Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
As you’ve seen by the very obvious influx of “New Scene, New Paltz” articles, I’ve been very, very busy. I’ve met with multiple artists so far on SUNY New Paltz’ campus, and they’ve all changed my view on the music scene for the better. I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with all of the musicians I’ve befriended, but it’s a beautiful feeling. The connection I feel with the community here has heightened, and it’s only getting higher from here. This past Tuesday in the SUNY New Paltz Student Union Building lounge, I sat with Matt Motherway and Jack Salzman, who make up the New Paltz-based indie band Man’s Mother. They released their first EP under this name, Scudder Sessions, this October. Since then, they’ve been releasing singles and demos on their Spotify and Soundcloud. Their newest release, a two song EP titled For The Better, was just put out this Friday. I take a psychology class with Matt, and I’ve been listening to their EP and singles a lot lately. This was definitely an interview I was very excited to conduct. Alli: At what age did you guys start making music together? Matt: We were in 6th grade, we were in DMJ Squared, a stupid pop band. We played, like, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and what was the other one… Jack: He was drumming, I was playing guitar, and there was no bass player. It was totally switched. Matt: There were two singers, that we’re friends with now, but it was awful. Oh, we played Neon Trees, and we would perform in, like, talent shows. So yeah, that was like the origin of it. God, that’s disgusting. Alli: Oh my god, Neon Trees. I forgot they existed. Now, I feel like I know the answer to this already, but what’s the meaning behind your band name? Matt: Oh, it’s so deep... Jack: Is it deep? Matt: Not at all. My last name is Motherway, and his last name is Salzman. Jack: But that’s not even why I said it though! I don’t even know why it came out of my mouth. I think we were just talking about “mother…" Matt: Yeah, no. When he said that, I didn’t even realize it until he explained. I think it has such a cool ring to it. Like if you don’t know our last names, I think it’s so cool, but once you know our last names it’s like “Oh, that was so not creative.” Jack: Some people didn’t get it though! Matt: I didn’t get it, and I’m involved... Alli: Yeah, I kinda figured it was your last names, but it just sounds coincidentally awesome. Who are some of your biggest inspirations musician-wise? Matt: We have some different ones. Recently, while we’ve been writing the stuff that we’re putting out now, I’ve been listening to a lot of Bon Iver, huge inspiration for both of us, Ray LaMontagne, and I listen to The 1975 constantly. But inspiration-wise, I’d say definitely John Mayer, I can’t lie and say he’s not an inspiration. Jack: For me, I guess, Ben Howard is big with the acoustic stuff. Grateful Dead, we’re not even realizing it, but they play a huge part in our music, especially the way we play live. Mac Demarco was also a huge inspiration for synths in our music. Alli: What do you want people to feel when they listen to your music? Matt: Wow. Um...lemme sit on that for a sec. I guess the stuff that we’re putting out Friday, that’s like, happier than our other stuff. It’s more up-tempo. Jack: I think there’s potential in all of our songs to travel with the music, in a sense. I think that’s a cool dynamic to have with a crowd, they could, like, feel it. They could feel where it’s going. Matt: Lyrically, half of the shit I’m saying doesn’t necessarily make any sense, but it works in our favor, because you can kinda interpret it however you would like. Everyone will interpret it differently. But it’s more about the connection. You can just enjoy it in however way you internalize it. Alli: I was gonna tell you guys how your songs make me feel before, but I didn’t want to influence your answer. *laughs* I get a very warm, welcoming, and just a very comfortable vibe from it. Jack: Yeah. “Love U,” it’s just trippy, man. It just feels like a dream Alli: Yeah, I agree. Huge fan of that single. You recently came out with your first EP, Scudder Sessions. What was the writing/recording process of that like? Jack: That was fun. That was one of the best weeks ever. All of the songs Matt pretty much had a base for. We wrote one from start to finish here, by the lake. Matt: Yeah, “From Delaware.” We sat down by the lake and wrote that one. But all the other ones have been in the bank for a while. We went to my dorm room in Scudder Hall, and put a mic in the middle of the floor and sat on the sides of it. We just sang and played guitar. It’s pretty much a live album. We don’t know what we’re doing mastering or mixing wise, so it’s not mastered or mixed at all. We just recorded it and put it out there. It was wholesome, I loved it, but I would love to remaster it at some point. Alli: For the “Best Of” album, for the “Greatest Hits!” But yeah, I loved that vibe, personally. I felt like I was in the dorm room with you guys, like just sitting there on the floor, while listening to it. And also, I really like the designs of your newest single covers. They totally fit your sound. Matt: Ohhh, where is he?! Alli: Oh, it’s a guy who makes them? I was gonna ask if you guys make those covers yourselves! Jack: No, we have no artistic ability whatsoever. Matt: No, none at all. It’s our friend who makes them, he also goes here. His name is Paulie, He makes all of them, but he’s super scared about putting them out. He’s in our Spotify Bio, it says all artistic aspects courtesy of Paulie Tucci, and he’s like, scared, to be put out there. Jack: He’s a graphic design major! It’s good stuff! Matt: Yeah, I really love what he did with the Scudder Sessions cover, and what he’s doing with the singles. Alli: Yeah, it is! Like the crumpled paper effect? How does he do it? I love it! Matt: I have no idea, but I love it too. It’s so cool. Alli: Right?! He deserves the recognition. How are you enjoying the New Paltz music scene so far? Jack: I can see it in everyone, everyone is really into music to an extreme degree here. Matt: I like that, that a lot of people are involved in it, and pretty much everyone is interested in it. We went to one show, at the Skatehouse I think, and I like the vibe. We just have no idea, personally, how to get involved. Like we’re putting out music and stuff, but… Jack: I’m sure eventually it’ll be easier. Matt: Yeah, hopefully we’ll try and figure it out. I saw Andre (Sleeked)’s answer, and I was like “Yeah, that’s kinda true, too.” His was like “It’s a lot of the same sounds,” and you and I both agree with it. Not even the same exact band, but a similar type of music. Like the show we were at, it was all kind of punk rock-ish, which I can appreciate, but I just feel like there needs to be a little more diversity. Alli: Yes, exactly! And hopefully, you guys get booked, because I feel like a nice little acoustic show would be a good change. It’s weird, when I first started asking that question, I thought everyone would be like “Oh, I love it,” but then everyone was like “Actually...there are some issues.” *laughs* I really hope that all gets fixed. Matt: I feel like if everyone’s aware of it, then hopefully it’ll start to fix itself. Alli: Yeah, it definitely has the potential to do that. But that’s why I keep on asking that question, because I like the topics that are being brought up. My last question is...what’s next for the band? Are you guys looking to release a full length album soon? Jack: Yeah! Right now, in total, we got like 16 or 17 songs? Matt: I think we have a good amount of songs that we’re probably gonna split into two albums, like two 8 or 7-song albums. Jack: And right now we’re trying to figure out how to perform it live. Matt: It’s hard with two guys to get all of the production and everything set up. But yeah, hopefully by sometime next year after the long winter break, we’re hoping to put out one of the two albums. Jack: I just wanna play live so badly here. Matt: Yeah, that’s our biggest thing. Before we put an album out we want to get a live performance together. ~~ Thanks so much to Matt and Jack for taking the time to sit with me and answer my questions! I really love their sound, and I hope you do, too. I can tell that they’re going to do great things, and hopefully they play a live show sometime soon. Listen to Man’s Mother on Spotify! Follow them on Instagram!
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If you’re a New Paltz student who enjoys the house shows in the area, the name “Skatehouse” should be very familiar. It’s the closest venue to campus, in a quaint little house hidden in the trees. I wrote an article about my first show there in September, and have gone to multiple shows since then. It’s probably my favorite venue that I’ve been to yet, because the bands are always spectacular, the basement is always decorated to the theme, and the people are just great. I always have a great time, and I love moshing with my friends and enjoying the music. One person in particular I’ve noticed promoting the house constantly, and overall is very passionate about the shows there is Connor. Not only does he live in the Skatehouse, he also is in charge of the Skatehouse Instagram and all things social media-related for the shows. I’ve wanted to talk to Connor for a while, but one event in particular made me even more curious about the Skatehouse. On November 1st, 2019, the house hosted a Halloween Hangover show. The lineup was great, it was being promoted nearly every day, and it was looking up to be the perfect show. I arrived at the very start, and I immediately noticed that the vibes of this show were slightly off. It was overflowing with people. Usually, a lot of guests attend the shows, but this time, it was too much. I couldn’t even get to the basement, and was stuck in a sea of people who saw it as a normal house party, and were there just to be out of the dorms on a Friday night. It wasn’t about the music anymore in my eyes, and as the cops came to the driveway and began to shut it down, that became pretty apparent. There was supposed to be another Skatehouse show on November 15th, but all show activities were stopped after the shutdown. “We hope you all had a blast at the shows at Skatehouse,” read an Instagram picture posted on the Skatehouse Instagram two days after the event. Countless users flooded the comment section of that post, expressing gratitude and sadness. “Skate house will never die,” and “Gone but never forgotten,” are just two examples of all of the love guests were sending. Seeing these comments made me upset, but also confused. Is this the end of Skatehouse forever? Will they ever try again to put on the great shows they once hosted? Refusing to believe this was the end, I met up with Connor in SUNY New Paltz’ Atrium and got to the bottom of how the Skatehouse started up, how it operates, and what the future holds. ~~~ Alli: Could you tell me a little bit about the origins of the skatehouse? Connor: So…*laughs* We bought this house from our landlord, and, I don’t know, I’ve always wanted to host shows there, so last year I got into contact with the Lavender Ladies which is Denise and Elana, and they asked if they could have a show in our basement. So, we said yeah, and they did that, and it ended up being really cool. I realized, “This is what I wanna do, I wanna start hosting things.” I just completely took over the social media aspect of it, like making Skatehouse into an actual platform and venue. Slowly but surely, we transformed the basement from what it was into a stage and completely decorated it everytime. I don’t know...it just became really...like so much fun. I love it. Alli: Were there any venues previously, before the Skatehouse? Connor: So last year, there was Crossroads, but it was closer to campus back then. Like right across the street near the high school and middle school. You would cross the road and it would be right there. Alli: Oh. That’s why it’s called Crossroads! Connor: Yeah! You cross the road and you’re there! And then there was Nacho House. It was ran by the people in the band Winnebago Vacation and TOP nacho. And they had shows, like, all the time. It was insane. There were so many bands. They ended it off with Nacho Fest last year, where they had an all day thing where 20-30 bands played. Because Nacho House is gone now, and Crossroads is a little further, I wanted to make something that was more apparent to New Paltz, to kinda keep the music scene alive and to bring it back a little bit more, because it was falling out and leaving with the people that were maintaining it. I don’t know, I wanna keep the music scene alive. I really want to. Alli: Why is it called the “skate” house? Connor: Ummm…*laughs* So...I don’t really know. Someone asked me once, I’m pretty sure it was Denise or Elana, “What is this called?” so they could put it on the poster, and we were all joking around at first calling it “Skatehouse,” and I just didn’t know what to say, so I just said that. And it just became that. Now we’re changing it to Mountain Dew house. Alli: Oh my god, really? Connor: No. *laughs* Maybe. I don’t know. But we’re trying there. Alli: Who makes up the Skatehouse, and what is your role in the house? Connor: There’s Jack, there’s Ben, there’s Duncan, there’s Matt, there’s Brandon, there’s Koby, there’s Eddie, there’s Danny, there’s Peyton, there’s me...I think that’s everybody. I hope I’m not forgetting anybody. Pretty much what I do is the social media aspect of everything. I advertise, I book the bands, I talk to the other venues, I get the equipment set up, I talk to the people for the doors, the people running the PA system, the photographer. Everybody helps prepare and clean up after the shows, which is nice. I’ve decorated a little bit, and Ben helps do that as well. It’s very easy to do. It sounds like a lot of work, but I’m really prepared for it. And I love to do it, it’s one of my favorite things to do here. Alli: Yeah, I’ve learned that in a way. For the Music Collective here I was in charge of booking the bands for this upcoming show on December 7th. I had to reach out to the bands and negotiated, and it was so much fun! I had to send them the paperwork, I felt like such a professional person. Connor: It’s so much fun! It’s so great. You get, like, a sense of independence. You get a look into what the business is like. Alli: Yeah, exactly. It’s like, if I want to go into the business, now I know what it consists of. Next...what is the show preparation process like? Connor: So basically, what I’ll do is go into the basement, look around, clean it, get whatever is left down, I vinnegar-ed the floors completely, and washed them to get rid of any smell that was left. It rained and we left a window open, so we had to get rid of the carpet because it got all messed up. We have three electronic lights that connect and make cool little animations, we have shower curtains that we put on the sidings of the wall that makes it look kind of like white plating that the lights can go on, which is cool. The sound system comes in at around 7, before the show which usually starts at 9. I set up the GoPro to record the crowd. The camera guy usually comes at 8, the door people come at 8. All the equipment people just start coming in, and yeah! I don’t know! It’s pretty easy once they all start coming. It all just comes together, really. Alli: I was running these questions past my friends, and this was the one that everyone wanted to know the answer to. How long does it take to completely clean the house after a show? Connor: Um…*laughs* I don’t know. Don’t come into our house. It’s been a while. After our third show, I think, I realized that it usually takes so long to clean it after, so I went down the day after and cleaned the whole entire basement. Honestly, the upstairs is usually clean, so it varies. We can either take a day or a month. Depends on how we’re feeling, and, to be honest, we have not been feeling very urgent lately, so.... Alli: Do you have a favorite band that has played at the Skatehouse? Connor: Ah! Oh my God, Run for the Whales, obviously have been incredible. I love them. They’re all great. Greenhouse Lake was incredible, Koalamode is so good. It was just all great. I loved it. It was so much fun. Alli: Yeah, I agree. I loved when Run for the Whales covered “Sugar We’re Going Down” at that one show...That was definitely my favorite mosh of the night. Connor: Yeah! And then “Build Me Up Buttercup!” That was so cool. Sean Brennan is my hero. Alli: I understand you make music as well, under… Mono Neko (pronounced Moe-Noe NEE-koe). Who are some of your inspirations? Connor: I don’t really know how to describe my music taste, because it changes a lot. My inspirations are kinda just who I’m listening to at the time. A couple big ones are Hippo Campus, I love the way they’ve been sounding lately. I’m super into a lot of the indie bands. I love Wallows. Deerhunter is great, they’re a little more rock. If you’ve heard “PRIDE.” by Kendrick Lamar, it has the same vibe as an indie artist like Steve Lacy, and how he makes things. Anything that sounds spacey, and makes me feel like I’m in the 80s, basically, I’m inspired by. Alli: Out of all of the Skatehouse shows you’ve had, which one was the best? Connor: I don’t wanna say the last one, but...Okay. The most successful in terms of everything going great, everything was perfect, was probably the one before the last one, the one on 10/25. That was an incredible show. We had Winnebago Vacation, bby carrots, Run for the Whales, and Vanity Jones. That was an incredible show. But, I think I have to pick the last one. The one where we got shut down. Playing in front of 400 people throughout the night coming in and out at our 11/1 Halloween Hangover show, that was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life. So I would say that’s my favorite show. Alli: Yeah, my next question was actually about that. The Halloween Hangover show got shut down a few weeks ago. How do you feel about it, and what’s the next step from here? Connor: So, right now, we’re on a bit of a hiatus, indefinitely. Not really sure what’s going on. All I can say is we now have so many places in the community that are all connected. Even if Skatehouse isn’t running, there’s Sanctum House, Sanctuary, Crevice, Crossroads, Groove Grove, and Crazy Dan’s. There’s still a community. I think for Skatehouse right now, we’ll probably be on hold for a little while, and that’s pretty much all I can confirm right now. But it was great, it was so much fun when we had it. Stay tuned, I guess, for something maybe not involving Skatehouse, but something else, who knows? And stay tuned for the Skatehouse Instagram, we’ll definitely be posting a lot there. Alli: Exactly. We can only go up from there. I mean, I was there for the last show, I left early because there was a situation going on, and I remember seeing a police car in addition to that. Personally, I saw many people I knew at the house that night. There was nothing else going on that night, the frats were dead and I guess the bars were as well, so people who aren’t really into that scene came. The basement was dead but the pong table upstairs was popping, and that’s what upset me about it. It wasn’t for the music. Connor: Yeah, there was a separation. If you went downstairs, you saw all the people involved in music, but upstairs was like a house party. Originally, we always wanted it to just be for the music, but...I guess that we learned from our mistakes, and move on from there. It’s not fun. But hey, that’s the risk you take. Alli: Yeah, especially being so close to campus and all. My last question is, what’s your favorite part about living in the Skatehouse? Connor: I love everybody in there. It’s great. It’s so much fun. I...we’re not a frat! We’re not! I don’t know, it’s just fun. I wake up in the morning, I go to class, and then I come home and there’s always something to do. Everyone’s so much fun. I’m in there with my best friend Eddie, which is great, because he’s always there too. Everyone I moved in with that I didn’t know prior, they’re incredible. They’re all great. They’ve all helped so much. I do all the technical stuff online, but that’s mostly just because I like to make sure that everything’s set. Brandon’s helped me with crowd control, and making sure things are staying safe. Pretty much everyone has helped the place stay clean. Eddie has helped make the posters. He sets up the blackboard, if you see it, he always makes the best designs. Ben and Matt redesign the living room every couple of days before a show just to see what they can switch up. Koby and Danny sweep up the entire driveway to make a path, which is awesome. Yeah, no, everybody has been contributing pretty equally, and have just been making it a lot of fun. It’s great, I love everybody there! Alli: Yeah, and I’ve seen it in your expressions at the shows, and on your Instagram and the Skatehouse Instagram, you seem very passionate about the music scene here and I really appreciate that. I come from Staten Island, and there’s some scenes, some people, but you really have to dig down if you want to find it. Connor: Yeah, I genuinely love it. ~~~ The Skatehouse may be on a little bit of a hiatus, but the music scene here at New Paltz is alive as ever. With venues all across the town, there are so many places to go and so many people to see. Some of these venues may be a little far for people without cars, but carpooling and Ubers are a thing in this day and age! Don’t let the Skatehouse shutting down steer you away from the scene as a whole. There are many other great places that you can support to keep the scene alive. I’m hoping that one day in the future the Skatehouse makes a return, because I had some of the best nights of my first semester of college in that basement. Seeing classmates and friends, making new ones, discovering new bands, and just seeing everyone happy and enjoying themselves were all great things to do there. So, to answer my question of this being the end of Skatehouse...it’s not a definite no. After talking to Connor and getting a better understanding of the lore of the Skatehouse, I don’t think that this is the end of the road. It’s just a minor setback. Stay posted on what the Skatehouse does next by following their Instagram! Follow Connor on Instagram! Listen to Mono Neko on Soundcloud! My first semester at SUNY New Paltz has been a very enlightening experience when it comes to music. Not only have I met people that have the same exact tastes as me, but I've come across so many new bands and artists. I've also discovered that the best part about going to a smaller (and artsier) college is the connections you have. Songwriters can be anywhere, like the classmate that sits next to you in your psych class or your friend's friend that's sitting at your usual spot at the dining hall one day. One up-and-coming artist I've had the pleasure of befriending this semester is Anika Leetmaa, also known as 3crulee. In the few songs she has released, she shows her skills as a bedroom pop artist and also as a linguist. In the comfort of Bouton Hall on a crisp but chilly fall afternoon, I talked to Anika about her history as a songwriter and her career, one that's just taking off now. Alli: Alright, my first question for you is, what is your earliest memory of making music? Anika: It was probably my sophomore year, well, that was writing my own music. I've been playing piano, guitar, and viola since I was probably 6 years old. That was just sheet music and covers, but sophomore year is when I started messing around on guitar trying to make my own chord progressions. For the longest time I was having trouble coming up with lyrics and stuff. I'm not really a poet, and at that point I wasn't very experienced in love or anything, so I had no idea what to write about. Junior year I had a little relationship that didn't go too well *laughs* so I finally had that content. That's when I wrote my first song, probably the spring of junior year. Alli: I know you're very excited about this question, where does the name 3crulee come from? Anika: This is my favorite part! It all starts with Twitter. I wanted to make an indie parody account that poked fun at the more pretentious users on there who really like to analyze music, poems, all of that stuff. I needed a username for this account, so I was thinking, "What goes into an indie Twitter handle?" I looked into it and I saw that colors were a big thing, but I could really only think of "blue" and "yellow," which were kind of boring. I went onto Wikipedia, and I scrolled through the list of colors until I found one which was kind of cool, and I saw "ecru," which, I think, translates from French into "raw." It's a beige-ish color, and I'm a big fan of the color beige, so I was like, "Okay, this is gonna work." I needed a second part, and I noticed that sometimes indie usernames will be a keyboard-smash, which is just random letters, so I thought it would be kind of funny to add a keysmash at the end, like "ecru_keysmash." The Twitter account never actually took off, but I was making a Neopets account with my sister last summer, and I thought that username would be weird for Neopets. I needed something a little more simple. My last name is Leetmaa, and I didn't want to use my full last name. My mom uses the "lee" from our name for things, so I just took that. It looks really pretty together! Eventually the Neopets username moved on to Soundcloud. Alli: Wow, I guess Neopets really started your career. My next question is what are some of your biggest musical influences? Anika: That is a very hard question! I grew up listening to a lot of indie music, and my family always listened to alternative stuff. I think I did go through a very big bedroom pop phase. I try to distance myself from it now, but I do have a lot of respect for bedroom pop artists, because a lot of the time they make their own stuff, and a lot of higher name artists can't do that. When someone can make their own music, I have a lot of respect for that. I can't really name anybody specifically. I listen to so much music that it would be hard to just pick one, so I guess just alternative in general. Alli: I know that your music sometimes has elements from different languages in the titles and the lyrics, so why does language fascinate you so much? Anika: Oh! This is such a good question! Alli: I know, I was excited about this one. Anika: Probably the biggest part of it starts with my name in general. My grandparents are from Estonia, so that culture is very much alive in my family. My name, Anika Leetmaa, obviously is not the most American name, so it's very recognizable. I've had a lot of people ask me "What's your nationality?" when they hear my name, so I constantly found myself saying "I'm Estonian." The more I said that, the more I started to identify with that nationality. So I include stuff kind of as a flex, but also because it sounds pretty. Alli: What is your songwriting process like? Anika: It's very interesting. Like I said, I'm not the best writer, so I tried writing off of my life experiences, but I just didn't like it. I didn't really like the style of it, because it wasn't very beautiful to me; It was just me saying my thoughts. It wasn't anything special. When I was writing my first EP, I was under a bit of a time crunch, so I was like "I cannot think of these bad lyrics in time." So, I went to this little thing called GoogleTranslateGate, where you go onto Google and type random gibberish into the Somalian section and produce the english translation. It's very cool. Sometimes, like, serious prophecies come up. There's a lot of articles about it. They did some updates and now you actually can't do English words as much to produce these things, but I found that if I break up Estonian words, it was a lot easier. So breaking up Estonian words and putting them into Somali will produce very English results in Google Translate, so I did that for a couple songs. I only used the lyrics that I actually liked, because some weird results came up also. My favorite line that I got was "I have a tattoo," probably. For one of my songs, I only used the word Mustikakissell, which means blueberry soup in Estonian, and one of my favorite Estonian foods. Alli: That's really cool. I love that. How are you enjoying the New Paltz music scene so far? Anika: It's very fun! I haven't met a crazy amount of musicians, but more than I expected. I was lucky enough to get to talk to some of them and see their stuff. Some of them are more...um...they come in different tiers, um, of quality. Some people do just download beats off of Youtube and rap over it, but some of them actually do use real instruments, and maybe they'll use digital beats, which is similar to me. Like yeah, I'm not gonna buy a whole drum set. So yeah, I have different levels of respect, but for all of them, hey, you're making something. I've been to some music shows, and those have been awesome. I'm always so impressed by all of the effect pedals. I still don't know how to use those. I wanna get some. Just playing guitar gets boring after a while. More psychedelic influences is where I'd like to go in the future, I think. Alli: What are your favorite instruments/effects to use in your songs? Anika: Let's see...I use a lot of synth sounds. This is just me messing around, but you can download synth plugins online. Also, Garageband already comes with a bunch. I want to invest in a better digital audio workshop in the future, but right now, I do not have any money, so...*laughs.* But yeah, mostly, I use so many synths, but I don't know how to do bass. That is something to work on, so none of my songs really have bass. One synth I use a lot, I'm not really a huge fan of it, but it is free and it comes with a bunch of presets, is called Helm, and you can download that. You will not get a virus. It's very useful. I've made a lot with it, but nothing that I have released yet. ~~ You can listen to Anika's music on Soundcloud. You can also go through her liked tracks if you want to find some cool Estonian rap. I hope you all support her in some way, because she has such a unique sound and she's just getting started. This is the first article of a new series I've started called "New Scene, New Paltz." I'm planning to interview musicians and people heavily involved in the scene here and, hopefully, have a new interview every week! I would appreciate feedback, and, if you are or know of any New Paltz musicians that would be interested, send a message to our "Contact' section. I hope you all are as excited for this as I am! |