Album de la Semaine : White Hills - Walks For Motorists

White Hills

Walks For Motorists

Interview de White Hills, par John Doran de The Quietus

What was the first performance you saw by a rock guitarist where you thought, 'This is the life for me'?

Dave W: I was in Junior High School, in San Mateo, California. I was 11 years old and this was my first ever rock gig. I'd seen people play guitar before but this was the moment when I thought, 'This is what I want to do.' There was a band that played at lunchtime in the school gym and they were playing U.F.O.'s 'Strangers In The Night'. When I saw that, I knew what I wanted to do. They were high school kids, and I just thought it was so cool. I got a guitar not long after. I taught myself by playing to records. I didn't have any patience for scales and all that shit… I just wanted to rock.

How strong was the rock in this school?

DW: Rock was the thing.

Who were the big bands?

DW: In California we had this thing called Day On The Green, they were concerts that Bill Graham would present at Oakland Coliseum and it would be people like Aerosmith to Metallica to AC/DC… you know, all those big 70s and 80s cock rock groups. Pat Travers and stuff like that. I wasn't necessarily into those things as much. I had a friend at the time who had two older brothers who was into all this stuff. One was a freshman and the other was a sophomore in college. They were into all the New York and British music like the Sex Pistols and Patti Smith and Motorhead, and that stuff was what really got me going.

What was the first band that you heard that really set you on the road to where you are now?

Dave W: Public Image Ltd. It was hearing Metal Box that really freaked me out. It made me think of music in a completely different way. And I think that was the first thing that was like mantra music that I had heard and got into.

So the krautrock element has kind of been there since day one for you?

Dave W: Yeah but without a realisation that that was what it was.

The new album is called So You Are… So You'll Be. Can you explain the title for me please?

Dave W: It comes from two places - one which is very personal and one which is a statement about humanity. People have this kind of concept that they can't change but I feel like change is possible. So who you choose to be is who you are and who you will be. In the same respect it's kind of like saying you are what you eat… if you eat crappy food your insides are made of crap. I think that you can be enlightened in many different ways and if you choose to be enlightened and are someone who seeks out those things then you can be that and you will be that. If you want to be enlightened you will be enlightened. If you want to be an asshole you will be an asshole. But the greater scope of this statement is if you look at the history of humans, really, nothing has changed. There might be greater technology but really, we as human beings, we're the same as we ever were. There's always a ruling class that shits on a working class. There's always war over money. So we as humans aren't enlightened as a whole. So I think that you as an individual can progress under certain circumstances, so if you choose to be something and to try and learn and to try and progress then eventually it will happen but that is also who you are. You can make conscious decisions to try and do something [positive or constructive] but you are what you are.

You've got a reputation as having a very strong work ethic and it's only probably a year since I was last talking to you about the last album. When did you start writing for this album?

DW: Right after the other one was done.

Do you write on the road?

DW: If something comes into my head, sure.

And I know you don't like doing much practice before recording, how quickly did this album come together?

DW: Basically before we went to Europe, last October we had half of the album written and half of it recorded and then we went back into the studio and recorded the other half of the album. When I say half the album… we recorded enough material to have a triple album. So it only ended up being a single album because it was better for the concept and what I was trying to do. It was a more concentrated blast.

There's a lot of electronic ambient noise on this record and I'm not saying you haven't used this before but there are bits of this album that could be on an AFX or Autechre record. What was the process with synths this time?

DW: It's all written on guitars. I love synthesizers and I love electronic music and I love the avant garde and I always want to try and have some kind of element of that in the music. So once the music is put down and recorded, that's when I start to tinker with it using synths. The track 'Circulating' was composed of synth treatments for another song that ended up not being included on the record.

Has the emphasis changed regarding the lyrics on this album?

DW: I would say that there are more lyrics, relatively speaking, on this album. I was really focussed on trying to change the way that the lyrics sit within songs and how they are sung or how the words would be placed within the music. Within me, vocally, it's a huge jump [forwards]. If you look at the track 'In Your Room' - it is fairly vocal heavy all the way up through the bridge and that's when Ego does that weird thing of using those vowels from within the phrase "In your room" to make this weird percussive vocal line. So things like that are completely different. Usually the lyrics are written last but in this case they were written before the song was recorded. They did change a lot once the tracks were actually recorded and they were swapped around a lot but there was a lot more emphasis on them this time round.

'In Your Room' is like a call to arms… like a rallying cry isn't it?

DW: Yeah, yeah. I think that's just in my nature. I think there's always at least one song on each album that's quite like that.

But you're quite an old school guy in that respect aren't you? There's no room for irony or post modernism in White Hills is there?

DW: I would agree with that. But when I write lyrics, personally I don't care if the person who is listening to it understands what I'm saying or not; and I write them like that specifically. You know, I have my views; I don't feel the need to have people have the same views as me. So if they find the meaning in the songs and it's the same meaning as the one I intended then fine and dandy and if they don't, they don't. Last year we played in Norway for the first time and when we played in Oslo and there was a guy who works on the oil rigs and he was stationed in Africa and he took vacation time specifically to see us in his home town. So he flew from fucking Africa to see us and then he's telling me how when they're drilling for oil they're pumping out H-p1. Now that record in general has huge statements about organisations raping the Earth. Now here's someone who is enjoying the record who is doing something that I'm specifically speaking out against and specifically within that one song.

Well if you're not trying to influence people lyrically, are you trying to evoke a specific mood or emotion with music?

DW: Yeah, I want people to go inwards. I want people to look at themselves. I want people to go into a space for meditation. It's funny to use a word like meditation as the music is fairly brutal but there is a hypnotic element to it and the way that I try and create that for someone just happens to be through a fairly heavy form of music. I feel that for me, there is so much that happens in our world today and so many things that are constantly going on. You are constantly barraged and beaten down with a lot of bullshit and I find that heavy and extreme music helps me to go into a very tranquil place and I hope, more than anything, that the music does create a space for people to go inward with.

What's your definition of space rock?

DW: Something that takes you out of yourself and out of your normal realm. And if space happens to be that inner space or outer space it's a very personal thing. I think that mantra is space music. I think that Native American tribal drumming is space music. Anything that allows you to go inward to go outward and to move within a space that is not normal to your reality.

How did you and Ego meet?

DW: We were both in bands in San Francisco. The drummer in her band was someone that I knew. When they did their first show the drummer asked me to come, we met then, so at that time in SF there was a huge community of like-minded people so we all began to melt into this group that were doing shows together and hanging out. But it was a long time before we started to make music together.

Why did you leave San Francisco?

DW: Because that whole dot com thing was on. A lot of the clubs were in industrial areas and then the city started zoning those areas for live spaces and then a lot of rich people moving in were pissed off that there were clubs making all this noise so all these great clubs started to close down. There were a lot of people taking too many drugs and dying or realising that they needed to go sober and then the community that was there by the late 90s was gone and a lot of people started to get married and started to have kids and it wasn't anything that I wanted to do and it wasn't anything Ego wanted. She wanted to continue making music. She said to me, "I'm thinking of moving to New York." And I said, "Can I come with you?"

How did White Hills start?

DW: I recorded what became They Have Blood in early 2004. But I'd been in New York since early 1999. I started to write and record music under a band name called Violate The Drug Space. Ego Sensation had this whole show that revolved round a story and it was very interactive and had a mix of theatre, live music and video. So I played around a little bit and recorded an album that I didn't do anything with and then I started playing in another band and they were doing a punky garage thing. I was still trying to find people to play space rock. You'd put ads in Craig's List and people would laugh at you. You know, you'd get these assholes sending me emails like, "What the fuck's space rock you fucking idiot?" And I was like, "Fuck you, I could give a shit about The Strokes. I could give a shit about fucking Interpol. Don't tell me that any of that shit is new or interesting." So I thought what the fuck am I doing playing this fucking punky garage bullshit. So I went out and bought gear and recorded a record for myself for my own sanity. When it was done I thought that Julian Cope would like it and that's really how it got started.

How did he get back in touch with you?

DW: The first that I knew he liked it was that he mentioned it in one of his monthly Drudians. And then it was though this guy Seth – if you go onto Head Herritage and look on the home page there's a section called the Seth Man – it was through him. Then Julian got in touch with me with the idea of releasing it through Fuck Off And Di.

So how did it go from being this home recorded demo to being a band?

DW: Well, I started getting emails from people in Julian's community, wondering where they could get a copy. So I started selling a version that I had and then I started to feel like, "Oh if there are all these people who are interested in it then I should try and put a band together." And it took a year to settle on who would be in the band and what form it would take. So that was into 2005 when Julian finally released it and then into 2006 when he had us open up for him at Koko in Camden.

How was that gig?

DW: It was great. It was nerve wracking. Our drummer at the time couldn't come out for the show so Julian hooked us up with Antrony who we've been collaborating with ever since.

What does the name mean?

DW: Nothing! It's an image. When I first said it, it brought to mind two things: drugs and nature. And I liked the way it rolled off the tongue.

Say if over the next month literally everyone in Williamsburg formed space rock groups would you fuck it off and do something else? Do you relish being an outsider?

DW: No. I think I'd like to be accepted. And in some ways I think White Hills is accepted. But I at this point I don't spend time trying to be in the clique or in the scene because those things don't matter to me. What matters to me is creating something from my heart for what I want to do. I think now in Brooklyn there is way more of what you could call a psychedelic scene or a space rock scene but to me personally these bands make pop music. Tame Impala aren't from Brooklyn but you know, they're a good band, write good songs, they're a bit trippy, but they aren't a psychedelic band, they're a pop band. I'd say the same thing about The Black Angels. I like it; it's fine and dandy but ultimately they're playing pop music. Same with Wooden Shjips.

Which song by White Hills is the closest thing you have to an anthem or mission statement?

DW: I'd say 'H-p1'. I like the lyrical content and the statement of it. Everything in that song came together really well. It forged a lot of things that I'm trying to do with White Hills in making heavy mantra music.

What's your main aim for White Hills in the future?

DW: Just to continue. You have these visions of grandeur of you taking over the entire world! But really I've been very fortunate with this band and there's been this constant trajectory upwards and there are always other things happening. You always wonder when it's going to plateau, so for me I would just like it to continue to go up.

Line Up : Dave W. (guitar, vocals), Ego Sensation (bass guitar, vocals)

Label : Thrill Jockey

Tracklist :

01 – No Will
02 – ?SD Or USB
03 – Wanderlust
04 – Lead the Way
05 – I, Nomad
06 – We Are What You Are
07 – Automated City
08 – Life Is Upon You
09 – Walks For Motorists
10 – May You Be the Sun (bonus track)

Album de la Semaine : Enablers - The Rightful Pivot

Enablers
The Rightful Pivot

Enablers, par Matthieu Choquet de Mowno

Voilà dix ans que ça dure. Dix ans que, à nous français qui n’y captons rien, Pete Simonelli raconte des histoires à dormir debout, pendant que trois compères – et non des moindres – tissent une toile à ses déclamations, tout en prenant bien soin de ne jamais se résumer au rôle d’accompagnateurs de second plan. Si la formule spoken word de ces américains peut paraître aussi élitiste et indigeste que celle de certains artistes ayant tenté de la vulgariser, la leur fonctionne encore parfaitement à l’heure d’un cinquième album tout aussi passionnant que les précédents. Loin de tourner en rond, ‘The Rightful Pivot’ enfonce le clou d’une personnalité à part dans le décor musical, forgée à travers les années et les disques par des mecs à l’expérience assez lourde pour se permettre de toujours tirer chez l’auditeur les bonnes ficelles de l’émotion et de la perception: deux éléments essentiels pour saisir le parfait équilibre que Enablers décroche encore ici entre sa musique et ses textes.

Captivant et toujours aussi charismatique, Pete Simonelli nourrit de nouveaux écrits son phrasé grave et froid, habité et convaincu, à l’interprétation parfois menaçante, posé tel un narrateur sur des compositions post rock raffinées, tout aussi essentielles tant elles sont totalement taillées pour lui. Ainsi, définitivement inséparables les uns des autres, ces quatre talents fusionnent, se reniflent, s’accompagnent en chaque instant, dans leurs silences quasi cinématographiques comme dans leurs envolées électriques: une succession d’ambiances impulsée en partie par la complémentarité insolemment naturelle des guitares de Joe Goldring et Kevin Thomson, héritée de nombreuses années d’expériences communes, accompagnée des coups comme parfois des caresses free jazz (‘Enopolis’) de Sam Ospovat, énième batteur et digne remplaçant de Doug Sharin (June Of 44, Codeine…).

Le temps de huit nouvelles compositions, aussi manipulateur qu’à son habitude, Enablers nous envoie valser dans la mélancolie colérique d’un post rock dont lui seul détient le secret (‘Went Right’, ‘The Percentages’). A l’occasion, il sort aussi les griffes (‘West Virginia’), transforme à coups d’arpèges magiques une profonde tristesse en éclairs de lumière intense (‘She Calls After You’, ‘Good Shit’), parfois jusqu’à toucher de ses cinq doigts une beauté poignante dont on pensait seul Slint capable depuis ‘Washer’. Celle de ‘Solo’ par exemple, de ‘Look’ surtout, titre central enrichi d’un refrain chanté pour souligner le propos de Simonelli, et preuve ultime qu’Enablers ne se refuse rien, surtout pas la différence, même quand il use de recours conventionnels. Un disque intelligent en somme.

Line Up :

Pete Simonelli
Joe Goldring
Kevin Thomson
Sam Ospovat

Label :

Lancashire and Somerset

Tracklist :

01 – Went Right
02 – She Calls After You
03 – The Percentages
04 – Look
05 – Solo
06 – Good Shit
07 – West Virginia
08 – Enopolis

Album de la Semaine : A Place To Bury Strangers - Transfixiation

A Place To Bury Strangers
Transfixiation

Interview d'a Place To Bury Strangers, par Stephanie Almazan de Culture Collide

It’s business as usual for A Place to Bury Strangers. The Brooklyn noise rockers just released their fourth album, Transfixiation, last week and are going full force into life on the road.

While the band is likely too busy to look back, we can’t help but do just that. 

For those familiar with frontman Oliver Ackermann’s other endeavor Death by Audio, the Brooklyn venue and pedal effects studio of the same name, you'll recall that last fall was somewhat uncertain. A press release went out in September that the DIY music venue would close its doors in November, followed by 75 days of goodbye shows — the final one played by APTBS. Ackermann, along with the local music scene lost a treasured venue. Band member/bassist Dion Lunadon summed it up: “The only venue I know whose shows were curated with such love. Never about the money and always about the quality music.”

In December, we met up with Oliver, Dion, and drummer Robi Gonzalez at their brand new studio to discuss what they love about Brooklyn, but we also came away with a deeper understanding of all the moving parts that make up the sum of APTBS.

A punctual Oliver met us outside a large warehouse building where he moved the pedal effects studio a few weeks ago. He was welcoming, down to earth, allowing us to poke around the small space — though new, it already felt lived in. He flipped through a stack of papers, which turned out to be shipping orders, and showed us a shelf of product [pedal effects] that he needed to get out before Christmas. “Pedals can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.” They build it in parts. "The studio usually does 200 per month, and now they’re up to 400 for December." It makes sense given the press surrounding DBA's closing.

Right away, we get the sense of Oliver’s ingenuity. “I like to work,” he says. As for his pedal business, he figured it out on his own and “had no formal training.” Now he has two business partners — one helped to streamline the business — and is no longer doing custom work officially, but has taken up a project or two for friends. Last year [2013] they got health insurance.

On what he liked about the original location: “It was great because everything [music venue, practice space, and pedal studio] was in one place.” So if he was working on something himself, he could easily walk in and see what everyone else was working on and address any problems.

Our inner fanboy and -girl comes out and we tell Oliver we think APTBS is one of the loudest bands next to Dinosaur Jr. and Swans. Oliver shares a Dino Jr. anecdote — It was one of the first shows he watched early on, and he recalls trying to talk to a friend during the opener, but it was so loud they couldn’t hear each other...And then Dino Jr. came out and they were “ten times louder!”

By this time, Dion and Robi arrive. We decide to get coffee because they say “we don’t really get to hang out.” When they're together, the focus is on the music. We head to nearby Brooklyn Roasting Co. for a coffee fix (cappuccino for Dion). The office/pedal studio and practice space are two blocks apart in Clinton Hill, and they’re still learning the area. “That’s the thing about living in New York, you don’t get to know all the neighborhoods,” laments Dion. Still, there's no place like it: "I've lived in London and Los Angeles, too. New York has been my home for the last eight years and I love this city so much. It's perfect for me. Creative and people get shit done!"

Our next stop is the practice space, a designated room in a warehouse already packed with APTBS’s instruments and equipment. Dion’s band Flowers of Evil also practice in the building, and Dion runs into a fellow band member. We tell them we caught their third show (at the Kanine Records/Culture Collide holiday party). Oliver admits he has yet to see the band perform. On future Flowers of Evil shows, Dion says, “There’s a three-day window for us to perform. We’re all in other bands.”

The coming APTBS tour (which started the day Transfixiation was released) will last about four months. Oliver says he's normally away from home "maybe seven to eight months out of the year." Their tour strategy? Map the tour out months in advance so they can get to do things that they want to do. The band suggests locations that the bookers wouldn’t otherwise think of because most times they “don’t know the distance between cities,” and the veteran band can “avoid traveling 14 hours between shows.” This way, they get to see friends.

As for how they decide on each show’s set list, they “figure out the set list ten minutes before; [it] creates a better vibe.” They tried to do same set list for three days in a row, and that didn’t work out because “you’re up there thinking about other things.” 

This is a band that keeps moving. Back in December, they (and we) were waiting to see how it would all pan out. Needless to say, they're rocking through life at full volume.

Line-Up :

Oliver Ackermann
Dion Lunadon
Robi Gonzalez

Label :

Dead Oceans

Tracklist :

01 – Supermaster
02 – Straight
03 – Love High
04 – What We Don’t See
05 – Deeper
06 – Lower Zone
07 – We’ve Come So Far
08 – Now It’s Over
09 – I’m So Clean
10 – Fill The Void
11 – I Will Die

Album de la Semaine - Nite Fields - Depersonalisation

Nite Fields
Depersonalisation

TRACK BY TRACK: NITE FIELDS 'DEPERSONALISATION'

BY JONNY NAIL | FEBRUARY 5TH, 2015 11:00:AM EST

The harshly self-depreciating title suggests that Depersonalisation, the new LP from Brisbane-via-everywhere band 
Nite Fields, is merely a robotic presentation, void of emotional embraces and any notable explorations of the human 
condition. While, synonymous with negative connotations, at least in this case, the label is a constructive summation.

"Take the hole in my heart", lyricist Danny Venzin bluntly states on "Fill The Void", while the distant clattering
 of instruments, the last remaining signs of unbound expression in this cold, desolate destination, is snuffed out 
by the monotonous drone of the dominant harrowing strum. It's a seemingly lifeless place, with vocals tracing over 
persistent paths and musical mechanics churning over with little variance.

Yet, it's remarkably engaging.

The compositions' hauntingly hypnotic qualities should take most of the credit for this, although the slow unraveling 
of the introspective qualities of the unconcerned prose is equally captivating. With its bleak, sterile exterior, 
Depersonalisation sounds like a provisional and restless recording, attributable to its patchwork methodology with 
the record created at twenty different recording locations across three states in a four year stretch. It's a record entrenched
 in a lonely, dystopian existence, the ideal environment for the slickers of pop brightness, scatterings of positivity to 
shine their brightness.

In an attempt to unravel these conflicting, inexplicable qualities, Danny Venzin pieced together some slithers of 
insight into each of the album's songs for us.

1. "Depersonalised"
This is the eye of the storm. Gangajang might "watch lightening crack over cane fields" but we stand and record them 
with an iPhone.

2. "Fil The Void"
Probably not the best song on the album but very much a showcase of what we are about. I'm not interesting in the 
swinging trends of analog to digital and vice versa, and Liza will attest to the fact that I'll happily add both tofu and meat 
to spaghetti Bolognese sauce.

3. "You I Never Knew"
Probably the best song on the album but very much not a showcase of what we are about. The music might be pretty but 
lyrically this is the heaviest track on the album.

4. "Come Down"
The first Nite Fields song that appeared as a gift from below almost fully formed. No mum, this song is not about drugs.

5. "Pay For Strangers"
Somewhat about my disregard for money but more about Chris' disappointment at never having been to 
The Cabaret Club.

6. "Hell/Happy"
This song originally contained a) bongos b) djembe c) cowbell or d) all of the above.

7. "Prescription"
Another fucking love song.

8. "Like a Drone"
Influenced by my relationship with a far too sweet girl, who, as you can hear, also has a much better voice than I do. 
We recorded the vocals in the shower of the Bardon sharehouse I was living in at the time. Just a few days later I was 
evicted and it was demolished to put up some multi-million dollar apartments. Campbell Can Do.

9. "Winter's Gone"

This song. Fucking hell. We recorded it five times with four different people to get it right and it's only thanks to 
Whitney's insistence that we're here at track #9. Don't leave without hearing the sax solo.

Line Up :
Chris Campion
Liza Harvey
Danny Venzin
Michael Whitney

Label :
Felte Records

Tracklist :
01 – Depersonalised
02 – Fill the Void
03 – You I Never Knew
04 – Come Down
05 – Pay for Strangers
06 – HellHappy
07 – Prescription
08 – Like a Drone
09 – Winter’s Gone

Album de la Semaine : The Soft Moon - Deeper

The Soft Moon
Deeper

Interview de The Soft Moon, par Frank Deserto de Post-Punk

Since their debut, the band has released an EP, a high profile collaboration with John Foxx, and a follow up, 2012’s Zeros, and recently a self released “FEEL” as a 7” / CASSETTE and show no signs of giving up the ghost. We were able to have a few words with Luis Vasquez- the principle songwriter and singer of The Soft Moon, and the results are as follows…

1.    How long have you been playing music?   What other bands have you played in?

My grandfather bought me a guitar when i was twelve years old and i wrote my first song a few months after. I called the song “Claustrophobic Man.” I often look back and wonder why i wrote a song about claustrophobia at twelve years of age? I’m sure I didn’t know the actual definition of the word at the time. At fifteen I started my first band. I convinced my best friend to buy a bass guitar and we started a band the same day he got one. I remember we had to get permission slips signed by our parents to play our first shows at local bars and venues because we were so young. I had to forge my mom’s signature because i was afraid she wouldn’t allow me to play. Through my teen years I played in numerous punk bands and when I was twenty I started writing music on my own.

2.    While the usual songwriting process centers around you, how do the other members contribute to the songs?

Because The Soft Moon is a personal journey for me it is important that I write on my own. Everything about the project is about self discovery, growth, emotional healing, battles with my inner demons, my biology, and digging up the past. I started The Soft Moon as a means of therapy for myself. It’s the live shows where the other members come in. I feel the live show is a separate entity of The Soft Moon. With the live aspect the other members can contribute their own unique interpretation giving it new life.

3.    Live and on record, the Soft Moon is an incredibly visceral experience.  I know playing music, for me, has always been mostly about exorcising my own personal demons.  Is this the case with you as well?

The visceral experience stems from the honesty of the songs. I can’t help but wear my heart on my sleeve when writing music, therefore the outcome is extremely sincere. I feel an intense catharsis when performing live. The audience sees that which adds to the performance. Within the songwriting i am always exorcising my own demons as if I’m trying to defeat an enemy and the enemy being myself.

4.    The Soft Moon’s lyrics are usually difficult to hear on the recording (though often clear during live performances).  What do you convey in the lyrics?

I’ve always struggled with expressing myself through words. It’s as if the words simply don’t exist. My vocal style in my music represents that. It’s as if I’m hitting a wall every time i try to say how i feel through a verbal language. I try to mimic my frustration with the vocal production in my music. This is why my voice is often buried and unclear. I feel as if I’m underwater struggling to swim to the surface. However, when i do sing, i tend to repeat a phrase over and over like a mantra which becomes meditative and psychological. This ties back to the healing process i mentioned earlier.

5.    It’s easy to trace influences in terms of the obvious touchstones, including the motorik beats of Neu! and the harsh catastrophic dread of Chrome, but outside of that, who are your idols?

I don’t particularly have any specific idols. I just love music in general. I can find inspiration within any type of music. But if i were to call out a few artists i would say Prince, Michael Jackson, Arvo Part, David Byrne, Brian Eno, Tito Puente, Patrick Miller, Enno Velthuys, Beethoven, Omar Khorshid, Erkin Koray, Madonna, etc. This list goes on…..

6.    Other than music, what or who else inspires you?

I’m mainly influenced by existence. Music is the tool in which feels most natural for me to express myself.

7.    Touring is often difficult for bands, given the manic highs and obviously strained lifestyle of being on the road.  Do you enjoy touring?  What’s your favorite place to play so far?  What’s the most ridiculous thing that’s happened on the road?

In the beginnings touring was very difficult for me. It was a big lifestyle transition and took a while to get used to. Not to say touring is a breeze now, but it’s definitely gotten a little easier. In fact, I feel quite comfortable on the road these days as it gives me a sense of structure and purpose. My life tends to be chaotic when I’m on breaks living in some random city. Many ridiculous things have happened on tour and of course i can’t remember one specific thing at this moment but i do remember having to drive straight from Barcelona to Amsterdam after our last show of a tour because our tour manager stayed up all night doing enough drugs to kill an adult horse which incapacitated him of driving. We finally arrive at the Amsterdam airport 14 hours later to catch our flight home and i realized i left my passport in Barcelona. It was my birthday. We had to wait a few days before we could finally catch another flight home after a month of touring.   

8.    Working with John Foxx must have been a dream.  How did the collaboration come about?  Did you actually meet and work together, or did “Evidence” stem from an online collaboration?

John Foxx contacted me a couple years ago about possibly working on a collaboration together. Until this day I’m not sure how he discovered The Soft Moon but I was incredibly excited for the opportunity to work with him. The Soft Moon had a show planned in London around the time he contacted me so I put him on the list and got to talk with him backstage. A few months after meeting him he sent me something to work with. It was an interesting sequence he created using one of my favorite synthesizers (Arp Odyssey). Because i loved his first album so much I decided I would take it in that direction hoping to create some nostalgia for the both of us and at the same time creating something fresh. After bouncing ideas back and forth we finally came up with an incredible finished piece of work. What I gained from this project was that i wasn’t such the lone wolf I thought I was and that I can actually work well with others.

9.    Any immediate plans for a follow up to Zeros?

The Soft Moon will be playing live through the summer and then I plan to take a break to write the third album. I’ve never been so anxious to write and it’s killing me actually. I’ve had such a strong urge to write these days but am committed to continue touring in support of Zeros. I only worry that I’m not missing out on expressing and learning important things about myself that will continue to help me grow as a human being. I guess I’ll just have to wait.

10.    In what ways would you develop The Soft Moon’s sound?  Do you see the project growing or changing in the next few years?

When I first started the project I only used what equipment I had. I didn’t have a particular sound in mind. It just was what it was. In terms of evolution, I plan on letting it happen naturally. I never predetermine what i am going to write. It all happens in the moment based on how I’m feeling or on new experiences I’ve had, whatever. One thing I know for sure is that i am going to continue to go deeper…

Line Up :

Luis Vasquez

Label : 

Captured Tracks

Tracklist :

01 – Inward
02 – Black
03 – Far
04 – Wasting
05 – Wrong
06 – Try
07 – Desertion
08 – Without
09 – Feel
10 – Deeper
11 – Being

Album de la Semaine : Moon duo - Shadow of the Sun

Moon Duo
Shadow of the Sun

Interview de Moon Duo, par Austin Psych Fest

Moon Duo is Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) and Sanae Yamada. Their most recent record “Circles” was released in 2012 on Sacred Bones. Our friend Ryan Muldoon at Revolt of the Apes has compiled a list of 10 questions for Moon Duo in anticipation of their APF 2014 performance. 

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Can you think of an album that you’ve grown to greatly appreciate only recently, after many years of either not “getting” it, or simply dismissing it out of hand? What is it about this album that resonates with you today, and why do you think that wasn’t the case previously?
As I write this I’m giving the Fairport Convention album Full House a second chance. I really love Sandy Denny, so I just kind of dismissed everything post-Sandy. I’m reading Electric Eden by Rob Young, about British folk, so that’s why. I’m not really a big folk fan generally but there are certain voices or personalities that I’m drawn to.

In what ways do you think your own musical evolution has progressed since playing with Moon Duo? Do you find that, in general, the more you play music with another person in a band, the more you understand them as a person? Or do you find that the two things have no direct connection in your experience?

I don’t know, maybe playing music can help with understanding. That’s not been my experience really. I think a person could be a complete enigma and you could still have some great jams. As far as my musical evolution, I have no perspective. I’m trying to devolve at this point anyway. I want to unlearn as much as possible. That’s my new goal.

What led to the decision to have the sounds of Moon Duo’s “Mazes” remixed by artists such as Psychic Ills and Sonic Boom? What do you learn about your own music – or, perhaps, your own creativity – when you hear these alternate contributions?

We just tried to get artists that we liked or admired. The remixes don’t teach me anything about my own process. It shows me what someone else would do. That’s what’s interesting to me. I already know what I would do with the mixes.

One of the standout numbers from the “Circles” LP, in our mind, is the song “Sleepwalker.” What can you tell us about the origin of this song? What does the title “Free Action” mean to you?

Sleepwalker came from the feeling I get sometimes that I’m in a lucid dream, that everything is completely unreal –which it is. Life is absurd.

Free Action means taking life by the balls and giving it a big, loving squeeze.

What music have you been listening to lately? If push comes to shove, what’s your favorite Black Sabbath album and why?

Let’s see what’s piled up by the turntable: Digable Planets, Laurie Spiegel, The Faces, R.L. Burnside, Burzum, White Rainbow, Don Cherry, Henry Flynt, N.R.P.S., The Pyramids.

My favorite Sabbath album is Sabotage. The first six albums are all kind of perfect but I just have a thing for that one. There’s a weird energy to it. And the cover art is magic. I’ve spent a lot of time staring at that cover.

How does the moon define or describe you as a duo and as individuals, musical or otherwise?

Our name loosely refers to the idea of two moons, like Phobos and Deimos of Mars. They orbit the same planet but at different speeds and in different paths. That’s how we approach most of our songs.

Any cool memories of your previous visits to Austin Psych Fest? Are there any bands in particular that you are excited to have the chance to see play?

I think I played at the 2nd festival and it was pretty small, so it’s been cool to see it grow over the years. Sky Saxon played that year, which was cool. I’m a big Seeds fan. I want to see everything this year. I want to discover something new.

What are the necessary elements for a good live performance in your mind? Do you find that playing music can deliver you to a mild (or perhaps not so mild) altered state? Do you think of yourself or the band as feeding off of the reception and energy of the assembled audience, or does your experience on stage feel more separate?

We definitely feed off energy from the audience. I’m introverted, so I kind of need that. I don’t know what makes a good performance. A lot of the music I like is very inward looking, so I don’t expect to be entertained by those types of musicians. I don’t need someone to prance and dance about, but I know some people want a show. Better for me not to think about it too much.

Kahil Gibron said the following: “We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.” Your thoughts?

I have a sudden craving for a fortune cookie.

What’s next for Moon Duo?

We’re beginning to work on a new record, or at least thinking about it. Hoping to get a live album out first.

Line Up :

Ripley Johnson, Sanae Yamada, John Jeffrey

Label :

Sacred Bones Records

Tracklist :

01 – Wilding
02 – Night Beat
03 – Free The Skull
04 – Zero
05 – In A Cloud
06 – Thieves
07 – Slow Down Low
08 – Ice
09 – Animal