Concert Review: STICK SEASON

I originally went to this concert because my friend wanted company, and she was only going because Stephen Sanchez was supposed to be opening (spoiler alert: he did not end up opening). I had heard of Noah Kahan vaguely from TikTok– think the indie folk equivalent of Leith Ross, David Kushner, JVKE, etc. I hadn’t given much thought to him before, but it was cheap, an excuse for live music, and a way to get off campus on a Thursday, so I figured I would go with her. And I am SO glad that I did.

Noah Kahan’s debut album Stick Season was released on October 14th, 2022; less than a month before I was set to attend his concert. I’m the type of person to listen to an artists’ entire discography so I can confidently scream the lyrics right back at them, so this release date stressed me out– especially because I hadn’t realized he had released an entire album until about a week before I was going to see him live. Nevertheless, I persevered, allowing Kahan’s voice to unrelentingly blast through my headphones 24/7 for a week straight.

Upon first listen, I was floored. It appeared as though I had found the Lumineers equivalent I had searched so long and hard for– his lyrics are fantastic, and the amount of acoustic guitar (the entire album) is perfect. I was officially pumped for this concert.

The concert was at the Riviera Theater on the north side of Chicago. Kahan’s opener was Adam Melchor (if you recognize the name, it’s probably from his most popular 2018 release Real Estate). Melchor was fantastic, and I think the perfect opener for Kahan; they both love their riffs of all sorts, both acoustic and vocal. His set consisted of many tracks from his newest album, and concluded with a cover of Sufjan Stevens’ iconic Chicago. He was silly for that one.

Although Kahan’s entrance following this set was met by a slight disappointment by my friend (as he was most definitely not Stephen Sanchez), her sadness was quickly replaced by awe as Kahan jumped into his set.

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SETLIST

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SETLIST -

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Stick Season is based on life in a small town in Vermont; not quite relatable to us as students in Chicago, but it does inspire the nostalgia and coziness that fall brings to us anyways. As someone from the southern California coast, the vibrant colors of the fall leaves are enough for me to imagine I’m walking through a rustic town in New England, rather than one of the most urban regions of the Midwest. Kahan’s set did exactly this; he brought the audience with him as he sang about the unfortunate combination of longing and excitement and sadness that comes with leaving where you’re from.

Kahan also opened up to the audience about his mental health struggles, talking about the difficulties that come with reaching out for help: in his song Growing Sideways, he talks about experiencing therapy for the first time since childhood, attending with the intent of actually working on himself for the first time with the lyrics:

“But I ignore things, and I move sideways

‘Til I forget what I felt in the first place”

Kahan’s band also had some recognizable names, most notably Noah in the Open, who was on acoustic guitar. Something I really appreciated about this concert was Kahan’s introductions of the band at the beginning of the set; I always hated how the drummer was just a drummer until the end of the show. You could tell that the band really loved what they were doing, and their interactions with one another were at times more entertaining than Kahan himself. 

I love indie-folk concerts because the fans are always respectful, enthusiastic, and filled with so much love for the artist. Never, in all of my concert-going endeavors, have I ever heard an audience sing so loud through the entire set that the artist was almost not needed at all; and I have been to the likes of Taylor Swift, The Lumineers, and many more much more prominent artists. There is something really special about “smaller” (Kahan now has 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, but this can still be considered small in the grand scheme of things) artists and their fanbases. It truly is a community, and seeing the genuine love the audience members had for this artist was truly inspiring.

Ultimately, although I don’t know Kahan’s music like the back of my hand quite yet, I thoroughly enjoyed this concert experience. If you enjoy indie-folk music and have the time, I highly encourage you to give Stick Season a try.

Underrated Artist Spotlight

Searching for unique music to listen to so you can fuel your individuality complex? Or just looking for something new to spice up your music taste? Today, we’re highlighting some underrated artists* that will have you feeling like the main character in your own indie coming-of-age movie.

*Underrated can be an incredibly contentious term when discussing music, so for all intents and purposes, we’ll consider underrated to refer to artists with less than 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

HumorUs

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Based in Nashville, HumorUs produces vibrant, energetic music that provides an instant boost of serotonin. If you enjoy bands such as Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Grouplove, you’ll enjoy the feel-good sounds of HumorUs.

Songs to check out: “Labyrinth,” “Paranormal,” “Road Trip”

Florence Rose

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With sounds inspired by Cage the Elephant, Declan Mckenna, Gus Dapperton, and The Neighborhood, it’s no surprise that Florence Rose’s music is indie rock perfection. Heartfelt lyrics combined with danceable melodies make for a necessary addition to any indie rock lover’s playlist.

Songs to check out: “Boyfriend,” “Growing Pains,” “The Day We Met”

Sizzy Rocket

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If you’re a fan of Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama, and Charli XCX, make sure to check out the electropop sounds of Sizzy Rocket. She describes herself as “the cool best friend you wish you had growing up - the one who doused herself in glitter and moved to New York to start a punk band,” a sentiment that is certainly echoed in her music. Sizzy Rocket has also written music for recognizable pop artists such as Noah Cyrus, Bea Miller, and Hey Violet.

Songs to check out: “Rollerskating,” “Bestie,” “I KNOW WHAT U LIKE”

Cannibal Kids

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Indie-surf pop-rock band Cannibal Kids creates relaxing yet melodically joyful music that will appeal to lovers of groups like LANY and Cigarettes After Sex. If you want to feel like you’re lounging at the beach, Cannibal Kids is the band for you.

Songs to check out: “Falling in Love at Wii Sports Resort,” “My Boy / My Girl,'“ “Save Me The Time”

Bien

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Indie pop trio Bien produces music that will leave you in a dreamlike haze. Their music is peaceful but fresh, and fans of EXES or VÉRITE will appreciate their eclectic sound.

Songs to check out: “Times Like This,” “Spinning on Blue,” “Stars Across the Sky”

Black Pontiac

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Perhaps what is so special about Black Pontiac’s music is its ability to remain ever-so-energetic while still invoking a sense of nostalgia for nights long gone. I would especially recommend their music to fans of Ricky Montgomery and Ryan Beatty.

Songs to check out: “Kate Rambo,” “November State of Mind,” “School Girls”

Juco

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Juco’s music does an excellent job at capturing the feeling of youth. It’s perfect for both dance parties in your room and lying on your bed contemplating your life - that’s versatility!

Songs to check out: “Dance With Me,” “We Were Young,” “Take Me to Your House”

Dom Fera

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Dom Fera’s music immediately feels vivid and refreshing. Perfect for lovers of Declan Mckenna and Kid Bloom, it’s sure to make you feel like you’re transcending.

Songs to check out: “Breathe,” “Mothers and Fathers,” “Easy Thing”

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Why I'm Obsessed with Beabadoobee

Sitting at my desk, staring at Canvas as my three papers due next week hang over my head, while election-induced anxiety still hasn’t faded away and I’m perpetually on 6 hours of sleep, all I want to do is jump around my room and scream in unbridled, raging teenage angst. That’s where Bea Kristi comes in — or better known as beabadoobee, her stage name now but, once upon a time, merely her finsta handle — singing about everything I feel, but can never describe. She wrote her first ever song “Coffee” in 2017 which went viral in practically a few days, despite the fact that she only posted it online for her boyfriend to hear, and that she only learned to play the guitar in that same year. Now signed with Dirty Hit since 2018 alongside the likes of Pale Waves, she has been recognised by nearly every major magazine brand and publication, and is on billboards all across London; Matt Healy himself called her “the most exciting thing in rock music” while presenting her an NME Radar Award. Here are some of the reasons why I’m utterly obsessed with her, and why you will be too:

Her music

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There are too many songs to fawn over. Her first EP “Patched Up” feels like falling in love at 17, and the next one “Loveworm” is a hazy, bedroom pop tribute to her boyfriend Soren (with many great songs to feel emo to as you stare out of the window at a windy, bleak Hyde Park). “Space Cadet” shows her transition towards indie rock, breaking out of her bedroom walls and into the studio. To me, “Fake It Flowers”, her debut album, is by far the most alluring of her releases; appealing to every angle of adolescence, it truly is the closest thing I have heard to a soundtrack to growing up. Beabadoobee dances along a really beautiful line between bitter, I-don’t-give-a-flying-f*** energy (in “Care” and “Dye It Red”) and resigned disappointment and hurt (“Sorry” and “Further Away”) before accepting a peaceful forfeit to her feelings, still learning to not be scared of loving and trusting (“Horen Sarrison” and “How Was Your Day”). The album ends in a triumphant celebration of how, despite how being young is horrendously painful, it’s also the best time she will ever have; she looks forward with the rose-coloured glasses of being in love in “Together” and “Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene”. With Bea, you’ll scream and dance, and you’ll break down and cry, but you have each other every step of the way.

Her fashion

I didn’t know that Bea made music back in 2017, but I was a fan of her social media presence and style. Those of you who are fans of Unif might remember this photo from their Instagram account way back when:

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When she isn’t wearing Unif (or the occasional Brandy Melville hoodie: even she can’t stay away!!!), Bea wears outfits comprised almost entirely of vintage pieces, mostly from Depop, it seems. She collaborates extremely often with Depop user @notjusttrash, who provides her with what she calls “fairy” and “manic pixie” tops that are to be paired with baggy combat trousers or a mini skirt with argyle tights underneath that are more torn up than they are not. Finally, don’t forget the bubblegum pink grommet belt and trainers that I can only describe as either “hiking grandfather” or “10-year-old in a skatepark in the 90s” style: there is no in-between. Her blend of textures is amazing, like pairing a sequinned Aftershock camisole layered over a long-sleeved knit jumper with a silk midi skirt, black socks and black Buffaloes… yeah, just trust me, she makes it look good. She is also very much on board with the beaded necklace trend, sporting her favourite @ugly_accessories pieces, another Depop brand, on the daily.

Let’s not forget that she also starred in the campaign for Marc Jacobs’ Heaven collection, alongside Iris Law, Eileen Kelly and other “misfit creatives”. To top it all off… in her “Sorry” music video (directed by Soren and his team, Bedroom, who direct all of Bea’s music videos and also directed the video for “Me and You Together Song”) she wore a vintage Jean Paul Gaultier dress with gigantic black platform boots (seen below). Iconic, if you ask me.

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Her look

Perhaps the most noticeable feature of Bea’s look (other than her hair, which was once red and blue, but now is a more subtle bleach-blonde) is her signature heavily-winged and heavy-handed, smoked out black eyeliner, which she pairs with extreme fluttery eyelash extensions, or flared-out falsies. She also wears the most bottom-lash mascara I have ever seen someone wear. Additionally, she has multiple tattoos, spread far apart in a doodling-style, the way Pinterest and Tik Tok are currently drawn to. One, an “ugly face” on her forearm, was a stick-and-poke by Mac DeMarco in a karaoke bar in Dublin. Another set of two is above her kneecaps, “ELIJAH ROCKS”, written by her younger brother Elijah. She has many others, but perhaps the most cool of them all is a 4-frame Peanuts comic down the inside of her forearm. Looking at her tattoos, you’re bound to want one as unapologetic and unique.

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Her relatability

What really stands out about Beabadoobee, and explains her appeal well, is that she is really not so different to you and me. Born in the Philippines, her parents moved to London when she was 3 and raised her in North London. She has talked about how she felt like an outsider, not fitting in to the “rich, white” demographic of her all-girls school. Expelled from that institution, she learned to play the guitar, and focussed on her career in her final year of high school, to the point of receiving A Level grades she called “terrible”. The notion of a celebrity is changing, probably due to the popularity and variety of social media, and the appeal of a “perfect” celebrity is dwindling away (in the Western world, at least). She became a sensation from her bedroom! Bea’s story is a comforting one, especially for UChicago overachievers, since it has made me redefine the idea of “success” as someone who, like her, was pressured to excel academically at all times.

She may be friends with Matt Healy now but, only a few years ago, she had his face as her phone background. Dreams do come true!

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Album Review: songs

There are few voices in the indie music sphere right now more captivating than Adrianne Lenker’s. 

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, maybe you’ve heard of her band, Big Thief, the Brooklyn-based quartet who broke onto the scene in 2016 with their critically-acclaimed debut album Masterpiece. Since then, the group has released three full-length LPs— Capacity in 2017 and U.F.O.F and Two Hands in 2019— and Lenker has put out two solo albums of her own— abysskiss (2018) and songs (2020). (So it’s safe to say she’s been busy.)

Adrianne Lenker, photo by Genesis Báez

Lenker recorded songs in the spring of this year, in a one-room cabin in the woods of Western Massachusetts during the early days of the pandemic. She had escaped to the woods seeking a safe haven where she could recover from various disappointments that had recently arisen in her personal life, such as a canceled tour and a broken heart.

songs’s beauty lies in its ability to perfectly encapsulate the nuanced intricacies of human emotion in such a bare-bones, simple fashion. Lenker wrote nine of the eleven songs on the spot, and recorded the entire album using only her voice and an acoustic guitar. Most of the songs’ intros and outros are characterized by the soft strum of guitar strings and the occasional hollow pitter patter of rainfall or rustling of leaves in the background. The ambient nature sounds carefully layered over simple, almost austere melodies grant the listener a fully immersive auditory experience without drawing attention away from the rawness or intensity of Lenker’s lyricism. Its understated transitions make for a progression that feels remarkably fluid and natural yet unwaveringly intentional; each track seamlessly ties into and expands upon the themes of its predecessor without ever feeling repetitive or unnecessary. 

The opening track, “two reverse,” is like a gut punch and a warm embrace all at once. Lenker manages to tackle sadness, longing, nostalgia, intimacy, isolation, introspection, and the search for beauty and purpose where there appears to be none— all in the span of a mere 64 words. The second track, “Ingydar,” feels more like a sort of patchwork quilt in song form— fragments of memories haphazardly stitched together to compose a singular cohesive whole. Lenker’s lyrical mastery truly shines in the verses & pre-chorus as she explores and reckons with the cyclical nature of life and death:

Fragilely, gradually and surrounding

The horse lies naked in the shed

Evergreen anodyne decompounding

Flies draw sugar from his head
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His eyes are blueberries, video screens

Minneapolis schemes and the dried flowers

From books half-read

The juice of dark cherries cover his chin

The dog walks in and the crow lies in his

Jaw like lead

The song comes to a head at the chorus, a couplet which echoes the overarching sentiment of its verses: “Everything eats and is eaten / Time is fed”. The ensuing track, “anything,” follows a similar lyrical trajectory as Lenker continues to flex her dexterity with turn of phrase via lines like, "Staring down the barrel of the hot sun / Shining with the sheen of a shotgun.” Despite being a breakup song, “anything” is actually one of the rarer more upbeat moments on the record. The track stands out due to its discernible pickup in tempo and uncharacteristic levity in tone: 

I don’t wanna be the owner of your fantasy

I just wanna be a part of your family

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And I don’t wanna talk about anything

I don’t wanna talk about anything

I wanna kiss kiss your eyes again

Wanna witness your eyes lookin

“anything” is Lenker’s personal recount of her recent breakup, followed by “forwards beckon rebound” and “heavy focus,” which reveal the emotional turmoil Lenker experienced in the aftermath of said breakup. The sixth track, “half return,” follows Lenker as she returns to her hometown only to discover that it no longer feels like home: 

Minneapolis soft white snow

35 bridge, hometown

Half return, half return

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Standing in the yard, dressed like a kid

The house is white and the lawn is dead

The lawn is dead, the lawn is dead

“half return” is a personal favorite of mine; I think it appeals to me because mourning the loss of youth, romanticizing the past, and longing to return to a place that no longer really even exists anymore— at least not in same the way that it once did— are all part of the universal experience of growing up, a process I’m currently undergoing right now.

The next track, “come,” is a poignant glimpse into Lenker’s mind as she seeks to reconcile herself to the concept of her own mortality. And if “come” is a reckoning with death, then “zombie girl,“ “not a lot, just forever,” and “dragon eyes” are all celebrations of life and love, with Lenker looking back fondly on past relationships and experiences and meditating over the ways in which they’ve shaped her. The closing track, “my angel,” is a decisively satisfying conclusion to the 39 minute rollercoaster that is songs; “my angel” is Lenker’s ode to hope and optimism and rebirth and nature and beauty and acceptance and divine justice and and finding purpose and finally coming into one’s self. 

Ironically enough, songs doesn’t feel like a collection of eleven separate songs. Rather, the LP feels like one long song, almost a manifestation of Lenker’s stream of consciousness as she attempts to navigate through the trials and tribulations of life during unprecedented times— something pretty much everyone alive in 2020 can relate to. Songs is a tale of hardship and sorrow and grief and loss, yes, but it is also a testament to the human capacity for resilience and growth in the face of all possible odds, which is truly a beautiful thing.