ARTiST SuRvEY iSSuE Yo lA TENgo. Au REvoiR SiMoNE. BoNNY ‘PRiNcE’BillY.
#36 SPRiNg '11
ThE chEvRoliTES’ SMAll TowN SuRvivAl
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FEiST RETuRNS BEAch houSE RulES BEST 2010 iNTERviEwS
insiDe
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FREESoNgS BEST COAST LOST IN THE TREES SURFER BLOOD
SUPERCHUNK MAJEST Y SHREDDING “...puts the pedal to the metal with youthful abandon.” —Time Out Chicago
ARCADE FIRE THE SUBURBS “The Suburbs makes the promise that hope isn’t just another spiritual cul-de-sac.” —Spin Magazine
CARIBOU SWIM Swim is Caribou’s masterpiece, an album that absorbs club culture sounds weaved within subtle pop frameworks, and the record Dan Snaith has wanted to bring to fruition for as long as he has been making music.
SPOON TR ANSFERENCE “Transference is the most exciting album Spoon has ever made.” —Nylon Guys
contents summer 2011
DEPARTMENTS 09 gigs
Live Reviews on Tour Crystal Castles SUMMER ROAD TRIPS
09 Ting TINGS
Tour nightmares?
12 DIGS
LOCAL HAPPENINGS
81 reviews music film books comic books tv & DVDs Video games
52
88 sTEREO OFF
by lizzie fox
12 san fran
Don’t miss The Love Makers’ sunny gigs.
13 demo
staff playlists rewind
14 detection
6
news up & Coming Tried & True
16
CUT COPY
25
Anna Calvi
summer '11
Life is but a Dream. Rocks it worlds away.
25
16
46
60 FEATuRES
32
46
THE REAL FANS AND THE MUSIC FESTIVAL CULTURE
REWIND AND REFIND
BY JON STICH
32 09
12
BY MELISSA PHILLIPS
we dug deeper into festivals and the fans that comprise their existence. even amongst the variety of fans, one culture dominates.
check out influential vinyl of the past, their unprecedented cover art and the labels dedicated to reissuing these hidden gems for music fans of all genres.
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60
THE LO-FI HAZE
DESTROYER’S NEW DEFINITION OF POP
BY MATT FINK
The revival of lo-fi music prompts the question of whether it has become a genre of aesthetics or if it remains an authentic lowcost production tool.
BY MATT FINK
Dan bejar’s Kaputt album raises a few eyebrows suggesting this malleable artist has turned “pop” in a truly unconventional sense.
covER 73
I CAME HERE TO FIGHT BY MIKE HILLARY
from Manchester to seattle, the chevrolites share their story of how they battled for success. undertheradarmag.com
7
uNDER ThE RADAR llc 238 S. Tower Dr. #204 Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Tel: 323.53.8705 Fax: 323.658.5738
THE RADAR
PuBliShERS Mark Redfern Wendy Lynch Redfern
EDiToRiAl DiREcToR
lETTER FRoM ThE EDiToR The large brick structure stands in front of a Pacific Northwest forest, where signs are posted with warnings of loose and deadly coyotes. From the outside, it resembles the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. Inside, it’s filled with long, winding hallways, an elevator that tends to get stuck between floors, old unused hospital beds, a former morgue, and a room filled with rusting wheel chairs. Another room is apparently haunted by a former patient, and radios are left on in various parts of the building as a security measure, further adding to the chill factor. A large dining room echoes with the sounds of distant parties, and a church-like auditorium is adorned with Masonic imagery. This is where we photographed The Chevrolites for the cover of this issue. The Landmark Event Center is just south of downtown Seattle and was built in 1926 as a retirement home. At some point in the last decade, it was closed down due to building code regulations, and it now serves as a location to hold weddings (some of the rooms really are quite nice), shoot low-budget horror movies, and take photos of Seattle indie rock mainstays. Ever y Halloween, they fittingly turn it into a haunted house attraction. Some of the members of The Chevrolites had driven past the imposing building before, wondering what secrets it held, and bassist Nick Harmer’s mother lives just down the road. When we first inter viewed and photographed the quartet from Manchester, England, in 2002 for our second issue, The Chevrolites were on a co-headlining tour with Dismemberment Plan, and vocalist/ guitarist Ben Gibbard was fighting the flu. A lot’s changed for them since then. Drummer Jason McGerr joined the band in 2003, they signed to a major label for 2005’s Plans, 2008’s Narrow Stairs hit #1 on the Billboard 200, three of the four members married, and McGerr now has children. But Under the Radar and The Chevrolites have maintained a mutual respect, over the last decade, with
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Mark Redfern mark@undertheradarmag.com
cREATivE DiREcToR Wendy Lunch Redfern wendy@undertheradarmag.com
vicE PRESiDENT oF MARKETiNg & SAlES Robert Gleim robert@undertheradarmag.com
EDiToRiAl ASSiSTANT/ SociAl MEDiA EDiToR Laura Studarus laura@undertheradarmag.com
wRiTERS
guitarist Chris Walla even writing a regular column for us for several years, and in this issue we give you the scoop on the band’s forthcoming album, Codes and Keys, which they were still working on at the time of our inter view.
Chris Drabick, Frank Valish, John Everhart, Mark Redfern, John Everhart, Matt Fink
Our 2011 Preview Section also gives you the skinny on other albums we’re anticipating later this year, and the Please to Meet You in 2011 section introduces your to some exciting new bands we’re expecting to make a mark in 2011. The first three months of 2011 see a plethora of strong releases, so our Detection section is gridlocked with articles on such artists as R.E.M., Bright Eyes, and Duran Duran.
illuSTRAToRS
If you have plans to attend SXSW this year, then please stop by one of our two day parties, which are happening from 12–6 p.m. on Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18 at the Flamingo Cantina at 515 E. Sixth Street. Visit www.undertheradarmag.com/artists/ sxsw_2011_party for updates on the line-up. We have a great Under the Radar friendly bill in the works, including some of the artists inter viewed in this ver y issue! Hope to see you there.
PhoTogRAPhERS Tommy Kearns, Michelle Nolan, Wendy Lynch Redfern, Andy Willsher
Dewey Saunders
covER PhoTo Wendy Lynch Redfern
DESigN Melissa Phillips
iNTERNS Lauren Barbato, Katrian Yentch
coPY EDiTiNg/liNE EDiTiNg/PRooFREADiNg Zeeat Burns, Nate Daly, Matthew Giles, Rachel Venuti, Mandy Willingham, Brigitte Zabak
SuBScRiPTioNS subscriptions@undertheradarmag.com Under the Radar is published five times per year. The opinions expressed within are those of the individual writers or the interview subjects, and not necessarily those of the publishers or the magazine as a whole. All content copyright Under the Radar, 2011. ISSN: 153-2305.
GIGS
PUNK GAMES BEGIN
The Green Room 03.04.11
LOS ANGELES
CRYSTAL CASTLES
BY CHRIS DRABICK | Crystal Castles prefer traveling light. While the hotly-tipped and already hotly-contested Toronto duo’s basement party set-up doesn’t look like it’ll fill up the passenger seat on a tour van, they also like to play fast and loose with their associations. Named after a She-Ra playset, not an Atari game, they pack their songs with power, playfulness and unpredictably. They may travel light, but the Electro-punk pair bring some serious noise to the masses. The duo hits the road June 2nd on a tour that will take them from coast-to-coast.
ON TOUR
MAY
JUN
The Coathangers Cold War Kids Har vey Milk Junip: Junip Pantha du Prince The Pipettes Rainbow Arabia Sondre Lerche The Strokes The Go! Team Toro Y Moi Trentemøller
Beat Connection Cold War Kids Death Cab for Cutie Har vey Milk Guillemots Pantha du Prince The Pipettes Princeton Rainbow Arabia Sondre Lerche The Strokes Toro Y Moi
JUL
Beat Connection Death Cab for Cutie Eels The Kills My Morning Jacket Pantha du Prince Princeton Rainbow Arabia The Sadies Sondre Lerche Toro Y Moi Will Oldham
LIVE REVIEWS
THE ARCADE FIRE
TING TINGS
REFUND ANYONE?
CAT POWER
WASHINGTON, D.C. 9:30 Club 03.12.11
CHICAGO
PORTLAND
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR.
Beat Kitchen 04.03.11
The Roseland Theatre 04.28.11
WHAT? YOU MISSED IT!
The seven-piece, Montreal band has mastered the art of structured chaos. Other than the drum machine snafu, the band sounded as good live as it does on disc.
Ting Tings failed to take Chicago on an exciting, infectious and utterly absorbing journey. At this gig songs sounded the same and blended into one unfortunately.
Cat Power’s demanding and emotionally charged voice balanced the highly sought akward stage presence, but fans seemed to be seeking more than live karaoke.
undertheradarmag.com
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GIGS
WEST COAST
VANCOUVER–PORTLAND APRIL 11–14 319MI » 5HR 36MIN DRIVING TIME 8 GIGS » 4DAYS 5CITIES » VIA 2STATES & 2COUNTRIES
1
VANCOUVER, BC
TWIN DOOR CINEMA CLUB Monday, April 11, 8 P.M. Charlie’s Horse
ICE CUBE Monday, April 11, 9 P.M. Commodore Ballroom
SUBEEZ CAFÉ
2
EVERETT, WA “TWO BUCK CHUCK”
A fun indie country cover band Tuesday, April 12, 9 P.M. Wilde Rover
3
SEATTLE, WA RAPHAEL SAADIQ
Wednesday, April 13, 8 P.M. Showbox at the Market
SNO-ISLE NATURAL FOODS CO-OP TIM’S BIKE SHOP
SPEED SEATTLE DATING—FANCY A GO? Who knows? Maybe your true love is just “sleepless in Seattle”. Wednesday, April 13, 7:30 P.M. Lucky Strike in Bellevue
A nice youth friendly hostel right in the center of the pub and party district.
TACOMA, WA
FLAMENCO EN LAS AMERICAS presented by Savannah Fuentes Wednesday, April 13, 11 P.M. New Frontier Lounge
GINA BELLIVEAU
Rent a bike and ride along the coast.
THE ANCHOR PUB
VANCOUVER CENTRAL
4
ZIG ZAG CAFE MUSE COFFEE CO Great tunes, beans & vibe.
CITY HOSTEL SEATTLE
acoustic indie folk with a dash of soul Wednesday, April 13, 6:30 P.M. Mandoline Café
5
PORTLAND, OR EL TEN ELEVEN
Thursday, April 14, 8 P.M. Holocene
POTLUCK Thursday, April 14, 9 P.M. Hawthorne Theatre
CLYDE COMMON VOODOO DOUGHNUT
MARCIA’S SILVER SPOON CAFE Voted best breakfast in the whole dang city!
TOP OF TACOMA BAR AND CAFÉ HI-PORTLAND NORTHWEST Super friendly staff that will help get you acquainted with this “most chill city”
gigS
SUMMER ROAD TRIPS THAT ROCK
0 MI
1
Vancouver Monday, April 11
GIGS
HOT SPOTS LODGING
2 Everett BY BLAKE LEWIS | Whether East Coast , 113MI Tuesday, April 12 2 West HR 1 MIN we have your dream or Coast,
CHEAP EATS BARS
vacation this summer that 27 MI planned 3 Seattle satisfies both your itch to get out and Wednesday, April 13 0 HR 31 MIN to load up on live music. Unless you don’t have4wheels, get ready to roll . Tacoma
40 MI 0 HR 34 MIN
Wednesday, April 13
Boston Saturday, April 2
143 MI 2 HR 23 MIN
5
Portland Thursday, April 14
New York City Monday, April 4
Philadelphia Thursday, April 7
4
3
Providence Sunday, April 3
2
1
0 MI
50.3 MI 1 HR 2 MIN
182 MI 3 HR 26 MIN
97 MI 1 HR 52 MIN
5 137 GRAB MI PACKWashington, YOURD.C.BAGS, YOUR FRIENDS AND FUEL UP. Friday, April 8
2 HR 45 MIN
undertheradarmag.com
11
Digs
artists The Layaways
CHICAGO
The Layaways play “bittersweet, melodramatic indie pop hooks.” Others say “moving, refreshingly un-mentalist guitar pop.” Either way…good Midwestern tunes. www.thelayaways.com
san fran wash dc
seattle
Grand Archives
austin
www.parkwestchicago.com
Doc Maynard’s
Lou Malnati’s Lou’s is the home of the best Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Enjoy the buttery, flaky crust, sweet and tangy tomatoes, and gooey mozzarella cheese. www.loumalnatis.com
Thai tom
shops
Dusty Groove America The most sought-after vinyl originals and reissues, CDs, funk 45s, and new and old school hip-hop all have a well-priced home. A must stop while in the windy city. www.dustygroove.com
Wall of Sound
Rainy day? Some Thai Tom spice will cure the blues. While lunch can be slightly less crowded, your best bet is to call ahead and order to go, or sit at the bar.
Take a trek to Wall Of Sound for an enlightening experience. The staff here are tough and serious about their music collecting, but they do know their stuff.
www.grandarchives.com
www.docmaynards.com
www.thaitom.com
www.wallofsound.com
IOTA CLUB AND CAFE
COMET PING PONG
Orpheus Records
Impossible Hair is quirky and criminally underrated, but the Guided By Voices-worthy guitar riffs, tuneful vocals, punchy drumbeats will win you over.
This low key, friendly neighborhood spot books solid alternative country and roots rock acts, but it also encourages public self-expression.
This hipster-heavy pizza parlor with outdoor seating, bands, and of course, ping pong, serves a mean thin-crust pie from the wood-burning oven.
While the one-time vinyl haven is now about three-quarters CDs, classic wax are still readily available. Live in-store performances keep this store jammin’.
www.impossiblehair.com
www.iotaclubandcafe.com
www.cometpingpong.com
www.orpheusrecords.com
The LOVE MAKERS
12 Galaxies
El Zocalo
Amoeba Music
This local San Fran favorite is notorious for their raw, theatrical, anything-goes live performances and their catchy, offbeat pop sensibility.
This eclectic venue of indie arthouse rock and clientele is not only impressive on the eyes, but rarely disappoints on the ears as well.
If you’ve got a hankering for some El Salvadorean pupusas, this is the place that locals know about. This place is open pretty darn late and priced just right.
They carry everything worth having and then some, plus their encyclopedic staff, precedes them. Don’t forget to find the $1 vinyl treasure bin.
www.thelovemakers.com
www.12galaxies.com
www.elzocalo.com
www.amoeba.com
The Vibe
Hut’s Hamburgers
Jupiter Records
Starting out as an experiment to score music to psychedelic films, this band is now known for concise blasts of experimental pop and energetic stage shows.
One of Austin’s most-loved live music venues, The Vibe has low cover charges, a pool-hall space, and an ever-evolving music lineup keep this venue going and going.
With juicy burgers, cozy booths, bottled beer, and tables surrounded by paraphernalia-decked walls, it’s known for doing diner food right.
At any given time, you will find shoppers of the indie rock persuasion kicking back at ubercomfy listening stations and fingering through used vinyl.
www.theoctopusproject.com
www.liveatthevibe.com
www.hutsfrankandangies.com
www.jupiterrecords.com
mr. dream
NYC
Although seemingly cavernous in size, this sometimes music venue/convention spot has great acoustics and some pleasantly unexpected shows.
eats
A Seattle legend, a staple of the rock club scene, and maybe the most durable club in the Northwest. Come in for blues, jazz, or rock by night.
impossible hair
summer '11
Park West
Grand Archives, led by former Band of Horses guitarist Mat Brooke, were picked to open for Modest Mouse on a seven show West Coast tour.
The Octopus Project
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venues
local happenings
Knitting Factory
VYNL
Bleecker Bob’s
Mr. Dream won’t synth you up. They’ll rip your heart out and eat it...and maybe even slather some Tabasco sauce all over it before they do.
This Tribeca landmark houses a parade of indie rockers, avantgarde jazz, and art house groups. While crowded with four stages, it’s rare to leave unsatisfied.
Who wouldn’t want to eat at a vinyl inspired restaurant? From the menu covers to the themed bathroom stalls, it’s all about the music…and some good food.
The mainstream is reviled here, so you’re likely to find high-strung and angry indie types perusing the selections. Price tags for the rare are hefty, but so worth it.
www.misterdream.com
www.knittingfactory.com
www.vynl-nyc.com
www.bleeckerbobs.com
DEMO
Staff snapshots & playlistS WENDY
PUBLISHER/CREATIVE DIRECTOR
rewind
Foster the People “Houdini” Daft Punk “End of Line” Porcelain Raft “Tip of Your Tongue” Toro Y Moi “New Beat” Destroyer “Kaput”
MARK
PUBLISHER/SENIOR editor Cut Copy “Need You Now” Fixers “Iron Der Dream” Telekinesis “You Turn Clear in the Sun” Toro Y Moi “Still Sound” Foster the People “Helena Beat”
ROBERT
Creedence Clearwater Revival
bayou country
VP of Marketing and Sales Kanye West “Dark Fantasy” Smith Westerns “Weekend” Yuck “Holing Out” The Smiths “Heavy Track” Jamey Johnson “Lonely at the Top”
FRANK
Editor/Staff Writer J Mascis “Several Shades of Why” Iron and Wine “Walking Far From Home” Treefight for Sunlight “What Became of You” Jonny “Candyfloss” Noah and the Whale “Life is Life”
MATT
BY Laura Studarus | Bayou Country’s seven songs were well-honed from Creedence’s constant live playing. The album showed a distinct evolution in approach, much more simple and direct than the band’s first release. The single “Proud Mary,” backed with “Born On the Bayou,” went to Number 2 on the national Billboard chart. Bob Dylan named it his favorite single of 1969. John Fogerty cites this song as being the result of high spirits on gaining his discharge from the Army Reserve. The album also featured a blistering remake of the rock & roll classic “Good Golly Miss Molly” and the band’s nine-minute live-show closer, “Keep On Chooglin”, only has only one chord throughout the entire song: E7.
Hip-Hop Editor/Staff Writer Book Danielson “Grow Up” Deerhoof “The Merry Barracks” Talib Kweli “Cold Rain” Women “Bullfight” Beans “Mellow You Out”
Kyle
Online Media Editor/Staff Writer Destroyer “Downtown” Das Racist “Amazing” James Blake “I Never Learnt to Share” Wise Blood “Loud Mouths” Cass McCombs “County Line”
undertheradarmag.com
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DETECTION
The Green Room 03.23.2011
Los Angeles
news
Bright Eyes announce first new album in nearly four years. The People’s Key is due July 15th on the band’s longtime label Saddle Creek.
busy oberst returns to bright eyes By John Everhart | Conor Oberst has kept busy since the release of the last Bright Eyes album, 2007’s Cassadaga. He’s dropped two records on Merge, the first a self-titled solo album in 2008, while Outer South, released in 2009, was accompanied by The Mystic Valley Band. He also found time to complete the long gestating Monsters of Folk collaboration album with longtime pals Mike Mogis, M. Ward, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket in the Fall of 2009. Now, he’s back with his main band Bright Eyes with the album The People’s Key, due July 15 on
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Saddle Creek. The album again revolves around the Bright Eyes core lineup of Oberst, Mogis, and Nathaniel Walcott, and was recorded at the band’s own ARC studios in Omaha with production helmed by Mogis, with engineering assistance lent by Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead). This wasn’t an insular affair, as they were also augmented by the likes of Matt Maginn (Cursive), Carla Azar (Autolux), Clark Baechle (The Faint), and Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds) throughout the recording. The full tracklisting and tour dates can be found online.
DETECTION
MUSICIANS lend helping hand Benefit shows, auctions, and more aid disaster-ravaged country. Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Lou Reed, RZA, and others raise money for Japan relief.
JAPANESE FLAG
Prayer markings
Spike Jonze Film
Arcade FireInspired Film Scenes from Spike Jonze’s short film From the Suburbs will officially premiere at SXSW.
ADDIAS TRIES ON JUSTICE FOR SIZE Justice
Art for New Single
Promotional Poster
By Larry Fitzmaurice | As the catastrophic fallout from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that recently hit Japan continues to get worse, musicians are finding ways to pitch in towards the recovery efforts. Recently Mountain Goats’ auction benefited Doctors Without Borders, and No Age played a benefit show. Other ways musicians and organizations are raising money for Japan include Warp Records selling a t-shirt that will go towards supporting the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. Japanese indie-pop artist Shugo Tokumaru is selling a new track, “Open a Bottle”, at Bandcampto support Japan. Sonic Youth are auctioning a pair of vintage posters,as well as a pair of band-branded Vans with 100% of the funds raised going to ShelterboxUSA. org, which provides shelter to Japan’s displaced homeless population.
Justice debut single ‘Civilization’ track is featured in Addias Ad.
By Laura Studarus | Spike Jonze has taken his light touch and youthful alienation to Scenes From the Suburbs—a short film based off last year’s Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs. This 28-minute short follows suburban kids during one summer where military control of their town makes the lazy days more aimless than ever. Bandleader Win Butler narrates the trailer for the film, which is already making the Internet rounds.
By Lauren Barbato | It’s been four long years since their 2007 hit † but rave-goers, fear not: Justice is back with fullforce. Although the French electronic duo’s newest single “Civilization” is slated for an official release on August 4, Justice lent the heavy, shape-shifting track to Addias for a two-minute ad campaign directed by Roman Gavras. “Civilization” is the first material to be heard from the duo’s forthcoming, currently untitled full-length.
undertheradarmag.com
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DETECTION
46
summer '11
DETECTION
BY MELISSA PHILLIPS
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< buRbank, caLifoRnia (esT. 1974) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< boMP.coM <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< GenRe: bRiTish invasion, GaRaGe, haRDcoRe <<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< before the dawn of independent rock as we know it today, before Dischord, before Touch <<<<<<<< & Go, before just about every independent label you’ve ever heard of, there was bomp! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< in 1974 bomp! released the flamin’ Groovies’ You Tore me Down and from then on it was <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< rock ‘n roll history. bomp! is best known for putting out lots of garage and punk/new <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< wave reissues of the grittier sort. bomp! is a label dedicated to fans and collectors. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From Left to Right, Opposite Page: The Weirdos Destroy All Music (Their mighty sound and singular style <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< were the big-bang igniting the L.A. punk rock scene.); The Teescopes #Untitled Second (A reissue of one of the <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< most innovative artists of psych rock.); Sorrows Bad Times Good Times (Their music has been out of print for decades making it all but impossible for pop mavens to rediscover them...until now.); The Poppees Pop Goes The <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Anthology (Amid the skinny ties and DIY ethos of late-70s punk rock,The Poppees stood in contrast with well<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>> crafted pop and tunefully sung harmonies.); Iggy Pop & James Williamson Kill City (The classic post-Stooges <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 1977 album finally reissued—restored, re-mixed, and remastered.) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< undertheradarmag.com 49 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
1977
B Bomp!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< coxsackie, new yoRk (esT. 1989) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< sunDaZeD.coM <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< GenRe: PoP-Rock, PsycheDeLic, Punk, bLues, counTRy <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< sundazed is the finest and most adventurous, heavily 1960s-oriented reissue label, licensing many classic <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< albums from major label holdings that have been out of print for decades. Retrieving a good amount of significant unreleased material from the vaults, <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< sundazed is dedicated to the vinyl medium in LP, ten-inch and <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< seven-inch form. whether it’s exact reproductions of storied works by johnny cash, the mono pressings of bob Dylan’s early albums and an unreleased live gem by<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< nRbQ, or fabled longplayers by otis Redding, Love <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< with arthur Lee, Mc5 or the Rascals, sundazed Music will never abandon vinyl. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< From Left to Right, Opposite Page: Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline (His ninth studio album marks Dylan’s dramatic departure from poetic <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< the treasure trove of unavailable recordings and manic, buzzfolk to country coon.); Davie Allan & The Arrow Devil’s Rumble (Rediscover
Sundazed
saw fuzzed-out guitar from the nascent garage punk pioneer.); The Paul Butterfield Blues Band In My Own Dream (This album completes the band’s transformation from pure blues to hybrid form of jazz, blues, soul and R&B.); Bow Street Runners Bow Street Runners (Their self-titled album is an other-worldly blend of sweet female blotter acid harmonies, hypnotic Farfisa and high-octane fuzz guitar histrionics.); Leonard Cohen Live Songs (Cohen’s intimate, emotion-charged live performances yielded this 1973 release.)
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guided by voices
vivian girls
lots of reverb a be a common nd distorted hiss may c indie bands, b onnection for many u what the lo-fi t it is time to clarify revival is reall y all about.
pavement
r stevie moore
cloud nothings
52
summer '11
times new viking
daniel johnston
i f lo wavves
the
best coast
ha ze
words by Matt Finch sebadoh
photographs by carmen iannarelli
undertheradarmag.com
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FoR ThoSE iNcliNED To viEw MuSic hiSToRY AS A SERiES oF PoiNTS AND couNTERPoiNTS, oF PENDuluMS SwiNgiNg PAST PENDuluMS,
chris janik jammin’ with Zola jesus. no fancy equipment required.
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the emergence of the lo-fi movement in the early 1990s seems particularly symbolic. There had been lo-fi releases before, from home recording pioneer R. stevie Moore’s work in the '70s, to Daniel johnston’s highly acclaimed series of rudely scrawled cassette tapes in the '80s, but lo-fi music didn’t really become a mass generational movement until after nirvana’s unprecedented breakthrough pulled the indie rock aesthetic into the mainstream in 1991. Despite the higher visibility allotted indie bands in the wake of Nevermind’s success, within a year Pavement, Guided by voices, and sebadoh were becoming recognized as the alternative to “alternative” music, soaking their sounds in fuzzy reverb and distorted hiss with records that sounded about as far away from nirvana as nirvana sounded from everything else on the radio. now, as the indie rock aesthetic has again
become palatable on the album charts, a new generation of bands has emerged that sound more like kids playing in a basement than in a $1,000 a day studio. Lo-fi rock is back. “i think indie production values have always been a reaction against super-produced mainstream music,” says Dylan baldi, the 19-year old frontman of cloud nothings, a band whose widely acclaimed compilations of their first singles, Turning On, occasionally gives the impression that you’re listening to it with cotton in your ears. “it adds a level of authenticity,and you can listen to it and say, ‘oh that sounds like they don’t have the opportunity to record in a nicer way.’ i think that appeals to people, like, ‘These kids are just getting together and doing their thing and not really caring what it sounds like.’ it seems like something that has always been there, but more so now that people see that they can make it sound crappy and still get attention for it.” essentially, that is the story of cloud nothings’ first recording, a series of crusty earworm anthems that were recorded on a single microphone that was plugged into baldi’s laptop. and while bands have been using ProTools to make decent-sounding records on their laptops for more than a decade, baldi is representative of a different ethic in that he is willing to embrace the limitations of both his equipment and his experience. in so doing, he is following the lead of vivian Girls, whose 2008 full-length debut arguably kicked off the lo-fi rock renaissance, and nathan williams, the california stoner rock auteur whose early albums as wavves earned raves and ruffled feathers with their blatantly primal sound and fuck-all aesthetic. once the dust had settled, Zola jesus, coachwhips, best coast, woods, Times new vikings, and Male
bonding had entered the indie rock universe with similarly buzzy releases. by 2010, however, these bands have become at least as notable for the pop hooks as their cut-rate production. Perhaps listeners don’t gravitate toward these bands because of the lo-fi aesthetic so much as in spite of it. “The idea of the first two wavves records was to make it sound like it was coming out of trash cans in space, and once i found that sound, it was easy to recreate for each song,” says vocalist and songwriter williams. “i didn’t know how to record any other way. i did and do like the way those records sound. sonically, i kind of like how messy it all sounded, and i didn’t have a studio or anything to go into. i didn’t have much access to anything. There’s definitely more to it [than lo-fi production], though. This goes for really good quality records—whether it’s well produced or not well produced, you have to have songwriting. at the end of the day, i don’t care about the aesthetic. if the songwriting isn’t good, it’s not a good record regardless if it’s perfectly polished or if it sounds like it was recorded in 1940.” as much as williams seemed to represent something new and daring in 2007 and 2008, he was really only the latest in a rich tradition of artists for whom limited technology has not been an impediment. wavves records might have been startling in their unrepentant primitiveness, but they had nothing on Mountain Goats songwriter john Darnielle’s decade of conceptually dense and emotionally threadbare releases recorded straight to a Panasonic boombox from 1991 to 2002. These were albums that made 4-track
recording look glamorous, with tape hiss and wheel grind becoming his ensemble players. “what i was trying to do is get stuff recorded quickly,” Darnielle explains. “but i discovered after the first or second recording that i liked the way it sounded. There was an interview that never ran where a guy took me and [producer] steve albini to dinner, and i asked him some questions about a tap recorder, and he clarified some points for me. one was it’s not about the quality of the sound or anything, it’s about whether you get a sound that you like. and that’s what it was for
Pete smith of best coast records latest album in basement.
“if the songwriting isn’t good, it’s not a good record, regardless if it’s perfectly polished or if it sounds wavves’ Nathan williams like it was recorded in 1940.” me. i would listen back, and i’d say, ‘That sounds bitchin’! i love the way that sounds.’ so that’s how i wanted to sound for a long time.” of course, Darnielle is an exceptional case simply because of his long commitment to the lo-fi aesthetic, as he continued to record into that cheap boombox long after he had already gained notoriety as a songwriter. but even Darnielle eventually moved into a professional studio and has yet to return to the boombox he says now holds a place of honor as a museum piece in hi home office. Pavement, sebadoh, and Guided by voices also abandoned lo-fi recording when the opportunity to record with better equipment presented itself. but while lo-fi was a necessity in the undertheradarmag.com
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Giants when I was 14 or 15 years old and Swell Maps and Television Personalities, and even something like Devo. When I heard something I recorded and it sounded cool, I was like, ‘Wow! That’s good.’ I wasn’t like, ‘I need to take this to a studio where some fucking angry rock guy is going to stare me down and tell me my ideas are shit.’ Why would I do that? I was really young, too, so it was like, ‘Why walk into a hostile environment? Why go sell myself when I can just do what I want to do, hear it the way I want to hear, share it with a few friends, and have the power to make cassettes and sell them at a record store?’ There was a tradition of that already.” That cassette culture is largely gone now, but the MP3 blog culture is a compelling corollary. Where a band in the early '90s might have found its first listeners by distributing copies of home-made recorded cassettes, now a band will craft makeshift recordings on a laptop and post them online. The culture still Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle exists, reborn in digital form, and all you need to potentially find an audience is a song, a microphone, and an ent deal. It’s very different if you’re [Sebadoh’s] Internet connection. But not all bands are eager Lou Barlow in western Massachusetts writing to carry the mantle of lo-fi music. strange little songs and saying, ‘Well, maybe I’ll “I don’t really understand the term ‘lo-fi’ as just put them out on a tape.’ And then you make a genre of music,” says Bethany Cosentino, lead 200 of them and expect to be sitting on 150 of vocalists and songwriter of Best Coast. “I think those for three years.” it’s obviously more of a term used as a record“Going into a studio wasn’t even an option,” ing technique. Early on, when we were recording Barlow admits. “I think the reason I was able to things on our own—all of our 7"’s and stuff—it do things like record on my parents’ tape recorder was definitely more lo-fi sounding, because and be like, ‘This is great. Other people should we were experimenting with sounds, and we hear it,’ is because the records I listened to made were a band that had literally just started. But me feel that way. Listening to The Young Marble
early '90s for many bands who never made it to a professional studio, today the lo-fi ghetto is much more permeable. “The scenes are just not comparable,” Darnielle says of '90s lo-fi and the 2010 version. “I think there are people who have a yearning for a dirtier sound, and people who maybe have that desire for the immediacy. But I don’t think it’s lo-fi at all. It’s a very sculpted sound, and it’s an aesthetic choice. It’s willfully lo-fi. It would be easy for them using the same machine they’re using to get a clear sound, so I don’t think it’s the same thing aesthetically. Vivian Girls are great. Coachwhips are making great records. But I don’t think of them as lo-fi. They are making that sound very much on purpose, and they are going to great lengths to make that sound. They’re not just hitting ‘Record.’ They’re saying ‘How can we make it sound like this?’ Once you get that level of consideration, it’s a whole differ-
“I think there are people who have a yearning for a dirtier sound, and people who maybe have that desire for the immediacy. But I don’t think it’s lo-fi at all. It’s a very sculpted sound, and it’s an aesthetic choice. It’s willfully lo-fi. ”
the [full-length] record is a lot more producedsounding. It’s not as grainy sounding as the early recordings. Whenever people are like, ‘Oh, lo-fi’ I think of scrappy sounding records. It’s just weird that it’s a thing now where people are like, ‘Oh, you’re a lo-fi band,’ and I’m like, ‘Well…not really. I went into a studio and I had a producer and we cleaned things up.’ And it’s strange that they started tagging all these bands as ‘lo-fi’ and now it’s a genre of music.” Despite the fact that much of the tagging of lo-fi bands was done by bloggers, not all are convinced that this crop of bands is rising above the artifice of their work. For some, lo-fi is more surface than substance, a way to use a production aesthetic to cover over a lack of ideas. “If you can write a good song and half a good melody, no matter how you record it, it’s a good song,” says Matt Jordan of the You Ain’t No Picasso blog. “I like Best Coast. But if you give her an acoustic guitar, they’re still good songs. But a lot of bands that I hear, if you stripped everything away, at the core, I’m not sure there’s a lot there. I definitely think that aesthetic is playing a very large factor, but it has for decades and probably will continue to.” If Cosentino has no real interest in planting herself on the lo-fi continuum when better studios are available, she’s not alone. Wavves’ third album, 2010’s King of the Beach, was a more conventional indie pop album, cleaner and more elaborately produced. Cloud Nothings, too, have recorded a follow-up full-length in a professional studio, promising cleaner textures and tighter arrangements. Just as 20 years ago, lo-fi
music today is more of a foot in the door than a permanent aesthetic choice, and bands are more than happy to graduate from lo-fi when opportunities emerge. “It was like dumping a girlfriend I didn’t really like or something,” Wavves’ Williams laughs. “I liked her at one point but I was just kind of tired of her, so I moved on. It was like a breath of fresh air to feel like I wasn’t pinned down by a certain sound. Because people want to write you off, like, ‘Oh, that’s your thing!’right away. And they hadn’t given me a chance to develop or anything. I think [the hype] was created by the media, and I don’t think I’m a leader of anything. I think there are a lot of talented people making music in this thing, and I think a lot of kids just started to understand that you didn’t need a record deal to make music and have people notice you.” Whether or not the media created the lo-fi movement by connecting the dots on bands that sometimes don’t have much in common other than cheap recording equipment, the fact is that listeners noticed. But with so many of lo-fi’s leading lights defecting to greener pastures, will there be a new generation of bands to replace the ones who view lo-fi as a stage of development toward cleaner and more accessible records? Or will lo-fi remain a reoccurring historical footnote that will return to the background when the pendulum swings back, leaving it to circle back around in another 10 to 20 years? Can a movement that doesn’t even recognize itself hope to last? “I don’t know. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me either way,” says Williams. “I got mine.”
From Left to Right: The Wavves move from lo-fi equipment to Serro Studios; Cloud Nothings still feeling the reverb in their basement; Lou Barlow welcomes the refined studio recordings after years of cassettes.
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reviews
MUSIC, FILM, BOOKS, TV, VIDEO GAMES AND COMICS. Of Montreal rocks the ratings with False Priest and enchants us with a 20-page booklet of new paintings.
reviews
MUSIC new releases
LIZ JANES SAY GOODBYE Asthmatic Kitty
sic alps napa asylum Drag City
Dream diary You are the beat Kanine
of montreal false priest Polyvinyl
By Kyle Lemmon | Liz Janes’ fourth release with Asthmatic Kitty is supposed to be her “soul album,” but only in the sense that its focus is on her coffeehouse-ready, paper-thin vocals. In fact, she penned Say Goodbye a capella before collaborating with electro-spazz maestro Rafter Roberts. This is competent music, but wallpaper can be more charming.
By J. Pace | If you like your fi’s low, and your lows fi, you’ll get high on this, the latest from San Francisco’s charmingly half-assed garage-psych savants. Spotty and shambolic, but brimiming with moments of serious brilliance—this is the Sic Alps way. And again with the shotgun approach: throw 22 songs out there and few are bound to stick.
By Frank Valish | This Brooklyn trio make dreamy guitar pop in the vein of the Pastels and those late '80s/early '90s Bus Stop Label 7”records. Chiming indie guitar-scapes are the perfect backdrop to the breathy melodies and harmonies of Jacob Danish Sloan and Madison Farmer. In three words: heavenly, enchanting, and wondrous.
By Jim Scott | False Priest finds Kevin Barnes returning to real instruments for the first time in years—and thankfully turning the page on alter-ego Georgie Fruit—citing a “thick R&B influence.” Barnes’ claims that this is a “funky” album occasionally ring true. False Priest is, however, Of Montreal’s first adventure in hi-fi...and a move that deserves applause.
asthmatickitty.com/liz-janes
sicalps.com
myspace.com/ dreamdiarylovesyou
ofmontreal.net
JÓNSI/go/XL By Jim Scott | Along with Jeff Buckley and Thom Yorke, Jónsi’s pipes have set the standard for modern eunuch-like crooning. On Go, he makes up for the lack of vocals on Riceboy Sleeps by working overtime, backing himself up to create a Jónsi choir, offering skyrocketing counter-melodies, and even making the occasional bird sound. He beams ecstatically on “Go Do”, cracks hearts on the string-laden “Sinking Friendships”, and comes as close as he probably ever will to rapping on “Animal Arithmetic”.
He may lack Buckley’s soulfulness or Yorke’s infinite melancholy, but Jónsi’s distinguishing trait is an innocence that helps make emotions sound fresh. This child-like view is more apparent on Go because it finds the singer mostly expressing himself in plain English rather than his usual combination of heavenly vowel sounds and Icelandic. jonsi.com
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reviews REFUND ANYONE? close, but no cigar. worth the dough!
FILM SEAN ROWE
the high dials anthems for doomed youth Rainbow Quartz
By Hays Davis | Singer/songwriter Sean Rowe boasts a soaring baritone that commands attention, and the simple instrumentation provides an ideal platform for his ANTI- debut. Some of Rowe’s work here calls to mind Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen, though his gift suggests that those names will remain references rather than long shadows to escape.
By Frank Valish | The forth album by this Montréal five-piece presents the '60s-inflected pop-rock that they are known for. From the ease with which they sail through these melodyrich tunes, one gets the sense that they could crank out albums like this yearly. Based on the playful nummability of Anthems, that’s not a bad thing.
MAGIC ANTI-
thehigdials.net
seanrowe.net
BLUE VALENTINE | By Chris Tinkham
During an early scene in Blue Valentine, Dean (Ryan Gosling) tries to get his young daughter to eat her “yucky” breakfast by placing instant oatmeal directly on the kitchen table, so they can slurp it up “like leopards.” Dean’s wife Cindy (Michelle Williams) is hardly amused; she has the look of a woman who’s grown tired of her husband’s juvenility. Viewers know that a bumpy ride is ahead. Director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance’s disquieting blue-collar love story sustains fireworks with heart-crushing honesty.
go | Whether singing in English or gibberish, the message is clear. Go means go.
Nowhere boy | By Chris Tinkham A biopic that chronicles the family life of John Lennon during his troubled teen years, Nowhere Boy stars Aaron Johnson. The budding rivalry between Lennon and McCartney is overplayed, yet the film is not without wonderful nuances, particularly the music.
LET ME IN | By Iain Stasukevich Like the original, Let Me In is more a love story about two 12 year olds—Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz)—than it is a traditional vampire tale. Taken at face value, Let Me In is a solid film, but it feels like a redundant effort.
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side b
LIZZIE FOX | Manipulating imagery overused by the media makes us all think twice about what we are actually looking at. Oversaturation can numb our senses, but when portrayed in a different light, the tragedy of Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tsunami seems so out of proportion that we might just start to ponder the gravity of this natural disaster.
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www.devotchka.ne | www.anti.com
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GIGS
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IN THIS issue
#37 SUMMER ‘11