by: Julia Mahncke

Ben Swisher has made an album themed around the sounds of vacuum cleaners and it turned into a super cool song collection! He started writing music and performing under his artist name Sen Wisher when he lived in Provo, Utah. He was helping out at a recording studio in the house he lived in and eventually decided to go to music school. He now studies and lives in Eugene, Oregon.

You just released a new album titled “Vacuum Sing”. Did you start out with a concept or did it evolve as your were recording new music?

I had some friends who were making marathon records, where they would get together and they would try to write and record music, mix and master everything in 24 hours. That was really refreshing. I’ve always liked the idea of limitations because it’s really easy to overthink everything. That inspired me to want to make a… Read More

album review: Jordan Montero

DAMN. captures a concept that plays an ultimate vice in all of our lives: the intrinsic conflict we face at certain decision, trying to keep our values and beliefs intact. Kendrick Lamar, in DAMN., swoons over every line to ensure that his inner struggle is applicable to every individual. The album’s personality is blunt, introspective, and elegant. Lamar cleverly teases his catalysts over an array of fluctuating, modern sounds to deliver an exemplary entry into 2017’s legacy. On Friday, April 14th, we were able to resume our fandom and were greeted with a gospel-like, synth-y, chamber of voices, provided by Bêkon, that would prove to be a driving force for the record’s development of its core themes. Immediately, Kendrick reminds us that he is a highly introspective individual, contemplating the reason for his faults through the… Read More

by: Jordan Montero

Joey Bada$$’s sophomore album, ALL AMERIKKKAN BADA$$, finds its grounding through the portrayal of the artist’s thoughts and feelings towards the black community's position in the modern American landscape. He reported that the record would be a powerful force in furthering the mentality of freedom and equality amongst his listeners. With the help of DJ Khalil, 1-900, and Pro Era mainstays Kirk Knight, Chuck Strangers, and Statik Selektah, Joey Bada$$ follows up his 2015 debut with a solid summer playlist of sorts bearing tracks with notable intention and sincerity within the smooth, Brooklyn-based rhymes. The first half of the album plays like a soundtrack for constant, sunset-lit drives; reminiscent of his 2012 hit “Waves”. While we’re all used to likening Joey’s style and beat preferences to that of 1990s rappers, he does not freight from delivering his lines over more… Read More

REVIEW BY: NIC CASTILLON 

Mount Eerie, the solo project of songwriter Phil Elverum, performed to a hushed crowd at a rare seated show in the WOW Hall on Tuesday, April 4th. This show followed the release of his eighth LP written under the Mount Eerie moniker entitled A Crow Looked At Me. The album details the pain and emptiness surrounding the passing of his wife, Geneviève Castrée, in July of 2016 to pancreatic cancer. At this show, the audience was let into the deeply personal experience of Elverum’s grieving process while he performed the songs off of this most recent album.

The show began with a performance from Lori Goldston, a classically trained cellist whose work includes collaborations with the bands Earth and Nirvana, with her most recognizable work most likely being her appearance on Nirvana’s acclaimed live album MTV Unplugged in New York. She…

Read More

KENDRICK LAMAR DOES IT AGAIN. 

one of our most legendary DJs: Marc Time, shows us his old radio playlist from 40 years ago --- 

PLAYLIST playlist // photos - Natalie Miano