ALBUM REVIEW: P.H.0 - Karma

P.H.0's full-length debut, Karma, combines cyber-synthwave, black metal, drum & bass, and East Asian traditional music into a head-spinning, reality-warping fusion.

Reviewed by Alex "Ash" Han

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before reading this review, be sure to stream Karma via P.H.0's Linktree page!

 

FEW THINGS ARE AS EXCITING as an LP which fully commits itself to breaking genre barriers and challenging our preconceived notions of how to categorize music. In this regard, it's hard to think of a more striking example than P.H.0's debut album Karma, released at the tail end of last month. Though this album rollout took place at a bit of an inopportune time for me—mainly because I was getting steamrolled by a particularly brutal final exam period at the time—Karma has soundtracked much of the last three weeks for me, mostly on account of its insane depth and level of commitment to its crossgenre spirit. For me, this is an album which seems to throw me something new every time I put it on, with a seemingly-bottomless repository of details that speak to the amount of love & care that went into this thing.

Borne out of the collision of talents between five alumni of the MTech graduate program—producer Howard "Sen" Ouyang, drummer Pierre Zheyu Pi, guitarist Jun Guo, erhuist Danting "Chi-Chi" Qiao, and modular synth artist Minghim Tong—the eclecticism that defines P.H.0's work is evident just from the lineup. My first taste of P.H.0 came in the form of "Ascension", the lead single from Karma, which showcased an epic, larger-than-life collision between Mongolian morin khuur music, black metal, and breakcore. That song showcased a number of really compelling crossover points between the various artists in P.H.0's lineup, as "Ascension" threw us a ton of moments wherein everyone just seemed to click, their synergy propelling the song forward with an infectious and relentless sense of momentum. In short, hearing a lead single as interesting and driven as "Ascension" really got my hopes up going into Karma, and I found myself hoping that the whole LP would build on the wild eclecticism and impeccable pacing of their prior material. Suffice it to say that that expectation was definitively met, as Karma proved to be nothing less than a rollercoaster ride of mind-boggling proportions, pulling from a world's worth of different sounds to create a very compelling showcase of the artistic identity that makes P.H.0 who they are.

"To say Karma is a meticulously planned project is an absolute exaggeration, as it was initially intended to be an EP but quickly grew into a full-length album because we are an indecisive bunch with a strong tendency toward perfectionism, which can be excessively fastidious at times. However, despite resulting in a very intensive production and engineering process, that insistence on perfectionism is what made us very proud of the end product, and we are finally able to share with you our debut album: Karma." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. Sen

 

The LP opens with "Vanity", featuring a distant East Asian traditional sample replete with pentatonic woodwind melodies and tangu drumbeats before crashing into a black metal breakdown anchored in heavy guitars and huge acoustic drums. The momentum of the pounding drums lends the LP a very real sense of urgency and energy from the track's opening seconds, blasting out of the gates with a great degree of fanfare. Pierre and Jun combine to make for a very compelling introduction to the universe of P.H.0, combining hard-hitting drumming with thick, distorted metal riffs that jacks the energy up to 11. Minghim also makes an early appearance here, contributing little synthesizer notes and sound effects that flicker in and out of each ear, which add a nice bit of diversification to the rhythmic soundscape provided by Pierre's drums. Before long, we hit a huge curveball of a sudden tempo slowdown that seems ripe for headbanging, giving Minghim's wailing background synth textures and Jun's heavy guitar a moment to shine. Soon after, though, the tempo speeds back up to normal, and Jun throws us some clean arpeggiated guitar picking over tangu drums; Chi-Chi's erhu makes its first appearance here, its weeping, singsong timbre making for an excellent break from the heavy metal wall of sound textures that defined the track's first half. Chi-Chi's erhu playing is truly beautiful, lending the track a really nice expressive and contemplative edge that serves as a nice contrast with the track's more aggressive metal leanings. Chi-Chi maintains her posture as the lead performer throughout this second leg of the track, even as the background synths begin to swell and we collapse into a section backed by electronic drums and sidechained synth bass, serving as a detour into a sort of listing, darkwave-esque groove. I thought the sidechaining of Jun's distorted chords to the kick drum was really well done here, and gave this section a really nice sort of hybrid synthwave/metal vibe I really enjoyed. In short, "Vanity" feels excellent in terms of its pacing; no one section drags for too long, and the arrangement choices made in taking us from metal to erhu soloing to synthwave feel earned and natural. The journey-like experience of this track is excellent, and it does a wonderful job at capturing a meandering, winding path through many different musical territories that sets up the ground we're to cover in the rest of the LP very well.

"…the opening track 'Vanity' started over a year ago, even before the band was formed, as Howard’s experiment with the goal of integrating Beiguan, a traditional form of music that originated in northern Taiwan in the 17th century, with laser-like guitar riffs that aim to imitate the atonality and the articulation of the suona, a traditional Chinese wind instrument commonly used in Beiguan… Jun, bringing his post-rock influences, added an ambient guitar section filled with reverb washes, which inspired Howard to add an erhu solo on top of it as well as Pierre to follow up the post-rock section with a synthwave breakdown combined with Djent-like, palm-muted riffs and a lead part played with a real suona by our friend Tong, a professional Chinese flute and suona player based here in the city. What was originally a straightforward, mosh pit-friendly experimental metal track became an amalgamation of our musical experiences spanning across progressive metal, post-rock, synthwave, and traditional Chinese folk music." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. Sen

The LP's second track, "Shin (feat. Her Dark Heaven)", opens on a heavy, cinematic sweeping pad sound punctuated by little synth notes here and there. A distant vocal sample soon layers over the soundscape, asking, "where's the substance, the substance of the soul?", which I thought made for a nice meditative vibe. Jun plays a clean, Metallica-esque riff over a heavy, harmonically rich synthwave sub bass as the slowly-building synth arps and touches of Chi-Chi's faraway, reverb-soaked erhu build tension in the back. The track reads like something of an interlude to me, and though I'm not normally a fan of interludes appearing this early in the tracklist, the swell into the subsequent track "Yè" is amazing and works really well as a buildup within the context of the greater project's pacing.

"My life is split into two parts: during the day, I follow the rules, working along the L train between Bushwick and Chinatown. I present myself as the ideal image that my parents, who believe in the Chinese Communist dream, prefer. Every day, they remind me about my life in America—on the other side of the Earth—which they both hate and miss deeply.
At night, I tear off my stockings and immerse myself in the horror of the darkness, enjoying the collective nightmare of a surreal and bizarre humanity, as if the rules and suffering of the daytime no longer exist. I no longer remember how I clutched my visa and struggled to survive on this land, forgetting how people reminded me that different faces and voices were my sins.
At this moment, my music is my scream, it is the only language I have in my panic. It represents me, if you listen." –Danting Qiao a.k.a. Chi-Chi

Jun's riff from "Shin" continues and grows into "Yè (feat. Her Dark Heaven)", the third track on Karma. Heavy metal chugs punctuate the soundscape between shredded melodic passages on electric guitar, loosely echoed by Minghim's screaming synth textures in the background. Distant, almost-androgynous, light vocals enter during the verse, bringing a plaintive timbre alongside octave doubling and supremely catchy, soaring melodies. Vocalist Jack Doyle's vocal performance on the track is awesome, bringing a somewhat disaffected, numb-sounding emotional texture that nonetheless conveys a great deal of pathos, reminding me a bit of Julian Casablancas in the process. Amidst this titanic vocal chorus, we catch little atmospheric washes of erhu and occasional clean guitar chords poking through the soundscape, which I thought made for a really nice touch. The middle section brings a come-down moment where Jun's melodic guitar gradually builds layers on top of itself in polyphonic harmony before pulling back slightly to make room for Minghim's textural synth touches. The whole band feels utterly locked in on this track in particular, with each member seamlessly coming to the forefront at select moments and passing the spotlight around; Jun and Chi-Chi have excellent interplay as the two predominantly "lead" performers, if you will, backed by Minghim, Howard, and Pierre in equal measure. Nevertheless, the soundscape never threatens to overwhelm Jack, whose lead vocals anchor the track and provide a nice sense of pathos to play off of Chi-Chi's expressive erhu playing. In short, I thought the pacing of this track was particularly excellent, and the interplay between each member of P.H.0 was done really smartly as well. After an ending section featuring a half-time breakdown where the vocals return, the track ends and we fade out to the sound of static noise.

"The title track 'Yè' (or 'Karma' in English) and its overture 'Shin' are the only two tracks with vocals (huge props to our great friend Jack Doyle from Her Dark Heaven for contributing their angelic vocal!) that we wrote from scratch and later produced together as a group. 'Yé' started as two guitar parts written by Howard playing pentatonic scales to imitate traditional Chinese plucked string instruments, but what truly defined it was Jun's addition of an ambient guitar lead that set the tone of the track: ethereal, heavy, at times eerie, and most importantly, East Asian — and not in the Western, on-the-surface sense where we could simply add a gong at the beginning of every section or a sample of any traditional East Asian instrument on top of a heavy metal or EDM instrumental." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. Sen

"Jiva" begins with muffled, sub-heavy, pounding drum pattern, eventually becoming ornamented with additional shakers and percussion. Jun's guitar outlines a distorted, wailing melody in Phrygian dominant mode to introduce us to the harmonic soundscape of the track, setting the mood with a rather alien and desolate vibe. Chittering percussion and ambiguously tonal synth pads contribute to the growing apocalyptic mood of the track, before we hit a short vocoder break, followed by a tempo change that speeds us up and ratchets up the energy of the track. Electronic drums and heavy bass enter in full force, taking us into another synthwave/metal crossover section featuring octave-lead guitar and swelling synth arrangements. The vocoder returns, outlining a cacophony of speaking voices, talking over one another and becoming increasingly digitized in a really cool moment that evokes a sort of robotic symphony. "Jiva" feels like a sonic hurricane, a barrage of sounds that nonetheless remains tightly focused and evocative of some really cool sonic territory.

"The modular synth and the erhu production started later in the entire production pipeline, taking place mostly at Minghim’s studio apartment where he recorded and [engineered] the erhu by himself. Minghim’s addition of modular synth and additional production works also elevate the production value of the entire record, most notably on 'Jiva' and 'Wu Wuo': for example, the fragmented, modular chaos at the end of 'Jiva', which was made using Howard’s and his wife’s recitation of a poem from the game Cyberpunk 2077, and the thick, immersive layers of textures and pads under the erhu solo in 'Wu Wuo'." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. Sen

The LP's fifth track, "Mo", features drum & bass influences front and center, as we open on a distant, weeping string sample and an uptempo, sped-up breakbeat. Chi-Chi's pentatonic erhu melodies are once again utilized nicely over a huge sub bass and distant, wailing pads. Minghim hits us with a breakdown section augmented with stereoized downers and distant flashes of chopped-up erhu in a moment that I thought made for a really cool moment of calm before the storm. However, in true P.H.0 fashion, it isn't long before we return to the aesthetics of black metal & doom metal. Pierre brings us a rapidly-subdivded kick drum and a syncopated rhythm that synergizes well with Jun's heavy chugs. Soon, the rhythm section finds a steady, driving pulse, where Minghim gets the lead, articulating some cool, icy synth melodies over the top of Jun's wall of guitars. A really cool moment came during a 12/8 time switch, where a plucked string instrument enters the stereo field; I'm not totally certain, but I think the string instrument is a guzheng, which made for a super cool addition that feels right at home amidst the guitars somehow. I remained seriously wowed by the intersectionality of P.H.0's synthesis of traditional East Asian instruments within an electronic metal context, and I thought that the inclusion of the guzheng here was a really tastefully done example of this. Shortly thereafter, Chi-Chi gets an erhu solo where she truly shreds, playing some super impressive fast riffs over Jun's massive guitar backing. In keeping with P.H.0's signature sound, "Mo" is another track which feels like a journey from start to finish, with stops along the way in various musical landscapes which P.H.0 harnesses and makes their own.

"Maruya" is a shorter track, clocking in at just under two minutes, and opens on a distorted, warped, almost-vocal sample. Minghim's synth textures soon enter to provide a steady arpeggiated techno, acid-house bassline, augmented with pleasant dissonances and faraway flashes of percussion. The track maintains a dynamic and constantly shifting soundscape on account of the use of arrangement FX and moving filters, which I thought was really cool. Soon, we get a four-on-the-floor kick which steadily builds energy heading into a huge key change accompanied by icy, howling synth pads and a haunting, arrhythmic vocoder. The cinematic, sweeping energy of this track is truly awesome, and feels like a movie trailer-sized spin on the artistic leanings of artists like Kid Reno. The inclusion of this interlude-like track made for a nice moment of respite from the otherwise-breakneck pace that defines this LP, allowing the listener to take a breath and be quietly immersed in the heady, apocalyptic, cyberpunk world of Karma for a second, while also serving as a very compelling showcase of Minghim and Howard's talents.

"Wu Wuo" returns us to techno territory, kicking off with a steady kick pulse and warped, robotic vocal samples. The Kid Reno & Dog Collar parallels remained strong for me here, with the heavy, subby pulse of the drums reminding me a little of the Ecliptic collaboration track "jacuzzi" from Dog Collar's Jungle Fairy Tale EP last year. Flickering percussion breakbeats (maybe bongos?) pair with offbeat open hats to create an interesting cross-section of traditional music that nonetheless exists in firmly electronic territory. Soon, Jun's guitar comes crashing in, outlining an indisputably sick Phrygian riff that intertwines throughout Chi-Chi's erhu passages. The interplay between Chi-Chi and Jun is showcased really well here, I feel, with both getting plenty of chances to solo and flex their instrumental chops; in particular, Chi-Chi's rapid, nimble sixteenth note shreds made for a really cool addition. A spoken, 1950s radio play-esque vocal sample plays over a short break, proclaiming the forthcoming abolishment of worldly pleasures in a moment that furthers Karma's ominous vision of the future. Finally, there's a really cool halftime break in the last leg of the track where the guitar breaks off into syncopated chugs as Minghim's wailing synth textures take up residence in the background before the track's eventual end. On first listen, the dynamism that so often defines P.H.0's work for me felt less present here, and I felt less like I was being taken on a journey as compared to some of the other more rhapsodic endeavors in the tracklist, but as I've come back to this track more and more, it's slowly entrenched itself as being one of my favorites on the album. The apocalyptic soundscape of Karma is conveyed nowhere better than through the distant spoken proclamations, erhu shredding, pounding subs, and crashing metal riffs of "Wu Wuo", and the vibe of this track is nothing short of incredible.

"Bodhaka" is another short, interlude-style track that opens on soaring, dark-80s cyberwave synths before collapsing into a huge open fifths vocal sample that rides the line between organic and synthetic. Minghim's sound design really shines here, with a ton of cool evolving chord tones that incrementally fade in and out to keep the musical soundscape slowly yet resolutely moving forward. Around halfway through, the track enters a big switchup with a bunch of pseudo-vocal synth pads entering, accompanied by what sounds like a distant howl in the background. It's a really cool sound; I'm not sure whether its origins are organic or fully synthetic in nature, but either way, it makes for a really cool cinematic moment, a cloud-clearing rush that takes us into the LP's final act.

"While most drum parts were pre-programmed by Howard for demo purposes, Pierre, as the drummer of the band, was in charge of programming the drums, selecting kits, and perfecting the flow of the drums to make them sound realistic when they needed to. We used a mix of virtual drum instrument plugins by GetGood Drums and stock Ableton drum samples." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. Sen

"Genko", the penultimate track on Karma, opens with a pulsing, cybernetic D minor synth groove that rather reminded me of the soundtrack to Detroit: Become Human for some reason. A lead melody soon enters over the faraway, muted pulse of the kick drum, taking the form of an erhu sidechained in quarter notes, which I thought made for a really nice touch of extra dynamism, even amongst Chi-Chi's already very expressive playing. The Phrygian zither countermelodies sound excellent in context, once again showcasing P.H.0's ability to combine melodic textures from synthetic and Asian traditional soundscapes. The track hits with a huge beat drop that takes us into a synthwave drum pattern consisting of a steadily rising & falling hi-hat pattern over a reverbed, snappy snare drum and a solid kick. The momentum of this thing feels very unwavering and purposeful, evoking images like an android factory assembly line, metallic robot arms clanging in unison up and down the way. Eventually, we break into a clanging snare with trap hi-hat rolls over a detuned synth bass and distant claps that shake up the groove a little and take us into loosely cyberpunk-ish Eurobeat territory. I thought this little change in sound selection was really nice, and made for a continuation of the previously-established vibe while still throwing us enough new material to keep us entertained. There's a nice middle section where all the synth lines slowly become more noisy, distorted, and hi-passed, before we fall back into a heavy guitar-driven section. The tempo/meter switch into 5/4 time that happens here didn't quite feel totally natural to me, though it did make the eventual return to common time amidst Jun's syncopated chugs and Chi-Chi's soaring lead that much more satisfying, so I suppose it works as a structural element. "Genko" definitely feels like an ambitious piece of work, and I really appreciated its heavier lean into the cyberpunk aesthetic of P.H.0's work—the seamless evocation of dark, neon-lit skyscrapers under a desolate, gray sky thick with smog works excellently here, and I found myself pulled even more firmly into the world of P.H.0 for a second.

With that vivid image still fresh in my mind, returning to "Ascension" felt like coming home. This song had served as my introduction to the work of P.H.0 in the first place, and it served in that role in remarkable fashion, articulating a sharp, edgy, striking picture through a laser-focused artistic vision. The momentous, cinematic, morin khuur-laden buildup right from the start of the track hits that much harder now that it arrives at album's end, and the arrival of each element one by one—the soaring erhu, the fast-paced breakbeat, the growling sub bass, the chunky, jagged power chords—feels like each band member returning to the stage at the end of the show for one last hurrah, leaving everything out there once and for all. In short, it's a listening experience of epic proportions, and its inclusion here as the last track on the album was a fitting choice. Karma goes out much the same way it came in—as the final whisper of erhu fades away, Karma cements itself as an explosive whirlwind of sounds, sandblasting its way out of the gates, whistling & howling as it whips away amidst the current, leaving behind a windswept cityscape begging for more.

"What we want is to create something new using both Western and Eastern musical elements and based on the musical framework of the East and give these historically rich and now endangered musical instruments, techniques, and ideas the representation and the reinvigoration they deserve and desperately need. We aimed to capture the essence of East Asian music not by merely adding traditional instruments as superficial ornamentation but by reflecting our social, cultural, historical, and religious experiences living in various parts of East Asia, from Taiwan and China to Japan. This very much encompasses the core theme of this record: expand upon the more Western-dominated musical palette, make musical elements derived from Western music traditions serve the musical framework of the East instead of the other way around, and develop our unique musical language, which is authentic and truly East Asian. In that sense, P.H.0 is an 'experimental' band, serving as an experiment in flipping the power dynamic between the musical framework of the East and the current musical landscape dominated by Western music traditions." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. Sen

 

Karma is an album that exists firmly entrenched in a crossroads of sorts; the various influences from heavy metal, drum and bass, synthwave, and East Asian folk music are combined and incorporated into each other in a tasteful and natural fashion to give rise to a fusion sound that truly belongs to P.H.0 in a way not many artists can claim. Each of the contributions of P.H.0's five members feel clear and distinct, pulling from a diverse selection of different lived experiences & musical backgrounds that nonetheless come together into a cogent & cohesive whole that feels far greater than the sum of its individual parts. For me, the album experience encapsulated a really poignant summation of my own experience as a product of the Asian-American diaspora. Maybe it's the album's ability to adapt familiar Western musical elements to a distinctly Eastern context that feels very evocative of my own longing to reconnect with a culture and heritage from which I have always been distanced; as a child, my own parents made an effort to make sure I assimilated into American life, and I did so successfully, but at the cost of my connections with my Chinese and Korean heritage. My own lack of immersion into my family's culture and inability to speak their languages permanently distances me from ever being truly accepted as being a part of that society and world, and perhaps it is for this reason that I found Karma so powerful. Language might be learned, but music is universal, and as such, this album has a unique ability to bridge the gap across which myself, as well as many others, including the members of P.H.0, exist.

 

In short, this LP is incredible, and hits very close to home. From start to finish, the intentionality of this LP remains its biggest selling point; despite the huge diversity in sounds from which the members of P.H.0 pull, they remain resolutely self-assured as they forge a new path into uncharted territory. The creative vision behind this LP is truly striking—the band's goal of recontextualizing Western sounds in an Eastern framework is compelling from the outset, but it was evident even from the very first listen that their conceptualization of the sound they want to be associated with is crystal clear. Not one single track on this album feels like a half-baked idea, or a loose figment of an ill-fated artistic experiment that never should have left the drawing board. The imagery elicited by this album was also extremely strong, and I found its creative vision to be exceptionally vivid and striking as a result; the conceptualization and execution of Howard's vision was achieved remarkably well on account of everyone's careful contributions, innovative sound design, and excellent management of their own soundscape. Aside from a few minor points of contention with the mix, which are likely stemming from my own personal preferences anyways, this LP is bulletproof. Karma is likely to be one of the most striking debuts I've heard in a long time, and I fully consider myself to be aboard the P.H.0 hype train now—wherever they take us next, I'm sure that both the destination and the journey will deliver something insightful, profound, and ascendant, and I await eagerly for them to take us there.

Personal enjoyment score: 10 out of 10

Standout tracks: "Vanity", "Yè (feat. Her Dark Heaven)", "Mo", "Wu Wuo", "Ascension"

Behind the Scenes at MTech Invasion: feat. Arin Reedy, Kudu, 3rd Ave, Noraaa, slusho, RED_E¥E, and more!

Get an exclusive look behind the scenes of the first and only MTech festival in the program's history! 

Compiled & edited by Alex Han

Photography by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo) and Ava Joyce (@avajoycee), except where noted.

 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for supporting MTech Invasion! This article is built out of interviews and commentary from some of the crew and artists involved in making MTech Invasion happen.

 

If you enjoyed the photographs in the article, please support our photographers, Ava Joyce (@avajoycee) and Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo)! Don't forget to visit Alex's website in order to commission photography from him!

 

I've also assembled a Spotify playlist that contains the songs performed at the show! It's an incomplete playlist, since it misses a lot of the unreleased material debuted there, but you can find it here.

The Beginning

 

"Originally, the idea [for MTech Invasion] wasn't… a school event, it was just mainly that I wanted to run a festival. The plan was to use Marcus Garvey Park here in Harlem… they have an amphitheater here that I Googled and you can rent it out for rehearsals and concerts and stuff like that, so I just couldn't help but think how sick it would be to have an [outdoor festival] and just rent out the little amphitheater they have, and get all the MTech artists that we can on board, and just run a full-day event like that." –Rain Edward a.k.a. RED_E¥E

"Obviously, though, renting an amphitheater in Manhattan is expensive… also, running the concert and having all the equipment for that is expensive. It's definitely something I still want to do [as] something separate from NYU, probably further in the future than my initial plan was." –RED_E¥E

 

"Rain actually first approached me about the idea months ago, during the Fall 2022 semester… Back then, the plan was to try and hold a free outdoor concert over the summer sometime, maybe in a park somewhere… Rain asked me if I'd do it, and I said yes; I thought the idea of putting together a showcase for all of us in MTech to come out and support each other's art and see each other perform was a great idea, but at the outset I didn't think I'd end up playing as big a part in making it happen as I did." –Alex Han a.k.a. Han

 

"I brought it up to [Han]… early last fall semester. Time passed and I kept trying to plan it and trying to figure out how I was gonna get all of that equipment… and then juggling that with classes and stuff, I just… quickly realized it would be too much of an undertaking to make that happen during school… I honestly think I was kinda averse to making it a school event, but I don't know if I was talking to [Han], or it might have been Kudu… [when] someone said I should talk to the school and go through [MTech] and see if that could make it happen." –RED_E¥E

"It wasn't until the beginning of the Spring 2023 semester that Rain approached me about it again, and formally asked me to help him plan it as an equal partner… I honestly tried to say no at first; I had no event planning or live sound experience and I didn't think I was the right guy for the job… we talked and he said I know a lot of people and that he knew I was already invested in creating community spaces, and he really pushed me to say yes and help him do this thing. He firmly told me that in spite of what I thought, in his judgement, I was the right guy for the job, which was the biggest thing which convinced me to say yes, and after it's all said and done, I'm very glad he trusted me with helping to make this happen." –Han

 

"I went through Heather Hardy, our advisor… I told her I've been thinking about this for a while… I honestly wasn't expecting it to even at that point be a school event necessarily, but I was just hoping that maybe she'd connect me through the alumni network or something to some people who could make it happen… She hit me back and she was like, 'yeah, so I brought it up to this big faculty/administration meeting, and to Geluso, and everyone seemed to really like the idea, and we can make it a school event,' and I was just like, 'holy shit… now this is real'. As soon as I got that email, pretty much, is when I texted [Han]… because as soon as it became real I realized that I did not have the communication or organizational skills to actually set up a festival myself… As soon as I got that response [from Heather], I was like, 'yo, let's team up here.'" –RED_E¥E

Pictured above: Han performing stagehand duties during setup & line check at MTech Invasion. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

 

"It took a crazy amount of planning to make this thing work… Since we didn't pitch the idea to Professor Geluso until after the semester had already begun, the program's budget for the semester was already set in stone, and we didn't really have any financial resources to work with. That said, we got a lot of help from Geluso, Heather, Isabel, and Keiko in handling the logistical stuff and promoting the event, and we got connected with a lovely team over at the venue. Samantha Skinner, the Technical Operations Manager at The Garage, was super helpful in pulling together the equipment and staff we needed to pull this off, Zoe and Alexandra were awesome lighting techs who had a huge hand in making the show look as spectacular as it did, and Derek Nadeau, the live sound engineer at The Garage, was really on top of things and basically singlehandedly ensured we had great sound all night long. I'm sure there's someone I've forgotten to mention by mistake, but the point is that we had a lot of great people behind us and it wouldn't have happened without them." –Han  

 

"[Geluso] did throw out the idea of us putting together a committee [for selecting the lineup], and I think what we had kinda agreed upon there and what I felt was right in that scenario was for the committee to be pretty broad… I'm a rapper, and I love electronic music, so obviously I'm gonna select artists that are more aligned to those genres that I want to hear… The whole plan with the festival was to put together these committees so that we could minimize that bias within each committee member so that when the committee forms together, there would be something more unanimous and fair to the artists." –RED_E¥E

"The name of the festival was actually Rain's idea, since we were, like, 'invading' Clive Davis territory… [MTech Invasion] was a pretty fire name; I got some compliments [from people] on it and I was like, 'nah, that was all Rain'." –Han

"A huge part of the idea was that we could get this festival together so that we could promote up-and-coming artists… the whole point is that it's a festival, it's a group of artists and friends… that was a big reason for this festival to happen… Honestly, I feel like MTech is the only major where you can make something like this happen… it doesn't feel like you're just another number in the masses amongst 50,000 other kids." –RED_E¥E

 

"The hardest part of planning was probably the process of picking our final lineup. We selected the final lineup by committee—Rain and I gathered a bunch of folks from all corners of MTech in order to represent not only the undergraduate & graduate student communities, but also the various social circles and artistic communities that exist in MTech… we basically tried to get as eclectic a committee as possible in order to create as eclectic & diverse a lineup as we could. In the end, all of us individually went through the applicants and we voted on a final lineup of ten acts. It was really hard… I had to make some really difficult decisions, and the other folks in the committee did overrule me a few times, but in the end I was really happy with the group that we assembled and I think we did a pretty decent job at getting together a lineup that represented the diversity of artistry that MTech is all about." –Han

 

"[Han] came up to me and asked me if I would be interested in stage managing [MTech Invasion], and my best friend stage manages, so I was like, 'I don't know, because that seems like a lot of work'… but I was really happy to say yes because it's cool to get involved with something and meet new people, because I haven't had the opportunity to do that [thus far]." –Brianna Gallina, stage manager

 

"…Before the show happened, honestly, there was a little buzz about it and that felt really awesome… slusho came together and started rehearsing, [Han] brought [his] band together and started rehearsing, and 3rd Ave was definitely rehearsing, and people were just prepping for the show… Everyone knew what was happening, and there was this [buildup]… it's really brought the school together, which is something I'm really happy about." –RED_E¥E

 

Invasion Day

 

Pictured above: Arin Reedy, performing during her set at MTech Invasion. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"Being asked to open the show was a really exciting opportunity for me. While I think there is always a certain level of pressure that comes with being the first act on stage, I wouldn't say that I was necessarily nervous about it. I saw it as a chance to set the tone for the rest of the evening, and to get the audience excited about the performers to come. As one of the few acoustic acts, I felt it was cool to start the show on a lighter note, bringing a more unplugged sound to the stage." –Arin Reedy

 

"I absolutely loved Arin's acoustic set. Her voice was incredible, and [her & Fiona's] vocal harmonies were really beautiful." –Suzie Sanford, director of 3rd Ave

 

"I really, really enjoyed Arin Reedy's set… it kinda set the vibe for the rest of the night. I like that it kind of went gradual from a chill, slower vibe like that to Rain's set [at the end], which was so full of energy… it was kinda cool to just see it slowly build, and I was just like, 'oh, this girl is really good'." –Brianna Gallina, stage manager

 

Pictured above: Fiona Magee, performing alongside Arin Reedy. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I asked Fiona Magee to play with me and I didn't really have to teach her my songs at all. She is always around me when I'm writing music, so she knew the harmonies and guitar parts. Since I had to keep the set relatively short, I picked five of my favorite originals to play. It was important to me that I had a good balance of upbeat and slower songs, to give the set a dynamic flow and keep people engaged… I'm proud of how the set went overall! It was really rewarding to hear applause and positive reactions to original songs that I was performing for the first time." –Arin Reedy

 

"One of the highlights for me was Arin's set… Arin & Fiona's harmonies were insane. It's like they had Autotune on their voices." –Nick Wu a.k.a. nickwuh, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

"I actually didn't know Arin or her music at all before we'd started planning MTech Invasion… but I listened to her music when her signup form landed in my email inbox, a week or so before we finalized the lineup, and I was absolutely blown away… I knew right then and there that she had to be the one to open the show. I'm pleased to know that that was a good choice; Arin & Fiona put on a wonderful show and they sounded incredible." –Han

 

Pictured above: Arin Reedy (left) and Fiona Magee (right), pictured here during their performance of "penny". Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"…One of the highlights of the set for me was playing 'Noon', a song that Fiona and I co-wrote together. Singing harmonies with Fiona is one of my favorite things to do, especially the harmonies on that song. I love the chemistry that Fiona and I have when performing, and how we feed off of each other's energy. We had a lot of fun on stage, and I think that translated to the audience. I appreciated the audience's energy overall; I felt like we were able to connect with them on a personal level. It was super enjoyable to be able to share my music with such a passionate and supportive community." –Arin Reedy

 

 

Pictured above: Kudu, performing his set live at MTech Invasion. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

 

"I am always nervous before shows, but I’m teaching myself to use that feeling to my advantage. Nervousness is nothing more than raw performative energy! If you harness it the right way, it will amplify your stage presence, excitement, and ultimately lead to a better performance." –Leon Sleator a.k.a. Kudu

 

"Kudu's set was a super fun vibe. I'd seen him play a couple times before and when he applied to join the lineup, I knew he'd be an amazing addition… He's always such a fun and energetic performer and it was an honor to have him with us that day." –Han

 

"Since I only had 15 minutes, I had to limit my set to only my favorite songs. The last song I played was one I NEVER thought I would perform for the public. It is called 'Stinky Bugs,' and it is without a doubt one of the stupidest (yet hardest) tracks I have ever made. It’s a strait electro house banger, sampling Bach’s B minor mass in the verses interspersed with drops that seem to get progressively more ridiculous throughout." –Kudu 

 

Pictured above: Kudu takes in the view from the stage, albeit from an… interesting perspective. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"This was without a doubt one of the best shows I’ve ever played. Every song on the lineup I was extremely proud of and I’ve very rarely performed with as much energy and enthusiasm as I did that night. I went out onto the stage thinking to myself, 'I’m not going to give a perfect performance tonight, but for the 15 minutes I’ve been given, I’m going to have as much fun as I possibly can,' and I know the people in that room could feel that… Ultimately, I am extremely happy with how my set turned out." –Kudu

 

 

Pictured above: Ethan Crowley, performing lead vocals & guitar during his set at MTech Invasion. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I caught the second half of [Ethan Crowley's] set… The acoustics in that space are really lovely for the crowd, and I saw people there… I was like, 'this is actually happening, we got music', and it was so beautiful… I just remember the moment [before "Stupid in College"]—he had a stompbox on—whenever he started stomping and playing that [heel tambourine], it was just like, 'ah man,' this great sense of euphoria… this stillness just came over me." –RED_E¥E

 

Pictured above: Noraaa (left) and Kristen Daley (right) take the stage as a duo during MTech Invasion. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I was a little nervous because [MTech Invasion] was my first gig as Noraaa but once I got to The Garage and started to interact with the other performers I felt very welcome. It was so nice to have this event be MTech sponsored… I felt like this was the first time it really felt like there was an MTech community especially since my first year at NYU was all online." –Nora Deely a.k.a. Noraaa

"I had been working on a new song ('Cruise') that I wanted to perform so I knew I was going to play it. The most important thing for me was making enough progress on the song before the day of the show but I think it came out really well." –Noraaa

 

Pictured above: Noraaa, pictured here performing lead vocals during the live premiere of her upcoming single "Cruise". Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"We both wanted to perform in the festival and for me at least, I only wanted to perform 'Cruise'. So I thought it would make sense if Kristen and I formed our own duo to showcase both of our music. We are also good friends and roommates so we already knew the chemistry was there to support each other in our own songs. It felt really nice to perform with her, I was really proud of us for pulling it off." –Noraaa

 

Pictured above: The Taixel Experiment, pictured during his electronic set at MTech Invasion. Visible on the right is RED_E¥E, hitting some dance moves in the front of the crowd. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I had never heard of The Taixel Experiment before that night, but after hearing his music, I was immediately entranced. His songs and production just sound so incredible and hit the dance floor with such precision and ferocity." –Leon Sleator a.k.a. Kudu

"…[When] The Taixel Experiment came on… I was in the crowd trying to film it, but… man, it was so good. I started going crazy. I think I still have the footage, but it's very blurry, because I was jumping and headbanging and shit…" –RED_E¥E 

"Honestly, I love electronic music, so [The Taixel Experiment's] performance was just… vibes for me, because I love that stuff." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist during Han's set

 

 

Pictured above: The always-enigmatic Dog Collar, deep in concentration during his livecode set. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

"Right before Emil [The Taixel Experiment] went onstage, the projector screen at the venue decided to stop working and we couldn't get it to lower, which I was really sad about since both Emil and Sunil [Dog Collar] were supposed to do live visuals… Both of them still put on an awesome show nonetheless—Emil had the crowd going wild, and Dog Collar did some insane livecode stuff I really wish we'd been able to visually see." –Han

 

"Dog Collar was another performance that really grabbed my attention. I love glitched-out electronic music and that performance was really unique and rhythmically wild." –Aman Hanspal, rhythm guitarist in slusho 

 

"I've been a fan of Dog Collar since maybe last year… I've been to a couple of his shows here and there, and I've always really loved his music, so… once we solidified the lineup and knowing that he was actually coming… I don't know, that really put a certain ease on my tension because I knew we had a solid [performer]… He's had time to practice and train and build up his skills and he's clearly a very talented artist." –RED_E¥E

 

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave takes the stage during "Woppy". From left to right: Jaden Tyler, TypeOh, Thai Thai, nickwuh, Anshoo Saha. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

"[3rd Ave] started out with just me, Luke, Anshoo, and Mathias… we all met because we went to Rolling Loud together. And then, Luke brought Nick in, Nick brought Charlie in, and I brought Jaden in. At the beginning, it was a lot more hip hop, rap, trap…it started out just being pure hip hop… and then, with Nick & Jaden coming in—they both have more hyperpop influences—at first, I feel like it was kind of hard for us to figure out a nice balance, but I think with a lot of our more recent songs, we've figured out the 3rd Ave sound." –Suzie Sanford, director in 3rd Ave

 

Pictured above: Producer, vocalist, & guitarist Jaden Tyler performing with 3rd Ave. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I think once 'Gottem' took off we all shifted our focus to 3rd Ave, and as the year has gone on, we've only been spending more time on it. It's so nice not having to do an entire song, and only adding in where I feel like I have something to say. I've really come to trust these guys both as musicians and people… I think we all also have different things to offer, so we've ended up with a sound that feels distinct from any of our own." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

"I think we were all extremely excited about this event—we knew the audience was going to be supportive, and performing at an MTech-sponsored event ensured that we would know a lot of the people there… We wanted to… deliver so that people would be satisfied, and to show that it wasn't just, like, 'we can do stuff in the DAW', [and] we can also do stuff live." –Suzie Sanford, director for 3rd Ave

 

Pictured above: nickwuh singing during 3rd Ave's performance. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

Nick: For me… I don't think it really felt like pressure [leading up to the event], as much as it did feel like hype… we were just very excited to perform.

 

Jaden: I feel like, at least for me… any pressure that we felt [leading up to MTech Invasion] came from us…

 

Mathias: A hundred percent, yeah.

 

Jaden: I don't think we were even really that confident that we'd pull it off—

Luke: Oh, yeah, I wasn't expecting, like, that many people at all [to show up]…

Jaden: …We were more, like, "oh, we're worried [about] whether or not we're gonna put on a good show," not for [the audience], but because we wanna put on a good show.

Han: Right, because that was your first proper performance, yeah? So there was a lot of pressure to get your guys' act together?

Mathias: I think that was the reason why we were nervous… we're putting ourselves out there in front of these people that may not know our music and shit… since we're so unknown, you have to have the best representation of yourself everywhere you go.

Jaden: I think in that sense, it was kinda great that the setlist was really short, because it meant that we had to pick the highlights.

 

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave engages the crowd. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, TypeOh, nickwuh, Thai Thai, Anshoo Saha. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"None of the guys had performed much before MTech Invasion, so I acted as a director of sorts, helping them figure out how to make their performance more exciting. A lot of my input was general blocking advice, trying to make it clearer who the audience should pay attention to in each verse. With five performers on stage, we wanted to make it easier to tell where the main vocal was coming from throughout the performance… They're all natural performers, so they didn't really need my help that much, but it was mostly about taking up more space on the stage and branching out." –Suzie Sanford, director for 3rd Ave 

 

Pictured above: The crowd goes wild while 3rd Ave performs their unreleased track "Ackerman". From left to right: Jaden Tyler, TypeOh, Thai Thai, nickwuh, Anshoo Saha. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee). 
 

"We've already built up a pretty significant catalog of unreleased music… so when choosing songs, we started with what absolutely had to be in the set. 'Gottem' and 'how u like' were obvious because they're our only released songs, and while we were working on the first song we played (currently titled 'Woppy'), we knew that we wanted to use that intro as an intro for a show. 'Ackerman' (the second to last one) also felt mandatory, and for multiple reasons: 1) it's scheduled for release and we [wanted] to tease it, 2) the "down, one, down, two" chant was a great opportunity for audience participation, and 3) it might be our favorite that we've done. 'Facetime' fit nicely into the one open slot." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave 

 

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler (left) and TypeOh (right) go crazy during "Woppy". Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

Jaden: When we walked out…

 

Luke: Oh yeah! Before [our set], when we came out to go get the mics, and everyone was like "yooooo!" and people were cheering—

Jaden: We weren't even starting yet!

Luke: –and after that, I was like, "damn… this is gonna be a crazy performance".

 

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"In terms of parts of [our] performance that really stuck out to me, in 'Woppy', Luke's verse… with the Jason Bourne line, when he switches up the flow—that went so crazy, and it was so cool to see live like that." –Suzie Sanford, director in 3rd Ave

"For some reason, I thought my Autotune wasn't working [during] 'how u like', and it was working, but I just thought it wasn't… I couldn't hear myself up there, so I was like, 'fuck it, I'll just go full hype', and it worked, and it was a lot of fun." –Luke Oh a.k.a. TypeOh, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

"'Facetime' was, like, the first beat we worked on together… It was gonna be a [TypeOh] solo song. We didn't do anything with it for months, and then a couple weeks ago we picked it up again and were like 'oh, this is cool!' …so many people were singing 'Facetime'… We've been showing it to our friends, but I guess people must love the song, because all of the people around me were just singing the words and I was like, 'damn!'" –Suzie Sanford, director in 3rd Ave

 

"I started ['Facetime'] in October with Luke… I think we were talking for the past two months about finishing it, and then we finally did [right before MTech Invasion]." –nickwuh, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

Pictured above: TypeOh spits a verse, flanked by the other members of 3rd Ave. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, Thai Thai, nickwuh, TypeOh, Anshoo Saha. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"3rd Ave was one of my favs, and I think it's safe to say that they were an overall favorite. The energy of the group was unmatched, and they were super entertaining to watch." –Arin Reedy

 

"I think that 3rd Ave is the most, like… exciting new artists in MTech, because they're always so full of energy and I knew they would also kill the stage." –RED_E¥E

"After 3rd Ave hit the stage, I was behind the curtain with my headset on, coordinating the setup for the following set, but while those guys were onstage, all I could think about was how much I wished I was in the crowd watching them play… even from backstage, I felt them shaking the floor, and the energy of the crowd was incredible." –Han

 

"Everyone was just so hyped about [3rd Ave], and it felt… not even like a show that was being done [by] a school… everyone was just bouncing off the walls, which was very cool." –Brianna Gallina, stage manager

 

"…3rd Ave's stage presence is simply something else, and it was super cool to hear their music in a live format. I think at one point one of their members was doing push-ups on stage and that was a fun moment as an audience member." –Aman Hanspal, rhythm guitarist in slusho

 

 

Pictured above: Thai Thai (left) and nickwuh (right) stand shoulder-to-shoulder during "how u like". Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

Luke: We had to do "Ackerman", because the whole, like, chant thing…

 

Mathias: "Ackerman", yeah, I fucking love that song.

 

Han: Where did the idea come from [during] "Ackerman" for Nick doing push-ups on the stage?

Mathias: From Nick, yeah.

Luke: I think it came during rehearsal… we were doing [the chorus]: "down, one…" and Nick just started doing push-ups and we were just like "yeah, keep doing that"!

 

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Suzie: Nick just started doing [push-ups] during one of the run-throughs [of "Ackerman"], and we were just like, "yeah, keep it in, might as well!"

Nick: Well, it's like the FitnessGram PACER Test sample… 'down, one, down, two'… yeah. 

 

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave's energetic performance, rendered through a long-exposure shot. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, TypeOh, Thai Thai, nickwuh, and just a sliver of Anshoo. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

"[The festival] being an MTech show definitely added to our confidence. We knew that we had a much better shot of the audience already being on our side than we would anywhere else, so instead of having to win them over, all we had to do was deliver a great show… As far as performing goes, I had never really performed rap music like that before… I'm much more used to having a guitar in my hands on stage. However, with that many people all jumping around on stage, its hard not to do the same. Everyone's energy, including everyone in 3rd Ave, the rest of the performers, and the crowd, was infectious." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

"3rd Ave brought by far the most energy out of any performer that night. and the way they interacted with one another on stage felt so fun and free and I couldn’t help but ball out when they were performing." –Kudu 

 

 

Pictured above: Anshoo Saha (center) hypes up the crowd during 3rd Ave's performance while Thai Thai (left) delivers vocals. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

Mathias: I feel like, for me, there's like three moments that I really fucked with… when we came out to our intro ["Woppy"], and Anshoo was like, "Make some fucking noise!" and it was loud as fuck, and I was like, "damn, that's so fucking sick"…

 

Jaden: Bro, Anshoo was so on that whole night–

Mathias: Yeah, he was; it was crazy.

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"I think a good portion of the audience came [to see] 3rd Ave, which is fine… but I remember, as they started performing, [Anshoo] went 'are you guys fucking ready??' or something, and then a bunch of girls went 'AAAAAAAA' and started running up to the stage… That was hilarious." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist

 

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Suzie: Anshoo was so good on that stage… Like, in between every song, he would be hyping everyone up… [at one point,] he was like, "Heather, Geluso, get up here!"

 

Han: Wait, he actually said that?

 

Suzie: Yeah! …[and] for 'Gottem', he jumped into the crowd, and he made people open up a pit and start moshing… Anshoo was so good at working the crowd, and that was really cool to see.

 

Pictured above: Thai Thai switches it up real quick. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"Specifically… in 'Gottem', when Mathias says, 'let me switch it up real quick!' and the whole crowd says it as well… that was really cool." –nickwuh, vocalist in 3rd Ave

"It's like a stereotypical [thing], like, an artist hearing people actually know their lyrics and singing them back and thinking that's so cool… but when I said, 'let me switch it up real quick!', I swear I heard the whole audience say that shit, and it was just so fucking cool." –Thai Thai, vocalist in 3rd Ave

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Jaden: [At MTech Invasion], it's the same faces that we see around all the time [at school], and it was nice to put the faces to their work… It felt very familiar in that sense… 

Mathias: It is kinda cool to see the different sides of people, like when you see them in person versus when you see them onstage… when they express themselves, you see a different side of people, and shit, so that's pretty cool.

 

 

Pictured above: Dream pop & shoegaze act slusho covers The Cocteau Twins' 1990 track, "Heaven or Las Vegas". From left to right: Freddy Gerngross, Jolin Tsai, Alex Jester, Jamie Walker, Aman Hanspal. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

"I got offered the ability to play in slusho after learning that Alex Jester (lead guitar) was forming a shoegaze band for the performance. I had been interested in playing with a group for a while and he offered me the rhythm guitar spot, which is how I ended up in the band… There were definitely some nerves in terms of learning how to play as a unit. But, even given the strict time constraints we had to deal with, I think we were still able to mesh together well as a group. I think we all tried to approach the band with collaborative energy and an open mindset, which made playing together a lot less stressful." –Aman Hanspal, rhythm guitarist in slusho 

 

Pictured above: Jolin Tsai, also known by her artist moniker jolin.AA, performing lead vocals with shoegaze outfit slusho. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

"Alex [Jester] invited me to play in the band at first. I was a bit nervous since it took me a while to get familiar with the song, and also being surrounded with a group of talented musicians just makes me nervous. But everyone was so nice and always cheered me up, encouraging me that I'm doing a great job." –Jolin Tsai a.k.a jolin.AA, lead vocalist in slusho

 

 

Pictured above: Han, performing piano & backing vocals as a member of slusho. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I ended up signing on to play keys & sing backing vocals in a shoegaze band called slusho, that Alex Jester put together specifically for MTech Invasion. It had been a really long time since I'd worked with a full band before, and learning the right chords and stuff was really hard since the original recordings are soaked in so much reverb, but performing with them was a really great experience… Jamie Walker is one hell of a drummer, and he did so much to hold us together not only during rehearsals, but also on the stage that night. Jolin Tsai, our lead vocalist, is absolutely incredible, and she and I developed a working rapport that I felt really good about… I feel like the two of us supported and complemented each other better than I'd ever hoped for." –Han

 

 

Pictured above: jolin.AA performing lead vocals with slusho. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I'm super free and open to any songs to be honest. To me it was important to really understand what the piece is about (the message the artist is trying to convey), and present my own interpretations with my vocal. But since vocals aren't the main focus of shoegaze, the lyrics are a bit difficult to be picked up when I'm listening and trying to practice… It also made me rethink my approach to vocals, and sometimes, maybe there's not much meaning needed… [I] was a bit nervous and I was definitely shy at first. But after our trip to Brooklyn together, we… got [very] close to each other." –jolin.AA, lead vocalist in slusho

 

Pictured above: A short clip from slusho's rendition of "Machine Gun", originally by slowdive. From left to right: Han, Freddy Gerngross, Jolin Tsai, Alex Jester, Jamie Walker, Aman Hanspal. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee). 

"Being onstage tends to be nerve-wracking for me up until the music starts, after which most of my anxiety fades. This time was no different, and as soon as we were 10 seconds into our first song I was having a lot of fun. The moments I got to pause and see my band members enjoying themselves onstage was a big highlight for me as well." –Aman Hanspal, rhythm guitarist in slusho

"I was a little worried because I couldn't really hear myself in the monitors, so I was sorta guessing as to what pitch I was singing the whole time, but Jolin sounded awesome up there, and I did get one moment I was really proud of—during our rendition of 'Everyone Knows' by slowdive, I hit this really beautiful falsetto high note during the breakdown section, and I held it out and everything and it was gorgeous… I'm not sure anyone noticed it, but I was really proud of it and I'm just glad I had my moment to shine up there." –Han

 

"Once we had taken a minute to breathe and gone around the back of the house, I caught the last song of slusho's set which I loved. Shoegaze is awesome and those guys killed it, I really wish I caught more of their set." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave 

"[slusho] was fire… that guitar was fucking crazy, [Alex Jester] was going crazy on that guitar." –Mathias Quilon a.k.a. Thai Thai, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

Pictured above: slusho performing their rendition of My Bloody Valentine's 1992 single "Only Shallow" to close out their set. From left to right: Han, Freddy Gerngross, Jolin Tsai, Alex Jester, Jamie Walker, Aman Hanspal. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

"I also really enjoyed slusho's set—the My Bloody Valentine cover was gorgeous." –Suzie Sanford, director for 3rd Ave

 

"I ended up really liking slusho's set—I loved [Jolin on vocals], and I loved actually having [Jamie Walker,] a live drummer." –Emily Costello, lead guitarist during Han's set

"It was really special. I often think vocals as an instrument more than [as] the main character when I'm producing, but this is the first time I really feel like that during live performance. I feel really great to be blending within the guitars; I [felt] like I'm floating with my vocals." –jolin.AA, lead vocalist in slusho

 

Pictured above: Han warms up the crowd with a call-and-response improv near the beginning of their set. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I almost didn't even play my own set… I knew I wanted to try and perform myself, but when we were assembling the lineups we were really worried about how few available slots we had next to the sheer number of applicants we got… I volunteered to cut my set from the bill if it meant that somebody else got a chance to play. Rain, along with everyone else on the committee, vetoed that suggestion, and I ended up being on the final lineup… Just another moment when Rain chose to place that faith in me and tell me that I could do this in spite of my own doubts." –Han

 

 

Pictured above: Sebastian Sabogal (left) on bass and Emily Costello (right) on lead guitar during Han's performance of "Pathological (Who I Am)". Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

 

"Honestly, I wasn't too stressed about it… the vibes were good, honestly. Everyone was getting hyped about it, I knew it was coming up, I was planning around it and stuff like that… so it was fun leading up to it. I'd never performed like that before, so it was a good experience." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist

 

"[Rehearsing] was a little stressful just because of the lack of time that we had… but the vibes were good. I'd really only done session guitar mostly; I'd gotten hired for recording sessions, but not so much live, so that was a cool experience." –Emily Costello, lead guitarist

"I thought I wasn't nervous until like two hours before the performance, when I realized, like, 'oh, fuck, I'm actually gonna do this'! I started frantically going through the bass tabs and air strumming… but everything worked out, so… yeah." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist

"MTech Invasion was my first true gig… For my first two albums, I feel like I really only existed as an artist in the studio, since that was where my craft was, but with this new album, I knew I wanted to branch out and bring my music into a live setting… MTech Invasion was the perfect opportunity to whip myself into shape and start actually putting myself out there." –Han

 

 

Pictured above: Han performs lead vocals during their performance of their most recent single, "Pathological (Who I Am)". Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"Definitely from the beginning, [even] before the lineup was solidified, I was excited to see Han perform… I'd never seen [him] live, but I knew [he] could kill the stage." –RED_E¥E 

 

"I expected to be, like, cripplingly nervous up there, because I, like, had never played a show like that… I expected to be so, so nervous because I used to get really bad stage fright. When I was in high school, anytime I got on a stage, my leg would start shaking, and I would have to, like, put all my weight on it so it would stop shaking in front of everybody because everybody could see that… so I was expecting that to happen again, but I was up there, and I was trying to get my setup together, and we were all getting tuned up, and I was just, like, at peace. I was like, 'this is fine'… there was a part of me that was like, anxiety brain, 'what if you're not good enough? What if your guitar goes out of tune? What if this happens, or that happens,' and part of me was just like, 'nah man, it's gonna happen, and it's gonna be okay.'" –Han 

 

Pictured above: Han performs "Here's the First Thing You Should Know", an unreleased track off their next album. From left to right: Han, Sebastian Sabogal, Emily Costello. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

"Opening with 'Here's the First Thing You Should Know' felt like a huge risk to me… it was a new song, and no one knew it, so it might have been safer to opt to open with a song people knew from me, like 'Pathological (Who I Am)' or 'Desperately Searching'. At the same time, the prospect of singing 'Here's the First Thing You Should Know' in front of a room full of people made me feel really vulnerable in a way that was definitely a little scary… The song is about suicide; it's obviously very personal and painful, and it's probably the most unguarded I've ever been with my songwriting, but in the end, that's why I felt it was the right choice. It was a new song that nobody knew, and at the same time, it was me baring my soul, showing a side of me I've spent years running from… that was why it was the perfect song with which to introduce the world to my music and artistry." –Han

 

"At least for me, when I do music stuff, I really focus on what I'm doing. I get, like, tunnel vision when I'm making music or playing something, so for me, I was just focused on the bass the whole time, trying to play my best… I was also trying to add my own sauce… I was doing a bunch of slides and trying to add my own style to it, so I wasn't thinking about much else." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist

 

Pictured above: Han (left) and Emily Costello (right) performing guitar together during "Save Some Love for Me". Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"You can definitely see in all my pictures, I'm either looking at Alex, or [at] my guitar… I get dissociated when I'm playing, but hearing [the crowd] reactions to our performance was always good!" –Emily Costello, lead guitarist

 

"It was, like, during the first song when anxiety brain started to surface again… I looked down and I made eye contact with Jaden from 3rd Ave, and he was bouncing around, they were hyping me up, and I was like, 'alright, I just gotta put [anxiety] aside and just… go'." –Han 

 

 

Pictured above: Emily Costello (right) plays a guitar solo during "Here's the First Thing You Should Know". Also pictured: Sebastian Sabogal (left), Han (center). Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I don't know how to describe the feeling of singing 'Pathological (Who I Am)' in front of people for the first time, and hearing the crowd singing the chorus back to me. It was incredible… same thing with 'Save Some Love for Me'. It seems like such a small thing when I say it out loud, but the simple realization that people actually knew my songs meant so much to me as an artist… it meant that I'd written something that had resonated with people in some way, and that's really all I've ever set out to do as an artist." –Han

 

~~~~

 

Han: The moment came in "Pathological (Who I Am)" where I sang the chorus and I heard some people singing it back to me from the audience and I was just like, "holy shit! People know the words? What the fuck?!" That just–

RED_E¥E: That's awesome.

Han: I know, right? That meant so much to me. I was just like, holy shit, I didn't realize that people actually, like—because look, I knew that people were listening. I'd log into my Spotify for Artists and I'd see, like, oh yeah, there's X amount of listeners in Brooklyn or whatever, but it didn't occur to me that people actually made memories with these songs and had emotional connections with them until I heard them sing the words… I was just like, "oh my god, that's so fucking cool"… And then we did "Save Some Love for Me" and that song was so much fun, because Kudu was in the front, and he was going hard, he was jumping up and down and dancing and I was like, "okay, somebody knows the song", and people were into it… then people started singing the words to that song as well, and that was really cool.

~~~~

 

"What stood out to me about Han’s set was just how incredible his songs and singing were. Incredibly catchy melodies paired with captivating instrumentals made for an incredibly enjoyable performance especially considering it was his first ever show!" –Kudu

 

Pictured above: RED_E¥E makes a surprise guest appearance during Han's performance of their 2022 single "Save Some Love for Me", contributing a flaming keytar solo. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

Han: Were there any moments from our performance that really stuck out to you guys?

 

Sebastian: When Rain dropped his laptop…

 

Emily: …Yup.

 

Han: Yeah… that was a moment!

 

~~~~

 

RED_E¥E: I guess it's a highlight, but during your [Han's] set, when I came on for my keytar solo, and just, like… completely fucked up the whole system, I think I like–

 

Han: Nah it's all good. We got it fixed really quickly, all things considered, so…

RED_E¥E: Yeah, facts, and I feel like we played it off well onstage… I, like, ripped my interface and laptop off the amp that they were on and onto your laptop and it was just, like, so brutal… I thought maybe I would just get unplugged and that would be okay because the song would keep going, but everything turned off, and it was like, "oof…"

Han: It is all good! …If that had to happen during somebody's set, I'm glad it happened during my set and not somebody else's–

RED_E¥E: Yeah, it didn't really delay us time-wise too badly, um–

Han: Yeah, we finished that set on time, which was crazy, because I thought for sure… we were gonna go overtime… you were like, 'yo, should we do a do-over?' and I was like, 'fuck it'… we still finished on time, so it all worked out in the end. And, like, I kept saying in the aftermath of the show, that, like, it was fine, because I got to sing the song again and I got to sing it better the second time than I did the first time, so it's all good!

 

 

Pictured above: RED_E¥E (left) shredding the keytar solo during "Save Some Love for Me", supported by Sebastian Sabogal (right). Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"It felt so great being onstage, like, in a rock band with all my friends. That literally has been a childhood dream of mine since… I started playing the drums in, like, 4th grade, and that was the start of my music journey, and drums were not necessarily the right instrument for me, but since then… it's been my dream to… be in a rock band with all of my friends and play an epic show, and that was literally what we did in that song… it felt, like, dream come true… it was just fucking awesome." –RED_E¥E

 

"I think between the third and fourth song, I think [Han] was like, talking to the audience… I'm trying to remember what I was thinking, but I looked out into the audience and I was like, 'holy shit, I'm on a fuckin' stage'… I had never performed before… [but] I feel better about [performing] now… I feel like if I wanna perform something of my own, it's not so far away, just because I've already done it… I feel like I can better plan my own thing now." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist

"Sebastian and I have become such good friends… being onstage with him was just awesome. That was his first performance too, and I was so happy I got to share that with him." –RED_E¥E

"RED_E¥E's keytar solo during Han's set was also particularly awesome… it really took Han's already awesome set to the next level." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave

 

 

Pictured above: The Avengers assembled, during the final chorus of "Save Some Love for Me". From left to right: RED_E¥E, Sebastian Sabogal, Han, Emily Costello. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

Luke: Dude, when Rain came on and started doing that thing, that was crazy…

 

Jaden: The keytar?

Mathias: That shit was so crazy, dude… and I loved "Pathological" live, that shit went so hard.

 

 

Pictured above: Han performing on the keys during the outro of "Do I Deserve to Love Myself At All?" Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"The other new song I performed was called 'Do I Deserve to Love Myself At All?', which was another song I was really excited to debut. It was my attempt at conveying some really dark stuff—deep regret & self-hatred—through a very uptempo, fun, bombastic hyperpop/pop punk fusion. I got to pour my heart out onstage, but I also got to jump around and dance and have fun while I was doing it, which was something that was really important to me… I wanted the crowd to feel connected to me through the shared experience of the music and I hope that's something I managed to do at least a little bit." –Han

 

"For the last song… no one had heard that song before, and so… I was singing it, and people were jumping around and having fun, but it was also a very emotional performance to me because I was singing to somebody who meant a lot to me at one point who was not there that night, and so… I got to dig deep and pull that out of me, but also have fun and dance and show people a good time up there and that was really cool." –Han

 

"There was a moment when I put the mic back into the stand and I jumped over to the piano and I started playing the [piano] solo in the middle [of the song], and people started, like, cheering, and I was like, 'what the fuck?!' …because, you know, it's this, like, come-down moment, it's this little moment of air before the outro gets going, and I didn't think anybody was gonna clap for a piano solo… but somebody [in the crowd] was like 'YEAHHH' …and I was just like, 'this is so cool!'" –Han

 

Pictured above: RED_E¥E takes the stage as the final act in the MTech Invasion lineup. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"When we got to my set it was already pretty late, and I was obviously the last act, so it felt like anyone who was still there in the crowd was in it until the end… which felt kinda nice because I just felt very comfortable onstage because I just knew that everyone was sticking around… I think the mask might have helped with that too, but I just felt very comfortable onstage. There was not a single moment where I felt anxious while I was up there, honestly, which was really nice." –RED_E¥E

 

Pictured above: RED_E¥E hits some crazy dance moves during his performance of "GHOST". Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).

 

"RED_E¥E was the act I was most heavily anticipating out of everyone in the festival, simply because I’ve known him and his music for a long time but never seen him perform before. It was absolutely LIVID, to say the least. When he put on the mask, he clearly entered a different zone. The beats were insane, rapping was bestial, guest features were incredible, and overall experience was unforgettable." –Kudu

 

"I was in the crowd [during RED_E¥E's set], and it was me and the guys from 3rd Ave, and we were going crazy; we were all jumping up and down and we got the 'ayy! ayy!' chant going at a few different points throughout the night, so I'm just glad that the energy was good up there, because we were having a good time." –Han

 

Pictured above: RED_E¥E, deep in concentration during his set. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"There was a moment in my third track when y'all were [doing the chant]… it's just so fucking cool… the last drop/hook kicks in, and I'm just jumping around onstage, and you hear everyone going 'ayy! ayy! ayy!" and it's just so hype… it gets me hype watching it back." –RED_E¥E

 

Pictured above: Surprise guest Tayme takes the stage during the last song of RED_E¥E's set. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"The moment that beats all moments for me was in the last track, when my friend Tayme came out… I just felt like it was only right to bring people onstage and give them a spot on my track… that shit was just so hype, it felt awesome." –RED_E¥E

 

Upcoming Releases, Words From the Artists, & The Path Ahead

 

"It was honestly, like, inspiring… it was very much welcoming & friendly backstage, and even if you didn't know each other, it was like, 'okay, we're a part of this thing and we're doing this thing together'… that was really cool, and it's nice to be in a common space with people that have the same mindset that you do, that have the same passion for something… in my everyday life, I don't have that. My family is not musical, so it's very cool to be around that." –Brianna Gallina, stage manager

 

"Performing in a festival-style lineup like this was definitely a unique experience for me. I think it's really cool that Music Tech put this together… My experience of MTech Invasion was truly great. The atmosphere backstage was really positive and friendly, and the students running the show were super helpful and transparent. There was a real sense of camaraderie and support backstage, and everyone was excited to be a part of the event… I felt grateful to be a part of the event and showcase some of my music in such a creative environment." –Arin Reedy

 

"Be on the lookout for my debut EP. It is still very much in the works, but I'm hoping to get it out sometime in 2023. You can follow my Instagram @arinreedy for updates on the project. The songs Fiona and I played are all songs that will likely be on the EP, so if you liked what you heard at Invasion... stay tuned." –Arin Reedy 

 

Pictured above: Kudu enjoys RED_E¥E's set from the front row. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I was so stoked to be on the same bill as so many of my friends in such a nice venue… Hanging out backstage and in the greenroom with my fellow performers had to be the highlight of the night! I could feel the excitement and enthusiasm radiating from everyone around me. Knowing that I was surrounded by supportive friends made me feel even more confident and comfortable when I hit the stage!" –Kudu

 

 

Pictured above: Noraaa playing guitar during her joint performance with Kristen Daley. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I also had fun playing guitar for Kristen. It was nice to be able to relax and play some chords while I watched her perform." –Noraaa

 

"My new single 'Cruise' will be coming out in the next few weeks! Still perfecting the song but I will be updating the release on my instagram @noraaamusic." –Noraaa

 

 

Pictured above: Mathias enjoys a box of Milk Duds during RED_E¥E's set. Quite possibly my favorite photo from the whole event. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

Mathias: Milk Duds have always been my candy of choice.

Nick: Y'all ever had Nerds Ropes?

Anshoo: Starbursts are pretty fire.

 

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave, posing outside the building after their set. From left to right: Suzie Sanford, nickwuh, Jaden Tyler, Anshoo Saha, TypeOh, Thai Thai (feat. Milk Duds). Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"'Ackerman' is coming out May 12th… I don't know what our release schedule's looking like after that, but we're working on a pretty big project… we have no idea as to titles, or tracklist, or anything like that, but we're thinking ['Woppy' and 'Facetime'] will be album cuts… I've actually been talking about exploring more R&B with the rest of the guys." –nickwuh, vocalist in 3rd Ave

"I guess we're having fun and our music reflects that… More albums, more shows. That's the plan for us right now." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave

"Over the summer, we're gonna try and do a bunch of music videos… We're gonna go to California and Mathias has this one friend named Tommy who does music videos, and we can just bang out a bunch of music videos in that time." –TypeOh, vocalist in 3rd Ave

"Jaden and I are friends with a bunch of people from Clive that came [to MTech Invasion], and one of our friends came up to me [at the show] and was like, 'This is so cool! All the people in Clive sound the same… You guys in MTech aren't afraid to do different stuff… We don't have anything like this at Clive! This is so cool.'" –Suzie Sanford, director in 3rd Ave

 

Pictured above: The six members of 3rd Ave, catching some air after their set. From left to right: Suzie Sanford, Jaden Tyler, Anshoo Saha, TypeOh, Thai Thai, nickwuh. Captured by Ava Joyce (@avajoycee).
 

"I… really liked the festival-style lineup, both because it brought more people into the crowd and because I got to watch all the other awesome performers… It felt very natural being backstage with everyone. These are all people I have classes with and see all the time, so it didn't feel that different until it was actually time to put on a show. Alex and Rain made sure everything ran super smoothly, there were really no hiccups that we noticed. All in all, very easy and fun time." –Jaden Tyler, vocalist in 3rd Ave.

 

 

Pictured above: Freddy Gerngross (left) and Alex Jester (right) performing with slusho. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"It was really cool to have all the MTech students performing together. Especially since I've invited my friends outside of the major… they really feel like there's a cool, special vibe within the MTech community. Everyone backstage [was] super chill, and very supportive whether before or after the performance. Shoutout MTECHERRRRRRS!!!" –jolin.AA, lead vocalist in slusho

 

"I think [the members of slusho] would all be open to coming back as a large group again in the future. For the short term, however, I think we all have different things we want to pursue. We all come from fairly different musical backgrounds, but a reunion would definitely be possible down the line if the opportunity arises." –Aman Hanspal, rhythm guitarist in slusho

"Everyone was awesome. The sounds and sound guy are also awesome. Usually there's so much technical difficulties throughout my past performances, but I feel like [tech-wise] it flew smoothly, or even if there was any problems it was solved immediately. Impressive." –jolin.AA, lead vocalist in slusho

 

Pictured above: Aman Hanspal, a.k.a. sweatervest, performing rhythm guitar with slusho. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I will be releasing some of my own solo stuff soon—you'll be able to find me on streaming services under the name 'sweatervest'. I want to give a big thank you to my slusho band members Alex Jester, Alex Han, Jolin, Jamie, and Freddy. And another big thank you to every single person who had a hand in making MTech Invasion happen; I hope it can happen again next semester!" –Aman Hanspal, rhythm guitarist in slusho

 

Pictured above: Han, pictured here while coordinating soundcheck before the start of the show. Captured by Rain Edward (@redeye.mp3).
 

"The day of the show was really surreal for me as well, in part because I'd already become familiar with most of our lineup through my writing for NYU MTech Music Reviews under my pseudonym [Ash]… I'd written about Ethan Crowley's music, for example, and sitting backstage listening to him sing 'In Your Dreams' only a few feet away was such an interesting experience for me. Same thing with Dog Collar—since he was doing a livecode set, I basically got to watch him make something completely new from scratch, which was an extremely cool moment of insight into his process. I've known Nora & Kristen for a long time and I've always had such a high level of respect for their skill as artists, so seeing them do their thing was truly awesome. It was also really surreal when I was chatting with the guys from 3rd Ave before their soundcheck… I'm such a huge fan of their work, and being on the same stage as them was a moment that meant so much to me personally… Getting to pull all those people together and see them perform their work live was such an interesting collision of my experience of those people's artistry from a music journalist's perspective, a stage manager/event coordinator's perspective, and finally, from the perspective of a music consumer and fan." –Han

 

 

Pictured above: The musicians that made up Han's band for MTech Invasion, posing together after the show. From left to right: Emily Costello, Han, Sebastian Sabogal. Captured by Leon Sleator (@kuduleon).

 

"I wanted to give a shoutout to Emily Costello, our lead guitarist, and Sebastian Sabogal, our bassist. The two of them did so much work to help me realize my songs in a live setting… I'd never had to teach anyone else my songs before, and so they put up with a lot of really nonsensical, bad explanations of my own song structure and chord changes; they were total troopers and I was so grateful to play alongside them. Rain also gets a huge shoutout from me, firstly for his sick keytar solo—that solo was actually supposed to be on the original release of that song ['Save Some Love for Me'], but we couldn't get it sounding the way we wanted at the time, so it was really nice to come full circle and bring it to life onstage a year later. Needless to say, though, this festival wouldn't have happened without him, and so Rain deserves all the props. Lastly, huge, huge, massive shoutout to all those who helped out at the event—Brianna Gallina, our fantastic stage manager, Derek Nadeau, our extremely helpful A1, Alexandra, our wonderful lighting tech—even Paul Geluso, who helped us communicate with NYU security to get the doors open! I'm so grateful to have had all of you supporting us as we've made this thing happen." –Han

 

Pictured above: Han (center) shares a moment of levity with Sebastian Sabogal (left) and Emily Costello (right) between songs. Visible is Han's custom hand-built Telecaster, which they christened "Mojave" on account of its 1970s desert-themed color palette. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I can think of no greater honor than to be included amongst all these amazing folks… I don't know how to put into words how much it meant to me to be up there on that stage, holding the guitar that I built, singing the songs that I wrote… maybe it's just residual first-gig euphoria, but I loved every second of it, and I'm just glad I got to be a part of it." –Han 

 

 

Pictured above: Emily Costello, performing lead guitar. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"I just got put on as the President of SWiTCH for next year! …I've also been working with TNT, which is Tisch's performance [troupe], and they do off-Broadway shows once a year, and I'm doing all the sound for Cabaret this year, so that's a lot of fun… [Live sound] wasn't what I imagined I would be doing, but I've really been liking live sound." –Emily Costello, lead guitarist

"Now I'm in, like, this artistic shift where I'm moving away from R&B and I'm changing my sound… I'm trying to work with new people and do new things… All of these side hustles I've got are all kinda like real things now; I build guitars for people and I run this blog and now I plan concerts and it's just like… trying to get back to who I am as an artist is definitely something that's been on my mind recently." –Han

 

Pictured above: Sebastian Sabogal on the bass during Han's set. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"There's a lot I want to do… I've been practicing [DJing] on my own… [RED_E¥E] and I are planning to go out over the summer and street perform, and build experience that way… I'm hoping maybe I get good enough to actually start doing performances over the summer. I also wanna work on my own music… I think I also wanna work on an EP over the summer, [and] I wanna finish a single soon as well." –Sebastian Sabogal, bassist

 

 

Pictured above: Han taking it all in at the end of their set. Captured by Dalton LaPree-Chavez (@daltonbchavez).
 

"My set at MTech Invasion was kind of the launching pad for the run-up to my next album. It's my third album, and it's going to be called Tales of a Failed Altruist… I don't want to spoil too much, but if you like pop-punk-adjacent hyperpop with a dash of emo and a healthy dose of soul-searching angst, then I might have just the thing for you! I don't know when it's coming, but when it does arrive, I'll be very, very excited to share it with you all." –Han

 

 

Pictured above: RED_E¥E engages the crowd. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"After this album that I'm working on that's all… hype shit, I wanna make either an album or an EP that's R&B… I kinda wanna make it, like, very much electronic… not in terms of, like, 'hype' electronic, but touches of ambient soundscapes…" –RED_E¥E

 

"There is the RED_E¥E stuff, in terms of my own album I'm planning… I'm still planning my album release for this summer; it might have to be a little delayed from when I originally planned it… I have a third album planned that contains music similar to everything I performed at MTech Invasion: a lot of EDM/rap/electronic, maybe a little bit of dubstep thrown in there, just blended in there with some more genres… the R&B possibly-album, maybe EP project after that… I have a metal/EDM project that's coming after that… I got plans, man." –RED_E¥E

"More than anything, in terms of what's actually gonna happen soon… I have collabs planned with P.H.0; I'm remixing a track off of [Karma]… and then, in the books is a 3rd Ave remix… there's a cool rapport between me and them now ever since Invasion. Now that the Invasion festival is over… we've broken that ice; I'm comfortable with a lot of people now and they're comfortable with me, I feel like, so it's chill, it's nice… it feels like the community has strengthened." –RED_E¥E

 

 

Pictured above: Han (left) and RED_E¥E (right) address the crowd at the end of MTech Invasion. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).
 

"There was definitely a lot of stuff on the day of the show that we just did not have the hands to do, and I'm hoping that next time, with the support of the program, with an actual budget to work with, we'll be able to do those things a lot better." –Han

"It's crazy because right after the show, I was talking to [Han] as we were walking out, and I brought up the next [MTech Invasion], and I was like, 'I don't even really wanna think about the next one right now'… but it's what, like, ten days later now, and honestly I miss it. I don't miss, necessarily, the email communications and all of that shit, but I miss just having that show to look forward to, and having that drive… As soon as we had set MTech Invasion [and] we had a set date and time, there was not a single moment where I was wasting time… It gave me something to look forward to." –RED_E¥E

 

~~~~

RED_E¥E: There's definitely gonna be more events… I do wanna run another event in the fall. I've been talking about making it a Battle of the Bands event… I want to encourage people, motivate people, to form bands… like what slusho did. They weren't a band before [MTech Invasion] came to be… I want that for every act… I just want everyone to come together to form their bands, and everyone who wants to perform will find a spot…

Han: So you picture that sort of thing existing as like a separate spinoff of MTech Invasion, not really being in the same vein as MTech Invasion?

RED_E¥E: Yeah, exactly… I feel like that could be a good show for The Garage.

~~~~

 

RED_E¥E: I graduate in Spring 2025, so I'd like for there to be [more MTech Invasion events between now and then], and hopefully by then, there will be someone to carry the torch… 

Han: So what you're saying is we gotta come back, and we gotta come back bigger & better than ever next time.

RED_E¥E: Yeah, and it has to continue… I want this to be, like, a legacy we built. It's not about our names being on it, it's just that I want this to be a tradition more than anything for MTech.

Han: Well, absolutely, because artists should have that space… MTech doesn't really have [performance-based events], so I totally agree that if this is something that we can build, and have it be just a lasting tradition in the program—so that all of the students that come in after us can have a space to share their art with people, then I think we did our job well.

Pictured above: Han (left) and RED_E¥E (right) congratulate each other and embrace at the end of the show. Captured by Alex Ehasz (@ae_taylor_photo).

"When I first transferred into [MTech], I didn't really know anyone… I commute from New Jersey, so I was someone who came in and did my class and left, and that was it, so I never got the chance to find friends… so it was nice to have that kind of space and bond with people at MTech Invasion." –Brianna Gallina, stage manager

 

"It's like that kind of vibe when you first play a song in Collegium, y'know? And you go and everyone's like, 'yo, your song was dope', but the difference now is it's not just me, it's like, everyone… I think everyone's kinda experiencing that because I'll be walking around and people will be talking about Invasion, about other people's sets at Invasion, and how it dope it was, and they'll be talking to each other about it… I'm just like 'yes, this is what I wanted', this is perfect… It's just that kind of vibe and it's really nice." –RED_E¥E

"It was such a good thing for us, I think, and such a good thing for [the MTech program] that I think no one really thinks about or does, because, you know, we're always the people that are behind the scenes with this kind of stuff, and… that's amazing, but it's also amazing to get to showcase [that] you can also be the performer… no one really sees that or does that, so I just think that it was a really cool thing and I hope I can continue to be a part of it as long as I'm here." –Brianna Gallina, stage manager

 

"Paul [Geluso] and Heather [Hardy] have actually both expressed interest to us about making MTech Invasion a recurring event—they were both super pleased with how it went, and the idea of a regular, semesterly talent showcase/festival has had a lot of faculty & staff support, which I'm really happy about… there's been a lot of cool ideas floating around: Rain has been playing with the idea of making the next one a Battle of the Bands-type deal, and Paul raised the idea of a joint MTech student & adjunct faculty combination show, but however we do it, all I know is that I'd love to make this a multi-day event with more slots and more performers. So make no mistake: MTech Invasion will be back, and it'll be bigger and better than ever next time! So stay tuned—we'd love to have you all with us when it's time to launch the next Invasion." –Han