We are all ABOUT some Monsoon over here. One interview in five months is just not enough, so we came back for more.
I met up with Sienna Chandler (vocals, guitar), Scott Andrews (bass, vocals), and Joey Kegel (percussion) backstage before their album release show at the Georgia Theatre (the only venue they hadn’t yet played in Athens) to talk about their upcoming shows, their favorite songs to play live, and – most importantly – their awesome debut, Ride A’ Rolla (stream below)!
Last night’s 57th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was not one for the books for several reasons: mainly, the lack of awards presented in the entire three-and-a-half-hour broadcast – a paltry sum of NINE out of the 83 total categories!
So what happened in the other three hours that awards weren’t being broadcast? A bloated roster of performances across all genres, with only several memorable ones in between. A common theme throughout nearly all was the usage of a gospel choir.
Performance Highlights:
1. AC/DC – “Highway to Hell”
The legendary Australian rock band with a storied 40+ year career – the type of longevity artists of today dream about – kicked off the show with “Highway to Hell.” It seemed like an odd choice to place AC/DC as the opener when they weren’t nominated for an award or being given a lifetime achievement, but all was forgotten when an explosion of flames capped off a performance of one of rock’s most iconic tracks.
2. Hozier w/ Annie Lennox – “Take Me to Church / I Put A Spell on You”
Sometimes less is more. Hozier took to the stage with just a guitar to sing his hauntingly beautiful single “Take Me to Church” before being joined by Britain’s most successful female artist and LGBT icon Annie Lenox to sing “I Put A Spell on You.” Lennox’s live version rivaled the unforgettable Nina Simone cover with her sheer vocal talent. Only at the Grammy’s would a moment like this happen.
3. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga – “Cheek to Cheek”
If there was any question about Lady Gaga’s talent behind all of the makeup and costumes, this number dispelled them all. Her voice served as a perfect foil for Bennett’s as they exchanged verses in Irving Berlin’s 1935 jazz standard. Despite the 60-year age difference between the pair, the performance was a master showcase in vocal excellence, and it was only fitting that they took home the award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
4. Sam Smith w/ Mary J. Blige – “Stay With Me”
In Smith’s first Grammy outing as a solo artist, he walked away with four awards out of his six nominations. The coveted Record of the Year and Song of the Year both went to “Stay With Me.” Backed by a large orchestra, Smith sang his breakthrough hit before being joined by Blige. There were no fussy visuals, no smoke and mirrors – just two people with immense vocal ability belting with enough emotion to melt hearts.
5. Sia – “Chandelier”
Perhaps the biggest snub of the evening was the fact this song won NOTHING. Maybe the Recording Academy doesn’t like how Sia refuses to show her face, but the jaw dropping performance featured a ceiling of low hanging light bulbs, a dirty hallway, Kristin Wiig dancing (!!) and the powerhouse chorus that’s been engrained in everyone’s head for months since its release.
Televised Awards List
After all is said and done, many talented artists walked away from the Staples Center with awards they rightfully deserved. It was a rather tame evening until Beck’s album received the highest honor of the year over Beyoncé, and Kanye West nearly repeated his 2009 MTV Video Music Award incident.
The order in which the awards were televised also deviated from years past, with Best New Artist being presented first and Album of the Year being presented third to last.
Best New Artist – Sam Smith
Best Pop Solo Performance – Pharrell Williams “Happy (Live)”
Best Pop Vocal Album – Sam Smith In the Lonely Hour
Best Rock Album – Beck Morning Phase
Best R&B Performance – Beyoncé “Drunk in Love”
Best Country Album – Miranda Lambert Platinum
Album of the Year – Beck Morning Phase
Song of the Year – Sam Smith “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)”
Record of the Year – Sam Smith “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)”
For a complete list of all 83 categories and their winners, click here.
Title Fight took their music to a new level this Tuesday after the release of their new album Hyperview. Since releasing their first album with SideOne Dummy Records in 2011, this band has always helped fans relinquish their inner angst with those up-in-your-face metal vocals, fast drums, and goosebump-forming guitar and bass solos similar to bands like Touche Amore, Pianos Become Teeth, and Tigers Jaw (but just a wee bit more hardcore).
However with this new album, Title Fight dropped their emo-punk-metal act to give their fans a mix of the past and present. Within 10 songs, TF brings forth 90’s grunge-inspired music with an insanely large helping of vocal reverb to stir an indie-influenced texture into their new and improved sound.
The album starts off with the song “Chlorine,” a more modern rock ballad. Immediately within the first few seconds, Modest Mouse came to mind, as the guitar sent the song off into happening. As a whole, there was not one instrument that truly stood out. Except of course for Jamie Rhoden’s super reverb-y vocals.
After listening to a few more songs, “Mrahc” really caught my attention. An upbeat tempo with a few major key changes shows Title Fights new style starting to seep into play. Ben Russin’s drum skills, accompanied by Shane Moran’s guitar ingenuity, helped me realize just how grungy the music had become. With this song, you truly get to hear an artist’s maturation.
Immediately after “Mhrac” plays “Your Pain is Mine Now.” Here Title Fight really encompasses their emo side, but with a more universal touch. With consistent flange-sounding material, the acoustic guitar is played so eloquently that it could almost be mistaken for a piano.
However, it isn’t until I heard “Trace Me onto you” that I became impressed. As the two-step drum tempo sets off, the music becomes progressively faster as the lyrics become more clear through the music. Title Fight has never lacked poetic value, but they have truly done a number on this one.
Regardless of such change, Title Fight unfortunately could lose some fans with this album. Every song was conceptually the same, with minor tempo changes as well as melodies. The drums and guitar were grungy while the vocals were indie… in every song. However, Ned Russian should win some sort of bass award. Whenever his bass parts were highlighted, the song was immediately redeemed from any lackluster.
Title Fight is still Title Fight, but I think they should stick to the previous metal rage they were known for.
3/5
The most important night in music is this coming Sunday, February 8. The purpose of the awards is to honor excellence in the music industry. While some of the nominations across several categories this year have notable snubs, here are our predictions for this year’s winners.
Album of the Year: Sam Smith In the Lonely Hour
While all the nominees for this category had a phenomenal year, from Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran’s colossal success stateside to Beyoncé’s near implosion of the Internet, the winner of AOTY will most likely be Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour,” and here’s why: Smith’s “Stay With Me” was the most improbable hit in 2014 in a radio landscape filled with disposable dance tracks. Both his singing voice and the lyrical narratives he crafts are the results of intense emotion with which the Recording Academy can easily identify.
Record of the Year: Sia Furler “Chandelier”
This category is a potential landmine for controversy. However, Sia’s “Chandelier” manages to be the most technically challenging piece of recorded music out of all the nominees, which include Meghan Trainor, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, and Iggy Azalea. The video inspired countless parodies for its erratic dancing, and the song is vocally difficult in its powerhouse chorus as it switches back and forth between her chest voice and head voice effortlessly.
Song of the Year: Hozier “Take Me to Church”
Awarded to what’s considered lyrically the best track of the year, Hozier seems like a shoe-in. It’s no coincidence that this song is nearing the pinnacle of the Billboard chart at press time. The use of religion as a metaphor is always a risky move in mainstream music, but this song is a poetic commentary on sexuality and humanity. It is also the only nominee with Hozier as the sole songwriter compared to the four cowriters on “Stay With Me.”
Best New Artist: Sam Smith
This one goes without explanation. Sam had the biggest year out of all the artists that were nominated, and his staying power is demonstrated in his consistent album sales and ability to sell out bigger and bigger venues on each tour.
Best Pop Solo Performance: Sia Furler “Chandelier”
One of the newer categories in the Grammy’s, this award has historically gone to only female artists, and this year may not be any different. After lending her vocals to songs like David Guetta’s “Titanium” and Flo Rida’s “Wild Ones,” Furler had her shot at pop fame with her first new release in years in 2014, and this song will be remembered for years to come for the immediate gut punch of its vocals.
Pop Vocal Album: Ariana Grande My Everything
This category will be a tight race given the presence of Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, AND Miley Cyrus. However, this award is from a vocal perspective, which is why Ariana Grande should have the edge. Grande is in total control of her tone from the softer notes of “Love Me Harder,” to the soaring vocals in “One Last Time” and can demonstrate her genre versatility as heard in the Zedd-produced “Break Free.”
Rock Performance: Arctic Monkeys “Do I Wanna Know?”
This is another newer category in which the most recent recipients may not have had the most technically impressive recording, but rather the most mainstream. If the Arctic Monkeys take this award, it would feel like a more even split between the two. The moment you hear the guitar in “Do I Wanna Know?,” resisting the urge to hum the melody is near impossible. It’s also the one of the group’s most successful singles so far in the United States and led them to a summer full of festival performances.
Best Alternative Music Album: St. Vincent St. Vincent
St. Vincent is the closest Annie Clark will get to being deemed “mainstream pop,” but the technical proficiencies in the album shall not go without merit. In a polarizing SNL performance last year, many viewers were shocked that a woman could play the guitar and keep an audience entertained without the help of nudity or provocative choreography. The melding of the urgency in Clark’s vocals coupled with the spring-like elasticity of the instrumental tracks far surpasses the work of nominees like Jack White, Arcade Fire, and alt-J that continue to release albums that don’t display much artistic growth.
Urban Contemporary Album: Beyoncé Beyoncé
A cursory glance at the list of nominees reveals that the urban music scene might be struggling. Pharrell Williams’ G I R L seems laughably out of place. Bey’s only competition in this category might actually be Chris Brown’s X, but the cultural and musical impact of songs like “Drunk in Love”, “Partition” and “Flawless” should not go unnoticed by the industry voters that were just as surprised by the release of the album as they were by its feminist contents.
Rap Album: Childish Gambino Because the Internet
This is going to be a difficult decision to make simply because none of the nominees are that great, or maybe the releases just weren’t that impressive in 2014. Eminem will likely be favored to win over the underdogs that were nominated, although after recognizing the Marshall Mathers LP 2 was not his best work perhaps the award will go to someone who is less controversial and more towards someone like Childish that has spent years exacting his flow and lyrics into a masterwork of an album.
Vinyl Mag sort of has a soft spot for Murder By Death. MBD combines haunting melodies with a classical element in most, if not all, of their albums. The same goes for their newest album, Big Dark Love. Their timeless style and deep, smooth vocals are the signature of MBD, and combining upbeat melodies with haunting instruments and interesting perspectives on love make this album unique. In Vinyl Mag’s interview with MBD in October 2014, Adam Turla (vocals, guitar) explained, “There are a lot of songs that are darker love songs or non-traditional love songs…there are songs about the love and the fear that comes with a parent’s love; there’s a song that’s about a totally unacceptable, obsessive love. It explores the idea of love in different layouts.” Just in time for Valentine’s Day!
Despite the macabre band and album name, the opening tracks start Big Dark Love on an upbeat note. “Shot an Arrow” opens with a catchy beat and features that classical piano and old-time style that is typical of MBD. “Strange Eyes” follows with the same upbeat rhythm, along with a subtle harmonization to soften the energetic guitar riffs and the simple cello sounds. “Big Dark Love” returns to a slower melody, with echo effects and an ominous cello. Screaming vocals give this song, and a few others on the album such as “Shot an Arrow,” a raw and passionate sound. Still, the vocals are deep and flowing, staying consistent with MBD’s folk-influenced style.
This folk sound becomes more prevalent in “Dream in Red,” which also has haunting lyrics and melodies. The faraway radio effect on the vocals makes the track sound vintage, while the elegant violins bring in a classical element. Similarly, “Last Thing” features some skillful banjo picking combined with a violin that gives the track a warm (again) folk sound with classical incorporation. “Natural Pearl” follows beautifully with simple, clear, and catchy lyrics combined with quick cello and guitar riffs mimic an old country love song. The album ends with “Hunted,” which has an ambient style with western style guitar riffs.
You might say Big Dark Love is different from MBD’s other albums in its portrayal of love and also its seamless transition and combination of genres. MBD’s subtle utilization of various instruments make their style somewhat contemporary classic. Big Dark Love comes out today. Buy it for your friend, lover, or mom. After visiting Stanley Hotel (the hotel where The Shining was filmed), and traveling from the west side and down the east coast, Murder By Death will finally make their way to ATL on March 12th. See you there!
4/5
Amason’s new album, Sky City, takes listeners on a journey through cosmic chaos, only to bring you back to earth a little bit changed.
To start off, this Swedish band is absolutely filled the some of Stockholm’s finest. Amanda Bergman from Idiot Wind seduces listeners with her oh-so-raspy voice, leaving you with nothing but goose bumps. The rest of the band consists of Gustav Ejstes from Dungen, Nils Tornqvist and Peter Winnberg from Little Majorette, and Pontus Winnberg from Miiike Snow; all great bands that may soon follow this wave of Swedish wonder.
Together under Amason, these musicians use strictly fast drum beats, ambient guitars, and melodic synth as their main ingredients to concoct this truly unique album. The album begins with strong tracks like “Duvan,” “Kelly,” and “Elefanten.” “Duvan” is the perfect track to get ready to in the morning. With an 80s vibe, you can’t help but smile and feel as though you can take on the day listening to that jazzy piano and synth beats.
“Kelly” is for any of those Abba lovers out there. The Strokes-like drums and wet vocals bring back the class to disco. As for “Elefanten,” psychedelic spacey sounds consume this track, linking those who love Avey Tare and My Morning Jacket under one song.
The album takes an entirely unexpected turn with the song “Velodrome.” At first, the sound is similar to tracks prior, but after some intense piano riffs, Amason inserts recordings of nature accompanied by Spanish-inspired acoustic guitar. Such spacey sounds are then left behind as these musicians take on psychedelic tones like that of Tame Impala, all while Amanda croons about the earth with her magical voice.
After being hit with a twist, tracks like “Yellow Moon,” “Black Fish,” and “The Moon as A Kite” bring about an entirely different vibe (yet again). Amason channels that old school European rock while speakikng to listeners in Swedish and taking you on a roller coaster of tempo in “Black Fish.”
As for “Yellow Moon,” the upbeat synth brings listeners back to Amason’s natural style with an earthy twist. This song could set up a perfect relaxed hang out with a significant other.
A waltz ensues as “The Moon as A Kite” plays through your speakers. Although the music seems cheery, Amanda sings lyrics such as, “ Love is the frozenist part of a lake… Time is a cruelty” to bring an edge of melancholy.
Overall, this album is a perfect gift for valentines. Such songs are perfect background music for any mellow gathering, regardless of the somber lyrics. If you are looking to chill, study, or be at peace with some unique sounds, Sky City is the answer.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a party song to get you hyped up, then steer clear. This is definitely an album for introverted moments.
4/5
Since the early 2000s, filmmakers everywhere have become overly obsessed with documentary-style filming, where the movie seems to be more of a home video rather than a full-blown Hollywood film. This is called retroscripting, a technique in which has been used professionally in movies like Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.
After many years and many movies, such filming initially charmed audiences but now has become a nuance to the general public and has potentially turned off future customers from spending their money at the box office. One filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, was at one time the antithesis of such sort of filming. Known for his overuse of CGI and special effects, Spielberg has always kept true to his action-packed overzealous style in order to wow his fans.
However, a few years back, Spielberg shocked crowds when he decided to take on this retroscripting style in his film, Super 8. The film was okay in general but still had that action-packed feel customers yearn for when King Spielberg’s name is plastered on a film.
Stranger things came this weekend when Spielberg took another turn in his style completely. He produced the film Project Almanac, a movie which was released this past Friday.
The story encompasses a group of highschoolers who come across blueprints created by the main character’s father for a time machine and build it together. Along the way, the main character, David Raskin, finds himself falling for the very beautiful and popular Jessie Pierce and thus uses this time machine to win her heart.
Obviously, things go awry, and David Raskin must go back in time in order to fix everything – basically, the same “you don’t get a second chance” moral any time machine movie involves (Ed. note: did we learn nothing from The Butterfly Effect?!) .
There weren’t any massive explosions, alien encounters, and it was filmed using retroscipting…which has left Spielberg fans wondering what the hell happened? Although this famous filmmaker only produced Project Almanac, the Spielberg standards are slowly diminishing.
The movie itself was sub par. The acting was not spectacular, and there were quite a few plot holes. My favorite was when their test of the time machine resulted in disaster – scientific tools fusing together, and miniature cars were slammed through the wall – but regardless of such mishap, Jessie decides it is time to use human subjects next. Not the brightest idea in my book.
In the end, I think maybe the whole time travel scheme has just been over done, similar to the use of the retroscripting technique. Time for a new idea.
2/5
The Blink-182 feud continues, as Tom DeLonge (guitarist/vocalist) defends himself from his former bandmates’ (Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker) accusations that he was “disrespectful and ungrateful,” as well as their statement that he quit the band through his manager without doing them the courtesy of informing them directly.
In his (ridiculously long) Facebook diatribe, DeLonge condescendingly claims moral and professional superiority over Hoppus and Barker (best line in the letter – “But I guess that’s another example of how I differ from most. I follow the light… I follow passion and I make art. I hang with my son, my daughter and my wife.”), playing the victim and humblebragging that his only failure was putting his faith in them instead of trusting his own instincts and judgement.
And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Tom DeLonge post about Blink-182 if it didn’t have some shameless Angels & Airwaves plugging as well.
Check out the full letter below:
LETTER TO THE FANS
Where to begin?
The truth is always a good place. Let’s go there.
I love Blink and am incredibly grateful for having it in my life. It has given me everything. EVERYTHING. I started this band, it was in my garage where I dreamed up the mischief.
So what have I been doing behind the scenes? Well, I’ve tried to make things work. I’ve tried to help move this band down 50 different paths using my people, or other people, and people we don’t even know. I tried to put forth ideas about how we can grow and challenge ourselves to become a better band. I’m not sitting around waiting for someone else to do the work. I’m not wired that way.
The big reset was when I tried to put together a band summit in Utah where we’d talk and work things out. It quickly was narrowed down to three hours in someone’s dressing room in a shitty casino. What I hoped would be a positive get-together away from everything turned into an awkward meeting in a smelly convention hall dressing room. But it was there that I told Mark and Travis that as long as we talked, and things were good between us as real friends, that I would be engaged and work passionately. I’d mirror our personal relationship. Exact words.
Then, the EP was the test. Months later, we’re recording those songs. I was in the studio for two months and they came in for around 11 days. I didn’t mind leading the charge, but we had all agreed to give it 100%. And this time- no baggage.
Despite that, we still somehow managed to self-sabotage.
At one point, squabbling and politics forced me to pull the EP down at a time when 60,000 fans were trying to purchase it. And that blew my mind. I’d been trying so hard but that moment ultimately broke my spirit. I then realized that this band couldn’t lose the years of ill will.
It was after that episode that I promised myself I would never be in that position again – to rely on the words we said to each other.
I remember asking one of them on the phone, “did you try your best? Like we all agreed to?” He was silent.
Are they at fault?
Am I? Of course. I’m nuts.
But there’s three of us – we’re all accountable. At the end of the day, we’ve always been dysfunctional, which is why we haven’t talked in months. But we never did. In the 8 years we have been together it has always been that way.
Over the past two and a half years, while a recording partner was being sought for a new Blink record, I launched a media company. I just put out a new Angels & Airwaves record and as some of you know, there’s a lot more coming – comics, books, a film, etc. The books will all come with music. This is a wheel that’s already in motion. So you can imagine my frustration when I was handed a 60-page Blink contract saying I couldn’t release an Angels album for 9 months and that the Blink album had to be recorded in 6 months, which was impossible for me. Doing so would force me to breach several artist contracts. Authors, Concept Artists, Animators… Many people.
They did eventually drop the Angels provision, but the part about having to finish a Blink album in 6 months remained. All of these other projects are being worked, exist in contract form– I can’t just slam the brakes and drop years of development, partnerships and commitments at the snap of a finger.
I told my manager that I will do Blink 182 as long as it was fun and worked with the other commitments in my life, including my family.
But Mark and Travis know all of this.
I wrote this same letter to them a year ago. But it created a massive argument, the biggest one yet actually. I just wanted us to do things we all agreed on. But that was their moment to dig in. From their view I was controlling everything. In reality, I was scared to put myself out there again. To repeat the EP experience.
I also wrote all of this to their managers this past December (who told me my bandmates weren’t angry and agreed with some of my ideas of how to grow the band).
So you can imagine my surprise when a press release went out yesterday—without my knowledge—about the band’s future. This is new to me. It’s not in my nature to fuel negativity about the legacy of the band on something as trashy as the Internet world.
But I guess that’s another example of how I differ from most. I follow the light… I follow passion and I make art. I hang with my son, my daughter and my wife.
At the end of the day, all of this makes me really sad.
Sad for us.
Sad for you- that you’re witnessing this immaturity.
I know them very well, and their current actions are defensive and divisive.
I suppose they’re doing this as a way to protect themselves from being hurt.
Like we all do.
And even as I watch them act so different to what I know of them to be, I still care deeply for them. Like brothers, and like old friends. But our relationship got poisoned yesterday.
Never planned on quitting, just find it hard as hell to commit.
–
Tom
Post by Tom DeLonge.
Last year was a great year for Nordic musicians, between the breakout of Tove Lo, the release of Lykke Li’s critically acclaimed third album, the much hyped Röyksopp/Robyn EP and the inevitable breakup of The Knife.
There’s certainly never a shortage of forward-thinking musical exports coming out of Sweden, with many pop music super producers and songwriters calling it home, so why should this year be any different?
Enter Say Lou Lou.
Sisters Miranda and Elektra Kilbey-Jansson are about to release their debut album, “Lucid Dreaming,” next month through their own label, à Deux, but it’s been no easy feat to get as far as they are now.
Beginning with the release of their 2012 single “Maybe You,” the band garnered media attention for its hushed instrumental dreamscapes and cherubic vocal delivery.
By that time next year, the duo were longlisted for BBC’s Sound of 2014 Poll that collects together the 15 most promising musical acts of the next year. It should be no surprise that previous winners include the likes of Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, and Haim.
Unfortunately, not all artists that end up on the list have similar luck, as Say Lou Lou announced their debut LP “Lucid Dreaming” in August 2014 before suffering several delays that have moved the release to a solid Q1.
The pair’s ability to fuse together elements of deep house against dream wave in tracks like the sparkling Lindstrøm produced “Games for Girls” is something that has yet to be seen in their other contemporaries.
The resulting album is a product of two years of incubation, from touring and constant self-discovery, as both people and musicians to determine what ultimately represents Say Lou Lou. The tracklist seems cobbled together from the duo’s previously released singles and b-sides. However, that does not affect the quality of the record.
By the end of 2015, Say Lou Lou will still be one of the most buzzed-about artists, and the proof is in “Lucid Dreaming.”
If you were alive Monday, you probably heard about the scandal involving Tom DeLonge quitting Blink-182.
It started when a press release from the band’s publicist was shared, and it was reported that Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio would replace DeLonge at the band’s performance at the Musink Music and Tattoo Festival.
Barker and Hoppus opened up in a recent Rolling Stones article about the tension between the band and DeLonge:
I think he’s just bummed because Mark and I were finally honest. We always covered up for him before. It was always, “We’re going to record an album,” then “Tom refuses to get into the studio without a record deal.” So everyone does hella amounts of work to get a record deal and now Tom isn’t part of Blink-182. It’s hard to cover for someone who’s disrespectful and ungrateful. You don’t even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you’re not going to record or do anything Blink-related. You have your manager do it. Everyone should know what the story is with him and it’s been years with it. When we did get back together after my plane crash, we only got back together, I don’t know, maybe because I almost died. But he didn’t even listen to mixes or masterings from that record. He didn’t even care about it. Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable.
According to the rest of Blink- 182, DeLonge was “disrespectful and ungrateful” and kept holding projects off. Both Hoppus and Barker approved the press release that was sent out Monday and in the end just want to continue the legacy of Blink- 182.
Hardcore fans of the band won’t be able to ignore that this feels a little like déjà vu from the last time the band went on indefinite hiatus almost exactly 10 years ago. Hopefully, the band will get everything worked out for the best, but in the meantime…rock on, I guess.