Kicking off half an hour late, Beisbol was introduced to all sides of the room on Thursday. I sat, caught off guard by how incorrectly I’d been pronouncing the band’s name before finding out that it was just Spanish for “baseball.”
Round sound
Kicking off half an hour late, Beisbol was introduced to all sides of the room on Thursday. I sat, caught off guard by how incorrectly I’d been pronouncing the band’s name before finding out that it was just Spanish for “baseball.”
Luckily, both the band’s name and its casual style were established in the first moments of the show, the latter fitting perfectly with the unique atmosphere only found at the Campus 360 concert series.
“When we say 360, we mean it literally,” said Gabe Granach, development director for KPSU, who co-sponsored the event.
In the first iteration of the event, a few standards were set that separate this venue from others on campus, the main one being that bands playing for Campus 360 are required to perform for an audience that surrounds them on all sides.
The series is also recorded by PSU.tv, who, along with Portland State Professional Sound and Guayaki (the tea company), put on this event “to strengthen PSU’s campus life with united student media outlets,” according to the event’s Facebook page.
“When we started planning [Campus 360] we wanted to provide a different look,” Granach said. It was conceived as a musical equivalent to First Thursday art shows. KPSU also teamed up with PSU.tv to create three-minute videos for online promotion.
Now, having done a show, Granach and his colleagues have learned quite a bit and are happy with the early results.
The events organizer’s managed to turn the Native American Student and Community Center gathering area into a viable venue, creating great acoustics in the center.
“I was sitting all over the room and really
trying to experience the show from multiple perspectives,” Granach said.
Campus 360 certainly makes good on its promise to focus primarily on the artist, and it was difficult not to be distracted by most of the audience, who were either working for one of the presenting organizations or seemed to be a close, personal friend of the band.
Beisbol’s banter with audience members gave the concert a practice-session atmosphere, which worked well for this particular band.
“It seemed like a mix between Passion Pit and Of Monsters and Men,” said concertgoer and PSU student Taylor Holt, who enjoyed the experience: “That was just a cool concert.”
Beisbol’s synth-pop stylings are easily accessible and the band entertains with its sunny disposition, and with good reason: The two brothers behind the operation were raised in Southern California and roamed around the Southwest before joining together for this Portland-based project.
Their style worked well in the venue, meshing an electronic sound with the standard four-piece arrangement, with band members switching roles between songs. Beisbol relied heavily on synthesizers while managing to keep the mood light and casual.
The band’s only intensity came from the drums, while the other three members enjoyed the drummer’s vivacity without imitating it. This worked with the practice-session vibe that permeated the event.
“The idea is to provide a campus feel to the school, and I think the majority of students want more live music to be part of their college experience,” Granach said.
Campus 360 brings variety to PSU’s music scene and gives more students the opportunity to grow though collaboration with others who are passionate about what they are doing.
