On April 19, Nashville-based artist Chrysalis unveiled their latest project, “Dog Songs,” an evocative exploration of change and resilience. Headed by the talented Indigo Ansin, Chrysalis is a reflection of their ongoing metamorphosis, both musically and personally. Originating from a place of introspection, this album confronts life’s transitions, questioning who remains a steadfast companion when the tides turn and who chooses to walk away.

“Dog Songs” draws listeners into a rich tapestry of sounds, rooted in the folk revival tradition but boldly crossing genre boundaries. With lyrical influences from notable artists such as Alanis Morissette, Joni Mitchell, Brandi Carlile and Indigo De Souza, each track resonates with raw emotionality akin to reading a personal diary. The songs bleed authenticity, offering a glimpse into the heart of a queer artist bravely navigating a world fraught with challenges.

Chrysalis is no stranger to accolades, having received the Gibson/Music Forward Emerging LGBTQ+ Artist Award and the Salt Lick Americanafest Grant, along with performances at renowned festivals like Boston Calling. Their distinct voice and message have landed them on several editorial playlists, amplifying their commitment to community and radical love. As they balance artistry and activism, hosting mutual aid concerts and more, Chrysalis invites listeners to find strength in vulnerability and the beauty of transformation through “Dog Songs.”

The editorial playlists is how I found out about “Dog Songs,” first hearing the song “do you?”, an amazing indie track that feels like the first day of a childhood summer vacation memory. The song also features one of the most thought-provoking lyrics I’ve ever heard: “Do you believe we go to the same place in the end?” This nostalgic feeling track asks a lot of questions as the title suggests and it really makes the listener feel a lot of emotions about the highs and lows of their past and fears for the future. It is one of the greatest indie songs I’ve heard in a long time, and it has justifiably made its way onto these editorial playlists. 

The rest of the album continues with a lot of the same themes of changes as the name like “Chrysalis” would suggest. “uuu,” is another great track like “do you?” With its question-posing lyrics, it’s a good song to belt out if you are ever mad at someone, and a great song to think about as the lyrics ask very powerful questions about the big picture of life. The instrumental work is also great. 

Another song I love from “Chrysalis” is “Illusions.” This song will be right up your alley if you enjoy musicians like Laufey and Clairo with its string instrument composition, but it is a little bit more rocking than those artists and Ansin puts their own spin on it. “soccer cleats” and “cheer wine” are some of my other stand outs with the latter being my favorite track as a big fan of the cherry-flavored soda brand growing up.

I highly recommend this album for fans of Indie Folk. This project captures the angst of growing up and changing over time, really earning the name “Chrysalis” through this project, and I hope to see more out of them in the future. 

On March 14, Grammy-nominated golf western superstar Charley Crockett released his latest album “Lonesome Drifter,” his third album in a year since his smash hit, “$10 Cowboy,” which got him his Grammy nomination. While this entry into his discography isn’t as good as “$10 Cowboy,” it is nothing to pass up on. Charley Crockett, from San Benito, Texas, was raised by a single mother in a Los Fresnos trailer park. Crockett is also, in fact, related to Davy Crockett. He grew up in Dallas and spent time in the French Quarter.

At 17 years old, Crockett left home with a guitar, which his mother got him from a pawn shop to go busk. He is self- taught and didn’t know what a key was for 12 years of his career. He developed his career by busking from Deep Ellum, French Quarter, and New York City, where he signed his first music contract at 26 years old. But his first album, “A Stolen Jewel,” was self released, and he got his first award nod from the Dallas Observer. We are now ten years after his first album and a big studio behind him. 

“Lonesome Drifter” is his fifteenth album, featuring twelve songs produced by Crockett and Shooter Jennings. He credits Bill Withers as a big inspiration for this release, which was his first release on a major label. According to Crockett, this album is the first of a trilogy. Crockett writes the title track of the album, which is definitely the album’s highlight. It exemplifies all of Crockett’s excellent genre work. His mix of blues with country is a good return to the country music of old. The album, especially this song, captures the song’s sound and keeps the same brass as his live concerts.

Kullen Fox is a standout and is a large part of what makes these songs great. He also plays keys, and his solo parts are where you can feel the blues influence on this album. Soul is also a big genre that Crockett plays. He is excellent at writing these soulful tracks and adding them to the songs he covers, like “Never No More,” a fantastic track with a long history in the country-western genre. 

I like “Under Neon Lights.” Kullen Fox’s work on the Wurlitzer for this track reminds me of Ramsey Lewis and Billy Preston, comparable to the The Beatles’ “Get Back,” which Preston played the keyboard for. Dave Biller and Dave Marchese, the electric guitarist and the bassist, respectively, play hand in hand with Fox’s work and, amazingly, with Crockett’s vocal work. The mix of string, brass and keyboards on the album is the biggest standout of the album and is what makes this album so unique compared to other country albums that are coming out, which usually focus on rock or rap. This looks at the genre’s roots as a subgenre of blues and soul.

Overall, this album is a great start to what should be an excellent trilogy of albums when Crockett releases the next two installments in the coming years. This album might not be as strong as some of his other albums, but getting more tracks in Crockett’s style is always welcomed when mainstream country diverts more and more from blues and soul.

March 8th is WMEB’s Battle of the Bands, so I sat down with one of the competing bands, the Noise Complaints. The Battle of the Bands will occur on March 8, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Wells Central Pub. I spoke with members Jesse “JJ” Bifulco, Aidan Bradley, Domenic Cucinotta, Ben Hallett and Julia Campion. They also want to shout out their secret sixth member, Eli Podolsky, who plays bass with them occasionally.

The band started when Bifulco brought his keyboard to the fourth floor of York’s standard room. Campion was there, and he played “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer. Campion told Bifulco that they should jam out sometime, and each member eventually joined these jam sessions to form the band Noise Complaints. The band owes its roots to the York fourth-floor camaraderie as they would host concerts in the bathroom where most of the floor would show out for them with some people waiting outside the doors knowing they would get busted for a noise complaint, which is where the band gets its name. 

Campion is the band’s lead singer and guitarist with Bradley on lead guitar. Hallett plays saxophone and bass guitar, Cucinotta on drums and percussion and Bifulco on the keyboard. The Band got their start playing outside of York, eventually transitioning to Sigma Chi’s Open Mic Nights. Each band member said that their favorite part of being in the group was their time spent at York, jamming in both Bifulco’s room as well as the bathrooms to the point where they started receiving noise complaints. Using this as inspiration, this band is defined by its presence on campus.

“It is really cool seeing this band in their first appearance outside of York and all the progress they have made in their art. I can’t wait to see them at the Battle of the Bands, to see what they have planned” says Open Mic Night participant Jazmine DeBeauchamp, “I really like their lead singer, Campion. She did a fantastic job with the Band’s cover of Duvet by Bôa, which is one of my favorite bands.”

Last fall, on Nov. 5, Noise Complaints played a house show at Sigma Chi. The band served as the opener up for The Amazing Bozo, a Houston-based musician who plays folk-punk and country originals. He cheered on the group, saying ‘THE NOISE COMPLAINTS 4 LIFE’ on the announcement of the band’s involvement in the Battle of the Bands. With backers ranging from fourth floor York to Houston, Texas, The Noise Complaints are ready to be loud on March 8.

WMEB’s Battle of the Bands will be hosted March 8th from 6pm to 9pm, with The Noise Complaints and other bands such as “And Then Some,” “Free Parking,” “The Accountability,” “Tease” and “Chuck’s Bike O’ Rama.” The event will also feature free entry, trivia, merch and fundraising.

“I cannot wait to see the musical talents of all these groups go head to head and compete, but I just want to hear all the wonderful bands our campus has to offer,” says Evan Hollander, a DJ at WMEB. 

The Deslondes’ new album “Roll it Out,” which released on Sept. 6, 2024, built off the success of the previous albums while keeping the same atmosphere and attitude towards country and Americana. 

The 13-track album is 43 minutes long and contains some of the best songs released by the group, with “Hold On Liza,” being one of the most popular new releases. The song is featured on Spotify’s The Pulse of Americana playlist. 

The Deslondes are a five-piece group based out of New Orleans. The band is known for having each of its members write and sing on songs, as multiple members of the group have released solo albums similar to how this album got its roll out. Singles were released by their respective writers and singers, which adds this anthology element to the album which weaves the positions of the members together throughout the project, adding this cohesive element as it goes through the member’s songs.

One of the best parts of this album is its organization – it feels like there is an organic progression through the songs despite the switch of writers and singers. This goes to show the collaboration effort between the members of the Deslondes. The transition between “Pour Another Round,” which is my personal favorite song, and “Find the Ground,” is brilliantly executed, as the solemn start of “Pour Another Round” then kicks off into its more upbeat elements so it doesn’t shock the listener into a new beat. 

The whole “Roll it Out” album is really easy to listen to. The listening experience with the mix of singers doesn’t make it feel like too much of the same. This might sound like a contradiction to the previous paragraph, but the uniqueness of each song puzzle-pieces into this album perfectly show the attention to detail and passion these guys have for their work. 

The New Orleans country scene is one of my favorites at the moment, with Maddy Kirgo and The Lostines. The Deslondes add more of a harder edge to the sub genre, as usually the scene is a lot more dreamy, which isn’t necessarily a breath of fresh air but rather a nice rendition of the genre. They will likely be the biggest names out of New Orleans for Country if they keep up the level of attention to detail in their next projects. 

The Deslondes’ also add a flare of Rhythm and Blues to their work compared to what is more common for New Orleans style, something that could be considered more indie compared to the delta routes that the area is known for. It is lovely to see the group in touch with that part of the area. Songs like “Mercury on Parade” really show off their work in blues, as it is reminiscent of Charley Crockett and his Gulf Western style, which puts an emphasis on the backing keyboardist. The keyboard solo ending the song off is one of the best parts of the album. 

Overall the album mixes influences of the members’ previous work, both solo and together, to create a unique sound that the Deslondes are known for. The album has a lot of high points and not many songs you would want to skip, making this one of the best projects they’ve put out in a while.

As season two of “Severance” releases on Apple TV+, here’s a recap of the first season in order to catch back up with all that happened in the Lumon offices.

“Severance” is best described as a conspiracy thriller, in the same genre as Netflix’s “Black Mirror” or the classic CBS show, “The Twilight Zone.” It is not considered a traditional anthology series, but instead has a flowing story that carries through the show. The show takes place at the fictional Lumon Headquarters where workers on the “severed floor” have to go through a surgery called Severance, where they separate your “workplace brain” from your “out-of-office brain” with a chip. When at work, these workers do not know anything about the outside world and call their out of work selves, “Outies” and refer to themselves as “Innies.” The show follows Mark Scout, played by Adam Scott, who is newly promoted to manager of the macrodata refinement (MDR) center. He gets this promotion after his workplace best friend mysteriously leaves the company out of nowhere, which we learn is atypical of someone who retires from Lumon.

The workplace at Lumon is very isolated, as the Innies never see the light of day. On top of that, they are also separated from other departments, and are unaware of their size or how many there are. After Mark’s promotion, his first task is to introduce a new employee to life on the severed floor. When you first start, you have no knowledge of Lumon as you have no memory of your outside life. As we watch him introduce Helly, played by Britt Lower, this is where the mysteries start as she is not accepting the life her Outie gave her.

The first season is nine episodes long and follows Outie Mark in one storyline and the Innies in the MDR department. The season is paced extremely well with each storyline being treated equally, and they play really well with each other as outside and inside worlds collide frequently, while not physically but with secrets. Each episode builds perfectly upon the last as each episode leaves off with really good cliff hangers and they feel like chapters in a book.

According to IMDB, “Severance” is 96th in top 100 TV shows, and has two Primetime Emmy wins with 14 nominations. Winning for Outstanding Music Composition for a series and Outstanding Main Title Design. This is a very well-crafted show. Every part of it is well thought out and each part delivers later on in the series.

As season two is coming out at the time of writing this, hype is returning for the series as the first three episodes have received massive praise from critics and audiences alike. These episodes are the highest rated besides the finale episode of season one. The show looks to continue its brilliance in craftsmanship and artistic style. With Ben Stiller still directing episodes, we are in for a treat, as the rest of season two comes out this spring. “Severance” is a must watch series for students this semester.

Sinterklaas is the Dutch iteration of the classic Saint Nicholas legend, often called the “De Sint.” Unlike his American counterpart, Sinterklaas wears a more traditional bishop garb and delivers gifts to children on St. Nicholas Eve or Sinterklaas Eve. On top of that, the biggest difference is that Sinterklaas originates from Spain. Gifts are traditionally given on the 5th of December, St. Nicholas Eve, with the feast on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day. 

The holiday has recently come under scrutiny, as Sinterklaas is assisted by Zwarte Piet or “Black Pete,” a character first appearing in 1850. Still, some suggest the tradition might be from earlier in the 19th century. Originally, Zwarte Piet served more as a Krampus as he would take the naughty kids back to Spain. 

His appearance has come under a lot of criticism as being incredibly racist, given the context that Zwarte Piet is a Northern African Muslim. Storytellers recently dropped that part of the songs and stories as Zwarte Piet now brings a bag filled with candy to give to children. However, the tradition is still insanely offensive, as typically white Dutch people adorn blackface and Noble clothes to depict Zwarte Piet during Holiday parades. This issue isn’t isolated to just Sinterklaas Day festivities, as blackface seems to be a huge issue in Europe. Even more recently, Zwarte Piet is depicted as a white Spaniard who has soot smudges on their face when going through a chimney. 

The Tradition of Zwarte Piet seemed to be largely fading when I was growing up, celebrating Sinterklaas Day. My parents never told me about Zwarte Piet, so I was largely confused by him when I grew up and heard about him for the first time. Most Dutch kids will never hear about him, as support for the racist character is fading fast as ever. Year support for having Zwarte Piet be included is decreasing significantly, and given enough time we will see the removal of these racist and xenophobic depictions. 

The modern celebration of the holiday, or at least how my family celebrates it, is by leaving your shoes out for Sinterklaas on Dec. 4 so he can give you gifts. I was largely impatient as a child, so this early December holiday helped me be content until Christmas. My family never did the Sinterklaas Day feast, but it is a tradition that I am bringing with me to start here at the University of Maine. 

This year, with my roommates, we celebrated the holiday by leaving our shoes out by the front door, but it is more traditionally done by leaving them out by the fireplace. On the night of the 4th, Sinterklaas visited us and left us with pfeffernusse and chocolates. Traditionally, a chocolate letter of the person’s first name is left, along with pepernoten speculaas, a spice mini cookie. We used pfeffernusse as a close alternative to the more traditional treat. Having an 8 a.m class the morning of Dec. 5, I woke up all of my roommates bright and early, alerting them that Sinterklaas had visited us, and we all took the treats out of our shoes.

Sinterklaas Day is a fun tradition you can pick up as a college student. You can celebrate the winter season with friends at school before heading home for the holidays and finals. With gift giving and baking sweets, it helps relieve some of the stress and tension before finals week. There are plenty of fun winter holidays from around the world. If Sinterklaas isn’t for you, I highly suggest looking into other traditions to celebrate the winter season with friends.

On Nov. 7, 2024, Comedian Trevor Wallace performed a stand-up comedy show put on by the University of Maine student government. Wallace, who has been popular since the days of Vine, put on a raunchy show that engaged with the audience, occasionally derailing completely as a result of the overwhelming engagement. Wallace played most of it off gracefully, often firing back at audience members. The worst on the receiving end of it were members of Alpha Tau Omega as Wallace added digs at them into his set after they interrupted him. This landed incredibly well with the audience and is definitely his strength. 

“The show was great! Trevor was hilarious,” said audience member Carter Hickey.

On the flip side, Wallace often would claim the audience was too “tense.” As a stand-up comedian, you are expected to make a crowd less tense. Typically the opener for late-night shows are stand ups for this purpose. It would often kill what was otherwise a great joke from him when he’d stop and say that the crowd was tense, which detracted from the momentum he had with jokes, shying away from following through on bits. Clearly, the audience was eager for his jokes too with how often they would interrupt him. At times, he wouldn’t wait for his jokes to land which ultimately made his act less effective.

Wallace clearly did not put effort into researching his audience despite this being his first show at the University.  This did, however, unintentionally help him at several points in the show as he would get huge crowd pops when he talked about Subarus and asked if weed was legal. With all of his shortcomings, he knew how to cleverly react to the audience with quick quips. The show was incredibly raunchy, with a few edgier jokes revolving around drugs or drunk driving, which I will say was definitely a fine line he was walking. Often making himself the butt of the jokes he was telling made a great example of how to do dark humor. There were some moments in the show I did feel uncomfortable with, but he did it the way comedy is supposed to be done, by creating humor out of these risky subjects. But at the same time, this is when he would get the most nervous so sometimes he wouldn’t let them sit and would just blame the audience for being tense.

Wallace also didn’t receive favorable audience reactions from a few jokes, the most obvious one being when he made an offhand remark about him joining a sorority and poked fun at Maine for being transgender inclusive. This was just off putting in his relatively safer, self-deprecating style. The comments felt as if they weren’t even from the set. Since he moved on so quickly to get back on track, you can assume this was the case. If he hadn’t moved on so fast, I definitely would have left right then and there.

This was probably where his nervousness came from because he was definitely more nervous the rest of the show. Rightfully so, because he bombed with that joke in particular. You can tell he isn’t trying to be offensive in his comedy, often making himself the absurd one, but he most certainly had missed the mark. You could tell this too because of his story about a hard-of-hearing Uber driver, where he perfectly told the joke. However, he definitely was super nervous from the poor comment earlier, which didn’t ruin the show but killed some of the zing from it.

Overall, Wallace’s set definitely had more highlights than lowlights, which is definitely due to him being flexible with the crowd. He was a good comedian that the audience was 100% enjoying for most of the show despite his few bad jokes. It for sure helped him be honest with the crowd and not try to be super cool, but just a normal guy, despite him calling himself a “beta male”.

Every year, the first Friday of October marks World College Radio Day, a chance for students unfamiliar with the radio station to come in and look around. It is an excellent opportunity for college radio stations to raise awareness about the station on campus to students and faculty. Our campus radio station, WMEB 91.9, participates in the activities annually. Opening up the station for part of the day allows visitors to explore its lounge and library of music. This year, our station gave out free food, CDs and merch.

On our campus, many students are unaware of where our station is located, as it is in the basement of the Memorial Union, Room 164. So, opening up and advertising tours is a great way to get some new students to familiarize themselves with the station, allowing them to learn more about WMEB 91.9. I am already a DJ, so I am very familiar with the location and some of the other DJs, but this allowed me to get to know them better and learn more about what other people are playing on air. 

Jazmine DeBeauchamp hosts “Slumber Party,” a show on Sundays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

“I really like having a show. It allows me to play music I like and curate interesting themes around it…Some shows are more full of rage than others,” said DeBeauchamp. “On those shows, I like to play “‘Wednesday’,”, and some shows are a lot more full of joy.”

DeBeauchamp’s show is set around the idea of a girls’ slumber party, where you discuss all the latest artists in the indie and alternative genres. She said that although she likes to play a lot of “Wednesday,” her favorite artist is Victoria Bigelow, who she often played this past September. 

Evan ‘Schlubzy’ Hollander hosts “Space Station Sanguine,” airing Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. He applied to be a DJ this past summer as a chance to wind down on his days off and listen to some Japanese jazz fusion. He clarified that he doesn’t just play Japanese artists,. although they are the primary focus of his show. He also plays some other genres like city pop, alternative rock, shoegaze and funk. 

“World College Radio Day was a blast, I got to hang out with all my favorite DJs and meet some new people, and eat some pastries,” said Hollander. 

The chance to talk and hang out around the studio and show students around was really cool. A lot of people left with new CDs of some new or smaller artists to check out. A lot of what WMEB tries to do is highlight these underground artists by focusing on playing new releases and artists outside the Top 200. I highly suggest checking out the station by tuning in or coming to some of their other events. To find out more about the station, check out their Instagram @WMEB919. World College Radio Day is every day, so make sure to check it out if you are around next semester and have the time.

On Aug. 16, Maddy Kirgo released her debut album “Shadow on My Light.” The project was written by Kirgo, and produced by her, Nick Corson and Duncan Troast. The album combines dream pop and swampy Americana, showcasing Kirgo’s New Orleans roots. Kirgo is signed by Gar Hole Records, an Arkansas-based record label that primarily signs artists who play what they call “Un-Americana” music.

The opening track is “Spare,” which was released as a single on July 11, 2024. The track leans heavily into the dream pop genre. The song is very much in the style of Weyes Blood with a distinct New Orleans twist to it. “Spare” is about a relationship that changed but not for the worst, a love that is different but still good, and the fear of the change is the song’s focus, with lyrics reassuring that it is all fine.

The next track is “Crush,” which is probably my favorite album song. The song showcases Kirgo’s witty lyricism with lyrics that break the fourth wall, such as, “There’s something going on outside of this song.” The song is about Kirgo having a crush on a girl but not wanting to admit it. The whole song is about how much she is in love with her. Kirgo says her heart will be okay if it’s just lust but if it’s love, she will need some blue. I admittedly have no idea what “blue” is supposed to represent, but we, as the listener, know that she will require whatever it is. Overall, it is a very wholesome song about a girl who just doesn’t have the courage to act on a crush.

“Beautiful Babe” is a classic dream pop love song with some country twang mixed in. The lyrics are about backing up your love and defending them. I am personally a big fan of the lyrics of this song. It repeats the beautiful, dreamy hook and the line, “If a tear hits the ground and no one is around, does it make a sound?” Kirgo alludes to the classic phrase but puts her romantic twist on it.

“Cowboy In A Frame” is the shortest track on the album but one of the sweetest songs. It is about a photo of her partner that she keeps hanging up, although her friends might make fun of her for it. Kirgo continues with heartsick lyricism but reassures the audience that the love will never go. 

“Try Harder” was Kirgo’s first single off the album and music video. This song likely alludes to depression as her “summer feeling” went away. The song goes through the process of trying to feel better. This track is one of the more somber ones, and ties into the feeling of depression. But by the end of the song, she gets more into her pop sound and tells us that the summer feeling is on the mend.

The B-side ties well into the A-side. My highlights from the B-side are “Midnight Flight” and “Happy Wife/Happy Life.,” “Midnight Flight” was the last single to be released off the album and also delivers the lyrics that give the album its name. It is about wanting to be your partner’s go-to for comfort and help, and how Kirgo seeks that. The rest of the B-Side is rather sad, specifically “Stranger Over Me,” which deals with an abusive, wrecked relationship. Throughout the song, Kirgo is trying to understand where things went wrong, and why her partner would choose a stranger over her.

Finally, “Happy Wife/ Happy Life,” it is a bittersweet ending to the album. The track is almost a waltz in its style and encompasses all of Kirgo’s style, a great way to conclude her album.

Overall, this album is a great introduction to the young artist, showcasing her talents in both vocals and lyrics. She adds to the growing subgenre of dream pop while keeping in touch with her roots in New Orleans. This is a must-listen for anyone looking for indie artists who delve more into pop sound.

8/10 Album

In August, Tacorita brought back the “Crunchrita,” a popular menu item missed by many. The Crunchrita, or Chicken Bacon Ranch (CBR), is a crunchy taco loaded into a flour tortilla and grilled. They returned the item with the O.G. Beef, filled with queso, sour cream, lettuce, salsa fresca and shredded cheese. The CBR comes with fried or shredded chicken, queso, bacon, jalapeño ranch, lettuce, salsa fresca and shredded cheese. Additionally, you can also choose to build your own, selecting the ingredients you like, including one protein and four condiments. 

The return of these menu items caused much fanfare on Facebook. The hype is deserved, as the CBR and OG Beef are delicious. The salsa fresca is amazing. It is a good filling, and when combined with the jalapeño ranch and the sour cream on their well liked crunchritas, is an excellent mix.

CBR: 8/10

OG Beef: 9/10

This September, Tacorita introduced a buffalo macaroni and cheese crunchrita as the September special. The buffalo crunchrita comes with either tofu or fried chicken. It is filled with their homemade queso macaroni and cheese, salsa fresca and buffalo sauce. I was excited about the new crunchrita option after seeing how good the existing items were, but I was disappointed with what I got. The queso was great but wasn’t as much as I had hoped. Instead, I got a crunchrita that was dripping with buffalo sauce. The buffalo sauce on my crunchrita overtook any salsa fresca, chicken and cheese flavors. The combination of flavors, emphasized best by the salsa fresca, is what made the previous iterations so delightful. Overflowing with sauce, I could not finish my crunchrita, which started making me sick. I am a big fan of their sauces, but this time, the sauce overpowered what could have been a great monthly special. Now, I am waiting until October for a different special to replace this item. If the ingredients had been better balanced, I think it would have been great. The first bite I had of the crunchrita, which had queso sauce, was quite good. It tasted really good with the taco shell and macaroni. Unfortunately, that is not what I got. Instead, I was served a menu item that was lost in the sauce.

Buffalo Mac and Cheese Crunchrita: 4/10

Tacorita is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. They also deliver through Doordash during their open hours. Tacorita has a huge array of menu items in the middle tier of price range, with prices ranging from $4-$12. They’re located in downtown Orono, on Mill Street, which is right off Main Street. The restaurant has friendly staff and quick service, depending on the time of day. Sadly, they just missed the mark with this new special. My go-to order normally is a custom burrito with fried chicken, mango habanero salsa, guacamole and queso sauce. My favorite aspect is the customizability of the menu items you have, so I would recommend asking for light sauce with the buffalo mac and cheese crunchrita.