We’re really excited to present to you a special partnership with local label Midnight Werewolf Records! For those of you unfamiliar with the label, it was started by Derek Desharnais and Chris Morrison, and their mission as stated in our past feature on them is:
“To provide you with what we believe to be the best upcoming local artists in the city. We range all over in genres from grunge/punk/doom/math and never narrowing it down. Keeping it real to our DIY roots we offer a unique range of homemade covers for our limited runs of tapes and can even provide artwork.”
They’ve released albums from local favorites like Kal Marks, Big Mess and Lady Bones, and in November, December and January we will be premiering exclusive streams from three of their upcoming tapes: Bedroom Eyes, Charles and Pleasure Gap.
Look for the first stream from Bedroom Eyes in early November. Watch this teaser video below to get a feel for what will be bestowed upon you in the next couple of weeks.
Nothing like a completely unsolicited and violent Twitter attack on a beloved West Coast band to get you dropped from your label. Yet, the “friend” in charge of Whirr’s Twitter this weekend pushed on, slinging transphobic comment out by the dozen, and aiming them at Olympia, WA’s hardcore punk band, G.L.O.S.S.
But if a band is made up of really angry trans girls and literally call themselves Girls Living Outside of Society’s Shit… you better not fux with them. Because frontwoman Sadie Switchblade WILL start a Twitter solely to go in on your transmysogynist behavior and make really great Silence of the Lambs references. As exemplified:
@free_whirl r u just sad u missed the boat on punk and play music for people with Macklemore hair who blog about bacon-infused bloodymarys? — SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015
@free_whirl your band is nothing but background music for Pitchfork-reading GoogleGlass enthusiasts and NPR liberals — SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015
And you better believe the queer and allies punk community will COME FOR YOU. As exemplified:
Honestly its fucked up that people have been supporting Whirr prior to this violence, they’ve ALWAYS been fucked up. — ADULT MOM (@adultmomband) October 20, 2015
yeah @free_whirl are transphobic af / supporters of this band should check themselves / GET WITH THE NOW — waxahatchee (@k_crutchfield) October 20, 2015
Consequently, Run for Cover put as much distance as they could between their label and the steaming shitheap of transmisogyny that is Whirr, and dropped ’em. Here’s a little snippet of what got the bay-area band booted:
It wasn’t long before the string of remarks downward-spiraled into other really offensive comments about trans* people in general. Whirr’s comments have since been deleted, and after getting dropped, Nick Bassett released an official apology.
Whirr’s most recent album, however, was released on Graveface Records, who have yet to drop them. Instead, they made a vague statement about how they believe in “positive action and equality,” and linked us to some donation site.
Graveface supports positive action and equality. We have zero interest in working w/ hateful people. Donate here: https://t.co/IP8KBjZ4H0 — Graveface Records (@graveface_recs) October 20, 2015
Once again a record label finds themselves able to over-look hateful and violent comments at the expense of a trans* folks’ well-being. But like clockwork, those in support of G.L.O.S.S. and of the trans* community fired back, unabashedly and unapologetically. And the moral to the story? Don’t piss off trans girls.
“We sat on a ferry all day,” said Sadie Dupuis mid-set and laughing. In Irish tradition, a man clutching a pint at the back of the room shouted “Shame,” and more laughing fell out from all sides. The opening band Trust Fund had apparently played two shows that day, which was worth shouting out but also reacting to. “Everyone’s working harder than us,” Sadie added. “So, I’m gonna put so much into this song that it’ll be as if we played two shows today.”
Then they played “Dvrk Wvrld,” and everyone leaned in.
SPOILER ALERT: Speedy Ortiz is beyond doing well. The Masachusetts-made “snack rock” crew is halfway through a European tour, stopping in places as crucial as Berlin and as “why not?” as Bologna. Although the trip isn’t Speedy’s first stint across the pond, this fall marks a special point in the band’s timeline. After releasing their third full-length Foil Deer, which arguably houses Speedy’s catchiest songs to date, the members seem to be striking a balance between knowing their talent and humbly laughing through the fact that so many have picked up on it.
At least, that’s what I experienced Saturday night at Whelans, a small venue in Dublin where the sole house music was, oh-so-appropriately, “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads.
The room resembled a less dim Great Scott with velvet curtains and a bar I could legally purchase from. Over the two opening sets from Oh Boland and Trust Fund, the room filled comfortably with a relaxed crowd. We hugged the stage in a room where any view would make for a good one as several neighbors admitted to this being their first time seeing the band. I watched two roadies tune guitars and plug objects into boxes, setting the context to “all grown up.” Just as the band was far from home, so followed the crowd’s vision of Speedy as a distant fandom finally coming back to play in their city. The noise-rockers entered to an applause, shredded “Taylor Swift,” and greeted with a “Hi, we’re Speedy Ortiz,” like the next-tier group they evidently now are. I tried hard not to view the group as “local” because, for my first time, it technically wasn’t.
“Everyone’s working harder than us. So, I’m gonna put so much into this song that it’ll be as if we played two shows today.”
That said, the opening half of Speedy’s set was something a smart, professional, and international band would whip out. Crowd-pleasers like “The Graduates” and “Raising the Skate” answered an unspoken request for something infectious to put our beers down to. I assume this only because many of us did put our beers down about four songs in when drummer Mike Falcone stopped to tie his shoes. Even professionals have to sweat the small stuff.
All four members were extremely composed, channeling their efforts completely into sound, making this show the cleanest I’d ever heard the band. Bass-based “Puffer” was one of the most applauded of the night, perhaps for its near-perfect instrumental balance but also probably due to it being a well-written favorite in the room. During these Foil Deer songs, Sadie rocked back and forth in her alphabet socks while keeping on-mic almost as visual proof that, though mobile these days, the band is still grounded as hell.
This quality came on full display when all was loosened up for the group’s older stuff. Guitarist Devin McKnight and bassist Darl Ferm quite literally wound up before swinging into “Tiger Tank,” the song that I most often point to when looking for a definition of Boston rock. As Sadie broke into an on-stage wander, the group threwback to a louder, more collaborative vibe. Had I squinted hard enough during “Plough” and “Indoor Soccer,” the venue would have melted into Great Scott. That’s how present the “which pole are we trying to collapse tonight?” mentality seemed.
However, the best part was how supportive the crowd was for this band’s noisy roots. By the end of the set, almost every head bobbed, several legs shyly danced and I recall the sound of two dropped beers. Both instances were probably accidental, but I prefer to think the magic of Speedy Ortiz made everyone’s palms sweaty.
“We have one more left,” said Sadie, not laughing but smiling. “It’s nice to be in Dublin again.” As she and the band left us with “American Horror,” I thought back to approximately one year ago when I saw Speedy Ortiz for the first time in Allston. I had just started taking interest in Boston music and wore a large backpack for no reason at all. Standing beside my mentor, looking at Sadie in her pink Nicki Minaj wig, listening to the crazy noise that’s now spreading like wildfire, I remember feeling weirdly proud of whatever I was becoming a part of.
As proven by this show in Dublin, Speedy’s international status and an ocean’s length simply cannot diminish that feeling. I left happy, hypnotized and with sweaty palms.
Just days after the release of their second LP of 2015, Beach House has, yet again, followed through with a string of North American tour dates in support of their fifth AND sixth records, Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars, respectively. May their tour date for Boston’s House of Blues on March 11, 2016 be your sole consolation during what is sure to be another harsh New England winter. Listen to the band’s performance of “One Thing” (from Lucky Stars) on Colbert last Friday and check out the rest of their 2016 tour dates below.
Beach House 2016 North American Tour Dates
12-07 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
12-09-12 Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
12-17-19 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
02-29 Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
03-01 Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
03-05 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Music Hall
03-09 Montreal, Quebec – Rialto Theatre 03-11 Boston, MA – House of Blues
03-14-15 New York, NY – Webster Hall
03-18 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
BIRN is a radio station run by students at Berklee that aims to supply music to the community within Berklee as well as the surrounding areas. Articles from BIRN are part of our Community Partner initiative. Meet BIRN and learn more about them here.
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Album of the Week:
Carnival Youth is a Latvian indie rock band that released their first full length album in February of this year. This four piece band formed in 2011 and toured all around the Baltics until 2014 when they played their first international festival in Brighton, UK. Carnival Youth has done impressive work for their debut album titled No Clouds Allowed. The style is indie rock but just imagine a more up-beat Angus and Julia Stone. They definitely have folk influences but with twists of interesting harmonies or undertones of electronic sounds. Definitely listen through the end of the album when they break out the Latvian for the track “Akmentini.”
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Song of the Week #1:
Australian twin brothers Jack and Pat Pierce are the Pierce Brothers. Currently on a world tour, starting in France and ending in India, they have found much success since their humble beginnings busking on the streets of Melbourne. Their EP, Into The Dirt, was released a few weeks ago and is definitely worth a listen. However, a particular track I would like to bring to your attention is the first track on the album, “Overdose.” This track is up-beat and ridiculously catchy. It’s so easy to sing along to that even when the song ends you’ll still be singing. Imagine a more folky version of Mumford & Sons, add a mini-guitar/vocal interlude and that’s “Overdose.”
photo: Alysse Gafkjen Photography via Promised Land Sound Facebook
Song of the Week #2:
Emerging from the Nashville garage scene is Promised Land Sound, a four piece band that is heavily influenced by the famous Chuck Berry. They have recently released their second album, For Use and Delight. The entire album is worth a listen but in particular you should check out track two, “She Takes Me There”. I hear so much Pink Floyd in this tune it’s on constant repeat at my station. It’s a very relaxed and well constructed tune that even though it’s a healthy 4 minute and 49 second song, it seems to go by quicker than you would want. Take a listen and support up and coming bands!
Video of the Week:
On Saturday, September 19th, Brooklyn based rocker, Holly Miranda stopped by the BIRN for an energetic performance that included Morphine’s “Mary Won’t You Call My Name?”
Tune in this Saturday for a very special BIRN broadcast as we present:
Elvis Costello Interview: “Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink” – Live from the Berklee Performance Center
Tune in to BIRN Learn on Saturday, October 17th for a very special broadcast as rock legend, Elvis Costello is interviewed live by one of America’s leading cultural historians, Peter Guralnick about his new book, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. The new memoir offers his unique view of his unlikely and sometimes comical rise to international success, with diversions through the previously undocumented emotional foundations of some of his best known songs and hits of tomorrow. The book contains many stories and observations about his renowned cowriters and co-conspirators, though Costello also pauses along the way for considerations of the less appealing side of infamy.
In the current avalanche of electronic-tinged indie, Joywave are looking to set themselves apart. The Rochester-based five-piece has been active since 2010, releasing a string of well-received mixtapes as well as an EP, titled How Are You?. However, the band’s profile began rising exponentially over the past year with their feature on Big Data’s inescapable single “Dangerous”. After a well-received appearance on Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year, the band dropped their debut album How Are You Now?, which they have been aggressively touring since.
Joywave’s sound is hard to describe in the best sort of way. While generally keeping to a broad synthpop aesthetic, influence varies wildly from track to track. Touching on everything from house to grunge, their success comes from their sonic exploration, finding driving, poppy goodness in a variety of different sounds. That said, the band keep a strong voice throughout- no matter what genre Joywave is exploring, they still sound distinctly like Joywave.
Joywave will be hitting Brighton Music Hall tonight, 10/16, and we caught up with frontman Dan Armbruster before the show. He told us about hearing his music in an X Games commercial, the pains and pleasures of opening for other bands and his current editorial project: a Huffington Post series chronicling the making of every track on the album.
Allston Pudding: So before we start, I read the beginning of your HuffPost series where you said that you’re tired of bullshit questions from interviewers. I’ve taken the liberty of cutting out all of my bullshit questions… there were three of them!
Dan Armbruster: Thank you! I really appreciate that!
AP: On that subject, as an up-and-coming band, do you feel like members of the press generally take the wrong approach with you?
DA: Yeah, for sure. A lot the people interviewing in the US seem to be kids who the outlets get to write for free. I think that impacts the quality of the questions. A lot of them are unsure or don’t necessarily prepare for the interview. Sometimes people are genuinely just like “I listened to your band five minutes ago, how would you describe your sound?” I’m like, “well what did you think when you listened to it?” It’s kind of frustrating.
AP: You guys are based out of Rochester. Would you say growing as a band outside of a major cultural hub helped you find a different sort of sound?
DA: For sure. When you’re in a band in Brooklyn or LA, all these bands are working beside you and you think “this thing is working for this band, this isn’t working for this band.” There’s kind of that pressure to keep up with the neighbors, and there’s not in Rochester. There’s no other band like us. There’s, like, a metal band and that’s kind of it. We get to exist in our own little bubble.
AP: “Somebody New” and “Tongues” are massive-sounding pop tracks. Did your attitude to fleshing out and recording songs like that, when you’re centering them around a catchy hook, differ from some of the deeper cuts on the album?
DA: Not really. We just try to make things the best we can make them and the way we would want to hear them. Those just happened to be the singles. With “Tongues”, that was a song that had been written for a while- it had been featured on a mixtape that we had released previously. With “Something New”, that just got picked to be a single. There was nothing in the creation where we were like “we have to make this for the masses.”
AP: You guys decided to produce your own record, which is a very bold decision for a debut. Did you study up on other more established producers’ methods going into that or were you more figuring things out as you went along?
DA: I mean, we’ve been producing our stuff all along. One of our favorite parts of being in a band is creating things. We definitely studied up on mic’ing techniques and things like that, but we didn’t really research what other producers were doing.
AP: What influences were you looking to on this album?
DA: I would cite Kanye West and Damon Albarn as big inspirations just because their influences also vary greatly. They just do whatever’s real to them in the moment and aren’t worried about doing the same thing eleven times in a row. I think that was the biggest part for us.
AP: I really enjoyed the old-timey spoken word clips that broke up some of the songs on the album. Why did you guys decide to put those in?
DA: Those samples are all from Disney Animated Classics. We signed to Hollywood Records and their parent company is Disney. When we were deciding where to sign we thought maybe if we went with them, they’d allow us to sample Disney stuff, because no one has been able to do that. We were right and they were super-helpful about getting those licenses to include them on the record.
AP: Going back to the HuffPost series, you’re diving very deep into both the inspiration and the tech of the tracks. Other than taking control over some of the press cycle, why did you feel inspired to share so much more about your process with listeners than most bands do?
DA: Just because I felt like no one was asking us the right questions. Those were things that I felt were important to know about the record to help people enjoy it properly. Let them hear it in new contexts. Even with the record out for six months, I couldn’t point to any interview or media clip that would share these things. I felt like it was something I needed to spell out for people.
AP: The EP last year was called How Do You Feel and now have How Do You Feel Now. Was it always your intention for the EP to be, I suppose, a taste of the full length, or did it just evolve into that?
DA: The titles were very deliberate. We knew that the record was going to be titled How Do You Feel Now when we did How Do You Feel. The songs on the EP were really just the first four songs we finished for the record. It was kind of interesting, because when we put it out some of the reaction was like “these songs just don’t make sense together!” They obviously don’t, they’re not supposed to. They’re part of a full record that isn’t out yet. But yeah, it was one of those things you do so you have something to tour on and get people familiar with the band instead of just releasing your debut record outright to an audience who has no idea who you are.
AP: “Somebody New” has been licensed this year for, among other things, the new Pro Evolution Soccer game and X Games commercials. What was your reaction to hearing your music played in contexts outside of just you playing it?
DA: I like it. It’s usually one of two things: either awesome or just funny! (chuckles) I don’t play video games, so I haven’t seen any of that, but the X Games one was pretty funny because the song wasn’t intended to be “extreme”. I’m not an “extreme” or even energetic guy, so watching people shred on skateboards and things that I never could to the song was pretty entertaining.
AP: You’ve opened for The Killers, Bleachers and RAC. How has the experience of touring with more established artist compared to headlining your own tour?
DA: Very different. When you’re opening you’re preventing people from seeing their favorite artist in the world. You’re inconveniencing them the entire time you’re onstage. We felt that the most with The Killers; we had this guy yell when we were onstage “I’ll give them $100 to get off the stage right now!” It was before we even played a note!
You really have to own it and, in a way, be confrontational with the audience. You have to feel for them that you are inconveniencing them, but you have to have fun with it. I usually threaten the audience and tell them that it’s in our contract that we don’t have to leave until we feel satisfied. Until their reaction has been proper for our set. (laughs)
AP: Could you tell me about the live show on this tour?
DA: The instrumentation is a little more traditional rock band than the record. Guitar-based with live drums. We’re recreating on the sounds on the record a little more organically. The samples are used to keep things inline with the record, though, so you are very aware of which song is playing. I’d hate for people to show up expecting certain songs and with all the changes have no idea what they are!
It’s nice to be out on a headline tour where if people don’t like it they can leave. There’s no one coming on after us, nothing to wait around for!
Joywave will be playing Brighton Music Hall tonight, 10/16, with Kopps and Mikaela Davis. Tickets are available here.
Despite the only tolerable weather this August awaiting us outside, we’re in Chris Wardlaw’s basement, avoiding the remaining summer heat for a history lesson.
“This is next level,” Chris declares as he holds up a Warbox demo tape before going into 20 other area hardcore bands worth noting. Crates of Worms, his band’s self-titled LP, prop up a teetering wall of tapes, CDs and 8-tracks as he zips from corner to corner, adding to the growing pile of music on his ironing board. The collection spans two generations of Wardlaws, both obsessed with documenting the Western Mass DIY scene ever since Chris’s dad was high school classmates with J Mascis. It’s Chris’s last day in Amherst before heading north to finish college, so the essential records he’s laid out from his days in the 413 (with some curation from his father) are as much a eulogy to his formative years as they are an education for me.
Between throwing on his favorite Neutral Fixation song and an “absolutely twisted” early track from his best friends in Taxidermists, a glossy flyer for Taylor Swift’s 1989 ends up on the floor. The pop star’s face is beaming on top of a 1.6 Band CD, encouraging a meet and greet opportunity long since passed. I hold it up, a lone piece of mainstream in a sea of DIY bands come and gone, and, to my surprise, an unabashed grin forms on Wardlaw’s face. “Oh yeah, that album is fire. Had to get the deluxe edition at Target!” He seamlessly changes course and throws on one of the most blistering no wave bands I’ve ever heard while reminiscing on a local musician who played while “chewing an entire fuckin’ pack of Big League Chew.”
To say Wardlaw doesn’t shy away from poptimism or his esoteric mental catalog of bands would be a massive understatement, but it’s easy to sense after an afternoon with members of the Dark World collective that you’d have to be a little fearless to join their ranks.
After roughly five years, Dark World boasts a roster sandwiching noise rock bands alongside internet cultured rappers, leaving the grey area between genres to be filled with autotuned vocal experimentation, left-of-center slacker rock anthems and a love for VHS-recorded nostalgia. Upon its inception, Dark World originator and producer Lucas Kendall couldn’t have imagined any scene accepting their genre-crossing tastes, even one as open minded as Amherst’s.
“For a while, I was doing punk stuff always,” Kendall admitted in a phone interview. “I was like, ‘this is my field, I’m a white kid in Western Mass, playing punk is what you do.’” Kendall was years away from starting Worms with his younger brother Dana and Wardlaw when his catalyst to become a producer came. “Around sixth or seventh grade, I got really into Lil’ Wayne, Clipse, and a lot of early 2000’s hip hop. I felt more comfortable in myself and more comfortable seeing other people experimenting with different genres after that.”
Morimoto (right) and Kendall (left)
Two of Kendall’s earliest partners were Dana, who aided in drums and production, and Sen Morimoto, a classmate with the same level of ambition to juggle rapping and playing in bands. “Dark World became a collective very quickly [after we met],” Morimoto recalled. “We pretty much immediately had each other’s back on shit and took all of the music very seriously. Even when we made stupid music, we all supported each other.” For Kendall though, Dark World’s inception came with the renewed interest in rap collectives around the late 2000’s. “Letter Racer in New York were big for us. Odd Future, for me, was like, ‘oh, kids are making their own music and videos and it’s not in the corporate way of doing things,” Kendall added. “We’d been doing that since sixth or seventh grade, but after both of them, we were like, ‘fuck, we need to put a name to our thing!’”
After a Yu Gi Oh!-referencing name stuck and their initial fear of treading into hip hop faded, the Dark World crew began amassing like-minded friends at a rapid fire pace. Adding to their appeal was the decision to include noise projects, poetry, and punk bands under the collective’s umbrella, which brought Wardlaw and his Pale Horses solo project into the fold. “I met Lucas and Dana my sophomore year of high school. When we had our first Whirl practice, we wrote “Throw Up” and “Red Balloons’,” Wardlaw recalled. “After that, I was like, ‘well shit, let’s fucking go.”
After a minor lawsuit forced them to cease using the name Whirl, the newly minted Worms went on a string of strong early shows, including opening spots for Titus Andronicus, Man Man, and Screaming Females. “Before we could do anything, before we had the resources to tour, we got all these fire gigs,” Wardlaw added. “The crazy part was that none of us were even legal yet.”
Our afternoon in Chris’s basement happens to be the precursor to the evening’s five year anniversary show for Worms, which also acts as the band’s last show in the area for the foreseeable future. He assures me that tonight wouldn’t be the end of Worms, although shows become incredibly scarce while he and Dana finish their studies. Wardlaw clicks into full promoter mode as we drive into town, hustling around Amherst to post MS Paint-inspired flyers on every bench and shopfront.
Between stops at his favorite high school hacky sack spot (in front of a Chinese restaurant), best pizza place in town (Antonio’s), and the park where Wardlaw’s first date and Salvia trip occurred (not simultaneously), we find Dark World rapper Eric the Ratt outside Mystery Train Records looking to bum a rollie. With a mane of curly hair and a hemp sweatshirt loosely hanging off his shoulder, Eric is pretty much how I imagined every twenty-something in Northampton looking like, but his sincerity is immediately disarming. As we scan the record racks at Mystery Train, Eric and I begin talking about the collective. He offers a few words regarding his teen years and young 20s with Dark World, but as we get to know each other at the show later, he opens up. “Dark World saved my life, man,” he states without hesitation. It could’ve sounded laconic coming from anyone else and he never elaborates further, but there’s no doubt in my mind he absolutely means it.
When it comes to the electronic sphere, hereunhealthy it’s hard to find artists that match wide sonic appeal with intricate assembly quite like Doug Appling. Better known by his alias Emancipator, salvethere Appling has carved a respected niche between the trip-hop and downtempo genres, sale putting together sweeping, heavily layered arrangements that blend modern approaches to production with familiar, organic sound stylings. Moving effortlessly from peaceful to epic, his music is suited to both late night festival sets and extended study sessions; partying in a dorm room and having coffee with your mom.
Appling has long been known for his hybrid shows, which see him DJing alongside violinist (and longtime collaborator) Ilya Goldberg, but the past few years have seen him tour with the Emancipator Ensemble. The four-piece project, which adds live bass and drums while also giving Appling show off his guitar skills, offers a different perspective on the music, featuring altered arrangements and a giving an analog edge to his celebrated tracks.
Emancipator Ensemble will be hitting The Paradise tonight, 10/16, in support of the new album Seven Seas (available now via Loci). We caught up with Appling before the show and he told us about keeping layers balanced, collaborating with friends and working with the legendary Nujabes.
Allston Pudding: Where do you look for inspiration when recording this album?
Doug Appling: Seven Seas kind of reflects the state of my life over the past three years. A lot of traveling, moving a couple of times and exploring new genres than people might not have expected from the classic Emancipator albums. I was reaching for new influences musically and traveling a lot.
AP: This album uses vocalists considerably more than your previous work. Why did you decide to focus on that element now?
DA: I wanted to try it. I’ve had some success in the past- a few tracks like “When I Go” off of my first album had a good response. I just wanted to switch it up and work with vocalists, which is something I want to keep doing in the future. As an instrumental producer, it can make things easier in a way, because you don’t have to create something as intricate and entertaining on it’s own. At the same time, I can’t help but do that anyway! It’s adding another piece to the puzzle to try and balance it all.
AP: What’s always impressed me with your music is that even in the most densely layered parts, it never sounds cluttered. How do you find the balance between getting a maximal sound and giving different stems space to breath?
DA: That’s the eternal quest in sonic production! I actually think I have a tendency to layer too many sounds. Your ear can only process so much at any given time and your brain can only attend to so much information at once, so when you’re listening to a song, there always has to be one lead voice at any given time and maybe some harmonies.
I think it was Bach who said that the ideal song has three or four elements and no more. But one of my favorite things to do as a producer is stack simple sounds that create more complex textures as a result. Lately I’ve been thinking more about the importance of minimalism and space in my music. For me it’s always a challenge to create something that’s interesting but not too complex or simple at the same time.
AP: Do you prefer working with digital or analog equipment?
DA: I like working with both. I was raised on the digital music production software. I don’t know how to scratch records like a traditional DJ, but I do record a lot of analog synthesizers and I’ve been building a studio and getting more into analog gear. Also training my ear to hear the differences, which are definitely there. The analog music world is amazing. It can be expensive, but it’s definitely a passion and hobby of mine.
AP: When I’ve caught Emancipator Ensemble before, a lot of tracks have sounded very different than their studio versions. Was it your intention to give a different take on the material or were there just necessary changes that had to be made transitioning some of the parts of the production to instruments?
DA: Yeah, some songs just don’t translate to the live ensemble as well as other songs. A lot of the songs we started playing are actually ones that sound like they were being played by a band in the first place. Some of the more intricate and glitchy tracks on the new album didn’t immediately adapt to the band format, for instance.
AP: Would you say that the evolution of your live show affected your approach to albums at all?
DA: Definitely. I never used to think about “how is this going to be performed?” or anything like that. I was just making sounds that sounded cool. Now it’s in the back of my mind- what is the purpose of this song? Is this going to be something I can play at a show? Does it have elements that I can perform live or other members of my band can? It’s important to think about those things but I don’t want to let them dictate what I create.
AP: You’ve been touring with the live band quite often over the past couple of years. Would you ever consider a larger-scale collaborative performance like your Camp Bisco set a few years back?
DA: I would love to do that! That was a dream come true, having Bonobo, Dom from Big Gigantic and my friends from Inspired Flight up onstage. Molly Parti too, she come up to sing “Land & Sea” which was finally released on my new album this month.
Yes, I’m definitely into featuring guest musicians, especially my esteemed colleagues at shows.
AP: You touched on this briefly in your Reddit AMA a few weeks ago, but how involved was Nujabes on Soon it Will Be Cold Enough to Build Fires?
DA: He mastered the songs. You might be able to hear the difference if you download the 2006 version, which had 14 tracks, and then the Nujabes version from 2008, which had 12 tracks, the self-released was quieter; some of the tracks don’t bump as much. That was my first effort as a producer and Nujabes mixed and mastered it, rearranged the tracklist, gave it his blessing and then distributed it on his label in Japan.
He also picked out the song “With Rainy Eyes” to include on his label’s compilation called “Hydeout 2nd Collection.” It’s funny because there’s a lot of misconception out there- some people think it’s a Nujabes song, some people think it’s an Emancipator song- but really that was just the first song that he first heard me through and included it on his label.
AP: You play an enormous number of festival sets alongside your club sets. Do you have a preference between the two?
DA: I feel like festivals, not just for the artists but for the people that attend them, are the ideal way to experience music. Out in a big field, in a forest, out in nature surrounded by thousands of people. It has a more epic quality to it. I love playing club shows, and it’s sort of apples and oranges, but festivals are just special to me.
AP: Do you have any favorite festival experiences?
DA: I have some classic memories playing the sunrise set at Wakarusa, I think it was 2011, and once again Dom from Big G sat in with us that day. In recent years, Symbiosis Festival had some of the most amazing collections of art. I feel like that really helps elevate the whole vibe of the festival.
AP: Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?
DA: Never stop creating. That might seem obvious, but it’s easy to get complacent or fall into a rut where you feel like you’ve defined yourself as an artist and keeping going along those lines. I think it’s always important to never stop creating. Try to have fun- make music for yourself first and there will be other people who like it.
AP: What’s next after this tour?
DA: Well, this tour wraps up around Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to get back to the studio. I know I just released this album but I have so many other songs that are in progress. I can’t wait to keep recording and working on those. I’m kind of a studio hermit when I’m not on tour.
Emancipator Ensemble will be playing The Paradise tonight, 10/15, with Wax Taylor and Yppah. The show is sold out.
Seemingly just in time to alleviate minds during post-debate arguments, sickness Greek dream poppers Keep Shelly in Athens have put their newest LP, buy cialisNow I’m Ready, stomach up for streaming ahead of its Friday release. Ready is the official debut of songwriter R?? with new vocalist Myrtha in the wake of former singer Sarah P’s exit in early 2014.
For an interview on the duo’s rebirth and the full album stream, head to Consequence of Sound. Keep Shelly in Athens will be at Great Scott on November 3rd.
All of us at Allston Pudding ask a lot of questions. It’s time to turn the tables. Enter “Bands Ask, Bands Answer,” where—you guessed it—bands ask each other questions, and sometimes get an answer or two. We’re hosting a show with Out of the Blue coming up this weekend and we wanted to ask the artists some questions in preparation. Warning: these questions may, or may not, be Halloween themed???
Want some good times and pleasant tunes? We’re heading over to Cambridge to host a party with Out of the Blue Too Art Gallery featuring some rad art and some rad music, including: Salty Greyhound (FKA Brazil), Mini Dresses, Castle Danger (FKA Indian Twin), and Sports Coach. You should definitely check it out because who doesn’t love a Saturday night filled with art and music? You can find all the details on the event page.
Mini Dresses: Worst Halloween costume you’ve done?
Sports Coach: Myself, I do it every year and its terrible. Almost no one likes it.
Castle Danger: If your band was a candy bar, which would it be and why?
Sports Coach: Sports Coach would probably be Kit Kat if it were a candy bar because if a giant hand picked me up it would surely snap my back in half, which would make a big cracking sound, then it would eat me. I’m also almost always covered in chocolate.
Allston Pudding: Worst thing received trick-or-treating?
Sports Coach: A hand grenade from grandma.
Allston Pudding: If the show on 10/17 turned in to a horror movie, what would happen at OOTB and who would survive?
Sports Coach: The talking dog from the movie “Up” would come in and eat all the art and then tell everyone it can fly. The dog would attempt to fly through the ceiling but it would loosen the very structure of the building. The building would then tumble to the ground and everyone would die by loss of oxygen because at the same time all the trees in the world died. The only person that would live would be those 2 goldfish OOTB has in the corner by the PA head because they don’t even need any oxygen.
Allston Pudding: Who had the worst Halloween costume (ever)?
Mini Dresses: Worst Halloween Costume Award: Lira, in high school, dressed up as Elliott Smith, complete with homemade “I </3 Metal” shirt (à la this one), and a (fake) syringe. Did I mention it was high school…?
Allston Pudding: If the show on 10/17 turned in to a horror movie, what would happen at OOTB and who would survive?
Mini Dresses: If the show turned into a horror movie, it would be like CUBE, in which the gallery morphs into a deadly booby trap-ridden Rubik’s cube, with thousands of rooms that turn and shift in any direction at any given moment, defying the laws of physics, as if by the hand of some unseen entity. As they try to escape, the show-goers start dying one by one in increasingly gruesome ways; our only salvation lies within the mind and paws of OOTB’s resident giant dog, XO, who knows how to solve the riddle of the cube…but no one knows what he’s trying to say because he’s a dog. So everyone dies. Except for XO. The end.
Castle Danger: We can’t remember birthing you exactly, but we think we saw you cross the drawbridge over the moat and head for distant hills some time ago, so maybe, who knows?
Australian twin brothers Jack and Pat Pierce are the Pierce Brothers. Currently on a world tour, starting in France and ending in India, they have found much success since their humble beginnings busking on the streets of Melbourne. Their EP, Into The Dirt, was released a few weeks ago and is definitely worth a listen. However, a particular track I would like to bring to your attention is the first track on the album, “Overdose.” This track is up-beat and ridiculously catchy. It’s so easy to sing along to that even when the song ends you’ll still be singing. Imagine a more folky version of Mumford & Sons, add a mini-guitar/vocal interlude and that’s “Overdose.”
