The harmonies on KIWANUKA lean into the classics of the 60s/70s American rock, tap into a little bit of Marvin Gaye and even some Gil Scott-Heron. It is four sides of vinyl packed with a mix of subtle gentle songs and anthem tracks like “Hero.” The album is one you can return to every few months for a feel-good, positive pick me up vibe. In the artist’s words, the album is “about self-acceptance in a more triumphant rather than a melancholy way. It’s an album that explores what it means to be a human being today.”

Needless to say, the audience caught up, his 18-date North American tour was completely sold-out regardless of the size of the venues, which were some of the biggest he’s ever played. In Toronto, Kiwanuka took the stage at 9 o’clock sharp at the city’s biggest club venue, REBEL. It’s a spot that has been a concert venue for many years, passed through various hands of owners and promoters. Today it is well lit, with a great sound system and wealth of space for thousands of people to pack into. All this space, however, can be a disadvantage for quieter performances and subtle melodic tracks…

Michael took center stage with his guitar, surrounded by a full band and a pair of back up singers dressed in all black. The set started with “Rule The World” from Love & Hate, which was released in 2016, back during Kiwanuka’s more humble and slightly less self-assured days, setting up a type of a journey for the night. Naturally, the next tracks were “You Ain’t The Problem” and “I’ve Been Dazed.” Perhaps we as the audience could grow confident and comfortable together with Kiwanuka tonight. But the vast space towards the back, swallowed by the voices of the crowd, was drowning out Kiwanuka’s voice with chatter.

The set continued with a mix of songs from the three albums: from “Rule the World” to “Hero” to “Tell Me A Tale” from Home Again (2012). The “Hero – Intro” was performed solo with a single spotlight on the artist. Intro transitioning into the song was a sonic ballad, seamlessly flowing into the full band with a supporting guitar. It was a powerful anthemic performance half of which to my disappointment was washed out by the noise of the room.

At one point the band left the stage, leaving Michael alone with the piano to play a track people may be less familiar with, “On My Knees,” which was released in collaboration with UNKLE, UK’s electronic duo known for producing heavy, dark tracks. What came next is an evoking instrumental rendition of the song, a good half of which was just him and the piano but the song grew bigger and heavier as the band joined in halfway through.

For “Black Man In A White World” the artist and the band clapped the opening of the song, trying to engage the audience but not gaining much participation from this primarily porcelain crowd. It was hard not to wonder where Michael’s people were, as I was blending into the light-skinned mass. Kiwanuka is “accustomed to being an outsider” and during an interview with The Guardian last year he admitted he was hoping to reach more people like himself, “Some artists are singing to their people and I don’t know who mine are. […] I’m not representing anyone. I wrestle with that because there’s nothing like being part of a community,” he shared. The size of the crowd felt like a community of a sort, but the lack of participation made us all strangers in the room, listening to music alone while together. I can’t speak to why there were so few of Michael’s people in the room but this lack of participation, however, is behavior typical of a Toronto crowd so it’s hard to pin the reserved atmosphere on the artist (for those of you Torontonians reading, don’t fight me, you know it’s true). Michael, while very calm and collected, is a great performer, playing engaging soul music, the kind of music you can’t help but move to so it was odd to see a standing room.

The show progressively ended on a strong and confident note with “Cold Little Heart” and “Love & Hate” during which the fans were most alive, singing along, moving to the beat, and clapping. It took over an hour for the room to wake up, and when they did it was a little too late.

Photo credit: Olivia Rose

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San Fermin, Brooklyn-based chamber pop eight-piece (named for the infamous Spanish festival involving the running of the bulls) wrapped up their American tour last Friday. On the road to promote their latest release, The Cormorant I, the band played expressive, dynamic music to a fresh-faced audience at the Brooklyn Steel.

Fronted by the vivacious composer and multi-instrumentalist Ellis Ludwig-Leone, San Fermin proved that they have a lot to offer in a performance. A non-exhaustive list of instruments played during the hour-and-a-half set included keyboards, violin, bass, guitar, saxophone, drums, and maracas. At one point a trumpet got caught in a guitar chord, and the crowd shared a little chuckle with the band for their endearingly awkward transition. There were several occasions of big laughs on stage. The bandmates clearly have a good time playing together, and a hearty passion for the music. There was a kind of youthful purity to their set, a very light and fun big band geek energy. 

San Fermin shined brightest when they dove head-first into their dramatic anthems, stunning with tracks like “Bride” and the more recent release “The Hunger.”

Leading ladies, Karlie Bruce and Claire Wellin, are impressive vocalists, offering range and feeling in their honey-smooth voices.

The lulls involved San Fermin’s slower songs. “Cerulean Gardens” could have been left out of the performance and none would have mourned, I suspect. During that song, I looked over to see one audience member yawning. Then I yawned.

True to their shining form, San Fermin brought back the energy to close out with a bang. Charlene Kaye, the former lead singer of the band, was welcomed to the stage as a surprise guest, much to the audience’s roaring approval. Kaye dazzled the crowd with a lively rendition of 2013’s “Sonsick,” during which, enthusiastic trumpeter John Brandon jumped into the audience, waking everyone up.

San Fermin gave a memorable and spirited performance, gifting audiences with unreleased tracks from their next release, and giving us all something to look forward to with the forthcoming completion of The Cormorant project.

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With a new album slated for release in 2020, Surfer Blood is as fresh as ever with their latest EP release, Hourly Haunts. Finishing up a tour with a performance at Riot Fest, the band took time out of their schedule to answer a few quick questions about their upcoming album and give advice to budding musicians.

Sarah Thomas: How would you say this new EP differs from 1000 Palms?

JP: That’s a good question. It’s not very technical. It’s just three-chord songs, played really fast, and that’s it. That’s what we’re trying to do now. 

ST: Can you speak on that a little bit about being self-produced…

JP: The good news is that Micheal and I are both very into the engineering thing, and we’ve been working on it for years. Recording ourselves is great.

Micheal: We definitely took our time with this record. We didn’t have to worry about paying an hourly fee and we kind of just explored what we thought sounded cool and different. We just took our time and had a lot of fun with it on this record. 

ST: So what’s some advice for being a good musician in general? 

Lindsey:  You gotta love it. All of the musicians that I love the most don’t necessarily have like all of the technical abilities that some of the greats surely do, but they have soul. And all of my favorites are just in love with the music and that’s what comes through.

JP: Work hard, play shows outside of your hometown, and don’t worry about merch or t-shirts. Like if a band is playing their first show and they have like five different t-shirts.

L: Yeah, lower your overhead.

JP: Also, never forget it’s an art form.

Micheal: Never think you know it all. When you think you’ve learned it all and done it all, just keep honing your craft and learning. Learn the insides and outs of everything you love. 

Tyler: If there are dishes in the kitchen and you’re staying at someone’s place and it’s not that weird, you can politely wash them. That’s something nice to do.

M: It’s the little things.

ST: Who’s your favorite artist and song as of right now?

L: My favorite song right now is a New York artist named Gemma, and the song is called “Keep on Dancing.” It’s so good, I’m obsessed.

JP: Ultimate Painting, it’s a British band. The song is called “Woken by Noises.”

M: I’m like the classic rock dad playlist guy in the band, but I do appreciate hearing new stuff. What do I play all of the time? I feel like my friends know me better than myself.

JP: The Eagles, “Take it Easy” !

M: Oh yeah! The original “Take it Easy.”

T: That’s a hard question actually.

ST: How about favorite karaoke song?

TJ: Oh! Roy Robertson’s “Crying.” It makes me feel alright.

ST: Awesome, thank you and good luck with the set!

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Ty Segall’s international tour with The Freedom Band took hold of New York City’s The Bowery Ballroom last weekend. Segall’s career as a leading psych-rocker in the underground scene has spanned over the past 10 years and morphed from fuzzy, low-key, and lo-fi to an ambitious, experimental, grizzly rock n’ roll sound. This tour, Ty Segall and The Freedom Band promised full album sets, providing a look-back into the catalog of Melted, Goodbye Bread, Emotional Mugger, as well as the Manipulator. Quip ventured out to last Thursday’s show for a revisiting of Goodbye Bread as well as a complete performance of his latest release.

The California rocker rang in the show with strong openers from his newest album, the strikingly guitar-less, First Taste.  Sonically, First Taste bears evidence from Segall’s classic inspirations of T. Rex and Zeppelin but manages to deviate from his previous repertoire into an almost clean edge. Without guitars, songs from First Taste take on more structure and form. The album lends itself a dynamism that is less widely featured in earlier releases, going from heavy rock tracks to lolling ballads and back again in just under forty minutes.

For the live play, the frontman did, in fact, indulge us with his guitar stylings, when he wasn’t seated at the drums. Segall plunged into heavy bangers “Whatever” and “I Worship the Dog” to get the crowd riled up for a rough start with riot moshing under red light. The Bowery Ballroom’s smoky open space encouraged the raucous audience to crowd surf and dive into the scuzzy jam sounds of prolonged instrumentals.

The light shifted with the mood and change of epoch as Segall and The Freedom Band geared up to play Goodbye Bread under flashes of blue light. Even from the balcony, audiences could be heard chanting along with lyrics from the 2011 release. Coincidentally, Goodbye Bread was the album that got me on Ty Segall in the first place when he played a festival in my hometown for the local radio. Playing live at the Bowery last week, he brought more electricity and rage into the garage album. Classics like the title track and the heavy “Where Your Head Goes” sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Ty Segall has a great reputation for his live shows, and there’s no question to the contrary. Segall brings that classic hard and fast garage punk energy to the scene onstage. If you missed his sets this round, rest easy – the prolific artist has been consistently putting out new music and touring since 2008. Five back-to-back double-album shows in Brooklyn last week prove Ty Segall has the stamina to keep our heads exploding, and shows no sign of letting up.

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Once the stage lights turned off, the crowd roared anticipating the band’s inevitable arrival. However, first Surf Curse’s stagehands hyped up the crowd by introducing a special guest guitarist to help out with the show. The artist was none other than Lillie West of Lala Lala fame. To prepare for the chaos that was about to ensue, Lillie made the crowd do some hot yoga stretches. Once the two men finally made their way onto the stage the fans went berserk. Rattigan sat at his drum set as Rubeck grinned throwing on his guitar. They began with one of their classic songs, “Heathers.” Almost immediately a mosh pit broke loose with everyone storming the stage. Once their vocals were warmed up, Nick said he wanted to play songs off their new record, Heaven Surrounds You, and they did so with the introduction track “Map to the Stars.” The new music showcase continued with “Memory”, “River’s Edge,” and “Labyrinth.”

The band was humbled by the enthusiasm the wild crowd displayed knowing their songs. “Last time we played at Sub-T a few years ago, we were in the smaller bar downstairs,” Rattigan said. “We didn’t think anyone would remember us.” To show their appreciation the band switched gears to some of their older songs such as “Ponyboy.” Rattigan explained the complicated drum technique needed to pull for the next song and knowing exactly which song he was talking about, “All Is Lost,” I rushed downstairs and bravely got right to the front. After a couple of rounds of throwing elbows and catching body surfers, I took my exhausted, sweaty body back upstairs to meet with friends and enjoy the rest of the show from above. But had I known what was to come I would have stayed.

Looking down you can see the madness transpire. While people still had the energy to mosh pit, they didn’t care enough to keep on carrying people. A whirlpool of bodies fell on top of each other before being trampled. Others were thrown on stage knocking over Rubeck’s microphone and effect pedals a couple of times. The singer was understanding of the ordeal and respectfully brushed it off. They pressed on performing all three singles they released over the summer, “Midnight Cowboy,” “Hour of the Wolf,” and “Disco.” The first two are much slower in tone, finally giving the crowd a much-needed breather.

“Disco,” on the other hand, is the best song on the album, in my opinion, and a perfect way to end the set. The catchiness of the instrumentation and chorus was invigorating to hear. Nick stood up from his drum set and jumped straight into the crowd. The crowd completely engulfed Rattigan as they swayed him across each side of the room. Nick never lost composure hitting high notes before finishing the song and walked upstairs. Again people’s eyes were fixated on the stage not realizing the singer was walking right behind them. I gave him a hug thanking him for the fantastic show. Dripping with sweat, and out of breath Nick shook my hand again saying, “Thanks for coming to the show.”

As the band walked off stage to join Rattigan in the VIP room, fans screamed “Freaks! Freaks! Freaks!” to rally an encore. Surf Curse returned to the stage to give the frenzied mob exactly what they demanded by performing “Freaks” off their debut Buds album. This gave the restless crowd one last chance to mosh. Carrying on the trend of old songs, Surf Curse ended the wild night with their mellow jam “Forever Dumb,” giving the young fans something special to hold on to forever.

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For 2019, Blink-182 made a comeback as Friday’s headliner, naturally, the crowds were large by 6 pm, surging with the after 9-5 crowd. Nearly everyone was sporting all-black attire was peppered with brightly colored hair that was a nod to Riot Fest as the destination for punk and alternative music.

The sun was just beginning to set by the time that Glassjaw stepped out onto the Rebel Stage. People stood on tiptoes trying to see the band over the crowd as they began the set promptly at 7:30 pm and the crowd immediately began to sing along. This came as no surprise,  the band has been around since the early 2000s, playing a part in the development of the underground music scene in the states. The crowd did not miss a beat with lyrics, latecomers were eagerly pushing their way to the center of the fold, it was clear that Glassjaw was high on the list for many attendees. Friday came to a close with the crowds growing thicker by the hour, making for a tough time to get from one end of the park to another, especially with limited lighting.

But the Friday crowd would prove to be no match for Saturday’s when the park began to fill early with people on a mission to see Slayer’s last Chicago show. Slayer shirts were nearly everywhere you looked, with fans all over the age spectrum and a few toddlers to boot. Saturday was like a clear reminder of why Riot Fest is often called, “Warped tour for adults” – the mood was rowdy but never out of control while the sun beat down on the park. 

In keeping with the laid back vibe, Lando Chill chatted with friends before beginning his set at the Radicals Stage as one of the earlier performances. With a smoothness to match the relaxed crowd, Lando crooned, “You feel that? That’s your purpose calling” at one point, encouraging the crowd to vibe with him as he rocked to the rhythmic bass of the music.

Surfer Blood took it up a notch at the Rise stage. Their fans showed up in earnest while they played some of their biggest hits.”Can we get a little more haze up here?” JP asked before launching into “Island”, a song he called, “spooky”. With lively shows and a dedicated fan base, it was no surprise to see some folks make their way from the back of the crowd to the front of the stage, with one being rewarded with a guitar pick at the end of their set. 

“Dedicated fans” was a theme for Saturday while the crowd for Microwave was like a wall of people. They wasted no time hyping the crowd up, and the response was a mosh pit and shouting the lyrics back at the band. The crowd’s enthusiasm must have reached the stage because the band played a large selection of songs which according to some festival-goers is not a common thing, “They never play this one live anymore!” pointed out a fan near me before “The Fever” put everyone under a spell.

Leaving Microwave’s set, the crowd at Riot Fest became thick with Slayer shirts. Almost functioning like calling cards, people nodded at and high-fived each other after glancing down at one another’s band shirts. As Saturday came to a close, shouts of “Slayer!”  could be heard periodically as fans made their way to the exits. 

After some rain, Sunday left the park with large patches of mud. Entry was delayed for about 15 minutes before everyone was able to dash to the stages to see the early bands. Ultra Q was one of them. Formally known as Mt. Eddy, Ultra Q is fresh off their recent rebranding and just as fresh on stage. The guitar-forward group kept the crowd going through their energetic and punk-influenced sounds. The lead singer, Jakob Danger, thanked everyone for coming out early as the crowd grew steadily in size. 

After a high-energy morning, It was time for a different kind of energy. Playing at the radicals stage, Ganser’s moody tones was a great change of pace for Sunday. With Riot grrl vibes and repetitive lyrics, the Chicago based, post-punk band was a breath of fresh air after the power chords of the week. 

Despite the wet and muddy weather Riot Fest ended on a high note. The festival grounds remained full and the beer flowed freely. With artist bookings that reflect the commitment to diversity, Riot Fest holds its own as one of Chicago’s must-do festivals yet another year.

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The first addition of FME took place in 2002. That year, 22 bands performed and the festival was run by a small group of friends who shared all of the jobs amongst themselves. Today, FME sells out every available room in town and fills a campsite of artists just nearby. “What has grown the most over the years is that fans and people [from] the community got engaged… So now the festival is almost running by itself because it’s really, really organic,” comments festival director Jenny Thibault. Walking around town, FME volunteers could be seen everywhere, it is this region’s TIFF and people do come from across the globe to participate. But FME is not a big festival business and there is no red carpet (although admittedly some of us did get there on a charter plane). FME is a well-run, beautifully designed, community event that fosters discovery, innovation, and coalition.

On Friday the main outdoor stage was home to some of the best French rappers starting with KT Gorique, and Montréal’s Sarahmée. The evening began with Sarahmée, who drew an early and very enthusiastic crowd to the cold outdoor stage. A few people in the front row had been waiting since soundcheck and as the artist took the stage the crowd roared. All of those in the front row got a uniquely personal experience, making conversation with the performer between tracks. Still riding the wave of her most recent release, Irreversible, Sarahmée delivered a clean and powerful performance, hitting the high notes with some of the more popular tracks from the album like “Le cercle se rétrécit“ and “Fuego” with Souldia. On the side of the road is an elevated VIP area, with a scoping view of the stage. Filled with the who’s who and the who’s who’s guests, the patio was a hot location. Intoxicated attendees were cheering and dancing, tightly gripping to their FME mugs while the front of the stage was having small talk with Sarahmée.

Up next, carrying us into the night was KT Gorique, who traveled all the way from Switzerland to perform on the FME stage. Gorique is the first (and only) female champion of End of The Weak, an international freestyle rap competition which she won in 2012. Since then the artist’s main focus has been on music. Her stage presence is open and friendly, and despite the sharp lyrics she was smiling almost the entire set. For each performance, Gorique wears her “most beautiful face” – subtle face paint celebrating her African origin. Gorique took the audience on a music adventure from hip hop to dancehall and reggae and as expected, “Kunta Kinta” (the title track from an album by the same name) and “Outta Road” brought the ‘house’ down. Throughout the performance, she danced, praised her band, and repeatedly thanked the crowd for their affection.

The rest of the weekend showcased a set of heavy hitter rappers like Loud, who has been touring through Europe and Québec and returned to FME for another, near soldout set on Friday. A thick crowd of people singing along to Loud sounded like a stadium anthem, an epic way to end the outdoor performances for the night. Saturday stage hosted Montréal’s rapper FouKi and Koriass, both of whom are incredibly hype. FouKi, sporting a signature yellow tracksuit, was pacing the stage spitting Latin-inspired rhythms while Koriass (bottom image) ran a bit overtime – by audience demand – and at the end of the show jumped into the photo pit to get closer to the fans who were nearly tearing up shouting for an encore.

One of the biggest discoveries in the electronic genre for this addition of FME was Millimetrik – Québec City’s composer Pascal Asselin (image below). Playing a more intimate outdoor stage right after the rain, Pascal was joined by a drummer (cover image) and the two of them went on to play a colorful selection of ambient beats accented with heart-thumping bass and melodic drums. Songs like “Coucher de doll dans Sandoval County” came to life with a fantastic air of disco causing the audience to stomp and swirl on the wet grass. Our shoes got soaked but the cloudy Millimetrik dance party was worth it. For the rest of the weekend, smaller outdoor stages hosted an array of dance DJs creating a small rave around the DJ booth, dancing to the likes of veteran vinyl master Miss USA and a local Shagass Disco who wrapped up the festival at 5 am on Monday morning.

Late nights at FME are a special experience. Hoards of people wander from venue to venue, sipping out of their open containers and festival mugs, meeting new friends over cigarette breaks and hoping not to lose anything. Many nights at FME end at Bar Des Chums, a local staple joint with poor decor and minimal service but hospitable to whatever kind of frenzy your group might be up for that night, from catching a breath on the patio to doing a group karaoke performance after losing quarters at the pool table. 

The musical variety continues even during the day with various pop up shows around town. São Paulo’s Sessa played a surprise morning show at the public market on Saturday. Nested in the sun with three backup singers who performed in admirable sync and played quite a few small instruments, creating layers in the music. Sessa’s most recent release, Grandeza, is psychedelic Brazilian pop, “an album about the natural gesture of love and the softness of the human body,” shared Sessa. It’s the kind of music that makes you appreciate music, grab your portable record player and spend a day drinking champagne on the beach.

Later in the day, Scene Paramount welcomed Montréal’s Dominique Fils-Aimé to the stage. Recently nominated for a Polaris Prize, the singer-songwriter performed with impressive control, creating silence around notes, and matching the strings with her smooth voice. Dominique put the room into appreciative silence, first by request and then out of awe. Standing center stage Dominique gently swayed side-to-side singing her original songs and favourite covers like Nina Simone’s “Feeling good”, weaving a pattern near the microphone with her silver nails. Dominique Fils-Aimé’s poetic narratives are also not light, covering quite a bit of African history as seen through music, but more on that can be found in her interview.

Carrying on the joyful sadness into the evening was La Force, aka Ariel Engle, a vocalist and the most recent addition to the Broken Social Scene. The bio describes La Force as “godless devotional music that comes straight from the beating heart” which may be hard to grasp but can be definitely observed live. Engle was joined on stage by a drummer and a backup singer who complemented her perfectly with a wide range of vocals. Between tracks, La Force shared stories about her music, commented on the themes and pointed out the heavy topics they cover, like postpartum depression. Her tracks range from danceable, like “You Amaze Me,” to straight-up tear-jerkers like “Lucky One.” Engle had the crowd’s dedicated attention, watching her every move for nearly an hour.

Among other more musically-relaxed artists was Pierre Guitard, who played a late afternoon set on Sunday at Stage Evolu-son, a mid-town two-level concert venue. Lit up with blue lights and performing with a full band, Pierre Guitard is pop-rock with a spark of string and a few impressive guitar solos. At this point of our recount of FME, Guitard seems like an appropriate segue to what was seemingly the focus for most festival attendees: rock, indie, and a dash of punk mixed weirdness that cannot be defined as a genre.

One of such bands was Ellemetue (above), Mingo the Indian and Nunu Metal, who played a packed room at the Cabaret – a staple venue at FME. The duo played a mix of experimental electronic rock with an occasional electric keys undertone; their music “rings out like a wild cry from the murky depths of an imaginary swamp” the band writes in the bio. At the opposite end of the festival were FET.NAT, a performance nearly everyone was looking forward to and no one could describe to me. What I’ve learned is FET.NAT (second last image) are experimentalists known for their bizarre strangeness and incredibly entertaining performances. It’s a four-member psycho-jazz punk-funk band that played with the audience as much as with the music. The lead singer’s voice is shockingly scratchy but between the rough vocals, an oddly melodic moment would come through to only be followed by an intensely challenging saxophone solo.

Admittedly, the above account of the festival covers a small portion of performances because it is simply impossible to see them all. As an average attendee, you dance, drink, party, and inevitably take daytime naps knowing that there is always a late-night street or house party you may want to attend. For at least the first two days most people’s diet transforms into rounds of poutine and BBQ served with local brews and gin and tonic coolers. As the perpetual hangover begins to set it the weekend comes to an end, most likely at sunrise. When you get home, a quiet nostalgic reality replaces the music and crowd noise. Merci FME, till next year.

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by Jake Goldbas

Brooklyn Steel is a warehouse converted into a concert venue in the north part of East Williamsburg. An unassuming location and a short walk from the subway, Brooklyn Steel can be a host to nearly 2,000 people. The warehouse feel is something dance music fans are always drawn to so, it made sense that Hot Chip headlined and sold out Brooklyn Steel this Wednesday.

Hot Chip played one hell of a show, with a Buffalo stampede of sound rushing the audience. As expected, there was an average of four synthesizers on stage at any given time with a clear intention to make the audience dance to disco-infused beats. Listeners on Spotify or YouTube might have been pleasantly shocked because the bass one could never pick up in your headphones came to life with the power of a rocket ship.

The stage setup consisted of a range of hot lights, a smoke machine (of course), and even lasers. Hot Chip used laser pointers from automatically mounted cannons, which made triangles and danced while the band played. In at least two songs, four of the band members had their own choreography while rectangular boxes surrounding the band lit up with neon lights, and had strange Martian shadows. Finally, there were strobe lights above the band. The overall effect of the loud dance music and the lights was a sensory overload. 

The band followed their digital roots with complementary lyrics and vocals. On the band’s single, “Ready for the Floor,” the bridge sings, “You’re my number one guy!” like the AOL ping, “You’ve got mail!” And Hot Chip is de facto sisters with Brooklyn’s LCD Soundsystem with whom they share guitarist-keyboardist Al Doyle, who spent the concert twisting and jiving around the stage. Hot Chip differs from LCD with a more up-tempo attitude and has no anxious self-awareness. Listeners might notice a small kinship with 1980s band Devo, who dared to play bizarre sounds in praise of technology.

Midway through the set, Hot Chip played “Sabotage,” by the Beastie Boys and the crowd collectively went nuts. The homage recognized the Beastie Boys are from Brooklyn, and the song also has a lot of screaming, which was super fun.

Pleasing the crowd with new originals, the band played “Positive,” and “Bath Full of Ecstasy.” “Positive,” has a catchy recursive hook, where band members sang, “We used to get together and talk about how we used to get together,” in a call and answer. In fact, the band consistently had excellent vocal harmonies. The song, “Bath Full of Ecstasy,” has an oldies or soul chord progression, and is slower than most of the band’s songs, but not by much. The song had manic energy that couldn’t sit still, and the chord changes swung in weird ways.

Hot Chip’s live show illuminated the way book learning can be second to in-person classroom teaching. The band’s ideas for the music as propulsive dance fusion were better articulated in the immersive experience. Whereas the lyrics might have put off the casual listener as trivial, the live show made those lyrics seem much more important because the music was loud and beautiful. Indie rock’s angst was missing, and no one missed it.

Thus, the show is somewhat at odds with its recordings. The liabilities as recordings become assets in its live show. Repetitive bass lines and lyrics on a computer or cell phone can be tossed aside as trivial, however, in person they become central to the message of the band as a dance-pop experience. Idiosyncrasy seems obnoxious on recordings but becomes charming and unique at the live show.

At the end of the show, band members pointed their microphones to the crowd to amplify the crowd’s cheers. It was a cool trick and in a moment caught some of the ambitions of the band to capture the energy of the crowd and say the feelings were mutual. Likewise, sometimes people in the band say, “We love you too!” back to the audience in between songs. This was a loud, brilliant, mind-expanding show. Hot Chip is an electronic dance band, but last night they rocked.

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When Melina Duterte, better known as Jay Som dropped her breakthrough indie-darling of a record Everybody Works in early 2017, she re-sparked an age-old debate around the definitions and merits of “Low-Fi” music, and more specifically what’s been so cleverly coined as bedroom pop. Though contested, bedroom pop is broadly considered to simply be D.I.Y. music recorded in – yes, you guessed it – one’s bedroom.

The notion of predicting an entire genre based upon the environment in which it’s recorded grows more meaningless with each passing musical year. Pretty much any artist with the resources to record and release an album from their bedroom is more than likely hammering away at the same EMS synth used at Long View Farm Studios by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy on depressive-hipster classics such as “Someone Great”. As such, critics and fans alike began paying attention to the merits of Melina’s music rather than the confines in which it was created. What most found in doing so was a particularly pretty, off-the-wall-brand of dream pop with enough gritty realism to keep it tethered to reality. Now, on Anak Ko, Jay Som doesn’t so much expand upon her lavish-brand of a dream, but rather hones it in and paints the edges black.

Our first taste of Anak Ko came in the way of its shiny lead single, “Superbike”. A nostalgic piece of washed-out revivalism, the nineties-drenched track spends its duration rolling both the best and worst traits of the decade into one cohesively perplexing piece.  Kicking off with an irritating guitar riff that’s, more washed-up than washed-out, the next two minutes parallel a scrapped Alanis Morissette single before being swallowed whole by an epically distorted, thrashing guitar-solo in the last minute. What’s spit back out here is a sort of sonic lens from which to view the record as a whole, as like with “Superbike” itself, Anak Ko shines during it’s fuzzier, more brooding moments. A prime example of a moodier, darker Duterte can be found on the opener “If You Want It.” Driven by a groovy bass-line, lively vocals, and stiff guitar licks, it’s a great example of a more rich, adult take on a dream.

The appropriately titled “Night Time Drive” is another highlight, serving as the personal soundtrack for anyone who’s taken the back-road instead, beer in hand, watching the violet sky crash down from the windshield above. Lush and gorgeous, the mid-tempo jaunt plays like that feel-good road-trip before the inevitable existential depression kicked in. For a record that flirts with joy, it concludes with the decidedly melancholic “Get Well.” A beautifully mesmerizing and intoxicating tale of addiction. All Melina needs is a downtrodden bass, wobbly synth, and lethargic steel-pedal to invest you fully, muttering lines such as “Get well, I hope you can, how can you find peace, with a drink in your hand?” At their worst, tracks like this can come across as untruthful or pandering, but “Get Well” is delivered with such palpable, gloomy passion that you can practically feel the empathy emanating through the speakers. 

The streak of mature melancholy woven throughout this record is a welcome one. Melina prevails in not fetishizing the darker, more tortured tones and notions on the record. While it’s brighter, pop-centric tendencies displayed on tracks such as “Tenderness” contrarily lack the instrumental intrigue required to overcome it’s inherently bland, overused cliches. However, despite its high-spirited shortcomings, Anak Ko showcases Jay Som as one of the most defined artists in a largely ill-defined genre.

The post Jay Som keeps the dream alive with Anak Ko appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Throughout their ample discography, Screaming Females have exemplified a certain talent for harmoniously bringing the more raucous and combustible elements of rock n’ roll together under one roof without somehow burning down the entire neighborhood. Over their 14-year existence, the group has explored everything from garage to grunge, with a solid scattershot shot-gun blast of indie and post-punk to boot. During their gig at the beer-battered bar-room basement that is the Garrison, however, these sounds and influences were torched slowly to the ground by a ferocious onslaught of sheer, in-your-face punk tenacity. It was byway of this punk ethos that the New Jersey-based rockers were able to achieve a unique feat rarely achieved by rock bands of the modern era – to sound dangerous in 2019.

Like with most, Screaming Females have gradually increased their fanbase with each passing record. In 2018, the group’s success reached its current-day crescendo with the heavily-acclaimed All At Once. Hard-hitting, mature, and fully-formed, the record currently stands with an 86/100 on Metacritic. It’s records like these, sporting tracks like “Glass House” that have bolstered the band’s ability to play such modest venues to an entirely immodest fan-base.

“Anges Martin,” another track off All At Once, is a perfect example of the evolution that occurs during Females’ fervent live gigs. On record, the track sounds like what one might imagine being tied to the back of a fender and subsequently dragged through the muck and the mile of a sludgy dirt-road would feel like. It’s muddy and treacherous. Live, these elements are wholly elevated, as all the music-junkies in the front-row can do is feverishly headbang to front-woman Marisa Paternoster’s pummeling guitar, extended solo’s, and guttural vocals.

The task of preventing this whole primitive ritual of performance from collapsing completely is left solely to the steady-as-a-rock drumming of Jarrett Dougherty. Mike Abbate, his rhythmic counterpart, does everything except relieve the barbarism with his rambunctiously crushing basslines. It’s as if at times Paternoster and Abbate are in competition to see who can be the downright dirtiest, and they both win.

Levity was not lost, however, as the Rose Mountain-era track “Hopeless” provided a small dose of tranquility amidst the chaos. Roaring her way through the mid-tempo jaunt, Paternoster growled sentiments such as, “I’m not hopeless, helpless or begging you to stay, It’s just turning out that way” in her nearly indiscernible snarl. Any other gasps of air had to be found in between tracks, as banter was virtually non-existent among both the band and crowd. Instead, those pauses were set-aside for Paternoster to fiddle with and re-weaponize her trademark G&L S-500 ax. Throughout the blistering evening, the Females also burned through other bangers such as “A New Kid” and “I’ll Make You Sorry,” before eventually offering up an appropriately inaudible “thank you” and disappearing into the dead, officially dismal night.

The post Live at the Garrison: A sledgehammer performance from Screaming Females appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Oso Oso perfectly demonstrates the dawning of a new day belief with the introduction track by having thunderstorms raining down only to be broken up with a soft acoustic guitar and heavenly vocals peaking through the clouds. Even with a more optimistic view Lilitri’s signature characteristic shines, “Laying in the grass we were dragging all out. Got my head in your hand and head in the clouds.” While wanting to be hopeful there’s a constant disconnect with peace. Distorted effects muffle up the lyrics a bit allowing the song to evaporate into blissful chaos.

After the storm passes over we’re engulfed in some sunshine with the energetic hip songs, “The View” and the title track “Basking in the Glow.” The latter pumps you up with thumping bass before turning into an enhanced pop setting. Don’t let the upbeat swing fool you, Lilitri’s lyrics wrestle with the idea of being happy every goddamn day, “I hate the way I miss your touch. I hate these songs I sing, this empty drink, do I even give a fuck?”

Perhaps the best song on the album is “Dig.” It’s smooth, catchy, and oh-so cool. Terrific instrumentation and hushed vocals intensify when the charged-up chorus sings “There’s this hole in my soul, so how far do you wanna go,” before ending with a kickass guitar solo where the band really lets loose.

There are noticeable technical audio issues on “One Sick Plan.” It’s a solid enough song with an acoustic guitar accompanied by filtered out vocals giving the impression that it was a home recording. However, the rough static sounds fading in and out the entire track is quite jarring feeling misplaced compared to the rest of the album. I tried three different pairs of headphones to make sure there wasn’t something wrong on my end. Even over Bluetooth speakers, the overall quality of the song is very clunky making the experience quite unpleasant.

Luckily, Oso Oso is able to recuperate with “Priority Change” and their most punk song on the album, “Wake Up Next To God.” The energetic thrashing is heart pumping allowing Lilitri’s gentle voice to come off as edgy working well against the heavier sound. Lastly, the album ends on “Charlie.” Surprisingly it’s a bit of a bummer track after all this talk of wanting to be happy. Making the realization that no matter how hard you try to escape, the darkness will always be present.

Oso Oso’s Basking In The Glow allowed Jade Lilitri to commit to letting the light in, if only because he knows the darkness like the back of his hand. Even with the optimistic view, there’s still this distrust within the lyrics masked by the lustrous swing. Aside from the hiccups on “One Sick Plan”, the upbeat tempo of the songs lead to an intriguingly bright indie album that’s a decent listen from start to finish.

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