Yesterday, we spoke with Kyle Bobby Dunn about his forthcoming split LP with the Indianapolis-based musician Wayne Robert Thomas. Today, it’s Thomas’s turn to talk about the split and his composition “Voyevoda,” which magnificently and melancholically sprawls over the course of its 20-minute running time. Come for the epic ambient music; stay for the Cormac McCarthy reference.
Ambience and Nostalgia: An Interview With Kyle Bobby Dunn
Over the last decade, the music of Kyle Bobby Dunn has found the perfect balance between immersive ambience and deeply felt emotion, resonating with questions of nostalgia, melancholy, and transcendence. Dunn’s latest release is a split LP with Wayne Robert Thomas, in which each of the two musicians contributes one long composition. Their split LP will be released in early May. With its release looming, I talked with Dunn about the split’s origins, his own composition process, and how the […]
Unwrapping Holiday Music With Dude York
Earlier this year, the Seattle power-pop band Dude York released their latest album, Sincerely. It was an ebullient, noisy, infectiously catchy work; it hit the appropriate notes for its time-honored genre while finding a few unexpected wrinkles along the way. Their followup was a similarly left-field move: an EP called Halftime for the Holidays, which consists of–as you might guess–holiday-themed songs. We talked with singer/guitarist Peter Richards about the conception of the album, seasonal traditions, and more.
“The Music Is The Biography”: Jenn Pelly on Writing About The Raincoats
I’ve enjoyed Jenn Pelly‘s writing about music and pop culture for a while now; when the announcement was first made a few years ago, I was very excited to hear that she’d be writing about The Raincoats as part of the 33 1/3 series. This fall, Pelly’s book on The Raincoats was published, and it was everything I’d hoped for: a solid history of the band’s early days, an insightful look into the band’s creative process, and a book that […]
Stunning Sounds From Out of Time in Downtown Brooklyn
First, let’s talk about the physical space. I’d been in the space that was formerly the Brooklyn Paramount once before, several years ago, to watch some roller derby on a winter’s night.What had previously been a 4,500-seat theater has, for the last few decades, been converted into the basketball court for Long Island University–meaning that gorgeous architectural features coexist with mechanically-operated bleachers and a hanging scoreboard.
Talking About The Mountain Goats, With The Mountain Goats
It’s been about twenty years since I first heard The Mountain Goats. Friends in college turned me on to what I’m going to refer to as “the hits”–i.e. “Going to Georgia” and “Cubs in Five,” songs that showcased John Darnielle’s lyrical range, urgent vocal delivery, and fondness for lo-fi recordings. It’s something that’s shaped how I’ve listened to them; despite the fact that it’s been fifteen years since the release of Tallahassee, there’s still a strange sense of the new […]
Phil Marcade on Revisiting New York’s Musical Past in “Punk Avenue”
The New York punk scene of the late 1970s is a well-documented one, with many writers and musicians associated with the scene offering their impressions and memories of a period that had a seismic effect on rock music. Phil Marcade’s memoir Punk Avenue: Inside the New York City Underground 1972-1982 comes with introductions from both Debbie Harry and Legs McNeil, and offers an interesting take on the music and personalities of the scene. Marcade was a participant in it, as […]
“Small Vignettes Comprising a Bigger Whole”: Inside Human Potential’s “Hot Gun Western City”
The last time I talked with Andrew Becker about his musical project Human Potential, it was 2014. Human Potential’s debut, Heartbreak Record, had just been released, and its off-kilter approach to pop (with an edginess that hearkened back to Becker’s time in bands like Medications) was deeply compelling. Now it’s three years later, and Human Potential’s third album, Hot Gun Western City, has recently entered the world. This album finds Becker’s range expanding considerably, from the Stars of the Lid-esque […]