Guest Playlist: Memory Tapes' songs to drink and resent people to

Memory Tapes: Player Piano (Carpark, 7/5/11)

Memory Tapes: "Wait in the Dark"

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On July 5, New Jersey-based multi-instrumentalist Dayve Hawk, better known as Memory Tapes,will release Player Piano, the follow-up to his 2010 debut, Seek Magic. Like his first album, Hawk once again recorded in his home studio, playing each instrument himself, without the aid of sequencing software. With its doo-wop harmonies and synth-soul intersections, Hawk described Player Piano as “a sort of Motown suicide note.” A little dark, a little humorous — just like his playlist for ALARM: a musical exploration of inebriation and indignation.

Songs to Drink and Resent People To
by Memory Tapes

1. Chris Bell: "I Am The Cosmos"

This is where it starts…arrogance and self-doubt.

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This Week's Best Single: Bonnie "Prince" Billy's There Is No God 10"

Bonnie "Prince" Billy: There is No God 10" EP (Drag City, 6/21/11)

Bonnie "Prince" Billy: "There is No God"

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This much is obvious: folk singer/songwriter Will Oldham (you might know him as Bonnie "Prince" Billy or any of his former Palace offshoots) is consistent. He's released one or two albums per year for close to 20 years, collaborating with a staggering number of musicians, including Johnny Cash, Mark Lanegan, Nico Muhly, and Rob Mazurek.

Now, with the release of the new two-track 10-inch, There is No God, he can add philanthropy to his growing list of accomplishments. Proceeds from record sales will benefit two aquatic charities: Save Our Gulf and The Turtle Hospital. Oldham took a trip down a murky bayou for the "There is No God" video (watch here) — a quintessentially American landscape for his classically Americana tune. The release is rounded out by a track called "God is Love" and a free ringtone download of the title track.

Album Streamer: 3:33's The First Thousand Days

3:33: The First Thousand Days (Parallel Thought, 6/21/11)

Just two months ago, mysterious, experimental electronic group 3:33 released its debut album, 333LP1. Its follow-up, to be released tomorrow, has an uncharacteristically communicative title — The First Thousand Days (Bandcamp) — but the group's mechanical, idiosyncratic number/letter combinations are still present in the track list.

Though 3:33 has worked with rappers in the past (MF Doom, Del / Tame One), the new record is barely classifiable as instrumental hip hop. Its dark, synth-based compositions are reminiscent of a stripped-down Endtroducing-era DJ Shadow with more erratic, lo-fi percussion and elements of drone. Except for the closer, "P9," all of the tracks run less than four minutes — a brief but harrowing journey through echoey soundscapes filled with cymbal crashes and deep bass.

Guest Spot: Sean Ingram of Coalesce explains hardcourt bike polo

Coalesce: OX (Relapse, 6/9/09)

Coalesce: "The Comedian in Question"

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Kansas City, Missouri-based hardcore band Coalesce has spent the last decade in flux, with shifting lineups, hiatuses, and sporadic shows prior to a full-blown reunion that spawned a new seven-inch, a full-length, and an EP.

But just because its output and appearances have been limited, the band isn't out of touch. The scene has simply changed, and lead vocalist Sean Ingram wanted to rediscover the magic of its early days. Now, he finds himself on the ground floor of yet another nascent, independent movement: hardcourt bike polo.

Punk Living Through Non-Musical Means, or This Bike is a Weapon
by Sean Ingram of Coalesce

There was a point a few years ago that I was completely depressed by the world I had created around myself with electronics and new media. A fellow I knew had offed himself, and it was great sport to come up with the best pun skewering his illness in the comments. A band from Japan wrecked on the highway here in the States, seriously fucking some of them up, and the response was, "Van frip, Paypar prease," in a mocking and fairly racist manner. For whatever reason, this kind of assholery was getting to me, and I made a pact with myself that I would turn everything off, and do my best to disassociate myself from cynicism. A major task, I know. But there is only so much one can take of faceless assholes telling them what is and isn't cool. So it was done. I was out.

Without all of this extra noise, it was easier to focus on tasks at hand. Planting an orchard, building some old-school hemp rope-swings, not knowing what someone's done for the last week before catching up with them in person for a beer. Little things were more enjoyable. As my attitude started to ease up, and I started to take more time to enjoy the little things, I noticed some guys on some bikes with big hammers, knocking the shit out of a little ball. I spent the day by the sideline checking these guys out. It was like hockey, but on these Mad Max-looking bikes. But these guys clearly weren't jocks. These were guys that probably heard "Skate or die, fag!" yelled at them a million times in high school, just like me. So I gave it a shot.

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Q&A: Esmerine

Esmerine: La Lechuza (Constellation, 6/7/11)

Esmerine: "A Dog River"

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Cello/percussion twosome Becky Foon and Bruce Cawdron, of Montreal’s Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, began recording minimalist chamber music under the moniker Esmerine about a decade ago. Two instrumental albums and numerous (sometimes collaborative) performances later, the duo has doubled to include percussionist Andrew Barr and harpist Sarah Page and completed its third full-length album. Both developments can be attributed to the late Lhasa de Sela, a Montreal vocalist and common thread between all four band members.

Lhasa passed away due to breast cancer at the age of 37 on January 1, 2010, and in her remembrance, Esmerine created La Lechuza, a beautiful, moving album. With several guest artists (including Colin Steton, Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire, and Patrick Watson) and the addition of steel drums, violin, harp, and saxophone, La Lechuza is a testimony to Esmerine’s musical progression.

ALARM caught up with Foon, Esmerine’s cellist, to discuss the band’s expansion, its new record, and its inspiration.

What was the initial motivation to create your own musical project as Esmerine?

We (Becky and Bruce) met recording the first Set Fire To Flames record, Sings Reign Rebuilder, in 2001 and became really interested in exploring the world of cello and melodic percussion. Bruce and I started to improvise together quite a bit, which then naturally evolved into writing songs. About a year later, we decided to record our first record at the Hotel 2 Tango in Montreal.

During the six-year time span between Aurora in 2005 and La Lechuza, was Esmerine on a hiatus, or were you just waiting for an appropriate time to start another album?

Bruce and I had been playing the occasional Esmerine show in Montreal since our last round of touring in 2005-06, inviting various guests to join us for some of them, but we hadn’t been thinking much about future recording. Lhasa asked us to open up for her in Montreal in 2009, which we did as a duo, and that’s where we met Sarah and Andrew, who were in her band at that point. We really hit it off, and soon after we invited Sarah and Andrew to join in an Esmerine show (where Lhasa also sang on a song), and everything evolved very naturally from there.

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Video Premiere: The Mattson 2's "Pleasure Point"

The Mattson 2: Feeling Hands (Galaxia, 6/14/11)

The Mattson 2: "Black Rain"

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Identical twins Jonathan (drums) and Jared (guitar/bass) Mattson comprise The Mattson 2, a California-based band that mixes surf rock bombast and jazz abstraction. It's a pairing that makes immediate sense; both genres come from a place of freewheeling expression and laid-back grooves. It's a sound that wouldn't be out of place in a Quentin Tarantino movie, and the brothers' signature Reservoir Dogs mode of dress seals the deal.

A correspondingly classic visual treatment is on display in the video for the song "Pleasure Point," from the recently released full-length, Feeling Hands. Recorded in the brothers' CD-filled childhood bedroom in Cardiff, CA, Jared demonstrates some impressive fretwork on a double-neck guitar/bass while Jonathan keeps pace on the drums. The track builds to a squealing crescendo with shades of post-rock — a big sound in a tiny room that creates a poetic full-circle feeling.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: Tom Vek's Leisure Seizure

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

Tom Vek: Leisure Seizure (Downtown / Island, digital = 6/7/11, physical = 9/13/11)

Tom Vek: "A Chore"

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Hajduch: Alt-pop singer/multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek released his under-the-radar debut, We Have Sound, in 2005.  Since then, he's remained very quiet.  It turns out that he was holed up in a studio, preparing more of his rhythmically propulsive, sort-of-electronic, meticulously produced post-punk pop jams.  Leisure Seizure recently arrived digitally (a physical release is forthcoming), and it's very solid, if largely unsurprising.  Banging drums and sing-along choruses have always been Vek's MO, and they serve him well here.

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This Week's Best Single: Niki & The Dove's The Fox

Niki & The Dove: The Fox (Sub Pop, 6/14/11)

Niki & The Dove: "The Fox"

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Since forming in early 2010, Swedish electro-pop band Niki & The Dove — vocalist/songwriter Malin Dahlstöm and multi-instrumentalist Gustaf Karlöf — has moved swiftly, scoring a record deal with American indie label Sub Pop. Its first release on the imprint, a 12-inch single entitled The Fox, builds on the momentum of the band's first two singles, DJ, Ease My Mind and Mother Protect.

The chugging, twinkling title track is accompanied by two other tunes: a dance-floor-ready Mylo remix of "Gentle Roar" and the '80s throwback "Somebody (Drum Machine Version)." So if you like densely layered synth, bright pop melodies, and a vague undercurrent of disquietude befitting a land of dragon tattoos, vampire movies, and limited sunlight, you'll dig The Fox.

Guest Playlist: Junior Boys' musical motivation

Junior Boys: It's All True (Domino, 6/14/11)

Junior Boys: "ep"

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With a new full-length, It's All True, out today on Domino, Canadian electronic duo Junior Boys takes another trip down the sultry, synth-studded path that it deftly paved on previous albums. What better way to get a sense of how the band arrived at its signature sound than to examine the music that inspired it? We asked Jeremy Greenspan to put together a 10-track playlist of his favorite songs. He did us one better, coming through with 11 songs ranging from soulful to skittering and timeless to Top 40.

1. Blawan: "Bohla"

It's super exciting to be buying so many R&S records again.

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Guest Spot: Carla Kihlstedt's Necessary Monsters

Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi: Still You Lay Dreaming: Tales for the Stage, II (12 Cups, 2/1/11)

Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi: "Subsequently"

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Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist Carla Kihlstedt has had a hand in upwards of 50 albums in less than 15 years. As a member of groups such as Tin Hat, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and The Book of Knots, Kihlstedt sings and plays violin, organ, percussion, and just about everything else.

Currently, she's set to premiere Necessary Monsters, a song cycle based on Jorge Luis Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings, in San Francisco on July 29 and 30 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Read more about the project and the corresponding Kickstarter campaign on the Imaginary Beings Project website. We gave Kihlstedt the opportunity to write about her personal relationship with these monsters and how they unlocked a world of objectivity and imagination.

How Monsters Changed My Life
by Carla Kihlstedt

At first, they're all so cute. Even the one with only one arm, one leg, one wing, and half a tongue; the one who goes around with hatred in his heart stealing speech from animals; the one who weeps in the forest, and if she’s caught dissolves herself into a heap of bubbles and salt; the little one made of string, dust, and a broken spool of who-knows-what; the one with one eye and a maniacally monotonous, monocled perspective.

But then you let them in for long enough, and as the spectacle wears off, they start just looking like friends with foibles. OK…large foibles, exaggerated features, caricatures for sure…nonetheless familiar, and almost friendly. And that's when you're in trouble, but believe me, it's a necessary kind of trouble, a trouble that teaches you more about yourself than perhaps you were prepared for.

I'm referring, of course, to imaginary beings. My encounter with them begins with an innocuous moment when I was in college, home for vacation, looking at my parents' bookshelf for something to read. The Book of Imaginary Beings jumped out at me, both because of its title (scholarly yet full of fantasy) and because I had heard this fellow, Jorge Luis Borges, referred to with an equally compelling combination of reverence, amusement, and excitement.

There were those who had read Borges and those who had not. I had not. Having read Borges was a kind of a badge of intellectual hipness. He would laugh to hear such a thing, he who said, "I think that what I have read is far more important than what I have written. For one reads what one likes. And one writes not what one would like to write, but what one is able to write."

Now, I normally whinny, rear up, and gallop in the other direction when faced with a peer-pressure-inspired badge of anything! But in this case, my curiosity led the way, and since then, I have grown to love him as if he were my own grandfather. (Listen to his set of three lectures from Harvard's "Norton Lecture Series" here, here and here, and perhaps he’ll become your surrogate grandpa too!)

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Moses Supposes: Why your music career needs a music-business plan

Moses Avalon is one of the nation’s leading music-business consultants and artists’-rights advocates and is the author of a top-selling music business reference, Confessions of a Record Producer. More of his articles can be found at www.mosesavalon.com.

You’ve heard it before: “It takes money to make money.” But getting start-up capital requires more than just talent. It means learning to communicate with investors. A business plan is a basic requirement. Sadly, the daunting task of creating one keeps many musicians from their well-deserved success. How can artists, who are not known for their business acumen, get past this major hurdle without blowing their start-up budget or feeling like corporate beggars? Here’s how.

The following is a sample chapter/excerpt from the revolutionary tell-all book by music business veteran, Moses Avalon, called 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business. Enjoy.

I’ve heard it over and over again from my younger clients: “Do I really need a business plan?” Simple answer, yes, you do…and yes, I know this sucks. This is the part where they start bargaining with themselves: “Why do I have to write this down — isn’t it obvious how we intend to make money?” Another simple answer: no, not to your would-be investors. Their exposure to the music business is probably the mainstream press, who tells them the industry is crumbling.

Over the past few years, even major labels have had to justify costs and income projections to their stockholders with written business plans. So why shouldn’t you?

You have a great product (your music), but you need to think of your act just as any other start-up business. With banks failing and our economy in a state of trauma, your potential investors are scared out of their minds about what to do with their money. If they are even considering investing in a musical group, then they are brave. You need to make them comfortable.

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Concert Photos: Do Division Street Fest (Chicago, IL)

This past weekend, over 20 bands took to two stages on one of Chicago's major thoroughfares, Division Street. The performances were part of the annual Do Division Street Fest & Sidewalk Sale. In addition to the music, local purveyors of food, drink, retail, and crafts offered a family-friendly crowd a wide variety of sustenance and shopping. Photographer Elizabeth Gilmore captured these images of A Place to Bury Strangers, Bonobo, Big Freedia & The Divas with Rusty Lazer, Javelin, and Dengue Fever over the course of the weekend.
 
A Place to Bury Strangers

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