Arts and Entertainment
IMF to host John Vanderslice, SL Supreme
By Nick Pappageorge '14
April 12, 2012
With his Emerald City album on the cusp of “universal acclaim” on Metacritic and his 9/11-influenced album Pixel Revolt at a coveted 8.3 by Pitchfork Media, indie music veteran John Vanderslice comes with high praise and will be performing at Opus next weekend along with Hamilton’s own SL Supreme. Given Pitchfork’s reputation for brutal honesty, this is certainly a musician worth seeing.
Active in the industry for over ten years, Vanderslice is an accomplished performer and has shared the stage with prominent acts like Death Cab For Cutie, Spoon and Deerhunter. On on his past tours, he featured acts like Sufjan Stevens and St. Vincent before they went on to greater fame.
Vanderslice’s music is generally comprised of warm, acoustic strumming not unlike the indie-pop of The Shins or Nick Drake. On rare occasion, his melodies are backed by a simple synthesizer. His voice evokes the glowing harmonies of James Mercer (The Shins) and the pitch holds of Zach Condon (Beirut).
Also known for his topical lyrical content, Vanderslice infused the politics of 9/11 into four songs of Pixel Revolt and made heavy reference to the Iraq War in Emerald City. With this year’s drought in quality musical events at Hamilton, John Vanderslice is a must-see.
Opening the show will be Steve Luchetti ’12, perhaps better known for rapping under the name SL Supreme. Instead of hip-hop beats, however, SL Supreme will be performing an eclectic mix of guitar-based songs. The senior is “trying to perform as much as humanly possible before graduating.”
Described to be in the same vein as John Mayer melodies, only sung in the gritty style of Atmosphere, he also plans on performing some folksy harmonica-infused songs, as well.
Luchetti has been a musician since fourth grade and cites the Avett Brothers, Bright Eyes, Eric Clapton, Iron Maiden and Bob Marley as his primary influences. The promising rapper has a penchant for original lyricism and may be performing some brand new songs. If it is anything close to the energy of his past Annex performance, he should prove to be a very exciting opener.
The concert takes place Sunday, April 22nd at 7pm in Opus.