our hearts and asses (in the dancing sense...get your minds out of the gutter, kids) with their rockin' live set.

Next up Flora & Fauna's brand new "Young Rivals" delivers six tracks of achingly pretty and immaculately produced indie pop. This is a must; the tracks capture the lush sounds of F&F beautifully in ways that can't be matched by the Eclectic ballroom. Check this shit OUT.

And finally Daysleeper's new EP "Wonderland Kid"is immediately available for your downloading pleasure. And do it fast because these kids are BUSY: They're playing out at Tufts on Feb 27, at magical and profusely decorated Brooklyn coffee house Goodbye Blue Mondays on March 19th and are then returning to their good 'ol stomping grounds to open for Beach House at Eclectic on March 27th. Awesome.

Duchampion: One or Several Wolves

2010-02-17T16:41:00.003-05:00

Hello:

Duchampion (full disclosure: my band with Jake Nussbaum, Will Brant, and Asa Horvtiz) has just released a new recording on the internet. It is called "One or Several Wolves"and it is available for download on bandcamp. Or if, if you like, you can stream the record below:

<a href="http://duchampion.bandcamp.com/album/one-or-several-wolves">Swamp Thing by duchampion</a>

Thank you for listening.