The latest periodical to cover Wesleyan as a hotbed of entertainment talent is British music magazine NME, which devoted a two-page spread this week to investigating our “nest of noise” which “has spawned artists such as MGMT, Amazing Baby and Santogold – and there’s a lot more to follow.”
It was clear that NME had a thing for this school and its products (for good reason), but damn, way to blow up Wesleyan’s uniquely hip legacy!
From all that’s visible from the linked page, there’s a picturesque photo of North College, a map indicating the distance between Middletown and New York City, a quote from Ben Goldwasser of MGMT about Wesleyan’s instrumental place in the chronology of his life, some pictures of Wes-graduated acts, and an inset about British schools which have supposedly reached a comparable level cool.
If anybody’s got their hands on a copy of this week’s issue and can send us a scan (is NME even distributed here?), it’d be much appreciated.
[edit, 10/24 11:30 am] The Wes homepage put up a full-page scan of the article, read the whole thing here.
It’s pretty effusive about the Wesleyan students’ creative potential, though some details are somewhat inaccurate – “The place is strewn with flyers advertising bands, films, plays and other artistic endeavours cooked up by bored students trying to entertain themselves in this largely rural part of the world.” Um, right.
Media relations director David Pesci calls Wes a “crucible of creativity”, where live music permeates the air in warmer months, and due credit is given to past professors of experimental music and ethnomusicology for building up the Music Department.
Santogold and members of MGMT recount their college experiences, and shout-outs are given to recent/current campus favorites Red Wire Black Wire, Bear Hands, and Bottle up and Go as examples of the wide range of musical styles formed here. Overall, not bad publicity at all.
NME: A Different Class
Full Article PDF