Search Results for “peaking lights” – Page 2

NEWS ROUNDUP: #GrammySoMale, The Superbowl, Sh*tholes & More

#GrammySoMale
Despite a bombastic performance from Kendrick Lamar, a rallying #MeToo speech from Janelle Monae, and an incredibly emotional Kesha moment, last Sunday’s Grammys disappointed in a giant way. Hip-hop got shut out from the major categories again (this time by Bruno Mars) and women were all but ignored, claiming only eleven of the 84 trophies. Best new artist winner Alessia Cara was the only solo female to win a Grammy. She beat out SZA, who despite being the most nominated lady of the night, went home empty-handed. In a night filled with multiple appearances from U2, Sting, and Shaggy, many wondered why Lorde (the only female nominee for Album of the Year) did not perform. Following the show it was revealed that the Melodrama artist was never offered a solo slot, only an appearance in a Tom Petty tribute, which she understandably turned down. Asked for comment on the matter, Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich told Variety, “We have a box and it gets full. She had a great album. There’s no way we can really deal with everybody.” His idiocy was quickly eclipsed by Recording Academy president, Neil Portnow. When asked about the lack of female representation in the awards, Portnow made the following tone deaf statement:

“It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level… [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”][They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome…”

Many were not happy with his comments, especially his suggestion for women to “step up.” Pink and Charli XCX were among those that took to Twitter to lambast Portnow; others followed suit by using #GrammySoMale to voice their disapproval. On Thursday, in response, Portnow announced the establishment of a new task force that will investigate gender bias at The Grammys and the Recording Academy. On the same day, music-business lawyer Rosemary Carroll spearheaded a group of female music executives’ call for Portnow step down. In an open letter, the executives state, “Today we are stepping up and stepping in to demand your resignation.”
Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl RevengeOn Sunday night, Justin Timberlake returns to the Super Bowl for the halftime performance. The move has prompted many to ask “What about Janet?” It was fourteen years ago that JT and the “Rhythm Nation” singer shocked television audiences when Timberlake revealed Jackson’s breast at the end of their 2004 halftime performance of “Rock Your Body.” While Timberlake’s career has continued to flourish, Jackson was virtually blacklisted from the industry after the event.Though Jackson won’t be present at the Super Bowl, she is finally making her deserved comeback. Coachella organizers Goldenvoice have announced Jackson as one of the the top billers of the 2018 Panorama music festival. From July 27 – 29, she’ll headline along with The Killers, The Weekend, SZA, Father John Misty, St. Vincent, The War on Drugs, Due Lipa, Gucci Mane, Cardi B, The XX, Fleet Foxes, Migos, Odessa, and David Byrne.

Speaking of David Byrne…
Byrne made news for several events this week. The Talking Heads founder is releasing a new album, American Utopia, in March, and yesterday he released a playlist in response to a certain political figure. “The Beautiful Shitholes” is a collection of tracks from the likes of Amadou & Mariam, Orchestra Baobab, and Calle 13. Byrne released the following partial statement along with the playlist:“I assume I don’t have to explain where the shithole reference came from.Here’s a playlist that gives just the smallest sample of the depth and range of creativity that continues to pour out of the countries in Africa and the Caribbean. It is undeniable. Can music help us empathize with its makers?”Read Byrne’s full statement and listen to “The Beautiful Shitholes” here.

Other Highlights

After a couple of years of heavy touring with a live band and the exit of Rhye co-founder Robin Hannibal, Mike Milosh is back with Blood, the follow up to Rhye’s 2013 debut, Woman. “Count To Five” is the first official video off of the sophomore release. Albert Hammond Jr.’s upcoming album, Francis Trouble, is out March 9th via Red Bull Records. On Thursday night he performed new track, “Muted Beatings,” on Conan. Chvrches released a clip this week for fresh single, “Get Out.” The Scottish trio will play Governor’s Ball in NYC on June 3rd. The tracklist for the soundtrack of upcoming Marvel movie Black Panther has been released; Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar co-produced the soundtrack which features SZA, Khalid, Jorja Smith, Jay Rock, and more. The first single off the album, “Pray For Me,” is out now and features Lamar and The Weekend. The soundtrack drops February 9th. King Krule is asking listeners to submit photos inspired by the cover of his latest album, The Ooz. The collection of pics are being published on a new Instagram account and prizes may be involved. Flatbush Zombies have three new projects in the works. The rappers’ sophomore album, Vacation in Hell is out April 6th, their touring life is chronicled in Building a Ladder, a new documentary out April 2nd, and group member Erick “The Architect” Elliot is releasing Arcstrumentals2 on February 16th. Nas performed his seminal album, Illmatic, with the National Symphony Orchestra. The concert airs on PBS tonite at 9pm. Noughties nostalgia is fulfilled on “Get It,” a new track from Missy Elliot, Kelly Rowland, and Busta Rhymes. The copyright floodgates have been opened! Kanye West and Solange are both being sued by Prince Phillip Mitchell for unsolicited use of his song “If We Can’t Be Lovers.” West sampled the track for 2007 song, “Everything I Am,” Knowles used it in her leaked 2008 release, “Fuck The Industry.”

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NEWS ROUNDUP: Warped Tour Controversy, DIY In NYC & More

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What’s Up With The Warped Tour?

Last year’s Warped Tour brought controversy by allowing a pro-life tent on the festival grounds. This year, founder Kevin Lyman explained why he thinks this is a cool, punk rock thing to do: “I use them to drag out the pro-choice groups… We couldn’t get the pro-choice groups out until we had a pro-life group out here. That’s been the thing to stir it up a little bit. That’s what punk rock was always about.” The fest has received even more negative press for the misogynistic onstage rant unleashed by the Dickies’ frontman against an audience member who held up a sign protesting the band’s controversial lyrics, banter, and general attitudes. Read a full account of the incident written by War On Women’s Shawna Potter here.
Silent Barn Gets A Liquor License, But Needs Your Help

Yes, it’s true: you can legally buy shots next time you visit the Bushwick DIY venue. That’s good for you, if you like to drink, but we can also assume it’s good for the venue, because they’ll be earning money from an uptick in alcohol sales. Speaking of money, in order to keep operating, they need it. It’d be incredibly sad if Silent Barn went the way of Shea Stadium or Palisades, so if you have a moment, consider reading about their financial situation, which was presented in depth (and somewhat bluntly and humorously) this week. An important takeaway from the piece:

“The lemonade stand needs to close, and in its place we need to open a Jamba Juice franchise, essentially…When that moment comes, I will gladly sip my stupid Jamba Juice in defiance of all the things that almost prevented us.”
Other Highlights

RIP John Blackwell and Pierre Henry, watch Nirvana perform in a RadioShack, the muppet and hip-hop mashups continue with Sesame Street + the Beastie Boys, check out a surreal video from Japanese Breakfast, rock legends get their own comic book covers, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes forms new supergroup, a Biggie Smalls basketball court is coming to NYC, is Soundcloud floundering? and Kesha is back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaqWMsuu2I&feature=youtu.be

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ALBUM REVIEW: Future Islands “The Far Field”

“It’s not easy, just being human, and the lights and the smoke and screens,” sings Sam Herring on Future Islands’ latest record, The Far Field. It isn’t. Our lives are a sloppy amalgamation of highs and lows, love and hate, obsession and apathy. In essence, this record faces this reality head on: it’s a devastatingly beautiful case study on love and infatuation, the thin line that separates them, and the sting that comes close behind.

Musically speaking, this is the Baltimore band’s final descent into straight indie-pop. With five albums under their belt already, it’s difficult to find anything else to reinvent, audibly speaking. And so they dig deeper, doing what they do best even better – pairing impossibly catchy tracks with deeply moving, emotionally insightful lyrics. Yet the catchiest songs on the record – “North Star” and “Shadows” (featuring Debbie Harry!) – are not the most compelling. It’s because they lack the sheer emotional depth and the stark truth of the other tracks that hammer home the difficulty of our humanity. We fall too easily; we fail to stay neutral by our very nature, and oftentimes that hurts us.

This becomes apparent right off the bat with opening track “Aladdin,” on which Herring sings “I built a ship for two / It waits for me and you” before he asks “Is it real?” He wants, he builds the ship, he projects the relationship he wants onto whomever “you” is before he can even really know what “you” thinks or feels. And don’t we all do that? It’s the way we idealize situations and people; we imagine the reality we’d like to live in, all the while forgetting that’s not how life works. And when actual reality crashes down upon us, it hurts.

This obsessive imagination touches on nearly every track of the record, opening scab after scab while you realize you’ve felt every feeling he describes. “Beauty of the Road” captures the way it’s sometimes hard to remember the last time you saw someone because you never imagined it could possibly be the last time, boiled down to one wistful line: “I never thought you’d really go.” On “Cave” he sings “All I hold is all I own,” one of those rare moments on the record where he removes his rose-tinted glasses to face the stark reality of our solitude. We can’t make anyone do or feel anything, and our suffering is often a direct result of refusing to accept that. It’s those light and smoke and screens he mentioned earlier – life is by nature uncertain, and this uncertainty is uncomfortable to live with. But he acknowledges our ability to let go of this, to accept the fact that we can’t control anything but ourselves. On “Ancient Water” he sings “Too many wasted days and nights, obsessed with the flickering moments of my life, forgetting what giving and living can be–what it can mean, first forgiving myself…” It’s the moment we realize rumination doesn’t serve us, that we aren’t chained to the memory of what was and that we’re “strong enough to be free.”

After all of this – the idealization, the denial, and ultimately the self-realization and forgiveness – the greatest irony of all is that the last word on The Far Field is “stay,” leaving us to wonder what it would be like if life actually worked that way. It’s a moment of terrifying realization: that no matter how much we say we’ve gotten over it, our past is still a vital aspect of who we are and it’s nearly impossible to truly let anyone go. It may seem as easy as asking them to stay, but Herring’s lyrics remind us that life’s beauty resides in the complications.

The Far Field is out now via 4AD. Check tour dates here.

NEWS ROUNDUP: Don Pedro, SXSW & More

Don Pedro Is The Latest Venue To Close

The Brooklyn venue will be closing after May 6th, the owner of the Ecuadorean-restaurant-turned-DIY space stated earlier this week. The building that includes Don Pedro has been sold to a limited liability company, but the venue’s manager, Danielle Giaquinto, said that they hope to reopen in a new Bushwick or Ridgewood location. Read more here.
After SXSW Controversy, International Bands Still Face Problems

Several international bands have been denied entry into the United States to play the festival in Austin, despite having the necessary visas. Italy’s Soviet Soviet posted that they were not just turned away after landing in Seattle, but questioned for hours and detained overnight. London’s United Vibrations and Canada’s Massive Scar Era were also turned away. Many artists were under the impression their visas would cover performing at SXSW since they do not receive compensation for showcases, and though performers have taken advantage of that loophole in the past, many were denied from using it this year, including those scheduled to play additional shows that their visas didn’t cover at all. Needless to say, this strict application of visa procedure hurts emerging bands most; if you really want to deconstruct the situation, we’ll let NPR take it from here.

Speaking Of SXSW…

Jealous that everyone else is eating tacos and rocking out while you’re stuck trudging through the remnants of Tuesday’s snowstorm? These clips will either make you feel better, or worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytN3m7mc1Ac

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRr76tGjqWI/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRrFhWRFvT7/

Other Highlights

RIP Joni Sledge, Courtney Barnett is teaming up with Kurt Vile, Daniel Johnston will be performing at Asbury Park festival, hackers can use music to get into your phone, how NPR helped rekindle a Bronx music scene, artificial intelligence that raps, Isane Clown Posse covers Christina Aguilera, and remember Feist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSroXhI2uZs

NEWS ROUNDUP: Brooklyn Bazaar, Stranger Things, & Green Day

Brooklyn Bazaar Is Reopening

It seems like every week we’ve been reporting that a venue is opening or closing – usually closing. This week, we have some good news regarding the Brooklyn Bazaar. The beloved Greenpoint event, which featured live music and vendors, is reopening in September at the cross street of Manhattan and Greenpoint Avenue. As well as housing a music venue, the new space will be open every night of the week and feature a restaurant, four bars, and an arcade. The bazaar will officially open on September 9th with a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show. Check out the show calendar here.
Listen To The ‘Stranger Things’ Soundtrack

As well as being a freakin’ awesome and addictive show, “Stranger Things” has a surprisingly catchy soundtrack (when characters aren’t singing along to “Should I Stay Or Should I Go,” of course). It was created by the Austin synth duo Survive, aka Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Need something to listen to while you ponder what’s hiding behind your walls? Stream the soundtrack via Apple Music below.

Hey, Remember Green Day?

Speaking of nostalgia, Green Day is back with a new track and lyric video. A quick review: it sounds very much like Green Day is supposed to sound/notable, puzzling lyrics are “I got my photobomb/I got my Vietnam” and “I want to be a celebrity martyr.” Watch below:

INTERVIEW: Allie X

Allie X - BB Gun Press — Allie X – BB Gun Press

Little is known about the enigmatic pop singer Allie X.

When she comes on the stage at Baby’s All Right, I find it hard to believe that, even after speaking with her one-on-one only days ago, she’s standing before me in the flesh, donning an ecru tulle number, mod sunglasses, and a mile-long curtain of straight brown hair falling down her back.

Before adopting the stage name Allie X, she was Allie Hughes, a classically trained musician from Toronto — but that’s all you’ll get to know about her. “Respectfully, Ysabella, I don’t talk about my past in interviews,” she says, and I’m not offended; by driving the attention away from her past life, she allows the focus to remain on who she is now, and what that means for her music.

She opens her show with “Hello,” waving at the crowd almost robotically. It’s mesmerizing to watch her contort her arms into a pretzel or kneel on a bench to play her instrument, the “X-a-chord,” which resembles an organ.

The way that Allie X interacts with her crowd is unlike many pop singers, who might try to hold back-and-forth conversations with the audience or lead into songs with anecdotes. Instead, her phenomenal vocals are what make the show memorable, and she says little other than the occasional “thank you,” mimicking the way she likes to carry herself as an artist.

“I think I can still have life as an artist and create work that has an intimate relationship with the world, where they feel like they’re being let into something without actually revealing details of my private life,” she says. “In this day and age, it’s difficult when half of the success of an artist has to do with social media, which has to do with the details of one’s personal life, so it’s something I’m figuring out.”

And it seems that she’s figuring that balance out much quicker than she gives herself credit for.

The driving force of her fan following is the power of “X,” which she describes as “the unknown variable…a blank slate to start from. Believing in X is believing in the possibility of anything.”

“I have a small, but very devoted following of X’s and a big part of the project is exploring ‘X’ together,” says Allie. “I’m always trying to think of new ways we can do that. One of them is part of my Tumblr, it’s a gallery for various ‘X art’ that they’ve made, and we update it usually every couple of days. So if you make anything and you hashtag it ‘Feeling X,’ it’s going to be up in the gallery.”

And among her go-to poses during the show are the crossing of her arms to form an X, or holding up her crossed fingers. She even spins around onstage, much like the reblog-ready spinning gifs she has on Tumblr. She gives fans these recognizable things to latch onto, and while adopting X into one’s life has a different meaning for each individual, it brings her and the fans together.

These symbols of Allie X are only part of the cohesive image she’s cultivated. It’s a distinct visual style that makes her instantly recognizable, and she credits the aesthetic to adopting X into her life. That’s a part of what ‘X’ might mean for her, but that’s not what “X” is meant to be for everyone. As she describes it to me, “If you were to become ‘Ysabella X,’ you don’t have to share the aesthetic that I show. You don’t even necessarily have to have aesthetic — that’s not really what it’s about.”

And while I might not be sure of my ‘X’ or my aesthetic, Allie X exudes a strong sense of self-awareness and artistic identity. On delving into other aspects of the art world, she says, “I would love to make a musical. I would love to make a film, animate a film. Books, all of that. But that all needs to stem from me being a successful music artist so that’s what I’m focusing on right now.”

It’s fun to watch her pull at her roots and prance in a cutesy and child-like manner while she sings, “Steal my blood and steal my heart/Whatever it takes to get you off/I’m your bitch, you’re my bitch/Boom boom.” The stage was a bit small for her presence, and it would be lovely to see what she would do with an even bigger one. Naked bodies — “a huge pile of naked bodies to travel with me around the world” — if she had it her way.

Presently, she has only performed about ten shows as Allie X, so there is certainly room for her shows and her catalog of songs to grow.

She has co-written a song with YouTube celebrity Troye Sivan, whom she describes as “a truly lovely human being.” Generally, she likes working with people who “bring a different skill set to the table.” For example, people who are “good at working quickly or with technicalities of engineering.” And she describes herself as a “slow” and “abstract” lyricist, preferring to work with “more straight-ahead, quick lyricists,” and “people who have some interesting analog sounds.”

One thing that surely will not change is her flawless delivery, with some of her vocal curls actually inducing chills. And hopefully she stays a bit cryptic and elusive, too. She only took her sunglasses off for the song “Good,” but even then, asked for the lights to be turned down.

She works her way through CollXtion I from top to bottom, and when she closes with “Sanctuary,” she holds out her mic and the crowd sings all the words without missing a beat, as if we all know her and have been a part of this “X” project for our whole lives. And when she prances off stage, shades back on, you’re left with even more questions about her than you had at the start.

[/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”][fusion_soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/140141926″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

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INTERVIEW: Albert Hammond Jr.

Seven years since his last full-length release, Albert Hammond, Jr. has returned with more introspective lyrics, not lacking in memorable guitar riffs he might be best known for in both his solo efforts and his work with The Strokes. As the band takes the back burner, Momentary Masters brings a sense of familiarity – a clean, focused project that’s remarkably different from his first few, but where the changes in The Strokes’ sound might have been more confusing or frustrating, Albert’s done it in a way that shows different levels of personal growth. You’re rooting for him. We’re all rooting for him.

AF: So you’ve said that Momentary Masters is more of like a new debut for you, which makes a lot of sense, since it’s been a while – AHJ was a hugely different sound, so how do you think the change in your sound reflects what you’ve undergone in your life in the last few years?

AHJ: There’s parts of it that reflect that, it’s inevitable. You are a piece of whatever you’re creating, but I feel like it more was affected by my surroundings to the point where I could achieve things I wanted to do, you know. After touring the EP, or while touring, a band formed, so I was able to record in a new way which is very exciting, which is the way I always wanted to or always heard it. It’s hard to find the right people. I feel like I owe that to years of life that I’ve been living, but there’s so many small baby steps, I don’t know that I could say that that was that. I even grew during the making of the album. I felt one way by the end that was a more confident person. It’s too hard to say, but yeah, being sober, it’s changed my life. I wouldn’t be doing any of this if that wasn’t the case.

AF: I know that the title came from Carl Sagan, I feel that a lot of his themes resonate in your lyrics. The lyrics in songs like “Power Hungry,” you kind of talk about futility of actions or the things we worry about, or “Don’t Think Twice” — do you feel like that shows in the music?

AHJ: “Don’t Think Twice” is Dylan – it’s a Dylan cover, so maybe I relate too. Yeah, the Carl Sagan thing was this clip on YouTube that I would use to meditate to. It was something that would always put me at ease in an interesting way. The album title is like that feeling that would last.

Lyrically, “Power Hungry,” that song is a little different from the rest that I’ve written, each part might have different things to it, even in the same song, that kinda happens. It’s so hard to talk about songs; you feel like you spend so much time to find the right words and then you talk about them in the wrong way [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”][laughs]. I feel like this album is entertaining different layers of ideas, thoughts, or worries.

AF: Right, I think one of my favorite songs lyrically on this album would be “Touché.”

AHJ: Ah yeah, that one, I like that one a lot too.

AF: Yeah, I love that bit, “I forgave you long before I met you for the things that you were bound to do” — it sums up what I was getting a lot of from the album.

AHJ: I’m so happy you like that, because that’s actually, the girl I dedicated the record to, I took one of her poems — that verse was her poem. I thought it just said so much. I like finding those words that can mean different things to people depending on where they’re at. Even that line, “Now that we’re not perfect, we have to be good,” all these different lines mean different things to people. It happened to me — I was listening to the record, I wrote it, and I was thinking, “Oh, is that what I meant?” I was feeling a different way, and it connected in a different way. That’s what’s fun about making music.

AF: Who was the poet you were speaking of?

AHJ: Sarah Jones, she was just a friend of mine. She passed away, and I dedicated the record to her. She was never really published, but I wanted to leave a mark of her work on the album, so I took that line and I dedicated the record to her. She had shown me a lot of different people that ended up being helpful in teaching me how to phrase things in a different way.

AF: And is it cool if we talk about Justyna for a second?

AHJ: Sure!

AF: I saw you back in 2013, and I remember thinking, “Albert’s such a lucky guy.” It’s like you haven’t looked happier. How was it having her direct a music video?

AHJ: Yeah! She’s amazing. She’s actually sitting right next to me, and I’ll still say the same things I was going to anyways. She gets an idea and gets excited about it and goes with it. What’s good is that we kind of pull the best parts for each other out on that, you know. We can kind of tell, we’re pretty honest — we’ll go back and forth, which can always lead to some intensity, but at the end, it always gets a great result. It’s awesome. She also helps so much with photos or we were just finishing a video, she just did all this behind the scenes stuff and edited. She’s on tour with me now cause she’s doing lights, the light directing, so she helps create a mood on stage. It’s really cool.

I know, I see photos too, and I’ve never seen myself happier, it’s almost weird. I almost can’t tell, it’s so natural that I can’t tell until I see a photo and I’m like, “Wow, I look so happy there!”

AF: That’s really great to hear.

AHJ: It’s really nice.

AF: I wanna make this really quick — I did notice that a few Reddit users were feeling betrayed that you cancelled your AMA (says Albert, “That wasn’t my call…we really wanted to do it”). I did pick up a few questions from some users if you wouldn’t mind answering a few of those.

AHJ: Of course, I’d love to!

AF: Reddit user Walksonthree had a few questions. Firstly, do you miss your afro?

AHJ: Do I miss it? No, it’s not something that can cry for me, so I don’t cry for it.

AF: And what do you think is the most difficult song to perform from Momentary Masters?

AHJ: There’s a lot of them. I’m happy that I don’t have to play that much guitar on it, because it’s f-cking hard. “Power Hungry” is pretty hard, we’re trying to figure out which set to play it in. “Touché” — we play it and it sounds great, but it’s definitely a hard one to play. But I mean hard in a good way, I mean, they’re new songs. “Coming to Getcha” is one that was hard, but it ended up being a really great change to the record.

AF: Love that one too. And his last one, why’d you lower your guitar strap? He says, “It’s like seeing a totally different dude perform.”

AHJ: [laughs] They notice such nuances.

AF: [laughs] They do.

AHJ: People always ask me, “Why is your guitar strap so high?” and I’d be like, “I just wear it where I feel comfortable.” And so for a few shows, it was high and it was bothering me, so I lowered it a bit and it just felt more comfortable, so I kept it there. It’s kind of fluctuated. My muscles got too big, how about that one? That’s what happened, I engorged too much.

AF: Sounds like it.

AHJ: Yeah, I don’t know, people just hate change, don’t they? It’s inevitable, my friends, everything changes!

AF: I’ll tell ya, all of their questions revolve so much around The Strokes, that’s all they wanna talk about.

AHJ: It’s okay, I always try to answer them sometimes, I understand. They just wanna know, but they don’t understand that I wanna know more than they wanna know.

AF: Yeah, yeah, it’s all been up in the air for a while, so no pressure for answers.

AHJ: Yeah.

AF: Notjacobpeterson and I both wanna know why Yours to Keep isn’t on iTunes or Spotify anymore.

AHJ: I licensed it. I own the masters, so when I got signed, I licensed it to the label. They licensed it for seven years or whatever, so then I got it back, and when you get it back it takes it off of Spotify and iTunes. Then we were going to make the vinyl for the first time ever, so when we do that, we will re-release it on iTunes and Spotify and vinyl. It just seemed weird to do it at the same time as we were releasing a new record. It’ll come back, it’ll come back in a better way.

AF: Perfect. Yeah, “Everyone Gets A Star” is still a favorite of mine.

AHJ: Yeah, it’s one of my favorites too. And we also have recorded a live record, so we even thought of bringing that out at the same time as that. So you get Yours to Keep and you get a live album, all these things happen for a reason and I know why they’re happening. My hands are on most strings. Obviously, you have people that you trust to deal with stuff because if I wear myself too thin, I wouldn’t be good at doing music [laughs].

AF: So much more to look forward to! And YOitzODELLE asks what your favorite song is to perform from the first record — I’d like to know what your favorite songs are to perform from each of your records.

AHJ: Oh man, probably what’s on my setlist right now… “In Transit” is fun just ‘cause everyone sings along. I tried “Call An Ambulance” and “Blue Skies” by myself and that’s been fun. “Rocket” and “Lisa” are really fun. I really wanna play “You Won’t Be Fooled by This.” We’ve been doing “Spooky Couch” and that’s good, “Cooker Ship” on the EP and “St. Justice,” and then the new songs, “Coming to Getcha,” “Caught by my Shadow,” and “Side Boob”.

AF: Perfect, yeah, I can’t wait to hear the new setlist. And Bowery Ballroom is one of my favorite venues here so that’s gonna be really exciting.

AHJ: I know, me too. Soon!

Albert will be performing two back to back shows at Bowery Ballroom, September 21 and 22.

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INTERVIEW: Heaters

“Play ‘Free Bird!’ Hey, play some Skynyrd!”

It’s surprising to think that after all these years, the above still gets shouted at rock bands who are just trying to finish their set. I personally stopped finding the line funny around age 14, but the same cannot be said for the sad twenty-somethings behind me whose idea of high art is probably the Fast and the Furious franchise.

I digress. The real victims of this sloppy heckle are not my ears, but rather the members of Heaters, a band who has come all the way from Grand Rapids, Michigan to play the annual Village Voice 4Knots Festival. Fortunately the vast majority of the crowd are brimming with enthusiasm for the group, who sound as tight live as they do on their recordings. They’ve recently released their Mean Green 7” on Beyond Beyond is Beyond records and will have a full length come September. Having played SXSW, and the Austin Psych Festival in the past couple of months, the band is still in a perpetual state of momentum. Fortunately for us at AudioFemme, they slowed down ever so slightly to give us an exclusive interview and chatted about the Grand Rapids music scene, playing bass on acid, and stealing other bands’ drummers.

AudioFemme: Welcome to New York!

Heaters: Thank you.

AF: Did you guys just get in this morning?

Nolan Krebs: (bass/vocals) We got in yesterday actually, we had the day off yesterday so we went out to the Rockaways and had a nice ass day.

AF: Are you in town for long?

NK: ‘Til Monday and then we play Boston.

AF: Do you have anything fun planned for the rest of the stay?

Andrew Tamlyn (guitar/vocals): We’re gonna go to Coney Island I think tomorrow.

NK: Yeah, we’ve never been.

AF: I love Coney Island. The Side Show is worth it if they still run it.

NK: Oh I’d be so down.

AF: It’s really good. Don’t go on the Cyclone.

NK: I feel like I would throw up. Is it intense?

AF: It’s not so much the motion sickness, it’s just that it’s made out of wood and it gives you whiplash. Every time you go around it feels like someone’s punching you in the back. So if you’re into that, go on it. So 4Knots! Your set was amazing, I really enjoyed it.

All: Thank you!

AF: Did you hear that guy yelling “play ‘Free Bird’” by any chance?

NK: Yeah, what a tacky, unoriginal thing to say.

AF: Do people still think that’s funny?

AT: I don’t know. It’s kind of like a “your mom” joke, you know?

AF: Who were you most excited to see at 4Knots?

AT: Meat Bodies.

AF: They’re great! I was just kinda like, oh, another band. But then they started playing and I immediately ran to the stage. Their guitarist is fantastic – so animated. I was very impressed by their set.

AT: Most of these bands I haven’t heard of, but I’m excited to see Happyness.

NK: Happyness are our friends.

AF: I LOVE Happyness.

NK: We met them at South by this year and they’re total sweethearts.

AF: Yeah I saw them in April and interviewed them in a tiny bathroom in a venue in Brooklyn, and they’re just adorable. They’re the sweetest guys. So, you guys are from Grand Rapids Michigan; what’s the music scene like over there?

AT: It’s weird, it’s kind of all over the place. There’s lots of metal and folk.

Joshua Korf (drums): There’s a lot of pop punk.

NK: They’re trying though. It’s a cool city and we moved there because we knew there would be places to play. Andrew and I were friends in high school and we kind of split up during college and shit, and then afterwards knew we wanted to try and do something with music so that is the best place in Michigan to try and start something. It’s young and looking for a foothold but it’s trying.

AF: Yeah I was going to ask why you were drawn to that city as opposed to other music hubs like New York…the big ones.

JK: It’s a cheap place to live.

NK: Yeah I feel like we had a little bit of space to breathe there and figure out what we wanted to do and what kind of music we wanted to make. Chicago isn’t very far away and we play there about once a month so sometimes we kind of feel like we’re a Chicago band.

AF: Well I think midwestern bands kind of get slumped into that one category a bit…Chicago and Minneapolis and such.

NK: Totally.

AF: I feel like you guys have recorded quite a lot in the small time that you’ve been a band. I know that the Mean Green 7” just came out in April- are you guys already working on anything new?

NK: We have our first full length coming out in September on Beyond Beyond is Beyond, which is a Brooklyn-based label. Our Mean Green record came out through them as well. When September rolls around we’ll be-we’re on a two month tour right now-but by then we’ll have some space to breathe and probably start working on something else.

AF: How far into the tour are you?

AT: Just like a week.

AF: You guys did another pretty long tour in March?

NK: Yeah, March through May we went down to Texas for South By Southwest and Austin Psych Fest so it was kind of like back and forth driving to and from Texas.

AF: Anything ridiculous happen? Any good tour stories?

(Josh starts laughing hysterically)

AF: Oh, something happened.

(Continual laughter)

NK: I took acid way too late in the night before we played at Austin Psych Fest because we were watching Tame Impala and someone politely asked if we wanted LSD, so I said yes and didn’t end up sleeping that night, which sucks. I had a great time but didn’t sleep before our set…

AF: Did you play while you were high?

NK: Um, I wasn’t really high by the time we played but I remember looking at my bass guitar and thinking, “this feels weird. Something’s weird.”

AF: I can’t imagine performing while on acid. That sounds terrifying.

NK: Yeah, some bands can totally pull it off but personally I get confused.

AF: So you two (Andrew and Nolan) moved to Grand Rapids together, and Josh, you were their next-door neighbor. How did that courtship work? Did you just see a drum kit in a window and bring him a Jell-O mold, or?

AT: Actually, he was playing in another band and after his set we were like, “dude, we really like you! Come play with us!” So we stole him and then we all moved in together and just started hammerin’ out tunes.

AF: So now all three of you live together?

NK: Yep. We’ve lived together for like two years.

JK: It’s really convenient for stuff like rehearsing and practicing and recording in general. Instead of having to go to a practice space we can all wake up in the morning, have coffee and go to the basement and play together.

AT: We’re all brothers.

AF: Yeah, it’s impressive. The dynamics must work so well for you to not get sick of each other.

NK: It’s weird because I actually hate them both, so…..

AF: I can tell. I can sense the steely reserve emanating from you.

(All laugh)

AF: I was reading an interview with you guys recently and I believe Andrew you said that a lot of new music consists of people doing a kind of karaoke vocal track over prerecorded music.

AT: In certain genres, yeah.

AF: Do you feel semi out-of-touch with contemporary music?

AT: I’d say so, yeah. I feel like we’re a little out of touch with most radio/contemporary music, but I mean when it comes to just playing with other rock n’ roll bands, not at all.

NK: Contemporary music is kind of funny for us to listen to as engineers of our own music. We listen to it and we’re like “oh my god, this is so different from what we try to do in our basement.” But, to each his own.

A: I still respect it all. I’m not hating on anything.

AF: Hate on some things.

(All shake heads)

AF: No? All right. Speaking of contemporary music, what are you listening to right now?

All: The Fat White Family, Vocaloid.

NK: They’re a Chilean Psych band.

AT: On Sacred Bones Records.

NK: Amen Dunes, Mystic Braves…honestly the bands we’ve toured with have come to be our favorite bands. Mystery Lights. Wand.

AF: So your contemporaries.

All: Yeah.

AF: What are your goals as a band currently? Are there festivals you’re dying to play, or venues you’re trying to get into or radio stations you want to be on?

AT: I think it’d be cool to play the Fillmore in San Francisco. That’s pretty iconic.

JK: My dream was always to play Psych Fest.

AF: You did it!

JK: Yeah, when we got that email it was so surreal.

AF: It sounds like such a blast.

JK: Yeah, it’s the perfect festival in my mind, because everyone that’s there is there to see music. There’s a hang-out-and-do-drugs thing, but I’ve been to so many other festivals where it’s just about how fucked up you can get and it’s not about the music, and everyone I talked to and encountered at that festival was there to see good music.

NK: It was like, record nerds.

AF: Your people.

NK: Yep, our people.

AF: So my last question is kind of a silly one: do you have any music that you love which is a guilty pleasure? And what is it? But un-ironically, like you truly love the band.

JK: The Strokes (who are currently playing on the boat)

AF: They’re playing this for you!

AT: Grizzly Bear????

AF: Oh, come on.

NK: They make beautiful music.

AF: That’s bullshit. They’re a hip band.

NK: I don’t feel bad about any music…

AF: Not bad but embarrassed. Mine’s The Wallflowers if that helps anyone.

NK: Oh, ok.

JK: Guns N’Roses.

NK: Andrew and I listened to a lot of hardcore music when we were teenagers, so now listening back to that it will make me blush.

AF: Like Alkaline Trio or something?

NK: Yeah that sort of bullshit, but whatever, that got us into a lot of guitar music so…

AF: Oh no, you don’t have to defend it.

NK: haha, thank you.

AF: The blushing part is what I mean. The fact that it makes you blush makes it that category.

Be sure to check out the title track off of Mean Green below:

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PLAYLIST: A Spooky Scary Halloween Playlist

So you’re throwing your annual Halloween party but you shot your wad on all the holiday classics ( the Monster Mash, the Time Warp, the Purple People Eater, etc, etc) on last year’s mix. So you’re going as Will Smith circa “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and you’re looking for something seasonal to blast from the boom box slung over your shoulder. So you’re psyching yourself up to wear your Sexy Einstein costume complete with the 3-inch hair (go for it, Miss/Mister Thang!!). So you’re hosting a seance and you need some tunes to help you commune with the spirit.

WE GOT YOU. Behold AudioFemme’s spookiest, scariest, most rockin’ and rollin’ Halloween playlist, guaranteed to thrill, chill, and catch the eye of that babealicious witch doctor in the apartment down the hall. Onward!!

1. Walk Like A Zombie – HorrorPops

This Danish psychobilly act shares its guitarist Kim Nekroman with the thrashier but stylistically related Nekromantix, for which Nekroman plays a recognizable coffin-shaped bass. HorrorPops formed in the late 90s, when Nekroman met Patricia Day at a music festival in Germany. Day now fronts the group, which draws aspects of ska, rockabilly, and punk that both she and Nekroman found lacking in their other projects. The two eventually married, and fittingly, “Walk Like A Zombie” is doo-woppy and more than a little romantic. Perfect for that un-dead high school prom you’re DJing. Just make sure to keep the glassy look of death in your eyes.

2. Chainsaw Gutsfuck – Mayhem

Off the seminal Norweigian black metal album Deathcrush, released in 1987, “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” won the prestigious title of having the Blender award for “Most Gruesome Lyrics Ever” in 2006. Fifteen years beforehand, it was inspiring black metal bands in Scandinavia and beyond to delve deeper into lyrical bleakness, to glorify extremity in violence and misery, and to distort their music into the grainiest, harshest possible sounds. “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” is one of the doomier songs on a very doomy album, with lyrics that sexualize death and corporeal decay. But, if you can handle the black metal sludge, it’s totally catchy, too. Want to dress the part? Christ, you could go as any of Mayhem’s members or black metal contemporaries and stand a solid chance at being the scariest monster at the party. The group’s most recognizable figure is perhaps Euronymous, its founder and guitarist, who held some nasty political views and achieved infamy when, upon discovering the body of his band’s singer Dead after the latter committed suicide, allegedly made necklaces out of his skull fragments and possibly (though it’s unlikely) cannibalized him by stirring flecks of his brain into a stew. Euronymous himself was murdered by another bandmate, Varg Vikernes, the following year. Halloween is the time to be tasteless, so wear corpsepaint, long hair, black and leather.

3. I Put A Spell On You – Nina Simone

Originally performed by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Nina Simone’s “I Put A Spell On You” is seething, brooding and betrayed, like she’s looking into a crystal ball to discover a lover’s duplicitous carryings-on. Especially towards the end of her career, Simone had a reputation for fire and fury on stage, too. A life in the music business left her weary and long-embattled, bitter alike to the people who loved and exploited her. Released decades before her death, “I Put A Spell On You” foreshadows the betrayal she seemed to come to see in the people around her. But, no matter her demons, Simone’s genius is present here–as everywhere–glowing like an ember, dying down when it’s still, and firing up again in a slight breeze, even after you think it’s gone out.

4. Tainted Love – Gloria Jones

And speaking of women scorned, “Tainted Love” is practically an anthem for love gone frighteningly awry. Gloria Jones recorded “Tainted Love,” which later became an electronic single for the band Soft Cell, in 1964. The original fell somewhere short of Motown, akin to demonic bubble gum pop that had been steeped in the sultry blues. Five years after recording “Tainted Love,” Jones began singing backup for the British rock band T. Rex and met her future husband, Marc Bolan. It was Jones who was driving the car when, one night in September of 1977, Bolan died in a car accident. Jones–who nearly faced charges for impaired driving after drinking wine on the night of the accident–lost the couple’s house and moved back to L.A. “Tainted Love” remains her longest-lasting hit, with covers aplenty and appearances in current film and TV soundtracks.

5. Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell (featuring Michael Jackson)

It’s not just those Jackson hee-hees in the chorus that bring to mind the campy spook of “Thriller.” This track is pop-culture paranoid, stocked with references to television and the everyday horrors of being spied on. “Somebody’s Watching Me” dropped in 1984, and its theme of a dystopian state, in which even “normal people” fall under invisible scrutiny, feels ever more prescient today in light of Internet freedom issues and heightened technological development. Plus, “Someone’s Watching Me” has a spooky synth line that sounds like it’s played on a xylophone made of a cartoon rib cage!

6. Walkin’ Through A Cemetery – Claudine Clark

Claudine Clark, whose early single “Party Lights” proved her only song to score high on the charts, experimented with the spooky side of pop in “Walking Through A Cemetery.” Hindsight’s 20/20, but I’m not surprised that after “Party Lights”–which is about trying to convince your mom to let you go to a party–“Walking Through A Cemetery” flatlined. The lyrics took a serious turn in the for-whom-the-bell-tolls direction, after all: “If you’re walking through a cemetery one dark night/ Up jumps a creature and he gives you a fright/ Ain’t no use to turn around and walk the other way/ ‘Cause if he’s for you, baby, he’s gonna get you anyway.” Geez. Pretty serious stuff, for someone whose most popular work to date dealt with the injustice of not being allowed to do the twist, the fish, the watusi, and the mashed potatoes. But no one said Halloween was all fun and games. We’re all destined for the grave, but in this danceable number, Clark sings om bop bop, om bop bop sha doo dee doo dee all the way there.

7. Spooky – Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield’s gender-switched cover of the classic “Spooky,” a song that tells the story of a “spooky little girl” who compels and mystifies, and, like a ghost, only seems to show up when no one else is around, is further “spookified” by Springfield’s sly and porcelain-pretty vocals. The performance is ghostly–the woman herself was more complex. Springfield–a lesbian performing at a time when gayness was professional suicide–made a second career of cloaking her identity. The flip side of the doll-like vocals was a person who raged, drank too much, had a problem with pills. And its restraint makes Springfield’s spooky all the eerier.

8. The Whistler – The White Buffalo

Singer/songwriter Jake Smith is a big man, with a big, big voice. Nowhere more so than on “The Whistler,” off the 2013 album Shadows, Greys and Evil Ways. His stage name is apt, and like a large herd animal, Smith’s performances are often remarkable for the gentle giant-ishness. When he roars, though, the earth quakes. “The Whistler” marks the interior battle of a man who knows what the right thing is but chooses its opposite, and revels in his own destruction. The scariest demon of all is the demon inside, kids!

9. God Alone – Altar of Plagues

Out of a host of powerful metal records to come out of 2013, Teethed Glory and Injury–from Altar of Plagues, AKA Irish musician James Kelly–stands out as one of the most precocious and innovative within a genre wreathed with tradition and homage to be paid. “God Alone” stands out as the record’s most violent track, but that violence is achieved through skill and technical manipulation, not blunt force. The rhythms tilt and hang off-kilter; the beats deploy sudden, booming jolts that make you jump out of your seat.

10. Little Fang -Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks

I wouldn’t call “Little Fang”–or the group behind it–scary, but damned if Welcome To The Slasher House, this year’s debut release from Slasher Flicks, isn’t Halloween-ishly kitschy. The group plays shrouded in a backdrop of glowing skulls, leering in neon green, and plays on dissonance and surreal lyrics. “Little Fang” is less Fright Night, more sticky fingers and sugar rush.

And there you have ’em, folks. Consider this list your musical Trick Or Treat offerings from your friendly neighborhood Femmes. Don’t egg our house, please, but do tell us what we missed! What are your favorite Halloween tunes? Let us know in the comments below!

BAND OF THE MONTH: Leverage Models

“My only rules were that I would shut my conscious impulses as much as possible (my impulse to interrogate and analyze every gesture, ponder what imaginative impulse every sound was for, worry about what outlet would be used to release the music) and just make,” Shannon Fields has written, regarding his approach to music and his new project–and AudioFemme’s Band Of The Month!–Leverage Models. Fields’ creative impulses and internal landscapes are at the heart of this group. Friends and cohorts appear on Leverage Models’ self-titled debut, too, in such high and ever-evolving numbers that trying to count them would be futile, but Sharon Van Etten, Sinkane and Yeasayer all number among Leverage Models’ contributers. Fields, who dreamt up his first band, Stars Like Fleas, in 1999 and played under that name for nearly a decade, has always been inclined towards collaboration.

Listening to Leverage Models is a fantastically colorful experience, so much so that the first few times through the album feel like being in a brand new, exotic and densely stimulating city–it’s hard to have concrete thoughts on the music when you’re so busy just trying to take it all in. In a wonderfully interior journey, Leverage Models presents a mostly-joyous, always-elaborate layering of futuristic soul music, electronic riffs and repetitive vocal lines that sound more like instrumental licks than voices. It’s hard to see the seams of this album: the music’s many aspects seem like they must have simultaneously sprung, fully formed, into being. Since the album bears so little comparison to anything else in its category, finding the songs’ trajectories requires enough listening to get past just being dazzled by the bright lights and shiny metals, but once you do, the album is actually pretty accessible. Some of the songs, like “Sweet” (with Sharon Van Etten) are surprisingly catchy, with strong R&B influence and an endearing sense of excitement swelling beneath the melodies.

In the fifteen-odd years he’s been recording–first with Stars Like Fleas, and now Leverage Models–Fields has put out only four full-length albums, with a few years’ space between each. It’s easy to see why: each complex, densely compiled release packs a hefty wallop. None more so than Leverage Models, which feels like the summation of the full five years Fields took to create it, with an elegant blend of complexity in its instrumental arrangements and sweet simplicity in its intent.

Listen to the oh-so-stunning, “A Chance To Go”, here via Soundcloud

If you can’t catch Leverage Models at our SXSW showcase this Wednesday, cozy up with Shannon right here instead! Audiofemme got in touch with him and asked him a few questions about music, and the internet, and resurrecting his teenage self who would then listen to the new album. Here’s what went down:

AF: Tell us about the process of beginning your new project, Leverage Models. How did you want it to differ from your work with Stars Like Fleas? What inspires your music writing?

Shannon: Leverage Models didn’t really begin deliberately. Stars Like Fleas was a very large family of musicians that was so emotionally volatile, and so draining to keep afloat that when it finally ripped itself apart I just moved to the country and started spending all day in my home studio with absolutely no agenda except to find something to glue myself back together with. I suddenly had a surplus of time and space to create in. But also this sort of crushing weight of having a part of my identity, something I’d built for almost 10 years (Stars Like Fleas, my life in Brooklyn) vanish overnight. I felt free of the albatross it had become for me, but also a huge wave of “what now?” anxiety. The only way I could handle that was to entirely avoid thinking about the “what now?”, or about who I am or what I had to offer anybody. So that was a pretty radical change to my creative process. With the Fleas, the creative process was analytical to the point of compulsion – it was 2 parts sound creation / performance and 98 parts self-interrogation, willful deconstruction, avoidance of any convention, avoidance of anything that might work in an immediate or superficial way for anybody. And I don’t regret a moment of that. But Leverage Models originated in my just making songs that made me feel better and that I enjoyed living inside, without questioning anything (because at the time I had no intention of doing anything with those songs). Honestly, this was and still is straight up therapy….an approach I hadn’t previously had much respect for. I don’t want to suggest there isn’t still some of that going on with Leverage Models, but I try to keep the higher functioning parts of my brain out of the room until it’s time to take a step back and look at the big picture of an album, or a mix. Until then I let the lizard parts of my brainstem drive the bus. I think I’m more interested these days in the logic of craft and folk art rather than the trappings of modernism, that constant privileging of newness and confrontation of norms, so Leverage Models focuses much more on the shared conventions of pop music and just trying to be disciplined about writing and arranging well. (That said, lyrics are a different conversation entirely….a different ballgame, and equally important to me).

AF: Now that the album has been out for a few months, how do you feel about it? Do you have a favorite song?

S: I spent a year on the record and I’m completely happy with it. It’s not the record I would make today, but it’s a good snapshot where I was at a year ago, and I’m proud of the response I’ve gotten from some of the people whose opinions I care the most about. I don’t actually listen to my own records and can’t say I have a favorite song. Right now my favorite song to play live is The Chance To Go. With most of the songs I wrote and recorded them predominantly at home before bringing in the band to replace demo arrangements. But The Chance To Go came out of a live improvisational session with the band. One morning we woke up, I described a groove to the band, and maybe 15 minutes later we had that song. It feels more spontaneous and live than other things on the record because it is. Also….A Slow Marriage is one that ages well for me….it might be the most open, direct and personal…it feels simultaneously vulnerable and synthetic…which is how I feel most days.

AF: How do you feel about music in the digital age? Would you go to war in order to save the internet from extinction?

S: I’m a little bit confused and alienated by the new relationship to music that the culture has. Music is a little more of a disposable lifestyle accessory and a little less precious then it was when I was a teenager. I don’t know that I have a strong feeling about whether that’s a good or bad thing….I guess it’s a mixed bag, like all change. It’s what culture does. That said, I might not have any kind of social life or a career without the Internet….it’s easier to do everything (except make money), including just talking to people…which has always been difficult for me. It doesn’t carry over into performance, but offstage I have a crippling amount of social anxiety. So email is great. And I think when I moved to the country my music career might have been over in a pre-Internet world. Now it matters much less where I live.

AF: You’ve picked out of the way spots to do a lot of your recording, and Leverage Models was recorded in a farmhouse outside of Cooperstown, NY. Why do you choose such remote locations?

S: Ha!…because I live in that farmhouse in the country outside of Cooperstown! My band lives in Brooklyn but I left before Leverage Models happened. I record mainly in my home studio, in between barn chores (my wife and I are breeding horses) and other work around the property. Splitting my days between physical labor and creative work gives me a rhythm that’s really healthy for me. I feel like a better person for it…even if that’s sentimentalized nonsense, it’s a fiction that helps me get through the day. And I just feel physically and mentally more stable. NYC was breaking me. Also, I should mention that I generally record the full band and mix at The Isokon in Woodstock, NY, — mainly because D. James Goodwin, who runs it, is someone I trust and have a longstanding relationship with. He’s a powerful creative human and he gets me.

AF: What are your strengths as a musician? Would you say you have any weaknesses?

S: I’m not putting my head in either of those nooses. Is this a job interview, Annie?

AF: If one of your songs (while you’re in the process of writing it that is), were a small child (or pet), would you say that it would have a mind of its own or would it generally stay in line and follow the rules?

S: Oh I’m probably training feral animals here, metaphorically speaking. In my writing process I make a conscious effort not to know where I’m going when I begin a song. Sometimes I do try to generate ideas by throwing myself curve balls (horrible cliché’s, instruments and mixing choices that are steeped in cheesy baggage, pastiche, etc.) but mainly I just work really fast and intuitively up front…so fast I don’t have time to question what I’m doing….following my reflexes and my pleasure centers. I write/record in manic highs and edit when I’m miserable. Then if I’ve painted myself into a corner, finding my way out usually leads to something that’s better than it would be if I tried to really over-direct and control the process.

AF: If you could have any person, living or dead, real or fictitious, listen to a song off Leverage Models, who would it be? What do you think they/it would think about that song?

S: Hmmmm….the only thing that comes to mind would be my teenage self. And….I really have no idea what I would think. But I think I’d be pretty down. I would probably question all the slap bass.

AF: If you could experience your own music through one of your other senses, which would it be? What would it taste/smell/feel/look like?

S: Can I experience someone else’s music this way? That seems like a pretty heavy gift to use in such a self-indulgent way. I’m a little food-obsessed. I think Maurice Fulton’s music would make for a pretty satisfying combination of salt, heat and sweetness, without a lot of heavy starchy proteins.

AF: What is one of your favorite cities to perform in? Do you have any weird tour bus necessities?

S: We’re lucky to get a bar towel and some hot water on a hospitality rider and we tour in my 2008 soccer-mom minivan, packed so full of shit none of us can move our legs. I look forward to having weird tour bus necessities though.

As for chosen cities, I just like performing anywhere that people seem hungry for music and aren’t so self-conscious that they’re afraid to move their bodies at a show. But to be honest, I was just as uptight and self-conscious for a long time. It took a long while to get to the point where I really internalized that I am going to die – I think that’s what it pivots on – and was able to full let go of all those kinds of very Midwestern, probably very male inhibitions. So we love playing smaller towns that are usually passed over; where you play to a small crowd but everyone who comes up to you is grateful and excited. It makes me remember being that kid in Kansas City…remembering the feeling you have – living in what you think is the ass-end of the universe — when you see something that changes the game for you, turns a light on, makes the world feel suddenly larger and more nuanced and more capable of possibility and not limited to the values of whatever oppressive cool-crowd you’re stuck under, shows you a way out or inspires you to remake yourself. Anyway, we seem to find a lot of these places in the south. On our current tour, D.C. (a huge house party with a few hundred people, put on by the Lamont Street Collective), Asheville NC, Charlotte NC, and Jacksonville FL were all surprisingly bonkers. I just like to feel like I’m making some kind of real connection with every person there. If I don’t, I feel like a complete failure as a performer and as a person…no matter how much people might have liked it or how ‘on’ the band was. I always take crowd reactions personally, I’m very motivated to feel that connection, even when I know I’m doing things onstage to actively bait or confront them a bit (which happens).

AF: Do you have any words of wisdom for Audiofemme? Any secrets you’d like to divulge?

1. No wisdom, but a thanks to Audiofemme for helping to provide a balance to the music journalists’ boys club. I’m not sure boys clubs are our scene. I’m used to getting threatening looks in boys’ clubs.

2. I’m very good at keeping secrets. You first.

SHOW REVIEW: Palma Violets turned loose in Brooklyn

Hype is a strange, ephemeral beast. While it doesn’t come without its negative connotations – that that which is hyped is undeserving of such interest, for one – there are very few independent bands who can make much of a name for themselves these days without at least a little bit of it. When pressed to define what constitutes hype, what is a ‘good’ level of hype for one’s project to have, or where hype comes from, it’s a bit tricky to nail down. We’ve long heard terms like ‘the next big thing’ being fastened to all manner of artists, some that go nowhere, others that reach the level of success predicted, and still others that become popular only to self-destruct.

In the case of UK punks Palma Violets, it’s impossible to know how far they will go and what will become of them, seeing as how they’ve not yet released more that a single. No one can predict the future, after all. But it’s certainly interesting to note their trajectory as a virtually unknown band that grew a great reputation on the strength of their live performances, then blew up overnight when NME named “Best of Friends” single of the year for 2012.

That sort of occurrence is pretty much the definition of hype and a perfect example of what it can mean to bands with burgeoning careers. Palma Violets have signed to Rough Trade and will release their debut LP, 180, on February 25th. And because the band clearly needs to generate yet more buzz, they crossed the pond for a handful of Brooklyn appearances, including a loft party, an appearance at DIY venue Shea Stadium, two dates at Glasslands and a BrooklynVegan-sponsored early show at Piano’s announced just hours before it took place.

Chilli Jesson & Sam Fryer: happy, shiny punks — Chilli Jesson and Sam Fryer: happy, shiny punks

After seeing their final show in Brooklyn last Monday, it’s a wonder that had the energy to do this. Sam Fryer and Chilli Jesson are known for exhibiting an animated camaraderie on stage, each reacting to the others’ movements, playing guitar and bass while facing one another, singing in call in response or shouting in unison. Their pep is absolutely contagious – they look as though they’re having the time of their lives and are just trying to provide fun for audiences in leading by example. Their effervescent merch guy served as hype-man by introducing the rockers, reminding everyone that it’s rare to get second chances (though if he’s referring to a chance to see Palma Violets in action, this was really more like the fifth chance). He would appear again bouncing through the audience and heckling the band during the brief interlude between the proper set and the one-song encore in his cheeky British accent. When it came to stage banter from the boys, Chilli Jesson did most of the talking, at one point professing a deep, deep love for the whole of Brooklyn before diving offstage (later he would express this sentiment again before pulling several members of the audience, myself included, onstage for the final number and some very bouncy dancing). Comparatively speaking, Pete Mayhew seemed stoic behind his keyboard while Will Doyle’s assured, kinetic drumming provided an anchor to the more extroverted antics of the two singers.

But Palma Violets are not the first of their ilk to provide a spirited stage show. It’s not just their youthful vivacity that’s so intriguing, but the quality of each of their songs that makes the band unforgettable in a sea of snarling garage bands. Each song is fully formed and well executed; moreover each sounds detectably different from the last, a pitfall that many folks playing music in this genre can’t seem to avoid. They also seem like nice guys – gentlemen, even… albeit party-ready gentlemen who love to have a good time, to which their flashy rainbow-colored stage lights can attest.

This is about as close as I wanted to get to Devin.

Absent is the brattiness exuded by bands like openers Devin, whose baffling choice of a supposed Ike & Tina Turner cover described a thirteen year-old girl forced into a threesome after being molested by an uncle. That was just one misstep in a set plagued by them. Folks in the audience didn’t really seem to mind the (almost) impressive range of the the lead-singer’s squeals, yelps, shouts, and screeches, but the general nasal quality to his tone and snotty delivery turned me completely off – not to mention the immature content of the band’s original lyrics, which included praise for a girl who “looks like she’s starvin’ to death”.

Palma Violets, though, are a punk rock band apt to provide discerning audiences a more fulfilling experience than what they might otherwise see. Their eagerness to do so is no doubt the biggest driving force behind their becoming darlings of the scene. They will, of course, be returning stateside for SXSW and are likely to play a handful of dates elsewhere. With performances not to be missed and near-complete certainty that 180 will pack as much punch as their live set, it’s lucky for us that the hype in this case is well-deserved.

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Baby’s First SXSW: Friday

Friday dawned with a frenetic anxiety brought on by the odd sensation that all of the fun I was having was coming to an end. From a pessimistic point of view, my time in Austin was half over. Though I’d not totally squandered the preceding days the list of bands I wanted to see still seemed a mile long. I tried to be positive, reminding myself of the two golden days that remained, and with serious fervor began to check those bands off the list.

First, the RhapsodyRocks party at Club DeVille. The line-up was great, but comprised mostly of bands I’d seen once or twice. However, the internet radio-sponsored showcase was also throwing around free beer, beer coozies, sunglasses, and cowbells, so that increased my desire to stick around.

I’d caught Tanlines most recently at last October’s CMJ, where they’d debuted a lot of new material. Again, most of the set list was comprised of songs from the Brooklyn duo’s recently released album Mixed Emotions, and not only are Eric Emm and Jesse Cohen growing more comfortable with these tracks, their pride in this latest work is readily apparent.

I hadn’t seen Washed Out since the previous summer and, much like Tanlines, know Ernest Greene to reliably deliver a great show. It had been almost two years since I’d seen Zola Jesus, during which time she’d released her most outstanding material, so I was psyched for her contribution to the showcase. BUT I also knew that over at the Mess With Texas warehouse, Purity Ring would be gearing up for a set I couldn’t miss. I’d been dying to see them since their release of two amazing singles “Ungirthed” (w/ b-side “Lofticries”) and “Belispeak” but I hadn’t been able to to make it to their last NYC performances. I couldn’t resist; all I could do was hope that I’d make it back in time for Zola.

Purity Ring’s lyrically morbid but insanely catchy pop songs are constructed with two basic building blocks: Megan James’ lilting, slightly coquetteish vocals, and the production of Corrin Roddick, who in a live setting mans a table of percussive lights and electronic devices. While I was definitely starting to see this delegation of music making responsibility repeated in band after band, Purity Ring went a few steps further with the addition of a captivating light show that took place before brightly-hued red, orange and teal curtains. The backdrops are illuminated by spotlights, turning James and Roddick into ghostly silhouettes. James is in charge of pounding an elevated bass drum at dramatic intervals, and as she does so, it lights up like a full moon. She also swings a mechanic’s utility light around her head, though in a controlled rather than erratic fashion. But most impressive are the tiered lights which respond to taps and tones within the songs, framing Roddick’s mixing table. They shift from red to purple to blue to yellow to orange, glowing through the crowd like psychedelic fireflies attempting to attract the trippiest mate.

While all of this was exciting to watch, the songs were the real draw. Purity Ring has kept their material close to the chest, selectively releasing only three songs thus far and not a note more. I had to know if they could keep up the seething momentum those infectious pop gems had created long enough to release an album that wasn’t just filler, and I have to say that I was not disappointed. Each offering was carefully constructed, mysterious yet up-tempo enough to dance to, and not just an extension of the sound they’d already built such buzz on, but a perfect showcase for their strongest assets. There’s no release date set for the Canadian duo’s full-length LP, but if the SXSW performances are any indication we can expect more enigmatic lyrics layered with deceptively joyous melodies and a healthy dose of R&B-influenced bounce.

At this point, Zola Jesus was just beginning her set back at Club DeVille, but again I was faced with a dilemma. Over at the Hotel Vegas compound, BrooklynVegan was hosting a noteworthy showcase of their own, and two bands I had yet to see were slated for the afternoon – Craft Spells and Tennis.

Hotel Vegas is comprised of two small conjoined lounges, one of which is named Cafe Volstead and has some really swanky taxidermy mounted on equally swanky wallpaper. As part of the takeover, BrooklynVegan had also erected an outdoor stage, upon which snappy London-based foursome Django Django were banging out an energetic, joyful set, wearing eccentrically patterned shirts reflective of their generally quirky pop. It might have been the mixing but the live set seemed to be lacking some of the more creative percussion and synth techniques present in the band’s popular singles “Waveform” and “Default”. The songs came across as pretty nonchalant, summery pop a la The Beach Boys, whom the band has often drawn comparisons to.

Meanwhile, Inside Hotel Vegas, the dark and pounding rhythms of Trust were a stark contrast to the daylight scorching the earth outside. I’d seen Robert Alfons perform solo under his Trust moniker as opening act for Balam Acab last November, and the set was pretty similar despite having some additional band members this time around. Alfons grips the mic and leans toward the audience as though he is begging an executioner for his life. His vocals sound like they’re dripping down the back of his throat, which I mean in a good way; in a higher register that same voice can sound nasal, though even then it’s often tempered by the pummeling beats that typify Trust’s music. What I find really fascinating about Trust is that while these jams have all the glitz and grunge of 90’s club scorchers, Alfons consistently looks as if he’s just rolled out of bed without bothering to comb his hair or change his sweatpants. Circa 1995, if you heard these songs on the radio you could pretty much assume they were made by muscular men in tight, shiny clothing and leather, or at least some guy wearing eyeliner. It’s not necessarily true that a vocalists’ style has any import on the music itself, and let’s face it, not everyone can be the dude from Diamond Rings. But I find myself a little worried about Alfons; he looks like he’s going to slit his wrists in a bathtub the second he walks off stage, and given the caliber of the songs on debut LP TRST, that would really suck.

Trust’s set was dank and sludgy in all the right ways, so I almost forgot it was mid-afternoon; I emerged from the dark revery to see Denver-based husband-and-wife duo Tennis setting up. Joined by two additional musicians on drums and synths, Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley were picture-perfect; Alaina’s tiny frame exploded in a poof of feathery hair and her tall, hunky husband looked like he would put down his guitar any second and hoist her in his beefy arms. It’s not hard to imagine these two as Prom King & Queen. Their sophomore albumYoung and Old, out now on Fat Possum Records, shows quite a growth spurt from 2011’s Cape Dory, an album mainly concerned with breezy, beachy anthems (it was inspired by a sailing trip the couple took). Both thematically and lyrically, Tennis have shored things up without losing their pop sensibilities. Their set was shortened by a late set-up but toothache sweet, mostly drawing on songs from the new record and closing with a lively rendition of lead single “Origins”.

Craft Spells played amidst the glassy-eyed mounted animals of Cafe Volstead, and I was beyond excited to see them play. I’ve followed the band since they began releasing singles in 2009 and was thoroughly pleased with last year’s Idle Labor, which included updates of those early demos and drew upon them to create a cohesive 80’s-inspired synth-pop gem. Craft Spells nimbly translated the buoyant feel of favorites like “You Should Close The Door” and “Party Talk”; heavy-lidded crooner Justin Vallesteros seemed less the sensitive, socially awkward recluse implied by some of his more heartsick lyrics, fearlessly surveying the crowd and blissfully bopping to his own hooky melodies. The boyish good looks of all four bandmates had at least one lady (me) swooning in the audience, wanting to somehow smuggle them out of the venue in my pockets.

I was right down the street from Cheer Up Charlie’s, a brightly painted heap of cinder blocks hunched in a dusty lot on E 6^thwhere electronic mastermind Dan Deacon would soon be unpacking his gadgetry. First, I stopped at an adjacent food truck trailer park and ate what I deemed “Best SXSW Sandwich” – The Gonzo Juice truck’s pulled pork roast with carrot slaw, gobs of schiracha cream sauce, and spicy mustard piled on (what else?) Texas Toast. This obviously isn’t a food blog, but as I sat at the crowded picnic table I had a definite SXSW moment; across from me some guys were talking about shows they’d played earlier and shows they were playing later in the week. I sat there reveling in deliciousness and simultaneously trying to figure out what band they were in based on venues and time slots. While for most part everyone SXSW is in nonstop party mode, many of the musicians play two and sometimes three sets a day, and then find time to go to their friends’ shows. And despite all of the gear they have to haul and strained vocal chords and hangover headaches, these guys talked excitedly about contributing to that experience. Not that I didn’t before, but I really found myself appreciating that energy and enthusiasm; the passion and drive of the musicians who come to Austin this particular week in March is the biggest factor as to why SXSW is so exhilarating.

Speaking of enthusiasm, if you’ve ever seen Dan Deacon live then you’re well aware of the level of energy necessary to survive one of his sets (and if you haven’t, seriously, what are you waiting for?). Deacon’s densely layered electronic arrangements provide a backdrop for the zany activities that he introduces between the songs. His instructions can include interpretive dance contests, high fives, mimicry, and sometimes chanting. He’ll either divide the audience into specific sections or ask the audience to make a circle, introduces a concept, and then pretty much everyone joins in the fun, because the main draw of a Dan Deacon show is the wacky outcome of hipster pretentiousness falling away. Deacon does this at every show, making the antics typical by now, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, because in all of us there is this hyperactive five-year-old who just wants to eat a bunch of candy and jump around forever and ever, and these shows cater to that exuberant inner child. He has a knack for turning an audience from spectators into participants, and with the shift from the traditional singer-guitar-drummer-bassist band model into a more experimental, electronic-driven realm, where it’s sometimes just one guy on stage with a computer, being able to do that is paramount. Though Deacon is normally backed by multiple drummers and a bevy of live musicians, one unique aspect of this particular performance was that Deacon was flying solo, so it’s a good thing he’s been honing his audience involvement skills for a long time. He didn’t even perform on the stage provided, but in the pit of dust with everyone crowding around him – the bizarro ringleader of an impromptu circus. While Deacon claimed to hate playing SXSW, no one saw true evidence of such – he seemed rather like he was enjoying himself. He introduced some new material, which was promising considering the fact that his last release, Bromst, is by now three years old. His next release, a first on new label Domino, is slated to drop sometime this year.

I was pretty excited about the awesome acts lined up for The Hype Machine’s crazy “Hype Hotel” endeavor. I’m not sure what the space is normally used for, but they seemed to have a good thing going in the mid-sized building; there was often a line to get inside that stretched around the block. I’d RSVP’d and was particularly excited for that evening’s show – Neon Indian opening for Star Slinger, guaranteed to result in an insane dance party. Unfortunately, RSVPing didn’t matter since by the time I went to pick up my gimmicky little “key card” and wristband, they’d run out, and I was therefore shit out of luck. Since trying and failing to get into the Jesus & Mary Chain show the night before had taught me a valuable lesson about not wasting time at SXSW, I shrugged my shoulders about it (it helped that I’d already seen both acts prior to SXSW) and decided to choose from one of the 2,015,945,864,738 other bands playing.

One of those bands was Nite Jewel, Mona Gonzalez’s solo project fleshed out by a couple of guys and a badass lady drummer. I’ve remained sort of undecided about whether I really like Nite Jewel’s music; though the dreamy pop songs are not in and of themselves particularly divisive, the music sometimes falls flat for me. I’ll listen for a minute, ask myself if I really like it, think that I do, decide that I don’t, turn it off, then inevitably revisit it. But there are two reasons I’m siding in favor of Nite Jewel once and for all. For one thing, her newest record One Second Of Love is brimming with sublime pop nuggets that amplify all the best aspects of Mona’s tunes. There’s still a dreamy minimalist quality, but the songs are less lo-fi and more straightforward, more accessible. The second reason I’m now an official Nite Jewel fan is that her show was fantastic. Part of the eclecticWax Poetics bill, Mona rocked the line-up with cutesy energy and just the right amount of kitsch. She danced around next to her keyboards like the heroine of an eighties movie might dance alone in her bedroom, and that’s really the quality that imbues all the tracks on her latest offering, and the biggest draw in listening to them. Since the equipment set up had taken a little longer than expected, her set was short, though to her credit Mona begged the sound tech to let her keep going, reminding him that “They’re pop songs they’re short”. While it’s true that these inspired bursts of affection issue forth in a gauzy blur, they are far from simple pop songs, driven by her distinct personality and sound.

On my way to meet up with Annie at the S.O. Terik showcase in the the neighborhood, I had to stop by Status Clothing, a 6^th Street storefront where 9-year old phenom DJ BabyChino was on the turntables. Billed as the World’s Youngest DJ, BabyChino is nothing if not adorable, dressed like many of his forebears in the requisite urban garb but in much, much smaller sizes, and sporting large, plastic-rimmed glasses on his shaved head. He’s Vegas-based but has toured the world, though he had to stand on a raised platform just to reach his turntables and laptop. Every once in a while, he’d mouth the words to the old school hip-hop he was spinning, elevating his badass status but still made me want to say “awww”, which is something I’ve not said of any other DJ, performer, or producer, ever. He drew quite a crowd of gawkers, and because most of them were watching from outside the glass windows of the storefront I started wondering if this little guy felt less like a DJ and more like a taxidermied antelope at the Museum of Natural History. I also wondered at what age BabyChino will want to drop the “baby” from his name, and will make his mom stop leaving notes in his lunchbox.

I wandered far down Red River into the woodsy area between downtown proper and the river, filled with leafy, down-home bars. As I meandered about, looking for some friends I was meeting up with, I heard Gardens & Villa performing “Orange Blossom” at one of the bars. This song gives me shivers of springtime joy; Gardens & Villa is one of those bands I kind of ignored for a while, not for any reason other than I simply can’t hear everything, but at this point I’m super excited for their debut record to drop and was really hoping to catch one of their sets while in Austin. My timing was perfect in that regard but I honestly couldn’t figure out which bar they were playing or how to get in to see them. I had a decent-ish view from the street, even if my short stature made seeing over the fence difficult. I could hear the band just fine and their sound was spot on. However, since this set up made me feel like a weirdo stalker and I had promised to meet up with my posse, I moved on.

Clive Bar had a sprawling multilevel patio that is probably very nice when there aren’t bands squished awkwardly into a tiny area making it impossible to view the stage and impossible to move through the cramped crowd. Because Annie is the shit and had a raw hookup we hung out in this “Green Room” area that was really more of a log cabin bungalow to the side of the stage. A really gnarly painting of a nude lady with a rabbit’s head was mounted on the ceiling; all around her were bunnies in various stages of Boschian copulations but rendered in a comic-book style. We slugged beers in this secret, magical little den while New Build played their poppy indie jams. Everything New Build does sounds like it could be soundtracking some cheesy movie – whether it’s funky 70’s espionage flicks or 80’s roadtrip rom coms. I don’t know if that’s really a bad thing, especially since they tackle that task with flair and aplomb. But I also have to admit that I wasn’t paying a lot of attention, mesmerized as I was by all the bunny sex going on in the painting above my head, and the two semi-obnoxious girls arm-wrestling because (I guess) they thought it would impress whatever dudes were around. Plus, New Build are some pretty unassuming dudes; they all wore nondescript tees in neutral colors, sported prerequisite beards (not that you’ll ever hear me complain about a beard), and gave the impression that they were there solely to play some songs in as understated a fashion as possible. Which they did.

When Grimes took the stage we were able to stand in the photo bay, giving us a great view of the bizarro-pop goddess. Maybe I should mention that I have a total girlcrush on Claire Boucher (if I haven’t already elsewhere on this blog), a crush which (dark)bloomed last summer when I saw her open for Washed Out. Unfortunately Boucher was not having a good night – the equipment at the venue was half-busted, and her voice was fast disappearing with the strain of singing in showcase after showcase, making it difficult for her to hit the falsettos omnipresent in her tunes. She swore a lot, but she was the only one who truly seemed to mind all the technical difficulties – everyone else was enthralled by her, dance-marching in her futuristic get-up, tucking her mic between her shoulder and her cheek while twisting knobs or plinking keyboard notes. While I want to keep Grimes and her quirky woodland-sprite magic all to myself, I’m glad everyone is as head over heels for her as I am, because she is a true artist. The second you write her off as some half-baked weirdo, she throws out some deep metaphysical theme, or else she’s chronicling her difficulties with intimacy in a way that’s every bit as real and accessible as someone who’s half as cool. I could go on, but I’m already embarrassing myself.

Since I was working on my own death cough it was time to call it a night. My final day in Austin was upon me, and I’d finally redeemed myself, in the nick of time.

AF Month-in Review: FEBRUARY

At Audiofemme, we don’t exactly try to break music news; we’re more about pontificating on the news after it has broken. In honor of that, here’s our first monthly recap! It’s true that we’re a week into March, but this is a look back at some things that happened in February – and without mincing words, exactly what we think about it all. This installment features MIA, Whitney Houston, why the Grammys are irrelevant, and the best show we’ll (possibly) ever see.

AF: Afterflipping the bird during a Superbowl halftime show performance, thename Maya Arulpragasam was on everyone’s lips once again (or anyway,her initial-based moniker, MIA was). But MIA didn’t need to extendher middle finger to get our attention, since she already had it withthe video for “Bad Girls” released just a few days prior. Thesong is from the Vicki Leekx mixtape, self-released at thebeginning of 2011. Not only is the single far better than prettymuch anything from 2010’s mostly excruciating /\/\/\Y/\, butthe video adds a new level of intensity to an already fierce jam.

MIAreunited with director Romain Garvas, who also had a hand thecontroversial video/short film for “Born Free”. Looking back on“Born Free” it’s hard to say if our distaste stemmed from lukewarmfeelings for the track, or if we just thought the video was dumb. AudioFemme has always appreciated the political content in MIA’s work. Itnever feels like a gimmick, mostly because it extends throughevery expression of her being, from her music to her fashion sense toher live shows and album artwork, not to mention her background andthe causes she supports. “Born Free” was sort of an exception tothat. While we suppose that someone should call attention to thehorrors of genocide, must it be done by depicting a bunch of gingerrefugees shuttled to their torture on a crowded deathbus? Are whitekids really so blissfully unaware of racial and cultural profilingthat they need MIA to clobber them over the head with gory imagery offreckled, pale bodies exploding over land mines? Sadly, the answeris yes, but it felt a bit heavy-handed and obvious.

Thevideo for “Bad Girls” is essentially doing the same thing but ina much more successful manner. It takes a very real topic –oppression of women in the Middle East – and turns their liberationinto a orgiastic free-for-all. While it was filmed in Morocco, thedesert scenes and clay buildings remain just ambiguous enough toencompass areas of the world where MIA would have been arrested forsuch openness. Musically speaking, “Born Free” had a much moreaggressive sound than “Bad Girls” and in turn, the video was hardto watch. “Bad Girls” delivers its heat as a club-readyscorcher, and so there is a party-at-the-end-of-the-world sort oflanguage to the video. At first glance the future appears strangelydystopian, aimless. Then those first beats drop, MIA gyrates ontothe scene wearing iridescent lame, and snarls “Live fast/Dieyoung/Bad girls do it well” and the realization hits: we areactually seeing a utopia where Middle Eastern women are allowed todrive stunt cars, dance provocatively and wear whatever the fuckcrazy clothes they feel like wearing.

Allaspects of MIA’s signature in-your-face attitude are in full effecthere – her pouty expressions, provocative gestures, and creativewardrobe. Her bravado is most apparent when she nonchalantly filesher nails atop a stunt car driving on two wheels, but every second isinfused with the palpable excitement of the most explosive actionsequence in any summer blockbuster. At the exact moment MIA asks“Who’s gonna stop me if I’m coming through?” she’s backed bymotorcade of glow-in-the-dark cars and a horde of flamboyantlyshrouded back-up dancers on the march, a procession placing her inthe position of liberator and leader.

Inno time, the video had amassed 25,000 comments so MIA proceeded torespond to those comments in a follow-up video. Unfortunately, thequestions were no more insightful than YouTube comments ever seem tobe. We learned that see-through cars are expensive to ship, thathopefully MIA’s new album will see release during a season wherepeople will be wearing fewer clothes, and MIA promised to go out fordrinks with some lucky Brooklynite next time she’s in New York. Dudebetter watch out, I heard that babe likes truffle fries.

Lindsey: Speakingof living fast and dying (relatively) young, the world lost one ofits most beloved and talented performers on the 11^th with the passing of Whitney Houston.

Iwas at work when news of Whitney’s death was tweeted to my roommate,who was at the time sitting at a corner booth enjoying our deliciouspork tostadas and coconut margaritas, and I’ll probably alwaysremember that setting. Just like I’ll always remember being on theJFK AirTrain when some dude with phone in hand announced to theentire car “HEY EVERYBODY, MICHAEL JACKSON JUST DIED!

A strangething happens when incredibly well-known pop singers die. On the onehand, there’s an element of shock, and then there’s the mentalpreparation one must begin in anticipation of hearing that artist’ssongs in every public place for the next three months, the fanscoming out of the woodwork to testify their love and heartbreak, thetackiness of televised funerals. But in those initial moments, myfirst thought was to tune Spotify to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody(Who Loves Me)” and pump up the volume, which is just what I did. In the next few hours we played most of Whitney’s back-catalogue,wondering how such a talented, wholesome lady could be so completelyderailed by a total asshole and his suitcase full of blow.

Aftersuch a time, I began to tire of the schmaltzy sentiment runningthrough most of Whitney’s oeuvre, but I did tear up to “I WillAlways Love You.” My parents listened exclusively to country musicwhile I was growing up, and when The Bodyguard came out I wasin fourth grade and already well familiar with Dolly Parton’soriginal recording. I remember being furious that Whitney had takenall the credit for it – I even had unschooled friends who insistedit was Whitney-penned material. I might have won the bet, but Istill looked like a bumpkin.

Onthe night of her death I found myself at a dance party and when theDJ played “I Wanna Dance” everyone lost their shit. It was acheap move (albeit one I’d pulled just hours earlier) but that’s thecharm of Whitney – even when you know the purpose of the music is to appeal to yoursappy, overemotional core, it still gets to you, and for that reasonalone the imprint she’s left on American culture will endure.

Lindsey: Following news of Whitney’s death, the 54^thGrammy Awards aired on CBS. Admittedly, the Grammys do not interest me in the least, for all the reasons you’ve probably heard before…that they represent the lowest common denominator of fandom… thatthey celebrate mediocrity in pop music while ignoring more innovativeworks easily found just beyond the mainstream… that they haplesslycompare apples to oranges in categories that barely apply to theartists nominated… that they are incredibly boring. What I usuallysay instead of all that is “It’s just not my thing” and it isn’t –which doesn’t make me better or worse than anyone else, even if thosepreceding sentences make me sound like an incorrigible snob.

Infact, the Grammys often serve to shame me for just how littleattention I pay to Top Forty recordings. Someone I was talking to ina bar that Sunday made mention of Kanye West’s “All The Lights”and I had to admit I’d never heard it, not even once. Part of it ismy general annoyance with Kanye West’s personality and poorlyric-writing, though I think he’s a stellar producer, but I wasstill a tad embarrassed.

Sowith my tail between my legs, I watched maybe two minutes of NickiMinaj’s “Roman Holiday” performance, but all I could say was“UGH, why is everyone obsessed with this trainwreck? I feel likeI’m having a nightmare except I’m awake. I’m going to go read in myroom.”

Andmy takeaway was this: at least now the Grammys are recognizingelectronic forms of music, even if it is shitty dubstep. And givingawards to chubby girls based on actual talent rather than looks. Andgiving Dave Grohl a platform to become an internet meme, just likehe’s always wanted. And finally, we’ve all been introduced to thegenius of Justin Vernon, whom the Grammys discovered.

AF: On the 13th Tibet House hosted its annual benefit concert at Carnegie Hall, curated by Philip Glass. By far, this concert was the best thing we’ve attended all month, and (given the majority of shows we catch that take place in venues that frequently smell of vomit) probably the most highbrow outing we’ll go on for a long, long time. The original bill listed Glass, video artist and digital pioneer Laurie Anderson, and minimalist prodigy James Blake, with other performers to be announced. In the following days, Lou Reed was added to the bill. Even then, we knew we were in for a once-in-a-lifetime live music experience.To get a sense of how UN-willing we were to miss it, picture this: Annie hobbling around with a freshly broken toe (her big toe, no less) having not slept in over 24 hours (and yes, the two are interrelated), completely wacked out on painkillers. Plus, our seats were located in the second balcony. Still, hell would have indeed had to have been frozen over for us not to attend this spectacle.

We made our way to the mezzanine and settled into our fancy velvet theater chairs just as the lights dimmed. We began to flip through the program wide-eyed with our hearts racing. Page after page of revealed some of our favorite musicians to be unexpected additions to the benefit, including Antony (sans Johnsons), Stephin Merritt, Das Racist, Rahzel, and Patti Smith’s Band.

While such an talented line-up might sound intimidating or pretentious, the evening was anything but, its short sets peppered with a lively sense of humor. While there were a few contemplative moments – the evening began with throat-singing Tibetan monks in radiant yellow robes, and about halfway through the set Tibetan singer Dechen Shak-Dagsay asked the audience to meditate on freedom for Tibet – by and large the night felt like a celebration, and it was never a somber one.

Laurie Anderson set the mood for the evening, performing right after the monks. Over ethereal synths, she recounted a story about a two-week “silent” canoe trip she took down a tributary of the Colorado River, during which she quickly discovered it was not the “meditation retreat” she had signed up for, but rather an opportunity for narcissists to gather and validate one another’s “life stories”. She garnered more than a few laughs over tales of running into a group for incest survivors who turned the now collective campfire into a platform for oversharing, passing a wooden spoon to take turns speaking into “as if it were a microphone”.

She picked up a violin and was joined on stage by Antony, wearing what can best be described as a muumuu. His otherworldly voice echoed against the ornate vaulted ceilings. The amazing acoustics of Carnegie made this feel both intimate and immense at the same time. While the songs had us in tears by the end, shocked that something so beautiful could come out of the mouth of a human, the droll lyrics of Anderson’s “The Dream Before” were delivered with Antony’s trademark whimsy and sass.

Stephin Merritt longed to have an orchestra behind him while singing “This Little Ukelele” and pretended to be surprised by the string quartet that actually occupied that space. They joined him in a soaring rendition of “The Book of Love”. But the most uproarious portion of the evening were Das Racist’s dual appearances. Heems and Kool A.D. had all the earmarks of dressing it up for Carnegie Hall in their dashing suits, but their lively performance of “Michael Jackson” saw them flirting with the aforementioned string quartet, somersaulting at the stage’s edge, and parading around with the American flag that had been innocently fluttering to stage left. Dap wore a traditional Indian dress that somehow made his pelvic thrusting more pronounced and therefore more comical. While the audience was actually comprised of many young folks who likely knew what to expect from the tongue-in-cheek rappers, one has to wonder what older fans of Glass’s minimal works had to say about their outrageous contribution to the evening.

All of the hilarity was anchored by stellar performances from stalwart musicians. Lenny Kaye lead Patti Smith’s band in a tribute to seminal garage rock comp Nuggets. Rahzel, formerly of The Roots, incorporated robotic dancing and beat-boxing skills into his memorable offering. And Glass’s own arrangement of “Pendulum for Violin & Piano” with violin virtuoso Tim Fain was astounding. Even from from the distant balcony in which we sat, you could see his fingers flying, leaving the audience stunned by his show or skill.

Lou Reed finished out the night (we imagine he probably demanded that he get to go last) seeming beleaguered (as always) and taking himself way too seriously (as always), performing a song bemoaning the fact that he’s exceptionally old and looks like it. It wasn’t all that funny. But despite the few awkward moments it was difficult not to feel as though we were truly seeing something special when he was joined onstage by the other performers for closing number “I’m Beginning to See the Light”. Philip Glass had turned 75 a few weeks prior, so the house was invited to sing “Happy Birthday” to the genius who had put it all together, a small token of appreciation for all the beauty and delight we’d just witnessed.

Even with all the tremendous talent present that night, it was James Blake that had us swooning, holding a collective breath for fear that if our muscles so much as twitched the whole thing might possibly vanish into thin air like a mirage. A drummer and guitarist provided sparse backup while the gangly Blake crammed himself behind a keyboard tiny by comparison to his long frame. He played both parts of “Lidnesfarne” before moving into “The Wilhelm Scream” which built to a gorgeous wave of heartbreaking distortion that all but blotted out James’s wistful moaning of the lines “I don’t know about my dreams / I don’t know about my dreaming anymore / All I know is that I’m falling, falling, falling…” In trying to explain his allure we had to settle on his unfathomable level of maturity for such a young musician as well as his outright innovation; almost no one is doing or can do what it is he does, and the sentiment behind it resonates deeply, on an almost subconscious level. To hear him live was absolutely mesmerizing; his playing electrified the space between himself and the audience. He bashfully offers his being and invites the listener to merge with it, and in so doing we were transformed, our hearts heavier but our heads lighter. You can check out a clip Annie recorded below; we apologize for its brevity, but the Tibet House Benefit was simply too amazing to experience on a viewfinder. It was practically too big to wrap our minds around the fact that we were even present for such a wondrous event, laughing one second and crying the next. Here’s to many more years of Philip Glass curating delightful showcases like this one.

Looking forward to March, AudioFemmewill be at SXSW! It’s Annie’s second year in attendance andLindsey’s first, so we like to argue about who is more excited. The next few weeks are going to be a flurry ofRSVPing and making long itinerariesthat we probably won’t stick to. Check our Twitter feed or like us on Facebook as we’ll be updating there when we’re particularlyexcited about some showcase or other. And if you’ll be in Austin, feel free to track us down and say hello!

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SHOW REVIEW: Frankie Rose w/ Dive and Night Manager

There’s a certain art to being cool. It requires equal parts detachment, judgement, untouchability, andflippancy. Being cool might make you the envy of your less-than-coolcounterparts, but it’s ultimately an empty, lonely act. Because being vulnerable isn’t cool, being cool entailskeeping others at bay, elevating yourself to a level above theuncool, refusing to let anyone in, and never showing emotion orexcitement because it is somehow unbecoming. It’s a problem that isunique to my generation; though real “cool” barely exists anymoreexcept as a marketing concept many of us have been posturing eversince, fearful of ever revealing the uncool sides of ourselves,deprived of true connection in order to maintain the illusion ofcoolness, feeling pain only when the facade fails us. In the realworld, this looks like a dimly lit bar in which everyone nurses PBRfrom a can and no one talks to anyone. And in that bar, Frankie Rosefills the jukebox.

As a drummer for Vivian Girls, Dum DumGirls, and Crystal Stilts, Frankie Rose was at the forefront of theresurgence of a noise pop movement that took its cues from theintertwining jangle and grit of sixties garage rock and girl groups. In recording her first album as Frankie Rose and the Outs, she neverstrayed far from this sound. Her vocals had begun to take on adreamy sort of submerged quality with her first solo album, recorded under the moniker Frankie Rose and the Outs. But by and large the album, whileexpertly crafted, was nothing new. It was perfect in terms ofcontinuing the sound and vibe that made Frankie something of ahousehold name in indie rock circles. To some, the resume she’dbuilt was not only impressive but impenetrable, unapproachable. Butto be honest, it felt cold and rehearsed and well-worn to me, not arecord I could get behind on an emotional level. It wasn’t bad, butit it wasn’t life-altering and ultimately I lost interest. To jointhe Frankie cult I would have had to buy dark sunglasses and aleather jacket and thrown away all my clothing that wasn’t black, andI probably would have had to spit on anyone who talked about how intoAdele they were. But what I really wanted was license to feel andshare freely with my peers, not judge them or their tastes, not actlike mine are better than anyone else’s.

Here is what I like to imagine happenednext. Frankie was walking through the graffiti-scrawled streets ofWilliamsburg when a white light enveloped her and suddenly, the Earthwas no more than a blue speck far below. Her abductors, benevolentalien beings with glowing solar plexuses, took her on an epicinterplanetary voyage in which she witnessed incomprehensible formsof life and their bizarre customs, each of which held more meaningand beauty than her indie-rock royalty act. She was shown the errorof her ways and told to go forth to the earthly masses and write analbum with some heart, lest she be re-abducted and dissected. No longer obsessed with being cool and furthering her own reputationas purveyor of such, Frankie Rose came back to Brooklyn and wrote hergorgeous sophomore album, Interstellar.

While this may be a fanciful version of the truth, the end result is the same. Interstellar, out now on Slumberland Records, gives having your head in the clouds a whole new meaning. Frankie’s vocals sparkle and swirl like gauzy nebula gasses, the stuff of galaxies being born. The gritty guitars have been replacedby poppy riffs and spacious synths that reveal yearning and hope anda red-hot emotional core. Every second feels expansive, reminding usthat the big bang is still happening and that even as we rotate onthis rock we are hurtling through space. The lyrical content isn’tparticularly heavy and remainsrelatively carefree, but that’s not to say it suffers from any of that. Rather, it feels much more relatable thananything she’s written to date. There areinstances (particularly “Know Me” “Daylight” and “NightSwim”) that recall the most impassioned moments of new wave, thoughthat heartfelt artfulness permeates each new song. Tracks like“Gospel/Grace” are still informed by the jangle pop of Frankie’sformer work but here she has made everything bigger, warmer, moreurgent and airy. Closing track “The Fall” is like listening to adream – the kind you go back to sleep for so you can keep dreamingit. Its hushed vocals unspool over a simplistic but indelible guitarline, diffused synths and a droning cello reminiscent of Arther Russell’s “This Is How We Walk On The Moon”. Listening toInterstellar basically made me reevaluate every snap judgement I’dever made about Frankie or her tunes. There’s a line in title trackand album opener that sums up the whole endeavor perfectly -“weightless, free from predictable ways”. Amen, sister, amen.

I got tickets to attend the releaseparty for Interstellar at Knitting Factory, expecting somegrand announcement, an ushering in to a new age of Frankie Rose. She’s one of the most influential musicians in the Brooklyn indiescene, so perhaps we’d all be given a crystal and told to let ourhearts breathe, to embrace each other and stop worrying about ourhaircuts. Night Manager opened with an enthusiastic batch of precocious noise pop anthems. Somebands get on stage and act like it’s the most boring thing in theworld to be on stage, which is always annoying becauseeveryone at one point or another wants to be a rockstar. Night Manager can’t have had long to fantasize about such things –I’d say the average age of the five band members couldn’t have beenmuch over twenty – and that youthful exuberance was their strongestpoint. Their lead singer’s vibe was somewhere between Bethany Cosentino and Anne Margaret but I probably only make that connectionbecause I’ve been watching the third season of Mad Men while battlinga head cold.

I had high hopes for Dive, a(nother)Beach Fossils side project whose reverb-drenched singles are catchyand evocative of epiphanies had while staring at clouds. From thelooks of it, these guys really struggle to get dressed (evidenced by the rubber bands utilized to hold the guitarist’s pants in place) and speakingof haircuts – yikes. While their shoegazey tracks have a just-woke-up sort of haze, Dive’s performance was so boisterous it could have been a commercial for 5-hour energy shooters. The kineticset was incredibly fun to watch and included an unrecognizable take on a Nirvana song and a pornographic tee-shirt. Dive’s debut EP is scheduledfor release next month on Captured Tracks, and seeing them play the material in such a spirited manner has me psyched for it.

Frankie Rose took the stage just after11PM with four band members, opening with the title track from the newrecord. The stage was bathed in starry projections, but there wereno house lights at all on Frankie or the majority of the band, whichreduced everyone but the drummer to indistinct silhouettes. Thatmight have been cool for a song or two, but they played the entireset that way, and it was slightly off-putting. Much like when youspend a hot day at the zoo and all the animals are sleeping insidefake caves, the lack of anything to rest eyes on was disappointingand disconnecting. Perhaps the lighting guy was in the bathroom,thinking he’d have plenty of time to light the stage once the bandreally got going. But he never had a chance – the show was overpractically before it began. The crowd, myself included, was justsettling in to Frankie’s performance, and then it abruptly endedafter they’d played for just under half an hour.

I’ve seen some short sets, but this oneleft me stunned in terms of its brevity. You’d think that with twoalbums of material she could have fleshed it out for another fifteenminutes, even with stage banter or something. I didn’t evenrecognize the new songs; I assumed she’d not played many of them butwas later informed she’d played seven of the ten new tracks fromInterstellar. The thing is, they were interpreted for the stage insuch a way that they might have belonged on older albums, in the workshe’d done with bands prior to striking out solo, in the detached,too-cool-for-school manner of everything that had come before. Therewas no trouble taken to document the evolution and preserve theopenness that makes Interstellar such a great album; instead Iwas reminded of all the reasons I’d felt put off by Frankie in thepast. She returned to the stage apologetically to play one moretrack (video of the encore is below) and finally asked for the house lights to beturned up a bit, though it was done begrudgingly by the house.

My overall impression was that Frankieis somehow afraid to bring her newfound sincerity into the spotlight bothliterally and figuratively. She was hiding the entire time –playing in the dark, rushing through the set as if nervous orembarrassed, and masking the intimate vibe of the new record behindthe practiced ways of her rock-n-roll persona. Perhaps this was aneffort to make the material more stage-ready but for me it had a numbing effect. I can only hope that in time she’ll figure out howto parlay the stirring ardency that makes Interstellar so salient, will becomecomfortable with letting any pretense fall away and be truly presentin the new material. I can imagine that day – Frankie stands onstage in a halo of white, assuredly plucking each note from herguitar strings, backed only by atmospheric keys and somber drums,letting Interstellar truly explode – vulnerable, earnest and farbeyond the trappings of coolness.

SHOW REVIEW: Dum Dum Girls w/ Widowspeak

Last night, we AudioFemmes visited Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Dum Dum Girls perform a blistering set for a packed audience. We missed openers Punks On Mars (not too intrigued by that band name, sorry) but caught most of Widowspeak’s set. Below, our innermost thoughts and feelings regarding the spectacle we witnessed. – Eds.

dressed all in white and practically glowing

L: Annie, what did you think of Widowspeak?

A: Well. Here’s the thing: I have a hard time getting on board with singers who sound painfully derivative of someone whom I happen to love, in this case, Mazzy Star. It doesn’t help that Hope Sandoval is still around and making music. In fact, I hear there’s a forthcoming album slated for release this summer. However, independent of the issue of Molly Hamilton’s striking similarities, both sonically and aesthetically, to Mazzy, I have to admit I’m a sucker for dreamy sounding girl-pop.

Widowspeak

L: Oooh, I had no idea Mazzy Star was putting out new material. Yet another reason to look forward to summer. But I digress – we were talking about Widowspeak, and I agree, it is hard not to hear Hope Sandoval when Molly Hamilton opens her mouth. I’d actually seen them before at Glasslands when they opened for Dirty Beaches roughly a year ago. They covered Chris Isaak. I bought the Harsh Realm 7” (white vinyl! I’m such a sucker for that kind of thing) and I think by now I’ve worn the grooves out. I mean I’ve had nights where I put on that title track and just pull the needle back over when it’s done playing, and then repeat that about eighty times. There’s something about the lines “I thought about how it was / I thought about you because / I always think about you” that just gets to me. It’s definitely the kind of obsessive-minded song that makes playing the shit out of it feel totally appropriate…

… Seeing that live and knowing to expect it was a highlight for me, but I think that’s where the band excels – in the quieter, more contemplative moments. I could have sworn they had far fewer members the last time I saw them, and so it was a bit off-putting to have three guys backing her up. But I understand the need to amp up the performance as they are going out on tour with Dum Dum Girls.Speaking of which…..

A: Yeah, real quick: I would definitely give them another chance, and I often feel differently about a band’s sound in general when I hear the studio recording. You can lend me the 7” next time I come over. Anyway, moving on to the Dum Dum girls.

For me, a band’s first impression often sets the tone of the show, so to speak. And when the Dum Dum girls descended the stairs onto the stage of Music Hall of Williamsburg, decked out in white Grecian drapery and a myriad of fishnet-patterned stockings, I knew immediately, that we were in for a good time. Not to mention we were standing a stone’s throw from the hot new bass player, whose name thus far is unknown to us.

L: This bass player. Woah. One of the most gorgeous women I think I’ve ever seen. I was kind of disappointed when I heard their former bass player had been replaced; I thought she was a good representation of someone who isn’t super skinny and is totally sexy and kick ass, and I think it’s nice to see that, especially for people with similar body types. Not that the new bass player was a twig; she did have some booty. Whatever girl crushes I might have had on the band before were cemented when they emerged from backstage – every single one of them looked amazing. I want to go shopping for tights and vintage jewelry with them. Even if they had sucked, I would have been nearly content to watch them bop around on stage for 45 minutes. But then they proceeded to totally melt faces.

A: Before I go on about how hard they rocked out, I must say, there’s something novel, in a heavy kind of way, about seeing a band comprised exclusively of women, play so competently and so beautifully. So many bands out there have one or two female members, who are often just eye-candy more than anything else; Or there are female-led groups who have the requisite enigmatic male bass player, or crazy drummer, etc. It’s really rare to see an all chick band like that who fully embrace their femininity and are completely unapologetic for their girliness, and who write songs about falling in and out of love that aren’t sappy and quaint sounding.

L: I agree. I wish it wasn’t such a novelty, but I don’t know if I’ve seen an all female band own a stage like that since Sleater-Kinney. Maybe Warpaint. Honestly though, with all the bands trying to make it big in Brooklyn you don’t often see anyone, male OR female, playing their instruments as well as the Dums did. I’d heard their shows were remarkable but I was floored by how good they sounded, how energetic they were, and how cohesively they jammed as a whole. And I was also in love with their superfans who mouthed along with every word, including a middle-aged dude who was holding a library book the entire time! I want to know what he was reading.

A: Hmmm. I’m gonna guess some sort of self-help book. Maybe something like, “How to change your life in 5 simple steps”

L: Step One – See the Dum Dum Girls. Life-changing for sure.Step Two – Get an e-reader so you don’t have to carry around heavy volumes to rock concerts.It looked pretty thick, though… I bet it was Game of Thrones or something like that. He was adorably geeky.

A: Yeah, you’re probably right. That shit is insanely popular right now. I also liked that guy who was scribbling things down on his teeny tiny notepad like his life depended on it.

L: Maybe he was taking notes for his cool blog.

A: Not as cool as our blog.

L: Never! Although it would be cooler if we could stay on topic.

A: Yeah, we really need to get it together here.

L: Admittedly, I’ve never quite understood the hype surrounding Dum Dum Girls. Their albums are entertaining for a listen or two, but not usually ones I play over and over again. That changed for me with the release of the first few singles from Only In Dreams. Only In Dreams is, in part, a raw chronicle of the emotions lead singer Dee Dee experienced after the passing of her mother. While their previous material was carefree and and even a bit frivolous, Only In Dreams has fathoms more depth, and that thoughtfulness and truth put it over the edge for me in terms of my admiration for the band. I even went back to some of their old material, discovering “Take Care of My Baby” from the “He Gets Me High” single and falling absolutely in love with it.

A: Yeah, I never really got heavily into them. Aside from hearing their songs on random playlists here and there I never listened to much. And although I always liked what I did hear, seeing them live really changed my perception of what they are and what they do. Before I feel like my impression was that they’re kind of like a more pop-y iteration of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And while Dee Dee does sound an awful lot like Karen O. in many ways, the songs themselves are decidedly more straightforward–but in a refreshing way–especially to hear live.

L: I don’t know if I hear the Karen O. thing. In terms of performance and in-your-faceness, I’d say they are certainly of the same ilk. But the confessional nature of Dum Dum’s newer tunes is not a place even Karen would dare go. The live rendition of “Hold Your Hand” was particularly moving. Knowing where Dee Dee’s coming from when she sings the words “I wish it wasn’t true but there’s nothing I can do except hold your hand” makes them that much more powerful, but its a sentiment that hits deep with anyone who has lost someone close to them. After playing those last chords Dee Dee kind of looked down at her guitar and swallowed hard and I remember being amazed that she had the courage to write the song in the first place, let alone play it before a huge crowd. It was very poignant.
A: I think I actually started crying a little bit during that song, because you could tell she was working so hard to keep it together. My heart really goes out to her, and I’m stunningly impressed with her fortitude and self-composure in the face of such recent adversity. Seeing her perform it was one of the many highlights. The most memorable highlight, however, for me, was the encore, for which they played “Coming Down”. It’s a quieter song, and more sophisticated then some of the upbeat pop-rock stuff they do that seems to be their signature style. I guess I like to be surprised sometimes, even if it comes at the very end of a set. And the added effect of the disco ball lent it a dream-like ambiance that made the encore actually feel like a send-off–which is to me, what encores are all about. In any case, I would definitely go see them live again.

L: I loved “Coming Down” as well. It was perfect as a set closer lyrically and melodically; like watching the last embers of a fire die before it goes out. And I love me some disco ball – it burst to life at the perfect moment, just after the bridge when Dee Dee was really belting it out . My only disappointment of the evening was the realization that I left the records I bought at the show in a booth at Lovin’ Cup, where we stopped to grab a bite afterward. I called the place today but some jerk must have snapped them up. Can’t say I blame him or her, I’d probably do the same thing.

Dum Dum Girls are touring the Northeast through most of February and then head to Europe in March. These ladies are not to be missed. For additional proof of such, check out the video Annie shot of them performing “Rest of Our Lives” from their 2010 debut LP I Will Be.

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Ticket Giveaways

Each week Audiofemme gives away a set of tickets to our featured shows in NYC! Scroll down to enter for the following shindigs.

See you there! xoxo