When I was a kid in the 90s, our high school introduced us all to the semi-educational, oft-laughable television programming of then fledgling Channel 1. One such laughable segment was on the “new” musical trend of something called techno music and included the reporter (who may or may not have been Lisa Ling, if recall correctly) deconstructing the music, its performers, and events called “raves.”

Happily, much of electronic music has evolved past that phase, integrating with analog sounds and incorporating what draws many of us to other pop music, namely melodies, musical hooks, humanistic vocals, and far more depth in song-writing. One band that’s doing all of that superbly of late is Maryland-based trio Prinze George, who’ve just released their debut full-length and a short lister for our top albums of the year, Illiterate Synth Pop.

We took a few minutes to talk with the band’s singer Naomi Almquist (right) and producer/instrumentalist Kenny Grimm (middle) as they wind down their national tour and prep to play a sold-out show at Los Angeles’ storied Troubadour tonight.

raven + crow: Alright, let’s start at the beginning—who makes up the band?

Naomi Almquist: Prinze George is Kenny Grimm, Isabelle De Leon, and me.

I’m originally from Virginia and lived in DC for a while, so I get the name, but what made you want to name the band after PG County?

Naomi: Kenny and I grew up together in PG County. It’s where the project was conceived and it’s also where the three of us met.

Makes sense. You all have always had a sound that I thought showed depth and maturity beyond your years and I feel like that’s illustrated even more strongly on the new album. Was that a big step for you all in terms of evolution, both personally as a band and in terms of the music you were producing before Illiterate Synth Pop?

Naomi: Thank you. I have always felt older than my age, even if I don’t always act in a way that reflects that. My lyrical writing was definitely less cryptic on this record; I opened up about a lot of my own past/present experiences/relationships in a way that I never had before in previous releases. Sonically, we were trying to go for more of a live feel anyway, especially with the combination of acoustic/electronic drums for the first time. We were also really wanting to incorporate Isabelle’s drum ideas more. I guess what was happening sonically from an evolutionary standpoint was happening simultaneously with the lyrical writing, and I think that everyone involved in the making of this record was trying to honor the rawness/freshman nature of it too; which affected the music even further.

Where does the album title come from?

Naomi: The album title actually came from one of the earliest blog reviews for “Victor.” It was a smaller blog that had reposted the song with the tagline “Illiterate Synthpop”. We assumed it was a dig at the way we spell our name and we loved it. I knew immediately it would make a great first album name, and we didn’t come up with anything better after we made the thing, so there you go.

Nice. I feel like I hear a pretty wide range of influences in your music, from dance to electronic pop bands to more analogue ones—who are some bands or musicians who are doing things you really admire or are impressed by these days, whether you feel like they direction inform your sound or not?

Kenny Grimm: Naomi and I are extremely obsessed with The National. There is something about their sound both lyrically and musically that is so honest. I read an interview talking about how they hit a point where they stopped emulating bands that they wanted to sound like or be like and just embraced their own sound. I think it’s very difficult these days not to compare yourself to other artists and criticize the things that you do not bring to the table. As a producer especially you are constantly analyzing other people’s music. You spend your time wondering how they created that synth patch, or got that great vocal reverb. While making this first album we spent a lot of time perfecting the songs and the sound but at the end of the day really tried to go with our gut and just be honest with how we were feeling and tell our story the way we tell it. The National helped us to embrace that.

Man, yeah, we’ve long loved The National. I’m sure the guys would be pleased to hear they inspired you in that way. Ya’lll are just wrapping up a tour supporting Lewis Del Mar, right? How’s that been going?

Naomi: It’s been awesome! They are really great guys and we have been having a blast; it’s gone by super-fast. It’ll be weird not ending the night listening to their set, it’s good shit and they are really fun live. It’s been an awesome experience.

Are you all excited to get home or more forlorn to have the tour draw to a close…or both?

Naomi: Well, our bodies are pretty tired at this point, but our spirits are inspired. We are all sick right now from these crazy climate changes we’ve been dealing with every day for the past couple months. It will be nice to be home for Thanksgiving and sleep in our cozy beds…but we typically prefer to be on the road.

I’m sure. We first heard you all back in the summer of 2014, when MS MR included your song “This Time” on their regular Track Addict mixtape. Was that a big break for ya’ll and any idea where they heard you first?

Naomi: That was really awesome of them. They put us on early and got in touch with us to let us know about it and to keep encouraging us to continue making music. It was so sweet. I’m sure that they helped bring awareness to what we were doing early on, but they are also very plugged into the New York-electronic-music scene, so I think that Hype Machine/NYC were probably where they heard us first.

I think that track’s the only older one that makes an appearance on the new album—did you all just feel the desire to re-introduce it to the world in a way?

Naomi: Actually, “This Time” and “Make Me” are both older releases that we re-released on the album. They were included on the record because we and everyone on our team agreed that they were strong enough to make the cut. I actually don’t love “This Time”, but I was outvoted and understand that it is a good dance track. I’m glad it makes some people happy.

Definitely does me. What are some post-album-release, post-tour hopes/dreams/fears/desires/plans for world domination?

Naomi: I don’t feel the need to dominate, personally. I just want us to be writing/touring full time and keep making music that reflects who we are and what we have learned so far. I am really into movies and theater, so my dream is getting to hear our music be a part of the soundtrack to a movie I love, or featured in a kickass play.

I love that aspiration. Switching tracks, are ya’ll political at all? Worried/excited about next week’s election?

Naomi: If by political you mean do we read the news and do we vote…then the answer is fuck yes. We’re from PG County and politics is part of the environment we’ve grown up in; a lot of our best friends work in government and/or education. My dad worked for the government my whole life. This is my second election. I voted for Obama when I was 18 and was in Grant Park in Chicago the night he was elected. I voted for Hillary in the primaries and we are all voting for Hillary in the general election from the road tomorrow. Got the absentee ballots on lock. We are hopeful but aware of Trump’s appeal to certain voters, so of course were worried.

Likewise. Worried but hopeful. Well enjoy these last few shows and thank you so much for taking the time to talk.

Prinze George is playing the sold-out Troubadour tonight before moving on to Santa Ana + San Diego and then heading home. Catch ’em if you can and give their excellent Illiterate Synth Pop a listen.

Our monthly mixtape this October is an eclectic accumulation of new sounds that’s largely more restrained and introspective than usual; we blame autumn finally arriving in Los Angeles.

We’ve got a brand new track from favorite Mr Little Jeans (you can read our 2014 interview with her and/or check out our Mr Little Jeans-inspired new year’s/holiday card [we’re fans]); a catchy number from Brooklyn’s Acrylics; new new wave post-punk from Amsterdam’s Klangstof; upbeat indie pop from LA’s Ghost Lion; a beautifully subtle electronic track from Australia’s Woodes; a song from Louisiana weird-core artist froyo ma featuring Nick Hakim; power pop from Minnesota’s Hippo Campus; some good vibez from the new Lykke Li–Miike Snow–Peter Bjorn + John Swedish super-group Liv (described as Li as “the love child of ABBA and Fleetwood Mac”); a dance-y number from London’s Annabel Jones;  some shoe-gaze-y pop from Philly’s small circle; beautiful strangeness from Cuddle Magic; breezy, driving pop from Little Children—AKA, Stockholm-based producer Linus Lutti; real talk from Swet Shop Boys—Heems formerly of Das Racist + Riz MC, AKA the dude from HBO’s The Night Of (which you should totally watch if you haven’t already); and a soaring, broad-scope symphonic piece from Montreal’s Plants and Animals.

Enjoy!

Last year, we were turned onto + wrote up WOMAN PRODUCER—NYC duo The Blow‘s “exploration of women as creators of sonic worlds.”

Now, The Blow’s Khaela Maricich + Melissa Dyne have gone from URL to IRL with a series of WOMAN PRODUCER live events, the last of which is being held tonight at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. Previous events have combined conversation and performance with an impressive lineup of artists and tonight’s event serves as an appropriately star-studded wrap panel conversation on music production with Neko Case, Suzi Analogue, Zola Jesus, and Miho Hatori.

As they put it:
“The data on female performers who are the authors of their own sound is often skewed by imagery and information about these artists as characters as opposed to creators. This panel provides a platform for conversation about the process of creating the sonic spaces inside of which artists perform.”

Khaela + Melissa will be moderating the panel and, at the time of writing, tickets are still available online (they plan to have some general admission tickets available at the door as well).

The Blow premiered a new song last week too (below) and MTV just premiered an interview they did with Khaela + Melissa on the WOMAN PRODUCER project that you can also check out below.

We recently reached out to Khaela about the series and she’s assured us that there will be more events to come—in NYC and in other cities—so stay tuned.

Last week, we were driving around Los Angeles with a friend of ours in from New York when, suddenly, on the northbound 110, we all realized we were listening to a song about Donald Trump.

The song—being played on KCRW—was Death Cab for Cutie’s new track “Million Dollar Loan” and it kicked off the new project 30 Songs, 30 Days—”an independent website that will release one song per day from October 10 until Election Day” from “artists for a Trump-free America.” It’s the brainchild of Dave Eggers and McSweey’s + co., the creators of 90 Days, 90 Reasons, “which sought to motivate voters to give President Obama a second term.”

From the 30 Songs site:

SEAN HANNITY is mid-interview with presidential hopeful, DONALD J. TRUMP on FOX News.

SEAN HANNITY: Now Donald, have you heard the new song written about you by the indie rock band, Death Cab For Cutie?

DONALD TRUMP: I haven’t but I hear it’s terrible. Just a terrible, terrible song. Nobody I know has ever heard of these guys because they have no talent. Absolutely no talent. Small potatoes if you ask me. And that band name? What a bunch of losers. Bad!

SH: The singer sounds like a lady but he’s actually a 40 year old man!

DT: Well like I said I haven’t heard it but you know, it’s terrible. Everyone is saying this.

As of writing, 30 Songs is on song number nine and includes new originals from Aimee Mann, Jim James, Thao, Franz Ferdinand‘s “Demagogue” with an accompanying Shepard Fairey print, and—released yesterday—an EL VY song that’s paired with a Richard Walrus video game.

You can listen to a few of our favorites below and keep up with the full list and day-to-day new releases at 30 Songs’ site.

Current studio vibes courtesy of Lizzo’s new Coconut Oil EP, out now.

We included the stupendous Minneapolis-based hip hop queen Lizzo—AKA Melissa Jefferson—on our March mixtape this year, which, according to our self-imposed rules on these mixes, means we can’t include work by her for another year. But, as we put the finishing touches on this month’s mix, we feel we have to call her new EP out; it’s simply too good not to feature.

You can stream the whole thing below via her YouTube page and get it via all the other usual suspects via Lizzo’s site.

For the record, our full list of mixtape rules is as follows:
1. No artist repeat for one year;
2. No covers;
3. No remixes;
4. No instrumentals;
5. No shirts, no shoes, no service.

Photo: Jabari Jacobs

Maybe you’ve heard the new Dirty Projectors song on your local independent radio station or on your latest freewill through the endless black hole of the internet. It’s a bizarre, brooding, beautiful track that’s quickly becoming a favorite of ours in the studio and it’s got us excited to hear more new material from the band. But the track—titled “Keep Your Name”—takes on a whole new depth when you learn what it’s about: the break-up of Projectors frontman + primary song-writer David Longstreth and former band member Amber Coffman, now based here in Los Angeles.

We’re not going to make light of something as deeply affecting as the end of relationships or declare Team Longstreth/Team Coffman (though we applaud Coffman’s breaking of the sexual assault story on music publicist Heathcliff Berru earlier this year), but the song is good…and it pulls zero punches.

The video for “Keep Your Name” is co-directed by Longstreth and Kanye West’s creative director Elon Rutberg.

We first heard Canadian artist Lowell this summer when we caught the minimalist video for her excellent single “High Enough.” The song caught us right from the start, with low droning keys and stripped-down that blow up into a glitchy, thrumming, danceable track that quickly found a spot on one of our favorite mixtapes this year. When her media people reached out to us with an early stream of the rest of Lowell’s new Part 1: Paris YK EP (out now on Arts+ Crafts) and an offer for an interview, we jumped at the opportunity to find out more about the singer, musician, producer, and writer. Read on for a conversation on her songs, their inspiration, and politics in and out of music.

raven + crow: Alright, I don’t think I’m alone in not knowing a whole lot about you beyond what’s communicated in your music—tell us a little about yourself, if you don’t mind. You’re Canadian, right?

Lowell: I am a dual citizen, Canadian and American. I’m obsessed with making music, especially writing.

And you’re concise. I like it. I feel like so many of our favorite bands through the years have hailed from Canada though—Braids (my absolute favorite band), Purity Ring, Broken Social Scene, Owen Pallett, Arcade Fire, Stars…the list goes on. I’ve interviewed Icelandic artists and discussed a similar dynamic with their country and they ventured that all the cold weather and lack of light had something to do with the creative output—do you think something similar’s going on with all you talented Canadians?

Its possible! I know for a fact the best comes out of me when I’m out of sorts, and winter can certainly do that to you. The other greats all come from Sweden and the winters there are no picnic either. Canada also has a pretty supportive system for certain artists. I’m sure that has its pros and cons but with that list I’m guessing the pros somewhat out weigh the cons. Speaking cons, The Constantines belong on that list as well.

Right right! You even lived in the Yukon for a time though, right? That had to inspire some introspection. How has that landscape or Canada in general colored your work?

I didn’t really live there, my father lives there. My connection to there is through him, although I have of course visited. One year I even looked after Huskies up north in the summer. The great white North is a beautiful thing. I’m sure it has contributed to some of the sound of my music…somehow.

Not to fixate, but do you have any lesser-known Canadian bands we can look into?

Your list so far is great. You could look into Weaves, Andy Shauf, Tobias Jesso Jr. (one of my absolute faves) and I have a new project I’m super excited about called Les Nananas.

Nice—I have yet to hear Weaves, but like your other suggestions. And we’ll have to check out Les Nananas. Can you talk inspiration for album titles for us? Your first EP was named I Killed Sara V.—what’s that from?

I Killed Sara V. was both a personal and political statement. I had a story of my dodgy past working as a stripper for some time under a sudo name “Sara V.” The press thought that was exciting…I thought I’d just put it out there and let people react to it. The idea was that when I made the EP it was a form of me killing “stripper me” and reincarnating as Lowell the artist. The most important thing came in the album We Loved Her Dearly which was a revelation that I didn’t need to kill or reject the things I did in the past to be respected. It became an ode instead of a murder story. It showed remorse for the beauty who was killed by society…a sexually empowered and successful female who felt the need to be “dignified” and reject herself….

I love that, it’s a really nice evolution of self-awareness or image of self, I think. Bringing us up-to-date, you released the Part 1: Paris YK EP late last month on Arts & Crafts—can you break that one down for us?

Its probably going to be three parts. Each part will relate back to an important place of my nomadic upbringing. I chose The Yukon first. I’ve always been a bit of a dreamer and though sometimes its been a great thing for me, it has also caused me to suffer. There was a time when The Yukon was the land of opportunity… and this place Paris, Yukon could be looked at as, say, “Canada’s dead Hollywood.” With that in mind, I guess this EP was supposed to make you question your hopes and dreams. Something I need to do every now and then in order to stay happy.

How do the songs on this new EP differ from your previous work?

They are different I suppose. This EP in particular was more of a collab on the production side, so that made a huge difference.

I always liked the track “Cloud 69” from your first album a lot, but I do feel like the new work shows a certain musical growth and maturity…and we like it a lot, for what it’s worth. How did you get hooked up with Arts & Crafts?

They called, I answered. I have always had a love for that label.

Likewise. You’ve openly stated that work to address real issues and empower listeners with your music—why’s that important to you?

I think in order for people to move forward as a whole, artists have to start a movement.

Is there a song you can think of that was difficult to write for you in terms of subject matter? Or, if that’s no fun to talk about, maybe one that you just felt really impassioned about, like “I HAVE to write about this NOW”?

My song “LGBT” came to me after some hate crimes were committed in front of me in London. its not the deepest song on the surface but I was upset and that’s what came out.

Have you ever had any fans reach out to thank you for talking about these more difficult topics in your work?

I have, yes! I don’t think I’m unique in that way. Artists have the gift of being able to affect people in a special way, even if its nothing to do with the subject matter. It still makes me feel great when I get notes from people saying I’ve inspired them to look more into feminism or approach the way they make music themselves. Being open and honest as an artist is not always easy and there are times where it is down right terrifying, but I really believe it is something that needs to start happening in pop culture, so anytime I get a pat on my back it makes me feel like i’m doing the right thing. It makes it easier for me to stay true to my vision.

Glad to have your voice out there, honestly. Speaking of terrifying though, given how FUCKING FRIGHTENING the possible outcome of our election this fall…can we come live with you in Canada if things don’t pan out well for us?

I’m not sure. I have a spare room in my house you could probably settle into but you’ll eventually need a Visa. Luckily Canada believes that immigrants are actually very helpful for the economy and so the process wouldn’t be that gruesome. In fact, we’ve been doing our best to fly in and settle Syrian refugees whilst also putting together some integration programs to make the shift as easy as possible for new immigrants. We have settled up to 25,000 in the past year. I’m sure there is plenty of room for you as well…but you should stay there…if the unspeakable happens they will need you more than ever.

Good point. And cheers Canada for doing what we should—I heard that news story about the Syrian refuges earlier this year and it simultaneously made me inspired by your country and dismayed by ours. It’s been so turbulent and divided here the past years.

Lowell performing live in 2014.

ANYWAY though, I don’t know if you’ve read it, but in Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl—Carrie Brownstein’s excellent memoir—she writes about how annoying it was that Sleater-Kinney constantly got asked about how it felt to be ‘women in music’ and so eloquently stated “To this day, because I know no other way of being or feeling, I don’t know what it’s like to be a woman in a band — I have nothing else to compare it to. But I will say that I doubt in the history of rock journalism and writing any man has been asked, ‘Why are you in an all-male band?’” Is that a question you get a lot and do you have a similar feeling on the matter?

I find it weird that, as a writer/producer, I am part of the 3% of women that do what I do in music. So for me, I am not bothered by the question. It is fair to observe that there is a lack of women doing what men do in music. There is a great all girl band in Toronto called The Beaches and their merch is a t-shirt that just says “GRL BAND.” Yes, it is an anomaly. It is also silly. Women rule at music. That being said…it is probably annoying to be asked all the time about being a woman when being a woman should have nothing to do with what you do.

I recently heard someone putting forth what I think is now a pretty widely unaccepted concept—that we’re living in post-raciaal America because our country elected a Barack Obama. They then extended that concept to say that we’d live in a post-gender society if we elected Hilary Clinton. Can you give me your two cents on why that might not be?

We are living in a post-racial America, we do live in a post-gender society and this will worsen when Hilary is president. For me it has been difficult to see racism crawl out of the woodwork like it has over the last few years, however it is so important to remember how great this is for the future of society. Racism doesn’t just spontaneously generate. It was very much alive before Barack Obama and it only seems worse because it has become more visible. The backlash against Black Lives Matter… and the fact that “All Lives Matter” is a real actual thing that people say is upsetting, but its better for people to hear it than to not so we can stop denying race issues and start doing something about them.

Totally agree with you on the last bit—I’m hoping these are cultural growing pains, painful as they are. Back to the music, I haven’t seen any announced tour dates recently—think that’ll change in the near future?

Yeah! You’ll know very soon. I do have a tour coming up.

Any plans to come to Los Angeles?

I hope so!

I know it’s not about California, but can you tell about the inspiration for the song “West Coast Forever”?

Its all about being in a shit hole and yearning for more.

We’ve seen bands do it well and bands do it…not so well, but what are the challenges in your mind in translating a largely electronic studio track to something that’ll play well on stage, in front of an audience?

Its always though finding a balance between budget and and artistic vision. The more tracks you use, the cheaper it will be and the more money you will make (or more accurately, the less money you will lose). I have a lot of respect for real musicians, because I went to music school for a year and met so many legitimate musicians that have undeniable drive and talent. I like to see that kind of thing when I’m at a show; however, reality is, most of my fans are excited about seeing my personality and so I can kind of get away with using tracks and just performing to the max. My shows are not exactly about scales and noodling anyways, they are about having fun, partying, dancing etc. I’m ok with that. Of course I still play, and Matty D is a killer guitar player, but until I’m headlining with a real budget, a full band aint happening! To be honest there’s something charming about the way it is right now anyways. Its very intimate.

Can’t wait to see ourselves. Well thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

Listen to and purchase tracks from Lowell’s new EP via iTunes or your favorite service and stay tuned via Facebook to see when she’s playing near you.

We’re thrilled to bring you our September mixtape today, featuring a beautifully glitchy opener from Sydney new-comer BUOY; a brand new single from favorites Sylvan Esso (who are running the festival circuit of late, playing the newly created Music Tastes Good festival in Long Beach in a couple weeks; the lead single Irish folk singer James Vincent McMorrow‘s newest venture into electronic R+B; woozy trip-hop from Vienna’s Leyya; a bold new track from Melbourne-based, New Zealand-born Teeth & Tongue; a great new one from LA hometown heroes and fellow NPR-lovers Cherry Glazerr (who just signed to Secretly Canadian); a bizarrely cool new song from Brooklyn’s Chrome Sparks featuring Angelica Bess; another great song from another great musician from down under, Jack Grace; a really wonderful track from an artist I’m just hearing about, England’s The Japanese House (AKA 21 year old Amber Bain, who plays a sold-out show at the Echo in December); a new single from fellow Englishman (and vegan, I think), Declan McKenna, that’s even better than his previous break-out, “Brazil”; a track by another New Zealand musician, ives.; something from Liima—the collaboration between longtime favorites Efterklang (currently working on an opera) and percussionist Tatu Rönkkö; something from Tyné out of Cambridge; a soaring new single from Kishi Bashi (deeper write-up on him here); and finally, we close with a song from Brooklyn’s Hannah Epperson.

Yes, that was technically one huge run-on sentence.

Enjoy.

Last year, we stumbled across the sunny, California sounds of the band Tall Tales and the Silver Lining and immediately fell in love. With their hearts clearly rooted in folk-rock’s golden age but their heads in the here and now, their wistful-but-hopeful music painted the perfect backdrop to driving down the California coast in our new home state. We first wrote the band up briefly after discovering them as part of last March’s mixtape and then at year’s end when naming our favorite albums of 2016. So, needless to say, we were bummed to hear that the band was breaking up this spring, so soon after us first finding them.

We recently reached out to Tall Tales founder + frontman Trevor Beld Jimenez in hopes of finding out more about the band’s beginnings, influences, and ending and he kindly obliged.

One of Tall Tales’ more recent track “Burning Out” is below and you can scroll down to the end of the interview to see the official video from one of our favorite tracks from their full-length, “Something to Believe In.”

raven + crow: So, outta the gate, I’ve gotta ask about the name—Tall Tales and the Silver Lining. It’s such a unique name and one I’ve always been intrigued by in terms of the story behind it. How’d you come up with that? Where’s it from?

Trevor Beld Jimenez: Thanks, brother! Originally it was gonna be more of a solo endeavor, so I wanted a moniker cause I was too scared to use my name. Tall was a play on my height and Tales was a play on the songs. As the band started to develop live, and transitioned into more a real band feel with mainstays in the lineup, I thought it would be cool to have a back up band name, like the E Street Band or something of that nature. I’ve always liked the idea of silver linings.

Poetically logical. I like it. We sadly first heard about you all just last year, when the record label arm of Other Music—my favorite record store of all time (RIP)—signed you guys. How did a southern California band get connected with a New York City mainstay like that?

We came into contact with Josh from Other through Domino Publishing. He flew out to see us play in Los Angeles, and shortly after that we decided to put out a record together.

I know Other’s label is still around, but were you as sad as I was when you heard they were closing?

We played at the record store on an East Coast trip in 2015. Everybody there was super cool! Totally a bummer, but I know they’ve got great things ahead of them collectively and individually.

It’s pretty well-ducmented and definitely very talked about at this point, but how do you think the music scene—both in terms of record-buying and in terms of being in a band—has changed for better and worse in the past few years?

It’s changed in different ways, but in many ways has stayed the same.

When I first started playing music 17 years ago as a 16-year-old kid I can’t even remember how we booked shows. I feel like people would call you on the phone or maybe you would see them at a party and they would say “Hey do you want to play on this date?” Now it’s all done through email. Been that way for at least 10 years or so (I got internet for the first time in ’09). I’m a late bloomer, so I’m kinda just catching up in many ways.

Maybe it’s always been like this, but it also seems like pretty much anybody can start a band these days. All you need is a name and an account on all the social media platforms and you’re good to go. It’s easy to have a fling with music, but you can still spot the lifers out there. I don’t think that is necessarily a new concept, or a bad thing, it just seems to be the times right now.

It’s also pretty hard to sell records. I know that this is not new information. Definitely got to play live and tour to get those records out there!!

People can find it for free somewhere out there on the Internet. It’s a double edged sword for sure. As an artist you want people to hear your music and appreciate it, so sometimes you’re willing to not put a price on it. Music can heal and the world needs it right now, but it takes time, soul, energy and of course money to make. It’s always nice to feel like the feeling and effort between you and the audience is mutual.

All true. And likewise, having played and toured with a band pre-Internet/-email myself, it’s crazy to think back to how we did things back then and how shows across the country even happened.

How did Tall Tales start in the first place?

Tall Tales started in Ventura California around 2007. I played bass in this band for many years up there, and was writing songs as well for that band, but more behind the curtain. I wanted to step out a little bit more and felt like the time was right. I started the band as a kind of solo project with my wife Tania getting my back on the recordings and live sometimes, but mostly myself. Then it just became an official band. It was fun times.

We really loved your sound. Having recently moved here from New York purely for the good vibes and lack of terrible winters, I felt like you all really gave us a soundscape for the feeling of California, if that makes any sense. The band’s music really so expertly captured the expansiveness and sense of scale of California’s natural landscape—I feel like that was even reflected in some of the album artwork. Is that sound something you tried to actively cultivate or was it just natural in the music and the way you all presented the band’s work?

Thanks again! Appreciate that. I’d be lying if I said at certain stages during Tall Tales it was not a conscious effort to be part of our identity. I definitely grew up listening to a lot of the 70s “California sound” bands, and then as a young adult rediscovering it through bands like Beachwood Sparks and Little Wings. Those bands felt like home.

Oh, yeah, Brent seems to be really be keeping the Beachwood sound alive with his new project, GospelbeacH too.  Who were some other musical influences for you?

So many! Everyone from Burt Bacharach to Tom Petty to Joni Mitchell.

Man, really hear the Petty influence in a great way too. But now, sadly, Tall Tales is no more—can you talk about what brought about the end of the band?

Basically, my best explanation is bands break up. Over time, so many factors play into it that it’s even really hard to pinpoint one. Ultimately, we tried to end it on a high note and with love instead of dragging the horse through the mud. We wanted to set the horse free!!

We last caught you up at a show at El Rancho Inn in Ojai (pictured below), one of a string of shows you announced as your final before the band officially called it quits. It was such an amazing, beautiful setting for a show—did you all enjoy it?

Love that place!! Ojai is kind of like a third or fourth home to Tania and I. I used to teach music at a school up there and every day the drive from Ventura to Ojai was like driving through God’s country. Very beautiful!

Yeah, my partner Katie + I totally love it there too, so much. That show also introduced us to Elisa Randazzo, who we really enjoyed. Do you all go way back?

Tania and I met Elisa in Big Sur at the Hipnic Festival about 6 years ago. We watched her set and were blown away. Afterwards we went up and said hi and she was talking to Neal Casal (who ended up eventually moving to Ventura and we would play shows and music together soon after). We all became friends from that day on. She and her family are some of our dearest friends.

And your final show was up at Hickey Fest, right? How was that?

The Hickey Fest show was really cool. We played at sunset. The crowd was really mellow. People were still showing up to the festival, but it was apropos. We went out the way we came in: In the woods, at sunset, amongst friends and family singing along.

Sounds like a fitting way to end things. So what are your plans now that Tall Tales is no more? Are they musical? Non-musical? Both?

Some of the folks are starting new rad projects and out playing shows already. Some are playing with the other bands/people they were already playing with, or they have joined other bands around the Los Angeles area. Tania and I are being parents, working, and enjoying this life. Exciting times for all!

Well thanks again for making the time to talk. I hope to hear from you again some time soon, man.

Peace and love always.

We’ll keep an eye out for new musical projects from Jimenez + co.; in the meantime, we’d recommend checking out Tall Tales’ back catalog via Other Music, iTunes, your local record store, or whatever you use to stream music.

We’re happy to bring you the August 2016 edition of our monthly mixtape series and, with it, a significant change in form.

Up to this point, we’ve always made use of SoundCloud to post our mixes. We’re longtime users and fans of the online audio platform and, for some things, remain so to this day. It’s always been a great way for independent musicians to get their music out there in front of a huge audience in an easy manner and we’ve discovered countless bands with it. A little while back, SoundCloud started dropping ads in-between songs when streaming which, while annoying, I totally get. They remain a relatively small company, based in Germany with only about 200 employees from what I understand and those employees need to get paid.

Back at the end of March though, Soundcloud debuted their Soundcloud Pro service, a pay streaming service seemingly created in an effort to compete with Spotify, Apple Music, and the like. And, you know, continue to pay their employees. Part of that fee vs. free bifurcation meant that some songs—usually more popular ones—were only partially available to the free SoundCloud users as 30 second “previews,” many long after having been posted by the artists themselves, much to most artists’ surprise and with none of the profits for this pay service going to the artists. You can read various articles and reddit posts that go into more detail on the subject, but suffice to say that SoundCloud went from something that was great for everyone to…well, the opposite.

Again, we get it—it’s a business; businesses need to have employees; employees need to be paid; businesses need to make money so they can give some of that money to employees. But, with those changes that restricted access to songs for both us and all other listeners and the questionable-at-best relationship to artists,  who’ve not-so-arguably fueled the popularity of SoundCloud, we decided to step away from using the platform for our regular mixtapes. Plus, we’ve had a few minor but consistent gripes with this service not quite matching the needs of what we want to do (for one, if a song hasn’t been posted by an artist, we can’t share it and, for another, songs that are taken down after we post a mix obviously disappear from the mix forever, meaning many of our old 15-song playlists have far fewer than 15 songs these days).

So we’re giving something new a try this month—Mixcloud, a crowd-sourced streaming service used largely by podcasters, DJs, and Barack Obama. We first took note of the service when David Byrne sent a recent mix through using it. We figure, if it’s good enough for David Byrne, it’s good enough for us. We’re only testing the waters here, but we’re hoping this will really open things up for us, allowing us to post anything we have an audio file for (including any pre-release promos we’re given the go-ahead to share) and ideally giving the mixes a bit more longevity.

As a listener, your experience is going to differ depending on your country and their respective copyright laws. In the US, for instance, we can’t rewind because rewinding is somehow unfair, I guess, to artists? Point being, let us know what you think—if you like it, drop us a line; if you don’t like it, also drop us a line; if there’s something that you think would work even better for us—you guessed it—drop us a line.

In the meantime, enjoy this new batch of new sounds from France’s Faker featuring Rae Morris (a lovely track that we’ve wanted to bring you for months but remains unavailable in the US via SoundCloud); Brooklyn-by-way-of-Ecuador’s Maria Usbeck, who gives us the beautifully blissful song “Moai Y Yo”; the ESG-esque, radio-friendly project from Troop Beverly Hill’s own Jenny Lewis, Au Revoir Simone‘s Erika Forster, and the Like‘s Tennessee Thomas  Nice as Fuck; Blood Orange who gives us an addictive new track featuring Empress Of; new (to us) Brooklyn band Bella Mare; Flock of Dimes, the solo project from Wye Oak‘s Jenn Wasner, who gives us a poppy number reminiscent of Everything But the Girl at its height; Brooklyn’s Sidney Royel Selby III (AKA Desiigner) who totally loves Pokémon Go; Los Angeles harpist Risa Rubin; DC electro R+B trio SHAED; longtime favorite Icelandic artist Sin Fang (who interviewed a few years back), who returns with a bizarrely beautiful new track featuring Sigur Rós‘ Jónsi; Melbourne’s Kllo; Júníus Meyvant (another Icelandic import—you can tell by all the accents); a bedroom recording project from Brooklyn’s Oliver Kalb (AKA Bellows), who’s part of the creative collective The Epoch (which you can read more about in our November interview with Eskimeaux); Oxford’s newemo trio TTNG (FKA This Town Needs Guns), who gives us some of today’s most intricate, hyper-melodic guitar work; and ending with a tranquil track from Sweden’s modestly named The Amazing.

Enjoy.