Patrick Sisson - Writer, Journalist, Cultural Documentarian, Music Lover

Category: XLR8R

Music Review XLR8R July 2009 Link 7.5 Stephen Wilkinson’s latest Bibio disc blends together many of the disparate strands that now comprise Warp Records, so it’s fitting that he’d drop it on the label’s 20th anniversary. It’s even more impressive that his production sounds fresh despite fitting squarely within a style—dope beats, funky samples, warm […]

Interview XLR8R April 2009 Link “I consider any musician a cheerleader for community,” says 23-year-old Randolph Chabot, conducting a phone interview in between bites of a chicken sandwich at a diner in Lansing, Michigan. “Music inspires people to live life to the fullest. A perfect example was a recent show in Milwaukee—I quieted everyone and […]

Interview XLR8R March 2009 Link New York has no shortage of concept restaurants, culinary experts, and celebrity chefs. But how many of those Michelin-star chasers will invite you into their house and cook you a healthy vegetarian meal? DJ and musician Sal Principato, percussionist and vocalist of the famed No Wave group Liquid Liquid, extends […]

Feature XLR8R January 2009 Link It’s known as the Holocaust, but it’s greeted like the rapture. A sound engineer says it sounds “pretty similar to a jet taking off,” and it has the decibel readings to prove it (roughly 130). “The sound moved my face,” blogged Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox. “My balls retracted.” That sound is […]

Article XLR8R October 2008 Link Dylan Goldsmith, who single-handedly runs Portland’s Captured by Porches brewing operation, takes a very DIY approach by default. Every pint of the company’s beer is made in a makeshift, one-room brewery–part of the process involves a dishwasher–at Clinton Street Brewing, the brewpub that sells the bulk of Goldsmith’s beer. The […]

Feature XLR8R May 2008 Link It felt absolutely, resolutely endless. Gothic grey streaks and storm clouds splayed for miles across the Bristol, U.K. skyline, comprising the daily view from Portishead’s perch at the top of band member Adrian Utley’s stately, two century-old Georgian house. Camped out in the top two floors of studio space, the […]

Feature XLR8R April 2008 Link What, exactly, does it mean when you’re 26, it’s 2008, and you still harbor a schoolboy’s crush on Molly Ringwald? If you’re Anthony Gonzalez, the French producer behind M83, it means picking album-cover models is easy. “When we were at the modeling agency in New York, I saw this ginger […]

Story XLR8R February 2008 Link Radiohead’s self-issued, internet-first, pay-as-you-wish release of In Rainbows is perhaps the best-selling digital album ever, according to unofficial early sales figures. But the stunt’s revolutionary appeal was tarnished when it was revealed that the files were released at a sub-par bit rate. It would be interesting to hear what Dr. […]

Interview XLR8R February 2008 Link The name Beach House may conjure up bright visions of white surf and grainy sand, but the origins of the Baltimore duo’s designation are, fittingly, much more vague. “We were describing worlds that we felt described where we were at,” says singer/keyboardist Victoria Legrand of their choice of names. “And […]

Story XLR8R December 2007 Link It wasn’t long ago that global-warming “alarmist” Al Gore was mocked as “Owl” Gore or Ozone Man by his Republican opponents. It’s a sign of how much popular culture has embraced the environmental issue that Gore, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is basking in adoration that would make Bono […]