The Ting Tings‘ latest album, Super Critical, was a major departure from their typical dance-pop style. With elements of funk and disco, Super Critical was independently recorded in Ibiza and co-produced with Andy Taylor (Duran Duran).
I caught up with sole members Katie White and Jules De Martino at South by Southwest this year to get the scoop on their Studio 54-inspired album, leaving their label, and dealing with album leaks. Check out our Vinyl VIDEO below!
10/04/15 · USA Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
11/04/15 · USA Washington DC, – 9:30 Club
13/04/15 · USA Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
14/04/15 · USA Orlando, FL – The Social
16/04/15 · USA Fort Lauderdale, LA – Revolution Live
17/04/15 · USA St. Petersburg, FL – State Theatre
20/04/15 · USA New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks
21/04/15 · USA Houston, TX – Fitzgeralds
22/04/15 · USA Austin, TX – Emo’s
23/04/15 · USA Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre
25/04/15 · USA Phoenix, AZ – Club Red
27/04/15 · USA Los Angeles – Late Late Show N/A
22/05/15 · FRANCE Barcelona – Razzmatazz (‘live Dj set’) TBC
06/06/15 · FRANCE Montereau – Festival de Montereau
12/06/15 – 13/06/15 · SPAIN Sevilla – Festival Territorios
01/07/15 · USA San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom
02/07/15 · USA Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre
05/07/15 · CZECH REP Pilsen, Rock For People Festival
09/07/15 – 11/07/15 · SPAIN Bilbao, BBK Festival
10/07/15 · PORTUGAL NOS Alive, Maritimo
12/07/15 · FRANCE Tours, Terres Du Son
25/07/15 · USA Buzz Beach Ball, Kansas City
01/08/15 · SPAIN Burriana, Arenal Sounds festival
13/08/15 · HUNGARY Budapest, Sziget Festival
04.08.15 – Geelong, Australia @ Barwon Club
04.09.15 – Melbourne, Australia @ The Tote
04.10.15 – Ballarat, Australia @ The Eastern
04.16.15 – Canberra, Australia @ The Phoenix
04.17.15 – Sydney, Australia @ Oxford Art Factory
04.18.15 – Wollongong, Australia @ Rad Bar
05.01.15 – Eugene, OR @ KWVA Birthday Show at WOW Hall
06.17.15 – Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Explosion
06.24 – 28 – Calgary, AB @ Sled Island
At first listen, Turbo Suit‘s Out Here transports you to another place. It immediately brings you to some huge field with new and old friends while you bask in all of summer’s glory and dance the day and night away. Maybe because warmer weather is closing in, and festival fever is rampant, but with it’s grandiose infectious sound, Out Here is sure to ramp up your excitement for the coming spring and summer months.
If Turbo Suit’s creativity evokes such strong feelings from a recorded electronic album, it’s pretty much a guarantee these seven songs with translate incredibly well live.
Over the past years the funkronica trio – comprised of David Embry on production and vocals, Nicholas Gerlach on tenor saxophone and EWI, and Jeff Peterson on drums – established themselves as Cosby Sweater, with the release of four albums and an abundant amount of touring. With growing negativity towards the word “Cosby,” the band morphed out of Cosby Sweater and into Turbo Suit earlier this year.
Out Here represents this evolution and shows the trio transforming into something that is fresh, fast, and stylish. Musically, the band has brought it to the next level with their new material. So, it only makes sense to “suit up” in a new vessel that showcases the band’s evolution from Cosby Sweater to Turbo Suit.
Joining Turbo Suit on this transformative journey are Jake Cinninger, Joel Cummins and Andy Farag (Umphrey’s McGee), Natalie Cressman (Trey Anastasio Band), Joe Hettinga and Marcus Rezak (Digital Tape Machine), Zion I, ProbCause, and Rusty Redenbacher. Each special guest leaves their unique mark on Out Here. From Cressman’s soulful vocals fused with Redenbacher’s rhymes to Joel Cummin’s funky keys, to hard hitting drum and bass to dreamy saxophone, this album is a nonstop musical ride that surprises you at every turn.
Starting the album off is the sexy “Rewind pt. 1” which balances the gritty hip hop rhymes of Redenbacher with Cressman’s delicately soothing vocals over groovy beats. While this may be one of the more slower songs on the album, this track is the perfect introduction to the new Turbo Suit. “Hourglass” takes it up a notch as it starts with an upbeat hip hop vibe that slows towards the middle and gives way to a smooth jazzy saxophone. With a slow build, the inevitable drop comes with a sound reminiscent to that of Big Gigantic.
The third song and first single “Coogi Wolf” is purely Turbo Suit. Agressive, loud, groovy, filthy…however you want describe it, there’s no doubt this is one of the hardest hitting songs on the album with an absolute rager of a peak accompanied by a blazing sax. “Rewind 2” brings us back to earth with a sleek velvety pulse concluding with quirky beats. The album picks up again with “Wake Up” and feeds right into the drum and base heavy “Divine.” With a hefty hitting dubstep beat and Middle Eastern synths so tight that they could charm a snake, Turbo Suits absolutely brings it with this one.
The personal favorite and album closer is “Karate” featuring Cummins and Rezak. This track is a funky free-for-all with dreamy synths and spacey rapturous keys and makes for the perfect ending.
Embry, Gerlach, and Peterson could not have done a better job at reintroducing themselves to the music world as Turbo Suit than with Out Here. This album is passively melodic and soothing when it needs to be while also managing to be a nasty in-your-face banger. This perfect balance and the ability to create music that seamlessly translates from recorded to live is exactly what will keep drawing old and new fans to Turbo Suit.
When was the first time you felt X? If you’re wondering exactly what X is, we don’t know either. Allie X is the latest iteration in the career of Toronto born pop artist Alexandra Hughes.
After studying voice and piano at the Interlochen Arts Academy in the early 2000s, she released her first known album Ladies and Gentleman in 2006. Three years later, she appeared on the Canadian version of the BBC show “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” and began to receive widespread recognition throughout her home country. Then in 2010, she released a self-titled EP that showcased her foray into the world of pop music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQmDD6tYNXQ
Reborn again as ALX in 2012, Hughes dropped a macabre synth-laden paean to a dead lover in “I Will Love You More.” From there she left Canada to ink a publishing deal out in Los Angeles and work with producers Billboard and Cirkut. Everything was set into motion rather quickly once Katy Perry tweeted a link to her 50+ million followers labeling X’s self-produced “Catch” as her spring jam.
Nearly a year after the initial release of “Catch,” Hughes is readying her debut EP Collxtion I for release on April 7.
But what is X?
X is the world in which the shadowy singer resides. Enigmatic and often cryptic posts have popped up at random intervals throughout the entire campaign to help fans deconstruct the artifice of the artist, one of which culminated in the release of a snippet of “Tumor” taken from the EP. The entire concept of the project revolves around collecting images, notes and GIFs that the artist releases through various channels to decipher X. The high-brow leanings of this project echo the conceptual of Lady Gaga’s Fame campaign, but with far less transparency to who X is as a person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO8bNPOHqxs
As an artist, X takes roots in human psychology. The jarring, almost seizure inducing video for “Catch” heavily employs Jung’s psychological theory of the shadow self and anima as well as genderless human bodies. The importance of this video to Hughes’ career makes far more sense once her musical background is explained. For the first time throughout the campaign, she removes her sunglasses and shows her eyes. The encapsulated butterfly escaping from her mouth at the tail end of the video is a metaphor for the reinvention and continuance of her career.
While Allie X is possibly Allie Hughes’ most successful project this far, this mysterious artist could very well change her stage name once again after X is completely revealed and release another album in the future. But for now, fall into the crystalline world of X and don’t look back.
The Ravenna Colt is the side project of former My Morning Jacket guitarist Johnny Quaid, who co-founded MMJ with Jim James. He left the group in 2004 after the release of It Still Moves (taking with him the Kentucky farm they used to record on, incidentally changing their sound) and deigned to do what so many good ole boys have done: he moved west to find himself, and… became a carpenter? Yes, he went full Notebook on us.
Fortunately, he didn’t quit writing songs, and eventually had enough material to warrant moving back east to Tennessee, where twang dreams come true. As The Ravenna Colt, Quaid (nee John McQuade, but that doesn’t sound enough like the name of a Captain Planet associate, does it?) released 2010’s Slight Spell.
After that, Quaid moved again to Boise, Idaho and began working on what would become this year’s Terminal Current. This is a record full of lush, warm sounds that mimic Quaid’s own contrails – distinctly southern, but yearning to move toward America’s upper lefthand corners. Don’t get me wrong – My Morning Jacket’s influence is still heavily felt, especially in rhythmic tracks like “National Dander.”
Terminal Current is the same kind of sweetly sad, expansive western Americana that put the Jacket on the map. Yet it bears more resemblance to the more pedal steel-leaning side of contemporary roots music. This album is full of reverbed, lonesome waltzes that your favorite bar plays during closing time, much the same as Son Volt’s peanut shell-sweeping Honky Tonk.
Then again, reverb is beloved on both coasts, is it not? Songs like “Yutu” and “Absolute Contingency (Heartattack)” are the same sort of wavy, pensive beachcore tracks that Real Estate and Built To Spill deal in. Quaid sings of pioneers “With the strangest fear / And a fantastic chance / To leave behind / The filth and crime / And find somethin’ else,” and one gets the sense that he’s talking about his own life’s journey – it’s not insignificant that he left a band he helped create right before they gained enough staying power to reach indie rock’s upper echelon, only to move across the country and become a manual laborer.
Slight Spell obviously explored the emotional fallout that resulted, and Terminal Current is a continuation in some ways. The titular “Terminal Current” is the most explicit expression of the record’s loose plane theme, as its narrator slowly learns the true meaning of that adage about how you can’t go home again. But this record is also full of resolve at its author’s new direction, and sees Quaid get more comfortable in his solo shoes.
In the second single from Tame Impala‘s upcoming record, we find band mastermind Kevin Parker imploring his ladylove that he’s really sorry for hurting her feelings – but he just can’t help it, because he’s a dude.
Okay, pause. The song as a song is sublime Impala – pleasantly sluggish psychedelic garage rock that sounds like it was recorded at the wrong RPM on a vintage tape machine. It’s great music to listen to if you’re laying out, chilling in your room, or – and I’ll say it because we’re all thinking it – doing drugs.
Appealing sonic features aside, the whole premise of the song is a bit of a turn off. It reads like a bad non-apology that excuses bad behavior – “I’m sorry for what I did, but I couldn’t help it; this weak response excuses the same bad behavior in the future. Whew!” If this were being expressed through a veil of self-aware irony, that’s different. But Parker sounds genuinely saddened by his seemingly un-reign in-able self. “I have a conscience and it’s never fooled / But it’s prone to being overruled” he pleads to his woman, claiming to possess an emotional intelligence that he simply chooses to ignore at his convenience. We know you’re better than this, Kev!
Tame Impala’s new record Currents will be released later in 2015 on their new label, Interscope.
Liza Anne is a rare gem. Not only is she talented and accomplished, but she pairs that with extreme humility and a charming childlike wonder. For someone who has already made a name for herself and has an international tour under her belt, Liza still manages to maintain a complete and utter sense of gratitude and bewilderment that this is happening to her. She seems to be unable to believe that she could be so lucky, and each new opportunity excites her more than the last.
That’s not to say that this career just happened to her. Liza is a true talent with a penchant for heartbreakingly honest lyrics and endearing relability, an unbeatable combination for a folk singer (though rumor has it, her new album will challenge her genre placement).
We commandeered a corner of Farewell Books in Austin during South by Southwest this year to chat with Liza about her first time at the festival, as well as her upcoming album Two and what is next for her.
LA-based quintet North of Nine just released their debut (Randy Jackson-produced) EP Alive last month to rave reviews. The band is made up of of 19-year-old singer/songwriter/frontman/keyboardist Jackson Guthy, as well as drummer Rob Ketchum, guitarist Michael O’Grady, bassist Edison Lo, and keyboardist Nolan Frank.
With their South by Southwest debut this year, we asked North of Nine to document their week in Austin in a tour diary so that we could share their first-time experience with all of you. Check out their diary below (after you take a look at their newest video for “Can It Be You?” right here).
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Walking Around Austin
Rob leading us around Austin – was such a blast, so much good food and music.
“I think I’m more a creative…I’m not that good of a musician. I’m not the best songwriter in the world. I’m an okay performer. But I always have a vision.”
Milo Greene are a “cinematic pop” band from Los Angeles, California. Their name comes from a fictitious booking agent that they created to help them get shows in their early days (he’s apparently a very classy gent).
In January, the band released their newest album, Control, for which they are now rocking a non-stop tour. We caught up with them at South by Southwest this year to talk about their music, their dream film scoring gig, and their alternate personalities.
Apr 18 Spring Jam at The Grove Mount Pleasant, SC
Apr 25 Countdown to Hangout Fest Mobile, AL
Apr 29 Red Bull Sound Selects at the Echo Los Angeles, CA
May 09 Grand Sierra Silver State Pavilion w/ Foster The People Reno, NV
May 10 Revolution Center w/ Foster The People Boise, ID
May 12 The Complex w/ Foster The People Salt Lake City, UT
May 13 Fillmore Auditorium w/ Foster The People Denver, CO
May 15 WinStar World Casino w/ Foster The People Thackerville, OK
May 16 Austin Music Hall w/ Foster The People Austin, TX
May 22 Sasquatch Quincy, WA
May 23 Sasquatch Quincy, WA
May 24 Sasquatch Quincy, WA
May 25 Sasquatch Quincy, WA
May 26 Top Hat Missoula, MT
May 27 Republik Calgary, Canada
May 28 Starlite Room Edmonton, Canada
May 30 The Pyramid Winnipeg, Canada
Jun 01 High Noon Saloon Madison, WI
Jun 03 Motorco Raleigh, NC
Jun 04 The Mothlight Asheville, NC
Jun 05 Visulite Theatre Charlotte, NC
Jun 06 3rd & Lindsley Nashville, TN
Jun 07 PARK TAVERN Atlanta, GA
Jun 09 Grop Shop Cleveland, OH
Jun 10 Three Rivers Fest Pittsburgh, PA
Jun 12 The Hollow Albany, NY
Jun 13 Higher Ground Burlington, VT
Jun 16 Port City Music Hall Portland, ME
Jun 17 Daryl’s House Pawling, NY
Jun 18 Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Westhampton Beach, NY
Jun 20 Firefly Music Festival Dover, DE
Jul 17 Forecastle Louisville, KY
Jul 18 Forecastle Louisville, KY
Jul 19 Sloss Festival (July 18-19) Birmingham, AL
Jul 21 ONE EYED JACKS New Orleans, LA
Jul 22 Fitzgerald’s Downstairs Houston, TX
Jul 23 Club Dada Dallas, TX
Jul 24 Center of the Universe Fest Tulsa, OK
Jul 25 UMS Underground Music Showcase Denver, CO
Aug 22 Harlow’s Sacramento, CA
Sep 06 Fashion Meets Music Festival Columbus, OH
@vinylmag Instagram: Mike Deni from @geographermusic took a few minutes to chat with us about ghost-modernism! #vinylmagsxsw #culturecolide #hardrock
In a noticeable evolution, Geographer’s new album Ghost Modern tells a story about what to do once you’ve realized life is meaningless – with melodies that range from delicate to danceable. We caught up with lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Deni, after his show on the last day of South by Southwest to talk about the new album, transitioning band members and the process of finding a new sound.
VM: What’s the story behind the name and theme of Ghost Modern?
Mike Deni: I was talking to my friend about Post-modernism, because I’m always trying to figure out exactly what it means. He went to a really good school – I mean, I went to a pretty good school, but he always helps me with the intellectual stuff. So he was explaining to me what post-modern really means, and I was like, “it sounds like this is ghost-modernism.” That was the first time I really said it, and then it kind of took on the meaning of when something is so post-modern that you erase all meaning from it.
It’s really deconstructionist – like if you think about something so much that you tear down its illusions so there’s nothing left. If you root through all those things then you find the core or the nucleus is nothing. That’s where I was at and it wasn’t doing me any favors to feel that way.
I had this other friend who was like, “I know you’re really into thinking life is meaningless and there’s no purpose, but I would challenge you to see where you can take that, because you don’t want to live your life just wasting your time until you die. You think you’re this dark person, but you’re a really light person who has positivity and drive.” So that’s really the thematic of the album – life is meaningless, but we’re not going to just sit here and sulk. What are we going to do? It’s not hedonism. It’s not, “let’s go out and party and do drugs and fuck.” It’s, “let’s find something other than meaning that’s also deep.”
VM: Why did you choose “I’m Ready” as the first single?
MD: I think that was the last one that I wrote for the album, and it came real quick, which is exactly what happened with “Kites,” our other biggest song. So when that happened with “I’m Ready,” I thought it was a really good sign. Then I finished the songs, and I finished the demo, and I realized this was my favorite song that I’ve written for this record, and I was just crossing my fingers that my manager felt the same way. And he did!
I had a different song up for the lead single, which isn’t even on the record anymore. The song was so cool, but I think he could see that we weren’t going to be able to pull it off, and I couldn’t finish it correctly – it was weird. So then “I’m Ready” was a no-brainer for the lead single. It’s so rare to have a label that’s on the same page as you, but they were like, “so lead single’s ‘I’m Ready’ right?” I was cringing for what they would say. I thought they would pick “You Say You Love Me” because it’s a little more of a dance song.
VM: Can you tell a little bit about your songwriting process for this album?
MD: I write like piecemeal – I’ll be walking around, and I’ll hear a melody in my head or a lyrical phrase, usually for a chorus, and I’ll just record it into my phone. So then I have this enormous list of recordings, and I’ll just chip away at those. If I have some down time, I’ll actually sit down with an instrument and flesh it out, and then it kind of builds from there. Sometimes I have time, if I’m at home and we’re not touring, where I can just write for five or six hours a day.
On this one I really wanted to finish the songs before I made the demos, because I think I got a little wrapped up in sound effects on the last album. The music I was listening to in between them where just real singer/songwriters like Paul Simon, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Jackson Browne. So that was the stuff I was really feeling a deep connection to – not that any of it sounds like that, but I think the ethos is the same.
VM: Why is it important to you for your albums to tell a story?
MD: I think it’s because I wanted to be a novelist. That’s the artistic medium that I respect the most. I mean, painting is the most artistic medium. If you think “artist,” you see a picture of painter. But a novelist can create an entire different life. When you’re reading, you’re in another world. That’s the greatest way to escape, much more so than even a movie, because you’re using your own mind to do the escaping- an active escape. I’m a failure as a novelist, but I do try to write like that.
I think it can be a problem, because in the beginning my songs were really overly complicated. That same friend who gave me that great advice about Ghost Modern said, “make each song about one thing.” He actually is a novelist named Nat Silverson. It was really hard for me to do that, but the first song I tried to do it was, “Patience.” That song started out so complicated – it was about aphorisms and how stupid they are, and then I was like, “Mike, this song is about patience.” So I made the song about patience, and it was so hard for me to do, but I did it and I’m deeply proud of it for that reason.
VM: You guys have really taken your sound to the next level; what was the most difficult part of that process?
MD: The big difference for me was the string arrangements on the album. I always felt afraid to try and do that, because I don’t have any training with that. I’ve been taking music lessons since I was little, but nobody ever taught me how to arrange music. I know people who do that, and at first I was thinking, “alright, I’ll just get them to do it.” But I also knew I need to control the output, because when you put it out there someone’s going to put different make-up on it – they’ll dress it up in a way you don’t like, so I just decided to try it.
I sat down at my keyboard, and I downloaded this application that has really realistic sounding strings. I wrote these really weird string lines where, when I brought them to the string players they were like, “are you sure?” So I think that’s a big difference people will hear at first. Also, I’ve calmed down a whole lot. I feel comfortable in myself, and I’m trying to make my music less and less. I think space is very beautiful, and I think a lot of my earlier music was really cluttered just because that’s how I’ve always recorded music since I was like 13 – just layering stuff and layering stuff. By the end you have this enormous Dagwood sandwich that you can’t tell one taste from the other.
VM: Geographer recently underwent some changes; can you talk about that?
MD: The other guys toured with me and recorded with me but didn’t want to tour anymore for different reasons – but they were good reasons. So they did record with me, but shortly after recording the record, our drummer left the band, and after a few tours the cellist left the band. So we sat on the record for like a year. I found these guys after six months of auditions. I needed amazing musicians, but I wanted really good people. When you’re on the road, you might play music together for 30 minutes, but you live together, you’re a family, you eat together, you sleep together, so I need to love these people.
VM: How many times have you been to SXSW?
MD: Four times. The first time, we only played one show, and that was fun. We were like, “we love South by!” The next time we played nine shows and it was like, “ehhhh.” Then the next time we went, we played seven, and I had a broken ankle. I was sitting on a stool playing dance music, because I got hit by a car three weeks before.
VM: How many shows are you playing this year?
MD: Six. It’s perfect I think. Right now, I’m ready to go.
VM: What are your favorite acts you’ve seen thus far?
MD: I didn’t see anyone. I wanted to check out Tobias Jesso Jr. because I’m a song guy, and I like that he’s a song guy. I feel like he’s trying to do the same stuff as I am but in a completely different way.
VM: Are you food truck or BBQ Joint people?
MD: BBQ. I love the sit down. That’s my favorite meal on the road. Driving through Memphis or Austin – and we’re not going to get any this time around. We have to leave, but we’re going to be back here in May.
VM: What’s next for you guys?
MD: Mohawk in May. We’re finishing this tour, going up to Denver, then cutting across the country and going down the west coast. Then we have to learn the rest of the new songs and videos, photo shoots, that kind of stuff. Then we’re going out again in May to hit the rest of the country that we didn’t hit this time.
You can catch Geographer live at The Earl on May 26, 2015.
