If you’ve been reading Vol.1 Brooklyn for a while, you’re probably aware that we like Sonic Youth, as well as the music made by many of its members since that band’s breakup a few years ago. Kim Gordon has had one of the most eclectic post-SY careers, releasing a memoir and a collection of writings on art, making music in the duo Body/Head, and continuing to work as a visual artist.
The Art and the Sound: A Visit to “Danger Came Smiling”
The first thing I saw when I walked into Danger Came Smiling: Feminist Art and Popular Music, an exhibit at Stamford’s Franklin Street Works, was a diamond-shaped portrait featuring the faces of two iconic musicians. Shizu Saldamando’s Alice Bag and Martin Crudo juxtaposed the images of two punk vocalists who have decades’ worth of presence and inspiration between them. It was a memorable introduction to the exhibit to come, which both ventured into dynamic cultural spaces and repurposed musical imagery […]
“Bands Should Have to Sweat it Out”: Talking LPs, Covers, and History With SAVAK
I first met SAVAK singer/guitarist Sohrab Habibion a few years ago, when Obits, the band he was playing in at the time, were just starting to play shows. Three albums and a handful of singles later, Obits called it a day and Habibion returned to music with SAVAK, a taut and intense guitar-driven group whose members boast an impressive musical resume. Earlier this summer, they released their debut album, Best of Luck in Future Endeavors, an intense and catchy collection […]
“We Like Variety”: Seattle’s VATS on “Green Glass Room,” Outmoded Technology, and More
Seattle’s VATS make offbeat and compelling post-punk that never comes at you from the same angle. Their new album Green Glass Room abounds with strange cityscapes, intense declarations about humanity’s relationship with technology, and energetic musical arrangements. The trio is currently in the midst of a US tour–they’ll be at Alphaville this Sunday–and it was from the road that we talked with Jessica James about the album, the tour, and more.
This Ain’t Heaven: DIY in Wichita, Kansas
Daniel Davis is an enigma in Wichita, Kansas, and for the fortunate ones, the Midwest in general. For me, he’s a legend. I knew about Dan, had seen numerous incarnations of bands he was in, almost ten years before I finally met the man. His bands have ranged in dynamic, genre, and loudness over the years—from Ricky Fitts to Weather is Happening to Muscle Worship to the very excellent D/D/J/G, this dude is a born ripper, not to mention one […]
“Biography With One Foot in the Fantastic”: A Review of “The Incantations of Daniel Johnston”
The fist time I read The Incantations of Daniel Johnston I was stuck at San Diego International Airport on my way to LA. Airports are great places to read because they give you time, but they’re also awful places to read because you’re briefly uprooted and thus vulnerable; you’re in a non-space where people come and go at an accelerated speed and where you momentarily embody a floating signifier. The Incantations of Daniel Johnston struck me as a perfect read […]
Revisiting Spitboy and Talking Punk Memoirs With Michelle Cruz Gonzales
I never got a chance to see Spitboy, the band in which Michelle Cruz Gonzales played drums in the early and mid-1990s. They were a band that was spoken about reverently by friends of mine who were familiar with them; the fact that they’d released a split LP with the equally great Los Crudos also played a part. So when news emerged last year that The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band was set to […]
“I Knew I Wanted This One To Sound Different”: TW Walsh On Making “Fruitless Research”
I’ve been listening to the music of TW Walsh for a long time now–from his first solo album How We Spend Our Days to his time as a member of Pedro the Lion and Headphones and on through his latest album, Fruitless Research. It’s an album that retains the same off-beat sensibility of his earlier work while also venturing into more stylized, dreamlike arrangements, with longtime collaborator Yuuki Matthews (The Shins, Crystal Skulls) along for the ride. It’s a a […]