The trailer in the lead photo above is a 1962 Shasta, originally built to provide housing for members of the US Armed Forces when the company was founded back in 1941. This one belongs to Gibson. She’s transformed it into a makeshift writing space. While the majority of the record was recorded in a proper studio with temp control and soundproofing, the Shasta personifies the independent, roughshod romance that lies at the core of her songs. The follow-up to 2009’s Beasts Of Seasons, La Grande is the first great album of 2012—sample a smidge by downloading the title track here—and with indie darling label Barsuk behind it, it’s sure to get spins in high profile areas. We caught up with her for a pre-holiday chat. Gibson will also be touring across the country in January and February, so make sure to scroll to the bottom for dates.

I can’t get over how excellent the mastering is on this record. There are so many little nuances—oboes or clarinets, small little radio static sounds, faint guitar licks—but the mastering really brings out everything in such a unique way. Can you tell me about that process, who did it for you, and how cognizant you were of protecting those smaller sounds?

Laura Gibson: I really love listening to records where tiny nuances pop out with repeated listens. It did take a lot of thought and a lot of work to weave the pieces together, and a lot of time listening to the mixes to make sure every piece had its own place. Looking back, I had a few months where I was really exploding outwards with ideas, and didn’t want to shut down any impulse. I wouldn’t have been able to make the record any other way, but it was a lot of work to sift through and wrangle that explosion in so that it made sense and connected as one statement. It felt like a giant puzzle I had to put together. I am always trying to balance the energy of spontaneous ideas and the rewards of careful planning. I usually feel like I’m blindly stumbling forward, making music.

I can hear traces of ’20s music and doo-wop amidst some of the more folkier elements. Am I accurate in picking out those influences? What is it about those eras and styles that resonate with you?

Laura Gibson: I hadn’t thought about doo-wop music, but I like that you found that connection. I do love the great jazz singers of the ’20s; how they used their voices as instruments (and) how they were able to convey so much emotion.

What’s your creative weapon of choice? Could be a guitar, a mic, a piece of gear or a notebook. Anything, really.

Laura Gibson: Well, it’s hard to choose one. I probably use a notebook as a creative tool more than anything else. I’m always jotting down words and phrases and questions, hoping they will trickle down into my songs.  On La Grande, I got really obsessed with a particular microphone called a Copperphone, made by a fellow down in Texas. It almost feels like having another instrument; sounding a bit like an old radio. You can do really neat things stacking harmonies on a Copperphone mic.

I had read in the press release that you had a more hands-on approach to the production of the new record. How do you think that changed the way the album turned out?

Laura Gibson: All that I was learning and writing during that time was about taking responsibility for myself, and owning my own choices, so the themes really tie into the process I chose. I needed to know what I was capable of (by) choosing directions on my own, though obviously with the help of lots of collaborators. I’ve always been really involved in the production of my records, but I needed to try out being the gatekeeper this time around. It feels really satisfying.

I’m a total gearhead, so I’m dying to know what type of equipment you put into the Shasta to make it a comprehensive recording space. Obviously you have to be temperature-sensitive and you’re dealing with a finite amount of space, so how did you maximize your gear?

Laura Gibson: Well, at this point I wouldn’t call it a comprehensive recording space. Mostly I’ve recorded demos in there, trying out songs. I would like to eventually use a Tascam 8-track in there, and the most basic laptop/converter/mic setup. It’s a great space, but I would never store gear in there, unless I got better locks and some sort of dehumidifying system. I’ve always thought there is magic in working within the limitations of a particular space. My house has a wonderful recording studio in it, where I recorded a lot of tracks on the record, so there is lots of good gear to borrow when trying stuff out in the trailer. My dream is to take it up into the wilderness, with the most simple set up, for a definite period of time, and work within those limitations.

I gotta say, I love your big Pendleton blanket on the cover of the album. I knew exactly what it was when I opened up the press release. I have one I keep in the trunk of my truck at all times, served me well all these years. But it’s funny, I only know a few people who have the Native American ones, but there’s a common thread between those few people that I can’t really put my finger on.

Laura Gibson: Awesome! They’re actually somewhat common in Oregon where Pendleton Woolen Mills is located, it seems a lot of families had them in the ’70s. That particular blanket sat on my family’s living room couch as far back as I can remember.

My mom and sisters are all moving up to Bend, Oregon at the end of this month and I had the chance to go up in May and see where they were gonna be. There’s this groovy stillness to that area. Like, people are active and there are cool, progressive businesses, but there’s also this profound sense of mysticism that I’ve only ever felt in the Southwest before. Do you feel that way? Do you think it infuses your music with any particular flavor?

Laura Gibson: The high desert in Oregon is really beautiful! People usually think of the rain of Western Oregon, but so much of the state is red dirt desert or dry rolling hills brushed by tumbleweeds. I have a friend that grew up in the far northeastern corner and she says she could never live somewhere where she can’t see for miles in all directions. Portland has a more closed in, intimate feel because there are trees surrounding everything. It’s nice to drive just a few hours over the mountains and be in a completely different environment.

Words by Rich Thomas (@TheLandfill). Photos by Parker Fitzgerald and Melanie Brown.

Laura Gibson 2012 US Tour Dates
1/23/12 – Free In-Store at Other Music (all ages) – New York, NY
1/25/12 – TT The Bears – Boston, MA
1/26/12 – Johnny Brendas -  Philadelphia, PA
1/27/12 – Iota – Alexandria, VA
1/28/12 – Attucks Theater – Norfolk, VA
1/30/12 – Mercury Lounge – NYC, NY *
2/03/12 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR **
2/04/12 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA ***
2/05/12 – Free In-Store at House Of Records (3pm) – Eugene, OR
2/06/12 – Bottom of The Hill – San Francisco, CA**
2/07/12 – Muddy Waters – Santa Barbara, CA **
2/08/12 – Echo – Los Angeles, CA **
2/09/12 – Pappy & Harriet’s – Joshua Tree, CA **
2/10/12 – Plush – Tucson, AZ **
2/13/12 – Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX **
2/14/12 – Dan’s Silverleaf – Denton, TX **
2/15/12 – Opolis – Norman, OK **
2/16/12 – Low Spirits – Albuquerque, NM **
2/17/12 – High Dive – Denver, CO **
2/18/12 – Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT **
2/19/12 – Neurolux – Boise, ID **
* with Alexa Wilding
** with Breathe Owl Breathe
*** with Grand Hallway and Devil Whale

We got Scott on the line to talk about the new album, his artwork, and how both halves paint a picture of who he is at the core. We’re also giving away one of his amazing t-shirts to one lucky ChinaShopper. All you have to do is Like us on Facebook and post your best sunset or sunrise camera phone photo to our Wall, or follow us on Twitter and TwitPic your shot. Just use the hashtag #tychosun so we know to look for you. We’ll be taking submissions until midnight PST on Monday, October 31.

Your show at the Echoplex was incredible. Last time I saw you play in L.A. was at the Ghostly International 10-Year party, and it was just you by yourself plus visuals.

Scott Hansen: Yeah, I built that band over the last year.

What was the reason behind that?

Scott Hansen: I never wanted the project to be identified with a single person or anything too specific. That was kinda the only way I knew how to do it—the laptop thing—but I never really enjoyed it that much. I just felt like it was something I had to do. I guess it took meeting the right people who I felt comfortable with. I started writing (the new record) with the bassist and the guitarist, and through that process just started realizing, “We really need to turn this into a show.” I knew that was something I wanted to do to take it to the next level. I just didn’t know what it entailed. Meeting those guys cemented the whole thing.

Was the majority of the record written collaboratively like that?

Scott Hansen: We never all sat together. There are a couple of songs where we really worked through it, but I’d say maybe 5% was done that way. I would finish songs—or at least get them to where I was pretty happy with them—and then we’d set up a time for Zac (Brown, bassist/guitarist) to come over. I’d be like, “I feel like I hear a guitar here.” I played a lot of the guitars on the album, but he’s a really skilled guitarist. I just use it as a writing tool. For “A Walk,” the first bass line that drops in after about 45 seconds, that was Matt (McCord), the drummer. By the end of it, everyone had a hand in something in there.

Does that account for the more uptempo sound?

Scott Hansen: Yeah. I think there was a certain insularly quality to my earlier work. I see a lot of the album with an energetic backbeat, but parts of it are deeply emotional to me, so I see it more as a juxtaposition. Then you take a song like “Dive” and yeah, that’s a summery, upbeat type of thing.

Full of that hopeful emotion. Like, “I’m really happy, but let me think about exactly why.”

Scott Hansen: I think you just described me. Yeah, there’s this big sense of hope, but at the end of the day, whatever you’re looking for, you don’t quite have it in your hands. I guess that’s what the music’s about. I know there’s this other thing behind the curtain. I can’t see it, but I hope it’s something good. Music, to me, isn’t really about expressing happiness. It’s about expressing a longing or a hopefulness. I mean, it’s not just sad sack music. (Laughs) I know it has an uplifting edge to it.

That’s why I love Robert Smith and Lyle Lovett. Songwriters who can do happy and sad equally well, which allows them to put a unique spin on their music.

Scott Hansen: I definitely think that music and art—at least in my experience—are fueled by some sort of longing or something missing. When I get really low…that’s actually why I didn’t talk to you the other day. I broke up with my girlfriend of four years so I’m working through that. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and I can’t do a God damn thing right now. Maybe I’m afraid of what will come out or something. I approach things when I’m feeling melancholy, but apparently I’ve never felt this before.

Whenever you’re effected emotionally, there’s a fine line between being able to create something and being just paralyzed by your mind. It’s weird.

Scott Hansen: Yup. It’s also a really intense time for shit I have to get done, so I’m trying to find my way out of that.

What’s your connection to water, the ocean and the coast? I mean, you’re not landlocked in San Francisco, but there feels like a much deeper connection there.

Scott Hansen: I’m from just outside Sacramento and it’s a really bucolic, rolling hills place with a lot of lakes and an amazing river that I spent my youth swimming in. There’s just something about the water. It’s the most literal and physical embodiment of that “other world” thing I was talking about earlier. When I stick my head underwater I feel like I’m visiting this other place for this brief moment. You can’t stay there forever, but that’s that metaphor for me.

I can’t recall an artist whose music and visual works are more in line with one another. A lot of artists can and have done both, but what I hear from Tycho is so in sync with your artwork as ISO50. Why is that synchronicity so important to you?

Scott Hansen: I think they fill in the blanks left by the other. I feel there are a lot of things I can’t express through design that I can definitely express through music and vice verse, but at the same time I think music is much more deep and complex than anything I could create in the 2D world. I think they tell the whole story when you put them together. What I really want to be doing is motion, and I feel like that’ll be when I ultimately express this thing I’ve been working towards my whole career.

Tycho – “Hours” by ChinaShopMag

Who influenced you from a design standpoint?

Scott Hansen: You know, I’ve never studied music or design in any formal way so I’m kinda ignorant to a lot of it. I didn’t even know who Brian Eno was until someone mentioned Music For Airports to me. Same goes for design. In design, it was more of a visual backdrop; things that I vaguely remember that shaped my early understanding of how things were supposed to look and feel. That visual language of the late ’70s and early ’80s through the prism of my parent’s taste. Their old records and eight-tracks, I used to dig through them, listen to them and just stare at the artwork. I guess that all really informed my style.

Do you start all your artwork in the computer or do you put pencil to paper most of the time?

Scott Hansen: I can think of maybe five times where I’ve started with a pure concept in my head and executed it in the real world, then brought it into the computer. But by and large it will be a photograph or something I saw and then I’ll start playing around with elements in Photoshop and then slowly add elements. Lately it’s become more of a photo collage type thing. I’ve really enjoyed working with multiple images and making them all feel like one. On the album cover (for Dive), there are like 20 or 30 different photos in there. But start to finish, we’re talking 98% in the box. The only time I really come out of the computer is if I need edges, lines or shapes that need to feel a little more organic. I’ll drip some ink on paper or draw lines with pencil and then blow them up so you get that imperfect edge, but that’s usually embellishment or finishing techniques.

Wait, 30 photos for the cover?

Scott Hansen: Yeah, man. That thing is like 800 layers. It’s insane how huge that image got. I only had a couple of weeks to do it, so I was throwing everything I had at it and it just kinda blew up out of control.

So for art, your approach is to pile on elements and then slowly strip away. Is that the same for music?

Scott Hansen: It’s opposite. Design is to throw everything at the canvas and peel away, but with music it’s starting with very raw and clean minimal ideas and then building and building. Not just layering for the sake of layering, but filling in the gaps.

Let’s go back to your first album, Past Is Prologue. Personal curiosity here, but I’ve always wondered where the vocal samples on “Dictaphone’s Lament” and “PBS” come from.

Scott Hansen: That’s my mom talking to me. She was a typist so she always had a Dictaphone around and she’d record me as a kid. Every year she’d record me once to be like, “This is what you sounded like when you were 7 or 8.” That whole album is like a eulogy for my youth and where I came from. That’s what “The Disconnect” is about; realizing that I had to leave my home, but wanting to give this monument to this time in my life.

Words by Rich Thomas (@TheLandfill). Photos by Dustin Downing (@MeTakeAPhoto).

Contest Rules:

Rule #1:
This competition is open to residents of the United States, ages 21 and older.
Rule #2:
You must provide a valid mailing address and phone number to receive the item.
Rule #3:
Although you can post as many photos as you like, number of photos posted will not necessarily effect your chances of winning.
Rule #4:
Your submissions must be posted by midnight PST on Monday, October 31st.
Rule #5:
You agree to all the following legal terms and conditions:

Acknowledgement: Selection of participants in the Tycho T-Shirt Contest (the “Contest”) shall be in the sole discretion of ChinaShop. (“ChinaShop,” “We,” “Us” or “Our(s)”). ChinaShop reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel the Contest and/or disqualify any participants at any time. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. By participating in the Contest selection process (the “Selection Process”), you hereby agree to abide by any and all Contest rules and irrevocably grant permission to ChinaShop and its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, promotional partners and agents, and each of their directors, officers, employees and assigns (all of the foregoing, the “ChinaShop Parties”), to use and authorize the use by third parties of your name. You represent that you are twenty one (21) years of age or older.

More Voltage Tracklisting – DOWNLOAD THE MIX HERE

1. Daft Punk – “Derezzed” (The Glitch Mob Remix)
2. edIT – “More Lazers”
3. Nasty Ways – “Pass Me The Lazer Beam”
4. Boreta – “What Time It Is”
5. edIT – “Certified Air Raid Material” (Ooah Remix)
6. EPROM – “64 Bytes” (Boreta Remix)
7. edIT – “Gangsta Shit”
8. Ooah – “Crunk Down Where Ya At”
9. The Glitch Mob – “Warrior Concerto”
10. Mochipet – “Rambunktion” (Boreta Remix Instrumental)
11. edIT – “Pound 4 Pound”
12. edIT – “The Huntress”
13. The Glitch Mob – “We Can Make The World Stop”
14. The Glitch Mob – “Black Aura” feat. Theophilus London
15. Linkin Park – “Waiting For The End” (The Glitch Mob Remix)
16. The Glitch Mob – “Palace Of The Innocents”
17. Ooah – “Beginning”
18. edIT – “Topaz Violence”
19. Ooah – “Time Warp”
20. TV On The Radio – “Red Dress” (The Glitch Mob Remix)
21. Machine Drum – “Let It” feat. Melo-X (edIT Remix)
22. Haiku D’Etat – “Mike, Aaron, and Eddie” (Boreta Remix)
23. Nosaj Thing – “Coat Of Arms” (Boreta Remix)
24. Krazy Baldhead – “The 4th Movement” (The Glitch Mob Remix)
25. STS9 – “Beyond Right Now” (The Glitch Mob Remix)
26. The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” (The Glitch Mob Remix)
27. Ooah – “While You’re Away I Wait, To Crumble In Your Arms”

New Year. New Music. New Favorites. ChinaShop handpicks the Women to Watch in 2011. Don’t sleep…

NAME: Sharon Van Etten
LOCATION: Brooklyn
RECORD LABEL: Ba Da Bing! Records / Jagjaguwar
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Gibson ES-135 (Her name is “Ruby”)

Simple. Sublime. Clear. Passionate. When you hear Sharon Van Etten’s voice, these are the adjectives that come to mind. Her last album, epic, was easily my Favorite Album of 2010 That I Discovered in 2011, and she’s got the ear of some of indie’s biggest darlings, including The Antlers, Bon Iver and Black Mountain. Van Etten will be playing a handful of dates in September—including a night at the Hollywood Bowl on 9/11 opening for The National and Neko Case—and her as-yet-untitled third album is set to be released by JagJaguwar in early 2012. Says Van Etten, “This recording process has been more of an exercise at letting my demos become something else, instead of ‘cleaner, bigger’ versions of my demos. More about collaborating and taking chances.” Oh, and she’s dabbling in DJing on Turntable.fm as DJ Whatever. Check ‘er out.

WHAT’S NOW: Stream the amazingly awesome “Don’t Do It” off 2010′s epic below, download it here, then try not to play it over and over again.

WHAT’S NEXT: Her third album, due in early 2012, will be produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner.

IN HER OWN WORDS
“I write and fail constantly. I try to play and write every day. You don’t have to play for something. You don’t have to write for it to be anything. Expression and having an outlet is so vital to being a communicative, open, peaceful person. It keeps me level, although I’m still learning how to be level.”

Words by Rich Thomas. Photo by Dusdin Condren.

NAME: Eatliz
LOCATION: Tel Aviv, Israel
RECORD LABEL: Anova Music

These eight-year veterans are huge in their native Israel, but are coming on strong here in the States. Their latest album is titled Teasing Nature, and you can download a bunch of free tunes from it via their Bandcamp. With six players in their band, Eatliz gets super lush and vibrant with their sound. (Dig on the horns in “Lose This Child” below.”) Their self-described style of “complicated pop” fits like a glove, and Lee Triffon’s pipes are a thing of beauty. They’re not currently touring, but when they do, get yourself a spot up front. You’ll want to see as much as you hear.

Words by Rich Thomas. Photo by Dustin Downing.

Ever since he dropped his Dark Rift debut two summers ago, Travis Egedy (a.k.a. Pictureplane, that dude on the right with the devious grin) has been the poster child of an electronic art-punk movement that’s as visually stunning as it is aurally otherworldly. Tapping into mix of DIY psychedelia and classic rave fundamentals, Egedy music is headphone candy for sure, but as Pictureplane’s numerous remixes and mixtapes have proven, the boy can pack in some serious bounce. For his latest album, Egedy enlisted the help of label mate and friend Jupiter Keyes—percussionist, guitarist and general all-purpose noisemaker in LA’s HEALTH—to inject a little more juice into his lo-fi sound. Thee Physical is the fruit of their collective labor, and moving swiftly up the charts on our 2011 Best Of board on the power of sexjams like “Black Nails,” “Trancegender” and “Real Is A Feeling,” a title track to the club night he throws at his studio/home/utopia Rhinoceropolis.

We wanted to know more about how Egedy and Keyes brewed up this evil concoction, which you can stream in its entirety here, but rather than jump on a quick call or pop over for a cup of sugar and some light banter, ChinaShop jumped face first into an epic Skype three-way with Egedy and his producing partner. What transpired was a 45-minute interview— featuring questions provided by Keyes—that will most definitely not win any awards for excellence in journalism, but might make you pee in your pants a little. Check it out after the jump

How did you guys first get to know each other? There’s a major similarity between the bands in that the music you make is inextricably linked to the visual art you produce. They’re kinda one in the same.

Jupiter: We played at Monkey Mania, which is a little venue similar to Rhinoceropolis where Travis now lives and works and does his art. He came to the show and at some point we played a show later at Rhino.

Travis: It must have been like two years later or something.

Jupiter: You gave us some of your music and we were like, “Holy shit, this is fucking awesome.” We just fell in love with it.

Travis: I’m glad you guys listened to it. I’m sure there are so many times when a random person gives you a CD and you just never listen to it or it gets lost.

Jupiter: As soon as we heard that shit we were like, “We gotta get on this. This guy is making some really cool stuff.”

What about the partnership for this album?

Travis: It was just an idea at first. I’ve always recorded and done all of my albums the exact same way, and it’s really limited because my equipment is really old and janky. We really wanted to make this record sound as good as possible, so my manager and Lovepump United—which is also HEALTH’s label—were like, “Why don’t you try working with Jupiter? He’s starting out as a music producer.” We didn’t know what was gonna happen or what it was gonna sound like, but we gave it a go and it turned out being really, really awesome.

Jupiter: Travis’ sound is super lo-fi. It’s awesome and it works beautifully for him, but sometimes when homemade stuff gets put on a bunch of different stereos, it doesn’t translate as well. That’s what Lovepump was really looking for; trying to get Travis’ music to the point where when it’s played at the club, it jumps out as much as possible. I gotta be honest, I was a little hesitant, not because I didn’t want to take on the project, but just because I love Pictureplane’s music so much that I really wanted to do it justice.

Travis: I was nervous too, honestly. I’m a little stubborn and the production aspect of my music is really important to me, but like I said, my equipment is really limited and I knew that it could sound better. It is really lo-fi music, and it’s not lo-fi as a fashion statement. It’s lo-fi because it really is lo-fi. (Laughs)

Okay, enough with my boring questions.

Travis: Where did you get your questions from, Jupiter?

Jupiter: A lot of different sources. Some of them are serious, some of them are completely ridiculous. They’re all over the map. So go to random.org and there’s a little number generator. Type in 1 to 29 and then hit “generate number” and we’ll see what random number we get.

Travis: I got 11.

I got 11.

Jupiter: Really? That is not random. Well, this is one of the more serious ones. “In your career as an artist or musician—or even a human being—who has been the most influential in informing who you are?

Travis: There’s been a few. I know that throughout making this record, I was reading a lot of essays by Genesis P-Orridge and looking back at the history of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle and the concepts that they were working with throughout the ’80s and early ’90s. The idea that their central theme was de-conditioning the self from all the thought pollution; cleaning the self of the evils of the status quo and finding your true inner self and just how magical that is.

Jupiter: I can definitely hear that on the album and in your aesthetic in general. I think that’s a driving force.

Travis: The visual language they used. The borrowing from cult-based imagery and symbols that are charged with a specific meaning. Their work within chaos, magic and the occult. It’s such a fascinating history. Throbbing Gristle, man.There’s no equivalent to that band. What they did really shattered a lot of boundaries. I’ve always been interested in artists and philosophers that push things forward and break down walls. Genesis is sort of like a post-human in the sense that he’s just beyond what most people even think of as normal. He’s a pure human, it’s amazing.

Jupiter: Okay, Travis. Hit generate and see what we get next.

Travis: I got 2.

Jupiter: “How do you feel about the collaboration between Korn and Skrillex and what does it mean for the future of music?”

Travis: Oh sweet, this is a good question. You know, I was really into dubstep when I first heard it around 2008, when it was really new in North America, and the crazy wobble brostep thing hadn’t taken over yet. Skrillex is sort of the embodiment of that whole scene now. I don’t know. The thing with Korn…that song is so next-level terrible that it’s kinda interesting. It’s a sound that’s extremely heavy. I wouldn’t want to listen to it, but I like it because it’s new. I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but anything new you can’t really hate on it because at least they’re trying to do something fresh. Skrillex is huge. He’s bigger than Korn right now. Maybe they’ll go on stadium tours together and play insane brostep.

Did you say brostep?

Jupiter/Travis: Brostep.

Wow.

Travis: It’s an actual thing, man. I live in Colorado and it’s huge here. These bros from the mountains—snowboarder guys on their longboards—cruise up to the dubstep show with their beanies and their pooka shells and just fist pump all night. It’s insane.

Jupiter: All right, hit generate.

Travis: We’re gonna do 29 questions?

Jupiter: No, we’re gonna do this until we get bored.

Travis: I got 4.

Jupiter: Okay. “If you could have sex with any animal—land, sea or air—which animal would it be and why?”

Travis: I remember being on tour with HEALTH. I think we were in Boston and we were eating clam chowder…

I don’t like where this is going.

Travis: John asked me that question because he was gonna tweet about it. I remember saying a baby seal because they’re so cute.

Jupiter: They are adorable. Especially the Arctic seals that have the really nice white fur.

And they have really big eyes.

Jupiter: But I’m gonna flip it on you real quick. Here’s the second part of the question. “If you could be fucked by any animal, which would it be and why?” See, before you were fucking the animal. Now you’re being fucked by it. This is different.

Travis: It is. I would want something gentle. I don’t know, man. Maybe a dog or something? (Laughs) Some kind of cute dog. Like a little Pomeranian.

It would be over quickly.

Jupiter: (Makes barking noises)

Travis: It’s easier to think about fucking an animal.

Jupiter: See, that’s the twist.

Travis: Have you ever seen the videos of families at Sea World that are swimming with the dolphins and the dolphins just start humping them?

Jupiter: Yeah, dolphins are extremely sexual creatures. They’re one of the few that we know of that have sex for pleasure.

Travis: I wouldn’t mind doin’ it with a dolphin.

That would be magical.

Travis: Mind sex. Okay, I generated 6.

Jupiter: “Would you characterize yourself as a happy person, and do you have any advice on how to be or stay happy?”

Travis: More so than a happy person I’m an optimistic person. I can see the positive side to a lot of things and that can lead to being happy. I’m not like a bubblegum happy person all the time. I’m kinda stoic sometimes, but yeah, it’s like a secret of the universe, really. Being positive and giving love to people, you see those things in return. Creating positive spaces and being aware of other people and their feelings. Okay, I got 4.

Jupiter: 4 again? I guess that means we ask Rich. “If you could have sex with any animal.”

This is me fucking the animal, correct?

Jupiter: Yes, but you know what’s coming up next.

Yeah. I’d say maybe something with big ears so I could hold on. Like an elephant.

Travis: Elephant sex? Wow.

Jupiter: Yeah, you could just crawl up in there.

I wouldn’t want to turn that around for the other part of this question.

Jupiter: So where are you going to go next?

Maybe a three-toed sloth? You probably wouldn’t feel it happening it would be so slow.

Jupiter: But they’ve got some crazy claws.

True.

Jupiter: Just throw some big oven mitts on there. Okay, next.

Travis: 7.

Jupiter: Travis, I had donuts this morning so that inspired this question. “What is your favorite and/or least favorite donut?”

Travis: I’m really not a donut guy. I wouldn’t say I hate them. I’m just not a sweets kinda guy. I remember when I was in art school there was a donut and coffee place and their dumpster would just be full of donuts every day. So before school I would just get a box and get all these dumpster donuts and hand ’em out to people. Not even saying they were from the dumpster. Just free donuts.

Jupiter: Alright, next!

Travis: 10.

Jupiter: “Any tours planned in the near future?”

Travis: Yes, there’s two. Starting on July 20th, I think, I’m touring the East Coast and a little bit of the Midwest with Teengirl Fantasy and Gatekeeper. I think it’s gonna be a legendary tour in the sense that we’re very like-minded bands doing contemporary electronic music.

Jupiter: What’s touring life like for Pictureplane?

Travis: I remember on the HEALTH tour, you guys would call me Captain Experience. Being on tour is sort of every band’s dream, and I don’t forget that when I’m out on the road. I love meeting people, I love seeing new places and gaining experience from different situations. With touring, there’s a good element of chaos even though it can be regimented and planned out, I like to shake that up and see how much fun I can have. Generate again?

Jupiter: Generate!

Travis: Okay, 20.

Jupiter: Alright, this is good. I talked to you, Travis, about my theory on how a person’s first concert is formative in how they develop later in life. “What was your first significant musical concert—and assuming that my theory is valid—how did your first concert effect you?”

Travis: My first concert was a big festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico when I was in 7th grade called Edgefest and the headliners were Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. That was like ’97 when they were really hot shit. I had the best time ever. I felt really old, I smoked some weed, Limp Bizkit totally killed it. It was great.

Jupiter: If we take a look at your musical career there are certainly some hybrid rap music things going on. (Laughs)

Travis: I don’t know how hugely influential Limp Bizkit was to me, but I was into the rap/rock thing for a little while. I loved Rage Against The Machine. I loved heavy music.

Jupiter: Despite what brostep is going to do to the aesthetic landscape, you can’t get away from the fact that it feels good to finally have some heavy music back.

Okay, let’s do one more.

Travis: 14.

Jupiter: This is kinda a three-part question. The first half of it is this. “What, in your mind, makes something artistically valid and what role do you feel authenticity plays in that?”

Travis: Wow. It might change for different people, but art is something intuitive. In the art world, we live in such a weird, post-post-modern reality where everything is legitimate and everything is valid. I’ll flip this cup upside-down and that’s my art piece. That was always really attractive to me because it can be about style. But there’s a point where you gotta be able to know what’s good and sift through the bullshit. There’s a lot of bullshit art out there, but at the same time, who’s to say what’s valid? One person’s terrible, inauthentic piece of art could be full of meaning to someone else. I know that a lot of stuff I do will get questioned as being valid or legitimate, and I can’t tell someone what to think, but I guess if you know that it’s honest in your heart and in your mind, then it’s all that really matters.

Jupiter: I guess ultimately it’s in the eyes of the beholder.

Travis: There’s also an art to bullshitting.

I think we can all agree that Rebecca Black’s “Friday” isn’t art.

Travis: (Laughs) That’s why that video really took off. It’s really unaware of itself. When it was made, she wasn’t making some sort of ironic joke.

Jupiter: I would disagree. If we talk about what’s in the eyes of the beholder, when it’s reframed to so many people, it can be seen as a piece of art. Even though it was unintentional art, it still functions as a source of inspiration for a lot of people. It forces you to think about the world in a different way. That video is really intense.

I think you just hit it on the head. I think art can be defined as anything that serves as a legitimate source of inspiration for someone.

Travis: Definitely.

Jupiter: That brings me to the second part of the question. You get one million dollars a week for the rest of your life, but the catch is you have to have eyes on your butt. Would you do it?

Travis: You’d have to change your whole lifestyle, man. How would you sit down? You’d need to not wear pants.

Jupiter: (Silence)

Travis: I don’t think I would do it. That sounds terrible, but with all that money, maybe you could have a surgery.

You’d have a new appreciation for the inside of a toilet bowl.

Travis: Definitely.

Interview by Rich Thomas. Photos by Jono Ryan.
Pictureplane / Teengirl Fantasy Tour Dates
7.20 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
7.21 Philadelphia, PA @ Voyeur
7.22 New York, NY @ TBD
7.23 Brooklyn, NY @ 285 Kent
7.24 Baltimore, MD @ Club Hippo
7.25 Washington, DC @ Subterranean A
7.26 PITTSBURGH, PA @ Belvedere’s
7.27 Cleveland, OH @ B-Side
7.28 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
7.29 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
7.30 Columbus, OH @ Double Happiness
7.31 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk
8.20 Long Island City, NY @ MoMA PS1

Swag. It’s the term you love to hate, but it’s easy to tell who has it and who doesn’t. Brooklyn’s Theophilus London has it, and not just in one place. His debut album, Timez Are Weird These Days, doesn’t drop until July 19, but he’s already been featured in more fashion spreads than your average supermodel, and his mixtape game has been on point for a minute now. A YouTube search will pull up performances at Cannes and Letterman, and London’s Tumblr is constantly popping off with stylish photos of him in various locales across the globe. Pretty soon you’ll even be able to dress like him. A collab with Cole Haan will see a limited run of TL-signature, triple blue suede loafers on the shelves of select boutiques. So are these for fashion or for function?

“F*ck fashion. This is lifestyle!” he says. “This is for kids to jump on a plane with. This is for you to wear to the all-white party this summer, hanging out pool side. You could rock these to the store. Your girls can rock these unisex!”

Consider yourselves on notice. Check out his first single, “Last Name London,” then download 2009′s This Charming Mixtape from MediaFire here.

Theophilus London: I’m excited when I’m writing this music. I would rather be in the studio writing this than writing some four-chord cheesy radio shit that everybody else would listen to. I’m gonna be sitting here making music that people can’t quantify or define. There’s no way you could classify Prince on his first record. There’s no way you thought he could make Purple Rain after you heard For You. I don’t want people to know what my next record is going to sound like.

Is there anything that you just categorically don’t get down with?

Theophilus London: I’m not down with that Eurotrash, every-chord-same-song type of sh*t. I definitely don’t get down with that, but everything else I get down with creativity. I’m into making pop tunes. I’m interested in radio.

Every time I see you mention the word “girlfriend” in press, it’s always plural. What’s up with that?

Theophilus London: (Laughs) I don’t know how to answer that one, man.

There are many different ways to write about women: coquettishly, metaphorically, unapologetically. You seem to favor the latter.

Theophilus London: Writing about women is precious, man. It’s one of the biggest topics of my music. When I wanted to become an MC and a songwriter, I just focused on my voice and what it would sound like; the way I breathe, the way I pronounce words. My dad always told me, wherever the girls are the guys are gonna be, so I dialed all my music into females. I remember after winning my first battle in high school I was the ladies’ man. I would study less, rap more. Once I figured that out three years ago I made my first mixtape, JAM! Then I started dialing into the music. I got my voice. It’s in my head, it’s in my spirit. I don’t need to work on metaphors in raps. F*ck all that. I’m gonna be on top of my game in music and make sure my beats are different than everyone else.

Words by Rich Thomas. Photo by Jonathan Mannion.

Theophilus London Upcoming Shows

June 7: Seattle, WA at Sculpture Park Event
June 10: Brooklyn, NY at Brooklyn Museum
June 19: Brooklyn, NY at Williamsburg Music Hall
June 29: Montreal, Canada at Festival International De Jazz
July 18: Los Angeles, CA at the Troubadour
July 21: New York, NY at Bowery Ballroom

Holcombe was the first to go on, taking the stage with his group, The Healers; five other players brandishing, among other things, a cello, a violin and a French horn. Though his publicist had sent me a download link to Holcombe’s soon-to-be-rereleased fourth album, Into The Dark Unknown, I neglected to listen to it. Not sure why. Just felt like being surprised, I guess. It did not take long to realize, if I do say so myself, that I had made a fantastic decision. Here’s why. It’s one thing to throw down dollars and see a band you love. You get to anticipate the setlist. You get to sing along. You get to relive moments that have been inextricably linked to certain songs. It’s about as close as you can get to time travel. When you gamble on an unknown sound and it comes up aces, it’s like discovering buried treasure in slow motion, and unlike a record, you can’t rewind it. You just have to run alongside every note and keep up with every lyric.

With a 7:30pm start time, the crowd was meager, and Holcombe joking referred to his audience as “early adopters,” but that’s what it felt like. I can tell you that he played “Baby Blue,” a song about falling in love with two different roommates. I can tell you he played “Risk Of Change,” which you can download here. I can tell you he opened with the new album’s title track. But those are about all the specifics I can give you. He’s got 13 shows left to do this month. (Check his calendar here.) It would behoove you to attend one, preferably with a few glasses of Knob Creek in tow.

Jenny O, on the other hand, I was familiar with. She’d been featured on this site back in January, shortly after her Home EP debuted. Where Holcombe and his band played delicately and beguilingly, Jenny and her band were fully plugged in, belting out twangy, loose fitting rock that towed the line between contemporary folk and good old honkey tonk. Switching from her Telecaster to an upright piano, Jenny performed a selection of old and new songs, including “Well, OK Honey,” “Home” and “Earth Has Won.” Shy and demure between tunes, Jenny is a pitch-perfect beast when she’s going for broke. When she dials it down, on a track like “Opposite Island,” she sucks you in like a vacuum, and her blues has the power to haunt your eardrums. Word is she’s working on a full-length follow-up to her EP. Can’t come soon enough.

By the time Barcelona were up, the crowd had swelled to capacity. I was first exposed to this band through a YouTube video of Japan’s Kuroshio Sea aquarium that featured “Please Don’t Go,” a track off their flawless Absolutes LP, as its soundtrack. (To date, that video has nearly 8 million views. If you haven’t see it, watch it immediately.) They too had new material to play, and put on their own hit parade that took the energy Jenny had injected into the building and turned it up full blast. For the life of me I can’t understand why these guys don’t have every modern rock radio station in American fawning over their every release. Their songs are beautifully crafted, highly emotive pop masterpieces, and they know how to deliver the goods on stage. As if their original music wasn’t impressive enough, they busted out a cover of the Beatles’ “Across The Universe” mid-set that could only be described as disarming. It was a fitting crescendo to a lively night of music that couldn’t have been curated any better, and I’m sure all three bands made their fair share of friends.

Word by Rich Thomas. Photos by Dustin Downing.

Everything is sexier in Paris, especially when you start combining the worlds of music and fashion, which is exactly what Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki did back in 2002 when they founded the Kitsuné label. With releases from notables like Alex Gopher, Wolfmother, Hot Chip, Fischerspooner and Phoenix (along with countless others), the Parisian label grown into one of the country’s most eclectic and well-respected culture institutions.  One of the biggest reasons? Their compilations.

The latest Kitsuné Maison compendium—#11 in the series if you’re taking notes—seeks to combine sultry house music (what they’re known for) with more indie rock undertones (which they’re slowly become known for). The Indie Dance Issue drops May 16, and you can purchase it from iTunes or your local good music purveyor. In the meantime, label boss Gildas Loaëc waxes poetic about each song on the compilation, three of which are available for download after the jump.

1. ??? - “Let’s Go All The Way” (early version)
A band without a name just signed to Kitsuné. We won’t even tell you if it’s a guy or a girl singing. This is their first ever appearance, they’ve not even put a track on the net yet. They’re currently working hard in the studio with Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand. Yes, and they’ve still to come up with a band name. Album in 2012.

2. Alexander Dexter Jones – “Phantastic Phone Call”
The son of Mick Jones is a New Yorker who does everything on his own: writes, programs and plays all the instruments. His future’s looking bright. A bit of drama in his voice. Adorning pink nail varnish and wearing leggings, he made a splash when visiting the Kitsuné offices telling us how he awaits hurricanes on Montauk beach hand in hand with his sister.

3. Housse De Racket – “Roman”
First French band to sign to Kitsuné for an album out this summer. They’re produced by Zdar, who fit them in between Phoenix and The Rapture. Their name’s written on 2011. Highly recommended live.

4. Polarsets - “Sunshine Eyes”
Super mega cool band. They record their tracks almost live so that they can translate them effortlessly to the stage. Their reputation is fast growing.

5. Gallops - “Miami Spider” (Ponciau Edit)
Already acclaimed by Radio 1 with far-out influences like Aphex Twin, Fugazi, Vangelis, Sun-Ra and Steve Reich. A well focused track.

6. Cosmonaut - “Say What You Want”
Oh yes…this makes you wanna shake your rump after three seconds. They’re Aussies and we suspect their music is designed for people to come down to.

7. Creep - “Days” (Azari & III Remix) [DOWNLOAD]
It is indeed The XX’s Romy on vocals, who does a rare guest appearance for this Brooklyn trio, and it’s Casey, the singer from Fischerspooner, who directed the video. We’re not just name-dropping here, we’re right in the thick of it.

8. Is Tropical – “The Greeks” [DOWNLOAD]
They’re masked, they’re mental, you already know of them, they’re a human Molotov cocktail. Kitsuné is producing and releasing their debut album, which is coming out on the 13th of June. We reckon they’re the new The Cure.

9. Peter & The Magician – “Twist”
In case you didn’t know, Stephen has left Aeroplane and started his own project, The Magician. Here he teams up with the ubiquitous Yuksek (real name Pierre, get it?) for a slice of italo-disco.

10. The Touch – “Sermon”
These Swedes understand well the nostalgic dimension you sometimes find on the dancefloor: beer tears, wine sad and more like heartbroken and sleepwalking. The kind of stuff that builds lasting memories. The track’s about an oxygen-less civilization that’s about to collapse. Beautiful!

11. Logo x Icona Pop – “Luvsick”
Two Swedish girls and two French guys, a civil partnership signed for this compilation. Because receiving demos just isn’t enough anymore for Gildas, he’s now orchestrating musical marriages. Logo are set to big things and Icona Pop is another proof that it’s kicking off too in Sweden.

12. Beat Connection – “Silver Screen”
The indie-dance peak of the compilation, which reminds us of Madchester’s flowery and idyllic atmosphere, extra-wide flares and bowl cuts for boys. The track’s about spring, being lazy, girls, Sunday mornings and all that.

13. Nightbox - “Pyramid”
They’re Canadians produced by Al from MSTRKRFT, which is legendary in its Toronto hometown. “Well groovy,” as my dad would say. We can tell they’re going to do rather well on Hype Machine.

14. Guards - “Resolution Of One” [DOWNLOAD]
These Americans were already on Kitsuné Maison 10. Their garage rock is typically New York; brutal and energetic. Chairlift, Cults and MGMT are buddies and pop in during recording sessions. Richie, the guy behind it all, tends to put the tracks online for free. So this is especially for those who don’t have the right bookmarks or the time to download.

15. Fiction - “Big Things”
Another indie-dance peak of the compilation. Gildas likes the Tom Tom Club vibe of the track. Klaxons love them. A London trio that’s so much cooler than you, it could become depressing.

16. Exotica - “Conte d’Eté” (Afrofunk Version)
These Frenchies were on the recent Kitsuné Parisien compilation. They’re part of the new Paris breed and nicely mix pop and electro. The kind we can never get enough of at Kitsuné.

Words by Rich Thomas.

If you dial up your Home Video albums on iTunes, you’re bound to run across a track or two that touches on light sociopolitical discourse. But when singer/guitarist Collin Ruffino became engrossed in the ongoing WikiLeaks drama, he decided a track or two wasn’t enough, and that Home Video wasn’t necessarily the best avenue to deliver the particular message he wanted to communicate in support of the heavily criticized news source. Thus, NiveHive was born. (Download “The Stuffed Men Bristle” after the jump.) We got in touch with Ruffino to pick his brain about why the WikiLeaks drama is something everyone should be paying close attention to, and how he’s helping bolster their message in his own unique way: “WikiLeaks is not an organization, it is a backlash, a mutiny. NiveHive is here to provide the soundtrack.”

Is this the first time since Home Video started that you’ve done a solo project?

Collin Ruffino: I’ve been making music by myself for years, and this project is just me alone. I have always wanted to get some of it out there, but never created something cohesive enough to feel justified in packaging it together.

When do you expect to have the full album complete and ready to release?

Collin Ruffino: I want to get this out there as soon as possible. I’m in the final mixing and mastering stage right now, so I hope to have [a full-length] out by the beginning of April. It’s such a current issue, I really want to make a statement now. For the same reason, I don’t think I can wait for a label. I’m not against a label putting it out, but that process can take too long to figure out. Unless there’s a label that pops up that wants to just get it out there now, then I’ll just do it independently.

Will it all be instrumentals accompanied by sampled vocals (a la “The Stuffed Men Bristle”) or will you be singing at all with your own original lyrics?

Collin Ruffino: Originally, the idea was to make a soundtrack to the WikiLeaks drama. I didn’t plan on having any vocal samples at all. I was just going to try to capture the mood of what was going on. Then I actually sat down and made this track, “The Stuffed Men Bristle,” and the vocal samples made total sense. I’ve always loved sampled talking in songs. We’ve put in some cut-up [vocals] in Home Video tracks before—“Business Transaction,” for one. They really hike up the intensity. Some of the tracks on the album continue with the vocal samples used in different ways. There are a couple that are, as originally intended, just meant to capture the mood of an idea, while some present information in a more obscure way. For example, one track has a melody built from a Morse Code message. There is only one track that I sing on, but it doesn’t have lyrics. That track was meant to stand out because it’s about Bradley Manning, the whistle blower who is being held in solitary confinement. I wanted to really humanize him for the listener. I feel terror when I hear about the conditions of his detention, which is actually a little better than all the people in Guantanamo and Bagram. I think people tend to hear about that subject and sort of zone out without really focusing on the fact that these are actual human beings that we are torturing and detaining with no real hope for any reasonable trial or release.

The Stuffed Men Bristle by nivehive

Obviously there’s a lot in Home Video that touches on sociopolitical themes, but more in concept. Not so much with NiveHive. Is there a place for music like this in Home Video?

Collin Ruffino: Something as specific and explicitly political as a Wikileaks concept album didn’t seem appropriate for Home Video. I felt like it would be sort of left field for HV fans. David and I are concerned with the political, but in Home Video we’ve never been blatant about it. It’s like the difference between sociology and philosophy. HV is more philosophy. The music is also different. It’s more stripped down and electronic than HV. I think what separates this and Home Video is that this is, in a way, more personal. Home Video is very personal, in the lyrics and emotion, but it is also a collaboration, so it’s the convergence of two personalities that have agreed on where we meet. I’ve been so obsessed with following what goes on with WikiLeaks, daily, for the past four or five months. No one else in my personal circle is following it as closely as I am, so I wanted to express my solidarity as immediately as I could manage, and wanted to say unequivocally what I wanted to say.

Can you give me a synopsis of where you stand with all this and how it directly effects the particular message you have?

Collin Ruffino: Sure. I first noticed WikiLeaks when they released the video of the Apache helicopter attack in Iraq, the shooting of all those civilians and two reporters. The video really effected me, especially when we see the van (with children inside it) pulling up to help the wounded and the helicopter fires on it as well. Then when the Afghanistan and Iraq War logs came out, I felt that this was an organization that was doing something profound. They seemed to be trying to poke us sleeping Americans in the eye and say, “this is what you are doing.” When the diplomatic cables were released, all hell broke loose. The U.S. government started issuing ridiculous threats, calling WikiLeaks a “terrorist organization,” calling Assange a “hi-tech terrorist.” There were calls for his assassination. Senator Lieberman strong-armed Amazon, Mastercard, Visa and Paypal into dumping WikiLeaks. It was suddenly like a scary fascist movie. The mainstream media started printing lies about the cables—that they were indiscriminately dumped, even though only a small portion of them had been published and those redacted. There was pretty much zero support for WikiLeaks. Only smaller journalists like Glenn Greenwald and publications like The Nation and Democracy Now had the guts to say that this is much-needed journalism.

It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.

Collin Ruffino: I read a statistic that said that 77% of Americans disapprove of WikiLeaks—but 41% don’t even know what it is. This was about when I felt a need to say something in solidarity with WikiLeaks. I was just disgusted by the mainstream conversation. Since my medium is mainly music, I decided to try to express this with an album. The first song came pretty easily to me, so I just kept going. I’m curious to know if there is interest in this type of music. There is a genre of political folk music that is just horrendous; totally earnest and style-less, with lyrics that are so in your face and on-the-nose that it makes you cringe with embarrassment. And that on top of standard, boring chord progressions played on an acoustic guitar. It makes you hate the cause they are trying to promote. I wanted to do the opposite of that. I wanted to make cool music with a message that is smart. I think you can listen to this without feeling bored and beat over the head. You could actually bob your head to it.

There’s such a huge wave of democracy and information freedom sweeping the world right now, especially in places like Africa and the Middle East. Is that something that excites you, and that fuels this project?

Collin Ruffino: For sure. So exciting. I actually have a song on the album that’s about the popular revolts happening in North Africa and the Middle East. I feel like those uprisings are tangible proof of WikiLeaks as a game changer. People are downtrodden and cheated everywhere in the world, including here in the US. Look at what’s happening in Wisconsin. The only way corporations and governments can diffuse the anger people feel is through misinformation. People are convinced that their neighbor is getting government benefits they don’t deserve, immigrants are stealing their jobs, or terrorists hate their freedom. Meanwhile, the elites plunder everything right from under us. Once people see behind the curtain, they realize who is holding them down and can get over the nonsense and change things.

Last but not least, I assume you won’t be charging any money for any of these songs, right Maybe I’m off base, but I thought it’d be worth an ask.

Collin Ruffino: Well, this touches on the political, I think, and a topic I’m curious about in the music business. In the US, there is no support at all for artists. I think even the current Congress has cut what little funding there was down to nothing. Our society wants you to move along a track that makes you a productive cog in a wheel, arts be damned. Consequently, the only art that provides any sort of livelihood ends up being payed for by corporations. I think people know this is the case and feel resentful of the idea of paying money for music that ends up supporting an executive rather than a musician. Then when it gets down to the indie world, fans don’t know what to think. So we have an Internet culture where music is easily transferable for free. I don’t think free music is a bad thing at all. Maybe music just shouldn’t be a commodity. I think if people could have the opportunity to support the artists they love directly, like you would a museum or a political cause, there might be a shift in thinking. I’m going to set up a donation page on my site so that people can give to the musician that wrote the music. The music is free and you can choose to support the person who did it, or not. Currently, I have links on the site to the Bradley Manning Defense Fund and to the support page for WikiLeaks, where you can now donate directly.

Words by Rich Thomas.