Spotlight: Francis and the Lights

Another up-and-coming Wes act that's been previously mentioned on this site without explanation:

Francis and the Lights, led by Francis Farewell Starlite, with Rene Solomon '07 on drums, have been gaining attention for their distinctive sound as well as an "eccentric and engaging" stage presence which Aural Wes called one of the most refreshing sets to grace Eclectic's ballroom in a long time.

Francis and the Lights' synth-laden tracks have the kind of funky guitar riffs and crooning, wide-ranging vocals which likely elicit a wave of nostalgia for 80's pop. Put initial reservations aside and you'll find a densely-layered aural experience, with soulful slow jams and meticulously crafted beats.

A somewhat cryptic band biography, via Better Propaganda:

The band’s sound is propelled by two live drummers playing in conjunction with sequenced percussion, balanced with intertwining guitar and synth parts. The band was formed at Wesleyan University – their first show was a performance of the posthumous Otis Redding record “The Immortal Otis Redding” in its entirety. After secluding himself in Oakland, CA to write songs, Francis Starlite drove cross-country in a decommissioned postal truck and formed the current incarnation of the band in New York.

Instead of signing to a major record label, Starlite recently announced the incorporation of Francis and the Lights, LLC, with a $100,000 investment from the Normative Music Company, a unique move which gives him complete control over artistic and business decisions and suggests big things to come.

Both EP's, Striking and A Modern Promise, are available for free download at the group's website. Check it out - I especially liked "How Could You", "On a Train", the more upbeat "Striking", and the synth-heavy "Strawberries", which has a little opening riff harking back to Prince's "Little Red Corvette".

Also streamable on the site: mournful covers of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" and Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothing".

Below, the video for "The Top", a hypnotic, uncannily Prince-like track which sufficiently displays Francis Starlite's fly moves:


MySpace
Francis and the Lights' official site
Aural Wes

Wesleyan lights up Huffington Post

In case you forgot why we rule, allow yourself to be reminded by this Wesleyan-centric article, "The Awesome-ization of Wesleyan University," published yesterday on The Huffington Post.

President-elect Barack Obama was the key note speaker at the 2008 Wesleyan Commencement - passing on valuable advice...

...and blessing a new crop of Brooklyn bands! 2008 brought MGMT and Santogold to the pop culture limelight and 2009 has the chance to be an even bigger year for the New England university. Fader Magazine, the current de facto guide to cool, recently profiled the university's music scene and the numerous internet buzz bands nurtured by co-ed dorms and naked parties.

Not to say that the influx of Wesleyan bloodlines into the experimental music scene should come as a surprise. This is the same university that previously boasted the best acid labs in the country, employs experimental jazz pioneer Anthony Braxton as a professor, and is the alma mater of hip hop impresario Bobbito Garcia.

The article also highlights four Wesleyan bands to look out for in 2009 complete with sample tracks: Boy Crisis, Amazing Baby, Bear Hands, and Francis and the Lights. (Plus two songs by honorable mentions Bottle Up and Go and Das Racist.) Thanks for the free PR Huffington!

[edit 11:15 am, Sheek]
FYI, the article's by Steve Pristin '06, of ISmellLikeMoney.com.

Aural Wes On Fader: Wesleyan's Breakout Bands

Last week Fader posted a condensed conversation between Wes alum editor Eric Ducker '00 and Aural Wes editor Anna Wiener '09 in the online column "A Rational Conversation Between Two Adults", about campus reactions to the off-campus success of Wes-affiliated music acts.

Topics discussed: the MGMT/Management generational divide; more MGMT lore; Santogold's apparent ambivalence towards Wesleyan; the Brooklyn/Wes connection; and the status of up-and-coming acts like Amazing Baby, Bear Hands, Boy Crisis, Francis & the Lights, and Das Racist.

The transcript follows:

Eric Ducker: How aware are Wesleyan students that two of the biggest success stories in emerging music this year went to Wesleyan?

Anna Wiener: I think students here are very aware of it. There's a funny divide between older students who have ties to some of the people in these bands, and the younger kids, who probably listened to MGMT and Santogold at their high school proms and thought it was really rad that their future school was tied to these artists.

ED: When did MGMT graduate?

AW: 2005. They were still something of a presence when I arrived in 2006, playing a couple shows on campus before they got signed. 2008 (last year's seniors) was the last class to overlap with them. So for some people, they're part of Wesleyan lore, and for others, they're Andrew and Ben, those friends who wore shoelaces around their heads and danced in snowsuits to their iPod.

ED: They were called The Management when they were still in school, right?

AW: Yup. I think some people saw The Management to MGMT transition as a turning point, indicating their success (or their "selling out," depending on who you talk to).

ED: How do most people regard their success now?

AW: There are definitely mixed reactions. I think the most telling is that the kids who used to listen to The Management—the alternative kids, the Eclectic kids, the boys who wore girl pants because they weren't selling skinny jeans yet—no longer play MGMT songs at parties, and suddenly kids who you would never have expected to be into psychedelic synth pop are blasting "Time to Pretend" at keg parties. MGMT played a show last year right around the time that "Kids" was hugely popular, and it was a huge deal. It was in the largest venue on campus, tickets sold out very quickly and a lot of the audience were freshmen, class of 2011. There are equal parts pride and resentment, I guess you could say.

ED: That makes sense. When the Vampire Weekend album came out in the beginning of this year we did a story on the reaction from the people who ran Columbia University's radio station. It was a mix of bemusement, happiness and mild putdowns. I imagine as the year has gone on the putdowns have become less mild.

AW: I think that's to be expected. And it's especially accurate at Wesleyan, This is a place with a lot of musicians and a lot of people who really care about music, who are really paying attention. Even here, there's a similar reaction to Vampire Weekend—they played Wesleyan in 2007 and it was a really fun, small show in the dining room of Eclectic. Then they blew up, were playing Summerstage in New York, etc, and people were like, Enough already, let's move on.

ED: When it was The Management, were they a real band or was it a silly project of theirs?

AW: The Management were a real band. Apparently they played some festivals in Connecticut, at NYU, and in Memphis and South Carolina. Also they played Battle of the Bands, and performed at our annual Spring Fling with GZA. It definitely wasn't just a silly project. They had an EP by 2003/4, I'm pretty sure, and there was a performance in 2005 called "The Management vs. God" that was held in the Wesleyan chapel during prospective students weekend that I believe was part of either Andrew or Ben's senior thesis. It was a whole theatrical debacle, from what I've heard.

ED: Details?

AW: Debacle might be the wrong word. Maybe "explosion," in the positive sense. Lots of costumed monsters (?) crawling around the chapel, over the audience, hanging from the balcony. They also had a scoreboard at the front of the chapel, GOD vs. The Home Team.

ED: Who won?

AW: I think the Management won the battle, but not the war.

ED: Sounds about right. Are the feelings towards Santogold different, since there is so much more distance in terms of time?

AW: I think so, actually. Although there is some negativity there, especially amongst people who book shows on campus. She's turned down several offers to play here, including an offer to play Spring Fling, which tends to draw fairly big names. There is also a difference between MGMT and Santogold in that MGMT were launched right out of Wesleyan, whereas with Santogold the connection seems much thinner.

ED: What are the current feelings on Amazing Baby, who are even more recent graduates?

AW: You know, Amazing Baby doesn't have a lot of buzz on campus yet. We're trying to bring them to play a show here next semester, so maybe then. People are following two other bands a lot more closely, Bear Hands and Boy Crisis. I think Amazing Baby still have that feeling of being our best kept secret.

ED: They already have a pretty respected publicity company and are getting more press, I’m not sure how longer that secret is going to be around.

AW: Right. It's funny, actually—they're all over the place in Brooklyn (my hometown), but not so much at Wesleyan, although it is spreading here. I would have thought that trajectory would be reversed.

ED: Did they exist at Wesleyan? Or did they come about post-graduation?

AW: I'm not sure. Their members are before my time, but I'm pretty sure they did not exist as Amazing Baby here. Simon O'Connor and Will Berman (of Amazing Baby and MGMT, respectively) were in a band together called Monsters of Rock, but I don't think Will Roan (now of Amazing Baby) was involved. It's possible they played in different combinations and under different monikers.

ED: It would seem to me that now would feel like an exciting time to be an aspiring musician at Wesleyan. It must feel like success, in some form, is a possibility. Aside from the bands we discussed there's more—Shy Child, Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls, The Mobius Band, etc. When I was there, all people could really look to were the bassist of Girls vs. Boys, Atom & His Package and Dar Williams.

AW: Definitely. And there does seem to be some camaraderie amongst emerging Wesleyan groups. MGMT and Boy Crisis have played shows together in New York, and it sort of feels like they're pulling their friends—who, don't get me wrong, are fully deserving of success themselves —into the fold. When MGMT played that big show here last year, they had Bear Hands open for them. And Bear Hands had played a bunch of very successful shows on campus already, but their opening for MGMT was a great way to get exposure amongst social groups that may or may not be showing up regularly to concerts on campus. Not to mention that Wesleyan somewhat notoriously feeds straight into Brooklyn. So some of it is just being in the right place at the right cultural moment.

ED: Who's your favorite Wesleyan alum group?

AW: This is hard. It's maybe a draw between Bear Hands and Francis & the Lights. But I have my fingers crossed for Das Racist, I think they're the next breakthrough artists from Wesleyan.

ED: Do you still listen to Oracular Spectacular?

AW: Only in the privacy of my bedroom, shades drawn, lights off, headphones on. That being said, if "Electric Feel" comes on at a party, everybody is going to dance. And if "Kids" comes on, the floor might cave. Haters here really only talk the talk, but when the opportunity presents itself, they're going to get down like anyone else.

ED: It's true. I talk a lot of shit about Michael Bay [Class of 1986], but I saw the shit out of Transformers. And I saw both of the National Treasure movies from Jon Turtletaub [Class of 1985], which I liked better than Transformers.

Aural Wes: meta
Fader: Reaction to Wesleyan's Breakout Bands

Francis and the Lights at NYC Apliiq Launch

What looks to be a sweet launch party for startup brand Apliiq is happening on Friday, January 2nd, at Public Assembly in Brooklyn.

Event organizer Steve Pristin '06 (of I Smell Like Money) promises an evening of music, dancing, drinks, party, laughs and high fives all around, with apliiq and karmaloop goods on display and available as giveaways.

Francis and the Lights will be playing live along with Theophilus London, with DJing by Superdunny and Friends with Benefits.

So, kick off the first weekend of the year with Wes people in Williamsburg, see Wes band Francis and the Lights for free, maybe get some free gear, have good times.

Date: Friday, January 2
Time: 10pm - 4am
Place: Public Assembly in Brooklyn, free

Wes Bands Headline Williamsburg

The sold-out Halloween show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn is almost entirely fronted by bands containing or composed of Wesleyan alums:

10/31 Music Hall of Williamsburg:
MGMT
Amazing Baby
Violens
Boy Crisis
Francis & the Lights

Links:
MGMT/ Amazing Baby/ Boy Crisis/ Francis & the Lights/ Violens

[via Sophista-funk]

show tonight at eclectic

Tonight:

MIXEL PIXEL

BOY CRISIS

FRANCIS & THE LIGHTS

Eclectic, 9 pm, free

more information here.

Mixel Pixel, Boy Crisis This Weekend

What looks to be a sweet show is on at Eclectic this Saturday:

Sweet Show at Eclectic
Saturday 4/12
10pm
Free
Dance your ass off

MIXEL PIXEL
http://www.myspace.com/mixelpixel"Somehow managing to blend '60s Parisian decadence, Atari-inspired eight-bit cacophony, sweeping neo-folk revival, and a post-punk sensibility, Mixel Pixel's sound palette is dizzying." -Filter Magazine

"When you want to shake your groove thang, and you know I do, this Brooklyn electro-pop foursome is just what the doctor ordered." -My Old Kentucky Blog

BOY CRISIS
http://www.myspace.com/boycrisis

"a charismatic mix of dance-inducing beats and flippantly sexual lyrics that doesn't take itself too seriously" -The Hippodrome

Victor Vasquez '06 + Lee Pender '07 + Alex Kestner '06 + Owen Roberts '07 = You must me Japanese Jamaican cause ja panties ja makin me hot and I'm not faking.

FRANCIS AND THE LIGHTS
http://www.myspace.com/francisandthelights

"a volatile live show that recalls the rhythmic tension of early Prince and the herky-jerky fervor of David Byrne." -Flavorpill

Rene Solomon '07 is a funny dude and this is his band.