Winter Storm Linus (what kind of a name is Linus?) is coming our way late tonight, which, for the record, sucks. The bright side, though, is that Governor Malloy hasn’t yet resorted to the driving ban he enacted a couple days ago. The midwest isn’t so lucky. Thousands of people are now being forced to stay home thanks to Linus’s rampage. It’s so sad that the stare-at-Tom-Brady’s-face parties are ruined. Wesleyan’s Super Bowl parties are not, however, in jeopardy. But if you’re in your dorm room watching the Super Bowl on your computer because it’s too damn cold to venture outside, nobody’s judging you. The moral of the story is that the climate’s probably fucked and snow keeps happening, and apparently Roth’s determined not to cancel classes this time around. Now that we’ve established that, let’s talk about things named “Linus” that are cooler than a snowstorm.
Tag Archives: Linus
BandCampWes: Lioness Unleashes “Bullets,” Final Musical Labor of Love
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.
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:
Will Feinstein Makes Lioness Perform Athletic Task, Films It
“I think the setup is: ‘Laugh at Lioness While Lioness Frailly Tries to do This Physical Task'”
Trill Feinstein ’13 is bored (well, you can’t be a rap sensation 24/7), so he’s speed-editing outtakes from Wes Pacific (you know, that web series he created?) and popping them out like chickens. Think of it like Wes Pacific’s special features. These are the deleted scenes. And they’re about to make your Wessickness much, much worse.
In the first segment, Feinstein treks into Lionessrise, otherwise known as LoRise A5, and challenges challenges the burly, well-toned fitness freaks of Lioness to a chin-up contest. “We’re basically proving that we are all very unathletic, skinny people,” observes percussive demon John Snyder ’12, who went on to win seven Oscars for his performance. The clip features an introduction by Future Islands shortly before their April performance with Cloud Nothings; according to Feinstein, a full interview is forthcoming, which is pretty awesome news.
New Lioness: “Hot Mess”
The new Lioness song, “Hot Mess,” will definitely sound familiar to anyone who’s ever been to a Lioness (or Linus) show. But never has it sounded quite like this. Often a set-closer, or so says the sixth Lioness Adrien DeFontaine ’13, the song now arrives in polished recorded form. And it’s a catchy-ass tune. Those Jason Katzenstein ’13 vocals sure sound nice, dontchathink? I sure do. And what about that big ending? Yup!
If you still haven’t listened to Lioness since they were Linus, I’d say, “You should really listen to Lioness because these songs are killer fo real.” They sure sound good and get my ringing endorsement. The killofrights stamp of approval. (My stamp looks like this).
Like most of the band’s other recent releases, the track was recorded by Jared Paul ’11 and produced by DeFontaine and Ethan Young ’13, also a Lioness. Artwork is by Dylan Bostick ’13, also a Lioness. The other Lionesses are John Snyder ’12 and Dema Paxton Fofang ’13.
More Linus here at bandcamp. And here’s their facebook page that is still called Linus.
Clear Your Sionesses With Lioness: New Recordings Surface
The Artists Formerly Known As Friendsome celebrate three-year reunion with “Seven Year Itch Point Dume.”
Three hazy years ago this summer, three historic L.A. brosephs (and Dema) encountered each other in the WestCo Freshmen Musical Industrial Complex. They chose a name, and at some fateful Open Mic in the fall of 2009, Friendsome arrived, set on a path moving swiftly towards the opening set of Spring Fling 2010. Now, three years, two name changes, two post-Linus projects, and at least one hiatus later, drummer John “Slayder” Snyder ’12 graduates into the great beyond and the rest of Lioness ponders its future.
And releases more sweet unheard Lioness cuts.
“Seven Year Itch Point Dume,” which you may recognize from the band’s April show in Eclectic, is the latest. With an epic vocals-into-drums-into-summer-fun intro, wailing guitar solo via part-time member Adrien “Belew” DeFontaine ’13 totally cartographical cover art by member Dylan “MapQuest” Bostick ’13, and curious lyrics about slaying beasts and winning “the battle and the war,” discovering sunburns and reminiscing “of the rooooooad,” it’s also one of the greatest. As Bandcamp explains it, the track was produced by members Adrien and Ethan Young ’12 and recorded by Jared Paul ’11 in the Wesleyan music studios last fall.
Clear Your Sionesses With Lioness: New Recordings Surface
The Artists Formerly Known As Friendsome celebrate three-year reunion with “Seven Year Itch.”
Three hazy years ago this summer, three historic L.A. brosephs (and Dema) encountered each other in the WestCo Freshmen Musical Industrial Complex. They chose a name, and at some fateful Open Mic in the fall of 2009, Friendsome arrived, set on a path moving swiftly towards the opening set of Spring Fling 2010. Now, three years, two name changes, two post-Linus projects, and at least one hiatus later, drummer John “Slayder” Snyder ’12 graduates into the great beyond and the rest of Lioness ponders its future.
And releases more sweet unheard Lioness cuts.
“Seven Year Itch,” which you may recognize from the band’s April show in Eclectic, is the latest. With an epic slow-burning keyboard-and-reverby-guitar intro, wailing guitar solo via part-time member Adrien “Belew” DeFontaine ’13, and curious lyrics about slaying beasts and winning “the battle and the war,” it’s also one of the greatest. As Fofang explains it, the track was produced by members Adrien and Ethan Young ’12 and recorded by Jared Paul ’11 in the Wesleyan music studios last fall.
Friendsome -> Linus -> Lioness
Guys… that concert at Earth House last Friday. Maybe you went to it?
That band that live-tweeted its recent recording sessions. Maybe you heard about it?
Did you know that those guys (Lioness) were these guys (Linus) all along?!
That’s right – with a new name and a newish Twitter feed, one of Wesleyan’s most well-known Gangs of Slightly More than Four are reasserting their presence, finals be damned. The bros to end all bros have finally released one of their classics, Flying Goodnight (from lead vocalist and guitarist Dema Paxton Brofang ’13: “it’s pretty much the first song we’ve ever written together.”), for popular consumption. And boy, is it sumptuous. This polished cut is decadent, savory, and other words normally used to describe food. …cut me some slack, y’all. I’m not a professional music writer like some people, okay?
Just in case you were wondering, Lioness are Jason Katzenstein ’13, John Snyder ’12, Dylan “Adrien DeFontaine ’13” Bostick ’13, Ethan Young ’13, and the aforementioned D.P.B. For more on The Flyness Lioness, check out a transcription of their oral arguments at Oral Wes.
You could also try Aural Wes, if you feel weird about clicking that.
While we’re doing the link redundancy thing, don’t forget to LISTEN AND DOWNLOAD FREE LIONESS MUSIC SONGS RIGHT HERE and SEE THINGS LIONESS MUSIC SONGS TYPED HERE or HERE AS WELL.
EDIT: For all you scrobblers out there: Lioness is also a name belonging to multiple bands, like Linus. Damn it all. Damn it all to hell.
Tonight: Red Wire Black Wire // Lioness // Vernous with Grey Matter @ Earth House
From Will Feinstein ’13:
Last concert of the year is going down at Earth House tonight, and it’s a fun one. Getting started at 10pm.
Dancey-fun Wes alums RED WIRE BLACK WIRE are gonna tear the place up, preceded by the return of indie-pop campus heroes LIONESS (formally Linus) with brand new songs and VERNOUS with GREY MATTER with some dope jams and visuals.
Date: Friday, Dec. 9
Time: 10PM
Place: Earth House
Cost: $0.00
BATHS @ ECLECTIC
Yes, it’s happening: acclaimed LA-based DJ/postdub-chillstep-whatever beat-maestro Will Wiesenfeld, AKA Baths, is playing Eclectic for free tomorrow night. Post-Linus indie-poppers Treasure Island are opening. For a Wednesday night study break, you can’t do much better than this. As promised, necessary details, YouTube samples, and sweet show poster below.