segunda-feira, 30 de novembro de 2015

Stumbling Towards Purgatory with Whatfunlifewas - An Interview

Seriam os estadunidenses do Whatfunlifewas algo como um shoegazer progressivo com atmosferas psicodélicas?

É essa a impressão que tive ao ouvir cotidianamente o ep de estreia que já tem dois anos, Stumbling Towards Purgatory transpira os óbvios é claro, mas tem algo de improvável, uma certa insanidade ainda que inserida sutilmente.

É, o Whatfunlifewas é dessas bandas que aguardo ansiosamente o próximo passo.


***** Interview with Whatfunlifewas *****




Q. When did Whatfunlifewas start? Tell us about the history...
a) Whatfunlifewas was conceived primarily as a studio project. It was supposed to be an outlet for pop songs I had written that had no home in any of the bands I was playing in at the time. When the opportunity to have a professional recording arose, we took it. After the record was done, people were asking us to play shows, so a full band was assembled. We continue to play locally, and have toured the West Coast exactly one time.

Q: Who are your influences?
b) Beyond the obvious, (MBV, Slowdive, Lush, Ride, Pale Saints, Lilys, etc.) we appreciate a healthy dose of psychedelic rock from all decades (everything from Os Mutantes to Hawkwind to Loop and everything in between) as well as some of the seminal "slowcore" bands like Low, Bedhead, Galaxie 500, and Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon. I really enjoy the idea of sonic exploration through repetition, something at which Can, Neu!, Faust, and a lot of the other more experimentally oriented German rock bands of the time excelled. Obviously, we don't really sound anything like that, but I try to keep that spirit of exploration in mind when writing. Also, I really like old Heavy Metal and will occasionally write guitar solos because I have poor self control.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
c) Drive Like Jehu's "Yank Crime" is the greatest rock album of the last 30 years. Runners up are, in no particular order:
Slint-Spiderland Stereolab-Dots & Loops
King Crimson-In the Court of the Crimson
King Kool Keith-Black Elvis/Lost in Space
Brian Eno-Taking Tiger
Mountain by Strategy

Q. How do you feel playing live?
d) 3 out of 4 of us are audio engineers, 2 of us do live sound professionally, so being the band that's way too loud, barely sings above a whisper, and wants way too much reverb on the vocals sometimes gets to be a problem. Other than that, it's fine I suppose.

Q. How do you describe Whatfunlifewas sounds?
e) We try and create something that is simultaneously otherworldly and comfortingly familiar, like being at peace with mortality.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
f) Thus far, our recordings have consisted of myself and Justin, our drummer, laying down the bare bones of drums and a basic guitar track. From there, I build bass and supporting guitar tracks, and eventually vocals. Mixing mostly consists of Andy seeking out offensive overtones and eliminating them while I sit on his couch and play Mario Kart. When he needs a break from the monotony, he will play next to me and cry while I beat him mercilessly on Koopa Troopa Beach. Again. And again. And again.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
g) I'm generally pretty disinterested in a lot of newer pop bands. However, Jared from Balms has been organizing the best of the local dream pop/shoegaze bands into the Dreamgaze Collective. Anything he puts his name on is worth a listen. Beyond that, I really like the new Helen record. It's Liz Harris of Grouper fame doing a fuzzy, dreamy pop album. The guitars create a sonic wash, so the bass takes most of the melodies, which makes for a neat role reversal of typical guitar/bass interplay. And the vocal production is sublime.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
h) I've actually toyed around with covering Caetano Veloso tune "Oração ao Tempo." Those harmonies that come in towards the second and 3rd choruses give me chills and could be really cool if transposed to a more atmospheric and eerie voice. Additionally since the vocals are more of an instrument to be blended into the mix in Whatfunlifewas, it would fit to have them be in a language most listeners (yourself excepted) do not speak.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
i) We are planning on recording a full length in the very near future. I had recorded one last year, but was ultimately dissatisfied with the result. As such the decision was made to make recording a significantly more collaborative process so as to yield better results.

Q: Any parting words
 j) We are all going to die. None of us knows why we are here. Don't take what isn't yours. Don't be a dick.
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Thanks

https://whatfunlifewas.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/whatfunlifewas

Some Kind Of Magic with Mellow Lizard - An Interview

Psicodelia grega a serviço do derretimento de neurônios, este é o Mellow Lizard, projeto capitaneado pelo próprio Mr. Mellow Lizard.

É em Some Kind of Magic, o EP de estreia que o Mellow Lizard apresenta seu cartão de visitas, andamentos arrastados, pegajosos e aquela vocalização preguiçosamente chapada guiam as seis viagens sonoras.

O Mellow Lizard vem engrossar o poderio atual da espetacular cena psych mundial. 

Escute alto, e em todos os sentidos preferencialmente.

***** Interview with Mellow Lizard *****


Q: When did Mellow Lizard start? tell us about the history...
A: It all started one year ago,I always wanted to write my own stuff so I decided to make a solo project and start recording music. At the start I was recording only instumental songs then I
had the right equipment to record vocals synths etc. and I recorded some songs for an Ep that I released one month ago. There's not really much to say actually.

Q: Who are your influences?
A: Pink Floyd,Jimmi Hendrix,Mazzy Star and also a lot of newer bands like The Black Angels,All Them Witches, The Stargazer Lilies etc.

Q: Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
A: Well since it's the 5 albums of all time, I have to go from where I started
1.Led Zeppelin I
2.Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon
3.Jimmi Hendrix Are You Experienced
4.The Doors Morrison Hotel
5.Black Sabbath Master Of Reality

Q: How do you feel playing live?
A: I really love playing live,but i work alone at the moment so i can't do any shows right now but i'm
looking forward to it.

Q: How do you describe Mellow Lizard sounds?
A: A little bit psychedelic and "shoegazy" mellow sounds.


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
A: Well all of my music is recorded in my bedroom I plug in my guitar and start jammin, if it sounds good I start recording.I lay down some lyrics at the moment and get the song done.

Q: Which new bands do you recommended?
A: Sin Kitty (soundcloud.com/search?q=sin%20kitty)
The Mushroom Club (soundcloud.com/the-mushroom-club)
Jesus On Heroin (soundcloud.com/jesusonheroine)

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
A: I don't have a song in mind right now but I recently  covered one of my favourite songs "Wild Thing" by The Troggs.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: Right now I am recording some new stuff for an Lp I'm working on and I'm starting a new project with a good friend of mine,we will record some songs and hopefylly we will release an Ep in a month or two and I hope I will be able to do some live shows during 2016 to promote my upcoming Lp.

Q: Any parting words?
A: Music is everything.
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/mellow.lizard
https://mellowlizard.bandcamp.com

sexta-feira, 27 de novembro de 2015

Nada Que Pudiera Ser Llamado Lugar with Nueva Internacional - An Interview


Nueva Internacional vem de Valência na Espanha e acabou de lançar seu primeiro álbum, Nada Que Pudiera Ser Llamado Lugar. 

Um belo shoegaze que mescla MBV com Pains of Being Pure at Heart dando um belo aspecto bubblegum em sua estrutura de barulho. Outro ponto que nota-se desde o título do disco é que todas as letras são em espanhol e soam especialmente bem na massa sonora do Nueva Internacional.

Uma grata descoberta.

***** Interview with Nueva Internacional *****


Q. When did Nueva Internacional start? Tell us about the history...
We started in later 2013 as a two-man recording band. We played in several bands before but we never recorded anything, so we started the band to do a couple songs and share them on the internet. Some people liked the songs and asked us to play live, so we started looking for people top lay with us and complete the band. Now we are a band with five members on it.

Q: Who are your influences?
Related to the band’s sound, the main influences are classic shoegazing bands, especially My Bloody Valentin, as well as new shoegaze acts as Ringo Deathstarr or The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Another band we think about when we are composing the songs is The Horrors, the keyboard parts are awesome and the sound is just perfect. Refering to the lyrics, we like several spanish bands as Los Planetas, Nueva Vulcano or The New Raemon.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
With no particular order:
The Horrors – Primary Colours
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Los Planetas – Una Semana En El Motor De Un Autobús
Ringo Deathstarr – Colour Trip
Nueva Vulcano – Los Peces De Colores

Q. How do you feel playing live?
A little nervous before we go out, I think like the rest of the bands. Then we start to play, and it feels amazing: relaxing, envolving like a trance. We usually don't speak between songs or between each other, most of times are all looks between us and 'gaze at our shoes' Always we have the feeling that the live happens so fast.


Q. How do you describe Nueva Internacional sounds?
Noise, voices hidden behind layers of reverb and synths is our formula. We want to create an atmosphere of relaxing noise while in live we want to create a powerful wall of noise that that strikes the viewer

 Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
The process of recording is, most of the times, the process of composing the song aswell. We do both at the same time, we usualy start with a guitar line, and we add different layers. We don’t know how the song is going to sound or how it’s goint to be the structure of the song until we finnish the recording. We usually record the whole instrumental part of the song before we compose the vocal part and write the lyrics.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
To be honnest, most of the band we listen are spanish bands. There are several interesting artists nowadays in Spain. We recommend, for example Ghost Transmission from Valencia, a band based in Madrid called Role, Triangulo de amor Bizarro and one of our fauvorite spanish bands, El Último Vecino.

Q: Which bands would you love to make a cover version of?
We have already made an acoustic cover of My Bloody Valentine’s Loomer. We would also like to cover New Order’s Age Of Consent and any of the songs on El Último Vecino’s debut album.

Q: What´s the plan for the future....
We have just released our first album which took us a lot of time to record, so we are a little bit exhausted to think in a new album. We would probably release single songs and do some gigs around Spain, maybe some festival during the summer.

Q: Any parting words?
Thank you for the interview, and we hope to make a visit to Brazil someday
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Thanks

https://nuevainternacional.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Nueva-Internacional-506749446074029/

quinta-feira, 26 de novembro de 2015

Empress with Danxia - An Interview


E ainda dizem que nada de novo vale a pena na música, mas por aqui nas páginas do TBTCI esse comentário inexiste.

Belo exemplo, são os ingleses do Danxia, com menos de seis meses de existência, os ingleses demonstram em suas demos, aquele frescor que jamais vai desaparecer. Seguindo por caminhos psicodélicos entrelaçados com o shoegaze, o Danxia apresenta em suas quatro músicas, até o momento, um belo cartão de visitas.

Aguardamos os próximos passos, ansiosamente.

***** Interview with Danxia *****


Q. When did Danxia start? tell us about the history...
Well we are a collective from two different bands that rent a practise room together. Danxia is just another project off the back of that really. We started jamming together in June and just ended up forming into what we are now.

Q: Who are your influences?
Well this is a hard one to answer haha, our influences come from everywhere, from bands like OM all the way across to Tame Impala and Gas Lamp Killer. I think bands like Slowdive and MBV have influenced our recent work. However, we've recently acquired a new analog synthesiser so I think were going to take a few notes from bands like Portishead.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
In no particular order, as there's so many albums and to get it down to 5 is impossible. So here is 5 we have in mind at the minute.
Third by Portishead
Lonerism by Tame Impala
Neu! By Neu! Hail
to the thief by Radiohead
Souvlaki by Slowdive

Q. How do you feel playing live?
There is nothing on this earth more enjoyable then playing live, especially as Danxia. We seem to have a bond and just work together really well. It's good fun, very different to the recordings. We are definitely a live band. 

Q. How do you describe Danxia sounds? 
We all have a different taste in music, but the ones we agree on are psych and shoegaze. but we try to include our separate influences such as kraut rock, punk and even folk. We try to just gain influence from everywhere and channel it into our music. Our sound is mostly guitar driven but there are going to be some electric elements coming in. 


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ? 
Our process is very DIY. We do all the recording ourselves with a small selection of microphones, mainly sm57's. We don't have any fancy equipment or a nice recording space, but we do what we can. We treat recording as a casual thing, we just hang out and do our takes really. 

Q. Which new bands do you recommend? 
There's band from our hometown, and good friends of ours. They're called Sigmund Void. We can't stress enough how amazing these two are as song writers, Adam and Dave. They make the most beautiful music, you should check them out for sure. Another artist that's up and coming is a guy called Alex G from Philadelphia USA his album DSU is amazing. 

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of? 
We have covered a song by Warpaint in the past. But we would definitely love to cover Portishead at some point. 

Q: What are your plans for the future? 
We don't have any particular plans, just keep taking every day as it comes and enjoying ourselves. Playing as many gigs as we can and writing new songs. It's all you can do really isn't it? 

Q: Any parting words?
Just a thanks for your interest in our music, and that we wish you the best of luck in the future!
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Thanks

https://danxia.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/danxiaUK

Freizeit & Technik with Mängelexemplar - An Interview

Ouvir Freizeit & Technik do duo alemão de Düsseldorf, Mängelexemplar, é uma viagem nostálgica no tempo, adentrando ao universo gélido e dançante da Neue Deutsche Welle.

Muitos synths que matematicamente guiam as canções do duo, o clima NDW se mescla quase sempre com a new wave européia disco, e se funde com a minimal wave, sem ser tão experimental assim.

Perfeita para se jogar na pista e esquecer dos dias, grande álbum.

***** Interview with Mängelexemplar *****


Q. When did Mängelexemplar start? Tell us about the history...
Members: Lilli B. (lyrics, vocals) Joa H. (synthesizers, rhythm machines, vocals)

The Synth Wave Duo Mängelexemplar from Dusseldorf was founded in 2011.

One day we met as friends to exchange ideas and a good bottle of wine. From spoken words, a musical dialogue was quickly filled the space with sounds. It turned out that after several meetings, it should be a project that should only remain private .. But how life goes you could not permanently hide anything So finally our first album emerged in 2012

RELEASE 2012: LP: Hertz 036 [kernkrach.de], Mängelexemplar [Freizeit und Technik] 12“ Colored Vinyl, Lim. 300 - 03. Okt. 2012

After releasing the album we were in Europe live on the road so that the second album had to be long time in the coming. In this year 2015 it was ready at last to release our second album. Meanwhile, both releases have been sold worldwide (Germany, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Russia, USA, China, ... and so on). RELEASE 2015: LP: Hertz 043 [kernkrach.de], MÄNGELEXEMPLAR [Heim und Garten] 12“ Colored Vinyl, Lim. 300 - 14. Aug. 2015

Q: Who are your influences?
The music is influenced by the New Wave and NDW (Neue Deutsche Welle) sound of the early 80s: analogue and melodic synths paired with an authentic german singing, which is typical for this genre.

Definitely we are inspired by the 80's. We are kids of this decade and grew up with music like New Wave, Synth Pop and NDW. Even today you will find us on the dancefloor for sure dancing to songs out of the 80's. As we're using analogue synthesizer There Is No Chance to create a different sound and that's good. We love ana Logue sound and not be able to we will create a different type of music to be honest.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Bizarre Leidenschaft - Geheimnis DAF - Die Kleinen und die Bösen Boytronic – The Working Model Stephan Eicher – Spielt Noise Boys Kraftwerk - Radioaktivität

Q. How do you feel playing live?
When we play the music, we are in our own dimension ....excited and have a lot of fun. Only after the gig we become conscious, and we feel very happy about it, to have such a big fanbase who love our music.


Q. How do you describe Mängelexemplar sounds?
Concisely: It fits to us. We ourselves don’t tend to perfection and are very happy with our personal failures. Equal to a “Mängelexemplar”, where there is a hidden mistake so it is not perfect to sale . Though it is still complete and is not less important or has a loose in value. In addition we believe that every human being is a “Mängelexemplar”. In fact unique but with positive and negative failures. We do music the way we are able to do. Most of the time it comes out of our stomach as we use to say in Germany means that our music begins by instinct without extras and glitter. A perfect simple light music. Lovingly named “Minimal-Schlager” by us.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We live our music in a playful and spontaneous way. Normally we will meet to prepare new stuff. First ideas of melodies and sounds will give us the acoustic pattern to continue. From this Development a minimal simple sound with words and emotions comes out. At the same time the further affect has an influence of the process. This can last several days and nights until the product is finally recorded and mastered.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Sonnenbrandt - excellent german 80s Pop Disco Death (from Sardinia) - fantastic fresh dancable and minimal music Neonlichter Im Ausverkauf - german minimal synth punk

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
We don´t care about cover versions....we possibly could not make them sounding better...

Q: What´s the plans for future....
As long as we live, we will make the music of our lives to do what it is. A melody of our thoughts and the rhythms of our hearts.

We want to continue to get in touch with the people around the world who love our special sound. We will try to see and play in many countries and do funny things.

Our big dream is to play some gigs in South and North America...some day.

Q: Any parting words?
We thank all the fans around the world for their support, the positive encouragement, the many gigs in Europe and our Lable KERNKRACH.

Hope you like it... All the best and thank you! electronic greetings

Joa & Lilli
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Thanks

https://carisma-studios.bandcamp.com/album/m-ngelexemplar-freizeit-technik

quarta-feira, 25 de novembro de 2015

Convolve & Reflect with Pinnacles - An Interview


Depois do ótimo Automaton do ano passado os estadunidenses do Pinnacles voltam a carga com Convolve & Reflect, que facilmente esta anos luz a frente do primeiro, os caras conseguiram ficar mais densos, climáticos e pesados ao mesmo tempo.

Uma marretada em slow motion bem no centro do tímpano, que vai do barulho incessante até puras calmarias sonoras, uma mescla que brilhante acompanha as nove faixas do álbum

Se por algum motivo o Pinnacles tinha passado despercebido por você, corrija este erro imediatamente, Convolve & Reflect é feito sob medida para ouvir alto, bem alto.

***** Interview with Pinnacles *****


Q. When did Pinnacles start? Tell us about the history...
We formed in the Spring of 2013 in our hometown of Nevada City, CA. Justin (guitar/vocals) had been kicking around musical ideas with both Zach (drums) and I (guitar/vocals) in separate contexts, and eventually brought all three of us together to start working collaboratively. Jesse, a longtime friend of Justin’s, soon joined the band on bass and we immediately started recording in our makeshift studio, which really just consisted of a laptop and a few mics in the attic above my garage.

Q: Who are your influences?
All of us are such music-heads that it is hard to condense our influences down to a digestible list. To name a few albums that have been directly influential to our sound : Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins, The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused, Lateralus by Tool, Ok Computer/Kid A by Radiohead, Beacons by Cloudkicker, Songs for the Deaf by QOTSA.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Haha, that depends on which one of us you ask. I think we all really enjoy the intensity and release of live shows. Personally, I live for the live experience. We have a very heavy, visceral live show which makes for a cathartic experience on stage. That said, some of us really struggle with anxiety, self-consciousness, and all the destructive self-deprecation that consumes so many musicians, myself included. This can make getting up on stage a struggle. A lot of our lyrics on this record are about reckoning with this duality, which, when simplified, is the struggle of loving something and yet fearing what that requires of you; wanting to be heard but not wanting attention.


Q. How do you describe Pinnacles' sound?
Perhaps this is a question better answered by you, or someone outside of the band, haha. I don't really know; I always struggle to put labels on it. I think the sound naturally evolved into some tangent of post-rock and progressive rock with obfuscated vocals over the top. It is melodic and rhythmically complex; pretty and heavy. As one friend put it, "beautiful, atmospheric, and lush".

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We made this entire album ourselves, save for the mastering. After finalizing the song structures as a band in the practice room, we recorded scratch tracks to a metronome. Then, each of us went back through one by one and recorded our respective parts. We started the process in January of this year, so it took us about 9 months from start to finish. We don't have a sound-treated space or professional gear, so we ended up borrowing gear from friends and making adjustments on the fly to get the sounds we wanted. For instance, we made a "hi-hat muffler" out of a lampshade we found at a secondhand store because Zach's hi-hat was tracking way too loud. Justin served as our engineer, mixer and producer, and put in the brunt of the work. He and I would often spend 10+ hours a day working on the record, especially when it came to tracking guitars and vocals. But then he would go home and keep working on it, or sneak back to the studio, haha. It was an arduous process, but something about the obsession inherent in locking ourselves in the studio appeals to our introverted natures. As a result, there is a lot of attention to detail and a lot of layers to this album. It's definitely worth listening to on some nice headphones, if you have that luxury.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Pinnacles. But seriously.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
We've been working on a cover of 'Kiss from a Rose' by Seal...and the Jurassic Park theme song by John Williams.

Q: What´s are your plans for the future....
We are planning some album release shows in late January throughout Northern California. After that, we are planning a larger California tour in March. And as soon as we finish an album, we are always thinking about the next one...

Q: Any parting words?
There are a-brazilian words in the English dictionary, but I can't seem to think of any poignant enough with which to leave you.
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/pinnaclesband
https://pinnacles.bandcamp.com/

Horizon with appeal to heaven - An Interview

Uma bela revelação deste 2015, é o trio de Richmond, appeal to heaven, que debutou dia 01 de outubro com dois eps. Isso mesmo, ao invés de um, são dois eps, um complementando o outro, ou simplesmente poderia ser um álbum cheio, enfim, cabe a banda a melhor estratégia e formato.

O ponto é que Embrace e To Say se complementam. Sonoramente a banca caminha em algum lugar como um shoegazer épico, grandioso e eloquente, algo como se o U2 tivesse a verve gazer ele bem poderia se chamar appeal to heaven.

Bela (s) estreia (s).


***** Interview with appeal to heaven *****


1. When did appeal to heaven start? Tell us about the history...
VICTOR MA NASH: Appeal to Heaven officially formed early Spring 2015 when a few songs that were originally written to cut a two/three song demo quickly escalated into 2 5 song polished EP’s. But, I suppose the idea of Appeal to Heaven really started In the early 90’s when shoegaze seemed to flourish. There were some amazing bands that really kicked started our passion for music. It felt like the shoegaze scene broke all the rules of conventional songwriting and gave us the power to plug in a bunch of effects and design something unique and special for us. I remember walking into record stores and finding new bands based on their album cover alone. There was definitely a sound and culture that felt hidden from pop culture, which made it that much more special.

I was originally a drummer with a band called Strobe in High School with Jeff Ward who played bass. Jeff Ward’s brother Mitch Ward filled out on guitar. We were very much influenced by Ride, the Charlatans, Pale Saints, Catherine Wheel.. etc. High School was when we cranked up to 11, jammed every weekend, and developed as a Band. But with most bands, life came along and college, jobs, girlfriends set us on different paths. I think it was during that time I really began to invest more effort on guitar and keys. Having thin walls in an apartment in Philadelphia doesn’t really allow for drumming.

Everything came full circle when I returned home from Philadelphia to Richmond, Virginia and started writing songs with Jeff Ward again. We had met Jeff Carson through a mutual friend and decided to all get together in a basement in Petersburg, Virginia to see what happens. This dingy old basement had only one light and one outlet hanging from the ceiling. I am surprised we didn’t get electrocuted considering the fact we were standing in water. Those were some great times, and subsequently we named our recording/rehearsal studio after that first experience, One Outlet Studios. It's where we recorded our first 2 EP's.

Jeff Carson brought a sense of structure to the sound. It was the first time we had a singer, a leader if you will. As with most shoegaze bands, the vocals are blended in more with the music. This was a shift for us. It was a great opportunity to give placement and importance to the voice and the lyrics. It helped us in how we structure our songs and how we craft the sound and dynamics. Jeff Ward and I grew up playing music together, so there was already a natural chemistry and intuition that we just fell back into.

2: Who are your influences?
VICTOR MA NASH: The great thing about who we are is how diverse our individual influences are. Our sound is each our own, and when we started writing songs together, it just worked. It felt fresh. We all matured as musicians and songwriters through-out the years, and it really helped us create something special and unique. I fell in love with Slowdive’s sound early on. I hadn’t heard anything like that. The first time I heard the end of Catch the Breeze, I got chills. Cocteau Twins came right after. I realized I was in love with this wall of sound. It was like a tidal wave in slow motion; it felt emotional. My influences expanded as I got older. My passion for music grew more when my influences switched to Film Composers. I started writing a lot of scores. There was freedom in not following a verse, chorus structure. I was gobbling up all the soundtracks I could.. Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Johann Johannsson, etc. I realized over time the power of music in cinema. Writing a song and composing music feels like the same thing. You are telling a story and connecting with people emotionally. This influence has began to transcend into our sound and it’s getting us excited for the future of Appeal to Heaven.

JEFF WARD:  When I first started playing bass, I was listening to a lot of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Cure. But it was when I first heard Martin Blunt's bass lines in the Charlatans that everything changed for me. That was it. I started staying up late watching 120mins on MTV, discovering bands like The House of Love, Trashcan Sinatras, The Wonder Stuff… then I heard Ride… and everything changed again! That opened up so many doors. Slowdive, Chapterhouse, Adorable. In 1993, Victor, my brother and I were talking to Dean Garcia after a Curve show in DC. Dean asked, "So what else are you listening to lately?" And I replied, "Pretty much anything Alan Moulder produces." So then Dean says, "Alan's on the bus if you'd like to meet him…" That was also a pivotal moment. I think Alan Moulder was just as surprised that some kids wanted to meet him, as we were meeting him!

JEFF CARSON: I was influenced heavily as a young man by the passion, energy and sound of black gospel music. There was just a depth of spirit and soul in that world of music that immediately drew me in. At the same time my mom was a big fan of southern gospel quartets. We went to more quartet sing off's than was reasonable as a child! But even in that music, there was something beautiful about the tight harmonies. I was and still am a big fan of J.D. Sumner, which for the longest time held the Guinness World Record for deepest note sung. As a teen I began listing to things like Charlie Peacock, The Cure, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and many others. I'm a huge fan of the country music power house songwriters. There is just something magical about a well written story put to song. I'm still pretty diverse in terms of what I listen to. I think every genre and style has a strength that should be appreciated.

3. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
VICTOR MA NASH: My top five albums are really based on the significance of how it influenced me as a musician:
1. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
2. Slowdive - Just for a Day
3. Cocteau Twins - Victorialand
4. Catherine Wheel - Adam and Eve
5. Johann Johannsson - Fordlandia

JEFF WARD:
1. Ride - Nowhere
2. House of Love - self titled “Butterfly" album tied w/ Slowdive's Just for a Day
3. Pale Saints - Comforts of Madness
4. MBV - Loveless
5. Catherine Wheel - Adam and Eve

JEFF CARSON:
1. Charlie Peacock - Love Life
2. Billy Joel - The Stranger
3. Otis Redding - The Dock of the Bay
4. Tom Waits - Small Change
5. U2 - The Joshua Tree

4. How do you feel playing live?
Playing live is something we are looking forward to. It’s really an opportunity to bring the songs alive. I have always appreciated when you hear the song on the album and it takes on a whole new life on stage. The chorus may be twice as long, the breaks may go longer, and you really get to craft those awesome intros and feedback exits! Live is where the music gets let out of its cage. In the past, we’ve always brought new music to the stage before we recorded it. We approached it differently this time. We crafted our songs like a work of art first. We took our time making sure the songs were the best that they could be. Now we are looking forward to bringing them to the stage soon and sharing them with others.


5. How do you describe appeal to heaven's sound?
Every band struggles with the question, “what is your sound, what do you sound like”. Do you mean, are we good or do we sound like crap?, haha. It’s like asking someone to say something in another language or play something on the guitar. There is always that awkward pause. So, I’ll pause here.

I suppose I always tend to click on the Reverb Pedal, an occasional delay, and some sort of Swell/Overdrive Pedal. The sound is clean and lush with an occasional overdrive/fuzz. We’ve been experimenting with integrated keyboard/string arrangements to tap into our cinematic influences lately. Our songs are pretty dynamic. We’ve also made a conscious effort to try and not let every song sound the same or follow the same formula. I tend to gravitate using an acoustic guitar when I am writing new songs. It helps give the song the soul, the heartbeat. We also strive to write songs that if you were to hear us playing a show, you'd have to cross the street and check it out…to have a sound that's so appealing that even the angels want to join in, bringing Heaven to Earth in a way. I suppose that’s where our band name came from.

6: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
VICTOR MA NASH:The song writing process is really what makes us who we are. If I write a song, it usually comes very quickly when I first plug in. The music tends to come first, then we search for where the song wants to go. I'll usually demo the idea in Logic and send out a dropbox link for each of us to give it the car stereo test. That's when Jeff Carson steps in a opens it up with his melodies and structure ideas, which really helps give the song direction. Jeff Ward is always refining, shaping, and polishing the dynamics of the music. Lately, we've been sitting down and talking about our ideas. We’ll try and find the ‘voice’ of the song and structure it through our conversations. Then we plug in and see what happens. It was refreshing to approach songwriting this way. We’ve also been taping into adding a cinematic flare to our sound. The last two tracks on both our EP’s “When the Angels Come” came from wanting to tell a story. Each version of that song is an evolution. We hope to continue that with each new release.

JEFF CARSON: It used to be that we would try to figure out what the song wanted to say, and we would string together words we like that approached that end. With these 2 Ep's we really spent a lot of time trying to figure out what we wanted to say, and then letting the songs support that message in arrangement, production, and even overall musicality. It usually begins with Victor and/or Jeff Ward putting together a music hook, and then I add a lyrical direction. From there all bets are off. It's always interesting to go back and listen to the original ideas once a song is finished. Sometimes it's the same, sometimes it's very different.

7. Which new bands do you recommended?
VICTOR MA NASH: Its hard for me to recommend bands, because there are so many great ones out there. I suppose the real recommendation is to listen to something new each day. Go in a direction you normally don't go in. I tend to find some great music that way. Plus it keeps my ideas and influences fresh. I’ve been streaming a lot music from DKFM Shoegaze Radio lately… lots of great stuff on there.

JEFF WARD: Shy, Low is really good. They're also a local Richmond band. I recently saw DIIV open for Ride, and it was refreshing to see another generation of gazers bringing new elements to the scene.


8: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
VICTOR MA NASH: I've been listening to a lot of 50's music. I'd love to take an oldie and turn it on its head. Maybe the Everly Brothers tune, “All I Have To Do Is Dream”

JEFF WARD: I've always wanted to cover "Head On" by the Jesus and Mary Chain.

JEFF CARSON: I've always had a special connection to the lyrics in "In the Living Years" by Mike and the Mechanics. Maybe an interesting acoustic cover would be nice.

9: What´s the plans for future?
The future of Appeal to Heaven is looking great. We've had a great response so far with what we thought was just going to be a 2/3 song demo to find a drummer to having two polished EP’s for sale. We are just excited about playing music again. We already have a bunch of new songs in the works, but our goal now is to rehearse and play live.

10: Any parting words?
It’s really a great time for music. Social networks have really helped fuel new bands to reach a lot of people. Shoegaze seems to be reborn to a new generation, and that’s really exciting for us. It’s very cliche to say this, but we’ve almost gone back to our roots as musicians and starting writing music that we can connect to, music that means something to us. Thank You!, We appreciate all the support. Anyone wanting to follow us or keep track of what we are up to, you can reach us here:
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/appealtoheavenmusic
https://twitter.com/a2hmusic
https://www.instagram.com/appeal_to_heaven_music/
https://appealtoheaven.bandcamp.com

terça-feira, 24 de novembro de 2015

Space is the Place with Whimsical - An Interview


Sabe aquelas preciosidades completamente escondidas no submundo dos bons sons, aquelas que realmente nasceram no momento e na hora errada, mas que os deuses da música de certa maneira sempre atuam por maneiras obscuras e em alguns momentos algumas dessas maravilhas perdidas retornam afim de resgatar e transportar sua história e seu real merecimento.

Pois é, é basicamente isso que aconteceu com uma pequena grande banda chamada Whimsical. Em 2000 no auge no novo indie rock, veio a mundo o único e precioso álbum, Setting Suns are Semi-Circles, que para os iniciados é simplesmente item de colecionador, mas naquela época o shoegaze clássico do Whimsical obviamente não foi compreendido e a banda até tentou mostrar força mas o sucessor Sleep to Dream nunca foi terminado, continuando até pouco tempo sem ganhar forma de vir ao mundo.

Mas eis que, 2015 chegou, e a Saint Marie Records, gravadora predileta por aqui, fará o favor de nos brindar com o segundo e desejado álbum do Whimsical. 

É uma história tortuosa mas que enfim, chegou o momento do Whimsical ser devidamente realocado para o lugar onde sempre deveria estar. E para quem não os conhece, eis agora aqui nestas páginas a história e demais pormenores da história deles.

Para bandas como o Whimsical, o TBTCI tem uma classificação, ACIMA.


***** Interview with Whimsical *****


Q. When did Whimsical start? tell us about the history...
1. I tried to start a version of Whimsical in 1997, but it didn't actually happen until the summer of 1999. The first official line up of myself, Krissy, Tim, and Joe came about in July of 1999 and Mark joined in Feb of 2000. We played our first show in Chicago in Jan of 2000 and I think we had signed to Seraph Records by early summer of 2000. We went into the studio and recorded Setting Suns are Semi-Circles over the summer and it was released on cd in October of that year. Joe decided to leave the band soon after and Mike joined in on bass. This line up played Chicago about 1-2 a month for a few years, as well as recorded the Love Me/Sleep to Dream promo cd. Mike decided to leave the band in 2003. Brian joined on bass and we continued to play about once a month in Chicago with bands like Kill Hannah, Mira, Breather. Whimsical was unhappy with Seraph Records and we decided to leave the label in early 2004. Around this time, Tim was asked to leave the band and he was replaced by Andy on drums. This was the final line up of the band that recorded the unreleased second album, Sleep to Dream. Andy and I had played in a Shoegaze band called Mystified Thinking from '91-'95, so he was a good fit. The band spent the fall and winter recording 11 songs and the feeling in the band was that it had run it's course. By March of 2005, we were about 90% finished with the album when everything just stopped. Nobody was into the band anymore as some of us had moved onto other bands by this time. Whimsical just sort of faded away. In the spring of 2015 I found the missing hard drive with the unfinished album. I decided to take it upon myself to finish the album and see if i could get it released somehow. Shoegaze and Dream Pop were long dead when we were originally around, but it is alive and well in 2015. It was refreshing to hear these songs for the first time in 10 years and I really think people will love the album. In September of 2015, I sent out 10 cd's to labels and within a week, we were signed to Saint Marie Records. They will be releasing Sleep to Dream sometime in 2016. We couldn't be happier as all of us are still friends and there is no bad blood between us.

Q: Who are your influences?
2. In the very early ‘90’s, it was Slowdive and The Cure with some Ride, Lush, Verve, Joy Division and Lycia thrown in for good measure. By the time I started writing for what would become Whimsical, I wanted to try some shorter and more simple songs. I really liked Motorhome from Chicago, and I tried to copy some of what they were doing by adding that to my existing influences. If you’ve never heard their two albums, Sex Vehicle and Man of the future, go out and find them.


Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
3. Obviously I could make a list of my top 20 albums and still have trouble picking my top 5 albums. Some of these are not even really considered “Shoegaze” but to me, it’s all the same. If you asked me tomorrow, it might be a totally different list. If I’m just talking about the Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Ethereal genre, I’d say my top 5 albums would be:
1. Slowdive-Just for a Day
2. The Cure-Disintegration
3. Lycia-Ionia
4. Seefeel-Quique
5. Ride-Nowhere

Q. How do you feel playing live?
4. I love playing live. It’s one of the top two reasons I do this. I haven’t performed in two years because I had a baby and it’s just become too hard these days. From the time I was around 15 until I was 37, I played live 1-2 times a month with one of my bands. It’s a huge high for me when a show is going well. There’s no other feeling like it in the world. Whimsical hasn’t played a show since mid 2004, so it’s been a long time.

Q. How do you describe Whimsical sounds?
5. I’m not sure how i would describe us. We are very song oriented and not very noisy. Some bands try to copy My Bloody Valentine and just go for the most fuzzed out song possible, but we never did that. We were always more clean a sounding with pop song structures. Sort of like early Ride and Lush I guess. You could play our songs on an acoustic guitar and it would basically sound the same without the FX pedals. I always referred to us as Dream Pop.


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
6. On Setting Suns are Semi-Circles, we recorded all the music at a studio that I worked at. All the vocals were recorded at my home studio and then we mixed it at the real studio. It was sort of rushed, but we gave it our best shot. I wish I could have mixed it differently though. The new album, Sleep to Dream, was recorded mostly at my home studio back in 2004 and finished at my home studio in 2015. I think it sounds more like how I always thought we sounded live. It’s not perfect by any means, but it does the job for sure. We just recorded the drums first, then the bass, then all the guitars go last. After that we do the vocals and whatever added sounds as well. Pretty straight forward recording process that most bands follow really.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
7. I really like Mint Julep, Seasurfer, Anne, Pinkshinyultrablast, The Appleseed Cast, and Nothing is pretty good if you can get past their bullshit. I thought the first two Silversun Pickup albums were great, but the last two albums have been terrible. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone important.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
8. I recorded a version of Dagger by Slowdive that is very different to the original. Most people might not even be able to tell it’s the same song. I’ve also done A Strange Day by The Cure as well. These might be released someday. I would love to do Ionia by Lycia or She’s a Superstar by Verve.


Q: What are your plans for the future?
9. We will finally have Sleep to Dream released sometime next year by Saint Marie Records. I know a few songs will be on some compilations as well. I still have around 10 old demo songs that we never used from when the band was originally around, so you never know, there could be a 3rd album at some point. I would love to get a version of the band to play some festivals if possible. All of us are living in different states at the moment, but if the opportunity presented itself, we’d love to play again.

 Q: Any parting words?
10. Up until 6 months ago, I never thought I would hear these songs again. The hard drive had been lost for many years and I was always sad that no one would ever hear these songs. Now the album is coming out on a great label like Saint Marie, and it’s almost like this is how it was supposed to happen. When the band was active, no one gave a shit about this type of music and now there are a ton of bands, labels, websites, etc. It’s great that we finally get a chance to let people hear the album. We hope people enjoy it, because it was about 4 years of writing and we never thought it would be released. Thanks for the interview and for helping us spread the word about Whimsical.
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/WhimsicalBand

Celestian with Cat Hoch - An Interview


O frescor da psicodelia guiada por garotas espaciais. Este é o Cat Hoch de Portland, que acabou de debutar com o pegajoso e viciante EP  Look What You Found, com quatro pérolas que mais parecem um inusitado cruzamento em ABBA e BJM.

É derretimento sonoro suave e sensual como deve ser feito.

Pra ouvir chapado ou apaixonado, ou os dois, e não necessariamente nessa ordem.


***** Interview with Cat Hoch *****


Q. When did Cat Hoch start? Tell us about the history...
I started tracking demos in my basement a few years back using headphones and some shitty program i downloaded on my samsung. Ive always written stuff just never put it to fruition.

Q: Who are your influences?
Man so many...ABBA, spacemen 3, spiritualized, spice girls, bjm, the warlocks, tame impala, the band, jimi hendrix, neil young, the happy mondays, the horrors..so damn much

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
in no particular order
spiritualized- ladies and gentlemen
the horrors - primary colors
paul mccartney - RAM
the doors - the doors
black sabbath - black sabbath album

Q. How do you feel playing live?
I love it! it is intense tho


Q. How do you describe Cat Hoch sounds?
Psychadelic dream pop jazz dad samba mama ;)

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
Working with Riley is pretty amazing, we kind of just went in there together and experimented. i come up with a song he sort of puts his production twist on it ~

Q. Which new bands do you recommended
Jackson boone, soft metals, WL, froth, Appendixes, (lot of this is out of portland)

Q: Which bands would you love to make a cover version of?
GIRLS, BIG star

Q: What´s the plan for the future....
To tour my little heart out

Q: Any parting words?
thanks and follow your dreams!!
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Thanks

https://cathoch.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cathochmusic

segunda-feira, 23 de novembro de 2015

Always Promise Paradise with Droem - An Interview



Uma literal viagem cíclica e delirante mesclando caos e boas vibrações, o Droem, onde não há muitos e informações específicas a respeito dos caras, o sabido é que são um trio e fora isso nada mais.

Talvez todo e qualquer tipo de informação seja mera ilustração, porque ao dar play no canal deles no soundcloud é o que realmente importa.

Feche os olhos, prepare seu drink ou algo mais forte e boa viagem.


***** Interview with Droem *****

Q. When did Droem start? tell us about the history...
Droem started as an anarkist punk band around five years ago. We have been recording demos and living in diffenrent countries in seach for our sound.

Q: Who are your influences?
This question is really difficult. Guess we are inspired by all the chaos that surrounds us.

Breakcore, Bartok, Larry David, Presence, balance between chaos and good vibes, Ar Kane, Gabba front Berlin, Trance, Ulver, Dwight Twilley Band, Gangstar, Line dance, Psychosis, Ozric Tentacles, Teenage Filmstars, Zappa, Solid deep house, VU’Doors. Cosmos

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Its hard to agree on between three people. We listen to all kinds of music .


Q. How do you feel playing live?
We never played live.

Q. How do you describe Droem sounds?
Free and chaotic.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We went to a isolated farm in the middle of nowhere, did mushrooms and recoded some jams.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
“Rolling Homes”

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Guns ‘ roses – my michelle
Venetian Snares – my so called life
Donovan - Celeste
Spice Girls – 2 become 1
Lifelover – Androier

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Make the music more insane

Q: Any parting words?
“Death is only the beginning”
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Thanks

https://soundcloud.com/dr-m-30
https://www.facebook.com/droemmusic

Sunday Driver with a & e sounds - An Interview


A Islândia vira e mexe sempre nos brinda com espetaculares novidades, daquelas que não é possível não se curvar, vide Singapore Sling, Dead Skeletons entre outros, e das cinzas de um predileto do submundo dos bons sons o Two Step Horror nasceu e cresceu, o psicodélico, hipnótico, climático e por vezes angustiante, a & e sounds.

lp lançado em junho desse ano é uma preciosidade, que resume basicamente todo o conceito do TBTCI, poderia apenas ser resumido, como "uma viagem ao submundo dos bons sons", note que a viagem tem apenas o ticket de ida, a volta meu amigo, fica a seu critério.

Psicodelia moderna, com toques de décadas de boa música, esqueça rótulos, e mergulhe profundamente na viagem proposta pela a & e sounds, sua mente e sua alma certamente agradecerão.

***** Interview with a & e sounds *****


Q. When did Electric a & e sounds start? tell us about the history…
Þórður: Hi Renato and thanks for having us. The project originally started when I took a semester in Weissensee Kunst Hochshule in Berlin last year, I wasn’t really trying to start anything new, I just needed a project to categorise some new tracks I was doing at the time. The school didn’t really care if I attended or not so at some point I just stopped going there and stayed at home recording.

After I came back home I teamed up with a good friend of mine Kolbeinn Soffíuson and we decided to take the project further as he was finishing his sound engineering studies at Studio Sýrland here in Iceland. We took our top 12 pick of the bunch (8 made it to the record) into Control 1—recording studio at studio Sýrland—and recorded drums with Orri Einarsson (from the Dead Skeletons). We recorded a male choir called Bartónar, pianist Þóranna Björnsdóttir and re-did some guitars and bass. We also recorded in Hallgrímskirkja; a landmark church that lays over Reykjavík on a hill, like an Egyptian Sphinx. Then we spent about a month mixing and mastering.
Kolbeinn: Like Þórður says I was studying sound engineering at the time and for my graduation project I needed to finish a 10 track LP. I had listened to some of Þórður's demos and really liked them so there was no doubt in my mind that this was the right project. I think we were able to maintain the raw character of the demos to some extent, but to me the overall sound of the album is very smooth and dreamy. We worked very closely together in the mixing process and I am very proud of the final outcome.

After finishing the album we had gotten so connected to the project that we decided to put together a band to start performing live. We had played together before with Two Step Horror so this was a very logical step for us to take.

Q: Who are your influences?
Þórður: I’m influenced by a lot of things, I think I am a fairly impressionable person, at least to a certain extent. I was for instance very influenced by the fast moving rhythm of Berlin. The songs I recorded since last fall are hugely influenced by that steady, electronic techno beat of Berlin in some interlaced flow with minimalistic melodies. It’s built up with more focus to the progression of each layer rather then to have some sort of narrative.

I think it would be a cliché to list a bunch of musicians and say “these are my influences, here my creative fire is born” you know? it’s a subjective ongoing study. And I think you are influenced by a feeling rather than something else. I mean I don’t listen to Michael Rother and think, I’m gonna make a Michael Rother song, but perhaps when I’m making a song in a certain mood, I will think to myself “that song has a fucking Michael Rother feel to it”. Or something, I also like coffee, highly influenced by coffee.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Þórður: right, I’ll just name the first 5 that come to mind:
Neu! – Neu!
Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby
Clinic – Visitations
Singapore Sling – Life is Killing my Rock’n’Roll
Suicide – Suicide

Kolbeinn:
1. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
2. The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
3. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
4. Depeche Mode – Music for the Masses
5. Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies
6. Can - Tago Mago

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Kolbeinn: It feels good to play with talented musicians. A steady rhythm section backing you up makes everything much easier.

Q. How do you describe a & e sounds sonority?
Þórður: ehh, I had to google sonority, so are you asking about hierarchy within the music?
I think it’s the drums and the bass that lead the whole thing, then the two guitars come in with heavy delays and just ramble some jam on top, then underneath all that is maybe a synthesizer being modulated to create some sort of an ambient carpet.

Kolbeinn: Someone described our music as "hard to define". Maybe that sums up the sonority as well?


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Kolbeinn: Þórður already had recorded the demos when we started working together and the arrangements were pretty much laid out. We did focus a lot on getting a good drum sound and Orri was very professional to work with. We had access to high end microphones and equipment at Studio Sýrland and did the drum recordings in a big space with nice acoustics. Although the album might be described as "lo-fi" where expensive equipment doesn't have as much to say I think we were able to find a good balance between these different elements. Of course you can only get so far with high end gear but we did our best with good mic placement, getting good takes thus making the post production much easier.

(Sunday driver, music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tidyeJdXkgk )

We had an interesting session at Hallgrímskirkja church where we recorded a huge pipe organ which can be heard on a few tracks. After mixing it in the effect of the organ is very subtle, an extra layer in the overall soundscape, but the sound of those takes is very nice and the natural church hall reverb combined with the warmth and clarity of the organ is amazing. Another memorable session was recording Bartónar male choir which is a very energetic bunch of lads. Also the sound of the grand piano in the final song of the album was something we put much effort into and Þóranna's playing is flawless in my opinion.

We learned a lot of good techniques in the process of making the record that we will continue working with although our next album will be very different for various reasons. All of the new recordings are made in our private studio Konsulat where we are always trying out new techniques, different microphones, mic placements and switching out gear. I think it's a never ending story searching for the correct sound for each track at any given moment depending on the mood.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Þórður: I don’t know if they are all new—they are not old either—so this is my list:
Death and Vanilla
russian.girls
Pink Street Boys
Fufanu (we just did a remix for their song ‘now’)
The Paperhead
Allah-Las

Kolbeinn: russian.girls and Pink Street Boys are definitely two of the most exiting Icelandic bands at the moment. I mostly listen to the same old stuff so I can't think of any other new bands at the moment.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Þórður: Ghost-rider in the sky, Spacelady’s version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Dq0ngHOQg

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Organise a tour and get on the road.

Q: Any parting words?
Yeah we are finishing up lp-2 hopefully that will be out early next year, then we are doing an EP with russian.girls called russian sounds. Then there’s a 4 song B-sides EP ready and another LP that we will probably release online.

Check out Shields: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annuLooVTU0
That one is a cannon.
Phase, lows and harmonics.
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/aandesounds/
https://aandesounds.bandcamp.com

sábado, 21 de novembro de 2015

So Far with The Way of Grace - An Interview


Paris continua a nos brincar com preciosidades escondidas no submundo dos bons sons, dessa vez quem aparece envolto a melodiosas e elegantes sonoridades calcadas na sofisticação de um Lloyd Cole atreladas à um espectro dreampop inconfundível é o quarteto The Way of Grace.

O próprio nome da banda poderia muito bem exemplificar sucintamente os caras.

Conselho, não os perca de vista.

***** Interview with The Way of Grace *****


Q. When did T.W.O.G. start? tell us about the history...
T.W.O.G really started a little bit more than 2 years ago, which is a little bit weird since we've all been best friends forever and we've all been playing music but never all together before. Maybe because Malek and Amine were more into one style of music (they played together in a band in high school) and Majd and Adam in another (they have a prog / metal band together). Today we don't even know how we could not have thought of it before, but it proves that it's never too late!

Q: Who are your influences?
If we stay brief we'd say we're very influenced by the New York indie rock of the 00's like Interpol or The Strokes, but also a lot of post-rock (Mogwai, Explosions in The Sky). It could also be prog music like Dream Theater.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
it's difficult to make a list but we'll tell the albums that influenced the most our way of playing
- Amine : The Stills -  Logic Will Break Your Heart
- Malek : The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows
- Majd :- Metallica - …And Justice For All
- Adam : Planet X - Moonbabies
- Every Pink Floyd album

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Well playing music you like is one of the best sensation you can have in life, so sharing it with people is even more wonderful, although the first times can be quite scary. But the more you play live, the more pleasure you have playing shows, and we think the audience can feel it too and they're receiving more pleasure as well.


Q. How do you describe T.W.O.G sounds?
haha we never know how to answer this question. We are sometimes described as dream pop or shoegaze but we're not sure we're only that. Guitars are very present in our song, with lot of reverb and delays, and on vocals as well. But the rhythmic section tends to be groovy and punchy, maybe because of our different backgrounds.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We record all songs at home where we gathered some audio equipment over the years. It's probably the toughest and least interesting part when you make music but we hope we're getting better at this for each new song.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
We kind of like some new French bands like Feu! Chatterton

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
We never made covers but we were thinking of maybe covering "NYC" by Interpol or "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups because we love them and they fit to our sound.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We will be releasing our second video clip "Carrie" at the end of the year. We're also recording new material that will be released next year. We plan on playing more shows too and also outside Paris.

Q: Any parting words?
Thank you very much for your interest in our music! We know we have few fans in Brazil, we hope we'll be playing there one day!
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Thanks

http://www.thewayofgraceband.com/
https://soundcloud.com/the-way-of-grace
https://www.facebook.com/wayofgrace

sexta-feira, 20 de novembro de 2015

Woodstock with Swiimers - An Interview



De, Seul, Coréia do Sul vem os novatos sonhadores do Swiimers.

Após chamarem atenção no meio iniciado com o EP de estreia intitulado Ultra High Frequency, fazendo um dreampop com aquele típico apelo oriental, o Swiimers simplesmente ao que tudo indicava tinha sucumbido a avalanche de bandas oriundas do outro lado do hemisfério, mas eis que no mês passado soltaram duas amostras do que será o novo EP ainda sem data prévia de lançamento, mas pelo aperitivo com Woodstock, divida em duas partes, eles mostram que aperfeiçoaram a receita e acresceram elementos de trip hop deixando o trabalho mais charmoso.

Aguardemos então, coisa boa virá por aí.

 ***** Interview with Swiimers *****

Q. When did Swiimers start? Tell us about the history...
MQ: Swiimers started out under the name of UHF Seoul. MQ wanted to change the musical color after a while, and recruited new members to form Swiimers.
Current line up was completed early this year. Our official debut was made with single titled Polaris in August.

Q: Who are your influences?
MQ: There are many great musicians... I'm not sure lots of people would think of Sigur Ros while they listen to our songs, but Sigur Ros has been some critical influence to my music. Also there are Sonic Youth, Massive Attack, Mojave 3, Bon Iver, Radio Dept... I guess almost all of the musicians I like must have influenced the music I make. Some of the K-pop songs as well.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
MQ:
Bon Iver / Bon Iver
Sigur Ros / ( )
The National / Cherry Tree
Joy Division / Substance
Radio Dept / Lesser Matters

Sunwoong:
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Yeah yeah yeahs - It's Blitz!
Twenty One Pilots - Vessel
Nothing`s Carved In Stone - Parallel Lives
Acidman - And World

Pyunggang:
Bon Iver / Bon Iver
Adele / 21
Ellie Goulding / Halcyon Days
Sam Smith / Nirvana.
Demian Rice / My Favourite Faded Fantasy

Q. How do you feel playing live?
MQ: It makes me feel like I've finally found a space that I belong. You know, standing under the light that's exactly there in purpose of shining on me, people looking at the stage expecting to see me standing there... When you just "exist" in nowhere you feel like you're not sure if this is the right place for you to be. I can never be sure. But when I'm playing live, I know I've got something to do right now, and I know that's where I'm supposed to be. That's an awesome way to feel you're not totally useless.

Sunwoong: It's simple for me. I'm excited and happy when I'm playing live.

Pyunggang: I try to embrace the vibe between my play and the audience. When they click, I feel some sort of fullness, or the energy.

Q. How do you describe Swiimers sounds?
Sunwoong: The dreams of a dolphin in the deep ocean?

MQ: It's a sound that frees your body and mind. (is what I hope)

Pyunggang: The ultimate healing song! That release and relieve all the emotions.


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Sunwoong: First MQ makes the basic structure of the songs. She records, sequences, and plays to make a rough demo, and then share it with us. We take a listen to the song, try to get inspired, and then with some ideas we meet up to practice and collaborate and see if they work out. We try to build the details together, and then when we're done with making the more sophisticated demo, that's when we start the real recording. Right from the very beginning.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
MQ: A Korean rock band Life and Time just released their first full-length studio album. They're very different from our musical color, but their album is totally mind-blowing.

Sunwoong: I don't think Toe is a new band, but still I'd like to recommend it for those who are not familiar with the name. It's a Japanese Math Rock band.

Pyunggang: I had a chance to get to know Mr. Nah Band (나상현씨 밴드) the other day, and found the members were real dudes. They know how to have fun and how to make people feel amused. It's a band full of positive energy.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Sunwoong: M83-Midnight City
Arctic Monkeys-505
Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Maps

Pyunggang: I think covering Adele's songs would be a cool challenge. She has this incredible soul in herself, and I feel like we might be able to interpret it into our own musical color.

MQ: The first generation K-pop girl group, S.E.S with their song I Love You (너를 사랑해). But I'd rather play the guitar than dance while singing.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
Sunwoong: Going to the Pentaport Rock Festival!

Pyunggang: Yeah, that and to be acknowledged by the public as an awesome guitarist would be my personal plan.

MQ: I'll be super excited if I can tour the world, you know, visiting cities of rock...
But for now, we're trying to focus on the upcoming first album. It's going to be an EP, and we're planning to release it in December this year.

Q: Any parting words?
Thank you for interviewing us, and thank you for reading!
Please love our music, and like us on our fb page when you've got nothing to do. When you have things to do, like us anyway.
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Thanks

https://decembrejanvier.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/swiimers/

Ghost Mountain with Thought Forms - An Interview


Seguindo a tradição caótica e doentia de mestres como Loop e Telescopes (fase Taste), o trio londrino Thought Forms é simplesmente a medicação correta pra quem necessita de tratamento intensivo para ativar seus neurônios tornando-os mais insanos ainda.

Pegue Ghost Mountain de 2013 ou o LP Split com o Esben and The Witch do ano passado e sinta a intensidade sonora e cíclica dos caras.

Doses cavalares de kraut, repetições intermináveis de acordes a serviço da deterioração pragmática da mente, acrescente pitadas de Bardo Pondo e os já citados Loop e Telescopes, e prepara-se para a devastação.

Simplesmente espetacular.

***** Interview with Thought Forms *****


Q. When did Thought Forms start? Tell us about the history...
Thought Forms began in 2004 - a good friend of mine from school, Emily, played drums and she put an advert on a local music forum to find musicians to start a band with. This guy called Deej replied.

I’d seen him around - he was the pretty Indian boy who worked at Blockbusters and I’d heard through my then-boyfriend that he made really cool experimental films, so I took her up on her invitation to join them for a jam and we clicked straight away.
We had so much fun making noise together that afternoon in Emily’s bedroom… The connection we had was amazing and we were pretty much inseparable from that day on.

We started playing gigs locally and went out to the US for the first time in 2006 to play at Terrastock Festival but then Emily moved to Cardiff and left the band, so we asked this brilliant drummer if he’d join us… Guy Metcalfe… he was only 13 years old at the time, but he’d already been gigging locally for a few years. That’s how we knew of him - his band had supported us once and we were blown away by how good he was. And he was incredibly lovely. The three of us fit together really well. And that was that.

Q: Who are your influences?
We are influenced by everything that makes us feel. In terms of musicians, we’ve been lucky enough to work closely with some amazingly talented people who’ve been a huge positive influence on us. I think Warren Ellis is amazing.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
That’s such a hard question… But… 5 perfect albums:

• Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
• Melanie de Biasio - No Deal
• Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
• Portishead - Third

Q. How do you feel playing live?
We get really nervous beforehand… but it all melts away as soon as we start to play and we feel incredibly connected and lost in the sound.
It’s a powerful feeling.

Q. How do you describe Thought Forms sounds?
We're a rock band. We used to be mostly instrumental but now we have a lot of words.
People have said things like drone-rock-psych-grunge-noise-gaze.


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
With our first (2009’s self titled) album for Invada we went in and did the songs completely live.
But for the last two records (2013’s Ghost Mountain LP and 2014’s split LP with our friends Esben and the Witch) we took a different approach - for starters, we worked with an amazing producer, Jim Barr. So we had an outside influence and that was really refreshing. We focus a lot on refining the arrangements and adding subtle touches.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Repo Man. They’re an amazing 4 piece band based in Bristol… drums, searing guitar, amazing bass groove and impassioned poetics interleaved with wonky violin and free sax… The energy between them onstage is completely captivating and the music is thrilling, vital extremely danceable. I love them. They got me excited about music again. Check out their last single, “Static Excess Strobe Effect”. https://youtu.be/wRp7sHtcNKo

Q: Which bands would you love to make a cover version of?
I have such a long list of songs I want to cover… Right now the top three are by Patsy Cline, Fleetwood Mac and Get The Blessing.

Q: What´s the plan for the future....
Release our new album in 2016 and tour, see as many places together as we possibly can.

Q: Any parting words?
Always take your time. Breathe.
And… Hopefully see you in Brazil someday. Thank you.
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Thanks

http://thought-forms.weebly.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thought.forms.uk/