About 100 students filled the dark auditorium to listen to the rising “bedroom pop” artists Katzù Oso, undercard and Yeek, the headliner, with 22 West DJs coordinating the event.
Associated Students Inc.’s 22 West Media brought SoundCloud talent to the stage at its free “A Night at the Union” concert at the University Student Union ballroom Thursday night.
“We feel like there’s not a lot of concerts on campus,” said Charles Lyons, marketing coordinator for 22 West Media. “And so these are very small artists that we want to come to campus to try make something happen.”
“It’s all about making sure these artists get heard, because they’re great artists, great people,” said Davis Stewart, events manager for 22 West.
Oso, who’s touring with The Marias next month, hit the stage first, vocalizing over band instrumentals. The young Montebello native had the crowd rocking to his trumpet-filled, Latin-flair tunes.
“Crazy for Loving You” and the upbeat “Kiss U Better” sent fans jumping with the motions and patterns behind the groovy red-and-blue lights. The momentum led Oso to throw T-shirts into the crowd.
Yeek, who has a following of almost 19,000 on his SoundCloud page, brought only his electric guitar, which the Florida singer used to construe varying slow pop, blues and hip hop rhythms.
“Slow,” “Solstice” and his new “Car Window” were some of Yeek’s slower mood setters. “Shake” was faster paced, which prompted fans to sing along and say “hey,” “yo!” Yeek closed out his set with his popular “Only in the West.”
“There’s great art happening around us and we support bringing that here,” Stewart said.
Though Long Beach State’s ASI already hosts an annual Big Event concert, 22 West Media is trying to continue its “A Night at the…” concert theme into a regular showcase. Before Thursday, it had only held “A Night at the Museum,” which took place last year by the University Art Museum.
Asher Reeves, 22 West Magazine’s distribution manager said that they’re trying to make the campus more familiar with what they do. They want to provide exposure for upcoming SoundCloud artists as well as artists that are in “Hollywood music purgatory,” according to Reeves.
“There’s not a good representation of the actual [live music] scene surrounding our school,” said Stewart, who booked the talents. “I think it’s very important that we, at least once a year, have this scene come on campus and see what’s available for the students outside of it”