Hi-hats pierced the air and rhythmic bass rumbled through the floors of Agard. It was a Friday night, and the new Williams Electronic Music Society (WEMS) was hosting an \u201copen decks\u201d event in conjunction with WCFM \u2014 an opportunity for newbie DJs to show off their skills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Taking inspiration from the electronic music community across the pond in the U.K., Silas Fleissig \u201926 and Lola Weber \u201926 founded the group after returning from the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The pair was pleased with their \u201copen decks\u201d debut event on Sept. 26. \u201cIt was a great vibe, good turnout, and people really loved the music,\u201d Fleissig said. \u201cI think it proved that Williams students are looking for the kind of events we want to host [even though] they don\u2019t really exist right now, giving us momentum for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n The club has attracted quite a crew of DJs. At the open decks event, novice members queued up to twist dials and push faders in the corner of Agard. The DJs pumped an eclectic mix of electronic dance hits, familiar pop remixes, and underground experimental tracks through the speakers surrounding the packed dance floor. Aspiring DJs waited in line for their turn to learn how to wrangle the professional-grade equipment and mix their favorite tracks for the live audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Weber grew up in Los Angeles and Berlin, two cities with significant EDM cultures. She told the Record<\/i> that she has always had an interest in electronic music and sees potential in bringing the genre to the College. \u201cWe wanted something like that at Williams,\u201d she said. \u201cAlthough not to that capacity [found in Europe] because there aren\u2019t a lot of people here.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Contrary to popular belief, the art form is not limited to clubbing music, Weber explained. \u201cI think for [WEMS], I\u2019d like to expand the way that people define electronic music at Williams,\u201d she said. \u201cWhich isn\u2019t just party music, but it\u2019s a lot of ambient music and experimental music. And there is also a much richer history than I think people see on the surface level.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Fleissig, the club\u2019s mission includes providing students with a beginner-friendly creative outlet, building community, and helping students pursue available opportunities in electronic music at the College.<\/p>\n Will Jokela \u201929, a member of the club, was among those given time to spin at the \u201copen decks\u201d event. \u201cYou can tell that everyone in the group is very passionate,\u201d he said. \u201cThe atmosphere is filled with conviviality.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond offering students the opportunity to create music with her equipment, Weber also wants to create a space where the history of electronic music can be shared. \u201cElectronic music is really an American creation, and it\u2019s a historically Black form of music,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhereas people, I think, normally associate it with Germany and European countries, and they have a misconstrued understanding of where it comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n The roots of house and techno music can be traced back to Chicago and Detroit, respectively, Fleissig explained. The club hopes to explore this history by sharing documentaries and information with members. The club\u2019s founders already have some ideas for upcoming events, including an ambient listening night in the fall, a forest rave in the spring, more open deck nights, and mixing workshops in potential partnership with the audio production spaces at the College.<\/p>\n The nascent club has already attracted nearly a hundred members and is continuing to accept new ones of all experience levels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Members like Jokela cannot wait to see the club continue to grow. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to accessing all of the great opportunities [WEMS] has for its participants,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd [watching] how they can spread that culture to the broader Williams community.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source williamsrecord.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Melania Espinal\/The Williams Record) Hi-hats pierced the air and rhythmic bass rumbled through the floors of Agard. It was a Friday night, and the new Williams Electronic Music Society (WEMS) was hosting an \u201copen decks\u201d event in conjunction with WCFM \u2014 an opportunity for newbie DJs to show off their skills.\u00a0 Taking inspiration from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2078313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2078312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/New-electronic-music-club-drops-on-campus-\u2013-The-Williams.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2078314,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078312\/revisions\/2078314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2078313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}