For their last show of the school year, SPEC Jazz & Grooves will bring Choker to campus with opening acts Orion Sun and Bathe on Friday, April 5, at the TEP Chapter House located at 3805 Walnut Street. These acts will finish off a string of up–and–coming artists that included headliners Tierra Whack and Omar Apollo from previous concerts this year.
Choker, a Michigan–based rapper and producer, has put out three singles this year so far, in addition to two full length albums, Peak and Honeybloom, from 2017 and 2018 respectively. Compared to Frank Ocean by some, Choker’s music alternates between slow and intimate lyricism to fast–paced synths behind some rapping. With elements of jazz, hip–hop, and R&B mixed together intermittently, the appeal of Choker’s music is hard to pin down. But this same elusiveness is what makes each listen so fresh, with new parts slowly revealing themselves to listeners over time.
Behind this impressive headliner will be Orion Sun, a local artist who’s topped recent lists of Philadelphia artists to know. With an impressive Soundcloud page, Orion Sun’s major talent lies not only in her mellifluous vocals, but also in her flawless production. Her signature seems to be an overlay of the kind of vintage crackle that comes with the playing of an old vinyl record, on top of music that highlights the winding poetry of her lyrics. But for all the intricacies of her recordings, the comparatively stripped–back feel of her live shows is almost more bewitching. Orion Sun dropped some hints in January of a new album this year with the release of a 20–minute experimental tape, so hopefully her stop at Penn will bring a preview of what will undeniably be another rendition of her near–perfect genre blending.
Brooklyn–based duo Bathe is set to open the night. Made up of Dev Hobdy and Corey Smith–West, their music is also evocative of early Frank Ocean, with falsetto vocals drifting over melancholic synth–guitar combinations, framing darker lyrics with a softer musical approach.
Jazz & Grooves Presents: Choker ft. Orion Sun and Bathe will be held Friday, April 5, at TEP Chapter House. Student tickets are available here for $5, the public pays $7. Doors are at 8 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m.. More info about the event can be found here.
