We hereby present you with this month’s collection of new sounds from largely new artists—the May 2015 raven + crow mixtape, an accumulation of songs that get us going in the studio.

This one features some superb new tracks from Scotland’s Mercury Prize-winning Young Fathers (whose highly anticipated sophomore full-length White Men Are Black Men Too came out last month), NYC’s French glitch-punk Annabelle Cazes (AKA Glockabelle),  and a new collaboration between Emily Green + longtime favorite Madi Diaz, who first told us about her new band, Riothorse Royale, in an interview we did with the talented singer-songwriter last spring.

Give it all a listen below or over at our SoundCloud page. And be sure to scroll through and float over the tracks—a few, like the two from those latter artists mentioned above, offer free downloads of their MP3s currently.

Happy May!

One of our Record Store Day finds this year was an RSD exclusive 7″ with artwork Shepard Fairey from NYC’s Interpol, a band that survived the indie commercial success of the early aughts followed quickly by the decimation of the industry by the Web.

I was mediocrely into the band when they first hit the scene but I really dig their subtly reinvented sound on this most recent ‘comeback’ album, El Pintor—a Latin-sounding anagram of the band’s name and their first full-length in four years.

The single features a stand-out from the album—”Everything is Wrong”—and a great unreleased B-side—”What is What”.

Here’s Shepard Fairey on the artwork for the 7″:
“The lyrics to ‘Everything Is Wrong’ are open to interpretation, but whether the song is about hard living, relationship failures, wear and tear on the environment, or an empire mentality, regret for poor decisions seems to be the theme. I decided to explore the idea of being complicit in a personal relationship or a relationship with a system that one realizes is unhealthy.”

You can see a shot of the sticker included in the 7″, a shot of the record, and the mural Fairey did around the corner from Acqua Santa in Williamsburg below. Watch the video for “Everything is Wrong” (directed by Paul Banks and Carlos Puga) below too. It’s either a commentary on our collective views of “old” and “new” residents of NYC…or just Interpol hanging out and doing stuff. Or both.

Guys, I totally got tricked into liking a Christian band.

That’s not fair. Vancouver band We Are the City may or may not define themselves as a Christian band, but they certainly don’t shy away from the subject matter of god or faith in their songs, specifically in the context of the Christian upbringing of guitarist, David Menzel, and singer-keyboardist, Cayne McKenzie.

And they’re on Christian label, Tooth and Nail Records.

And they have songs with names like “King David”,  “Passing of the Peace“, and “Baptism“.

…so, yeah, they’re a Christian band.

But they’re a REALLY FUCKING GOOD Christian band. So good that I couldn’t stop listening to them when I discovered their new, jaw-droppingly amazing album, Violent, the other night and the beautiful video series they’ve created for it. As I told a friend and ex-bandmate over email, I feel like this is what good, progressive emo music of the late nineties and early aughts should have evolved into. Beutifully intricate, emotively introspective, thoughtfully crafted music that’s really hard not to love. Even once you realize it’s essentially Christian rock.

Dammit! It’s Dakota Motor Company all over again!

Check out We Are the City’s video for “Baptism” below.

Like we mentioned yesterday, we’re co-sponsoring the Dog Daze 2015 party Saturday night at Kombucha Dog. The night’ll feature products for sale from MooShoes Los Angeles + the Made in America Project, beer, wine, and kombucha, food from Sun Cafe, and live music from three bands—acoustic duo Aaron + Jane, indie-pop artist Autumn in June, and the band Forebear.

We spoke with Forebear drummer,  Mike Musselman (above, far left), leading up to Saturday’s show to find out more about the young Los Angeles band. Listen to their cinematic pop and read on below.

raven + crow studio: First off, thanks in advance for playing the party this Saturday. We’re excited to see you all live. Are you all particularly big fans or kombucha or dogs…or vegan food or just into the gig?

Mike Musselman: You are quite welcome. We are excited to play for you. I would say our bass player Nick is a fan of kombucha. The band is a fan of dogs…I mean who the hell ain’t? I think we all have our days of being a vegan unintentionally. I was a vegetarian for 5 years. I think Nick was a vegan for about a month. There’s a great vegetarian restaurant we all like to eat at before rehearsal in Canoga Park called Follow Your Heart.

Ah! Awesome. We love their products—especially the new cheese they’re doing—but we still have yet to make it up there. Anyway, out of the gate, as is often the case for us, we’ve gotta ask about the name. Where does it come from? You all used to perform under a different name, right?

Our singer, Scott, was under the name Wise Cub for some time. He had a revolving door of musicians that backed him. Then came Molly, Nick, and I. We started playing Wise Cub’s catalog. Then collaborating in the writing process more and more. It became an entirely different beast (pun intended). After gaining momentum and arriving at the conclusion we want to take this seriously, we began to question if this was Wise Cub anymore. We saw a band with a similar name to ours getting some popularity. That led us to think we should change our name. In the process, we considered a lot. Where we all tie in together and where we are going. The name Forebear pays homage to the ancestry of our past musical efforts together as Wise Cub and otherwise (pun definitely intended).

Ah, yeah, I think you’re referring to Keegan Dewitt’s Wild Cub—they’ve graced these pages a number of times before. We’re fans. But yeah, I saw a poster you all did with your February shows and it was, like, the four of you…and a bear. I wasn’t sure if there was a pun there.

We knew a creative fellow with a lot of time on his hands. He took photos of us individually in his living room during the day and what he sent back is what you saw. We think it’s pretty sweet. But to answer the question, hell yea it’s pun!

How did you all get your start? Are you all longtime friends? Or maybe everyone just answered an ad on craislist? Something in between?

Scott, Nick, and I started a band almost 10 years ago called The Harm. The Harm split and Scott started the solo project, Wise Cub. Nick, Scott, and I stayed in touch. Then an opportunity arose for Nick and I to be with Scott again. I honestly forget how in the world we stole the immeasurably talented Molly from the world of classically trained professional musicians—she got in there somehow. Friends of friends basically.

Always the best way, I think. I’ve seen ya’ll described as ‘cinematic indie rock’, so I’ll bite—what is cinematic indie rock?

Cinematic indie rock is a title you get when you throw a viola player in a band whose songs are longer than three minutes. We might have used that term to differentiate ourselves from other indie rock bands in Los Angeles at the beginning of our media encounters. Also, our tunes provide emotional landscapes. I think film score has an acute sense of capturing tone and feel quite well. We aim to do the same…and to please.

Do you all have any desire to transition into actual movie soundtracks or scoring at all? It’s the town for it….

Why not! We have the intestinal fortitude to handle Hollywood douche-baggery. Anything to get closer to Charlize Theron. Oh la-la.

Hah. I heard your cover of Portishead‘s “Wandering Star”—that was certainly cinematically dramatic. Do you all do other covers or was that a one-time thing?

The Portishead cover is a great release at shows to be dramatic and let some energy out. We love Portishead—we know you do as well…. So let’s all rock out. We are working on a Radiohead cover and a Monsters of Folk cover.

Ah, looking forward to both. And yeah, I love that you all incorporate viola into some of your songs. There used to be this amazing solo viola artist, Anni Rossi, who we loved. Do you find having a less conventional rock instrument in the mix changes how you write or present songs?

I have no idea what’s going on outside of my drums. Whatever Molly does is usually epic. There is a heck of a lot of respect and trust amongst the members in this band.

I listen to bands that aren’t ordinary rock bands. At the moment, Death Grips, Animal Collective, Aphex Twin, and the album Penny Sparkle from Blonde Redhead are spinning on my turntables. I know from the amount of .GIF’s I get from Molly she is definitely down with South Africa’s Die Antwoord.

They cray! In a very cool way. So what did bring everyone out to Los Angeles…assuming you’re not the legendary four native Angelenos I’ve heard exist somewhere?

We are so close! Scott, Nick, and I are native Angelenos. Molly hails from Kentucky. She has lived in LA as a working musician for four or five years playing violin and viola.

That is close! What do you all like about LA? Any favorite local spot—coffee joints, bars, restaurants?

LA, for me, is peculiar in the sense of how many enclaves there are. The Valley, DTLA, West Hollywood, Venice, and everything in between. They are all independent limbs on a mythical angel. You could be ensconced in one of these areas and not need to visit others for the better part of your life.

I dig Guisados on Sunset Blvd on the east side. Anywhere there is cold brew coffee, you can find a Forebear. The Baked Potato has some legends roll through every once in a while. Scott and I saw Terry Bozzio and Alex Acuna improvise two 1-hour sets there. I bootlegged it with a concealed recorder.

That’s a whole lotta drum, man. I know the LA music scene’s always been pretty active, but I feel like it’s gotten pretty rich in terms of creative independent artists, especially in the past few years. Are there any other local artists you’re particularly into these days?

That’s a great question. I won’t get to esoteric with LA bands, so I will think local to all things Forebear. We went on a mini-tour with 2 great bands during February—(in no particular order) Figs Vision and The End of Summer. They both kick butt.

Cool. Then, I know you have an EP that you’ve got download cards for at shows—any plans for a full-length any time soon?

No plans for a full-length, which I would thoroghly enjoy making. In the meantime, Forebear will be releasing another “cinematic alternative progressive folk indie rock” EP in mid-June. A music video is also going to appear come early May directed by Tommy Wooldridge. As well as, some pretty snazzy t-shirts available today designed by our pal Augusto Piccio IV.

Awesome, man. Thanks for talking with us and see you Saturday!

You can listen to more of Forebear’s music and sign up for the band’s mailing list on their site; catch them live at the Dog Daze party we’re throwing Saturday night at Kombucha Dog—details + RSVP links on the Eventbrite page.

What happens when you’re a successful commercial photographer and the digital photography revolution hits? For many, at worst, it meant an end to a long and prosperous career; to others, at the very least, it meant a sea change, with a massive devaluing of the industry as a whole and a dramatic decrease in income for many who relied on the industry as their financial bread + butter.

For Los Angeles-based photographer, Michael Faye, it meant turning his lens toward two of his passions—dogs + kombucha. In 2007, the longtime dog-lover sold his commercial studio with the intent of rebooting as a pet portraiture business. Then, as he eloquently put it:

“That’s when Lindsey Lohan changed my life. Stay with me.

I come from a family deeply rooted in holistic tradition. I was raised vegetarian. Father is a chiropractor and Mother made her own yogurt! Sugar was not on the menu. No soda. No chocolate cereal. To some that may seem like hell for a kid, but I stilI hold those core values. I started drinking kombucha around 2005. I was then, as I am now, a strong believer in the raw food movement, with a regular yoga practice. I felt healthy, in shape, even so I felt kombucha’s health effects from the start. The sense of well being that comes with drinking kombucha became part of my every day.

But just as my interest in kombucha was deepening, it disappeared. Literally. The story goes like this: Lindsey Lohan’s lawyers attempted to explain away a failed alcohol test by claiming it was a false positive brought about by a lot of kombucha drinking. The practical (and hysterical) result of which was that kombucha was summarily pulled from the shelves. Such is the power of the Lohan. After a few weeks without, it was time to take action. I started learning how to brew and found that friends and family were really liking my early efforts and requesting more… I also discovered I loved the art of brewing.”

Three years and a lot of work later, Faye turned his new passion for brewing into a business, tying his now commercially available kombucha to his love of dogs + photography by taking shots of currently homeless dogs in the Los Angeles area and putting them on the labels to help them find homes.

We’ve been fans of Kombucha Dog since we first came to LA. They make great kombucha and who could deny such an adorably awesome business model.

A little while back, Michael reached out to us to inquire about doing something together as our roles of running MooShoes Los Angeles. The result is this Saturday’s coming Dog Daze 2015, a celebration of local shopping, local music, local food + drink, and, of course, local four-legged friends (many of whom’ll be on-site and available for adoption).

Admission’s free and you can purchase beer, wine, and kombucha on-site along with some products from our store and the Los Angeles-based Made in America Project. Local vegan restaurant Sun Cafe‘ll also be on hand to cater a dinner for any interested (just RSVP for it on the Eventbrite page).

Details + RSVPing for both dinner and general attendance here—hope to see you there!

Below, more KD labels + dogs; the indoor event space at Kombucha Dog; Katie with the new pup at the brewery, Jax; the KD credo; large scale dog love on the brewery walls; and more kombucha.

Whether you know her band, Shivaree, or not, you’re likely familiar with their work and the voice of former vocalist, Ambrosia Parsley. In the late nineties to mid-aughts, the rootsy Americana group was tapped for soundtracks to the small and big screen alike and could be heard in everything from teen television melodrama to Tarantino films and even appeared on the Silver Linings Playbook after the band’s 2007 separation.

Nearly a decade later, the dusky vocals of Parsley are making a reappearance on her debut solo album, Weeping Cherry, out next week. The album follows well in the footsteps of her full band, exploring the more serious, somber edges of American roots rock, blues, and jazz-infused pop with Parsley’s distinctive, alluring vocals lighting the way from start to finish.

We got a chance to check in with Ambrosia leading up to the album release and a string of shows to follow to talk about her time away form the industry, making time for family, and the origins of the new album.

Read on as you listen to the slow, darkly jazzy number “Make Me Laugh” off the new album.

raven + crow: Alright, first off, thanks for taking some time to talk with us, Ambrosia. And congratulations on the album—I know it’s been a long time coming, so it must feel good to be able to share it.

So, the album title, Weeping Cherry, comes from a really beautiful track about halfway through the album. It almost reminds me of old Cowboy Junkies. Can you tell me why you chose that as the title track and how it speaks to the larger piece of work?

Ambrosia Parsley: Well, I’d read somewhere that kamikaze pilots sometimes painted pictures of cherry blossoms on their planes. Many songs on this record speak directly to some dead friends of mine who were sort of like kamikazes. There’s also a big weeping cherry at the bottom of my road. I’m pretty much lousy with reasons.

Sounds reasonable enough to me. Your music—and that of your old band, Shivaree—definitely has a kind of retro, classic feel. Are you a particularly big fan of early doo-wop, blues and the like or do you just tend to write music that fits that genre well?

Exactly.

What was it like recording a solo album compared to your collaborative work with Shivaree?

You think I made all that noise by myself? We had a lovely time and I collaborated frequently and vigorously with The Elegant Too (Chris Maxwell & Phil Hernandez). Also this time around again for Danny McGough, Joan Wasser & AA Bondy, all of whom have Shivaree’d in the past. Any day spent with the aforementioned is a beautiful and very lucky one.

This album was initially released in France last year, correct?

Oui.

How did that come about and why there before the States?

Seemed like a great idea at the time. And it was really nice get to come home, rest up and reboot for a year and a half after a grueling nine day tour.

Hah. I think it was originally announced that you were going to release your first solo album a year or so after Shivaree broke up, in 2008 or so, but that never came to fruition. Is this that album? Meaning, if you had released the album six years back, would have a similar sound; similar songs?

I don’t remember announcing anything, but if If i did, I was probably just guessing/talking smack. Wow, that is a really excellent question and I’m afraid we’ll never know. Fingerprints or fashion….hmmm…

Fair enough. Was the reason you didn’t release the album earlier more industry-related or more personal? I know you relocated upstate and now have a son. Did it just seem like a good time in your life to step away from that part of your life for a bit?

Personal of course! Anyone can put out a record if they want to. I never saw the urgency there. You do when you do. Mothering is for real. You have to do it just then. Very urgent. They can’t even stand up for christ sakes! One needs to really concentrate on for a while ( forever?) and I really enjoy that deliverance from myself, but I never stopped writing, or singing. I just stopped riding around in a van.

Most would agree that’s the least fun part of the whole thing anyway. Why now though, for the new album? It seems easy to just leave that part of your life behind for good—is it just something that’s in your bones, writing music; singing?

I guess I can’t help myself. And barbering is a hard road.

So my barber tells me. How do you like it, the “settled down” life of a parent in what I’m assuming is a slower pace of life in the Catskills? Do you miss the city life much?

I don’t find anything about being a parent to be remotely settling. We’re in the city most of the time for a couple of years now, but try to find time for it all….that’s the challenge, right?

So I’m told. I have enough trouble managing myself; I can’t imagine throwing a kid in the mix. Now, I know you had maybe more your fair share of trials + tribulations with the industry while in your old band, but, in Shivaree, you also saw first-hand this massive shift in the music industry brought on by the prevalence of online activity from your band’s founding to its slpit. Any thoughts on how the industry has changed since you first started making music?

Yeah, we sort of hopped an elevator to the top and then immediately got booted out of an 80th floor window. There was a lot of sushi and parties on the way down. Nuts in first class…that was the best. Now? Now we’re spray painting on walls, heaven help us. Though my dad would say, “at least you have walls”.

Wise father, I’d say. I know your playing a couple shows at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, but any plans for a tour any time soon?

Yes, starting May 14th. Come say hello.

Will do! Thanks for talking with us and best of luck on with the new album.

Ambrosia plays a record release party in NYC at Rockwood on May 14th; check her Facebook page for more dates and pre-order and preview the album, Weeping Cherry, out April 28th via Barbés Records, also available through iTunes.

I feel like we’ve got a solid one to three new artists we get really excited about per month these days. This month, the one we can’t stop playing in the studio is French artist, Christine and the Queens.

The solo project of Nantes-born Héloïse Letissier, Christine and the Queens has already enjoyed popular success in Letissier’s native France, winning this year’s French Grammy-equivalent Victoires de La Musique awards for Best Female Artist and Video of the Year. Now she’s getting high praise from the likes of Madonna, Mark Ronson, and Lorde, who says of her song “Saint Claude”, “It’s got this beautiful music video, it’s really simple, the melodies are transcendent. I love it.”

Letissier’s songs are largely synth-based, vocal forward pop ballads—nothing out of the ordinary on paper. But both the song-writing and execution of Christine and the Queens’ music are astounding. The title track of her Saint Claude EP—which we featured on our April mixtape—moves elegantly between a word-packed, minimally orchestrated, French lyric verse and beautifully sweeping English chorus that moves me every time I hear it. And the English re-working of her French hit, “Christine”—renamed “Tilted” on the US EP—stands out as a breathily sung, slow-burn pop gem that churns along as its subtly catchy chorus and French rap break sneak their way into your subconscious.

Letissier’s cited London’s drag movement as a source of inspiration for both the band’s name and her on-stage persona, telling the Guardian she befriended a trio of singing drag queens when living abroad in 2010. “They convinced me to attempt singing. They were my Queens,” she told the news agency, “they had an incredible freedom and they showed me there is no need to check yourself because of other people.”

Christine and the Queens plays sold out shows in Los Angeles (tomorrow), San Francisco, San Diego, and New York’s Le Poisson Rouge (next Tuesday), but, as of writing, tickets are still available for her show at the Westery in the West Village next Thursday. You can listen to her track “Titled” and see the video for “Saint Claude” below.

Buy her EP—out today in the States—via iTunes and stay tuned for more dates state-side—we predict big things.

Photo by Jeff Hahn.

Just back from our very first Coachella and, I have to say, it’s pretty fucking awesome.

Sure, it was crowded with roughly 30,000 shirtless twenty-something bro-dudes and equally as many of their female equivalents (many also shirtless), but, overall, we have no complaints for a festival that brings together that many amazing musical acts.

And, though the performances and legitimately cool art were impressive on their own, the thing that amazed us both most was how very well organized the 90,000+ person event was. Sure, many of us have planned a party, but how many of us can say we’ve successfully planned a party for that many people? If you have, license to complain about Coachella granted; if not, I’d recommend chilling out, bro.

I’m looking at you, Bieber.

Above, six sequential, unedited shots of Katie at Aphidoidea‘s Chrono Chromatic—”a monumental sculpture that celebrates the festival’s broad spectrum of music and artist”; below, (spoiler!) the final state of Poetic Kinetics‘ Papilio Merraculous. Read more about the visual art at this year’s festival on Coachella’s Web site.

Continuing our monthly accumulations of new sounds, we present April mixtape.

We’ve been excited about most every song and band we’ve presented in these past few months since starting this regular piece, but this month we’ve got a few new finds we’re especially thrilled to share, chief among them, the Mark Ronson, Lorde, and Madonna-erndorsed French performer, Christine and The Queens, upbeat indie pop from Leeds, Marsicans, and Brooklyn band, LEGS, who we interviewed last week on the occasion of the release of their debut full-length.

Listen below or on our SoundCloud page. And enjoy.

Last summer, we stumbled across Brooklyn band, LEGS, and were immediately hooked. The 5 piece has some undeniable influences in the realms of funk and soul, but, most of all, their pop sensibility appealed to us as did the craftsmanship that went into their song-writing. Today the band celebrates the release of their debut full-length, ALTITUD, an album recorded in Ecuador and paid for through some good new-fashioned crowd-funding.

We got a chance to talk with founding member, drummer, and visual artist, Juan Miguel Marin about what it was like recording in South America, plans the band has for 2015, and how the city most of them call home has changed in the past few years. You can listen to the new album in full below.

Juan Miguel: Hi there friends at raven + crow… I’ve got to start by thanking you for the kind words about our album, but more importantly, for keeping in touch with LEGS.

raven + crow: Ah, it’s our pleasure. Alright, first things first, guys—the new album, it’s really great. Congratulations. It did exactly what I wanted it to do, which was take the feel of the EP and translate that into a bigger, deeper sound. How was writing for that? Were you pulling from material you’d pooled up over the years or was this a lot of new material?

Writing for ALTITUD started right around the same time our EP came out (Aug 2013). We had set a few goals for the band, including: 1. Developing our live set; and 2. Releasing a full-length before the end of 2014. So while performing around NYC, playing mostly the EP, we began adding to the set some of the songs we were writing. Songs that were still work-in-progress. Going through this process turned-out to be crucial (individually and collectively), because at the end there’s no way we would have arrived at so many conclusions if we had only workshop the material in a room. I remember clearly playing a loft party in Long Island City, where we were responsible for playing a really long set. We’d take these types of nights to test as much as we could. Really glad my phone wasn’t running out of battery all the time in those days, because it recorded the entire set and I cannot begin to tell you how much improvising from that night became new parts that ended up making the record.

But, short answer—all 10 songs from ALTITUD, were collectively written, from the summer of 2013, thru the days in the studio the following summer. Literally.

And you recorded it somewhere in South America, if I remember right?

That’s correct. We went to Graba Studio in Quito, Ecuador with producer Nick Stumpf for 8 days of recording.

How was it being down there?

It was an amazing experience, but 8 days wasn’t long enough. We pretty much went from the hostel were we stayed at (Boutiquito), to the studio for 8 days straight.

However, that forced us to make this album as live as possible—you know, the good old 5 musicians playing in the same room. Lunch and dinner breaks were really great though. It is very possible that we had ceviche everyday (the Ecuadorian kind), along with “maduros con Salprieta”, and the revelatory “best burger of my life”, according to the US American side
of LEGS. The place is called “La Burguesa”, if you want to know. My favorite—“La Frágil”.

Elaborating a bit on the “testing new material live”, the one thing we were able to do in Quito outside of the
studio and food, was to play a rooftop party that our friends from RadioCoCoa put together. We’ll never
forget that show…the thrill of playing for a new audience in a different country for the first time, combined
with the fact that we once again did things during our set that made it to the record—on songs that we hadn’t tracked yet, of course—certainly makes that rooftop show a moment we want to live again.

Not to mention that, we had the honor to share the bill with La Máquina Camaleön, an independent band from Quito, that sounds SO good.

Sounds like a very compressed, fun time. How did the crowd funding for the album go for you all? I feel like that can be so hard these days, when people are so saturated with asks from so many different people.

We are truly fortunate to had been successful with our Kickstarter campaign. Especially since we are a new band, and obviously due to the saturation that you mention.

Our plan was to run the campaign way sooner than we did, but different reasons, we ended up launching the last week of June, so the last week of our campaign coincided with our week in the studio. But hey, don’t judge our planning skills. It worked. With the help of our families, friends, and surprisingly a ton new people that are connecting with what we are doing, we reached and surpassed our 35k goal. So no kidney sale was required.

In the end, I think that as long as you are being transparent about your project, and actually reaching out to people about it yourself, crowd-funding is very much a viable alternative.

I do regret not having enough time to pull-off our highly anticipated “bike wash” fundraising event for the album.

Bike wash, eh? Is the album self-released then or do you all have someone helping out with distribution or pressing?

ALTITUD will be self-released, and we used a company out of California for the pressing. Short run of 500 copies.

Ah, cool. I can’t remember—were there any funny/overly involved funding rewards that you all set up? You don’t have to fly to Seattle to serenade someone’s ex do you?

All the backer rewards are grounded and realistic. There are a couple of private shows we need to do, but for the most part we treated this as a “pre-order” campaign. The sweet spot was definitely the digital download + t-shirt category. Followed by the vinyl.

Yeah, limited release vinyl is fun. And who wouldn’t like LEGS shirts? We’ve been meaning to ask you guys, though—where does that name come from? Always curious, from a branding/marketing standpoint.

The story goes like this—we were brainstorming names casually for weeks, aiming to also book a show by March/April 2013, but none had happened yet. Then Charlie shows up one day for practice and proposed LEGS, as suggested by his friend and roommate, Lane Koivu, who can be credited for naming the band. He also wrote the first piece of literature about the band. You know, the whole potencial side effects thing… he’s great, but don’t take my word for it and go watch our “Top of the World” music video. That’s Lane in the flesh, playing Teddy Z, host of the late night show “ The Big Deep”.

The name was an immediate winner for all of us. I guess we all felt that this project we had been putting a lot of hours towards, had legs. So went for it.

You guys forgot your instruments in that video! Also, Tito’s beard is getting outta control, man! That song, along with most of your others shows of a very funky, soulful sound but it’s not really derivative or a case where I feel like just recreating something from the past. Did that style develop organically as a group or all you all just big soul fans?

Our influences are all over the place and soul is certainly on of them, but our sound has been developing in a very natural way. Without overthinking genres and pre-establishing too many things before we hit our instruments.

Some band rules are good though. As LEGS we have a musical vision, but at its core that vision should translate in connecting with people just as much as we are making music for ourselves. 

Totally makes sense. I feel like there’s a pretty noticeable trend in both indie pop and mainstream pop for this brand of new soul, with bands like How to Dress Well and Autre Ne Veut and Rhye and even the newly sued Robin Thicke. Any insight into the origin of that as a trend? Or are we grouping too many disparate sounds together?

Avoid trends at all cost.

Well, I have to stand by the trend of brushing your teeth every day, but point taken. I can’t remember what clued me into you guys but I remember my first exposure was the video for “High Times”, which I thought was really beautifully done. And, having just moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, immediately made me nostalgic for rooftop parties in New York. You’ve got “Top of the World”—any other videos planned?

That was a fun video to shoot. Ironically, most people we talk to about that video think that it was shot on a boat. We see it now.

So far “Top of the World” has a music video, and there is one more (at least) coming out soon. No spoilers, but yes, there will be some music videos action happening.

How long have most of been in New York?

Jack has been here the longest since he studied Jazz at The New School. He’s been here for 8 years now. I moved from North Carolina in the fall of 2009. Tito (Jack’s brother), and Charlie moved to Brooklyn sometime in 2012. And Herman (my brother), was here in NYC from 2011 thru the end of 2013. He’s now based in Lima, Perú.

Whoa. That’s a commute. Do you feel like NYC’s changed a lot in the time you’ve been there?

Without a doubt. There’s so much new construction everywhere and neighborhoods shifting right before your eyes. Let’s just hope this city can find its balance between inevitable real estate development and the fact
that arts and the creative community are (amongst others) the ones who have made New York City an interesting place (to put it casually) through the course of history. And we all know that fancy overpriced housing is not the answer.

Only if you’re a developer. Did one of you do the new album cover? I remember at least one of you having a fine visual arts background.

I am a visual artist/designer, but the artwork for the album has a sweet collaborative story behind it.

The visual language for the new album takes cues from its title “ALTITUD” (spanish spelling for altitude). Right after we came back from the recording sessions in Quito—which sits around 2800 meters above sea level—the band went on its first Pacific-North West expedition. We played our first show in Seattle, then Doe Bay Fest in Orcas Island, and finished with an intimate show at this magical place space in Indianola, WA (hometown for the Ramsey brothers). Although the title for the album came to me while in Quito, it wasn’t until we came back to Brooklyn that I felt comfortable enough to pitch it to the rest of LEGS.

The idea of dropping the “e” from “altitude” (as spelled in spanish), and exploring an abstract mountainous landscape was part of my pitch to the band. We are a grateful bunch and wanted Craig Ward—who designed the EP’s artwork—to have a shot at the album cover. This time with a very modest but actual budget for it.

Craig got on board with the concept for the album and proposed involving Cedric Kiefer, who is a wonderful code artist based in Berlin.

Cedric crafted some sound reactive code in Processing, that creates a 3D render of a sound-wave, so Craig could run it with the songs from the record. And because he totally gets our sound (not electronic at all), Craig asked me to share any photographs of mountainous landscapes I had. Fortunately, there were some images from a recent trip that worked for his plan.

We loved what Craig proposed as the final form to be the cover of ALTITUD.

Make sure you look at the album art upside down.

If it doesn’t demystify the band too much, wondering about everyone else’s background outside of Legs. Got any cops? Stay-at-home dads? Craft brewers?

Without getting into specifics, there are music majors, art majors, and engineering majors. But more importantly, we are friends and lovers.

I guess we could also add “part-time dish washers” to that list. Did you have a dish-washing machine at home while living in NYC?

Hell no. What do you think, we lived in fancy overpriced housing? Though those are pretty commonplace here in Los Angeles. How did you guys meet initially?

I can tell you a really long version of this story, that involves a complex chain of events and people that I feel have part of making LEGS happen, but for sake of making some sense, I’ll share the more rational version…

Days before 4th of July 2012, Catalina (my eternal slumber party-mate, and talented photographer), had mentioned an invitation to one of her “client’s” rooftop party on the 4th. I wasn’t interested at all, but agreed to go under one condition—arriving early, so we could leave early.

We basically got there ON time, but you know that means an hour or two earlier than most people attending. There were no more than 6 people there (including the host), upon our arrival. Amongst those 6, there was Tito and his wife Irene, who had just moved to Brooklyn from Seattle a few weeks earlier.

To this day, I believe that if Catalina and I had gotten there at a later time, Tito and I wouldn’t have had a chance to talk the way we did. Just and hour or so later the place got packed (literally). Tito and I talked about music, that we were both working on tunes at home (on the computer), looping things, and the whole one man band myth. Then we realized that both of us had brothers (Herman and Jack), living in NYC, and that they also played instruments.

We left, exchanging our contact information and links to things we were working on. Soon after Tito, proposed a casual jam, where he also invited Jack, Herman, and more importantly Charlie, who was also living in Brooklyn, and knew the Ramsey brothers from way back.

That was the beginning of LEGS.

The big lesson—be on-time.

Nice! I don’t know if you’re this kind of band, but any specific goals or hopes for Legs in 2015? Hyper-fantasy dreams?

We do make lists of short-term, mid-, and long-term goals as a band. LEGS has big dreams (as should we all), but we are also aware that putting in the hours is the only way to get anywhere. Hopefully ALTITUD is well received and we can start doing some Summer Festivals and meeting some of the kind people who are listening to our music.

Yeah, we definitely wish you best with this. It obviously helps to have solid material—which you all do—but then so much of it these days is a combination of luck + work. I know you’ve got your record release at Mercury Lounge next Tuesday, but I’m assuming you’ll be doing some touring to support the album too, yeah? Playing LA soon, by chance?

ALTITUD dropped (how clever) today and we celebrate the release at Mercury Lounge on the 7th, and after that we do intend to tour in support of the record. Not sure yet how soon after this might happen, but I can definitely say, that LA is one of the cities we hope to visit in the near future.

Glad to hear it. Well, thanks so much for talking with us, Juan. Really excited to catch you live soon.

My pleasure, and we look forward to meeting you in LA. Will you take us to your favorite food spot?

I will! Though there’s lots to chose from these days. I’ll give it some thought and get back to you.

ALTITUD is out today and can be ordered directly from the band via their site or through iTunes if you’ve got a gift card burning a hole in your pocket. If you’re in or around New York, catch them at their record release next Tuesday at the Mercury Lounge; if you’re in my boat, check their site + like them on the Facebooks to stay in the know.