Tag Archives: lioness

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

lioness
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.

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FEATURED
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: 

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FEATURED
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.

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MUSIC
New Lioness: “Hot Mess”

"The left drink is a Lioness. The right drink is a 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.

MUSIC
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.

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MUSIC
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.

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MUSIC
Rest Assured: Lioness “Will Usher in the Dawn.” [BandCampWes]

Sometimes, oppression wins. With the postponement of tonight’s Big Freedia concert and bounce workshop, the invisible fecal-oral hand of capitalism has moved against the rational self-interest of man, and times are dark for the vaunted halls of 200 High Street. But Night is darkest just before the Dawn, and we have found over the last week that even in the dark night of Wesleyan without Big Freedia, we can find solace, and stoke the fires of Revolution, with the music of Lioness. From noted essayist Emma Goldman:

Lioness, the great leaven of thought, is today permeating every phase of human endeavor.  Science, art, literature, the drama, the effort for economic betterment, in fact every individual and social opposition to the existing disorder of things, is illumined by the spiritual light of Lioness.  It is the philosophy of the sovereignty of the individual.  It is the theory of social harmony.  It is the great, surging, living truth that is reconstructing the world, and that will usher in the Dawn.

Rest assured: Lioness has finally released “Rest Assured.” It comes at no price, directly confronting the economic paradigm of capitalism and the oppression of the state. As we should be free to associate with each other, we are free to associate with this Lioness Music Song.

Of course, some business must be discussed. As the Spring Semester has brought back many of the Class of 2013 from nation-states across the globe, Dylan Bostick ’13, whose role as Electric Lute-man was taken by Adrien DeFontaine ’13, has returned and become the Electric Lute-man once more.  Yet in the spirit of true Democracy, free from the tyranny of Government,  Lioness fulfills the potential of society and the individual with drawing the assistance of DeFontaine in the mixing of this free, post-capitalist track. Workers of the world, unite!

To watch the band first put on their Ruby Shoes (of Liberty), see here. For more of Emma Goldman’s essay “Lioness: What It Really Stands For,” see here. To learn how to win the hearts and minds of the people, see here.

MUSIC
Jared Paul ’11 Wants To Record You

Wesleying has received an exclusive plea from Jared Paul ’11, Wesleyan’s own recording engineer alumni extraordinaire. Today Paul spends his days recording err’one from Mad Wow to Lioness (who??) in Brooklyn and his nights floating through clouds with a boombox and Gibson SG.

You may remember Paul from his debut LP Ubeatquitous, which esteemed colleague A-Batte likened to “Obama-sipping-whiskey-with-dinosaurs.” If that descriptor grabs your fancy, consider signing up to be his next recording victim; details appear below:

I’m a Class of ’11 grad working as a freelance audio engineer and producer. Although I’ve done the whole graduate-and-move-to-Brooklyn thing, I am trying to keep recording Wes people as often as possible! Among the Wes artists I’ve recorded and mixed projects for in the past year are Mel Hsu ’13, Mad Wow, Josh Smith ’11, Fly Machine,The New Group, Grand Father, Lioness, and The Rooks.  Some samples are here.  If you like what you hear, consider having me record your next project!

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MUSIC
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.

EVENT
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