Check Out this article about the fall concert on The Miscellany News:
http://www.miscellanynews.com/2.1579/vice-brings-underground-upbeat-acts-anamanaguchi-fang-island-1.2659921#.TqjEkU_NWQY
By Rachel Borné
Arts Editor
No doubt many members of the student body either sincerely or ironically consider themselves tech-savvy 90s babies who reminisce about the good ol’ days of Nintendo’s pixilated graphics and eight-bit soundscapes. For this group the upcoming Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) fall concert featuring chip tune indie rock band Anamanaguchi, will be a dream come true.
Opening for the New York group is Fang Island, a Brooklyn-based band self-identified as progressive power pop. Both acts will hit the Chapel stage on Nov. 19 free of charge. “You don’t even have to get a ticket,” said ViCE Publicity chair Eli Schutze ’12, “You just have to show up and party.”
With its hijacked Nintendo Entertainment System beats, Anamanaguchi will bring some throwback tunes to the concert, but with an unexpected twist. Instead of relying entirely on the electronic sounds of video game platforms, the band fuses the traditional with the electronic, layering guitar, bass and drums over digital mash-ups. In an interview with The Village Voice, lead singer Peter Berkman described the band’s approach to building such a multi-dimensional sound: “You literally have to construct the sound from the ground up. The fun about synthesis is that you make your own sound. If you don’t, it’ll sound like shit.” What makes Anamanaguchi so original is the fact t
hey make a simple type of music seemingly doomed to the confines of a MacBook DJ kit. Their DIY mentality allows them to handpick and deconstruct beats of yesteryear, gathering up the fragments into energetic musical assemblages. Also of note, of course, is the fact that Anamanaguchi played an acoustic set to mourn the loss of the iconic beverage Four Loko at a candle light vigil in Union Square last November.
Fang Island, on the other hand, describes its vibe as “everyone high-fiving everyone.” The group’s music induces instant happiness, with positive energy and pop/punk power chords spiraling from a whopping three guitarists. Fun is the bottom line for Fang Island—they cater to the young and old in the hope that the band’s extreme danceability will bring the crowd together in a musical group hug. Perhaps most interesting about the choices for the concert is just how different they are from each other, and moreover how different they are from the type of show traditionally associated with the Vassar Chapel aesthetic. According to Director of ViCE Mitchell Gilburne ’12, “We’re all about subverting expectations this year, and after the success of the Yeasayer concert, we’re excited to take the wow factor up a notch.”
In addition, ViCE has taken this year’s concert as an opportunity to not only be conscious of their current financial situation, but also to expose students to a couple of bands they might not necessarily have heard of. “We’re on a tight budget, but that doesn’t mean we can slack on the quality of our entertainment,” Gilburne explained. “We have a fiscal map for the year and having a free fall show is part of the plan.”
Because Anamanaguchi and Fang Island are slightly more underground acts than those brought to Vassar in previous years, ViCE is taking advantage of WVKR to familiarize students with their music. By fostering a collaboration between a student-run music entertainment organization and a student-run radio station, ViCE’s approach to the concert is particularly grassroots. This past week, student shows Cuddle Fest, Frontier Psychiatrist and The Campus Current all featured tracks from ViCE’s fall performers. According to Ester Clowney ’12, student DJ of Frontier Psychiatrist and No-ViCE chair, “WVKR doesn’t sponsor shows anymore, but we do publicize ourselves at the shows by having a table, and we announce and play music by ViCE performers. It’s a good reciprocal relationship.”
WVKR Music Director and Cuddle Fest DJ Thea Ballard ’13 explained the potential for growth that such collaborations make possible: “I’d love to get more people listening in, checking our blog or making suggestions, and hopefully this will help remind everyone to do these things,” she said, adding, “I think it’s great for ViCE to bring slightly lesser-known acts, since colleges—especially schools like Vassar—play such an important role in supporting independent music.”
Gilburne concluded by saying, “I don’t think that it’s either important or unimportant if students have or have not heard of the acts that we are bringing. Our concerts will either affirm your good taste or expand your musical palette,” he explained. “Either way you’re going to get some ear candy and you better be dancing your ass off!”
We are Vassar College Entertainment, but you can just call us ViCE. ViCE is a student-run organization that is responsible for bringing any and all forms of entertainment to campus, both small and large in scale. Throughout the year ViCE's seven committees work together to provide Vassar campus with weekly concerts, film screenings, comedy shows, dance parties, as well as major music concerts, all of which reflect the breadth and diversity of Vassar students’ entertainment interests. We both honor that diversity and strive to bring the community together. After all, ViCE is for everyone.
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