Sophomore Contemporary Music Production Major Mimi Diallo, otherwise known as Yoshi to her music followers, wrote a song “Goes Well” and created a music video with Director La’Charles Trask and producer Josiah Noray.

“I want people to take in this album and really listen to it, and have questions about it,” CMP major Jordan Solis says. “I hope they listen to it multiple times but each time get something different out of it. For example, maybe they pick up on some melodic idea that I introduce on one of the songs that they hear again in another.”

For most students, December means finals exams and winter break; for Contemporary Music Program seniors like Spencer Vandevier, it means graduation and his senior show. The Arizona native had family and friends in attendance on Sunday Nov. 22, excited to see four years of hard work. “I’ve got some really exciting post-grad options,” says Vandevier. “There’s a promoter in Austin that I might be working with, a studio interview in Los Angeles or teaching lessons in my hometown.” The multiple job offers weren’t surprising after hearing what Vandevier can do on the bass. He started the show off with some jazz tunes on the upright bass accompanied by Mark Clark on the drums, Darrel Luther on the piano, and Samuel Armstrong-Zickefoose on the guitar. After a few covers, Vandevier switched to the bass guitar and they moved onto some songs Vandevier had written but never performed. “I’ve fallen in love with songwriting,” says Vandevier. “It’s the best way for me to get my emotions out.” While he wrapped up the night with “Penny Rose,” a tribute to his late grandma who passed away when Vandevier was young, there wasn’t a dry eye among his family. As he finished and dedicated the performance to his father, you could see pride in faces of his loved ones. Vandevier’s passion for music is powerful and inspiring. There’s no doubt he will go on to do great things in his...

Storming the Beaches With Logos in Hand preformed at Ghost on November 7. The band, composed of SFUAD alumni, played to a full house at the intimate Santa Fe venue. The night began with an opening performance by May the Peace of the Sea Be With You, a touring band from Arkansas. After a brief intermission Storming the Beaches with Logos in Hand began by playing new unreleased material before playing songs from their album, Southwick...

As eerie organ music flooded the First Presbyterian Church, a somber and haunting presence filled the room. Organist David Solem finished his piece with his back to the audience while SFUAD and St. John’s chorus members prepared to take the stage.“Rejoice in the Lamb” by Benjamin Britten was the first combined song performed by SFUAD and St. John’s on Nov. 19. Programs that were handed out before the concert contained lyrics so the crowd could follow along. This was helpful because it was near impossible to make out what they choirs were actually singing besides “rejoice in God.” As the first chorus came to a conclusion, Elise Stoffer took the church by storm with a powerful treble solo. The opera sounds coming from this woman were surprising and impressive. With program in hand, it was easy to follow along because otherwise it was, once again, difficult to articulate what it was she was saying. After Stoffer’s powerhouse performance came a few more soloists, including Anna Evanitz, Sara Cunningham, and last but certainly not least, Emiliano Jaime. When Jaime opened his mouth to sing, the whole church was taken by surprise. Jaime’s extremely low octaves and dynamic projection were a near perfect combination to tie up the solos. As the chorus wrapped up its last verse the crowd went wild with applause. Director Seven Paxton took a bow and said, “you’re dismissed.” The crowd chuckled and began filing out of the...

Freshman Courtney Brandt spends his free time in Benildus Hall practicing piano. He is an aspiring musician in the Contemporary Music Program, and he practices every chance he gets. “I come here not only to practice piano, but with everything that is going on this week, I come here to clear my mind and relax,” Brandt said.

On Sunday night, Oct. 11, the Forum was grooving to the musical stylings of SFUAD’s new Afro-Cuban Ensemble and Vocal Jazz Ensemble. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the 21-piece group presented a free celebratory concert. Directed by Horace Alexander Young, Andy Zadrozny and Lina Ramos, the group performed various pieces of Latin jazz, salsa and traditional Cuban music. As an added bonus, it was also Family Weekend so parents and siblings from all over the country were able to witness their hard working children doing what they love most. As folks filed into the jam-packed venue, Fred Simpson took to the microphone to welcome student, parents and community members. He introduced the various musical sections and asked who was here as a part of family weekend. “The singers are over there,” says Simpson. “They live in a totally different world than the instrumental players.” The introductions continued and the group geared up for its first song while friends and family continued to arrive. The musicians kicked off the concert with Latin-music legend Tito Puente’s “Oye Coma Va.” The song was made incredibly popular by Carlos Santana, which made it a very inviting first taste. “Jazz is being re-born right here, right now,” says Simpson in between sets. The group continued on to perform a great range of toe-tapping numbers by Mongo Santamaria, CAl Tjader, Dizzy Gillespie and Horace Silver. Each piece was made up of different musical sections and singers. Watching fellow classmates play and sing their hearts out was truly inspiring. They flowed so well together it seemed almost effortless, though it likely took intense practice and patience to get where they are today. Without a doubt, they made their families and friends...

Alex Monasterio is a Contemporary Music Program major in his junior year here at SFUAD and has already accomplished so much. Last year he wrote, and put out a record for his band Sleeptaker. This year he has been working on a new Sleeptaker album to follow up Could Have Moved Mountains. Monasterio also scores music for films, video games and commercials. After college he hopes to score music full...

Canadian folk singer and activist Kate Reid recently visited SFUAD to meet with students and faculty about her work.

“There is an image that we want to put out there ‘cause we think that’s a powerful tool,” said Janel Blanco Jean-Bart, lead vocalist for the Maya Spectra. Maya Spectra describes themselves as independent electronic pop, though members were hesitant to brand themselves as a “pop” band. “Our strong structures tend to reflect pop song structures, but we’re not exactly doing the Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift type thing,” said Donald Peña who, along with his brother Julian, makes up the rest of the Maya Spectra. Beginning more than a year and a half ago as the Janel Blanco Trio, the Maya Spectra has gone from being strictly defined with a jazz label to branching out into creating original scores, and thus, finding its own unique image. Its latest EP, “Music Box,” was released in December and caught the attention of various music publications, including Ear Milk and Entertainment Weekly, to name a few. Perhaps more importantly, they became a household name amongst SFUAD students —Amy West, a junior in the Film School, being one of them. West heard the EP and found inspiration to practice fire dancing to the song “Quicksand.” After posting a short video to her Instagram account, she began pondering the possibilities of incorporating Maya Spectra’s music and her own talents behind the camera. West consulted her peers in the Film School to see who might be interested and piqued the interest of junior Jakob Anderson. After garnering the support of Anderson and his crew and ensuring that she could create the project for class credit (Advanced Cinematography) , West began drafting a script. Unsure of how the band would respond to her pitch, West took the dive and sent a lengthy message to Maya Spectra’s Facebook group. “At the beginning of the semester, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna ask them! I’m gonna ask the band,’” said a giddy West as she sat with the Maya Spectra during band members’ interview with Jackalope Magazine. It soon became apparent to West that the Maya Spectra had reservations about what kind of image the band would be putting out. What initially began as a fire-dancing music video soon became a visual representation of the Maya Spectra’s compositional narrative.  “[The fire-dancing] went completely out the window, but I think what we’re going to end up with will be a much more satisfying piece with a stronger narrative,“ said a hopeful West. “I think it worked out,” added J. Peña, who along with the rest of the band seemed unashamedly confident in West and Anderson’s work—with just cause: their work is incredible. West’s style borders on Sofia Coppola and Wes Anderson, with a confident attention to detail, and with grit in only the places where the story calls for it. Both West and Anderson have shown their filmmaking prowess in the past years, Anderson having been DP for various productions including Alice Under Skies and West having completed a variety of short films including Ritual, which won best sophomore film at last year’s Juried show. The video for “Music Box” plans to shoot the weekend of April 17 and will have a rough cut by the end of the semester. Maya Spectra will be playing at this year’s OVF as apart of an interactive live-music installation—the first of its kind at OVF and will also be performing at Quad Stock the same weekend. The band is also a contender for Best of Santa Fe. Click here to...

Sleeptaker’s newest album seeks to bridge the gap between self-described metal-heads and those who are just looking for a new genre to listen to.