Wesleyan Bands Wanted in Middletown

Even when Eclectic is once again hosting shows and the Sound Co-op is once again amplifying music, here's a suggestion that musicians on campus should keep in mind.

Bill Carbone posted on Aural Wes over break to encourage campus musicians to play more shows at bars and restaurants on Main Street:

The recent stunning loss of Eclectic (if you haven't already, sign the petition here) as a venue has inspired quite a bit of discussion about the lack of performance spaces at Wesleyan, and it is indeed lamentable. However, there are options that I haven't really seen floated.

For one, most of the bars and businesses on Main Street would love to be more deeply engaged with Wesleyan students (The Middletown Eye had a great discussion about this recently).

I attempted to launch a concert series at Public this semester to coincide with bar night, and though it was somewhat successful, I didn't manage to get a single band in which I do not play to do a gig there (several took the gig and then canceled for various reasons). The owner of the bar is very serious about establishing a night that will showcase Wesleyan music; he's offering a guarantee and free drinks to the bands, not charging a cover, and in general being a pretty cool guy (the offer of a gig still stands, if interested contact me).

There are several other places to play in town as well. For the traditional bar-type setting there's La Boca, Hair of the Dog and the brand new and quite cool Fishbone Cafe, while the Buttonwood Tree offers a more art-space style room and Javapalooza is that interesting combination of a coffee shop and a microbrew beer bar (and thus a place where one can have a show that isn't 21+).

Of course there's nothing as fun as a dark, sweaty dance party show at one of Wesleyan's venues (or more often living rooms), but in this age of everything local, why not bring your tunes down to Main Street and encourage your friends to put their PBR dollars into a different coffer for an evening? It's a proposition that benefits everyone involved: the band actually gets paid, the local venue gets a momentary influx of Wesleyan students, and most of all, a night of music goes down free of the looming threat of a P-Safe shutdown.

This would be great - an excuse to get off campus every once in awhile, add more variety to the social scene, and maybe integrate Wesleyan with Middletown a little better. Not to mention a financial incentive for the musically skilled in these economically challenging times.

SJB's WesFest Exemption for Eclectic, Revealed

So probably the most contentious thing about Eclectic being banned from hosting any more events this semester is that one exception in particular was made: a concert on WesFest weekend.

From the WesFest event catalogue:

09:00 PM - 01:00 AM

Alumni Music Extravaganza ft. Francis and the Lights, Das Racist, Acrylics, and See/Saw!

This will be a dance party night to remember, featuring three successful Brooklyn-based Wesleyan alumni bands and one current student band. Not to be missed for fans of MGMT!

Location: Eclectic House (200 High St), Ballroom

DIRECTLY REFERENCES MGMT.

Come, prefrosh! Look at our music scene! JUST KIDDING.

Well, it's incredibly convenient that the only show escaping the effective shutting down of Wesleyan's student music scene falls during WesFest and is only the most prominent example of said music scene this semester.

And the fact that this is the one event they're letting slide undermines the stated rationale for banning events in the first place: because of a noise complaint. All this talk about the event that's being exempt from the Eclectic shut-down... what is it? A talk, an academic lecture, a convention? IT'S A SHOW. A Wes alum band showcase. THAT WILL BE NOISY.

I'm really looking forward to hearing the Student Judicial Board's rationale behind this in detail, when/if it becomes available. We've heard Eclectic's side of the story, but it's necessary to get a more complete picture of why the punishment seems so much implausibly harsher than the crime as it's been described so far.

But from the way it looks now, it just seems that there was a remarkable lack of foresight in the making of this decision. More info as it comes in.

Petition to Overturn Eclectic Hosting Ban

An online petition to lift the ban on social events at Eclectic is up. Here's what you're signing for:

The Eclectic Society has recently been informed by Scott Backer and the Student Judicial Board that all events, lectures, gatherings, and shows taking place at 200 High St. this semester – including those already scheduled – must be canceled due to a “House Hosting Restriction.” Backer and the SJB have made one exception: WesFest weekend. We feel that in eliminating Eclectic as a campus-wide venue, these restrictions threaten to eliminate an integral campus space necessary to foster the creative and intellectual energy upon which Wesleyan prides itself. We will be appealing this mandate this week and hope that wide student support will help the case.

In signing this petition I declare my support for the Eclectic Society’s efforts to overturn the House Hosting Restriction in order to maintain all previously-scheduled events for the duration of the semester.

If you're somehow resentful of Eclectic, be clear about the distinction between your sense of schadenfreude and the seriously negative impact this ban will have on life at Wesleyan. Shutting down all events taking place at Eclectic for the rest of the semester doesn't just punish Eclectic members, it punishes the campus as a whole.

Eclectic is unmatched as a consistent venue for events at Wesleyan, and you've got to understand the benefits of having it available as a public space for students even if you don't personally attend these events .

And if you do appreciate live music, just look at this sad, sad list of events from Aural Wes and note how many are potentially no longer happening:

UPCOMING EVENTS

march 4: buru style & special guest (public)

march 5: noms, decora, sewing machines, tall tales (eclectic) CANCELLED

march 5: chris white, stephanie nilles, captain coconut (earth house)

march 25: cassorla, dear lamp (earth house)

march 26: pink reason, hue blanc's joyless ones (eclectic)CANCELLED

march 26: dar williams

march 27: ryan leslie (eclectic)CANCELLED

march 28: kentucky fried doom, sourvein, ehnahre, relics (eclectic)CANCELLED

march 28: raina rose, rebecca loebe (earth house)

april 3: buru style, barefoot junction, banish the rabbit (psi u)

april 3: big tree, shai erlichman, tall tales (eclectic)CANCELLED

april 4: pissed jeans, drunkdriver (eclectic)CANCELLED

april 10: previously on lost (eclectic)CANCELLED

april 11: art show with musical guests adam gunther, zully adler, celia hollander (eclectic)CANCELLED

april 16: das racist, francis & the lights, acrylics, tall tales (eclectic)CANCELLED - oops, this one will still happen!

april 23: battle of the bands (eclectic)CANCELLED

april 24: ponytail, miracles of modern science (eclectic)CANCELLED

april 30: mice parade (eclectic)CANCELLED

may 1: japanther, ninjasonik, grocery thief, michael jordan (eclectic)

& more! (send us your shows)

The SJB should really consider other ways of sanctioning those students responsible for the infractions that led to this restriction, which aren't detrimental to the greater student body.

Read Aural Wes editor Anna Wiener '09's impassioned plea to students here. Paper petitions will be distributed all week during meal times at Usdan, but be sure to sign the online one as well.

Judging by the interest expressed by readers in the previous post, we will easily get 1,000 signatures over the next few days.

Online petition to lift the ban on social events at Eclectic.

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

Brooklyn-via-Wes Bands in Nylon

Ok here is more beating you over the head with this Wesleyan/Brooklyn thing- page 132 of this month's Nylon magazine features "Brooklyn Bands" as a reason to feel superior about being American: "In New York's most populous borough, you can't toss a PBR can without hitting a good musician."

Repping Wesleyan among said bands are Amazing Baby, Bear Hands, and Boy Crisis:

• amazing baby: Though less than a year old, Amazing Baby play psychedelia like they spent the lat '60s turning on and dropping out.
• bearhands: An upbeat, occasionally pop-y four-piece that sings a hell of a good reluctant love song.
• boy crisis: Boy Crisis is what Prince would sound like if he was actually five guys from Brooklyn. We really hope they tour with Girl Talk soon.

See if you can spot Ted Feldman '09 (Bear Hands), Lee Pender '07 (Boy Crisis), and Victor Vasquez '06 (Boy Crisis) in this Brooklyn scene summer camp photo from Nylon, below:

NME on Wesleyan: a "Nest of Noise"

The latest periodical to cover Wesleyan as a hotbed of entertainment talent is British music magazine NME, which devoted a two-page spread this week to investigating our "nest of noise" which "has spawned artists such as MGMT, Amazing Baby and Santogold - and there's a lot more to follow."

It was clear that NME had a thing for this school and its products (for good reason), but damn, way to blow up Wesleyan's uniquely hip legacy!

From all that's visible from the linked page, there's a picturesque photo of North College, a map indicating the distance between Middletown and New York City, a quote from Ben Goldwasser of MGMT about Wesleyan's instrumental place in the chronology of his life, some pictures of Wes-graduated acts, and an inset about British schools which have supposedly reached a comparable level cool.

If anybody's got their hands on a copy of this week's issue and can send us a scan (is NME even distributed here?), it'd be much appreciated.

[edit, 10/24 11:30 am] The Wes homepage put up a full-page scan of the article, read the whole thing here.

It's pretty effusive about the Wesleyan students' creative potential, though some details are somewhat inaccurate - "The place is strewn with flyers advertising bands, films, plays and other artistic endeavours cooked up by bored students trying to entertain themselves in this largely rural part of the world." Um, right.

Media relations director David Pesci calls Wes a "crucible of creativity", where live music permeates the air in warmer months, and due credit is given to past professors of experimental music and ethnomusicology for building up the Music Department.

Santogold and members of MGMT recount their college experiences, and shout-outs are given to recent/current campus favorites Red Wire Black Wire, Bear Hands, and Bottle up and Go as examples of the wide range of musical styles formed here. Overall, not bad publicity at all.

NME: A Different Class
Full Article PDF

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]