The Field Interview

Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com

How do you go about composing your music, do you get just an idea that you work with, or do you get it all at once and build from there?

It’s probably more a feeling, usually when I hear a particular song I rearrange it in my head. It can be any song, from Lionel Richie to Fleetwood Mac...but I don’t know if I should say that in case I get sued!

I’m sure Lionel Richie won’t be reading this! But it can be any track then?

Yes, every time it’s a track that I have some kind of special connection to, or means something to me.

Has there been anything recently that’s caught your attention?

No, not really, I’ve been really dried out. I’ve just been playing so much, I haven’t really had time. We’ve been touring since last summer, more or less every weekend, but I just play weekends then go back home. Especially when you’re playing in Europe it’s so easy to get home, so I’m always back home on Monday.

That must be hard though.

Yeah, it is, but I’ve had a couple of breaks now where I haven’t really played at all.

Do you have to plan out time then for when you want to compose new songs?

Yeah, I try to, but I think we’re still going to do the rest of summer, perhaps a bit in the autumn, then I’m going to take a break for a bit from playing live at all, and just try to focus on making new music.

So will you be touring just across Europe, or will you be moving across to America?

We’ll be going to the States hopefully, and we’re working on visas and stuff, but they are really, really strict. We’ve had some problems with them before, but it’s really urgent as the tour is supposed to be happening at the end of May, as we’re going to Mutek in Canada and that’s no problem. But then we’re supposed to go on an East Coast tour, but it’s just the embassy interviews left now.

A live set featuring you and !!! !!! !!! recently made an appearance on Pitchfork TV, how did this collaboration come about? Do you hope to collaborate again with any other artists?

Well, it’s like that now, I’m not playing by myself anymore, I now have a band, but with the Pitchfork thing we were talking about it on the bus and then they asked if we’d like to do it. I was really satisfied with it, I was kind of dreaming of playing with musicians again and not playing by myself, because it’s much more fun for me and the audience and everyone. So we started playing with live instrumentation and no computer, trying to be more like a band than a DJ.

Yes, it must be hard to keep the listener interested in you’re just running off a laptop.

Absolutely, especially when you’re playing in the States where they haven’t really had it taken to them; they still very much like watching, and to watch a guy with a laptop is really, really boring. Europe is so ahead of the U.S.A really, like they’re ten years afterwards, so here you’re used to a guy with a laptop...but they’re still like “why isn’t he sweating on stage? He should have that laptop between his legs” [Axel imitates air guitar, but with laptop].

So what instruments do you now use live?

Synthesisers and bass and acoustic and electronic drums. And it’s now a sampler instead of a laptop, there’s no computer in it. It’s really nice.

How did you translate it from a record to a live show? How did you know which parts to play?

The last record is somewhat in between both the living room and the dancefloor, and since I’ve been playing a lot by myself I’ve been figuring out which parts work on the dancefloor, so it was already taken care of in a way. We’re basically doing the same tracks I used to play, but rearranged them and added stuff.

Do you ever get a vibe off the audience, sort of like “we want to dance” or “we want to stand around”?

Yeah, but I don’t know, I think I just keep on playing, regardless of what expressions they may have in their face, it’s like take it or leave it. We’re really much more free now, I guess, before I was more like a slave under my laptop, now we can do whatever and we can just improvise and jam.

Do you think you’ll include a band in your next record?

I don’t know, I think it’s probably going to be me making the music, perhaps inviting the band to play on some tracks; we haven’t really recorded stuff. I think we could do something but I don’t know if it would be under The Field’s name or something else, we’ll see.

I’m interested in the Sound of Light EP you composed for The Nordic Light Hotel, can you tell me more about that and were you ever worried you would be making lift music?

It’s really strange, the hotel contacted me and asked if I could do music for the hotel environment, and you have these thoughts “is it going to be lift music”, but they had it in every room, you could stream it directly by just pressing a button. Then they had this...like, a postcard with a CD, that you could buy after a visit, but then they started selling it on Kompakt and other stores, so I don’t know what happened, but I don’t think it exists anymore.

It is odd though that a hotel would be like “oh, make some music for us”?

It’s really strange, I was there for two nights and on the first night I got sick, I had a fever and started puking, and that kind of set the standard for the thing, because I couldn’t really work with it and I didn’t know what to do. For me it was really chaotic and I don’t really like it, there’s only one track that I’m happy with. It was more like a job, you know, kind of a commercial thing, “this is what we ordered from you”. It’s not a follow-up, some people think it’s like a follow-up EP, but it’s not, it was just for the hotel and I don’t even know why it got out, but people tend to forget why I did it.
This is quite a cheeky question, but do you think of members of an audience use drugs they’re more open to your music?

Yes! There’s a total difference, you can see with what towns you’re playing in and there’s a lot of drugs, the audience is totally different.

So are you expecting that from Minehead?

No, I think everyone’s going to be drunk on beer, but that works as well, intoxicated either way. But there’s a big difference between Barcelona and Stockholm, or Berlin and Stockholm; Barcelona’s pretty liberal but Stockholm is quite conservative.

Where has been the place where you’ve thought “these people really get it” then?

I think Berlin is always Berlin, it’s a really nice place and the people are very friendly. Everyone in this kind of scene more or less moved there a few years ago from all over, from the states, Sweden, everywhere. Berlin gets to be the capital of techno. It’s so cheap to live there compared to other capitals.

Is there anyone you’ll be checking out at ATP?

I want to see Dinosaur Jr, Battles and we’ve just been watching A Hawk and a Hacksaw, De La Soul as well maybe, we saw Explosions in the Sky last night and Four Tet as well. Oh, and Stars of the Lid. I think Adam, the guy with Stars of the Lid, is living in Brussells.

Brainwash Compilation Review

Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com

Score: 4/10

This first Brainwash compilation marks the beginning of an era, a move into territory that Brainwash have barely begun to tread, the emergence of a cultural peak in the land of Leeds, and so on, so why is it that I have given this compilation a measly 4? Well, a variety of reasons, the most subjective being “I didn’t like it” and the most objective statement coming in the form of, oh wait, I can’t be objective. Well, damn.

Joking aside, the criticism I am about to embark on is not intended as a blow to Brainwash as promoters, as I am assured they do a fantastic job bring a host of bands “up North” (it’s grim, don’t you know) as well as starting their own festival in October, which has attracted the likes of Ólafur Arnalds, Maybeshewill and Forward Russia. It seems Brainwash can’t really put a foot wrong, but well (and this is genuinely unwelcome news), their compilation is pretty poor.

All of the ingredients for it to be a success are there, it’s just that it has been so badly put together, that when playing it for the first time this compilation becomes a patchwork catastrophe, with split seams, dodgy craftsmanship and well, if it were a jacket, it would be a straight jacket.

Opening with a nice little “hello, welcome to the first Brainwash compilation, enjoy”, the listener is easily sucked into believing that their journey through this CD will be a smooth one and the use of Jonquil as compilation opener only adds more weight to this idea. For those who are not familiar with Jonquil (shame on you), they are a wonderful, Youthmovies-related outfit who have released one moderately successful album to date, entitled Lions. The title track of this record features on the Brainwash compilation and is an ever favourable sea shanty, about, erm, building houses in a certain way so lions can escape easier. Nonetheless, it’s a wonderful song and my only qualm with it is that it’s been condensed to a one minute edit, which seems rather pointless as the song only totals in at 1:57 on the album anyway. Looking back, this maltreatment of Jonquil should have rung alarm bells instantly, but on first listens I was far too naïve and well, hoping that this record might offer up something half-decent.

On we move though, at a blistering rate may I add, to Red Stars Parade, who I originally thought were quite pants, but this was before hearing Pulled Apart by Horses. Returning to Red Stars Parade, they are basically an unassuming bunch, who you know, give songs super-cool names like “Jack O’ Knives” and sound a bit like 30 Seconds to Mars. It’s hardly anything to get excited over, but Kerrang gave it four of their Kicking-ass Kings in a recent review, so if you dig Kerrang, chances are you will like this too.

So, we have had one good band, one not so good, then on swing Jetplane Landing with one of the most ridiculous songs, EVER. At least that’s what they want you to think, because, you know, it references Les Savy Fav and they are totally hip, and it has a load of stuff going on in it, and, and, and… is what you would be saying if you were some sort of brainwashed (get it?) monkey. Jetplane Landing’s “Why do they never play Les Savy Fav on the radio?” is a real waste of effort. Yes, it’s kooky, if that’s what you’re into, but if it were asking the genuine question “why do they never play Les Savy Fav on the radio?” surely there would be some mention of the fact that major radio stations are far too scared of change and Les Savy Fav do have a reputation for being a bit weird. No, there is no mention of that here, instead, this is, what I feel, a rough translation of the thought processes of Jetplane Landing:

1) Sound totally American
2) Fill the song with crazy breakdowns to show we can take a joke
3) Make sure it sounds ironic!!!

Well, ironic songs = ironic eye rolling. Please don’t bother with Jetplane Landing, it’s like giving in to a child that’s purposely attention seeking; the parent looks weakened in the eyes of the child and the kid knows it can try it again and probably get away with it. Super Nanny would agree. Oh, and did I mention that certain “vocals” in the song sound like Thurston Moore’s piss-take attempt at rapping on The Whitey Album? Exactly. Stand well clear and block your ears.

Wintermute offer some of the usual At The Drive-In styled sounds that you can hear on most “band nights” at your local pub, so it’s up to These Monsters to pull me out of the aural dirge that is this compilation so far; thankfully they do, and offer up 10 minutes of relaxing jazzy post-rock keeping thoughts of “change the cd, change the cd, change the cd” at bay.

At this point, things look like they are picking up; I have just experienced the soothing sounds of These Monsters and the next few artists on this record are pretty decent too. Paul Marshall offers up a sweet folk ballad in the style of Simon & Garfunkel and Random Number’s “Crosets” is a nice slice of electronica that is easy on the ears. Vessels show up next, and as they simply can’t put a foot wrong, their track “Clear and Calm” easily transports us onto Youthmovies’ excellent “Shh! You’ll Wake It”.

Then it all goes a bit wrong again. Pulled Apart by Horses turn up, with teen angst baggage and all and offer up the song “I Punched a Lion in the Throat”. Now this is a bad song, some might even say a musical travesty. It contains the lyrics “ultimate power/maximum life” which sounds like the slogan for Homer Simpson’s “Power Sauce”. Just like this apple based energy bar, the listener soon discovers that this song doesn’t really have any energy behind it, and rather than being made out of apple cores and old newspapers (like in The Simpsons episode), “I Punched a Lion in the Throat” is formed out of tired riffs and an uninspired band.

In short, some more songs happen, and then the compilation closes on a seventeen minute effort from Human Fly which features spoken-word artist Rose Kemp. While this song isn’t at all disagreeable, in fact it’s rather good, slapping it on right at the end is the final nail in the coffin for this album.

I haven’t really explained my overall disliking for Brainwash’s first compilation yet, so please allow me to do so now, just to justify myself to both fans of the compilation and Brainwash themselves. The promoters have obviously decided to cram everything in at once and alternate between genres just to show how much they have to offer. Honestly, they do have a plenty of great bands under their belt, but splicing them together in this order just spells catastrophe. Compilations like this were necessary when not everyone had easy access to the internet, or music, but with the Myspace phenomena, now anyone can listen to any band they like and form an opinion of them through the 4 to 5 songs available on their music page.

Similarly, if someone was interested in what Brainwash has to offer, they would no doubt sift through their top friends (who are mainly made up of the bands that are on this comp), give each band a listen and if they like what they hear, maybe buy a record or two. Fitting every single artist Brainwash has been involved with onto one compilation no longer works because music listeners expect things to be catered to them. If you can download an entire album by one great band, why should you have to listen to a compilation that hasn’t bothered to tailor itself to you?

While listening to an entire compilation and making notes on the bands you enjoyed and the ones you didn’t used to be merriment to us all, a certain new-breed listeners seem to no longer have the patience for this. Instead of shoving everything under one “compilation”, the artists on this record should have been split up onto different EP’s. Perhaps one for bands like Red Stars Parade, Pulled Apart by Horses and even Deus Volt, another EP for folks like Jonquil, Paul Marshall, We vs. Death, and so on. Yes, this would have required a lot more effort and I am certain some will see flaws in my thinking, but frankly, I don’t see why anyone should be forced to listen to bands they don’t enjoy just so a promoter can say “we have a full-length album out with so much stuff on it, it’s insane.” I agree, if Brainwash had of released separate EPs with rough genre guides, it wouldn’t open up other bands to listeners and may even come across as a bit closed minded, but it’s a sign of the times if scatty compilations are being released and consequently ignored by music fans who simply don’t have the time to sift through garbage to find the gems.

Apologies if the previous paragraphs come across as half-baked nonsense from a rambling music reviewer who doesn’t know what they are talking about, but I simply had to discuss (in my own little way) the redundant “qualities” of compilations like this. Now, Brainwash, please accept my apology and continue to put on fine gigs on up North.

Casino loyalty schemes

For Casinoonline.co.uk

Many online casinos offer excellent loyalty programs as a way of rewarding their regular players. These can be incredibly enticing, and are certainly an important consideration when chosing a casino, especially if you think you will be playing their regularly. To help you decide which casino is best for you, and clear up any confusion over the differences between the various schemes, we have compiled a table comparing a number of programs on offer. If you wish to learn more about any of the casinos' reward programs, just click on the casino name in question...

For the full article, as well as detailed articles on 32Red, Betfair, Jackpot City, Ladbrokes, Littlewoods and Spin Palace then view this page.

128-bit SSL security

For Casinoonline.co.uk

Practically all online casinos list that they have “128-Bit SSL security”, but you will very rarely see an explanation for what exactly this means. Is it safe to assume that because a number of companies use it that it automatically guarantees its authenticity and safety? Well, we have compiled all the information you need, meaning you can make an informed decision about your security options.

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a protocol (a set list of procedures) that systematically encrypts sensitive data being sent over the internet from a client to a server; in this case, you (and your banking details) to the online casino housed in the server. You may wonder why it is only the server that’s protected by SSL security; after all, your details are just as important as the casinos right? Well, the casino server protects both your end and their’s through a section of keys...

Full article available here.

Payout Percentages

For Casinoonline.co.uk

Most, if not all, online casinos are regularly audited by independent organisations that check their payouts and also whether or not the casino can be considered as ‘fair’. When checking if a casino has been independently audited, you should always look out for the ‘eCogra’ symbol, as this non-profit company are the most popular when it comes to payout reports. However, there are other online casino auditors, including Gaming Associates, who consider themselves “industry leading experts”. If you keep an eye out for information on payout percentages, you will soon find that the majority of online casinos feature auditing reports by either of these two organisations.

It is important to note that these payout figures may not be what you receive when you put your money through these games. Instead, they should act as a rough guideline to what to expect from each casino; after all, these figures don’t take into account your own skill, the time played and your betting average. They are still an important factor in choosing a casino, however, and it makes sense to understand what they mean and how this will affect your gameplay.

In 2005, the UK Gambling commission proposed that games such as slots machines that feature a jackpot of £1,000 and above must have a payout percentage rate of 80%. Most online casinos offer almost 20% more than this, however, meaning that any that offer the gambling commission's minimum rate are far from competitive, and are perhaps not worth playing at...

Full article available here.

Ryoga - Meme

Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com

Score: 7/10

Ryoga’s previous effort, in the form of their last EP release Ryoga, didn’t really do that much for me. While I’m sure that fellow TSB reviewer Zach Mills is a pretty astute fellow when it comes to cherry-picking the best releases of 2008, I wasn’t really feeling his selection of this odd, electro-post-rock four piece from Sunderland. Still, he awarded them 7/10 and like most who read that review, I gave the band a fair try, but still never really “got it,” much like that Captain Beefheart album that “like totally hits you with its layers on the seventy-fifth listen…" I’m sure it does by the way, I’ve just yet to make it to the seventy-five mark.

Anyway, on we move with Ryoga’s new effort, Meme, a five track EP totalling just over twenty minutes. While there is only a fifteen-or-so minute difference between the aforementioned Ryoga and this new EP, what really struck me about Meme was that on the first listen, this new record didn’t sound as, dare I say it, dense as their last release. Of course, there are other factors involved that made me prefer this release. For a start, it is part of the wonderful new Notes series, an internet based movement that promises a real life, clutch-a-copy music ‘zine in which bands can showcase their sounds on a 3” CD. Clearly, Ryoga’s involvement in this group pushes their cool points through the roof, although I’m sure Zach would argue they were already sky high.

Meme suggests a band that have already come leaps and bounds since their last release. The songs are smoother, the transitions between fading endings are seamless and the vocals fit that perfect, snug mix of not being too overbearing or overshadowed by the surrounding accompaniments. The quartet behind this wonderful release have clearly honed in on their skills for sampling. For me, Ryoga had moments where the sampling was perhaps too “chunky” - as in it didn’t feel like it belonged there and its role was simply to fill dead air. On Meme however, all the samples employed fit around each songs ethic. In “Naked for No One,” the soothing looped chatter compliments every single second of instrumentation; it’s a real testament to the band that there are no moments when clarity is compromised by lethargic electronics.

Of course, this review is all based around personal favorites, so anything I pick comes complete with a barrel load of subjectivity, but if I had to pick... I’d say that “Tango Down/Evac” is one of the most impressive songs I’ve heard this year, regardless of genre. Opening with a claustrophobic industrial drum that recalls Jacaszek, another standout of this year, and ending on a resonant high note with a melting pot of synth and scale sliding guitars, you can even forgive the fact that the first synth note in this song sounds like the opener to Sam’s Town by The Killers.

For those of you that suffer from attention disorders, you’ll be pleased to know that the EP doesn’t recreate the same ideas in each song; you’ll find no “cookie cutter” moments here! A song's theme stays just one idea in a plethora of different styles that seep through this EP. If you’re looking for a dark jangling guitar, you’ll find it in closing track “The Milk of Human Kindness”, but just as you begin to repeat this tune's hypnotic rhythm in your head, you’ll be thrown into a land where synth rules and the guitar is moved away to the distant sidelines… If you can keep up, Ryoga offer up one hell of an adventure and I certainly recommend it.

The Octopus Project Interview

The Octopus Project interview (originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

Firstly, as well as ATP you’re also playing Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits this year and in 2006, you played Coachella. With the latter, weren’t you nominated by a fan?

Toto Miranda: Yeah, completely without our knowledge we were nominated then voted into the Coachella festival, we knew nothing about it until we got the invitation from the festival.

I hope that wasn’t the day before or something!

Yvonne Lambert: No, no, it was six months before, but still we didn’t know if it was real or not, it was so shocking. It was something we had never even considered happening, so yeah, it was a big surprise!

So, have you played ATP before, or is this your first time? How does this one differ to other festivals you’ve played?

TM: No, this is our first one too.
YL: This is also a big surprise!
TM: We played a festival in Taiwan last year and it was kind of similar to this, it was in a resort and everyone had cabins and stuff, and all the bands and people stayed together. ATP is kind of like that, plus Coachella; totally awesome bands and a really cool resort thing, but everything being awesome.
Josh Lambert: Really like the best of both worlds.

But without the good weather! [It tipped it down on Friday]

TM: This isn’t bad, the weather was like this in Taiwan only it was really hot, deadly hot.
YL: It was grey and humid.
TM: We’ve been in England for a for a little over a week now, and it was beautiful up until a few days ago.

With your European tour, didn’t you lose a few dates along the way recently?

TM: Kind of, they were all sort of in flux, none were totally confirmed and then they ended up not happening.
YL: Some things got moved and some things got cancelled and things got added, but it’s all sorted now.

So you’re not going to be just wandering around Europe then?

TM: Yeah, saying “let us play please!”

I noticed that Josh [guitarist] kept running back and forth to that black box on stage all evening. Do you have to keep aware of what you’re doing at all times on stage, or can you relax a bit?

JL: Yeah, these guys picked up for it but I totally messed up one of the songs last night. I did some wrong things at the wrong time and they were just like “okay, I guess we’re doing that part now”. It gets confusing some times.
YL: I think in general we each know exactly what we have to do to make everything work together and like Josh said, if one of us just has a moment where we kind of go blank and mess something up, we can all pick up for each other.

The crowd didn’t notice though!

TM: Yeah, we’ve dropped the ball way harder than that, that was nothing! Sometimes a song will just grind to a halt, and that’s never pleasant.
YL: We did blow the power at our first show in London, twice. The power just went on all of the electronics, which is a big driving force for us.
TM: All the electronics and the amps went out, so all of a sudden it was just drums.
YL: That was awkward.

So, aside from that, how did your first London shows go?

JL: They went well, we played another one a few days later at the Vibe Bar in Shoreditch, that show was really awesome, it was really good,
YL: no power issues.
JL: Because all of our stuff is American power, so we have a converter that we got in Amsterdam, so it has European power, then we had to get U.K converters, so it’s like three settings of weirdness.

You’ve been known to use a Theremin, when did you first become accustomed to playing this instrument?

YL: I got the Theremin around 1999-2000, and started experimenting with it, using sound effects and pedals, just different cloaking devices to cover up the fact that I had no idea what I was doing! It took a good couple of years before I was comfortable playing intricate melodies, but its fun.

So how were you introduced to the instrument?

YL: We saw a documentary on the inventor who was a Russian physicist named Léon Theremin, and he was working for the KGB on motion sensors technology in 1920 when he accidentally discovered that the electricity in our body could amplify and detune these radio frequencies. He was also a musician so he made this instrument and toured the world, kind of showing everybody his new invention. It was the first electronic instrument ever invented.

I feel quite ignorant now for never having heard of it!

YL: It is pretty obscure; I think you wouldn’t really hear of it unless you sought it out.

How much do you use it on your albums and live sets then?

YL: We’re using it more, as I’ve learnt how to control it better we’ve been using it a lot more, so the newer album has more intricate melodies using it, and we do use it live. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve trained one ear to pick out that specific sound so I can try to play it live, because there’s no way to mark off frets to see what you’re doing, you really have to hear it. You kind of get a feel for it though, like the tiny movements of the fingers you have to do to change the pitch and the notes. You just get a feel for it though, like with any instrument.

I wanted to ask you about your split with Black Moth Super Rainbow, how did that one come about?

TM: We were introduced to them through the internet. The guy that runs their label, Graveface, got hold of us and we started talking to him about things, so we found out about them through him. Then he was asking us about doing a release, and since we’re with Peek A Boo in the states we didn’t want to do a proper album of our own, but the idea came up of doing a split with them, as a separate venture for both of us. We ended up trading files - little unfinished bits of songs - over the internet, and made it that way. We didn’t actually meet Black Moth until after the record was finished. It was kind of weird when we first met, which was when we first played a show together and walked in thinking “I wonder which one’s them?”

We’ve spent the whole time walking around the festival going, “I’m sure that’s Explosions in the Sky”, the festival is basically made up of lots of men with beards.

JL [talking about Ryan Figg, guitarist in the band]: Yeah, he’s in Explosions in the Sky, he’ll start signing t-shirts.

With the last record, you used a studio and also kept it lo-fi, so with the next one do you plan on using the studio, or will you be going back to your lo-fi roots?

JL: I think we’ll probably do it ourselves, with a little bit of help in Austin.
TM: It’s about kind of finding a balance between needing a lot of control over what we do, but then also needing some help so things are exactly where we want them. It’s back and forth but the more we do it the closer we get to the comfort zone, as far as things we can do and things we need help with.
YL: With the last record we initially wanted to try going into a studio, and seeing how everybody else does it and try to see how much better of a sound we could get working in a nice studio, with nice recording equipment. It was a really great experience, but I think in the end we still learnt that we needed to do our own thing and we needed more control over certain situations and certain sounds. We still took everything that we got from the studio home and manipulated it ourselves. I guess we’re control freaks in that way, but I think we learnt to trust ourselves more and to trust our own ideas.
TM: The studio was a combination of moments like “Wow, I never would have thought to do that, or that sounds way better” and then there were times when you wanted to reach over their shoulder and go “no, just do that!”

Was the studio recommended to you then?

JL: The guy who’s the engineer on it approached us, it was his studio in Seattle and he approached us at South By South West a couple of years ago. He had done records with The Gossip and Blonde Redhead and stuff like that. The studio was really amazing, so we were like “this sounds like a great deal, he’s made great records, the studio’s really awesome and a really nice guy.” When we got there we were there for like twenty days, we lived in the studio and just hung out there the whole time, and all of us just worked together. We mixed it at the very end of it, but then after we left on our way home we were listening to it and "thought these mixes aren’t exactly what we’re looking for," so we went home and spent the next couple of months mixing it ourselves and then with another guy in Austin.

So the one on the record is the one you mixed?

TM: Yeah, it ended up being a result of all those different processes in a row, it began with a few stages, but each stage definitely left its mark on what we were left with.

Will you be in the studio again for the next record?

YL: It’s possible that we’ll do some work in the studio and some on our own, we’re finding a good mix and trying to figure out the way we work best, what we need help with and what we need to do ourselves.

Do you know when the next record will be?

JL: We’ve just put out a single last month with two new songs and we haven’t written anything else since then, but hopefully when we get back we’ll start working on that.

With the Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead method of releasing music, how do you think music distribution is going to go? Can you see it going towards “free, donate money if you want” sort of thing, or do you think there’s still value placed on the physical copy of a record?

TM: It’s kind of splitting off and those two are becoming separate categories - there’s definitely going to be way less focus on the CD or it’ll be cheap and convenient on digital, or we’ll make a really beautiful vinyl album, so that you have the choice to do both. Tthis is all happening really fast, it wasn’t even a question on our minds when we put out the last record in October. Who knows what will happen between now and when we make our next record?

Do you think it’s a good thing, the way that it’s going?

TM: I think it’s in total flux right now, and I don’t know if it’s going to settle in one particular mode any time soon. I think it’s good to not have the content and the object to be necessarily linked, as you can start to think of those as two different ideas - not that one is more valuable than the other, but it’s just kind of multiplying.

Atlas Sound, a fellow act at ATP, has developed that Ryan Adams thing where he’s constantly releasing new songs online; do you think you’ll ever be like that?

TM: We’re not that prolific with the finished product, there’s tons and tons of stuff in progress but it’s like pulling teeth to get a song finished for us. We’re gonna do something special with it, whether it’s digital or vinyl or whatever; it’s going to be something special, not just releases on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

So we’re not going to be hearing any DJ Reggie (Ryan Adam’s rapping alter-ego) style rap songs then?

TM: We do have some joke songs,
YL: We make up kind of joke, rappy songs just for ourselves, but they never get released.
TM: I’m torn because I think they’re hilarious, but on principle I think novelty rap just needs to be put to sleep.

Finally, is there anyone we should be checking out in particular at ATP?

JL: Animal Collective and A Hawk and a Hacksaw, who we’ll see in a little bit. I saw Animal Collective play about three years ago, but I’m sure it’s completely different now - the clips I saw at Coachella was all electronics, no guitars or drums or anything.