O' Brother - Disillusion

Check the new album from o' brother



Then go buy it with your monies.

Portugal. The Man - The Interview

Well it's been a long time coming and I can't quite believe that it actually came to fruition, but I was able have some questions answered by Portugal. The Man's bassist, Zach Carothers. I'd like to thank Zach for taking the time to answer the questions, those guys have been incredibly busy supporting their new record, Evil Friends.

The Drawer: You’ve got a new record coming out in June and it was produced by Danger Mouse, how did that pairing come about and what was it like working with him?

ZC: Craig, the head of Atlantic Records got us together for the most part. We were already in the middle of self producing what we thought was the new album when we found out we had the opportunity to collaborate with Brian. So we scratched almost all of the record and started fresh with him. We learned a lot working with Brian. He had a very unique insight into band life being an artist himself, so he knew a lot about how important it is to keep our artistic intent while trying to write accessible music. 

The Drawer: How does the sound of ‘Evil Friends’ compare to your earlier works? Purple Yellow Red and Blue is almost like dance music.

ZC: Every record sounds a lot different from the last one. Evil Friends is just more put together. We took longer on this one and put a lot of thought behind it. PYRB is a little tongue in cheek. I would say its our version of Money by Pink Floyd. 

The Drawer: Is there a concept behind this record?  A lot of your previous records seem to focus on a central concept or theme whether musically or lyrically.

ZC: There always themes in our albums. We normally write all the songs in the studio, in a relatively short amount of time. We like to make connections to songs by repeating melodies and lyrics. Make for a more solid album as a whole I feel. 

The Drawer: When you guys sit down to make a record what are you listening to? Do you sort of keep yourself in a bubble musically and hole up with the songs you’re working on or do you listen to other things? Did anything in particular creep in to influence the sound on the new record?

 ZC: Things obviously creep in, but nothing in particular. Everything influences us. I was listening to a lot of Nirvana, La Roux and Kanye before we went in. I guess that makes sense. Once we get in the studio, we pretty much only have time to listen to the music we're making.

The Drawer: What’s the writing process like? Does John come with the songs pretty well formed or are things sort of sketches until you get into the studio/rehearsal space?

ZC: It really depends.. On this album he went in with Brian a week or two before we came in. So most of them were put together pretty well. Chords and basic structure. Melodies to build off. But lyrics always come the last week of tracking. Ha.

The Drawer: What do you guys like to listen to? What’s in the cd/mp3 player at the moment? 

ZC: I've been very anxious and stressed out lately. Whenever I have that aggression I need aggressive music. You'd think I'd be curling up to some Jeff Buckley, but no. Metal and hip hop. Kanye, Slayer, Kendrick, and more Slayer.

The Drawer: You’ve been pretty prolific since the band came about, releasing an album just about every year since 2006, has that been a goal you’ve set out for yourselves, or has it been the result of just writing a lot of material or just sort of a natural process?

ZC: A natural process that became a goal. John and I grew up in Alaska and with that, a very good work ethic was instilled in us. We know how lucky we are to be in this position. We won't take anything for granted. We'll work our ass off everyday.

The Drawer: The first Portugal. The Man album I ever listened to was ‘Church Mouth’ after picking it up on a whim at a record store largely in part because of the band’s name and the cool looking album cover.  You guys recently reissued that record for Record Store Day 2013 in a really small run of 500. How much input does the band have in something like that? Where did the decision to press ‘Church Mouth’ for RSD come from?

ZC: We're very involved in talking to our fans. I'm always outside talking with them at our shows, or reading emails and blog post. People really like those special limited runs of things. We have input and also have people we trust on our side.

The Drawer: Along the same lines, how do you feel about digital vs physical music? You released a limited number of physical copies of the ‘American Ghetto’ cd and it seems like the days of a listener wanting to have something that they can hold are maybe coming to an end. Would you prefer your fans to have physical copies of your records or does it even matter?

ZC: I have a lot of digital music. That's how I check out new things, but when I hear a record I love, I've got to have it on vinyl. I don't care how fans want to listen to it. I'm just glad they do. That's for them to decide. There are a lot of ways to support a band you like these days. We appreciate it. 

The Drawer: You just got done playing Coachella and you’ve played other large festivals like Bonnaroo, what’s it like playing for all those people? Do you enjoy playing huge shows like that or would you rather play more intimate clubs?

ZC: It's a tough call. Playing festivals is unreal. So amazing to see all those people that love music so much. The energy is just crazy. Quite a party. But it's also good to play smaller clubs. We get to make it our party. Our lights, our playlist in between the bands. It makes it a special night for us. Both are beautiful. Luckily, I don't have to choose. 

The Drawer: In 2011 you posted several concert recordings on your website for free download. Why did you decide to make them free and is that something you’d consider doing again?

ZC: Of course we would do it again. It was just something fun we wanted to do for our fans. A little thank you for coming out to our shows. 

The Drawer: What advice, if any, would you give to all the people out there that are making music in basements and bedrooms that are trying to be heard?

ZC: This day and age there is so much you can do on your own. You just have to do it. My advice is to just play music everyday. 

The Drawer: Finally, where does PTM go from here?

ZC: We've got a long tour ahead of us. It's been too long and it's so nice to be back out on the road. We get to go to Japan for the first time! So excited about it! I imagine that we'll start working on a new album as soon as we get the chance.

The Drawer: Thanks so much for taking to the time to do this with our little blog and best of luck with the new record. I know I’ll be picking it up on 6/4.

ZC: No problem bud! Thanks a bunch!

Set list from 6/8/13 show @9:30 club in DC which I was fortunate enough to attend.

Above is a clip of the band performing Day Man/So American/People say from the DC show.

Here's Sleep Forever/Hey Jude from the same night.

If you get a chance to see this band, please do it, they put on a great show.

Here are some tour dates:

http://www.portugaltheman.com/tour-dates

Jim Storie Juniors

Jim Storie Juniors - Apex.

Lo-fi sort-of-punk rock 'n' roll with some kick-ass stuff going on.


Listen to the second track - Goods and Services. Something about this guy's off-kilter, offsides, off-to-the-side vocals reminds me of a Beach Boy. Maybe Brian Wilson really isn't dead! Or, I mean, the actual Brian Wilson is not where he says he is but is instead in Toronto releasing free off-key weirdness. Listening through the tracks on here I can't quite get my footing, figure out what I think. Some great lyrics, some okay. Somewhere around the 4th track it got all mid-tempo and even draggy. This is sort of like early Weezer shoved through the skeleton key keyhole in the closet door at mom's house. Things pick up again with Sunshine, lots of voices doing not-quite-the-right-thing, and then we move into the title track, with its bouncing rubber ball bass line and psychedelic echoes on the vocals. The guitar gives this one a dark edge.

psychedelic milkman

"recorded in various dorm rooms, public bathrooms and basements from 2004-2006, mixes psychedelic guitar noise with neurotic bedroom folk rock using unusual instruments and lo-fi magic."

ian adcock- all vocals, guitars, electric mandolin, cardboard dulcimer, trombone, homemade percussion, tapes, recording

Anything that has a cardboard dulcimer is good in my book. Ian Adcock's first album is a noisy, lo-fi, folk record with lots of tape hiss, odd sounds, and vocals that sort of remind me of whispering Thom York, but from an alternate universe. This is something to listen to in your closet, late at night when you're not quite sure what is happening around you.

This seems to be the only record he's got on archive.org. Info says it was available in a limited run as a cd-r, bu there isn't any info about how to get a copy. 

d/l

Demovangelis - The Duty of 3 in 1

Picked this up from  the artist himself handing them out from a shoebox on the street. Outsider Prog Metal? Maybe. This guy records all his stuff one instrument at a time on a portastudio in his apartment. I think the guitars are real, but everything else sounds like a keyboard or drum machine. The guy has talent, his arrangements are at times complex and crazy. If you're up for a weird adventure with slight biblical overtones (ok, there's more than a slight amount of Jesus is great here) that sort of sounds like what might happen if the guy that writes all the Iron Maiden songs lived alone in an apartment, did a lot of drugs, and recorded everything with keyboard then this is the adventure for you.

I'll try to get the cover and liner notes posted too.

d/l (vbr zip)

or visit the archive.org page

or stream it:

Poolord

I like so much of what I heard I've decided to post the entire Poolord record or is it two records? It's an interesting combination of acoustic guitar and psychedelic electronic effects. Something like a Syd Barret solo album if he could've made it by himself using computers from the future. In addition there are songs about bodily functions. Some of this is great and some of it is horrible. Enjoy it.

Poolord - The Simple Things and The Death Eggs are Coming



d/l

that's a link to the files. Unfortunately there's no vbr zip so you'll have to download them all individually.

New Old Halaka

How to cope when mama loves the swedish...
Inside the Drowned Nothing is Nothing Drowned the Inside - vbr mp3 .zip

from 1995 Probably originally released on some handmade cassettes. Still trying to dig up the original artwork.

or if you like quality go to
http://www.archive.org/details/InsideTheDrownedNothingIsNothingDrownedTheInside

to download each track in flac