Gold He Said with No Swoon - An Interview

Depois de muito pensar e sentir cada momento dos dois primeiros singles do trio de NY, No Swoon, cheguei a conclusão que a beleza sintética que Zack, Tasha e Ricky criaram podem ser resumidos como uma hipnótico e envolvente emaranhado de 4AD´s feelings.

Difícil precisar qual das duas canções são mais emblemáticas, se a doce e cristalina "Gold He Said", ou se, a densa e melancólica, "Still" se sobressaem-se uma a outra, creio que não, o fato é que ambas se completam, ou melhor, ambas se conectam e geram unidade.

Para uma banda que esta dando seus primeiros passos, o No Swoon impressiona e impressiona muito.

Para ficar de olhos e ouvidos atentos.

***** Interview with No Swoon *****

Q. When did No Swoon begin? Tell us about the history...
Tasha: No Swoon actually started as a totally different project. I was writing Indie-Folk tunes and Zack was already working on that project with me. We met Ricky on New Years Day 2015 and asked him to join. We rehearsed a couple of times, but it never felt right. I ended up leaving New York to spend some time at home in California and bought an electric guitar and some pedals, and just messed around, trying to have fun with the instrument again. I re-visited a lot of the music my mom played when I was younger (Love and Rockets, New Order, The Cure, Cocteau Twins, the list goes on) and that music felt like home again. Zack was diving in to the synth world and joined me in California a few months later. We started writing what are now the songs on our EP and when we came back to NYC in 2016, we asked Ricky to join again. We played around with the first few songs and it just finally felt right, it felt exciting again.

Q: Who are your influences?
Tasha: Cocteau Twins for sure, Love and Rockets, Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Tasha: Such a tough question, but in no particular order:
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Bjork - Vespertine
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Zack: my list is mostly jazz and classical because that is what is closest to home
Miles Davis - Miles Smiles
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
Julliard Quartet - Beethoven: The Late String Quartets
Georg Friedrich Haas - in vain

And if I can sneak one more in, Edgar Meyer - Bach Cello Suites

Ricky: Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
Grateful Dead - Cornell 77
Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St.
Bob Dylan - Rolling Thunder Revue

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Tasha: Playing live is always a surreal experience. I’m always nervous even when I don’t think I am, but I feel that’s a good thing. Once on stage though, I have no choice but to play and have fun. And it’s always a learning experience. One of our best shows, in my opinion, we couldn’t hear anything on stage except drums and a little bass. It really made me just trust the guys (and myself) that we knew what we were doing and to just give it everything.

Zack: I’m not a great piano player, so playing live is always a bit nerve wracking. I am trying really hard to not play wrong notes. Mostly though I want to give as much energy as I can into the music that we are making.

Ricky: It’s about having fun, and taking risks in the moments that allow it. I always look forward to the things that we don’t know are going to happen. When you play live, it’s not like a rehearsal or practicing by yourself, at least for me my nerves kick in and there’s this heightened sense of awareness. I don’t really have a choice but to be present...then the show ends and it’s always faster than expected.

Q. How do you describe No Swoon´s sounds?
Zack: To me our sound is all about Tasha’s Cocteau Twins vibed voice, screaming guitars, and Ricky’s huge rock drum sound. My role is just to fill out the sound as much as possible and make everything gel.

Ricky: There’s this balance, Tasha’s voice and Zack’s synths are smoother and rounder, then there’s the distorted guitar and heavy drums, but they work, it never feels like anything is clashing.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Zack: The recording started with getting really good drum sounds. We went to a studio in Manhattan called Diamond City Studios that used to be John Cage’s place. Once we had drums tracked we spent the next few months tracking guitars, synths, voice and layering new parts. Once we felt we had everything in place we did mock mixes and produced the three songs. We added a heavy dose of electronic drum sounds and finished the arrangement with the new/experimental material we recorded. Then we brought in a master engineer, Jorge Elbrecht (No Joy, Japanese Breakfast, Wild Nothing), to mix the tracks. He absolutely killed it, and here we are!

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Tasha: I recently started listening to Dream Wife, they’re such a breath of fresh air and a killer band.

Zack: It’s a huge pleasure to have friends that make incredible music. The bands Moonheart and Ginla are two.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
Tasha: Well, we already do a cover of my top choice, which is Joy Division. We cover “Disorder.”

Ricky: Hah maybe Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins?

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Tasha: Play as many shows as we can and record another EP.

Zack: Write, record, tour, repeat!

Ricky: Play as many shows as possible

Q: Any parting words?
Tasha: Thank you!

Zack: I can’t wait till we come to Brazil for a show!

Ricky: Ciao
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Thanks

https://noswoon.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/NoSwoon/

Vlimmer, "X" - Track by Track

Alexander Leonard Donat, é um cara prolífico em níveis extremos, o cara tem inúmeros projetos, leia-se, Fir Cone Children, Leonard Las Vegas, Feverdreamt, ele sendo ele mesmo em Leonard Donat, e o lado dark, escuro e experimental de sua verve que atende pelo nome de Vlimmer.

Pra quem acompanha as páginas do TBTCI, todos os projetos do cara são conhecidos, talvez o Fir Cone Children um pouco mais ao lado do próprio Vlimmer.

E é exatamente com o Vlimmer que ele talvez, concentre seus maiores esforços, ou pelo menos é o que aparenta. Alexander soltou em Março o décimo (!) sim, décimo trabalho em pouco menos de 3 anos. Tudo é conceitual no Vlimmer, a começar pelos nomes, I, II, III, IV, até chegarmos no décima parte em "X". Vale lembrar que nessa epopeia do Vlimmer ainda haverão de ser lançados mais 8 volumes, completando assim a saga dos 18 EPs.

Sonoramente, Leonard se concentra no lado soturno da música. Um pós punk cinzento com jeito germânico, aliás, o cara é alemão, nada mais óbvio, certo?!

O Vlimmer é perfeito para dias gélidos, noites intermináveis, e sim, momentos de depressão, então cuidado, a música pode aflorar todo e qualquer efeito colateral.

Entenda os segredos de "X" pelas palavras de Leornard, seu criador.

***** Vlimmer, "X" - Track by Track  *****

“X” is the 10th part of Vlimmer’s 18-EP series. Here’s what’s behind it:
1. Nachwehen: Like an exhausting summer night’s blackout – this song sounds like being found on the floor of some friend’s summer cottage with a decreasing heart rate. The only thing preventing your heart from stopping is the clacking sound of bones that resuscitate the body. The basic instrumental parts developed while jamming for the soundtrack of the disturbing German audiobook “Randow”. The bass is pretty deep, the voice quite fucked up and emotional. - Apart from my collaboration with Japanese artist Oceaneer (“Meerheit” EP) this is the first time you can really hear a piano on a Vlimmer recording. Lyric-wise “Nachwehen” actually belongs to “IIIIIIIII” (part 9), it’s about experiencing some kind of trivial life without spending any thoughts on things that once meant something - it’s giving up, temporarily; which is even easier because in dizzying heights your brain fails and makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do. Although I put a focus on the lyrical coherence of each release I figured it would fit much better as the first song of the 10th part, “X”.

2. Nebelgeist: Why not going for a four-to-the-floor song? For months this song had a rather stop-and-go-like drum pattern. I don’t know why I refused to go for a simple beat here for so long, but when I changed it the whole track suddenly was in full bloom, up-beat, catchy; with its sparkling synths it works in the club, too, I guess. There are a couple of first-timers here: I haven’t used an acoustic guitar before, also, it’s the first time I did something like rapping. I never plan this in advance, it just keeps happening, and as long as surprising stuff like this keeps coming Vlimmer stays fresh and challenging for me.

3. Kondens: The fastest Vlimmer track out there? At least if you only count the songs from the 18-EP series “Kondens” might be the one. Originally it started as a 13-minute krautrock song which was less angsty, less noisy than what it sounds like now, I wasn’t even sure whether to put it on “X”. Usually I don’t spend too much time with the arrangement of a Vlimmer song, but every now and then there’s a song which needs more attention. I had tried lots of stuff here; in the end, “Kondens” worked when I added the choir intro, more distorted guitar layers, a synth arpeggio in the chorus, that moment where everything slows down before the second chorus and the massive wall of fuzz and noise in the instrumental part. It almost makes your ears bleed, and yes, I did this on purpose, I wanted the listeners to feel the music and make the closing three minutes even more calming before the crashing cymbals set in one last time to gently push you into space. Hey, crashing cymbals? That’s another premiere.

4. Stufenlethargie: This song is a perfect example for choosing a song that fits into a tracklist rather than seeing it as a song you listen to separately. I had songs which I liked more, like “Satzfetzen” which turned out becoming a fan favourite when it comes to non-EP tracks (it can be found on Cold Transmission’s compilation “Zeitgeist Vol. 2”), and it wasn’t easy to discard it for another song. Yet, “Stufenlethargie” perfectly fits to the flow of “X”, it’s what this release needs after the intense “Kondens”, something more minimal was crucial here. Still, on “Stufenlethargie” I needed to add a second drum pattern to give it a more stomping feel. It’s the guitars in the chorus, though, which turned this song into something special for me. The washed-out sound of single strike chords create depth and lethargy. Personally, it’s the EPs biggest grower.

5. Thrombo: It may not sound to you like it, but the arrangement here is one of Vlimmer’s most minimal to date. It’s basically the synth sound which I created with the Superego Plus from Electro Harmonix that makes this song sound so massive – and there are really only two synth tracks here. It was written and recorded pretty quickly. The vocals are me trying to deliver airy vocals on the verge of opera. In combination with the lyrics it’s one of the most devastating songs I’ve written, it’s dealing with the paranoia and schizophrenia of the protagonist of my EP series, he’s losing his mind increasingly until the danger of complete dissolution.
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Thanks

https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/x
https://www.facebook.com/VlimmerMusic/

Santa Sangre with Japan Suicide - An Interview

Angústia, tensão, sombras, todos os adjetivos que podem ser dados a bandas que passeiam pelo escuro e cinzento mundo do sonoro do pós punk com tendências darks deve ser atribuído aos italianos do Japan Suicide.

Desde 2010, os caras trilham o tortuoso caminho do submundo dos sons sempre perpetuando sua melódica e agressiva visão do mundo caótico dos dias atuais.

Com três discos nas costas, já incluindo o mais recente, "Santa Sangre" que curiosamente teve o vinil lançado em terras brasileiras, cortesia da Wave Records, os caras seguem mais intensos e soturnos do que nunca.

Especialmente recomendado a notívagos ávidos por noites sem fim.

***** Interview with Japan Suicide *****

Q. When did Japan Suicide begin? Tell us about the history...
We began to play as Japan Suicide around 2010. Matteo (bass) and Leonardo (synth) had a Smashing Pumpkins' cover band. Then we started to make our own music and after some years we have released "We die in such a place" (2015).

Q: Who are your influences?
Our early influence was the Post-punk period (1978-1984), bands like Joy Division, The Cure, Siuxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus. When we met togheter was also the "revival" period, with Interpol (Turn on the bright lights!), Editors and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Then we tried to expand our sound with different nuances or genres, if we have to label this process, melting the Post-punk with Psychedelia and Shoegaze. About our new album "Santa Sangre" there's a line that links the early albums of Siouxsie and the Banshees to The Velvet Underground, passing through Black Angels, Föllakzoid, Portishead.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
Closer (Joy Division),
Pornography (The Cure),
Foetus (Franco Battiato),
Screamadelica (Primal Scream),
Nevermind (Nirvana).

Q. How do you feel playing live?
We feel every kind of feelings, from the best to the worst. It also depends by the situation, by the people. Sometimes you play just for yourself and sometimes you need to see people happy to stay in front of you, moving, dancing; once in Berlin there were two girls kissing, and it was even touching.

Q. How do you describe Japan Suicide´s sounds?
It's difficult to describe it, also because it depends by our perception of it, that could be different from what the others find in our music. We could say that in general is gloomy, sometimes more cold and ethereal, sad; sometimes tense and noise, powerful with a nervous ryhthm. We like instrumental parts full of intensity and colours, but we also like lightness and a good melody.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
The first step is an initial idea (aesthetical and musical) of the album by Matteo. Then we add the voice and another line in order to have a track to play with the band at the rehearsal room. When almost everything is ready we move to the studio.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
The Rolling Stones... There's too much music. We are getting older so maybe we don't even notice new bands or a "new wave". Think about "channel ORANGE" by Frank Ocean. Iosonouncane (an italian artist) with "Die" has made one of the best album of last years in Italy. "Disarray" of the Preoccupations is wonderful. Savages are great. Box and the Twins. Sonic Jesus. The Foreign Resort. Warias.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Sometimes we think about to make a cover, but we don't have a particular band in mind.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
After our return from Los Angeles, Mexico City and WGT in Leipzig we want to record a new album in Summer.

Q: Any parting words?
Thank you very much for the questions and the interest in our music
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Thanks

https://japansuicide.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Japan.Suicide/

A Mental Low with Joy Must Remain - An Interview

O pós punk talvez tenha sido, o momento da música mais intenso e produtivo de todos os tempos, não somente pela diversidade e, principalmente possibilidades sonoras, a liberdade de criação sem prender-se a fórmulas é a principal característica do fato da minha afirmação.

O pós punk pode ser funkeado, pode ser soturno, pode ser áspero, pode ser agressivo, pode ser romântico, enfim, não há limites. Em todas essas direções desmembramentos foram obviamente gerados, e talvez o mais "copiado" ou melhor, o mais assimilado, tenho sido a escola Joy Division.

Inúmeros seguidores do legado do Joy, passando por Interpol entre outros tantos, chegamos no trio californiano, Joy Must Remain, que apesar de beber intensamente na fórmula de Ian Curtis, assimilou também outro ícone, menor é claro, mas ícone, ecos de Psychedelic Furs são sentidos no trabalho dos caras, que já estão na estrada desde 2010, com dois trabalhos fora os singles.

Para fãs do lado cinzento do pós punk, o Joy Must Remain atenderá a todos os pré requisitos. 

***** Interview with Joy Must Remain *****

Q. When did Joy Must Remain begin? Tell us about the history...
Well I had been playing in various other bands for a few years prior that didn't work out. I had a good learning experience from it but members came and went like they do in most bands. It became a chore to try and keep things going and the thought of having to constantly do this "band" thing wasn't fun anymore so I decided to take a break and during that time I still wanted to pursue music so I had the idea to start my own band as a solo project around 2007. The idea for this was to be totally independent from anyone and anything which meant having to learn how to record properly and also being able to play every instrument on the record myself but the learning process took a few years and came with many mistakes but eventually I got good enough to write and record the first album which eventually became Dive In Deep that I released in 2010.

Q: Who are your influences?
Good question. My list of bands would be a very long one! (Laughs) When I was growing up, my mom was a big fan of Creedence Clear Water Revival so that has always stayed with me. I really didn't get into music till I was a teenager and at that time it was all Punk music. Through that, I found bands like Joy Division, The Cure and so many other great bands of that era. I was also a big fan of 90's Alternative music with bands like Jane's Addiction, The Pixies, Nirvana , The Nymphs - god so many great artists came out of that time for me… it was a great time for rock music in general! I also really like heavy music like the Deftones; they really make consistently good albums.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
I don't know about all time, but how about I make a list of current albums I listen to.

1.Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
2.The Cure - Disintegration
3.Fugazi - Repeater
4.The Pixies- Trompe Le Monde
5.The Cranes - EP Collection, Vol. 1 & 2

Q. How do you feel playing live?
I absolutely love playing live. It’s one of the best feelings. I do the band as a solo project, but have a core group of friends who perform the music with me and it's always been a good time had by all. The shows are far and few between, but I do go out and play a few shows with every release I put out. I love hearing the response from the audience, most of which have never heard the music or even the band before. It’s always a great challenge to try and win them over.

Q. How do you describe Joy Must Remain´s sounds?
I would describe it as cinematic, but for people who haven't heard the music I tell them it’s alternative rock and let them figure out the rest. People have said different things about it, and to me as long as they are listening to it they can call it whatever they like.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Well, I record any and all ideas I have first. It could just be a bass line or guitar rift, but I always record any potential record stuff just in case. The basic process is going through the various demos I've done and figuring out which ones have the best potential to be part of a whole record. Once I figure that out, I always record drums and bass first to lay down the foundation, followed by guitars. Vocals are always last for me, due to the fact that sometimes I don't have any vocal ideas for the song or the right lyrics to compliment the music. The recording process can take some weeks or months to complete. After that, I also mix and master it. The overall process varies from record to record.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Since I'm always writing and working from record to record, I don't really get a chance to listen or explore new music that's out there right now. I usually get fans that send me what they're listening to and that's a good way to discover new bands. I have been recently listening to Fact Pattern Ringo, Deathstarr, Sin Alley, The City Gates and stuff like that.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Any song from The Cranes. Not meant to be sung by a male, but I love the feel and sound of their songs!

Q: What are your plans for the future?
I just released a B-side called A Mental Low and I'm also currently working on a new record that will hopefully be out sometime next year.

Q: Any parting words?
Yes! Everyone is Somebody to Someone Else......
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Thanks

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

Falling Weightless with Prepare My Glider - An Interview

A história do projeto canadense, Prepare My Glider certamente poderia ser a história de muitas bandas ao redor do planeta, tudo por conta de um disco chamado Psychocandy e depois de bandas britânicas que no início dos 90´s fizeram os sonhos de muitos adolescentes sofrerem danos irreversíveis.

Com o coração e a mente inseridos no shoegaze, James Callan, relata através de suas músicas, sua vida, suas paixões e tudo que esta em sua volta.

O Prepare My Glider é o mais puro shoegaze em toda sua essência, simples assim.

***** Interview with Prepare My Glider *****

Q. When did Prepare My Glider start? Tell us about the history...
I would have to say it all started back in a small town in Northern Ontario when a new kid in town from Montreal brought over a vinyl copy of “Psychocandy” by the Jesus and Mary Chain. I remember the decibel meter stayed up in the reds which I had never seen before. From that point I was hooked.

Q: Who are your influences?
In the early 90’s, I moved to a small city an hour outside of Toronto. This allowed access to a steady flow of live music from the likes of Slowdive, Ride, Pale Saints, The Boo Radleys, Curve, Moose, New Order, Verve, Spiritualized, Swervedriver, Chapterhouse, Stereolab, Flaming Lips….ect. Didn’t miss a gig, and they have all become part of my sound.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
(in no particular order)

Souvlaki Space Station - Slowdive
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Verve - A Storm in Heaven
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
Mescal Head - Swervedriver

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Amped!

Q. How do you describe Prepare My Glider´ sounds?
It’s a combination of Distortion/echo/fuzz/melody swimming in reverb.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
I always start on acoustic guitar to get an idea of structure. From there it’s straight to the basement to mess around with layers of guitar tracks. All recording is done in Garage Band. I keep jamming until I like something and then lay it down on an open track. A song is finished when I can listen to it for a few months and still want to hear it again an again.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Pia Fraus
Pinkshinyultrablast
Ringo Deathstarr

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
American Analog Set - The Postman

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Move into the country and eat a lot of peaches.

Q: Any parting words?
Take the time to get to know people, listen to good music, drink more wine.
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Thanks

https://preparemyglider.bandcamp.com

Silver City with Lonely Leary - An Interview

Uma linha lógica sonora que passa por Suicide-Gang of Four-Wire-Sonic Youth-Big Black até chegar no art noise cascudo dos chineses do Lonely Leary.

Agressivamente abrasivo é o debute dos caras "皮長山寝室バンド", que mesmo buscando no Google não cheguei a nenhuma conclusão do que significa o título, mas pouco importa, concentre-se na música, ou na anti música que os caras constroem. Todas as referência citadas são sentidas e o que mais agrada é o senso de desespero e pavor que o disco sugere.

Como costumo dizer para bandas como o Lonely Leary, certamente, não recomendado a indie kids.

***** Interview with Lonely Leary *****

Q. When did Lonely Leary start? Tell us about the history...
1.We met in a campus city called Changqing which is near Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province, China. Our guitarist Song Ang was my junior schoolmate, while the drummer Li Baoning studied instruments with him in the business street of the campus city. At that time I was going to graduate. I thought haven't play a band in university career is a pity. I heard about Song played guitar and loved Punk Rock so I contacted him. He was also excited about playing a band and brought Li as the drummer. That's how Lonely Leary started.

Q: Who are your influences?
2.Our early influence mainly came from Punk Rock and some classic Post-Punk band like Joy Division and Gang of Four. Later we turned to Noise Rock and listened to bands like Sonic Youth very often.

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
If I have to make a list of 5 albums that influence us most in making this album, they will be by Joy Division,
by Suicide,
by P.K.14,
by Sonic Youth
and by Savages.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
3.Lonely Leary is a band growing in the small underground livehouses in Beijing. We seldom play on big stage and used to the venues which have dirty stage and bad sound system. It is meaningless to pursue a clear sound in this situation so we tend to make more noise and feedback and become more fierce just to burn the venue. This really shapes our style.

Q. How do you describe Lonely Leary´s sounds?
4.Lonely Leary’s music can be described like this: A dynamic sound blending fast drums, muddy bass and rough guitar noise into a tense, menacing pummel.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
5.We recorded this album in April last year for half a month. The recorder and productor is Yang Haisong, the front man of P.K.14 band. He plays a role like‘God Father’in Chinese underground indie music scene. He put many elements which were beyond our imagination to make the album unique and better. We also learned so muchfrom him.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
6.Let us recommend some really good new band from China: Hiperson, Gong Gong Gong, Future Orients, Mirrors and Dirty Fingers.

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
7.I would like to cover songs from Nick Drake. His special tuning of guitar is really fantastic!

Q: What are your plans for the future?
8.We plan to have a China tour in June to July for 20 days and a Europe tour in September to October with a same scale. Definitely we will make several new songs for the second album.

Q: Any parting words?
9. Hope you could enjoy this album despite the language obstacle!
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Thanks

https://lonelyleary.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/lonelyleary/

Away with Sister Disaster - An Interview

Depois de dois EP´s poderosos, as finlandesas do Sister Disaster, finalmente chegam ao seu primeiro álbum, o dark e enérgico "Away".

Ríspido, denso e simples, o disco é como se os Ramones colidissem de frente com Xmal Deutschland. As raízes no punk clássico e no pós punk dark norteiam "Away" desde os primeiros momentos de "Fools" até a derradeira "Shadows Walk With Me". Se o disco é uma pedrada, ao vivo as meninas do Sister Disaster devem ser absolutamente fantásticas.

Espere a noite cair, pegue "Away" e não descanse nunca mais.

***** Interview with Sister Disaster *****

Q. When did Sister Disaster start? Tell us about the history...
Hanna and Kaa lived together as roommates about 10 years ago. Hanna and Riikka knew each other from the university and Riikka knew Sanna through common friends. No one of us had ever played in a band before, and some of us had never played anything at all. We were active in the punk scene in other ways. But one night, in 2014, Hanna and Riikka were in a bar full of regret, frustration and need for a change and came up with the idea of putting up band. Pretty soon Hanna asked if Kaa was interested and finally Sanna joined us a few months later. We started playing all sorts of cover songs (the Ramones, Dead Moon, No Hope for the Kids and finnish bands like Kollaa Kestää). To make our own songs was a huge step for us, but when we found our own sound and dared to leave our comfort zone, things started to happen really fast: we made a lot of songs and some were even quite good.

Q: Who are your influences?
We have never discussed about any influencers, and we all have our own taste of music. But we have a common fixation on 80’s synth/disco/post punk stuff and on finnish schlager. And we all love echoing and dark things in music so finding a sound that pleases us all has never been difficult.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
David Bowie: The Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust
Wipers: Is this real?
Joy Division: Unknown pleasures
Hurriganes: Roadrunner

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Playing shows was never a thing for us when we started. Actually we were terrified to play them. But after the first chaotic gigs we started to appreciate it: it was the only way to let people hear our music since we didn’t have any recordings. And of course it feels good to see that people actually want to hear us and get something from it.

Q. How do you describe Sister Disaster´s sounds?
More is more. We love echoing, dark sounds but also classic guitar sound that gives a nice clean finnish schlager feeling.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
The songs always take a long time until they are ready. It usually starts with a bass line and everything gets build on that, and we play them a lot before recording them (except our latest release “Undertaker” which we made only few days before). So when we go to studio we have a really clear picture in mind about how they are supposed to sound like.

In studio we tend to eat well, drink lots of energy drinks and try to take it easy. We like spending time together and usually recording has been fun. We prefer recording as much live as possible.

We have made three recordings (a cassette, an EP and the upcoming LP) and every time has been a different kind of experience. But every time we have learned a lot. We would also like to learn to record and mix our own music. Our dream for our retirement age is to have our own studio. In space, of course.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
All of these are not so new, but we would like to recommend Finnish bands like Kuudes Silmä, Rue Morgue, Puhelinseksi, Generals and an awesome synth pop duo called Romanssi.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
We have been dreaming of making a Depeche Mode cover.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Our new LP “Away” will come out in few weeks. We’ve been very focused on that goal, and now it’s finally happening. So during the summer we’re going to play some gigs in Finland and hopefully in other countries as well and try to get those records sold. After that we can do what we most enjoy: spend long weekends at our rehearsal space and start making new songs.

Q: Any parting words?
Just want to say that it’s absolutely awesome & cool that someone so far away from Finland is interested in our music B).
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Thanks

https://sisterdisaster.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/sisterdisasterband/

Rape In The Spiritual World with The Olive Shoots - An Interview

Não é de hoje que a Suécia exporta exímios fazedores de sonhos sonoros, desnecessário listar, pois a lista é imensa e o tempo a desprender para isso basicamente inexiste por aqui.

E é exatamente neste nicho Joachim Sällström, a mente por trás do projeto The Olive Shoots, conduz suas cintilantes canções, com extremo destaque para o soberbo EP de 2013, "Anteros", e mais recentemente o último single, "Rape (In The Spiritual World".

Totalmente conectado com os frutíferos idos dos 80´s, o The Olive Shoots, mistura synths, por vezes com um suingue deliciosamente envolvente, mas um suingue branco, mais cerebral do que corporal, aliado a tudo isso, o já citado cintilante mundo dos sonhos.

Feche os olhos e flutue.

***** Interview with The Olive Shoots *****

Q. When did The Olive Shoots start? Tell us about the history...
TOS started out as a songwriting project in 2003 and has since then become something like a pseudonym for me [Joachim Sällström]. In one way or the other I have collaborated with different musicians throughout the years, but I’ve been the sole composer all the time. I’ve released some three and four track recs on a few indie labels, but it’s only now that I’m going in for the whole artist thing to the fullest. Whatever that is.

Q: Who are your influences?
It’s changed some over the years. It’s gone from being very eighties indie guitar inspired, into more analogue synth stuff. The inspiration has always been mostly eighties though and I suck at finding new good music. I don’t doubt that a lot that’s going on is interesting, I just don’t care very much. Except for some American Folk and J-Pop music. When it comes to guitar based music it’s all dream pop and Cocteau Twins, and more of the analogue stuff is very Numan centric.

Q. Make a list of the best 5 albums of all time…
I could easily just list five Cocteau albums, but I’d say:
The Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow,
The Cocteaus’ Head Over Heels, the Aikea-Guinea EP and Blue Bell Knoll.

The rest of it goes to Gary Numans’ Pleasure Principle and Telekon. Well, that was just three CT albums!

Q. How do you feel playing live?
I haven’t really done live that much. I’m a studio troll and have been living in the studio for a long time now. Still, I’m starting to reappreciate it a lot since me and my band are doing it more. Nothing can compare to it, really. And with all the modern tech solutions going on such as MainStage, it’s really easy to go from studio to live in an instant.

Q. How do you describe The Olive Shoots´ sounds?
Well, it’s a mix of those albums I listed. To my ears anyway. It’s for others to judge I think. Our last single [Rape (In The Spiritual World)] sounds a lot like some late seventies / early eighties New Wave such as what Talking Heads and Bowie were doing at the time.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Rape (In the Spiritual World) has been in the process for lots of years. It tackles a subject that I’ve been dealing with in one way or another for ten years now, but it was only some five years ago that I came to a point where I could put it into words in a sensible way. It’s an important theme, hence the confrontational title, but I seldom find it exposed elsewhere in music.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
As I seldom listen to new bands I don’t really know. I remember listening a lot to Fleet Foxes like eight years ago but I’m not sure that counts as new. I find most new songs when I watch tv shows, but I never remember their names.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
At the moment I’m not really interested in covers. There was a time when I loved people’s interpretations of their favourite artists, and some are very good. But if I’d have to pick one it would have to be a Numan or Cocteau Twins cover, but I wouldn’t make them justice.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Playing live dates and recording. Eventually make a record called People Who Are Insects with the same theme as the single.

Q: Any parting words?
Thanks for having me!
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Thanks

https://soundcloud.com/theoliveshoots
https://www.facebook.com/theoliveshoots/

In Her Eye, "Change" - Track by Track

Fechamos o mês de maio com um lançamento mais do que especial vindo de terras italianas, mais precisamente "57" do Stella Diana, e abrimos o mês de junho com outro poderoso lançamento também de terras italianas, mais precisamente de Milão, o In Her Eye, nome conhecidíssimo para os frequentadores das páginas e projetos do TBTCI, acaba, sim, acaba de colocar no mundo seu mais recente trabalho trabalho, "Change", nasceu há poucas horas e já nasceu em alta rotação, muito por conta que por aqui o disco tem sido objeto de audições exaustivas e ininterruptas.

"Change" possui dos lados distintos, o melancólico, que remete diretamente a escola Robert Smith, e o outro, estridente e melódico, seguindo a escola Swervedriver de road trip.

Com essa combinação o In Her Eye, criou um intenso trabalho inteiramente linear, sem haver momentos maiores ou menores, o disco simplesmente vai perfeito do início ao fim.

E, como esta virando tradição por aqui, para entender melhor os bastidores e segredos de "Change", o In Her Eye abriu as chaves do disco, canção a canção.

Escute alto.

***** In Her Eye, "Change" - Track by Track *****

CLOSER TO ME

Closer to me was the first song we wrote after Borderline. It’s one of those songs you know you’ll love right from the start, because  you feel it grows instinctively, fluidly, straight off. It’s basically a love song, but can be read on multiple levels, as always happen with our lyrics. It’s above all a (self) discovery. It’s about an enlightment, it’s finding enormous potentiality in your life. When you get closer to your life, all is easier and all is in harmony with the outside world. It’s a matter of alignment between heart and mind. It’s a direct song, it has  some “poppish” vibes but a solid structure and guitars.

BIANCA

Bianca is Stefano’s daughter and she’s born while we was writing the album. It’s the next step in the constant process of change. It’s melodic  and deep in emotions. We wanted to express the power and the value of a new life. This power is a quiet power though, it’s placid and suave. It’s about changing life perspectives, seeing horizons you couldn’t even imagine until the day before. Suddenly, what was obvious it is not so obvious anymore. It’s discovering life. We wanted to celebrate this moment using new synth melodies, and the wonderful  voice of Antonia from Mystic Morning helped us giving depth to this song.

ELEPHANT

“Elephant” is probably the rawest and fastest song of the album. It’s a sort of fight with the change itself, because change have to be faced and understood, even though it is unavoidable. The Elephant God is a symbolic figure , resounding oriental roots and echoes (like Ganesh). It’s a (sometimes psychedelic) evocation  of manifestation, an invented conversation with this divinity. Or better, with mind, intellect, ego, consciousness. A re-discovery of  our inner home.

CHANGE

Change is the focal point of the album. It’s awakening to the real essence of life, which is constant change. The demarcation point is accepting and not becoming victim to transformation. Changing yourself constantly and adapting like water to the situations. It’s like a river that flows endlessly with strength and passion. We wanted this energy and flowing to be felt in the song, so it has a spacious and open sound, sometimes fragorous  as a waterfall, sometimes reflective. We added synth and Antonia’s voice in this song as well. Oh, and we’re working on a DYI-Lo-Fi video for this song at the moment, so expect it to be released soon J

NEON LIGHTS

It’s a journey experience. Absorbing the energy of a  place between dream and reality and trying to find coherence in the flux of evocative imagery, living the moment and feeling everywhere in the universe even being still. A paradoxal and deceptive game between body and mind. The sound is hectic and engaging, just like this experience. Paired with the following track “Demons”,  it’s probably the most new wave/post punk influenced song off Change.

DEMONS

Sometimes you realize you keep making the same mistakes again and again. When you open your mind, you understand that those are demons in yourself, influencing your life, your choices, the things you say, everything. This song depicts the very moment in which you realize you have a demon inside yourself and start to understand where you have to work to transform your mind and your life. You have to come out of those cyclic events to see things with a more enlightened visions. The song is quite fast, representing  the automaticity of the demons in our life. The particularity here is that we didn’t use any distorted guitar on this song, which is quite strange for us.

AS IN A DREAM

This song comes from a dream. Giuseppe  suddenly woke up with the melody and the mood in his mind and tried it on his acoustic guitar. We weren’t  so sure about  this song at the beginning because at that time the song was connecting  to Giuseppe’s mind better than to the rest of the band. But music is stronger than words so at the end we found a way to connect and the song started to take shape.  We added synth in this song as well, to create an evocative mood, to represent the sense of eternity of  existence, the vision  of possible better futures and the awareness of being part of the whole. Connection between all and each.  In this song , Giuseppe played a third guitar to give the melody a scented shade, soft for the ear.  At the end of the song, you can sense our determination to make the dream real and maybe (with a little pretention) we made it. It’s our favourite song off Change

LIFE

A final dedication to life. It’s the celebration for another new birth, Marianna, Raffaele’s daughter. “She” is used in the lyrycs to represent life, to celebrate the birth of two wonderful babies  and to give value to the most precious thing we have, life. Giuseppe has been asked several times why feminine is often used in his lyrics. And he says woman can perfectly represent sense of life.  The name of the band itself represent the feminine eye.  The feminine point of view is in all In Her Eye’s songs

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Thanks

https://inhereye.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/inhereyemusic/

Stella Diana, "57" - Track by Track

Não é novidade para quem acompanha as páginas do TBTCI que a cena italiana seja, gazer, psych, dark, pós punk, vai muito bem obrigado, ok!

Semanas passam, semanas entram e sempre uma nova e talentosa banda da terra de onde meus ancestrais vieram, aparece.

Mas por hora, é a vez de celebrar o novo álbum de não somente uma das melhores bandas de lá, mas sim da nova cena mundial, o querido Stella Diana.

O trio de Napoli, nos brindou no último dia 25 de Maio com seu mais recente trabalho, com o enigmático título, "57". E o álbum é, talvez, o ponto mais elevado da trajetória do Stella Diana. É em "57" que a beleza gazer e etérea do trio atinge momentos sublimes, ouça "Iris" ou "Harrison Ford"e comprove. Mas o Stella Diana não se prende somente a territórios gazers, os caras são altamente influenciados pelos clássicos do pós punk, e o amor deles por Joy Division e The Cure, fica explícito na intensidade melancólica de "Naos".

"57" é muito mais do que apenas palavras tentando decifra-lo, o disco é para ser apreciado inúmeras vezes, só assim, o ouvinte vai conseguir absorver, e, principalmente se envolver em cada detalhe.

De tempos em tempos obras como "Closer", Disintegration", "Nowhere" são criadas, e "57" chega sequenciar esse seleto grupo de pérolas.

Ah, obviamente que para preciosidades como "57" o TBTCI, e você precisam ir a fundo, para isso o Stella Diana disseca abaixo faixa a faixa de sua obra prima.

Hipnótico...

***** Stella Diana, "57" - Track by Track *****

The title of this album is very symbolical. five are our official albums, but if we also include two self-produced albums, then there are seven. apart form this, number 5 represents the Pentagon, the five pointed star, five senses, and the polymath.

NUMBER 7 is the seven ancient planets discovered by the ancient astronomy, the Menorah as the seven-lamp decribed in the bible, the Seven deadly sins and also the seven virtues...we can go on forever, but we'd like that people discover by themselves the hidden meanings of these two numbers.

LURINE RAE The title comes from the female character in the philip dick's novel "deus irae". i'm a big fan of Dick and i like to pay homage to him. the song is a classical pop song, short, full of shoegazing guitars and powerful. very funny to play live. the lyrics come from a dream i did years ago

NAOS 

Naos brings out our post punk side and our love for bands like joy division.

IRIS 
The second single with the official video. As always happens to us, there is no relationship between the title and the lyrics. iris is a vortex, a wall, a set of sensations. an elusive feminine figure suggests that perfection is represented by the number 3, but the rest of the lyrics emphasize the difficulty of communication between people.

HARRISON FORD I don't know why i called it that, maybe cause i love harrison ford and his characters: deckard, indy and han solo. this song too, as lurine rae, is very short and pop; a sort of a delicate ballad, very romantic. a romanticism that clashes with me singing "promise to me that the world is to end" it seemed to me a cool thing playing with this contrast.

LUDWIGLudwig? maybe for ludwig van beethoven or ludwig II of Bavaria the swan king. in both cases two persons i love. i don't know why, but the melody reminds me something from warpaint, the guitar or the voice's melody. i'm not sure. anyway, it's a very hypnotic song with this final explosion

ELAINEIt is clear now. we love the cinema and some movies are for us a great source of inspiration. elaine is the daughter of mrs robinson from mike nichols' movie "the graduate". infact the track opens and ends with two sampling from the movie. i think this song has a deep tension, above all in the first part before the final chorus. i love the guitar solo and the cello.

DO ANDROIDSThe title it's a quote of "do androids dream of electric sheep?" and the entire song has this cyberpunk spirit, a futuristic afflatus. we composed it thinking about a dark city wrapped in perpetual rain. we love shoegaze but we are trying to do our personal version of this genre, a blend of obscure and estranging shoegaze.

MRS DARLINGI was listening slowdive's pygmalion when i composed the guitar melody. i was seeking something of suspended, slow, lazy. the second part reminds me the explosion of a star. this song is our way to play shoegaze.

DER SANDMANN The first single. this track doesn't come out from the typical sound of stella diana. we tried to create something that could give an imagine of an interrupted line, an unreal flux of sounds. the lyrics talk about a sort of lady, a girl as the girls painted into the Pre-Raphaelite paintings. a pure rapresentation of joy, mistery, beauty and grace. what is beautiful should be preserved as a sacred fire and, at the same time, you must be careful of this fire...

LOST CHILDREN As a tradition, every final song in each album is totally extemporary and improvised. it's been composed during the last recording session. it's a kind of march with a circular and alienated melody.
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Thanks

https://stelladiana.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/StellaDianaBand/

Azul Rei with Noizu - An Interview

E é de terras chilenas que aterriza nas páginas do TBTCI agora, o quarteto Noizu.

Sentimentos e cheiros noventistas são sentidos desde os primeiros momentos de "Azul Rei", a canção de abertura, que me remeteu diretamente aos prediletos da casa, o Velocity Girl. As guitarras, os vocais, tudo foi como se eu estivesse me teletransportado para os idos de noventa e poucos e toda aquela energia tivesse sido recarregada, mas aí, a sequência matadora com "Refugio", "Tune O Matic" e "Punto Aparte" chegou e arrebatou o coração deste velho amante da década dos excessos.

Bem, voltando para 2018, mas com o coração nos 90´s, o Noizu não é obviamente não faz nada de inovador, e na boa, eu estou pouco me lixando para inovações, eu quero sentir, e o Noizu aguça exatamente isso, os sentimentos.

Escute alto.

***** Interview with Noizu *****

Q. When did Noizu begin? Tell us about the history...
Well, Noizu start at the end of 2015 as four member project called “Muff”. After a while the vocal leaves the band, so Jhon, Felipe and Jano decide change the name to Noizu. We start as a three member band, exploring a noise rock sound. Few months later we decided that noizu must have a vocalist,a female vocalist. Francisca arrives, and we immediately starts working on a new sound thanks to her voice. After a year of exploring new sounds, we start think that we need a something more powerful, and that’s when we invited bruno, and again, we started working in a new sound, exploring shoegaze and dreampop.

Today we can say that noizu is complete as a band and as a friends.

Q: Who are your influences?
wow, we have a lot of musical influences individually, some of us comes from hardcore/punk and metal background, but our major influences are Swirlies, Yo la tengo, Wild Nothing, My bloody valentine, Pale saints, Sonic Yoth, Adelaida (Chile),Christianes (Chile).

Q. Make a list of 5 albuns of all time…
1 - Desintegration/the cure
2 - Swirles /Blonder tongue audio baton
3 - Smashing Pumpkins/Siamese Dream
4 - alvvays/alvvays
5 – My bloody Valentine/ Loveless

Q. How do you feel playing live?
For us the most important thing when we play is have fun, enjoy the moment, we feel a kind of emotional liberation.

Nervousness always be there, but we are five friends doing the things that we love, that's make feel us relax and confortable.

Q. How do you describe Noizu´s sounds?
We think it’s like a noise pop. It’s a mix of distorsion guitar with clean moments and a pleasant female voice, we love that contrast. Also we explore a shoegaze/dream pop sound.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
We recorded our EP in "Estudio Lautaro" (Santiago, Chile). The process was great, it takes two days, recording all the instruments playing at the same time, this made the recording process more real for us, as if we were playing live. Then we recorded the voice and overdubs. we learned a lot .

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
There are a lot of good local bands, for example Paracaidistas, Las Modas Pasajeras, Medio hermano, Chico Bestia, icor, etc…

Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
We usually play two covers to have fun and relax , but we’ve never play them live.

Las ligas Menores - 1200 kms.
My bloody Valentine – you made me realise.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
We want to release an LP, compose more and crazy songs, mix new sounds, but without leaving aside what we do. Play in bigger stages and do tours.

Q: Any parting words?
First of all, thank TBTCI for the interest in our music, and we invite you guys to listen to our EP on youtube, bandcamp or spotify. We hope to see you at some show.
Regards!!
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https://www.facebook.com/Noizubanda/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKthCf3TqOI
https://open.spotify.com/album/7kaDNUJAB13UgrrLFbWEh0
https://noizubanda.bandcamp.com

Maruchan with San Coyote - An Interview

Seguindo a tradição da TBTCI, onde o objetivo foge dos conceitos atuais de atrair "likes" ou algo que o valha, aqui você encontrará tudo que é excitantemente novo, sem compromisso com o mainstream, etc, etc.

E é nesse nicho que os mexicanos do San Coyote nascem. Com pouco menos de um ano de vida, apenas um EP no currículo, os caras são e fazem um noise pop que pega o punk bubblegum, C86 e se conecta com gente mais recente como Wavves.

San Coyote é curto, direto, estridente, cantarolável e envolvente o EP é audição sem contra indicação, feito sob medida pra curtição e ponto final.

***** Interview with San Coyote *****

- When did San Coyote start? Tell us about the history...
The band started around 7 months ago, at first it was just me and my desire to make music, I took my guitar and started writing songs and recording them on my pc with an audio interface that I bought at that time, then I started looking for band members on fb groups and got to know my bassist Jhovvan, we were introduced by some kid who was a terrible musician who wanted us to be in his band, it was a very frustrating experience because this kid in particular lied to us about having all the instruments that a band needs, so we didn't have to travel with ours to rehearsals, at the end we told him to get lost and Jhovvan and me decided to make San Coyote, later we met Alfredo and Edgar, who are with us playing guitar and drums respectively.

- Who are your influences?
Well our influences vary between menbers as well as many bands, but we all agree that we have a very strong Wavves and Los Blenders(Mexican band) influence, I personally like 90's alt rock acts such as Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Weezer, but I also love a lot of shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and some less popular ones like Whirr and Swirlies, Jhovvan is the more inclined to Noise Pop and Surf Punk bands like the already mentioned Wavves, Fidlar, Los Blenders, etc, Alfredo likes Radiohead, St Vincent, The White Stripes, and I don't know much about Edgar's influences because he doesn't have much time playing with us but from what he's told us he has been moved by Editors and some mexican acts like Enjambre as well.

- Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
In no particular order:

Loveless, by My Bloody Valentine
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club, by The Beatles
V, by Wavves
Alba, by José Madero
In Rainbows, by Radiohead

- How do you feel playing live?
Well we haven't played that much since we're just starting to get our shit together but the times we've played have been a mix between cringe and good experiences, I remember the first time me and Jhovvan did a concert, at that time we didn't have anyone else playing with us so I had the great idea of playing Roland TR 707 samples on my pc live as a backing track for guitar playing... holy crap, then when we had an actual drummer things went ok and people started to take us more seriously and enjoy some of our stuff, when we started recording we stopped gigging for a while until we had the EP prepared.

- How do you describe San Coyote´s sounds?
Well we play punk with a lot of emphasis on noisy lo-fi shrill sounds and lots of reverb, and like a lot of bedroom dream pop bands nowadays we display some beginner-musician tendencies such as awful singing and cheap recording technics.

- Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
Recording process was very cheap, I literally plugged my MIM Fender Blacktop Strat into a Way Huge Havaline and from there into an M-Audio M-Track Plus, I didn't use amp simulation because I couldn't afford one so the sound I got was very lo-fi and shrill, you could say it was terrible but when I started doing the actual recording I actually liked it very much, it reminded me of the guitar sound in albums like Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain or the Wavves debut LP, when I had the guitar tracks recorded I just added the Roland TR 707 samples that I mentioned earlier as the drum parts and then I recorded the bass tracks with my Kingston Hound Dog bass, and then I just sang over that with the help of the classic Shure SM57, the result was much better than I expected I didn't even need to add lots of VST's to make it sound ok.

- Which new bands do you recommend? ich new bands do you recommend?
We really don't know much about fresh-from-garage bands because a lot of them do kinda suck... but we've liked a lot the music from bands like Palm and Melrose, Melrose has a special place in my heart because they're dudes that I actually heard since they started out from scratch doing posts on 4chan's /mu/ forum which I go to a lot because of the community interaction.

- Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Well we haven't decided to do a cover we all die to make, it happens that sometimes a specific member of the band wants to cover a band only he likes and then we follow along, but I think all members would be more than pleased to cover Remo Drive, since they're just an amazingly fun band.

- What are your plans for the future?
We are currently saving money to buy equipment for the recording on our first proper LP, I already have some song ideas but I need to drop some of the beginner tendencies that I talked about earlier like the use of drum samples, the awful singing and some good tube guitar amps for guitars and bass to really make something that sounds amazing.

- Any parting words?
Thanks to Renato for liking our tunes and interviewing us, we're very proud of the job you're doing in this blog.
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Thanks

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

High Stakes with Centrefold - An Interview

Depois dos primeiros passos serem dados com o EP "High Stakes", lançado ano passado o quarteto, Centrefold se trancafiou até há pouco menos de um mês atrás, enfim veio ao mundo o debute.

O disco homônimo é shoegaze em sua essência, seu DNA carrega todas as características fundamentais do estilo, mas, o Centrefold injeta na receita, referências captadas de todas as décadas de boa música, seja nos primórdios com Mr. Howlin’ Wolf, seja nas experiências excêntricas com os frippertronics do gênio, Robert Fripp, seja no próprio shoegaze, feito ontem ou hoje, tudo é combustível criativo para o Centrefold.

E no meio dessa miscelânea toda existe uma unidade, e essa é a força principal do "Centrefold", o álbum.

Aqui serve mais uma vez o seguinte comentário, o Centrefold é uma resposta bem alta no meio dos tímpanos para aqueles preguiçosos que insistem em dizer que nada é feito de bom atualmente....podres coitadas, não sabem de nada.

Escute alto!

***** Interview with Centrefold *****

Q. When did Centrefold start? Tell us about the history...
Lucas: Centrefold started as a project of mine. I’d discovered some dream-pop and shoegaze bands and had become fascinated with the ways many of these bands experimented with sound texture, noise, modulation, and different ways to layer effects on the guitar. I’d been in several bands over the years as a drummer while also playing guitar in a couple cover bands, and decided I wanted to try and experiment with these ideas myself on guitar. I started coming up with some of the ideas that would become Centrefold songs in 2014-2015, with serious practicing and polishing taking place in 2016 with our first show on July 1st, Canada Day/Memorial Day, 2016. Since then the driving force behind the band has drastically shifted and we all bring something essential to sound of the band. While I’m the primary songwriter, I only create the skeletons and the rest of the band puts the muscles and skin on it. We are also getting much more collaborative in the writing process going forward.

Q: Who are your influences?
Nick: There is a lot of variety in the music we all listen to but for this project, artists like Tesseract, Steven Wilson, King Crimson, Karnivool and The War on Drugs are just some that come to my mind, influencing the construction and landscape i want to bring to the Centrefold sound.

Kieran: Too many to name, but some of the more obvious ones for me are The War On Drugs, Nothing, Smashing Pumpkins, Slowdive, Jim O’Rourke, Pixies, Deafheaven, Kate Bush, Sun Ra, Duster, Kurt Vile, Warpaint, Fog Lake, Chromatics, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, At The Drive-In, Neko Case, Wilco, Elliott Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Julee Cruise, and Howlin’ Wolf.

Lucas: Similar to Nick and Kieran, I’ve gone through many phases listening to a wide variety of music which have all influenced me when it comes to this project in particular. Some obvious influences are bands like My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Diiv, No Joy, Weed, Solids, Title Fight, Oeil, Nothing, Duster, Fog Lake, The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Red House Painters, Tame Impala, Stars of the Lid, Brian Eno, Now Now, Autolux, and Interpol.

Becca: I personally don't use a whole lot of influence. Lucas has taught me everything I know with drumming, and I'm not very skilled or experienced; although I'm learning with every show we do and improving all the time. But I turn to White Stripes as motivation for my drumming. When I started off, I really wasn't that good. But knowing that a really successful and amazing band made it with their drummer starting in the same situation as me made me feel like it was possible for us.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Nick:
Interpol - Turn on The Bright Lights
Janek Gwizdala - American Elm
King Crimson - Discipline
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

Kieran:
Elliott Smith - XO
At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
The War on Drugs - Lost In The Dream
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Lucas:
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Becca:
Pink Floyd - Division Bell
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Lucas: I love playing live. Nicholas and I started playing a number of years ago in a very different band and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve always had at least one active band on the go ever since. For me it’s not only a lot of fun, it’s also a way to relieve stress and express myself in front of a crowd.

Becca: I am always nervous starting off, but I don't think that will ever go away. After about the second song, I'm “in the zone” and it's amazing. It's invigorating, it's energising. It always ends too soon. Kieran: It's lots of fun and a real rush, especially when people in the audience dance with us. I like our shows to be more intense like a rock or punk show than a typical shoegaze show.

Q. How do you describe Centrefold´s sounds?
Kieran: Loud and intense, but still very emotional.

Becca: A chaotic assortment of sounds and effects that comes together to create something deep, emotional, and relatable.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Kieran: It took a long time, about a year and a half. It was mostly getting together whenever we could on weekends and evenings and laying a few tracks down. There was a lot of layering different guitar tracks with different guitars, experimenting with different pedals, that kind of stuff. We also experimented with different drum micing techniques, the drum tracks on ‘Break’ and ‘Blank Page’ were even recorded in mono.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Kieran: I’d recommend Bridges, Black Market Hard-Tack, Town House, Nicer and Dora, all fantastic bands from Newfoundland.

Lucas: Some more great Newfoundland bands are Ribbon Tied, Fog Lake, Soap Opera, Elictrikompany, and Monsterbator.


Q: Which band would you love to made a cover version of?
Lucas: We enjoy covering a variety of artists. We usually learn a couple covers and cycle through them, usually never leaving a cover in our set for too long. It’s a way to keep our setlist fresh and new in between writing new songs. In the past we’ve covered Smashing Pumpkins, The War on Drugs, Nothing, David Bowie, Kevin Shields, Silversun Pickups, and Postal Service/Iron and Wine. There are several artists we’re interested in covering in the future such as The Smiths, The Cranberries, Kendrick Lamar, Slowdive, Warpaint, and Kurt Vile.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Kieran: We’re hoping to follow up our album with some new material pretty quickly and have a short tour this fall through Canada's East Coast.

Q: Any parting words?
Lucas: We’d like to thank you for showing interest in our band and deciding to interview us, and thank everyone who listened to our music on spotify, bandcamp, youtube, and others. We owe our rising popularity to great music blogs like you guys and awesome fans.
And here's all our links for you guys:
https://www.facebook.com/CentrefoldBand/
https://www.instagram.com/centrefoldjamsnl/
https://centrefoldnl.bandcamp.com/
https://centrefoldnl.com/

Deja Vu with New Aura - An Interview

E o mundo psych respira mais efervescente do que nunca, ao redor do mundo brotam novas bandas, injetando acidez neste mundo cada vez mais insano.

E nessa nova leva de bandas, o New Aura se destaca, formada por ex membros de bandas como Magic Shoppe, Drug Dogs and Malatese, os caras acabaram de debutar com um disco absolutamente excelente.

O álbum homônimo vai buscar suas referências, principalmente, no que o BJM fazia em uma de suas obras mais emblemáticas, "Their Satanic Majesties Second Request", o New Aura pega aquele psicodelismo arrastado, e derrama doses de modernidade nele.

Mas ao contrário das obras do psych atual, com grandes odisseias, o New Aura concentra suas trips sonoras em pouco mais de dois minutos e meio no máximo, as canções são curtas e diretas.

O New Aura, é uma dose certeira de psilocibina sonora bem no centro a mente.

***** Interview with New Aura *****

Q. When did New Aura begin? Tell us about the history...
Tayler: We are based out of Boston, Massachusetts. I started working on some material around this time last year. Tim and Dan have a studio in their attic where some more ideas got started. Tim and I go back, and we both recently played in Magic Shoppe for a few years. I reached out to Matt from Drug Dogs who had recently linked up with Malatese drummer, Jon Reed. After a couple of months of playing and writing more music together, we released our self-titled EP on vinyl and cassette. In support of our new release, we recently wrapped up a tour of New England with our long-time pals Your 33 Black Angels.

Q: Who are your influences?
Matt: Spiritualized, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spacemen 3 for sure. My more modern favorites of that ‘60s revival genre are the Asteroid #4, Les Big Byrd, Black Market Karma, the Black Heart Death Cult...but I also listen to alot of punk music I also find that "sound" in - like Black Easter or the Marked Men.

Tim: Same as Matt, but also lots of Kraut rock like Neu and Can, as well as more modern krauty-garagey stuff like Thee Oh Sees and King Gizzard. Also been loving Amen Dunes and Unknown Mortal Orchestra lately. And the Childish Gambino album is fantastic.

Dan: Same as the other dudes plus The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Radiohead, Gorillaz, Fleet Foxes, Gucci Mane. As far as guitarists, Bob Weir has definitely shaped my approach for how I want to play rhythm parts.

Tayler: Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Oasis, The Cure, BJM, I’ve been diggin the new records from The Limiñanas, and New Candys

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Tayler: George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Jon: Gang of Four- Entertainment!
Tim: Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentleman
Dan: Bob Dylan - Live at Buddakan
Matt: Spacemen 3 - Perfect Perscription

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Jon: Playing live is one of the best feelings so I feel pretty damn good playing live. Our songs are short and full of energy.

Q. How do you describe New Aura´s sounds?
Jon: Our sound is a bit of psych, shoegaze, and for a lack of a better term the music in the 60s-70s that was categorized as "Krautrock." We realize everyone's attention spans are shot in the modern age so we keep the songs short and sweet. I've heard folks say we sound like the Detroit garage band The Index or "The Velvet Underground, but heavier" - an anonymous bartender from Western Mass.

Tim: Yep all of the above. I play a big fully hollow Gretsch electromatic or a Vox Cheetah, both of which I drench in reverb and delay, so I kind of provide the sonic glue between our other two guitarists tones. Jon and Matt are a sick rhythm section they keep it moving forward.

Dan: I think having 3 guitars and one of them being a 12 string really allows us to layer the guitar sounds/tones. Sometimes me Tim and Tay will each be playing different things which I think is a big part of our sound.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
Tayler: Me, Tim, or Dan will usually start with a demo at home then show them to the band where it will take on a new life. Tim and Dan’s home attic has been a great space for us to work on ideas. After playing them for a bit, we will try to record as a full live band, then overdub anything we see fit. We are all very interested in production, and all bring something unique to the table. Some songs come together right away while other songs have taken a couple months to write/complete. We had a lot of fun with our debut record, and are looking forward to the next one.

Tim: We went into an awesome studio in Boston operated by our friend Spenser Gralla and did most of the tracking for our first EP in live-takes. We did one song like 10 times but ended up not even using it. Just trying to find a certain vibe. Sometimes you ruin it the more you try. Other times you need to do a few takes to get what you want. After tracking we did some overdubs and mixing and stuff on our own. I make demos in my home studio using a pretty minimal setup and some random outboard gear I like to use.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
Matt: There's this group called Phenomena 256 out of Northampton, MA that I think is awesome. Also, Boston locals in Banshee can't get enough credit for how unique their sound is.

Jon: They're a bit different sounding then New Aura, but some of my former bandmates are doing some great things in the bands Buck Gooter, Flyying Colors, and Gumming

Tim: Heavy Birds from NYC are incredible. Sun Voyager from NYC is also so damn good.

Dan: We played a show a couple weeks ago in Troy NY with The Abyssmals and they were fucking rockin'

Tayler: Your 33 Black Angels were great tour mates – can’t wait for their next record. Jim Leonard is working on a cool new record now- keep an eye peeled for that. The artist who made the artwork for our EP, Al Marantz, just released another great record.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
Tayler: We’ve been having fun playing some Warlocks songs at practice. I’ve always wanted to cover Exile on Main Street.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Jon: Now that our first EP is pressed and out to the public, we're hoping to write a full length in the next few months and hopefully do a bit more touring. We want to explore expanding our live sound and play some more exciting places.

Q: Any parting words?
1. Big Thanks to TBTCI and to all the artists out there making the world more interesting.

2. Check out our new record (free download):
https://newaura.bandcamp.com/releases
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Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/newaurausa666420/