B-SIDE Magazine
Volume 3
SIDE
B— SIDE magazine
B-SIDE Magazine
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April 2019
College Hill
B— SIDE Providence RI
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Hello Hello!
Events
Thanks so much for picking up a copy of our third-ever print edition of B-SIDE Magazine!
Noah Jones Samuel Masto Emilio Picayo Sumughan Pitchayan Alexandra Purdy Fabiana Sarkis Samuel Wertheimer
Auriane Benabou*
B-SIDE has had quite the year! College Hill’s only music publication has been taking campus by storm and having lots of fun with it. B-SIDE’s fall semester saw one our biggest Tent Shows to date, more Coffeehaus goodness in the Underground, and a new era of B-SIDE social media content (btw uhh follow us on twitter @bsidemagazine.) Spring saw an explosion of events: Our Valentine’s Day show tested the capacity of the Underground, and our collaboration parties with Machado and Findy were massively successful. Our staff writers put out some amazing work, not to mention our introduction of weekly Spotify playlists, Graham’s Jams, curated by our very own Graham Keeley. Huge shout out and thank you to our amazing staff. From our writers, to our multimedia team, to our events team, to our design staff, to our incredible copy editors, the B-SIDE fam is talented as hell, and the publication would be nothing without all their hard work. And thanks to you, of course! B-SIDE owes everything to our readers and campus community. We’ve got some great content in store for you this year. Concert reviews, album reviews, interviews, and of course, our annual Spring Weekend artist profiles! And with that, please enjoy! Have fun, stay safe, and, in the words of the esteemed Brown University Concert Agency, “See You On The Green!” Much love, The B-SIDE Magazine eBoard
d previews! spring weekeniyah graham keeley 03_kama seth israel 03_yaeji é jd calvelli 04_aminfaux ciara keegan 06 _kari i a n ce marie lach 06 _mitsk l caesar jennifer kat cartney 08_danie (_stefflon don caitlin mc online :— elena uava passion householder g e g n ra o h it ney 10_a night w caitlin mccart ey sl g in k h it sation w ovsk y 13_a conver n just fine. marian chudn ne benabou 14_more thaview with towanda auria y 16 _an inter jams vol. 5 graham keele delia murphy 19_graham’s c monday: miss universe 19_new musi b-side magazine april 2019 volume 3
Multimedia
Ambika Miglani* Sobhit Arora Ava Holl Sofia Jiminez Isabel Reyes Writers
Charlie Saperstein* Haley Barthel Katherine Beggs JD Calvelli Marian Chudnovsky Elena Householder Seth Israel Andrew Javens Ciara Keegan Marie Lachance Caitlin McCartney Delia Murphy Dora Oncul Maya Polsky Connor Sullivan Alexis Wolfram Designer / Illustrator Liana Chaplain Web Lead Max Luebbers Playlists Graham Keeney Senior Editor Bethany Hung Managing Editors Joey Han & Alex Rodriguez
*section editors
does this work? we hope COLOPHON so. scan it for more good TYPE: Fugue, Louize, Union content than you can LAYOUT: Bethany Hung handle. ILLUSTRATION: Liana Chaplain
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Spring Weekend Artist Previews a yearly special!
Kamaiyah by Graham
Keeley
Yaeji
by Seth
Israel
Kamaiyah is a 27 year-old Oakland-based rapper and singer. She rose to fame off of her critically acclaimed mixtape, A Good Night in The Ghetto, an effortlessly smooth, Bay Area-focused debut project. Since then, her presence has only grown with high profile features from the likes of YG, Lil Yachty, and Schoolboy Q and a new mixtape, Before I Wake. She takes influence from 90s stars like Missy Elliot, Too $hort, and TLC and effortlessly combines Bay Area rap with classic R&B. With a breezy, synth-heavy sound, Kamaiyah’s music has a strong 90s feel but is unmistakably her own. :—) In a recent instagram post, user @kraejiyaeji posted a series of photos with the caption that reads: “CHOOSE YOUR YAEJI : sleepy yaeji , fish yaeji , post-it yaeji , banchan yaeji , dj yaeji , toilet yaeji , party yaeji .� I’d argue that there are more—a lot more “yaejis:� “producer yaeji,� “vocalist yaeji,� “rapper yaeji,� “visual artist yaeji,� “superstar yaeji,� etc, etc, etc. It really doesn’t end. Yaeji is a polymath in every sense of the word: she seems equally as comfortable performing in front of sold out crowds around the world as she does hosting a Boiler Room DJ event where visitors could simultaneously eat curry and dance to house music. Taking a large role in designing her own visuals and hand-printing her own merch, Yaeji is a DIY expert. She recently opened her own personal studio, where she and her friends can hang out, make music, or do whatever they please. She designed the posters that outline her forthcoming world tour, where, among Providence, RI, she’ll be hitting the rest of North America, Europe, the UK, as well as her first tour throughout Asia. She was recently featured in SSENSE, rocking fit after fit. Is there anything Yaeji can’t do? Regardless of whether you’ve never heard one of her songs or you know her entire discography like the back of your hand, Yaeji’s music and energy is guaranteed to get you moving on the green. Her music can’t be dropped into a single category. Drawing elements from house, hip-hop, rap, and R&B, Yaeji’s sound is the summation of its parts—a lot like Yaeji herself. Born in Queens, NY as Kathy Yaeji Lee to her South Korea parents, Yaeji repatriated to South Korea, where she learned English and Korean in high school. Returning to the US, Yaeji found a home at Carnegie Mellon University, spending time at the university’s radio station where she began to curate her refined taste for electronic music. Finding her way back to New York via her current residence in Brooklyn, Yaeji injected herself into the NY music scene, jumping out with her self-titled EP yaeji in 2017, an uncommonly well-crafted debut project featuring hits from front to back that began to define her unique sonic presence, a blend of cool, subdued vocals layered over punchy, head-bouncing house beats. You’ll quickly find that with experiences in Korea and America, Yaeji can slip between English and Korean as easily as she can build a beat behind a mixing board. At 19 minutes, yaeji is an easy listen. Each track is as strong as the next: “Noonside� features bubbly synth stabs and exclusively Korean lyrics; “New York 93� is a stripped-down, spaced-out track, as Yaeji drops down to a whisper and relies on minimal percussion and synth plucks to make for a fire track; “Feel It Out� goes into house-mode, with a thumping kick-drum as Yaeji bounces between Korean and English, channeling her rap delivery; with a higher tempo and infectious beat, “Guap� is a crowd-pleaser; and the EP rounds out with “Full of It,� possibly the strongest feature on
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the album. Looping a single lyric, “Distant like ignorance / resistance, full of it,” it’s a mesmerizing track that blends Yaeji’s subdued coolness and palpable energy present in all of her work. Later in 2017, Yaeji came back with another five-track EP, sensibly titled EP2. With her sophomore project, Yaeji took more risks, building on her already-impressive aptitude for crafting hits, as the EP features two standout tracks, “drink i’m sippin on” and “raingurl,” both of which have gained Yaeji international acclaim. “raingurl” features her ability to build her presence over the course of a track, an ability she has both on the production side as well as when she’s in DJ mode. At the snap of her fingers, Yaeji brings the track from a pulsating club-shaker back down to level one. The music video is an overload of the senses (in a good way). The NY-native bounces around what looks like an abandoned warehouse-factory-building through artificial fog and a rainbow of lights coming from every direction. At the hook (“Make it rain girl make it rain”), Yaeji is dancing with an umbrella overhead, surrounded by a mob of individuals dressed in white and feeling the music, much like the crowds at her shows (minus the all white attire). The visual component of “drink i’m sippin on” is reflective of the track’s relatively bold essence as Yaeji gets back to her roots, rapping and biking through Koreatown in NYC, surrounded by her friends in grungy, graffiti-streaked alleyways. EP2 is capped off by Yaeji’s rendition of Drake’s “Passionfruit.” The remix is perfectly Yaeji, equal parts luscious vocal melodies and contagious beats. While it’s her take on Drake’s song, it really feels like Yaeji, something that’s tough to do when covering another artist. After two EPs, a slew of singles, and a number of music videos, Yaeji came back in 2018 with “One More,” one of her most dynamic productions to date. The post about all the “yaejis”? Those are stills from the music video for “One More,” where you can find Yaeji on the toilet, chilling in bed, mixing a song, and dancing in the club. The track? A Yaeji instant-classic. With all of this incredible work under her belt, Yaeji has established herself as one of the leading producers, DJs, and performers in the world. For similar music, see Peggy Gou, SASSY 009, or Channel Tres, to name a few. It’s hard to say exactly what Yaeji’s set on Brown University’s main green will look like until the time comes, but expect singing, rapping, insane DJ skills, tons of energy, getting really sweaty, and of course, the one and only Yaeji. :—)
Aminé by JD
Calvelli
The first return on a Google search for “amine” is a Wikipedia page describing amine groups in chemistry. Apparently, an amine is a derivative of ammonia, and perhaps the most well known amine is the amino acid, the so called building block of proteins. In a more direct attempt to find Aminé’s music, one might naturally follow up that search with “best amine.” Ever helpful Google would ‘auto correct’ their search and display results for “best anime.” Now, not amino acids, but pages of works of Japanese animation are displayed instead of Aminé’s music. Finally, when searching for “amine rapper,” Google proudly displays the playful goofball himself: tall and lanky, with large, expressive eyes, sporting a toothy smile, and never without his characteristic freeform dreadlocks. It’s no surprise that people also tend to confuse the pronunciation of ‘Aminé’ with ‘amino’ or ‘anime.’But, once a listener finally gets the chance to engage with his music, Aminé’s (actually pronounced ah-MEE-nay) artistic intrepidity is impossible to confound. Adam Aminé Daniel was born to immigrant parents in Portland, Oregon. Both from Ethiopia, his mother worked for a post office, and his father as a teacher and translator. He grew up hearing Amharic, the traditional language of Ethiopia, and listening to everything from John Mayer to traditional Ethiopian music over the airwaves at home. At school, however, his unique upbringing and perspective led him, unwillingly, to become the outsider amongst his peers. In a conversation with the New York Times, Aminé reflected on how, at his predominantly white middle school, he “got called the n-word” and often faced significant and blatant discrimination. But, once he joined the more integrated Benson Polytechnic High School, he started to find his community and his passion. He began his music career making ‘diss tracks’ on rival high schools. He did it “for fun,” but started to take it “more seriously once [he] realized that [it] made him happy.” His music started as playful, jocular, and fun, and those qualities continue to define his music to the present day. While studying Marketing at Portland State University, Aminé left his home in “super depressing” Portland every summer to hit New York City. Why stay in Portland to experience “hidden racism” on the daily, when he could be one step closer to his dreams in the Big Apple? He took on whatever opportunity he could, and although he found himself in places like the offices of media
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outlet Complex and record label Def Jam, he still, after every summer, always ended up back in Portland. Battling bouts of depression fueled by this uncertainty about his choices in pursuit of his passion, he met Josh Hickman back at Portland State University, who would become an crucial contributor and pseudo-manager to Aminé’s early career. Together they released a mixtape entitled Genuine Thoughts, Aminé’s first album entitled Odyssey to Me, and his first extended play entitled En Vogue. Unfortunately, since Aminé joined up with New York City manager Justin Lehmann, the works have been expunged from the internet, and as such have become incredibly challenging to find. His first major project under Lehmann, his second album Calling Brio, hearkens back to his multiethnic upbringing and influence. “La Danse” prominently features dancehall inspired drum breaks. “YeYe” combines elements of future bounce with world samples. “Rage / Peace” offers more traditional dark trap elements like strong kicks and punchy 808s, before using a standout bridge in Patois to transition into a jazz-rap-esque outro. “Zzzz” might be the perfect encapsulation of the entire album: a shaker and tom heavy, percussive modern take on the classic “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” The work solidifies his style, which, subversively, seems to be marked by his versatility as an artist: his refusal to be tied down to any particular style, and his ability to draw from multiple influences. His first commercial success, “Caroline,” and the album from which it comes, Good For You, further demonstrate Aminé’s ability to wear different sonic hats. “Caroline,” has garnered almost 250 million views on Youtube and is certified quadruple platinum according to the RIAA. It features “wubby” chord synths underlied by a relatively traditional drum kit pattern, driven by Aminé’s goofy, light lyrics that keep it firmly planted in one’s mind after just a single listen. Its success, coupled with his impressive early discography, earned him a spot in the XXL Freshman class of 2017. On Good For You, Aminé honed in on a distinctive style: a whimsical kind of pastel pop rap, undergirded by a more serious subcurrent in his lyrics. Aminé’s courageousness extends beyond his music; he’s no stranger to using his art for the political. In his very first television performance, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he performed “Caroline” initially with his usual level of jocularity, accompanied by an orchestral suite, backup singers and his signature bananas. However, when the time came to deliver his third verse, the entire mood of the stage shifted as Aminé delivered a substitute verse in intense opposition to the newly elected President Donald Trump. He emphatically ended the verse with: “You can never make America great again / All you ever did was make this country hate again.” But, even prior to even releasing Good For You, Aminé was no stranger to taking up the political. His earlier single “REDMERCEDES” is, on the surface, about simply being the new owner a red Mercedes. Although this might seem like reductive modern rap braggadocio, the song’s music video, in which Aminé is portrayed in whiteface, paints the entire song in a new light, namely as a poignant critique of modern performative blackness and racial stereotyping. Put simply, as he told the Los Angeles Times regarding his art, “[He] can’t just sit here and shuck and jive for people. [he has] to say something.” Ultimately though, and most impressively, Aminé eschews labels entirely so as to keep the emphasis on his music. Aminé is an incredible personality unafraid to be unabashedly himself. He excels in whatever musical style he chooses to approach, whether it’s on the world-inspired Calling Brio, the populist rap of Good For You, or the more modern, standard, banger based ONEPOINTFIVE, his most recent full project. He is bold enough to make poignant political statements, while simultaneously being bold enough to keep the focus on his art as opposed to his views. Regardless what he attempts, his work remains cohesive because Aminé himself lies at its core every time; the lanky, expressive eyed, dreadlock sporting, banana-obsessed goofball whose only real pet peeve, it seems, is misrepresentation of his name. :—)
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Kari Faux
by Ciara
Keegan
Mitski
by Marie
Lachance
The Brown Concert Agency is notoriously secretive about which artists will be gracing the Spring Weekend stage. However, those agonizing over the lineup in the days before the release party could have gained some insight had they paid closer attention to BCA’s Instagram. On March 11th, BCA posted a photo of a young woman slouching in a chair while holding her phone quite close to her face. When I saw the photo, I immediately recognized her—it was one of my favorite R&B artists and rappers, Kari Faux. Does this mean she’s coming to SW? Or is BCA messing with us? A week later, to my delight, my suspicions were confirmed. Kari Faux was announced as one of the openers for Spring Weekend 2019. While most attention is usually paid to the headliners, missing out on the array of talent BCA is bringing to campus this year would be a TRAGIC mistake. Having seen Kari Faux perform live last year, I would advise all concert goers to make sure they arrive for her set, and I’m not just saying that because she complimented my earrings after the show (shameless brag, I know). Faux’s discography reveals her range of talent and includes the upbeat witty raps her listeners have come to expect as well as the more emotional and soul-infused tunes she has released recently. Kari Faux, who is a musical force in and of herself, has collaborated with various p r o m i n e n t hip hop artists including Donald Glover (Childish Gambino), Isaiah Rashad and members of The Internet. Her songs have also been featured on the popular HBO series Insecure not one, not two, but three times. Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, Faux first gained widespread attention in 2014 with her release of the single “No Small Talk” which was soon picked up and remixed by Glover. Faux released her first full length studio album in 2016. The album title, Lost En Los Angeles, is the namesake of the second song on the record and nods to this self-proclaimed “country as fuck” rapper’s experience moving out of Arkansas and into the big city for her career. Listeners can expect from this album some of Kari Faux’s more up-beat 90s hip-hop inspired tracks. For first time listeners, I would recommend the tracks “Supplier” and “Nada”. Faux returned to her home in Arkansas to write and produce the 7-song EP Primary, which she released in 2017. “Gotta Know,” the stand-out second track of the record, was created in collaboration with the synth-pop producer Jerry Paper. The mellow instrumentals and male vocal hook compliment Faux’s witty lines to create a satisfying laid back sound. In 2018, Kari Faux released the single, “Color Theory” featuring fellow emerging neo-soul artist Leven Kali. One of my favorite songs from Kari Faux so far, the light-hearted track is grounded by a heavy synth base while Faux moves in and out of rapping to join Leven Kali’s singing of the chorus. Taking inspiration from the artists she listened to in her youth, including Missy Elliot and Destiny’s Child, Faux provides a unique and strong voice within the growing number of contemporary outspoken female voices in hip-hop. That being said, Faux has been critical of the tendency for female hip-hop artists to be siloed and compared to other women in hip hop. One of her biggest influences, especially in her earlier work, has been Gucci Mane, identifying her own flow with his style during the late 2000s. She also takes inspiration from other rappers including Chuck Inglish, Chip the Ripper, and Curren$y, who is actually featured in her most recent project which was released in early March titled, CRY 4 HELP. While this 5-song EP takes a somber turn from her previous music, it maintains her unmistakable style and is perhaps her best work to date. With this series of tracks, Faux seems to have settled into her sound while being more honest than ever. With a more soul-inspired approach, every track holds its own while openly reflecting upon her own journey through frustration and trauma. I would recommend listeners play the whole EP through if they have the chance. I’m curious to see what she’ll perform this Spring Weekend. I’m expecting some of her more up-beat earlier songs—while I hope she allows us to hear live some of her more recent tracks, Spring Weekend’s wild energy might not be how she intended to perform this more intimate and self-reflective EP. Either way, it’s going to be well worth your time—and I’m ready for it. :—)
“Mitski is totally subverting her genre by being a woman of color in indie rock.” That’s one reason why Brown Concert Agency (BCA) selected the American-Japanese musician to perform at Spring Weekend, according to BCA member Alex Westfall. “She’s a total trailblazing pop artist, and other people are following in her path,” Alex explained, viscerally excited. It’s hard to disagree: Mitski songs have a tendency to resonate and stick with you like gum on your shoes. The
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combination of her gut wrenching narratives and vibrant, funky melodies are magnetic, especially for young people, struggling with their identity and place within the world. Alex feels like Mitski resonates with her because “her songs are about these very in-between spaces of identity, which a lot of people at Brown—or people our age in general—have a lot to think about. So many of us feel stuck in the middle, and she brings that to light so beautifully.” Mitski gives us the vocabulary to express ourselves in ways we didn’t know were possible. Despite some uninformed grumblings around campus, Mistki is not simply another Pitchfork-accredited artist your pretentious-indie-soft-boy friend is trying to get you to listen to. I firmly believe that Mitski is, and should be, representative of the bright future of pop music. One of my friends put it simply: “She just has that rare talent so many people try and fail to emulate.” Mitski Miyawaki is a 28-year-old musician from pretty much everywhere. Although she was born in Japan, she grew up moving from place to place, as her father’s job demanded. In an interview with Pitchfork, Mitski admitted that she “didn’t even make friends because I knew it would be goodbye in a year. Everyone else just thought I was different in weird.” In an unstable world, Mitski clung to the stability of her music—as a way to define her herself, for herself only. It wasn’t until Miyawaki went to college (at Hunter and SUNY Purchase in New York) that she recorded and self-released her first and second albums. However, her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek, released in 2014, began her long journey to mainstream recognition. Mitski’s voice cuts clean throughout the entire album, her lyrics intimate and resilient. On “First Love / Late Spring,” Mitski heartbreakingly sings:
“And I was so young When I behaved Twenty five Yet now I find I’ve grown into A tall child.”
The entire album beams with uncertainty and isolation, and strikes me as the poetic confession of a broken heart. Ridden with fuzzy guitars and impulsive vocals, Bury Me at Makeout Creek is possibly Mitski’s most passionate, and least cohesive, album to date. In an interview with Fader, she admitted that she “didn’t have resources, but I made it happen, and I used whatever was around me to try to express myself.” The result is as tear-jerking as it is furious, and that potent combination is what has made Mitski’s fans stick by her side. But by her fourth studio album, Puberty 2, released in 2016, Mitski says she had “figured out what to do.” When asked what had changed within these years to make this album even more successful, Mitski plainly replied, “I was touring more, doing more press—just learning how to be a working musician.” Puberty 2 is filled with salient narrative. Pitchfork described each song as containing “its own universe, with Mitski as both its queen and sole resident.” Although it carries over themes of isolation and love, or more commonly the lack of love, Mitski emerges as powerful as ever. The most popular song on the album, “Best American Girl,” deals with the in-between-spaces that I spoke with Alex about, and explores what it means and feels like to not ever feel American enough. She wails, longingly, “Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me / But I do, I think I do.” Grappling with self-love and respect, identity and confusion, and a world that demands to put you into one box or the other, Mitski rises above and gives her fans more questions than answers. Mitski’s fifth album, Be The Cowboy, has been her most-popular album to date, rising to #3 on the U.S. Indie Rock charts. The album is feminine in the truest sense of the word. Not soft and pink and precious, but feminine, in Mitski’s words, “in the violent sense.” In an interview with The Guardian, Mitski describes the feminine undertones of the album as “desiring, but not being able to define your desire, wanting a power but being powerless and blaming it on yourself, or just hurting yourself as a way to let out the aggression in you. It’s a lot of pent-up anger or desire without a socially acceptable outlet.” This album is the catharsis that many women need and relate to, especially in such turbulent times. Even the name of the album signals at something many women want but can’t have: The ability to put aside our identities and be a demanding, reckless,
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aimless cowboy. Mitski says she fantasizes about obtaining this much freedom and power: “I can make it on my own. I ride into town. I miss seeing that swaggering cowboy onstage. I miss being mesmerized by that, and I thought, ‘Well, I should just be that cowboy that I want to see onstage.’ I’m just going to be the thing that mesmerizes me.” Full disclosure: I am a HUGE Mitski fan. On Christmas, I was clicking through my social media feed and saw photos of Mitski with pop artist Empress Of and rising indie-synth goddess Sasami on the beach in California. For some reason, these pictures immediately made me emotional. I looked at them together, dancing in the water with their pants cuffed up, and I viscerally felt their talent, love, and support. This is the future of indie, this is the future of pop. In a space that has for so long been dominated by sad, scrawny white men and their guitars, there is a bright and pink horizon. These are beautiful and strong women of color who love and support and dance with each other. They hold space to tell compelling stories about their lives and identities with each other. They are overflowing with talent, and they are helping one another bubble to the top together. I have no doubt that when Mitski graces the green this Spring Weekend, you will be emotionally moved as well. :—)
Daniel Caesar by Jennifer Katz
All the way back in September 2018, Brown Concert Agency (BCA) booked the first artist for Spring Weekend 2019—24-year-old R&B artist Ashton Simmonds, better known by his stagename, Daniel Caesar. BCA’s Andy Rickert ‘21, detailed the group’s selection process, “We looked at all the artists that were in his price range and he made the most sense in the most literal way. His music is really good and I think a lot of people were surprised that we were even able to book him — some people’s reactions were like how did you get him?” Caesar was raised in the lonely suburbs of Oshawa, Ontario, and his parents were immigrants from Jamaica and Barbados. His father, Norwill Simmonds was a gospel singer with a number of critically-lauded albums. This religious influence in his upbringing lead to the birth of Caesar’s musical career. Growing up singing in the Seventh-day Adventist church choirs with his three brothers, his gospel background was bound to play a role in his sound. Since then, Caesar has distanced himself from the church. In an interview with Q Magazine, he said, “I felt the holy spirit move when there’s music, so for me that’s God.” Caesar’s gospel-infused music, coupled with his honeyed voice and introspective lyrics, has promoted his rapid success in the world of R&B. Caesar admitted in an interview with ID Magazine, “That’s something that I figured out at a real young age, that I could make people cry with my music.” One thing’s for sure—tears will undoubtedly be shed by audience members during his performance. In 2014, Caesar was expelled from his predominantly white, Christian, private high school for a minor marijuana-related infraction, and finished his last year of high school being home-schooled. Though his parents were supportive, some friction emerged between them and Caesar, motivating him to distance himself from his childhood household. After graduating at 17, he left home for Toronto with a dream to pursue a career in music and the fervor to do anything it took to make it there. After working grueling late-night dishwashing shifts, weeks of couch surfing, and at least one night spent on a bench in Trinity Bellwoods Park, Caesar released his first EP, Praise Break, in the fall of 2014. Produced by Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans, a duo that’s worked for the likes of Eminem and Drake, the 7-song EP, which includes the single “Violet,” follows Caesar as he navigates the feelings of his first love. After dropping two more EPs, Birds of Paradise and Pilgrim’s Paradise, the release of his debut album, Freudian, in August 2017 earned him two Grammy nominations: best R&B album and best R&B performance for album single “Get You” featuring Kali Uchis. The album was released with Golden Child Recordings, a DIY record label he founded with the help of Burnett and Evans. With the help of these collaborators, Caesar was able to achieve widespread success without the support of a major label—and that’s not because other labels weren’t interested. “Why would I want to give my baby, my creation, this thing I made over to [a label] when we don’t have the same values?” he told Now Magazine. “As soon as you sign, you give over your ideas, your potential, to
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somebody else to do how they see fit. You’re no longer the big boss.” Resisting a corporate deal and continuing to have massive success as an independent artist is a huge accomplishment that exemplifies Caesar’s raw talent and dedicated work ethic. “We sat through a lot of pleasant label meetings,” he says in an interview with Billboard, “but none of them reflected the value we placed on our work.” When asked, Andy Rickert described Caesar’s music as “very nostalgic and very tender, which is definitely an interesting headliner vibe, because I think some people kind of expected a more lit thing, but I think Brown students can also appreciate tenderness every now and then, in moderation.” In response to backlash on BCA’s choice of Caesar instead of a more upbeat and high energy headliner, Rickert said, “We book artists with respect to the time slot that they’re in. So we wouldn’t have had Daniel Caesar in the same slot that Aminé is in, because that’s Friday night, which is a different energy from Saturday during the afternoon.” “I think what’s interesting to me about Daniel Caesar,” Rickert says, “is that he’s definitely not a musician with a cult of personality around him. I don’t think people listen to Daniel Caesar for Daniel Caesar, I think they listen to him because they like the music, which is different from a lot of artists, such as Mitski, for example. People get super excited about Mitski because she has this whole persona and social media and narrative that people really get into.” In fact, up until the night that the Spring Weekend Lineup was released, Caesar had avoided drama, steering clear of the public eye. Hours after BCA announced that Caesar would be a headliner, he posted a controversial video on Instagram live, making drunken statements defending Instagram personality, YesJulz, who has been accused of making racially insensitive comments directed towards black women in particular. In his video, he questioned why “we [black people] are being so mean to white people right now” and continued to rant about the problem with black people being too sensitive. He was immediately criticized for his comments. Rickert was highly disappointed to hear the statements that Caesar made, but noted that they didn’t know this before booking him. “We as BCA care a lot about what artists say,” he continued, “We pay a lot of attention to that when we’re booking artists, and we didn’t know that at the time. There are artists that we’ve looked at that the things that they say and the people they’ve hurt is a deciding factor against bringing them into the space. We try to look at these things before bringing artists.” Black activist, DeRay Mckesson, troubled by Caesar’s statements, met with him and tweeted after their conversation, “it is clear that he’s learning & growing re:understanding *systemic* racism & has more work to do. & he has begun to do that work.” Growth and exploration are major themes in Caesar’s discography, and we can only wait to see how his contemplative journey to self-realization and understanding will play out. :—)
need more Spring Weekend content? scan this hot QR code to check out our official SW2019 playlist! guaranteed to help you sing along to at least one song this weekend.
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MB ER nny S Be Silve nW r st on Eli o e s t t La M a i dl a w ya Pe Po l s k te r y W i T he o ll s do G r Jac ugg e s ks o e nh N a n J o e im tH ne s a D h rdy r uv Fe Bhat a tu i re s a : Ya le F r ie nd Da
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Last semester, I sat down with the members of freshman band Orange Guava Passion to ask them some questions about their recent formation and seemingly lightspeed rise to class-wide recognition. Between inside jokes and excited greetings, we bumbled into South Wayland Lounge, a common venue for their impromptu and intimate shows. Underneath the remnants of fairy lights from their most recent gig, we discussed their serendipitous beginnings, plans for the future, and gratitude for this opportunity to create music they love. Any mystery about their new-found popularity dissipated. They’re perfectly endearing and off-beat with just the right amount of self-deprecating humor to be the downto-earth, lovable band anyone can get behind. :—)
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How would you describe your music? Do you have any main inspirations?
Ben We would describe our sound as a fusion between Neo-soul, RnB, Funk Fusion.
Maya With pop, gotta throw that in there.
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Jackson And a little bit of jazz obviously because most of us are jazz musicians.
Danny I think we’re drawing from artists like Vulfpeck and Hiatus Kaiyote, but often Michael Jackson and Beyoncé also. How did you all meet, and what was the formation like?
Maya So, Ben and I kind of knew each other through us both being guitarist composers and messaged on
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INT El e E R V I na E W Ho BY use ho lde r OR I Ma GIN A rch L L 28 , Y P U 201 BL 9 IS H PH ED OT Or OS ang C e G OU uav RTE a P SY as s O F ion
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Facebook over the summer.
Ben Yeah, I slid into the DMs.
*laughter* Maya Then we saw Nat in the V-Dub, and he was wearing a Vulfpeck t-shirt. I was like, “You have to be a musician!” It turns out he was a bass player, and he had met this drummer Dhruv. The rest of us had met already at some jazz jams in different configurations. So, Nat, Dhruv, Ben and I decided to have a jam and then I just was like, “Oh, Danny should come too,” because Danny knew Jackson and they had already bonded over a lot of this type of music.
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Danny Well, there’s a distinction. There was this first jam session with Maya, Ben, Dhruv, and Nat, but I came late. But I came in as they were already in the middle of writing this first tune. And I think I came in and I was like, “Oh, it sounds like you guys are playing some “Back Pocket” or something.” It sounded like they were playing some Vulfpeck song. And they were like, “No, we’re actually writing an original,” and I was like, “Oh shit.” I’m not going to lie, I was a little skeptical. *laughter* Then I sat down at this organ, and we finished it and it was actually really groovy. Maya So, we were really excited about it and we were like, “We gotta get some horn players on this and we gotta get a singer.” Danny said that we should talk to Jackson, and we knew Peter and Elliot from the jams.
Ben Honestly, it was just a bunch of freshmen who liked each other as people. We liked each other as musicians, started playing together, and I think in the back of all of
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interesting because we pretty much just had a melody, and we were kind of rushed. We only had two rehearsals to work on this, but we really wanted to play for Gigs on the Grass, so we met like an hour before our audition. We had to write lyrics and also think of a band name.
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Ben We had no lyrics an hour before our audition. We literally had nothing besides the backing instrumental part.
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Jackson All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was like, “Why
our minds, we wanted to come to school and have this type of experience in some way. And when we saw that that was possible, we kind of just went for it and we haven’t really stopped.
don’t we just turn our generic placeholder love lyrics into a song about Trader Joe’s because we love Trader Joe’s?” And then we just thought that would be really funny because no one really asks the question, “Who is Trader Joe?”
Jackson I think we all kind of come to it with different
*laughter*
musical tastes and different backgrounds, but we do all share a certain sense that brings us together. But, all of our different unique things are kind of what gives us our sound.
You’re all freshmen except for one senior. How did you meet and end up playing together?
Maya Well, I actually went to camp with him.
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Danny Yeah, and also many of us are in the jazz program here, so we kind of knew each other,
band name. And I think we were all on the same page that it should be something Brown-specific and relatable enough, but it would just kind of be dumb to name it after Spicy Withs. Everyone knows a Spicy With, or something named after Blueno, or things like that. But we were all in agreement—especially Eliot—that there’s this drink from all the main dining halls—the Ratty especially—called orange guava passionfruit juice.
Eliot I mean there’s not
Eliot We just saw him walking by Jo’s one day.
much to say, I’m just a big fan. I probably have four cups on me at the moment *laughter*.
Jackson Yeah, I had my Wonder Boom and was playing some tunes, and he was commenting on it.
Jackson And then we just thought that having an abbreviated version would make it easier to throw into conversation
Ben Basically, we ran into
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him out of sheer coincidence and we needed a trumpet player—he’s a really killer trumpet player—and worlds collided.
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elissa Le
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And what about your first gig?
Jackson So, we jammed a couple times—it wasn’t really even a band at this point it was just a bunch of us jamming—but we found out about Gigs in the Grass, and we wanted to get together this original that they had worked on for a while.
Danny Not even a while. Jackson Yeah, like one rehearsal. So, the second re-
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Danny And that being said, we also had to figure out a
hearsal we all wrote a melody. And our collaborative process—it was pretty sick how *laughter* (if we don’t say so ourselves) there were nine of us, but we would all contribute ideas for specific parts of the melody and what the final product was. An amalgamation of all of our own smaller melodic ideas that became what is now Trader Joe’s. And the story behind the lyrics is also pretty
and stuff.
Eliot So, we went into our audition after we were writing for like 45 minutes or something. We were kind of nervous.
Danny Yeah, we were like, “Guys, I just hope we get to
play and even if we don’t make it, it was still really fun to + play with you guys.”
Eliot We go in and the Class Board is super nice, + and so we played our song. Then they were like, “Oh my god!” and we were like, “Uh oh, was it really that bad?” But they were like, “No, that was amazing,” and they asked if we wanted to be the headlining band at ANOCH. Danny And I just want to acknowledge that the CCB really took a leap of faith with this freshman band and said, “We’ve only heard you guys play once, but I’m willing to give you guys this gig in front of the whole school.” We were like, “Let’s freaking go, this is awesome.” So, I
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really just want to give credit where credit is due to all of the CCB.
Peter Yeah, and they asked what else we had to play for the two-hour gig and we were like, “Uh… this is it. We have this, and we play nothing else.”
Ben So, in two and a half weeks we had to learn over twenty covers and put together another original. We were rehearsing ten plus hours a week for sure.
Jackson There are also some other freshmen who have been trying to put stuff together and have smaller shows of their own, so we want to build up our freshman class’ music scene. We had a guest on our last show, and we do enjoy bringing in people who we think can contribute or have specific things they want to share.
Ben There’s an amazing guzheng player, which is a
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and we had a huge crowd of freshmen that were there to support us and even made signs and stuff. Like people were buying in before we even had anything to show for it. *laughter*
Danny Yeah exactly, that’s the thing. It felt like some freshmen just wanted something to get behind and it felt like they could get behind us, which is a great feeling for us and hopefully for them as well.
Maya Also, we were all just so excited about it. We would have rehearsal, and then come back and say to our friends, “I just had the best time working on all this music. You have to come see us.” I think that built a lot of excitement about it. + Jackson And, like how Peter says, the word of mouth thing. If any-
twenty-four string Chinese harp, so we want to do a collaboration with her. We did a collaboration with a rapper. We did one at the Swayland show with another vocalist.
body would ask how we’re doing, this is just such a core part of our experience here and so many of the fun moments we’ve had that we just have to talk about it.
Peter Yeah, I apologize
Jackson We still have
to all my friends that I’ve spent the last month talking only about OGP to.
a very specific sound, but at the same time we really want to branch out and have a lot of diverse types of music and genres that we dip our feet into
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Do any of you guys pursue music outside of OGP?
Ben Yeah, Maya and I are going to concentrate in music, and I know I’m going into it professionally. All of the rest of us are in ensembles in some way and we pretty much all go to the jazz jams.
Ben But I think that shows how excited we are.
Anything else you want to say?
Eliot If people have anything they want us to play for, please reach out to us. We’re really looking to collaborate a lot as well, so we’d love to hear from people. Danny Count on us playing more in Swayland lounge. Ben The last thing I think is just that we really just want
Jackson Also, a lot of us are obviously very interested in
to play more.
music, but we didn’t come in with that being our main focus. But, we actually think that we might accidentally major in music along the way. So, we’ll see where that leads, I guess.
Jackson One last thing for me is that we’ve talked about
You already have over 600 likes on your Facebook page. Were you surprised by the support that you received here? Did you do anything specific to get the word out?
Pete Well, our marketing strategy was a lot of word of mouth, I would say, like just telling friends here and friends at home. I was surprised by the amount of support that we saw.
Danny There were the first couple days where we got
how excited we’ve been about the group. I think that besides all of the experiences we’re having now, it’s also really exciting to think about how new this is for me, and it makes me realize how much we still have to grow. That’s one of the most special things—like we’re already here, and we have so much further we can go as well.
Ben We’re all freshmen—we have four more years here. Let’s see what we can do. :—)
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like over 200 just from sharing it in the Facebook group.
Jackson For gigs we hadn’t even played once before,
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Catch the full interview @ bsidemagazine.org!
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a conversation with
Kingsley
INTERVIEW BY Caitlyn McCartney ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED March 25, 2019 I sat down with Kingsley earlier this year to discuss his music, creating both as an individual artist and as a part of the sophomore band Fizzle. He’s planning on releasing his own work sometime this spring, so keep an eye out for some exciting new music! :—)
How has your year been musically? It’s been pretty interesting because right now, since I’m a football player, it’s the most hectic time of the year with the way our rehearsal is scheduled. So last year was more I would write something, come into rehearsal, and practice how it sounds and see what I have to change and just trying to get the sound right. Now the only way I’m hearing the band play is either the recordings or not hearing them at all. So I have to adjust my sound and my lyrics based on more instinct and my knowledge of the band itself.
Do you feel like the band is on the same page or is it hard to make sure your voice is heard since you can’t be present at rehearsals? No, I think the good thing about Fizzle is that you don’t have to ever force anything. If you feel something, you let it be known, and we’re very good at addressing those things. Any suggestion I make they definitely take into consideration and whether they implement it or not is how the band feels about it as a whole. Musically, they all respect what I do and what I have to say about it.
How did you get into music and Fizzle?
they all loved it. I started writing for them and that was about it.
What’s your writing process like? So what I realized is that I can’t force it. I’m not the type to take a three hour block and say I’m going to write music. Honestly, a lot of the things I write are more trial-anderror. I’ll be free-styling over a beat I like while I’m chilling and I might say a few things and write it down. It may not work, but I know that I’ll want to use it further down the line. Other times, I’ll put my phone on record and then keep going until I find something I like. Mostly it’s just random things in everyday l i f e — w h a t ev - er I’m thinking or experiencing at the time. Different things will come in that I think are funny or clever or very intellectual, where if I say it once you’ll just say I said a sentence but if you think about it again, you would say, “Oh, that’s kinda crazy.”
Do you have a specific goal with your music? Yeah. With Fizzle I just want us to expand and to understand where we want to be as a band. For me personally, I also want to be a recording artist, so I’m working on some stuff. I’m in the lab right now, so I’m planning on having a lot of stuff out this spring with some other kids I’ve been working with.
What are some of your biggest inspirations? You can ask any of my friends or people who know me and they would say that Meek Mill is probably my biggest inspiration as an artist. Even though I don’t see him as the best rapper, he’s my favorite because what he says and how he represents and how he delivers that just resonates with me. Just with the things that I’ve been through in my life and any emotion for me, there’s usually some sort of Meek Mill song that can represent that.
Do you have a favorite piece, your own or not, that you love rapping or performing to?
Before college, music was one of those things I was “Young Kings” by Meek Mill. One of the things is that I love my friends and I’m very loyal and I want all of us to sucalways interested in but I never really focused on. So I would always write things and make these little songs, ceed as individuals and as a group. So “Young Kings” is but I would keep it to myself and my inner friend group. one of those songs that’s about not worrying about fame When I got to college, I met my roommate Ray Jackson, but growth as an individual and surrounding yourself who is one of those kids who is very open about every- with people with that same mindset. thing—whether it was socially, emotionally, artistically— Any advice for people starting out with music? and he’s very expressive about it. Through him, I learned When it comes to being a musician and artist, it’s really to share things that I had if I wanted to share it. So I got into music a lot more. He’s the one who introduced me to easy to think that it’s a far-fetched idea, but in reality, I’ve seen people come from the ground up and be successFizzle because he was a part of the original core group ful. If you want to do it, then do it. If you want to start a before it got bigger. He would be practicing a song in the room and I started rapping to it and he asked to me to group, find people who love the idea of creating something and you’ll be fine. :—) come to a rehearsal. I showed the group what I had and
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more than just fine. Providence-based duo Fine., Iz Dungan and Ly Barber, make music that is equal parts tender and punk. Their songs feature a distinct combination of strong guitar riffs, occasional screaming, and reflective lyrics about selflove, queerness, and healing. Their music is a product of a deep friendship, a collaboration apparent in their recorded music and live shows. The pair dropped their first full-length album, Flesh//Vessel, in late 2018. I spoke to Iz and Ly a few months after the release about the band’s evolution, building community, and “screaming about being really gay.” :—)
So it’s almost Fine.’s second birthday!! I was wondering if you could talk a bit about how you met.
Ly We met… what year was it? 2015? They [Iz] were playing in a band that had a show at my DIY space in Narragansett, so we met that way, and then eventually we worked together. We started playing in a band together, they were playing bass and I was playing guitar. And then we ended up playing in another band together *laughs*. Iz Fine. started as basically an excuse to play music with just each other. Ly Third time’s the charm. Iz Yeah exactly! We were connected through the music scene in Providence and we worked at the same, kind of shitty coffee shop together, and eventually we decided to just start the band. Any reflections on two years?
Ly The band’s birthday is basically Iz’s birthday, so it’s always kind of emotional! Iz It’s been such a monumental couple of years. I feel like this whole project has helped me grow so much emotionally in many ways. It has helped me gain confidence in my own identity and having that be validated. Our fans are the best, basically! The people that come to consecutive shows have become kind of a following and it’s been so special. It’s like group therapy!!
Ly Awwwwwwww. Since so much of your music is vulnerable and self-reflective, what is it like performing that in front of crowds and seeing people really resonate with your lyrics?
Iz It’s hit or miss, to be perfectly honest with you. Sometimes you can get a good idea of how the show is going to be, sometimes it’s very surprising. But we’ve definitely shown up to shows and just been like “Let’s see if anyone stays in the room once we start screaming about being really gay.”*laughs* There have definitely been a lot of shows where people have been like, “Hell yeah, I really needed that, that was so cathartic,” and some shows where the crowd feels equally as weirded out being there as we feel playing. Ly Sometimes it’s like we take a step back and they take a step back and it’s just like, “Ummmmm this is really weird,” *laughs*, but most of the time it’s really good. I just want to talk a little bit about your new video for “Water Signs” which is just so beautiful. How did you come up with the concept for it?
Iz We can’t take credit for the concept of that really at all. My old friend Amber Chilton was the one who had the idea. She has an ongoing project where she takes pictures of queer people in milk baths. It’s kind of this play
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INTERVIEW BY Marian Chudnovsky ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED March 23, 2019 IMAGES COURTESY OF Rich Ferri & Fine.
on vulnerability inside of this really solidified area that is sort of protected [the bathtub]. Her photos are online and they’re so, so beautiful. I was like obsessed with them and I asked her if she would ever want to make that concept into a music video.
What was the process of filming like?
Iz It was really fun, but it was also super uncomfortable, because we were just sitting in cold milk water. Ly Well it was like lukewarm *laughs*. But yeah, we like thrashed our heads around and just had milk up our noses.
Iz Yeah, and we did all the different colors of the water, so we had to like drain the bath, fill it back up, and just be wet the whole time. But it came out really, really beautiful and I’m so happy with what she did. All the props to Amber! You released your new album Flesh//Vessel in December! What was the process like for making this album? And how do you feel like your process has changed over the years?
Iz That’s a great question. Well, I would say that the first one was done in a super hasty manner. We recorded it on a four-track tape recorder in like two days. It was kind of just like this scramble to make something happen. And I think through that process and just playing together we’ve become super in sync. So, that being said, doing a full-length was definitely a rollercoaster. I feel really great that I was able to get eight songs, well nine with the alternative version, out there. Those songs just mean a lot to me! It’s been a chapter of my life. I feel like I lived those songs a lot and they’ve helped me grow so far from the person I was when I wrote them. I think a lot of musicians go through that, it just feels cool. I’ve definitely healed a lot through making this record and doing it with Ly, just creating something beautiful together!
Your album is tagged “queercore” on Bandcamp. What does “queercore” mean to you both?
Ly *laughing* I just heard the word once and was like, “Oh yes, that’s what our music is!!” Cause people are always saying it’s like “garage rock,” but no, we’re really gay though! So that’s why we thought it was fitting. Just a queer, punk attitude. Obviously, genre is totally something that’s hard to pinpoint, but I feel like queercore is the kind of thing that you know as soon as you hear it or see it live. For sure! And sort of in that vein, what are some of your favorite venues to play in Providence? Or what are some of the places where you feel like your music has really resonated and you’ve found community?
Iz Our favorite place is no longer in existence—it was Aurora. So sad!! Aurora was definitely number one, but I mean, AS220 does a pretty good job. They care, and it shows! Honestly, I really like the News Café; I feel like they’ve had some great blowout shows. We did Halloween there this year, and it was just super fun. We also played a really cute DIY show at a venue called Scary Door on the West Side of Providence. Who are some local bands and musicians that inspire you both?
Iz Oh hell yeah! Okay, so you know when you have so many answers for something that your brain goes kind of crazy? *laughs* Ly EDT makes me really happy. And then Gertrude Atherton really thrashes, I love them, they’re really tender. Lady Queen Paradise!! Cherry Pit!! There’s like so many, I love so many. Iz Now I’m just gonna think, “Ugh, who did I forget?!” There’s just a lot of quality content. Ly Go Providence! :—)
Also, big shout out to Big Nice Studio in Lincoln, RI! Ugh, they’re just dreamboats there! They helped us make a really awesome record.
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an interview with TOWANDA
INTERVIEW BY ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED
Auriane Benabou March 23, 2019
MEMBERS Starr Harris Irene Beauregard Rosie Gripton Last weekend I trekked through the snow to chat with the DIY punk/ metal band Towanda. The all-female (and fun fact: all Aries!) band began in Montreal with singer/songwriter Rosie, and has made its way to PVD. It is now taking on a new form with the addition of Irene and Starr to create quite the power trio. In the echoing corridor of the Westminster Arcade we had chance to talk their first experiences playing music, breaking into a traditionally white, male scene, and the band’s future plans as they continue to play local shows. It is really inspiring and exciting to be able to watch the journey of a group of such powerful and kind women grow in the Providence community. Their music is heavy, angry, energetic, and will have you moshing all night long! :—)
How has it been getting into the PVD scene? It can be a pretty interesting mix of genres.
Starr I don’t even feel like I’m part of it yet. All Yeah. SH I mean we’ve technically played two shows, so I don’t even know if Providence knows [about us] yet. The band has been around for a while and has a lot of great recordings but like, at least for Irene and I it’s still really new. So were just trying to make friends with the scene. Irene I don’t really have much context because I played in a band for a little bit when I was in New York but that is a very different type of situation. This has been a fun new adventure for me and I’m enjoying making friends through it.
Rosie The other thing I would add is partly what’s defined playing music in Providence for me has been that immediately upon moving here, I got involved with Girls Rock. So our first show was pretty decent ‘cause I already felt like I built up a little bit of community with people there. Also a lot of the attitudes and philosophies about music that they have there have kind of solidified some of my values and approach to making music here in Providence so that’s been good. And then for me moving from Montreal, it’s really nice to be in a smaller place. This is sort of halfway in between the first community that I started playing music in, which I would sort of say parallels an Olympia, a really really small college town, and then moving to Montreal, I found it a little bit snobby. So I find people in Providence to be a nice sweet spot where there’s a lot happening but people are still sort of down to earth because it’s considered a little bit off the beaten path.
Was the inspiration behind the name from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes? Why did you pick it?
RG Mhm… yup. *laughs* IB Well, I could reflect a little bit. I’m a huge fan of Fried Green Tomatoes and when you [Rosie] presented me with your band I was like
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like, “We can put it in my room.” But it was New York and you’re never home, you were out all of the time, but occasionally I would come home and play this drum kit.
RG I guess it’s like, “Towanda!” is supposed to be her mantra sort-of when she’s like takin’ no guff anymore and I like that feeling of taking no guff. Partly because you know, I think it’s—
But when I left New York, I moved back in with my parents for a little while to save money to move to Seattle, and I was like, “Not only am I twenty-something and moving home but I’m going to get a drum kit for myself for Christmas, hope you guys don’t mind.”*laughs* Then when I was out one night, I met this dude and I was like, “This guy’s coming over and we’re gonna jam in the basement!” *laughs* Then all of a sudden, friends were like, “Heard you guys are a band, want to play this chick’s birthday party, or graduation party?” so we played this graduation party. Then the booker at the local club was like, “Heard you guys slayed the graduation party, want to come play the club?” *laughs* Two weeks later I moved to Seattle and Justin moved to Vermont.
SH And I’m totally the Kathy Bates of the band! Like 100%. *all laugh*
RG You don’t have a terrible husband though, so… SH Yeah, dodged that bullet! *laughs* RG But yeah that’s what she says when she has her midlife crisis and I don’t really necessarily—that’s not actually my personality and approach in real life but I like that character when I’m writing music and I think I get to be someone that I’m not when I make music and I like that.
an interview with TOWANDA
“this was meant to be!” *laughs* Because I love that movie and the “Towanda” part of the movie is like an underexplored mystery of it which I kind of enjoy, was the main thing you pulled out of that.
I moved to Seattle with my drum kit, that was pretty much the only thing that I brought and um—I was really bad, I was terrible ‘cause I was new and had no idea what I was doing. I auditioned for this band and How did you all get into playing music? after a month and a half of auditioning for them, I endIB We were talking earlier about how the guitar is ed up being their manager *laughs* instead of their a really hard thing to learn with, I learned piano first drummer. So, I just started booking a lot of shows when I was kid and I had this 60-something year old and then ended up joining this all-girl band, the Hot woman who was teaching me piano, Mrs. Convoy, Rolls, a sixties garage rock band. Then the dude from and she had a heart attack a year into it… Vermont moved to Seattle and we started a project and played for a while. I was probably in like six difRG Oh wow. ferent bands and then I moved here, and I was like, IB It was just like this funny thing where it was like “Where am I? What is this scene?” So yeah, I’ve been this older woman who has having a hard time with playing for a little while. life while she was teaching me. But I went from that to RG Growing up, I did singing in choirs, singing in having guitar lessons and drum lessons and in high church, singing in musical theatre, this kinda stuff school we had a pretty awesome band, our teacher and, uh, I did that. *laughs* I did that all through midwas a kind of like a famous saxophonist from around dle school and high school and I took my first guitar here. His daughter was in band too. I learned a lot lessons when I was twelve, but I didn’t go that deep there in high school, it was an all lady band and we with them. The person who taught me was like this would do Dashboard Confessional and Goo Goo Doll brilliant, really great blues country, like a bluegrass covers and Brand New and some Alanis Morissette— guitar player but a terrible teacher. Like heart of gold yea it was pretty good mix of stuff. So that’s how I kind but we would basically just sit together and play cowof got started, and one of my friends who actually boy chords and “pick-strum-pick-strum” *laughs* to saw last night, Gabby, was the person I played with in “Country Roads.” I remember jamming out to that one New York for a little bit. But I feel like this is the most a lot, me and this old man. fun I’ve been having with music in all of my life SH *sings* “…is the place I belong!” SH I didn’t really play when I was younger, I was kind of a jock and I like broke everything. RG So that didn’t inspire me a bunch actually *laughs* surprisingly. I do love that song. IB You broke all your legs! *laughs* So then all through high school, I got an electric guiSH Yeah, I broke both my legs and my knee and tar. I learned a bit of the Ramones and all that stuff, just sort of stopped doing the fun stuff and was like but then I never went for it. I was more into fashion “I need a new hobby!” I lived in New York for a little and art and drawing and wanted to go to art school while after college, and one of my roommates had a and that kind of thing. So I just sort of put it down, but I drum kit. She hoarded art supplies and was running always stayed very, very passionate about music and out of room in her bedroom for the drum kit, so I was going to a lot of shows. Then during my undergrad, I
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was really involved with campus community radio and I just sort of stepped up my involvement as I went through my degree. Also the music scene had this tiny inner revolution while I was there between it being mostly “beers in your tears” singer songwriter males, like just guys singing folk country that kind of stuff, and then the last year people that I was living with were making punk and we thought it was the heaviest music in the world. Although, now I look back and I’m like, “It was just like bubblegum garage rock.”
*laughter* ‘Cause we were used to people just using xylophones and acoustic guitars. After a year of that and after being involved in the radio station, I saw my first all-girl punk band. Isn’t that crazy—at the age of like 22 was the first time.
SH What band was that? RG They’re called Old and Weird. Oh yeah, I heard you mention them in another interview.
RG They’re actually a really brilliant art punk band and quite sophisticated.
SH Were they old and weird? RG No! They were like cute and young. SH Fuckin’ liars.*laughs* RG And now we’re old and weird, oh my god! *laughs* We are actually old and weird. But I saw them and I was like “this sucks” which is so misogynistic but again it’s been a journey *laughs* but I was like I can do this better. At the time I probably didn’t even realize that was partly what was inspiring me but me and my pals started a garage rock band that winter and then the rest is history. That was my first band. We played like five shows, they were all disastrous. Like, our singer would just stop the song if she didn’t like the tempo. Anyways, then I moved to Montreal and I played bass in that band, but I wanted to get into guitar more. It’s interesting cause a lot of people have accused me over the years of being in a girl band because it’s trendy, but women were the only people who gave me chance and ever wanted to play with me when I started.
IB That’s so annoying though! ‘Cause dudes are in bands, like all-dude bands, and you don’t call them a “dude band” because it’s like gimmicky or something.
SH We should start being like, “Are you going to see that boy band, heard your boy band’s playing…”
*laughter*
RG So yeah, that’s just kinda who I’ve played with and then the first constellation of Towanda was people learning their instruments and then people dropped off for
different reasons. It’s almost like a feminist collective over the years in that I’ve taught basically almost everyone whose joined how to play their instrument since then. Not so much in this case.
IB It’s totally true for me. I went into this being like, “Oh bass, that’s easy. That’s the one where you just go like bum-bum-bum.” *laughs* But, it’s a lot of some real difficult things that I’ve been enjoying getting to know.
RG Getting into music was really awesome for me cause it met all of my needs. It’s politics and theatre but also there’s a literary aspect, and I get to write lyrics. Also, getting into music has been awesome for me cause it’s a technical skill set, which is not something I had. I grew up with only girls in a pretty stereotypical way and a guitar is a machine and I like that, and I like figuring it out. It can often be intimidating for women, queer folks, and POC to get into creating or playing in a band while dealing with mostly white male-dominated scenes, especially in the realm of punk rock and metal—any advice?
IB Do the Girls Rock camp! *laughter*
SH Totally do the Girls Rock camp, but you know, if you want to do something you should do it. In Seattle, one of my favorite bands it was an all-female black punk like rock band called NightTraiN, they’re not together anymore but they’re some of my favorite people that I’ve met while being in the music scene. But they met because the four of them joined a play called “Hot Grits” and part of the play was that they need a band to play the soundtrack to the musical. They did a call for artists but none of the women really needed know how to play their instrument cause they were gonna learn in the process of creating this play. So they all did that for a while, and then had some issues—and I might not be telling the history of the “Hot Grits” play, I might not be doing it total justice—but they were like, “Fuck this, we’re gonna keep doing this!” And they started NightTraiN and what those women accomplished in, I think they were together for 7 years, they’re just so fucking good. It’s like magic. And hearing their story that they didn’t really play their instruments before and seeing the progression that they made and that they were adult women, they weren’t young kids, it was inspiring to see their progression over the years. And their motto is “Choo-choo mother fucker!”*laughs* But you know, if you want to do something do it.
RG I would also say that a motivating factor is that people are really hungry for it. And do Ladies Rock Camp and everything will be explained. *laughter*
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new music monday/
FEATURE BY Delia Murphy ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED April 15, 2019
Graham’s Jams Vol. 5 On My Own
Baird
Movie Star Col3trane Kinfolk Mereba NunWrong Leven Kali
With her debut album, Miss Universe, Nilüfer Yanya of West London invites us into the surreal, sometimes dystopian, corners of her ever-contemplating mind. Throughout the 17 tracks, her soulful harmonies are held down by a steady guitar line, minimal percussion, and the occasional saxophone riff. The simplicity of the vocals and their backing is well-suited to the nonchalance with which Yanya sorts through bubbling emotional turmoil. As the 23-year-old grapples with self-doubt and paranoia, she seems surprisingly content to reside in the resounding “maybes” which answer her existential questions. There, she does not wallow, but continues to casually wonder if more clear answers will come along. The fourteenth track, “Monsters Under the Bed,” exemplifies Yanya’s comfort with uncertainty: it opens with the lines “Standing on the edge of reason / Not quite sure what’s right” and wraps up with a bridge and final chorus, which both include triumphant repetition of the line “But the feeling’s good.” Yanya’s apparent ability to accept no answer as the answer is an impressive show of maturity. Occasionally, her crisp falsetto emerges, bringing with it a fleeting sense of desperation for well-defined solutions and a sense of calm. As quickly as Yanya rises to her falsetto, she returns to her naturally raspy voice in a lower register, demonstrating her impressive range and vocal control. Yanya’s quest for answers in her early adulthood is satirized by the album’s intro and interludes during which she shelves her soulful voice. Instead, she speaks in an eerie monotone on these tracks, acting as the voice of a telemarketed self-care service, called WWAY HEALTH. The ultimate failure of this service cleverly suggests that the emotional dilemmas we face cannot be solved with mere technology, and maybe not even with obsessive thought. Like Yanya, we might have to be content to reside in the maybes. With raw raspy vocals, minimalistic yet grounding accompaniment, emotionally reflective lyrics, and clever composure, Miss Universe announces Nilüfer Yanya as an emerging force in the indie pop-rock scene.
Mona Lisa Monte Booker D’Evils SiR Curious Kilo Kish Since Blu Across the Room Odesza, Leon Bridges Little Lies ODIE
or... if you’re feeling fancy... scan this QR code for the digital version of this analog list.
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