Interviews
Life Is A Beach: CAYUCAS
Cayucos is a surf town in San Luis Obispo County, California. Santa Monica’s Zach Yudin decided to adopt the name, after twisting it to Cayucas, for the songs that he started writing a couple of years ago. Exotic, yet redolent of beaches, sun, good vibes and girls (obviously), it must have sounded like a statement, a manifesto. Read the rest of this entry »
Hatching The Plan (slowly): ANDY STOTT
Sometimes all you need is to slow down. Manchester dj and producer Andy Stott has been active on the techno scene for over ten years, with a number of eps and two albums (2006’s “Merciless” and 20008’s “Unknown Exceptions”), to his name, but 2009’s “Night Jewel” and “Tell Me Anything” marked a clear change, dramatically rendering the frequencies lower and the beats slower. Words like crepuscular, deconstructed, claustrophobic got to be used more frequently in the reviews. As if finally hitting his stride, Stott became more prolific by releasing in 2011 two short albums, “Passed Me By” and “We Stay Together”, that can be considered with hindsight as the true watershed of his production and a preview of things to come. Read the rest of this entry »
Ghostly Incantations: LIFE & LIMB
What happens when two solo artists get together in creating something which is far more than the sum of them? Andrea Mangia still lives in the south east of Italy, in a stubborn refusal of music industry rules; his freedom has led him to work with one of the most prestigious european labels, Morr Music, releasing a series of warm electronic albums under the Populous moniker. Mike McGuire comes instead from New York, and his blissful layered vocals will sound familiar to anyone who has listened his work as Short Stories. They met through mutual respect for their myspace pages, and decided to work together. That work became an album, “Drawn In Basic”, unsurprisingly released under the name of Populous And Short Stories, cut and produced through emails and file attachments, working in physical solitude while enjoying each other’s spiritual presence. It was a good start. Read the rest of this entry »
Through The Glass: WILD NOTHING
“I knew he loved me, cause he made a tape”. The purest of feelings, the simplest of gestures; one can be sure that since the summer of 2010, Wild Nothing, the brainchild of Blacksburg’s Jack Tatum, has become a stable presence on those tapes. After a couple of singles, including a subtly exotic reinterpretation of Kate Bush’ Cloudbursting, his debut album “Gemini” heralded the arrival of an incredibly talented songwriter, whose summery shimmering songs could hint a deeper intimate touch: obvious reference points were british guitar bands such as The Cure and New Order but with an almost whispered approach which recalled cult acts like The Wake and The Field Mice; in any case, it was hard to listen to the first few bars of Live In Dreams and not smile. A glorious start, followed by the decision to raise the bar, as Tatum released the “Golden Gaze” e.p. at the end of the same year and recruited a full band with which he has been touring since. Read the rest of this entry »
Little Stings: PINS
Manchester, so much to answer for. It may have been a while since Manchester could be considered the epicentre of UK new music movements but the less the city has been covered (thanks also to having got rid of certain few populist bands), the more awkward and interesting the sounds have become. There’s something approachable yet sinister at the core of the best Manchester acts and female four-piece PINS honourably joins those ranks. Formed just over a year ago, singer/guitarist Faith Holgate, guitarist Lois Macdonald, bassist Anna Donigan and drummer Lara Williams started to impress the live circuit by washing away their catchy pop melodies in dramatic echo and powerful noise. It’s no wonder that their debut single release (Eleventh Hour/Shoot You) – released on a gold cassette – sold out in days. Read the rest of this entry »
The Future Is Bright: THE FRESH & ONLYS
Patience is everything. But who wants to be patient in rock’n’roll? San Francisco’s The Fresh & Onlys started in 2008 as the home project of bassist Shayde Sartin and singer/ guitarist Tim Cohen, who used to work in the same record shop, quickly adding drummer Kyle Gibson and bassist Wymond Miles to the line-up. A vibrant and collaborative scene gave them the chance to release records: seven-inches, tapes, EPs and albums, so many it’s easy to forget a few, for as many labels like Chuffed , Castle Face, Castle Face, Captured Tracks , In The Red , Woodsist and Sacred Bones. Linked to the psychedelic rock renaissance of their city, The Fresh & Onlys got to be mentioned in the same breath with Ty Segall and The Oh Sees. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t Deny Your Heart: HOT CHIP
Almost ten years ago, a good friend suggested to give a listen to this new band from London called Hot Chip. The name was kinda endearing in its naivete but self proclaiming to play R&Bedroom and having songs like Down With Prince which wore its influences on the proverbial sleeve hinted at an intelligent and playful rather than just quirky and kitschy attitude. The intuition proved to be right. Read the rest of this entry »
Straight To The Heart: TWIN SHADOW
The best artists don’t necessarily need to reinvent themselves in order to keep sounding fresh. It is surely an idea that spring to mind when listening to Twin Shadow’s soon to be released second album “Confess” (4AD). Rather than distancing himself from the acclaimed “Forget”, a personal favourite in 2010 and yet to start gathering dust in our record collections, George Lewis Jr. has chosen to refine his palette, adding nuances to its most tender moments or finding a sense of urgency which was kept under control before. Inspired by a motorbike crash and later the rediscovery of velocity and the freedom that comes with it, “Confess” is a more eloquent and honest record, filled up with love and regret and self awareness. With that honesty, comes also a louder and clearer sound, the sign of an artist coming of age. Read the rest of this entry »
Splitting In Two For Music: GABRIELE PANICO
Musicians are human beings. Ok, we know it’s such an obvious thing but in times when the web is the main way to listen to music, the feelings and the faces of music makers are often hidden. We sat and talked with a man who comes from Specchia, a beautiful village in Southern Italy. A composer who hides himself behind two masks (Gabriele Panico and Larssen Industrie), trying to fight this forced hide-and-go-seek. We guess we succeded. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Gabriele Panico (or Larssen Industrie?…) Read the rest of this entry »
Cross Paths: AIDAN BAKER and MATT SMITH
As one of the most intriguing contemporary composers, Toronto-born and Berlin-based Aidan Baker’s path could be summed up as perpetually challenging; whether releasing under his own name, or under the moniker Nadja (which started as a solo project and later evolved into a duo with bassist Leah Buckareff), each record can be treasured not just for its own value but as part of a bigger quest for sound sculpting and, ultimately, for approaching the very idea of music. Read the rest of this entry »
The Future Is Bright: THE FRESH & ONLYS 
Better Than Something: Interview with Ian Markiewicz and Alex Hammond 
Filming The Music: AG ROJAS 
Coyotes in My Backyard: TRAVIS MILLARD 
The Alchemy of Love and Fire: NEIL KRUG 
Drenched in The Rain of Dreams: Dimitri Drjuchin 
I CAN SEE FOR MILES: The Art of Jacob Escobedo 