Tag Archives: bamenda

First Annual Last Concert Ever

From Mickey Capper ’13 Adam Isaacson ’13 WHATEVER YA’LL:

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Packing is for losers!! So many seniors playing music TONIGHT at Eclectic cause they never will ever again! If you’re on campus, don’t miss it. If you’re off campus come back to campus for this show or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. BRING YOUR PARENTS CUZ YOU LOVE THEM!!!

10:00 pm Elvis Presley

10:05 pm Protein Stains

10:30 pm Dr. Hackensack

10:50 pm Miami Heat

11:20 pm The Japanese

12:00 am Treasure Island

12:30 am Bamenda

12:45 am Perfecto

01:15 am Adrien Feat. William

01:30 am Tonsil Hockey

01:55 am Juke Wherry???

WITH SLOLIVIA DROPPING THE HOTTEST SLO SONGS ALL NIGHT LONG!!!

schedule subject to change so don’t even exist anywhere other than this show from 10pm-2am

If you can’t go at all try tuning in to WESU 88.1 fm. We might be live streaming?!? [Also always a source for great freeform radio! Donate today!]

Date: UNTIL THE END OF TIME
Place: Eclectic.

Photos: How To Dress Well, or How To Politely Ask More Than Half Of Your Audience To Leave

  “If you’re gonna talk during the songs instead of enjoying yourself, go outside.”

How To Dress Well’s performance at Eclectic on Saturday was not the best concert I’ve been to at Wesleyan, but it was one of the most memorable—and one of the most uncomfortable. It was one of the few times I’ve been embarrassed by an audience of Wesleyan students. It was also the first time I’ve seen a performer politely ask more than half of his audience to leave. Tom Krell’s request was ignored, and his performance was consequently hampered by loud, drunken chatter amongst much of his audience.

Let’s back up. The indie R&B maestro had three openers, and they ranged from a remix artist to a synthpop heartthrob to brooding, gorgeous post-rock. This was a packed bill. First up was pop-songs-on-Valium DJ Slolivia (Olivia Hauser ’14), whose aesthetic is pretty well captured by this YouTube clip of “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” Imagine the same treatment for “Call Me Maybe,” “Larger Than Life,” and a slew of other smash hits. You get the idea.

Eclectic’s ballroom was empty when Slolivia got started. By the time she exited, a moderate crowd had gathered for Bamenda, the ’80s-obsessed synthpop project of Lioness/Treasure Island hero Dema Paxton Fofang ’13, who made his live solo debut at the Prince Rama show last month.

Photos: Prince Rama, Bamenda at Eclectic

Neo-tribalgaze band Prince Rama, which consists of two glittery sisters who grew up on a Hare Krishna commune (and that guy in the background who follows their exploits with his bass and gets curiously little media attention), played to a packed, sweaty house at Eclectic Friday night. Their act has a strong element of performance art; their opening ritual included keyboardist Taraka Larson throwing a long, sheer veil over herself and creeping through the crowd at the speed of molasses while the rest of the band played a droney track (it might have been “Summer of Love”).

She also climbed up on the speakers and blindly caressed the heads of the freshman boys in the front row, who made beatific expressions as if they had been touched by an angel. They invited people to get up front and dance with them, but the audience was sadly shy. No worries if you missed it and still want to shake your booty; according to their Facebook page, they’re holding a YouTube dance contest and the deadline is October first.

Opening was Dema Paxton Fofang ’13’s solo project Bamenda, which we posted about a few weeks ago.

BandCampWes: Bamenda—Because Dema Doesn’t Do Enough Music Already

“I made the tracks by myself, and I did it because I always need to be working on something musical.”

Wesleying’s own Dema Paxton Fofang ’13—also known as Fofang, also known as Dema, also known as The Big DPF—has released a new EP of his homespun laptoppy electro-pop. Yes, Dema is also in Lioness (the Artist Formerly Known as Friendsome), Treasure Island, and the Weezer cover band. Yes, he recently completed 14 pull-ups. No, this isn’t another Lioness post.

Dema first launched Bamenda, a solo electronic project, last April, when he dropped two tracks: “Contact” (featuring production and mastering by sometimes-bandmate Ethan Young ’13) and “Distance.” Using his Macbook and an apogee audio interface, Dema spent much of the summer recording two follow-up tracks: “Secrets,” a winding synth-pop track that culls from a grab bag of ’80s Casio tones, and “Medicine,” a moodier (and lengthier) showcase of thick synth pads and reverb-heavy vocal tracks.

Dema explained the project in a bit more detail via email: