Tag: 2013
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SXSW with Charli XCX
We’re hearing about her everywhere. She collaborated with Icona Pop on “I Love It” (which we became obsessed with after seeing it featured on that episode of Girls…you know the one we mean…). She has opened for Coldplay. She’s just finished up a handful of shows at South by Southwest, and now she’s gearing up for her tours with Ellie Goulding and Marina & the Diamonds.
Charli is a badass. I think that’s pretty apparent. And she’s absolutely a true pop artist – but not a manufactured, formulaic clone popster like the ones dominating the radio (too many names…I cannot pick). I got to see her twice at South by Southwest this year, and I can’t emphasize this enough- she’s the real deal.
So, in honor of my newfound Charli-love, I scored an interview with her so we could talk about her name, our mutual obsession with Girls, her collaboration with Icona Pop and her tour plans!
Enjoy, and then be sure to snag her upcoming album, True Romance (coming in April) and catch her on her upcoming tour!
CHARLI XCX
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2013
May 6th-29th w/Marina & The Diamonds
MAY
6 San Francisco, CA The Warfield
7 Santa Ana, CA Observatory
10 San Diego, CA House of Blues
11 Los Angeles, CA Shrine Exposition Center
13 Salt Lake City, UT Club Sound
14 Englewood, CO The Gothic Theatre
16 Lawrence, KS The Granada
17 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
19 Minneapolis, MN Skyway Theater
20 Chicago, IL Riviera Theater
22 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
23 Toronto, ON Sound Academy
24 Montreal, QC Metropolis
28 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
29 New York, NY Central Park SummerStage @ Rumsey Playfield
31 Brooklyn, NY Glasslands
JUNE
1 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
3 Washington, DC U Street Music Hall
4 Norfolk, VA The NorVa
6 Orlando, FL The Social
8 Miami, FL Grand Central Miami
10 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre
12 Indianapolis, IN Deluxe @ Old National Centre
13-16 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
SXSW with Allah Las
By the time I stepped off of the plane and onto Austin soil for the first day of SXSW, I had about two hours (give or take) to unload, unwind, and head downtown to meet with Los Angeles natives Allah-las. Tucked away in the corner of Sixth and Rainey Street, sipping our peach berry lemonades and basking up some Texas-style sunshine, I sat down and got to mingle with and pick the brains of these four ridiculously talented guys. These modern-day Beach Boys not only exude California in their music, but their laid back mannerisms and welcoming demeanor perfectly lived up to the expectations I had set for them based on their music alone. After some pre-interview chatter (discussing subjects such as soup houses, the Maury Povich show, and bird phobias), we got down to business. So now, I will waste no time in presenting you with…THE BUSINESS.
Vinyl Mag: Have you ever played SXSW before?
Allah-Las: Yeah, we played last year.
VM: Who’s set are you interested in seeing this year?
AL: We’d like to see Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Blank Tapes, Foxygen…there are so many. I was just going through the pamphlet today to look into it.
VM: As a collective, where do you draw your musical influences from?
AL: Well, we draw from every decade- but a lot of 60’s stuff. The 60’s were a good decade, not just for rock and roll, but for lots of other genres, too, like folk, garage rock, and world music. But we tend to draw from all across the map. Sometimes we’ll like certain tracks just because of the way that the drums sound or if there is a flute- we’re always looking for a good flute part.
VM: How do you feel that social media outlets have helped you as a band?
AL: I guess social media helps everything, really. It’s an easy way to spread your name around and reach masses of people. We run ours ourselves- it’s not that overwhelming.
VM: For the 3 applicable members, what was the transition like from working with Amoeba Music to now touring and making your own music?
AL: We still spend a lot of time there. The biggest difference is just simply spending most of our time doing this as opposed to spending most of our time doing that. But of course, this is exponentially better.
VM: What was the reasoning behind switching from Pres Label to Innovative Leisure?
AL: It wasn’t really a switch- Pres Records was our friend Nick Waterhouse’s label, and then another label got interested in us and we just kind of went with that. It was very casual with Pres- it was more so just a name to put out the record. He had his own little label, but we both joined with Innovative Leisure.
VM: Where did the name Allah-Las come from?
AL: It started just as something that sounded good and we thought it was clever. We’ve found out that it has many other meanings that we weren’t even aware of. Like, it has L- A in it a bunch of times, and we’re from L.A. A lot of people shorten us down to “The La’s”, which was already a band, but I like that.
VM: Who does the lyrical writing for the songs?
AL: Mostly Miles does the lyrics, but we all have our contributions throughout the record.
VM: What are your plans for the band for 2013? What’s next?
AL: After this we’re going to do a small, mostly east coast tour with Black Angels, and then we’re going to go to Europe. We’re also planning on finishing and putting out an LP, which should be out sometime around early August or early fall.
SXSW with Icky Blossoms
During my last full day at SXSW, I was able to sit and talk with Omaha’s own dance-music extraordinaire group, Icky Blossoms. Upon meeting with them, I was pleased (and quite intrigued) to realize that we all fluently spoke the same languages- English, sarcasm, and dry humor.
On top of being so charmingly witty, though, these guys are all EXTREMELY talented and each have their own genius contributions to bring to the table (not that I would expect anything less from anything that Saddle Creek backs). Often in life you need not question things like, for instance…what is it about Omaha that harbors and breeds creators of musical magic? Heed my advice and just…accept it.
With that being said, Icky Blossoms are no exception to this musical manifesto of Nebraskan talent. They’re taking off. They’re going places. They’re making records. And they’re Vining. What’s that, you may be wondering? Quell your concerns and read all about it below.
VM: Are all three of you Omaha natives?
(ICKY SARAH): Well, I grew up in Blair, which is a really small town like 25 minutes away. I moved to Omaha for school, which is where I met them.
(ICKY DEREK): I’m from Atlanta, but I consider Omaha home. I’ve been there over 10 years.
(ICKY NIK): I was born and raised in Omaha; grew up there as a kid and have been there ever since.
VM: In the beginning, how was the community’s response to The Icky Blossoms?
(ICKY NIK): It was good, because the community is so supportive there. It’s a great place to try to make art and be a musician because of that support. It’s not too big of a town, either, so the scene isn’t crazy huge, so any time a new band comes out everyone goes out and supports them. It’s a great town to try to do what you want to do.
VM: I got that vibe in regards to Saddle Creek Records, as well. Are the label-mates as supportive of each other as it appears?
(ICKY NIK): Yeah, it’s definitely like a family. Also, too, it’s like you go out on a Friday night to have drinks with your friends, and all the people around you are people from the label or musicians- they’re just all our buddies. It makes it really comfortable and tight-knit.
VM: Who came up with the name Icky Blossoms?
(ICKY SARAH): We stole it…from a man in Portland named Nicky Blossoms (ha!). No, we didn’t. But he sent us a Facebook message (and hopefully he will read this) that was like, ‘My name is John Blossoms, but I go by Nicky Blossoms, and I’ve been a band for five years and you guys stole my name.’
VM: Get out! Did you guys even respond to the message?
(ICKY SARAH): Yeah, we were like, ‘Sorry, we didn’t mean to steal your name…but they aren’t the same name…’
(ICKY DEREK): We actually did steal it, though. Our friends had a punk band that played one house show and called themselves the Icky Blossoms, and I was like, ‘Man, I love your guys’ band name!’ and when we were trying to pick our band name, I figured we could use theirs since they only ever played one show. So we called them and asked if we could steal their band name, and they were cool with it, so that’s where it came from.
(ICKY NIK): Just another example of the tight-knit community in Omaha, Nebraska…
(ICKY DEREK): Yeah, we were going to go with Bright Eyes, but we decided it against it (ha).
VM: How is this SXSW experience for you in comparison to your first time last year?
(ICKY SARAH): Well, SXSW last year was our first show outside of Omaha. We didn’t have a record out, and no one knew who we were, so now that we have a record out it’s a totally different experience.
(ICKY NIK): [Last year] was kind of our first time playing. I mean, we had just gotten out the studio and finished perfecting the songs, but didn’t really know how we would play them live. So looking back, SXSW last year gave us that fire to figure out how to do this thing live.
VM: What has been your favorite performance that you’ve seen this year at SXSW?
(ICKY NIK): We saw Black Lips last night, and that was great. We saw Azari & III which is like, house music and that was really cool. Looking back on the week, though, my favorite act that I saw was probably Big Harp. They’re also on our label, but we’ve known Chris for a really long time from back in the house show days. Big Harp is awesome- he’s really found his voice.
(ICKY SARAH): I really wanted to see Empress Of, but I haven’t gotten the chance.
VM: Who mostly keeps up with your social media outlets, primarily your Tumblr? And all the fancy GIF’s you’ve been posting?
(ICKY DEREK): It’s a collective effort.
(ICKY NIK): When we first started the band, we decided together that we needed to figure out social media and how it works, because none of us were really tumbl’ing or tweeting before the band. We all share the password and do what we can. We just started getting into Vine- it’s the jam!
VM: Yeah, I just discovered that one, too….I’m hooked.
(ICKY NIK): Follow us on Vine! Our SXSW ‘Vinings’ have been pretty entertaining!
VM: How was it to win Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for the Omaha Entertainment Awards?
(ICKY SARAH): Well, we didn’t expect it. It was really strange. It was this formal event, and we kind of wanted to freak everyone out.
(ICKY NIK): We brought like 30 people dressed in these amazingly wild costumes with us. It’s really a conservative event, so we just wanted to bring in a side of Omaha that normally wouldn’t go to an event like that.
(ICKY DEREK): We used it as a vehicle to show what was happening in the art community for people that maybe wouldn’t typically see it. We don’t really care about the actual awards ceremony, so it was a way to express ourselves to a greater audience that we don’t typically hang out with or see. It was good for that.
VM: How did the three of you meet/collaborate?
(ICKY NIK): I’ve known Derek for about 10 years; I directed music videos for his other band. Derek was actually really influential in getting me to start playing music and guitar. He was recording songs in a basement one day and asked me to play the guitar part for the song, and that was kind of the first time. It really just all tumbled upon itself and turned into this.
VM: What was it about incorporating a light show to your sets that made it so important to you?
(ICKY SARAH): It adds another element for people to live on….or for us to perform to (laughs). I used to get really nervous, but now the lights are really fun because it’s like, I look like I’m looking at people, but really it’s just this blinding light. It’s like I’m in the fifth dimension, or something. It also really emphasizes the beats since it’s programmed to our tracks. It’s just another layer for people to like…..get it.
(ICKY NIK): It’s hypnotizing; having lights going to the beat of a song and shining on the audience and the band increases the opportunity for people to let go. It really helps with that part of the process, especially when you’re making dance music.
(ICKY DEREK): It really transforms the space, whatever it may be, into a dance club. It makes it so much easier to get lost in the moment. It subconsciously starts to pull you in more, and emphasizes parts of the song that maybe you weren’t even hearing. It’s an interesting approach to performing music.
VM: What is next for the Icky Blossoms?
(ICKY DEREK): A record. We’re writing songs right now, so just hopefully another record sometime this year. We’ve got a Record Store Day 7” coming out [April 20]- we’re doing a split with The Black Lips.
(ICKY NIK): Definitely enhancing our live show more. As we’re writing new songs, we’re also enhancing live shows. As we continue to take this next step everything gets….bigger.
(ICKY SARAH): We’re going to isolate ourselves in a cabin for two weeks…..and throw things off of each other…..idea-wise (laughs).
SXSW with D E N A
“Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools.” It’s catchy. It’s fun. It’s been stuck in my head for about three weeks.
I got the chance to catch up with D E N A, Bulgarian (Berlin-based) vocalist/songwriter/pop/hip hop artist/badass at South by Southwest for a quick chat. Before we got to the official interview, we met up at a party at Icenhauer’s on Rainey Street (I may have creepy-fangirl approached her in the bathroom before meeting her professionally…it’s fine).
Once we met up, I went with her to grab a taco from one of the food trucks, followed by a cupcake and some coffee (thanks, Jonas!).
After geeking out for a little bit about going to see Icona Pop at their show at The Belmont later that night and how much we both love the show Girls, we got down to business. So check out our interview below, and be sure to become as obsessed with D E N A as we are.
Vinyl Mag: Are you excited to be playing SXSW?
DENA: Totally! I’m super looking forward to it. We already played a gig last night that was kind of a warm up, so yeah I’m looking forward to playing Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
VM: So, how was last night?
DENA: It was great. It started a little bit with technical complications, of course. Like we had a cable that had broken and stuff. It took us some time, but we found a substitute and rocked the show. It was cool.
VM: How was [audience] reception?
DENA: I was really, totally, stoked how it turned out, because it was a very short showcase, you know…twenty minutes, which is usually – for that time – crazy from the beginning. We played two tracks, and then from the third one everyone was super feeling it, and it was super crowded although it was super late already. It ended like a crazy cool party.
VM: What people are you most looking forward to seeing?
DENA: I’m looking forward to seeing Icona Pop tonight and Charli XCX. I’m going to see [Charli XCX] for the first time ever, so I’m excited.
VM:I know you’ve done some audiovisual work. What are some of your other creative outlets?
DENA: Audiovisual is a big term. I’ve done some animation, some motion graphics, and vector animations, drawings, and video editing and photos…everything. But parallel to that, I was always writing and making songs and composing.
VM: Do you ever implement that other creative stuff into your musical career?
DENA: Yeah, well that’s very interesting, because sometimes I have the feeling that it’s totally working separately. But in the end – always when I direct everything and have the last word and just create a vision and work with other people – I see that it’s a great mixture of everything I’ve done so far. The interesting part now is that I get to work with other people and just combine and join forces on projects and work together on ideas. It’s more exciting.
VM: Do you have any collaborations coming up or do you have any collaborations that you want to do?
DENA: I currently have collaborations going on. Just actually last week, there was a track that came out where I’m featuring my friends, they are called LCMDF – two sisters from Finland and based in Berlin – and the tune was actually having to premier one day before my last video on Friday. I don’t know if you saw it. And then I also try to write right now for other people. It’s super exciting and great because I love words…like, lyrics. And I just wrote a tune for a German producer called Robot Koch, which is going to be his next single now coming out like on a major German label. It’s very exciting, because a lot of cool people are remixing the track, and it’s just so interesting to work not only on my own with what my own head is producing, but placing content for other people that I like. It really is something that I want to develop and upgrade.
VM: So you were in a [band before this]. What made you decide to go solo?
DENA: I was in a band a few years ago where…I played synth, and my friend played drums. We were like ‘do-it-yourself’ kind of. It was like trying to combine instruments with drums and synths. It was a little bit of a funky approach to disco or house music or music to dance to…[very] ‘do-it-yourself’ everything. And then, at some point there were different things like had kind of separated us from the duel thing. And then I started to program beats and work on my own ideas. I got this beat machine, MPC, and started learning how to sample and program and play chords and kind of produce home demos and bring them to a level where I knew that the structure was ready for it to be a pop song. It was kind of a natural process.
VM: So what are some of your major inspirations?
DENA: You mean music or life?
VM: Well, either one, you know. Music, but let’s get really deep and talk about life.
DENA: [Laughs] Life, love, beats, and happiness. Good vibes…I love definitely like hip hop, and I also like the way that hip hop was produced in the 90s…and I really adore everything that Neptunes has ever produced. Right now, I realize how significant [Neptunes] is for my way of thinking structure-wise, beats-wise, and production-wise.
VM: So what is next for you besides what you’ve already told me?
DENA: Well, I just put out my new video [last] Friday…I have a lot of new tracks coming out and new videos that are now in the process to be made…I really want to put out my album during 2013, probably Fall. And it’s very exciting now to collaborate and just put out singles first with different labels. I just had the Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools EP that came out in January…and basically I’m looking forward to putting all my music from the past three years out.
VM: So everything is already written and everything?
DENA: Yeah! Well, I mean I keep on writing and stuff, but there is a lot of new material to come.
SXSW with New Madrid
Upon first listen, I quickly realized that New Madrid would turn into one of my favorite SXSW finds. The music they make is powerful; it forces you into a trance-like state and transcends the boundaries of your mind far from worldly concerns. Each time I play Yardboat, I feel a little more free and lot closer to myself and the music. It’s definitely one of those experiential listens that you kind of want to share, but kind of want to keep to yourself all at the same time. Fear not, though, because we at Vinyl decided to share it with you. This four-piece Athens-based group has created something special, and we got the chance to meet with them during SXSW. Feast your eyes on what they had to say, and then I highly recommend you go listen to Yardboat, streaming now for free on their website.
Vinyl Mag: Is this your first year playing SXSW? If so, are you expecting it to affect your musical career?
New Madrid [Ben]: Yeah, it’s our first year. And I hope so. That’s the plan.
VM: What sets would you like to catch while you’re here?
NM [Ben]: I want to try to check out Dive today; they’re playing right off of Sixth at 5:00. Unknown Mortal Orchestra- I really want to see them. Hopefully we will catch Futurebirds play.
VM: You have actually played shows with Futurebirds, right?
NM [Ben]: Yeah, totally, we’ve played with them a couple of times.
VM: Did David Barbe and Joe Lambert approach the band to work on Yardboat or vice versa? How was that experience as a whole?
NM [Ben]: We hooked up with David in Athens just playing shows. We won a contest to get a session in the studio, and he saw us play a show and wanted to do some recording with us. So we set up three days and worked with him.
VM: Did you knock it out in three days?!
NM [Ben]: All of the instrumental tracking, yeah. We did the vocals later. Phil lived in Athens at the time, so he could just come in whenever David had a free hour or something. We mixed it over two weekends just trying to get it done.
VM: Phil- do you currently live in Athens?
NM [Phil]: I do, I live in Athens. The rest of them didn’t at the time.
VM: Was the move from Tennessee a professional or circumstantial move?
NM [Phil]: We had all wanted to move the year before. We had done these demo sessions, and we were all like, ‘let’s just do it. Let’s just move to Athens.’ But we decided we needed to get something together first. So we finished the record and had something to be proud of. We all moved together and we all live together. We live in a barn; it’s pretty awesome.
VM: What’s in store this year for New Madrid?
NM [Ben]: Keep on playing shows. Get back into the recording studio. After SXSW, we’re just going back home. We had about five or six shows down here, and we did a tour to get down here. When we get back to Athens, we’ve got a schedule for the last half of March and first half of April at this place called The Green Room.
VM: Who did the artwork for Summer Dream Sigh and Ghost and Fire?
NM [Phil]:Two different people; Summer Dream Sigh I did, and our friend Anna Dewitt, who lives in Nashville, did Ghost and Fire.
VM: How did the album writing process go for Yardboat? Was it instrumentals first or were the songs created around the lyrics?
NM [Phil]: It’s really all over the board, but some of the songs on Yardboat were songs that I had written in high school, and I matched the words and the guitar parts together. With other stuff the instrumentals come and in a stream of consciousness, the words just come.
SXSW with Wax Idols
One thing I came to realize after being at SXSW was that my life-long battle with having no sense of direction (in navigational terms, of course) was going to be an issue. Growing up on a 10-mile long island has definitely spoiled me, as I have become accustomed to knowing every in, out, and shortcut to anywhere I needed to go; Austin definitely threw me for a loop in that sense. I quickly realized that knowing where you need to be is one thing, but getting there is the real battle.
Finally I stumbled upon Red 7, where Heather Fedewa (aka Hether Fortune) from Wax Idols, in all of her hot –leopard-pants glory, greeted me. I grabbed a beer, and we headed outside to conduct what I considered one of my most personable interviews of the entire experience. This girl keeps it really real. How real, you might wonder? THIS REAL:
Vinyl Mag: How do you feel the show went?
Heather Fedewa: It was good; I’m really sick, so I was pretty like…’bleh,’ but it was good!
VM: How did you collaborate with Shaun Durkan (The Weekend) to do the album artwork for your past three releases?
HF: Well, that’s a great question; I’m glad you asked about that. Shaun and I have been friends for a long time, and when I was about to put out my first 7” I just wanted to work with him, because I knew that he was a really talented artist and graphic designer. We figured out quickly that we worked together really well, so we decided to create a ‘thing’ as partners, art-wise. So then he did the full-length record with me, No Future. He also used some of my collage work for their last EP, Red, and we just kind of went from there. Every time we do something, it gets a little crazier and crazier- it’s cool. He’s one of my best friends. I’m really excited to see him at SXSW, actually. He moved last year, and I never get to see him anymore, so I’m really excited to see them later.
VM: Are your musical influences actually drawn from the musicians that you seem to be constantly compared to?
HF: Yeah, I mean, sometimes they get it right. The thing is, I think it’s really easy for listeners and writers to kind of pigeonhole bands, because it triggers stuff that they’ve heard before, which is okay. Do I love The Cure and Joy Division, and have I listened to them since I was 14? Yes, absolutely. But, I don’t know. I don’t listen to The Cure and Joy Division all the time. I think I listen to Nick Cave probably more than anything else. He influences me in different ways, though, because I don’t write the same way that he does. He influences me to think differently lyrically.
VM: Is this your first SXSW?
HF: With this band, yeah.
VM: Who are you interested in seeing while you’re here?
HF: We’re trying to find Nick Cave. We won’t be able to get into his show, because we opted for the money over the wristbands, because we’re broke. But it’s cool, because he’s playing in San Francisco soon, and I’ve already got tickets. We’re going to try to find him, though. I also wish I could see Prince, but we won’t be able to get into that one, either. I’m excited to see The Weekend at the Slumblerland Showcase, and Girls Names, as well.
VM: Do you personally keep up with your own social media? Who runs it?
HF: I do. I run all of it. I’m an internet whore. When it comes to how the band is represented visually and online, it’s definitely my thing. I totally push it- my Twitter is outrageous. I’m pretty outspoken, and people get mad at me a lot, but I feel like so many bands and artists are so pre-packaged with their responses; they’re trying to put on a façade of being a certain way. So with us and with me, what you see is what you get. That’s it. I don’t apologize for any of it.
VM: Do you find it helpful, hurtful, or irrelevant to be an up-and-coming band from California, being that California seems to just breed musicians?
HF: I don’t know. I don’t pay attention. I don’t care or think about it. I would be doing what I’m doing no matter where I was; California is just where I kind of ended up. I grew up in the Midwest, so I grew up always being like ‘f*ck Californians, spoiled brats!’ Blah, blah, blah. But it’s home, now. Well, Oakland is. Not L.A, not San Francisco – definitely Oakland. It reminds me of Detroit. I’m not sure whether it hurts or helps, but I think probably my attitude and my big mouth hurt us more than anything at times. But can’t do anything about that!
VM: What do you see in store for Wax Idols in 2013?
HF: We’re going to be touring a lot. My plan is to make two back-to-back EP’s that like, everyone will hate. And I really enjoy doing that. I don’t like to repeat myself. I’m really looking forward to making some records that a lot of people will really not like at all- I’m excited about that. I’m excited to tour and play. We have this new drummer, Rachel, who is phenomenal so I’m excited to grow with her in a live setting because it gets cooler and cooler every time we play together.
REVIEW: The Flaming Lips’ The Terror
When the Flaming Lips released In a Priest Driven Ambulance, I was a trembling fetus nestled in my mother’s womb. When I was nine, the band was radiating mainstream attention, but I didn’t know because no exceptionally cool third-grader brought The Soft Bulletin to show-and-tell. And when I was 12, Yoshimi was battling the pink robots while I was battling… well, puberty.
It’s been thirty years since the band’s inception, and it never occurred to me that the Flaming Lips are getting old.
And how could it? Last year the Flaming Lips’ collaborative album, Heady Fwends was one of my 2012 favorites. In 2009, both Embryonic and the covers of The Dark Side of the Moon completely changed my perception of the Flaming Lips by rocketing out of pop and floating into an experimentally psychedelic galaxy of psychosis. Seeing them live at Piedmont Park in 2012 was an even more electrifying experience than seeing them live at Bonnaroo in 2007. Chronologically, everything they’ve done has been an acclaimed next step in a new direction— so when Wayne Coyne described the upcoming album as heroin new wave at a funeral for aliens, I was ready for abduction.
But during the slow wait for their upcoming album, The Terror, the Flaming Lips were featured in a Hyundai Super Bowl commercial, and hit me. “They’ve passed their peak,” I thought to myself. “The Flaming Lips are on the downward slope of their musical career.” They were selling something to us on a commercial, and it wasn’t even theirs— and it wasn’t even art. The self-proclaimed freaks were trying to sell us a car? I couldn’t fathom it, and betrayal is a bitter drug.
But it wasn’t just the fact that they were selling Hyundai. The irritatingly peachy song they used for it was a perfect fit for a car commercial— it’s the equivalent to Robin Sparkles’ “Let’s Go to the Mall” covered by indie-headaches, Passion Pit or Vampire Weekend. “Sun Blows Up Today” is definitely the most uncharacteristic Flaming Lips song ever recorded. My face contorted with grief as I saw a sneak peek of the commercial online, and with disgust as I saw it like millions of others on the television screen. As a follower who once went full freak-out during a fleeting interaction with Wayne Coyne, I was writing off the Flaming Lips.
But as any true fan, I couldn’t stay away. I couldn’t actually write off an album I was so recently certain would blow my mind into cosmic explosion. No, of course I jumped to listen to The Terror as soon as I could. It’s Flaming Lips!
And I’ve gotta say it. Even though I don’t agree with the commercial, I also can’t say it directly affects the quality of their music. Sure, “Sun Blows Up Today” might be as excruciating to endure as the sun actually blowing up, but guess what— it’s a digital-only bonus track that sounds nothing like the rest of the album. We can handle this, we can disregard it, we can delete. The commercial-ridden track, as well as any low expectation you have for The Terror, can and should be dissolved.
That being said, The Terror isn’t the best Flaming Lips album, or the second or the third. What The Terror is, however, is a total eclipse of Flaming Lips ideology.
It’s almost like NASA told the Flaming Lips that they could finally live in outer space, but that each member must travel in their own separate spaceship. And after each member is launched into the cold, dark blanket of stars and mystery, the Flaming Lips simultaneously realize in a sudden state of agoraphobia that space-travel isn’t what they had expected. Instead, while hyperventilating into their spacesuits, the Flaming Lips become painfully aware that that life in space is like an eerie post-death experience of existence in an abyss.
The Terror takes fans in a totally different direction than previous Flaming Lips albums. With its seamless structure, it both absorbs and isolates in an atmospheric experience that somehow soothes yet scares, and makes the listener completely aware of silence.
In other words, The Terror is pretty close to a parallel of Radiohead’s Kid A.
Kid A begins with the sorrowful “Everything In It’s Right Place,” balancing chaotic alien-like background noises against a slow rhythm. The Terror begins with “Look… The Sun Is Rising”’s high frequencies, glitches, and smooth, echoing human vocals.
Where “Everything In It’s Right Place” feeds into “Kid A,”’s robotic lullaby of mechanical vocals, “Look… The Sun Is Rising” also leads into the hollow-sounding “Be Free, A Way” filled with cherub lingering vocals against short repetitive chops like a helicopter propeller.
Kid A peaks as “Kid A” becomes the sonic-storm of “The National Anthem,” while “Be Free, A Way” extends its likeness into “Try To Explain,” which then becomes the thirteen-minute peaking “You Lust,” spaciously spitting vocals repeating “Lust to succeed” between creepy, paranormal ringing-sounds.
“The National Anthem” then recovers into the most isolated and serene tracks, “How To Disappear Completely” and “Treefingers,” while “You Lust” spills into the most remote-sounding track, “The Terror” and then the schizophrenic “You Are Alone.”
Kid A picks back up after “Treefingers” with the The Bends-reminiscent “Optimistic,” and on The Terror with the higher-energy “Butterfly (How Long It Takes To Die),” similar to the tracks off Embryonic.
“Optimistic” then becomes “In Limbo,” which drowns the listener with waves of haunting harmony and vocals repeating “you’re living in a fantasy,” and then into the more electronic kick of “Idioteque.” On The Terror, “Butterfly (How Long It Takes To Die)” becomes “Turning Violent,” which hypnotizes the listener with distant vocals and close shaky, industrial sounds.
Closing in on the album, “Idioteque” transitions into “Morning Bell,” which repeats “cut the kids in half,” and into the melancholy dream-like, “Motion Picture Soundtrack.” Meanwhile, “Turning Violent” becomes the almost chanting, nightmare-like “Always There… In Our Hearts.”
Kid A ends in minutes of silence, while The Terror ends with a moment of echoing feedback.
Wayne Coyne may have said that The Terror is like a funeral for aliens, but I disagree. Kid A is more like a funeral for aliens, but taking place on Earth. The Terror is more like a funeral for humans, but taking place in space— mourning their own lives lost in a vacuum.
Outside of that vacuum and despite the commercial, The Terror echoes that the Flaming Lips haven’t begun the downward slope. Instead, they’ve embarked on a haunting and sorrowful journey that I can only imagine depressed astronaut Elton John would completely empathize with. It’s lonely out in space, man.
Q&A with A Rocket To The Moon
A Rocket To The Moon has been around since 2006, and the band is only just now dropping its second album. A little taken aback? We were too, until we gave the new album, Wild & Free, a listen. This band has matured a lot in their seven years, developing a very folksy angle to their usual pop punk sound – it’s no wonder that they needed a little more time to unleash their potential.
We caught up with ARTTM’s lead singer, guitarist, and founding member, Nick Santino, about everything from the group’s inspiration for the new album to touring with bands like fun. and Motion City Soundtrack. Check it out below!
VM: So, you guys have been a band for about seven years now. Where do you think you’re at right now in your musical career?
NS: I think we are still learning and still growing. There’ve been some changes over the last four years in our band, and I don’t think I could have predicted them if you asked me then. I think that’s the most exciting thing about music – and the most frightening. It’s always changing. You never know what’s happening next.
VM: Who are your major musical influences?
NS: Anyone from Tom Petty to Katy Perry. A good song is a good song no matter how it’s performed. I like to keep an open mind when it comes to music and try to not discriminate against certain types.
VM: What do you guys typically write about?
NS: We write songs about real-life situations. We want our music to be relatable to anyone who listens. We’re big on musical storytelling.
VM: You’ve played with some pretty big bands, such as the Maine, the Cab, Motion City Soundtrack, and fun.. What has that been like?
NS: It’s always great touring with people that enjoy what they do. Touring’s half of the band’s existence so you need to have fun with it. Every so often you’re on a tour where you don’t see eye to eye with another band or band member. But I always look at it like we are all here doing the same thing for the same reasons. And if you’re here for a different reason, go home.
VM: Your next album, Wild & Free, is set to drop March 26. How’d you choose the album title?
NS: Wild & Free was something that I typed into my notes app on my iPhone three years ago in the middle of the night while sleeping in the van on tour. I wanted our album to be very youthful and fun while keeping a mature side. When it came to writing songs for the album I remember digging through my notes and finding “Wild & Free” from a couple hundred days before. We wrote that song and it later ended up becoming the title of the record. I guess I kind of knew in the back of my head that it would be the title of the record before we even wrote it. The record reflects the title pretty well.
VM: To me, the new album has a more mature, almost country sound. What do you think caused such a shift?
NS: Natural growth and touring. We’ve been on the road for four years straight now. Our musical influences have changed and expanded. Our live playing has improved. We never set out to write a country album. I don’t think that is what we have here. But we just played from our hearts and what you hear on this record is the sound of live hearts beating.
VM: What do you think are the standout tracks on the album?
NS: They are all so different. That’s what makes our band “A Rocket To The Moon”. We will play a few pop rock songs then jump into a Garth Brooks cover. You never know what you’re going to get with our band and I think that’s what sets us apart. There’s a track called “Wherever You Go” that stands out most because it’s the most country-sounding song. But it’s also my favorite song on the record, both because of the story and because of the music.
VM: What are your touring plans concerning Wild & Free?
NS: We’re gonna hopefully be on the road all year. I can’t wait to play more of these songs.
VM: In your wildest dreams, which bands would you want to tour with?
NS: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for sure.
VM: Where do you guys see this album taking you?
NS: Hopefully, somewhere that I can’t even begin to predict. Fingers crossed.
SHOW REVIEW: EOTO at Georgia Theatre
On the eve of a month that many of us consider to be the start of the season of spring, a flower was in full bloom. Instead of promises of warmer weather, the blooming spectacle of EOTO’s iconic lotus flower stage promised concertgoers a night of seemingly endless body-moving jams. The duo, comprised of Jason Hann and Michael Travis, both members of the acclaimed jam band The String Cheese Incident, played the Georgia Theatre in Athens on February 28. The electro-jam show was a complete improvised, free-formed, and live mixed party.
With anticipation for the main act growing, opener Crizzly and his MC took the stage with high energy that translated through the receptiveness of the crowd. Between the bass drops and familiar hip hop samples, Crizzly’s set of “crunkstep” enthralled the audience and the party started — the night could only go up from there.
As Hann and Travis took to the lotus stage, a welcoming roar of the crowd filled the theatre. The set began with down tempo jams and complementing visuals as the lotus flower morphed with colors of pinks, purples, and blues. It wasn’t long until EOTO was building the crowd up through a fusion of jam and dubstep. In addition to the inevitable bass drop that was to come next, EOTO pleasantly surprised the crowd with laser visuals. This use of lasers and the manifestation of psychedelic images on the lotus set the tone for the rest of this livetronica set.
Travis’ use of his MacBooks, software, keyboards, guitar, and bongos, and Hann’s drumming and vocals kept the audience on a unstoppable trip of funky heavy house music. With a steady energy of builds and drops, Hann’s spitting freestyle was added into the equation. Throughout the night, the music of EOTO was constantly evolving and maintaining a pace that left the crowd constantly wanting more.
The set progressed into a blend of something I can only define as Arabian reggae–sounds of the Middle East fused with slow motion grooves and island vibes. This journey of worldly sounds eventually blasted off into a raw spacey trance with an accompaniment of mesmerizing visuals. Heavy bass and a fast tempo throughout the rest of the show kept the crowd continually raging until the very end.
With the end of the encore and the house lights of the Georgia Theatre turned on, a disappointment swept over many in the crowd that night. A disappointment because the intoxicating transcendental escape from reality was over.
SHOW REVIEW: Tame Impala at the Georgia Theater
Some concertgoers can’t get enough of upbeat, high-energy shows that keep them dancing all night. Others prefer a more laid-back musical environment, one in which they can simply bob their heads and let the music soak into their skin. We give you the best of both worlds: Australian fivesome, Tame Impala. Their show at the Georgia Theater in Athens on February 23 was a constant mix-up of both types of tune – one song heavy and bouncing with the energy of a thousand guitars, the next transcendently mellow.
As the band walked onstage and began to play, we couldn’t refrain from thinking that their outfits – tee shirts, jeans, sneakers, and shoulder-length mops – were a bit reminiscent of a high school band. But once the steady drumbeat ushered in “Apocalypse Dreams”, all thoughts of amateurism vanished immediately. The crowd was swept into a psychedelic, undeniably Jefferson Airplane-esque paradise, and instinctively swayed happily in unison. The band and audience gained speed through the next few songs, along with the screen behind the stage, which warped from simple, colored lines pulsing to the beat to undeniably 60s-inspired, exotic rainbow patterns. This energy peaked with “Elephant”, arguably Lonerism’s catchiest track. As lead singer Kevin Parker crooned in that oh-so-John Lennon-ish voice, “Well, he feels like an elephant, shaking his big, grey trunk for the hell of it…”, we were all pushed over the edge into an earful of blues-y perfection that we couldn’t help but move to.
Soon, Tame treated us to a trio of our favorite tracks. With “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”, the insatiable toe-tappers in the crowd became smooth sailors on a wave of chill psychedelia. When repeated whisperings of, “Gotta be above it, gotta be above it…” introduced Lonerism’s first track, though, the audience began undulating excitedly all over again, feeling Parker’s inspirational lyrics washing over us. Finally, the band transferred us to Haight-Ashbury circa 1967 during “Mind Mischief”, a tune with a very – well, there’s no other way to properly sum the vibe up – cool guitar sound.
Tame finished up with the upbeat, drum-focused “Half Glass Full of Wine”, and after an incredible, lengthy jam session – and this comes from someone who typically can’t stand when live bands jam – those at the Georgia Theater were begging for an encore. Thankfully, the crew came back for “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control”, a very optimistic song with some unabashedly dark lyrics. I have to say, though, that our moods as we were leaving were much more similar to the song’s mood: as we exited the theater, we felt like we were floating atop a mind-bending whirlpool of rainbow-bright colors and dynamic sound.