EMI Music is the only major label taking the necessary steps to make their entire digital catalog available free of digital rights management (DRM). This means you can burn music without buying an iPod. A pretty serious move for a major label, considering that only a few months ago all the majors were shunning the mere thought of DRM-free music. EMI is also creating "higher quality" DRM-free music by pairing up with Apple's iTunes Music Store for $1.29 a track. Pricey?!? And just to show you that the deal has been approved as "cool" they got EMI popstars the Good, the Bad & the Queen to perform two songs at a conference this morning in London. Ka-Ching! Steve Jobs has been propising that DRM -free music will help difital music downloads and sales in the presently stalled music economy.
So what makes DRM-free music so much better at $1.29 a song? Nothing.
The new "premium" versions of EMI's digital catalog will simply "complement the existing DRM-protected songs that iTunes is already selling." Steve Jobs called the EMI move the "next big step forward in the digital music revolution" but declined to reveal the details and negotiations with other labels
to anyone. Jobs also says that half of iTunes' catalog could be offered
DRM-free by the end of 2007.
The Twilight Sad
Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
2007 | Fat Cat
The album opener "Cold Days From the Birdhouse" will be the softest and coziest moment on Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters. After that songs take off vertically and blow up into shards of angst-ridden love. Vocalist James Graham makes demands of his subjects and listeners while guitarist/accordianist/general noise maker Andy MacFarlane spreads layers of echoes and overdriven minor chord changes that make the album very compelling, moody, and triumphant. The Twilight Sad are slightly dark and harsh in the conditions they create, but the payoffs of swelling noise still put a smile on my face.
The second track, and one of the album highlights, "That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy," Graham matter of factly sings, "The kids Are On Fire In The Bedroom." But he's almost not crying for help, more like pointing towards an obvious theme from his past. "Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard" is more like a jam. The song shimmers with sleigh bells, tambourine, and sliding daggers of highly-pitched guitar notes. Graham is repetitive, like the rest of the elements in the song, and folds his vocals on top of each other in the mix. The epic noise barrage of "Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed" hits like an atomic bomb then drifts gently back-and-forth into Graham's almost indecipherable verse. The clicking drumsticks create a tension that reveals another monster chorus of distorted wash with rhythms that march along like a funeral procession. As much as the band relies on MacFarlane's guitar sound there are plently of outstanding moments that play off of each other.
The pace of the songs never slow down with "Mapped By What Surrounded Them." It's the quickest and most intense piece of machinery on the record. The bass guitar finally rises above the sea of sound while drums and vocals challenge back with ferocity. "And She Would Darken The Memory" recharges the battery of blissed-out rock with shy verses and epic, overblown choruses of amps on the verge of meltdown, amazing. The final song, and title track "Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters," sounds like one giant loop of guitar tape delay, piano melodies and busy drum fills just barely climbing into the mix. It's like the band has exasperated all of their ideas and emotions, the boys are spent.
The Twilight Sad will probably get a few comparisons to Mogwai, but there's more heart and soul oozing from this record. The quartet build great stories and structures that never feel tiring or over used in any way. They also craft their noise wisely as a scaffolding to Graham's remarkable wail and intense delivery, remembering that the meaning is in the message not the effects.
LR:
What was the big difference or plan in this album than the last? What
were you trying to get across that you maybe couldn’t on the last
record?
Larry: We were able to stretch out and definitely
get a more expansive sound. I think on the first record with the
3-piece we had limitations and it worked really well for that phase of
the band. After we toured for that Gena and I were on one wavelength as
far as moving her up front and adding new members in the band. The
purpose was to make it more dynamic and showcase Gena’s vocals, and to
also get some people in the band who challenged us and were really
talented so we could push are sound.
We didn’t want to sit
back and make the same record again, we wanted to take it to the next
level. I think it’s a more exciting record and the live shows reflect
that.
Gena: There was more room in the studio because on the
last record we went into the studio and played it exactly how we had
rehearsed and played it live.
Larry: The whole thing was done in two weeks.
LR: That’s really fast.
Gena:
Yeah, this record we had learned and changed so much with me going up
front, getting new members, a new manager, and Jason not being in the
band. We didn’t finish a song until we were completely happy with every
part of it. Steve Fisk came in to produce and really made it feel more
open. He brought a lot of his own gear and had lots of great ideas. We
actually wrote some parts to songs in the studio so perhaps you can
pick up on some of the spontaneity.
LR: So you didn’t just
get more members you got a whole new crew. Was the intention to “clean
house” after getting new band members?
Gena: No, those things just happened.
Ryan: It was a long process and things just kept on changing. Emperor Norton went down and then things just kept changing.
LR: They became RYKO?
Gena:
Well, it’s funny because RYKO and Emperor Norton were both courting us
for the deal and then RYKO bought Emperor Norton and ended up claiming
the purchase of Emperor’s mistake. So they were really inspired by our
newfound outlook for the next record.
Larry and I were just so
clear about getting another drummer. The style of having minimal
drumming and vocals was part of the sound but really limited. We just
had all these new things to work with. So it was just all about the
sound needing to get there.
LR: So when you talk about limitations on the first album did you feel those even before you went into the studio?
Gena:
We felt them but it wasn’t at all like a negative thing. We embraced
the minimal drumming and bass organ as seminal parts to the sound. And
we really liked and felt like we touched upon this thing that we were
protective of. I ended up staying as the drummer temporarily to write
songs. But when we decided to play I couldn’t really play drums.
As
we went along and discovered this sound we were scared of it being
altered so we stayed with it and made ourselves do it and just got the
hang of it. And once we started writing the record we started to
realize that we were going to end up writing the same record again if
we didn’t make some changes. You can only get so much out of that
limited set-up. Ryan and Sandra added so much to the style and they’re
both so musical and capable with the positions they’re filling.
Ryan: I think of it this way, the first album is like a yellow-mustard color and the second is like a reddish-orange.
LR: What exactly do you mean by that?
Ryan: I have no idea…actually yellow has its purpose. The new record is stronger.
Sandra: It’s more mature in a way and I like that.
LR: So it’s more mature like the band is actually finding itself.
Gena:
I really feel like musically we’re much stronger and more capable now.
I feel like we can do anything we want. Before we would run into
obstacles and I would think to myself I can’t really take this further
because I was so limited as a drummer. Or because we would have this
constant volume of an organ sound that really just didn’t have any
humanity to it. But now with a bass guitar and this incredible drummer
we’ve been so inspired and want each record to grow and have its own
signature sound.
Larry: What we did was lay the groundwork for
different avenues. Now we can write an acoustic type song with drums,
guitar and vocals or write an electronic song and people will hear both
and think yeah that sounds like Midnight Movies. We’re hoping that type
of sound is showing that we’re not just a rock band or an electronic
band.
Gena: We just have so many interests musically. Part of
the reason we decided to get a drummer in the first place for me was
because when we toured with Luna I observed the drummer Lee and he was
so incredible and took every song and change as far as it could go. I
was just like “that’s a real drummer right there, that’s what we need.”
So I would talk to Larry and we were always on the same page about
that. This one has more rock to it.
LR: I’ve noticed in the live shows it’s definitely more immediate, like right out of the gates.
Larry:
Yeah, on the last record we would kind of go there sometimes, and then
withdraw. There are a couple of songs on the new record that are just
full-on the whole time.
LR: It sounds harder for sure but
doesn’t sound too “hard,” does that make sense? It’s got a good level
of aggression to it that wasn’t on the last album.
For Ryan and Sandra, what’s it been like touring since the album has been finished?
Sandra:
It was my first tour, the Alexi Murdoch was physically demanding I
thought. But it was really fun. The Alexi crowd is a little different
but it was sold-out and the shows were good.
Larry: We also did
a mini-tour with Serena-Maneesh and that was the first time our band
started playing live with the new members. There were probably more
people actually there to watch us. The Alexi tour was different and
definitely a new challenge because the crowd is kind of different.
LR: Serena-Maneesh fans seem to me like your kind of crowd anyway.
Ryan:
The Alexi tour came together really quick and was so compact. We were
playing a lot of dates and we were also backing him up on stage. We’d
have like six dates, a day off, then six more with another day off. So
going through that cycle was pretty intense.
LR: When you’re playing back-to-back every night what do you do to relax and wind down?
Gena: Ryan and Sandra pick on each other, like brother and sister.
Sandra: I sleep a lot.
LR: Yeah, you got to rest up.
Sandra: We got to be on Alexi’s tour bus and sleep.
Gena:
She would sleep until sound check the next day. It was cool to be
driving and then wake up in another city. Although it seemed like we
hadn’t left and you’d get off the bus in another big city.
Larry: We would just be on the bus in such an isolated place, watch DVDs, Nacho Libre….
Gena: Which is a classic.
Larry: Just watch a lot of movies. It’s an interesting way to travel to be on a bus instead of a van and have bunk beds.
Gena: All the windows are blacked out and you just end up in another town.
Larry:
There’s something to be said for traveling in a van and really getting
to experience the places you’re going to. You get to stop where and
when you want to to see landmarks or buy souveniers.
Gena: Being
on a bus you don’t have to drive, you can just crash and watch a movie.
But when you get to a city you don’t have a car to go the places you
want.
Ryan: Our driver was very cool. Walter.
Gena And our bus was called the “Black Pearl.”
LR: Sounds regal.
Gena: It was. Walter was the coolest guy ever, he’s from Austin. He was such a pirate.
Ryan:
Yeah, I could do some impersonations….”GOD DAMN MOTHEFUCKER!” Driving
down the road he’s always yelling at other cars….”GOD…FUCK!”
Gena: He would be screaming at every car. He had such a temper and then just turn around and be so polite.
LR: When you get back to L.A. what’s your favorite place to eat for under ten dollars?
Gena: Under ten dollars? My kitchen. I don’t know. Everything is so friggin’ expensive.
Sandra: I have some places; I’m kind of a foodie. El Atacor. Potato tacos---they're so bad for you but taste so good.
Ryan:
There’s a place in Burbank called Lily’s Café. It’s this really tiny
crack in the wall that can only fit a couple of people in it. It’s all
really fresh, organic stuff and the lady there will only serve you what
goes best with your food….she doesn’t serve yellow mustard, only the
sweet mustard. It’s really good, but never open when you guys (Midnight
Movies) are there.
Gena: I cannot think of a place that you can
eat for under ten dollars. We like to go to House of Pies and diners
but it’s always over ten dollars. I cook so much, and I love to cook.
LR: What’s the most bizarre, weird road story you’ve had?
Gena: Everyone always asks “bizarre,” how about “boring.”
LR: Let’s hear the most “boring.”
Ryan:
Well pretty much it was the bus falling apart. That’s not good when you
have a trailer and when you’re driving things are falling off like the
side mirror. How do you park a huge bus without a side mirror?
Larry:
The constant smell of the exhaust pipe. And the toilet’s septic tank
was in the same cabin as the rest of the bus. There was a big flat
screen TV in the back room that was always swinging and barely attached.
LR: Isn’t Walter in charge of that stuff?
Larry:
We’d be sleeping and wake up in the middle of the night and Walter
would be on the side of the freeway fixing the bus and the radiator.
Then we found some random guy in the next town to fix the air
conditioning. It was a constant battle between the bus and the band so
it wouldn’t fall apart.
Sandra: The one thing that really stuck out in my mind was in Hoboken, NJ when three people passed out.
Larry: Yeah here was a lot of passing out.
Gena:
There was this strong smell of gas leaking form somewhere. Nobody that
worked there could tell and they thought it was the heat so they turned
up the air conditioning. So we’re all up on stage in jackets and the
lights re usually really hot.
When we were backing Alexi he
uses all these vintage acoustic guitars and it kept going out of tune
and he was so pissed. It was not a good night, but yeah three people
passed out, and one girl was having convulsions on the floor. Where did
other people pass out?
Larry: Alexi’s tour manager Angus would say this “always happens at Alexi’s shows people pass out for some reason.”
LR:
Older ladies who are excited to see Alexi? Like that DVD "Depeche Mode:
101" where all the girls are falling over because they’re excited. That
just doesn’t happen anymore.
Any last words?
Gena: Our record Lion the Girl comes out April 24th.
Larry: Thank you Little Radio.
LR: What is happening right now in the world of The Movies? Any plans for a release this year?
Brian: Just finished building a recording studio, Chermak Studios in Burbank.
Stevie: Writing, Recording, barbequing while writing and recording, the occasional show as well.
LR: Everyone I talk to about the band “loves The Movies” and your shows are
consistently packed. But it seems like record labels are hesitant or
just clueless about your music? Why do you think this is?
Stevie: It’s
almost impossible to pinpoint why this is. None of us were marketing
majors in college, those of us who were even on campus at one time or
another. We’ve never had a manager who looked out for our best
interests and helped find a decent label for our music.
LR: How is it different playing in Los Angeles than say when you toured in Spain? Are the crowds more appreciative?
Tim: In LA I have to sneak 40oz into the club. In Spain, there is a 40oz waiting for me.
Brian: Not more appreciative, there just seems to be more of them. Spaniards
love the rock and roll, period. When they go to a show, they go to see
the bands. When they come up and talk afterwards, they talk about
music. In L.A. it seems people have various agendas.
LR: What does the band do outside of The Movies? Any careers or interesting jobs that you could tell us about?
Tim: Rock Consultant.
Brian: I work as a copywriter in advertising.
Stevie: I work in the valley as a fluffer…it’s mostly under the table.
LR: Who does the principal songwriting? The vocals? Were you guys in any other bands before The Movies?
Stevie: Tim does the majority of the songwriting but Brian has songs and Jess even has the occasional riff that will emerge as a song.
Brian: We
all contribute to the development/arrangements – Stevie helps a lot
with structure and of course, each member contributes their parts
usually. It gets pretty collaborative after someone brings in the idea.
Tim: I
was in the Vehicle Berth until I was kicked out for peeing on our
drummer’s girlfriend’s car. Trust me I was doing her a favor.
Brian: I was in a new wave/surf band in the early 80s in Florida called “Locals Only.”
Stevie: I tried out for Dismemberment Plan once.
LR: What is your earliest memory of wanting to play music or be in a band? Any specific events or musicians that have inspired you?
Stevie: Listening to jazz music at home as a kid. My Pop has a sweet record collection.
Tim: When
I was a babe, my father took me to RFK stadium to watch the Redskins
comeback and beat the Raiders. On exiting the stadium I noticed a
street musician blowing on an instrument. The music sounded good, but
was abruptly stopped by two drunken jocks who kicked his ass and mocked
him. That always stuck with me.
Brian: Since as
long as I can remember. Started banging on the piano at 4. Put a
recital on at 8 before having any lessons. Played Beatles covers and
originals.
LR: What’s your fondest memory of playing in Los Angeles? Any crazy or exciting moments that took place at one of your gigs?
Tim: Tom Cruise showed up at a gig along with Blaire from Facts of Life.
Stevie: Budfest. We threw a party on the roof of an apartment building on
Sanborn & Sunset. Keg stands, gorgeous sunset, and nitrous tanks.
LR: Timothy, how in the hell do you channel such a passionate performance at every show? What conjures up this excitement?
Stevie: Tighty whities.
Tim: See answer to question 6.
LR: What music are you listening to right now? Any bands or artists that have recently inspired you and your music?
Stevie: I’m listening to Thin Lizzy, Stranglers, Steely Dan, Oneida, and Publicist.
Tim: New Years gang, Nate Moore, Meet Me at the Pub.
Brian: Lately,
Robert Rental, Eric Random & Annette Peacock a lot. And I just made
a killer Zombies mix. I fall asleep to Rapoon or Slowdive.
LR: Any last shout-outs?
Tim, Brian and Stevie: The Chermak Studios jingle of course, Chermak studios. We’ve got pro tools for your digital
needs. 2 inch tape for you analog geeks, mics, stands, baffles too,
OUTBOARD GEAR OUT THE WAZOO. Chermak studios, we’re in Burbank so come
down.”
“Bros” is taken from Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch” and hits stores on March 20th via Paw Tracks. Ween + Beach Boys?
The Besnard Lakes
The Besnard lakes Are The Dark Horse
2007 | Jagjaguwar
Another outstanding band from Montreal fronted by husband and wife duo Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas. Principal songwriter Lasek (who has produced Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade) brought in members of the Dears and Godspeed You Black Emperor!, but you would’ve never guessed thanks to the album’s originality and grand scope. Their sound is clearly defined with uplifting and epic sweeps of reverberated guitar, arching falsettos, rich vocal harmonies, and 70’s-inspired rock choruses (think My Morning Jacket). Vocally the band is right on target channeling the sensual yet desperate feel of Low. And musically you’ll hear moments of Pink Floyd and Slowdive. Still, “The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse” is an original and vital rock album that creates intriguing combinations of texture and emotion.
The Album kicks off with “Disaster,” a track that starts with bittersweet harmonies and delicate strings. By the time the song is finished it has become a completely different beast chugging along like a powerful locomotive in slow motion. “For Agent 13” is even more impressive and sounds like Brian Wilson covering Explosions in the Sky. “And You Lied To Me” kills it with an ornate and blistering guitar solo over a dubby bassline. “Devastation” recalls Spiritualized swallowing their best medication and features some proggy synths and filtered vocals. The drums build and flicker with more percussion during the chorus as the band continues to push you over the edge.
Things get a little mellow on “Because Tonight” but springboard back into “Rides the Rails” and the happy, almost shoegazey “On Bedford and Grand.” Piano and guitars bleed together with spooky vocals that even Mama Cass would be proud of. The final track “Cedric’s War” hops along like a summertime walk in the woods, carefree with speckles of dirt on the edges. The album never holds back at any given moment.
Trying to capture the best moments of your influences while sounding completely original and distinct is nearly impossible these days. Most albums I come across sound like smaller versions of artists I already like or album styles that have been replicated to death. The Besnard Lakes have somehow magically generated a masterpiece fusing sound, imagination, and skilled musicianship like no rock band has done in years.
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