Page 91 – Audiofemme

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Jessica Audiffred

jessica2 — *Photo by Christiaan Almazan*

As EDM has gained mainstream popularity, more female DJs have become recognized in a field stereotypically reserved for men. Among them is Jessica Audiffred, a Mexico City-based DJ who also has her own label, A-Records, and hosts Lunchbox, the first bass music radio show in Mexico.

Her story provides an inspiring example of an artist who got excited about her genre and just threw herself into it head-first. AudioFemme talked to Audiffred about the EDM scene and how she got where she is.

Suzannah Weiss for AudioFemme: How did you first get into DJing?

Jessica Audiffred: That was about five or six years ago, when I finished my psychology degree and I started to hang out with a lot of cool DJ friends. I’ve always liked electronic music ever since I was a little girl, so it was a really organic step to me, just to ask them, “please give me some DJ classes.” So I went to their houses, and I was there for about six to eight hours every day for about five months, and they started to put me in their parties, and I haven’t stopped.

What do you love about it?

It’s just a different feeling. Other than just making music in your house, you’re sharing that with the public, and just watching the reaction of every tune you have — you can control their feelings and their emotions. You’re just there throwing a good (or bad) time for them.

How is the EDM scene different in the US and Mexico?

In Mexico, we’re not at that point where you just can throw bass parties. You have to go there to play big commercial stuff and artists like me or like many DJs I know who play bass music or dubstep or whatever, we have a hard time playing there because people are not ready yet. There’s not much of a problem in the festival scene because you can play whatever you want, but in the club scene, it’s difficult for us who don’t play commercial big-room stuff.

Why is it harder to play less mainstream stuff in Mexico?

There’s not much of a culture around electronic music in general. They just want to go see the main big EDM acts. They just go to be like “I know him and that’s what I want to see. I don’t want to see anyone else. I don’t care about anyone else. I just want to take a video and a picture of me singing that famous song and that’s it.” It’s really sad for us because there’s not much of a scene there. But it doesn’t matter. I think that all of the people who are playing bass music and something different, we’re managing to get into a really cool group where we’re opening the doors in Mexico for that genre.

jessica3 — *Photo by Christiaan Almazan*

What DJs do you think people need to pay more attention to right now?

There’s a lot of OWSLA guys. They should have more spotlight on them, like Vindata. I love them so much.There’s this Jersey girl Uniiqu3 who makes really awesome Jersey club.

It seems like there’s a scarcity of female DJs at clubs and festivals. Are there fewer of you, or does it just seem that way?

That’s definitely the case because female artists don’t produce that much. They don’t get to sit down and make their own tunes. That’s what we’re lacking: female production in general, not DJs. There are really cool female DJs out there. Producers — that’s the missing point.

What festival do you think EDM fans must go to?

I think Coachella for sure. It’s a different vibe. There are a lot of genres the EDM world wouldn’t listen to if it wasn’t in a festival, so I think it’s a really cool vibe and there are a lot of great musicians there, not just DJs.

What genre do you think is the most underrated right now?

There’s a hype right now for future bass, which is really cool because back then, you wouldn’t have known anything about future bass unless you’re really into it. Footwork, Jersey club, and Mambathon are really cool too.

It seems like EDM in general has gained a lot more mainstream popularity over the past few years. Why do you think that is?

Because people want to experience a festival. People want to get crazy. They just want a place where they can let their emotions go. They just want to have fun. They just want to get wild and electronic music can give that and a lot of other things. Just to be in the festival scene, you realize why people go. You realize why people are interested. I think electronic music is a way for people just to be free and just to be themselves and have fun and let everything go.

It’s awesome that you’ve had so much success in a field you’re so passionate about. What advice would you give others looking to do the same thing?

Make music — like, learn how to play piano. Learn how to play any instrument. Go to a production class or sound engineer class. You have to be real. You have to be yourself. You have to have something different from anyone else. That’s mainly it — you just have to do music.

jessica1 — *Photo by Christiaan Almazan*

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ONLY NOISE: Dropping The Neutron Bomb

Did my dad know that he might ruin me with a book? Of course not. What could a book possibly do? It wasn’t Story of the Eye, or Tropic of Cancer or even The Outsiders. It was non-fiction. Educational. All he knew was that his 12-year-old daughter was beginning to dress funny and gravitate towards a kind of music he couldn’t relate to. So, he did what any supportive parent would do: he bought me a book on the subject. But this was no mere book.

We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk was an oral history of punk’s first wave in Southern California. Much like its New York predecessor Please Kill Me, Neutron Bomb compiles hundreds of interviews with musicians, tastemakers, groupies and promoters into a sensational narrative. Edited by acclaimed music journalist Marc Spitz and former Masque owner Brendan Mullen, this was the book that changed everything for me – my answer to The Catcher in the Rye. It was a bomb indeed; reconfiguring everything I had ever known about music, writing, and debauchery – which as it turns out, all go hand in hand.

Informative the book was; innocent it was not. What my dad had unknowingly placed in my crimeless little hands was an instruction manual on bad behavior. He might as well have handed me the keys to his liquor cabinet. The pages were ripe with forbidden fruit, including, but not limited to the offensive quotes of The Runaways’ manager Kim Fowley (the “C” word abounds), anecdotes about shooting up with gutter water, and spreads of full frontal nudity. Full frontal MALE nudity!

It was a great time to be in the sixth grade. While everyone was speeding through the second Harry Potter tome, I was reading about people on speed, cutting themselves with broken bottles, smearing their malnourished bodies with peanut butter, and having all the unprotected sex. And of course, there was the music, the wild disruptor that was the birth of L.A. punk.

I am reminded of these growing pains with the recent publishing of Slash: A Punk Magazine From Los Angeles: 1977-80. Slash, which first came to my attention while reading We Got the Neutron Bomb, seemed to be the West Coast comrade of Punk Magazine and Search and Destroy. It was a newsprint rag of epic proportions when it came to chronicling the dizzying L.A. garage scene from its inception to its demise. The editorial backbone of the zine was as colorful as the bands they immortalized. At the core of Slash were founders Steve Samiof and Melanie Nissen, who recognized the importance of documenting the careers of the commercially challenged. Where A&R reps may have heard mayhem, the crew at Slash magazine heard the last cries of revolution. Or perhaps screams.

Slash championed the “dangerous” sound; bands like The Screamers, The Germs, Catholic Discipline, The Bags, X, all of whom cropped up in Neutron Bomb alongside countless others. But the magazine wasn’t only throwing roses. If Samiof and Nissen were the core of the paper, then writer/editor Claude Bessy, a.k.a. “Kickboy Face” was its blackened little heart. I remember Kickboy’s quotes in Neutron Bomb being true gems, and his belligerent snarl wasn’t any softer in the pages of Slash. In an early editorial from ’77, Kickboy lays into the giants of status quo rock:

“May the punks set this rat-infested industry on fire. It sure could use a little brightness! So there will be no objective reviewing in these pages, and definitely no unnecessary dwelling upon the bastards who’ve been boring the living shit out of us for years with their concept albums, their cosmic discoveries and their pseudo-philosophical inanities.” “

…let them remember the old days when they’d rather die than be seen with socialite creeps and being heard talking trash and then let them shit in their pants with envy. As The Clash say, NO ELVIS, BEATLES OR ROLLING STONES IN 1977!”

Kickboy Face was to Slash what Lester Bangs was to Creem, but probably more hated. He liked it that way. On the anthology’s cover is a small beckon for letters to the editor: “Write Kickboy! He wants you to respond. (He thrives on abuse).”

Abuse was something so pervasive in the scene, particularly with one of its most disturbingly fascinating bands: The Germs. The Germs, along with their ill-fated lead “singer” Darby Crash, were the nucleus of both Neutron Bomb and a second oral history by Mullen entitled Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs.

After plowing through the first volume, Lexicon Devil was wrapped and waiting under the Christmas tree, a setting so innocuous it made the book’s hedonistic contents all the more comical. This collection focused on the self-destructive tendencies of Darby Crash, nee Jan Paul Beahm, who died of an intentional overdose at twenty-two. While this fate was not rare in the punk scene East or West, The Germs left behind a concise body of work that was far from generic. They sounded only like themselves, and as with most explosive art, weren’t fully recognized until long after their disbandment.

The twisted history of The Germs became such a fixation that years later I would agree to getting a Germs Burn: an idiotic and unhygienic branding created when a burn-bearing pal sears an entire cigarette into your left wrist. Start to finish. It was one of the many grotesque rituals championed by Circle One, The Germs’ own little groupie cult. At the time it seemed like some honor had been bestowed upon me, but more than anything it hurt like hell. I hid it from my parents for years, and I’m lucky it didn’t become gangrenous. No one even notices it anyway. Zero punk points awarded.

Throughout Neutron Bomb, Lexicon Devil and Slash, there was continual mention of a film in which all of these characters came to life: The Decline of Western Civilization by Penelope Spheeris. At the time this film was referred to as a holy grail: out of print, impossible to find, etc. Whether or not that was true is now nebulous to me, but at the time I, of course, believed it. So imagine my thrill up on seeing a bootleg copy on the shelves at Singles Going Steady, a punk record store in Seattle. The DVD was certainly bootlegged and overpriced, but it was mine. I was about to watch the most seminal documentary in punk rock history…with my parents.

It quickly became apparent that I hadn’t been reading cute rock n’ roll stories for the past few years. If the music alone didn’t alienate my folks enough, Decline would make a point of doing so. This was 100 minutes of my idols crumbling before me. Darby Crash: too loaded to sing into the mic. Lee Ving: misogynistic and homophobic. Ron Reyes: terrible lyricist. At its best the film spends time with X, whose John Doe, Billy Zoom and Exene Cervenka are actually intelligent, coherent human beings. At its worst are suburban kids trying to justify their swastika armbands.

Not everyone was pleased with Penelope Spheeris for this representation. Others didn’t give a fuck. But as I sat in between my parents, recoiling at a scene in which Darby Crash and a woman named Michelle laugh about finding a dead man in her backyard (LOL!), I realized that maybe liking the music was enough. I didn’t need idols or ideals to know a good record. As Kickboy Face once wrote:

“But seriously now, stop fuckin’ worrying silly about lost ideals and forgotten causes. You’re still here, aren’t you?”

ALBUM REVIEW: Camille Bloom “Pieces of Me”

It was the philosopher Aristotle who said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” While I’m not certain that Aristotelian philosophy was at the forefront of Camille Bloom’s mind while songwriting, I can’t help but consider it a subconscious theme to her fifth studio LP Pieces Of Me, which she self-released earlier this month.

Despite having started her career in Seattle nearly fifteen years ago while transitioning out of another – teaching high school English à la Sting – it seems that Pieces Of Me has become the “a-ha!” moment for Bloom. The record has received widespread applause from the likes of Impose Magazine, No Depression, The Seattle Times, PopDose to name but a few. Now it has us on our feet clapping as well.

Pieces Of Me provides a remedy for a paradoxical problem: wanting to listen to a record that is diverse yet cohesive all at once. You’d be hard-pressed to find another album so adventurous in its genre-hopping. Some truly unique compositions crop up on both the bluegrass-infused title track as well as “Zombie,” a searing social commentary set to sinister, plunking jazz rhythms.

No shocker here, but some of my favorite moments occur on the album’s more forlorn cuts; take the somnolent piano ballad “Everywhere But Here” for instance, which sounds sweetly ominous with its cinematic strings and crescendo vocals. The pared-down “Turn Back to You” nourishes all of the hopeless romantic, sap-atoms I possess, and who could deny those harmonies? *Swoon*

Pieces stands tall like a well-constructed sandwich; varying ingredients piled between two hearty slabs of bread-though these slices would have to be gluten free, as Bloom informed the University of Washington’s Medicine Pulse podcast earlier this year: she suffers from celiac disease. The parallel pieces holding everything together are the album’s two versions of “Lift Me Up.”

Both commencing and closing the record, the opening iteration is a rapturous, stringed affair simultaneously hopeful and melancholy. However, the dance-remix closer paints the song in washes of synths and should absolutely be saved for the last dance. It’s the kind of late-night, low-lit pop-drama fit for Robyn herself.

Throughout Pieces you will find tasteful arrangements seasoned with swells of cello, warm trumpet tones, expertly plucked mandolin, and electric guitar so sexily understated it is baffling. While all of that might sound heady on paper, the instrumentation is grounded and never overpowers Bloom’s distinctly crystalline vocals. I suspect a large portion of the record’s success can be attributed to Camille Bloom’s new producer: Camille Bloom.

After years of recording with producers such as the acclaimed Martin Feveyear (who takes a mixing and mastering credit on Pieces) Bloom wanted to take a crack at doing it herself this time. After crowdfunding the record’s required budget and building a home studio on her farm property in Washington State, Bloom spent hours in the newly christened Silo Studio with engineer and percussionist Logan Billingsley laying down tracks, tweaking, and comping. The result is quite the accomplishment, not only reaffirming the artist’s chops as a songwriter, but her new byline as a producer to boot.

After listening to the record in full, one might ask: what are the pieces of Camille Bloom? Songwriter. Producer. Teacher. Singer. Wearer of brightly patterned shirts. Scorpio. Wife.

Even putting all of her qualifications into a list or resume seems reductive, and I am brought back to what that guy Aristotle said: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” So no matter how wonderful each piece of Camille Bloom may be, what they add up to is something so lovely that even I struggle to put it into words. So I will just let her.

(Did I mention she’s my big sister?)

Watch the video for “Pieces of Me” below.

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PLAYING DETROIT: Daniel Monk “Kite View” (feat. ISLA)

Jazz guitarist, producer, and ambient electronica explorer Dan Gruszka released his enchanting and contemplative solo EP 1121 earlier this month under his creative moniker Daniel Monk. The single “Kite View” quivers with fragility but not weakness. For a debut release, Monk finds a seasoned balance of self-control and self-assurance that is unexpectedly meditative and mature.

“Kite View” features up and coming female artist ISLA whose angel breath cadence swirls within the delicate framework of Monks sensitive production and arrangement. Sans vocals, the track would still sing in a voice tinged with melancholic flight. The addition of ISLA takes “Kite View” into a patient pre-dystopian lullaby. A hint of acoustic guitar rolls in as ISLA’s voice escapes the atmosphere, leaving us abruptly to wade through the stillness left behind by the sensuous synths. In this case, minimalism isn’t boring or safe rather a lesson in space, spacing and the art of dipping your foot into waters before jumping.

Dive in and soar with “Kite View” below:

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TRACK REVIEW: Gunslinger “All of Your Life”

Light up your day with the electrifying new single, “All of Your Life,” from Gunslinger.

This anthemic house track has everything you look for in an electronic piece: tons of synths, bass drops that get your heart racing, and upbeat jams that make you feel like you’re on a musical journey. In addition to personal inspiration, Gunslinger also utilized the Infected Mushroom “I Wish” plugin as an aid in producing this single. If you’re bummed about missing them at Burning Man last year, keep an eye out because you might be able to catch them at an upcoming show.

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Faulkner

Early in the evening, I found myself at a soundcheck at a hole-in-the-wall called Friends and Lovers in Prospect Heights. Even if they were just messing around to adjust levels, I was jarred by their large presence filling up the small space. Bi-coastal, genre-bending newcomers Faulkner are quickly rising through the ranks with their tastefully aggressive sound. Comprised of Lucas Asher (singer, guitarist), Dimitri Farougias (bassist), Eric Scullin (multi-instrumentalist), and Christian Hogan (drums), they are feeding on the positive acclaim for their EP Revanchist, and inching closer to the release of their first full-length album, Street Axioms.

Intimidatingly tall and sarcastic, yet sweet, Asher, Scullin, and Farougias opened up on topics like the recording process, working with the RZA, and nudism just before their show as a part of Mondo NYC.

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Ysabella Monton for AudioFemme: First thing’s first, what creatively do you think each other brings to the project?

Lucas Asher: Eric brings the production and arrangement, and musicianship. Dimitri, mostly rhythm, holding the rhythm down and performance, like incredible energy. And then I’m a songwriter.

One thing I drew from is that you tend to cross genres — there’s no real boundary there. Where do those influences come from?

Dimitri Farougias: A lot of ’70s, you know, some ’70s punk there, some ’80s pop, and ’90s hip-hop all kinda blended together. No specific references, but those genres definitely come into our songs.

Does the songwriting and production cross over as well? Is there a real cut process to it, or does it just happen?

DF: Lucas will bring the basic structure and the melody and the works, and the rest of the band will — or the entire band, actually — will just come into the room and start putting all the pieces together. All the instrumentation, everyone will write their parts. It’s fairly, fairly smooth. Everyone knows exactly what they’re supposed to do in the band, and it’s a very painless process.

So the album is coming together?

LA: Yeah, we released our EP called Revanchist, so that’s out right now, and then the album, you can look for it a little bit later in the fall.

And Revanchist, it’s very much a conceptual album. Without explaining exactly where you went with it, where does that come from?

LA: It has very strong themes of retribution, um those are found in the songs “Waters Are Rising” —

DF and Eric Scullin: “Keep Your Enemies Closer”.

LA: Right. There’s also a strong visual component that’s parallel to the music that’s reflected by the cover art, as well as the music video for “Revolutionary” which people can check out on YouTube.

And the album, is that meant to be conceptual as well?

LA: Yeah.

So Lucas, your decision to move to New York?

LA: I ran away from my orphanage in Oklahoma.

And since songwriting influences come a lot from life experiences, I know specifically you started writing a lot when you first came here.

LA: I think my biggest songwriting influence is 50 Cent, so…

DF: Poetry.

LA: Yeah, so just a lot of it, honestly, is from the streets, because I lived on the streets for a minute. So coming up off the streets.

It’s a really cool way that you guys play with hip-hop, especially having worked with RZA from Wu-Tang, that’s amazing.

DF: Yeah, that was wonderful. That was really amazing. It was really cool to write with him and record with him. He originally signed on to produce a demo we sent him, and once we got into the studio with him at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La, he really got into it. He just got in the booth and started writing, spit the illest verse, so that was really magical. That was definitely a highlight.

There have been some other big names there too, though.

DF: Yeah! JP Bowersock, who worked with The Strokes —

ES: He’s also an expert of chardonnay. He will school you in chardonnay.

DF: He can school you in a lot of things.

ES: He’s a connoisseur of a lot of things. He’s a sommelier as well.

DF: Yeah, a connoisseur. And then Mark Needham, who worked with The Killers and Imagine Dragons, and a whole lot of other acts. He’s a very predominant mixer, engineer, producer in rock music.

ES: He’s a mix pirate. He’s got a toucan on his shoulder. Like a parrot. He just talks like a pirate, always making these funny sounds.

So, the trajectory of things that have been happening in the last couple of years, since you guys formed in 2013…

DF: It’s happened very organically, you know. I don’t know, we’re very hard workers, but we also need a lot of different elements for all of this to happen. We have a great team that supports us, and we’re all very hard workers and dedicated to what we do. Only good things can come from those elements.

So the festival that’s going on right now, Mondo, how did you guys get into that?

LA: We heard it was a nudist festival, and then they told us no.

DF: Yeah when we got here, we were pretty bummed out to be honest.

LA: But we had already committed by that point, so…

DF: We were ready to take it all off, and they were like, “No no no no, stop!”

It’s a very new thing for New York City, Mondo Fest. How did you sign onto it?

LA: Our team brought it to us, and we have like, this punk rock attitude about playing shows. We’ll play anywhere, at any time. Not to sound desperate –

DF: No, we love to play. We love to play, we love to make new fans all the time, we love to meet people.

LA: And we love New York. We’ve been in New York for almost every week we’ve been in LA.

How did you all originally meet?

DF: The LA music scene. We were all in different projects, different bands, and then Lucas kinda brought us all together.

LA: And that’s the PR version. I was on PlentyofFish.com looking for matches.

ES: And then I came up, and I was like, fuck it, we’ll give it a shot.

That’s on the record. That’s the real story now.

DF: We met on a nudist beach on Ibiza.

ES and LA: Yeah.

Just playing music.

ALL: Yeah.

But really, the LA music scene. What are the differences between the scenes here and there?

ES: I don’t know, I mean, LA seems to kinda be more central lately. I’ve noticed people moving from NY to LA. It’s more of a hub for music. And I have my studio there, it would be a lot to

LA: Studio plug!

ES: [/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”][laughs] Yeah.

LA: What’s your studio called? Radio Quality Sounds?

ES: Yeah, it’s really, really nice. I’m kidding. My point is, to have the space like that here is not the same. LA’s got a lot more space, and people move there increasingly. I’m seeing more and more people headed there. And I grew up there, so I love it.

LA: I prefer New York, but it seems like LA is…there’s more of a live element right now.

ES: Different vibes. You gotta do both. I prefer to live in New York and visit LA often. They’re very different. [pause] Wait, I meant live in LA, visit New York often.

LA: The inverse of what you said.

ES: Basically, anything I say I mean the opposite.

So you’re not nudists.

ALL: Yeah.

Have you done any recording in New York?

ES: Yeah we did at Avatar, which used to be the Record Plant,

DF: Amazing studio.

ES: Awesome. Neve console, great room. Recording here is a different vibe. Space too, you know. Everything is on the third floor of some weird building. LA is a different vibe.

LA: You have to grab the piano.

ES: Yeah, I have to carry my Steinway alone upstairs. It’s terrible.

No help from these guys?

ES: Not at all.

I’ve heard about that kind of stuff from other people, saying they’ve gotten snowed into studios here in the winter or something.

ES: Yeah, I can see that. That’s not happening in Malibu.

I just wonder what it is about LA that draws people in.

LA: I think it’s part of our generation as well. Not to wax on here, but “I feel like everyone in the millennial generation is down to go anywhere. People aren’t as chained to where they were born for example.

One hundred percent.

LA: I blame Instagram for that.

DF: Everyone’s a travel blogger.

Yeah, the glorification of that lifestyle. Well, thank you guys so much for taking this time with me today, I appreciate it.

ES: We appreciate it too. All the knowledge off the top of your head, it’s amazing.

I do a little research!

LA: You didn’t find any criminal records?

Not yet, I guess I didn’t look deep enough.

LA: Look deeper.

It’s just stuff about nudity, right?

ES: Our interview is basically, “Faulkner: The Nudist Band You Need to Get to Know Now!”

I guess we took the wrong pictures for this article.

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TRACK REVIEW: Jesse Mac Cormack “Repeat”

With his minimalist style and entrancing rhythms, Jesse Mac Cormack is putting out music that’ll have you grooving in no time. His single “Repeat” from his latest EP After the Glow is a shining example of that.

The track is full of gruff vocals, jangly guitar riffs, and rhythmic progressions that get your heart rate going and might just make you dance in your seat without realizing you’re doing so. It’s a great song to have along for a road trip or when you’re making an adventurous decision.

Check out “Relief” below, and head over to his SoundCloud to stream the rest of After the Glow.

VIDEO PREMIERE: The Vigils “Night Flight”

While Slytherins know goth rock works all year round, post-fall equinox, it’s all the more magnificent. Los Angeles-based The Vigils pay tribute to the USA Network’s 1980s influential music video show Night Flight with their luring new video for forthcoming single of the same name. “Night Flight” is produced by Steven Kille of Dead Meadow and released by Shelby Cinca’s (Frodus) Swedish Columbia Label.

Thoroughly primal, sliced between moments from your favorite moments in horror, The Vigils, composed of Danny Boy(vocals), Roberto Palazzo (guitar), Sol Luongo (bass), Jessy Bender (saxophone), and Skeeter Joplin (drums) play in leather and ripped t-shirts worn over sweat-glistened skin in a cluttered black space. Lit with creaky televisions, strung-up Christmas lights, and the odd disco ball, it’s understood they let us inside their brain box. The passionately dark song is terrific in of itself; watch the video below.

PREVIEW: Hypnocraft Presents: The Hum @ Manhattan Inn 10/3-10/24

The original and critically acclaimed month-long residency, The Hum, is returning this October with its all-women collaborative shows presented by HYPNOCRAFT.

It’s back with it’s fourth installment taking place every Monday in October (except for Halloween) at the Greenpoint piano bar Manhattan Inn at 8:30pm.

The residency will feature first-time collaborative live performances between a hand-picked line-up of artists including members of Ava Luna, Buke and Gase, Cibo Matto, Emmy The Great, Invisible Familiars, Lake Street Dive, TEEN, tUnE-yArDs and more.

The Hum has become a top platform for unique first-time collaborations between a diverse array of women working in various genres such as R&B, art-rock, spectral pop, classical, and punk. Its mission is to connect a diverse community of musicians through a exclusively uncommon performance platform which fosters new sounds, musical partnerships, and gives visibility to women making music.

Tickets are available in advance for $12 and will be available for purchase at the door for $14. Purchase tickets here.

Check out the full line-up below! And peep the set Audiofemme is curating on Oct. 3rd featuring Angelica Bess of Body Language Emily Fehler of Gold Child and Rosie Slater of New Myths.

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Mon, October 3 | 8pm
Boshra AlSaadi (TEEN, Janka Nabay) + Lindsay Powell (Fielded) + Felicia Douglass (Ava Luna, Gemma) + Nasimiyu (Baeb Rxxth) //
AudioFemme curated set feat. Angelica Bess (Body Language) + Emily Fehler (Gold Child) //
The Artist’s Circle w/ Wendy Parr curated set feat. Tanis Chalopin + Jessica Carvo + Michelle & Sarah Cagianese (Frances Rose) //
Rachel Angel + Rachel Housle (Invisible Familiars) + Caitlin Frame (FRAME)

Mon, October 10 | 8pm
Maralisa (Space Captain) + Elle Winston + Lora-Faye Ashuvud (Arthur Moon)
+ Savannah Harris + Ella Joy Meir (Iris Lune) //
Gabrielle Herbst (GABI) + Susie Ibarra //
MADEIRA

Mon, October 17 | 8pm
Emmy the Great + Jo Lampert (tUnE-yArDs) + Margot //
Kendra Morris + Allison Miller (Boom Tic Boom) + Domenica Fossati (Underground System) //
Sarah Kinlaw (SOFTSPOT) + Melodie Stancato (Swoon Lake) + Shannon Lee (Teen Body)

Mon, October 24 | 8pm
Yuka C. Honda (Cibo Matto) + Arone Dyer (Buke + Gase) + Shayna Dunkelman //
Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive) + Lynette Williams + Christina Courtin (Pilot Violet) //
Eszter Balint + Dayna Kurtz + Sydney Price (Northwood)

NEWS ROUNDUP: Video Edition

Do Your Makeup With Sadie Dupuis

The video for the second single from Dupuis’s solo project, “Less Than 2,” is a spoof of over the top YouTube makeup tutorials. Bored with the beauty vloggers who want to teach you how to contour like Kim Kardashian? This video features blood facials and shows off looks like “Bagel Head,” “Poisonous Lips” and my personal favorite, “Your True Reptilian Self.” Slugger will be released on 11/11 via Carpark Records- watch “Less Than 2” below.

Listen To The First Dirty Projectors Song Since 2012

David Longstreth is sad. In the black and white video for “Keep Your Name,” he does sad things like smash a guitar, take a lonely walk along what appears to be a power plant, and paints a poop emoji alone in an empty room. The song, which samples the earlier Dirty Projectors track “Impregnable Question,” is a satisfyingly melancholy breakup song, but gets a little awkward when Longstreth kinda starts rapping and throws out lines like “What I want from art is truth/ What you want is fame” and “Our band is a brand and it looks that our vision is dissonance.” It’s unclear whether the song is part of a larger project or new album, but if it is, it will be the band’s first since 2012’s Swing Lo Magellan.

Watch Beck’s Video For “Wow”

Ok, this one came out last week. But it’s pretty cool, and maybe you missed it.The video matches the lyrics by being an eclectic mashup of different moods, ideas, and sounds- there’s a gun twirling cowboy, dancing kids, random animations and a rose with an eyeball. Those were contributed by guest artists to create something of a “music video art gallery,” which were placed between clips of Beck dancing on the street and a cowboy riding through the desert. Check it out below:

New White Stripes Video Released

From The White Stripes YouTube Account: “ “City Lights” was written for The White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan but then forgotten until White revisited the 2005 album for Third Man’s Record Store Day 2015 vinyl reissue and finished the recording in 2016. The track is the first new, worldwide commercially released song by The White Stripes since 2008.” Filmmaker Michel Gondry made the video on his own and sent it to Third Man Records as a surprise. The simple video is a single shot of a foggy shower door as an unseen bather inside draws shapes and figures in the condensation.

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Cool Company

Brooklyn-based duo Cool Company are releasing addictive, smooth, jazzy hip-hop tunes that’ll make your toes tap and your head sway. It’s the sort of music you want to be the soundtrack to your life, filling you with confidence and chill as hell vibes as you go through your everyday routine. Although we weren’t able to make our busy New York schedules align perfectly for a sit-down interview, I was still able to chat with Cool Company about how they got together, their musical influences, and their plans for the future.

AudioFemme: How did you meet and start making music together?

Yannick: We met way back in my junior year of high school. We were sat next to each other in choir, and then we both went on to make it into the honors choir the next year. We didn’t start making music together for another four to five years, though.

Matt: I had got into producing rap beats, but I didn’t really know any rappers, so me and my friends would get high and write joke raps. We kept inviting Yan to join—finally he did, and to be honest, it wasn’t that special at first haha. But we kept making stuff together, and he kept getting better and better exponentially faster than anyone else I had worked with, so soon enough we decided to give it a serious shot.

Do you have more in-depth backgrounds in music?

Y: I was always singing and dancing around the house as a kid, so my mom made me join church youth choir. I wasn’t that into it at the time, but I guess it all worked out because it eventually led to this.

M: I started playing trombone in fifth grade because I thought it was funny how the slide went in and out and you could poke people with it. I picked up the guitar a few years later when I got into music, then piano, then bass. I’m known to pick up a ukulele from time to time, and I love playing with various percussion instruments, which incorporate into my production a lot. Next on the list is the flute.

I also sang in choir, where I met Yan. I went on to study classical composition in college, which has influenced my production a lot, even for the pop/hip-hop songs.

What was the inspiration behind your upcoming full-length?

Y: We wanted to make something really upbeat and fun while still having some substance and thoughtfulness. I’d say the project was inspired a lot by the ups and downs of a Brooklyn summer. Life.

M: Each song is basically a journal entry for both of us. Whatever was stimulating us at the time led us to create what we created. So since we both see the world in a particular way as individuals, this album really gives you a taste of our personalities. In the time since our last album, we’ve created maybe 50 or so songs. We had to say goodbye (for now) to a few good ones, but I think we picked the strongest and most cohesive combination.

Do you have any favorite songs off it?

Y: They’re all my babies, but if I had to choose right now I’d say “Slice of Paradise,” “Faded,” and “Life.” “Life” is really one of the more dynamic songs we’ve written. It really takes you on a journey.

“Slice of Paradise” is one of those where, as soon as we had the first cut, I hit up our manager ASAP because I knew we had a major song there.

M: It’s hard to say because they were all my favorites when I made them, but mine right now are “Slice of Paradise,” “Life,” and “End of the Night.”

Who are some other musicians you draw inspiration from?

Y: I grew up hearing a lot of MoTown from my parents, and I can never seem to shake the influence that has on my songwriting. More recently I listen to Frank Ocean, Chance, Kanye, The Weeknd and this artist named Kamau whose latest EP has become one of my all-time favorites. Outkast is a classic influence. They pushed the boundaries for sure.

We pride ourselves in writing catchy songs and hooks that are uniquely distinct from a lot out there right now. Fresh ideas that still have that pop/commercial sensibility, but are new and avant-garde in a way and just chill AF. There are a million recycled ideas out there, but it was and is the greats that push the boundaries of music and genre.

M: My earliest influences were Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” The Beatles, and this compilation album “Pure Funk” that I made my dad buy me when I saw the ad on TV as a kid. Then 2000-era pop radio, lots of Neptunes and Timbaland produced stuff, though I didn’t know the producers at the time. It was Nirvana and alternative rock that actually got me into making music, though I don’t listen to or make that stuff anymore. More recently I’ve drawn influences from hip-hop, R&B, jazz, classical, afro-beat/highlife, pop, and electronic music. I don’t use all these influences in one song, but it helps to have lots of different techniques up your sleeve so you don’t just sound like a copy of another band.

Do you have any funny behind-the-scenes band stories you like to share?

Y: When we were working on “Lighten Up,” one of the songs on the upcoming release, Matt kept trying to get me to sing with a lighter, smoother, more relaxed tone. He ended up having me lie down in bed, then position the mic over my face. I fall asleep really easily, so I kept taking little naps while we worked, but I ended up getting the relaxed tone he wanted. I kind of wish we could do that for every song.

M: Back when we worked on the first album, I recorded little farting sounds with my hands, then bet Yannick I could fit it into a song. He declined to take me up on the bet, but I did it anyway—the synths on “Yourself” are modified hand farts. There was also a song I incorporated burping into, but that one didn’t make the cut.

What plans do you have for the future?

Y: We’ve got a couple videos in the works. A beautiful one for “Slice of Paradise,” which we look forward to releasing very soon. Plus a full-length album in the coming weeks of September. And of course, we’re always making new music. We continue to write and write and have a nice little stockpile of music.

M: We’re also teaching our live band the new songs, maybe putting together a small tour. Or a big one if you ask nicely.

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ONLY NOISE: Get Well Soon, CMJ

Around this time of year, I’m usually unearthing my leather jacket from the season-long crypt that is my closet. I’m forgetting to send my mom a birthday card and cursing the ubiquity of pumpkin spice. I start to crave horror movie marathons, and turtlenecks, and potpie. But more than anything, at this time of year I am usually preparing for the once annual CMJ Music Marathon.

This very moment, I should be stuck on some letter in the alphabet, two-thirds of the way through with my yearly, militant, and self-appointed task of listening to every band and artist on the lineup, usually numbered at around 1,500 or so. I took special pride in knowing exactly how ninety percent of the bands would sound just by looking at their photos and witnessed a foolproof pattern that any time my assumption was wrong, I ended up loving what I heard. The element of surprise goes a long way.

Around this time of year, I should be compiling an overwhelming, archaic, and impossible calendar for the week of CMJ. One that suggests I can somehow manage between four and five shows daily, even though my record high was three, and I came down with a cold immediately after. The calendar would be printed, with handwritten information. “Must-sees” would be striped with pink highlighter.

And yet in the spirit of a fall that won’t begin-highs in the mid-80s today – it looks like CMJ 2016 won’t either. According to articles published by Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Brooklyn Vegan, the event’s 2016 existence is largely in question. As far back as April, Brooklyn Vegan posed the question: “Is CMJ happening this year?” Stereogum’s late August headline probed even deeper when it asked: “CMJ Sure Seems To Be Over. So How Come Nobody Is Talking About It?”

Naturally, I have some questions of my own. Firstly, if CMJ is happening this year, then why does the official website still have “CMJ 2015” emblazoned all over it, along with no lineup in sight? And secondly, what the hell are we supposed to believe when Time Out New York publishes an article that reads “The CMJ Music Marathon is probably not happening this year” as well as a “CMJ 2016 Music Marathon Guide” on the same day?

As it turns out, trouble has been brewing for a few years now. According to a 2013 New York Times article published the first day of the mini festival that year (very sensitive of you, NY Times,) the organization behind CMJ was facing a $1 million dollar lawsuit due to a failed merger with Metropolitan Entertainment. And that is just what’s keeping four days of new music bliss at bay this year: business problems.

But despite the pessimism from various news outlets, CMJ CEO Adam Klein is asking that everyone try a little tenderness and hold their horses this year. He expressed in a press release that he is “totally committed to protecting CMJ’s unique and ‘live’ heritage while adapting to the ever-changing demands of artists, fans, and the music industry. A little patience and a whole lot less wild and unsubstantiated speculation is what we need right now.”

But what about what music journalists need? Don’t we need four nights of nearly 1,500 bands we’ve never heard to lose our minds over every fall? Of course we do! I must be in full-blown denial of the situation, as I check CMJ’s website near daily just in case this is all some sort of lofty prank.

Leafing through my 2014 festival guide, which I have kept for reasons even I cannot fathom, I take note of the venue listings. Cameo Gallery: gone. Glasslands: gone. Spike Hill: Equinox. Trash Bar: run out of the neighborhood. There seems to be a whole theme surrounding the independent music scene in New York sometimes, and it’s not a hopeful one. While venues and bars reincarnate in more remote hoods, it’s hard to imagine what could possibly replace an event as essential as CMJ.

Like a mom that loves scrapbooking, I have kept all of my press badge lanyards over the years, a fact so dorky that it can only be expressed through use of the word “lanyard.” Without these badges, I wouldn’t have been able to see most of the gigs at CMJ…except that ¾ of the ones I select always end up being free to the public. “Ma’am, this show is free,” many a door person has scolded as I earnestly held the laminated card to their face. So thrilled I was about this event, that I would proudly take on the douchey, self-ordained responsibility of wearing my press badge at all times, even when it made absolutely no sense, like at AudioFemme showcases.

One time, in my fifth attempt to finally see Perfect Pussy, I wore my badge all the way up to north Williamsburg to an outdoor matinee featuring Protomartyr. There was no question in my mind that this was a CMJ event, as it was listed with the others. I waited in line, and gave ‘em the badge. “That won’t do you any good here,” the dough handler said gruffly. I slinked away outwardly embarrassed, but unwilling to hand over ten dollars to an asshole in a bad hat. A similar dilemma had transpired at Silent Barn days prior at a Sean Nicholas Savage show, but the resident hand stamper was more kind. Slightly.

If it weren’t for CMJ, I wouldn’t have discovered artists such as Cosmo Sheldrake, Kamasi Washington, Hooton Tennis Club, Phony PPL, Landshapes, Outfit, Tom Vek, The Dig, Money, or countless others. I first saw London trio Happyness at the marathon, and they have since become a favorite emerging band, and fantastic interview subjects to boot.

CMJ has always felt like my New York Christmas; a time of year I anticipate months in advance, and yammer on about like a grade school kid all throughout. It created a collective excitement and feeling of goodwill around the city, and fostered an environment that made me feel welcome and comfortable. I will always remember the showcases as being some of the few gigs at which I actually met people. By talking to them.

I don’t want to stress out Adam Klein. I don’t want to make assumptions, or be impatient, or god forbid insensitive. But as Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits ironically sang, “I want my MTV,” I will go on record as un-ironically saying, “I want my CMJ.” We’ve lost too many musical events and venues over the years, but losing the marathon after three decades might be the worst of it.

CMJ Music Marathon, won’t you please come back to us? Until then, I will continue to shamelessly wear my CMJ tote bag from a couple years ago, which is so grimy and frayed that even I, a person of debatable sanitary practices, question its public acceptability. Soiled though it is, it at least reminds me of the days when I could put on my leather jacket, curse the ubiquity of pumpkin spice, and then go see ten bands I’d never heard before.

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Decorum

More than mysterious and so very spooky chic, Decorum is a double bass post-punk goth band based in Brooklyn composed of Sable (vocals, bass) Leif (vocals, bass) and Shay (drums). The three-piece’s most recent EP, Vail is out now on Mirror Universe Records. Moody, romantically gloomy, and fit for a horror film soundtrack (intentionally) as summer fades to fall, calling forth longer nights, Scorpio season seances, and Halloween, we sat down with Sable, who is also an accomplished beauty writer, to talk about her favorite horror films, tour beauty regimes, and racism she’s dealt with while performing.

AudioFemme: How does Decorum define your sound?

Sable: We call it post-punk goth because that’s just…the thing that people get the most. I could get really thinky and give it a kitschy name but it’s such an eye roll. When I think of post-punk I think of the Cure and Siouxsie Sioux, and to me, that’s not dark; it’s very danceable. It’s singing about sad things in an upbeat happy melody which is cool too. I don’t think it’s been necessarily intentional but our sound is more gloomy and minor and dark.

What is the inspiration for your songs?

I love when music has a very cinematic quality to it. So that’s always where I’m coming from. Also, I really love horror films, so I’ve always been trying to [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”][create music] that would sound really cool in a fictional horror film soundtrack. That’s always what’s going through my head.

What are your favorite horror films?

There is one that is my absolute favorite. It’s French, I think it’s from 2006; it’s called Martyrs. It’s super gory. It’s basically a revenge film but with demons in it. I rented it from Videology. One of the dudes there recommended it to me; It is jarringly intense. I have to be careful about the people I recommend it to because I told some of my friends and they were like, “This is some sick shit dude.”

What’s the band’s writing process like?

I’ve never creatively collaborated with a romantic partner (Leif) before, so it’s interesting. He has a ton of music experience, he’s been that guy in a band his whole freaking life. He just loves it so much. Mostly it’s us doing the writing and our drummer is amazing at picking up vibes for lack of a better term. So we’ll write bass parts and then she’ll put a different beat than I expected behind it and I’m like, “wow this totally changes this whole thing.”

So I understand bass is a new instrument for you.

The best way to learn an instrument is to give yourself a project around it and a purpose, I tried teaching myself drums but I didn’t have a project so I was just like, “Okay I can sort of do that, the end.” It helps to have someone that you’re really comfortable with to learn with. I like bass because it’s very grounded. Bass is that one thing that maybe you don’t always notice it when it’s there but you definitely notice that it’s gone. I think it’s cool to do what we’re doing and have it be way more dimensional and versatile. When I tell people there’s two basses they’re like “Oh that’s so weird,” and I’m like, “Delta 5?” When they hear it they’re like: “Oh wow. I totally didn’t expect that that’s what it would sound like.”

Will you tell me about your music videos?

The very first one we did for “Waxing/Waiting” we did ourselves. It was kind of a really off the cuff idea that I had to shoot someone singing karaoke, but it wasn’t to our song, it was a different song. Kind of making fun of artist always lip-syncing to their own songs. I got my friend Meredith from the band Perfect Pussy, she sang a lot of Drake and Whitney Houston. The second one for “High Order” my friend Adrian did who is a videographer. He’s a motions graphic designer, he’s worked for like Kanye and all these super A-lister pop stars, but we’ve been best friends since college. He did an awesome job. I love the idea of having a music video that’s like one action, or one continuous theme. Drawing back to horror films, the part in slasher flicks where someone is chasing their victim – but you never see the killer, it’s just frantic running the whole time. So it’s me in this huge winter parka running around Floyd Bennett field one Sunday night until I wanted to die. We just did a third for “Book Burning” which was a very simple performance video.

I loved your beauty article about packing for tour. How was that experience?

We were on the road for a week, we did mostly house shows. It’s cool when you go out of New York the attitude towards shows and being present is so different. Everyone is way more excited to be there and it feels way more supportive. You may be playing in someone’s basement to 25 people, but all of those 25 people are actually paying attention. They’re not texting.

Favorite tour memories?

We played Toronto at this place called Coalition, it’s a true goth metal club. Everyone there was over 40 and had been a diehard goth or pink since the 80s or 70s. It was like that scene in Charlie Brown where everyone is dancing and they have their same robotic dance moves, but they have the same gothy versions of that. I don’t really see people dancing in venues unless you go to a club club. Also, everyone was really really nice. They are Canadians, but it was overly nice. Maybe it’s just because it’s a community of misfits.

So performing locally, have you dealt with any sexism?

I don’t think I’ve had as many bad or weird or awkward experiences than other people I’ve known, I mean not that it’s a competition; It feels very universal. I feel like less sexism than there’s been weird racist stuff happening. Not saying I can forgive sexism more, but because of social coding and social conditioning, I’m like, okay, there are probably some men that just don’t get it, and obviously once they’ve learned they’ll be embarrassed about any sexist shit that they’ve pulled. But with racism you should fucking know that that’s not okay. It’s really weird in those situations because depending on who it’s coming from it can be hard to know what to do.

Like an audience member as opposed to someone who works at the venue?

Yes. For audience members, I have gotten very impatient as I get older, and less censored. If someone is saying something out of line I’ll be like, “Hey that’s a really fucked up thing you said, get the hell away from me.” Generally, the person is like, “What are you talking about?” And I’m like, oh because you don’t get it. It’s not my job to teach people that. And I don’t want it to be my job.

There was a show we played at a new venue in Bushwick. The sound guy was blatantly racist. Another band on the bill also had an Asian girl in the band. He was basically lumping us together, and being like, “Oh yeah, so are you in the band with that Japanese girl?” to Leif. I’m like, “I’m not Japanese, also I’m literally right here you can talk to me.” When Leif was like, “Yeah, she’s not Japanese,” he’s like, “Whatever you call her then.” As I’m five feet away from this dude. The promoter says, “I’m so sorry, we literally got this guy last minute because our regular sound guy had something come up, so we don’t know him, but we’ll never work with him again.” I’m like, “That’s cool, we’ll never play here again.”

That’s such a bummer, I’m sorry you had to deal with that. So when can people see you perform now?

The next couple shows are on 9/25 At The Footlight, 10/7 in Kingston for O+ Fest, and 10/9 at 603 Bushwick Ave.

Watch Sable sprint in her winter parka below in Decorum’s video for “High Order.”

D E C O R U M — H I G H O R D E R from Decorum on Vimeo.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

PLAYING DETROIT: Humons “Underneath”

14242449_711221165694732_9143612305650556026_o — *Photo by Andrew Amine & design by Ellen Rutt*

“Dream house” voyager Ardalan Sedghi is Humons, a kinetically electrified project whose atomic beats swell in “Underneath” the debut single from the Spectra EP due out this fall. Although Sedghi isn’t entirely new blood on the scene, “Underneath” delivers a freshness that rises with a palpable and cosmic humidity and is best experienced with hips magnetically fused to someone else’s: a symbiotic gravity grind.

Although Humons is technically one huMAN it can’t be ignored that the seamless production is a vital component as to why “Underneath” works as a living, breathing, pulsating soundscape and not just a party jam at a hazy house party in Southwest. Produced and mixed by mastermind Jon Zott at the Assemble Sound studios, the track lends itself to explore various abstractions. Consider an animated sci-fi journey riding the tail of a comet or a microscopic view of anatomical fascinations like blood cells bumping against artery walls, fighting illness or a time-lapse of vultures picking apart a freshly deceased roadside meal. Mixing staccato guitar with clashing synths and clapping wave-to-shore-like drum machine beats gives Sedghi’s breathy, minimalist vocals space to float. What this track masterfully accomplishes is its “choose your own adventure” vibe. It can be sad and brooding if that’s what you need or it can be your sexually ravenous anthem. Either way, “Underneath” ushers us from Summer to Fall and into territory undisclosed.

Get spacey with Humons latest below:

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LIVE REVIEW: Ryan Sambol @ Manhattan Inn

Is Ryan Sambol half in the bag? It’s hard to say. The at-ease Texan and former Strange Boys and Living Grateful member could be over the eight, or perhaps just relaxed. Since I last saw him at Cake Shop in 2015, Sambol has sprouted a substantial mustache and taken to wearing an all-you-can eat cowboy hat – but I suppose that’s fair play when you hail from the Lone Star State. At Manhattan Inn last Monday in conjunction with LPR Presents, Sambol charmed the audience with his laid-back persona and oafish delivery.

The “stage” at Manhattan Inn is truthfully a sunken square surrounded by a seated audience. The artist almost appears like a gladiator or a prized Doberman in a dog pit. Sambol seemed at risk of being swallowed by the instruments around him…or perhaps by his hat. His set was sandwiched between Brooklyn’s Swoon Lake and Sam Cohen, but the Texan stole the show in my opinion, despite his rakish appearance and minimal instrumentation.

I haven’t heard word of a new album from Sambol, though the slew of unfamiliar songs in his set would suggest one. He played a handful from his 2015 solo debut Now Ritual, most notably “Dinner Where I’m Staying” and “Amazing Rain,” for which he hopped on the Inn’s shining white piano.

Throughout the gig, Sambol would accompany himself by elbowing the crash cymbal on the headliner’s drum set with stooge-like technique, almost as if he didn’t notice there was a kit next to him at all. He has a voice that can’t get out of bed in the morning but manages to be beautiful in its own hungover way. Sambol’s compositions seem like lazy cowboy takes on Harry Nilsson, late ‘60s Dylan, Randy Newman, and Van Dyke Parks, and that ‘aint a bad thing at all.

I could be mistaken, as the question mark in my notebook suggests, but I’m fairly certain that at one point between songs Sambol mumbled something like, “self is the only hell;” perhaps a more lyrical take on the Henry Van Dyke quote, “self is the only prison.” Not sure if that’s true, but I’d like to think so. Ryan Sambol surely is an odd little bird, but one with more to him than he tends to let on. I look forward to hearing what he does next.

TRACK PREMIERE: Yaysh “Wild One” (Madame Gandhi Percussion Edit)

L.A. based pop paragon Yaysh made a lasting impression when she recently dropped the R8DIO-produced “Wild One” via Young Hollywood. The initial single off of her upcoming record, it is a sweetly melodic track with glittering chart potential. The vulnerable pop song takes a dirty turn as Yaysh raps through the bridge. “Wild One” inspires listeners to dance, as the Shangri-Las would say, “close, very, very close.”

If the original cut is perfect for languidly swaying with a date, then Madame Gandhi’s percussion edit might make you break out in “Pon De Floor”-style daggering. Filled-out with dancehall inspired beats, Gandhi used a Caribbean soca beat as her foundation, making a feast of rhythm with staccato bongos and everyone’s favorite percussion instrument: the cowbell.

The percussion edit texturizes the track to the point that movement becomes involuntary while listening to it, hitting a node so primal within, that it’s no wonder the drum is the oldest instrument in human history. Yaysh commented in a press release: “‘Wild One’ is about passion, justice and just straight-up courage-” a fact that becomes all the more evident with the spicy new drum track supplied by Gandhi, whose approach to music is always unconventional.

Check out the Madame Gandhi Percussion Edit of “Wild One” below. I dare you to sit still.

INTERVIEW: Rachael Pazdan/Hypnocraft of The Hum & LPR Presents

We have become so used to the unheard female voice in the music industry. There is an irrefutable gender gap between the number of male musicians who succeed and the number of female ones…I don’t need to tell you about who’s in the lead. But if you think that making it as a non-male musician is hard, imagine the world of curation, booking, and promotion. It’s a tough industry to traverse, but tastemaker Rachael Pazdan of Hypnocraft Presents, LPR Presents, and The Hum, is quite frankly kicking its ass.

Pazdan wears many hats, utilizing her background in dance and the non-profit arts sector to inform her positions as music director for Le Poisson Rouge and talent buyer for Manhattan Inn. Twice a year, Pazdan lets her love of music and interdisciplinary collaboration run wild with The Hum, a month-long weekly series that features super-group-like pairings of all female musicians jamming at Manhattan Inn.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Rachael to discuss the rift between dance and indie rock audiences, the importance of collaboration, and the problem with saying “female musician.”

Audiofemme: The Hum is approaching! What are some collaborations you’re most excited about?

Rachael Pazdan: I’m really excited to see Yuka Honda [/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”][Cibo Matto] with Arone Dyer [Buke And Gase]. Both of them want to do stuff that’s out of the box. Yuka’s been doing this Exotech project, which is a super out of the box improvisational show. And Arone’s been doing these all-women drone choirs–

With actual drones?!

No, using women’s voices. It’s a choir of women singing different notes and they have ear buds in and they’re triggered to know what note to sing next. I think that they’re really gonna love working together and find a lot of commonalities.

I’m really excited about Boshra AlSaadi from TEEN-she’s an amazing bass player-with Felicia Douglass from Ava Luna, Lindsay Powell from Fielded and Nasimiyuu from Baeb Rxxth. I get really excited about bigger, ambitious quartet projects.

Kendra Morris with Allison Miller and Domenica Fossati. Domenica is in Underground System which is an awesome Afrobeat band, she sings and plays flute, Kendra Morris is this pop-soul singer, and Allison Miller has a project called Boom Tic Boom and she’s a jazz drummer…that will be really funky and fun.

I don’t half-ass this. I go after artists that I am personally really excited about. I freak out about this project…bringing all of these different women together that I’ve always wanted to book.

What were some exciting moments you’ve witnessed in the past? Musical or other?

I feel like [The Hum] builds a real sense of community between women, and there are lots of women who have done it and said to me, “I’ve never played with other women before,” which is kind of crazy.

That gives me chills. That’s ridiculous.

Becca Kauffman from Ava Luna told me that now whenever she’s working on new projects she’s going to think of women first. Jen Goma [A Sunny Day in Glasgow] and Teenie from TEEN – that was the first time they’d ever played together and they’re best friends now, they’re constantly collaborating. I think one of the most exciting things for me is this effect that happens after the series and the network of everyone who’s involved growing.

You’re like a matchmaker!

Kind of like dream band matchmaking…

You are often nurturing cross-disciplinary collaborations with other projects as well what do find that collaboration brings out in artists?

Sometimes it really doesn’t work. My original vision for The Hum was to do more poly-genre collaborations and it’s really challenging…artists can be less excited about that. Sometimes I’ll do it-I’m putting Kendra together with Domenica. But even though that is crossing genres, there is so much that makes sense between those two worlds, and it works. It’s really hard for artists because it’s really limited preparation. I haven’t been able to support artists where I’m paying for their rehearsal time, and I feel like if I want to think of some really tricky collaborations I want to be able to commission them.

Looking at some of your previous work like 3:1 and Liquid and Still – you seem to get excited by the idea of creating art out of traditionally uncomfortable situations, and breaking the fourth wall…

Totally. It’s something I naturally do. That’s such a great observation because as a curator I’m really interested in collaboration and challenging artists’ comfort zone. I’m always looking to give artists special opportunities that are outside the normal presenting zone. Now my job is to just be booking straight shows all the time. But any opportunity I get I’m putting together some kind of weird show. For Liquid and Still, my job is to bring music and dance audiences together so that people who go to concerts feel more comfortable watching dance, and people who see mostly dance are more comfortable going to a concert the next time.

It’s crazy that they’re totally separate audiences.

It is the conundrum I am thinking about all the time – my background’s in dance and I love dance, but it was too hard for me to work in dance as somebody who wasn’t the dancer. I feel like dance is slowly dying because their audience is so insular and people get so intimidated by dance, which is strange to me because dance seems to me to be the most accessible art form…it’s just moving your body and everybody understands movement.

I want to start doing concerts where in between sets there would be a ten-minute dance piece on the floor in front of the stage. And I think that might be the solution…literally putting them in front of a new audience.

I think people look at dance as a stem from the modern dance and ballet world but it has so many different facets.

Yeah, like having to sit down and be quiet for an hour and try to really understand something that’s heavy and pick it apart, and I don’t think dance has to be like that. The reason music is so accessible is that you can go to a show late, you can be drinking, you can be talking during the show, it’s totally social. To make dance more social is maybe the way that it is going to survive.

Classical music has this older, subscription-based audience that would go to Lincoln Center and buy a whole year’s worth of subscriptions to shows and people just aren’t doing that anymore. Our generation is used to being able to customize all of their experiences and do whatever they want all the time, and to commit to a year’s worth of shows is something people aren’t doing anymore.

One person who is bridging that gap is Nils Frahm.

Yeah, love Nils Frahm. He plays LPR all the time.

He’s completely unpretentious and is like, “oh! I’m going to play something with a toilet brush!” Or, “oh! If someone texts during my set, it’s going to be in the recording!” And maybe that’s the approach dance needs to take.

Yeah, breaking down those walls and making dance more social and accessible to an audience that doesn’t want to go to a ballet.

How did the name “The Hum” come about?

“The Hum” was named by Hannah Epperson, who was in the first and the third series. I was originally going to name it something that had “femme” in the name, and through conversations with almost every artist who was in that first series…I decided that I didn’t want to have The Hum be something that screamed “Women!” in the title or marketing, because the more I work in the music industry, the more I want to get rid of the fucking double standard of having to say a musician is a woman. It bugs the shit out of me! Even to see “female-fronted,” it bugs me! The word “woman” adds nothing what the music actually sounds like.

There’s no “Man Band” classification.

Yeah, you would never say, “male-fronted” or “male-backed.” If you’re a musician you’re a musician. If you’re a carpenter you’re a carpenter. It doesn’t matter. I got really pissed off about this and posted something on Facebook the other day and my friend Cooper had a really good response. He said, “It’s leftover from a sexist industry. We don’t need to imply that “white male” is the norm and everything else is “other” and needs a further classification.” Also, I think that sometimes when people are using “women” it’s like a marketing ploy of sex appeal in some way.

“Boobs-Fronted Band.”

Exactly! But there is another side to it, which is using “woman” or “female” can be really empowering sometimes. My good friend Mindy who runs Tom Tom Magazine, her tagline for the magazine is “A Magazine About Female Drummers” and that’s really empowering. I think that it’s a balance of using the word “female” as an empowering description and also just deciding to drop it. I see extreme value in both perspectives.

Manhattan Inn has traditionally housed a lot of jazz music, which is so male-dominated, and LPR has had a fair share of electronic, which is similarly a boy’s club…have you run into any issues because of those two genres?

Jazz has been a really sexist genre.

To be fair, I noticed in one interview you said, “Don’t get me started on jazz,” and I thought, “I’m going to get her started on jazz.”

It’s starting to happen. Allison Miller is a fucking awesome drummer and she’s really done her own thing. I just feel like it’s really hard for women to rise in that musical genre, maybe because unless they’re the sexy girl singing Ella Fitzgerald…it’s hard for female musicians who are playing bass or drums to get ahead in any genre.

Electronic music…I don’t know. I really wanted Discwoman to get involved…they’re a collective of DJs that are women…I will get them involved one day. I feel like every electronic musician-

Is male.

Yeah, I think that’s the question. These musicians exist, right? Or are there actually way less electronic artists that are women? Or way less jazz musicians that are women? I don’t think it’s that, I think they just have a hard time breaking through and making shit happen.

I was reading about Vis-à-vis and the importance of the Brooklyn DIY scene was mentioned-but in the past few years we’ve had so many closures: Glasslands, 285 Kent, Death By Audio, Secret Project Robot…

You know what’s funny is that every venue that Vis-à-vis took place in-

Is gone. Are you hopeful for the Brooklyn DIY scene?

The cops really don’t want it around. Very few landlords want it around. Many of these places close because of lack of codes. Manhattan Inn feels very DIY to me. I’m like running out and buying Christmas lights from the dollar store because none of the lights work in the back, you know? I love DIY venues. I think it will always exist. It’s going to migrate neighborhoods…five years ago there were probably 12 venues in Williamsburg and now there’s like, four.

I think it will always be a thing in New York because the music scene is too big here. There are too many kids trying to make it in music here, and that sense of community is such a New Yorker sense of community, it will always be here. It’s just going to move around.

That’s why I like LPR. It’s a very independent music venue. We run our own ticketing, we have amazing relationships with these artists and nurture what they’re doing. It’s sad when a Cameo or Zebulon goes away, because those spaces were really well-run, and the sound was good and it was an amazing place to meet people and hang out and see great music, and those places closed, not for coding but just because the neighborhood got too expensive.

What are some holes in the NYC/Brooklyn scene and music industry, and how do you hope to help fill them?

The idea for The Hum came from a hole I saw a lack of representation of women playing music. I think there’s a void in venues that facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration. What I’m trying to do in dance and music, trying to bring in a bigger audience for dance, I don’t feel like I have space to do that. In most music venues there’s no space for dancers to actually perform in.

You have to have a flat floor, preferably sprung. You have to have enough space, and it’s hard to find places like that, so I’d really lose my mind if I ever found a place like that. It would be a place that every night of the week there would either be a show, or some kind of performance art/comedy thing, or collaborations, dance performances…

Would you consider opening one?

I would love to have a venue. I would love to be a part of something like that, definitely.

What would your dream collaboration for The Hum be?

Karen O, Annie Clarke, Lianne La Havas. Those are my HEROES. I think it’d be cool to put a seasoned older artist with somebody who’s hot right now who’s clearly a derivative of that older artist-

Like Kate Bush.

Yeah, like Kate Bush with Karen O (gestures that her head would explode). Cyndi Lauper with Kimbra. PJ Harvey and Annie Clarke. But that’s how I want to grow The Hum. I’d like to do a mini-festival where the footprint of what I’ve been doing remains: four weeks of new collaborations at Manhattan Inn, shows around town, and then getting enough money to commission one amazing night of big artists collaborating, where I have money to pay for their rehearsal. That would be the vision.

Get your tickets for The Hum here and check out the entire lineup on the offical Hypnocraft website.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

NEWS ROUNDUP: Kim Gordon, G.L.O.S.S. & Featured Events

kim-gordon-murdered-out — *Photo Credit: Emma Reeves*

Listen To “Murdered Out” By Kim Gordon

“Murdered Out” is what you call a car that’s been covered with black matte spray to strip it of identifiable features; covering up logos, tinting the windows. The trend’s popularity in Gordon’s hometown of Los Angeles inspired her new track, which is also the first time she’s released a song under her own name. It’s quite a debut, with a sinister, almost dancey foundation under her trademark breathy, rhythmic vocals. As Gordon told NPR, Producer Justin Raisen provided the rhythmic structure of the song as well as the bass, while she added vocals and guitar and Stella from Warpaint played drums. Check it out:

G.L.O.S.S. Turns Down Epitaph Record Deal

G.L.O.S.S., the queer, feminist punk band from Olympia Washington, turned down a record deal from Epitaph this week, stating they didn’t want to give up their DIY ethos in favor of something more corporate(Epitaph is distributed by Warner Bros.). As singer Sadie Switchblade wrote in a now widely shared Instagram post, “we don’t have to jump into their world, we can create a new one.” Listen to G.L.O.S.S.’s “Outcast Stomp” below:

Featured Events

Here’s the scoop on this weekend’s must-see shows.

Hop Along: Friday @ Irving Plaza

Car Seat Headrest: Friday @ Bowery Ballroom

Downtown Boys: Saturday @ Asbury Park Convention Hall

Slingshot Dakota: Saturday @ Shea Stadium

Angel Olsen: Sunday @ Warsaw

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PREVIEW: Julianna Barwick @ Terminal 5 on 9/22

Brooklyn-based singer Julianna Barwick will be sharing her lustrous voice with the city at Terminal 5 on Thursday, Sept. 22nd, opening for mellow post-rockers Explosions in the Sky.

Earlier this year, the celestial songstress released her third album titled Will. The album is angelic and full of tiny intimacies. Will is largely a product of ups and downs, a reflection of a life lived somewhere in between transience and standing still.

All vocalists use their voices as their own humanly instrument, but Barwick masters this in a way most don’t, using a unique system of loops and occasional piano and percussion to build each song into a swirling mass of lush, atmospheric folk.

This show is all ages, and you purchase your ticket here. Also, check out the sweet video for “Nebula” off of her album Will.

PREVIEW: Gold Child + Anni Rossi + Elayo @ Manhattan Inn on 9/18

Catch up-and-coming psych folk artist, Gold Child, as she’s joined by Anni Rossi and Ellayo for an intimate performance at Manhattan Inn on 9/18. Manhattan Inn, once known as an experimental music mecca has been curating more and more indie shows over the past year, slowly becoming the new “It” venue for bands breaking onto the scene and established artists alike (blood orange recently played a solo event there!)

Peep the flyer for more details. We hope to see you there!

ONLY NOISE: Love From Afar

They say everyone is good at something. My mom can tie cherry stems into knots with her tongue. My tenth grade English teacher looked alarmingly natural in pirate shirts. I once saw a man scale a 30-foot coconut tree with his bare extremities. Personally, I have a long history of romancing incredible men…who live very far away from me. It is a history that dates back to the preteen era: my first kiss occurred at a punk show (Clit 45, inappropriately enough) in Costa Mesa, California, approximately 1,000 miles south of my hometown. His name was Kevin. It didn’t work out.

A couple of years later, I fell head over heels for a punk rock Adonis at a tiny gig in Seattle. I can’t remember my exact tactics, but I somehow acquired his email address, which was surely a Hotmail account. That was it. I would finally have my mohawked boyfriend I had so longed for throughout my rural Washington existence. I gathered the courage to e-ask him out. He e-laughed, and informed me that he lived in New Jersey.

I don’t want to sound like Ludacris by saying I have hoes in different area codes or anything, but I must admit, traveling romances and meeting men who are just passing through has turned into an unwanted skill. I think guys can just smell the unavailability when you step off the plane, ya know? Whether it’s Portland or Paris, I’ve found myself loving from afar more than a couple of times. It has turned into some cruel joke at this point, but fortunately, I have a wonderful sense of humor. Ha. Ha.

Typically, when someone sees a continual pattern in their life, they might try to thwart it, or at least analyze why it keeps happening. But I tend to just score the phenomena with appropriate songs. Which is kind of like giving someone who’s starving an issue of Food and Wine Magazine instead of making them a sandwich?

I guess my point is, this week I am saluting the long-distance love song. We’ve all missed someone, so naturally, there is an entire canon of music to nurse such a woe. One of my favorites is the unbearably obvious, but undeniably good “So Far Away” by Carole King from her groundbreaking LP Tapestry. “So Far Away” exists within a mini-theme of the album, which includes “Way Over Yonder” and “Where You Lead-” tracks that likewise express a longing for faraway things. “So Far” takes the trophy, however, as it is the only song with the required dose of hopelessness lyrically. What can I say? I don’t like half-assed sad. Might as well do it right. King laments her solitude by wryly asking: “Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?” No, Carole. No.

The great thing about love songs is their ability to be universal, but also to be even more universal in their specificity. I am in utter admiration not only of the fact that humans went beyond inventing the wheel and created the love song, but also that there are so many iterations and sub-genres of such. I can’t think of a more absurdly specific faraway tune than “Come Back From San Francisco” by the morose Magnetic Fields, who excel at writing a particular brand of pathetic love song. It is probably one of the most alienating miss-you tunes, with its nods to bisexual, novelist city dwellers, but, being a pretentious music journalist living in New York City, I’d say it’s right on the money for me.

When we zoom in on music this much or any medium for that matter, there is always the risk of ruining things; it’s fair to ask if we are accidentally taking the soul out of it all. Getting too close can expose blemishes, imperfections, or worse, isolate the beautiful abstract from the mere molecules; like reminding someone that gravy is essentially boiled blood. I want to keep these songs categorized as gravy, but I like to dig a little deeper. I like to see how the gravy is made.

It is funny, and also frustrating that though all of humanity has felt the sensation of longing for another person, only a select few of us can distill that longing into an art form. Painters paint, sculptors sculpt, and of course, songwriters write songs. The rest of us make playlists, mixtapes, CDs. They are in a way collages or monuments of found objects…a kind of paint-by-numbers for those of us who know dick about color theory. It feels democratic, even like recycling to use someone else’s song to express your adoration for a far off lover. Because in the age of text and email, how do you expect to get your weightiest points across? Emoji?

There is, of course, snail mail, but what’s in a letter that hasn’t been bested by Tom Waits singing about slow-grown love in “Long Way Home” off of Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards? Chances are what you pen in that note won’t be sticking in anyone’s head the way a ballad can. To forge an association between yourself and a song in someone else’s mind is like snagging free ad space during the Super Bowl. That sounds creepy, but you know what I mean.

A classic phrase for the faraway is: “Wish You Were Here,” but I will spare you the Pink Floyd and Incubus references. Nick Lowe has his own version from 1983’s The Abominable Showman, which could sneak by as an upbeat number if it weren’t for the subject matter. Because despite all of the puns and harmonies, there is still a lack that can only be answered thus: “having said that my dear/how I wish that you were here.”

Of course, at the end of the day, someone has to offer a solution to all of this wanting. Who better to lay down a piece of his mind than Bob Dylan, who closes 1969’s Nashville Skyline with one of my favorite songs in this category, “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You.” It is the quintessential, end-of-the-romantic-comedy song, in which the protagonist disrupts some form of transportation to spend at least a little more time with the object of their affection. In movies, it’s usually a plane. With Dylan, it’s obviously a train.

“Throw my ticket out the window/Throw my suitcase out there too/Throw my troubles out the door/I don’t need them anymore/’Cause tonight I’ll be staying here with you.

I should have left this town this morning/But it was more than I could do/Oh, your love comes on so strong/And I’ve waited all day long/For tonight when I’ll be staying here with you.”

It’s the end we all hope for, but that few can afford. Finding a new suitcase and train ticket were obviously within Dylan’s realm of financial capabilities. But I’d like to end with this one, because despite the rest, it’s the one song within this hyper-specific class that at the very least offers a modicum of hope…that maybe throwing caution, and one’s worldly possessions to the literal wind and living off impulse is a very good idea. That remains to be seen, but at least we can commiserate with a few songs before taking that leap off the train, so to speak.

PLAYING DETROIT: Anna Ash “Floodlights”

Michigan native and L.A resident, Anna Ash is holding on, not back. A sincere sorceress of internal voyeurism, Ash’s fragile confidence stands firm ground and shines brightly on her sophomore record Floodlights released earlier this week. Slide guitar and dusty, feathered percussion dip and sway against Ash’s strikingly pure and piercing songbird soprano. Floodlights is a poignant display of a love run dry and/or a love gone awry that rolls with the patience of an impending storm on the horizon; lightening without the thunder.

Is Floodlights a country record? Maybe. It tangos with rock n roll attitude on occasion and yanks on some folky heartstrings, too. But beyond genre displacement, the record is a grand achievement in story telling, quietly exposing the deepest layers of epidermis with a tender honesty that doesn’t require categorization, only reflection.

Recorded in Minnesota, mastered on the West Coast and the reprisal of Ash’s Michigan band (Joe Dart, Julian Allen, and James Cornelison) Floodlights creation is as well traveled as the pictorial pastures and valleys the album dares to explore. “Player” is finger waving, audacious dose of told-you-so whereas Ash’s Lucinda Williams cover “Fruits of my Labor” is a sensual peach bite coated in sultry regret and the track “Hold On” is a bouncy series of what-if’s and hypothetical missteps. No ground is left uncovered on Floodlights but it isn’t until the title/closing track that we are forced to our knees after a perilously raw journey through Ash’s beautifully tormented history. Barely exceeding a whisper, Ash compares the shake of an old car to the way her voice warbles when she lies, professing that “It ain’t gonna kill you to sleep alone once and a while.” A heart wrenching, steering wheel clenching kiss goodbye to us, to them, to who she is or was, “Floodlights” as a singular track and as a collection rattles with a tender brutality that is relatable and malleable, melted and frozen.

Mostly Midwest premiered the album this week and is streaming it in it’s entirety now. Check out the playful track “Player” below:

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ALBUM REVIEW: Trentemøller “Fixion”

Danish electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist Trentemøller is releasing his fourth full-length studio album and all of its awesomeness this Friday, September 16. “Fixion” is a record for the interestingly and artistically dark souls who can appreciate the sounds of strong, somber synths.

The album begins with a direct deep-seated eeriness that continues throughout the entire project. The first track is titled “One Eye Open,” and begins with the vibrant, repetitive beat of deep drums that invites listeners into a never-ending abyss of feelings.The entire album is a cascade of minimalist synth-scapes and bonafide electro-punk, with every track coming together perfectly to tell a melodic story.

By track four, the album picks up momentum with “River in Me.” The production of this song is culminating and has the vibe of a retro arcade video game. It gives the sense of someone who is on a focused mission and can’t be stopped. The moderately upbeat melodies extend through tracks like “Phoenicia” and “Redefine.”

By track eight, Trentemoller slows it down once again with “November,” which sounds like it is straight out of a horror film, building the anticipation of a nightmarish scene. The attention to detail and collaboration of sounds in this track display an exquisite fusion of drums, synths, and vocal cuts. This track is beautiful, and perhaps one of the best songs on the album.

The best thing about music like that of “Fixion,” is that its use of minimal lyrics provoke listeners to really create their own narrative, backed by the feelings the music builds inside of you. This is the type of music that encourages us to feel something. It’s the kind of record that with each listen, will repeatedly unlock new intricacies and make the listener perceive the work differently each and every time.

To get a preview of what to expect, check out the visuals for the first single off of Fixion, “River in Me.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Infinity Shred “Choir VI”

At first, you might think the video for Infinity Shred’s single “Choir VI” is a video game demo or a preview of an upcoming trippy movie. It pulls you in with its fascinating 3-D graphics and captures your entire attention, to the point that you won’t even realize that it’s been three minutes since you began watching it. The entire track tells a story of wonderment and intrigue, as you follow an adventurous skateboarder into a church in the woods where he has an ethereal experience as he warps and twists and floats away after skating around a bit. The song features chills-inducing drums by Clara Warnaar and entrancing synths, all of which work together to create this piece full of nostalgia and innocence. It’s the first single off Infinity Shred’s upcoming full-length Long Distance, which is due out on October 14.