Spring Fling ’13: The Rumors Are True, Ya Bish

“Concerts on Foss: now more than ever!”

WesleyanSpringFling

Spring Fling is happening! The rumors are true: Paul Wall is officially booked and coming to Central Connecticut! Kevin Federline dropped out (as a freshman) and sent Kevin Curtin ‘13, YouTube drummer extraordinaire, in his place! House Party and dead prez are playing a collaborative set! Dean Brown and The Clover Street Band are covering Jefferson Airplane again!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, no. We’ll cut the crap and just give you the lineup, courtesy of Spring Fling Committee:

KENDRICK LAMAR
AB-SOUL
RYAN HEMSWORTH
ANAMANAGUCHI

This year’s lineup still follows the loosely defined Spring Fling template of “rap act, indie-ish buzz band, raucous opening act” of the past few years, allowing us to reuse this sentence again and again, ya bishhh. Just kidding; Ryan Hemsworth seems to fit none of those categories, while Anamanaguchi probably takes buzz band and raucous opener simultaneously. “Electronic and electronically-backed music setting the stage for music press-electrifying rappers” is probably a better generalization this time around.

The lineup looks stacked this year! I’m excited to see the universal acclaim in the comments; a complete absence of complaints about the lineup has always been one of Spring Fling’s reliable standbys, year after year. (Ha ha ha.) Think your project’s missing? Put it in the submission form. Some quick overviews and music from the artists are after the jump.

Anamanaguchi

anamanaguchi

Anamanaguchi is a chiptune rock band from NYC, combining video game sounds with high energy rock. Think best seventh grade arcade-themed birthday party crashed by a ton of moshers. They played Zonker Harris Day in 2010 when it rained a lot and not that many people showed up. Hopefully this year it won’t rain and people will come (and Spring Fling will also be on Foss). Anamanaguchi’s new album, Endless Fantasy, will be out on May 14. Maybe we’ll hear some of their new stuff at Spring Fling. Here is their SoundCloud. There’s a great video for their recent single, “Meow”:

  • This makes me want to play Katamari. Or pick up a Game Boy/Nintendo controllers and press the buttons vigorously.

  • Yo, how about that guy who looks kinda like Stephan Stansfield ’13?

  • So much elated Foss sunshine happy dancing will ensue when they play.

  • I like to think it reflects well on me that I didn’t instantly recognize moot (and instead wondered why that white kid’s face looked really familiar).

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/84133668″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Ryan Hemsworth

RhEms

Ryan Hemsworth is a popular DJ and producer from Nova Scotia, dubbed “one of the best DJs with the worst name.” His latest EP, Last Words, was stated to be “another reminder of the way hip-hop and electronic dance music continue to flirt with each other aggressively, like two high school freshmen who have the whole talking-to-each-other thing down and are just starting to reach that exalted next level.”

Here’s a Pitchfork interview with Hemsworth, in which his music is described as “moody sound [that] combines the emo hip-hop of Drake and Future with pinpoint sample-based electronica.” Again with the synergy of hip-hop and electronica being the future or whatever. Check out Ryan Hemsworth’s SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Here’s a snippet:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/85802576″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

And since I have friends who are more familiar with R. Hems than myself, here are some testimonials via facebook chat:

  • “oh i don’t know his music at all
    he’s a dj
    every time i hear his name i picture the actor from thor
    whose last name is i think also hemsworth
    just post that guy’s biography” – Musician ‘13

Here you go:

Though born in Melbourne, Australia, Chris Hemsworth saw quite a bit of the country in his youth when his family moved first to the Northern Territory before finally settling on Phillip Island to the south of Melbourne. He is brother to actors Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth. [read more]

  • “This boy is kind of a huge cutie. I wanna meet him and dance in front of the stage so he can notice me.” –Rachel ’14

Ab-Soul

Ab-Soul

Ab-Soul is an esteemed member of the Black Hippy crew, which consists of Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul himself. AbSynth is also the former name of a current Wesleying writer (duh).

His last album, Control System, was highly acclaimed. About Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar has said, “I write a line, and I bring it by him. He’s like my actual human dictionary when I’m in the studio rapping…When I first met [him] I thought he was a nerd. A nerdy, wizardish genius.” He’s got a cool track with Danny Brown, as well as a piece with Kendrick Lamar called “ILLuminate,“ which takes place in a dystopian world where people dig up Ab-Soul’s LP from the ground (cuz people don’t listen to records in the future or somethin’, forget about books). Ab-Soul’s music is political and powerful and it sounds like he’s just getting warmed up by the end of the album. Here’s his Twitter.

 

Kendrick Lamar

KENDRICK

Kendrick Lamar is an inventive hip-hop artist from Compton. Last year’s, good kid, m.A.A.d city is deeply autobiographical and has a great narrative, largely about growing up in Compton and starting to rap, with themes of family and identity interspersed throughout. It’s a great piece of storytelling that ties together rap thrills with pulverizing beats with conversation snippets and voice recordings. Honestly, I think Kendrick is a really solid headlining pick. A wide range of Wesleyan’s cultural subgroups will all be pretty fucking down for this.

Please: don’t kill my vibe. Instead, look at what really silly things I thought about Kendrick while watching the video for “Swimming Pools (Drank)”:

  • I’m really worried about Kendrick, is he falling down because he’s drunk?

  • I’m really worried about Kendrick, would he be mad if he knew I thought this was a Drake song for a while?

  • I’m really worried about Kendrick, is this video about drinking pool water?

    • It’s probably a metaphor.

      • Oh, word?

  • I’m really worried about Kendrick, does he know how busy he’s going to be during finals week?

  • Here’s an awk Google Hangout that Kendrick participated in during SXSW.

Listen to good kid, m.A.A.d city here:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/64065406″ params=”secret_token=s-Qv41E” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

That’s that, folks. Shout-out to Spring Fling Committee for their work in putting this together; they shaped a cohesive lineup and negotiated on a budget pretty much all year round. All that’s left is for us to get reasonably excited. Concerts on Foss: Now, more than ever!

EDIT: A Committee member wrote in to note that guest passes for Spring Fling will be available starting Monday, April 15, for $20 each – expect a post soon.

[This post was definitely not written by A-Batte and Samira, who shared the pronoun “I” just to fuck with you.]

(Visited 116 times, 1 visits today)

38 thoughts on “Spring Fling ’13: The Rumors Are True, Ya Bish”

  1. Pingback: Who Killed Spring Fling’s Vibe? | Wesleying

  2. Pingback: Ice Rink To Be Converted Into Swimming Pool Full of Liquor for Kendrick | Wesleying

  3. Pingback: Concert Committee Forum | Wesleying

  4. Pingback: Spring Fling Committee Starts Charging Money for Guest Passes, Because Kendrick | Wesleying

  5. Pingback: Spring Fling Guest Passes for Non Students Now on Sale | Wesleying

  6. Pingback: Girl#$wag Takes the Crown at Battle of the Bands, Will Open Spring Fling | Wesleying

  7. Pingback: Starting Right About Now: Battle of the Bands @ Eclectic | Wesleying

  8. '12

    let me explain something to everyone who is weakly arguing the all-male line up was “unintentional.” when you live in a society that has been shitting on women since it was founded, it’s your fucking responsibility to make an effort not to do that anymore. that means including women in your fucking artistic projects and providing funding for artists who are not straight, white, cis men.

    if you do not care enough about women to even consider their existence as artists when planning a $50,000 event or however much spring fling committee has for this thing, then guess what? you’re a fucking sexist and you need to re-evaluate your shit.

    or, you know what? don’t. but don’t be surprised when people are mad about it.

    oh and before you even try: do not tell me to calm down. it’s patronizing. I have dealt with sexism my whole life and I am tired. thanks.

    1. On the Committee

      We actively pursued several female artists that we would have loved in the lineup. And we always considered this issue when booking the lineup.

  9. Pingback: Guest Post: Yes, It Is a Problem That There Is Not a Single Woman in the Spring Fling Lineup | Wesleying

  10. totalboner

    Well, at the very least, the awkward Kendrick Google video was the funniest thing I’ve seen in last 24 hours. Nice job wesleying.

  11. seriousbummer

    Notice those pictures of Wesleyan musicians up on the Usdan walls? Notice how NONE of them (maybe 12 photos in all?) were of women musicians?

    Same problem with Spring Fling.

    A-batte, I think you’re right on that it’s not an intentional exclusion but it’s certainly not okay.

  12. alum

    i remember when social committee used to care about rock music and having a groundbreaking lineup. this is some penn state bullshit.

    1. student

      yeah man, that opening band that just happens to play power chords with guitars and also shreds with synthesizers is some penn state bullshit. i wish we could have gotten the black keys.

  13. oldguy

    OK- I’ll post the first WTF? post about a lineup that as an old guy; I have never heard of a single performer. I thought Kenrdick Lamar was that kid from Sesame Street who played Big Bird’s neighbor. I’ll go for the wes band that opens and high tail it before the thump thump kicks in…..

    1. youngguy

      Congrats, you are extremely closed minded! Enjoy your ignorance instead of giving a completely free show a chance.

      1. oldguy

        actually, I like the pop act- the DJs suck though- and the rapper is a one song dude- sorry-

        1. youngguy2

          Good Kid M.A.A.D City has 12 songs on it, actually. It’s an hour and a half long autobiographical concept album. The songs are pretty much unanimously popular. Your assessment has no grounding in fact. Sorry.

  14. Stephan Stansfield '13

    I fucking love Anamanaguchi! I support everything that they stand for. This lineup is great, definitely the best since Dirty Proj/Big Boi. Great job! Also, I’m assuming you think I look like the drummer, not-Anwar-not-Samira? Or do I look like moot? Personally i think I look like Kendrick. Did you know that we’re both kind of cute short men riddled with existential woes? It’s uncanny really. Also I’m from compton.

  16. Anonymous

    For the love of god pick at least one female act next year.You can pick any four artists and they’re all guys? The closest we’ve come since I’ve been here is chairlift, which is only 50% female. I don’t mean to hate, since you guys get enough shit anyway, but I think it’s important to acknowledge this pattern of essentially all-male lineups year after year.

    1. Anon

      No, they can’t pick any four artists. They have to choose and negotiate with artists based on availability and budget, among other factors. Yes, it would be nice to have a female musician on the lineup, but I don’t think the solution is choosing a female musician for the hell of it–to me, that’s a little patronizing, but each to their own. And it’s not like Spring Fling is the only event where female musicians can play on campus. Were you at BuHo last night? I would be wary to perpetuate the idea that Social Committee is a boys’ club with entirely free agency, making intentionally misogynistic decisions, rather than a group of people working with a number of limiting factors in their lineup choice.

      1. Batte_A

        This issue is gonna be addressed at more length on Wesleying later, but just a couple of quick things:

        “I don’t think the solution is choosing a female musician for the hell of it”
        I agree, and would be willing to guess that the original Anonymous does too – tokenism is bullshit. But I think “there are female musicians who are good and get passed over because of sexism, not because of their music” is a little closer to the spirit of the complaint.

        “I would be wary to perpetuate the idea that Social Committee is a boys’
        club with entirely free agency, making intentionally misogynistic
        decisions”
        It’s good that you brought this up, because part of the point about institutionalized and systemic sexism is that people don’t have to _try_ to reinforce it; it has to be actively fought if it’s going to go away. I (once again) agree in thinking that Spring Fling Committee _isn’t_ out there trying to come up with the best lineup and see how many women they can exlcude while they’re at it. But – to keep this comment concise – a neutral stance isn’t really neutral. Hopefully that made sense to you.

        1. Anon

          I agree with what you’re saying here. My defense of Social Committee was a bit too simplistic, which is in a way ironic, because I think the larger point that I was trying to make is the same one that you are making here: sexism in music works on a much more complicated scale than deliberate oppression or perpetuation of sexist ideas. It is a problem that is caused by a number of complex factors, most of which are completely invisible to those causing it.

          This is exactly the reason why I think it is especially important for those who see problems in Wesleyan’s music scene to ask themselves if there is anything they are doing that is exacerbating the problem. Calling out the issues in blog comments, etc. IS important, but it should not stop there. Speaking as a female musician myself, the one thing I would like to see is less complaining, and more playing. I know so many girls on this campus who can play instruments, but don’t make the effort to put themselves out there. And perhaps this is because they feel intimidated by the exact atmosphere that we are criticizing here. But I hate to see a criticism turn into an excuse for inaction. Don’t get discouraged. Actively seek support, collaboration. Find people who work in the concert scene; tell them you are interested in opening for a visiting band. Show people what you have made. Make a female presence in music a normalcy, not a novelty. Believe that people want to see you play, because on an individual (not institutional) basis, this is, for the most part, true (at least in my own experience). Maybe my experience is atypical. I would be very interested to hear the specific obstacles that other female musicians have encountered when trying to perform on campus. But in order to find out what those are, you first have to try to perform.

          1. Batte_A

            Glad to see we agree on a lot more than I might have guessed! As you said, there’s more complexity than is going to come out in Wesleying comments, especially in a discussion between a female musician who *does* perform (I’m assuming) and, well, some guy.

            I would just say that while you’ve provided a great list of things aspiring artists can do to get started here, I think what’s missing and therefore valuable in this conversation is what established artists, organizers, fans, and others can do to help out. That does a lot to help create an environment where female musicians stop “silencing themselves” (quote marks because I’m skeptical that that happens as much as it’s talked about, but don’t want to categorically eliminate it since I’m not a female musician [shocker!]).

            Thanks for commenting back. Discourse is cool and shit.

    3. eh

      legitimate point but I know they definitely were strongly considering/sent offers to female artists and those acts just didn’t work out. who is actually available and within budget can be kind of a crapshoot

    5. feminism, anyone?

      I think the “no women” complaint can be compounded by the Committee’s bizarre commitment to hip hop artists. Though individual artists vary greatly, the genre’s general poor treatment of women leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So their options are either 1) misogynistic rapper or 2) non-misogynistic rapper, consciously chosen for this reason but still has a penis. Pretty much a lose-lose, even if they are making a conscious choice.

      1. '12

        1) implying that hip-hop is more sexist than other kinds of music is racist nonsense.

        2) male =/= penis =/= misogynist

        3) “bizarre commitment to hip hop”??? have you noticed how popular hip hop is???

Comments are closed.