music – Page 20 – Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Great Lakes Postpunk Avengers: The Gotobeds and Protomartyr’s Exhilarating Alienation

October 16, 2014 1 Comment

Blame it on the radio, if you think blame should be cast. It was an offhand listen to WFMU one day that made my ears perk up. The band, it turned out, was called The Gotobeds; when I got home, I headed to their Bandcamp page and bought an EP of theirs with the title Fucking in the Future. For Protomartyr, things went down a more conventional route: I’d heard good things about their second album, Under Cover of Official […]

Art, Comics, music

Where Album Covers Meet Great Comics

October 10, 2014 No Comments

Earlier this year, Neko Case and Kelly Hogan released a collaborative single, “These Aren’t the Droids.” The cover art came via Lynda Barry, whose distinctive style can be seen in a host of books, and whose approach to teaching has been written about in the New York Times. This was the latest example of an artist known for their work in comics taking on an album cover. It’s far from the only one, though; read on for more examples of this kind of overlap.

Books, music

The Cover of Kim Gordon’s Memoir is Amazing

October 8, 2014 No Comments

This is the cover for Kim Gordon’s memoir, Girl in a Band. It looks like a Smiths or Belle and Sebastian album cover, and something about that makes me incredibly happy. (Via Pitchfork) Follow Vol. 1 Brooklyn on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, our Tumblr, and sign up for our mailing list.

Featured, Interviews, music

Talking Literature (and More) with Literature (the Band)

October 3, 2014 No Comments

Philadelphia’s Literature play smart, catchy, knowing pop music. Chorus, their second album, is at times rambunctious and at times cleanly blissed-out, with hooks that at times put me in mind of The Field Mice at their most upbeat. I checked in with the band via email to learn more about the album’s origins, the sources for some of its more stylized aspects, and–given the band’s name–some book recommendations.

Books, Featured, Interviews, music

“All of Those Books Are About Searching”: An Interview With Amanda Petrusich

September 25, 2014 No Comments

I’ve long been an admirer of the writings of Amanda Petrusich: she’s an excellent chronicler of musicians who draw inspiration from decades- (or centuries-) old traditions and make them sound fresh and vital. Her new book, Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78 rpm Records, takes that into a new dimension, focusing on a particular group of record collectors, their obsessions and practices, and the effects that they’ve had on musical history and documentation. It’s […]

Books, Featured, music

Five Notes on Basilica Soundscape 2014

September 15, 2014 No Comments

I spent the weekend two hours north of the city, taking in Basilica Soundscape for the first time. And so here are, in no particular order, five short observations about this year’s festival: sets that impressed me, artists I’d never encountered before, and impressive moments where different disciplines converged.

Featured, Interviews, music

Talking “Shadow Sides” and “An Inverted Idea of God” with David Vandervelde

September 9, 2014 No Comments

When I first heard David Vandervelde’s music, on the 2006 album The Moonstation House Band, it energized me. Bold, guitar-driven, and with more than a little swagger, it seemed to be a revitalization of classic rock sounds, sometimes taken to a harrowing place. Vandervelde’s third album, Shadow Sides, is an entirely different entity. While the same knowledge of rock and pop traditions are present, Vandervelde’s focus here is more restrained, his vocals often heading into a higher register, his lyrics venturing into surreal […]

Books, Featured, music

Taking Cats, Art, and Acting with David Yow

August 25, 2014 No Comments

Earlier this month, David Yow appeared at WORD in Greenpoint to show some of the art from his latest project. The book in question is titled Copycat, and it’s a collection of, for lack of a better phrase, cat pun drawings: Catatonic, Cat Burglar, etc. (A selection of them can be seen on the site of publisher Akashic Books.) After the slideshow had ended, Yow and Jason Diamond sat down for a Q & A that encompassed Yow’s music and art, his […]