Let’s hope 2016 ends up being the year we remember for electing a Democratic Socialist to the highest office in the land, not the year we lost all of our cultural icons.
Below, “Black Superman (Muhammed Ali)” recorded in 1975 by Johnny Wakelin.
I’ve used this journal before to sing the praises of the band Braids—once last March, featuring them on our monthly mixtape, then again last summer, after seeing the trio play a show at the Lyric Theatre here in Los Angeles and then again at year’s end when we named their most recent full-length, Deep in the Iris, 2015’s best album. So it likely goes without saying that I was excited at the opportunity to interview frontwoman Raphaelle Sandell-Preston recently.
The band’s just released a companion EP to Deep in the Iris—named Companion, as it happens—and, with it, Raphaelle recently penned an essay via Pitchfork—”Reclamation Through a Microphone: Braids’ Raphaelle Standell-Preston on How Songwriting Helped Her Process Sexual Abuse.” In the essay, Raphaelle talks through the inspiration for the EP’s title track and, more broadly, how her band’s music and talking about it has helped her work through personal tragedies, explaining, in part:
“The last few years I’ve found myself turning to my art to help regain a calmer and more understanding self amongst this mess. It’s been an attempt to regain control and agency over something that left me feeling powerless and confused for years. I found myself reaching to the microphone to scream, to bawl out those hidden moments in my life. In the midst of artistic exertion, I felt cleansed.”
We strongly encourage everyone to read the essay in its entirety.
Below, you can listen to the new EP in full and read on as we talked with Raphaelle about the songs, their attraction to our fair city of Los Angeles, and the reaction she’s gotten to her essay.
raven + crow: Alright, first off, thank you for taking the time to talk. Honestly, I’ve been a fan of Braids from early on, when you all were still a four-piece, but last year’s Deep in the Iris and your supporting live shows really just blew me away, honestly. Absolutely no question there, I just wanted to thank you for creating music that I very much cherish.
Raphaelle Sandell-Preston: Thank you for caring!
With that out of the way, you’ve got a new EP—what prompted that release? Was it material you’d recorded in the Iris sessions or something separate?
Three of the songs from Companion were written while writing Deep In The Iris. We couldn’t finish them for one reason or another, so we put them aside and promised to finish them when we had time. When we opened them up again in August of 2015, they just sounded like they belonged together, hence the name Companion. We then wrote the song “Companion” which became the thread that tied them all together.
I just read Carrie Brownstein’s memoir Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl and much of what she wrote about how Sleater-Kinney was treated and approached so differently than male-centric bands really made me examine how I approach interviews with people I don’t personally know. I consider myself pretty conscious of others’ points of view and don’t think I’ve ever been overly or overtly obtuse, but its also really hard for many of us to truly step out of our own existence when interacting with others. All that to say, feel free to completely disregard this request (in which case I’ll simply point to your recent essay), but can you speak to what compelled you to write “Companion” and the meaning behind it?
I would prefer that you refer to the essay as it’s all in there and is put much more thoughtfully than I can do while on little sleep in the middle of tour. Thanks!
That essay really is very moving—I know it hasn’t been out there in the public eye for long, but has most of the feedback from it been positive?
It’s been extremely positive. I was expecting there to be the unfortunate shitty internet troller, but it hasn’t happened!
That’s awesome all around. Back to the music, one thing I’ve always wondered with you all is what precipitated such a shift in the sound of the band. Sounds evolve, I know, but I feel like what Braids sounds like really changed very drastically, in a way I very, very much like. But was it attached to Katie’s departure at all or more of a deliberate move?
Depends on what record you’re talking about. I guess with every record it has been a pretty big shift sonically, but it somehow always sounds like Braids. I think with Deep In The Iris we really found our grounding as a band. Flourish Perish was a huge time of exploration and we were pretty emotionally confused, it was a hard record to write. We’ve never decided to be different with each record, it has just come with the territory of going through a lot of changes as people.
How do you describe your music to people totally unfamiliar with it or anything else close to it—say well-meaning relative that’s far-removed from current pop culture?
I often say to border guards that it’s a more feminine version of Pink Floyd.
Excellent.I know you recorded Deep In The Iris in the Arizona desert and remarker thereafter how much you liked it there. What draws you to the desert, in general and specific?
We just liked how expansive and open it was and it felt like the exact opposite from anywhere else we had recorded.
So, in press releases and the like, you all are still described as a Montreal band. But last time we saw you play, at the Lyric, you mentioned something about how you all were moving to Los Angeles. Did that come to fruition?
We did the typical snow birding this winter, where we spent a couple months there. I don’t think we will make a permanent move there as we have so many ties to Montreal, but I think we will definitely be spending a lot more time in LA. It’s my favourite city in the world, which perplexes me… but it just is. We love the weather in LA, and also the majority of our friends now live there. I had a BBQ in LA and could invite 25 people who I deeply cared for, whereas in Montreal I could probably do a BBQ with like 5 people, 2 of whom are in the band. Big exodus. Sometimes cities go through waves of being really creatively exciting and stimulated. I think LA is currently that city.
Well we were beyond thrilled to see you all play again at the Echo. Again, thanks for taking the time to talk and have a wonderful tour this summer.
Glad you enjoyed the show!
Braids is finishing up a tour of the States now, playing shows in Philly, DC, and Brooklyn in the next few days before heading overseas. Please, do everything you can to see them live—they play one of the best shows I’ve experienced, honestly. Complete tour dates on their site.
Above, video still from Braids’ “Companion” video; band photo below by Karoline Lebrun.
Robert Allen Zimmerman—AKA Elston Gunn; AKA Blind Boy Grunt; AKA Bob Landy; AKA Robert Milkweed Thomas; AKA Dedham Porterhouse; AKA Lucky Wilbury; AKA Boo Wilbury; AKA Jack Frost; AKA Sergei Petrov; AKA Bob Dylan—is seventy-fucking-five years old today. Which is clearly crazy.
Also, I guess if you live in the public spotlight for 50+ years, you’re granted the option of taking on 10 nicknames. I got Chicken Legs in middle school + Trot Farter post-college, so I guess I’m doing alright, all things considered.
KCRW‘s celebrating Dylan’s dodranscentennial on their 24-hour music station Eclectic 24 noon through midnight today, with originals, rarities, covers, interviews, and music that’s inspired Dylan over the years.
Above, Dylan + Joan Baez performing “When the Ship Comes In” at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (AKA, the “I Have a Dream” march) back when we had all those race + class issues in America and there was all that civil unrest. Not like these days.
Footage of the performance below. Happy birthday, Boo.
Photo: Rowland Scherman – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
We’ll be upfront about this—we haven’t been huge fans of the past couple full-lengths from Charleston’s Band of Horses. They each had some stand-outs, but, overall, they fell a little flat compared to earlier releases.
But the two tracks that they’ve released from their coming fifth release—titled why are you ok and out next month—have left us with high hopes. Harkening back to upbeat hooks and straight-up southern pop-rock, we like the return to the band’s roots both tracks seems to hint at. Give em a listen below. You can pre-order the new album via Band of Horses’ site.
Some of the heaviest lifting in the making of these monthly mixtapes—besides combing through the wealth of new music—comes with the cull; the inevitable whittling down of twenty-some or even thirty-some songs to our self-prescribed set of 15 songs for each list. This month, it was more difficult than most, but the result is an eclectic mix of great new songs from great artists, old and new.
We’re starting off with a slow-build folky number from Calvin Johnson-approved LT Leif out of Calgary before moving on to a song that hits a little too close to home—”Getting Older” from Brooklyn duo Retail Space. That’s right—the Canada-Brooklyn one-two punch.
This month’s mix also features Berlin’s Slow Steve off of longtime favorite label, Morr Music; a dancer track from Sydney’s Phebe Starr; a musical kicking of our collective asses from Mitski; a long-awaited single from the forthcoming new Local Natives full-length; a new one from another Angeleno, Tokimonsta; a very Belly-esque track from Poland’s Brodka; a nice track from New York by way of Norway’s Okay Kaya, who we caught opening up for Peter Bjorn and John last week; and much more.
Check it out.
For the past 14 or so years, I’ve received email newsletters from Other Music in New York City, which I’ve long-regarded as the best record store in the country. It’s one of the few email subscriptions I’ve never even come close to considering ending, having introduced me to hundreds of now-beloved bands from Vampire Weekend to Efterklang to Monika to Little Simz to countless others. To this day, it stands as one of the best ways I know of to find good music that I’d otherwise likely never know about.
This morning, that same newsletter arrived to inform me, along with all other recipients, that the store was closing after 20 years of serving music-lovers of New York City and the world.
I could on and on about how cities and life have changed—for better and worse—because of the internet; instead, I’d like to simply share both my sadness and my fondness for what I truly regard as a seminal and important institution in the independent music scene, especially in NYC. Other kept a staff that was not only wildly knowledgable about the music world but also feverishly devoted to finding and sharing new independent music with the store’s clientele, which is what made so many of us such fans of the store itself.
The store served as a leader in scene too, holding intimate in-store performances, organizing showcases around the city and at festivals, and more recently starting their own record label, which will continue on.
It seems there are multiple reasons that add up to owners + co-founders Chris Vanderloo and Josh Madell (below) making this decision, but it basically boils down to increasing rent combined with far less record-buying. As they stated in a press release this morning:
“The shop has sold millions of records, won awards and accolades, and hopefully touched more than a few lives. Times change. This business has changed, this city has changed, but records will keep spinning, and they ask only one thing — that you keep supporting great music, wherever and however you can.”
Let’s honor their wishes, shall we?
You can view all 16 years worth of email updates from Other Music in their web archive and the New York Times has a great article on the shop that ran today.
Photo, Hilary Swift for The New York Times.
A few months back, I got an email from the band Tennis—not because we’re pals, because I’m on their email list—explaining that they were giving up the touring life for the open sea for a while.
To be fair, that’s how the husband-and-wife band started, more or less. As singer + musician Alaina Moore wrote, back in January:
“Six year ago, Patrick and I wrote an album under the moniker Tennis as a way of documenting our time living aboard a small boat, sailing over 2000 miles of North Atlantic coastline. In the following years, our work as Tennis surprised me by out-sizing and eventually supplanting our dreams of life at sea.” She continued—”The last six years have belonged to music. Voyaging is a way I have found to live close to nature without changing it. It is a way of limiting my social and financial obligations. I find it to be the most cathartic, psychically cleansing way to live event though I am at every moment insecure and subject to the indifference of nature. This time my creative work will be archival, motivated by the desire to show you what I mean rather than sing it to you.”
Roughly every month-and-a-half to two months, the two have sent updates with a few photos, always equally inspiring. The most recent one came this morning, ending with the lines: “Sailing is an act of faith. We strike out into nothing believing that something will be there on the other side. When we arrive, it is like a truth revealed.”
I recommend signing up for the band’s updates—yes, it’s handy to know what such talented music-makers are up to, but, maybe more importantly, we can take these words to heart and find our own new adventure.
Normally I’d insert a song by the band via SoundCloud here, but, with their recent move to keep with subscription services like Apple + Spotify, Tennis’ entire catalog (like many bands’) is on preview lock, so you can no longer listen to them fully there without paying SoundCloud (who does not pay Tennis…or any other artist currently, it should be point out).
So YouTube it is! Oldie-but-goodie.
We’re really loving the most recent single from Hope Sandoval + the Warm Inventions, “Isn’t It True”. Originally released as a 7″ for this most recent Record Store Day, Sandoval + Colm Ó Cíosóig (drummer of My Bloody Valentine and Sandals partner in the Warm Inventions) the track plays up Sandoval’s voice and the waltzing, soft wash of music that fits it best and it has us excited for the band’s third full-length, whenever it may come out.
The video for the song—below—is a tribute to the late Richie Lee of the Los Angeles band Acetone.
Leave it to the Boss.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band opened their Saturday show at Brooklyn with a touching, emotional tribute to Prince, covering his immortal “Purple Rain.”
As NPR put it: “Bruce’s effort to maintain the song’s building intensity was visible; it felt like it originated from a sense of loss, an expression of the emptiness that accompanies the departure of a kindred spirit more than the original song’s timbre of romantic loss and regret.”
The Boss ends the song with “Prince forever! God bless!”
Thank you Bruce; thank you Prince.
Photo Kevin Mazur/Getty Images.
Though Katie’s a longtime fan of British new folk band Mumford + Sons and I totally appreciate much of their catalog, they’ve never quite been my thing.
But this new collaborative concept EP they’re doing, Johannesburg, is hitting some pretty key notes for me.
Born of a tour of South Africa and writing collaboration with internationally celebrated Senegalese singer and guitarist, Baaba Maal, a longtime favorite Malawi singer of ours Esau Mwamwaya of The Very Best, and Cape Town pop trio Beatenburg, the project brings to mind western artists of past years who’ve looked to African musical roots for inspiration, so, nothing new there, but the result is beautiful and stirring nonetheless.
You can her Mumford + Sons and Maal perform “There Will Be Time” live in South Africa below and along with a trailer for Johannesburg under that. Spin’s got a Beats 1 interview and world first (“WORLD FIRST”) premiere of the track streaming that’s of interest too.
Album’s out June 17, pre-order via M+S.
