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.

Lichens Interview

Lichens interview (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

ATP Interview Series

I’ve read that your albums are all one-time improvisations…

With the exception of one tune on Omns, “M St r ng W tchcr ft L v ng n Sp r t” is actually the one time I’ve done overdubs on a track, and I just did a bunch of layering. It was all still improvised but I had an idea and I chose to move through the piece in three different movements and to accomplish that the way I sort of envisioned it in my head, it was a necessity to do over-dubbing, but that is the one time I’ve done that. Otherwise it is a one-time.

Is it literally all in one go then?

Yes, usually I’ll be able to go into a recording session with an idea… [Robert is met by someone carrying Battles’ drumsticks, which he will be passing onto the band]…The whole impetus for what I do and the concept came about because I wanted to try to be able to realise a piece of music spontaneously, as best I could. That being said, I do have ideas of how I want things to sound, but they don’t necessarily turn out the way that I want them to - or the way that I envision them - and that’s okay. The idea of “the mistake” entering into the equation is not something that really hinders me from what I’m doing. It’s a process that allows me as well as the listener outside to experience basically the birth and death of this one piece of music and have it able to live symbiotically in any given situation. That was the whole idea, because lichens grow anywhere and everywhere, it’s the oldest living organism on the planet, there’s one in the arctic that’s over a million years old and still growing underneath the glacier, so that’s sort of why. It’s all about the process and the evolution and realising, coming to a sort of understanding of things, and seeing that something can be created spontaneously and have an effect or not. It’s one of those things, it lives where it lives and that’s what it is.

A fellow writer at The Silent Ballet went to see you and Explosions in the sky at a venue called 'The Crazy Donkey,' do you remember that venue?

I do remember that, that was a weird show.

Apparently lots of people talked through it; how does it feel when people talk through your show? How does that affect the artist?

You know, I don’t let it affect me, because I’m there to do what I do, and it’s as much for me as it is for anyone else, so if they decide to be involved in what I’m doing and where I’m at, then that’s just fine. If they don’t and they happen to be there, the whole idea of this, the symbiosis, living in situations that are not necessarily supposed to happen - it’s not discouraging whatsoever. I tend to enjoy it more when I’ve made some sort of connection, but at the end of the day, if nobody else is getting it - or wants to - they don’t have to be there. It’s all just a matter of choice and circumstance, it’s not something that affects me greatly, but for the most part I’ve had great luck with live performances, being able to convey what I’m doing to an audience, and the audiences have been as narrow and broad as you can possibly imagine. I’ve played in front of thousands of people and it’s been totally silent, or I’ve played in front of two hundred people and it’s totally clattered and crazy. It is what it is and I can’t be bothered with someone that doesn’t get it. If they don’t get it that’s fine, I’m doing my thing and that’s what I’m there to do.

Do you ever want to tell people to “shush” though?

I think the idea of that is a little ridiculous, I think too many people put this precious idea on their art and what they do. Sure I want to be respected as an artist, I can’t say that I don’t - if I did I’d be lying - but what I do is not for everyone and I understand that. I’m not looking to change anyone’s perspective on anything. If they’re able to join me in it then that’s just fine and I appreciate that, but I can also understand the idea of someone not being there. It’s all circumstance; someone could have a bad day at work or get into a row on the train or whatever, so their day is ruined, regardless of what their plans were for the rest of the day. Sometimes you can’t make that connection and I understand that.

I’m glad you remembered that donkey venue though, I’ve seen a few pictures of it and they have a donkey mascot, was it a bit of a mistake in venue?

Yeah, it was like playing at Hooters. That was exactly what it was, very bizarre.

What can we expect from your live show - are you on your own or do you collaborate?

I do collaborate, after the show tonight I’m doing a series of shows in the UK collaborating with my friend Jeremy who plays in a tonal and textural duo called White Light. We did an album together called White/Lichens last year on the Holy Mountain label. He’s over here because he’s working for Iron & Wine doing their house sound, and we were able to coordinate it so we were able to travel together and do some performances together. I’m doing some solo and some as a duo, as White/Lichens, generally under the moniker Lichens but I have done collaborations with people - a viola player and the percussionist Michael Zerang, to name a couple. I’ve done stuff with Christina Files and a number of other people, off and on when the situation suits.

And are your collaborations improvised as well?

I think a number of the people I’ve performed with are improvisers and have worked with improvisers for a number of years, but I have worked with people that don’t really exist in that world. It’s always an interesting thing regardless of how it works, it’s always interesting and always a good time.

I’ve read that you’ve collaborated with TV on the Radio, but can’t find much more about it aside from short sentences online, is there any truth to this?

There’s a lot of misinformation that floats around…

Do you want to clear this up now then?

Sure, I did a few live shows with TV on the Radio a couple of years ago, just a few New York shows that happened over a period of time, but I’m not in the band and I was never a member of the band. I guess it’s not completely incorrect to say that I was a collaborator, but I don’t really ever say that. It’s gotten out there so far - I think the last record review I had in The Wire, the first line said my name then said I was a member of TV on the Radio, and this is years after the event. It’s just misinformation, it’s not what it is, and that writer obviously didn’t do any fact checking and didn’t do the proper research. It’s too bad, but it seems like that happens with most writers these days.

Well, I hope you don’t mean me!

I say most; there are a good few, but only a few.

You used to be in 90 Day Men, how would you explain the differences or similarities between the former, and the project you’re working on now?

I don’t know, but it’s always funny with the idea of a project - I never really use that term, because it’s not a project, it happens to be where I am at that point; it’s just how I see things. I know other people will view things differently, but I don’t like the idea of using that term because it negates the idea that you have the free will to do what you want, you know what I mean? It’s like “oh you know, it’s this little side thing that he’s doing”, and it’s not, it’s what I do, there are different phases in everyone’s life and everyone moves through at different paces, but it’s all your history, it’s all my history.

Well, I can assure you that that’s just a lexical choice slip-up there!

I know, but that’s why it’s just the way that I am.

Do you know when you’ll have another record out?

I’ll hopefully be able to record a new record after I'm done with touring, but once I’m home at the beginning of July I’m going to try and work on a new record. I have a vision of how I want to try and create the situations, so hopefully by the end of the year the record will be out. That’s my plan.

Where do you record your records then, at home or in a studio?

I’ve done home studio recording and recording in studios proper. I’ve worked with a few different engineers, people that really understand where I’m coming from, and that’s the most important thing, to be able to convey what I’m trying to be able to work with.

It must be hard if you have a specific vision though, do you ever worry it will be bypassed by the people you’re working with?

I don’t think it’s ever bypassed, I’m very hands on, even to the point of live situations, during a sound check I’ll actually go out into the house and stand at the soundboard and EQ my own sound. I do like to be hands on with that sort of thing, as there are certain things that I want to be able to be heard by people, and in a certain way. It’s never an issue of bypassing though, it’s never a production issue or a mixing issue, I’m able to convey it and if I’m not able to do it myself, I’m able to tell someone else how to do it.

A lot of the bands we’ve spoken to have said the same, perhaps Explosions in the Sky have picked really hands-on bands.

[laughs] I think for the most part they have, yeah.

Am I right in thinking that the Million Tongues festival was one of your first shows?

There were two shows that I did really close together, and one was the Million Tongues festival and one was when Battles had first started touring and I opened and set up a show for them at an art gallery in Chicago. So, I believe the Million Tongues Festival was my second show and the show with Battles was my first.

I guess you know Battles from way back when then?

Yeah, they’re friends of mine, I’ve known Ian [Williams, guitarist], Tyondai Braxton, [guitarist and vocal samples] and Dave [Konopka, bass] the longest, but I also know John [Stanier, drums] and they’re all good friends.

How did you all meet then?

I’ve probably known Ian the longest, I’ve known him since he was in Don Caballero and he and I knew each other, then he moved to Chicago and we got to know each other better. Dave was in this group from Boston called Lynx, and they all moved to Chicago around the same time, so I got to know him as well. Ty I met just through playing shows, him in Chicago and me in New York and we became pretty fast friends.

Anyway, back to Million Tongues, what was that like?

I don’t know if there will be more, but I think there have been four so far. This fellow who goes under the name Plastic Crimewave, who does this magazine called Galactic Zoo Dossier which is manufactured and distributed through Drag City - he’s a known entity in Chicago, and he decided to start putting these festivals together because he has a lot of friends that are artists that are playing right now. To put any sort of a qualifier on it (which I don’t generally like to do but, I think he does it himself), it is more of a psyche and improvised festival. A lot of groups from Japan like High Rise and LSD March, a lot of folks you might see playing Terrastock, like Spires that in the Sunset Rise, Simon Finn, Jack Rose, all sorts of people. It’s a good one, I quite like it.

Is this the first time you’ve been to ATP? Does it differ?

This is the first time I’ve been to ATP; I generally don’t go to festivals. Something like the Million Tongues, it’s an onsite, site-specific festival that happens over the course of a few days, and it’s fairly easy and comfortable. Everyone goes to the same place and it’s not open air, it’s housed in a venue. I think it only really differs from ATP in that way, and that it happens on a smaller scale. The experience that I’ve had here has been very positive, I’ve been able to see a lot of people that I haven’t had the chance to see in quite a while, just reconnecting with friends and then meeting some new people and it’s the same with Million Tongues, it’s very friendly and very family orientated.

Imagism

For: Cent Magazine

When enquiring in my local library for an Imagism anthology and any other related texts, I was met with the following query; “you would like a book on Scientology?” I then explained that I was not particularly interested in L. Ron Hubbard’s theories on life at that very moment in time and would much rather read about a certain poetic movement of the early 20^th century. After much deliberation I was finally met with a rather musty copy of the first Imagism anthology, 1914’s Des Imagistes. While I should note that the librarians confusion about whether I wanted information on Scientology or an Imagism anthology may well have been down to bad pronunciation on my behalf, it seems a tragedy that a poetic movement led by the legendary Ezra Pound and whose first anthology featured the works of Pound, H.D and even James Joyce (although in an article in the Egoist, Pound submitted, “there are poems by authors in this anthology, which I do not consider to be Imagiste” and went on to list Joyce) has been swept up under the wide umbrella of “Modernism” and left to gather dust in some shadowy corner.

There are a variety of factors regarding why Imagism is not mentioned particularly much when discussing early 20^th century poetry. For a start, it has to compete with the plethora of “isms” of that era; Vorticism, Futurism, and for Pound, even fascism. It must also be remembered that Imagism was a rather short-lived movement, as Pound lost interest around 1914 and the reigns of Imagism were handed to Amy Lowell, who went on to publish a few volumes of Imagist poetry, up until 1917. However, it could also be to do with the fact that Imagism’s style of stripping down to fundamental basics, or as Pound put it in his manifesto, using “no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something”, does not bode well with a nation that apparently places Rudyard Kipling’s “If” as its favourite poem. Pound’s appreciation of elemental concepts does not mean that his works, or his fellow Imagist’s creations lack the style and grace of more, somewhat mainstream poets like Kipling. Take for example Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”, which is comprised of the following lines:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough

While the poem may look sparse, the mix between nature and urban, traditional and modern is simply spectacular. Originally totalling in at thirty lines, Pound suggested in his manifesto not “to be descriptive” as “the painter can describe a landscape much better than you can” and in this text it’s clear to note Pound’s talent for abstracting the “superfluous” parts of a poem and reducing it to its very core, without it ever seeming bleak or unattractive. However, with the recent re-evaluations of side-lined avant-garde writers and artists like Pound’s associate Wyndham Lewis, it is only a matter of time before Imagism is removed from the old cupboards of libraries nationwide and is finally given its chance in the spot light.

Eluvium Interview

Eluvium interview (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

ATP Interview Series

How does your live set differ to how you compose a piece for a record?

Well, somewhat dramatically I guess, depending on the album. The most obvious difference for me is when I do all my recording at home, I have all the time in the world to build up miniature pieces that end up just being a single melody line with tons and tons of layers, whereas in the live setting, you don’t really have all that time to do so, but I still do like to give the understanding of that in the live setting. So people can see how things start and how they grow into miniature pieces, but unfortunately, while just being one person has many advantages, that’s one of the disadvantages - when I’m on stage I have to do as many things as possible and as quickly as possible in order to get a proper sound. So it limits my ability to play through my entire catalogue, it narrows it down to a few bits and pieces from each album, but I think in the end that it works out okay.


I was going to ask you how you choose what to play, as in your set last night there were bits of Accidental Memory there wasn’t there, as well as others?

Yeah, basically anything from Accidental Memory I don’t have any problem with at all, obviously, but then I’d say the first album I could do most of. Probably the hardest would be talk amongst the trees - just the first song on that album alone would probably take like five of me doing as much as possible at once just to get the opening line going. So yeah, I’m sure there are cheaper ways of doing it, but I just don’t really feel comfortable with that I guess. It really just comes down to trying to find the most representational track from each album and whether or not I can play it!

Would you ever be tempted to pre-record most of the sounds needed onto your laptop though and play those live?

Well, there is a bit of sampling on the laptop as well, and I don’t have a problem doing that as long as I feel I can bring something else to it, that creates something special for the live performance. But at the same time I wouldn’t like to have just an entire laptop set, so I try to integrate as much as I can. Also, I tend to have a fondness for broken, disregarded instruments and things like that, their lifespan doesn’t make it past the creation of the album. I’m sure you know one could go on ebay or craigslist or something like that and find a replacement for it, but I’d just be throwing away lots of money trying to buy a silly little Yamaha keyboard over and over again.

We spoke to The Field about laptops versus instruments, and he’s now got a band with him.

Yeah, I’ve heard this.

Because he doesn’t want people to watch a show that centres on a laptop, have you ever found that using your laptop too much in a set causes people to lose interest?

Sure, even now having the thing onstage at all is disconcerting for me, but that being said, I’m still going to put as much into the performance as I possibly can. I want to be taken to the same place as people in the audience taken to. Every once in a while you hear a comment like “oh he must be up there checking his e-mails or something”, strangely enough the aeroplane port card takes so much energy that I have to turn it off, so that’s not an option! The laptop can bring - aside from even sampling and things like that - so many effects and things like that, it is a really nice interface to work with, but I guess I’m still an old-fashioned, foot-pedal kind of guy. My friends in Portland are always trying to show me all this new software I could integrate into my set, it’s like “oh, I’d just rather buy the more expensive foot pedal”, just because it feels more hands-on.

So what software do you use for your shows?

I use Ableton live, and I have a Boss loop station, a reverb pedal...I used to have an Akai Headrush, but I’ve taken that out recently, just basically because I can’t fit it in all my luggage. So, there’s a lot of looping and effects, then I run it into the computer then back out into the pedals again, and then shoot it out into the crowd.

Has any of your software gone wrong before, like has your laptop crashed?

Luckily I haven’t run into that problem with this project, there’s another thing that I’ve been working on with a friend in Portland called Concert Silence - that involves a lot of wires and cables, and two, possibly sometimes three laptops. We decided to use all freeware for that project, so that’s definitely an issue. In fact, the record that we released for free, right in the middle of it, my laptop crashes, there’s this horns section that comes in and then it just drops out and then I just have to tell Charles “get in the kitchen”, so he just takes what’s running through the system and messes with it as fast as possible.

Well, I’ve heard that and didn’t notice it!

What’s wonderful about that as well is that somehow it still all works and it just brings something new to the music, it’s another surprise element that gives it something wonderful I guess, to us at least.

So is free-ware now the new lo-fi method of making music?

Maybe! That’s interesting about The Field though, because I saw him in Portland at Holocene and he just had a laptop and a mixing board and I thought it was fantastic. I mean, I wasn’t in there dancing or anything, I just sat back, but I thought he did a great job...but I am really excited to see him with a band.

Yes, he seemed worried about how American audiences perceive performances centred around laptops, whereas he could get away with it in Europe...

I’m sure he has reason to worry but you know, that’s a strange thing, like the audience versus the musician issue. We’re obviously not trying to cheapen the experience, there’s a reason why we play music in the first place, but I’ve heard some strange stories, I won’t mention names but there are certain artists that just walk up, hit spacebar and start rolling cigarettes. I think Axel’s probably right, that it is harder to pull off in the United States, it’s hard to have enough experience to say, but it certainly seems like there’s a harder patience in the U.S.A. It seems like people come to shows in the U.K and you want to actually watch the music, in the States, well, it’s unfair to say that through and through but it certainly seems as though, from my experience, that that’s not always the case.

Your set at Reds last night was packed and amongst quite a bit of talking there was, at one point, interpretive dance - did you spot that?

No, I genuinely don’t look up, it’s too daunting.

But what would be the best response you could get from a listener? Interpretive dance?

That’s pretty good! I don’t know, I think interpretive dance and someone just being silent, anything that anyone wants to do. I think just the best response is for the listener take it in the manner in which they want to, that probably the most important thing about that music is to let it be whatever it can be, for whoever wants it basically. Some clapping at the end is good too.

Do you find that certain places cultivate a quieter listener and so on?

I think that goes back to the States and Europe. Japan was by far the quietest shows I had ever seen; you could hear a pin drop. I noticed a lot of the time as well, there would be no applause until the end of a concert, like at a symphony or something like that. The wordless music shows in the U.S, they've been really quiet. I think it can really depend on the venue as well. In sit down theatres or something like that, you only have two people that can talk, so by default it’s going to be a little less noisy. But if people want to talk then that’s fine, I don’t think I can let it (bother me) - I have to admit I’m not quite sure what they’re doing in the room, but I’m up on stage and they’re out there and everyone gets to do what they want to do.

Including interpretive dance! It was quite amusing though, one woman started it, then a man who was quite clearly trying his luck started interpretive dancing towards her…

I can’t remember who, but somebody told me they saw like a little one-act play going on or something like that - perhaps that was the same thing. I wish I could have caught a little bit of it!

I take it you’re touring at the moment then?

I am, supporting Explosions all around Europe. We’re about two weeks or so in and we have another couple of weeks to go.

You mentioned earlier that you’re heading back out in Autumn though?

Yeah, I’ll be home for the summer and I’m still not really sure what’s planned, but I think some time in the fall, maybe in the winter depending on what happens, I’ll probably do some one-offs in the U.S and go back out and do the same thing in Europe again, just go a week or two around. Then there’s also a festival in August that I’m playing, it’s probably going to be the most wonderful thing I ever get to experience. It’s a festival celebrating water and sustainable living, it’s basically a expo for world leaders and scientists to come together and discuss these things, they build this sort of land of tomorrow somewhere, there’s theatre and music and all these things going on; I suppose to entertain the patrons. From what I understand it runs for three months, I believe it’s going on right now and I’ve seen a few Leaf artists that are on there as well, but I’ll be playing one night there, so that should be something else.

Does that mean you’re the music of tomorrow then?

Well, Colleen’s on there as well, and she certainly seems to play the music of a long time ago, so I don’t know. They must be doing everything, spanning through the ages.

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

Stars of the Lid I wanted to see, I just saw them in Portland but I loved it so much I wanted to see them again, so I was glad to catch as much as I could of that. The Field I really want to see, and Four Tet - it was good to see Kieran playing again. I’ve actually just been trying to catch up on some sleep as well, because being on the bus all the time it’s nice to be somewhere stationary, although the bus is like being in a little coffin…There’s something kind of comfortable about it.

Finally, have you got any celebrity neighbours near your chalet?

I’ve got Dinosaur Jr. a couple of doors down, that’s pretty stellar, and then just my friends all along here, that’s all that I’ve noticed, I keep my head down a lot I guess. I think D.C Berman (Silver Jews) is the one that’s keeping me star-struck, I shyly touched his shoulder and gave him a wave last night and that’s it.

What’s interesting about this festival is that there really is no backstage area, it is all mixed in.

Yeah, I think it’s nice, yesterday I kept on running into Mark from Explosions over and over again, and today it seems to be Chris, just when I left you guys I ran into him twice just going one way and back again.

Press release for Jackpot.co.uk

The Top Ten Things NOT to do in a Casino

Are you a first time visitor to a casino terrified of committing a gambling faux pas? Or perhaps you’re an old hand at gaming who just wants to brush up on what not do while playing, well worry no longer as I have compiled a handy top ten list of what not to do in a casino…

1. Gamble more than you can afford…

Arguably the most important thing to remember when gambling is to do so responsibly. Never play with more than you can afford and promise yourself that you can win it back later, it is always best to set yourself a limit and once you reach that limit don’t play beyond it.

2. Constantly shout “Baby needs a new pair of shoes!” or “Show me the money!”…

The first phrase goes hand in hand with gambling, the second one, not so much. Although Jerry Maguire impressions when cashing in your winnings may seem like truly unique banter, put yourself in the shoes of the poor cashier, who has already heard the very same Tom Cruise impression dozens of times. Instead, save the caricatures for later and remember to shout about your shoe needs at the Craps table, as if you voice it anywhere else on the casino floor you’ll end up looking a little bit silly.

3. Blame bad luck on the dealer….

Contrary to popular belief, most dealers, like players, are completely in the hands of lady luck. Even if you are experiencing a losing streak, don’t take it out on the croupier, as to put it simply, it really isn’t their fault.

4. Get drunk…

Sounds like an obvious one right? I can guarantee that when you visit a casino, no matter how grand the décor is, or how gorgeous the croupier is, you will meet at least one person who instead prefers to gorge on long island iced teas. When combined with the usual symptoms of drunkenness (an overwhelming urge to talk about yourself, feeling super-human and, well, nausea) gambling is an element too potent for the mix. You will lose track of time, money and, in some cases your dignity. Sure, have a drink or two, but remember where you are and what you are doing, as the last thing you want is to wake up with a terrible hangover and a serious dent in your wallet.

5. Try to cheat…

While we all might fancy ourselves as a bit of a cardshark when playing with friends, it is incredibly, incredibly unlikely that an experienced dealer will fall for your tricks, nor will they find fifty-two card pick up particularly amusing either. Even though John Soares and co., who were arguably the finest casino cheats of the 20^th century, may have made a living fooling players, dealers and casino owners alike, CCTV and stricter gaming regulations now means that trying to recreate some of their stunts at the table may leave you out in the cold. Still, if you do try your luck at conning a casino, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

6. Play without knowing the rules…

Again, sounds obvious, but if you’re a seasoned player you will know how annoying it is to be sharing a table with someone who hasn’t got a clue, or you might be a casino veteran who now cringes at the mistakes you once made as a novice. With the variety of gaming guides now available at just a touch of a button you’d be foolish not to swot up before your first visit to a casino. Alternatively, why not test the water in one of the many excellent online casinos before you take the plunge?

7. Be a “lurker”…

If Friends has taught us anything, it’s that nobody likes a lurker. Who can watch Phoebe’s outburst at the elderly “lurker”, so called because she waits until slot machine players give up on their game and wander off, without thinking that she does have a point. When playing the slots, observe this one rule; if someone decides to end their unlucky run and you just can’t help but feel that as soon as you settle down on their still warm seat then luck will change, at least wait until they are out of sight.

8. Turn up looking like you have just crawled out of bed…

I’m not suggesting you head to the casino dressed up to the nines, that is of course unless you want to, but most casinos worth their salt have a dress code and it’s usually smart-casual. While the term is in itself an oxymoron, here’s a quick guide to what it usually means, for men; nice shirt, nice trousers, nice shoes, for women; well, you will have more of an idea anyway, but remember to keep it classy.

9. Feel that you have to tip the dealer…

Gambling guides are a mine field for amateurs who want to know the etiquette for tipping dealers, well forget the confusing conundrum of give x amount for every x you win, just take note of this simple rule; if you’re winning, why not share the wealth? And if you’re losing, don’t for a moment think that slipping the croupier some cash will instantly mean the game swings in your favour.

10. Forget that you are there to have fun…

Casinos are all about building a sense of anticipation and tension for when the dice rolls or the cards are dealt, but remember that you are there primarily for relaxation and fun. It isn’t the end of the world if you have a few bad runs and as long as you gamble responsibly you really haven’t got anything to worry about. Have a good time and enjoy!

Errors review

Errors - It's Not Something, But it is Like Whatever (Originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)

Score: 7/10

Most instrumental music fans seem to know the following about Errors; they are signed to Mogwai’s Rock Action label. Of course, I am not going to pretend that I know what their favourite flavour of ice cream is, or what socks they wear on a Saturday, as this is not Smash Hits, and I don’t know anyway. The point I’m trying to make is that Errors seem to have caused quite a stir in the instrumental world, but no one has yet discerned whether this is because of their own musical merits, or whether Stuart Braithwaite has been secretly pulling the media’s strings behind the scenes, like some sort of Scottish post-rock puppet master, or whatever. The second “danger,” if you like, of signing to a band-created record label is becoming a carbon copy of your boss. You need only have a listen to Hotel 2 Tango’s/Constellation’s recent output to realise that it has A Silver Mt. Zion stamped all over it, and although you could argue that this has worked positively for certain bands (for example, British Sea Power), from a listeners point of view, you wonder if the bands in question have put their creative vision on hold in order to accommodate their sound engineer’s or boss’s own ideas. Thankfully, Mogwai don’t seem to be as, dare I say it, narcissistic as this and Errors’ debut, It's Not Something But It is Like Whatever, stings of individuality and a direct creative vision.

What is particularly interesting about this debut is how effortlessly it moves between genres; opener “Dance Music” cherry picks key ideas from electronica, math-rock, and unsurprisingly, dance, to create a song that is, in some respects similar to 65daysofstatic’s recent dance venture “Dance Parties [Distant/Mechanised]” but then at the same time completely different. I apologise now that my review can’t be as clear as I would like it to be, it is just that Errors are somewhat indescribable. In my last review, I picked on Soulwire’s A Radiant Nothing for essentially cherry picking trademark sounds from certain genres and splicing them together, but please don’t be mistaken that Errors are doing the same. Instead, they cut and paste together the best bits of their favourite music in order to create “something” new entirely. Or maybe it is not "something…"

There are moments though when this cut and paste attitude can become slightly worn, such as “Cutlery Drawer,” which starts with some promising Matmos-style rattling of cutlery, but then quickly declines with the introduction of George Pringle, an Oxford based spoken word artist, who comes off as more Mandy “bad to have a bad uncle” from Nathan Barley as opposed to fellow Oxfordshire residents Meanwhile…Back in Communist Russia. Still, Pringle only makes an appearance on one track and although the song is weakened by her interspersed ramblings, Errors soon make up for it with seven minute beauty “Pump,” an irresistibly danceable number that puts on hold guitar based melodies and gives synth its time to shine.

Whether Errors’ first EP, How Clean is Your Acid House would have become The Independent’s EP of the week if the band didn’t have such strong links with Mogwai remains to be seen, but It's Not Something But It is Like Whatever is an album that refuses to be classified, nor is it content to be pigeonholed. Perhaps this is the reasoning behind the album title, as after listening I know “it’s not something, but it is like” pretty good, anyway, “whatever.”

Explosions in the Sky interview

Explosions in the Sky interview (ATP series, originally posted at www.thesilentballet.com)


So how was your breakfast? You mentioned that it was a bit nasty?

Chris Hrasky: No it was good, but you know, not that American breakfasts are particularly healthy, but somehow English breakfasts seem even unhealthier than American ones, which is a pretty tall order.

I’m always amazed that you have pancakes for your breakfast.
CH: I’m always amazed that you don’t!
Matthew Cooper (Eluvium): I don’t like the sweets for breakfast either. I usually just move straight to lunch.
CH: But English breakfast is like baked beans for breakfast!

Do you not have that?
CH: No, that’s crazy! We have eggs, sausage, toast, bagels...
MC: Pancakes, waffles, cereal...

What, all at once?
CH: If you want, you can do it all at once.

So is your food free then? We saw one of the PR people last night incredibly stressed out because someone wasn’t eating the catering…
CH: Well, all the bands get it catered.

Any idea who might not be eating it then?
CH: No, I don’t know, I mean today was actually really busy, Ghostface was over there this morning, The National were over there, Constantines, Beach House, Animal Collective, Jens Lekman. This was the first time I haven’t seen Dinosaur Jr. over there eating, so they’re enjoying it. I don’t know, I would think maybe Ghostface…
MC: But he was over there, enjoying it.

Anyway, this interview isn’t just about breakfast…
CH: It could be, I could go on and on about breakfast…

I am quite hungry, so best not, but how did the idea come about for you to curate All Tomorrow’s Parties then? In the ATP passport you compared yourself to janitors?
CH: We just feel very surprised that they asked us to do this, we’re excited by it but like it says in the passport, we’d kind of talked to Barry [Hogan, the man who started ATP] every time we saw him, just like “maybe er, if you’re looking for anybody to curate…” and he was like “yeah, yeah, really you guys wanna do it?”, and that’s been going on for years. Finally, he just called us last fall and asked if we wanted to do it, we obviously said yes and just gave him the list.

So you handpicked all the bands then, how did you choose who to play? Was it a mixture of bands that you wanted to see live and bands you were friends with?
CH: Kind of a mixture of both, but the bands we’re friends with are also bands that we also liked, but yeah the four of us just made our each individual list and a lot of the stuff was the same, so we just whittled it down, then ATP will go and ask people and say “okay, we need a second list, or we need to shorten the list or lengthen the list”. It was trial and error really, just this process where you have to get forty to forty-five bands.

Was there anyone that you wanted to play that was unable to?
CH: Yeah, we wanted to get a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion, but that didn’t happen, Bedhead reunion, Jawbreaker reunion, Unwound reunion, none of those happened, but we got Polvo which is pretty exciting.

And Dinosaur Jr as well.
CH: Yeah, but they’ve been doing their whole thing.
Chris is interrupted by an hungry seagull, which he compares to the ducks he has been feeding cookies to in his chalet…
CH: These guys are not like the ducks! Look how nice those ducks are! There are a few bands we asked that couldn’t do it for various reasons, but most of the bands we asked said yes. I think bands have either played ATP before and enjoyed it, or heard about it and want to play it.

I think most people try for Bob Dylan…
CH: We were at one point thinking “shall we try and ask for Neil Young?”, but they couldn’t get Neil Young, maybe they could, I don’t know.

Maybe in a few years you can come back.
CH: Yeah, and get Neil Young, maybe he’ll take a lower fee or something.


I was interested in the remix EP for All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, where did the idea for that spring from?
CH: Well, it was more…
Chris is again interrupted by the now angry seagull…
CH: You gotta get out of here! Go to your nest!
MC: Should I scare him off? (Matthew flails towards the seagull, Chris continues…)
CH: Actually, it was our U.S label’s idea, because we had been approached about doing remix records before and never wanted to, we’ve never really liked remix records. When a band has a remix record I’ve always never really listened to those, and I think the whole idea was they wanted to make this to maybe counter downloads, put out something so that you have to buy the CD or whatever. So we were like “ahh, okay” and he let us pick people to do the remixes, and I kind of like the remix record better than the actual record. So it turned out really well, we were expecting kind of “ahh, whatever”, but we were really pleased with it actually. (Addressing Matthew Cooper) Good work, Coops.

So this isn’t the first time you’ve visited All Tomorrow’s Parties?
CH: We’ve played the Cambersands one in 2004, and we also did one in Los Angeles, the Modest Mouse one, which was very different to this kind of one. I think they stopped doing it there as it was a lot more like a normal festival, it didn’t have this kind of feeling at all. It didn’t really work that well.

Because there’s a New York one as well.
CH: Yeah I think that one’s going to be more like this.

There’s quite a good line up for that one as well
CH: Yeah, the My Bloody Valentine one, I think I’m going to go (addressing “Coops”), are you going to go?
MC: Yeah, it’s Built to Spill, My Bloody Valentine...
CH: Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Dinosaur Jr.

Will you be heading to that one for free then, seeing as you’ve already curated one?
CH: I think I can get some tickets, I’ll talk to Barry about it, (addressing Cooper) I’ll see what I can do buddy!

See, you haven’t curated one yet, as soon as you do though…
MC: I think that’s a long way off.
CH: Oh, come on now, next year, I’ve already signed the deal for you.

Have a chat with Barry, I’m on first name terms with “Barry” now and I haven’t even met him.
CH: He’s a cool guy, he’s wandering around here every now and again, he’s very busy, frantic, but he’s put this thing together and I couldn’t put this together, it’s so complicated.

So Butlins is all shut down now then, because when we arrived we saw a very large family trying to get in…
CH: Yeah, it’s just ATP here.

We felt a bit like, “did you not realise this was going on”?
CH: Yeah, the rides are shut down and there’s going to be a lot of crazy people running around, you don’t want to bring your kids to this.

It would have been quite funny though if the kids genuinely wanted to go to ATP.
CH: They probably would have been, there aren’t any crazy jerks, are there?
MC: I don’t know, you did the list!
CH: True, that’s true, I don’t know. The ducks are here to play with though.

I’ve read in a previous interview that you’ve described a song as a “story”, what sort of stories were playing out on the last record then?
CH: We never have really specific stories. I guess it’s more that we want them to move like a story, as a kind of beginning that builds to something. Almost like a three act narrative, I guess, in terms of ever having a specific story, like “this is a story about a guy who climbs a mountain and finds treasure”, it’s never really that specific. It’s more that we want it to kind of have the movement of a story, where it’s not just a traditional song, not like a verse and a chorus and things just repeating, not that there’s anything wrong with that, that’s just not what we’re doing. It’s more like we just want it to feel like stories, as opposed to having a specific story.

I’m glad, as I read that and thought “I’m not really getting anything specific from this!”
CH: It sounds kind of goofy but we kind of like the idea of people listening to it and sort of making up their own little stories, if they care to, or they can just have it on in the background and do the dishes.

Are you working on anything new at the moment? Are there any new songs in your live set?
CH: We have a few new songs, well just little bits and pieces of new songs. We’ve been touring a lot, so once that’s done, in a couple of weeks, then we’re going to start working on new stuff, and one of the guys in the band is going to have a baby in September, well, he’s not, his wife is.

Arnold Schwarznegger style?
CH: Yeah, we’re doing Junior 2 with Mark Smith! So he’s going to be kind of busy, hopefully we’ll start work on stuff this summer, and then maybe take some time off in the fall.
A small black bird lands on the table next to us…
CH: Look, there’s a new bird!

Is it a crow?
CH: That’s something cuter than a crow; I don’t know what that thing is. I like him though. But yeah, hopefully it’ll [the new record] not take us two years, but it might.

How is touring for you?
CH: It’s a little tiring, and we can’t do any writing, there’s just no way for us to do that, and you just kind of miss home.

Am I right in thinking you’re in the middle of a world tour?
CH: For the last year and a half we’ve been touring non-stop, but we’ve been going since January with a couple of breaks in between, now we’ve just got a couple of weeks left. Then we’re done (addressing Cooper), you too buddy.
MC: Then I gotta go back out again I think.
CH (jokingly): Oh yeah, best of luck, we don’t have to do it though, so I don’t really care! No, so it’ll be nice, this has been a nice vacation break in the middle of the tour, then we just have ten or twelve shows left, it’ll be nice to be home.

Is it weird when you have a break in the middle of a tour?
CH: Yeah, we just did a five week U.S tour and we’re home for a week went to Japan for a week and we’re home for two days, and came over here for five weeks. It’s kind of like at those times at home you’re like “ahh, Christ” just counting down to when you have to leave again. Not that we hate touring, but it takes a while to get back to being at home and enjoying it. I’m probably going to start crying when I get home in a couple of weeks, it’s going to be so great, and I’m going to do nothing.


What’s your home-town like?
CH: Austin’s a real good place, that’s how I’m going to describe it. It’s really the only city in Texas that I would want to live in, just because the mindset there is not really like the rest of Texas. Most of the rest of Texas is George Bush country, but Austin’s kind of this little oasis, there’s a huge university there, but it’s bigger than a college town, there’s lots of music, lots of art, it’s a fairly calm city and a friendly place. For me it’s very comfortable and easy to live in. I don’t think I could live in New-York or London, it’s too much for me, I need a backyard and things like that.

SXSW is based in Austin, have you ever played that?
CH: Yeah, we’ve played it a few times, we haven’t played it in several years though, we kind of avoid it, at all costs at this point.

It’s turned into a bit of a media-circus…
CH: It’s sort of ridiculous, I think it’s kind of a big, I don’t know if I should say that it’s a scam or something, but it’s just the kind of thing where they convince all these bands to come play and then the bands get paid like a $100, and there’s these guys who are organising it are making tons of money off of it. There’s something about it that’s not right, but again people seem to come and enjoy it and have a good time.

Yeah, half of our bands here all go off and our newspapers go off, and they’ve all got the promise of coming back with a record deal…
CH: Yeah, I guess that can happen, but they seem to be really good at tricking people into thinking that “you’ve got to play this”, and I think that at this point in music it doesn’t really matter, you don’t have to do stuff like that to get noticed. I feel that if you’re good then someone will hear it. We kind of avoid it, but it’s nice because a lot of friends will come into town and stuff, although it’s not really that nice because then we have to chauffeur them everywhere and tell them where to go and they have to stay at our houses and stuff.

So the idea of it’s nice...
CH: Yeah, last year we were on tour, we kind of plan tours around it sometimes, we’ll start it like three days before SXSW so when that starts we’ll be gone, but again, a lot of people come and have a good time. It’s a big deal and I haven’t been down there in a few years, but it’s hard to get into shows, it’s just kind of a big nightmare really.

We have that problem here though, a few years ago there was a Raconteurs show that was meant to be a fans only thing and hardly any fans were in there, it was mainly the press.
CH: A few years ago The Flaming Lips played a show, I think the club held like 250 people, so people are waiting like two days in line to get in to a show like that, but no fans get in. It’s all the people who’ve spent two thousand dollars on the big press pass, or record companies and big magazines, so then you read in the magazine “Oh cool man, the Flaming Lips are playing this cool show for 250 people”, well not really and then they got in the magazine about it.


With The Rescue you made the decision not to write any riffs specifically for it, what was behind the decision for that and did the idea carry on through later records?
CH: Someone just came up, I think it was Michael’s idea, it was at a time when he was doing a lot of learning about home-recording and stuff on his computer, and he just wanted to do this experiment to challenge himself at recording. So he came up with this idea of showing up each day at noon and one of us will go in and record something, spend an hour, make something up and record it, then someone else will come in and add stuff to it. Then we would do that until 6pm or 7pm, then Michael would mix it later that night, then we’d come back the day after and do it again. It was kind of an experiment but we ended up liking it. We tried that approach with the new record and it just didn’t work for some reason, so we ended up doing the same thing where we labour over songs for weeks. We definitely want to try to get away from that with the next record and hopefully we won’t fall into the same process. It was also fun because it sounded a lot different to anything we’d done and I feel like we’re at a point now where we want to not make another record that sounds like the last four, we’ll see.

As The Rescue is available for free online, would you ever think about releasing something for free online again?
CH: I don’t know, maybe.

We hear a lot about record companies being worried by this way of releasing music, from your point of view, are they genuinely worrying?
CH: I think the big record labels are, from who I’ve talked to, Jeremy who runs our label Temporary Residence, he doesn’t seem worried about these sort of things. I think with independent labels, because people who listen to the music on them are more likely to understand that to support a band or a label means buying the record, and there are people who like to have artwork and that sort of thing. I don’t think it’s really hurting independent labels the way it is with major labels.
MC: I agree, I think it’s actually working to my advantage.
CH: I think it’s definitely worked to our advantage, more people have heard us that way, I download stuff all the time and if I like it I’ll go and buy it.
MC: I mean, I don’t want to sell the record to somebody that doesn’t want to buy it in the first place. You just have to hope that the math adds up in the end I guess.
CH: It’s gone alright for us.
Chris and Matthew are met by fellow band member, guitarist Mark Smith.
CH: Cooper’s playing the part of Mark!
Mark: Thanks, Cooper!
CH: I think it doesn’t seem to be hurting us in any way.


A lot of people counter-balance downloading with the fact that they attend the bands shows and buy merchandise, if someone isn’t going to buy a record, would you prefer them to buy tickets etc, or does it not make much difference either way?
CH: Touring for us, in terms of financial things, we make more money touring than we will from selling records. I mean we do alright selling records. I don’t know, it’s hard to say, I’m curious what things will be like in three years, if it will be that nobody is buying records anymore, who knows. It’s clearly changing; in five years no one’s probably going to have DVD’s anymore. I don’t know, I don’t know how to answer that one, I hope people keep buying records, not just for the money but we take pride in putting together a package, with the art, we put a lot of thought and effort into that. We kind of consider that part of the record, the record is not just the songs, it’s the whole presentation I guess.

How involved are you with the creation of the art-work?
CH: Our artist guy, Steven Esteban, he does all our art and sells our merch and stuff, I don’t know if you went to a merch table, he has this gigantic black beard, that’s him. He does all our art-work and we work real close with him and kind of beat him up and stuff, make him do stuff over and over again, but we kind of have these vague ideas and then we just talk with him until we get firmer ideas, then he goes and does something, he shows it to us and we make him do it over again, he gets upset, it’s pretty laborious process for him and for us. But again, it’s important for us to have artwork that we all really like, we’re very happy with what he does.

A few years ago Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai were the two main acts mentioned when discussing anything vaguely instrumental, how do feel about the fact that you’re now being mentioned as often as these two when describing instrumental music?
CH: It’s pretty crazy, without a doubt, I don’t think we’d be an instrumental band if Mogwai wasn’t around, when we formed they were definitely a band that the four of us were the most excited about at the time. So it is a little weird to be put in that world now, it’s just kind of strange. When we started we were just in Austin working our day jobs and listening to Mogwai records, and then going to practise stuff, it’s strange that now we’re doing this. We’ve been doing it for nine years but I still think we’re kind of surprised by things, and I’m hoping we stay that way, I hope we don’t ever take it for granted. It’s pretty cool.

Have you ever listened to one of the many new instrumental bands that are constantly tagged as “for fans of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky” and thought, “they sound nothing like us”?
CH: Well that’s the thing, obviously there are similarities between us and Mogwai, but there’s a lot of differences, the easy way to describe something is to say “that sounds like Mogwai”, but people do it all the time, they do it with pop singers too, it’s weird, but to be honest we don’t listen to a huge amount of what could be considered as instrumental rock. We listen to a lot of weird ambient stuff and electronic stuff, but a lot of the stuff we listen to is just like The National, songwriters and stuff, which is strange, because we don’t write any music like that, but I feel we’re somehow more influenced by that than anything else, I don’t know how exactly. One thing I think we try to do is not just be background music, and that’s always a struggle, sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don’t. We try to look at a song as having hooks in it, having something you can sing or hum along to, that’s pretty important to us.
Chris’ friend, the duck, returns to the door his chalet
CH: there’s nothing in there for you unless I’m in there! He’s my friend, he wants more cookies. Oh look, he’s going over to his other buddies; he’s going to chase that female duck probably.

Matthew and Chris imitate David Attenborough
MC & CH: and why, remains a mystery.
CH: We’re big David Attenborough fans (continuing with his Attenborough impressions), the sleuth comes down the tree to defecate, and why, remains a mystery. I love that guy, he’s amazing. Life of Mammals is the greatest thing ever made,
MC: It gets me through the tour.
CH: Yeah it does.

We had an April fools on the BBC this year that involved footage of penguins flying and him uttering that “something amazing has happened."
CH: (more Attenborough impressions): we don’t understand it, penguins, are flying!.. He’s so awesome, yeah, I love him. (more Attenborough) The Polar bears cub needs food.

And he teaches you so much as well.
CH: I’ve learnt so much, there’s so many animals I appreciate in a new way because of that man.
MC: (looking at seagull) Aside from that jerk
CH: I don’t like the seagull, but he’s not a mammal, he does have Life of Birds though, which I’ve not seen yet.
MC: I haven’t either, or Life in the Undergrowth.
CH: I’ve not seen that either.
MC: I’ve only seen some of Blue Planet.
CH: Oh, Blue Planet is fucking great!
MC: I’ve just seen Planet Earth and the Life of Mammals

Weren’t you used for some of the music at some point? I’m sure I’ve seen a few BBC adverts where they’ve used your music
CH: Possibly, I know we’ve had stuff on some BBC commercials. God, that’s what we’ve got to get Ben Dickey on to, scoring the next Attenborough or whatever it is, that’s what I want to do, that’d be amazing.
MC: What does he have left? Life in Space?
CH: I don’t know, they’ll think of something, the vicious seagull versus man. What’s that thing hanging out of his mouth? (the seagull has what looks like a feather attached to his beak)

I think it’s part of his markings
CH: Attenborough would know, if he were here right now, “what that is, remains a mystery.”
MC: But at least then we’d know!

The last question really is then, that there’s a bit of a rumour Placebo name-check you in one of their songs, have you heard about this?
CH: I have heard about this.

We’ve got the lyrics… “The sea's evaporated/Though it comes as no surprise/These clouds we're seeing/They’re explosions in the sky/It seems it's written/But we can't read between the line.”
CH: I bet that’s not about us…it could be about us.

According to Wikipedia it is, so it must be true…
CH (pointing at Matthew): he probably wrote that. I don’t know, I had heard that because…I’m embarrassed to admit but I do check our Wikipedia page, and I was like “huh, well that’s not true! Well, I guess that’s true.” I don’t know, I wonder, can you guys ask them?

Yeah, we’ll give them a quick call later. Do you ever delve into the world of your fans and see what they’re writing about you?
CH: I don’t really know what message boards are out there, other than our Temporary Residence one, I’ll check that, but it’s like the same five dudes over and over again, writing about whatever.

I’d be far too scared to do it!
CH: I think we used to do it a lot more, but now it’s just kind of, I don’t know. It was pretty funny that when this was announced that we were curating ATP and they announced the initial line up, on the Drowned in Sound message board there were people just hating the fact that we were doing it, (writing) like “how the fuck did Explosions in the Sky (get to curate), they’re the most boring fucking band in the world!” It was just like, well, then don’t go, then don’t buy a ticket.
MC: You’re not being forced,
CH: Yeah, no one’s forcing you to come! But generally, we’ll read e-mails but I don’t go searching for stuff, I mean I wouldn’t really know where to look. Our friend Carlos, he’s a part of our crew, he’s always searching message boards, (saying) “oh look what this guy says”.
MC: Or he threatens to put strange footage of us on Youtube.
CH: Yeah, he’ll just videotape and then (say he’ll) put it on Youtube, and (I’m like), “I don’t care, most of it’s fine.” In terms of that sort of thing we read e-mails and stuff and try to respond to as many of them we can, I like talking to people about the music, but I don’t really go on the internet, because I could see myself getting obsessed with it then and I’d rather just not think about it, “What does he know about anything!...Calm down, it’s just some guy, it’s fine.”

Do you ever think about getting involved though, because you do cause a lot of “hoo-hah” on the internet, people seem to get excited or get angry?
CH: I kind of like that though, there is something I like, in some weird way, reading the stuff when people are angry, I don’t know why, it’s just like, “why are you so angry?”, we’re just a band. It’s just a rock show; it’s not really that big of a deal. There’s no need to be this angry about it, you could be directing this energy towards something else, there’s other things in the world that you could be more upset about. I kind of enjoy reading bad stuff about us; Pitchfork always makes fun of us.

Really?
CH: Well, they generally liked us, but lately they’ve been making fun of us.

It’s probably because you’re in competition now.
CH: All I know is that ours (ATP curated event) was at the bigger venue. We win! They’re weird, but whatever.

Well, Pitchfork can be funny folk, but we’ll leave it at that. I’m sad we haven’t solved the Placebo mystery though.
CH: We’ll look into it, Attenborough can solve this mystery, he’s fucking Attenborough, he’s got the resources.