Author Archives: Q

FEATURED
BandCampWes: ILLEGALIZE Returns with “Tortoise Style” EP

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Ever wonder what kind of band it would take to win Battle of the Bands when most of your band members are freshmen? A damn good one. Sadly, it was 2001, before the birth of the great Wesleying, so I can’t make a witty phrase and have it link to an article about how awesome they were by someone who saw them first hand. I can, however, point you too their new album, Tortoise Style, a unique blend of soul, hip hop, and funk with a shake of Brazilian influence.

ILLEGALIZE was a fixture in the Wesleyan music scene during its time here (2001-2004), and after being apart for some time, they have reunited to create their first EP since 2002. The line up includes Tavi Fields ’01/’02, Jon “Phes” Souza ’04, Kieran Meadows ’04, Joaquin Cotler ’04/’05, and Sascha Weiss ’04. To add on to the Go Wes-ness I’m feeling, you should know that the band included Bill Sherman ’02, Tony/Grammy-winning music arranger from In The Heights and current Sesame Street music director.

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EVENT
Hardcore at MuHo: Limbs Bin ¥ LPHHH € Bakshi

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From the warm moist lips of Nate Repasz ’14:

Who it be:

Limbs Bin – Straight outta western Mass, he plays ”bursts of harsh electronic noise delivered in the style of (and with all of the fury of) primitive nihilistic powerviolence” -Terminal Escape

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Let’s Party Hats! Hats! Hats! - Wes sludgy hardcore

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Bakshi - Wes powerviolence/hardcore
Date: April 12
Time: 10pm
Place: Music House (316 Wash)
Cost: Fo Freezy

FEATURED
BandCampWes: House Party — the Band, Not the Movie — Drops “No Forever/I’m Ready, Darling”

“Inspired by mutual love of auto castration and top 40 hits.”

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I really like this album. Not just sorta like it, but I really like it. The band is House Party, the album is called “No Forever/I’m Ready, Darling,” and it was made by Razor Edwards ’10 (of Precision Libido fame), Jeff Rovinelli ’10 (of The Noms fame), and current Brown University student Tim Rovinelli (Brown ’13).  It was recorded over a year, includes samples from Christina Perri, and most of it was recorded with a homemade gaggle of electronics, which, by the sound of most of the album, I’m going to go ahead and assume must’ve looked similar to Satan’s genitalia.

The music itself has, at times, a chilled out almost shoegaze-y feel (see “3pm (puma automatic)”), but this facade slowly gets peeled away during the track “love you (christina perri).” After a somewhat benign intro, the album seems to become a small exercise in audio engineering and distorted pop. This is all well and good, but it is during the third track when it becomes evident here that chaos reins supreme.

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FEATURED
Photos: Sinkane and Dreamhost Shake up Eclectic

Photos by Rachel Pincus '13.

Saturday night was a great night, at least for Eclectic, where nothing wrong happened and no idiots decided to pull a fire alarm. First the room was showered by the 80s rock/synth-pop of Dreamhost (Dylan Bostick ’13), who coupled his great music with a great show, adding fans, a strobe, and dancers. Sinkane, led by multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab, who has played in Of Montreal, Caribou, and Yeasayer, took the stage and successfully made me and many others dance furiously to their dub-esque dance music.

Sinkane’s set was full of dance music reminiscent of Fela Kuti, sustaining heavy grooves and thick textures of guitars, synths, and talk boxes piled on top of each other.

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EVENT
Join Sound Co-Op

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This little tidbit from the Sound Co-op:

Interested in audio equipment and learning the ins and outs of what makes concerts sound good? Wanna help be a part of making Wes concerts go? There will be an informational meeting tomorrow at Eclectic at 4pm. Come help be a part of the Sound Co-op and gain great experience and knowledge!

Date: Tomorrow, February 3rd
Time: 4pm
Place: Eclectic

FEATURED
The Rooks Go Pro, Reflect on 2012

Ahoy! It’s been a good while since we’ve last heard of the long lost band The Rooks since they left Wes to the real world AKA “beyond the outer-rim,” but dry your eyes, don’t you cry, I come bearing good news and sugar treats! Above is a brand new video the Rooks released on New Years to reflect on 2012. It’s a Stevie Wonder medley the band performed at their live show in the ’92 in April, and it features the Mad Wow horn section and guests vocalists Claire Randall and Bridget Read.

The Rooks’ own Garth Taylor ’12, who says the Rooks will be releasing more material from that show in the coming months, comes bearing word:

We’ve performed pretty steadily in New York since we left M-town in May. We opened up for Talib Kweli at the Highline Ballroom in September, which was a total blast, and performed at the Bitter End and other NY hot spots. Gabe Gordon ’11 (keys) and I actually took a day trip today to perform an acoustic-y set at Midnight on Main, and took a little stroll around College Row. Our last live full band show was in October—we took three months off to prepare new material for an EP we’re going to be recording in January.

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FEATURED
BandCampWes: Point Reyes’ Golden is Gold

“We all grew up listening to everything from Harry Partch to Radiohead to avant garde jazz to medieval music and I studied composition, played in weird rock bands, and also played with Anthony Braxton.”

Wes alum Asa Horvitz ’10, notably of Duchampion fame, is delivering musical tastiness in the form of recent project Point Reyes, a Brooklyn-based outfit that you may remember from a spring semester Eclectic set opening for Nat Baldwin. Earlier this semester Point Reyes  just released Golden—a fun and quirky album that feels like it’s reminiscent of Duchampion but is much much more—on Big School Records.

This band is hard for me to describe. Not in the “we don’t really like to classify ourselves in a genre” kind, but in the way where I have to put in actual work to think of the words to describe it. They’re a complex indie rock band that isn’t afraid to dive into more complicated musical forms, and they experiment with things like vocal timbres. Plus, the interesting instrumentation of vocals, guitar, cello, percussion, drums, and vibraphone makes for beautiful and unexpected sound combinations. As TVD Cleveland wrote, “This band is an entity unto itself, enveloping its listeners in orchestrations comprising expansive vibraphone, thick bass, luscious cello, guitar, and eerie vocals that weave stories filled with whimsy.“

Check out more, including my favorite track “Redesert,” after the break.

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FEATURED
Heems Drops ‘Wild Water Kingdom’ Mixtape

“I’ve become in touch with my astrological signs. I’m a Cancer, and I’m a Pisces Rising for my moon [sign], so I’m pretty fucking watery.”

If you haven’t heard of the talented Wes Alum Himanshu Kumar Suri ’07, AKA Heems, you might still know that this powerful Wes grad has been posted about a lot here at Wesleying. Like, a lot a lot. No, really, we’ve posted on him a lot. Personally, I’m just jealous that he has that many cool pictures of himself that we can continue to write articles about him without repeating them .I wish I was famous…

The point is: fresh off his Reddit AMA, Heems has just dropped a new mixtape entitled Wild Water Kingdom, in which he raps not too much about hydrogen dioxide or monarchical governing systems but more about an eclectic mix of subjects that seems to be on his mind. (Check out the track “Soup Boys (Pretty Drones).”) Heems was supposed to release it a while ago, but his plans were delayed by Hurricane Sandy [insert witty water kingdom/hurricane joke here]. Keep reading for more, including the download link, after the jump.

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MUSIC
Heath ’07 Releases “Child Actor” Video, Features WesKids

Electron/indie/R&B duo Child Actor, composed of Wes Alum Max Heath ’09 on production and his Bostonian cousin with vocals (she records her voice, sends it to him, and he mixes it), just released a dreamlike new video for the song “Reasons.” What’s especially cool is that the video, filmed in New Haven, includes other Weskids: Christine Treuhold ’13, Francesca Moree ’14, and grad student Natalie Carballo. It’s just filled to the gills with Wes goodness! As first-time music video star Moree explains it:

We filmed the video over the course of one day in July, using the auditorium in an elementary school (called the Foote School, very elite etc) in New Haven that Max went to and now teaches music at.  He filmed the entire video himself, as well as took care of the lighting and everything else.  He filmed it at double speed so that he could slow it down, giving it the dream-like feel.  Christine Truehold, a senior Theater major, is also in the video, as well as Max’s cousin, Quinby, from Brooklyn.

I can tell you that the number of times we almost all slipped and died on the water and feathers all over the stage was a bit ridiculous!  Also, filming the entire video in one day created some crazy and hectic running around

Child Actor just released a new album, Victory, which can be acquired at this link.

Novembeards: Photo-A-Day Project

Can you feel it in the air? That chill on your newly nekkid face? Mother Nature’s cold cold hands being wrapped around your soon-to-be-Chewbacca-level beard? Well, winter is coming it’s No Shave November once more and we want to see your awesome, rugged, testosterone-fueled, punch-Chuck-Norris-and-his-ugly-mamma-in-the-face beards! I love beards, and over the years it’s become clear to me that if you have a beard, in most situations, you clearly just don’t give a shit. Even though, with nine months of growth, I still look a ninth grader that got a little ahead of the curb, I too will be submitting my excuse for facial hair, which, I know, ladies, is tantalizing.

But this year I wanted to try something new. If you’re interested: Take a picture of yourself erryday over the next month and then send them to Wesleying at staff(at)wesleying(dot)org and I’ll compile them into a series of pic-a-day videos.

For all those about to beard, we solute you!

For past Novembeard coverage, click here, here, or here.