PITCHFORK FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT 2013
The 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival is incredibly excited to announce R. Kelly, Bjork, and Belle & Sebastian will be headlining this year’s festival. The full lineup, which will include dozens of acts, will be announced over the coming weeks. Follow @pitchforkfest for the latest news, announcements and exclusive content.
Three-day passes are currently on sale for $120 and single day tickets are available for $50 each. Three-day passes sell out very quickly so don’t delay! As previously mentioned, for the full price three-day pass, the festival is offering a special layaway program that allows fans to purchase the pass in three installments.
PURCHASE PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL TICKETS HERE:
In addition to its musical offerings, the Pitchfork Music Festival also features a wide array of other activities. The fest not only supports local businesses and economy with its 50 individual vendors and specialty fairs, but also promotes the Chicago arts community as a whole to its 50,000 attendees of all ages from all over the world.
Pitchfork is the essential guide to independent music and beyond. With more than four million unique readers and 40 million page views per month, the site has earned an extremely loyal following and a reputation as being one of the world’s most trusted music publications.
Visit http://www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/PitchforkMusicFestivalfor more information.
Seismic Q&A With: Greer Of The Mallard
If you could describe your music, and you had to use movie genres as the basis of your reasoning. What genre and why? I work in a video rental shop and this is still a difficult question, because it’s still difficult to look outside what one is creating and see it with a fresh pair of ears or eyes … SCI-FI/drama/”art film” these are still so general, I feel like we use a lot of psych influences … echo/delay/reverb, kind of sounds spacey, I’ve been writing songs that deal more with experience, making for a bit of DRAMA and “art-film,” we’re not a blockbuster kind of band.
Name a song that you wish you would have written and why? Right now it’s Third Uncle by Brian Eno, but I pose that question to myself often and it often changes, last week it was the 15th by Wire, a week before it was Carpet Rash by Total Control.
Your given one super power …. what is it? Reading minds, but of course with this game there are limitations and stipulations, aren’t there: I get to choose when I can read minds, like a conscious switch; I can turn the power on and off, and I can’t let anyone know of this power … wait! No this is a horrible super power, I would be miserable, same thing with invisibility/stopping time/foreseeing the future. I guess I’d want something kind of minor so it wouldn’t alter my life too much. I don’t know….the ability to change drugs into puppies and puppies into drugs with a squint of the eye. BLOTCH!
The ultimate self-sustaining tool a musician could ever need? Space to let thoughts and ideas form, though I suppose that transcends any medium.
If you were to title the most current album based on the overall process of making it, what would the title be? FINDINGMEANINGINDIFFERENCE.
Largest source of inspiration? I would say lately I’ve found a lot of inspirations from local bands and people. Burnt Ones, Wax Idols, Lenz, always Thee Oh Sees, Grass Widow and of course my band mates. I feel very fortunate to live in San Francisco and know some wonderfully inspiring people who create a really special scene. It’s very refreshing and very supportive.
Name a cartoon character you always wanted to be or admired, when growing up?
I don’t know if I’ve ever admired a cartoon character. I remember wishing I could be an X-man.
Most bizarre thing that’s ever happened to you? My father died some years ago, and coping with the idea of death was quite bizarre (how’s that for a downer).
The last 5 things you would like to do before “THE END”?
I don’t really think about “the end.” I can’t make a one-year plan very well, so planing for the end … whether it’s “the end of my life” or “the end of the world” seems impossibly too black and white. I suppose I’d like to go to Europe, I’d like to continue creating; whether it’s music or creativity transfers itself into other media. I’d like to try psychedelics, I’d like to continue to learn and grow as a human. Christ, is this a question from O.K. Cupid? that’s 4, it’ll have to do.
What’s coming up for The Mallard? We’ve been working on our second LP. We’re in what I call the tar stage: mixing and mastering/album art/song titles. Slowly… slowly forming into a product, verses a concept.
We’re playing a lot of local shows in San Francisco and going out to SXSW and Treefort (Boise) in March. We have a new line up, Greer McGettrick: vocals/guitar Dylan Tidyman Jones: guitar/vocals Miles Luttrell: bass Dan Kendrick: drums. I’m really happy how it’s sounding live, we all work well together. We’ll be in the Northwest a lot this year.
Seismic-Sound Featured Album Preview: The Black Angels “Indigo Meadow” Due Out April 2nd.
Blue Horizon recording group The Black Angels have announced the upcoming release of their eagerly anticipated new album. Indigo Meadow will arrive in stores and online on April 2nd.
Indigo Meadow is heralded by the high-powered “Don’t Play With Guns” (watch video below). Penned just days before last year’s mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the song is streaming now exclusively via The Black Angels’ newly relented http://www.theblackangels.com.
“Our music has always tried to shed light on issues that may be hard to deal with or confront,” says singer/guitarist Alex Maas. “If people think they can ignore the issues, they are wrong. Don’t play with guns, don’t touch a hot stove, don’t give your child a poisonous snake, don’t turn the cheek when artists are willing to discuss these issues.”
“In ‘Don’t Play With Guns’ the antagonist is a female who has the power of persuasion over a man,” he continues. “Substitute the female antagonist with a Nation, substitute the manipulated man with yourself. Heed the warning: Don’t Play With Guns.”
The Black Angels’ most revelatory collection thus far, Indigo Meadow marks the Austin, Texas-based band’s fourth full-length release, following 2010’s acclaimed Phosphene Dream. Once again The Black Angels prove themselves the undisputed avatars of contemporary psychedelic rock, simultaneously exalting the genre’s kaleidoscopic past as they thrust it further into the future. Now a four-piece – ably supported behind the board by producer/mixer John Congleton (David Byrne & St. Vincent, Explosions In The Sky, Clinic) – the band have brought new focus to their wide-ranging songcraft, the righteous riffs and dogmatic drones gaining increased power as they fuel a more expansive emotional terrain. The ominous organ grooves and carpet-bombing beats surely resonate with blood and fire, but songs like “Love Me Forever” and the deep blue title track also see a little light entering the Black Angels’ notorious heart of darkness. A 21st century trip as transcendent as any in the canon, Indigo Meadow masterfully affirms the Black Angels’ full-throttle commitment to the psychedelic ethos of creativity, community and boundless experimentation.
Founded in 2004, The Black Angels have been at the spearhead of the post-millennial psychedelic movement, picking up the mantle of their hometown’s long lysergic history and reinvigorating it with progressive political commentary and unrestrained creativity and ambition. Long hailed for their monumental live sets, The Black Angels will celebrate the arrival of Indigo Meadow with a major North American tour, set to get underway April 4th at Athens, GA’s Georgia Theatre and then continue a May 26th date at San Antonio, TX’s appropriately named White Rabbit. Support comes from a stellar line-up of lysergically like-minded artists, including Allah-Las, Elephant Stone, Hanni El Khatib, and Wall of Death (see attached itinerary). Tickets will go on sale this Friday, January 25th – please see http://www.theblackangels.com for more information.
Further, The Black Angels will once again have a headline role at their own annual Austin Psych Fest, set for April 26th – 28th. Early Bird Weekend Passes are on sale now – please see http://www.austinpsychfest.com for details.
As it enters its sixth year, Austin Psych Fest has proven the locus for today’s incredibly wide-ranging psychedelic scene, as expansive and revolutionary and exhilarating now as at any moment since its 1960s zenith. APF has quickly become no less an institution as the Newport Folk Festival or the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, inspiring – as it was itself inspired – numerous other like-minded gatherings in such far-flung locales as Liverpool, Santiago, and Cape Town. Like ever before, psychedelia’s countless creative tendrils lead back to Austin, where in 1966, the 13th Floor Elevators were praised for their “psychedelic rock,” forever marking the city as the forward-thinking sound-and-vision’s official birthplace.
APRIL
4 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre #
5 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel #
6 Washington, DC Black Cat #
7 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer #
8 New York, NY Webster Hall #
11 Boston, MA Royale #
12 Montreal, QC Le National #
13 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall #
15 Detroit, MI Magic Stick #
16 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom #
17 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall #
19 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre #
20 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe #
21 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room #
22 Lawrence, KS Granada #
26-28 Austin, TX Austin Psych Fest
MAY
2 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon %
3 Birmingham, AL WorkPlay Theatre %
5 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge %
7 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue %
8 St. Louis, MO The Firebird %
10 Boulder, CO Boulder Theater %
11 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot %
13 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre %
14 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom %
15 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom %
17 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore %
18 Pomona, CA The Glass House ^
19 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern ^
21 Los Angeles, CA Mayan Theatre ^
22 Tucson, AZ Club Congress ^
24 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s ^
25 Dallas, TX Granada Theater ^
26 San Antonio, TX White Rabbit ^
# w/Allah-Las, Elephant Stone
% w/Hanni El Khatib, Wall of Death
^ w/Wall of Death
Seismic-Sound Presents: “Destination Unknown” With Kithkin
Wasn’t that long ago when I really wanted to offer a spotlight on artists who in the grand scheme of things at the time, were vaguely, or completely overlooked by what the “mainstream” Seattle media deemed as “the hot new thing”, and it was a tad bit irritating …
Not knowing the direction of Seismic-Sound, besides the obvious covering of amazing local, and national talent. I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to incorporate some type of other medium coverage, hence my 600-700 videos on YouTube. I knew I wanted a lot more professional footage than I could provide …but I figured it would happen all in due time, and that it did.
I had only known Cb Shamah as one of the owners of The Columbia City Theater and had always enjoyed his company, but it wasn’t till Doe Bay Fest, when I really got a chance to connect with him and realize his passion and interest in film. Upon that interaction at Doe Bay, I was able to meet his partner in crime for the documentary shooting of “Welcome To Doe Bay”, Daniel Thornton.
Not long after settling back into our lives after Doe Bay, was I then approached by Cb and Dan to possibly work together in collaboration with Seismic-Sound on a series that Cb had coined via a brainstorm “Destination Unknown” …. loving the name … we started the process of who we will shoot and how. I somehow formed an amazing group of people with the help of Dan and Cb to do these shoots in random settings. Sometimes an empty space in an office building, as with this one, or an empty bar. After lots of hiccups, and learning via mistakes, we have really been able to acquire some really wonderful people to take part in these projects, and all volunteer their time. So I want to sincerely thank everyone for all of their help, then, now and in the future projects of “Destination Unknown. We have some now well-known bands coming up, and also some not so well-known bands, but certainly bands we think have that something special.
When we shot Kithkin, they had not quite garnered the buzz that they now have, but it was becoming obvious to others that they were something special. I fell in love with their sound instantly, and looked forward to working with them. One of my writers (Chelsea Robinson) said it best when describing their music … “Per-fucking-cuss-ive!”, and although true, the many elements they garner musically translate impressively in their sound. So with that, I give you Kithkin. (watch in HD)
Sub Pop Records is excited to announce that Duluth, MN, trio Low are releasing the first song from their 10th record, The Invisible Way. “Just Make It Stop” is available for streaming HERE. The Invisible Way will be released on March 19 (the 18th in the UK). Coincidentally, the release marks Low’s 20th anniversary as a band. The Invisible Way was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, engineered by Tom Schick and recorded in Wilco’s studio in Chicago, IL, during the fall of 2012.
“Low has made so many great records over the years, so I was pleasantly surprised they wanted to work with me at the loft,” said Tweedy. “I felt privileged to work with them and be a part of this new record.”
The Invisible Way finds Low’s majestic melancholy in full bloom yet distinguishes itself with its starker, unadorned soundscapes, layered harmonies and drummer/vocalist extraordinaire Mimi Parker singing lead on five of the 11 songs. The album tackles large issues (“the songs are about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archaeology and love,” says Sparhawk) in a manner that plays a stunning counterpoint to the sublime hush of the music.
The final tracklisting for The Invisible Way is below:
Plastic Cup
Amethyst
So Blue
Holy Ghost
Waiting
Clarence White
Four Score
Just Make It Stop
Mother
On My Own
To Our Knees
A North American tour has been confirmed to begin March 16 in Toronto, ONT, and finishes April 6 in Seattle, WA. All North American shows go on sale this week. The complete tour dates are listed below:
January
18 – Duluth, MN – The College of St. Scholastica
March
16 – Toronto, ONT – The Great Hall
20 – New York, NY – Society for Ethical Culture *
22 – Chicago, IL – Metro +
23 – St. Paul, MN – Fitzgerald Theatre x
29 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
30 – Provo, UT – Velour
April
2 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
3 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
5 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
6 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
*The Wordless Music Series, ACME String Quartet opens
+WXRT presents, Geoff Farina opens
xThe Current Presents An evening with Low, featuring members of Trampled by Turtles
The European tour dates are below:
April
24 – Birmingham, UK – Glee Club
25 – Manchester, UK – Central Methodist Hall
26 – Gateshead, UK – The Sage Gateshead
27 – Glasgow, UK – Classic Grand
29 – Bristol, UK – Trinity
30 – London, UK – Barbican Centre
May
2 – Copehnhagen, Denmark – Loppen
3 – Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser
4 – Oslo, Norway – Bla
7 – Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
8 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal – Nuits Botanique
9 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Paradiso De Duif
10 – Frankfurt, Germany – Zoom
11 – Bologna, Italy – Teatro Antoniano
13 – Barcelona, Spain – Casino de la Alianca
14 – Valencia, Spain – Teatro La Rambleta
15 – Zaragoza, Spain – Teatro de las Esquina
16 – Madrid, Spain – Joy Eslava
17 – Valladolid, Spain – Lava
18 – Biarritz, France – Atabal
Seismic Q&A With: BattleMe
Foreign Comedy. It’s all about the dark humor.
Bohemian Rhapsody. Because it’s the best song ever.
Fly. No more traffic.
Creativity.
Big, Bad Basement
Mornings. I know I made it.
Chilly Willy
1. Have sex with my wife.
2. Climb a big mountain.
3. Eat a piece of milk chocolate.
4. Turn on a small radio with the Grateful Dead.
5. Jump off the cliff.
Seismic-Sound Featured Album Preview: Apparat “Krieg Und Frieden” Due Out February 19th.
Apparat, aka Sascha Ring, is happy to announce the release of Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre), an album of music based on Sebastian Hartmann’s theatre production of Tolstoy’s War & Peace. It is slated for a digital release on February 19th, but in the mean time get a taste of the album and download the single ‘A Violent Sky’ HERE.
The renowned German arts festival Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen commissioned Sebastian Hartmann on this project of bring Tolstoy’s masterpiece to the stage. Hartman, considered one of the biggest innovators of contemporary German theatre, called upon Ring to contribute to this mammoth project.
During the initial meetings with Hartmann it became clear that there was no script or anything comparable, rather the text was a collective effort of the entire ensemble. After spending time with Tolstoy’s original text, Ring took up residence in an old abandoned factory. For four weeks he rehearsed his music with the whole 30-piece ensemble. Says Ring, “This is anything but conventional theatre. It’s a free space, where a bunch of freaks can go wild. It starts with the lights and stops with the actual actors. At night, we worked on the music in the empty hall. It was kind of magical.”
Recorded with Philipp Timm (cello) and Christoph Hartmann (violin), who are members ofApparat’s live band, the album features artwork by Tilo Baumgärtel, whose work actually forms part of the theatre production.
The project was initially conceived to end with the last performance of the play, and no release was ever imagined. As the production drew to an end, they found they hadn’t fully exhausted the potential of the songs yet. “Because it evolved out of a process, and transformed all the time, there’s always been a certain freshness to it.” explains Ring.
Beautiful motifs only popped up for seconds before they faded away into the performance. To breathe new life into their soundscape, the trio headed into the studio and rediscovered their musical achievements. “In the studio the material got another twist, it became a real piece of music. I took the recordings with me, wherever I was – at home, at a hotel room, in an airplane, and straightened it up. I decided to not go completely crazy about the editing, I didn’t want the music to become demanding. Every record tends to become mere work at some point. Euphoria then turns into the feeling that you are standing in the middle of a huge construction site. I actively wanted to avoid this feeling this.”
For Apparat experiments in sound are strongly linked to exploring emotions. Over the course of seven album releases Ring has developed a universe of multifarious emotions. From his early works,Multifunktionsebene (2001) and Duplex (2003), which removed the abstractness of electronic music and introduced a new spectrum of feelings its well-tested modes, to collaborations with Ellen Alien (Orchestra of Bubbles) and Modeselektor (as Moderat), he is in constant evolution. His most recent evolution would be his creation of the Apparat band and the release of The Devils Walk. Released in 2010, it was his first with Mute.
Apparat is currently on a DJ tour, with shows coming up in Tokyo and Egypt. To experience his DJ set from home, take a look at his recent appearance at the Boiler Room Berlin: http://boilerroom.tv/apparat-60-min-mix/
On the heels of three well-received singles comes Ride Your Heart, the bombastic debut album by LA band, Bleached, out April 2 via Dead Oceans. Sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin match their ability to blend a mix of freewheeling ’77 punk with vintage sunny Southern California melodic rock and roll; creating blindingly bright hooks and dark heartfelt lyrics about love, loss, and the crazy fun moments in between. That’s the goal: the sugary and sour, repurposed by two aggressively harmonic musicians and songwriters. Their first single “Next Stop”(<–Hear it here) epitomizes this movement – fun, raw, adventurous and free. Tossing you out onto the dance floor, hair mussed from make-outs, cigarette still dangling from your fingertips.
Raised up deep in the San Fernando Valley, their suburban isolation nurtured the girls creativity, as they started making their own music at a young age. Sneaking into punk shows over the hill in Hollywood, they grew up to become teenaged underground staples at all-ages Downtown DIY venue, The Smell. “Me and Jen were punk kids who weren’t taught how to play instruments,” says Jessie. We taught ourselves how to play, out in the garage.” Eventually signing to Kill Rock Stars and Post Present Medium, their all-girl punk band Mika Miko drew international acclaim, landing slots on tours with No Age, Black Lips, and The Gossip.
Bleached originally formed when the Clavin sisters resolved to continue working with each other upon the break up of Mika Miko. Plans were postponed when the sisters joined other bands. Jennifer relocated to New York and toured extensively. With Jennifer away, Jessie began to play with various bands in LA. But in the fleeting moments they found together back home, the songs that became Bleached’s early 7″ singles came together. Since Jennifer moved back to her hometown, Bleached now serves as both girls’ chief creative outlet. “I was going crazy being in someone else’s band,” remarked Jennifer. “Me and Jessie are so proud and happy to be able to focus on our own music, together.”
As a whole, the twelve tracks on Ride Your Heart reveal the many facets of Bleached’s music in a delirious vortex of playful harmonies, tangled guitars, and golden noise. Each song brings a new element, while also imbibing the classic moods of bands as varied and iconic in nature as The Ramones and The Cars to The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac. From the syncopated backbeat and two-part chorus of “Dead In Your Head,”, the rolling riffs and sparkling melodies of “Searching Through The Past” and the pulsating energy and urgency of “Dreaming Without You” and “Outta My Mind”, Bleached take you on a sweeping emotional roller coaster that churns and burns. Ride Your Heart is a thrilling, beating, glorious wall of sound strong enough to withstand its own impact.
Here is a great teaser of Kithkins upcoming “Destination Unknown” shoot we did over this last summer. This is their song called “Move Slow”. Enjoy and be on the look out for their full set in the very near future.
Seismic-Sound Presents: “Destination Unknown” With Erik Blood
Wasn’t that long ago when I really wanted to offer a spotlight on artists who in the grand scheme of things at the time, were vaguely, or completely overlooked by what the “mainstream” Seattle media deemed as “the hot new thing”, and it was a tad bit irritating …
Not knowing the direction of Seismic-Sound, besides the obvious covering of amazing local, and national talent. I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to incorporate some type of other medium coverage, hence my 600-700 videos on YouTube. I knew I wanted a lot more professional footage than I could provide …but I figured it would happen all in due time, and that it did.
I had only known Cb Shamah as one of the owners of The Columbia City Theater and had always enjoyed his company, but it wasn’t till Doe Bay Fest, when I really got a chance to connect with him and realize his passion and interest in film. Upon that interaction at Doe Bay, I was able to meet his partner in crime for the documentary shooting of “Welcome To Doe Bay”, Daniel Thornton.
Not long after settling back into our lives after Doe Bay, was I then approached by Cb and Dan to possibly work together in collaboration with Seismic-Sound on a series that Cb had coined via a brainstorm “Destination Unknown” …. loving the name … we started the process of who we will shoot and how. I somehow formed an amazing group of people with the help of Dan and Cb to do these shoots in random settings. Sometimes an empty space in an office building, or as with this one, the Blue Moon Tavern on one of the hottest days of the summer. After lots of hiccups, and learning via mistakes, we have really been able to acquire some really wonderful people to take part in these projects, and all volunteer their time. So I want to sincerely thank everyone for all of their help, then, now and in the future projects of “Destination Unknown. We have some now well-known bands coming up, and also some not so well-known bands, but certainly bands we think have that something special.
Erik Blood has always been on my radar as one of the most , if not the most talented pop song writers around … not just an incredible producer, but a pop musician done on a genius level with climbing soaring guitars, pop hooks that keep your head and feet moving incessantly. I have found myself getting teared up or even getting the chills at songs like “To Leave America” or “Home and Walk” off of 2009’s The Way We Live; and lets not get me started at the brilliance of Touch Screens. It’s an album that hasn’t come out of rotation since getting it. Songs such as“Lethur” “Phenomenal Pornography” and “Todays Lover” are an orgy of beautiful chord progressions and musical layering. It’s an album not to be missed. Please enjoy Erik Blood.
Seismic-Sound Interview: The Spring Standards with Sara Johnson. October 7th at The Sunset Tavern.
This Sunday, The Spring Standards will be in Ballard to show us how the East kicks it’s heels up, with Tacoma faves Elk & Boar (Don’t miss either openers) and Melville. But our Sara Johnson took some time to ask The Spring Standards about the road, highlights on the tour and what they listen too.
This is the first time Seismic Sound has interviewed you so let’s start at the beginning: can you tell us how The Spring Standards got started?
We met in middle school, around 8th and 9th grade. The other James and myself met a little bit before we met heather. It was random, my family moved to a house just across the field from him and one day I saw a kid my own age playing basketball outside and I went over and said whats up and we both liked music and then it sort of went from there.James and I were playing the same kind of music. I was learning guitar and he played piano and we were both singing and we were into the same kind of music like Peter Paul and Mary, while our friends were doing garage bands, punk rock and getting grungy-dirty garage sounds and we were just more into The Beatles. Then he switched schools in 10th grade and started going to the school that heather was going to and he came to me and was like “Hey, I’m in this musical with this girl and I really
think we should like audition her” and I was like “I dont know man, I like the band how it is”. This was at a time when we were young and VERY VERY serious about what we were doing and so I didn’t want the change but eventually the change happened and well, she’s pretty awesome! So then we would just play off and on for years. We all went to college and went different ways. I went to Boston University, Heather went to Syracuse University and then James went to Berkeley in
Boston and we all just had our own time in college and then we would come back and play. So we basically just played forever, on and off, for fun and it was never really serious and then we all moved to New York City for completely different reasons and ended up hanging out and the language that we were used to speaking was music so we just got out a guitar and started playing and we were singing old songs, it was fun and then we wrote a song and then we just kept going… It got going really organically. Just about five years ago we decided to take it really seriously and tried to do our best and that is where we are
now.
One thing that I was super surprised about was that you guys are only a 3-piece. I thought there was at least 6 or 7 people up there!
When we record, its like a playround. We try to not let it get too out of hand and that’s why we have producers who are like “lets tone it back, you only need 12 guitars not 50”. We are still learning how to negotiate and how to traverse through the recording process and it took us a long time. Now we are at a place that we are really excited about it and still learning. When we play live, there are four of us. There are three of us mainly but we play with an auxillary musician who is also our tour manager, named Noah Goldsmith. He is amazing! He sort of switches off, he can play bass or guitar and he sort of fills
in the gaps. For the most part, we are a trio but we split up the drums between the three of us. I will be on, say the left side of the stage with a kick drum and a bass or kick drum and guitar, we switch off on lead vocals all the time, and then let’s say on the right side of the stage there are a kick drum and high hats and then in the middle, Heather is playing a snare drum and cymbals and we kind of just split it up so one person will be playing the down beat, one person will be playing the up beat and it just sort of works. We have alot of gear… Every sound guy we have ever worked with either loves us or just hate our guts. They hear it’s a 3-piece and they are like “yeah, alright! Easy night” and then we show up with enough musical instruments and amps and things for a twelve piece band and they are like “This is crap…”. So for the most part there are four live performers on tour except when we are playing radio or something.
How did each of you learn how to play so many instruments? Do you come from musical backgrounds or did you just start picking up instruments?
Sort of… Our parents were sort of musical. My mom can play the piano and the flute, although I haven’t heard her play the flute in probably twenty years. My dad can play one song on the piano and he can play guitar. My sister plays the obo, cello and piano. So we were sort of raised, as much as sports teams were important, music was important in my family specifically to just kind of be well-rounded, I dont know if that’s the right term for it but…. And the same with Heather. Heather’s parents were in a band when they were younger. A very peter paul and mary style band but it was all just sort of tinkering and fun. I actually don’t know how musical James’ parents are but they have an amazing collection of music and play all kinds of
music, all the time. We were in a town that there was not much going on with live music so we had to explore ourselves, which was a curse because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go to see live music but it was a blessing because we had to find it on our own. It was either the radio and Top 40 or we had to delve in and all of our parents sort of guided us in that way. They all listen to very Bob Dylan-esque, Crosby Stills and Nash, Neil Young, all that stuff. And my parents are obsessed with listening to the Cambridge Boys Choir and like a million different things that sort of throws a monkey wrench into the Top 40. When my friends would come over they would be like “everytime I come to your house, there is always really weird music playing”. We weren’t classically trained. We all did chorus and orchestra and band in elementary, middle school and high school. We’ve all had some lessons here or there except for James he took some classes at Berkeley. I was never really taught guitar, I just learned the guitar. And then the bass, bass players would shoot me if they hear me say this but the bass is kinda… You can fake the bass if you play guitar. Im not saying Im an amazing bass player but I can fake it! I think it’s that way with alot of instruments. Like the ukelele, I am not a ukelele player but I randomly had a ukelele one summer and
I was just tinkering around with it and I wrote a song on that. So now we have a ukelele song and that’s not because I’m a ukelele player but it’s just because that was the only thing I had to make music that summer. So we kind of flip and flop and figure it out and sometimes if there is ever a time that we want, lets say a tuba, well I play the trumpet so I can sorta figure out how to play the tuba. It’s not going to sound great but I’m not going to playing some virtuoso tuba piece.
What have been some highlights of 2012 so far?
The highlights… the ones that just stick out to me are the album coming out because this is our first album that all 3 of us really have felt most passionately about. We have felt passionate about each album we have done but this, for some reason, just clicked. We were working with an amazing producer named Dan Milad and he is just amazing and a friend of ours. It’s just a really good feeling. We worked so hard on it and bands are so poor these days. We are so poor all the time but we made it through fan funded stuff and that was awesome, that was an amazing feeling, just that we have enough fans to
do that! And then the other stuff… We had a great tour! We toured with Rhett Miller and then we played Conan O’Brien in mid-June and that was a dream. That was so much fun and it’s fun to just think about that every once in awhile. If my parents ever have to explain what I do to their friends, they can always bring that one up. It gave some validity to all of our parents about what we do!
What about the rest of the year?
Right now we are about to head out on our first national headlining tour that we have done in a very long time. When we first started, it wasn’t a mistake because we learned from it and it was super fun, but when we first started we decided just to go for it and do a headlining tour when we had no fans. No one knew to come and see us. And when that happens no one is paying for tickets and no one is there to buy merch and then you play for the 3 people that know you in each town and before you know it you’re saying “well, gas is expensive, these places to stay are expensive because we don’t know anyone and since
that time when we were very green to it all but I THINK this is our first headlining tour that we’ve done without like co-headling in quite awhile, probably a few years We are heading out to California and back and sort of dotting shows along the way. And that is super awesome and exciting.
Have you played seattle before?
We have played Seattle before! We love Seattle, we love that whole area: Seattle and then down to Portland, Oregon. I am from the other side of the country so I consider that “the same area”. They are so awesome, they are just so cool. You live there right?
Yes, born and raised. I love it too! I lived a few other places around the country for short periods of time and it makes me love it that much more. It is sooo beautiful here. I live here and I still say that everyday!
The nature out there is just insane! When we are driving through it’s like “We’re moving! We are all moving here!”
What’s it like touring with you guys?
That’s tricky, it’s different for every tour. Sometimes when we tour with another band and we will all think of the dumbest things to do and we will take videos of it. So it really depends on the tour and also when we are going. For this one, when we do the entire country we do all sorts of weird things. Heather used to have this blog and she’s not doing it so much anymore but it was a blog of all these cool vegetarian places she would find along the way. And we used to do a thing called the Lead Sled Sid because our old band was called the Lead Sled and we used to do a thing that was from the perspective of our van and we would sort of blog that and do some weird video blogs as well. We just sort of have to keep ourselves entertained because it
really is just waking up early in the morning, driving 6 hours, loading in, sound check, playing a show, getting out late, going to sleep on a couch or a motel and then doing it all again the next day and it’s like that for a month. Other than the excitement for that hour that you get to play, which is the whole reason you do it, but it can get pretty monotonous. Just driving for hours a day so we figure out ways to keep ourselves busy and try not to kill eachother. That’s the other really entertaining thing we do, we just try not to commit murder. That’s the main thing, I just don’t want to go to prison after tour. “No prison” is the mantra for this tour.
What do you like about playing music? What is it that keeps you going
from city to city?
That’s an awesome question. Geez… It’s just gonna sound corny but it’s the people that come to the shows. It just is. Cuz you have people that you realize will come out wherever and will drive for hours. There has been people that we have played closer to than we have ever been but still 5 hours away from where they live and they will STILL make that drive and that to me, is just amazing! I rarely do that for bands that I love so that is such a cool thing. I remember the first time I said to someone “Hey, you guys gonna hang out tonight?” and they were like “no we gotta drive back” and they said some town that was literally 4 hours away and I actually felt bad! I felt so bad! It’s like the first time you see someone singing your lyrics. I remember very specifically when I saw that happen. It was in New York and there was a girl in the front row singing our lyrics and I remember just feeling like “I’ve made it! It’s happened!”. It’s just such an amazing feeling. I mean, this girl has listened to it enough times that she can sing along and I know what it takes for me to remember lyrics so that meant so much to me. Having people sing along when your playing is the greatest feeling and to just cut out all the instruments and stop singing and the people are still singing, that’s an amazing feeling! This business is really hard and it can be pretty heavy at times but at the same time it is the culmination of all those little things added up to make you feel like ‘this is why we are doingthis’. We love playing music, we love writing music, we love performing for people and then you see that people have a response of having a great time and it makes you feel like you’ve done something successful. You’re enjoying, they’re enjoying it, everyone is having a great time… This is perfect! And you make friends, we’ve made so many friends on the road from just playing a show and meeting people and we end up staying in a random farmhouse. And we have relationships where when they come to New York we all get together. We haven’t just made fans we’ve made friends. So as cheesy as it sounds, it’s the people that are my favorite thing. That and every once in awhile there is a show where you just get a little crazy. Those random shows where something goes wrong. Like if the power goes out, we love that! We had a show awhile ago that we played where the power went out and there was a huge lightening storm and the whole block was down and the show ended. The headliners were like “well, we cant do anything now” but we were like “But we can!” and we told the crowd “hey you guys can go or whatever but were gonna just play a few songs”. And we ended up playing a whole set in the pitch black dark with one emergency spotlight and people were dancing and we did some covers and people were singing along. I will never forget that night because something went wrong but it was so much fun!
What is on your playlist right now?
Well actually I am going to go to my computer right now and tell you but I gotta admit, I’ve been listening to a lot of Pandora lately. Ive been doing to old Pandora listen, which I wouldn’t normally listen to. I can deal with the ads, some people don’t like the ads but I can deal with the ads and it’s random, I like when someone is saying “Oh, this is something that might work for you”. It goes back to when people used to make mix tapes. I would love getting mix tapes because I wouldn’t put those songs on that mix tape but the fact that you did is awesome and now I don’t have to work for it, I just get to listen to all these things that I wouldn’t normally. I’ve been listening to a lot of Esther Phillips lately. Do you know her? She is amazing! She does this song “No Headstone On My Grave” and it is UN-believable. And I’ve been doing the ol’ Neil Young and a lot
of Wilco. I’m a huge Wilco fan. Stevie Wonder too. Stevie wonder and Wilco are always my go-to’s on my playlist. Definitely go look at “No Headstone on My Grave” though, its just so passionate. She sings it like she is going to die the next day.
Seismic-Sound Preview: Hologram plays Barboza on 9/18. DON’T MISS!
If you haven’t heard of the Stockholm Swedish band Holograms; I have a good feeling you will hear a lot more about them in the very near future. Giving you the sound of Punk, and infiltrating that sound with some wide veins of New Wave. Their final product synthesizes the drudgery of dismal existence with a lust for something better.
In defiance of their decrepit instruments (a collective estimated worth of a handful of Kronas) Holograms emit a seemingly impossible energy. Their sound has proven far too large for Stockholm’s charred pavement and empty streets; leading us to think it’s about time for all of us to get a little drunker together. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Petersson
HOLOGRAMS – ABC CITY from Holograms on Vimeo.
Seismic “Song Dissection” With: Jace Krause Of Fort Union And Song “Solstice Day Parade”.
It was June in 2009 and summer was just getting started (but not really, because it is Seattle). I married my wife Ellen the previous fall and things were going well. I had a decent job and my previous band was gaining some momentum in Seattle. We had always wanted kids, but thought we would wait a few years before trying. Well, we didn’t wait that long because despite our best efforts Ellen got pregnant.
She hadn’t been feeling well, and her women functions were not happening on schedule. These are major clues that there is a seed of a human taking root inside of the female.
It was the morning of the famous Fremont solstice day parade when we knew for sure. She worked a night shift at the hospital and came back in the morning and slept a few hours before waking up. She woke up because we were going to a party at our friend Chad’s place. Chad had a great spot on the parade route, where you had a front row seat to watch naked people riding bicycles.
Ellen took one of those pregnancy tests before we left the house. As we suspected, it came back positive. For the woman, your life changes right at that moment. For the man, it is much different, and it takes a long time to really sink in. I went on with my day with many heavy thoughts about my future. Were we ready for this?
I think I came around to the idea quicker than Ellen, probably because she had to make immediate changes in her life to get ready for a baby.
Throughout her pregnancy and even after our son was born, I was working on this song. I take a long time to write songs. Usually I have 5-10 songs I work on at a time, and some don’t get finished for months or even years. Those are the best songs I think. I don’t trust songs that I wrote in an afternoon. They usually don’t see the light of day.
“Solstice Day Parade” explores my thoughts throughout that process and time in my life.
It’s been more than 3 years since that day, and I am really happy with how things have gone. My son is awesome and I wouldn’t change anything about how he arrived here.
FORT UNION(<–Listen here)- Solstice Day Parade
Great artists neither borrow nor steal; they make soup. The bones of their influences become the stock, the singular flavors are added later. Erik Blood has kept his ears open for ingredients for 35 years. Motown. Krautrock. Britpop and hip hop. Kraftwerk. John Carpenter film scores. Cocteau Twins’ hazy, endless guitars. Madonna’s sex-as-art-as-pop. Kevin Shields and the art of whammy bar maintenance. Teaspoons of some, handfuls of others, all creating a cohesive mixture that is more than the sum of its parts, yet only the base for what’s to come. Dealing exclusively with pornography, Erik Blood’s Touch Screens would of course be a chowder.
And how does Touch Screens deal with pornography? With a sensitivity and playfulness mostly missing from the modern incarnation of its subject matter. But that’s just it- Blood’s songs about fucking are sentimental odes to what he sees as a short-lived and long-gone golden age of porn, before AIDS, before the industry began alternating between boredom and brutality for the sake of the bottom line. John Holmes was a star and mainstream audiences flocked to theaters playing Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door. Blood wears his love for this optimistic and innocent porn of his youth on his sleeve, in turn reminding us all that we take both the business and pleasure of sex just a bit too seriously.
Album opener “Phenominal Pornography” introduces us to the genre in a rush of tumbling toms, harmonized vocals, and insistent guitars, Blood singing “I am exciting, I am obscene” over top, before it dissolves into a delicate string interlude. He laments early exits from the industry by would-be stars on the darkly beautiful electro of “The Lonesome Death of Henry Paris” and the somber “Rex Roman”. The DFA- esque “Today’s Lover” updates the instant-gratification sentiment of Kraftwerk’s “Computer Love” for the digital age they predicted, while the tight bump-and-grind of the second half of “Amputee” should, in a perfect world, become the theme music for a Portland stripper by year’s end.
Touch Screens’ high point, both lyrically and musically, comes in the form of “Share Your Love”. In its first half, a voice (perhaps an on-set co-star) envies an actor who has a true love waiting at home, before the coin flips in a cacophony of looped guitars and synths, and we hear said frustrated lover asking the actor “Is this the way it’s gonna be forever?” over the best two minutes of pop music you’re likely to hear from anyone in 2012. When someone tells you they are making an album about porn, this maybe isn’t what you’d expect, but it is what Erik Blood means. One man’s dirty pictures are another man’s works of art.
But with Touch Screens, Erik Blood has done something far more important than making the obscene once again palatable to the masses: he has made a record without time and place, one that stands on its own outside of the rabidly over-protective and insular Northwest music community. Touch Screens is big, bold, lush and washy, danceable and meditative in equal degrees as it is futuristic and nostalgic at the same time, and of course, immaculately produced. In five years, it will still be all of these things, while fifty more Seattle musical darlings will have come and gone. For that, Blood deserves to have the term “local artist” before any mention of his name removed in favor of just “artist”. Who says there’s no redeeming social value in porno?
8.9
Blake Madden
SlowCore Pictures Presents: Erik Blood’s “Today’s Lover” (NSFW) from Mark Cuadrado on Vimeo.
Seismic-Sound Interview: Boys Of Fidlar Talk About Touring Europe, Festivals and Everything DIY!
So it seems like 2012 has been pretty huge for FIDLAR, a lot of new stuff has been going on. What have been the highlights?
Brandon: We got signed to Mom + Pop Records and that has been a pretty big deal and we pretty much got a whole team this year, like booking agent, lawyer, label… All the stuff a band needs to like take it to the next level.
Elvis: Another cool thing was SXSW, we played a lot of shows and it was really fun! We put out a 7 inch and putting out another one in the UK pretty soon. It’s really exciting to have more product coming out!
Brandon: We recorded our full length too which will hopefully be coming out in September. We did it all ourselves at our studio in Highland Park and built the studio and recorded all the songs… And mixed all the songs.
What about SXSW. Have you ever been before to watch or play?
Elvis: We have all gone a couple years in a row now but this was the first full on show. 9 shows actually, during the week we were there. So that was kinda crazy like running around doing whatever SXSW entails. It was a lot of work but it was fun. We played with a lot of cool bands and stuff. We didn’t have too much down time to go shows though… It’s a really good festival. I think it’s the best music festival. There are always really good shows.
Brandon: I saw Jacuzzi Boys and that was really good. I’ve seen Thee Oh Sees there a couple times and Black Angels and stuff like that. Trash Talk … we almost got to play with them but the show got shut down before we got to play.
What do you mean it got shut down?
Brandon: AESOP Rock is like this new rapper that’s out. It was kinda bullshit because we were supposed to play first but then we got moved to play last and then he like started a fight with the audience and ran into the audience and tried to punch somebody and then the show got shut down.
And you’re going to Europe this summer?
Brandon: We are going to Europe in August. We are playing Pukklepop in Belgium, Lowlands Festival in Holland, and then Radfest in London, and then Reading and Leeds Festivals, and then I think we are doing our own show in London.
Elvis: Yeah, we are doing our own show in London.
Brandon: We’ve never been to Europe, I mean I’ve never been to any of those places before so like we are pretty excited because I don’t know, its somewhere we’ve never been and we get to play like cool festivals with bands we like and stuff. And then the Fuck Yeah Fest in LA in September. That’s like a huge deal for us, because we have all gone every year and the line-up for that this year is insane. Its literally like 15 of my favorite bands. We are pretty pumped.
Will the Olympics still be going on when your there?
FIDLAR: Oh whoa, I don’t know… I didn’t even think about that.
So did you say the studio is in your house?
Brandon: Me and Zach live with some other roommates in this house in Highland Park that is this old car dealership that has like been transformed. It was a studio before we got there. That band Trapt, that like super deuschy bro rock? So it was their studio originally and then we like sublet it from some other weird stoner guy. It’s a pretty unique space and we’ve had a lot of parties and DIY shows there and make all of our merch there, built our studio there… and live there. It’s like a fun-house/club house!
And you make all of your own merch?
Max: We have a bunch of the “Don’t Try” EP’s so we just spray painted all the cases.
Brandon: We have shirts and pins. Me and Max will like make shirts in our backyard. We have like screen and just screen print them. We order a bunch of shirts or like try to like steal them from Target or something. It was a lot to make shirts for this tour because we have been gone and we were like we are gonna needs like tons, or hundreds, of shirts. So it got a little intense. I don’t know how much longer we will be able to make our shirts but we like doing that stuff. We like creating. We are all pretty creative people. Usually we don’t have day jobs so on those days off its like “What should I do?” so we will just like make some CD covers or shirts. We are always trying to think of new ways to do cool shit for our band. It’s funny too because you can definitely tell they are made by us because there will be some weird ink spot on the shoulder. We actually played a show in LA not too long ago and we just took a bunch of our old shirts. Like Zac had trash bags full of old clothes that he didn’t want any more. So we pulled out all these other band shirts. So it would be like a Led Zeppelin shirt and we just screen printed FIDLAR over it and gave them away. We made 60 shirts and just gave them out for free. We thought it would be weird to sell someone like our old shirt. Selling a new shirt, even if you steal if from Target, is fine but some dingy old quicksilver shirt just seems fucked up.
Tell me a little bit about the DIY shows.
Max: We originally started playing these bike rides that one of our friends put on. And it would just be like a hundred bikers or so and they make periodical stops and at those stops they would have bands playing. So that was our first show, actually our couple first shows. And then a lot of them are just like house parties. We used to have house parties at their house but then it started getting too gnarly. Shit was getting stolen and our walls were getting spray painted and it was just not cool. So now its like if someone wants us to play their house party they will just ask us and if we are in town and we want to do it we’ll be like “alright”. But its getting to the point now that its like almost a little too hectic to play because there is like no room to play because your on the floor and all your shit gets knocked over and the past 5 or so have been like power gets cut out and then there is 10 minutes of silence. And its become and issue. We are trying to work around it but more and more people are coming so its difficult.
Brandon: I don’t think there is a “scene” of DIY, I just think we play DIY shows. I always liked going to DIY shows because you don’t have to pay a cover and spend a bunch of money on drinks and there is no age limit or anything. And they were always more fun so it was just like “why don’t we just play a DIY show instead of some weird venue in LA where, I don’t know, where we have to like sell tickets and shit.
Alright FIDLAR, you need to see your openers show. It has been a pleasure meeting and talking with you and I can’t wait to see you live!
*After the show Max came up to me to find out if I had any contacts at El Corazon because he was hoping to get his fake ID back.
By:SARAH JOHNSON
Make sure you catch The Intelligence July 19th at The Crocodile for their CD release show. Our own Chelsea Robinson has a few questions for Lars Finberg. Lets see how he handles it.
Hi Lars! I’m kind of embarrassed to admit to this, but this is my first time listening to The Intelligence: Hi, and no sweat …. you’re in the majority there man. They say we have a lot of records, but be scared .Nothing like the Dead.
The album is great! I like how all the songs are super different … were you purposefully going for a variety of genres on this album?: Thank you. Yes we wanted to go both directions at the same time, nastier and friendlier, happier and darker, California and Washington.
So you live in L.A. right? How has moving from a dark, dank pit of despair affected your songwriting or music?: It might be sunnier, but it’s always been sunny, at least to me. Maybe it wants to make me sing prettier.
I hear you have a really interesting recording process … can you tell me a little more about that? A certain friend of mine from Golden Blondes said its like you “create a musical quilt”. That sounds fucking rad!: Our recording process has always been evolving. From me recording alone on cheap garbage, to me recording alone in a nice pretty studio, to me recording in a nice studio with a band. This record was technically two different bands (one in Seattle and one in L.A.) recording a 1/3 of the album each and 1/3 bag of mystery guests or me alone.
Seriously… what is the deal with the counting song? Why would you do that too people?: I didn’t intend for it to be annoying, I thought it would be exciting like, “what the fuck are these idiots doing?” like a long first clanky climb of a roller coaster that goes to long.
I know this is a difficult question….kinda like picking your favorite child, but whats your favorite track on the album?: I HATE ALL MY CHILDREN EQUALLY. Hmmm, I like how “Return to Foam” turned out, or “Techno Tuesday” … yeah I pick that one:.
I love the doo-wop style of “Little Town Flirt”! Are you a fan of the golden oldies? The rest of the album is much more modern sounding. Why slip a sock-hop jammer in there?: Its a cover of Del Shannon, but we are covering the cover ELO did technically. I love old gold music. When I first heard it, it flipped my wig, and I thought we could do a great version of it. I wanted the record to have a lot of different vibes, and I think it comes after a dark song to kind of lighten things up.
Who’s is that lady voice who is singing on there? I like it when you two sing together. It’s only on two tracks though … why you hogging all the vocals?: Its Shannon from Shannon and The Clams. I’d make her sing all the songs of she was in the band.
You and I have both worked the door at The Hazlewood? Do you have any entertaining stories from those days?: Most people are just surprised that someone with boobies and beauty, so I typically stun them into being on their best behavior. Do your boobies have the same effect on people?: I have boobies? rats! I’ve been doing push-ups. Other than trying to read, and every drunk person asking me “What are you reading” It hurts your back to sit on a stool all night.
If you could pick one person, dead or alive to jam with, who would it be?: I don’t like jamming. When friends come over and say “oh yeah and we can jam”, I get a panic attack. Thats the truth, but I don’t want to be a weenie, so I will say Eddie Grant. I would write and he could sing.
If you had to pick one fantastical creature to represent the band, what would it be?: Jabberwockies
You like to read, whats your favorite book of all time?: I don’t have an all time have I can think of, but I just read “Freedom”, by Jonathan Franzen, I loved that.
If you had to choose one branch of science or mathematics to represent the band, which would it be?: Chemistry.
Who would win in a fight? A pie or a cake?: Pies suck!
Do you think Tupac or Biggie is still alive?: Oh was that Tupac hologram at Coachella beggin for help like Princess Leia?
Whats the worst movie you have seen lately?: The Limey
Seismic Interview With: Angus Andrew of Liars
Liars will be in town playing in support of their new album WIXW at Neumos July 8th, so I took the time to pick lead singer Angus’s brain about his favorite basketball team (Clippers), the bands fashion evolution, Seattle connections, new band crushes, and finally some of his gayest moments in his heterosexual life.
Check them out this Sunday with Cadence Weapon and Grave Babies at Neumos.
Most difficult part of making the WIXIW album? Does it get any easier six albums in?: You’d think it’d get easier right? but somehow its quite the opposite. I think the hardest part about making wixiw was overcoming the fear and doubt which seemed to be inherent in the process we undertook.
I read that you’re a Clippers fan and said “when they do well, everyone in the world seems like its in the right place and will understand the album”. So they did well this year, and your album has certainly gone in a bit of a different direction. You think it will be understood?: Hmm…thats a tricky question. Its hard for me to say whether or not our album will be understood. Of course I hope people can connect with it, but at the same time its very much out of my control at this point and in a way I just like to focus on the fact that I’m very proud of what we accomplished.
Yes, the clippers did well this season, but could they have done better.
You also said that “writing personal lyrics is scary”; but doesn’t it seem as if artists (on the whole) get the best results when putting that “personal” energy into their music? Seems therapeutic and beautiful all at the same time. Your thoughts?: Well … I agree to a certain extent, but in my experience it’s always been more interesting to project those feelings onto something more objective or universal that people can identify with. For example, if I feel isolated or dislocated then it might do well to discuss a place like Los Angeles, or if I feel frightened or misunderstood, then maybe I could utilize a theme like witch hunts, y’know? its just that I’ve never really been excited by work that is all ‘I This’ and ‘I- That’, woe is me and all that jazz.
In that vein … what’s the most personal song on the new album ‘WIXIW’? and can you tell us what its about?: Yikes – yeah its hard to single out just one, as I think they’re all much more personal songs than we’ve ever put out before. Ill valley prodigies is one that discusses the kind of haunting nature of drug dependence which I find to be one of the most difficult subject matters to talk about and maybe thats why its the shortest track on the album.
Since the direction of your music changed, it seems as if, from my gay point view, that the hair and clothes got a bit more fabulous if I may say so myself. Are you inspired by fashion?: How kind of you! hmm.. its hard for me to say that I’m inspired by fashion in a musical way, but I do enjoy the possibilities of clothes and appearance … how much they can effect a mood or create a certain feeling within or in relation to a work. I also have great admiration for those people who can grab fashion by the scruff of the neck and shake it about without care or abandon. Maybe thats the best way to describe how it inspires me … via admiration.
I read in a interview for REDEFINE in 2010 that Aaron and yourself feel dislocated from whats going on around you, but its seems as though you’re very much connected to whats going on culturally at least. You still feel dislocated?: Yeah I think its interesting that you can at once be very aware of whats going around you and at the same time feel so separated from it. Maybe part of that is just sort of consciously choosing to be an outsider … is it more alluring? I don’t know. Definitely when making stuff I like, the feeling of being apart from things, to have a more objective perspective; and really since I left Australia its been natural for me to feel like that.
Some people may describe your music as “weird”. I’m attracted to weird or non-conventional personally. What’s weird to you?: In some ways weird or ”experimental” for me is veering toward the conventional. I guess you could say its more common for me to be confronted by what is quote unquote weird and so the things which seem really obtuse are the more traditional. A good example of this is in my music making, where it feels easier or more natural to create some kind of abstract sound collage, but alternatively really experimental to try and write a straightforward verse chorus verse, pop song.
So I know you’re friends with now defunct Seattle band The Blood Brothers. You stay in touch or keep up with what they’re up too?: Sure, yes I just heard that Marks project Champagne Champagne is on the Warped Tour! how exciting! and yes we played with past lives last time we were in Seattle. We love those guys.
Any new bands you have a mad musical crush on: We just played the other night with Sfvacid which I’m a big fan of, I also like Blanck Masse out of the U.K.
And since it was just Gay Pride week here in Seattle … can you tell us the about the “gayest” thing you have ever done? Details please: Wow – well its probably too boring to discuss any of my boyhood experimentalism, and not very exciting to talk about the many tours where I enjoyed performing in a flashy red prom dress … so I’d say that maybe my two most current “relevant” undertakings are the full bodied anderson cooper bookmark I travel with and my ginormous man crush on the portugese footballer – Christiano Ronaldo.
Thank you…THANKS
Seismic Commentary “Prince Valiant”?: Nu-Sensae, Naomi Punk and Great Apes at Black Lodge, by Chelsea Robinson
I love punk music. I really, really do. But there’s nothing like a punk show to either make you feel 9,000 years old and lame as fuck or 13 years old and awesome and free. You can’t just feel like you’re your actual age. I didn’t realize I was going to a punk show, so I dressed like I normally do (aka like Six from Blossom or Kimmy Gibler from Full House). Oooops! There’s an all-black dress code and I stick out like a sore fucking thumb. I’m also 90% sure I am the oldest person in this room (and I’m 29!). I’d never been to Black Lodge before and despite the not so welcoming ‘tudes’, I like the place. There are several murals on the wall, one of a giant bear head open-mouthed growling … one of a giant man’s head with one amp earring and one guitar earring, getting his tongue cut off, and another of a trippy geometric pattern with a giant pentagram in the middle, spray painted dripping black. The last mural is the backdrop for the stage, which makes everything look kind of awesomely evil. It’s the perfect setting for a punk show.
I guess the first band was supposed to be a different band because that’s what the internet told me. The band that ended up playing is Great Apes, from San Francisco. They were a little more Against Me! than the other bands. They are what I would call “90s punk” because the hey day of bands like these dudes was the 90s. Since I really like the 90s, as evidenced by my description of how I dress, I liked this band a lot. Their songs all felt really personal and the singer, Brian Moss, explained that their next album they asked their friends what was important to them and what they wanted to talk about and wrote songs about that; which is a super cool concept in my opinion. At the end of their set, Moss said, “In short, fuck whoever you want, be whoever you want”. Which is why I started liking punk music in the first place, so I could be like that.
The next band is Naomi Punk. This band had the greatest haircuts I have ever seen three dudes have. One is just kind of a curly mushroom cap, the other kind of a awesome Sideshow Bob type situation, and finally … the “Prince Valiant”. Majestic hair, guys. Seriously. Plus, they dressed like A/V geeks, which was incredibly adorable. They started their set playing over a super ridiculous Jessica Simpson song, which immediately made me like them. They sounded much more “arty” than the previous band. I know this is going to sound really stoner-y but their music sounds like geometry. Like, I’d like to see a laser show of all their songs because I feel like it would go really well with shapes. I wasn’t even high when I had that thought. I was a little drunk, but that’s neither here nor there. The music is really good. It seems like it would be the soundtrack to a really cool and pretentious indie movie. Which I like.
The final band of the night is Nu Sensae. I am automatically endeared to any band with a woman in it. I love plenty of all-male bands, don’t get me wrong. I just like lady music better. Because I’m a lady and I like to hear what ladies have to say. Because I think it’s important. This band looks like the early 90s. The singer, Andrea, has faded blue hair. One of the boys in the band is wearing ripped up jeans with a smiley face patch on them. I love it. So does everyone else. Almost immediately, a full-on mosh pit starts. I haven’t seen a mosh pit like this in at least 5 years. Luckily, I have two teenage girl bodyguards to my left to protect me from flying limbs. I have a hard enough time standing for more than 10 minutes, the mosh pit is a little bit too much for me. Even though I secretly kinda wanna get in there and flail around for a minute. This band kinda fucking rules you guys. They’re from Vancouver. I’m not sure if that’s Washington or B.C. but something tells me it’s Washington, judging solely by the way they dress and talk. I partied in Vancouver, WA once. I drank moonshine, got proposed to by an Army man, and made out with my ex-boyfriend in a parking lot. Ah, youth.
C.R.
D.T.
Lazer Kitty– Ruins
(Self Released) CD Release Party at the Vermillion on June 16th<–(click for full info)
This week there was equal beauty and sadness when Ray Bradbury, the visionary science fiction author, passed away during the once in a lifetime event of Venus’ transit across the face of the Sun. Once asked about the creative struggle and the perpetual war of the head and the heart Bradbury was quoted as saying, “Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down.”
RUINS, the instrumental debut of Lazer Kitty takes a cue from this advice. The resulting nine-track plunge is a genre-bending flight that judiciously splits time between gliding and g-forces. The jump point, “Revolutions Per Second”, sets the tone as a defiant, optimistic leap that insists on soaring through space instead of just floating in it. This out of control, in control style is the perfect sound picture of free falling sonic wing construction.
To describe the musical foray of Lazer Kitty it would be fair to mention cosmic aspirations, Ray Bradbury and the space rock genre, but slapping that label on RUINS is like describing the space shuttle as an adequate commuter plane. The problem with “space rock” is its typical invertebrate drift, like an un-tethered half-baked astronaut eating freeze dried ice cream and floating around, it’s nice but dammit we’re in space…let’s go see something fucking cool already!
Lazer Kitty sheds this stigma with aplomb. The strength of RUINS is its backbone, well that and the audacity to strap some aggressive rocket boosters to a host of ambient textures that know when to float and when to boldly go into hyper-speed and actually take us somewhere. Contrasting textures illustrate a human immersion in a world that is often depicted as foreign. Synths and pads take a backseat to tightly cracked snares and stark piano melodies. Digital layers yield to organic instruments that never lose touch with the humans moving them forward. With each track its own self-contained journey, RUINS is more space travel than space rock, more astronomy than cosmology.
There’s an unpretentious ambition in RUINS, an epic experimentation with palpable energy that draws from humanity’s most exclusive trait, our ability to play the role of galactic spectator. It’s about time someone reminded us that if we are indeed the lone sentient beings capable of measuring ourselves against the context of the universe we might as well have a kick ass time doing it.
8.3
Ian Stephens
Seismic-Sound 