1
cover: Daniel Alexander
2
foundry four features
6.
Tono
by Amy Joseph
and the finance company
20.
Rain City Requiem by Gavin Bertrum
Q&A 12.
OPOSSOM
24.
by Sam Valentine
TOTEMS
by Martyn Pepperell
review 14.
THE OF TAPE Vol. 2 by Brendan McBryde
28.
7RECORDZ
foundry is
Sam Valentine - editor
Evelyn Blackwell - sub-editor
thank you to all our contributors.
Angus McBryde - designer
3
by Adrian Ng
f
foundrymagazine.co.nz
4
Deadlines aren’t our friends. For singer-songwriter, Anthonie ‘Tono’ Tonnon, the process of creating and inhibiting characters is central to his art. First rising to prominence as a Dunedin based musician with a songbook populated with detailed narratives and narrators, Tonnon has recently released his debut full-length album, Up Here For Dancing. Continuing the tradition seen on his previous EP’s, Love and Economics and Fragile Thing, Tonnon is still crafting dry, humorous depictions of modernity. But developed over a transitional period, Up Here For Dancing may just be his first masterpiece. Despite his razor sharp intellectualism, on a personal level, Tonnon’s music has always has always influenced my heart rather than my head. Hearing ‘Timing’ performed on acoustic guitar at Dunedin’s Mou Very in late 2010 was a truly moving experience. This was heartache pop, a love song so effecting, I felt I could have written it about myself. In this issue, Amy Joseph speaks with Tono about Up Here For Dancing from his new home in Auckland. Written before Tono’s nationwide tour in late May, it’s a wonderful conversation between two close friends. Also inside, new contributor Martyn Pepperell speaks to Ruban Winter about his new electronic project, Totems. A blend of genres inhaled through a cloud of smoke, Totems has been the soundtrack to my late nights for months. Filled with glitched swag, and stoner vibes, his beat tape is one of the best things I’ve heard this year.
5
Adrian Ng also joins the Foundry team this issue, with his surreal, impressionistic writing reviewing his favourite releases of recent months. Drawing vivid mental pictures, it’s a feature we hope to see regularly. And of course, familiar contributors Brendan McByrde and Gavin Bertram also reappear, tackling Odd Future and Mark Yarm respectively. All in all, it’s a fourth issue we’re pretty happy with. Of course, we’re always looking for more contributors. So if you’d like to be part of the Foundry team, email editor@ foundrymagazine.co.nz; we wouldn’t exist without the group of writers, photographers, and designers who selflessly donate their time and expertise, usually free of charge. For this issue we owe a special thanks to Daniel Alexander whose work graces our cover. He’s a brilliant artist, whose full catalogue can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ danielblackball/. Let’s pray it won’t be another six months before we’re doing this all again. Enjoy the issue, Sam Valentine. editor
Tono
and the finance company
6
Anthonie ‘Tono’ Tonnon has always sung with a sense of imparting the earned wisdom of his experience, a tendency that gets slightly less precocious as he inches through his mid-twenties. The last couple of years have clearly been a transitional time for Tono, who left his postadolescent life in Dunedin for the mean streets of Grey Lynn. by Amy Joseph
photo: Emily Hlavac Green | lenslapse.com
7
Milana Radojcic
I
t seems to have been a somewhat
generation – but it’s this point where you
The wind changes. Your mum tells you if
traumatising time too, if ‘23’ is anything
haven’t quite decided on what you’re actually
you make a face too long that when the wind
to go by. The song, from his debut full-length
doing, nothing is set. Even people that have a
changes you’re going to be stuck with that.
album Up Here for Dancing, is a world-
job at 23 – they’re probably just starting out
And I think when I was 23 I was stuck with
weary catalogue of all the reasons why that
in a lawyer’s agency and getting paid next to
those alternate versions of myself. I was
in-between age is so frustrating. From the
nothing and working 60 hours a week – and
really worried that maybe I actually wanted
vantage point of the grand old age of 25,
they’re still not sure if actually they wanted
to continue with economics and history, and
Tono still stands by 23 as “objectively” the
to, you know, go and travel. It’s generally
maybe I did want to work towards being
hardest age to be.
awful.”
a politician or something, and I was very unsure of what path I actually wanted to take,
“Somebody said to me at a gig when I played that song, ‘That’s very tongue in cheek, isn’t it?’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and she said, ‘Well, obviously the song’s about how no matter how old you are, you think it’s going to be the worst age to be,’ and I said ‘No, no – objectively, 23 is the hardest age to be.’
When I was at university, I was very the opposite of magical; I was extremely logical.
so I just kept doing the one that I enjoyed most. But I feel like in the last couple of years, I’ve made a musician’s face long enough that the wind changed, and for better or worse that’s what I’m going to do for the foreseeable future, maybe the next seven years until my cells have changed over.” Album opener ‘Multiple Lives’ embraces
“I’m sure there will be more difficult ages
For a musician who often brings up his
the fact that we all become different people
– I’ve heard 34 is pretty bad – but [23] is
working class background in interviews,
over the years, from the cellular level through
that horrible midpoint between being an
these “awful” problems seem awfully middle
to our personalities and desires. The song
irresponsible overgrown teenager going
class. But it’s a set of problems Tono has
is partly a “earnest, self-help kind of upper
to university and being some kind of
elected not to take on, and he’s happy with
song”, partly a way for Tono to make peace
professional member of society. I think it’s
the choices he made at that difficult, liminal
with his own alternate futures. It was inspired
just at that point as well – and maybe this
age. “I’ve found in the years since 23, things
by a post-university shift in thought processes
happened earlier in people’s lives in the last
have gotten a lot better – a hell of a lot better.
triggered, much to Tono’s own surprise, by
8
an Allen Carr Easy Way to Quit Smoking
inevitably happens after you leave university
of Hamilton’ on the Fragile Thing EP to
book. “I was extremely skeptical - it’s this
is after a few years you start reading more
‘Eating Biscuits’ on this album. “So many
terribly written book, it’s mostly written in
novels and more art and actually starting
of my songs are versions of myself in 20
caps lock – you know, YOU DON’T NEED
to slowly enjoy the unexplained magic in
years. [‘Multiple Lives’] gives a whole
TO KEEP SMOKING kind of thing – and it’s
things - you don’t need to know how the song
heap of options - there’s a convert to some
very repetitive and it’s all pseudo-scientific
works or the art piece works to like it. I know
questionable religion, in politics or morning
nonsense. But yet, I was desperate to stop
that it’s a slippery slope to then becoming
television.”
smoking, and I read the book, had my last
those 45-year-old aunties and uncles you
cigarette and never smoked again. So I think
meet who are all airy-fairy and they’ve been
So which likely future version of himself
that propelled me to a stage of my life of
reading self-help books and they tell you
would Tono circa 2012 be most repelled by?
starting to accept more magical thinking,
that you’ve got this strange aura around you
“Probably a convert to some questionable
which is awful, but I don’t mind it.
… but that’s what the song is about! Maybe
religion, but I think that would be more fun
I’m on a slippery slope to that, and if I met
than being a politician. I’d fear more for my
“When I was at university, I was very the
myself when I’m 45 I’d probably hate myself
sanity if I was a politician.”
opposite of magical; I was extremely logical.
- but when I’m 45 I’ll probably like myself,
I studied history: everything needed a source,
whatever I am.”
Tono’s thinking has shifted after university,
everything needed to be backed up and the
and so has he, moving from Dunedin to
source couldn’t be Wikipedia. My view
Potential future versions of himself have
Auckland. “When I moved up to Auckland,
of the world was based on logic. But what
haunted Tono’s songs from ‘Barry Smith
I had two friends there and they were both
artists, and I first started meeting people in
and talking. It’s maybe the most political song
having a handover. Our parents’ generation
Auckland by going to art gallery openings.
on the album.”
is handing over the world for us to run, but
Rachel Brandon
There’s a great culture of that on K Road – turn up for the free booze, pay minimal attention to the art, and meet people and talk, and maybe go to a gig afterwards. It’s a great system.” But it’s a system that Tono, like many of those involved, is ambivalent about. He relates that he was struggling to make
I studied history: everything needed a source, everything needed to be backed up and the source couldn’t be Wikipedia.
there’s no jobs and we’re getting dealt this shitty world that’s got a whole lot of problems with it that nobody’s going to pay for and there’s not many of us. It’s about being in this sort of lost generation, almost. But then none of the characters are particularly painted favourably – in there it’s me and Tim in the
progress with the song that would become
One year after the doldrums of 23, Tono had
smoking area ‘making intellectual sounds
‘Tim’ when the man himself, one of those
apparently moved on to the age at which the
such as I’m tired, I’m hungry / tonight I’ll
early Auckland friends, texted Tono to coax
preceding generation hand over the world to
give no guarantees that I’ll eat ethically’. It’s
him out on the town. “And of course we just
us. Perhaps they don’t realise what fevered
a song about my generation in this phoney
went to Whammy Bar and got drunk. And if
overgrown adolescents we are scant months
handover of power going and avoiding it all
you look around K Road, you can see a lot
before. At any rate, it doesn’t seem like a
by getting drunk.”
of people doing the same thing – you know,
very good deal. “[Tim] is a more recent song,
these pseudo-intellectuals avoiding making
I wrote that when I was 24 – we’re now at
‘Tim’ seems to form a set with ‘With a Point’,
any art by being on K Road meeting people
this part of our lives where we’re supposedly
a song that feels grounded in the same social
9
Emily Hlavac Green
scene. “[It’s] really an unrequited love song,
After all, as the backing vocals croon on
structures; they have song structures that only
but it plays on that pointless intellectualism.
‘Multiple Lives,’ ‘you’ve got to be bad at
exist for that song. But I do try to load those
Being in this generation of people that’s been
something before you’re good at something.’
songs with repetition in other ways -- there
to university, we all love postmodernism, and
are repeating motifs, the same kind of half-
we all respect everybody else’s viewpoints
“For once I felt comfortable - yup, those
melody line is repeated lots, but not always in
and know that everybody’s right but we just
songs are too preachy, it’s a good thing there
the same way, and I feel like if you listen to it
come from different value judgements, and
was never an album that came out of that,
-- well, if I listen to it, I can hear the pop, but
we don’t actually believe in making points
but I was enjoying some of the parts that I
it’s maybe pop to my ears and not to a lot of
anymore. Somebody said to me, ‘Artists
wrote and the way that I wrote them. Because
other people’s.
don’t want to be didactic’ and I’m generally
I do, I write things very differently now to
like that. … ‘With a Point’ maybe defines
the way I did then. I mean, even to write a
“But in saying that… my aim for making this
that dilemma of being intellectual and not
song like ‘Multiple Lives’ is something that I
album originally was to make a much more
being able to say anything with it because
would have kicked myself for doing a couple
pop album than I had ever written. ‘Marion
all you can say is that there are no points,
of years ago - it’s much too earnest, it’s
Bates Realty’ was one of the first songs to
and that there are no good guys or bad guys,
optimistic.”
come out of that, and ‘23’: these are songs
and at the end of the day you’re just looking for something to say so that you can make somebody love you.” Up Here For Dancing is the first full-length album from Tono and the Finance Company, although it isn’t Tono’s first attempt at the form. After debut EP ‘Love and Economics he was keen to record an album, but his sound engineer Stu Harwood left Dunedin and Tono was unable to find a replacement. “So I tried to
with three or four chords, whereas on that
even to write a song like ‘Multiple Lives’ is something that I would have kicked myself for doing a couple of years ago - it’s much too earnest, it’s optimistic.
record an album, which was a disaster because
‘lost’ album I was all about jazz chords and lots and lots of different chords and – awful stuff, stuff I can’t listen to anymore. So for me, songs like ‘Multiple Lives’ and ‘Timing’ and ‘Marion Bates Realty’ are very straight pop songs. I guess it was a strange realisation at the end of this album that I’d made something that was still maybe a little bit difficult to get into… But you never do end up with the product that you start out to make, and that’s only a good thing.”
I don’t know how to record shit. On that album
Tono may have stepped back a bit from that
you had the genesis of the ‘Fragile Thing’ EP,
possibly misguided jazz influence for this
Although the line-up of the Finance Company
… but then you had all of these other songs
album, but he still shies away from traditional
has changed over the years – cellular
that I haven’t been able to listen to for years
pop structures. “The music isn’t always
regeneration on a macro level, perhaps – all
because they were so preachy and they were
easy -- in way that I write, I can’t do a lot of
of the musicians on Up Here for Dancing
so themed and they were much too overt
repetition and I can’t do musical cliches, so
are people with whom Tono has strong
commentaries on the six o’clock news or songs
I’m always looking for some unusual way
relationships. “I could have just recorded it
about becoming PR men and that kind of stuff.
to end that musical phrase, or I’m always
with all Auckland musicians – I probably
And, you know, we were trying to be very
looking for a very tailored structure to suit
knew enough Auckland musicians that we
jazzy ...” Tono trails off with wry disgust in his
a specific song. ‘Tim’ or ‘With a Point’ or
could have made it work, and we could have
voice. “But I had a listen to it yesterday and I
‘Eating Biscuits’ don’t follow straight A-A-
found a producer in Auckland who could
was like, ‘I’m kind of enjoying this.’”
B-A song structures or verse-chorus song
have done it – and in some ways that would
10
have been easier; I might have just been able to do it every weekend for a few months. But it was important for me to build on things that I’d already done and to use relationships and what we’d learnt with other people, so it was important for me to go and record with Bugs [Chris ‘Bugs’ Miller] and to go and record with Tex [Houston].” Assorted current and former Dunedinites were assembled, including Stu Harwood, Logan Valentine, Paul and Michael Cathro and Rainy McMaster. Jonathan Pearce was recruited from Tono’s current hometown, where they’d been playing live together.
tense bringing that whole group together in
and I said, ‘No no, you have to play this
Dunedin, in good ways – we were recording
part.’ But within ten minutes Jonathan was
“I think one of the great things about the
in eleven days, which is a very tight time
fiddling with Logan’s pedals while Logan
record for me is that it’s a very unlikely
period, so there was a lot of stress and a lot of
bashed one guitar chord which made that
meeting between the way that Dunedin
pressure.
big [here Tono makes a crunchy guitar-type
musicians are likely to think of ideas and the
noise that doesn’t translate well to print],
way that Auckland musicians are. Perhaps
“I remember we were doing guitar overdubs
which is probably my favourite part of the
I’ve developed more Auckland ears in my
for ‘Timing’. You had Paul on one guitar
whole album. So you got that great thing that
time in Auckland – I probably have and so
and Logan on the other guitar, and Jonathan
happens when different kinds of people meet
has Stu – but I still love the ridiculousness
who’d come down originally just to do organs
and cool things come out of that.”
of Logan playing a song like ‘Timing’ and
and synths, but had already started playing
then playing this funk guitar riff; by white
some guitar on the record. It was the first
As Tono prepares to set off on the album tour
guys from Dunedin, it’s absolutely ridiculous
time that Paul, Logan and Jonathan have
how much of him is still the same person
and it shouldn’t work, but it does somehow.
ever been in one room, and there’s a little bit
from the time when Up Here for Dancing
That mixture of that Dunedin isolationism
of tension in that, because they know that
first started taking form? “I think for the most
where you can do whatever you want and nothing matters ‘cos nobody listens to us anyway, man– ” Tono sneers, “ –and then that Auckland sensibility where you’re versed in the great weird Dunedin music but then you’re also very conscious of what’s going on overseas and you’re trying to at least make something that isn’t aesthetically a complete
part, I’m still the same set of cells that wrote
my aim for making this album originally was to make a much more pop album than I had ever written
loner” (perhaps it’s the internationalist
these songs. They’re still twitching around there. ‘Eating Biscuits’ was the earliest song – some of those cells that I had when I wrote it will definitely be starting to die off, and the connections being lost in my brain so that I don’t even remember how I wrote it. But then, the arrangement of that song is extremely different to what the original
Auckland influence that makes Tono’s
Jonathan’s now playing guitar in the band,
version of the song was like… I still feel like
mainland accent far less pronounced on this
and it was a bit awkward, for sure. We were
I have these songs flowing around in my cells
album then on his earlier EPs).
trying to get the riff down, but Logan wasn’t
quite closely, and I think that’s a good thing
playing it the way he’d demo’d it, and I was
to have when you’re first touring around an
Tono thinks that the creative tension of
trying to explain, ‘Oh, no, you do it like
album, because it can be easy to have become
bringing that group of musicians together
this,’ and I couldn’t explain it. Then Jonathan
a different person by the time you’ve released
in this line-up of the Finance Company
said, ‘You do it like this’, and Logan goes
an album.”
paid unexpected dividends. “It was kind of
‘Maybe Jonathan should just play this part’,
buy ‘Up Here For Dancing’ at
tonoandthefinancecompany.com 11
Q&A OPOSSOM
K
ody Nielson burst onto the New Zealand music scene with his unhinged, captivating, and often self-endangering performances at the helm of critically acclaimed, ‘trouble gum art punks’, The Mint Chicks. After eight years, three classic LP’s (including Real Groove’s New Zealand album of the decade, Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!), and following a now infamous onstage meltdown at Auckland’s Bacco Room, with the Mint Chicks on indefinite hiatus, Kody has crafted his own musical outlet under the alias Opossom. Extending the deceptively sugary, psych-pop aesthetic heard in the Mint Chicks moribund final months to its furthest psychedelic reaches, Foundry spoke with Kody and got some terse responses to twelve quick questions about the new album, and his continuing relationship with Ruban.
Can you talk me through the process of recording Electric Hawaii. Did you record the record by yourself, or were already collaborating with Bic and Michael at that stage? I wrote, performed and recorded it at home in October 2011. I recorded and produced it myself. Has your songwriting process changed at all since writing with The Mint Chicks, or has writing always been a solitary activity for you? I wrote a lot with Ruban for the Mint Chicks, but I’ve always written on my own as well. My process hasn’t really changed much. I’ve been recording in my bedroom since I was a kid. Is there anything you think you’ll be more able to express/achieve in this format rather than say, The Mint Chicks outlet?
Has it been different being in total control of
Do you still feel close to Ruban, in a musical
It’s good to be able to play the drums live. I
the bands aesthetic? Thus far, your videos
sense? UMO and OPOSSOM seem to have
feel like I have more responsibility over the
and artwork have been quite uniform.
taken off were Bad Buzz ended; almost
music now.
Not so much different, It’s just been fun.
as if exploring different areas of the same musical territory.
12
Absolutely. Ruban and I have always had very similar taste in music and art. That
said,
any particular influences/
tones you’ve been trying to channel in OPOSSOM? I’m still influenced by the same things. I think it just shows it bit more now. Speaking of UMO, are you officially their drummer now? I see you’ve been recording some drums for their new record. I’ve been touring and recording with Ruban lately. Did you really give Jimmy Page a copy of Electric Hawaii? Yeah. He came backstage at a show in London and hung out for a bit. He was interested to hear it, so I gave him a copy.
It’s good to be able to play the drums live. I feel like I have more responsibility over the music now.
How much longer do you think you can keep up being a touring musician for? How much longer do you want to? I think I’ll always make music and play live as long as I can. Is Paul Roper doing anything musically currently, he seems to have basically fallen off the map? Paul’s still living in Portland and playing in a band called Blouse. What bands should we be listening to? Sly & The Family Stone What are your plans for OPOSSOM during the rest of 2012? Release Electric Hawaii. Tour in New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, Europe and Asia. Start working on another record.
OPOSSOM IS AVAILABLE NOW
by Sam Valentine
via iTunes and in good record stores 13
SWAG by Brendan McBryde
LANKY WHITE THOUGHTS ON THE 14
ON DECK
O.F. TAPE VOL. 2
15
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All is a pack of DIY punks with a social networking finesse and an aversion to xaboxes, genres, and conventional publicity in general. They don’t like interviews, ‘critiquing and bitching’, or reviews, presumably.
16
N
onetheless, the press isn’t slowing for Tyler the Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, and the rest of the motley Los Angeles gang whose continued assault on independent hip hop is innovative, arrogant, and thrilling to watch. Having basically created their own entire subculture of characters, attitudes and catchphrases, lyrical inspiration becomes almost self-sustaining, and anything outside of the Odd Future coterie is fair game for merciless defamation. Released at the tail end of March 2012, The O.F. Tape Vol. 2 is a comprehensive taster of themes, flows and frequencies from which some new favourites emerge and familiar talents continue to grow and impress.
perhaps his writing has simply been stretched too thin across his ten appearances to be consistently well constructed. But he still has radical tracks, an eloquent verse at the album’s end, and drops the occasional smoothly witty line on pagans or halogens. Alongside Hodgy and Tyler, Domo Genesis is the third mainstay of the verses on Vol. 2, and
should be worth watching. Domo exhibits Odd Future’s shift from bored suburban friends rapping and mixing in a random bedroom toward concentrated artists pursuing music earnestly and honing their skills; not to mention throwing a bit of money around now that they’re big spenders. The Internet, Syd tha Kid and Frank Ocean respectively contribute the elements that give the tape its supplementary R&B tag, and the occasional melodic break from everyone else’s unapologetically swag verses. Frank Ocean is one of the rising stars of the group in terms of outside projects and mainstream recognition, which along with his mid-twenties seniority make him seem like Odd Future’s odd one out. He cracks out a decent verse on the album’s closer, but Ocean is a soul singer at heart and finds his greatest strength away from the emcee mic. His co-produced album highlight, ‘White,’ is a soul-searching and gently sentimental ballad that strips away the aggressive synth and beefy kicks, and shows why he is already collaborating with the kingpins of the industry.
often shunned as misbehaving kids with no manners slapping photographers at music festivals
NY [Ned Flander] is an early winner, brandishing Tyler’s trademark ominous sub-bass, grinding underneath angular beats and dissonant keyboard loops. Hodgy and Tyler flex their bragging muscles with some impressive verses, the former being the primary rapper on Vol. 2 and featuring on the majority of the tracks, including twice as one half of MellowHype. Much of Hodgy’s rapping throughout the tape is rhythmically clumsy next to that of his brethren, and
most of his contributions are pretty damn fine. Domo has been subsisting comfortably as Odd Future’s loveable stoner for the last couple of years, but his presence is now prominent, his flow captivating, and his rhymes sharp and cunning. His smoothly wistful contribution to ‘Sam [Is Dead],’ or his personal measure of swag in ‘Doms,’ demonstrate and brag how his game has improved. His solo releases
17
The grooving vibe finds a place among Tyler’s
pieces with ‘Oldie’ and in ‘Analog 2/Wheels 2,’ which resurrects a handful of motifs from his first two albums’ songs. He utilises the smooth addition of Syd and Frank to craft them into a more spirited and soulful b-side to these older tracks. This track has been widely noted as demonstrating Tyler’s growing skill in production, and you can hear an expanding repertoire of sounds and instrumentation. This is evidenced, too, in the shimmering, alien ‘P’ and the marching, military ‘Sam [Is Dead].’ You hear that fucking brass?
and structure that Tyler is slowly mastering. Everyone is stepping up their game as Odd Future continues to grow its influence and audience, and this slow mastery of genuine talents is a fitting summary of Vol. 2. It’s a mixtape disguised as an album, serving more as a cross-section of the current state of creativity within the Odd Future collective, rather than as a cohesive record with a dynamic or narrative structure. For this reason,
and slanderous denunciation to the surface for a fresh round of richly probing Marshall Mathers-style debate about freedom of speech and gleefully violent prose. When the side of the more hysterical commentators dismiss coverage of Odd Future as morally bankrupt, it is far too tempting not to entertain at least a brief spiel. Such a topic also seems of particular relevance to Kiwis ever since the BDO played it safe and deprived us of the chance to make up our own minds on Odd Future thanks to Calum Bennachie and the Auckland City Council. That is until they packed out the Powerstation and escaped the more public scrutiny of a festival slot in broad daylight.
without mainstream radio play, video play, or major label endorsement, Vol. 2 has likely already sold over 100,000 copies worldwide.
Tyler’s presence on Vol. 2 is modest, letting his friends take centre stage and maybe saving his best material and efforts for his upcoming 2012 stoner-album Wolf. He is still as badass as ever, maintaining his nonchalant bass flow while dropping lines and clever double entendres, spitting a nice mixture of wordplay and crude insults towards your mother. Tyler keeps his verses short and sweet, and has no solo rapping tracks. Certainly, he is more comfortable and prolific as a producer, though even in this regard he gives up half of the tape to the coarse creations of Left Brain. LB, the other half of MellowHype, hit his stride with ‘Hcapd’ and ‘Rella’ but from his remaining tracks doesn’t yet seem to be in Tyler’s league, perhaps lacking the better senses of melody
it can be imperative to also hear the solo and small group releases to get a full flavour of the more promising contributors. Still without mainstream radio presence, video play, or major label endorsement, Vol. 2 has likely already sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Such successful and noteworthy figures, and the ensuing tour, brings all the critical praise
18
It’s true that Odd Future and its associated acts spit some sad attitudes and reference gruesome deeds, but the point often missed is to appreciate the frightening storytelling and not assume that the average listener is psychotic. While the Powerstation played host to the usual collective war cry of ‘Kill people! Burn shit! Fuck school!’ it is not apparent that any more shit than usual was burned, nor schools fucked, in Auckland on January 19. Ideas and lyrics such as this are just the new embodiment of that familiar teen spirit, and do not necessarily instill an uncontrollable urge to ‘punch a bitch in her shit.’
If one is inclined towards hatred and violence, finding encouragement and vindication in the words of Tyler and friends, then their tastes in hip hop are probably the least of their concerns. This is an ongoing and at times ferocious debate that certainly deserves fresh dialogue, though it stretches beyond the scope of this piece and into creative expression in general. Ann Powers, a well-versed critic on subjects of music and horrific themes that scare the children and may just destroy society, muses ‘In Defense of Nasty Art’ that “performers and listeners can forget that this is fantasy and take the game too far into the real world. But that can happen with anything: with John Hinckley and Jodie Foster, or David Koresh and the Book of Revelation.” Thanks Ann, moving on. All this being said, the tracks on Vol. 2 have noticeably less outrageous shock content as we have heard from O.F. in the past (although, hopefully this perception does not stem simply from an ongoing and exponential desensitisation). These tracks skip on the graphic violence and go back to bragging, some
decent story-telling and personal commentary. Some of the few socially stirring (but not gruesome) remarks probably come from ‘Real Bitch,’ which could have been omitted from the final tracklisting without upsetting too many people. So too, ‘We Got Bitches’ seems expendable thematically and is pretty rough on the ears. While nearly all the boys still rap about their dicks as often as they can, even still these two tracks drag down what feels like an emerging lyrical maturity shying away from the overt and obvious bitch hating of earlier releases. Whether this is due simply to which tracks were selected or omitted, or if it perhaps signifies a deeper change in mentality, it certainly gives people less ammunition for their whining. If this should be a continuing trend, maybe Odd Future, too often shunned as misbehaving kids with no manners slapping photographers at music festivals, can have attention turned to their growing talent and future promise.
sub-bass line and a near-perfect tempo making it a smooth and unexpectedly tireless tenminute groove. Eight MCs polish off and dish out their finest swagger, and Earl Sweatshirt’s surprise verse seven minutes in is supreme, demonstrating his mastery of the internal rhyme and his undisputed position at the top of Odd Future. This verse is his first appearance since his yearlong absence, time spent at a Samoan boarding school for wayward youth, which evidently served to tighten his flow and hone his lyrical acuity. Earl’s return has completely legitimised the intrigue from his comrades’ entire ‘Free Earl’ fever that has been so present in O.F. lyrics and screaming fans for the last year and half. The guy got fifty thousand twitter followers in three hours! That cray ridiculous. For the moment, it looks like Earl is keeping his friends close and staying loyal to Odd Future with his rapping, and no doubt won’t keep us waiting too long for future projects.
The album closer ‘Oldie’ is mesmerizing, with a rich warmth provided by the intermittent
Shit, that’s all I got. Have a listen to a few tracks and get a feel. O.F.
THE OF TAPE VOL. 2
available on iTunes 19
RAIN CITY REQUIEM by Gavin Bertram
Penned by New York journalist Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge arrived to coincide with Nevermind’s 20th anniversary.
“
Everybody loves us
together hundreds of quotes from those who
in the scene at that time looked up to,” Yarm
Everybody’s getting kind of old
were there into a fascinating narrative.
says. “But they didn’t get much attention
Couldn’t hold a regular job Long live rock and roll (Overblown, Mudhoney, 1992)
A
– partially because they rejected that. And Of course, there has to be some pre-history,
they broke up before grunge broke, and they
and so Yarm begins this weighty 500-plus
rejected the opportunity to reform to cash in
page tome by relating the exploits of Seattle
on it. It’s not something that many people will
band the U-Men in 1985.
care about that much, but for me it was very
NY music form that comes to dominate the culture will inevitably be maligned and ridiculed after its peak.
important to have their voices in there because they were such the forefathers of this scene.” That band, more in the garage punk mould
That’s particularly true of anything that has its
than those they inspired, released the Step On
roots in the supposedly hallowed ground of
a Bug album in 1988, before disbanding. In the
punk rock, where progression of one’s career
meantime though, acts including Green River,
or creative outlook is viewed with suspicion if
Screaming Trees, Melvins, Soundgarden,
not hostility.
Mudhoney, and of course Nirvana were burgeoning in the north-western city.
After Nirvana’s unbelievable rise and tragic fall, the music that had come to be known
All were steeped in the lore of underground
as grunge fell victim to this syndrome. But
music, with early releases on independent
20 years on it’s possible to look back on the
labels like Sub Pop, SST, and C/Z. It was a
movement with clearer eyes, and rediscover a
vibrant, self-supporting scene with really no
raft of gems.
discernible connection to the mainstream music world.
Mark Yarm’s recent book, Everybody Loves Our Town, focuses on the phenomenon that
Gradually, though, it was co-opted into that
was the Seattle music scene of the late 1980s
realm as first Soundgarden, and then Alice
and early 1990s. The tale is told masterfully
“The U-Men are considered a proto-grunge
in Chains, Screaming Trees, Nirvana, and
through the oral history form – weaving
band, the one band who pretty much anyone
Mudhoney were picked up by major record
20
labels. The likes of A&M, Columbia, and DGC
20 plus years people can look back and laugh
“Jason Everman’s a university student now,
had recognised that something was brewing in
at it.”
and had gone through the military,” Yarm
Seattle, and in the broader punk rock milieu, and they wanted a piece of it.
says. “He hasn’t done much in the way of Everybody Loves Our Town grew out of an
interviews, that’s kind of a part of his long
article about Sub Pop’s 20 anniversary that
distance past. It was surprising that he agreed
On the back of the release of Nirvana’s
Yarm wrote for the late US music magazine
to do it.”
monumental Nevermind in late 1991 – the
Blender. He had plenty of material left over
publication of the book coincided with its 20th
from that, and so leapt at the opportunity when
“Courtney definitely has her version of events
anniversary – the microscope went on Seattle.
approached by a publisher.
which most people don’t give much credence
th
Stoked by the media and record company PR,
to,” he continues. “I definitely wanted her side
the city was suddenly the hottest property in
Although in retrospect he says he “foolishly
of the story and her voice is super important in
music.
took it on” without realising what he was
the book. People who have read it and maybe
getting himself in for. That entailed tracking
aren’t as familiar with grunge as others, they
Yarm reports that there’s still some residual
down many of those involved in the Seattle
perk up a little when she enters the book.”
bitterness about the way things happened.
scene and persuading them to spill their stories. During grunge’s early-1990’s peak, things
“There was bitterness about why this band
Some were more accommodating than others.
had got ridiculous in Seattle. Fashion houses
made it and we didn’t,” he says. “Or about
Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan flat
including Marc Jacobs and Perry Ellis created
the way the media and major labels came in,
out refused to be involved, while ex-Nirvana
ranges inspired by grunge, and media attention
and then moved onto the next big thing. Some
and
on the city was intense.
people had their shot and didn’t make it, and
Everman, and controversial Hole front woman
some people obviously died. There are sore
and Cobain widow Courtney Love seized the
It soon grew tiresome, and those intimately
feelings about that. But for the most part, with
opportunity.
involved in the scene began to amuse
Soundgarden
bassist/guitarist
Jason
themselves by fucking with the somewhat
21
naive journalists they were dealing with.
Foremost was Cobain’s 1994 suicide, but there
to do it right. I wanted (Everybody Loves
The best example of this was a ‘Lexicon of
was also the heroin overdose of Mother Love
Our Town) to read novelistically and tell a
Grunge’ provided to the New York Times by
Bone vocalist Andrew Wood, the alcohol and
story. There are a lot of oral histories, and not
Sub Pop Records staffer Megan Jasper. It was
drug related death of 7 Year Bitch guitarist
everything should be made into an oral history.
a bunch of invented slang phrases, including
Stefanie Sargeant, the murder of The Gits
This was well suited because there were a lot
the ludicrous ‘swingin’ on the flippity flop’
vocalist Mia Zapata, and in 2002 the OD of
of intertwining stories.”
(hanging out), ‘cob nobbler’ (loser), and
Alice in Chains front man Layne Staley.
‘lamestain’ (uncool person). Naturally Yarm wasn’t looking forward The venerable ‘Old Gray Lady’ of print bought
to having to broach these deaths with his
Jasper’s ruse wholesale, illustrating how
interviewees, and didn’t push the subject with
desperate the mainstream media were for an
those still struggling with the loss.
20 Seattle classics
inside view on grunge.
The U-Men – Step on a Bug (1988) But some of the most poignant moments in
Green River – Dry as a Bone (1987)
No wonder many of those who were actually
his book are related to those incidents. In fact,
Soundgarden – Louder Than Love (1989)
involved in the music were keen to tell it how
Cameron Crowe’s 1992 movie Singles was
Melvins – Bullhead (1991)
it was in Everybody Loves Our Town.
a direct response to the outpouring of grief
Gruntruck – Push (1992)
that galvanised Seattle’s music community
Various artists – Sub Pop 200 (1988)
following Wood’s death in 1990.
Mother Love Bone – Apple (1990)
“There’s all sorts of stuff that’s been sourced from one interview, and then that has pretty
Skin Yard – Hallowed Ground (1988)
much been reported as fact,” Yarm explains.
The chapters covering that era represent just
Screaming Trees – Sweet Oblivion (1992)
“A lot of the time I was going back to the
one of the high points of Yarm’s Everybody
Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff (1988)
original source. Someone who was adamant
Loves
compelling,
Nirvana – Bleach (1989)
about getting certain things right was Kim
entertaining, moving story of a music scene
Tad – God’s Balls (1989)
Thayil from Soundgarden. He wanted to set
that was overwhelmed by its sudden and
Alice in Chains – Dirt (1992)
the record straight about things he’d read in
unexpected rise to prominence.
Various Artists – Deep Six (1986)
Our
Town.
It’s
a
the past – just small factual things, like where
7 Year Bitch – Sick ‘Em (1992)
did Soundgarden get its name? Things that had
The author is loath to contemplate another
Temple of the Dog – Temple of the Dog
irked him over the years.”
oral history project of such epic proportion
(1991)
so soon, although he admits to be considering
Seaweed – Despised (1991)
something.
Mad Season – Above (1995)
While ironing out the reality from the myth was one of the author’s primary concerns in
Mono Men – Back to Mono (1992)
writing the book, dealing with the spectre of
“Part of me wants to do it again,” Yarm says.
multiple deaths was another. After all, there
“I feel like taking what I’ve learnt from this
had been an unfortunate number of tragedies
I could do an even better job. But part of me
Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of
involving those in the Seattle music scene.
is like ‘why would I put myself through that
Grunge by Mark Yarm is published by
torture again?’ Oral histories are a lot of work
Faber and Faber
22
Malfunkshun – Return to Olympus (1995)
advertise in
FOUNDRY
advertising@foundrymagazine.co.nz 23
Q&A TOTEMS
Question: What is the common thread between Smashing Pumpkins, Muzai Records, ‘Smoke On The Water’, Nirvana, Don McGlashan, Concord Dawn, Dr. Dre, Outkast, Fruity Loops, The Mint Chicks, Tommy Ill, Flying Lotus, Odd Future, remixes, guitar, playing violent video games with your dad when you were a kid and having a mum who takes you to gigs when you’re twelve? Answer: Reuben Winter.
H
ailing from West Auckland, Winter started playing guitar at age eleven, moving into electronic music production. Since then he has been a key member of breakout noize punks Bandicoot, drone fetishists Kitsuengari, punk rocker FatAngryMan, Hazy faux Shoegazers Halloween and now drum and bass guitar two piece weed Guys. Along the way, Winter has honed a bedroom electronic beat production interest, performed as a young swag rapper with Google Cops, collaborated with Eno from the Super Villains on an EP, and found the time to shape up his own dubstep inspired production project Totems. Leaning towards the Witch House/ Screwgaze end of the spectrum, Totems leans heavily on occult (and cult symbolism), faux Satanism, heavy stoner vibes and
elements of glitch. Winters recently released Totems first album 10-11 as a “name your price” digital download on bandcamp, and has just unveiled a music video for the album intro song Fenrisúlfr. Oh yeah, you know how I told you he started playing guitar at age eleven? That was only six so years ago. At the time of writing, the kid isn’t even fucking eighteen. I know right? If you’ve ever wanted someone to give you a sense of anxiety about not having accomplished enough in your life by your mid twenties, Winter will do that by accident. He’s a prodigious talent and it’s somewhat terrifying to imagine what is going to happen when the dude is legally allowed inside bars and nightclubs, as opposed to Scout Halls and student flats.
Where and when were you born?
because that was what he wanted to do what
When did you feel like you needed to start
Auckland, in 1994.
he wanted to do when he was looking after
contributing to music?
me. [Laughs]
I started playing guitar when I was ten or
What were your parents doing then?
eleven? Someone taught me how to play
I’m not too sure what my mum was doing
What are your earliest recollections of
but my dad has always been a plumber. They
music?
separated when I was a couple of months old.
Probably Smashing Pumpkins? My parents
What part of Auckland was this all
were into the whole alternative, grunge, 90s
happening in?
kinda thing.
Mainly West Auckland. My dad has always
So have you always had a dual existence or homes as a result?
‘Smoke On The Water’ and it was fun.
lived in West Auckland, and my mum has
Yeah. But I’ve mainly lived with my mum.
Kinda like Benji Jackson from Muzai
mostly. I have moved so many times in my
I’d go and stay with dad every now and then.
Records?
life, but mostly around West Auckland.
With my mum I would just you know, do
Yeah! [Laughs] Definitely. I grew up listening
regular kid things. Then, when I went and
to that, and a lot of blues and a lot of rock
At what point did you move from playing
saw my dad we would watch violent movies,
music.
by yourself to being part of a band?
play video games and eat bad food, just
I was twelve. I got my friends from school,
24
one who played drums, and one who played bass, who actually taught me to play ‘Smoke On The Water’, and I was playing guitar and singing. I guess we were playing our shitty take on punk? Do you feel like you could all communicate musically at that point? I guess? It was more like, here is two chords that sound cool, we should all just play these two chords. Sometimes it would sound cool. Once we all bought distortion pedals and stuff it all sounded a lot better because we were learning about feedback and shit. Okay, so you say it was your shitty take on punk. Were you listening to punk music at that point? I was listening to Nirvana. I was also listening to a lot of the Offspring. I was just into simple energy music. We were angry twelve year olds man. When did you start making electronic music? I think I started making it around the time we started Bandicoot. I think I had downloaded the demo version of Fruity Loops. I must have been about fifteen. And the interest in electronica was an
it on my facebook. I had started hearing
So tell me about Bandicoot?
outgrowth of hip-hop?
more stuff like Flying Lotus and Hudson
That was people I went to school with, Pearl
Yeah! I’ve always liked it though. My parents
Mohawke, Brainfeeder and Hyperdub stuff.
and Daniel. Pearl is one of my best friends.
always had a bit of stuff like Portishead and
They were these weirder versions of these,
She’d been one of my best friends through
Massive Attack and that.
not mainstream genres, but commercial
high school. Daniel has been a good friend as
underground genres and it made me see
well. I knew he could play drums, but he was
While you were doing Bandicoot, you were
only just learning when we started. This was
also developing the electronic production
all at Western Springs High School.
vocabulary that would lead to Totems?
Where does your interest in noise music
where I could go as a beatmaker.
Yes. I would say so. Around the time
come from?
I guess it was just normal for you to go to
Bandicoot was starting to do well, I was
Ahhh! It was from seeing The Mint Chicks
her house and have Don McGlashan there.
starting to do more beats.
play! I had a friend and he was like, if you
Yeah man! The don! Everyone’s dad
like this, you should check out these
has done something cool at Western
bands like Lightning Bolt.
Springs. While we were doing Bandicoot I was making really bad drum and bass on the side on my computer. I was like, man! I wanna be like Concord Dawn! yeah! I’ve always listened to electronic music. Coming
I like all music, so why can’t I make all music?
from hip-hop and stuff, I always listened
How old were you then? I saw them a few times when I was a little kid, but I think the first time I saw them and went holy shit! was when I was twelve? They played at a C4 Live At Yours thing. I went to it!
to hip-hop since I was a kid. All my cousins were
At what point did you feel like you could
just ghetto kids from West Auckland. My mum
make electronic music?
The one where they covered ‘Umbrella’ by
and dad brought the grunge rock side, but my
A couple of years ago maybe? I made
Rihanna?
cousins listened to Dr Dre and Outkast.
one track that was really sweet and put
Yeah! That was awesome!
25
DHDFDs. Liam [from Cool Cult] I had gone
Does Tommy Ill have any importance to
So your parents have really allowed you to
to primary school with him. But generally
your approach to hip-hop?
be engaged with music from a young age?
they are just people I know or people I meet
Kind of initially. Tom was a big supporter
Yeah!
around at shows.
of Bandicoot and stuff. I’d say he was an
Under that light, What has been the
What has the importance of Muzai
hipsters, they were able to rap too and be
importance of your mother been to your
Records been to the band side of your
real sick. You know, you don’t have to be a
development as a musician?
music?
gangster to be a rapper. I didn’t think you had
Iona has been great. She is just really helpful
Benji [Jackson from Muzai] was just really
to be a gangster to rap, but at the time I was
with anything I need to do whenever I need to
helpful with Bandicoot and Kitsuengari. He
listening to Wu-Tang, Biggie, Outkast, so it
have a show, or need a lift anywhere. She is
got it out there, I had no idea what to do with
was cool to see a different side to it.
usually quite happy to do it, which has been
making an EP when I was fifteen. It was good
really awesome.
to have someone who could help out and
Where did you take the hip-hop side of
show me what I needed to do.
things after Google Cops?
inspiration, seeing white dudes who were
While we were doing Bandicoot I was making really bad drum and bass on the side on my computer.
I always just made beats in my room, all And at what point did you start doing your
the time. Sometimes I don’t make beats for
live hip-hop performances?
months, but other times I will make like
I’d say that was in Google Cops. That was
five in a day. If I am on my computer I’ll
our joke rap thing. We rapped over dubstep.
look around, find some cool sounds and
This was at the end of 2010. Me and Kieran
start making a song. I’ve always just made
Now, when did Bandicoot finish up, and
had always made dubstep together. We’d
like that. I think we used two of my beats in
what happened after that?
rapped together once before. We thought we
Google Cops. Mainly we rapped over stuff
That was at the beginning of sixth form, so
would do it for fun at a party this girl asked
that Kieran had made, dubstep stuff. I felt like
two years ago. Since then I’ve played in Fat
us to play at. I wasn’t in any proper bands at
I could keep doing that because it is fun, and
Angry Man, Kitsuengari and Halloween.
the time, so we just decided to rap over some
people seemed to like it.
These have all been pretty short band
dubstep beats that we had made. What other hip-hop projects do you have
projects, and I never really intend that , but something always fucks up. Like with
What was happening culturally at the
going?
Kitsuengari, Taylor moved to Wellington at
time that made you want to go and do rap
Apart from Totems I’m doing an EP with
the beginning of the year. We hadn’t done
music?
Eno from Super Villians. Me and him are
anything for six months though, so it was
Partially it was to do with Odd Future. I
working on a five track EP. Outside of beats
kinda like, meh. With Halloween, Liam
was real into Odd Future, but the other guys
and rap I’ve also got a new band called Weed
wanted to take his other band Cool Cult more
weren’t really. Odd Future was a really cool
Guys, but we’ve had three line-ups in the last
seriously. So for different reasons things fuck
do it yourself kind of thing. Like how they
month. We’re a two piece now, we’re just
up, so I do something else.
put about ten albums up for free on their
bass and drums, but yeh.
tumblr; and they were all real sick. I still feel Where do you find these people?
that there are so many that have
Tell me about the EP with Eno?
A lot of the time they are from school. All of
been overlooked.
It’s just five tracks. We’re trying to get some
Kitsuengari were from school, apart from the
rappers on it maybe, but we’re not sure. Two
second drummer who we met through The
of the songs are remixes of popular Southern
26
hip-hop songs. One is a Lil’ Wayne remix of ‘Pop Bottles’ and the other is a remix of ‘Sippin’ On Some Sizzurp’ by 3-6-Mafia. But, we’re taking them out of the context of the original song. The ‘Sippin’ On Some Sizzurp’ remix only has the sizzurp sample. It’s a completely different song. We don’t want to be strictly hip-hop though, we want to have all kinds of things going on within it. Where does Totems sit within this? Totems is just all of my stuff that I make. Your lonely bedroom music? More or less [laughs]. It just depends on what I am listening to at the time I guess? Lately I have been listening to a lot of 90s dance music. That has influenced a lot of what I have been making lately. What does Totems let you say musically that you can’t say in these other contexts? I don’t know. I guess Totems is just whatever I want it to be at the time, rather than music by committee? Although a lot of my bands
doesn’t mean I can’t make hip-hop as well?
idea for a beat I put it on my soundcloud, just
was me writing all the songs and telling
Why not? If I can do it I will do it. It’s just
to see peoples responses to it. If people seem
people what to do. This seems easier.
fun man.
to like it, I will continue on, and if people don’t like it, I will try and make it better. I
Just you telling Fruity Loops what to do?
Why not have your cake and eat it?
don’t know.
Exactly!
I was like, man! I wanna be like Concord Dawn!
So there is a bit of a committee thing going What are your intentions for Totems and
on, you let the internet A&R your songs?
it’s first release?
Yeah. And I think that is a good way of doing
I just want people to like it really. It’s not
it. You just load something onto the internet
so much an album as a beat tape, but at the
and people can see it. I guess I was influenced
same time that isn’t right. Really it’s just a
by Lil B in that regard?
collection of all the best stuff I have made in the last couple of years. It’s a summary.
Tell me about the video clip you have just
Exactly! [laughs] It’s just easier doing stuff
I used to make beats to sporadically to ever
done?
alone than with people a lot of the time.
have an EP. Lately though I’ve been working
Me and my friends just made it. It’s really
a lot more on them. About a month ago I was
evil trippy kind of imagery that goes with the
Why do you think you have been so
thinking, and I thought why don’t I just put it
song. We filmed it all ourselves.
interested in speaking in so many different
all in an album for people to download?
musical vocabularies?
I have so much shit on my computer that no
I like all music, so why can’t I make all
one has ever heard. Stuff that I have never put
music? Just because I am in a noise band
up on the internet even. Whenever I have an
by Martyn Pepperell
hear totems at
totems.bandcamp.com 27
7RECORDZ Adrian Ng
Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
The Men – Open Your Heart
Grimes – Visions
Bittersweet hooks coupled with a creeping
Country, noise, rock n’ roll, soundscapes
You’re dizzy, you check your watch and it’s an
melancholy. She sings mostly retro pop songs
and punk songs. Snapshot of a long dark
hour after midnight, you tilt your head upwards
over hip-hop beats. Super feminine. The record
highway eclipsed by an endless night. Driving
to witness an assemblage of colored lights.
plays out like a hyper romantic diary of a
past stretches of burning terrain, you close
This is your wild confusion, your cold-blooded
suburban princess. Her image and sound are a
your eyes and are greeted with a montage of
ecstasy, captured in a cybernetic dream. This
star-crossed combination. Some songs sound a
wounded animals, faces wrapped in leather,
is digital candy. Grimes is a heavily textured,
little too typecast and lack genuine personality.
lonely figures screaming from a graveyard
gloomy, shiny, postmodern, and electronic
A red plastic rose aiming for perfection but
of dissected hearts and muffled echo. Bodies
ghost of pop music. Vocals like a switchblade
falling flat due to an absence of life and vigor.
of hunchbacked guitars bewildered beneath a
drenched in jelly, containing a sharp, melodic
The singles are amazing.
ceiling of stars. A collection of primal, raw,
killer instinct. This is music for dancing under
beautiful and intricate constellations of sound.
a falling neon sky.
Standouts: Oscillation, Animal
Standouts: Oblivion, Color of Moonlight
The Men are a four piece from Brooklyn, New
Grimes, is a Canadian-born artist, musician,
York
and music video director
Standouts: Blue Jeans, Video Games Lana Del Rey, is an American singersongwriter
28
Gross Magic – Teen Jamz Velvet Goldmine anyone? I thought that movie
but not as consistent. It sort of sounds like a T.
tried too hard to be a movie about David Bowie
Rex record, some songs catchy, some songs filler,
even though it wasn’t a movie about David
some slow jams, and some boogies. Pretty much
Bowie and that made me cringe a little. It was
all glam.
still entertaining, even though the songs were nowhere near as good as David Bowie songs.
Standouts: PYT, Sweetest Touch
Don’t worry, influences are channeled quite a bit here but it’s not cringe worthy. It’s pretty fun in
Gross Magic is the name that Brighton-based
fact. Maybe a tiny dash of Nirvana somewhere,
musician Sam McGarrigle has chosen to release
Smith Westerns
his music under
M. Ward – A Wasteland Companion Beach House - Bloom
Death Grips – The Money Store
This is just a really friendly folk pop record.
Glistening reverb soaked tunes with soaring
Chaotic, drug-fucked, cannibal hip-hop?
Actually it’s pretty fifties influenced too. I
vocals; Slow paced pop of a majestic nature.
Beats are glitchy, grimy and heavy. Cyclones
hear a bit of Buddy Holly and Elvis. There’s
Their previous album but with different song
of swirling, sometimes-abrasive synth and
nothing particularly bad on here, nothing
names. A calm, audible representation of
muddy bass. These dudes sound pissed and
that’s outstanding. I quite like M. Ward, he
spacious green fields and double rainbows,
channel it through their thick British accents,
does everything pretty well. He’s a good
a soundtrack to angels having sex. Some
showcasing an arsenal, which includes quite
producer too and that aspect might sound
breathtaking moments but not much variation
a bit of shouting and occasional chanting.
familiar if you’ve listened to some of his
in terms of sound. I think they’re really good,
Sometimes he’s rapping and sometimes I
previous material. He always has this light
I wonder though if Beach House records all
think he is hardcore punk rock. What
reverb, retro sheen on his
their albums in Narnia. They you have here is some seriously dark shit, just sound really magical, fairytale like, which
dipped in acid and soaked in Alex Delarge’s
records. This isn’t really on par with his best
is good, if you can
brooding stare. Consume if you’re in the
though. Check out the albums “Transfiguration
handle it.
mood for a bit of the old ultra violence.
of Vincent” or “Transistor Radio”. Anyways,
Standouts: Other People, New Year
this is pretty solid. Standouts: Hustle Bones, Get Got
Beach House is a duo formed in 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland
Standouts: Primitive Girl, The First Time I Death Grips is a group from Sacramento,
Ran Away
California M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene.
29
30