mundane sounds

The Radio Dept. David EP

2010-01-21T19:01:00.001-08:00

Been enjoying the heck out of David, the new EP by the superb The Radio Dept.. It's a forerunner of their Spring 2010 Labrador Records release, Clinging to a Scheme. I personally enjoy the mellow, 80s-ish inspired pop that's found here; the title track, while hazy, is a song that back then would have been "the single." Which, of course, is the point, right?
The other songs here, too, are nice, especially the Rice Twins remix.

Can't wait to hear that album, my friends!

Listen To: "David"

Vic Chesnutt

2009-12-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

Yeah, he died. It's a real bummer, too. I loved the man's music, because he spoke from some place real, some place that exists, in real time. His pain and his views on life were often based in one or the other, but that's what made him so damn special.

He was a crank. I tried to interview him once, in 2005. It...didn't go well. He didn't have much to say. After about five minutes of mumbling to my questions, he said, "I'm sorry, I'm tired. I don't want to talk right now," and he hung up. I was annoyed greatly but knowing who he was, I took it at face value, and it didn't change my opinion of him or his music. Another interview didn't happen.

His last few albums, whoa, they were out there--but they were excellent. With his passing, I have been reviewing and renewing my love of his music, and damn, what a loss.

Here's a song from 2000, a live medley with his BFF, Kristin Hersh:

Listen To: "Panic Pure/Your Ghost"

Answering the eternal question

2009-12-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

Why this, why now?

Because, that's why.

And because of that, I give you this to answer the question:

Letter to a Fanzine

we are back
and we are good
and we will love you
like you know we should

2009-12-29T16:50:00.001-08:00

Three years ago, I killed off this website. Why?

I miss it.

So I'm bringing it back.

2007-01-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

hey! did you know we have a new website now? it's called Press Play and Record, and it's wonderful! Come join the fun!

Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New!

2007-01-08T07:11:00.000-08:00

Please visit our new website, Press Play and Record

Effective immediately, Mundane Sounds has retired.

This isn't the end, you know.

After initiating an exciting, interview-only format in October, the beginning of the New Year seemed a good as time as any to initiate a change. I realized that the name "Mundane Sounds" had come so far over the past five years that what I was doing now had very little in common with the ideas that led me to starting the website. The new name feels right; it captures what we do perfectly, I think.

We had a great five year run as Mundane Sounds.

Join us for many more years as Press Play and Record.

Thank you for October 2, 2001 to January 8, 2007. It was fun.

But now it's time to get even better.

Mundane Sounds will stand, as a tribute to Mundane Sounds.

And the new site is still the same old thing: five interviews a week.

Thank you, friends, for joining me on this exciting new journey!

Love,
Joseph Kyle (ex-Mundane Sounds)
Editor, Press Play and Record

Records To Look Forward to in 2007

2007-01-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the beginning of the year, so let's take a look at a few records we're eagerly awaiting for in the coming year. (I know there are a bunch of albums I'm waiting, but i'm going for things I've not actually received promos for yet...) I can think of a ton of other records to include, but I'm not going to sweat it too much. We'll be back next Monday!

Richard Swift: Dressed Up For The Letdown: Richard Swift impressed us back in 2005 with his excellent collection of two records, Walking Without Effort and Writers Without Homes. His new record, which is due on February 20th on Secretly Canadian, said this about the record: "Dare I say fans of "The Richard Swift Collection Vol. 1" will not feel "Dressed Up For The Letdown", as Swift leads the faithful further into a melancholic world draped with colorful sonic landscapes." The one song that's been posted from the album, "Kisses for the Misses," hints that this will be an amazing record.
Listen to: Kisses for the Misses

Surrounded Title TBD: This Swedish group is currently looking for a new label, but their new record is apparently complete, and from the songs available on their Myspace site, it's not at all unrealistic to say that this is going to be an amazing album...once it's released, that is.
No further info's really available right now, but just listen to their music:
Listen to: Oceanographer

Stars of the Lid Stars of the Lid and the Refinement of the Decline: It's been years since the once-Texas duo of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie released a record, so the duo decided to make their return a big one: we're talking a 2-CD, two and a half hour journey into sonic noise, scheduled to be released on April 3rd. Will it be beautiful? Would Kranky release it if it wasn't?

Manual & Ulrich Schnauss Title TBD: Can we say "excited?" Yes, yes we can. These two European electronica masterminds coming together and blending their drone and soundscapes and shoegazingly sticky music together, what could be greater? I have no other information on this record, other than it exists, it's coming soon, and will most likely be released by Darla.

Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie: Title TBA: See the previous album description. In an email last year, Darla's label head James Agren shared a bit of an exchange he had with Robin Guthrie, in reference to their upcoming studio dates: "Make a record as good as The Moon and The Melodies for me!" Agren reportedly said. "We'll make one better!" Guthrie responded. That's all I need to hear, but after 20 years of loving The Moon and The Melodies, it's hard not to get totally excited at the prospect of the duo working together.

Eisley Title TBD: The Tyler, Texas duo will be releasing their second album in April 2007, but, really, considering that a good portion of their debut Room Noises had been released in some form or another in the years prior, it's not totally incorrect to say that this is their debut album proper. Recorded with Richard Gibbs, rumor has it that it's supposed to be brilliant. Impossible to say at this point, but they are a band that's shown a lot of promise.
Hopefully they'll live up to it.

The Polyphonic Spree The Fragile Army: The band's third proper full-length, recorded with the excellent John Congleton in the confines of the famous Pachyderm Studios, is rumored to be a return to form for Tim DeLaughter and company. After a merely OK second album and a forgettable soundtrack album, the band released a long-delayed covers EP, Wait> Though one of the two original songs was forgettable, it was the final track, "I'm Calling," that highlighted why The Fragile Army might just be an awesome album after all. The album is reportedly due in May of 2007.

Apollo Heights Title TBD: This Brooklyn-based band has been teasing us for about two years now in regards to this debut album of theirs, but apparently it's really happening this year; no real word about when it will be released or who will be releasing it. The music in an intoxicatingly sexy sound I like to call "soulgazer," and if you think such a description is incorrect, I highly suggest you listen to their song "The Color Of Love" and tell me otherwise.
Listen To: Various Tracks

The Silent League Title TBD: This project of Mercury Rev keyboard player Justin Russo released a pretty good record, The Orchestra, Sadly, has Refused, back in 2004. While it was a pretty good record, it kind of suffered from a sound that seemed to stay in place. Not so the demos posted on their website; these songs find Russo and company looking deeply inward, and the results are simply gorgeous. No other info exists, really, on when the record will be out.
Listen To: New Album Demos

Best of 2006, Part Five: Top Ten Records of 2006

2006-12-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is it. This is what you've all been waiting for...the best records of 2006! These albums are all totally, utterly wonderful, and they stand up to repeated plays. You should definitely investigate these records; they are artistic statements that will make your life better. 2006 wasn't a sucky year, thanks to these records!

As it stands, this list is a nice little end-of-the-year cap, so we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we hope you have a safe and happy holiday season. We've got some big things in store for 2007, and we hope you'll stick around for them! Thanks for 2006!

We will return on January 8th with plenty of interesting and exciting interviews with the makers of distinctive music. Stay tuned!

10. The Brother Kite Waiting for the Time to Be Right: Big, driving pulsing rock that has a beautiful underbelly and a shimmering haze that makes it impossible to dislike. The band takes the Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb formula and makes a record that's just as good, if not better.
(Clairecords )
Listen To: Various Tracks

9. Westbound Train Transitions: A gathering of English Beat-loving young men gather together and make a record that would make Dave Wakeling proud. In fact, he took 'em out on tour! Big, grand, ska-pop with a heapin' helping of soulful, Motown-styled singing, horns, excellent songwriting and even better production; this record was retro without being retro, and best of all, it's mature and not pandering to a youth market. (Hellcat)
Listen To: Various Tracks

8. Maritime We, the Vehicles: Davey von Bohlen and company finally make the pop record they've been plotting for some time. Finally losing the Promise Ring shadow, this album had loads of moments of pure pop bliss, with hooks galore and catchy melodies. (Flameshovel)
Listen To: Various Tracks

7. Brand New: The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me: Jesse Lacey's heartbreak and inner conflict...emo heartthrobs ditch the emo, ditch the heartthrob, and make a record that's pure emotional torment. This is one hell of a hard record; it's a stunning display of pain and heartbreak, and it's certainly no posture. Not an easy record to listen to, my friends, but a breakthrough record for Brand New. (Interscope)
Listen To: Various Tracks

6. The Keene BrothersBlues and Boogie Shoes: Bob Pollard and Tommy Keene's collaboration = THE rock record Pollard never made with GBV. It's as classic as rock gets, and these two men simply smoke in collaboration. Pollard wasted no time this year proving that GBV's retirement wasn't a result of his creative well running dry, and this is easily his most satisfying collaboration to date. (Fading Captain)

5. Weird Weeds Weird Feelings Album number two for this Austin trio is a vast maturation from their debut album, which made it into our best-of 2005 list last year. Minimalist guitar drones and haunting boy/girl vocals mix together quite nicely with lyrics about love, lose, and lovingly complicated and emotionally demanding basset hounds. Best listened to in whole, alone, sitting in a dark room. (Sounds Are Active)
Listen To: Various Artists

4. Tasmin Archer ON: The return of Tasmin Archer proved to be one of my personal highlights of the year in music, and thankfully the album lived up to my expectations. Mature, well-considered pop music with lyrics that reflect a gentle wisdom gained from years of frustration, ON felt like what it was: a beautiful record from a wise, loving soul. Fourteen years after her big pop hit? Doesn't seem like it. Welcome back. (Quiverdisc)
Listen To: Various Tracks

3. The Submarines Declare a New State!: A boy and a girl get together. Boy helps girl make solo album. Boy and girl becomes a couple. Boy and girl break up. Boy and girl start to write songs about their breakup. Boy and girl start to work together on the material. Boy and girl fall back in love. Boy and girl get married. Boy and girl's friends suggest they release the material that is about their breakup. Boy and girl release one of the year's best records. (Nettwerk)
Listen To: Various Tracks

2. Robin Guthrie Continental/Everlasting: When I reviewed this record, I predicted it to be one of the very best records of 2006, and guess what? It's the end of 2006, and it's still one of the year's very best records. Everything you associate with the name Robin Guthrie is found in overwhelming abundance here; a man alone with a guitar has rarely sounded so brilliant. I had to throw in the EP compendium Everlasting, because it's just as wonderful, if not more so, and it deserves mention. (Darla Records)
Listen To: Various Tracks

1. Boduf Songs Lion Devours the Sun: Hauntingly beautiful music that is oft mistakenly labeled "folk." This is something darker, something much more sinister, and Mat Sweet's songwriting muse dives into the troubled waters of a tormented soul and the mysterious forests of the mind. "Two Across the Mouth" is one of the best songs of the year, too. It's an album best experienced whole, alone, in a dark room. This is the best record of the year, period. (Kranky)
Listen To: Boduf Songs Live on VPRO

Best of 2006, Part Four: Some Other Good Stuff

2006-12-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

And then there's the music that doesn't fit in any easy category, or falls in between other categories! These are some pretty good records, if I do say so myself. Check 'em out!

The Everyothers Pink Sticky Lies: This five song EP was a blast of glam wrapped in bubblegum=pop. It promised much, but the band suddenly broke up a few weeks ago, which is a real shame, because this EP was such a wonderful record. Still, going out on a high note has its merits, and it's best to remember them as being awesome. (Kill Rock Stars)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Nellie McKay: Pretty Little Head: It's hard to understand why McKay's label hated this record. It's also not hard to understand why they frowned upon releasing it as-is. But as frustrating as it all may be--it really shouldn't have been a two-disc set--the excellence of the music more than makes up for it being self-indulgent tripe. But the aesthetic issues with the label weren't the real issue here--it was a question of artistic control--and Columbia wound up losing a great artist. McKay is the Cyndi Lauper for the indie-yuppie set, and her song with Cyndi was a real highlight. (spinART)

Mute Math Mute Math: Frantic rock music with a definite hint of new wave, but what else do you expect from a band with a lead singer who sounds eerily enough like Sting? They're like a more melodic Les Savy Fav, which makes things even more interesting. Emo? No. Christian rock in denial? Well...be that as it may, this band's all about the live show, as they simply go insane on stage. Really. Go to YouTube and see for yourself. (Telepromt)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Aberdeen What Do I Wish For Now?: A band that didn't really exist until after it came back from a five-year break-up, this compilation documents this underrated LA indie-pop band, and it's a surprisingly strong album--stronger, perhaps, than the band's debut album released at the turn of the century. That second Sarah EP is pure pop perfection, too. (LTM Recordings)
Various Tracks

Harper Lee: He Holds a Flame: Keris Howard says goodbye? In interview, he suggested that this excellent EP was the final Harper Lee release. Whether it is or not, remains to be seen. "He Holds a Flame" is Howard's finest musical statement, so if it is indeed the end, it's a mighty high note to end with. The other songs on the EP are all of a higher quality, too. (Matinee Recordings_

The Elected: Sun, Sun, Sun: Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett steps out once again, and comes up with this wonderful, sun-baked LA rock record. Country- and Folk-rock has rarely sounded this pleasant; it sounds like a lost Laurel Canyon treasure, or, perhaps, the best early 70s solo Crosby, Stills, and Nash record that never came to pass? A haughty sentiment on my part, yes, but it's not without merit. (Sub Pop)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Sparta Threes: El Paso-based rock band comes back and comes on strong with their third album. Filled with loud, overwhelmingly big guitars and some of Jim Ward's best singing to date, it's a powerful, in-your-face rock record that doesn't sound at all as bad as those who hated on Sparta back in the day would have lead you to believe. (I am, of course, speaking of myself.) (Hollywood Records)
Listen To Various Tracks

Pants Yell! Recent Drama: This record really charmed me on first listen, what with its hand-clapping and wonderful pop crunch, and the love hasn't really ceased. I mentioned the name Aztec Camera in comparison, and I stick by that. The American indiepop scene was kind of quiet this year, but this album was a definite highlight. (Asaurus)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Dani Siciliano Slappers: This record really contained a nice element of "..and the kitchen sink" to it. Imagine a nice mixture of jazz, pop, electronica, and all other sorts of musical genres thrown together into one big, healthy stew, topped off with some deliciously breathy, seductive singing. Sold yet? I know I was. (!K7 Records) Listen To: Various Tracks

Ester Drang: Rocinate: This Oklahoma trio really turned up the trippy arrangements and the mellow rock for this, their third album, which was a vast improvement from their previous record, the disappointing Infinite Keys. The mellowness was mixed together with string arrangements and orchestrations, and the effect created a nice, stoned-out haze.(Jade Tree)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Best of 2006, Part Three: Old Familiar Faces

2006-12-13T07:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we featured excellent new artists making excellent new music, so today, we're featuring the best new records by well-established artists, veterans who have been around for many years, and who continue to make excellent records. It's always good to hear that people don't simply stop making music after years and years of record-making, and these records certainly show that.

Tanya Donelly This Hungry Life: It's always nice to hear a Tanya song, and this record--recorded in a small club in front of a friendly, loving audience--highlights everything we like about her work. The warm, electric atmosphere created by the live stage really adds a nice element to her songs. It also features an excellent cover of George Harrison's "Long, Long, Long." (Eleven Thirty Records)
Listen To: Various Tracks

The Lemonheads The Lemonheads: After a decade of retirement, Evan Dando brings his band back, and boy, do they sound great! Of course, considering his fellow band members are former Descendents and that J Mascis through in an extra guitar solo here and there, this "reunion" record is actually harder and tougher than any previous Lemonheads LP. And ladies, he's still dreeeeammmmyyy. (Vagrant Records)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Robert Pollard: From a Compound Eye: Pollard's first post-GBV solo album was an excellent double-album filled with some of his best songwriting to date. (Well, the best until the Keene Brothers, but that's another story.) A new phase in Pollard's storied career started this year, and has proven to be, in one word, amazing. (Merge Records)

Stuart Staples Leaving Songs: Tindersticks' lead singer takes a respite from his day job to release an album of sad, morose and impeccably arranged pop songs. The video he made for "That Sinking Feeling" featured him as a choo-choo train. Charming! Packaged with his first solo album only highlighted how excellent this album is. If ever you needed proof of Staples' genius, this album is it. (Beggars Banquet)
Listen To: Various Tracks

His Name is Alive Detrola: Warn Defever and company eschew the R&B slow-jams of their past two albums, and make a record that blends together the mellow elements of those two records with a style reminiscent of HNIA's late 90s output. But this isn't a throwback; this is an entirely new style, one that's richer and much more lush and mature in its scope. (Silver Mountain)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum: Cave In front man's third solo album and first with his new band, and it's a keeper. It's not lo-fi like his previous releases, nor is it loud prog-metal like Cave In, either. This new direction, it's a great one, and it's not really all that surprising. Cave In may be on hiatus, but Brodsky's proven that life goes on, and this record proves that tears over Cave In's demise are unnecessary. (Hydrahead)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Eric Bachmann To the Races: Bachmann's first true, real, on-its-own solo album finds him treading straight into sadness and melancholy, in a way that's darker and deeper than anything Crooked Fingers ever did. Maybe it's because he's really by himself this time around, but this music is just too utterly sad and beautiful to be done any other way. (Saddle Creek)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Roddy Frame Western Skies: Twenty-five years in, Frame still has the knack for writing a lovely, engaging tune. Frame's smiling face on the cover says it all: he's a clever sort, as witnessed through this album of easy-going, unhurried, gentle, yet never too serious pop songs. The only thing about Western Skies that disappointed was the fact that most people didn't get the opportunity to hear it. Ah well, such is life, but if you heard it, then you know what you were getting. (Redemption Records)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Sparklehorse Dreamt For Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain: Mark Linkous rarely releases music, but when he does, it's always grand, and this is no exception. Sound-wise, it's not all that different from what you'd expect from the Sparklehorse name, except with lyrics that are a bit more positive and bright. Consistency like this might seem lazy, but if you know the source, then it really doesn't matter, does it?(Astralwerks)
Listen To: Various Tracks

New Radiant Storm King The Steady Hand: Who knew? Who knew that this minor alt.rock band from the early 1990s would return, and would return with their best record to date? I sure didn't; and though I always felt NRSK were OK, that they could produce a record as good as The Steady Hand really, really took me by surprise. In a good way, of course.(Darla Records)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Best of 2006, Part Two: The New Faces

2006-12-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

Every year a new group of young bands come out of nowhere and impress us greatly, and 2006 had a treasure-trove of them, it seems! This list was hard to compile, because there are a TON of bands who deserve to be here. So here are the newer kids on the block, all of whom are worthy of your attention, and all of them helped to make 2006 a great year in music!

Bound Stems Appreciation Night: Chicago five-piece really wowed a lot of people last year with their debut, The Logic of Building the Body Plan, but they really sent one out of Wrigley Park with this debut. Quirky pop and rock music that, uh, actually rocks, while being both highly literate and musically complex. Personally, I'm a sucker for "Excellent News, Colonel," but, really, the entire album is ace. (Flameshovel)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Tacks, the Boy Disaster Oh, Beatrice: This Austin combo has ties to Midlake and The Polyphonic Spree, which sort of explains the band's grand yet earthy jazz-pop sound. But they're no mere offshoot or side project; their sound stands squarely on its own merit, and this debut EP is extremely beautiful. Their style and sound makes this an EP that you'll eat up and hit repeat to every listen. The sound of a rainy, cold afternoon never sounded this lovely. (Self-Released)
Listen to: Various Tracks

Hello, Saferide Introducing Hello, Saferide: My new indie-pop crush! Annika Norlin is from Sweden, but she's made a witty, whip-smart, and charming record that makes you miss the better moments of Liz Phair, Mary Lou Lord, and Juliana Hatfield. No boast in that! Songs about letters to pen-pals, wishing your crush would get sick so that you could take care of them, making love interests take quizzes to test their personality, and an extremely happy song entitled "If I Don't Write This Song, Someone I Love Will Die"--these things make Introducing... a wonderful find. She's funny, talented, beautiful, and she's someone whose music you really need to hear! (It's A Trap!)
Listen To: "If I Don't Write This Song, Someone I Love Will Die"

Free Diamonds There Should Be More Dancing: Punk Rock from England, yet quirkier than Art Brut and Futureheads combined! But, of course, this is a very good thing, too! Vocals that kind of recall Ween, rhythms that are tight--repeat, tight, and lyrics that are clever and funny! This record was painfully and unjustifiably overlooked this year. Don't overlook it!
(Deep Elm)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Angela Desveaux Wandering Eyes: This Canadian songstress released her debut album on Thrill Jockey, but her sound is much more traditional than the roster would lead you to believe. We're talking "gives Shania Twain a run for her money" kind of thing here. I've really enjoyed this record for its simple pleasure and unassuming nature. A sleeper, to be sure, but a nicer country record this year, I have yet to find...
(Thrill Jockey)
Listen To: "Heartbeat"

Evangelicals So Gone: Oklahoma trio's music is loud and pretty and sounds like it is about to fall apart in a huge, noisy heap. It never does, though. So Gone is held together by Josh Jones' sweet, Morrissey meets Ian Masters crooning, and the music always sounds like it's smiling at you. It's happy music, for a world gone so terribly unhappy. Comparisons to the Flaming Lips and Starlight Mints take nothing away from it.(Misra Records)
Listen To: Another Day

The Twilight Sad The Twilight Sad:
Scottish post-rock baby band blends big, grand sounds with gentle, soft electronics. Sure, the post-rock elements have been played to death, but recruiting classical-minded electronica composer Max Richter to produce them was an interesting choice, one that paid off well. Though this self-titled five-song EP is merely an introduction, it is an impressive enough introduction. Place this band squarely in the "one-to-watch bin."
(Fat Cat)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Headlights Kill Them With Kindness: This trio isn't exactly new; they released their debut EP in 2003, but didn't get around to releasing their debut until this year. But they were far from inactive; during this time, they spent most of their time out on tour. This album is a collection of gorgeous harmonies, lush arrangements, and good songwriting. Maybe taking years to release their debut wasn't a bad idea! (Polyvinyl)
Listen To: TV

The Envy Corps I Will Write You Love Letters If You Tell Me To:
Iowa-based band comes out of nowhere, bringing with it an EP of catchy, anthemic songs of a quality not heard since the heyday of James. Am I surprised a major label swooped them up? Not at all. As much hype goes into the overused phrase I'm about to mutter, it's no real understatement to suggest that this band is going to be big...
(Self-Released)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Annuals Be He Me: North Carolina band of youngsters throw together a wonderfully rich, exciting blend of big baroque pop songs. Large arrangements, excellent production, and just damn good songs make this band worthy of the blog hype. (Ace Fu)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Best of 2006, Part One: The Bliss-Out Records

2006-12-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

I hate best-of lists, but dang it, I can't seem to avoid them. This year, after compiling my list, I noticed some themes developing. So this list is the first part of a five part series, covering the best of 2006. This first list is dedicated to heady, mind-bendingly beautiful music that deserves attention, and if you were to put these records on in the same disc changer, you could bliss your mind harder than you could on any drug. Enjoy!

Hammock Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo: This record contains some of the most hauntingly beautiful instrumental music I've heard all year. It's the aural equivalent of floating in space and gliding through the galaxy to Heaven. It is seriously that beautiful. Oh, but then there are the vocals, which contain some of the most melancholy lyrics you'll hear all year, too. All in all, it's a beautiful record that will transport your mind to all sorts of places. (Darla Records)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Mercury Rev Hello, Blackbird: How the hell did this amazing record slip by unnoticed?????
An all-instrumental mind-music journey that sounds like Mercury Rev finally capitulated on its desire to make a classic Disney movie soundtrack. For a low-key release, it's probably one of their best records ever. No, seriously, it's that good, and I have to admit I'm simply going by the album stream on their website. I don't actually own this record, which may be cheating, but after listening to it and shedding a tear or two at its beauty, I realized that not listing it somewhere would be a damn crime. Music this good deserves to be released in America--but yet, music this good rarely is. Still, it's a treat worth finding. (V2 Music)
Listen To: The Entire album

Subtle The Mercury Craze: A heady hip-hop journey, but not really a hip-hop record. Subtle has made the most with its lucky break, and took the opportunities afforded them to make a record that's not only the best of their career, but the best of the careers of their individual members. Smart music for smart people; that they persevere in the face of many adversities only makes their music stronger. (Astralwerks)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Elanors Movements: On first listen, this Chicago husband and wife duo's music didn't quite resonate with me. Then, after a late night listen, not only did it make sense, I instantly fell in love. With a style that's part Jeff Buckley, Part Radiohead, and part prog-rock, all mixed together with a jazz sensibility, Movements will really make you feel...mellow. (Parasol)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Montys Loco Man Overboard: A bizarre, haunting record made by two mysterious, enigmatic Swedish women. The music ranges from occasional offbeat pop to dark, haunting dirges set to a postpunk atmosphere. In short, their music is unclassifiable pop that's well to the left of Kate Bush's middle period. Though the album is woefully short, it's still a record that will enthrall you for twenty-eight minutes. (North of No South)
Listen To: Various Tracks

Charalambides: A Vintage Burden: Fifteen years into a vast, deep career, the duo of Tom and Christina Carter decided to make their most accessible album to date. Was it an accident that the times finally caught up to them? Or is this record merely an anomaly within their massive discography? Best not to think about it, you know. Beautiful folkish sounds and gorgeous vocals and warm guitars--told you it was different, folks! (Kranky)

The Slip: Eisenhower: This 'jam band for people who hate jam bands' has been quietly making music since the 1990s, but this album, it's BIG. Its arrangements are lush and large and somewhat melancholy, and the melodies are simply heavenly. Nothing hippie about them, either. Their last release consisted of two live albums divided in different sounds, with one being a loud, primarily instrumental collection of noisy electronica sound-scapes and the other a collection of sad, acoustic low-key country/folk balladry. This should tell you a lot about them. A great discovery! (Bar/None)
Listen To: Various Tracks

MONO & World's End Girlfriend: Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain: Japan's loudest rock band meets up with an electronica composer, and they...make a classical record? Yup, that's what happened; that's what they did, and it can be best summed up in one word: "Breathtaking." Would you have known it was MONO had you not known it was MONO? Nope, probably not. And that's quite okay. (Temporary Residence, LTD)

Benoit Pioulard Precis: Okay, so he's not French and his name's really Thomas, but setting that aside, Precis is gorgeous, blissed-out pop music of the highest order. Dreamy, slightly narcotic instrumentals drift between dreamy, angelic-styled crooning. Precis is a highlight of the year, to be sure; it certainly whets the appetite for this young man's next music. It's one of the rare instances where the hype-making bloggers got it right! (Kranky)
Listen To: Various Tracks

The Album Leaf Into the Blue Again: Should have been called "Into the Heavenly mind of James Lavelle again," because this collection of songs is easily his earthiest, most mind-relaxing collection of songs to date. How does a guy make music this good, this consistently? I can't tell ya. But consistency is the man's strong point, and this is another gorgeous Album Leaf record, and though he showed more of a pop edge this time around, the music still never failed to be less than beautiful. (Sub Pop)
Listen To: "Always for You"

Bound Stems

2006-12-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

What's to say about Bound Stems? They're a band that covers a lot of ground, musically and personally. They're a five-piece, but their music is something grander, something bigger. Their songs are about life; while Chicago is their home, their debut album, Appreciation Night, is more an album of living life with Chicago as the backdrop. Their music is catchy, too, but the band's Janie Porche says it best when she proclaims that "we rock!" Yes, indeed, they rock; they rock in a way that rock rarely rocked in 2006--intelligently. In this bland, boring music world, it's refreshing to hear an album like Appreciation Night, and it's hard to deny that this band is clearly onto something. Their debut release, last year's EP The Logic of Building the Body Plan didn't hint at the greatness found on this debut, and if that's the case, what comes next may very well be even more mind-blowingly wonderful than this excellent album. It's safe to say that they released one of the best albums of 2006, and I'm happy to have talked to a very friendly Ms. Porche during a brief break between tours. Seek their music out; it won't disappoint you.

I've really enjoyed Appreciation Night! I take it you joined the band between The Logic of Building the Body Plan and the debut. How did you meet up with them?

I was roommates with Evan Sult, our drummer. They had all been working together for a while, and they had brought in another girl to see if they wanted to add her backups on another song. Then they decided to take the idea further and add vocals, but she wasn't really the right person for the job. So they asked me to do it, and I said yes. Within a few days, they started bringing in more instruments and adding a lot more layers. They liked my singing, so they added me, too.

Was this your first musical project?

I kind of had been making music on my own, writing and recording songs on my own, but nothing to this extent.

There are a number of songs on Appreciation Night that are...well, I guess the best example of this would be "Excellent News, Colonel," where it sounds like the song is actually a combination of several smaller songs put together, a la The Beatles' "A Day in the Life." Was this something the band intentionally came up with as an approach to songwriting, or is it merely something you tried and worked well?

I think that when you have five really different, creative minds working together and working at five really different day jobs, it leads…well, when we would go to the practice space, we'd have a lot of different ideas to explore. We'd bring a lot of different pieces in. It's not like one person writes something complete that the rest of the band then follows, because we're all open to ideas. Also, when we were writing, a lot of ideas were written in groups. One day, it'd be like, "Okay, Janie and Bobby, you go and work on this," and "Dan, you and Evan go and write something." We'd do that' we'd record in our practice space, and we'd see what comes up. At the same time, we're trying to look for really challenging music. We're not afraid of that.

Looking at the title, "Appreciation Night," and hearing how much Chicago plays into the lyrics, is the album a love letter to the city of Chicago?

I think it's more a letter that we were writing with Chicago as the setting. We've been given a lot of feedback an have been asked a lot of questions about how much Chicago figures in the lyrics, and I think that the city's role is important, but it's not to Chicago as it is about Chicago.

SO it's about living in Chicago, as opposed to being about Chicago.

Right! It's all about how we're making our movements through the city to do what it is we do on a daily basis. Like, we have to go to work and meet friends, we have to go to practice, we have to gather our gear and our coats; we have a lot of things to do, and we're doing them all in Chicago, which happens to be a very audible, sonic sounding city. There's a lot of transit here; there's a lot of movement. I'm sure if we lived and recorded in, say, Oklahoma City, the results would be different from Appreciation Night. Interesting, I'm sure, but entirely different.

I interviewed someone yesterday who had released an album with a lyrical narrative that's similar, involving citizens in a city, a much more stream-of-consciousness approach. From what you were just saying, was a decision made to explore these themes, or did you just write a bunch of songs and then, upon compiling them, you realized you had this theme and you saw what the album was about?

It's interesting. We had a few songs that we chose not to put on the album, because it was already too long. We had all of these songs that we'd written, and we were able to select them in a sequence that flowed together and told a narrative. We made--I have no how idea how many different running orders! (Laugh) We would be in the van, and we'd listen to so many different orders, trying to figure out what it meant for us. So that was a really conscious decision. Also, the transitions between the songs, we thought about them a lot--a whole lot--because we wanted to make sure they were good.

So, then, in your mind, was Appreciation Night a...I hate to use the word "concept album," because it has such a negative connotation...

Well, I don't think of it as a concept album. It was very musically challenging for us. It was something we were exploring--our town. Furthermore, replicating these songs live is very important for us. The fact that these songs rock, it's very important! (Laughs) We listen to a lot of rock music, so we want to make...we're a rock band. What you can take from a concept album is that it has a theme you can take as a whole, so yeah, that's something that can carry over. Also, concept albums are things you have to listen to a couple of times to really figure out, so that's something that holds over, too.

Ultimately, though, Appreciation Night sounds like it was a whole lot of fun to make.

It was a lot of fun! We go out on tours for long lengths of time, and there are things that are really frustrating, like our van getting a flat tire, or being stranded somewhere, or not finding a place to stay, while back home, our cell phone bills are coming due--these are things that happen that are really frustrating. But when we get on stage, we have the most fun that we could ever have. I hope that doesn't go away. We've played a lot of shows, and we're getting better at it. We've had full-time jobs, we've worked long days, and we know what it's like. We understand where we could be in life, and we really appreciate what we're doing. It's a ton of fun, yeah!

Bound Stems' debut, Appreciation Night, is available now on Flameshovel

All City Affairs

2006-12-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

Peter Andreadis is the drummer for up-and-coming Chicago rock band Baby Teeth, but when he's not busy pounding the skins, he's making interesting music as All City Affairs. The two bands couldn't sound more different, though. While a certain music website recently proclaimed that Baby Teeth, "sounds just like David Bowie," the music of All City Affairs is mellower, and it's certainly more intricate and delicate, and it doesn't really sound like any one particular band. What's most striking about Bees, the band's second album, is that lyrically, it falls into a narrative pattern about the day in the life of a city, with all sorts of characters populating the landscape--from the busy worker to the failed soul singer. It's an interesting concept, and it's one that's quite enjoyable, too. I had a chance to speak with Mr. Andreadis recently, to get him to talk about his music.

All City Affairs is a side project from your main band, Baby Teeth. What prompted you to start it?

Well, it kind of didn't start off as a side project. It had been a project I'd been working on since about 2000. I was just writing songs, and it was just a songwriting project, really. I had a bunch of friends who were coming in and out and playing--not playing for shows, but just playing around my home and in my recording studio. I released a record in 2001 on a real small Chicago label that didn't do much; it folded after my record was released. I started working on my next record, which is the one that just came out, with some of those same people from the first. As soon as I started working on that, a lot of those people got really busy with their own projects, so it became a solo project almost by default. Then Baby Teeth started, and things with them really took off, so All City Affairs got put on hold for a while. Baby Teeth had a lot of momentum, so I thought that if anything good happened with that, it'd reflect well on me and on All City Affairs as well. So for a lot of people, All City Affairs is a new thing, and it's getting a new birth now.

Bees seems to be a conceptual piece about a city, a sort of slice of life. Were you trying to write a day-in-the-life in the city sort of record?

Yeah, it was pretty intentional. I was trying to challenge myself into not writing songs about being in love or breaking up or something like that. I think that's an easy well to draw inspiration from. I've been writing songs since I was fifteen, and I've written a ton of songs like that. I thought, "Okay, I want to do something that's a little bit more focused on what a daily routine is like>" Just common, every day things, about things I'd see on television or would read about in the paper. All City Affairs is a good vehicle to explore such different concepts. A lot of what I ended up writing about was more about how money plays a role in art, being an artist, and following one's interests, and about money and materialism--when you start to get a little bit older, you start to realize the value of things that are non-materialistic. I wanted to write about those frustrations, and about how what's valuable to one person might not mean anything to another.

On some levels, it sounds like a spiritual quest, about transcending the trappings of the flesh, in search of something higher...

A lot of that did come out in the writing. A lot of that was me sort of looking inward and making sense of some things. I did what I could to not make it so much a first person record. I didn't want it to seem to be about me.

It reminded me of writers from earlier in the Twentieth Century, where they would write a series of things, all using the "I," and the "I" is not the author, and the "I" is not a single personality; in one story, "I" is one, and in the next, "I" is another, and the development of the story transcends a narrative tale. Like on Bees, where on one song you're singing about being a guy who's a soul singer, and the next you're singing about another person; I never got the impression it was the same character throughout.

Hmm, yeah, that's interesting. I don't necessarily feel like another character, but it gives me something to play around with while I'm performing. It gives me an identity to toy around with while playing my songs.

From what I've heard, Baby Teeth is more traditional in its style and its sound. Would you say All City Affairs is more about you experimenting with a sound, or experimenting with lyrics?

It definitely starts with me experimenting with sound. I struggle with lyrics; they're usually the last thing I work on. I guess, being a guitar player originally--I play drums in Baby Teeth, and have only been doing that for about four or five years--but being a guitar playing originally, it's "Write your tunes on acoustic guitar, and as you're strumming you get this acoustic thing building up." The way I work with All City Affairs is I'll take those chord changes, I'll fill them in with a drum and a bass pattern that's interesting and takes away from what a guitar might sound like if you were on stage strumming it by yourself. It definitely starts out on a sonic level with me trying to work out some kind of rhythmic thing that goes under the changes I've written on an acoustic guitar, then backing it up from there and putting in a guitar part. I guess I'm trying to accomplish something where you wouldn't know offhand the source of the music. You might think, "That's an interesting bass line" and "that guitar part must have been the first thing he put down," and it might not be the case at all. I guess the music I really admire has that sense of layers to it, so that every time you listen to it, you hear one or two things that you didn't hear before, so that you have an experience that's a little bit different from listen to listen.

Do you perform live with All City Affairs, or is it just a studio project?

I do play live, but it's been building up over the past year or so. I've been trying to get more gigs and get comfortable with it, because I am just performing by myself, and I'm trying to add things here and there on the backing tracks I perform with. It's kind of like a glorified karaoke revue. For me, if I just picked up my guitar and tried to assemble a band to perform with me, it would be like taking a step back, because I've gotten so used to doing things by myself; waking up in the morning and saying, "Oh! I know what I need to do with this song!" and running over to the setup in my room to lay that part down. It's interesting for me; I am having a really good time doing it, and I love getting up on stage and playing. (Beams) I'm having a really good time, and hopefully, after being off stage and wondering, "Man, is anybody going to like this?" at least if I'm entertaining myself, then that will shine through and that will be what the audience connects with. I just like having fun.

All City Affairs' second album, Bees, is available now on Lujo

Tasmin Archer

2006-12-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

If there is one song from the early 1990s that is still quite as captivating, it is Tasmin Archer's hit song, "Sleeping Satellite." It's a slinky yet quite catchy number that is both dark and haunting, yet is wonderfully well-written and hard to forget, and it was a wonderful balm in the midst of Grunge and hard-rock. It made an appearance on the US charts during those halcyon Alternative days of 1992, and the album it appeared on, Great Expectations, was full of equally wonderful songs, all of which were as good--if not better than--"Sleeping Satellite," which, to be honest, is quite a feat, considering "Sleeping Satellite" is nearly perfect. It looked like Ms. Archer was set to become a name, if not in households, with those who appreciate good music and the art of excellent songwriting. Great Expectations seemed to be the sort of record that would help build a foundation for a long-term career. In 1994, an EP entitled Shipbuilding was released; this mini-album contained a number of excellent Elvis Costello covers, as well as some live versions of songs from Great Expectations. For those who enjoyed the album, it was a nice treat to tide them over until the follow-up.

Alas, it was not to be. After that, nothing; to those who fell for Great Expectations, her voice sadly went silent. In the United States, she disappeared into obscurity and the inevitable "one-hit wonder" status, yet her career was not over. She released her follow-up album, Bloom, in 1996, but as you will read below, this record wasn't released in the United States, and only in limited numbers in Europe.

For years, I believed that she had gone the way of Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhcas, or Mary Margaret O'Hara--excellent musicians who made stunningly beautiful debut albums, but who were destined to be hidden treasures, because they disappeared after making that one great artistic statement. It took me by surprise, then, when I learned earlier this year that she had a brand-new album, ON, set for release. Upon learning this happy bit of news, I took it upon myself to get a copy of the record and to talk to her. ON is a wonderful record; it's mellow and pretty, and it moves into a territory that's a bit more electronic than Great Expectations, but it's the lyrical content that really struck with me. The album is full of deeply personal songs, songs about getting older, staying true to yourself, and about keeping your head up high when things don't go right. That's my interpretation, at least. As you can see, I had about fourteen years of questions to ask her, and ask her I did; the interview below is one I'm quite proud of, as it was an honor for me to get her to answer my questions about her career. I think this interview and Tasmin's story should serve as a lesson for younger musicians who are entering into the profession. But enough about that; Tasmin Archer's back, and that's one thing that made 2006 a wonderful year in music!

Great Expectations was a critical success both in Europe and in the US. When you completed it, did you have any notion that it would do as well as it did, or were your expectations about its greatness what led to its title?

No not really, at the time I knew EMI were putting a lot of backing behind us and although that's no guarantee of success it certainly helps. I didn't choose the title because I was expecting great things in terms of sales or critical acclaim. I chose to call the album Great Expectations because I loved the book by Charles Dickens and I felt some sort of affinity with the character 'Pip'.

"Sleeping Satellite" is still a wonderful song. Was it a song that you and your label at the time immediately recognized for the hit that it would become?

The demo of that song, which is a similarly arranged if less polished version of the released one, was one of the tracks that was on our original demo reel when we were first trying to get a deal. Every single major UK company turned us down at that stage. Later, after we'd signed to EMI and recorded the version that appeared on the album, they began to hear its potential I guess.

I remember hearing "Sleeping Satellite" a LOT. Was there a point during the success that you felt like too much focus was being put on the song and not on you as an artist?

I don't recall feeling that way because we were so busy promoting 'Sleeping Satellite' and doing live performances of all the other songs that were on the album. I suppose I was too excited that I didn't really get too bogged down by all of that.

Did life change much for you during this time?

Yes, I would say so. The one thing I'd say that changed for me dramatically was the long periods of time I spent away from home traveling the world & promoting Great Expectations. Before this I had only ever traveled to Denmark when I was at college and then to Italy on holiday. So really this was a big change for me because I had hardly ever been out of my home town growing up in West Yorkshire.

How would you describe your relationship with "Sleeping Satellite" now? Did you ever have a love/hate relationship with it?

We've have grown together and we've always maintained a good healthy relationship. We're fine in each others company and I don't ever remember feeling any animosity toward the song ever.

Tell me a little bit about how Shipbuilding came to pass.

I was always a big Elvis Costello fan. EMI were pressing me to release something in between albums and so I decided to do a 4 track EP of songs I liked of his. Originally it was only intended to be an EP, and in the UK it was, but in the US the label decided to add some b sides and make it more album length.

From what I understand, your relationship with your label started to become complicated. Looking back at it now, what was the root of the problem, and do you think that things could have been avoided?

I wouldn't say it was complicated. For my second album they wanted one thing and we wanted another. They wanted Great Expectations mark II and we wanted to expand our horizons and do something that stretched us as artists. They saw things from a purely commercial perspective, as they would, and we saw it from an artistic one. The two things just didn't mix. I suppose I could of given in and avoided the problem but I'd have been very unhappy so I chose to dig my heals in and stand up for what I wanted artistically.

Were there any early warning signs of problems yet to come?

Not necessarily a warning. We argued for 12 months about it until they eventually, albeit reluctantly, gave in and put Bloom out as it was intended. For a time I thought we'd convinced them we were doing the right thing for the long term but there was a key personnel change at EMI during the whole discussion process and that threw another spanner in the works. I felt I'd had enough success with Great Expectations for them to at least give me a little leeway and support me in a less commercial project but it seems I was wrong. Ultimately they weren't interested in letting me develop as an artist. That's the nature of the business with major labels, even more so now, so you have to accept it and move on.

How was the experience of making Bloom?

The making of Bloom was a very relaxed affair and recording the initial takes 'live' as a band was a more organic way of recording for me. The musicians who played on the album with us were all stunning. They played with real beauty and edge. I wanted to make a more earthy, edgy sounding album and these guys were perfect for that.

Admittedly, I've never heard Bloom--and, to be honest, until a few months ago, I didn't even know about it! How do you feel about the record now?

The US EMI label declined to release it so this is probably why you hadn't heard of it. It's also not available on US iTunes. Bloom never achieved the same level of commercial success as the first album because it isn't a 'commercial pop' album which was my label at the time. I felt with the right support it could have crossed over into other areas but it didn't get the same backing as Great Expectations in the marketplace. I am still intensely proud of it, probably more so than Great Expectations because I think it's better than that album from a songwriting and musical perspective.

After Bloom, you went silent. Was this because of disillusionment with the music business, did you intend to retire from music altogether, or were you following in the steps of artists like XTC and Michelle Shocked and going on strike against your record label?

I'd just had enough of the music business so I decided to take a break. I only really intended on taking a year out but it turned out to be more. I never planned to be away for so long, it's just the way things panned out.

I have also seen that in the interim, your former label released a hastily-compiled 'best-of' and rarities compilation album that quickly disappeared from labels. Did you have a hand in this collection, or did you stop it, a la Aimee Mann?

I don't know anything about that. They don't inform us when they are to re release any of those old recordings that we did when we were signed to them. They own all those old recordings so they do what they like, when they like and never get in touch to seek our approval. We never know what they're up to.

During this silence, did you continue to make music?

Yes. We never really ever stopped writing we just never finished anything. I was still inspired to write and so the ideas just kept piling up and piling up.

I read somewhere that in the last few years, you suffered from writer's block. Do you think a lot of that was based in a deep-seated reticence from your experiences within the music industry and of making music?

I don't really know if it was totally to do with that. All I know is I was exhausted and needed a break away from the business side of the music industry, but the block happened after the break that I had planned which obviously extended it.

How did you break the block's spell?

I found out as much as I could about these type of things. I did other practical things that were creative outlets for me like painting, moulding clay and dabbled a bit in Shamanic Journeying. I had to do something artistic that would enable me to see an end result and this is how I worked my way through the block.

Jumping ahead to the present: how was the creation of ON for you? Being thoroughly in control of your destiny and your music must have been a totally new, invigorating experience, in light of your previous records.

When we started shaping the songs that are on ON we made work in progress versions available as free downloads for fans. We received some good feedback which was very encouraging because back then we weren't even thinking of putting an album out, much less putting it out on our own label. We were just feeling our way in the dark a bit. We were starting to really enjoy demoing and developing the songs and we wrote a ton of material during this time. As time went on, step by step, we found certain songs were standing out as if they might sit well together as an album so we thought why not put it out.

We had no intention of giving up creative control to any major label ever again so we eventually decided to set up our own label for this purpose. It was, and still is, all new territory for us but we're learning about all that side of it as we go along. It was a steep learning curve for us at first, even the recording and producing of the album at our home was a challenge. In the past we had worked with some really good producers in the best studios so it was a real challenge just trying to get the sounds we wanted and the best performances. It all took time but it was an enjoyable experience and rewarding. As well as co writing all the songs on the album John Hughes did all the recording, all the production and mixing, as well as playing the majority of the instruments on the album. The only other person appearing on the album was Bruce Thomas (of The Attractions) who played the bass.

The songs on ON read like letters of hope--not just to the struggling, depressed, or downtrodden, but also to you yourself. I take it that with the message of staying positive and focused and seeing a brighter day ahead of you, that this is a deeply personal and meaningful collection of work for you.

Yes. This album, like all I've done, defines me in the present or at least recent time. A lot has happened during the making of this album. My mum passed away in January 2004, so some of the songs on this album have a deeper personal meaning because they are strong reminders of that time. The songs are largely inspired by life and are at their root observations about the different lives people lead and the different emotional situations they encounter in today's world. The songs are, to an extent, informed by my own personal experiences but include a sizeable dollop of poetic license. I like all albums to be more than just a collection of unrelated songs and for each song to have some common connection. I like to think of ON as a self contained piece of work with each song being analogous to a chapter in a book. I will admit that I do get a sense of satisfaction that we did it all by ourselves.

I know I've focused on a number of negative aspects of the past decade or so of your career, but what were some of the good memories from your success?

There are lots. Performing all the songs off Great Expectations and Bloom live was a great feeling. Appearing on live music TV shows alongside wonderful great artists was a thrilling experience for me too. Traveling has given me a wider outlook and perspective on the world. Having the opportunity to work in the best studios with truly great musicians & producers was also informing and really good fun. These are just some of the great highlights for me but I have many wonderful memories of that time. In general all the musical side of things were rewarding while the business side of things leaves a lot to be desired.

What are you working on now, and what do you have planned for 2007?

We are constantly working on developing new material. We are considering spending some time early next year doing some small stripped down gigs in the UK. We're also progressing with other projects and pursuing commissions to write music for film and TV which will hopefully finance the production of the next and subsequent albums.

Finally, what advice would you give to young artists entering the business?

Be true to yourself. It's hard enough to deal with the business side of the music business as it is, so if you find yourself compromising your music just for commercial success you will more than likely become uncomfortable with it.

Tasmin Archer's wonderful new album, ON, is available now on Quiverdisc

Charalambides

2006-12-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Over the last 15 years, Charalambides has quietly become an institution in American experimental music. Together, the core duo of Tom and Christina Carter (with the assistance of various third members) has amassed a huge discography full of songs that blur the lines between composition and improvisation, between noise and melody, and between the haunting and the downright scary.

Their penultimate album, 2004's Joy Shapes, represented both a changing of the guard and an artistic peak. Not only was it the last album that Tom and Christina recorded as a married couple, but it was also their last collaboration with former member Heather Leigh Murray. I can't help but feel that these upheavals affected the tone of their music. On Joy Shapes, Tom's guitar playing reached new levels of wooziness and dissonance, while Christina and Heather let out wails of banshee-like disembodiment and fury. On that album, the band's penchant for psychedelic droning became a vehicle for emotional bloodletting. I'd heard nothing like it before, and I haven't heard anything like it since.

After Joy Shapes, longtime Texans Tom and Christina moved to separate parts of the country, and Heather moved to Scotland. Fortunately, the Carters' commitment to making music together remains unabated. This year's Charalambides release, A Vintage Burden, may be the duo's most straightforward and conventionally pretty album yet. Although the duo tones down the screeching and wailing on Burden, the songs still retain the deliberate pacing and beautiful layering that characterizes all of Charalambides' work. In keeping with their prolific nature, the Carters already have a follow-up to Burden in the can!

I was fortunate enough to see Charalambides play at Emo's in Austin on November 15th. The last two times I'd seen them live, Tom and Christina played sitting down. They improvised their sets by leisurely coaxing unearthly sounds from their guitars with an array of pedals and prepared objects, from bows to bowls. This evening's set, though, was markedly different. Most of the songs the Carters played were recognizable as A Vintage Burden tracks, but they were played with an aggression that recalled Joy Shapes. Throughout the set, the Carters prowled the stage like hunters in search of game. Tom slashed away at his guitar, alternating between vast minor chords and harsh volleys of white noise. Christina pushed her voice as far as it could possibly go, until it sounded like she would burst into tears at any moment. At the end of the set, Tom threw his guitar on the ground and kicked his amplifier over. Watching them play gave me the same feeling of unexpected catharsis that listening to Joy Shapes did two years ago.

Before the show, Tom and Christina were kind enough to talk to me for about a half-hour about their music. You can read an edited transcript of the conversation below:

I listened to Joy Shapes and A Vintage Burden back-to-back recently, and noticed a striking difference in tone between the two records. I hope that you don't take this the wrong way, but Joy Shapes used to give me nightmares. [Christina laughs loudly] I had a very strange relationship with the record. I'd always listen to it late at night, because that's when I listen to Charalambides the most --- when I want to relax. I'd fall asleep to it, have a really weird dream, and then wake up right in the middle of one of the album’s most dissonant moments, such as the midsection of "Here Not There," or the midsection of "Natural Night." On the other hand, A Vintage Burden seems a lot more even-keeled. I was wondering if the differences between the two records --- the level of dissonance and the intensity of the vocals --- were intentional, or if they were prompted by circumstance.

Tom: It was sort of intentional. I think we both decided that we didn't want to make a record that was as intense as Joy Shapes...or maybe we wanted to make a record that was as intense, but not as dissonant or freaked-out. I always think that Joy Shapes was a much more consuming record. It was physically exhausting to work on in some ways, and I kinda wanted to avoid having that experience again. It didn't have anything to do necessarily with the kind of music I wanted to be on it, but I definitely wanted something that was a bit easier to listen to, though maybe just as complex, or equally arranged.

I definitely noticed a lot of layering on A Vintage Burden, so I don't think there was a difference in complexity. I read up on the making of Joy Shapes, and found out that it took about a year and a half to finish tweaking.

Tom: Yeah, that includes a lot of downtime. I think we started recording it in 2002, and I think I finally finished it in early 2004. It wasn't quite a year and a half; it was more like a year. A lot of that was due to mixing and things like that. At the time, I thought I was doing a lot of layering, but A Vintage Burden ended up being a lot more complex, at least on some songs. I was also kinda learning how to use ProTools during Joy Shapes. There was also a long period between recording the instrumental tracks and recording the vocals, partially because Christina was gone a lot.

How long did A Vintage Burden take, from gestation to completion?

Tom: A little less than a year...maybe eight months.

Christina: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

Tom, I know that you live in California now and Christina lives in Massachusetts. How did the two of you overcome your geographical separation to record A Vintage Burden?

Christina: I flew to California to visit Tom. For the new one we just made that isn't out yet, Tom flew to Massachusetts to visit me.

Are there any significant differences between the music on the new one and the music on A Vintage Burden?

Christina: Yeah, because for A Vintage Burden all the songs were written beforehand, and on this new one, nothing was written beforehand.

Tom: That’s not entirely true.

Christina: It's not?

Tom: No, one of the songs is old --- "Good Life."

Christina: Oh!

Tom: Yeah, it’s seven years old...

Christina: ...but all the rest.

Tom: All the rest were improvised.

Was A Vintage Burden the first time that the two of you came to a session with prewritten material, or has that happened intermittently throughout your history?

Christina: It tends to happen every once in a while. Joy Shapes has prewritten stuff on it.

Tom: Yeah, but half of Joy Shapes' stuff we'd been playing in our sets --- more than half, maybe three-quarters of it. A fairly large chunk of the album was improvised, too. A lot of stuff was kinda composed on the four-track before that. You might have one guitar part, and you'll lay that down, lay something else down on top of it, and then arrange as you go.

How much of a role does editing play in your work? Have you ever had to whittle stuff down or take it out?

Christina: Oh, yeah. Totally!

Tom: I do that a lot more now, especially with the computer. It's a lot easier.

Christina: We don't have any rules, so there's stuff that completely live to tape, with no editing whatsoever, there's also stuff that's very highly edited, and everything in between.

Tom: On the new album, I edited a lot for length --- not A Vintage Burden, but the one we're working on right now. I don't do as much of going on and taking out one note here and there. I do it on some songs, but not many.

How does geography in general factor into the sound of your music? I know that in some of your earlier work, particularly Houston, there are lots of references to specific places. When I listen to your earlier work, I often visualize the arid, wide open spaces of Texas, and the tension that lies beneath the nothingness. Do you think that this musical atmosphere was a by-product of both of you living in Texas at the time? If so, do you think it still seeps into your music now that you’re both gone?

Christina: I think the references in Houston were more after the fact, as far as titling and things like that.

Tom: We would go back and impose that stuff on the music later.

Christina: Yeah. I don't know if the geography specifically affects the music.

Tom: Yeah, people have always thought that about the older stuff, but to me we were living in a big Southern city. Our experience was very urban, and most of it took place indoors, so in some sense it’s more of a suburban experience, though we occasionally got the intrusion of the city. I didn't really have any concept of wide open space until I moved to California and traveled through the Southwest. Before I did that, Houston was as far west as I'd gotten. If anything, I think our early work was more influenced by the heat. [laughter] If any geographical effects are taking place now, maybe it's a little more pastoral. Christina, you live in a very...not really rural, but rainy kind of small town, a very relaxed space. I live in a big western city, but it's also surrounded by lots of incredible natural beauty. I'm sure it contributes something to my mental state, if nothing else.

What prompted the both of you to move out of Texas in the first place? Since moving, have you found other like-minded musicians in your areas to record and play with? I've listened to a number of the collaborations that both of you have done with others, but I rarely find information about the other musicians. Do you collaborate through the mail, or do a lot of traveling to facilitate these collaborations?

Christina: I guess that's mainly more for Tom. I don't really collaborate with that many people. Where I live, there are a lot of really creative people, so there's certainly no shortage of like-minded people. I'm not really super into a whole bunch of different collaborations at this point.

Tom: Yeah, all the people I've been working with are all West Coast-based, for the most part. I don't really like collaborating by mail so much, so it just usually happens when I record with someone when they're around. If anything gets done by mail, it's mainly mailing edits back and forth, just to get an idea of what the other person wants and achieve a compromise in that way. I would say that in the Bay Area, there are tons of like-minded musicians. It's almost a difficult situation, in a way, because not only are they like-minded, but they're also pretty busy, so it's hard to get everybody on the same page as far as recording and playing...

Christina: ...but it seems like everybody there is really open to it.

Tom: Yeah, there's definitely a very collaborative sort of thing that goes on there. A lot of people that I play with are improvising musicians.

Christina: They don't need a commitment to an ongoing project that has to practice the same things.

Tom: Right. The only exception to that would be Badgerlore, which is a group I'm in with Rob Fisk, this guy who used to be in Deerhoof and Seven Year Rabbit Cycle; Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance; Pete from the Yellow Swans; and Clint Donaldson from Thuja and Skygreen Leopards. It's a pretty big band, and everybody's always doing other stuff, so it's a real trip to get down to doing stuff together. There is sort of a commitment there to rehearse somewhat. Some of us will rehearse and kind of fill everybody else in later. Otherwise, we just get together with somebody and record for a couple of hours, and edit that down to 30 or 40 minutes of music for release.

What do the two of you feel makes Charalambides' music what it is, as opposed to the music you make when you're working by yourselves or with other people? How do you account for that synergy?

Christina: For me, I think in Charalambides there's a great deal more flexibility than playing with other people, because of the range of Tom's guitar playing and what he's capable of doing --- from what would be considered conventional playing or rock playing to way-out stuff --- and there's a lot of guitarists that don't have that. That's fine, but the contrast between Tom's guitar playing and mine, I think, is also what makes it different.

Tom: I think we've been playing together for so long and shared so much of our musical evolution together that our languages are really complementary and similar in some ways...a lot of ways, actually. I think we just naturally fit together better. We always sort of know where the other person is, whereas in other collaborations you don't always know. You don't know sometimes what's going on...

Christina: ...or how the other person is feeling about what they're playing, or about what you're playing.

Tom: I know that I can go pretty much anywhere I want, and the music will follow a sort of internal logic because of the way we think. Yeah, there's a little more license in Charalambides' stuff.

Have the two of you ever listened to a piece of music you were working on and disagreed about which direction it should go in, and if so, how was it resolved?

Tom: We definitely have disagreed, but I don't think either one of us are into having a protracted battle about those things. I might want to leave something in that she wants to take out, and I'll go ahead and take that out, but only in order to stick up for something I want somewhere else. There's always a bit of that going on, but I don't think we have a super amount of disagreements.

Christina: Usually, if one of us has a strong opinion, we'll make the case for our opinion, and then it gets resolved.

Tom: Yeah, we tend to go by consensus. Eventually, we usually come to the same place. There's an instrumental track on A Vintage Burden that I originally mixed with some field recordings in it, but Christina wanted them taken out. I went ahead and did it, and listened to it, and could kinda follow where she was coming from about what it did to the record to have them there. The field recordings sort of diluted the direction that the record was going in. Eventually, we just come to an agreement when it comes to stuff like that.

As far as your guitar playing is concerned, what is a technical or musical goal that you would like to focus on in order to get to
"the next level"? What is something that you wish you could do on your instrument that you haven't done yet, or that you're still in the process of doing?

Christina: I wish I could disassociate taste from my playing. I wish I could somehow get to more of a point where it's more automatic, and not so filtered through conceptions of taste.

Tom: ...like your own taste?

Christina: I wish I didn't have this automatic thing of thinking toward what sounds right or sounds acceptable. I think I still have pretty conventional melodic or harmonic ideas, and I wish I could free the censor between my brain and my fingers more than it already is.

Tom: Sometimes, when I'm playing I feel like I'm trapped in a little box that I've made for myself, and I'm playing very much in the pocket of what I know how to do, and that anything I play outside of that is a mistake. I'd like to be able to...do kinda the same thing as Christina. I'd like to be able to encompass all of that fluidly, and go from one thing to the other without worrying about being in key or whatever.

Christina: Right, that's exactly what I was trying to talk about. There’s too much judgment happening naturally.

Tom: Yeah, a lot of it's subconscious.

Do you either of you have any specific musicians or artists who've reached that level, where there isn't as strong of a judgment mechanism between their brain and their fingers? Are there any people whom you look at and say, "They're where I'd like to be"?

Tom: I don't necessarily ever feel like I want to be in a place where another artist is, but I definitely feel like there are people who've kind of attained either a level of mastery where they encompass it, or they're able to throw up puzzles or obstacles for themselves, and then drive them into something else. I guess a good example of that would be John Coltrane or Albert Ayler. Almost any great jazz musician can do that, and make it seem completely effortless or flawless. Charlie Parker used to be able to hit a wrong note that would send him flying into another key, and he would work his way back. That's one example of somebody who sets up obstacles for themselves, and it's a little harder to do on the fly. I definitely think there are people who are able to put themselves into different situations, whether it's like switching instruments or changing your tuning or whatever.

That actually brings to mind something I read about one of Christina's recent solo records, Electrice. You had specifically made the record with all of the songs in the same key and in the same tuning. What musical goal were you trying to accomplish with that stricture, and do you feel that you were successful in achieving it? I personally love it, but you know... [laughter]

Christina: I've read a few reviews where they said it was a gimmick, and it really wasn't a gimmick. I wasn't really trying to accomplish a specific goal. It was just what I was in the mood to do, so the idea came to me really naturally. I just followed the idea. It seemed like a good idea. I kinda wondered subconsciously how different or distinct I could make a song or how I could make the same song sound distinctly different...and, at the same time, how similar they could be while still being different. I feel like I accomplished that, because there are two songs that sound very similar, but have a very different feeling, and then two songs which sound really different than the others. It wasn't really an intellectual gimmick. It was more like a feeling about sound and about how that's sort of what living is all about --- things being so similar yet so different, or even people being very different from one another, but being so similar...or how different one day can be from the next. It's not like I wrote out a thesis about it. [laughter] It's just the way I think about things.

Tom, have you done anything on your own recently where there's been an underlying concept that you applied either before or during the recording process?

Tom: Not so much. Usually that kind of stuff happens during editing, if at all. The only time I think I've ever recorded anything with a concept is solo stuff, and I usually don't do that with collaborations because they just go where they go. I think the last record I did like that was Glyph, and the concept was very vague. I wanted to put a lot of acoustic stuff on there. I guess I often conceive of my records spatially, and a lot of times they’re symmetrical --- two shorter pieces bracketing a long piece, or two long pieces and a short piece in the middle. I conceive Charalambides records like that sometimes, but I would say that it's very vague and general.

How far are you along on your current tour?

Tom: We're about halfway through it.

What are some of the most memorable experiences, good or bad, that you've had while on this tour? How long has it been since your previous tour?

Tom: The last tour we did was in England, and it was during the summer. It hasn't been that long. There haven't really been any terrible experiences on this tour, aside from having back problems the whole time. They're kind of constant anyway, but the timing was just really terrible. I really fucked up my back, and basically couldn't lift anything. It was hard to move. I was having some serious problems during the first week, but since then it's kinda gone down to a dull ache. [laughter] As far as good experiences, I think all the shows have been good in a way. We had a really good show in New York. That was probably my favorite so far, because the energy was really good.

In what venue did it take place?

Tom: The Knitting Factory, in their little downstairs bar. They've got a bunch of different rooms in that place, and I think we played the middle room.

Christina: I guess Northampton, because it seemed like everything there was going wrong, but then we sort of opened things up.

Tom: We kinda pulled it together.

Christina: Having a piano to play in a few places. I didn't know it was going to be there; it just happened to be there, so it was a nice surprise. It's sort of funny: I feel like I'm in sort of a mid-tour slump, which happens to coincide with being in Texas. [laughter] It makes being here more difficult to deal with, because there's so much history to experience and distract you. There's the whole question of how you feel around people who know you in a certain way, as opposed to how you feel about yourself in the present. This might be memorable for how it affects the rest of the tour. I think that moving around on stage and trying new things this time that you've never tried before has been really cool.

What have you tried on this tour that you haven't before?

Christina: I've never played piano in front of people before. I guess I used to stand up when I used to play in Houston sometimes, and I haven't done that for a long time. I kinda felt nailed to the chair for a long time.

Tom: It's the first time you've ever really stood up and just sang without playing guitar.

Christina: That's not true. I used to do that on those Siltbreeze tours.

Tom: Right...but I mean that it's the first time you've done it and sort of emoted.

When I play live, there's a difference in how I feel physically and in how the music comes out when I play sitting down as opposed to when I'm standing up. It's like a blend of more nervousness and more confidence. I was wondering if there's a psychological difference for you when you adjust the way you play in manners like that.

Christina: Definitely. It was pretty exciting to stand up and sing for the first time like that on this tour, but now that I've done it a couple of times, I don't want to get to the point where I expect myself to do it every time.

Tom: When you do something the first time, it's exciting and new, but after you've done it a couple of times it starts to become a shtick or something.

Christina: How do you avoid that?

Tom: Yeah, how do you make it natural...

...as opposed to routine?

Tom and Christina [in unison]: Yeah!

Tom: I think tonight we're going to stand up, just because we can't find chairs. [laughter]

I have one more question, and then I'll get out of your hair. What is one thing that has excited the both of you lately that has nothing to do with music?

Tom: Oh, my. [Christina laughs] It's hard to think of something that doesn't have anything to do with music. [more laughter] We're each waiting on the other person to say something.

Christina: I don't think there is anything! Everything's pretty much related to music.

Any books or movies?

Tom: Well, I've been reading a lot of William Vollmann, and that's been pretty interesting. When I first started reading his work, I found it really annoying and impenetrable, but once I read more I started getting into the swing of things a bit. His most famous book is probably The Royal Family, which is like a private-eye novel/social-history fiction of prostitution in San Francisco. He also wrote a book called The Rainbow Stories, which about the skinhead scene in the mid-'80s in San Francisco. There's also Survival Research Laboratories, and various countercultures. He also writes a lot about violent behavior.

Christina: I sort of relate everything to each other, so I don't think there's anything that I'm excited about that isn't related to music. Animals? [laughter]

Yeah, talk about animals!

Christina: I get a lot of happiness from watching animals, dogs and cats. That's something that's really immediate. It's directly experienced, and it doesn't have any relation to anything else, really.

Well, I think that's it. Thanks for letting me interview you! I hope it wasn't too much of an ordeal.

Christina: No, it was fine!

Charalambides' latest record, A Vintage Burden, and Christina Carter's solo album Electrice, are both out now on Kranky.

Benjy Ferree

2006-12-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

"Extraordinaire." That word's been on my mind, and it's a hard word not to have on your mind when you listen to the music of Benjy Ferree. It's extremely hard to not smile whilst listening to his excellent debut album, Leaving the Nest. But if there's more to his music than the simple pleasure of enjoying hearing a man make music because he wants to make music, then I really don't care to know, because...well, why ruin the beauty with over-analysis and theories? That said, I want to warn you about the excessive smiling your face will be doing when you hear "In the Countryside" or "The Desert," because you will be doing a lot of that. My chat with Sir Ferree was a wonderful experience, and I hope you enjoy the read...

How was your recent set of shows?

It was amazing! I got to play with Archie Bronson Outfit, and they're my favorite band. I got to tour with my favorite band--you can't beat that!

When you play live, do you play by yourself?

Normally, I like to play with my band. But if my band is busy, I'll play by myself, or I'll play with my cellist, Amy Domingues. She's a real good cellist. But I prefer to play with my band. It's a whole lot more fun when the troops are there. I'll play acoustic, too, but I enjoy playing with my friends live.

I've heard your music described as being a cross between alt.country and folk, but I think your music transcends all that. I've noticed a bit of rustic naturalism to Leaving the Nest.

A lot of people ask me if I listen to alt.country. I don't really know what that means. I don't have my ear too close to the ground with new bands. If I listen to anything, it's usually older stuff, like the Carter Family, with the latest being Dylan or Towns Van Zandt. But I really prefer to listen to music like Hot Snakes or Drive Like Jehu. I think it kind of comes out the way it does because I don't know what I'm doing. I own an acoustic guitar, and I'll write a song, and it'll come out the way it comes out. On Leaving the Nest, I had some acoustic guitars, my friend played violin, and I played with my friends. I've had a lot of questions about whether or not I play alt.country. By definition, the only bands like that I listen to are ones like Uncle Tupelo or Wilco, but they are only called that because labels had to market it. As far as being rustic or American sounding, I was raised in the Church. We sang traditional Gospel songs. But I was also raised on Bad Brains. Growing up, I was the type of kid who had to sing in church, and I hated it. I wanted to be a lot of things but I never wanted to be a singer. But I stopped singing for years, until I moved to Los Angeles to be a movie star, but I was a horrible actor. I started writing songs, and I started to sing again, and the only reason I started to sing was because no one would sing the songs I wrote. The most singing I'd done before then was when I was little, and I always hated it. I always had fun singing rock and roll, but they wouldn't let you sing it in church. I dunno why there's a rustic feel to my music.

To me, the basis of "rustic" isn't just nature or country-sounding, but it's a spirit, a freewheeling, happy-go-lucky, carefree spirit.

I guess I can be carefree about my music. I would agree with that on my own interpretation. For me, music is the most fun thing to do. I'me sure you've heard countless artists say that they're people with problems or people with troubles, and that all their troubles go away when they play music. Music is just…I can't believe there's a label that actually wants to put my music out and help me tour. That's a joke! But I'm happy to be a part of the joke, It's fun! But yeah, I'm free-spirited in certain areas. Definitely, when I perform, it's a joy. And writing songs? Some songs take minutes; some songs take a year. You walk away, you give it some space, and when you come back a year later, it feels right.

Is there a particular song that took you a year to write?

Umm, let me think...I can't think of one offhand on Leaving the Nest...maybe a year to come out, because we had the EP out a year ago, and Domino asked me to turn it into a full length, and so we added another half of a record to the EP. It's the same artwork, too. We did that because I was afforded the opportunity to do so. I always wanted it to be an EP. Domino's nice. I said "Sure!" when they offered, and I got to re-release those songs.

I take it that it's been almost an accidental career for you, then?

Yeah! Exactly! Like Roald Dahl. I've always felt that he had a great story, because he didn't want to be a writer. I read a lot of Dahl as a kid, and I fantasized about him because he lived in DC for a long time, and that's where he began writing. And I think, "Hey, that's me, I never wanted to sing!" Don't get me wrong; I love to sing--I really, really love to sing--but I never looked at it as something I could do independently. Acting was always my thing, but I was never good at it. I never had that acting bug. But I had a revelation about music when I was in Los Angeles. I saw that everyone there had fake breasts and fake bodies and fake orange skin and fake hair and I realized that all the people I had romanticized, be they actors, painters, or musicians, they all created their own worlds, their own existences. I figured that the only way I could create my own existence and my own reality was to completely depend and escape into music. I think most people do that. Not just to pass the time, but also to escape and to have fun. The reason I like to play live, it's absolute communication with the audience. They can be intimidating at times, though. Some audiences are great listeners. Some audiences really want you to open up and those are always amazing. IT can be a real roller-coaster ride, though. Some audiences don't care that you're there, and that's when you just play for yourself and you just have fun. Audiences can be intense; they want to know what's up, they want you to tell your stories. I'm dying to play for audiences. I just want to travel and experience all sorts of audiences. It's an adventure.

You strike me as the kind of guy who'd be happy on tour for a year.

You know what? I've never toured for a year, and though I'm sure there are obstacles you face doing that, but I'd much rather do that than bartend the Capitol Hill scene here in DC, which is what I'm doing now. Don't get me wrong; I love bartending. I'd rather tour the States. That's why I love playing in bars, though, because I feel like I'm still a bartender.

I've talked to other musicians who also work or who have worked as bartenders, and they tell me that when you're behind the bar, they get a glimpse of humanity you simply cannot experience anywhere else.

Absolutely, absolutely. A lot of people will trust bartenders. If you're an alcoholic, you obviously can't give a care in the world about what the bartender thinks of you. If you're a person who has to suppress a greater issue and you're vulnerable to the bartender, you have to say "I don't care about what you think, just please give me a drink." If you get that person warmed up on a couple of whiskeys, they'll tell you either a happy story, or they'll talk about the news or about football or whatever it is they like. It's just real in a bar. They're watering holes, but they're something more. People have used them for town halls. But there's just something about a bar. People go there to escape, they go to get rid of their fears or their anxieties, or they go there to find the courage they can't find in their normal lives, because alcohol gives you courage. It helps people become what they want to be. And music? Music is so important in bars, especially at the end of the night, when people are drunk. It's amazing when a DJ plays a slower song, or someone goes to the jukebox and plays a slower song, a song that really makes you think about your day and what it meant to you. It's a really lucky person whose song is played, because they get to sum up everyone's lives for that day. That's not just in my bar. That's in every bar in the world. It's amazing.

Do you think your experiences behind the bar have inspired your music?

Umm, good question! (Pauses) I want to say not at all...hmm...but maybe, subconsciously, yeah. I don't know. Right now I want to leave my bar. I'm not really thinking of the bar. I do when I'm onstage, if the stage is in a bar. (Reflective pause) I don't know if anything I'm doing is directly inspired by the bar; I mean, it's just what I've been doing as work for a long time now, but I wouldn't say…but yet, I dunno! (Laugh) Hmm...

Well, I'm thinking about the bartenders/musicians I've talked to, and they seem to say that the bartender role gives them a chance to develop themes that are more universal, even if they're not directly inspired by their role at the bar. It gives their music a closer touch with humanity and ideas that are more universal.

Yeah, more universal, and you want to cut through all the bullshit. A song is a song, and you either sing it the way you sing it, or you don't. That's why the most moving singers aren't always the ones who are good; they're the ones moaning on their porch or they're singing at the bar. I know people who know hundreds of songs and can play them well. I'm not one of 'em. I can't really do memorization. One of my favorite bands is The Beatles, but I don' t know the lyrics to "Hey Jude." I just care about the feeling. I have seen people who barely know how to play one chord, but they deliver the most amazing performances, because they just don't care, because they know it's just a song. Some people, they really are on trial when they sing, some people aren't, and some just don't care that they're on trial but they say, "screw it, I'm singing anyway!" I really dig those performances. I guess if I'm singing ant the vibe reminds me of my bar, then I'll sing to the bar. To me, it's just about being able to sing my song.

From what you've told me, it all sounds like a happy accident.

It is a happy accident! The label the EP was put out on was my friend Laris Kreslins' label. He put out some seven inches a few years ago, but I don't think he had put anything out since then. He heard a few songs I had been working on and then he offered to put them out on his Box Theory label. I said, "Sure!" To be honest, that was the label for me. I felt like I had reached Nirvana. A friend of mine who knows what he is doing wants to put it out. I'm a firm believer of the opinion that if people like your music, they'll buy it. Now that I'm on a label, it's a much bigger world, and I just don't know what to expect. Before, it was just my friend saying, "Hey, could I put out your EP?" and we did it just for fun, and then we'd hang out together. The only reason I signed to Domino is because Laris gave me his blessing. I was so scared to sign to a label because I don't know anything about the business. I don't know anything about money. So I was intimidated by the label. Also, I'd been in Hollywood for four years, and being around the industry, I'd rather be with my friends. Then Laris introduced me to Chris Gillespie, who runs the American branch. Chris, man, he's my friend! I can't believe I've made good relationships. That's the luckiest part. It is a business, but they're good to me, so it's no big deal. I'm sure, for people who crunch the money and the figures; it's not a lot of fun, but who knows? For right now, I have nothing to complain about. I'm very lucky. I'd be making music anyway, and I'd bartend, but thanks to Domino, I can go out on long tours. I was always down on the label experience until I met Chris and Laurence, who runs the label back in England. When I met them, I realized they were similar to Laris; they actually listen to music and they know more about music than I do; they own thousands of records, and they've turned me on to music I'd never had heard otherwise, and they're my friends. I know it's a business, but I gotta be around friends. I need someone to interpret for me.

Just from our conversation, I kind of gather that your philosophy of life is to find happiness in the here and now. I get the impression that even if you didn't have the chance to release another record, you'd still be making music and doing your thing, and you'd be perfectly happy about it.

Yeah! I found an existence for myself. I used to be quite an idealist about life, and I gotta say, living in Los Angeles broke down that false existence I once had. I had to get scared, create my own world, and take risks, and not care at all about tomorrow. Obviously, we could all be dead tomorrow. We could be dead in the next five minutes. Music--it's here to pass the time, it's here to tell stories, and it could mean a million things to a million different people. I'm definitely the luckiest boy I know. Wanna know how? Just being able to tour with the Archie Bronson Outfit. I guess I'd become jaded with a lot of guitar-driven bands, American rock bands, too. But at the same time, I guess I'm afraid to get my feet wet. I'm always afraid I won't like something. Then I heard their record, and their songs, they're folk songs, but they come out really, really twisted and really, really heavy. They follow this tradition of Blues that has been going on in England since the 1960s, but they don't sound like Zeppelin or any of those kinds of bands. They sound like a cross-polinization of the Blues and whatever, and it's so endearing to hear, and it doesn't sound at all cliched. I'm proud to have toured with them. They're one of the best bands. And to be able to tour with them was amazing. They're my favorite band. What could be better?

Benjy Ferree's excellent Leaving the Nest is available now on Domino Records

Sparta

2006-11-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

Sparta's journey hasn't been an easy one. From the split-up of At the Drive-In, some have dismissed them as being merely contenders for mainstream approval, devoid of the artistic merits of those in The Mars Volta, a band that, to say the least, is drasticially different than Sparta. I should know; I'm one of those people who disliked their first album Wiretap Scars. However, something changed. The band grew tighter, and as time passed and the gap widened between Sparta and At the Drive-In, It became harder to make the comparison. Their second album, Porcelain, was a vast improvement, but it disappeared into obscurity, thanks to a record label that no longer believed in them. Then, as one would be expected, things within the band went haywire. Members left, tours were canceled, and the end loomed over their head. But then something happened. The band decided to look inward, and decided to make music for themselves, and the resulting album, Threes, is a grand, epic statement. Yeah, it's rock, but it's good rock. I had the chance to talk to bass player Matt Miller about the situation surrounding the creation of their new record. It's an interesting talk, and should serve as a caveat to those who make music...

Jumping back a bit: The time before the creation of Threes was rather tumultuous for Sparta, with label problems, internal conflicts and personal issues. Looking back at that time now, do you think Threes couldn't have happened any other way?

Defintely. Usually, whenever there's any kind of stress or turmoil for us, it brings about great creativity. Threes was different overall for us. We had free time to write and create.

From reading about Jim's personal crises in the Spring of 2005, it seems as if it's directly tied to the record label turmoil with Geffen/Interscope. Was the creative process for Threes--from taking time off and then coming back and writing two dozen songs without any label pressure--was that a different experience for the band, writing without pressure or expectation?

This time we actually...we had been in the usual cycle of make a record, go on tour, and write songs in the little free time allotted. We gave ourselves time to write. We had no deadlines, but we were working all throughout that time. Some of the songs that made the album were over a year old, and were the first things we put together when we started Threes. But with the time--and we didn't allow ourselves to not use the time--we were pretty much left to our own devices, and we were going create what we wanted to create; it was completely up to us. On the last two records, we had a certain timeframe in which to write them. For this one, it's the first time where, if one day we didn't want to write and record, we didn't. We could stop and come back later. To be able to do that, it was a relief.

It must be nice to be able to walk away from the music business machine and just create.

Oh yeah--very much so! The machine you are talking about, it kind of tarnishes the whole fun and beauty of being in a band and of making music. That's the harsh, real, and ugly aspect of it.

When you were holed up in your warehouse, writing the songs that would constitute Threes, did you have the idea to just write and not even think about making the next album or looking for a new record label? Were you just more into the idea of fresh, pressure-free creation?

Well, no. When we started the sessions in El Paso, we had pretty much decided on what our new home was going to be like and what the label would be. At the same time, Hollywood knew that we wanted to take our time and they knew exactly what we wanted to do, which was to be able to stay in El Paso for two months, in a giant warehouse, spending hours there each day, just pushing the record button on our gear, recording everything, and not having any chains on ourselves; any kind of chains, like, "we can't write a song like this" or "we can't pursue a melody like this." Whatever came out, and whatever worked its way into our hearts to where we absolutely loved it, it made the record. In every sense of the word, in almost every situation, from first finding a label to making the album--in everything, we said, "Let's not give ourselves any constraints."

I was thinking of your situation as being like Jimmy Eat World, where the band made its big hit record after being dropped and shopped to labels as-is. Was that what you had in mind, or had you signed to Hollywood and then made Threes?

WE pretty much had decided who we were going to go with. At the time we were label shopping, we weren't a hot commodity; we had backed out of a major tour, we had a member leave, and it looked like we were falling apart. So when Hollywood actually came looking for us, we thought, "Wow! Okay!" and we decided to meet, to see if it would be the right direction for us.

Considering your label woes, did the band have major trepidations about the label?

Oh, of course. Whenever you get into that kind of label situation, indie or not, major or not, you don't know exactly what they want, but they don't know what you want, either. It's awkward, and it's like an odd blind date at first. You go and meet, and if things go well, you meet again. With Hollywood, when we first met them, our first meeting was supposed to be thirty minutes. It wound up being four and a half hours! (Laughs) We really hit it off; we really connected with the people there. It made it nice, and when we decided to work with them, to us, they weren't just a label, they were our friends.

Another aspect of Threes is Tony's film Eme Nakia. Was the film as much a part of the creative process for the album itself, or was it an independent and separate project?

Definitely. Tony brought it up, even before we had any ideas for starting our third record, because at that time, things were still up in the air with Sparta and we hadn't decided if we even wanted to continue to be a band. He came up with the idea and said "What do you guys think about making a short video or film to go along with a record," and we thought that sounded like a great idea. It would be a good experiment that would give us an area of having more creativity, and also, we could build back and forth from each other.

I've only seen the trailer, but it looks quite fascinating. Do you have a release date as to when it will be out?

It's out now. It's in limited release right now, and is only available through Best Buy with the CD. I'm sure it will be out on its own DVD with other material as well.

It sounds like you guys are enjoying Sparta a lot more now.

Yeah! I think things are different now. I think it all ties back into letting loose, and at the same time, we feel totally in control of whatever we want to do, and it's very liberating! I hope it stays that way.

Sparta's Threes is available now on Hollywood Records

Hans-Peter Lindstrom

2006-11-29T07:42:00.000-08:00

Dance music isn't really my thing. However, when someone comes along and makes intelligent, interesting dance music, (not IDM, per se--just because the term has the word intelligent" in it doesn't mean everything that bears such a genre description actually is) I have to set aside my inability to dance and appreciate the music for what it is--good. Thus, when I received a copy of Swedish dance mastermind Lindstrøm's compilation, "It's A Feedelity Affair", I didn't really know what to make of it. The cover is stark, minimalist, and reminiscent of Windham Hill, but the music inside is catchy, grooving, and impressive disco compositions that recall Giorgio Moroder. One listen to Hans-Peter Lindstrøm's collections of twelve-inch sides had me interested; the second listen had me--an admitted anti-disco non-club going recluse with not one iota of rhythm in my feet--dancing around the room and really, really getting the grooves of such songs as "I Feel Space" and "There's a Drink in My Bedroom and I Need a Hot Lady." I think I even danced. So I caught up with Mr. Lindstrøm via email, to talk about his music and his artistic aesthetic.

Tell me a little bit about your artistic approach to twelve-inch singles. Do you compose songs in a different manner than you would for an album of material? Do you prefer the conciseness and the limited amount of time that a side of vinyl has to offer?

Yeah, putting out 12"s is the easy way out. You only need a few tracks, and then you’ve got a new 12". The way I've been working on my 12"s is just to try all kinds of stuff in different genres. Writing for an album is much more time-consuming, and I kind of feel that I need a "vision" or a set of ideas to do a whole album. That’s the reason why I consider "it's a feedelity affair" a compilation more than an album. Writing for 12"s doesn't involve too much time, and if I'm efficient, I can finish a 12" in a month or so. Until now this has been my preferred way of putting out music. These days I'm working on album-tracks, and that's another story. Maybe I'm not ready for it yet...heh.

To me, the title "I Feel Space" recalls Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love." Is it a tribute to Moroder, and do you consider him an influence on your work?

Yeah, I was inspired by that track when I made it. Moroders bass-arpeggio is maybe one of the most powerful arpeggios I know, and it sounds REALLY massive on a good sound system. He's definitely an influence, but I wouldn't say it's a tribute. Those two tracks don't sound the same--at least in my opinion.

Listening to your music, it's hard to ignore the emotional element of your work. What drew you to dance music--was it the ability to experiment with sound, or was it the ability to manipulate the mood of a dance floor full of people with a simple melody?

Heh, it was the possibility to work alone. With all the musical elements from beats to melodies, I was tired of compromising when playing in bands, and I've always been interested in studio-work and the construction of a song. Also it's a lot easier to work alone with electronic repetitive music with a sampler, since I didn't have studio-facilities such as the possibility to record on 24 channels. I started with a crappy digital Korg 8-track, and then a computer with very limited power. But now, since computers offer such amounts of power, everybody can buy a "fully equipped" studio for very low money. Anyway, I'd say I'm probably more interested in experimenting with sounds than manipulating a dance crowd.

When you are on stage, whether it be Ibiza, Miami, LA, or Paris, does the power of motivating people intoxicate you? Do you find that different cities and different continents respond differently to your work, or is there a commonality to a crowd's emotional response to your music?

I still haven't been to Miami, LA or Ibiza yet :o) What I like about playing my music "live" is trying out new stuff I've been working on. Listen to how it sounds on a big sound system and watch the reaction of the crowd. And yes, I find there are big differences from city to city and country to country. In some clubs, the resident DJ(s) has been playing my music in their sets, so the crowd knows some of my tracks. And then sometimes I get the feeling that people doesn't understand what I'm doing at all, and the only reason why I've been invited is because the promoter or resident DJ wants to change the musical direction of the club, and therefore invites me to play. Most of the time there's at least one person who comes to see me, which is enough for me!!! Hehe

What other projects do you have forthcoming?

There are a few new 12"s and remixes in the pipeline. I'm also working an album or two. And some more... :o)

It's a Feedelity Affair is available now on Feedelity

The Little Ones

2006-11-28T07:59:00.000-08:00

Lesson one of interviewing: make sure you have fresh batteries! My talk with Edward Nolan Reyes, lead singer for The Little Ones, gets somewhat cut off prematurely, because the batteries were bad and the tape became inaudible. But what I can tell you about them is this: they are a great band that show a lot of promise. Just one listen to their debut Sing-Song will tell you that. It's poppy and slightly trippy and catchy as all get-out, and it's hard not to listen to their music without getting a very big smile on your face! So, in spite of the dead batteries, we got some pretty good information out of Ed.

You first released the EP about a year ago, correct?

We initially self-released it on our own label, Branches Recording Collective, and we put it out ourselves in April of this year.

How did you hook up with Astralwerks?

Pure chance. We had some shows at the Mercury Lounge earlier this year and we played a couple of other shows and they were there, and they came and it kind of came out of that, a chance meeting after we played.

It seems like a somewhat unusual label for you guys to be on.

Yeah, I was as surprised that they were interested as well. But they are a good label, and they were really nice to us, and we felt comfortable with them.

Plus, they're good for giving you momentum on a national level.

Yeah, which we could have done, but it's really, extremely hard to do on your own, financially speaking.

That's true, especially if you're an independently-based band. Have you started working on your full length debut yet?

Yeah, it's going great! We've actually been working on it bit by bit for a while now. Right now, it's going to be a little bit tough, having to schedule things between tours, which we plan to do when we have some time coming up and we hope to have it finished pretty soon.

How did you guys meet up with David Newton?

When we formed the band, we'd recorded ourselves on various tracks and boards, but we decided that we wanted to record some demos at a studio with somebody. My friend Paul, who works at Better Looking Records, suggested David. He has the same vision for our songs that we do. Initially, the songs on Sing Song were merely demos. But then, when we heard them, we really liked them and we decided to release them as they were.

I kind of got the feeling that you guys were bursting at the seems a little bit, like you were on the cusp of going for bigger, louder, more orchestrated sound. Is that something you're envisioning with the full length?

Yeah! I think so. Obviously, we're really proud of the songs on the record, but we were really constrained by time and money. But now, with the label support, we're going to be able to pursue those ideas. I think there will be more orchestrated parts on it. We've already started talking about these things. You'll hear a little more percussion, a little bit more in terms of textures--it'll be really well thought-out.

What I've really enjoyed about Sing Song is that the music seems quite kaleidoscopic, with sounds swirling and tumbling and every time I listen to it, I hear something a little different than the time before. It's definitely a record that grows on you--not in the sense that it's not good upon first listen, but it's just that you hear something new on each consecutive listen.

That's something we tried to do. I've always liked music like that. I can remember hearing records by bands that I liked, but then I'd start to discover new things within the songs, and listening to them over and over again made them blossom more. I want to do that, too, with my music.

At this time on the tape, it becomes rather inaudible, thanks in part to dead batteries! But go and catch them live soon--they'll be on tour in select cities for the next few weeks and in the UK in January. Visit their Myspace for more information on where they will be playing.

The Little Ones' debut Sing Song is out now on Astralwerks

What Made Milwaukee Famous

2006-11-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

It's been a wild, hectic ride for the boys in Austin's What Made Milwaukee Famous. They've received national acclaim in many major publications before they even had a record deal or had played outside of Austin. Their debut album, Trying To Never Catch Up, came out well over two years ago, and it still holds up today. That's why new label Barsuk reissued it--it's too good to be obscure. I spoke to Michael Kingcaid recently, and got him to reveal a little bit about the band's future.

What's new in the world of What Made Milwaukee Famous?

A lot of touring. We've done, like, four tours this year, and a couple of them were pretty extensive trips, with French Kicks and The Long Winters, and I think we may possibly do a smaller tour at the end of the year. Hopefully after that we'll be home until February to work on some new songs.

Have you started on your follow-up yet?

We have not, no. We've got a few songs completed, a lot of songs that are partially there, and a handful of ideas for others. Seven or eight are completely done. We're eager to get back home and start recording.

Have you made any decisions as to who you'll be working with on the new record?

No, it's going to be up in the air for a while. This reissue's only been out for eight or nine weeks. Outside of Texas and the rest of the world, it's a "new" record.

When you signed to Barsuk, what made you decide to reissue the record, instead of recording and releasing a new one?

We really have a lot of faith in this record, regardless of how long it had been since it was first released. We wanted the rest of the US and the world to hear those songs. I dunno, things never happen on the right time schedule or exactly the way you want it, but it's nice to have it on a great label. Before then, it was basically just a few record stores in Austin and Amoeba Records in California who had it.

I read somewhere that it sold out and went out of print quite quickly.

Yeah, we sold a lot of them on tours. We had to buy another round, just to make it through the end of that tour. (Laughs) It's kind of silly to think of it as out of print, because we have assloads of 'em at home, because we had to buy another round of 'em. But yeah, it sold really fast for us; we went through three or four pressings.

Have you been surprised by the meteoric rise and critical acclaim you've had, for being such a unknown band?

Yeah, we got a lot of really good press there for a while. We definitely attribute that to our management team. It's been really crazy, but we really appreciate that people have been out there, putting a good word out for us.

On the first record, stylistically, you guys were all over the map. On the new material, would you say that the sound has solidified more, or a more unified style dominates the material?

No. (Laughs) I don't ever want to stay in one place musically. There's a lot of stuff out there to find out about and experiment with, especially considering we came from different musical backgrounds. It's a vast musical landscape out there, so we want to touch on everything. I mean, we don't want to put out some jaded record that's schizophrenic. The last one was cohesive enough sonically, and we'll always want to put out an album that is a cohesive body of work, but we definitely want to experiment to get there.

You mentioned different backgrounds. What were your musical backgrounds?

Drew likes Britpop and poppier music; John came from a punk background; Jeremy has a Latin/jazz background, and I'm a hip-hop fan.

Have you been performing a lot of new material live, or are you mainly sticking to material from the debut?

We've been playing about five or six new songs live. Most of the time, we play 'em all only in Austin, because they've kinda been getting the short end of the stick and because they've heard all of these songs for three or four years now. We want to give them as much new material as we can when we play there. On the road, we're in front of audiences who probably haven't heard most of these songs, so we try to play more of the older material.

Tell me a little bit about the new material.

We have one called "For the Birds," and it is...I don't want to say "standard rock 'n' roll," but it is pretty rockin'. WE have one called "Tricks of the Tirade" that we've played quite a few times, and it has John on vocals. WE have one called "When the Grief Goes On," it's kind of an odd number. There are a few others we do here and there, and we have a few others we are working on. We're definitely looking forward to getting back and working on new material; we've been trying to take care of business for the record and touring, but it doesn't leave much time for that, you know?

Has it been frustrating for you, progressing as a band, yet standing still with the older material?

Yeah, a little bit, but this is what we've been waiting for all along. Like I said, it never really happens the way you plan for. As long as it happens, though, I’m happy!

What Made Milwaukee Famous's debut album, Trying to Never Catch Up, is available now via Barsuk.

Thanksgiving Break!

2006-11-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes, it's that time of year again, that short, three-day week where you do things in anticipation of Thursday, AKA the day where you eat too much turkey or stuffing or whatever food you happen to choose to like for that day and you rest up for the following day, the day before the start of the Christmas shopping season! Okay, so we all know that this is a dead week, right? Right. We've decided to be lazy (somewhat) and take this week off. We will be back next Monday, November 27th, 2006, with lots of wonderful content!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving week, and we look forward to seein' ya bright and early Monday morning!

Love,
Mundane Sounds

Ad Astra Per Aspera

2006-11-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

Chaotic, rickety, psychedelic, trippy, schizophrenic, insane. All of those adjectives could easily be used to describe the music of Ad Astra Per Aspera. This Kansas-based collective makes music that is, as described, a crazy head-trip that's a whole lot of fun to listen to. Though they've been a band for several years, they recently released their full-length debut album, Catapult Calypso, a hidden gem of a record that deserves your full attention. I recently spoke to lead singer Kurt Lane about the band, the recording, and their upcoming plans. If you get the opportunity to see them live, DO NOT PASS IT UP.

You've been around since 2002, but you're just now getting around to releasing a full-length album. Was there a particular reason it took you so long to do so, or did you feel no hurry to release a full-length?

We've self-released two EP's and we had a seven inch single. We spent a lot of time working on those, and we had quite a number of songs that, for one reason or another, we felt like we didn't want to record or include on a full-length. It took us longer to release an album because the process takes us a while, and the record was a mixture of things we'd been working on plus older material that we wanted to get done.

Are you particular when it comes to your recording and your songwriting?

We generally go through this process where Mike brings in parts and we kind of play around with it for a while, where we come up with a version of the song we like, then we play it live for a while. If we don't like the way it sounds, we'll edit out parts or add new parts. I don't think we've ever had it where a song kind of came up and we played it one way and it stayed that way forever, so yeah, it's a long process for us.

Your music is both chaotic and intricate. I know that bands that combine those elements often run into a major hurdle when they try to perform said material live, and they usually find that they can't do it. But from what you've said, it seems like you guys are just the opposite of that.

Yeah, for the most part. We play lots of our material live first, and then record it after the fact. Many of our songs, we played them live for several months before we considered recording them. Sometimes, it's as long as a year.

The kinetic energy of your recorded work certainly shows that. When it came time to record, then, did you record live to tape as much as possible, or was it a more detailed studio process?

It depends. Drums are always going to be live, and you can't really couple takes of drum tracks together. I think that the drum tracks will always help to determine the liveliness of your sound. For the rest of the band, yeah, we did record everything live. Then we went back and added overdubs or extra percussion and things like that, but a lot of it was done live. We prefer to do it that way, and not record to a click-track. Like you were saying, there's more energy and more flow to it that way.

I take it, then, that you guys are more about the live show than the studio?

Not necessarily. We're interested in doing as much as we can, but I also think we're interested in effects and textures and things like that, but only if they can be recreated on the go, when we're performing live.

So what's next for you guys?

We'll be touring the Midwest in November, playing shows with a number of different bands. In December, we'll be going to Texas and Oklahoma for a week and a half, and in January, we'll be touring with a band called Paper Airplanes.

Thanks, Kurt!

Ad Astra Per Aspera's debut, Catapult Calypso, is available now on Sonic Unyon.

Tobin Sprout

2006-11-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

There's not really much I can say about Tobin Sprout, other than the fact that he's an excellent songwriter, is an excellent painter, and although he might not release a lot of music, it's a sure bet that whenever he does release a record, it will be a quality release. Such is the case of his first new material in a few years, the soundtrack to the film Fortunes. It's a collection of some of Sprout's earlier work, along with a few new songs. It was a low-key release, but it's a low-key release that's worth seeking out. I'm honored that Mr. Sprout took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk about the soundtrack, about making music, and about his future plans.

How did the Fortunes soundtrack come about?

Matt Salzberg got a hold of me, probably about five years ago, and he asked me if I wanted to do the soundtrack. I wanted to, so we just kind of traded tapes back and forth with different themes that I had to use for it.

Was it a different kind of working process for you, in terms of songwriting?

Yeah, this kind of approach was much more about the music itself than the lyrics, such as lot of experimental things, with certain scenes requiring three seconds of sound. I really enjoyed working with Matt, and I hope I get to do that again.

Did he select the older material, or did you?

Yeah, he sort of picked the songs, and I offered up some songs that I had. I wrote a few songs for the movie, and some of them I'd been working on for a long time before I got involved in that project.

Speaking of making music, you've been kind of quiet for a few years, in terms of releasing music. Has music become less of a priority for you?

Not really; I'm still writing quite a bit, and I hope to have something out by this spring or summer. I've got tons of songs, but they haven't been recorded. I've also been doing a lot of writing, and I’m also a painter. I did some shows last year, and I'm doing another show this fall in Chicago. I'm also working on a children's book based upon the paintings that are on my website as well. So that's what my winter's going to be: writing my book.

Are you doing anything new, sonic-wise? I believe I read somewhere that you were doing some piano writing.

Yeah, I'm doing quite a bit of piano writing. I'm not really sure of the direction. I really haven't actually recorded any of these songs past the demo stage, so I'm kind of going to experiment around with the styles. I'm definitely going to have a band behind me, too. The guys who were with me on my last tour are going to back me up, and then I've got some other people who are going to help me out. So it's going to be of a lot higher quality of recording. I think it's going to be a lot better.

Do you enjoy the songwriting process more as you get older? Is it easier? More difficult?

No, it's the same. You learn; it's all the same process. I think I've grown quite a bit as a writer, and these new songs are more melodic. Lyrically, from writing the book, I've changed my lyrical style, and I'm looking forward to the next record.

Tell me a little bit more about what inspired you to write a book.

I don't know if you've been to my website, but there are a number of paintings that are representative of my style, more sensational, sort of mystical. When I did the art show in Cleveland this summer, there were some publishers there who encouraged me to write the book and had connections that would help me get it published. It's something I've never really thought of doing, and when I start doing it, I'm really going to enjoy it. It's aimed towards twelve-year olds and older.

Any idea on when that will be out, or is it just some time next year?

It's kind of whenever I get it together. I've been working a lot on computer animation at this point. As for the book, it's some time in the future. But right now I'm starting on it.

I've really enjoyed the soundtrack. I wasn't even really sure you were still making music.

Yeah, I'm definitely still making music. I've just been so busy with other things lately, but there will definitely be another album soon.

The soundtrack to the film Fortunes, featuring the music of Tobin Sprout, is out now on Pravda Records

Boduf Songs

2006-11-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Boduf Songs' debut album, Lion Devours the Sun, is a record that really startled me. It's one of the most haunting and most hauntingly beautiful records I've heard in a long, long time. Plain and simple, this music will make you feel just a little bit ill at ease, and you won't really understand why. This is powerful stuff, my friends. As you'll read below, mastermind Mat Sweet's music is inundated by his love and fascination with nature and insects. Just keep that in mind. One night, out of boredom, I placed his album alongside the Gus van Sant film, Last Days, a la Pink Floyd and The Wizard of Oz. Much to my surprise, the film matched up. (I shall write about this experiment at some future date, mind you.) I implore you, if you like to be disturbed, if you like to be haunted, then Boduf Songs will not disappoint. Music didn't really get any better than this in 2006.

It's hard to ignore the influence of nature in your music: from the cover art to the references to insects in the lyrics to instrumental passages that recall the sound of insects swarming and buzzing. What is it about nature that you find so enthralling? From listening to the descriptive way you discuss insects, I'm led to ask, do you work in the biology/entomology field?

Nope, I work in a library. A lot of the pictures and things that I use come from various ancient tomes hidden deep therein. As for the influence of nature, I think it comes from an urge to create a certain type of atmosphere. The way that I look at song writing, it’s a lot like painting a picture, trying to express a feeling or atmosphere that can’t so easily be rendered in narrative prose, like trying to explain a dream to someone in a way that engages them rather than bores them to tears. Hopefully.

The sorts of dreams and environments that inspire me do often seem to share this particular theme, I think it has to do with a desire for escapism of some kind combined with a wariness of the perils of an overly rose-tinted view. Or something.

I grew up in a remote, rural environment. One thing that strikes me about your album is that you've excellently captured the dread of the woods and the isolation that comes from a solitary, remote lifestyle. Did you grow up in a rural environment?

I grew up in a suburban, middle class environment, but it was none the less remote and solitary for that. The ‘dread of the woods’ has long enthralled me though, there’s a certain sense of foreboding and longing and dread and a whole lot of other stuff there that I find very compelling. There’s a conflict between the idea of nature as a benevolent, fragile entity that needs to be protected or returned to or what have you, and the harsher perspective of a chaotic, brutal place filled with much horror and ugliness. This struck me with particular resonance when out strolling one beautiful summer afternoon in a forest in southern France, when I came upon a splendid dragonfly on the ground having the back of its head gnawed off by a hornet. Actually it was more like the hornet had eaten through most of the dragonfly’s head and was determined to exit through its face.

Do you find a correlation between the isolation one finds in the middle of nature and the desolation one finds in a troubled mind?

Different for different people I think. Speaking personally, without boring you with the details of my own private demons, there’s a vast difference between being overwhelmed with the pointlessness of existence and the vanity of the world, and being lost in the countryside when it’s starting to get dark. Certainly there can be a hugely overpowering sense of alienation and loneliness in both, but you know, anything to do with those kinds of states of mind seems really subjective to me, it’s hard to talk about. Comparisons can be made though for sure, and there’s a wealth of metaphor in there.

I have no way of knowing this, but have you seen the film Last Days, by Gus Van Sant? It's a somewhat fictionalized account of the last day(s) of Kurt Cobain's life. The mixture of despair, hopelessness and the overwhelming presence of nature throughout the film remind me a bit of Lion Devours the Sun. The other night, while suffering a fit of insomnia and boredom, I decided to watch the film on mute, with LDTS as its soundtrack. Surprisingly, the two matched up somewhat closely, and it made both the film and the record much more interesting.

I did see that movie, I found it veeeeeeerrry sllllllowwww and pretty much unrewarding. I like plenty of films that people might accuse of being too slow, but there was nothing about Last Days that made it a worthwhile experience to me. The Boyz II Men video was especially excruciating... I wonder what part of the record that coincided with? Anyway, I’m glad that you found the experience enhanced.

What other things are you working on?

Just starting to put together some ideas for another film for a song from the record, and we have a handful of live shows coming up. Also working on something metal. We’ll see what happens with that.

Boduf Songs' Lion Devours the Sun is available now on Kranky

Relay

2006-11-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

When you listen to Still Point of Turning, the debut album from Philadelphia's Relay, you'll be transported quite quickly into a blissful world of kaleidoscopic sounds and surprisingly hard and driving melodies. Led by studio wizard Jeff Zeigler, one listen to their debut proves that Zeigler's decision to make Relay into a fully-functional rock band was a wise one. Sure, you might be reminded of classic shoegazing bands of yore, but Relay is a modern band, making its own sound, and making a racket that is quite enjoyable. Alongside bands like Mahogany, Relay is forming their own blissful rock scene. Here, Zeigler talks a little bit about Relay, his decision to make it a fully functional band, and the band's recording style

What sparked your decision to transform Relay from a bedroom project to a full band?

I had this desire…I feel you can kind of hit a wall in doing that. You can only go so far when it comes to bringing in people to perform with you, if you don't have a real band. Also, it's nice to hear your stuff recreated in a way that's a little more visceral, immediate. Plus, it just evolved from meeting people.

So you wanted to have a band before you had your record?

Yeah, they kind of go hand in hand, you know? (Laughs)

Well, what I mean is I know a lot of bedroom-type projects fall into a trap, where someone makes a record by themselves, yet they don't have a band, and when it comes later, it can be rather problematic.

Yeah, I see your point. Yeah, that's definitely true. With Relay, it kind of evolved at the same time, with recording and learning the songs as they were recorded.

Something else I noticed is that the record has a very spontaneous vibe. When you recorded it, did you record it live?

It's really all over the map. Some of it was done pretty much live, with guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. Some of them were recorded with drums and bass parts tracked on. Some of it was just totally from the ground up, built in parts, while some were done with the full band. It's just a contrast, song by song. Even if you can't notice the songs were done in different ways, offhand I think it has a nice flow throughout.

That's something I noticed: the record has a very seamless quality to it, and it sounds really live and electric.

I think a lot of that is thanks to our drummer. The way he plays, it comes off really well on tape, and I like it.

When you started Relay, between its inception and its debut, did it evolve greatly as the new members came in?

It's funny. I think it did initially, because it was me, then our drummer, and then the whole band, and from there we really jelled. Now, I think it goes back and forth, whereas when we first had a full band, I felt like we had to get everybody completely involved in that sense. Sometimes it would be hard to juggle. It doesn't always work. I think we've all fallen into a comfortable zone. I still sometimes worry that some of the material they haven't figured out, but other times, it's all written together. It goes back and forth.

Did you happen to perform any of the material live before you recorded it?

Um, yeah, probably about half of it, I'd say.

I've always picked up on that. When a band has a recording that sounds really crisp and fresh, I often wonder if they've intentionally spent time on it live before recording. It adds a different spark to a song.

Yeah, that's definitely true. I think live, we strip it down. Our recordings have lots of layers, but live, it's stripped. But I think it's often the lesser elements that are sacrificed. That comes from a mindset on a how a song should sound that you get from playing it live. Yeah, a lot of the material was worked out live beforehand, and then recorded.

So do you have any other projects that you're working on?

Actually, yeah. The girl in the band, Racquel, we're in another band as well. It's still kind of a work in process, but it's a little more electronic, a little more bouncy. It's a bit more Broadcast in nature. I tend to do a lot of recording, too, and that takes a lot of my creative energy and my time. Also, just some solo stuff on the side, too. There's a ton going on here in Philly, and all of the bands are really supportive of each other, and there's a good community of people here.

So what's the plan for Relay?

We've got CMJ coming up soon, and we've got some tour dates coming up. We're going to try and tour a lot, up to next year. We're wanting to really get ourselves out there before we start working on our next record.

Relay's debut album Still Point of Turning, is available now on Bubble Core

Feathers

2006-11-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

The music of Feathers is cool. It's cool and smooth and relaxing. For the past few years, Eddie Alonso and company have worked meticulously on their sound and their songs, and instead of following the traditional route of releasing a debut album, they decided to release a trilogy of EP's. The first EP, Absolute Noon, was a record that mixed together a Stereolab/Beach Boys/Tortoise vibe that made you smile. They recently released the second EP in the series, Synchromy, and it is a bit of a departure, mixing in elements that are more dance-oriented. Once again, this trio (now a quartet) has released a pleasing, satisfying record. Mr. Alonso spoke to us about the band's reasoning for the EP series and the process of making Feathers' music.

What prompted you to release a trilogy of EP's as a debut record?

It's always a struggle for us to get together and record songs. It takes us sometimes over a year to record just five songs. We got caught up in doing things, so it just made sense to release EP's. Also, I get the feeling it allows us more creative freedom and to make more disparate music. With an LP, you have to have some kind of unity of sound running through it. I'm so schizophrenic when it comes to style, so it made sense to focus on short EP's. Eventually, though, we'd like to make an album.

That's what I liked about your two EP's: they're concise and succinct artistic statements.

We focus a lot of energy on every song. When I have an idea for a song, it usually sits around for months; we listen to it and think about where it will lead or what we can do to it. It's usually a process of focusing on one song until it's done exactly like we want it. When we go to the studio, we'll work on one song until we're finished and then move on to the next. We're not jumping around on songs during the process; it's a really intensive focus on each song. Most of the time spent on the song is actually thinking about it. The actual process is like a very explosive thing, it happens, and then we move on. I like to think about a song for months on end, think about what I can do with it, because chord progression and a drum part and a bass line, it's really easy to come up with that kind of stuff. But to really turn it into its own unique little world, it requires a lot of thought, and I guess you just have to wait for that moment.

I take it, then, that Feathers is mainly a studio project?

We've been practicing to play live shows for the past year. We have something now that we actually feel comfortable playing in front of people. We're playing at CMJ, and we're playing a couple of shows here in Miami. It's just been a struggle for us to get it to sound the way we want it to sound, because on record, the things we did in the studio, they weren't songs that we sat down and played together as a group. It's difficult to convey some of the more elaborate ideas we recorded with just three guys. We have a new guy, a guitarist, and it's sounding a lot fuller.

I went back and listened to Absolute Noon, and the music you were writing then has a mellower groove, whereas on Synchromy, the music has more rhythmic elements, almost to the extent of being "dance" music.

I think the idea with the first EP…my tendency towards making music is...I don't want to say "aggressive," but it's really easy for a band to do the "cool" thing, distorted guitars, and just do something that's kind of expected. We wanted to do something that went against our nature, to make a really positive sounding, happy record. That's what that one was. The second EP is more in line with the way we think about music and our natural tendencies about music. The first was kind of an exercise of doing the opposite of what we do, just to see if we could do it, you know? (Laughs) I was unhappy with the way it came out. I just don't think that sort of idea translates to the audience when it is released. Because when a record's released, it is what it is, and nobody knows what you were thinking about when you did it. It's hard to articulate what you were thinking during conception and recording. It still is for me. It was like an elaborate inside joke, that EP. "Let's make a really happing sounding record without guitars! Instead of a guitar, let's use an electric sitar!" Synchromy, the new EP, is definitely in line with who we are and our ideas of what we think our music should sound like.

It has a more aggressive nature to it, even if it's not "aggressive." When I think aggression, I think "in your face," but the EP has a loud, pulsating, impossible-to-ignore beat.

The songs have a unified feel, but there are so many disparate elements within them that it gives a bit of an off-balance feeling, but at the same time, we wanted to make them self-contained, so that it made sense in context. There's definitely more juxtaposition there and more aggressiveness than the first EP, and it's a little bit smoother, too.

Have you started working on the third EP yet?

That one's been in the works for a while now. It's kind of driving us crazy, because we have at least 15 songs ideas. We're trying to hone it down to five or six songs, and they're all at different stages of development. What we're trying to do with that EP is blend the aesthetics of the first one with the second one, and that's been a major pain in the ass for us lately.

It sounds like it would be a difficult thing for you to do.

It is. What we're struggling with now is how to arrange parts. They're all there, but where to put the right piece in the right place? That's where we are at right now. But we're making progress. Lately, we've been focusing on playing live and getting that sound development.

When you add the aspect of the live element, then you're adding a third element that's missing from the first two records.

Oh yeah, yeah. It's been easier for us to play songs from the second record, because it's more guitar-based. We're slowly implementing some things from the first record and adding them to our set list. We get together once a week, but sometimes we can't, because of work. But lately we've had some momentum, and we're kind of happy with how things are sounding. Hopefully, we'll see how that turns out.

Do any of you work in music professionally?

I'm a musician and sound designer for an advertising firm. Eric produces radio spots and things like that. Matt works at a fancy children's furniture store

I kind of had the feeling that Feathers was the project of people who like the idea of spending as much time as possible in a studio in order to produce the most perfect song possible.

More than anything, it's our real creative outlet. I don't consider what I do to be an honest creative outlet. I'm told what to do: "make a song that sounds like this. You gotta do it." And that's cool and everything, you know? It's all I know how to do, and I'm actually getting paid to do it. But there's rarely artistic satisfaction in it, because you're doing what someone else wants you to do. If something were to actually happen with Feathers, in terms of us getting noticed or people actually buying our record, that's cool, too. But that's not our main goal. Our main goal is to make the music we want to make.

Feathers' Synchromy is available now on Home Tapes

Live Review: Make Believe w/ Ecstatic Sunshine, MVSCLZ and Video Hippos @ Emo’s in Austin, TX (11/7/06)

2006-11-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

The new album by art-rock pariah Tim Kinsella’s umpteenth band Make Believe comes with an intriguing backstory. When drummer (and cousin) Nate Kinsella received word that he’d be doing two months’ time in a county jail in Oklahoma for disrobing at a Christian rock venue last year, the band responded by writing and recording Of Course in less than a month.

The results are just as slapdash as one would expect. Songs that showcase the band’s unacknowledged knack for catchy choruses (“A Song About Camping”) are juxtaposed with the band’s most unrestrained moments of bashing and wailing (“Another Song About Camping”). Snippets of synthesizer abuse (“Bisect Duality”) and audio verite (“Florida/Oklahoma 12/05”) are scattered across the record. Even the artwork, which consists of various drawings that Nate did while in jail, reflects the album’s quick gestation.

Despite (or because of) this, each member of the band turns in his most accomplished performance yet. Tim’s singing is stronger, and his lyrics are more lucid; Sam Zurick’s guitar playing is as nimble and freewheeling as ever; Nate continues to play in time signatures that can only be notated by hieroglyphics; and Bobby Burg holds everything together with bass lines of dub-like simplicity.

This evening marked the fourth time I’ve seen Make Believe live. This show bore the unfortunate distinction of being the least attended of the four, mainly because the Rapture --- whose popularity has persisted despite the waning of the disco-punk craze --- was performing on the outside stage of Emo’s at the same time. However, that didn’t stop about 50 people from staying inside to demonstrate their loyalty. (Admittedly, I did sneak a peek at the band to catch their rendition of “House of Jealous Lovers,” which sounded even better now than it did when I saw them play in Houston two years ago.)

Opening act Video Hippos is a Baltimore duo that consists of a singing drummer and a guitarist. They compensated for the absence of a bassist by playing along to synthesized backing tracks. True to their name, they played in front of a projector that displayed random scenes from cartoons and military videos. Their overwhelmingly loud electro-punk songs reminded me of Parts and Labor, but they were neither as tuneful nor as catchy. However, I found it endearing when the drummer ran off stage between songs to give hugs to random members of the audience. I assume that the presence of his middle-aged aunt and uncle in the audience filled him with goodwill.

Second act MVSCLZ (pronounced like “muscles”) is reportedly the alter-ego of Assacre, a local one-man band who is both indescribably funny and shockingly talented. He wore a red bandana, Star Trek glasses, a fake mustache, a torn muscle shirt and rolled-up shorts. He spoke in a fake French accent, frequently admonishing the insufferably staid audience: “Why are you American men so scared to dance? I am a terrorist, and I have come to invade your land with the terror I am singing!” He frquently contorted his voice to match his backing tracks: a soft croon for the lounge ballads; a throaty, stentorian drone for the industrial songs; and a demonic growl for the hair metal epics. He spent long portions of his set making goofy poses and forcing the audience to dance with him. His set was, for better or worse, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Next up was Ecstatic Sunshine, a Baltimore duo whose press sheet succinctly describes their modus operandi as thus: “Two guitars, two humans.” On their debut album Freckle Wars, guitarists Matthew Papich and Dustin Wong cram as many riffs, arpeggios and textures into a three-minute song as it can possibly stand. Freckle Wars sounds like the world’s greatest math-rock record, but with the rhythm section punched out of the mix. Listening to it is a test of patience: how can I ride the buildups and breakdowns of the music without my head trying to fill in the blanks with imaginary bass lines and drum beats?

Conversely, Ecstatic Sunshine’s live show is a revelation: while watching it, I felt no need to fill in the blanks. Papich and Wong strangled their guitars with the glee and abandon of two college students jamming together in a dorm, unconcerned with luxuries like bassists, drummers and audiences...which they probably WERE before Carpark Records came along. Their enthusiasm forced me to shake off my preconceptions. I got lost in the moments when the line between lead and rhythm dissolved, when Papich and Wong’s guitars synergized to form a tower of reverb and fuzz. I danced and head-banged along to the music. The rest of the audience loved them just as much. In the seven years I’ve been regularly attending concerts, I’ve only seen an audience demand an encore from an opening act thrice. Ecstatic Sunshine sated our demand with a two-minute volley of noise that sounded like a flock of wild geese.

Despite the 14-hour drive from Santa Fe that Make Believe endured to get to the show, only Tim showed any visible signs of fatigue. He didn’t do as much stretching or as many fake yoga poses as he normally does, and he coughed and sneezed a lot between songs. The first words he said to the audience were: “It’s difficult for me to project because I have a lot of snot built up in my skull.” He then spoke briefly about the long drive, and asked the audience if they had anything more interesting to talk about. A man in the back shouted, “Dems won the House!,” which didn’t prompt a response from anyone.

Later on in the set, a particularly excited (and, of course, drunk) audience member grabbed Tim’s mic stand in order to maintain his equilibrium. This accidentally caused the microphone to hit Tim upside the head. Tim then snatched the microphone from the stand so furiously that the stand broke in half. Once the song ended, he gently admonished the guy (“I know you’re excited, but that really hurt!”). Tim spent the rest of the set standing closer to Nate’s drum kit to avoid further altercations.

The band focused on Of Course material and lesser-known songs from their previous releases (“Television Cemetary,” “Abracadabra – Thumbs!”). Aside from Nate breaking two drumsticks in one song and Bobby’s bass going out of tune in another, this was the best Make Believe show I’ve seen, from a purely technical standpoint. Although Tim’s lack of energy was disappointing, this wasn’t an off night for the band by ANY means.

Annuals

2006-11-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

What's more impressive about the music of Annuals? That their music is so big and expansive and lush and pretty and complex, or that the band is incredibly, incredibly young? Of course, it doesn't hurt them any that they are extremely talented, and that their debut album is one of this year's true pop treats. But like many young bands, Annuals have been subjected to comparisons with other bands, bands they don't necessarily sound like. What's that like? We had a nice little conversation with bass player Mike Robinson about this and other issues. It's a fascinating look at a talented young band. You read about 'em here…well, not first, but most certainly best!

Tell me a little bit about how you guys got together.

It goes back about seven years. Myself, Adam, the front man, and Kenny, the guitar player, we've been playing music together since we were thirteen or so, and it's always been the three of us. We started out playing pop-punk and little kid music, basically. We stayed together through high school. Zack came on then. We were originally playing under the moniker Sedona--and it still exists, but it's more like a studio project than anything else at this point--but we were all involved in that. Annuals was kind of Adam's thing while we were all doing Sedona. Adam was the drummer in that band. Drums are not exactly an expressive instrument by any means, so he just started writing his own stuff, and it just really caught on. His stuff was way poppier. The Sedona stuff was much more of a technically-based type of thing, and while everybody agreed that the music was good, it just never caught on like we wanted it to. So, you know, we've been together for, like, forever, and Zach joined about three years ago. Anna, the keyboard player, she is Zack's girlfriend, and Nick, the drummer, is an old friend of Zack's. So basically when Zack joined, he brought the rest of the band with him! (Laughs) It's just what we've done, like, in all of high school, we just played music and didn't pay much attention or mind to anything else, for better or worse.

It seems like you guys are getting a lot of attention. How did this come about for such a young, unknown band? Were you playing out a lot?

Yeah, we've been playing locally forever, and then, just by total chance of luck, we were actually on a self-booked tour last summer, a really scrappy situation, where it seemed like every show was impossibly far away from the next, but we took everything we could get, really. But then we got a phone call just as we were leaving Naples, Florida, and it was JC at Ace Fu. Apparently, they'd found us online at Pure Volume, and it really all just fell out of the sky and into our laps. At the same time, it couldn't have come at a better time. We'd been playing together all through high school, and we were ready to hit that crossroads where we were about to get out of school and try to figure out what we were going to do with life, and then they got in touch with us at the most perfect time, and it just got the ball rolling. Since then, other random people have taken interest, and fortunately there's been a lot of good response from a lot of people in the industry, and from there it cumulated and now it's spilling over into blogs. It's really surreal, to be honest with you. We've been on the local band level for so long, and all of a sudden, it's happened. But in a way, it seems like it's taken forever.

It seems like you were not necessarily seeking out all of this attention. I saw Pitchfork and Spin and was impressed by that.

Yeah, and stuff like that, I don't even know where it's coming from, you know? It's just been popping out. I don't even really understand it.

I've seen a lot of comparisons to bands that you don't necessarily sound like. Does that worry you?

It doesn't worry us, because to us, it seems like…well, to mention us in the same sentence as Arcade Fire? Initially, we thought, "Well, Arcade Fire, they're a really great band!" We really like them, but they're not an influence to us at all. We've been playing music this way before we even knew who they were. We first started listening to them, like, last summer. It's very flattering, you know? Very flattering, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, these bands don't really go into the formula that we have in place. I definitely attribute our sound much more to names that no one's ever thought of mentioning. Our most direct influences are ones like Mike Patton, Radiohead, Bjork, and Aphex Twin, and other things like that. It's all chased up into what we're trying to do, but it's way poppier than them. It's really cool, being compared to Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene and Animal Collective, that's really cool. And we're really flattered. But at the same time, no, we don't sound like them and we don't want people to think that we do. We don't want people to hold us up in their shadow. Yeah, so it is a little worrisome, but it's also very flattering.

My take on it is this: from a band like Arcade Fire springs up a hundred bands who want to be Arcade Fire. But only one band is good enough to actually be Arcade Fire. So when I saw the comparisons I was a little concerned, but when I heard the album, I didn't think you sounded like a lot of the bands you were being compared to, and I just wondered where these people were getting such ideas.

Yeah, I guess with Arcade Fire in particular, I think the initial reason why they keep coming up is the way our songs are, they're somewhat similar to theirs, because we try to make it where our songs move around and reach a certain climatic moment where things then kind of explode. We're into that. We're into songs that have a momentum built into them, and Arcade Fire is masterful at that. At the same time, that's also why I worry, because we don't want people to listen to us and then hate us for every reason we don't sound like Arcade Fire. I dunno, it's kind of a weird double-edged sword.

It's cool to be up there on that level, but at the same time, you don't want people thinking that you're merely copying or trying to be something that you are not.

Exactly! We just strive so much to hammer out a unique sound, and I think we've done a decent job, hopefully. It is a little disheartening, I guess, but it's going to happen anyway. To be compared to somebody, that's just the way it is. At least we're being compared to these really great bands. It could be a lot worse. We're appreciative, but at the same time, there is a little bit of trepidation.

I don't really hear one influence, but I hear vibes of sounds, like one moment I'll hear a Sixties vibe, then a more modern vibe in the next song.

Yeah, we kind of try to have each song touch different areas. We listen to everything. Even Brad Paisley, we've been listening to him a lot, just because we never knew about him and we discovered he's an incredible guitar player. We try to bring it all in.

The information I have on you makes it look like Adam's the mastermind, but I don't really get that sense from talking to you.

Adam writes the songs, and he plays damn near every instrument that appears on the record and he records it as well. But Kenny, our guitar player, he's incredible, and he adds a lot into the sound as well. I'll then come in and work on bass parts--it's really a very collective approach, but at the same time, Adam is definitely holding the reins, yet is definitely a group effort and the record wouldn't sound the way it sounds if there wasn't a group effort going into it. Kenny, in particular, he's the highest talent in the band, by far. It's just insane, the technical, complex things you'll hear on Be He Me, and it's thanks to Kenny. He's just incredible at music. And Adam? He's a savant producer, honestly. Me and Adam, we took audio classes in high school, and it was really weird. It was kind of a bullshit class, honestly; like, football players took it and a football coach taught it, but at the same time, we had access to ProTools. We'd skip class and hide out, recording. We had a really great friend who helped us purchase our own recording equipment after high school. Just being on ProTools all the time, Adam has developed an insane sense of recording and producing. You'll hear all kinds of little tricks on the album, and that's all Adam, just going insane. He's got this uncanny ability; he can stay in one place and work on one thing for, like, twenty hours. And he does, all the time. You can really hear it. It's very meticulous, a total OCD approach.

When you perform, how difficult is it for you to reconcile the obvious differences from the studio recording?

We strive harder than anything else we do to make everything sound as much like the record as we can live, but there's a little bit of a twist live. A lot of people say they like us better live than the recording, just because live is much more of a rock and roll experience. It's much grittier and much more energetic and there's a lot of movement, and we try to be as entertaining as we can. We try really hard to make a live show as much like the record as it can be, and I think we do a pretty good job. We've never gotten bad feedback, except for the people who caught us at South by Southwest earlier this year, who caught us in probably one of our worst performances ever! (Laughs)

South by Southwest is sometimes a difficult place to have a good show.

Yeah, that's what we'd been told. We were real bummed out, because we'd never done anything like that before, and we still are a relatively young band, and we hadn't played out of state a whole lot, though we have a small amount. We were really looking forward to it, and then, it ended up being what it was…When we got there, it seemed to me that everybody knew it'd suck except for us, and then we found ourselves on this tiny stage at what I would assume was a jazz club. Basically the stage was able to fit the two drum sets we have when we play live. Everyone else spilled off of it. We couldn't hear each other at all, and it was a really horrible experience. (Laugh) We're definitely a "club" band. If we're on a stage that we can all fit on, we usually do extremely well. But often we do have to struggle to try and overcome from smaller places. Hopefully, we're about to graduate from such places, maybe to a medium venue class with stages that make sense. But we are a big band. The reason we have a lot of stuff -- an annoying amount of stuff, actually-- is because we really are striving to make it sound like the record. Every time we show up to a club, the sound guys are always like, "Oh, my god!' (laughs) We really are, admittedly, a production nightmare. We do what we can, but it's kind of tough.

I did an interview with the band Evangelicals. Their first record was mainly the work of the band's mastermind, recording it by himself, and he didn't really bring in the aspect of the live stage to his recordings, so when they play live, it's nothing like the record.

When people see us live, I think that's when people really get the sense that anything they've read about the band being led by Adam…there's a really wide range of personality in the band, and when people see us live, it really sticks out. I think people put it together, like, "wow, this is really a band," because there's all of us onstage, and it all holds up, and it's not just Adam.

Since the live element of performance is starting to come into play a lot more now, do you think the writing you're doing now reflects that and the limitations that the live element presents?

Honestly, I don't think it's really going to change what we're going to do all that much. There have definitely been many moments during recording, where somebody does something, then we delete it instantly, because we think, "There's no way we could do it live, no matter how cool it might sound." So we do stop ourselves whenever things get to be a little too much, but a lot of the crazy effects and noises like that, we tend to figure out something. On some of the songs, like "Ida, My," since we can't do a total Aphex-wannabe beat live, that part is turned into an overwhelming rock part, and the energy is still insane, and it's a lot of fun to play it that way. So we find a way--I've heard it said that we "rock" live a lot more than you'd expect. That's because we've always been in rock bands, so that element is there.

Plus, I think it's healthy for a band that is performing live not to completely reproduce the studio recording. Obviously, retaining the same elements to the song is important, but changing it up a little bit.

When we do play live, it's very much a whole different element. If you've heard the record, you're going to be entertained, but it is a whole other thing. Even if only minute things change in comparison to the album version, the songs are in their own element. It's its own thing.

Annuals' debut album, Be He Me, is available now on Ace Fu

Headlights

2006-11-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

Champaign's Headlights formed out of the ashes of another great Champaign band, Absinthe Blind. Both bands specialized in pretty music, but Headlights' sound is definitely much poppier. From the gorgeous vocals of Erin Fain to the wonderful arrangements by Tristan Wraight and Brett Sanderson, the music found on Headlights' debut album, Kill Them With Kindness is overall a wonderful listening experience; the music doesn't overwhelm your ears as much as it opens and folds and reveals itsself in an amazingly kaleidoscopic manner. It's a cinematic record that will leave you wanting more. The band is also a nonstop touring machine, too; they spent nearly two years on the road supporting a limited edition 4-song EP before they got around to releasing an album. Here, Tristan Wraight tells us a little bit about the band's formation, their motivation, and their plans. (We also had a brief conversation with Ms. Fein, but the tape unknowingly ran out midway!)

How's the touring going?

It's great! We're having a good time. We're out with Decibully, another Polyvinyl band.

Tell me a little bit about how Headlights formed.

We all went to school and played in bands together around Champaign-Urbana. Erin and I played together in bands for years, and Brett played in a few bands with me, and ultimately we realized we were definitely interested in making music together as a full-time thing. Most people aren't into that, because it means a lot of sacrifice. You don't get the normalcy of life, or a good job, or a relationship, or whatever it may be. Over the years, we got whittled down to three, and it's really cool, because it's made things very efficient, and we can work hard and be focus. Basically, it's all about us being able to go on the road together and play shows.

Were you also in Absinthe Blind? (Confirms) I loved that band. Absinthe Blind spent a lot of time working and recording in the studio and not a lot of time on the road, but Headlights is the polar opposite, spending months on the road with very little in the amount of recorded work. Is this a reaction to the way things were with Absinthe Blind?

Yeah, it is, kind of. We learned a lot of lessons in Absinthe Blind—a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. Primarily, we learned that anyone can sit around and make a really good record. You can even fake it and make a pretty good sounding record. But to actually make any progress as a band, you have to go out there and play your music for as many people as you can. A lot of people function under this terrible misconception that you can just sit, make seemingly great songs, then if you wait for whatever to come along, then it will come to you, and it just doesn't work that way. I suppose it might work every once in a while under really weird circumstances, but we aren't the kind of people to sit around and wait for something good to happen. We are going to try and make it happen for ourselves. I think we learned that in Absinthe Blind, because it was…it was a band we loved and cared about, but we didn't have any clue how to work and progress. We learned that in order to rely on being a musician, you actually have to be a musician! (Laughs) You have to be out on the road, playing your music.

So did you make a decision to say, "Hey, let's write some songs, tour them for six months or a year, and then record them?"

Yeah, that was very much the conscious decision we made. We have a goal to tour as much as our bodies can handle.

There are elements of your music that remind me of Absinthe Blind, and that's natural, considering the songwriting source. Yet there's a rougher element, one that Absinthe Blind definitely lacked. As you said earlier about avoiding getting caught up in studio work, after spending all this time on the road, by the time you recorded these songs, were the recordings basically live recordings?

Yeah, a lot of it was. Then we'd think about it and add or take away things. Erin and I were both primary songwriters in Absinthe Blind, so I'm sure that a lot of musical flavors have carried over into Headlights. We wanted to have a more direct approach to songwriting and simply making good pop songs. We love layers and atmospheres, so we wanted to throw all of that into the mixing pot and come up with some relatively focused music. I think we achieved what we wanted, but you can never be sure.

You have to set those things aside and not worry about it.

Yeah, definitely, you have to follow your gut instincts.

So are you a lot happier with Headlights than with any of your other bands?

Yeah, very much so. We're all in a really good place with life, both personally and professionally.

What's next?

Well, we have CMJ coming up in the fall, and as always we have a lot of touring on our schedule. We're planning to make it over to Europe for a while. We did almost 200 shows just on a four-song EP, so…we'll probably be on the road for a while for the new record! (Laughs) We'll try to give it as much of a chance as we can. We all have pretty low expectations and a lot of optimism, too.

Since you spend so much time on the road, do you do most of your writing on the road? Do you carry a recording board to capture ideas, and then build from that?

When you're on the road, you're always in a state of movement, and as such, a lot of ideas happen, but they just kind of go into your subconscious and float around in there for a while. You go out on the road for a while and when you stop, you'll discover that you have this backlog of ideas. If you're lucky, you can have a creative explosion of ideas when you get off the road. This summer, we took it off, and we wrote a bunch of songs that had been swirling around for some time, and we tried a bunch of different ideas. It's kind of hard to do that when you're on the road, other than when you're in the odd hotel room or if you have an afternoon off.

When will we see some of these new songs?

We're doing a split with Metal Hearts on Suicide Squeeze. They're some of our best friends. We did a tour with them this past spring, and we really love them. That should be out in either January or February, so we're excited about that.

It's nice to hear of a band that's having fun out on the road.

Yeah, man. Life is good; we're with some of our best friends, and we're chugging away, doing what we love to do. We're lucky people.

Keris Howard

2006-11-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

Keris Howard might not be a name that you are familiar with, but don't let that stop you from investigating his music. He was the leader of the beloved Sarah Records band Brighter, and later formed Harper Lee, as well as serving as a member of Bob Wratten's Trembling Blue Stars. Earlier this year, Harper Lee released a wonderful EP, He Holds A Flame, which appears to be the band's farewell release. But longtime label Matinee has also released a second Brighter collection, entitled Out to Sea, and it, too, is wonderful. It was nice to have him sit down and tell him a little bit about his past, his present, and his future.

What brought Brighter together, and what broke it apart?

Brighter was basically just me for our first two singles. I'd sent a very rough demo to Sarah in late 1988 after falling in love with the first Sea Urchins and Another Sunny Day singles, and much to my shock, they wrote back and asked me to do a 7" EP. The "band" came about when people started suggesting we played live, so i grabbed the two people closest to me, my girlfriend Alison and my best mate Alex, and asked them to join. From then on we recorded and gigged as a three-piece.

I think it's fair to say we were never given the artistic freedom on the label that bigger hitters like the Field Mice and Heavenly were afforded. This was never really a great problem as i was never that confident a song writer and getting Sarah's (ie Matt & Clare's) thumbs up before we were able to take the songs into the studio was in some ways reassuring. Unfortunately it set us on a bit of a collision course. By 1992 it seemed that the label was finding it harder and harder to find songs of ours that they wanted to put out and i was starting to take it personally! It took quite lengthy negotiations to agree a tracklisting for what was to be our final EP and in honesty, i think we recognized as we went into the studio that this was likely to be the last thing we did on the label. Despite al ot of people telling me now how they loved it, when we released the "Disney" EP it had a bit of a mixed reception. Ironically, it was the first recording we'd made without the presence of both Matt & Clare in the studio and without their mediating influence, the three of us all tried to pull the band's sound in different directions. Against this background we then did an ill-fated tour of the UK with Blueboy, a tour which prompted me to realize that what ever small success we'd had, it wasn't enough to pull an audience on a wet and windy night in Hull during University reading week! Alex decided to leave the band shortly after, and after a brief dalliance with recruiting a new bassist, Alison and I decided to bring the band to an end.

In recent years, you've worked with Bob Wratten. Was he an influence for you in Brighter?

I think Bobby's actually been more of an influence on my post-Brighter song-writing as most of the songs that made up our first couple of singles and the “Laurel” LP had already been written prior to me hearing "Emma's House".

Do you feel a tinge of romantic longing for those heady Sarah Records days?

I do, but then Alison or Alex reminds me that I spent most of the time moaning and complaining. As with much in life, you don't tend to appreciate things till you lose them. Saying that, the great thing about those days was that the “club” we were part of was such an egalitarian one. I think the whole fan/band relationship was pretty blurred. The idea of “fans” being in some kind of passive relationship just wasn't there. So many of the people who'd come to our gigs were writing their own fanzines, or in bands themselves or setting up labels. If there is some romantic longing it's probably for that feeling of being part of something special, mixing with people you confidently knew shared your values and politics, people who really believed they could make a difference and that what they were doing wasn't just about music, but about effecting a change over life in general.

Does it surprise you that many of those bands (Field Mice, Aberdeen, Secret Shine, Orchids, for instance) are finding renewed interest 15-20 years later?

Not at all. I think the back catalogue of bands like the Field Mice and Orchids will sound great whatever decade you happen to be listening to it in. The only possible shame is that although people are rediscovering the label's bands, there doesn't seem to be much rediscovery of the label's politics and ethics. It'd be great to think that the label's legacy isn't only a new wave of bands inspired by the “Sarah sound”, but also maybe a new wave of labels that wear their politics as proudly and doggedly as Matt and Clare did.

What do you consider to be the highlight of Brighter's brief existence?

“Laurel” was the first release to really get picked up by the music press, and to give us that brief feeling of giddiness that comes with suddenly getting good reviews in the Melody Maker and NME. For a month or two we really started to believe we might be going somewhere, and that we might be able to really define ourselves as a proper band. Unfortunately, that was to be as good as it got.

Let's talk a moment about Harper Lee. Were you surprised by the attention paid to the song "He Holds a Flame?" Does such attention inspire you or motivate you to write?

When I'd written our last LP, All Things Can Be Mended, it'd been in my mind that it would probably be the last thing we'd do (you only need to listen to the last track, “There's a light in me that's gone” to hear the sound of a man laying down 'calling it a day' metaphors with a trowel). 18 months on from that I wrote some songs which actually made me think it might be worth one final throw of the dice so we released the EP and thankfully, it received a pretty decent reception. Oddly, the result of this was to make me think even more strongly than I did after the last LP that this is the perfect time to bring the band to an end. Best to go out on a high, I guess.

Is Harper Lee an ongoing project, or do you consider it more of a hobby that occasionally releases records?

I've never liked the idea of the band as a hobby as that suggests to me something quite self-indulgent. It's always been important for our music to reach an audience and connect with people in some small way, so i guess it's a bit more outward looking than the word “hobby” suggests. To describe it as “an ongoing project” would probably have been more accurate, especially as both myself and Laura have been involved with other bands during the last 7 years (Laura with Kicker and me with Trembling Blue Stars). However, the word “ongoing” probably no longer fits; as intimated before, I think the last EP will prove to have been our final release.

What are you working on next?

Over the last twelve months, I've been working with Andrew Montgomery (once lead singer in the band Geneva) and Dick Preece from Lovejoy on a new “project” called St Famous. It's giving me the opportunity to give free reign to the OMD/New Order influences which have occasionally popped up during my previous incarnations. Additionally, over the summer I was doing bass duties on the new Trembling Blue Stars LP, The Last Holy Writer. I think that should be out early next year and trust me, it's utterly wonderful.

Harper Lee's final release, He Holds A Flame EP and Brighter's latest compilation, Out to Sea, are both available now on Matinee Recordings

Westbound Train

2006-11-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

I have to admit to an instant love of Westbound Train's third album, Transitions. On first listen, I was immediately reminded of the classic English Beat, which, as you will read below, is understandable. Their record is more than a mere imitation, though; it's a pleasing, hard-to-dislike record that's mature and mellow and, ultimately, was one of this year's best releases. And I have to hand it to lead singer Obi Fernandez; he is an excellent singer. I also have to give him some credit for talking to me when he did. After a month and a half of missing connections with him, when I finally did get a hold of him, he was suffering from laryngitis, and he sounded terrible. If the interview below seems a little stiff, please forgive him; he was kind enough to speak to me, and what he had to say was quite interesting. I thank him for sacrificing his voice a little bit just to talk to me. Go check out their record; I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Transitions was the first time I had heard Westbound Train, and when I did, my very first reaction was, "Wow, these guys remind me of English Beat!" Then, when I looked at your Myspace page, I thought, "I'll be darned, they're actually touring with English Beat!" How was it, touring with them?

(Laughs) Touring with them, I can honestly say that it was the most fun tour I have ever been on so far, and for many reasons. A: Being on tour with English Beat. B. Not just touring with Dave Wakeling, but also The Specials' Lynval Golding and Selecter's Pauline Black. Just being on tour with your heroes, people who influenced you, it really couldn't get any better. Every day was really incredible, just getting to share the stage with them.

Considering the major influence they have on your music, I'd imagine playing with Dave Wakeling was like a dream come true. Did he give you any advice or life lessons from his years of experience?

Oh yeah, he taught us a lot of things. He showed us his styles; he talked about going out every night and doing our jobs. He talked a lot about going out and making things happen for ourselves, not to depend on other people, and that if you want something, then you should just go out and get it done.

When I think of ska, I'm usually reminded of the ska-punk trend of the mid-to-late 1990s, which was really youth-oriented. But your sound is much more mature. Do you find that your audience is older, or are ska audiences a bit older now?

I think that when we play shows on our own, we'll see an older crowd. But we've been playing a lot of package tours and playing to an audience that's a lot younger. I think it just depends on where we are playing and what's going on.

On Transitions I noticed that almost every song starts with an apology or a defense or some form of contrition. Even the title, Transitions, reflects change. Was this a really personal record for you to write?

Yeah, it was a deeply personal record for us to write. Transitions, I think, was possibly the most descriptive title for not just myself, but for the rest of the band as well. We went from being a band that only toured a little bit, with all of us trying to finish up our educations first to being a band that was on the road a little bit more, and then suddenly we were a band that was on the road full time. A lot of stuff happens to you when you make that jump in commitment to the road. Not just in my personal life, but in everyone's personal lives. The cool thing about Westbound is that we're all really, really close; we're all really good friends, and we have a big family vibe, and we have a connection. With Transitions, I had a lot of songs that detailed these feelings, and I just tried to write about what was going on.

I went back and checked out some of your older material, and while it's good, it didn't quite have the same vibe as Transitions. Do you personally see this album as a major growth in your songwriting?

Oh yeah, yeah. With Transitions, we had more time to work on it, but like I said, in the time surrounding Transitions, my life was totally different. Here I am, I'm seeing the world a whole lot more. My mind opened up, my ears opened up, my eyes opened up. All of these people in the band, it's affecting their worlds in different ways, too. It's like a different world for us, and now it's like I have a hold on a world I didn't have before. It's like I kind of have the world at my fingertips, and at the same time, I'm totally immersed in it. The only thing to do is to write about it, you know? But definitely, yeah, there was a big jump in the songwriting. Our first record, Searching for a Melody, we were just learning our style, and I was just learning my style. It was taking a risk, but we were just learning how write songs. For Five to Two, I was dealing with more introspective things than before, but I didn't allow myself to be fully honest with my songwriting, and I think it shows. There are still some pretty good songs on that one, though. Transitions, though, I think it blows those other two away, not just musically, but I think it's also more autobiographical and more honest, too.

I really respect artists who are willing to mature their sound as their audience matures, instead of treading the styles of their earlier recordings.

Yeah, that was a goal for us for this record, and it's one for our future recordings. For Transitions, there were a few songs that I had that didn't get brought to the recording table, and the others have songs, too. So in a way we are really looking forward to recording our next record, because I think it'll sound real cool.

I take it your main objective and priority now is lots of touring?

Touring...we're going to be touring until we're blue in the face. We've got the Reel Big Fish tour that we're doing now, and then we're going to take a little time off in December, so we can kind of screw our heads back on. Then we're going to do a headlining tour on our own, a short, short run of shows, and then we're going back to Europe with Reel Big Fish, and then we're coming back home with high confidence!

Westbound Train's latest record, Transitions, is out now on Hellcat Records

Graham Lindsey

2006-11-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

Graham Lindsey's music is haunting and beautiful. It's steeped in the traditions of Country, Folk, and Americana, but he never really sounds like either one. Instead, there's a quality of his music that feels almost funereal, as if it's the voice of the past coming back to remind you of your ultimate destiny. It's hard not to be affected by his songs, and from the first moment you experience him, you'll definitely be transfixed. I know I was. He just recently released his second album, Hell Under the Skullbones, which was an impressively maturation of the sounds he delivered on his debut album. For our talk, we got him to talk a little about his past, and a little bit about the making of music. It's an enjoyable read, and it's one I certainly do enjoy.

I know about your previous past as the precocious drummer for preteen punks Old Skull, and then you released your solo debut in 2003, but what were you doing in between? Were you making music on a regular basis?

Not really on a regular basis. I was a member of Old Skull for two years. I quit them in 1992, I believe. So between then, during those eleven years, I was playing in punk rock and emo bands here and there, playing my guitar, songwriting a little bit. Around 1995, I started to do my first real stand-out shows, with acoustic guitars, bass, more punk rock stuff with me solo. I did that for a few years, but then I just stopped. Between 1997 and 2001, when most of the stuff on Famous Anonymous Wilderness was written, I was just by myself.

I know you have a punk background, but was there a moment that made you decide "I want to do something different musically," or was it a gradual change?

Yeah, in stages. In stage after stage and level after level, a lot of musicians go through that sort of thing. I was really, really young at the time I was going through that, and I wanted to hear something different, and I wanted to do something different, and I thought that I could do it. So I think it was just a gradual build, to the point where I dropped electric guitar for acoustic guitar.

What prompted you to release a solo album?

I guest just writing the songs I had written. I had about seventy or eighty songs written between a two year period. I narrowed it down from those songs I had to the eleven that were on the debut. I guess I didn't have anything else to do with 'em, but I just didn't want to sit on 'em, either. I felt I had to get 'em out after having them around for a few years.

So you decided to take that plunge.

Yeah—kind of like vomiting! (Laughs)

During the time you were writing the songs that became your debut, were you playing out live?

Here and there. During the formative period, during those years where I was screwing around, I'd write two-bit songs on acoustic guitar, just kind of feeling it out, getting my bearings. I was playing live quite a lot. Then I wound up moving down to New Orleans, then after that to Brooklyn, then Nebraska—pretty much all one right after the other. I guess I gained a lot of material for the later songwriting I was doing in 2001 to 2003, just from all the experiences I was having. So I wasn't really playing live all that much. Oh, I'd do a few shows here and there, playing for twenty people, most of which were friends of mine, that kind of thing. But at that point I wasn't interested in the whole economic monster that is this business. I just wanted to get my songs out there. I feel now it is important for an artist to keep that monster at bay, and to realize that you are a songwriter for the song's sake, not for the money or the comfort.

I also noticed that the songs on the new record are a bit more arranged, and there's a band, whereas the debut was just you with a guitar.

There were some songs with a bit of additional instrumentation on the first album, but I deliberately wanted to keep that paired down, due to the background of the writing of the songs. I don't want to say I had a strict vision for what I wanted to do on that first album, but I know what I wanted and what I didn't want with this latest album. Me and Steve Deutsch, my engineer and producer, we were much looser with our ideas; we thought, "Wherever these songs take us, let's follow it, and let's not have such a deliberate tension on the songs." Whether the finished songs are "better" or not isn't up to us; these songs are what they are. I didn't want to replicate Famous Anonymous Wilderness note for note, either. There's a tendency for artists to piggyback on past successes, and they wind up putting out the same album time and time and time again. That's boring.

How did you meet up with Morris Tepper and Van Dyke Parks?

That was pretty much courtesy of Steve, who's been situated centrally in LA for a long time, and he's worked with a lot of musicians throughout his career. He either had personal relationships with them, or he knew a guy who knew them. WE went through with someone who was a little out of reach, and then someone else. A name would pop into our heads, and I'd say, "well, you know, Morris Tepper would sound great on this song, with the pattern this song has, let's see if we can get ahold of him," and, sure enough, we did! It all pretty much came together that way.

I'm sure you were impressed, working with these two legends. Were there any things you took away from working with them, in terms of musical ideas?

They brought something I wasn't deliberately looking for. But it was very exciting hearing them, you know? Especially with Van Dyke Parks—he brought something much more musical to the song, more ideas than I had originally heard. Ultimately, working with them, it helped my songs, it was a whole "What if?" scenario that really worked out.

One thing I've always been struck by is the arrangements. They're very nice, and they're kept very simple and basic. When I was visiting your Myspace site, I listened to a few of the live tracks you have posted, and basically I could tell no real difference between the live and the studio tracks, because of the stripped-down nature of your songs. Is that part of the reason you tend to write more minimalistic arrangements?

Yeah, exactly! I like to, when I write…when an artist is on a record, it's different from an artist live. I know that I'm – I don't want to say that I'm let down, but I'm definitely not interested when an artist, during a live performance, is replicating every single sound verbatim that is on their record. I think the whole idea of music should transcend the musical exercise. As far as minimalism, this latest album, it's not as minimal; it's more arranged, and it has more layers and textures. But when I perform solo, I try to fill it all in. I don't want to be the pussyfoot folk singer up there. I try to fill in that space that's natural with solo performers, there's a ferocity that's.. (inaudible) But I do like the minimalist approach, and with me, that's what music's been about all the time, when I'm sittin' on the porch, or strumming on a guitar, that's the tendency about how I make music. I don't want to be puritanical about it, though. (Laughs)

Considering you come from that punk background, with what you do, the quiet but powerful emotional nature is equal to the emotional rush of what punk is about.

I've spent 15 years annihilating my ears, listening to punk rock. I still do it! (Laughing) But the real primitive punk rock, the three-chord, bam-bam-boom-boom chords of punk rock, it's three or four instruments playing, and to me it's arguably comparable to one big acoustic guitar. I think of what punk rock has gone through now, but also to me as an artist playing acoustic guitar, the loud and big sounds can't quite compare if you're really focused on one little guitar.

To me, it's not how loud or insane you can play, but it's how you can bring yourself across lyrically as well. I think if punk rock is partially emotional, if you see people going batshit insane on the dance floor, I think you can get the same kind of mental emotion by having your lyrics up front and having what you say be the focus.

Absolutely. It's ripping the song out of the artist, then ripping the artist completely out of the song, and then letting the listener carry it on. To me, that's what makes sense. The music that's affected me most in my life has done that. I think it works across the board, no matter what genre of music you like.

One final question: how does it feel—and I don't make this comparison because I think it's clichéd…

(Nervous laughter)

I think you know what's coming next… (Laughter)

Of course I do! (Laughs)

How does it feel to be compared to Bob Dylan? Everybody I have played your music to says, "this guy sounds just like Bob Dylan!" I know on some levels you have to ignore that element—I know I do, because I don't think, "oh, this guy is trying to sound like Dylan," because it's just the way you sound when you sing.

Right, well, good for you! (Laughs) But going back to punk rock for a little bit—during the heyday of indie-rock ten years ago, you'd go to a show and you'd hear of a band that was coming through. If you'd never heard of 'em, you'd ask people what they sound like, and people would say, "oh, they sound just like Fugazi," because at that point Fugazi was one of the big bands, and there were people trying to emulate Fugazi's style or what have you. That comparison didn't mean shit to me. It didn't tell me anything. I think it's laziness. It's irresponsible and it's dangerous for any artist to deliberately go about trying to sound just like another artist. It truly is dangerous and not responsible for a music lover or a critic to indulge in the tendency to equate an artist with another, and that's as far as they go, with nothing more than a few seconds to determine or go further into a band than just a few notes into a song. It's like saying, "what's the sky like?" "Oh, it's black" without mentioning the stars. It tells you nothing. You miss the point of what the sky is about.

So, what's next?

Next, I'm going to be touring in the Netherlands and Europe this December, and after that hopefully a tour of the US, or at least a West Coast tour, and writing the third album, of course.

No plans for an Old Skull reunion in there?

Uhh, I hope not! (Laughter)

Graham Lindsey's latest album, Hell Under the Skullbones, is available now on Spacebar Recordings

Live Review: Voxtrot w/ Beirut, A Hawk and a Hacksaw & Yellow Fever @ Emo's in Austin, TX (10/28/06)

2006-11-05T12:37:00.000-08:00

A member of the audience half-jokingly referred to this evening’s bill as a “sandwich show,” one in which two stylistically similar touring bands were sandwiched between two stylistically dissimilar local bands. In theory, putting bands that sound nothing like each other on the same bill should guarantee a divided, impatient audience. However, when I got to Emo’s at 8 p.m. --- 90 minutes before the first band took the stage --- I stood at the end of a queue that stretched almost halfway down the block, full of people who were doubtless consumed by the hype that headliners Beirut and Voxtrot have received from the blogosphere this year.

Opening act Yellow Fever are a local trio whose music fuses the simplicity of Beat Happening with the poise of the Breeders. Although their songs were based on dirt-simple riffs, I never got the impression that such minimalism was based on a lack of skill. If a certain song only had four notes in it, it was because they were the only notes the songs needed, not because they were the only ones the band could play. The two frontwomen sang icy, pitch-perfect harmonies that recalled the Deal sisters. All three members rotated instrumental duties (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards) depending on the song. My favorite songs from their set were “I Broke Her iMac,” a self-explanatory a capella ditty, and “Psychedelic,” an extremely catchy song with hummable descending twin-guitar riffs. This band made an excellent first impression, and I can’t wait to see their next local show.

I was most interested in seeing second act A Hawk and a Hacksaw. I bought their self-titled 2004 debut on the strength of their Elephant Six connection --- head honcho Jeremy Barnes drummed for the legendary Neutral Milk Hotel --- and was impressed! Barnes stirred everything from silent-film scores to Eastern European folk to contemporary musique concrete into a thrilling sonic stew. Unfortunately, I never got around to buying their subsequent albums, or seeing their surprisingly frequent performances in Austin. Their set this evening made me kick myself for not keeping up with them.

In an amazing feat of coordination, Barnes managed to sing while playing drums and accordion at the same time. He wore a skullcap with bells around it, and taped a drum stick to it so that he could hit the cymbals by nodding his head. He also duct taped drum sticks to his knee so that he could hit the cowbell on top of his kick drum. Barnes’ fleet-fingered, expressive accordion playing proved that his appreciation of Eastern European folk has progressed from dilettantism to mastery. For most of the set, he was joined only by gorgeous and equally talented violinist Heather Trost. During the last song, they were joined by Beirut frontman Zach Condon on trumpet. I’m sure that he was returning a favor, considering that Barnes and Trost played huge roles in the making of Beirut’s debut album Gulag Orkestar.

Condon and company played next, and the contrast between them and the preceding band was clear: they’re to the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” what A Hawk and a Hacksaw is to Ravi Shankar. Whereas Barnes and Trost fully immerse themselves in the melodies, rhythms and instrumentation of Eastern European folk, Beirut harnesses them into the pop song format, paying mere lip service to authenticity. They still have a way to go before they can live up to the hype: their reliance on endlessly undulating vocals and snare-driven waltz rhythms can make their songs sound samey. Nonetheless, they’ve already got numerous assets to their credit.

Condon is a sonorous singer and a serviceable trumpeter, and his six-piece backing band played with skill and enthusiasm. It was especially fun to watch the red-haired, bespectacled guy in the band run around the stage, switching instruments every 30 seconds and hollering the words to no one in particular. Three members of the band played ukulele during one song, which prompted a few corny heckles from yours truly: “Beirut Symphony Ukestra!,” “You Shall Know the Uke and the Uke Shall Set You Free!,” etc. During the last song, Condon and two other members jumped into the audience with their instruments and microphones. This brought the audience to a fever pitch, forcing us to shake off our cool and dance with abandon.

Local quintet Voxtrot closed the evening with a predictably triumphant set. Although I hadn’t heard a single note of this band’s music before the show, I had read good things about them in almost every noteworthy music-related website. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that they’d come out with all guns blazing. If you’re headlining a nearly sold-out show to a hometown crowd, you can do nothing less! Surely enough, singer Ramesh Srivastava pranced around the stage like he owned it, leaping into the air with his guitar in tow during every instrumental break. Bassist Jason Chronis was almost as animated. Musically, his rubber-band melodies were what I paid the most attention to.

Critics’ frequent comparisons to Belle and Sebastian are pretty apt, as Voxtrot’s music takes cues from that band’s jangly guitars, sprightly rhythms and cheeky couplets (“I know that you’re in love with her/I can tell by the way you never talk to or look at her”). However, Ramesh is a much more extroverted frontman than B&S’ Stuart Murdoch, and unlike Murdoch, his lyrics focus on relationships almost to the point of tunnel vision. In a way, this might make a Voxtrot show the perfect place to take your next indie-rock date. You can pick any song in the set and say, “This one’s for you!”

The show’s proximity to Halloween only made the atmosphere even more festive: Ramesh wore a bridegroom’s suit. At the set’s halfway point, a lady walked on stage dressed as his “bride,” and poured glasses of champagne for everyone in the band. Apparently, keyboardist Jared van Fleet was celebrating his 24th birthday! Despite all of this, Voxtrot failed to galvanize the crowd the way Beirut did. Nonetheless, pockets of the audience had begun their own private dance parties by the final third of their set...and yes, I danced right along with them!

Adem

2006-11-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Perhaps Adem Ilhan is still best known to underground music fans as the bassist of Fridge, an English trio whom this website’s editor jokingly but accurately calls “the Slint of IDM.” Over the course of four albums and a multitude of singles and EPs, Fridge made music that fused the tense repetition and deliberate dynamics of Slint with the sonic trickery of “intelligent dance music.” It’s telling that after the band went on hiatus at the turn of the century, guitarist Kieran Hebden made a name of his own with his electronic side project Four Tet. (While I’m on the subject, I have to add that Fridge recently reunited, and plan to release their fifth album next year. Be excited!)

On the surface, it seemed as if Adem took the exact opposite route with his own solo career. Homesongs, his 2004 debut, was a foray into singer/songwriter territory: its plainspoken paeans to love and friendship were constructed around the skeleton of Adem’s surprisingly confident tenor and supple acoustic finger-picking. Closing track “There Will Always Be” is one of the most heartrending expressions of loyalty I’ve ever heard. Shortly after the album's release, saw Adem open for noise-pop quartet the Double at Northsix in Brooklyn, NY. When he and his backing band started playing that song, I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

Adem’s new album, Love and Other Planets, is similar to Homesongs is that it examines relationships through easily understandable perspectives. Its first song, “Warning Call,” laments mankind’s inability to learn from the mistakes of the past. “Something’s Going to Come” and closing track “Human Beings Gather ‘Round” are expressions of faith and optimism despite trying times. Conversely, “Launch Yourself” and “Last Transmission from the Lost Mission” are expressions of abandonment and loss after the demise of a relationship. Last but not least, the title track is an ode to the simple pleasure of star-gazing with the one you love.

Where this album differs from its predecessor is that Adem takes more chances with production and arrangement, thus showing off more of what he learned during his time in Fridge. Adem’s vocal harmonies are lusher, and the addition of live drums give many songs a propulsive kick. Other songs de-emphasize acoustic guitar in favor of instruments such as cello, harmonium, kalimba and toy piano. The biggest example of Adem’s newfound boldness can be found on “X Is for Kisses,” whose lyrics form an abecederian acrostic. Adem arranges the background harmonies to match the first letter of each line perfectly. When Adem sings “beware,” the chorus behind him chants “buh-buh-buh”; when he sings “save me,” the chorus chants “suh-suh-suh.” It’s a percussive effect that would make Steve Reich smile.

I saw Adem live again on October 26th, when he opened for brilliant Argentinian songstress Juana Molina at the Parish in Austin, TX. Although he played solo this time, but none of the songs suffered from the absence of a backing band. In fact, the solitude freed him up to be more versatile with his instrumentation. When playing songs from his albums, he switched from guitar to kalimba; during “Human Beings Gather ‘Round,” he played both at the same time! At one point, he grabbed some toy bells and improvised a new song using lyrics from a children’s book that Juana had given to him as a gift; at another, he played a nearly perfect cover of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” on a ukelele. He complained at one point about having a sore throat, but it didn’t have a noticeable effect on his singing at all. The audience, which consisted of about 150 people, was appreciative and enthusiastic...and deservedly so!

Adem was kind enough to let me interview him before the set. You can read an edited version of our conversation below:

I read the diary on your website, and saw an entry from April 19th of this year in which you wrote about dancing to A-Ha at a bar in Austin, and having a really good time. I want to know more about that, and about your previous experiences in Austin. Were you here to play a show? Who did you meet? What else did you do?

Well, [the entry] was actually from a year before, but it slipped in accidentally and I quite liked it. I came to play South by Southwest. I was here with a bunch of friends, and I had a lovely time. I spent the whole of SXSW on the floor. I was on a friend’s floor sleeping, meeting loads of great musicians, and messing about with music. It was just a really nice moment when no one was cool. We were robot dancing to stuff, and then A-Ha came on, and we just had an absolute whale of a time dancing and punching the air when the lift came. I love it when that sort of thing happens, when all the pretense drops and everyone’s just being nice. It’s great.

Have there been a lot of moments like that on this tour so far?

I think apart from spending a lot of time with someone, which always does that, I think that having huge drives together --- stuck in a little minivan together, and suffering from sleep deprivation --- puts in the strangest situations...where you haven’t slept for 30 hours, and it’s four in the morning, and you’re in the middle of nowhere with a population of 40. [laughter] I think there have been some great moments like that.

What is the longest drive you’ve endured so far on this tour, or on any other tour?

On this tour, it was from Salt Lake City to Seattle, which was kind of a mission. It was like 15 hours, I think. That was quite a mission. [Tim, Adem’s tour manager, turns to us and says, “800 hours.”] 800 hours! It was pretty monster. The longest ever was probably about five years ago. I drove with Fridge, a band I’m in, from Seattle to Chicago. That was a serious drive.

Ouch. How do you manage to keep yourself entertained during long drives like that?

You’ve just gotta make sure the company’s right. With good company, everything flies by, and all the hardships and annoyances you endure, you endure them together. When everyone’s in the same place, and you’ve got an understanding, it’s great. There’s a familiarity to these long drives to me. When I was very young...my dad’s Turkish and my mom’s English, so I was brought up and born in the U.K. Every summer we’d drive to Turkey across Europe, and that’s a good 2,500 miles. We did that every summer.

That’s like driving from one side of the States to the other!

It’s close to that, yeah. It was kind of a mission, but really lovely.

When’s the last time you visited Turkey?

It was a long time ago. I haven’t been for many, many years now...but when you’re touring, every trip’s a trip like that, you know? Everything’s a mission. You get from one place to another, whether it takes two hours or 25 hours or three days. You come across the same things.

You mentioned Fridge, and I just wanted to say that my first exposure to anything that you’ve ever done was when Fridge played here at the Parish.

I was just reminiscing about that earlier to myself. I remember having a really nice time here.

It was a really wonderful show. I still listen to Happiness [Fridge’s last album]; I put it on last week to help soothe myself to sleep.

That’s great!

I recently heard that you guys finished a new album, and that you played a show at the Temporary Residence fest in New York.

We did, and it was our first show in five years!

How did that go? Was there a bit of nervousness?

It was a bit nerve-wracking. It was mad! When I was setting up all the equipment and plugging in my cables, I had a massive flashback to touring in the US before with Fridge. I must admit, I felt really OLD. [laughter] ‘Cause it was five years earlier that I had done this stuff, and about seven years before I had started doing Fridge, you know? It was a LONG time ago...but then I looked up at the audience, and I realized that it wasn’t an age thing at all. It was a generation thing, so everyone watching was the same age as me as well. They’ve kinda grown up with the music as we’ve grown with the music, so it was a bit of a relief there. ‘Cause I thought that this was music that the kids should be playing, this is where the energetic youth should be, really feeling into this and bringing new ideas. I kinda thought that maybe I was faking it. I realized that that totally wasn’t the case at all, and that wasn’t how it works. It’s a relief! [laughter]

I know that the two Adem albums represent the first time that you’ve sung and played basically solo. I’m pretty sure that it was a weird transition from playing in a band.

It was incredibly strange. It was the most amazing, uplifting and freeing experience. I could do whatever I wanted...but, at the same time, it was so lonely and depressing. It was really lonely not to have my best friends around me, whose opinions I trust inherently to say “That’s rubbish” or “That’s great.” Not to have those opinions to turn to was really difficult.

I read somewhere that Kieran assists you with the mixing of your songs.

I’m completely deaf in my left ear. I only have hearing at all in my right ear. I have no experience with what stereo is. I have no idea what space in terms of a mix is. I can only do so much mathematically, but there’s loads of detail that I want to put in there but just don’t have the physical ability to. So, I turn to Kieran, who’s got the best pair of ears in the business, and say, “I want to do this; what do you think?” He’ll have suggestions, and we try things together.

Was the condition with your left ear something that you were born with?

They think so. Basically, the nerve from my ear to my brain doesn’t work. It’s like a telephone wire that’s been cut, so nothing goes through. They found out when I was about two or three, but they think it was from when I was born.

Before I ask the next question, I want to say that --- in an odd coincidence --- the only time I’ve seen Four Tet live was last year, when he played with Jamie Lidell here...and Jamie’s playing here again later on tonight, after your show! I really enjoy both of those guys’ records.

Yeah, they’re brilliant.

Was the transition from playing solo to playing with Fridge again just as awkward as the reverse?

It was wonderful. We’re the oldest of friends. We’ve known each other since we were, like, 12. Because of that, making music with Fridge is an extension of hanging out with your friends. It’s great to have an excuse for three busy people to get together and hang out and mess about together and just make music. ‘Cause we’re all really busy --- Kieran’s got Four Tet, Sam the drummer is studying politics at Harvard at the moment --- we’re all really full-on, so for us to actually set aside the time and say, “We’re gonna spend some time together,” is brilliant. If that has to be an excuse to make a new Fridge album, then bonus!

When listening to Fridge’s material, I do get a pretty laidback vibe from it. I can visualize the three of you just sitting in a room doing that...

...and trying stuff out, yeah! Absolutely.

I notice that the lyrics to “X Is for Kisses” form an abecedarian acrostic. I wanted to know if that was difficult to do, and if you’ve tried any other word games in your lyrics.

It wasn’t hard to do. If it started to get hard to do, I really wouldn’t have done it. It would’ve sounded forced. I strongly believe that about all of my lyrics. If it feels unnatural or difficult or forced, it won’t translate and people won’t believe you. People won’t connect to it...so no, it came quite naturally. I like the idea that kinda flows through it. Yes, there are lots of other details and stuff across the album --- lots of playing with meter and with the flow of things. I like doing that. It’s part of what I really wanted to do with Love and Other Planets. Homesongs is really an album that has lasted over time. It’s something that just sticks with people. With Love and Other Planets, I wanted to make a record that develops with time, that grows with time. The more you invest into it as a listener, the more you get out of it. If you put time into it, you get more and more out of it. There are nice little word games and sonic games and things with the music and stuff like that. It’s all there to be discovered or interpreted, and some people have said, “Ah, you did this --- this is great! You did this, this and this,” and I didn’t actually MEAN to do that! [laughter] It’s brilliant when that happens. There’s lots of little stuff in there...lots of counting to be done.

I look forward to hearing you play the new stuff live tonight. I have to say that “There Will Always Be” on Homesongs --- I saw you perform that in New York City, when you played a show with the Double at Northsix, and when that song came on I boo-hooed like a baby. [laughter] Every single time I make a mix CD for a friend who’s down in the dumps, I always put that song right at the end. That song means a lot to me, as a statement of unconditional loyalty.

I agree; that’s how I felt when I wrote it. It’s so important to have that sentiment. With Love and Other Planets, I was scared that through being a little tricky with the production and the ideas, [the album] would lose that personal attachment...but it doesn’t. That’s the difficult thing: to get people to come back and listen to it three times. That’s when you start getting those details, whereas Homesongs was quite immediate --- you were drawn in. I wanted Love and Other Planets to grow deliberately. It’s a bit challenging to get into. I think that over time, it’s gonna really make it more worthwhile.

Did you use the same setup that you used to record Homesongs to record Love and Other Planets? I remember reading that most of your songs were recorded on a busted-up computer really early in the morning, when all of your neighbors were asleep.

I used the same equipment, but with two years more of experience. I deliberately wanted to push the production side of things, and challenge myself as a producer. I tried to get into recording new sounds, like drum kits, for this record. Yeah, it was definitely the same setup, but with a different head on...so it’s a completely different setup, in effect! It’s the way you use things that describes what they are.

That reminds me of a little manifesto I read written by a group called the Country Teasers, in which they chastised people for giving up their four-tracks to record in professional studios. How do you know that you’ve exhausted every possibility with what you have before you move on to something bigger?

Totally. I agree, but I also think that sometimes it is intriguing to get something that’s completely out of the ordinary, and explore that too. Get your four-track, but why not get a mad octave pedal and see what that does too? Just because you’ve got a guitar doesn’t mean that you have to play just guitar all the time. You don’t HAVE to exhaust all the possibilities of the guitar. The whole point is that you need to complement it and work with it. I understand where they’re coming from, but I would challenge them on a couple of points.

That’s good, and I appreciate that. What prompted your decision to write about “love and other planets”? It seems like every song on your new album has some sort of space-related metaphor. What inspired it?

It kinda just happened --- the same as Homesongs. Both of them are “concept albums.” That’s a dirty word, and for it to be a space-themed concept album makes the word doubly dirty.

Well, it’s not a prog album! [laughter]

But if someone tells you that they’ve done a concept album about space, you immediately imagine a ‘70s guy with long hair playing synthesizers. It’s not, though, and that’s the point. I wanted to get away from that...but I didn’t make the decision until a few songs in. [It was] the same with Homesongs --- I just was writing songs, and realized there were continuous things coming through. I decided that that was how I’d push it. I find that if I write one song about something, it gets my brain ticking, and I think very deeply about what I want to say about that subject. Three to five minutes just isn’t enough to say what you want to say. Love and Other Planets is about perspectives, and seeing things from various angles. In order to do that, having many songs about the same subject made more sense...

...with each song taking on a different nuance!

Yeah, another aspect of it...and sometimes, they counter each other or suggest counter-arguments, or support arguments, or look at it from a slightly skewed glance. I think that’s very important. As a result, hopefully, the album as a whole --- which I strongly believe in when making records --- will be coherent, not only through thematic links, but also through musical links.

That reminds me of the last interview I did, with a lady named Khaela who sings for a duo called the Blow. Her album is called Paper Television, and she writes about human relationships through various metaphors. One song uses economics as a metaphor, another uses the digestive system as a metaphor, and another song uses politics. There’s a lyric in it that says, “My love is a nation, but it cannot survive against your dissent.” She uses each song to say the same thing in different ways, and I think Love and Other Planets does that as well.

Some people think the metaphors are a bit tenuous or heavy-handed, but I don’t mind that at all. I think there’s enough subtlety within the heavy hammer blows to dissuade anyone from thinking that it’s not thought through.

Sometimes you’ve got to tap them on the shoulder, and sometimes you’ve got to whack them upside the head. [laughter]

It’s true! You don’t want to lose your sense of fun as well, and be totally po-faced.

I have two more questions, and then I’ll get out of your hair.

Oh, go for it!

How did you get the opportunity to get your music in a Levi’s commercial? I saw your cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” on YouTube, and I was surprised. How did that come about?

Very randomly. A friend of mine works in an ad agency, and he’d sometimes say, “Could you do some guitar on this?,” and I’d help him out from time to time. It’s never been used; it’s usually just demos and whatever. I kinda just did the male voice bit, in case they’d go for the male voice idea, and then they could think about it properly, and I did the production on the music. Levi’s turned around and said, “That’s it --- that’s what we want.” It was a really weird decision for me, and it was quite a challenge for me to think, “Do I really want to do this? Is it right?” In the end, I thought, “Well...I wear Levi’s jeans, and a whole bunch of people are gonna hear it.” I’m not gonna announce that I’ve done it --- if people explore it, they can find out about it. It hasn’t been officially announced, but people just find out about it from wherever. But yeah, it was completely random. It’s just the way it works sometimes. I’ve done music for movie soundtracks lost of times, and they do or don’t get used. It just varies.
My final question is: what is one thing that has excited you lately that has nothing to do with music?

When you say “lately,” how far back can I go?

As far back as you want!

Touring around America at this part of the year, when the weather’s gone crazy, has been completely, outrageously inspirational. Driving up New York State through autumn was fantastic, and then a few days later we drove from Toronto to Cleveland through that Buffalo snowstorm. Two-foot snowfalls...that’s insane! And then, to go to the West Coast and here, where it’s baking sunshine, has been quite shocking to the system. I really enjoyed that shock. Another thing is that I’ve read “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell, which I recommend.

Have you caught cold driving through all of these extreme weather conditions?

No, but I’ve gotten really tired, and it takes a toll. We’ve flied a couple of times, and it takes a toll. Today, I’ve got a really sore throat from flying and not sleeping, so I’m gonna do some heavy warmups and drink lots of water...and gargle.

Good idea. By the way, what is “Cloud Atlas” about?

It’s about interlinking souls over various ages. You’re following six stories that kinda cut each other off, but link intrinsically to each other. I really recommend it; he’s a fantastic writer. I like the concept of a cloud atlas, because clouds are constantly changing and shifting, and actually trying to map them. He kinda relates clouds to souls, and he’s trying to map these traveling souls. It has a bit to do with reincarnation, or going back into other situations, and also to do with humankind or human folly, and how it repeats itself over and over again. It kinda goes from being a historical document to a political thriller to sci-fi, and the different stories are in completely different styles, but they’re all completely intrinsic to each other. It’s very, very subtle and very clever.

Well, thanks for letting me interview you!

Thank you very much. I’ve really enjoyed speaking to you. It’s nice to have someone who’s got informed questions and interesting ideas.

Mahogany

2006-11-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

What can one say about a band they really, really love? Sometimes it's best just to stand back and let the music do the talking. That's sort of how I feel about Mahogany; they make great music, so trying to describe what it is that makes them wonderful just seems to be a futile exercise. This collective makes music that's inspired by those early 1980s records on 4AD, Factory, and Crepuscule, but with a decidedly modern sensibility. This collective is more than just mere tribute; as you'll see below, they take great pains to make a grand artistic statement with their music. My discussion with Mahogany leader and artistic advisor (for lack of a better term) Andrew Prinz has been a long time coming, so it didn't really surprise me that the conversation headed in a direction that might best be called nerdy. But it's cool; Prinz is a very talented man, and his art is worth seeking out. I enjoyed our conversation and I enjoyed their newest album, Connectivity!. It's worth your time, my friends, as you will see below.

The first record I owned of yours was a four-song, one sided 12" EP that you released under the name Mohagany. What was the reason that your name was different? Was it because there was a different lineup?

Yeah. We were just unsure of what spelling of the name to use! (Laughs) My sister and I had primarily worked on that material together.

I know you had already released records as Mahogany before that one appeared, so I have always wondered about that.

I believe that those songs were ones we did right before we finished the first album, and we were just like, "we'll do this for fun, let's see what happens!" So it was just done as a fun experiment.

It was one of my favorite records at the time, when I had a record player. When I had it, it was one record I would play a lot. I bought it in a package deal when Mike Landucci was selling ten records for five bucks on the indie-pop list.

Yeah, I remember that! That was cool.

And when I got it, the artwork was a drawing one of his kids had done at school, and it had a grade on it. They made a B! (Laughs)

(Laughs) I don't think we had anything to do with that pressing! WE had taken it to CD by that point, and whatever he wanted to do with the vinyl, that was cool.

Jumping forward to the present, I really love Connectivity!. How was it to work with Robin Guthrie?

He is an amazing and very kind, yet very opinionated, human being. He is, ultimately, an artist of the best kind. You get a sense of all of the things he has done before when you talk to him and when you look at the work that you are doing together. It's very friendly, but it's also very challenging to collaborate like that. For us, it was a dream come true to work with him. He was so great to work with, and we had so many positive things to say about what we were doing. I think it really helped for him to come in, listening to some of the things we were doing, and say, "How do you feel about this?" I felt like he was bringing us a sonic hug to everything. He'd say, "Yes, this is really cool, why don't you bring out these elements more," or, "Why don't you develop this idea a little more?" He helped us make everything more than what it could be.

I imagine going into the studio with him for the first time was a humbling experience.

Actually, the great part about it was that we worked on it over the internet together. We sent him tracks, and he would edit them or mix them or add guitars to them at his studio in France, and then he'd send them back to us. We did three songs together, which are all on the record. We definitely want to get in a room together with him at some point and be more directly involved in creating music together. So I guess what I am interested in is a dialogue. Not just with Robin Guthrie, but with any musician. He's been here to hang out, and I talked to him when he was in California, but so far this has been all a romance of letters, and I think we're both looking forward to working together in person, because there's been a lot of talk about that. It's something we're all anticipating.

When I got the record, the first song I went to was the remix of "My Bed Is My Castle," which has been touted as featuring Lucy Guthrie (Robin Guthrie's daughter with former Cocteau Twins lead singer Elizabeth Fraser.) It was so amazing to listen to that song, because it sounded like an outtake from Garlands. Did you know she was going to sing on the remix?

He had mentioned it to us, and we thought it was a great idea. I think that if we were to do another project together, we would definitely want to bring her in to sing. She is very much the product of both of her parents, hearing the way it came together and the way she sang. I though tit was great! The thing about the Cocteau Twins was that they were--and still are, honestly--they always did things the right way. If you listen to them, it's just hit after hit after hit, and every song on their records was wonderful. They were really into the art of the album, and I liked talking to Robin about all of that.

That's the thing I always loved about them. They always focused their creative energy on whatever they did. I remember being a kid in the Eighties, paying six or seven bucks for records like Tiny Dynamine or Love's Easy Tears, and those three or four songs would just blow you away.

Yeah! Those were the best.

I understand that during the recording of Connectivity!, you had some difficulties. (Their studio was robbed in September of 2005, while working on the album.) With having to start over, do you think it improved the album?

Sure! (Pause, then loud laughter) I had been working on the record for a while, and had been working with other people on it for a while. Bobby, who is the drummer and programmer, Lorraine, and I, we had a core set of songs that we wanted to finish, that we felt should be on Connectivity!, and we had a pretty good idea about what they should sound like. There had been a lot of work that needed to go into them, and when we got to the point where we could take all of those elements and put them together, the robbery happened, and we lost a lot of equipment in that. In the end, we had a lot of the backing tracks, and a lot of the work that we had done was on a hard drive. We were basically given the best chance to go back and fix all of the things we felt weren't strong enough yet, or, in some cases, just give it a fresh face. I think that it was good for us. I think we're looking forward to working a completely different way the next time around, and going towards the next step in our sound. I don't want to get stuck in a formula. Music should be fun, you know?

Yeah, and as you mention it, there's a happy, hopeful vibe to Connectivity!. When I listened to the music, the first thing I heard was your dark, post-punk/new wave style, but when I listened to it again and again, I couldn't miss the undeniable ray of positivity that comes beaming out of your songs. I apologize for the hippy-dippy, metaphysical bit there.

(Laughs) No, actually, that's the kind of thing we were hoping would resonate with other people.

All of these bad experiences, it reminds me of a phrase I hear what religious people say about God, how "One door doesn't close without another one opening." Do you think that was the case with Mahogany?

Yeah, you could definitely put it in those terms. If you've got an idea, you just have to carry it out. Sometimes, I don’t think that's always the right decision when you are faced with an "I don't have any of my things anymore and I don't know how to continue" moment. But I think everybody really pulled together, and in the end, it was a really good thing for the band to have. A lot of expensive things were stolen, but they were things that don't really matter to us, you know what I mean? It's just equipment.

You can always replace it, you can borrow it, no one got hurt like Jam Master Jay, and it doesn't end the band because you don't have it any more.

Mahogany has never been into technology. What makes the band is the compositional content, the lyrical content. It's not about the technology. The idea of the band is stronger than technology. I think that's one thing that's interesting. Over the last few years, with digital technology coming in, the dot com boom and everything, there have been a lot of concepts that have seemed "good" just because they were digital. Sometimes the technology isn't appropriate.

Just because you have the ability to make a great-sounding record doesn't mean you have the ability to make a great-sounding record.

(Laughs) Right! And in our case, it took us a long time, because we needed to learn a lot. I was really looking back at a lot of music theory I had kind of gotten into over the years, but I really felt I needed to learn more.

Going back to what we were talking about earlier and the Cocteau Twins' ethic of making each record a strong artistic statement and full presentation. One thing I've noticed about Mahogany is that each release is a strong artistic statement, too--from the artwork to the music. Are the visual elements of your artwork as important a part of Mahogany as the music?

I think it's a total concept. I grew up liking bands that seemed to have an idea of what they were doing at all moments. Bands like New Order and Cocteau Twins, and even a band like Throbbing Gristles, a band that's more akin to a performance group--you could really tell that they cared about what they were doing. We look up to that, and hopefully we can do that, too. We're just trying to add to the dialogue. The band has, more and more, become a collaborative effort, and the artwork is like that, too. Everybody contributes to the art and we talk about what to do with it. It's important. For a band like Mahogany, it's not so much about our look as people or anything like that, as much as it is about the look and the feel of the music itself. I think our music is kind of autonomous. You don't need to get the concept in the graphic and the visual to get the music. It's not so ego-centered.

(At this point, Andrew and I totally geek out, with a long conversation that leads on to subjects such as Frazier Chorus, our personal record collections, 23 Envelope, and growing up in the 1980s. It was an interesting conversation, but ultimately, um, a bit mundane.)

Mahogany's Connectivity! is available now on Darla Records

Cale Parks

2006-11-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

Cale Parks is a fellow you might have seen before, though you might not have noticed him. He's been a longtime member of jazzers Aloha for a few years, and he's also done a stint as the drummer for hip-hop/electronica innovators Cex. But it wasn't until the release of his debut solo album, Illuminated Manuscript, that Mr. Parks stepped out into the spotlight. And what a step it was! His music sounds familiar to those who know his previous work, but yet there's an element, a spark, that's all his own. We caught up with him the other day while he was taking a short break from sightseeing, and we asked him about his decision to go solo, and we were quite surprised by a revelation at the end of the interview.

Why did you decide to do a solo record?

Hmm, I actually just kind of did it. I started writing songs last fall. I was staying with Tony, Aloha's singer, for a little while. I was living with him while I was in between a few different things, and when he and his wife would come home in the evenings, and would start to make dinner and things, I'd go into his recording studio and start messing around, making music, and pretty soon these bits started to become actual songs, and then they became fully realized. So I started a Myspace page for my songs, and I began asking all of Aloha's friends to be my friend. I asked a record label in Japan to add me, and I didn't really think about it, I just asked for a friend request. They emailed be back, saying, "We love Aloha, will you send us a CD?" So I jokingly said, "I don't have a CD, could you, umm, why don't you put out my record?" And they said, "Sure, we'll do it!" (Laughs)

That's cool! An unintentional solo career!

Yeah! I was just recording songs for fun, ideas that might have been demo ideas for Aloha, and then this little label in Japan put it out. After that, I started thinking that I should get an American label to release it. I started asking different labels in the states. I didn't ask Polyvinyl, because I've worked with them for so long, and I sort of knew that Matt and Seth had said they wouldn't sign any more bands that didn't intend to tour behind their records, and I certainly had no intentions of doing a solo tour. So I didn't even think about asking them. After that, I was chatting online with Seth one day, and he said, "Why haven't you asked Polyvinyl to put this out?" (Laughs) I said, "Man, you told me you wouldn't release anything..." and he said, "Dude, you go on enough tours already, you could sell them at Aloha shows, and that should be fine."

Was this the first time in your musical career that you stepped out and did your own thing as a front man?

Yeah, pretty much. Definitely, as far as writing and recording it all, it's the first time I've ever done anything like that. I still haven't done my first live show yet. My first live performance is coming up. I'm playing a show with an electronic artist named Dosh.

When you perform live, will you be by yourself, or will you be with a band?

(Frustrated) Umm, I've been trying to figure that out for months. I've been trying to figure out a way to do it. Initially, I was going to try and get a band. I just moved to New York, to Brooklyn, and I was going to try and get a solid live band together, but it's difficult. But I'm playing along right now with all my songs on a laptop. I'm going to play keyboards and bells and xylophone and drums and do vocals long with my prerecorded tracks, and just pad and layer and manipulate those things live.

As this was your first experience fronting a band, how was the creation process for you?

It was pretty easy, honestly. I'd just come up with an idea for a melody or a chord progression and just go. The way I write songs is pretty organic, and it would happen fast. Like, I'd write three songs in one night straight, and I'd come up with, say, a piano part, and I'd add that to them. Generally it was me creating a click track. A lot of the songs have around the same lengths, like two and a half, three, four minutes length. So I would make a click track about that long and would sing and play around that click track, and I'd pad and layer the song up around it. So it came pretty easily for me.

Your music seems to strike a balance between what Cex does, which is more hip-hop in nature, and what Aloha's jazz/post-rock style. I'm curious if you explored these ideas on Illuminated Manuscript, because they were things you really couldn't do with your other bands?

Hmm, yeah. Yeah, it's kinda like that, yeah. With Cex and Rjyan, it was more about me playing live drums along with his hip-hop beats than doing anything like a group. I've always listened to a lot of electronic music and hip-hop. With Aloha, I'm not really able to explore all that much, so yeah, I guess it's an unconscious thing I did.

"Wet Paint"--was that sample from Marvin Gaye meant as homage?

(Puzzled) Wait...what? Sample of Marvin Gaye?

On "Wet Paint," there's a rhythm pattern that reminds me--and other people I've asked--of Marvin Gaye's classic "Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holla)."

Really? I've never even heard that.

Really!?!? You've never heard that song? (Somewhat incredulous)

(Nervous laughter) No!

(Shocked) You've never heard Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues?"

No, no…

Wow, because it's almost note-for-note the same rhythm, and me and a friend were wondering if you were paying tribute to him, because it's such an obvious thing…

(Laughing) Really? That's hilarious. I'm going to have to download it tonight.

"Inner City Blues," yeah, you should check out the entire album, What's Going On. It's an important concept album and social commentary.

Yeah, I know "What's Going On" and a few other songs, but I've never heard "Inner City Blues." (Amazed) Wow…this is crazy!

You really had no ideas?

No, man, thanks for the tip! That's cool…I'll definitely check it out!

It'll change your life!

Cale Parks' debut album, Illuminated Manuscript, is available now on Polyvinyl Records

Underwriting

2006-11-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

As you may notice, Mundane Sounds does not carry advertising. We take pride in being a commercial-free website. The decision to do so has merits, but it also creates liabilities. We are a website, and we do have expenses, and though they may be minimal, they are still expenses that hinder us. To offset this, we have decided to offer underwriting spots. Your donation will help keep us alive and afloat, so that we can offer you commercial-free interviews and content.

For those who donate, your name (and a link to your label, if you so desire) will appear on the index page under the title "Sponsored in Part By:" or something similar to that, for a period of one month or longer, depending upon the size of your donation. For every twenty dollars donated, your link will appear for one month's time. If you have questions or wish to make a donation, please contact me directly at: mundanesounds@gmail.com

Thank you for supporting Mundane Sounds and helping us stay ad-free!

Joseph Kyle
Editor, Mundane Sounds

Allen Clapp

2006-11-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

We've loved Allen Clapp's music for a long time. We've talked to him before, about his band The Orange Peels, so his name should be familiar to you long-time readers. His records are consistently wonderful, and as long as he makes good music, we'll be talking about how good his music is. His is pop music, pure and simple. He recently released a collection of singles and compilation tracks and some unreleased goodies entitled Something Strange Happens: The Four-Track Forecasts 1990-2000, and we asked him a few questions about those years.

Describe Allen Clapp, circa 1991. What was the lo-fi Lutheran like back in those early days?

Amazingly optimistic, totally immersed in music and writing like mad. When I look back on those days, it's kind of comical, actually. I had no resources, no access to a studio and I had all these new things happening musically in my head. It was like I couldn't do anything without a new song hitting me. It was like walking around in a meteor shower with songs falling on me everywhere I went. Washing the dishes... Boom. Taking out the trash...Boom. Doing routine shopping at Safeway...BOOM. Songs were waking me up in the middle of the night. It made it hard to do things like hold down a job, sleep, get things done. At one point I felt like I was going crazy because I couldn't get the things out of my head fast enough, and I just had the four-track and this little radio shack clip-on microphone...so it could be frustrating sometimes. Whenever I could, I would record. Anywhere...churches, apartments, offices, even in my VW van. It was a very luminescent,creative time.

In listening through Something Strange Happens, at times it's hard not to be reminded of Sarah Records. Were you a follower of the label?

I wasn't so much a follower of Sarah Records as much as I was just totally inspired by what was happening with pop music coming out on small labels at the time. There was a creative, encouraging atmosphere then that was refreshing. It was like there was no dividing line between the people in the bands, the people at the labels, the fanzine writers and the fans. Everyone was excited about this new music, and that was the only thing that was important.

That being said, there are some specific songs that come to mind from that
period. I was totally captivated by that Orchids song "...who needs tomorrow when all I needed was you." That kills me every time. St. Christopher too, their "All of a Tremble" single. I was also listening to a lot of Honeybunch. The "Hey Blue Sky" single on Bus Stop is amazing and their "Crooked Mile" flexi on Four Letter Words. And The Church Grims had this great song, "Mr. Watt Said."

Also, "Something Strange Happens" really stands out among the rest. To me, it reminds me a lot of what you'd do later with Orange Peels, and it's hard not to think of it as a moment of change and growth. Was this song a breakthrough for you, in terms of songwriting and with the realizations of what you could do within the confines of your recording ability?

That song was a revelation, both in how little I actually did to write it, and in how far I had to push the limits of my four-track to accommodate it. Up until then, songs were coming to me in little fragments -- little bits of melody attached to lyrics -- and I'd piece them together later. This one arrived fully formed while I was sitting in a suburban parking lot after loading some groceries into the car. It was a strange feeling, just sitting there with the key in the ignition, listening to a fully orchestrated song in my head that I'd done absolutely no work on. One moment it wasn't there, the next moment it was. It's one of the most surreal, transcendent things I've ever experienced.

It made the idea of trying to record it almost impossible, because I'd heard the whole arrangement that morning in the parking lot, and I knew I needed to have this huge vocal sound on the choruses and I knew I needed this swirly Leslie Organ part, and I also still needed tracks for bass, guitar and drums. So I ended up bouncing the drums, the bass and the guitars all down to one mono track. It took like 2 days to get the balance right, but I found if I pushed all the levels and distorted everything a little, the three parts fused together into a really cool backing track. Really makes that pulsing rhythm gel throughout the song. Then I had the free tracks to put on layers and layers of vocals on the choruses, the Hammond Organ parts and the guitar melodies. Unfortunately, when I'd finished the tracking, I realized there was a dropout on a section of one of the tracks -- the one track I used to bounce the drums, bass and rhythm guitar together -- and I'd already recorded over the original tracks, so there's always this little dropout in the first verse after, "Imagine you were walking down the street, and it's raining, and it's cold."

Other than forming the Orange Peels, is there any particular reason you rarely release solo records?

That's an excellent question. I wonder the same thing sometimes. I tend to write far more songs than I release. I think the new singles compilation is an example of how that occurs. I could have put 4 or 5 more songs on the One Hundred Percent Chance of Rain album, but I excluded some because they didn't fit in with the mood of the album. Actually, one of the songs I wrote around that time was "Tonight Changes Everything" which just came out on Circling the Sun last summer. It took the song 12 years to get recorded and released, but it found its home on the album it was meant to be on.

I wrote "Beautiful/Drop Me a Line" and "High Above the Earth" around that same time (One Hundred Percent Chance of Rain sessions in 1993), and they didn't come out until my second solo album, "Available Light in 2002. I think what happened there was that those songs had been in my head for years, and then when I wrote "Whenever We're Together," it became a catalyst for some of those things to come together. So they come out on an album of cosmic, California soft rock stuff.

It just takes me a while to contextualize the things I come up with and try to make as compelling a record I can. You know, maybe the things I wrote earlier this week will come out in a year, or maybe they'll come out in ten years.

Little seven inch singles sure were nice little confections. Do you miss 'em?

Yeah, I totally miss them. It was such a nice way to release and buy music! I mean, you could record enough material for a single in an afternoon if the songs were there. Very immediate and fun. Plus, the packaging was so great. Way better than CD packaging. From a fan perspective, it was a great way to discover new music.

What are you working on next?

Several things. I've been writing a bunch of new stuff based around these huge vocal arrangements. The instrumental content is definitely in the background. It's kind of moody, melancholy stuff with a big vocal sound, so I'm not sure it's going to be an Orange Peels album, but it's not really an Allen Clapp album either. I think I'm going to call it The Fairwood Singers, and we'll put together a touring band with a bunch of singers doing these sweeping, sad songs. Actually, I was going to put out Available Light as the Fairwood Singers, but I chickened out at the lastminute.

The Orange Peels are about 4 songs into their next album, and I could see us finishing that within a year, definitely. Also, I'm just wrapping production on an album by this amazing Santa Cruz collective called The Incredible Vickers Brothers. It's a super eclectic record with mandolins, ukeleles, string sections and other surprises. We're mastering it in Portland next month. Very exciting.

Allen Clapp's new compilation, Something Strange Happens: The Four-Track Forecasts 1990-2000, is available now via Bus Stop

The World/Inferno Friendship Society

2006-10-31T08:26:00.000-08:00

Transcriptions can't quite capture the sound of a person's voice, but I have to say that my conversation with Jack Terricloth, lead singer of the fabulous World/Inferno Friendship Society, sounds exactly like you'd expect. Talking with him was a real pleasure, and I wish I could capture the essence of his voice--soft, smooth, satirical, yet very, very sly, and with a little bit of cynicism thrown in--which, of course, is an accurate description of his band's music. I've loved their music for many moons now; their singles, if you can find them (check out the compilation disc only as a last resort) are near-perfect little pop confections, and all on sexy colored vinyl, too! It was a real pleasure to sit down and talk with Mr. Terricloth, and what better day to present this than on Halloween, his favorite holiday, and the day of his annual Hallowmas celebration?

I'm amazed that it's been ten years since you appeared on the scene.

Yeah, it really has flown by, hasn't it? (Laughs)

Has it sunk in that you've been doing this for almost a decade?

That's one of those things I try not to think about! Really, it's been so much fun and it's happened so quickly that I guess the short answer would be, "no!" (Laughs)

"Wow, ten years have passed…"

Yeah, and gee, we're all still pretty!

And people are still coming to see you!

More and more, actually! I guess a slow build is the secret to a long success.

It's been a good bit of time between Red-Eyed Soul and your last record.

We did a bunch of EP's in between, which is usually how we work.

Do you prefer to take it the slow and easy way, letting songs build up, write them when they come to you, work them live, and then take them into the studio?

We really have no plans. We tend to write slowly, because we're so big and we all write at the same time. We play and tour so often, too. I like working in the EP format more than the LP format, which tends to confound and frustrate music critics! (Laughs)

(Laughs) Actually, I can understand why you'd want to do it that way.

It's the conciseness of it, and you can make each song relate to each other, and you can make a neat concept with three or so songs. I like holding records in my hands rather than a CD, but we've always done that, from the beginning. We'd write two or three songs, record them, and then couple them together.

Speaking of writing concepts, tell me a little bit about Fiend in Wien, your new project.

That's the opposite of what I just said! (Laughs) While we were writing Me vs Angry Mob, we decided to write twelve songs in six weeks. It premiered two weeks ago, the run ended Sunday, and it was great! It was a really great challenge for us to write, but it was fun!

Was it well received?

It was really well-received. It was great to have one foot in the circus world and one foot in the punk-rock world. We played in a traveling circus tent from Belgium that was set up by the water on the Hudson. It's run with a mind for theatrical and cabaret productions.

So it's more Cirque du Soleil than CBGB's.

(Laughs) Yeah, exactly. Of course, we brought CBGB's there!

I guess that's one thing people quickly pick up on, that European carnival/gypsy element, and especially Brecht/Weill, which I'm sure you've heard before! (Laughs)

Yeah, they're feature characters in Fiend in Wien. We're going to record it in January, once we get back from this endless tour, which starts in two weeks. The studio's waiting for us when we get back; we've already booked the time.

Are you excited about it?

I am very excited about it! It was really good for us. We didn't make it too complicated; it's more impressionistic, a little bit more like our first record.

Was it an intensive to create and get it completed?

Yeah, we rehearsed every day for three months. They were cranky, of course! (Laughs) But we really buckled down, and it gave us a feeling of unity.

Did it revitalize the band?

Yeah, totally. Especially after a long project like Red-Eyed Soul, it was like, "Well, this could be the period at the end of our sentence."

You're known for being a live band. So do you prefer to perform all of your songs live before you enter the studio?

No, not necessarily. We often write at the very last minute. I think on Red-Eyed Soul, we actually finished that in the studio, and added to it some older songs we had written.

You also write about a lot of different historical subjects, for instance, Paul Robeson. When you do, do you often like to do research on the subject?

Well, I already knew a bit about Paul Robeson, because he was from the same part of New Jersey as I'm from.

Well, speaking in general...

Well, we try to get the facts right. For instance, it turns out that on the Peter Lorre musical, I got some of the facts wrong. He died of a stroke, not a heart attack, but the song was already written, so we kept it as a heart attack. With us, we're all very...we're almost more a book club more than a punk rock band! (Laughs) We're always passing books around in the van, and we're in the van so often, and we all have similar interests.

You guys, you were big before big was big!

I think I know what you mean...

Well, bands like the Polyphonic Spree and Arcade Fire, who make very big, theatrical music. Does it give you a sense of satisfaction to see them and think, "hey, we were before the trend, we were before all of you?"

I've never really thought about it, to tell you the truth. We have friends in the Polyphonic Spree, so we know their intent. You might know a fellow named Corn Mo, he's from down there [Texas].

Oh, Corn Mo! How could anyone not know Corn Mo? He's a beautiful soul.

(Laughs) He's great. He lived up here for a while, he hooked up with them, and he introduced us to them and we hung out. But yeah, I've never really listened for myself in other groups. I've got too much to do and to say here. There will be time for patting myself on the back when I'm dead! (Laughs)

Dead, or fabulously wealthy!

Yeah, whichever comes first!

I know that you guys are political, but do you find a political climate like now to be inspiring?

I wouldn't say we're political; I think it's just who we are. Finding it inspiring when bad things are going on? No, it makes me have to ramp up my sense of humor about things, otherwise I get outraged. A good example of that is the song "The Expatriate Act," from Rock Against Bush, which doesn't sound like us at all, which was because I was angry when I wrote it.

Well, I'm thinking about the last time we had such a volatile political era, the Eighties…well, you were there! (Laughs) But at the same time, there was this wonderful undercurrent of artistic growth and experimentation that stemmed from the political climate.

Oh yeah, definitely. You know, I don't know. I know that my friends do, but then again, that's what we do. I think maybe if we lived in the middle of the country, where people don’t really think about it all that much, and in fact get annoyed if you bring it up, because you are giving them something more to think about.

I personally don't mind political commentary. I just think you have to be real careful when you mix it with your art. Some art transcends politics, but politics doesn't transcend art. You listen to some political music, and it just doesn't stand the test of time.

For example, Reagan Youth is no longer relevant. (Laughs)

Were they ever? (Laughs)

Maybe at one time! (Laughs)

They were a year or two ahead of my time. I'm old, but I'm not that old! (Laughs)

(Laughs) It's gonna get worse...

Well, I think life is what you make it. And, going back to Brecht/Weill, one thing they did rather well was that in a dire political environment, they made social commentary, but they also made it entertaining. They were trying to convey a message to you, but not preach at you.

Right, which is exactly why they were our primary influence when we started World/Inferno. I've said this in interviews before, but the primary goal for forming Inferno was to rewrite The Threepenny Opera for a punk audience. But we never quite got it right, which is why we're still around! (Laughs) I think the day we get it right, it will be the end of us! (Laughs)

When did you discover Brecht/Weill?

Hmm...when did I discover them? That's an interesting question. Hmm…I think after I had been out of the punk scene for a while. I was in a punk band, and we tried to get popular, but nothing happened, and it was frustrating. I stopped playing for a while, and I started bartending. I was meeting a lot of people…hmmm…I think it was from some older people that came into the bar, they had their own little scene, and I think I became their mascot, because I was a lot younger than them. At some point, I decided I wanted to make music again, but I didn't want it to be punk rock. I wanted something that was quick but was still political. Someone introduced me to their work, and it became something I really wanted to do with Inferno.

So it all just sort of fell into place?

Yeah, I think blending it with punk rock, it seemed natural. It's the darndest thing, this music. I wanted to do something new and fresh, but I'm still carrying on as a punk rocker! What am I to do? (Laughs)

I find that when I talk to people who are about our age, it seems like they go through a phase where they thing, "why am I still making art?" Have you hit that stage yet?

No, because I think I did before I started World/Inferno. There was a point where I thought I'd make music again. But then all of those seventeen years of music making have flown by, and I've had no time to doubt myself! (laughs)

I guess right now the big thing for you is touring.

We're going out on tour for three months. Three months! Then, in January, we'll be in the studio for three weeks, and then, in February, I'll just crash! Maybe they'll let me breathe!

World/Inferno Friendship Society's latest album, Red-Eyed Soul, is now available on Chunksaah, and is fabulous!

Alec K Redfearn

2006-10-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

The music of Alec K. Redfearn is as varied as it is enjoyable. The man has been making music for nearly twenty years, and the eclectic nature can be heard simply by visiting his website. It seems wrong to say, "Redfearn's music sounds like ____," because his music doesn't work that way, and pigeonholing him like that would be wrong. His latest record, The Smother Party is a wonderfully enjoyable record; it's dark, it's occasionally sad, and it's almost always good. Talking to him was fascinating, and he strikes me as a brother-in-arms, because I just totally agree with almost everything that he says. But if you're looking for haunting music for haunting your Halloween, then his music is just for you. Not heavily serious, nor annoyingly whimsical, there's just a touch of humor and death to what he does that makes it hauntingly wonderful.

I'm curious about the nature of your music. We were talking yesterday about modern technology and modern society, but when I listen to your music, it's very classical in the sense that it's not modern. Is this one of the driving motivations behind the music you make with the Eyesores—making music that's more traditionally based, as a response to modern society?

Yeah, I definitely think that's a component. I certainly do feel part of the struggle is to find a kind of a root in an older tradition. I'm not drawing on any specific tradition; I draw a lot on the music I find appealing. I do listen to certain modern music, but I am definitely trying to draw on something that's a little older and a little bit more of a part of the ancestral memory of the 20th Century than previous centuries. It seems like the music that has appealed to me over the years is music that has a certain urgency and a certain root to something that's a little closer to real.

An organic experience rather than a mechanical one…

Exactly. It's the human experience, the human kind of music that comes directly from the soul. On the other hand, there is a certain mechanical element to it as well, because music has a mathematical scheme built into it. It's part of the beauty of it, and even the most primal sounding music has that element built into it.

A question I always like to ask of people who perform with an accordion in their music: what drew you to it, and when you started writing music, was it on accordion?

I was a bass player first. I came out of the late 80s post-hardcore scene. That's what I grew up on—that, and I listened to a lot of metal and classic rock. When I was a teenager in the mid-80s, it was kind of a time when people began to discover punk and hardcore thanks to bands like Metallica and Slayer. Those bands really made inroads for people who grew up on suburban metal, and as a result I became interested in hardcore, and through that I became interested in music made by artists like the Minutemen, Meat Puppets and the Butthole Surfers—bands who were coming from a background of hardcore, but pushed forward musically yet were drawing not only on older influences, like folk and jazz, but also on more modern elements like free jazz.

Artists making an experimental hybrid of traditional rock and roll…

I'm of a very unpopular opinion that the mid- to late-1980s were a really creative time musically, and that the music of the early 90s was merely revisionist. The "punk" explosion of that time, I think it was very conservative musically. It was when the serpent first started to eat its tail, when music started relying on going back to the early days, back to the Stooges and Sex Pistols. I thought it was interesting, but I thought it had been done already. You can blame it on post-modernism, to some extent. My take on postmodernism – and I do consider what I do to be postmodernism—is that you're taking from a lot of different sources and making something new. The good side is that I'm creating something out of all these pieces of things floating around. The bad side of it is when someone decides to do this and they wind up co-opting an earlier musical style. It's a lot of what's happening with the lamer aspects of today's freak folk, New Weird America stuff. I mean, I like some of those bands quite a bit. A lot of it I find…

Makes you want to listen to Donovan records instead?

Yeah, exactly! Why would I want to listen to this modern revisionist version style, one that's more like a Civil War reenactment, when I could just go back to the original source and get more of the real effect, one where there's a different kind of urgency to the music. There's just not a lot of urgency to music right now. I've become very discouraged with what's happening musically now. I think my turning to the accordion was a reaction against the music of the early 90s. It was, like, "I'm going to go do something that so doesn't resemble rock music at all." I started listening to Eastern European music a lot, Scottish music a lot, Irish music, and listening to music that was very Weimar Republic/Kurt Weill inspired, as well as 20th Century classical music. I got really into Erik Satie. Then later, I started getting back into rock music. I'd say the early glimmerings of the noise explosion in Providence made me say, I could take the music I'm doing now, which was, at the time, was a mix of circus-y music and all of the folk music I'd been listening to, and then combine it with punk and make it aggressive in the same way those noise bands are and play to the same audiences. I certainly met with some indifference, though not as much now. I feel like people have grown more and more indifferent because music has become less and less interesting and people have less and less patience for it. So they wait until they're fed. (Sigh) People are either fed by MTV or major labels, or by the hipster crowds, being fed by bloggers or the Thurston Moores and the Byron Coleys of the world, and looking to them to filter their "experimental" music. The main problem is that there's not a lot of urgency to the music; a lot of it seems very fake and contrived. People are putting musical styles on like it's a mask, rather than doing stuff that's from the very core of their being. This isn't universal, but it is unfortunately the dominant paradigm.

There's obviously a keen sense of humor at play on The Smother Party, even though it's also terribly dark. Do you find that when you write on an accordion, that it's hard to write really dark material?

I don't really have that problem. The novelty of the accordion has worn off for me, because I've been playing for so long, and I sort of don't think along those lines anymore. It isn't—at least to me—any longer an instrument that's associated with dance music and more festive things. But I feel there are people who came before me who kept smashing and dismantling those sorts of traditions. I think a lot of the lightness is more of a reflection of my sense of humor. I have a naturally dark sense of humor anyways. There is a serious element to what I do, though. There are certain things I believe, like I do believe that we are living in end times, that the world has gone completely crazy. The World's overpopulated and we are destroying ourselves. On the other hand, I feel like that's the natural course of things, and I feel like it's something that's happened with humanity before and will continue to happen until the planet is uninhabitable and evolution won't let us keep up with the atmosphere.

I described your music this way: "Party music while the Titanic goes down."

(Laughs) Yes, exactly! I feel like some of the best music is like that. I think the Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill influence comes from that. There's a feeling in Brecht's lyrics—they have a kind of sneer to them, and there's a harshness to them, but it's like putting on a protective layer, like dancing in the face of total destruction.

A distraction from your impending and inevitable doom…

Yeah, I do feel that sense of impending doom, and have felt that way since my mother first explained to me what nuclear war meant when I was ten years old. That sense that everything could blow at any time has really existed in my consciousness ever since she told me that, and I think I've built defense mechanisms against that fear, just so I could go on with my life. One of those was to build a sense a humor about it all, to feel like we're looking at everything could be done for. But then again, all of that is just a process of life, I think.

So ultimately, there is a celebration of life, even among the gloom and doom.

I think humor is an aspect of spirituality in that sense, that it's a part of the human spirit.

Plus, you're able to be more honest and get people to listen to you if you present it in a humorous way, more so than if you were to preach gloom and doom.

Our violinist and I had this conversation when we were in the Netherlands. We were making some really, really horrible jokes about something and she felt kind of uncomfortable and a little offended. I said something to her that I think sums up a lot of my thinking: "Olivia, sometimes the darkest, most horrible places are where the biggest laughs are." I've always thought along those lines, that sometimes the most awful things can be incredibly funny, or can have this built-in humor to them. I kind of live in that world in some ways, and enjoy that kind of thinking, because I think it's healthy. Or at least it's healthy for me! (Laughs)

Are audiences in Europe a lot more receptive to your music because you're playing music that's European in nature?

European audiences are a lot more respectful in general. It's more of a tradition that when they go out to hear music, they go out to listen, as opposed to, say, going out to pick up girls. I suppose there's an element of that too, but when the music plays, people tend to listen.

Do you think the audiences are more critical of what you do because you're playing music that's associated with them? Like, if you're playing Country in the South—audiences are more attune to picking up on whether or not what you're doing is "real" or if it's merely shtick?

A lot of what I do is very European in style, but if you examine it closely, it's not "traditional." (Laughs) I'm constantly derailing and subverting and using that music in an abstract way, making references to other things. There's no clear-cut definition—I try to keep it ambiguous. Some people have called my music "gypsy music," which I think is preposterous. It's not really gypsy music at all! I'm not a gypsy and I don't have that kind of blood. It's because I use minor scales (laughs). That's not an insult, though. I like a lot of that kind of music, but if you want to break it down, it's not really an imitation. I try to keep it elusive, what I'm drawing on. It might seem like I'm drawing on gypsy music, but I might be drawing on Slayer. I feel like their stuff is like this kind of chromaticism. I've been listening to heavy metal and their music for years and years and years now; it's probably more in my DNA than anything else. It's the music I listened to the longest at the most formative time.

I think that if you make any kind of music and you've ever heard Reign in Blood, that it will influence you somehow. (Laughs) It's one of those records that stay with you for life.

Oh yeah! (Laughs) It's definitely one of the top five rock records of all time, and I'll admit there are times when I will call it my favorite record of all time. It's a record that always sounds fresh and engaging. I say the same thing of Trout Mask Replica. Those are records that are very challenging, but are always engaging.

So, are you working on anything new?

Yeah! I've got a couple of things going on right now. I wrote a song cycle for a kind of a big band. It's fairly dark and layered, and it has a lot of singing on it. (Laughs) I'm not sure how articulate that description is. We've been having some technical problems, and we actually have to rerecord a number of songs because they got lost in a hard-drive crash. I'm also trying to write an album-length piece, and I'm also working on some solo and duo things that I'm wanting to record in the fall. I’m doing a duo tour with a stringed bass player this fall around the Northeast, and some in the East and South. Don't think I'll make it to Texas, though. I'm having trouble finding venues. It's real hard; I feel it's a constant uphill battle trying to book shows. One of the big sticking points for me is trying to survive the muck and mire in a world that's just too dim on events. The good stuff gets buried as a result of just sheer output, and if your music requires any listener patience, then you're really doomed. (Laughs)

Ultimately, I think the one who is doomed is the listener. If you can't stand to listen to anything that doesn't strike you after two or three seconds, you're already lost.

You're right about that. The mind-numbing spread of pop culture makes it very easy to get music, listen for ten seconds of something and deciding whether or not you like it or hate it. Like flipping channels.

"Here we are now, entertain us," indeed!

Alec K. Redfearn's latest record, The Smother Party, is available on North East Indie

Live Review: Wooden Wand w/ the Weird Weeds, Clay Ruby & Book of Shadows @ Red’s Scoot Inn in Austin, TX (10/25/06)

2006-10-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

One of the strangest experiences I had at this year’s South by Southwest was watching a spastic duo called People play at Mrs. Bea’s, a dive bar in east Austin. The criminally small audience consisted mainly of middle-aged Hispanics, the bar’s regular clientele, most of whom stared at the duo in utter confusion. Mary Halvorson’s operatic vocals paid mere lip service to the dissonant chord progressions she played on her guitar, while drummer Kevin Shea turned time signatures into silly putty. Together, they sounded like a jazz-trained version of the Shaggs, a sound that’s practically the polar opposite of the Tejano that plays on the bar’s jukebox. The culture clash provoked a lot of stifled laughter.

At first, I thought that this evening’s show would be a repeat of that experience: four artists, all of whom could be lumped into the catchall “New Weird America” subgenre, playing at a different east Austin dive bar with a predominantly middle-aged Hispanic clientele. At one point, Grupo Fantasma guitarist Adrian Quesada, a friend of mine, walked in to buy some beer. I asked him who he was here to see; he didn’t even know the Inn was hosting a show tonight! Weird Weeds drummer Nick Hennies wasn’t fazed by the culture clash at all. Shortly after greeting me, he raved for a while about how many great shows he has seen at the Inn, Cambodian garage-rock outfit Dengue Fever being a particular highlight.

Local quintet Book of Shadows began the show with a half-hour of improvised ambience that sounded like Charalambides drowning in a swamp. Vocalist Sharon Crutcher’s howls were run through oodles of reverb and delay, meshing perfectly with the eerie drones that her husband Carlton played on his keyboard. The group’s three guitarists alternated between playing uneasy arpeggios and abusing their effects pedals, creating waves of noise that ebbed and flowed around the Crutchers with suprising smoothness. Guitarist Jonathan Horne was particularly fun to watch, thrashing away at his instrument with the intensity of an exorcist. Toward the end of the set, he abruptly stopped to wave at a friend in the audience. The smile on Horne’s face was wider and toothier than any I’d seen since moving back to Austin. When he switched from guitar to melodica, I saw a middle-aged Hispanic couple in the audience shake their heads in total exasperation.

Next up was an unannounced solo set from Zodiac Mountain a.k.a. Clay Ruby, a touring partner of headliner Wooden Wand. He played two 10-minute songs, both of which consisted of him improvising on his guitar for at least five minutes before beginning the first verse. On paper, it sounds like a recipe for tedium, but I’ve seen other artists employ a similar modus operandi to brilliant effect; Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance comes easily to mind. Unfortunately, Ruby is no Chasny: his playing was bland and his singing was flat.

The Weird Weeds saved the evening with a wonderful set. If you keep up with my writing, you already know how much I love them. They’re not just my favorite local band; they’re also one of my favorite bands of all time. They make the ugly sound beautiful; they make the random sound intentional; they make experimental noise sound like pop music. This was the 16th time I’ve seen them live, and from a purely technical standpoint, it ranked among the top three sets I’ve seen of theirs.

The songs from their latest album Weird Feelings sounded even better than their recorded counterparts. The scraping noises that vocalist Sandy Ewen eked out of her guitar gave “For You to See Me” a newfound menace; Ewen’s and Hennies’ vocal harmonies on “One-Eyed Cloud” and “Cold Medicine” sounded stronger than ever. However, the REAL highlights of their set were the new songs. On “Hold in the Light,” Aaron Russell’s fills cascaded down the neck of his guitar like waterfalls. The climax of “Lies” was a rarity: a straightforward 4/4 groove, which the band allowed to gain momentum for more than 30 seconds. “You Drive Me Crazy” was a brief, charming waltz, during which Ewen played with her guitar sitting on her chest instead of her lap.

During the extremely quiet “Ribs and Wrinkles” (which closes their debut album Hold Me), Ewen and Hennies sang the words “Can you hear me/Can you hear me play?” right after a group of people at the other end of the bar finished having a laughing fit. Anyone who frequently attends indie-rock shows should be able to appreciate the irony of that moment.

The last time I saw James Toth a.k.a. Wooden Wand was when he played Room 710 a year ago with his then-backing band, the Vanishing Voice. (The Weird Weeds opened that show too, by the way; it was the 13th time I’d seen them.) Toth and his band played a set of rollicking psychedelic jams that greatly impressed me. I bought two of their CDs that night, sound unheard, only to discover that neither of them resembled their live show in any appreciable way.

This evening, Toth brought only himself and his beautiful wife Jessica: he sang and played acoustic guitar, and Jessica contributed occasional backing vocals. I spotted many Biblical references in his lyrics: “O Babylon, great mother of harlots...,” “The first will be last...,” “Will your name appear in the book of life?” His singing occasionally took on a tremor that recalled Devendra Banhart. Fortunately, Toth is an earthier writer and stronger singer than Banhart.

I was just as impressed by Toth's performance this evening as I was by last year’s. You can’t help but like a guy who refers to his merchandise as “souvenirs.” I took another chance and bought Toth’s latest album Second Attention (which was recorded with his new outfit the Sky High Band) after the set, only to discover upon first listen that he only played one song from it at the Inn. Toth, you’ve hoodwinked me again. Come back next year; maybe the third time will be the charm!

The Blow

2006-10-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

I first saw Khaela Maricich perform live five years ago, as part of the Paper Opera Tour she went on with K Records labelmate Phil Elvrum (Microphones/Mount Eerie) and label founder Calvin Johnson. Although all three performers played solo sets, the sets were integrated into a collective multimedia performance that relied heavily on audience participation, and included everything from dance routines and costume changes to campfire singalongs. Back then, Khaela went by the unwieldy moniker Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano, and her sole release was a cassette-only collection of songs performed on voice and acoustic guitar. On stage, she sang with only an archaic drum machine as her accompaniment, swaying to the machine’s muffled pulses as if she was caught in a gentle trance. I bought her cassette, but when I listened to it on the way home, I realized that she hadn’t performed any of the songs on it. I knew then that Khaela was still an artist in transition.

Shortly after that tour, she changed her nom de rock to the Blow. The Blow’s first appearance on CD, 2002’s Bonus Album, sounded like an extension of the cassette, but with slightly better production. Her recorded material didn’t really begin to reflect her live show until her 2003 follow-up, The Concussive Caress, or, Casey Caught Her Mom Singing Along With the Vacuum. Its best songs (“How Naked Are We Going to Get?,” “What Tom Said About Girls”) relied more on keyboards and drum machines than on guitars, and discussed love and sex with a candor that her previous material lacked. These songs represent the embryonic stage of the Blow’s current sound, one that Khaela cheekily calls “indie R&B.”

This sound began to flourish when she teamed up with audiovisual artist Jona Bechtolt for her 2004 EP Poor Aim: Love Songs. Jona, who makes dance music with his own solo project YACHT, used his technological knowhow to accurately recreate the booming bass lines and skittering rhythms of contemporary R&B. With his help, Khaela’s embrace of a bigger (and yes, blacker) sound began to feel more authentic. Some of the songs merely sounded like a female-fronted Postal Service; others, like “Hey Boy” and “The Love That I Crave,” sounded just as comfortable when played next to the latest Beyonce single as they did when played next to my favorite Mirah song.

Khaela and Jona were so pleased with Poor Aim that they decided to keep collaborating, thus turning the Blow into a duo. For the next two years, Khaela and Jona performed live together, turning their shows into full-fledged dance parties. With Jona pumping the audience up like a hip-hop hype man, Khaela was free to take her stage presence to new levels of animation. After a six-month sabbatical, during which Khaela was the artist-in-residence at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), she and Jona recorded their latest album, Paper Television.

Paper Television improves on Poor Aim in every way: the singing is more confident; the writing is more adventurous; the beats are funkier and more intricate. Lyrically, Khaela employs unconventional metaphors to describe the complexities of human relationships. For instance, “Pile of Gold” compares love to economics, to often hilarious effect (“They need the warmth that we export/Of course, some boys will try to force the prices down/By pushing girls around”). “Babay” uses disgusting scatological metaphors to lament the end of a one-sided relationship (“Inside your digestive trip, what was there for me to grip?/Picture me clinging in the bowels as the shits poured on”). Jona eschews the Postal Service template more often, in favor of less rhythmically rigid sounds --- the disco-influenced grooves of early hip-hop (“Pardon Me”), the Ying Yang Twins’ minimalist crunk (“The Big U”) and the rapid-fire snares of HBCU drumlines (“The Long List of Girls”).

Khaela just finished a week’s worth of shows opening for Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. I was fortunate enough to see this bill at the outside amphitheater of Stubb’s this past Monday. Jona was in France playing shows of his own under the YACHT moniker, so Khaela had to perform solo. About 100 people showed up early to see Khaela, which is impressive considering that her set began at 7:30 p.m. She sang two songs a capella (“How Naked Are We Going to Get?” and Wolf Colonel’s “Jet Ski Accidents”), but spent the rest of her set singing and dancing along to pre-recorded backing tracks. It’s tough for a solo performer to capture and keep the attention of an audience that big, especially in an outdoor venue, but Khaela did it. Her stage banter got funnier as the set progressed (“I feel like I’m at a real Western ranch, and you’re all my neighbors!”), and she danced so hard that she occasionally lost her breath.

After her set, she was kind enough to talk to me for 25 minutes. She was just as easygoing and chatty off stage as she was on stage. You can read an edited version of our conversation below:

Can you tell me about the time you spent at PICA?

In the fall of 2004, I did a performance piece for PICA’s yearly festival. It's a huge performance festival. They invited me to present this piece that I'd been making. I played an entrepreneurial businesswoman doing a presentation on a company that she worked for called "Remosch." It was supposed to be Swiss. Basically, it was designed to address mental health debilities --- people going off the path of sanity. It involved music. The company had these interactive dance music videos that they used to help people maintain their sanity. I told PICA about it and they said, "That sounds cool. We'd like you to come be in the festival." Then, they also suggested that I be their artist-in-residence in the PICA office, which is in this big advertising agency called Wieden + Kennedy. They do a lot of work for Nike. They're the company that made up "Just Do It."

Oh, wow...so they're making serious bank!

Yeah, and they're making serious concepts that get soaked into our culture. People say "just do it," you know what I mean? People think "just do it." "Just do it" has affected the way that I think about myself. There were lots of times when I thought to myself, "Come on, Khaela --- just do it."

Even if you don't wear Nikes, you end up saying "just do it" as a motivational tool.

I haven't worn Nikes since sixth grade. I'm a New Balance subscriber.

Me too.

Really?

I'm not wearing them right now, but my other two pairs of sneakers are both New Balance.

Some people can only wear New Balance. My performance was about identity. In order to stay sane, you would pick this music video program that fit your identity type. You'd figure out who you are. Are you a "chains and tattoos" hipster? Are you a squeaky-clean "no tattoos" hipster? There were all these different varieties. Are you a Hello Kitty hipster? Are you an American Apparel-wearing, Vice-reading hipster? What kind are you, and what do you subscribe to? How do you look? What do you care about? How do you think? What routes do you follow every day in your life? It was about knowing yourself and who you are. Since that was what I was interested in, they said, "You should come be an artist-in-residence in our building, and watch what the advertising agency is doing”...which is what I did. I was there for six months, just checking it out.

What was the name of the piece?

It was called "The Touch Me Feeling."

Oh, okay! That's the name of your blog!

It's actually one of the things that I stole from my friend Calvin Johnson throughout my life.

Well, you picked a good source to steal stuff from.

I don't even think that it was really stolen. One time I said something about a feeling --- "You know, it's got that feeling" --- and he responded, "The 'touch me' feeling?" I said, "Yoink! That's mine." [laughter] I've gotten other things from him too, but that was a really great one.

Since what you were doing in Portland was focused on the role that music plays in shaping identity, I was wondering how your personal experience dovetailed into that. Do you feel that there are certain artists or groups that played a huge role in shaping the person that you came to be? If so, how?

That's pretty interesting. I mean, my experience with music has always been pretty remote. I never had a huge hunger for music. I always did things out of a sort of...living way out in the country and every once in a while getting some music. I didn't grow up way out in the country, but we've never been a sort of “music family.” My family had some Simon and Garfunkel that we listened to, and it really shaped me a lot. Every once in a while something else would come along, and I would grab it and seize it. Specifically, what are those musics? When I first heard the Breeders and Liz Phair, that affected me a lot, just because it was kinda low. There's this beta wave, and it's not like...[imitates a soprano singing a very high note]...it's really low-frequency. I think that that affected me.

Was it the comparatively unassuming and easygoing nature of the music that drew you in?

Yeah! I think that stuff that's kinda understated has always really appealed to me. I feel like Simon and Garfunkel is pretty understated. It's not throwing stuff out there too much. I don't know.

It makes sense to me, because when I listen to Poor Aim: Love Songs, I always get the feeling that it’s contemporary R&B refracted through the lens of a very shy and withdrawn individual. I'm pretty sure that you hear R&B songs all the time where the vocals are totally extroverted and melismatic, and they're just singing their hearts out. It seems like your songs have the same subject matter, but sung through the viewpoint of someone who keeps a little bit more to herself.

I don't think that I could ever be called withdrawn or shy, necessarily, because I'm pretty extroverted. There's a way that I'm secretly shy, but it's a secret. I don't think that people who hang out with me very much should know that. The range of my voice is an alto. I'm not a soprano, and sopranos are the ones who are like...[makes a very loud wailing sound, similar to last time]...they could really step up. I don't have a powerful voice like that. I don't have a Jenny Lewis voice or a Whitney Houston voice. I'm working with what I've got, modestly ekeing my way along. [laughter] I'm not really into stepping out and saying, "HEY! LISTEN TO THIS!" I'm more like, "Uh...how about this, guys?" [laughter] Whenever people seem interested, it kinda draws me out more and I feel more confident about it.

I noticed that when you were performing, for the first 10 to 15 seconds you were just staring at the mic, and then you started dancing. You came alive as the set progressed. When you told the soundman to turn everything up louder, it had a directly proportional effect on the boisterousness of your dancing. I liked that!

Yeah, I definitely needed something boosting me up each little step of the way.

Does that attitude toward performing change from day to day?

You mean what my shows are like? Well, it's definitely your mood. You're surfing the vibrations. [laughter] To me, there are so many different factors: "I didn't eat that much," "There's a chill in the air," "I had a sip of Kombucha"... It's what everything makes you feel like, which is what's so interesting about being alive! You can't always be at high-octane performance every single second. All the factors that contribute to why you are super-powered when you are --- that's what makes performance interesting. I'm really into just admitting that I'm an awkward human being. What am I gonna do? I just am, you know? [laughter]

There are always different kinds of variables that affect live performance, regardless of whether you're solo or in a band, regardless of what personality type you are. It's always going to change from day to day.

Even in life, when you're just going about your business from day to day.

That ties into another question that I wanted to ask. I know that the Blow has two members now --- there's you and then there's Jona. Do the two of you regularly perform together live? If so, was this show an exception? What's Jona doing right now?

Right now, Jona's on tour by himself with his solo project called YACHT.

I've heard of it, actually, and I need to check it out.

Yeah, you should! It's really cool. It's really smart. He's just a really, really supple and really exceptionally talented producer and media artist. He can just make things exist out of nothing. I mean, I make things exist out of nothing, but it's more like ideas and songs and words, but he can make them exist electrically. He can make videos and songs pop right out. When we're recording, he effortlessly creates songs.

Do you present the basic skeletons of your songs to him, and then have him construct whatever sonic edifice that it takes on --- the tracks you end up singing along to?

"Sonic edifice"...that's so nice..."sonic edifice." What happened with both records that we made is that I wrote the song and then --- except for a couple of songs --- I wrote the song beforehand, and came to him and sang it. Sometimes, he'd write a part, but usually I'd just be like, "How about THIS?," and he would start making a beat, and we'd work together to make everything melodic. I'm words, he's beats, and together we do melodic interpretation. I'll do the melody of the song if it's written on keyboard or guitar.

Is the R&B influence something you were initially going for when you started the Blow, or was it something that Jona's presence brought out?

Well, there are a couple of songs on The Concussive Caress, which is a record that I did before him...

Yeah, I have that one. That's what I was thinking, because there were songs on it, like "How Naked Are We Going to Get?," where I got that vibe in a more embryonic form.

Yeah, totally! It's definitely the embryo of that. I had the notion: "How cool would that be --- INDIE R&B??!?" There's so much ripping off of African-American music and culture. Everybody does it, from Elvis to Justin Timberlake. It's a historical fact, so I opened myself up to the idea. It seemed funny to me at that point, and then Jona and I just ripped it. He has the capability to emulate that music more obviously, instead of me getting someone to beatbox and play the drums. [laughter]

Is that a sound that you plan on sticking with for a while, or do you see it heading in a different direction on future releases? Have you even thought that far ahead?

I don't know! I think we both have inklings for stuff that we want to work on on our own. I want to try some stuff that's different, I think. When things change in my life, I never see it coming. It takes a long time for me. It even takes a long time for me to realize that something already HAS changed. I just bought a car a month ago, and I still don't realize that I have a a car. [laughter] I have a long adjustment period. Even having made a new record makes me think, "Wow! I don't quite know what this means yet."

I guess you're still getting used to your own sound!

Yeah. I mean, I feel it, but I don't know if that's what the next record will sound like.

The first time I saw you was on the Paper Opera tour, when you were singing either a capella, or along to old drum machines. Now I’m seeing you five years later, and you’re solo again. Now that you have Jona around as a permanent collaborator, has playing solo become more or less difficult?

Well, there were two years in which Jona and I always played together. It was like taking a leap from being kind of a sober solo performer, 'cause there's this sort of way in which I've always dabbled in awkwardness a little bit, and dabbled in sizing up the audience. Tonight's show was a little more like that than it has been recently, 'cause I was just feeling a little shy. It's how my shows have been for a long time...and then when I started working with Jona, our shows were like dance parties. He just pumped people up. The music was way more pumping, and he'd be on stage pumping people up, and everyone would be dancing.

So he was kinda like your hypeman as well.

He was a little bit of 'flava'! [laughter] Yeah, he was like a hypeman, and for two years that's what we totally did. We just put all of our energy into that. That was really exciting, and I feel like it rubbed off on me a lot. There's a way in which I'm kinda way more willing to just give it up to the audience now, and let go. Now, he got all of these awesome opportunities to do shows by himself. He's in France right now, and he played a show at the Centre Pompidou. It's a huge museum in Paris --- it's like there's the Louvre, and then there's the Pompidou. It's the next step down from the Louvre. It's huge.

It sounds like a pretty big deal.

It's a HUGE deal. It's like performing at the Guggenheim, or at the Whitney Biennial. He's got these really cool performances for YACHT, and since I can perform alone, we just veered off that way for now. I like it, though. I like performing alone. I like performing with him, but it's nice to connect with an audience and let it be a little more quiet and intimate again.

I like the fact that there's a storytelling aspect to the Blow. Even with these booming beats, it's still just one person trying to communicate a story or message to a large group of people. I think you've found a really good hybrid of the Simon and Garfunkel folksy thing with the "indie R&B" concept, and I like it a lot.

Wow, thanks!

I have one more question, and then I'll get out of your hair. What is a non-musical thing that has recently excited or provoked a lot of thought in you lately? Name one thing that has nothing to do with music that you particularly enjoy, or have been doing a lot of lately.

Wow. Can I just think about this for a minute? I have to go through my list of things.

You can talk about more than one.

Something I've been up to?

Yeah.

Well, my friend Melissa Dyne and I made this collaborative project called Spirit Quest, and we've been hiring ourselves out. Before the record came out, I was really broke and so was she, so we were hiring ourselves out as artists to do art projects for people where they would just pay us. At first, the idea was going to be like, "We're artists, and we need your money, so we're gonna paint your house. [laughter] You should just pay us. You should do it to help us because you should be supporting the arts. We'll make art that you like, and it could just be your wall being painted a color." I don't think I can explain it in a way that conveys how cool it is. Anyway, we've been doing this collaborative project, and we got to do something at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. That's something that's really exciting, but I can't really explain how cool it is. What else have I been excited about? [long silence] The way that it all started is that we just renovated my apartment, and it was in a warehouse. We were working to make something that was really physically different. I moved into this warehouse space that was really big and really cheap and really cool and really disgusting. There were these open holes outside that these pigeons were living in, and they made these pigeon nests that were really wild, and were filled with twigs and shit. They were two feet wide, six inches deep. There was just a solid block of pigeon shit.

Like a pigeon outhouse!

Yeah. It was in this hole going into my house, so the wind would blow through it and blow pigeon shit into my apartment. There were three of them, and that was really intense. Just cleaning out a pile of pigeon shit was really, really empowering. Looking at something you don't like...

...and getting rid of it?

Yeah, and watching the amount of reservation that overtakes you before you actually do it, you know? It took weeks before I finally got around to being like, "There's something that smells. What is it?" It was actually months. I kinda got down on the floor and realized there was a hole filled with pigeon shit! I cleaned out, and then I realized a couple weeks later that there was ANOTHER one...in the kitchen! Cleaning it out and realizing that I needed to do something about this giant hole in the bathroom floor, getting around to it and realizing that I needed to take out the fixtures and putting in the new subfloor, then putting in the toilet and the sink and the bathtub again --- it was really, really a lot of work, and it changed me a lot, you know? The amount of energy it takes to change some things...just the amount of physical and energetic force it takes to alter your surroundings is really hefty. I think I got stronger just by being like, "I can do this! We're gonna do this!," and then changing it and having my environment be different. It's really easy to just live with things the way they are. That's been a really big influence. Also, I read the book "Another Country," by James Baldwin. I've been really into reading James Baldwin, and watching "Lost." [laughter]

I've been trying to find new books to read. I'm almost done with Paulo Coelho's "Veronika Decides to Die." It's a great book, and it's basically about how arbitrary the line between sanity and insanity really is, and who gets to draw that line.

Wow, that's like my pet topic, so I should read it!

A lot of the things that I've read in the book are things that I've heard other people in my life say to me, almost verbatim. Most of these people have never read the book, though, which only reinforces how touching and on point it is.

That's so cool. Well, "Another Country" by James Baldwin is probably the best book I've ever read.

Next time I go to the library, I will check it out.

It's really deep and beautiful.

Thanks for letting me interview you.

Thank you so much! It's so nice. I really appreciate it.

Angela Desveaux

2006-10-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hearing Angela Desveaux's debut record Wandering Eyes really, really made me smile. You see, it's a record that reveals much about the author; it takes all of one listen to hear that Ms. Desveaux is a girl whose background is firmly planted in Country tradition. While other artists might steep their music in twang and all sorts of Country-sounding gimmicks, one won't find such posturing in the notes of Ms. Desveaux's music. It's really a refreshing thing to hear someone making sincere Country music. I had a really nice conversation with her, and I do hope that you take the time to seek out her music; it's worth the investment.

I take it you're on tour now?

This is basically the big month for release, so we're doing a lot of the major cities in Quebec and in Canada, so that's what's going on right now. Since we're playing nearby, we can take three days on the weekend and then come back home, sleep, and refuel. So it's not like we're leaving for a month and doing everything. We're just booking some shows nearby, and eventually we hope to go out for a more extended period of time, but not right now.

In doing research for this chat, I didn't find a whole lot of background information on you. Tell me about growing up. One of the things that really struck me about Wandering Eyes is that the music sounds like that made by someone who grew up around Country music.

Definitely, yeah! My mum and my dad, both of them were big music fans in general, but from their background, both folk and country was a big influence. I think Country was played in all of the households of the town they came from, so my brother and I grew up listening to that all the time. All the classics, but the older classics like George Jones and Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, but also, we went through the whole 80s and 90s phase of new country music, like George Strait and more contemporary artists. So I listened to it a lot, but I didn't start playing it on my own until, basically, I was out of high school, once I found friends who loved country music, which is a little rare when you're younger (laughs).

I can totally relate. Were your parents musicians?

My dad plays guitar, and he still plays guitar, but not professionally. We'd all get together and play in the living room.

Like a Saturday-night sing-along?

Exactly! We had a lot of those.

I can relate to growing up on Country, "rebelling" against it, and then coming back to it. What brought you back to Country music?

Hmm....well, we went through a garage-rock phase, me and my brother, and we'd listen to more rock music, but it was always stuff that kind of had a country influence. I guess we were attracted to it in a way because it was very familiar. The rock groups that had more melodic songwriting or a lot of harmonies, or if it had pedal steel—right away those were little things that attracted us to the music on the rock scene. But they always had a little country influence. We were listening to Son Volt, Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons—we realized there was a cooler scene than what we were into when we were younger that still had its roots in country. Then I just started playing bluegrass as well. By then there was no holding back any more. Once you start playing bluegrass, you're right into it, and you're into the traditional country, because bluegrass is as traditional as you can get. I was never really ashamed of Country; it's just that when you were younger, you try to fit in, and we strayed when we were in school. Bu after that, we realized that was the way we liked to play music. So I got back to my roots.

You can't really appreciate something until you walk away from it, look back at it, and put it in perspective.

Exactly! And then you associate yourself with people who like it as well, and you don't feel so left out. In high school, there wasn't that many people who listened to Country music, so we kind of ignored it. But when we found a local scene that appreciated it, I felt proud of it.

I don't normally think of Montreal as being a big Country-minded place, but I guess it is, isn't it?

I think it's like that in North America. Once you get out of the city, people listen to more roots-y music, more relaxed music. I dunno, I think it's true in the States as well, when you live in the city, it's big and it offers more and you kind of stray away from Country. Once you leave the city, you realize that a lot of people listen to Country, and that's why I think my parents grew up on it, too.

Oh yeah, I can relate. I'm from a small town in Texas, and when I went off to college in the big city, people treated me like I was a hick from the backwater, and I guess I was, to some extent. But I found pride in that.

Definitely. And that's what helps you make great friends and makes you the person you are in the city if you're from a small place. I wasn't scared to talk about my feelings and I was really proud of my background, and I was confident as well. At that point, it made it a lot easier to make friends when I did come to the big city.

Is Wandering Eyes your first official album, or have you recorded and released music before?

I have another recording that is four songs long. It was done more acoustically, with stand-up bass, pedal steel, mandolin, and guitar. It has more of a bluegrass/roots feel to it; the songs are much more stripped down. Then I just wanted to do something different. I had a lot of songs that I felt needed a different arrangement and those songs became Wandering Eyes.

How was the experience of making Wandering Eyes?

It was great! It's always a little weird when you start something different, you don't know what to expect, and you just kind of hope for the best. I was working with good people, so I had that, at least. I put my trust in the musicians; at least the product had to come out decent, because I believed in the people I was playing with. But I knew I was going to get something different than what I had expected. My goal was to get something that was more "alt-country," but I think it ended up being a little more rock than I expected. But I'm still very happy with it; they're still the songs that I wrote and they come across well, too.

There are two songs on Wandering Eyes that I just really, really enjoy, that I always go back to.

Oh yeah? Which ones?

"Heartbeat" and "Wandering Eyes." It's hard to get to the rest of the album because of those two really great tracks at the beginning!

(Laughs) Oh, thanks! It's always nice to hear what people get attracted to, because it's always a different one for everybody. It makes it special.

I've shared your music with others, and all of them seem to pick up on a Lucinda Williams influence.

(Laughs) Yeah, it's hard to get away from that! I listened to a lot of Lucinda Williams when I was young, and I found it easier to sing in that style of Country. When you listen to female Country singers, you have the Alison Krauss style, the more high-pitched voice, and you have those who can sing with a more relaxed voice, a lower-ranged voice, and I found it a lot easier to sing like that. Even in songwriting, I find it easier to kind of sit back and lazily sing a song, rather than putting my tonsils into it. (Laughs) But it was also a matter of technique, too. It was a lot simpler, and I don't think it'll always be that way. I don't think all my songs sound like Lucinda Williams (They don't—ed.) I can see how some people would definitely hear that in some songs, though.

Another act I tell people you remind me of is The Judds...

(Curious) Hmmm….really? (Laughs)

I take it that's something you weren't expecting to hear? (Laugh)

Not at all! But let me tell ya, I probably sang their song "Grandpa" in front of my family, like, 250 times, growing up! (Embarrassed, laughing)

Yeah, now that you mention it, I can hear that song's style in Wandering Eyes.

Really?!? Wow.

It's nothing really overt, but more of that style of music, like you said, a relaxed style.

My dad's favorite singer was George Jones, and my brother and I went through a lot of that growing up. Initially, we'd joke around and try to imitate George Jones, singing really whiny and with all the words attached. It kind of sounds like you're a little drunk when you're singing like that, which might be the case with him! (Laughs) But we've always liked singing in that style and it's hard to take it out once you've learned it a certain way.

One other thing that was shocking about your record is that it was released on Thrill Jockey. How did you meet up with them?

Through Howard Bilerman. I worked with him, he was the drummer at the time, and he recorded my first demo and Wandering Eyes. He helped me a lot. He supported me and gave me direction when it came to working with labels. He was very fond of more independent labels. Once the album was done, he sent a couple out to labels he preferred, and I sent them out to labels I preferred as well. Some of them were kind of big, like Lost Highway. Finally, Thrill Jockey came back and said, "We love the album!" I liked the label, so I signed with them.

When I think of their roster, I wouldn't envision them having a more Modern Country-ish singer.

Yeah, we're definitely a bit of a black sheep on the label.

But it works to your benefit, at least in theory. If you were to sign to a Country label, you'd just be another Country musician.

Yeah, and I'd be wearing lipstick, too! (Laughs) I don't like wearing it.

Umm...

Did I throw you off? (Laughs)

Nah. (Laugh) There's no real difference between Modern Country singers and pop singers like Britney Spears.

Well, that’s the thing, that's what I find, too. I think some of them are great singers, people like Faith Hill, but they definitely have a pop sound, and it's really hard to distinguish. If it wasn't for the pedal steel in the background, I don't think I'd be able to differentiate. I'm not sure I would put myself in the "New Country" tag, though.

It's just nice to hear somebody doing something that's really real. When you grow up listening to a particular genre or style of music, it becomes rather easy to discern when someone's just not really being true to a sound, and are using it more as an affectation.

If you can, allow yourself to just stay away from certain things. I don't think I've ever watched CMT or listened to any of the Country stations here. I know it's there, but when it's time to write my own songs, I try to avoid those things, because I don't want my music to sound like that. I disassociate with the Canadian Country music scene as well, because it's becoming more and more like that. I just stick to my old vinyl records I have here, or my old CD's, and I listen to that. Besides, it's better music, you know? (laughs)

Angela Desveaux's debut album, Wandering Eyes, is available now on Thrill Jockey

Evangelicals

2006-10-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

We've had a thing for Evangelicals ever since we heard that wonderful debut album of theirs, So Gone. What we wrote about it a few months ago still sums it up best. It's a record that gets a lot of play in my stereo. Hot on the heels of a busy fall, we had a few minutes to kill with Evangelicals leader Josh Jones, who let us know all about what was going on with the band.

Getting ready for tour?

Uh, I probably should be, shouldn't I? (Laughs) But I usually save that time for the day before.

How are things with Evangelicals these days?

Oh, they're good. It's really, really busy for us this fall. The way we've got it mapped out, when we're not touring, we're recording, so I have to flip back between the two modes. It's been really busy, but that's a good thing, being busy with something you love, right? It beats being busy doing something you hate.

So are you just touring the US, or are you going to Europe?

Well, the closest we're getting to Europe is Montreal. (Laughs) I wish we were going to Europe. Maybe some time in the future, but nothing is planned for Europe right now.

You mentioned that you're about to start recording. I understand your debut was pretty much you working by yourself.

Yeah, a lot of that is true. A lot of that stuff was done...you know they say you have your entire lifetime to make your first record and a year to make your second, and in a lot of ways, that's true. A lot of the record was me recording songs, hoping and wishing for a band that didn't exist yet. I took the Field of Dreams message to heart when making the record, "If you record it, the band will come…" (Laughs)

Talking about recording, how do you think your new music will be different, now that Evangelicals is actually a band, as opposed to you simply writing and recording songs under the name Evangelicals?

I think it is a little more focused. When you're working by yourself, you can sort of trip off, and no one is there to reign you in. When making the first record, I was thinking, "Fuck it, maybe this stuff will never be played live, so let's forget about worrying about that part." In the back of my mind, there's a little bit of a sense of "Okay, it would be nice if we could play this live…" So I think it's a little more focused this time, but I think it sounds a lot more like a real band in some ways.

So will you be performing a lot of new material on this upcoming tour?

Yeah, we've been playing one new song from the record, one called "Skeleton Man." I think we'll probably have one or two more songs we'll work into the tour. For us, though, all of the songs we're playing are from the first record. They're like ten years old to me, but brand new to everybody else. I sometimes forget that people in New York City haven't heard these songs before.

With the material you're working on now with the rest of the band, will we see more of an input from the other members, in terms of writing and performance?

Yeah. A lot of it is still me sitting in front of a computer. That's the nature of the equipment we have; we don't have a studio, we don't go into studios, we have our own. So a lot of it is still me sitting at a computer, so the nature of that makes it hard to be collaborative. It's hard for two people who sit at a computer to be like, "uh, make that edit" or "Stop this part here." In that sense, at the end of the day, it's still the same. But as far as arrangements and the writing, it's definitely been more of a band effort.

I'm sure that takes the pressure off of you a little bit?

Yeah, it does! It's nice, but if people say, "man, the new record sucks," I'll say, "hey man, it wasn't MY fault!" (Laughs) Nah, that's not the case, we're all a part of it. But yeah, there's something really nice about having a band.

You guys befriended me on Myspace before I had a chance to hear your music, and when I did, I thought, "Man, these guys make some really nice indie-pop." And then Sean, the other mastermind behind Mundane Sounds, informed me that he saw you live and bought your CD, and when I described your music to him, he said "That's not how they sound live at all." He wanted me to ask you how you reconcile your tricky, cut-up production styles on the album with your live show.

Hmm…a lot of that stuff, due to modern recording, you can't do a lot of that stuff live without backing tracks, playing to prerecorded music. We've never wanted to play to pre-recorded music mainly because we like the elements of chaos in the live show, so what we feel like whatever we have to sacrifice to play live, whatever we play from the record that we can't play, instead of remaining true, we try to make up for it with some sort of controlled chaos on stage. Definitely, the live show is a lot more pummeling than the album, yeah. We try to make it sound like the record, but I don't know what we would have to do, other than get two or three other members in order to do that. But it's so cheap to have three members in a band, it makes sense. (Laughs)

Considering the contrast between your live act and your record, does it sometimes feel as if Evangelicals is a bit of a schizophrenic band?

When the record was being made, I had never performed that stuff live before, so definitely the live element had no influence on us in terms of recording until recently. That had never had an influence until we started playing live as a band, and then when we became a band, we started to play a shit-ton of shows right off the bat, so I think it's definitely influenced us onw. I think one of the things I've learned from making this first record and then going out and playing our record live is that what works on a record doesn't work live and what works live doesn't work on record. I think a lot of times it's that element that makes you change your songs when it's time to make your record. When you're playing live, it's much more immediate, and when you play live, you can do three-minute instrumental breakdowns that are awesome and leave people blown away, but then when you throw that shit on a record, people get bored with it rather quickly and move on to the next song. I think it's cool to have different elements like that, when bands come from two different places like that.

With this album you're working on now, do you notice a definite difference in the style of your compositions? Are they less "all over the place"? When I described your record, I said it sounded like a band that's on the verge of falling apart, but within the realm of that, it was really exciting, and then when you started singing these really sugary-sweet vocals, it all just worked. Obviously since you are doing a lot more live, do you think that element comes into play a lot more now with the songs you're working on—do you notice a difference?

I notice that difference, yeah. The way you described the record as almost falling apart is pretty accurate. That record's also been described as "the sound of the Shins having a band fight." I like that! I like that element of chaos. The new record sounds like that, except more focused. (Laughs) I've been listening to Rocky Horror Picture Show a lot, and a lot of early to mid 70s glam, so I think the new record is definitely going to have a more theatrical element to it.

Do you think that those who have heard the first record, when they hear your new record, will think, "Wow, is this the same band?" Would you say that it's a radical change?

Oh yeah, yeah. I think it's pretty different. Obviously it is the same guys writing the songs, so it still sounds similar in that regard. In between these two records, I've saturated myself with a lot of music and I've tried to focus a lot more on writing. I think it's going to be different. Now if you're asking if you think it'll be like, "Oh man, what happened to these guys?" I don't think that will be the case, because I don't think many people have bought the first record! (Laughs) I'm not too concerned about ditching or losing our old-school Evangelicals fans, because I don't know how many of them there actually are—my mom, maybe! (Laughs)

You're going out on tour with Serena Maneesh and Wovenhand, and that's a pretty diverse bill. On one hand, you have this loud noise band, and the other you have dark, gothy country-folk. I think it's a great bill.

I agree, I think it's a pretty cool lineup, too. We'll see. Sometimes I feel like we're the hyperactive little brothers of some of these more serious bands, so we'll see how the crowds take to us. I think it'll be fun.

Being from Oklahoma, how do you feel about those comparisons to Flaming Lips?

Well, ya know, unless we were making hard-core gangsta rap, or if we were Toby Keith or something, I think we're always going to get those comparisons. The Starlight Mints were labeled that way from day one and I don’t think they sound anything like Flaming Lips. But I think it's pretty cool, actually, when people say "Oh, these guys sound like the Flaming Lips" and "wow, these guys sound like the Starlight Mints." It helps to build a musical legacy for Oklahoma, and maybe it's some reason for people to come here and make Norman, Oklahoma a better place. People come here and think, "oh shit, the Flaming Lips" and "oh shit, the Starlight Mints" and start to think, for some odd reason, that it's a really weird place with really cool music going on, and that's a good thing. I think I went to my first Flaming Lips show when I was twelve, and at that age, getting your mind blown, it's great. And it's cool, too, to have your favorite bands to be living just down the street. I think it's extremely flattering—I can see where some bands might be annoyed by those kinds of comparisons to a more popular band, but, for me, I think it's kind of fun. And, ya know, I think it's kind of inevitable and it comes along with the territory.

Since the comparisons have been made in the press, have you had any feedback from the Flaming Lips about what you do?

Oh yeah! Those guys are my friends, and I don't know if they've read things that say such things, but they have seen us play and are aware of what we do, and what goes on. We're playing a show with them in September. I think they have an idea about us. (Laughs)

So do you have an idea about as to when the new record will be out?

We're trying to have it out by next summer. It's a very fall-sounding record. When I say Rocky Horror Picture Show, a lot of it is about weird ghosts, monsters, and nightmares, so that by the time the fall rolls around people will have heard the record and will be ready for it. We're trying to make the ultimate fall record over here.

Evangelicals' debut record, So Gone, is available now on Misra Records

Sprites

2006-10-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's nice to have a new record by Sprites. For years, Jason Korzen has written some wonderful (and wonderfully funny) songs, both as Sprites and Barcelona, and their latest record, Modern Gameplay is no exception. It's a fun, funny record full of new-wave inspired pop songs about life and popular culture. From songs about unloved blogs to songs about wonderfully zealous and enthusiastic indie-pop girls from New York City, regardless of what he's singing about, he's sure to put a smile on your face and a little warmth in your soul.

Do you consider yourself more of a songwriter or a cultural critic who simply likes to set his findings and his opinions to music?

A songwriter, I guess. Maybe a very self interested lyricist? I was really nervous turning this last Sprites record in to the record label, more than anything else I've done. Its like 17 songs written for my own entertainment. I was unsure if anybody else would be interested.

"I Started A Blog..." -- an innocent commentary, or an ironic yet
masterful manipulation leading to blogger reaction? Or is it simply a true story?

No, the song is true. I was looking at this blog I had been working on for like a year, posting on nearly every day and the song title came to me. All of the posting and cross posting that has happened with that song has been pretty hilarious. I didn't write it as some kind of marketing idea, but I shouldn't have been surprised by it.

Little Shirley--that's a name I haven't heard in years! Tell me a funny Little Shirley story. And what did you make on the Indiepop Quiz?

I got a really high score on the quiz. I should be embarrassed at how high. I'm sure my score has sunk considerably since then. Shirley is awesome. She was just this precocious fifteen year old with great taste in music when I first met her. Its funny that I still see her periodically, and I'm always compelled to ask if she's 18 yet. I imagine at some point she will be really, really famous.

Do you find it easier to write a song that's extremely personal, or one that's less personal yet more universial in nature?

I'm not sure if it is easier or not, but for me it's a lot more gratifying. I feel like I'm writing about things that are uniquely me and introducing myself to strangers. Its kind of like blogging in a way, only I'm better at it.

So what other blogs do you read?

I like political blogs mostly. I give them credit for making politics interesting to me. There are a few mp3 blogs that I like too.

How's the DC-area Indiepop scene doing in 2006? Any great bands you'd care to share with us?

Kind of quiet at the moment. It seems like a few years ago everybody simultaneously stopped playing in indiepop bands and became DJs. I'm still big on the Antiques here in DC. My friend Ivan's band the Positions are really good and make me feel guilty because they work a million times harder at it than I do.

What do you have planned next?

I don't really know. I am working on two film projects this fall and doing a bunch of remix work. I have a ton of new lyrics written, so I wouldn't be surprised if I get interested in working on new Sprites tracks during the winter when life is more quiet. I haven't had much interest in playing live lately.

The Sprites' new album, Modern Gameplay, is available now on Darla Records

Brothers & Sisters

2006-10-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Austin, Texas' Brothers and Sisters remind me of a lot of great bands: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Whiskeytown, Beachwood Sparks, and even a little bit of the Grateful Dead. But that's not a bad thing; this country-rock collective make some seriously good music. Their debut album is merely the beginning for these folk-loving folk, and we were happy to get the chance to speak to Brother Will Courtney, the mastermind behind the band, shortly after he completed the band's first West Coast tour. His tale is an interesting one, and if you get a chance to see them on tour, I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you'd come and see them live.

How are you doing?

I'm great! We just got back from tour yesterday, so I'm kinda recovering today.

Catching up on your sleep?

Yeah. (Laughs)

How was the tour?

It was great, man! It was our first time going out as a band to the West Coast.

Who did you tour with?

It was just us, doing our own thing, playing with the bands they put us with. It was very low key, a little tour before the record release.

Did you have a good crowd response?

Yeah! (Excited) There were some really good shows, like our show in LA at the Echo; that one went incredibly well.

Was Conrad with you?

No, he's in New York right now; he'll be here in a couple of days, but he's in New York this summer. So he couldn't come out with us.

Do you think people came out to see you because of him? There's been a little bit of a spin that Brothers & Sisters is a side project for Conrad Keely…

(Laughs) I actually had a couple of people say, "Hey, you know, somebody here tonight said Conrad is in the band…where is he?" I haven't really felt that at all, but yeah, it could be the way some kids are feeling, but for the most part, no. It's mainly been people who've heard our stuff on the internet and they'll show up. Some people are surprised Conrad's even in it. He's kind of like our eighth member! (Laughs)

So he's more of an auxiliary member in the band?

Yeah. He was living down the street until a few months ago, so it was really easy. Now he's in New York, but we're going to be touring together, and he'll be playing on all of those shows. Whenever he's in town, he'll play. I hope he doesn't live in New York forever.

I don't want to give the impression that I think of you as a …Trail of Dead side project.

Yeah, we're definitely not. (Laugh)

So, how did the band get together?

I was actually living in LA, and I moved to Austin last year. I wanted to start a band with my sister, and we were going to call it Brother & Sister, because hey, that's what we call each other. But then when I started making the record last summer, I started to realize it was going to take a lot more people, so I put out some Craig's List ads for band members. I found a drummer through there, and it led to the domino effect, and we found our people.

You come from a musical family, and it seems your family was geared towards the Contemporary Christian market…

Well, I'd say more gospel than Contemporary Christian, because my mom has been completely shunned from Christian radio, and she's definitely not what you would consider a Contemporary Christian artist. She leans towards Tom Waits, Stephen Sondheim—more dramatic and theatrical kinds of performers. Like, she'll often sing Tom Waits songs in concert.

Wow! That's cool.

Yeah, she's really cool. (Laughs)

So, growing up, was there an idea that you and your sister would be following in your parents' footsteps, making music?

I started singing in boys' choirs and I recorded for children's records when I was a kid. Me and my sister, we listened to the same music. We're two years apart, but we're really close; we've got the same taste in music, so growing up we were always listening to that kind of music, but I was always leaning towards making music. It wasn't until a few years ago that she got interested, and I really insisted that she do a band with me—I almost forced her into it. But I'm glad she chose to do this with me.

Were you in other bands before Brothers & Sisters?

Well, I'd call them more "projects" than bands. In LA, I'd play shows solo, and I was working with a lot of really great musicians. But they were in other, bigger bands, and it was more that we were making demos. I lived in Austin years ago, and I had bands here, but Brothers & Sisters is the most real, most serious band out of anything I've done.

There's obviously a country-rock element to your music. Coming from LA, how much of that LA sound influences what you do?

Yeah, there's definitely the California sound that I'm heavily influenced by. Bands like the Millennium, Association, the Beach Boys—a lot of 60s harmonies bands, like the Byrds, the Band, Neil Young. I'm also into people like Randy Newman and Jimmy Webb. My parents, too--my dad is a songwriter and my mom is a singer, so being raised by musicians, we had access to some really good records and artists growing up.

Are they supportive of the music you make?

Oh, absolutely. They're our number one fans! (Laugh) They've done everything they can to help us out.

I know some parents in the music business or parents who have a higher profile tend to want their kids to avoid the industry. Were your parents of the "Don't go into the music industry!" mindset, or were they much more supportive as you started making music?

I have been warned all my life about how evil this industry is! (Laughs) I've chosen to do it. I've been raised around it, and I'm aware of all the bullshit. I don't put up with it and I try to stay as far away from it as much as I can. We're putting out our record on our own label and trying to do everything we can on our own before we even begin to consider record deals. Certainly we talk to labels about money and the things they have to offer, but they just don't interest me. I'd rather take it on in my own way, to avoid that bullshit.

How has the response been to the band around Austin?

Oh, it's been incredible, man. We sold out our record release party, and there was an hour wait to get in to see it, and it's weird, man. It's all happened really, really quickly. We started playing only last fall, and we've just been fortunate to have really big crowds. I don't know if that's from the bands we are playing with or what, I dunno. They're playing us on the college radio here, and it's been getting a lot of good response.

How many are in the band right now?

There's eight, if you count Conrad, but most of the time it's usually seven.

Is it difficult managing a band of that size?

Going out on this road was kind of a test to see how being out together for over two weeks would work and it wasn't hard at all. I tried my best to get a bunch of people who aren't pretentious egomaniacs, just people who would be honest, laidback, and cool. I feel like people who grew up listening to or appreciating the music we do are probably going to be on that same kind of wavelength. We kind of got a whole bunch of laid-back people, so it was real easy to do and everyone's been easygoing about it, so touring hasn't been too difficult.

You said a moment ago that when you put together this band, you realized that you would need more than just you and your sister, and then you stated that you grew up performing in choirs. So would you say that from an early age you were trained to think that when you write music, you do so for a large ensemble or combination that's more than just your standard guitar/bass/drums arrangement?

Harmonies have always been what I have responded to and worked with all of my life. The first show I went to see was a Beach Boys concert when I was six. Bands like that, those Sixties harmonies-based bands had an influence, and the boys' choir was training for me in hearing all those different parts. So when I'm playing music, I usually hear those harmonies in my head. Lily and I initially were going to do a duet-based sort of thing, but I really love three- and four-part harmonies, so we had to have another band. On the record, a lot of it is me stacking my voice, but now we can sing it all together.

So what's next for you guys?

We're going to do this big tour with Blood Brothers and Trail of Dead. We'll be touring for six weeks across America and into Canada, and then we'll be starting on the new record. We're probably going to tour in February and March. But I've written so many songs lately, I've got three albums ready, so now we've got to start putting it on tape. I'm ready, and we are all very anxious to do that. Unfortunately, I've been sitting on this record for a year and it's just now coming out in October, so it's new to most people outside of this immediate area. So we're going to have to tour it for a little while, but we're definitely ready to start recording.

Would you say that this record that it's a true, full 'band' record, or is it simply an extension of your solo projects, with songs already written and the band simply coming in and fulfilling your needs for the songs?

If you listen to us live, you can see a huge change. We're playing the same songs, but there's definitely more of a band feel to our music now. We hang out together, we practice all the time, we're doing all of these things together, so it's evolved into more of a band than what was on the record. On the album, often times it's just me and a couple of friends playing on it. Now, and for the next album, it's much more of a band. I'd written the songs on this record back in LA, way before I even knew these guys.

If there was a criticism I had, a few times it felt stiff, but it makes sense now, after hearing you describe the background of making it.

Yeah, I agree. I listened to it and I have so many critiques of my own, but then again I did it all in six days! (Laughs) I did it really quickly, and I did everything I could for the money I had and the time I had. I wish I'd had the band to do more on there.

So tell me a little bit about the band.

We've got Dan Wilcox, who plays lead guitar and pedal steel. He's great. He was introduced to me by our drummer, who we met on Craig's List, Greg McArthur. They were friends back in Asheville, so they're a really great team to work with. James Olson is the other guitar player, and he sings with us, and he's the one who introduced us to Conrad. They were friends growing up in Hawaii; they've known each other a long time, and he introduced us to our bass player, Dave Morgan. He's definitely got this McCartney/Rick Danko style that I'm simply crazy about, and I'm glad we have him now. Then there are the girls, my sister and Marie Butcher, and they definitely round out the sound and the harmonies.

Has this new combination done any recording?

We actually cut a song in LA last week, and we've done some radio shows that have turned out pretty well. We've got some live versions of new songs, too. But our first actual recording session together was this past week. And on "Sunday Living" and "One Night," those two songs have most of the band on them; everybody except the bass player is on those songs.

To me, those are the two best songs on the record.

(Excited) I know! Aren't they great? You can definitely feel the energy on them.

Were they written as a band?

No, I'd written those. They were kind of left over, but after we started working on the record I decided at the last minute that we should go back and cut those songs. We learned those songs, we practiced them for a week or so, then we went up and did it.

In the future, will we be seeing any other members taking the lead on singing and songwriting?

James has been singing a little bit, and we've done a couple of his songs, but we're not real sure what will be on this next record. I'd love to hear my sister sing some songs, too. I'm going to encourage her to do that, so we'll see.

Good luck with your tour, have fun out there, and I look forward to hearing more from you guys!

Thanks, man!

Brothers & Sisters' self-titled debut record is out now on I Eat Records.

Neil Hamburger

2006-10-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

What can I say about Neil Hamburger that hasn't been said about Mother Teresa? If you do not know who Neil Hamburger is, then I feel sorry for you, even though, you know, I wouldn't really be surprised if you don't. But it's not his loss, it's yours. You see, Neil Hamburger is perhaps the best comedian in the business these days, and though he's had to fight adversity and had to sow a lonely row for well over a decade, it hasn't stopped him from giving his all and becoming the best Neil Hamburger that the world has ever known. I love this man's work, I really, really do. I'm seriously flattered that Mr. Hamburger would sink deeper in debt by calling me Long Distance to talk to me, but that's just the sort of man Mr. Hamburger is. I am extremely proud of the following conversation. I now know what Barbra Walters feels like after she's interviewed someone. Except Mr. Hamburger is not one of those Hollywood deviants or perverts like Mrs. Walters likes to interview. He is a good man.

God bless you, Neil Hamburger. God Bless You!

Hello?

Hello, is Joseph there?

Yes. Neil Hamburger, I presume?

That is correct!

And how are you this fine afternoon?

Well, you know, I've done better, but we're hoping the rest of the day gets better, you know what I'm saying?

Hey, the way I see it, if you wake up in the morning, you're doing all right.

You're certainly right about that! A lot of folks haven't been waking up lately, and the obituaries are filled with that information, and that's the kind of publicity you really don't want in this business.

I am happy and more than a little bit honored to be speaking to you this afternoon.

(Flattered) Thank you, sir!

Thank you for speaking with me.

I have a lot of time for this sort of thing, believe me.

Interestingly enough, I just discovered today, as a matter of fact, that you are undertaking a new adventure that will lead you to be on my side of the interview session, on a television show on this thing they call the Internet.

Yeah, we are dipping our feet in that to try to get something going. You can't just sit still in this day and age, or, you know, they throw you in the pile of "used-to be's" and washed-up acts. You know what I mean? You gotta move forward. You gotta come up with something new. So we've got a new Internet television show, "Poolside Chats with Neil Hamburger." We're hoping it sets the Internet world on fire.

I think you did quite well, in the face of such glaring unprofessionalism, on the episode I saw.

Well, I hate to say it, but I probably added a little to the unprofessionalism by drinking myself on camera. But, well, you know, we're doing another episode tonight, as a matter of fact, and hopefully we can get things going with this episode.

Who's your guest?

A young group from Seattle called Pleaseeasaur.

Are they a combo of nice young men, or are they secretly a bunch of deviants?

There's only a couple of them, and I think they've got their lives together. So it should be quite entertaining, as I've wanted to get them on the show ever since the show started…last week, that is…so we're able to get that going. Then I'm off to do some shows overseas, so this will be the last broadcast for a while.

Hopefully things will go well. There was a long weekend for people to rest, recover, relax, and get ready for the show, and hopefully they'll be on their toes.

I hope so. You know, you just don't want to have any more failures when you've got a long list of past failures, you know?

It's not easy being the World's Funnyman, is it?

No, it isn't. With these sorts of titles, you think, "wow, he's the World's Funnyman, what a life that must be!" The sad fact is, it's just a title that we claimed; it's like unclaimed mail. Nobody bestowed this on me, I just clamed it because it was unused. Unwanted. So, in fact, there's no payment. You don't get a check every month for being the World's Funnyman. Instead, you get bills. SO that's a tough thing. But, you know, we'll probably discard that title eventually. It was mainly a gimmick to sell these DVD's and to keep the record label from going into bankruptcy.

Yeah, but the same time, even though there's that thing about claiming it as your own, in my humble opinion, there seems to be a little truth to that claim, and that's what I was surprised to see. You were really winning over audiences in Canada and Australia, even though you had some problems with malcontents and drunken teenagers. Considering the acclaim from your show, your television show and appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, I think the title might actually be well-earned.

Well, I tell you what, we certainly like to hear that. We've taken this act on the road internationally in the hopes of possibly building up a small fan base. To a certain extent, it's worked. This is not quite on the level of a Carrot Top, where the man has a mansion on a hill. This is not on the level of a Dane Cook, or on the level of one of those guys who comes out on stage and urinates in a cup and the audience goes wild. I still have to rely on jokes and on putting on a great show, and hopefully, at some point, I would get out of this miniscule existence that I'm living, and I'll actually have a home, and have a car that works properly, so I wouldn't have so many show cancellations due to breakdowns. Maybe I'll get married again, have some companionship or some sort of friendships, like normal people have. Seek some medical attention for some problems I have—that is the sort of lifestyle I'd love to reach, and hopefully these shows overseas are one step down that road.

How did you come to the decision that you wanted to spend your life making people laugh?

Well, I had no choice, you know, because I have no other skill. Some would say this isn't a skill, that I don't have this skill, either. I would say maybe so, but you ought to see my brain surgery. You ought to see how well I do as a train conductor. You should see how terrible I do behind the counter of a rental car agency. Then you'll see how this is my only calling in life.

I personally think you do quite well.

Well, thank you, sir, because that is the kind of comment that really—when you're standing at the edge of a cliff, saying, "Do I jump? Do I jump?" and when you think back, comments like that stick out in your brain and you turn around, go back, and do the show to six people.

When I received your DVD, I'll be honest and say I was surprised to see you were still working, because I'd assumed you'd slipped into the din of obscurity, and I apologize. But I noticed something. Your early records were more observational humor, but your material now is pretty much straightforward jokes. What prompted this change in style?

Well, you know, in this business, you have to be fresh. On the early records, I would tour year round, and nobody at all cared. You had people coming to shows, only a few, and it was a very different time for me, and it was a very different sort of act. Eventually, what happened was some of these Rock and Roll musicians started putting me on their concert bills, and suddenly, you're performing for large crowds. All of a sudden there are people coming, and we've built what they call a "cult following," by "cult" I don't mean there's a mass suicide or any funny business like that. I mean there are people who come to my shows, they buy the merchandise, and are very excitable. So when we hit that level of success—and we're not really a success, by any standard definition of the term, but to go from playing pizza parlors for six people with that style to finding out that I could perform in Rock and Roll Clubs to a hundred people, then you've got to change the act for what people want. What those kinds of people want is filth humor and the humor that has to do with the current musicians of the day, and that type of thing. So, naturally, it evolved, like any comedian who's had a career as long as mine would, you'd find a certain level of evolution. If you don't evolve, you're like Carrot Top, and it means you're successful, and you have no reason to change. In my case, we're doing everything we can to avoid financial ruin.

So is that why you went blue?

That is why we went blue. At first, I was really uncomfortable with it; I didn't have those tools in my suitcase, as you may have heard on my first of many X-Rated albums, Raw Hamburger. I was still learning the vocabulary of the filth comedian. But now, I've spent a lot of time in the sewer, and I'm ready for anything.

I always wondered about that. I'm reminded of Richard Pryor's transformation from wholesome, Cosby-style comedy to the filth toilet humor that he's most known for, and how, ironically, that change made him famous.

Yes, because among the bowel movements and spilled bodily fluids and those sorts of things, you do have room to put out the Truth, as Mr. Pryor was able to do. Look past the filth, and you'll find a deeper meaning, and for Mr. Pryor, I believe his track record backs it up. He was able to do just that, though I did not care for See No Evil, Hear No Evil.

That was a poor business decision on his part.

It wasn't so good. I have to admit, though, if I got a call today saying, "Look, Mr. Pryor has passed on, See No Evil, Hear No Evil 2 is being made, and we'd like you to be in it," I'd probably say yes at this point, because we're trying to get any sort of income to match the title "World's Funnyman," and, of course, the fans and the journalists, who thankfully pay attention at this point.

You talk about bringing the truth to a matter of subjects. You're very brave, taking on the Hollywood elite and the powerful actors and actresses found there. Have you had any feedback from any of these people, legally or threatening towards you? I'd imagine some of these people would get rather angry with some of the things you have to say about them.

Well, they do, but I think most of these people are sitting in their mansions, in their hot tubs, and they're fuming as their servants bring them their champagne and caviar, and they're cursing, saying, "That damn Neil Hamburger, how can he say that?" as they have their seven-course dinner and get in their limousine to go to their private plane, and usually by the time the plane takes off for Monte Carlo, usually they've forgotten all about me and are thinking about the better things they have in their lives.

Plus, that's where their deviated lifestyles and illicit drug use come to your benefit.

Exactly! These people are so screwed up that they can't touch their nose with their own hand. SO, they're going to get a lawsuit going? Of course, you don't want to bring suit against somebody for something that might turn out to be true. If you bring a libel suit and then it's proven in court that you are, indeed, a degenerate, then it only makes it worse for you.

Another thing I enjoyed on your DVD is your music video, as well as the clip of you performing another song. Others may disagree with me, but I happen to think those songs are really keen. Have you ever thought about releasing albums of just comedy songs?

You know, I have thought about that quite a bit, and we've had some groups, some musical groups, asking about it, but I just haven't gotten it together yet. In the future, I'd like to get something going, but even with the lack of popularity of those songs, maybe the next one would be the one that really took off. Weird Al Yankovic has been ill lately, so maybe we could pick up and carry on in his fallen shoes.

I see you as being the next Allan Sherman, perhaps.

Why not? Those men had some sort of success, and I'd like to be the next one of those.

And you deserve it.

Why, thank you! This is exhausting work. I can't tell you all of the physical and mental ailments and emotional pain I have been through to make people laugh. It's too bad one has to make a sacrifice for the good of the many, but that's the way it is.

I think the world's catching on. Don't you?

Well, we can only hope. I tell you, when I've got enough money to get my things away from the storage locker, who seized them for non-payment, then I'll know I'm on the right track.

Whatever happened to Art Huckman, or is that a sore subject?

Well, it's a sore subject, but I can tell you he's not managing acts any more. He's got this business, ironically, working with storage lockers. He also purchases off the estates from deceased celebrities, but not the good, quality stuff. For instance, when Henry Fonda dies, everyone is going to want to get a hold of his Oscars and other mementos from his career.

I thought he was already dead?

Well, I mean, when he died. I'm saying that when celebrities die, people want to get the mementos from a great career in show business. These things get auctioned off and are priceless; some of them end up in the Smithsonian or that sort of thing. What Art realized, and correctly so, is that the Average Henry Fonda fan could not afford to buy one of his fine-tailored suits or one of his many awards, or other nice mementos from a great career in show business. On the other hand, what they could afford, which up until the point where Art stepped in, was being thrown away, and was the crappier things from around the house, such as the food that was in the fridge when he died. So you've got Art selling off a thing of Yoplait yogurt that was in Henry Fonda's fridge at the time of his death. These aren't big amounts of money you are fetching, but you can get the contents from a fridge of a dead celebrity for very, very cheap. Art's getting this stuff for practically nothing, selling it off egg by egg, as was the case of Jack Warden. Remember him? Beloved actor, and when he died, he left a dozen and half eggs, and Art was selling them off for ten dollars an egg. We're also talking about things like the content of a sock drawer. Who wouldn't like to own the sock of a beloved deceased celebrity? Normally, these things don't come on the market, but that's what Art does—he buys and sells this sort of stuff, and I believe he is making a good living at it.

It sounds like a mixture of something that's utterly disturbing, creepy, yet impressively genius to come up with.

Very much so, very much so. That's Art.

You make the world laugh, but what makes Neil Hamburger laugh?

Well, I would laugh at my competitors if they fell into large holes of their own. Finding out that Carrot Top lost his booking at the Luxor Hotel. Here's a guy who got signed to the Luxor Hotel for a year. He's practically a slave there. If I found out he got fired, that would make me laugh, because they're making so much money. The money that goes to Carrot Top's food budget just for one night is probably what I make for a whole year.

So what's next for you? I know you've got the tour, the DVD, and the TV Series. What else have you got planned for the excitable Neil Hamburger Fan?

Isn't that enough? Geez. We've got the DVD, which is supposedly out now, and of course the TV series, which may or may not last forever, and then we've got an appearance in this new Tenacious D movie. While it may only be a five or ten second spot, hey, you know, I'll take it! I'll take it!

You don't want to turn anything down. Could be your big break!

Yeah, movies last forever, on planes and things. It's exposure, plus it's a very funny movie. I'm very excited to be a part of it, and I'd wish they'd hurry up and release it!

What's it called?

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. It stars Meat Loaf, Jack Black, and all kinds of celebrities, so it's an honor just to be asked to participate. I only hope it leads to further movies, because, you know, that's where the money is. You don't make money playing pizza parlors in Paso Robles.

I've been to Paso Robles. It's a rough town.

It's not a nice place. I hesitate to say that, because I've been doing Monday night pizza parlor shows there for many, many years.

So it's an oasis from the evils from the outside world.

Well, it's all I have. But wow, I'm telling you, like you've noticed, things are picking up. We've got these bands that are bringing me on the road to the music clubs. The big payment is coming min, but at least I'm getting a few more laughs, and it feels great!

I'm sure that looking out and seeing someone laughing at your jokes, even if it might not pay the bills, brings a warm sense of satisfaction to you.

It does, because it's what I'm here for.

I have one last question, and this is a joke I came up with, and I can't quite come up with a satisfactory punch line for it, but I think you're the man who can.

I'll give it my best, but I can't promise much. I'm not really quick on my toes.

"Why did Neil Hamburger cross the road?"

(Groans) Oh boy. (Sigh) To get in line at the welfare office.

(Laugh)Thaaaaaat's your life?

(Resigned) I wouldn't say it's the funniest joke line I have, but it is the most accurate one I've ever had. Hopefully next year, when we do our one-year anniversary of this interview, when you ask me that question I can say "Well, he didn't cross the road, his chauffeur drove him across the road, just like Carrot Top!"

You know what? I hope so.

I hope so, too, because it's dangerous crossing the road, with cars going right at you. To be in a position of a Carrot Top, I'd be safe. It's dangerous out there.

Even the bridges put across for pedestrians are controlled by gangs, and it's more dangerous trying to cross them than if you'd simply try to cross the road!

There are lots of pitfalls to life these days, I have to say.

You just have to keep on keepin' on, and not think about it.

You have to do the best you can do.

You look for the one little bright spot in the day and you let that shine throughout the rest, and you'll do all right.

(Impressed) That is good advice, sir, and I hope you put that in the interview with bold-faced type!

I'll definitely do that for you, Sir. A good afternoon to you, Mr. Hamburger, it has been an honor and a pleasure.

I hope to see you on the road some time soon. I do appreciate the kind words!

Neil Hamburger's brilliant concert DVD, The World's Funnyman is available now on Drag City.