WFMU's Beware of the Blog

An Interview with Ray Russell

(images taken from Ray Russell's website)

Ray Russell has done a lot. From working with people as varied as John Barry, Bill Fay, Lulu, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Heaven 17, and Scott Walker, releasing solo albums that run the gamut from funky free rock improvisations (Secret Asylum, Rites and Rituals) to tributes to Gil Evans (Goodbye Svengali), not to mention being part of forgotten early '70's greats Mouse and The Running Man, it's obvious this guy has something going for him.

I was able to interview Mr. Russell via Skype a few weeks ago. We discussed a big chunk of his career, which I was able to transcribe after the jump. Check it out!  

Suicidal Empire: A Conversation with Ugh of Satanicpornocultshop

Satanicpornocultshop are a band from Osaka, Japan who specialize in creating music that blends hip-hop, glitchy noise, traditional folk music, pop standards, and much more into a sound that is both frantic and reassuring, comforting and hysterical. In 2007, the group appeared on Cyclic Bits: The Raymond Scott Variations, the special created for Ergo Phizmiz's Phuj Phactory on WFMU, which is now available for download via the Free Music Archive. Since then, the group has released a few stellar records, including the impossibily-long titled yet brilliant Arkhaiomelisidonophunikheratos and the super funky Catholic Sunspot Apron.

I was delighted to e-mail core Satanicpornocultshop member Ugh via e-mail. Please check it out after the jump.

Split: A Conversation with Tony McPhee

The world is not a fair place. If it were, Tony McPhee and the Groundhogs would be championed across the board as the purveyors of some of the greatest classic-boogie rock of all time. There is no song that rocks harder than "Strange Town." Seriously, listen to this! Packed with stellar riffs, great lyrics, and awesome grooves, Split, Thank Christ For The Bomb, and Who Will Save The World? amongst many of their others stand as titans of rock'n'roll. This music will kick your ass and leave you crawling back for more.

I was delighted to interview Tony McPhee via e-mail about a week or so ago. Check it out after the jump!

Tamaryn live at MoMA PS1 + Interview

Over the weekend, I had the oppurtunity to see Tamaryn and Mirror Mirror with my friend Florenz Cruz at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. Despite being a bit out of the way, it was a great place to see a show, especially with the great stage set up the museum designed for it... complete with a giant white drape leaning over the stage and part of the audience. This seemed the perfect setting to see a group like Tamaryn, with this cavernous make-shift ceiling reflecting colors and allowing the group's music to be as big as it can be. Each song seemed to start off with a simple bassline and then explode into much more, never getting old.

After the show, we had the opportunity to go meet the group's guitarist and singer, Rex and Tamaryn, respectively, and Florenz nabbed a couple of photos and got the chance to record some Q+A with the band. A transcription of that is available to read after the jump.

An Interview With Jennifer Charles of Elysian Fields by Florenz Cruz

(photo by Micky of lecargo.org)

This is an interview my friend Florenz Cruz did with Jennifer Charles of New York band Elysian Fields. The group performed live on Irwin's show in 2004 and in 2009, Charles was a special guest on the same program. Those two can both be listened to here.

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With Oren Bloedow’s riffs ranging from dangerously aggressive to sensuously soft and Jennifer Charles’ distinctly tranquil, almost hushed, inarguably beautiful  vocal stylings, Elysian Fields has been one of New York’s musical mainstays for over a decade.

In the midst of finishing up their latest album, Last Night On Earth, they will be performing with Lucinda Black Bear at Le Poisson Rouge this Friday, February 18, and at Amiens Jazz Festival in France on April 2.  Jennifer Charles kindly agreed to answer a slew of personal questions that puts the band’s music into a more multidimensional perspective, allowing a brief look into the inspiration incorporated into her past, present, and future work.

In the Presence of Kurt Heasley: An Interview

(photo by Noah Greenberg)

Since 1988, Kurt Heasley has headed the Lilys, a group which has gone from shoegazed dream pop to Kinks-ian rock to spaced out meditations to much, much more with a revolving line up that has included more than seventy-two different musicians. Heasley's vision is constantly changing, and he is well aware of this. The element that remains constant, however, is the brilliance to which this man approaches his craft, with certain points of his career almost reflecting a Trout Mask Replica for the 21st century, with the disassembled and rearranged fragments of both brilliant pop songs and the social idioms to which we hold them in place of Captain Beefheart's skronk and blues.

I may be getting ahead of myself here... but I cannot contain my love for this music. I was delighted for this chance to interview Kurt. Check it out after the jump.

Checking Up with Simon Joyner

(photo by Dana Damewood)

Simon Joyner is one of those guys whose name always comes up in conversation about others. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Be it Beck, Conor Oberst, or even John Peel, if one is affected by the music of Simon Joyner they will certainly reveal it. However, even when Joyner is discussed by himself... reviews and write-ups can often be covered with references to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and other big figures of the "singer/songwriter" domain.

Maybe that's not a bad thing either... because once the listener finally gets to listen to his music, they will find Joyner surely stands on his own. Joyner's music is intelligent, lyrical, and constantly changing, not unlike the man who writes it. Perhaps the most admirable trait of this man is the eloquence of which he can speak about his craft... and Simon Joyner is certainly a craftsman.

A Chat with Dominique Leone

The pop song knows no boundaries or limitations, and few people more aware of this than Dominique Leone. Starting his career out as a music journalist for publications like Pitchfork and the All Music Guide, Leone was an early champion for people like Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart, and a strong supporter of artists like the Boredoms, Magma, and Bob Drake. Leone switched from writing about music to performing it in the middle of the last decade, creating two great albums, Dominique Leone and Abstract Expression, as well as a slew of EP's which you can get on his Bandcamp.

Leone's music is expansive, and much like the work of musicians like XTC or Max Tundra, full of songs that keep you guessing what will happen next. Predictable is certainly not a word I would use to describe Dominique Leone. To start his discography, I'd look at his most recent full length album, Abstract Expression, eleven songs which run the gamut from pop ditties to prog work-outs, always changing, always staying interesting.

I was extremely pleased to interview Mr. Leone over the weekend. You can check that out after the jump.

A Chat with Satomi Matsuzaki

Deerhoof has been around for 16 years, and is very excited about its birthday! For this Super Sweet 16, the group has separated from its old label, signed to Polyvinyl, recorded an album independently, and appeared in a documentary film. They are embarking on a tour to promote Deerhoof vs. Evil this spring, and it should be one hell of a birthday party. Hey, that's a lot more fun than what I did for my 16th birthday.

The group has also appeared on WFMU several times, with live sets from Brian Turner's show in 2002, 2003, and 2005 all being available to stream on the WFMU site. Deerhoof also performed a set at the 2009 Flaming Lips-curated ATP in Monticello, New York, which is streaming at the Free Music Archive.

Satomi Matsuzaki has been with the group since 1996, always adding a sense of joy, playfulness, and melody to the brilliant racket of her husband, Greg Saunier, and company. It was a great opportunity to interview her, which you can check out after the jump.

Full House Head: An Interview With Endless Boogie's Top Dollar

Just in time for those a bit tired of the holiday season, I bring to you an interview with Endless Boogie's Top Dollar!( ...or Paul Major has he is known to his friends). Endless Boogie are one of those groups whose name fits the sound perfectly, it being a hard hitting boogie that seems to float on endlessly. Not endlessly in a band, clock-watching way... but in a blissful zen of skronky rock. The rhythm chugs on and the guitars blast in and out, almost like a fusion of Neu and the Groundhogs. Anyone who says that rock is dead... obviously has not heard Endless Boogie.

No strangers to FMU, these guys performed a live session on Brian Turner's show back in 2005. They released Full House Head in 2010 on No Quarter, which might even be their strongest record to date. Check out my interview with Top Dollar after the jump

An Interview With Max Tundra

I had originally conducted this interview with Max Tundra at the Free Music Archive, but I feel like this guy is so good he deserves a repost here! Besides, Mr. Tundra is an avid WFMU fan, even shouting out the station in the lyrics of the awesome "Nord Lead Three" from Parallax Error Beheads You:

"One summer in a panelled room
I plugged her into someone's loom
The majesty that did occur
Made pussycats and doggies purr
Someone in the dinner queue
Had heard WFMU
He noticed all her subtle tricks
Depsite their lowness in the mix"

... and he's also done a Listener Hour for the station as well, here's the playlist. But besides any of that, the man is an incredible, incredible musician. For those in the UK, on December 11th, Max Tundra will be playing a show at The Old Fire Station in Bristol. Check out the interview after the jump.

Checking in with Will Oldham

Will Oldham, or Bonnie "Prince" Billy as he is known to some, is a focused individual. One can see this in the craft in which his music is made, distributed, and presented... not to mention how his own persona is established alongside it. Mr. Oldham can be an enigma at times... but I think that calls for something that he might agree with, listening to the music for itself... and setting the figure of the man or woman behind it aside.

Oldham has been very active within the last year, as recent collaborations have found him recording an album and touring with the Cairo Gang, having an appearance in Jackass 3, and appearing on a remix of Hot Chip's "I Feel Better", aptly titled "I Feel Bonnie"... amongst several other appearances. 

Bonnie "Prince" Billy and the Cairo Gang will be playing Town Hall in New York City December 8th. I was able to interview Mr. Oldham via e-mail.

A chat with Frankie Rose and the Outs

(photo via achrntatrps, Creative Commons BY NC SA)
 
Frankie Rose has played drums with the Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, and Dum Dum Girls... but I think it is safe to say, in the long run, she is more of a songwriter than she is a drummer. For instance, I found "Where Do You Run To?" to be the best song on the Vivian Girls first record, and while I liked the rest of the tracks on the album... that number had such a resonance to it, such a "catchy" immediacy... it was instantly stuck in my head for days on end when I first heard it, and with each time after that as well...

Now, Ms. Rose has started a career with her own group, The Outs, whose self-titled album is full of songs like "Hollow Life", "Girlfriend Island", and "Candy"... songs that have the same feeling as "Where Do You Run To?" but with enough variety and dynamics to make a full album interesting. There isn't a song I don't like on Frankie Rose and the Outs. She is definitely someone to keep an eye on.

I interviewed Frankie Rose via email.

Female Guitar Players Are the New Black: An Interview with Marnie Stern

Marnie Stern shreds, but when you hear how great her songs are, that's almost besides the point. A late bloomer to the rock world... She released her first album on Kill Rock Stars, In Advance of the Broken Arm, in 2007, when she was thirty-one years old. But that's besides the point too. The point is that Marnie Stern, with drummer Zach Hill at her side, is a real progressive punker, making music that warbles your mind and kicks your ass... but makes you feel good too. Within her music she quotes Marchel Duchamp, Allen Watts, Back to the Future, and Mark Twain with equal ease and applies finger tapping with such a coolness and familiarity that people who show off that stuff just look silly in comparison...

Her latest album, the self titled Marnie Stern, is a bit different than her previous two releases, delving into a deep emotional core that causes the album as a whole to swell into more "song-y" sort of manners--- though the drumming of Zach Hill and Marnie's persistent playing keep the record in line with her other two releases. It's definitely a great record.

I was able to interview Marnie about it via e-mail last week.

Checking Up with Kavus Torabi of Knifeworld, Cardiacs, the Monsoon Bassoon

Kavus Torabi must be a very busy man. Throughout the 90's he fronted the brilliant London based Monsoon Bassoon, and in the last decade split his time between the North Sea Radio Orchestra, Chrome Hoof, his own group Knifeworld, Guapo, and The Mediaeval Baebes... not to mention having a spot in the line-up of his childhood heroes, the unstoppable Cardiacs. 

Sadly, Tim Smith, the leader of the Cardiacs, suffered a stroke on June 25th, 2008, which has lead the band to go into an indefinite hiatus. A Tim Smith tribute album, Leader of the Starry Skies, is set for a November release on Torabi's label, Believers Roast, and will include performances from Knifeworld, Max Tundra, Andy Partridge of XTC, and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.

Kavus Torabi is still very active in performing music, however, fronting the awesome Knifeworld, whose Buried Alone: Tales of Crushing Defeat surely includes some of the coolest progressive-psychedelic-metal-pop-rock this side of Voivod.

I was able to interview Mr. Torabi about Knifeworld, Leader of the Starry Skies, and his race with Max Tundra via email. Check it out after the jump.

Struggling Electric and Chemical: A Dustdevils Interview

Despite being an 80's New York noise rock band with sonic ties to Glenn Branca and no wave, the Dustdevils are a far different group than the Sonic Youth who they are frequently compared to. Michael Duane's group, which at points had consisted of Pavement's and future Sonic Youth-er Mark Ibold, Glenn Branca compadre and sometime Don Caballero member Dave Reid, New Yorker rock critic Sasha Frere-Jones, and countless others, is unfortunately an example of a great act that never really got its chance to shine in the ethos of American indie rock. 

"Struggling Electric and Chemical", the group's 1990 album, is sonic gold, opening with a cover of the Fall's "Hip Priest," in which frontwoman Jaqi Dulaney casts the track into a sultry stomp that Mark E. Smith was never capable of. The real masterpiece on the album is the second track, "The Revenge of Cruiser Gurner," complete with a coda that sounds like the child of King Crimson and Sonic Youth. 

I was able to interview Michael Duane via e-mail, who provided me with a fascinating history of the group, scars included. Check it out after the jump. 

Total Recall: An Interview With Zach Hill

Zach Hill is an innovator. Booming out of Sacramento in the late 90s to make a name for himself playing drums with Hella, Marnie Stern, Wavves, Team Sleep, Boredoms, and countless others, Hill plays the drums like David Lynch writes movies--- frantic, perplexing, troubling--- but ultimately, completely euphoric. Earlier this month, Hill released Face Tat, the follow up to his first official solo album Astrological Straits. 

It's a bit hard to say what Face Tat sounds like, as its constantly changing forms and songs will take an infinite number of listens to truly grasp, but the feelings one can get from listening to the album make it as addicting as some type of all consuming Entertainment. But this is more than just entertainment, this is Face Tat. And it rocks. And rolls. Really hard. 

I was able to speak with Zach about the album, including where he got the title "Face Tat" from, and some other endeavors via e-mail. Check it out after the jump! 

A Brief History of William Tyler

 William Tyler is a Nashville-based guitarist who has played with Lambchop, the Silver Jews, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Tim Chad and Sherry, Charlie Louvin, and his own solo project the Paper Hats. Tyler is also the founder of the Sebastian Speaks record label, which has released records such as Hilarity and Despair: American Answering Tapes Volume 1, a "compendium of discarded and disregarded answering machine tapes" as well as records by Forrest Bride and Ted Lucas. On November 23rd, William will be releasing Behold the Spirit under his own name on the Tompkins Square label. 

I sent Mr. Tyler a few e-mails with questions about his experiences playing on some of the many records and songs that he has. I didn't ask him about every piece of music he leant his talents to... but for the ones I did, William was able to provide me with some great stories about how these songs and LPs came to be. This guy rocks!

Check out his stories below...

The Cosmic World Of Dennis Greenidge

 
I can remember one December night, towards the end of my high school years, sitting in a 7/11 parking lot with my friends listening to WFMU when suddenly a strange voice came onto the radio. The voice sounded familiar, almost like an impersonation of Mark E. Smith. It had the same warbly old English gruff that MES' trademark growl has, but there was something strange about it, something truly naive.

This voice was speak singing over the buzzes of static and half-there "rock" instrumentation, that would click off  and seemingly rewind back in place, playing again. The man sang of Marvel superhero Dr. Strange. The song stopped and then a new one started. For years, I wondered what the hell that marvelous insanity was.

Gary Wilson on Jimmy Fallon?! + Interview

Yes, you have read that correctly! On October 27th, the King of Endicott, New York himself, Gary Wilson, will be appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Gary released the awesome Lisa Wants to Talk To You in 2008, and will be following it with this year's greatly anticipated Electric Endicott. He will promote the record on the show, and most likely offer one of the strangest interactions of guest and host since Crispin Glover's appearance on David Letterman's show in the early 90's. If anything, this appearance should be a blast! 

I asked Gary a few questions about the appearance, which he kindly replied to. Check them out after the jump!