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Monday, April 22, 2019

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NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP

SEPTEMBER by Earth, Wind & Fire

by Rick Astley

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Monday, April 22, 2019

Festival lineups show gender disparity BY ELANI KAUFMAN STAFF WRITER

With the release of lineups, music festival season has come around yet again. It seems as though it creeps up earlier and earlier every year, slowly becoming a year-round occurrence. However, no matter how early our music industry overlords decide to begin marketing, one perennial problem remains: Festival lineups are continually unequal. Women make up 50% of our population, and while they may not have hit 50% in the music industry, they do make up a significant portion. So why aren't they represented in lineups? Year after year, women bring home awards and bragging rights for creating some of the best and most innovative new music, but out of eight headliners, Lollapalooza only has one woman compared with seven male-dominated outfits. Looking past the headliners, Lolla’s lineup has an equally low rate of female artists. Out of around 170 artists, roughly 42 of the acts are either female, female-fronted or have at least one woman in the group. (I say roughly because some people don’t like to include the children’s performers in the final headcount.) That’s about 25% (remember, the world population is about 50-50). If you narrow that further to look at women of color, the number decreases substantially. Lollapalooza isn’t the only one guilty of this discrepancy. Coachella in Indio, California, everybody's favorite fest to make fun of and secretly want to attend, has 60 female to female-membered artists out of 166 total. That’s about 36%, marginally better than Lolla but still not close to true population representation. Bonnaroo has 45 out of about 177, back down to around 25%. Governors Ball in New York has 25 out of 67, at a 37% rate of representation on par with the Californians. Pitchfork, one of the only fests with a solid 50-50 mark, has 21 out of its 42 artists with at least one female in the billing. They’ve been fairly upfront about owning up to gender imbalance, conducting their own research on gender discrepancies in lineups. In a report Pitchfork published last May, 23 major festivals had an

average of about 25% of women on their lineups. Yet this is not just limited to festival lineups. Representation is an industry-wide problem. In January of last year, the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a study of gender and race/ethnicity representation in the pop genre, and the results were dismal, to say the least. From 2012-2017, female artists accounted for 22.4% of the artists, 12.3% of all songwriting credits on the Billboard Hot 100 and only 2% of credited producers. The same group released a new study a few weeks ago presenting similar results but in the country genre. From 2014-2018, only 16% of the Year-End Billboard Hot country songs were performed by female artists, and only 12% of songs on the country charts were written by women. Even more striking, the average age of top performing male solo artists was 42, and the average age for women in the same caliber was 29. Just like in Hollywood, there is an ageist attitude about women in the music industry. India Rock Wunderkind’s Mitski recently tweeted about this discrepancy. “So much about ‘women in indie’ but who are the men in indie?” she wrote in the tweet. “Like actually who are they? I don’t know any personally. They seem to just be paid more than us in obscurity.” It’s true, to an extent. There has been so much coverage of the talented women in the indie genre, and yet they are overshadowed in pay and credit by their male counterparts. Spotify, one of the largest commercial streaming services available, may be contributing to this issue. In a report published last June in The Baffler, a reporter created a new Spotify account to eliminate algorithmic bias and see if there is inherent sexism in Spotify’s system, and the results were unsurprising. Spotify’s most popular playlists were male-dominated. Songs by female artists never hit more than 24% of the total playlist across several top promoted playlists. It’s not that Spotify is actively trying to sabotage female artists, but they clearly aren’t actively promoting equality either. By preemptively avoid-

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ALAYNA NULTY THE DAILY ILLINI

ing accusations of bias through creating separate women-of-X-genre, they continue to marginalize women. This furthers the sense of separation between the sexes and continues the trend of turning women into their own genre. Rock is a genre and “Women of Rock” is not. We are doing ourselves a disservice by not listening to women and nonbinary people, people of color, queer people and anyone else whose voice is not predominant in our culture. Music is a form of storytelling, and by ignoring or not seeking out these stories, we lose so much. We lose the opportunity to learn and to widen our understandings through experiences outside of our personal boundaries. We lose the opportu-

nity to find emotional resonance in the voices that aren’t projected above the crowd. On the most simple level, we lose the opportunity to find new music to love. Be aware of what you are consuming, and understand a lineup or a playlist isn’t the full picture of the industry. Seek music outside of what is readily accessible. It’s unfortunate our current music infrastructure makes it harder to do so, but hopefully in time, with enough people trying, maybe we can reform the system, and female artists can finally get the credit that is long overdue. ekaufmn2@readbuzz.com

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Monday, April 22, 2019

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Student artist thrives in CU music community BY KATIE POWERS BUZZ EDITOR

Anka Radley, an Engineering student at the University behind solo singer-songwriter act Clockwork Owl, began learning to play guitar when she was 14 years old. She took up singing after she decided to take her talents to the stage and pursue live performance. Now she’s taking over the Champaign-Urbana DIY scene one gig at a time. Recently, Radley has been able to dedicate more time to music, and Clockwork Owl has been playing frequently at venues in Champaign-Urbana, accompanied by her guitar and her captivating singing voice. “Over the last couple of years, I tried to be involved in the music scene, but balancing it with the school was kind of a big thing,” she said.

“All of my songs are anecdotal, and they’re personal even when it’s not super obvious. It’s kind of like exposing a raw nerve, but in a good way” ANKA RADLEY CLOCKWORK OWL

dotal, and I’m trying to stray from that a little. I’m trying to write from a different perspective than just my memories at the moment.” Recently, she was able to create a recording of her song “Circles,” which is now available to stream on Bandcamp. At her live shows, she relies on only her voice and her guitar, although she plans to expand her sound in the future. ”It’s a very comfortable place for me,” she said. ”But it’s nerve-wracking because all of my songs are anecdotal, and they’re personal even when it’s not super obvious. It’s kind of like exposing a raw nerve, but in a good way.” Radley acknowledges much of her success and comfort on stage has come from the way she has been fully embraced by the local music scene. “I could never have imaged that any place like this existed before coming to ChampaignUrbana,” she said. “It’s a magical thing. There is so much interconnected love and support within the community.” She also acknowledges the inclusivity of the DIY scene and the way it holds no barriers to entry for people interested in performing and consuming music. “It’s tight-knit but also spacious. I don’t have words for it. It’s incredible,” she said. She cites an appearance last year at the Champaign DIY house venue Audible Meats as one of her favorite performances. The show provided her an opportunity to play on the same bill as Rick Sniegowski of Electric Lime Forest, who introduced her to the music scene. “At the time, a bunch of my really good friends were living there,” she said. “I played on the same bill as the person who introduced me to the C-U music scene. The whole bill was people I loved so much.” Sniegowski noted the extent of Radley’s contributions to C-U DIY. “Anka’s been a staple in the C-U scene since the dawn of audible meats,” he said. “Whether it be performing, supporting or helping run shows, I think I speak for many when I say her impact has been tangible.” When Radley isn’t performing or working on her own music, she can be found giving her time to Girls Rock CU, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching music to young girls and building their self-esteem in a positive environment. She recently led an introductory guitar workshop to a small group of local girls. “Girls Rock gives them a space to explore and ask questions,” she said. “I really would have loved that as a kid, so doing that for the next generation of kids is really amazing.” Clockwork Owl has four gigs lined up for the end of April. Over the next few years, Radley hopes to continue playing music wherever she can, even if it isn’t as her career.

Radley took on the name Clockwork Owl after considering a list of words she liked. Her interest in the mechanics of clockwork inspired the name in part, but it also relates to her connection to music. “(What) music is to me is that it kind of breaks up the dullness of day to day life,” she said. “So it means what music means to me.” When it comes to crafting her sound, Radley finds a melody and lyrics usually come first. An instrumental part is then crafted around that. Radley points to The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who she discovered through her brother, as one of the bands that sparked her interest in playing music and continues to influence her sound. “They’ve been my favorite band since I was 10,” she said. She also cites Phoebe Bridgers, Tallest Man on Earth and Elliot Smitt as artists who inspire her creativity, and that’s only a small sampling of her musical interests. Although her list of influences runs deep and crosses a wide range of genres, Radley considers the work of Clockwork Owl to be best defined as a folk-rock act. Lyrically, she feels all of her music explores a wide variety of themes, but they are all personal. “Everything has been pretty different so far,” she said. “Everything’s been very anec- kmp2@readbuzz.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANKA RADLEY

Clockwork Owl poses for a photo in Glasgow. She has contributed significantly to the ChampaignUrbana music community and feels it is a very tight-knit and fun scene.

The Daily Illini

Monday, April 22, 2019

Internet waves rise through meme culture If you love the internet and love to watch memes on YouTube, chances are you’ve stumbled on music genres that end in “-wave.” Though music streaming sites have only developed within the 21st century, “-wave” music isn’t really that new. Some of these genres have been around for decades now. Without further ado, let’s explore these internet sensations and break down the different “waves” of music. Some of them may surprise you.

bination of dream pop artists (like Cuco, Clairo and Gus Dapperton), lo-fi study beats and ‘80s tunes. It’s supposed to evoke feelings of relaxation and happiness by not polluting songs with heavy use of instruments and sound. That’s why a majority of Dreamwave songs feature a repeated piano phrase with a soft drum beat in the background as accompaniment. A dreamwave video on YouTube is distinct, as most of the cover art for these songs feature pixelated pictures you’d find in vintage video games like images of highrises, bedrooms and sunsets.

Vaporwave

Chillwave

BY JILLIAN LITTLE

ASSISTANT BUZZ EDITOR

Vaporwave is probably the most well-known “-wave” genre on this list because it’s referenced the most in memes. This pretentious genre name has a pretentious message backing it up. The point of vaporwave is to criticize materialism by recycling corporate lounge music, smooth jazz and popular soundtracks of the ‘70s and ‘80s to make new, repetitive songs. A popular song people turn to when describing vaporwave is “ リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー” by Macintosh Plus (“It’s Your Move” by Diana Ross looped and slowed down). If you ever want to feel like you’re in an abandoned mall in the middle of the night with a whole bunch of neon lights, vaporwave will do that for you.

Dreamwave

en seriously until multiple internet artists started adding their own renditions to the genre in the mid-2010s. The concept of Simpsonwave is to include footage from the early seasons of The Simpsons, make those scenes look like purple VHS distortions to fit the aesthetic and add vaporwave tracks in the background. The point of Simpsonwave is to create a sense of nostalgia for millennials. Though at first it was meant as a meme, the music is ironically good, and there are plenty of Simpsonwave playlists for your enjoy-

Like vaporwave, chillwave is a subgenre that emerged out of the early 2010s. The definition and goals of chillwave are very loose and will change depending on who you ask. Some will say it strives to sound like electropop from the 1980s and, in the process, makes you feel like escaping to the beach. A great song example of this is “Beachwalk” by Whitewoods. If you were to ask another person, they would say chillwave is meant to be ambient. Because of this, most chillwave music doesn’t have any lyrics, which makes it the perfect music to play when you’re trying to fall asleep. “Resonance” by HOME is a perfect example of a track that backs this theory up.

Darkwave/Doomwave

Darkwave has been around since the late ‘70s during the post-punk era. From then, it’s evolved into electronic goth music. Compared to other “-wave” music, darkwave is the most unique, as it blends elements of horror and fear. With each song, you’ve got a powerful synth, chords in a minor key, incorporation of lines from famous horror movies and, on occasion, an ominous choir of children to let you know darkwave is supposed to be spooky. More than anything, it sounds like what you’d expect from a bad trip at an EDM concert.

Trumpwave/Fashwave

Out of all the “-waves,” this is the most ridiculous. This relatively new form of vaporwave has typical vaporwave elements like retro ‘80s music and synth. What makes Trumpwave ridiculous is that it includes snippets of speeches from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which are fused with popular memes featured on 4chan, Reddit and Youtube. Unironically, Trumpwave is very big with the alt-right movement, conservatives and people who love political memes. I didn’t even know this existed until a couple of weeks ago, which proves that sometimes the internet can be a mysterious and peculiar place.

Simpsonwave

At first, people thought Simpsonwave was a This subgenre of synthwave sounds like a com- joke satirically mocking vaporwave. It wasn’t tak-

ment on YouTube.

ALAYNA NULTY THE DAILY ILLINI

jel3@readbuzz.com

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Monday, April 22, 2019

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Movies need to match musicians to audience BY LIAM DWYER AND BILL TAYLOR STAFF WRITERS

Making a movie about an artist is a daunting process. Music has such an impact on so many people, and the artists themselves stand tall as giants when they're onstage producing music. Filmmakers have the difficult task of bringing artists down to an audience's eye level. They also have to incorporate the artist's music into the film, complicated by the fact that audience members often associate this music with so many emotions and memories. These films present artists in new lights and tell their stories in unique ways.

“Velvet Goldmine”

Recently, there have been ideas to make a David Bowie biopic, but even if biopics weren’t a cinematic scourge, it’s doubtful anybody could do better than Todd Haynes did with “Velvet Goldmine.” It’s not technically the Bowie story, because Bowie refused to license his music for it so Haynes changed all the names, but it gets to the heart of Bowie like no straightforward biopic could. The Bowie character in “Goldmine,” glamrocker Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), is played as an unknowable enigma, so Haynes instead focuses mainly on the people who loved him; his first wife (Toni Collette), his Iggy Popesque mentor (Ewan McGregor), and most of all a young fan-turned-reporter (Christian Bale). “Goldmine” borrows liberally from the structure of “Citizen Kane,” but unlike “Kane,” Haynes is much more interested in the reporter than his story. Through Bale, he creates a story of how music affects those who listen to it and specifically how early Bowie gave queer kids an inspirational figure in pop culture.

“Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”

When “Bohemian Rhapsody” came out, practically every critic who reviewed it brought up one film as a comparison: “Walk Hard.” This is not a compliment, as “Walk Hard” is a spoof of the musician biopic so merciless it should’ve killed the genre off entirely. But more “Bohemian Rhapsody”’s keep coming out, so “Walk Hard” will never lose its relevance. John C. Reilly stars as Dewey Cox, a Johnny Cash-type figure who lives through all the hackiest cliches of rockstar biopics. He has childhood trauma that defines him as an adult — he killed his brother with a machete — consumes every drug under the sun and is the subject of several portentous monologues about his future. It’s hard to watch “Walk the Line” or “Ray” with a straight face after seeing all their parts so brutally repurposed for this. Even with a terrific script, “Walk Hard” would be nothing without good music, and

CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI

the songs in it are terrific, with inspirations ranging from country, ‘50s-style rock ‘n roll, Bob Dylan protest folk and Brian Wilson at his most experimental. John C. Reilly, despite the ridiculousness around him, is more than a credible musician, making great music in between scoring huge laughs.

“Amazing Grace”

This film is a documentary experience that somehow embodies Aretha Franklin without a single interview or second of footage from outside the small recording concert she sang back in 1972. Considered a lost film as it never saw release before this year due to technical issues with the filming, it centers around Aretha’s recording sessions at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The film itself is simple and goes through the concert in a mostly real-time linear fashion, cutting once between the recording itself and

a rehearsal, and this really immerses the audience in the experience. It also allows the audience to see the passion and strength Franklin put into her work and helps gives us a sense of how much the music meant to her. The only bit of backstory about her in the film is a small talk her father, C. L. Franklin, gave in the middle of the concert about her childhood, and yet through that small moment we really get a nice look into her past and how she got here. While it might not be a step-by-step recap of her life and struggles, for what we see, Amazing Grace stands tall as a movie that shows us the soul of a musician.

his life, his music and his struggles all the way to his untimely death. The music is used quite sparingly throughout, giving the audience a restless feeling as they wait to hear the opening chords to “Killer Queen” or “Another One Bites the Dust,” all the while preparing for the big finale. All of the tension is broken at the end when the band reunites and play at Live-Aid in a spectacular fashion that brings all the previous drama and strife to a close and lets the music and performance entrance the audience, just as it did all those years ago at the real concert. The film brings the larger-than-life character of Freddie Mercury down to our level by showing the doubt and insecurity that haunted the artist throughout his life. Is it perfect? No, but pacing, editing and controversy aside, if you Marred by controversy before and after want a glimpse into the life of a legend, this release, it seems people tend to love or hate movie offers something interesting. this film. Taken simply as a movie about the life of Freddie Mercury even with the editorial- liamd2@readbuzz.com ized portions, it does a decent job showing us wt2@readbuzz.com

“Bohemian Rhapsody”

The Daily Illini

Monday, April 22, 2019

Rock artists defy genre with electronic releases BY BILL TAYLOR STAFF WRITER

Bands and artists have often experienced the visceral negativity that results from “selling out” and changing their sound, especially when they dare to go “pop,” trading in guitars for synths. But far from empty pop albums, these are frequently the most depressing albums the artists have ever released, outfitting sad songs in glowsticks.

Bruce Springsteen: “Tunnel of Love”

When Bruce Springsteen first added synths to his repertoire, the result was his greatest commercial and critical success, “Born in the U.S.A.” But that album operated much the same as the heartland rock he released in the ‘70s, just with an ‘80s gloss. Its follow-up, “Tunnel of Love,” goes even further, stripping away the anthemic qualities and leaving just Springsteen, his guitar and a synth. Despite the ‘80s production, “Tunnel of Love” is most similar to Springsteen’s legendarily bleak acoustic album “Nebraska.” Springsteen mostly performs solo, sans the E Street Band, and the songs are all synth ballads about the dissolution of relationships. Springsteen divorced his wife the year after this album, and every song sounds like it’s written by somebody who’s long fallen out of love.

U2: “Pop”

U2 had made two albums with dance music influences in the ‘90s before “Pop”, but its release proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many fans. For the most part, the band brought the bad press on themselves with their ridiculous marketing tactics, dressing up as the Village People and playing at a K-Mart. But despite its silly presentation, the album itself is no joke and is maybe the single darkest thing U2 has ever released. It’s not only a pop album in its electronic production. It’s also an album about pop music with the grim thesis that we use pop as a substitute for meaning, our loved ones and God. Lead single “Discotheque” is the catchiest song ever written about gnawing spiritual emptiness, and from there Bono uses club beats to tackle his dead mother, the IRA, and his own self-destructive tendencies. By the last track, Bono is wailing over tape distortion for Jesus to help him, and the idea of this being a fun dance album is long gone.

R.E.M.: “Up”

CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI

missing and not much replacing it. The electronic sounds of “Up” are not particularly sophisticated. The most synth-heavy songs are built around buzzing, repetitive riffs that belong more to the ‘70s Brian Eno than modern pop, and the chintzy drum machines constantly call attention to the missing band member. However, over this spare backdrop, Michael Stipe puts some of his best lyrics, creating little short stories about people just as exhausted with life as he was at the time.

Sufjan Stevens: “The Age of Adz”

“Up” doesn’t sound much like a R.E.M. album because R.E.M. wasn’t in the mood to sound like R.E.M. when they recorded it. Drummer and founding member Bill Berry had left the band Sufjan Stevens broke out with “Michigan” and the year before, and with such a crucial part “Illinois,” two orchestral-folk tributes to the Midof the band missing they decided to release an west with songs that range from tragic to joyalbum with everything people love about R.E.M. ous. Stevens waited five years for his official

“Illinois” follow-up and took the biggest left-turn imaginable, putting away the banjo in favor of a glitch-pop album. His delicate falsetto is even auto-tuned at one point, seeming to dare his fans into getting angry. Stevens was gravely ill during the making of “Adz” and the album sounds like the inner workings of a feverish mind. Synths and beats sit uneasily next to strings and horns, the lyrics are a jumble of biblical references and break-up anthems and songs abruptly shift course in the middle. It’s a disorienting, uncomfortable experience, but it builds to the pure joy of “Impossible Soul,” a 25-minute, five-part suite encouraging Stevens to enjoy life.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: “Skeleton Tree”

Nick Cave is beloved both as an earnest balladeer and as a gothic rocker, playing up his boisterous ringleader persona whether he’s singing tales of murder or sincere love songs. But that all changed with the release of “Skeleton Tree,” which was largely recorded in the wake of Cave’s son's death after falling from a cliff. Even compared to these other albums, “Skeleton Tree” is astonishingly bleak. Previous melancholy Cave albums like “The Boatman’s Call” at least have the warm sound of his piano to fall back on; this album is mostly sung over electronic distortion and stuttering beats, portraying Cave’s grief in the chilliest, least human-sounding way possible. Even his vocals, normally so energetic, are completely shot, with a few songs sounding like he’s crying on the mic. wt2@dailyillini.com

The Daily Illini

Monday, April 22, 2019

New music festival to debut at Parkland College BY BEN TSCHETTER STAFF WRITER

Recently, buzz had the chance to chat with Drake Maxson of Perimeter Road Sound Recordings about the record label’s upcoming music festival. May 4 marks the first annual Perimeter Road Music Festival at Parkland College in Champaign. Maxson, the artist booking lead, spoke about how the festival came to be and what his expectations are of its first iteration. buzz: With booking the artists for the festival, what is the process like, and how have you guys selected which artists will perform? DM: The process has been really smooth recently. That’s because I or someone else at the festival has had a connection, personally, to the artists, so we can just reach out to them and say “Hey, do you want to play this show?” So artists are basically down to play any show that you offer them. All of the acts this year are local acts, but our headliner, Elsinore, has been recognized in many places outside of Champaign. We also have many bands who go up to Chicago a lot and bands that have played all around the Midwest, so it’s a good mix of different artists. buzz: In the future, do you plan to keep the acts local, or do you want to expand to get more nationally known bands? DM: In the future, we’d love to expand, obviously, and add more artists to the festival. Our main goal is to get Parkland and the record label

more involved with the local community because we saw that there was kind of a disconnect there. Our goal is to bring well-known artists from the area to the festival to bring an audience and to give some artists that haven’t been heard a better chance to be heard. We would love to get a national headlining act, though, so we will see for the future. buzz: How did the idea for the festival come to be, and what’s the background story? DM: Well, a few semesters ago we were thinking about what we wanted to do for the future. The label in the past has put together compilation albums of different artists, recorded music for bands and put their music out, but we wanted to try something different — something along the lines of what record labels actually do these days. So we thought doing a music festival would be a great combination of what we’ve done in the past and what we want to do in the future. buzz: Who was the one in charge of brainstorming for the festival? DM: The way the record label runs is that two main faculty members oversee the record label’s operations, but other than that, it’s entirely student-run by myself, my friend Matt Wheeler and a bunch of other friends who make everything run smoothly. So we all kind of gathered around one day and had a meeting about what we wanted to do this semester. We all took a vote and decided we wanted to do a music festival.

BEN TSCHETTER THE DAILY ILLINI

Parkland College will hold the Perimeter Road Music Festival featuring local acts on May 4.

buzz: What are your plans for the festival? Are you going to have food vendors and activities or mostly just the stages? What do you estimate the scale of the festival to be? DM: The main attraction is obviously going to be the music, but we will have other stuff there. We’ll have a number of food trucks for people to grab a bite to eat. We’ll have Parkland clubs and organizations out to do different activities, and we’ll have merch set up so bands can sell. We’ll also have things to give away, tons of different things going on. On the same day, there will be a car show on the other side of campus, so if people want to go to that for a little bit and then go to the music festival later on, they can go back and forth. They’re both totally free events, so people

are welcome to explore and see what’s out there. buzz: Do you plan on making the festival an annual thing? DM: Yeah, that’s the plan. I, as well as many of the other label members, don’t have much time left at Parkland, but we’re hoping to get some new people in who are just as passionate about it as we are and will continue to do it year after year. buzz: Any final words? DM: Come to the Perimeter Road Music Festival! It’s on May 4. Music starts at 1 p.m. and will go till about 7 p.m. We’ll have music, food trucks, merch, clubs and a car show, and it’ll be a fun time. brt2@readbuzz.com

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The Daily Illini

Monday, April 22, 2019

Community expects a musical summer BY KAYLA BROWN ASSISTANT BUZZ EDITOR

Spending your summer in Champaign-Urbana can introduce you to an entirely new community. You’ll learn so much about what this place has to offer. Throughout the entire summer, you can see local and national artists nearly every weekend at various bars and venues around Champaign-Urbana. This list is comprised of popular artists and well-known festivals coming through the area that you really won’t want to miss while you’re here. kaylarb2@readbuzz.com

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 3-7

FRIDAY, MAY 17 Nelly  7:30 p.m.  Champaign County Fairgrounds, 1302 N. Coler Ave., Urbana  $28-$45

AudioFeed Festival  8 a.m.  Champaign County Fairgrounds, 1302 N. Coler Ave., Urbana  $70, under 11 free

Nelly will be kicking off summer in C-U. The rapper, singer and songwriter is most known for hits like “Hot in Herre,” “Dilemma” and “Ride wit Me.” He will be joined by rappers Twista and Futuristic. Seeing this trio of talented rappers is priceless.

SATURDAY, MAY 18 Jerrod Niemann  8:30 p.m.  The City Center, 505 S. Chestnut St., Champaign  $17-$27, 19+ Jerrod Niemann is a nationally known country singer with hits such as “Old Glory” and “God Made a Woman.” The soothing and fun sound of country music is a sure way to get into the summer mood.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, MAY 24-26 Summer Camp  Noon  Three Sisters Park, Chillicothe, Illinois  Three-day passes, $239.50 For those who are interested in getting involved in the fun of the festival season, Summer Camp Music Festival is one of the biggest summer events in the Midwest, hosting over 180 bands. The bands and artists are primarily EDM. This summer, some big names include Zeds Dead, STS9 and Big Gigantic. Three-day passes are on

AudioFeed is a music, arts and community festival. They’ve been around C-U for nearly six years now. It is a drug and alcohol-free environment. The 2019 lineup had not been released yet but past lineups are available online to get an idea of what to expect. BEN TSCHETTER THE DAILY ILLINI

Fans watch a set at Summer Camp Music Festival 2018. This year’s festival will take place May 24-26. sale. One-day passes are coming soon, and a variety of VIP upgrades are available.

FRIDAY, MAY 24 The Maine  7 p.m.  The Castle Theatre, 209 E. Washington St., Bloomington, Illinois  $44 Arizona band, The Maine, will be touring this summer in support of their new album, “You Are Ok.” While Bloomington is a bit of a drive away, this band is worth it. Their performances are always stellar, and they will also be joined by Grayscale, an up-and-coming pop punk band.

SATURDAY, JUNE 22 Art Garfunkel  8 p.m.  Virginia Theatre, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign  $49.50-$125

FRIDAY, JULY 26

Art Garfunkel, well-known for being half of Simon & Garfunkel, will be joining us in Champaign this summer for his In Close Up Tour. You can expect Dustin Lynch a mix of solo songs and Simon & Garfunkel hits. This Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is sure to put on  6 p.m. an exciting and unforgettable show.  Champaign County Fairgrounds, 1302 N. Coler Ave., Urbana  $35-$60

SUNDAY, JUNE 23 Foreigner  7:30 p.m.  1800 S. First St., Champaign  $80 This English-American rock band formed in New York City in the ’70s and has been gifting us with killer music and shows ever since. The Hits of Foreigner Tour will highlight their hottest songs and bring back all the nostalgia.

Dustin Lynch will be headlining the Champaign County Fair this summer with Dylan Scott. He is a country artist with hits like “Good Girl” and “Ridin’ Roads.” Box seating is also available for the event.

FRIDAY, AUG. 2 The Menzingers  6:30 p.m.  The Castle Theater, 209 E. Washington St., Bloomington, Illinois  $30 The Menzingers are an American punk rock band and they might just be one of the best. Their show in Bloomington includes The Sidekicks and Queen of Jeans in the lineup.

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CU’s DIY scene grows BY NILLY KUMAR STAFF WRITER

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Monday, April 22, 2019

When I went to my first DIY show in Champaign-Urbana, I was instantly drawn in by the intimacy of it all. Standing at the front of the crowd, the band felt close enough to reach out to the audience. The music was loud and when a song would end, it was like the audience was rising up from the water, and everything and everyone around was soaked in comfortable silence. At most sets, the lead singer usually tells a joke or two or talks about the songs they are about to perform as the band catches their breath and tunes their instruments. Band members might banter between themselves or with a member of the audience. No one is made to feel excluded, and the diversity of the room suggests acceptance, even when it is not directly acknowledged. The DIY scene of Champaign-Urbana is one of the town’s shining gems, but it takes spending some time in the community to realize all it has to offer. For the past few years, Blips and Chitz was a DIY venue located in the basement of Veronica Mullen’s house in Champaign. In 2013, Mullen began working as an intern for Error Records, a record store in the community that has since closed. She regularly attended the shows held there, and in 2016, after having gained experience in hosting DIY events in spaces across the community, she decided to move into a house where she could host her own shows. In 2019, Mullen moved out of the house. Blips and Chitz

hosted its final show on April 3. Mullen insists although she’s moved out of the venue, it’s not dead, and she’s not done booking shows. “The house will be taken over by a new group of people, under a new name,” she said. “I will be starting my journey of booking shows at other venues around C-U.” Outside of her own venue, Mullen believes the entire scene is in good shape. “The DIY scene in C-U has the potential to have a bright future,” she said. “In my experience, and from what I’ve heard, the DIY scene in C-U has ebbed and flowed over the years. I think that’s pretty natural for a college town, as people come and go every few years.” Ted Loewenthal is one of the students who run The Source, a relatively new DIY venue in Urbana. Loewenthal describes The Source as “a creative, open-minded and collaborative space.” The venue has hosted everything from “punk to acoustic folk to battle rap.” Loewenthal, new to the DIY scene in Champaign, became involved almost immediately after moving to the area. He described his interest as coming from “how intimate (DIY shows) were (and) how it felt like a conversation between the band and the audience.” He decided to start The Source in the fall of 2018, almost as soon as he and his friends could sign their lease. SEE DIY | 11

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Mateo Probst performs at The Source on Sept. 17. The Source is a new DIY venue.

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Monday, April 22, 2019

FROM 10

DIY Loewenthal expressed a more optimistic view of the future of DIY in Champaign. “There’s a great mix of C-U locals who have been involved in this scene for decades, and a constant crop of new students who are excited to play music or run their own venue or just come watch,” he said. “It’s a great alternative to the bar and frat culture that seems so prevalent on campus. The other day, I walked to a house show that was three blocks away and ran into a second house show on my way home. Including mine, that’s three venues in three blocks. That’s an excellent sign for the future of the scene.” Even after his short time in the community, he has already seen growth. “The DIY scene definitely seems to have grown. When I came to campus, the shows seemed less frequent and less well-attended,” Loewenthal said. “Now, people are having the problem of too many people showing up, which is kind of a great problem to have.” Although Loewenthal’s views on the scene are largely positive, organizing shows does come with some frustrations. “DIY culture tends to have a degree of drama, and that’s definitely true down here, too,” he said. “Because it’s so informal, it’s

really hard to enforce anything, but there are a lot of great people doing work behind the scenes.” Mullen shared a few familiar feelings about her experience in the scene. “The most frustrating thing about DIY is trying to convey the purpose of the shows to all attendees,” she said. “My personal mission was primarily to host shows for touring artists, which means putting on a show with solid attendance of people who are there to enjoy music, not party, making enough money through donations to pay the touring band, and making sure everything runs smoothly. Doing this all by myself is not always easy, but it is definitely rewarding to be able to help a touring band out while they are on the road.” DIY music typically isn’t done for the money or for any semblance of wide recognition. It takes a lot of patience and trust to open your doors to the community and to host bands in need of recognition. DIY venues often serve as the first place bands go to get their music out and receive criticism for their work. In the age of Spotify and YouTube, in which almost every song available at a listeners fingertips, smaller artists are finding it harder to compete. Not only is listening to music from people who deserve to be heard and sharing a deeply rewarding experience, but it’s also one of the best ways to support the musicians who deserve much

more attention than they get. These might even be the same artists you’d one day get to brag you saw when they were just a small band performing at every house they could. There isn’t anything comparable to the intimacy of listening to small bands in the living room or basement of someone gracious enough to open their doors to create an inclusive space for music. “DIY is for everyone,” Mullen said. “If you’ve ever thought about booking a show

or playing in a band, just do it. It will be worth it, and people will support you.” Loewenthal expressed a similar sentiment. “I wish people knew how easy and fun it is to throw your own show,” he said. “It takes some work, but if you really want to see someone live, all you need is a space, some gear and a bunch of flyers.” nskumar2@readbuzz.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF TED LOEWENTHAL

No Coast Raps performs at The Source on April 12. DIY music has recently grown in C-U.

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