Outer World at Visible Records, Presented by WTJU’s Third Rail
Date: 05/18/2024
Time: 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Third Rail is delighted to present retro-future band, Outer World, at Visible Records in Charlottesville, Saturday, May 18, 8 – 9 p.m. This free event is open to an audience at 1740 Broadway Street. No tickets are required, but donations to the band are encouraged. You can also listen live on 91.1 FM, stream via wtju.net, and video stream on WTJU’s Facebook and YouTube channels. Third Rail is supported by Hello Goodbye Records in downtown Charlottesville.
This will be a performance and Q&A session with the band. Outer World delivers retro-future, crate digger delights, French freakbeats, psychedelic garage-pop, Bond spy themes, space-age post-punk, ’80s NYC disco punk, and sensual subtexts. The band is Tracy Wilson, Kenneth Close, Erin O’hare, Keith Renna, and Nate Rubin.
Excerpted from Bandcamp:
Kenneth Close and Tracy Wilson have built themselves a new universe in the form of a home recording studio to transport themselves a galaxy away from the grief, fear, and worry the pandemic brought. The duo dubbed themselves Outer World and they blasted off into an entirely new to them corner of the musical universe to create their debut album “Who does the music love?”
Covid moved into Wilson’s lungs in February of 2020 and overstayed its welcome. It stole what she describes as “her big voice”. For those familiar with her previous bands Dahlia Seed or Positive No, her trademark, no need for a microphone belt, was gone for good. The couple grieved for the literal loss of a primary instrument used in their art, but were determined to find a way back to making music again. Together, they began exploring the world of songwriting using a computer, samples, synths, and plug-ins. The goal was to create a new musical landscape where Tracy could find a new voice that wasn’t as focused on power, but still potent nonetheless.
Tucked into the layers of Who does the music love? is a century of recorded music from all over the world. We find the dynamic swing of a Swedish soul jazz singer on top of Bond worthy spy themes. We hear the sensuality of France in the ‘60’s when in swaggers a wink to ‘90s house music. There is a tug-o-war between a ‘70s angular post punk and experimental Brazilian psych. Cosmic Jazz, noisecore, freakbeat breaks, space age bachelor pad Moog mayhem, and the treatment of the iconic retro-future group Broadcast as a genre and chosen family. This diverse blend is just some of Outer World’s psychedelic garage pop points of inspiration. It is music to make any crate digger’s heart skip a beat.
A six songs demo in the summer of 2022 was reshaped at the Sweeping Promises home studio in Lawrence Kansas with the additional help of Keith Renna on drums; fellow member of Positive No with a proven chemistry to Close and Wilson. A 7th song was written that fall, and then the entire body of work was handed over to Maryam Qudus (Spacemoth) for her artful mixing. Outer World’s long EP had metamorphosed from song sketches used for vocal rehab and a pandemic escape hatch into a reverb drenched, hallucinogenic fever dream.
