NoViCE presents Erase Errata

Marcella Veneziale Contributing Editor

You’ve probably heard Erase Errata before. The all-female trio has released a number of split-records with the likes of Black Dice and Sonic Youth. The San Francisco-based group has been a part of the San Francisco Noise Pop Festival and the Los Angeles’ Fuck Yeah Fest. Now on tour, they are promoting their third album, Nightlife, at Vassar at a concert on April 12.

Erase Errata members Jenny Hoyston, Ellie Erickson, Bianca Sparta, and former member Sara Jaffe began their touring career with Melt-Banana and Le Tigre, the latter of whom performed on campus in 2004. Jaffe left the group for graduate school in 2006, and Hoyston has pursued solo gigs under the name Paradise Island.

Erase Errata’s no-wave sound harkens back to experimental punk bands like Le Tigre, Minutemen and The Fall, all of whom influenced their performance style. Improvisation remains an important draw for the group, and they have bragged that they could improvise an entire set. Jake Friedman ’07, co-president of NoViCE (the show’s sponsor), thinks that what will ensue will be something like a “living room party.” The show will fulfill that fantasy of “your favorite rock group playing in your living room.” He says Erase Errata “kicks serious ass” and is an important political force in music today.

Nightlife provides the most coherent slice of the group’s work to date. Jaffe’s absence forced the remaining members to rethink their sound. Since four members have become three, their music sounds less experimental and more calculated. The signature freewheeling, unexpected turns haven’t been refined.

Priorities in subject matter have shifted, too. Strong undercurrents of politics and the current war surface in songs like “Tax Dollar.” Hoyston sings, “Yes, I really got away/with murder, manslaughter/all funded by my tax dollar.” Such lyrics have led critics to describe Erase Errata’s music as post-Sept. 11, but it’s nearly impossible for any artist today—musician, author, painter, or otherwise—to avoid the influence of current events. If Erase Errata’s music fits into this category, then it joins a much larger group that continues to expand.

Friedman agrees that many musicians have become more outspoken about politics, and that “[Erase Errata] addresses it directly.” They are politically liberal, lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender friendly, and an empowered female trio. NoViCE’s plans to work with Queer Coalition of Vassar College fell through for this show, but Friedman anticipates that they will collaborate in the future.

This semester’s NoViCE shows have been well-attended, and Friedman hopes that they attract a diverse group of music-lovers. Their shows are “one-twentieth of the cost of a ViCE show because we do all our own sound, clean up, and set up…[our work this semester was] rewarded with a great schedule.”

Erase Errata will play with Pony Pants in College Center 237 at 10 p.m. on April 12.