Blitzen Trapper- American Goldwing (9/13)                                               

On Tour: 10/7 (Petaluma, CA), 10/8 (Santa Barbara), 10/9 (San Diego)

Judging from the title track and the critical buzz surrounding their new album, this Portland-grown folk-rock group will continue to serve up classic Americana with a 21^st century twist. From Neil Young to Pavement, this band’s unique medley of sounds consistently surprises and amazes fans.  Their sixth and newest album, American Goldwing,  promises to be one of this fall’s most impressive indie releases.

Toro Y Moi- Freaking Out  (9/13)

On Tour: 10/3 (El Rey Theatre, L.A.)

USC alum Chazwick Bundick, AKA Toro Y Moi, mixes funk and electronic music in his cover of 1985 hit “Saturday Love” on his upcoming EP. Pumping out two albums in the last two years and on the road this fall with a slew of new tour dates, Bundick is one of the most prolific artists around. His music is pretty laid back. So, relax and get your chill-wave on at the El Rey Theatre in October.

GROUPLOVE – Never Trust a Happy Song (9/13)                                                                                                      

On Tour: 9/22 (The Wiltern, L.A.), 10/26 (El Rey Theatre, L.A.)

After meeting in Crete at an artists’ convention, the members of the energetic rock band GROUPLOVE reunited in LA to start making music. They first caught the indie crowd’s attention with the catchy hit “Colours” from their 2010 self-titled EP. They release their debut album, Never Trust a Happy Song, on 9/13 (what is with that day?) and play in Los Angeles soon after.

Das Racist—Relax  (9/13)                                                                     

On Tour: 11/3 (The Roxy, L.A.)

Brooklyn-bred rapscallions Das Racist release their first full-length album this September, under the Greedhead Music label belonging to the group’s own Himanshu K. Suri, AKA Heems.  Following two hit mixtapes—Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man—the aptly titled Relax (there’s a flaming couch on the cover) features the trio’s collaborative efforts with everyone from Blood Diamonds to El-P to Punjabi-American bhangra artist Bikram Singh.  Check out “Michael Jackson,” the first single off the LP.

Girls—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (9/13)

On Tour: 9/3 (FYF Fest, L.A.)

With track titles like “Vomit” and “Honey Bunny,” we don’t know quite what to make of San Francisco-based crooners Girls’ upcoming release.  But we think we like the excited confusion Christopher Owens and his fuzz-rock outfit are creating in anticipation of their forthcoming Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which they supposedly recorded “in the bowels of an S.F. office building.”

The Dum Dum Girls—Only In Dreams  (9/27)

On Tour: 8/27-8/28 (Sunset Junction Festival, L.A.), 10/1 (San Diego), 10/2 (Costa Mesa), 10/3 (The Troubadour, West Hollywood)

If you haven’t yet fallen for the Dum Dum Girls’ (named for Iggy Pop’s “Dum Dum Boys”) swoon-worthy, jangling garage-pop, it’s time you gave this group a listen.  They’ve been dubbed “unfailingly hip and wonderfully associative” for 2010’s debut album, I Will Be, and cite The Smiths, Nico, Bille Holiday, and The Jesus and Mary Chain among their chief influences.  Catch this group of uber-cool chicks in L.A. this fall as they promote their sophomore album from Subpop, Only In Dreams.

Twin Sister—In Heaven  (9/27)  

On Tour: 9/2 (San Diego), 9/3 (FYF Fest, L.A.)

This “dreamy, spare, and languorous” 5-some hailing from Brooklyn-by-way-of-Long-Island releases In Heaven, their debut LP—a follow-up to their hit EP Color Your Life—this September.  With funkadelic keyboarding from Dev Gupta and lead singer Andrea Estella’s sexy Portishead-like vocals, In Heaven is not to be missed.  Catch them in San Diego with Explosions in the Sky, or at L.A.’s FYF Fest this fall.

Wilco- The Whole Love  (9/27)                                                                              

On Tour: Your dorm room.

Indie rock superstars Wilco continue to create great rock and roll with their 8^th studio album. As the first album on their brand new label dBpm records, expect Jeff Tweedy and the gang to take full control of their sound on The Whole Love. Their first single, “I Might,” celebrates everything Wilco has done in the past while asserting their place in the present.  Wilco will not be touring near L.A. this fall, but humor us and our soft spot for the group Rolling Stone once called “America’s foremost rock impressionists.” Enough said.

Enjoy this selection:

The first part is what happens when you take the number of words Professor Brock Blomberg says on the March 5th Mixtape, multiply it by where you would find the maximum of -x^2+102x+52, then subtract the number of Grammy Awards Lupe Fiasco has won, multiplied by the approximate number of decades B.o.B. has lived. Order of operations apply. Look to the north.

But it’s all in the second part, which was made popular in the 1980s by Eddie and further popularized by artists such as OutKast and Ludacris.

The first person gets two passes. The second person gets one.

Lupe Fiasco at Bonnaroo 2008

Let us learn a little more about what Lupe Fiasco is about.  A Chicago native of West-African descent, Fiasco was exposed an array of experiential and ideological influences.  His father was, among other things, an engineer, a member of the Black Panther Party, and an African drummer while his mother was a gourmet chef at fine restaurants in Chicago. He was raised Muslim on the West Side of Chicago, a predominantly Christian and Catholic city, learning the tenets of the faith from his parents and the reality of the streets from his peers–the FNF crew.  Well-documented in Food and Liquor (2006) and The Cool (2007), Fiasco resented hearing only vulgarity and mysogonism in hip-hop during his youth.  The release of Nas’s modern-day classic It Was Written (1996) not only changed the entire game, but also provided extraordinary influence for the thirteen-year old Fiasco.  As a result, Lupe Fiasco is undoubtedly one of the most progressive names in the hip-hop game right now.

The first word that comes to mind when I think about the contemporary hip-hop community is “homogenous.” While that label is usually applied to Caucasian communities in the Northeast, I did not see a performance at the BET Awards where cars, women, clothing, and money were not rapped/sang about in excess. The Cool and It Was Written both focus on Mafioso narratives, street culture appraisal, and symbolism–content that sets Lupe Fiasco and Nas apart from field of hip-hop. Lupe Fiasco’s work to date is impressive; it does not fit the hip-hop mold for success. To the best of my knowledge, Fiasco is the only mainstream hip-hop artist to have crafted an “abstract conceptual album” in recent years. The Cool expounds upon three characters introduced in Food in Liquor that each embody a different aspect of street culture and symbolize the degradation of morality in the face of greed, opportunity, and poverty–sociological ideas that reverberate through the college demographic in the form of dissertations and discussions.

So whether you’re complaining to your suitemates about how ASCMC does not care about what the student body wants or actually just have no idea for what you are in store on March 5, take an hour out of your day today and listen to what Lupe Fiasco has to offer.  Listen to his lyrics, consider his message.  Hopefully you will find that he is not trying to be another “girl you stank” rapper, but rather a champion of a deeper, intellectual discourse within today’s offbeat hip-hop climate.

Editor’s Note: Yeah, we realize we’re acting like parents obsessed with home videos of their kids, but we just hired two photographers and wanted to show them off. We promise not to bombard you with slide shows all semester– just one or two a week.  Enjoy!

Every so often, ASCMC receives the opportunity to welcome the presence of a distinguished musical artist to help our students add to their long list of memorable college experiences.

On March 5, 2010, we will be doing just that, with the help of none other than Mr. “Kick Push” himself, Lupe Fiasco.

Just in time for his third studio album release, Lasers, we will be able to enjoy a show filled with new songs and classics alike.

Approximately one week from now, CMC students will be able to purchase tickets at $15, while 5C and public seating will available at $20 and $25, respectively.  CMC students may purchase one ticket per ID, with the opportunity to purchase up to one additional ticket for another CMC student if you bring their ID, as well as your own.

Also, look forward to a raffle for pit tickets so that you may collect Lupe’s sweat in a glass container during the show.

As a senior who is about to graduate, I am ironically only sure of a few things. One of the bullet points on my Post-It sized list of truths is that you must do everything in your power to make memories during your limited time at CMC.

So whether you are a fan of rap, rock, or reggae, identify the group of your most motivated friends, and prepare yourself to enjoy what will be a phenomenal show.

Love Always,

Isayas Theodros

Luckily for procrastinators and couch potatoes like myself, it turns out that there is FREE entertainment in Claremont, right here in the Claremont Colleges. Some of you might already be familiar with this, but Pomona College offers many musical performances for free. In fact, Pomona College is receiving local attention for their concerts and non-consortium members are taking advantage of the program’s diverse offerings. These concerts, held on Pomona and Scripps College at Bridges, Balch, and Lyman Hall, are entirely free and no tickets are required. Approximately two concerts, themes ranging from Afro-Cuban music to classical string quartets, are offered each week. You can check out the full schedule of free events here. Why pay $180 for front orchestra tickets at the LA philharmonic when you can enjoy great music right here for free?

Photo Courtesy of PC Theater and Dance Dept.

If you’re willing to shell out $5, you can even watch plays and dance shows by the Pomona Theater and Dance Department. This year, you can watch Richard II by William Shakespeare and The Notebook of Trigorin by Tennessee Williams amongst other plays. The productions are directed and performed by Pomona faculty and students. Also, look forward to the senior thesis dance and theater performances—you might get to witness the works of a future Coppola or Spacey. Check out their calendar for more information.

So, not everyone’s interested in viewing student performances. In the past, I, myself, have avoided attending a couple of shows on campus fearing a mediocre performance. However, the few times I did attend one (either because it was a class requirement or my friends were in the performance) I had a far better experience than sitting at the very back row of the Pantages. In a smaller audience, I felt connected with the performers. In tough economic times as these, what’s better than a free performance? Not much, I’d say.

Anthem (a.k.a. Ant) is a 24-year old Manhattan (NYC)-based emcee whose single(s) “Bachelor’s Theme” (and “Call Me Anthem”) have been building considerable buzz on the club scene and online.  Ant grew up in Northern Virginia and went on to attend Duke University.  After graduating from Duke, Ant headed to New York to embark on a career as a trader a top tier investment bank.  Despite enjoying the competitive intensity and high stakes nature of trading, Ant never lost his passion for rhyme and felt increasingly torn between the security and stability that a Wall St. career afforded his family and the opportunity of pursuing his dreams and making a name for himself in the hip hop world.  Ultimately his dreams won out;  and the rest, as they say, is history.  Outside of living in the studio while putting the finishing touches on his first release “Anticipation,” Ant is currently touring and doing shows at live venues in NYC and throughout the US.

Anthem has a handful of studio tracks on his MySpace and all of them feature his knack for lyrical creativity. A versatile rapper, Anthem manages to cover his whole bio, from dropping the Wall Street paycheck to pursue his dream on “Home” and “One Life” to silly drunkenness on the “I Gotta Feeling” Remix. He moves from verse to verse and from subject to subject over any beat that is on in the studio with nonchalance. That effortless quality is known by hip hop snobs as flow and many believe that without it, a rapper won’t stand a chance in the music business. We find Anthem at his best in “More,” a track that sounds like an all-out “off-the-top” freestyle and samples Bob Marley’s “Concrete Jungle.”

Van Gundy’s mad at my magic/ Cut from a different cloth, fathom my fabric/ Boy meets world like a n***a been savage/ Ravaging you wack emcees that spit average/ God damn my boast of having a classic feel/ Sh*t is bananas and you slipping in my mass appeal.

The ten tracks are averaging about 4,500 plays each on his MySpace page, a good number for up-and-coming rappers.

You can follow anthem on twitter @iamanthem and listen on his website www.iamanthem.com.

Here are a couple downloadable tracks for your pregaming tomorrow afternoon:

Anthem – Bachelor’s Theme

Anthem – Home

Anthem – I Gotta Feeling (Remix)

Anthem will be performing tomorrow, October 23, at 4:30 PM on Parents Field (south of North Quad).

E-603. Crazy name, right? Sounds like one of those new-age mash-up artists. Let’s break it down. E stands for Ethan. The 603, that’s an area code, but where? You guessed it: New Hampshire. Sorry if you misunderstood – E-603 is coming from New Hampshire to spin some of the hottest mash-up dance music of 2009.

You know the sound. Someone is always playing this interfused genre on campus. Rap and techno. Ludacris and Daft Punk. Notorious spitting on a Matt and Kim track. Nothing could be better for a dance party: your favorite lyrics with ecstasy worthy beats. But it is not just quality track sampling that makes E-603 stand out. Promise.

E-603’s real name is Ethan Ward. He is supposed to be a junior at Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts. Instead, he took a year off from his film degree to explore his newfound success as a musical pioneer. Yet Ethan, well, he’s as old as we are. The man is down to earth and he is ecstatic for the opportunity to come to the West Coast. He’s just a guy from the Northeast who is passionate about music and has a talent for mixing jams.

A talent for taking other artist’s music? That’s what a hater would say about this new media- the mashing. How hard is it? You mean to make those timeless hits snuggle with the feminist’s nightmare, dubbed rap? I don’t know, judge the music. You have to really listen though because it is not just two songs playing simultaneously. E-603 runs as many as seven songs at once, which have been altered and refined to fit seamlessly, despite genre polarity. I said he had a talent. True. But what Ethan seems to have, more than anything, is a commitment to his art. His latest album, Torn Up, took him over 1000 hours to complete. A year and half. If he was working with Habitat for Humanity he’d have a house by now – in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. His advisor at Hampshire told him no more working on music in school. Fair enough. He took the year off. And that’s where we are now.

Ethan, E-603 rather, refuses to do shows for his school. Why? He doesn’t want to give off the persona of an outrageous chief who wiles out in front of a crowd. He has to live with these people. Sure, sounds good. Though it’s not likely he’s ever going to see us again. Right. So does that mean? Yes, it does. Get psyched. E-603 – we’ll call him E, a reasonable blend of stage and real life personalities. Well, let’s just say he buys the cheapest computers he can find and covers them in saran wrap. “Who knows what is going to happen,” he says. Damn. Dude doesn’t even have a hotel room. He’s going with the flow of the night. “I’ll probably end up sleeping on someone’s floor.” I hope not. Who’s got a couch? Ladies–he’s single, attractive, and friendly, do you have room?

As you know, ASCMC has a budget we work with every day to make sure we can afford to pay for student events, parties, club activities, class traditions, etc. without putting an everyday strain on individuals’ wallets.  As ASCMC President, I am chair of the budget committee and am responsible for overseeing our budget.

Here is the updated ASCMC budget.  The summary of changes and notes is below. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at ehansell09@cmc.  We shouldn’t make too much of our financial information available to non-CMCers, so I won’t answer questions as comments on this post.  There are a lot of rumors flying around, most of which are completely false and even fabricated to make us look bad or for malicious reasons, so the best thing to do is e-mail me.

1- This year ASCMC has brought in more revenue and profit from outside sources (other than student fees) than it has in any other year in ASCMC’s history.  For example, we’ve raised over $3,000 with the amazon and half.com ads on this website alone.  Other sources of revenue include t-shirt sales, Monte Carlo tickets, Ayer (yearbook) sales, etc.

2- We will not use up the Band Fund we budgeted for the 2008-2009 Academic Year– the p/l from the Ludacris concert, Tosh performance, and E-40 concert combined did not exceed the budgeted amount.  The Band Fund came largely from excess retained earnings last year (over $70,000).  We are still working out some accounting and cash flow details with the Dean of Students’ office, but are pleased with the success of those performances.  It took a lot of hard work and frustration, and I thank those in ASCMC who helped make it happen.

3- We have re-budgeted (added or subtracted) money from the following line items.  You can see the new amounts on the public budget.

Private Security
Summer Expenses
Class of 2012
Class of 2011
Class of 2009
IPTV Subscriptions
Dorm Affairs Chair Fund
Senate
Social Activities Chair
Student Life Chair
Clubs Fund
General Fund

4- We have adjusted some clubs’ funds based on how much they have spent so far, but it shouldn’t impact any clubs’ activities.  If a club’s budget was decreased, the difference was added to the general clubs fund pool and can be taken back if needed.  E-mail Josh Siegel (jsiegel10@cmc) if you have questions about your club’s budget.

ERIK