Hey, friends.

For any frequenters to these pages, you might have noticed we’re looking a little different these days—reason being, we underwent a long-overdue site redesign recently, so thanks for noticing. Or if you’re new, fuck it—let’s just listen to some new music.

We’re again very excited about some returns on the scene by some of our favorite artists, some expected, some totally out-of-the-blue. Longtime Canadian favorites Purity Ring dropped a new single a few weeks back and it is very Purity Ring (which is to say, awesome). And Swedish songwriter Emil Svanängen (AKA Loney Dear)—whose intimately personal electronic music we were huge fans of in the early aughts—has made a sudden return with a couple singles and announcement for a new full-length later this fall on Peter Gabriel’s highly esteemed Real World Records. We’ve also got a solo outing from Annie Hart of Au Revoir Simone (who we hear appears in the new Twin Peaks—you can read a 2013 interview we did with Hart where she talks about David Lynch and the band’s inspiration for their name). And, for me (Troy), most exciting of all—the return of German band Lali Puna, easily one of my favorite bands of all time and, along with Björk, one that opened up an early fascination with and love of electronic music for me. So we’re starting with that, because we can’t not.

We’re following our Deutsch friends with a new one from a new one London’s Tourist featuring Ardyn and a beautiful track from long-awaited debut full-length by Mura Masa (AKA Alex Crossan) featuring another favorite, Christine and the Queens. We’ve also got a new single from Montreal’s Blue Hawaii; Los Angeles R+B maestros TwoLips (who’s playing a free EP release party at the Hi-Hat next Tuesday);  Empress Of‘s anthemic new song, a sleepy house jam from Melbourne’s Take Your Time; a glitchy, catchy new track from another LA band (by way of Gainesville), Hundred Waters (you can download their most recent EP for free via their site); and an addictive single from London’s Millie Turner.

We’re finishing up with a song from Norwegian band Kommode (“analog dance music” from Eirik Glambek Bøe of Kings of Convenience and Øystein Gjærder Bruvik); another much-buzzed-about Angeleno, Billie Eilish; and a wonderful new track from one final final Angeleno, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and self-taught violinist, Sudan Archives (AKA Brittney Denise Parks).

Enjoy.

Just in time for your holiday weekend, we’ve got our monthly mixtape of new music.

This one’s trending a bit more eclectic than usual, jumping from the excellent new cold wave punk of Brooklyn’s B Boys to some 80s-loving pop (complete with ‘baby baby’ talky break down, which is actually growing on me) by Nashville’s Wild Cub to some easy breezy classic rock by Southern California’s Parting Lines (the new project from Tim + Trevor formerly of Tall Tales and the Silver Linings; we interviewed Trevor shortly after the band broke up last year, for any interested).

But we’re starting things off with the welcome return of Stockholm’s Shout Out Louds, a band we’ve been following since we first stumbled across them at a now-defunct NYC club in 2003. We follow up with a great new single we’re loving from New York’s Salt Cathedral; some catchy, jazzy pop from Jack Steadman’s (Bombay Bicycle Club) new project, Mr Jukes; some more cold wave from London’s Kite Base, the new project from Savages’ Ayşe Hassan and fellow bassist Kendra Frost; some wonderful new vocal-forward electronic pop from Highland Park’s own Ella Vos (totally visit her SoundCloud page to download some of her singles, compliments of the artist); and a really nice cut off the new full-length by LA’s Gothic Tropic (AKA Cecilia Della Peruti). Another welcome return we’re excited about is that of London/Paris’ CYMBALS—they put out one of our favorite albums of 2014 that skirted the line between angular post-punk and (new) new wave beautifully, so we’re thrilled to hear the rest of their coming album, Light in Your Mind, next month. After their new single and the debut from Parting Lines, we’ve got an infectious track from LA-born, NJ-based ISADORA; some weirdly wonderful Norwegian pop from Blood Forest Family; and a truly awesome track from Los Angeles’ ANIMA! (so many all-caps). Then we end things up with a trippily rhythmic track from the UK’s Vasser and our favorite off of Joe Goddard‘s (Hot Chip) great new album, Electric Lines. Goddard’s beautifully designed site actually serves as a mixtape in and of itself and is well worth a visit/listen.

Enjoy, and happy America, everybody.

Next Tuesday, Los Angeles celebrates its second annual Climate Day LA—an event bringing together over 1,500 Angeleno leaders, advocates, and locals “to strategize, implement, and celebrate local solutions to climate change” and capping off with a fundraising gala DJed by everyone’s favorite Angeleno, Moby, and an evening concert with Neon Indian, Weyes Blood, and a DJ set by Eric Wareheim (you know—Big Bud from Master of None?). The event takes place at the beautiful Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles this year, and is presented by KCRW, Climate Resolve, ecoAmerica, FORM, and IHEARTCOMIX in support of the Path To Positive LA initiative for climate solutions.  We wanted to find out more about the inspiration for the event so we reached out to one of its organizers, Jonathan Parfrey of Climate Resolve (who, also founded CicLAvia).

Read on to find out more about the event; the daytime portion (starting at noon Tuesday) is free with RSVP; gala fund-raiser (5PM) is $150; and evening concert (7PM) is $35; proceeds benefit Path to Positive LA.

6.26.2017 UPDATE: From the event promoter—”Due to unforeseen circumstances, the evening concert portion of our event with Neon Indian, Weyes Blood, and Eric Wareheim has been cancelled. All concert ticket holders will be refunded.”

raven + crow: Alright, for the uninitiated, do ycivilind starting by telling us about Climate Day LA—where did the idea for this come from?

Jonathan Palfrey: Our changing climate is going to alter just about every aspect of modern life—it’s a big deal—and we need to get ready. Climate Day LA was created to invite new people to make a difference on this most important issue. Our group, Climate Resolve, is partnering with a DC-based organization, ecoAmerica—the nation’s experts in climate communications and strategy—and together we’re reaching out to new constituencies with fresh new ideas.

That’s great to hear. I know last year, with the inaugural Climate Day LA, it was much more of your standard conference; this year, it seems to be leaning more in the entertainment realm—was that a calculated change of course to attract more of the general public? …or are you all just big Moby fans?

You’re right. We’re obsessed with Moby.

Who isn’t?

We’re also fired-up about re-attaching activism with music. Every progressive movement has been grounded in song—from Civil Rights to the singing revolution of Estonia. We also need to reach folks in their 20s and 30s, and music is a great vehicle to reach them.

Was it a challenge to get all these people from seemingly disparate fields—policy, entertainment, the nonprofit world—sitting down at the same table and committed to this as an event?

Climate Resolve’s creative director, Jacob Cooper, is our connection to the music community. Through his career as a musician, Jacob intro’ed us to the creative team at IHEARTCOMIX. Our Outreach Director, Kristina von Hoffmann, was introduced to the team at the Ace through a friend, and shortly after meeting with them we decided to collaborate on this event. We wanted to organize a concert that would reach new people. When it comes to climate change, we need more people to dial-in, become aware of the threat and make climate change a priority, and then to dedicate themselves to be part of the solution.

What are you hoping the event will accomplish for Angelenos?

Climate Day LA is an event that will be rich with information and cool ideas. There will be specific actions people can take, right there and then from their seats. It’s why the conference is free—we want to encourage folks to learn what’s happening on climate change right here in LA, and change the course of history. Sales of tickets to the gala and concert will support local projects and programs.

Not to veer too much toward the negative, but, given the current political climate (pun intended), can I get your thoughts on the importance of this kind of dialogue in context of what’s going on in Washington?

You mean the decision by Trump to back out of the Paris agreement and to appoint climate deniers? Here’s the thing, as bad as it is in DC—and I won’t sugarcoat it, it’s awful—many others are stepping up. Cities are stepping-up right here in California.

Even though Mayor Garcetti and Governor Brown have been damn good on climate change, they can’t do it alone. We need more citizens exerting their small “d” democratic rights and demanding that we protect the planet. It starts in LA, in California, and then spreads across the nation.

Do you feel that it’s the role of the state and/or local entities to pick up the slack when it comes to fighting climate change then?

Climate Resolve’s number #1 principle is this: Although climate change is global, we experience climate change locally, in our neighborhoods. Even though the federal government is a mess, LA and California are stepping up. In fact, California now has a competitive advantage over other states. Renewable power is cheaper and it’s the future. And California is ahead of everybody else.

It is encouraging, in these largely (for many of us) discouraging times to see the positive reaction on the local level many are having. I wonder though—most of us are used to fighting this fight in the arenas of government, non-profit campaigns, lobbying, but do you see opportunities to turn the tide from unexpected populations, like the tech industry or activist investors, of instance?

Yes! Our offices are located at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. We share space with great innovators working on solar power, energy-efficient lighting, car-sharing and more at companies focused on the triple-bottom line: people, planet, profit. We need technology and policy and science to inform each other and keep pace—with both social good and economic benefit.

Oh, yeah—you’re actually rock-throwing distance from our studio; I had no idea.

So, I know you’re moderating a panel during the day—can you talk a little bit about what you hope to cover and who’ll be speaking as part of that?

Climate Day LA features two very cool panels.

The first highlights young emerging leaders. It’s moderated by KCRW’s Avishay Artsy and includes Aura Vasquez, LA’s brilliant new DWP commissioner, Araceli Campos, President of the LA County Women and Girls Initiative and Nourbese Flint of Black Women for Wellness. You may not know these names today…but they’re LA’s future.

Then I’m moderating a panel featuring established leaders like Tom Steyer of NextGen Climate, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, and the brilliant Rachelle Reyes Wenger of Dignity Health — all of whom have made substantial progress in climate activism.

What are you personally most excited about for Climate Day LA?

I want to meet new young people—fresh for battle to protect the planet.

Climate soldiers. Nice. I guess I’m wondering—specifically from someone as informed on the subject as you—if you’ve had much experience in convincing the many unconvinced that A) yes, climate is a real thing that’s going on, and B) here’s why it’s important that we work to change course; how do you approach the subject without totally turning off those who disagree with you?

Funny that you ask—at Climate Day LA there’s a mini-play, directed by Aaron Lyons of the LA Fringe Festival, that takes place at Thanksgiving where all hell breaks out when family members disagree over climate change. It’s fun and informative. Plus we’re offering a whole session on do’s and don’ts on climate communication.

That’s great, actually. Total aside, but thanks for founding CicLAvia—I feel like that’s one of the most popular regular events in Los Angeles.

Isn’t it great? CicLAvia taught me that the best kind of organizing isn’t a wagging finger, isn’t being a scold, but instead, organizing works best when you invite people into a better place, to have fun. Joy is the best motivator.

One hundred percent agree with you on that. Thanks again for taking the time to talk, Jonathan—see you Tuesday.

This year’s very first mixtape featured a track from Amsterdam artist Luwten, a song we stumbled across at random and immediately fell in love with. We recently reached out to the band to find out more about them and their music, taking some time for a quick interview with Luwten founder, song-writer, and front woman Tessa Doustra. Read on and listen to more below.

raven + crow: Alright, apologies, Tessa, but we know very little about the band—can you tell us about Luwten? Did it start off as a solo project or has it been a full band from the beginning?

Tessa Douwstra: No problem at all. Luwten started in my mind only but I always wanted to play this music with a band. There’re a couple of musicians I’ve been working with for years now and I don’t feel like I can do this without them.

I feel like many of the bands I love—especially electronic ones—are ones that are built out from solo endeavors. I think I’d read that you were in a couple bands previously—how does what you’re doing in Luwten differ from what you did in those bands?

I think that in my former bands the writing or arranging was more of a joint effort. For Luwten I did almost all of the writing and arranging myself. Also I wanted to start anew, without dealing with genres or music I made before.

Now, I did manage to figure out that “luwten” seems to translate from Dutch as “lied”—is that correct?

That’s not true actually. Where can I find that translating machine?!

WHAT‽ Damn you, Google Translate! You were so good to us in Japan! Or were you…? Alright then, what does “luwten” mean then?

Luwten is a Dutch word for “places without wind”. Similar to “under the lee” I think?

Oh, yeah, I like that much more than “lied”.

So, the first track we heard from you all was “Go Honey”, which, again, we really love. Can you talk a little bit about the inspiration for that song?

It was inspired by a friend of mine who was about to move abroad. I wrote the chorus on a little goodbye card when she left and later it turned into this song that’s also about a lot of other things. But this event planted the seed for the song, I guess.

I feel like that speaks to the bittersweet mood of the song. Both that song and “Indifference” pair your softer vocals with equally subtle-but-beautiful rhythms and instrumentation. Is most of that electronic-based or analog or both?

Both! I love both! I like the iciness and steadiness of electronics and the more human touch of analog instruments. I love guitars but I also like playing with the way it sounds so that it’s not even recognizable anymore.

Totally agree. I feel like strictly electronic music sounds somewhat…flat or one-dimensional or cold to me most times, especially when it’s lacking analog percussion. So what’s your song-writing process like? Are you the type that usually writes vocal + single instrument and then builds from there?

A lot of times the song-writing starts with a sentence or an idea. I think I start with lyrics more often than I start with music. After that I like to create a vibe by building a loop out of instruments and vocals and start singing over them. When I feel like the songs needs an extra bit, I make a new part for the song. Sometimes the writing of a song can also start with just guitar and vocals. It depends.

Cool. Word on the street is that you’ll be releasing a full album some time this spring—can you tell us anything more at this point? Track listings, when to expect it this spring, maybe how some of the other songs might differ from or expand on what we’ve heard to date?

Yes, that was the plan but it’s been quite difficult to decide what would be the best way to release it so we had to postpone it. It will be soon though! I think there’re going to be a lot of sounds on the album you’ve already heard with the first two songs we released, but some songs and sounds are a bit more electronic, some a bit more experimental, some a bit more traditional. But they all have the same cautiousness and consciousness over them, I think.

Can’t wait to hear more.

We really love that image of you that you’ve been using for PR, where you seem to be floating above an upside-down ceiling. Can you tell us how that was created and who did it? It’s really striking. Does it tie into the band/album name and translation at all?

Thanks! I love how it turned out. I worked together with two friends of mine Sonja van Hamel (graphic designer) and Eddo Hartmann (photographer). They have been doing stuff together for years and I love the things they come up with. It always looks a bit out of this world, in both the literal and figurative sense. The three of us worked on the idea for the photo together. We wanted it to be something you have to look at a couple of times in order to see what’s really going on. The floating creates a sense of stillness I really like. In that way it ties to the idea of the album: to take time to look at things from different sides and also to not be afraid to take time to work in the “luwten”.

Nice. What’s the music scene like in Amsterdam right now? I hear your noise + indie scenes are strong, but, other than Klangstof and (yeeeeears back) Bettie Serveert, I can’t say that I know many bands from your neck of the woods. Who are some artists you like?

Wow, good question! Bettie Serveert is still going strong by the way. And the band members live just around the corner here! There are a couple of bands and artists I really like. Pitou is someone I really look forward to releasing more music. Her voice, ideas, and vocal arrangements I really like. I’m also looking forward to Nana Adjoa and Sofie Winterson‘s new stuff. I can make you a list of songs by Dutch bands and artists you could listen to if you like!

Oh, man, I’d actually love that!

I’ve never visited Amsterdam but hear great things—what are some things you love about the city or places you love or things you’d recommend doing for anyone planning to visit?

I never really get attached to the place where I live. I think I like the idea of always being able to go somewhere else. But of course I love lots of things about this city. I love being able to go everywhere by bike, I love the museums we have here and the diversity of the city. But what I would recommend most is just to sit on a café’s terrace (like Festina Lente or L’Affiche), order a coffee and just look at people. It’s a great place to go to just look at people.

That sounds lovely.

Apologies for veering to politics and the state of the world, but I’m curious about the Dutch perspective of what’s been going on here over the past few months?

I think most of us were pretty shocked when Trump got elected as president. It didn’t feel like it was possible and still it did happen. I like that you brought it up. I think it’s good to talk about this and to keep each other posted on what’s going on and how to best deal with it. Even when there’s an ocean in between.

Are you all pretty left-leaning over there or do you have similar experiences to this whole conservative, fear-of-the-other trend that we seem to be experiencing here and in places like France, Germany…honestly way too many places lately?

We do have similar experiences over here. Last March the most right-winged party became the second largest party of our country. I’m afraid it’s everywhere but I’ve been trying to remind myself that the number of people looking for a connection is way bigger than the number of people trying to create this division.

Beautiful point and definitely something we all need to remember.

I know from speaking with other artists over the years that it can be tough to get to the states and make touring profitable, but, nonetheless, any plans to make the trek to the US?

We’d love to come to the US! No concrete plans yet but I’ll keep you posted!

Please do! And thanks again for taking the time to talk.

I think we’ve said as much in the past, but this really is one of our favorite mixes.

(Related side-note, if you’re interested in hearing our past monthly mixtapes, which we’ve been doing for a little over two years now, you can search ‘mixtape’ on this site or, for the more recent ones and ongoing, listen and explore via our Mixcloud page.)

But, with one foot out the door as we head for our first visit to Japan ٩(◕‿◕)۶ we give you our May 2017 mix.

We’re starting off with a really lovely song from Brooklyn newcomer Kate Kay Es (wait for the horns). Next we feature our favorite track off Future Island‘s new album and a driving new single from Portland, Oregon’s Grace Mitchell (one of a few post-Coachella finds) before hitting an Australian rock block with two new favorites of ours—Golden Vessel out of Brisbane + Vallis Alps out of Sydney (who happens to be playing Lightening in a Bottle up the coast at the end of the month and are fucking awesome). Next, a great, upbeat track from French producer Kidswaste; a hella catchy song from London duo Oh Wonder (another Coachella find); one of our favorite tracks from English singer-songwriter, Shura (ditto on the Coachella); a cool, quirkily beautiful new single by Sleep Party People (AKA, Copenhagen’s Brian Batz); a great introduction to the new album from California’s own Kacey Johansing (album out June 2); a catchy electronic number from Brooklyn duo Beacon; a great, vocal-centric new one from Salt Lake City/Chapel Hill’s Mideau, who we interviewed back in 2014; the welcome new single from LCD Soundsystem; and ending out with a beautiful, dreamy track from DC’s Humble Fire that melts into a haunting new song by New Zealand artist Aldous Harding. Throwing in the very cool video Humble Fire did for their track below our playlist too just because we like it so much.

Enjoy and また近いうちにお会いしましょう!

This new reality we’ve all been living since January 20th has resulted in many firsts. Regardless of political leanings, we’re all being pushed into new realms, it seems; some of us who’ve chronically felt unheard and under-represented by our government have someone who claims to hold their interests close to heart in power of our country’s highest seat; others feel causes we believe in strongly as core to our identity as Americans are now under threat. In that latter category, many groups and individuals have been moved to find creative ways to support these endangered causes—community fund-raising events, apparel with positive messaging that go to benefit non-profits, prints and posters that do the same.

Now the people that brought us indie record label Secretly Canadian and the team behind 30 Songs, 30 Days have brought us Our First 100 Days, a project that brought together 100 artists, releasing one rare, unreleased, or exclusive song each with the goal “to raise funds and awareness for organizations supporting causes that are under threat by the proposed policies of a Trump administration.”

As they say:

“For a minimum contribution of $30, supporters will be able to access all 100 songs in the project, including new music from Angel Olsen, How To Dress Well, Toro Y Moi, The Range and many more. All profits raised from Our First 100 Days will go directly to organizations working on the front lines of climate, women’s rights, immigration and fairness.”

And the artists involved aren’t skimping. From totally heretofore unheard of original tracks to covers to live recordings to rare b-sides, with 100 artists and groups involved, chances are someone you love is doing something awesome on here. And you can get it all at a cool 3o bucks, all while helping worthy causes.

You can view more information about the six specific organizations the project is supporting on their website and listen to the whole thing below. The stream starts with the compilation’s final track by default—Phosphorescent‘s version of “This Land is Your Land”—but you can start from the beginning with Angel Olsen‘s beautiful intro song once that’s played through.

Our First 100 Days by Our First 100 Days

We just posted our April mixtape over the weekend and it’s got some great new work on it, both from longtime favorites of ours and from newcomers.

Starting things off with the latter in the form of an excellent single from Brooklyn-Toronto duo ginla before moving on to a track from an interesting, crowd-funded album by Sheffield’s Diagrams (AKA Sam Genders), Dorothy (out May 12), a project on which Genders collaborated with 90-year-old Orca Island poet Dorothy Trogdon.

Next up, a great track from a band we haven’t heard from for a little while, San Francisco duo, Cathedrals; then we feature an experimentally bombastic track from Iceland’s JFDR (AKA Jófríður Ákadóttir), who just opened the LA Phil’s Reykjavik Festival on Friday; some slacker hip hop from Wicca Phase Springs Eternal; the triumphant return of Canadian super-group, Broken Social Scene; another very welcome return from yet another wonderful Canadian indie band that’s been on hiatus for years now, Land of Talk; new music from Danish indie-prog rockers, Mew; a new one from a favorite electronic artist of ours, Chad Valley; a new, seemingly pro-refugee track from Marnie, formerly of Ladytron (remember Ladytron‽); an excellent song from Seattle’s Perfume Genius (AKA Mike Hadreas); a track from Dublin’s Bonzai that effortlessly moves from quiet glitch to roof-raising chorus; a nice one from Perth’s Our Man in Berlin; some catchy as hell self-empowered rock by London trio Dream Wife; and ending out by following up on a band we first featured this time last year, Brooklyn six-piece Arthur Moon, who craft darkly beautiful, introspective art-pop.

Enjoy! And if you hear something you like, check the track list and please do buy songs/albums and supports these great artists’ work.

We’ve said as much on these pages before, but we’re lucky to have crossed paths and kept up with a lot of wonderful, creative people over the years. One such person is Ravi Krishnaswami, whom we first knew as the guitarist + song-writer in the excellent pop band, Charming. And yes, that is an illustration Katie posed for on the art for band’s final album in 2006.

Since Charming, Ravi’s gone on to work with many other artists and start his own company, COPILOT, which writes music for the media, video, and gaming worlds. He also started a kick-ass Morrissey/Smiths tribute band. After years of writing music for others, Ravi’s recently started writing and putting out his own music again under the moniker Hybird.

We took a few minutes to catch up with Ravi to talk over his new project, the nuts + bolts of re-starting a musical career, the boons of slowing life down, and the eye-opening experience of playing Barbie’s guitar. We’ve also got  video premier for Hybird’s new song, “Half Life.”

(Photo cred: Fernando Da Silva)

raven + crow: Alright, let’s talk Hybird—this is the first original work you’ve done since Charming, right?

Ravi Krishnaswami: Yes, that’s right! After Charming’s third album in 2006, we were all in different cities and called it quits. I was spending most of my energy writing music for ads, TV, and eventually games. I missed performing but filled that void by starting a Smiths tribute band called The Sons & Heirs. We’re pretty legit now—we’re playing the Bowery Ballroom on April 1st!.

Over that time I had some interesting experiences as a producer and engineer. I worked with The Magnetic Fields on songs for I and Pieces of April. I produced and played guitar on an album for my friend’s shoe-gazey band called Black Swan Green. I even worked on a couple of advertising projects with Sharon Jones. I wrote songs here and there for other projects, but I really hadn’t put much time into material that was purely my vision.

Man, to this day, I have Black Swan Green songs that remain mainstays on playlists—I loved that album.

But—not to make this about me—I feel like I’ve always had in mind that I’d do something musically again on my own, but that thought’s been there and remained on the fringes for years now, constantly getting knocked down on the priority list. For you, what sparked this project or pushed you from the theoretical into the actual?

Well first, I should say, dude, you should get back to it! We’re not getting younger!

Fair enough.

To answer your question, a few things dovetailed at the right time for me. I’d been teaching composition at Vermont College of Fine Arts for a few years and tried to give a lecture on songwriting. I felt it was unteachable, but putting together that talk got me thinking about what I loved about my favorite songs. I was left with this feeling like, I wonder if I could do that myself?

Around that time my wife was diagnosed with multiple myeloma—a blood cancer—and had a stem cell transplant. It was obviously a gut punch and an immediate perspective-shift. I slowed down and halted work trips for a while. I also cut out beer/wine with dinner on weeknights, mostly so I wouldn’t let the stress get that out of hand. Sounds silly, but all of a sudden I had alot of time at home and I was wide awake at night, for the first time in years. There were two albums that I’d recently come across that really hit me hard… Sufjan Steven’s Carrie & Lowell and Grimes’ Art Angels. They’re very different records, but both are hyper-creative DIY productions. All of that stuff swirling around, plus a general mid-life sense that I’d spent a chunk of my life writing for other people, got me messing around again. And I really went at it with no sense it was going anywhere, just as a sort of break from making music on a deadline. It felt like my high school, just holed up in my room running on instinct with a four track and a notebook.

How does someone who holds down a full-time gig and has a family make time for something like that?

I think when you get to this stage of your life, the key word is “make.” As in, I don’t really “have” the time to do this, but I’m making it a priority. I’m watching less TV. I’m spending less time at night mindlessly on the computer. You just get to an age where you realize you can’t put it off any longer. Luckily my family and my business partner recognize this is something I should be doing and give me some leeway! It’s happened in fits and starts, and I’ve just tried to keep momentum going without it feeling like another obligation.

Do you feel like living in smaller, slower community than, say, New York, helps with that?

Yeah, absolutely. I really love New Haven. I’ve been here five years now. It’s a creative place and it’s easy to get a handle on what’s happening here and easy to get to know people with similar tastes. When I lived there, I always felt NYC was overwhelming as a music scene. Each genre was its own world, and that bred a more competitive atmosphere. Plus, there’s a million other things to do every night. New Haven reminds me of Charlottesville in the 90’s.

I can’t say that New Haven really knows about Hybird yet, outside of my social circle, but I was lucky enough to become friends with Jonny Rodgers (Cindertalk), and his brother Steve, who were in a pretty well known band from the 90’s called Mighty Purple. Steve runs a great venue here called The Space. Jonny’s label Off Atlas is releasing my album, and I’ll be previewing it on local radio, WNHH, next week, with Brian Slattery, a friend and a real staple of the music scene, both as a musician and writer. So far I’ve felt welcomed and proud to talk up this underrated town.

That’s great to hear. And inspiring, honestly. But, I mean, even if you live in the middle of nowhere these days, you can still remain so plugged in and spread thin in a way with the way we’ve structured our virtual lives. I feel like that’s kind of what your song “Distracted” is speaking to, right?

Yeah, for sure. It’s great. It’s totally changed the business of music for media. I’ve been able to move to Vermont and now Connecticut while remaining in close contact with clients and collaborators.

“Distracted” is more about the downside of this technological immediacy, though. The pull of the smart phone, and the addictiveness of social media. Ten years ago, you just walked down the street and looked straight ahead. Now you pull your phone out one minute and feel connected to people. The next minute, you’ve posted something and gotten no feedback so you feel rejected. It’s like a constant battle to slow yourself down enough to think clearly and not just be driven day to night by the stream of information. The song seems even more relevant now that the Trump presidency has all our news notifications maxed out on a daily basis. I think when I was trying to lecture on songwriting I realized I really valued a song if it somehow found something new to say. Smart phone addiction doesn’t have centuries of songs written about it yet, but I think it’s something a lot of folks are dealing with every day.

Can you talk about how Hybird relates creatively to what you do with Copilot? Do you feel like those come from two different parts of your brain or creative force?

I feel like Hybird is a spiritual rebuttal to my work at Copilot. At Copilot, I’m often telling someone else’s story and deferring to someone else’s final opinion on what’s good. It felt really important to me all of a sudden to regain my own voice, to be able to trust my own gut again about when something was done or needed more work. Poor Jason (my partner at Copilot)… he’s the most diplomatic person you could ever get feedback from, but my first conversation about Hybird involved me telling him he’d have no input on any of this material.

It’s interesting though, because the actual name, Hybird, and to some extent the whole aesthetic framework, really started on a pro-bono project for World Wildlife Fund. I’d had scored a beautiful iPad app, and the developers encouraged me to turn the score into a full song and release it, given the interest. That song “Together” is really where I started to discover my sound as a solo artist. And when I put it out, I thought it was important to give myself an identity outside of the “jack of all trades” composer that I’ve been over the years.

Makes sense. Talk about “Half Life” if you don’t mind—what’s the song about?

Middle age, which is scary, but brings a whole lot of wisdom. Becoming a parent gives you a completely new perspective on your own parents and your childhood, and all the things like birth order, or how your parents communicated (or didn’t communicate) that turned you into what you are now. But the flip side is that you can get to this point in your life and have all the same insecurities and fears that you had as a kid. Writing and singing my own songs without a band, in secret, was where I started, in middle and high school. Before I even had a four track cassette studio, I was overdubbing on a double cassette boombox. Returning to this kind of writing, I felt like I was having a conversation with that kid, checking in, seeing what had changed and what had stayed the same. And it’s interesting because the lyrics came after the music, and were somewhat inspired by how I put that track together. My daughter Willa had gotten this toy Barbie guitar that played chords and riffs depending on which button you hit. I was sitting in her room one morning just playing a little sequence of chords and I was like… wait…that’s a song. So I went upstairs and recorded the chords, pitched them correctly (they were a little flat for some reason), chopped them up and resampled them. I eventually got Willa to add some children’s chorus at the very end. I just wanted the song to really feel like this conversation between adult and kid versions of me.

Does that theme or similar themes weave through your other new work—growing older, reflecting on self and family and these bigger life changes?

Yeah. I have a song called “Gemini,” which is the title of the record, and that’s also about being a parent, and about having two conflicting things going on, feeling sort of trapped inside this very responsible routine of raising your kid, while daydreaming about being a twenty-something criss-crossing the country in a van on tour. It’s the feeling of playing to 500 screaming people at the Bell House and then dropping your kid off at school the next morning, and feeling like you’re totally undercover as a rock star, if the other parents only knew! And there’s a song called “Portland” which is about the dream of moving to a new city so you can rewrite your story and move on from old narratives. It’s a really personal record at times, and a lot of it is about accepting certain things and rejecting certain things, but sort of arriving at a moment of clarity that allows for that kind of resolution to take place finally. The beauty of songs is that they don’t have to always work purely literally. They can work on an emotional level with just the scaffolding of storytelling, which is what happens on a number of these songs.

What did you want the video for “Half Life” to communicate, in addition to the song’s weight itself?

It’s funny. I’m learning about making videos as part of this project. I feel like it’s hard to get attention for your music without some video material these days. I’ve been playing with different DIY approaches. For the ‘Half Life’ video, since it’s very much about returning to the bedroom studio of high school, I wanted to somehow communicate what it feels like and looks like to be in the moment, recording every part on a new song, when you can kind of hear all the parts at once as you’re working. It seemed natural to include the Yamaha four-track to communicate that I’m still an insecure high school kid inside, writing these songs. I mean in reality, I record to Digital Performer now.

With a, like, Yamaha four-track filter, I assume. That’s awesome. Do you envision performing as Hybird live at any point or is that something you don’t really have an interest in? Or is it more a matter of not yet knowing what that’d look like?

I think I’ve got a several hurdles to performing. It’s a different time commitment than just recording, and I’m still active performing with The Sons & Heirs. I’ve found my voice in the studio, but can I find it on stage? And yeah, I haven’t really figured out what kind of ensemble, if any, would be most compelling. I’d want to do it right. I don’t want to be the whiney singer/songwriter guy that’s hopefully only got another song or two in his set. I recognize there’s a point at which I have to back up these songs with performances if I care about them, but I’m procrastinating. I did perform one song at Vermont College with a couple students adding guitars. That wasn’t a complete disaster, so maybe I’ll get it together.

Cool, man. As always, great to speak with you. And let’s hang out when you’re back on the west coast again.

I’m so grateful. We’ve known each other a long time and I’ve always been such a fan of your work here on the blog and you know I’ve loved your design work for years. I’m really honored to be here!

You’re too kind!

We’re releasing a special edition of our monthly mixtape today to coincide with South By Southwest, going on now in Austin, Texas.

Usually, our mixtapes are about discovery + exploration—for us as much as listeners. We comb through the music sent to our way through the various PR and management company lists we’ve ended up on over the years, track bands we like and regular tastemakers like Oh My Rockness, and, of course, being fans of indie music in Southern California, listen to a lot of KCRW (while making an effort not to parrot them), picking favorite new songs every month and presenting 15 of them in a mix. This month, we’re focusing on what bands we’d like see if we were in Austin this week—a musical wish list, if you will—featuring one track from the top twenty artists we’d recommend (an extra five to both reflect the vast array of wonderful bands playing and make up for the five lost when we do our year-end top ten albums).

With a few notable exceptions—we totally Chad Valley recommend to anyone down there that you check out out of the UK; we would have included him, but his new single won’t be out for a couple weeks, so we’ll be sure to add it to next month’s mix. And we feel terrible that we’ve missed him the past couple times he’s been in Los Angeles. And we would have included Middle Kids, but we just included them on last month’s mix; again, highly recommended—we did catch them when they were in town recently and they killed, as the kids say. And Phoebe-fucking-Bridgers—same deal, we just featured her recently, but really want to catch her live. Luckily, like many awesome musicians of late, she lives in LA.

Like the year-end mix, this one will lift our usual rule that don’t include a band more than once in a year’s time.

But who cares about any of that—let’s get to the music. We’re staring out with a track from one of our absolute favorite new artists, New York/Maryland’s Maggie Rogers. By all appearances, she can’t not write an amazing, jaw-dropping song and it’d be a shame to miss her live. Moving on, we’ve got a nice woozy track from Minneapolis’ Dem Yoot; our favorite track from The Japanese House‘s most recent EP; one from the excellent Deep Sea Diver out of Seattle; Chi-Town’s Noname; Nnamdi Ogbonnaya also out of Chicago; a beautiful song from Brighton’s Phoria (totally recommend that whole album); an emotion-packed song from NYC’s Vagabon; long-time favorite, The Lighthouse and the Whaler; the title track off the recent EP from Melbourne quintet Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever; the Bay Area’s Jay Som (AKA Melina Détente); our favorite off of the awesome new full-length from LA-based and NPR-loving Cherry Glazer; an excellent new find for us, Baltimore’s Outer Spaces; Cloud Castle Lake, who’s been on our radar for a while now and is making a welcome trek over from Dublin; a new one from Melbourne’s Woodes; Brooklyn’s Gabriel Garzón-Montano; a new one from London’s Little Simz, who we had one of 2015’s best albums; another new one for us, Austin’s own Migrant Kids; some clever indie rock from St. Paul’s hippo campus; and we’re ending things out with Lizzo, also out of the Twin Cities, whom everyone should see live—we did on the night of this year’s presidential inauguration, and was exactly the dance party of positivity we needed.

So, check out the mix and, if you’re in Austin reading this, check out these bands; you can run a Find command on this page if you’re on your computer (command + f on Macs) and search for the band you’re looking for on the long list of artists. And if you’re not in Austin, track a band you like on Facebook or the like and check them out when they come to your town.

Enjoy. And keep it weird, Austin.

Alright, we’re dating both ourselves and our guest here, but we’ve been fans of Matt Pond for a long time; since at least 2002 or so. These pages have pretty accurately reflected that, with an interview from way back in 2010 and various other related posts throughout his prolific and ever-evolving career. Late last fall, Matt Pond PA (his band name/stage name) released Winter Lives, what, by my count, is the band/Matt’s 11th studio full-length (not counting a tall stack of EPs + singles).

With Pond + co. currently winding down their west coast tour—with a living room show in Burbank tonight, a show at the Arts District’s Resident Friday, and closing things out with a sold-out show in San Diego—we thought we’d again catch up with Matt (above, left) to talk over what’s changed both on a personal level and a larger industry level in the past few years, what went into the new record, and, for good measure, whiskey. Give the album a listen below and read on.

raven + crow: Okay, I want this to mainly be about the excellent new record, but I have to start with this—What happened over the past year or so? We saw you earlier in 2015 at the Troubadour when you were touring for the 10 year anniversary of Several Arrows Later, then again at the Echo, and on that latter one you seemed really…down; talking about maybe never touring again, quitting music and opening a whiskey distillery…we were kind of worried about you, man. Was that all label/industry stuff? What was going on?

Matt Pond: Thanks for the kind words about the new album. I’m proud of that little, humble beast.

Doubts. I think there are always doubts. I think I’ve always thought it a little ridiculous, driving around the country, singing and scratching away at the guitar.

Still, I love it more than anything. And the doubt forces me to work more, to be self-critical in a way that helps me get closer to some kind of truth. (Right?)

As far as the music industry, it can no longer hurt me because I’m almost completely independent.

Yeah, we were honestly happy to hear that that’s what came at the end of everything, the independence. It suits you and the music. So were the anniversary tours something you all wanted to do or were those pushed on you by the label?

Those were my idea. Many people know us through singular albums. Since we have scores of albums, I wanted to give those people what they wanted, and Emblems and Several Arrows Later seemed to resonate with a lot of them. It was thrill to see that happening in real time.

They were a lot of fun. You also put out one record a few years back under your own name, no PA; what brought that on?

I’d moved to Florida with a broken leg. I thought I needed to present myself in a decidedly different way. Because now I was (am) partially made of titanium. That, and our label encouraged it. (Honestly, I didn’t think anyone would notice. Almost like a new set of trousers. Who cares what I’m wearing when I’m alone in the dark corner of a gritty bar?)

I mean, I pride myself on noticing such things as snappy new trousers, but I get the point. Do you think labels are being pushed themselves to have to essentially be super-shitty to their artists, just with the financial end of things being so much tighter and more difficult to traverse for all involved? Do you think that translates to so much more grabbing for the little money that is left on the table?

I think the problem with the industry is that everyone is out for themselves. From the artists, to the labels, to the management and beyond. There’s a P&L attached to all time, money, and effort. “Labor of Love” is an antiquated term for sentimentalists. In some ways, you have to be out for yourself. You have to be cutthroat in terms of planning, foresight. That doesn’t mean that there’s no room for empathy or understanding. (Still, never sign anything without a lawyer’s undivided attention. That is a massive mistake I’ll never make again.)

The thing about music is that nothing is going to happen unless the musician makes it happen. To contradict my previous point about cutthroatedness, if musicians were to take some kind of initiative, things might change. That would require Radiohead, Wilco, etc., to take some kind of egalitarian, focused stance.

I used to be much more competitive about the whole thing. But now I don’t care. I want people to succeed. Because the more people there are succeeding, the better it is for everyone. It’s hard to convince people that shared interests and goals makes sense. Maybe someday. Hopefully.

Yeah, I feel like with most any profession these days, globalization and the single-market effect wrought by the internet mean that most all of us have to chose to either be poor but in control or (if you can swing it) rich but gigantic and, yeah, totally cutthroat. So how, as an independent artist, do you make ends meet? …I’m looking for advice/inspiration here as much as anything else….

I’ve found ways. We used to get a lot of syncs, we stream albums and get the lion’s share (kitten’s share) of royalties. Being independent allows me to make all the money that’s there to be made. I’ve accepted having less in a more-is-everything society.

It’s kind of refreshing. I love what I do. I’m not killing time to make it til the next hilltop. I’m there. (With ripped jeans and failing engine. But it still feels good.)

Well, the jeans are still in, but sorry to hear about the engine. I know a guy, if you want.

We’re both roughly the same age, so we remember how the music scene used to be pre-internet/pre-now. And it’s hard not to think back to the 90s and be nostalgic for those times; easier maybe to just throw up your hands and say everything sucks now. But do you think the current landscape might make it easier too to get your music out there? I know it’s a lot of work, but it does seem like it’s easier to be totally independent but still have an audience, even thought that audience also has a lot more choice in what they consume.

People definitely don’t purchase music the way they used to. They don’t listen the way they used to. In a lot of ways, the internet gives us access to things we always needed a record label for—manufacturing, distribution, connection to our audience. But the channels are flooded right now. So all I can do is try my hardest and hope for the best.

I’ve never wanted to change or adjust for the sake of commercial viability. I want to do this and feel like I’ve made something that matters, that means something. Even if that means having a little less. (I would like some new trousers. I hope that doesn’t sound greedy.)

We’ll totally bring some to the show.

So with the new album, you put that out totally on your own—131, that’s you right?

Yes. The label is me. With a ton of help from some great friends. In this department, I am one lucky dude.

Sidenote: Where was the photo taken for the 131 site? You seem to be trapped in some beautiful pit.

That photo was from a cave in Iceland. It was nothing less than epic. The explosive visions from that country are endless. I can’t wait to go back.

Goddammit. I feel like every single person I know other than myself has gone to Iceland at this point. I need to get on that.

Are ya’ll putting out anyone else’s music or is it mostly just for MPPA?

As far as production? Chris (above, right) and I recorded a local gentleman named JK Vanderbilt. And our friend Caroline. Chris also mixed an album for gentleman named Mark Poro. We would definitely do more if there were more offers. We don’t have amazing gear or a great space. But we make what we have work. (That is the title of my memoir.)

I would release an album of something I love by someone else. It’s just a lot of work and I would want to put everything I have into it. Meaning, heart attack.

But We Make What We Have Work, The Matt Pond Story; I like it.

So, like I’d mentioned off-line, we really love the new album. It’s (aptly) very wintery, which we dig given our new Southern California locale and resulting nostalgia for snow. Was that sound intentional or did the Winter Lives theme just seem to tie up well thematically the kind of songs you were writing leading up to the record? …I feel like that was an unnecessarily complicated question, but I’m going to stick with it.

This is all intentional. Even some of the mistakes.

The point is to talk myself—and anyone who wishes to listen—through the winter. These times are tough on the mind. Especially “these times.” So in some ways, it makes more sense than ever. At least to me. (I think I matched your complication and raised you.)

Fold. Did you feel a need to re-present the band, post-label-strife though? I really liked The State of Gold, but this sounds like a little bit of a return to a sound that suits you well; like a musical coming home, almost.

I don’t think I would give any credit to any evil forces. I enjoy making a thread of albums. Tying everything together, but always adjusting the sound. That could be the mistake of my lifetime. Everyone seems to want rigid consistency. And I am not rigidly consistent. I’m more of a loose cannon? Or a curve ball? Or a bat out of hell? Regrettably, I gravitate toward unpredictability.

I mean, it’s not like you’re suddenly putting out house music or anything, but, again, point taken.

We always have to ask about album art—who did that for you?

Jenna Casey did the album art. She’s an incredibly talented person. Another member of the team who gives everything and is not a millionaire. I have ideas. Then she takes those ideas and makes them great. Although Winter Lives was 100% Jenna.

The next album cover is a photograph shot by an amazing old friend. I’m thrilled beyond belief.

Well, we like it. Can you talk about the tour?

We’re splitting living room shows with bigger venue shows. I’m trying to see if there’s a way of making this work on multiple levels, even simultaneously.

For me — I don’t want to fall into a comfort zone. I like every night to be a challenge. (In a good way. I don’t want the challenge to be some kind of cage match with a knife-wielding throng of haters. That never turns out well.)

I’m guessing that’s a reference to the aforementioned broken leg, but I’m going to let sleeping dogs lie.

I know you’d said a year or so back that you were interested in being on the road less and investing more in your relationships in the community; are you able to do that more these days?

I admire the the idea of community. In action, it doesn’t always seem possible. There’s a lot of fracturing and fraying these days. Socially, politically. I think staying vibrant through music and through other musicians is the best way for me to survive.

I’m also incredibly keen on quiet.

You’re in (or near) Saugerties, right? How is it there?

I’m near Saugerties. When spring finally comes, it will be perfect. Right now, the cold has worn out its welcome. When that blue hue of Catskills comes back into view, I’ll forget all about the merciless winter.

And does the new album mean that’s a hard pass on the whiskey distillery or can we still hope for Matt Pond PA whiskey some day?

The point of the whiskey was really just to make something with a group of motivated, talented people. To split profits and invigorate the community. Whiskey seemed like the perfect tonic. But other things would work—beer, brandy.

In my mind and in my life, collaboration has always yielded the best results. Unfortunately, trying to do everything at once seems nearly impossible.

Maybe in the next life.

We’ll take the music in the meantime; thank you for it and the time.