Tag Archives: stanford

Kafka, College and Hip Hop: Catching up with K. Flay

Posted on February 22, 2011 by | 3 Comments

Stanford-cultured hip hop. (Photo: Emily Ibarra)

When we first saw K. Flay in 2007, she was Kristen Flaherty, a Stanford senior closing out the last few months of her college career. Back then, K. Flay was an oddity, a female student-slash-rapper whose only claim to fame was a cameo on a free college mix and random campus shows. Oftentimes those college performances, like the one we saw her at, were a trek, where she’d proceed to rap to anyone–like students studying at a coffee shop–that would lend half a second to listen.

Fast forward a couple years, and K. Flay is still an oddity, albeit one that has channeled musical intuition into a genuine pursuit. She’s found a niche at a time where the rap landscape has shifted to include the likes of college-educated lyricists like Das Racist and Chiddy Bang, all with a do-it-yourself approach that has her rapping over handpicked samples and self-instrumentation. Returning to The Bay for Noise Pop 2011, K. Flay is fresh off a UK tour and is set to release new material this spring. We talked with the Stanford alum before her Wednesday show at the Independent about her life before touring, Anglican dance battles and her role in launching the phenomenon known as Bieberfever.

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Treeswinger Radio Playlist 1/13/11

Posted on January 13, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Where the magic happens. (Photo courtesy of shavedneck.com)

It seems like we’re always growing these days at treeswingers and 2011 has brought with it a new adventure into the world of radio. The lovely folks at KZSU 90.1 FM Stanford gave us the opportunity to broadcast our noise to those in the Bay Area, allotting us a 1:00-3:30 PM slot every Thursday. If you’re in the area, tune in to our show. If you’re not you can still listen in by streaming us to your computer. We’ll be posting our playlist at the end of each show,which comes directly from the station’s playlist compiler. Feel free to request songs by e-mail, Facebook or Twitter and check us out every Thursday at 1.

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Steve Aoki and Kid Sister at Stanford 11/16/10

Posted on November 17, 2010 by | 5 Comments

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Photo: Brian Valdizno

Everyone knows we’ve had our doubts about Stanford Concert Network. Earlier this year at Enchanted Broccoli Forest, Das Racist performed just four songs as speakers and equipment failed around them in a truly disappointing show. Last year, Yeasayer was mediocre at best, straining themselves to put together a coherent hour-long set without losing interest.

This time, however, things were a little different as SCN took things a little more seriously. They traded in a crowded co-op for the vast expanses of a 1,000-person capacity multipurpose room, found some working speakers and booked arguably the biggest set of acts this campus has seen since The Roots played four years ago. Bravo, SCN.

Relaxing in his infamous blowup raft before the show, Steve Aoki represented an artist in his prime–a globetrotting DJ whose fanbase spans LA club rats to European house purists. More than 10 years removed from college life , Kid Millionaire returned to a land of academia–a realm where he first made a name for himself booking more than 450 artists to play his legendary Pickle Patch at UCSB. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind–a decade of musical exploration, savvy business moves and personal reincarnations: audio enthusiast, hardcore band leader, living room concert promoter, Dim Mak founder and, finally, DJ. Smiling behind his trademark beard and wild black locks, Aoki was ready–only leaving to take a 15-minute nap to shake of the jet lag. After all, it was only Stanford right? Continue reading →

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Trying to keep up with Das Racist

Posted on October 6, 2010 by | Leave a comment

This was scheduled as an interview. We thought. But after sitting down with Das Racist in a cramped Stanford University dorm room following their performance at the Enchanted Broccoli Forest last Wednesday, we realized it would be anything but your average Q and A. As soon as the film started rolling, Victor Vazquez–sporting a new-found white dress and his trademark beard–turned the interview into his own personal shout-out session, sending love from Bakersfield to Milpitas and, later, from MGMT to the 908, which apparently is somewhere in New Jersey.

While we got some punches in, Das Racist moved like Ali, dictating the exchange and ensuring that the talk went as fast as each member could drop the next obscure reference or commentary. What resulted was a “Before and After” tangential conversation, as they drifted from talking about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to Vazquez’s “favorite NASCAR driver,” the similarly monikered Tom Petty.

And let’s not forget the illicit activities, Himanshu “Hima” Suri covering himself with his jacket for half the interview and Ashok “Dap” Kondabolu’s tales of the MIT party scene.  Joking, serious, half-joking, half-serious or simply batshit crazy, Das Racist proved to be a hilarious handful, and we’re lucky we could just hang on for the ride.

Das Racist- Hahahaha JK (download)

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Das Racist at Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Posted on October 1, 2010 by | 4 Comments

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They were kind of made for each other, weren’t they? The perfect combination, if you will, one part, Das Racist–the Brooklyn-via-Wesleyan upstart, indie rap trio–the other half, Enchanted Brocolli Forest–Stanford’s quaint little co-op with Dark Side Of the Moon splattered on walls and the perma-ganj smell ground into the carpet.

Thursday night at EBF was supposed to be a mashing of minds, rap’s cultured intelligentsia meets the Harvard of the West to give a little hip hop lesson. Unfortunately while the passion was there, the technological backing wasn’t, as the music was obscured by everything from failing speakers, cochlea-puncturing feedback and a DJ that didn’t quite get what “beats up, vocals down” means.

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