CRIMSON SAYS: FIERCEST PERFORMANCE

FAVORITE COLOR JELLO: "You know that jello is made from horse bones, right?"

WHERE?!?: Friday evening, May 7 at the Holyoke Outside Stage. Also look for a 7" coming out on Putney Swope's own label, Parts Per Million.

David Marx for usagipop

WHO?: usagipop is David Marx '01 (songwriter, lead vocals, guitar, drum machine, sampler, turntable) and Chess Stetson '01 (analog synthesizer, back-up vocals).

SAY WHAT?: "ooh-saw-ghee-pop"

THE SOUNDS: "I describe it as acoustic sample pop. Basically, I listen to a lot of stuff coming out of Japan: Cornelius, Minekawa Takako, Buffalo Daughter, Fantastic Plastic Machine. I like the idea of sound montage that they employ and so I am trying to reconcile this with my American pop sensibilities. I am a sucker for melody, so in essence I am trying to create pop songs shrouded in esoteric yet interesting noises with this kind of Japanese '90s pop culture influence."

ON THE WAY TO FAME...: "We've been roommates since our freshman year. I created usagipop last fall when I put together a mini-album on cd. When it came time to perform, I needed Chess to play the bass parts...we've really changed the original sound I had because he ended up adding so much good stuff: namely harmony and cool synth sounds."

BATTLE OF THE BANDS: "The Battle of the Bands was actually our second show to date." usagipop was first runner-up.

CRIMSON SAYS: SWEETEST SOUNDS

FAVORITE COLOR JELLO: "Green with pears in it."

WHERE?!?: Playing Friday, May 7 at 2:30 at the Holyoke Outside Stage, and Saturday, May 8 at 2:00 at Science Center D. Check out the album super cute essay at http://www.mp3.com/usagipop.