Lincoln Calling was brought to a chaotically fun and loud end at Duffy’s on Saturday with local band Universe Contest rightfully headlining after Portland and St. Paul bands performed.

Lincoln Calling, Sat. Oct 19, Duffy’s Tavern:

• Touch People
  https://soundcloud.com/touch_people
• Genders
  http://genderspdx.com/
• Wiping Out Thousands
  http://wipingoutthousands.bandcamp.com/
• Universe Contest
  http://universecontest.com/

[title size=”1 to 6″ style=”options: default, sidebar”]Touch People[/title]

Touch People is a unique act. It is one that also played the same night at Universe Contest at Duffy’s back parking lot show this summer. I didn’t see him perform on Saturday, but I did that Saturday night and it was an alarmingly pleasant surprise.

Touch People is one guy, Darren Keen, and though he is a DJ, he certainly does not boringly stand around and click buttons.

As the name might insinuate, the guy has a great sense of humor. Keen was formally in a sort of “comedic hip-hop” act, which makes total sense. Keen he is not afraid of, well, anything while performing. When I saw him, he took his shirt off, stood on the chair and danced around a bit all while singing into the voice-synthesizing microphone. Plus, he basically told hilarious jokes, stories or two-cents between songs.

He calls his music poly-rhythmic dance music. Dance or not, Touch People is fun for all (haha?).

This local artist frequents various venues in Omaha and Lincoln and you can catch him next at The Bourbon Theatre on Nov 2 where he will DJ songs including various popular Daft Punk songs, according to the list he posted on his Facebook page if you care to look.

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[title size=”1 to 6″ style=”options: default, sidebar”]Genders[/title]

Genders came to Lincoln Calling all the way from Portland, Ore. during their very lengthy and compact U.S. tour. As they have a female drummer, they were immediately sexy. They also had a female guitarist/vocalist and a male guitarist/lead vocalist and male bassist who also helped with vocals.

Whether or not the two-female-two-male dynamic of the group contributes to its name, it was nice to see some more of the female touch added to Lincoln Calling’s large bill.

Regardless, the group was very much a solid group. Not only did they play well together, but they also had a peaceful, pleasant sense of comradery between one another. (Perhaps the two are reciprocated.) The band’s charming banter and strong musical delivery made for easy likability by the audience.

Genders has a definite rock performance, and yet, in some of their recordings, sound more like indie rock with dreamy female vocals giving a modern, psychedelic vibe to the overall sound.

The band’s performance was fluid, hard and moveable. Most importantly, the four young, talented musicians were totally in sync with each other and were certainly owned the stage space.

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[title size=”1 to 6″ style=”options: default, sidebar”]Wiping Out Thousands[/title]

Wiping Out Thousands: A totally refreshing and welcomed change to the Lincoln Calling bill, or more specifically the Lincoln Calling shows booked at Duffy’s which were almost entirely of the rock persuasion.

Wiping Out Thousands is two people, Alaine Dickman and Taylor Nelson. The two played in darkness with brightly colored lights flashing behind them and smoke billowing at their feet causing a certain dark and close ambiance that complimented their sound.

The duo is dynamic and fantastic. Wiping Out Thousands is very electronic and futuristic. But it’s not garbage or sheer noise to the ear–it is intricate stringing together of sounds to make a complex and mind-boggling product on each song. Each song is impressively fresh and distinguished from one another.

Taylor incorporates his guitar playing and Alaine hypnotizes the audience with her airy, drawn-out, echoey vocals (through three different kinds of microphones) all while the two play prerecorded tracks and click buttons and turn other knobs that are totally foreign to the audience. And yet, the audience does not feel alienated or distanced.

The duo’s performance remains exciting and entirely captivating all the way through while the crowd watches them make art in a way that many of the audience members do not often (if ever at all) get to witness. Wiping Out Thousand’s performance and product both on stage and off is pure art without question. Any person even furthest from the electronic scene can appreciate and even move to this music.

What more can I say? As a person who strays away from electronic and DJ-ed music, Wiping Out Thousands wiped out any preconceived notion I had in my mind about the genres they fit into (which are extremely new and modern genres mind you). I would pay money to see this act again.The lovely thing is that you can download the music for free, legally, on the link provided above. Aaand dance.

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[title size=”1 to 6″ style=”options: default, sidebar”]Universe Contest[/title]

At this point, if  you haven’t heard of Universe Contest and you live in Lincoln, you’ve got to be living under a rock. And if you’re haven’t seen them live…then that’s silly and you need to.

Universe Contest is currently one of the most popular Lincoln bands with an impressively strong and large following. The band’s outrageousness might help fuel this enthusiasm, but their musical sound and delivery does not fall short of satisfactory either.

The five men pretty regularly play live sets while shirtless. Something about this is somewhat comedic. It’s not as if these men are overweight or unattractive–that is not why it is comedic. But the shirtlessness somehow adds to their persona and the energy they are festering in the room–that persona and energy being full-on, outrageous, fun, loud and I-don’t-give-a-fuck-esque.

To expand on the band’s ballsiness (pun not intended?), a good example is when the band members dressed only in American-flag male thongs during their live, outdoor set at Zoo Fest on the Fourth of July this summer.

To put it simply, Universe Contest always puts on a show. They bring in a ridiculous amount of equipment and extra speakers for extra obnoxiously loud sound. Props are not uncommonly found in their live acts. And some sort of overall theme in the stage set-up or more often in their individual physical ensemble is frequented. This time, it was glitter–smeared on their chests and faces. In the past, it has been odd face make-up and, again, the notable American flag man thongs.

In their glitter and their glory, their loud sound and their bright and colorful lights, Universe Contest killed it at Duffy’s on Saturday. The house was completely packed full; while Duffy’s was slowly filling up throughout the night, an obvious number of people showed up to pay just to see Universe Contest.

The energy of these guys is infectious to the audience, which is one of the reasons why they are so likable and accessible by the audience. That and their lack of fear to get weird. And perhaps above all, their music is fun, upbeat and easy to dance to.

People at the front of the stage area were moshing around. Almost everyone else was moving in some way. Balloons were floating and bobbing throughout the audience. The band seems to inspire this attitude of letting loose and being careless in a youthful, liberating way.

My favorite thing about the band’s performance on Saturday was the placement of the drum set at the front part of the stage and the pianist standing in the back. The guitarists were on the outside edges and the lead singer Tim was not front and center like most bands’ leads are. I want to see more of this. The drums are the core of any rock band and they’re obviously set at sitting-down height, and yet they are consistently hidden in the background.

Oh and towards the later part of the show, a female dancer came onto the stage in a one-piece bathing suit printed with a sort of space-scape and wearing a gas mask and white stockings. So that was different.

In sum, Universe Contest really justifies any cover fee for an attendee because of the entire, semi-elaborate show they put on in addition to their musical performance. The band keeps us guessing what little surprise will be in store for each show.

I am a writer and not a photographer. I do not have photos of this great experience because I was too busy enjoying it–and because I’m not aggressive enough to work my way through these party animals and risk damaging a nice camera that is not in my name.

Catch Universe Contest next time. You’ll have fun.

By Annie Bohling | Seeds Entertainment