Photo by Sebastian Spader. Los Angeles, August 2011.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Summer's Almost Gone: Can I Borrow Your Mixtape? #7
Monday, August 1, 2011
Unlikely Doppelgängers: Chet Baker & Michael Pitt
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Midnight City
While we're on the subject of French dream-pop bands (I promise I'll stop posting about French things so much... maybe)... The gorgeous first track from M83's much-anticipated new album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (the follow up to 2008's Saturdays = Youth), produced by Beck and Nine Inch Nails bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen and slated for release on October 18, 2011. I personally am counting down the days...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
A Taste of Open Space & Stars
Just a taste from the shoot I did of the amazing French dream-pop band Open Space & Stars this past May at MAD Agency (a French artists' collective founded by Paul Armand-Delille, Hugues Armand-Delille and Anatole Maggiar) headquarters just outside of Paris... stay tuned for the full article and interview, which will appear in Autre Quarterly, the print version of Pas Un Autre, later this month!OSS' debut album, Pop Prophecy, came out in December and is available on iTunes. Take a listen here.
skateboarding is the best way to get around at La SIRA...
look out for Nina's solo album, currently in the works
Nina and Anatole
Paul and Nina
MAD Agency
Paul and Nina
Paul Armand-Delille and Nina Lili J of Open Space & Stars on the rooftop of La SIRA in Asnières
Anatole Maggiar, president and co-founder of MAD Agency
skateboarding is the best way to get around at La SIRA...
look out for Nina's solo album, currently in the works
Nina and Anatole
Paul and Nina 
MAD Agency
La SIRA- inspired artwork
Paul and Nina
Open Space & Stars
For a taste of the beginning stages of Nina's solo project, check out her original video and cover of 10cc's "I'm Not In Love":
...and one of the most unique takes on Timbaland/OneRepublic's "Apologize" I've ever seen:
Can't wait to see what each and every one of these fantastic, creative spirits have planned for the future!
All images shot by Annabel Graham on location in Asnières-sur-Seine, France.
Friday, May 20, 2011
A Brief Photo Summary of APF 4
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Bon Voyage: Can I Borrow Your Mixtape? #6
photo by Annabel Graham
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Christian Bland: An Interview
Austin Psych Fest was, as predicted, absolutely unreal. Click here to read my review of the festival on Oliver Kupper's blog, Pas Un Autre!
Christian Bland (pictured above), lead guitarist of headlining band The Black Angels, was kind enough to answer some questions I posed about his fourth year curating and participating in the growing festival. Read the interview below:
ANNABEL GRAHAM: The Black Angels curated Psych Fest. It seems like you guys had a significant impact on the aesthetics of the festival. Can you tell me a little bit about your involvement? What was your experience in curating the show this year and in forming such an environment for your music?
CHRISTIAN BLAND: We started the festival in 2008. After touring the US, Canada, Europe and the UK since 2005, we've met hundreds of like-minded bands. We figured what better place to bring all our friends’ bands to town for a psychedelic weekend than the place where psychedelic rock was born. The first 3 years I did most of the booking, but this past year we've been so busy touring that Rob Fitzpatrick (one of 4 members of the Reverberation Appreciation Society) did 90% of the booking for APF 4.
GRAHAM: As demonstrated by the festival, the genre of psych-rock is undergoing a major reemergence. Psych Fest is one of the only modern-day festivals dedicated purely to the genre of psychedelic music. What are your views on the manner in which the genre is reemerging in relation to its past (similarities/differences)? What are your predictions on the future of the genre?
BLAND: It seems like psych rock’s gaining more popularity than it has since the late 60's. Hopefully it'll take over the radio waves; then we can start the revolution. I honestly don't think the masses are ready for psych rock to hit the mainstream. It almost seems psychedelic rock is meant to live underground. Maybe one day it'll boil over and take over the world, but I think it'll take a re-awakening of some sort.
GRAHAM: How did this year’s Psych Fest compare to previous years? It’s definitely grown in size and notoriety since its founding in 2008.
BLAND: This was the biggest year yet. Every year it’s grown more and more. It seems to be a testament to the rising popularity of modern psych rock.
GRAHAM: I’d love to know a bit more about your solo endeavor, Christian Bland and The Revelators. How is that developing, and how is it different from your work with The Black Angels? What new avenues or directions has it allowed you as an individual musician?
BLAND: If the Black Angels could put out an album every year, then I probably wouldn't have a side project. It's really an outlet for me to put out as much music as I possibly can. I'm constantly writing new songs, so I need different avenues to release my music other than The Black Angels. I've got another project called The UFO Club with Lee Blackwell from The Night Beats as well.
GRAHAM: The city of Austin has a rich history in the realm of psychedelic rock. In your opinion, in what ways is Austin a prime environment for the reemergence of the genre? Do you think that Psych Fest’s location has contributed to its success?
GRAHAM: I’m sure you’re still cooling off from this year’s Psych Fest, but any ideas brewing for next year?
BLAND: The 5th anniversary’s gonna be the best year yet. Hopefully we can get all the bands we've wanted over the past 5 years, but haven't been able to get.... Clinic, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Zombies...
May 2011
I was secretly hoping he'd say The Brian Jonestown Massacre!! We spotted Joel Gion (of BJM) at the show which clued us in...
Have a listen to a short & sweet song by Christian Bland and the Revelators (definitely falls into the psych-rock category):
Photos from Psych Fest coming soon!
Monday, May 2, 2011
May Day: Can I Borrow Your Mixtape? #5
photo by Annabel Graham
ANIMALS
Have you forgotten what we were like then
when we were still first rate
and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth
it's no use worrying about Time
but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves
and turned some sharp corners
the whole pasture looked like our meal
we didn't need speedometers
we could manage cocktails out of ice and water
i wouldn't want to be faster
or greener than now if you were with me O you
were the best of all my days
-Frank O'Hara
[1950]
& some swell springtime tunes:
Thursday, April 28, 2011
NY Weekend Culture: The Raveonettes & Tamaryn at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Punchdrunk's "Sleep No More"
This past weekend was full of the kind of cultural excitement that always makes me tremendously grateful to call New York home (for the time being at least)-- despite all of its less-than-perfect qualities. On Thursday, I went to see The Raveonettes with Tamaryn at Music Hall of Williamsburg. I’ve probably expressed my love for Music Hall somewhere on the blog before, but I must say that (at least so far) it’s my absolute favorite venue in New York because of its tri-level, wide-open space and the decidedly mellower group of people that frequent it (as opposed to Bowery Ballroom, which has a similar layout, but is smaller and more cramped-- much like Manhattan as opposed to Brooklyn, come to think of it).A few snapshots I took at the show (Tamaryn would not get her hair out of her face, which made things a bit difficult, so these are just of The Raveonettes):
Tamaryn’s slow, dreamy, 90's-inspired psych-rock complemented The Raveonettes’ notoriously moody, bittersweet, 50’s and 60’s-inspired vocal harmonies, dark lyrics and hard-edged electric instrumentals. On the heels of their latest album, Raven in the Grave (released on April 4th), the prolific Danish duo, who cite The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Everly Brothers and The Velvet Underground as influences, put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The crowd was completely blissed-out (perhaps since it was the day after 4/20…) and I personally experienced no pushing or beer-spilling, which was a welcome change from most concerts-- it seemed as though everyone was in a music-induced trance.
Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes
Listen to "Forget That You're Young" and "Recharge & Revolt," both from The Raveonettes' newest album, Raven in the Grave, below (and if you like The Raveonettes, you should check out Sune Rose Wagner's 2009 eponymous debut solo album-- all lyrics sung in his native Danish)!!
Tamaryn
Plus "Mild Confusion" and "Love Fade," my two favorites from Tamaryn's newest album, The Waves, released this past August:
On Friday night, I attended Sleep No More, an interactive/immersive performance based on Shakespeare's Macbeth by British theatre company Punchdrunk. The show, which opened in New York on March 7th and closes in early June, takes place in an abandoned, multilevel Chelsea warehouse that has been transformed into the "McKittrick Hotel" (made famous in Hitchcock's Vertigo) and is aptly described by the New York Times as "an environmental, stylized mash-up of Shakespearean drama and Hitchcockian noir." The piece had a very Eyes Wide Shut-meets-The Shining feel to it from the beginning-- we were made to hand over all of our personal belongings (including cell phones) to coat check, then ushered into a 1920's-esque bar lined with red velvet and mahogany where we were invited by a few charming, tuxedoed hosts to have a few drinks, then given masks to wear and whisked away in an elevator and let loose to explore the rest of the semi-abandoned "hotel," under strict instruction not to speak.
The dimly-lit, mazelike collection of over 100 rooms was so painstakingly detailed (hand-written love letters strewn around a bathtub full of bloody water, individual patient notes citing "violent nature" or "aggressive behavior" on the bedside tables of eight matching wrought-iron hospital beds, a darkroom filled with images of birds, an empty, fog-filled forest in which one can actually smell the pine, a cemetery complete with fresh dirt mounds and eroding tombstones, a laundry room hung with still-wet shirts, a doctor's office filled with menacing-looking silver utensils and hair samples, a detective's study stacked with books, files and shredded papers) that it was easy to forget we were audience members-- we were completely involved in the piece. The music faded in and out, from faraway, haunting strains of Billie Holiday and Chet Baker to a chilling, horror-movie-esque drone. Any desk drawer we opened, any file cabinet we rifled through had another piece of "evidence," a dog-eared family photograph, a full ashtray, a half-full glass of whiskey, a bible with certain passages underlined, a handwritten note. We could choose to linger in any of the environments or to follow any of the 25 wordless characters acting out scenes amidst us. I was witness to a few jarring "scenes" -- a man (Macduff?) being suffocated by another man (Macbeth?) in the midst of his nap in a luxurious feather bed, a bittersweet love scene in a tailor's shop, a silent argument in a hotel lobby phone booth, a ghostly waltz in a sweeping ballroom and a lavish banquet that ended in a bloody death-- but wished that we'd been given even more than three hours to explore, as I missed many of the rooms I'd wanted to see after reading a review on the piece. After the three hours were up, we were brought back into the 1920's bar where a four-piece jazz band was playing in full swing. All in all, it was a captivating, mind-blowing experience, and one I'd highly recommend. The masks granted us anonymity, concealing our identities, encouraging us to break established "rules" of the theatre (as Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle, directors of Sleep No More, intended) and lending us the freedom and boldness necessary to interact fully with the performance piece. My only qualm is that it's nearly impossible to investigate every aspect of the piece (and I wanted to!!), so I'd say it warrants a second or third visit. At $75 a pop, though, that's probably not going to happen on a student's budget...
A few official images from Sleep No More below (I wasn't able to bring a camera into the performance):
Monday, April 25, 2011
"Untapped Glimmerance," or an 149-Page Acid Trip: Bob Dylan's "Tarantula"
"Things were running wild at that point. It never was my intention to write a book."
-Bob Dylan
Decide for yourself after reading the following excerpt:
Guns, the Falcon’s Mouthbook & Gashcat Unpunished
aretha/ crystal jukebox queen of hymn & him diffused in drunk transfusion would would heed sweet woundwave crippled & cry salute to oh great particular el dorado reel & ye battered personal god but she cannot she the leader of whom when ye flow, she cannot she has no back she cannot… beneath black flowery railroad fans & fig leaf shades & dogs of all nite joes, grow like arches & cures the harmonica battalions of bitter cowards, bones & bygones while what steadier louder the moans & arms of funeral landlord with one passionate kiss rehearse from dusk & climbing into the bushes with some favorite enemy ripping the postage stamps & crazy mailmen & waving all rank & familiar ambition than that itself, is needed to know that mother is not a lady… aretha with no goals, eternally single & one step soft of heaven/ let if be understood that she owns this melody along with her emotional diplomets & her earth & her musical secrets
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
