OOFJ Talks Performance,Gallant Performs in Gardner,Ambré Perkins
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OOFJ talks performance Emma Roszkowski [email protected] OOFJ features Jens Bjørnkjær as DJ and Katherine Mills Rymer on vocals. Photo by Jun Taek Lee “It’s kind of hard for me, being very interactive with the crowd.” Though this statement could pose challenges for an upcoming artist, OOFJ has made their onstage shyness work for them. This past Saturday, Sept. 19, in Gardner Lounge, the Danish/South African duo of Jens Bjørnkjær and Katherine Mills Rymer performed a set that held audiences rapt, even as the performers downplayed the influence of audience feedback on their sets. “I do a lot of pushing buttons during the show and trying to improvise the show. Of course you get the reaction from the crowd, but it’s also very busy doing just the actual work, trying to make something sound as cool as you can,” Bjørnkjær said. “I find it very hard to have a stage banter like, ‘Hey everyone, we are OOFJ,’” Rymer added. “I might say three or four words in an hour and that’s kind of fine and, in some ways, it keeps this environment and this world without me going, ‘And now the next thing is…thank you for being here.’” In terms of creating a unique environment using only their eerie blends of classical and electronic influences, OOFJ delivered. While the duo remained insulated within their own world—Rymer, eyes closed or fixed on Bjornkjær, crooned into the mic while she bounced along to the beat. Bjørnkjær, for his part, remained intent on his work and barely glanced up from the sound board—they managed to transport the audience as well. Any shortcoming in stage presence was quickly forgiven; attendees bobbed along to echoing harmonies, encompassed by the bubble of sound and energy. OOFJ’s performance was that of musicians over entertainers, and that was fine with the crowd. Gallant performs in Gardner Photo by John Brady Halley Freger [email protected] Gardner was filled with the sounds of innovative R&B when Sunni Colón and Gallant performed on Friday, Sept. 18. Sunni Colón started off the night with a set of his smooth, minimalist R&B. Although Colón’s sensual R&B is comparable to artists such as Frank Ocean, his humorous and charismatic performance style sets him apart. He doesn’t take himself to seriously on stage and engages with the audience. When Colón’s set was over, he wasn’t ready to leave the stage so decided to perform his song “Water” again, even though he had performed it earlier in his set. He was so excited by the high-energy audience in Gardner on Friday that he kept saying, “Bring me back! I want to play here again!” Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of Sunni Colón. Gallant brought something totally different to Gardner. His performance was highly professional, glossy and technically impressive. Jaws dropped as his falsetto rang out over the sounds of his band. He mostly worked his way chronologically through his music, beginning with songs from his EP and ending with his three most recent singles, as if to say, this is my career thus far, but it’s only just beginning. When he performed his final song and most recent single “Weight in Gold,” the audience shouted along and pulsated to its heavy beats. Gallant made it very clear: he has arrived. Ambré Perkins to bring classic R&B sound Luke Jarzyna [email protected] Photo by Minh Tran Two young voices in breaking R&B music will be visiting Grinnell this weekend. Ambré Perkins is a New Orleans native who released her debut EP last spring. Chicago’s Rayvn Lenae, who is likely Gardner Lounge’s youngest act in many years (at 16 years old), will open the show with a unique blend of soul, R&B and house music. The two singers follow Gallant’s performance last weekend in what has been a very strong showing for breaking R&B music in this semester’s Gardner lineup. Perkins released her debut EP, “Wanderlust,” last spring. Though 18 years old, the release sounds remarkably self- assured in both style and substance. The 13-song EP is an impressive collection of songs about love, individuality and Perkins’ own personal history. From front to back, Perkins displays a willingness to make herself vulnerable on “Wanderlust.” She explores her perspective on adventures of adulthood or celebrity on high- energy tracks like “Faded” and “Bonnie & Clyde.” Meanwhile, “Ghost” touches on her upbringing in and out of various foster homes. “Pretty” addresses the oppressive role of societal beauty standards amidst her own desire to have her voice heard. Beyond the personal nature of her lyrics, her voice is clear and in the foreground of the production on “Wanderlust.” She sounds like she cares deeply for the music she is making, a prerequisite that can easily be taken for granted when listening to an emotive R&B singer like Perkins. Yet, she expertly avoids overly expressive, Super Bowl National Anthem- type moments of self-seriousness. Her music sounds like it’s exactly what she needs to be making. Her transparency in form and content is what makes Ambré’s music so refreshing. R&B music has taken an interesting course in recent years. Artists such as The Weeknd, Blood Orange, How To Dress Well and Kelela and many others have contributed to what’s commonly being deemed as “futuristic R&B.” Vintage synthesizers, vocal effects, ambient production and a generally cerebral nature could characterize “futuristic R&B.” Ambré Perkins, in many ways, stands outside of this cultural movement towards futuristic sounds, as she cites landmark R&B artist Brandy as an early source of inspiration and influence. Her music evokes classic sounds of early 2000s Top 40 R&B and the dog days of MTV. Opening for Ambré Perkins is Ravyn Lenae, a 16-year-old upstart from Chicago who made waves with her 2015 release, “Moon Shoes.” The 8-song EP largely consists of collaborations between Lenae and producer Montae Jones. Sparks fly between the two in what sounds like a remarkably symbiotic musical relationship – Lenae compliments Jones’ skittering, Chicago- house-inflected beats with remarkable ease. Lenae’s precise rhythmic vocal delivery evokes the style of artists like Tinashé and Azealia Banks. This weekend’s double bill is a strong contribution to our tradition of providing young, distinct voices a platform to be heard. Mykki Blanco returns to Grinnell Halley Freger [email protected] Photo by Matt Kartanata New York based rapper Mykki Blanco has been busy releasing new music and starting her own label since she last played Grinnell in the spring of 2013. On Thursday, Oct. 1 at 8:30 p.m, Mykki Blanco will return to Grinnell’s very own Gardner Lounge. Opening for Mykki Blanco is U.K.-based electronic musician, producer and DJ Ikonika (Sara Abdel- Hamid). Mykki Blanco is more than a rapper—she’s an activist, a performance artist and a poet. And she’s especially more than just a “gay rapper,” often expressing frustration when she’s lumped together with other queer artists with completely different sounds who just happen to be gay and black. Trying to categorize Mykki Blanco is like trying not to dance to her breakout single “Wavvy”—it’s impossible. The multi- talented and genderqueer performer has diverse influences. Growing up, she was inspired by the ’90s feminist punk movement known as Riot Grrrl and artists such as Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna. She even features Kathleen Hanna on “A Moment with Kathleen,” a spoken word piece on her 2014 mixtape, “Gay Dog Food.” She also cites rapper Lil’ Kim as an influence, and the inspiration for the name Mykki Blanco, a reference to Lil’ Kim’s alter ego Kimmy Blanco. Mykki Blanco experiments with a variety of sounds. The electronic, lo-fi quality on “Gay Dog Food” is reminiscent of Kathleen Hanna’s band Le Tigre. Her first EP, “Mykki Blanco and the Mutant Angels,” co-created with DJ Physical Therapy and Jeffrey Joyal as the band, incorporates industrial, Marilyn Manson-inspired sounds. Ultimately, the music Mykki Blanco creates, sometimes dark and industrial, sometimes melodic, sometimes bouncy and fun, is definitely unlike anything you’ve heard before. Music can do a lot—it can entertain, it can heal, it can bring people together. Most musicians don’t set out to change the world, but if anyone’s actually capable of doing this it’s Mykki Blanco. In March, Mykki Blanco posted on her Facebook page about wanting to start a career in investigative journalism in order to find a way to “influence our world in a way a dance song and music video cannot.” However, instead of leaving the music world, Mykki Blanco decided to radically change it from the inside. Last week, she released “C-ORE,” an album from Yves Tumor, Psychoegyptian and Violence. “C-ORE” is the first album released on Dogfood Music Group, her new record label/radical performance group/shining beacon of light in the music world. In her article in Dazed & Confused Magazine, Mykki Blanco refers to Dogfood as a group that is “unafraid to take over ‘white spaces’ and decontextualize them to create our own environments, our own safe spaces, our own visibility within the unavoidable supremacist patriarchy that is western civilization.” That might seem like a huge task, but at minimum Mykki Blanco aims to use musical performance to challenge various systems of oppression related to gender, sexuality and race. So, is Mykki Blanco changing the world? Come see for yourself in Gardner Lounge this coming Thursday, Oct.