Familia de Lobos by Familia de Lobos - An Interview

Os fantasmas de Jim Morrisson e Mercedes Sosa certamente permeiam a obra do quinteto argentino Familia de Lobos.

Música para cruzar desertos áridos em busca da cura da alma, embalados por uma psicodelia xamanistica e mantrica, os caras também poderiam servir de trilha sonora para algum filme de Quentin Tarantino, sem maiores problemas.

O debute "Familia de Lobos" é feito sob medida para uma imersão, ou seria uma emersão, o sentido certamente vai depender muito do seu estado psíquico, ou do que você mais necessitará no momento.

Para esta viagem, a Familia de Lobos lhe oferta o ticket de ida, a volta, dependerá único e exclusivamente de você.....boa viagem.

***** Interview with Familia de Lobos ******

Q. When did Familia de Lobos begin? Tell us about the history…
It began something like 3 years ago, in my apartment Eric (voice and guitar) and I (charly, guitar) we used to play together before, many years ago. None of us were playing at that time and decided to get together again. By that time we were listening to other music and bands, so we spent some time forming and shaping our sound. We wanted to do something different from what we used to play and from what we listened in bands in Argentina, but separated from international influences. We used to live something like 1:30 hour away from each other, so we settled fixed days for working, as if we were in an academy or something like that. We tried several formations, and we couldn't get a band together for several reasons, so we started programming bases and experimenting with other ways of composing, trying to play live with less musicians. In between we started trying other instruments, andean precolumbinian instruments, in a very instinctive way, bombo legüero, quenas, sikus, percussive instruments, and little by little started forming that sound that we were looking for, wanting to sound like a rock band but from Argentina, with south american sounds. Argentina has a very rich rock history, but we always had the feeling that everybody tended to look outside, instead of looking in, we started looking in. Once we had that sound in mind and some songs, we went to the studio to record an album and having the material to look for musicians and showing what we had. Mari Anselmo (one of our percussionists) joined the band in between, and slowly some friends join aswell, Andy Merlo in synth and sampler, and Matias Blanco also in percussion.

Q: Who are your influences?
From argentina: Vox Dei, Pescado Rabioso, Micaela Chauque, Atahualpa yupanqui, Mercedes sosa… From abroad: The Doors, Pink Floyd, Can, Black Sabbath...

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Ufff… this is hard, lets see, not in order...

1. The Doors - The Doors
2. Pink Floyd - Meddle
3. Vox Dei - La biblia
4. Pescado Rabioso - Artaud
5. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Q. How do you feel playing live?
We are expecting that with Familia de Lobos, since the band was finally formed something like 3 months ago. We recorded the album without having a full band together, so we are very anxious, and looking forward to our first gig. We played live in the past, and one of the reasons we started doing music again is because we couldn’t stand seeing live bands without having that feeling of wanting to be up there playing, so I think that is the best answer.

Q. How would you describe Familia de Lobos sounds?
Psychedelic garage mambo (Made in argentina)

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Started with some demos, homemade demos, then went to Electric Chesterland, a studio in Buenos Aires and recorded them propperly, and with better gear. Everything went well until that, mixing it was a nightmare, as we were three at that time, we didn’t had all the musicians, so we recorded lots of tracks “just in case”. The process that came after was incredibly long, but we learned a lot.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Knei, Kill West, Oro, Cholo Visceral, Culto al Qondor...

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
We are working on some Vox Dei tracks, definitly we will do “Moises” or “Genesis”, maybe both!

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Playing live this album, as much as we can, and we are starting producing our second album, probably we will release some songs this year, maybe two.

Q: Any parting words?
Let us be free, the rest matters not. (José de San Martín)
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Thanks

https://familiadelobos.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/delobosfamilia/

Glitterer with Illogical Time Concerns - An Interview

John Ricksen é a mente por trás do projeto, Illogical Time Concerns.

Um trabalho exclusivamente de estúdio e, com uma extensa discografia a ser desvendada. Mas, por aqui vamos apenas focar no que é, ou ao menos, tentar dar um direcionamento a você, no que o ITC te oferta.

A começar pelo mais recente álbum, "Glitterer", lançado há pouco menos de um mês, onde se comparado por exemplo ao trabalho anterior, "Badlands II", do ano passado, traz uma mudança conceitual. Enquando "Badlands II" soa mais cru e orgânico, "Glitterrer", ao contrário, exprime uma sonoridade mais moderna, com evidentes efeitos criados por samples e eletronices diversas, mas sempre com guitarras em evidência.

Reserve seu tempo e experimente experimentar uma banda com conceito de não banda onde tudo pode ser experimentado, sem rótulos, sem pré requisitos, apenas música, assim é o Illogical Time Concerns.

***** Interview with Illogical Time Concerns *****

Q: When did Illogical Time Concerns begin?
A:Illogical Time Concerns is the solo project of John Ricksen who has been creating music since 2004 (Sometime collaborators include Mark Ricksen – John’s brother and Billy Boyle -drummer from Collider). The project started when my college band broke up and I realized I still needed an outlet for expression via music. ITC has been releasing a record or two every year since its inception – even while running in conjunction with my other band Collider (2008 - 2011). I currently only have my output from 2010 – current available on bandcamp.

Q: Who are your influences?
A: I was a child of the 90s and grew up right in the heyday of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins. Those bands definitely made an impact – as well as the discovery of shoegaze and ambient music as I grew a bit older. I am a huge believer in tone – music that takes you to a different / specific place.

Q: Make a list of 5 albums of all time:
A: Seems like an impossible question – I’ll list 5 below that have been resonating for me with explanations:

Hammock – Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow – I have listened to this album every night for 10+ years.

Radiohead – Kid A- Probably the best album to come out in my lifetime – I love how they went experimental at the height of their popularity – the tone is all encompassing.

Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street – My favorite sunny day album – loose /ragged rock n roll.

Stooges – Raw Power – Have started listening to this a lot in the last few years – does rock n roll get better than this? Search and Destroy might be my favorite rock n roll song of all time.

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk – Heard this for the first time a few summers ago and keep coming back to it – great vibes –love the experimental exploratory tone.

Q: How do you feel playing live?
A: ITC is primarily a studio project. ITC has played live only a number of times in very intimate settings. Not a big fan of playing live at this point – as a one man show there is too much to balance in a live setting that the rewards are diminished.

Q: How do you describe ITC’s Sounds?
A: Imagine robert pollard got stoned and recorded in his garage with brian eno all summer - and they all they did was cover Radiohead as Pearl Jam.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
A: I try to approach each record I make with a different set of limits and constraints to help create a specific atmosphere and tone. It keeps it fun and easier to make decisions. IE: guitar and drums recorded live only. Electronics only no organic instruments, Samples and Reverb Pianos with no percussion...etc.

Q:Which new bands do you recommend?
A: New bands I’ve recently gotten into are The 1975, Body Vox, Rostam.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
A: My two favorite covers I play are Neil Young – Powderfinger and Waxahatchee – Be Good

Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: The future is now – going to keep on creating its what keeps me moving forward.

Q: Any parting words?
A: If you like the songs from Glitterer – please check out my other records – they are all free to download on my bandcamp page and have tone and influences descriptions to help guide the listener.
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Thanks

https://illogicaltimeconcerns1.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/Illogical-Time-Concerns-231568810256961/

We Are Parasols , "Scoptophilia" - Video/Single Premiere

Para quem acompanha as páginas do TBTCI e principalmente, quem acompanha o que de realmente acontece no submundo dos bons sons que valha a pena, sabe que "Inertia", debute do trio de Portland, We Are Parasols, lançado no ano passado é um dos discos mais excitantes lançados nos últimos anos.

Uma colisão entre darkwave, electrogazer, uma porção de trip hop, em formas excitantementes hipnóticas.

E é, exatamente de "Inertia" que "Scoptophilia" foi extraída, em formas diferentes. O novo single do We Are Parasols, vem acompanhado de remix extra especiais de gente como Blooky Knives, Sex Park e CMB, sem contar no vídeo que estampa agora as páginas do TBTCI em premiere exclusiva.

"Scoptophilia" o vídeo, é uma peça elegante, sofisticada, hipnótica e altamente sensual, inspirado nos antigos vídeos fashions da finada e saudosa MTV, demonstrando dualidade, voyverismo latente.

Altamente inspirador e muito mais, e justamente neste muito mais que o TBTCI pediu a seus criadores dissecarem em detalhes, música, vídeo e suas verdades.

Sras, e Srs, We Are Parasols.

***** We Are Parasols , "Scoptophilia" - Video/Single Premiere *****

Scoptophilia - Deriving pleasure from looking. As an expression of sexuality, it refers to sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects: erotic photographs, pornography, naked bodies, etc.

About the Song - Musically the song is built around loops created by our drummer, Alec. The drone, drum beat, and slinking bass line in the first 8 bars was the foundation that the guitars and vocals were built upon. Something about the mood of Alec’s loops felt like music you’d hear in a futurist stip-club and D has a tendency to think in pictures and visualizes stories for each song we write. Since our album, Inertia, is about an android sex-worker it made sense to work with the idea of the character dancing for “clients”. Lyrically we wanted to explore the idea of the “male gaze” and how it affects the psyche of the objectified being. Also, how our society is built upon images and our perceptions of ourselves and others. In the song the character starts out asking if the voyeurs are seeing “what they want to see” but by the end of the song she’s looking at herself and asking if she is seeing what she wants to see. Has she made herself into a “brand” worth promoting?


About the Video - First off, the video is entirely made up of repurposed footage from our previous video, “ss.tab”. Our friend, Jason Roark, filmed extensive footage that didn’t end up getting used in that video and offered to let us cut it into something else. Since our record is all about the same character we synced the dance footage of D to “scoptophilia” and started trying to figure out what to do with it. Most of our videos have some sort of concept but initially we thought “scoptophilia” would just be a cool looking video with dancing, inspired by old MTV and fashion videos. Once we started editing we began to further explore the ideas of duality, self-image, voyeurism, and sexualization in art, music and society in general. Instead of “saying something” like many of our other videos attempt to do, this one asks the viewer a simple question, “Is this what you want to see?”. If so, why?

Photography by Jason Roark
Art Direction & Styling by Sara Bergqvist
Styling Assistance by Kate Duncan
Edited by Jeremy Wilkins

The digital single for “scoptophilia”, available Friday April 6th, will include remixes by Bloody Knives, Sex Park, and CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background). Get it from our Bandcamp page - https://weareparasols.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/weareparasols/

Desintegrarme with Lasitud - An Interview

Uma das grandes surpresas deste ano certamente é, e, será o quinteto Lasitud, de Villahermosa, capital da cidade mexicano Tabasco, por conta especialmente do deslumbrante EP de estreia, que conheceu o mundo há pouco mais de um mês.

Embalsamado por cintilantes harmonias, o clássico shoegaze, diga-se de passagem, vocais mais do sonhadores declamam-se por entre a massa sonora que o Lasitud impõe as suas canções.

Conexões com o Slowdive, fase Souvlaki soam óbvias, mas o Lasitud conecta-se principalmente pela língua com o saudoso Resplandor.

Deliciosamente envolvente, pura e simplesmente shoegaze, para que nenhum fã jamais fique órfão.

 ***** Interview with Lasitud *****

Q. When did Lasitud begin? Tell us about the history...
It all started with a previous project called Amehlia back in 2015, where Andrés and Alberto (founding members) tried their hands into alternative music and started working on original material, however, it was something totally different from Lasitud. April 2017 marked a new beginning for the band, that’s when Julio, Cristhell and Priscila joined the project and that was the birth of Lasitud as we know it today, with a more ambitious concept and clear musical direction.

Q: Who are your influences?
We could mention a lot of bands but the biggest are probably Slowdive, Mazzy Star, Whirr, Alcest, My Bloody Valentine, The Pastels and Cocteau Twins.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
It’s really hard to come up with a definitive list but these are the ones we can all mostly agree on:
1.- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
2.- Mazzy Star – So tonight that i might see
3.- Slowdive – Souvlaki
4.- The Jesus And Mary Chain – Psychocandy
5.- Alcest – Les voyages de l’âme

Q. How do you feel playing live?
We’re working right now on what will be our live set, rehearsing all the songs, preparing some cool visuals because we’re hitting the stages this next month (locally). We want our show to be a really special experience, encourage people’s imagination through ambient interludes. We’re putting a lot of hard work on it and can’t wait to finally play our songs live.

Q. How do you describe Lasitud´s sounds?
Lasitud merges the washed out guitars of Shoegaze, the delicate harmonies of Dream Pop and the sensitivity of Post-Rock, resulting in a very unique and profound, heavy-layered sound. Listening to Lasitud is like slowly falling into a long dream of textures and colours.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
It was a really fun and exciting process in general, however, it was a true challenge to achieve the exact sounds we desired in a complete homemade, independent way. Almost all the songs were already written before recording them. Andrés, and Alberto had demos of the songs "Sobrevolar" and "Planeta Sideral”. On the other hand, when Julio joined the band, he provided the songs "Azul profundo" and "Permagel". The workflow and energy during the recording sessions were so possitive and intense, that the band came up with lots of ideas for new songs. One of them became “Desintegrarme”, the final song on the EP which was included last minute on what would originally be a five-song release.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
We’d like to recommend “San Charbel”, a good mexican post-punk band,“Vaya Futuro”, (also mexican) great psych-pop band and really influential to us, “Verano del 83”, twee pop band from Perú and, finally, we’d like you to listen to Andrés’s (our guitarist) solo project called “Cuando la lluvia cae”. If you like Post-rock you’re definitely going to love it.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
Right now we’re working on a cover version of “El Muchacho de los Ojos Tristes”, by Jeanette, a dreamy singer from the sixties. We’re all fans of her music and we want to include this piece in our set as a tribute to her.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We want to play live as much as we can, also we’d like to collaborate with other artists we admire and keep making new music. Hopefully we’ll start working on a new album at the end of this year, with a few sporadic releases here and there in the meantime so saty tuned!

Q: Any parting words?
Just a big thank you to The Blog That Celebrates Itself for featuring us, we’ve been fans for a while now. And of course, invite all of your readers to give us a chance and listen to our music, it’s really hard to promote our project and try to make way in a local scene where shoegaze is not considered. The audience here is really limited but hopefully that’ll change in the future and these kind of genres start getting more appreciation.
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/lasitudoficial/
https://lasitud.bandcamp.com/

How You'll Grow with Freedom Baby - An Interview

Pouco mais de seis meses de vida, o duo canadense Eric e Brianna, resolveram juntar-se musicalmente, além do fato de serem namorados, em uma viagem contemplativa e melancólica sob a alcunha de Freedom Baby.

E o debute deles nasceu há pouco menos de vinte dias. "How You´ll Grow", o EP, navega por entre um certo indie rock épico com inserções de grandiosidade em suas canções. Tudo de certa forma melancólico, mas com uma esperança sinalizada que paira pelas quatro canções.

O Freedom Baby é daquelas bandas que deveriam estar tocando em rádios mundo afora, mesmo porque o indie, como é categorizado hoje, na visão do TBTCI deveria ser este aqui.

***** Interview with Freedom Baby *****

Q. When did Freedom Baby begin? Tell us about the history...
We released our first song in August 2017, which was a sleepy bedroom electro pop song called Video Daydream. We were just kinda hanging around, messing around on the piano and decided to try and write a song together. And then someone asked us if we wanted to play a show, so we had to write some more songs.

Q: Who are your influences?
Space Jam, Mighty Ducks and The Beach Boys

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Deaf School - 2nd Honeymoon
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Freedom Baby - How You'll Grow

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Sometimes weird. Sometimes nice. Depends on the night. Our band is great though. So usually its good.

Q. How do you describe Freedom Baby sounds?
Orchestral indie rock, sometimes post-punky ..sometimes chamber pop. We've been writing a little disco-y lately. But that's a story for another record.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We record in our apartment. We invite musicians over to play horns and stuff. Everything is real. We use real drums, and real guitar amps and real horns and strings. But it usually starts on a piano on an iPhone voice memo and we build it from there.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Phoebe Bridgers new album is amazing. We both we really love it. Listening to Car Seat Headrests new album a lot as well.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We're just taking it one day at a time right now. We're excited to see how people respond to the EP and play that live as much as we can. We're constantly writing too, so who knows, maybe there's more new music on the horizon.

Q: Any parting words?
Thanks so much for interviewing us!
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/freedombabyband
https://freedombaby.bandcamp.com/releases

Dokumentär with Klass II - An Interview

Se por ventura você ainda não ouviu falar da gravadora sueca, Luxury Records, um conselho, reserve um espaço em seu precioso tempo e descubra algumas maravilhas, como Agent Bla, Makthaverskan, Alpaca Sports entre outros. O selo é especializado em um certo pós punk mesclado com shoegaze com traços de indie pop.

Dentre toda essa fértil cena, o novo destaque é o quinteto Klass II, que debutou há pouco mais de um mês com seu primeiro disco homônimo, que aliás, esta esgotado, vejam só, esgotado em sua edição física, o que nos diz que existe consumidor para este tipo de música. Os caras, pairam entre os três nichos sonoros nos quais a gravadora concentra suas forças.

O Klass II é sem dúvida, uma das belas revelações deste ano. 

***** Interview with Klass II *****

Q. When did Klass II begin? Tell us about the history...
About a year ago, in April 2017, the infamous Gothenburg night club Jazzhuset closed after running for 40 years. On the very last night the club was open Alex (vocals/guitars) and Göran (drums) stood in the bar discussing starting a band while sharing a bottle of Fernet. Some drunken text messages were sent to the other future members of KLASS II and a couple of weeks later we found ourselves in the rehearsal space.

Q: Who are your influences?
Our friends and families and each and every good band that ever was.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Truth to be told, we can’t agree. We’re five people.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Soft as snow (but warm inside).

Q. How would you describe Klass II´s sounds?
A random mix of subgenres descending from pop, punk, rock etc. With some kind of shoegaze aspiration.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
All nine songs were written, recorded and produced within a couple of months. We sent one of our demos to Swedish indie label Luxury Records and they wanted to release a record so we had no other choice then to speed up the process. Alex did most of the work himself from his living room, and we’re quite happy with the DIY feeling of the record.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
KLASS II

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Roxette or ABBA, for sure.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We will keep drinking beers in our rehearsal room, hoping people will like our music when we occasionally play it live.

Q: Any parting words?
Tack så mycket för visat intresse
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Thanks

https://luxuryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/klass-ii
https://www.facebook.com/klassIIband

Guest Directors, "Captured in the Light" - Track by Track

O quarteto de Seattle, já predileto aqui do TBTCI, Guest Directors, voltaram a carga com seu segundo EP, que conheceu o mundo há três dias atrás, e brindando o lançamento, um super line up que aconteceu no sábado dia 31 ao lado de nada mais nada menos, do que, Overlake e Black Nite Crash.

Mas voltando ao EP, que atende pelo nome de "Captured in the Light", aliás, talvez o nome pode refletir perfeitamente a qualidade quantitativa do disco. Um trabalho de guitarras absolutamente inspirado, que pega referências em ícones oitentistas, leia-se, Johnny Marr e Will Sergeant aliado a experimentações, padrão SY de qualidade.

"Captured in the Light" tem exatamente esses dois ângulos de enfoque, a melodia e a distorção se confrontam nas quatro pérolas sonoras.

O Guest Directors literalmente é descendente direto das guitar bandas noventistas, e com um ponto a favor, consegue absorver outros elementos soando absolutamente modernos.

Com tudo isto em destaque, o TBTCI convi dou dois de seus criadores, Julie D e Gary Thorstensen, para dissecarem o trabalho em detalhes, e o resultado, você lê abaixo.

Ah sim, escute alto, logicamente.

***** Guest Directors, "Captured in the Light" - Track by Track *****

"We started recording this EP a full year before the release date, almost to the day. It was originally going to be a 5-song EP slated for Fall of 2017, but there was a series of frustrating setbacks with technical issues and scheduling that caused that plan to change. At the same time we were also looking for a new bass player because Steve was moving. We ended up tracking things at three different studios, and then mixing at two different studios. It took so long that we released two of the songs last year as a digital-only “single” to feel like we were making progress. It’s really good to have this completed at last. We already have studio time booked for the next set of songs!" - Julie / Gary

Day Follows Day:
[jd] There are recordings of this song in one form or another that go back a couple of years. We kept sort of rearranging the parts, but it wasn’t until we fell into the long middle jam one day that things really came together. When we’re writing we do a lot of open-ended versions and just kind of see what happens. In this case (and the same with the song Believe it All from our first EP), we hit on something magical and then reverse-engineered it to make it reproducible. I like the harmony singing we do in the verses on this song. And I love the main drum part on this so much - it really elevates the song into something special.

[gt] What started out as a folky type verse/chorus idea took a left turn primarily thanks to our drummer Rian. What he came up with was really inspiring and once we began to jam it a bit this whole other hypnotic guitar section just took off plus jd and I got to sing the verses together... a first

Forks:
[jd] This song had a funny creation as the result of a double mis-hearing. I brought in a guitar riff, and we jammed on it a bit at practice, and then later that week Gary sent me his part for it. But he misheard or mis-remembered my part, so it didn’t really work - but I really liked what he wrote so I ended up modifying mine. He sent an additional part at the same time, but I misheard *his* new part as being two distinct parts instead of one, so I wrote two completely different things to go with it. It was super confusing when we tried to put it all together! But ultimately we got things sorted out. We had an intro for this, and we even recorded it, but then we ended up scrapping it during mixing.

[gt] A lush-sounding concise psych thing that revealed itself, backwards guitar imagined and recorded on the spot

[jd] This is one of those songs where the first line just came to me out of nowhere, and then I had to figure out what it meant and what the song was going to be about. In the simplest sense, this is a breakup song.

Spinning Round:
[jd] This is actually one of our oldest songs, at least the main idea. It took a while to build out the structure. I personally had a lot of trouble settling on what I wanted to play, until we actually got in the studio and I had to make some decisions. Sometimes a situation that forces you to make choices can make the choices clearer, and I wound up really happy with the final result.

[gt] Primarily about being stuck and suffocating in a dead-end situation and realizing time for a change

[jd] Gary added those e-bow tracks at the beginning, and I like it so much that I try to replicate the feel with some intro feedback when we play this live.

El Rey:
[jd] I don’t do much solo songwriting, but I’d had this riff kicking around forever and would noodle with it from time to time. One day a vocal melody just popped out at me, and I ended up bringing the song in to the band in nearly-complete form. As a group we ended up modifying the arrangement a bit.

I’ve got a track of feedback through a whole bunch of effects pedals that runs through almost the entire song. My inspiration for that was Wye Oak’s “Too Right”, although it sounds nothing like that.

I think this sounds really different from when we play it live - live it almost has a grunge feel, and I sing it a lot more shouty. We tried approaching it with more dynamics in the recording.

[gt] Bluesy twisted riff that splits between dense/sparse courtesy of jd plus epic mantra chorus. Max guitars, yessss
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/guest.directors/
https://guestdirectors.bandcamp.com

Holy Gold with Babbling April - An Interview

Hoje é dia de retornos de velhos conhecidos do TBTCI, desta vez o quarteto de NY, Babbling April, retorna a estas páginas por conta de seu novo trabalho, o EP "Holy Gold", que nasceu no início de Março, depois de um período de hibernação que já durava três anos.

"Holy Gold" vem suceder o belíssimo EP de estreia, "On Breathe" de 2015. Neste meio tempo o Babbling April deu a honra ao TBTCI com sua participação ao tributo dedicado ao New Order, "Dreams Never End" lançado em 2015.

Em seu novo trabalho o Babbling April soa mais pop, mas não menos cintilante, deixando claríssimo seu amor incondicional pelos heróis do indie rock, Yo La Tengo. Mas, a conexão com o trio de Hoboken, fica apenas na reverência e referências, o Babbling April soa de certa maneiro mais direto, um tanto mais climático, e principalmente em altíssima potência.

E ainda dizem que indie rock de qualidade não existe mais, esse pessoal realmente não sabem de nada, pura inocência....experimente o Babbling April, se caso ainda não conhece, é claro.

***** Interview with Babling April *****

Q. Hello, first of all, congratulations on the new EP, it's really brilliant, what is your analysis after conclusion of EP? Are you happy with the result?
Very glad you enjoyed it! And yes, I am very pleased with how it came out. As you know, we do all of our own recording and production. Part of the reason for the hiatus between releases had to do with a big move to Washington DC. After the move we had a chance to expand the studio and pick up some new microphones and gear. I think that the improvement of the space and process comes through when comparing this record to the first one. We were more successful in incorporating a wider bevy of sounds into mixes which sound clean but still have that lo-fi charm.

Q. How was the process of creating "Holy Gold"?
The process was a little slow- the move meant we had to go through a lineup change. Finding the right people to fill out the group took time, and then it took even more time to gel. There were frustrating points, but ultimately we were able to write at a leisurely pace which let the songs take a pretty mature form before committing them to record. Once Ben Melrod (drums) and Ben Medina (bass) were in place full time, it was a lot of fun to hear where they took the songs I had been living with for two years.

Q. What are the main differences between Holy Gold" and "On Breath"?
Holy Gold is less of a hooky pop record. The songs are a little more reflective, but in general have more nuanced compositions. We pull off some bigger moments (climactically) then anything we had dared to try yet on the earlier record.

Q. What were the influences for creating the new EP?
I hate to put out a record with songs that sound the same, so even though there are only 6 tracks, there are plenty of different influences across them. Yo La Tengo always is a major pull for me, and you can hear their softer side on "Without a Care." "Alliances and Rifts..." finds me doing my best Doug Martsch (of Built to Spill), who has created some of the best guitar music I've ever heard. "Blighted Years" starts off sounding kind of like White Denim but ends in a cacophony that is our own special spin.

Q. What are your plans for 2018?
Well, we need to sell some records, (so go on our Bandcamp and order some vinyl!) which means we'll be playing more shows than we have done in the past, mostly up and down the east coast. We will have a new single coming soon on the heels of this EP, probably summertime. Otherwise, I'm really trying to pull myself out of recording mode and back into songwriting mode. When you do it all yourself, it can be hard to pull back from tunnel vision sometimes.
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Thanks

https://babblingapril.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/babblingaprilmusic/

Teenage Sin Taste, "Noise Bodies" - Track by Track

Um velho conhecido do TBTCI voltou a ativa, depois de um hiato de dois anos, mais precisamente Fevereiro de 2016 quando "Some Perfect Dreams" veio ao mundo. Estou falando do francês, Will ou Teenage Sin Taste para os iniciados.

Há exatos cinco dias atrás, o TST soltou seu mais novo trabalho, o EP, "Noise Bodies". Uma nova chinelada bem no centro do crânio, onde, como sempre, o electronoise é o detonador do caos.

Algo como uma colisão entre Bloody Knives e APTBS, ou algo do gênero, assim é "Noise Bodies", agressividade em doses cavalares e aceleradas por entre beats e loops em alta rotação e descargas imensas de guitarras, ou melhor, esporros.

O TBTCI pediu ao seu criador que explicasse em detalhes o que são as cinco canções, ou anti canções, você escolhe a melhor definição ok, apenas um último aviso, escute alto, mas com protetores auriculares.

***** Teenage Sin Taste, "Noise Bodies" - Track by Track *****

This EP was long to make ! The five songs were demoing for "Some Perfect Dreams" my previous EP but I didn’t find a way to finish them to make an entire album at this time. So I let them at least two years, thinking I will end them later. There were a lot of other things why it makes so much time to release this new EP, the lack of time and inspiration, work on the Curl’s "Shapeshifters" album (the other band I play in for 8 years), and on Alex Sindrome’s album (a very good friend who play a kind of dark pop/new wave electro in french). Add to this some troubles with the computer I used to work with… I was really bored with TST and wanted to stop the project, throw all of these demos in the trash…

Finally I spent 3 weeks to finish it and here it is !

- Will Sintaste

WRITTEN ON SKIN
A kind of love song, the state you’re in when you feel good with a partner, you’re like in a bubble, everything could happen, you don’t care. But there’s always something that breaks this, some silences, the routine…

The lyrics came quickly and was inspired by a David Lynch line that appears in one of his litho.

The first draft was a bit different, not so "punky" at the beginning. So boring !

HERE IT COMES AGAIN
This one was the first I began to work on when I decided to make another EP. It’s about all the political shit that happens for a few years everywhere, some people are angry about this, are not agree, but they react like masochists by letting these things go and grow, doing nothing except complain themselves…

This final version of the track is the third one. I spent days and days to structure it to not sound like my previous songs.

DREAM, BOY
An instrumental one, mainly because I couldn’t find the lyrics or the vocals to complete it ! So I used some layers of synths to fill in and I think it’s better than if there were some voice ! First, the song was entirely like the end, speed, but I tried to put a kind of dub rhythm at the beginning and it goes very well !

EYES ON YOUA new experience for the vocals ! It’s always a pain in the ass for me to sing, I’m really not a singer (but I try my best to do it right), and it’s the first time with this EP that I try to find a melody guide line with a synth. This is why Eyes on you had this very melodic vocals.

It’s about the children growing up, becoming adults, live their own life, and you, still a teenager in your mind, you just have to stay with your fears to see him/her fail…

VOICES
It was really hard to finish it ! I didn’t even know if it could be on the EP because of its mood, always the same as a usual TST song made in the past, but in maybe 15 minutes the doubts go away ! I added the shoegazy synths lines and I found it brilliant ! But once again the pain to sing on it…
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Thanks

http://teenagesintaste.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/TeenageSinTaste

The Great Famine with Grandeur - An Interview

Pós punk cascudo, agressivo, sem espaço para melancolia, o negócio dos caras do Grandeur é outro, caminham pelas trilhas abertas por gente como Killing Joke, Modern English e Psychedelic Furs, este último, principalmente pela similaridade da vozes.

Os caras estão em vias de soltar seu novo trabalho, "The Great Famine", que trará doses ainda mais cavalares de rigidez negra sob uma ótica de escapismo eminente.

Perfeito para noites intermináveis, sugiro ficar de olhos e ouvidos atentos com o Grandeur.

***** Interview with Grandeur *****

Q. When did Grandeur begin? Tell us about the history...
Grandeur began about a year ago. I had some dark little pop songs and made some very rough, lo-fi demos of them. We ended up releasing it on cassette. I made 100 and they all went pretty fast. The sound has evolved since, but the main idea is the same. We're a two-piece; guitar/vox and bass. We use a percussion track with the synths on it. It can be a challenge to get the sound right in a live setting, but at this point, I prefer it to a full band and can't imagine we'd change that dynamic anytime soon.

Q: Who are your influences?
I listen to a lot of different types of music. I grew up mainly on punk, hardcore and some new wave, but the influences for Grandeur are pretty simple: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Killing Joke, Psychedelic Furs, early Modern English and a little known Scottish synth band from the mid '80s called Secession.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
That's a tough one. In no particular order I'll say:

The Clash - London Calling,
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands,
Generation X - s/t,
Laughing Hyenas - Life of Crime,
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs.

And I base that on the idea that those are 5 albums I can listen to anytime without skipping a song.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Playing live is why I got into music in the first place. It's a chance to step outside yourself for an hour a day. It becomes a little more challenging as you get older with more responsibilities, but it's still the main reason I write and record.

Q. How do you describe Grandeur sounds?
Big, dark, warm, oddly hopeful and sometimes aggressive.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Like most songwriters and musicians these days [and I don't know that I'd call myself either], I've got a studio in my home. I'm no great producer and my gear is kind of outdated, but I know enough to get my ideas across. Again, I grew up on hissy 3rd generation cassette dubs of records that were already poorly produced, and that never stopped me from loving a great song. The magic is in the substance, not the sheen of the production. I am pretty much constantly tracking new ideas, anytime of day, most days of the week. Some see the light of day, some do not.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
I have to be honest, I'm not too knowledgeable on new bands. I like Cold Cave, and know Wes from our hardcore days, but even Cold Cave has been around for close to a decade, I believe. Excellent new bands are springing up all the time, so I'm sure I'll find them.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Springsteen's Atlantic City.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We're going to put out a full-length album this summer. If we can get a label interested, then great. Otherwise we are happy to release it ourselves. We'll be playing all over this summer and plan to go to Europe and maybe South America soon after. If any bands or promoters want to help out, please get in touch.

Q: Any parting words?
Thanks, Renato, for the interview, and in parting I'd just encourage people to go out and see bands, see your cities at night, talk to people face to face. We're all involved in our own little microcosms of digital connectivity. Leave your iphones at home and live life. Experience the real world and all the noise, light, dark and life it has to offer.
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Thanks

https://soundcloud.com/grandeur-official

Forever with Divenere - An Interview

Um dos grandes expoentes italianos, no que se diz respeito a cena shoegaze, certamente é o quarteto de Roma, Divenere.

Para muitos, os caras podem soar como novidade, mas a grande realidade é que os caras tem no currículo cinco álbuns, contando o mais recente, "Forever", lançado no início deste mês.

Seguindo uma lógica discográfica, o Divenere, cria suas trips melancolicamente densas, a partir das guitarras, algo como se uma colisão entre Cure, Mogwai e Slowdive fosse possível, ou apenas a intersecção entre o que de melhor foi produzido pelas três matrizes.

Especialmente recomendada a audição para noites de insônia profunda.

***** Interview with Divenere *****

Q. When did Divenere begin? Tell us about the history...
Our history begins in 2005, when Claudio and Danilo, guitarists and singers, meet and try to start a new project, putting togheter their indie and new wave influences with the aim to give life to a brand new band playing these unusual genres in Italy.

Q: Who are your influences?
In the first years, some major new wave bands such as Interpol, Editors and others like Radiohead influenced us a lot. Later on, we have been more influenced by shoegaze and post rock bands such as Slowdive, Mogwai, Tides of Nebula, God is an astronaut and Mew.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
That's a hard question! considering all the band's components we would say:
Radiohead: Ok Computer
Mew: Frengers
Mogwai: Hardcore will never die, but you will
Afghan whigs: Black love
Slowdive: Souvlaki

Q. How do you feel playing live?
What to say...we feel so good! That's the greatest moment a musician can live. We love so much to be on stage and see our music exciting our fans.

Q. How do you describe Divenere sounds?
We are always looking for a "comfortable" sound, covered by reverbs, without any genre to follow, Divenere is the big bang of four different heads, which from the sands of Rock through the Shoegaze, the New wave, Indie and Alternative, comes to lick the banks of the Pop, as a sunny day suddenly turns melancholically stormy.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
That's quite a particular issue since Claudio, who plays guitars and sings in Divenere, is also our producer and we usually play in his studio, named Oz Recording Studio. It's a very funny part of the work, since during recordings we grow up our ideas and sensations about the tracks, sometimes the final result is something completely different. Yet, we love recording.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Let's stay in Italy: this cannot considered a "new" band, but we would recommend our friends and inspirers "Klimt 1918". Maybe they are not so well known in Brazil but we think this band can really break up worldwide.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
We would definitively say a song by The Cure.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Keeping on staying togheter, playing good music, continue on growing as artists, and have the chance to partecipate in great gigs all over the world.

Q: Any parting words?
Stay with us, follow us on Facebook, Spotify, Soundcloud, Youtube, and surrender to the emotions of our music!
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Thanks

www.facebook.com/divenere
www.soundcloud.com/dvnr

Voces Extrañas with Consejo - An Interview

Não é de hoje que a Espanha tem exportado uma série de prediletos do TBTCI, leia-se Linda Guilala, Monte Terror, Galaxina, Apartamentos Acapulco, entre outros, e novamente os espanhóis atacam e aterrizam nas páginas do TBTCI.

Em um mix estridente, soturno, sem firulas, o quarteto Consejo, soa tão rápido e direto quanto seu EP de estréia. O disco homônimo lançado há pouco mais de um mês, esta muito mais próximo do pós punk dark do que do shoegaze, apesar da banda se auto declarar como uma unificação de ambos.

Tudo fica explícito principalmente no andamento seco e direto guiado pelo baixo caracteristicamente pós punk e a bateria agressiva, ficando o diferencial nas guitarras quase sempre barulhentas, com exceção da belíssima "Descender el Laberinto", onde sombras guiam e ditam, mesmo com a presença intensa das guitarras.

Para novatos, o Consejo soa como uma banda mais do que madura. Para ficar de olhos e ouvidos atentos.

***** Interview with Consejo *****

Q. When did Consejo begin? Tell us about the history...
Consejo was born in the summer of 2012, by the hand of Manu, who at that time was the guitar of La Maniobra de Q and Ángel Calvo, who led the Pico de la Panocha.

We liked to get together to play at the country house and that's where Consejo came from. In two days we recorded Asamblea and Salto del Usero, we understood each other very well, since Manu brought the darkness of the most classic Post-Punk and Angel freshness. We did a couple of concerts in 2013 and the project was there, until now that I (Manu) have picked it up again along with other new musician, Javi, Edu and Victor.

Q: Who are your influences?
Our influences drink from the Post-punk and shoegaze of the 80s and 90s, from Los Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division, and Decima Victima to current bands like Motorama, Antiguo Regimen or Somos La Herencia and El Último vecino

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
-The Smiths "Queen is Dead"
-Joy Division "Closer"
-The Cure "Pornography"
-El Último Vecino "Voces"
-Golpes Bajos "A santa compaña"

Q. How do you feel playing live?
We like it a lot and there is a lot of complicity with the public. We had a great time playing live and seeing that the reaction of the people is very good with us.

Q. How do you describe Consejo sounds?
We are a mix between post-punk and shoegaze. We believe that the music we do has a post-punk base, but with a heaviness of more normal guitars in the shoegaze

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Manu composes the lyrics and base of the songs and presents them to the rest of the group, if there is approval the songs are developed among all. Once we have a good repertoire, we take them to the studio, where they are recorded professionally.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
In Spain, Somos La Herencia, Pintauñas Negro, Tumefactum, Incidente Tunguska, Neon Ligths and S.E.R.P.I.E.N.T.E.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
any song of the smiths

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Our future plans are to continue composing and recording songs to be able to play live

Q: Any parting words?
Thank you very much for the interest in Consejo and a hug from Spain
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Thanks

https://nuevoconsejo.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/Consejo-521835494583799/

She's a Mod with The Hungry Onions - An Interview

Austin, Texas, basicamente são credenciais de alto quilate, simplesmente uma cidade que exala qualidade sonora acima de qualquer suspeita.

E novamente a cidade nos brinda com uma especiária de altíssima qualidade, o quarteto psych, The Hungry Onions.

Certamente a água de Austin contém elementos que não existem em outros lugares do planeta, visto a intensa qualidade de seus rebentos, e com o The Hungry Onions a máxima aplica-se novamente.

"She´s a Mod" debute dos caras, que conheceu o mundo no mês passado, é um verdadeiro lsd sonoro. Good vibes guiam o trabalho em direções psicodelicamente delirantes, sejam elas mais surfers, ou, ácidas, ou garageiras, simplesmente o efeito das vertentes psych do The Hungry Onions te pegam daquela jeito gostoso, sem haver o menor problema com bad vibrations.

Viciante, como um delicioso LSD, amigos, desejo-lhes apenas, boa viagem....Peace, Love and Psych!!

***** Interview with The Hungry Onions *****

Q. When did The Hungry Onions begin? Tell us about the history…
The Hungry Onions actually started out as a two piece. My brother Jimmy and I would write and play at each others houses to the beat of an old somewhat broken down drum machine. While playing his bass, Jimmy would quickly reach over and punch buttons to control the tempo and fills in the machine which was piped out of a small speaker hanging on the wall. It was a brilliant set up that ran us about $20 bucks and allowed Jimmy to develop tremendous hand/eye coordination. I digress! Back to the Onions story. After a while we decided to create a bandcamp site which became home to several demo songs. This went on for a couple years. The songs started to pile up and with the encouragement of some really great friends and fellow Austin musicians we decided to step out of the comfort zones of our homes and into the live clubs of Austin. The Onions took giant leaps forward when our drummer, Clutch Cardon, and lead guitarist, Jon LaChance joined the band. Jimmy, Clutch, and Jon each played in some real great bands previously and are veterans of the Austin music scene, but this is still new territory for me.

People might be wondering where we got our name from. Well, Jimmy and I were sitting around watching TV one summer afternoon trying to think of band names. An old, old rerun of the Dobie Gillis show was on the tube when the beatnik Maynard G Krebs debuted his poem to a small crowd gathered at the Hungry Onion coffee shop… the hotspot for local Southern California beatniks. Well, it was pretty funny at the time and the name just seemed to fit. So now you know the rest of the story of the Hungry Onions!

Q: Who are your influences?
We each have a bunch of different influences. Jimmy loves Guided by Voices, Jon is into all kinds of stuff including Blitzen Trapper, Clutch likes Prog music, while I’ve always enjoyed the mercy beat of psych/garage. Our music is influenced by rock, psych, and surf both new and old The Kinks, Stones, and Jam immediately come to mind. We also dig modern garage artists like Allah Las and Mystic Braves.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Bee Thousand: Guided by Voices
Pet Sounds: Beach Boys
1962 -1966 The Red Album: The Beatles
Allah Las: Allah Las
Moonlight Towers: The Coffee Sergeants
Days of Yesteryear: Mystic Braves… oops, that’s 6!

Q. How do you describe The Hungry Onions sounds?
Our sound is a mix of garage, psych, and surf. Definitely sixties influenced with lots of jangle, harmony, and reverb, especially on vocals. Toss in some Byrds like 12 string on a few songs and you have that Onions sound! Or at least the one we are going for.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Great question. The process could best be described as a hodgepodge. Hopefully people like the end product, but we definitely used our own method to get there. Clutch and Jon are both great at sound in general and understand how to record. They each recorded their own parts and sent them over dropbox. Meanwhile, Jimmy and I recorded bass, my guitar, and vocals in our modest home studio. I ended up mixing and we worked with Rick Cramer, a mastering engineer in California to finish it up. Deep Eddy Records, a local label helped to get the album out. Both Rick and Deep Eddy were great to work with.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Really like the Allah Las. We saw them a few times when they came down for SXSW in Austin a couple years ago. Been listening a lot to the Orange Kyte’s music on bandcamp lately. Great stuff.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
I’m a sucker for Beatles tribute bands. Basically anything off that Red Album would be super cool to cover. It would also be fun to do a combo album with our friends from the band Raul’s Royal Foot where we take turns covering early Texas punk rock. That would be cool.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Fortunately, Austin is still a great place to hear live music. We’ve been playing at a few super nice local venues, but would like to branch out to play a few more. We also have a bunch more songs in the tank that will eventually be put out as a follow up to She’s a Mod. CD and Vinyl would be nice.

Q: Any parting words?
Sure, first thanks for all you do. The blog is awesome and we are honored to be included. If folks want to check us out, the bandcamp, Facebook and Deep Eddy Records sites are great spots to listen or stay tuned on upcoming shows. In addition to She’s a Mod, we have a demo site on bandcamp where additional songs can be heard and downloaded. Thanks again Renato!
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Thanks

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

Ceremony Of Shame with Candélabre - An Interview

Um dos discos que mais tenho escutado atualmente é o debute do trio francês, Candélabre. O EP homônimo conheceu o mundo no início de Fevereiro e desde então tem me acompanhado por momentos dos mais distintos, mas especialmente em situações de isolamento, sem presença de barulho, caos ou pessoas. 

O disco é um convite a imergir por completo em um universo, hipnótico, envolvendo-se lentamente pela ambientação das cinco pérolas do EP. Talvez o ápice dessa imersão seja a eloquente "Last Rites", mas é basicamente impossível ou, improvável destacar apenas uma, o Candélabre criou um trabalho linearmente envolvente.

Fantasmas de Cocteau Twins, e de outros ícones da 4AD pairam e conectam-se com o Candélabre, sempre unificando-se pelas sombras.

Intenso, viciante, absolutamente obrigatório para fãs de darkwave, shoegaze e sonbras.

***** Interview with Candélabre *****

Q. When did Candélabre begin? Tell us about the history...
Cindy: It was at the Amanita Muscaria (a music venue in Toulouse, our city) in September 2016.

Anthony: Yeah, we met in September 2016 during a gig with our respective bands at the time. In human terms and on a musical level we were getting along pretty well, so we gave it a try and that was it. We began to play together in April 2017.

Q: Who are your influences?
Anthony: Ride, Slowdive, The Soft Moon, Chelsea Wolfe.

Michaël: Cocteau Twins, Bauhaus.

Cindy: Cranes, Dead Can Dance.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Anthony: Nowhere by Ride, Souvlaki by Slowdive, Slanted & Enchanted by Pavement, Hit Parade 1 by The Wedding Present, The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads by Lift to Experience.

Cindy: Lullabies by Cocteau Twins, Brown Book by Death In June, Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs, Colour Green by Sybille Baier, Spleen and Ideal by Dead Can Dance.

Michaël: Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, Pygmalion by Slowdive, Treasure by Cocteau Twins, Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth, Power, Corruption and Lies by New Order.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Anthony: It's a pleasure and it's rewarding. With the aim to always do better and give the best of ourselves.

Michaël: What suprises me the most is that we don't play a music that can be considered as "fun" or "entertaining" in a way that some music styles can be. I mean it's rather dark, melancholic, intense, but I'm always suprised that at almost every show we play some people in the audience dance during all the performance. It's really rewarding and I take this as a great compliment. What else can be more rewarding than seeing people expressing their pleasure by moving their bodies along to the sound of your music ?

Anthony: We always want to deliver the best show, the best performance as possible. We don't want to be like all those bands that are just based on an attitude with photoshoped pictures on facebook and all that kind of shit. We play because we want to deliver the best music as we can, not because we want to be cool or something like that.

Q. How do you describe Candélabre sounds?
Anthony: Tensed, evanescent.

Michaël: Cold and warm at the same time. Sometimes heavy.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Cindy: We write and create the songs during our rehearsals.

Anthony: For the EP we recorded the instruments first and then Cindy recorded her vocals by herself. We used just a small amount of gear, basic mics and an old and cheap software.

Michaël: We didn't do it properly or at least the way it's supposed to be done in a professional way. We didn't went in a studio or something like that. It was quite an instictive and empirical approach. Then we mixed the whole thing together.

Cindy: All by ourselves. We try not to simply record the songs as we play them during the rehearsals but to bring something more during the recording process. That can be the production, the arrangements or the mixing.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Anthony: Ought, Protomartyr, I currently listen to Lebanon Hanover, Tropic of Cancer, Total Victory.

Michaël: French bands like Jessica93, Foudre, Mondkopf or Vox Low, Black Marble, Motorama, Chelsea Wolfe, The Soft Moon, Weekend.

Cindy: Drab Majesty, Marriages, Weyes Blood, Anna von Hausswolff.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Anthony: "Drive Blind" by Ride.

Cindy: "The Model" by Kraftwerk

Michaël: "Forest Fire" by Lloyd Cole And The Commotions.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Michaël: The EP was initially released by BLWBCK our label on tape and we are going to release it on another label called Solange endormie Records on CD very soon. Probably record another EP in the next months.

Cindy: Probably work on the next record with other people close to us to get a new perspective.

Q: Any parting words?
Cindy: We are very pleased to have been able to put out our first EP on BLWBCK records, it's a label we were really fond of, their catalogue is awesome, consistent and very demanding. And they are nice people too. We feel very proud and grateful for it.
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Thanks

https://soundcloud.com/blwbck/sets/cand-labre-s-t/s-n49iy
https://www.facebook.com/candelabre.band/

The Cold Plan with My Dear Killer - An Interview

O italiano Stephano Stephanowic sob a alcunha de My Dear Killer, vem, desde o meio dos anos noventa, criando suas apocalípticas visões sobre um mundo cada vez mais miserável, tudo pairando sobre um folk minimalista, melancólico e soturno.

Conexões óbvias com mestres como Nick Drake, Tim Buckley e Fairport Convention acabam sendo apenas diretrizes para os desavisados, mas ecos de momentos mais introspectivos de Coil e outros experimentais excêntricos fazem parte deste intrínseco emaranhado mezzo acústico mezzo ambient.

O mais novo capítulo dessa epopeia chama-se "The Cold Plan", lançado há pouco menos de um mês. Seguindo a lógica da obra do My Dear Killer, ainda mais soturno e denso.

O My Dear Killer é um verdadeira trovadorismo apocalíptico, que se por ventura, você não estiver com a auto estima ok, procure evitar, principalmente em momentos de isolamento.

***** Interview with My Dear Killer *****

Q:When did My Dear Killer begin? Tell us about the history...
A: My Dear Killers started in, I think 1996. At least that’s the date on the earliest tape I have marked. At that time I used to record a lot on cassettes just using a walkman or a shoebox recorder. That's a habit I lost, sadly. I was back then part of another project, a sort of post/math-rock duo involving two guitars only, called the Frozen Fracture. We were already working sort-of-minimalist to bypass the difficulties in finding other interested players, especially drummers. Still the Frozen Fracture sound was sort angular and dissociated. Hence I started to set aside pieces which I found somewhat too melodic for it, and to write lyrics. As the collection of the songs grew, became more articulated and significant. At the same time, the other project started to fade and almost instinctively I made my dear killer my main project and begun to experiment with tapes and overdubs, also because, by then, I managed to get hold of a more decent recording device. Basically it has continued since then along the same lines, with guitar tunes wrote first, lyrics after and after that finding a suited ambient made up of guitar or electronic noise, tape loops and ambient sampling.

Q: Who are your influences?
A: That's a difficult question to answer. It is not because there are no influences, but, eventually because there are too many. I think we are, all, ultimately influenced somehow from every thing we listen to, even when it is not voluntary. Still, I think is fair to list two or three main movements which have really shaped my taste, and therefore the way I do music. I obviously love folk, particularly British folk of the early and late sixities, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, Jackson C Frank, Fairport Convention, Tim Buckley (to mention a few), Those acts with early psychedelia were definitely my favourite things when I was sort of a kid. When I grew a bit older, I get to be more involved into the new wave, post-punk and early industrial/neo-folk scene, although my initial unconditional love was the american noise scene, most of all for early Sonic Youth, which I adored. After those, my the biggest influence has been that of the so-called Lousiville scene (Slint, Rodan, Gastr del Sol, June of 44, etc). It was kind of an epiphany when I first heard to these records. Sadly I can't say anything like that has repeated more recently, but that can just be an age issue; it's far easier to get astonished when our mind and soul is green. At least, I think so.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Slint – Spiderland
Sonic Youth – Evol
Joy Division – Closer
Coil – Love's Secret Domain

Q. How do you feel playing live?
A. I actually like it a lot. I always though music is meant to be played live, and not just to be something set on any kind of support of choice only. It depends on the acts, it's not an universal feeling and I accept that. But at least it is mine. I would actually like to play more often if that were to be possible, but suitable locations are scarce, and in general there is a bit of an issue, which I can not rationally explain and I restrain from non-rational interpretation if I might. It seems that acts which do effectively something original, and are not “hyped” or are not very comfortable with “shameless self promotion” get left on the shelve. Despite this, I still love playing live and more or less I play every time I am given the chance. Of course there are occasion when things become a little bit of a shamble; we had people are not interested and the noise they made being far greater than what we were making when playing. That has happened. I still try to play the best I can and let the few people eventually interested in what I am doing, enjoying what they are listening to, if they do.

Q. How do you describe My Dear Killer sounds?
A. It an “interface” sound, I'd say. Schizophrenic might be an alternative definition. Definitions are always a bit of a constraint, but I am well aware we shall use them, and use words to describe music, sometimes. I used the interface term because whereas the basic structure of the songs can be set into the songwriting category, with its own peculiarity of slow tempo and dispersed arpeggio, the overlaying meshes of sounds, being it feedbacks or prepared guitars, manipulated synths, tape loops, are not that very frequently juxtaposed to song-writing, albeit surely that's not unprecedented. I used schizophrenic borrowing from a friend’s comment..., he once said, it seems I am listening to two records at the same time, with somebody playing in the front room and somebody trashing the back-garden, at the same time, on the background. Yet, that being done by the same person. Might not be psychologically reassuring but I find it as the best description I have heard so far, so I make it mine.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
I generally tend to record the full albums in one ago, that is because I like to have homogeneous sound though them, and using the same instrument, amplifier and equipment helps a lot on this front. I basically record simultaneously guitar and voice, using several (2 to 4) microphones at the same time, a couple close picks and a couple more in the ambient. That give the scaffold of the records. Other sounds, mainly the sonic landscape I then overdub. That's the most improvisational part and the part in which other people have contributed the most, sometimes even more than myself. For this I tend to layer a few tracks, which contribution is defined during mixing. Last of all came the sampling, when I use them. I tend to have a clear idea of which sort of sampling I need or wish to add in a given song, but their position and spacing, I feel like its sort of a last touch. So, at the end, with some bouncing and pre-mixing, I typically end up with less than 8 tracks before the mix is closed. Even when using digital recording, which is often much simpler to handle, the process is very similar to what one would do with an analogue set-up. Hence, that is a relatively straightforward process, as I also rely to a minimum on effects during mixing, basically just a dash of compression, equalisation and reverb.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
A. I would say Polvo. Or US Maple.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
For the closest future, I hope I'll have the chance to play and bring around The Cold Plan.

On the medium/long-term I am already working on a new album, which has the tentative title “Collectable Items”. I think that, in essence, the three records I have done so far, and the one in progress, are joint thematically, and follow a common lyrical and musical path. Collectable Items seems to represent, for the time being, the conclusion of the journey. After which I will have to think deep and seek for new sources of inspiration. Yet, before that, there's a still long journey ahead.

Q: Any parting words?
Firstly, thanks so much for the giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts. I hope something would make sense in this burbling. If anyone might feel interested in getting in touch, please do so, we'll be extremely glad of that. And, certainly, I hope we can meet in person one day. Distances in the future might shrink even further than they have done in the past decades already.
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Thanks

https://mydearkiller.bandcamp.com
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