Weekend Preview 3/29 - 4/2
This weekend, some Wes alumni crawl back from the dark reaches of real life to make sounds, N.Y.C.-based L.A. hip-hop turns up, Vassar visits, and new Wes bands debut primordial music.
Darwin Deez
+Phatrabbit
Earth House // Thursday 9PM
Darwin Deez is an indie rock group hailing from NYC. Deez himself is frontman. His hair is a beguiling plant and his indie anthems are full of sideways wisdom and romantic metaphors. He tunes his four stringed guitar to his own secret key. He was virtual in a video once. He also attended Wes back in the mid-2000s. He raps.
Phatrabbit are four cute males who stand on stages bellowing out their neo-post-indie-pop-punk-trash-rock-dance songs. Their pulsing teenage heartthrob ballads will make anyone who has ears and feet dance along. The Fab Four of Will Dudek (‘17), Eli Spector (‘17), Josh Bloom (‘17) and Andrew Rock (‘17) will use their charismatic boy bad charm to breathe a lot of fun into the Earth House music scene.
RUI BARBOSA
+DINOMANiC & BEST WESTERN
ALPHA DELT // FRIDAY 10PM
Loved Rui Barbosa’s Disney show a few weeks back? Missed it? Either way, come listen to the jazz-inspired jamfunk trio this Friday at Alpha Delt. They might cover the theme song of your favorite childhood tv-show or play a Disney song or two, but they’ll definitely bring a funky, historically edgy vibe. Expect wild bass solos, killer jams, and Jonah.
Come support Dinomanic at their first show! They're a dino-funk group comprised of Lily Landau ('18), Matthew Forker ('19), Julia Tyminski ('17), Torie Davids ('18), and Alex Lee ('17). They combine strong vocal harmonies with instrumental sounds inspired by funk-rock, blues, jazz, and a taste of dreamy psychedelic rock. Rumor has it, they first played together 65 million years ago and took refuge in the tar pits of Siberia during the asteroid impact. They have since been lurking, waiting until the world was once again ready for their music.
Best Western is mud-lightning metal trio Jesse Cohen ('17), Will Speiser ('17), and Henry Kinder ('17). They sound like the life-giving gurgle of primordial mud after that fateful lightning strike, what, 4 billion years ago? In more contemporary terms, they're rumoured to gurgle out genres like blues, blues-rock, and bluegrass. No thing with any capacity to appreciate music was around back then, 4 billion years ago, so this trio are doing some really important work, musically and historically, by bringing us these sounds. They also do room service. (lightning sound!) They're awesome.
Stringer
+Bueno
Eclectic //Friday 10PM
Stringer are a NYC indie-rock squadron. Their tragic pop-punk is a moan sheathed in a growl, howled choruses and the deep-felt thud of power chord verses. They'll exorcise your anxieties through a distortion pedal. You'll flail.
Bueno are a Staten Island group of guys whose angular post-punk stretches out languid, chilling and guitar riff-ripping on spoken-word musings. Inflected with some infectious funk, some disco even, so it's not a stretch to say they'll make you dance in a freaky, free way.
Fool's concert
Swipe right + Insignificant other
Earth house // Friday 10:30pm
Swipe Right is Mara Woods-Robinson (’16), Ethan Quinn (’16), Rohan Shriram (’16), Aly Raboff (’16), and Conor Hunt (’16). They're playing their first show of 2016 to kick off their bittersweet final run here at Wesleyan before stepping out into the great abyss that is life. Their career so far may be summarized by the following haiku:
Mosh pits and floss sticks,
Lords of death, beautiful lords,
Are you gonna kiss?
Swipe Right
Insignificant Other is Jack Trowbridge (’16), Ethan Quinn (’16), Emerson Obus (’16), and Anton Meier (’16). With an eye-boggling array of covers and original songs, Insignificant Other is about to burst onto the Wesleyan music scene in a dense cloud of angst and regret.
Latasha Alcindor
+Dopeleague & DJ Kfeelz
X House // Saturday 9:30PM
Latasha Alcindor (a.k.a L.A.) is from the five boroughs of New York City. Her sound is inspired by many genres: spoken word, grime, EDM, and hip-hop. Alcindor champions an anti-norm beauty-freedom with an radical focus on spreading truth.
Dopeleague is a collective of which Alcindor is part. Dopeleague is Dom O Briggs and Scienze + LA.
DJ Kfeelz is Kafilah Muhammad ('18), “Dancefloor burner”!!!
Aural Burrows
+Off Drugs & Birchbark
Earth House // Saturday 10PM
Aural Burrows play some tight indie-rock anthems. Minutemen meets The National meets Camper Van Beethoven. Nice! But they furrow Aural Wes' brow with their name. Is "Burrow" are noun or a verb here? We really need to know. Cool brand, though. They're a rock 'n' roll group from Vassar U.
Off Drugs is a three-piece band from Poughkeepsie, NY. The self-proclaimed “geometric coffeegaze” rockers’ group vocals and self-deprecating lyrics are a bittersweet reminder of suburban days spent in your mom’s car listening to American Football. A smart, sweet twist on math rock.
Birchbark is Wesleyan’s own Noah Mertz ('17) and Nyanen Deng ('18). Get ready for covers in the acoustic stylings of Fleet Foxes and Slow Club.
Wet Leather
+Humeysha & 5 Guys
Eclectic // Saturday 10:30pm
Wet Leather return to their alma mater to reclaim their titles as Wesleyan’s preeminent “anxiety pop” act. Watch them dissect their personal failings live! on stage, flinching every time the audience surges closer. When they’re not wallowing in filthy puddles of self loathing, they’re usually creating approachable electronic tinged rock. Come see them this Saturday!
Humeysha are a NYC band whose psych-infused crystalline pop spans genres and continents. Conceived as a project in India and containing a handful of recent Wesleyan alumns, they combine delicate melodic sensibility with frontman Zain's lyrical explorations of his heritage. Humeyshu means "forever" in Hindi/Urdu, and considering the waves they're making, they very well may stick around on the scene. Forever.
5 Guys is five men. Or five dudes. Five boys. Not five Guy Fieris. <3
Mick, Danny, Carl, Joe, Bob, and Mitch (from left to right)
