One sunny, spring afternoon about five years ago, Roarke Menzies, a composer, sound artist and longtime Brooklyn neighbor, showed up at my apartment with a laptop, a microphone and a small army of audio pedals. It was the first time we’d hung out and I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. I’d asked him to contribute a theme to a radioplay I was writing. And after listening to a portion of the script, Roarke launched into a captivating vocal improvisation […]
Announcing Ian Svenonius and “Censorship Now!!” in November at WORD
We’re happy to announce that we’ll be teaming up with Akashic Books in early November to celebrate the release of Censorship Now!!, the new essay collection from Ian F. Svenonius, taking on subjects ranging from vampires to hats, from Heathers to IKEA. You’re probably familiar with Svenonius via his earlier book Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group, his hosting of the chat show Soft Focus, or his time in bands like Chain & the Gang, Weird War, The […]
Talking Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s “Press Color” With Michel Esteban
Listening to the music of the late Lizzy Mercier Descloux in 2015 can be a thrilling, disorienting experience. You can simultaneously hear the scene in which she made music (she was a contemporary of Patti Smith and Richard Hell) and detect notes that elude easy temporal classification. With a new reissue of her debut album Press Color out in the world, we talked with Michel Esteban of ZE Records via email about the album’s genesis, recording, and influence.
“We’re All Sci-Fi Nerds”: Delving Into the Obscure With Olympia’s Strange Wilds
If you’re fond of raging power trios from the longstanding punk outpost of Olympia, Washington, then Strange Wilds may well be your new favorite band. Following a 7″ released last year on Sub Pop, the group’s new album, Subjective Concepts, has recently entered the world. We spoke with the band’s singer/guitarist, Steven Serna, about the process of making the new album, the band’s fondness for obscure song titles, and more.
“Are We Watering Down the Past?”: Talking Hardcore and History With United Nations
United Nations are a band that wraps visceral hardcore in a smartly conceptual package. Whether they’re creating an alternate history of themselves as a band (as on 2014’s The Next Four Years) or riffing on the aesthetics of late-period Beatles albums (as on their self-titled debut, reissued this year), they leave a listener with plenty to consider, even as the group’s music taps into something more primal. Last month, I talked with Jonah Bayer and Lukas Previn about the new […]
Intuition, Details, and Language: An Interview With Zomes
Zomes is a duo based in Baltimore and Sweden. You might know Asa Osborne from his work in Lungfish; Zomes began as his solo project, and more recently has grown to include Hanna Olivegren on vocals. Their new album Near Unison is a hypnotic, compelling work, blending Osborne’s penchant for memorable repetition and drone-influenced music with Olivegren’s haunting vocals. I checked in with the duo via email to learn more about the group’s evolution.
Carrie Brownstein’s “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl” Gets a Cover
Maybe Sleater-Kinney changed your life. Maybe you saw Wild Flag a couple of times and were thoroughly floored. Maybe you’re a fan of absurdist humor. Either way, Carrie Brownstein is a figure that looms large for a whole lot of people, for a number of understandable reasons.
Interpreting Philip Glass: An Interview With Bruce Brubaker
Bruce Brubaker‘s new album Glass Piano is, as the title suggests, a collection of recordings of Philip Glass compositions on the piano. Given that Brubaker is an excellent pianist and Glass, as composers go, is no slouch himself, it’s an excellent listen, both on its own and for its handling of the pieces that comprise it. I talked with Brubaker to learn more about the album’s origins, as well as his work playing music by contemporary composers like Nico Muhly […]