Gone Beyond by PeRPLeXa

Uma daquelas preciosidades que permanecerão obscuras e poucos mortais terão acesso ao sublime mundo de visões enigmaticas, viagens oniricas, anjos, demônios, tudo de forma mezzo post rock, mezzo experimental, mezzo post punk, mezzo psychedelic, assim é o mundo de Jonathan Wald e seu PeRPLeXa, uma celebração movida a ritmos tribais, layers e mais layers de guitarras epicas e cristalinas celebrando tragedias, amores, musica para entrar na alma e não sair nunca mais. Quer conhecer mais a fundo, então faça um grande favor a você mesmo, leia a entrevista que gentilmente foi concebida pelo proprio Jonathan sobre o mundo particular de seu PeRPLeXa, entre nos links, compre o album, baixe, procure, enfim infiltre-se rapidamente e boa viagem.

Detalhe, alguns convidados do album Gone Beyond, artwork by Natty Brooker, Ex Spacemen 3, baixo, Will Carruthers, ex Spacemen 3, precisa de mais alguma coisa!?!?

***** Intervew with Jonathan Wald - PeRPLeXa *****

Q. When did you start to play music? Tell us the beginning...

A. I tried playing clarinet in school when I was 10. On my own, I attempted to play a snare drum at 13. I acquired my first drum set at age 15, sold it at 16, found another at 18, sold it at 20, tried again at 22 and haven't given up since. I never took a lesson, as I found drumming too much fun to complicate with rules.

I create from feel and then visualize a pattern of shape and sound. I begin with a cyclical root pattern, then develop a theme with subtle variations by way of nuance and detail. If I can't feel it or visualize it, I can't play it and don't want to.

Q. When did Perplexa start?

A. PeRPLeXa began in 1994 in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Q. What´s your personal influences?

A. Authenticity, creativity, intuition, truth, heart, rhythm, breath(dth), mystery, and small things.

Q. How do you describe your sounds?

A. Epic, hypnotic, intense, passionate, cinematic, sensual, psychedelic, soothing, tribal, spiritual, and beyond.

Q. What was the process to recording gone beyond?

A. The simple answer...

Gone Beyond started a long time ago the "old fashioned" way... like all of our recordings, we played our instruments while surrounded by microphones and perform our songs to analog tape. I know... sounds strange because it wasn't recorded into a computer, and endlessly looped and edited. Some songs were written and some were improv'd. We tend to avoid most common song writing methods and approach ideas with more of a fine art sensibility. We engineer our music, in our own space, with our own equipment. I took on a much greater role in all aspects of production than I ever had in the past.

Q. What's the differences between the ST debut and gone beyond?

A. Spanning the first two releases, represents a time when we were a three piece band. Essentially guitar, bass, and drums. We just performed and recorded our live set to tape. We were more overt in our way of bringing about sonic intensity. By the time we wrote and recorded our third record, The Sun and The Moon Getting it On, the core of PeRPLeXa was a two piece. At this time, cello accompanied us and together we explored a more crafted experience than our previous recordings.

For our fourth recording, we hope that we've become better at creating the journey we're trying to help the listener experience. Gone Beyond is an infinitely more expansive endeavor, a greater scope, and of course, much more life informed. Gone Beyond still retains the core two piece and cello, as well, many talented friends helped bring about this crazy dream.

Q. About gig´s, what´s your feeling of playing live...

A. Playing live is a wonderfully amazing and inexplicable ride that I love, while at the same time, being so afraid. A very humbling experience that I'm always compelled to engage in again and again. PeRPLeXa has always been a live spectacle and we hope to be so always.

Q. Make a list of your top 5 albums of all time...

A. Absolutely impossible to pick five! Here are some of the records that I have enjoyed for years...

Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda

Durutti Column - LC

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

This Heat - Deceit

The Raincoats - Odyshape

Pop Group - Y

Chet Baker - Jazz at Ann Arbor

Crash Worship - Triple Mania II

Can - Ege Bamyasi

Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

African Head Charge - Songs of Praise

...and so many more.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?

A. I wouldn't know what others might like, but some of the music that I've currently been listening to is all over the place...

Django Reinhardt

Joanna Newsom

Dirty Projectors

Die Antwoord

Name of the Moon

Q. About the future, what are your plans?

A. Well, I live in the moment but if I could imagine tomorrow... I hope to learn more, feel more, love more, and create more.

Q. Any parting words..

A. For your entrancing pleasure, now and always... Gone Beyond

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Thanks Jonathan!!

http://perplexa.bandcamp.com
http://www.perplexamusic.com
http://soundcloud.com/perplexa

Anticipating Nowhere with Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - An Interview

Leia atentamente, o negócio é serissimo, sugiro prestar extrema atenção no que escreverei daqui por diante simplesmente pelo fato de que o que vem a seguir é algo que não se encontra em qualquer esquina, fui claro?!? Bom, não me lembro como e porque cheguei até o Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, estou sendo sincero não me lembro e olha que isso faz menos de dois meses, também isso pouco importa para o tamanho do estrago que aconteceu no dia que acessei o bandcamp deles e me deparei com o debut intitulado On Welfare, preste atenção, tudo ao acaso, apenas cheguei até o site não sei bem o porque entretanto quando fiquei curioso e comecei a ouvir a primeira faixa do álbum, chamada Traveler o baque foi instantâneo, o que me veio a mente naquele momento durante um mero dia de trabalho foi a mesmíssima sensação de quando ouvi o absurdamente essencial Taste dos Telescopes ou quando ouvi o Playing With Fire do Spacemen 3, um parênteses aqui, para quem me conhece sabe muito bem que o Taste e o Playing With Fire para mim são obras primas irretocáveis, fecha parênteses, retomando então, eu poderia muito bem escrever mais algumas máximas para o estupendo debut do Lorelle Meets The Obsolete mas realmente não dá, o resultado obtido após a audição do álbum é devastadora, veja bem, devastadora no sentido de insanidade, inconformismo e isso meus caros é algo que foi criado e concebido em 2011, é sabido que estamos em um estagio do qual temos a internet, por conseqüência as redes sociais e tudo fica mais simples logicamente concordam?!?Porém o Lorelle Meets The Obsolete não é inglês, americano, dinamarquês, sueco, canadense, etc, etc...a banda vem diretamente de Guadalajara isso mesmo Guadalajara Mexico, e digo a vocês impressiona mais ainda, afinal qual o histórico de bandas de Guadalajara??? Sinceramente sou leigo nesse quesito todavia isso também pouco importa porque On Welfare grita e grita altíssimo e atinge o objetivo a cada acorde, psicodelismo noise selvagem, inconformismo social em letras dolorosas e diretas This Plain City, Waiting for The Orange Sunshine, Traveler são peculiares exemplos de que ainda existe questionamento e inconformismo, desculpem a repetição da palavra, mas é a mais pura realidade, não há como ficar indiferente as canções deste espetacular On Welfare, ainda mais quando no seu intimo, digo na sua essência ainda há uma chama de contestação da situação na qual nos subtemo-nos neste capitalismo fodido das grandes metrópoles que vivemos, e digo mais, nos amamos as ditas metropoles, amigos, francamente uma obra prima como esta certamente passara despercebida pela grande maioria mesmo porque as possibilidades das bandas divulgarem seus trabalhos são inúmeras e claramente vivemos em uma época extremamente exuberante de grandes e desconhecidos trabalhos, ficando quase que inviável tomarmos conhecimento de 100% do que esta sendo lançado no mercado, veja, o álbum On Welfare tem o selo da Captcha Records de Chicago, ou seja, resumidamente a globalização colabora neste sentido entretanto de que forma, você tomaria conhecimento do que estou apresentando neste momento?!? Admiro pessoas como os comparsas Miguel e Tadeu da BARSA ALTERNATIVA Amor Louco, cito ainda o grande Pedro e seu incansável Shoegazer Alive já na versão 5, tem mais, Al Schenkel com o barulhento Sussurros e Escarros, isto somente citando uma pequena parcela das revistas alternativas que hoje intitulam-se BLOGS, mas que ofertam conhecimento, fora os gringos When The Sun Hits e tantos outros, o fato é que, a musica alternativa atual esta recheada de grandes, mais muito grandes bandas e a divulgação é online, quase que simultânea, o que precisa ser considerado é, deixar o amadorismo de lado e todos os meios se falarem e unirem-se para criar algo realmente perturbador, ponto final. Bom, finalizando, On Welfare debut do Lorelle Meets The Obselete certamente, será, a não ser que algo aconteça de forma inusitada, o álbum do ano para o TBTCI, sem mais, Renato Malizia.

Ah, finalizando a historia, logicamente que este que vos escreve não contente em comprar o debut, leia-se VINIL, detalhe somente disponível em Vinil ou MP3, no mesmo dia em que conheci a banda, realizei um contato imediato com Lorelle e The Obsolete, onde para minha surpresa eles conheciam e freqüentavam o TBTCI, e o resultado não poderia ser melhor, esta devidamente estampado nas entrelinhas da entrevista abaixo.

PS – mais um detalhe absurdamente relevante, quando recebi o vinil ai que fudeu mais ainda, vejam pelo capricho do vinil branco em detalhes esverdeados, um verdadeiro item de colecionador, fácil fácil o vinil mais bonito que já vi em toda minha vida!!!!!Simplesmente essencial!!!!

***** An Interview with Lorelle and The Obsolete *****

Q. When did Lorelle Meets The Obsolete starts tell us about the history...
A. The Obsolete: It started last year in Guadalajara when Lorena had a batch of songs that didn't fit much into our former band Soho Riots. She wanted to record them so she invited me to do the tweaking. And that's pretty much it. It all started as a recording project not as a band.

Lorelle: Those songs didn't fit with the Riots because they all came up as a unity. I couldn't separate them from each other. It was almost as if each song was part of a story. If you cut one song out the whole story won't make sense anymore. It also was the best opportunity to start something we were meaning a long time to do: a duo between Alberto and me. Even though we love the idea of having a band, we needed a space in which we didn't depend on other people whether to rehearse, record or play.

Q: Who are your influences?

A. The Obsolete: There's a certain comfort zone of which you can't get out easily but during the recording of On Welfare I was heavily listening to Kurt Vile, Christian Bland's solo stuff, Thee Oh Sees and The War on Drugs.

Lorelle: The Cramps, Spectrum, Black Mountain, Dead Meadow, Spacemen 3... I keep returning to those bands, again and again.

Q. Made a list of 5 albuns of all time…

A. Lorelle: The Cure - Disintegration, The Cramps - Bad Music For Bad People, Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back, Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire, Deerhunter - Cryptograms.

The Obsolete: That's a tough one. I'd say The Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat, Spacemen 3 - The Sound of Confusion, Galaxie 500 - On Fire, 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, The War on Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues (this is a new addition and it is truly a great record).

Q. How do you fell playing alive?

A. Lorelle: Playing live is a vital part of all the process. For me is like being in a complete honest state of mind. It is a way of projecting yourself as real as possible without obstacles. At a gig you can be certain about the realm of any connection achieved with the audience. There can't be any masks up there. I guess you could say that the live act is purely emotional for us.

Q. How do you describe Lorelle Meets The Obsolete sounds?

A. Lorelle: It definitely sounds as the social malaise.

The Obsolete: I do think there's a lot of intimacy in our sound. I mean, when you listen to the record you can imagine there's a band in your room you know. Like a bedroom-psych rock sort of thing.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the debut album?

A. The Obsolete: It all happened quite quickly. As I said, Lorena had these songs she wanted to record. Most of them were all stripped down, vocals and guitar only. So we started by adding some drums and bass, then some extra guitars, organs, etc. The fun part started when we mixed it 'cause we messed a lot with all the tracks. This particular song, "The Means of Production", got really interesting during the mixing because it ended up as a really twisted version of the original song. "Perverted by its Time" it's also a good example of all the mess we did. That song was intended to be some kind of division between the two major parts of "Taken". We couldn't figure out how to fit it in so then we realized it actually worked as an interlude for the whole album.

Soon after the record was almost done we invited a friend of ours (who happens to be in a mind-blowing band called Robota) to add some Omnichord and other layers to certain songs.

Q. What´s represents the shoegazer classic era to the band?

A. For us it's really all about My Bloody Valentine. They've been a HUGE influence to us. Especially in the "live experience" approach on music. They've showed us how music can become extremely physical to the point of making people's skin literary vibrate. The "holocaust" moment during "You Made Me Realize" is a perfect example of how they took music into a physical state as a means to an end.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?

A. Lorelle: The Soft Province, you've probably heard of them. It's a project by, former Besnard Lake member, Michael Gardiner. Its first record is really sweet. It has become a regular listen on my day-to-day activities. I'd also recommend Mentira Mentira. It's a one-man band actually and everything is arranged by our spoiled friend Gaby. He's like a human dynamo and he's about to put three records out at the same time. He's definitely one of the most prolific, charismatic and honest musicians we've met. Now beware 'cause he's 22 and he has threaten us with ending his music career at 26 so if I were you I would listen to his stuff right away.

The Obsolete: I've been into some of the great music that Woodsist has been putting out. The Spectre Folk and Purling Hiss stuff especially. There's also this awesome band of our friends Bruno and Giovanni called Tony Danza. They're finishing the recording of their first album and it's going to be really big! I'm really stoked about the anger in their songs. Plus, they have a bit of Velvet Underground going on there.

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?

A. Lorelle: I would love to do “So Hot” by Spacemen 3. The Obsolete: I would cover any Galaxie 500 song hehe.

Q: What´s the plans for future....

A. Lorelle: We're going to start the recording of our second album, which we hope to have ready by the autumn. There are also plans of putting out a 7" before the second album comes out. And there are rumors that say we will be playing outside of Mexico for the first time, so stay tuned :)

The Obsolete: We're planning to do a big collaboration with Tony Danza and our friends Richie and Leila (the sweetest couple). The thing is to setup lots of instruments in a room so everybody can play something, improvise and finally tape it. This one might take a while but when it happens it will sure be amazing.

Q: Any parting words?
The Obsolete: Let us know if you enjoyed our record and do share it. And thanks for having us in your place Renato.
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Thanks!!!!

http://obsoletelorelle.bandcamp.com/album/on-welfare

http://www.myspace.com/obsoletelorelle

http://nodata.tv/21818

For All the Fucked-Up Children of This World We Give You Starfire Connective Sound - An Interview

Dando sequência a primeira aparição do Starfire Connective Sound aqui no TBTCI, Al Schenkel a mente por detrás da perturbação sonora a qual se propõe o SCS coloca o definitivo 1º EP do Starfire com direções bem explicitas, caos sendo o mais caótico possível, reverberações, delírios distribuídos dentre as 7 canções, I Sweep The Streets Without Finding, They Call Her One Eye, This Modern Cave (assombrossa), Electric Whore, Love Is a Lonely Ghost Floating, Wall Whitman´s Brain, Starfire Connective Sound que simplesmente impressiona os mais desavisados, saca assim, os grandes genios perturbados do naipe de Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Blixa Bargeld, os Irmãos Reid, Kevin Shields, Lou Reed e acresça Al Schenkel no meio, acha pouco, foda-se, o negocio aqui é serissimo.

Para deixar claro que o SCS tem planos que se tornar a maior revelação do ano, pegue em primeira mão a entrevista concedida por ele ao TBTCI, sem muito bla bla bla, Al Schenkel e seu Starfire Connective Sound.

***** Interview with Al Schenkel - Starfire Connective Sound *****

Q. Quando o Starfire Connective Sound começou?
O projeto começou a ganhar vida em maio deste ano, mas a ideia de voltar a tocar e compor já rondava meus pensamentos há uns bons 3 anos, data mais ou menos em que tive minhas últimas experiências com bandas de garagem. O Nome, Starfire Connective Sound foi a sugestão de um amigo de Novo Hamburgo chamado Johnny, e é uma ligação meio louca entre uma caixa elétrica que ele projeta na Springer chamada Starfire e um episódio de Dungeons and Dragons (Caverna do dragão), envolvendo um avião da segunda guerra mundial.

Q. Quais as influencias do SCS?

Além das vertentes noise-pop, shoegaze, experimentais, no-wave, post-punk, space-rock, electro-rock, industriais de bandas como The Birthday Party, The Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine, Spaceman 3, Six Finger Satellite, JAMC, Slowdive, The Sound, Joy Division, Bardo Pond, Medicine, Love And Rockets, Sonic Youth e Suicide as influências literárias também são bem gritantes, passando por nomes como Walt Whitman, Antonin Artaud, Gregory Corso, Carl Solomon, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouak, William Burroughs, Rimbaud, Garcia Lorca e Bukowski e é claro, de cinema alternativo e experimental também.

Q. Quais os 5 essenciais albuns de todos os tempos?
Eu enquadraria uns 30 ou mais álbuns tranquilamente nesta lista...rsrsrs...Mas vamos lá. Vou Citar 5 discos que mudaram minha concepção dentro da música: The Velvet underground And Nico (1967), The Velvet Underground; Prayers On Fire (1981), The Birthday Party; Siter (1987), Sonic Youth; Crocodiles (1980), Echo And The Bunnymen; Isn't Anything (1988), My Bloody Valentine;

Q. Como voce define o som do SCS?
Uma fusão de soundscapes, colagens e ambientações que oscila entre alucinações, perturbações, sonhos, violência, amor, raiva e caos mental, reverberados em muita distorção e repetições psíquicas. Uma bad trip com raros ou quase nenhum momento de lucidez.

Q. Como é o produção de criação das musicas, quais as influencias?
Devido a falta de gente que divida as mesmas influências e paixões por este tipo de sonoridade aqui em Criciúma, SC me vi na obrigação de criar tudo sozinho. As canções geralmente são criadas a a partir de algum loop de bateria criados com a ajuda de softwares de produção e criação de áudio, tendo as guitarras e sintetizadores sendo jogados aos poucos em cima, junto a camadas e mais camadas de distorções e efeitos de pedal, até chegar ao ponto que pretendo deixá-las.

Q. Como foi o processo de gravação do EP?
O processo de gravação seguiu os mesmos passos da criação dos sons, totalmente caseiro e baseado nos mesmos softwares que uso para criação. Conforme sentia que as canções estavam prontas eu ia arquivando-as para uma seleção futura, o que acabou rendendo o primeiro EP.

Q. Quais os planos para o futuro?ALbum cheio?Shows?...
A ideia principal é arrancar este projeto de dentro da minha casa e executá-lo ao lado de outros músicos, tornando-o ainda mais barulhento e visceral. Já estou trabalhando em outras canções, duas delas podem ser conferidas no soundcloud do SCS. Uma das que ficaram de fora da seleção do EP ganharão vocais e mais guitarras e provavelmente integrarão o novo EP, assim como também ocorrerá em outras faixas, que terão vocais de amigos de outras bandas que toparam parceria adicionados. Por enquanto em relação a shows fica meio complicado, mas apartir do momento em que o projeto tome estatus de banda completa, certamente este será o principal objetivo do Starfire Connective Sound.

Q. Alguma coisa a mais a acrescentar?

Aproveitando para agradecer ao The Blog That Celebrates Itself pela iniciativa, queria pedir encarecidamente para os amantes do rock independente e underound brasileiro que vehnam a frequentar shows das bandas nacionais deste ramo, comprem os CDS, vistam a camiseta e de um modo geral apoiem e deem seu parecer sobre esta cena maravilhosa e super barulhenta que está se erguendo no Brasil, pois eu tenho certeza que este país jamais produziu tanto e em tamanha qualidade com se tem visto nos dias de hoje, mas para isto continuar se alastrando é necessário o ativismo e a colaboração de cada um.
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Valeu Al

http://starfireconnectivesound.bandcamp.com/

Pygmalion with Foreign Cinema - An Interview

Lembram-se do Astral?!?Obvio que sim, prediletissimo aqui do TBTCI, varios reviews e uma interview daquelas memoraveis, leia novamente aqui, e não é que através de contatos imediatos contactei a Natty Dagger, brasileira de Goiania, foi direto para os Estados Unidos e capitanea uma projeto daqueles mais do que essenciais ao lado do proprio Dave do Astral , dai a conexão, o Foreign Cinema já citado na entrevista com o mentor do Astral passeia por caminhos diferentes, batidas eletronicas quase tribais mesclados com uma ambientação meio trip hop meio post punk e caindo por um lado shoegazer climatico tudo isso junto coloca-os como uma das grandes promessas para este ano ouça Lovers an Killers e veja do que se trata todo esse vislumbre da minha parte.

E logico, como de praxe o TBTCI descolou via Natty mais uma das já classicas interviews do blog, sem mais Foreign Cinema.

***** Interview with Natty Dagger - Foreign Cinema *****

Q. When did Foreign Cinema form, tell us about the beginning…

The band formed in 2008. We (Dave & Natalia) both were into the same kind of music and have previous band experience so naturally we joined forces and pursued the musical venture with the goal of bringing something new to the indie music scene.

Q. What are the band’s influences?

A lot of contemporary electronic music as well as some classic shoegaze & post-punk have really been big drivers in our musical influence. Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Air, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Echo & the Bunnymen & Siouxsie and The Banshees are among the most notable.

Q. Tell us about the recording process for the debut EP?

The original master recordings of the EP was done completely analog (aside from the final format being released on CD), and recorded on a 1/2" tape, 8-track tape machine at our home studio. Retaining a fat organic low end in our sound is really important. The 4 songs were recorded, mixed and mastered in less than a month, which was very quickly compared with how long we're taking to put out our new album... about 2 years! hahaha

Q. When is the album due?

The album will be out in a couple months but we do not have a release date set yet. We are currently finalizing the mixes and it will be mastered in a week or so. After that, it will be off to the pressing plant. This album will be released on vinyl in very limited quantities.

Q, Tell us about playing live.

Playing live is always a pleasure. connecting with listeners is one of the most rewarding experiences about being a recording/ performing artist. We are about to do our first show with live drums and also a cello player and we're hoping to incorporate more diverse instruments into our live shows for the future including sitar and other world instruments.

Q. What do you think about the classic shoegaze era?

Let's just say without it, a huge part of our influences would never have existed.

Q. Which new bands you recommended?

We like bands that are a little bit different from the rest. Here in the Bay Area our favorites are Return to Mono, Stripmall Architecture, Silver Swans & Slowness. It's hard to find new bands that are totally original but it's always refreshing when a band takes a new twist on an old sound and not just copy some style of music that's already been done.

Q. Which songs by other bands would you like to do cover versions of?

Dead Can Dance - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove and also In Power we Entrust the Love Advocated (we're BIG Dead Can Dance fans :)

Echo & the Bunnymen - Porcupine

Q. What are the plans for the future?

We are on the verge of releasing our first vinyl 7" single. The songs will be exclusive to this release (Palace of Fine Junk b/w Velvet Sky) and not available on anything else. We are very proud of these songs and we've already gotten a lot of positive feedback on them. In the near term, we'll continue to perform and promote the new album and single, as well as do more regional touring.

Q. Any important news to tell us…

Only that we have a couple of shows coming up in San Francisco and that people should come out! :) One is at the legendary Cafe Du Nord, on June 23rd and the other at the Rickshaw Stop on July 16. Our website is www.foreigncinema.com.br and people can keep up with us by visiting our Facebook page (facebook.com/foreigncinemamusic) and Twitter (@foreigncinema)

Thank you so much Renato!

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Thanks Natty & Dave!!!Cheers Renato

http://www.myspace.com/foreigncinemamusic

Foreign Cinema - Lovers and Killers

Sonic, Flower and Groove with The Tamborines - An Interview

Com maior prazer e orgulho escuto incansavelmente meu Camera & Tremor, debut dos paranaenses de Maringa, o grande mais muito grande Tamborines, de meu camarada Henrique Laurindo que simplesmente pegou tudo e foi para Londres e ai a historia do Tamborines é exatamente essa Sonic, Flower and Groove, shows e shows, eps sensacionais e agora o album, simplesmente espetacular, Henrique e Lulu Grave são especialistas em criar pequenas gemas a base de distorção, fuzz romantismo e profundo conhecimento de causa, 31st Floor, Come Together, What Took You So Long e a emblematica Sanny O´Gannon explicam o porque os Tamborines são comparados a Dandy Warhols, Teenage Fanclub primeira fase, Ride, alias MArk Gardener faz backing vocals em Come Together, e junto ai Velvet Underground fase Loaded e a festa esta completa, outro grande momento deste Camera & Tremor é o cover Let me Down dos herois do guitar sound nacional os Pin Ups, diante de tantos motivos é recomendavel urgentemente que voce vá até sua loja predileta e pegue logo seu Camera & Tremor e seja mais feliz.

Aproveitando o ensejo todo, o comparsa Henrique concedeu ao TBTCI uma especialissima entrevista abordando toda a trajetoria dos Tamborines, então recomendo leia e releia e delicie-se

***** Interview with Henrique Laurindo - The Tamborines *****

Q. Quando o Tamborines começou? Conte-nos a historia da banda...
A. Comecei a escrever as musicas que seriam a base dos Tamborines em 1999/2000 na epoca eu tinha acabado de sair de uma banda bem noise/shoegaze, e eu estava afim de fazer algo mais calmo, folk ate. Assim surgiram as musicas do "Dressed up to better feel the sun", inclusive chegamos a gravar 8 musicas com a intencao de lancar 2 eps. No final acabamos perdendo as masters e ficou so o "Dressed Up .." mesmo.

Q. Quais as influencias da banda?
A. Dificil dizer, nos tres temos gostos bem variados...

Q. Quais os discos de cabeceira do Tamborines...
A. Os meus mudam sempre, no momento os que vem a tona sao: Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground; Isn't Anything - MBV; Cowboy in Sweden - Lee Hazlewood; Scrabby? - Pin Ups; Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth; In the Airplane over the sea - Neutral Milk Hotel; Bringing it all back home - Bob Dylan...

Q. Depois do primeiro EP pela Midsummer, como surgiu a ideia de se radicar em Londres?
A. Na verdade eu tinha essa ideia desde que peguei na guitarra pela primeira vez!

Coisa de adolecente que acabou por se tornar realidade...

Q. Porque o fim prematuro ?
A. Quando chegamos em Londres a primeira coisa que sacamos foi que teriamos que nos adaptar a uma outra realidade. Esse Tamborines que saiu do Brasil nao teria a minima chance de fazer algo aqui, entao resolvemos colocar a coisa on hold e curtir o que estava acontecendo com a gente: ver shows, exposicoes, eventos. Devoramos tudo.

Q. No retorno em 2005, qual foi a grande mudança em relação a primeira formação?
A. Bem, ai ja estavamos ouvindo outras coisas, em uma total outra realidade, mais "dentro" de Londres. Comecamos a gravar demos e passa-las pros amigos, porem nao tinhamos banda: era so a Lulu nos teclados, eu na guitarra e uma drum machine.

No Brasil a coisa era um pouco mais maleavel e incerta: gravamos o ep em tres (com o Renato na bateria) porem ao vivo era basicamente amigos nos dando uma mao. O que era super bacana, ninguem (nem mesmo a banda) sabia quem iria tocar o que. Caos total.

Q. Como são os shows do Tamborines?
A. Caos total.

Q. Tocar ao lado de grandes bandas como Charlatans, Chapterhouse, Crystal Stilts significa o que para o Tamborines?
A. Espero que signifique que somos grandes em algum aspecto tambem hahahahaha. Claro que eh otimo dividir o palco com bandas que admiramos, mas outras coisas bem mais emocionantes ja aconteceram pra gente. Por exemplo: ter o Mark Gardener cantando uma musica nossa (3 alias!!) foi mind-blowing!!

Q. Como foi o processo de gravação do debut Camera & Tremor?
A. Desnecessariamente longo e extremamente complicado.

Adoro o disco e as musicas e acho que apesar de tudo representa bem o que o Tamborines era naquele momento. Mas foram 3 bateristas diferentes, em varios estudios. Ouve muita confusao, muitas opinioes divergentes etc..

Quando o disco saiu eu fiquem sem ouvi-lo durante meses e ja mergulhei de cara em musicas novas.

Dai a Luciana passou dos teclados pra bateria - o que provou ser a decisao mais correta que fizemos - o Chokis (ex-Wry) assumiu o baixo e ja comecamos a tocar musicas novas. So quando fomos em turne na Alemanha e Italia que voltamos a tocar as musicas do "Camera & Tremor", e dai voltou aquele feeling bom e hoje eu aprecio essas confusoes e divergencias.

Q. O que representa a cena shoegazer classica para o Tamborines?
A. Eu cresci ouvindo Ride, MBV, Jesus & Mary Chain etc... e acho que esse som abriu possibilidades pra curtir outras coisas como velvets, byrds, phil spector, love ou mesmo beatles, folk e motown.

Mas confesso que nao ouco muito bandas shoegaze ultimamente. Alias nem acho que o Tamborines seja shoegaze, embora seja inevitavel a associacao visto que lancamos um single pela Sonic Cathedral.

Q. Quais bandas da atualidade vocês recomendam?
A. Gosto bastante do Crystal Stilts, o primeiro album eh fantastico, mas ainda nao ouvi o novo. Gosto bastante do Yuck tambem, otimas cancoes. Soft Moon me pegou de surpresa e tornou-se uma das prediletas da casa. Tem o Moon Duo tambem. Crocodiles, Veronica Falls, Minks, Warpaint, Frankie Rose and the Outs etc..

Q. Quais os planos para o futuro?Turnes?Talvez algum show no Brasil...
A. Estamos indo pra Italia em Julho gravar o segundo disco e depois disso iremos ao Brasil. Esse ano promete!

Q. Alguma mensagem há mais...
A. Estamos com saudades dos amigos e nao vemos a hora de estar ai. Baladas como as do Brasil nao existem iguais!
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Valeu Henrique....abs Renato

http://www.thetamborines.com/

The Tamborines - 31st Floor, Come Together

Purple Shoe(gaze) with R.M. Hendrix

Diretamente do contato imediato feito pelo mentor Michael Hendrix, um ep (Super Moo) e um album que tiraram o folego do TBTCI, shoegazer em formato atual misturando com glam e muito wall of sound pegue o album This Dreadful Mess e vá direto para a soberba Yr Queen is Dead e veja do que estou falando, riffs pegajosos, muito Swervedriver e Serena Maneesh em formato atualizado, Global Affair/Crack the Code é um Flying Saucer Attack light, um deleite, The Nóir é outro exemplo crucial de que o novissimo R.M. Hendrix vem como um raio brilhante e barulhento rechear o universo do shoegazer atual, absolutamente necessario.

Para elucidar mais ainda o post, como tem sido praxe aqui no TBTCI, convidamos Mr. Michael Hendrix para tecer comentarios sobre processo de gravação e peculiaridades das canções, com vocÊs R.M. Hendrix:

The Dreadfull Mess & Super Moo by Michael Hendrix :


I recorded the basic tracks of the songs with either Jazzmaster or Jaguar running through a Vox AC15. This gave me a consistent sound bed to experiment upon. Once I had that recorded then I could start letting all my influences play out for both tones and vocals. This was really liberating because I could let the lyrics and mood guide how each song evolved without worrying if it would get so different that it didn't sound like it belonged on the record.


Here are the influences track by track on This Dreadful Mess:
1. My Bloody Valentine
2. Fennesz
3. Swervedriver, Serenah Maneesh, Neu
4. Bowie, Catherine Wheel, Radiohead, Starflyer 59
5. The Cure, Seefeel
6. MBV, Radiohead
7. Primal Scream, Stooges, Jesus & Mary Chain, Chapterhouse

Super Mo are really thematic outtakes from Mess. They were all love songs and didn't really fit with the spy theme. Same gear set up, but you can see how they are more optimistic than the other tunes.
1. Radiohead
2. Bowie
3. New Order
4. Burial, Sparklehorse
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Thanks Michael

www.rmhendrix.com

I Saw The Ghost That Follows You with Bloody Knives

Preston Maddox do espetacular Bloody Knives já é socio de carterinha do TBTCI, e logicamente o Bloody Knives um dos prediletissimos da nova geração de excelentes bandas surgidas, depois do estrago realizado com o debut Burn it All Down, Preston e seu Bloody Knives atacam com o devastador Disappear, a destruição em forma de canção começa com You Know You Want To e só termina nos ultimos acordes da catarse final com Disappear, simplesmente um ep que eleva ainda mais o status do Bloody Knives com uma das mais destruidoras bandas da atualidade com seu mix insano de electro, shoegazer, noise, pos punk chega para ensurdecer ainda mais os timpanos dos menos despreparados.

Ilustrando ainda mais este post especial do TBTCI, convidei Mr. Maddox para disecar o ep, vejam o que acontece por detras da mente do nosso amigo Preston:


The Process:

July 2010: We had the idea of making a record out of improvisations. The idea of having a forced time frame, and to create something from something else were the main themes behind creating the music.

We were on tour and had a day off so we decided to go to Brooklyn and record with our friend Ryan Steele (Makeshift Studios). Ryan recorded our old bands’ last record at his old place. We could not record at his new place, so we packed up all the recording equipment in our van and went to a practice spot in Brooklyn called Sweatshop. I’m pretty sure we were in room four. We had a six hours to record.

We setup all the equipment in the practice space, miked the drums, DI’ed the bass, got some beer and shitty Mexican food, and started to record. There was some terrible cover band in the room next to us banging out the worst songs of the past 30 years at full volume, in the other room beside us was a metal drummer banging out blast beats. We were sure the noise was gonna make it into the ambient mics but it didn’t happen, the bleed was minimal.

“ill never leave you alone” was written in the first hour of the session. The Mexican food started to give me a stomach ache. Around that time we wrote “my blood is in your veins”. We took a short drinking and eating break and started up again. During this time we recorded the last three songs. "i want to be the one to blame" and " you know you want to" were recorded back to back. "disappear" was the last song we did.

We packed up and left Sweatshop. Ryan gave us the audio files and we took the disc back to Austin with us. I loaded the files up and recorded the keyboard parts at our studio in Austin. I went to Brooklyn to record some more, but after the sessions the blizzard killed off the hard drive. Some files were recovered, the others we re-recorded at my studio in Austin. Jim added effects and interludes. We sent the record back to Ryan to mix and master. Jake did the artwork.

Song Explanations:

1. "you know you want to"
you think too much, be impulsive, you know you want to, so c'mon.

2 "i want to be the one to blame
the joy of corruption, stealing innocence, and the inabilty to resist what you want.

3 "ill never leave you alone
you caught the infection, the virus spread, you will carry the infection until your death.

4 "my blood is in your veins"
your destiny is waiting for you to give you what you deserve. there is nothing worse than too late.

5. "disappear"
there is a hole inside you that you will never fill, the more you try the bigger the vacany gets......disappear.

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Thanks Preston my friend...

http://bloodyknives.bandcamp.com/album/disappear

Satansville Revisited with Swervedriver - An Interview with Adam Franklin

Depois de um tornado que literalmente consumiu este que vos escreve fazendo com que eu ficasse um pouco distante do TBTCI, eis que a volta eminente estaria prestes a ser executada e finalmente o TBTCI esta novamente a ativa e para comemorar em grande, digo grande mais muito grande estilo o TBTCI tem a honra de apresentar e conceder a todos uma historica entrevista com o grandioso Adam Franklin do seminal, espetacular, poderoso e prediletissimo de todos os tempos Swervedriver, sim isso mesmo, uma entrevista que perdurou para ser concebida em 1 ano de conversação, troca de emails, e finalmente Mr Adam Franklin nos concedeu esta que facilmente é uma das mais importantes entrevistas já realizadas pelo TBTCI.

Quanto ao Swervedriver o que dizer, o que acrescentar ao que já foi escrito, discutido e tudo mais, simplesmente a mais barulhenta das bandas da primeira fase da Scene, albuns absolutamente indispensaveis como Raise, Mezcal Head, Ejector Seat Reservation e 99th Dream, sem contar nos eps e b-sides tão abrassivos e poderosos quanto os albuns cheios, por essas e outras que hoje é um dia de comemoração no TBTCI, um marco absoluto na historia do blog e principalmente para este que vos escreve, afinal a idolatria minha em torno do Swervedriver é incondicional, amigos deliciem com Mr. Adam Franklin.


***** Interview with Adam Franklin (Swervedriver, Magnetic Morning, Toshack Highway and Bolts of Melody *****

Q. About the early years, when did Swervedriver starts?
Swervedriver formed in the winter of 1988-89 after the break-up of our previous band Shake Appeal. That band had been well known locally in Oxford and was once voted Best Band in Oxford in 1987 or something by readers of a local music paper but we had become bored with it. We were doing this Stooges/MC5 thing and felt like we were in a bit of a vacuum but by 1988 there was actually something else bubbling up that was a lot more interesting. There is some Shake Appeal footage in this new Oxford documentary film Anyone Can Play Guitar which also features Swervedriver as well as Radiohead, Supergrass and Ride: http://www.indiegogo.com/anyone-can-play-guitar

Q. Who are your influences/heroes?
Myself and Jimmy Hartridge were both really into the Glam Rock guitar bands of the early 70s like T.Rex and Slade. When the band formed we were big fans of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du - the more interesting guitar music that had been bubbling up - as well as old favourites The Stooges, MC5 and Jimi Hendrix. There was also some great music emerging from the UK at that time - it was an exciting time for underground guitar music.

Q. Tell us about the gigs, what´s the feeling to playing live?
We love playing live - this is where the songs literally come to life afterall. They sort of move around when played live - the recordings can be like photographs, they're just a record of how the band played the song that day but when played live, the songs are constantly evolving. There are parts or sounds that we don't ever play the same twice but generally we're pretty true to the recordings of course.

Q. In your opinion, what´s the best Swervedriver album, and the most emblematic song?
I don't know, they all have great moments but I don't ever listen to them - sometimes the odd song. For that reason the compilation album Juggernaut Rides 89-98 has the most high points in my opinion, for obvious reasons. Most emblematic song? Duel maybe? Son of Mustang Ford is killer isn't it? Although we were never crazy about that recording. Some of my favourite songs are probably the b-sides and obscurities like Maelstrom, 93 Million Miles From The Sun, Why Say Yeah, Scrawl & Scream - the songs that never that make the set! What else? These Times, The Other Jesus, The Birds, MM Abduction. I like most of them.


Q. How do you describe Swerve´s sounds?
It's all about power and melody I suppose. The songs might reach points of almost white noise in some parts but it's always layered over a strong tune.

Q. What´s your opinion about early shoegazing era? Do you feel Swerve´s are part of it?
Not really 'shoegazing', no but the whole era, of course. At the time there wasn't such a thing as a shoegazing era of course, because nobody had come up with a name for anything at that point - there was just a bunch of bands and everyone was doing their own thing whether it was Teenage Fanclub or Slowdive. There were a lot of great guitar bands coming out of the UK and the US - the more well known stuff like Sonic Youth or Spacemen 3 and then a lot of bands that made one record and then broke up and are now somewhat lost in the mists of time such as The Lavender Faction or The Loveblobs. I just think that in the late 80s/early 90s there were a lot of bands wanting to turn up the guitars and create something noisy and melodic.

Q. After break up, tell us about your projects: Toshack Highway and your solo albums?
In 1999 I recorded the Toshack Highway album which was me plugging keyboards into amps instead of guitars. I bought a Yamaha electric piano and an Italian Crumar synthesiser and started plugging them into my Vox AC30 and Marshall guitar amps and putting them through effects pedals just to see what would happen. The resulting album was half-instrumental and had a kind of 'soundtrack' vibe although Charlie Francis who recorded it with me immediately heard a late 70s Eno vibe which I hadn't picked up on. I'm really proud of that record! You should check out Harlem and Board The Bullet Train - someone said they thought the Lost In Translation soundtrack would have been even better if those songs had been on there.

I then moved to New York and there were some more releases under the name Toshack Highway which probably should have been released as 'Adam Franklin' records as they were more solo and lo-fi and sort of folky guitar affairs. Eventually people suggested I should release records under my own name and so in 2007 we finally released the first Adam Franklin album 'Bolts of Melody' but although my name was on the front it was very much a band record. This was followed in 2009 and 2010 by two more 'solo' albums Spent Bullets and I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years - the latest one is credited to Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody because Bolts of Melody has become the name for the band. I have some great guys in New York and London that I play with on this stuff. Check out Ramonesland, Two Dollar Dress and I Want You Right Now.

Q. Whats the concept behind Magnetic Morning?
Magnetic Morning is a collaboration between myself and Sam Fogarino, the drummer in Interpol. We met in New York and just decided to record some music together, with no concept as such but simply to see where it would end up. Sam had some strong ideas that he'd written on keyboards or guitar, some of which was quite abstract and I helped turn them into songs. An overall sound emerged and I then wrote some songs specifically for that also. We released an EP in 2007 and an album 'AM' in 2008 and we were really pleased with how it turned out - the live band was great too. I'd recommend Cold War Kids, Don't Go To Dreamstate and Indian Summer.

Q. About Swerve´s return, what´s the feeling to play with the guys again?
Well it's been great! Swervedriver is still as fast and loud and heavy as it ever was and the band has been very warmly received after being away for a long time which is truly amazing.

Q. About the future, what´s your plans? New solo records, maybe a Swerve´s new album, play in Brazil one day....
Been working on the next Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody album and it's gonna be pretty interesting I think as some of it actually started out with the intention of being a new Toshack Highway album, so there's more of that film soundtrack kind of sound mixed with rock'n'roll, I think. A new Swervedriver album? Maybe. But as far as Brazil is concerned - we'd love to! Where do we sign?

Q. Any parting words...
Thank you Renato - you have a great night!
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Thanks Adam!!!!

Swervedriver - Son of a Mustang For / Sandblasted

Ghost Riders with Moon Duo

Mazes é o nome do já clássico album lançado este ano pelo espetacular Moon Duo, Ripley Johnson do grande Wooden Shjips e Sanae Yamada formam esse cataclisma de psicodelia, experimentalismo e drone fincando suas matrizes em Suicide, Spacemen 3, Silver Apples e tudo que tem a ver com alucinações sensoriais em formato de canções, pegue a faixa de abertura Seer um transe a´la Spacemen 3 arrastado, climaticamente flutuando entre as parades de wall of sound a sequencia com a faixa titulo Mazes é um dos pontos altos do album, um bubblegum psicodelico, mas essa goma de mascar é puro vicio a linha de teclados e o vocal dão o apelo pop que o Moon Duo condensa sabiamente com sua excentricidade psicodelica, um deleite, mas é em When You Cut que o album atinge o status de masterpiece, Suicide fundido com 13th Floor Elevators e as palminhas evocam as girl groups, a guitarra incansavelmente grudenta é algo fora do padrão, When You Cut é isso e muito mais, Run Around é, como posso explicar, ah deixa para lá, é por essas e outras e cravo este Mazes como um dos grandes albuns do ano.

Moon Duo - Mazes

Sonic, Flower and Groove with Thunder Bunny

Christopher Padula é a mente que cria a desorientação plena e completa deste esquizofrenico Thunder Bunny, dissonancias, reverberações, psicodelismo, lo-fi, noise, muito Spacemen 3 e Spiritualized, jogue no caldeirão as excentricidades de Flaming Lips e Mercury Rev e esta feita a esbornia sonora do Thunder Bunny, tudo em clima altamente lo-fi, Christopher literalmente compõe uma massa sonora arrastada e propositalmente deleixada, o e que excita mais ainda a audição deste The Other Children of This Quickly Passing Winter só disponivel em versão digital. O Thunder Bunny, tem uma discografia dificilima cheia de 7" em varios labels, musicas aqui e ali, que se acontecer com você o que aconteceu com o TBTCI, ou seja eu mesmo, fodeu, você vai vascular a internet de cabo a rabo até saciar sua sede por Thunder Bunny, e digo novamente isso aqui vicia sem dó nem piedade.

Thunder Bunny - The Other Children of This Quickly Passing Winter

Playing with Fire with Tone Rodent - An Interview

Tone Rodent, soa estranho a você? Certamente porque você não esta devidamente interado com o que de melhor acontece no mundo do noise, psych, space, drone e shoegazer no que há de melhor no rastro de Spacemen 3 e derivações, o Tone Rodent deixa um lastro de extrema devoção por onde passa, sem contar o curriculo de shows do caras, vide, The Fall, The Warlocks, The Black Angels, Floorian e desce a lista, ou seja, da para sacar o potencial dos caras. Diretamente de St Louis para qualquer espaço disposto a suportar verdadeiras jam sessions, pesadissimas, com um parede sonora altamente barulhenta ciclica e viciante.

Como o TBTCI tem em Spacemen 3 um de seus tops, não é a toda a adoraração do TBTCI pelo grandioso Tone Rodent e é obvio que mais dia menos dia a tão desejada entrevista iria acontecer, então sem maiores bla bla blas, Tone Rodent.

***** Interview with Tone Rodent *****

Adam Watkins: Vocals, Guitar
Matty Coonfield: Bass, Backing Vocals
Mark Early: Keys, Synths, Oscillations
Jeff Robtoy: Guitar, Backing Vocals
Adam Dick: Drums
Ashley Hohman: Tambourine, Backing Vocals

Q. When did Tone Rodent form, tell us about the beginning…

A. The initial idea of Tone Rodent started in 1999 and really came to fruition in 2000 in Canterbury, England. I was in the midst of my Masters studies in painting at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and I began playing with sounds and layering them in the same way I was painting. It became infinitely more interesting to me than actually painting at the time. So… I began to teach myself guitar and con some other musicians to work with me and when I moved back to the US Tone Rodent was fully born. The plan was to always surround myself with better musicians than I and to play and write within my capabilities. We’ve had several lineup changes over the past 11 years, members have gone on to other projects, but each time new energy and focus comes. We’re a much stronger, cohesive unit these days. It’s really exciting to write music within our band, because I’m never quite sure how or what will come next.

Q. What are the band’s influences?

A. Each member has such varied, obscure and diverse influences it’s really hard to answer in short form. Rock and Psychedelia play a big part, but we all influence each other in our playing and creative process.


Q. Tell us about the recording process?

A. The first record was recorded with Jason Hutto in St. Louis. It was put down as much live to tape as possible with as few overdubs as we could manage. We wanted to try and capture some of the live band in the room vibe. The new Ep featuring Martin Atkins on drums from PiL, Killing Joke, Pigface etc. was recording quite differently. We recorded all of our parts track by track to a click track in St. Louis with Patrick Hunt, then we sent all of the master tracks to Martin in Chicago and he went into his own studio and laid down the drums. He sent the tracks back to us and Patrick took those with him to Pennsylvania and started mixing, producing and putting it all together. He did an amazing job! The songs sound fantastic. And it’s been more than a thrill to work with Martin. Then we sent our raw tracks and Martin’s tracks to Sterling Roswell aka Rosco from Spacemen 3 and The Darkside in London and he started adding beats and oscillations and remixing and flipping stuff around which led to another Ep of songs that began the same, but are completely different. Two companion pieces if you will. I’ve known Rosco for a few years now and we’ve collaborated on some other projects, but this is the first time we did a Tone Rodent project and it won’t be the last.

Q. Describe Tone Rodent sounds....

A. That’s always a difficult question to answer, as our perception is probably quite contradictory to what actually comes out of the amps! We’ve always tried to write songs that are not only fun to play but that we would enjoy listening to. All of the members in the band come from such a wide variety of influences and styles that when we’re all together in a room it’s really refreshing when the sounds and space are created. So back to the question… It’s rock, loud, dirgey, dark, heavy, psyche, shoegaze … I think.


Q. Made a list of your top five albums from all time.

A. From the band, in no particular order:

Primal Scream: Xtrmntr
Hawkwind: Space Ritual
The Sound: Jeopardy
Snowy Red: The Right To Die
The Birthday Party: The Bad Seed E.P.
Chrome: Red Exposure
The Middle Class: Out Of Vogue E.P.
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
Spacemen 3: Perfect Prescription
Brian Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets
The Cure: Pornography
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Darklands

Q. Tell us about playing live.... What’s the feeling.....?

A. We love playing live. The new lineup has come together really well. The old songs are tighter than ever and the new ones sound great live. The crowds have been really responsive. We just played a show with The Black Angels and we took to the stage with tornado sirens going off and a tornado hitting the airport and people loved it.

Q. What do you think about the classic shoegaze era?

A. I love that stuff! I still do. I grew up in a small town outside of Chicago and would go to this record store called Record Revolution and this old Vietnam Vet used to sell me records and for some reason he started selling me shoegaze, Spacemen 3, The Telescopes, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and some Jesus and Mary Chain. It blew me away. I dig the softer side like Slowdive and the poppier/tripper side like Lush and Chapterhouse as well, but I really like the darker side. The Perfect Needle by The Telescopes is one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s really exciting to see a resurgence of bands playing these days with a nod to those bands. The catch is to not wear those influences to prominently on your sleeve.

Q. Which new bands you recommended?

A. There are a lot in our local area that are really dynamic and amazing like:

Bug Chaser
Doom Town
Egg Chef
Glass Teeth
Medical Tourists
and Brain Idea

But we also love,

The Black Angels
Pete International Airport
Fucked Up
No Age
Pissed Jeans
Floorian
The Vandelles
and A Place To Bury Strangers


Q. Which songs by other bands would you like to do cover versions of?

A. Well, we’ve done a version of These Blues by Spacemen 3 that’s on a charity comp called Rock Back for Japan that everyone should check out, there’s like 6 volumes over 80 bands from all over the world and all of the money raised goes to help earthquake/tsunami relief in Japan.

We’ve talked about doing Motorcycle by Love and Rockets, When The Whip Comes Down by The Rolling Stones, Teenage Lust by The Jesus and Mary Chain, Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and The Shondells and ages ago we did I Need You by The Kinks and from time to time we’ve done Revolution by Spacemen 3.

Q. What are the plans for the future?

A. Right now we’re setting up some dates in the summer and getting ready to go into the studio to begin recording a batch of new songs for the next record.

Q. Any important news to tell us…

A. The next record is going to be a split with Rosco and us. One side our new material and the other side Rosco’s. We’re also trying to get him over to the US to do some shows. Fingers crossed and of course anyone interested in helping out… get in touch!
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Thanks Adam and all Tone Rodent ...

http://www.tonerodent.com/

Lazer Guided Melodies with Slowness - An Interview

Diretamente da ensolarada São Francisco, California, um EP complementamente intenso e fascinante com canções que de cara te jogam para o inicio da Scene, shoegazer classico com nuances de pos punk assim caminham Black & White, Duck & Cover, Slowboat e Little King as quatro magistrais musicas do debut Hopeless but Otherwise, ah sim já ia me esquecendo, esta maravilha atende pelo nome de Slowness. Geoffrey Scott, guitarras e vocais, Julie Lynn baixo e vocais e Scott Putnam bateria e vocais são os responsaveis pelas viagens envoltas de wall of sound etereo e denso, vocalização menino, menina quase soando como um instrumento a mais no contexto climatico do EP, um deleite indispensavel e artefato primordial para qualquer coleção de amantes de shoegazer, pos punk que se preze.

Aproveitando a ocasião, o TBTCI em contato com Geoffrey viabilizou uma entrevista que desde já torna-se clássica aqui em nossas paginas, delicie-se com Slowness.

***** Interview with Geoffrey Scott - Slowness *****

Q. When did Slowness form, tell us about the beginning…

A. Slowness formed with no name during the summer of 2008 in a house I was house-sitting in, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Julie was encouraging me to turn some guitar sketches into actual songs. And our friend Erik would come up to help me with the yard and the animals, and he brought his drums up and we started doing demos in this great big living room.

Q. What are the band’s influences?

A. There are so many. Aside from the obvious independent-alternative rock, we all love jazz and ambient and some classical and electronic experimental stuff too.

Q. Tell us about the recording process for the debut EP?

A. We shared our demos with our friend Conor and he suggested we record with Monte Vallier. We went in with about 11 songs. "Duck an Cover" we engineered on our own, in our rehearsal space, and did overdubs and vocals in our apartments. In the end, seven seemed to work, but after we mastered and pressed a bunch for a US tour, we came home feeling that only four really represented us well. So we re-mastered with Kramer and did a new pressing with new artwork and all. Now we're finally really happy with it.


Q. Make a list of your top five albums from all time.

1. R.E.M. "Reconstruction of the Fables"
2. The Cure "Disintegration"
3. Stereolab "Mars Audiac Quintet"
4. Spiritualized "Lazer Guided Melodies"
5. The Smiths "The Smiths"

Q. Tell us about playing live.

A. We love it. We don't play much in San Francisco because we don't see ourselves as a local band. We did the tour last year and it was great playing every night for three and a half weeks. You get so much better as a band, and it's the best 40 minutes of your day. We just played in March for the first time in nine months with our new drummer, Scott Putnam, and it felt great. Our best shows tend to be in small, dingy basement-like places full with about 60 people. We'll do a mini-tour in July between New York and Washington, DC.

Q. What do you think about the classic shoegaze era?

A. It's very strange because I started playing the guitar during the height of that era, but I was starting to write songs, you know, cheesy stuff with three chords and the truth. In other words, nothing shoegaze. But somehow something shoegazey started coming out when I started recording demos on a two-track cassette boom-box. But Slowness never sat down and went, "okay, let's be a shoegaze band." Scott and I are metalheads at the core, and Julie is a porch musician.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?

A: I'm not really one to have a pulse on the latest thing. When I buy records, I'm mostly digging into the past and gathering what I missed, you know, like For Against or Spectrum, or even super early Rolling Stones. There is so much great stuff that snuck by me, probably because I was the oldest sibling and didn't have many older friends. Most modern music I hear, that has broken through to indie stardom, as in the latest Pitchfork craze, I'm not crazy about, but then there's so much good stuff out there. It's a bit overwhelming in the new age of digital distribution. Most of what we like are bands we've come to know in San Francisco or while touring, like Foreign Cinema, Dead Leaf Echo, and Moonbeams.


Q. Could you explain the songs from "Hopeless but Otherwise" and your inspirations to compose them?

A. "Black & White" I guess is both personal and political. I guess I just realized at the time that the last eight years of life in the US had been been pretty shitty. Ever since 9/11 things have been weird, and things still don't seem right. But then I suppose it was just a case of me growing up. As if dropping the bomb in 1945, or the Holocaust, or the Rape of Nanking were any lighter. "Duck & Cover" is about someone getting out of your life because of choice or circumstance, and you suddenly realize that the relationship was actually poisoning you at the time. "Slowboat" somehow morphed into something completely different than how it began, basically because of Julie's bass line. Thank heavens for it. I had all these verses, but then we stepped back and thought about repeating just the one phrase, plus a few asides in the second verse. It's about the need to change our entire way of life. To start over, rebuild and, god-forbid, actually take care of each other as a society. But before that we would need to see the footage of all the destruction we've caused up until now. Unfortunately, American public schools generally don't do a good enough job actually educating our youth about what's really gone on in our shared history. Take the details of the Civil Rights Movement and the 100 years of Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws that led up to it. Only a few people get educated on subjects like these growing up, so we have a public that is essentially ignorant, or in denial. "Little King" is about keeping your sense of humor amidst all this dark stuff.

Q. Which songs by other bands would you like to do cover versions of?

A. We've only ever performed two covers, but in my fantasy world we'd have these in our arsenal: "A Short Term Effect" by The Cure, "Silver Rider" by Low, "Kahoutek" by R.E.M., "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" by the Smiths, "Leave Them All Behind" by Ride-- but we'll probably do none of them since we're just trying to write and arrange new songs, and practice what we have so far.

Q. What are the plans for the future?

A. We are in the studio now working on what was supposed to be a follow-up EP but we think it might be turning into a full-length LP. It's about half finished. We're doing the tour in July and we're all spending the summer months on the East Coast, mainly in New York. Then we'll come back in September and continue working on the record. It should be done by November or December, but who knows with these things. We're also planning to tour Europe and Japan in 2012.

Q. Any important news to tell us…

A. We have Sean Eden (Luna) playing on a couple tracks for the new LP. We're lucky we bumped into him at Maxwell's last summer at a Feelies show. Oh yeah, and I've written two songs with Julie's six year-old daughter. We only need to wait another 15years before she can go on tour with us and play keyboards. Until then, we'll probably use a few magic tricks when we play live.
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Thanks Geoffrey....

http://www.slownessmusic.com/