KURE Fest 2017 continued it’s trend of proving that even though it is a student organized event, it should still be taken very seriously. The festival’s 8^th edition took place Sept. 20 at the Great Hall in the Memorial Union and saw performances from Noname, Ringo Deathstarr, Gloom Balloon and The Fuss.

The festival has historically featured mainly local musicians, but recently it has transitioned to bringing a couple acts each year that are well-known on a national scale. Some notable artists over the last few years have included Neon Indian, Dan Deacon and Com Truise.  

Noname, a hip-hop artist out of Chicago, headlined this year’s festival. Noname’s appearance on stage caused the biggest cheer of the night from the estimated crowd of 300 people.  

Noname performed with a full band who did a great job at keeping the groove going throughout her performance. Rarely did the music pause between songs in her set. She performed mostly songs from her debut mixtape “Telefone,” which came out in 2016.

A personal highlight of her show came when she performed a rendition of her featured verse from Mick Jenkins’ track “Comfortable.” She finished her set with her most popular song “Yesterday,” a track that was voted by Pitchfork as the 37^th best of 2016.  

Between the energy in her voice and the classy piano-driven beats that she rapped over, she was able to close the evening out in a positive way.  

Ringo Deathstarr, a band from Austin, Texas, performed before Noname. Their performance stood out as being the hardest and darkest of the night, as their sound crossed between hard-rock, garage-rock and grunge throughout their set. Each track seemed to be riddled with guitar distortion and often their songs would get carried away in a trance of heavy guitar and bass.

Ringo Deathstarrs’ collective vibe worked really well, they spent most of their show with mean, disgruntled looks on their faces, and this worked really well alongside their heavy sound. Many in attendance were really feeling their darker vibe, as evident by all who were banging their heads to the heavy guitar tracks throughout their performance.

Ringo Deathstarrs’ mean façade went away when they cheerfully met with fans and signed autographs after their show.  

Des Moines-based experimental act Gloom Balloon delivered the most unique performance of KURE Fest. Patrick Tape Fleming was the only member of the group on hand. This meant that instrumental versions of the songs were played through the speakers while he spent most of the performance singing, running, and dancing among the crowd.

It was the most crowd-interactive performance I’ve seen since Dan Deacon’s headlining performance at KURE Fest 2015. Gloom Balloon’s performance was light-hearted and fun. It got progressively better as it went, and the acoustic final song was a nice touch.

Another Des Moines-based band, The Fuss, was the first to perform on the night. The indie-rock group consists of three former ISU students and their performance showcased their talent as a band. Lead singer, Joey Lyons, has a great, unique voice. The band’s airy indie-rock songs wouldn’t sound out-of-place on Sirius XM’s Alt Nation. The Fuss is one of Des Moines’ best young bands, and I could see them being one breakthrough song away from gaining a lot of attention outside of the state. Their songs have a universal appeal to them because of their cheerful sound.

KURE Fest continues to impress in production value with its quality lighting and tasteful stage design. The festival delivered notable national artists, and brought two very talented local bands. KURE Fest organizers seem to have found a winning formula for putting together the lineup each year. They’ve turned the festival into something that ISU students eagerly look forward to every year.