scene&heard

Calhoun sophomore Kurt Schneider taught himself piano in eleventh grade, now he’s winning songwriting competitions. Read on to find out what he’s been doing in the meantime.

Scene&Heard: Can you talk about your music career?

Kurt: I had a late start compared with most people; I didn’t know how to read music or play until I was a junior in high school. I started teaching myself piano in eleventh grade and now I’m a pretty decent piano player. Completely self-taught, never taken a lesson.

S&H: When did you begin writing?

K: During senior year, I wrote a couple spoof songs with a friend. Over the summer, I began writing and recording music, and towards the end of the summer, I produced my first song called “Roses on the Floor.” It was a pop song and would be really cheesy if I listened to it now, but it had a fair melody.

S&H: So then was writing music just a logical next step after teaching yourself to read?

K: Sometimes if you have an urge to do something, you just have to do it. Sometimes you just have to create something.

S&H: And now you’re one of July’s winners of the Song of the Year online contest in the electronic category. What was the experience like for you?

K: I just searched on the internet for song contests, but I chose this one because the top songs chosen each month are sent out to record labels and producers and radio stations. So there are immediate results.

S&H: Have you gotten any airtime or positive feedback?

K: Well considering I just won a week ago — but if I did get anything, I’d be shocked. I have no expectations.

S&H: Have you always been into electronic?

K: Well, the reason why that song [“Taken”] isn’t on my CD is because it’s not like anything else I’ve written.

S&H: Then what is your style?

K: Pop rock, folk and a lot of musical theater nowadays.

S&H: Have you recorded at all at Yale?

K: I’ve tried to get into the Morse recording studio, but I got a letter back saying that only Morsels are allowed. But, I mean, what’s the point of having that if students aren’t allowed to use it? I sometimes go to a music lab on Orange and Elm — that’s where I recorded my entire demo.

S&H: Moving away from your music for a bit, do you think there is an interest amongst students in live music on campus?

K: Definitely. I know of some underground live music groups.

S&H: You sing for the a capella group Out of the Blue. Do you think that at Yale a capella takes the place of a known live music scene?

K: No. I mean people go to a capella because their friends are in a capella.

S&H: Have you performed live?

K: I’ve done nursing homes.

Download and listen to Kurt’s award-winning song, “Taken“

No one likes a backseat driver. Everyone, however, likes cover bands. Cover-to-Cover’s Jake Bruene and Ian Dull are doing their best to spread the gospel.

Scene&Heard: Tell me a little about Cover-to-Cover.

Jake: We had a sweet idea when we were freshman to put together a group that would make it so we could hear some of our favorite albums of all time in a new way. Our first idea was to put together Weezer’s Blue album, but instead of just guitars and drums and bass to incorporate violins and brass quartets, solo piano players. We wanted to branch out from these favorite albums and give each song a new flavor.

S&H: Can you describe the different artists during the Weezer show?

J: We had a violinist and an acoustic guitar player from the Yale Symphony Orchestra do “My Name is Jonas.” We had a beautiful female piano player — very Regina Spektor — do track two, “No One Else,” creating a little bit of irony because the song is about jealous love. A rapper on “The World Has Turned;” a sick band rocked out on “Buddy Holly;” another sweet band on “The Sweater Song;” an acoustic duet on “In the Garage;” one of the best piano players we’ve ever heard on “Say it Ain’t So” take us through a journey of circus music, reggae, sweet, slow Elton John harmony. We had The Battle Kites play “Only in Dreams,” which was awesome — I think they might have thrown together that band for the show, so we like to think we gave them a little bit of a boost. Up until the last day we had a brass quartet from the School of Music on “Only in Dreams,” but The Battle Kites picked it up at the very last second.

(More after the jump) 

Yale’s live music scene usually only consists of the lone courtyard serenader strumming his acoustic guitar. Pat Dewechter, James Pollack and Andy Wagner — the organizers of the Bridge, an “open mic” night previously held in the Saybrook 12 Pack — are trying to change that.

Scene&Heard: How would you describe the live music scene at Yale?

Pat: It’s really off the beaten path. It consists of guys who love to play in front of people but only can find that through roommates or in a courtyard, on cross campus — that sort of thing. It’s made up of people who just grab their acoustic instruments, sit out and play.

S&H: Do you think then that Yale students aren’t interested in live music?

James: I’m always surprised at how few shows Toad’s has that cater to Yale students. Maybe there will be one or two a months, and you know, someone may be really into the Bruce Springsteen cover band but I think to have a great venue like that in the middle of campus that’s not doing shows all the time is really detrimental to the live scene here.

(More after the jump)

Check out other performances at the Winter Arts Festival show, hosted by the Bridge in February, 2007:

Andy Lavine

Jon Davenport

Liana Moskowitz and Eliza Schafler

Cain Soltoff

Eddie Quinones

Noah Lawrence

Lauren Russell

Dana D’Amelio

Regrettably, summer 2007 is already little more than a blur with only a few things standing out:

1) I read many blogs at work, though what was discussed in said blogs, I cannot recall

2) Michael Vick

3) The abomination that was the “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Epilogue

4) Buying my very own metallic blue Fender P Bass — my very first eBay transaction that did not involve American Idol tickets

Though I’ve yet to join a band, I did support several other bands this summer - not by legally purchasing their music, but by purchasing a ticket to their summer tours. Here are some of the highlights…

The warm up: Coachella Valley Music Festival, Indio, CA, April 27-29

Nothing complements rock n’ roll like a sweltering sun. For three days, I braved gridlock traffic, 110+ degree heat and every LA-area prep school hipster to feast on a veritable pantheon of music styles and genres. The acts were as diverse as Hot Chip, Manu Chao and Lupe Fiasco, the performers as old as Willie Nelson and as green as Lily Allen and the set lengths anywhere from Air’s 20-minute disappointment to Rage Against the Machine’s too-long reunion set.

James Murphy and the rest of the LCD Soundsystem joint took the prize for the best set of the weekend. Though they performed in the “rave” tent, complete with spinning disco balls, flashing lights and ecstasy, the most arresting song of the evening was the mellow finale: “New York I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down.” Following LCD that evening were the Brooklyn punks of The Rapture, who kept the beat strong and the limbs shaking. Other standouts include Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, Lupe Fiasco (all three of which performed on the main stage) and Ratatat (who blew everyone away).

(More after the jump)