Gambino surprises fans with online mixtape

Formally Donald Glover, actor-turned-rapper Childish Gambino isn’t known for holding back. Whether he’s spitting goofy bars about his preference for Asian women or waxing lyrics about staring into the existential abyss, Gambino’s music has always been about doing what he loves—about being damn good at it. The Internet and fans went wild when Gambino dropped the mixtape/EP combo STN MTN/Kauai, released as a surprise in two parts on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3. He gave this online gift out for free and it is nothing, if not a continuation, of his effort to always tell his truth.

STN MTN/Kauai is a concept album in the same vein as his sophomore effort Because the Internet. This time, however, the album is split into two thematically and sonically distinct narratives.

The first half STN MTN is a tribute to Gambino’s birthplace of Stone Mountain, Georgia. Playing out a professed childhood fantasy, Gambino imagines what it would be like if he ran hip-hop in Atlanta. Starting with the sawing intensity of “Southern Hospitality,” Gambino spends the first 40 minutes of the album drawing on the music of his hometown and indulging in his gangster rap fantasy.

While it sounds like he’s having a lot of fun, most of the material on STN MTN is a little disappointing. Compared to some of his more disciplined and thoughtful hits, such as “3005” and “Zealots of Stockholm,” the first half of the album lacks Gambino’s usual substance. Aside from the standouts “Candler Road” and “U Don’t Have to Call”—the latter of which features a beautiful prose rap bordering on poetry—the first half of STN MTN wasn’t up to Gambino’s usual standards.

Thankfully, the second half Kauai more than makes up for the slack. Upon waking up from his dream of Atlanta, Gambino reflects on lost love to the calm tropical sounds of Hawaii. Backed by a score that seems half-rap and half-PBR&B––with spoken interludes from fellow Internet messiah Jaden Smith fulfilling the role of “The Boy” from Because the Internet screenplay––Gambino crafts the soulful and introspective kind of hip-hop we’ve come to expect from him, with lyricism that entertains us and gives us pause. Especially with tracks like “The Palisades,” “Late Night in Kauai” and the incandescent “Pop Thieves (Make It Feel Good),” Gambino seems to have found the peace that he’s been struggling for, musically and thematically, in his last two albums.

All in all, STN MTN/Kauai is a relatively straightforward showcase for one of the most exciting rappers in the game today. Somewhere between the hardcore hip-hop of Atlanta and the paradisiacal beaches of Kauai, Hawaii Childish Gambino has found home.

Students dance the night away at Dance-A-Thon for the Arts

Students gathered in the Col- lege Union Ballroom on Sept. 26 to dance and show support for artistic endeavors. Billed as a “Dance-A-Thon for the Arts,” the event intended to last 12 hours into Saturday Sept. 27. Dance-A-Thon drew a crowd of roughly 50 dancers as well as members of Geneseo Swing Dance Club and Geneseo Bhangra. Music was supplied by Buffalo band Folk Faces and a live DJ. By 1 a.m. only one team of dancers remained and the eve- ning came to an early conclusion.

Despite not running into the early hours of Saturday morning as planned, Activities Commis- sion arts & exhibits coordinator senior Chelsea Butkowski looked at the positives of the experience. “It was a good start,” Butkowski said. “[Every] event needs time to catch on.”

The event arose out of an ef- fort by Butkowski and others to raise money and increase aware- ness of Livingston Arts, a local not-for-profit corporation that runs exhibits, classes and workshops for the arts. While this year’s turn- out was slightly underwhelming, there is still hope for the future.

“We got an okay amount of people,” Butkowski said. “It was as expected. If [the dance-a-thon] continues, hopefully it will be a much larger celebration of dance and the arts.” Brainstorming for the future, she shared other ideas for next time. “I recommend that the event partner with another or- ganization in the future,” she said.

The possible success of such an event can certainly set the pre- cedence for its return. “It was suc- cessful in that it was meaningful for the people who were there,” Butkowski said. “I would’ve liked to raise more money for Livings- ton Arts, but there’s only so much you can do in the first year of an event.”

Another problem Butkowski noted was a lack of awareness of Livingston Arts and what the or- ganization aims to do. “The goals of Dance-A-Thon were to make students more aware of Livings- ton Arts and also to raise funds,” she said. “That’s why I would like to have more attendance––so that students could understand what Livingston Arts is.”

Even with the inaugural event not going entirely as planned, But- kowski isn’t discouraged. “I want to go from a bunch of different angles to make students aware of what art they have available to them,” she said. “That’s the goal for the Kinetic Gallery right now.”

Geneseo has worked with Livingston Arts for a few years now and it continues to be one of the major fine arts resources around campus. After the art cuts on campus, it might be a good re- source to keep around. “Livings- ton Arts is the closest thing––other than the limited art galleries on campus and the small number of art classes the school is offering–– to arts education,” Butkowski said.

Butkowski has taken away some meaningful lessons from the experience. One of the major dif- ficulties she has encountered was the attitude toward arts on cam- pus. “Arts education is something that a lot of students here don’t immediately think about,” she said. “Compared to some other fun- draisers, art doesn’t really seem very significant.”

Butkowski is ready to work to change that mentality. “For a liberal arts college, awareness of the arts is one of the most important aspects of the school,” she said.

Fiber art exhibit draws from cross-cultural traditions, recollects artist's journey

The Kinetic Gallery opened its doors for its second exhibit of the semester on Wednesday Oct. 1. The exhibit titled “Handed On” features a display of textile work by artist Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen, who specializes in weaving and other fiber art. The exhibit is made up of 30 striking, 10-foot tall woven panels suspended from the ceiling and depicts many of the women Wiskirchen lived and worked with in Bolivia and South Africa.

Wiskirchen’s time in Bolivia and South Africa was spent working with local women as part of weaving co-operatives. Wiskirchen initially journeyed to Bolivia as part of a global exploration of the medium. While working on her master of fine arts thesis, Wiskirchen found herself thinking about her work in a larger context.

KenneTH SanTOS/STaff PHOTOGRaPHeR “Handed On” opened on Wednesday Oct. 1 in the Kinetic Gallery. The show cosisted of textile works inspired by artist Kelsey Viola

Wiskirchen who drew inspirationfrom her travels to Boliva and South america.

“I felt the need to see what this textile tradition is like in other parts of the world,” she said. “I was interested in that because I hadn’t seen with my own eyes the experience of women really empowering themselves and their families with their work.”

In South Africa, she was in Bolivia and South Africa. a maze of hanging images,

been told that I don’t put enough of myself into my work, so this seemed like a good way to accomplish that,” she said.

From there, Wiskirchen felt the need to continue exploring. “After I went to Bolivia, I felt like it was just sort of the tip of the iceberg for me. I wanted to go to a different part of the world where I knew there was also a rich textile tradition,” she said.

Her current exhibit continues that same focus on interaction and the human element of weaving. The pieces themselves are large, translucent images taken from photographs of the individual women Wiskirchen worked with

Wiskirchen has also utilized the space in the gallery to portray a journey. The image of a smiling girl at work on her loom, positioned at the front of the gallery, greets the viewer and invites the viewer into the collection. The spatial utilization continues throughout as the viewer slides through

The Kinetic Gallery exhibition of the “Handed On” installation also marks the first time Wiskirchen has utilized her own writing as part of a collection. “The stories on the material are the women’s own,” she said.

While the stories on the tapestry are the women’s own, Wiskirchen’s writings which ring and frame the exhibition are more of a creative adaptation of her memories of her journeys.

Spotlight On: Ella Mosco

Sophomore Ella Mosco has the sort of voice that can silence a crowded room. Among the rare few who have seen her perform, this sort of praise for the singer-songwriter has become quite common. All the while, she has maintained an elegant humility. “In the last few days, or after I perform, everyone is so nice about it; it makes my heart melt,” Mosco said. The praise is not undeserved, as the talented vocalist has put in a lot of practice to get to this point.

“I used to busk on the shuttle train,” Mosco said, describing her time spent performing with a friend on the popular subway line between Times Square and Grand Central in Manhattan. “It was weird, two people that were very clearly from the suburbs, just getting on the train, it was like ‘What are we doing?’” Mosco said.

In the end, it turned out to be an overwhelmingly positive experience for Mosco. “We were never really harassed or anything, we got to know the conductors, like we were the people that played on their train all the time,” she said. The subway performances were like their own world for Mosco and her friend. “There was this one kid that played two buckets. We would sing with him sometimes, and we would get offers from people who gave us their phone numbers and asked if we wanted to collaborate sometime—but we never did,” Mosco said.

Outside of performing on the train, Mosco was very active in local musical activities. “It was Westchester [County], though, so there weren’t a lot of things to be involved in,” she added.

Since then, Mosco has continued to sing and perform at Geneseo, usually playing covers for friends and peers. While she has admitted to having written some original work, she is still hesitant to perform that material. She has even put her music online, sharing videos and audio for everyone to hear.

“When it’s a cover, when it’s someone else’s words, its different than your own thoughts and [from] performing something that’s like your own diary,” she said.

Mosco, along with her coffee shop-brand ukulele and vocals, has expressed interest in branching out. She has begun writing poetry in her time at Geneseo and expects to debut as the vocalist in a girl-punk band with Geneseo classmates at some point later in the semester. The project appears to be a serious one, as the band has already secured a gig at the newly renovated Riviera on Center Street.

The project is called Valley Sounds, and will include local familiars Soft Cough and Red Kettle. “It should be fun,” Mosco said, comparing the group’s goals to those of another newly formed Geneseo band Maybe Mayonnaise. If these comparisons hold true, they signal a whole new, jam-heavy sound for Mosco and a strict departure from previous acoustic performances.

Spotlight on: Greg Stewart

Within the past 20 years or so, slam poetry has soared to the top of the underground artistic hierarchy. It’s typically associated with a café-type setting: a ubiquitous meeting place for poetic performers, their colleagues and their admirers. But what about on a college campus? Enter junior Greg Stewart. Stewart has been a part of Geneseo’s vibrant poetic community since his freshman year and is now respected on campus as one of the leading talents among his peers. What he writes, however, is not poetry as it is traditionally known. Instead, Stewart prefers slam poetry and spoken word as his own methods of expression.

To understand Stewart, one must first understand slam poetry. “[Slam] bridges the gap between music and literature for an expressive art form,” he said.

Slam is a competitive art form in which a poet reads or recites original work that is then evaluated by the audience or previously selected judges. This simple definition does not capture the full scope of the art form, which has polarized the world of poetry. According to Stewart’s perspective, slam brings young poets together as well as political and social issues into the foreground.

Stewart has written in various forms from a young age, occasionally experimenting with fiction and page poetry. He now believes he has found his niche within the spoken word community. “There are plenty of places for people who are interested in writing and literature, and for people who are interested in music,” he said. “The spoken word poetry club is for people who maybe don’t know how to put them together.”

Growing up in an artistic family, he found himself influenced by the music of his classically trained brother.

“He’s always been lecturing me about music, and always been playing music around me since I was very young,” Stewart said. “[I] had a sense of music for a long time, but lacked rhythm. I started to gain that rhythm when I picked up poetry.”

While the musical and literary elements initially led Stewart to slam and spoken word poetry, the performance of poetry itself has moved to the foreground of his interests throughout his career.

“The tone, the tenor and the certain emphasis you can use when you’re using your voice versus when you’re just looking at words on a page really distinguishes [slam and page poetry],” Stewart said.

The performance component of slam and spoken word has provided him with a new and different sense of expression. “The biggest thing I try to do is tell a story that can stick in someone’s head even if all the words just fly by,” he said. The audience’s reaction is also an integral part of Stewart’s work. “The emotional side is important to me. To make someone have that emotional response is a huge part of what I do when I’m writing,” Stewart said.

The community of poets on campus has also been a large part of Stewart’s life at Geneseo and an influence on his work. The group helps to create a very positive, collaborative environment that Stewart notes is great for anyone interested in writing.

“I get to hear other people perform, I get to hear other ideas, get feedback on my own work and give feedback for other people,” he said. “Slam helps lyricists, writers and anyone who likes music and poetry together––it’s a fusion of the two.”

Local bands welcome semester with funk, experimental sounds

With their unique blend of hip-hop, jazz and funk, Red Kettle bounced along through a set that included a cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon” thrown in amongst their own originals. Despite an ever-changing array of instruments that now includes a saxophone and keys, Red Kettle meshes together to create a remarkably tight sound reminiscent of Snarky Puppy’s 40-plus musician collective, “The Fam.”A pleasantly predictable set from headlining band Bronze Radio Return capped the evening. The band’s sound serves as another indication of just how influential the revival of indie folk pop has been within the last five years. They delivered an enjoyable set of easy listening acoustic songs, in the vein of now dime- a- dozen acts such as The Lumineers. While the open air of a Friday evening show on the Union patio was not the most favorable atmosphere for Red Kettle’s jam-heavy dance funk, relative newcomers Soft Cough made the best of their set. Made up of juniors Ben Freiman, Nicholas Koithan, Tom Kohn and Daniel Pugh, Soft Cough’s more traditional sound made for an explosive set. Thanks to the influence of three different writers––with Freiman as the only member who has yet to write for the band––Soft Cough presents an exciting variation. The band offers 1990s-influenced garage rock in the vein of Pinkerton, only to cut back to guitar-led charges accompanied by Pugh’s searing, take-no-prisoners vocal style. Considering the position Soft Cough holds as the flag bearers of Geneseo’s current music scene alongside Red Kettle, the variation in their music becomes more important. “The thing is, last year there were only a couple bands,” Pugh said. “We’re trying to motivate our friends who are talented to start bands.” Pugh affirms Soft Cough’s role as the forerunner in a push for an expansion of musical interests on campus. It was a return to the funky unfamiliar on Aug. 29 as Geneseo welcomed back fusion band Red Kettle and the up-and-coming Soft Cough alongside headliner Bronze Radio Return for the Welcome Back Jam in front of the College Union.

Red Kettle’s fusion of genres and Soft Cough’s ever-evolving sound are indicators of the ear for the new and exciting, shared by many of Geneseo’s own talented musicians. “Our aspirations right now are collaborating with everyone,” Pugh said. Given that the members are still only juniors, it appears that Soft Cough still has a lot more to do before their time at Geneseo is done. While they are yet to release any recorded material, Kohn noted that is something the band is currently working on. Soft Cough, like Red Kettle before them, is a band that above all looks forward to having a good time performing their music. So, look out for more from the big band on campus, because according to Koithan, “Soft Cough really just wants to play a bunch of shows.”