By Ralah Sanadiki, News Correspondent
After the first week of spring semester, last Saturday’s January Jam was a musical reprieve for Northeastern students and performers. The show at afterHOURS was created for student musicians to showcase their unique talents and for students to grab some coffee, sit back and enjoy a bit of musical downtime on their long weekend.
Kira Novak, a graduate student and Northeastern’s assistant manager for event management, called together three groups of musicians on the New England post-rock scene to perform their compositions. The Sharpest, The Files and Fires and The La De Les all put forth their best performances with hopes of promoting their eclectic styles.
“Our aim here is to bring people together by mixing musical tastes and introducing new genres to essentially promote the underdogs of the music world,” Novak said. “We want them to have more face time.”
The Files and Fires, whose members come mostly from Connecticut, described their music as “dynamic” and driven primarily by the sounds of piano and guitar. They also use instruments that are somewhat less conventional, like Tibetan singing bells, white noise, subway trains and sleigh bells. Guitarists Ian Tate and Peter Recine, bassist Dan Semenza, violinist Jenny Moffett, drummer Mike Howard and keyboardist Tyler J. Smith came together in high school to form their musical talents and create the band’s ambient sound. Their music is both vocal and instrumental, placing particular emphasis on the individual impact of each player’s instrument.
Although they were quick to reject the comparison, their musical stylings are reminiscent of the now-popular music of Explosions in the Sky.
“We don’t like to think we sound like anyone,” Tate said.
Next up was The Sharpest, who contrasted The Files and Fires in speed and style. The band members are all from Massachusetts colleges – Suffolk University, UMass – Amherst and UMass – Boston. Guitarist and vocalist Matt Huszar described their music as being “fast, noisy and jazzy.”
The band’s Facebook page says the musicians formed The Sharpest at the 2009 Kaul Festival, where they performed covers of Arctic Monkeys’ songs.
Catchy tunes include songs titled “Of Lighthouse Personality” and “Chance Time on Liberty Sq.” The band’s Tumblr says they will be releasing their newest album “soon.”
Jadoun Naber, a junior economics major who attended the event, said he enjoyed it.
“[It was a] great way for students to wind down and express themselves, as member of the various bands or audience,” Naber said.
