The Mast - The Propulsive Dual Dream

The tandem of single name only vocalist/guitarist Haale and percussionist Matt Kilmer make up Brooklyn based duo The Mast. Their combined talents produce a music that cannot be simply classified into an easily recognizable genre or style. Hyperkinetic percussion sets the groove for well-placed minimal guitar accents. Vocals delivered in a dual voiced tandem and precise diction phrasing do share similar qualities with School Of Seven Bells, but that's where that comparison ends. Their latest album “Wild Poppies” make use of percussion recorded with distinct crystal clarity. The stereo separation, placement and prominence dominate the instrumentation without overpowering it. Guitars are there, but secondary. The voices do share equal billing, however. The only overdubs on the album were done to enhance vocals. All the instrumentation was played live in the studio, with whatever effects needed added at that time. The result is a stunningly full sounding collection of songs that are both lyrically mysterious and sonically brilliant.




The band recently performed live as part of The Deli Magazine's CMJ "Dream Pop" Showcase at The Delancey in New York City on October 18, 2011. Included below are photos (and one video) from that show.

Additionally, Haale and Matt were kind enough to answer some questions about what makes The Mast "go"

Your bio states that you built a home studio where you live in Brooklyn . Is this where you recorded the album and is it self produced? Did you find it difficult to accomplish the sound you were looking for? Or did it come easier than expected?

We recorded the album in a studio we built and did the engineering and mixing ourselves. We knew what sound we wanted, so it wasn't really hard getting that recorded. We wanted to make an album that we could play live, so we used our instruments--percussion, voice, and electric guitar--along with pedals and effects. Nothing was overdubbed except for the extra vocal layers. So recording was quite easy, we just played the songs the best we could.


Your song “EOA” finds arpeggiated guitar figures moving forward in the mix, sharing equal space with the busy percussion. The vocals are smoothed even further as the line “all hands on deck” is repeated. “And I say – EOA” becomes the primary (and mysterious) title line. What does EOA signify? What does it mean?
EOA means end of anxiety. I mention the country made of plastic waste floating in the Pacific, and armies thrashing cities, and then sing "All hands on deck"--it does seem that's an appropriate mantra these days. We have a lot to deal with, a lot to develop and implement, like biodegradable plastics, alternative energy technologies, and conflict resolution skills. I say, EOA--end of anxiety--because I think it's be easier to enact positive solutions if we do it in a state of calm--having a panic attack is of no help to anyone on a sinking ship.



“Definitions” builds around a descending guitar-line, allowing the voices to create counter-melodies. There is an almost ancient-ritualistic quality to it all. How much investigating have you done regarding music made in ancient bygone eras? Does this inspire you?

We listen to classical Indian music-- Matt studied South Indian percussion for years-- Persian classical music, Jazz that was created over the last 150 years, and Malian and other African music with roots that definitely stretch to ancient times. We've also listened to Icaros or medicine songs sung by Peruvian curanderos, which have been passed down through the generations. All this music is inspiring.

“Hummingbird” is quicker paced, but leaves space for a buzzy, bass-driven change section. What actual instrument is used there? Is it a synth or actual bass guitar? Who played it?

H: I'm playing that on my Les Paul using a POG 2 and a Full Drive distortion pedal.
“Lucid Dream” has the repeated lyric “I go everywhere – in this Empire.” Does this song reference how one has no limits in the dream world? How much of your dreams influence what goes into you music?

H: I guess waking dreams figure in to the songs quite a bit and so much in reality is dream-like. In the title track 'Wild Poppies,' I'm talking about wildflowers that were blowing in the breeze at the foot of a watchtower and a wall topped with spirals of barbed wire. It looked as if the wildflower was waving to the watchtower and the security cameras, or trying to communicate with them. Wildflower, watchtower---the words have a similar ring, but they're two opposite ends of the spectrum, in terms of what they represent. One is so delicately beautiful and one is so ominous. And with my 3-D dream glasses on, they were side by side in conversation.
As for lucid dreaming, that's a great thing to learn to do. When you lucid dream you can direct your dreams, and apparently go anywhere. You can fly over the Grand Canyon , take a spin around that diamond planet just discovered in the Milky Way, even practice your guitar, when you get really skilled at it. Not a bad way to spend an hour a day.

Your bio also states that Matt composes music for comedian Louis CK ’s television series “Louie” on the FX network. How did all that come about? How is it working with Louis?

M: Our friend Reggie Watts called me up one day asking if I could get a band together to do the music for the show. Reggie originally got the call to do the music but he was about to go on tour opening for Conan Obrien on his tour.
So I got a band together and we really clicked with Louis . He likes a lot of different music in the show, from old bop, to Jimi Hendrix , to eastern European gypsy music. All of the guys I got to play are old friends and amazing musicians that can cover a lot of territory stylistically. Louis is the kind of guy that knows exactly what he wants, so he's great to work with.

What are the pieces of equipment that you find particularly inspiring when recording at home?
The Les Paul guitar, Matt 's Cooperman frame drums, and Ableton Live.

We also have an electronic project we're working out, and for that one we also use Ableton, and Matt uses the Korg Wavedrum , and the Touch OSC pad.
Do you expect your next record to be self-produced, or would you like to work with a producer? If it’s the latter, who would you most like to produce your band, and why?
We're already working on the next album but if we could pick anyone, it would be Jack White , we dig his energy.

Do you use rack effects or guitar pedals to forge your own sound?

Haale uses a POG 2 and the Full Drive distortion pedal. The POG 2 is awesome, the bass sound you can get with it is huge, and the Full Drive just has a classic sound.

Do you have a particular recording style that you aim for? What techniques do you employ to recreate it?
We like to get a transparent mix that still has character. The minimal instrumentation in our setup helps to get that sound. Also good mics, preamps, and mic-positioning are everything.

What other artists would you say have had the biggest influence in your approach to recording? Why?
Recordings produced by T-bone Burnett, Ethan Johns , and John Brion , and Rick Ruben , stand out as good examples of warm, clear recordings of live instruments and musicians. The approach is really just get good mic placement, check levels, hit record, play. Simple and effective.

Would you say that your live show informs your recording process or that your recording process informs your live show? Both? Neither?

They both inform each other. On the recordings, we are using the instruments that we play live. That was the only limit we set on ourselves, we weren't gonna use strings or bass or horns but wanted to make a full and satisfying sound with the two of us playing live.

Is there a piece of equipment that you find particularly useful on stage?

In our show now, we run everything through Ableton Live to really get the sound we want. We don't use it to play loops or clips, just for the effects.

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With bands doing more of everything themselves these days (recording, performing, self-promoting, etc.) and the evermore multimedia nature of the world, how much effort do you put into the visual component of your band - fashion, styling, photography, graphic/web design, etc.? Do you do these things yourself or is there someone that the band works with?
For 'Wild Poppies,' we did all the artwork ourselves. The cover is a photo collage of poppies we planted in our backyard. We photographed them, made the piece, and designed the font ourselves. The videos we've released so far we also made ourselves, though we're finally working on a director and a cinematographer for an upcoming video, which is great. Looking forward to more collaborations with directors, filmmakers, and animators.


Croms catching up with Haale after the showWhat do you find to be the most challenging aspects of the recording process? On the flipside, what aspects are the most rewarding?

The most challenging thing is agreeing on a final mix. The most rewarding is actually playing the music and creating the sound. The first listen after a great take is a wonderful moment.

Matt and Croms - on the mean streets of NYC
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Find out more about The Mast at these links:

http://www.thedelimagazine.com/FeatureView.php?artist=mast
http://themastmusic.com/
http://listn.to/TheMast

http://themast.bandcamp.com/album/wild-poppies

EXITMUSIC - An Agitated Dream

Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church make a dreamy rock music under the name EXITMUSIC. Brooklyn based, the married couple play in a style that often starts out quietly, but ultimately winds up grabbing you by the throat. Their impressive live shows have been garnering them much deserved attention, and now the finely crafted recorded works they have been meticulously constructing will be released as their debut album "From Silence" this fall.

Listening to these recordings in advance of the release via their website, one can't help but be captivated by what you hear. On their leadoff song titled "The Sea," a tension is noticable at it lurks throughout the quieter moments. There is an unsettling pulse that is mysterious and moody. The direction seems to travel down sonic areas running against what one might associate with a more "upbeat" music.

"I don't think you can decide where your creativity comes from," Aleksa says. "I feel that there is a place that I write from, a place that needs to be revealed. And this is the mood and the tone of that place," she continues. "People often say our music is 'dark', and there's truth to that, but I don't feel like we're 'dark' people or even that our music is all that dark," adds Devon. ":We're just trying to express our experience of life as honestly and as compellingly as we can. Sometimes I get creeped out by how 'happy and upbeat' most music is. We are in the middle of 3 or 4 wars and a mass extinction, after all. After a point, this obsession with pop (especially in the indie world) begins to seem kind of insane."

Listen to their live performance of "The Sea"

On stage, Aleksa commands attention as the bands lead vocalist. She also alternates between playing guitar and keyboards. Devon stands tall as the primary guitarist, and shifts effortlessly between providing power chords, quick riffs or melody lines and even employs at violin bow on the strings at one point.

Much of their show has a solemn quality to it all. Frequently the vocals are presented like someone almost going into a trance. Of someone losing themself in the moment. "The feeling of being on stage is a really hard to remember clearly afterwards," explains Aleksa. "It's almost like you have to find the spot where you can lose yourself in the moment while still being totally aware of where you are in time. I'm not in a trance, I'm just singing the words as weighted as I feel them," she concludes.



Their live show also presents some interesting guitar interplay between them. While Devon tends to play the longer, extended melodic notes (sometimes with slide) Aleksa will execute bursts of quick, forceful strumming, that creates a fuller sonic wash. "For me, I try to combine rhythmic and melodic elements in my guitar parts, so I'll play chords that incorporate a traveling counter-melody that supports what Aleksa's playing or singing," says Devon. "I think of myself more as a rhythm guitarist than a lead guitarist, though I do play some "leads". But I almost never strum the guitar - just a few times during the set. Mostly I play arpeggios or deconstructed chords."

"It's a language that I keep developing… it's like a cast of characters or a palate of colors, each with something to say," adds Aleksa. "I often play melodies by picking one string really fast, like a mandolin. I think this tremolo style - those explosions are just as emotional as the human voice. And I use those parts to sing with my guitar, and to disrupt the certainty of measured time."

On one of the songs in their live show, Devon used a violin bow across his guitar strings, creating a unique sonic tone and effect.. "I used to play a lot with an e-bow, but I wanted something more expressive, and more guttural sounding," he offers by way of explanation. "I like the deep moaning sound that you can produce by dragging the bow over the low strings of the guitar. You risk a lot of dissonance and feedback playing with a bow and a lot of reverb and distortion, so the intent is ultimately to wrest something beautiful out of what could potentially be kind of ugly. The influence for me is more Sigur Ros than Jimmy Page, but I also think of the violin bits in early Velvet Underground," he concludes.

The two of them self-directed their video for "The Sea," using footage from Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1975 film The Mirror. "We'd seen a lot of Tarkovsky's films, and when Chris Swanson (who runs their label Secretly Canadian) suggested we try cutting an existing film into a music video, we thought of him. But we hadn't yet seen The Mirror," says Devon. "When we did a google image search for 'Tarkovsky' this stark, beautiful image of a sort-of deranged looking woman standing over a basin of water came up. Then there was another image of a woman levitating and a man standing reverently beside her. They were both from the Mirror. We youtubed some montages of the film, and it was just incredibly rich with imagery. Especially the wind stuff is amazing. In a way, Tarkovsky's wind is serving the function that the sea, the water, does in our song. His images, together with the stock footage of war and revolution that he used in his film, create this incredibly menacing, dream-like, apocalyptic feeling that seemed to fit perfectly with the music."

Since then the band has released another video, this time for their song "The Hours." Directed by Will Joines, the imagery finds Aleksa singing against her reflection and possibly coming to grips with a polar opposite version of herself. Devon supports by way of slo motion guitar strumming and the overall effect is transcendent. With sonic production qualities that put emphasis first and foremost on the vocals (multitracked and uniquely enunciated) guitar lines are the appegiated deconstructed chords Devon describes, combined with a sparse percussion that makes its inclusion all the more dramatic.

The couple came together from disparate backgrounds. Devon came to New York by way of Winnipeg, Canada, while Aleksa grew up in this city. In addition to the music she has always made, Aleksa has an extensive acting career, and is currently featured in the HBO drama "Boardwalk Empire."

The band's name is a reference to the music one hears as the credits roll at the end of a film. "Everyone always mentions radiohead, but that's not where we got the name from," states Aleksa. "Exit music is the name for the last piece of music to be played in a film… the song that ushers people out of the theatre… the last piece of that 'world' they take with them. That's what we heard when we played our songs back," she continues. "Music that suggests a transition from world to another. My grandpa, Tony Palladino, is a graphic designer and has always had a unique way of making letters and words speak for themselves (he designed the lettering for PSYCHO). Anyway, he took out the space between exit and music… it fortified the whole concept. EXITMUSIC."

Cromwell chats with Aleksa post-show

Find out more about EXITMUSIC via these links here:

http://exitmusic.bandcamp.com/

http://vimeo.com/exitmusic

www.myspace.com/thedeclineofthewest

Shana Falana - In The Light

Emerging from Brooklyn's crowded field of independent solo artists comes the unique vocal talent of Shana Falana.

The current weekly residency at Pete's Candy Store for the month of September (there are two more shows, the 21st and 28th ...at 10:00 pm) is leading up to her the release show for her new EP "In The Light" on October 6 at Shea Stadium.

Produced by Kevin McMahaon (Swans, Titus Andronicus) and mixed by Gareth Jones (Grizzly Bear, Mogwai, Interpol) the record perfectly captures what Shana does best: positive music of wonderment and discovery. Inspired by Bulgarian folk music, her sound often reflects the genre's asymmetrical rhythms.

“Light The Fire” is hypnotic, chill-enducing and powerful.

Listen to this enchanting track:




“In The Light” presents vocals that are pure and straightforward, with diction having only the slightest of creative affectation (“everything” becomes “Av-erything”). A strong cello undercurrent allows Shana to soar above with multi-layered choruses of her own vocals.

Never unappealing sleigh bells usher in “Yeah Yeah.” An even more ethereal choir sings those words to varying patterns. The guitars begin to chunk along and the drums thunder in kind. Her vocal production embraces the same cathedrals Simon & Garfunkel explored during their finest moments (think “Only Living Boy In NYC”).



On a recent afternoon, Shana and I did a bit of shopping in Williamsburg, Brooklyn - and I conducted an interview with her.

Check out the first part here:





You can spend hours looking through all the wonderful treasures a specialty record has.


Part 2 of our Interview:




Official video for "In The Light"




Catch Shana at one of her upcoming shows for a truly rewarding listening experience.

Links to everything:

http://www.shanafalana.com/

http://facebook.com/shanafalanamusic

http://www.myspace.com/falanachannel

Sick Of Sarah - Review & Exclusive Interview

It often feels like a relentless quest at times - to hunt down music of above-average quality. With every form of media and social networking outlet constantly presenting one thing after another (a good portion of it delivering only mediocre results) - finding a gem in the mix is always a cause for celebration.

Such is the case with the band Sick Of Sarah

Having been made aware of them by virture of a promotional photo and advertisement projected on a video monitor, the quest to hear what this band was all about began.

Procuring the album led to a wonderful discovery of some truly inspired songwriting. That coupled with a studio mastery of their album titled 2205 (the address of where they reside) - and in general the obvious command over their respected instruments and voices, led to a desire to discover more about who they were and what made them tick.



Discovering they were to play a show at New York's venerable Knitting Factory on August 18, 2011, set the wheels in motion.



The band consists of Abisha Uhl on lead vocals and occasional guitar, Katie Murphy on lead guitar and background vocals, Jessie Farmer on lead/rhythm guitar and background vocals, Jamie Holm on bass guitar and background vocals and Jessica Forsythe on drums and background vocals. Yes - they all sing. This is an important aspect of their sound.

Look and listen as they play one of the great songs off of their latest album 2205



El Paso Blue


Jessica

Abisha

Katie

Jessie

Jamie on bass - her "newscaster" hair has a hypnotic effect on fans.

Catching up with the band prior to their performance,
an interview was conducted in the "green room."

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Check out Part 1 right here:


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Jessica's background vocals are as important to the band's overall sound
as is her solid, forceful drumming.

Listen further as the band rips through their kick ass song titled "Kick Back"

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Sick Of Sarah continue that tradition of "girls in a rock band" that was made so appealing by Joan Jett and her first band The Runaways - right up through Sleater-Kinney and current acts like Wild Flag.

And like those bands, there is a level of androgony involved in both their image and fan base.

If boys in bands dressing in a way more often associated with what "girls" do has been going on for decades, then the flipside of that is women dressing in "mannish" ways. Of course, girls have more or less been doing this to various degrees for years. Look no further than the classic jeans, t-shirt and sneakers ensemble for evidence. Perhaps that look could be more accurately described as "androgynous" - having no distinct sex classification at all.

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If Duff McKagan and Steven Adler (circa 1987) had female doppelganers,
you could make the case for these two.

Jessica throttles the toms and looks great in the process.

Katie and Jamie provide visual motion with their sonic attributes.

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Tour manager and all around accomodating guy Corey attends to the business at hand.

Which, among other things, involved handling the band's merch.

Part 2 of the interview progresses further, to both amusing as well as informative results.


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Never pass up an opportunity to take this kind of photo.

"That interview guy" makes the most of this encounter.

Jesse strikes an entertaining pose, much to this reviewers delight.

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Rocking out like they mean it.

This quote below pretty much sums up what an encounter with these ladies is like:

“It was an absolute treat touring with SOS this year. They are fun loving, open- hearted girls who play irresistible punk infuse...d pop music with a passion that is truly contagious… The girls are hilarious and wild, and have a charisma and chemistry that I found to be utterly charming..... I think you will too!” -Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles)

Another respected rock legend has this to say:

“Sick of Sarah is the real deal. This is a true working band who sing write and play for real. They are also cute and funny. They are my friends and they rock.” -Nancy Wilson (Heart)

"charisma, chemistry and charming" - these are undeniable facts.

Because links are always useful:

http://sickofsarah.com/

http://adamantrecords.com/Artists/SickOfSarah.html

http://www.myspace.com/sickofsarah

Addtional videos from the Knitting Factory appearance can be found here:

http://www.vimeo.com/27909967

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http://www.vimeo.com/28018143