Indie Rock Hit Parade Live Session: Tanukichan

Tanukichan | Photo by John Vettese for XPN

We’re joined for this Indie Rock Hit Parade live session by an artist who’s a member of an unofficial community that we’ve been celebrating for a few years. Based in Oakland, singer/multi-instrumentalist Hannah Van Loon has been recording as Tanukichan for a handful of years, and earlier this year she released her debut album, Sundays. Produced by Chaz Bear of Toro Y Moi (who’s been on the show with the Mattson2), the album is an extremely intimate listen, with close-sounding vocals and distorted instrumentation giving the impression that Van Loon is singing right across from you. Before her show at Kung Fu Necktie earlier this month, Van Loon and her bassist, fellow Oaklander Matt Horton, stopped by to perform live in our studio.

Tanukichan’s session opens with Van Loon’s overdriven guitar setting the pace for “Natural.” Once Horton’s bass locks in with the duo’s programmed drums, the otherworldly song becomes anthemic. Next is “Bitter Medicine,” one of the earliest Tanukichan songs. With a delicate guitar figure and hushed vocals that recall The xx, the song is a slow-burning delight. A bonus performance of “Tomorrow” follows. Though not on the new album, the song is a buzzy highlight of Tanukichan’s 2016 EP, Radiolove. Finally, “The Blue Sky” closes the session in a two-part haze. The song makes an about-face after its guitar-driven first half, leading into a synth melody that floats about the song’s coda.

Listen to Tanukichan’s Indie Rock Hit Parade session below, and check out some of John Vettese’s pictures from the studio: