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dimanche 26 octobre 2014

Album de la Semaine : Mark Lanegan Band - Phantom Radio

Mark Lanegan Band
Phantom Radio


Interview de Mark Lanegan, par Julian Marszalek de The Quietus

What keeps you motivated?
Mark Lanegan: My mortgage payments! No, I love traveling and I love playing music. It's a great life and I can't imagine doing anything else. I like to have something going and I always like to have something that I'm working on or working towards. I just love working even though I don't really consider writing and recording to be work. It's just the way I do it.
Do you ever get any downtime?
ML: I've had a lot of downtime this year. In fact, this has been my quietest year in the last ten, in terms of shows. I did those show last week with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and I just did some shows over the weekend and I have some shows scheduled in December and maybe something in October and that's it for the whole year. I made a record this year but as far as the traveling and the touring goes, not much. I've had a lot of downtime.
Your new material – the Phantom Radio album and No Bells On Sunday EP – is very much a continuation of the electronic music that characterised Blues Funeral. What's leading you in that direction?
ML: It's a reflection of what I'm into and taking some elements of music that I enjoy listening to and then applying it to what I'm doing. I don't know if that will last forever but it's what I'm into right now. I look at every record as an opportunity to enjoy myself and try new things. That's the way it's been going lately.
Tell me about the compositional process. You used a phone app called FunkBox for these new songs?
ML: Right. It's an app that has a collection of vintage drum machine sounds on it so I don't have to actually have to hook up any of my drum machines, which I sold recently because this app is too easy to use. I used the app on the record for a couple of the songs. But yeah, I used FunkBox to compose a few of the songs by writing the drum parts and then added to it. It's great to use because it's easy and I'm the kind of guy who always chooses the path of least resistance!
As a very lapsed Catholic, I find your use of Biblical and religious imagery in your songs intriguing. What draws you to it?
ML: I don't even know but it has become the language that I used to make songs with. Early on I heard gospel music and I was drawn to some of that stuff as well as the blues. When I started writing songs that kind of stuff came to me naturally but I probably use it too much.
I'm not really a religious person. My parents were the kind of people that just allowed us kids to do whatever we wanted to do. I did go to church a few times with certain friends and I found that it really wasn't for me. My mom and certain members of my family are Catholic and they used to go to church and midnight mass and there really is nothing more tedious than a Catholic wedding but the whole pomp and circumstance certainly held some appeal and it still does from a distance.
How much of your material is autobiographical?
ML: Well, there's always something of me in there but the songs are an opportunity to create some kind of mini-reality or fantasy. I kind of think of them as pieces of dreams but there's sometimes more there than just a bit of a personal aspect. Some of my songs are a snapshot of my interpretation of something; it could be something that's happened to me or something that I've seen or something that I've heard or something that happened to somebody I know.
But I don't really sit and think about the big picture or what the whole thing means. I know where certain lines come from and some of them are definitely me but you'd have to know me real well to know it. Sometimes these ideas reveal themselves to me much later and occasionally they'll strike me in an emotional way, but it's really rare for that to happen - when it does it's like, "Oh, shit! Wow!"
You've been listening to a lot of 80s music on the Sirius satellite radio channel and have said that you've waited until your 40s before ripping off the 80s. Surely as someone who grew up in the 80s it's less a case of ripping things off like say, younger generations who weren't there have, than channeling something that was part of your environment?

ML: Well, all music is an interpretation of something that came earlier with the personal bent of the person who is doing the interpreting. Obviously, you can't create music in a vacuum. At least for me, the basis of the music that I create is the music that I've heard but it's with something that comes from me. So I don't know if I'm specifically doing stuff from the 80s, I'm doing what anybody does.

You've hooked up with producer Alain Johannes again…

ML: Yeah, he's hugely talented. I mean, I'm like a breakfast cook and he's like a real artist. He writes poetry every day and he makes music every day that's fantastic. I can just describe something to him in the tiniest way and he can make it live really quickly. He's the most important aspect of the music that I make and that's why it's really easy to call on my influences. Everything was harder before I started making music with him. The last 10 years have been a lot easier!

You're also working with your girlfriend, Shelley Brien, on the album. How easy or difficult is it to move from a personal environment to a professional one with her?

ML: We met when she was singing with my band so that relationship happened before our personal one. She's a great singer and it's really not that big a deal. I mean, anybody that comes and plays on my stuff, they do whatever I ask them to do or I give them an idea and they do whatever they want to do and it's no different with her. It didn't take very long to do the songs she did and it was something that we both enjoyed.

You're going to be hitting your half century this year. What's the view like from there?

ML: It's actually really good. I'm happy that I've gotten older and I enjoy life. I'm more active than I was at 20, that's for sure! I'm glad I turned a corner at some point. I think if you live long enough then you can get to a place of comfort and that happened for me many years ago but it took a long time. Life seemed like a difficult puzzle for a long, long time but now it's not like that. I see things much more simply and with a simplistic view life is more a pleasure and not a drag.
I saw Mark E. Smith play live a few years ago and it was so incredible and life-affirming and it was one of the greatest experiences ever. I just did a bunch of shows with Nick Cave and it was the same thing. Those are guys who are on the other side of 50 but still completely kick ass, the same as Neil Young or Leonard Cohen, and those are the guys I look to for inspiration as I turn that corner.

I recently saw you perform with Josh Homme at the Royal Festival Hall as part of Meltdown. It seemed as if you couldn't get off the stage quick enough the moment you'd finished your guest slot. Is performing live something you're uncomfortable with?

ML: The halfway point between the stage and the stage door is really uncomfortable but while I'm out there it's fine. The walking on and off is something that I like to get done in a hurry!


Label :
Vagrant

Tracklist :
01 – Harvest Home
02 – Judgement Time
03 – Floor Of The Ocean
04 – The Killing Season
05 – Seventh Day
06 – I Am The Wolf
07 – Torn Red Heart
08 – Waltzing In Blue
09 – The Wild People
10 – Death Trip To Tulsa
Bonus CD:
01 – Dry Iced
02 – No Bells On Sunday
03 – Sad Lover
04 – Jonas Pap
05 – Smokestackmagic




dimanche 19 octobre 2014

Album de la Semaine : Fink - Hard Believer

Fink
Hard Believer



Interview de Fink, par Anne Tetzner de Nothing But Hope And Passion

The term ‘Hard Believer’ means somebody who is difficult to persuade, who requires proof.’ This is what you say about the title of your new Album. are you a hard believer?
I really should have anticipated that question but I havent been asked that yet! Am I a hard believer? Ehm.. used to be! I used to think that my beliefs are set – When I was 18, I knew everything, when I was 24, I knew everything, and when I was 30, I knew everything. Now, my career has changed so much in my life, in really cool and interesting ways, and I’m much more open than I used to be.

It was your label Ninja Tune that in 2006 insisted that you commit to be a singer/songwriter instead of continuing to make electronic music. How did you experience that change, to suddenly release something completely different?
I don’t actually know why you put your music out, but thats what you do, and you want to do gigs and want to tour. But I guess a true artist would never release a record, they would just make it and listen to it privately. When you put it out there you put it out there for judgement in a way. I don’t watch the promos, I don’t listen to the sessions. I dont want to judge myself anymore. It will happen anyway. The only crazy thing is that in the internet age, all that stuff is permanent. You do a radio session in 2006, and it is still online right now.

But you even have a photo diary where you upload photos, thoughts and experiences about Berlin, where you live at the moment.
They make me do that! Actually I’m too busy collecting memories – not taking pictures. Sometimes if you go to a gig, you see people holding up their iPads and it’s almost like they are trained to enjoy things through the screen only. I can relate to it in a little way, but I rather absorb the memories instead of having some crappy picture. So I dont have time to write a diary, I am too busy living it. Also I cant do an instagram every day with what Im having for breakfast. But once a month I do take pictures of stuff and once every couple week I get: ‘Dude, come on, do some instagram, blog, social media, something!’

Your music and lyrics became more and more personal with the years. Hard Believer is very serious, it deals with life’s twist and turns, and bittersweet experiences. What lead you into opening up this way?
A couple things actually. Electronic music was very different when I was doing it. It was not about personality. It is a lot about the scene and the genre. You wouldnt have a press shot to put your photo on the record – So shameful, you’d be such a sellout! You wouldn’t use your own name – like DAVID GUETTA or something. It was a faceless imagery, blank covers. I soon realized that the most unique piece of equipment you have in the studio is yourself. And in the quest of being different and unique as an artist, you kind of have to put more of you into stuff. More truth, more realness. So for first three albums I did, I put my photo on the record. Not because Im a maniac or because I wanted to get laid. But just because I wanted to say: This isn’t just a construct, or an item you buy on iTunes. This music is about me.

Nevertheless, the first single of the album, ‘Looking Too Closely’, advises someone not to look too closely for the truth in order to prevent pain. Should we close our eyes to reality?
Are YOU looking too closely? Yeah, you absolutely nailed it. It is about the relationship you have with yourself. About NOT looking too closely. Sometimes it is best to do it this way to remain positive. You can be obsessed with details. Like everybodies own posession of what they look like in the mirror naked. Its SO different to what they actually look like.

Yeah, and everyone has a mirror face. What’s your mirror face?
(strokes his beard) probably like this? The thinker. My appartement in Berlin is so fucking hipster, its completely empty like a giant warehouse. In my trendy hipster appartement there is no mirrors, because Christian, my patron in Berlin where I live, he doesnt need mirrors. He just gets out of bed and looks awesome. The only mirror is in the lift, and the lightning there is so brutal. Sometimes when you get into the lift, you’re like ..’oh shit’.
Fink Photo by Tommy N Lance 620x518 Interview: FINK – Its not unusual that I fucking start crying
Imperfection can still be a good thing. You decided to record ‘Hard Believer’ in only 17 days.
That was really fast. It’s great, you get to capture a moment and you can not ruin it, overthink it, overcook it, burn it. You do all the writing, all the arguments ,all the ‘fuck you, I’m out of here, I’m done, I quit’, at home, where its not costing 1000 Dollars a day. And then, there is a specific feeling that we all have when we know that we can go. We were really excited about it, we loved all the songs. It can never be perfect. Perfect sucks really. Its what ‘they’ do, the others.

The ATOMIC KITTENS of this world?
Ha! Funny story, I once worked for a record company, and above it was their record company. I met them a couple of times. Our record company was super trendy. We had KINGS OF CONVENIENCE, ERLENDØYE, a total hipster label. Above us was one of these super huge pop labels with BLUE and ATOMIC KITTEN. They’d have to walk through our office to get to theirs. And we felt so hardcore and trendy when we saw them. But some of them even are punks inside. I mean someone like ROBBIE WILLIAMS, you could never imagine him in a boy band. But he was. In the probably cheesiest modified engeneered boyband of the 90’s.

Now you even have your own label – Hard Believer is the first album to be released on the R’COUP’D imprint. What can we expect from this in the future?
Yeah – Fink doesn’t really fit on Ninja Tunes anymore, it never did but now it really doesn’t. They are much more like ACTRESS and electronicy stuff and KELIS than us. But now, me and my Manager have R’COUP’D. The artists Im looking at are very interesting. They will probably not sell a lot, but they are really cool. Best thing is, I can help artists to be happy. A happy artist is someone who is creative wo is productive – and being on the right label is part of it. I wouldnt be doing this if I wasnt in a good place myself. This is my seventh album as Fink in 8 years. I’m realizing that its a real achievement to do what you love for a living. That should be enough. An artist is about self-indulgance and interesting personal history – This Art-or-nothing, This-song-is-more-important-than-anything, now-I’m-not-going-home- kind of thing.

So it’s all about hope and passion?
That’s what you need. Hope is a weird one. Its almost like wishing. Passion is crucial. It should be all about that. When proper artists talk about performance in studios like ‘I need to perform this song today really well’, that is just a professional way of saying ‘I really need to give a shit today’. The passion to nail the take you need to nail should be pure intensity. So much so, that it can be difficult to do it – because of the emotion youre putting in. You know, it’s not unusual that I fucking start crying. If a take is a good one, than you probably will be a little bit emotional at the end because you really went there.

I will tell this to all of my friends that laugh at me when I cry at gigs.
I cry at movies and gigs all the time! My problem is: I cry when I’m happy, too. Its a bummer. I cry on the plane. I cry at the cinema. Especially Disney movies, man. The Lion King, I mean, come on! Even Finding Nemo. They don’t even need 90 seconds and youre crying through that whole fucking movie.

Label :
Ninja Tune

Tracklist :
01 – Hard Believer
02 – Green And The Blue
03 – White Flag
04 – Pilgrim
05 – Two Days Later
06 – Shakespeare
07 – Truth Begins
08 – Looking Too Closely
09 – Too Late
10 – Keep Falling
11 – Deep Calm
12 – In Bloom





dimanche 12 octobre 2014

Album de la Semaine : Zola Jesus - Taiga

Zola Jesus
Taiga


Interview de Zola Jesus, par Jenn Pelly de Pitchfork

Pitchfork: Taiga is a kind of forest, and you're from rural Wisconsin—do you have especially vivid memories of forests from when you were growing up?
Nika Roza Danilova: My family still lives on the land where I grew up. It's totally raw. My parents built their house there, and my dad uses it for hunting and firewood. Other than that, we respect it and leave it as is—more than 100 acres of forest. I believe in evolution, so I like to think about my ancestors. My family came from a weird tribe of German-Russian farmers, and their sense of independence is still in my family today. That's why they live in isolation in northern Wisconsin. They've adapted to being Americans, but their soul is the same. 
Sometimes I would experience freedom from going out into the forest. I felt like no one could hear me. I could sing as loud as I wanted. I could scream. And sometimes I would feel a sense of vulnerability, like my safety was at risk, because there were bears out there. It's a weird contrast, like you're a part of nature, but nature's against you, because you're a human. We haven't adapted with nature in a long time—we just conquered it, or found ways to live outside of it. I find that really interesting and I wanted to interpret it musically. 
Pitchfork: Forests are some of the only places on Earth that people haven't completely destroyed. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about that?
NRD: It sucks, but I do. I feel like humans are a disease. It's a hard thing to communicate in a pop song. [laughs] I mean, who wants to hear that? We fight against the world and we're not trying to live within it. There's no progression without destruction, but this world was one thing and then we came, and it became another. It's going to become so uninhabitable. We're writing ourselves out of the world. But this isn't an environmentalist record. It's not about trying to save anything. It's about trying to understand why we're doing these things—to question how we view nature and why we feel so alienated from it.
"How exciting would it be to hear a pop song on 
the radio that's actually saying something?"
Pitchfork: What was your biggest transformation on Taiga?
NRD: Finding confidence with my voice. My whole life is singing. The voice is my only true medium—it's what I can express the most clearly. It's primal. It's part of you. It's the only thing you have total control over. I can be standing in front of you right now and I can communicate a song to you perfectly. The voice to me is the only instrument, and I wanted it to be the most deliberate element of the record. At the same time, I was so afraid to sing in front of people. I needed to conquer that.
Pitchfork: Lyrically, it sounds like confidence is a recurring theme. You mentioned last year that you wanted to write songs about "overcoming."
NRD: With Conatus, I was writing songs about struggle—wanting, but not getting. All my music up until now has been bathed in vulnerability, doubt, maybe sadness. I just didn't want that anymore. You become sick of dragging around a little bag of fear everywhere you go—touring and going onstage every night and having to feel bad. I want to go onstage and feel ambitious. I want to feel excited and I want to empower people. I felt in the past like I was constantly digging myself out of a hole. But for this record, I've dug myself out of that hole, and I'm standing, and it feels great.
I want to console people and make them feel like they can create their Taiga. When I made this record, every time I doubted myself for being overly ambitious, I was like, "No, man. I got my inner taiga in me. I can do that. Who says I can't?" When I wrote the title track, I thought, "Come on, it's so dramatic." At the same time, it’s my opportunity to tap into something boundless. I want people to feel like they can access that world that's so feral and raw and ready. You can invent your own tradition at any time. You have full control.
Pitchfork: On the single "Dangerous Days", you sing, "It's dangerous to go and listen to what they say." It seems like it's about resisting what other people are telling you, and going with yourself. 
NRD: This record is about figuring out your path and not letting anything get in the way of that. I'm going to sound like Oprah, but—you can dream. You can do whatever you want! People forget that. I forgot that for a while, too. And if you think you can't do whatever you want—that's a corrupt idea. It's a disservice to humanity to not do what you want to do. That's why I wanted to make such a big record. I wanted to synthesize these ideas and show that you can still make a big statement, and you shouldn't be afraid to.
"Dangerous Days" is about standing up for what you believe in and remaining skeptical about what a civil world is telling you. So many people assume the world is according to what they're told. I wanted to make a huge pop song that would break in and reach people I've never been able to reach, so I can tell them this. How exciting would it be to hear a pop song on the radio that's actually saying something? It's saying, "Wake up!"
Pitchfork: I was recently speaking with an artist about how, in the past, kids could get these kinds of messages from mainstream "punk bands" on MTV and on the radio, but there aren't really any of them today.
NDR: I have a 13-year-old cousin who I adore and I'm trying to mentor her—I keep feeding her Bikini Kill and Björk, but she's not ready for it. I want her to have a song that tells her these things I got from Fear and Minor Threat. Some people will never be ready for that music, but they still need to hear the things that Black Flag was saying.
Pitchfork: Coming from an underground noise scene, what is your relationship to mainstream culture like at this point? 
NRD: I'm fascinated by the mainstream, and I want to conquer it, but I'm incredibly intimidated by it because it's not where I come from. The fact that it is this thing that hovers over society makes me so passionately curious—I will succumb to being extremely uncomfortable in a mainstream environment, if only I can understand it better. You've got to feel afraid in life. I'm not afraid with the music, so I've got to feel afraid in another aspect. That's one of the reasons I left Sacred Bones. They're my family. I felt comfortable with them and I needed to feel scared.
"This is my legacy. I'm not going to have babies. 
I'm not going to mother anything other than this music."
Pitchfork: Do you listen to much Top 40 music?
NRD: I listen to as much Top 40 as I listen to noise tapes. Pop music—especially reallypopular pop music—is as visceral as noise. When a pop song comes on, you feel something. I was just in the car and that Eminem/Rihanna song ["Monster"] came on—[sings] "I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed!" I was like, "Whoa! Hold the car! Hold it!" My world was spinning. I couldn't see straight. It's the same thing when I'm seeing [noise artist]the Rita play in a basement in Vancouver. You're like, "What is going on? Where am I?" You go blind for a second. It's totally sacrilegious to put the Rita and Rihanna in the same sentence, but I don't care because they give me the same feeling in a different way.
Pitchfork: Is Rihanna your favorite pop star?  
NRD: I love Rihanna, but she is not my favorite. I love Beyoncé because she is a perfectionist. She is trying to create order in her world. Lady Gaga is interesting because she's trying to attain quantifiable success. But, I really love Kanye. You can see him wanting and striving. He never said he was the best rapper, but he knew he would be. That's what I love about him. He didn't even have talent; he learned talent. It was all ambition, and he's failed sometimes.
Pitchfork: You recently told Billboard that you want this record to hit #1 on the charts. With those ambitions, was this record harder to make than others?
NRD: It was harder because I had way higher expectations for myself. But it was easier because I knew that I needed to make an album that fulfilled my vision, whereas, in the past, I felt like I had to make albums that were good enough for those moments in my life. 
I don't want people to think, "She just wants to be Jay Z!" It's not that. Whatever you do in life, you should want to be the best and fulfill the highest level of order of what you're trying to achieve. I would never make music and be like, "Oh yeah, whatever, it is what it is." This is my legacy. This is my life. I'm not going to have babies. I'm not going to mother anything other than this music. You want it to grow up and be something that lives beyond you.
Pitchfork: You turned 25 this year—do you feel like reaching your mid-20s pushed you to be more ambitious? I feel like it's an age that people tend to set specific goals for, and there are some lyrics on the album about getting older.
NRD: My whole life I've wanted to be a musician. Having confidence in my fate has been a blessing and a curse—because knowing what you want is very powerful, but being ready for it is another thing. I've always wanted this, but I struggle with the responsibility of having to fulfill my dreams. Every time I make music, I have to fulfill the dream I had when I was 4 years old, or when I was 10 watching "TRL". Those moments in my life where I was like, "This is what I want to do. I want to be a musician. I want to change peoples' lives." That responsibility is terrifying! I needed to come to terms with that, and I feel like I have.
Age has definitely been on my mind. When I was 19, I thought I knew it all! That's the classic story. As you get older, with wisdom and experience, you start realizing that the things you were doing—which you thought were righteous—were actually your ego. That's the [Taiga] song "Ego". You thought you knew what you were trying to conquer, but it was actually your youth whispering in your ear. 
Pitchfork: The lyrics to "Ego" sound more confessional than anything you've written—"I used to think humility was everything..."
NDR: "Ego" is the song where I'm like, "Look, this is how it is." There's no story, there's just truth. Being extremely humble is in itself an egotistical thing. I've been saying things throughout my career, but I started to realize that people actually couldn't understand what I was saying before. So I really felt like I needed to speak up. I feel like "Hunger" is the sister to "Ego", and that's what I'm singing about, how I've been doing this for so long, trying to say things without being heard: "It's been five years waiting for it to unfold/ Throat sore and swallowed whole."
Pitchfork: Are you referring to creative hunger on that song? 
ZJ: It's all of it. Everything in my life is about wanting and striving. I've never completely gotten what I wanted. I've never gotten straight A's. But I've always been the type of person to stay up until three in the morning, as a 12-year-old, studying, and still get a B+. I'm always that person. That's what makes me who I am, the fact that I'm constantly trying.
For most people, “Hunger” is going to sound like a really intense song, but for me, it's the anchor—it is the record. The vocal is kind of like Rihanna—[sings] "I got the hunger!"—but it's a chaotic song about wanting, which I don't think would ever make it in a commercial world. I like the juxtaposition of something very mainstream put against something that would have to fight an uphill battle to exist in that world.
"Even if I get a #1 record or sell out Madison Square Garden, 
I will not be happy. It's my personality. I will 
always feel like I've not gotten there."
Pitchfork: You've been doing a film column for self-titled, and one began with the line, "I don't understand balance." This album definitely moves between extremes, from totally epic passages to moments that are completely a capalla.
ZJ: Anything that is great in the world is done in extremes. I have a hard time being in the middle. I can be extremely quiet, or very loud. Anything in the middle, to me, feels like you're not accomplishing anything. So many of the songs were a capella when I wrote them. And I was like, "Fuck, I've got to put other stuff in here." It felt fine to me, but I know I can't have six a capella songs on the record.
Pitchfork: You've collaborated with a lot of people over the past few years, like M83 and Orbital. Did these projects inspire you to want to work with other people and make bigger-sounding music? 
NRD: Yeah. I saw that [M83's Anthony Gonzalez] had a greater vision for his record [Hurry Up, We're Dreaming], and he brought me in because he wanted a texture that he couldn't do on his own. That was so inspiring. When I listen to that record, I feel like it is something bigger than Anthony or any of the people he works with. You've got to work with people if you want to make something that is going to be a large-scale piece—he taught me a lot about that.
I've done so much in the past by myself. I wrote all of these songs by myself, but when you collaborate with people, you can create something that is transcendental—that is larger than what one person can create. There are ideas [co-producer] Dean [Hurley] had about how to interpret my idea, which I would never think of, or that I couldn't do yet in Ableton or Logic. Why would I compromise the potential to achieve my ideals for the record, just because I didn't do it myself? That's something I've had to come to terms with. Being so DIY for so long has made me sensitive to that—if I don't do it myself, I don't feel like I really did it. But I need to break away from that if I want to accomplish something that lives beyond myself.
Pitchfork: Was there anything else you learned from Dean?
NRD: He would see my insatiability and try to help me control it. Because even if I get a #1 record on Billboard, I will not be happy. Even if I sell out a night at Madison Square Garden, I will not be happy. Even if I achieve whatever musical greatness you can quantify, I won't be happy. It's my personality. I will always feel like I've not gotten there. He taught me that you need to learn how to be satisfied with yourself, otherwise you're never going to be. I want to think it's quantifiable. That's why I have things like Billboard and arenas. But it's truly not quantifiable, and that scares me.
The world is inherently chaotic—you've got to accept it, but humans cannot accept it. I cannot accept chaos. I know that that's my flaw as a human. So I need quantification because it helps me create order in my life. I know very well that there is no order, but still, you try. 

Label :
Mute

Tracklist :
01 – Taiga
02 – Dangerous Days
03 – Dust
04 – Hunger
05 – Go (Blank Sea)
06 – Ego
07 – Lawless
08 – Nail
09 – Long Way Down
10 – Hollow
11 – It’s Not Over




dimanche 5 octobre 2014

Album de la Semaine : Pypy - Pagan Day

Pypy
Pagan Day




Interview de Pypy, par Roman Rathert de It's Psychedelic Baby!

© Val Bessette

Who’s in PYPY right now?  Is this your original lineup or have there been any changes since you all started?

Phil C, Annie-Claude, Simon, and Roy Vucino.  At first it was just Phil and I under the name The Stallone Brothers, then Annie joined and Simon soon after that and we became PYPY.

I love figuring out what other projects and bands people have going on, but spending hours behind the computer looking around at stuff and never really knowing if what you’re reading is reliable is somewhat of a problem these days.  I know that several of you are involved in several other projects at this point.  Do you mind sharing what those bands and projects are?  Who have you released music with in the past?

The others play in Duchess Says.  Simon and Phil also play in Quatro.  Simon, Phil and I recorded as Night Seeker on the FUBAR 2 soundtrack.  I've played in Les Sexareenos, CPC Gangbangs, Luxury Rides, Del-Gators, Daylight Lovers, Milky Ways, Honey and Lies, Vomit Squad, on a few of Mark Sultan's records, The Irritations, Cheating Hearts, and Les enfants sauvages.  Now, I mainly play in Red Mass and Birds of Paradise and my side projects La Voix Humaine, Bestalita, Brakhage and Ice Dream Cone.

Where are you originally from?

Istanbul, Turkey.

What was the local music scene like when you were growing up?  Did you see a lot of shows?  Do you feel like the scene when you were growing up played an important part in shaping your musical tastes or the way that you play at this point?

Yes, I was crazy enthusiastic.  I'd go see a bit of everything.  My dad would drive me and I’d go see all-ages shows and try to sneak in to 18+ shows.  I loved a lot of what was called "alternative" music and punk rock.  I saw The Meat Puppets, Fugazi, Mike Watt, Nirvana, the Boredoms and The Ramones when I was a kid.

What about your home?  Was it very musical when you were a kid?  Were either your parents or any of your relatives musicians or extremely involved and or interested in music?

My dad taught me guitar and one of my uncles was a lounge singer.  He would croon in hotel bars.  My grandpa also played a bit of everything. My dad was pissed when I quit law school to do music, but secretly, I think he was cool with it.

If you had to pick one defining moment of music in your life, a moment that changed everything and opened your eyes to the infinite possibilities before you, what would it be?

I discovered a radio show called Brave New Waves that featured indy, garage and experimental music.  I'd record the shows and started going to experimental concerts at a young age by myself, stuff like Keiji Haino, The Ruins, and Ikue Mori.  The range of sounds blew my mind.

What was your first real exposure to music?

I'd pretend to be a radio host and do a radio show in my room.  My dad saw I loved music so he made me take xylophone, and then guitar lessons.  He took me to see ACDC when I was a kid and I just loved it!

When did you decide that you wanted to start writing and performing your own music?  What brought that decision about?

I started playing in bands that wrote our own music and was playing shows by seventeen.  Learning covers was boring and I was never good at it.

What was your first instrument?  How and when did you get it?

We had a piano at home when I was a kid.  Then, I took xylophone lessons, but my first real instrument was guitar.  My dad basically gave me his.

When and how did the members of PYPY originally meet?

Duchess Says were playing with The Lost Sounds.  I knew Jay, so I was hanging around and then when I met Phil we got disgustingly high.  They'd seen the CPC Gangbangs before and we decided to split a practice space.  I then went to see Phil because I had a big crush on one of his friends and I wanted him to introduce me.

What led to the formation of PYPY and when would that have been?

Phil and I started an experimental project called Stallone Brothers. We had planned to record swingers fucking and using contact mics, we were going to create rhythms with FX. We just started doing noise jams and eventually that lead to PYPY.

What does the name PYPY mean or refer to?  Who came up with it and how did you go about choosing it?

I came up with the name PYPY.  We wanted it to be a symbol and the notion of infinite numbers, and infinity, was interesting.  Eventually we read up on the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, who discovered that musical notes could be translated into mathematical equations and that whatever scientific laws dictate how sound travels, must be mathematical and could be applied to music.

Where’s PYPY located at these days?

Montreal sewers, like those lovable ninja turtles, except that we're the "Grown-Up Outta Shape Human Rockers".

How would you describe the local music scene where you all are at right now?

All over the place, and self contained because of the vast market.  Because there are bands that have taken off from here, there’s often this weird sense of hype which can be distracting and deceptive.  It's easy to get caught up in it and get discouraged.

Are you very involved in the local scene?  Do you book or attend a lot of local shows?

Yeah, I don't like going to bars coz I don't drink much or like socializing, but I do go see tons of shows.

Do you help to record or release any local music, and if so can you tell us briefly about that?

I've recorded bands like The Nodes, Ultrathin, Dead Wife, Vomit Squad, Mark Sultan, and Loose Pistons with my 4-track.  I call it Sauropelta Studios, which refers to dinosaurs, ‘cause it's ancient.  I also release comics, noise, punk and folk music on my CDR label K.Y.B Records and Publications.

Do you feel like the local music scene played a large or important role in shaping the band’s sound or in the history and evolution of PYPY, or do you feel like you all could be doing what you’re doing and sound like you do regardless of where you were at or what you were surrounded by?

We were influenced by the fact that there are healthy experimental, rock n roll, metal and punk scenes in Montréal.  There's definitely an audience for it.

Whenever I do these interviews I try and give bands an opportunity to describe what they sound like to our readers themselves.  Some people have a blast with it, while others like myself always struggle with defining and labeling stuff.  How would you describe PYPY’s sound to our readers who might not have heard you yet?

We're definitely a mix of no wave and psych rock split right down the middle.  A few years ago there were bands with digital carton singers, like the rapping rooster or crazy frog.  We're definitely channeling those digital singers as well in our rock music.

While we’re talking so much about the band and you’re makeup I am really curious who hear who you all would cite as your major musical influences?  You all are involved in a lot of other musical projects, who would you name as major influences on PYPY the band as a whole rather than individually?

For myself John Coltrane, Roxy Music, Don Cherry, Otis Redding, and Captain Beefheart.  For PYPY I’d have to say DNA, Hawkwind, Pop Group, Chrome, Black Sabbath, James Chance and Devo.

What’s PYPY’s songwriting process like?  Is there a lot of jamming, where you all kick ideas back and forth in practice where you work stuff into a complete song as a band?  Or is there someone who comes to the rest of the band with a riff or more complete idea for a song to work out with the rest of you?

It's a fifty-fifty mix of both those approaches.

Do you all enjoy recording?  As a musician myself, I think that I can most of us can really appreciate the end result.  There’s not a lot in the world that beats holding an album in your hands knowing that it’s yours and you made it.  Getting to that point though, getting everything recorded and sounding the way that it should, especially as a band it can get a little frustrating to say the least.  How is it recording for PYPY?

It's fun recording.  We all get along and are on the same page. I’d be into spending a bit more time on our recording next time, but there's something to say about the spontaneous energy of Pagan Day.  It's live and they’re good performances.  I generally prefer recording to playing shows.

Do you utilize studio space when it comes to recording or do you handle recording in a more DIY fashion, where things are done on your own time and turf?

We went to a small studio; real simple set-up.  Live with minimal overdubs.  Jean-Michel Coutu got a great soundtake and the mastering job was killer.

Is there a lot of preparation and work that goes into a PYPY recording session where you spend a lot of time working things out and getting songs to sound just the way that you want them to?  Or do you all approach recording with a well-worked out idea that has some room for change and evolution during the recording process?

Not really, we went in knowing we basically needed good live performances of the tracks.  I got good and baked, it needed to feel good.  We even wrote “Psychedelic Overlords” live on the spot.

In 2012 you all had two tracks featured on the FORCHRISTSAKE Records Compilation, “Ya Ya Ya” and “Psychedelic Overlords”.  Can you tell us what the recording of those tracks were like?  Where and when would that have been?  Who recorded it?  What kind of equipment was used?  Was that compilation ever released physically at all?  I’ve only ever been able to find it digitally but the track listing on the page has stuff broken down into A-side track and B-side tracks, so I didn’t know.

It was on a computer with good preamps.  That song came out on a tape and the idea was, the people putting it out were gonna record all the bands themselves for the comp.  So we went in cut the track for the comp and decided to play all our set songs as well.  That became the record and we did two versions of “Psychedelic Overlords”, one for the comp and one for the LP.

After a small delay Black Gladiator/Slovenly released your Pagan Days earlier last month.  It finishes with “Ya Ya Ya/Psychedelic Overlords”.  Are those the same recordings that appeared the FORCHRISTSAKE Records Compilation that were just combined into one track for the record or were those songs re-recorded?  

Two different versions of “Ya Ya Ya”, one where we improvised an ending and came up with “Psychedelic Overlords” on the spot.


Was the recording of Pagan Days a fun, pleasant experience for you all?  Can you share some of your memories of recording Pagan Days?  When and where was it recorded?  Who recorded that material?  What kind of equipment was used?

It was in Jean-Michel Coutu's practice space, done live in one and a half days of recording and one and a half days of mixing.  It was chill.  Jean-Michel is a sweetheart.  Small room, bit claustrophobic, my brain was fried.  I almost lost three thousand dollars that I forgot at a shitty subway station.  I was so baked, but luckily the subway lady found my bag and put it aside for me; sooo lucky!


Does PYPY have any other music that we haven’t talked about yet, maybe a song on a compilation or a single that I might have missed?

A noise CDR called KK on my CDR label, K.Y.B. Records and Publications.


With the release of Pagan Days extremely recently does PYPY have any other releases in the works or on the horizon at this point?

Nothing yet.  I guess we'll start thinking about a follow up or doing a hardcore EP.


With the completely insane international postage rate increases that have gone on the last few years I try to provide our readers with as many possible options for picking up import releases as I can.  Where’s the best place for our international and overseas readers to pick up copies of your stuff?

Various punk distros.

What about our US readers?

I'd go directly through Slovenly/Black Gladiator mailorder.

And where’s the best place for fans all over the world to keep up with the latest news from PYPY like upcoming shows and album releases at?

We don't have a website, so our Facebook is really the only place to get the info.

Are there any major goals that PYPY is looking to accomplish in 2014 or do you all have any big plans?

Not really, we're gonna concentrate on our main projects Duchess Says and Red Mass.  We started the project for fun and it'll stay that way.

Do you all spend a lot of time touring?  Do you enjoy touring with the band?  What’s life like on the road for PYPY?

We've only done a handful of shows.  It's been fun and we're all old friends.  We didn't expect to do anything with the band, so it's low stress.


What, if anything, do you all have planned for 2014 as far as touring goes?

Shows around the province of Québec and a few US shows in the winter.


Do you remember what the first song PYPY ever played live was?  Where and when would that have been at?

I guess, “Pagan Day” must've been it.  We often start with that.  “Molly” and “New York” we're written early on.  We'd play “Molly” as a psych jam when we were writing the music for FUBAR 2, but they ended up using a Blue Cheer song instead.

Do you have any funny or interesting stories from live performances that you’d like to share here with our readers?

We did a benefit show in Montreal where we played with guests Mikey Hepner of Priestess, Andre from AIDS Wolf, Taylor Hoodlum Stevenson, and the Deaner hosted.  That was great!  We also had a group of impostors that look like us start our record launch.  People were so confused, it was hilarious.  We played a New Year's show that was crazy.  Phil was so wasted that night I had to plug his chord jack into his bass, he couldn't even do that.


In your dreams, who are you on tour with?

The Stooges, Black Sabbath, Devo or Sonic Youth if they'd still be playing shows.

© Julie Rainville

Do you all give a lot of thought to the art that represents the band on stuff like flyers, posters, shorts and covers?  Is there any philosophy or vision that you like to impart with your art?  Do you have any go-to artists or people that you usually turn to in your times of need when it comes to those sorts of things?  If so, who is that and how did you originally get hooked up with them?

All over the place.  Confusing, surprising and absurd.  We like some of the ideas put forth by the Dadaists.  For the record we went to Elzo Durt ‘cause his art is really psychedelic and he's a psychedelic dude.

With all of the various mediums of release that are available to artists today I’m always curious why they choose and prefer the various methods that they do.  Do you have a preferred medium of release for your own music?  What about when you’re listening to and or purchasing music and if so, can you talk a little bit about your preference?

Vinyl sounds the best, but I still love cassettes.  I remember the first tapes I ever brought, Dead Kennedys Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death, Joy DivisionCloser, The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks and The Best of Velvet Underground.

Do you have a music collection at all?  If you do, can you tell us a little bit about it?

I collect noise CDRs, movies, toys, comic books, VHS tapes and tons of CDs and vinyl.  I buy new records.  Garbage bin records.  I’m pretty obsessed.  I listen to all sorts of music and I also get records to sample, so I get tons of different genres of music too.  I'm all over the place.

I grew up around a pretty large collection of music and I was encouraged to dig in and enjoy it from a pretty young age.  I would just go up and grab something, stick it in the player, kick back with the liner notes, stare at the artwork and let the whole experience transport me off to another time and place.  Having something physical to hold in my hands and experience along with hearing the music always made for a more complete listening experience for me.  Do you have any such connection with physically released music?

I'm in my thirties, so I grew up listening to my dad's seventies records.  It had a huge impact on me.  I even remember being terrified by Led Zeppelin IV.  I thought it was super satanic.  Then, I had a big crush on my neighbour and I’d go hang out and play at her place while her brother listened to metal music.  I was really impressed by that.  Later, I started skateboarding and went to Florida where I bought 80's thrash, punk rock and crossover records, i.e. D.R.I. and Suicidal Tendencies.

As much as I love my music collection there’s no denying the ease and portability of digital music.  When you team it with the internet, well you have something truly amazing on your hands.  Together they’ve exposed people to a world of music that they wouldn’t have even known existed otherwise and allowed a lot of independent bands much needed global interaction.  Nothing is ever black and white though, and illegal downloading is running rampant right now, not to mention how hard it’s become to get noticed in the chocked jungle of material flooding the market right now.  As a musician during the reign of the digital era, what’s your opinion on digital music and distribution?

I can't say I love all of it.  Streaming a record instead of holding a copy in your hands isn't as enjoyable.  You use to just have to look a bit harder.  I prefer how it was back then and people just don't spend time on records anymore.  With PYPY we recorded the LP fast, but we'd been playing these songs for years.  That's why we kicked ass on a live recording.

I try to keep up with as much good music as I possibly can but with all the amazing stuff out there right now, there just isn’t enough time!  Is there anyone I should be listening to from your local scene or area that I might not have heard of before?

Pink Noise, Suuns, and Panopticon Eyelids are great.  I like US Girls too; she lives in Toronto now.

What about nationally and internationally?

Human Eye is my favorite.  Cheveu and King Khan and BBQ show are great.  I love Rick Froberg's music, so I dig the Obits.  I dunno there's so much.  Roscoe Mitchell from Art Ensemble of Chicago released a CDR "Not Yet"; a fucking CDR, 1,000 or so copies of the best music in the world.  That CDR blows all modern music into the garbage.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview!  It wasn’t short and I know it had to have taken a while to fill out, but it’s been awesome learning so much about you all and I hope it’s been at least a little fun looking back on everything that the band’s managed to accomplish since you all began…  Before we call it a day and sign off, is there anything that I possibly could have missed or that you’d like to take this opportunity to talk to me or my readers about?

We make music to connect with others.  We try to keep an open mind, be kind and think of others.  Don't take what you have for granted, that shit comes and goes.  We've adjusted our ethics to capitalism and the will to power.  It should be the opposite and we should adjust our politics and ideas towards humanitarian ethics instead.  We got it all wrong.  Everything in culture is like elevator music now...  Fuck that shit.  Make art for art’s sake.  Make music for real with heart and a sense of adventure.  Music can actually make people react and think differently, use that.  Sing, or if no one hears, shout.

Line Up :
Roy V
Phil Clem
Simon S
Annie-Claude

Label :
Slovenly Records

Tracklist :
01. Pagan Day
02. New York
03. Molly
04. Daffodils
05. Too Much Cocaine
06. She’s Gone
07. Ya Ya Ya/Psychedelic Overlords