Written by willshoob on Friday, 18 of September , 2009 at 3:21 pm
Only two songs have been created, but The Babies (a collaboration between Woods’ bassist Kevin Morby and Vivian Girl Cassie Ramone) are already getting the hype they deserve. Their songs are blissful, jangly pop songs, that are really well constructed. I asked Kevin a few questions in hopes of finding out about the future of The Babies, but he didn’t reveal too much.
The Tape: How did the project come about?
Kevin: cassie and i used to live together a couple winters ago. during that time we ended up noodlin on guitars together and sort of wrote what later came to be all things come to pass. about a year after all that i ran into cassie going to a party and after inviting myself along she suggested we pick up some “road sodas”, and i mentioned that that’d be a good band name, and if we started it we could use some of the stuff we wrote together. so we started playing with justin and were a three piece for a while, just guitars and drums, before asking nate to play bass. somewhere along the line we ditched the road sodas for the babies.
The Tape: Can you describe who does what in the band, as far as songwriting and instruments?
Kevin: me and cassie both play guitars and sing, justin plays drums, and nate plays bass. i’ve brought a lot of rough songs to the table and then we all sort of fix em up.
The Tape: You and Cassie come from some pretty high profile indie bands, are you concerned that people will take notice to that more than the music?
Kevin: who knows who cares
The Tape: I’m sure neither of you have a lot of time, between touring and the new Vivian Girls record coming out, but do you guys plan on touring if you ever release an album or EP?
Kevin: who knows who cares (we care Kevin, we care).
The Tape Do you have any plans to release an LP or EP? I’m sure labels like Woodsist or Captured Tracks would love to do a release with you guys.
Kevin: i think some 7″s in the near future would be cool, and an LP down the line…not sure with what labels though.
The Tape: Your sound is a really accurate combination of your two bands (vivian girls and woods), at least on all things come to pass… Is that something you meant to do, or is that just naturally how the sound came about?
Kevin: i really dont hear the comparison but i knew it would get drawn. when me and cassie wrote the foundation for all things come to pass vivian girls had just started and it was way before i had joined woods. jarvis, also in woods, did record the song so maybe that has something to do with it.
The Tape: If you could build a robot, what would it do?
Kevin: ahhh!
The Tape: What’s the most badass movie line ever?
Kevin: a kid who tells on another kid’s a dead kid.
The Tape: What’s some music you’ve been listening to lately?
Kevin: kurt vile, mississippis records house of broken hearts comp, eat skull, nodzzz, grass widow, and dungen!
The Tape: Describe The Babies’ sound in 10 words or less.
Written by hKWAP on Tuesday, 15 of September , 2009 at 8:23 pm
Brief and candid in comparison to some of our former interviewees (GT, Dan Deacon etc), our little chat with CHLL PLL frontman Zac Nelson provided some very interesting insight into the bands message and attitude behind music making. Unedited so as to provide our readers with an authentic representation of Zac’s banter…Enjoy The Tape: Where does the name CHLL PLL come from?
Zac: take a chll pll man!
TT: What’s the current lineup? I’ve heard it’s just the two Zac(h)s (Hill and Nelson) and also that Zachariah Blackwell is somehow involved. Who’s really in CHLL PLL?
Z: hill and nelson, zachariah played great things on one song.
TT: Was Zach Hill involved in the writing process or brought on later for recording and such?
Z: hell yes hill was heavy strongly involved in the song writing!
TT: Do you guys plan on touring in support of aggressively humble? If so, do you plan on playing live as a duo or will you add more players to accommodate for some of the more complex arrangements i.e. Pass Out?
Z: we are gonna tour, prolly with an extra member or two and rip it.
TT: What was the recoding process like for this album. Was it self produced and what was the setup like (DIY garage type setting or a more refined studio environment)?
Z: hilldog had some great drum beats that we worked off of and i had some loops. i would say it was produced in a refined diy empty warehouse environment with andy and zhill working extra time on mixing and gettin specific
TT: The album is being released on Porter Records. Can you talk a little about their involvement? Were they with you through the recording process or did they attach their name later on for publicity/distribution?
Z: porter has supported us the whole time, porter is putting (out) amazing music. rite now, i’m proud to be a part of it!
TT: What music inspired the creation of the forthcoming release, and incidentally what music are you excited about right now?
Z: me and zach like alot of music, i’m subjectively excited about henry sack zeigler and 80’s UK artsy music scene, it’s perfect music. i think being on this wild planet inspired us also.
TT: What has been your favorite album of 09 so far?
Z: CLL PLL (intentional misspelling of his own band name, all part of the charm!)
TT: If you could have anyone ever join CHLL PLL, who would it be?
Z: Russ Archer (Trawler Bycatch)
love zac nelson
Take a CHLL PLL man, and check out these super rad tracks off their forthcoming release…
Written by pistachionut on Thursday, 21 of May , 2009 at 9:08 am
Passion Pit just released their debut LP, Manners, on Tuesday (expect a review of that tonight). We recently had the opportunity to ask them some questions. Here’s what happened…
1) describe your live set-up. what are you guys doing when you play through your songs? we have about 8 keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums and a couple samplers. basically we try to reinterpret the records as best as we physically can by playing as much as we physically can. and sometimes changing them to make them better.
2) the kid’s choir on “little secrets” and “the reeling” really take the songs to an entirely new level. where did the idea to use a children’s choir come from? how was the experience of working with them? its always been something we wanted to do one day, why wait? ps 22 was perfect for the job. thanks youtube.
3) how much of your music is sample driven? where did the idea for the sample on “sleepyhead” come from? not so much anymore. ep, yea. manners, almost none. the mary o’hara sample you are talking about is just a beautiful song to begin with.
4) we you know guys have tons of gear. what keyboards/synths do you have? which is your favorite? why? juno-60, juno-106, moog little phatty II, mpc, microkorgs, rhodes, sk-15, sk-30. those are just the ones that go on the road. we have alot nicer ones at home.my favorite is the sk line becasue they contain the same chip as the much more expensive cs-80. no one really messes with them either. i feel like the sk line is “our” synth.
5) i love the idea for the “little secrets” remix contest. who came up with the idea to only release small snippets? what are some of your favorite remixes so far? a company we work with called the orchard came up with it. i personally find these contests hilarious and usually end up in me hating the song, but some of them are REALLY good.
6) so far, where has been your favorite place to play? the best crowd? boston, its just so much easier to sleep in your own bed… glascow is awesome, dublin too, chicago as well, but really the smaller the city the better the crowd. pontiac michinigan was one of our best.
7) you guys did a lot of shows at sxsw. describe being responsible for a large amount of buzz. what’s that like? its unreal. thanks to blogs we have a career.i dont know why or how it has happened but you cant complain, you know?
8 ) time for some fun ones. if you could have a robot that could do anything in the world, what would it do and why? the robot would scower the internet for music and listen to it for me and be able to decipher whats good and bad and then put it on an ipod for me.
9) favorite pump up song? daft punk - “superheroes”
10) if you could pick one catchphrase from a movie that describes your sound, what would it be?“let’s get lucky.” - owen wilson in bottle rocket
Expect a review and some MP3s later tonight. Thanks, guys!
Written by willshoob on Saturday, 18 of April , 2009 at 9:25 am
We recently conducted an interview with the wonderful Dan Deacon, and here is the result:
The Tape : Why did you decide to go for the huge ensemble for this tour?
Dan Deacon: i didn’t want to play solo ontop of presequenced tracks. this ensemble is the smallest number of people required to perform the pieces.
The Tape: We’re big gear nerds as well… Which parts of the album were recorded live, and which parts were made on synths or electronically manufactured?
DD: its about a 50/50 of acoustic sounds and synthetic sounds.
The Tape: How did you get the idea of using a player piano, and how did you get it to work with the midi?
DD: i’ve always loved mechanical instruments. working with the reproducing
player piano was a bit tricky. while its insanely nimble it still has some big limitations, like playing same note in rapid succession can be difficult at very fast tempos. the composer conlon nancarrow was a huge influence in college (almost all of his body of work is for player piano). and going to the museum of mechinal instruments in prague was also something that got my brain thinking more and more about mechanized music.
The Tape: This album seems to have a lot more instrumentation, what made you decide to move in this direction, even after Spiderman of the Rings got such high praise? (away from cooky synths and into xylophones, is sort of what we mean).
DD: i don’t know. i guess i didn’t want to write something that was
completely synthetic. i’ve been feeling less and less attached to eletronic sounds on their own. i didn’t want to just focus on one type of sound or instrument. i’m not like i branched out very far. all i really added was acoustic percussion. the ensemble is mainly drums, mallets and synths. i’d like to get deeper back into realm of acoustic sounds.
The Tape: You seem to vacillate between walls of noise and walls of melody. What do you see in both extremes and why do you use them?
DD: density of sound has long been the focus of my music. see how much can
be added before the speakers start to get grumpy. i’m not sure if i’ll always write that way but i really enjoy it now.
The Tape: What instruments will you personally be playing on this upcoming tour?
DD: the same ones i always play.
The Tape: Can you please tell us the real story behind drinking out of cups… We’ve heard you were locked in a closet on lsd … We’ve also heard shrooms. What’s the truth?
DD: the internet is an insane place. its just me watching tv with the sound off and i’m interpreting what i was seeing. the only drugs i was on was the proper amount of nyquil because i was really sick. i hadn’t even smoked weed at the time of recording that piece, which is probably why it ended up the way it did.
The Tape: Does the larger ensemble mean no more fun games? I.E. Ethan Hawke chants during shows.
DD: why would it mean that? i get asked that question in every interview
and i can’t understand why so many interviewers assume that adding something means that something else has to be taken away. the interaction and group games have been continuing.
The Tape: What music do/did you listen to for inspiration while recording this album?
DD: i listen to a lot of neil young and simon and garfunkle. mainly
harvest and bridge over troubled water. those are two of my favorite records.
The Tape: What have you been listening to recently that is somewhat new?
DD: i’ve been listening to bayun maata a lot. i’m not sure how new it is
but its new to me.
The Tape: If you could build a robot that could do anything, what would that one thing be?
DD: grow organic food
The Tape: What’s the most badass movie line ever?
DD: “see you at the party richter”
The Tape: In one word, describe your sound.
DD: quorm
Make sure to pick up Bromst (vinyl or cd), and download one of the craziest tracks from the album below.
Written by gzabriel on Thursday, 2 of April , 2009 at 8:30 am
Phonat is a mythical beast capable of crafting the most majestic and soaring of dance music as well as the most creative and carelessly stylish. His previous works, such as Learn To Recycle, have shown both his musical and technical skill as he effortlessly hops between genres using the same set of sounds and makes it all cohesive and brilliant. Phonat’s new EP is out and the man does not disappoint.
Written by hKWAP on Tuesday, 27 of January , 2009 at 10:37 pm
Last week, many a music fan (myself included) spent way too much time trolling the internet for any news pertaining to the the imminent Coachella lineup reveal. Indeed, it seems that this nerve raking excitement has totally consumed my life. It is due to this overwhelming sense of anticipation that I completely overlooked the strange predicament in which throwbacknoiserock band, the Black Lips, recently landed themselves in. As the story goes, the band had taken their infamously raucous antics to India when certain events caused them to flee the country. Rumor had it that the group was being pursued by Indian law enforcement for indecent exposure during a performance. However, such rumors proved to be as misguided as 99 percent of the information in the rumors/gossip/wishlist category of the Coachella message board. (now my homepage) The band later explained that their Indian exodus was took place in order to avoid a particularly “shady” and unscrupulous promoter. Quite coincidentally, the band just released the second single from their forthcoming album, 200 Million Thousand, entitled “Short Fuse”. The track is very uncharacteristic of the bands previous work as it is a foray into a quiet and melodic style. Whether this is a one time stylistic experiment, or whether this is the direction in which the Black Lips intend to take their songwriting, still remains to be seen. Regardless, this unlikely turn of events is a pretty convenient publicity stunt. According to Pitchfork, the band is now in Germany with retrorock contemporary, King Khan, from whom we expect a few releases in the coming months. Here’s the track…
Written by willshoob on Thursday, 15 of January , 2009 at 4:06 pm
Tristan (pistachionut) I chatted with Gregg Gillis two days ago about everything that has ever been discussed. I hope you enjoy!
The Tape: When you started making mashups and experimenting with samples, you were really the only one doing the kind of thing you do (that crazy hectic mashup style that goes fast paced back and forth between songs). But now, as your popularity has grown, how do you feel about other artists in the “mashup genre”?
Gregg Gillis: I think it’s interesting. When I started doing stuff you know, there were actually a lot of people who came before me, who kind of set the stage for what I do. When I got going with it, I wasn’t as interested in straight up mashups as I was kind of glitchy remix stuff, like the Kid 666’s and prior to that Negative Land Evolution Control Committee, all those guys. Yeah, when I got into it I definitely had a different level of influence then the straight up mashup guys. Today, the kind of stuff I hear that is potentially influenced by me or anyone else doing it, not a lot of it has blown my mind on that level. I think it’s exciting though, a lot of people having software to make music, and putting music together with non-traditional musical backgrounds and potentially no influence there, I think it’s cool, I think it allows people to express themselves directly. So yeah, I’m down with it… 100%.
The Tape: Obviously with your type of music, paying for samples is irrational and out of the question, but how do you justify using those samples in your music?
GG: Well there is a doctrine in the United States copyright law and it allows you to sample pre-existing works without permission, if the new music falls under certain criteria. That takes a look at whether your work is transformative, how it impacts potential sales, all sorts of other things like that. I feel like all music is based on influence. You know, when you pick up a guitar and you start playing, you learn how to play other peoples’ songs and then you start writing your own, you’re still using the same note progressions, similar note scales, similar rhythmic patterns and same guitar sounds. It’s all manipulations of previous ideas. You can’t really make music with purely original ideas. I feel like you can take a physical recording, and manipulate it and make something new, just like you’d take an instrument and replicate a previous existing track. I feel like music is transformative, if you can reference the source material it will still be something new. Also, with my music I don’t think there is any way it is creating complications with the source of material. I feel like it’s turning a lot of young people on to new music. It’s not like someone would buy my album instead of someone else’s album.
The Tape: Why’d you decide to make your latest album free?
GG: That idea was thrown out to me by the people who release my music, Illegal Art. They based it on the Radiohead model. I thought it was cool. It was something where I know that when an album hits online, anyone can get it for free if they want to. That’s just where were at right now. I mean, I love buying CD’s I don’t really download that much music, I mean I do download music for free and it’s a great tool to find out about things. I just wanted to throw that idea out there, so people can say if they want to get it for free, or if they want to support me and the record label, that’s great. I just wanted to be up front with where we’re at in the music industry right now.
The Tape: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done while playing live?
GG: Oh man, I’m trying to think. I’ve done a lot of wicked stage dives in my day. During one particular show in Pittsburgh, I kind of used the table in front of me and the stage as a launching pad and actually went over- this was a local show in Pittsburgh and I went over my dad’s head, who was in the front row, and I hit my face on one of my sister’s friend. I got up, and I was actually missing my front left tooth. That was about as gnarly of a stage dive as I’ve ever had.
The Tape: What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done while you’re playing live?
GG: I’ve seen people have sex on stage, a couple of times.
The Tape: That’s an interesting experience, no?
GG: Yeah, I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s a beautiful thing to invoke feelings and cause people to want to bone on stage.
The Tape: Explain how you use your software (Audiomulch) in a live setting verses what you do to make an album?
GG: Yeah, first I prepare a whole bunch of loops and samples in a program called Adobe Audition, which I use to make beats and isolate melodies, things like that. Then in Audiomulch- the basic idea is that I have hundreds of loops in front of me, running simultaneously at all times. There are a lot of variations on the same loops, so a lot of times, I’ll have four loops in front of me all based around the same melody. Maybe one is half, maybe one is cut up, I just like to have lots of freedom to jump around. Then in the live setting, it’s basically I’m muting those samples as they’re coming, in real time. Everything is as isolated as possible. Kick drum, hand claps, vocals, it’s basically a matter of me manipulating that and doing the collages in real time. I’ve also added DSP just to manipulate things and cut things up in real time, but the general act for me is triggering the samples.
The Tape: Where did you originally get your inspiration to start doing this kind of stuff?
GG: Um, it’s just the music I’ve been into since high school, you know? For me, when I really started to dive deep, it was just- I was just really fascinated by how weird and crazy things could potentially get. You know when I heard Nirvana in grade school, that seemed crazy to me. Then, I wanted to just keep going. When I found out about Sonic Youth, that was even crazier. Just hearing a lot of underground hip-hop and electronica music, that just made me dive deeper into it, until it got to the point where I was really into noise and experimental electronic music. Based on that, I didn’t really like the academic side to music making, I liked the more sample based things where you could really push the boundaries. You know, make crazy, weird music but at the same time have it be accessible to people who don’t normally follow that music, using pop reference points. That was just something that was fascinating to me. One of the big influences for me was hearing Kid-666 remix N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton.” That was him digitally manipulating and beating up that song. It was awesome, it was one of my favorite songs of the late 90’s. I want to do a project on a similar level with that.
The Tape: If you could build a robot that did anything, what would it do?
GG: Oh wow, let me think. I would love to build a robot that would be a right hand man, sort of robot type thing. Someone who when I’m shooting basketball would get the rebounds and pass it back to me, and when I’m playing shows he would go around and keep things plugged in. I would love to be able to hang out and be a part of him, just a robot buddy.
The Tape: What’s your favorite mashup not made by you?
GG: One of my favorites has always been by a DJ who goes by the name of Low Budget. It came out a few years back, and it was Crime Mobb’s “Knuck If You Buck” and “Pressure” by Billy Joel. I always thought that it was fantastic, and I love that Billy Joel hook, and yeah I always thought that that was a beautiful combination.
The Tape: Last question… What’s your favorite pumpup song/what song do you play before a show?
GG: I actually get pretty pumped as soon as soon as I hit the stage, I don’t ever feel the need to get pumped up before that moment. Usually when I’m sitting backstage I generally listen to really slow, simple, chilled out tunes to kind of just relax me. I listen to- I don’t know let me get on my computer to see what’s up. I don’t know, it’s usually just classic rock stuff- let me see what I’ve been jamming to recently. One sec. The past few weeks I’ve been listening to “Let’s Live For Today” by The Grass Roots. I really like to jam to it before I go out.
Written by willshoob on Monday, 12 of January , 2009 at 2:59 pm
I’m conducting a short interview with Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk tomorrow. If you have any questions you’d like to ask him, just leave a comment or e-mail us at thetapeblog@yahoo.com. Awesome.
Written by willshoob on Monday, 20 of October , 2008 at 6:25 pm
One of our favorite up and coming hip-hop groups, The Knux, were nice enough to take a few minutes out of their hectic media day to chat on the phone with me. The New Orleans born brothers are really, really nice guys who make fresh and exciting music. I’d quickly like to thank them for being really cool, along with Victor for setting the interview up. Enjoy!
P.S. My crappy tape recorder couldn’t pick up everything, so I had to leave out a few parts.
The Tape: How’d you guys get your name? The Knux: Ooo I didn’t know you were gonna do it like that. That’s a real easy one, it’s short for knuckleheads.
The Tape: How would you describe your new album? Do you guys consider it hip-hop, or is it a cross between many different genres? The Knux: You call it hip-hop because we’re black. No, it is hip-hop but it steps into other genres too. Like if it were a house, the foundation would be hip-hop but there would be other rooms as well.
The Tape: So I saw you guys on Jimmy Kimmel a few nights ago, and you were really good… Do you think you can describe your live set up, like who plays what instruments?
The Knux: It depends on what song it is. Like on the second song, I’m playing keyboard (Krispy Kreme) and on the first one, I’m playing guitar. We can’t both rap and play instruments at the same time, it’s totally impossible. It really varies from song to song.
The Tape: So I saw that you guys opened for Lupe Fiasco, how was that for you guys? The Knux: It was actually our second time opening for him, but it’s like opening for anybody. We toured with Common and performed with The Roots. I mean damn, it’s a new number FUCK (Krispy, Referring to his brother accidentally hanging up again, mid sentence). Anyways, performing with Lupe… He’s a great performer. We’re actually going on tour at the end of November…
The Tape: Around the blogs you guys are often referred to as hipsters; do you have a problem with that, do you mind it? The Knux: (Al) Uhhhhh… It’s cool, I just think that the hipster thing is played out. I mean if people want to label, then that’s fine. Everybody gets a label at the beginning, when everyone is starting to know you. You know, you get labeled by who people think your influences are. But eventually, everyone will catch on and the music will speak for itself.
The Tape: If you could point out any one thing that influenced this album, what would it be? The Knux: Uhh. That influenced it? I’d say just going back between New Orleans and Los Angeles. We’ve never had a real sit down before, and for this we got to sit down for two years. You know, being embraced in Hollywood by Steve Aoki and the whole Dimmak crew, really influenced this album. The transition from New Orleans to being embraced in Hollywood.
The Tape: We have a segment called Guilty Music Monday where we talk about some of the guilty pleasures we like, but are afraid to like; what are some of your guys’ all time guilty pleasures? The Knux: (Al, mumbling something I don’t understand)… (Krispy Kreme) I have a lot of guilty pleasures… I’ve got to say (laughs) damn there are a lot. What’s one of them, (with help from his brother) a Gavin Degraw song. (Singing) I don’t want to be anything da da da da da da da. Chariot, Gavin Degraw’s Chariot.
The Tape: Now we have a couple of questions that really don’t have to do with music, but we always ask them anyways. If you guys could build a robot, what would it do? The Knux: (Krispy Kreme) Wow… My robot would breakdance, uhh give hand jobs, and cook. (Al) My robot would go out in the crowd, because I’d get ripped to shreds. I used to love going out during the smaller shows, but yeah I’d have a robot who would go into the crowds, and do it better.
The Tape: In your opinion, what is the most bad ass movie line ever? The Knux: Tombstone, when Doc Holliday says “I’m your huckleberry.” (Al then repeats the statement, for reassurance.) Have you ever seen tombstone? The Tape: No I Haven’t… The Knux: Awwww come on! The Tape: Wait, how old is it? The Knux: It’s old. The Tape: I’m only 15. The Knux: You’re only 15??? The Tape: Yeah. The Knux: (Al) It’s from the early 90’s. (Krispy) Wait hold up, you’re only 15?? You have the coolest motherfucking job in the whole world.
(This conversation literally goes on for 10 more minutes.)
The Tape: Alright, I just have one more question… In one word, describe your sound. The Knux: (Al) Authentic. Yeah authentic, there we go. Dude you have the coolest fucking job in the world.
The Tape: Alright guys, thanks so much. The Knux: Yeah, anytime. (More talk about my age, and their upcoming tour).
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