Feature Nothing Major April 19, 2013 Link Lost albums and self-made musicians are profiled in a sprawling new book on DIY recordings. As the ritual of hunting down limited-edition vinyl for Record Store Day begins, music fans can turn to a new book about private press recordings to see what limited really means. Enjoy The […]
Feature Wax Poetics Issue 48 Link Always honored to have a piece in Wax Poetics. My interview with Michael Rother is in the latest issue — buy it where they still sell printed materials now.
Feature EQ January 2011 Link Last October, Gang of Four guitarist and producer Andy Gill delivered a lecture on recording to students at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The influential post-punk guitarist wasn’t afraid to be self-effacing: He played one of his band’s lesser-known songs, an early ’90s cover of Bob Marley’s “Soul Rebel,” […]
Interview Nylon Guys December/January It’s early in the afternoon and Cullen Omori is sitting behind a small table at Intelligentsia, a coffee shop in Chicago’s Loop business district, sipping a cup of black coffee and occasionally brushing back his long, dark hair like Mitch Kramer from Dazed and Confused. His bandmates in Smith Westerns— his […]
Feature EQ Magazine December 2010 Link A bedrock element of Stereolab’s continental cool, Laetitia Sadier’s voice is unmistakable. Hearing its breadth of variation on The Trip, from the “grey disco” of her “Un Soir, Un Chien” cover to the languid “Natural Child,” reveals the depth and fluidity that can be uncovered in a new context. […]
Review Pitchfork December 3, 2010 Link 7.1 Reissue releases usually oversell the now-clichéd story of a misunderstood musical genius. Farad, Stones Throw’s retrospective of electronic music eccentric Bruce Haack, does peddle that tale to a certain degree, much like the 2004 documentary Haack: The King of Techno. But the real pleasure of the disc, covering […]
Review Pitchfork Dec. 2, 2010 Link 6.3 Right from the start of album opener “Days of Our Lives”, it’s clear Restless People aren’t glass-half-empty types. The song’s mantra about being real is effervescent, an instigation to dance amplified by a combination of airy synths, pseudo-rave bullhorns, and precocious rhythms. The clichéd, pure-positive-thinking lyrics aren’t as […]
Review Pitchfork Nov. 12, 2010 Link 6.7 Both pastoral and a bit generic, the name Electric Sunset could have been spit out of a random indie name generator. But while the sun-dappled synths, warm guitar tones, and smeared vocals of Nic Zwart’s latest project are familiar building blocks, the sum total of this self-titled debut […]
Interview EQ Magazine November 2010 Link Transforming from paper-thin whispers to an emotional tempest, Antony Hegarty’s vocals are revelatory. A centerpiece of Antony and the Johnsons’ intimate chamber pop, Hegarty’s dynamic voice offers a challenge to engineers who want to capture his acrobatic range without clipping parts of the performance. The vocal sessions for the […]
Review Pitchfork Oct. 6, 2010 Link 6.9 As a compilation and mix concept, Fuck Dance, Let’s Art sounds hazy before you even begin discussing the music. Theories crumble, according to the compilation’s own description, when trying explain the current wave of lo-fi, synth-heavy nostalgic bedroom production. And attempting a timely, authoritative statement about a decentralized, […]