From Too Much Love we’d like to extend our most sincere appreciation and thanks to the people who helped make this first print edition possible. Your trust and support was invaluable to us. Special mention to Lorenzo Avila, for jumping aboard from the start, it wouldn’t have happened without him. Also in our hearts are Adam and Mickey from Gramps and Radio-Active Records respectively, Amy Miller and the whole Saints and Scissors crew, House of Creatives and Mishu Records, Danny and the Fetish Factory family, Rami and The Collective Sound, John Caignet and Jolt Radio, Astari Nite and Michael Ghost in particular, Vowws for being so enthusiastic, Kembra Pfahler and Katrina Del Mar, Ana Ruiz for cheering us on constantly, Stephany and the Poplife team, Jette Kelly, Charlie Tonelli, Sylvie Piccolotto and many other friends and family who have helped. Another special mention goes to Lauren Palma, for without her this magazine would look like a bad dream. She had no idea what she was getting into when she signed up and volunteered. Yet she took it in stride and with patience, and we’re delighted she’s with us.
Founder Florencia Franceschetti a.k.a Flor Frances Editor Joe Tenny Contributors Pia Barberis Kimberly Andrews Design Lauren Palma Cover Photographer: Katrina Del Mar Model Model: Kembra Pfahler Too Much Love Magazine www.toomuchlovemag.com
Too Much Love is published by Raygun Agency LLC. 1547 NW 28th Street, Miami, FL, 33142, United States. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited.
INDEX 5 - FOUNDERS & EDITORS NOTES.
26 - ALBUM REVIEWS; 2016
6 - HORROR STORIES AND DREAMS, TALKING WITH UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS.
STANDOUTS.
9 - IN THE STUDIO WITH BLEETH. NEW MUSIC, ASPIRATIONS AND SILLY MOMENTS. 10 - ASTARI NITE: A MODERN TWIST ON A CLASSIC GENRE. 10 - MELTING THE BORDERS OF REALITY 12 - FUTURE FEMINISM, ART AND SHOCK; A CONVERSATION WITH KEMBRA PFAHLER. 17 - TRANSMISSION: POST PUNK 18 - VOWWS: POWER PSYCHO DUO THAT ALSO DOES MUSIC 22 - DOMINATING THE MACHINES. PATRICK CODENYS SHARES THE STORY OF FRONT 242
28 - EDUARDO CAPILLA: MULTIPLE CREATIONS AND BROKEN BOUNDARIES. 30 - ZEREN BADAR: HISTORY, FUN AND DADAISM. 33 - TOO MUCH LOVE AGENDA. 34 - TOO MUCH LOVE RANTS: LITTLE THINGS THAT WON’T CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE KNOWING THEM.
EDITOR’S NOTE All this horsepower and nowhere to gallop. Bringing Too Much Love (TML) to print has definitely been an adventure. One that has not finished yet, not by a long shot. But it’s the beginning that interests, and of this I shall write. TML has covered music, arts, fashion and more for over 3 years now, from our website toomuchlovemag.com and our radio show, Too Much Love Radio Show. It was decided that the print version of TML was to be more music oriented, and centered in Miami and the South Florida area. This does not mean we cut the arts and fashion. No, we blended them in. Musicians have always been artists and fashionistas, and vice versa. Creative minds know no limits. I realized that Miami did not need a high end, pricey magazine full of art and fashion. There’s plenty of that. What is lacking is a magazine with quality content about music. Features on bands, artists, shows and albums. Something interesting to read, something that one might want to show to a friend or bandmate. A magazine that covers local, national and international acts, with more than some tour dates and a hype. We endeavor to interview as many of these artists possible, and bring them to you. We decided on a content centered publication, giving the words more importance than the photos. And a key element in this is that it must be free. Free means accessible to everyone and anyone, creating new interests and reviving old ones. Miami in the recent times has had somewhat tough luck in the music scene, with some venues closing down, others shortening the hours of operation. A decrease in touring bands in the area has also been noted. And it is not like the bands have gone anywhere, nor the public here. So this magazine is our way to contribute to a scene that is, like a phoenix, re-emerging from its ashes. So, like back in the heyday of punk and rock zines, my intention is to use this magazine as a catalyst in Miami, to help kick the burgeoning music scene into high gear. Because, why not? It’s a fun objective. Joe Tenny
“A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER.” Many angels and demons were involved in the creation of the first print issue of Too Much Love. Some discarded drafts, some ideas and dreams that went to hell and only the strongest ones survived. Such is natural selection. As many of the artists featured in this first edition, my drive and energy were born out of necessity, to fill a space that was missing in my life and in my surroundings. When I first started Too Much Love in 2013, I was only able to create an online platform for it because of a lack of budget and resources. But to my surprise many of the artists that I admire were willing to get on the phone and to answer my questions, to be part of what I was trying to bring to life and to share their message and time with our readers. I got the help of some good and talented friends such as Julia Saborido, who designed the website, Pia Barberis, who was one of the main supporters and creative minds behind the project, and Sylvie Piccolotto who always gave good advices. After some years of ups and downs we started our own radio show on Jolt Radio that helped us establish as a multimedia platform. In 2015 Joe Tenny came on board as our editor and everything went uphill from there. Finally, in November of 2016 we gathered the support of our friends and family and many key figures and supporters of Miami’s music scene and we brought the print edition to life. (Please read the thank you section). I’ll be eternally grateful to all of those who supported us from the beginning, based on trust and hope. Too Much Love is a music magazine for all the alternative minds, we aim to bring back the quality of music publications back in the 80’s and 90’s featuring interviews with international, national and local artists. Some opinion and lots of personality. We will have albums and concerts reviews mixed with interviews and features on music and art. This is a magazine for people who like to read, grow and experience new things and realities. Flor Frances
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HORROR STORIES AND DREAMS, TALKING WITH UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS By Flor Frances The British band Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats ( also known simply as Uncle Acid) are one of the unquestionable leaders of the new psychedelic rock movement that has been gaining notoriousness in the past few years and have rapidly become a cult band. Dancing in a gray area between rock and metal, their sound evokes the darkest souls and force them to reveal themselves. With strong influences from the 60’s and 70’s rock, Uncle Acid shares stories about mass murders, vampires and witches, all of them tainted with a modern twist. The band toured the U.S. last September in support of their latest album, The Night Creeper, released last year. A couple of days before their show in St. Petersburg on September 4th, we had the chance to talk to Kevin Starrs, founder of the band.
How did you come up with the concept behind the band. Was it something that was planned beforehand or did it start developing as the band started playing together? It was planned beforehand. I always wanted to have a band where there was a balance between light and dark so you will have the dark riffs and the dark lyrical content and mix it with very melodic vocal lines and harmonies. I always liked that sort of contrast. So the idea was there from the beginning, it ended up turning heavier that what I actually planned in the beginning. The initial idea was more toward the power pop and it kind of went heavier and heavier, it was a natural thing. You were unemployed at the time, so was forming the band some kind of outlet to kill time? Yes, pretty much. I didn’t have any income and I decided to invent my own job, being a musician. And that’s pretty much what I did, I started recording some of the songs that I had written and it just took off from there really. Do you remember the first song that you composed for Uncle Acid? I think it might have been “Vampire Circus” or “Witches Garden” but yes it all happened very quickly that first album (Vol I.) anyway.
Besides being a very talented musician you are quite the storyteller. Although the 60’s cult influences are notorious, I wonder where do you get the ideas for your lyrics from? Books, movies, life experiences… I guess a lot of films. If I watch a couple of good films that kind of gives me an idea and then I mix it with my own concepts and stories, things like that. And do you ever dream about the songs you write? About the stories you create? Not really, sometimes I will dream melodies and things like that and then you wake up and you forget them. It’s always a rush because the melodies that you dream about are the best melodies that have been invented ever so it’s always frustrating when you wake up and you can’t remember. How was the process of rebuilding the band after Blood Lust? It was difficult because where I was living there was no other musicians, in Cambridge so I really had to head to London to try and find people which is, I think, similar to what Pink Floyd did, they started in Cambridge and then they moved to London to start their career. It was a similar thing with us. I eventually found everyone I needed in London.
Photography: Ester Segarra
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There is a come back to psychedelic rock, not only in the U.K. but in the West Coast and even in South America. What advice would you give to bands and musicians that want to start exploring this genre? Just be true to yourself, do whatever you think you need to do, don’t try to jump into any bandwagon just because you think is going to make you popular, just write the music that you have to write and then everything will come naturally. Follow your own path really. Do you think the resurgence of vinyl has helped the rebirth in popularity of psych rock? Yeah, probably. It’s good that people want to buy something that they can really get into. The great thing about vinyl is that it is a full package. The artwork, and obviously the sound quality as well. It’s good that people went from mp3 to the complete opposite way into vinyl again. You recently released a double single Pusher Man and Remember Tomorrow. Why did you choose Iron Maiden’s “Remember Tomorrow” to make it your own? Why that particular song? Well we originally did it for a compilation for a magazine and it turned out so good that we decided to use it as a B side for our own
single. “Remember Tomorrow” is one of my favorite Maiden songs. You are currently touring the U.S. playing uncountable shows. Is there anything in particular that you miss from home? Not really, I’m so used to being away all the time. Maybe I feel distance from football, it’s hard to keep up with, you miss the games when you are on the road, that can be quite difficult, but of course with internet you can see the results but it’s not the same. That’s probably the only thing I really miss. What can you say to someone who hasn’t seen you play live yet? What can they expect? Just a lot of heavy, fuzzy rock music. It’s aggressive and dark and shadowy. It’s not your average rock show, there is no flashing lights, just people playing a lot of heavy music on stage and I think people enjoy it.
IN THE STUDIO WITH BLEETH
N E W M U S I C , A S P I R AT I O N S A N D S I L LY M O M E N T S
By Joe Tenny Harken to me those who do not know what drummer; he keeps everything spotless. As for equipment, I was using this vocal delay reverb the mighty Bleeth be! pedal that I now incorporate with the other Bleeth is a sludge metal band from Miami, stuff. The bassist here is the “gearhead” of the well loved and with a strong following in the band. It’s a little embarrassing how little stuff I local scene. They’re set to release new material use. I have a black Toneworks pedal for overat the beginning of the year, so we from Too drive/distortion. Also, a Cathedral pedal for Much Love put on our Viking helmets and delay and the reverb aux pedal, which is super invaded the Bleeth cave. Or, we could call simple but badass. Lastly, an EQ pedal, just to it “The Lair of the Bleeth.” There, the band bump up my sound a bit. proceeded to blast our ears off with metal and Ryan: Yes! For me, it’s never-ending. I’m a make our faces fall off laughing with a bunch collector. Particularly for what we’re doing now of funny anecdotes. Then, they smoothed the in our live set—I’m using all Acoustic Heads, occasion with a handle of Evan Williams. They the old kind, before the brand got bought out even managed to work with our photographer, and destroyed. I’ve also got some new pedmuch to everyone’s surprise and delight. We als, crazy noise stuff, and then a Moog synth mostly talked about their new music, although Mother 32. the conversation did get sidetracked a couple times. Have you named the new album? I’ve endeavored to keep this interview as Ryan: We haven’t decided on a name yet. close to the recording as possible, in the hopes of maintaining the easygoing vibe and convey- We want to see the finished project before ing the fun that one of Miami’s heaviest bands naming it, since we’ve been evolving new sounds in the process of making it. has to offer. Lauren: It’s definitely like a concept album. Bleeth is Lauren Palma on guitar, Juan Lon- We are connecting it from start to finish. Obdoño on drums, and Ryan, Just Ryan, on bass. viously all the songs have names, but we want This last band member’s name is pronounced to tie in our artwork, too. We have ideas for the with the same cadence as “Bond, James Bond.” name, but nothing solid yet. You are working on a new album right now. Any major sound differences from your previous recordings?
Photography by Charlie Tonelli
Ryan: A lot of development, adding a lot of layers between songs. It’s sounding cool. I feel this album has more slow sections, more droning and heavy sounds, and I believe the dynamics have increased in many of the songs—simplicity, yet a lot of complication in dynamics. Kind of like taking people on a trip. Lauren: We’re incorporating interesting, weird analog synths stuff, mixing them in with the songs, so the sound will be very different from previous work. We’re happy playing loud, very loud [Lauren says “loud” like Schwarzenegger yells “Get to da choppa!”], but, with this material, we’ve tried to bring it down a little, tried to be soft and still be strong. Juan: I’ve had most of my say in the speed of this material. We’re going a little slower than usual, more accents and shit. Lauren: Juan has a lot of ideas. Ryan and I often look to him for input and then say, “F**k, why didn’t we think of that? We’ve got our heads up our f**king guitars!” Ryan: Yeah, Juan is basically the best human being. He balances us out, since Lauren and I are basically on opposite sides of the spectrum—I’m a Sagittarius, and she’s a Gemini; I’m fire, and she’s air! Then Juan is there, just masterminding us and reigning us in.
a huge jam—as awesome as that would be. We also want to keep some music aside in case of a lucky break with a label. Having talked about “the now”, let’s touch on the future for a little bit. What are your aspirations and objectives with Bleeth? Anyone you’d like to tour with? Any place you’d like to visit? Lauren: I would love to go on tour with Acid King. That would be f**cking retarded! And the West Coast, for sure. Also Eastern Europe. Juan and I, we were just in Asia, and a tour there would be kind of insane. In a good way. Ryan: I’d love to go to Japan and play. It’d be a dream. We’re bringing the Florida sound to the scene in general, and we feel pretty proud to be from where we are. Taking that sound to Europe and Japan would be, like, the ultimate shit, the Miami shit over there. Juan: Not sure. I love grindcore, so I think Pig Destroyer would be up there in the touring ideal. Future shows?
Lauren: We have a show with Doomstress, from Texas, on November 11th at Kreepy Tiki in Fort Lauderdale. They’re a big stoner metal Do you have the artwork? band. It’s going to be a fun night. Lauren: We’re hoping to bring Jean (from Ryan: And on December 9th, right after Shroud Eater) onboard to do it. Art Basel, we’re playing at Gramps in Wynwood. We’ll be playing with our friends HolHow many tracks in the new album? ly Hunt and Unearthly Child, a new band Lauren: Six tracks, not counting intros and made up from members of prominent bands outros. It’s probably around 45 minutes long. throughout Florida. Ryan: Around the 45 minute mark sounds Any silly anecdotes? right. We have some material that no one has Lauren: Well, there’s the time we were heard before, so we’re excited to get to show it. playing Sweat Records and I fell down. And What’s the date of the release? Do you have that was weird, because I usually don’t fall down when I play… But I made it work. any presentations planned? Any events? We’ve done some weird shit—like the show in Lauren: We’re probably going to get the Philly, at the Kung Fu Necktie. record mastered by this guy up in Boston. Ryan: Yeah, we almost died there. Imagine But no official release date, since we want to pitch the album to a couple of labels before- a fucking stairwell and hauling up an Ampeg hand. We are going to put it out on cassette cabinet. It was cool taking it up, but down was tape via Primitive Violence, which is Jean’s a problem. Especially after you’ve been pound(from Shroud Eater) tape label. As for a live ing down a bunch of beers and shots as you setting—as soon as the record is mastered, the watch every band play that night. Lauren: We played Sweatstock a couple of party is going dOOOOoown! Probably at the years ago on the main stage—we’d just started beginning of next year. Ryan: We’re currently also in the works for the band—and suddenly, this woman comes a music video, which will be a sort of presen- up to the stage and pulls her shirt off and starts tation for the album. The name of that track is shaking her tits in front of me. That was real“Revenant.” It’s filmed by Ana Trevino. She’s ly crazy to me, and I was playing and looking an old friend of mine. She’s shooting it com- around at my boys like, “Is this happening right now? Is this for real?” pletely at the Alamo in Texas.
Are you planning any bonus material or Are you adding any new equipment? Any- keeping anything for special releases? new toys? Ryan: We do have extra stuff. We have Juan: I keep it simple, just my usual kit. I’m stuff that hasn’t been recorded, and we are also a fan of Paiste cymbals. They sound amazing. working on new music even now. The thing is, when we’re working on an album we have to Lauren: Juan is a very clean and neat focus on the tracks we’ve chosen. It can’t all be
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ASTARI NITE: A MODERN TWIST ON A CLASSIC GENRE By Flor Frances To balance out the brightness and endless summer days of Florida, Astari Nite makes obscure post-punk songs with a heavier edge. The band, that has been around for over 7 years, is one of the few local acts that was able to play with several of their all time idols, such as Peter Murphy, Psychedelic Furs, Modern English... The first time I saw them play was in 2010 at the classic, and now lost, Vagabond in downtown Miami. I remember it like a blurry dream full of Jägermeister, vodka, eyeliner and a dark soundtrack. Six years after I was invited to one of their performances at Revolution where they performed opening for She Wants Revenge, a band that I’m very fond of. To my delight, Astari Nite’s performance had nothing to envy to any of the touring bands that play at the Live Nation venue. One of the songs of that show was even documented in a video that you can find on YouTube. Astari Nite’s sound has been mutating over the years from new wave, to post punk, some
industrial and even it went more towards indie rock in their latest album Until the End of The Moon, released in May of this year. There is a need to highlight that the live sound of the band is way heavier than how they sound in recording, and they have a pretty neat stage presence. After a very active 2016, including the release of their second full length album with Berlin label Danse Macabre Records some videos, an East Coast tour, and a performance at one of the iconic Fetish Factory parties Blood Lust, the band is going back to the studio to record new songs. “Our new EP came to life by the influences that we were listening to during our East Coast tour this past May in 2016. It’s safe to say that The Chameleon’s, Suede, The Cure, Bauhaus and Siouxsie got us home safe. As always my lyrics tend to drift in between fact and fiction. The single that will be released on Christmas Day is perhaps the most personal song to date,” shares singer Mychael Ghost.
MELTING THE BORDERS OF REALITY By Joe Tenny Virgo is an anomaly in this real, somewhat grey world of ours. For starters, she’s an alien. And for seconds, she’s an artist! If you happen to be wandering around the streets of Miami, it will be easy to tell when you’ve seen her—since her mannerisms and style are five generations ahead of the rest of us mortals. Oh, and she’s always dressed completely in white, from boots to hair. Virgo, a.k.a. Elizabeth Clark, is well know in the Miami music scene for being a thrillingly creative electronic music artist, combining bass-heavy melodies with soft, flowing vocals. Her shows are marked by her distinctive stage presence, costumes, and lighting. Not limited to one skill, she also creates video games and is particularly involved in the pioneering field of virtual reality (VR). Her current tool of choice is Unreal Engine, and she uses it to create Water Planet, an adventure VR game that complements her latest EP—also named Water Planet. The game goes with the music; the music goes with the game. Here, Virgo expands upon this topic and tells us how technology is changing the entertainment world. On the future of music and its relationship to the up-and-coming VR takeover in media: The way I see VR is as a new platform to experience music. At one point, we had music videos, but now we have VR experiences—a new format. My aim is to create these experiences in which you can listen to my music and be immersed in this world. It’s a new tool for creating the future of video content.
Aesthetics and music often go hand-inhand. Do you see that translating smoothly into VR? I definitely think it would be cool to have an avatar of myself in VR at some point. I see VR as the greatest platform to represent music—from the colors, the textures that I use for my visuals, even the music and sound design itself. I think what I can create in a game platform would be the best way to represent it. Especially since, then, you get a full immersion for the listeners—interacting, as opposed to being bystanders on a platform such as YouTube. Nowadays, there is the trend of streaming concerts from far away to a local screen and headphones, in the style of Silent Disco, for example. Do you think that will happen soon in VR? Absolutely, I think it is going to happen. I’ve been reading about VR DJ sets that interact with the music. I’d love to do virtual shows. I guess the whole thing about it is accessibility—opening up your live experience for everyone with Internet access. Similar to the nowadays streaming of live performances, soon it will be VR experiences. Do you see yourself doing music for films and other 2D- or 3D projects? Yes! Some of the music I first composed was for film, and I definitely see myself returning to that direction at some point. The game I’m developing (Water Planet) will also be available on conventional platforms via Steam. There’s still work to be done, but soon the experience will be out there for everyone.
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FUTURE FEMINISM, ART AND SHOCK; A CONVERSATION WITH KEMBRA PFAHLER Kembra Pfahler can be considered the godmother of modern day shock art. Her show The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black (TVHOKB) has her performing naked, her body covered with red paint. Enormous black wigs and black teeth have become a classic among the New York underground and an inspiration to many artists around the world.
As a member of the underground art scene, movie scene and music scene in the 80’s she saw many of the social problems that assailed NYC, all while playing shows at the legendary ABC no Rio and other venues. She has seen many friends die of aids or addiction, but that has only make her stronger and more determined to do her work.
Originally from Hermosa Beach, California, Kembra made New York’s Lower East Side her home in 1979 and has been there since. New York influenced her art a lot, and also her music when she founded her band (TVHOKB) in 1990. But she is not only a visual artist or a musician, she has made many Super 8 horror films and worked in and created an uncountable number of art exhibitions and installations.
As an artists she follows the philosophy of Availabism, creating and getting inspired by what is closest at hand, but also has had her say in the fine arts, creating canvas art by sitting naked on the piece, making butt prints. But if you think you have read it all, something that we can’t pass unnoticed is her work with New York based artists E.V. Day titled “Giverny,” where they created a series of pictures in the famous French gardens immortalized in paint by Claude Monet, always placing Kembrah in her characteristic attire in the middle of the picture.
Her whole life has been about self expression, a work of art, where beauty, horror and sadness converge. And sexuality, lots of sexuality. One of Kembra’s most impacting and common topics has always been the outright nudity, and sexual references to her show, always breaking taboos and destroying standards of beauty and attractiveness. From giant penis props on stage to Wall of Vagina act in a gallery, sex is a tool to shock, to uncomfort and to amaze. Her acter are considered extreme in many circles, a sentiment born in reaction to such performances as having her vagina sewn shut in protest of how women were (and are) treated. The attraction of repulsion has fueled her artistic motors for years. Her stunning looks and talent got her to model for Calvin Klein in the past and more recently for Marc Jacobs in his fall 2016 collection. Despite her modeling career, she’s always stayed true to her rebellious ways. Kembra is a powerful activist for women’s rights, social and gender issues.
Of course all her passion for art wasn’t born in a day, she actually came from a family who influenced her taste in music since she was a little girl growing up in a surfing town. In this interview we dig deep into Kembra’s story and find out more about the passions and motivations behind her art.
Photography by Katrina Del Mar, a New York based photographer with over 20 years experience. Katrina is also a filmmaker and has received a multitude of accolades and awards, including the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship in Video. She has had photo exhibitions in New York, Miami, Minneapolis, Sydney (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand) and Porto (Portugal) just to name a few. Her education and award list is far too long to list here. Her photos of Kembra are a great example of her style: intense and sharp.
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How were your days growing up in California? Growing up in California, we didn’t have any beautiful stories to share with each other, we had only ugly stories in our lives to share. We loved surfing, we loved the ocean, but there was no magic in our lives, there were no beautiful stories. So we had to invent our own stories, our own myths. There were just Taco Bell, and Mcdonalds… but the Beach Boys are from there. And I think why I started to do The Voluptuos Horrors of Karen Black and why I started to become an artists was because there was no beauty in our lives, we had to invent it, we had to find a reason to live, there was no good reason. If I was to imagine my work with The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and my history, I did not studied the occult nor I did study traditional magic but I always gravitated towards mythology and anthropology, rituals. What records did you listen to back then? Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, Donovan, Nina Simone, classical music such as Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and Gustav Möller. I had an interesting musical background from my parents. Even my brother brother Adam is a drummer, he was in a band called Jawbreaker. I also loved hawaiian music. There is a special kind of guitar, called slack key guitar, is a very special because of the tuning and the kind of wood is made out of, so when I was growing up I always like hawaiian music and ukulele. You are a filmmaker, a performer and a musician. With what form of art you identify yourself the most?
These days they call the kind of artists that I am, interdisciplinary artist. They used to call it multimedia art in 70’s and now they call it interdisciplinary. Basically I just like freedom and I feel really lucky that in the year 2016 we are living in New York City and we have the freedom to write, to make films, to do music. So I’m very privileged because I can basically create in any way that I want. What triggered your passion for self expression? Abuse from every direction, shame, abuse. It was not born out of romance. It was born out of abuse and terror and trying to fight to find some reason to continue, find some way to make life more beautiful. I feel very lucky and very grateful that I can meet so many different kinds of people, young artists that are so great, that have energy to start magazines and all sorts of projects. The young artists are really ruling the world. Are there any artists that you recently discovered that you like? I love a woman in a band called Pharmakon. I love actress and model Cara Delevingne, she is an incredible spirit and she is really talented. Anohni [formerly known as Antony Hegarty] she is one of my favorite artists. I also love Rick Owens, his work, his designs, he’s a fantastic artist, and I think he’d be humble about it and disagree with me about being a great artist, but he is incredible. I worked with him in his first fashion show, in the 80’s, the show was called Lack Of Beauty. I was also a Calvin Klein model. I did a lot of modeling which is very humorous because my Karen Black look
was always highly criticised. I always loved women in art and film like Carol Borland, Vampyra, Barbara Steele, that kind of beauty is more interesting to me than my real look, which I think is like a little blonde surfer girl. I also recently did a Marc Jacobs campaign that was interesting. Being an alternative and revolutionary artists like yourself is not easy. And I imagined it was more difficult back in the late 70’s and 80’s. What were the main obstacles that you encountered throughout your career? I never thought of myself having a career, I always thought of myself having a life. Is either you are dead or you are alive. And I went through the decade of the 80’s and late 70’s when I lost everybody to aids, so I feel very lucky that I lived through that. I think of my life in decades, in the 70’s I was in high school and I was a child, in the 80’s was when I left Los Angeles and I came to New York City the same day that I graduated from Santa Monica high school, I came to the Lower East Side and I just stayed here. And how did the Lower East Side influence your art? I always loved the Dominican and Puerto Rican people so much because the Caribbean culture is so important in the Lower East side and salsa is so huge and all of the singers that sing about all the santeros, we have many santeria, witchcraft stories. When I moved here nobody would talk to us, the white people, when we first moved in, but I stayed for so long here and I never left so I think I bothered them so long enough
that they realized I will never leave and they found out that I wasn’t a serial killer. What was your favorite thing that you used to create art? Probably certain kinds of flowers. I love flowers. One of your latest performances/exhibitions was Future Feminism. I saw an amazing show at Webster Hall where you played with Anohni and Coco Rosie. What does Future Feminism stand for? Future feminism was founded by Anohni, Cocorosie and Johanna Constantine and I, and we started it because we were frustrated of doing art exhibits that were just full of projects. We wanted to collaborate on a work that was co-authored. Basically it was our perspective about the current state, not of feminism, but of the earth. If you look up the tenets of future feminism, the way we treat earth is similar to the way that we treat women. We wanted to, as visual artists, to express ourselves using clear and simple language; we went away on retreat several times to work together, coming up with the project. We realised that we wanted these tenets engraved into pink onyx stone. We did the show at The Hole gallery, we invited many prestigious performance artists to participate, like Laurie Anderson, Marina Abramović, Lorraine O’Grady and many other great women. We had many nights of great performances. It was one of the proudest moments in my art career. We did a concert at Webster Hall to raise the money for the show and pay the performers, so we basically paid for everything ourselves. The gallery also helped as much as they could. The artists that worked with me, Anohni, Cocorosie and Johanna, these are people I’ve respected my whole life. It was a really interesting and difficult show to do. I think we’ll be doing the show again next year, perhaps Europe. It was not very well received, we got a lot of hate mail from people in the community as well as strangers. They had an issue with one of the tenets, that says “The future is female”. Basically we wanted to change the world, and we thought that we could do it through future feminism. We were very ambitious and sincere about it. Another tenet is “relieve men of their role of predators and protectors”. Future Feminism needs the collaboration of all men and women, meaning men are a very important part of the movement; men deserve their stereotypes removed as much as women. The problem with feminism is than many men feel excluded from feminism, but in fact if they were feminist men they’d be able to discover their own self, their own identity instead of a preconceived role. Men have always had a place at our feminism conversations. We realized that our ideas weren’t new, they were reiterations of things that unfortunately have not changed despite of time passed, such as misogyny. Racism still exists despite the effort to change it. There was a big protest recently in Argentina and mobilizations against gender violence. It is an important issue that must be talked about. It is, if you’re a musician and or a visual artist the use of language is important. I am not an academic, and it was important for me to learn how to express myself in clear language, because usually I do these extreme performances, like The Wall Of Vagina or when I sewed my
own vagina shut; I spent my whole life developing this vocabulary of images that is very feminist based. But I have never in my life tried to articulate my feelings towards feminism using language, so the future feminism show was the result of us experimenting. It was an art show, not any kind of political movement. It was painful for me to see it so misunderstood, even by close friends in the underground and LGBT communities took the show negatively. It could’ve been that they felt non included, but we only had 11 or 12 nights of performances. It was impossible to include everyone. Anohni has been invited to Europe for a 1 year residency and we hope to do the
female centric language, with indigenous female qualities like intuition, compassion, and emotion more present. I think femininity is not as much about gender or genitalia but what happens in the brain, a feminine way of thinking. What would the world be if it were dominated by feminism? To take out of the equation the judeo-christian pattern, all of those science fiction religions that center of life after death, and go back to something more native and indigenous. We have to get back to the number 1 problem facing the world that is we’re not treating earth correctly; and things won’t change with only men in charge. Maybe we’re looking for a change in the political systems, more things being run by women. The future feminism show was very misunderstood, but through explanation it came to pointing us in the direction to save the world as we know it. I feel everyday like I don’t know how much longer we can sustain the world as it is now. I know that sounds very negative, but you can feel it everyday. Do you have any upcoming shows or exhibitions? I have always done work in the the United States, and I toured with my band (The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black) back in the 90’s, and I never toured in Europe, I always thought it was more important to stay here US. Every time I visited Europe it felt that people loved me too much for the wrong deal, they loved me just because I was a New York artist. When I did shows in the U.S. I was essentially doing the same kind of work I am doing now, these really extreme performance works, with music. I did not want to preach to people already converted, I wanted to go to cities that were difficult. I jokingly said I wanted to be as unpopular as possible. For many years record companies always wanted to make me more attractive in a normal way, they wanted me to wear clothes. They said that If people saw my regular self they’d buy my records, but I never agreed to change. Now a gallery in London called Emalin is having a show for me, it’s opening November 15th, and then I am going to do a Karen Black performance in Paris. The Karen Black show will be solo, we can’t afford to take the whole band and crew to Paris.
show again there, take another shot at it. And besides that, did you have any positive feedback? Any good stories about future feminism? I feel that it started a conversation that is contagious, especially through Anohni’s work and her travels. People are now talking more about feminism. We hoped to take off the negative view of feminism. There are many women that identify with feminist thoughts but they will not admit it even to themselves, which is a real shame. I think it is important for being independent and free thinking individual. To be proud and happy with your body, how could you not be a feminist? Why would you say you’re not? I think it is because the reputation of the word feminism. Another tenet of future feminism is to change male centric language. Mosts things are referred to as “he”, and most times “he” is said before “she”, and that’s a shame. That should be changed. A lot of feminism is about equality, but I am not interested in that. I want to see what the world would be like if it was dominated by
Your influence is pretty big and widespread if you know where to look for it. How do you feel about this? I don’t think about it too often unless I’m really really hungry. I feel like I need to take care of my parents more; It’s never been a problem for me to have not made a lot of money, but now I want to help my family more and sometimes it can be painful if I see someone in pop culture who is making tons of money and I don’t have enough to help my own. My family insists I keep doing what I do. There is this show that I did called Womanizer at Deitch gallery, and a couple of weeks after the show opened, Britney Spears came out with a song named the same, and the logo of her album was too similar to mine. Although the idea behind each Womanizer was quite different. My reference was about a writer called Hubert Selby Jr, who wrote a book called Last Exit To Brooklyn and he was someone that I knew. I saw a film about him in which he was described as a womanizer which I thought was very humorous. I know how he loved women and femininity so much that Womanizer was like a play of words, it was more about turning everything into something that was heavily female, not something that
was derogatory. So my feeling about the semantics of the word womanizer was totally different that the meaning of the Britney song. It is funny because the letters for her song were exactly the same as the ones we used. I think that we are now quite different than Marilyn Manson, and I actually love what he does, I just think we are different. I see a little visual reference, such as the black teeth. When we (The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black) started out people were more into the grunge look. It’s not like we invented extreme aesthetic, it is simply that when we began that aesthetic was unpopular and you did not see it in pop culture at all. Which is why I did it. I think a great deal about originality and doing things differently is not about copying, it is about doing something different. It is funny, I have students now that will blacken their teeth or use visual elements that remind me if the Karen Black shows, and they tell me that the reason they’re doing it is not because of Karen Black, but because of experiences that they had as a child. Personal reasons. But to me, if I see someone doing something I wouldn’t want to do it myself, originality is important to me.
TRANSMISSION: POST-PUNK By Rippin Kittin A couple of weeks ago in conversation with a 22-year-old about the type of music I enjoy DJ’ing, I was asked, “What exactly is post-punk and new wave music?” In response, I played one of my favorite female pioneers, Siouxsie and the Banshees. But the question really got me thinking about when I first started to listen to music—my first albums and watching music videos on MTV. I remember when I began listening—but when exactly did the music begin? And, furthermore, which came first: post-punk or new wave? Nowadays the genres tend to be lumped together, so I set out to separate them a bit. In the wake of the punk rock movement of the 70s, a group of artists emerged who started their own trend of music, exploring more emotions than just the anger and disconformity that helped define punk. Attempting to break from rock tradition, these artists embraced electronic music and the avant-garde, and thus post-punk was born. It too is music that sets itself apart from the mainstream, but, unlike its predecessor, it’s refined, not intentionally coarse, and feelings are worn on the sleeve. Post-punk’s early vanguard included Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, and Blondie. It became immensely influential and was closely related to the development of ancillary genres such as gothic rock and industrial music. Its various facets spawned and inspired Britain’s independent label infrastructure, the goth subculture, and even some internationally popular groups, including U2, the Smiths, R.E.M., and Red Hot Chili Peppers. But, by the mid-80s, post-punk’s clout was overshadowed by its pop-friendly cousin, new wave.
In 1981, we saw the birth of MTV. The Buggles’s “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video to promote the channel’s launch, and new wave became a music genre. The popularity of new wave artists and the exposure that MTV gave them made new wave a trendsetter, from pop to electronica. New wave’s history is also heavily intertwined with synthpop, a subgenre with more or less the same birthday as new wave. Whereas new wave was an evolution of post-punk that added more electronic influences to its music, one could say that synthpop was an attempt to play post-punk music with electronic instruments—primarily synthesizers. These were the key instruments, and they helped define the sounds of bands such as Depeche Mode and the Eurythmics. In the late 80s, differences between new wave and other music genres began to blur and made it difficult to categorize an artist’s subculture—especially when the electronic backbone that defined new wave become more mainstream and electronic music became an established genre of its own, while pop music started to embrace electronic sounds as a way to enhance singers’ backing vocals. By the end of the 80s, both post-punk and new wave had faded from the spotlight. Many bands broke up; drug addictions were rampant, and a number of iconic musicians died. The creative output from post-punk and new wave sharply declined in the 90s (the exception being the electroclash movement that occurred in the latter half of the decade). The new millennium, however, brought with it a resurgence: the Strokes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all notably inspired by post-punk and new wave—i.e., the music they grew up listening to. On a local level, South Florida can feel the influences of these movements in bands such as Astari Nite and Modernage. So, in the end, we have post-punk to thank for inspiring generations of musicians, internationally, and creating the genres of new wave, electronica, goth, industrial, synthpop, indie techno, electroclash, and chillwave.
VOWWS: THE PSYCHO-POWER DUO THAT ALSO DOES MUSIC. By Flor Frances Vowws is an Australian/Iranian duo based in L.A. that caught my attention last year. The first song I heard from them was “Losing Myself in You.” The track has a few elements that bring back the nostalgic darkness from the 80’s: synths, industrial sounds and the unique vocals of Gary Numan. This piked my interest in Vowws and made me listen to their debut album The Great Sun, that was released on halloween eve in 2015. The record, produced by Kevin McMahon (SWANS, The Walkmen) basically reflects the conflicts and dichotomies between the different personalities of its two members, kind of like a musical and lyrical interaction between psychopaths. After over a year of being introduced to their music I believe that the sound and aesthetic of Vowws are aligned with many of the elements that make the essence of Too Much Love: international, bringing back the best of the post punk darkness and nostalgia while adding a little chaos and a modern twist. For that reason Vowws is coming all the way from L.A. to play at our magazine release party at Gramps, Miami on November 18th. Matt and Rizz are two pretty unique characters but I’ll let you discover that for yourself.
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You guys met in Sydney, lived in New York and L.A. How did all the traveling and different cultures affect your music?
You have been touring and playing many shows around the U.S. in the last couple of years. What was your craziest tour story?
Rizz: The biggest factor has probably been being a stranger in all these new places. We aren’t very social so we kind of end up being observers and can take the time to draw from everything around us which definitely affects our work. Your environment is everything and you should be selective of who you let in. Maintaining friendships is a pain in the ass. If I wanted that hassle I’d just have fucken kids.
Matt: We try to avoid nuts crazy tour situations - coming from another country, any craziness tends to amplify itself because of our distance from everything that’s really familiar. But that’s part of the point….so I suppose all of our touring life is a little crazy, but we magnify it and direct it towards what we’re trying to do artistically.
Your sound combines post-punk, industrial and even pop… how is the process of composing your songs? Matt: Hellish!! Really….It’s basically a constant process of looking inward, mining our personal fuckups for artistic gold, then turning around and pushing our creative energies to turn those things into something that makes artistic and musical sense. After we come up with something close to complete, then we analyze, criticize, reanimate and reorganize the whole thing…ad nauseam until completion. The vocal and lyrical side of things seems to be the most important part, but it rests on so much else, musically speaking. A song can’t directly communicate as much as other art forms, like books, films, theatre, TV, etc where you can bring a concept across in a really literal way, for like an hour or more. So you have to match the direct, vocal side of things with musical elements that are more subconsciously suggestive, and reinforce or undercut what you’re saying in the words. So we spend a lot of time making music that says one thing, words that say another, and then connecting the two in a way that makes some kind of sense.
Rizz: I made us change hotels 3 times at 4am after a show once. We were in some shitty, shitty part of Northern California and for some reason the only hotels available that weekend were either covered in ants or just sketchy as fuck. We had been on the road for a few weeks and deliriously exhausted, fighting like maniacs in the carpark. It was pretty funny. VOWWS had the chance of collaborating with a couple of music legends such as Swan’s producer Kevin McMahon, and Gary Numan. How did you manage to work with them being a pretty new band? Rizz: We basically just sent them our music and asked if they wanted to guest on it. I wish we had stories about sharing blunts in the studio with Gary Numan or whatever, but it was all very clinical and like, sharing files over email etc. Are you planning on releasing a new album or EP soon? Rizz: Yes, we’re writing and making production plans right now. It might be too soon to announce anything yet, but we’re very excited to be working with some super cool people. It will probably be out next spring or summer.
What was the first song that you composed as VOWWS? Where were you and how did it come up?
You will be playing at our magazine release party at Gramps on November 18th. What do you want to transmit to the crowd when playing live?
Rizz: A song called Murder 1. We were actually in Australia staying at my Mom’s house while working like 4 jobs, trying to save money to come back to the USA. We had spent some time in L.A. recording with our old band but the band broke up etc and we were kind of lost. We just started jamming and came up with a swung beat on a drum machine and had this sort of stoner, laid back vocal with shitty keyboard orchestra sounds. I kinda miss that song actually.
Rizz: We want to transmit death rays and use hypnosis to erase the collective global memory of the 30 Seconds to Mars documentary.
Your lyrics and the spirit of your music is some kind of duality between humor and violence. Is that how your perception of reality is? Rizz: Yeah I guess so. An individual’s reality is entirely based on their perception of it. We feel so detached from what’s considered a normal life that we’re sort of free to focus on things that inspire us. We have chosen not to choose life. We spend our time in a shit hole, high as fuck studying psychopaths with swagger like Max Cady or Eric from Killing Zoe. Matt: It feels like all of living and its innate compromises and weirdness can only reallybe dealt with by having a sense of humor. So it wouldn’t be a real musical or lyrical statement if it didn’t have some funniness, which is a really natural way of dealing with the absurd or crap parts of life. It’s a natural fit, darkness and humor in music. Your aesthetic and music videos have many references to horror movies… Once you said that you wanted the video for “The Great Sun” to be some kind of “pop on crack.” Did you ever think of directing your own Horror class B short movie? Rizz: If I had time and money I would totally make movies. The whole process from shooting to editing, all the choices and opportunities to create a world. It’s one of the most exciting parts of the whole album process. We never have money leftover to do big budget videos but even that is kinda exhilarating, it’s like, “what cool shit can we do with nothing?”.
DOMINATING THE MACHINES. PATRICK CODENYS SHARES THE STORY OF FRONT 242 By Flor Frances Front 242 are the pioneers of EBM and industrial sounds. In the early 80’s in Belgium they had the challenge of dominating and discovering new “machines” and transform their sounds into music. As many of the great stories of iconic musicians go, nothing of this was planned, but instead borne out of necessity and the lack of something new and innovative around them. Historic Front 242 member Patrick Codenys was recently touring the U.S. and we had the enormous pleasure of talking with him about the history of the band, breakthrough moments and upcoming releases.
You joined Front 242 back in 1982. Have you ever imagine that you will be still touring over 30 years later? Not at all, when we started we were all experimenting with music, there was no goal, it was more excitement and discovery of new machines. Not only new machines but also trying to make music differently, the machines were very difficult to use so we could never have reached were rock bands reached at the time reached because there was already a formula for that kind of music. For us, we had to look into what we wanted to do so we had to experiment. We didn’t have much hope at the beginning, especially coming from Belgium where there isn’t a big music market. We were very isolated and it became a huge adventure. How was the music scene in Belgium back then? At the time in Belgium everyone was working on their own, there wasn’t a scene. Anglo Saxon countries like the U.S. or England know how to promote bands, it’s a big business in those countries, in Belgium not at all. In fact we started making electronic music because if there was no music market there were no musicians so if we needed a drummer or a guitar player you couldn’t find them easily. So if you don’t have a drummer you take a rhythm box, if you don’t have a bass player you take a machine doing a bass line. Basically that’s how we started, we didn’t have a market, we didn’t have big labels, there was no real movement in Belgium but everybody was working on their own little spot and that’s why you might find a lot of creative bands in the 80’s in my country.
Your way of programming and playing synths is pretty unique and inspired an entire generation of industrial musicians and the EBM movement. How did you fall in love with your instrument, what were your first steps as a musician? The main key of our career is our audience, there is no miracle, people started to believe in electronic music. In the beginning of the 80’s most of the record labels didn’t like electronic music, except Mute and a few other ones, they didn’t know how to market it, how to make money with it. Many of the dark electronic bands back then were making odd music so journalists really didn’t like it and our genre was getting bad reviews but people were coming to our concerts. This was very encouraging for us. The fact also that technology was having a very important impact in our career because each time there was a new machine coming out, we would try to work with that new machine and create albums based on specific machines. So technology was also dictating a little bit how our next album would sound like. Which is not what a classic rock band would do because they stick with their guitar and drums. The fact that the audience was there and the rising of technology were two elements that really helped us in our career. Where did you guys used to rehearse back then? We were never rehearsing together, it was also a weird way of working. We would work at home doing sound design and then sometimes meet or exchange cassettes and then one or two would come together and try something. First computers came out so we could manage to do certain things but it was more mental at the time because those machines were not easy to handle so we had to construct the songs in our heads first and then
hope that the technology would help us. For that reason some of those early songs might be a little cumplsy or strange. As I said, there was no recipe, we were looking for new aesthetics new ways to put that electronic music in the market. For those reason we never rehearsed like a traditional band, four guys in the same room. You had many other side project, bands besides Front 242. Do you have a favorite? Not really, actually those projects were happening in function of the different times when they were making sense, like Male or Female, there there was more time to work on video. Red Sniper is more going towards contemporary art, the concept was more to display in art galleries and museums so there are all different ways of doing electronic music. We will release an album in November with a band called Under Viewer that was the band that Jean-Luc De Meyer, the singer of Front 242, and I had before starting Front 242. There are very simple songs that we played at the time. For instance that’s something that I like doing now because at this point of my career I like going back, looking back to how music was at the time, so I think I moved with different times and projects but the central piece of course remains Front 242. In the early nineties, when Front 242 became more popular you guys stated that your music was representing the world around you as it was back then… with all the military references, religion… Do you think your music relates to nowadays politics? Yes it think it still relates, the reason being is because music was for a long time something entertaining, peo-
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people were always listening to music for melodic reasons, for feeling good, for stuff like that, at the moment the technique of sampling wa developed and with sampling you could take sounds from the world, it was not too much about the notes and music but it because about the world of sound, a whole world of sounds... The sound of the street, the sounds on the news, the sound of TV, the sounds in cinema and it totally enlarged the spectrum of what could be done in music. With Front 242 we totally went into that option, into that idea, therefore that’s why in many of our tracks you hear sounds from the news at the time, the radio… it was because we wanted to integrate all the sounds of the world and slogans and element that were in our lives into the music. You are currently touring the U.S. Can you share with us a crazy tour story? One of the craziest things that happened to us was in Mexico city, I think in the early 80’s. We probably were one of the first electronic bands to play there and we played in a big arena for 3 or 4 thousand people. We had two gigs there and the first night a lot of people couldn’t get in and the second night was sold out so riots started happening in the streets. It was really bad, with cops and all that stuff and the promoter freaked out because he thought that we might get in trouble with the police, that the police will cancel the second night and the way at the time there in the 80’s would be to plant drugs in our room and pretend is ours or something like that. So after the first gig we went back to the hotel, took all our stuff and we ran like thieves we really ran away and took a plane because we were
sure that the second day we could have gone to jail or something like that. On the other hand one of our funniest anecdotes is that we have those glasses that are very dark and we never never see what we are doing on stage, it’s very difficult. Sometimes there is steam on the glasses and sometimes is just very very dark and one time i just went into a concrete column because I thought it was the exit and it was just a complete concrete column. But besides those there aren’t many crazy stories because when we were on tour we were always working very hard toward making the show perfect, it was very important to us. We didn’t have much of a rock n’ roll spirit we were quite disciplined. The reason was because when we played electronic music, especially in the States, every venue was prepared to have a rock band but they were not used to have guys coming to play with machines so we needed to work hard to have our show ready on time and everything happening. Now we don’t need to be that strict anymore.
ALBULM REVIEWS
Gojira is a well known name in metal and among guitar lovers in general, their unique style and great songwriting, along with powerful live performances have catapulted them to the top of the charts and popularity. Their lyrics are loaded with environment and human nature themes, but the most recognizable of Gojira’s traits is the groovy, riff packed guitars. Heavy, fast paced guitar tones and with furious and somber vocals, Joe Duplantier’s voice and playing style has been easy to recognize for over 10 years. Mario Duplantier (Joe’s brother) has also a truly easy to identify style on the drum kit, thunderous and fast. On a fun note, often during live shows the siblings will exchange places for a song or two. Adding to the mix of expertise, Christian Andreu on guitar and Jean-Michel Labadie on bass fill the band with even more incredible talent. Their latest effort, Magma, is a culmination of years of music and recent events. Having moved from France to the US (New York) and building a new studio there, personal loss also affected the band’s recording process and sound. While L’Enfant Sauvage was the epitome of their sound until then, Magma took a twist, adding a lot more clean vocals and slowing down the pace a little but still maintaining the pounding riffs and grooviness that makes them Gojira. There a lot more chorused vocals, speed changes and painful moments in this album. Released in July 2016, with this album we also saw change the lengths of the songs, being a little shorter than usual, a little less epic. This combined with the easiness and accessibility of the album to new audiences made a few die hard rockers a little upset, but in the overall result the album was a huge success. After all, they broke boundaries with their style and are now famous for it. Why stick to one thing, why overkill? With Magma, Gojira took their honed personal style and took it in a new direction, making it work beautifully and making them even more popular. Our picks for the record are the tracks Shooting Star, Magma, and Pray.
Pi x i e s - He a d C a r r i e r Pias Ro c k / In d i e
Ma s s i v e A t t a c k R i t u a l Sp i r i t V i r g i n E M I Re c o rd s Tr i p - Ho p / El e c t r o n i c
Gojira - Magma R o a d r u n n e r Re c o rd s Me t a l
For almost 30 years now Massive Attack has been producing music, and while 2016 didn’t get a full album, the EP Ritual Spirit warrants some serious attention. A 4 track release, it sums up the evolution of Massive Attack’s sound to the delight of some and the woe of others. It marks the first release in 6 years, and has some serious collaborations, including one of Too Much Love’s all time favorites, Tricky, in the track “Take It There”.
The emblematic band from Boston is back with Head Carrier, their sixth studio album in over 30 years of career. Head Carrier combines new melodies with some of their traditional sound and in some songs it even reminds to their classic album Surfer Rosa. The main difference between this new record and their previous one is that it features bass player Paz Lenchantin, replacing Kim Deal, who quit the group after recording their previous album Indie Cindy.
The EP is nicely balanced between traditional Massive Attack sounds and new influences, with the tempo of the songs being a little faster than some of their most celebrated classics. The 4 tracks that make up the release have each a distinct and unique sound as well featuring different collaborators. Azekel, Young Fathers and Tricky all add their touch and flavour to the songs they work with, creating an EP that blurs the lines between trip-hop, hip-hop, electronic and experimental.
Head Carrier is mainly the brainchild of guitar player Joey Santiago and it keeps the trademark vocals of Black Francis. The 12 songs record is tough and sweet at the same time. It starts with mellow and dark atmospheres in the opening track, that gives the title to the album, it has some pure indie moments, such as “Classic Masher” and it can even make you dance with the high intensity single “Um Chagga Lagga.”
That said, we wish they would’ve made an album out of this, 7 or 8 tracks of this category is what the world needs these days.
In this album Pixies doesn’t discover the wheel but they deliver some good songs and they don’t disappoint fans.
Claypool Lennon Delirium Mo n o l i t h o f P h o b o s ATO Re c o rd s Ps yc h e d e l i c
One of the surprises of a year laden with releases was The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s Monolith of Phobos. It is amazing to hear how well these musicians complement each other, both in playing style and in simply being weird. And stuff gets pretty weird in this album. The best way we can describe the album is a musical version of Alice’s trip to wonderland, with a little more psychedelics added.
that will make everyone crack a smile. The issue with this album is that some tracks, such as Captain Lariat, are way above the rest. This is also the case for their single Mr. Wright. Others such as Ohmerica and Oxytocin Girl could’ve done with some more dedication. Overall the album is a good listen, and we hope that the Claypool Lennon Delirium get inspired and compose a follow up to equal or surpass this one.
The album is not a solid piece of work from start to finish, there are definitively some better tracks and some worse. But the essence of what they are doing is easy to perceive, and fans of psychedelic rock, indie and jazz will thoroughly enjoy this band. Claypool’s crazy bass playing is well balanced with Lennon’s laidback guitar style, making for musically fun tracks
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EDUARDO CAPILLA: MULTIPLE CREATIONS AND BROKEN BOUNDARIES.
Eduardo is also an abstract painter, and his work has been on display throughout the US and South America in galleries and museums. He has been doing artistic interventions and performances for over 35 years.In his work there’s been a constant sense of rebellion and a wish to break away from the normal western knowledge and perception. Ikebana (flower arrangements ) and allusions of sexuality have been present often, especially in the interventionist or installation style art. From massive “art in the park” kind of pieces, to enormous shiny pillars rising out of the sea at an angle going through visually capturing pieces on traditional canvas.. Impact and originality are always there.
some of his more iconic work from the past, such as his Proyecto Noción or his Ego x Geo exhibit. Proyecto Noción was a series of paintings featuring color gradients, fades from more intense to nothingness, dark to light and vice versa. In our nowaday world full of technology and computers this technique might not be an eye opener, but to do it by hand is an impressive feat. The project is now being exhibited by Dot Fiftyone gallery, located in Little River (Miami). This gallery also helped Eduardo recreate his Ego x Geo exhibit back in 2011, where nude models, lying immobile, had Ikebana arrangements rising from their genitals or rear, as a humble offer to nature. Eduardo will also be exhibiting some of his oil paintings this year at Context Fair during Art Basel, brought by the Matilde Bensignor Gallery from Mar del Plata, a gallery that brings many Argentine artists into the international community.
“EGO X GEO Exhibit
Few Argentine artists have a track record or versatility as Eduardo Capilla. Born in Mar del Plata and adopted by the world, Eduardo has shown his artistic artistic creations and visions in a variety of platforms. He has written and or directed movies and advertisements (including the movie “+ bien” performed by Gustavo Cerati). During the early years of his career, he worked in cinema and theater in scenery and set design, and moved on do to stage design and visuals for the legendary Argentine band Soda Stereo and later Gustavo Cerati’s solo work.
“Proyecto Noción, Buenos Aires”
Nowadays Eduardo is based half in Buenos Aires and half in Miami. In his time here in the US he has made an art studio in Allapattah (Miami) and among his many projects, he has decided to revisit
ZEREN BADAR: HISTORY, FUN AND DADAISM By Pia Barberis Zeren Badar, is a conceptual artist from Turkey that currently lives in New York. The bright colors, playful messages and deconstruction of the established formulas featured in his work is what caught our eye. This young artist transgresses the limits of his own limits making us think while proposing a new concept on aesthetic. How did you start your career in the art? I’m a self taught conceptual artist, and I started seriously making conceptual art in 2013. I was always very interested in art. I studied fashion and still work in fashion. I was doing street photography as creative outlet. I felt like it wasn’t enough. Where did you find the inspiration for “accident series”? The idea started as an accident, but it evolved conceptually. I was downloading some old paintings from internet and printing them with my printer. One day while I was making lunch, an egg dropped on the corner of one of the paintings. I got a vision, set the lights and took pictures. Accident Series came alive. The whole series is highly conceptual. I find the painting first and I sketch the objects which could go well with the painting. I go shopping after and try to find objects to match my sketches. The concept might change during the photo shoot sometimes. It is very rare but it happens. What do you think of the dada movement? Who are your favorite artists? Dada and Duchamp are definitely the main influence on my work. Dada movement is one of the strongest movements in art history. Duchamp had certain dry humor in his art. It is very difficult to cre-
ate humorous pieces in art. He created his own category, which nobody had thought about before. I was influenced by Kurt Schwitters as well. I found his aesthetic of collages very inspiring, they have exceptional compositions. They are very delicate. What are your current favorite artists, teachers and precursors? There are so many artists I admire. I can give couple of names, such as Sigmar Polke, Urs Fischer and Gerhard Richter. In the past you have paid homage to the Argentine artist Lucio Fontana. How did you discover his work? I love art history. I love reading about it. There is a lot of homage to great artists in my work, Fontana is one of them. I admire him because he invented slash paintings which nobody had done before. Three words that identify your art? Humorous, shocking & colorful. Favorite quote? “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it” -Jasper Johns What do you want to transmit with your art? For me, art must be meaningful. Art should make us think. Art can be pretty or ugly but it should be enjoyable. When you buy art, you should look at it and feel very deep emotions. It should hit you from your heart. It is very strange feeling. With my art, I love to make viewers smile.
TOO MUCH LOVE AGENDA Nov 9 Chilean Slang Kill Your Idol
Nov 16 The Married Pirates Kill Your Idol
Nov 9 I’m Not Gonna Move to L.A.: Anything Goes Edition O Cinema
Nov 16 Tegan and Sara Revolution Live
Nov 9 Dillinger Escape Plan Revolution Live Nov 10 Animal Collective The Fillmore Miami Beach Nov 10 Animal Collective Afterparty feat. Ceramic Hammer, Velocity Gospel, Audrey Horny Kill Your Idol Nov 11 Vetfest 2016 Mana Wynwood
Nov 16 The Pet Shop Boys The Fillmore Miami Beach Nov 16 The King Khan and BBQ Show Gramps Nov 17 1-Year Anniversary The Wynwood Yard Nov 18 Too Much Love Magazine Release party with Vowws, Astari Nite and Virgo Gramps
Nov 11 Toots & The Maytals Culture Room
Nov 18 House of Creatives Festival: Cold War Kids, The Drums, Pompeya and more Miami Beach Bandshell
Nov. 12 Adult Books The Bar at 1306
Nov 18 House of creatives Festival Afterparty Kill Your Idol
Nov 12 Deafheaven, Inter Arma, Other Body Churchill’s Nov 12 Mitski, Fear of Men and Weaves Gramps Nov 15 Attila Revolution Live
Nov 19 House of Creatives Festival: Crystal Castles, Flaming Lips, Empress of and more Miami Beach Bandshell Nov 20 Steven Wilson Culture Room Nov 20 The Deadly Blank Kill Your Idol
Nov 20 Yellowcard Revolution Live Nov 21 Asking Alexandria Revolution Live Nov 22 Helmet and Local H Revolution Live Nov 23 Live in the Garden ft. Magic City Hippies Mina’s Mediterraneo Nov 23 Snowmoon Kill Your Idol
Dec 9 Ms. Lauryn Hill-The MLH Caravan: A Diaspora Calling! Concert Series The Fillmore Miami Beach Dec 10 Alex DiLeo Gramps Dec 11 Amanda Palmer Culture Room Dec 14 Flower City Conspiracy Kill Your Idol
Nov 25 Prefuse 73, Otto Von Schirach, Telescope Thieves The bar at 1306
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Nov 27 Double Stubble Sunday T-Dance Gramps
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Nov 29 Wifredo Lam: Blurring Boundaries Gary Nader Art Centre Nov 30 Q & A, Nine Contemporary Cuban Artists MDC Museum of Art + Design Nov 30 Sunkoo Yuh, Grafted Stories MDC Museum of Art + Design Nov 30 Tropical BBQ: Basel Edition Canvas Miami
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LITTLE THINGS THAT WON’T CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT MAKES A DIFFERENCE KNOWING THEM. By Dr. Jay Podcasting vs live streaming on the Internet. I have to say, technology is pretty badass. So much can be done by humans (creative ones) on their own without the aid of paying a fortune like it was done before. The “do it yourself ” way. Who would’ve thought 40 years ago of recording an album on their own? In their own studio, on their own record label. Maybe even attempting it would’ve landed you a one way ticket to prison. All the legalities involved in releasing something on your own back then was just unheard of. Let’s not forget about anything related to broadcasting. A media outlet that was thought it would never be brought down...times are changing. “Narrowcasting” is the way to go now, hell, the “broad” part of broadcasting has been done. Now it’s time to channel it (narrow it down) and provide listeners with what they want on a personal level. This brings me to podcasting and live broadcasting on the Internet. Some might even try and get smart and say “fuck, this guy that wrote this, they’re both the same…” And that’s where the problem starts; they’re NOT the same! It’s strange how both concepts have been related and thought to be identical. I know this might sound like a 101 on broadcasting and podcasting, but it’s for the sake of learners and cavemen, so for those that know, just bare with me. Podcasting allows you to polish up whatever mess you recorded. You get to sit there and add more and more details to what you have. Think of it this way, you write an initial song via your guitar, synth or whatever you work with, then take it to your computer and add the rest of the details, dubs, vocals, layers, and all that. That’s pretty much podcasting in a nutshell.
Live broadcasting on the other hand, is raw. The content is delivered and out it goes. Very fast paced and in some cases no room for error. There’s no polishing off what was created like in the podcast case. It takes somewhat of a team to get a live Broadcast going v.s. a podcast that can be done alone and with no need of other hands in the production aspect. Now, there are some instances where a live recording can be podcasted. For instance, a radio show was live broadcasted this morning and the recording of it for those that missed it live was scheduled to be out a week from the live broadcast date. That gives the producer time to edit out, add, cut, insert music, adds etc making this a podcast. This is where all the confusion stems from, a lot of big name radio stations sometimes use these “podcasted” techniques and confuse their audience. The listener thinks “wow, what a great “live” show when in all reality it was a “podcast”. Hopefully this helped many grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, cavemen and women out in the world who were clueless about the huge difference of these two (one old as bread and one fairly new) concepts. Get it right!
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