Vol. 2 Issue 5
QUARTERBACKS MOTION STUDIES LITTLE RACER
VOL. 2 ISSUE 5
CONTENTS
TEAM EDITOR IN CHIEF
ASSISTANT EDITOR
DANNY KRUG
MUSIC
SAM STOELTJE
2 LITTLE RACER PHOTOGRAPHY
DANNY KRUG
4 LAS ROSAS
LOGO DESIGN
NICOLE CODY
6 GINGERLYS 8 MOTION STUDIES 10 PIERS
WRITERS
SAM STOELTJE
12 QUARTERBACKS
EDDIE HUDDLESTON
EXTRAS
DANNY KRUG JACKIE GREEN
16 SOME PICTURES
LESLIE HONG
17 SOME ALBUMS
CONTACT info@gigawattsmedia.com facebook.com/gigawattsmag instagram @gigwattsmedia
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LITTLE RACER 2
POP MUSIC FOR BUSHWICK "We realized early on that the minute you put something out, its time to start working on your next record." This is the big take away quote from my time interviewing Little Racer’s Elliot and Ish. Never stop creating and evolving or else your work will become stale and people will get bored. That’s not to say that bands should shy away from their back catalog, but rather bands at this level should never stop honing their songs and trying out new things on their audience. Little Racer takes a lot of chances over the four tracks on their new "Foreign Tongues" EP, out now on PaperCup Music. Little Racer is on the pop side of music happening in Brooklyn right now. That’s not to say it’s not good. So often, especially in this scene, the genre Pop gets thrown in the pile of things you wouldn’t touch even if someone paid you to. Let’s get real though, pop music is the best. It’s literally engineered for people to like it, and if you’re actively disliking it then you’re likely putting in more work doing that than it’s worth. Little Racer falls firmly in the Indie Pop realm. They could be put side by side with bands such as Metronomy, Two Door Cinema Club or the poppier Foals material (listen for near identi-
cal sounds in LR’s "Monetvideo" and Foals’ "Spanish Sahara"). The band could easily fit on a bill with the type of larger band mentioned in the last sentence, but they could also fit firmly on any DIY bill in Bushwick. I first discovered Little Racer right after the new Silent Barn had opened up. My friends Haybaby were playing a show at the space and I had yet to check it out. When I walked in, Little Racer was playing and were just catchy enough to keep my attention throughout the remainder of their set, which if you read any of my other articles, you’ll know that keeping my attention throughout a set can be a tough thing to do. Little Racer was literally the first band I ever saw at the new Silent Barn, giving them a special mental marker in my personal music history. After the show I remember emailing the Little Racer crew about a show and never hearing back. Usually that would be the end of a relationship between a band and I, but Little Racer stuck in my mind.
I’m getting the depth that I think I remembered or at least idealized from that first show. "The first EP was more minimal in production," says Elliot during our interview. He continues on, noting the differences between the first EP and this new one, "this time we wanted to play around with finessing the tones and nailing our sound." Ish adds, "I think we explore a little more, it’s a shorter EP but we cover more ground."
Even before this new EP dropped, Little Racer had already begun work on their next release, a full length LP due out next summer. "What you can expect from a full length is, take Modern Accent and this new EP and then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what our full length will sound like," says Elliot. Judging from what we heard with the first two EPs, I’ll expect that the LP will have all the elements of Smiths-inspired Indie Pop that I’ve come to love from Little Racer. Jangly guitar riffs, dancey driving bass lines and catchy vocals. Little Racer plans to tour the East Coast this fall and they’re hoping to make it The next time I encountered Lit- out to the West Coast before too tle Racer, they had just released long as well. Grab their new EP their Modern Accent EP. It was "Foreign Tongues" now on Papercatchy enough, but lacked some- Cup Music. thing that I had loved from that first live show. Now sitting here by danny krug listening to their most recent EP, words photography by tricia warren
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MOST LIKELY TO SOUNDTRACK YOUR SUMMER:
LAS ROSAS LAS ROSAS
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Jose Boyer, ex-bassist of the dissolved band Harlem (Austin, TX), knows that all music is born out of every moment, musical and non-musical, in an artist’s life. Each band or ensemble an artist has played with, musical teacher an artist has had, or song an artist has listened to adds texture to the fabric of the next musical invention. Words of negativity or encouragement an artist has received have the power to shift the landscape of an entire album. Sometimes, the disbanding of a group negatively influences the members, causing them to lose motivation. Fans become upset with the inconsideration of the group for ceasing to continue for their enjoyment, or sad that there will now be a void in their hearts where new material from the group would have been. The preferable alternative to peering through this negative lens is an understanding that good, virtuous, music doesn’t cease to exist after the break up of a good band. Rather it continues to play, recorded, at our gatherings and parties. Also, if allowed, it deeply influences and transforms the individual musicians’ projects to follow. The patience of both artist and fan are required as the artist is left to develop naturally in accordance with the progress of time. Boyer is an excellent example of a musician whose practice has lead closer to perfect. He has utilized each step of his musical life to inspire and ignite his next. In the wake of Harlem’s death, Boyer cultivated Brooklyn based band Las Rosas. The inception of Las Rosas wasn’t forced in an attempt to mimic the glory that Harlem had achieved, but rather emerged naturally from Boyer’s time hanging out, enjoying the small joys (cooking, writing, chilling) of personal
life in Austin. Where, Boyer tells me, "life is perfect like that." Writing casually by himself, Jose recorded songs that would later constitute finished pieces for Las Rosas. After moving to New York in 2011, he began playing some of these songs with Christopher Lauderdale on drums and Jose Aybar on bass. The sessions took place "in a tiny basement studio in the after-hours of rehearsals for other projects [they] were working on," Boyer informed me. Casually, letting things happen, without the pressure that a main-focus project often invites – Las Rosas was born. The pleasantly infectious "’Black Cherry" came out of one of these early meet-ups. [Boyer] wrote the verses and Christopher wrote the choruses. [Aybar] later wrote the irresistible bass parts." With the addition of Christopher Lauderdale and Jose Aybar, Boyer’s one-man musical experimentation was infused with the energy that a 3-piece brings. When I asked Jose about his musical influences, I was surprised to discover that we have similar musical roots. Jose cites being influenced by the many different violin teachers he had as a kid. The nice young woman (who has probably just graduated conservatory), the boring old woman (who probably never knew what else to do with her life), and the vivacious, energetic one that all the teachers in town scoff at for being ‘too radical.’ Sharing the same musical roots as Boyer, I understand that studying violin either has the potential to bore you out of ever wanting to continue music past the age when your parents make it your decision to continue, or to be inspired into experimenting with sound until it becomes an addiction. Evidently, Jose’s strongest influence was from "a brilliantly insane woman who was wacky inspiring and loud
and eccentric, so all the other polite violin teachers in town hated her." Las Rosas’ frontman graduated from playing violin as a kid, to playing bass in Harlem, to playing guitar and singing in one of the most positively intriguing bands that calls Brooklyn home. Me: "What do you imagine the fans of your music doing as they listen to it?" JB: "[...] fans 21-28 secretly using Shazam in their teenage cousin’s car. Fans 28-38 playing along on tennis racquet guitar and jumping on the sofa [...]" Falling appropriately in the 21-28 demographic, I first became a fan of Las Rosas in a Shazam-like situation. I had a song stuck in my head for days, unable to identify it. I had an inkling about which playlist of mine it might be hiding. So, I browsed each song in the playlist, looking for my mystery jam. Finally, days later on a bandsI’m-following-on-bandcamp-binge I pseudo-accidentally stumbled upon "Oh Man." I could breathe again. Las Rosas is that kind of music. The irresistible "what is that?!" kind of jam that could easily find its way into your rooftop, backyard, Maria Hernandez Park and/ or drive to the beach playlist. Las Rosas are the soundtrack to the moment you realize your Nutribullet is actually meant to be a margarita-making machine, the moment you start blasting music and dancing because your roommates are out of town, or the moment you walk out your front door and crack a smile because you remember IT’S NOT WINTER ANYMORE.
words by jackie green
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GINGERLYS PLAYGROUNDS & TURTLE DOVES THE PAST & THE PRESENT 6
The Twee/ Indie pop community has existed for roughly 30 years now, spawning many legendary bands over its existence. The influence of Twee on alternative music can be seen in almost all genres; Kurt Cobian a long time fan of indie pop covered Scotland’s The Vaselines as part of Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York, which went to 5x platinum and won a Grammy for Best Alternative. Twee also helped to start the early Lo-Fi movement and lead to the creation K Records, one of the first record labels to release bands apart of the Riot Grrrl movement. The original musicians creating Indie pop were Punk Rock rejects. Although they were unable to deny their love for 60’s music and nerdy personas, they still believed strongly in Punk’s DIY ethic. This combination of 60’s style of play with a late 70’s punk rock attitude led to the creation of bands like Primal Scream, the Pastels and The Mighty Lemon Drops. The history of Indie Pop is as important as the music; the bands and labels it created set a template that many bands, such as Gingerlys, still follow today.
to continue the Twee pop legacy they all admire. This is evident through O’Neill’s extensive and every growing record collection, composed of everything from Eat Skull to The Bats.
In 2013 Shelflife records released Gingerlys’ first EP Jumprope, featuring former vocalist Maria Guernica. The EP depicts Julia Cumming, bassist of the band Sunflower Bean, holding an umbrella strutting through the rain— acting as a modern spin off of the Morton Salt girl. The first song and the title track is a fast rhythmic song that uses a strumming pattern to create the motion of a jump rope going up and over your body. "Jumprope" fades before quickly changing gears and throwing you into the second song, "Summer Cramps." Live "Summer Cramps" begins with an intense flutter of a tremolo before quickly moving into the swinging motion of the rhythm guitar. The EP continues with the third song "Better Hearts" another upbeat pop song but then moves into a slower moodier song "Set You Off," probably my favorite song on the EP because it reminds me of Another Sunny Day and The Wake. This Gingerlys is composed of vo- final song on the EP sets a tone calist and keyboardist Jackie that Gingerlys’ has been building Mendoza, rhythm guitarist and upon ever since Jumprope’s refounder Matthew Richards, lead lease two years ago. guitarist and backup vocalist Colin O’Neill, bassist Kevin Dox- A few months ago I stopped by sey, and drummer Brian Alva- Matt Richards house to have dinrez. After meeting on Craigslist, ner with him and his girl friend the band experimented for a few Kate Conneally. Before dinner we years with sounds, lineups, and decided to listen to some records names before defining them- and play Super Nintendo. Afselves as an old school, almost ter playing a few hours of Super bubblegum pop, outfit. They hope
Mario All Stars it became overwhelming apparent that Richards created Gingerlys to capture the nostalgia and bliss of childhood while still expressing the pains that come with the reality adulthood. In the fall of 2014 Gingerlys hired the help of ex Drums guitarist Connor Hanwick to mix and master an A – B side single collection. The recording process took months, dramatically exceeding the original projected time line. But through trial and error, Gingerlys recorded two of their best songs to date and began to build upon the pop formula used on Jumprope. The first new song they recorded was "Playgrounds," which captures memories of recess with its playful melody but leaves you with a taste of sadness as a result of the songs melancholy lyrics. The second recording, and what Gingerlys believes to be there strongest, is "Turtle Doves." The title references European turtledoves, a bird that is said to embody love and devotion and has been the focus of many medieval folk songs. Their 2014 recording process can be seen as a pivotal point in the evolution of the band and is paving the way for more dynamic and intricate songs to come in the future. Whether it is listening to old Twee Pop records with Colin O’Neill or playing early 90’s videogames with Matt Richards, Gingerlys is a band that uses the past to draw inspiration to create music for the future. words by eddie huddleston
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Motion Motion Studies Studies and and the the Democratic Democratic Potential Potential of of the the Beat Beat
words by sam stoeltje photography by danny krug
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Tyler McCauley is the mind and voice behind Motion Studies, a defiantly funky dance-rock band on the Godmode label. McCauley agreed to answer some questions about the music scene, his inspirations, and the inherently musical nature of being in a body. When and how did Motion Studies first come into existence? Motion Studies started in Spring 2011. I was unemployed, and without a band, so I spent 3 months learning how to make electronic music on my own. At first, it was just a bunch of plugins, a broken MicroKorg and my roommate’s bass. I wrote a handful of songs, and released a 3-song EP that Fall to sort of mark this as a space where I could release new music without a band. What had you been up to, musically or otherwise, before you started the project? I grew up and lived in the Bay Area, and was playing music in Berkeley/ Oakland/SF all through college. I was in a post-punk band called Tempo No Tempo, which was also definitely "about" dance music, but in the confines of more of a punk band - mostly we just wanted to be a band you wanted at your house party. I left in 2010 for a number of reasons, and tried to immediately play with as many groups as possible. I had never really done a proper solo project until Motion Studies, which made it an exercise in getting myself to finish ideas on my own. What is the earliest memory you have of dancing? What were you dancing to? I grew up with Tower of Power, George Michael, "Thriller," so I remember dancing all the time as a kid. George Michael may be the first and most important musical touchstone to
me, still. How did you get involved with Godmode? Nick (Sylvester, Godmode founder) and I met through Pete Feigenbaum (Dinowalrus) at his gallery opening - we chatted briefly, but didn’t connect on music stuff til maybe a year later, after I put out the Motion Studies EP. He emailed me to have breakfast and he produced and put out the next Motion Studies single. From there, I started sending more demos and worked on production with a few other artists. It’s been easy to get involved with the label - from helping dub cassettes to working on our studio to producing other artists - because we all love it so much. It’s a family and a home for all of us. I feel like it’s important to shout out everyone on that label making amazing music. If you haven’t heard our latest comp, "American Music," check it on Soundcloud. Why is dancing important? Do you think of your music as intended "for dancing," or is it for anywhere, anytime? Can people dance in their minds? The best way I’ve had this described to me is that with two feet, you’re already moving through the world experiencing life in 4/4 - your body moves in twos. There’s a difference between rhythmic music and dance music, I think - dance music has to do some things physically to "work" in settings like clubs, DJ sets. But it’s important to remember that having a grounded beat, something that speaks to your body, is one of the most democratic and least pretentious ways to connect someone with a piece of music. Can you describe the history of Motion Studies as a live band? Who is the current line-up? Like I said, Motion Studies as a band started in December of 2013, after
releasing "Matter of Time." I didn’t want to do a solo set anymore, and Nick pushed me to find a band. So through a combination of means I found a bunch of people. Tim and Joe, who play guitar and bass, have been friends of mine for a long time, and I was lucky enough that they wanted to play the songs I had written. I met Matt Gaffney, my drummer, also through Pete Feigenbaum, who told me to hit him up on Facebook. Matt Morello, who does sort of everything, I met via Nick, since they had played together in Mr. Dream. Tara, my girlfriend and the other half of Soft Lit, plays synths. We had a few other people do that in the past, but she decided to take it on, with much success. Also occasionally we’ve had Adam Moerder, of Mr. Dream and Fitness, play with us on guitar. I feel really lucky that I stumbled into one of the best live ensembles I’ve ever played with. Playing live with this group is honestly the most fun I’ve ever had on stage performing. I notice that your recordings are pretty meticulously arranged. Do you have formal education in music? What are your goals or priorities in arrangement? Thanks! I got a minor in music composition at Berkeley, so there’s some fundamentals in harmony, but a lot of it is writing too many parts then scraping away as you need them. I often talk about how you wait for a track to "wiggle," when the parts suddenly lock into something special. I play and poke and edit until a song gets there, then I know I have the arrangement close.
get rid of it.
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PIERS PIERS 12
Change is terrifying. Change ple years of lineup shuffling, the tences, It was obvious that their is good. Change is sometimes group pared down to Swift on gui- dynamic went beyond that of a forced upon you when lawyer dads of a Philadelphia metal band bond together to threaten to sue. That’s how Ricci Swift and Joey Gibbs changed their name from Gondola to Piers. When I first saw Gondola perform, they were a delicate, quiet six-piece sitting on the floor of my apartment and my only memory of their sound was that it was quite nice and also very pretty. Playing with local subway troubadours Bird Courage, it was a perfect lineup of sweet, gentle music. "We Are The Map," their first single released over two years ago is a lush, melodic tune that is a fantastic example of the group’s original intent on rejoicing in quiet together. However, the song credits nine musicians in its recording. "One of our first shows, we were an eight-piece band playing at Cake Shop," Swift recalls. But in putting a band so large together, the original pair dealt with common problems of wrangling many carefree, frequently hungover musicians, not to mention inevitable creative differences. Several of the early members were very particular about maintaining the toned down lightness of Gondola, but Swift and Gibbs wanted to shake a butt or two. "We were pigeonholed as a folk band," says Gibbs. After a cou-
tar, Gibbs on drums (having originally started on bass), and the freshly added Sam Jacoff of the band Haybaby on bass. But having gone from a layered, multi-instrumental band, the group went on to search for a keyboardist.
"I was at a show and looked up and was like Opal is kinda rad right now," Jacoff remembers. Opal Hoyt, former keyboardist of Napoleon, was appearing in a one-off performance with Dom. It was also her first show on keytar, and she totally did look super rad. After the show, the boys didn’t hesitate to ask her to join the band. "I was basically hired for my looks," Hoyt jokes. The only condition was that she would play keytar, not keyboard. Just about when Hoyt had joined (mid 2014), Swift was barraged with cease-and-desist emails from the above-mentioned Philadelphia metal band with the same name. Rather than deal with a lawsuit, the band became Piers. With the name change, they were able to drop their folky reputation and everything came together. "It’s like we’re leveling up," Swift said as we all sat together one cloudy afternoon, daydrinking at Anchored Inn. The gang went on to cite early T.Rex, Red Krayola, and The Clash as influences, bandying quips and building on each others’ sen-
business-like arrangement between musicians working toward the same goal. They were a team.
Now I don’t want this to be a story about a band completely changing direction, because all of the great elements of Swift’s early songwriting in Gondola are still there. His falsetto still beckons and croons, imploring you to "pretend we’re somewhere else," and his lyrics still challenge you with its romance. But the new material is anthemic and sure. So the story I’m trying to tell is of a band that has found its focus. Piers still plays "We Are the Map," but with a doctoral sense of dynamics and deep respect for the build. Lovely chamber pop had a baby with dance rock and decided to make heartbreaking songs to ride your bike to in the summer and I’m stoked. Piers is in the process of recording a full length and have three two-track seven-inch records ready for release throughout late summer and fall. They plan on a two-week West coast tour at the end of summer with Dances. After a long period of gestation, Piers has finally been squeezed out------- wet and ready into the universe <3
words by leslie hong photography by danny krug
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A Peek at the Playbook of Tuneful Pop-Punkers Quarterbacks words by sam stoeltje photography by danny krug
"I dwell on the past for material, but I don’t yearn, buddy. I’m no yearner, let’s make that clear." This is how Quarter-
the only people in our town playing non-hardcore music. We also played together in a cover band sometimes at talent shows and once at a Homecoming dance backs singer Dean Engle replies (very dorky)." The two met Tom at when I ask him whether his mu- an open mic, and Quarterbacks sic is meant to be nostalgic, or began to take its current shape. anti-nostalgic, or what. The New Paltz trio is possessed of an ear- New Paltz doesn’t seem like nest, neo-primitive spirit that the most hospitable place for a will remind certain listeners of, punk-inflected group like Quaryes, high school, with its inex- terbacks, but Engle explains, the haustible surplus of emotions town "is deeply weird, there’s a that defy easy articulation. The surface and there’s a depth that fuel to this fire is a potent blend rewards investment. I love it here, of hope and anxiety, a nervous the place is small and it’s easy to energy that tugs at and animates meet the people who are intereach simple melody. ested in music, punk, shows, etc." Max, Tom and Dean are, unsurprisingly, old friends, and they play like it, with a ramshackle like-mindedness that suggests inside jokes and shared history. They grew up in Poughkeepsie, Max and Dean having known each other since childhood: "Max and I became friends in high school, playing shows together (me as solo songboy, Max in an unholy improvisational math rock duo) because we were among
Engle seems uninterested, however, in the attention game. I asked him what his favorite show: "On our first tour in (Summer) 2012 we played at Emily Poor and Maggie Duff’s house in Akron, OH. We were heading west but it was the furthest away from home we’d played at that point. The first person played out on the porch, the second band played on the stairs, and then everybody walked up to the third floor where we had our instruments set up in Maggie’s bedroom. No one knew our music and playing in this town hundreds of miles from home didn’t feel real. I don’t care about playing in big cities After a couple of small releas- too much, the best shows always es, Quarterbacks put together a happen in towns where people 22-minute "full-length" for local would have been hanging out label Team Love, a dense bundle together anyways and you just of quavering hooks and breath- drop in." less beats. Engle describes being "initially hated" for the earnest- Quarterbacks is certainly bedness of his songwriting, but late- room music - not the bedroom ly the group has been attracting as a place of sleeping (or fuckattention, at a time when sincer- ing, for that matter) but as a priity is supposed to be more un- vate chamber, a personal world fashionable than ever. where records are discovered and danced to, away from judg-
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mental eyes. Engle was working at a record store when he was approached by Team Love, and his music is evidently the work of an obsessive and thoughtful listener. It combines the willful amateurism of the K Records spirit with the unabashed sincerity of first-wave emo, along with perhaps a touch of the outsider weirdness of Jad Fair.
feel at ease in love[...]I think it’s embarrassing admitting what you want/need/feel. My emotional intelligence is very very low and staying at the edge of comprehension makes the interpersonal issues compelling, unfortunately." This explanation, shot through with the kind of hyperactivity and anxious yet endearing self-effacement that is their trademark, does more to evoke the Quarterbacks je ne sais quoi than any (probably mistaken) sound-alike genealogies I might be able to offer. Just give it a listen, preferably when you’re feeling down.
Or anyway, that’s how it sounds. Such comparisons inevitably fail to capture the feeling that results from a pop song’s unique synthesis of words, melody, and texture. And tempo – why do they play so fast? "We play so fast because of anxiety, it’s defensive. Emotional Engle’s songs are, at least suhonesty but with that speed/vol- perficially, about love, and for ume to hide behind. And I don’t all their propulsive anxiety, they
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are optimistic. I asked him about Quarterbacks’ plans for the future: "We are touring the country for the first time June 24 - July 26, then I’m touring the UK solo in September (partially with Girlpool). I’d like to release a seven-inch, maybe write some quieter songs, write some Teenage Fanclub rip-off songs." And before you write the name of the band off as tongue-in-cheek, when asked to provide an answer to a "mystery question," the ever-optimistic Engle speculated that his beloved Buffalo Bills would be Superbowl champs in 2016.
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some photos shows, parties, and other weird experiences
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STUFF WE’RE LISTENING TO AND THINK YOU’LL DIG
DMA's - S/T
Desaparecidos - Payola