Chaos By Invitation is the name of the third album by San Francsisco’s Cold Beat–though, to hear the band’s founder, Hannah Lew, talk about its genesis, chaos may be the last thing that comes to mind. The sound of the group’s albums have veered from urgent postpunk to a more ethereal sound, the main constants being Lew’s vocals and her distinctive lyrical sensibility. We talked about the role of science fiction in her work, how the work of Ursula K. […]
So Lee Ranaldo and Jonathan Lethem Wrote Some Songs Together
We here at Vol.1 Brooklyn are admirers of the music of Lee Ranaldo–both his work as a solo artist and his considerable body of work with Sonic Youth. (We talked with him in 2012, in fact.) We’re also quite fond of the writings of Jonathan Lethem. Needless to say, then, we were quite pleased to hear that Ranaldo and Lethem collaborated on several songs for the former’s forthcoming album Electric Trim.
A Harrowing Take on the Touring Life: Keith Buckley’s “Scale,” Reviewed
As with most fictional depictions of professions, writing about the life of a musician without a sense of veracity can go awry in a host of ways. If you’re writing about a pop star whose supposed hits come off like authorial conceits, the narrative will stumble. Novels and stories about smaller-scale artists can feel lived-in or artificial; that can go a long way towards whether or not the work as a whole works.
A Transformative Trip Through Images and Words: Raymond Pettibon at the New Museum
When the elevator doors open on the fourth floor of the New Museum I don’t know which way to look first. Every wall is covered snuggly by pictures and words. Some drawings are framed, others just tacked to the wall the way a teenager might display a band flyer swiped from a club wall after a gig. It’s a dense polyphony which demands attention without giving the viewer much guidance. A quick scan yields glimpses of Kennedy, Reagan, Bush, and […]
Start Out Your Year With Literary Postpunk
Later this month, the Portland, Oregon-based label Water Wing Records will reissue two records by the New York City No Wave band Y Pants, their self-titled EP and the album Beat It Down. Listening to their music, one can hear an anything-goes spirit and a limitless energy; it’s the same sense of not being hemmed in by musical expectations that makes the likes of Desperate Bicycles and ESG so thrilling to hear.
Announcing Girls Against Boys and SAVAK at St. Vitus
A couple of years ago, the long-running postpunk band Girls Against Boys got back together. This was excellent news to our ears: the band blended an irreverent sensibility with tautly played music, and the result were a number of albums that have held up very well over the years. We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be co-sponsoring a show (along with Brooklyn Vegan) pairing them with fellow Vol.1 Brooklyn faves SAVAK on November 3rd.
Announcing “SPOKE: Images and Stories from the 1980’s Washington, DC Punk Scene” at WORD Brooklyn
We’ve worked with the fine people at Akashic Books on a few events now, and we’re happy to announce that we’ll be teaming up with them again to celebrate the release of the new book from Scott Crawford, the writer, editor, and filmmaker behind the documentary Salad Days.
“As a Lyricist, I’ve Always Been a Collagist”: An Interview With Katie Eastburn
The first time I heard Katie Eastburn play music was well over a decade ago, at a show at which Young People, the band she was in at the time, was playing. Young People’s songs came at you sideways–they could channel unpredictable pop or take a moodier approach, and the result was a constantly rewarding sound that repeatedly surprised. This summer brought with it Out All Night, the first album from her new project, KATIEE, which finds her backed by […]