The site has laid off a sizable portion of their editorial staff in a (possibly misguided?) effort to give millennials what they really want, a.k.a. “short-form video content.” An in-depth article by Spin breaks down this shift, and reveals MTV News’ troubling loyalty to artists over its writers. Inside sources state that lukewarm reviews of Chance the Rapper and Kings Of Leon were removed from the cite after complaints from the artists’ management. Read the whole thing here.
Meet The Capybara Babies Named After Rush
Naming animals after rockstars is the best trend to come out of 2017. The latest species to get the eponymous treatment is the freakishly adorable capybara, the world’s largest rodent from South America. The triplets of two well-known capybaras named Bonnie and Clyde, who gained fame after running away from their Toronto zoo for 36 days, were recently named after Rush’s Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Look below for what you really came here for: videos of the huge rodents doing cute stuff.
Listen To She Keeps Bees’ Healthcare Protest
It’s a somber but fiery track, delivered by She Keeps Bees at a very appropriate time as Republican leaders decide to hold off on voting on the health care bill until after the July 4th holiday. Rather than go the subtle route, “Our Bodies” ends with a very literal, unmistakable message: “Our bodies are our own… don’t control me, we demand autonomy.” Listen below.
Other Highlights
Beyonce had twins! The Kardashians are ruining band t-shirts, listen to a new St. Vincent track, Paul McCartney & Sony settle their Beatles dispute, dive into the 80’s soundtrack of GLOW, Iggy Pop stars in a PETA animation soundtracked by Nick Cave, NYC’s Norton Records is closing, The Killers are back, & listen to Senator Kamala Harris’ African-American Music Appreciation Month playlist.
Last year, before the presidential election tore through the fabric of reality like Dr. Who’s Tardis, a friend invited me to indulge in her Groupon – for a float. “Floating” aka “Flotation Therapy,” is a physically simple practice achieved by resting your naked self atop a highly concentrated saline solution. The super salty pool (upwards of 1,000 pounds of salt for just a bath’s amount of tepid water) suspends your bod like a buoy, and allegedly alleviates you of any tactile sensation. Though comprised of rudimentary ingredients, this spa trend can cost exorbitant prices ($75-$130 per “float”) when paired with mood lighting and Pandora’s “Enya radio.”
But what is the purpose of Flotation Therapy? The answer might be found in the treatment’s other name: the “Sensory Deprivation Tank.” Aside from sounding like the title of a Ken Russell film, the name taps into a deeper human longing than relaxation: the desire to feel nothing. Sure the tank suggests the separation of mind and body, spinal alignment, and even hallucinations. Benefits of a good “float” nod at the metaphysical – spiritual transcendence that can be accomplished by many trips to the tank over a period of time – but it was the nothingness I was most intrigued by (in part because I don’t believe in spiritual transcendence).
“Numbness” and “nothingness” are concepts more foreign to me than “health insurance” and “good credit.” Truthfully, I’ve always felt all the feelings; and if there’s one thing I’ve never felt, it’s nothing. I can’t help but wonder – if there’s a new age miracle treatment for feeling that boils down to a well-lit, salty bath – could music conjure a similar absence of stimulation…or better: emotion?
For music to negate feeling would be a true feat of inversion, like a baker un-baking bread. Music was made for emoting; it’s an especially potent dialect of emotional language that can make us dance to songs we think are crap and cry during trite commercials. But is there a song in existence capable of evoking the anti-feels? If so, I am desperate to find it.
Just as I was skeptical of the tank’s pledge of “sensory deprivation,” I doubted I could find a song, let alone an entire record, that would act as an aural anesthetic, an antidote to pop’s poisonous love songs, rap’s wrath, and disco’s boogie. But despite my suspicion, I knew right where to start looking: the ambient soundscape. After all, what better to numb ourselves with than the a-rhythmic, a-melodic wanderings of the ambient-electronic canon? I set myself up for a series of highly subjective, uncontrolled tests after a period of distress when even listening to the new Harry Styles single would make me weep (and not because it’s bad).
I first selected a couple of records – my “test drugs.” Then, during a moment of particularly intense emotion, I would pop one of my pills and see what happened. The first tablet to swallow was William Basinski’s groundbreaking Disintegration Loops. In making this four-album saga, Basinski recorded fragments of ambient music through a tape loop that captured the gradual deterioration of the tape itself – the subtle corrosion of the magnetic strip barely audible, but somehow still palpable to the listener. The result is a somnolent meditation on repetition, impermanence, and decay. It is a beautiful and delicate work that could probably benefit someone with insomnia, but that wasn’t exactly my problem. Sure, “somnolent meditation” and delicate beauty sound all good and anesthetizing, but then I thought about it a bit more: the Disintegration Loops are literally the sound of something (though tape) dying. Dying is sad. Sad is an emotion. Next.
Surely I could turn to my trusty No Wave hero Glenn Branca for a good shot of sonic Novocain – he doesn’t even believe in melody! I swallowed the eccentric composer’s 1981 album The Ascension like a fistful of Advil, and awaited its sweet relief. Unfortunately, The Ascension goes down a bit differently when you’re having an off day, and though I’m all for aggressive music, the record should perhaps be labeled thus:
“Side effects of listening to The Ascension during a period of emotional distress may include: discordant notes, furious drumming, agitation, crashing synth-cymbals, blood-boiling rage, satanic distortion, terror, and face melting guitar solos.”
I was beginning to feel like Goldilocks. William Basinski was too soft. Glenn Branca, too hard. Where was my happy medium? And by happy medium, I mean complete and utter nothingness.
I trudged through countless artists; Michael Gordon, Nils Frahm, Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Oneohtrix Point Never – each sound, though wildly unconventional, still managed to stoke that pesky human defect: feeling. I was about to call it quits on my quest…and then I remembered his name.
Steve. Reich. If I had taken in Basinski and Branca like vitamins, maybe it was time to inject myself with Reich’s 1976’s masterpiece Music For 18 Musicians. Reich has long been a pioneer of minimal music, and it’s silly I didn’t turn to his catalog for my little experiment sooner. Could his compositions truly make me comfortably numb?
The answer, at long last, was yes. I had found the song to feel nothing to.
Music For 18 Musicians, though technically an album, really functions as an unyielding 59-minute song. Its continuous nature (there isn’t one breath of silence in the entire record) is necessary for optimal catharsis, because while music is the space between the notes, those spaces can destroy you. Space allows for thought, and thought is no damn good when you’re trying to sedate emotion. Music For 18 Musicians on the other hand, is so relentless, so packed with notes, that your brain is constantly trying to keep up with them, and has no capacity for wandering thought. Perfect.
When looking into the history of Music For 18 Musicians, I found that Reich was inspired by Psychoacoustics, which is the scientific study of our psychological and physiological response to sound (noise, speech, and music). Knowing this I feel a bit less nutty for reacting in such an intense way to Reich’s piece. Perhaps he wanted to offer the ability to momentarily transcend sentiment in the same way Flotation Therapy seeks to transcend sensation. Maybe more than an aural anesthetic, Music For 18 Musicians is an antibiotic, obliterating the good and bad bacteria simultaneously, destroying all cells in its path. Like a natural disaster, it has no emotional motive; its dense mass is purely self-perpetuating.
Aside from being the anthem for neutrality, I must say: Music For 18 Musicians is also the best break-up record of all time – if you’re actually trying to get over the break-up, that is. Trust me, I’ve tried all the others, and a year ago my heartbreak playlist would be wildly different. I’ve bathed in Muddy Waters and drank Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops.” I’ve anointed myself with Nick Cave’s rage and drowned myself in the cold cruelty of Smog. But all they’re good for is salting the wound. Now, I don’t want a Hank Williams Band-Aid… I want a Steve Reich IV drip.
So what do you do when you’ve found the perfect drug? Get it approved by the FDA, patent it, and stock up. But the problem with any medication is twofold. Firstly, the effects wear off after a while, and secondly, you tend to build up a tolerance. Sure, the flotation tank and Steve Reich can suspend you in salty and sonic pools of beautiful nothingness – they can even eviscerate the pain for a whole hour. But what do you do for the remaining twenty-three, when you can’t be naked in a bath or listening to music? I guess therein lies the real experiment.
Detroit’s DIY rock scene has developed a penchant for teenage nostalgia and candy-coated wickedness. Clumsy with playful misconduct, Blood Stone is the latest quartet to make lo-fi faux innocence their M.O. Their newest track, “Friends ‘Til The End” could be sweetly committed or in need of being committed as our sinister siren confesses she’ll “laugh so hard when the fire starts” while insisting that though they call her a witch she’s “not one of those.” Masked in fuzzy guitar and Strokes-esque percussion, Blood Stone hands over their proverbial red flags with an arsenic-laced cheek kiss, making “Friends ‘Til The End” seem just a touch too permanent.
B.F.F. is the new R.I.P. with Blood Stone’s latest below:
Bloomington locals Mark, Stone, and Steve constitute the trio of secular rockers known as Jacky Boy that opened up the night at Punks Give Back #4. Punks Give Back! Bloomington is a local branch of Punks Give Back!, a national, not-for-profit organization that supports local artists and organizers to raise money for local nonprofit organizations. Punks Give Back! Bloomington organizes a monthly event with music and poetry in order to channel funds into various organizations that support local underserved and underprivileged populations.
Punks Give Back #4 raised funds for Exodus Refugee Immigration, an organization based out of Indianapolis that makes it its mission to “serve the resettlement needs of refugees and other displaced people fleeing persecution, injustice, and war by welcoming them to Indiana.” Although they admitted that this was their first show in over three months (which I guess is a while for the band), Jacky Boy delivered their trademark grungy dream pop sound: jangly and distorted guitar effects, infectious hooks, and saccharine vocals.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Jessie, and Ian, and Nia of Clue
(June 22) The Bishop Presents: Fresh Kill: with Clue, Oscilla, Jennie Williams, Poems of T.K. Williams, Jasper Wirtshafter, and Alexandria Hollett.
This show, which featured the debut of new local group Fresh Kill, had an especially stacked supporting lineup of music (Jennie Williams, Clue, Oscilla) and poetry (T. K. Williams, Jasper Wirtshafter, and Alexandria Hollett). After three poetry sets opened the night, local singer-songwriter Jennie Williams grabbed the audience with raw and personal tunes sung in a rich tone that seamlessly shifted from one octave to the next. Following Williams was Clue, a three piece synth punk group comprised of Bloomington locals Jessie (synth and vocals), Nia (bass), and Ian (percussion). With a cool and deliberate energy, the bouncy, syncopated rhythms and Jessie’s half-sung vocal performance provided a lively counter to the other acts of the night.
Headlining group Fresh Kill was the second-to-last band to perform. Fresh Kill is Emma, who sings and plays the drums, and Jess, who sings and plays guitar. Aside from occasional bursts of energetic instrumentals, their performance was minimal, which showcased the hauntingly personal nature of their lyrics. The audience was especially supportive for the debut of this band, who had family and friends in the audience for the special night. Lastly, Oscilla wrapped up the evening with ambient dance tunes that were as emotive as they were hypnotic.
When I descended the stairs to the basement of the house venue Kroger Castle, Dream Probe had already started playing their set. Dream Probe is a Champaign-based hardcore punk band featuring Vince (guitar), Olguie (vocals, bass), and Tyler (Drums). Dream Probe performed the songs off of their spring demo, bringing even more intensity and energy to their politically charged, anti-colonial, Spanish language punk. Although all of the instruments were turned up to max volume, Olguie’s powerful vocals managed to cut through the chaotic wall of noise.
Local punk group Skull Cult closed the night with another energetic punk set. Their sound contains elements of new wave, synth punk and hardcore but is difficult to define and characterize. Luckily, it seems like Skull Cult is more interested in creating an environment that is both boisterous and merry than in defining their sound. While their performance was abrupt, it was packed with turbulent music and uninhibited dancing.
(6/21) Jordan Victoria @ the Blockhouse
“This is my first time playing the guitar in public,” admitted Jordan Victoria, the drummer of Her Again, about halfway through her opening set at the Blockhouse. While her nerves may have been apparent when it was time to address the audience between songs, her vulnerability paired well with the intimate and autobiographical nature of her music. As Victoria’s subtle vibrato coaxed the lone meandering electric guitar through rises and falls in intensity, it felt less like a performance than a gathering among friends.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Album art by Jon Campolo
Pill gives us strength as we come to terms with chaos in the premiere of “Side Eye,” a single from their upcoming EP entitled Aggressive Advertising. Dueto be released on June 30, they are following up their 2016 debut LP Convenience with a second release on Dull Tools, returning to the cassette tape roots of their first EP.
Pill is Veronica Torres, Jon Campolo, Ben Jaffe, and Andrew Spaulding. Politics remain important to Pill and these themes persist in “Side Eye.” They refuse to roll back efforts to scratch away at the burning itch of misogyny, although arduous. They maintain creative flexibility and innovation in these seven tracks as moods range from guarded and abrasive to relaxed and danceable.
Torres and Campolo talk with Audiofemme about the underlying theme of “Side Eye” and their recent European Tour.
AudioFemme: What is the subject or theme of “Side Eye”?
Veronica Torres: The song explores the duplicitous feeling of needing to take action and burn down walls against misogyny, and then the exhaustion that comes along with being questioned for every action and your capability to do any job. In an interview last fall a journalist asked me if I was an angry girl, and I battled against it and fiercely denied the term he applied to me and our music. I still believe that if I was a man I would not be positioned so crudely into a one-dimensional feeling. I think it would have been padded to suggest some focus in ideology, or at the very least I could have been called a woman. At the end of the day though, I guess I am angry. There is a lot to fight—sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc—but I feel comforted by the fact that there are so many beautiful people holding up a torch in these dark times.
AF: Where was Aggressive Advertising recorded? What did you look to for inspiration while creating?
Jonathan Campolo: We recorded Aggressive Advertising with fifth Pill Andy Chugg, who’s produced everything we’ve made. This EP comes with a little reinvention, a little shift in language—for instance, I sing throughout a full track for the first time (“Afraid of the Mirror”), something we plan to work with more for the next record. There are also moments, like in “Piña Queen,” that are legitimately posi and danceable, a feeling not so present on our first LP Convenience, with all of its anxieties.
VT: We really wanted to push the boundaries of what we ourselves think Pill is as a band, and to also have fun since it’s an EP. We were initially inspired by a library “muzak” record that Andrew got his hands on—also called Aggressive Advertising—that had a sharp 80s business edge. I could hear the stock market rising and all the power suits tightening around every crotch.
AF: How did the making of this record differ from previous releases?
JC: This new EP still retains all the genre-jumping and instrumental changes that every Pill release has had so far, but more concentrated. On tracks like “Side Eye,” we combined almost four different demos into one song. The format of an EP is very fun for that reason—we don’t feel pressure to keep to a single narrative, concept, etc.
VT: With this EP we had a much more touch and go approach. There are some pretty strange songs that didn’t make the cut, but I hope will get released some day…
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Photo Courtesy of Pill: (L-R) Andrew Spaulding, Veronica Torres, Jon Campolo, Ben Jaffe
AF: Who are some local bands that inspire you and why?
VT: I feel so lucky that Olivia Neutron-John is now a local NYC performer! I am also deeply in love with Sarah Kinlaw’s new recordings on Soap Library.
JC: Other local weirdos we love are: Palberta, Frank Hurricane, Dougie Poole, Macula Dog, Tredici Bacci . . . All of these people are invested in invention. For all those who are lost that believe nothing feels “new” anymore, leave your homes!
AF: What was the most interesting and/or challenging experience of your recent European tour? Did you feel a difference between Europe and America in their attitude toward your work?
JC: DIY is alive and thriving! On this last Euro tour we played squats, house shows, tiny bars, and festivals—really ran the gamut. My favorite memory was post show in Hanover, DE. We were taken to a STATE-FUNDED artist village made out of shipping containers that a friend-of-a-friend was DJing (Cumbia all night baby), and got to jam on a drum kit and guitar setup in the middle of a hand-made skatepark. (Veronica played guitar?!) We kind of hijacked it, maybe drunk jammed for about two hours, then realized no one was left.
AF: What’s next for tour? Will there be a release show?
JC: YES!!!!! We are concentrating on writing again, and will have a release show this month; details are still in the works. We have some local shows this summer and may tour ye olde USA a little this fall. See you out there!
Stream “Side Eye” from Aggressive Advertising below!
A well-worn cliche is that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but Brooklyn band Friend Roulette has taken it a step further: their latest release, The Matt Sheffer Songbook, Vol. 1, is a collection of songs an old friend wrote, but rejected, deeming them unworthy for the world to hear. To prove him wrong, they recorded their own versions and released the five songs as an EP on 6/16 via Pretty Purgatory.
The result is a quietly beautiful, albeit short, collection. If you search for Friend Roulette, you’ll quickly see adjectives like “whimsical” and labels like “chamber pop.” That doesn’t quite cut it, but it seems impossible to write a succinct description of their unique sound; it’s orchestral, and incorporates pop, folk and psychedelic elements. The Matt Sheffer Songbook brings together all of those things in turn, beginning with the somewhat somber “You’re A Fox,” moving into the funky “Snow Pea,” and eventually ending with a playful ditty about killing a spider, “Bacon And Raisins.” There’s a certain antiqueness to the songs, as if they’re the soundtrack to a black and white movie, or heard in a dream that stays in the back of your mind all day. Though they were simply Sheffer’s unfinished sketches of songs, the only thing that’s missing is more of them.
We spoke to several members of the band before their release show at Silent Barn, and they filled us in on the man behind the songs, their recording process and more. Read some of our conversation, and listen to the EP, below.
AudioFemme:Let’s talk about your friend Matthew Sheffer. Your new EP is a recording of some of his old songs, but I was reading that he’s maybe not so happy about that.
Julia Tepper (Violin & Vocals): He’s more recently become a confident and powerful and musician in his own right, and I think he’s still coming to terms with the fact that people love his old stuff too.
Matthew Meade (Guitar & Vocals): I just hung out with him a couple of weeks ago in Texas, and, you know, a good review would come and out and he would be like, “I don’t really care.” I talked to him about how we might do Volume II, and he was like, “Eh, you don’t really need to do that. There’s so much bad stuff.” But I’ve got over two hours of material of his to sift through.
Julia: We recorded them without asking. But I think he knew it was coming from a good place. And we’re not trying to say that they’re our songs, or anything. The band is all about us being friends, and being supportive of each other as musicians, and we feel that way about him, even if he doesn’t feel that way about himself.
AF: Is the EP an exact copy of his old songs, or did you just go by the lyrics and melodies?
Matt: I had to find all the old MP3’s he made and transcribe them, because they were really, really bad recordings. But yeah, it’s like the same songs.
Julia: They’re pretty similar. And on the cassette we released, the B side is actually his original recordings. I think the coolest thing about it is hearing them both.
Nate Allen (Bass): We barely even changed arrangements or anything like that.
Julia: Which is why they’re so short, for the most part. He never finished them. They’re sketches of ideas, and they still hold up anyways.
AF: Which songs are your favorites?
Matt: I like “Snowpea.” Well, I like “Snowpea” but “Joan” is my favorite song of all time. If I were to die, and someone was like, “What was his favorite song?” tell them it’s “Joan.” It’s a great funeral song.
Nate: I think I like “Bacon and Raisins” the best.
Julia: Yeah, that’s my favorite, too.
AF: You went to school together, where you studied jazz. Would you say that you use what you learned there now?
Matt: I want to say no…
Julia: I love that one metaphor, I forgot who said it: you drink from the fountain of jazz, so it can’t help but, um… come out…
Matt: Yeah, that’s Robert Wyatt. “I drink from the fountain of jazz, so I can’t help but piss it out.” And that’s really us.
AF: But it seems like you guys are sometimes still stuck with that “chamber pop” label.
Matt: Yeah, we got slapped with that on right from the get go.
Julia: It’s more of… I don’t know how to describe what genre we fit into, but when you work in an industry, and you want to play shows with other bands, they ask, “What are you?” And then you kind of have to see, well, what other bands would want to play with us? So we get paired with chamber pop and math rock. That’s not what we are, but also, who else would we play with? It’s confusing.
AF: What was the recording process like for this EP?
Matt: We recorded it in Ryan Weiner’s apartment. He’s in the band Tiny Hazard, a good friend of ours. We didn’t go into a studio at all. But that was two or three years ago.
AF: What made you decide to release it now?
Matt: Oh, we had every intention of releasing it. We’re just slow as fuck. And it’s not even like we’re working that hard. It’s not like we’re geniuses or anything, perfecting our craft. We’re just really irresponsible.
AF: Do you have any memorable moments from your tour this week?
Matt: Yeah, Richmond was memorable. We got shut down during our first song, by the landlord. He made a random visit to the apartment, and he shut it down and said, “The devil’s had its fun!”
Nate: We were playing a really quiet ballad, it was a very sweet song. Everyone was leaving and bummed as fuck, but then we realized, everyone was on their phones, making calls, sending texts, looking for a new venue. People weren’t like, oh, cool, I’m gonna go home.
John Stanesco (Bass Clarinet & EWI): What you see on the tour is, the DIY scene is so strong in so many cities and towns. I was thinking, I wish we had something like that in New York, but then I was thinking back to when Shea Stadium shut down, or when Palisades shut down, and there really is that community here. People band together to find new venues to hold shows that were rescheduled.
AF: Any upcoming Friend Roulette projects we should watch out for?
John: I think we’re trying to get back into really doing things, just putting out stuff really fast now. We’re not sure if we’re going to stick with the traditional EP, followed by a full length formula. We were talking about some other strategies to maybe just, keep releasing. And we’re also getting better as producers, getting better gear, where maybe we could self release stuff, you know, to keep in the public eye. So to speak. Rather than just waiting for the machinery of labels and PR to churn.
All we’ll have left of 20 Meadow Street is fond memories, and the new nightclub that the landlord wants to open to replace the beloved DIY venue. Shea Stadium was going to have a few more closing events, but yesterday posted on Facebook that “It now seems impossible to have any more events no matter how small.” The owners raised quite a bit of money on Kickstarter, and hopefully they’ll find a new space to hold Shea Stadium soon.
Get Ready For Sponsored Songs On Spotify
Sponsored content: it’s on your Instagram feed, in your television shows, and in the articles you read (buy Sprite! Just kidding, drink water). Now Spotify treads tricky payola territory by announcing that it will let labels and other entities pay money to have certain songs featured in their wildly popular curated playlists without mentioning that the content is sponsored. TechCrunch reports that the streaming service has already been testing it out on users who don’t pay the monthly subscription fee, though there’s an option to turn off that feature; meanwhile, Liz Pelly’s in-depth, must-read report on The Secret Lives of Playlists ruminates on what the pay-to-play model means for indie labels, among other issues.
SXSW Supports Austin’s immigrants
After the previous controversy over the immigration language used in SXSW contracts, the festival organizers have expressed their support for the lawsuit Austin is filing against the state of Texas. The lawsuit is in protest of Senate Bill 4, which forbids sanctuary cities like Austin. Though they were asked to move the festival to a different city until it was resolved, SXSW CEO Roland Swenson stated that they would “continue to make our event inclusive while fighting for the rights of all.” San Antonio and Dallas are pursuing similar lawsuits.
The couple that plays together, stays together. Especially if you play in a band called NRVS LVRS. Today is the premiere of their new single “Castling”, ahead of their sophomore album Electric Dread due out on June 30th. The track evokes feelings of mysticism and eternal wandering, utilizing a kind of darkwave “wall of sound“. We sat down with the SF natives to talk about what the writing process is like as a musical (and real life) duo. Take a first listen to “Castling” here!
So ya’ll are based in San Francisco…but where are you really from?
Bevin Fernandez: I grew up in South San Francisco, just outside of SF, but my family has been in San Francisco and the Bay Area for generations.
A native!!!
Andrew Gomez: And my parents were Cuban refugees, met in Miami, moved to Boston as my dad got his PhD there, and then moved the family out to San Mateo when I was 2. So, I’m pretty much Bay Area as well.
Living in LA, I just always assume everyone is from somewhere else. Not gonna lie. When I first moved to New York City, I used to put on M83’s ‘Midnight City’ and walk the streets at night feeling on top of the world (and kinda sad). Your music has a similar energy. How does living in San Francisco inform your sound?
A: Well, our first record was about the effects of the current tech industry on housing, the art and music scene, and basically how so many of our friends had to leave. So seeing this city that we love become too expensive for us to ever seriously consider settling down in is rough. This is where we our from and where Bevin’s family lives, and to know we will never be able to afford a home here is a bummer. So, that kind of tension between the mega rich and the rest of us just trying to survive is always there in our music, we think.
When did the inclination toward music start for each of you?
B: I grew up in a family that has a deep appreciation for music. My dad is a huge jazz fan, and my mom informed more of the rock side of things for me. We didn’t have a ton of money growing up, yet my parents made sure that my brothers and I had the opportunity to play music and have lessons as it was something they never were able to do, and definitely regretted. So, I started playing piano at around six, and then oboe from 4th grade until I graduated from high school. I’ve always seen music as essential to your well being, and I think that mostly stems from my parents love of it.
A: Music was usually in my house as well. My parents would listen to old Cuban records, the Beatles, CCR, Phil Collins, so a mix of music from their childhood and their early 20s. I was fascinated by their records and remember staring at them and accidentally scratching them as I tried to operate their turntable. I wanted a record for myself, so my mom took me to Tower where I bought the Weird Al record, “Weird Al in 3-D”. I didn’t think of playing music until I heard Nirvana, and I was like, “I want to do that.” From there I was self-taught with some help from my friends and have played in bands from high school to now.
And how did you two meet?
B: We met at the now closed Jelly’s in San Francisco. A friend of mine invited me to go to the show with her since her friend’s ex was in the band (not Andrew. ha) I figured the music was going to be terrible and ended up getting pretty drunk and was surprised when the music wasn’t that bad.
A: After we finished playing, a friend of mine at the show pointed out Bevin and her friend and pushed me to go talk to them. I’d never been a big approacher or pickup artist or anything, but was like ok. I made a beeline for Bevin, said, “Hi, I’m…” , and then Bevin grabbed my hand and we started dancing. Then, after the show, we went to an after party and chatted into the wee hours. And made out.
YAS. I do love that the scene of the crime is a concert.
B: yeah, whenever I tell that story, people like to make the joke, “were you a groupie?” I shut that nonsense down right quick.
A: We can’t revisit Jelly’s as it closed down after there was a stabbing there about a year or two later. So that’s fun.
When did your relationship take a turn for the musical?
B: Not until years later. I remember one late night when Andrew and I were discussing a Vashti Bunyun song, and I sang a part of it and Andrew commented that I had a nice voice. I always loved singing but never considered myself a singer in any way, but that little complement followed by his encouragement made me pursue singing more. The first time I ever sang in front of a group of people was when Andrew convinced me to do a Daniel Johnston tribute night at the Knockout in SF they used to have on his birthday.
A: Yeah, we kind of sorted out our relationship first, and then we started working together musically. I had a few songs that were more on the electronic side that weren’t getting used in my other projects, and we thought we could do them justice. Once we committed to it, all these other songs started flying out of us, so that was a kind of confirmation that we should be making music together. Also, the reactions we were getting live and from our recorded music were more encouraging than anything else I had been involved in.
NRVS LVRS has gone through a few iterations in terms of band members, but ultimately it’s been the two of you writing since the start. Has the dynamic shifted knowing that you’re writing for two performers as opposed to five or six?
A: Not really. We always have had the attitude that the song comes first. Finish that, and then worry about how to pull it off live later. There was a little bit of, “hey, there’s no guitar or bass in this song. maybe we should add some so our guitarist or bassist can play on it?” We’d give them a few shots at it, but there were certainly times where we just used synth bass or had no guitars because the song just didn’t call for it. We’ve always thought of the other people we work with as collaborators, but ultimately we’re steering the ship.
A: I feel like we’re still writing songs as we always have, but the sounds have changed. What I mean is I think EDM and other electronic genres are written with making people dance as the core motive. So the arrangement reflects that. I feel like we have more song-oriented arrangements, if that makes sense. But, having said that, we’re learning new programs, learning how different keyboards work and getting a better understanding of drum programming. So there’s always a learning curve there. I find that new sounds really motivate me, so I’m always looking for a new patch or plug-in or keyboard setting to give me that.
Tell me a little about the track “Castling”. It has a mystical, ethereal quality to it. What’s the story behind that sound?
A: But as far as the sound, that came from getting a new pedal and running everything through it. It’s called a Pitchfactor, and it plays with signal in a really cool way. So, I just started playing guitar through it, and the chord progression was one of the first things I happened to play. Then I just started recording things over that. I’d say the first 3 or 4 things after that used that same pedal. We were listening to a lot of Kate Bush at the time, so to me I was pushing it to sound like Hounds Of Love. But, later, Bevin started singing her vocal line, and immediately owned the song. Initially, I wanted to sing on it, but that got nixed since I really liked Bevin on it.
Reading up about NRVS LVRS, there’s a lot of terms thrown around: Darkwave, chillwave, electropop, darkpop, indie rock…How do you define your music?
A: I feel like we’ve dabbled in all those things, but I guess we’d go with electronic darkwave even if that’s not perfect. Hard to detach and be able to categorize oneself from the outside. We don’t write overly cheery songs, but there’s probably plenty of darkwave lovers who wouldn’t consider us darkwave. What do you think?
Your sophomore album, Electric Dread, is set to come out soon. What can we expect in terms of tone / subject matter?
A: A couple of years ago I was getting panic attacks. I thought I was gonna die, and then go to the hospital where they’d say I’m fine. Anyway, the blanket of fear that starts to envelop you… I just thought of the words “electric dread” to describe the feeling and jotted it down. As we started writing lyrics, we moved away from just talking about anxiety and panic attacks and started moving towards situations and stories that seemed to discuss that feeling of impending doom.
I struggle a lot of with anxiety, so I hear ya. Last Fall, I had to cut myself off from NPR. I was having panic attacks in the middle of the day. Has the writing process helped with those feelings?
A: I haven’t had a full-blown one in awhile, cuz I can recognize where my mind is going and then head it off at the pass, so to speak. I think writing about it and occupying myself with music has certainly helped it, tho.
B: While I don’t personally suffer from panic attacks, I wanted to write about the dread and fear women experience in everyday life. That made its way into the subject matter of Silhouettes and Lost to the Max. Writing about it doesn’t change that it’s still a problem, but getting to sing about it is cathartic.
Is a tour on the horizon?
Yeah. We just finished a few west coast dates in Everett, Portland, Seattle, and LA, and we’ve got some in Sacramento and Chico coming up, but we are going to book a more extensive West Coast tour for July-August, and then we want to head out to the East Coast in September.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the pre-musician you?
A: I’d tell young me to just focus on getting good and to be honest with yourself, meaning compare your music to artists you love. Is it in the neighborhood in terms of quality when it comes to songwriting, sounds, and lyrics. No? Then, you don’t have to release it. Start again and try to do better this time around. The self-promotion stuff can wait until you’re really good.
B: Don’t ever stop playing music. When I graduated from high school, I abandoned music and dance as it felt like I was only doing it because I always had. I just focused on my major which wasn’t in the fine arts. If I could, I would encourage myself to have minored in music, or to still pursue it one way or another. Ultimately, music is what I love to do more than anything else, so in a way, I wish I knew that all along. But sometimes, you have to walk away before you realize these things.
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Ypsilanti power-pop trio Lightning Love may no longer play together, but their 2012 gem “So Easy” will always be a perfect summer jam.
School is out, bare skin exposed and the sense that anything is possible is undoubtedly in the air. Yes, it’s summer in the city. While we may all have our ideal soundtrack for the season, we’ve put together a few forgotten Detroit tracks that embody the whirlwind of emotions, expectations and possibilities that summer is so often defined by. Will you fall in love? Start over? Will you finally overcome your irrational fear of swimming in private lakes because you never could shake the premise of the movie Lake Placid from your brain? Summer is yours for the taking (and snacking) but mostly for the taking. Dive into these five tracks that are sure to be the aloe to your awkward sunburn.
1. Anna Burch: Tea-Soaked Letter
Anna Burch is a quiet storm. An vital touch in the folk-rock outfit Frontier Ruckus, Burch delves into her own acoustic woes with a similar rawness, this time backed by veteran scenesters Adam Pressley (Prussia, OHTIS) and Matt Rickle (FAWN, Javelins.) Simple, sweet and sorrowful, Burch delivers an aimless summer bike ride with “Tea-Soaked Letter,” a track that confesses to being unraveled and needy with a cooling dose of pop ennui.
2. Passalacqua: Been a Minute
Hip-hop duo Passalacqua revisits and rebirths hazy porch vibes with beautifully-crafted rhymes that go down smooth. There is something particularly retro about “Been a Minute;” it feels like it could soundtrack a subway montage on an episode of Broad City.
3. The Kickstand Band: Fall Back
Upbeat and wistful, surf pop DIY duo The Kickstand Band find a tender bruise with “Fall Back” as it toggles with one foot in spring, the other firmly planted in summer and one arm stretched out to graze Autumn.
4. Mountains and Rainbows: How You Spend Your Time
Possibly my favorite local record for taking mushrooms on Belle Isle or getting so drunk I call up my ex and asks if he still has my record player (not that I care, or anything), Mountains and Rainbows’ Particles contains this frantic gem, “How You Spend Your Time.” It’s perfectly posed for summer indiscretions, but masked with a sort of playful recklessness that is more fun than damaging.
5. Lightning Love: So Easy
Good god, I miss now-defunct Ypsilanti trio Lightning Love. Leah Diehl’s preciously imperfect vocals explore commitment vs. being alone, a perplexing crisis many of us find ourselves dancing between during these high-temp, highly tempting sweaty months. Appearing on 2012’s Blonde Album, “So Easy” features elements of 2005’s best power pop, and as such is well-suited for driving past addresses you don’t live anymore but think about sometimes.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Health Palm on Vinyl, released by State Champion Records
Like many a band to come out of New Jersey’s unofficial rock capital, New Brunswick swamp rockers Spowder have a wild and passionate energy and melodies that appeal to punkish tendencies. They display a chaotic authenticity in their live performance that lights a fire under fans from all walks of life. Their full-length album, Health Palm, was released via Sniffling Indie Kids earlier this year.
Spowder formed in 2013, with Jenna Fairey on heavy-hitting drums and Gillian Smith on bass spearheading the project. Guitarist Jaime Houghton joined in 2014, and by November Declan McCleary was fronting the band. Since then, they have released a number of singles and EPs, proving to be prolific collaborators. They draw influence from The Breeders, Ween, and Country Teasers, alternating between heavy and driving riffs in songs like “Pulp” to soft and sparse numbers like title track “Health Palm.”
Back in February, they opened up for Screaming Females at Monty Hall in New Jersey. They delivered a captivating performance while McCleary’s presence and energy encouraged the audience to lose themselves and writhe along (check out a video from the show below). They have plans to break out beyond the East Coast in August, heading toward Chicago on tour with Connecticut band Bilge Rat.
Jenna Fairey had a chat with Audiofemme about the making of Health Palm and performing with Screaming Females.
AF: Where did the name “Spowder” come from?
Jenna Fairey: We used to go to this one hiking spot in our hometown [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Morristown] all the time on South Powder Mill Rd, and the street signs says, S.Powder Mill.
AF: What is the theme of this record?
JF: Health Palm is the overseeing being of this universe. Each song brings us one step closer to his arrival.
AF: What might happen when Health Palm finally arrives?
JF: We can’t comment on that.
AF: What did you learn in the process of creating this record?
JF: We learned that we love ‘destination recording.’ We went up to Vergennes, Vermont and recorded in a sweet barn studio (thanks, Nick Dooley!). Being away from home helped us concentrate a ton, and it was an awesome bonding thing.
Left to right: Gillian, Jaime, Jenna, and Declan. Photo by Shannon Webb.
AF: Do you enjoy playing in the city? Will you please be doing more of that?
JF: We haven’t played a sick show in the city yet. Everything’s mostly been weekday nights and pretty low key. We’d love to start playing there more often so we can see what it’s really all about!
AF: What is your writing process?
JF: We usually start with a riff and jam on it until it sounds good, and Declan writes all the lyrics.
AF: How did you link up with Nick Dooley?
JF: Becca from Bethlehem Steel played an awesome set at my house once. She connected us. We didn’t meet Nick until we showed up at his barn!
AF: Do you feel being home can be distracting?
JF: It’s not really distracting being home, just easier to put stuff off. Like everyone gets together to practice, but we do razor scooter tricks in the backyard for too long and it gets too late to be loud.
AF: Who do you look up to as a local band?
JF: Glazer, because they are a fucking solid band.
AF: Can you describe your experience of playing with Screaming Females?
JF: Playing with Screaming Females was awesome. We played a good set, in front of a decent amount of people that had never heard us before, at a venue that we respect, opening for a band we all really like. It felt good!
AF: What is your favorite tour experience so far?
JF: We got to take my new van on our last little weekend, that was exciting. It’s an old fire van and it’s huge, so it was just fun riding around in that.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Yoko Ono To Receive Songwriting Credit For ‘Imagine”
In a 1980 BBC interview, John Lennon admitted that his wife Yoko Ono deserved a co-credit for one of his most beloved solo songs, “Imagine,” since much of the ideas and lyrics came directly from her poems. He denied her important role in its creation due to his own “selfish” and “macho” attitude (to paraphrase his words), as well as a sexist double standard, adding, “If it had been Bowie, I would have put ‘Lennon-Bowie.'” Decades after the interview and nearly fifty years since the song’s release, Ono is finally getting the credit she deserves; the National Music Publishers Association awarded “Imagine” with its “Centennial Award” on Wednesday and announced that Ono would finally be listed as the song’s co-writer. Imagine that!
LCD Soundsystem Surprise BK Steel Shows Sell Out in Minutes
On Monday, LCD Soundsystem announced a second run of Brooklyn Steel shows (to follow up the run that opened the venue last April). Tickets went on sale Thursday morning and were sold out almost instantly, but began popping up in secondary markets like StubHub shortly thereafter – well above face value. LCD frontman James Murphy was not happy; he took to Facebook to condemn scalpers, bots, and folks selling fakes, calling them “parasites” and promising fans they’d get to the bottom of the lightning-quick sell-out. LCD Soundsystem’s new album is apparently complete and although no release date has been set, they debuted a couple of new songs on SNL. The Brooklyn Steel run starts tonight.
DIY Venue Suburbia Shut Down By Cops
Unfortunately (really, really unfortunately), Brooklyn DIY space Suburbia was shut down on Saturday night. If you didn’t see it happen, information about the event is scarce; the venue’s Facebook page mysteriously states they can’t comment because the page is being monitored, and asks that specific details not be shared to protect the privacy of those involved. Several upcoming shows (such as Camp Cope’s) have been moved to other venues. Stay tuned for updates.
Other Highlights
A new Lee Ranaldo album is imminent, a posthumous album from Alan Vega of Suicide is coming, Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham did a thing, listen to the new QOTSA track, & why is this thinkpiece picking on Carly Rae Jepsen?
Brooklyn-based songstress, Elisa, is releasing the third track, “Awake”, off of her self-produced EP Morning Again (also available to stream today!). The emotional underpinnings of Morning Again are anchored in her self-described visceral reaction to a fomenting culture of violence taking place in our in our country. “It is a play on words – meaning both “morning” and “mourning” – and informs the overall mood of the project: each of the four songs was written from a place of loss or longing of some kind. Such unabashed sentiment may be scary in a world that often tells us to keep our cool but for me it was necessary to embrace. I want to feel things, even if it means mourning again”.
Musically however, the EP as a whole (which rumor has it, the prolific artist finished writing in one sitting) reflects Elisa’s talent for crafting nostalgia-inspiring dream pop that would make Whitney Houston proud – replete with spacey beats, warm piano synth and cascading vocal melodies that show off the singer’s very impressive singing range and solid production skills. “Awake” follows suit with her previously released tracks, showcasing Elisa’s deft ability to write music whose structural whimsy doesn’t betray its headiness until the listener delves deeper into the lyrical content of the songs. This ability to transform existential woe into glistening pop goodness is an act of alchemy to say the least, and makes us excited to see her develop as an artist.
Take a first listen to the full EP here (as well as a lyric video for the title track), and come out for Elisa’s release part on 6/20 at Secret Project Robotin Brooklyn! We will be giving away a pair of tickets to the show as well which you can sign up for on our homepage! See you next week :-)
When I was first introduced to the music of Sad Baxter, via 2016’s Weirdy, I realized they filled a void I didn’t even know existed: here was a band that was not afraid to go full grunge, and the payoff was great. Dirty guitars, heavy backbeats, and a Cobain-like growl mixed with a delightfully bizarre view of the world made the duo (Deezy on guitar and vocals, Alex on drums) instantly endearing.
Their newest song is “Doubt,” a split-single release on Cold Lunch Recordings with fellow Nashville band The By Gods. According to Deezy, the drums and guitar were tracked live in the same room to get a realistic sound. She also gave us the inside scoop on the track’s meaning:
“The song is about someone who catches your eye, but soon you realize they are nobody you would ever really consider spending more time with. But, for whatever reason, you find yourself still curious about them. You can’t quite figure them out, which is probably what keeps you around. It doesn’t feel healthy. You don’t even like them as a person. It’s not good, but you can’t help it.”
“Doubt” opens with the unsteady bend of a whammy bar, the wavering of the guitar reflecting Deezy’s misgivings as she gradually recognizes her mistake: “Your mouth on mine is something I should do without/And I don’t know who you are.” Just as the realization hits, the chorus brings an eruption of energy and emotion. It’s the song of the summer for those who pick the worst person to crush on, and you can hear it below.
The duo is also currently on tour- check out the full list of summer dates:
Four years in the Tennessee heat. Bonnaroo 2017 was my fourth year heading to “The Farm” and despite grumbles over Live Nation buying the fest, Bonnaroo remained true to its core: filthy, socially conscious, and driven by the music.
After flying into Austin, we traveled up to Dallas to pick up the rest of our gang and then made our way to the rolling hills of Tennessee. Every year, we camp with the Reddaroo Groop: like-minded music nerds who know how to use the internet. Our Reddit friends organize elaborate drinking games, a craft beer exchange, and can be found dancing wildly each year to the left-hand side of the main stage.
Four days of non-stop music (the Farm doesn’t shut down at night) may seem intimidating, but Bonnaroo regulars know that it’s all about pacing yourself; it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Naps throughout the day are required if one is planning on dancing back at The Grind in Pod 7 til 6am. Only a novice drinks craft beer all day (coconut water is a must-have). And if you’re not digging the show you’re at? Get up and find another. The lineup this year was dense, with impressive headliners like U2, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Weeknd; the undercards were equally stacked, boasting indie favorites like Cold War Kids and Glass Animals. We had to edit this list several times for length, a sure sign of a successful Roo.
July Talk dished out the sexual tension.
Thursday at Bonnaroo is usually the day to do a quick tour of the grounds, take inventory of the fried food vendors, and make friends with your camping neighbors (when Sunday comes, you may be out of beer, after all). However, our Canadian campmates talked us into trekking out early to see Toronto favorite July Talk. Singer Leah Fay’s borderline saccharine voice battles with guitarist and co-vocalist Peter Dreimanis’s guttural growl; the pair denies any private romance “for personal reasons” but the often physical, “Push + Pull” nature of their onstage interactions make it difficult to think of anything else.
The Strumbellas lifted spirits.
Canada hit it out of the ballpark this year, introducing the Bonnaroo crowd to The Strumbellas on Friday. The band’s 2016 release Hope is full of… well, hope. Despite the Tennessee heat, the audience danced and sang along as though they really needed those lyrics to feel true, the lines “And I don’t want a never ending life / I just want to be alive while I’m here” hitting close to home. The Strumbellas have been vocal about their positive vibes, telling AXS “We get a lot of really awesome messages from people, saying how the lyrics have helped them through hard times, like depression, or anxiety, or PTSD.” With a foot-stomping Americana sound to back it up, it’s no wonder they’re picking up fans south of the border.
Matt Schultz, the lead singer of Cage The Elephant, danced shirtless on stage, channeling a young Iggy Pop with his spastic, sexual movements. The crowd sang favorites like “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked,” “Cigarette Daydreams,” and “Come A Little Closer” word-for-word, their energy matching Shultz’s. Our group was so taken with their performance it was difficult to leave early for the Chili Peppers; we ended up splitting up (I remained bouncing up and down until my group dragged me away).
The Soul Shakedown makes Bonnaroo unique.
What sets Bonnaroo apart from a festival like Coachella? Many things, but the yearly SuperJam is definitely a gem unique to the fest. Each year, the SuperJam is curated by a specific artist or band. 2017’s SuperJam was presented by the Preservation Jazz Hall Band and featured performances from Chance The Rapper, Margo Price, Tank And The Bangas and more. “Hey Ya,” “Waterfalls,” and A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” were just some of the highlights from the horn-infused set.
On certain Sundays, the Reddaroo crowd doesn’t go into the festival grounds til dusk. This year, however, I had made a date with Margo Price. Price was cool as a cucumber, despite the grueling sun. She sprinkled tales of time spent in jail and her struggles as a musician in a male-dominated industry throughout her set. “Tennessee Song,” “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle),” and “Four Years of Chances” got the crowd on their feet and dancing. My attention was only diverted by a man struggling to dance with his scarf despite dropping it every few minutes.
There’s something to be said for a track that is suitable for dancing, crying, cutting and running and climaxing. Released earlier this spring, dream-pop trio Ancient Language delivered a well-rounded taste of their forthcoming record with “Until Recently.” Complex, though never overwrought or overthought, “Until Recently” floats, dives and ascends like a time-lapse of a butterfly forming and emerging from its chrysalis (yes, it’s that evocative).
Ancient Language’s brand of drama is not a sullen one – at least not here. It is not bogged down by too many ideas fighting for a spotlight; they prove the weightlessness of letting go by doing just that. Glistening water droplet synths, a saxophone fill that orbits Matthew Beyer’s gravity-defying vocals, perfectly nuanced production and unobtrusive bass paints for us an unassumingly epiphanic moment. It swells, sits and dissipates serving the very purpose I believe Ancient Language set forth to provide – a release and reprieve from Earthly woes.
Ancient Language are slated to play Corktown Strut Saturday, July 1st – find out more info about the Detroit fest here and listen to “Until Recently” below.
The Bloomington house show network is comprised of dozens of privately owned and rented houses that are scattered across town. On any given night, students and other young adults freely filter in and out of these spaces, packing themselves into hot, stuffy, unfinished basements in order to socialize with friends and listen to a mix of local and touring acts. Somewhere between a house party and a concert, house shows are at the heart of Bloomington’s D.I.Y. music culture. While some house shows are one-off events, most houses have established names and host shows semi-regularly. For the well-established houses, the house’s life as a venue often long outlives any one tenant’s residency. Though these events are open to the public, one must seek them out in order to find them. Facebook events, paper fliers, and word of mouth are the most common vehicles for advertisement. Last Tuesday, I went to The Dream – a house located just south of downtown – to catch Femme Night, featuring Clue, Bad Psychic, Lily on Horn Horse, and Spacer.
With a few friends in tow, I arrived at The Dream about halfway through Clue’s set. Unfortunately, by the time I made it down to the basement, Clue had finished their short opening performance. Bummed that I missed out on what was billed to be ethereal space punk, I found consolation in the fact that I would be catching this Bloomington band at The Bishop in a few weeks. I took the extra time as a chance to get out of the stagnant heat of a packed basement and explore the venue. The Dream, much like other house show venues that I’ve been to, is like two completely different places above and below ground. Upstairs, the place has an aesthetic that calls to mind any other student house I’ve been to: mismatched dusty old couches, dirty dishes in the sink, and shelves filled with peculiar knickknacks. Downstairs, an obvious effort had been put into transforming an unfinished basement into a D.I.Y. music venue. Towards the far end of the basement, a stage was clearly demarcated with a maroon curtain framing the backdrop, a carpet on the floor, and shiny plastic party streamers hanging from the ceiling. Some mismatched chairs were set up against the perimeter of the basement. To the left of the stage, a table displayed an assortment of band merch and Shut Up And Listen zines. An ineffectual room fan was installed at the center of the basement.
While outside for a cigarette break, Spacer’s frontwoman Hannah Hadley peeked her head outside to announce that the next act was about to begin. Bad Psychic is the experimental goth synth pop project of Bloomington resident Liv Mershon. Dressed in tight pants, a jacket, scarf, sunglasses, and hat, I was amazed that she did not pass out from the heat, but beyond that, I was immediately taken by Mershon’s live presence. The multi-media artist energetically strutted around the stage with complete control. As haunting and repetitive beats hypnotized the audience into a swaying submission, Mershon delivered eerie vocal affects and impressive soprano runs. Bad Psychic’s EP, Threee, is available for streaming via Bandcamp.
My personal favorite act of the night was the touring duo, Lily on Horn Horse. Based out of New York, Lily on Horn Horse is the collaborative project of Lily Konisberg and Matt Norman. Together, these two released an eclectic, 28-track album that showcases their collective creative range. While their body of work is too diverse to draw generalizations, the duo’s vocals – Konisberg’s airy pop soprano and Norman’s flawed yet personal baritone – and Norman’s whimsically enchanting horn accompaniment, provide the foundation to their sound. Their songs are quick and punchy. Their music is sometimes jazzy, sometimes poppy, with elements of disco, electronic, and indie music thrown in. During their performance, these seemingly disparate elements were brought to life and amplified in the basement of The Dream. As Konisberg and Norman took turns sauntering into the crowd and interpretive dancing with their instruments, the two seemed determined to start a dance party. And it worked. The weirder the performance got onstage, the freer it seemed the audience got with their own limb usage.
As the event’s de facto host, Spacer was the last band to perform. Spacer is a three-part synth punk group that consists of Hannah Hadley (vocals, vox and synth), Olivia Graham (bass), and Connor Martin (drums). Already a well-established favorite within the local scene, the crowd bobbed around expectantly to favorites, like “Bullet” and “Sore Loser.” These three seemed quite comfortable on stage, delivering the standard that Spacer fans have come to expect: Hadley’s impressive vocal performance, raw and choppy compositions, and danceable, bouncy new wave rhythms.
Spacer’s performance was Hadley’s victory lap after a successful night. Throughout the event, she could be seen working the sound system, making announcements about the lineup, collecting suggested donations for the touring band, and informing people around the house when the music was about to start up. She even made banana bread for the guests. Because the existence of house show venues makes event planning both doable and informal, the local D.I.Y scene relies heavily on the efforts of the individuals who keeps events like these going year-round.
It’s that time of year again! Northside Festival is just around the corner, and we’ve put together another showcase of awesome artists with the help of Glamglare! Join us Saturday, June 10th at Knitting Factory Brooklyn for music by Blonde Maze, Gold Child, Letters to Nepal, Kinder Than Wolves, GIRL SKIN, and Josh Jacobson. Sets start at 12:15 pm, so come say hi and hear some of our favorite new tunes!
12:15 pm – Blonde Maze
The nome de plume of singer/songwriter Amanda Steckler, Blonde Maze recently dropped the infectious electro-pop gem “Antartica.” The follow-up single to her 2015 debut EP Oceans, “Antarctica” is lovely and forlorn. We can’t wait to hear it live on Saturday!
1) What record have you been listening to on repeat lately?
Sylvan Esso’s new album! Heard it for the first time a few weeks ago, I love the sounds.
2) You came out with your last single, “Antarctica” late last year; what are you working on now?
Right now I’m polishing up a single for release soon… keep an eye out!
3) Your music is so atmospheric – if you could perform live in any setting (an arena, aquarium, space shuttle, etc.) where would it be?
Thank you! That’s a brilliant question.. Hmmm. An igloo in Antarctica under the Northern Lights!
4) You originally studied film before dedicating your life to music 100%. Have you ever thought about writing film scores?
Yeah totally. When I was studying film, I took a few film scoring classes. I don’t think scoring is so much for me, but I love the idea of writing a song that could be put to a film scene or story. I also love when I see people put my music to their own videos!
5) What sets are you most excited to catch this weekend at Northside Festival?!
I would love to catch Salt Cathedral, Letters to Nepal (which won’t be too hard considering they’re part of the showcase!), Hoops, Psychic Twin, just to name some!
1:oo pm – Gold Child
Brooklyn’s Gold Child (aka, our favorite country sweethearts) have released some killer new music in the past couple of months, including “Me and You” and “Tides.” Singer/songwriter Emily Fehler is sure to stun you with her graceful stage presence and angelic pipes. Get ready for a dreamy set with enough slide guitar to melt your heart.
1) You’ve been described as (or perhaps you coined the term) “Mermaid Country.” We like the sound of that! What does it mean to you?
Our music is hard to put into one genre category so when I started the project, I was describing it as “mermaid country” to kind of get across an image to describe it. It’s become slightly less country these days but that element is definitely still there along with the ethereal vibe that inspired the “mermaid” factor.
2) Who are some of your favorite Brooklyn bands right now?
9/10 of my friends are in Brooklyn bands that I love. My besties Gracie and Rachel are killing it though and are about to release an album next month!
3) What is a recurring theme that tends to pop up in your songs?
I’m from Colorado and grew up being outside in nature a lot. I really miss it there while I’m in the city so I write a lot about that and feeling like I’m not rooted to any one place.
4) What is Gold Child currently working on? A full length record, perhaps?
We are constantly writing and recording at the moment for what will definitely be a body of work that we hope to release soon, whether it will be an EP or LP.
5) What gigs are you catching at Northside Festival this weekend?!
I’m going to try and catch Julia Holter, Lower Dens playing ABBA, and Beverly.
1:45 pm – Letters To Nepal
“Chillstep” Siberians Letters to Nepal recently released the single “Come Find Me” as a follow-up to 2016 LP LUX. We can’t wait to hear their beautifully somber set this weekend; come prepared to sway.
1) You came to New York in 2013 by way of North Carolina (and by way of Siberia before that!); what has changed the most in the music scene since you arrived in NY?
Our life is a musical journey. We have been living in different cities and countries and they give us different kinds of energy and inspiration, which changed our sound from post-rock to an electronic sound. We hope to continue this way of life.
2) What was the inspiration behind your latest single, “Come Find Me”?
Honestly, the sound number 19 in Roland JUNO D. Kidding, of course. The song was inspired by the atmosphere around us and the sense of defenselessness in the huge universe. In this song we respect people who are trying to fight for their rights. So maybe, sound organ number 19 of Roland was very connected to it.
3) If you could collaborate with any living artist in the world, who would it be?
Anton: Rammstein, with YMusic Orchestra.
Evgeniya: Maybe with James Blake, he is a really cool musician.
4) Tell us about any big projects Letters to Nepal has coming up!
We are in the process of creating new music. This time we are doing everything in a different and new-to-us way: new sounds, styles, atmosphere. And we don’t want to follow any rules of style. We’ll see…Very soon, we will release our new single “Our Hands Are One.” And we are currently planning our second tour for this fall.
5) What live shows are you seeing at Northside this weekend?!
Big Thief.
2:30 pm – Kinder Than Wolves
Orlando’s Kinder Than Wolves is comprised of three audio engineers/musicians, so it’s no surprise that they’re able to lay down such lush soundscapes. Their 2016 record Mean Something was met with acclaim from the likes of The Big Takeover and we can’t wait to hear what they’ve been working on since their debut!
3:15 pm – GIRL SKIN
Locals GIRL SKIN craft songs that are hard to define by genre, but are gorgeous nonetheless. The handful of singles preceding their upcoming EP blend folk, pop, and soul, and certainly leave us wanting more.
1) You guys have a very rich sound – what were some of your points of inspiration while writing the songs on your most recent recordings?
Well the last five or six songs we’ve written have all been on the piano, not sure why…. well I do know why; it’s because I just bought a piano. Also possibly because I’ve been listening to a lot of Nick Cave.
2) You composed a great track for Valley Eyewear…are there any other upcoming collaborations you’re looking forward to?
I just composed something for Victoria Secret. Pretty strange, not sure if I’ll do that again.
3) What bands are you digging right now that we should check out?
Benjamin Booker’s new album.
4) Any big summer plans for GIRL SKIN?
We’ll be releasing a few music videos and an EP also playing live a ton.
5) What gigs are you catching at Northside Festival this weekend?!
Elvis Depressdly, Big Thief.
4 pm – Josh Jacobson
Josh Jacobson writes neo-soul music that is both vulnerable and strong. A multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and singer, Jacobson wooed us with his latest singles “Polaroids” and “Not Alone.” Come slow dance to Jacobson’s headlining set at our showcase on Saturday!
1) Your self-proclaimed genre is “Future Soul;” what does that mean to you?
I’m inspired by a lot of different sounds, from jazz to dance music, and ‘future soul’ is my way of bringing it all together. At the core I’m a piano singer-songwriter, but I sing over this soundscape built from my own mix of both live instruments and electronics.
To me, soulful music is about saying something from deep within, and trying to share your own voice in a direct way. Jazz and soul music have always spoken to me, and I think that sound is the most obvious influence in the records I make. I also like to voice my ideas through sound design itself, so my production style is continually evolving and doesn’t really fit into any neat label. That’s the ‘future’ aspect.
2) Given your numerous talents, what is your favorite part of the process, from songwriting, to recording, to performing live?
Performing is really what I live for the most. I’ve been an instrumentalist way longer than anything else, so I just have this lifelong love for the feeling of being on stage with other musicians and creating something together that is completely of the moment.
I really dig being in the studio and exploring every idea to the fullest through those long days and nights too, but the music comes alive in a new way for me when I get to play it out with a full band and share that live energy with an audience.
3) There seems to be a lot of mindfulness behind your music. What do you hope to inspire in your listeners?
Right on! Creating music is very meditative for me, and I’d like for people to also feel that kind of rejuvenation when they listen to my music, in their own way.
I get a lot of my inspiration from nature, and I think that comes across in my music too. When I’m out in the woods or on the water, I just feel like a kid again. Something about that environment makes me feel connected to my purpose and the things that are actually important to me, and distant from the fucked-up-ness of the world and my own troubles and fears.
Music also makes me feel that way, so I think those experiences are deeply linked in my mind. Everyone has different things that move them, so I hope my music inspires people to find that feeling in whatever way is right for them, and to create the life they want to live.
4) Your first instrument was the piano, and now you play everything from the harp to the trumpet. Are there any instruments you’re still dying to learn? Which ones?!
Sometimes I feel like I was born to be a bass player! Many of my songs are very bassline-driven, and that’s often what I hear first when I listen to music. I could listen to “Voodoo” all day on repeat and just vibe to the way Pino locks in with Questlove’s drums. It’s amazing.
I love laying down parts on my Moog, but can only play basic lines on bass guitar so it’d be cool to take some time and get actually good at it. I’ve been learning mallet percussion lately for my live show, which is a lot of fun too! Pretty much just like playing a keyboard but much more physical, and it inspires different kinds of melodies and riffs.
I’m really more of a keyboard player than a multi-instrumentalist to be honest, but I do love hopping on new instruments and seeing what sounds I can find! My mom is a professional violinist and she’s been taking harp lessons for the last couple years for fun, so whenever I’m back home upstate I get to sit down and improvise on her harp. The way the wood resonates with the vibrations of the strings and fills the room with sound is very powerful and healing – kind of like a grand piano, but better.
5) What shows are you definitely checking out at Northside Festival this weekend?!
Def want to catch my favorites Dirty Projectors, Kamasi Washington and BJ the Chicago Kid. Also looking forward to Synead, OSHUN and a bunch of others. I’ll be exploring the festival all weekend, see y’all in the ‘burg!
In Case You Haven’t Noticed, Northside Is Happening
You may have already seen 20 amazing shows! Or you may be like me: someone who bought tickets to one event and won them for another, but went to neither because they managed to get deathly sick in June (thanks, universe). Before you head out this weekend, make sure you check out AudioFemme’s guide to the festival! We’re also hosting our very own showcase Saturday at noon at the Knitting Factory with our friends from Glamglare; hope to see you there!
Meet The Transgender Metal Musician Changing Politics
Via Noisey: Danica Roem is many things: Transgender, a journalist, a musician in the metal band Cab Ride Home, and a groundbreaking candidate in Virginia politics. After gaining some notoriety by fighting anti-LGBTQ policies in schools, Roem is running as a Democrat for Virginia’s House of Delegates, against an opponent that has a bathroom bill similar to North Carolina’s. Read the whole article here.
The Fall Announce 5-Night Run at Baby’s All Right this September
Mark E Smith’s volatile personality and penchant for wild experimentation made Manchester punk act The Fall both legendary and influential. With their 32nd album, New Facts Emerge, slated for release and in July and a scheduled date at Cropped Out Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, The Fall have blessed Brooklyn with a five-night run of shows at Baby’s All Right. These, along with the festival set, will be the band’s first stateside concerts in over a decade. Most shows are sold out, but you can still get tickets for Wednesday, 9/13.
The first step is acceptance: you can’t see it all. It’s just not possible. The second step is showing up. But there are many more steps to doing Northside Festival right – and I don’t mean right as opposed to wrong – I simply mean having fun, staying hydrated, and not passing out from a sudden drop in your blood sugar. Take it from someone who makes a living overbooking herself at events like these (I once thought I could manage seeing six shows in one night at CMJ… after working from 9-6).
With over 350 bands playing in four days, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed, stressed, and eventually hammered with buddies to calm your nerves; the next thing you know, you missed that New Zealand artist you’ve been waiting to see for two years, who probably won’t return for yet another two years.
Sure, going to a festival like Northside is fun – but it also takes physical and emotional stamina, focus, comfy shoes, a robust bladder (or a willingness to pee in public,) and so much more. Because I can’t physically deliver care packages with tiny water bottles and snack-size packages of Goldfish to every single one of you (though I wish I could), I give you my tips for staying alert, alive, and having fun during this four-day music extravaganza.
1) Make a Plan.
First thing’s first: make a list of ALL the bands you want to see at Northside. Now chop that list in half. Now chop that list in half. If you don’t work during the days, my guess is you can swing between four and six shows a day. If, like me, you have a 9-5, it might be wise to stick to a 3-show maximum per night to stave off utter exhaustion. Got your list? Good. Now go to Google Maps. Make a route for each day of the festival; your chronological trajectory following the set times and venue locations. Obviously you can do this on your phone, but if you’re a luddite such as myself, you can print your map out, and draw on it like a treasure-hunting pirate, or disturbed toddler. (I KNOW I can just use the Google Maps app on my handheld talky computer, ok? I just like carrying paper!)
Whether you are in touch with touchscreen technology, or like pretending you’re Indiana Jones on a quest for the Holy Grail, getting your coordinates down and planning a path will definitely help you maximize the gigs you see.
2) Bring snacks.
Unless you like spending unnecessary cash on overpriced food truck items, or enjoy nearly fainting/murdering someone due to low blood sugar, I highly advise you stow away some treats in your tiny backpack. If you’re traveling sans purse, get creatively invasive with your undergarments – you’d be amazed at the places you can hide a Kind Bar. But seriously – you’re going to be out and about for HOURS. You will have more fun and be more fun if your caloric intake is on point.
3) Hydrate.
Not exclusively with beer. This one’s trickier as venues typically don’t let you bring water bottles inside. Fortunately most clubs/bars will give you tap water (and sometimes sparkle water) for free. Of course you could spend $4 on bottled water, but I’d rather cup my hands under the bathroom sink faucet and lap up H20 like a dog – an activity that will never be below me.
4) Dehydrate.
People say “Brooklyn has changed” and that you can tell “Brooklyn has changed” due to all the high-rises rising, strollers rolling, and music venues morphing into Dunkin’ Donuts and fancy gyms. But I say that the big indication for “Brooklyn changing” is that you used to be able to pee anywhere in public. I don’t mean to be crass, though I do enjoy public urination more than most people. (What? I grew up camping!) But regardless of my territorial complex, peeing in the street is a simple matter of necessity most of the time – especially during an event like Northside, when so many gigs are outdoors and have meager toilet offerings. So, if you’re doing a good job hydrating, but have a squirrel-sized bladder like me, squat in those dark, tucked away hedges; that spot behind that dumpster, between a couple SUVs, next to a traffic cone, etc. You can even invest in one of these bad boys, which helps you aim your stream like a dude.
5) Go solo.
For most people, festivals (or concerts in general) are social occasions – a time for you and a pack of pals to gallivant in shorts, meet hotties, and dance. That’s all well and good, but if you’ve never seen a show stag, I assure you you’re missing out. Fellow music journalists are used to seeing concerts alone. I have seen far more gigs solo than with friends, and while a lot of people seem to find that sad (“you’re SO brave!” they say), I must admit: it’s fucking awesome. And it’s fucking awesome for a bunch of reasons. For example:
You don’t have to stress about whether or not your plus one is enjoying the music or themselves – because you are your own plus one.
You (or at least I) tend to drink less alone, which means you spend less money!
You actually meet new people.
You pay way more attention to the music, because no one is chatting in your ear, or complaining, or asking you to hold their shit while they go to the bathroom.
You get to leave whenever the fuck you want.
You get to do whatever the fuck you want.
6) If you are feeling social, take up smoking.
I consider smokers to be one of the last unified social groups in our heterogeneous culture. Their blood runs thick – probably because smoking increases plaque build-up in blood vessels – but that’s not the point! Ok, ok, I’m not actually recommending that anybody start smoking, but if you already do it, leverage it as a way to meet people at shows! Maybe you are an ace in social situations, and don’t need the quintessential human prop (the cigarette) to help you strike up a convo. But if you are painfully shy like me and terrified of approaching people you don’t know, the best thing you can do is ask for a light. For example: “Hey, do have a light by chance? Thank you. DO YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS?!”
7) Put your phone down.
No one wants to watch the show through your iPhone screen as you carefully direct the cinematography of your Instagram story. Just put it down and enjoy the music analog style. #Lo-fi.
8) If you can, buy a record from the merch table.
Smaller touring bands make most of their dough on the road playing gigs and selling merch. When you by an album, or a t-shirt, or a beer coozie, that $20 is going straight to starving artists, as opposed to the $0.00001 they get from a Spotify click.
9) Wear comfy ass shoes.
If Larry David can make it look cool, so can you. You’re literally going to be on your feet ALL day and night. Don’t make your feet and lower back hate you.
10) Bring a book.
While I do a lot of going to shows, I also do a lot of waiting for shows to start. I don’t know what the hell I would do if I didn’t have reading material on me at all times. I’d probably have to…talk to people!
Summer doesn’t officially start until June 21st, but in Brooklyn, the informal kick-off feels more like the first week of June thanks to the annual Northside Festival. Growing exponentially since its inception in 2009, Northside provides sensory overload in the best way possible, with hundreds of bands playing intimate showcases in various venues stretching from Williamsburg up to Greenpoint and out toward Bushwick’s borders. But in order to make your hunt for great live music a little easier, here are a few of our concert picks for the upcoming long weekend! See you on the dance floor (or in the mosh pit).
The renowned jazz saxophonist, producer, composer, and bandleader will take the stage at McCarren Park on Thursday night. Sandwiched on a killer bill between openers Jay Som and headliners Dirty Projectors, Washington might melt your face off with his searing tenor sax. If that scorching woodwind sounds familiar, it’s because he’s played with the likes of Kendrick Lamar (To Pimp A Butterfly, DAMN), Thundercat, and Ryan Adams. — Madison Bloom
If this goth-folk New Zealander doesn’t bewitch you with her stunning voice, we don’t know what will. Aldous Harding recently released her sophomore LP Party, and its mournful hymns will surely become all the more staggering within the high ceilings of the Park Church Co-op (she also plays Baby’s All Right on Saturday). Saps beware: you may want to bring Kleenex. — Madison Bloom
We’ve long admired shoegazey shredders No Joy, who released their four-track CREEP EP this February. They don’t just bank on head-banging distortion (though the dual guitarists’ hypnotizing ripples of blonde hair prove there’s plenty of that), deftly deploying well-crafted hooks with every ferocious track. They headline a bill featuring chilled-out Dutch power pop from Amber Arcades (fans of Camera Obscura or Still Corners take note) and Eartheater, the solo project of multi-instrunentalist Alexandra Drewchin that has to be seen to be believed (vacuum cleaners are often part of the show). — Lindsey Rhoades
A harmonium-wielding heir to Patti Smith, Shilpa Ray is no one to be trifled with. Her snarl alone makes for a compelling live performance – but when it’s paired with heartbreaking melodies and the occasional pedal steel, you really feel like you’re in the presence of the rarest and rawest of performers. — Madison Bloom
If you’re looking to hear something atmospheric, experimental, or just downright gorgeous, pop by National Sawdust for a set by composer and multi-instrumentalist William Basinski. Basinski is perhaps best known for his collections of dissolving tape loops entitled The Disintegration Tapes, and his contemporary work is very in keeping with that hypnotic, cyclical aesthetic. If you’d like to be lulled into a tranquil dream state, don’t miss this set! — Madison Bloom
Conversely, if you are absolutely not trying to chill out at Northside, and prefer to move your bod a bit more brashly, get thee to Terra Firma, where local noise duo Yvette will rev you up. This band is a must-see for anyone into distortion, shouting, and infectious, driving drum rhythms. — Madison Bloom
It’s hard to follow up a breakout debut, especially when it’s named Masterpiece. But Brooklyn band Big Thief aim to do just that with Capacity, which happens to drop the same day they take the stage at Rough Trade for a Northside appearance (they’re also playing Saturday at Park Church Co-op). Lead vocalist Adrianne Lenker is easily one of the best lyricists we’ve come across in recent years, her sweet voice often breaking into a raw moan as her bandmates’ backup fury blooms. — Lindsey Rhoades
We’re sort of obsessed with Jenn Wasner, whose soaring vocals first made our hearts pound as one half of Baltimore-based duo Wye Oak. Now relocated to North Carolina (after a tip from her pals in Sylvan Esso), Wasner’s still one of the hardest working women in indie rock. Last September, she released If You See Me, Say Yes, the debut LP from her solo electropop project Flock of Dimes. If you can stay awake long enough for the late show at Baby’s, definitely say yes to seeing Wasner live. — Lindsey Rhoades
Riding in on the brilliance of their new record Sincerely, Future Pollution, Timber Timbre are likely to knock your socks off on Saturday night. Expect spooky, swampy, synth-washed blues atmospheric and elegant enough to soundtrack the new Twin Peaks. — Madison Bloom
There’s a nebulous quality that the name Nightspace implies – one of liminality, of dissolution, of suspended time and identity. It’s appropriate then, that queer artist of color Bailey Skye would adopt such a moniker to create their glimmering electronic darkwave debut Birth/Decay. Beautiful and surreal, these six tracks offer throbbing post-gender post-punk that’s unlike anything else you’ll hear at Northside. — Lindsey Rhoades
Come hang out with us and listen to some of our favorite new artists! We’re co-hosting an awesome, five-hour daytime showcase with Glamglare featuring Blonde Maze, Gold Child, Letters to Nepal, Kinder Than Wolves, GIRL SKIN, and Josh Jacobson – you can read more about these artists here. Sets start at 12:15, so come say hi and hear some mind-blowing music!
What if I told you that a former American Idol runner-up wrote a power ballad about medical marijuana? And what if I told you that this same, 20 year-old reality TV competitor released one of the most well-rounded, wildly mature pop records just last week? Okay, okay. Last hypothetical. What if I told you that Farmington Hills native Jena Irene Asciutto doesn’t give a fuck what you think? Cold Fame carefully balances innocence, rebellion and the space between the spotlight and the darkness.
Asciutto’s soaring vocals paired with the thoughtfully lush (but perfectly restrained) arrangements allow the lyrical content to swell, sink and float with pop magic. “So I Get High” finds a pro-pot Asciutto defending marijuana so cleverly that it could just as easily be a Bible study anthem. The imagery of “Floating Down the River” invokes a listless defiance with lyrics like “You can fuck me for free/Use each other till the morning/Then I’ll ask you to leave/I can’t give you my energy” masterfully masked with a radio-ready sweetness. And then there’s Amy Winehouse inspired and indiscreet “White Girl Wasted” complete with handclaps, ska horns and frequent use of “No fucks given.” What is most remarkable about Asciutto’s debut journey and rebirth is her commitment to being unapologetic no matter what genre she explores or which message she delivers. This consistent dance of acceptance and resistance is what makes Asciutto wise beyond her years yet so totally and honestly representative of being 20 in 2017.
Smoke the day away and vibe out with the new princess of pot below:
Whenever I tell people that I research the Bloomington punk scene, they are often surprised to learn about its existence and skeptical about its ability to be anything other than a small-scale replica of more famous scenes in larger cities. While Bloomington reacts to and against other punk scenes, what people are doing here is uniquely Hoosier, and often just downright weird. Bloomington’s cult-favorite experimental new wave punk band, the Dancing Cigarettes, is perhaps responsible for starting this tradition.
The Dancing Cigarettes surfaced on the Bloomington punk scene in 1979. While they were only active until 1983, they developed a local cult following of devoted Cigs. While their sound could be described most simply as experimental new wave, delving deeper can illuminate the threads that held such a unique group together: the signature goofy irony of their lyricism, the dissonant and abrasive saxophone line, and their choppy, unpredictable rhythms. With the Dancing Cigarettes, all of these components were strung together atop poppy, melodic lines on the bass, guitar, and/or keyboard, and then packed into meandering and disjointed song structures. The Dancing Cigarettes created a sound that was simultaneously confrontational, nonsensical, and infectious.
The Dancing Cigarettes were Michael Gitlin (guitar and vocals), Emily Bonus (bass and vocals), Tim Noe (keyboards, guitar, and saxophone), Jaclyn Oddi (keyboards), John Terrill (drums and guitar), and G. Don Trubey (saxophone and drums). Part of the band’s mystique is due to the fact that they never released a LP during their active years. One has to scramble across privately distributed cassettes, compilation albums, and live audio to listen to their discography in its entirety. By 1980, they began recording for Gulcher Records, Bloomington’s original D.I.Y. record label. In 1981, Gulcher Records released a compilation record, Red Snerts: The Sound of Gulcher LP. This album featured a number of local acts, including the Gizmos, Dow Jones and the Industrials, the Panics, and the Dancing Cigarettes. Again in 1981, The Dancing Cigarettes released their first 7” EP, also off of Gulcher Records. In 1981 and 1982, their music was included on Bloomington-based new wave cassette compilations. The Dancing Cigarettes released their first CD in 1996. The Dancing Cigarettes, The School of Secret Music included live and studio recordings from 1980-1983. Most recently, in 2002, Gulcher released an additional CD of 1980-1981 recordings and live performances.
The Dancing Cigarettes helped to establish a local scene of creative weirdos and outsiders. On the notes of their 2002 album, long time fan Carrol Krause explained the importance of the band to the larger scene. “It definitely wasn’t music that made it easy to hold your partner close while smoothly gliding across the floor. This music was meant for solo dancers. We invented new ways of dancing that accommodated the band’s staccato rhythms, using all four limbs to flail, spar, circle the dance floor, and stamp rhythmically.” Because their music was rhythmically unpredictable, it was easy to tell diehard fans from the newbies at live shows. Those who knew to anticipate the false stops and unexpected breakdowns would move their limbs accordingly. The Cigarettes performed in venues across town, most notably the Bluebird (which is still in business), and the Second Story (the upstairs of Bullwinkle’s, a popular bar that provided a safe space and catered to a primarily LGBTQ+ clientele).
While I doubt that anybody outside of Indiana has heard of the Dancing Cigarettes, locally, people still worship these punk legends. Earlier this year, I attended an art exhibition – The History of Indiana Punk told through Band Posters. The Dancing Cigarettes were one of the most well-represented bands at this event. Weirdo pioneers of a truly unique local scene, the memory of the Dancing Cigarettes is held close by those that were there to witness the magic in person and have since been lucky enough to participate in its fandom.
“Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ.” I’m sitting bar-side at Tutu’s and Ana Becker has confirmed, via Facebook messenger roughly 55 minutes after I got there, that 3/4ths of Fruit and Flowers are grabbing a table at Tina’s Place. The poor bartender has been listening to one of my patented anxiety rambles that, summarized, equated to “Where are they? I have so much paperwork to fill out when I get home.” But ok, wires get crossed, confusion was had when Tina’s and then Tutu’s were mentioned last night as a brunch option, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. I hastily pay for my coffee and burst into Tina’s three minutes later chanting about how fine it is.
Anyway, you know Fruit & Flowers, right? Well, I know Fruit & Flowers too. 3/4ths of them have also given ear to my anxiety rambles (anxambles?) at this point. I met bass babe Caroline Yoder at Pinkerton Wine Bar when I was ballpark 23 and had a lot more free time on my hands. Guitarists Ana and Lyzi Wakefield (who also writes for AudioFemme!) entered my life after I moved here proper, and drummer Jose Berrio Lesmes and I became Facebook friends recently, so yeah, we’re legally all blood kin.
If you somehow answered “No,” then A. Wow, seriously? and B. Here’s the deal: Fruit & Flowers is a busybusybusy band that relies on a heavenly trifecta of harmonies over mile-a-minute pulsating beats (the main exception being siren song “Turquoise”). Their debut EP Drug Tax is slated for release June 30th, and they’ve recently released a video for lead single “Out Of Touch.” It is gr8 with a capital 8, and I may have drunkenly described it as “Mary Kate and Ashley’s ‘I’d Rather Be Surfing’ video but if Lana Del Rey directed it.”
Sober I’m not sure if that’s accurate. Regardless, it’s a killer music vid, they’re a killer band, and we’re grabbing brunch together today, even if it kills me.
The Scene: Tina’s Place is a diner, guys. You know what a diner looks like by now. I don’t need to craft a whole monologue about that – we’re late enough as it is.
11:43 Caro and Ana order eggs and grits, Jose orders French toast with ham, I get a feta cheese omelette, and Lyzi… isn’t here yet and is either meeting us at the restaurant or at Pickthorn, where the gang is getting makeovers for the Color Me Bushwick Festival. Obviously I’m tagging along because free makeovers is the kind of pseudo-glam musician activity I love to lurk on. Not that the gang is so typically fancy.
“My hair is so funny because sometimes I wake up and I know it’s going to be a crazy rat’s nest,” Caroline says. “But sometimes I wake up and it’s like a whole new sculpture that I’ve never thought of.”
I’m always excited by Caroline’s hair, but when she mentions in passing that she did synchronized swimming, I’m more excited by the idea of Caroline in pink swimming cap decorated with plastic posies.
“Were you good at it?” I ask.
“I was pretty good at it. I’d have to do core strength training if I were to do it again,” she says.
“Does it involve like a lot of…lung stuff? Because you have to do heavy breathing because you’re upside down with the legs… ” I pretend my arms are little legs kicking, looking like a moron in the process.
“I always referred to it like doing a balance beam routine, holding your breath,” Caroline explains. We push up against the underside of the table with our palms flat. “If you put your hands on the bottom of the table and you try to lift the table, that’s the amount of repel you have on the water. So this is how you learn this – it’s called support scull.”
“Where did my contact lens go?” Ana asks in the midst of our swimming lesson.
11:58 Ana would kill to meet Paul McCartney, although it’s fair to assume any living Beatle would be a win.
“But if you see Ringo Starr you wouldn’t be that intimidated,” Jose says.
“To say hello?” Ana asks.
“Because he’s Ringo Starr,” I offer.
“He’s Ringo,” Ana confirms. “But I feel like he’d appreciate it more. I assume less people are like, ‘Oh my god, it’s Ringo!’ versus ‘Oh my god, it’s Paul.'”
“Like on the hierarchy of Beatles…” I start.
“There shouldn’t be a Beatles hierarchy, man,” Ana says. There shouldn’t be, but… “Even if you’re the least appreciated Beatle, you’re still a motherfucking Beatle.” Jose then mentions the uprooted would-be Beatle Pete Best.
“Yeah, that’s the least appreciated Beatle,” Ana says.
“I always feel like I’m the Pete Best of the band,” Jose says “Which is not like a bad thing, but…”
Ana and Caro chorus a series of disagreements and our food arrives.
12:10 Caroline asks what people usually talk about during these interviews, and I shrug. “Whatever makes you happy, pretty much. What makes you happy?”
Everyone thinks before Ana and Caroline sound off.
“Music makes me happy, eating makes me happy,” he says.
“We’re all simple creatures,” Ana says. (Caroline: HA) “New clothes make me happy.”
“I like really good books,” Caroline says. I ask her what she’s reading now, and as she briefly searches her bag Ana adds “going to a paper store” to the happy list and Jose sighs “Trader Joe’s banana yogurt.”
“I can tell you what makes me less than happy,” Ana says after a while. “If I look up the levels of hierarchy of organizational structures in the world any broader than our immediate friends and what we’re doing in the music scene, pretty much everything outside that is really depressing right now.”
“That’s true.” says Caroline.
Um. Help me out, bbs.
They mean all the current issues with healthcare, poverty, racism, global warming, “the sewing of the seeds of mistrust in media and journalism, that’s a real mindfuck for me,” Ana says.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about it and I feel like even though the whole thing with Trump absolutely sucks and it’s pretty surreal, it’s nothing new,” Jose says. “It feels like finally something represents what’s been wrong with this world and it’s country.”
“It put a spotlight on it…” I say, as the band goes on about the crumbling state of things for a few minutes, before I come back with “So that makes you unhappy?”
Caroline goes into it. “It is also weird to be like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy, the music is going so well, and then having someone be like…'”
“‘I lost my healthcare.'” Ana interjects.
“‘I’m fucking miserable, fuck you and your band,'” Caroline chimes back in.
“Something not that profound that makes me unhappy is that lately I like to drop off laundry because I prefer to leave it there and pick it up later, and they keep losing my socks,” Jose mentions, trying to offer some levity. It reminds Ana that she needs to pick up her laundry, too.
I am very grateful for this, but I send in my blanket anxamble on the state-of-the country. “I think that’s the struggle that a lot of us, especially in creative fields, have right now,” I say. “We feel fucking crazy for having fun and creating good art and doing the things we love to do. But with that sense of frivolity it’s like, ‘Should we be doing more to keep our world from falling apart?'”
“Well hopefully we keep it from falling apart just by living in it,” Caroline concludes.
Ana leaves to get her laundry. Caroline starts reading from Ramblings of a Wannabe Painter. “‘Criticism is our censorship…'”
12:40 Ana, Jose and I are walking to the salon, divulging tidbits and tales of their family life. Ana in particular has an amusing anecdote about her New York-bred grandfather and the way he rolled his eyes about bedbugs.
“He said that he remembered in Williamsburg, one of his few memories of his grandmother was staying over at her place and that she would have tar paper under the sheets to keep away the bedbugs and he remembered the way the tar paper sounded when he rolled over, that it crackled,” she says. “And I just love that, I love that seemingly insignificant memory handed down several generations to me, living in the same place.”
While we cut through the park Jose talks about his sister. Apparently she has a residency as a columnist for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “They said she can write about anything she wants,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be art.” She recently penned a piece involving Marxist nuns.
I sigh at this statement like he told me Jordan Catalano was asking about me in Calc. They laugh. “Sorry, that’s like journalist porn.”
“Whatever… you… want,” Ana echoes.
1:32 “We’re just making it more of a haircut than just a blob on my head,” Lyzi says from her salon chair. She missed brunch because her phone died, and then she overslept, and it’s okay, it’s fine. I’m recap the first part of our interview, then deliver the same question I gave her bandmates: “So what makes you happy?”
“Well, I guess it varies,” she muses. “I feel like recording music in my room makes me happy.” She then backtracks – it doesn’t have to be in her room; recording music in general does the trick. She also lists cuddling with her tabby cat and going to the beach (she likes Fort Tilden, not a big fan of Coney Island) as harbingers of happiness.
After some chit-chat I realize I’m in the way of the beauty process. Ana is getting her hair washed next to us, Caro and Jose are on their respective mobile devices (they weren’t named one of Brooklyn’s hardest working bands for nothing) and I should get my own macbook and do the same.
I don’t have the same open schedule I did when I was ballpark 23, though I wish I did. No matter how long I hang out with musicians, I still end up being the one who leaves the interview to transcribe, to edit, to recount the stories of the scene while everyone else is living them. It’s getting clearer: I don’t have endless free time to lurk anymore.
But with Fruit & Flowers, I’ll always try to find some time to at least stop by. Whether it’s Tutu’s, whether it’s Tina’s. Even if it kills me.
Sit tight for Fruit & Flowers’ upcoming “Subway Surfer” music video and catch the Drug Tax record release party June 29th at Baby’s All Right.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Palehound made a Pride playlist on Spotify.
Spotify Announces Pride Month Playlists
From the streaming service’s press release: “In celebration of Pride Month, Spotify is proud to present The Spotify Pride Hub, a series that highlights queer icons and music of hope, self-acceptance and empowerment.” They’re using streaming data to rank the proudest cities, which seems a bit unnecessary, but they’re also offering playlists by LGBTQ activists and queer musicians. Don’t know where to start? We recommend this one, curated by Palehound.
The Future Of Music: A Folk Song Writing Robot?
Move over, Bob Dylan; the A.I. program Bot Dylan can also write folk songs, though it probably won’t be winning a Nobel prize anytime soon. The bot was put to work analyzing tens of thousands of Irish folk songs, and from that data, has written a staggering amount of its own material. The London scientists who created it were surprised that the tunes weren’t that bad, either. Read more about Bot Dylan here and listen to one of its compositions below.
RIP Gregg Allman
The Southern Rock legend and member of the Allman Brothers Band died last Saturday due to complications from liver cancer. He was 69. Gregg was a vocalist and keyboardist and formed the Allman Brothers Band with his sibling, guitarist Duane. Even if they weren’t fond of the term, the group is crediting with creating Southern Rock and inspiring later jam bands. Read a full obituary here.
