+E
Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., United States | Established. Jan 01, 2007
Music
Press
Not to put too fine a point on it, but let's talk about Charlie Chaplin for a second. The speech that opens +E's self-titled EP comes from Chaplin's in-retrospect masterpiece, The Great Dictator; a speech that now contains some beautiful truisms, but at the time of its release was actually pretty badass. Chaplin's condemnation of Hitler came out in October 1940, a time when the US was still more or less at peace with Nazi Germany, and Britain still had a strict policy of appeasement. Though many American Jews knew about the atrocities under way in Germany, for most Americans at the time, Germany's expansion was treated as a European matter. Chaplin himself later confessed that if he had known the full extent of Hitler's crimes, he might not have made the film; or at least he wouldn't have made it a comedy. Prominent Americans like Henry Ford and Prescott Bush (yes, that Bush) openly had a financial stake in the German government. The US wouldn't join the war until a year after the film's release. Though every media on the planet now vilifies the Nazis as history's universal villains, in 1940, the jury was still out. The movie ended up being a critical and commercial success, but even on the eve of its release, the reception as far from certain. For a silent slapstick star to leverage his entire personal fortune to make a sound movie satirizing the Nazis was bold, for him to end it with a serious speech criticizing capitalism and calling for universal equality and direct democracy for people of all races and faiths was radical. So, all of that is to say, +E opens their EP boldly. A+, +E, A+.
After setting the bar high with their post-rock arrangement of Chaplin's speech, the band launches into a 5 song set of their signature blend of post-rock, dream pop, indie rock, and soul. “Woven” finds the band swimming underneath waves of reverb, frontman Andefenci Addi's voice barely rising above a hushed croon. Drummer Ayo Fabumi's dynamic presence balances against the soft beauty of Addi and bassist Don Lewis.
'3/11/2011' is a surprisingly beautiful love song about the Fukushima disaster. Probably the smallest song on the EP, which is fond of wide open spaces, and taking their time, “3/11/2011” is also it's most emotionally effecting moment. 'Time Machine' and closer 'Connections' focus more on melody than atmosphere in a way that's reminiscent of Clarity-era Jimmy Eat World. It's rare for a new band to emerge with such a well fleshed out and unique sound. +E are definitely a band to keep an eye on. - Afro Punk
Discography
+E ep (2014)
Until then (2016)
Apocalypse playlist v2 (2017)
Photos
Bio
+E (formerly baad Ingrish ) is the product of three teenage misfits from P.G. County Md who never quite fit in. The band started fresh out of high school in 2008. With no job and no money they spent their entire summer writing crappy songs that their friends loved and playing underground basement shows for drunk strangers who barely listened, mainly using borrowed equipment. As the years passed they began to suck less, with a new sound and even newer equipment people began taking notice. In 2014 the band released their first EP, a limited release, hand pressed, compilation of songs recorded in a Janky bedroom studio.Somehow it sold out and was later featured on Afro punk earning them a coveted 4 out of 5 stars . "Hauntingly beautiful EP " - Afro Punk.
Blending hip hop undertones with crunchy guitar riffs while using a Lo-Fi diy approach to their recordings +E pioneered the "dirty indie" sound , an experimental sub genre of indie rock/pop .
"..Some people take it too seriously, eventually everything passes. You gotta find your happiness right here right now, and external factors shouldn't effect that. We do this out of love , whether it's a sold out show or six drunk people , were gonna have a good time regardless and you should too. We just want people to feel non-shitty emotions when listening to our music ."
- Andefenci Addi ( Guitarist , lead singer)
Band Members
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