What makes this album so great, and easily their most well-balanced effort, is how aggressive and crafty their arrangements had become since 1993’s BlonderTongueAudioBaton, which was already a nice departure from typical dream-pop. The usage of synths, moogs, and loops added more flavor to the mix instead of relying solely on mastermind Damon Tutunjian’s epic guitar sweep, although that sound beautifully creeps into almost every song.
Tutunjian has always been known for his alternate tunings and MBV-inspired guitar sound. But this round of recordings was the band's best work. The Swirlies had quite a few problems after their debut for Taang! with the departure of Seana Carmody and drummer Ben Drucker. The help of Rich Costey’s production and addition of new singer/guitarist Christina Files and drummer Anthony DeLuca allowed the group to rebound with a banger. The album starts off in typical Swirlies fashion with the on-off-on distortion of guitars on tracks like the metal-inspired “San Cristobal De Las Casas”, the edgy pop of “Sounds of Sebring”, and the opening lo-fi meets wall-of-sound brilliance called “In Her Many New Found Freedom”; these songs cemented the band’s status a groundbreaking band. Classic.
Links:
The Swirlies at Myspace
Fansite on Myspace
LR: Are you surprised that Citrus is doing so well and getting all the recognition it has? It seems like for years any American band with a “shoegaze” sound or feel weren’t being taken seriously at all.
Yuki: We are pleasantly surprised that people have been very supportive of this album. We put a lot of work and care into and it’s great to see it treated well. We like to push the limits sonically, especially live so it’s nice to see there is an audience for that.
LR: What are the differences since the release of Citrus compared to your first album? Are you guys starting to see more options for touring and promoting your record?
Yuki: I think that slowly we are becoming more attractive to people. We may even be proving some of those people who thought we were too weird to go anywhere…dare I say, wrong?? It’s nice to be taken seriously!
LR: Who does all the principal songwriting? Do you start songs with sound ideas or vocal melodies?
Yuki: James and I write songs together and separately. Our approach really varies…A song is written the way it needs to written, but usually we have all the musical elements in place before we approach the lyrical end.
LR: When you went into the studio to record Citrus did you have a particular focus or idea that you wanted to come across on this record that may have not been present on your self-titled album?
Yuki: The first album was recorded more as a demo for ourselves than as an album. We always felt that it didn’t flow as well as we would have liked, but with Citrus we were able to approach it as a cohesive album. I think that our songwriting has matured over the last 2 years and we had more time and money this time to flesh out the songs texturally.
LR: This question is for Yuki: Is it difficult writing vocals for your songs when you sing in Japanese? It seems like the timing would be an issue and maybe you’d have to rethink a melody? How do you manage that?
Yuki: I don’t find it difficult since I never force something that is not meant to be. Songs end up being written in Japanese because it begs for it and I know it will be a perfect match. Generally, timing is not an issue linguistically speaking because Japanese is very syllabic and rhythmic.
LR: The album artwork, and even the press kit, are visually stunning. Do you put together the visuals after you’re created the music to make it fit or are there other artistic influences coming out?
Yuki: Yeah, the visuals came after the album was done. Our friend Sean McCabe is responsible for all of our visual work. He is fantastic and our tastes are very much in sync. Both of us love old album art ranging from Motown records to glam. Also, old movie and show posters seem to inspire Sean’s work.
LR: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences? Anything recent that you’re into? What else drives you to play music?
Yuki: James and Haji are influenced by the stuff they were into in high school. They’ve had many bands….They had a band right before James and I started Asobi Seksu, called Theta Wave State that sounded just like Polvo. I’ve always loved Motown and girl groups, classical music, and hip-hop. What drives me to make music is lack of any other sort of direction or goal in life!
LR: Is it difficult to tour and come back hoping that you’ll still have a day job? Who has the most interesting career in the band?
Yuki: I used to worry about that, but now not so much. I would say that Mitch, our drummer has the most interesting career. He programs laser light shows at the planetarium. He’s got all of us beat.
LR: What’s the most memorable tour moment you’ve had so far? Who’s the prankster in the band?
Yuki: I know that everyone in the band is tired of talking about it by now, but “most memorable” would have to be being handcuffed at gunpoint in Louisana during our last tour. We were accused of having a gun in our vehicle. Everyone is usually too cranky on the road to play any pranks…We are quite crotchety! Plus, who is in the mood for pranks after you’ve been held at gunpoint by a bunch of hick cops?!
LR: So how did the band originally come about?
Jay: Basically Phillip and I started playing together after OnLibrary!
broke up. They were touring with Interpol and it was kind of
unexpected. I’ve always been friends with them so we just started to
work on some songs.
LR: That’s funny you say that because I think that most people at that time were gravitating towards bands like OnLibrary!
because they were touring with Interpol. I also think that same crowd
has kept an ear out for what was going to happen next.
Jay: It
was weird because they had been playing together for like five or six
years I and have been friends with those guys. Phillip and I started
playing music together just to get the project off the ground, even
though we weren’t sure where it was going to go. We just had instant
chemistry from the first time we played together. We did “World’s Away”
and wrote all the music and arrangements and eventually made like six
songs. We kind of knew what we wanted to do from the whole experience
with OnLibrary!.
We got Claudia to start singing with us but we also kind of knew that
it might not be a permanent deal because we’re all kind of at that age,
like late twenties, and life events tend to come into the picture. We
always knew we’d be making a record with a bunch of people on it, but
we got really lucky with this band. We also had always talked about
getting Brad as a drummer. We basically started by writing songs and
recording without being completely sure who exactly would be in the
final lineup to play live. The first priority was to sort of get our
vision down and let it materialize before playing out in New York. Then
we put the myspace page together. “World’s Away” really seemed to get
some response and people were downloading it like crazy. And all these
blogs were emailing us, and that’s how we found out about blogs. We’re
like “where are all these people coming from?”
LR: Right, blogs really opened the door even wider for people to get exposed to good music. The music industry is changing so much because of them. You don’t even need a label anymore because a single blog will promote you based on the fact that they like you for what you’re doing.
Jay: Yeah that’s great. And because people used to listen to radio to get new music and now you just go to the blogs. And the banality of major radio is so bad anyway.
LR: The radio stations are more interested in forcing the music on you like you need to like it, where blogs and the internet offer an option that you can get into right away or ignore.
Jay: Yeah I have this long-standing joke I tell people about listening to radio in New York. If you dropped into New York from out of nowhere you’d think Alice in Chains is the most popular band in the city because they’re playing it all the time. It’s ridiculous.
LR: Hah! Yeah that’s exactly how it is over here with The White Stripes and The Ramones with popular radio. It’s like “I get it, you want me to like The White Stripes and The Ramones.”
Jay: Yeah Gorilla Vs. Bear were good to us too and seemed to really like it. We also went up to a studio in Cambridge to do the recordings for the album, some with Amanda on vocals and some with Claudia. Claudia sings most of the songs, Phillip sings one of them, and Amanda does a few. Amanda is our vocalist when we do live shows.
LR: How have the live shows been going?
Jay: The aesthetic is working well. Like we said earlier the whole thing with how life happens to people, with marriage and commitments, you don’t know if the same people in the recordings will be able to tour or travel so it makes it kind of hard. But in a real, random sort of way it worked out perfectly. And I think live it’s really great and the vocals sound really good.
LR: I wanted to ask about a few songs like “World’s Away” and “To No One”. They’re really atmospheric but there’s still that mix of organic instruments on top of the dreaminess. Is that something that was the idea in the beginning or did it just happen as a result of rehearsing?
Jay: A lot of the records that inspired us when we were writing are like David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, Neutral Milk Hotel…they all have that kind of strumming, earthy quality while having a lot of good layers to it.
LR: Right, like achieving a big sound without using tons of effects to the point across.
Jay: Yeah definitely, right off the bat we wanted to be as intimate as possible. There were all these influences that came out from everyone during the recording sessions. When we had started there was more of an emotional and visceral kind of thing going. We didn’t want to get too caught up in the atmospherics because the intimacy can get lost. Like the acoustic guitar on “World’s away” it was like we wanted to Keep the vocals and acoustic guitars sounding like these big floaty clouds so it goes right to the heart. That’s the one thing we say when we are approaching is that we make sure the feeling is up front. The song should have an emotional pull to it.
LR: Are you guys planning on touring…the album comes out at the end of October?
Jay: Yeah we’re definitely planning on touring in 2007 and doing SXSW. We not exactly on the plan because it’s late in the year. Something could pop up in November but it’s doubtful because of the time in the year. And the album comes out on October 31st and I’m thinking yeah Halloween already. I was pretty excited about that.
LR: I bet there were a lot of bands trying to hit that release date.
Jay: But yeah I’m glad you like those songs and got that vibe from “World’s Away” and “To No One”.
LR: Yeah it’s like the mood is already there and you guys know exactly what to do from there. I think most people get that and are looking for something that is like you said “intimate” but also striking. The feeling and quality come first. So how’s the label situation?
Jay: With This Generation Tapes they are this up-and-coming label and they were really, really into the record. They’re also kind of at the level where we were; totally hands-on with everything. Like you were saying with the influence of blogs, it’s a weird time with the music industry and labels. You can make the music and go record something and have it out there from day one. We had some peripheral contacts with labels but really just wanted to avoid the bureaucratic stuff, it might have been like, “yeah we love the record”, but then not have gotten released until late 2007 or early 2008. Aesthetically, they also release a lot of good atmospheric, pretty guitar music. They respond to a lot of textural stuff we like and still listen to indie rock.
LR: Yeah there’s a label out here called Dangerbird and they too are totally hands on, passionate, and just promote the hell out of their bands like Silversun Pickups and Darker My Love. You can tell they really like what they’re bringing on to their label. Yeah the music industry is changing; going back to its roots of signing acts they’re really like instead of offering huge million dollar deals and dropping the artist the next year. Maybe you’ll be able to make some more money this way? It’s definitely the right avenue.
Jay: Yeah it’s cool I mean I can’t imagine not being a part of process every step of the way or having some guy telling us how we have to do songs differently and write a certain way.
LR: So what can you tell us about the new album?
Jay: It’s called Trouble Everywhere and comes out on Halloween, October 31st on This Generation Tapes. They’re based out of Santa Monica.
-Scott McDonald
Over the past year there were frightening rumors about the historic and
unique Capitol Records building being sold for the purposes of who
knows what? Then a few months later we heard "confirmations" that the
building wasn't going to be sold afterall. But it's a done deal folks,
EMI has sold the tower. I mean how else are they going to pay for that
Interpol advance?
The pricetag? Acording to Reuters it's 50 Million: Jeffery Goldfarb writes:
"EMI Group (EMI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has agreed to sell its landmark Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles, the world's first circular office building, for $50 million, and signed a long-term lease with the buyer to keep operations there. Opened in 1956 and designed to resemble a stack of vinyl 45 records on a turntable, the Capitol Tower is home to the Capitol Records label and the studios where label founder Johnny Mercer, Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys and Nat King Cole recorded."
"EMI, the world's third largest music company, said on Thursday it would retain the trademark and rights to the imagery of the building. The stylus atop the 13-story tower blinks out "Hollywood" in Morse code. Located near the famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine, the building has been shown being destroyed in several films, including "Earthquake" and "The Day After Tomorrow." Commercial property developer Argent Ventures agreed to buy the building from EMI, which is shedding a number of real estate ventures."
"Being able to become a stakeholder in
Hollywood through the acquisition of such an iconic building, while
preserving the operational presence of a landmark company is exactly
how we had hoped to approach the Los Angeles market," said Michael
Gargano, Argent's managing director. The deal also includes the Gogerty
building adjacent the tower and a nearby parking lot." (Additional
reporting by Miyoung Kim)
So there you have it. It's not like
they're going to tear it down and build a Quizno's 2.0 or something.
This is merely a sign of the times. If EMI has to sell their trademark
building you know things aren't going well for the label, ot the
industry in general. Just sayin'.
LR: I guess my first question is what have you guys been doing since your last tour?
Carla: We’ve been collecting our thoughts and resetting our souls, trying to write, and writing. Preparing to make another record.
LR: That’s good, so have you actually gone into the studio?
Carla: No that’s in about a week.
LR: Ok, do you have any thoughts on a producer or just doing it yourselves this time?
Carla: We’re co-producing it with John Goodmanson. He did a lot of Blonde Redhead records and others. A great engineer and good guy.
LR: Is he located in Los Angeles or do you have to go somewhere else?
Carla: He’s going to come here, he’s located in Brooklyn. Greg does he live in Brooklyn?
Greg: Yeah, He lives in Brooklyn or in The Bronx, or maybe Seattle. He keeps going back to Seattle.
LR: So from all the touring you guys did was there ever like a point where you start making or discovering sounds on stage and think to yourself, “Wow it would be different to sort of record more this way”, because you found different sounds or, “let’s try this approach because we can get this kind of sound?"
Carla: I think…I don’t know if it was just based on touring, I think we’ve always been thinking like that.
Greg: Yeah, generally when you tour you’re lucky if the sound is listenable and you can hear each other well enough. We were opening for Nine Inch Nails and didn’t have a lot of time to sound check or really experiment.
Carla: We had one sound check on that whole tour.
LR: It seems like you guys have a lot of particular gear and that it would make a difference.
Greg: It’s fine because you get into a pattern and that’s good. But there’s really no time to experiment.
Carla: That was fine and we just got used to it.
LR: I guess I was thinking along the lines of like when you’re playing and you do the same song over and over and then all of the sudden you start hearing it a little bit differently and doing it and think, “Ohh that’s cool maybe we should try that on a new song”.
Greg: We would play certain parts of songs differently every night, it’s pretty free. I mean we toured for almost a year; it’s weird because you start off and feel kind of rusty and then you get into a rhythm and I think you have your best shows and then you just…kind of get lazy no matter what. I mean we’re playing the same songs every night; we only had like a 30 minute set.
LR: That’s not long at all because you guys have 4 to 5 minutes songs.
Carla: That was just on that one tour.
Greg: Yeah, on the Nine Inch Nails tour.
Carla: We also toured in a bus. But last year we toured all year, went to Europe a few times. We toured all year driving and that takes a lot out of you.
Greg: We drove around all of North America three times.
LR: Were there any special places or memories that you were surprised that you enjoyed or maybe you didn’t think you’d like it compared to when you got there?
Carla: Athens, Georgia I really liked.
Greg: Yeah Athens. LR: They have quite a good music scene there right?
Carla: Yeah it’s just really great. I’m from the South and I had never been there, I really liked it. I liked England. We played All Tomorrow’s Parties and that was incredible.
LR: It’s too bad because they used to do that here about two miles from where I live and I just don’t think they were making enough money that second time so they just abandoned it, now it’s primarily a UK festival. I really miss that good vibe with random bands that aren’t necessarily money-making acts that I love, like Deerhoof.
Greg: We saw Deerhoof opening for Radiohead.
LR: Yeah, I was there and that was great.
Carla: We talked about doing a tour with them, a west coast tour. We’re in a race to see whose record gets finished first.
LR: Those guys crank out like one record a year.
Greg: Yeah we like to do one a decade.
LR: Just like Kevin Shields, he doesn’t do records anymore.
Carla: You’re just in constant turmoil.
Greg: If you do one a decade it’s easier to have a life long career in music. Six records, I think that’s how many the Beatles made.
LR: So for the next album are there any older songs from the "silver demo" days that you still have lying around?
Greg: Let’s see what’s left, ‘Future Perfect’ and ’Under Orbit’.
LR: Would you guys consider going back to re-record them using a different approach?
Carla: No, we’re just on a different path. Once you’ve done something you don’t want to go back and keep re-doing it. It’s out there enough for people to find it.
LR: What’s sort of the..I don’t want to get too specific, but the idea or thoughts of the next album? Do you think you want it to have certain sounds or ideas?
Carla: We can’t even talk about, only because we can’t even talk about that with ourselves. It’s not that we don’t want to talk about it. When we go and record I think no matter what our thoughts are in our heads at the moment, or the preconceived notions, it will be totally different when we are actually recording and we will be on some crazy path right in the middle of it. I don’t know…just going in thinking about drums I can be saying I want everything sounding really tiny and small, but still loud and then it will turn out opposite and be huge, we’re constantly changing our minds a little bit on that. It’s hard to talk about exactly what you want a record to sound like.
LR: Right, or maybe you know you don’t want it to be a certain way or like this and maybe you just let it happen?
Greg: I mean we always have a lot of ideas and conceptual parameters and things going in.
Carla: Well, the one thing I do know that is at the top of our list is that we always want to have great songs. Songs are the most important thing, otherwise it comes over as just a bunch of noise and sounds. A great song could be anything. It doesn’t mean it has to be everybody’s idea of a great chorus or a commercial rock chorus. Maybe we’re just trying to reinvent what a good song is or something I don’t know.
LR: Right, ya know I usually go see lots of these bands and some of them have these big sounds and effects. And there are also these indie bands where it’s just about the effects and there’s absolutely no melody, but the bass sounds good and there’s rhythm sounding good, there has to be a song or it’s boring.
Carla: Yeah and that’s where we all come from first, that’s the main thing. Substance is just not about putting effects on guitars or vocals. Greg’s is going to be singing more on this record.
LR: Are you going to be singing more?
Carla: Yes.
LR: Very cool, ever considered doing some three-part harmonies.
Carla: Well we are going to do harmony stuff between the three of us, more background vocals and the touring has made us more confident.
LR: So in your mind how did you think the album did? Regardless of sales you kept going around and touring and you definitely had a crowd.
Carla: I didn’t really focus on how it did or how it was doing we were just always looking ahead. There were things about it we weren’t crazy about. We just wanted to keep playing shows and play live because we love playing together. I don’t really know how it did. We’re so out of touch with that I think. We all want to have a career and make some money but not at the expense of doing things we don’t want to do. Our last record, considering it wasn’t promoted at all really, I feel that word-of-mouth and people coming to see us live helped. I think we were surprised that a lot of kids and people found out about it.
LR: Yeah or the internet…blogs…etc., people love your record.
Carla: Yeah it’s great. We have a lot of people who support our music.
LR: As a band I would think it would be better to be like a Velvet Underground-influential type of a band you know? Where more people are coming to you instead of pushing a single on people over and over again.
Carla: Yeah that’s how it is, we all just want to make music we love. All of us individually are always trying to do something we haven’t heard before on some level, so it’s hard and difficult because there’s so much great underground music going on and now we’re in an era where it’s like…what haven’t you heard? But sometimes I think I know the answer to that.
LR: So as far as the L.A music scene goes when you’re not touring is there stuff you like that you’re really into?
Carla: I’m not sure I know what that is. We’ve been gone for a long time and don’t know what scene there is.
Greg: I’m kind of like really retarded in that way, we don’t go out and see too much music.
Carla: We buy records and when a band comes to town we love we will all go see that band, like Deerhoof and Radiohead, you can’t beat that.
Greg: And also after a certain amount of disappointments you just kind of give up.
LR: Yeah, like someone will tell something is good and you’re like uhhhh???
Greg: There’s this band that rehearses right next to us and they’re really good, just absolutely brutal and truly intense called 400 Blows.
LR: I’ve seen them a few times and they’re just awesome.
Carla: In the grand scheme of scenes I don’t even think there is, in my opinion, a scene in L.A.
LR: No, you’re right. I’m thinking I guess there are certain places where you can go to for music and there are these people that are familiar and you see them at places, at least I do. Ok, I just have a few more questions. Was going to a major label everything you thought it would be because you were saying that they didn’t really promote the record and that seems to be everything these days.
Greg: We really didn’t go to a major label, it was DMZ. We were under the Cohen Brothers and protected under this umbrella of T-Bone, even though it was all the resources of Sony being used.
Carla: It was under DMZ. What happened was he started the label, wanted to sign us, and signed us. Because his deal was with Sony we technically had signed to Sony under DMZ. And then for whatever reason they finally heard our music after they signed us and they probably didn’t know where we fit in and T-Bone’s label…he just wanted to sign music he liked and I think they were expecting his label to meet it’s quota and that label ended. Luckily at Epic there was a younger A & R guy who actually really loves our band and he’s going to stay out of the way and let us do our thing. He’s totally supportive and we’re really lucky with that.
Greg: When people let us do our thing it means there are apparently people having nervous breakdowns in their house. Fearing for their jobs or not.
Carla: Whatever the case is he’s allowing us to do our thing. So we’ll see what happens with this record. We’re just going to make a record we love.
Greg: I mean we really are striving to try and make a record that's not just a sequel. We want it to have its own complete and different identity.
Carla: I think it’s easy because we’re in such a good place now. I don’t even think it’s hard, I just hear silence from my end…I don’t even want to play drums on it.
Greg: We’ll be playing music and Carla’s like, “I don’t know if there should be drums on it” and then, “I’m not sure if there should be any guitars either”. (Laughter)
Carla: It’s going to be a record of silence and sounds of the wind.
LR: Maybe a little bit of feedback? Kind of like a Sonic Boom record, “eeeeeeeeee”. Is there anything else you guys want to talk about?
Carla: You should read John Fante Do you know him? LR: No I don’t. I need to read more.
Greg: He was like a forerunner of Bukowski, he wrote very simply and directly. You can read it in a night.
Carla: If you live in L.A. this book puts you in a place…it feels like downtown L.A.
Greg: Well since we’re recommending authors, W.G. Sebald. Have you read him? He has a book called Rings of Saturn, it’s great.
LR: No, like I said I really haven’t read a single page in the last year. I’ve been so swamped with music, reviewing shows, and writing reviews. I really need to be reading more it’s so sad.
Carla: What about if we talked about the reassignment of planets? LR: Yeah Pluto.
Greg: Pluto’s not even a planet anymore.
Carla: I’m glad, I never really liked it. Pluto’s a scam.
LR: It’s on the b-squad now. I think they were debating Pluto for years and finally did something about it.
Greg: They thought they had found another planet beyond it right?
Carla: They did its called UB313.
LR: That’s easy to remember, sounds like birth control.
I step off the plane after saying hello to one of my all-time Basketball idols Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and onto the pavement of Las Vegas, Nevada; his presence his
intimidating. The weather is just as you’d expect it to be at this time
of year; hot, dry, and windy. After arriving early to the Palms Hotel in Lost Wages I play some slot machines, win a little cash, and see
some fellow Angelenos meandering around the casino waiting for
check-in. Later on, before the first band goes on, the wind has died
down significantly and allows for a better live mix from all three
bands. Anyone who has ventured on to our site should already know how
much love and respect we have for Giant Drag, Autolux, and The Secret Machines (who I haven’t seen in over a year). It was a perfect bill.
Giant Drag take the stage first and unfortunately their set time gets shaved to 20
minutes. They only played 4-5 songs, including my faves 'Kevin is Gay'
and 'This Isn’t It'. But Annie is funny as always and they played
a tight set. Autolux return for their first
performance in several months opening with the amazing build-up of
‘Reappearing', which has always been one of my favorite live
performances. The rise of metallic guitar sounds, delays and bass
grooves comes to a hault as the band redirects the focus into a furious
noise collage. Drummer Carla Azar puts on a live instructional showcase
that every drummer should watch. They played other great tracks from Future Perfect like 'Turnstile Blues', 'Plantlife', the charging 'Robots in the
Garden', and a new song I've never heard of before, which got me really
excited for the next record. The Secret Machines played shorter than I thought, although a lot of their epic songs from Now Here Is Nowhere and Ten Silver Drops are quite long. The drumming sounded huge with
vocalist/keyboardist/bassist Brandon Curtis easily switching
instruments between and during songs. Brother Ben rocked adding layers
of noise and riffs to the performance. The light show was bright and
intense, fitting the spacey rock pieces perfectly. The sets from each
band were spliced by young runway models showcasing clothing from Brown
Sound, Tank Farm, and many others. I guess it’s nice to see young, hot
models in fresh new clothes that look like something I would actually
buy. The bands are what made the show special. I felt more at home
during Autolux’s ‘Blanket’ and less like a visitor in “the city that
never sleeps”.
-Scott McDonald
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