- FILTER Magazine

Transcription

- FILTER Magazine

LIARS * KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES * TENACIOUS D * BENJAMIN CURTIS * ALICE RUSSELL
MOBY
The
Innovator
#45 • OCTOBER-DECEMBER ’13
DISPLAY THROUGH DECEMBER ’13
FESTIVAL GUIDE . VENUES MAP . CREATIVE SUMMIT . SCHEDULES . MUSIC SAMPLER
FREE
We’re excited to offer up to you a taste of some of the great music featured at FILTER Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival!
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Download at: FILTERmagazine.com/2013Sampler
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Adi Ulmansky (Israel)
Beneen Squad (Senegal)
Birth of Joy (Netherlands)
Brodka (Poland)
Ghost Wave (New Zealand)
Instrumenti (Latvia)
Jacco Gardner (Netherlands)
Kid Karate (Ireland)
Maya Vik (Norway)
Mumiy Troll (Russia)
Okta Logue (Germany)
Optic Yellow Felt (Brazil)
Prata Vetra (Latvia)
Secret Shine (UK)
SiMoN (Japan)
Terry Poison (Israel)
The Great Wilderness (Costa Rica)
Read reviews of these tracks by a jury of the world’s toughest critics (that is, a panel of children) on page 52.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 10
FRONT LOUNGE
12:00AM
Miami Horror
DJ Set
(Peru)
(Australia)
11:00PM
DJ Set by Hands
throughout the night
Plastic Plates
Iceage
Miami Horror
11:30PM
(AUSTRALIA)
No Joy
IZA
(POLAND)
9:40PM
Maya Vik
(Norway)
8:30PM
(US)
Melpo
(SWEDEN)
8:00PM
GRMLN
9:30PM
The Great
Wilderness
Wooster
(US)
The Novocaines
10:00PM
Mumiy Troll
(RUSSIA)
9:00PM
(NEW ZEALAND)
8:00PM
SiMoN
(JAPAN)
(AUSTRALIA)
6:00PM
Israel Happy Hour
Tune In Tel-Aviv
Presented by: Oleh! Records, Consulate
General of Israel in Los Angeles, Star
Farm Ventures, EQUALA
Performances by:
Adi Ulmansky, Terry Poison
DRINK SPECIALS
4:00pm
The Deer Tracks
Fuck Buttons
(SWEDEN)
11:00PM
Mystery Skulls
(Us)
11:00PM
10:30PM
The Pack AD
Kid Karate
(CANADA)
(IRELAND)
Tiny Ruins
8:30PM
7:30PM
(US)
(UK)
Ghost Wave
(COSTA RICA)
9:00PM
Secret Shine
10:30PM
(NEW ZEALAND)
11:30PM
(UK)
11:00PM
Latvia Happy Hour
Presented by: Music Export Latvia
Performances by:
Prata Vetra & Instrumenti
DRINK SPECIALS
10:00PM
Like Swimming
(SWEDEN)
9:00PM
Bombay Show
Pig
(NETHERLANDS)
8:00PM
Optic Yellow Felt
(BRAZIL)
7:00PM
Instrumenti
(LATVIA)
6:00PM
StereonoiZ
(PERU)
10:00PM
Gemini Club
(Us)
10:00PM
Vadoinmessico
9:00PM
(Us)
Birth of Joy
9:30PM
(UK)
Bagheera
TAIX
CHAMPAGNE ROOM
12:00AM
12:00AM
(CANADA)
(Denmark)
The Men
FRONT LOUNGE
10:50PM
(Australia)
10:00PM
TAIX
CHAMPAGNE ROOM
12:00AM
StereonoiZ
FRIDAY OCTOBER 11
(NETHERLANDS)
9:00PM
The Great
Wilderness
8:30PM
Mujuice
(COSTA RICA)
(RUSSIA)
presented by
(MEXICO)
6:00PM THE NETHERLANDS
HAPPY HOUR
DUTCH IMPACT PARTY
Presented by:
Dutch Performing Arts.
Performances by: Jacco Gardner,
Bombay Show Pig, Birth of Joy
DRINK SPECIALS
This program is supported, in part, by
public funds from theConssulate General
of The Netherlands in New York
4:00PM
sweden
Happy Hour
Presented by:
Export Music Sweden,
LW Productions
12:00AM
Animato (US)
Duologue
(UK)
11:10PM
10:30PM
Great White Buffalo
(US)
Terry Poison
(ISRAEL)
10:00PM
Keaton Henson
9:30PM
(UK)
Float Fall
(Belgium)
8:30PM
Brodka
Bleached
(US)
8:00PM
7:30PM
Adi Ulmansky
Medicine
(US)
(ISRAEL)
7:00PM
The Silent Comedy
(US)
6:15PM
Family Wagon
(US)
5:30PM
Cosmic Suckerpunch
(US)
Performances by:
The Deer Tracks, Melpo,
Like Swimming
DRINK SPECIALS
$30 WRISTBANDS AVAILABLE AT TICKETFLY.COM 21+
10:30PM
Jared James Nichols
(us, sweden)
10:00PM
The Copper Gamins
(Mexico)
9:15PM
9:00PM
9:00PM
Jacco Gardner
The Novocaines
8:00PM
8:00PM
(NETHERLANDS)
(POLAND)
8:00PM
Vicente Gayo
presents
11:30PM
Ghost Wave
(NEW ZEALAND)
7:00PM
Secret Shine
(UK)
6:00PM
Kita Klane
(US)
5:00PM
South of France
(US)
(AUSTRALIA)
Maya Vik
(NORWAY)
7:00PM
Prata Vetra
(LATVIA)
6:00PM
Okta Logue
(GERMANY)
5:00PM
SiMoN
(JAPAN)
SATURDAY OCTOBER 12
MAP OF ECHO PARK
funky sole
12:30AM
DJ Set by
Bobby Gillespie and
Andrew Innes of
Primal Scream (Uk)
12:00AM
(Denmark)
9:00PM
Incan Abraham
(US)
Alice Russell
Adi Ulmansky
(ISRAEL)
(UK)
The Rebirth
(US)
7:00PM
Funky Sole DJs
Music Man Miles
& Clifton
Kid Karate
(IRELAND)
DO
E
9:00PM
Melpo
(SWEDEN)
(NETHERLANDS)
7:30PM
Vicente Gayo
7:00PM
Terry Poison
(ISRAEL)
(MEXICO)
Optic Yellow Felt
(BRAZIL)
(SWEDEN)
Okta Logue
5:00PM
Float Fall
(BELGIUM)
(GERMANY)
Secret Shine
(UK)
(SWEDEN)
Chateau Marmont
(France)
SiMoN
(JAPAN)
(BeLGIUM)
8:10PM
Ghost Wave
(NEW ZEALAND)
TICKET
TENT
8:00-11:00PM
UCB Theatre
Presents:
Comedy Collide
featuring
S
Maria Bamford,
Nick Thune,
Rory Scovel,
Dominic Dierkes,
Emily Maya Mills,
Rajan Dharnie,
Natasha Leggero
and more!
SU
T
U NS E
(germany, CAN)
6:40PM
7:00PM
NO
5:40PM
6:00PM
Maya Vik
Mumiy Troll
(NORWAY)
(RUSSIA)
4:40PM
(LATVIA)
3:40PM
IZA
(POLAND)
(US)
Hell Shovel
3:30PM
2:30PM
(US)
5:00PM
Brodka
Prata Vetra
4:30PM
Like Swimming
4:00PM
D Tiberio
King Khan &
The Shrines
6:30PM
5:30PM
Float Fall
9:00PM
7:40PM
The Deer Tracks
6:00PM
Liars
(US)
Birth of Joy
Rhye
(FRANCE)
(US, DENMARK, CAN) 9:20PM
8:30PM
8:20PM
8:00PM
10:00PM
(NEW ZEALAND)
9:30PM
9:30PM
9:00PM
Chateau Marmont
Tiny Ruins
(POLAND)
4:00PM
NS
ET
$10 suggested
donation to
benefit 826LA
5 m
i
to nut e
wa
lo
t
lk
1
EN
T
a n RA NC
d e
E T
ch
o p O ec
ho
l ex
6:00PM
Tiny Ruins
(NEW ZEALAND)
5:00PM
The Pack AD
(CANADA)
Tweet @FILTERmagazine with any questions!
STARSYSTEM
(US)
(EVERYWHERE)
3:00PM
2:40PM
M
O
YN
(RUSSIA)
10:30PM
10:30PM
LE
Mujuice
la
t ve
e
r r ta
ac
e
(US)
10:40PM
E
Heliotropes
(US)
DA
L
10:00PM
Music Man
Miles
& Clifton
R
EN
(Denmark, US)
Rob Crow (Acoustic)
RV
OI
TAIX
CHAMPAGNE
ROOM
GL
Gliss
11:30PM
Funky Sole
DJs
RE
SE
PA R K
11:00PM
presented by
LV
A
The Raveonettes
presented by
A
12:00AM
UCB presents
Comedy Collide
TAIX
CHAMPAGNE ROOM
RA
FRONT LOUNGE
SU
Instrumenti
(LATVIA)
Bombay Show Pig
(NETHERLANDS)
2:00PM
IZA
1911 Sunset Blvd
1822 Sunset Blvd
1154 Glendale Blvd
1714 W. Sunset Blvd
1226 N. Alvarado St
1533 W. Sunset Blvd
(POLAND)
NS
ET
THURSDAY OCTOBER 10
all panels will be held in taix champagne room.
all panels will be held in taix champagne room.
free with festival wristband.
21
FRIDAY OCTOBER 11
free with festival wristband.
and up.
21
and up.
11:30AM–12:00PM Doors Open/Refreshments
1:45PM–2:00PM Break
12:30PM–1:00PM Doors Open/Refreshments
12:00PM–12:45PM KEYNOTE: INNOVATORS
2:00PM–2:45PM SYNC
1:00PM–1:45PM record labels
Moderator: Pat McGuire of FILTER Magazine (Editor-in-Chief)
Moderator: Joe Rangel of Hitcher (Founder)
Moderator: Ben Howe of Flying Nun (General Manager)
FILTER magazine editor-in-chief Pat McGuire will be hosting a round-table
discussion on creativity and innovation with music legend Moby, street artist
Shepard Fairey and thenewno2 frontman Dhani Harrison.
Discussion of opportunities for international artists to gain exposure through
licensing music to advertisements, film, commercials or TV.
This panel will focus on music sales in the US, specifically the constant changes
currently taking place that are going to shape the future of music sales.
Panelists:
Panelists:
Panelists:
• David Taylor of Media Arts Lab (Music Supervisor)
• Moby
• Linda Cohen (Music Supervisor)
• Shepard Fairey
• Cybele Pettus of Electronic Arts (Sr. Music Supervisor)
• Dhani Harrison
• John Bissell of Mothlight Music (Music Supervisor/Owner)
• Mollie Moore of Capitol Music Group (A & R)
• Ryan Whalley of Loma Vista (Director of A & R)
• Mary Rahmani of Harvest Records (A & R Manager)
• Tom Osborn of ANTI/Epitaph/Hellcat (Marketing)
3:00PM–4:00PM spirits of the world
1:00PM–1:45PM international festivals
3:00PM–4:00PM beers of the world
Bookers from various international festivals will be on hand to discuss what
they’re looking for in the coming year, how your band can get on their radar
and more.
Moderator: Alan Miller of FILTER Creative Group (Co-Founder)
Panelists:
• John Kastner of Canadian Music Week (Music Programmer)
• Mikey Rishwain Bernard of M for Montreal (Festival Programming Director)
• Ilya Lagutenko of VROX (Festival Director)
• Fren Hawel of Reeperbahn Festival (Booker)
Back by popular demand, the Culture Collide Creative Summit will be hosting
another fun and informative panel on international beers.
BEERS:
• Tiger Beer (Singapore)
Moderator: Mike Bell of FILTER Creative Group (Director of International Relations)
Moderator: Mike Bell of FILTER Creative Group (Director of International Relations)
• Ben Howe of Laneway (Festival Director)
2:00PM–2:45PM bands and brands
Moderator: Alan Miller of FILTER Creative Group (Co-Founder)
Discussion about the opportunities for international artists that are associated
with implementing new brand partnerships and creating marketing initiatives
between labels/bands and outside companies in the US and abroad.
Panelists:
• Orkney’s Skullsplitter (Scotland)
• Rich Honiball of Haggar (CMO)
• K1664 Blanc (France)
• Lammsbrau (Germany)
• Colin Brickley of Onitsuka Tiger (Sales & Marketing)
• Crabbies (Scotland)
• Wurzberger (Germany)
• Sarah Richardson of Ploom (Marketing Director)
Back by popular demand The Culture Collide Creative Summit will be hosting
another fun and informative panel on international spirits. We’ll be incorporating
a variety of alcohol brands from participating countries to showcase what
makes their drink the “best in the world.”
Spirits:
• Guaro (Costa Rica)
• Cahaca (Brazil)
• Sake (Japan)
• Aquavit (Norway)
• Whiskey (UK)
• Dana Erlich Wines (Israel)
• LaGazelle and Vin De Palme (Senegal) • Vodka (Australia)
• Vodka (Russia)
• Corsendonk Dubbel & Triple Ale (Belguim) • James Boag (Australia)
• Moa (New Zealand)
• 961 (Lebanon)
• New Zealand Spirits (New Zealand)
Throughout Culture Collide from October 10–12,
collect buttons from every country represented at
all festival venues. (See a band from Sweden, rock
out, find a Sweden button and so on.) To be eligible
to win, participants can place buttons on their
clothing, bags or purses—the more flair, the better!
The first to show all their buttons win awesome
prizes. The buttons must be presented to contest
staff members at the Slacker truck located in the
Taix parking lot 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 12.
Sound fun? Get pinnin’!
Looking for clues to button locations?
@FILTERmagazine #CultureCollide on Instagram
Advertorial
FILTER Magazine and Converse are teaming up to
explore the inspirations for a select group of artists.
We posted up with Warm Brew to see how they clean
up their community and keep their creative souls shining.
Head to FILTERmagazine.com/Converse to see more.
AT THE STANDS
Phantogram is in the middle of a civil war; an emotional battle between light and dark, respect and selfPublishers
Alan Miller & Alan Sartirana
loathing. The dark-minded duo fondly embraces these divisive themes and combines them within textured
soundscapes, only to watch them burst into sonic-bliss. FILTER enters the dark fray of Phantogram’s
Editor-in-Chief
Pat McGuire
musical evolution and learns how tracks of such beauty are wrought from isolated, late-night songwriting
sessions in an upstate New York barn and we talk with the band about their transition from indie maestros
Managing Editor
Breanna Murphy
to major-label sensations. Also: We let the king-of-classy Mayor Hawthorne show us how to knot a
Art Director
Melissa Simonian
bow tie; interrupt a pair of living legends, as Elvis Costello and Questlove talk about their new album
and unexpected collaboration; get a look into the work and legacy of screen legend Harry Dean Stanton; and explore the mind and
Editorial Interns
Jeff Murray
publishing laboratory of cartoonist Zak Sally. Plus: take a look behind the scenes of Ty Segall’s life through a disposable camera, chat
Design Interns
Shelby LaRosa, Ryley Schlachter
with Cass McCombs about his new album, and glimpse the future through Deltron 3030’s dystopic worldview, complete with classified
ads. We also take a fresh approach in getting to know Julianna Barwick, Braids, Delorean, Forest Swords, Happy Hollows, Julia Holter,
Jacuzzi Boys, PAPA, St. Lucia, and Warm Brew and in finding what’s new with The Dismemberment Plan, Man Man, Okkervil River,
Quasi, and Superchunk. Finally, Washed Out’s Ernest Green welcomes us into his personal fantasy world…whew! Best FILTER ever.
IN THE GUIDE
Need more FILTER in between issues? Head over to FILTERmagazine.com where you can download
the FILTER Good Music Guide for free. While you’re there, be sure to check out our back issues, the
latest of which features Queens of the Stones Age, Alt-J, Disclosure, Edgar Wright and Father John
#44 • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER ’13
ALT-J • DISCLOSURE
EDGAR WRIGHT
FATHER JOHN MISTY
Misty. And if your flight is already booked to Los Angeles this October for FILTER’s Culture Collide
festival, please stop by for a handshake and a beer of the world. We’ve got plenty of both to spare.
FILTER Creative Group
Natalie Anderson, Jacklyn Arding, Samantha Barnes,
Mike Bell, Sarah Chavey, Angelica Corona, Claire Crade,
Samantha Feld Samuelson, Jacqueline Fonseca,
Monique Gilbert, Wes Martin, William Overby,
Bailey Pennick, Kyle Rogers, Connie Tsang, Daniel Wheatley
Thank You
ON THE WEB
Visit FILTERmagazine.com for music news, MP3s, magazine features, extended interviews, contests, obsessive
compulsions and album reviews. To stay abreast of news and events in your town, sign up for the FILTER
Newsletter, delivered weekly to your email inbox. Cities served: Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Philadelphia,
Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, Portland, Austin, Washington D.C., London and more.
FILTER MAILBAG
We get a lot of mail here at the FILTER offices—some good, some bad, some…well, completely
unclassifiable. Send us something rad and you might see it here.
Ever thought, “How doth I long to record my majestic Shakespearean soliloquies with a
quality iPad microphone? How dost I record whilst on the go?” But halt, dear friend! What
ist this the light doth catch? The Blue Microphones Spark Digital studio mic engineered
McGuire family, Bagavagabonds, Elise Hennigan, Moby, Shannon Herber,
Shepard + Amanda Fairey, Dhani Harrison, David Zonshine, Kristin Lorey +
826LA, Jordanne Muldner + JLab Audio, Taylor Osumi, Mike Bauer, Wendy,
Sebastian and Lucia Sartirana, the Ragsdales, Pablo Sartirana, the Masons,
Pete-O, Rey, the Paikos family, Shaynee, Wig/Tamo and the SF crew,
Shappsy, Pipe, Dana Dynamite, Lisa O’Hara, Robb Nansel, Pam Ribbeck,
Susana Loy Rodriguez, Asher Miller, Autumn Rose Miller, Rachel Weissman,
Alejandra Gomez, Liz Gomez, The Simonian family, Maria Boutzoukas,
the Murphy and Stafford families, Nels, Ben/Alley + SVIIB
Advertising Inquiries
[email protected]
West Coast Sales: 323.464.4718 + East Coast Sales: 646.202.1683
Filter Good Music Guide is published by Filter Magazine LLC
5908 Barton Ave., Los Angeles CA 90038.
Vol. 1, No. 45, October-December 2013.
Filter Good Music Guide is not responsible for anything,
including the return or loss of submissions, or for any damage or
other injury to unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Any submission of
a manuscript or artwork should include a self-addressed envelope or
package of appropriate size, bearing adequate return postage.
thusly for iPad and USB!? Hearken! Thy day hath come, my downcast companion! With controls directly on the mic for volume,
gain and instant mute, the Spark Digital also offers a zero-latency headphones output for aspiring Avonian Willies and the raucous
rapscallions alike! Jubilations abound, my fellows! Prithee!
© 2013 by Filter Magazine LLC.
all rights reserved
filter is printed in the usa
FILTERmagazine.com
COVER PHOTO BY JENNIE WARREN
DISPLAY THROUGH SEPTEMBER ’13
Scribes
A.D. Amorosi, Jeffrey Brown, Mike Hilleary, Gianna Hughes,
Jessica Jean Jardine, Daniel Kohn, Zack Kraimer, Shane Ledford,
Kyle Lemmon, Kyle MacKinnel, Jeff Murray, Loren Auda Poin,
Adam Pollock, Jon Pruett, Robert Rea, Alejandro Rubio,
Phillip Schember, Ken Scrudato, Laura Studarus,
Adam Valeiras, Evan Wallis
For this special Culture Collide issue of the Guide, we asked some of the artists playing our festival to share some of their American tales with us.
ALICE RUSSELL UK
What was your first experience onstage in
front of an American audience like?
I’ve had the pleasure of hopping over the Pond
a few times now and I love it. The first thing I
noticed was that you guys are definitely a lot
more verbal as a crowd, heckling and urging
me on to go for it. I love that and the band and
I feed off that energy and give it right back.
Have you ever bought anything here that
you can’t buy at home that has become
part of your everyday life?
One staple: If it’s a crazy back-to-back tour
with loads of promo in between dates, I have
two Whole Foods essentials—kombucha for
hangover cure-all and tum settler, and “throat
coat” for my chops to keep them happy!
What American stereotypes have you
found to be true or false?
Well, when we first come to sample your
country, everything feels like the movies to
14 filter good music guide
us Brits. Most of us have grown up on a
diet of American films, so there are all
those images of the States implanted:
NYC’s iconic cabs and bustle, the expanse
and laidback vibe of LA… Also, you guys
are a lot more open and upfront than us
Brits, there is more openness to chatting to
strangers and whoever you may meet; you
will rarely get that on the London Tube
unless people have had a few drinks. And
you guys have an infectious optimism!
Have you been able to see many
American bands in the States?
Often when you are on tour you don’t get
the time to catch other bands. But every
now and then you get a night off or play at
a festival where you can go and hear other
bands, there are so many from the States
that I love: Rhye; Tyler, The Creator;
Frank Ocean; Georgia Anne Muldrow,
Fleet Foxes...too many to mention.
ADI
ULMANSKY
ISRAEL
What have you heard about
American audiences? What are
you looking forward to most about
playing in the States?
I don’t know about audiences
specifically, but from what I hear,
I think Americans are more openminded and liberal than most places,
mainly because of the huge and
diverse population. On the other side,
American audiences are exposed to
so much local music that they have
probably heard almost everything so it
may be harder to excite them. All in all,
I’m pretty excited. This is my first-ever
visit in the US, and different places and
people always excite me. It is going to
be really different.
Is there anything you are looking
forward to purchasing or trying out
in the States?
Haven’t decided yet on anything
specific, but chances are I’ll come back
with a little bit of musical equipment, a
little bit of photography gear and a little
bit of clothes. Well, you can probably
strike out the “little bit” on the last one.
heard about?
That you make a lot of money there! Sounds
good to me.
Have you been able to see many American
bands play live in your home country? What
bands from America do you like most?
Israeli culture is really influenced by American
culture. So many American bands and artists
come to Israel it is hard to keep track. I even
had the pleasure of playing the support act for
some American bands and artists like Blonde
Redhead and CRNKN! I’m also really into the
whole OFWGKTA group, Angel Haze, Flying
Lotus and many more.
What are you looking forward to most
about Culture Collide festival?
Can’t wait to hear a lot of amazing new bands
and artists!
What have you heard about American
audiences? What are you looking forward
to most about playing in the States?
We have never been in America, but we think
that American audiences are open, friendly and
they like high-quality and good music. We are
so excited to play in the best musical country in
the world and exchange with American people.
Is there anything you are looking forward
to purchasing or trying out in the States?
We would like to try American restaurants and
buy some stuff made in America because we
need to bring gifts to our family when we come
back. Also we will plan to visit some recording
studios in Los Angeles.
Will you be able to see other parts of
America? What are you looking forward to
most about Los Angeles?
Of course! We would like to visit New York and
see the Statue of Liberty. We look forward
to visiting the mountains of Hollywood
and the beaches of Los Angeles.
BOMBAY
SHOW PIG
THE NETHERLANDS
heard about?
American people are direct, nice, friendly,
smart, creative and they like to work.
Have you been able to see many
American bands play live in your
home country? What bands from
America do you like most?
We like Outkast, Jay Z, Fugees, The Black
Eyed Peas, Wu-Tang Clan, 2pac, Dr. Dre,
Eminem... Yes, we saw Wyclef Jean, Akon,
Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Last
Poets and Lloyd Banks from G-Unit.
What are you looking forward to
most about Culture Collide?
We look forward to play in the Culture
Collide festival, to participate in the Drinks
of the World and to meet Mike Bell.
ANNA VAN KOOIJ
BENEEN
SQUAD
SENEGAL
front of an American audience like? Was
it comparable to playing at home?
Matias Janmaat: The first show we played in
the US was at Pianos in New York, and it was
actually the first show we did as a duo. We used
to be a trio, but then we kicked the singer out
and recorded a new album. We were mixing
the album in Brooklyn with Eli Janney (Girls
Against Boys) and so we tested the new stuff
first on the NYC crowd. For the most part it’s
the same as playing at home, but there’s just a
lot more going on in a city like New York so
people have higher standards, I guess. The big
difference, though, is that you get paid in PBR!
What are some things you bought in
America?
Linda Van Leeuwen: Our manager/producer
Simon bought a really cool tabla drum
machine in New York and for some mental
support he played it with us onstage at Pianos.
We also took it on a night out, ended up at
Webster Hall and rocked it in the main hall,
right on the bar. It got us some free whiskeys.
Also, we bought one of these USB-hubs for
the car, to have more outlets. We plugged all
of our devices in…then smoke came out of the
dash! The socket died, we returned the rental
van and forgot about it.
When you were in America, did you find
anything that surprised you pleasantly?
Linda: We were in Austin when we heard
we got an extra show in LA. It turned out to
be this cool illegal bar that opened at 2 a.m.
called The Overpass. It was a really fun
but also kind of weird show; people were
totally out of their minds on all kinds of
substances. Hope it still exists when come
back in October!
Matias: We encountered some stereotypes
in Austin during SXSW back in March when
we played a locals-only backyard minifestival called SXDW (South by Dale West).
It was a good blend of Vietnam veterans and
redneck hippies! One of the best crowds
we’ve ever had.
What are you looking forward to most
about Culture Collide?
Matias: I’m looking forward to seeing Rhye
and The Raveonettes. We might even have
a special guest joining us on bass for a few
songs: Adrian Rodriguez, from Hanni El
Khatib! Stoked for that.
Linda: I just “really wanna be in LA.”
—Eagles of Death Metal
GHOST WAVE NEW ZEALAND
front of an American audience like? Was it
comparable to playing at home?
In America, the vibe for us is always good, especially
for shows. At home, we’re a lot more comfortable,
in that we know a handful of people in the crowd
most of the time, whereas in the States it’s a lot nicer
for me in the sense that we’re immersed in a sort of
alien territory.
What are some things you bought in America
on tour here?
Last time we were in the States we bought quite
a lot of new gear; I mostly like to look at random
percussion instruments. There’s just a bigger range
of stuff to choose from in the States. I have a Vox
12-string that I got in America; that’s all I use onstage
at the moment. We’re looking for 6-string hollow
bodies when we’re over this time.
When you were in America, did you find
anything that surprised you?
I was quite surprised how open people are about
whether they sell drugs or not.
What American stereotypes have
you found to be true or false?
People
thinking
we’re
from
England was sort of funny, like how
stereotypically no one knows where
New Zealand is. In a way, everything
is kind of a stereotype in the USA—
DJs, gangsters and a general obsession
with shopping—but when you scratch
under the surface there’s a lot weirder
stuff going on and that’s always more
interesting...it’s sort of hard to tell
what’s what, like a weird dream.
Mostly I’m looking forward to playing;
we have a lot of new material and a
new percussion player so I’m feeling
good to come and play overseas
again. I’m looking forward to seeing
The Raveonettes, and generally just
soaking it up for a few days.
MAYA
VIK
NORWAY
Is playing in the States comparable
to playing at home?
I don’t think there’s much of a difference
between the American audience and
the Norwegian one, actually; to my
experience, they’re quite similar. But
I’ve played some shows in Japan, for
example—now that’s a difference you
can notice: the audience is extremely
polite, clapping just briefly in between
songs and not talking during your set.
So I think the American/Norwegian
audience is about the same; it’s all about
having a good time, talking to your
friends while the band plays and having
one too many beers [laughs].
America on tour here?
I just bought a Yamaha DX7. I guess I’ll
be using that on tour here in the States.
Bringing instruments into the country
can be expensive, so I thought this was
the perfect alibi to finally get a classic
synth onboard in the live set. Other than
that, maybe some crazy live outfits.
Have you found anything in America
that surprised you pleasantly?
I find people in the industry and
musicians to be very helpful and
supportive of each other. Back home,
it can sometimes feel more like a
competition. I feel that’s a big difference
here. Maybe that’s the naïve me talking,
but that’s the way my experience has
been and I love it.
What American stereotypes have you found
to be true or false?
Somebody told me that in LA they’ll stab you in
the back and in NY they’ll stab you in the front—I
still haven’t experienced any stabbing either in the
front or back, so fingers crossed that won’t happen.
What bands from America do you like most?
Have you been able to see many American
bands in the States?
I’m a huge Minneapolis ’80s funk fanatic, and
pretty much all the R & B and hip-hop acts that I
really like are from America. I still haven’t gotten
the chance to see many shows here, unfortunately.
I just saw Goodie Mob in Brooklyn and I saw
James Brown in NYC before he died—that was
sad and incredible at the same time, he was a
legend. Hoping to see The-Dream or Dawn
Richard sometime soon. I’ll get better at checking
out more gigs this time around.
What are you looking forward to most about
Culture Collide?
Colliding with other cultures! And to play!
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MUMIY TROLL RUSSIA
What was your first experience onstage
in front of an American audience like?
Our first gig in the US was to play some
Russian party at some very strange
banquet hall in Brooklyn that turned into a
nightclub for one night only. NYC is full of
Russians, so it was not very different from
playing at home. Since then, we’ve played
club gigs all over the country; the most
memorable was Pontiac where we played
a tiny venue next door to a hip-hop party
and Dinosaur Jr. gig. So we had a dozen
curious people who took the wrong door
and stayed, realizing that our performance
was much more exciting.
Have you ever bought anything here
that you can’t buy at home?
Almost all our gear, including flight cases
and guitar picks, have been purchased
here. It’s simply cheaper than at home and
anywhere in Europe. And it is tax-free in
Oregon. I recommend it to everyone.
Have you found anything in America
Musicians in general have a much more
developed sense of camaraderie
[here] than back home. I met a lot of
cool people along the road who were
willing to help and ready to work very,
very hard just for the chance to stay
with music. It’s inspiring.
The tastiest Coca-Cola does not have
an American origin—it’s bottled in
Mexico.
Were you able to see many
American bands in the States
while you were here?
One of the best shows I saw in the
States was Mutemath. They are really
a great modern band. I wish they
were known more outside the US.
To meet co-minded performers from
all over the world. To discover my
next favorite band and invite them to
join us on a Russian tour.
THE
GREAT WILDERNESS
COSTA RICA
What was your first experience
onstage in front of an American
audience like?
Our first experience was at SXSW 2012,
which was hectic but amazing. The
audience was great and we had lots of fun.
We found that American audiences are
somewhat different from Costa Rican ones
because if they like what you’re doing, they
pay attention to the music. At home, most
people tend to go out to gigs to have fun
and catch up with friends, which is cool but
some of them like to chat while the band is
playing, which is not cool at all.
Have you ever bought anything in
America that you can’t buy at home
that has become part of your everyday
life?
We bought some things last time we played
in America; most of them can be found in
Costa Rica but at much higher prices. I
remember my sole goal was to find Game
of Thrones: Season Two and, yes, that’s a big
part of my life now. Jimena, our guitarist,
got some gear for her camera and it’s been
very useful for her career as a photographer.
This time, we need to buy a new tuner and
videogames, it’s a must.
We always heard Americans were kind of
rude to Latin rock bands, but let me tell
you, that’s not true at all. Americans can be
open-minded and warm-hearted. We can’t
wait to see you guys again.
Were you able to see many American bands in the
States while you were here? What bands from America
do you like most?
We love a whole bunch of American bands like Interpol,
R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Soft Moon, The Flaming Lips,
Swans, Washed Out and many more. They all influence our
sound in their own ways. Last time, we saw a lot of American
artists; the festival environment allows you to just walk in
and out of venues to check out whatever you like. I guess the
most memorable moment with an American artist was when
I unexpectedly met Daniel Johnston. I’ve always admired
the heart he puts in his music, he’s a sweet soul. This year
we’ve arranged everything so we can go see Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club live. It’s one of our favorites and I think
we’ll scream like teenage girls. Trika, our drummer, is trying
to go see Minus the Bear, he really likes them.
Culture Collide?
Wow. Can I just say everything? Culture Collide is the most
exciting and diverse experience we’ve been invited to so far.
None of us has ever been to LA, so there’s that, and I have
to be honest now: I couldn’t believe everything there is to
do and see after watching 2012 Culture Collide recap video.
We feel honored to be part of this great thing.
CHATEAU MARMONT BY JULIEN MIGNOT; PRATA VETRA BY ANTON CORBIJN
coming to america
CHATEAU
MARMONT
FRANCE
front of an American audience like? Was it
comparable to playing at home?
It was in Chicago two years ago. Not really
like a gig at home, the audience was there to
watch a gig, to have some beers; in France,
you go to see a specific band, and you’re less
enthusiastic. And a lot of pubs have a stage in
the US—it’s a country of music.
Have you ever bought anything here that
you can’t buy at home?
Nothing special: shirts, records, mostly books
that haven’t been traduced in French. We
bought a lot of burgers, but back in France, the
digestion was over.
Did you find anything in America
Yes: nobody’s judging you by the way
you look. We saw so many eccentric
clothes and people, and it was normal.
And that’s cool. This type of tolerance
is priceless.
Your taste for guns, maybe. We know
it’s a part of your “history,” but for us it’s
very surprising and unpleasant. Back in
Phoenix, the cab driver had to put his
.38 in the trunk before taking us. And
the venues in the South ask to leave
guns at the entrance! We’re not used
to that.
What bands from America do you
like most?
The Allman Brothers, Joni Mitchell,
Tom Petty, Kings of Leon, Bruce
Springsteen, Wilco, The Black Crowes,
Steely Dan...the new MGMT sounds
good. Drug music.
To spend a good time with cool bands,
nice weather and cool vibes in the
Californian lifestyle.
PRATA
VETRA
LATVIA
What was your first experience
onstage in front of an American
audience like? Was it comparable to
playing at home?
We played SXSW in Austin two years ago
and it felt like we’d returned some 20
years ago to Latvia when we had our first
gigs in Riga’s pubs or clubs. A tiny place
and around 30 people in the audience,
mostly our friends. But it was OK, we
enjoyed our performance. The other
show was in Chicago around five years
ago and it was for a Latvian audience, so it
actually felt like playing at home.
America on tour here? Have you ever
bought anything here that you can’t
buy at home?
I can’t remember anything particular,
some clothes and shoes probably. Some
percussions. Oh, yes! We bought a golden
underpants in Chicago for our drummer
Kaspars, as he had a birthday. I haven’t
seen him wearing them, but who knows,
maybe returning to USA will remind him
about this beautiful gift.
When you were in America, did you
find anything that surprised you
pleasantly?
Our previous trip to LA was great as it
was the first time we drove with a car
into the desert. And we saw the Grand
Canyon and Death Valley and Las Vegas.
Really impressive—the mighty mountains
and ocean during the night. But then
again, New York, Chicago and Dallas—
everywhere, you feel this “something”
that you can’t experience at home.
What American stereotypes did you find to be
true or false?
Driving from Austin to Dallas, at all the places we
stopped we found really unhealthy food—mostly fast
food, chips. I didn’t notice everybody smiling as they
say, but when I did see it, I found it very attractive and
sincere.
What bands from America do you like most?
Were you able to see many American bands in
the States while you were here?
The Killers are one of my favorite bands! And The
Raconteurs. We haven’t seen a lot, no. But we did
see many artists and bands which participated
every Tuesday night in Club Helsinki Hudson’s free
microphone party in beautiful Hudson, New York,
some 200 kilometers from NYC, as we were recording
our latest album Another Still Life there at our friends
Steve’s house.
Culture Collide?
We definitely will be there when our friends
Instrumenti from Latvia and Mumiy Troll from Russia
will perform. Otherwise, I will just let myself flow and
see where it takes me. F
Though they came up in New York City (with 2001 debut They Threw Us All in a Trench…
and 2004’s They Were Wrong, So We Drowned), and took it all apart in Berlin (for 2006’s
Drum’s Not Dead and 2007’s Liars), the three members of Liars first met at the turn of the
century in Los Angeles, while vocalist (and native Australian) Angus Andrew and drummer
(and native Angeleno) Julian Gross attended CalArts together in Valencia and multiinstrumentalist (and native Angeleno) Aaron Hemphill worked in a local record store. Now,
the Southland’s sprawling metropolis is the band’s full-time home and notably where their
last two records (2010’s Sisterworld and 2012’s WIXIW) were written and recorded.
Gathered in the living room of Gross’s house perched atop Elysian Park, affording huge
views of downtown and beyond, here Liars discuss the diversity of the City of Angels, how they
find respite from the constant, maddening influx of media, why they embraced Los Angeles on
Sisterworld before isolating themselves for WIXIW, and the city’s great unifier: the taco.
To Live
and
Lie in L A
By Breanna Murphy
Photos by Zen Sekizawa
good music guide filter 23
The idea of the title speaks to the different places
within the city that you can develop as your own world.
And the kinda great thing about Los Angeles is: it’s
not even that far between the different worlds. It’s an
incredibly sprawling place, obviously, but even if you
were in Boyle Heights, for example, it’s a completely
different world to Los Feliz, which is 10 minutes away.
And the way that people interact in the environment,
it’s so oppositional. That is what one of the best things
about the city is, that it’s not homogeneous.
Aaron: Sisterworld is less about “LA is bad” and is more
[about] freely expressing [the] different sort-of miniutopias. It’s very up and down. As far as whether or not
it’s a “positive” statement on Los Angeles or not, I think
it’s more of an acknowledgment. You know, it seems like
people create these pockets of their ideal life as a result
of rejection or whatnot. You move from the Midwest and
you try to create something in the desert that resembles
something better. There’s something really exciting
about creating this secondhand utopia as a result of
being in an alien environment.
Angus: It’s a place you’re constantly discovering and it’s
hard to imagine ever really getting a grasp on it.
After spending a large amount of time working and
living away from Los Angeles, what was it like to
return?
Aaron Hemphill: We had made two albums in Berlin
and it was a really great period of time for creativity and
work, but we wanted to make a record where things were
much more simple. Just to see how that would be and to
have a change in the working environment. And that’s
what ended up happening with Sisterworld. It was about
Los Angeles, our different perspectives on it and how it
affected us differently.
Angus Andrew: It was also a broader spectrum. We left
New York for Berlin right in the thick of the [George W.]
Bush era with Iraq and Saddam. It was all very heavy right
then. And it felt like a really great time to just get away
from America, you know? It was all a bit overwhelming—
this constant fear. It was great to come back [when]
everyone was really excited. It was the beginning of
the election for Obama, gay rights was really big in Los
Angeles [with] Prop 8, and there were marches… It felt
really positive. And that is a really exciting thing to jump
into. It was a really positive time to re-inject back into the
American psyche.
Part of being re-energized is to kind of cope with
the overwhelming nature of American culture. I think
that if you live here all your life, it’s hard to notice how
engrossing it can be, and when you go away it’s such a
reprieve. But, I really like that about being in America.
It feels like there’s constantly stuff to look at and think
about. Being able to get away from it awhile, it makes you
appreciate it a little bit more.
Aaron: Berlin, for me, and possibly Julian, gave me more
of a perspective of how Angus feels living in America.
Growing up here, I can take for granted that it’s a new
environment. It made me realize how shocking America
can be and how that can affect you. It’s very different. [LA
is] not really like any city I’ve ever been to in the world.
For good reasons and bad.
Angus: It was great to move back and to work on a record
that was talking about LA, to come back with a fresh
perspective and really analyze it in a way that I don’t think
we’d taken the time to before. It’s so intricate and there
are so many facets to it.
The fact that Sisterworld is conceptually about
Los Angeles is not overt when you listen to it, but,
personally, what was the tone you set in discussing
the city while writing that record?
Angus: Los Angeles is really interesting because it’s not
just one place for all people; it’s really diverse in the way
that people develop their own environment and their own
surroundings and niches and subcultures, basically. We
were really interested in thinking about how people live
in the city, but in completely different ways. Obviously,
there’re huge extremes from really rich people to really
poor people, but if you came from the Midwest to work
in the porn industry and all you do is hang out in the San
Fernando Valley, that’s your world out there. It’s very
different to what it’s like to people who’ve emigrated from
Mexico, they live in a different part of the city and that’s
their enclave.
After Sisterworld embraced Los Angeles, for
WIXIW you inhabited a space in the woods beyond
the boundaries of the city to write and an industrial
warehouse space downtown to record. How did
those different perspectives affect what came out
of them?
Aaron: Sisterworld was definitely focused on our
environment and WIXIW, on the contrary, was recorded
and written in the forest and in the middle of the city. I
think it goes to show our mindset for that record. It was
a lot about anxiety and fear and we were really isolated.
The forest and the city didn’t really seem to find their
way into [WIXIW] because we were just in our space.
They are very extreme differences in environment, but
it was more about our own anxieties as a result, so it
was more exploring us, as people. It is very much about
ourselves, our internal relationships and with each other,
and possibly the effects of Los Angeles and how you
would draw and create your own environment. I think
that record is one of our most personal efforts.
What is your favorite place in the city?
Angus: I think that people who aren’t from LA wouldn’t
be aware of how much “nature” there is available. I think
the common conception from outside of LA it’s that it’s
just a car culture with freeways. But, it’s really riddled with
incredible places to walk and hike, you know? Whether it’s
Griffith Park or Runyon Canyon or Malibu Creek. Right
near where I live is Debs Park. You can hike up there, and
you get to a point where you have a view of the whole city
and, for me, it’s a really easy, quick [way] where you can
turn everything off, go there, and get away. I think that if
they weren’t here, I’d have a lot more trouble feeling like
I could survive. Even right here, within Elysian Park, it’s
so much bigger than you think.
Julian: It’s a crazy massive park. I didn’t even know that
about it until I moved here. This is how big this is? Right
next to downtown and Echo Park and the 5? It’s quiet and
it feels like you’re three hours away. The great thing about
LA is it’s so easy to do so many weird things, like there’s
desert, there’s snow, there’s hot springs, there’s beaches…
You can pack so many things in here. I love that.
When you’re away from Los Angeles, what is one
thing you miss most?
Angus: Tacos [laughs]. Especially when we’re on tour,
we’ll even have the conversation: “What are you going
to eat first when we get back?” And it’s always tacos. It’s
funny because in Australia, my brother will be like, “Yeah,
you know we’ve got a great taco spot in Sydney now,” and
I’m like, “Uh, no you don’t. I don’t even have to try them
because I know that there’s no way that you do.”
Julian: That’s where I always want to take people who
come here. You don’t want to take them to a Mexican
restaurant; you want to find the little stand that you like
the most that’s outside, with a cast-iron sombrero filled
with meat and grease.
Angus: And it’s so simple, too, because the taco trucks
are just that good.
Aaron: It’s something people just don’t understand, and
it seems so trivial until you’re actually in love with it. F
Moby
THE
INNOVATOR
By Jessica Jean Jardine
Photos by Jennie Warren
“Richard Melville Hall” is
the kind of name that could easily be imagined
emblazoned on the front of a professor’s office
door, leading to a room overflowing with stacks
of books and papers. As a descendent of the
writer Herman Melville, it makes sense then that
this Mr. Hall—or Moby, as he’s professionally
known—would possess a certain air of academia.
He’s utterly composed, from the tea he sips to his
ability to deftly string together thoughtful analysis
on topics ranging from architecture to evolution.
This might be a somewhat newer phase for the
multi-platinum recording artist, who rocketed
into the stratosphere with his 1999 hit record
Play—which he famously licensed in its entirety
to various film and commercials—and the
subsequent follow-up, 18. He’s kicked drinking
and drugs and has moved out of Manhattan and
into a spired castle in the Hollywood Hills, where
the sun shines brightly on the perfect 360-degree
view of the city sprawl below him.
As tiny lizards jitter around the property,
Moby reflects on his 30 years of making music
and the unimaginable highs and lows of finding
massive commercial success. His new, 11th
album Innocents also stamps this moment in
Moby’s career and was recorded in his own
bedroom studio with co-producer Mark “Spike”
Stent (Massive Attack, Björk) and features
guest vocalists Mark Lanegan, Wayne Coyne
and Skylar Grey. The record shows a dazzling
spectrum of sound that is entirely Moby’s—
soulful vocals over brooding, cinematic synths—
while pushing into newer, more jubilant territory,
as on his Coyne duet, “Perfect Life.” On this
particularly sizzling LA day, Moby sat with the
Guide to discuss Innocents, the importance of
both adaptability and earplugs and why his only
new tour dates will be within walking distance of
his house.
What was your process going into the recording of Innocents? You
have a tremendous amount of experience in the industry and that
must inform how you go into making an album.
Well, I never expected to make music and have anyone pay attention to
it. In 1990, I got my first real record deal. When I say, “real record deal,”
it was with a label that didn’t have a logo, office or put out records. And I
was really happy. The first few shows I ever played were with my punkrock band in high school. Our first show was to a dog and I’m not even
exaggerating. We didn’t have that many friends and no one showed up. The
only one there was the other guitar player’s dog named Sparky and we still
played our full set…to no one.
I just assumed that was normal: That there are some people who made
music that got listened to and then people like me who made music that no
one was ever going to listen to. I never expected to have a record deal. And
then in the ’90s, as I was making music and people were paying attention
to it, it was very confusing to me. I was trying to figure out, first, how do
you make a record? And then, how do you make a record that will keep the
record company happy? And then, how do you make a record that might
get played at radio and how do you make a record that you’ll love? It’s like
trying to satisfy all of this different criteria and I was never very good at it.
Play became very successful and suddenly I got caught up in this idea of
“how do I keep this going?” because I really liked that success. But it was
baffling and, suddenly, I was drinking too much, doing too many drugs,
going to tons of parties, touring constantly. So, for the next couple of records
I was really trying to figure out how to make music that I liked but that
would sell well, that radio would like, that the record label would like and…
[pause] I’m just not good at it.
So, with this record—I don’t expect people to buy records. I don’t
expect the press to listen to it or review it. I kind of thought, “Oh, there’s
no incentive to think about anything other than just making this record.”
I get to go into this studio with these weird collaborators and try to make
something I like because even if it’s the best record in the whole world,
it’s still not going to sell very well. I should enjoy the process of making
the record and there’s no temptation to start thinking about radio. Because
what commercial radio station plays music made by a 48-year-old guy? It
just doesn’t happen. Or, they’ll play music by 48-year-old guys who made hit
records when they were 24. You can still hear Smashing Pumpkins [songs]
on KROQ that they made in 1990. So the process for Innocents had an
accidental purity to it: “just making music with no expectations except for
trying to make something you like.”
The Innocents tour only involves three shows at the
same venue in Hollywood. Why did you decide not
to tour farther away than the bottom of your hill for
this record?
It’s a tricky thing to talk about because musicians who can
go on tour should never complain about going on tour.
It’s hard to express my true feelings about going on tour
without sounding like a whiny, complain-y musician but
what I’ve found is that I’m really happy in my studio in my
house working on music. I don’t really like going on tour.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going on tour.
When I drank, going on tour was awesome. Now the things
that I like about being alive are things that generally you
can only have at home. Things like adopting dogs, trying
to have real relationships, sleeping well, being relatively
healthy, eating well…and a lot of these things require daily
maintenance. In order to have healthy relationships, you
can’t go away for a year. And first and foremost, being able
to wake up and work on music—which I can’t do if I go
on tour.
You lived a lot of your life in New York and now
you’re in LA. How has that affected your approach
to making music?
I think part of it is the vastness of LA. Because I was born
in Harlem, grew up in Connecticut and lived in New York
for a very long time—everything is little. The only way I
can describe it is that everything is human. If you’re in
Europe or in you’re in New England, people have been
there for a very long time and it’s all scaled to humans
so that everything is close. When you walk around—
wherever you go in New England or the Mid-Atlantic
states—you think that humans rule the world. Then,
you come to LA and there’s this huge conglomeration of
people but 10 miles away, emptiness; just complete, lifethreatening emptiness. That feels like a big influence,
just the weirdness of nature here. If you leave New York
and you go for a drive, you go up to Connecticut and it’s
cute or you drive into New Jersey and go to Princeton and
everything’s kind of gentle.
You come here and drive to Joshua Tree and you’re
like, “Oh, if we didn’t have water, we’d be dead.” This
might sound off, but in a weird way New York has this
frenetic buzz to it whereas LA has a low hum that sort
of starts fading once you get into the desert; this quiet,
weird, pulsing hum of emptiness. It’s weird that a place
with 20 million people would feel empty but there is just
that sprawling emptiness.
You’ve long had an interest in architecture and keep
a Tumblr devoted to it. Where did that start for you?
It started when I was really young. My mom and I
were very poor and we lived in one of the wealthiest
towns in the world: Darien, Connecticut. We were
living in a garage apartment and most of my friends
lived in beautiful suburban homes with pools and
golden retrievers. I just became hyper-aware of the
difference between my living environment and their
living environment. I started being very analytical
about it and also ashamed. I would go back to my garage
apartment and think, “This is really kind of grim.” But
I was also becoming aware of why their houses felt
different: “When I walk into their living room and I feel
comfortable, why do I feel comfortable?” That’s where
my interest in architectural aesthetics came from.
When people come to you for advice on how to
tackle the music industry and still get to be making
music in the way that you are now, what do you
pass along?
My advice is: wear earplugs. Because no one wants
to have a career in music and be deaf at 40. I started
wearing earplugs when I was 16. I went to see the
Misfits and the next day I was writing my college
application paper and couldn’t focus because my ears
were ringing so badly. A little light went on in my
head and I thought, “Oh, I should start protecting my
hearing.” The downside of that is that most people who
produce records are hearing impaired and as a result,
they make really big, bright-sounding records. If you
listen to hip-hop and dance music and pop music, these
are people whose hearing is not that great and so they
make really bright-sounding records that sound amazing
on the radio. My records are sort of mixed like a Neil
Young record: a lot of quiet. You go back and listen to
Cat Stevens and Nick Drake and these were guys who
were never really exposed to loud music. They’re folk
musicians and they would make really gentle-sounding
records because their hearing was perfect.
So, my advice is to wear hearing protection and avoid
Class-A narcotics. That’s not to malign Class-A narcotics
but they really do mess up a lot of people’s lives. And very
few people can make good records under the influence
of Class-A narcotics. Like, David Bowie made Station To
Station doing a lot of cocaine but most cocaine records are
not very good. You know, The Rolling Stones made heroin
records and that’s amazing, but a lot of heroin records are
just not very good.
Then, learn how to do everything. Learn how to write
songs. Learn how to play live. Learn how to deejay. Learn
how to write classical music for movies because that’s the
world in which we live. The old days of just being a bass
player, sadly, that’s not really a viable career option. In that
way, whatever opportunity comes to you, you’ll be good at.
So the industry changes have also created a need to
be better-versed at everything, rather than just the
single niche that interests you.
It’s adaptability. If looked at from an evolutionary
perspective, as a species, we shouldn’t exist. We don’t
know how to fly. We’re not terribly strong. We can’t see
particularly well. We don’t have an amazing sense of
smell. Our hearing is OK. We don’t have fur. We don’t
have flippers. We’re so ill-adapted but we somehow
have flexibility. We also, unfortunately, have cunning
ambitiousness. I think that the thing that served us really
well is being afraid. If you go back 100,000 years, our
ancestors who were afraid of everything tended to live.
The really courageous, curious ones got eaten. So that’s
our evolutionary inheritance: fear, viciousness, cunning
but also flexibility.
Do you consider yourself a particularly adaptable
artist when you look at your career?
Oh, I think I’m accidentally very adaptable. I grew up
playing classical music and then punk-rock and I was a
hip-hop DJ for a while. My manager pointed this out to
me: there was one week last year where I played bass with
a punk-rock band, did a DJ set at a festival, played a live
acoustic set and recorded an orchestra for the last Bourne
movie. And I’m not saying I’m good at any of this but it’s
all the product of adaptability and saying, “Yes, I know how
to do all of these things.” It doesn’t make me an expert at
any of them. It’s really just adaptability ideally born out of
total enthusiasm. F
B y A l e ja n d r o R u b i o
In August of 1968, James Brown’s single “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” climbed to the
Number One spot on the R & B charts, broke the Billboard 100’s Top 10 and became the unofficial
anthem of the Black Panther Party. While somewhat extraordinary, Brown’s single belongs to that
grand tradition of R & B that once addressed political and social unrest from the dance floor. Brown,
like his peers Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye, produced music that simultaneously
engaged in an international sociopolitical conversation while also scuffing the floors of the local dance
hall. But even though this tradition has arguably faded from the mainstream, there still exists a socially
conscious and scantily clad showman who’s on a mission to bring R & B back to the conversation.
Hailing from Montreal by way of Berlin, King Khan first appeared on the scene in the mid ’90s
with The Spaceshits and has since etched out a legendary, if not notorious, musical career with bands
like The King Khan & BBQ Show and the Almighty Defenders. But this fall’s release of Idle No More
signals the triumphant return of perhaps his most impassioned project, King Khan & The Shrines, and
it’s clear that this man and his organization are committed to something big. The Guide caught up with
the Culture Collide headliner and talked to him about his new album, how meeting his heroes led to
adverse and uncertain effects, as well as the roles of pop music in today’s politics. Hit me!
King Khan: Well, we never really disbanded, it just took a
lot longer because there were a lot of personal things that
happened during the process that were pretty heavy duty,
but in a lot of ways I think this album kinda represents
the whole healing process that had to happen in that time.
Would you mind talking about what those heavy
duty things were?
Yeah, I lost three really important people to me in the span
of a few years. Also, existentially I reached a point where I
just didn’t know where to go. Me and BBQ got invited to
Australia by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson and we hung
out with them, and a month before that—on tour with
the Defenders—I got invited by Alejandro Jodorowsky
to come to his house and learn tarot from him. In some
ways, those are the people that are some of the biggest
influences in my whole life, and to be invited to the table
to meet with them was pretty heavy duty and I felt like it
was just a lot of things happening at once and it all led to
kind of a big meltdown.
Is there something strange about meeting and being
accepted by your heroes?
Yeah, definitely, because at some point you’re just
wondering what you’re gonna do after that. But more than
that it was losing people in your life who are important to
you, and a lot of these really heavy experiences basically
change the way you look at everything, and for me it kind
of tipped me over because I hadn’t really dealt with the
grief properly. I had to go and get help and go through
the rounds of basically putting my brain into zero. For
example, the song “Darkness” was really one of the first
songs I wrote after two years of being on this heavy
medication that I had weaned myself off of. I felt like
[“Darkness”] was the first light in the tunnel because at
a certain point I didn’t even know if I’d be able to write
music anymore.
Do you feel like those experiences separate Idle No
More from the others you’ve put out?
For me, personally, this one was a healing
process and the memories that are connected
to the songs are quite special. People have told
me they still feel a certain form of celebration
in the music and that’s why I’ve always written
music in the tradition of what gospel music
was back then, when people were treated
so badly and lived in such terrible pain but
would just get together and make this glorious
sound. I think nowadays this kind of music
to heal the soul is very needed, especially
now that pop music has nothing to do with
revolution. I think that’s kind of a mission that
I’m on and that I’ve always been on and I feel
closer to it now than ever before.
These songs certainly do speak to current
socio-political issues. What motivated
you to address them?
Well, I named the album Idle No More after
the great aboriginal movement which is
happening; it was just incredibly frustrating
to see how little people knew about this
movement. I’m watching it all from over here in Germany,
but asking people I knew all over America—they had no
idea. It’s kind of scary for me to think how the right wing
is just taking control of media and how the people who
are really fighting the good fight aren’t supported enough
at all. In hopes of spreading the word I got in touch with
them and asked their permission to use it and they were
excited about the idea.
Do you feel like there’s something about soul music
that makes it such an effective vehicle for addressing
these issues of social unrest?
I think it’s like a primal scream—that scream can come
from such pain but it also can be a celebrational scream,
like James Brown had. There’s something about the way
that desperation can be converted into a very positive
thing. I think that’s what’s great about soul music: you
internalize this pain and you make something that
people can enjoy. So, I think that it’s a kind of a spiritual
service in the way that I like to make music. When we
take it on the road and into these cities, people really
come and it’s like they’re seeking salvation, so in that
spirit it’s nice to go out and get crazy at a rock-and-roll
show. [Laughs.]
Do you have any personal favorites on Idle No More?
I think “Darkness” and “Of Madness I Dream” had a
lot of emotional connection and I feel like those songs
[symbolize] being able to climb a mountain and conquer
it. I think that the ultimate message of music is to be
positive and to have hope, even if it’s in these crazy,
fucked-up times.
I feel like your album has the same vibe as Curtis
Mayfield’s first record. You both mixed personal
issues with socio–political agendas and it came
together really well.
That’s really gratifying to hear—that kind of interpretation
of it. It’s just the same feeling I got when I was asked by
[John B. Smith] of The Invaders to do the music for their
documentary. Someone who worked so hard for civil
rights at that time, to feel that feeling of revolution in my
music is just the highest honor. So, I’m happy that gets
conveyed and ultimately I’m really excited to see what this
music will inspire in the future. Viva la revolución! F
OPENING SPREAD: MIRON ZOWNIR; LEFT HAND PAGE: MATIAS CORRAL; THIS PAGE: TIGER LILLY
It’s been almost five years since the last Shrines
album. What made you want to get everyone back
together and record Idle No More?
When you are the greatest comedy–music band in the world, and you have been the greatest comedy–music band in
the world for pretty much all of your comedy–music band career, what remains for you to look forward to? Do you sit
idly on your golden throne of comedy–music greatness? Do you buy small- to medium-sized countries to pit against
one another for your own amusement? Or, do you create a comedy–music festival so rich in talent, so grand in scope,
so clean in toilet that there is nothing else to call it but “Festival Supreme”?
The answer, of course, is to buy small- to medium-sized countries to pit against one another for your own
amusement create a comedy–music festival so rich in talent, so grand in scope, so clean in toilet that there is nothing
else to call it but “Festival Supreme.”
Here, Jack Black and Kyle Gass of the greatest comedy–music band in the world, Tenacious D, take us through
their step-by-step guide for putting on their own first-ever Festival Supreme, a one-day gathering in October on the
Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles featuring comedy–music legends (Adam Sandler), up-and-comers (Garfunkel and
Oates) and, admittedly, a bunch of other famous people whose email addresses Jack Black knows somehow (Zach
Galifianakis, Flight of the Conchords, Tim and Eric, etc.). Read on as The D reveal how to get the best acts, the best
toilets, the best mustards and also how to handle a little friendly rivalry with another LA-area festival [cough, cough].
BE FIR ST
BE INVINCIBLE
Jack Black: Here’s how you make the greatest comedy–music festival. [Pause.] You just
make a comedy–music festival, because there’s never been one. So it is the best automatically.
Kyle Gass: There’s no competition.
Jack: That’s how you make the best one, because you’ve made the only one of all
time. Unless someone fucking steals your idea and does a comedy–music festival right
before you.
Jack: If we were just a band, like, I don’t know, name any band…
Kyle: Coldplay!
Jack: If we were Coldplay and we were like, [in a British accent] “Hey, we’re Coldplay
and we wanna put on a comedy–music festival…” No, that doesn’t work. ’Cause they’re
actually so huge they could do it if they wanted to. Name another band at our level…who’s
at our level? Down in the trenches?
Kyle: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs?
Jack: No, I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, they’d put on a good festival. I guess what I’m saying
is, anyone else putting on a festival, people would say, “Oh man, they really think a lot of
themselves, they’re putting on a festival, oh wow…” But we are allowed to do it and no
one talks shit about us because our whole existence is that we are the greatest band in the
world! To do it, you have to be…
Kyle: You have to have that kind of brazen, fun arrogance.
Jack: You can’t spit on us because we have already spit on ourselves! What are you going
to do? Are you going to say we are a joke? We already said we are a joke! You can’t hurt
us. We are going to do a festival; it’s going to be the biggest, best in the world! And then
what are they going to do, tell us we are fucking idiots? We know we’re idiots! We started
the idiot campaign! That’s the answer to your question: to put on the greatest festival of all
time, you have to be invincible.
Jack: The way you make it kick-ass is the obvious way: you call all the people you think
are the best. And that’s what we did, we called up all the people—well, we emailed them.
And they were kind of blow-job emails. And cunnilingus emails.
Kyle: The best way to do that is to have Jack do it, because he has cracked the code
on the email.
Jack: I just tell them how awesome they are. Which is true, I don’t have to lie. And I tell
them how awesome this day is going to be. It’s going to be very attractive. There’s delicious
food, gorgeous ambiance and you are out in the middle of the Santa Monica Pier, which
is just a beautiful place you want to be anyway. And I just let them know it’s going to be a
safe and loving environment for them to do comedy–music in. And then I basically… Oh,
I just lie and say everyone else is already in, and would you join us?
HAVE COJONES
Jack: You need cojones, because any one of these [performers] would be better-suited
than us, really, to host their own festival. But, they didn’t have the same size cojones. That
sounds like an insult; like we’re saying they’re all a bunch of tiny-balled freaks. That’s not
true. What it is: you need a little, healthy dose of narcissism. To believe that you deserve
to put on a festival.
PICK THE BEST LOCATION
Kyle: I think another code that Jack cracked was to do it in Los Angeles because, like, 90
percent of [the performers] live here. They might even live on the west side: “Just stroll
down to the pier, you don’t have to travel.”
Jack: And our festival has a free arcade in it.
Kyle: Does yours?
Jack: Is your festival adjacent to amusement park rides? Oh, boom.
Kyle: Do you have a Pacific Ocean view from your festival? Can you see it from Echo
Park? Too far, yeah, probably not…
Jack: How did this get so contentious? He holds the pen. He can color this any way
he wants.
Jack: But seriously, toilets are a big deal. We want them to smell good. And to do
that, someone is gonna have to be going in there often. Early and often. It’s gotta
be a major scrub. And how much more is it gonna cost to have really delicioussmelling toilets? “A lot.” Pay it. That’s money well spent. That keeps ’em coming
back for more.
Kyle: It’s a better quality of life.
Jack: In a way, if you got a good toilet, you don’t even need anybody on the bill.
I don’t care who’s playing, you got a good toilet, I’m there. But then if that’s not
enough, if you’re like, “Good-smelling toilets? I need more,” you could pay more
to be a VIP member and have access to the Golden Toilet, which is an experience
unto itself. I don’t wanna go into the details, but it’s the kind of donkey drop that
lasts a lifetime. And all those VIP tickets sold out immediately; I’m convinced it
was because of the Golden Toilet. There’s a special area, there’s some velvet rope
action, there’s a special bar and the Golden Toilet. And everyone knows what we’re
talking about, ’cause anyone who has been to a festival and had to trudge through
the mud for a quarter-mile to get to the weird line of fuckin’ green machines
knows.
Kyle: Could we put that into development as a movie? Donkey Drop? Because I would
like to see that.
HAVE THE BEST TEA M
HAVE A TINY TENT A ND SECR ETS
Kyle: But then—because it would be impossible for us to actually manage, control,
organize and run this whole festival—you have to get the best people involved to help you
do it. The team. There are so many moving parts.
HAVE THE BEST CONCESSIONS
Kyle: We are down to, like, which mustard is going on a hotdog. Is it Gulden’s or Grey
Poupon?
Jack: We have thought a lot about the foods, obviously. We’re grilling the burgers, we want
to get gourmet. We’re saying, “Look, you’re on the pier, if you wanna get a cheeseburger
you can walk over there and it’s right outside the entrance gate, you can go in and out all
day if you want. You go grab any food that’s available on the Santa Monica Pier.” But in
the festival itself, like Kyle says, it’s gotta be fuckin’ Grey Poupon. It’s gotta be the best.
“Hot Dog on a Stick? Should we go Hot Dogs on a Stick for seven hours?” No. “Are we
gonna have fuckin’ Chef Boyardee over there?” No. We are gonna have the fancy guy with
the Michelin star.
Photos by Michael Elins
R ECRUIT THE BEST
HAVE THE BEST TOILETS
Jack: We got four tents. We got the main stage, that’s called… Oh no, we can’t tell you
what it’s called. Everyone is like, “No, you can’t tell anybody anything, it’s a secret and
then that’s a big surprise later.” I don’t care about big surprises later, I feel like we’re
blowing it. We should let everyone know everything.
Kyle: Would you wanna give away the secret guest?
Jack: Oh, we can’t, that’s different. ’Cause then they’ll say, “Fuck you, we’re not going
to be the secret guest.”
Kyle: It’s so ridiculous.
Jack: Anyway, the main stage, the medium stage, the little stage and then there’s a…
fuck it, nevermind.
Kyle: The Samsung, the Nokia…
Jack: The whole point is there’s three different-sized stages and then we added, just
recently, a one-person tent; only one audience member can fit in at a time. It’s very
small and Neil Hamburger will be there. And you can only go in for 30 seconds of
Neil Hamburger and then an egg timer goes off and you’re kicked out. And if you
don’t leave immediately, a bouncer comes and forcibly removes you. But we are
excited about that because Neil Hamburger’s a genius.
CAR E
Kyle: So, really, the secret is to just care. There’s a million festivals now; everyone is
putting on a festival and you have a feeling that there is some corporate bullshit behind
it: it’s like, get an empty field, get a headliner and just the bare minimum. But it’s just
not our way. I [recently went to a festival] and I have to say, after I got out of the Porta
Potty, I couldn’t wash my hands. I had to find my way back to the artist area. It’s the
simple things.
Jack: When you’re in your 20s, it doesn’t really matter. It can be a horrible, shitty
warzone and it’s the time of your life because you’re unstoppable.
Kyle: Taking some festival drugs.
Jack: You’re a child. Everything is filled with wonder. But we’re building a festival that
we want to impress and blow the minds of everybody, even the most finicky festivalgoer.
And that’s not just the lineup—the lineup is pretty fuckin’ unbelievable if we do say so
ourselves—but also, the finer things. You are gonna invite 10,000 people to a party and
you want everyone to have a great time from beginning to end. So we spent a lot of
time looking around the space, thinking, “What’s going to keep people’s eyes and ears
entertained besides what’s on the stage?” We spent a lot of time staring at blueprints;
the footprint, they called it, of the festival. Figuring out the flow. You want to be able to
have an experience where you are walking around and there’s always something cool to
do and see. F
The Best of Sound Escapes
We here at FILTER travel quite a bit. After 11 years in print, we’ve seen live
music on six different continents. We’ve watched great bands, met amazing
people and sampled the best, weirdest, most exotic and exciting food and drink
a place can offer. Here’s a sampling of the worldly stuff we’ve been visiting over
the past few years, as chronicled in our Sound Escapes section…and remember:
start a music magazine, see the world.
“Last Train to Brittany:
Sights from Les Transmusicales De Rennes”
Rennes, Brittany, France
Les Transmusicales De Rennes
from FILTER 34, 2008
“The Great Escape:
The Festival Future Is Brighton”
Brighton, England
The Great Escape Festival
Photo by Sam Curtis
Photo by Steve Wells
ISRAEL ON ROOF
“Cool It Down: Toronto Takes It Easy”
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NXNE
“Sweden Goes Way Out West”
Gothenberg, Sweden
Way Out West Festival
“Life’s a Beach: Celebrating 15 Years of
the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim”
Benicàssim, Spain
Festival Internacional de Benicàssim
“Victoria, Victoria! The Falls Festival
Rules Australia’s Southern Coast”
Lorne, Victoria, Australia
The Falls Festival
“South Africa From The Parlotones to Cape
Point: Rock in the Cradle of Humankind”
Johannesburg/Cape Town, South Africa
“Ciudad De Morrissey: A Homecoming in Mexico City”
Mexico City, Mexico
Morrissey concert at El Plaza Condeza
REEPERBAHN
Photo by Óscar Villanueva
erma-grins on each and every face. The majority were
essed specifically like Hide (pronounced “HEEay”), the deceased guitarist; these shows were taking
ace a month prior to what would be the 10-year
nniversary of his “accidental death,” as it’s referred
in Tokyo. When the show finally began, with a
ries of pyrotechnic explosions and full-on weeping
om the over-30 crowd, my first count revealed five
embers on stage—but, squinting, I realized that the
uitar player at stage left was actually a video screen
oadcasting a synched-up image of the dead Hide
mself, accompanied by live offstage guitar. I later
arned that these parts were coming from none other
an Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland.
“An American
Norway:
’Em Say
Without
a real inframe
of Make
reference
for Øya”
normal
tH
Oslo,
Norway
panese rock bands, it’s hard not to objectify
Øyaas,
Festival
-Japan
to put it kindly, a bit over the top. Toshi,
from
2008
e singer,FILTER
looks 33,
more
like he idolizes Bono than
eaven’s Gate, and the flesh-and-blood guitarist,
ata, looks like Jimmy Page, complete with the
es Paul. Throughout the three nights, drummer/
eyboardist Yoshi spent almost as much time falling
amatically on the stage to soak up the adoration
he did behind the kit. In the middle of night two,
uring a 20-minute drum solo, his set rose from
e stage and proceeded to twist down a catwalk
to the audience while spinning him 20 feet in
e air. It was actually pretty cool, until he did the
xact same thing again the next night—but for 10
inutes longer.
“The Tune in Tokyo and the Curious
Appeal of a Thing Called X Japan”
Tokyo, Japan
X JAPAN reunion
“Hardcore in the Holy Land:
Scenes from Tel Aviv’s Underground”
Tel Aviv, Israel
Photo by Emily Shur
Here’s to tHe silver sea
Ride the Airwaves”
tradition and tattoos “Iceland:
Collide
during
Reykjavík, Iceland
ailor Jerry’s 100 BirtHday
CeleBration
Iceland Airwaves
in Hawaiifrom FILTER 42, 2010
FILTER
By Carrie tuCker
pHotos
By mikey inouye
Photo by
Amy Strube
“Victoria’s Secret: Rifflandia Gets Fucked Up”
Victoria,
British
Columbia,
None of these ego-fueling
clichés
seemed
to matterCanada
to
to wait. Finally, the foursome shows up, looking pretty
Music
the audience, who criedRifflandia
and hugged
and Festival
clamored and ESTONIA
much how I’d imagine Nickelback to dress after a show;
waved glo-sticks in the from
shapeFILTER
of little 50,
X’s2012
for the entire
lots of leather and shiny shirts. They speak softly, mostly
screamed the headlines as the Northeast community would be washed away like Greg Brady surfing the it all with one of Sailor Jerry’s bold-lined, colorful tattoos that
Photo by Brian Van Wyk
seven hours of performance,
and also the three hours of “Snowpocalypse!”
through a translator (except
for the band’s de-facto
would become the basis for Western tattoo art. This was the
geared up for its second winter storm in two weeks. Never waves of Waikiki after Bobby found that stupid evil idol.
the band’s in-between song regrouping. It was as close mind
Yoshi,Hotel
who
decent
andplace
apparently
The
guests
are word
invited
to a “party”
afterto theleader,
real
Hawaii, weEnglish
were told: The
that fed Jerry’s fascination
that industry
“snowpocalypse”
is the worst
mash since
I was welcomed
Royal Hawaiian
(akaspeaks
the
and should never, ever be used again—how’s Pink Palace of the Pacific), one of the first hotels established with Asian culture, that kept him, a dyed-in-the-wool patriot,
to Shea stadium in ’65 as I’ll ever be. However, although “Brangelina”
has
a
house
in
L.A.)
and
politely
thank
us
for
coming,
the
final
show,
which
turns
out
to
be
merely
a
press
connected with the Navy—the place he fell in love with and
about that prediction? Twelve inches, on the same day my
in Waikiki, by the Sailor Jerry crew. They were in town to
at first the worship served as a pleasant break from the flight’s
comment
briefly
on art
the shows
theirthrust
fans,
and, ironiconference
libations.
nowMikeI’vecelebrate
learned
thathave been
never left.and
As someone
a ginormous
Mai Tai into my hand,
supposed to with
leave for
Hawaii. N.Y.C.By
’s mayor,
what would
the godfather
of tattoo
having taken a Dog-the-Bounty-Hunter-sized hit
Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins’ 100 birthday. The series of I was beginning to get the idea.
pretense of American rock clubs, as the cacophony roars Bloomberg,
promptness
is a custom as foreign to X-Japan
as bowing cally, call it a night after 10 minutes. No questions from
First stop: dinner at the oldest hotel in Honolulu, Waikiki’s
(let’s just jump right in with some Hawaiian references) for events would eventually lead up to a secret show with local
through this third night, I can’t help but notice that it histononchalant
the audience,
no Lips
photos,
no 25-minute
Theopen-air patio
a bathroom
attendant
is to me,
so an hour
after we’reGRLFRNDS
indie-synth-poppers
opening for Black
at Moana
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1901, the hotel’s huge
attitude during
the first blizzard,
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a back alleyirony
of Honolulu’s
famed
alien-looking Banyan trees with their leathery
sending
snowplows
out in force.
Meteorologists
spread reception
ultimately sounds like one, big, soulless “cha-ching.”
is lost
onChinatown.
no one. surrounded
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expected,
I amble
down
to the hotel’s
“Here’s to the Silver Sea: Tradition and Tattoos Collide
During Sailor Jerry’s 100th Birthday Celebration in Hawaii”
Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Sailor Jerry’s 100th Birthday Celebration
Photo by Mikey Inouye
“Back to the Baltics:
60 Hours in Estonia”
Tallinn, Estonia
Tallinn Music Week
X
th
panic through the Tri-state, school and flight cancellations
You know, the place where the phrase “stewed, screwed and
leaves and aerial prop roots, and the flowers were so bright
abounded...and this was before the damn storm even started.
tattooed” originated? You don’t know?
they glowed in the dark. Or maybe it was the jetlag. Black
FILTER . 61
But all the panic and stress dissipated the second I
touched down in Honolulu. The 50th state was the only one in
Before we go any further, kids, a little history lesson:
Lips, who’d just flown in themselves from one of the worst
Tattoos are an integral part of Hawaiian culture, as much as
snowstorms in Atlanta’s history, joined us and would eventually
the nation not experiencing any snowfall, but the wet, earthy
pineapples and poke. Chinatown and its main drag, Hotel Street,
refer to Hawaii as their best destination in a really long time.
smell of Oahu’s recent heavy rain still hung in the warm air. The
is a hardboiled, seedy Americana now being reinvigorated, but
We indulged in platters of lobster and a whole fish standing
hills were neon green and fresh. A Polynesian woman walked
still overlooked by Joe and Jane Tourist. During WWII, sailors
on end, Wagyû steaks and champagne mixed with rum—no
around with a thatched cart offering sweet-smelling leis.
would pass through Hawaii on their way to or from battle.
doubt a traditional Hawaiian beverage, right, Don Ho?—before
Everyone was smiling and saying, “Aloha!” and “Mahalo!” and it
They’d been on the water for months, just them and 500 smelly
was all so, almost embarrassingly…nice.
I’d soon learn this is the local M.O. Hawaii is a magical
mystery land where time seems to stop for a little while
and all the residents make you feel at home. My previous
vague notions of a substandard scene and lack of inspiring
shuffling back down the beach to the Pink Palace to get some
“Snow and Smørrebrød: Three Cold
Nights in Copenhagen”
seamen, and were eager to get off…the boat, get off the boat!
rest for the next night’s festivities.
So they’d hitCopenhagen,
the docks in HonoluluDenmark
and decamp to sordid Hotel
The morning of Sailor Jerry’s birthday celebration began
Street, where
young,FILTER
scared kids 40,
would2010
become young, drunk at La Mariana Restaurant & Bar, the last original tiki bar
from
men through this rite of passage: Grab a shot of whiskey, hit the
in Honolulu. It sits right on the water and, like the Moana, is
local brothel, then stop by Tom & Jerry’s shop to commemorate
built around the Banyans. Low ceilings, gobs of furniture and
“Peace, Progress, Love, Latvia”
Riga, Latvia
Positivus Festival
MONTREAL
“Sunrise in Poland: Savoring
the Nights of the Off Festival”
Myslowice, Poland
Off Festival
“Zagreb Rising”
Zagreb, Croatia
T-Mobile INmusic Festival
Photo by Helen Boast
“Melbourne Magic: A Big Day Out Down Under”
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Big Day Out
“Montreal Goes Pop!”
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Pop! Montreal
Photo by Christopher Wilson
“Forward, Onward, Upward Together:
The Bruise Cruise Takes The Bahamas”
Nassau, The Bahamas
Bruise Cruise
“Achtung! Don’t Fear the Reeperbahn”
Hamburg, Germany
Reeperbahn Festival
“Icy Oslo”
Oslo, Norway
by:Larm Festival
“Switzerland: At Home in the Heartland”
Vevey, Switzerland
Heartland Festival
A Message of Love and Hope
for Benjamin Curtis
MICHAEL ROTHER
of NEU!
Photo by Thomas Beckmann
From FILTER and Friends
Ben, my dear friend,
You have been on my mind many, many times in the months since your
serious illness became known. I hope you will recover completely soon and
continue spreading joy with your music and creativity. My hope is also that
we’ll meet and play music together again. I’m including a photo showing the
two of us together with Josh (Klinghoffer) when we played at ATP in Camber
Sands, UK, in December 2005. I’m sure you remember the occasion. Such
wonderful memories. Get well soon, Ben!
Love from me and your friends in Hamburg,
Michael
(Michael Rother, September 2013) BRIAN AUBERT
of SILVERSUN PICKUPS
We’ve known Ben for about 10 years now. Back in the early Secret Machines
days, they would crash on our floors. I remember hanging out with him on
his birthday at a Mexican restaurant that record execs love. Secret Machines
were doing well and things were getting fancier for them. He had such a great
head on his shoulders about it all that I found inspiring. Recently, School of
Seven Bells did a run with us on our current tour. It was great to reconnect
with him and see he hasn’t changed a bit. Not long after, we heard the news
and were crushed. He’s a great guy that I know will have a bright future.
Get well, my man. See you soon. Brian
KAZU MAKINO
of BLONDE REDHEAD
Earlier this year, FILTER’s friend and Culture Collide alum, School of Seven Bells
member Benjamin Curtis, was diagnosed with a form of cancer known as T-Cell
Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. It is an aggressive yet treatable form of the disease, and
Benjamin’s remarkable battle is bringing new awareness and hope to the fight. Here,
FILTER gathers some of Benjamin’s musical friends and family together to share light
and love for his strong and fast recovery. Please visit SupportBenjaminCurtis.com and
BeTheMatch.org for more information on how you can help.
We love you, Ben! Get well soon.
Ben,
We love you... It’s crazy to think that this illness has been tormenting
you, giving you so much pain everyday for a while now. When you recover,
you will have a clear view of this world (I’m sure you do already), better than
all of us put together...and we’ll come to you just to be infected by even the
tiniest strength of yours and, most of all, you’ll rip it apart by making the most
beautiful music...can’t wait!
Kazu Makino
Benjamin Curtis, Michael Rother and Josh Klinghoffer
PAT GROSSI
of ACTIVE CHILD
I first met Benjamin on my very first North American tour with his band School of Seven Bells.
It was a grueling two-month run that saw my bandmate and me criss-crossing the country four
times and putting more than 16,000 miles on my little Honda. Yes, we toured in my two-door
Honda. I’ll never forget that tour, especially the last night in Philly where Benjamin and the band
surprised us with bottles of champagne as a celebration for the end of a great run. We all drank
and laughed backstage about the adventures and mishaps, the highs and lows. Benjamin raised a
glass and thanked us for being great tour mates and we raised a glass in return for inviting us on
an adventure that would leave us forever changed. When I heard about Benjamin’s illness I was in
disbelief. But I really have faith that in the end his strength, courage and optimism will win out.
Pat Grossi
MORGAN KIBBY
of M83/WHITE SEA
Ben,
You continue to astound me with your talent, your singular vision and your drive. You are
a peerless musician and, more to the heart, a peerless friend. I can’t wait to have a beer and a
laugh, tour again and like we always promised we would, finally write some music. As you have
so eloquently put it these past few months…F$%& cancer. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Morgan
GREG DULLI
of THE AFGHAN WHIGS
After watching his bands over the years, I finally got the pleasure to meet Benjamin last year at
a show in DC and he was as cool as his music…a gifted artist and an absolute gentleman who
has faced this challenge with courage and grace. I look forward to hearing what he does next.
Greg Dulli
ROBIN GUTHRIE
of COCTEAU TWINS
BENJAMIN AND TIM DELAUGHTER in the Bahamas WITH Tripping Daisy, Circa 1996
I understand that Robin has never met Benjamin but he has done a remix for School of Seven
Bells. I know that Robin is a big fan of the band. He was saddened to hear about the health of
Benjamin. He is truly hoping that recovery will make its way and will allow Benjamin to make
wonderful music again. He is sending all his love and support.
Best regards,
Florence Caoudal On behalf of Robin Guthrie
TIM DeLAUGHTER
of THE POLYPHONIC SPREE
TARAKA LARSON
of PRINCE RAMA
FILTER MAGAZINE
Dear Benjamin,
Although we don’t know you very well, somehow sharing the stage with you right before
you found out about the cancer has brought a sudden sense of closeness and intimacy. You
were so radiant, so full of light that night, it was such a shock to hear the news. Our mother
went through a battle with cancer just a couple years ago and it was a really intense experience
for us. Words can’t even describe. I won’t pretend to know what you are going through, but I
will say, from the point of view of someone who has gone through the process with a loved one,
that the power of love is stronger than any physical disease. We witnessed it make miracles
happen with our mom.
You have so much love in your life right now. You have made such an impact on people’s
lives near and far, now it is time to let the impact you have had on others impact you, and use
this as your weapon. Cancer is a battle not won by brute force but by a softening, a melting,
an opening of the heart and the spirit. Try to devote some time every day to soak in the love
and warm wishes of everyone around you. When the body is in a weakened state it is an
opportunity to make these other parts of ourselves stronger. And love will triumph over all.
Sending all our love and warm wishes to you during this time and always, Taraka
Benny B. Sweet Benny B.
I will always, always cherish those times and the ones still to come.
All my love, Timmy D.
Dear Ben and Alley,
It’s hard to believe a year has passed since the last Culture Collide, where you
were blowing our minds and melting our hearts every time we turned around. Crazy
how much can happen in just a year. While you are on the opposite coast this year,
you are still very much on our minds and in our hearts. Benjamin: We’ve been fans of your music since long before Culture Collide
existed. It’s been a pleasure to watch your craftsmanship evolve and become more
sophisticated over time while your contagious enthusiasm for making music remains
young and new and almost childlike; you make it seem as though anything is possible.
Your boundless creativity is only matched by your kindness and your humor—all of
which inspires everyone you come across.
We are just a handful of the thousands of people who love you very much and
are right behind you as you courageously kick cancer’s ass. We think of you and send
positive vibes to you daily—and we look forward to the day when we are pressed
against the stage at a sold- out SVIIB show.
Much love and healing energy,
Your fans and friends at FILTER
Please visit SupportBenjaminCurtis.com and BeTheMatch.org
for more information on how you can help.
New Orleans
November 1 - 3, 2013
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The Students of 826LA Review the Songs of Culture Collide
This fall, FILTER once again teamed up with our friends at
826LA to teach a workshop on music reviews (“We Talkin’
Tunes”) for students ages 6 to 13. After learning the ins and outs of
hard-nosed sound breakdown, these budding critics were played
songs by international artists appearing at Culture Collide and put
their new skills to use (revamping the ol’ “blank-out-of-5 stars”
method to incorporate their own inspired measuring sticks). Not
since Lester Bangs has a reviewer been this entertaining, inspired
and unflinchingly honest.
It makes me feel that we’re in the book Where the Wild
Things Are. The words are sad, but it makes me feel happy
and energized. He used the keyboard, drum, and electric
guitar. It makes me feel that I should read Where the Wild
Things Are. CAITLYNN KELLEY, AGE 9
4/5 “Wild Things”
Kid Karate
3/5 “Rollercoasters at the beach”
4/5 “Jack Whites”
“Swimming with Sharks”
“Swimming with Sharks” made me giggle. The words of the
song made me laugh. The voice was too loud. I feel happy.
KATARO NONOMURA, AGE 6
5/5 “Sleepies”
“Ndimbalo”
5/5 “Birds in the park”
This band is from Senegal, which apparently is in Africa? It’s
hard to say what they’re talking about since they’re rapping in
French, but the beats are good and make you feel happy. It
would be a good song to listen to in a zoo.
SEBASTIAN SARTIRANA, AGE 7
3/5 “Happys”
Birth of Joy
The Great Wilderness “In the Hour of the Wolf”
You can feel the anger and the rush from the dark and
mysterious beat and backing of this song. In the song “In
the Hour of the Wolf” by the Costa Rican group, The Great
Wilderness, the music is dark and mysterious, with words sung
in English that sound like a different language. The music
itself feels rushed and with anger arising. The words make
no sense yet the music sends an image to your head. You can
see wolves rushing and running in the dark. It’s their hour,
they can do what they want. You may feel your blood boiling
with the rush that can be sensed. This song makes me feel
as if an uprising is starting and I am no longer imprisoned
with boundaries. It feels like I can roam with no rules and
enforcement. JASON LEE, AGE 13
5/5 “Stars”
A guy in a safe, peaceful, quiet, and melancholy forest looking
up in the crystal sky with a bright light shining on his face. The
words, music, and vibe sound magical and peaceful. If you
had a stressful day you should listen to the song to calm you
down. It makes me calm and I could listen again. I enjoyed the
echoey voice. MONICA LEE, AGE 11
5/5 “Rays of light”
4/5 “Wolves running free during the night which
is their hour”
“Make Things Happen”
Birth of Joy are from the Netherlands. It feels like I want to
eat because I think my mom is going to give me nasty food
but she gives me good food. The music is about things that
happen. The words are things that will happen. The vibe is
like scary and firefighters. It is a siren. The song makes me
feel like I want to run. JEOVANNY PINEDA, AGE 8
5/5 “bloops and swimming because it feels like
water—bloop bloop bloop bloop bloop!”
Brodka
“Varsovie”
It has a nice beat. It feels like you’re in the music video. The
instruments are piano, violin, drums, tambourine, trumpet,
and guitar. It’s a love song. She is good at singing. It makes you
feel like singing it. Also like you’re with her. You could tell she
is happy. HEYDY VASQUEZ, AGE 9
5/5 “Hearts and me with the singer”
“Clear the Air”
I think the words were difficult to hear. The lyrics and the
music were slow but it got fast for a moment. I felt calm and
relaxed like I could sleep forever. The song makes me want
to dance, fly, and sleep. It was a new song to me. My opinion
is that it was amazing, even though I couldn’t hear the lyrics
well. KYLIE PIMENTEL, AGE 10
Jacco Gardner
Ghost Wave
“Bootlegs”
I think this song was cool because of the flow of the beat like
a wave flowing in and spreading out onto the shore. The song
reminds me of The Beatles. It has the same beat. It is sort of a
beach song. This is a perfect song to listen to get your rhythm
on the way to the beach. The lyrics sound like the band is in
the middle of the wave trying to beat a dude down. I love it
because it is as cool as a wave. It makes me feel like moving
around. JAIR AVILA, AGE 12
4.5/5 “Waves”
The song makes me think of rock ’n’ roll. I like the guitars. It
makes me feel like happy. I think the song is funny.
JOSE RENDON, AGE 9
5/5 “‘Bootlegs’ up!”
The woman is casting spells or she could be transforming
into a wolf. The music is beat-y and sounds “dangerous.” The
words, music, and vibe is a mysterious piece in the song. It
gives me a shiver. Scared a bit and I feel like bouncing to the
beat of the music. MONICA LEE, AGE 11
3/5 “Moons and a person turning into a wolf”
Instrumenti “King of the Wild Things”
The words, they were difficult to understand because the
background was loud. The music was kind of annoying
because the song kept repeating words. The vibe was sad and
made me feel sleepy. The song was boring!! It was so boring I
do not want to hear the song again!! KYLIE PIMENTEL, AGE 10
0/5 “Boredoms”
I give this song a billion thumbs down!!
Whoever swims with the sharks is crazy. The drums sound the
same the whole song which is good. It made me want to rock
the clock. The words were good because they were funny. I
give it a three because I don’t know the words, but I get it.
Ryuichiro Nonomura, age 8
5/5 “Chirping birds with flowers on”
The song sounds like a piano. I like how she is saying that
thing is gorgeous. It makes me feel happy.
3/5 “Sharks”
Okta Logue
“Mr. Busdriver”
It’s so funny. He sings funny. Also the instruments are piano,
drums, and guitar. It reminds you of nature really. It takes
place in the day. You could tell he is happy. It makes you want
to dance. HEYDY VASQUEZ, AGE 9
5/5 “Laughs”
3/5 “Pillows”
“Talking N’ Talking”
These six people from São Paulo, Brazil, compose mellow
and soothing music using not-so-typical instruments to make
wonderful music. In the song “Talking N’ Talking” by Optic
Yellow Felt, a love story is being told by one of the six band
members. In this song the guitar and drums with a hint of
piano are very mellow and soothing, making you feel calm
and encouraging you to slow down. The song makes me
feel calmed and relaxed. It wants me to slow down and this
allows me to view the little details everywhere I go.
The mumble makes the song mysterious. The song is calm,
sad, and peaceful. The song sounds sleepy. The song sounded
like they were in Hawaii, Hawaii. CHRISTINA LEE, AGE 9
5/5 “Birds”
Dance. Good rhythm. If you listen to this song it will make
you party. It will make you party because it has a good beat.
Terry Poison sings in a high voice. The break makes me feel
like I stop walking here and then keep going to the party. You
should hear it. JASIEL AVILA, AGE 9
5/5 “Good Parties”
“Lantern”
The song is called “Lantern” by Prata Vetra. The song was
done in Latvia but it didn’t sound foreign. It has a steady beat
and it has a heavy bass. For me I didn’t understand the words
but I still liked the song. It made me feel happy since I like
guitar songs and I usually don’t listen to guitar songs. It also
seemed like a sad song. CHEYENNE WILLIAMS, AGE 11
4/5 “Bass”
Adi Ulmansky
“Falling”
This song is really awkward. The song is weird because
it is combined with hip-hop, rap, and electronic. It is not
that annoying but it is weird and awkward. It is funny how
the music sounds. The lyrics are like a girl is weak and
frustrated. I felt like my brain was going to explode.
JAIR AVILA, AGE 12
3.5/5 “Times MAD”
The fast beat in the song made it better. Even though Adi
is from Israel the song seemed universal and was in English.
The lyrics are talking about falling. The song seemed sad but
it was upbeat and it made the song confusing. The song wasn’t
my favorite but I enjoyed listening to it.
CHEYENNE WILLIAMS, AGE 11
Secret Shrine A guy who owns a bus is running away but going on a road
trip. Kind of gloomy. The song is relaxing. The song is good
and kind of gloomy. The song makes me feel sleepy because it
was relaxing. CHRISTINA LEE, AGE 9
Optic Yellow Felt
5/5
Prata Vetra
“Gelsenkirchen”
I like it because it is jazzy and clammy. I can’t hear the words
that much; but I do hear the birds. I thought the music was
great because it sounds like instruments I’ve never heard
before. The vibe made me want to dance. I want to hear it
again. I wish it was on the radio.
“Gorgeous”
RAEONNYA IVERSON, AGE 10
For more, visit CultureCollide.com and 826LA.org.
To hear the songs, visit FILTERmagazine.com/2013sampler.
The band is from Senegal. Their song “Ndimbalo” is
interesting. It is interesting because of the words. I wish I
understood them. It makes me feel happy. The best place
to listen to this song is at the park. The person that would
like this song is my mom. She would like it because it will
make her feel relaxed. VALERIA GUERRA, AGE 10
Terry Poison
SiMoN
RYUICHIRO NONOMURA, AGE 8
“Two Times”
This Irish band has good rhymes but they sound like an angry
Jack White. Crazy. SEBASTIAN SARTIRANA, AGE 7
Mumiy Troll
Beneen Squad
The song is from Brazil. The song makes me feel weird
because I have never heard of it before. “Talking N’ Talking”
sounds like a beach song. It sounds like a beach song because
of the guitar. It is a happy song. It is a happy song because of
his voice. He sounds really relaxed. I would listen to it like in
the afternoon. VALERIA GUERRA, AGE 10
“Perfect Life”
4/5 “Happy Songs”
I love “Perfect Life” by Secret Shrine. I didn’t understand
some of the words. I love the voice. I am sleepy.
KATARO NONOMURA, AGE 6
4/5 “Voices”
In my perfect life there would be pizza all around. The singer’s
perfect life would be having a girlfriend. The song makes me
feel like happy and calm. CAITLYNN KELLEY, AGE 9
Maya Vik “Bummer Gun”
It sounds like I’m in a video game and I have a laser beam. It
makes me dance. I really like it. The song is funny. It makes
me feel like I have a laser beam. JOSE RENDON, AGE 9
5/5 “Outerspace”
5/5 “Pizzas”
JASON LEE, AGE 13
3/5 “Love Stories”
Special thanks to all our volunteers, and to our expert reviewers: Jair Avila, Jasiel Avila, Valeria Guerra, Raeonnya Iverson, Caitlynn Kelley, Christina Lee, Jason Lee, Monica Lee, Kataro Nonomura,
Ryuichiro Nonomura, Kylie Pimentel, Jeovanny Pineda, Jose Rendon, Sebastian Sartirana, Heydy Vasquez and Cheyenne Williams. And huge thanks to JLab Audio for donating the JBuddies kids headphones!
Music,
etc.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................
Moby
Innocents
little idiot/MUTE
88%
Moby is the Woody Allen of musicians;
over the last two decades he has, without
fail, delivered a new album every one-to-three years.
As it’s been two years, we cannot be surprised by the
arrival of Innocents or by its content, remarkable as
the latter is. Here, Richard Hall returns to the sounds
and song structures that he’s best known for, and that
we first heard on 1999’s bazillion-selling Play. Moody,
blues-based electronica sets the tone, upon which
a cast of guest vocalists, including Mark Lanegan,
Wayne Coyne and the superb Inyang Bassey add their
voices. The results are expectedly familiar, fantastic
and welcome. ADAM POLLOCK
Cass McCombs
Big Wheel and Others
DOMINO
85%
Cass McCombs’ weaving narratives flow
through the nomadic troubadour’s musical
apparatuses with the same aplomb and abandon they use
to slink the gaps between the vertebrae of the listener. A
double album announced two months prior to its release—
coming off the twin triumphs of 2011’s Wit’s End and
Humor Risk, no less—Big Wheel and Others represents
McCombs’ most transient yet memorable volume of songcarved verse yet. It’s a (relatively) sanguine, folked affair,
unafraid to grin sidelong at its own mortality. Long the
nucleus of McCombs’ subject matter, this time death
floats down the broad zen river of “Everything Has To Be
Just So” on a feathery raft. KYLE MacKINNEL
Gary Numan
Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)
MACHINE MUSIC
on contemporary bemusement and anxiety are made all
the more unsettling by their heaving, metal-machine
accompaniment. The most compelling moments (“I Am
Dust” and the title track) are like mechanized, sci-fi
mini-operas, awesomely grandiose and yet disturbingly
proximate enough to breathe all that fear right down
your neck through your spine. KEN SCRUDATO
PAPA
Tender Madness
LOMA VISTA
79%
Mole City hearkens back to the early
years of Quasi, when vocalist/organist
Sam Coomes and drummer Janet Weiss composed
albums of eclectic and emphatic rock. It’s less
connected from beginning to end than their last few
albums, and less overtly political. At turns frenetic,
quiet and jaunty, this album seems to be more about
just getting together and making music. Not the best
Quasi introduction for first-time listeners, but there’s
plenty for the band’s fans to love. JEFFREY BROWN
84%
Now veritably re-contextualized by the
coming of the technological alienation his
early lyrics foreshadowed, Gary Numan’s new album
seethes with tension and paranoia (“Here in the black/
It comes for me,” he shudders). His incisive expositions
of Montreal
Lousy with Sylvianbriar
POLYVINYL
intimate
THE FRESH & ONLYS
Soothsayer
NO JOY
Pastel and Pass Out
MEX170 — 12" EP/DIGITAL
MEX176 — 12" EP/DIGITAL
85%
Varied though they are, of Montreal
records usually share some qualities—
lyrics, expressive melodies, detailed
Cults
Static
COLUMBIA
78%
The shroud of mystery that enveloped
Cults leading up to its self-titled debut
has all but vanished on the Brooklyn group’s sophomore
effort. The fascinating mixture of strange field
recordings and lo-fi pop has been replaced with highsheen gloss, thanks to warm-but-hectic production work
from Shane Stonebeck (Sleigh Bells) and Ben Allen
(Merriweather Post Pavilion). Still, Brian Oblivion’s
knack for delivering ’60s and ’70s guitar riffs and
singer Madeline Follin’s slender voice shine through
the dissonance at the most unexpected and welcome
moments. KYLE LEMMON
White Denim
Corsicana Lemonade
DOWNTOWN
HAPPY JAWBONE FAMILY BAND
s/t
MEX150 — LP/CD/DIGITAL
HUERCO S.
COLONIAL PATTERNS
DBL LP / CD / DIGITAL
DAVID KANAGA
DYAD OGST
LP / CD / DIGITAL
OUT OCT 29, 2013
75%
White Denim’s under-appreciated D
was a modern-day passion play rooted
in the increasingly obsolete traditions of rock and
roll. Corsicana Lemonade still boasts enormous,
across-the-board instrumental (not to mention vocal)
talent. However, with its highly structured individual
recordings, the album surprises less than White
Denim’s fierce previous efforts. This is not meant to
deter, as many songs here warrant praise, but those
spontaneous wild riffs have sadly been sacrificed,
along with a bit of singer James Petralli’s gnarled,
impassioned bite. ADAM VALEIRAS
QUILT
Arctic Shark b/w As We Follow
MEX172 — 7"/DIGITAL
JORGE ELBRECHT feat. Caroline Polochek
I.V. Aided Dreams b/w Full Mental Erase
MEX165 — DIGITAL
MEXICAN
SUMMER
FALL 2013 RELEASES
Coming soon: Connan Mockasin, Lace Curtain, Travis Bretzer. www.mexicansummer.com
AN ELECTRONIC MUSIC COMPANY
FALL 2013
85%
Tender Madness, the debut album by
Darren Weiss and Danny Presant of Los
Angeles’ PAPA, proves to be an ambitious expedition into
both masculinity and romance. Much like the city in which
the band is based, Tender Madness is raw, yet alluring; it is
unapologetically punk, with a better work ethic. There is
no façade found here, merely an honest portrayal of what
it means to be a 21st century boy by a songwriter who
bleeds authenticity. GIANNA HUGHES
Quasi
Mole City
KILL ROCK STARS
arrangements and airtight vocal harmonies
among them. Those are all present on Lousy with
Sylvianbriar, even with its avant-country flavor
and slimmed-down production. Sylvianbriar brings
a sunny openness to of Montreal’s ever-evolving
cache with its sweeping changes in styles and
instrumentation and adherence to more traditional
song structures. Only Kevin Barnes could have
conceived these songs—even though they sound like
little else in his repertoire. ZACK KRAIMER
C. SPENCER YEH / OKKYUNG LEE / LASSE MARHAUG
SSTUDIOS 002: WAKE UP AWESOME
LP / DIGITAL
OUT NOV 19, 2013
COMING SOON: THUG ENTRANCER ‒ DEATH AFTER LIFE, NAPOLIAN ‒ INCURSIO,
SSTUDIOS 003 ‒ KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN & ELI KESZLER.
SOFTWARELABEL.NET
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
The Speed of Things
WARNER
82%
Even if The Speed of Things was an
unmitigated disaster for the majority of its
13 tracks, the Detroit pop duo would still have managed
to deliver one of the best songs of the year with their hookladen single “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t on
the Dancefloor).” Fortunately, Joshua Epstein and Daniel
Zott’s latest effort fires on all cylinders throughout (pun
intended), continuing their successful blend of modern
electronics and a Beach Boys approach to melody and
vocal harmony. MIKE HILLEARY
blu-ray
This Is the End
SONY
88%
The Mayans predicted December
21, 2012; Harold Camping said May
21, 2011. But the only ones getting
anything right about the end of
the world are Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. In
This Is the End, the duo’s A-list comedy troupe
presents an apocalyptic romp from the postparty perspective of James Franco’s LA pad. With
more than just every predictable pot scene, party
shenanigan and rapid-fire banter exchange, the
film plays into each of Rogen’s sitcom traps with
a scenario of endless possibilities, allowing plenty
of room for the cast’s gags to flourish and make
every audience wish the end would never come.
schoolgirl yelp on the slow-burning “Seizure” and the
hot-trotting “She’s So.” Hunters isn’t a perfect album,
reliant as it is on Almeida’s chirpy, slurry tendencies to
bring the joys, but it’s a nice start. A.D. AMOROSI
Blitzen Trapper
VII
VAGRANT
book
74%
On Blitzen Trapper’s seventh album,
frontman Eric Earley tells bizarre tales
set in old, weird America, a nightmarish backcountry
populated by ghosts, gamblers, devils, drunkards and
a crooked-toothed vixen with a neck tatt. The band
sounds more polished than ever, especially when they
shed their folk roots, but the funky riffs (“Feel the
Chill,” “Drive On Up”) owe more to Songs in the Key
of Life than Highway 61 Revisited. ROBERT REA
Lee Ranaldo and The Dust
Last Night On Earth
MATADOR
people of the United States/Hold these dreams to be
self-destructive.” Take that, System! Seriously, we can’t
wait for her ferocity at 90. KEN SCRUDATO
71%
As a former pillar of Sonic Youth, Lee
Ranaldo has earned his rock honors.
Despite these laurels, Ranaldo should have relegated
his latest solo effort, Last Night On Earth, to basementtape status. Lacking the ferocity of his previous turns,
these songs feature little save trite lyrics, tasteless jams
and fantastically good engineering. Ranaldo and his
band are unparalleled musicians but have fallen prey to
a disaster that normally besets younger bands—a great
sound and nothing said. LOREN AUDA POIN
Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon’s
Golden Age
MATHEW KLICKSTEIN
72%
PLUME
Nick-nick-nick-nick, ni-nick nick
nick…Nick-el-o-de-onnnnn! If you
just harmonized that in your mind,
then you likely spent your childhood tuned
into “The Only Network for Kids” and all of
the wacky, weird and wild programming the TV
channel broadcasted during its golden age in the
’80s and early ’90s. Slimed! assembles many of
the major players from that heyday, from actors
to creators to executives and more, but instead of
celebrating Nick’s ingenuity and irreverence with
colorful and exciting images and layouts (which
one can only assume was due to lack of licensing
rights), the book reads like a long, unstructured
ramble—quote after quote after quote. In other
words, it’s the antithesis of what made You Can’t
Do That On Television, Double Dare, Clarissa
Explains It All, The Ren & Stimpy Show and The
Adventures of Pete & Pete so groundbreaking: all
filler, no killer. Somewhere, Tommy Pickles just
pooped his post-collegiate pants.
81%
Dozy, fuzz-toned pop dies on the vine
when it roots in the messily lackadaisical—
take the example of shoegazing beyond the epic savagery
of My Bloody Valentine. Where Hunters is concerned,
there’s a spunky, punkish element involved, something
you can blame/credit on frontgirl Izzy Almeida and her
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
Take Me to the Land of Hell
CHIMERA
83%
Still out-punking everyone at 80,
Ono’s provocatively titled new album
emphatically reminds us that, “While your heart is
dancing/Your mind is bouncing.” And to be sure, the
fearsome, intellectual vitality of her funk-metal-electro
freak-outs would surely put any teenager to shame. On
“Cheshire Cat Cry,” she snarls that “we the expendable
The Blow
The Blow
KANINE
Roky Erickson
The Evil One [reissue]
Don’t Slander Me [reissue] Gremlins Have Pictures [reissue] LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
77%
Khaela Maricich’s R & B and electropop project The Blow now includes the
production help of Melissa Dyne after former knobtwiddler Jona Bechtolt (YACHT) left in 2007. The
New York–via-Portland artists eschew the lo-fi samples
and skewed melodies for a funkier sound dissociated
90%
86%
90%
With The 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson was behind
the most incendiary psych-rock of the ’60s. The Elevators
exemplified the fiery transcendent nature of the world far
more than anything on Sgt. Pepper’s. But Erickson was no
dilettante and paid the price through jail time. When he
emerged years later, you could add electro-shock therapy
and the Thorazine shuffle to his problems. Eventually, he
was able to recruit CCR’s bassist to produce a new record.
The resulting The Evil One is a primal rock-and-roll album
filled with zombies and demons and Erickson’s voice kills
on nearly every track (esp. “Bloody Hammer”). Don’t Slander Me would
follow in 1986, stripping away the monsters, firing up the guitars and
delivering almost-pop songs like the title track and “Starry Eyes.” Light
in the Attic’s batch of very-necessary Roky reissues ends on Gremlins
Have Pictures, a mixture of live recordings, studio efforts and ephemeral
damage from the years 1975–1983, with notably stunning acoustic
numbers “I Am” and “I Have Always Been Here Before.” I mean, his
voice is just incredible. If you love rock and you don’t own any of these,
you have a serious problem. JON PRUETT
Glasser
Interiors
TRUE PANTHER
SHANE LEDFORD
JEFF MURRAY
Hunters
Hunters
MOM + POP
from the karaoke-esque pastiche heard on 2006’s Paper Television.
The self-titled album is Maricich’s wobbly reboot after a seven-year
absence, and if nothing else, she’s certainly learned the power of the
bass. KYLE LEMMON
79%
With names like “Shape,” “Design” and “Window”
(“I,” “II” and “III,” no less), there comes no surprise
in learning that Cameron Mesirow, Glasser’s primary creative force,
took inspiration for Interiors not only from her new home, New
York City—you know: big buildings, isolation among millions—
but from a book by famed architect Rem Koolhaas. Ambitiously
creative though that may be, the results are mixed; while some
tracks glisten with Eno-esque ambience, the forced wordplay on
others (even delivered stunningly by Mesirow’s Björk-like voice)
shatters the mood. ADAM POLLOCK
T HE N EW ALBU M OU T N OW
ON CAPT U RED T RACKS
18 YEA RS A F T ER T HEY CA LLED I T QUI T S
AS A W ORK I NG BA ND, 2013 F I NDS T HE ORI GI NA L
MEMBERS OF MEDI CI NE PROUDLY REUNI T ED.
AN EXUBERA NT, BELLI GERENT LY SOUNDI NG
CA RNI VA L OF SOUND A ND HA RMONY.
A JOYF UL A CCEPTA NCE OF SOMET HI NG
T HAT JUST SI MPLY WORK S.
The Naked and Famous
In Rolling Waves
REPUBLIC
76%
In moving to LA from their native New
Zealand ahead of the recording of their
second album, perhaps The Naked and Famous
escaped a bit of the unexpected pressures they
earned with their surprise hit debut. On In Rolling
Waves, they’re certainly reaching for the stars. Here,
Alisa Xayalith and Thom Power trade soaring and
tender vocals, both of which are enhanced by sharper
production and crisp instrumentals. The result? A
commercially viable, accessible sound that trades
off uncertainly between danceable synth-pop and
introspective dream-pop. DANIEL KOHN
and Mayberry have a weirdly mannered way with
smartly penned romanticism. A.D. AMOROSI
Keep Shelly in Athens
At Home
CASCINE
78%
Glacier is a journey. It begins with everpresent droning that looms heavy like
gray skies. Intermittently broken by glassy synth that
cuts through the gloom like rays of sunshine, the
overcast mood turns with more persistent beats and
soft vocals. Undulating chimes grow and grow until
they suddenly give way to huge, enveloping tones
that feel as if you’re basking in the first spring sunrise
after a long, cold winter. EVAN WALLIS
Chvrches
The Bones of What You Believe
GLASSNOTE
YOU’RE INVITED TO THE DUTCH IMPACT PARTY
@ CULTURE COLLIDE ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 11TH FROM 6-8 PM
Offering some free food and drinks live performances by three top acts hailing from the lowlands
Venue: Taix
79%
East Jordan, Michigan, indie-folk trio
Breathe Owl Breathe is back with its
seventh album, Passage of Pegasus. The group’s
soaring melodies and concealed lyrics are still intact
here, but the compositions feel larger and more
affecting than the ones heard on 2010’s Magic Central.
Micah Middaugh’s wandering baritone is reminiscent
of Bill Callahan and producer Eric D. Johnson (Fruit
Bats, The Shins) expands that beautiful string work to
grand proportions. KYLE LEMMON
Tony Dekker
Prayer of the Woods
NETTWERK
77%
The debut solo album of Great Lake
Swimmers’ frontman Tony Dekker,
Prayer of the Woods, regularly feels like a quiet sigh.
Rarely breaking from a template of ghostly vocals
and acoustic guitar picks and strums—with some
minimalist accoutrement thrown in here and there—
the record isn’t attempting to impress or standout (and
21+ Wristband required
83%
With a mere modicum of imagination,
one can picture the sister trio of Danielle,
Este and Alana Haim in ’95, murdering choreographed
playroom karaoke to Michael Jackson video replays.
Produced largely by Ariel Rechtshaid—whose virtually
ubiquitous presence in pop music is undeniable at this
point—Haim’s debut transcends the role of scenery
for a tableau of strong singles. But it’s the alarming
depth of the “Don’t Save Me”s and “Days Are Gone”s
that lend the family name its rightful staying power.
Bombay
Show
Pig
KYLE MacKINNEL
Breathe Owl Breathe
Passage of Pegasus
SELF-RELEASED
80%
Scotland hasn’t witnessed a pop outfit
that mixes post-punk’s nerve-jangling
brio with blipping dance-tronics and tongue-incheek lyricism since Orange Juice found rhythm
and atmosphere. So give a big, buggy welcome to
wordsmith/singer Lauren Mayberry and her cranky
trio Chvrches. From the moody swing of “The
Mother We Share” to the brittle sway of bonus track
“Broken Bones” with the keening one-two punch of
“Lungs” and “By the Throat” in-between, Chvrches
Haim
Days Are Gone
COLUMBIA
84%
Keep Shelly in Athens don’t wear their
hearts on their sleeves (spoiler: “Madmen
Love” isn’t filled with endearments), but the Greek
duo do keep their influences visible. Infused with the
passion of the ’90s (“Hover” in particular owes every
strand of its DNA to the era), this debut full-length
is a must-listen for every trip-hop dreamer. Hung on
the haunting vocals of frontwoman Sarah P, At Home is
no mere retread, but a full-fledged genre renaissance.
LAURA STUDARUS
Teen Daze
Glacier
LEFSE
as a self-professed “musical interlude” to Swimmers
albums, that feels right), but remains content in its
quiet corner of the log cabin. MIKE HILLEARY
Jacco
Gardner
Birth
of Joy
book
Tintin: The Art of Hergé
MICHEL DAUBERT AND THE ARCHIVES
OF THE HERGÉ MUSEUM
89%
ABRAMS COMICARTS
Unknown to many millennials, the
Belgian cartoon The Adventures
of Tintin was created by Hergé in 1929 and has
since captivated a worldwide readership with
its titular young journalist hero’s exotic travels
and high-flying adventures. Gaining behindthe-scenes access to Belgium’s Hergé Museum
as well as preliminary sketches by the artist
himself, journalist Michel Daubert chronicles a
comprehensive view of the life, work and legacy
of one of history’s finest storytellers. Proving itself
as more than a simple scrapbook of cartoon clips,
the catalogue—arranging a narrative path between
Hergé’s Belgian origins and Tintin’s iconic status
today—is not only compatible for newcomers and
longtime fans alike, it’s exhaustively satisfying.
JEFF MURRAY
PRESENTED BY DUTCH PERFORMING ARTS,
EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG AND FILTER
MAGAZINE. POWERED BY DUTCH PERFORMING
ARTS. KINDLY SUPPORTED BY THE EMBASSY OF
THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
October 11th
6.05 pm – 6.30 pm
Dutch Impact Party @ Taix
October 11th
6.45 pm – 7.10 pm
October 11th
7.25 pm – 7.50 pm
Polvo
Siberia
MERGE 82%
Polvo have taken countless zips around
the post-rock galaxy. With Siberia, their
first effort in four years, they’ve reversed their polarity,
finally hardened into simple, elemental rock goodness. No
genre prefixes or misleading categories, just laser-etched
songcraft and infinitely tight bashing of instruments.
As on In Prism, their previous record, every song is an
adamantine pop gem, each one bursting with a hushed
spit of lyrics and lightning stabs of guitar and synth.
Vociferously recommended. LOREN AUDA POIN
blu-ray
Nashville
CRITERION
90%
Robert Altman was the master of the
ensemble film, and Nashville may
very well have been his crowning
achievement. The criss-crossing story
of a presidential campaign event and
twangy industry drama unfolds over the course of five
days in the mid ’70s honkytonk hotspot of Country
Music, USA, and includes the intersecting actions
and near-misses of over 20 principle characters. But
unlike most copycats that would later bite Altman’s
trademark style, you don’t need a roadmap to keep up,
and patient viewing and trust is rewarded in spades by
the climactic fifth act. Criterion’s Blu-ray version puts
a little more sparkle into the film’s glitzy rhinestones,
making this one of the best home video experiences
you’ll have all year. PHILLIP SCHEMBER
Crystal Stilts
Nature Noir
SACRED BONES
73%
The first 30 seconds of every song on
this album is great. I mean it—jarring,
original, catchy. Super cool stuff. After that, the songs
don’t get worse, but they also don’t get much better.
In fact, it feels like they barely change at all, and when
they do, the overtly influenced Crystal Stilts draw a bit
too heavily on their predecessors’ (VU, The Doors, Joy
Division) innovations and techniques. Take your pick:
original and monotonous or pseudo-plagiarized and
relatively engaging? ADAM VALEIRAS
Jacuzzi Boys
Jacuzzi Boys
HARDLY ART
80%
ZACK KRAIMER
81%
Shulamith—the follow-up to Poliça’s
excellent 2012 debut album, Give You
The Ghost—possesses continuity in terms of the band’s
distinct sound, yet still contains traces of electronic
experimentation woven throughout the record. The band
dip their toes in the waters of the avant-garde by creating
larger, more sonically expansive songs; however, they
never fully submerge themselves into new territory with
this album, which becomes both the band’s main strength
and weakness. GIANNA HUGHES
Deap Vally
Sistrionix
ISLAND
EVAN WALLIS
blu-ray
Jacuzzi Boys’ third and self-titled release
still skirts the rougher edge of the garage,
but it’s cooled down from the scorched-sand, beachy
power-pop of their past. The glue-sniffing abandon they
once held dear has given way to what now sounds like
The Real Kids without as much hormonal restlessness.
Gabriel Alcala’s voice is suited to slacker-rock, but at times
he overextends past that to some harm. It’s a listenable
(if one-track-minded) set, even with a few sluggish tunes.
Poliça
Shulamith
MOM + POP
tambourine-backed singing tacked onto the last track,
you realize these girls have a hell of a lot of soul,
something a lot of today’s blues music lacks.
76%
This LA-based female duo comes
barreling out of the gates with a debut
album full of seething guitar riffs and roaring drums.
It’s 11 songs of nonstop, downright raunchy blues with
lyrics that ooze malcontent and feminism. Sure, it’s
not breaking any new ground, but once you hear the
Clear History
HBO
85%
Larry David’s comedy career is starting
to play like the Neil Young guitar solo
from “Cinnamon Girl”: it’s long and
awesome but pretty much one-note.
Clear History is the second feature
film David’s penned, and unlike 1998’s swing-and-amiss Sour Grapes, he stars as well. Also unlike Sour
Grapes: it’s funny! The plot—an electric-car marketer
quits his job and misses out on a billion dollars,
only to start fresh in Martha’s Vineyard and get an
unexpected chance at revenge—is predictable only
by Larry David standards; the supporting cast (Jon
Hamm, Kate Hudson, Michael Keaton, Danny
McBride and more) is divine; the result is—like Neil
sang—something we could be happy the rest of our
lives with. Here’s to LD playing that bitch out ’til the
end of days. SHANE LEDFORD
James Ferraro
Hell, NYC 3:00AM
HIPPOS IN TANKS
81%
Since the demise of barbaric duo The
Skaters, core members James Ferraro
and Spencer Clarke have gone on to create an insane
amount of high-dosage electronic WTF pop. Ferraro
has worked on conceptual deep dives into consumerism
like 2011’s Far Side Virtual, which was like a 45-minute
smartphone alert. With Hell, NYC 3:00AM, he finds
something darker, redolent of late-night parties and
retching in the alleyway. His (not ironic) love of dance
music means that the uneasy sounds rub up against
each other smoothly. In fact, Ferraro is working in pure
dystopian rave hangover vibe, almost in the cavernous
world of Burial but with a purposeful ugliness and
wayward outsider vocals. JON PRUETT
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- FILTER Magazine

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