Posts filed under ‘Interviews’
YEAR END LISTS: ARTIST’S EDITION
SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN (Phil Dickey)
1. New Monsters Collective- Spaceland
2. The ACB’s – Stona Rosa
3. Nerves Junior-As Bright As Your Neon Light
4. Double Wedding
5. The North Decade- What You’d Give Up Tomorrow You’ll Pay For Today
6. Telekinesis- 12 Desperate Straight Lines
7. Lonely Forest- Arrows
8. Ha HA Tonka- Death of a Decade
9. Yellow Ostrich- The Mistress
10. Dolfish- Your Love is Bumming Me Out
(#4 is a song I recorded with some 3rd graders at an elementary school songwriting camp)
Best thing that happened to you in 2011:
I went to the dentist for the first time since 9/11/2001 and the Pujols trade.
What you’re looking forward to in 2012:
Free Energy
Dragon Inn 3 (my nu thang)
Ghoul School (a new movie by Brook Linder)
Truth and Justice for the 3 missing women
When Vitamin Water buys out Pitchfork and Yeltsin headlines VitaminWaterFest
Best Holiday memory from when you were a kid:
I got a dope David and Goliath action figure set one year.
THE SPINTO BAND
Music We Liked From This Year:
Mike Quinn – Magico
Key Losers - California Lite
Generationals – Actor Castor
Langor - Ladyblade
They Might Be Giants – Spoiler Alert
Music we liked this year that came out in another year:
Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Al Green – Tired of Being Alone
Sybylle Baier – Tonight
Raymond Scott – Soothing Sounds for Baby
John Prine - In Spite of Ourselves
The Would-Be-Goods – The Camera Loves Me
Nina Simone – Little Girl Blue
Pic-Nic - Callate Niña
Konono Nº1 – Congotronics
Billy Meshel – I Blew It
Best thing that happened to you in 2011:
I lived through 11/11/11 the last fully binary day of our lifetime (when you write out the date). also, I found out that every year 11/11 is national corduroy appreciation day. – nick
What you’re looking forward to in 2012:
Releasing our new album, Shy Pursuit and all the fun stuff that comes with that.
Best Holiday memory from when you were a kid:
Eating cookies my mom makes, some are little meringue things, others are balls that have powder sugar on em, and some are just sugar cookies. now she has started making springerle cookies…which are the best holiday cookie ever created. i’m learning how to make em this year…so that will be nice. – nick
Aaron Pfenning (Rewards, ex-Chairlift)
Top 10 songs
1. Phantogram – “Don’t Move”
2. YACHT – “I Walked Alone”
3. Blood Orange – “Champagne Coast”
4. Class Actress – “Weekend”
5. Discodeine – “Synchronized”
6. Grimes – “Oblivion”
7. Holy Ghost! – “Hold My Breath”
8. Drake – “HYFR”
9. Slowdance – “Les Reines”
10. Beyoncé – “Party”
CASEY SHEA
#1 has to be “Rolling In The Deep.” Though thanks to modern American
radio playlists, I’ve heard it so many times in the last year, I’ve
developed a strong hatred for it. But there is no denying it’s one of the
best songs in the past few years. Great production, great songwriting,
great execution….and of course, a tremendous vocal.
Bon Iver – “Holocene”
The Strokes – “Gratisfaction”
Foo Fighters – “Rope”
Tally Hall – “A Hymn For A Scarecrow”
Young The Giant – “My Body”
Noel Gallagher – “The Death Of You And Me”
Foster The People – “Pumped Up Kicks”
Beyonce – “Love On Top”
Britney Spears – “Till The World Ends”
Best thing that happened to you in 2011: Only having a few chipped teeth
as a result of diving into shallow water.
What you’re looking forward to in 2012: More touring…stateside and abroad!
Best Holiday memory from when you were a kid: In 1989, it snowed in
Florida a couple of days before Christmas. It was the first and only
white Christmas I’ve had in Florida to this day.
ARMS (Todd Goldstein)
1. Wild Beasts – Smother
I was initially suspicious of Wild Beasts’ new album – too much space, too few “songs”, the weirdness of their past albums somehow lost… but somewhere in there I fell in love. Smother is sexy and strange and immaculately produced and arranged – it’s also ineffably sad, and it’s that just-out-of-reach tone that kept me searching the sound, coming back to this album over and over again this year.
2. Nicolas Jaar – Space is Only Noise
3. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
4. Richard Buckner – Our Blood
5. Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
6. Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces
7. Robag Wruhme - Thora Vukk
8. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
9. Liturgy – Aesthethica
10. James Blake – James Blake
Best thing that happened to you in 2011: After months of work and struggle, we self-released our new album, Summer Skills. I just got a new tattoo to celebrate!
What you’re looking forward to in 2012: Touring, and writing more songs.
Best Holiday memory from when you were a kid: The absolute, all-encompassing joy I felt upon receiving Mario Bros 3 for Chanukah. I had just seen “The Wizard” with Fred Savage, and this was pretty much the best present a 10-year-old could ask for. I think I cried with joy, which is retrospect is kind of weird.
WOODEN BIRDS (Leslie Sisson)
Josh T Pearson – Last of the Country Gentlemen
Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Wye Oak – Civillian
Real Estate – Days
Telekinesis – Desperate Straight Lines
Little Light – The Winter EP
Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
St Vincent – Strange Mercy
I’ve known Josh T Pearson since I was a teenager. He’s always been an inspiration to me in music and life. The man lives and breathes every note he plays, every word he sings, every soul he swoons. I’m in awe of his talents and spirit. Instead of breaking rules, he makes new ones. Texas is the reason and Last of the Country Gentlemen is the way home.
JUKEBOX THE GHOST (Tommy Siegel)
Note: These aren’t really in any particular order (because music isn’t a competition, duh).
Deerhoof - “Deerhoof vs. Evil”….Like 2007′s ‘Friend Opportunity’, this album is tied for being Deerhoof’s most ‘produced’ sounding record, but still has its moments of chaos. If Deerhoof isn’t your favorite band on the planet yet, check out their free live record, “99% Upset Feeling” that was released as a companion piece this year (and then buy everything they’ve put out from ‘Reveille’ onward). My personal favorite band of the new millennium, and while not my favorite of theirs, “Deerhoof vs. Evil” is a stellar addition to their discography with some totally banging singles.
Delicate Steve - “Wondervisions”….An album of spastic, world-influenced guitar-led instrumentals that breathe and climax in ways that have been largely forgotten by indie rock. Some of my favorite background music ever. Wonderful ‘vibes’ (pardon the phrase) all around.
Yellowbirds - “The Color”….Sam Cohen’s debut ‘solo’ record (guitarist of Apollo Sunshine), and the results are brilliant. Great songs, wonderful guitar playing, and a sound and mood that nobody else is occupying at the moment. This album is total musical poetry to me.
TV on the Radio - “Nine Types of Light”….Great songs, great album, great band. Future music worthy of the hype.
They Might Be Giants - “Join Us”….As silly and scatterbrained as any of their early records, ‘Join Us’ managed to worm its way into my brain in ways I wasn’t expecting. “When Will You Die?” belongs on a list of top 10 songs John Linnell has ever written.
Jay Z/Kanye West - “Watch the Throne”….No explanation really necessary here.
Grateful Dead - “Europe 72, Vol. 2″….I love the Grateful Dead. Accept this as something you can’t change and move on (I know you’re angry). This album was released as a companion to “Europe ’72″, an album I’ve worn out from spinning over and over again. The hour-long Dark Star/Drums/The Other One that makes up the bulk of the second disc is hypnotic and otherworldly. And the ‘Playing’ that closes the first disc totally shreds.
Ahleuchatistas - “Location, Location”…Reduced to a duo for this record, they’ve trimmed away a lot of their old math-rock tendencies (which I also loved) and emerged with something resembling an instrumental political/noise/punk/free-jazz record. A great (and totally overlooked) record that belongs in anyone’s collection who likes adventurous and ugly guitar playing.
Fleet Foxes - “Helplessness Blues”….I didn’t love self-titled, but this album is gorgeous and imaginative. In spite of being the type of band that you could claim was heavily and directly influenced by other bands (CSNY, Simon and Garfunkel, etc etc), they’ve really created their own world on this album and I love hanging out in it.
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - “Mirror Traffic”….To put it bluntly, this album sounds like Pavement. So therefore, it’s really, really great. “Senator” is one of the funniest and best songs I’ve heard all year….And though I’d like to say only Stephen Malkmus can get away with singing a chorus with the lyric “I know what the senator wants: what the senator wants is a blowjob”, I think I’m just mad that he thought of it first.
White Denim - “D”….Between Yellowbirds, Deerhoof, Delicate Steve, and White Denim, it’s really good to hear aggressive and tasteful guitar playing. With all of the shoegazey/dreamy stuff going on, it’s incredibly refreshing to hear a band that kinda sounds like…well…Yes. Proggy and loopy, with some great guitar playing and solid songwriting. I’m a new convert to White Denim.
St. Vincent - “Strange Mercy”….I didn’t fall for it quite like ‘Actor’, but this record is still great. St. Vincent is going to be making great records for decades to come (I have a hunch), so you might as well jump on the bandwagon now.
Deleted Scenes - “Young People’s Church of the Air”….One of my friends said it best when he described the sound of this album as ‘one of the best albums you’ve ever heard playing in another room’. While their live performances are totally in-your-face indie rock a la other DC icons the Dismemberment Plan, this album is really subdued and beautiful. ‘Bedbedbedbedbed’ is such an amazing song. This album should be vastly more popular and you should buy it immediately.
Tereu Tereu - “NW EP”….’Savage Love’ is one of the sickest rock songs I’ve heard all year (in every sense of the word SICK), and the EP is great from top-to-bottom. Heavily DC-influnced, with delicious little bits of Medications, Fugazi, and D-Plan. Totally stoked for their next full-length….And NOT just because they’re my friends. I swear.
Norwegian Arms - “Trimming of Hides EP”/”Sibir EP”….Once again, another friend….But I happen to know a lot of people making great music, OK?? Analog-made freak folk with unusual percussion and tastes of what I would describe as a more spastic Neutral Milk Hotel. I WANT A FULL LENGTH ALBUM FROM YOU, BRENDAN…OK? But in the meantime, get these EPs because they’re sick.
Trawler - “Northern Star EP”….Dear friend of mine, recorded in Nashville. Old school folk music with some 60s rock influence thrown in. ‘Kill Olympia’ is unreal. I’ll wait and bestow more praise when the full-length comes out.
Honorable mentions….
The Psychic Paramount – “II”
Hella – “Tripper”
Tuneyards – “Whokill”
Cave – “Neverendless”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – “It’s a Corporate World”
Traffique – “Endless Weekend Mixtape”
Kate Bush – “50 Words for Snow”
Trouble Books and Mark McGuire – “s/t”
Radiohead – “The King of Limbs”
Marissa Nadler – “s/t”
Joe Lally – “Why Should I Get Used to It”
Joan of Arc – “Life Like”
THE DEMON BEAT (Tucker Riggleman)
10) Time New Viking – Dancer Equired
9) Pujol – Nasty, Brutish, and Short
8) Yuck – Yuck
7) Stephen Malkmus & The Jick – Mirror Traffic
6) Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
5) OFF! – First Four EPs
4) Tyler, The Creator – Goblin
3) The Black Keys – El Camino
2) Bon Iver – Bon Iver
1) JEFF the Brotherhood – We Are The Champions
JEFF the Brotherhood are so fucking loud, it’s awesome. We got to play with them back in August and it ruled. One of the best live shows around.
WYLDLIFE (Spencer Alexander)
10. The Rotten Jazz Quartet “Sing Damnit”
These guys have such a unique sound and draw from so many different influences. Its like a real rockabilly Tom Waits on acid.
9. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues”
Good stuff to relax to.
8.V THE VIPER “IIIIV (ONE)”
Some good mash-ups for when you’re in the mood to party.
7. The Downtown Struts “Sail the Seas Dry”
These dudes take the punk rock road that bands like Social D, Rancid, and NoFX, paved and take it step further.
6. The Rolling Stones “Some Girls Reissue” I guess this doesn’t really count but I’m so into the tune “No spare parts” which TECHNICALLY is new.
5.Porches “Scrap and Love Songs Revisted”
My buddy Aaron is one of the most talented people I know.
4.Biters “All Chewed Up”
This band is one of the tightest I have ever seen. See them live.
3.Social Distortion “Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes”
This is my all time favorite band, so they are automatically guaranteed a spot in the top three. I’ve been waiting for this album for so long.
2.Liquor Store “Yeah Buddy”
These guys fuckin’ rule. Really epic punk songs.
1.The Booze “At Maximum Volume”
I’m sorry to say that these guys have recently disbanded. This was my album of the summer, I wore this thing out.
Best thing that happened to me in 2011:
The best thing that happened to me in 2011 was releasing our first full length album. We are all so proud of that sucker, and its been getting a good response which is all we can ask for. Also, opening for CJ Ramone at Webster Hall was so cool. I can remember listening to the album “Mondo Bizarro” on cassette,which he played and sang on when I was 12, so to be able to share the stage with him was surreal.
In 2012 I’m looking forward to finally getting on the road again. We haven’t toured in a dog’s age.
ANTHONY D’AMATO
1. The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh
2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
3. The Felice Brothers – Celebration, Florida
4. Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
5. Blind Pilot – We Are the Tide
6. St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
7. Sam Roberts – Collider
8. Chris Bathgate – Salt Year
9. Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
10. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me
Best thing that happened to me in 2011: My first UK tour was undoubtedly a major highlight of the year. The crowds were amazing, and I couldn’t have asked for better traveling companions than Jesse Malin & the St. Marks Social.
What I’m Looking Forward to in 2012: Releasing my new album! Recording’s almost done and I’m so excited about sharing it. Definitely a different feel than ‘Down Wires.’
Best Holiday Memory from When I was a Kid: Eating myself into a homemade ravioli coma at my grandparents’ house annually. I plan to keep the streak alive this year.
ERIC DAVIDSON (freelance writer; singer for New Bomb Turks and LIVIDS; author of We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 (Backbeat Books))
Black Lips – Arabia Mountain (Vice) – While longtime fans keep expecting a drop-off, and new converts still yell for on-stage peeing (annoying said longtime fans), the Black Lips continue to traverse the globe for inspiration while always holding a stash of huge yankee garage-pop hooks in their ass-pocket. So much so this time, that this is probably the most fully enjoyable Lips album to date, after 10+ years in the game!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKdIv5N6rZY
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo (Matador)
After dishing up some of the cooler scruffy garage-art of the last couple years with his Violators around him, Vile dishes up this beautiful, subtly brazen solo salvo, fogged-up with 12:45am ruminating folk, best left to your weakest mood points on the rainiest nights. Though it all retains enough scruff, snarl, and thrift store demeanor to be enjoyed on a 6pm ride home. So sink into this stuff before the inevitable focus-destroying Kanye photo opp and DJ of the Week remix.
Acid Baby Jesus – S/T (Slovenly)
A more scarred, psych-pep take on all that fuzzy, echoey, melancholy early-60s melody garage-plop churning through the indie underbelly (I call it “Hardly Artcore”), and unwittingly suffused with the oddly inspiring empty pockets of the Grecian economy nosedive. Layers of frightened bellowing and otherwordly distortion, with sticky, oily hooks outta nowhere, make it the most intriguing debut of the year.
http://www.agitreader.com/primitivefutures/acid_baby_jesus.html
OBN IIIs – The One and Only (Tic Tact Totally)
Tykes from down Texas-way, with probably too many side projects (all of them good!), slingin’ killer slash’n’burn, with structure smarts, way more-than-required sweat, and that elusive, effortless ability to make you think R’nR has a pulse.
Last Laugh Records
Label head honcho and sole employee, Harry Howes, really went cuckoo with the reissues of ultra-obscure, first-era punk rock that are truly cracked and a genuine hoot, as opposed to just, y’know, ultra-obscure. He spread his Red Bull wings out into early-70s glam, power pop, and even some new shit – like the house party punk of Liquor Store’s debut, Yeah Buddy! – with his Almost Ready and Mighty Mouth imprints too. But Last Laugh has resurrected the whole “Killed by Death” pinhead impetus for yet another generation of louts.
http://www.lastlaughrecords.us/
Othermen – Just Pallin’ Around With (Killer Diller)
Calling it crazed shockabilly brings to mind lame flame-skull tattoos and leopard print creepers, etc. But it ain’t that exactly. Aside from singer Max Frechette’s pompadour recalling the torn innards of a post-hunt leopard, and his hot licks hollow-body guitar having been taped and stapled back together like Michael Yonkers taught him the Eddie Cochran catalog, the band drunkenly dissects-then-discards any mid-century nods, making a fast racket that wears you out quick. And the 15-minute chat with a very sauced Rico (bassist) at the end is the perfect respite. Who needs more songs anyway?!
Human Eye – They Came from the Sky (Sacred Bones)
(and some Timmy’s Organism singles…)
Timmy Vulgar, Detroit’s alien heart of now-times punk, continues to produce on the level of Ford in the ‘50s, while his sounds – via his Human Eye and Timmy’s Organism projects – evolve into the noise of those dead ol’ axel factories being torn to bits by the drunken arrested adolescents of that new planet they discovered this year. The Human Eye live shows were as consistently id-invigorating of any band this year.
Flesh Lights
The hopped-up hopes of the year, this Austin trio frisbeed out a few singles, but it’s the surprisingly searing sounds of their debut LP on Twistworthy, Muscle Pop, that can really electrify the ears of someone who thinks OBN IIIs could save R’n’R.
Death of Samantha reunion show, Dec. 23, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
The first, and probably last, reunion of the original lineup of my favorite local Cleveland band (one of my fave bands period) from my formative years. So yeah, kind of a personal pick here, but DoS remain one of the more underrated indie acts of the late-80s, a monster mash of glam gloop, punk pissed, and leader John Petkovic’s lounge lizard leering that put them in the pantheon of great Ohio bands that just didn’t fit into prescribed rock world peg/hole prescripts. On this Xmas Eve eve, the band had a ball and masterfully blasted out tunes from all their releases, and generally lifted the packed faithful up and into 1986 and back again, like maybe they should consider erasing that “and probably last” line from the first sentence here.
http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2011/12/1980s_punk-rock_band_death_of.html
Guilty Pleasures – Summer Strange (Dusty Medical)
L.A. Times – s/t 7” EP (Smash It Up)
Long never-unleashed recordings from two of the most savage and sorely under-known bands of the whole late-90s lo-fi garage-punk undie-explosion. Having crawled from somewhere around Bloomington, IL, around 2000, the Guilty Pleasures put out one insanely screechy 7” single, a few brain-gutting gigs, and sometime inbetween recorded this album that sat around for some damn reason, until now. Same goes for L.A. Times, a Devil Dogs-worshipping bunch from, ahem, L.A., who were too young to be told that 60 beers in one night is in fact a lot to drink for one band. Finally quit waiting for someone to dig up their AOL email address and ask ‘em, so they finally just released this sick 4-song slab this year, 300 copies only, so get hunting!
Ed Wood’s Sleaze Paperbacks show at the Boo-Hooray gallery, NYC
An amazing amassing of not just the paperbacks of Ed Wood’s end-of-existence career of porn-pulp writing – featuring astonishingly eye-burning cover art – but loads of personal family/friend photos, magazine articles with more wild cover graphics, and a short film, readings, and recollections from fans at the closing party that revealed that “sleaze” is in the mind’s eye of the beholder
http://boo-hooray.com/ed-wood/ed-woods-sleaze-paperbacks/
The general proliferation of fun, fuzzed-out R’n’R combos splattering the less pretentious edges of the, well I wanna say “indie underground,” but I probably have to start getting used to saying shit like “blogosphere” and “Twitteratti” and other childish words that sound dated the second they leave your lips. Anyway, there are loads of new/ish bands who kept huffing Black Lips and King Khan & BBQ fumes that were let go circa mid-2000s; and exhaled grimey swirls of early-60s girl group and doo-wop dredged melodies, Goner/In the Red/Crypt-rooted garage-punk spasms, some spooky, echoey undertones, and a deep, ceaseless love of the Ramones – all with a cheap-ass trash production style that has as much to do with accidentally mirroring our broke, on-your-own freelance times as Scion or Sailor Jerry blowing cash for cred. Most of it still kicks nasty, though shit is edging a little too cutesy (Jacuzzi Boys, maybe switch to 60-minute IPAs or something). And the shark has been flossing his chops waiting to be jumped (is a Hunx & His Punk song on Two Broke Girls inevitable…?) But for now, it’s a pretty fun party.
So keep it up, The Hussy, Davila 666, Mean Jeans, White Mystery, Strange Hands, Mouthbreathers, No Bunny, The Eeries, Bare Wires, Mark Sultan, Dum Dum Girls, Tandoori Knights, K-Holes, Shannon & the Clams, FIDLAR, Peach Kelli Pop, Jail Weddings, Los Vigilantes, Radar Eyes, Wax Museums, Ty Segall, Useless Eaters, Thee Oh Sees, Royal Headache, and more, etc…
December 30, 2011 at 2:27 pm Melissa Nastasi Leave a comment
Catch-up With Casiokids
The beauty of CMJ is just the astounding amount of bands that end up playing there. The Norwegians from Casiokids were not about to miss the party and we were not about to miss out on the chance of chatting with them while they were here, especially since their newest album, Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen, just came out on Polyvinyl! We spoke to two members of the band, Ketil Kinden Endresen and Omar Johnsen, in a hallway at Pianos last night and here’s how it went!
Modern Mystery: How many times have you been part of the CMJ line-up? How do you like it?
Ketil Kinden Endresen: This is our second time here, we last came in 2008. It was also our first show in New York, at Cake Shop. But we’ve been in New York many times since then. I think this is our 10th mini tour in the U.S. Playing in New York is definitely one of my favourites.
Omar Johnsen: It’s nice when we’re playing things like CMJ or South by South West, you can stay in one town too. It’s so much easier.
KKE: It gives you time to enjoy the city as well.
MM: So where do you like to hang out in New York?
KKE: We spend a lot of time in Williamsburg. We try to go see museums, go to Central Park and roam around Manhattan.
MM: So your songs are in Norwegian, which can’t be easy for everyone to pronounce. Which place had the oddest pronunciation of Norwegian?
KKE: Probably Russia.
OJ: In a way it was the best and the worst [laughs]. They were very into it but it did not sound like Norwegian!
KKE: Still it was pretty special, they were very passionate. But mostly outside of Scandinavia, there is more dancing than singing along. In Scandinavia, they sing more.
MM: What is your biggest musical influence?
OJ: It’s hard to pin down because everyone is from different places. There is some overlap but I think it comes out through our music. It’s like a pot of stew.
KKE: Well, there is this Swedish band called Bobhund that we all like. There’s also electronic pop like New Order, Kraftwerk, Cornelius…
OJ: I guess also krautrock like Neu… Everyone likes these bands at least [laughs].
MM: Anyone you’re excited to see here at CMJ this year?
KKE: I haven’t really looked at the program to be honest but generally I like to rely on luck. Like tonight we got here and then went upstairs and realized our friend was playing!
MM: So your new album, Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen, just came out. How would you describe to someone who’s never heard your music?
KKE: It was inspired by the story of Dr. Tarzan Monsoon and his discovery of a secret rainforest. It’s quite varied and with electro and dance rhythms. Our stories are in Norwegian and we use a lot of harmonies in our vocals.
OJ: It was also made differently from our past albums. Before, the albums were more like compilations of singles. It’s quite diverse but it’s still a sound that sounds like us. It’s also better produced; we have our own studio so over the years, we’ve learned more and got better.
MM: I hear you’re going to Japan next month! What are you most excited about?
KKE: Yes, on November 6th! I’m excited about the food. Japanese food has to be my favourite food in the world.
OJ: I want to discover the culture, I find it very inspiring. Maybe it’s because I’m half-asian so I have a special attraction.
MM: Do you know when you’ll be back in New York after CMJ?
KKE: Not yet. But we’ll definitely be back sometime in the spring.
Catch Casiokids during the rest of CMJ here:
20.10.11: Glasslands
21.10.11: Spike Hill
22.10.11: AAM Inc party 14:30 @ Knitting Factory
October 20, 2011 at 4:46 pm Sedera Ranaivoarinosy Leave a comment
Interview: Chilling with Sam Roberts
If your read Sam Roberts’s Wikipedia page, you’ll see the man has quite a career behind him already, and many connections. It’s obvious then that there was no way we would miss him when he came to New York City this week, to play a gig at the beautiful Bowery Ballroom. Sam was really nice to sit down with us and talk about the genesis of the Sam Roberts Band new album Collider, which came out on May 10th via Zoë/Rounder Records, being on tour again and Justin Bieber. That’s right.
Modern Mystery: It’s been a while since you’ve been on tour in the US. How does it feel to be back on the road again?
Sam Roberts: Really good! Especially being here at the Bowery Ballroom. It’s the perfect setting and scenario for starting off a tour, just to be back in New York City and feel the energy of the place again and hopefully play a good show tonight and set the tone for the rest of the tour.
MM: Which are you favourite cities to play in the US?
SR: It’s hard to say because there are the obvious choices: New York, San Francisco and Chicago… But there are a few other smaller cities. I love playing in Buffalo, NY. I really like playing in Pittsburgh. It didn’t start out that way but after years of thickheadedness and a refusal to take no for an answer, we sort of broke through and found a great, small, loyal following in Pittsburgh. And I love playing in Detroit. I’ve just got a great connection with that city. That’s just to name a few.
MM: What made you decide to record the new album in Chicago rather than at home in Canada?
SR: Aside from choosing Chicago, just the idea of not making the record at home was important to us this time around because I think it allowed us to break free from our day to day routines and not have that be a part of the mindset while making the record. Not having to answer the phone, not having the menial daily chores that suck some of the romance out of it. I feel like making a record should be adventurous, that there should be some sort of romance and strangeness to the process. So going to a place like Chicago and just sort of taking ourselves outside of the familiar and the comfortable, and throwing a bunch of Canadians in a big American city, kind of wide-eyed and having to find their way… We kind of hoped that it would bring some spontaneity and a different perspective to make the record. We’d been practicing these songs for so long too and you have a tendency to sort of get a bit too cemented in terms of your relationship to the music that you are playing and I think that if you go in the recording studio with that in mind, you have the tendency to play to not make mistakes rather than play to perform and to try out some sort of emotion in your playing. So being in Chicago, we tried to feed off of the city and tried to being that into the studio every day.
MM: You worked with Brian Deck on this album, who’s worked with Modest Mouse or Iron and Wine in the past. How did he get involved and how did the recording process for Collider differ from the other people you’ve worked with?
SR: We sent him demos that I’d been working on in my basement at home and he just came back with this extremely enthusiastic, encouraging response to the whole thing, so I was like, “Okay, he’s really excited about this.” And then a day later he sends me this email, 5-page long email, telling me everything that he would change in the songs, if and when he got his hands on them. That scared us off for a few minutes and we kind of went back and retreated to the band, you know, the sanctuary and were thinking, “this isn’t going to work, this guy is crazy! He wants to do what?” And we actually tried to do a few of the things and it made a lot of sense. A producer’s role isn’t to pat you on the back, it’s to bring their own perspective in or bring your vision to a new level or a level you can’t see yourself because you are so close to the music and you’ve been so involved in every step of its life. I think what he helped with most is to help us find simplicity in the songs, to not just try to throw layer after layer after layer in the record. If you listen to the record, it has a more spare, sparse sound to it so that when you do introduce woodwinds and percussion, they have room to make much bigger impact and that was definitely a new approach for us.
MM: You also added two musicians to the line-up for this album, Ben Massarella and Stuart Bogie, who have worked with TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. How did they work into the band? What did they bring to the tracks they performed on?
SR: Well, great musicianship for one. Their lack of history with the music itself allowed them to think completely out of the box. So they would come in and Stuart specifically, he’d come in and listen to this music for the first time and was already coming up with parts. After his first listen, he’d have something to play for the chorus he’d just heard. So it was an incredibly spontaneous and immediate process. And to watch people who are able to adapt that quickly and to think on their feet like that was inspiring to us and I think it made us want to play differently as well and not be afraid of making a mistake but rather play to get the right feeling on the recording. Also, Ben and Brian had a past relationship of working together. They’re at that point where they don’t even have to really talk to know what the other one means.
MM: How do you translate what you created in the studio to the current live show?
SR: We’re in the thick of figuring it out right now. One of the first dramatic steps was to get a saxophone player to reproduce those parts on a daily basis. Stuart couldn’t be with us on the tour because he’s with Iron and Wine but he recommended a friend of his and we played one gig together in D.C. and it felt really good so hopefully there’s more of that to come. It’s mostly about getting the saxophone so we wouldn’t have to re-invent the songs.
MM: What is the inspiration behind the songs on Collider?
SR: Everything and anything. Life. You know, I have a family, I have three kids… The inspiration is what you live and how you deal with the things you live and what is around you.
MM: What’s your songwriting process? How do you decide how to tell a story?
SR: It’s funny because this is my job and I do need to organize time to write a song. I have to put a lock on the door so the kids don’t come in. I like writing under that kind of pressure, I like deadlines, I like creating with a sort of pressure on my shoulders. It tends to focus my thinking in some way as well. You’re not able to have these meandering ideas that never get checked. I like having structure like that. But then again, so much time goes by between writing that I’ve kind of forgotten whatever method I had for the previous record, but that’s how music evolves for me. If I implemented the same structure for every single song that I ever wrote, I think they’d end up sounding a lot more alike. So in this sense, every time I sit down to write a new record, I’m not chained to the last one necessarily and that’s how I like to make music. One record, I might start with drums and bass and move on from there to add the vocals right at the end; another time I’ll make a more concerted effort to write lyrics right at the beginning and shape the songs around the lyrics. This record was really about shaping the rhythmic patterns of the songs and letting everything feed off of that. So in terms of the lyrics and which words you end up using and how they roll off your tongue to fit into that pattern was important for this record in particular.
MM: How did you get involved with the Young Artists for Haiti benefit? It was quite surprising to see you alongside Justin Bieber and Drake. Did that make you hesitant or apprehensive at all?
SR: Not at all. I didn’t realize the scope of the event before going in there. I really had no idea who I was going to be keeping company with. I know K’naan, who was the mastermind behind the whole thing and who wrote the song. He sent me an e-mail because we were all, a lot of us were heading over to Vancouver to play concerts surrounding the Olympics. So I didn’t know what was going on. I got off the plane, went to the studio, I knew my part that I was supposed to sing. When I first arrived, there was myself and maybe three other people. So I recorded my bit, came out and what had a fairly empty room was now of, like you said, just about everybody: a lot of people I know, Canadian bands that I’m friends with or that I’ve toured with over the years and then a few surprising faces, you know? I think that was the beauty of the whole effort really, how it wasn’t necessarily about one type of musician. It was a very inclusive process and I think it came out really really well and did a lot of good in the end too. It made a big impact in terms of getting Canadians to stay connected to the issue and reminding of the event long after it ceased to be front page news.
MM: How do you feel fans have reacted to Collider so far?
SR: It’s funny because this time around I started looking at our Facebook page whereas during our last record I didn’t even know how to log on [laughs]. And with Twitter as well, there’s so much more immediate response to it and it’s been really great! A lot of people say things that I love to hear like, “I had to listen to this one three or four times before I got it,” and I think this is that kind of record. I don’t think it hits right over the head right away. And I think every record we make is like that in a way, where you just have to sit with it for a bit for it to reveal its true nature. And also then your relationship to the song is allowed to evolve overtime and isn’t just a flash in the pan experience.
MM: Is that kind of response part of the incentive to keep writing complex, powerful songs?
SR: You shouldn’t let your self get too far ahead of yourself that way either and I don’t want to say that it would make me stick to one way of doing things because I think that when you sit down and write, you have to feel that freedom to do whatever comes naturally to you at the time. My favorite songs to write are the simplest songs, it’s just that they’re harder to come by. Strangely enough.
MM: After this tour, what’s next for the Sam Roberts Band?
SR: This tour is just starting so right now that seems SO far away that I can’t even fathom. I want to be on the road for quite while with this record because it feels really good to play and I hope that it brings a new element to our live show that will keep people coming back. At the same time, I’d prefer not to put out records every three years, which is what happens when you’re on tour for a year and a half then all of a sudden, you find yourself with a great deal of time. I want to make more music than I’ve been making in the last few years. I feel the urge to do that. So it’s a bit of a balance and I haven’t quite figured out how to strike that balance yet.
MM: Do you have some recording equipment in the tour bus?
SR: No, nothing. I don’t even bother because I know that’s not going to happen. And that’s what I mean when I say there’s so much time between writing. It’s not just making a record but actually writing. I finished writing this record last summer and I haven’t written a song since. It’s already been almost a year since I wrote a song. I collect ideas, I’ve got a lot of ideas but I still have to do all that work to turn those fragments into a song. So, I just don’t write when we’re on the road. You’ve got to be up for the show and it’s hard enough to stay focused on that one thing. Some people are amazing; you walk in their bus or their van or their hotel room and they’ve set up a studio and they’ve got two hours and they’re working! I have the utmost respect and admiration and envy for those people because they make a lot of music, but I’m just not one of them. I need peace and space and if I don’t have it the ideas just don’t come, you know.
The Sam Roberts Band is touring the US and Canada for the next three months so check out their website HERE for tour information.
May 23, 2011 at 11:00 am Sedera Ranaivoarinosy Leave a comment
Oberhofer @ Coco66, Brooklyn, NY – May 15, 2011
Coco66, which is just a blinking neon sign blaring BAR in big red letters, is a non-descript venue with a secret performance space hidden by a big velvet curtain. The show starts at 9:45, but for all good things one must wait. Vacation kicked off the show with their synth guitar, dreamy sound. Lead singer Paul Daily has a velvety voice (he sounds like Matt Berninger from The National) and wraps you in his own world when he sings “Penny Pincher.” From here the crowd kept dreaming with the next opener Windowpeak. A female-led slow grind, dreary rock band that sounds like Mazzy Star. This band is simply incredible and it’s clear that they will be going far. You have to listen to “Harsh Realm” and “Burnout.” You will not be disappointed.And finally, Oberhofer. It was as if all the air had gone out of the room and was replaced with this fucking incredible sound. Their set was way, way too short in my opinion. I could have listened for hours. They closed with “I Could Go,” my favorite Oberhofer song. Something about the light show, Brad’s sincerity in his voice and the yearning sound of both guitar and drum completed the show in the most perfect way. I had a brief chance to talk with Brad Oberhofer backstage who told me of his passion for orchestral music and plans on one day scoring films. Which seems to be new indie scene phenomenon, with Broken Social Scene scoring “Half Nelson” in 2006 and Phoenix scoring the new Sofia Coppola film. All in all the show sounded like three bands, all good friends from Tacoma, Washington, having a good time. They each amped up the energy of the crowd as much as the last band, all their sets were super tight and the light show perfectly complimented the music but didn’t distract from it. Oberhofer will be recording new material after their tour. Next stop, Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI tomorrow night (May 18) with Neon Indian.
Learn Why Everyone Loves Sloan
Sloan’s 10th album in 20 years The Double Cross came out on May 10th via Yep Roc Records but you still need some convincing before you get it? Well, everyday for 10 days, Sloan is releasing videos where their friends and admirers talk about all they love about Sloan: their favorite Sloan song, album, lyric and anything else they associate with the band.
Appearing in these videos are famous Canadians from all backgrounds, from Damian Abraham of Fucked Up to Stephan Brogen of Degrassi (no kidding). The first video, which you can view at the end of this post, shows Jason Schwartzman, Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, Dave Foley, the actor from The Kids in the Hall and Newsradio, and Sebastian Grainger of Death from Above 1979 remembering the first time they heard the band’s music.
Watch “When I first heard Sloan” below, and check back that same page to see the rest of the videos!
May 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm Sedera Ranaivoarinosy Leave a comment
Meet Conversion Party!
Conversion Party only just released their “proper debut EP” (as they refer to it on their bandcamp page), but they have quite a bit of history behind them. Although split between New London, CT, and Brooklyn, NY, the five members of this band still managed to out out a self-released first LP, More No More, in 2008, but their musical style needed some focusing. When it came time to write new material, they set out to “bring the different stylistic strands together into something that was cohesive,” as their guitarist Alex Waxman explains. From the new sessions came a whole new LP, produced by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Sean Greenhalgh. No label came forward to release it, but that wasn’t going to stop them. Out of the ten songs they recorded, they chose four and that is how we got the EP Favors, which was released on April 19th. The songs on the EP have a real pop flair but maintain just enough off-kilter elements in the vocals and arrangements to keep our attention. Hopefully the rest of the recordings will make their way into our music libraries soon.
To honor the release of Favors, Conversion Party will be playing two shows as part of the EP Release Weekend: they will be at Bruar Falls TONIGHT, Friday May 6th, with Hsi Chang Li, In Buenos Aires and Natural Fathers, and at Cakeshop tomorrow night, Saturday May 7th, for the venue’s 6th Anniversary Party, where they will share the stage with Surf City and the Beets. But most importantly, two members of Conversion Party took some time to speak to Modern Mystery about music, Favors and the band’s history in a slightly unusual way… I asked Ben and Alex the same questions, and they answered them according to what they thought the other would answer. How well do these answers match up with what their own answers and opinions are? We’re not counting points, of course, this is a friendly game.
Full name, Birthday and Place of Birth
| Alex’s guess: Benjamin Brock Johnson, I believe is Colorado somewhere… A hippie town… Boulder? But I don’t think that’s right. I’m really bad at remembering people’s birthdays I think his is sometime in September? Say September 12th.The real answer was: Benjamin Brock Johnson. My birth place is Montpelier, VT and my birth date is July 28th, 1980. | Ben’s guess: Alexander Isaac Waxman. This is going to be hard… He was born somewhere in Massachusetts… In the Boston area, I’m going to guess. And his birthday… [laughs] I’m pretty sure his birthday is somewhere in May, I’m going to guess May 8th.The real answer was: Alexander Isaac Waxman. My birth date is May 11th 1982 and Boston, MA is my birth town or city. |
When did the two of you first met?
| Ben’s memory: I was definitely during college and I want to say we both were in search or some sort of trouble and found each other as we were trying to find it. I feel like the first time we met was near a bench… But we might have also have met in his roommate’s dorm room | Alex’s memory: That would be in college, in my dorm room, after this orientation thing where Ben stood up and talked in front of the whole school. And then he came over and we smoked pot in my dorm room with my pot dealer roommate. |
Unfortunately, I’m not sure we have the technology to have an objective and definitive answer on this one, although Ben did say he thought Alex would say their first meeting would involve pot in Alex’s dorm room… However they met, it led to good things. That’s all that matters, right?
Since the band’s time has been split between New London, CT and Brooklyn, NY, I wanted to know, what are each other’s biggest driving faults?
| Alex’s guess: Ah, Everything! [chuckles] I would say getting distracted. Ben’s answer: Everything? [chuckles] I’m actually a very good driver but none of my friends would admit that. I’m probably the scariest driver, I drive too fast and seem like I’m out of control and I follow people too closely and I slam the breaks too much and come too close to hitting people. But I never actually hit people. | Ben’s guess: Inconsistency of speed. Alex’s answer: I’m pretty flawless [smiles]. |
Drink of Choice during the recording of Favors?
| Alex’s guess: We sort of drink the same thing. I would have to say beer. Budweiser as well. Ben’s answer: Do smoothies count? I would say smoothies and/or whisky, like Maker’s Mark. | Ben’s guess Either Jim Beam or tall boy Budweisers or a combination of both. Alex’s answer: It was pretty much beer down the line… Budweiser. |
Biggest Musical Inspiration?
| Alex’s guess: Radiohead. Ben’s answer: Thelonious Monk. | Ben’s guess: He’s going to try to say something so cool… His answer might be Neutral Milk Hotel, or Jeff Mangum. Alex’s answer: Our drummer’s other band Fatal Film. |
Oddest songwriting ritual or routine?
| Alex’s guess: We all do our songwriting separately so I always picture Ben in his slippers at home… He has this pair of Himalayan slippers that he brings with him whenever we do these bad getaways. They’re blue and have thread… He knows what slippers they are. Ben’s answer: I don’t know if this is the strangest thing but when I write and record demos, I play things and work on things incessantly, and I’m very exacting so if I’m demoing something by myself, I’ll play it more times than anyone in their right mind would play something in order to get it exactly right. | Ben’s guess: I want to say it’s something physical. He would be trying to get the strangest sound out of what he was doing. Whatever he would be playing with, he would be trying to get the absolutely weirdest sound that could not be duplicated. Alex’s answer: I make really messy demos that sort of fall apart because I’m just trying to get the idea down. So sometimes they’re kind of indecipherable. The other guys have to listen to them with faith… They sort of know that there’s the grain of a good idea there and they listen for that. It’s not necessarily a song when I first present it. |
Favorite song on Favors and Why?
| Alex’s guess: I think he’ll say “Let Us All” because he wrote it. Ben’s answer: I would say “Let Us All” because I wrote it. Ha, no, I think that song is an incomplete spot in some ways: it never developed really specific lyrics and it’s not like the rest of our material in a lot of ways. But I think that it has a wild quality to it that I really like. And it’s a bit more experimental than our stuff so it’s ambitious in that way. It reminds me of long, drawn-out noisy guitar rock that we all listen to but don’t necessarily always sound like. | Ben’s guess: “Birds of Paradise Lost” because he would really like Matt Potter’s vocal. Alex’s answer: My favorite track on Favors is “Let Us All” because it’s the last track on the record and I love the way it came together. We were really unsure of what it was going to be and during the last couple of weeks of recording, it turned into an awesome song. It’s cool and points for more stuff for us that we can do. |
Which producer/musician would he like to work with in the future?
| Alex’s guess: I’m sure it would be Radiohead related, like Nigel Godrich or Thom Yorke. Ben’s answer: I’d like to work with somebody who has really interesting drum programming and rhythmic ideas and is also willing to spend a lot of time getting weird sounds and trying really weird things. I think Scott Walker is somebody whose recordings are… I’m in awe of the ideas that he has about making sounds physically and recording them. My impression is that someone like Nigel Godrich spends a lot of time doing interesting things with sound and also really stripping songs down and re-imagining them in new ways. I’d like to work with somebody who is very free-thinking in that way. | Ben’s guess: Maybe Panda Bear? Or Jay Reatard or No Age. Alex’s answer: I would like to see what would happen if we didn’t have a producer, if we recorded ourselves and let the process sprawl in a way that it doesn’t with a producer. But I like James Murphy a lot so… I think we would get along really well with him. I feel there’s a similar sensibility there. |
Most embarrassing moment on stage?
| Alex’s guess: I really wouldn’t be able to guess… I don’t know… I mean he’s been on stage a lot more than I have with many other bands. I would assume it’s not Conversion Party-related.Ben’s answer: I’m never embarrassed, because I always do what I’m supposed to do [laughs]. Usually my most embarrassing moments on stage are when my bandmates announce songs that I’ve written and how they’re about my girlfriend. Which is totally fine, I’m not embarrassed about writing songs about my girlfriend, but I always feel it’s a betrayal of the mystery of the art form being presented purely. | Ben’s guess: Alex’s most embarrassing stage moment I think was a show we played at Lit lounge earlier this year. During the second to last song, Matt Potter fell into a wall during a really intense solo and somehow inadvertently killed the power on the whole bottom floor of the club–sparks flew and there was a huge loud sound and the lights went out. It was on the last chord of our fastest loudest song “Awake,” and it was kind of perfect how it ended, but everyone was like “whaaaa?” Alex got pretty mad about that I think because it was this sort of epic example of a performance blowing up in our faces, literally.Alex’s answer: I have two off the top of my head. Once we played an all ages show on a Wednesday in Hamden, CT and there was just one person there and I don’t even think they were there to see us and it was just the worse night. The other was almost prior to this band, the college had offered us a hundred bucks to play on a tennis court. Nobody else could do it except for me and Matt Allen, who is in the band now. It was just the two of us on drums and guitar and it was kind of disaster. But it didn’t really matter; we still got a hundred bucks. |
First CD/Record/Tape you bought?
| Alex’s guess: It would probably Nirvana or Pearl Jam or something like that.Ben’s Answer: The first one that I was given (my preferred answer) was a tape. My father is a jazz pianist and he gave me a tape that was one side the soundtrack of the movie Top Gun and on the other side it was greatest hits Beach Boys mix. And then the first record I bought, either it was Nirvana’s Nevermind or Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream. | Ben’s guess: I’m going to guess an Otis Redding tape. But it could be A Tribe Called Quest, or G-Love and Special Sauce? I’m going to say A Tribe Called Quest.Alex’s answer: That’s an embarrassing question. I’m pretty sure I bought a couple CDs at once: one was Aerosmith, and the other one was Jimi Hendrix’s Greatest Hits. But I was listening to much worse shit, I’m sure. |
May 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm Sedera Ranaivoarinosy Leave a comment
Interview: of Montreal vs. Yip Deceiver
Interviewer: Bella Questions: Melissa Nastasi / Bella Photos: Cienna Willis
Last weekend at Webster Hall we had the chance of sitting down with members of an old favorite and a new favorite. Davey Pierce and Nick Dobbratz from of Montreal and Yip Deceiver. The guys gave us a whole new insight on what it takes to put on an oM show, and just what exactly a Yip Deceiver is. Give it a read. It’s a good one!
So how has the tour been treating you so far?
Davey: It’s been really good actually.
Nick: Yeah, it’s been lots of fun.
Davey, you worked on some props for the False Priest tour. Was that something new? Do you plan on doing it in the future?
Davey: I probably will do it in the future. It’s kind of something that fell into my lap. We needed somebody to make these props and I like doing stuff like that. I kind of just took it over.
Everything is different since you joined during Hissing Fauna, how do you keep up with all of the change?
Davey: It’s pretty easy actually. I mean because it’s kind of a natural progression you just sit back and watch it happen basically. You get so caught up in playing the shows and everything and you don’t even realize that everything’s changing so much.
Recently you can tell that the actual band members have been a lot more involved in the theatrics than usual. Is that something you guys plan on doing? Or is that something you enjoy doing?
Davey: I love it personally. I mean like it adds this whole kind of sense that it’s not just two different things going on on stage. Which in the past it has been. It’s been a bunch of people set up playing music while something else is going on in front of them. Whereas now it’s more like the performance lines and the music lines have blurred so much that it’s actually just one big thing.
Nick: I feel like it was a concious decision on this tour ahead of time to do exactly what Davey’s saying. As opposed to having two different things. I enjoy it, I like it. It’s changing every night right now.
When it comes to theatrics is it just David Barnes right now or do you all have a say in it?
Davey: He takes ideas from everybody. It is like Dobby(Nick) was saying. It’s a big evolving kind of thing. If you have an idea you can be like “Hey, what if we did this?”. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. And David’s very open to suggestions like if I walk up to him an I go “I really hated this one thing” He’ll be like “Okay, let’s see if we can make it better” It is his thing but he’s definately open to critism which is given.
Nick: And he likes to work with people’s personalities too. Whatever someones comfortable with.
You recently went on tour as Yip Deciever with Sugar & Gold. How was that tour?
Davey: It was great, it was really fucking fun.
Nick: Yeah.
Where did the name Yip Deceiver come from?
Davey: It’s actually, um, it was Clayton. We were actually drunk at a bar at like noon and we were trying to come up with a name for it. And we started making anagrams of my name. Yip Deceiver is what we came up with but we left an ‘A’ out and put an extra ‘I’. It’s a failed anagram of Davey Pierce basically.
How did you two come to working together on this project?
Nick: I joined of Montreal almost a year ago and during the time on the first tour I already heard Davey’s stuff. We kinda just started talking and we shared a lot of the same interests and influences. It inspired each other to keep working on stuff so it just happened.
Speaking of influences, you can tell that Yip Deceiver is very different from Inkwell. What influences do you have in this project that are different from Inkwell?
Davey: It’s pretty much all over. I’ve been listening to a lot of old 80′s and 90′s R&B, actually Dobby’s kind of the one that got me back into it. It does kind of come through in a way. The sounds that they use speak to me so much to me. The Inkwell stuff was kind of worn out of necessity. It was like we own guitars and a drum set and so that’s what we had to work with. And it was also like blatant punk rock, all the crap I used to listen to when I was 12. Getting the rest of that out of there so I can move on.
Yip Deceiver gained a lot of attention, which was mainly positive, for the Coquete Coquette remix. How did to feel to that feedback and that attention?
Davey: I mean obviously I was cool with it but I found just as much negative attention as positive attention. As you will with any remix. “This sucks compared to the orginial” Well it’s like thank you I guess, it’s not suppose to be the fucking orginial. But whatever, it was fun to do. I love the song. It was basically just me in my apartment with a bottle of wine and a drumset. I’d do it again, well, I probably will do it again. But I also did a remix of Sugar & Gold’s “It’s All Over You.” It’s on their new EP, it’s fantastic. Not the remix, but the EP.
Nick: The remix is fantastic. Which actually now that I think about it is one of the moments where we realized that we should be working together. It was kind of something that I written and Davey reproduced it; and it kind of the first thing we worked on together.
Davey: Actually the first thing we worked on we never actually finished. We’ve just been working on it for like a year now.
Davey, you had prior expierience playing two sets in a row with Jamey’s project, James Husband- and then again with Yip Deceiver, who had opened up for of Montreal for a few shows. Do you find playing sets in a row exhausting?
Davey: In some ways. It can be really physically exhausting but at the same time it’s like this is what we do. It’s kind of like we’ve been training our entire lives to do this. It’s so rewarding that it doesn’t really matter how exhausted you are because you can have such a great time doing both things. Especially if they’re so different. Playing with James Husband and playing with of Montreal are two totally different animals. I was on two totally different insturments and it was always fun.
Nick: For me it has a time limit. It got to a certain point on the last tour where I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. But for the most part it’s not like you have a slightly different role so you make due.
What do you find most rewarding about it?
Davey: For me it’s just like, it is the thing we’ve been working towards. To be on stage with all these people that are my best friends. There are all these kinds of personal jokes that you don’t want to say during the set. I look over at Dobby and fucking crack up. There’s one thing that he does that makes me laugh or it’s Clayton or Thayer or Dottie. It’s rewarding because every night I get to do the thing that I’ve always wanted to do.
Nick: That’s true, I forget that sometimes.
Davey: It is actually really easy to forget that sometimes. Like when you wake up and you’re just like “I just wanna get a job and wear a tie”
You have those moments?
Davey: Every once in a while. The grass is always greener sometimes. Where it’s just like I wouldn’t mind being home. We haven’t really been home for more than two weeks in the past seven months now?
Nick: Yeah.
Davey: So I wouldn’t mind being home for a year but at the same time if I’m home for more than week I get really tired of being home.
What’s in the future for Yip Deceiver?
Davey: We’re working on a full length right now actually. Hopefully it’ll come out October-ish?
Nick: That’s what we’re shooting for, yeah.
Davey: We’re doing a video for a song called Get Strict starting in May. There’s gonna be all sorts of nice little surprise guest stars. It’ll be a big dance video.
Dance video? Will you guys be dancing?
Davey: There will probably be a little bit of us dancing in it, yeah.
Nick: There will be a lot of other people dancing in it too.
Davey: Mostly other people dancing in it.
New York has always been a great crowd for you guys. But, truthfully, what is your favorite city to play in?
Davey: Surprisingly, Mobile Alabama has very recently taken that spot. Just blew everyone outside of the water. They’re insane down there, they’re amazing. The crowds are so into it. They’re having so much, they’re just so nice. It’s incredible actually.
False Priest did great on both the CMJ and Billboard charts. How did it feel as a band to do that great?
Davey: It felt really good. Where were we when we got the CMJ thing? Was that Stockholm?
Nick: Yeah, I think so.
Davey: I’m pretty sure it was Stockholm. It was like “We’re number one on the CMJ charts!” And it was kind of this weird feeling. It was like, well we’re not even really home and no one knows what CMJ is over where. But it feels really cool to know that you’re doing something that people really want to hear. I guess that’s kind of the ultimate goal, is to have an audience that’ll listen to your insane ramblings for the most part.
One last question, is it blackmail domination or black male domination?
Davey: Blackmail.
Nick: What do you want it to be?
Davey: Yeah, that’s a good point too.
Davey: There are teams now. It is a very polarizing issue.
Nick: Blackmail or black male?
Davey: Yeah.
Nick: -chuckles-
Davey: I’m on Team Blackmail. But at the same time he(Nick) has a point, it’s whatever you want it to be. It doesn’t really matter too much.
Manchester Orchestra And Red Bull Team For Event
@IAmWesley favorite Manchester Orchestra is slowly marching to the release of their new album, Simple Math on May 10th. Last month, the five-piece released the album’s beautiful first single “Simple Math.” And, yesterday, they followed it up with the slightly more upbeat “April Fool.”
Red Bull, who debuted the track on their website, will unveil a unique live performance and interview with the band today at 5pm EST/2pm PST. Tune in to RedBullUSA.com/livesessions for the broadcast and join in conversation by replying to @redbullstudioLA. Include the hashtag #RBstudio.
Girl Talk Interview for Governors Ball Interview Series
Remember hearing about the awesome festival taking place on NYC’s Governers Island on June 18, 2011? Well, in preparation for this inaugural event, the Governors Ball is very excited to announce their 2011 artist interview series. Over the next few weeks, they will be rolling out interviews with artists performing at their festival. First up is Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk! He discusses how he wants his audience to “lose their minds” at his shows and how he always aspires to “musically engage” his live audiences. But enough of my blabbering, you can see the interview for yourself right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09_uRy29BHg&feature=player_embedded
Make Out Free EP Release February 22
Make Out will release their highly anticipated debut EP, How To, on February 22. The band, formed of New York native Hennessey on vocals, Jesper Mortensen (formerly of Junior Senior, aka Junior) on back-up vocals and guitar, Anders Christiansen on bass and Olivia Alminiana behind the drums, just performed last night at February 10 at New York’s Tammany Hall. If you missed it, the show was free!
The Latest Junip Remix Now Available As Free Download
Junip, the Swedish trio led by singer-songwriter José González, has released “Always (Prefuse 73 Remix)”- now available as a free download on Pitchfork. The original track, off of Junip’s latest album, Fields, receives an electric punch that only beat-mixer Prefuse 73 (Guillermo Scott Herren) could give.
With anxious fans waiting for news from the reclusive group, Junip is happy to announce that the trio will be back on tour in North America this spring, playing select cities across the U. S. and Canada, with a full roster of dates to be announced in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out the latest interview with José and Tobias, talking about their music and recording style backstage in Chicago with Tremble Tremble.
Modern Mystery Staff’s Year in Lists
Joe Paolucci
Top 3 Albums
The National High Violet- Another grower from the National. I think I’ll be listening to this one for a long time. It’s hard to beat Matt Berninger lyrically.
Beach Fossils Beach Fossils- This album may not be perfect. Many songs sound similar, but Beach fossils HAVE a distinctive sound. They stand out in this modern surf genre. Every time they release something, it’s better than the last thing they released. They are strong lyrically-emotional and yet numb. The guitars rhythmically work together so well, and I just feel they are all around tight as a band. I understand that Dustin Payseur fronted a lot of the work, but I’m just glad they all work together.
Beach House Teen Dream- Just a great album. Either you like it or you don’t.
Top 3 Songs
Toro Y Moi- “Talamak”Chaz Bundick has a great voice and an amazing talent for producing. I don’t know if half the time I’m listening to pure moods, late 80s/ early 90s hip-hop, or some kind of unreleased Steely Dan/ Fleetwood Mac, but I like it… It’s so smooth.
Beach Fossils- “Youth”- An infectious riff leads us into one of my favorite lines “ It’s not so worth getting all bent out of shape about,” which defines the song title for me.
Gold Panda –“You” If you can make a song using just the word “you”… that’s pretty cool.
Top 3 Shows
Pavement –Twice in a five day stint, and I still wish I went more.
Yo La Tengo – I remember raking my dead grandfather’s leaves and listening to “Prisoners of Love”. I can’t believe it took me this long to get up here and see them.
Beach Fossils – One of my favorite modern Brooklyn bands. They can’t seem to quite pull off what they do on their recordings, but the energy they display on stage suffices.
Andres Sanchez
Top 3 Albums:
Here We Go Magic – Pigeons
- This album pulls together some of my favorite sounds in music, fuzzy guitars, subtle keys, and groovy bass lines. It’s a delicately-crafted work of art that channels everything in your emotional spectrum.
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
- I wish I could quantify this, but I can’t. I love this album and anything I say will more than likely fail to do it justice.
Les Savy Fav – Root For Ruin
- This album quenched my thirst for rock and roll this year. Yeah, there were plenty of other rocking records out there, but this one took the cake and ate it in front of me. To this day, I still fantasize about breaking shit with Tim Harrington.
Top 3 Songs:
Thee Oh Sees – “I Was Denied”
The Babies – “Meet Me In The City”
Beach Fossils – “Vacation”
Top 3 Shows:
Woods – some guy named Ben’s House @ SXSW in Austin, Texas March 18th(?)
Here We Go Magic @ Schubas in Chicago, Illinois July 17th
Pavement @ Stubb’s in Austin, Texas September 28th
Top 3 Music Videos:
El Guincho – “Bombay”
Here We Go Magic – “Casual”
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – “Let It Sway”
Aitor Zabalegui
Though it was released overseas in 2009, Sigh No More didn’t make its way into US records shops until February of this year. Because of which I, and many other critics, have decided to consider it a 2010 release. Some critics have taken to labeling Sigh No More the year’s best debut, but that’s actually a disservice to what is far and away the year’s best album period. There is nary a flaw throughout the entire runtime of Sigh No More.
2. The National – High Violet
From the distorted opening notes of “Terrible Love,” until the very last note of “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geek,” The National take listeners on sonic adventure that often juxtaposes beautiful imagery with absolute melancholy. High Violet is the type of album that offers almost instant gratification, but still continues to grow on you with each subsequent spin. Littered with some of this year’s best songs like “Lemonworld” and “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” High Violet also houses songs gems like “Anyone’s Ghost” and “Sorrow.” This is modern rock at its finest: poetic, edgy and most importantly meaningful.
3. The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
With American Slang, The Gaslight Anthem manage to embrace all of their influences, most notably Bruce Springsteen, while simultaneously honing their own sound. There is a sense of immediacy to their music that demands your attention. Once you give yourself over to American Slang, you are rewarded by a wave of nostalgia. This is a band acutely aware of their own mortality and the current state of music, both of which they treat with disdain.
Best Songs of 2010
1. Power – Kanye West
2. Cosmic Love – Florence + The Machine
3. A Girl, A Boy, and a Graveyard – Jeremy Messersmith
4. Radioactive – Kings of Leon
5. Young Blood – The Naked and Famous
Best Music Videos
1. Madder Red – Yeasayer
2. Cooler Than Me – Mike Posner
3. Tighten Up – The Black Keys
Special Recognition to Kanye West’s film Runaway
Nathan Collins
Top 3 albums of the year:
1) Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma – equal parts electronic, jazz and hip hop, this album reveals new beauty with each listen. Put it on shuffle to discover and entirely different album.
2) Jonsi – Go – One of those times when a lead singer creates a truly original side project. A great pop record.
3) Anais Mitchell – Hadestown – This folk opera features everyone from Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) to Ani DiFranco. Sweeping epic storytelling mixed with some downright amazing folk music.
Jill Ettinger
Top 3 Albums of the Year
1. joanna newsom have one on me
joanna newsom is evolving. fast. put her under a microscope and i bet scientists would discover some new genes or super DNA or something never before seen. the 3 cd set, have one on me, is better song after better song of some of the best music ever made. note to new parents: yes it’s a really good idea to move to the woods, let your children wander in the forest by themselves on 3-day vision quests and teach them to play harp.
2. warpaint the fool
the debut from LA’s warpaint sounds almost as if someone discovered an underground city of super music geniuses living under hollywood’s walk of stars. warpaint sounds like cat power and bat for lashes had lou reed’s love children who they only let listen to radiohead and pj harvey records while spinning around and around like barefoot sufis on a bed of rose petals. the fool is absolutely addictive and prescient.
3. four tet there is love in you
four tet tapped into something bold with there is love in you. if “angel echoes” doesn’t gut you every time you listen to it, please see a doctor. the album progresses like a dream that twinkles and sparkles. if these songs were animals, they would all be unicorns. but not the cartoony fantasy unicorns; the real ones.
|
Top 3 Songs of the Year
|
infinite arms-band of horses
sleepless in silverlake-les savy fav
pray for rain-massive attack
Top 3 Shows of the Year
Faith No More Palladium Theater, LA
Fat Freddy’s Drop Music Box, LA
Amon Tobin Echoplex, LA
Top 3 Music Videos of the Year
Heathen Child-Grinderman
Enter the Ninja-Die Antwoord
Red Lights-Holy Fuck
Albums
Krista De La Rosa
Albums of the year:
01) Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
I firmly believe that I will never love a person as much as I love Halycon Digest. I firmly believe that I will never fall this hard for an album so quickly as I have with Halcyon Digest. I listened to this album the second it was released and I never stopped listening to it since. Bradford Cox is a man I will always deeply admire more than many, many other musicians. This album is just one of those that will make you say, “Jesus Christ, this is fucking beautiful.” Every single song brings chills down my spine. Every riff of the guitar, every key and button pushed, every word spoken; this is what a perfect album sounds like. There is no such thing as disappointment when it comes to an album like this. No such thing.
02) Coma Cinema – Stoned Alone
Mat Cothran of Coma Cinema will go down in history as the greatest songwriter of our generation. Stoned Alone is an album that I have laughed to, cried to, slept to, walked around campus to, and lived to. There is plenty of music in this world for us to listen to. I’d choose Coma Cinema over any and every band I have ever discovered. Why? Because Coma Cinema is more than music. The lyrics are more than words. Something beyond magic is produced by this amazing, genuine human being. He doesn’t create music for money or for publicity, but for himself. Stoned Alone will make you feel something music has never made you feel. That, I promise you.
03) Magic Man – Real Life Color
Magic Man is composed of two magical men, Sam Lee and Alex Caplow. I cannot remember for the life of me how I discovered this magical duo, but the second I downloaded Real Life Color off their bandcamp, my life was changed. I do not want to describe their sound by comparing them to other artists. Magic Man is nothing but real, passionate magic. I just want to repeat the words “magic, magic, magic” over and over again until you get a better idea of just how MAGICAL their music is. I tend to listen to Real Life Color while driving. I always seem to be driving, so I am a religious listener of this album. It stirs up my imagination beyond belief. Whether it be the synth pop vibes or their delicate voices, Magic Man is definitely a duo that I’d consider the highlight of my 2010 music discovering year.
TOP 3 SONGS OF THE YEAR:
01) Twin Sister – Meet the Frownies
02) Foxes in Fiction – Lately (Memoryhouse cover)
03) Star Slinger – Word
TOP 3 SHOWS OF THE YEAR:
01) I’m going to include all the artists and showcases I saw during SXSW 2010 as my #1 because they were some of the most amazing, memorable performances bundled together.
02) The Tallest Man on Earth / S. Carey
03) Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
TOP 3 MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE YEAR:
01) Coma Cinema – Blissed *Created by Tyler T Williams
02) Memoryhouse – Herloim *Created by Jamie Harley
03) Two Bicycles – How Real *Created by Tonje Thilesen
Melissa Nastasi
Eric Phipps
Jen Verzosa
tatyahna
theloudfeelings
danielleque
liv hauck
jdtorres
Joe Madonna
Sedera Ranaivoarinosy
cwaleko
navalmin
John Grimley
micheleyamamoto
wesleyambrecht
fearofdrowning
viktorsha
aitorzabalegui
tonyachin
laurenschwartzberg
merbster
N.Sanchez
leduffy
kenami
ivynoellew
iamrickylewis
travestyofthecondition
mcirigliano2
Gustave
kellykettering
firstrays1
justgentile
pbozic
nmcollins
summer826
Jordannahe
tunmer
sifreelanceguy
cristobalsaez
libbyh9190
benjammin
Zach Yanowitz
ijorissen
gabe563
cst2
bls3390
cjdubs
