Hippo Campus set themselves apart from the rest of the indie dude bands in two distinct ways, First, their lyrical content is an English Major’s wet dream. Sure, their sound is beyond pleasant, with clear, clean vocals and instrumentals that will melt your heart. They also make rehashing your childhood troubles worth singing along to. The line “all we ever knew is what we didn’t have” from “Boyish” resonates with anyone whose home life is slightly different from what has been declared “normal” for American families. Hippo Campus make music that almost everyone can relate to. Second, they put on a dang good show (I’ve been told)! With experience headlining tours and shows at festivals, these guys can wow a crowd.
Photo courtesy of giggoer.com
KXSU Readers, I have a confession to make: I love indie rock dudes. They’re my Kryptonite and if you share my passion, consider getting yourself on over to The Neptune on January 19th for Hippo Campus!
Special guests, Sure Sure, will be kicking the night off with their mellow pop sound. These guys started making music together in LA in 2014, but saw real success with their single, “New Biome” in 2017 and are taking on the country (and Canada) on their first ever national in support of Hippo Campus! I think they sound like Owl City layered with angst. Plus, they boast heavy experimental electro-pop influences, like The Talking Heads, whose “This Must be the Place” they did an excellent cover of. They’re fresh faces who have been working hard to get this exposure and with songs as cheeky and catchy as “The Girls” they’re bound to get the crowd going.
Hippo Campus will be headlining the night and have come a long way since their formation in 2013. After being in rival bands in high school, the guys joined forces during their senior year and later, Jake Luppen and Zach Sutton kissed the University of Minnesota goodbye in order to pursue their indie rock destiny with bandmates, Nathan Stocker and Whistler Allen.
The 4-piece Minneapolitan band will be sure to steal your heart with hits from their first full-length release, Landmark, which drips with the bittersweet nectar of coming of age. A variety of themes are addressed on the album, with tracks like “Monsoon,” a haunting, piano-driven song about the death of Stocker’s sister, coupled with lighter yarns of young love and in the case of, “Way it Goes,” learning not to take yourself and your persona soooooo seriously.
Hippo Campus set themselves apart from the rest of the indie dude bands in two distinct ways, First, their lyrical content is an English Major’s wet dream. Sure, their sound is beyond pleasant, with clear, clean vocals and instrumentals that will melt your heart. They also make rehashing your childhood troubles worth singing along to. The line “all we ever knew is what we didn’t have” from “Boyish” resonates with anyone whose home life is slightly different from what has been declared “normal” for American families. Hippo Campus make music that almost everyone can relate to. Second, they put on a dang good show (I’ve been told)! With experience headlining tours and shows at festivals, these guys can wow a crowd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qceuro_fMxk
I’m super stoked to see them because I’ve been jamming to “Boyish” and “South” for a while now, but really immersed myself in Landmark recently and realized that they deliver relatable content through a medium that draws people in and connects with them emotionally. They’re going to be playing relatively new stuff from their three-song release, warm glow, which will knock the socks off of Seattle fans who have seen them previously. There it is, if my gushing has convinced you that Hippo Campus make the most charming music in all of Indie Rock Dude Land, you might want to find any way to get your paws on someone’s extra ticket because this show is SOLD OUT.
But! Never fear! You can keep up with Hippo Campus on Twitter! If you want to hit up Sure Sure, bang their line at (323)739-0630 (or like them on Facebook). PLUS, all of their music is on Spotify!
HALEY PARSONS | rate my title pun on a scale of 1-10 | KXSU Music Reporter