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One of my favorite bands, the Warren, Rhode Island-based Brown Bird, has helped me get through some tough times. Their music has a cavalier quality to it, almost preaching a kind of rugged individualism in a gorgeously-instrumented, dulcet package. When I saw them for the first time at Newport Folk Fest a few years back, their music spoke to the self-conscious, uneasy, afraid-of-the-future part of me that seemed to control a lot of my actions at the time, and it told me to be tough and not care about what other people thought. It’s pretty cool when music can pep-talk you.
Which is why I was pretty upset to find out that today, Brown Bird posted a note on their Facebook explaining how recently, while on tour in Texas, Dave was admitted into the hospital with “complaints of fatigue and shortness of breath.”
According to the message to fans, he had been displaying flu-like symptoms for the past six weeks, but had underestimated the severity of the illness. They still don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he has severe anemia and has received several blood transfusions to which, the statement explains, he has responded well.
Now, Brown Bird is a hard-working band. They travel constantly and put out frequent and consistently great albums. This is not as lucrative an industry as it once was, and they will continue to accrue considerable debt from being unable to tour and racking up expensive medical bills.
They still don’t have a diagnosis, and a lot more money will be spent trying to figure it out.
He’ll be coming back to the East Coast soon, and will pursue more treatment, but they’ve set up a YouCaring.com account for fans to help them out with medical bills.
Canceling shows and pursuing medical treatment is expensive, but we at the Dig are personally invested in making sure this band continues to make incredible music for a long time to come.
One of my favorite bands, the Warren, Rhode Island-based Brown Bird, has helped me get through some tough times. Their music has a cavalier quality to it, almost preaching a kind of rugged individualism in a gorgeously-instrumented, dulcet package. When I saw them for the first time at Newport Folk Fest a few years back, their music spoke to the self-conscious, uneasy, afraid-of-the-future part of me that seemed to control a lot of my actions at the time, and it told me to be tough and not care about what other people thought. It’s pretty cool when music can pep-talk you.
Which is why I was pretty upset to find out that today, Brown Bird posted a note on their Facebook explaining how recently, while on tour in Texas, Dave was admitted into the hospital with “complaints of fatigue and shortness of breath.”
According to the message to fans, he had been displaying flu-like symptoms for the past six weeks, but had underestimated the severity of the illness. They still don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he has severe anemia and has received several blood transfusions to which, the statement explains, he has responded well.
Now, Brown Bird is a hard-working band. They travel constantly and put out frequent and consistently great albums. This is not as lucrative an industry as it once was, and they will continue to accrue considerable debt from being unable to tour and racking up expensive medical bills.
They still don’t have a diagnosis, and a lot more money will be spent trying to figure it out.
He’ll be coming back to the East Coast soon, and will pursue more treatment, but they’ve set up a YouCaring.com account for fans to help them out with medical bills.
Canceling shows and pursuing medical treatment is expensive, but we at the Dig are personally invested in making sure this band continues to make incredible music for a long time to come.
Rockers JEFF the Brotherhood are some busy guys. These real-life brothers run Infinity Cat Recordings out of Nashville, which has released over 60 albums, not to mention playing some 230 live shows last year alone. Oh yeah, and they’re still finding time to pump out some new tracks, so see them at Great Scott before they move on to the next big thing. With that much drive, we’re not quite convinced they’re not a weird cult.
Maybe you should keep that foil hat handy, just in case.
Tired of spending your Sunday nights watching Celebrity Apprentice? Lucky for you, rapper Andre Nickatina will be headlining at the Middle East downstairs as part of The Nickatina Experience Tour 2013, so if you like to have non-Trump schadenfreude fun, you should totes be there. With a knack for old school rhymes, this West Coast native will be heating up Boston on a lazy Sunday evening. So get your keister out on the town for once, or you’re … really missing out. Ya dip.
GENRE | ALL OF THE GENRES VERDICT | SERENELY DIRTY LABEL | 4AD RELEASE | 5.7.13
On Deerhunter’s much-anticipated fifth studio album, Bradford Cox and co. get weird in a hurry. But despite an undeniable Seattle-garage-in-1993 aesthetic, complete with guitars that seem to scream out through the fuzzed-out distortion and lyrics the vacillate between prettily mournful crooning and “this man might be drowning in a whiskey bottle” freneticism, there’s an odd serenity.
Cox is a man who has made peace with his demons long enough to get 12 incredible songs onto a record, which is good news for us.
None of this is new for Deerhunter fans, mind you. The group’s ability to switch between loveliness and raw grunge has won them scores of devotees, but I’d argue that they’ve never gone from one end of the spectrum to the other so quickly before. Opener “Neon Junkyard” is frantic and off-kilter, but bookended with ethereal melodies: a characterization of the tracks to come.
The term “monomania” implies extreme single-mindedness. This record doesn’t exactly exemplify that in terms of genre (it really is all over the map), but if you take its sound as a whole, it’s oddly cohesive.
I’ve been playing it obsessively. Monomaniacally, even.
JP-based Bent Shapes will be rocking their garage rock sound over at O’Brien’s, along with Lame Drivers, Woolen Men, and Halfsour. Hard as it is to resist, we’re going to sidestep the obvious “bent out of shape” pun here.
Guitarist Jesse Cook will be bringing his “blue mood” music to Wilbur Theatre for one night only this weekend. Heavily inspired by Adele’s 21, Cook proves what we all knew deep down:
Don’t get confused here: though it’s playoff season, we’re not talkin’ ’bout the NHL. We’re talkin’ ’bout Hockey, the dance-punk band whose latest album, Wyeth IS, showcases a calmer, more streamlined synthpop sound. They’ll be burning down the house at the Royale for one night only on May 16th.
That’s tonight, for those of you keeping score at home.
Indie darlings The Hush Sound are opening, which makes for an all-systems-go dance party this evening. Oh, and about the playoffs:
The latest record from Sweden’s newly-crowned dancehall kidsShout Out Louds, entitled Optica, is as luminous as its title implies.
The band has always been glaringly hook-savvy, but on their fourth album they aim for a hipper and shinier sound. They also manage to gleefully stomp all over the expansive synthscapes and subtle arrangements they concocted for themselves, all while keeping their disco pulse in check. And although the Paradise could have been a lot fuller when they rolled through town on this particular evening,
Shout Out Louds clearly didn’t give a shit—they were determined to take us on one hell of a ride.
Opening with delectable “Sugar” made it clear that the evening would turn into a celebration of mostly their newest songs—all of which swirl and sparkle effortlessly. “Walking in Your Footsteps” and “Where You Come In” maintained their bubbling cyber-groove, while older tracks like “Normandie” and “Please Please Please” were greeted with emphatic cheers while still bowling us over with dance floor churn after all these years.
And of course, the stage presence the Shout Out Louds possess was as fleet and flashy as their setlist. Lead singer Adam Olenius bathed himself in onlookers as he jumped in the crowd, serenading us with the infectious “Tonight I Have To Leave It” as their last song of the night.
The balcony—which was sadly empty—served as his cathartic crawlspace as he made his way up there to finish the last few lines of the song. And as he danced his way back to stage, the sweat that entrenched his shirt
served as evidence for the kind of show the Shout Out Louds always put on: feverish and always in good fun.
When we last left The National, they were basking in the glow of High Violet, an album of lofty praise and decent sales (in this day and age) that somehow left me cold. How could an album that sounds so much like its wonderful full-length predecessor, Boxer, be so unsatisfying?
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, and who knows what pushes the fickle critic’s buttons?
It doesn’t even sound all that different from High Violet, but for some reason it’s infinitely more satisfying.
Everything that The National does well—the layers of guitar, the subtle finger picking, the subdued piano and quiet vocal harmonies along with Matt Berninger’s leads—is here, though drummer Bryan Devendorf’s thunderous drums are quieter than on previous releases. Not to worry: they’re still propulsive.
All the tracks have their charms, but the standout is “Fireproof,” with a well-placed, ominous low chord chiming in each time Berninger sings the phrase, “You’re fireproof,” followed by “Nothing breaks your heart.”
Put on the headphones. Listen to it from start to finish. Let its somber tones wash over you all summer long.
It’s difficult to believe now, but for a vast majority of his music making career, Detroit producer Dez Andres was criminally underrated. Though that was quick to change with last year’s release of “New For U.” That world-beating single topped nearly every year end chart from a host of venerable electronic outlets, from Resident Advisor to Fact to Little White Earbuds. Suddenly, he found himself no longer underrated, but properly rated at the top. I had a chance to chat with Andrés yesterday in advance of his appearance at Middlesex tonight as part of the ongoing Together festival.
You’ve been around for some time, but I wanted to ask if you’ve noticed any changes—whether recognition, bookings, whatever—since “New For U” took off?
Well, yeah, of course. A lot of remixes. A lot of requests for remixes. A lot of gigs. A lot of people being drawn to this, what they call it, “blurring of the genres.” I’m enjoying people enjoying the variety and the cultural experience, if you will.
I was just looking and it doesn’t seem like you have many remixes out there. Is that something that you’re especially selective about? Not necessarily. I wasn’t asked to do a lot of remixes, you know what I’m saying? All of that has changed this year, but prior to having a hot single out? Nah, I didn’t get asked a lot, or at all.
The past year, you’ve had four releases. Before that it seems like there was a wider time span between releases. Is there a reason behind the sudden spike in workload? Not necessarily. I wanted to have an outlet to put out more of my music, which is why I started my label. As opposed to when I was just putting out music on Mahogani, now I’ve got my own label, which I’m building a catalogue with. I did put out something with M1 Sessions. And Fit… well, a lot of people don’t know about A Drummer From Detroit, which is another alias of mine. That’s me as well. But yeah, pretty much just the fact that I got my own label and can put out records when I want to also changed the amount of records I have out there.
I’ve heard you describe your DJ style as “blood on the dance floor,” which is one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. That’s oddly self-explanatory, but do you care to elaborate on your mindstate when approaching a set?
Yeah, “blood on the dance floor” means anything goes,
as long as it’s fitting, as long as you can make it fit. Literally, anything goes. That’s one thing. It keeps it interesting for me. I like the variety, the spice of it. And I hope others do as well. I don’t think people are aware how much of a hip-hop DJ I am, and to not play just hip-hop records. There’s a lot of things going on during this whole “blood on the dance floor.” But it’s interesting how that way of describing it kind of sticks. And of course I got that one from Michael Jackson [laughs]. It’s the way I get down. A lot of cats, to me, play it safe. It’s very predictable.
The same beat through the whole set? I can’t do that. That does nothing for me. I gotta mix it up. And in that mixing it up comes the beauty of how songs weave in and out of each other.
Things like that.
You frequently stream your sets on UStream. Can you talk about that technology and how it’s helped you reach out to people who wouldn’t have a chance to see you otherwise?
LiveStream and UStream have allowed people to enjoy me in their homes! People that don’t know shit about me whatsoever. It’s been an interesting tool, man. It’s a way for me to share a lot with people.
I do live beat sessions on there as well. I make beats from scratch. That’s kind of my way of giving back to the beat cats, to the producers and things like that.
I do a lot of sample based things. Just my way of giving back to the people who might be inspired by what I’m actually doing live.
Are there any new artists that you’re particularly hyped on?
I’m always listening for new stuff. I like to listen to a lot of … just good music, not necessarily new or old. There’s some cats that I’ve been rocking with for the last two, three years that might not necessarily be new. Someone like a Danny Brown. But Danny Brown is somebody that obviously has a lot of press, that you know about. As far as someone who doesn’t have the press like a Danny Brown: Almighty Dreadnaughtz. Of course you know about Kyle Hall. Monica Blaire is my favorite singer out of Detroit.
L’Renee is also a wonderful vocalist. She’s featured on, what I like to call, my favorite record for the last year or so, which is Tonite by Omar-S presents Aaron Siegel. That’s my joint right there. So yeah, just some people that have been at it and the world needs to know about them.
Your roots are based in hip-hop, like you mentioned. And I wanted to ask you if you had an opinion on the current trap movement, where hip-hop and electronic music are meeting and the end result is almost the exact opposite of the type of music you promote.
Well, hip-hop and electronic music have long been fused together. They made a pact a long time ago. What’s going now is definitely something that’s been done before, with a lot of these 808 beats, you know?
There’s nothing new, at all. Nothing new. I’m ready to hear the next thing actually because that sound is just something that’s rehashed and dumbed down a little bit for whatever the styling is today. But it’s nothing new. The hi-hat and snares might be a lot more busier, but overall, it’s just a drum rhythm. Being someone who was around and appreciating the music of the early ’80s, especially hip-hop, I can see that. It’s a rehashing of a lot of old drum beats. I want the envelope to be pushed, as far as that, because it’s stagnant right now.
One more question, since it’s seemingly the only thing I’ve been talking to anyone about this week, have you heard the new Daft Punk album? I haven’t. I’m going to be very honest, I’ve always liked their logo and I think I might’ve seen one of their videos,
but I’m not really up on Daft Punk’s music too much.
I know J Dilla sampled them for “Raise It Up” and that’s really all I know. I haven’t delved very deep into Daft Punk. Are they out of the UK?
France. A group that I am very interested in, is a group called Talc. Daft Punk is cool, but those dudes are the deal right there. Those dudes are the business.
They’re from Europe? Yeah, they’re from the UK.
That’s all I got for questions. Guess I’ll see you tomorrow night in Boston. Yeah, I know nothing of the town. Never been there. Maybe you can help me out. What’s good with things out there?
Well, Cambridge is the shit. That’s where you’re playing. Lot of good restaurants. And well… obviously you’re playing, so you won’t have time to check out music, but this festival you’re playing at has had music all week. Who’s going to be there tomorrow?
Um, let me check… tomorrow night is !!!, there’s a drum and bass night, Toy Selectah, and this trap artist named UZ. Yeah… I guess it’s about me tomorrow! [laughs]
MMMMAVEN, BASSTOWN PRODUCTIONS,
& TOGETHER PRESENT: MAKE IT NEW WITH ANDRÉS
THU 5.16.13
MIDDLESEX LOUNGE
315 MASS AVE.
CAMBRIDGE
9PM/21+/$15 BEFORE 11; $20 AFTER
@DJDEZANDRES FACEBOOK EVENT
With an existential blast, Colin Stetson swirled his bass saxophone forwards and backwards for the sold-out MFA audience. His rhythmic rocking, punctuating the ever-undulating circular breathing, added a visual layer to what can sound on first listen as droning.
Yet, where many might only know his music from touring with The National, Arcade Fire, or Bon Iver, Stetson has also developed a strong following on the strength of 2011′s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges. Even as his percussive notes challenge the listener to find hope in the midst of bleak repetition, it was the engaging banter that charmed the seated patrons in the Alfond Auditorium.
At one endearing point of self-deprecation, Stetson said that, even in the midst of all the “doodly-doo-doo-loo” from the guy onstage, we all just needed someone to hear our song.
This idea of a receptive audience unfolded with sublime beauty as Stetson paired two songs from his upcoming record, New History Warfar Vol. 3: To See More Light. He introduced “High Above a Grey Green Sea” as sharing themes from a contemporary fable of a whale whose songs are keyed in a hertz impossible for any other sea creature to hear.
The song’s unanswered echoes then transitioned into “Among the Sef,” a set choice Stetson noted was being played for the first time. Paired, the songs magnified harmonies for a glimmer of hope.
As one concertgoer remarked, there is a dreaminess about Colin Stetson: his well coiffed looks, throbbing forearms, and massive sax contribute to this impression. His passion and physicality is staggering, and it forces the listener to develop a more active ear for tonal shifts and mirroring. While the songs might have missed Justin Vernon’s vocals that will be on New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light, they never felt cliched or self-serving. Even if you miss catching Colin in concert, do pick up this third installment in his song cycle.
We all need a melodic probe of human isolation, and Stetson makes it seem profoundly beautiful.
Back in 2011, when Together fest was in its second year, Colin Thurmond and Rich Chwastiak (The WIG) met with co-founders David Day, Alex Maniatis, and Joe Grafton, with a crazy idea.
Acoustica Music Director Colin Thurmond
Both classically trained instrumentalists who also love EDM, the two asked if Together would be willing to feature a show that takes the idea of a go-go dancer in a club, but combines it with professional dancers, ballet dancers, hip-hop dancers, musicians playing classical and rock instruments, opera singers, acrobats and aerialists—every genre of music, electro, drum and bass, house, trance—into one totally immersive performance. And Together festival said yes.
“Having Together be like, sure, why don’t you do this, why don’t you get involved with the festival … we’d love to help and support. The most important thing that happened there was that they said you have a really great idea, you guys should just keep going and see where it goes. That was really the beginning of this crazy ride.”
Two years after what some people call an “EDM festival” accepted an idea that is the very definition of a “multi-genre”, Touch Performance Art‘s AcousticaElectronic has packed and transformed clubs in Boston and New York City alike with a 360-degree classical-meets-dance-music performance—
an experience that will make you tear up and dance at the same time.
It’s a show where the Habanera from Carmen turns into a house music remix but retains its chilling beauty, actually accentuating it within a new context. It’s a show where there’s no set focal point to look—the dancers and artists move amongst the crowd, beckoning you to join in and dance. Where sometimes, your head tips back as you’re mesmerized by aerialists performing acrobatics to the beat while hanging from the ceiling.
It truly is beautiful to see all forms of music and dance blended so seamlessly together. And that intersection, Thurmond told me, is very much the point.
“We’re interested in taking this idea of how can we fuse live music—instrumental stuff, or classical music—with EDM. How can we take something old and make it new? How do you make it feel really immediate and really visceral,” he explains. “At the core of everything we do is deconstruct and reconstruct. How do you take something like an opera and break it down? What about it is really great? At the end of the day, Carmen is about jealousy and lust and betrayal. When you see someone with that much vocal power, it’s about wanting to scream for that. That feels closer toward the actually truth of the matter than it is to sit in a theatre setting and just watch the opera happen.”
Acoustica takes place at club OBERON. I asked Thurmond what he would say to more traditional thinkers who might immediately buck at the word “club.”
The WIG!
“One of the really big things with ‘dance music’ or ‘EDM’ is there’s this feeling of energy, of wanting to move. That’s a really important thing. EDM producers and the people who created the opera Carmen ask themselves the same things: how do I create something that’s really great and emotional, that gets you to remember my hook, or my melody?”
We had a long discussion about what art should do for the audience. The reaction the creators of Acoustica try to bring out is exactly the same as dance music: it’s immediate, it’s without inhibition, and it draws the audience in, making them move and become part of the show. As someone who’s studied classical music, Thurmond sees a big problem in its inaccessibility to younger generations.
“At some point in time, I think classical music and dance—post WWII, into the ‘80s—there was this Ivory Tower feeling, this estrangement of the audience that happened in art form. That’s been a really dangerous thing,”
Thurmond says. “What makes a really good piece of art is one that incites an emotional, gut level reaction. Before the audience has time to think, they’re like ‘that’s beautiful, that’s wonderful, or that’s digusting.’”
“One of the biggest responses we’ve gotten is from people from more conservative, classical music schools, who’ve said ‘It feels great to be able to scream for that solo. That’s a classical piece I listened to last week in a concert hall and nobody would cough or speak or do anything.”
“Where I came to see [AcousticaElectronica], and all of a sudden, I felt free. Because of the environment, I felt uninhibited. And it felt closer to the composer’s intended purpose.’”
This year’s Together performance, Friday May 17 at OBERON, is even more in line with these ideas. Instead of eight tracks each telling their own story, they’re doing about 15 tracks. Thurmond said this makes the show—and the audience—move at an even faster pace. Acrobats will now dance while floating above the audience’s heads using an aerial hoop called a lyra, and stilt walkers have been added. The performance will expand even more from the traditional, with dancers interacting with the crowd even as they wait in line to get in, in line for the coat check and in the entranceway to the club.
“You’re immersed in the show even when you’re not in the building yet,” he tells me.
AcousticaElectronica has come a long way in two years. Before we said our goodbyes (until Friday), I asked Thurmond what’s up with Touch Performance Arts’ motto: “making it happen.”
The WIG #makingithappen
“If you have a crazy vision and you have an idea for something, don’t give up on it. Hustle, hustle, and work to make that thing happen,” he says, which reminded me again of what he said about Together’s vision, and how they helped make it happen.
“It’s really not just about putting on a music festival. It’s about bringing technology and information and a lot of really bright people together that are passionate around the same thing, but it’s not exclusive of genre,” he said.
“It’s about meeting people that do really interesting things that might be a little off the beaten track, but there’s this great cross pollination of all of these ideas about technology and music, and a really great group of people coming together to share their experience.”
“Making it happen” is about “taking your dream, no matter how crazy it is, and making it real.”
TOUCH PERFORMANCE ARTS PRESENTS: ACOUSTICAELECTRONICA IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TOGETHER FESTIVAL
FRI 5.17.13
CLUB OBERON
2 ARROW ST.
CAMBRIDGE
7:30 & 10:30PM/$25-$55.
@TOUCH_US TOUCHPERFORMANCEART.COM
Together just announced their full lineup of artists playing 2013 Another World’s Fair this Saturday, May 18 in University Park in Central Square, and we’ve got the exclusive! The outdoor event is free and open to the public, featuring the The Middle East & Zuzu Beer Oasis and Grill – presented by Heineken, art installations, food trucks and more. Read our full preview here.
You can still apply to vend and sell stuff at the World’s Fair! The deadline to participate has been extended to 9 am Thursday!
Scott Tournet, guitarist of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, will be touring his deeply personal solo album Ver La Luz, born amid Tournet’s struggle with depression. Playing at Brighton Music Hall, it’s guaranteed to be heartfelt and catchy.
Matt Skiba has followed the Alkaline Trio a long way over the past 17 years from its bare-bones, sometimes dangerous origins as a booze-, drug- and death-obsessed lot of Chicago punks.
“Last night we played Ft. Lauterdale, and I thought back to the first time we played there,” Skiba recalled when reached by phone. “I’ve seen a lot of people get shot, and that night there was a fucking firefight between these two rival biker gangs. We were playing in the back of this pizza place that was owned by this club that I won’t mention. It was gnarly. We had a camping tent that all three of us slept in when we didn’t have a floor to sleep on. But even then we felt like we succeeded.
We were on tour. We had a van. We had shows booked. We were doing it.”
Skiba, 37, long ago ditched the hustle and bustle of Chicago for the more lax confines of Southern California, a testament to the success of the Trio’s morbid-yet-impossibly catchy brand of pop punk. He speaks fondly of the band’s wilder days with pure stoke and humility, which is surprising given the often pitch-black timbre of his lyrics. Alkaline Trio songs routinely navigate such sanguine topics as electrocution, self-medication and jilted love, and the band’s latest, My Shame Is True, proves that while much has changed, some things are destined to stay the same.
Written and recorded in the aftermath of a harsh breakup, Shame is about as heart-on-sleeve a record as they come, even by the band’s own dourly confessional standards.
“I was writing a bunch of songs, just making cool words rhyme, but it wasn’t from the heart,” Skiba said. “It was from the mind, but it wasn’t from the heart. I was going through this breakup, this on-again-off-again thing with this girl, my love for three years, and it was killing me. I was having this horrible time writing, and the whole time it was right in front of me. I always try to stray from being a crybaby, but I was like
‘Well, if I do it right, then everyone will want to hear it, because everyone goes through this shit.’”
But while it’s Skiba’s heartache that informs much of the record, Shame was every bit the collaborative effort as anything he, bassist/vocalist Dan Andriano and drummer Derek Grant have done since Grant joined for 2003’s Good Mourning.
“We were both really prolific with this record,” Skiba said. “Danny had a shitload of songs, I had a shitload of songs. I was writing a song of day for a good couple months. That was my exercise, you write a song everyday. As far as songwriting duties, we were writing in tandem.”
The band is in the midst of a U.S. tour behind the record, which includes a stop at the House of Blues on May 18. Skiba said while writing and recording the recorded untied a knot, playing out behind the new songs has been a full-on release.
“Now is kind of like the divorce party,” he said.
“It’s cathartic, and it’s fun. We have our technical difficulties, but for the most part we’re just living in the moment.”
The album is garnering the band some of the best reviews of its career, but Skiba sought out the approval of one person specifically.
“She’s on the cover,” Skiba said. “I wrote the record for her. As painful as it was, nothing good is easy. I’m happy to say me and my ex are tight. She loves the record.”
American songwriter Samuel Beam, better known by his stage name Iron and Wine, is coming to Boston this weekend. His folky, indie tunes are sure to please, even if you’re one of those people who “like everything but country.” And hey, what’s more American than folk music? (Besides, you know, freedom.) Slap on your red, white, and blue, shotgun that Coors, and drive on down to this show in your souped-up Ford, because this is ‘Merica, dammit, and we like to party. Busy that night?
There have been a lot of electronic acts to break out of Boston in recent years—Passion Pit and Steve Porter come immediately to mind—but it would be hard to argue anyone is doing anything close to as cool as what Soul Clap has been up to.
The Boston-bred duo of Eli Goldstein and Charles Levine have been holed up in studios in Florida and Los Angeles over the past few months
laying down tracks for an EP with none other than the Godfather of Funk himself, George Clinton.
“It’s fucking crazy,” Goldstein told the Dig from L.A. this week. “We went to his studio in Tallahassee, Florida in November and started jamming out on these tracks. At first it was a little intimidating. But he’s really mellow at this point.”
“He sat down and Charlie started playing him this song with all these samples of these Parliament/Funkadelic tracks. George was tripping off that. And he just started rapping and doing his singing, poetry thing.”
The session went so well that they decided to do more songs and are recording a full EP together. Clinton even called in the heavy artillery—funk king Sly Stone—to play on a track.
It may seem odd to some for two DJ/producers from Boston to be jamming out with two of history’s greatest funk figures. But Soul Clap—who named their last album E Funk as a tribute to Clinton’s P-Funk—say it’s a natural fit to merge the old school with their unique brand of psychedelic electro house.
“We learned from all the funk that George built and we went off on our own direction. And now these two versions of funk are meeting in the middle,” Goldstein explains.
“It’s bringing funk into the future. I think it will open up our fans to their music and hopefully open our music up to their fans.”
Despite their busy recording schedule with Clinton, the duo will be headed home to Boston for a pair of gigs during Together. They’ll reprise their beloved Dancing on the Charles parties Sunday, the festival’s last day, with the Crew Love BBQ, a [recently-updated outdoor boat party -Ed.] with Wolf + Lamb, Tanner Ross, and Slow Hands. The New Boston ships out at 2:30 p.m. Sunday from Rowes Wharf, so make sure you get there at 2 p.m. and don’t be late! The Crew Love parties have been packing venues around the globe, including recent events in Barcelona and Miami, and are Soul Clap’s special gift to their beloved hometown.
“It’s going to be great to be back in Boston,” Goldstein says. “Getting to see people DJ and see how people have progressed is really cool.”
As for the festival as a whole, Goldstein, who was one of the first artists involved in Together’s first year, is impressed with how it’s grown and is excited about its fourth edition.
“It’s really cool to see it blossoming,” he says. “To have all these artists coming to Boston is really major. It’s a big deal to have this kind of lineup coming to our city.”
DANCING ON THE CHARLES PRESENTS: CREW LOVE BBQ — ON A BOAT!
SUN 5.19.13
60 ROWES WHARF
BOSTON
2PM/21+/$30 (TICKETS VIA RA)
@SOULCLAP TOGETHERBOSTON.COM AFTERPARTY @ MIDDLESEX LOUNGE STARTING AT 7PM!
Say, are you a fan of rock music, or punctuation? (Either will do.) If you are—and you totally are—check out The Sinclair and see !!!. This dance-punk band has been on the scene since 1996, released five albums, and been keeping the industry on its toes ever since.
Usually pronounced “chk chk chk,” any monosyllabic sound can be substituted.
Creativity is encouraged: “pow pow pow,” “kaw kaw kaw,” or even “wha wha wha” are all wonderful swaps. “Jeah jeah jeah?” OK, slow your roll, Ryan Lochte. You’re not that cool.
[Thu 5.16.13. 52 Church St., Cambridge. 8pm/18+/$18. @chkchkchk. sinclaircambridge.com]
As our grandpa would espouse, no one cares about family nowadays; all anyone’s worried about is “computery phones” and “the Facebooks.” But Boston quartet Aloud proves good ol’ gramps wrong. Made up of a husband-wife team and two buddies, they will be bringing the house down over at T.T. the Bear’s. With three albums (and another on the way), they’re working on growing their family and you’re invited to witness the magic.
Come catch this adorable little clan before the kiddos fly the coop.
GENRE | FUNKY FUSION VERDICT | REFRESHING AND LOCAL LABEL | BAD RECORDS RELEASE | 5.14.13
The new full-length from Boston’s Bad Rabbits is one of the funkiest albums I’ve heard in quite a while, and shows the fun side of music. The song “Dirty” draws strong connections in my mind to Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Got Your Money.” While neither of the songs will go down as the classics of our generation, both are just so ridiculous and fun that you can’t help but enjoy yourself.
The album is strong, perfectly mixing R&B lyrics, Sly Stone-type vocals, and super funky instrumentals.
Thankfully, American Love doesn’t shy away from the synthesizer-heavy sound that initially caused Bad Rabbits fans to fall in love on 2009′s Stick Up Kids EP.
This album is so dance-y and fun that I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns up on many Top Records of 2013 list by the year’s end. The fact that the band will be appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! later this month, and again at Boston Calling, only furthers this theory,
Sick of your barista friend whining about their early hours? School them on what the early morning really is: starting at 1 a.m., German rave god Zombie Nation will be mixing his signature techno tunes at Rise’s famous after party. They’ll realize that their work hours aren’t so bad, and you’ll have a righteous time rocking your freaking head off. Warning: this shindig is for advanced partiers only—ZN has been Kerkrafting for a good 15 years now,
so when it comes to raging against the dawning of the light, these guys don’t mess around.
[Fri 5.17.13. 306 Stuart St., Boston. 1am/18+/$15-$25. @zombienation. riseclub.us]
Finally, a motto we can all get behind: Hooray for Earth. Home planet to the baddest humanoids in the solar system, Earth really is just the best. But Hooray for Earth is also the name of a New York-based rock band, playing downstairs at the Middle East along with Mean Creek, Guillermo Sexo, and Andre Obin. So when the aliens finally come to decimate all of mankind (which they will), make sure your last words are “hooray for earth.” A little grim? Yes.
Ghost came through Boston on his born day, blessing The Wilbur in support of the 12 Reasons To Die Tour. With a live band backing him, the soulful MC kept it street while things got weird and theatrical.
A spliff in the Commons is the perfect appetizer before seeing the Wally Champ.
It whets the Wu Tang whistle.
A stately venue like The Wilbur gets even iller when you’re toasted. I wasn’t dusted like Supreme Clientele era Ghost, or Ethan Hawke in Training Day, but the Sour put me in a proper place.
Even though we slid in only 20 minutes after the doors opened, Moe Pope had already wrapped up his criminally short set. After the release party for Let the Right Ones In, I was looking forward to seeing a Boston MC open for a God MC. To add insult to injury, the dude that followed—a clown with zero charisma who questionably rocked a feather in his hair—didn’t deserve to be billed above Roxbury’s finest. Since it was Ghost’s birthday, Feather Man led the crowd through a birthday song that fell even flatter than his rhymes. He was trying to save face but he couldn’t get out of his own way.
Next up was Venice Dawn, the side project of 12 Reasons to Die producer Adrian Younge.
My girl called it “dracula soul”—a mixture of sinister organ sounds, funky basslines and angelic falsettos.
“I could be doing a lot of evil things,” Adrian said. “Are you guys ready to go on a journey?”
The night was certainly weirder than your average rap show. “Hip-hopera” is a phrase that sickens me, but it’s also apt for this tour. Adrian left the stage momentarily, and came back wearing a cape and carrying a cartoonishly large storybook. The plot of 12 Reasons to Die, a loose concept album, goes like this: Tony Starks is an enforcer for the DeLuca crime fam in 1960s Italy. He goes rogue and they mirk him, melting his remains in a dozen vinyl records. When played together, the records release the Ghostface Killah to avenge his former bosses. Got it?
Adrian stepped up his spiff game with a bow tie and the rest of the band rocked Reservoir Dog suits. Ghost kept it Shaolin steet with Lo gear and emerald Lebron’s. Usually his medallions and Eagle bracelet are mad chunky, but he’s been putting on the pounds to balance it out. A recent tweet sheds some light:
Yo @hiphopchocolate caters to Vegans, Diabetics, & does all that Organic shit too! Word… Got me a little chunky!
— Ghostface Killah (@GhostfaceKillah) May 11, 2013
Instead of opening with new shit, he came out the gate with classic darts like “Daytona 500,” “4th Chamber” and “New God Flow” (remix)—his best verse of the past year. He had “soccer moms paying for cock.” Killah Priest played the role of hype man and sang backup.
Ghost being Ghost, he wasted no time before shit talking. He was unimpressed with the lights. “Fuck around sometimes, you gotta fuck with the mood—sometimes we need the red light, we that blue light. On some Marvin Gaye shit.”
After the lights got more creative, he launched into “Run.”
No one can make paranoia and urgency sound so ill.
Unfortunately, his high-pitched delivery sometimes got muddied by squealing guitars and asshat, amateurish sound mixers.
Photo credit: mikehelly.com
The highlight of the night came during “Protect Ya Neck.” Ghost did Meth’s verse, and brought up some nerdy white boys—the majority of the crowd—to rip ODB’s verse.
The first dude killed it, prompting Ghost to say, “You mirked that.” I had goosebumps for son.
After running through a smattering of 12 Reasons songs, he returned again and again to Wu cuts like “Ice Cream” and “Tearz,” the second of which was particularly dope with a live band backing him. “Holla” also gets an honorable mention for being perfectly suited to this soulful format. Ghost ended with “Mighty Healthy,” the national anthem of Dart City.
At one point during the night, he asked for a moment of silence for the “bullshit from a few weeks ago” and gave Boston some love.
“I’ll drive five hours to fuck with you—rain, hail, sleet and snow,” he said.
It felt a little forced, which sums up the night. Ghost belongs with a live band, but needs to figure out how to make it as smooth as his Pretty Tony persona.
A 10 year old’s spoon drops with a clatter in his cereal bowl to his first glimpse of world-famous producer Duke Dumont DJing a packed nightclub. He’s shocked because this is a whole world unknown to him. But like a lot of kids, younger and younger in age, who are getting into electronic music–he wants to know more. He wants to be a DJ like the ones he sees on TV.
Enter Together Boston and Mmmmaven. No matter what anyone says to the contrary, thousands and thousands of kids are loving “EDM” in the US. They want to read more. They want to learn more. But most of all, they want to know how to DJ out and make this kind of music. And at a time when kids learn more from the Internet than their parents, they’re definitely aware of this world. They just need us to welcome them.
After getting in trouble for drawing turntables in class, the boy (Oliver)’s eyes lead him to a new type of class: Mmmmaven, a DJing and music production school. Free software is available for rippage online, yes, but this school provides instruction for the #1 most used music production instrument in the world: Ableton.
We watch as the boy takes classes as “The Giver” by Duke Dumont grows louder. His instructors and friends all encourage him along with the beat. Finally, he’s a young man, and walking to his first gig as a DJ. He started with a dream to be like the super cool DJ he saw on TV, and this DJ school taught him that his dream could become a reality.
Duke Dumont (his “The Giver” is the music) is playing at Together Central Stage this Friday … but there are thousands of kids across the US who could very well be the next Duke Dumont. That’s what Together is about – not just nightly parties. But including everyone, welcoming younger generations into their world, and most importantly, teaching them not to want to be Avicii.
“Together Central Stage” is the retro-fitted Middle East Downstairs, where Skeptic installation sponsored by ISM will leave. With a customized stage by B.D.M. an LED wall provided by BOSTON JUMBOTRONS, and immersive visuals provided by Chris Latina of Private Archive.
Was there anything surprising about the show tonight?
Not really, other than I got to go to it.
Who else are you listening to at the moment?
Last few days I’ve been listening to U2 because I’m doing something in school with that. Dropkick Murphys lately, and also The Police and the Frank Turner album.
What is the next show you plan to go to? Savages. I bought tickets to that this morning.
Excited?
Very, very. Fuckin’, like, chic post-punk band from London. Yes.
If you could go back in time and see any musician you wanted, who would it be?
Beatles? No, their live shows were shit. You couldn’t hear them because of all the girls screaming. I’d say The Police.
What was your favorite part about the show tonight?
When Mikel came down into the crowd and sang the song he sang to his grandmother in the hospital.
When he sat on the barricade?
Yeah, that was awesome.
How were you introduced to The Airborne Toxic Event’s music?
I heard their song “Sometime Around Midnight” in like 2007 on the radio and I was hooked.
Tell me about the most memorable show you’ve ever been to.
This show right here. They were so involved with the crowd and they’re just so good at connecting with the crowd.
Modern Vampires of the City, the third full-length release from Vampire Weekend, is the true follow-up to the band’s groundbreaking 2008 debut. Filled with the usual quirky, frantic hooks and singer Ezra Koenig’s self-conscious, conversational lyrics, the record is broader in scope and darker than Contra, the band’s claustrophobic, synth-y sophomore effort.
Modern Vampires is a humble display of growth, substituting songs about Ivy League dalliances and Cape Cod for life, death, love, and god.
We spoke to cowriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij about recording and the pressures of following an instantly successful debut.
Modern Vampires feels more ambitious than your debut yet is more open and organic than Contra, which was an extreme departure from your debut. What was the vibe behind this one?
We wanted the piano to be the heart and soul. I was inspired by John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band LP. The piano connects the songs and leaves space so that they can breathe.
There are a lot of religious overtones in the lyrics. Is that something that’s become more relevant to the songwriting instead of the more playful lyrics in the past? Religion and how we all interact with it in our lives—whether we choose to be a part of any religion or multiple religions, or to disengage from religion—those are definitely questions that are part of this record.
How do you expect longtime fans to react to Modern Vampires? I think our fans have stuck with us because they appreciate our songwriting and the way our records sound.
I think they’re ready for the risks we’re taking and they want to see us try things that make us excited about our music.
That’s what we went for on this record.
What type of limits did you set upon yourselves while recording? It’s a very cohesive record and limitations can create new ideas. Were there any specific rules than before? In some ways there were no limits. We knew we wanted to pursue organic sounds and throw them inside a world they hadn’t existed in before. When writing music, I’m always pursuing counterpoint. The intro to “Step” has these different moving parts moving at different speeds and sometimes in different directions. I guess I’ve always felt like music doesn’t have to be complicated or busy to have counterpoint, that was one of the goals for this record.
You [have] mentioned that “Step” is “about people who are possessive over music.” What did you mean? I think what I was pointing to was the idea that “the girl” referenced in the lyric “step to my girl” isn’t necessarily a girl. When you come to love music, you can get these very strong feelings; like this music was made for only you.
Part of you wants to share it with the world, but another part of you wants to keep it for yourself.
What was the most difficult part in creating Modern Vampires? The songwriting process. Ezra and I spent about a year getting together and writing. The last thing we did was take a trip to Martha’s Vineyard and that resulted in starting the last three songs written for the record. Those came quickly over the course of just four days last April.
Even though it was a long and sometimes tough process, I think it’s proved worthwhile to the quality of the record.
What is something you don’t look forward to in releasing new music? I feel like VW has extra pressure since the debut was so successful. Sometimes you’ll read a review that’s positive but you’ll feel like: “This person has it all wrong. I wish they would have given the record a bad review because they totally misunderstood it.”
Ultimately though, it seems people who contact us on Twitter and meet us after shows take the time to really “go deep.”
Being misunderstood in press isn’t so bad at the end of the day.
Last Friday a few friends were in town from Vermont and they really wanted to see He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister upstairs at the Middle East. I had just had (another) OKCupid date cancel on me, so with a sigh of last minute relief (I really didn’t want to go, I hate dates and don’t know how that whole thing even happened.) I agreed to accompany them along with my roommate to the show. The opening act took the stage, a two- person group called Jeffrey Lewis and the Rain.
Let it be known that The Middle East upstairs has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Sure, it’s a great place to see live local bands, and the ceilings are high, and the bartender is a nice dude who stays calm even when he’s swamped with people in between bands.
However, as a tall person I always feel like I am ruining someone’s night, no matter where I stand.
I was blown away by Jeffrey Lewis. Creative, political, clever, and entertaining are some words that come to mind. He sang and played the guitar, she played the bass (and apparently usually a keyboard, which had just broken) and sang background vocals.
Every few songs or so Jefferey would pull out a large comic book.
He illustrated it himself, and with no instrumental accompaniment he would sing the comics: one a brilliant retelling of the French Revolution and another about a porno featuring a pirate and a parrot.
“Will you stand here and hold my friend’s spot by the front while she goes and gets a beer?” a girl asks hopefully. I reluctantly say that I will, well aware that my beer is nearly empty and instead of being used as a human parking cone I could be in line at the bar myself. When the girl returns, her cup laden with beer, I slink off to stand in the corner and it’s then that I spot my roommate,
who I’m pretty sure is being “that girl”.
Camera flashing every few seconds, “No,” she says. “I don’t like it, take another one.” People are staring. “EW,” she says loudly. “What IS that guy wearing?!” He heard us. Oh god, he heard us. (Awful furry pants though, really.)
We leave the venue around 10:30pm just after the headliner comes on. After knocking a beer out of a gentleman’s hand and then trying to hide behind the person next to him, I decide it’s time to get my friend home. We hail a cab and as we’re getting in she decides nay, it is not time for this, it is time for snacks. One argument with the ATM and a microwave pizza later we are finally on the way back home,
my roommate drunk as a skunk before 11 p.m.
The cab turns down Brighton Ave. I weigh my options and decide to go for it. When the cab hits a red light I open the door, assuring the cab driver my roommate would be fine and hoping she wouldn’t eat the frozen pizza between here and the two blocks to our apartment. I end the evening sipping a beer, alone on a Friday night.
Can’t win ‘em all.
Shit Bar Havoc had to put up with this week:
Overheard at the bar:
“All my friends are like, having babies or doing crack.”
Who doesn’t? Live vicariously through rap legend Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia fame, who will be performing with special guest A$AP Ferg at the Wilbur Theatre.
Entering a show that could be briefly described as a Sweet 16 party for Satan’s daughter, you may learn to associate demonic rituals with a great time, if you don’t already.
Sweden’s Ghost B.C. (or simply Ghost, as known outside the US) accomplished that at their show last Friday at Royale by melding a late Sabbath-esque stage persona with early Sabbath-esque bass groove. The Ides of Gemini opened, serving as the chorus before the sermon with singer Sera Timms’s haunted Kim Deal-style vocals over droning shoegazer melodies. That all changed as frontman Papa Emeritus II, donned in full black Pope hat, robes, and staff,
lead his five masked Nameless Ghouls to carry out the message of Satan all in the name of good fun.
Never breaking character, Papa caressed the “boys and girls,” both with his Baroque choir singing style and by wistfully gesturing to the crowd in his clutching leather gloves. The other five summoned everyone’s inner Occultist purely through their instruments, executing sharp synth arpeggios, speedy guitar licks, and a bass performance to rock your head and shake your hips. Ghost’s self-awareness played beautifully along with the crowd’s high spirit, judging by the number of devil horns.
Fans exemplified their Sunday best when the band took a cheering request to prevent them from getting “too physical.” Papa and the Ghouls ended their “satanic shindig” with one encore track (sans encore break!), leaving zealots chanting for more, or perhaps for Lucifer.
Regardless of any previous experience, after a mass with Ghost you’ll undoubtedly consider yourself converted.
The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and it’s time to break out the sweet and energetic songs of BOY.
This female pop-folk duo uses catchy hooks and lots of hand clapping in their debut album Mutual Friends. They’ve reached over 8 million hits on YouTube for their music video to “Little Numbers” and now they’re bringing their get-up, dance, smile, and sing attitude just in time for the start of summer.
Grumpy cats and summer Grinches need not apply.
[Fri 5.17.13. 939 Boylston St Boston. 8pm/All Ages/$15. @redroom939. cafe939.com]
GENRE | PIANO DRONE VERDICT | NOT FOR NOVICES LABEL |NEW AMSTERDAM RECORDS RELEASE | 3.26.13
Mary Ann-Hobbs once said, “You won’t find another musician as agile and reckless as DJ /rupture.” Co-founder of the Dutty Artz label Jace Clayton‘s newest album, the first released under his own name, is as compelling as it is ballsy.
The Julius Eastman Memory Depot is a passionate and fearless attempt to reinvent and reintroduce the often cryptic music of Julius Eastman to a modern audience.
Eastman was a gay black composer known for being a pioneer of minimalism and embodying the downtown New York City scene of the 1980s. A genius freak who trampled upon the concert hall establishment of classical music, he lived a life marked by addiction to crack, alcohol, and his own aberration. Like many of the asphalt visionaries of that time, he was both sly and cynical in his attempts at revolution through creation. He died ruined and alone with only a handful of live recordings of his groundbreaking work.
Clayton has chosen to tackle two of Eastman’s three works for four pianos, “Evil Nigger” and “Gay Guerrilla.” Eastman wrote music following what he referred to as an “organic principle,” where each new section of a piece contained all the same components as the previous sections and these parts were removed and replaced at a logical rate.
Throughout Memory Depot, Clayton adheres to Eastman’s pathos by running adept pianists David Friend and Emily Manzo’s pianos through a laptop, where he uses custom built digital tools to morph electronic and acoustic sounds together.
The result is a mad, meandering collection of complex tracks that are dangerously close to teetering over the edge.
The opening note of “Evil Nigger” is a doozy. Clayton creates a mean staccato that he strips down until there is nearly nothing left.
A hypnotic trill enters, followed by a lower counterpart, and this perpetual wax and wane begins. The listener can feel the force and pressure of the pianist’s fingers as Clayton plays with crescendo and diminuendo by introducing subtle electronic effects beneath the keys’ foreground.
The final minute of Part I is light, airy, dense, and nearly beautiful.
Then the dark low notes transition into the sporadic musings of Clayton for Part II. Nearly all of the melody is distorted here, rising in pitch after each effect is abruptly cut off and replaced by another more eerie one. Much more of the unorthodox electronic effects are evident in Part III and IV. Clayton utilizes a tool that uses the overall volume of the pianos to simultaneously adjust a drone being generated by their pitches. The result is an electronic layer built entirely on the piano’s sound.
Part I of “Gay Guerrilla” sounds like the pianists are laying it on like a couple of kids throwing a tantrum on the keys of a piano. Pounding polyrhythms swirl about, both hard to process and difficult to avoid. Part II sounds like running frantically through pitch black woods.
As the piano parts fall away, it’s as if the listener has stopped to catch their breath and listen to the unfamiliar sounds of the night.
Flanked by wispy strings, the keys return gradually to usher yet another reworking of the piece. At this point, it starts to become difficult to discern which components are the same as the parts before it. Clayton’s electronic influence is only noticeable in short spurts, like the end of Part III and beginning of Part IV.
He literally warps away the acoustic sounds like words on a chalkboard, only to smear them back on with the letters rearranged.
In Part V, you can visualize the pianists feet on the pedals, weighed down by cinder blocks.
So dark and dissonant that halfway through, I think my heart rate has reached a dangerously low rate.
The album ends with “Callback from the American Society of Eastman Supporters,” an original piece that begins with a strange mock robocall explaining that supporters of Eastman are chosen and some are rejected completely. Then Sufi vocalist Arooj Aftab sings languidly,”Regardless of age, regardless of race, regardless of color, regardless of creed and disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation.” It is like one of those audio exhibits played in a loop and held in a small dark space at a modern art museum.
This album is an intelligent and at times too dense renewal of music by a footnote composer who should not be so easily forgotten.
Clayton’s reimagining reminds me of my first time listening to some Aphex Twin and Prefuse 73 productions. I feel as though I have to listen to this music like I am viewing a piece of avant-garde art.
Together festival is far-and-away the most diverse the city has to offer, this year or any other, as illustrated by this mix from one of our very own.
“What? Together? Oh, I think that’s that EDM fest,” will proclaim countless people over the next 10-days, each knowing absolutely fuck all about anything.
Never mind the fact that, in their unassuming absentmindedness, they’re omitting a large portion of activities offered up by the festival that extend beyond “people playing music.” There’s visual art and panels and a lot of stuff that I don’t need to tell you about because this week’s issue of the Digdoes a bang-up job at as much.
The real problem, though, lies in that damn “EDM” distinction.
Like one of those intrusively large umbrellas that people carry when it’s only slightly drizzling, the term has become a lazy retort for those not willing to take the time to hash out the differences amongst genres. That someone could maintain that close-mindedness in 2013— where electronic music is fully accepted as a thing that you no longer have to conceal in seedy clubs and basements—speaks more to that person than the music.
And in all actuality, the festival is far-and-away the most diverse the city has to offer, this year or any other, as illustrated by this mix from one of our very own.
Nickdawg‘s artist showcase dives and careens through more styles than you can shake a glowstick at, traversing far-and-wide during the 77-minute runtime. From Duke Dumont‘s hands-high take on house to an introvertedly neurotic burner from Four Tet. The stone-cold cool of Andrés to the spasmistic trap of UZ. Whatever it is that Flying Lotus does. All on display here, and again next week at a bevy of friendly neighborhood venues throughout the city.
As for myself, I’ll be on the ground covering the festival for XLR8R magazine throughout the week, so this may be the last you hear from me on the matter here. Follow me on the social networks (@michael_c_walsh) to figure out where I’m at and if you see me out, don’t hesitate to come say hi.
We can share a beer and talk about how much fun we’re having.
Filters, phasers, and side-chain compressors: simple tools, but they’re still what you need if you want to make a crowd fall in love—with you, with each other, with the evening itself. French Nu-Disco label Kitsuné knows all about the class of using those simple, resplendent tools to build and relieve tension, which is why labelmates Lifelike and Fred Falkeare going to bathe you in shimmering filter goodness. Oh, and did we mention it’s going to be at Naga?
You could DROWN in that classiness.
[Wed 5.15.13. 450 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 10pm/21+/$15. @LIFELIKE__. nagacambridge.com]
Ahoy there! We’re going to gather all of our Together 2013 coverage in one spot, just like you were expecting. Why were you expecting that? Oh yeah, from our coverage last year. Plus, our lives are just as batshit crazy as yours. We need some sort of organization before we throw ourselves head-first into next week. Wish us luck.
‘I heard that there was a DJ by the name of Matthew Johnson in Boston.
I wonder if he is collecting some of my royalty checks.’
Canadian techno auteur Mathew Jonson is playing live at Together for Sweet Shop at Good Life on Saturday, May 18. You may free-associate him with “trance,” “Marionette,” or (more intelligently) decades worth of releases on labels from Sub Static to Kompakt—but we bet you didn’t know how funny he was.
Naturally, that came out when we asked him about Canada.
You’re playing live this year. What do you play on? and what’s the best part about performing live?
I re-create the same environment on stage as [when] I mix in the studio. The only difference is that the synths that are too big to come on tour are recorded into separated parts on the DAW. There are 24 channels filled with three stereo pairs from the computer and the rest contain drum machines, synths, and effects.
What’s the best part about performing live?
The people are what makes a great party.
When the sound is good and the time is right, playing live can be a magical experience. It’s amazing how music can bring rise to all kinds of abstract feelings from things like time and space being distorted to weather systems moving through a room, or the physical sensation of accelerating down a runway before take off.
You’ve made some all-time classic dance anthems. Do you ever tire of playing something like “Marionette”? How do you keep it fresh?
Instead of programming a live set from beginning to end, I would rather give the music the freedom it needs to develop in a way that is unique to the specific feeling of the space. It’s about reading the crowd and their body language and then taking the music where it needs to go. I like to fly between improvising and prepared tracks, as it has an element of risk that is exciting but also pays off in the end with music that is better thought out. It’s kind of like taking solos between songs I guess. If you’re in touch with what’s happening around you and play the music that is right for each moment, it’s never tiring.
Congratulations on your full-length record [out on Crosstown Rebels June 2013], how do you approach creating an album?
I guess it comes down to picking music that expresses something as a whole, and feels good in this context. With this album I wanted to include tracks that reflected my current mental state and path in life.
Her Blurry Pictures is a play on the idea of bringing things into focus and being present in life rather than trying to escape.
I don’t think I have at all mastered the idea of albums yet, and that is why I am enjoying the idea so much in the last years. It’s a learning process and it lets me explore, adding new meaning to my work.
Crosstown Rebels is a substantial label, responsible for breaking our hometown heroes Soul Clap in a way, do you know Soul Clap? What’s your take on them?
Yeah, I’ve met them and they’re both great guys and fun DJs to listen to, of course. It’s nice to see people having so much fun with their music!
You’re also a substantial remix master, any suggestions for young producers looking to tackle a remix? Any advice? Remixes can be really tough. I guess my advice would be do your best and if it works out, then great. If not, don’t be afraid to tell the label that it’s not happening and you’re not going to work on it anymore. There is no point putting out anything you’re not feeling. I guess this goes without saying, but don’t make promises you can’t keep. It’s best to walk into these situations with both parties understanding that there is no deal on the table until the remix is done or stopped and that the remixer reserves this right to choose. Not all tracks work out, so there should be no expectation that a remix will either. I end up passing on probably half of the ones I take on, to put it in perspective.
For one reason or another, Together has a considerable amount of Canadians playing this year, what makes Canada such a strange breeding ground for new music?
I wouldn’t say there is anything strange about it. The moment you cross the border into Canada the temperature drops 30 degrees and the sun disappears behind walls of ice and snow.
Due to these extremes, we are unable to leave the confines of our igloos for anything more than the brief 30 minutes of heat that the noon day sun provides us with; this time in which we use to hunt for our sole diet of moose.
The rest of the time, we play music.
This festival is called ‘Together’, how have you seen the physical manifestation of this word through making and playing music for people?
I’ll be serious again. I see music as being very much a universal language. Having the opportunity to travel and meet so many people from different cultures really opens your eyes to this.
I’ve come to realize that most of the people on earth are very similar, in that they love their friends and families and really just want to live a peaceful life. It’s quite a privilege that music has allowed me to experience so much. The world is a beautiful place.
Do you have any particular foods you like? Are you a vegetarian?
I prefer to eat a vegan diet most of the time as I think that’s what makes my body feel most healthy. It also feels like a good choice ethically, of course, as it’s better for the environment and the animals involved. I’ll eat meat or fish on occasion though if it’s caught in the wild. Farming practices these days are in a pretty sad state.
It must be annoying when people spell your name with two “t”s. Sorry about that. Not really a question sorry…. but is it?
Sometimes yes. In the end, I’m used to it though, so all I can really do is blow it off. It happens all the time.
I heard that there was a DJ by the name of Matthew Johnson in Boston. I wonder if he is collecting some of my royalty checks.
Ant TC1 is the curator of “one of the most forward thinking drum n’ bass labels,”Dispatch Recordings, which is revered in the global scene.
The mix is fast breakbeats, with heavy bass and sub bass lines, that race at up to 180 beats per minute for a classic, yet distinct drum n’ bass sound.
The original manager of the Dispatch Recordings (with Hidden Agenda), Ant began his career as a producer in 2001 through the label, and had previously been a club and pirate radio DJ since 1993. His initial release through Dispatch Recordings (alongside production partner Stress Level) occurred three years after production began. The duo desired to achieve an “ideal sound” before the track was released, and toiled for years in the studio.
Their first release garnered attention from the top echelon of drum n’ bass record labels, and subsequent remix work was in high demand. Ant later released tracks with genre heavyweights Hidden Agenda, Chris SU, Artificial Intelligence, Kabuki, Total Science, Optical, and Rhyme Time, amongst others. The producer is the sole label manager of Dispatch Recordings, and has released mixes that have exploded onto the UK dance music charts. Ant TC1 consistently produces and releases high-quality singles and EPs from drum n’ bass artists Survival, Break, Marcus Intalex, Commix, and others.
Ant TC1’s output is featured on multiple compilations and radio shows, including BBC Radio 1 slots and a four-hour show hosted by the producer himself. Ant is revered in the global drum n’ bass scene, and has toured to major cities Adelaide, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Budapest, Tel-Aviv, and Bangkok, in addition to frequently performances in his native UK. His solo releases have received much acclaim and he runs a monthly night in Leeds called “Momentum,” all while touring the globe.
The deep sub bass patterns are felt through a powerful sound system, where the bass line is an important structural element. The bass originates from sampled sources, synthesizers, and a series of build-ups that are subject to an experimentation with timbres. The mix is fast breakbeats, with heavy bass and sub bass lines, that race at up to 180 beats per minute for a classic, yet distinct, drum n’ bass sound.
Ant TC1 joins resident DJ Lenore (opening set) for his long-awaited appearance at Elements tonight! Facebook event here.
ELEMENTS PRESENTS ANT TC1
WITH LENORE
THU 5.9.13
PHOENIX LANDING
512 MASS AVE.
CAMBRIDGE
10 PM/$7 BEFORE 11 $10 AFTER/19+
@PHOENIXLANDINGBAR PHOENIXLANDINGBAR.COM
This Friday the Boston-based folk duo Tall Heightswill be bringing their smooth acoustic stylings to Beantown for two shows in the same night at Club Passim. Tall Heights’s gorgeous harmonies and soothing instrumentals have drawn attention across the globe, but the guys are probably best known in Boston for playing incredible shows at Faneuil Hall. After two immensely successful EP releases, the duo will be releasing their first full length album, Man of Stone, on the 14th.
While you do have to wait a little bit longer for the full album,
the Dig is ecstatic to premiere two songs off of Man of Stone: “Eastern Standard Time” and title track “Man of Stone.”
You are performing twice on May 10th at Club Passim. Will this be the first time playing a venue twice on the same day?
Yeah, first time. Really looking forward to the Passim crowd, ’cause it’s been a little while and we’ve been everywhere in the country except for home for much of this year.
I find it incredibly hard not to get pulled away when I listen. Do you guys ever get lost in you own music?
Sure, that’s the goal. When that doesn’t happen, we know we need to rework or scrap the idea altogether.
I read that you averaged 100 copies sold per day in the first week of Raftersrelease. Were you expecting such an amazing reception for the EP?
What a fun week. We had been performing those songs out for a bit and I think people were hungry for them, and it was cool to see our home-spun project take off so rapidly.
Being an acoustic folk band, do you prefer when you play at Faneuil Hall or at bigger indoor venues?
Faneuil Hall is a lot of fun for us, great for meeting people from all over and for practicing our craft. But the listening rooms are the best gigs. In the evenings at Faneuil we can approach that kind of vibe, as people will stop in their tracks or camp out on the ground and watch. There’s something special about the impromptu performance. But the subtleties in our music come out best in rooms like Passim, The Avalon Theatre in Maryland, and Room 5 out in LA.
When we did our Lizard Lounge residency in the fall, the room was so quiet for our encore that the entire sold-out crowd heard someone’s tiny little squeak of a fart and we had to stop the show ’cause we all started laughing.
What do you feel is the band’s biggest success recently?
Getting big crowds out to these release shows for Man of Stone, and seeing how excited people are for the new record is pretty special, and totally rejuvenating for us after so much travel over the past few months.
There are a few notches in our belt coming soon that I’m not supposed to talk about yet, but stay tuned …
I was checking out your Pledge Music page for Man of Stone and saw your pledge perks. Since one of them is playing a house show for a donator, are you guys scared about the possibility playing in a crazed fan’s basement?
That nightmare has already happened, and not from a Pledge concert. We had some good laughs afterwards. I like to think we’ve gotten better at recognizing the warning signs in advance so as to avoid putting ourselves in an awkward, or dangerous situation. But the vast majority of house concerts have been fantastic and triumphant examples of human trust.
You guys have said Man of Stone is going to be much deeper and darker than previous recordings. Is there any reason for this, or is it just natural songwriting taking its course?
I think we’re both drawn to the sense of gravity embodied in the songs we love most, so perhaps it’s been a natural progression. It’s not that we were in particularly dark places in our respective lives as we wrote these songs, and in fact, the months since recording, in which we’ve been unable to share Man of Stone with fans, have been some of our most challenging.
But we do both tend to struggle on a personal level with that idea of finding our place as artists, which is what ties the whole project together. Sorry if that was heavy.
TALL HEIGHTS
FRIDAY 5.10.13
CLUB PASSIM
47 PALMER ST.
CAMBRIDGE
7PM/10PM/ALL AGES/$15
@TALLHEIGHTS TALLHEIGHTS.COM CLUBPASSIM.ORG
It would be hard to imagine an artist with a better pedigree than Objekt … except for maybe a purebred Chow Chow turned producer. As a programmer at the EDM think tank and juggernaut that is Native Instruments (creators of Traktor), it’s easy to see why he would end up with the fiendish attention to detail that have people like Four Tet and Resident Advisor buzzing—check out his track “Porcupine” to see what we mean. Local party gurus and record label JASS are bringing him to you straight from Berlin, so let the genre-hopping begin.
To prepare for a show like this I make sure to bring the bare essentials. There’s a good chance I’ll lose everything in my pockets. I’ve even brought an empty glasses case to put my prescription glasses into so they don’t get broken. At some point some crowd surfer will land on my neck and or a limb connects with my face.
There is no guessing here. This will happen.
Raffle
The South Shore Music Hall is the perfect venue for the event. Far off the trail, tucked away in Quincy where this music scene has thrived for decades. I’ve descended into the dark underground basement venue. The walls behind the merch table are covered with brown envelopes that are individually labeled with winnable prizes for the raffle, one of the ways the event is raising money for The One Fund. Prizes vary from gift certificates to tattoo parlors, dinners, prize packages from artists, and
Alpha & Omega are filling in for For the Worse, who had to drop out due to unforeseen circumstances. There’s a good amount of people here already. The TVs with the Bruins game on in the back are distracting many people from the show.
By the time I arrive the Bruins are racking up goal after goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After New Lows’s set I attempt to go to the bathroom, but the hall in between there and the stage is so packed it’s very difficult to get through.
As I try to get by I find myself halted by walls of stubborn Bostonians with attitudes.
New Lows. Photo by Reid Haithcock
I forgot earplugs and my ears are already ringing before Wrecking Crew. They keep raffling off prizes as the night progresses and I can’t hear the numbers being called very well. I did hear the announcer say that ticket numbers would be posted on the event page later.
The crowd is ecstatic for hardcore punk veterans Wrecking Crew to reunite for this one off show. This is a band that may never hit the stage together again. The ceilings are so low at one point he raises his fist and with the help of the microphone puts a hole in the ceiling. Dust flutters down and can be seen through beaming stage lights. The mosh pit looks more like a massive hardcore kid bar fight.
Kids are falling from the pipes hanging from the ceiling and by the end of the set the singer drops the microphone into the crowd, for the crowd.
Providence grindcore legends Dropdead take the stage next. “It’s an honor to be here,” Dropdead frontman Bob Otis says, “We feel your pain Boston.” And in no time flat the place once again erupts into a massive pit of pushing and shoving. In between blasts Otis talks to the crowd, sending Dropdead’s political message of changing the world for the better against hierarchy powers.
“Don’t give into what they want you to think. Numbers equal power, and this is proof of that,” Otis says as he swings the microphone and points to his head.
Drop Dead. Taken from Myspace
Dropdead finish up their set and are followed by Boston hardcore legends, going strong since 1985, Slapshot! The crowd in the front knows every word of the set. Bodies are climbing on top of bodies trying to get on the mic to scream along with Jack “Choke” Kelly on Slapshot classics like “Chip on My Shoulder,” “Hang Up Your Boots,” and “Old Tyme Hardcore.”
Choke seems to be conducting a symphony, grandly waving his arms.
The last band of the evening is Converge. Last time Converge played in Boston it was to a packed room downtown at the Royale. Today they’re playing a much smaller venue. This may be one of the last times anyone will ever see Converge in a venue this size away from the mainstream. It’s almost unbelievable that after all the music I’ve seen tonight there is still one more band to follow so many other great ones.
Converge in Switzerland. Photo by Matteo Bosonetto Layne Gustav
Converge frontman Jacob Bannon is pacing the stage, jumping up and down, and stretching out his neck and jaw as he prepares for the set. “Alright you ready?” he asks.
“Thank you so much for coming out and making this show a beautiful experience.” And then almost with a sigh he follows, “Let’s just get this fucking over with.”
Kurt Ballou begins playing the opening riff for “the Saddest Day” and Converge rip right into their set.
Within seconds, I receive a hard elbow to the nose and a thumb to the eye. I can feel the blow from my forehead, to behind my face, all the way down to my top row of my teeth. I immediately bury my face in my hands and assess the situation. I’m bleeding a little and for a moment I consider going further back to somewhere safe. “No way,” I tell myself, “ I’ve been hit harder and suffered worse injuries than this. Injuries I probably should have gone to hospitals for, this is nothing.”
I would later discover I chipped one of my bottom front teeth a little.
There’s a lot of love here in this dark concert hall amongst the punks, the grime, and the tattoos. It’s a shame that it had to take the horrible events of this year’s Boston Marathon to bring this amazing event together.
According to Lykaion Cult Productions the event raised nearly $14,000 for the One Fund and the show brought out 750 people Monday night. This is what hardcore is all about. In this scene we help pick up our community.
According to the Mass Cultural Council, a cultural district is defined as: “a compact, walkable area of a community with a concentration of cultural facilities, activities, and assets.” Central Square’s got that part down year-round,
but on Saturday, May 18th, it will become even more highly concentrated with culture—interactive street art, food, science, technology, music, dance, and ideas—for the 2013 Central Square World’s Fair.
the World’s Fair is like a giant block party—if all your neighbors were artists, DJs, chefs, and scientists.
“It’s this incredible synchronicity of all this great art event karma,” says Robin Lapidus, Executive Director of the Central Square Business Association. “And being the same weekend as the Together Festival gives us a great cultural distinction in what’s new and exciting and authentic.”
It’s a celebration of Central Square’s recent designation as a cultural district, mashed with music, art, and technology from the Together Festival (whose headquarters you can visit at 328 Mass. Ave.), and artistic inspiration from Cambridge Open Studios, featuring 75-plus open artists studios and 20-plus gallery spaces.
There’s a lot to harness at a world’s fair, so here’s the lowdown on where to eat, drink, dance, and create during the day-long blowout showcasing the best of Cambridge’s culture.
To quench your thirst, step into The Middle East & ZuzuBeer Oasis and Grill, presented by Heineken. Located right near the main stage, this beer garden promises Middle East favorites like spinach pie, chicken kebabs, and lamb skewers, says Lapidus.
EXPLORE + CREATE
“Pretty much everything we have is for kids and adults,” says Lapidus. “Everything will be equally entertaining to both.”
So don’t be afraid to jump into the Together Kids’ Inspiration Garden, where you (and your youngin’) can paint old keys and string them together to make a wind chime. Urban Canvas, a group of “street art chalk rebels” will also be on hand to create chalk murals, and maybe even a game hopscotch, if you ask nicely.
For a peek into Cambridge artists’ workshops, hop on a trolley that will transport you to more than 75 studios, as part of the Cambridge Open Studios, presented by the Cambridge Arts Council. The East/Central Cambridge studios and galleries will be open May 18-19 and feature everything from backyard installations to a community mural and outdoor gallery at the Community Art Center, on the corner of Mass. Ave. and Albany Street.
Mural by Caleb Neelon
LISTEN + DANCE
LeahV
Central Square’s earned a reputation for the best dance party this side of Somerville, with the annual City of Cambridge Dance Party that takes place in front of City Hall every June. They wanted to incorporate that spirit into the fair, Lapidus says, so they came up with the idea of a community dance stage, the Soul Train Runway. Anyone can sign up, from Little League teams to local nonprofits, and they will be collecting donations for the One Fund Boston and the Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund.
And trust Together to get the music side covered. Says Together Festival Creative Director David Day: “Music includes the funky sound of Soulelujah’s Claude Money and Best of Boston DJ Leah V in addition to an eclectic line-up of live bands, a broad array of mixes coming from the AeroShot Energy DJ stage.”
CENTRAL SQUARE WORLD’S FAIR.
SAT 5.18.13
UNIVERSITY PARK
SIDNEY STREET
CAMBRIDGE
NOON-8PM/ALL AGES/FREE
@GO_CENTRALSQ FACEBOOK.COM/C2CULTURE
Ceremony, Boston’s long-running goth and industrial night, always strives to bring you something darker and more unusual than the week before. Tonight they’re bringing you DJ Znuh, straight out of Neverwhere, USA, who’s known for his eclectic tastes and awesome mohawk. Resident and lord of monthly “Factory” at Machine, DJ Static will swallow the lights and get the night started off right. Ceremony’s crowd tends not to go half way in the dark, either on the dance floor or in their outstanding fashion choices. Their dress code is loose, but it’s always more fun to come prepared. So … all-black minimum.
Ceremony, Boston’s long-running goth and industrial night, always strives to bring you something darker and more unusual than the week before. Tonight they’re bringing you DJ Znuh, straight out of Neverwhere, USA, who’s known for his eclectic tastes and awesome mohawk. Resident and lord of monthly “Factory” at Machine, DJ Static will swallow the lights and get the night started off right. Ceremony’s crowd tends not to go half way in the dark, either on the dance floor or in their outstanding fashion choices. Their dress code is loose, but it’s always more fun to come prepared. So … all-black minimum.
If making music is a way of making worlds, Crystal Castles make worlds that are plague-infested, cold and dirty, and overrun with murderous robots. And none of it’s a joke. As far as we can tell. Of course, no introduction to Crystal Castles would be complete without a mention of Alice Glass.
Imagine a pencil thin girl in demon-white make up, rolling around on the floor, crowd-surfing, and chugging entire bottles of Jack Daniels.
Between them and 90s-infused DIY producer Pictureplane, you should be ready for some destruction at the House of Blues. The official after-party is at Ceremony nearby. Bring your ticket stub and get $5 off cover.
The recent popularity of deep house is awesome, but Dirt Crew have been doing it up since some of those guys were drinking juice boxes and have been rocking dance floors with their unique deep house sound since 2004. Detroit Swindle, fresh faces to the scene, are quickly gaining a reputation in their home base in Berlin. The Amsterdam natives draw inspiration from groovy soul and Motown, and incorporate as many characteristics of the genres as they can. Middlesex‘s Gallery is always a destination for classy European house and techno, and tonight they’re showing their prowess. Boston native Brenden Wesley will open.
EuroRack modular synthesizers have changed the game, making modular systems accessible and easily customizable for the public. Berklee professor and one of the world’s foremost experts in music programming, Dr. Richard Boulanger, will demonstrate the power and applications of these systems. Featuring Stretta (aka Matthew Davidson) and the Berklee Electronic Music Ensemble – BEME (and … more blinking lights than Time Square on New Years Eve).
[Mon 5.13.13. 22 The Fenway, Room 112. 6pm/free. @stretta. berklee.edu]
‘Without that whole crew, who knows how things would be now.’
During an urban festival like SXSW, WMC, or Together, the national and international acts that come around often overshadow the artists who are developing a strong following in that city or region. In the spirit of Together, a festival that pools together the efforts and ideas of Boston’s various electronic music scenes, it is imperative to hold an official event that shows the rest of the world some of the best that Boston has to offer.
Also in attendance will be some of the best and most enthusiastic painters, hoopers, and rudeboy stompers in the area.
Russo of BBP in action
“What gets me excited the most is seeing the acts we’ve booked listed on posters alongside world class national and international talent, and seeing the constantly expanding influence of dance music in Boston,”
says Alex Russo, Music Ecology’s co-founder and one half of Blue Boy Productions.
When I think of the one event I have frequented over the years to catch a variety of electronic producers, DJs, and bands, my mind immediately directs me to Music Ecology, every Tuesday night at Wonder Bar. In its fourth year, Music Ecology has single-handedly revived the underground, live electronic music scene in the historic countercultural neighborhood of Allston.
“I think it’s great that there’s finally a full event during Together focused on showcasing a wide variety of up and coming local acts,” Russo says. “Music Ecology is the perfect crew to make it happen because we have built our foundation on supporting local music—not only giving young acts opportunities next to national and international headliners, but giving them their own nights to shine, like our Together showcase.”
I am probably most excited to catch a set from Figgy, something I have yet to see. From what I have heard online, he has been breaking out in a big way through his exercises in soulful dance beats.
Supersillyus
Another component of the crux of Boston’s local electronic music scene, local production and management team, The Brain Trust, will be represented by two of their most popular acts. Supersillyus and lespecial will both be taking command of the upstairs stage, finishing off the night with back-to-back sets. When these guys play in front of their hometown crowd, it’s pretty much a given that there will be a few special guests and collaborations.
You would be hard pressed to find two more original and weird acts in Boston, if not on planet Earth.
“This is my first year being involved with Together as an artist at and not just attending the events as a fan,” said Christopher Carchedi (eelko).
“It only makes sense that I am playing the Music Ecology showcase because it is basically where my career in the electronic music world began. My first performance was there a few years ago and they have been super supportive and awesome for myself and for the Boston electronic scene. Without that whole crew, who knows how things would be now.”
Patrick Boyle (AKA Digital Vagabond)’s set last month in Wonder Bar’s downstairs dark basement dubmarine was undoubtedly one of his best performances to date. His west coast inspired future bass sets are now being laced with more of that classic True Dubstep sound and the crowds are wilding out.
He will be kicking the night off, so now you know where you should be at 9 p.m.
“I think it’s great that Polina and the Music Ecology Crew have teamed up with Together festival to embody the true meaning of togetherness,” Digital Vagabond said. “Music Ecology has acted as an incubator for many successful music careers.”
“This is an amazing way to showcase the abilities this community has to motivate, inspire, and educate.”
Arguably the hottest producer in the world right now, Duke Dumont, is coming to Boston for Together next Friday, May 17. Even if you think you haven’t heard of him, you have. Try listening to “The Giver,” “Need U,” or his remix of HAIM’s “Falling,” and when the bassline comes in at 1:21, if you want to still argue that electronic dance music isn’t beautiful—that it’s not art—come at me, bro.
I heard that you produce all of your tracks in a studio inside your house in the countryside. Is that to alleviate stress in order to make music? Pretty much, yeah. Making music is very a solitary thing for me. I like to have no distractions from what’s in my head. I grew up in the middle of London, in the big city, and unlike most people who move to a big city, I like the country because it’s kind of an escape. Things are so chaotic on the weekends because I do a lot of DJing in the city.
I’m very much a hermit when it comes to making music. I just lock myself away and write.
What does it look like in your home studio? It’s kind of messy, honestly. I’m not the best organized person. But there’s a method to the madness—I know where everything is, but I think anybody who was to see it would be quite shocked (laughs). Although my desktop is actually a nice space.
We’ve been looking for press photos, but all we have is this really blurry picture of you. Why is that? I actually quite like that picture. Every single publication hates it—they always ask for higher res (laughs). Don’t worry, I’m not taking it personally, I’m not offended. (laughs) I like it because I’m not into this stereotypical DJ impression, although I’m trying in part to work on it … a little. I’ll keep on trying. Maybe I’ll come up with something better.
What was the first record that got you into electronic dance music? I was always a fan of Prince. I remember, when I was about 12-13 years old, I saw him in concert, and that was kind of like my Baptism into music, or dance music. The first person I saw in concert was kind of the best person I could’ve seen. I think with most people in the world, their first records are pop music, and with Prince, there’s a lot of electronic elements in it. As far as electronic records. I got into UK garage first, and the more I got into that, the more I got into US house music, from Chicago and Detroit. But my favorite of all time isn’t necessarily from the UK, or UK garage—it’s Roy Davis Jr’s Gabrielle, and I think he’s from Chicago.
I’m really into a lot of music out of Chicago, like the Dance Mania founded by Jesse Saunders. I’m a big fan of Paul Johnson, he had a popular chart track that got to #1, “Get Get Down.” It wasn’t very good, but it got to #1. I listened to all of all kinds of music when I first got into dance music, trance-y tracks, Masters at Work…
How have you seen advancements of technology and Internet culture change the way electronic music is made, how it’s evolved? Obviously, there’s two sides to any story. Let’s start with the positive: anybody with a laptop can make music. It’s more of a case of money. Now, if you really want to do it, you don’t even have to pay for software. For me personally, I think that’s an amazing thing. For someone like me, I didn’t have any money to buy equipment when I started.
It’s this kind of generational gap, and now I really appreciate that if you want to do something, even if you’ve got no money, nothing’s going to stop you.
It’s very Libertarian. Even if you had to steal software or something. And I’m definitely part of a generation that took advantage of it.
Now here’s the bad side: anybody can make music. But not ‘anybody’ can make good music. The volume of music now is incredible.
I heard this saying the other day, “There’s more people living in the world now than in the history of the world.” The same applies with music. “There’s more music being made now than there ever was before.” Same philosophy (laughs).
When you first started, did you ever have to work a shitty job to pay for your equipment to DJ? Yeah definitely. I actually started off as a DJ and got into making music a few years later. I remember when I was about 15, I had to work a summer job to buy turntables. It was a really awkward job with movers. I had to move stuff from people’s houses. It was really hard, but I certainly did it because I just wanted a pair of turntables to start DJing. Then, up until the age of 21,
I had a job where I used to make ringtones. At the time, I thought it was awful. But the positive from that is, I was still kind of learning how music was made, I think subconsciously.
Because I had to create ringtones for all the pop songs. But as much as I didn’t like it, I think subconsciously it registered in the back of my head and helped me learn how to make the music I’m making.
You did a bunch of remixes before you starting recently releasing your own original tracks. What advice would you give to people on remixing tracks? Like with anything—with any kind of music or anything in life—try to only do remixes of songs you really want to do a remix of. Don’t do a remix just because you’ve been made an offer, but because you really like the song or the artist you’re remixing.
Now technically: Find an element within that song—and it doesn’t have to be obvious, it doesn’t have to be the vocal—but find one element that you really like in the song, and use that to shape your remix around. It’s about your ability to move around that; take that element and create the remix in your own vision.
Did you release “Need U” on your own label Blasé Boys Club because you knew it was going to be such a big hit? To a degree, yeah. I mean, I didn’t think it was going to be as big a hit as it was. I thought it would be a Top 40, Top 30, or even a Top 20. So the fact that it stayed #1 for two weeks—it’s actually still in the Top 10, and has been for four or five weeks now.
But basically, with that song, it gave me the opportunity to set up my own label. Ministry of Sound did a huge percentage of the work, but it gave me the opportunity to get all my music up through my label. My philosophy is just to let things grow organically. To only release music I’m really happy with. It could be three or four releases a year.
For example, Ed Banger is one of my favorite labels. When they started the label, it was very slow. But it found it’s speed and grew and grew, and now they’ve released Justice and Sebastian and people like that. It’s all about quality over quantity, but also to release as many quality tracks as possible.
A*M*E is one incredible vocalist. She’s so good, how come we’ve never heard of he in the states? Is she a big UK/Europe phenom only? She wasn’t a household name in the UK or on a big label, but on the back of this release, she’s come into her own. My background is house and club music up until this song. But her background was major label pop music. I think she’s such a good vocalist that she can kind of do a good job on a song that she might not necessarily be used to before. Having started with pop music vocals, that’s one of the keys to a headbanger being as successful as it was. And there was never anything dull about it, before it was #1, because it was still a soulful vocal. DJs found it quite easy, they were still playing it out before that.
How did ‘Need U’ come about? Did A*M*E find that hook? I worked on the track and produced the track as a whole. MNEK, he co-wrote the song and A.M.E. stepped in with the hook. MNEK and I co-wrote the song together. The humming on the hook—he did that himself. So the three of us were involved.
What are your plans for 2013? You know you’re going to get hit up by some big names, but who would you want to work with?
I mean, a dream of mine is to become a really established record producer. Here’s the strange thing: when I was younger, I was like, “I really want to work with someone, or want to work with this person.” But I’ve come to realize that I just want to work with really talented people.
They don’t have to be a bigger name. What’s even better is working with someone who’s not a big name and recognizing how good they are. That’s my goal. What happens happens. If I work with household names, names I recognize now, I want to make sure to make music that’s going to stand out from the crowd.
Over the years, there’s been some household names who’s done that. The Neptunes achieved that. They were making music that stood out from the rest of pop music. ‘Need U’ doesn’t sound like every pop song in the UK, but it still has the same kind of formula to it; it’s just a little bit different. When I’m producing music for someone, it’s not necessarily going to be a house track, just the best possible music I can make with that person.
This festival is called ‘Together’, how have you seen the physical manifestation of this word through making and playing music for people? I picture the image of ‘Together’ from the DJ’s perspective, just a kind of unity that goes on within a subcontext. The best DJing experience I’ve had is when I create a kind of community feeling, get everyone on the same level, where everyone just wants to have a good time. Things are kind of relaxed. The word together definitely has more meaning for me in the context of DJing and playing music for large crowds.
You kind of share in the music and hopefully, (I know it sounds cheesy) (laughs), hopefully bring everyone together.
TURBO RECORDINGS SHOWCASE WITH DUKE DUMONT NAUTILUSS, BORDELLO, DOCTOR JEEP
FRI 5.17.13
MIDDLE EAST DOWNSTAIRS
472-480 MASS. AVE.
CAMBRIDGE
7PM/18+/$10 ADV $15 DOS
@DUKEDUMONT MIDEASTCLUB.COM
