Between 1987 and 1991, the Pixies brought us some of the most iconic punk records of all time. Influencing bands like Nirvana, The Strokes and even Radiohead, their signature jangly riffs and thudding power chords work with frontman Black Francis’ vocals to cement an inimitable “Pixies” algorithm. They might have fluctuated stylistically throughout the years but with such identifiable characteristics they’ve always maintained a warm spot in our hearts. Their latest album Head Carrier nurtures the ears of old fans with familiar elements but also holds our hands and lures us into different places at the same time.
Listeners often become enamoured by a specific sonic formula and scrunch their nostrils at anything that sways from that style. Authenticity is a hard thing to maintain when you began as a group of college dropouts jamming in a warehouse and end up onstage as suit-clad 50-year-olds literally sweating money. Plus, no one really knows what the fuck “authenticity” even means anyway.
If you didn’t get your vitamin D this morning there is no need to stress because Head Carrier is literally beaming with sunshine. The walking bass line in Plaster Of Paris makes the song weirdly reminiscent of a less obnoxiously upbeat The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. There’s even a bit of Lou Reed coming through in the opening verse. Between its hilarious lyrics about people resembling praying mantis’ and reverberating surf riffs, it’s as if Black Francis is saying “be happy, life is great. Or whatever, I don’t care. I’m going to the beach.” The track is essentially a crystallised reflection of the entire album. They are taking risks but serving it to listeners on a plate of familiarity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0_E3QbubUE
The repeated line in the chorus from the title track “I’m going down the drain again” almost resembles a washed up ’70s rock band. There’s a similar feel from Tenement Song as well. It doesn’t blatantly resemble Neil Young, a notion that would be almost offensive to both parties, but seriously, if Neil had opted for electric guitars on Needle and The Damage Done it would sound like Tenement Song.
Right when your mind starts conjuring images of Joey Santiago leaning over his wheelchair to hand Black Francis a cup of Earl Grey, Um Chagga Lagga shatters your eardrums and you let out a sigh of relief. Hearing this song I was immediately transported into the future, right at the front of the crowd at a Pixies show amidst a sea of old dads and young punks, all chanting “Um Chagga Lagga at the side of the road!” in beer-slurred unity. This is my favourite track by far, it propels lightning bolts of energy in every direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCFPpnHFTts
Overall the album is balanced with the kind of finesse that could only be achieved by pure proto-punk genius. The Pixies have dipped their wrinkled little toes in a buttload of different genres on Head Carrier and have absolutely nailed it. You will with almost certainty overhear snippets of this blaring from a few 1992 Holden Barinas cruising to the coast.
And that’s how you know you’ve really made it.
Image: We Need Fun
In the late 80s and early 90s, bands like Gang Starr and The Roots brought us the revolutionary meetings of the minds that is jazz-infused hip-hop. Sometimes abbreviated into jazz rap or jazz hop, the style was born as a kind of homage to hip-hop’s evolutionary predecessors like jazz and blues. The purpose of the genre was in part an attempt to merge African-American tunes from the past with the prevalent style of the present, and partially because it just sounds really damn cool.
In total contradiction to the manic and unstructured stereotype that jazz holds, the musical side of jazz hop is mostly comprised of concise, repeated jazz loops over simple 808 beats. The style has since evolved and has had a massive influence on modern hip hop. Artists like Badbadnotgood and Flying Lotus, though unique in their own sound, have clearly been influenced by the likes of Jazzmatazz, for instance. Badbadnotgood in particular have flipped this around, taken rap out of the equation (most of the time), and amplified that uniquely hip-hop-infused-jazz sound, to create some of the most sprawling and wonderfully unique music in recent years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-qmZ_J7WGc
With some jazz enthusiasts harbouring an air of musical elitism, the fusion wasn’t initially met with total acceptance. It was common to hear passive-aggressive remarks that hinted at jazz rap being the vulgarisation of jazz music.
The late jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean stated, “When I was coming up it was mandatory to know something about music and play an instrument. In order to do this it required hours and years of dedicated study and practice. Today you can just rhyme and talk and have a talent for matching words and rhythms together you are pretty much on your way; it wasn’t quite that easy when I was coming along.”
Others like Nas have argued that hip-hop naturally evolved from jazz, and the genre is simply a humble homage to its roots. Genre purity aside, it is without doubt that jazz hop has had a huge impact on articulating important subjects. The genre has acted as a means of expression for a range of socio-political issues from communities that were previously silenced into repression. From blatant attacks on the status quo to embracing double bass from the 1930s, the genre makes huge statements both musically and lyrically.
Here’s three of our favourite jazzy hip-hop records.
De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
3 Feet High and Rising is often referred to as the album that cemented jazz hop as its own sub-genre. With timeless pieces like Me, Myself and I and The Magic Number it quickly became one of the few albums that gained huge commercial and critical success simultaneously.
It achieves the purpose it set out for – connecting previously unassociated genres in a massive way. In past interviews, the group spoke about how their eclectic taste in genre started at a young age. “At my school, which was a mixture of black and white kids, we would rap over Annie Lennox or Steve Miller. They weren’t the coolest, but our love for them was genuine.”
The album pays homage to a range of different genres in different ways. Even the title was named after Johnny Cash‘s 5 Feet High and Rising, and that same track is sampled in The Magic Number, with references to daisies and 60s counter culture. The catchy track is often blamed for De La being crowned the first hippie types in hip-hop, a subset championed today by artists like A$AP Rocky and Raury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daWObuUptrQ
In an interview with The Guardian, Posdnuos states, “It was playful, childlike and fun. We’d rap about ‘Mr Fish swimming in a bathroom sink’. We’d dip into psychedelia or jazz.”
Both musically and lyrically, the album is reminiscent of whimsical ’40s freestyle jazz artists like Louis Prima. “You asked my wife to wash your clothes, you rascal you!”
The album has an extremely accessible feel-good vibe and has helped different communities find common ground through music for decades.
The entire album cost $13,000 to make. The cheap production inspired people from all walks of life to get into music and jazz rap groups started sprouting up all over the US.To give some perspective, sample king Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy cost over $3 million.
De La Soul are one of the biggest household names in jazz rap and truly succeed at introducing rap to a broader range of audience.
A Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is without doubt a crucial album in the hip-hop canon. In 1990, Tribe followed De La’s suit in shattering entrenched rap boundaries by sampling an eclectic range of jazz, soul and funk from Lou Reed, Billy Brooks, Eugene McDaniels and more.
The reason for their huge success is likely due to their lyrical accessibility. Instead of taking blatant political sides like some of their contemporaries, Tribe focused on acknowledging their influences by rapping over underground samples. Even today, this album encourages listeners to shake the dust off those old records and gain a more thorough understanding of the history and roots of hip-hop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6oO-1iWc1c
Throughout Bonita Applebum there are samples from 50s jazz-bop group Cannonball Adderley Quintet. The group had an endless supply of sultry, smooth saxophone lines to sample, but opted for a four-second Soul Virgo sample, “sex, sex, sex”.
Moves like this – along with an entire song about losing a wallet in El Segundo – are what made Tribe’s legitimacy a topic of controversy. Woven between socially aware lyrics and wacky humour, it was a new kind of sound, and lyricism, that some weren’t ready to embrace. Rolling Stone stated, “the rappers of A Tribe Called Quest tend to mumble in understated monotones that feel self-satisfied, even bored.” That being said, it simultaneously had excellent critical appeal and eventually became a vital album for any head. The 25th anniversary addition was released last year with remixes by J. Cole, CeeLo Green and Pharrell Williams.
Although their lyrics do tend to perpetuate the less endearing qualities rap is notorious for, it’s important to acknowledge why they decided to choose the artists they sampled. Many preached the same progressive views as Gil Scott Heron and many other jazz rappers from the 80s and 90s.
Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side was sampled in Can I Kick It. When the original first came out in 1972, it was remarkably successful, despite the content being taboo at the time. It touches on characters Reed had met throughout his life, including a transsexual who found a haven in Andy Warhol’s studio. Such a topic was eccentric and controversial at the time, but the soothing bassline still managed to infiltrate radios all over the globe. Step by step, it contributed to a still-prevalent struggle of overcoming transphobia in most forms of media.
Can I Kick It also features samples from Spinning Wheel by Lonnie Smith. Smith is a 74 year old organ player, and a pioneer for alternative jazz stylings. Though he lacks mainstream appeal, between 2003 and 2014 The Jazz Journalist named him as Organ Keyboardist of the Year nine times. It is a prime example of rap groups resurrecting lesser known jazz artists and paying their respects.
Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
Even from its earliest days, hip-hop quickly grew to be synonymous with drug use, gang life, and sex. So, it was a bold move for Digable Planets to approach issues like abortion, feminism and drug addiction at all, let alone with the grace and realism that they did in Reachin’. In their brilliant song named Femme Fetal – a play on the archaic “femme fatale”, Butterfly describes a delicate situation between his two friends who were faced with an accidental pregnancy.
“You know Sid, that fly kid who I love? Our love was often a verb, and spontaneity has brought a third.”
The tone is a stark contrast to the misogynistic stereotypes surrounding rap. Making a statement about a concept as complex as abortion is difficult at the best of times. Butterfly’s ability to address the idiocy of pro-lifers in so few words is truly impressive, not to mention game-changing for the genre.
“Life doesn’t stop at birth. And for the child born to the unprepared, it might even get worse. The situation would surely change if they were to find themselves in it. Supporters of the H-Bomb and fire bombing clinics. What type of shit is that? Orwellian, in fact.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgCu9zCOIQ
This is in reference to Clarence Thomas and Souter who are members of the Supreme Court in the US. They both assisted in overturning Roe v. Wade – a landmark decision for the 14th amendment for women’s right to deciding on an abortion.
Digable Planets would rhyme “tactics” with “prophylactics” and reference George Orwell’s dystopia, in a sea of bitches and partying and gangstas. It helped to open up a whole new palette of concepts for future rappers to embrace.
Based on Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler’s description of the music on the Reachin‘, the decision to sample jazz seems less of an active choice than a convenience. He stated, “It was all about resources really… I just went and got the records that I had around me. And a lot of those were my dad’s shit which was lots of jazz.”
After hearing track 7 – Last Of The Spiddyocks – it’s clear that his association with jazz runs much deeper than implied in that interview. The track drops names and pays respects to a multitude of jazz musicians who lost their lives to drug use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm0CDbeuxhs
Butterfly is rapping over a bass line by Charles Mingus, when he mentions him. “I toss these major losses on the Mingus jazzy strum”. He also references Charlie “Bird” Parker who struggled with heroin addiction; “Felt like Bird Parker when I shot it in my veins.”
He even blames the US system for the loss of these pioneers, rapping “I’m pinnin’ Uncle Sam for the death of swingin’ quotes, for losin’ Bud Powell sliding over Dizzy’s notes.” This relates to the pianist Bud Powell playing keys over Dizzy Gillespie’s saxophone in the Jazz At Massey Hall live album. Both musicians have associations with heroin and the tone foreshadows the aggressive political nature of their next album Blowout Comb (1994).
Reachin‘ became extremely popular and because of its lyrical accessibility it is their biggest album to date. The single Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) was in the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the album took home a Grammy in 1994, and has since been listed as one of the greats, not just of jazz hop, but hip-hop as a whole.
Image: AllBlackMedia
Devendra Banhart‘s Ape In Pink Marble is the epitome of a Sunday afternoon. Devendra uses reverberating acoustics to amplify lyrics that perfectly encapsulate the apathetic lull of everyday life. Teamed with funky riffs and reggae breaks, this is the ultimate comedown album.
Middle Names:
When I first heard this track I was enamoured. The hypnotic plucked guitar combined with custard-like vocals make for an end-of-week vibe like no other. The vocals depict a kind of haunting intimacy that is simultaneously comforting and provocative. The lyrics melt into your veins with the kind of simplicity that is often made muddy through metaphor.
Instead, this is the simple and humble truth of everyday life. Romantic and platonic love becomes one and the same. It is the feeling of closely missed encounters. It encapsulates loss and hope with the kind of authenticity that is unique to Devendra Banhart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czOOpMBaM_4
Good Time Charlie:
This track plays on ’60s happy-go-lucky tunes. It’s almost like Mungo Jerry dropped acid and discovered cosmology. Teamed with wooden percussion and child-like breaths of innocence, Devendra employs atmospheric effects to create the feeling of disconnected attraction. It’s as relevant to a bar-dwelling bachelor as it is to a leather clad cougar. It perfectly encapsulates the mask we all adorn to seem attractive – regardless of coital success.
Every look begins with a disguise, I saw it in your eyes.
Jon Lends A Hand:
This track is the epitome of European charm. Exaggerated compliments are teamed with spanky-sultry guitar riffs to create the ultimate dedication to a lover in another league. It takes on Beatles-like simplicity to convey the exact feeling of walking into a room and seeing an outrageously good-looking person that you can only attempt to charm.
I know the whole world says to you, but I’m gonna say it too. There’s no one I ever knew, quite is beautiful as you.
Mara:
Mara uses delayed guitar and repeated phrases to create a consistent longing feel. Romantic nostalgia is swirled amongst reggae beats to put a playful spin on the harsh realities of lust.
I fell from one track to the next. I fell from one track to the next. I close my eyes, see the same things. Look away. I can always recognise it by the laughter that it makes. I can always recognise it by the laughter that it makes.
Fancy Man:
In total contrast to the last two tracks, Fancy Man is in a league of its own. With beats that pay homage to the likes of ’80s classics like Gary Numan, this is a playful take on love depicted by an entirely made up character. This is the aural depiction of the fruitless pursuit of older men. And it’s swirled deliciously around catwalk-like funk, making it appealing and relatable to any audience.
Fig In Leather:
Fig In Leather fits so well after Fancy Man it could almost be conjoined into a single track. This is the song that makes hesitant dancers break into a full Harlem Shake. It’s so funky it could make oak trees jiggle. The bass line walks all over Los Angeles.
Theme For A Taiwanese Woman In Lime Green:
This is the kind of Bossa Nova that is accessible to anyone. It tricks you into an elevator-like sense of security and then throws unsuspecting seduction right at you. It’s ideal for the end of the night. Everyone is thinking about going home. You all call for last cigarettes and then..
“Now don’t you worry, even though it’s time to go. While I know you’ve got to hurry. Do it slow. I wanna love you once more.. even though we’ve never loved before.”
Souvenirs:
The guitar on this track is ridiculously reminiscent of whirring cassette tapes from the ’80s. It’s a bit like Mac DeMarco had an affair with Lou Reed. It is heart-achingly beautiful and poetic without trying to be. Devendra also makes a ridiculous musical feat in managing to make reference to rainfall without seeming cliche.
Tuesday is rain, Tuesday is rain. They used to not dare, but now they love to go dancing…
..Because when love shows it’s face, the rest falls into place.
Mourners Dance:
Mourners Dance is again reminiscent of the dark-synth tones of Gary Numan. It hits the same nostalgic nerve in our hearts that we all felt from Stranger Things. Teamed with sitar-like riffs it pays homage to Devendra’s previous albums like Rejoicing In The Hands. It is ethereality at its rawest.
The early writing show, the sequence of the dance. The individual awakens and expands.
Saturday Night:
The reverberating drums couple with Devendra’s vocals to create a laid-back almost tribal vibe. In true Devendra style his depiction of a Saturday night is more celestial ambience than clubs and drinking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md0000uSgOs
Linda:
The delicious blues build-up precedes a sultry androgynous narrative about a lonely woman experiencing the kind of grief that is so intense that it becomes abstract. It’s a kind of homage to everyone who has ever lost someone with the confidence to say that it’s actually not okay. But with much-needed confidence in the hope that things will still go on.
Ape In Pink Marble is out today via Nonesuch
With his next album Ape In Pink Marble out tomorrow, his ninth and his first since 2013’s outstanding Mala, we had the privilege of an incredibly candid chat with legendary folk singer Devendra Banhart on the making of and inspiration behind his latest record.
Hi Devendra, awesome to hear from you!
Hey, awesome to hear from you. Thanks for talking to me.. I know it’s already probably past dinner so I appreciate that.
No, that’s fine, haha. No problem at all. First off I’d like to start by saying that really like the gentle, Sunday afternoon kind of feel of your upcoming album, Ape in Pink Marble.
Thank you!
It takes a special kind of person to be able to casually mention Walgreens and still reach into depths of human emotion.
*Laughs* That’s the nicest thing I think anyone has ever said to me. It really means a lot to me. I really appreciate that. And the record – it’s odd that we are playing these festival and until we do a proper tour because it isn’t that kind of record. We are still playing songs.. a couple of tunes on the record and one that really is not a festival song. It has actually been really fun to play non-festival songs at festivals but the point is: it is a – like you said – a Sunday evening or Sunday morning record. I’m glad that you feel the kind of gentleness from the record. Walgreens is an interesting place *laughs*.
Haha, your last couple of albums like Mala have had that same gentle, more intimate feel to them than your more eccentric earlier work. Can you talk us through the progression? Has it been very natural for you or was it more of a conscious move?
I think it’s a combination. I think the more conscious you become, you can kind of work at not walking in the same sort of traps or corners that you can perpetuate. If you’re not conscious, it’s kind of like going to visit your family and there is one scenario when you revert to being a real kid and you fight the whole time and then you come home and just curse your family. And then there is another scenario when you know that you’re going to revert but then you go and you still revert and then you come back home and then you go, “what the hell happened? How did I revert to that scenario?” It takes a lot of consciousness, a lot of discipline, and a lot of effort knowing that you’re going to revert. Not reverting, and then coming home. Not falling into that.
One is the unconscious, one is the knowing it might happen yet still falling into it, and the other is just not falling into it. I am somewhere in the middle. Because I still haven’t made a record that I am so totally happy with. And there still isn’t enough space on the records and it still isn’t even delicate and gentle enough. Each record I feel like I get a little bit closer but I definitely don’t think this one is the way I wish it was. I also know it may never well be.. but I do feel that there is some movement towards something closer to that. I would like to make a record that is in fact – when there is a delicate and gentle song – I want to take it to a place that is far more delicate and gentle than what I have managed to do so far. And then the dance songs – if there are gonna be any – to make them something than you can REALLY dance to. Everything is kind of in the middle of that you know?
Yeah, I’ve listened to the album a few times and you definitely feel the gentle Sunday afternoon vibes but there is also a really funky, 80s feeling from Fancy Man and Fig In Leather. Was there any particular influence that lead you in that direction?
I don’t know about musical influences – other than wanting to pick a genre of music that would suit the narrative as best as we figured it would. And since so many of these songs began with the concept of the song or the narrative for the lyrics, the next step is, “okay, what’s going to be the right genre?” For Fig In Leather, it was sung about an older person trying to seduce a younger person without dated technology. It seemed like Italian Disco was obvious and I think it’s in the character of that delusional person. On a fruitless pursuit *laughs*. Same for Fancy Man. They are just these characters. So we just pick the music that will fit that character best.
I’ve noticed there are a few references to rainfall – like in Middle Names and Souvenirs. In general do you find that nature and the weather can influence your song writing?
Well I was writing it in Los Angeles where it rains for three seconds every three hundred years so that maybe was more like, wishful thinking. you know? It’s such an exotic thing in L.A. that I forget that it’s the most banal, like, cliche literary device imaginable, you know what i mean? *laughs*. I just forgot. It’s been so long since it rained I thought, “you know what? I should write about rain! That’s interesting. That’s new” *laughs*.
Hahaha. I guess it’s the same when people come from London and they come to Australia and rave about how sunny it is and we just say “yep. We hate it”.
*Laughs* yeah.
The first track on your new album is called Middle Names. I read your own middle name is Obi – in reference to the Star Wars character. Can you elaborate more on the meaning behind the track name itself?
Yeah, absolutely. I called it Middle Names because our middle name is typically our kind of secret name. You don’t immediately share your middle name with people – it takes a moment. It’s a special little insider thing that you only share with people typically that you are intimate with. And I suppose it’s just hinting at the intimacy of that. For me, that song is as non-specific as it is because the imagery is very simple. It’s about, you know, seeing somebody on a bus stop while it’s raining and you’re driving the other way and you’d like to turn around but you’re already pulling in this one-way street direction. It’s very simple. All of the metaphors and the rain and everything. It’s so non-specific.
For me it was a song written for a friend that was alive when I first started writing it but he passed away about 10 months ago before I finished the song. His name was Asa Ferry. He was a musician who lived in Los Angeles. He was in a band called Kind Hearts and Coronets. He would go off on.. benders, I guess. And just disappear for weeks and sometimes months on end. He wouldn’t pick up his phone but I knew he was in the same city as I was. Then when he would go off on these benders. I would hope and wonder if I was going to see him walking down the street or something. One day it was raining. It was the one day it rained in L.A. and I thought I saw him at the bus stop. It wasn’t him, but that feeling.. There is no poetry in that song. It’s just.. it’s all totally literal. I remember I’d walk into the Walgreens. “Maybe I’ll see him there”. It was that feeling. “I wonder if I’m going to see my friend” and “will I recognise my friend?”. When he goes off on those benders and you know, it gets so dark and then you kind of just.. disappear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrNQ5Tz4Vng
Yeah. That’s the main feeling I am getting from this new album. It just captures real human emotion. It doesn’t hide around metaphors, it’s very simple and real. I think it makes it all the more powerful and relatable.
Well thanks. Thank you. The thing is. Yeah. Sorry. I don’t know what to say. Thank you.
You’re welcome. So how did you settle on the name Ape In Pink Marble?
It was between that and Fish Taco In Chrome, Fig In Leather – which we ended up using in a song – and Waygone Lava. I think Pink Marble was better than all of the other ones!
Haha, yeah you definitely made the right choice. You have made a lot of references to animals over the years.. Ape In Pink Marble, Wake Up Little Sparrow, Little Yellow Spider, Cripple Crow etc. I take it you’re a bit of an animal enthusiast?
Sure! Who isn’t? I definitely support every single institution and charity that is gunning for animal rights and I marvel at animals. I would definitely think of David Attenborough as one of my heroes. I think, it’s almost like I love David Attenborough so much that his enthusiasm for animals has carried over, you know? It’s not even that I found animals and then I found David Attenborough. It might just be that I love David Attenborough. And animals are secondary. I should be singing songs about David Attenborough.
Maybe a love song for David?
Oh man, good thinking! Shit. I’m going to write that down. Thanks, Sarah!
No problem at all. So between Ape In Pink Marble and Mala you gave music a bit of a break for a while and released two art books: I Left My Noodle On Ramen Street and Unburdened By Meaning. As an artist, what have you gained and learned from publishing a book that’s completely different to music?
Well, I guess that it wasn’t so different to music. I mean, there was a lot of collecting, collecting, collecting. In this case I had already amassed over 10 years of work so it was just a huge stack of work and then editing it down, editing it down, editing it down. I wanted to make some kind of gigantic book that was just a catalog of 10 years of work. Of course the publisher said, “are you kidding me? no way”. It was the same thing with music, I have had moments where the label is like “are you kidding me? You can’t do that.” So it’s this compromise. It’s working together. And it’s a million little victories and a billion little defeats and it’s a lot like making a record. I was really surprised.
Interesting! So as well as making books and art you’ve also been scoring music for an upcoming film called Joshy. Were you directly involved in that process, how did it work?
Well that was also totally different from anything I expected. That was way different than making my own record or making the book. Those two made a lot more sense but working on Joshy, first, I love the film. I love the actors in the film and I love the director. So I was already 100% game and excited. What was different about it was that I submitted all this music which was what I wanted to hear in that movie *laughs* But it’s not my movie. And Jeff – the director – came back and said well, this is cool and all but – he didn’t say it was his film – but he had a different vision and it was something that was referencing some of my older work, so it was interesting.
For me it was like taking a trip down memory lane and playing things that were more evocative or something that I would have played maybe when I lived back in Woodstock or something and that was the feeling he was going for. Those were the records he had been listening to. So for me it was a cool experience of getting to play in that older way and I feel like I would NEVER do that. Actually that’s not true. Maybe I would do that. The point is, I was like a gun for hire in the way that I was really wanting to please him. I needed to make music that was going to flow behind everything and not get in the way and not say “hey, look at me!” You know? But the rest of my life is all about “hey look at me” *laughs*
That’s the way! So in an interview back in 2013 you stated that you chose art as your religion. Do you still feel that way and does it relate to any religious beliefs upheld by your family or have much to do with your childhood?
Oh my God, I take that back. I choose no religion. That’s my religion *laughs*
Haha, alright. I’ll lock that in. So what do you have planned for the remainder of the year? Can we expect to see you in Australia sometime soon?
Yeah, absolutely! We are hoping to do a little tour of Australia sometime next year and play this record and meet up with some of our buddies up there. I actually love Australia. There’s a lot of record stores so we will be there soon!
Yeah totally, hopefully we can hear your love song for David?
Oh I will be working on it. Thanks to you. I’m not kidding, Sarah. You were there and you inspired it. And I owe you, and I thank you for that.
No problem! Any time. Well thank you so much for your time, Devendra, it’s been awesome to chat with you.
You too! Bye.
Ape In Pink Marble is out tomorrow via Nonesuch.
Image: Missoni
Aphex Twin has taken listeners through the entire spectrum of emotion since day one. From random, anxiety-riddled beeping to ambient, womb-like trance music, Richard D. James has done it all. Combined with his reclusive persona, you simply cannot Google him without a creeping wave of mystery staring back at you. There’s everything from an unexplained infatuation with military vehicles to remixing a Craig David song just to piss him off. The truths and myths of Richard’s enigmatic persona have remained mysteries for decades. Is it a ridiculously long-winded publicity stunt or he is just genuinely bonkers?
I remember one of my first experiences with Aphex Twin was listening to the song Rhubarb along with a fan-made video. I was about 16 years old, wielding a very weak joint, very warm beer and listening to ambient electronic for the first time ever. I felt like I had finally understood the genre hype and that this cool Richard dude must be the enlightened John Lennon equivalent of our generation – literally sweating out good vibes and humble positivity. No, I’m serious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AWIqXzvX-U
This track comes from Selected Ambient Works Volume II and was released in 1994. I’d since dabbled in other trip-hop and minimal electronic stuff, always nodding my head at that album if anyone asked how I got into the genre. I’d always hear the same response when I mentioned Aphex Twin. “He’s one of the most influential producers out there. So strange and otherworldly. Maybe terrifying – definitely creepy.” This always shocked me because I had an image of him burned in my mind as a Jesus-like figure, perpetually surrounded by Danish milk maids and adorning a crown of daffodils.
Then I saw the film clip for Come To Daddy. It was a lot like a mug of warm milk. Except the mug immediately shattered on the floor and the milk had expired last month. It was unnerving, hideous and came entirely as a surprise. It was also Chris Cunningham’s directorial debut and ended up being critically acclaimed as well as banned. It doesn’t even show anything particularly graphic, it was banned because it’s simply.. ugh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW-ZPTW4_IU
Why do I always decide to watch that video at 2am? Every damn time. It’s somehow since become a favorite to whip out at the end of a big night when everyone is too paralytic to communicate verbally. It’s also to blame for piquing my interest in Richard D. James’ personal life. Even seeing the thumbnail for the video made me want to know everything about the guy.
There’s a saying that goes “most people are better in the abstract”. Richard clearly heard this quote when he began making sounds at the ripe old age of 11 and decided to remain as frustratingly in the abstract as possible for the rest of his career.
Richard did an interview with Spain’s biggest newspaper in 2011. The poor reporter asked him how he felt about his relationship with the public. He replied, “I hate them.” In response to being asked what he looks for when composing ? “Nothing.” And how about the solid intrinsic indication that a song is complete? “When I’m sick of making it.” Straight from the Gregg Popovich playbook of abrasiveness.
In 1996 Aphex Twin released Girl/Boy EP – featuring a photo of his brother’s grave on the sleeve.
You’ll notice his brother shares his own name. In an interview he eerily explains that the photo choice was a kind of tribute to his brother who died at birth.
“It’s not like I have a big hang up about it or anything. I just think it’s tight because my mum was so upset about it when he died that she kept his name on but forgot about him, thinking “the next boy I have, that’ll be him.” So I sort of took his place as if he didn’t exist. That’s why I feel tight.”
Um… righto.
In another interview, Richard talks about his near-collaboration with Madonna. Along with Bjork, the Queen of Pop had asked to work with Aphex Twin. Richard was initially interested in the idea but turned her down after realising she wanted him to make a song for her album, not vice versa. Richard had already written a track with her in mind on his Rephlex album. Madonna’s interest watered down when Richard stated he “just wanted her to do stupid noises” and that “there wasn’t going to be any singing on the track. Just like grunts and moans and pig impersonations.”
His creative process is a direct reflection of his bizarre personality. In an interview with Groove he was asked to comment on the transition between software and hardware in his music production and stated:
“I’ve actually recently hired a Chinese programmer to make a music software for me. It’s taking the concept of mutation into music software. You give the program some sounds you made and then it gives you six variations of it and then you choose the one you like most and then it makes another six and it kind of keeps trying to choosing the variations by itself. It’s a bit like that, but more advanced, but basically it starts with a sound, analyzes it, then does different versions of variations. It randomizes, it compares all of them to the original and then it picks the best one. It sounds totally awesome, but it needs to be tweaked a little bit. I will continue with this. I have a whole book full of ideas for software and instruments.“
Although it’s hard to find any concrete truths when it comes to any part of this elusive man, it is clear that he has found a perfect medium to express his eccentric personality. With hints that he’s sitting on over a thousand unreleased tracks, we can comfortably expect more confusion in the future. Though demystifying Richard D. James is a near impossible task, he has been hugely influential on electronic music in the past few decades and is likely to keep changing the game in years to come.
He recently released his first video in 17 years and had it directed by a 12-year-old kid. Check it out here.
David Bowie‘s private art collection is set to be auctioned off to the public at Sotheby’s in London in November. Bowie made quite a mark in the art scenes of London, Berlin and New York but much of his artistic taste and collections have been kept private until now. This auction will be a fascinating peek into the Star Man’s secret life.
The collection boasts around 400 classic pieces from arguably the most important British artists of the 1900s. One of the pieces includes Sleep Sounds by Jack Butler Yeats. The painting was completed in 1955 and is valued at up to $210,000.
Image: Sotheby’s
Bowie bought this oil-on-canvas masterpiece in 1993 for £45,500, equating to about $79,000.
David’s tastes weren’t exclusively limited to 20th century British artists though, he also took a keen interest in contemporary African art, designs by Ettore Sottsass and even self taught artists.
Another fantastic piece up for auction is Damien Hirst’s Beautiful, shattering, slashing, violent, pinky, hacking, sphincter painting. Birthed in 1995, the piece is a prime example of Hirst’s iconic Spin Collection.
Image: Sotheby’s
In an interview with NY Times Bowie stated, “He’s different. I think his work is extremely emotional, subjective, very tied up with his own personal fears – his fear of death is very strong – and I find his pieces moving and not at all flippant.” With an estimated value of £250,000–350,000, you’d like to hope so.
Hirst and Bowie were so creatively in line, they even collaborated on a piece called Beautiful, Hello, Space Boy Painting. Bowie explained the process in an interview. “We did some paintings together. We took a big round canvas, about 12-foot, and it’s on a machine that spins it around at about 20 miles an hour, and we stand on the top of step-ladders and throw paint at it.. It’s from a child’s game; you drop paint on and centrifugal force pushes the stuff out.”
Financially speaking, the most valuable painting of the collection would have to be Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Air Power from 1984.
Image: Sotheby’s
This piece is worth an estimated £2,500,000–3,500,000, equivalent to between $4.3 and $6 million.
It comes as no shock to find an extremely trendy and unconventional Italian Radiophonograph among the mix. Hipsters will rejoice in knowing that the estimated value of this ancient iPod is only £800–1,200. Of course, being a part of Bowie’s personal collection is guaranteed to make the actual sale price skyrocket.
Image: Sotheby’s
Romuald Hazoumè is an integral part of the Contemporary African movement. His piece entitled Alexandra was the one that really caught Bowie’s eye. Hazoumè links art history with the history of colonialism in Africa by collecting everyday objects and arranging them in a way that expresses this connection. Alexandra is estimated to be worth between £5,000–7,000.
Image: Sotheby’s
Before the auction, the collection will be featured at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London at the beginning of November. For more information visit Sotheby’s website.
Image: PopMatters
GoldLink has teamed up with Ciscero to create a funk-filled track called Fall In Love, a gorgeous new tune dripping with good vibes, via walking bass lines and gentle vocals. With collaborative production efforts from BADBADNOTGOOD and Kaytranada, Fall In Love‘s merit comes as no surprise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQmltBqeoZw
There is a noticeably increased level of finesse in GoldLinks flow and style since his last two albums. His delicate vocals swim smoothly above the complex instrumentals and are refined enough to melt into the track and play the part of another instrument.
Staying to true BBNG’s form, the track hints at 1940s jazz with a groovy upgrade. Bands like Digable Planets and A Tribe Called Quest have been fusing jazz with hip-hop for decades, and GoldLink is among those carrying the flame today. Yet instead of employing looped samples, Kaytranada and Badbadnotgood’s production has created something truly unique and polished as heck.
https://twitter.com/KAYTRANADA/status/769227176055017472
GoldLink last visited Australia for Laneway Festival 2016, and will be back across New Years, having been announced to perform at Perth’s Origin NYE and Beyond The Valley. Meanwhile, Kaytranada will be touring Australia in late October, and Badbadnotgood will be in town in December. It’s a shame they won’t all be here at the same time to link up, but we can no doubt look forward to great performances from all three.
Image: Michelle Grace Hunder for Howl & Echoes – full gallery here.
Kickass punk icons The Saints are coming to Melbourne in October! The roof-raising four-piece are playing 3 back-to-back shows at the Gasometer on the 5th, 6th and 7th.
There is literally no excuse that would validate missing the opportunity to see a band that Nick Cave himself described as “god-like… just always so much better than everybody else. It was extraordinary to go and see a band that was so anarchic and violent.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LA2DbwXJoo
The band has shifted many members over the years – rotating through 37 different members to be exact. The Melbourne line up will consist of Chris Bailey, Iain Shedden, Pat Bourke and Davey Lane.
The Brisbane rockers were the first ever band to release a punk album outside of the US. They even employed the buzz-saw guitars that coined the genre before The Sex Pistols.
Any member of the punk scene needs to witness these pioneers in the flesh.
Don’t be left disappointed, tickets go on sale on Monday 29th August and can be found at Frontier Touring.
Image: Radio Eldorado
Prince‘s Minneapolis Paisley Park estate, where he lived and recorded until his death, is set to open for public tours as of October 6th. Bremer Bank currently holds title as the special administrator for the grounds, which has been inundated by visitors, tributes and more since his passing in April. According to his family and estate holders, this would have been a dream come true for Prince, who always wanted to the leather-clad legend.
The park is 65,000 square feet and boasts performance spaces, TWO recording studios, living accommodation, office spaces and even a dance rehearsal room. If that wasn’t enough to make your heart palpitate, Paisley Park also stores his personal archives – motorcycles, clothes, awards and instruments. That said, it’s unclear exactly how much of this will be open to the public.
There’s no questioning that Prince had a taste for everything eccentric. The opening of Paisley Park is an amazing opportunity for the public to get a chance to better understand his incredible mind and life.
Image: Bloggaz With Attitude
The park was built in 1983 when the artist specifically asked esteemed architect Bret Thoeny to turn his visions into a tangible reality. It has been a private space since being built, but Prince’s family claims that opening it to the public would, “realise Prince’s long-term vision for the property.”
“The new Paisley Park museum will offer fans a unique experience, an exhibition like no other, as Prince would have wanted it,” as stated by his siblings. “Most important, the museum will display Prince’s genius, honor his legacy, and carry forward his strong sense of family and community.”
Tickets can be found here. Pricing and more details are to be advised tomorrow, Friday August 26th.
Image: Modern Vinyl
For some of us, putting on pants and becoming vertical before midday is a feat worthy of praise. But for a few ambitious actors even a hugely successful career isn’t enough to satiate their creative needs. Some have even decided to infiltrate the music scene and make quite a mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8
We’re all familiar with the earth-shaking lyrical profundity of Miley Cyrus‘s Wrecking Ball in 2013. With almost 850 million YouTube views alone, Miley is arguably the most successful actor-turned-musician of them all. You can say whatever you want about it but with that kind of attention you have to admit it’s at least catchy. Most have us have also been witness to the ethereal whispers that melt out of Zooey Deschanel‘s mouth in She & Him and who could forget Jared Leto and Thirty Seconds To Mars.
Image: Tumblr
We’ve also been subjected to some rather unpleasant experiences. Sometimes the actor-turned-musician idea doesn’t work one bit to the point of unintentional comedy. For every Deschanel there’s a David Hasselhoff or an inexplicable RnB album from Bruce Willis.
Yippi-ki-delet this, motherfucker.
And who could forget 2004, when a wild Lindsay Lohan appeared on Video Hits and shit got all too real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODTRrT-ONxA
That being said, there are a few gems who have slipped through the cracks and they really need to start getting the attention they deserve.
5. Ed Westwick
You heard right, as if the Chuck Bass didn’t have enough sex-appeal from his Gossip Girl stint, the little bastard is also the lead singer of a Brit-Punk band. It’s actually quite surprising he took to the screen before the stage as he began music lessons at the under-ripe age of 6. With self-deprecating love songs spat through a British accent over textbook pop-punk chords, The Filthy Youth are basically The Kooks after a cocaine binge. Every teen girl’s dream and every parent’s nightmare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p14iJTjKfO4
4. Shannyn Sossamon
If you knew her from her IMDB page alone, Shannyn Sossamon is probably familiar from her turn in the Heath Ledger dad-rock meets Middle Ages epic A Knight’s Tale as well as alongside Josh Hartnett in the regrettable 40 Days And 40 Nights. Dig a little deeper and you’ll learn that from 2004, Shannyn Sossamon manned the drums for atmospheric rock band Warpaint. She even found the time to direct a few of the bands music videos. Typical. Unfortunately she had to be replaced in 2007 because the sheer force of the outrageously good-looking and talented women was too much for anyone to deal with. Sossamon has since started a new project with her sister Jenny Lee Lindberg (bassist and vocalist of Warpaint) and friend Jennifer Furches. In an interview, Sossamon claimed the band Sissy was “the laziest band on Earth”. Uh..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jY3l0JAzFo
3. Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman or “that endearing little dude from Rushmore” began a music project called Coconut Records in 2006. By 2007 he had released his debut album Nighttiming. Of course a quirky indie album wouldn’t be complete without a cameo from the aforementioned Zooey Deschanel, but it also boasts the downright adorable pseudo-scatting of Kirsten Dunst because just go with it. In 2009 Schwartzman released his second album – Davy – and proved that anything he touches is guaranteed to dilate pupils.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUfH5pI_K5Y
2. Hugh Laurie
Well if this isn’t the cutest damned band on the planet! Watch Hugh Laurie, aka House (and a sadly overlooked swathe of roles in cult British classics like Blackadder and A Bit Of Fry And Laurie with comedic partner Stephen Fry), get his mates together to grace our ears with bluesy swinger tracks nodding at the likes of Louis Prima. What they lack in hair, they certainly make up for with soul. Laurie has released three albums since 1993 and claims that whilst he can’t recall the song, his musical interest was first piqued when he heard a “magical blue note” on the radio. Laurie also does a ripper cover of the 1923 blues song Stagger Lee (no – not the Nick Cave one, unfortunately).
Pour us a whiskey and light up a cigar already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0rA3Dmu9B4
1. Ryan Gosling
Honestly, being a man must have been so easy until Ryan Gosling came and set the standard 15 kilometres above the heads of everyone else on the planet. Not content with just acting his way into everyone’s fantasies in films like Lars And The Real Girl, Crazy Stupid Love and of course that movie about a notebook of sorts, this angel-faced multitalent has also recorded an album with band Dead Man’s Bones and despite commonplace rule “never work with animals or children”, he included a choir filled with adorable kids and – my sincere apologies – it fucking rules. It’s always a risk to let children behave like real people but it’s truly nothing short of beautiful. It’s inspiring, romantic and very spooky and probably stems from Gosling’s own humble beginnings as part of The Mickey Mouse Club.
Think Elvis Presley if he was a supernatural detective in the 1960s. You win again, Ryan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdL2iKcDONY
Image: Huffington Post
