Noise: Japanese Breakfast plays Brooklyn Bowl

JUMPING FOR JUBILEE

NOISE

Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner talks sonic joy and turning fussy songs into favorites

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Michelle Zauner’s having a great year. The frontwoman of indie rock outfit Japanese Breakfast released her third studio album (Jubilee), published her first book (Crying in H Mart: A Memoir) and composed an original soundtrack for the video game Sable— all within a few months’ time. Now she’s steering Japanese Breakfast’s first tour since the pandemic.

We caught up with the singer in advance of the October 5 show at Brooklyn Bowl.

So many of your projects have landed during the past five months. Have you had a chance to soak it all in yet? I’m in this space right now where I feel like an empty nester. It’s an exciting feeling to let go of your little babies— you know that they’re doing the work out in the world that you’ve raised them to do. There’s also some loneliness and fear of, like, what do I do with my life now? What’s next for me? But there’s also the excitement of a new chapter, just being a blank slate to figure out what’s next. I gotta discover a new hobby or go on vacation.

You could always play Sable. How did you end up composing a soundtrack for a video game? I was actually approached in 2017 by Daniel Feinberg, one of the developers. At the time, they just had a couple of gifs out there, and the art was so striking. They were in search of a composer who was outside of the game world and could bring a different sound. But they also wanted someone who enjoyed gaming and had a passion for it and respect for it, I think.

It’s a really good fit, and I’ve been really lucky that I’ve had the chance to be involved from a really early stage. I’ve spent the last four years adding more and more music as the world came together. JAPANESE BREAKFAST

October 5, 7:30 p.m. $20-30. Brooklyn Bowl, 702-862-2695, brooklynbowl.com. That game’s known for having beautiful soundtracks as well. Could this be your new calling—soundtrack composer? I would love to do it again. I had so much fun doing it, and I think I had a very charmed first experience. I don’t know if it’s always this way, but I really hope that I get to do it again if the right project comes along. Let’s put that out into the world.

You’ve stated that one of your goals with June album Jubilee was to explore more joy. On this record, there’s horns, brass, strings … Did you go into it consciously looking for musical ways to convey that emotion? Absolutely. For the sophomore record, there was so much pressure to avoid the sophomore slump. It was a very insular project of trying to keep in step with the same sort of thing. I felt like a third album should be really bombastic and full of confidence.

I learned so much from my co-producer, Craig Hendrix, who’s also our live drummer. … He has a real skill for arrangements. I think he gave me the courage and confidence to bring on these new instruments that we had sort of dipped the toe in the water of using before. I knew I wanted to have that all over the record, that the sky was the limit and that we had the capability of adding those things.

A jubilee is a trumpet blast of victory. I wanted that to be a major element of this record.

Which was your favorite song to write, and which do you enjoy playing live most? It’s funny, because my least-favorite song to write is “Slide Tackle.” It was such a little bitch of a song. Usually my favorite songs happen really quickly. They just know exactly what they want to be, and things fall into place. “Slide Tackle” was this really fussy baby, where there were many times I wanted to abandon it. I thought it was too simple. So I would add and add and add and add, and nothing ever felt like enough. And eventually I just gave up on it, and it was what it was. But it’s my favorite song to play live. It became such a special live number that I really love that song now. It’s one of my favorite songs on the record. In terms of writing, I think “Kokomo, IN” has a really special place in my heart because that was a really easy song. I was writing it as we were recording in the studio, and it came together really quickly. It’s a very sweet song, a very new direction for me.

NIGHTS

A rendering of a Drai’s XSET cabana (Courtesy XSET)

AHEAD OF THE GAME

Drai’s partners with video game lifestyle brand XSET

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Rick Ross. Big Sean. French Montana. When it comes to star-studded hip-hop lineups, Drai’s is the king of the Strip.

Here’s a new name for you: XSET, the first esports lifestyle brand to lock in a “video game residency” with the storied Las Vegas nightlife brand.

“Gaming is finally becoming mainstream. It’s pop culture,” says Greg Selkoe, chief executive officer of XSET. “But one of the things we founded XSET on, besides that pop culture component, was diversity and inclusion. We wanted to create an organization for women, men, LGBTQ, all different races, backgrounds, styles and interests, and I think that comes together in nightclubs, as well.

“Drai’s [brings in a really] interesting mix of different people. Everyone loves hip-hop. It’s a global force ... and gaming is also becoming a global force. So why not bring the two things together?”

This intersection has been explored in Las Vegas before, from former Fremont East bar Insert Coin(s) to newer spots like Emporium Arcade Bar at Area15. But XSET’s partnership with Drai’s seems intent on taking the trend to another level. Late this fall, Drai’s will debut themed XSET cabanas featuring custom video game consoles and large LED screens for optimal game time.

Inside the nightclub, VIP guests will game inside their exclusive sections as they listen to the hottest stars in residence, and Drai’s x XSET merch will be sold on site. Plans for contests and gaming tournaments often hosted by XSET talent and Drai’s artists are also in the works.

XSET has several esports teams under its belt in various games, from Call of Duty to Rocket League. Selkoe says an XSET “content house,” where Drai’s resident artists can host listening parties, film content and XSET team players can stream games, is coming in 2022.

As former president of the wildly successful gaming collective FaZe Clan, Selkoe brings years of institutional knowledge of the gaming industry to the table. But recognizes the business model is changing.

“I think Vegas has an opportunity to really lead what gaming’s becoming, which is gaming lifestyle,” Selkoe says. “Esports is just one part of it.”

XSET’s ties to the music industry ran deep even before it partnered with Drai’s. Clinton Sparks, the organization’s chief business development officer, is a Grammy-nominated DJ who has worked with everyone from Lady Gaga to Diddy. And XSET’s chief merchandising and licensing officer Wil Eddins, whom Selkoe credits with starting the initial conversations with Drai’s, is a Las Vegas native with connections to entertainers around the city.

The organization has also picked up several high-profile investors and influencers along the way, including hip-hop artist Swae Lee from Rae Sremmurd, Latin superstar Ozuna, the New England Patriots’ Kyle Van Noy and the Denver Broncos’ Justin Simmons.

“We’re reaching into music, into technology, into nightlife in a way that I don’t think any of the gaming orgs, even ones I’ve been at before, are going to have the ability to, because we started from day one focusing on it,” Selkoe says. “We want to be awesome at esports, but [we’re also focused on] lifestyle. … We want everyone who loves gaming to feel like this is for them.”

HIGHER ART

Save Art Space and Meow Wolf take local work to a billboard scale

BY AMBER SAMPSON

The next time you drive in to work, head to the store or walk to the bus stop, look up. What you see might surprise you.

Billboards around the Las Vegas Valley have been transformed with the work of 10 local artists, thanks to a partnership between Save Art Space and Meow Wolf. Titled Portals & Pathways, the public art exhibition seeks to replace ads with the greatest promotion of all: the people of our community.

Nonprofit Save Art Space began this mission back in 2015 in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, where co-founder Travis Rix watched alcohol and clothing advertisements erase murals overnight. “That’s not why people are living here, and that’s not what artists want. … So we were like, we should do something about it.”

(Courtesy Meow Wolf)

WHERE TO VIEW

Sameer Asnani: 3641 W. Sahara Ave. Ruby Barrientos: 3890 W. Tropicana Ave. Changoart: 3305 S. Decatur Blvd. Nancy Good: 3355 Spring Mountain Road Brian Henry: 2784 Las Vegas Blvd. S. Q’Shaundra James: 3152 S. Highland Drive Gem Jaxx: 6593 Las Vegas Blvd. S. Joshua S. Levin: 1920 E. Sahara Ave. Cristina Natsuko Paulos: 260 S. Decatur Blvd. Joseph Watson: 4360 S. Decatur Blvd.

ART

Save Art Space began raising money to fund public art installations around New York City. Soon, the projects expanded to more than 35 U.S. cities, with the work of more than 300 artists displayed on more than 600 ad spaces. Installations touch on important topics of the time. Some series have focused on ending police brutality and Asian hate; others have declared trans people are sacred.

Sometimes, Rix says, the artwork even includes members of the community, from autistic middle school children to senior citizens in their 90s. “It’s supposed to be meaningful, what you want to see on your billboards,” he says. Spencer Olsen, art director of Meow Wolf Las Vegas, and four other Meow Wolf curators helped curate the selection of artists for Portals & Pathways. And sure, they could have plucked talent from any corner of the world, but highlighting locals “was a really important criteria,” he says. “There’s a lot of amazing talent in Vegas. … It’s a bit of an underserved community, and we’re trying as much as we can to undo that, or at least create a more healthy ecosystem for artists to be able to cycle projects and do cool stuff.” Olsen says that among roughly 250 submissions his team received, finding diverse talent mattered most. It searched for emerging artists, established artists, artists from every age group and from every cultural background—as many perspectives as possible, to bring the theme to life. To Rix, Portals & Pathways is still one big ad. “But this ad isn’t trying to sell you anything,” he says. “It’s just trying to open your mind.”

PORTALS & Olsen says the exhibition

PATHWAYS loosely calls back to Omega

Through October 10, Mart’s narrative of “portals various to other worlds opening.” But locations, he also wanted to leave room saveartspace. for artists to develop their org/meowwolf own meanings. The goal of the billboards, he says, is to shake up your routine. “Maybe it makes someone’s day, just seeing something beautiful,” Olsen says. “There’s this thing we always fall back to as a foundation. Subverting expectations by presenting something familiar, but it’s new. It’s different. It’s intriguing. It makes you feel curious. If you’re used to seeing injury lawyer billboards … and instead you see this amazing painting or graphic art, it should give you pause.”

STAGE

‘ACCESSIBLE’ OPERA

Opera Las Vegas hosts the West Coast premiere of ‘The Ghosts of Gatsby’

(Left to right) Rob McGinness as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kayla Wilkens as Zelda 1924

and Athena Mertes as Zelda 1918 in The Ghosts of Gatsby (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)

BY C. MOON REED

How does an opera company stand out when it lacks the budget to produce grand extravaganzas? By looking to the future.

Opera Las Vegas is forging its artistic identity on the cutting edge of creation. In a genre often stereotyped as antiquarian, OLV is producing new work. It has launched a Living Composers and Librettists Initiative, and has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For the first production of its 2021-2021 season, OLV presents the West Coast premiere of The Ghosts of Gatsby—which won a prize in 2019 from the National Opera Association—at the Space. The plot tells of Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s effort to write his masterpiece novel, The Great Gatsby, amid a cloud of jealousy, alcoholism and obsession.

Holed up on the French Riviera, Scott is distracted by his wife Zelda’s alleged infidelities. In an boozy fever dream, he sees three versions of his wife, each at a different age. Sopranos Kayla Wilkens, Athena Mertes and Kimberly Gratland James play the Zeldas. Arizona Opera’s artist-in-residence Rob McGinness plays Fitzgerald.

The tight, 60-minute show begins with an entertaining 15-minute vaudevillian prologue, in which the performers sing jazzy tunes of love won and lost. “You think it’s generalized, but it’s actually very specific, because they use the words that F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda actually spoke or wrote,” explains James Sohre, general director for Opera Las Vegas.

The show features a buffet of Nevada talent, including contributions from the Las Vegas Philharmonic, UNLV’s opera department and Opera on Tap. Daz Weller, executive artistic director of Vegas Theatre Company, directs. “We’re trying to make it a real community coalition, saying, ‘Hey, the arts are back onstage in Las Vegas.’” Sohre says.

As for music lovers who might be intimidated by the word “opera,” Sohre wants all to know that “this is very accessible music.” Unlike the “discordant” tones of some contemporary classical music, Sohre says Gatsby offers “tunes that could be in a musical review of the ’20s. And the opera itself is very tuneful.”

One of the best and most unique aspects of opera, Sohre says, is that several characters can express different emotions through song at the same time. “That can’t happen in any other art form,” Sohre says. “But these are sustained and deeply felt emotions that layer over each other. … We have chords and harmonies [that] are very beautiful and dramatic and interesting to hear. You not only have the solo moments that are in the piece, but also these great dialogues.” The opera is sung in English, but to promote full understanding, there are also English subtitles. Opera Las Vegas wants its audiences to feel welcomed. “There’s nothing [viewers] have to bring, except their curiosity,” Sohre says. “We’ve always surprised people that it can be something really relevant and really easy to understand.

The Ghosts of Gatsby is just the start for a season of music au courant. Future shows include The House Without a Christmas Tree (November 19-21), Approaching Ali (January 21-23), Strawberry Fields/ Trouble in Tahiti (April 22-24) and Tosca (June 10-12). Visit operalasvegas.com for show details.

THE GHOSTS OF GATSBY October 1-3 Friday-Saturday 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.; $25-$45. The Space, 702-263-6604.