4B — Thursday, September 17, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘U’ alum Logan
Light talks
confidence and
growing crowds
By REBECCA LERNER
Daily Arts Writer
“It’s become second nature to
the point of not getting nervous
anymore. I walk out in front of
20,000 people in Chicago, and
it’s the same thing I was doing in
my bedroom four years ago.”
University alum Logan Light
balances the weekend triumphs
of his EDM band, Mako, with
a more traditional workday —
finishing his last year of law
school at New York University
and working as a summer
associate.
The
confidence
that
sometimes evades him in his law
school classes comes naturally in
times of high demand for dance
music, such as the summer of
2015. Light, along with partner
Alex Seaver, performed at highly
anticipated festivals such as New
York’s Electric Zoo, Michigan’s
Electric Forest and Chicago’s
Lollapalooza. Of course, as with
any performances, there will be
ups and downs.
“Lollapalooza was quite an
interesting experience,” Light
said.
“About
three
minutes
in, someone comes yelling at
us, ‘You gotta shut it down
immediately, we’re evacuating
the whole thing.’ ”
There was a storm coming
in and the management was
concerned about heavy winds
potentially blowing down stages.
“It was a pretty big crowd for
us and we were like, ‘You have
gotta be kidding me.’ They put
us in a car back to the hotel,”
Light said. “Once we got back,
they called us and said the storm
missed the park, so as soon as we
could get back (to Lollapalooza)
we could go back on. We literally
jumped back in the van.”
It’s times like these where the
lightness and agility of DJing
equipment outweighs that of a
band. Mako was able to quickly
plug in while bands had to sound
check gear again.
“We literally plugged back in
and played and the crowd ended
up being 50 times bigger. They
told us we had 25,000 people so
it ended up working in our favor
in a very bizarre, weird way,”
Light said. “It went from being
completely devastating to being
one of the best shows we ever
played, so it was pretty cool.”
Before his current life of shows
at festivals and clubs around the
country,
Light’s
experiments
with EDM were closer to home.
He
attended
the
University,
majored in communications and
graduated in 2011.
“I guess I always grew up
around (EDM). I have an older
brother who was five years older
than me who always kind of
listened to it, and it was pretty
common for me growing up.”
Light said. “I ended up going my
freshman year to Columbia in
New York and I absolutely hated
it. Michigan was the only school
that would accept me for the
winter semester, and that’s why
I ended up going to Michigan.
It was the best thing that ever
happened to me.”
He moved to Ann Arbor in
the fall of his freshman year,
not attending classes until the
winter.
“I convinced my parents to
let me DJ and said, ‘Please can I
borrow some money, I promise
I’ll make some money doing
this,’ and they said, ‘Yeah right.’
But they thankfully gave me
some,” Light said. “I bought two
turn tables and a buddy showed
me how to do it. At that time it
wasn’t common, it wasn’t easy,
it wasn’t very cool like it is now,
and I just taught myself how
to do it in my brother’s living
room.”
EDM did not gain very much
widespread
popularity
until
about 2010, in Light’s junior year
of college.
“Until it changed, people
would always request rap music.
I just always remember people
asking for T.I.’s ‘Whatever You
Like.’ Just as the requests started
to change in 2010, I realized
(EDM) was picking up traction
and it could be something real
musical genre-wise.”
Light began to contribute to
the EDM scene in Ann Arbor,
focusing specifically on working
with
downtown
nightclub,
Necto.
“I ended up getting a call
from the people at Necto, and
in an effort to say ‘I want to
play shows,’ I helped them book
shows,” Light said. “My senior
year to the year after I graduated,
we brought in a bunch of artists
like Avicii and Zedd and Above
& Beyond. I think it was six of
the now top ten DJs in the world,
which was cool.”
After graduation, Light met
his future partner, Seaver, in
Los Angeles. They come from
different musical backgrounds,
as Light had performed mostly
electronic
music
for
clubs
and parties, and Seaver had
just graduated from Julliard
with a scholarship for a studio
orchestra. But together, they
were able to create a blend of both
the expertise of classical infused
with the sensation of EDM.
When Light speaks of Seaver, it is
impossible to miss the affection
and respect in his voice.
“Thankfully, Alex has the
brain of a musical genius.” Light
said. “He hates when I say this,
but he probably is the most
talented musical person I’ve
ever met. And none of what we
do would be possible without
him. I mean he’s the brain of it
all, and I’m lucky to be along for
the ride. Musical composition is
his world, and every once in a
while I add my two cents and he
says, ‘Oh that’s smart,’ but that’s
his cup of tea, not mine.”
Despite his modesty, it is
clear without Light’s knowledge
of EDM and charisma Mako
would have never made it to
the level that it is now. His
passion for his art, even when
it was considered “uncool,” has
always been a priority for him.
When discussing future plans
for himself and Mako, the same
touch of humble pride in his
work shines through.
“We’re
planning
to
put
an album out in January or
February, and hopefully we can
tour if people enjoy it. It will be
more of a live band ordeal, so
we can try and transition into
that and get out of the DJ stigma
and the DJ world,” Light said.
“Because the way we write the
music is more like a pop or a rock
band … we want to give people
a different show, something
that’s a little more enjoyable and
unique.”
The
excitement
for
this
anticipated album is tangible
when
speaking
to
Light.
However, the technology that
has helped them succeed in an
industry is also what prevents
them from profiting financially.
Light is part of a generation
that believes in the freedom of
everything, from information
to music. In this vein, Mako has
almost 13 hours of free mixes
on iTunes in podcasts and their
songs can be found in every
corner of the Internet.
“You’re looking at it from a
purely monetary point of view,
but there’s an emotional part.
Since we like to share what we
like to do, hopefully people are
interested and want to come to
the show,” Light said. “In this
day and age, it kind of sucks to
say, but music is free and for all
the time and effort we put into
one song there probably won’t
be a financial return, but we’ll
see it hopefully in shows. I don’t
mind that the music is on there
for free as long as people enjoy
it and it gets to them. That’s all
that really matters.”
ARTIST
PROFILE
IN
MAKO
Light (left) forms one half of EDM duo Mako.
By GILLIAN JAKAB
Daily Cultural Cures Columnist
Dear Cultural Cures –
There’s this girl. Not a girl or
some girl. This girl. I’ve known
her forever, which is measured by
the infinite number of hours I’ve
thought of her since tripping over
her speakers when we moved in
freshman year. You know this girl.
She’s at every party, every bar; she
works the scene wherever she is
with her restless (yet maddeningly
easygoing) energy.
I’m in love with her. So is the guy
she sits with in Vic Lit. And the one
who lives in her apartment. And the
dude who bought her a cocktail with
egg whites, or some shit, at The Last
Word last night. And the one she’ll
meet at the Blind Pig tomorrow. My
best friend too. A friend of yours as
well, I bet.
Occasionally she enters into
a sort of relationship with one
of these guys, exquisite in its
ambiguity,
breathtaking
in
its
commitmentlessness. It’s way south
of “exclusive,” but just far enough
north of the one-nighter to keep
each poor bro thinking he can win
her over, and that he can be jealous
when she gets with the next one.
We’re close, and often end up
stumbling down South U. in search
of late-night quesadillas together
after the party dies down. Oh, she
knows I love her. She says she loves
me too and comes over at any hour
whenever she needs to vent or talk
— but when it comes to realizing a
romance, you know, she “just can’t.”
I nod and pretend I understand,
somewhat happy that at least
I’m not just another one of her
whatevers.
I’m playing it cool, but — not
gonna lie — it’s torture.
– South of South U.
* * *
Dear South,
Your femme impossible, like
most goodies under the sun, is
nothing new. From Aphrodite
and her many lovers — some
from afar, some from much closer
up — to the “modern woman”
of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, you can’t blame a girl
for doing what she wants. That’s
not to say she doesn’t have real
feelings, including for you. I’m
sure her affection is genuine, just
multi-directional.
You’re right to pity the fools
who drool over this young lady,
and those who read months-
or-more
into
her
days-or-
less. They’re not worthy of
Shakespeare’s
“green
eyed
monster” of jealousy.
This girl, despite confessions
of feelings for you, is a wild thing,
no more capturable than the
wind. “If you let yourself love
a wild thing,” Truman Capote
explained
in
“Breakfast
at
Tiffany’s,” “you’ll end up looking
at the sky.”
For
how
to
proceed,
I
recommend you look at Ernest
Hemingway’s “The Sun Also
Rises.” Lady Brett Ashley is deep
into the Parisian café scene. She
is irresistible, with her boyish
haircut and exuberant effect.
She dabbles in dalliances with
pretty much every character in
the book. Each wannabe suitor is
a case study in how not to react to
such a woman. Mike Campbell,
Brett’s supposed fiancé, loses it
one night drinking in Pamplona
and has a throwdown with
Robert Cohn, with whom Brett
had gone to San Sebastian for
some Basque sexy time. Mike’s
drunken outburst is awkward for
the entire group and reveals an
awfully ugly side of him to Brett.
South, I know you dismiss
the
other
chaps
revolving
around your chica as somewhere
between pitiable and pathetic,
but did you mention your best
friend among them? I’m guessing
you respect him some? Try to
be open with him and not bottle
up your feelings; because after
you down a few bottles, you will
only break the cringe-meter and
maybe some other stuff too.
Even worse is Robert Cohn’s
game, which begins with a clingy,
stalkerish
sort
of
approach
and ends with pre-meditated
physical harm to his perceived
competitors. Not a good look,
leaving him with nothing but
memories of pinxtos in San
Sebastian.
Then there’s the 19-year-old
toreador stud Pedro Romero.
Romero’s tactic is to try to
change Brett, get her to grow
her hair longer and become more
womanish, and presumably a
more traditional, monogamous
lady. Although Romero sees she’s
not going to do that for him and
ends up accepting her, Brett
nonetheless decides she “just
can’t.”
These faulty characters covered,
we are left with Jake Barnes.
I’d say in your own scenario,
Señor South, you’re playing Jake.
Although I assume you don’t have
a war injury that holds you back
from consummating a relationship
with your Lady Ashley, you, like
Jake, are not one of her flings,
but are her constant, her steady
Platonic love. Jake bends at Brett’s
will and runs at her beck and call.
This isn’t healthy for him — or for
you — and will only lead to a life of
therapy and counseling.
The best thing you can do is
take some time away from her. You
don’t need to make it a dramatic
break up (that would require an
official relationship), but try to
see her a lot less: don’t pick up
her Facetime in the middle of the
night; hang out where she’s not
likely to be. Maybe don’t like her
Instagrams. Your absence will be
noticed and this girl will either
accept it, in which case you can try
to move on and meet someone else,
or realize that maybe she wants to
give a shot at being with you. In
either case, you’ll be better off than
as her Jake.
Whatever you do, don’t force
her to choose like the guys in
Spike Lee’s first film “She’s
Gotta Have It.” Nola Darling, a
confident Brooklyn girl with a sick
apartment, loves to make love and
takes what she wants from her
rotation of three boy interests.
These
guys
are
pretty
one-
dimensional and each fits into a
singular “type.” Jamie Overstreet
is polite, sensitive and possessive;
Greer Childs is a narcissistic
male-model; and Mars Blackmon
(played by Spike) is a fast-talking
jokester.
In the pseudo-documentary
format of the film, the characters
are interviewed about Nola and
their
relationships
with
her.
Jamie: “to Nola we were all
interchangeable, simply parts of
a whole.” Greer: “You know in
retrospect I can see that Nola saw
me, Mars and Jamie as a whole.
Not as three separate individuals
, but as one organism. We let her
create a three headed, six armed,
six legged, three penised monster.”
Jamie eventually gives her an
ultimatum and Nola is tricked into
thinking she wants to commit and
be with only him. But its doomed
because these men can’t change
the fact that Nola, like Lady Ashley,
is the only one who can curate her
love life. “It’s about control,” Nola
says. “My body, my mind. Who’s
going to own ’em, them? Or Me? I
am not a one-man woman.”
You don’t need to take a Women’s
Studies class to know there are
still double standards for men and
women when it comes to their sex
lives. The point here, South, is to
avoid being judgmental, and keep
any conversations you have on
the personal level rather than the
general and gendered.
So, Mr. South, my advice is to
drop out of the web your Nola has
created, don’t judge her for it, and
definitely don’t try forcing her to
choose if that’s not who she is. I
believe she will come to you, but
even if she doesn’t, you’ll be good
in the long run.
Let me leave you with some
pictures to look at while you’re on
your This Girl sabbatical, which
could be a while.
Gustave Klimt’s two paintings
The Kiss and Tears: No matter
how
many
sides
your
love
polygon has, the simple cause
and effect equation in Klimt’s
symbolism,
depicted
in
his
signature gold leaf style, captures
the raw emotion generated by
envy and the mysteries of human
sexuality.
And how about a Warhol
Marilyn Diptych? After flitting
from DiMaggio to Miller to Brando
and on, all while enchanting with
the entire western world, and
squeezing in a president for good
measure, you become a cloned icon
of pop art irony.
Send an email to deargillian@
michigandaily.com describing a
quandary about love, relationships,
existence or their opposites. Gillian
Jakab will attempt to summon the
wisdom of the arts to soothe your
troubled soul. We may publish
your letter in the biweekly column
with your first name (or penname)
and year. Submissions should
be 250 words or fewer and may
be edited prior to publication.
CULTURAL CURES COLUMN
Ask Gillian: advice
for the lovelorn
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
TDE has an incredible track
record of posse cuts, ranging
from Q’s “Say Wassup” to their
“U.O.E.N.O”
remix, and
now we
can add Jay
Rock’s “Vice
City” to the
collection.
Black Hippy,
comprised
of Jay Rock,
Kendrick
Lamar,
Ab-Soul
and Schoolboy Q, take turns
using identical flows to pum-
mel a Cardo-produced beat in
a fleshed out barn filled with
strippers.
Kendrick strikes first,
wearing a sweater with news-
paper clippings about crime
and his classic “i” hat, which
is quickly turning into a strong
“Compton superhero” look.
Unlike his conscious raps
from To Pimp a Butterfly, his
verse here is basically a flex
in the form of his booking fee.
Fighting off four strippers
that threaten to quarter him,
this isn’t exactly the Kendrick
we’re used to, but it’s undeni-
ably dope.
Ab-soul was never going to
have a traditional entrance,
so it’s not surprising that he
enters the video by jumping
through a window that didn’t
even exist a minute prior. In
his classic Black-Einstein-
on-acid aesthetic, he wanders
between stripper poles read-
ing books and throwing guaps
at no one in particular. Also,
there’s something vaguely
Eazy E-esque about the way
he swings a baseball bat with
gloves.
And then there’s Jay Rock
himself, who spits his verse
while lying down in a stretch-
er rolling through a makeshift
stripper-runway. Definitely
the most creatively directed
shot in a rap video this year, if
not the most hilariously lewd.
Schoolboy Q closes out the
show by standing in a spotlight
and making fun of “weird”
rappers who use “big words”
like “philosophies.” You
can’t help but wonder how Q
works with someone like Ab-
Soul, given his encyclopedic
vocabulary. Yet, as drastically
different as the four of Black
Hippy are in isolation, they
have a seamless chemistry that
produces hit after hit.
- SHAYAN SHAFII
TOP DAWG ENTERTAINMENT
A
Vice City
Jay Rock ft.
Black Hippy
Top Dawg
Entertainment