A&E
R.A.R.E. to present Nightshift this Saturday
By Alex Witonsky ’17
October 20, 2016
Tags a+e
By midday Friday, an 18-wheel semi-trailer will leave Manhattan and cruise the final miles of I-80 towards Hamilton College. Its cargo, contained in tens of human-sized black boxes, is energetic, prehistoric stuff–some of it is even synthesized from shells, the ancient spirals of the nautilus.
If you were to ask Luke Gernet ’17, garden statue and President of Hamilton College’s R.A.R.E. (Relational Aesthetics and Related Endeavors), on his expectations for the prolix/mysteriously-named student organization this time last year, he would have laughed alongside fellow co-founder Chip Sinton ’16 at the thought of the club receiving an invoice for a delivery costing thousands of dollars. After all, the club’s original mission of “(re)creating artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and social context” was nothing more than a glib attempt at getting Student Assembly to pay for a few friends’ beer.
Yet, come Saturday night, and into the small hours of Sunday morning, R.A.R.E. is poised to reemerge as if from the proverbial chrysalis as Hamilton’s premier organization for on-campus cultural events–and, to use the slang of my peers, for hosting one lit party.
While winter is indeed coming (to echo a line-cum-slogan of a popular TV drama) and Hamilton will need its due supply of heating-oil, that job is contracted by the College to Griffith Energy in Rome, not to R.A.R.E.’s far-flung contact downstate. Besides, the chest-warming comforts of beer and harder stuff, perfect nostrums for the tropical frigidity of these 80 degree October nights, can be acquired at Hannafords, Clinton Wine & Spirits and Beer Here with proof of age and with as little as $6. So what exactly is the NYC company named Tsunami bringing to campus for R.A.R.E.? What is Nightshift?
In a word, energy, 125 thousand watts of it. Specifically, Nightshift will feature the world-renowned Tsunami Bass sound-system, which includes 30 subwoofers, 14 tops, and the one-of-a-kind WaVe platform, a dance-floor with speakers sown underfoot. Without getting too much into the technical specifications, it should suffice to say that a system like this is just as much felt as heard. What Luke describes as “wild bass-tones” result from a system six-thousand times more powerful in terms of raw wattage than an average guitar amplifier. Its LabHorn subwoofers house drivers inside of huge wooden frames in the shape of spirals to produce a unique, clear sound. If one were to put the Tsunami Bass sound-system in a china-shop, it would rip holes in paintings in a gallery across the street.
More than just a concert, Nighshift is a celebration of a soundsystem culture which has its roots in Jamaica. Originally made and owned by the itinerant DJs of 50s and 60s Kingston, sound-systems became a popular fixture at Jamaican street parties, offering local musicians a venue for their music outside of tired, expensive, and (worst of all) radio-friendly clubs. The use of sound-systems became so prominent by the middle of the 60s that they began to take precedence over live musicians.
At the expense of prehistoric practitioners of live music, the development of sound-systems ushered in new musical practices and genres–track modification, remixing and toasting or rapping over a track became chief elements in ska, dub and hip-hop. Overtime, and following the Jamaican diaspora to countries such as the US, UK and Canada, Jamaican sound-system culture left an indelible mark on world musical production.
Before Saturday’s concert, a bevy of workshops, panels and screenings will celebrate this rich musical tradition. On Wednesday [prior to the date of publication] R.A.R.E. will join with the Caribbean Students Association for a screening of Dub Echoes, a documentary on the history of soundsystems. Headliner Nomine will sit with members of the Tsunami Bass crew to discuss sound-system culture and electronic production from 4-5 p.m. Afterwards, Nomine will conduct a one-hour workshop and master class on how to DJ and produce electronic music.
Included in Nighshift’s diverse lineup is also a space (however wild) for the physical appreciation and interpretation (dance) of sound-system-culture’s origins. Providing the second act of the night, the crew of Tsunami Bass will play a roots set, a kind of musical tour of the history of sound-system production.
Professor of Music Samuel Pellman will open the show with a half-hour set starting at 9 p.m. Included in the lineup is Hamilton’s late-great alumnus Harrison King ’16 a.k.a. DJ Sharp Veins, a young old hand at turning many a Brooklyn basement’s concert goers into puddles of goop and underwear. Following Sharp Veins is Lil Jabba, signed to Panther Sounds which has housed the likes of Shlohmo and King Krule. Finally, headliner Nomine will take the stage at 12:30 a.m. and play an hour and a half set.
Assuming tickets have not been sold-out by the time of publication, they will be available at the door or by online-vendor Eventbrite. Two days to a weekend wicked and wild.