Peace, Love and Psych with Lilly Creightmore - An Interview

Anton Newcombe

Quando tomei conhecimento que estava em processo de filmagem um documentário sobre a cena psych da atualidade fique logicamente excitado ao extremo, o nome deste pérola chama-se TRIP e pode ser acompanhado pelo link aí no nome.

Fui atrás da pessoa que esta por trás dessa empreitada e dei de cara com Lilly Creightmore, fotografa, filmaker e presença quase que obrigatória dentro do interior do que esta fervilhando mundo afora.

Amiga de Anton Newcombe, dos Black Angels, do pessoal da cena psych da África do Sul, leia-se Very Wicked e outros, Lilly tem o aval mundial psych e certamente o que vem pela frente sera algo absurdamente delirante, tal qual o gosto amargo do ácido.

Previsto pra vir ao mundo em 2015, Trip só pelo release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mYwwpvsV4A e pelos créditos tende a ser um dos melhores documentários de todos os tempos, acha muito?/ Então reuna Roky Eriksson, Black Angels, Dead Skeletons, Spacemen 3, BJM, etc, etc e etc.......

Palmas para Lilly e peace, love and psych....

E com exclusividade total, o TBTCI em primeiríssima mão adianta o que vem pela frente, quem viver verá....

***** Interview with Lilly Creightmore *****

Black Angels

Q. Hello Lilly, you are photographer and filmmaker. How began your fascination for photography and filming?
My grandmother bought me a pink plastic camera when I was five and I enjoyed taking pictures of my soft toy frog George, in her flowerbeds, I think I wanted to be a wildlife photographer. I bought my first SLR (which I still shoot with) when I was 14. I grew up watching a lot of cult British cinema, particularly 70's Mike Leigh and Nicolas Roeg with my Mum, we also bonded over a really dark comedy. I think all these influenced me a lot and lead me to a fascination with the visually surreal. I was working as a PA at a TV company, when I realised I wanted to get into documentary making, I was told they couldn't help me move up in the company, but was advised to go pick a subject and learn to shoot and edit myself. So thats what I did!

Q. You currently lives in London and Cape Town right? How is the psych scene of South Africa? I particularly like The Very Wicked, what other bands do you recommend?
When I first stayed in Cape Town six years ago, very few kids were into psychedelic music, it really took off in Cape Town in about 2010 when some friends of mine formed a Garage band called The Revelators, they later became The Future Primitives, who sadly stopped playing at the beginning of this year but Heino the bassist and Warren the drummer in that band are now The Gumbo Ya Ya's. Andre and Lucy from The Very Wicked, have another project called Medicine Boy, The Wild Eastern Arches are also no longer, but their stuff is great, Bilderberg Motel, Black Lung, Heroin, the list is endless! Things move pretty fast in Cape Town, I haven't been in town since March, there's probably been about ten new bands formed since then.
The boys that run Psych Night are doing a really great job at combining local and hopefully soon, other African musical and artistic talent along with getting smaller international acts to South Africa, it's been so great to watch their baby grow!

I have for the past year also been searching for more original Southern African music with a view to re-introduce it, cross the culture divide and bring it back to the new generation both in South Africa and internationally, break that boring mould of labelling African music as 'World Music' . There was some absolutely phenomenal musicians coming out of SA in the 60's and 70's, which of course the majority didn't get to hear because they were predominantly black South Africans singing about life under Apartheid and were either forced to leave the country or were silenced. Two LP's I love are Savage Sounds from South Africa and Zulu Stomp! There was also some great music coming out of Zambia in the 70's, Zam Rock n Roll.

Whenever i'm in South Africa I speak to taxi drivers and car guards about the music they listen to.
There are so many stories of struggle and adversity from people that have fled from suppression and war in Zimbabwe and Central Africa, to find some level of civilised living and whatever work they can, stories of incredible human strength and survival everywhere you look, this is why I love the country and why I believe Cape Town is one of the best places you can be in the World in terms of cultural diversity, creativity and inspiration.

Q. You have accompanied countless festivals of new psychedelic scene as the Austin Psych Festival, All TomorrowParties and others, how you got involved with this whole movement?
Partially through love of the music and partially by accident. It all started in 2005 for me, I was already into Ride, MBV, Spacemen 3, when I was introduced to The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Morning After Girls, The People's Revolutionary Choir and Koolaid Electric Company.
In August 2007 a bunch of kooks from these bands played a festival called Dream Machine in a tiny English village, I think myself and a friend were the only people that bought a ticket, everyone else at the festival was playing.

I was pretty out of it all weekend, so didn't have a clue who anyone was, but we had a very magical time together.

From there it kind of snowballed, we became this loving dysfunctional family in the following months and years, we'd meet up at shows and festivals, get high and laugh a lot.

I went to San Francisco and Austin early in 2008. While in Austin I started taking pictures at shows, one night I ended up via mutual friends at The Black Angels house. Shortly after they came over to the UK to play All Tomorrow's Parties on their first headline tour of Europe, which was my first ATP and probably one of the best weekends I'd ever experienced! After three weeks of wild times with the BA's, young, dumb and in love, I quit my job, returned to the US, bought a video camera and hit the road with them and Roky Erickson!

Nonni Dead

Q. How did the idea of making a documentary about the psych scene? What is the focus of the documentary?
There wasn't much of a scene when I started shooting the film, at least not in the UK or Austin. We were just a group of Atlantic hopping friends, going with our hearts and doing what we enjoyed.

Instead of playing around with guitars and pedals, I messed around with cameras.

I spent three months in the US just filming what I experienced, the tour with The Black Angels and Roky, a festival in Joshua Tree, various LA shows and characters, Obama's election win..

In the six years since I began, the popularity of the music has grown beyond anything I imagined when I started, so the story kind of wrote itself!

Q. What ´s your favourite bandsof this new psych era?
I listen to lots of different kinds of music, Most recently i've been listening to a load of Chinese rock n roll, thanks to one of my nearest and dearest Ricky Maymi, who is very busy promoting and distributing all things Chinese music, check out his blog

http://faroutdistantsounds.blogspot.co.uk/

In terms of innovation and raw drive in Western rock n roll I'd say Anton Newcombe is still at the forefront of it all, certainly in Europe, inspiring hundreds and producing records for some great bands such as The KVB, Les Big Byrd, Dirty Beaches with his label A Recordings.

Bands that get described as being Psych that I dig .. Tame Impala, The Growlers, Bill Baird, The Night Beats, Dead Skeletons, Tess Parks, Steve Gunn, GOAT, Bombino, The Shine Brothers, Cosmonauts, Allah La's..

Q.What are the 10 essential albums for understanding the psychedelic music of today?
I'm not qualified to answer that question for others, but for me personally the journey that led me to Neo Psychedelia went something like this..

The Beatles - White Album
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Velvet Underground and Nico
Kate Bush - Lionheart
Joy Division -Unknown Pleasures
The 13th Floor Elevators - Bull of the Woods
Spacemen 3 - Sound of Confusion
Ride - Nowhere
My Bloody Valentine -Loveless
Brian Jonestown Massacre -Methodrone

The Very Wicked

Q. We are all looking forward to the launch of the documentary, which forecast launch?
We're hoping to have it finished and ready to enter some film festivals next year..

Q. Do you know any Brazilian band or psychedelic or shoegazer scene?
Henrique Laurindo and Luciana Grave of The Tamborines.

I haven't been to South America at all yet, but I would love to!

Q. Hear these songs and tell me what you think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1u0KwYyavM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_htJQq6AWek


They're good!

Q. Finally, what would you advise for the realization of a Brazilian Psych Festival happen?
Psych Fests are happening in cities all over the World now, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Just make sure you give yourself enough time to promote and organise it well, treat your artists and punters with care and everyone will have a good time!

Q. Any parting words..
I think the best thing any new band can do is not to consciously tap into a sound, style or genre but really listen to what resonates from within, look at the roots of their culture, history or the nature around them for inspiration..
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Thanks Lilly

http://www.lillycreightmore.com/

Monster Movie with Dead Sea Apes - An Interview

Com extremo orgulho o TBTCI tem a honra de poder dividir nestas páginas uma entrevista com uma das mais perfeitas e intensas bandas da atualidade, de Manchester o Dead Sea Apes desde 2009 vem nos bombardeando com intensos cataclismas sonoros, um mix de psicodelia escura e kraut esquizofrênico ao melhor estilo do grandioso Can.

Em outubro vem ao mundo o novíssimo High Evolutionary, que em audição antecipada com exclusividade para o TBTCI eu posso afirmar que é uma das obras mais perfeitas desse 2014.

Música visceral e altamente emocional, concebida para adentrar a mente e permanecer por lá durante a eternidade.

O Dead Sea Apes é algo a ser saboreado de forma alta e intensa, isso nos dois sentidos.

***** Interview with Dead Sea Apes *****

When did Dead Sea Apes start, tell us about the history.. .
Chris - I met Nick in early 2009 - I'd not long moved back to Manchester and was looking for musicians to play with, and I think he had recently left another band. We had a couple of jams and tried out one or two other guitarists, but when Brett came along it gelled instantly. From our first session together we had the basis of four songs, which we've gone on to play live and record. One of those was our first single Soy Dios, which came together really quickly flowing on from the guitar intro which Brett brought in to that first session. On the basis of that and some other demos on our website, a CDR label in the US called Deep Water Acres got in touch asking if we'd like to like to release something with them, but it would need to be album-length, not just an EP. So we did a weekend-long session to generate material for that, in which I played various electronics rather than drums so it had a more looping, hypnotic feel. With editing and overdubs this eventually became the album Lupus. Meanwhile we also recorded our other more rock-based tracks and released those on the Astral House EP, and both of these ended up coming out in March 2012. Then we did a collaboration album with Black Tempest - for one song he sent us a synth track which we played over, and then for the other two we sent him some unfinished tracks of ours which he fleshed out with some great synth and Mellotron parts. That came out in the middle of last year along with a vinyl reissue of Lupus, both on Cardinal Fuzz, and since then we've been working on the new album.

Who are your influences?
Chris - We each have quite a range of influences - there's a lot of common ground in the middle but also other areas which only one or two of us might be familiar with. We're all of a similar age but each took different routes through the various rock and alternative scenes of the 80s and 90s, so it's been great to share our music collections and catch up on things we might have passed by at the time, and also share older influences: Brett and Nick are big Neil Young fans for instance while I'm really in to a lot of Zappa and Captain Beefheart. One touchstone for me when we first started jamming was Miles Davis's electric albums, particularly Bitches Brew and On The Corner - it's very open-ended musically, the harmony is fairly static or has a constant root over which everything else shifts, but it has a real forward momentum and dynamics due to the rhythms and the evolving interactions between the musicians.

Brett – Neil Young is certainly a big influence on my guitar playing. He is a remarkable guitarist without the predictable ‘guitar whiz’ technical histrionics. One thing that clicked with me when we first started was the Neil Young’s Dead Man soundtrack. I really liked how the guitar could be used in an impressionistic way. In Dead Sea Apes, I don’t feel that I have to unnecessarily burden a song with a melody as such; it frees me up to make noises instead.

If music isn’t evocative or makes me feel something, it’s hard for me to get enthusiastic about it. I’ve always been attracted to drones, dubby echoes (I’m a huge fan of dub and roots reggae) and mantric repetition in music and I think this was the first time I really started to use those ideas in a band situation. Standout guitar tracks for me are Maggot Brain by Funkadelic and Planet Caravan by Sabbath. They evoke feelings of cosmic loneliness in me!

Nick - I'd like to think that some of my industrial influences come in sometimes, the music of my late teens and early 20s. Stuff like Coil, ‪Einstürzende Neubauten, Cabaret Voltaire, Wax Trax stuff, Skinny Puppy and Scorn. In mid to late 90s, living in Sheffield, I pretty much stopped listening to guitar music and was heavily into all the Warp/Skam stuff. So there's that influence as well. Thankfully the guitar returned later!

Brett – Nick’s bass pretty much underpins it all, and he can be incredibly heavy with it. In fact, he is more likely to play a chord than I am, but I can see where his industrial roots make themselves apparent in his ability to create heavy, grinding grooves

Made a list of 5 albums of all time… 

It’s hard as a band to come up with favourite 5 albums, but individually -


Chris
Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
Herbie Hancock – Headhunters
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love
P J Harvey - Dry


Nick
Alice Donut - Revenge fantasies of the impotent
John Martyn - Solid Air
Autechre - LP5/Tri Repetae
Shellac - At Action Park
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love

Brett
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers
Funkadelic – Funkadelic
CAN – Ege Bamyasi
Papa M - Live From A Shark’s Cage

How do you feel playing live?
Chris - I love playing live, it's great to connect directly with people through the music and get that instant reaction. It can depend on the particular logistics of the gig - sometimes it feels like a lot of hard work, spending hours lugging all the gear backwards and forwards just to play for 25 minutes to an almost empty room. Also for me behind the drums, I can't usually see the audience and I can't always hear Nick or Brett properly so it's hard to tell how it's really going until we get people's reactions afterwards and listen back to the recordings. But playing at Supernormal festival last year was a great experience, and our last few local gigs have been really good, at Golden Cabinet in Shipley and in Manchester with The Cosmic Dead and The Oscillation.

Brett – I enjoy playing live – but I can easily get nervous if my gear doesn’t behave or my guitar goes out of tune.

Nick - I really enjoyed playing at Supernormal last year and Golden Cabinet this, but generally I much prefer 'writing' and recording.

How do you describe Dead Sea Apes sounds?
Chris - Our style has evolved naturally as a product of the music we know and love, and our particular abilities and limitations as musicians, so it's hard to give any direct comparisons. We're not the kind of band to say 'We are going to sound like X' or 'a cross between X and Y', even less be able to actually do that accurately. Nick's bass playing is really solid but also often melodic, and as there's no rhythm guitar or conventional keyboards there's plenty of room for me to be inventive and expressive on the drums. Brett has a really full, saturated guitar sound and makes great use of effects & feedback to create a constantly evolving soundscape when not churning out great angular riffs. I think we do quite well in avoiding clichés, and we tend to structure the songs based on the ideas, rather than try to fit ideas into a conventional structure or follow a set of lyrics.

Brett – Again,I think our music is pretty evocative. That’s what does it for me. I think most instrumental music is always seen as being ‘cinematic’, but I think that’s quite a limited idea. I think instrumental music is a lot more versatile than being a soundtrack to some visuals. I’d like to think there’s a sense of space, circularity and mystery in everything we do. Both Chris and Nick connect together spookily well – so that gives me a lot of room to add texture.

Nick - I think the groove is quite important in our sound, in the same way as early Funkadelic and Damo era CAN.

Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
Chris - We've got everything mic'ed up in our practice room - I just plug in my laptop and we can record everything in multitrack. We always have it running during rehearsals to capture whatever ideas come up. The more riff-based ideas lend themselves to putting a song together in the traditional way to make a complete performance, which we can play live and record together as a band. For ideas based more on particular sounds or effects, we can lift those out of the original recording and build up new tracks through editing and overdubbing. We're very inspired by the way Can worked, taking essentially jam recordings, editing and then overdubbing extra parts, which is all the more remarkable since through their classic period up to the mid-70s they did it all with just 2-track tape recorders, not multitracks. But I'm very grateful that the technology is now so much cheaper, more portable and has new capabilities due to the random-access nature of hard disk recording. I can do things on my laptop which 20 years ago would have been impossible even with rooms full of very expensive equipment. That helps us both on a creative level and also allows us to compensate for the fact that due to our various day-jobs and family commitments we only get a few hours each week to play & record music together.

Brett – I think one of the great things about the ‘tape’ continually rolling is that you can catch those things that are unrepeatable and those always add that touch of magic to the recording. We do some stuff from scratch in the traditional sense, but I think working on top of jams gives a bit of ‘life’ that can’t always be replicated. I think all the recordings have ‘life’ and a lot of that is down to Chris’s artistry with recording.

Which new bands do you recommend?
Brett – I think the Kikagaku Moyo ‘Mammatus Clouds’ and the recent Anthroprophh EP have been my favourite things this year so far. I also rate The Lay Llamas, Robedoor and Master Musicians of Bukkake a hell of a lot, too. Mugstar, Lumerians, Six Organs Of Admittance, Cave and Gnod are always worth a listen in my book.. There seems to be a lot of great stuff knocking about. It’s hard to pin down to a handful of bands, as there is that much good stuff knocking about We are living through a great time for music.

Chris - The best thing I've heard recently is Kiran Leonard. He's only 18 but has been writing and recording his own music for several years. His debut album proper 'Bowler Hat Soup' was released earlier this year and he's just finished a new album with his touring band who are just incredible. There are moments of almost Beefheart-ian chaos with melodies and time signatures colliding, contrasting with more reflective parts.

Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Chris - We have done a few covers in our time - for the Fruits De Mer label we did Land Of The Sun by Skip Spence and an obscure early Kraftwerk track, and on both of those we wanted to give the songs the treatment they perhaps deserved but didn't really get at the time: the original Land Of The Sun was completely stripped down and remixed by the time it was released, and the Kraftwerk track Ruckstoss Gondoliere was only ever recorded on a German TV show.

What´s the plan for future?
Chris - We have an album coming out in October on Cardinal Fuzz records called High Evolutionary. It's kind of a summation of everything we've done so far: the tracks have taken shape gradually over the five years we've been together, one of them even dating back to that first session. We're also working on some new tracks based on new one-take jams to keep a more spontaneous, organic feel to them, and hopefully that will be out on the great Sunrise Ocean Bender label at the end of the year or early 2015. And we're about to release another free album of selections from the archives.

Brett – We have a great relationship with Cardinal Fuzz and we feel right at home there. Dave always goes above and beyond with all the artists he works with and has been fantastic with us, so hopefully you’ll see more Dead Sea Apes from them in the future. I’m really looking forward to doing this thing for Sunrise Ocean Bender as Kevin is a great guy and an indefatigable supporter of DSA!

Any parting words?
Chris - All our back catalogue is available on our Bandcamp site (http://deadseaapes.bandcamp.com/) and T-shirts here (http://deadseaapes.bigcartel.com/)

Brett – Thanks Renato.
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Thanks guys

http://www.deadseaapes.com
http://www.myspace.com/deadseaapes23
http://deadseaapes.bandcamp.com/
http://www.twitter.com/deadseaapes

Glasgow Attack with Sonic Hearts Foundation - An Interview

Glasgow ataca novamente.

A cidade que já deu ao mundo maravilhas e mais maravilhas novamente nos presenteia com um de seus rebentos que promete sacudir o submundo dos bons sons, Sonic Hearts Foundation é o nome do combo mezzo psicodélico shoegazer, mezzo class of 86, que me fez lembrar outra bela banda da nova geração o Exit Calm, principalmente pelos arranjos eloquentes e grandiosos chegando a lembrar o Verve na época do Nothern Soul.

O novo single dos caras é bem bem bom, a faixa Afterlife mostra bem o poder de ataque e se a mídia permitir certamente eles podem alçar vôos bem maiores.

Que assim seja....

***** Interview with Sonic Hearts Foundation *****

Q. When did Sonic Hearts Foundation starts, tell us about the history...
We started properly around 2011, spent a bit of time playing some gigs and finding our feet. It wasn't until 2012 when we released our first single, and got around to releasing our debut Ep ‘Into Forever’ last year. We’ve had a few setbacks along the way (We’re onto our fourth bass player!) but things are now at a fantastic point and we’re just eager to get on with releasing new music and spreading the word!

Q: Who are your influences?
We take influence from many places. In terms of other bands people like The Twilight Sad, The Horrors and Wild beasts definitely inspire us. Modern music in general has a big impact on us. There are so many talented artists around at the moment, ones who are creating their own sound, so its difficult not to be influenced by that!

Other things that influence us include guitar pedals, modern music technology, nature, politics, history visual artists, projectors and generally everyone out there making great art for its own sake.

Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…
The Verve ‘Urban Hymths”
Radiohead ‘Ok Computer’
Sigur ros ‘Ágætis byrjun’
The Beatles ‘Revolver’
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ‘BRMC

Q. How do you feel playing alive?
We enjoy playing live and we’re comfortable on stage. Depending on the gig and the crowd there may be varying levels of nerves but overall we are a band who do what we do best in a live setting.

Q. How do you describe Sonic Hearts Foundation sounds?
Its hard to pin our sound down. We’ve had people describe it as Psychedelic, ambient, shoe gaze and post rock but it would be fair to say it is quite an eclectic sound. Most important of all we feel its important for any band to have their own original sound. We’re always consciously trying to develop and try not to repeat ourselves too much so I think the result is that we have a collection of songs which are fairy diverse in a sense, but at the same time are unified together and always sound like us.

A good example of this is our debut Ep ‘Into Forever’ which we put out last year (Available for free download here: http://sonicheartsfoundation.bandcamp.com/album/into-forever) and as it was first release we chose 4 songs which did not necessarily sound the same but which showcased different aspects of our sound and actually worked very well together. That release was kind of an introduction to the band and we’re keen to delve a lot further with our upcoming releases.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
In the early days of the band we tried out a few different people and places for recording but since then its very much evolved into a DIY effort. Our first Ep was mostly done in our own home studio and we’ve been really busy over the last few months working on our upcoming releases.

The process is kind of a gradual one. We track everything individually and tend to spend a lot of time on the mixing stage. We’re experimental by nature so we like to use the studio sort of like an instrument. We’re always keen to explore new sounds new techniques and aim create something more sonically interesting than a basic live recording.

Generally the process begins with the tracking of the instruments, normally the Drums and Bass will be first to go down with guitars, keys and vocals last. Then we use the mixing process to layer the sound and see how far we can push things and how hard we can challenge ourselves in the recording.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Theres so many fantastic new bands around that its hard to pick some, but off the top off my head…. There is a fantastic band from named Call to Mind. They’re also from Glasgow and have just released their debut album, they sound sort of like Sigur Ros. Also really enjoying Public Service Broadcasting and MONEY have amazing tunes!

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
A cover version is something we have never done! To be honest its not something that has really crossed our minds. We love writing new songs and the problem we have is that there is not enough time in the day to explore all our own ideas let along thinking about someone else's songs! Maybe in the future though…

Q: What´s the plans for future....
We have a pretty full on release schedule planed for the forceable future, starting with ‘Afterlife which we release on August 11th as a free download. On top of this we plan to get out and gig as much as possible hopefully garnering a few new fans along the way and eventually at some point we hope to put out a full album which would be great!

Q: Any parting words?
Just to remind people to get on and download our new single on August 11th, its Free!

Also our debut Ep ‘Into Forever’ is also available for free download (We’re just such generous folk!) from https://soundcloud.com/sonicheartsfoundation

If you like our stuff give our facebook page a like and stay connected!
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Thanks guys

https://soundcloud.com/sonicheartsfoundation
http://sonicheartsfoundation.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/sonicheartsfoundationglasgow

200 Bars with Sounds Around - An Interview

 

Robb Schaede é o trovador freak por detrás do Sounds Around projeto paralelo a suas duas outras bandsa o The Auras e o Deep Space Cowboys, que já passou por estas páginas.

Ao contrário de suas bandas Robb sob a alcunha de Sounds Around cria um espectro multi facetado e psicodélico em rotação desacelerada e com a alma enfincada muito mais num folk apocalíptico do que nas viagens de suas bandas.

O resultado é o novíssimo Peace, Love and Affirmative Action uma pérola que deve ser digerida o quanto antes, tem muito de Spiritualized, tem muito de Robb melhor dizendo nesta viagem ao seu interior.

Um grande álbum de um grande projeto que merece ser dissecado nas páginas do TBTCI.

***** Interview with Sounds Around *****

Q. When did Sounds Around starts, tell us about the history...
Sounds Around is more or less a blanket for all the sound based art I release. I guess it began back about six years ago, when I made my first bedroom recordings. I call it Sounds Around, because essentially I've always made music with the sounds around me at the time the art is made, everything is completely circumstantial, it flows along with my life. When I had the time to record a double disk psychedelic dance-trance record I did, then when that opportunity was done I made a mostly live off the floor record, now that is done and the next thing will probably be completely different.

Q: Who are your influences?
Frank Zappa, Cocorosie, Beach Boys, A Place to Bury Strangers etc., One of my biggest influences is Ryan Masters, who I was lucky enough to have play drums on the last record. I try and take most of my influence from life, I feel like a lot of it comes from books I read and the atmospheric vibes of the earth journey.

Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…
1. Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
2. A Place to Bury Strangers - Worship
3. Ryan Masters - A Shadow in Kingdom Falls
4. Cocorosie - Tales of a Grass Widow
5. Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
when I perform I try my best to just get lost in what I'm doing. I usually close my eyes and go along for the journey. I see music as a form or prayer, so I try to play with that in mind. In the best case scenario it doesn't matter whether anyone is there or not.

Q. How do you describe Sounds Around sounds?
Every song is like a snap shot of a time in my life, a feeling, or an atmosphere, but more than that, it's just imagination.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
For Peace, Love and Affirmative Action, the full band songs were recorded live off the floor. The acoustic tracks were recorded with the help of Peter Dasilva (Deep Space Cowboys, The Auras) and Hank Van Harten (The Auras). Both recording days were really unique, there was some crazy energy running around and it all just kind of popped out. I spent a lot of time playing the songs and really getting into them. When it came time to record I just attacked it with everything I could in that moment.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Sun Stone Revolvers, Tess Parks, B-17, BB guns and all the other bands on Optical Sounds

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
I'm working on some acoustic versions of Erykah Badu and Cocorosie Songs. I also play pure imagination from the Willy Wonka movie, its probably my favourite song of all time.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
I see myself doing some sound journeys in the near future. Having people lay down and close their eyes while I make beautiful sounds, in a more or less ceremonial setting. being in The Auras and Deep Space Cowboys keeps me more and more busy as time goes on. I'd like to write a book too.

Q: Any parting words?
I hope everyone finds what makes them happy in life, or rather just finds out how to be happy. I think if everyone in the world did exactly what they felt they're purpose was we'd be in a pretty great place.
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Thanks Robb

http://theauras.com
http://soundsaroundmusic.com
http://facebook.com/theaurasband
http://facebook.com/soundsaroundmusic

Wardance with Traffic A.M. - An Interview

Left Behind Left Within é o título do debute do projeto Traffic A.M. um mix de dark wave, pos punk, e o início da EBM, vide Klinik e adjacentes.

Mas o Traffic A.M. se apega muito mais no que tange ao mundo denso e porque não tenso e cinzento da cold wave do que na emb, e já por este motivo atraia e cativa muito mais este que vos escreve, uma conjunção do passado com o futuro, digestível para poucos mas, vejam bem, só por citar o From The Lion´s Mouth do The Sound merece toda a credibilidade possível.

***** Interview with Traffic A.M. *****

Q. When did Traffic AM start, tell us about the history
Stefan: We met in 2007 for the first time. Micha shared a similar taste in music and so the idea to start a common music project took shape soon. We exchanged ideas via internet and I visited him occasionally on the weekends. Our first song that also defined the Traffic A.M. concept in its existing form was „Filthy Emptiness“. That was in early 2009. We recorded other songs like „Waiting“ and „Ocean On The Screen“ and were asked by Plastic Frog Records to make a full album, which was a great opportunity for us. Everything evolved quite naturally because the chemistry between Micha and me is just right, we always had a common vision concerning our music.

Michael: Because of that it didn't take long to start work on our second album which was released by Seja Records in 2012.

Q: Who are your influences?
Michael: I'm absolutely influenced by the spirit of the 80s, including the aspects of cold war, Thatcherism, industrial pollution and so on. No question my musical influences are defined by New Wave, Post Punk and early Industrial

Stefan: I totally correspond to this. Apart from music, cold war and the Chernobyl incident had an impact on my worldview. The media landscape and urban architecture, alienation and personal experiences are also important aspects for the Traffic A.M. concept. Literature is important, too, Ballard, Kafka, John Brunner and Cormac McCarthy, only to name a few.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
Michael:
The Sound - From The Lions Mouth
The Cure - Pornography
The Klinik - Melting Close & Sabotage
Skinny Puppy - Remission
Chameleons - Script Of The Bridge

Stefan:
The Sisters Of Mercy - Floodland
Lycia - A Day In The Stark Corner
Killing Joke - Night Time
Portishead - Portishead
The Doors - The Doors

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Stefan: We were asked several times to do live gigs but unfortunately, we didn't manage to prepare properly. We live in different cities, so it's quite difficult for us to rehearse. But we'll see what time will bring, a concert would be a pleasure for us.

Q. How do you describe TRAFFIC AM´s sounds?
Michael: We try to reflect modern life as we see and feel it. Paranoia, television, concrete buildings, diappointment but also the beauty in all those things. Like a light between the shadows, one could say.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
Stefan: Micha often sent me raw demo recordings that we both change into complete songs. But we also did some songs completely from scratch together. Being together in the studio has always been a creative time for us.

Michael: We both do programming on the songs, drums, synths and so on. But there are some tasks that are split up clearly between us. Stefan writes all of the lyrics and delivers all vocals. I am responsible for mixing and recording. Bass and guitar are played by me on most of the songs. But it's necessary for the music to leave a big space for ideas and experiments, and so we try many things and keep ourselves open-minded.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Stefan: That's hard to answer. I must admit that most albums I buy were originally released in the 70s and 80s. And I'm grateful that so many recordings from that era are made available again.

Some newer artists I like are Automelodi and The Blue Angel Lounge. A highly underrated album is „Here Are The Roses“ by Dragons, but that was released in 2007, so it's not that new any more.

Michael: I also don't spend too much time in listening to new music. Some artists I like are Ascetic, KVB, Circa Tapes, In Death It Ends and Niton Decay (note: Stefan's solo project)

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Michael: We both think that most cover versions are redundant. The only thing we planned to do was a cover of a song called „Dismissal“ by Lycia that was never released officially. But we'll see if that will happen.

Stefan: At least we have the artist's permssion to do so, that's important for us to know.

By the way, before Traffic A.M. even existed Micha and I recorded a cover of „The Figurehead“ by The Cure. I don't like that version that much, but it was an important step for our collaboration.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
Michael: We want to do more songs and started working on a mini album entitled „Body Chemistry“. We need to take our time for that so we can't tell when it will be released.

Stefan: We're both very busy at the moment as we had to face a lot of changes in our lives. It's impossible for the moment but it would be great to deliver some stage performance in the future.

Q: Any parting words?
Stefan and Michael: we want to thank Johan from Seja Records for his great support. And our friends and beloved ones for being there for us. That is especially Cindy, Michaela and Rainer.
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Thanks guys

https://www.facebook.com/trafficam
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU46Yc8lbmOR5WD3bMf4WzmA

Day of The Lords with XTR Human - An Interview

Cold wave, pos punk, minimal wave, classifique como achar mais interessante, o negócio é que o XTR Human e seu album Atavism lançado em abril desse ano certamente é um dos melhores registros gélidos surgidos nesse 2014, lançado pela importantíssima e respeitada No Emb Blanc'/'Genetic Music, Atavism transpira Joy Division e outros ícones da cold wave e os tons cinzentos e depressivos vem carregados do início ao fim, o que muito agrada este que vos escreve.

Se vire pra descolar sua cópia do álbum porque é de obrigação para todo iniciado no pos punk.

***** Interview with XTR Human *****

Q. When did XTR Human starts, tell us about the history.. .
It all started in mid-2012 when I’ve got the idea for a new music project. I was looking for a fresh expression and a dreamy and catchy post punk sound. But the band got its concrete form not until Mathias and Valerio came across and we’ve spent various months of intensive practise. The sprit and integrity of the band still is strongly related to its initial concept. But in musical terms we massively have evolved.

Q: Who are your influences?
Depends. Right now I’m quite into the Wake, Gun Club and some Creation Records artists such as Jesus and Mary Chain and Ride. Somehow they all got a special band sound apart from the usual 80s mainstream.

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time…
Joy division - Unknown Pleasures 

Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy 

The Horrors - Primary Colours 

Echo and the Bunnymen - Porcupine 

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Playing live is an important part of our identity as a band. Our music is intensive and fiercely. I feel the same on stage and I love to get in touch with people. So being on tour is just great.

Q. How do you describe XTR Human's sounds?
We obviously have a strong post punk-ish influence in a very British "vintage" way. You can hear that on our debut album but as I already said we are constantly evolving our sound. At the moment we are tending to a shoegaze/krautrock approach.

Nevertheless it all still about harmonious synth melodies and roughness of bass and guitar walls.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
The recording of the debut album ‘Atavism’ took over half a year cos we had to write some of the songs simultaneously to get the entire album done. The mixing of the album was another time killer, too. We wanted to realize a special “open” and transparent sound where each instrument and sound source is clearly located like in an imaginary picture. So we’ve experimented a lot with frequencies and effects to get as much depth and space into the songs. You also will notice how every song is part of an entity and leads into each other.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
I really like e.g. Xeno and Oaklander, Crystal Stilts, Detachments (UK) and Blue Angel Lounge.

Q: Which bands you love to make a cover version?
I personally would fancy some House of Love or Echo and the Bunnymen stuff. Great vocal lines.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
We’re tryin to live more in the present than in the future. Right now we’re quite busy with either playing live all over Europe or recording our second album. So were looking forward to its release and our tour in autumn.

Q: Any parting words?
We want to thank all our friends, fans and people who help to make things happen, especially our photographer Kai Fischer, all guys of DIE SELEKTION, the Klangfabrik Stuttgart, Disturbanity and our label boss Rainer.
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Thanks Johannes

https://xtrhuman.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/XtrHuman
http://www.xtrhuman.de/

https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1s1xCv2Qzn05sz4jtrV2k2

Directions To See A Ghost with The Very Wicked - An Interview

Psych diretamente da Cidade do Cabo na África do Sul, estou falando do combo The Very Wicked, que recém jogou na rede seu debute o poderoso You´re the everything in us.

Discão pra se ouvir em alto e bom som, guitarradas altas e possuídas pelo que há de melhor dentro da atual cena mundial do psych.

Logicamente que tem muito de BRMC e Black Angels na sonoridade dos caras, mas vale cada segundo da audicão.

Vou além, os caras já abriram pro Black Angels num festival Psych na Cidade do Cabo, sem contar que eles estão dentro do documentário Trip que será lancado no próximo ano, que aliás logo menos o TBTCI apresentará o dossiê disso ai com exclusividade.

Quer saber, vai direto no bandcamp do Very Wicked e encharque-se.

***** Interview with The Very Wicked *****

Q. When did The Very Wicked starts tell us about the history...
It started around end 2011. Lucas and my previous band was on a break and we were eager to continue making music. We started writing songs together and the rest of the band formed in early 2012. We played our first show September 2012.

Q: Who are your influences?
There are a whole bunch in there. We all come from pretty different musical backgrounds. I’ve always been very inspired by The Stones, Nick Cave, Tom Waits. The Velvet Underground. Lucas has always been into Radiohead, Sigur Ros, The White Stripes… Lucy comes from more of a folk background…

Some bands that come to mind when it comes to the sound of the Very Wicked are BRMC, The Velvets, The Jesus & Mary Chain… I think. haha

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time…
Today?

The Stones – Exile On Main Street
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – BRMC
Spiritualized – Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space
The Jesus & Mary Chain – Psycho Candy
Tom Waits – Mule Variations

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Alive.

Q. How do you describe Very Wicked´s sounds?
Psychedelic Rock n Roll is the obvious description, I guess. There’s a lot of stuff in there though – Noise, Shoegaze, Blues, even some vocal melodies that aren’t that far off country and gospel, I’d say.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We recorded it with our friends from a great local band, The Future Primitives, who sadly don’t play anymore. We tracked the songs live in three days and over the next month, added some more guitars & vocals. It’s a pretty accurate document of the live sound.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
Medicine Boy

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Myself and some friends have been talking about doing a Velvets tribute show for a while now. I think those songs would be great to cover.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
We’re opening up for The Black Angels in November, which is pretty exciting for us. I think it’s about time we started working on some new music. Hoping to get some new sounds flowing soon.

Q: Any parting words?
Check out Psych Night if you’re interested in what’s going on in the South African psych scene.
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Thanks guys

https://theverywicked.bandcamp.com/
http://theverywicked.co.za/

The Minimal Sounds of Equinoxious - An Interview

Cold wave, minimal sounds diretamente da Cidade do México o Equinoxious impressiona e impressiona muito.

Na realidade Equinoxious é igual a Rogelio Serrano, o cara que cria toda a concepcão do Equinoxious, música pra pista feita pra dancar em algum porão trevoso e esfumacado.

O 7¨recém lancado no inicio desse ano Astros Prometidos tem um capricho gráfico absurdo, vinilzinho branco e tudo mais, sem contar que na real tudo que o amigo Rogelio põe a mão vira ouro.

Minimal wave at the top. 

***** Interview with Equinoxious *****

Q. When did Equinoxious starts, tell us about the history
The project started in 2003, I play synths for 8 years now I have 22,I decided to record a 7 track ep Synth Wave genre in collaboration with a Russian friendship, the ep was recorded with an analog synth and some drum machines, having good response in Europe. and released on vinyl 7¨ by Sincronica Spanish record

Q: Who are your influences?
I was influenced by the music of the French musician Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Aphex Twin Add n to x, Vince Clarke, Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League and many bands of post punk / Cold Wave, Minimal Wave/ Krautrock/Shoegaze,: The Normal, The Cure (1977-1981), John Foxx, ausgang verboten , Spacemen 3, Neu! , Agitation Free, Das Ding, The Aviator Dro, Clan of Xymox, Fad Gadget, and many more.

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time…
1.- Equinoxe -Jean Michel Jarre
2.-Faith - The Cure
3.- Neu!-Neu!
4.- Metamatic -John Foxx
5.-Spean And Spell -Depeche Mode

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Generally I try not to get drunk before playing, I feel focused and ready to play synthesizers, usually I can not have much contact with the public because I set my sounds before each track

Q. How do you describe Equinoxious' sounds?
Sounds Cold, Dark and analog

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
The process is to record the percussion section by analogue synthesis like the style of the old school , or using samples of vintage drum machines(roland cr68, Linn Drum ) . i use a moog mg1 synthesizer, i record the bass section in cubase then the lead and fx finally the voice

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
(Mexican Projects) Rise 1945 and Rhythmus 23,

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Some bizarre cover of Throbbing Gristle

Q: What´s the plans for future
Finish my LP "Cosmodromo" and record a music video, give a show outside my country

Q: Any parting words?
Bands who want to start a project, do not try to imitate Joy Division, there are thousands of bands who want to sound like them, there is more music out there.
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Thanks

https://soundcloud.com/equinoxious
https://sincronicalabel.bandcamp.com/album/equinoxious-astros-prometidos-sincro-sg-001
https://equinoxious.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/equinoxious

We Are The Dreamers with The Stargazer Lillies - An Interview

Para os iniciados o Soundpool é uma daquelas prediletas do submundo dos bons sons, aquele shoegazer groovy já tem local cativo nos coracões dos gazers de plantão. E é exatamente do Soundpool que nasceu o The Stargazer Lillies, o casal Kim e John junto com seus comparsas Johnny Lancia e Ej Decoske criaram essa preciosidade shoegazer sonhadora com um album simplesmente lindo intitulado We are the Dreamers lancado no final do ano passado e que chega tardiamente nas páginas do TBTCI.

Tardiamente mas não no que tange a audicões ininterruptas em silêncio em busca das nuances e suas dissonâncias intermináveis, simplesmente porque We are the Dreamers é algo a se embriagar lenta e suavemente, sem pressa, a fim de saborear e inebriar-se a cada audicão.

Indispensável para qualquer colecão shoegazer que se preze.

Srs, The Stargazer Lillies no TBTCI.

***** Interview with The Stargazer Lillies *****

Q. When did Stargazer Lilies, tell us about the history... 

The Stargazer Lilies were born a few years ago. It happened really by accident. We were writing a series of songs and they just ended up feeling different than our other band, Soundpool. We knew these songs were for a different project. We had been going through some intense things personally and the natural shift from Soundpool and the way we were writing to this new project was totally organic and unplanned. Even the name... our friend Jennifer asked if some flowers on our dinette were "stargazers" and John said what are stargazers?Jennifer replied "lilies, stargazer lilies" and John said, "there are flowers called stargazer lilies? I love that name" and that's how we got the name.

Q: Who are your influences?
Our influences are really wide musically. We have all of the obvious early shoegaze influences of course. Our most favorite being My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Chapterhouse. But we also love from that period Mazzy Star, Red House Painters etc. And a little later Stereolab, Broadcast, Sigur Ros, Air etc. John and I both absolutely love Bossa Nova-- Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto, 60's girl groups like the Shangri La's. We listen to a lot of 60's French soundtrack stuff also 60's pop like Francsoice Hardy, Claudine Longet. We're really in to 60's-70's pych. We've actually been listening to a lot of early Pink Floyd lately.

Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…
John: Dot's and Loops, Dark Side Of The Moon, Tomorrow's Harvest, Revolver, Loveless, Souvlaki... although the list could change and always does.

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Playing live is so many things. The spectrum of emotions is so enormous… I guess that's part of what makes it addictive. You really feel alive when you're playing your music for people. It's exciting… it can be totally invigorating and soul healing but it can also be frustrating and at some times crushing if you don't have a good venue or especially a good sound tech. We've been really fortunate lately with the touring we've been doing. We've been so lucky to have played so many amazing venues where the atmosphere is pro… the stage, the gear, the sound techs. It's really been so nice after so many years of playing out live to finally have the opportunity to know that we're going in to good situations to be able to pull off our sound appropriately with good systems and good techs. Playing live is such a delicate thing. You can really be doing your band a big diservice if you're going out and not sounding good. It's unlike the studio where you're able to control what comes out. We've grown a lot this year… After this next tour this Aug/Sept we will have done around 60 shows this year all in different cities across the US and Canada. We've covered a lot of ground!

Q. How do you describe Stargazer Lilies sounds?
The Stargazer Lilies sound is pretty dynamic. First of all it comes from a place of searching and reaching. It should give the listeners feelings of dream state and bliss. There is a definite sadness and depression to our music but overall this music should be therapeutic. Our songs in general have a very classic writing style but all that under an intense wall of sound with heavy guitar, airy vocals drum and bass. There are elements of shoegaze, ambient, psychedelia/experimental 60's pop and ultimately we are mostly dream pop.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
The recording process usually starts with John on guitar playing around with pedals and coming up with cool sounds or maybe strumming an acoustic…. Then he'll start to play around with chords and the song starts to form organically that way. Next usually is drums and bass and then more guitar layering. Usually Kim will write the melody line and lyrics but sometimes we do this together as well. We do all our recording here at home. We have basically turned our downstairs into a working studio. We have one room that is our sort of "family room" but is a functioning recording room. The room next to it is our "guest room" with a bed and everything but it's our live room where all our gear is set up. We do all our band rehearsals in there and we have all the cables running in to the recording studio room so we have somewhat of an iso room as well.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
The New Lines, Young Prisms, Blouse, Melodies Echo Chamber, Black Moth Super Rainbow, All In The Golden Afternoon, Dead Leaf Echo, Nightmare Air, Tame Impala, The Casket Girls, Nothing, Whirr, Ringo Deathstarr and so many more.

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version? We are so focused on coming up with new original material that we rarely discuss covering other ban'd songs. We did however cover the song "Beat" by Bowery Electric once.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
We have a few shows heading across to the West Coast in late Aug/Sept with Dead Leaf Echo in PA, Columbus OH and Milwaukee, WI where we'll also meet up with friends and awesome band Brief Candles. Then we head all the way to Portland OR to start a 2 week tour with Tobacco and Oscillator Bug. After that our plans are to finish up our next album which is already almost complete and to start working on everything that comes with that release… art, videos etc. We're really trying to find a way to spend most or at least a good portion of the winter in L.A. ha! ha! We'll see if we can pull that off! After last winter… We can't handle the idea of another 6 month extreme winter in the Poconos.

Q: Any parting words?
Thanks so much for your interview! We really hope to get down to South America some day! We've been feeling a lot of love from that area for many years now… Would be great to visit and do some shows!
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http://thestargazerlilies.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Stargazer-Lilies

Just For A Day with Omega Vague - An Interview

Uma viagem ao mundo dos sonhos a cargo de Omega Vague ou Craig Douglas o responsável pela viagem sonora desde 2001 soltando eps, albuns via omegavague.net, todos com a temática shoegazer e dreamy tendo como alicerce na mente e na alma o Slowdive.

Conheci tardiamente através de contatos imediatos e é claro, tornou-se trilha sonora de momentos isolados, reflexões, pensamentos e devaneios diversos.

Omega Vague certamente pode lhe acompanhar nesses e em outros momentos e te guiar pelos paraísos dos sonhos.

***** Interview with Omega Vague *****

Q. When did Omega Vague starts tell us about the history...
Omega Vague started as an experimental bedroom recording project around 2001. After being in and out of various bands in the Connecticut area I realized that working alone was a perfect opportunity to create my ideas without investing time, money and passion in other projects and relying on people who dont have the drive to be productive. Omega Vague was my personal creative outlet. I always immersed myself in a wide range of styles as a musician but I really wanted to make Omega Vague something different but specific.

Q: Who are your influences?
When I first heard Radiohead "The Bends" in 1995... it completely changed me as a musician and my outlook on music in general. Im a late 80's/90's kid so I used to absorb the easily accessible commercial and what I now consider "cringe-worthy" bands in those eras. It wasnt until I heard that album I became passionate and embraced more minimal and atmospheric music. Years later I heard Sigur Ros' album "Agaetis Byrjun" and they made Radiohead sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was hooked on finding similar artists and over the last decade and the ones I discovered influenced me greatly. Slowdive, M83, Ulver, Cocteau Twins, Landing, GYBE, Mogwai...to name only a few.

Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…
In no particular order....

Peter Gabriel - Passion
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Ive always considered myself a performer. Its where that fire is inside me and nothing else can ignite it the way performing does. Although sometimes I am very self conscious. I sometimes imagine myself from an outsiders standpoint and wonder..."do I come across confident...professional?" or "if I were watching me...would I be entertained?" Its always exciting to play for people but its also a learning experience every time. Its true what they say about artists...we are our own worst critics. There are so many bands I see who all have that magic where there is absolutely no question that they know exactly what they are doing. I sometimes second guess myself before the show and after the show....but during the show I close my eyes and lose myself in the music.Getting lost is exactly where I want to be when Im performing.

Q. How do you describe Omega Vague sounds?
I know its easy and convenient to lock bands into categories or sub-genres and I kind of wish I could come up with a name for this music. My last self titled album that I released in March 2014 has received a bit of attention in the shoegaze/dream pop scene but I would definitely not consider it those styles by any means. There are elements there for sure. I think you will hear a lot of styles going on if you were to dive deep into the catalog. A majority of my work is atmospheric, minimal, dark pop. I did release an album called "In With The Old" that showcases a diverse assortment of material I created over the years that I never did anything with. The songs range from ambient to dance, to metal. Its all over the place. I am also interested in growing and changing musically. My next album will still have some beautiful dreamy tunes but I am also interested in revisiting rock and punk music...but with super ethereal vocals.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
Its pretty spontaneous every time. I never have anything written before hand. I have no idea what Im going to do and tend to take it track by track. Usually I will lay down a drum track, something straightforward. I will then pick up a guitar and play around until I come up with something to my liking and then lay that down. Then bass. Vocals take me forever. I truly admire any vocalist who can nail it in a couple takes. I have the David Byrne (singer for Talking Heads) syndrome. Im not a true and trained singer. I have pretty horrible spontaneous delivery so I sit for hours and hours sometimes doing takes until I get it to where I can tolerate it. I hate it honestly. I layer my vocals through a loop machine line by line....because I truly cant stand hearing my voice alone. Some vocalist have that really nice timbre but I cant get past mine when its alone by itself and not effected. So I will sing a line...loop it...then overdub like a million times as accurate as possible so it becomes thick and lush. You can imagine why it takes hours, sometimes days doing vocals this way....especially when your doing it one line at a time. Eventually...if Im lucky...something really great will come of it...or I just spent hours on something I may just trash. I am always challenged with the vocal process.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?

As far as brand new I have been a bit out of touch because nothing has grabbed me. If I had to name some bands that have been around a little while though I would mention Wild Nothing. I love everything those guys put out. There is a group called Tinniens (https://tinniens.bandcamp.com/) who are newer and are amazing. I also really dig that band The War On Drugs. They have managed to reinvent late 70's Americana rock by putting an ambient twist on it. Their album "Lost In A Dream" is easily one of the best albums Ive heard this year.

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Ive done a few covers. My intentions were based solely on songs that really tugged at my heartstrings at the time. I did a cover of Tim Buckley's song "Song To The Siren"..later realizing its been covered by a lot of people and rightfully so...Its one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I did a cover of "Down By The River" by Neil Young for no reason other than Neil Young is awesome. I also did a super gazed out version of "Country Roads Take Me Home" by John Denver that no one will ever hear. If I do decide to do a cover its pretty random and will most likely be by an artist you and I would least expect.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
Playing shows...more albums...more shows....more albums. Being the only member of a band its pretty easy to feel confident in saying it will be around for a long time.

Q: Any parting words?
I just want to express my gratitude to anyone whos listening. Thank you so much
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Thanks Craig

http://www.omegavague.net
https://www.facebook.com/omegavague

Sleepyheads with Implodes - An Interview

Uma das bandas mais fascinantes da atualidade para este que vos escreve sem sombra de dúvidas é o Implodes.

Dois álbuns simplesmente magistrais, Black Earth e Recurring Dream lançados pela Kranky Records, são verdadeiras obras primas do submundo dos bons sons.

Álbuns densos, infestados de guitarras, ambientações e texturas que vão desde o mais singelo folk apocalíptico ao mais intenso wall of sound, passando por noise, shoegazer, pós punk, tudo altamente cinzento e atormentado.

Sombrio e fascinante o Implodes prepara para breve um novo ep e o terceiro álbum que deve vir ao mundo quando 2015 chegar.

Por enquanto o TBTCI presenteia a todos com uma rara entrevista do Matt um dos mentores dessa maravilha.

***** Interview with Implodes *****

Q. When did Implodes starts, tell us about the history...
Ken and I are both from Pittsburgh originally, but we didn’t really meet until we worked together at Reckless Records in Chicago. Neither of us were really playing at the time so we decided to give it a try. we jammed for a few months, mostly working out guitar tones and ambient textures. around that time, I was trying and failing to write music in a black metal style because the songs kept getting more and more melodic. About half of "Black Earth" is from the failed black metal project so I'm glad that happened actually. We added our friend James Barron on bass and keyboards, then we decided we needed a drummer so we asked our friend justin to play drums mainly because he had never played drums before. we were going for a Moe Tucker vibe. He got too good for that eventually! Before we played our first show, James told us he was moving to L.A. so instead of playing a show, we decided to record all of our songs. Most of that recording ended up on "Black Earth". While we were finishing the record, we asked Emily Elhaj, another Reckless co-worker to join. She added a song and some great backing vocals which really rounded out the album. The line-up has been the same ever since.

Q: Who are your influences? 

We like all kinds of music. i learned to play guitar to the sex pistols, minor threat and the cure (uh huh) but but i love all eras of rock, metal, a lot of jazz, folk, 20th century classical etc… honestly, we're all big kranky fans. that label is an influence for sure

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time…
Man, that changes all the time. for now let's say (in no particular order)

1. stooges 'fun house'
2. fripp/eno 'no pussyfooting'
3. neil young 'on the beach'
4. the cure '17 seconds'
5. luxurious bags 'frayed knots'

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
Playing live is great. we haven't done it since december 2013 though. hopefully we'll all be in the same room together soon.

Q. How do you describe Implodes´ sounds?
Dense. high frequency. somber. cicada sounds.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
We demo everything in advance and have things pretty worked out before we even start playing the songs together. we recorded most of the basic tracks for 'recurring dream' at Key Club in Michigan in two days then did the vocals, overdubs & whatever else we needed ourselves over a period of almost a year. we like to take our time and experiment while recording.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended? 

There's a band from chicago called Vehicle Blues that I like a lot right now. Lord Mantis is another great chicago band. I've seen Goat a few times in the past year and they're excellent live. Wreckmeister Harmonies is really great live as well.

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
We've never done any covers before. we've talked about it though. for awhile we talked about doing "Don't Fear the Reaper" but never had the guts to try it. we like to mess around at practice with bad interpretations of 'johnny b goode.' maybe we'll do that.

Q. you recently played with Slint, how was this experience?
Playing with slint is amazing. i've been a fan since i was in high school and it's incredible to get to play with your heroes. they're all really nice guys and total pros. it's an honor.

Q: What´s the plans for future....
We have an e.p. coming out on Gilead Media hopefully in the fall of 2014 or early 2015 and we're about halfway done with a third album. We're not pushing ourselves too hard on the ETA for that as we're all incredibly busy and spread out right now. I think that will happen though.

Q: Any parting words?
Can somebody book us a tour in south america?
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Thanks Matt

https://www.facebook.com/Implodes
http://implodes.blogspot.com.br/

How You Satisfy Me? with Holy Science - An Interview

A Espanha esta fervilhando de grande bandas hein, ontém mesmo apreciei o show do combo pós punk Belgrado e agora nas páginas do TBTCI é hora e vez dos psicodélicos do Holy Science, com um ep lançado ano passado intitulado Lands, quatro petardos que viajam desde o psych moderno, kraut viajandão, e guitarras estridentes, coloca ai Spacement mesclado com Pink Syd Barret e derreta sua mente saborosamente ao sabor amargo do ácido.

E que venha logo o álbum cheio.

***** Interview with Holy Science *****

Q. When did Holy Science starts, tell us about the history...
Well, three of us had a band together 2 years before and decided to join again and play with an old friend of Laro and a collegue from cinema school. It was a natural process, five people in a room with some instruments, dark lights, beer, and something to smoke. The rest will come along.

Q: Who are your influences?
We like to think that we’re influenced by many different kinds of music, anyway the bands that we all listen to are The black angels, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Pink Floyd, The war on drugs, Happy Mondays, Galaxy 500, Spacemen/Spiritualized/Spectrum, Yo La Tengo, Loop, Ride, Dirty three… We have a strong pop way of making songs, but then we hide them in fuzz and reverb. Simple and complicate at the same time.

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time…
Revolver (The Beatles),
Pet Sounds (Beach Boys),
Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd),
Psychedellic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators,
The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Q. How do you fell playing alive?
It’s really exciting, we love to play alive.

Q. How do you describe Holy Science sounds?:
We want to see it a as a river, a flow of energy. Simple but always changing and easy to contemplate and understand… well, maybe not that easy ;)

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
The process may start at two different places: at home, with a personal idea or at the rehersal place with a comun improvisation. Anyway it always ends at the same place, like a river. But after a very long trip.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
 My expansive Awareness, Moondoïd, Lorelle meets the Obsolete, Morgan Delt, Guerra después de la fiesta, the Space Spectrum, Baywaves, Purple Heart Parade…

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
Black Sabbath, Leonard Cohen, Elvis, ???

Q: What´s the plans for future....
We are about to record our first Lp soon. Very soon. Probably in September/October 2014.

Q: Any parting words?
We all come from the stars!
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Thanks

https://holyscience.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/holyscienceband