KTRU prepares for 24th annual outdoor show

By Sophie Newman, Arts and Entertainment Editor     4/8/15 5:15am

In the wake of announcing its return to the airwaves, Rice’s official student-run radio station, KTRU, now prepares for the 24th Annual Outdoor Show, which will be held on April 11. KTRU prides itself on exposing local, underground artists, and the 2015 show promises an indie-electro beat with headliners Objekt, Bok Bok, GoldLink and Ex Hex. Fat Tony, Stalls, Deep Cuts, Heaven Spacey and Battle of the Bands winner Fire Alarm. Returning artist FLCON FCKER will be providing visual entertainment. 

Concert manager Jake Levens said his goal for this year’s show is to incorporate more electronic music into the lineup, something the station hasn’t done in years past. 

“One of the things that I had in mind this year was bringing in more representation of electronic music,” Levens, a Will Rice College senior, said. “In the past we’ve had XXYYXX and FLCON FCKER, but in general, it’s skewed more toward indie rock. There were a lot of reasons to do that in the past, but this year, I thought, what if we explore some different options?”

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Levens predicts that the headliner GoldLink will be a crowd favorite. 

“GoldLink, I think, is going to be one of the biggest hits at the show,” he said. “[GoldLink] calls it ‘future bounce music,’ and basically it’s these really wild beats that he kind of just flies through rapping. It’s a lot of fun and it’s really high-energy.”

Accompanying the EDM will be local visual artist and musician FLCON FCKR, who played at last year’s show.

“As soon as it gets dark enough to be projecting, we’re going to have some weird, glitched-out madness going on behind the artists,” Levens said. “It’s especially important because we’re using [disc jockeys], and that’s a major audio-visual experience.”

Levens hopes that the risks KTRU is taking with the EDM lineup will pay off. 

“We’re taking some risks this year with the lineup by having Objekt and Bok Bok there,” Levens said. “But ultimately I hope it works out, and that people stick around and watch the whole thing.”

In addition to the music scene, the show will also feature student organization booths, sponsor booths and food trucks. Outgoing station manager Sal Tijerina said KTRU has plans to make this year’s show especially attractive with the food truck lineup.

“We are aiming to make this a huge event,” Tijerina, a Lovett College senior, said. “We’ve got some really awesome food trucks, like Oh My Gogi, that everybody loves. So that could even be an attraction in itself.”

According to Tijerina, KTRU also wants to make a special effort to connect to the Houston community this year, who has greeted KTRU’s return to the radio with enthusiasm. 

“We’re definitely going to make an effort to really tap into the community this year, especially in light of recent news of us returning to FM,” Tijerina said. “A lot of the community was very excited to hear that we’re coming back, and we want to make sure that they know we appreciate it.”

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