The Vanderbuilts

The Vanderbuilts have finally come home. I’ve watched these guys since their first Battle of the Bands debut show — way back in 2010! — and mere days ago, they finally dropped their first full-length album. Here’s how it stacks up.

The Great:
The disc’s tight. Where last year’s EP, Far From Here, focused on sweeping societal disintegration, this one dials back, both in track-length and thematic material. The same dynamic instrumentation and lyricism are there, but the record emphasizes the mundane: relationships, pop sensibilities, and “Pennies & Dimes.” Sam Kogon, the group’s main songwriter, sings, “You can be my dove, take me right under your wing,” atop jaunty guitars and Aya Yamamoto’s fiddling, all of which work together to sculpt their folk-rock sound. They close out the album with the harder-rocking “Scratch,” which showcases the group’s vocal harmonies and powerful drumming from Grennan Milliken.

The Not-So Great:
I’ll be honest, it doesn’t sound as good as they do live, whether that’s in your friend’s off-campus basement, or in a real venue. Luckily, they’ll be playing with Brooklyn indie-poppers Cults this Wednesday at Syracuse University’s Bandersnatch show. I know I’ll be there.
- Unfold Magazine

The Vanderbuilts have been very busy. Sam Kogon, Gren- nan Milliken, Max Newland, Dave Riddell, and Aya Yama- moto have been hard at work, in the studio and on the stage, preparing for their forthcoming album. Here the band talks about their favorite music, how the band all
came together, and shoe-less recording sessions.
The Miscreant: How did you all come together as a band?
Sam Kogon: I had played gypsy and klezmer music with Dave and Aya freshman year in the dorms, just for fun. Dave was actually my neighbor in the dorms, so if either one of us was playing music, we could hear it easily and knock on each others door. Sometimes
we’d even play in our separate rooms and jam through the walls!
Grennan and I became close friends during this time, where both of our musical abilities be- came known to each other.
Max was introduced to me by our mutual friend Frank Hegyi, who both Max and I played with in separate bands at different times. By the time sophomore year came around, I was itching to start a group. I had recorded a solo ep during freshman year and felt like something was lacking during the entire process. I missed playing with others in a band.
So, I just sent the word out to Dave, Aya, Grennan, and Max. The rest was history.
TM: Does going to ESF together affect your music or how you play together?
SK: It certainly affects our music. It’s because of ESF that we all know each other. Besides that, going to ESF influenced our last release, Far From Here, a lot. After taking a class called “The Global Environment,” I was left in a strange state. Feeling hopeless for man kind, I stitched to together five songs that I felt expressed every different way I felt and still feel about our society. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beauty, it’s all there.
Grennan Milliken: No, going to ESF doesn’t affect our playing any more than if we went to SU or lived in Timbuktu...although living in Timbuktu would probably affect our style of music.
Aya Yamamoto: It does not really affect how we play together, but it probably affects the way I play. Having a thorough education in environmental issues affects the way I think and conse- quently the way I interact with the world. Playing music is one way I interact with the world.
TM: Did you have an idea of what instruments you wanted in the band before starting it, or did it form itself, in a way?
8
SK: Going into it, we all knew what instrument that each of us could play best. From there, we began experimenting with trading off instruments; Dave adding the banjo and squeeze box; etc.
GM: I don’t think we ever really thought about any other instruments besides the ones we knew each of us played already, but after getting together and working with different sounds we started throwing some other stuff in there. Thanks in large part to Dave’s wide range of instru- ments.
AY: It’s hard to say because we each have distinctly different influences. Much of the music we play together is retro-poppy, but my own influences include middle eastern, eastern european, americana, classical, avant-garde, and jewish spiritual music.
TM: Who/what are your main influences collectively as a band?
SK: If it isn’t apparent enough, 1960’s pop really shines through, especially on the up coming LP. We all share a profound love for The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Zombies. We all have our own eclectic tastes and time periods. Newer bands that we like include Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Foo Fighters, Wilco, and The Smashing Pumpkins.
GM: As a band I think some of our first couple of songs were most influenced by 60s pop type stuff, but I think we have really gone into another direction in terms of influence with every in- dividual’s personal influences coming out more in the newer music.
TM: How would you describe the music you play? Is how you categorize yourself chang- ing as you prepare for the upcoming release?
SK: I describe our music as music that I would want to listen to. While our sound changes song- to-song, I’d say you can always tell that it’s The Vanderbuilts playing on the record, which is something we are all very proud of. I think that how others categorize us will certainly change.
Comparing our last EP and the new album is like comparing night and day. We are constantly changing, which is not only refreshing for
our listeners, but for us as well.
GM: Hmm. I really can’t ever find words to describe what music we play. When I think folk...we have folk elements but aren’t a folk band. When I think pop...same thing...along with everything else. I guess we’re just the Vanderbuilts. I don’t mean that in an arrogant way. I just can’t think of a specific type of music that we totally fall
into. Alternative? That’s a safe guess.
AY: I would describe the music that the band plays as retro-pop- py. Again, this is quite different from the music I play myself. I do not really categorize myself, personally. I don’t think the band has
ever really categorized itself either. - The Miscreant

The Vanderbuilts have been very busy. Sam Kogon, Gren- nan Milliken, Max Newland, Dave Riddell, and Aya Yama- moto have been hard at work, in the studio and on the stage, preparing for their forthcoming album. Here the band talks about their favorite music, how the band all
came together, and shoe-less recording sessions.
The Miscreant: How did you all come together as a band?
Sam Kogon: I had played gypsy and klezmer music with Dave and Aya freshman year in the dorms, just for fun. Dave was actually my neighbor in the dorms, so if either one of us was playing music, we could hear it easily and knock on each others door. Sometimes
we’d even play in our separate rooms and jam through the walls!
Grennan and I became close friends during this time, where both of our musical abilities be- came known to each other.
Max was introduced to me by our mutual friend Frank Hegyi, who both Max and I played with in separate bands at different times. By the time sophomore year came around, I was itching to start a group. I had recorded a solo ep during freshman year and felt like something was lacking during the entire process. I missed playing with others in a band.
So, I just sent the word out to Dave, Aya, Grennan, and Max. The rest was history.
TM: Does going to ESF together affect your music or how you play together?
SK: It certainly affects our music. It’s because of ESF that we all know each other. Besides that, going to ESF influenced our last release, Far From Here, a lot. After taking a class called “The Global Environment,” I was left in a strange state. Feeling hopeless for man kind, I stitched to together five songs that I felt expressed every different way I felt and still feel about our society. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beauty, it’s all there.
Grennan Milliken: No, going to ESF doesn’t affect our playing any more than if we went to SU or lived in Timbuktu...although living in Timbuktu would probably affect our style of music.
Aya Yamamoto: It does not really affect how we play together, but it probably affects the way I play. Having a thorough education in environmental issues affects the way I think and conse- quently the way I interact with the world. Playing music is one way I interact with the world.
TM: Did you have an idea of what instruments you wanted in the band before starting it, or did it form itself, in a way?
8
SK: Going into it, we all knew what instrument that each of us could play best. From there, we began experimenting with trading off instruments; Dave adding the banjo and squeeze box; etc.
GM: I don’t think we ever really thought about any other instruments besides the ones we knew each of us played already, but after getting together and working with different sounds we started throwing some other stuff in there. Thanks in large part to Dave’s wide range of instru- ments.
AY: It’s hard to say because we each have distinctly different influences. Much of the music we play together is retro-poppy, but my own influences include middle eastern, eastern european, americana, classical, avant-garde, and jewish spiritual music.
TM: Who/what are your main influences collectively as a band?
SK: If it isn’t apparent enough, 1960’s pop really shines through, especially on the up coming LP. We all share a profound love for The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Zombies. We all have our own eclectic tastes and time periods. Newer bands that we like include Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Foo Fighters, Wilco, and The Smashing Pumpkins.
GM: As a band I think some of our first couple of songs were most influenced by 60s pop type stuff, but I think we have really gone into another direction in terms of influence with every in- dividual’s personal influences coming out more in the newer music.
TM: How would you describe the music you play? Is how you categorize yourself chang- ing as you prepare for the upcoming release?
SK: I describe our music as music that I would want to listen to. While our sound changes song- to-song, I’d say you can always tell that it’s The Vanderbuilts playing on the record, which is something we are all very proud of. I think that how others categorize us will certainly change.
Comparing our last EP and the new album is like comparing night and day. We are constantly changing, which is not only refreshing for
our listeners, but for us as well.
GM: Hmm. I really can’t ever find words to describe what music we play. When I think folk...we have folk elements but aren’t a folk band. When I think pop...same thing...along with everything else. I guess we’re just the Vanderbuilts. I don’t mean that in an arrogant way. I just can’t think of a specific type of music that we totally fall
into. Alternative? That’s a safe guess.
AY: I would describe the music that the band plays as retro-pop- py. Again, this is quite different from the music I play myself. I do not really categorize myself, personally. I don’t think the band has
ever really categorized itself either. - The Miscreant

NEW EP FROM THE VANDERBUILTS
by Arkansas native Andrew Mcclain

The Vanderbuilts’ new EP, “Far From Here” is a fine-tuned and well-tempered piece of pop rock music.
The Vanderbuilts display a fondness for older modes of rock music. They have a muted, hushed sound, they use a Rhodes organ and have a violinist. But their sound is far too progressive to pigeonhole them as being “retro” or anything hackneyed like that. Their use of violin is also likely to garner them a few comparisons to The Decemberists, but this comparison is less than apt, and a little lazy. They don’t have the same whimsy associated with The Decemberists, but might have one more closely related to The Kinks.
When I hear a group who plays together the way The Vanderbuilts do, I tend to assume that several of them have been playing together for a long time, pos- sibly since high school jazz band - but that’s just speculation. You get the feeling that they reign in the bit of jamming that they allow themselves to do - they jam with purpose. They display their virtuosity through the first half of the EP, and then break out into the one-and-a-half-minute “Hold Your Hand,” which could be a Big Star or Teenage Fanclub track.
The point of a good EP is to not have any filler, and “Far From Here” has none, and feels too short at less than fourteen minutes. It deserves several back- to-back listens, and could definitely be seen as a single piece of music. - The Miscreant

Review | The Vanderbuilts, Far from Here
SUNY-ESF's folk-rock fledglings wax apocalyptic on their first EP.

The Vanderbuilts, Far from Here
May 3, Self-released
Highly recommended

The Vanderbuilts played their first Syracuse University set at a Battle of the Bands. They won the night by way of enthusiastic folk-rock numbers and classic country instrumentation. Applause filled the dark Schine Underground as they finished, and all three judges expressed deep respect for The Vanderbuilts' foot-stomping showmanship.
In light of that debut, it's hard to imagine why the band's first EP sounds so quiet.

The Vanderbuilts dialed it down on Far from Here, an ambitious, many-nuanced concept album whose slow, delicate songs run together both instrumentally and thematically. Far from Here aspires not to the sing-along folk-rock that first got The Vanderbuilts notice at SU, but to something higher, maybe even smarter. These aren't songs as much as they are a suite. They work best as they've been given us: in order, at once, without distractions.

The EP's flowing medley tells the story of societal disintegration, starting with an instrumental and ending with a full-length ballad. With the exception of "Far from Here," the songs are short and unimpeachably sweet, none of them popping past three minutes. On each, the lyrics wrap around serious subjects like environmentalism, the death of modern civilization and the individual and collective responses to it.

It's heavy material for a college demographic, but frontman Sam Kogon and the rest of the band never waste an opportunity to wax apocalyptic. In fact, The Vanderbuilts fixate on themes of change, destruction, and uncertainty. The SUNY-ESF students show their environmental roots on "Tinfoil," which mourns a dystopia without stars or oil. The rawer-rocking song resounds with trebly guitars and lines like "No more light, no more oil / Makes these cars as good as tinfoil." Kogon's warbling vocals and Aya Yamamoto's affective fiddling bear a resemblance to Sufjan Stevens' early work — spooky, foreboding and eerily evocative, full of regrets and ghosts.

That eeriness also appears on "Ship of Ghosts," a mumbling, Wilco-esque number about a historical shipwreck — or a metaphor for the end of the world, as Kogon explained in an email. It's there again on album midpoint "Hold Your Hand," which shuffles around predominant guitars, Yamamoto's violin and a textured organ. "We are a collection of imperfections," Kogon says of humanity. "So even with the end of the world, all I still want to do is hold your hand."

But The Vanderbuilts are at their most foreboding and most powerful on closing ballad "Far From Here." On that track, we get characters with names and narratives that could have been lifted from Springsteen or Dylan. By the end, Kogon sings pressingly about setting broken institutions ablaze; his thin voice stretches desperately over lyrics on love and rapture.

Through drum breakdowns, guitar solos, and banjo and bass lines, they achieve a catharsis as effective as earlier favorites like "I'm Coming Home." But unlike "I'm Coming Home" and other numbers from The Vanderbuilts' Battle of the Band days, "Far from Here" sounds older, larger and less naive: the band isn't returning to a familiar place, but setting out for an unknown and possibly dangerous one.

It's curious that a group of 20-year-olds chose the apocalypse as a theme, especially on a sweet, meditative album like Far from Here. But at its core, the EP speaks less about tragedy, sweeping metaphor, or society, and more about how The Vanderbuilts' characters
confront all three. It's as much about the end of one world as it is about the beginning of a new one. In that way, this bittersweet first outing could only come from a young band: Far from Here narrates the end of an era, and college kids growing up can't help but feel the sting.

- Salt Magazine Arts & Culture

Keepin' It Real: Students To Watch
MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010

Once a month I'd like to showcase a student that's "KEEPIN' IT REAL".

Too often you meet people in life that are forgotten...

We meet on the train, the bus, in class, we share brief conversations about the weather and politics and we move on. Life is full of cliche encounters.

When I first met Keith Smith I knew that my life would never be the same!

Keith has a certain presence that demands your FULL ATTENTION. He's African American, stands at 6 feet 3 inches, and isn't an ATHLETE! This kid is responsible for redefining "thinking outside the box". You can't put him in a box - HE DOESN"T FIT!

Keith attends Syracuse University, where he is a student in the VERY prestigious Bandier Program (music industry).

Keith is surrounded by an industry of "who ya know" and "undeserved privilege", but has managed to keep his identity deeply rooted in his Kansas City roots and his tenacious attitude to MAKE IT OR DIE! Keith came from simple beginnings, and attributes his success to never settling for normality.

The reason I chose to spotlight Keith is largely to due to his AMAZING ATTITUDE and appetite for LIFE!

Among other things, Keith is the front man for The Fly. In a recent article in Jerk Magazine Keith was described, “It was like his body was filled with fists that punched out in different directions, all at the same time,”

Occasionally we need to see students that live their lives to benefit the world. We need to see that with enough hard work, talent, and the right attitude we can do anything!

This is PASSION! This IS Keith Smith.

Keep It Real.

Murph - Kickin' it with Murph (http://marcusmurphy.blogspot.com/)

20 WATTS VIDEO PRESENTS THE FLY
February 28, 2010, 3:08 pm
Filed under: 20 Watts Video, Emerging Artists, On-Campus Artists | Tags: Concerts, 20 Watts Radio, 20 Watts Video, The Fly

Video at: http://20watts.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/20-watts-video-presents-the-fly/

Even ice-cold Syracuse University has a little sizzle and spice, and The Fly are just that. This misfit group of hip-hop/R&B specialists provide a much-needed blend of contrasting style for the SU music scene. It’s not folk and definitely not remixed–it’s straight soul, power and urban rhythm. Led by the sassy and highly talented Keith Smith and Farasha Baylock, The Fly are a must-hear-now kind of act. Watch this video and you’ll see what kind of attitude and savvy dance moves they bring to the stage. Also, stay tuned for this Thursday’s live sit-down with The Fly on 20 Watts Radio!

–Jett Wells + Irina Dvalidze - 20 Watts Magazine

by SCOTT COLLISON

Bandier meets drama, the musical marriage begets The Fly.


Spectators question whether to gleefully cheer on The Fly or to fear for their own safety as the duo performs. Keith Smith regularly wraps the mic chord around his neck, flailing his limbs, all while passionately singing, even shouting, the lyrics. Farasha Baylock spits rhymes furiously, dancing with athletic polish, as she displays her theatrical roots.

Smith loosens his collar and tightens his slender black tie around his forehead, a musical Rambo preparing his characteristic set-ending freakout. As the final tune reaches a climax, both performers enter a spastic ecstasy — Smith crashes the cymbals behind him with his hands and Baylock returns from a frenzied run through the crowd. Catching their breath, The Fly give a reserved, gracious bow.

“It was like his body was filled with fists that punched out in different directions, all at the same time,” said Matt Gasda, a Syracuse University junior and audience member that night at Funk ’n Waffles.
Sophomores Smith and Baylock constitute the musical enterprise they’ve branded The Fly. In a year and a half, a music industry student and an actress have melded into a intertwined duo that brings an unnamable fusion of hip-hop, spoken word, rock, soul, funk, and R&B to the music stage and a formidable delivery to the theater.

“We literally started from a primitive state of ‘oh, I play piano, and I speak,’” Baylock said. “And now I’m a lyricist.”

“And I’m a rockstar,” Smith chimed in.

Smith described himself as the future “black Bono,” in his aspirations to bolster social consciousness with his sharp lyrics. In the past, he’s drawn comparisons to John Legend and more recently, people have said he looks like R&B visionary Raphael Saadiq. Someone in the audience at a recent show commented that Baylock resembled Janelle Monáe, the neo-soul indie phenom, whom the duo met last summer. Smith paraphrased wisdom Monáe offered them: “Be great, and change the world.”

This evolution has produced a sound and performance style outside of traditional genres. Funk the Police, The Fly’s supporting band, complements a unique sound with a four-piece funk rock attack.
Smith writes most of the music in collaboration with Baylock, filling out chord progressions with piano playing he’s developed since the age of three.

Both members share in the song writing equally, either in frequent writing sessions or late-night phone calls and e-mails. Sam Taylor, guitarist for Funk the Police and The Fly’s co-producer, said he and Smith then meet to translate the piano parts to guitar and work out rock arrangements with the rest of the band.

Choreographed stage movement fits into The Fly’s writing process just as much as words and music. At a recent show, Smith hoisted Baylock into the air with athletic flourish developed from years of playing high school basketball. She landed straddling him with her legs wrapped behind his tall, slender frame. The plan was for Smith to lift Baylock up over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, but he felt weak and couldn’t complete the maneuver. To cover the mistake, the duo seamlessly slid into a faux sex scene on stage.

Last semester, the two put on a theatrical production, “Mad Mad World.” They wrote and produced the whole show in two weeks, after a 2 a.m. epiphany led Baylock to call Smith with the idea. They performed the show in a small auditorium in Shaffer Art building — the only space available in such a short notice — and filled it to the brim for a two-night run. The play combined projected video art with snappy dialogue and social critiques in a series of vignettes where Smith and Baylock took on a variety of characters, from a Steve Urkel-type nerd to a homeless prophet.

“Before ‘Mad Mad World’, we had never worked this close to each other for this long on something this big — and this was a monster. At the end of it all, it was like an answer of ‘yes, we can work together as a duo,’” Baylock said of the production.

The artists grew up in geographically disparate circumstances, but both managed to develop an artistic hustle that gels well on the Hill.

“My analogy is that I was born in Brooklyn and my parents were there on vacation and robbed me from my natural environment,” Smith explained about his childhood in Kansas.

He was always a “weird kid” and creativity provided his only refuge, spending hours at the piano until his mother forced him to stop so she could sleep. Smith’s parents didn’t allow him to listen to secular music, but he’d sneak over to the used CD store with his weekly $25 allowance and grab whatever albums looked the best, building an eclectic love for classic rock and R&B greats.

Baylock was raised in Queens, N.Y., attending LaGuardia Arts High School in the Upper West Side and eventually stumbled into acting.

“It was my ticket out of going to a bad high school with the risk of becoming pregnant, dropping - Jerk Magazine