Editor’s Note: This article was originally written for The Bates Student, and was published in that publication on March 9, 2010.
Music lovers of Bates turned out in distinct droves and waves on Friday night, March 5th for a WRBC-sponsored event at The Benjamin Mayes Center. The concert was much promoted by the campus radio station, in an effort to get students listening and excited for these up and coming groups.
The artists, who fall under the blog-spun catch-all genre “chillwave” all actually sounded pretty distinct. Each group brought a distinct and enjoyable sound to students who were clearly very excited to dance and enjoy what the bands had to offer.
Students were first treated to a local artist, James Cook ’12, who played a lengthy introductory set of his own ambient pop tracks. Cook, a History major from Woodstock, CT, played his own unique sprawling drones from behind a small set up and laptop. Cook played what he thought would be his last track, and when the next group, Small Black, was nowhere to be seen, played a few more. Cook has an EP coming out toward the end of spring on UK-based electronic label, Urbantorque.
The crowd was at its height when the first touring group, Small Black from Brooklyn, NY, took the stage. The group, made up of a vocalist, a bassist and an electronic percussionist, played some thumping and driving electronic rock, pausing to joke with the audience. “This is like, a really nice college,” Small Black’s vocalist said, “You guys seem to really like it up here.” The crowd certainly enjoyed themselves, hoisting members up on shoulders and dancing in a pulsing mass of people.
The next group, Washed Out, is composed solely of Ernest Greene, a Georgian, who’s EP Life of Leisure has garnered a lot of acclaim and excitement on the internet. His songs are fantastically retro, thoroughly blurry and with pleasant beach-like reverb and echo. Greene limited his crowd interaction to singing his songs and a few exclamations of “Yeah!” Small Black joined him for a few songs, including his set’s ender, “Feel it All Around” and an unrehearsed encore.
By the time Toro Y Moi had set up, many had left The Silo for other exploits around campus, which is unfortunate, because Chaz Bundick’s music was probably the most original and interesting of the night. Bundick, from South Carolina, played to a small, and somewhat distracted audience, but saw the whole thing out properly. His songs, mostly off of his recent LP, Causers of This, moved between thumping bass grooves not unlike Washed Out’s, to multi-layered reverb-heavy electro tracks to more spaced out guitar songs, rich in echo-y vocals, which almost recalled Animal Collective at their best and most tolerable.
The evening concluded late, around 2, with the summery tunes ushering in a spring-like weekend.
-Charles Thaxton (Photography: Peter Senzamici)
Charles Thaxton is the co-host of Songs from Mt. David, Sundays 2-4 AM on WRBC.
Peter Senzamici is the co-host of Liberation Musicology, Sundays 6-8 PM on WRBC.