Six Next@Wex Shows Coming in October & November

"America's top model for how modern music should be respected equally with the other 'high' arts."— Manny Theiner, Pittsburgh City Paper on the Next@Wex series

 

The Next@Wex series this fall at the Wexner Center includes a wide range of music. With a returning favorite and four Wex debuts, the roster promises the best in innovative and independent music.

 

Tickets for the following shows are available now at the Wexner Center Ticket Office (614 292-3535) and Ticketmaster.com. More information on all of these shows is available at www.wexarts.org/pa. A mixtape featuring clips from the upcoming bands is also available at http://wexarts.org/wexblog/?p=753

 

Fleet Foxes
with Frank Fairfield
Wed, Oct 8 | 9 pm
Black Box on Mershon Stage
$12 all audiences
Note: Standing only
"Soft harmonies reverberating in what sounds like a cathedral...Fleet Foxes' songs inhabit a very specific rural space that's supremely crafted and confident."—Pitchfork

Fleet Foxes are the latest Seattle-based band signed to leading indie label Sub Pop to make big waves nationally and internationally. The group’s five musicians have entranced critics and fans alike with their atmospheric, rustic psych-folk sound and beguiling vocal harmonies. Check out their eponymous first full-length release, which expands on the ideas established with Sun Giant, their strong debut EP. Interest is soaring for Fleet Foxes, and their local debut will be an important date on our calendar. More info: http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes and NPR feature.

 

Jandek

Fri, Oct 10 | 8 pm
Wexner Center Performance Space
$14 all audiences

"The most enigmatic figure in American music has developed a new willingness to ever-so-slightly reveal himself to his audience."—All Music Guide

The cult phenomenon, international man of mystery, and outsider artist who performs extremely rarely under the banner of Jandek—or the "representative of Corwood Industries"—is appearing here in concert. So here’s your chance to hear his idiosyncratic, original folk blues tunes and skewed chord structures in person. Since 1978, Jandek has self-released scores of albums (via mail order) while avoiding the press, photographs, contacts, and other standard conventions of the music business. Since a surprise live show in Scotland in 2004, however, Jandek has performed a handful of concerts, several of which (like ours) have even been announced in advance. Musicians from this neck of the woods who will play supporting roles for Jandek’s alien tunings include Cincy violinist C. Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core, drummer Ryan Jewell of Pink Reason, and bass ace Derek Dicenzo. Special thanks to Adam Fleischer for his efforts to herd all the cats for this special occasion. More info: http://tisue.net/jandek/ and NPR feature.
 
 
Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise
Sun, Oct 19 | 8 pm
Wexner Center Performance Space
$12 all audiences
Note: Very limited seating
"I just find the imaginary to be more real than the physical. I hope that the songs can be more than just postcards with a world, but an invitation to it, to anyone at all who may find such a place comforting."—Julian Koster of The Music Tapes

What's the holiday, you ask? Any day that you get to take in a live show by the Elephant 6 Collective--part of a musical diaspora originating in Athens, Georgia--is cause for festive celebration. Among those taking part are members of the Music Tapes, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, Elf Power, and Gerbils, as well as a seven-foot-tall metronome, Static the Television, and many more key figures from the Elephant 6 orbit, all performing material drawn from their collective repertoire. Julian Koster of the Music Tapes describes the extravaganza (about three hours long) as a "a big orchestra, variety show, silly happy thing." The evening of musical hijinks also includes the screening of Major Organ and the Adding Machine, a newly released short film by Joey Foreman and Eric Harris. All concerned consider it the consummate collaboration of the Elephant 6 Collective. Come with bells on. More info: http://www.elephant6.com/ and Pitchfork article.
 
 
The Magnetic Fields
with Shugo Tokumaru
Fri, Oct 24 | 8 pm
Southern Theatre, Downtown Columbus
21 E. Main Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215-4264 
$30 all audiences

"Irresistible…bolstered by sly harmonies just peeking out from a sea of distorted guitar." —Pitchfork

Songwriter extraordinaire Stephin Merritt and his central ensemble return for a live show in the Southern Theatre downtown. Distortion, the Magnetic Fields’ most recent Nonesuch release, found the band taking longtime fans for a bit of a surprise as it set aside the all-acoustic approach of the previous album, i, to frame Merritt’s always supremely crafted, droll, and articulate lyrical observations with surly menacing squalls of feedback and reverb-drenched fuzz guitar. You won’t want to miss this occasion to see the genius of the Magnetic Fields in action again. More info: http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/ and MySpace.
 
 

Chairlift

Mon, Nov 3 | 9 pm

Black Box on Mershon Stage

$10 all audiences

Note: Limited seating

 

“Somewhere between Hot Chip and The Blow comes this magnificent Brooklyn band.  We’re loving this.”—Pure Groove

Brooklyn (via Boulder…hence the name) trio Chairlift specialize in revved up electro with a cheeky twist that have earned them the enthusiastic endorsement of like-minded synth adventurers like MGMT.  Scenesters are already tipping their upcoming debut full length Does You Inspire You as a record to watch based on the strong buzz from their super-catchy tune “Bruise” that’s been featured in the new iPod Nano ad.  You’d be well advised to get your tickets to this show soon, they’re swiftly achieving lift off. More information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uHkrKg29d0, http://www.windishagency.com/artists/chairlift

 

No Age
with Soft Circle and Silk Flowers
Wed, Nov 19 | 9 pm
Wexner Center Performance Space
Tickets??

"No Age have not only delivered an intense blend of experimental/noise/ambient rock but they have clearly delivered a contender for best album of the year."—Delusions of Adequacy

This experimentalist guitar-and-drums duo from Los Angeles demonstrate their capacity to astonish on Nouns, their most recent release. How can just two people achieve so much, and with such an economy of means? Lo-fi but rich, messy and blurry but precise, ecstatic but coherent. Nouns signals No Age's new direction in a big way. Emblematic of the scene that's sprung from Smell (Los Angeles's all-ages community art space) and its freewheeling sunshine romanticism, No Age are standard bearers of today's smart rock with a vegan-friendly, literate, art–loving vibe.