Tag: Leapling

NEWS ROUNDUP: New Tracks, New Kendrick, & SWSW

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  • New Tracks By New York Artists 

    First up is “Your Best American Girl” by Brooklyn’s Mitski. The song is from Puberty 2, which will be released via Dead Oceans in June. It’s a sorrowful track about living up to expectations, full of soaring highs and the squeal of feedback amongst quieter moments.

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  • Monday was Leap Day, which is special day for Leaplings, the kids who were born on February 29th and finally get to celebrate their real birthday. Dan Arnes, the frontman of Leapling, is one of these people, and to take the “holiday” an extra step further, announced the band’s upcoming album Suspended Animation and debuted “Alabaster Snow.” Check it out below:

  • Parquet Courts are releasing their upcoming album Human Performance on April 8th. On Wednesday, they performed another new song, the cowboy-tinged punk “Berlin Got Blurry,” on Conan. Check out the official video below, which features the band exploring a foreign land.

  • Yeasayer are also releasing a new album (Amen & Goodbye, due out on April 1st) and shared a new track this week, “Silly Me.” I miss the “kind of folky in an apocalyptic” sound of their first album, but this song has a pretty good groove.

https://youtu.be/5rQxrZn8-A0

  • The Cost of SXSW

    Many bands view Austin’s SXSW festival as essential for gaining any notoriety in the music industry, but schlepping bandmates and gear to Texas can also be stressful and expensive. Is it worth it? You may have read some thinkpieces that may you want to hide your wallet, but you should read Ed Rodriguez’s take on the matter on The Talkhouse. Rodriguez, who plays in Deerhoof, argues that there’s a cheaper way to do the showcase, or any tour. Read his article here.

  • Kendrick Lamar Drops New Album

    After what appeared to be a Spotify mishap that gave away the track list, Untitled Unmastered was released as a follow-up of sorts to To Pimp A Butterfly. Buy it here.

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ARTIST INTERVIEW: Dan Arnes

Leapling is a three-piece, experimental pop band from Brooklyn. Their last album was the February 2015 release Vacant Page: Ten misleadingly lighthearted tracks punctuated by the soft vocals and pleasantly dissonant guitar of Dan Arnes, the band’s leader. Before Leapling recently left on a short tour, he answered some questions about their upcoming album, musical influences, and how we should label their music, anyway.

AudioFemme: What can you tell me about your upcoming album? When’s the release date?

Dan Arnes: It’s almost completely done. It’s pretty tight but I think we’ll make our date…pretty soon.

I can’t share the name just yet, although if you look in the liner notes of Vacant Page you may find a hint or two. It’s definitely different from Vacant Page: A lot more direct and punchy, not quite as cryptic and tonally, it couldn’t be more different.

We’re trying to find a director for the first single’s music video now, actually. I loved doing the video for “Crooked,” but unfortunately don’t have the bandwidth this time around. That was super fun and rewarding, but very time consuming. Next time.

AF: You recently tweeted, “Writing string arrangements is challenging and time consuming in ways I did not anticipate.” Are you using samples or live arrangements for the strings on the new album?

DA: All live arrangements. I’m writing for a string quartet on a few songs on this new record so it’s pretty prominent. I had strings in mind for these newbies right from the get go this time around. It’s very much part of the songs they’re on. There’s more standard rock stuff on the record too. It’s one big hodgepodge stylistically.

AF: What guitarists have the biggest influence on your playing?

DA: I like all kinds of guitar players, but some of my faves are Jim O’Rourke, John Dietrich, Lou Reed, Cornelius, Arto Lindsay, Sonny Sharrock, Jeff Tweedy, Syd Barrett and Tom Verlaine; People who mix the more interesting rhythmic, chordal stuff with the more angular, dissonant side of things. That’s very much what I respond to in music in general.

AF: Leapling played Palisades on 8/28 and 8/30- do you have a favorite NYC or Brooklyn venue? 

DA: Love Palisades but Shea Stadium is my spot. We go way back with them. Adam, Nora & Luke have been at it for so long and do it so well. We actually recorded this upcoming record at (the Shea Stadium founder) Adam Reich’s studio.

AF: Do you have any gigs you’re especially looking forward to on your tour?

DA: Yeah, we have a bunch of really good ones. I’m particularly excited to do [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”][Hopscotch Music Festival] this year. We’re playing with Pile, Mitski and our awesome local pal SMLH. 

We always have a blast in DC- the house show scene there is pretty great. Atlanta is cool too, and we’re pals with a lot of awesome bands in New Orleans. There’s some good stuff coming out of there. 

AF: If you had to come up with a new genre to describe your music, what would you call it?

DA: I really should do this… it’d save me a lot of time after people ask “What would you call your music?” I call it noisy pop, weirdo pop… I’m pretty bad at this, it’s all pop to me.

Leapling Tour Dates:

9/09: Richmond, VA – Strange Matter 
9/10: William & Mary College (Williamsburg, VA)
9/11: Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC)
9/12: Raleigh, NC – TBA 
9/13: NC State University – WKNC house show 
9/14: College Park, MD
9/15: New Brunswick, NJ – Nowhere, USA 
9/16: Brooklyn, NY – Shea Stadium 

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PLAYLIST: The Top Acts To Catch At Northside Festival

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Hey Brooklyn! What are you doing next weekend? Really, the only acceptable answer is seeing at least one of these bands at Northside Festival, which runs from June 11-14 and hosts shows in venues from Acheron  to Warsaw. The schedule is packed with amazing artists, and to help you choose which shows to see, we made you a list of our favorites. You’re welcome.

1. Diet Cig  (6/11 at Alphaville)

This duo from New Paltz plays catchy, light-hearted pop that will have you copying the dancing in this video:

2. Beverly (6/11 at Alphaville)

This band comes with a warning: their lush, relaxing harmonies are addictive.

3. Luna (6/11 at McCarren Park)

Luna is the indie band formed by former Galaxie 500 member Dean Wareham, featuring guitar-centric, dreamy rock.

4. Drenge (6/12 at Knitting Factory)

Their name is a little challenging to pronounce, but these brothers from the UK have an amazing sound: heavy, grungy rock.

5. Leapling (6/12 at Palisades)

Just one in a long list of amazing local bands is Leapling, an experimental pop group responsible for gems like “Crooked.”

6. Vomitface (6/12 at Pet Rescue)

This sludge-pop band sounds way better than their name. If you’ve got some head-banging to get out of your system, go see them at Pet Rescue.

7. Frankie Cosmos (6/12 at Rough Trade)

Greta Kline formerly performed under the name Ingrid Superstar before settling on Frankie Cosmos. The daughter of actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates lists James Taylor, Hall and Oates, Liz Phair, Indigo Girls and the Moldy Peaches as early influences.

8. Mitski (6/12 at Saint Vitus)

Mitski is a stunning singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, via practically everywhere else. Go see her at Saint Vitus, where we’re hoping she’ll preview some songs from her upcoming album.

9. Von Sell (6/12 at Union Pool)

Von Sell is a relatively new electro-pop artist from Berlin who is already getting praise from indie blogs. Watch him play at Union Pool and see what all the fuss is about.

10. ONWE (6/12 at Union Pool)

ONWE’s light, catchy melodies hide something darker- just check out his song “Unpaid Internship,” his scathing opinion on “trust-fund kids.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wequcex-zXI

11. Shilpa Ray (6/14 at Rough Trade)

She plays the harmonium, and she’s one of Nick Cave’s favorite musicians: Shilpa Ray is bringing her uniquely gloomy rock ‘n’ roll to Rough Trade.

12. This entire lineup (6/13 at 50 Kent Avenue)

Celebrate the start of summer with an outdoor concert, and see four great bands in one place: Bully, Alvvays, Built to Spill and Best Coast.

SHOW REVIEW: Twin Sister + Moon King + Leapling

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Twin Sister • Photo by Shawn Brackbill

After a last minute cancellation by headliner School of Seven Bells, Long Island based band Twin Sister stepped up to the plate for an electrifying performance that truly stole the show.  Singer Andrea Estella has a mesmerizing demeanor, and her hushed, waif-like vocals beckon listeners in.  The full band has a seasoned stage presence and sound quality. The band mates are clearly in tune with one another on stage, and this resulted in some great moments of ebb and flow between instrumentation.  The set focused primarily on their newest album In Heaven, which was released in 2011, although die hard fans did their part and called out for the oldies.

Twin Sister falls into the category of some sort of Dream Pop/Disco hybrid, and keyboardist Dev Gupta defines this style with a mastery of classic synth sounds.  Estella joked that Gupta has a space station setup onstage, and his pile up of gear certainly looked the part.  Gupta uses a modular synth, a Yamaha DX7 vintage synth, and a midi controller he hooks up to music software programs Logic and Ableton.  I appreciated the precision of his playing and his sonic choices, although it left out the option for more spontaneity on stage.  At one point, Estella wanted to add in a song the audience was calling out for, but it wasn’t set up on his computer to play, so they had to skip it.  Yet this small inflexibility was a small price to pay for the quality he adds to the overall sound.

A highlight of the night was when guitarist/singer Eric Cardona kicked in on vocals for the song “Stop”.  His crisp, easy flowing voice was a nice surprise to add into the mix part ways through the show, and I craved mores songs that could feature him as a singer.   The acoustic encore included only Andrea’s voice with Eric on guitar and vocals, which resulted in refreshingly exposed harmonies, even if the duo was a little inexact.  Twin Sister captures a bizarre, spacey calmness that is truly ethereal.  The band turned out to be a natural headliner at the Hall.

Twin Sister – Stop
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Moon King • Photo by Dave Sutton

Moon King was raw emotional content.  I couldn’t help but fall in love with this band’s sense of wild abandon.  Singer Daniel Benjamin is the heart of this group, and he seems to completely lose himself in his music.  I found myself desperately wanting  to come along with him on the trip.  The group has a grungy rock look, and I kept feeling I’d transported into an impromptu Bushwick basement party, but they certainly filled out the Hall.  It is interesting to see Moon King describe themselves primarily as a duo, when the drummer was such a strong tertiary aspect to the group.  He was all passion, and his hard driving beats propel the songs quite nicely.  But after a bit it was clear he was going to play full blast on every song.  As a result, the songs felt too similar to one another.  If Moon King could take a few steps back on a song or two, the results could be an explosive calm, and the audience would have come along for the ride.  Guitarist/singer Maddy Wilde’s dramatic guitar style and airy vocal harmonies are indispensable, and she could do well to take center stage more often.  The band had an energetic youthfulness that will be interesting to watch mature.

Leapling

Stepping in as a last minute fill in, Leapling played the opening set.  This group has a laid back, indie pop feel, and they oscillate seamlessly between a simplistic, easy going style, and moments of more driven jamming.  Singer Daniel Arnes has a voice that sounds eerily similar to Benjamin Gibbard at times, and I found myself flashing back to my high school days of Death Cab for Cutie more than once.  Leapling’s performance was polished, and their loose, roomy style was a great kick off to the night.

When School of Seven Bells returns to Brooklyn, I will be sure to check them out, but in the mean time, I’ll be jamming out to my new find, Twin Sister.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]