murder by death – Vinyl Mag

Rundown Recap: Shaky Knees 2016

Posted on June 1, 2016May 31, 2016 by Chris Hunkele

It has long been known that spring officially begins in the South the weekend of The Masters tournament in Augusta. The ‘tradition unlike any other’ offers new beginnings with each dirt cheap pimento cheese sandwich and $3 domestic draught. However there’s a growing argument that spring doesn’t quite get rolling until Shaky Knees takes over whichever plot of Atlanta real estate its founders find suitable.

In four short years, this festival has risen to the top of the region’s music scene by offering up 3+ days of consistently solid lineups. Like most festivals, Shaky Knees offers full weekend passes, single day tickets and VIP treatment, but the biggest coup here is the late night sets at local clubs throughout the city. After each headliner finishes pouring it on at the Peachtree Stage, music spills over into some of Atlanta’s most happening spots including Terminal West, The Masquerade, Variety Playhouse, Center Stage, and The Earl. The late night sets allow further examination of a day’s new find or simply a chance for non festival-goers to see a huge act in an intimate setting. It’s the perfect ending to a sunny spring day.

Though in it’s fourth year, the festival has yet to find a permanent home and I can’t figure out why the festival keeps jumping around…Are the coordinators trying out every venue until they find one that sticks, or do they just keep getting kicked out for noise complaints? I know the Old Fourth Ward Park and Atlantic Station were too small, but I thought Central Park was a great host last year. The sports fields and parking lots provided plenty of room to spread out and shade trees were plentiful. This year’s installment was housed in Centennial Olympic Park and and on the lawn in front of the Georgia Dome. Atlanta’s Olympic memorial handled the large crowds well but didn’t provide much in the way of sun relief. Drinks were easy to get, restroom facilities were clean, and food options were great. I especially admired the incorporation of local restaurants into the various food courts. Food trucks were again front and center but one could also snag a BBQ sandwich from Fox Bros or a burger from the Grindhouse tent. Nice touch. I do wish festivals would take a page out of Augusta National’s book and stop charging $7 for a Dos Equis…but I digress.

Overall it was a well coordinated endeavor, aside from the pedestrian bridge over Marietta Street connecting the Peachtree, Ponce de Leon, and Buford Highway Stages to Boulevard and Piedmont in front of the Dome. At peak times the bridge became a log jam and forced 10-15 minute wait times to get to the other side of the park. Next time just pay whatever the city wants to shut down two blocks of traffic…

Now here’s a rundown of our favorite (and not so favorite) acts from this year’s fest:

The Front Bottoms

The hot afternoon sun didn’t stop the crowd from enthusiastically singing along to the catchy tunes of “Au Revoir (Adios)” and “The Beers.” With their earnest lyrics and witty banter in between each song, catching The Front Bottoms was like catching up with old friends over a few cold beers. – Camren Skelton

Craig Finn

Finn’s laid-back, confident style and thoughtful lyrics made for a performance that was more introspective than other acts of the weekend. Although taking in Finn as a solo act is different than hearing him with The Hold Steady, the performance is still just as captivating and intense. – Camren Skelton

Beach Slang

Although they were playing an early set, I was impressed at the large, engaged crowd these punky newcomers attracted. After taking requests from the crowd and making jokes throughout, Beach Slang put on an entertaining show that kept the crowd singing along until the very end. – Camren Skelton

Wolf Alice

Heading over to the main stages, I was able to catch British alt rockers Wolf Alice, and they did not disappoint. As people made their way into the gates, they trickled into the area around the stage, just as enthralled in the band’s folk/grunge/electronic elements as I was. Despite the hot Atlanta sun, the band brought a big crowd and put on a performance that was a favorite of the weekend. – Camren Skelton

Barns Courtney

The acoustic set Courtney delivered made for a performance that was unlike any other I saw throughout the weekend. Although he was standing on stage alone with his guitar, he filled the stage with a big sound and proved that he earned his spot on our Artists to Watch list. – Camren Skelton

Hop Along

This freak-folk/grunge-pop outfit from Philadelphia absolutely blew me away. Emotive vocals, angsty lyrics, and intricate guitar licks fuel their heavy pop sound. I love how lead singer Frances Quinlan’s voice perambulates the spectrum of screech-scream to delicate whisper through each song.

Catchy, painful, even epic at times. The soundtrack to your next breakup. – Chris Hunkele

Day Wave

If Weezer, Washed Out, and Real Estate were puréed in a blender, you’d end up with the smooth synth sounds of Day Wave.

Soundtrack to your next road trip. – Chris Hunkele

Baskery

Sirens, man…These Swedish sisters were everything of which Circe warned Odysseus. The self-proclaimed “banjo punks” commanded the stage with infectious, foot-stomping energy. It was impossible to look away as they flawlessly harmonized their way through the mid-afternoon Atlanta heat.

Your girlfriend’s favorite band, your new guilty pleasure. – Chris Hunkele

Silversun Pickups

Holy Crap! – who thought shoegaze could be so intense? The plan was to watch through “Lazy Eye” and head over to see Huey Lewis & the News, but an hour later I found myself trying to shake Brian and Nikki’s fuzzy guitar tones from my ears. I never expected a performance that good. – Chris Hunkele

The Decemberists

The unexpected dig of Silversun’s set made me late for The Decemberists, which honestly wasn’t a bad thing – ’twas damn near impossible to slide into melancholy after such an energetic performance. It was kind of a bummer as I was really looking forward to seeing the Portlanders for the first time, but my gut tells me they’re the kind of band that requires four walls to really lock you in. – Chris Hunkele

My Morning Jacket

I made my way over to the big stage (aka Peachtree) looking to get sucked into an epic Jim James performance, but all I saw were a lot of theatrics. I was hoping to hear something to make me fall in love with MMJ again, but the half a dozen or so songs I stuck around for only served as affirmation that my ears will never hear anything the way they first heard 2005’s Z. – Chris Hunkele

Murder By Death

The second night of Shaky wrapped up with a late night Murder By Death set that absolutely rocked. As tired as I was, it’s never hard to get in the mood to belt out “Lost River” or “I Came Around”. I Scooped up these tickets the day it was announced and am really glad I was able to power through to the 1am start time. – Chris Hunkele

Parquet Courts

These guys rip. Saw ’em at the 40 Watt last year and was curious to see how their sound would translate to the great outdoors. I definitely recommend seeing them in a club, but if all you have is a festival chance, get there early and try to move up front. – Chris Hunkele

Nothing

I was so looking forward to this I sat through their sound check. The heaviness of their new record was replicated on stage, but the vocals were…well…just bad honestly. Almost cringeworthy. Though they did do a pretty sick cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”. – Chris Hunkele

Deftones

Completely blown away by Chino and the boys. Any heaviness or on point vocals I was hoping to get from Nothing, I received tenfold from Deftones. If this year’s Shaky Knees was an episode of Supermarket Sweep, their set would’ve been the Farmer John golden wrapped hams. – Chris Hunkele

Murder By Death: ‘Big Dark Love’

Posted on February 3, 2015March 13, 2015 by Nikki Smith

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 12^th. See you there!

Tour dates here.

4/5

SXSW with Murder By Death

Posted on March 20, 2013October 8, 2014 by Emily McBride

I have serious fangirl love for Murder by Death. I jumped on the bandwagon a little late after discovering them when they opened for Say Anything at the 40 Watt Club last year. Since then, I’ve procured all of their albums, mildly YouTube-stalked them, and – now – gotten the chance to interview guitarist/vocalist Adam Turla at South by Southwest. Serious highlight of the week.

So enjoy! And be sure to catch them on their current tour this year! You’ll thank me -everyone should get a chance to see them live.

Vinyl Mag: You started in 2000, and you have six albums. So it’s been go, go, go. How do you keep coming up with new stuff that quickly?

Adam Turla: Six full-lengths, yeah. I’d say the albums come out every two to two and a half years, and we’ll work really hard on an album – writing and recording – and then we’ll tour for like a year and a half, and then we’ll go back and write again. It’s just sort of a system at this point. Part of that comes from [that] this is all we do – my friend, Will Whitmore, describes us – and him as well – as ‘blue collar musicians.’ We have to work. We can’t take the luxury to take some time off and spend the money that we make, because there is no money. Not enough at least. We have to keep that sort of system. I’m at that point now where I’m like, ‘alright, when I get home from tour in June, that’s when I have to start writing again.’…you have to stay organized and stay efficient. That means that I’ll never force an album out…unless I really want to put an album out.

VM: Are you the kind of person that sits down and has set hours for when you write, or just as it comes?

AT: I’m not the Ernest Hemingway, like the 10-2 thing or whatever. It’s the opposite. It’s more like a time where I don’t think about songs very much at all until I’m writing…and then I’m thinking about them all the time. I don’t even write with a guitar. I just write everything in my head. So a lot of it happens when I’m like camping or walking somewhere, and I get an idea and try to write it down before I forget it.

VM: So you said William Whitmore…I read that he did vocals for you on the phone?

AT: Oh yeah, yeah! He’s one of our oldest friends in the music world, and on our second album we wanted him to sing backup vocals on this song, and he was…I think he was here – at South By [Southwest]…He called me from a pay phone, and we just held a microphone up to the phone and recorded it, and it actually sounded pretty good.

VM: That’s crazy.

AT: Yeah. We couldn’t believe it worked.

VM: Do you have anymore stuff like that – that you just kind of improvised?

AT: The girl that just walked by is a great musician named Samantha Crain, and she actually sings two songs on the new album. That was sort of like…she lives in Oklahoma, and we were recording in Dallas, and we were like, ‘you should come down and sing on these songs.’ [And she said] ‘ok.’ And then on the new album, there’s a guy named Thor Harris from Swans. He makes his own instruments, and he’s friends with Scott, our keyboard player, and he happened to be in the Dallas area…and he just came one afternoon and put down all these weird sounds on the album. Had never heard the songs. Strange noises. That guy’s awesome. Swans are crazy.

VM: So you’ve been called a band without musical borders. Are you good with that definition?

AT: I don’t care whatever it’s called. I guess it’s pretty accurate. We try to implement elements of like…the world? Music where it’s like…this has an Irish melody, this has a Latin beat. I’m not here to name anything. People ask, ‘how do you describe your band?’ The whole point is that I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to just be a country band…I don’t want to be a rock band. I’m just gonna write some songs, and that’s it.

VM: It’s really cool because you’ve kind of come up with something new, which doesn’t happen very often. And there’s a really big variety in your sound. A lot of people just keep coming out with the same album over and over, [and you don’t]. But [at the same time] it all sounds like Murder by Death. That’s pretty impressive.

AT: Yeah. Thank you. You know, they say you can’t be everything to everyone. Like when you pick a band that is a genre-specific band, and they’re doing something that’s really modern Americana, a bunch of people are going to love it, and you’re gonna be the kings of that…you can be the king of that genre. But you’re also gonna have people that are like, ‘God, more of the same.’ So my philosophy is more like, you can be everything to some people, and I think a lot of people are attracted to the fact that our albums are different from each other, and there’s a lot of variety on the albums. We have really great, loyal fans, and they are often people who don’t like a lot of stuff out there. They’re like, ‘I don’t know why, but I like this.’ It’s how I am, too. I mean, I don’t like a lot of stuff, but when I like something, I love it.

VM: So is the name a reference to the movie?

AT: Yeah it’s a pretty silly movie.

VM: It’s a great movie.

AT: Yeah I love it…but yeah. I regret naming the band that.

VM: Really?

AT: Because we still get people that think we’re a metal band or something.

VM: Yeah…I saw y’all open for Say Anything, and I didn’t know who y’all were and I was like…’Murder by Death?’ And then I was totally surprised.

AT: We’ve also done so much cross-genre stuff. Like that tour was completely different than what we usually do. This is a country/rockabilly showcase [today], and tonight we’re playing with Clutch – stoner/metal/blues band or stoner blues and rock. And Monday, we played with all these hipster bands that were like dancing, so I mean, we jump around a lot. And the name – I hate it, because we get pre-judged a lot, but also it’s kind of memorable. Maybe it’s helped somewhat.

VM: So there’s a lot of whiskey and devil references. I mean, it makes me feel good when I listen to it, but there’s obviously some darkness. Are you mainly the writer?

AT: Yeah I write the lyrics. I’m just more attracted to dark stuff. A lot of our songs are sung really low and then work their way into sort of a sad and beautiful triumph. That’s one of the things I really like to do is twist what can happen in a song. Form a four-minute song that’s actually a book or a story.

VM: Who have a liked most so far at South by [Southwest]?

AT: Shovels & Rope. We went to this show at Willie Nelson’s ranch with this band, Shovels & Rope. Our tour manager has been listening to their CD a lot. They were just a great two piece. They’re definitely kind of the hot show right now, but I think it’s merited, and they’re good. The girl can sing. The dude can play. It’s simple. That was really good. I’m trying to think if there’s anything else I’ve seen that was awesome. A lot of stuff that I liked. That is the thing that I was most impressed by.

VM: So what’s next for you guys? I know you’re doing Shaky Knees.

AT: Yeah. Man, it seems like that festival…everybody’s talking about it. My friend, Tim is the guy who booked it. He’s been booking shows in Atlanta for like 10 years, and I just always liked the guy, and we’ve kept in touch. And he asked us like maybe six months ago to do that festival. I was like, ‘Sure man, I’d love to do it. If you’re doing a fest, I’m there.’ And then all of a sudden, he’s done with the lineup and I’m like, ‘sh*t.’

VM: I know. We’re from Athens, and it’s right there, so I’m definitely going.

AT: That’s cool. That band, Shovels & Rope is playing right before us or right after us. I don’t remember, but it’s gonna be cool. I was just thinking…I don’t think I’ve ever played a festival in Georgia or Florida. Never played a southern festival – I think it’s kind of weird.

VM: So what else is next?

AT: May is the weirdest tour we’ve ever done. We’ve got some club dates going up and down to Shaky Knees. Then we’re flying straight from Atlanta to Europe and doing two weeks in Europe. Then we’re flying straight to the West Coast for a combination of small clubs and small towns. And we’re playing Kickstarter. We did a Kickstarter, and we have to play private shows – we do two rounds in California. And then we have to fly to do some festivals and do a couple more club shows. And then it ends, we’re playing in an antique store for a Kickstarter event, and then we’re playing a Canadian barbeque contest. And that’s the last show of the tour. They sent me the schedule and it was like, ok…people start showing up around noon, and the feats of strength start around 2 p.m. They had me at barbeque and feats of strength.