We talk with Jason Lytle about his lovely new album, his philosophy of nature, his thoughts on touring, and what he’d like to do in the future.
In this day and age, everything needs to be sold with a catch phrase; if it takes more than 15 seconds or a sentence to explain, people are on to the next thing.
White Laces sound like distant relatives of Swervedriver or Dinosaur Jr, but it’s easy to tell that right away that they are ultimately headed in a different direction, one that is unplanned and largely uncharted.
If you’ve never heard of Life’s Blood, then here is everything you need to know. They are, first and foremost, a New York City hardcore punk band that is both fondly remembered by some and reviled by others.
Landing have been called many things, including ambient rock, slowcore, instrumental (even though they aren’t), shoegaze, Mormon (even though they aren’t) and even space rock, a tag which they’ve learned to embrace. All of these things have served them well in one capacity or another with different audiences since they began in the late 1990’s in Provo, Utah.
For The Plastic Billionaires second release, they undertook a monumental task. They decided to re-record Brian Eno‘s 1974 classic, Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy) in it’s entirety.
We talk with Swedish artist Tobias Isaksson, whose third band, Azure Blue, is a radical departure from his lovely sunshine pop of previous bands Irene and Laurel Music; his story is enhanced by the surprising commercial and critical success in Sweden and around the world.
Matthew Sims, leader of British band it hugs back, discusses the struggles and the hassles behind the making of their fine sophomore album, Laughing Party.
“We are both Southern born and bred. I think having that common background in the South, with all of its grandeur and undeniable flaws, pretty much permeates everything we do.”
Sid Vicious once got emotional about [a Kinks’] song with me in the Speakeasy Bar in London (forget which one), but I didn’t take it seriously…
It was like being the passenger in a stolen car piloted by reckless young men with a serious death wish, and every time I thought we were going to crash, they somehow steered around the obstacle and kept on going. Some nights I was physically and emotionally drained after writing all day, and I would lie in bed thinking about the story and wondering how they managed to keep going for so long.
Ethan Miller, leader of San Francisco-based Howlin Rain, talks about the making of his band’s exciting new album, and the art of sequencing albums.
It’s about making a monument to our imagination and trying to create something that is beyond ourselves.
The songs are often straightforward pop songs, but they’re pop songs with a twist. I’m not saying that we’re avant garde or experimental, because we aren’t really, but I really hope that we are subversive in some way, even if it’s just subliminal.
A chat with the Belle & Sebastian guitarist about going solo, getting older, and Glasgow pride.
Haze-loving minimalist pop songwriter Benoit Pioulard discusses his latest project, a collaborative duo that finds him expanding and developing on his distinctive songwriting.
I generally find that intention doesn’t come into the music part of record-making all that much – you just kinda start, and then sooner or later a direction makes itself apparent, and the momentum of that carries you through to the end.
It was easy to yodel after I heard some guy on a tape doing it in a very cool old-fashioned way. I mean, the style, the history, the nostalgia for a time different than the present, there was so much romance in the music that… learning anything musical from that era came charged with all these other feelings and sentiments.
Fan Modine’s Gordon Zacharias talks about his third album, the creative process, and the life and times of the one-man studio wizard.
Mr. Newcombe drops some knowledge. We should all heed his words.
I quit painting many years ago to focus on music. And shoegaze / effect-based music was a natural fit for me due to the experimentation and lush beauty involved. It’s like painting for your ears.
Everything we like about the Blurries is born from what we were doing wrong as Slider Pines. Even now, we use that band name (which is god-awful) as a reverse rally cry for doing things better, or just differently.
Never attempt to recreate what’s already been done, where’s the thrill in that?
Dr. Dog talk about their new album, Be The Void, and touring.
Hot on the heels of the release of their first record in eighteen years, we are pleased to sit down with Eric Matthews and Richard Davies, who discuss the band’s past, their collaborative method, and music in general.
In a spare moment post-conquering America, we speak to British-based Still Corners’ Greg Hughes about his band and their notable debut, Creatures of an Hour.
“I would hope that the real connection people would make with our music is a spiritual one…that lifts you to a higher mental state, and away from everyday consciousness.”
Pennsylvania’s Matthew Ryan recently released his 13th record, the poignantly affecting, I Recall Standing As Though Nothing Could Fall. He is a singer-songwriter whose craft has deepened with each release, striving to find what it is to be American, to be alive in these times.
The only thing we couldn’t find was stuff from when DOA played with the Clash and a couple of things with the Ramones. But everything else I have in this endless amount of boxes of crap!
We have a lovely little chat with The Coral‘s former lead guitarist, Bill Ryder-Jones, on the occasion of his debut album, If….
Chicago’s JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound have come out of nowhere and want to do nothing more than win you over with their exciting, respectful soul music. A friendly conversation with guitarist Billy Bungeroth finds him reflective on his album’s release day.
Just from a creative stand point, to put myself out there like that was the scariest thing I’ve probably ever had to do and then to play it.
We discuss the past, the present, and the future with former Grandaddy leader, upon the release of the deluxe reissue of the band’s The Sophtware Slump.
Sun City Girl/Alvarius B./Sublime Frequencies principal Alan Bishop discusses life, liberty and getting bitten by a band member.
In the conclusion of our chat with Mercury Rev leader Jonathan Donahue, we discuss the infamous day All Is Dream was released, the future of his band, and the philosophy that goes into being a middle-aged musician.
In this first installment, we have a nice chat with Mercury Rev’s lead singer, Jonathan Donahue, on the occasion of the deluxe reissue of the band’s groundbreaking album, Deserter’s Songs, and we discuss the bleak environment that produced an album of stunning beauty.
There’s an old saying. It’s a cliché, but a true one. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you think about it in a different way, in the early ‘80s for a hardcore band and especially for a straight-edge band facing additional pressure in terms of not conforming to society’s standards on that level, it was unbelievable in terms of the odds.
Obviously I think it’s a shame what Christianity did to different cultures, not only to Paganism but to cultures all over the world when they kind of pushed their religion onto everybody else by force. Their ideology is everything that Norse mythology doesn’t stand for.
Iowa-based folk musician William Elliott Whitmore has something he wants to say to you, the working-man, as he discusses his latest album, the critically-acclaimed conceptual Field Songs.
Guitarist for short-lived ’80s indie outfit reflects on his band’s small but significant contributions to the London pop underground, 25 years later.
“There’s a spiritual underbelly here that’s basically emerging, and we’ve got to get through the shit before we can get to the flowers.”
“I think Doueh tries to acquiesce to what he thinks western audiences will like, and he tends to get away from the foundation of what I know he’s capable of doing, when western eyes aren’t upon him. That’s a battle I have to fight with him all the time.”
“When I think of rhythm, I think of trains going over tracks and things like that. I also like the sounds in forests—whispering kinds of sounds and birds singing.”
We have a pleasant, interesting chat with Andrew Kenny, mastermind behind The Wooden Birds, and former leader of acclaimed Texas psych band American Analog Set.
I was looking at these hipster kids on the various music websites. It’s like I was thinking about raping them and killing them, only I couldn’t figure out which one – it was sort of from the point of view of a murderer that would be stalking these fashionable youngsters.
We have an exciting talk with the enigmatic Man Man frontman Honus Honus as he discusses his new album, Life Fantastic, and his upcoming work with his new band, Mister Heavenly.
We talk with Rilo Kiley and The Elected mastermind Blake Sennett on the heels of the release of his third album, Bury Me In My Rings, a record made after a nearly three year hiatus from making music.
