After the Jump presents the Forms, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing in the early evening on the Main Street stage at 6:30pm.

Listen :: Bones

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

ALEX: We really just had the inspiration at a particular moment to change everything about how we did music – to do something where we weren’t subject to all the usual tricks, structures and rhythms.. but which we still really liked and was likable. So I guess what we ended up with is what you hear on our records, and we haven’t looked back since.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

ALEX: It’s exciting being a musician in New York right now. For the first time that I can remember, there is really some exciting stuff going on, with bands like Battles, the National, Dirty Projectors based here. I don’t know if anywhere quite feels like home now though… even home.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

ALEX: A round of gin and tonics usually does the trick. As for a favorite live song, there is a song called “Forward” that we usually play at the end of the set. it has no set structure and is meant to be an antithesis to the rest of the set, which is pretty organized. the idea behind it is just to completely let go.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

ALEX: #1 so far would definitely be Pattern is Movement‘s All Together. Their album takes musical elements from 40s and 50s musicals and movie scores, and updates it into a modern context, which no one has really done that I’ve heard. on paper, this sounds like it’d be totally unlikeable, but it’s actually great.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

ALEX: As far as visual art, I really like the photographer Noah Kalina. His photography is like seeing things on the infrared spectrum, completely otherworldly but realistic. The writer Borges greatly influenced our new album (there is a song on it called Borges in fact), and the writer Per Malloch had a huge influence our first album, Icarus.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

stellar songs, local bands
**************************
Golden Prize : Apes and Androids [Blood Moon, 2008]
Lost to the Lonesome – Pela [Anytown Graffiti, 2007]
As We Proceed – Travis Morrison [All Y'all, 2007]
Murder – the Big Sleep [Son of the Tiger, 2005]
The Takers – Takka Takka [Migration, 2008]

After the Jump presents Dinowalus, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on the Music Hall of Williamsburg’s free stage at 2:00pm.

Listen :: I Hate Numbers

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

PETE: We are all multi-instrumentalists with a few bands behind us! I used to have a band called Thee Tenements, Kyle used to play in the Automatones (out of Santa Cruz) and Josh records psych-pop under the moniker Skipperthomas. I never played in the school Dorkchestra, though! Thank god! I was an art kid! But Kyle did, and he still uses his broken school clarinet on BEAD. Kyle and I met while stalking Andrew WK at a show he played with “To Live and Shave in LA”. We found Josh when Al Gore invented the internet and we used it.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

PETE: NYC makes us feel like small potatoes because there are so many bands and such an established hierarchy, which can be a real bummer to think about, but its also a motivating factor. The quintessential NY experience for me is probably getting cannoli at Fortunato’s, a Caffe and pastry shop with a very notorious owner, if you know what I mean!

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

PETE: We move gear, plug in our cables and electronic doo-dads, and try not pull any muscles. There’s never enough time for sentimental rituals, like drinking raw eggs or setting off firecrackers like Steve Albini does! We always love playing “BEAD” and “Trade your bologna for blood” since they are quite the hi-NRG jams and always manage to sound great even on bad soundsystems! And expect Hall & Oates’ “Maneater” to work its way into the set soon!

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

PETE: Amazing shows generally have more of an impact on us than albums… but if you insist:

Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual = Been into them for years — they sound like Deerhoof with Glen Tipton + KK Downing on guitar.

No Age – Nouns = they give everyone a needed reminder that American indie rock has its roots in 80s DIY punk. They use sampling/ looping in very clever ways.

Gangi – A = Our friend Matt makes amazingly textured electro-folk. His tabletop live setup is a lot closer to High Places or Silver Apples, but his guitar playing and vocals are very Donovan-y!

Boris – Smile = Japanese rock is always brilliantly manic. The wah tones on “Statement” are pure bliss! With this track, they have reached the coveted pantheon of uber-rock–an elite group of bands that includes Comets on Fire, Acid Mothers Temple, and Hi Rise.

These Are Powers – Taro Tarot EP = No Wave for the hip hop generation! Totally into the massive electro booty-bass drum, and we love the grinding ‘Confusion is Sex’-style drone on “Cockles”.

Awesome Color – Electric Aborigines = I love how most of their songs ride one swaggering groove for the whole track without any breaks! Derek’s guitar playing is totally classic, but also highly inventive in the way he uses unorthodox chord voicings and an oversaturated practice amp to generate mindblowing feeback!

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

PETE: Really liked Olafur Eliasson show at MoMA/PS1, especially the orange room that had the effect of flattening all colors into grey-scale. I’m always excited by environmental and experiential art — Dan Flavin and James Turrell would fall into this category, too. Been into the minimalism and repetition of Sol Lewitt for a while — definitely an influence! I also love the imaginary realities of cinematic photographers like Gregory Crewdson. We aspire to transcend the spatial realities of the room in a similar manner when we produce our recordings.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

“Northern Doom-Dub”

God’s Money V – Gang Gang Dance [god's money, 2005]
Kill People – Excepter [debt debt, 2008]
Death Disco – Public Image Ltd [best of pil]
Shoplifting – The Slits [cut, 1979]
Fall to Pieces – Six Finger Satellite [law of ruins, 1998]
Calous – Skream [various, 2007]
The Eternal – Joy Division [closer, 1980]

image credits. dinowalrus // artwork. sol lewitt
thankyou to pete.

After the Jump presents Wakey! Wakey!, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on the Main Street stage at 2:30pm.

Listen :: Cokehead

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

WW!: I was playing as a solo artist until I joined up with Wes Verhoeve’s label, Family Records last year. We were planning the first full band show, and my friend Lach told me not to add any members that weren’t in some way telling the story. For instance, he didn’t want me to get a drummer just because every band had drums, or a guitar player because it was cool. I thought about it and a string quartet seemed to be the logical choice. So we started arranging, and then drums and bass felt necessary, and it just sort of grew from there. I still enjoy playing solo, but a 16 member band is fun too!

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

WW!: I always wrote about and romanticized Brooklyn when I lived on the Lower East Side. Everything about it seemed so logical and wonderful. I’ve recently moved to Williamsburg, and it’s even better than I imagined. I ride my bike every day, and write ten times as much. As far as bars I love, I really get down with Fette Sau. I was a vegetarian for the last 8 years, and recently returned to the wonderful world of meat. I’m originally from Virginia, and grew up on barbeque, and they just do it right. I’m about to eat some when I finish this interview, actually. It’s doubly comforting, because it’s so New York and VA at the same time.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

WW!: It’s really challenging to get everyone together, since there’re so many of us. We really just gather as many as we can and shoot from the hip. It’s funny how well it always comes off, considering there have been instances when I’ve met new band members 20 minutes before shows… As a band, I think we all have new favoutires every day. I really like the car crash song with the full orchestra. Blame You has been tops for a bit. We were just in the studio doing that one today.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

WW!: I really really really love the new album from Lowry. It’s just the most exciting thing I’ve heard from our scene in a while. I’m super flattered because they just called and asked us to play the release party for it in July at Galapagos. I’m dying to hear the new Bloodsugars, cause their songs are so good. Their song “Life Before the Accident” has tortured me every since we got back from We Fest. As far as wider releases, the new Bon Iver is beautiful. We got down with Man Man’s Rabbit Habits on tour recently, those guys are geniouses. And Speaking of Rabbits, Frightened Rabbit really hit the nail on the head with their new one.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

WW!: I really love Amy Shawley. I have 3 of her pieces at my studio. I’m a huge fan of Santiago Rubino. Jonathan Rodriguez did some early posters for us, after I fell in love with his work at MF Gallery.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

WW!: This is the mix I’m making for my GF’s little brother. He’s already much cooler than me, so it’s really just for bonding purposes. A few easy to miss, but very important older songs, and some newer stuff I love.

Zebra – Man Man [man in a blue turban, 2004]
Black Mags – Cool Kids [totally flossed out, 2007]
Nantes – Beirut [flying cup club, 2007]
Time To Pretend – MGMT [oracular spectacular, 2008]
Be Not So Fearful – Bill Fay [bottom of old grandfather clock, 1971]
Poke – Frightened Rabbit [midnight organ fight, 2008]
Knife – Grizzly Bear [yellow house, 2006]
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel [1998]
A Rose for Emily – Zombies [odessey & oracle, 1968]
Pan American Blues, Pt. 2 – Papercuts [mockingbird, 2004]
Starcleaner – Brian Jonestown Massacre [this is our music, 2003]
Pink Batman – Dan Deacon [spiderman of the rings, 2007]

images. wakey! wakey! // artwork. amy shawley
thankyou to michael.

After the Jump presents Autodrone, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on Galapogos free noise stage at 3:30pm.

Listen :: Through the Backwoods

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

JEREMY: The band formed in 2001 when convicted (and since acquitted) celebrity sex offender Oliver Jovanovich gave Angel a mix tape with the song “One More” by Medicine on it, I was really inspired by that song, and felt the need to form a band to explore how total noise and stunning beauty could coexist musically in the same moment. I think that song is one of the most amazing songs ever written and it still inspires me when I hear it.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

JEREMY: Living and making music in NYC is a good time, to me the entire island of Manhattan feels like home, from the time when I was 15 and taking a bus into town from New Jersey to see shows at ABC No Rio, to now where I DJ at clubs like Happy Ending and Lit Lounge every week. Those places make me feel like home. My apartment on the Upper West Side makes me feel like home as well, mostly because it actually is my home.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

JEREMY: We usually prepare by yelling and screaming at one another over every minute mundane detail so much that by the time we hit the stage we are all emotional wrecks, (i.e. I got a parking ticket? God hates me!!?? I’m going to kill myself!!!!”) My favorite song to play live is Final Days, I like any of the ones where Angel plays synths the most.

ANGEL: I like to get ready for a show by napping. My favorite song to perform live is 100,000 years of revenge.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ’08?

JEREMY: A Place To Bury Strangers, Dirty On Purpose, Coin Under Tongue, Au Revoir Simone, Mercurcrome, Interpol, Bellhollow Other Passengers, Unto Ashes.

ANGEL: I haven’t gotten any new albums in a really long time. A band I just found on myspace is Clockwork Radio. They are really great, atmospherey dreamy and complex, possibly slightly emo in the best of possible ways. They are from Wales. My favorite NYC bands that are currently going are Other Passengers and Flaming Fire. I also really like the Shackeltons, who are playing After the Jump Fest as well.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

JEREMY: Atom Egoyan, Wes Anderson & David Lynch, I love all three.

ANGEL: I feel like the Bruce Nauman piece 100 Live and Die is like the visual equivalent to our music. The foreboding fatalistic and alternately optimistic flashes and the hum of neon lights.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

“Music to dance around to like a total crazy person”

La Musique - Riot in Belgium [la musique, 2007]
Bamboo Banga - M.I.A [kala, 2007]
Hustler - Simian Mobile Disco [attack decay sustain release, 2007]
Da Funk - Daft Punk [musique vol 1, 1996]
Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip [made in the dark, 2007]
Standing in the Way Of Control (Slwx) - The Gossip [2007]
D.A.N.C.E (Mstrkrft Remix) - Justice [2007]
Je Veux Te Voir - Yelle [pop-up, 2007]
C.Y.O.A (Streetlab Remix) - HeartsRevolution [2008]
L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold [santogold, 2007]
Cheated Hearts (Peaches Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs [2007]
Age Of Consent - New Order [power corruption & lies, 1986]
Close To Me - The Cure [head on the door, 1984]
We Are Rockstars - Does it Offend You? Yeah.
[you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, 2008]

images :: autodrone
(.thankyou to jeremy and angel.)

After the Jump presents the Swimmers, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on Galapagos free noise stage at 1:15pm.

Listen :: It’s Time They Knew

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

STEVE: Rick and I were in a previous band, one star hotel that had just imploded, and we also had a few other projects since college. Scott and I worked together and wrote songs together when we were on the road tuning pipe organs, we’d write songs on the organs during the day and record in the hotel room at night. Krista and I were married — she is a music teacher, harpist and piano player. Basically, we all just came together out of knowing each other and each having something to bring to the band. We were all friends first, and then decided to become a band.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in Philly, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

STEVE: Philly is a great town of neighborhoods driven by interesting characters with interesting stories, but also has a no-nonsense grittiness that I enjoy. The music scene is both extremely creative and competitive. its pretty difficult to get people to shows and to succeed on a local level. some bands find a little success, then the tide shifts and the general attitude of the town starts pulling against them. The band really feels at home at Johnny Brendas, a venue in fishtown that opened in the last few years and is close to where most of us live. It has a great stage and great staff and really makes us feel comfortable.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

STEVE: When we are driving in, we have a few very odd songs that we play to get in the mood [Clutch's ‘Tight like that,’ AC/DC's ‘Givin the dog a bone,’ Kraftwerk's ‘Hall of mirrors,’ Of Montreal's ‘Heimdalsgate like a promethean curse’]. At the venue, we just try to get comfortable with the sound on stage and relax before the show. No running laps or band prayers or barbershop quartet warm-ups, though maybe we should try those. The favorite song changes a lot, I think ‘St. Cecilia’ is usually fun and whatever cover we are into at the time.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

STEVE: I have been listening to a bunch of new records, but nothing that I would wholeheartedly recommend. Evangelicals ‘the Evening Descends’ has some moments of what I would call sheer brilliance. As much as I really wanted to hate Vampire Weekend, that record is quite good. Fleet Foxes hasn’t quite taken me the way it has some other people, but it does have some nice nostalgic songs that wont let go. Cut Copy and M83 both have a couple songs I love to blast in the early summer. Will Oldham can pretty much wipe a cd with a dirty sweat-sock and I will buy it, but I am still absorbing the new Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

STEVE: Janell Olah [who did our album cover] has done some really interesting pieces that have paralleled some of our music in a cool way. She and her husband have been renovating a house much like Krista and I are doing, and there are things that resonate between our music and her art at different times.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

“5 songs for summer fun”

kids / MGMT [oracular spectacular, 2008]
kim & jessie / M83 [saturdays=youth, 2008]
feel the love / cut copy [in ghost colors, 2008]
skeleton man / evangelicals [evening descends, 2008]
heimdalsgate like a promethean curse / of montreal
[hissing fauna, are you the destroyer? 2007]

.images credits and thank you to the swimmers.

After the Jump presents Monotract, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on Galapogos free noise stage at 4:30pm.

Listen :: Cafu Y Kaka

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

MT: We’ve been good friends for about 11 years now and, whatever we’ve been/are, has consistently been evolving. I think we’re currently undergoing the most interesting part of the experiment.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

NANCY: Making music in New York is like filling a giant, glass piggy bank with pennies for years until someone smashes it. Then you pay twice as much you paid for the first piggy bank for a new piggy bank and start to fill it up again, until someone else smashes it. This pattern repeats until the piggy bank grows organs, starts to walk, live and breathe for itself.

ROGER: Also, Times Square, Chrysler Building, Statue of Liberty, Chelsea Pier Batting Cages, 99 Miles to Philly – they’re all very home-y.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

MT: Our favorite song is “the middle child”. We’re a band that embraces the middle child in everyone because we are middle children; always loving the kid everyone else forgets is hiding in a game of hide ‘n’ go seek.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

NANCY: I saw a piece of work that really inspired me this past weekend. His name is Bob Diamond, who discovered the Atlantic Avenue tunnel in Brooklyn. His tunnel is accessible only through a manhole cover on the street. A very raw, damp, quiet, moist space unlike any I’ve seen in a while.

ROGER: That David Byrne thing at the Maritime Building. Sit down, breathe and play one note for about 3 minutes straight. People LOVE that. Hipsters are a great piece of art history, as well. Old Ray-ban Wayfarers are like 3-D glasses.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

NANCY: I really dug Magik Markers’ boss. I totally dig MIA, sort of obsessed recently with Syd Barrett (again). Loved Demons at No Fun Fest ’08, among many others. Then there’s tons of music I watch on Youtube. The new Free Kitten record is really great too.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

These songs NEVER get skipped on iPod shuffle mode:

Anna’s Song by Marvin Gaye – This song has been absolutely leveling me for the past year. Perfectly encompasses the domestic quiet storm of a relationship breakup. That delicious hodge-podge of emotions. I understand this song better than I understand songs we’ve written. ‘Take a bath in milk and lay on your satin sheets’.

Went to See the Gypsy by Bob Dylan – I could probably put about 138 Dylan songs on here but we’ll roll with my all-time fav. Supposedly about meeting Elvis but, in my mind, it could also apply to meeting Thurston Moore. ‘Outside the lights were shinin’ / On the river of tears’. That line works smoothly on cold NYC nights when you’re finding your way through the city. Honorable Dylan mentions: ‘Black Diamond Bay’, ‘Nobody ‘Cept You’.

Games People Play by Bob Andy – I don’t know much about this guy or this song except I got it off one of those Trojan Reggae collections. It’s a raucous selection. We all play those games with one another. Let’s try not to, eh?

Calle Luna, Calle Sol by Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe – If you’ve ever lived in a rough part of town or had advice imparted to you about dealing with people in rough parts of town, the rhythms, lyrics and inflection of this song will hit you over the head with that same knowledge. At about the ’2:41′ mark, hold on to your hat.

Alabama by John Coltrane – Just sit down, listen to this track and realize that every emotion or thing you’ve done in your life is trivial. Just sit down and shut up.

.image credits and thankyou to monotract.

After the Jump presents Brilliant Sweaters, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on Galapogos free noise stage at 2:15pm.

Listen :: Sexy Genius

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

BS: Gypsy and I were in an electronic noise-pop band called Animandible. We got tired of playing with an ipod, it felt overly complicated and lacking in soul, so we started skipping Animandible practice and amassing a hearty collection of power-pop songs. We then summoned Danny to beat the shit out of the drums and learned some three part harmonies. Overall it feels much more fun and natural to us, the push/pull of human groove, and to sweat on our guitars.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

BS: We love the shit out of our empire state. This city’s influence on your music is undeniable. We played our first show at some punk house in Bed-Stuy. There were about 200 kids, ages ranging from 14-20. Never in all our lives have we seen that many kids in one place, just trashed and dancing. King Cobra tall boys, piss, vomit and more public intercourse then you could ever imagine. A majority of the kids thought we were undercover cops until we started playing. We went home and wrote 4 new songs about it.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

BS: We just practice, practice, practice, with the vigor and endurance of a training montage from a Rocky movie. We truly enjoy writing and performing all of our songs equally.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

BS: Wow, where to start? Being musically omnivorous, we wholeheartedly support and partake in illegal music downloading, which means every week, every day even, it’s something new. This week, of course, its the new lil’ Wayne, tha Carter 3. It’s just Weezy being Weezy and being a space alien and what-not. Don’t get me wrong though. I love vinyl and pay for records when they are worth it. I highly recommend the new NICE FACE 7” and so far the Jay Reatard 7”series on Matador has been stellar. The new Ponytail record is fantastic, inspiring, spastic, energetic weirdness. We can’t wait to catch them at ATJ. Also this year, I loved Why? “Alopecia”, Dan Friel “Ghost Town”. There’s too much good new music in the world to narrow it down. Otherwise we keep with the classics. Priest and the Beast. Music is free.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

BS: I own a human skull that I found while rummaging through an old apartment on west 86th st. I often marvel at it.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

hype up pre-ATJ mix tape

Manny, Moe, and Jack : the Dickies
Aces High : Iron Maiden
Be Easy : Ghostface Killah
Only After Dark : Mick Ronson
Time and Space : Jandek
You Did It : LiLiPUT

After the Jump presents Extra Life, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, during the day on Galapogos free noise stage at 5:00pm.

Listen :: The Refrain

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

CHARLIE: I knew each of the members of Extra Life from their deeply impressive work with various other bands. We all run in the same circles. Extra Life, in its full quintet incarnation, I put together as a compositional expansion of solo performances I was doing about a year ago. It was a codification and fleshing out of loose song structures I was working with. At After the Jump and for the summer months, I’ll be performing duo with the violinist Caley Monahon-Ward. This will be a re-loosening and re-stripping down of the same songs, torn up and splayed back out, but informed by the very tight quintet versions we’ve been playing for a year.

As for past experiences… Of course the music carries my history as a musician, all the music I’ve loved. The lyrics certainly carry the history of my life experiences and “inner narrative”… But it’s important to realize that, even though I write the music, Extra Life could not exist without the community of musicians from which it sprung. The band is a result of this particular time and place, of marinating in the particular viscous and savory vibes which have pooled in this particular corner of the scene.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

CHARLIE: I can’t compare the experience of music making in NY to any other town because I’ve lived here all my life. However I wouldn’t say my home where I grew up feels most like home… There are certain venues which feel home-like, Silent Barn and Zebulon in particular.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

CHARLIE: Before a show, we usually do a little huddle where we talk down each piece we’re going to play, reminding ourselves of various performance issues, things to think about while playing. I sing scales to warm up my voice, and I do stretches for my forearms and shoulders. My favorite song to perform is “Pay Up”, a newer one which isn’t on our record. It is loud and intense without being too technically demanding on the guitar, so I get to focus completely on singing and emanating.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

CHARLIE: I don’t check out a ton of brand new music, indie or otherwise, but I can tell you definitely to check out Nat Baldwin’s new record “Most Valuable Player”. It is absolutely gorgeous. Nat is a totally original singer, contrabassist and songwriter, and an old friend of mine. Also the Dead Science have a new record coming out later in the year called “Villainaire” and it is just outrageously hot.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

CHARLIE: I don’t check out visual art as much as I would like to. I used to love Egon Schiele a lot, the sick and fragile bodies. I also really like Medieval art, where the rendering of perspective isn’t really hooked up yet and everything looks flat. I think we are returning to that kind of two-dimensional world. I also like Byzantine art with all the gold.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

Two Hearts : Bruce Springsteen
Center of Your Heart : Swans
Ashtray Heart : Captain Beefheart
Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart : Julee Cruise
Dame, mon coeur en vous remaint : Guillame de Machaut

.image credits and thankyou to extra life.

After the Jump presents Papercranes, this Saturday June 21st, for After the Jump Fest in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, performing during the day on the Main Street stage at 12:50pm.

Listen :: Treasures

MIA: Musically, how did the band form, what past experiences do you carry with you?

PAPERCRANES: Its been a long road to the current and most rewarding line up for Papercranes. We all have had and continue to have side projects that enrich and inspire the band as a whole.

MIA: Describe the feeling of playing in New York, feel free to share a memory or a certain place (bar, restaurant, record store) that makes you feel like home.

PAPERCRANES: It can be difficult at times, getting our gear to places in cabs, but the excitement of the city and it’s musical history is always worth it. We are fond of Other Music record store and Mercury Lounge as a live venue.

MIA: How does the band like to get ready for a live show? Is there a favorite song that you enjoy to perform live?

PAPERCRANES: Rehearsing at our drummer Dave Lebleu’s place in Long Island City is our go to, get ready for shows spot. He has roof access and we go up there to chat and look at the skyline between sets. We recently have most enjoyed rehearsing ‘warrior face’ from our upcoming record.

MIA: What are your recommended records so far of ‘08?

PAPERCRANES: Radiohead “In Rainbows”, The Besnard Lakes “The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse”, and Handsome Furs “Plague Park” to name a few. I like these records because they are interesting and exciting. These bands are trying things that are different from the norm while remaining satisfying and catchy.

MIA: Name a visual artist or piece of work that inspires you.

PAPERCRANES: There are too many artists to name just one. I do believe art influences art.

MIA: Please share a mixtape with a theme of your choice.

The theme is: Heavy Rotation!

All I Need – Radiohead [In Rainbows, 2007]
Handsome Furs Hate This City – Handsome Furs [Plague, 2008]
Did You See the Words – Animal Collective [Feels, 2005]
The Cowshed – Fionn Regan [The End of History, 2006]
Tequesta – The Mercury Program [A Data Learn the Language, 2002]

.images credits and thankyou to papercranes.