B-SIDE Magazine Vol 2 by B-Side Magazine

Fall 2017 Tent Shows — photos by Joey Han

Contents p.03 Editors’ Note

Michael O’Neill

p.03 Masthead p.04 Spring Weekend Artist Profiles p.07 Public Policy's Human Resource p.08 A Late Night with KiwiiSour

B-SIDE MAGAZINE

PRINT 2018

B-SIDE Staff Review by Max Luebbers

Interview by Zander Kim

p.12

Inside The OOZ

p.14

Nai Palm Breaks Free

p.16 p.16 p.18

It’s Back to the More Recent Past in I’ll Be Your Girl

p.19

Music Venues Around Providence

Review by Alex Rodriguez Review by Charlie Saperstein

Review by Caroline Moses

Playlists

B-SIDE Staff Auriane Benabou

Editors’ Note Hey there! First off, thank you so much for reading B-SIDE Magazine. There’s so much incredible music just on this campus and in this city, let alone out in the world at large, and we try to bring you the scene has to offer. This is our second ever print edition, and this year we’ve decided to give it a fresh new look! We also hosted Tent Shows TWICE and a number of Coffeehaus performances in The Underground, where student musicians came and showed off their best work and immense talents. B-SIDE would be nothing without our incredible staff, so we as an eBoard want to thank everyone who has contributed to the magazine this year. We also wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for readers like you, and for that we once again say thank you. Now, we hope you enjoy this year’s print edition! We’ve got album reviews, playlists, interviews with local acts, and our annual Spring Weekend artist profiles! Stay safe this Spring Weekend, and we’ll leave you with some sage words from last year’s headliner, Erykah Badu: “Drink more water!” Sincerely, The B-SIDE Magazine eBoard

Masthead eBoard

Auriane Benabou Tia Forsman Bethany Hung Max Luebbers Michael O'Neill Tara Sharma

Social Media

Chris Patino

Photography Photography

Joey Han Naomy Pedroza

Staff Writers Staff Writers Staff Writers Staff Writers Staff Writers Staff Writers Staff Writers Cover & graphics Bethany Hung Staff Writers Layout Bethany Hung Editors Editors Editors B-SIDE • 2018

JD Calvelli Miles Freeman Jake Goodman Jack Kelly Zander Kim Caroline Moses Alex Rodriguez Charlie Saperstein

Michael O'Neill Max Luebbers Tara Sharma

Artist Profiles By Charlie Saperstein Michael O'Neill Miles Freeman Caroline Moses

Spring Weekend Artist Profiles

If you or any of your friends already listen to Anderson .Paak, you might have had this conversation before: what type of music, exactly, does he play? What kind of vibe should you expect? And what’s up with the period before .Paak? (That last one’s easier: it’s a reminder to pay attention to detail.) The truth is, there’s no easy way to describe Anderson .Paak; he’s a singer, rapper, drummer, songwriter, and producer. His music that spans more genres than you can name, including funk, soul, rap, R&B, rock, and jazz. Despite this range, there are a few consistent threads—his trademark yell of “Yes Lawd!,” his silky-smooth vocals, and a musical inventiveness that appreciates the old while remaining firmly committed to the future. Born Brandon Park Anderson, .Paak got his big break on Dr. Dre’s 2014 comeback album Compton, which featured him on (six!) of its sixteen songs. Since then, he’s lent vocals to hits from Mac Miller, KAYTRANADA, and the Black Panther album, in addition to releasing three full-length projects of his own. Venice, his 2014 debut, was filled with club-ready hip-hop and electronic beats (check out the trap-inflected “Drugs”). Yes Lawd!, a collaboration with producer Knxwledge, is a stew of revamped oldschool soul samples, best demonstrated on the off-kilter R&B of “Suede.” Malibu, his latest solo album, was nominated for a Grammy, and delivers an amazing listen from top to bottom, showcasing the many talents and boundless imagination of .Paak. Malibu has something for almost everybody—if you’re a rap fan, listen to “Come Down;” if you want smooth R&B-jazz, go for “Heart Don’t Stand a Chance;” and if you just want to have a good time, dance with “Your Prime.” On stage, .Paak is dynamic, exciting, and wholly unique. He’s comfortable leading his band in front, but he excels most when playing drums, where he manages the difficult feat of simultaneously keeping time and rapping. .Paak’s musical education came as a drummer in his local gospel church, but his drumming sounds more steeped in funk than anything else. He and his band, The Free Nationals, put their talent on full display in their performance for NPR’s B-SIDE • 2018

vaunted Tiny Desk series, and their video now has more views than any other in the series— more than Adele, Chance the Rapper, and Tyler the Creator combined. At Spring Weekend, Anderson .Paak is sure to bring his energy, charisma, and eclectic live show, likely converting some new fans in the process. .Paak is unquestionably someone to keep an eye on, for these next few weeks and beyond—before long, it might be hard to miss him. Charlie Saperstein

This year’s Spring Weekend Friday headlining slot will see Nottingham, England singer NAO take the stage. With one album and three EPs to her name, NAO (pronounced “neigh-oh”) will bring cool altR&B energy— self-described as “wonky funk”— on the heels of DRAM’s effervescent hip-hop. She started making music in her teens in the UK and decided to dive headfirst into her career instead of continuing to pursue a law degree. Her debut single “So Good” came out in 2014 and features A.K. Paul. The bouncy track and the titular EP helped her gain traction with listeners immediately, hitting #4 on the iTunes electronic music chart. NAO’s next EP, February 15, was released in May of 2015, and saw her take a step up both in sound and popularity. “Inhale Exhale” kicks off the five-song project with a clippy drum beat and bassy synth line. “Running out of luck / Take me to the church and back again / Without tripping up / Search the wild until I’m found again,” she sings. NAO’s voice finds a pleasing middle ground between Macy Gray’s signature rasp and James Blake’s crooning, mesmerizing harmonies. “Apple Cherry” from the same EP swells in and out like a stormy sea tide, tapping into the same kind of dark R&B vibe the likes of FKA twigs and Kelela are celebrated for. That same year, she appeared on songs from Disclosure’s Caracal (the frenetic new-age sprint “Superego”) and Mura Masa’s summer-ready EDM smash “Firefly.” In 2016, NAO released her debut fulllength LP, For All We Know. The record garnered strong reviews across the board: The Guardian and NME each awarded it four out five stars, and Pitchfork scored For All We Know as a 7.9. The al-

bum serves as a tour of NAO’s best work both old and new; it features old highlights like “Bad Blood” and the aforementioned “Inhale Exhale,” along with newer tracks that stand tall on their own. “Fool to Love” is one of her biggest hits to date, recalling 90’s soul harmonies layered on top of a stuttering hyper-modern bass track. “Girlfriend” throws sludgy guitars into its mix to add extra oomph to its climaxes. “DYMN” sees NAO adopt a sleek coffeehouse sound, with reggae-influenced guitars and drums feeling both effortlessly cool and remarkably down-toearth. Expect NAO to close Friday night’s concert with style, power, and infectious rhythms galore. Michael O'Neill

Never seen without a smile on his face, Virginia’s very own D.R.A.M. (Does Real Ass Music) will soon come to Brown. While he is most well known for the Summer ‘16 slapper “Broccoli” featuring Lil Yachty, D.R.A.M.’s artistry is profound and intricate, reaching far beyond his habitual categorization as a rapper. Drawing inspiration from P-Funk and other black oldies like Marvin Gaye, D.R.A.M.’s music blends elements of neo-soul, R&B and hip-hop in a style that he describes as “trappy-go-lucky.” D.R.A.M. first came to fame with his 2014 “Cha Cha.” If you’re unfamiliar with the Latin-inspired Super Mario bop, think of Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” which made millions nearly copying his same beat. This breakout hit even had Beyonce dancing on Instagram, immediately making D.R.A.M.—who lived on his cousin’s couch at the time—a household name. To get a better feeling of D.R.A.M.'s vibe, listen to his most recent album, Big

Baby DRAM, which has a wide range of features, including Young Thug and Erykah Badu. Apart from "Broccoli," the bouncy Ray Charles-sampled "Cash Machine" became a major hit on the back of its cash register sound effects and infectious energy. "Gilligan," featuring A$AP Rocky and 3-6 Mafia's Juicy J, and "Ill Nana" with upcoming artist Trippie Redd are other tracks you should definitely bump before Spring Weekend, where D.R.A.M. is sure to bring endless smiles and singalong jams. Miles Freeman

Whitney released their debut album, Light Upon the Lake, in 2016, to both popular and critical acclaim, and since then have been on the road supporting the record, and recently recording their next output. Their blend of airy guitars and vocals with a punchy horn section makes for a sound that is at once relaxing and uplifting – perfect for a day outside with friends! Based in Chicago, the band formed after three of its original members’ previous band, Smith Westerns, disbanded in 2014, and the band lives together in their apartment in Chicago. Their friendship shows in their sound; Light Upon the Lake is hangout music par excellence, with its placid guitars and Julian Ehrlich’s soft falsetto vocals casting a weekend-afternoon haze. But then, periodically, the horns will burst through like the peals of laughter after someone takes a running gag just a little bit too far. In a way, the name Whitney itself is a running gag: the band first envisioned it as a folk-rock character who they were writing for. The subject matter of Whitney’s music is not always as cheery. Topics include heartbreak, the death of Ehrlich’s grandfather, and the sense of placelessness that can come up when you’re on the road. In particular, “Dave’s Song” touches on the conflicting emotions that you feel after a breakup. Still, the buoyancy of Whitney’s sound provides a comfortable, calm space to address those kinds of feelings without resorting to mopeyness or hyperbolic tropes. Like a real hangout with close friends, sometimes it’s up, and sometimes it’s down, but it’s all cool. Overall, I think we can look forward to a really chill, fun-to-hear set from Whitney this Spring Weekend, and hopefully some new songs! There’s a unique energy from a band whose first album is a hit, so I think there’s a really enthusiastic, special set in our future. Hopefully the weather cooperates! • Caroline Moses

Spring Weekend Artist Profiles

Resource Review by Max Luebbers

Providence alt-rock group Public Policy released a new EP, Human Resource, back in March, and upon first listen, the five tracks are immediately reminiscent of the mid-nineties post-hardcore movement. The sound can be squarely placed in 1994, alongside such classics as Sunny Day Real Estate’s Diary and Jawbox’s For Your Own Special Sweetheart, and while the references to groups may be readily apparent, the group is spot-on with their own interpretation of the genres tropes, delivering 22 minutes of driving, nostalgic hard rock. A guitar squeal in the opening track, “Trawlers,” immediately brought me back to the first time I heard a similar tinny riff on “Savory,” perhaps DC post-hardcore band Jawbox’s most famous song. It’s been almost 25 years since “Savory” was released, but the connection is still strong: a near-scream from the singer, popping bass, and deep driving rhythm guitar broken by the occasional ring of feedback harmonics. Floods of cymbals fill out the entire sound and complete the raucous, distorted, grungy pastiche that Public Policy is creating. Despite the hectic nature of the record, the group keeps it impressively readable. With so much distortion, they risk losing information in the muddy washes of sound, but save the occasional wild climax, the whole work is well-mixed. It’s a testament to the group’s brilliant choice of sounds. The omnipresent drive highlights the guitars’ natural tone rather than mask it, and the

B-SIDE • 2018

occasional dissonant lead guitar interludes create a hypnotizing interplay between the listener’s ears. The drums’ low boom give the beat a trudging, driving power, and cymbals crash with overwhelming noise that makes the entire track press and release on your ears. The group of Rhode Island natives have been going to school together and making music with one another for quite some time, and Public Policy is just the latest of their Providence-based projects. Early last year, B-SIDE had a chance to interview some of the band members while they were with another group, A Troop of Echoes. Reminiscent of local graphic designer and noiserock legend Brian Chippendale’s art space, Fort Thunder, the group is based out of a warehouse in South Providence, where you can find them hosting shows. Human Resource is an impressive display of the group’s raw and gritty sound. While their tracks resemble alt hits of past decades, their sound has been polished and re-worked to create a surprisingly fresh and energetic EP. Citing the surprise onset of diabetic ketoacidosis and the impromptu removal of a cracked molar during a studio session, the group endured pain and hardships during recording to create a visceral outpouring of emotion on each of Human Resource’s five tracks. Let’s hope that the group can sustain such energy for many more releases to come. •

Public Policy's Human Resource

A Late Night with KiwiiSour

Auriane and I got to sit down with KiwiiSour, one of Brown’s most in-demand bands. KiwiiSour, who describe their music as neo-soul, jazz, and R&B, started out as a band just this past January, led by vocalists Udoka Oji ‘18 and Maikerly Reyes ‘18. They'll be around, so be sure to check out this nine-member group at other events for some funky covers and originals of their own!

Interview by Auriane Benabou & Zander Kim

—

Text by Zander Kim Photography by Joey Han

Auriane Benabou: Could you guys introduce yourselves and tell us what your roles are in the band?

Courtney Mankowski ‘19: Courtney, I play drums. Udoka Oji ‘18: I’m Udoka, I’m a vocalist. Mateus Picanco ‘18: I’m Mateus, I play the guitar. Yale Friend ‘19: I’m Yale, I play trumpet. Nate McDermott ‘20: I’m Nate, I play keyboards. Maikerly Reyes ‘18: Maikerly, I’m also a vocalist. JD Fishman ‘18: JD, I play trombone. Michelle Bazile ‘18.5: I’m Michelle, I play bass. YF: And Josh [Kirschenbaum, ‘18] plays the sax.

Zander Kim: How did you guys get started as a band, and how long have you been around? MR: Dokes (Udoka) hit me up, it was like the end of last semester, and one of our— MP: —Last last semester.

MR: Yeah last last semester, sorry. And [our friend] was like, “I want to have this conversation about wanting to start a band” but not really like having—not really knowing people in the music community as much. And then I got this random text message from Udoka in December and it just started from there.

Left to right, back – Courtney, Josh, Mateus, Nate, JD, Amanda.

Front – Udoka, Yale, Maikerly.

JD: And then she just used her amazing music world connections and reached out to all of us and was like, “Hey, I’m thinking about making this dope band. You

A Late Night with KiwiiSour

should join.” And then we all said yes. And then we all came together and we started rehearsing some songs that Maikerly had written, with Dokes, and one of them was called “KiwiiSour Cherry Sweet Love” and that’s how we came up with the name KiwiiSour. YF: That’s a royal we, right there. (laughter) UO: But two “i’s” now. Kiwi, I. AB: So how would you guys describe your sound? YF: Like neo-soul, jazz, R&B. ZK: Do you guys have any inspiration for your music? Or artists you try to emulate? Or trying to pave your own path? JD: I feel like as a group we all are coming from different places, and so it’s like very much like a synthesized vibe of many different things. So there’s a lot of artists that we really jam to, like The RH Factor is a big one. Who else? YF: That’s the only group we’ve played multiple songs of. JD: So yeah, I guess if you had to tag one band that is closest to us, I would say RH Factor. But at the same time, we definitely deviate from their songs. YF: Yeah, like the originals are all very different. MR: So I would say to get a sense of our sound, we write a lot of originals which I think is something that I’ve enjoyed just working with this group of people. We, Dokes, transcribe a lot of music and we hand it out to people and then experiment with it, like we’re looking for this to be a little faster, and it just becomes the songs, so, I mean it’s not one person but it collectively comes alive together as a group.

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CM: Occasionally, we’ll have a song that they come to us with just chords and they’ll say, “Okay this is sort of, like sometimes you guys will mention a song that you want it be similar to. Right? Like, oh it kind of wants more of a vibe of this versus the vibe of that. But overall, it’s mostly just taking bits and pieces from each of us as we kind of figure it out. AB: Along the lines of it being a collaborative effort, what is it like being in such a big group? Do you guys collaborate well, do you guys have similar tastes in music, and how what’s it booking shows for such a big group, do you divvy stuff up? YF: I would say you do most of the booking— well, so we have a Facebook page that people message and we try and communicate everything together and you definitely do a lot of the booking. UO: Yeah. And JD and Maikerly helped me too. YF: I think as far as the taste, I think we all have slightly different tastes in music which I think is

a good thing because at the same time also we accept each other’s tastes very well. So we had this one thing we did the other night, where we put a playlist together of 20 or 30 songs that we are interested in and we had to narrow them down. And it didn’t go so well because a lot of people hadn’t heard the songs but we were suddenly all into them. But it was a very eclectic list that we all ended up loving. MR: I’m so excited. I remember suggesting three songs and none of the ones I suggested made it to what we’re going to play next month, but I was listening to the playlist and I was like all these songs are amazing and I’m so excited to do these songs with these people.

MR: I love taking pictures. Whenever we’re about to do a show, I’m like, “Oh we’re getting ready, come see us.” MB: Also social media helps up connect with other people. I think some people have come to our shows because they’ve seen our posts and we’re active. ZK: Have you guys been trying to book gigs in the Providence area or mainly around Brown? YF: We’ve actually been looking into Boston. We’re thinking about doing a show at Berklee this year. So we’re doing that, we haven’t really done much in Providence though.

—

JD: Find us on Facebook: KiwiiSour, two i’s after AB: So you said people messaged you on Facebook, the “w” (laughter). and you guys, out of all the groups I’ve seen on AB: Who did the art for campus, you guys seem the Facebook page? “We... transcribe a lot of music and to have the biggest social we hand it out to people and then media presence. Is that UO: Oh, our good friend something important in Georgianna. She’s an experiment with it... and it just getting people interestartist. She’s a great perbecomes the songs, so, I mean it’s not ed and finding out about son. She sells her art to one person but it collectively comes the group or is it more raise money for refugee like a friends tell friends organizations and stuff alive together as a group.” kind of thing? like that. But yeah, we were like G, we need a YF: I think we’ve had the luxury of having picture and she was like, “Oh, I got you.” And friends that are very supportive. she made one in five minutes. She also made our logo. UO: That’s true, we have very supportive friends. MR: She also did the logo for Strawberry GenYF: I think that’s Josh calling me right now. eration too. JD: I think also something to think about us as a group is we’re all coming from different music backgrounds and different social scenes so I think if you have close friends from all nine of us, you already have filled up a big space. So for like our first show, I’m like, “Who are all these people? Where’d they all come from?” (laughter) I think social media is also important. We definitely want to get the word out, we want people to know about us and we’re really excited for people to come and hear our music.

UO: Also, Allison’s really good at photoshopping things in. Our cover photo, the picture of all of us, Joshua wasn’t looking, at any of the photos. So she ended up finding a photo of Josh when everyone else wasn’t looking and Allison photoshopped that into the picture. ZK: If you guys could have anyone play at Spring Weekend, who would it be? MR: Hiatus Kaiyote.

A Late Night with KiwiiSour

JD: Oh, Snarky Puppy. CM: We really liked Erykah Badu last year too. We’re doing a song that features her as one of our covers, so that’s pretty cool.

your comfort zone. JD: I think also being vocal is– (laughter)

JD: Anderson .Paak. AB: What advice would you give to Brown or RISD kids who are just starting up a band? UO: Aww. All: (laughter) MR: Talk to other musicians and go to events where people are playing music. I didn’t know anyone personally but I knew a lot of these guys here doing Jazz Jam? I went to all the Jazz scenes. YF: There’s definitely a tight music community at Brown which is awesome. Even if you don’t necessarily play in a group with someone, you have a sense of a lot of the musicians here, so it’s very easy to meet people and find out about possible gig opportunities. I’d say the hardest thing is space. The rehearsal space at Brown is definitely not great. We usually rehearse in TF Green which is just a mess. So if you have a space, you’re already a step ahead of a lot of people. UO: Also just being comfortable to step out of

*Josh enters the room.* AB: What’s your favorite place to perform at Brown? Josh Kirschenbaum: Basements (laughs). YF: Having professional sound helps. ZK: Anything else you guys want to say or add? *The group calls out Josh for being late and tells him to say something.* JK: Every interview, whenever there’s been a format like this, somehow I’ve told this story about why September is the ninth month of the year even though it’s “Sept.” but it’s—we don’t have to—it’s not that long of a story. ZK: Alright, well thank you guys. JK: Apologies (for being late). • — For a longer version of this interview, visit our website at bsidemagazine.org. Originally published October 24, 2017.

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Review by Charlie Saperstein Album art from Nai Palm

Nai Palm Breaks Free 12

Naomi Saalfield, better known as Nai Palm, emerged in 2012 as the lead singer of Hiatus Kaiyote, a future-soul band from Melbourne who describes their music as “Multi-Dimensional, Polyrhythmic Gangster Shit.” The band’s rise has been swift. They’ve been nominated for two Grammys; their unique sound has led to samples by rap icons Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Anderson .Paak, and they’ve gotten shoutouts from Questlove, Prince, and Erykah Badu, who simply said: “I’m in love.” For fans of Hiatus Kaiyote, Nai Palm’s solo release, Needle Paw, might come as a surprise. It abandons the band’s trademark sound—a futuristic, synth-heavy combination of neo-soul, jazz, and funk—for a stripped-back album that relies only on an acoustic guitar and a trio of singers to back Saalfield’s vocals. With this new sound comes an opportunity for Saalfield’s voice to shine like never before. As incredible as the lush instrumentation of Hiatus Kaiyote may be, this is a spotlight that is both welcome and necessary. The album is filled with creative reimaginings of several Hiatus Kaiyote songs (“Atari,” “Mobius,” “Molasses,” “Breathing Underwater,” and “Borderline with My Atoms”) that, adapted for Needle Paw’s distinctive sound, still remain fresh. Her other covers range from Tamia’s 1998 R&B hit “So Into You,” to Radiohead’s brooding alt-rock anthem “Pyramid Song,” and the title track on David Bowie’s final album “Blackstar.” But her most surprising cover is also perhaps the album’s best: a complete reworking of Jimi Hendrix’s “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland).” In Saalfield’s hands, the song is trans-

Nai Palm Breaks Free

formed from an oft-forgotten spurt of psychedelic weirdness into a tightly orchestrated, up-and-down journey that showcases her incredible vocal range. The song is located halfway through the album’s tracklist, and it serves as both a microcosm and a natural climax for the album as a whole— for listeners looking to get acquainted with Saalfield’s immense talent, her belting of “Eleeectric Ladylaaaand” at 2:00 is a perfect starting point. As excellent as these covers are, Nai Palm’s unique voice and personality is able to come through best on her original songs. Saalfield frequently references the death of her parents (she was orphaned at age 11) as a primary influence in her growth as a musician and as a person, and Needle Paw finally shows us a gentler, more vulnerable side of the singer. Her lyrics are dense and poetic, and the songs shift between restrained moments of delicate beauty and unshackled, uplifting peaks, punctuated by the choir-like voices of her backup singers. These singers are pivotal to the album, filling in gaps that may otherwise feel bare, and they nearly function as other instruments. Of the singers, Saalfield says she wanted to “make something that is—

“Needle Paw does more to unravel the enigma that is Nai Palm than anything to date.” B-SIDE • 2018

arrangement-wise—as detailed as something where you have other instruments, but all the layers being the human voice.” Nai Palm herself seems to possess a wisdom, and a mysteriousness, far beyond her years. Individually, she speaks about her close connection with nature: she says that when her parents died, “wild animals became [her] support network,” and this album reflects that love. It was recorded in an Australian desert, and the raw, bare production makes the album feel far more natural than Hiatus Kaiyote’s electronic sound. She has called the album “an intimate window into myself as an artist,” and it truly feels like that’s the case. Needle Paw does more to unravel the enigma that is Nai Palm than anything to date. With Needle Paw, Nai Palm has succeeded spectacularly at making music for humanity at its most exposed. Nai Palm said it’s an album made to be “something really gentle to just hold people in moments of fragility”: for when “you're hungover on a Sunday morning or… your family member just died.” In this, Saalfield has unquestionably succeeded. Needle Paw isn’t exhilarating like the imaginative jazz of Hiatus Kaiyote—but it’s comforting, intimate, and essential. Nai Palm’s last song on the album is “Homebody,” a structureless tune that stretches lines about coping with pain over a shaky and uncertain acoustic guitar. It’s a gorgeous, hauntingly vulnerable song, one that seems ready to fall apart at the seams at any moment. It’s written to a friend, perhaps, maybe to her listeners, or maybe even to herself. In it, she croons: “Hold on to the color of your day / I will always be around to reach your pain.” •

Inside The OOZ

Review by Alex Rodriguez Album art from King Krule 23-year-old musician from South Britain, Archy Marshall, comes back four years after his last album released under the moniker “King Krule” to take his listeners on another voyage across the deep, the blue and the lonely. In The OOZ, his most extensive album yet, he colors a sunken and disturbed sleep that doesn’t quite fit into a specific music genre. Like the effortlessly-cool and inherently-dark Marshall, The OOZ combines strums of jazz with punk-stricken beats, creating sounds that range from melodic guitar riffs to trip-hop. As a whole, The OOZ is emblematic of Archy Marshall’s internal and historical struggle with mental illness. In his youth, Marshall suf-

fered from insomnia and was sent to two education centres for excluded children (for kids with emotional, behavioural or social difficulties), since he refused to attend school. Tormented by long, aimless nights, it was clear that Marshall led a difficult childhood. He even addressed his distrust and disapproval of the doctors, psychiatrists, counselors and social workers at the centre in an interview with The Guardian stating that they were “plain wrong” concerning his diagnosis. Nevertheless, as listeners, we can deduce that doubts concerning his mental stability still plague him, as he writes: “perhaps the emotive rush turned my brain to mush, I’ll never know.” Through King Krule’s music, we experience Inside The OOZ

his chaotic and obscured mentality alongside him; his states of anguish, anxiety, frustration, and depression. His songs translate abstract loneliness into sounds that resonate in the darkest corners of our minds. In each song, we drift slowly into a state of dissociation, forced to face our own ineffective attempts to connect with others—a lyric from one of his songs reads, “You’re shallow waters / I’m the deep seabed.” In the end, in a multitude of projections of loneliness, Marshall is also accepting of his character, stating: “I got more moons wrapped around my head and Jupiter knows.” He opens The OOZ with the track “Biscuit Town,” a set of smooth revolutions of sound that narrate a frustrated interaction with a girl as they walk toward her residence in “Biscuit Town.” He forges his soundscape by classically combining mellow ambient beats with his rough, low-pitched vocals. Later in the album, the song “The Locomotive” paints a discordant picture of isolation and desperation—the voice of a haunted mind wanting to relate to others. Here, Marshall employs his signature aggressive singing style over a somber guitar riff, compelling us to question our position relative to others and to confront the place where “we all have our evils”. Next, in a sudden change of rhythm, one of my personal favorite tracks on the album, “Dum Surfer,” spans out with sinister vocals over fine-tuned sounds. In what arises like an ominous cold wind, the song begins to slowly come together with laughter of insanity setting the stage for an incredibly poetic and disorienting narrative. The track then proceeds to tell the story of a drunken night of low-lit rooms and European cabs, all over a beat to which you can’t help but bang your head. “Dum Surfer” is then interjected by brief guitar and saxophone solos, with which Marshall is able to construct a complex sound of both beauty and diluted madness. What is more, the title of the song, “Dum Surfer” could be meant to be phonetically similar

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“The OOZ is the grimy, the opaque, the surreal and according to Archy Marshall himself, the most rudimentary of human experiences.”

to both “dumb surfer” and “don’t suffer,” as the lyrics at the end of the song suggest. The OOZ also interweaves brief interludes of spoken poetry in the tracks “Bermondsey Bosom (Left)” and “Bermondsey Bosom (Right).” The former, a short poem in Spanish recited by Beatriz Ortiz Mendes, epitomizes much of King Krule’s characteristic imagery, while alluding to previous album titles, from “seis pies bajo la luna” or “six feet below the moon” to “negro y azul” or “black and blue.” At the same time, she expresses how Marshall’s music is solely about himself. At the end of the record, in the song “La lune,” he returns to the moon, pairing enigmatic lyrics with somber sounds of falling rain and a gentle guitar riff; in one of his most inimitable lines, he depicts how “brave waves bathe the eye.” Instrumentally, The OOZ encompasses an array of instruments that make up King Krule’s unique and distinct sound; lyrically, he continues to incite the disturbing self-reflective thoughts that plague most of us, while speaking merely for himself. The OOZ is the grimy, the opaque, the surreal and according to Archy Marshall himself, the most rudimentary of human experiences. As he told NPR Music: “for me [it] represents… your sweat, your nails, the sleep that comes out of your eyes, your dead skin… It’s kind of about refining the subconscious creations that you do constantly.” Indeed, the album is a collection of narratives of the subconscious states that lie underneath sober, inebriated, lonely and futile pursuits that loom in our day-to-day realities. The soundtrack is the type to invoke the feeling of loneliness that loiters like a shadow at the soles of our feet, but it will nevertheless fill with beauty that inevitable part of the human experience. •

It’s Back to the More Recent Past in I’ll Be Your Girl Review by Caroline Moses Album art from The Decemberists

Before you read any further, I should disclose something: The Decemberists have been one of my favorite bands since I was a little kid and only knew, like, five bands. They were my first concert; I saw them on my tenth birthday, half as old as anyone else there but still absolutely loving it. Part of me will probably always be that entranced kid trying to see the stage, and, two years later, that twelve-year-old getting a malicious kick out of “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” so perhaps I’m not the one to review their new record, I’ll Be Your Girl. But if not me, then who? Hasn't everyone else gotten over their old-timey shtick years ago? They’re missing out: this record breathes new life into The Decemberists’ whole “mythic-1800s eery folk ballad” thing, and while they don't let go of the past completely (whether that means past records or the mid-19th century), it’s such a new feel that if it weren't for Colin Meloy’s instantly recognizable voice it might take me a while to realize what I was listening to. This is not to say that fans of the old stuff will be disappointed (okay, someone out there will probably say, “Hey, where's the accordion?”—don’t worry! Jenny’s playing keyboards!), but if your relationship to The Decemberists can be described as “I liked ‘Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect,’ but some of that stuff is kinda weird and potentially problematic, like, why are they singing about confederate soldiers?” now’s your chance to pick back up; no bayonets or weirdly specific descriptions of someone's ethnicity, I promise. What this record does have is, perhaps for the first time ever, Decemberists songs accurately and unironically described as “bops.” I say this particularly with the song “Severed” in mind, although “Cutting Stone,” the song that precedes it, definitely has its moments. “Severed” opens with some funky 80s synth arpeggios (a

new sound for the formerly all-acoustic band), followed by the slow but dramatic bass line and finally Meloy’s voice, starting in a threateningly droning mid-voice before raising both volume and pitch in the swelling chorus. And yeah, the refrain is “I’m allied to the winter, so don’t you get clever/I’m allied to the landslide, gonna leave you all severed,” which means nothing despite sounding scary, but so help me it slaps. My shoulders move despite themselves. If I weren’t typing this right now, my fist would be fighting the impulse to pump like a middle-schooler at a bar mitzvah reception. In short, it gets the listener hyped, which is kind of a new trick for this most middle-aged of dogs. “Severed” is about killing, but more in the way a rapper does it than in the Appalachian-murder-ballad style of their older albums (consider “Mariner’s Revenge Song,” “Shankill Butchers,” “The Rake’s Song,” “The Bachelor and the Bride,” “Odalisque,” and that is not even an exhaustive list); it’s less of a literal description of grotesque acts than a promise to “kill the game.” It’s important to say that this is not the case of “Cutting Stone”; “Cutting Stone” is just about a guy walking around and killing the vulnerable, in what the narrator clearly considers an act of mercy, though I think the song paints him as unreliable and creepy enough that it’s pretty clear that his self-perception may be warped. But even here, the music more closely matches “Severed” than it does those previous killer songs, at least after the first verse-chorus pair. The song starts off with the acoustic guitar and plaintive singing of earlier times, but makes a sudden transition to the bass-heavy sound and background synth of the rest of the song. This change comes as a surprise in “Cutting Stone,” as the first track and single, “Once In My Life,” has a closer energy to the past, and an intro guitar riff that instantly recalled the song

It's Back to the More Recent Past in I'll Be Your Girl

“On the Bus Mall,” a Picaresque deep cut and one of my personal favorites. Like “Cutting Stone,” “Once In My Life” opens up in the chorus, adding background keyboards and vocals, but never quite loses its strum-y tone. It’s reminiscent in a lot of ways of their 2011 album The King Is Dead, which also had a brighter tone and texture than their early work, but didn’t represent the same kind of quantum leap that I’ll Be Your Girl does. Lyrically, “Once In My Life” is a plea for a change in fate, sort of like a peppier version of “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths. This theme returns later in the album on the track “Everything Is Awful,” which repeats the title many times, interspersed with some quips to the same effect. It’s as if Colin Meloy decided to do a Chandler Bing impression to kick off the last third of his record. Luckily for the listener, the background vocalists, and probably Meloy himself, have tongues firmly planted in cheeks, as much making fun of doom-and-gloom prophecies as acknowledging how real they feel when you’re the one saying them. “We All Die Young” picks up with the cheery nihilism, where a German philosopher shows up at the narrator’s sickbed with the title of the track as a piece of wisdom. It sounds patently false at first blush, but the chorus of children’s voices repeating this chant in the background (and maybe the random sax solos?) serve to underscore that no matter how long we’re given, it never feels like enough time in the end. Still, The Decemberists seem to have decided that even a brief, grim life is still kind of a party. In between the first group of poppy killing songs and the second group of peppy dying songs, there are some shorter tracks: “Starwatcher,” a story about a nebulous protector figure in a vaguely threatening world; “Tripping Along,” a slightly gross and sinister love song that sounded more like past outputs, especially from Picaresque, which is composed mainly of gross, sinister love songs; and “Your Ghost,” their take on the familiar trope of the lover “haunting” their beloved, which again makes excellent use of backing vocals and 8-bit style synth. “Your Ghost” has a galloping drum part which both adds to the spookiness and keeps the song moving, and of the three, it’s definitely my B-SIDE • 2018

favorite. Finally, the album closes with two sortof love songs. The first of these is “Rusalka, Rusalka/Wild Rushes,” a long, dramatic, and expansive song about falling in love with a woman named Rusalka who lures the narrator to a watery grave. Like “Tripping Along,” “Rusalka, Rusalka” shares its Romanticism and mandolin part with the old Decemberists, but even as the track is folk-rock about a guy who gets killed by a river nymph, it still shares a new sense of optimism with the rest of the album. Death with Rusalka, perhaps, isn’t so bad. The album closes with its title track, “I’ll Be Your Girl,” and like the opening track it sounds a lot like the work of The King Is Dead. Unlike “Tripping” and “Rusalka,” there is nothing sinister about “I’ll Be Your Girl”; on the contrary, it’s unapologetically cute: “I could be your man, but I’d be that much more/ so if you’re feeling like less your time due/like someone bereft and lied to/and you never need a guy to guide you/I’ll be your girl.” Meloy offers to bring joy and comfort to his lover, not with the expectation and assertion of a boyfriend, but the unwavering support of a girlfriend. Of course, this traffics in gender stereotypes, but it offers a flexibility to them; Meloy, who identifies as male, is offering himself up as a girlfriend, not snidely, but with the utmost respect. This record is in many ways a huge overhaul of The Decemberists’ sound, with a much lighter, fresher sound than they’ve ever put out, particularly early in the album. But more than that, it seems that the band’s outlook on life has changed: the world is still strange and creepy, full of dark forces, but it’s also a lot of fun. Their sound is still old-fashioned, but compared to their previous work it feels as though the band has been blasted forward in time. This is extremely refreshing, and listening to this album reminded me how I felt about The Decemberists years ago when they were new to me. But this comes from someone who counts Picaresque, perhaps their most pretentious and inaccessible record, as an all-time top 10, so take this with several grains of salt. •

#trending The B-SIDE staff pick our favorite current hits: songs that have come out recently and, for one reason or another, grabbed our attention. Janelle Monae & Grimes

Pynk ‘Til It’s Over Anderson .Paak No Drama Tinashe & Offset I Like It Cardi B, Bad Bunny, & J Balvin Tar Tongue Vunabar Flipside Ripe One That Suits Me Hop Along Never Say Die CHVRCHES Lifer Wye Oak Still In Love Thirdstory Dark Spring Beach House

Secret Gems We pull back the curtain and reveal some of the best hidden secrets in the world of music. You may not have heard many of these songs before, but you’ll wish you had.

Party Anthems of ‘17-18 The B-SIDE staff list off some of the best party soundtrack songs of the past school year, whether it be a new smash or a crowd-pleasing throwback. Throw these on at your post-reading period bash and we guarantee you’ll fill the dancefloor.

Slide Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean, & Migos Havana Camila Cabello Bodak Yellow Cardi B Touch the Sky Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco Spice Girl Amine Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond Dirty Little Secret The All-American Rejects Rihanna, Wild Thoughts DJ Khaled, & Bryson Tiller Caroline Amine HUMBLE. Kendrick Lamar God’s Plan Drake Stay Zedd & Alessia Cara Survivor Destiny's Child goosebumps Travis Scott pick up the phone Young Thug & Travis Scott GLOWED UP KAYTRANADA & Anderson .Paak My Neck, My Back (Lick It) Khia

Balloon Muncie Girls Letter to Memphis Pixies Spent Missing froyo ma & Charlotte Day Wilson I Am Not Willing Moby Grape I Love Creedence Casiotone for the Painfully Alone The Reason I Jump Kidsmoke giver The Suffers As Long As We're Together The Lemon Twigs Won't You Come Over Devendra Banhart Plants Crumb Dope Calypso Violent Soho Offcell Pinback 18

Playlists

Venues of PVD

Text & illustration by Auriane Benabou

Columbus Theater Dusk

301 Harris Ave Featuring everything from pop, punk, hip hop, folk,and metal shows this cool, little dimly lit bar often throws public birthday and theme parties making for an intimate performance.

the MET

1005 Main St, Pawtucket, RI One of the bigger venues, this space hosts relatively well known and local artists who play rock, funk, pop, and everything in between. It may be a bit of a ways from campus but the bowling alley next door may make the trip worth it.

Fete Music Hall

270 Broadway Housed in a beautiful, historic venue this a larger space that features more well known artist from all genres. The tickets are a little pricier but shows for local artists are affordable.

Alchemy

71 Richmond Street, 2nd Floor A sweet little venue that usually serves up pure sweaty metal, punk rock, and hardcore tunes along with some theme events. A great way to dive into PVD’s metal scene and spend the night moshing.

Machines with Magnets

400 Main St, Pawtucket, RI Serving also a gallery space, most of the shows here feature experimental and instrumental music in a small comfy setting.

103 Dike St This strange little venue features two stages and always has an interesting line-up from touring metal groups to cover bands. The audience that shows up ranges from young students to old faithfuls.

The Strand Ballroom & Theatre

AS220

The Parlour

115 Empire St A staple of the PVD music scene in supporting local and touring artists, this artistic venue always has a great lineup in their beautiful space.

B-SIDE • 2018

79 Washington St The Strand is the best place to catch bigger name artists touring in PVD! See your favorite performer without leaving the state. I

1119 N Main St Not only does RIPTA drop you off right in front of this place but it consistently has events showcasing PVD’s favorite local bands in a small and intimate space.

“And yeah, the refrain is ‘I’m allied to the winter, so don’t you get clever/I’m allied to the landslide, gonna leave you all severed,’ which means nothing despite sounding scary, but so help me it slaps.”

spring 2018 print

—review of The Decemberists' I'll Be Your Girl, by Caroline Moses

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