Boston’s House of Blues was the 31st stop on A$AP Ferg’s lengthy Floor Seats Tour in support of his new EP of the same name. I arrived at the venue right as the first act started, so I rushed inside and found a spot in the back, still wearing my winter coat after escaping the coldest night of the season so far. Rapper and singer, Heater IV performed a very brief set, but still managed to tell the audience a lot about himself. Apparently, he once went to Japan to study Buddhism and he’s a very big fan of glitter. While definitely an interesting guy, he’s an average rapper and a terrible singer, so the brevity of his set was welcome.

Next up was MadeinTYO, but we had to wait until after his DJ played a bunch of songs to get the crowd hyped up. One of them was Travis Scott’s “SICKO MODE,” which was played at the show at least three times. His set wasn’t super impressive 

 he’s one of those rappers whose live vocals are always overshadowed by those in the backing track 

 but he brought a lot of energy to the stage and successfully got the crowd ready for the rest of the show. “Uber Everywhere” in particular went off with a bang and was definitely a highlight.

Murda Beatz easily had the most wack set of the night. The only thing that made it more worthwhile than just turning on any mainstream hip-hop radio station was the lack of commercials. He looked like a hip-hop Theon Greyjoy and had an awkward stage presence, but at least his DJing was good from a technique perspective; all the transitions were smooth. The goofiness of his set was brought to a climax at the very end when he closed with “SICKO MODE” followed by Sheck Wes’ “Mo Bamba,” the two most memed rap songs of last year. It ended up being around the same length as MadeinTYO’s set but it felt twice as long.

After a short wait and more songs from the DJ, A$AP Ferg finally burst on to the stage with his green hair and patch-covered jumpsuit. He kicked it off with “Floor Seats,” the title track off his new EP. Its Prodigy sample, distorted chorus, booming beat, and boisterous ad-libs make it the best song on the EP and a very fitting opener. He followed that up with a couple more forgettable songs until it was time for MadeinTYO to make his return. Unlike his opener, Ferg actually raps into the mic and doesn’t just let the backing track do all the work. So when MadeinTYO came back out to perform “WAM,” his collaborative track with Ferg from 

, it was truly bizarre to hear Ferg’s live vocals clear as day together with MadeinTYO’s still buried under the backing track.

A$AP Ferg at ACL Fest 2017, captured by Tim Griffin

After “Jet Lag,” another one of the better songs from his new EP, he brought a girl from the crowd up on stage to dance with him after she crowd surfed to the front while wearing high heels. After that, Ferg brought out his mic stand which was adorned with all the bras he’s collected on the tour so far. Boston was one of the last stops on the tour, so there were a lot of them. It was a little weird, to say the least.

Apparently, the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown was at the show. Ferg tried to bring him on stage, but he refused because his “leg hurt.” Anyhow, Ferg really started to turn up the heat at the end of his set with “Yamborghini High,” “Shabba,” and “New Level.” During the latter, he brought out a kid named Antonio who is apparently really good on a bike. That song was one of the craziest of the night, with the lights going haywire and the smoke jets firing for the first time while Ferg and Antonio jumped across the stage. It was mind-blowing. Naturally, he closed the show with his biggest hit “Plain Jane,” which was also insane. Then, he walked off stage and everybody immediately started clearing out as if an encore was never an option. The show was mostly underwhelming but definitely had some great highlights, so it met the expectations set by Ferg’s new EP.

A$AP Ferg hit some highs and lows at House of Blues

Help WRBB support the American Cancer Society
and Northeastern’s Relay For Life this month.

Join us in remembering and acknowledging some of our favorite artists that have been affected by cancer.

Phil Lesh is not much of a household name. Few people, especially nowadays, might know that the name belongs to the bass player and constant member of the Grateful Dead. Lesh was a founding member of the American cultural staple and was still there when the group disbanded in 1995. There have been 11 official members of the Dead across the band’s three decade career, but only three others besides Phil can say they were there the entire time: lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir, and drummer Bill Kreutzmann. In addition to playing bass guitar on the band’s 12 studio albums, Lesh also wrote and sang lead vocals on two of my favorite Dead songs: “Box of Rain,” the first track on their legendary 1970 album, American Beauty and “Unbroken Chain” from their 1974 album, From the Mars Hotel. The latter is Mac DeMarco’s #1 bath time song and was the source of the first ever licensed Grateful Dead sample featured in Animal Collective’s “What Would I Want? Sky.” The bassist has undeniably deep roots in the culture of alternative music.

Fewer people might know that the musician is also a cancer survivor. Lesh was diagnosed with prostate cancer on October 26, 2006. Phil’s father was plagued with the same disease but unfortunately was not as lucky as his son. Two months after the diagnosis, Phil underwent prostate surgery and the cancer was removed. Then, nine years later, Lesh announced that he was battling bladder cancer in October 2015. Fortunately, it was caught quickly as Phil spent some time at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Tests were run, surgery was performed, and Phil came out alright — he only had to cancel two shows. Today, at the age of 77, Phil is still chugging along. This month he is touring with Bob Weir hitting New York City, Boston, and Chicago. Phil Lesh is a two-time cancer survivor and a gleaming symbol of hope for those who face the disease, so be sure to put some Grateful Dead in your Relay for Life playlist and channel the bassist’s strength as you prepare for the big walk.

As one of Northeastern’s largest philanthropic events, we are helping raise funds and awareness for the American Cancer Society at Northeastern’s Relay for Life on March 22, 2019. Our team of staff, DJs, writers, and music lovers, will be relaying and hosting a live radiothon over the air to remember and acknowledge those who have been affected by cancer. Help us reach our goal for this year and please consider donating. Your donation is hard at work funding cancer research to helping someone with their medical fees—every penny counts and means the world to people affected by cancer.

Phil Lesh’s Fight

Panda Bear’s set felt like one seamless mix. I didn’t expect anything less from the legend.

Inside Paradise Rock Club, the crowd still couldn’t escape the effects of the snowstorm wreaking havoc outside. The show was supposed to start at 8 pm, but Home Blitz, Panda Bear’s opening act, didn’t start playing until 9. I was impressed that they hustled to the venue all the way from New Jersey and managed to give it their all despite getting stuck in the snow.

That night, they were missing a member, making them a 3-piece band comprised of frontman Daniel DiMaggio on vocals and guitar, Jason Sigal on bass and Henry Hynes on drums. During one song, the backing track included an electronic drum beat which was strange given the presence of a live drummer and the fact that the two weren’t always in sync. Later, they played another questionable song where the bassist and drummer stayed silent while DiMaggio sang over a jaunty, almost medieval-sounding piano backing track. It was interesting but ran on way too long. This song, as well as a spoken word passage with no backing instrumentation whatsoever, were quite uncomfortable given the intimacy of the space. The standard garage rock that permeated through most of their set was definitely more enjoyable but not by much. They wrapped up after a mere 20 minutes, but the set felt much longer. I can’t say that Home Blitz was worth the wait. I would’ve much preferred another ambient set from Animal Collective’s electronics wizard, Geologist, who opened for Panda Bear’s stop in Boston last year.

Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) wasted no time getting on stage. As soon as Home Blitz’s equipment was cleared away, he emerged decked out in all Nike and Adidas, rocking a pair of Sol Republics. He started his set with “Crescendo,” a cut off of his new album 

. I remembered hearing him say in an interview that he put a special emphasis on the sub-bass while making 

. Though I couldn’t really tell from listening to the album on my headphones, I immediately understood when I heard the songs through Paradise’s incredible sound system. The bass was intense as much as it was soothing and enveloping, which starkly contrasted with the next song he played. ”Shepard Tone,” from his 

 EP, is filled with pummeling beats and jagged synths, and much like the other songs on that EP, was a much more visceral experience that beckoned you to move. Noah spent most of the set alternating between 

 songs, and despite the projects’ differing sounds, he somehow blended them into one seamless mix. It was impossible to tell when one song ended and one began, so the crowd had no idea when to clap.

In my interview with Noah, he told me that the set was going to consist mostly of 

 songs with potentially a few older ones, and that’s exactly what it was. He played only two older songs, the first of which came halfway through the set. I was shocked and delighted when he started singing “Comfy in Nautica” from his 2007 album, 

. I was not expecting him to go back more than a decade into his older discography. I could tell from the excited chatter and people singing along that the rest of the crowd was just as pumped as I was. The version of “Comfy” he played was completely reimagined, with synth pulses and electronic drums replacing the vocal samples and hand clapping; it fit in with his newer music really well. A little bit later, he played “Part of the Math,” the banger that I was waiting for. This was one of the few songs that I remembered vividly from his show last year and I definitely won’t forget this year’s performance either. The relentless beat and hard-hitting, noisy synths make it a thrilling song to hear live. After one more 

 song each, he thanked the crowd and walked off stage, leaving his synth blaring and visuals flickering.

He started the encore with an unreleased song called “Playing the Long Game.” The instrumental was fascinating with its wavy synths and head-bobbing beat. I could totally imagine a cloud rapper performing over it, and I’m excited to see how it fits into his future releases. Noah closed the night with “Last Night at the Jetty,” one of my all-time favorite Panda Bear songs. It was incredible–easily my favorite song of the night–and one of those moments that will give me goosebumps whenever I think about it. I couldn’t have asked for a better closer and I was ecstatic to finally hear it live since he didn’t play it at his Boston show last year. I was surprised that he didn’t play “Dolphin” or “Token,” the two singles leading up to 

, but I can’t complain since it was such an awesome show. I didn’t expect anything less from the legend.

Panda Bear delights his fans at Paradise Rock Club

WRBB’s Spencer LaChance caught up with Noah Lennox, co-founding member of Animal Collective currently performing under his moniker Panda Bear, about his new album 

Panda Bear is coming to Paradise Rock Club on February 12. Get tickets 

 is venturing into new musical territory from your previous albums. Does that mean we should expect anything different from the live show or is it a similar setup?

It’s a similar setup technically speaking, and I feel like there 

 certain limitations to the way I’ve been doing things the past six or seven years. But at the same time, just the sound of the 

 stuff, to me, is pretty dramatically different than some of the older stuff; it is a bit more dynamic. I usually mix 

stuff, that’s kinda the bulk of the set. I might play a couple of older ones, but usually, that’s the setup. The 

 stuff feels so different in a way that helps make the set feel pretty all over the place in a way that I like.

I’ve never heard of the opener, Home Blitz, could you tell me a little bit about them?

Yeah, I’m not sure if they’ve done a whole bunch in the past couple of years but they are a 4-piece rock band from New Jersey. I’m looking forward to seeing them play for sure.

How is Dean Blunt? Did the carnival [in the 

I think so. Last time I talked to him he said he was doing better. At first, I heard he was sick through somebody else. And then he told me himself that he had had some mentally tough times. But yeah, once I talked to him after the video was over, he seemed better. I’m happy to say that.

How did that collaboration come together? Are you guys friends?

Yeah, a little bit. He lived in Lisbon for about 10 months a couple years ago. We were always trying to hang out, but he was either gone or I was gone, so we would just write to each other every once in a while. I’m just a big fan of his stuff, so I was always looking for something to work on with him. He actually sent me stuff; we were gonna work on some music together a long time ago, but never got around to it. So I’m psyched to finally make something with him.

I’ve been seeing a lot of promo pictures floating around for the new album cycle, and I have a few questions about those. What is the book 

 about and does it relate to the album in any way?

Yeah, my mom actually gave me that book. It’s really about taking an objective position on what’s going on in your mind and your emotions. That’s sort of a very general way of describing the book. I feel like the way I’m talking about human beings on the album seems congruent with a lot of stuff that I read in that book. I thought it was a neat perspective for the album. If someone saw that picture and read the book, it might color their experience of the album in a way that I thought was attractive.

Another picture is of you holding a dog. Is that your dog?

Yeah, that’s my dog, Margo. She’s the best.

Do you have any favorite artist, album, or song of 2018?

Did “Powerglide” come out in 2018? Because if it did, that would probably be my favorite song. Speaking of Swae Lee, I really like that Post Malone and Swae Lee song for the 

I’m trying to get more into dub music, do you have any recommendations? I don’t really know where to start.

 by King Tubby, that’s one of my favorites for sure. And I’d say anything by Augustus Pablo, anything by Lee Perry. Those are good places to start.

That’s all the questions I have, is there anything you’d like to say?

Well, how do you feel about Paradise Rock Club in Boston?

I like it, I actually saw you there in May. It’s pretty small and manageable which is cool, so no matter where you are, you have a good view. I’m excited to head back there.

I feel like a lot of people hate on it. I went to school in Boston for 3 years and I would see shows there or I would go to the Middle East. I always liked seeing shows upstairs at the Middle East rather than downstairs. But yeah, every show we’ve played at Paradise has always been really good and everyone there is super nice. Shout out to Paradise.

Why do people hate on it? Do they give a specific reason?

I don’t know. I feel like every time I play there, people are like, “Oh really? Why are you playing there?” We have good shows there all the time.

I went to BU for 3 years. I lived in Allston on Linden Street and Commonwealth Avenue for a second, like way up Commonwealth Avenue.

Q&A with Panda Bear

NxNU, WRBB’s annual Spring Concert, is this Friday, April 13th! Take a minute to get introduced to Palm, and we’ll see you at the show.

Palm is Eve Alpert, Kasra Kurt, Gerasimos Livitsanos, and Hugo Stanley. Their music is difficult to categorize, but it sits somewhere between experimental rock, math rock, avant-pop, and art rock. Alpert and Kurt’s guitars along with Livitsanos’ bass and Stanley’s drums come together to form bizarre, jagged melodies that support the two guitarists’ vocals. Fans of bands like Tera Melos will appreciate the controlled chaos. The laidback, deadpan vocals create an interesting juxtaposition with the angular instrumentation that together, defines the band’s head-turning sound.

Alpert and Kurt have been friends since high school and in 2011, they met Livitsanos and Stanley and formed Palm at Bard College in upstate New York. Four years later, they released their first EP, 

 on JMC Aggregate. The label called it a “collage of music and sounds” and they weren’t kidding, as it had more wayward sound experiments than structured songs. Very noisy and lo-fi, it’s a bit of a difficult listen, but it established Palm as a boundary-pushing group. Later that same year, they dropped their first album, 

 on Inflated Records and Exploding in Sound, which was much more focused than the EP but still pretty abrasive. Nevertheless, 

 has that signature, jagged Palm sound flowing throughout. The band wrote those two first releases while solidifying their musical identity in Hudson, New York, a somewhat remote river town. After their first album, they moved to Philadelphia and signed to established left-field label, Carpark Records, known for releasing music from notable artists like Beach House, Cloud Nothings, Dan Deacon, and Toro y Moi.

In 2017, Palm started off their Carpark output with the EP, 

 which featured a more inviting sound palette and cleaner production. The instrumentation was as wild as ever, but Aplert and Kurt’s vocals come through crystal clear. Despite its short 17-minute runtime, 

 demonstrated well what Palm has to offer to rock music fans. On their second full-length album, 

, the band really carves out a space for themselves within the underground rock sphere, switching up the sound of the guitars and throwing in bits of sound effects and other quirks throughout. Released in February, the album easily has the most character of any Palm release thus far. I can only imagine how fun it would be to see this material performed live.

Famed music critic and Internet icon Anthony Fantano said Palm was amazing live when he saw them open for Deerhoof. That’s high praise in my book, and I’m very excited to see the band live myself.

Want to learn more about Palm? Check out their 

 and make sure to get to the gig this Friday, April 13th at 7pm in Afterhours. (NU Only)

Meet the NxNU Lineup: Palm

The show started with electronic musician, Matthew Dear, founder of the legendary electronic label, Ghostly International. I’m a big fan of a lot of Ghostly artists, so I was intrigued and excited to see the label founder live, having only listened to one of his songs prior to the show. I wish he had played that one song (“Pawn in Their Game”) because it’s a lot better than any of the songs he played that night. Instrumentally, his set was pretty cool with a lot of interesting synth work over driving beats that were easy to vibe to. However, the vocals were hard to get behind. They were very strange and half of the time, he was just shouting random words and noises. He certainly does not have the pop sensibilities that MGMT does and while watching the crowd during his performance, you could see the disparity. There was a lot of talking and ~time spent looking at phones~ during his set. I really wanted to like his performance, but it ended up being a disappointing start to a disappointing evening.

MGMT started their set with a bang, playing “Little Dark Age,” the lead single from their new album. At least, it should’ve been a bang. I was dancing my ass off to this song the night before, but at the venue, I felt no urge to do so. The music sounded right, but Andrew VanWyngarden’s vocals had nowhere near the character and energy they have on the album. The powerful, haunting vocals are one of my favorite parts of the song, yet they were completely missing from the live version. This feeling of disappointment lingered through “When You Die” and “Time to Pretend” (which is arguably my favorite song of theirs). Before the show, if you told me that they would start with these three songs, I would’ve been ecstatic, but it was not the explosive opening that it should’ve been.

Next, they started playing more low-key cuts which sounded a lot better to me since VanWyngarden’s soft vocals better matched those on the studio recordings. He sang “She Works Out Too Much” while riding a stationary bike as snippets of vintage workout tapes played on the screen behind the band. Then, for “When You’re Small,” the lights dimmed and Andrew and Ben moved to the front of the stage to play smaller versions of their instruments (guitar and piano respectively). This was the only song where Ben took lead vocals and it sounded great. At this point in the show, I had gotten over my initial disappointment and was starting to get into the groove of things.

Visually, the show was amazing. Each song had its own set of stunning visuals displayed on two big screens behind the band along with plenty of lights and smoke dancing across the stage. In addition to Ben and Andrew, there was another guitar/keyboard player, a bassist, and a drummer surrounded by Greek columns and palm leaves. Every member of the band was dressed in a solid-colored garb of some sort. The bassist and keyboardist wore berets and the latter even had a cape too. They really fit the aesthetic of the new album well.

“Electric Feel” was another song that I wish had more punch, but the more chill “James,” “TSLAMP,” and “Congratulations” that followed were very satisfying. “Me and Michael” was a highlight of the evening. It was impeccably performed and featured disco-themed visuals with a disco ball that lit up the entire theater. They closed their set with a disappointing rendition of “Kids.” After the keyboard solo, the song transitioned into a cover of the theme from 

. It was a cool change of pace and wrapped up decently after transitioning back to “Kids.”

For the encore, they played “Hand It Over” which was my other favorite of the night and “Weekend Wars,” the only non-

 deep cut heard that night. Looking at their setlists from other concerts, this seems to be the only song that varies. They’ve closed other shows with “Of Moons, Birds & Monsters” and “The Youth.” Part of me wonders what those would’ve been like, but “Weekend Wars” was definitely solid.

In the end, I came out of the show wanting a lot more. When I found out that I had gotten the press pass the night before, I was over the moon and I think I ended up setting my expectations a little too high. The wild charisma that I love in MGMT’s music just wasn’t there in their live show. Maybe if the venue wasn’t seating only or I was as intoxicated as everyone else there, I would’ve had a better time, but the environment should be secondary to the performance. On the evening of March 16, I left the Orpheum Theatre with a small hole in my heart.

MGMT @ The Orpheum Theatre

There was barely a crowd in The Sinclair when I got there ten minutes before the show was supposed to start. But by the time Gary War took the stage twenty minutes later, a decent amount of people had filed in. His music was a washed out whirlwind under vocals rendered unintelligible by effects, so he was a fitting opener for John Maus. Though a bit of a mess, War’s set got me grooving while I prepared for what was coming next. Maus’ drummer joined him while bass and synths played through the speakers, and although it would have been cool to see a full band join him, his set sounded good nonetheless. “Inna Witness” was a highlight that he played from his new album, 

. Finding myself standing front row next to the speakers, War’s set was also quite loud. I was able to grab earplugs after he was done, and thank God I did.

As soon as John Maus took the stage, he let out a yell heard throughout the venue even though the mic was at his side. I knew that Maus put on a wild show, but I was still shocked seeing it in person. From the start, he was jumping around and howling every lyric. His music is fairly simple, effects-ridden, and slightly haunting synth-pop, but Maus performed it with more passion than the most revolutionary musicians could. After each song finished, he nearly collapsed and had to collect himself squatting next to an amp until he was ready to start the next one.

His set covered a wide range of his discography, most of which I hadn’t listened to. I recognized songs from his latest two albums, 

We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves

. However, I was surprised to hear nearly half of the set come from his earlier work. I enjoyed it all even though there was a lot of the same. What Maus and his band lacked in variety, they made up for in their performances. Of course John took his act to the next level, but his band was great too. They played with the precision of studio musicians and even brought sheet music out onto the stage, the likes of which I had never seen at a show before. The keyboardist in particular, the man with the most important job, had a mountain of sheet music and impeccably laid the foundation for every song they played.

John Maus ended up screaming, writhing, tearing at his shirt, and punching himself in the face through fifteen songs. He ended his set with an electrifying rendition of ‘Pets’ followed by an encore with ‘Believer,’ two of the night’s top performances. The show was quick and to the point; it ended early enough so I could catch my radio show afterwards (Roses & Thornes Mondays at 11pm). Instrumentally, this concert wasn’t anything too special, but John Maus himself made it one of the most unique show experiences I can remember. If you’re a fan of Maus’ music and have never seen him live, start keeping tabs on his tour because his live show puts the music in a whole other context, and it’s incredible.

John Maus @ The Sinclair

featuring Na’kel Smith, Illegal Civilization, and Show Me the Body

October 1st, 2017 @ Middle East Downstairs

Despite the 8pm-sharp start time that was advertised, a mysterious character took the stage and started playing Tyler, the Creator’s ‘Trashwang’ about half an hour late. I didn’t recognize him as a member of Odd Future, and I assumed he wasn’t when he revealed himself as a skater-turned-rapper and started playing his mediocre, original music. After a quick Shazam, I discovered he was Na’kel Smith who, as it turns out, is one of the seven artists featured on ‘Trashwang’. I don’t think I’ll ever go out of my way to listen to his music, but both him and the venue’s DJ provided enough bangers to get the crowd hyped for the main acts.

The first “main act” was a short film shown by skating collective, Illegal Civilization, who sponsored the show. After a series of non-stop bangers, all the sweaty people in the crowd were ready to sit down and experience the story of a young skater romance projected on an inflatable screen. I found it pretty entertaining, especially the cameos from Odd Future icons, Tyler, the Creator and Jasper as well as Aminé. The abrupt ending threw me off a bit, but I was ready for the music to start anyway.

Hardcore band, Show Me the Body, took the stage immediately after the film. They were more well-received than I expected; the kids were happy as long as they could mosh. The crowd was constantly moving, even during the slow songs. I did hear a kid say, “I thought we were going to a rap concert,” right on cue, but most people adapted to the genre switch well. It was rad, and with bare lighting during the performance, the basement we were in seemed even grimier and more DIY. At one point, an Illegal Civ cardboard cutout found itself crowd-surfing across the room and had to be fished out by security. The band was appreciative of the crowd’s energy as they walked off the stage, leaving us with a short break before the act of the night.

Denzel Curry’s first song, ‘Zone 3,’ set the energy level high, and it remained there for the rest of the show. His setlist was relentless, featuring bangers from his first mixtape,

 EP with a few new songs sprinkled here and there. I was pleased to see that Curry isn’t one of those rappers who plays their full songs with vocals through the speakers while giving a half-assed live performance over it. Curry rapped live over his instrumentals with the same ferocity that can be heard on the studio versions of this songs.

Towards the end of the set he took a break from his own music and switched to some Smokepurpp and Lil Pump, still rapping through most of it. During the latter, he threw on his clout goggles and combined them with his dreads that he kept tied up into a foot-long spike; it was quite the spectacle. Afterwards, he orchestrated a huge cyclone mosh pit and dropped Mr. Carmack’s ‘nell’, a remix of a song that Curry himself is featured on. Once that was over, he signed a record from the crowd and gave the owner a hug, showing there’s a different side to Curry than his dark lyrics might suggest. Lastly, he played ‘Equalizer,’ his claim to fame ‘Ultimate’ which was lit beyond belief, one more new song, and that was it. He walked off the stage with no encore and everyone went home to take a shower.

Seeing Denzel Curry live was exactly what I expected: Curry yelling fast lyrics into the mic while the crowd jumps around to booming instrumentals. The variety of opening activities were more unexpected, but everything culminated together into a very fun show.

Denzel Curry @ Middle East Downstairs


February 4th at The Middle East Upstairs

By the time the first act took the stage at Middle East Upstairs, a decent crowd had amassed. Both openers for the night were local Boston bands–first was 

, a punk/psych rock band. Their music stuck to those genres, as there was not much else to it. The songs were simple but they rocked hard, and maybe a bit too hard; one song was even was plagued with some brutal feedback. On the other hand, the frontman was a talented guitar player, and he surprised me with a few amazing solos. Overall, Midriffs’ set was short, loud, and a good way to start off the night. The band’s 2014 album, 

 site, and is definitely worth checking out if the straight ahead approach is for you.

–another psychedelic band whose music was a bit more unique and pointed at further experimentation. Bat House’s songs, like Midriffs’, featured loud and in-your-face vocals, backed by powerful instrumentals. The vocals were less washed out with effects, and the instrumentals less punk-influenced, providing a bit of variety to the line up. What stood out to me was the drumming, as their rhythms were a bit odd as they switched around meters. Despite this, the band followed the drums wherever they went, and the band had quite the symbiosis. They seemed like a seasoned band, and operated like clockwork…right up until the guitarist’s string broke. The lead singer and the other guitarist addressed the audience, casually saying that “this happens every show”. Fortunately, he had an extra guitar, but ended up breaking a string on that too–leading to him ignoring the problem and trudge on with the show. Towards the end, the band (excluding the drummer) sat down on the stage and toyed with their pedals, creating a magnificent symphony of noise and effects to close out the set. Bat House’s newest LP, although currently untitled, will be out April 14th.

Next up was Delicate Steve, led by Steve Marion, a guitar player from New Jersey. His guitar playing is quite unique, as he plays slide guitar like a lead guitar, giving his instrumental music a difference in traditional timbre–his special talents have even landed him a spot on Paul Simon’s latest album, 

. His band had an interesting look; they were all dressed in black except for Steve and his drummer’s bright red shirts. The lights that had remained static during the two opening sets came alive during Steve’s set, complementing the band’s own colorful and seemingly trapezoidal stage presence–amazing both visually and aurally. The band did not have enough instruments to cover every single sound in their songs, so they often played certain parts over the speakers to supplement this. Steve, however, played all of the lead guitar melodies live, being careful to successfully imitate the his recorded sound.

The set started with the first five songs from his newest release, 

, played chronologically. During the set, Midriffs lead guitarist (also frontwoman of Gymshorts) participated in many antics, not limited to spit balls, moshing, and crowd surfing–a bit disruptive, but it helped the atmosphere of the night. In addition to playing newer songs, Steve went back to his first album, 

, and had the crowd jumping during “The Ballad of Speck and Pebble”. He took the energy down a few notches to play “Don’t Get Stuck (Proud Elephants)”, and from there, the energy steadily built up during the next couple songs until the climactic “Butterfly”. A successful mosh pit emerged during this song while Steve shredded on his slide guitar, echoing the sentiments of Midriffs before him. He closed his set with the song, “Africa Talks to You”, from his second album, 

. It did not take long for the band to return with an encore, playing some very high-energy covers that had the whole crowd moving and shouting. It was a very fun show, and I was glad to leave with my very own copy of 

[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=2185416957 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false]

Delicate Steve @ The Middle East

Tuesday night at The Sinclair, Mike Dillon opened the show for the renowned and longstanding Dean Ween. Mike Dillon is a singer and percussionist who had an array of exotic drums around him, but his main instrument of the night was an electric vibraphone. He was joined by a guitarist, a bassist with both electric and upright basses as well as a synth, and a drummer on a traditional set. It was really a sight to see, especially Mike Dillon with his frizzled white hair and half-buttoned shirt. A multicolored blur flew around Dillon, who struck the vibraphone with incredible speed and force. Mike Dillon’s set had elements of hard rock, ska, jazz, and Latin music. Highlights include when Dillon soloed by wiping the inside of a drum into the mike and when Dean Ween’s drummer, Claude Coleman Jr. joined the band for the last few songs. Dillon’s yelling backed by powerful instrumentals left the crowd antsy for more.

After a rather long break, the Dean Ween Group took the stage. The group consists of four members: Dean Ween on guitar, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, Glenn McClelland on keys, and Claude Coleman Jr. on drums, plus Bill Fowler from Sound of Urchin on guitar as well. Dean Ween’s demeanor when he walked on was much more humble than the guitar playing that followed. They started with the song, “Garry” off of The Deaner Album, a powerful instrumental guitar ballad in honor of Funkadelic’s guitarist, Garry Shider. Their Funkadelic tribute continued with the P-Funk-influenced “Mercedes Benz”, also off their latest album. The Dean Ween Group him most of their albums, taking one song from Pure Guava, The Mollusk, White Pepper, Quebec, and La Cucaracha each. The Ween songs that they chose were more aggressive with the only exception being the spacey “Pink Eye (On My Leg)” which featured McClelland’s mesmerizing keyboard playing and Dean Ween’s groaning vocals.

Halfway through the set, Mike Dillon came back to perform the unreleased song, “The Ritz-Carlton”, which Dean Ween said he came up with while hanging out with Dillon. I never got sick of the vibraphone, it added a really nice, jazzy flavor to the group. Dave Dreiwitz stepped up to the mike to sing “It’s Gonna Be A Long Night” followed by the crass “Fingerbangin'” whose only lyric is its title, which was said after the band members all impishly smelt their fingers. These songs were both high energy, and yet there was no mosh pit throughout the show. Perhaps the crowd was too old, many of them I presumed to be Ween fans from the nineties. One of the most electrifying performances was of “Dickie Betts”, the first song from The Deaner Album and a homage to Dickey Betts, guitarist and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. Naturally, the song was extended into an epic jam that would have made Dickey proud. The band ended the night by bringing Mike Dillon back to perform “Pandy Fackler”. During the jam that followed, Dean Ween gave the audience a mere wave and the band walked off the stage, leaving Coleman and Dillon to finish it out. After some wild drumming, the spotlight was put on Dillon for another exhilarating drum-wipe solo that closed the show with a bang, though with no encore unfortunately.

The Dean Ween Group @ The Sinclair

Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo, famous for his work as the guitarist for Ween, was able to chat with us about solo work, his shack, and what music not to play for a Christmas dinner. The Dean Ween Group’s debut album, 

, is out now. Don’t miss the band performing live at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA on Tuesday, January 17th!

The Dean Ween Group’s been around the block already in terms of touring, but now since the album has come out, are you expecting anything different from this upcoming tour?

Yeah, I expect it to be better. I think we’ve kicked ass. There’s been six or seven versions of the Dean Ween Group already. It’s rooted in the guys that made the record though. So, there’s no song that is any better with one guy, we have different kinds of instruments. The last one we did, we went for the Earth, Wind & Fire thing at the World Cafe with David Dye. We had horns, backup singers, Kidd Funkadelic up front. We went for a big band thing, like the E Street Band, or Earth, Wind & Fire, or P-Funk. So all this experience we have behind us, touring like this, really just made the band ultra, ultra confident. We have a huge catalogue of songs, and what’s so cool is, we do a lot of jamming and recording up at my studio which is where I’m at right now. I built a new studio from the ground up and that’s why so much shit is happening. They’re here all the time, and they play all these brand, brand new songs. Then that goes into the setlist. If we like it, it’s stays, if we don’t, it doesn’t, you haven’t even heard this shit. So, to me, playing live is fun. We play our record, but we play all these other songs that people have never heard and they change every night, a cover here and there if we want, it’s so fluid, the whole thing, it could be anything.

Speaking of the band, is there a solid lineup for the Dean Ween Group now?

Well there’s two really solid lineups for the Dean Ween Group. One is just me, basically, with some other guys: Claude Coleman [on drums], Dave Dreiwitz [on bass], Glenn McClelland on piano, and then Bill Fowler on guitar, or Joe Kramer on guitar, Kidd Funkadelic on guitar, or Scott Rednor on guitar. Sometimes, there’s three of us playing guitar, sometimes there’s one of us playing guitar, me, or two of us. The other people are Ray Kubian on drums, if Claude’s not doing it, it would definitely be a guy named Ray Kubian, he plays on the record, plays in the Dean Ween Group. He’ll been on this tour with us on drums for half of it and Claude for half. I look at the dates we’ve got booked and I call these guys and say, “Can you do these dates?”. Someone won’t be available, and it’ll be an amalgamation of one of these [lineups] that works somewhere.

So you, obviously, are in the front of the band. I know you’re no stranger to singing, but now, you’re the face of the band, front and center. How has that experience been for you?

It’s been great. I guess that was the hardest part to really accept before I decided to do the Dean Ween Group, like, “Do I want to be the guy up front?”. I did a lot of soul-searching and thinking before I made this decision, actually, like, “What does being the guy up front mean?”. And I looked at the material I had and what I wanted to be as the guy up front, and I was like, “Well, I’ll do some singing, you know, I sing, I write songs. I’m not a great singer, but the record’s gonna be guitar-heavy too”. The record, I think is half instrumentals, and the show is like that too, if I want it to be. Some nights, I want to just sing the whole night, other guys sing certain songs, so much is unknown. But, I had to get there, I had to get the confidence to go and have my name on the flier. I’m really into accountability, like I could play in your band. If you had a band and we had a bad gig and I thought I played well, I’d be really upset. So being the guy up front, I put max pressure on myself. Accountability is a big thing in my life, I can’t stand people that are unaccountable. If you got a problem, man, you’re usually the problem. But you have to be that way, or you’ll never resolve arguments, you’ll never succeed in life, in business, or in a relationship. I take it very seriously, the Dean Ween Group, the fact that my name is on it.

I saw your episode of Guitar Moves for Noisey, so I got a glimpse of the Shack, is that the name for the studio?

No, that was the Shack, that was a while ago. I have a really nice studio, but I still have the Shack, I will never get rid of the Shack.

If you saw that Guitar Moves, it’s the shack behind the body shop. The guy built the whole thing first, he put in electric, heat, air conditioning, and cable TV, and his idea was that was going to be his office for the body shop. But he did it without calling the township. So when he came to get his license and all, they were like “No, you can’t just build a building and put it here!” so he moved it with his crane to behind the body shop, and I was like, “I’ll rent that!” It was a total piece of shit, it was meant to store lawnmowers in, but we just covered the walls with posters, got heat and air conditioning. I was there with my buddies until 6 A.M. talking the other night, playing the guitar. It’s the ultimate man-cave, literally a shack.

The studio you have now, you built it all by yourself to make this new record?

Yep, it’s not a rental, there was nothing here before it. Did I build it myself? I didn’t lift a hammer. My roadie, Dave built it. I’m the most unhandy person in the world. Some things I’m really good at, I can change a tire in ten seconds from growing up in garages. I can get my gear set up, like the huge amplifier, pedalboard, guitars, put strings on them, but I don’t know which end of a screwdriver to hold. But yeah, we did build it. Dave, my roadie built it. He got us people when we needed to pour concrete and shit like that. We built it, I was here, I paid for the whole damn thing. The second when this place was habitable, where we could set up a tape machine with an amp, a drum set and a mic, we were using it. So, I worked here for at least a year with it under construction, with plastic tarps. It’s been done done for seven, eight months, and that’s when we started working here all day, every day and all night, every night.

Did you approach the creation of the Deaner Album differently than Ween or Moistboyz albums in the past?

Yes and no. Everybody has a system for writing songs, every songwriter has a system. Everyone that interviews you, they want to know your system, even the fans, and there is none. I guess there might be people who sit down with their notebook and guitar and maybe pen some lyrics that mean something to them. You know, “I had a bad day today” and you play some chords. I’ve never written a song like that in my life. With my best songs, I think, Ween’s best songs, you hear somebody say something and it’s just like, “Aw man, that’s just a song, that has to be a song,” and you’ll start playing with the essence of the words, like, “What does it really mean?”. The first thing that comes to mind is on the third Moistboyz record, we were flying in, we were making the record in the desert, and the last thing we heard before we got off the plane was, “Welcome to the Valley of the Sun”. I was like, “Wow, that’s such a romantic idea,” it’s like a cowboy thing almost. We did that record in the desert, out in Twentynine Palms, California. We were going to this environment, the desert, and so we wrote “In the Valley of the Sun,” that’s just the way shit happens. The master of it was John Lennon. He played with the language lyrically, like in “I Am The Walrus”: “Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye” and “Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down”. It doesn’t really mean anything, dissect it all you want, but he’s having fun with the language, he was the best at it. I think that’s what the Dean Ween Group and Ween do, write things that are funny, that you hear people say. I had a million band names, man, I should do that for a living. People should be hiring me to come up with good band names.

One thing that I think is interesting about you is that you have always stayed true to your hometown of New Hope, PA. So, I was just wondering what’s kept you there this whole time?

It’s a curse. I’m ready to go now, out of New Hope. You know, Ween traveled everywhere, I’ve seen a million places. There’s a few places I’ve found over the years, but nothing compares to New Hope. Here, we live on the Delaware River, we live in a river town. That’s very important to remember because the river defines the town. It’s a big river, the Delaware River and it comes right through. It’s a small town, so the river is a constant presence in our lives. And then the Jersey Shore, where my fishing business is, is an hour away. Philadelphia’s forty-five minutes away and New York is sixty-seven miles away. So you can be here and experience the best of what would make you want to live in the Northeast. Because someone who loves New York does not love LA. You put a born and raised New Yorker, a forty-five year-old, in LA all of a sudden, they’re gonna kill somebody. Someone from LA is gonna kill themselves if they have to be in New York all the time. It’s important where you live. Yeah, so we have the best of the Northeast right in this little river town. It is cool to see musicians everywhere. And then, other than those cities I named, you also got New Brunswick, Trenton, Princeton, they’re all right here, only five miles away. There’s a lot here, man, we got a huge music scene.

You run your own jam nights right? Every Wednesday in New Hope?

Yeah at this little, tiny bar. It’s like 70 people.

You have such a great music taste, so I was wondering if you could offer any recommendations, anything important that people should know about?


Yeah, I would say music is the most important thing in my life. I’ve dedicated my entire life to it, as a listener and a player. So there’s nothing closer to a religion that I have, than music. It’s a religion to me, it’s important. Everytime I play in front of people, I want them to never forget that they saw me. Music is incredibly powerful in a good way. You can make people happy for a night or a lifetime by making a record or a career. I’ve found that the bands that do that for me are the Beatles, P-Funk, Prince, Stevie Wonder. There’s a reason you want to stick with time-tested music with integrity, it’s very, very important. Those bands, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, I’d beat the shit out of you if you told me you hated it and not have an argument why. That’s how strongly I feel about my loathing for bad music too, which I try to not bring up because I don’t want to be negative about it. Maybe it works for some people, they listen to it and it satisfies whatever they’re looking for when they put on a record. But I feel so strongly about what I love that it bothers me when I hear somebody say it’s junk. Or like at Christmas, my mother-in-law, she has about as much music knowledge as an Idaho baked potato, she put on this CD, blasting it, it was the rudest excuse for music, it was like “Live Performances from American Idol of Holiday Classics” or some shit. And it was blasting, it had commentary, I freaked out. I took it off and everyone at the party was like, “What’s wrong with you man? Where did that come from?”. I wanted to throw it and smash it, it was too loud and I was trying to talk, it was on for like the nineteenth time. I was like, “What’s wrong with everything!? This is what’s wrong with music! These are people from American Idol that didn’t make it! What the fuck!? This is not music, this is something you put on during Christmas dinner, man”.

Thank you to the Deaner for taking the time to interview with 

 of WRBB, and thank you to Howard Wuelfing at Howlin’ Wuelf Media for coordinating.

Be sure to catch the Deaner and the rest of The Dean Ween Group on tour!

Jan 22 | Mr. Smalls Theater | Millvale, PA

Feb 02 | Walter’s Downtown | Houston, TX

Q&A with Dean Ween

 is the second studio album from contemporary funk band, Vulfpeck, composed of Jack Stratton (keyboards, drums, guitar), Theo Katzman (guitar, drums), Woody Goss (keyboards), and Joe Dart (bass). The four members attended University of Michigan’s music school together and have put out a new release every year since their formation in 2011. Last year’s album, 

 reached number 16 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and garnered the band enough buzz to be booked on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last November. 

continues this forward momentum for the band.

The album starts off easy with “The Sweet Science”, a smooth clarinet solo track provided by Michael Winograd. He is one of the many guests that appear on 

 which has the longest feature list of any Vulfpeck release thus far. Another, prominent guest musician is Cory Wong who plays guitar on seven of the album’s ten songs. For this reason, the band called him “this albums’ Billy Preston”. Next is “Animal Spirits,” which is driven by a commanding piano groove, similar to the one found on last year’s “Christmas in L.A.,” and features vocals from Theo Katzman and Christine Hucal, the same duo that sang on last year’s “Back Pocket”. The infectious melodies, electrifying vocals, and self-referential “heartfelt lyrics” culminate in a song that exemplifies Vulfpeck’s hit-making prowess.

“Dean Town” puts Joe Dart in the spotlight. He controls the jam with his funk-driven bassline that gets more complex as the song progresses. At the same time, Goss’ keys and Cory Wong’s guitar gradually join in until all three are jamming together at the end of the song. Vulfpeck often uploads videos of their recording sessions on 

, and they uploaded the video for “Dean Town” shortly before 

 was released. Seeing the band record this song while sitting in a circle in what looks like someone’s basement is a fitting introduction to the album. The instrumental for the next track, “Conscious Club” was released on 

Arts but is reborn here with lyrics about a “Conscious Club” where Vulfpeck is the in-house band. This song was the first weak point in the album. I couldn’t get past the chipmunk and spoken word vocals dispersed throughout the track which, along with the simple lyrics, detract from the excellent music that is happening underneath – I would much rather choose to listen to the instrumental from 

“El Chepe” is an adventure, taking the listener aboard the Mexican rail line from which its name originated. It was an intriguing detour for the album, showcasing the band’s versatility, it’s amazing how well they captured the “wild west” sound. Antwaun Stanley, whose vocals are featured on 2014’s “1612” is brought back for the slower ballad, “Aunt Leslie,” and the light, amusing “1 for 1, DiMaggio”. The latter sounds like it comes straight out of a children’s show and the spoken call-and-answer dialogue in the middle of the song is a bit distracting and unnecessary. Like “Conscious Club”, I feel that this song would’ve been better if all of the vocals were sung. Otherwise, “1 for 1” is another fun, albeit less memorable song on the tracklist. Next is “Daddy, He Got a Tesla”, a raw, unadulterated funk banger with a stunning appearance by Joey Dosik on alto sax. Jamire Williams’s drum beat and Joe Dart’s bassline join forces to make it the instrumental highlight of the album.

After a high point comes a low point, “Margery, My First Car”. Here, Christine Hucal sounds like she’s trying to mimic Beach House’s Victoria Legrand, which would be fine if the song wasn’t so unlistenable. I found it very difficult to wrap my head around Hucal’s vocal melodies. Vulfpeck’s instrumental is solid but it could not make up for the vocal disaster happening around it. The album quickly regains itself and wraps up nicely with its last two songs: the aforementioned “Aunt Leslie”, complete with a fiery trombone solo provided by Bethanni Grecynski and “Cory Wong”, named after this album’s frequently featured guitarist. The final song begins a little blandly, but switches from a studio recording to a live one halfway through. With the transition comes a new intensity fueled by the audience’s rhythmic clapping. Vulfpeck ends 

by showing that they continue to push the boundaries of song composition.

With every game, there are winners and losers, and 

 is no exception. It is a little worrying that this album has more losers than usual for a Vulfpeck release. I found myself disliking a Vulfpeck song for the first time; the once pristine Vulfpeck collection now has a small crack in it. Despite this, I cannot deny that 

 is a great addition to the band’s discography. 4/5.