Here`s - Inflatable Ferret

T
h
e
Inflatable
Ferret
Alber ta
Cross:
R adically
Conventional
PLUS
Monsoon at the Monolith
& Review of Muse’s
new album
The Resistance
And more,
of course
Volume I. Issue 2
Hi, and thanks for picking up the second issue of The Inflatable Ferret. I’ll be quick, since we’ve
already introduced ourselves. We’re proud to introduce Alberta Cross as our featured artist, and we are
elated to welcome several new writers to our staff, including Steve Dickinson, James Emerson, Ross
Ferrarini and Bryant Kitching. We hope you enjoy the issue, and please feel free to compliment us, point
out our foolish errors, or idly converse about music at [email protected]. Thanks so much, and
have a great October.
Sincerely,
James Passarelli
™ 2009 The Inflatable Ferret
ALBUM REVIEWS
Muse
The Resistance
Warner Bros.
Enthusiastic Muse fans everywhere are scurrying to get their
ears on The Resistance, Muse’s
fifth studio album, after a
seemingly eternal three year
wait. So what will Muse’s
cultish following think when
they press play? Fans may
glance down at their iPods,
wondering if they mistakenly
highlighted their “Best of
Queen” playlist, only to realize
that they are in fact actually listening to a radically transformed Muse. The trio quite
blatantly emulates Queen’s
epic operatic sound and occasionally peppers in guitar solos
that even Brian May could be
tricked into thinking he played.
If the Queen mix-up doesn’t
have Muse fans in a tizzy, the
Timbaland-esque drum track
on
“Undisclosed
Desires”(clearly a filler track)
will be sure to cause uproar.
The tracks on the album don’t
seem to form the same cohesiveness that Muse’s past albums achieved, leaving the
listener in a synth-induced
state of confusion.
But aside from all previously
mentioned and some sub-par
cliché lyrical work, this is not
a crash and burn album.
Matthew Bellamy flaunts his
musical prowess with the intricate three-part rock symphony,
“Exogenesis”, and a beautifully executed rendition of
Chopin’s Nocturne op. 9 no. 2
at the end of “United States of
Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)”, a track that fuses electronic, alternative and classical
musical styles into one epic
menagerie of sounds. Yes,
Muse traded some of their
“Muse”icallity to attempt
some musicality and yes, it’s
going to infuriate the diehards
(not to worry, people, you’ll
find solace in the heavy riffs of
“Unnatural Selection” and
“MK Ultra”), but so what if
Muse sounds a bit less like
themselves and a bit more like
they have just come stumbling
out of an 80’s arena? Instead
of seeing this album as a digression, we should see it as a
nod to a time where we didn’t
have to dig through old record
boxes or click for days on
“Purevolume” to find good
music. We can only reminisce
about the days where good
music would fly out of your
car radio, laden in glittery star
patterned jumpsuits, and slap
you with a melody that put
you on your knees begging for
more. Muse may very well be
hinting at that here in an attempt to revive the musical ingenuity and passion from an
era long gone. Perhaps Bellamy longs for the mainstream
resurgence of grandiose Rock
n’ Roll just as many musicians
do.
The album blurs the boundaries of contemporary music
and introduces a blend of collaborative musical styles to the
listeners, but ultimately The
Resistance is a high-low album
- a valley for every couple
peaks. And there’s just no
room for troughs on an album
that attempts to transcend
space. Failure is so much easier when aspirations are high,
and, to their credit, Muse always works with soaring aspirations. And although many
expecting fans may remove
their earphones feeling slightly
disappointed, Freddie Mercury is listening out there
somewhere, failing to hold
back a grin, or maybe rolling
in his grave, or quite possibly
both.
-Steve Dickinson
Rodrigo y Gabriela
11:11
Rubyworks
Initially, Rodrigo y Gabriela
appears as two Latino, street
side flamenco guitarists, each
wielding only a single classical acoustic guitar to match
his or her partner’s. In reality, Rodrigo Sanchez and
Gabriela Quintero comprise
a premier Irish duo whose instrumental profusion of timbres reaches somewhere into
the dozens. Ok, so they only
relocated to Ireland from
Mexico after hearing of its
hospitality to wayward musicians. Confused? That, along
with shock and awe, is the
standard emotional reaction
to their technical talent. And
though a critic would be considered crazy to question
their talent, their originality
is predominantly met with
heavy skepticism. Rodrigo y
Gabriela’s newest album
11:11, released on September
7th, is a tribute record featur-
ing eleven songs, each of
which pays homage to a different influence. Unlike their
previous works, this effort
suggests that the duo is making efforts to progress away
from covers and towards innovative songwriting.
It’s not that I have ever
deemed the pair uncreative.
Their interpretive covers
hardly regurgitate the original artist’s sound. Their rendition of “Oogie Boogie’s
Song” from Tim Burton’s
The Nightmare Before
Christmas first familiarized
me with the combo. I had always regarded that track to
be the film’s creepiest song,
and the speed and dexterity
in the twosome’s cover
proved to be equally terrifying. Their ability to translate
classic songs from classic
artists, such as Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”
and Metallica’s “Orion”,
onto classical guitars really
does compound the “classicity” rather than overindulge
in it. But a vast technical
range is the only artistic
range Rodrigo y Gabriela has
hitherto mastered.
11:11, while admittedly an
homage to their influences,
demonstrates Rodrigo y
Gabriela’s potential as innovators rather than imitators.
Each song on the band’s
third album (or fourth includ-
ing their rerelease of 2001’s
Foc), was composed in tribute to an artist who had inspired the duo back as
struggling guitarists in their
native Mexico City. The
opening track “Hanuman,”
for example, pays reverence
to the Carlos Santana’s
highly melodic ditties. One
detects thrash metal influences like Metallica and
Megadeth in “Logos”, which
rhythmically resembles the
intro to Metallica’s “Unforgiven,” and “Triveni.” The
climax of the album is the
Astor Piazzola influenced
track “Hora Zero,” on which
the pair best exhibits their
formidable chemistry. While
Sanchez consistently fires off
several notes a second
throughout the track, Quintero subtly keeps pace with
his quickening melody. The
song culminates into an epic
chord duel between the pair,
evoking the solo battles Dave
Mustaine and Marty Friedman frequently waged as guitarists in Megadeth. The duo
also pays respects to the late
metal legend Dimebag Darrell on the track “Atman,”
which guest stars American
metal and jazz guitarist Alex
Skolnick.
But had Rodrigo y Gabriela
only been influenced by 80’s
death metal, the couple
would never have brandished
classical guitars.
Tracks
“Savitri”
and
“Santo
Domingo,” inspired by pianist Michael Camilo, embrace a distinctly Flamenco
style. Though considerably
slower-paced, “Chac Mool,”
which shares its name with
both an ancient Mayan statue
and a Carlos Fuentes short
story, provides a nice transition between the most aggressive tracks on the album,
“Hora Zero” and “Atman.”
The record also assumes
elaborately progressive characteristics. “Master Maqui,”
guest starring the flamenco
duo Strunz and Farah and reputedly influenced by Paco
De Lucia, gives off a Transiberian Orchestra feel, and the
album’s eponymous and
final track, “11:11,” channels
Pink Floyd.
Above all, the record is as delightful and energetic as one
would expect a Rodrigo y
Gabriela album to be. It’s not
quite yet their magnum opus,
as they continue to sharpen
their songwriting skills, but
it’s a great step forward. I’m
excited to hear what the duo
has in store years down the
road. And hopefully, contrary to what this album’s
title suggests, that’s not just
wishful thinking.
- Ryan Waring
BOOK REVIEW
Silence
Shusako Endo
For all of the vast importance attributed to God—
He is who creates and sustains
us, He is love, we should strive
with all of our being to be at
one with Him, etc., etc.—He
dispenses precious little advice
and encouragement. In moments of deep suffering or
grief, when one turns to God
for explanation or solace, there
is no divine arm put on one’s
shoulder, nor any detailed account given of how this pain
fits into a grand plan of love
and peace. What, then—if
any—is God’s response to our
pleas? This is the question
with which Shusaku Endo
concerns himself in his novel
Silence.
Silence unfolds in seventeenthcentury Japan, where the government is ruthlessly ferreting
out the remnants of the native
Christians and the clerics who
minister to them. The novel
follows a mission of Portuguese priests who travel to
Japan to investigate a report
that their old teacher has apostatized under torture. The
young fathers cannot believe
that a man who dedicated
himself body, mind, and spirit
to God’s priesthood, assuming
all of the burdens and responsibilities of such a life, would
recant what he held so closely
to his heart and trample upon
the fumie, an image of the Virgin and Child that Japanese
officials used in their questioning of Christians.
What follows is a masterful
psychological portrait of a
man who is grasping onto his
faith in God while so unsure
of whether the ensuing effort
expended, the sweat shed, the
loneliness endured, and the
blood—particularly that of
others—spilt is worthwhile or
not. Endo captures the searing
pain that results from that first
pang of doubt in what we used
to hold as a conviction, from
that dizzying void of what
used to be certainty. The once
enthusiastic Father Rodrigues
stumbles through the Japanese
countryside—exhausted in
both body and spirit—cupping
his ear to hear the God who
once parted the clouds to
speak and to hear His reassurances that, Yes, your trials are
good and will be rewarded. Instead, each moment passes
without so much as a whisper
from the heavens until Rodrigues’s faith is punctured
and deflated—for faith is not
depleted incrementally, nor
does one lose strength bit by
bit, as long as suffering continues, but as soon as doubt takes
hold it is given free rein in
one’s soul, which becomes a
battlefield—and no matter
which side wins a battle, there
will be causalities. Endo perfectly depicts this back-andforth
between
gnawing
uncertainty and fresh resolutions of faith: in one paragraph, Rodrigues will be sure
of his mission and of God,
and several later he will despair of it all. Those readers
who have grappled with doubt
will see themselves in Endo’s
work.
Not that Silence is pure content without style. Endo cre-
ates a photograph in this passage:
“The white rays of the sun
beat down dazzlingly on the
open courtyard. Beneath its
merciless rays there lay on the
ground the black dye which
was the blood from the body
of the […] man.
“Just as before, the cicada kept on singing their
song, dry and hoarse. There
was not a breath of wind. Just
as before, a fly kept buzzing
around the priest’s face. In the
world outside there was no
change. A man had died; but
there was no change.”
The stillness of a hot
summer’s day, with its dust
kicked up by feet and the hypnotic chanting of the cicadas,
becomes palpable in the mind
of the reader. Yet aesthetical
flourishes are clearly subordinate to the complex ideas, feelings, and states of being with
which this novel is concerned.
The motif of silence, for example, soon loses any subtlety.
But this is the sort of book Silence is: one pauses not because of beautifully-wrought
phrases, but because of the
profound truths one is reading.
Martin Scorsese has taken up
the task of adapting Silence
into a film. The intensely personal and psychological character of the novel will make
this a difficult undertaking: the
descriptions of Rodrigues’s interior life that give the novel so
much of its power do not seem
suited to the sound and sight
of the cinema. Still, if any director can recreate the essence
of Silence it is Scorsese, whose
deeply-held Catholic faith infuses his work. Furthermore,
the rumored cast of Daniel
Day-Lewis, Benicio Del Toro,
and Gael García Bernal can
only bode well for the picture.
The knight in Ingmar
Bergman’s The Seventh Seal
says, “To believe is to suffer. It
is like loving someone in the
dark who never answers.” Silence is most certainly a novel
for the thoughtful believer—
and if one truly looks at the
world and within oneself, it is
difficult not to be thoughtful.
But it is not only for struggling
theists. Silence starkly depicts
the profound existential disorientation one feels after a loss
of faith—whether in God, an
idea, or a person. Does anyone wait for us in that darkness? And even should the
silence be broken, what word
will confront us in our pain?
- James Emerson
Silence was published in 1969 by
Monumenta Nipponica. This
English translation by William
Johnston was published in 1969
by the same.
The Inflatable
Ferret presents:
When Ross Ferrarini had the
idea for the Inflatable Ferret to
put together an 80-minute
playlist (80 minutes because
that’s how much music fits on
a standard blank CD) of chill
music it sparked a heated definitional debate. The word
“chill” is so damn arbitrary. I
mean, Ray Lewis does 600 lb
deadlifts to chill out. So, we
decided to abandon the term,
at least as a defining factor for
input. Instead, we focused on
tracks that are introspective
and contemplative - a playlist
of background music.
For as long as we can remember, people have used the
term “elevator music” as a pejorative, and we take offense to
such condescension. Okay, so
Inflatable Ferret Playlist
LL
“Melody of a Fallen Tree”
“Porcelain”
“Zephyr”
“Detlef Schrempf ”
“Slow Cheetah”
“See You Soon”
“Basic Space”
“Lump Sum”
“Sleepwalk”
“Uprooted”
“Hatoa (Instrumental)”
“Love Like a Sunset”
“Cataracts”
“Bron-Yr-Aur”
“Orange Sky”
“Lightning Rod”
“Your Hand in Mine”
80 Minutes of
Reflective
Music
you’re usually not dying to
look up the saxophonist of a
particular smooth-jazz rendition of Christopher Cross’s
“Sailing” right when you get to
the 14th floor. But doesn’t it at
least help make those last eight
floors with those four semistrangers a little less awkward?
Sometimes background music
affects us in extraordinary
ways. It can determine the entire mood of an evening. You
can call upon it for any occasion: a break up, a 12-page research paper, even just a casual
investigation of the architecture of the human psyche. We
dove into our collective music
library to find you exactly 80
minutes worth of the best reflective music we could find.
(Disclaimer: No Radiohead songs were used in the making of this playlist.)
8:11
Windsor for the Derby – “Melody of a Fallen Tree”
Whether you’re driving home after an exhausting day of work or just need a soft melody to accompany
you on your 4-hour library date, these Tampa-born rock veterans have just the thing.
4:01
Moby – “Porcelain”
The electronic mastermind’s song made the list for the same reasons it fit perfectly into Danny Boyle’s
2000 film The Beach: Moby’s spacey vocals, reversed string samples, and effortless piano melody.
5:19
Loscil – “Zephyr”
Time and again, Destroyer drummer Scott Morgan has proven with his ambient solo-project that Dan
Bejar’s not the band’s only super-talent. Here’s one of his most mesmerizing tracks.
4:28
Band of Horses – “Detlef Schrempf ”
Named after the three-time NBA All-Star, the fourth track off 2007’s Cease to Begin was selected by tIF as
the most placid from a band that has all but perfected tranquility. As far as contemplative goes, Ben Bridwell consistently hits nothing but net.
5:20
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Slow Cheetah”
Frusciante’s silvery acoustic strums and Kiedis’ strained but soft vocals are standard components of later
Peppers material, and “Slow Cheetah” certainly lends itself to rumination far more than anything from
their first five albums. (*tIF tip: for an easier listen, only listen with right earphone in)
2:51
Coldplay – “See You Soon”
Back when Coldplay could be taken seriously, they made some startling winsome songs. This one from
The Blue Room EP, recorded in their formative years, is an acoustic highlight of that.
3:08
The xx – “Basic Space”
British goth-pop would be your last idea of chill music, but The xx managed to combine laid-back beats,
razor-sharp guitar effects and dueling vocals to create a brilliant low-key tune.
3:21
Bon Iver – “Lump Sum”
In all honestly, we pretty much drew out of a hat for this one. Any one of his songs could work, but it’s
certainly some of Bon Iver’s shyest and most contemplative few minutes.
2:27
Santo & Johnny – “Sleepwalk”
Every time I hear the Farina brothers’s definitive steel-guitar anthem, I immediately think back to Esai
Morales’s epic “Ritchie” scream during the last scene of the 1987 film La Bamba. Those who haven’t seen
it might think the tune would be best accompanied by the sound of waves, and I wouldn’t disagree with
them.
6:15
The Antlers – “Uprooted”
The Antlers frontman Peter Silverman finally exploded into the music scene with this year’s Hospice, but
his earlier compositions have a bedroom folk quality displayed most evidently in this six-minute soother.
4:21
Bonobo – “Hatoa (Instrumental)”
Did you know that a bonobo is a pygmy chimpanzee? Neither did I, until I searched the British DJ’s
wikipedia page only to find a playful primate staring right into my soul. Bonobo’s incorporation of similarly primitive sounds into his bass-centered chill-out grooves display an entrancing equipment mastery
that boldly states that he’s not monkey-ing around (I had to say it.)
7:36
Phoenix – “Love Like a Sunset”
On their 2009 effort Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the playful Parisian alt-rockers dished out the same kind of
dance tracks for which they’re famous, but it’s this slow-building masterpiece that really sets the album
apart. (more commonly divided into two parts)
3:12
Andrew Bird – “Cataracts”
When it comes to relaxing, what’s not to love about Andrew Bird’s melancholy strings and restful voice?
Not to mention his enchanting whistling.
2:06
Led Zeppelin – “Bron-Yr-Aur”
Led Zeppelin’s shortest studio recording is certainly the band’s most soothing. “Bron-Yr-Aur” has the
ability to transport the listener to the Welsh cottage that inspired it.
6:11
Alexi Murdoch –“Orange Sky”
Murdoch takes a challenging route in songwriting – the kind that attempts to create credible tracks by testing smoothly sung lyrics over dulcet acoustic guitar. And “Orange Sky” is his money track, the kind of
background song that will undoubtedly creep into the foreground of your mind weeks after each listen.
2:56
Guster – “Lightning Rod”
The former Tufts a capell-ers stray from their typical bubbly, bongo-slapping, upbeat alt-pop, as Ryan
Miller takes lead vocals on this subdued hymn.
8:17
Explosions in the Sky – “Your Hand in Mine”
Probably the four-piece’s most celebrated “mini-symphony” (as they call them), “Your Hand” takes postrock to worlds, both interior and exterior, that it never dreamed it could have entered.
- Compiled by tIF staff writers Ross Ferrarini, Aldo Juraidini, Anuar Juraidini, Hans Larsen, James Passarelli, and Ryan Waring
FULL FESTIVAL COVERAGE:
MAM
OTO
N N
S O
O L
O I
N T
H
Of Montreal, The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, M. Ward and more
from the
Crowds at the famously scenic Red Rocks Amphitheatre
in Morrison, Colarado on
Saturday weren’t as vivacious
as in past shows, but relative
festival newcomer Monolith
boasted a slew of distinguished artists. Unfortunately, I could only stay for
half of the two-day event, but
that was more than enough
evidence that Monolith is a
true dark horse in an epidemic of new American
music festivals. As if the first
day’s headliners (The Yeah
Yeah Yeahs, of Montreal,
and
M.Ward)
weren’t
enough incentive
for some fans
to make 10hour plus
treks cross
country, the
performances put on
by less hyped
and more obscure names
on the four side
stages could
have made the
long trip well
worthwhile.
Although storms put a
mild damper on excitement
from the crowds, the rain was
no bad omen for the Frightened Rabbits. Led by Scott
John
Hutchison,
from
Selkirk Scotland, the band
took to the challenge of filling the main stage with their
unique indie pop-folk sound.
Crowds thinned as the rain
began, but not one show was
cancelled or delayed the entire day. Fans took refuge inside the two underground
theatres located beneath
main stage, making the
crowds in outdoor theatres
look sparse in
comparison. However, an exceptional number of concertgoers endured the storms to
see Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeroes, which
many would agree was the
best show of the day. The
zany, ten-person band incorporated an eclectic array of
instruments into the set, including; open-faced piano,
accordion, xylophone, bongos, multi-guitars, bass, main
drums, and a frozen trumpet
(…I know.) They played at
the peak main stage (193
steps high) – by far the coldest wind-swept spot at the
venue. During their opening
song, “40 Day Dream” from
the album Up From Below,
the
crowd
jumped and
stomped to the eye-catching
spectacle, transforming the
arena’s concrete foundations
into a virtual trampoline.
Beginning
with
M.Ward around 6:30, the
stands at main stage slowly
began to fill with viewers
emerging form hibernation in
the indoor stages. Respective
concerts of the day included
of Montreal, Doom, and
Cymbals Eat Guitars. M.
Ward put on a stunning performance for the fast growing
crowd including “For Beginners” and “Never Had Nobody Like You” from his
most recent album Hold Time.
He and his band concluded
their performance covering
Chuck Berry’s American
rock classic “Roll Over
Beethoven,” where Ward unleashed his often-underestimated majesty on guitar.
One of the few lowpoint performances of the
day came from Girl Talk, the
second to last show of the
night. Gregg Gillis kicked
off his performance with the
standard 60-some college students running on stage to
dance as his backdrop for the
show. Songs became repetitive and somewhat hypnotizing with the amount of noise
the bass speakers permeated
the open environment.
Gillis, always one to captivate
a number of enthusiastic
fans, had the place bumping,
even in comparison with the
Magnet Zeroes, but his
threading of old-time classics, new age electronica, and
gangster beats proved a waste
of the amphitheater’s stellar
acoustic potential. Nauseating head-bobbing and numerous iMac clicks re-established
Girl Talk as the most beloved
American lackluster DJ.
Day one concluded
with the YeahYeah Yeahs.
Their relentless energy sealed
the crest on the crowd’s
“soaked to the bone” night,
including songs from their
album “It’s Blitz!” such as
“Heads Will Roll,” “Zero,”
and “Skeleton.” Karen O
kept a remarkable level of intensity and concentration
throughout the entire performance, impressing both
their devoted following and
first time witnesses. Just be-
fore ending one of their set
songs Karen held her microphone with her teeth while
bending over backwards
emitting a final squelching
yell that left people wondering how she had managed to
pull something like that off
without injuring herself or
anyone within 10 feet. Other
theatrics included several various costumes resembling
bird-like creatures, explosions
of confetti, and audience interaction, where Karen let
several women from the
crowd sing part of “Skeletons.” (And, presumably
after reading last month’s
issue, she relearned the lyrics
to “Maps.” No fear, Karen.
You’re back in good standing
with us.)
The $60 ticket price
and possible bout of pneumonia compliments of the
rain were the only prices to
No fear, Karen. You’re back
i n pay for a memorable concert
experience at Monolith.
With only three years under
its belt, the event has made
quite a name for itself. The
festival is sure to grow in the
years to come, with the perfect central location of Red
Rocks and the stadium’s rich
musical history having
hosted no-namers like The
Beatles, Grateful Dead, and
Bruce Springsteen. If next
summer, you aren’t able to
make it out to Manchester,
Chicago, or Austin, fear not.
You’ll get your festival fill.
Just make sure you’re in Colorado in the middle of September.
- Tom Kutilek
For more photos visit
www.inflatableferret.com/photos
Covers:
If the YouTube explosion of the past few years has taught us anything, it’s that anything that
can be recorded, will be recorded. And when I say anything, I mean anything. You can waste
hours viewing home-recorded versions of user’s favorite songs, or bad quality fan videos,
roughly 96% of which would be utter trash. But every once in a while, you stumble across
something that isn’t half bad, sometimes even something creative and inspiring. Here are a few
of the best YouTube covers that I was able to find in the course of my extensive
research/procrastination.
The Song:
“Tiger
Mountain
Peasant
Song”
(Originally by
Fleet Foxes)
Search: “First Aid Kit Fleet Foxes” and it is the first result
At a whopping 845,000 views, this video recorded by
two young Swedish girls is one of the most popular
on this list. The song appropriately opens in a forest
(presumably somewhere in Sweden) as the two
youths clad in Fleet-style plaid dotingly introduce
the song, “this is for you, Fleet Foxes. It’s a little
Anyone who sees the words “Animal
Collective” and “acapella” in the same
sentence has every right to be skeptical.
Lord knows I was. But this decent quality fan video of Momo & the Coop, an
acapella troupe from Lewis & Clark University in Portland blow you away with
their interpretation of this bizarre Animal
Collective track. Between the full body
movements and vocal precision, the performance captures the sporadic and quirky
vibe of the real song.
The Song:
“Leaf House”
(originally by Animal Collective)
gift from us.” The accents disappear when they
begin singing, exchanging lead vocal duty after
each verse. Upon further research, it turns out
these two girls are part of an actual band, called
First Aid Kit, yet none of their other songs can
match the charm (or number of YouTube
views) of this Fleet Foxes cover..
Search: “Momo & the Coop Leaf House”
This truly unique homemade video
looks at first as if it could be a submission to America’s Funniest
“Hot ‘N Cold”
Home Videos, complete with grainy
(originally by
picture and tacky date and time disKaty Perry)
play in the right-hand corner, but it
proves to be much more than that.
Dueling xylophones (yes, that’s right,
How To Find It: “Los Colorados” and it’s the first result.
xylophones) cover this hauntingly
beautiful track originally by RadioThis video might be the best thing to come out of Ukraine
head. The two musicians in the video
since world-famous mathematician Mikhail Vashchenkolook like they haven’t yet graduated
Zakharchenko (alright, you caught me. I had to look that
from high school, but they masterfully
one up on wikipedia.) Although these four nerdy lookplay their instruments while reading from
ing men look like they could be small-town, dollar-persheet music that they presumably have
song wedding band, they play a hilariously original and
written, making the cover all the more imcreative version of this Katy Perry song. The lead
pressive.
singer of the quartet, apparently named Los Col-
The Song:
orados (something may have been lost in translation
there), plays the accordion as well. And get this - his
endearingly thick accent actually makes the song listenable.
Meanwhile, the other three members
bouncingly back him up, happily harmonizing
along the way. With over 2 million views, we can
only hope that this is the start of some sort of
The Song:
“Kid A”
(originally by
Radiohead)
How To Find It: Try “Kid A (cover) makko456”
Balkan-Pop trend ready to take the music scene
by storm.
Now that you’ve seen some of the best, here, just
for fun, is the single worst YouTube cover of all
time.
The Song: “In the Aeroplane Over The Sea” (originally by Neutral Milk Hotel)
The jury is still out as to whether this video is a joke or not, but either way, it is without a doubt the worst cover of any song I have
ever heard. For all those Neutral Milk Hotel fans out there, this
would be the visual equivalent to seeing Jeff Magnum get shot in
the face. From about the fifth word of the song you’ll either be on
the floor laughing or cringing in disgust as this musically challenged soul murders this seminal indie track. He quite literally
does not get one word of the song correct (personal favorite lyrical
gaff is when he substitutes actual lyric, “Let me hold it close and
How To Find It: “In the aeroplane
keep it here” with “Lend me licorice.” I kid you not.) Worth
over the sea cover” and find this guy
watching if only for a good laugh.
- Bryant Kitching
INTERVIEW with
ALBERTA CROSS
If one more person
refers to Alberta Cross as an
“Anglo-Swedish Americana”
band, I’m going to blow a gasket...ferret style. The budding
five-piece has struggled to
evade a throng of such labels
and comparisons, including
everything from The Band to
“Kings of Leon’s mad uncles.”
Though they won’t shy away
from citing any of their eclec-
THE LOVING CUP
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
tic influences, the band would
certainly appreciate a little
artistic credit of their own.
Swedish native Petter
Ericson Stakee and London
born Terry Wolfers combined
creative forces a few years
back to form Alberta Cross,
now stationed in Brooklyn.
After a few short years in the
London scene, Stakee and
Wolfers decided to head over-
seas, where they met up with
the remaining three pieces of
the puzzle. With a successful
EP and a promising debut fulllength in stores, the band prepares to tour the States before
taking off for a month-long
European sojourn. The Inflatable Ferret was able to catch
up with them in the intimate
Cameo Gallery at The Loving
Cup before their departure.
Inflatable Ferret: Ready?
Terry: Yeah, ready. Crack it.
Let’s shoot. What’s your first
question, come on.
(everyone laughs)
IF: Well, I’m with Terry
Wolfers and Petter Ericson
Stakee from Alberta Cross.
Petter, you were born in Stockholm, is that right?
Petter: Just outside.
IF: And you traveled with
your dad, who was also a mu- Terry: As he gets to be older,
it’s smoother now. He’s got
sician.
leather jackets and stuff.
There’s a documentary about
Petter: At one point, yeah.
him, with him riding up on his
IF: What was his name? I Harley Davidson.
tried looking him up, but I
couldn’t find anything.
Petter: He’s called Peter. He’s
Peter, I’m Petter.
IF: With one “T” then?
Petter: Yeah, it’s pretty funny.
IF: Do you have a lot of his
early recordings?
– well it was a bar, but it was
only there because it was a studio as well. So it was a really
cool place, and they were
pretty much given free reign,
so they could close whenever
they wanted. There were no
IF: (laughs) You two met in a stop checks, so there’d be free
bar in London. When did you drinks going all the time.
[Petter] move to London?
IF: Nice.
Petter: 10 years ago maybe.
Terry: Yeah, it was a good
IF: And you [Terry] were born couple of years.
in London?
Petter: (laughs) Good and bad
Terry: Yeah.
couple of years.
IF: How did that happen, you Terry: Well, it sort of took its
guys just randomly met over a toll.
Petter: Yeah.
drink?
IF: And where’d you meet the
IF: And what kind of music
Terry: Yeah, it was just a bar other members of the band?
did he play?
where we had mutual friends
Petter: I don’t know, Blues, – Petter knew someone who Petter: Well, we sort of started
worked there and one of the off in London with two other
Rock ‘N’ Roll…smooth
guys who was running it was members, but when we moved
music.
an old school friend of mine. over to America, we audiAnd it was like a sort of studio tioned them in Brooklyn.
when we were living there, because it was like 200 bands
sounding like Joy Divison, but
I do like a lot of bands here. I
think they’re great.
IF: I read somewhere that
your new album Broken Side of
Time is an anagram. Is that
right?
Petter: Our name is an anagram.
“We found that when we were in
London we didn’t really sound like
a London band. We just sounded
like Alberta Cross.”
reason things started happenIF: I think it’s interesting that ing for us.
a lot of other Brooklyn bands
like MGMT and The Dirty Petter: And also, we’re just
Projectors are trying to make writing. We’re not trying to
music that’s about as far away follow a certain scene or anyfrom classic rock as possible, thing like that. A lot of bands
whereas you guys don’t even do that. Maybe not MGMT
sound like you’re from Brook- and The Dirty Projectors, but
lyn.
I feel like when one band like
MGMT comes up, right away
Terry: Yeah, I think it’s cause you get like 20 that sound exwe’re not really. I mean, actly like them. And we’re tryBrooklyn is just somewhere ing not to do that.
where we ended up. It’s the
same as London bands as IF: So do you get tired of the
well. We found that when we Brooklyn scene?
were in London we didn’t really sound like a London band Petter: Actually, we’re still
either. We just sounded like quite new to it. We got really
Alberta Cross. And that’s the tired of the London scene
IF: Oh, your name.
Petter: Well, Broken Side of
Time is an anagram too.
Terry: It’s all going to come
together to make, like, a fucking book.
(everyone laughs)
IF: We actually spent the train
ride down here trying to figure
out what Broken Side of Time
was an anagram for.
Petter and Terry: Oh, what
did you come up with for that?
IF: I feel like we’ve got some
great ideas for your new
album. One was “IKE BITE
FOR DEMONS.”
Petter: Sweet.
IF: “I SEEK ME FIND
ROBOT”
Petter: Oh, that’s good.
IF: (laughs) Yeah. And then
“BEER
INSIDE
KO
MOTIF” and that one really
doesn’t make any sense, but
we thought anything with beer
in it would be appropriate for
you.
Petter: For me, yeah.
Terry: They’re probably all
better than Broken Side of
Time.
Petter: That robot one would
work pretty well.
IF: So what is Alberta Cross
an anagram for?
Petter: I can’t tell you. You
have to figure it out. So next
time you interview us, figure
that one out.
IF: Fair enough. With all your
songs, you keep the same style.
And every song definitely has
that Alberta Cross imprint.
But you span from “ATX”
which is really high-energy, in
your face, almost like a pumpup song, to a song like “The
Thief and the Heartbreaker”
which is really soulful and all
about the collective unity of
the band. How do you go
about writing those songs? Do
they just come randomly?
Petter: It’s just a different way
of writing, you know. Like
with “The Thief ”, I wrote that
one in East London, and then
Terry and I were arranging it
in the studio for a while, so it
came from me writing a song
and then Terry and I kind of
working on it to get it right.
But “ATX” is one of our first
jams with this band in the rehearsal room. We were all
sort of jamming together, and
it came up from a few chords
that I came up with, and they
came up with the groove. It’s
really like a band thing, so
that’s really important.
Terry: At the moment, it’s just
stuff we’re trying out from
show to show. You know,
we’ve done festivals and stuff
like that, but we haven’t done
a really good solid tour coming out from the album. We
want to keep it fresh for ourselves, you know, and fresh for
people. If they come and see
one show and the next time
they get to see something different, it’s nice. It’s not always
preplanned. It’s like maybe
when we start the song, Petter
will be like, “Alright, for that
bit, just watch me and go with
IF: I noticed “The Thief and it.” Or something like that.
the Heartbreaker” which is the
title track to your mini IF: You guys had what I asalbum/EP in 2007 was redone sume is your first crack at the
for the album. Was that just festival scene. You were all
because you wanted to touch over the place – Coachella,
it up?
Bonnaroo,
Lollapalooza,
you’re about to do Austin City
Petter: Well yea, it’s just that Limits. What has your expe“The Thief and the Heart- rience been like with that?
breaker” EP was our first few
demos. I like the vibe of them. Terry: Amazing.
This is just a different vibe, but
we definitely felt like if we Petter: Great.
were going to re-record them
for this album we were going Terry: I don’t know, we just go
to have to do them up a bit and and do it, and it’s a show, and
change them. It’s a bit faster I it’s amazing to be there. But
think, but yeah, we just when you reflect back on it
changed it up a bit.
and when you speak to people
they’re like, “Fuck man, you
IF: Obviously a live show has just played like all the festivals
different objectives than an that bands dream of playing.”
album, but what specifically And at the time, you just want
do you try to bring into your to go out and do a great show.
live shows?
You’re not really thinking
about the big picture. So
when you look back on it, it’s here.
a bit mind-blowing. They’ve
been great. We’ve played to a Terry: Oh really? Ah shit.
lot of people that we wouldn’t
have played to.
IF: Well I guess we’ll kind of
wrap it up while they’re warmPetter: It’s good for us because ing up. Obviously there’s a lot
when we started up we played of classic rock influence in
a lot of English festivals, and your music. People have comthere are a lot of great festivals pared you to Neil Young and
in England. And we really The Band. What would you
wanted to come over to Amer- say have been your greatest inica and play. Now that we’ve fluences?
played them it’s been a great
experience. And they are dif- Petter: Both of them, yea, defferent from English festivals, initely. I love them. I think
so it’s a new experience.
this album was more influenced by – well, I was listening
Terry: They’re a lot hotter.
to a lot of things. We listened
to…Nick Cave, Sonic Youth,
Petter: A lot hotter. It’s like Depeche Mode, soul stuff,
summer all year round.
Motown.
Terry: And a bit dryer.
Coachella and Lollaplooza
were just fucking intense.
Petter: We were pretty much
dying.
I almost spewed
halfway
through
that
Coachella set and the Bonnaroo set.
(opening band starts to warm up
loudly)
Petter: I think they’re going to
play.
stay around?
Petter: Tour everywhere, man.
Just go out and play for everyone everywhere. That’s pretty
much our plan at the moment.
Terry: I think new material as
well. Because it takes so long
to get from the beginning of
making the album and getting
it done and so much comes up
in the meantime. I think we’re
looking forward to starting
work on some new material as
well.
IF: Alright, well thanks a lot
guys.
Petter and Terry: Of course.
- Conducted by
Terry: There’s tons of stuff. James Passarelli and filmed by
There’s not like one genre or a Aldo Juraidini
group of four bands that you
could site. If you listen to a lot
of it, sometimes I hear stuff
where I’m like, “Oh shit, it
sounds like that” afterwards.
I’ll say, “Oh, yea, it reminds
me a little bit of that now” not
thinking of it at the time. But
between the five of us, there’s
such a diverse range, from 20’s
gospel to electonica. It’s just
whatever comes out.
IF: And I know you’re just
Terry: (to manager, Anders) putting out your debut album,
That’s the same band we so I’m sure you want to relish
played with last time, isn’t it? that, but do you have anything
specific planned for the future
Anders: They have a residence or are you just going to kind of
FEATURED ALBUM
Alberta Cross
Broken Side of Time
Ark Recordings
Alberta Cross’ debut LP Broken Side of Time joins the
ranks of albums that defy categorization, not because of
unorthodoxy, but simply because it feels inadequate to
call it what it is: a rock album.
Sure, you’ve heard it a million
times before. “Our music is
just straight up rock ‘n’ roll,
man.” “We play pure rock,
the way it was meant to be
played.” But Broken Side is
one of a scant supply of
records to which these claims
legitimately apply.
Critics will tell you that Alberta Cross is living in the
wrong decade, that they’d be
more comfortable in the 60’s
or 70’s – an era stocked with
gritty blues-rock. And while
such assertions are intended
as compliments, they imply
some sort of identity crisis.
Make no mistake, Alberta
Cross knows exactly what
year it is, and they have no
qualms about splicing the
spirit of early rock and soul
legends with contemporary
alternative and punk influences.
The album is crafted with
crests and troughs of volume
and potency, but it doesn’t
have that trite sense of forced
song alternating (slow, fast,
slow, fast). Instead it provides
a natural varied flow, a quality easily conceived but difficultly executed. The opening
track is an honest ballad titled
“Song 3Three Blues,” the
record’s most laid back and
purely rock track. They follow it up with the heavily
charged electric jam “ATX” a
song that hints at the band’s
occasional arena-rock personality. Organs play a subtle
lead role in “City Walls” and
a buildup of layered forceful
guitar riffs and take control of
the title track.
Lead man Petter Stakee’s
steady angelic wails thread together the otherwise disparate
tracks, and a sense of displacement haunts his lyrics.
“Come on take me home
‘cause I just wanna feel,” he
cries on “ATX.” In the conclusion, “Ghost of City Life,”
Stakee shares his frustration
with facades: “How about believing/How about some
faith…how about some truth
now, honey oh?” He isn’t always so clear with his motives, however, delivering
cryptic lines such as “woman
I see war/is that not a way to
define low?/you may think
I’m weak/well I had a wild
wild summer.” It’s often near
impossible to make out his
words, and this only adds to
the album’s dense mystique.
The peak of the album comes
when Stakee replaces his electric guitar with a tambourine,
and Terry Wolfers’ spellbinding bass takes charge. “Let’s
try a little soul,” they’ve been
known to introduce the number before playing it on stage,
and soulful it is. Stakee begins with a series of quivering
“wooohooo”s that would
send shivers down Nina Simone’s spine.
The shortcomings of the
album are two and far between. “Old Man Chicago”
and “The Thief and the
Heartbreaker” were the only
two tracks taken from earlier
material, and their more electric-focused recreations fail to
do proper justice to their originals. (The original acoustic
version of “The Thief and the
Heartbreaker” is quite possibly their greatest composition
to date.) One can certainly
understand the change – of
course, they had to be altered
and refined for the sake of the
album’s cohesion, but the
prototypes surpass the reproductions.
It’s easy to dissect such an
album on any number of irrelevant criteria – the band
members’ seemingly incompatible backgrounds, its relation to apparent blues-rock
influences, the images it conjures – and it’s impossible to
reach a verdict independent
of such preconceptions. But
a true judgment of the album
in isolation says about it now
what it will in 30 years, when
artists at the turn of the century will have produced
music as distant as Woodstock seems now. It’s an invigorating anomaly – not a
throwback, but a classic rock
album in a musical time and
setting where the word “classic” has all but lost its meaning. Alberta Cross’ thrilling
debut, more than anything
else, displays their idiosyncratic knack for transforming
rootsy blues and folk rock by
not changing a thing.
About Broken Side of Time
Released: September 22, 2009
Label: Ark Recordings
Produced and Mixed by: Mike McCarthy
About Alberta Cross
Origin: London, England
Current Location: Brooklyn, NY
Band Members:
Petter Ericson Stakee (Vocals and Guitar)
Terry Wolfers (Bass and Vocals)
Sam Kearney (Guitar)
Austin Beede (Drums)
Alec Higgins (Keyboards)
Check them out at
www.albertacross.net
www.myspace.com/albertacross
-James Passarelli
Email [email protected] with your ideas for what “Alberta Cross” or “Broken Side of Time”
is an anagram. The best entry will win a copy of Broken Side of Time. All entries due by October 21st.
The Inflatable Ferret Staff
Editor-in-Chief
James Passarelli
Executive Editors
Hans Larsen
Ryan Waring
President of Managerial Operations
Tom Kutilek
Layout
Hans Larsen
Aldo Juraidini
Staff Writers
Conor Berigan
Steve Dickinson
James Emerson
Ross Ferrarini
Aldo Juraidini
Anuar Juraidini
Bryant Kitching
Tom Kutilek
Hans Larsen
James Passarelli
Ryan Waring
Web Design
Greg Ervanian
Rob Schellenberg
Editorial and Writing Contributions by
Colin Kennedy
Rachel Luba
Pat Passarelli
Ainsley Thedinger
Photography by
Aldo Juraidini
Rachel Luba
Thank you to Anders Hester and Alberta Cross.
Contact Us at
Tom Kutilek: [email protected]
Hans Larsen: [email protected]
James Passarelli: [email protected]
Ryan Waring: [email protected]
General Inquiries: [email protected]
Check us out on Facebook or on twitter at
twitter.com/inflatablef
Official Website: www.inflatableferret.com
We gladly welcome any criticism or suggestions. If
you have any ideas for the magazine, or if you
would like to be a part of it, please contact us at
[email protected].
Keep your eyes open for changes to the website,
including our links of the day.
Coming soon on the site:
An exclusive performance of an acoustic
“Old Man Chicago” by Petter Ericson Stakee!