Melisma Magazine Spring 2016 by Melisma Magazine

MELISMA MAGAZINE TUFTS PREMIER JOURNAL OF MUSIC

MELISMA EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Ross Bretherton Rebecca Sinai Chelsea Wang

FROM THE EDITORS

reetings loved ones, let us take you on a journey! Last issue, in this very letter, we wished for Fetty Wap for Spring Fling 2016. Brown heard our prayer, and made it happen (albeit on their campus). But fear not, because we’ve made up for Tufts’ indie-pop lineup by dropping this fire mixtape (issue) the day before Spring Fling. It comes complete with an interview with our own opener, Børns!

MANAGING EDITORS Kriska Desir Kristina Mensik Dan Pechi

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS

Grant Fox Jordan Rosenthal-Kay

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Noah Adler Cody Eaton Mallory Grider Tess Hinchman Dennis Kim Kelly Kollias Jason Mejia Niki Van Manen Andrew Sobelsohn

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & DESIGNERS Claire Boals Jon Denton Niki van Manen Greg Ports Evan Sayles

The Spring issue of Melisma returns our focus to campus as freshmen and upperclassmen alike develop their bands. We continue to be excited by the incredible talent emerging at Tufts; each new year has brought us a more vibrant music scene than ever, and this year is no exception. Freshmen band Dirty Nalgene toured our favorite frats with a versatile set list, and Water Walk slayed at Battle of the Bands. We got to see incredible live music on campus. Mal Devisa performed at an Applejam show in February and we got an exclusive interview with her featured online. Bad & Blue threw the craziest party we’ve ever witnessed in the Crane Room and brought Berklee’s Trap Music Orchestra for support. Even with our eyes focused on campus, we still explored music beyond the Tufts bubble. Melisma got a press badge to cover South By Southwest this year and someone threw up on Chelsea during Drake’s surprise performance at the FADER Fort. Ross and Rebecca crashed some basement shows in Back Bay to witness the emergence of Steady Grounds, a new name in the Boston music scene. As always, if you are enthusiastic about music, writing, photography, or layout, please send us an email at melismamagazine@gmail.com. We’d love to have you on our team!

Cheers, Rebecca Sinai, Ross Bretherton, Chelsea Wang Editors-in-Chief

Interested in writing, art or design? Questions, comments, adulation or hatemail? email melismamagazine@gmail.com

MELISMA | SPRING 2016 | 3

MELISMA TUFTS’ PREMIER JOURNAL OF MUSIC WATER WALK Jazzy and spontaneous, Water Walk is a musical miracle Tess Hinchman

DIRTY NALGENE They’ve been taking over the frats at Tufts, but who are Dirty Nalgene? Niki Van Manen

STEADY GROUNDS How basement shows in a Berklee apartment are bringing Boston schools together Ross Bretherton

SXSW Underage and ready to rage at South by Southwest Chelsea Wang

IF I’M BEING COMPLETELY FRANK Over three years after Channel Orange, where on earth is Frank Ocean? Dennis Kim

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CYMBAL

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BØRNS

We catch up with the app’s developers a year after their departure from Tufts Rebecca Sinai

A chat with the rising star and Tufts Spring Fling opener Kriska Desir

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BIG FESTIVALS, BIGGER BUSINESS

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RAP BEEFS

With festivals catering to every niche imaginable, is the market oversaturated? Dan Pechi

An illustrated history of rap’s biggest feuds Jason Mejia

ON THE COVER

Water Walk Photo by Ross Bretherton Melisma Magazine is a non-profit student publication of Tufts University. The opinions expressed in articles, features or photos are solely those of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the staff. Tufts University is not responsible for the content of Melisma Magazine. If you would like to submit a letter to Melisma Magazine, please send it to melismamagazine@gmail.com. Please limit your letter to four hundred words or less.

MUSICAL MIRACLES: A CONVERSATION WITH WATER WALK BY TESS HINCHMAN

melodies. Reminiscent of bands like Lake Street Dive and Hiatus Kaiyote, both of whom the band cites as inspirations, the band pays homage to jazz hallmarks while still sounding fresh. Lead singer Melissa Weikart effortlessly navigates between ethereal riffs one minute and powerhouse belting the with contrasting lines next. The instrumentation is also no joke: spontaneous enough to evoke with contrasting lines jazz’s improv roots but tight spontaneous enough enough to suggest hours of to evoke jazz’s improv roots but tight practice, Water Walk is enough to suggest impressive, interesting, and hours of practice, totally danceable Water Walk is impressive, interesting, and totally danceable.

f you’ve been on campus the past few months, you’ve probably heard the name Water Walk. Tufts’ latest student band has played everywhere from Pi Rho’s basement to the Thunder Road Music Club to Johnny D’s. In April, they capped off a string of successful performances with their Battle of the Bands victory. Led by senior Melissa Weikart on vocals, the band includes Erik Broess on guitar; Aidan Scrimgeour on keyboard; Gabe Terracciano on bass; Grant Steinhauer and Matt Estabrook on sax; and Jackson Fulk-Logon on drums. Recently, I got the chance to sit down with the band and talk about the Tufts music scene, their upcoming residency at the Middle East, and Randy Jackson’s bass playing.

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When I first saw Water Walk perform in the Crane Room last month, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d heard about the band through sax-player Matt Estabrook, who I’ve actually known since eighth grade, when we performed together in a memorable production of The Sound of Music. This, however, clearly wasn’t “16 Going on 17” anymore. Water Walk’s sound is a jazzy mix of complex rhythms and poppy

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As cohesive as the band is onstage, offstage is a different story entirely. Like any group of close friends, their conversation jumped around, frequently getting side tracked by inside jokes and tangents. For example, when I asked about the story behind the name “Water Walk” the room devolved into confusion about who actually came up with it. Eventually Erik told us, “I kinda threw it out there as a joke. It’s based on a John Cage performance art piece called

MELISMA |SPRING 2016 | 5 ‘Water Walk’.” This was apparently a revelation for Gabe who admitted, “I always thought it was a weird Christian thing.” “Can we open for Reliant K then?” piped up Jackson. Melissa volunteered that “We liked water as a concept” which was promptly met by rancorous laughter. Clearly, the band doesn’t take themselves too seriously. “The cute story is that we [Melissa and Erik] met at Newport Jazzfest across the sea of people.” Erik explained, when asked about the band’s origin story. “Yeah we were like, ‘Oh my god we know each other because we were both music majors’ but we had never talked before and we jammed that summer. So there you go: birth of a band,” added Melissa. Erik then introduced Melissa to Jackson and Gabe, both of whom he’d known previously. In fact, Gabe and Erik had a long history of playing together in Tufts bands. “Beginning with Thoroughfare, moving onto Inca Mummy Girl, onto Blue Ives, and now Water Walk. Four bands in four years,” he mused. Grant was the only member to actively seek out the band. As he explained, he became involved with the band early this semester when “One time I inboxed Melissa because I thought she was so intimidating and I was like ‘Hey, I’m Grant and I would love to play music with you.’” Clearly, his leap of faith worked out. Grant then brought freshman and fellow sax player Matt to the band. “Grant and I have a very special connection,” joked Matt, “We have very similar mindsets...we are effective at communicating with each other but also bring contrast to the band.” “I like it because I dance with them onstage,” Melissa chipped in. “Yeah,” Grant added, “the only reason there are horns in the band is to keep Melissa company because she gets lonely up there.” Collaboration, it seems, is a trend for Water Walk. Although the writing process begins with Melissa, when—as she explained—“I’ll bring in stuff I have the barebones of, keys and vocals, and say ‘these are the chords, this is what it roughly what it is,’ and then when Jackson brings the drums it completely changes everything.” Grant nodded in agreement, “I think it’s really cool how many different forms the song takes before we have the final project.” The band attested that their song “From a Whisper” is basically unrecognizable from its original form.

A big part of the band’s creative success is, as Jackson explained, their own diverse taste in music. While they all agree on Kendrick, D’Angelo, and the Internet as inspirations, their personal favorites range from Gabe’s beloved “Dad-Rock” or “Father-Core” (read as classic 70s rock) to Melissa’s childhood favorite, Norah Jones. Even their guilty pleasures run the gambit. Matt secretly likes Gavin Degraw, while Erik is “really into Randy Jackson’s bass playing.” He revealed that he has, “the number one comment on a Randy Jackson bass instructional video...Its ‘He’s in it to win it Dawg.’ It’s been eleven years and it’s still there” So what’s next for Water Walk? The band happily reported that they have secured a local residency at The Middle East for the summer. If you are in the area, be sure to check them out because with three graduating seniors, this will be the band’s last hurrah. Gabe summarized the bittersweet situation: “At the end of five years of being at this place and at the end of all sorts of different groups, I’m really gratified to be ending with this group of people.” Grant echoed similar feelings. “I think we are really lucky that we genuinely like each other,” he added, “everyone in the group really appreciates each other as people.” Melissa agreed: “Personally, I really think this is a great end and culmination of the music I’ve done here. And I wouldn’t have met Grant!” “Yeah, thank god!” Grant exclaimed.

CATCHING UP WITH CYMBAL UPDATES ON THE TUFTS STARTUP SINCE THEIR MOVE TO NEW YORK

BY REBECCA SINAI

ast year, three Tufts students created Cymbal, a social media app that was hyped up as the “Instagram for music”; however, it’s turned out to be a lot less self-indulgent than Instagram. Cymbal provides users a chance to share their favorite songs publicly, and the most self-indulgent aspect of the app is that it gives users who post a track for the first time a trophy next to their name. Other than that, it’s a way for people around the world to connect. You can skip the fancy vacation photos or anything that creates the same melancholy or disappointment that my other favorite apps seem to sometimes evoke. Tufts publications last spoke to the founders of Cymbal when the app had just started to gather support from campus, and the founders were ready to graduate. We couldn’t predict how long the app would last because it seemed to only be on a portion of Tufts students’ iPhones. If the team and the company would stick together on an app committed to bringing people around the world together based on personally curated music discovery was still unknown. I caught up with Tufts graduate Gabe Jacobs to find out what the team has been up to since relocating to New York in the fall. I walked up a couple flights of stairs to their office space—what looked like a packed glass-enclosed conference room—in the WeWork coworking space at 240 Kent Avenue in Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn. Jacobs, the founder and front-end iOS developer, introduced me to the team sitting around a table overwhelmed by large iMacs. The team is comprised of Jacobs who leads front-end development, and three other Tufts grads: Amadou Crookes who does back-end development, Mario Gomez-Hall who does design (Crookes and Gomez-Hall are also co-founders), and Sam Purcell who does web development and is working on the Android version of the app. Charlie Kaplan is the only member of the team who didn’t go to Tufts; he handles all of their growth initiatives and marketing. Every day, the team starts with a stand up meeting where they pass around a book about Tupac and discuss the day’s goals. As a team of five, it’s a balance of integrating good business practices and feeding off of each others’ energy. When I speak with Jacobs, his enthusiasm for the app is infec-

tious, and I see him browse through Cymbal almost ten times as we talk. Jacobs and I spoke about Cymbal’s progress; the app’s relationships with the music industry and record labels; and what Cymbal means for Tufts.

Melisma: What has the move to Brooklyn been like? Jacobs: It’s been crazy...Being here has been awesome—everyone’s here...we’re meeting with label people all the time, meeting artists...there’s so much music going on all the time, so I’m going to concerts all the time and trying to talk to people there. Is it hard promoting the app and being part of the music community at the same time? Yes. So hard. There are so many times where I meet [a musician] who I think is really cool and I want to be cool, and not promote Cymbal, but then I’m like I have to tell them about the app and if I didn’t I’d be letting everyone down...so yeah, it’s a struggle. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced this year? We have all of these crazy ideas, and what do we prioritize because we only have five people? We’ve thought about [direct messaging] within the app...it’s been difficult to determine what route to go because there have been so many different ways we could take this. What are some of Cymbal’s greatest accomplishments? Well we started with no featured community; we’ve definitely built that out and I’m really proud of that. We have all of these artists who are using it and liking it. We have Pusha T, and that’s crazy. I don’t think anyone of us ever imagined something like that would happen. Are there any companies you’re trying to collaborate with? We’re talking to a lot of record labels all the time, and trying to get their artists to use it, so that’s a constant thing we’re working on. We also would love to talk to Bandcamp...we’d love to integrate with Bandcamp because that’s just a source of really small acts. Cymbal has the opportunity to put a spotlight on these small acts that people don’t know about.

MELISMA | SPRING 2016 | 7 Any places that you are surprised to see people using Cymbal? Yeah! There’s a big group of people in Italy that loves Cymbal. And also Japan. You’ll see like thirty comments and they’re all in Japanese. Some music blog wrote about us in Italy, and we have all these Italian people writing us: “This app is great! We love it!” And stuff like that. I don’t know why, but Italy! How are you still trying to keep ties with Tufts? We actually have a new idea that we might try out at Tufts specifically. I think that’s important because Tufts is our home base. And the people there are attached to Cymbal in a different way than random people, because they know it was made by friends or Tufts people. That’s how it’s taken off. One small community really, really likes it, and then it can spread from there. And it was really cool to see Tufts in the beginning really embrace it. So far my only friends on the app are from Tufts. I’ve told other people about it but since I’m their only connection to it… Going back to struggles, we hear that all the time, “I don’t have that many friends on the app, and when I try to tell my friends about the app, they’re like ‘Oh.’” It’s hard to refer people to Cymbal. We’re trying to think of unique, cool ways we can get better at that. You’ve talked about the good feedback you’ve gotten from labels that you’ve reached out to, have there been any labels or people who’ve reached out to you to get involved? Yeah! There are a bunch of labels that are on here because they sent us an email and were like “Hey, we want to try this out, can you feature us?” And it would be like a really cool record label. Doing this made me realize how many small record labels there are. There are so many. They have anywhere from five to ten bands on it. But there could be really cool bands. There’s this one label that emailed us awhile ago called Topshelf Records...and they’re awesome! Are most genres of music covered with those labels? It’s been hard. It’s usually in Rock or EDM. It’s been hard to get the other genres. But we have Epitaph records, which is generally a metal record company. We also have a country [label on Cymbal]. We have a very good set of big names: we have Domino, Def Jam, Fat Possum, Ultra. I feel like the labels really love us, because Cymbal is a good way to promote artists. It’s been a little bit more difficult to get artists to use it ‘cause they focus on making music. And they have managers and stuff to do this for them. How are you trying to address the market for streaming which is becoming more and more fragmented? We’ve always thought of ourselves as the app that would sit on top of these streaming services...Rdio existed and now they’re done. There was Spotify, Rdio, Apple Music, Tidal, Beats, Deezer—there are so many ways to get music on your device to listen to it, but we wanted to be a place where it didn’t matter what company or service you chose to pay, as long as you’re paying someone. Cymbal could be a place where all of that comes together. Everyone comes to one place to listen to music, and you

choose who to pay. What’s your relationship like with Spotify and Soundcloud? It’s very good [with Spotify]...we don’t talk to them every day, but they seem to really like us and we really like them. We want a closer relationship. Similar thing [with Soundcloud]—we’ve talked to them, they seem to love what we’re doing...They want people to be using their API because it helps with their network. People who sign up for Cymbal who don’t have premium want to get Spotify Premium because it makes Cymbal a lot better. They really like that. Soundcloud is interesting because they seem to be going through a change. There’s been news about how they might introduce some sort of premium service, and they’re definitely getting a lot of heat from people. Do you have any short term or long term goals you can share? What shouldn’t we expect from you? We’re very focused on the app, and the service, but at the same time we do live shows because we want to support the music community and we want to be a music company as well as a tech company. In terms of the service, we really want to be a social network dedicated to music. Currently that happens in a lot of different parts of the internet...We feel that these are all good, but it’s not a good home for music. Reddit wasn’t made for music. Twitter wasn’t made for music. Facebook wasn’t made for music...We want to be the place where if people really care about music that’s where they go. They don’t need to go anywhere else. Everything on Cymbal is public. Was that intentional? I think we did intend it to be that way, and there’s a good reason. I’d say the biggest reason is unlike Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, the content that you post on Cymbal is widely available to anyone...That is a great thing, that we’re connecting people with similar musical taste. That’s a big reason – the stuff you’re posting on Cymbal is coming from Spotify, and is open access. We really like the idea of connecting people. My friends and I joke about this. We all have two or three Cymbal accounts that we follow and that follow us because we like the same music, and we don’t know who they are. Exactly. And people talk about flirting on Cymbal, and that’s great. That’s exactly what we’re about, connecting people with similar musical tastes. We’ve all got to find our musical soulmates…If accounts were private, that would limit those opportunities. So I guess that’s something we shouldn’t expect from you. Is there anything else? We don’t have a recommendation algorithm or anything like that. A lot of people are talking about [Spotify] Discover Weekly and stuff, and most of the feedback is great. Most people love Discover Weekly, but we believe that songs are better when they come from people that matter to you. One of the things that is going to stay true forever with Cymbal is that every song is going to have a person that matters behind it.

CHECK OUT THE FULL INTERVIEW AT MELISMAMAGAZINE.COM

DIRTY NALGENE JUST WANTS TO JAM A LOOK AT THE TUFTS FRESHMAN BAND THAT DESCRIBES THEMSELVES AS “THE MUSICAL REPRESENTATION OF ANDY WARHOL.” BY NIKI VAN MANEN

irty Nalgene is complicated. Pop, hardcore, rap, indie jams – they’ll do it all. “We just wanna play music and have a good time,” Trevor LaVecchia explains. “The two biggest styles that influence us are jam bands and jazz/fusion,” Sam says. “We still like to put our own twist on everything we do though and that leads to a lot of reharmonizing and experimenting.” They refuse to categorize themselves as a band for fear of eliminating options. So one weekend they’ll be at 123 playing “Buy U A Drank” by T-Pain and the next they’ll be throwing a saxophone solo into “Estimated Prophet” by the Grateful Dead at the Crane Room. Later, they’ll be at Pi Rho playing “Neptune Estate” by King Krule and after that they’ll hit up Relay for Life to play some crowd pleasers like “Say it Ain’t So” by Weezer. “We want to create a music scene at Tufts. There should be a show every weekend. On campus. We should be going to shows every weekend.” Ben says. “We’ll play a show with anybody, literally anybody. We want to create an open community of artists.”

Dirty Nalgene is Ben Thorne, Charles Winston, Noah Harris, Sam Lenney, Trevor LaVecchia, and Zoe Schoen. They formed through multiple jam sessions in a practice room. “We started to learn about each others playing styles through playing organically and there was a natural connection that ended in something awesome. We’re the most random conglomeration of people that just happened to mesh,” Trevor describes. They don’t want to make goals for the future. “We love music and that’s the central part. Playing a show together is the greatest high I’ve ever felt,” Ben says. That being said, they plan on staying together for a while and recording. “We want an artistic outlet,” Sam says. “Playing ‘Buy U A Drank’ at a frat party is fun for sure. But we have more to say.” They want to get on the map, play more off campus shows, and get a gig at the Middle East in Boston. Dirty Nalgene isn’t one of those freshman bands that begins in a late night study sesh in Tilton and then disappears forever. They’re here to stay, and they’re here to throw some good vibes your way.

DIRTY NALGENE FAST FACTS: FAVORITE ALBUM OF 2016?

DREAM COLLABORATOR?

Trevor: Ray LaMontage – Ouroboros

Ben: Thundercat

Ben: Kanye West – The Life of Pablo

Trevor: Beach Boys

Noah: Anderson .Paak – Malibu

Charles: Jerry Garcia

Sam: Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger

Noah: D’Angelo

Sam: Chance the Rapper

BØRNS SHARES HIS ELECTRIC LOVE ON TUFTS CAMPUS

MELISMA | SPRING 2016 | 9

BY KRISKA DESIR

he last year and a half has been a busy one for Spring Fling opener BØRNS. He has performed on the late night television circuit; at festivals like Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, SXSW, and this year’s Coachella Festival; and in every major city in the United States. Though some might not necessarily recognize it, BØRNS has been everywhere for the past year (quite literally and figuratively). That’s the caliber of success (and hard work) that follows an album boasting hits like “Electric Love” and “10,000 Emerald Pools” and that as a whole has been met with critical acclaim. Garrett Borns, the indie pop singer for whom the project is named, describes the year as one that’s been “nonstop,” but he’s grateful for the whirlwind of a year. “It’s been good. It’s been a long ride,” he says.

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live show and how I want to do it.” That sentiment is very apparent in Dopamine—the listener gets the Beach Boys’ harmonies and hazy, sunny vibe on a song like “10,000 Emerald Pools” alongside the bassy funk of Earth, Wind & Fire on songs like “Holy Ghost” and “Fool.” BØRNS’ sound is scatterbrained, but confident in that quality because it sounds and feels good. BØRNS says, “The album is called Dopamine because that is the most internalized aspect of love or feelings of ecstasy. Dopamine is released and gives you those feelings.” What began as a studio project with two songwriters has become a fullfledged, unstoppable band. “It’s been really interesting to see what songs people are naturally attracted to. We never really set a single for my EP or for my LP. People were naturally drawn to certain songs on the LP, and it’s just really interesting to see what songs people naturally gravitate to,” BØRNS says. It only takes a look at the number of Spring Fling-type events that BØRNS has played—Notre Dame, Middlebury, and Wesleyan, to name a few—to see that people are attracted to BØRNS’ fun, danceable, and almost mesmerizing sound. It is, after all, what has propelled him to success. Sounds like the all the right trappings for a Prez Lawn sing along on May 1.

It’s always a different dialogue with every audience. I want a feeling of tension in the music, almost this loading feeling.

Though the announcement that BØRNS would play our Spring Fling was quite unexpected (and most likely inadvertent), BØRNS was willing to give hints as to what we can expect from the Spring Fling set. He says, “It’s gonna be mostly a massive sing-along. Electric instruments, drums, harmonies, all of that good stuff. You’re gonna just have to see and experience it.” While some artists attempt to create a specific experience in their live shows—either through extravagant sets à la Kanye or through showstopping dance numbers à la Yoncé— a BØRNS show is more about how the music itself makes you feel. BØRNS engages in an exchange with the audience. His show is “always a give and take.” He says, “It’s always a different dialogue with every audience. I want a feeling of tension in the music, almost this loading feeling. It’s something that is overall is just a feel-good show.” In a word, BØRNS describes his sound as “scatterbrained.” He says, “It’s influenced by a lot of different eras and genres. I think it’s sort of expanded and grown and matured as I’ve realized what I want to be playing in the

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LISTEN TO: BØRNS – 10,000 EMERALD POOLS BØRNS – ELECTRIC LOVE BØRNS – AMERICAN MONEY BØRNS – DOPAMINE

STEADY GROUNDS

BUILDING A CREATIVE COMMUNITY FROM THE GROUND UP BY ROSS BRETHERTON n the interstice between two rooms in a tiny Back Ibeats Bay apartment, Altitude weaves together ethereal on an Akai controller for an audience of about

sixty. Beneath the exposed pipes and electrical meters that blanket the ceiling, psychedelic visuals from a Miyazaki film are projected onto the wall. The crowd is a mix of college students, mostly from Berklee or Emerson. The music is mellow, but everyone is dancing. Steady Grounds has been hosting artists in their apartment for less than a year, yet they have already amassed a loyal following of regular attendees. The intimate, filmed shows they throw every other week represent a union between Berklee and Emerson,

two arts powerhouses with rarely overlapping social spheres. By tapping into Berklee’s deep pool of musical connections while sourcing visual artists and cinematographers from Emerson, Steady Grounds fills a void in the education offered by either school. Developing musicians need spaces to perform, and sometimes those spaces simply can’t be created or sanctioned by the school, like a basement apartment. Artists have a welcoming venue to play small

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STEADY GROUNDS SITS ON THE TIPPING POINT BETWEEN CONCERT AND HOUSE PARTY

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shows, while Emerson videographers create short, deftly executed videos capturing the event. Nobody makes money from Steady Grounds, but the event is rewarding for all.

ALTITUDE AT STEADY GROUNDS 05 // PHOTO BY JON DENTON

The Berklee duo hosting Steady Grounds—Elijah Marrett-Hitch and Tony Tirador—had a strong vision of the kind of event they wanted to throw. With a perfect space for small shows, they started talking to friends about playing in the apartment. Emerson students Jon Denton and Greg Ports jumped on the opportunity to film the events and craft visuals. Soon their first show, featuring electronic producer Jay Moth, set the ball rolling. Though the initial artists Steady Grounds hosted were electronic, it was never intended to be limited to one genre. Currently, the shows alternate between live bands and

MELISMA | SPRING 2016 | 11

STEADY GROUNDS 03 // PHOTO BY GREG PORTS electronic sets. Even for their electronic shows, live performance is emphasized. Projected in one of the side rooms, guests can watch a top-down view of the artist performing. It’s hard to talk about Steady Grounds without making inevitable parallels to Boiler Room. After all, the two brands share the same raw ingredients: relatively unknown artists, a small venue, videographers, and a concept that hinges on exclusivity. Upon my mention of the brand, Tony chuckled and said, “We don’t like to use the B-R word around here.” The product Steady Grounds produces is much different than the livestreams of questionable quality that Boiler Room posts to its website. After the event, the Emerson videographers compile their footage into a neat, well-polished video over an original track from the artist. The artists who play Steady Grounds benefit from the publicity the video brings them, and the videographers have excellent subjects for honing their art. The crowd, too, is much more lively than many of the famously inert Boiler Room crowds. Though Steady Grounds sits on the tipping point between concert and house party, the crowd responds much better to the artist’s

original music, even if they are completely unfamiliar with it. For the artists who play it, Steady Grounds offers valuable connections that last far beyond the context of the show. Since playing his Steady Grounds set, Altitude has released his debut album complete with matching visuals from Jon. In the case of a developing musician, coherent graphic design lends muchneeded legitimacy to their musical work. In the overlap between Emerson and Berklee, a small community is flourishing with Steady Grounds as the catalyst. Despite rapidly gaining recognition off-campus, their concept and core team has remained the same throughout. This summer, Steady Grounds is planning their first show in Vancouver, Elijah’s hometown. Whether or not they can change locations without changing their unique atmosphere will determine their success beyond Boston. Regardless of their endeavors beyond the city, Steady Grounds remains a name to look out for in the underground Boston music scene.

BIG FESTIVALS & BIGGER BUSINESS BY DAN PECHI

f you haven’t heard of music festivals like Coachella, Governors Ball or Bonnaroo, you’ve probably been living under a rock. Even if you have been chilling under layers of sediment, festivals like Unsound, held a thousand feet below the earth in an abandoned Krakow salt mine, are catering to increasingly niche markets. With the music industry shifting its focus towards live music as a source of revenue, there are more festivals than ever before. If you want to find a music festival in your area, chances are you’ll be bombarded with options. In Chicago alone, this summer will see the annual continuation of a myriad of street festivals in addition to over 10 larger festivals, many of which feature artists brought back year after year. This is becoming a reality for many major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, which in addition to Indio’s Coachella, now hosts FYF Fest, Tyler the Creator’s expanding Camp Flog Gnaw, and Travis Barker’s Musink Festival in Costa Mesa. This begs the question: are festivals indeed filling a genuine demand amongst the general public for music, or are these niche festivals oversupplying the market? First and foremost, it is important to note that there is a significant lack of data on music festival supply and demand, making it difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the direction of the industry as a whole. Nonetheless, there exists a lot of data indicative of the health of the music festival industry. One thing is certain: the supply of music festivals is increasing at an alarming rate. As of late 2015, there were roughly 800 festivals to choose from in the United States. That number is rapidly growing with festivals – such as New York’s first annual Panorama Music + Arts festival – popping up all the time. The expansion of already existing festivals – including Coachella and Lollapalooza – has also driven up the supply of festivals available to the average consumer. While many popular music festivals have focused on providing a diverse array of artists spanning multiple genres, genre-specific festivals like Country Thunder, Stage Coach, or Tomorrow-

MELISMA | SPRING 2016 | 13 World are also thriving. Before getting into the demand side of things, one should consider that few of these festival ventures would be feasible without the massive sponsorship of companies like Coca-Cola or Anheuser-Busch. It would be easy to conclude that the proliferation of music festivals is directly correlated to a drive in demand, but sponsors play a massive role in ensuring a festival’s ability to continue being a festival. According to an IEG Sponsorship Report, North American-based companies spent approximately $1.34 billion in 2014 alone to sponsor music. Even if a festival were to experience a major drop in demand, sponsors could ensure that it would nonetheless stay afloat in exchange for certain advertising rights. Sponsors also ensure that festivals can book big name acts that cost upwards of $500,000 like Jay-Z or Kanye West; the headliners in and of themselves play a huge role in drawing demand for festivals. Thus, any increasing demand in ticket sales could be obfuscated by the intimate relationship between festivals and their sponsors.

At Brown University’s recent Spring Weekend, there were reports of $20 tickets going for as high as $300. So what’s causing festivals to remain populated in light of the fact that return festivalgoers are in the minority? Although there are a number of factors at play here, I think the most obvious explanation is that there exists a critical number of individuals who have yet to attend festivals, ensuring that there will be first-time festivalgoers each consecutive year. This framework would make sense if not for the fact that festival culture has only achieved its current prevalence within the past decade or so. This would suggest that the cause of this decade’s music festival boom is a generation-specific phenomenon.

INCREASING DEMAND “INANYTICKET SALES IS BY NO MEANS THE ONLY FACTOR IN THE RISING SUPPLY OF MUSIC FESTIVALS

So, what’s to be said of demand? According to a 2014 Nielsen Survey, there were 32 million individuals in the US who had attended at least one of a list of 35 major U.S. music festivals. However, only 11.5% of those respondents stated they planned to attend a festival in the future, and only 28.3% wanted to attend a festival again. At Bonnaroo 2014, slightly over half of those in attendance were firsttime concertgoers. Although Bonnaroo certainly attracts its own niche of people, this data would seem to suggest that many of those in attendance are casual festivalgoers, and are unlikely to buy tickets annually. On the basis of this information, it would appear that festival attendance is in fact decreasing as the number of individuals who have not yet attended Bonnaroo or Governors Ball naturally decreases. Although data is limited in the sense that few modern music festivals have been around for very long, there seems to be little evidence that festival attendance is in fact decreasing. Governor’s Ball, Ultra Music Festival, and Electric Daisy Carnival among others have all reached capacity since their initial foundations. If you’ve been to a major festival in the recent past, you’ve undoubtedly had to deal with the massive swaths of people standing between you and whatever performer you came to see. Even the prevalence of black markets for music festival tickets speaks to the sheer demand for these events.

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Festival culture, particularly among our generation, is on the rise, and with it the number of individuals going to festivals. If you follow what journalists have been writing about millennials, you’re probably familiar with the claim that for this generation, experiences are more important than ownership of goods. Festivals fall within the category of experiential goods; by buying Lollapalooza tickets, we are inevitably buying our own ‘festival experience’ replete with any combination of artists, over-priced food, and shoe-smuggled drugs imaginable. Many people come in with expectations that this festival will be the highlight of their summer or that some artist or another will blow their mind. After all, there’s no better justification for dropping $300 than the promise of ‘good vibes.’ Data suggests that our generation makes up almost half of all festival attendees in 2014, suggesting that millennials do indeed constitute a significant portion of the demand for music festivals today. This fits in nicely with the festival industry’s catering to the idea of cultivating a unique, enjoyable experience at their events. If a generation’s demand for experience is indeed the primary impetus for the skyrocketing supply of music festivals, the fate of the burgeoning festival industry seems inextricably connected with our generation. Will we continue to look to festivals as a source of meaning, or will we – like so many first-time festival attendees before us – become disenchanted with the ‘festival experience’? I think above all else, we should be asking ourselves how much longer we are willing to put a price on an event without inherent meaning.

UNDERAGE AND READY TO RAGE AT SXSW PHOTOS AND TEXT BY CHELSEA WANG

y friend and I spent three hours driving west on I-10 then TX-71 to get to Austin for the city’s illustrious South by Southwest (SXSW). I sat in the front seat of her gray Acura, camera bag and backpack on the floor against my feet and my Mac open on my lap. I switched between my phone, pamphlets, and my laptop blindly making some semblance of a schedule for the week. I turn to my friend and say, “the Make Room Campaign event ‘How Music and Storytelling Can Inspire Social Change’ sounds interesting. But what is it? What are all these ‘events’? Also can we walk to the JW Marriott from your place?” My friend says she has no clue. I sat in the front seat of her gray Acura full of wholesome excitement and dizzying anxiousness, unsure of what to expect. We covered this year’s SXSW Music festival and it was beyond anything I could have expected. The experience was equal parts blissful, stressful, and overwhelming, and unlike anything else. From Sunflower Bean to And The Kids to Anderson .Paak, there was a wealth of incredible artists at SXSW that Melisma could feature, but that would be impossible to do so we’ll focus on just one of our favorites for this year: Downtown Boys. The band formed when Joey La Neve DeFrancesco met Victoria Ruiz while the two were working at a hotel in Providence, RI. Full Communism, the bilingual punk rock band’s debut album, came out on a “Wave of History,” the title for their first track. Both influenced and heightened by 2015’s discourse on sociopolitical issues in America—including notably, the Black Lives Matter movement—the album is impassioned. Hopping along heavy baroque sax parts and steaming from Ruiz’s raging voice, their sound is intoxicating. I’m going to give the rest of this band’s introduction in a message Ruiz shouts to her audience when the band performed in New York a couple years back. Her message sums up the mentality of Full Communism. Ruiz introduces the song “Callate” with a little call and response. She says, “This song is about learning how to say ‘no.’ Because when you don’t learn how to say ‘no,’ then you’ll only be left saying ‘yes!’ When someone wants you to do something that you really don’t wanna do, what do you say?!” The crowd screams, “No!” “When someone wants to use masculinity, racism, homophobia to try and get you to do something that you don’t

wanna do, what do you say?!” The crowd screams, “No!” “And if you goddamn want one pizza with just cheese and someone tries to put something else on it, what do you say?!” The crowd screams, “No!” “That’s right New York, say ‘NO’ to what you need to say ‘NO’ to!” During the weeks of SXSW, live music plays throughout Austin in bars and outdoor stages and convention centers the way continuous live music exists at all music festivals. But the South By Music festival experience is vastly different from what people usually associate with music festivals. It’s hard to present SXSW based on my time there because every experience is so distinct, but Melisma asked so why not. I’ll start by saying that my week came complete with seeing live Ira Glass and Angelique Kidjo interviews, having an intense conversation with my Uber driver about redlining in America, telling Kelela that I’m in love with her, (physically) running into Greta Kline on Sixth Street, watching PWR BTTM get stick ‘n’ poke tattoos in a bar on The Drag, and getting thrown up on while watching Drake’s surprise performance at the FADER Fort. I could go on and on about the endless list of cool (and disgusting) experiences that I’m sure I could not have had outside SXSW, all of which make the festival acutely unique. But what really makes SXSW separate from other music festivals is its swelling importance in popular culture and media today. SXSW first started in 1987 as a small grassroots music festival with a goal to bring media attention to the burgeoning community of musicians in the region. The founders shared the thought that “the local creative and music communities were as talented as anywhere else on the planet, but were severely limited by a lack of exposure outside of Austin. Music was the uniting factor, but the group had a catholic taste for art and ideas. Inclusiveness and reaching for new things were core values.” The first festival held in March 1987 projected a mere 150 attendees, but garnered over 700 instead. Over the next twenty years, the regional gone national festival would start to gain worldwide attention.

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MOTHERS

QUEEN LATIFAH, SOPHIA BUSH, MICHELLE OBAMA, MISSY ELLIOTT

KELELA

ANDERSON .PAAK

According to a report on last year’s SXSW, the organization’s music program boasted 2,266 showcasing acts of which 553 were international acts from 62 different countries. These acts performed on 107 stages to a total of 30,308 attendees. SXSW’s growth in the past couple of decades has been immense to say the least. Its rapid growth has earned the festival its international prevalence both in popular culture and in its target industries. Recall that Twitter’s popularity (existence, really) today is a direct result of SXSW in 2007.

communities around the world today. Several presenters, including one from Matter Unltd, focused on the power of Virtual Reality to instill and teach empathy as well as connecting the world in a new capacity.

The purpose of SXSW in a sentence is to gather people who are passionate and curious about new and developing thoughts, movements, and tools all around the world in various industries including but not limited to media, philanthropy, technology, communication, business, and music. For those with official conference badges, downtown Austin becomes a hub for expos, conferences, live interviews, panels, and more. Microcosms of networking, discussions, and presentations pop up all across the sunny city of craft beer, coffee, and (really good) food trucks. Endless parties (official and unofficial) are strewn up and down Austin’s famous Sixth Street. Participants come to SXSW to hear about what people have been creating and testing out in the year since the preceding festival. Passionate presenters come to exhibit developments in their respective industries to an equally passionate and receptive audience. The development in Virtual Reality technology and its effect on society was a popular presentation this year. In 2015, the UN released a VR film following the life of a Syrian refugee girl meant to present vulnerable

SXSW still has its flaws. One particularly damaging issue the company needs to face is the festival’s gentrification of the city of Austin. Though SXSW “recognizes the power of community and strives to engage and contribute to the changing needs of [their] community with the support of a multitude of organizations,” a festival as big as SXSW cannot escape its inevitable power to gentrify a city. Despite these issues, the power of SXSW’s existence is grand. Michelle Obama gave the keynote speech for the music festival this year in an interview with Missy Elliott, Sophia Bush, and Diane Warren moderated by Queen Latifah. The five women collectively presented the First Lady’s initiative “Let Girls Learn,” which focuses on ensuring that girls around the world are receiving the education that they need and deserve. At the center of their conversation was the importance of exposure. Access to diverse perspectives is essential for personal development. So when I say SXSW’s existence is grand, I believe it comes from the festival’s purpose of gathering impassioned people to push forward the mental, emotional, and technological growth of the world. And let’s remember: Twitter’s popularity (existence, really) today is a direct result of SXSW in 2007.

RAP BEEFS: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

‘90s ‘00s ‘10s BY JASON MEJIA

DIDDY

SUGE KNIGHT

BIGGIE

TUPAC MOBB DEEP

DR. DRE

EVERLAST

JAY-Z EMINEM

MARIAH CAREY / NICK CANNON

AZEALIA BANKS

GHOSTFACE

50 CENT

IGGY AZALEA LUPE FIASCO

FUTURE ACTION BRONSON

BIRDMAN

LIL WAYNE

METRO BOOMIN’

YOUNG THUG

COMMON

MELISMA | SPRING 2016 | 17 Twitter beef

Diss track / musical beef

Insta beef

Legal Beef

NOTABLE BEEFS Ice Cube vs. N.W.A. After Ice Cube left N.W.A in 1989 due to issues with money and royalties, the former released “Message to B.A.,” a scathing diss track aimed at their former member. This prompted Ice Cube to write the infamous “No Vaseline,” a vicious attack on their contract and label problems.

N.W.A. ICE CUBE

EAZY-E LIL WAYNE NAS

JUVENILE

JA RULE JADAKISS FAT JOE SHYNE

KELIS SHEEK LOUCH CASSIDY LIL KIM RICK ROSS

A$AP MOB

KREAYSHAWN

TRAVIS SCOTT

MEEK MILL

KID CUDI DRAKE LIL B

50 CENT

CASSIDY KEVIN DURANT JOEY BADA$$

Lil Wayne vs. Juvenile While promoting his album Tha Carter II, Lil Wayne put out the track “I Miss My Boys”, in reference to his group, the Hot Boys. When this happened, Juvenile lashed out at Lil Wayne for being fake in that track and for their issues after he left Cash Money. In repsonse, Lil Wayne put out 500 Degreez, a play on Juvenile’s album 400 Degreez, with a scalding title track.

Nas vs. Jay-Z The rivalry between Jay-Z and Nas is rightly considered one of the most influential beefs of the 2000s. Stemming as far back as 1996 with subtle line jabs toward one another in miscellaneous songs, Jay-Z took the feud to the next level with “Takeover”, dedicating an entire track towards Nas’ discography and fading career. Not one to take the diss lightly, Nas unleashed “Ether,” which was so brutal that the word ether has become a verb to describe rappers who get brutally dissed. After “Ether,” Jay-Z released “Supa Ugly” on Hot97, where he made jabs at Nas’ mom and bragged about having an affair with his rival’s girlfriend. After these three tracks, they continued to make minor disses until 2005, when they squashed the beef between them. Joey Bada$$ vs. Troy Ave Both from New York, rappers Joey Bada$$ and Troy Ave represent a crucial part of East Coast Hip Hop. The two have always had tension over Troy’s dislike for Joey’s group Pro Era, peaking in an interview where Joey claimed he was the more successful rapper. In retaliation to Joey’s comments, Troy Ave put out “Bad A$$,” attacking Joey, Pro Era, and Capital Steez, a member of the group who committed suicide in 2013. Rather than firing back directly, however, Joey instead vented on instagram about the entire ordeal.

TROY AVE

If I’m being completely Frank April 17, 2016 You’re the best-worst thing that has ever happened to me. Suddenly crashing into my life like a wave, you stayed for maybe the duration of a Pacific breeze. Christopher Francis “Frank” Ocean. It’s been 3 years, 9 months, and 8 days since we last talked. You said you named Channel Orange after the summer you first fell in love - that color is slowly fading. I remember once sitting on a curbside of an Amsterdam strip club after three too many drinks. It was cold and hazy, I could feel my innocence noticeably slipping away. Listening to “Bad Religion” for the 900th time, you helped me become at ease about the idea of unrequited emotion. I think we share similar feelings of disorientation, but I could say the same for anyone in this disconnected, whack-ass generation. When two lost souls find each other, it’s a bond that the two desperately hold on to (but you don’t even know who I am). So when you announced you were coming back, I counted the days till July. July came and went, so did August, so did September, so did 2015. If I’m being completely Frank, I blamed Chance for delaying The Life Of Pablo, but that was two days, you’ve been MIA for three hundred. When Beyoncé released her self-titled masterpiece in 2013, it managed to sell 600,000 copies over the course of three days with no prior album promotion. A marketing feat that befuddled the music industry and prompted various case studies. It was completely unexpected and that’s precisely the difference between you two: she never said she was coming back, she didn’t make the reservation and leave me to eat dinner alone at a table for two. You’ve made me learn that being disappointed hurts more than not expecting anything at all. But if I’m being completely Frank, I just want you back Frank, I want to hear about how you’ve been the past couple of years. Have you been drinking a lot? Did you ever have that talk with Forrest Gump? I do want you to take your time. Compton took 15 years to come out after The Chronic - my mother (or Plato?) says the trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit. In a time where instant-gratification has primed an addictive relationship with music, artists releasing works every time I open my internet browser, this particular withdrawal is glaring. Maybe I look like a fool waiting for someone who is obviously making an album for no one other than himself. But your music has put me and the rest of us in a delusionary state: we’ve been waiting and we’ll continue to wait. “This unrequited love, to me it’s nothing but a one-man cult/and cyanide in my styrofoam cup.” - and we’re all still sipping. Love, Dennis Kim

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SUMMER PREVIEW WHO WILL BLOW UP DENZEL CURRY Riding on the spring release of his album Imperial, Miami-based rapper Denzel Curry is quickly gaining momentum. Surprisingly, he won’t be playing many festivals this summer, instead opting to keep a lower profile to work on new material. We’re confident that his patience will pay off.

MOTHERS Initially Kristine Leschper’s solo project, Mothers filled into a four-piece guitar-heavy band. They released their single “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t” alongside “No Crying In Baseball” in 2015, they presented a sound and narrative that felt like dark self-loathing and insurmountable anguish. The next year, they came out with their debut album, “When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired,” in which the band’s narrative became much more clear. Their songs are about being transparent in self-expression, especially on feelings that aren’t comely or well-defined. Their songs are about experiencing growth, enduring pain, and being human. Their songs are about survival.

SORSARI With a debut EP forthcoming on Plastician’s Terrorythm imprint, Sorsari has found a niche in electronic music (dubbed “wave” by Plastician) that’s well worth exploring. As a second wave of trap producers are waning in novelty (in part due to their conservative production approaches), expect an influx of fans flocking to Sorsari, in pursuit of a new subgenre to entertain themselves. Sorsari’s songs gently progress from rich deep pads to full-blown walls of sound. His production is fairly low-energy, but surprisingly danceable.

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