Tag Archives: Adrien Defontaine

New EP from The Japanese

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A blurb from drummer Daniel Moakley ’13:

Cupid miss his mark last week? Fall in love all over again with The Japanese’s brand new EP, “Skyward.” The five-track alt-post-rock album, Kickstarted in part by listeners like you, will drizzle you in honey, fight off the resulting bees and bears, and won’t wait until next weekend before calling you again. It was even thoughtful enough to not make one pun about aural pleasure. In short, it is the perfect complement for your tortured soul. Start off your weekend with an earload!

Check out the new EP on bandcamp. Also don’t miss the Chase sequence music video, directed by Jack Pearce ’11.

The Japanese is Adrien DeFontaine ’13, Neo Sora ’14 and Dan Moakley ’13.

“The Fork of July”, Holiday-Themed Album by Wesfolk, Free for Download

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In December, the venerable A-Batte posted about “Miracle on Thirty-Fork Street”, an album of original holiday music by assorted Wespeeps. Half a year later, they’ve got a new release: “The Fork of July”, a collection of fourteen songs based around the 13 colonies, and Independence Day more generally. The album is awesome, featuring a variety diverse musical styles from a diverse group of musicians, mostly Wesleyan-affiliated. It’s also free! Check it out. List of participating musicianfolk after the jump: 


BandCampWes: Lioness Unleashes “Bullets,” Final Musical Labor of Love

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That’s all, folks. Lioness, the band formerly known as Linus formerly known as Friendsome, has recorded and published its final song, placing the cap neatly on the group’s four year-long career here. Comprised of the killer team of  Dema Paxton Fofang ’13, Jason Katzenstein ’13, Ethan Young ’13, Dylan Bostick ’13, Adrien Defontaine ’13, and John Snyder ’12, Lioness formed at an Open Mic in 2009, won the Battle of the Bands in 2010 and opened Spring Fling (for the yet-to-be-rivaled-and-probably-never-will-be lineup of Dirty Projectors, Black Lips, and Big Boi). And now they’re graduated. They sure do grow up fast, don’t they?

Lioness’ Bandcamp page is loaded with free-to-download single goodies, and probably boasts one of the more colorful collections of album artwork as well as music in the BandCampWes World. “Bullets” is no exception. Where their previous singles like “Hot Mess” pumped up the beach-punk vibe to the level of Surfer Blood, “Bullets” is a gorgeously crafted and easygoing tune reminiscent of Beach House. It’s pretty indicative of what the Ampersand once coined the “Post-Linus” music genre.

TNGHT: TH JPNS, GRND CSN, JHNNY LV ND TH HRTMN T WSTC CF

Whr th vwls t? drn “Jpns Blnd” DFntn ’13 xplns:

This is it. The show you never thought would happen. Three bands. That you have probably heard of but never seen. Return. To. Campus. Period. [Click pic for short version of this.]

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The Japanese resurface after nearly two years of conducting subterranean experiments. The last time you saw them, they opened for Lightning Bolt during Insanity Weekend ’11. Now they’re back together for the first time. Again. Watch their super-NSFW vid here, and come ready to party/die.

Grand Cousin changes names like that girl from your high school on Facebook. Whatever you call them, they play rock and/or roll and want you to come see them. Robby “Ronald” Caplan ’14 (bass), Evan “Que Lastima” Low ’14 (drums), and Henry “Seed” Hall ’14 (vox/tar) promise it will be “the fun.”

Johnny Love and the Heartmen have (has?) never played at WestCo Café, and you won’t want to miss them (him?). “Equal parts dulcet and abrasive, his gloomy baritone will inspire everyone, be they big or fat or nothing at all. He truly is one of the last great geniuses.” #startedfromthebottom

Here are important links:

Ain’t Tryna Say Good Morning: Wesleyan on NECN

Twenty-four-hour cable news network NECN, owned by NBCUniversal, used a song by “Adrien feat. William” as part of today’s Morning Show soundtrack. The song is, of course, “Ain’t Tryna Say Good Night,” written by Henry Molofsky ’13, Danny Sullivan ’13 and Will Feinstein ’13 and performed by Feinstein and Adrien DeFontaine ’13. This #MOLOdiesel production was released last spring, and apparently found its way to the Morning Show team, who, according to Feinstein, featured excerpts of the song before and after commercial breaks this morning.

To see the clip, visit NECN’s page, which claims, “This band is from Middleton, CT.” (According to Rolling Stone, that’s the same hometown as MGMT.) Watch ATSGN in all its glory below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVD_DnEEBLk]

Music and Public Life Class Produces Video Supporting “Equal Access To Higher Education”

Remember when Antonin Scalia Ross Gormley ’13 asked you to send in pictures and videos that communicated your perspective of the Wesleyan campus? If you sent any in, you just might see them below.  The following video was produced as a final project for the class Music Movements in a Capitalist Democracy, which you might know as Music and Public Life, or perhaps the class Dar Williams ’89 teaches when she’s not busy tearing up Wesleyan Thinks Big. Edit: Actually it’s for Music and Public Life, which is its own course and was taught by Mark Slobin. Sorry for the error.

Marissa Schnitman ’14 explains the video’s motivations:

For their final project, Wesleyan’s Music and Public Life class has produced a video to express their support of equal access to higher education. In response to the confusion, controversy, and divisiveness surrounding the shift in need blind policy on campus and in the media, the class created this video to remind alumni to preserve a commitment to support the Wesleyan community unconditionally. The video encourages us to set aside politics and perspectives about University decisions. This is about helping the Wesleyan community move forward. This is about our shared dedication to equal access to higher education. Help keep Wesleyan accessible to everyone. Help “Keep Wesleyan Weird.”

WESU Makes Video, DJs for mtvU

Hai guyz, yet another Wesleyan musician has made it! This time, a group of scrappy WESU volunteers proves that they’ll be tastemakers of the future by introducing mtvU’s countdown of music videos, both on their Tumblr and on “a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States” (check it out in a TV if you can find one!?).  Perhaps recognizing how accomplished the Wesleyan community has been in the way of music lately, mtvU allowed the creators to (mostly) go crazy over the course of a single afternoon, turning such prosaic things like nail-clipping and sticking your head under your friend’s shirt into cinematic gold. Unfortunately, corporate censorship prevailed.

Here’s a full “artist statement” via former WESU technical director Dan Nass ’13:

mtvU invited WESU to do a college radio countdown, where we put together a playlist of ten music videos along with a clip introducing the station to viewers. WESU’s board of directors brought in the almost terrifyingly ubiquitous Will Feinstein ’13 to work on the script, and he and I co-directed the video. We shot it in a single afternoon, thanks to the talent and cooperation of WESU’s awesome student volunteers and our program manager Rick, along with some DIY ingenuity (a couple of the shots are lit with iPhones!) We wanted to represent WESU’s independent spirit with a suitably offbeat clip, and we must have done a good job because the folks at mtvU cut a couple of our favorite shots—the original video featured a kidnapping and a book-burning. The video and playlist are airing four times a day for the next week on mtvU. Check it out if you have a television! mtvU’s tumblr is also featuring five online music videos selected by the board, including campus favorites Adrien feat. William.

Photos: Da Rock Show in WestCo Cafe

Dink-583, the best band on campus to offer interpretations (no, not “tributes,” you fool) of Blink-182 songs, made its triumphant return to Wesleyan Thursday night. They managed to play a raucous set despite drummer Kevin Curtin ’13’s ankle injury, and he even got a little help from his friends for one song (to use a gratuitous Beatles reference). Though the spacious, subterranean space of the WestCo Cafe seemed to keep the sweatiness at bay (and the naked strangers out), the band was in their underwear by the time I arrived, and much shirtlessness was observed in the audience as well.

Trill Will Feinstein ’13, of particularly impressive ‘fro and beard lately, contributed vocals on “Dick Lips”, and a particularly bold group of underclasspeople asserted their sweaty musculature in order to get up front and sing as well. (One girl appeared to be doing so using sign language, as she was not actually using the microphone but established an equivalent rapport with the audience).

On the negotiating-with-PSafe end of things, the event was also a success, lasting until midnight, the previously decided-upon stopping point.

Dink-583 Will Play Your Favorite Blink-182 Songs Tonight

If you’re like me and the thought of Blink-182 gives you an instant teen-angst-pop-punk boner, you probably wanna make your way to the WestCo Cafe tonight.

Dink-583, Wesleyan’s Blink-182 cover band featuring Jason Katzenstein ’13, Adrien DeFontaine ’13, and Kevin Curtin’13, will play their first show of the year tonight at 10:30. I’m told you should come on time, as they will be starting very promptly.

And they will play all your favorites. So everything from Neighborhoods, right? Here’s coverage of last year’s outdoor Dink-583 show. Maybe this thing where a townie got naked at a Dink-583 show will happen again.

Date: Tonight, September 13
Time: 10:30 PM
Place: WestCo Cafe
Facebook: Right here

DJ Crook$hanks Gives Mix Addicts their Fix with New August Mix

You’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting. We’ve all been waiting. But thankfully, our trembling arms that pine so hard that intravenous needle full of our drug of choice (DJ mixes) can rest easily as we get our fix and feel this overwhelming euphoria flowing through our veins while casually avoiding an overdose.

DJ Crook$hanks’ August Mix has dropped. And it features album artwork that a reverse Google image search has led me to believe depicts a young Terry Melcher and his mother Doris Day.

All loving joking aside, this month’s mix from the prolific Wesleyan DJ and in-every-band musician, Adrien DeFontaine ’13, arrived a few days ago and is filled with many things I haven’t heard of but also names I recognize like Ginuwine and Boys Noise. It’s already received comments like, “dope,” “Solid!!!,” and “great work by Crook$hanks this August Mix is so good.” Blast this one at your next party, freshmen.

Stream below, and check out each one of Crook$hanks’ past mixes from the year herehereherehereherehere, and here. Tracklisting after the jump.