Fall Fest Concerts Preview: Soccer Mommy, SASAMI, the Boy Illinois

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Fall Fest Concerts Preview: Soccer Mommy, SASAMI, The Boy Illinois

Graphic by Steven Duong.

Rising from the ashes of 10/10, this year’s Fall Fest will feature a night of music for Grinnellians. On Saturday, Oct. 6, students and community members will have a chance to see three buzzed-about musicians play right here on campus. First, at 4:30 p.m., former Cherry Glazerr keyboardist and incredibly cool lady Sasami Ashworth, whose stage name is SASAMI, will play a set of her solo music at the Commencement Stage, followed by Nashville-based musician Soccer Mommy at 5 p.m. If it rains, both acts will perform in the Harris Center instead. Finally, rapper and East Chicago native The boy illinois will perform in Gardner Lounge at 10 p.m.

For the past ten years, SASAMI has been pretty much everywhere in the Los Angeles music scene. According to her Soundcloud page, “From playing french horn in orchestras and studios, to playing keys and guitar in local rock bands (Dirt Dress, Cherry Glazerr), to contributing vocals/string/horn arrangements to studio albums (Avi Buffalo, Curtis Harding, Wild Nothing, Hand Habits, etc.) and producing tracks for other respected artists (Soko), she has gained a reputation as an all-around musical badass.”

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, SASAMI has also spent time teaching music and writing orchestral scores for films. Having essentially done everything else she could have possibly done in music, she is now taking time to develop her solo work, planning to release an album in 2019, which Pitchfork says she describes as an exploration of “everyone I fucked and who fucked me last year.”

On her recent single “Callous” SASAMI sings “When I look back, I can see myself so clear” over churning guitars. It ends in a synth solo that will have Grinnell students vigorously nodding their heads to the beat.

20-year-old musician Sophie Allison, who performs as Soccer Mommy, seems to have more in common with the average Grinnell student than just her age. Many of her lyrics, sung over her richly orchestrated guitar, sound like they could have been ripped from D-Hall conversations.

Case in point: “I’m just a victim of changing planets, my Scorpio rising and my parents” (from “Scorpio Rising”), or “I wanna know her like you, I wanna be that cool” (from “Cool”).

Allison dropped out of New York University after two years when her Bandcamp releases attracted the attention of notable indie record label Fat Possum. Since then, she has moved back to her hometown of Nashville and released two albums, Collection and Clean, which have positioned her as an exciting new voice in independent music. She has also toured with a particularly diverse set of musicians: contemporary favorites like Mitski, Jay Som and Frankie Cosmos, shoegaze legends Slowdive, recently heralded indie act Phoebe Bridgers and even Paramore. In an interview with Billboard, she says her songwriting is probably influenced most by Taylor Swift and Mitski, both of whom show through in her highly-personal lyricism.

According to his Spotify bio, Lupe Fiasco once described The boy illinois as “one of the leaders of the next generation of hip-hop.” Forbes even said that he’s the “next hot Chicago act,” poised to join the ranks of Vic Mensa and Chance the Rapper. His most recent release, Windy, features a collaboration with rapper Saba and lush electronic instrumentation backing The boy illinois’s verses.

This Saturday night will be the first, but hopefully not the last, concert-filled Fall Fest, featuring three artists who should not be missed.

Ohmme to play Gardner Saturday Ohmme is playing on Saturday night at Gardner Lounge.

By Jackson Schulte [email protected]

Ohmme, a Chicago-based band that has received critical acclaim from national publications and Chicago critics alike, is coming to campus Saturday night to perform in Gardner Lounge.

Bandmates Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart created Ohmme in 2014 after working with famed Chicago musicians like Chance The Rapper and Wilco. Since then, they have toured with acts such as Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Iron & Wine. Their most recent album, “Parts,” came out last month and has received acclaim from both Chicago publications and national music outlets like Pitchfork.

Doors open at 9 p.m. and the show is set to begin at 9:30 p.m.

Waxahatchee plays an intimate show at Gardner Lounge

Waxahatchee performed at Grinnell on Wednesday night with tourmates Anna St. Louis and Night Shop, a project by Justin Sullivan. Public domain photo.

By Chloe Wray [email protected]

“Mississippi, I’m alone in the alley / What am I supposed to be fighting for? / If you build yourself up tall you can tell me what the future holds / Will you settle where you stand or keep it to yourself?”

The lyrics to “Chapel of Pines,” released as a single in July, resounded throughout Gardner Lounge on Thursday, Sept. 19, as Katie Crutchfield took the stage under the banner of her solo project Waxahatchee.

“Chapel of Pines” appears on Crutchfield’s latest release, an EP entitled Great Thunder. Written in 2012 under a now inactive project by the same name as the EP, the songs on Great Thunder were reimagined and then recorded in December 2017.

Over the years Crutchfield has interspersed the piano-heavy ballads of Great Thunder throughout sets. Despite this, the songs off the EP are still relatively new to fans and they were played alongside band-backed, guitar centered verses familiar to audiences of previous albums.

A theme of duality echoed throughout the evening, beginning with sentiments shared by Crutchfield in an interview before the show.

For Crutchfield, this three-week tour has been a revue of sorts. The tour has been a low-pressure platform for Crutchfield to play Great Thunder, with many of the performances filling old theaters and churches. Anna St. Louis and Justin Sullivan, opening with their solo sets, have come back to the stage each night of the tour as the backing band to Waxahatchee, a convenient and intimate framing for the show.

After the tour stops in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Sept. 20, and Lawrence, Kansas, on following next day, Crutchfield will take a week-long break before joining Courtney Barnett in Denver for the beginning of a month long run.

As for this tour with St. Louis and Sullivan, Crutchfield said, “It’s nice to have two people who don’t sound exactly alike, and they don’t sound just like me. … They’re on different ends of the spectrum that I like to be on — it’s kind of like two different shades of a thing that I like to put forth.” Reflecting on her own work, Crutchfield expressed a difficulty in being objective about her music. Patterns in the themes presented in her music are easier to notice in hindsight, observed Crutchfield, noting that it is difficult to consciously work patterns into her work during the process of song-writing. Rather, she prefers to let the writing process occur naturally, especially when it comes to trying to include her southern roots into her music.

Originally from Alabama, Waxahatchee being the name of a creek close to where she grew up, Crutchfield used to oppose the narrative some fans and critics put forth which focused on her music as that of someone from the South. Over time she came to realize how integral those sounds, and vivid descriptions of place, were to her music and how much of it came from Alabama. Now with her continued songwriting and the release of Great Thunder, a reminder of the music she started this project with, Crutchfield lets reflection point out influences in her music but is content to go with the songwriting process, wherever it takes her.

“I think there’s always been an apparent need, or a gravitation towards marrying really beautiful melodies with sad, intense, personal lyrics and that juxtaposition is like the voice that I’ve found,” Crutchfield said, speaking to the contradictions which have remained central to the evolution of her music, which she sees as a progression without a clear trajectory. “I think that those two things are sort of in a natural conflict with one another and that natural conflict is where I like to stay.”

In the second-to-last song of the night, Crutchfield’s voice was joined by that friend and collaborator, singer-songwriter Kevin Morby.

Crutchfield also spoke on the “Chapel of Pines” music video. Directed by Christopher Good, the video was filmed on a farm outside of Kansas City to the tune of a dream-like world in which shoots only occurred at sunrise and sunset. “We were all psyched because we knew what we were getting was so cool,” Crutchfield said. The video aimed to achieve a feeling reminiscent of Terrance Malick’s film, Days of Heaven

The evening ended with Crutchfield on her own once more, rounding out her set as she started it, alone on stage as Waxahatchee.

Concerts lineup released for fall By Kelly Page [email protected]

Students have been ecstatic about the concerts schedule for this semester. Although some of the more high-profile acts (like Girlpool and Kero Kero Bonito) were leaked via Spotify prior to the official lineup release on Friday, Sept. 7, finally seeing a complete concerts schedule did not fail to be one of the most exciting moments of the new semester.

This year’s concerts coordinator, Cassidy Christiansen ’20, worked hard behind the scenes all summer long to provide the College with some of the best up-and-coming artists of modern times, despite cuts to the student activities budget this year. “Even though I’ve been in concerts for two years, I didn’t really know what [the booking process] would look like,” Christiansen said.

The manager of Girlpool and Porches had worked with Grinnell in the past, making it easier to bring these high-profile bands to the school. Additionally, Kero Kero Bonito showed an interest in the College which was very much reciprocated by a campus obsessed with their music.

“You get a lot of artists reaching out to you to play shows, so the lineup this year is a mix of people who reached out to me and people who I reached out to based on responses to a Google Form that I sent out,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen reached out to accomplished musician Haley Henderickx after receiving several requests to bring her to campus (paired with their own personal love of her music), and also found that she wanted to play Gardner, wedged in between two previously-booked shows in Iowa City and Des Moines.

“I’m happy to be bringing a lot of women of color to campus,” they added.

The semester to come will be packed with outstanding musicians, so make sure to head on down to Gardner and give them your ears when the time is right.

Big Thief and Squirrel Flower to come to Gardner

By Kelly Page [email protected]

This Friday, April 26 at 8 p.m., the band Big Thief will play in Gardner Lounge.

Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief has been through a lot in her life, and her music reflects it so unflinchingly that it can be painful to listen to. She was born into a religious cult in Indiana, which her parents left when she was young. Her family lived a kind of nomadic lifestyle after that, driving around in a blue van, and her father taught her chords on the guitar. Lenker never went to high school but she did get a scholarship that allowed her to go to Berklee School of Music after she played guitar for the dean of admissions in his office. It was there that she met Buck Meek, who provides guitar and backup vocals for the band. His last semester at Berklee was her first, so she didn’t really connect with him until a chance encounter in a bodega in New York City. After that, they began making music together.

In an NPR interview, Meek described what drew him to Lenker’s music.

“I guess what struck me as a songwriter then was that her songs all seemed to be really human, and really emotional, and really honest — vulnerable — but at the same time they all somehow had this ineffable quality … like, all of that human content was serving as a medium for something beyond.”

Meek and Lenker played music as a duo everywhere they could, but eventually decided to create a full band. At that point Meek saw Max Oleartchik, with whom he had gone to camp at Berklee, in Brooklyn. Now he is the bassist of the band, and James Krivchenia, who had originally been their sound technician, became the drummer of the band.

Listening to Big Thief, it becomes immediately apparent that their music is very special. NPR wrote, “[Lenker] and her band mates have a sense of her songwriting and music as a living thing — as something that ‘happens’ more than it is crafted.” Their music is visceral and heart-wrenching. It deals with Lenker’s childhood, abuse, love, violence, gender and self- perception. “Mythological Beauty,” a song off of their most recent album “Capacity,” starts off simply enough with Lenker discussing someone’s “mythological beauty,” until the listener hears, “there is a child in you who’s trying to raise a child in me,” and it becomes clear that Lenker is talking about her relationship with her mother. It discusses how Lenker’s mother gave her first child up for adoption (“I have an older brother I don’t know, he could be anywhere”) and a near-death relationship Lenker had as a child which left her mother “praying ‘don’t let my baby die.’”

Similarly, the song “Real Love” off of their album “Masterpiece” seems like it will be a love song but it quickly becomes heart-wrenching, referring to an abusive relationship as the song crescendos over churning guitar into Lenker and Meek singing, “Cry like a bird, fly like a baby. Mama got drunk and daddy went crazy.”

At the same time as Lenker’s songwriting is unflinchingly real, it can sometimes be difficult to know what she is talking about. In the song “Mary,” she uses lilting figurative language to talk about someone named Mary who she once loved. However, according to NPR, “Lenker often feels that she is singing it to herself.” It’s a simple song, mostly just Lenker’s voice and a piano playing chords, but she uses language as its own music, singing “monastery, monocrome, boom balloon machine and oh …” and asking Mary, “will you love me like you loved me in the January rain?” It’s sweet, extremely figurative and somehow also heartbreaking.

For many students, it is incredibly exciting to have Big Thief coming to Grinnell’s own Gardner Lounge. It is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year, and one not to miss.

Big Thief will perform at Gardner from 9 p.m. this Friday, April 27. Artwork by Steven Duong. milo performs rap at Gardner

By Mayo Sueta [email protected]

Last Friday, April 20, Rory Ferreira, also known as milo, performed at Gardner Lounge. milo is a 24 year-old rapper currently based in Portland, Maine. He has also lived in Chicago, Los Angeles and Milwaukee, and has multiple alter egos, including Scallops Hotel, under which he released two of his albums.

According to a 2017 article from Rolling Stone, he has a significant online following, and “his projects, which he often releases as limited-edition cassette tapes via his Ruby Yacht imprint, regularly trade for hundreds of dollars online.”

He has released five albums: “A Toothpaste Suburb” in 2014, “Plain Speaking” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” in 2015, “Too Much of Life is Mood” in 2016 and “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!” in 2017 — as well as multiple mixtapes, EPs and singles.

His albums have received positive ratings by Pitchfork and have gained him loyal fans. Pitchfork calls his debut album “refreshing,” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” is described as being “his most fascinating work to date, filling weird, side- winding productions that deflate and wheeze with tumbling lyricism delivered in near spoken word cadences.” In his latest album “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!,” milo “crafts richly layered rap songs using outmoded tools like sample- based beats, dense wordplay and unapologetically nerdy references.”

Luke Jarzyna ’18, Chair of Grinnell Concerts, was happy to see milo come to Grinnell and spent some time showing him around the town.

“I was so glad milo could make the show. … It was really special that he made the trip out to Iowa,” Jarzyna wrote in an email to The S&B. “We had some down time, so we played Mario Kart Double Dash at my house and then I took him to Peace Tree. It was fun to show him around town. He’s also really good at Mario Kart.”

During the concert, milo took advantage of the closeness to the audience and interacted with the crowd through speech as well as music.

“In Gardner, there’s not much distance between the performers and the concert attendees. It’s common for performers to interact with people at the concert when they feel so moved,” Jarzyna wrote. “milo didn’t deliver a Kanye West level onstage rant. But, he just kept asking questions and talking in a slow monotone. It was funny, awkward and showed off his personality. I think Rory (milo) may have felt weird about playing a hip/hop show in a basement in rural Iowa, so maybe talking to people helped him ease into the space.”

Rapper Marco Saffold ’20 opened for Milo, and many students came out to support their peer. In addition to being a musician, Saffold is a multi-talented artist and leader of ANACHA, a student art collective on campus. milo interacted with the audience through speech as well as music to make the most of the intimate space. Artwork by Steven Duong.

Milo to perform in Gardner Lounge

By Mayo Sueta [email protected]

This Friday, April 20, Rory Ferreira, also known as Milo, will perform at Gardner Lounge.

Milo is a 24 year-old rapper currently based in Portland, Maine. He has also lived in Chicago, Los Angeles and Milwaukee, and has multiple alter egos, including Scallops Hotel, under which he released two of his albums.

In the same article, Milo talks about being an indie rapper, and not relying on anyone but himself to make it in the music industry.

“I tend to be a little more dedicated than most indie rappers. There’s a lot of indie rappers out here that are still operating under this model of, you know, ‘If I rap clever enough on this song, somebody’s gonna reach out, they’re gonna give me an offer that will change my life.’ I don’t buy into that anymore. I’m not looking for anyone to reach out to me. I’m on my own out here, and I prefer it that way,” he said.

His albums have received positive ratings by Pitchfork and have gained him loyal fans. Pitchfork calls his debut album “refreshing,” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” is described as being “his most fascinating work to date, filling weird, side- winding productions that deflate and wheeze with tumbling lyricism delivered in near spoken word cadences.” In his latest album “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!,” Milo “crafts richly layered rap songs using outmoded tools like sample- based beats, dense wordplay and unapologetically nerdy references.”

Doors will open at 9 p.m. — this is one not to miss.

Zenizen and Madison McFerrin come to Gardner

By Kelly Page [email protected]

This Saturday, March 10, a capella future soul singer Madison McFerrin and nu-jazz-influenced musician Zenizen will perform in Gardner Lounge. Doors will open at 8 p.m., Zenizen will begin her set at 8:15 p.m. and Madison McFerrin will take the stage at 9:15 p.m.

Brooklyn-based musician McFerrin creates soul music with barely any instrumentation. Instead, she constructs music using her voice and the snapping or clapping of her hands looped over themselves, with what the New York Times described as “wonderful vocal dexterity, deftly swerving from sharp, clearly enunciated staccato bursts to fluttery, free-form melismata.”

McFerrin is the daughter of Grammy-Award-winning jazz musician Bobby McFerrin, whose popular song “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is the only a capella song to reach number one on the Billboard Top 100. McFerrin follows her father’s legacy of inventiveness in music. After studying at Berklee College of Music, McFerrin released two EPs, “Finding Foundations, Vol. I” in 2016 and the second volume in 2018. Vol. I maintains joyfulness as McFerrin addresses ex-lovers and expresses the need to love yourself. Her more recent release, “Finding Foundations: Vol. II” extends some of the same musical motifs as Vol. I, experimenting even more with layered a capella harmonies. Her track “Insane,” in which McFerrin sings about her obsession with a lover, shows her feelings through increasing tension and urgency built upon layered staccato harmonies, which provide a background for McFerrin’s lyrics. Since McFerrin started releasing music, she has been gaining attention from listeners and critics. DJ Gilles Peterson featured her song “No Time To Lose” on “Brownswood Bubblers,” his series of compilations of emerging talent. After that, she performed at the Arroyo Seco Weekend music festival in Pasadena, California.

In performance, she can be expected to pay tribute to the greats of music, like when she covered “Toxic” by Britney Spears at a recent show at Dartmouth College. She asks that the audience stand near her, to share in her music.

Also performing on Saturday is Zenizen, the musical project of Opal Hoyt. She is an Alaska native who has lived everywhere from Jamaica to Brooklyn, but records her music in Australia. The diversity of Hoyt’s past landscapes mirrors the variety of places her music brings its listeners. On the Zenizen Facebook page, Hoyt cites Minnie Riperton, Mariah Carey and London nu- jazz as her main influences. She also states that she “is committed to modern psychedelia, poetry and groove.” Zenizen’s songs are driven by melodic bass lines and hush drums, which provide a backdrop to her voice as it climbs and unfurls through her lyrics.

Her song “Follow the Leader” is based on her observations of a group of teenagers she saw in Australia. According to Pitchfork, “The song unfurls slowly and joyously, Hoyt’s voice lingering and echoing as she sings from the perspective of a group of friends waiting ‘with baited breath’ for a leader to guide their mischief.”

On a feature for Tidal, Hoyt lists five albums that have shaped her life, which included the soundtrack of Hairspray, “Spice” by The Spice Girls and “Black and White” by The Pointer Sisters. Though it might not be immediately obvious whether any sounds from these albums appear in Zenizen’s music, they are all reflected in Hoyt’s pleasing melodies, which pull listeners into her songs. Zenizen and Madison McFerrin will perform this weekend in Gardner Lounge. Artwork by Cassidy Christiansen.

Dai Burger, Uniiqu3, Palm and Spirit of the Beehive make it a concerts filled weekend by Kelly Page [email protected]

Rappers Dai Burger and UNIIQU3 will perform on Friday, and bands Palm and Spirit of the Beehive will perform on Saturday, both in Gardner Lounge. art by Steven Duong

This Friday at 9:30 p.m., make sure to boogie on down to the world-famous Gardner Lounge for rappers UNIIQU3 and Dai Burger.

UNIIQU3 is a proud member of the Jersey Club movement, a genre that originated in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. The genre incorporates heavy bass and breakbeat rhythms into hip- hop music. In an interview with The Fader, UNIIQU3 said, “Jersey Club is your morning coffee and your midnight Red Bull. It’s the best genre, ranging from 130 to 140BPM with hard kicks and catchy vocals.” Though the genre was born in the ’90s, musicians like her are keeping it relevant in 2018. When UNIIQU3 first got involved in the Newark music scene it was solely as a singer, but eventually she also started producing, DJing and rapping. Since then, UNIIQU3 has performed for Boiler Room and Givenchy, and has appeared onstage with artists like Rae Sremmurd, Hudson Mohawke and Skepta.

Seven months ago, UNIIQU3 released a remix of Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” which reimagines the hit song through Jersey Club. UNIIQU3 puts Cardi’s verses over racing Newark rhythms, which shift and evolve throughout the track. The remix has 53,000 listens on SoundCloud and thousands of comments that say “fire.” In December of last year, UNIIQU3 released another significant track in her career, a new single entitled “LIKE ME,” where she raps “Ain’t no bitches like me/ getting shmoney like me/ getting Euros in Pari/ takin Jersey overseas,” words that succinctly sum up her career so far.

In her live performances one can expect to see UNIIQU3 DJing while she raps and dances, incorporating her Jersey Club music with R&B. She is a versatile performer who keeps her music exciting for listening and dancing, a perfect fit for a Friday night in Gardner.

Also performing on Friday is rapper from Queens, New York Dai Burger. Burger’s career in music began when she toured with Lil Mama as a background dancer, but since then she has forged a path for herself as a solo rap artist named after hamburgers. In an interview with Bedford and Bowery she explained her beef-patty-inspired name saying, “I like to think that I’m stacked, and juicy, I got the cheese, got the buns and I eat every time I show up.”

Dai Burger has been on the come-up in hip-hop music since her single “Soufflé” debuted in 2013, with a music video that is a weird, colorful homage to candy, dancing with friends and Burger’s notorious sense of fashion. Shortly after, in April 2014, Rolling Stone named Burger an “Artist to Watch,” and those who have been watching her since then have not been disappointed. Before even releasing an album, she opened for Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz on Lil Wayne’s America’s Most Wanted Tour.

Her debut album, “Soft Serve,” shows more of what fans have come to love about Burger: feminism, self-assurance and a sense of humor. In her track “Where My Girls,” she supports and empowers other women around her as she also calls on them to “whip their hair everywhere.” Dai Burger makes fun, interesting rap music which will make this Friday night fun for anyone who goes to see her perform.

On Saturday, Feb. 24, also in Gardner Lounge, bands Palm and Spirit of the Beehive will rock the worlds of all who attend.

According to their record label, Carpark Records, “Palm play rock music backwards.” With rhythmic guitars and melodic drums and bass, nothing about their sound is typical. Having met at Bard College in upstate New York, since 2011 Palm has made music that sounds like a weird, rhythmically complex mixture of Sonic Youth and early Animal Collective. Their latest album “Rock Island,” which they recorded in a barn in upstate New York, sounds like music that would play at a tropical resort in a dream.

Spirit of the Beehive, a band named after a Spanish cinematic masterpiece, has been generating a buzz in the music world with their releases. Pitchfork described one of their albums called “Pleasure Suck” as “an equally compelling and impenetrable album most bands are either too square, too scared or too savvy to make themselves.” Their hazy lo-fi rock will be sure to blanket Gardner in warm guitar and echoey vocals.

New Age Narcissism coming to Gardner

By Kelly Page [email protected]

The rap collective New Age Narcissism may abbreviate their name to NAN, but this is definitely not your nan’s music. This Friday, Feb. 2, make sure you head to Gardner Lounge for a showcase of the Milwaukee-based music collective. Doors will open at 9 p.m. and the show will begin at 9:30. There are a total of six artists from the collective who will be performing at Grinnell for an exciting performance of new music from a city which is not normally associated with hip- hop but, as NAN shows, has a lot to offer.

“We could headline our first show of 2018 with any single one of the artists on this lineup. Having them all here, together, is so stunning. DO NOT MISS this massive show,” reads the Facebook event for the concert.

New Age Narcissism formed their musical family in early 2015, and have been collaborating on music ever since. Group member WebsterX said in an article in Milwaukee Magazine that he thinks of NAN as being like a body, saying “Each of us has our own role, but the outcome is the result of us all working together.” In the same article, singer and NAN member Siren said “We all thrive in a live setting. We never want our audience to be able to predict what’s going to come next.” Videos of their performances show a group that shifts from hip-hop to Siren’s loud witchy guitar-backed vocals to group chanting in a matter of minutes.

The members of NAN who will play at Grinnell this weekend each have impressive and diverse solo projects. WebsterX is a rapper whose melodic and hopeful hip-hop lays out a future for Milwaukee outlined with positivity. Lorde Fredd33 describes himself on his Facebook page as a “Songwriter, Mantra Constructer/Conductor” and “Stage Stomping Shit Talker.” His song “Playing Possum” has a fuzzy dissonant piano beat, which recalls old school hip-hop but the vocals sound trap- influenced and distinctively modern. Lex Allen is a queer rapper who headlined Milwaukee Pride. On his infectious poppy track “Venus and Serena,” he repeats “I’m a do like Venus and Serena and serve,” an empowering anthem for anyone asserting themselves.

Also playing on Friday is witchy singer-songwriter Siren, whose soundcloud description says just “murderer.” On her recent release “Priestess,” she sings over a dark menacing and electronic track, “I am the priestess, get on your knees and pray to this.” Additionally, the concert will feature Q the Sun, who describes his sound as “Psychedelia in the Post-Trap Era” on Facebook, and Christopher Gilbert, who has previously toured with Yo Gabba Gabba.

Overall, this Friday will be a night of entertaining and engaging performances by a musical collective that shows a wide range of styles and high level of talent, from a Wisconsin city that shows that just because they’re cheeseheads doesn’t mean they can’t sing.

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya and Gully Boys to finish up the fall Concerts season

By Kelly Page [email protected]

This weekend marks the last concert of the semester. This Friday at 10 p.m. be sure to make a beeline to the one and only Gardner Lounge to see experimental rapper Nnamdi Ogbonnaya and Minneapolis emo punk group Gully Boys.

A Chicago native and local DIY legend, Ogbonnaya has been playing various instruments in different bands for almost a decade. That’s not the only reason Ogbonnaya is something of an enigma: as a college student, he also ran a DIY music space dubbed Nnamdi’s Pancake Haus where people could watch punk shows while they ate stacks of pancakes.

That sort of playful approach to music is what makes him special. Some of Nnamdi’s past bands include The Para-Medics, Pisces at the Animal Fair and the intriguingly-named My Dad. Currently, Ogbonnaya drums for two bands, plays bass for two more, runs a record label and is a member of the rap collective Sooper SWAG Project. As if being a skilled multi- instrumentalist and distributor of DIY music was not enough, he has an acclaimed solo career in experimental hip hop. His other bands have been mostly emo and math rock, which seem to have influenced his more hip-hop sounding music. He often raps over what could otherwise be a standard rock band, sometimes strumming a guitar.

In March, Ogbonnaya released his solo album “DROOL,” a followup to 2014’s “FECKIN WEIRDO: Nnamdi’s spectral adventures through a populous conundrum, canceling out the burrowing burden and ambiguity of his pre-zuberant tooth shine.”

In “DROOL,” Ogbonnaya shows a life guided by optimism, movement and music. Ogbonnaya can also get real, contemplating self-esteem issues and the need for caution in modern America. Through it all though, his zany goofiness makes his music exciting, allowing the listener to inhabit the mind of someone enthralled with music. His song “let gO Of my egO” bounces from verse to verse with overlapping high-pitched voices and zoomy synth noises threaded through. With a stage presence that gets viewers invested in the show, he ensures that everyone who watches him perform will have a good time.

Also performing on Friday is Minneapolis emo punk band Gully Boys. According to their Facebook page, they are “three scrappy boys writing songs in the basement.” Their recent self-titled release on Bandcamp features a song called “Fading (Neopet Graveyard)” which mourns lost love over pop-punky guitar.

Make sure not to miss the final concert of the semester for a fun and funky evening.

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya performing in DC taken by Julia Leiby, Photo Contributed Young, Gifted, and Black Gospel Choir celebrates 45th anniversary

By Saiham Sharif [email protected]

As a part of the Alumni Multicultural Reunion weekend, the Young, Gifted and Black Gospel Choir (YGB) celebrated their 45th anniversary with a concert in Sebring-Lewis Hall. Although some posters branded the event as YGB’s 50th anniversary, the concert was actually the group’s 45th anniversary. Founded in 1967, the group did not formally meet until 1972. According to the Grinnell College website, the group’s name comes from a work titled “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black” by the famous Black author Lorraine Hansberry. The same description on the website states the group organized around three basic goals: “cultural uniformity as a result of the Black Church experience; a strong desire to continue that same cultural heritage while pursuing higher education at Grinnell College; the choir’s expressed desire to act as an active agent in raising money for the Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund at Grinnell College.”

The group primarily sings Black gospel music, and often goes on tour to various cities.

“The choir does a plethora of songs ranging from hymns to newer, more contemporary gospel artists such as Travis Green and Casey J.,” wrote YGB member J’remi Barnes ’19 in an email to The S&B.

According to Barnes, although the group changes over time due to the four-year turnover at the College, they consistently maintain a positive musical energy.

“YGB has had its fluctuations of members each semester, but the energy that it provides people are still the same,” Barnes wrote. “YGB is a group that people join for many different reasons. Some people come to experience the community, music making, singing, to destress from the week and sometimes they come for an easy credit (which is okay also). For the most part we tend to be anywhere from 10-20 students each semester, but as previously mentioned, we tend to try to stick to the traditional values of the original YGB members.”

For their 45th anniversary concert, the group put on a unique performance. They began by singing choir songs, inviting the audience to sing and dance along with them, which can be difficult in the unwieldy auditorium, but many swayed and clapped their hands to the beat. Surprisingly, YGB exited the stage and took seats. However, the same powerful energy they left was carried through as Created to Worship, a black choir group from New Orleans, stepped onto stage. The group wore light-up shoes, a relic of the past, and as they sung gospel music, they captured not only the audience’s ears, but also their eyes. They displayed the spirit of gospel music by wholeheartedly being themselves and having fun on stage. Even the most reserved audience members found themselves clapping their hands to the soulful rhythm.

Barnes’ experience with Created to Worship dates back before his time at Grinnell, having sung with the group during his youth. Barnes believed they would be a great addition to a celebration of YGB’s enduring time on campus.

“Forty-five years is a very amazing accomplishment, especially for a Christian group on this campus. Therefore, Michael [Sims, director of student activities] wanted to do something big for the anniversary,” Barnes said. “That’s when I mentioned my old choir from home. Created To Worship is a phenomenal group of singers and musicians that I’ve sang with for a few years now, and when Michael said that he was looking for groups and artists to come, they were the first people I thought of.”

The Young Gifted and Black Gospel Choir at Grinnell in Seabring-Lewis for their 45th anniversary performance. Photo by Charun Upara