Melisma Summer 2014 by Melisma Magazine

Melisma TUFTS’ PREMIER JOURNAL OF MUSIC SUMMER 2014 VOL 12.0

EDITOR IN CHIEF Mitch Mosk, A’14 EDITORS IN CHIEF 2014-15 Jessica Mow, A’15 Jordan Rosenthal-Kay, A’17 ART & LAYOUT DIRECTOR Moira Lavelle, A’16

he Fall 2013 semester saw the naissance of a cohesive undergraduate music culture that continued to grow and solidify this spring. Both DIY concert efforts on campus (Applejam) and school-sponsored events (remember the Granoff All-Nighter?) highlighted some of the university’s most talented undergraduates. Melisma is committed to delivering the freshest insights from both our university’s music scene and its immediate surroundings. Through both print and digital media, Melisma seeks to cultivate and expand Tufts’ musical palate.

MANAGING EDITORS Rebecca Sinai, A’16 Grant Fox, A’17

This edition of Melisma underscores the history and diversity of music culture at Tufts. We looked back and uncovered the story of music producer and Tufts alum Obey City, talked to

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Gabriel Terracciano, A’15

We hope you enjoy this issue, and we hope you check out our facebook page: facebook.com/ melismamagazine or tweet us @melismamagazine.

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jay Dodd, A’14 Justin McCallum A’13 Find us online at www.melismamagazine.com

Sincerely, Mitch Mosk, Spring 2014 Editor-in-Chief, and the Fall 2014 Melisma Editorial Staff Interested in writing, art or design? Questions, comments, adulation or hatemail? email melismamagazine@gmail.com

MELISMA

CONTENTS

By Jordan Rosenthal-Kay

music video, and scoring commercials

HIPSTERS, DADS, & GHOSTS AT THE SOMERVILLE THEATER

THERE CAN BE NO REVOLUTION WITHOUT SONGS

An Essay on Musical Power, Responsibility, and Chile By Gabriel Terracciano

OBEY CITY

Tufts Alum Sam Obey started djing in basements around campus, and now he’s one By Rebecca Sinai

BEYOND THE STAGE

Student Composers at Tufts By Jessica Mow

EDITORIAL: THE STATE OF HIP-HOP AT TUFTS By Grant Fox

MELISMA TALKS TO WALDO

By Jordan Rosenthal-Kay and Grant Fox

SUMMER 2014 VOLUME 12

SUMMER 2014

STWO AT THE MIDDLE EAST

By Jordan Rosenthal-Kay

BAREFOOT WITH THE DIRTY RIVER STRING BAND By Jordan Rosenthal-Kay Mitch Mosk

INTERVIEW WITH SHARK SADDLE

On playing music together, their dream festival lineup, and why Joe Biden would be the best Band Dad By Grant Fox and Jordan Rosenthal-Kay

MELISMA’S TOP 10 SUMMER ALBUMS

WALDO

ON PLAYING SPRING FLING, FILMING THEIR FIRST MUSIC VIDEO, AND SCORING COMMERCIALS GRANT FOX AND JORDAN ROSENTHAL-KAY Melisma: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it like to be the biggest rock stars in the world? John: Gotta stay humble dude

Do you guys have an album in the works? John: We talk about it

If you had unlimited budget to make the music video of your choice, what would you make? John: Michael Bay Just him standing?

If you could cover a famous rap song with Childish Gambino at Spring Fling, what would you cover?

How did you get the name Waldo? If you could have your own fragrance, what would it smell like? Connor: Coconuts Jake: Heavy coconut scent Which of your songs would you like people to workout to and what workout would they do? Jake: Undertaker All: yeah

Any other future plans?

If you had a movie about you, who would play you as actors? If you could write a dystopian teenage romance novel like the Hunger Games, what would your society be like?

If you could cover one Britney Spears album in its entirety, what would it be? Follow Waldo on Twitter:

MELISMA

SUMMER 2014 LOCAL 3

HIPSTERS, DADS, & GHOSTS

ALL THIS AND MORE AT THE SOMERVILLE THEATER

JORDAN ROSENTHAL-KAY

When it comes to the actual music booked, the theater has a

DIRTY RIVER STRING BAND

HANGING OUT BAREFOOT WITH THE TUFTS INSTITUTION JORDAN ROSENTHAL-KAY AND MITCH MOSK

Melisma: How did the band start? [I’d like to let it be known that Melisma magazine is now barefoot with the DRSB.] So how does the band work?

What are you musical backgrounds?

Why don’t all of you play barefoot?

MELISMA

Are you a river string band that’s dirty, or are you named after the dirty river?

If you could have create a federally-recognized holiday, what would it be and when?

If you had an unlimited budget, what kind of music video would you make?

We hear a lot of folk and bluegrass, obviously, and you

SUMMER 2014 BANDS

We’re like an 80s hairmetal band, where the singer dies and just gets replaced over and over.

If you could have one guest performer, who’d it be?

all play a lot of standards, but how often do you write your own songs? Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Do you feel like you’re a performance-based band, or more of a recording-based band? If any bands were to cover one of your songs, who’d you like to cover what?

Who is most likely to get TEMS’d?

If you could add another instrument, what would it be?

If you stopped making music and started making artisan beer, what hipster village would you live in and what beer would you make?

SHARK SADDLE ON PLAYING MUSIC TOGETHER, THEIR DREAM FESTIVAL LINEUP...

AND WHY JOE BIDEN WOULD BE THE BEST BAND DAD GRANT FOX AND JORDAN ROSENTHAL-KAY

hark Saddle played Battle of the Bands and we interviewed them over a game of pool. We lost.

Melisma: If you guys could elect a band dad, would you prefer, Joe Biden or Barack Obama?

What about 100 years? Where’s your ideal grave plot? -

Have many of you have ever seen a shark? If you had unlimited budget to shoot your own Shark Saddle video, we’ll cap it at four minutes in length, what would you make? What are you guys doing for the summer?

How is it you came to such a cohesive sound so quickly?

What’s the deal with Annahstasia? She came and performed but I thought she was out?

Where do you see yourselves in 10 years? Make up a fantasy future for the band.

What would be your dream festival lineup dead or alive?

If you could play at any American music festival what would it be?

MELISMA

SUMMER 2014

INTERVIEWS 7

What’s your craziest encounter with someone recognizing you?

If you could create one piece of merchandise what would it be? -

Where did you record the EP and with what equipment? -

WITHOUT A DEMO, IT’S HARD TO GET BOOKED, BUT APPLEJAM IS WILLING TO BOOK PEOPLE NO ONE’S HEARD.

Would you guys ever consider a collab with a rapper?

songs? How does the writing process work? Does one of you sketch something out and bring it to the rest of you or is it a more organic process?

Are any of you guys in side projects other than Greg? Are you guys getting any press? Any blogs trying to interview you guys?

What is the ideal combination of illicit substances you would like your audience members to be on when they listen to your music?

It’s a combination, you can choose different things

Have you considered bringing any of your material into Shark Saddle?

THERE CAN BE NO REVOLUTION WITHOUT SONGS ON MUSICAL POWER, RESPONSIBILITY, AND CHILE GABRIEL TERRACCIANO

L -

MELISMA SUMMER 2014 ESSAYS 9

THERE IS SOMETHING CONTAINED WITHIN MUSIC THAT CREATES A CATALYST FOR EMOTION, INSPIRATION, AND UNDERSTANDING THAT I DO NOT THINK ANYTHING ELSE REALLY HAS.

OBEY CITY

SAM OBEY BY BENNET KUHN

TUFTS ALUM SAM OBEY IS ONE OF BROOKLYN’S FINEST PRODUCERS

REBECCA SINAI

MELISMA -

SUMMER 2014

FEATURES

I feel like there should be a shift to desire to be surprised and enlightened when you go watch a DJ

Astro Nautico l LuckyMe Nothing was the Same

Yeezus LuckyMe

LuckyMe Astro Nautico Astro Nautico Astro Nautico LuckyMe

Champagne Sounds

Astro Nautico -

Day Tripper Records, Shochu Sounds

Champagne Sounds.

Merlot Sounds -

Astro Nautico -

Astro Nautico

Astro Nauticoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Astro Nautico

ASTRO NAUTICO LOGO COURTESY OF BENNETT KUHN

Astro Nautico

Midnight at Tufts

MELISMA

SUMMER 2014

FEATURES

BENNETT KUHN BY JOHN SUBRANNI

A DIFFERENT STAGE

STUDENT COMPOSERS FIND PASSIONS IN THEATER

GRACE OBERHOFER BY JUSTIN MCCALLUM

JESSICA MOW

Or,

Measure for Measure. Or, -

Or, -

Or,

MELISMA SUMMER 2014 FEATURES

I decided that it would be fun to take on a role of really composing a lot of music, and creating the

Ronald

Cloud Atlas

show with sound Ronald

Ronald Charlie Brown -

EDITORIAL: THE STATE OF HIP-HOP AT TUFTS

IS SPRING FLING THE ONLY DAY OF THE YEAR WHEN TUFTS STUDENTS WANT TO HEAR HIP-HOP MUSIC? GRANT FOX SHAUN “KVVAM ANDAH” BY JAY DODD

MELISMA

SUMMER 2014

OP-EDS

Hip-hop is on the cusp of becoming a legitimate aspect of the tufts music scene

OUR FAVORITE SUMMER 2014 RELEASES Just be Free by Big Freedia

TURN BLUE

by The Black Keys

By OWEN PAL- FAMILIARS Ultraviolence by The Antlers by Lana del ray LETT

MELISMA MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014 EXTRAS 19

Where we come from

I NEVER LEARN by Popcaan by Lykke Li

NIKKI NACK

by tUnE-yArDs

LAZARETTO

by Jack White

Days of Abandon

by THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART

STWO THE PARISIAN PRODUCER MAKES HIS BOSTON DEBUT AT THE THE MIDDLE EAST

JORDAN ROSENTHAL-KAY -

MELISMA

SUMMER 2014

LIVE SHOWS

Is there anything you miss about Paris, now that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re

Before his set, Melisma Staff Members Jordan Rosenthal-Kay and Rebecca Sinai had the chance to speak with Stwo. Melisma: You just started touring in the US a few days ago,

I try though just to make the kind of music I like, without looking at whatever people are looking for.