EIC's 10Q's w/ Phil Elverum

"..for the average music worshiper that's looking for a bit of a "challenge" in their listening experience.."

Phil Elverum
Domestic Dexterity

Phil Elverum Bio:
Phil Elverum (born Phil Elvrum May 26, 1978) is the sole permanent member of the Anacortes, Washington-based Indie Rock bands The Microphones and Mount Eerie. Phil Elverum manipulates analog recording devices in his work. Most of the Microphones catalog was recorded on a broken 16 track reel to reel tape machine while his recent material has been recorded on an 8 track reel to reel. Elverum currently operates P. W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd., from which he sells records by Mount Eerie and the Microphones as well as Thanksgiving, Woelv and The Spectacle. Phil Elverum used to drum for the Olympia, Washington-based band Old Time Relijun. He is also a founding member of the band D+, and has produced and engineered recordings for other artists including Beat Happening, Mirah, Little Wings, Karl Blau, and Jason Anderson.

Hello, how are you?
I am fine.

What are you currently listening to?
Es, Adrian Orange, David Lynch..

Care to tell us about the meaning/reasoning behind releasing two separate albums this year, rather than a double/single release?
The last 2 records I made were double albums and I have started to feel like that's just too much music to be able to wrap one's mind around at once. I had this larger pile of songs which worked well as 2 groups that were communicating with each other, making references to each other across a divide, rather than just one big chunk. It's 2 angles of view on the same idea.

Did you have a clear idea of what you were going for when you began writing for them?
No. The project started as a long period of super abstract recording experimentation. Not even songs, just recording different sound ideas, making drones, etc.

Whats your favorite track(s) from said albums?
At the moment my favorite is the first song from Ocean Roar which is called "Pale Lights". It is barely classifiable as a song. It's pretty long, and it does these weird things to my mind when I'm listening to it. It's like a neurological experiment.

Will you be extensively touring (hopefully the US) for these releases?
Yes, a US tour is being planned for September.

In your opinion who is the most underrated artist of all time?
It's a 3 way tie between Adrian Orange/Katy Davidson/Nicholas Krgovich

What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?
That's a tough one. There are so many good candidates. I think about images and movie ideas so much when I'm recording. I guess maybe slow motion aerial nordic landscape footage would work well. Boring and meditative and spacious enough for an idea to sit there. If not that, "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise"

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
The music of G.I. Gurdjieff played by Thomas de Hartmann

Are you living your dream?
Yes, and I am dreaming my life.

Thanx Phil!

Phil Elverum is currently plotting out a Fall tour as well as putting together the final pieces for the second part to his latest opus 'Clear Moon' (which is probably one of the best releases the year so far)...

REVIEW: David Shane Smith - Controls SM

8.75 out of 10

Find it here.

I had never heard of David Shane Smith prior to him sending me "Controls SM". That's so typical, some of the best/most unique talent out there, being ignored/going unnoticed (I know, I'm repeating myself). Any-how, now that I have (finally) become acquainted with Mr. Smith's talent/sound (over and over actually) I find myself slightly happier and fulfilled.

I'm not sure if you want to consider this his third official release or not, but on David's (third) release "Controls SM" you will hear him master his unique craft of mixing "Lo-fi-Indie-Experimental-Pop" with a bit of Electronics and "estranged" atmospheres a little more. His sound is somewhat unmatched. Although, you may hear slight nods towards a couple Indie bands of yesterday; Microphones, Fog, Clouddead (a tad bit anyways), and Throbbing Gristle (no, this album is not "Industrial") to name a few. "Controls SM" is an acquired taste, it is my taste (almost) 100%. It's an album that has that "good-kind" of weird vibe to it, makes you nod your head while listening to it, is completely relaxing/fun, and just all around astonishing (especially if you like any of those bands mentioned above). Each song standouts from (almost against) the next, but the absurdity in sounds is what makes this album so cohesive. Hand's down one of my favorite releases of 2011. This is probably the most unique experience your headphones will have this year. It's a shame this may/will go unnoticed. Oh yeah, (I almost forgot) Did I mention it (the album) is free (as well as a few others HERE.)?

HIGHLY Recommended (ESPECIALLY towards the proper set (the "right" kind) of ears).

Standout Tracks: All, All, All & Cool Pesticide, Freaks, Ifeelalive (Clouddead Vs. Throbbing Gristle--don't want this song to end), Shampoo, Global Warming Makes Me Hot (Feat. Ice Truck) (sooooooo yummy--reminds me of Air), Blackbirds (one of the best tracks of '11), Overfeeling (reminds me of Owen Pallett--kind of), Gasmask (reminds me of Aphex Twin--yeah, this guy really is all over the place..)

EIC'S10Q'S w/Jon Lemmon

"..elements of Indie Pop with "Club Music", Pysch Rock, Electronica, and general Social Discontent..If you survived (or are surviving) your teen years you may find something very bitter sweet about this.."


Jon Lemmon
Vexed Predilection Tronica

Jon Lemmon Bio:
From Jon:
I was born in the suburbs of Los Angeles, where I spent most of my time alone in an alien neighborhood. When I was 19, I moved to New Zealand. There I made friends and a life for myself. I currently work part-time and spend the rest of my time making music and trying to be nice to people.

Jon just released his debut album "Kindling", a rather impressive EP, for FREE via the artists site (where you can find even more free music -- for FeReEeEeEeE).


Hello, how are you?
Better than I’ve been in several months.

What are you currently listening to?
A self-help audio book, haha! And besides that... nothing really. I think I go through periods of listening to music and periods of creating music... and right now I’m in the creation phase. That said, a friend just showed me an old album by Beth Gibbons (the girl from Portishead) called "Out Of Season". I’m really liking it. It’s so dark and intimate. And I’m guessing I’m about to fall in love with the upcoming Deerhunter album.

You live in New Zealand right? How is the music scene there?
It’s awesome. Lots of good underground music. There’s a festival called Camp A Low Hum which goes on every year. It’s really small (500-1000 people attend), and it’s everything that most crappy massive festivals aren’t... it’s personal, there’s great vibes, lots of space, beautiful surroundings, lots of arts/crafts events, and no VIP area... the artists and audience all just hang out together. It’s such a great experience. 3 days of bliss. Here’s a highlights video of the first one I went to. Oh, and here’s a video of the most recent one which took place in an abandoned outdoor school campus in the middle of nowhere. It had lots of acts big acts from NZ (The Ruby Suns, The Shocking Pinks, etc.) and lots of international acts as well (Jens Lenkman, Dan Deacon, The Dodos). It was really really really good. I think my friend got to dance with Jens at the school ball at the end of everything. She was stoked, haha. But seriously, the guy who runs the whole event is doing an amazing thing for the New Zealand music scene. If you’ve got nothing to do this February, you should come down and join the fun**!
(**Editors note: You payin'?)

Can you please explain the type of “sound/mood” you were trying to achieve when you began writing music?
I didn’t really have one. I just wanted to make music. Then as I kept experimenting some themes started arising. Early on I started experimenting with lots of layered and manipulated vocals... I wasn’t entirely sure where it was all going at the time. Eventually those experiments evolved to incorporate themes of loneliness and isolation... and a vague sense of hope. Now I’m trying to not focus on “sound” as much. I think the majority of music these days is too focused on sonic and visual aesthetic, and not enough emphasis is put into the content of the music itself. What are all these washed out retro new age songs saying? I’m having a hard time finding significant meaning in a lot of them. Not that I think all songs need to have significant meaning... but I just feel like I’m being bombarded with a bunch of stuff that doesn’t really have any point... and it’s making it harder for me to find meaning... to make sense of the world around me.

What song are you most proud of so far?
"Steppenwolf, pg. 247", "Suspended" and a new track I made the other night called "Ascension". They aren’t my most accessible songs, but I that’s part of what I like about them. Their focus is elsewhere. "Steppenwolf" is an investigation into the digital world that is taking over our lives... can beautiful things still exist in such a cold and sterile environment? "Suspended" is a track I wrote in the middle of the night when I had a sudden attack of sadness. I was sleeping over at a friend’s house, and he went to sleep and all the sudden I felt this extreme sense of being stuck in between two worlds and not being able to connect with either of them. So I picked up my laptop and started recording while he was sleeping in the bed next to me. The experience of synthesizing my emotions into that song was very healing for me, and I think the song conveys the emotions that I was feeling at that exact moment. "Ascension" is another song I made in the middle of the night, and I think it’s an accurate description of where I’m at right now. The song is crazed, manic, and incomplete, haha.... but also hopeful. I wouldn’t want it to sound any other way.

I particularly love the track “The Inside Of A Corner”, what is the “theme/message” of this track?
There’s probably a few... but social isolation is a big one... and perhaps difficulty dealing with interpersonal relationships. When I wrote those lyrics I imagined myself at a party and people chattering and talking to me, and me being totally detached and just wanting to go home and be on my own... but at the same time, not wanting that at all.

Who is the most underrated artist out there that you know of?
Daft Punk, hahaha. Everyone thinks their just a cheezy French dance group, but they’re so much more! Seriously, their live show at Coachella 2006... I won’t go into it because I’d end up giving you an essay. But yeah, in terms of unknown artists... you’d probably know better than me. I have a hard time keeping up with all the music that’s produced these days. Oh, I know... Mount Pleasant. He’s a guy down in Christchurch (here in New Zealand), and he’s the most prolific artist I’ve ever met. He puts out like 200 songs a year or something. Sometimes the sound quality might suffer for it, like one of the instruments might be too loud or too quiet, but that’s what I love about it. He’s just got all these ideas flowing out of him, and he doesn’t waste a breath on the meaningless post-production that our current culture is so obsessed with. He’s doing lots of amazing stuff. Also, my friends Wet Wings (also from Christchurch). They’re really cool. They’ve got an upcoming EP which I’m sure is going to be gorgeous.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
That would be a sad situation... but probably "The Glow Pt. 2" by The Microphones. That album, with all it’s tortured prayers, speaks to my soul. Although if it’s for the rest of my life... perhaps in ten years I won’t be able to relate to that album in the same way I do now. It’s funny, Phil Elverum (of The Microphones), refuses to play any of those songs anymore. He had some sort of transformation and now he plays under the name Mount Eerie and not nearly as many people listen to his music anymore. I like to think that he’s on a different spiritual plane now and most of us just can’t relate with it, haha. What I’m trying to say is... if I ever have a spiritual transformation, maybe I’ll never want to listen to "The Glow Pt. 2" ever again... or my own current music for that matter.

Are you living your dream?
My dream is to wake up every morning with a smile on my face, and I’m not quite there yet. Once I get there I think my music will sound different... if I’m even making music at all.

Thanx Jon!

Jon Lemmon just released his debut album "Kindling", make sure to get that NOW. (Unless you have a reason for ignoring FREE/QUALITY MUSIC)

Check into Green Gerry..

Green Gerry - Odd Tymes (full LP!!)

This album is blowing me away right now, although it may be more well suited for late Fall or Winter time weather, it's f^&%ing amazing. Great Lo-Fi/Alt-Wierdo music in vein of Odawas and The Microphones.

EIC'S10Q'S w/Sally Paradise

"..inventive sounds that will capture your attention from the very first distorted note to the last purring melody. Keyboards, drum machine sounds, a few synths, a guitar, LOTS of distortion pedals, and "tuck me into bed" vocals.."


Sally Paradise
(please see this quote..)

Sally Paradise Bio:
Right so like, this girl called Sally thought about Paradise one day. Conceptually t’was OK, till she attempted to express it in words. For years she toiled away with a dictionary till she heard some fella with a guitar on the street. Alas, she found a manifestation, Sally Paradise. We are grateful for this.


Hello, how are you?
Chittakone: Very well. Thank you.

What are you currently listening to?
Chittakone: Some stuffs by Sublime Frequencies and Anticon, Omar Souleyman, Thaï/Lao Molam and friends from Jeunesse Cosmique crew.
Catherine: I've been really obsessed with Cure and Sonic Youth while doing the album. I've also had a huge crush on Future Islands' new album, Former Ghosts, Nite Jewel, Washed Out and all the Chillwave summer bonbon scene. Right now I'm more into listening over and over again Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and old Yo la Tengo and Magnetic Fields albums.

Love the band name, where does it come from?
Catherine: Thanks! It comes from the fascination I had a few years ago for the book "On The Road" by Kerouac. Sal Paradise is the narrator (and Jack himself). I thought that Sally Paradise sounded both like a mysterious name and a really cheap, cheesy one.

Who and/or what influences you the most when it comes to the music you write?
Chittakone: I'm much influenced by guitarists like Thurston Moore, Loren Connors, Fred Firth. I like the way they create and explore new sounds with their guitars. Redefine and deconstruct the music is what I like. I'm also very influenced by images in some movies. I like Werner Herzog, Harmony Korine and Gilles Groulx.
Catherine: The music I'm listening to, the movies I watch... it's a sponge-like process. I guess my love life is a kind of an influence too (sincerely, how couldn't it be?). As for the lyrics, it's an improv with rythm, sounds, anything that pops in my mind. I hate writing lyrics for a purpose, I find the nonsensical ones much more interesting.

How is the music scene in Montreal these days? More specifically, how is the Shoegaze/Dream Pop scene?
Chittakone: There really is no Dream Pop/Shoegaze scene in Montreal. I just think people do what they love. So many styles are mixed to create summer love music.

Your offering your debut “L'Ascension du Mont Shing” for free, can you tell me why you chose that route?
Catherine: I think we discovered the power of Blogspot! I dig out music that way, so many people do too... It's pretty difficult to get your music out there and we'd come to the point when we decided we only wanted to pass the music around, see what happens. I think CD is really important too, the artwork, the object itself... We'll focus on our full album and do something magical.

Now that the EP is out do you plan on touring the US?
Catherine: When we have our full length album, that would be nice! We've thought a lot about how our music could happen live. the band and the songs are always in motion (I have the incredibly annoying way to build a song by instinctively piling a vast amount of tracks of weird synths and beats, rapidly saturating (which can probably be a pain for other members who want to join in...)) I think we've recently found the essence of what could be a live Sally Paradise show. It's like a battle between melody and noise, me being the rythm and the melody and Chi being the destroyer of it all. I guess that way, we could be touring for real.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Catherine: I didn't think i could find an answer to this one but I did. I was just about to fall asleep when it popped into my mind: "The Glow Pt. 2", by The Microphones, for its sincerity, for Phil Elvrum's pure magnificent voice... For me, this album is like having an incredibly perfect moment with nature and emotions, like smelling humid earth on your hands or seeing fog in the morning. I think this album is precious.
Chittakone: In an unreal life I would say Lady Gaga, but I prefer to say ''Disintegration'' by The Cure

Are you living your dream?
Chittakone: As long as I would do music with my friends of Jeunesse Cosmique and with the most charming person in the cosmic world, Catherine, I'll say yes.
Catherine: Oh, how am I supposed to find a better answer than this! Haha! Yes, I suppose I'm on the dream's path.

Thanx Catherine & Chittakone!

Sally Paradise are currently working on a follow up to their debut EP, look for that soon (please?)...

REVIEW: Blood Blood - Autumn/Harvest

6.5 out of 10

Find it here.

As I've mentioned before in the past, being a part of the "press" has it's perks. Sometimes I receive albums from little known bands that are just coming up in the world. Trust me I'm not complaining, finding gems from unheard of projects is always a good thing. Enter Blood Blood; a new project off of the terrific I Had An Accident Records label, which is also up and coming. "Autumn/Harvest" is Damg's (Bloodx2) first release under the moniker. It is a shining example of Lo-Fi aesthetics blended with Campfire atmospheres, as well as minimal droney electronics. Using only a guitar, keyboard, and a busted microphone made in the 80's. Blood Blood delivers the kind of music that only fans of Microphones/Mt. Eerie, Animal Collective, or Our Brother The Native may come to agree with.

"Autumn/Harvest" has a very cohesive feel between all of the tracks. Low-end bass/static sounds emanate through the warmest sounding recordings, vocals barely audible add an element of charm and emotional disposition, keyboards, usually in the form of an organ-esque/"buzz" sound are sustained, a few drum machine sounds are used, and a guitar which offers both a simple melody as well as a click tempo to some of the tracks. The sounds that are offered here are indeed simple, but due to their "simple" nature, they come off as charming and somewhat elegant. Tracks like Lumb, bring to mind the early bedroom recording days of Fog, catchy/chill/melancholy. We all know Lo-Fi can be one of the harder genre's to "understand", but I think if you take a chance with the sounds on "Autumn/Harvest" you may come to appreciate the genre that much more.

This is L-O---F-I. If you're a fan of the genre, you will love this. Overall I am pleased with the experience, but like I said some may find the recordings hard to swallow at points. Still though, I am definitely interested to see where this artist takes his music in the future.

Standout Tracks: Kbye, Lumb (LOVE this track, especially when the piano comes in), Naked