FREE ASSOCIATION: The Morning Benders Take Us on a Track-By-Track Tour of ‘Big Echo’
Posted on March 11, 2010
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[Photo by Matt Jacoby]
By Arye Dworken
As we quickly discover over fish tacos and bowls of bibimbap at Dokebi in Brooklyn, Chris Chu is an “old soul” right down to the way the Morning Benders frontman name-checks Phil Spector, Alex Chilton, Brian WIlson and the Beatles as his main influences. In one of our more revealing Free Association segments, Chu spent nearly two hours sharing the back stories of Big Echo—an album that actually sounds like one. Here’s the long and the short of it, along with the entire record in streaming form. Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: From Telepathe to Timeblind, Matt Shadetek and DJ /rupture Take Us on a Tour of Their Essential ‘Solar Life Raft’ Mix
Posted on December 3, 2009
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(L to R: DJ /rupture, Matt Shadetek)
[Photo by Stefano Giovannini]
In case you haven’t already heard, Solar Life Raft is one of the year’s most mesmerizing DJ mixes, a boundless, mashup-free blend of just about every genre known to man. (No country or metal, though.) Since DJ/ rupture and his Dutty Artz mate Matt Shadetek are responsible for making sense of it all—everything from the neo-classical madness of Nico Muhly to a spacey remix of Gang Gang Dance—we asked the duo to discuss five of their favorite tracks.
Check it, along with some MP3s and video… Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: Knight Rider’s Got Nothing To Do With Gavin Russom’s Black Meteoric Star Project, a Synth-Driven Descent Into Darkness
Posted on July 27, 2009
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[Photo by Tina Tyrell]
If there’s one DFA album we always return to beyond the usual suspects (Hot Chip’s The Warning, LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver), it’s Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom’s first and last full-length, Days of Mars. A trance-inducing cult favorite that generated one of the greatest Carl Craig remixes of all time, it’s what the self-titled office listens to when we want to descend into a dream world populated by little fluffy clouds and planetarium light shows. (Like the fifth grade field trip that blew our goddamn mind.)
While it’s just as trippy as Days of Mars, Russom’s latest project—the synth-slinging, cassette deck-captured solo vehicle Black Meteoric Star—doesn’t bother pausing to breathe or carefully build its tracks. Instead, every single one seems to hit the (dance)floor running, with visions of vintage acid techno tracks dancing in Russom’s demented little head. That, and such cheery things as unleashing our inner animal, driving through Russia’s ice-coated “death tunnel,” and recording music in the midst of a black out (the kind involving alcohol)… Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: Black Strobe’s Arnaud Rebotini Bounces Between Slayer, Richie Hawtin and Carl Craig on New Solo Album
Posted on July 7, 2009
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To this day, we find it strange that Black Strobe never truly broke in the U.S. beyond the former duo’s tight underground following. After all, they were doing the whole serrated synths thing well before Justice, and the spirit of their sound was more indebted to Depeche Mode and the dark side of dance music than any of the straight-up techno artists that remain alien to most stateside listeners.
Oh, well; maybe that’s why Ivan Smagghe moved on to curating French post-punk comps and aligning himself with Kill the DJ, one of our favorite German labels. As for Arnaud Rebotini (Black Strobe’s sole surviving member), he’s basically gone rogue with the Rebotini project and its analog-driven debut album, Music Components. Out today on Le Plan, it’s a celebration of simplicity, of the floor-filling reliability of Roland’s, ARP’s and Korg’s. In the right hands, at least, and it doesn’t get much righter than this heavy-metal-loving Parisian—a towering dude who looks/acts like he could hang with Nick Cave and Carl Cox
We asked Arnaud to break down all of his wobbly love songs, as well as share a complete stream of the new record. Vintage synth addicts and recovering ravers, you’re gonna love this one… Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: James Blackshaw Channels Philip Glass, “Music For Airports” On Young God Debut
Posted on June 5, 2009
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[Photo by Dorthe Winter]
No matter what our mood is at the moment, there’s something about James Blackshaw’s finger-picked guitar pieces that puts everything in perspective. It’s spellbinding stuff, really, a downward spiral into one’s subconscious that’s hopeful and hopeless.
Don’t believe us, though; believe the almighty Michael Gira. The former Swan recently signed Blackshaw to his Young God imprint, issuing the following statement in turn: “Recently, driving around with the car stereo blasting his music I found myself inexplicably weeping. Why??? The music’s not sad, or even mournful really. It’s just exquisite in an ineffable way, and taps into a place, a dream place, or a pre-thought place, which each of us might recognize was always there inside of us and is suddenly revealed. Like coming home after a painful journey, I suppose…”
Indeed, although we disagree with the claim that Blackshaw’s new record, The Glass Bead Game, isn’t sad or mournful. Maybe we’re more emo than we’d like to admit, but some of Blackshaw’s songs make us want to roll up into a ball and cry. Like Gira without the fearsome noise-rock resume.
Anyway, here’s Blackshaw’s take on his latest LP, complete with a full album stream… Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: Kylesa Shares the Stories Behind Our Favorite Metal Album of the Year, “Static Tensions”
Posted on May 23, 2009
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[Photo by Geoff Johnson]
By Austin L. Ray
Quick: Name a state that’s more responsible for today’s finest metal than Georgia. Just try; although your answer’s gonna be wrong no matter what. Shall we count the reasons why? Mastodon. Harvey Milk. Baroness. Torche (in part). Zoroaster. Withered. The list goes on, but it wouldn’t be complete without Savannah’s Kylesa. Purveyors of one of 2009’s finest records, metal or otherwise—the monstrous Static Tensions—these four fellas (and one teeth-gnashing gal) have made quite a name for themselves over the past eight years.
Guitarist/vocalist Phillip Cope took a few moments away from the band’s relentless touring schedule—which passes through the indie-centric environs of Cake Shop (!) next Saturday—to dig into a few cuts for self-titled. Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: Tim Kasher Borrows From ‘Blood Meridian’ & That Pointy Bastard Pinocchio On Cursive’s Sixth LP, “Mama, I’m Swollen”
Posted on March 10, 2009
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Here’s a snippet of what Tim Kasher had to say when we first asked him to give self-titled a progress report on Cursive’s sixth record, Mama, I’m Swollen:
This time around, we didn’t much feel like doing another “Cursive” record, but DID have the urge to write something; something together, but without the proverbial rudder of that band name and its five previous records steering the direction of the music. So we decided we would simply write a record, write it any old way we wanted, and if it sounds like Cursive, we’ll call it Cursive. If it sounds so erratically different that it can’t be Cursive, then we’ll go through the nauseating process of finding a new band name.
As you’ll see in Kasher’s exclusive follow-up commentary below (complete with streaming songs and a pair of MP3s), Mama’s very much a Cursive album—a frothy, mangled meditation on just how fucked the human condition is.
Or as we like to put it, it’s “emo for grownups,” s/t included.
FREE ASSOCIATION: Aaron Aites of Iran Explains His Kyp Malone-Assisted, Ziggy-Esque Concept Album
Posted on March 4, 2009
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The pensive-looking one is Aaron Aites; the bewildered dude with the takeout is Kyp Malone.
For all of the talk about Iran being the ‘mysterious’, four-track-fueled no-fi project of Aaron Aites and Kyp Malone, the former couldn’t wait to enter a proper recording studio for the duo’s first full-length in more than five years. As Aites told self-titled’s editor in an eMusic interview, the never-ending Dissolver sessions were “a dream come true … it fulfilled a lifelong ambition. We ended up messing with the songs a lot. ‘Can I Feel What?’ was totally re-arranged in the studio because it didn’t sound as good as the lo-fi version.”
As it turns out, Aites is a massive McCartney/prog-rock fan who always wanted to write his very own concept album—a towering piece of quirky pop music that can’t be appreciated without listening all the way through, lyrics in hand. That’s why we asked Aites for a track-by-track commentary of clues as to just what the hell is going on here …
FREE ASSOCIATION: Franz Ferdinand’s Track-By-Track Breakdown of “Tonight”
Posted on January 28, 2009
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By Aimee Rawlins
Franz Ferdinand is a singles band: Count five for the group’s eponymous debut, four for You Could Have It So Much Better. Whether it’s with “Michael” and “Take Me Out” or “The Fallen” and “Do You Want To,” the Scottish foursome’s standout tracks are unmatched pop brilliance. On its third and latest release, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the band unveils a record inspired by a raucous night on the town—and everything that comes along with it.
“The idea was to build to a climax,” recounts frontman Alex Kapranos, “to almost give it the dynamic of a night out, psyching yourself up and going wild and then coming back down and dreaming and drifting off.”
A concept album about partying? Interesting. Do tell us more, Alex …
FREE ASSOCIATION: Edie Sedgwick’s Track-By-Track Breakdown of “Things Are Getting Sinister And Sinisterer”
Posted on December 22, 2008
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With his two Dischord-borne bands (Antelope; El Guapo, a.k.a. Supersystem) now defunct, Justin Moyer has returned to his nom de electro, Edie Sedgwick. While he looks a bit like Pop Levi these days, we can assure you that Sedgwick’s second LP (the Ian MacKaye-aided Things Are Getting Sinister And Sinisterer) isn’t on par with Pop sonically. This is a good thing—a very good thing. As Kim Coletta, the founder of DeSoto Records—Sedgwick’s original label—puts it, Moyer envisions Sedgwick as a “white, booger-drag version of Fela Kuti, Screaming Jay Hawkins, and the Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Or, maybe, a transgendered Ian Svenonius.”
The guy’s also one hell of a writer, as you’ll see in his Sinister commentary below. (Fans of self-titled’s previous print incarnation, DIW, might also remember Sedgwick’s pointed—and dare-we-say-entertaining—essay on postmodernism from a few years back.)
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