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Table of contents TUNE-YARDS
TuneIN
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BAND BIOS
P14-15 EVENT MAP
FACES OF TCS
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2015 TWILIGHT CONCERT SERIES
INDIE POP
WEEK 10 ~ SEPTEMBER 10
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Tune Yards closes 2015 concert series errill Garbus has performed as tUnE-yArDs since 2009, and that band name has always been synonymous with forward movement—whether because of her explosive performance style or the always-surprising way in which her songs unfold. First gaining notice with the debut BiRd-BrAiNs, which The New York Times called “a confident do-it-yourselfer’s opening salvo: a staticky, low-fi, abrasive attention-getter,” Garbus forged a reputation as a formidable live presence through relentless touring. In 2011, tUnE-yArDs released its second album, w h o k i l l, a startling and sonically adventurous statement that led to a whirlwind period where Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner accrued accolades from critics (including the #1 spot on the Village Voice’s 2011 Pazz and Jop poll), performed in front of increasing numbers of rapturous crowds around the world, and collaborated with the likes of Yoko Ono and ?uestlove. It was a thrilling ride, but it was one that needed a little bit of recovery afterward. “I took the Fall [of 2012] off and started taking both Haitian dance and drum lessons,” says Garbus of the post-w h o k i l l period. “It was nice; I was trying to be healthy and have a good time. And then, in January [2013], I was like, ‘I have nothing.’ I’ve never had nothing before—I’ve always had some songs that I’m planning on recording; I’ve always been working live with the looping pedal and writing that way. And I thought, ‘OK, if I’m going to grow as an artist, I need to do this differently.’ “So I went to my studio five days a week and told myself I would be doing two demos a day. I also had rules: ‘This week I’m only going to write using drum machines’; ‘This week I’m going to write using vocal melodies first, and build something around that.’ At the end of that, I had about 30 demos.” Those demos would eventually gel into Nikki Nack, the stunning third album by the Oakland-based band. A complex, textured statement that opens with a clarion call to ‘Find A New Way’ and spends its 13 tracks getting there, it’s a showcase of how Garbus’s songwriting has blossomed, and a testament to how current technologies can combine with themes from the past— Saturday mornings spent watching Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, puppet shows based on Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, hard days made less so by the refuge provided by top-40 radio—to create something utterly original. “It was weird what stuck,” Garbus says of the writing process. “The first song that felt finished is not on the album, and I almost scrapped ‘Water Fountain.’” That pulsing track’s post-apocalyptic vision is presented as a sing-along, a tale of streets where once-useful structures have been rendered into disintegrating husks with Brenner’s bass playing providing an increasingly con-
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cerned counterpoint. “I almost threw it away,” she recalls, “because it sounded like a kids’ song. But I really liked the theme, which mirrored what I was seeing in Oakland—people don’t want to pay taxes, but the taxes are paying for the water fountain, and for the trash to be picked up, all these bare essentials.” Having studied both Haitian dance and drumming during her downtime, Garbus also visited the island nation in the spring of 2013 (she penned a piece about her time there for the online magazine The Talkhouse). The trip informed the record both spiritually and practically, and led to Garbus adding another instrument into tUnE-yArDs’ musical arsenal (which, as she documented online, includes items like a bag of rice and a stool this go-round). “There’s this drum called the boula; it sets the tempo for all the other drums,” she says. “It’s the smallest drum, and it’s played with two sticks, flat to the skin. That element of Haitian drumming acts as the hi-hat, or the metronome, for a lot of the songs on the album.” Callbacks to the past are all over Nikki Nack, as befitting its jump-rope-chant title. Garbus’s vocal performance on ‘Wait For A Minute’ recalls Quiet Storm balladry, and the song also contains a direct callback to her own past: A wobbly keyboard line provided by a Casio she received as a gift when she was nine years old. ‘Left Behind’ is underscored by a jittery nostalgia, the playground chant from which the album’s title is taken eventually giving way to a chorus where Garbus’s voice is masked by glossy-yet tarnished production that brings to mind the radio reigns of Lisa Lisa and En Vogue. “On the chorus,” she says, “I sang those three parts and we put the recording through some crazy tape to make it sound like it was old and warped and distorted.” Instead of weighing the music down, though, the heaviness of the past defiantly animates the track, which culminates in a cacophonous “Holiday, holiday”/”Let’s Go Crazy” call-and-response. “That song may be the epicenter of the album for me,” says Garbus. “There’s a sense of people not being okay with change, and how uncomfortable change is. I have a great amount of nostalgia for times past, and I feel extremely uncomfortable with that because I think it’s so misdirected and misguided to think that things were ‘better back then.’” Nikki Nack has uncertainty about both the past and the future, but that’s in keeping with Garbus’s overall aesthetic of constantly questioning and burrowing for a “new way,” tempered by the joy that goes hand in hand with new discoveries. “We worked with other producers for the first time this time around, which required that I humble myself quite a bit. We’ve worked with other collaborators, of course, like Eli Crews as a recording and mixing engineer again, but to ask Malay (Alicia Keys,
TUNE-YARDS
Frank Ocean, Big Boi) and John Hill (Rihanna, Shakira, M.I.A.) for input on the tracks I had to let go of tUnEyArDs being rigidly my production. I have a very specific vision for the sound of the band and I don’t think women producers get enough credit for doing their own stuff, so I was resistant – but we grew, Nate and I both, and the songs grew. And it turns out that’s what’s most important: the songs, not my ego.” “Every single composer, artist, writer—anyone that I respect, there is crazy shit that’s happened in all these art forms,” she says. “When the shit started changing, people were like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want that, what is that?’ And it’s kind of painful sometimes being on the front line of whatever I’m doing—I’m pushing myself, so I am going to rub up against my audience’s expectations, and there is going to be some friction and tension there. My job is to get comfortable with that and accept it rather than kowtow to it.” Maura Johnston, 2014
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TuneIn keeps sponsorships local uneIn is the most popular way to listen to real radio from around the world. With over 60 million monthly active users, TuneIn lets people listen to the world's sports, news, talk, and music from wherever they are. TuneIn has over 100,000 radio stations and more than 5.7 million on-demand programs streaming from every continent, and is available across 200+ connected devices. TuneIn has venture funding from IVP, Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, and Icon Ventures, and is headquartered in San Francisco. The company has partnered with the Twilight Concert Series this year to help promote and expand opportunities for local music. Kim Cruz handles Integrated Partnerships & Marketing for TuneIn out of its Los Angeles Office.
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Q: How does the TCS partnership reflect the company’s core values? Cruz: TuneIn believes in live content, and aims to offer the best listening experience to our international listeners through a variety of content including sports, talk, news, and of course, music. The partnership with the Santa Monica Pier is a great reflection of this. This partnership takes a piece of the local Santa Monica Pier experience and lets the entire world access it.
Q: There are thousands of possible partners out there, why is the Pier and TCS a good fit for the company? Cruz: The Pier is an iconic venue, in an amazing location featuring great and diverse music curation. PLUS it's pretty much right next door to our TuneIn Studios in Venice! The Pier is a tremendous extension of our efforts here at TuneIn - we've even had several of the artists that performed at the Pier this season stop by our studio to record a TuneIn Session before they took the Pier stage. Q: Is there something specific about the location of these shows (Santa Monica and its Pier) that is particularly attractive for a partnership? Cruz: As mentioned above, the pier is iconic and it's an eight minute bike ride from our studio to the stage. Everyone knows about the Pier, where it is, what it looks like, and more importantly, what a great job the Santa Monica Pier group (along with their partners) have done with the TCS. When we're talking to clients and inviting friends, family, colleagues, it's a great opportunity to share in the community fun of the location.
Q: How does the partnership enhance the concert experience? Cruz: TuneIn is live streaming the concert series this year and in 2016 to a worldwide audience of 60 million monthly unique users. If you can't make it to Santa Monica for the concerts, you can still experience it for free through the TuneIn Radio app.
Q: What benefits does the partnership bring to the company and/or its employees? Cruz: The partnership not only gives TuneIn another unique audio listening experience to offer our users, but it gives our employees something to look forward to week in and week out throughout the summer!
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Faces of Twilight Concert Series “What could be better than free music and an ocean breeze at sunset after a Santa Monica summer day? Every concert attracts a new group of fans to become part of a community party celebrating our beach, our Pier, and our musical culture.” MAYOR KEVIN MCKEOWN “We come down every week and meet some friends. It’s a great place to hangout and enjoy the beach,” DEBORA CARGILL
“Free music like this is really great, it just makes you want to dance and have a good time,” JACKIE RYAN
formed all over the world so it’s exciting to be able to hear their music without having to leave town or really go too far,” MARCUS OLIVER
“We remember back when it was still the Dance Series and it’s still a fantastic venue for enjoying summer entertainment,” DOUGLAS SMITH
“Friends of ours live here and are from here, and they say this is the best concert series of the year, so you definitely don’t want to miss it. A great band, lots of people watching, just hanging with friends and just chilling I guess. I’m excited. The band sounded great.” DAWN RUNDLE
“Some of these acts are really good and have per-
“We’re on a company outing. The whole company is out having a little fun. It’s called SEE FACES PAGE 13
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FACES FROM PAGE 12 Syndctd - we are a digital creative agency. Hanging out with friends, the music I guess.” SIMONE WICKS “We come here almost every week for the event. Today it happens to be my wife’s birthday. Melissa here is my wife’s best friend.” THOMAS FORBES JOHNSON “I just like that we can sit here on the beach and free music - it’s worth paying the 25 dollars parking. I like that L.A. does that. They always want to celebrate the outdoors, the beach, and then bring people out here. Give people some free music, have a blast, enjoy the sunshine. It’s California living, it’s the best place to be. It’s like utilizing California - taking advantage of where we live and what it has to offer.” ADAM RICHMOND
DAWN RUNDLE
“We’re branding singles with green glow in the dark wristbands, so singles know who singles are…It’s a way to encourage people to mingle with people they know that are single at the pier. The Twilight Concert Series has such a fun, wholesome, community vibe, and people are in such a good mood when they come here, it’s such a good opportunity. We want to catch people when they are at their highest…if people are in a good mood they are more open to meeting someone.” KELLI STEMBER “I just go around to all the free concerts because there’s good stuff… really good artists. Well the thing is…I love music…but music is something that’s universal, that connects all of us together. The music is what makes you move and groove, and that’s what I like about all the concerts.” WANDA MARTIN
“We love to come out and dance. It’s a great environment with the sun, and the ocean and the Pier is fun.” DOUG JONES
“The summer concert series brings our intergenerational community together on a weekly basis to enjoy wonderful music and increased social
relationships. I hope the wellbeing index results will show an increase in satisfaction among residents as well.” JUDY ABDO
ADAM RICHMOND
KELLI STEMBER
THOMAS FORBES JOHNSON
WANDA MARTIN
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2015 Twilight Concert Series bios INDIE POP
WEEK 10 ~ SEPTEMBER 10
TUNE-YARDS with AVID DANCER Merrill Garbus has performed as tUnEyArDs since 2009, and that band name has always been synonymous with forward movement — whether because of her explosive performance style or the alwayssurprising way in which her songs unfold. First gaining notice with the debut BiRdBrAiNs, Garbus forged a reputation as a formidable live presence through relentless touring. In 2011, tUnE-yArDs released its second album, w h o k i l l, a startling and sonically adventurous statement that led to a whirlwind period where Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner accrued accolades from critics, performed in front of increasing numbers of rapturous crowds around the world, and collaborated with the likes of Yoko Ono and ?uestlove. Callbacks to the past are all over Nikki Nack, the bands third album. Garbus’s vocal performance on ‘Wait For A Minute’ recalls Quiet Storm balladry, and the song also contains a direct callback to her own past: A wobbly keyboard line provided by a Casio she received as a gift when she was nine years old. ‘Left Behind’ is underscored
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by a jittery nostalgia, the playground chant from which the album’s title is taken eventually giving way to a chorus where Garbus’s voice is masked by glossyyet tarnished production that brings to mind the radio reigns of Lisa Lisa and En Vogue. Nikki Nack has uncertainty about both the past and the future, but that’s in keeping with Garbus’s overall aesthetic of constantly questioning and burrowing for a “new way,” tempered by the joy that goes hand in hand with new discoveries.
TUNE-YARDS
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SANTA MONICA SEPTEMBER EVENTS
Sept 12
Sept 26
Wellbeing/Buy Local Festival
Citywide Yard Sale
Civic Parking Lot 11a-4p
Citywide, times vary
Sept 12-20
Sept 30
Buy Local/Give Local Week
DamNation – A Sustainable Movie
buylocalsm.com/events
Aero Theater (1328 Montana Ave) 7:30p
Sept 18-19
All Month
10th Annual Alt Car Expo
Social Media Photo Contest
Civic Parking Lot 10a–5p
We want to see how you are sustainable. Win prizes.
Sept 19 Coastal Clean-up Day Santa Monica Beach near Pier 9a–noon
Facebook: @SustainableSantaMonica Twitter: @sustainableSM Instagram: @sustainableSM
Sept 24 2015 Green Prize for Sustainable Literature presents Paul and Anna Cummins : A Father and Daughter in Conversation Santa Monica Main Library 7p
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