Recording: Ice Cream

Artist: Ice Cream

Song: Peanut Butter

Recorded at Artscape Daniels Spectrum (Venus Fest), September 30, 2017.

Ice Cream - Peanut Butter

The idea of a "feminist music festival" might bring to mind an earnest folkie gathering, maybe off in a forest somewhere, but this first annual event was nothing like that, using inclusive and intersectional ideals as guideposts to programming a day of wide-ranging musics. The brainchild of local musician Aerin Fogel, Venus Fest was an ambitious undertaking, presenting a dozen performances in Daniels Spectrum's spacious multi-purpose Regent Park digs. And it all came together quite wonderfully, highlighting a diverse slate of mostly local musicians and incorporating flourishes like Vanessa Rieger's live-mixed visuals. With this first festival completed, there's a new "sessions" series starting up, and lots of energy to build on the positive vibes this day released.

Getting a second chance to hear Ice Cream's second-phase songbook, I was struck not only with the hooks and the grooves (this one sticks to the roof of your mouth like, well, y'know...) but with the duo's fed-up lyrical standpoint — they might be plastic, but they're sure as hell not empty vessels for the male gaze.

[The Venus Fest sessions series begins tonight (November 2nd) at the Gladstone Hotel, presenting sets from Tasseomancy and Dorothea Paas. Ice Cream will be opening things up at Whimm's album release party at The Baby G on Friday, November 17th.]