The Deli NYC #33 - People Get Ready, Brooklyn Synthpop Revival, Beacon

the deli

the magazine about emerging nyc bands

FREE in NYC $2 in the USA

Issue #33 Volume #2 Winter 2013

www.thedelimagazine.com

High Highs The Babies Lips Generator ohm Ludwig Persik At Sea ghost beach Team Spirit Sunglasses joy kills sorrow Chrome Canyon railbird BEACON St. Claire Ex Cops Sinkane TEEN Noosa The Great american novel Wilsen

People Get Ready Live at The Mercury Lounge 2/8/13

+ Brooklyn Electronic Scene Special

p.16

the deli

the magazine aboutthe emerging nyc scene bands everything about nyc music Issue #33 Volume #2 Winter 2013

Editor In Chief: Paolo De Gregorio Founder: Charles Newman Executive Editor: Quang D. Tran Senior Editor: Ed Gross Art Director/Designer: Kaz Yabe (www.kazyabe.com) Cover Photo: Erin Harris (www.erinharrisphotography.com) Web Developers: Mark Lewis, Alex Borsody Staff Writers: Bill Dvorak, Nancy Chow, Mike SOS, Dean Van Nguyen, Meijin Bruttomesso, Dave Cromwell, Mike Levine In-House Contributing Writers: BrokeMC, Ed Guardaro, Amanda F. Dissinger, Chelsea Eriksen, Corinne Bagish, Annamarya Scaccia, Christine Cauthen, Jen Mergott, Devon Antonetti, Brian Chidester, Joshua S. Johnson, Lucy Sherman, Julia Kwamya The Kitchen: Janice Brown, Howard J. Stock, Ben Wigler, Shane O’Connor, Matt Rocker, David Weiss, Gus Green Interns: Caitlin McCann Publishers: The Deli Magazine LLC / Mother West, NYC The Deli Magazine is a trademark of The Deli Magazine, LLC, Brooklyn & Mother West, NYC. All contents ©2013 The Deli Magazine. All rights reserved.

Brooklyn Electronic Scene p.24

High Highs

Note from the Editor Music fans, musicians and music industry people, By the time this issue hits the public, we’ll be running on our site thedelimagazine.com eleven local Year End Polls, one for each U.S.

music scene that we cover. If you visit one of our local scene homepages (nyc.thedelimagazine.com for NYC), you’ll see a long list of artists on the right – that’s what I’m talking about.

In these lists, you will find talented emerging artists that will soon become the next Yeasayer, Chairlift, Local Natives, Girls, Sharon Van Etten, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, or Crystal Stilts – and all this before Pitchfork or Stereogum tell you about them. We can say this confidently because all those bands that we just mentioned (and many more) were featured in our past Year End Polls.

When you read this, we’ll be most likely at the “readers and fans poll” stage, where anybody can cast a vote for their favorite artist from the list of nominees – we would love to have you involved. Towards the end of January, we’ll publish the final results, which will also include the votes from a selected list of local scene experts (mostly venue booking agents and other impartial industry people).

The next issue of The Deli, out in the Spring of 2013, will gather all the artists included in our Year End Best of NYC Poll – probably 100 or more in total - and feature the winner on its cover.

Read The Deli Issues Online! www.TheDeliMagazine.com/PDF

BTW: This year, the winner of the NYC poll will be rewarded with an awesome recording package including a full day at legendary NYC recording facility Avatar Studios (pictured) worth $3,000, where artists ranging from Iggy Pop and David Bowie to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend produced timeless records.

-Paolo De Gregorio

e The winner of Th st Be d Deli Year En be of NYC Poll will rding awarded a reco package at the ar legendary Avat as l el Studios, as w li De e the cover of Th spring issue!!!!

the deli Winter 2013

5

soundbites

psychedelic

Psychedelic Top 20

Photo: Phil Di Fiore

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts

1. DIIV 2. The Raveonettes 3. Snowmine 4. School of Seven Bells 5. The Antlers 6. TV on the Radio 7. Real Estate 8. Frankie Rose 9. Asobi Seksu 10. Weekend

11. Woods 12. Ducktails 13. Widowspeak 14. Bear In Heaven 15. Panda Bear 16. Caveman 17. Teen 18. Psychic TV 19. Psychic Ills 20. Crystal Stilts

Check out our self-ge

nerating online charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Ex Cops

E

x Cops is a band fatally attracted to the dreamy sounds of the past - from the Velvet Underground’s early ballads to the British neo-psychedelic bands of the late ’80s. They even have their own Nico, in Danish model/ singer Amalie Bruun. With the release of their debut album “True Hallucinations,” Amalie and partner in crime Brian Harding have assembled an eclectic collection of diverse dream-pop styles.

Your album’s title is “True Hallucinations.” Did you want to present these songs as a reality that appears like a dream?

I lifted the title from a book by Terence Mckenna. He goes on a bunch of shamanistic trips where he experiences visions of the future and past. Some of these things were drug induced but in his mind’s eye they were completely real. I always liked the title and wanted to use it for something and this record made total sense.

The clacking percussive force in the opening track “S&HSSX” of the record is reminiscent of Brian Eno’s “In Dark Trees.” Have you found any influence in, or are you a fan of Mr. Eno’s work?

I love Brian Eno. “Here Come the Warm Jets” scared the shit out of me when I was a teenager, and it still sort of does. I just saw a performance of Apollo at the WFC Winter Garden with Mike Gordon and some others, and it was beautiful.

Full interview by Dave Cromwell: thedelimag.com/artists/ex-cops

TEEN

F

resh from honing her craft as a member of Here We Go Magic, creative force Teeny Lieberson embarks on a more personal project with her sisters called TEEN, a psych

6

the deli Winter 2013

Teen

gospel experiment. There is a retro feel to their debut album “In Limbo,” with the initial example being the opening track “Better.” Buzzy brass synth beds and jammy melodic keyboard lines run throughout. The lyric “I’ll do it better than anybody else” is repeated in a chanting cadence that serves as a hypnotic mantra of confidence. Though synths dominate, it definitely is not “dance music” by any stretch, as the drum track is firmly rooted in the rock canon.

What motivated you to choose the uniquely retro musical style for songs like “Better”?

When I wrote that song, I was listening to a ton of Neu! and Brian Eno. That’s where the “retro” part comes in – I suppose. I wanted for drum tracks to just go on and on. I was doubling synth over synth to get that really thick sound that happens a lot in Brian Eno recordings. At that time, I wasn’t really playing guitar, but now I’m playing it exclusively. So hopefully keyboard and guitar rock can merge its own powerful thing.

Is there sometimes a point where a song becomes less about you personally, and exists simply as a literary theme?

Absolutely. I find as a songwriter, if it’s too close to home, the song can lose some sort of imagination. I don’t really like to talk about my personal life that much. So by creating a character, the music becomes more inspiring, more like a play. It morphs into something magical and less intellectual – a cartoon version of yourself.

Full interview by Dave Cromwell: thedelimag.com/artists/teen

Sinkane

S

inkane is the creative force behind many exciting releases by Brooklyn bands that are flirting

Sinkane

Ex

Cops

with Afrobeat. If you listen to Yeasayer at all, chances are you’ve already heard Ahmed Gallab’s distinct vocal and drumming feel. The Sudanese export nods to many of the high life flavors of his past, while stretching his muse to the future by collaborating with many of our local trendsetters. From Twin Shadow, to James Murphy, Sinkane doesn’t just have his finger on the pulse; he is the man behind much of Brooklyn’s Ivory Coast obsessions. Now, he’s setting out on his own journey, and has carried his international roots over to his exciting sophomore album “Mars.”

What’s it like working on DFA? It’s great. They always have jelly beans and good espresso in the office.

Tell us about your collaborations with George Lewis Jr. and Yeasayer’s Ira Wolf Tuton.

Yeah. That’s the benefit of living in Brooklyn – having very talented and inspiring friends. Everyone who played on the Mars record was easy to work with. I couldn’t have done the record without each and everyone of them. I paid them all in food. George and the NOMO guys went for Thai.

Ira, on the other hand, requested Kombucha and a jelly donut.

Full interview by Mike Levine thedelimag.com/artists/sinkane

soundbites Sunglasses

bedroom pop

Noosa

Lo-Fi Top 20

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts

Sunglasses

F

ormed in art school and carried into Brooklyn, Savannah transplants Samuel Cooper and Brady Keehn, a.k.a. Sunglasses, aren’t shy about keeping it weird. The psychedelic indie popsters talked to us about the significance of the name Sunglasses and the affect of other art mediums on their music.

What’s behind the name Sunglasses?

I’ve always had a place in my heart for sunglasses. All my favorite people always wore them – John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis etc. They were always identified with being cool – also summer and whatnot. I think it works well with the music we have made. You could break it down into what the sun means and glasses, but we never did anything like that. We just needed a name. I think I first thought about it when I ran across the word thumbing through Naked Lunch looking for a name for something else.

You guys met at art school. Do other

art forms affect/influence your music and in what ways?

Yeah. I think the best part of that college was meeting a lot of my really good friends. And being in an environment that encourages being creative definitely helped. I am very influenced by many mediums of art but mostly movies and cinema. I always have incorporated a cinematic/theatrical feel to my music. A lot of my subconscious influences come out in my melodies and songwriting, from my theater/film background. It’s hard to pinpoint what influences you musically that’s not directly musical. I’m sure Seinfield influences my music somehow. Slap bass?

Full interview by Corinne Bagish: thedelimag.com/artists/sunglasses

Noosa

T

he electro dream-pop duo Noosa (Sky Barbarick and Matt Buszko) has been making tunes together for about a year now.

Production Corner

By Paolo De Gregorio

Bedroom Monitoring Basics DIY musicians, who choose NOT to work on their music exclusively in the headphones, often make easily addressable mistakes when setting up their recording equipment: The most common mistake that I’ve seen in DIY project studios is monitors placed on a table and facing the recorder’s nipples.

Near field studio monitors are designed to reproduce the sound accurately only at a listening angle close to 90 degrees (i.e. smack in front of them). This is why ideally you want BOTH your ears to face one of them, in particular when you are mixing or looking for the right sound for an instrument you are recording. Your ears should be at the same distance from the respective monitors, or you’ll perceive one side louder than the other one. So the ideal situation is to create an equilateral

1. Beach Fossils 2. Oberhofer 3. Vivian Girls 4. The Beets 5. Big Troubles 6. The Shivers 7. Total Slacker 8. Ski Lodge 9. Island Twins 10. The Girls at Dawn

11. The Fools 12. The Spookfish 13. The Darlings 14. Gross Relations 15. Shark?

16. Leaves of Green 17. Small Wonder 18. Honeydrum 19. Market East 20. Indian Rebound

Check out our self-ge

nerating online charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

Barbarick’s ethereal vocals and Buszko’s production wizardry add up to an unforgettably eclectic array of sounds.

How did you guys decide to pair up?

Oh um... we met at The Gap. Our style is similar so we decided to give it a shot.

On your Twitter you call out some unlikely musical acts -- Nelly, N’Sync, Katy Perry -- irony or honesty?

Maybe a mix of both?

I don’t recall mentioning Nelly on Twitter, but I think that’s a great idea.

I am a fan of Katy Perry!

Full interview by Corinne Bagish: thedelimag.com/artists/noosa

triangle whose corners are formed by the two speakers and your head, with the monitors rotated and even inclined if necessary so that the tweeter faces your ear. Mounting them on two TV racks is the easiest way to get this right.

Although getting the proper monitor positioning is crucial, another huge factor influencing their sound is their interaction with the room that hosts them. This is a rather complex topic we can’t tackle here, but we can give you two simple rules of thumb: 1. Pick a room that has no cubical or even square dimensions, or even better, that has an odd shape; 2. Make sure you have a good amount of (solid) furniture in it, and maybe some anti-reflection panels and hanging carpets in some sections of the wall.

Find other recording tips at Delicious-Audio.com/diy

soundbites

electronic

Ghost Beach

“T

ropical grit pop” sounds like a tough concept to get your head around, but it actually fits Ghost Beach’s sound quite neatly. The “tropical” comes in their bright, sun-kissed melodies that recall pop titans The Police, while the band throws a layer of grit on top with sludgy guitar lines and jarring electronics. Brooklyn duo Josh Ocean and Eric “Doc” Mendelsohn has mined their unique style over two EPs and several singles that have been warmly embraced by an ever-growing fanbase.

You describe your style as “tropical grit pop.” What does that mean to you?

It’s kinda just our feeling. My middle name is Ocean; I grew up on an island… But we totally did not intend to do summery feeling music; it’s just what came out. It seems the tropical thing is popular these days… it must be something in the collective consciousness. We can’t really explain it.

How did you guys originally hook up?

We came together playing in another music project, but as we started writing together, our music began to take on the sound that became the start of Ghost Beach. Heavily influenced by our love of classic ’80s pop, we began self-producing and recording with our friend Dave Weingarten in his attic.

Then we teamed up with [producer] Nic Hard to expand the electronic and programming side of our sound.

Full interview by Dean Van Nguyen: thedelimag.com/artists/ghost-beach

Beacon

G

reenpoint duo Beacon (a.k.a.

Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett) comes at us from the intersection of R&B and electro… and love and darkness.

Atmospheric beats and a keen focus on melody mingle with a moody undercurrent. In this setting, the shadows are just as important as the hooks.

You’ve said that the “love songs we write are ones that have an inherent guilt implied.”

Thomas: From a Freudian perspective, I think that love exists as a kind of trauma in our music. And then it’s a question of what grows out of this trauma, whether it be the surreal,

8

the deli Winter 2013

Chrome Canyon

Photo: Philistine

Ghost Beach belief in the paranormal… The lyrics access those doubts. What kind of longing, catharsis is attached to this trauma? It’s part of a gothic tradition.

It’s also a very catholic notion.

Jacob: Tom’s lyric “it’s a long walk from love to lust” from the song “Pulse” encapsulates a lot of what I feel is a thread throughout our music. It’s a sentiment that one must constantly negotiate with feelings of guilt and pleasure being endlessly intertwined.

What’s your process for developing cover art?

Thomas: We usually find ourselves already on common ground, because we’ve written all the music together.

We know the tone of the sound, the content of the lyrics, the atmosphere that they’re all locked inside. In the past, we would just set out and try to make it all ourselves. Now we get to work with designers at Ghostly International, and we open up the conversation more. We come in with a lot of developed ideas and let them be a springboard.

Full interview by Dean Van Nguyen thedelimag.com/artists/beacon

Chrome Canyon

T

he work of Morgan Z. Whirledge, an architect of dense, multilayered instrumental soundscapes who releases music under the moniker Chrome Canyon, is often said to resonate as though it was intended to soundtrack a piece of cinema – his soaring arrangements boasting the grand sweep of a Hollywood epic. A surprising addition to the Stones Throw family, Morgan not only offers the great soul, funk and hip-hop label something different, but even in the multi-tiered world of the NYC music scene, Chrome Canyon is a wholly unique entity.

How did you find your time in Apes & Androids and how have you brought that experience into Chrome Canyon?

Beacon

Electronic Top 20

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts

1. LCD Soundsystem 11. Memory Tape s 2. El-P 12. A-Trak 3. Games 13. St. Lucia 4. Ratatat 14. Tanlines 5. MNDR 15. Laurel Halo 6. Twin Shadow 16. Mindless 7. Scissor Sisters Self Indulgence 8. Sleigh Bells 17. Nicholas Jaar 9. Au Revoir Simone 18. Com Truise 10. Neon Indian 19. The American Dollar 20. Bikini

Check out our self-ge

nerating online charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

It was, hands down, a wonderful experience. I don’t think you can be involved with such talented, creative people and not have a great time. I learned a lot from it – and I think the DIY attitude we all had really carries over into what I am doing now. The two dudes I play with were both in A&A, and I’m still really great friends with the other guys too. I think things work out the way they do for a reason, and I couldn’t be where I am – doing what I’m doing – without that experience.

How did you end up on Stones Throw?

I’ll admit I was surprised when they approached me because I’m a little different than most of their other artists.

But you know, they’re a bunch of music loving weirdos, and so am I, so really it’s not that big of a leap. For me the toughest part is proving myself to the Stones Throw community, since I’m such a new and different artist. But they are a really supportive label, and I couldn’t be more stoked about having a home there.

Full interview by Dean Van Nguyen thedelimag.com/artists/chrome-canyon

e DSGN

the deli Winter 2013

9

soundbites

Joy Kills Sorrow

T

rootsy

hough rooted in the music scene, the bluegrassinspired Joy Kills Sorrow oy Kills are leaders in the New York folk sound. The members are all accomplished musicians, which is apparent in each one of their albums. Guitarist Matthew Arcara is an award-winning flatpicker, Jacob Jolliff was Berklee’s first full-scholarship mandolin player, singer Emma Beaton was the youngest performer at the 2008 Canadian Music Awards, and banjoist Wes Corbett is an instructor at Berklee back in Boston. The band’s newest bass player has yet to be announced.

The band, whose name comes from the call letters, WJKS, of the Monroe brothers’ radio station in the 1930s, is currently working on a new album, in between shows on the East Coast.

J

From Boston, to Brooklyn, to Portland, where are you all currently based?

We’re all kinda spread around the northeast. Emma’s in Brooklyn now, Wes in Boston, Matt in Portland, ME… Jake doesn’t really have a home right now. We’ve always been spread out, so it doesn’t really make a difference to the band if someone lives in Brooklyn or Portland or whatever. People have just moved where they want to move, and made it work with the band.

How did you first start playing together? Had you played together prior to JKS? We all met at various different places and times. Matt and Wes knew Jake from when they were all younger, living on the West Coast. Emma had met Wes at his house back when they were both

10

the deli Winter 2013

St.

C laire

Roots & Song writers Top 20

Sorrow in high school. But Emma and Jake only met when Jake joined the band. The “folk” scene in North America is pretty small, considering, so you can usually bet that you’ll have at least a couple friends in common with someone you haven’t met. That’s sort of how it worked out with us all getting together.

Full interview by Devon Antonetti: thedelimag.com/artists/joy-kills-sorrow

St. Claire

S

t. Claire is a band that deserves the folk label. Hailing from across the globe, the members of this duo led quartet have chosen to build their home atop the muddy waters of rustic guitars and banjos as well as solid foundations of wide-open spaces of love-weary lyrics. Indeed, while other “folk” performers don traditional instruments but keep the melodies as radio-friendly pop fodder, St. Claire isn’t afraid to tell a story of heartbroken pain, rooted in tradition, but sounding like the first time it’s been told.

So what’s it like working with your sibling? Does this present any unique challenges?

I can’t imagine working with anyone else. We’ve been close since we were kids, and at this point, we’ve kind of developed our own little language

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts

1. Norah Jones 2. Cat Power 3. Trixie Whitley 4. Regina Spektor 5. Damien Richards 6. Sharon Van Etten 7. Ingrid Michaelson 8. Holly Miranda 9. Punch Brothers 10. Theophilus London

Check out our self-ge

11. CocoRosie 12. Ron Pope 13. Devendra Banhart 14. Antony and the Johnsons 15. Daniel Merriweather 16. Adam Green 17. Citizen Cope 18. Deer Tick 19. Alice Smith 20. Phosphorescent

nerating online charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

concerning music – and perhaps many other things. I think we hear the same things in songs, and we want them to come out the same way. I’m not especially good at talking about how to make my songs sound the way I hear them, but Glenn is always one step ahead of me, and can translate what’s in our heads perfectly.

I love your harmonies! Is this something that just happened or did it come out of a lot of practice between you folks?

It’s definitely something that we try not to over-think. There’s something about opening up and letting those things happen that I think makes for the most honest and spontaneous harmonies. I like it when people kind of search confidently for the right notes.

Also, there’s something about singing with your brother and your best friends that seems to make that process all the more natural and effortless. I love to think that our connections to each other come through in our harmonies.

Full interview by Mike Levine thedelimag.com/artists/st-claire

the deli Winter 2013

11

Ludwig Persik

Avant pop

soundbites

Railbird

R

ailbird is the kind of band that doesn’t mind sharing their secrets with you, even if some of these details might make you a little nervous. Singer Sarah Pedinotti seems to whisper these tellall remarks with a ailbird mysterious honesty requiring a certain amount of courage on both sides of the microphone. This isn’t an easy-going ride, but is certainly worth the time.

R

What’s your process of manipulation for your samples?

I have an SP-404 and I use the external mic to record almost all my samples. Right now almost every pad triggers a sample of my voice singing one note so I can play it like a keyboard.

I also have a sample of 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” that came with it. (I got it used.) I’ll never delete it.

Your voice shapes the songs’ contours so originally... do you write your melody lines before the music, or vice versa?

It depends. Each song is different. For “Hushaby,” I wrote the bass line and from there it shaped the melody and everything after that, and same thing with a new song, “Lucky,” which is cowritten by Chris Kyle. For the songs I write anything goes. It’s a bit like walking blindfolded in a room, the first thing you come in contact with and make sense of, shapes the rest of your perception and the song gets built around that.

Full interview by Mike Levine thedelimag.com/artists/railbird

Ludwig Persik

I

f you’ve been wondering what beat boxing soul machine Jamie Lidell has been up to, it turns out he’s been teaming up with psychedelic pop revivalist Ludwig Persik. Ludwig’s self-titled EP trips through Iggy Pop and Lou Reed’s “New York”, filled with the secret, late-night adventures you’ve always imagined happening across the Bowery in the ’70s. And Ludwig should know, having grown up in the LES himself. This legacy permeates his slight frame. Its spirit is chan-

12

the deli Winter 2013

neled through his debut release.

How old were you when you moved here from Russia? Did you absorb any music from that country?

I was born at the same Moscow hospital as my mother. I spent my first 6 months soul-searching when I came upon the idea of packing our bags and coming to NYC. I forgot where we moved to in Manhattan. I think it was Yorkville.

Don’t think I absorbed any Soviet flavors besides my father’s music, which was a very unusual tone to come from Russia, or anywhere else for that matter.

I hear a nod to some of the legends of Manhattan’s LES/CBGB’s scene in a lot of your music. Is this conscious or just part of what was buzzing around while you grew up?

Little Ludwig was too young to have any interest in the darkness of that scene, so maybe it crept in afterwards when I started playing out in the neighborhood with my high school band. I think my parents had stuff like Roxy Music, Bowie and Talking Heads on rotation at home. Stumbling upon “Once in a Lifetime” after not hearing it since I was little, Lulu gave me weird childhood chills. To me, the ghost of that scene is definitely more charming than what’s going on now, but maybe everything is charming in retrospect!

Though the songwriting still holds…

Full interview by Mike Levine: thedelimag.com/artists/ludwig-persik

Lips

T

he land that gave us Gotye and Kimbra has now unleashed up-and-coming pop crooner Lips. From Auckland, New Zealand to Brooklyn, NY, singer/songwriter Steph Brown knows how to take a slick, sexy groove and work her voice through

ORCHESTR MELLOW POPAL & Top 20

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts 1. Lana Del Rey 2. Sufjan Stevens 3. Beirut 4. St. Vincent 5. MS MR 6. Cheval Sombre 7. Emilie Simon 8. Exitmusic 9. Twin Sister 10. High Highs

11. Port St. Willow 12. Chris Garneau 13. Lia Ices 14. Codeine 15. Elk City 16. FALCON 17. Elephant Parade 18. Firehorse 19. Doveman 20. SoftSpot

Check out our self-ge

nerating online charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

sometimes failed, and more often times unrequited, relationships. Through a candy-coated alto not unlike Imogen Heap, there’s a superficial cutesiness that you’ll get fooled by, until you start really listening closely.

What inspired you to move so far away from your home?

I grew up listening to a lot of jazz, blues, soul, funk, hip hop, and really wanted to visit the source of this music, to explore the land, the people, the environment where it was born out of. I’m really glad that I did. I think there is something to be said for how music is influenced by the environment it was created in; the rhythm of city vs. country life, the tension that exists in certain places, I think it all seeps into the music. I think my own sound is influenced by my homeland as well as Brooklyn where I live now.

You use a lot of older gear on stage.

What attracts you to using “Casio-fi” keyboards?

I’m not sure. I’ve just always gravitated toward the warmer analogue synth sounds. Perhaps it’s because their sound sits more comfortably within acoustic instruments (to my ear), compared with more digital, crisper synths.

Full interview by Mike Levine: thedelimag.com/artists/lips

Photo: Melanie Wesslock

soundbites

indie

The Great American Novel

“A

band of staggering depth” – this is the kind of selfdefined superlative that The Great American Novel freely applies to themselves. Indeed, I’ll admit I am quite jealous of their tremendous confidence. You can’t really blame them though. A band, whose biggest problem is girls like “Holly” who can’t be convinced that their relationship should be more than just a friendship, is certainly bound for bigger things.

Their new record Kissing covers these issues over the kind of jukebox rock ‘n’ roll you might imagine your parents listening to when they first met.

How’s your writing process?

Normally I have an idea (usually a song title), map it out in my head, and record it as quickly as possible. I like to sit and finish a song whenever possible - if I leave it dangling, it’ll die. I try and write as much as possible - about 30-40 songs per record (some absolutely atrocious.)

How long have you been part of Mama Coco’s family for? Tell us a little about it.

It’s a recording studio/collective/hive mind/party throwing committee in Brooklyn. Oliver was starting up the studio, and he let me record some songs for cheap. After that I got a lot of my friends to record there (Oh! My Blackbird, the All-About each other’s songs (and covering them), sharing members, helping each other get shows and promote records, etc.

Full interview by Mike Levine: thedelimag.com/artists /the-great-american-novel

The Babies

The Great American Novel

The Babies

W

ith their follow-up album Our House On The Hill now out on Woodsist Records, Brooklyn’s The Babies exhibit the cohesiveness of a fully realized band. No more sunbaked lethargy, merely a touch of nonchalance; no more Mr. Lo-Fi, yet still textures in plenty. Where they would have been smothered, the vocals throughout the entire record come out clear as ever.

Is it bye-bye to the Babies we knew?

Definitely not – they’re simply opening up to a new facet of their sound touched on the last album, and finally being pushed forward.

Who brought “Slow Walkin” to the table first?

Cassie: “Slow Walkin” is a song that I had half-written before I showed it to Kevin. I saw potential for it being a good song for The Babies, but wasn’t sure where to go with it. Kevin and I jammed on it with acoustic guitars for about an hour, and then it was a done deal. Even though I came up with it first, I think of this song as being very

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts

1. Grizzly Bear 2. The Rapture 3. Animal Collective 4. The Strokes 5. Yo La Tengo 6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs 7. Interpol 8. Swans 9. Sonic Youth 10. The National

nerating online charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

collaborative – everyone in the band contributed something to it.

“Mess Me Around” channels early Pixies. Does the accusatory “you’re a dumb idiot” line express your sense of how those “messing you around” perceive you?

Kevin: Yes, although I am not the character in the song. But to that character, that is correct. It’s a chant of anger and frustration towards a situation you were born into and wish you could get out of. It’s pointed at all sides actually, outward towards an enemy, as well as inward, towards one’s self.

Full interview by Dave Cromwell & Tracy Mamoun thedelimag.com/artists/the-babies

4.

If the snare doesn’t “pop” enough, try a transient shaper plug-in (Dominion is excellent and works miracles).

By Paolo De Gregorio

Recording the Snare

5.

No other drum sound conveys as much character to a rock song as the snare (although the kick is a close second).

Recording a snare drum is not hard, but getting the right sound is a challenge that might take longer than expected.

1.

2.

The sound of the close-miked snare by itself is rather disappointing, but add the room mics or a digital reverb to it, and you suddenly get some “explosive” qualities. Avoid rooms too big and reverbs too long, and try

11. Eleanor Friedberger 12. Dirty Projectors 13. Yeasayer 14. Paul Banks 15. The Men 16. The Walkmen 17. Foxygen 18. Cult of Youth 19. Swearin’ 20. Yellow Ostrich

Check out our self-ge

Production Corner

Here are some tips that can help you get the sound you are looking for: When using the classic mix of top + bottom mics, place them at the same distance from the skins and reverse their phase. The bottom snare should just be loud enough to define the top snare’s “hit” with some bright overtones.

Indie Rock Top 20

a short pre-delay (a gap between the hit and when the reverb is heard) in the reverb settings.

Performance fluctuations often cause the snare to sound inconsistent, which is exactly how you DON’T want the snare to sound. Digital editing of late or early hits and weak or too strong hits can do a lot in that department, and a compressor at 4:1 ratio or more can fix the rest of the volume variations.

3.

Phase interaction is the most important factor in getting a great drum sound.

The more mics that you use when recording drums the more phase problems you’ll get at the mixing stage. Muting or gating tracks that aren’t playing when the snare hits (toms, hi-hats, crashes) is crucial. Also, try shifting the overheads so that the snare hits are aligned with those in close-miked tracks for a tighter sound.

6.

Extra compression and EQ of the entire stereo drum sound at the bus level also improves the snare sound. Google “NYC Bus Compression Trick” for more info.

Find other recording tips at Delicious-Audio.com/diy

the deli Winter 2013

15

soundbites

Alt Roc k Top 20

alt ROCK

The Deli’s Web Buzz Charts 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Taking Back Sunday Brand New We Are Scientists Andrew W.K. The Handful Straylight Run Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 8. Steel Train 9. The Bouncing Souls 10. Alberta Cross 11. Dads 12. Semi Precious Weapons 13. Stereo Skyline 14. Robbers on High Street 15. Scout 16. Wakey!Wakey!

17. The Hold Steady 18. Atomic Tom 19. Ambassadors 20. The Dig

At Sea

Generator Ohm

Team Spirit

Check out our self-generating onlin e charts:

thedelimagazine.com

/charts

G

enerator Ohm formed two years ago, as Willie Chen and Ernest D’Amaso finally found in Mike Morales the drummer they’d been searching for to pursue a collaboration that began with Chewing Picks in 2008. Drawing influences from punk, grunge as well as hard rock/ heavy metal, they put together a first album “Upon The Me Om I” which generated quite the buzz in 2012.

This band melds grunge heaviness and progressive intricacies, driving the energy to a punky, frenzied state.

Where did the name “Generator Ohm” originate? How is it reflected in your music?

It was deliberated between me and Ernest – partly lazy because people are used to “generation” and otherwise bent to express the mechanic side of music. Then later, it was extrapolated to express the idea of a heart and its resistance. It works nicely because that is the point where the drama, the prose, and the melody is. Where the human is.

What is your debut album Upon the Me Om I about?

It doesn’t have a central theme, but for the method deployed in songwriting.

At the fundamental of it all, Ernest and I brought songs in, and reconsidered them with each other, and Michael, now also with Steve, in mind. It felt like a good natural growth for a song.

Full interview by Meijin Bruttomesso thedelimag.com/artists/generator-ohm

At Sea

A

t Sea’s front man Jason Brody is a man full of contradictions.

Born to deaf parents, his music is a melodic landscape as rich as Jeff Buckley’s vocabulary. A Brooklynite for years, Brody’s material is frequently mistaken as belonging to the West

16

the deli Winter 2013

Generator

Ohm

Coast. For someone who staged his own death in order to expand his palette past a strict “singer-songwriter” brand of guitar playing, the man explores all these rich complexities throughout the debut full-length “A New Machine” with a direct earnestness frequently lacking from Brooklyn’s rock.

Has your experience as a band changed since the record came out?

People who have heard the record and have given it a chance really have responded with incredible positivity.

It’s a bit early to say if/how anything has changed. Having iTunes put it on the New and Noteworthy list for “alternative” releases during the week of its release (9/25), a huge record release week, was a real boost, though, and definitely made us feel like we have every reason to be proud of this record.

Why did you decide to cover Nirvana’s “Something In The Way”?

It was first inspired by our manager.

We released an earlier version of the track as part of a two-song digital single on 9/20/11, for the 20th anniversary of the release of Nevermind. It was a cool idea of Adam’s to do some kind of a tribute cover, and was a great excuse to really spend time on a cover song and dig into it. I’ve always been wary of doing that, especially when it’s something from such an iconic band like Nirvana, but once we picked the song and got going it felt really good to work on. It’s one of the

Photo: Vanessa ‘Bucky’ Rondon

weirder, slower, moodier ones, and so open musically that you could really kind of go anywhere with it. That was part of the attraction.

Article by Mike Levine: thedelimag.com/bands/at-sea

Team Spirit

S

punky and sunny, Brooklynbased Team Spirit embodies all the characteristics of their name. This four-piece creates a swinging surf sound with bursts of poppy cheer, and their spirited front man (former keyboardist for Passion Pit, Ayad Al Adhamy) certainly knows how to keep a room entertained. Their fun attitude and carefree creations are good listening for this wintry season.

How did you come up with the concept for the “F*ck the Beach” music video?

The video was created by two FANTASTICALLY talented Swedes named Hannes and Johannes. They pretty much came up with the entire concept! They wrote a little paragraph treatment that mentioned “you will enter a vagina mountain and exit onto a beach from a penis,” and I was like SOLD. The best news is we are teaming up again and creating a series of videos!

Full interview by Meijin Bruttomesso thedelimag.com/artists/team-spirit

the deli Winter 2013

17

specials the deli’s features

electronic developments in the NYC scene

By Brian Chidester / Illustration by I-Nu Yeh (www.inuyeh.com)

18

the deli Winter 2013

I

t’s true. We city-dwellers get easily bored. Cast out from the Garden of Eden long ago, we seek the renewed promise of exaltation inside concrete warehouses and cavernous old bars with wooden dance floors, hopped up on pot, booze, uppers, downers, hallucinogens and a carnal lust for life. That’s why any attempt at moralizing Electronic Dance Music had better check itself at the door. What we’re talking about here is a singer, a DJ or a beat-maestro that on any given night this week might change your whole life.

Don’t believe it? I don’t blame you. But you should have seen it this past summer, when new wavers, ravers, hipsters and acidheads alike packed the Santos Party House on Lafayette Street in SoHo in hopes of drinking once more from the crystal chalice. What they experienced beneath a stream of neon lasers and projections of ancient Egyptian pictographs integrating man, god and nature was the pound-sound of DJ Phuture and DJ Pierre, originators of acid house, who turned a room full of free spirits into full-blown converts.

Early evening wallflowers transformed into ultramagnetic androids, a flowery hippie chick fell deep into a trance-like boogie out in the middle of the dance floor, and a group of skaters so far lost their minds that they were running up the side of a wall. I half-expected to wake up the next day to read that the Second Coming had occurred, as it sure as shit felt that way.

Yet, by the fall of 2012, a whole slew of editorials from The Atlantic to Rolling Stone to The Wall Street Journal had decried EDM’s sell-out moment. (They should know.) Dubstep/house guru Deadmau5 (scribe of the aforementioned Rolling Stone piece) accused superstar DJs like Skrillex and David Guetta of dialing in their sets, even whilst bragging on his own Tumblr account that beat-matching technology like the program Albeton allows EDM artists to now simply “hit play.”

(Evidence suggested otherwise when Paris Hilton deejayed at the Sao Paolo Pop Music Festival, requiring an onstage tech to perform even the simplest of tasks, but I digress.)

And while all of this seems to mean something to those reporting on the greater corporate-rock diaspora, here in the NYC underground, 2012 offered plenty of experimental mania that was a million miles from the crap these guys were writing about.

I’m thinking of Carl Cox, the Aussie DJ who spins on three turntables and who at this year’s Electric Zoo dropped Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” into a pure acid techno set that sent members of the Occupy Generation through the roof. For even as New York City in the mercilessly long Bloomberg era has become gentrified beyond all recognition, pushing many independentlyminded artists out to Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, Harlem and even the South Bronx, expats like Icona Pop (from Sweden) and Brotherfinger (Athens, OH) continue to filter in to the city in hopes of enmeshing their talents with an EDM scene that

Listen to a curated playlist of emerging NYC electronic bands at: thedelimag.com/electro

Violens

Savoir Adore

Autre Ne Veut

“...in the NYC underground, 2012 offered plenty of experimental mania that was a million miles from the crap these guys were writing about.” has always been decadently baroque in celebration of itself.

Anyway, I’d argue these same jet-setting, playboy DJs mainstreamed not this past summer, but two years ago (if not sooner). But who gives a shit, really, when a group like Brooklyn’s Small Black drops a badass mixtape (titled Moon Killer) onto the indie scene this year?

Set up behind a glowing synthesizer and pulsating floodlights at the Brooklyn Bowl, the lo-fi synthpop act mixed world music, hip-hop and electro samples into a washed-out reduction of synthetic shoegaze that was both wildly psychedelic and infinitely danceable. But, hey, if Small Black is soooooo 2010, well, there’s plenty of other leaders from the lo-fi synthpop scene who threw out new material in 2012.

Take True by Brooklyn’s Violens (its title a nod to the classic ’80s hit by Spandau Ballet), who launched the album’s release with an otherworldly show at Le Poisson Rouge this past May, an affair that felt oddly political in ways that could easily be missed if one were over a certain age.

Which is not to say Violens doesn’t appeal to a large audience, but more that the music dares to be flowery and frilly and androgynous in a country that remains deeply suspicious of anything that reeks of art. It’s a barricade – I might add – that this current generation walks right through.

But again, you already knew about this stuff.

If under the radar is your bag, nowhere in NYC is alt-electro-pop more open to artist experimentation than at the upstart VVYNL night at the Woods Bar (and recently moved to The Knitting

20

the deli Winter 2013

Factory), where each Monday, pop duo Lexelle (née Danielle Cardona Graff and Alex Simon) open the mics to a vaudeville of able-minded youth with avant-garde ambitions.

Graff’s feline sexiness and Simon’s gypsy bohemianism (he also plays Django Reinhardt covers for the tightlips at the Guggenheim) start each VVYNL with a mini-set of ABBA-esque sing-song melodies flooded with industrial feedback, hinting at what Trent Reznor might sound like were he suddenly invigorated with the potentiality of bubblegum pop. Other VVYNL regulars include Demetra, who often doubles as master of ceremonies, bringing a vampy girl-next-door fetishism to crowd faves like “Quarter to Twelve,” which feels arty and educated and downright arena-rock ready.

Brittany Campbell’s unabashed soul-pop offers the even more bookish anthem “Nerd” to outlandishly sexed-out results. Melody Joy, a freakish goth-pop chick dressed in ripped corsets and Converse All-Stars, lugs along mummified dolls, fake blood, spiked accessories and a host of gooey disco melodies to roost gloriously beneath the spinning disco ball. Man-machine Maxx Klaxon, the supreme dictator of computer cabaret and the most overtly political act currently playing VVYNL, gives the whole affair street-cred when he dons his grey workman’s shirt, skinny tie and cropped proletariat hairdo on stage, deadpanning Leonard Cohen’s “First We Take Manhattan” to a crowd roaring back: “Then we take Berlin!”

Elsewhere, Evan “Le Chev” Michael of electrosoul bands AVAN LAVA and Fischerspooner already declared upbeat pop the new counterculture in the last issue of The Deli. And who could argue when acts like new-romantics Ghost Beach, dream-pop duo Savoir Adore, futuristic rockers Cultfever and nu-electro-funkster Autre Ne Veut all released chorus-heavy albums this year to stunning results?

Warm Ghost recently heated up the Glasslands Gallery (289 Kent Ave.) by flooding the stage

Lexelle

Black Marble Warm Ghost

with foam-rubber pink clouds, smoke machine gimmickry and mind-warping psychedelic synthpop that confirmed the venue’s emergence as a center of post-punk revival.

Other acts like Black Marble and TV Baby continue their Interpol-cum-Joy Division onslaught at the Glasslands Gallery for the more mechanically-inclined.

An even more avant-electro scene is happening over at Secret Project Robot (389 Melrose St. in Bushwick),

“I think that neon art and neon music is the equivalent of shouting at the world with a rainbow. It’s artistic anarchy in the sense that we are demanding to be left alone; we don’t need your acceptance nor do we care for your judgment, and we’ve survived for generations without your money and your support.”

– Rachel Nelson (Co-Founder of Secret Project Robot) where The Factory-like arts collective hosts a veritable who’s who of hipster and otherworldly acts, such as How I Quit Crack (née Tina Forbis), who performs decked out in neon lingerie amid bouquets of fluorescent flowers while breathing warped vocals over layers of crescent beats, distorted synths and heavy feedback as transcendent as it is bat-shit weird. It somehow makes perfect sense within the helix of Secret Project Robot’s newwave stoner backdrop.

Other SPR regulars include surrealist synth-popsters Silk Flowers, videogame terror-rock band Extreme Animals and even Yellow Tears, an anarchist avant-rock group that one enthusiastic blogger described thusly:

“Do you remember the time that your whole family was

on Geraldo because you were Satanically Ritually Abused by clowns at the local county fair? No? Well, you probably just need some more therapy, because that’s the true story of most people who grew up during the 1980s in America. Don’t worry though, there is a support group called Yellow Tears that visits every single time you rotate either side of [their] 45 RPM record.”

– Heathen Harvest

series, Unsound LABS, at the Goethe-Institut on the Upper Eastside this past spring, where the former Rammellzee/Basquiat collaborator demonstrated his urban metaphysics before the suit-and-tie crowd. (For the record, if b-boy/hiphop surrealism is your bag, Rammellzee acolytes The Krillionaires released “PyroGlyphiks” this year in an attempt to continue that brand of the layered dub beats, freaky counter-melodies and hazy MC rhymes.)

Sounds far enough out there? “I think that neon art and neon music,” concludes Rachel Nelson, co-founder and happy participant in Secret Project Robot, “is the equivalent of shouting at the world with a rainbow. It’s artistic anarchy in the sense that we are demanding to be left alone; we don’t need your acceptance nor do we care for your judgment, and we’ve survived for generations without your money and your support. But if you are able to see those colors, then perhaps it is a secret invitation to the people of the world who still long for heterogeneity.”

Hell, even the fathers of synthpop, Kraftwerk, installed themselves in the Museum of Modern Art for eight days in a series of motionless performances covering their entire catalog beneath video projections meant to interpret the German electro-gods’ modernist doctrine. And, okay, so the online tickets sales were a fuckin’ mess, and yeah, it’s just one more sign that EDM is now the province of the mainstream.

But, electro, intertwined with the mainstream or not, has undeniably been re-inserted into the common dialogue of contemporary music, art and dance (and fun). And for as long as DJs, artists and record collectors continue to forge fresh relationships with their favorite electro discoveries, the future remains very much unwritten. Dig.

Amidst such independently-minded declarations were several blink-and-you-might-have-missedit events in 2012’s heady electro swirl. I’m thinking of gothic futurist Stuart Argabright’s

SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC TO THE DELI!

PROMOTE SHOWS

ON THE DELI’S HOMEPAGE!

To be considered for review, just go here: thedelimag.com/submit - we listen to all submissions and review many of them!

FIND OUT ABOUT OTHER LIKE-MINDED ARTISTS!

●

22

the deli Winter 2013

FOR

FREE

To promote your live shows in NYC, go to nyc.thedelimagazine.com and check the far right column (scroll down a bit).

The Deli’s Charts - thedelimag.com/charts - are a huge database of established and emerging artists, organized by genre and region and optimized for indie bands.

snacks highlights from the NYC blog

Wilsen Much has been made of Wilsen’s unique combination of dream pop and folk, which has been dubbed as “dream folk.” Yet there is a much easier way to describe the NYC-based singer-songwriter: really, really talented. Her debut album, Sirens, is eerie, confident, and a fantastic first step for this bright artist. Throughout her debut album Sirens, Wilsen experiments with different atmospheres and styles, although her overall sound keeps faith to early Leonard Cohen’s sparse, pensive approach.

The guitar work on “Lady Jane” has an almost Middle Eastern feel, while the vocals on “Springtime” bounce with a jazzy swagger. Closing Sirens is the ten and a half minute epic, “Anahita.” This track’s breathtaking power cannot be overstated. The moment halfway through the song when the stunning guitar line gives way to aural chaos is one of the best recorded musical instances of the year. (Josh S. Johnson)

Christy & Emily Known for their elegant and delicate tunes flirting with contemporary music influences, talented New Yorkers Christy & Emily announced the release a new album entitled Tic Tac Toe (out in

the deli’s icons

pop

rock

January) which reveals two new band members, and a few tunes featuring a more rocking approach to songwriting. We are favoriably impressed with the new songs which can be streamed on their website. Quiet numbers haven’t disappeared from the new record, but the presence of faster tracks makes for a more entertaining listening experience.

(Paolo De Gregorio)

nyc.thedelimag.com

tures to be the album we were waiting for to dream of warmth and sun in these dreadful winter months.

(Dave Cromwell)

Pearl Necklace

The Inner Banks The Inner Bank’s sound, mostly acoustic but fast paced, is suspended in a place between foggy nostalgia and traditional American roots music. A driving snare drum beat propels single “Ana Peru” forward, as a brightly textured guitar line weaves around farfisa organ stabs. Layered female vocals tell a tale of how the song title’s subject matter is ‘just like one of us’ and ‘not like none of us,’ while the chorus plays around the phrase “hey, not ordinary, hey, just ordinary – with a definitive “hey!” punctuating the musical point. The other single, “Box and Crown” confirm this band’s noteworthy melodic talent, offering tasteful string arrangements reminiscent of R.E.M. from the Out of Time period, while title track “Wild” betrays the group’s country influences.

Not unlike Michael Stipe’s band, The Inner Banks have found a convincing middle ground between Americana and Dream Pop in the form of a mature, arousing pop with orchestral tendencies.

“Wild” has all the right fea-

loud rock

folk

psych rock

The fusion of chillwave rhythms and industrial clatter allows Pearl Necklace’s new single “Do You Feel It?” to percolate like something out of an aluminum factory.

(That is a recommendation.) The duo (Brooklyn residents Bryce Hackford and Frank Lyon) found a champion in Arp mastermind Alexis Georgopoulos, who not only contributed to several cuts from the band’s debut album, Soft Opening, but also helped get Pearl Necklace signed to Smalltown Supersound out of Norway. MGMT’s Andrew Van Wyngarden also contributes organ to the proceedings, promising the LP more than a passing glance from the larger electro diaspora.

Just don’t expect party-rock from these mood mixers.

The term “welding” comes to mind. (Brian Chidester)

Swearin’ Channeling the unholy trinity of deceived youths, i.e incomprehension, anger and boredom through the raw force of strong ’90s indie rock female leads - think

melody/soft electronic

noise

dance

lo-fi/DIY

ambient

Deal twins - Brooklyn via Philly pop punk quartet Swearin’ came forward barely a year ago with the oh-so-self-explanatory first EP What A Dump. As a follow-up that saw them off on an extensive US tour, they released last June their first self-titled full-length, twelve-track burst of laidback energy fuelled with loud guitars, leaning at one extreme towards pathetic stripped-down ballads, diving on the other right into hardcore tendencies for rabid drumbeats and shreds-a-go-go, with in mind one goal: getting the local crowds shaking to some effective, effervescent R’n’R in the broader cathartic sense. An act on the rise which you should check out.

(Tracy Mamoun)

Color War Dream pop met ’80s electronic revival and became the Brooklyn based duo Color War. Lindsay Mound’s sweetly spacy vocals keep the mood dreamy, and Billy J’s inimalist beats and electronic arpeggiators give the sound a “technical” edge while moving the music forward.

This is a softer side of electro pop that favors simplicity and clarity of sound over layered synthesizers and fullbodied noise. Color War has a few songs available online in The Prismatic Collection, including a cover of Lee Hazelwood’s “Some Velvet Morning,” and are currently busy writing the soundtrack for the film “Night and a Switchblade” by director Ben Finer. (Lucy Sherman)

other influences

hip hop

prime nyc music

good!

the deli Winter 2013

23

specials the deli’s features

People Get Ready Interdisciplinary Pop

By Anna Wiener / Photo by Erin Harris

H

ere is the way things can go with Steven Reker. You meet one night outside of a concert in Brooklyn – a small show by a small band from a small city in the Pacific Northwest, whose audience establishes a nervous tidal rhythm, rising to the sidewalk to huddle over cigarettes before pouring back down into the basement venue to catch the first chorus of the next band’s set as if summoned by the anxious anticipation that bubbles up when musicians scan an emptied room. And maybe you split a smoke, or maybe you bicker or effuse about one thing or another, or maybe you just exchange names and minor details, but either way a few days later you’re rubbing condensation off your eyeglasses as you stand in his warm living room at a potluck dinner party, offering up a paper bag of crushed and leaking Italian plums hand-delivered from Connecticut, but smashed en route after hitting the floor of your car when you broke too quickly for a passing cyclist. The room is full of lithe men and striking women, and Steven is taking the bag with a wide smile, bouncing it in his palm as if to take a weight. And you find yourself thinking, “Goddamn! If there aren’t one hundred reasons, I just got really, really lucky.”

Because the thing is, I was raised in New York City, and meeting people on the street is not exactly something that we locals tend to do here. It is, one might even say, essentially frowned upon. Growing up in the City, people that I did not want to meet on the street included older men who snarled and hissed demeaning compliments, a woman on Easter who screamed that the streets ran with rivers of blood, and a countless number of the unhinged, ecstatic,

and lonely that we believe inhabit the NYC and to whom we ourselves tend to belong. But this September when I met Steven, I was newly 22, and had just moved back into my parents’ house in Brooklyn, which felt like both a blessing and a failure. And as far as acts of rebellion went, I thought it was probably high time I tried one. (Well, as far as acts of rebellion can go, this never became one, for which I am still regretful of – needless to say, so many things can go wrong

RIYL: Yeasayer, MGMT, St. Vincent

when you’re young, wide-eyed, and accepting of invitations into the homes of strange men, and I’m glad that all this meant for me was eating too much pita and nicking my finger on a kitchen knife.) So with all those reservations stacking up behind you, how do you know to trust someone?

You go with your gut, and in this case, there was – still is – something about Steven that makes a hard shift from introduction to intimacy seem like the smoothest and most natural slide, a quality that radiated forth in our meeting on the sidewalk and at the party in his home, where the love of his friends and colleagues was rich and palpable. It is this quality, the shimmering dissolution of boundaries between spectator and participant that carries over to embody the spirit of the music he makes with his band, People Get Ready.

To say that New Yorkers are standoffish is something of a platitude, sure, but it’s true as anything, and the tendency that we exhibit toward our fellow pedestrians translates to the way we often engage with live music: We are appreciative but consciously peripheral. Go to any concert in the city, and whether you are in the carpeted living room of a stranger or standing in the rain with your face angled toward the yawning maw of an amphitheater, the most movement you’ll find is likely to be some crossing and re-crossing of arms and several pairs of twitching knees, maybe one or two stoned limb-swingers drifting in the front row. What I mean to say is: It’s not for lack of stimulation, but barely anyone here dances.

So it is a bold move to be a rock band in 2012 with an identity that is deeply grounded – in physical, emotional and intellectual ways – in dance and movement. Under Steven’s direction, People Get Ready has showcased interdisciplinary work at a host of art institutions and theaters, gracefully incorporating contemporary dance and performance art. He has worked with a range of well-established creators, including the likes of David Byrne, Miranda July and Robert Wilson, a roster that suggests a comfort with both pop and avant-garde in equal measure – not to mention a knowledge of creative lineage and history. People Get Ready and the rotating dancers with whom the band collaborates comprise a practice; this is work in progress, a teasing of boundaries, and a constant exploration of the intersection between movement and music.

In microphones’ dance, a piece performed in 2011 at The Kitchen, Steven and drummer Luke Fasano delicately stepped across the stage while swooping live microphones flew through the air, building a rapport between snapping and titubating cords. This duet was elegant, measured; the aural effect was hypnotic and unsettling. It built its own environment, and roped the audience in on a number of platforms: the fear and anticipation of a miscalculated swing, the acclimation to a foreign and tilting sonic environment, the curious pleasure of eng aging with something never seen before. This is not precious work. At a recent performance, dancer Aaron Mattocks traversed the theater with a wireless electric guitar slung across his back, in a piece titled circumstantial guitar. As Aaron danced, the headstock of the electric guitar hit the floor; notes rang out as the guitar ebbed and flowed to his rhythm, building a violent intimacy.

At any formal People Get Ready performance – the kind with a structure, a printed program, ticketed seats and sometimes, even, an intermission – these situationally generated aural landscapes are interlaced with the same songs that the band plays at clubs around the city – songs that are in their own right thrilling, dark, complex and challenging to the boundaries of rock and pop music from within, rather than approaching these boundaries from the outside, as microphones’ dance and circumstantial guitar seem to do. It’s an accomplishment to create interdisciplinary work suited to both a formal performance space and a dimly lit bar in Williamsburg, but People Get Ready manage to do so with agility.

There is a deep sense of wonder and a wild-eyed joy to the band’s music, an exuberant kineticism. There is also a specific architecture and a rare texture; that exuberance is occasionally laced with something darker – a harder edge.

Steven clearly brings a dancer’s sensibility to composition.

This is music that is borne of, inspires and encourages movement. It is also music that pleasures, tunnels into its listeners, and catalyzes a stirring. You see the effect People Get Ready’s songs have on the band members themselves; singer and multi-instrumentalist Jen Goma and bassist James Rickman look like they’re having the time of their lives onstage. You’d have to be a committed wallflower to not wish yourself up there with them – bouncing and grinning and throwing every muscle into the music.

Dancing can bring all the moving parts together – locking you into your body. It can also be a tunnel to the release and loss of oneself. Sometimes you want one, sometimes the other. I was looking for the latter experience as a teenager, and in New York, I found it at ska and punk shows where nobody cared that I tossed my flat, androgynous body into mosh pits and allowed others to shove me along undetermined trajectories. I reveled in the minutes I spent leaning against bathroom doors at the Knitting Factory or the Punk Temple in Bensonhurst, tending to nosebleeds procured by swift and accidental arm thrusts by strangers, because it signaled activation. This is the closest we can come to unbridled, unrivaled pleasure – I think. It will always be a mystery to me that New York audiences are so stiff, so nervous to spill their drinks or careen too closely to strangers in a crowd.

People Get Ready know and speak to this human desire to move, to the deeply blissful and joyous experience of connecting to art in a physical, full way. The innate sense of movement that is central to the music channels outward, wraps itself around the club or venue or living room, and it pulls you right in. This is what I was saying about the move from foreign to familiar – that fast and heady rush into intimacy: As a listener, you are inside of this music before you realize there was even an entrance. And as an audience member, you’re buckling and bowing and jumping before you even realize that you, too, know just how to dance.

Artist Equipment Box

Casio SK-1 BOSS PS-3

“The 2 things that always make me happy are my Casio SK-1 and a little pedal called Pitchshifter/Delay by Boss. Whenever I need a crazy sound but I don’t want it to be too “wierd” I find some combination of those 2 things and it always surprises me.”

the deli Winter 2013

25

specials the deli’s features

High Highs

RIYL: Dark Dark Dark, Lia Ices, Iron & Wine

Such Great Heights

By Nancy Chow

O

n a wet mid-September night, High Highs opened for local indie rock wizards, Here We Go Magic.

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning in the area.

Inside the usually chaotic Brooklyn Bowl, Sydney-via-Brooklyn band High Highs were setting up Christmas lights on the stage that runs parallel to the bowling lanes.

Once the trio played the first few notes of “Horses,” from theband’s debut EP, the frenzied party space turned into a sanctuary, a solace from the storm raging outside.

High Highs have that instantaneous calming quality in their wistful, melancholy folk-pop. The music is detailed with nuances and depth that immediately invades your headspace through your unsuspecting, exposed ears.

Resistance is futile; Jack Milas (vocals/guitar), Oli Chang (vocals/electronics) and Zachary Lipkins (drums) will sway moods in the best way possible.

Amazon must have immediately honed into the band’s profitable quality. TV viewers may recognize the cheerful, bright piano line from “Open Season” in the Kindle Fire HD commercials that began airing early September. While some bands have been very vocal about turning down licensing music for advertisements as they see it as “selling out,” others view the deals from a practical standpoint.

“It’s nice to have anyone appreciate new music,” says Chang,

raccoon fighter LIARS

FEET

EP

Available Now

“Raw rock and roll repackaged for the post-everything generation.” - The Deli

www.raccoonfighter.com 26

the deli Winter 2013

LI From

All

R

when asked about the commercial. “It’s also important in this day and age that bands make a living to tour and to bring their music to the audience that they have and hope to have.”

The music feels intimate yet expansive with its slow, steady builds that quietly unfold into a lush arrangement.

High Highs construct accessible modern folk-pop through a dreamy, vintage filter; essentially like an Instagram in music form. The band mixes analog and digital elements to create that hazy division between the past and present.

“Jack had these lovely, delicate songs,” says Chang of when the two initially met while working in a Sydney recording studio. “I just thought, ‘Oh, these are very nice. We could build these into something bigger.’”

The songs are great in their own acoustic right, but are amplified by the flexibility and capabilities of electronic elements that were not available to their predecessors.

The feel harkens back to melody-driven greats Simon and Garfunkel, while referencing contemporaries such as Fleet Foxes and Wild Nothing. In fact, High Highs beautifully covered the latter’s “Live in Dreams” from their debut Gemini.

There’s something so charming and subtle in the music that paints a remarkable, tender trance washed with watercolors, much like the cover art for High Highs’ selftitled, four-song EP released in November 2011. Milas also touches on the visual senses with his careful diction, assembling a vibrant pastiche of vivid images. The ambient, subtle synths create a warm soak over the sweet falsetto vocals, driving, rhythmic guitar and temperate drums. The haunting songs have occasional bright clearings, which maintain a fragile balance that pacifies more than upsets.

The tracks are a product of a cyclical process that begins in the studio. Either Chang or Milas brings a basic core idea into the studio to work on it together. When it reaches the rehearsal room, it usually transforms based on the limitations of what sounds they have at their disposal; live drums and amplifiers also act as consequential factors to the evolving mix. They next tackle the song at a show, then take it back into the studio and knead in what they learned from the first studio session, rehearsal room and live performance.

Since recording their EP, the trio has amassed more equipment to construct a more spacious sound. Milas has acquired new looping and chorus pedals, while Chang attributes the band’s more luscious sound to the addition of his analog Prophet ’08 synthesizer. The group enjoys pushing the boundaries for their often-small recording spaces.

High Highs’ debut LP, slated to drop in January 2013, will be self-produced. It will include a sampling of older songs, which were written about three years ago, slightly different versions of tracks from the EP, and new songs from the past few months. Different elements of the songs were recorded in various cozy spaces, even abroad. Some of the pianos were laid down in Chang’s house in Australia, while other components were captured in studios in New York and Australia. The drums, on the other hand, were recorded in a large, cavernous space in Long Island. Working with these disparate spaces, Chang believes that it makes the collection of songs on the album sound more sonically varied.

If the new tunes that they played at Brooklyn Bowl are any indication of the trajectory of the album, High Highs should be prepared for a rush of praise early next year when the record is finally released. The songs are very much in line with the EP that music critics already dote on. Like their latest single “Once Around the House,” the latest offerings are washed in melancholia with a pastoral yet sweeping feel willed by the trio. It’s an intimidating sound that’s difficult to project with merely three musicians on stage.

“We like the limitation, because then we can really focus on the basic parts and make them really strong,” says Chang of playing live. “If we record a big group of people in the studio singing a melody, it will obviously be hard. Although, hopefully in the future, the audience will be [singing along] anyway.”

High Highs are touring behind the record in January in the U.S., followed by a bout in their motherland, Australia, back to the U.S. for SXSW, and then finally Europe. They’ll be bringing their tiny, festive lights that decorate their stage set-up and were used in the “Once Around the House” music video.

“They have a lovely, warm invitingness,” says Chang of the Christmas lights. “We like the atmosphere they create. We think it suits our sound, and they help us get into the mood more as well. They’re nice, because they make things a little bit more special.”

Artist Equipment Box Most of the ethereal electronic sounds in High Highs’ music are triggered by a Novation Remote Midi Controller.

Novation Remote Midi Controller

the deli Winter 2013

27

’S

u by

kitchen recording equipment news

yo Brought to

Auria DAW for iPad Review by Eli Janney

T

he Auria app from Wavemachine Labs is a 48-track full featured DAW for iPad. And by full-featured I mean it has everything you would need to record, edit and mix a moderately sized project. It can handle up to 48 tracks of stereo or mono files in playback, and record 24 tracks at once if you have the right interface.

It’s got plugins, delay compensation, AAF import and export, WIST syncing (you can actually have two iPads work together), adjustable metering, adjustable pan laws, 8 subgroups, two aux sends and returns and a bunch of other cool things. All this on an iPad! Every channel has a built in channel strip, created by PSP Audioware. It includes an Expander/Gate, EQ with filters, and a compressor. It has a great selection of Q switches and Attack/Release, giving you the right amount of control without overburdening the layout. It sounds good and works without surprises.

The editing window is where it gets a bit tricky. It’s pretty slick and it works well. Editing with your fingers though is imprecise at best and the iPad screen is only 9.7 inches, so you end up doing A LOT of zooming in and out to see what you’re doing.

Alchemy 1.5 Sampler

But I used the Auria app with my Lynx Aurora 16 and it worked wonderfully for recording. It was pretty cool to have all those inputs available. Unfortunately, you can only have two outputs at a time so no summing outside the box.

This app’s usefulness as a demo machine to replace your Tascam Portastudio is basically a no-brainer. It’s doesn’t have built-in instruments, but it does have pretty much everything else you need to make a record in your bedroom.

Review by Gabe Lamorie Along with all of Camel Audio’s Sound Libraries, the new morphable presets (now over 1,000) sound excellent. Look forward to presets from every category from acidic leads to lush soundscapes. And the .CamelSounds format makes it easy to transfer presets to Alchemy Mobile and other Alchemy instruments on different computers.

Camel Audio made a smart move combining their classic “Basic interface” in the same window as their new browser.

The new browser really opens up a window of inspiration to immediately edit/remix the chosen sounds while being able to easily find another sound to play with, without switching windows. This option becomes very apparent when combined with the iOS version of Alchemy.

V

ersion 1.5 brings new levels of integration to Camel Audio’s flagship sampler, Alchemy – with more control via their mobile Alchemy app for iOS devices and an excellent new browser that makes exploring the hundreds of new presets fun and easy.

The new Browse window makes it much easier to navigate presets and sound banks. All Alchemy and Alchemy Player Sound Libraries are tagged to make life easier with the new browser, and aside from the basic searching option, users can also freely type in the search box from tag names (including customized tags), sound names, etc. Additionally, users can also locate their favorite sounds using a 1-5 star rating system.

Linking the Alchemy Mobile app ($14.99 MSRP) to my computer, I experienced no detectable lag between my finger movements on an iPad and the resulting change in audio through my Macbook Pro. Not only can Alchemy presets be selected through the mobile app, but Alchemy also sends over the preset remix pads to the mobile device. Users can select, mix and slide through in real time via the mobile app or the mouse on your computer or even create their own.

Another great update is the polyphonic pitch bend that users can control via the mobile app. The “polyphonic pitch bend” feature is actually pitch bend and aftertouch – all from your iOS device. This feature lends itself to a new, expressive way of playing Alchemy with minimal hardware.

For more reviews, visit www.SonicScoop.com!

30

the deli Winter 2013

NYC Studio News Sweet Sounds: A Bold New Studio Made For Manhattan

The new Sweet Sounds in SoHo is a two-room tracking and mixing facility within the downtown epicenter that is 594 Broadway.

Upon entering, visitors find themselves in the retrostyle lounge, with the entrance to the smaller “Broadway” production suite to their left, where you can see clear through the glass-walled vocal booth that sits in between it and the larger “Crosby” control room, then straight on back to the 175 sq. ft. live space. Natural light plus an inspiring downtown view is there for the taking. Gear-wise, there’s too much for our limited print space.

Patio” – an Avid D-Control-equipped control room with a 325 sq. ft. live room. But don’t let the D-Control fool you: This is a hybrid digital/analog space constructed by people who love the sound of API. Three lunchboxes sport vintage API 550 EQs; custom-racked vintage API 312 pres and Universal Audio 1108 pres are on hand; an API 8200 summing mixer is there; as is an API 2500 Stereo Bus Compressor to lay across the two-mix. Getting inside the box, dual Lynx Aurora 16 HD converters connect to Pro Tools HD with plugins from Waves, Avid, SoundToys, and Sonnox onboard.

The Patio also has 5.1 Surround Sound mixing capability, courtesy of a quintet of Dynaudio BM5A monitors and a 10” BM9S subwoofer. Two Dynaudio BM15A mains handle stereo duties.

The End Re-Launches With New-And-Improved Studio A

Terminus Recording Studios Arrives Atop 723 7th Avenue

The recording and performance venue known as The End has made some changes of late – re-tooling their rooms and refining their concept. Studio A now features a Malcolm Toft-designed MTA-980 analog desk, which once belonged to TV On The Radio. The owners wanted to – as co-owner Brian Binsack puts it: “create a home with a top-of-the-line recording studio in it.”

One side of the floor features Studio A’s control and tracking rooms, Studio B control room and a second common tracking space. Sight- and tie-lines make it possible for bands to use all of those rooms to track live with isolation between musicians. The other side of the floor is a living room, full kitchen and 100-capacity live or rehearsal venue with the backline and technical capacity to assemble and rehearse a tour.

Kaleidoscope Sound Opens The Patio

Kaleidoscope Sound, which is minutes from Manhattan in Union City, NJ, has recently added a Studio B known as “The

making the world a better sound ing place.

In October, a new world-class studio opened in the penthouse of the storied 723 7th Avenue (also home to recording studios such as Quad and Premier). Terminus has replaced Tainted Blue. It’s still owned by Tainted Blue founder Andrew Koss, but has been renovated, retooled and expanded.

Koss and his team built on the futuristic ergonomics and expansive layout of Tainted Blue’s Larry Swist-designed control room and the famed 450 sq. ft. live room, starting with the gear selection. While they kept the centerpiece AVID System 5 console, they surrounded it with a multitude of new top-notch outboard gear.

There’s another reason to think of Terminus as a new studio: It has a new studio. Producers, mixers, and especially songwriters can get creative in a newly appointed 130 sq. ft.

Studio B, equipped with an Avid Artist Control surface running Pro Tools 10 as well as soft synths and virtual instruments, plus Avalon and True Systems mic pres, API EQ, Empirical Labs Distressors, Apogee conversion, and Dynaudio AIR monitors.

10 jay street suite 405 brooklyn, ny 11201 (718) 797-0177 www.joelambertmastering.com

the deli Winter 2013

31

kitchen recording equipment news

Pigtronix Infinity Looper

By Gus Green

Fender Runaway Feedback Pedal

By Gus Green

T

T

he Pigtronix Infinity Looper has some of the best specs I’ve seen in a looper yet. I feel like this NYC based company really assessed the looping community’s needs when building this box. The first thing that caught my eye was the advanced sync options. Infinity’s innovative “SYNC MULTI” mode provides a multiplier function allowing the length of Loop 2 to be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 times the length of Loop 1. The two loops can also be run out of sync or even in SERIES, for verse / chorus song structures. Ninja style input split mode assigns Input 1 to Loop 1 and Input 2 to Loop 2, effectively allowing performers to record and overdub separate instruments on separate loops, into isolated amps simultaneously. Midi input for beat clock sync causes loop start and stop points to obey Pro Tools or any other DAW / Sequencer that outputs Midi.

The audio fidelity of this device also looks impressive.

This pedal incorporates discreet analog limiter stages, transparent analog pass-through and 24bit / 48kHz HD recording engine. I also really like the AUX Loop output intended to send looped audio to stage monitors. This is especially helpful for drummers to hear and stay in time.

An expression pedal jack for Loop Volume allows hands free control of the overall audio output.

Another great feature is the ability to load full resolution samples at 24 bit 48Khz over USB from your computer. It is also possible to load your looped performances to the computer for further mixing and mastering. I don’t know how often, after spending a lot of time looping something, I then had to loose it when I turned off my rig.

Needless to say this pedal is dedicated to stereo, latencyfree looping and I imagine it does quite a nice job. Many “dream features” are included in this unit and it seems like it will prove to be a looping workhorse.

li’s Check out the dex blog! stomp bo 32

the deli Winter 2013

he Fender Runaway Feedback Pedal is a natural feedback simulator that lets guitarists create feedback-type sounds easily and at any volume. Developed as a collaboration with Sweedish DSP maverick Softube, the feedback effect can be added and controlled simply by adjusting the controls and engaging the “expression pedal” which responds to vibrato, bends, slides and tremolo.

Controllable harmonic content and “wet only” signal options add great tonal flexibility to a pedal that encourages creativity, experimentation and fun.

I am a sucker for feedback sounds like any true child of the ’90s. This pedal looks interesting. I have used Softube’s Acoustic Feedback plug-in and I believe this pedal is probably similar. Very cool effect for instilling a little low volume chaos.

Strymon Mobius

O

ne of the sickest companies making stomp boxes right now is Strymon. They make really great digital pedals that focus on getting the tone exactly right, often times incorporating high end SHARC processor DSPs. Their next pedal, Mobius, is all about modulation.

Everything from lush choruses to pulsating tremolo as well as unlikely additions including AM modulation and bit crushing, this pedal is super diverse. This offering seems similar in technical depth to Stymon’s Timeline delay that I reviewed in the previous issue and loved; a tone tweaker’s delight.

www.delicious-audio.com

the deli's Pedal Board More pedal reviews at delicious-audio.com!

Devi Ever Console Project

Mesa Boogie Throttle Box

• First open source platform for Stomp Boxes, for both digital and analog FX. • The Console is just an enclosure stomp box that changes effect depending on the cartridge you load.

• You can load up to three cartridges with the biggest Console of the series, named “III” (pictured, the “II” version).

• Creates a standard by which developers and DIY enthusiasts can produce affordable effects

• Part of a new line of Mesa Boogie Pedals including this and 3 other distortions.

• The most aggressive of the bunch, features a Mid Cut that scoops out midrange to produce the signature Boogie “V” EQ-curve.

• It Has an Internal EQ/ Boost Switch, and up to 20dB of Boost.

DLS Versa Vibe Tremolo

Visual Sound Time Bandit

• 100% analog (optical technology) with a ton of options, from subtle to radical.

• Switch between Vibrato & Chorus for pitch bending vibrato, or signature Trower and Gilmour vibes.

• Vintage/Modern switches from warmer to brighter.

• Converts an incoming click track signal into a tap tempo signal.

• Allows to synch different effects to the same click - like delay and tremolo, through their Tap Tempo input jack.

• Also allows to easily synch all your effects to the drummer’s click.

if you are interested in reviewing pedals, plug-ins and apps for The Deli and Delicious Audio, ple ase contact delicious.editor@the delimagazine.com.

the deli's app spot

IK Multimedia SampleTank • Includes hundreds of instruments and rhythms patterns.

• Can be played through an external controller via midi with iRig MIDI. • Built in 4 track recorder.

34

NI iMaschine

Korg iKaossilator

Hexlar TouchOSC

• Intuitive beat sketch pad.

• Features Drums, Synth and one recorded track.

• Records up to 4 tracks and provides some effects.

• Comes with extensive library of sound + you can purchase extra ones.

• Creative X-Y interface to create music and sounds, including effects.

• Lay up to 5 tracks using 150 included sounds.

• Also designed for live performance using the Scale/Key setting.

• Allows to control loops in real time for DJ-Style live performances.

• Modular OSC and MIDI control surface.

• Sends and receives Open Sound Control messages over a Wi-Fi network.

• Supports both CoreMIDI and the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer.

• You can configure your own controls.

the deli Winter 2013