LU-aroo: The best of this year’s bands

By Margaret Koss & Katie Taber

The quad was definitely the place to be this weekend, with a variety of music, lots of free snacks, and an array of students from all parts of the campus. Overall, the weekend highlighted a variety of talentedmusical groups across Lawrence and in the Midwest area. It seems like it’s safe to say that we are all anxiously awaiting LU-Aroo 2015.

Friday:

5:00 p.m.- Too Many Triangles came to the stage. The band members include George Cadkin, Alex Babbitt, Colin Huggins, and Daniel Pallela.

5:45 p.m.- Beer Shower was the impromptu band put together especially for LU-Aroo. Ridley Tankersley, Ian Terry, and Luke Rivard became the band members and for their set covered three songs.

6:30 p.m.– Next up was Mokumbo. Mokumbo’s frontman Darnell Smitherson had the audience say hi to his mom on the phone. “I told her I broke my toe and she said, ‘Are you crazy? You have a show on Friday’ so you all need to say, ‘Hi Mom,’” he said.

7:45 p.m.– Frontman and sole member of Netherfriends, Shawn Rosenblatt came to the stage. As it says on his website, “when he performs live he uses 2 loop pedals and various instruments. He tries his best to dance like James Brown. He is always on tour and releases music like it’s the end of the world.”

9:15 p.m– The finale of the night was The Lonely Biscuits. The lead Grady Wenrich also asked audience members to send love to his mom. “Everybody throw an L up in the air!” Wenrich said, taking a picture of the audience. “My mom is gonna love you guys.” The Lonely Biscuits did not disappoint the hype surrounding them. Everyone was dancing and tossing beach balls back and forth—even the band members participated when the balls were thrown at them.

Saturday:

12:00 p.m.– The day began with a performance by EN and Fez. Sophomores Ian Pelton and Michael (Fez) Felzan make up this musical group of Lawrence students. The pair plays frequently across the Lawrence campus and has a familiar musical sound.

1:00 p.m.The Involuntary String Band took the stage. This musiscal group is composed of a fiddle, a mandolin, guitar, banjo, bass and vocal sounds. The genre is “redefining bluegrass, old time, and folk music through the fusion of contemporary sound” according to the group ‘s Facebook page.

2:00 p.m.HMELU, Lawrence University’s very own heavy metal ensemble, began their performance. This large group of Lawrence students is led by Calvin Armstrong and brought the quad a louder metal sound.

3:00 p.m.Wild Firth came to the stage. The group describes themselves as “some dreamy, beach Lawrentian dudes making music.”  This group of Lawrence students brought LUaroo a fusion of dream pop, indie, rock and pop music.

4:00 p.m.– Max Bowen and Mark McKee from Akrasis performed. This pair performs hip-hop music with the Max playing the trumpet and Mark covering beats and vocals.

5:00 p.m.This Hymns began playing. Their music can be described as  experimental or minimalist pop. Members include Michael Hilger, Justin Fernandez, Kyle Vegter and Seth Vanek. They are based in Chicago, Illinois.

6:15 p.m.Bode Radio took over the stage. Alex Yoffe and Spencer Herbert make up this two-man group from Chicago, Ill. Their music is a mixture of experimental, hip-hop and electronic genres.

7:30 p.m.Pillars and Tongues played their set. The group members are M. Trecka, Elizabeth Louise Remis and Ben Babbitt. Julian Cope referred to the group’s music as a “bizarre slew of haltering and faltering wilderness drone ballads.”

8:45 p.m.- Serengeti was brought to the stage. Serengeti is rapper David Cohn’s stage name. David Cohn is originally from Chicago, Ill. His music is from an alternative hip-hop genre. He has been releasing music since 2002.

10:00 p.m.– The final performance of the weekend was from Atlas Sound on Saturday night. Atlas Sound is the moniker of Bradford James Cox’s solo career. This performer was also seen acting in the 2013 film “Dallas Buyer’s Club.” He brought Lawrence a stream of consciousness style of music.