Established 1874.

The Oberlin Review
Established 1874.

The Oberlin Review
Established 1874.

The Oberlin Review

2024 Grammys Showcase Groundbreaking Women-Led Bands

Lucy Curtis, Arts & Culture Editor
February 9, 2024
ObieWrapped!

ObieWrapped!

Wiley Smith, This Week Editor
March 4, 2022
Popular Musicians at Oberlin

Popular Musicians at Oberlin

Lillian Jones, This Week Editor
November 22, 2019
SZA’s laid-back vibe and confident stage presence satisfied concert-goers. Her show sold out well before she took the ’Sco stage last Friday night to perform hits from her Liam McLean Staff Writer Bryan Eubanks, despite what some lis- teners may assume, does not aim to trans- gress. His intention is not to push boundar- ies. Instead, he describes his development as an electronic artist as an organic evolu- tion from his original work with acoustic instruments — primarily the soprano sax- ophone — to his current style, an elusive concoction of trance-like electronics, inte- grated acoustic sounds and ambient noise. Beginning at 8 p.m., Fairchild Chapel’s resonant dome became an echo chamber for a zealous hubbub of around 30 stu- dents. Two tables supported an eclectic ar- ray of electronic instruments. The front ta- ble was reserved for Eubanks and boasted an open-feedback synthesizer, a computer for samples and a transducer, a device that channels frequency through a metal plate to produce sound. The rear table was set up for William Johnson, a double-degree sophomore pursuing majors in Studio Art and TIMARA, who opened the eve- ning with a performance using a modular synthesizer. Johnson began with an improvisational performance involving synthesized drones and wails. The more unsettling elements induced visible wincing and ear-plugging among the crowd. His work seemed to capitalize more on sonic “shock value” than anything; the music lacked build, and the hellish din that exploded in the middle of the piece was gratuitous. The perfor- mance’s saving grace was a single descend- ing riff, the only melodic portion of the per- formance — and a surprisingly infectious one at that — which added a sense of cohe- sion to the chaos. Following a brief intermission in the whiplashed aftermath of Johnson’s perfor- mance, Eubanks took the stage, command- ed the attention of the audibly excited crowd with an unassuming, “Hey,” and pro- ceeded to fill the room with his uniquely organic sound. He performed his recent composition “Object,” a solo work that the Berlin-based artist developed on a February visit to the Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm. Ac- cording to Eubanks, the piece evolved from a number of fragments he recorded during this visit. “Object,” like most of his works, is continually explored and rediscovered through performance and improvisation, and has yet to be finalized. The artist, by his own admission, is also apt to explore sonic extremes, but his ex- ploration, particularly in Monday’s perfor- mance of “Object,” was sparse, deliberate and meaningful. Rather than bombarding the resonant room with an urgent cacophony, Eubanks let his music live and breathe in the space. The first sound was a sustained tone which he channeled through a small microphone. The tone’s emergence was so unobtrusive that it was difficult to pinpoint the exact moment of its materialization. Eubanks joined this raw undercurrent with the clap of two wooden sticks, a percussive inter- jection that recurred throughout the piece and served as the only deliberate acoustic sound that occupied the space during the improvised performance. The organic na- ture of “Object” made Eubanks’s simulated soundscape receptive to outside noises. The clicking of a pen, the rustling of a page, a passing car horn and a distant coughing fit seamlessly integrated into the chapel’s sonic centerpiece. Grounded by the tone that opened the piece, the composition evolved over the course of the performance into a cohe- sive collective of sounds: a noisy, jarring sample that became a recurring motif, an unsettling ringing from the transducer and the occasional murmur of white noise. As the music progressed, its sounds became decidedly more organized with a better- defined rhythmic pulse. The highlight of the concert was the deft interplay between Eubanks’ acoustic percussion of the clap- ping sticks, a sample of rhythmic beeps and a subdued bassline that merged to achieve an unexpected groove. Eubanks takes “shoegazing” to a whole new level; he remained fully fixated on his feet for the duration of the concert. While the resulting emotional disengagement might seem to be a limitation of a live per- formance, Eubanks, surprisingly, could not have presented a more charismatic stage presence. His lack of onstage flair seems intentional: the sound, not the artist, was the predominant force at Monday’s per- formance. While it may not appeal to the majority of concertgoers, Eubanks’ music is a sage and salient voice to the niche he’s created for himself, regardless of how unas- suming his persona may be. latest EP, Z.

SZA Delivers Vibrant, Playful Performance

Sam Winward
September 19, 2014

The Oberlin Review

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