ATJ presents BAD VEINS, Wednesday, October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 9:30PM on the Main Stage, with Starfucker, Unicycle Loves You, Crystal Antlers, Heloise & the Savoir Faire, and Juvelen.

Listen :: Gold and Warm

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

Ben and I both had bands in Cincinnati a few years back – we got to know each other casually as a result. After those bands buckled, Ben started writing and eventually played a show by himself. Some mutual friends recommended he recruit me to play drums. So, he called me up and I came over one day and listened to some of the music. I sat there and thought “yes, this is what I want to do.” I hadn’t touched a drum kit since my band had broken up 6 months earlier—not because I didn’t want to play—I was just waiting for the right time…and band, I suppose. How’s that for romance?

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

Well, Cincinnati is pretty small compared to NYC or LA, but we have a lot of good music that has come out of this area. I suppose some of my best memories have to do with going “into the city” for shows as a kid growing up. It was always such an event! My whole week would revolve around the show I was going to see—everyone from Sebadoh and Built to Spill to Motorhead and Slayer. There used to be cool record shop across from one of the venues we would go to—along with a music shop. My friends and I would always head down to shows early to go to the music shop and grab rare records that we couldn’t get otherwise. I suppose that’s what lead me to go to school in Cincinnati and eventually play music in Cincinnati…probably why I’m here now.

MIA: Do you enjoy to perform live? How does the band like to get ready and is there a favorite song that you like to play for your audience?

We usually don’t have much time to ourselves before shows. We spend most of our time setting up and making sure all of our gear works. People always assume that since we’re a two-piece it makes thing easier, but it’s quite the opposite. I can assure you that the amount of gear—and opportunities for something to go wrong—we have weighs as much, if not more, than having two or three more people in the band. So, in an effort to make this more relatable, imagine the lead singer and drummer of your favorite 4-piece having to carry the other two members around everywhere—along with their gear. Yeah…not so glamorous anymore, is it? I don’t think that answered your question at all.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

Well, there was a girl who once told us after a show that our music got her through her time in the hospital. I can’t quite remember why she was there, but it was apparently pretty serious. To have that affect on someone… to be able to help in that way… it’s amazing and humbling.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

Well, this album is comprised of some songs that go back two or more years ago—to when Ben first started by himself. So, yes, I would believe that many things have changed/evolved since then. The actual recording process for the album is coming up on five or so months—we’re ready for the album to get done! It’ll be a chapter in our lives that we’re happy to have lived through, but we’ll be even more excited to move forward.

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

I hope that when people listen to our album it makes them feel something—anything—just that it elicits and evokes some sort of emotion. That’s really all we can ask for. Not to hate or disparage, but I feel like there is a lot of music around these days that is so transparent—I don’t hear an earnest voice behind it. I certainly don’t want that for us. I feel confident that when people hear the album they’ll understand that it has truth behind it…and a sense of experience. Who knows? Maybe it might inspire. At the end of the day, though, I just want people to be able to take away something.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

I think that the new M83 record “Saturdays=Youth” is pretty great. Also, the new Radiohead album is amazing. Sounds trite, right? But hell, those guys are simply amazing—always steps ahead. I remember seeing a Pixies documentary where Thom Yorke talked about seeing them in London around ’87. He said he walked out of the show and said to himself, “what’s the point?” That sort of depression is what I sometimes—and I’m quite certain, Ben—feel when listening to Radiohead’s albums.

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

A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend the afternoon at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The whole place is incredible, but I had my mind set on seeing just one of his paintings—Wheat Field with Crows. I darted around the museum until I found it—and stared at it for a very long time. I can’t even begin to describe the vividness of the colors and the brushstrokes—you just sort of have to be there, I suppose.

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

A song from each of the bands I mentioned in this interview:
Not a Friend by Sebadoh
Broken Chairs by Built to Spill
Ace of Spades by Motorhead
Raining Blood by Slayer
Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun by M83
Distance Equals Rate Times Time by Pixies
Videotape by Radiohead

ATJ presents STARFUCKER, Wednesday, October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 8PM on the Main Stage, with Unicycle Loves You, Bad Veins, Crystal Antlers, Heloise & the Savoir Faire, and Juvelen.

Listen :: Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second

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

The band started with me (Josh) in my basement making loops on my Roland loop station XL20, then playing drums over it. Its my kind of therapy.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

Portland is the best city I’ve seen for new bands. With things like PDX POP NOW! and the living standard being of what it is.. its easy to live here and make music and stay relatively sane.

MIA: Do you enjoy to perform live? How does the band like to get ready and is there a favorite song that you like to play for your audience?

We usually like to bicker with each other. I always like performing songs that are built live. I like free form, when we don’t know whats going to happen. I feel like that’s the space where magic can happen. Also, the song called “Dance Face 2000″, when Ryan does his dance moves, its always a good one. I have to try not to laugh usually.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

Well, I feel like I’ve learned more about what I want to express and not express from being a music fan. Just seeing other musicians doing things and being like..”that’s so awesome!”, or “wow i hope to god i never do anything like that” has helped.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

I could work on music forever and never say its done, but at some point you just have to say this is it. I’m usually most inspired when I’m sad or excited about something. I write all my songs for 2 or 3 good friends of mine. I just think of them, and if they’ll like it.

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

I hope it is pleasing, funny and interesting to others.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

Well, Why?’s new album “Alopecia” is one of my favorites and what I’m listening to right now. I don’t know when it came out but Okay’s “Huggable Dust” is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.

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

Chuck Close is one that quickly comes to mind. I have a hard time articulating why though. I don’t know if its really always a good idea to try to pin down why an artist is amazing, or how they do what they do but..

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

Beautiful/Romantic:

My by Okay
Gemini (Birthday song) by Why?
Believe ESP by Deerhoof
Melody Day by Caribou
Like New by Deerhunter

ATJ presents THE DEPRECIATION GUILD, Wed, Oct. 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 8:45pm inside the Tap Room, along with Best Friends Forever, My Teenage Stride, A Sunny Day in Glasgow,  the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, & Ringo Deathstarr.

Listen :: Darklooming (In Her Gentle Jaws, 2007)

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

The band started in 2005 with me [Kurt] on guitar/programming/vocals and another guy who’s no longer in the band named Akira. We’d had a band together in high school and when that broke up, we stayed friends through college and wanted to continue making music together. From it’s conception, I had the intention that this new project would be something unique in it’s sound. I had been learning how to program NES chip-tunes for a couple years prior to the band’s formation because I had always loved their stripped-down tones and wanted to make music like it, and so I decided to combine it with the wall-of-sound style of pop that I enjoyed listening to. I wrote and recorded a few demos in my bedroom that, in retrospect, weren’t very good. Soon after that, they were released on the 8bit-peoples net label. Then we started playing shows which were sort of awkward at first since I had never been in a band with live electronics, let alone one that uses a famicom on stage. The whole thing has been sort of a weird experiment that I’ve doubted would work from time to time.

After about a year, Akira quit to pursue his Master’s degree and Christoph joined since he was a great guitar player and we had similar musical tastes. We played shows and wrote songs together with this lineup for over a year until recently when Christoph’s brother Anton joined on drums. I can say now, after being a band for about 2 years, the live shows are finally coming together into something that’s enjoyable and engaging.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

It’s november, and there are only a few leaves twitching on their branches. Outside it’s the same swirly shade of silver-gray as yesterday. There is a tea tin somewhere in the house with $12 in it. You’ve been typing in numbers for days to make a song that no one will hear. You go outside and the sound of the wind makes you feel alone and, like you, messed up.

MIA: Do you enjoy to perform live? How does the band like to get ready and is there a favorite song that you like to play for your audience?

I enjoy performing live. I used to not enjoy it for fear that we were letting people down — that the sonic impact of our live show was something less than our recorded material. It always seemed that you couldn’t really feel the music and let it transport you someplace good, the way you could when you listened to it alone. We’re constantly working on it, Anton is a great drummer, and we have interactive visuals now that my friend Hayden and I designed, so that there are more dimensions to our live experience. We’re getting much better. We usually prepare for a show by trying not to forget all of the important cables that connect things, which sometimes doesn’t happen. One of our favorite songs to perform live is “Dream About Me”.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

We’ve received a lot of really nice compliments on blogs and websites regarding our first album, In Her Gentle Jaws which we released last year. It has been really nice to hear, since we gave our album away for free download and it doesn’t exist on any physical format. So it somewhat justifies the work we put into making it. Also, whoever it was who said “you guys need a drummer” was right. We have one now.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

It took a week to record and a week to mix/master the album…with almost one year between those two steps. We recorded the album on borrowed hardware, and borrowed time from our friends who helped us out for nearly nothing. The album has its flaws, but I think it sounds as good as it could have, given the surrounding circumstances and shoestring budget.

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

I hope the melodies make listeners feel good, but it’s ok if they don’t.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

KURT: Days – “Downhill” — You know when it’s mid-April and the air outside is really brisk but the sunshine cuts through the leaves and you can actually feel the heat on your face and also the world smells like grass and wet rocks? That’s what this album sounds like.

ANTON: Flying Lotus – “Los Angeles” — According to my iTunes play count, Flying Lotus’ album Los Angeles has been receiving more rotation this year than I care to admit. It’s one of those rare albums that grabs your ear immediately but is challenging enough to stand up to repeated listens. Flying Lotus has a knack for pairing impossibly catchy melodic hooks with sounds normally regarded as undesirable (tape hiss, static) and creating a uniquely fresh brand of fuzzed-out hip hop that is jarring as it is comforting.

CHRISTOPH: Portishead – “Third” — One of the most startling unique and gorgeously unsettling albums heard in far too long, Portishead’s third full-length release appropriately titled Third comes after an 11 year hiatus where the band remained out of the public eye with their future endeavors shrouded in mystery. Seemingly out of nowhere, they returned this year as a fully rejuvenated entity with the sound of a band fearless of reinvention. Third perfectly blends the stark urgency of 60′s American electronic and 70′s krautrock with their own brand of doom-and-gloom trip-hop to make an enormously powerful album that demands full and repeated listens. Truly a classic album.

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

We’re all pretty into Dario Argento and David Lynch movies. They have a great atmosphere to them. It’s like you’ll be in a really colorful cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows and lights everywhere and there’s also a dead girl who got stabbed hanging from the ceiling. Or, people are in a totally normal situation only they’re behaving and speaking in ways that aren’t normal and you don’t know why yet. It’s unsettling. Also, I’m a pretty big fan of Vaughan Oliver’s work and i have most of his books. I like his font choices.

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

BITTER/COLD (AGGRO MIX ’90)

1. Play Alone – Asylum Party
2. Head Down – Moev
3. Come Into Hell And Murder Hate – Babel 17
4. No Way – Dessau
5. Evelyn – Clan of Xymox

ATJ presents RINGO DEATHSTARR, Wednesday, October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 12AM inside the Tap Room, along with Best Friends Forever, the Depreciation Guild, My Teenage Stride, A Sunny Day in Glasgow & the Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

Listen :: Swirly

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

The band was formed by me, Elliott, because I was a drummer for 9 years and wanted to play guitar. I started writing songs like “some kind of sad” and “summer time” while I played drums in this band called VERY ULTRA, but they didn’t want to play them. Next I played drums for Young Heart Attack and IV Thieves before I really buckled down and got serious about Ringo Deathstarr. I recorded the EP myself except for the lead guitar parts and 2 drum tracks. Also, I had to find the right people that would be serious too, so after a dozen line-up changes, we finally came together a couple of months just before the EP was released.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

I moved to Austin for music, but sometimes it feels like the hollywood of music and everyone is overwhelmed by the amount of bands there are. Emos is our favorite place to play right now; the people that run the place are cool to us.

MIA: Do you enjoy to perform live? How does the band like to get ready and is there a favorite song that you like to play for your audience?

We do enjoy playing live, but we need more equipment! we practice throughout the week in a tiny room where you can never hear the vocals. I don’t really have a favorite song to play as I like them all!

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

Whenever people actually say, they like our band.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

When I write songs I just try and make the guitar sound cool first of all. Usually, I try to play the guitar in the dark with just a red light on and drink a lot of beer. That sets my mood. In the studio, the time it takes is directly related to the budget. So, we may go weeks or months before a song is finished in the studio. Most of this time is mixing, which is done a few hours here, a few hours there, weeks apart sometimes, but its the only way we can work right now, so somebody should give us money!

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

I saw some amazing painting in a shop in Soho but it didn’t have any name on it or anything. It was just bright vivid colors, something that looked like the way I imagine how I want to sound.

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

SIXTH GRADE JAMZ

Two Princes by Spin Doctors
Cantaloop by Us3
Informer by Snow
Here Comes the Hot Stepper by Ini Kamoze
New Age Girl by Dead Eye Dick

ATJ presents CRYSTAL ANTLERS, Wed. October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing on the Main Stage with Starfucker, Unicycle Loves You, Bad Veins, Heloise and the Savoir Faire, and Juvelen.

Listen :: A Thousand Eyes

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

JONNY: Kevin, our old guitar player Errol and I all have been playing in bands together and apart since high school, mostly punk bands. Victor’s father is a professional mariachi and Andrew and Damian had meet while playing with HR from bad brains. We knew both Andrew and Damian from them just being around in many bands.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

JONNY: We don’t really make music in our city, most of it comes out of Damian’s house in Anaheim. There is a family steakhouse called the prospector that has shows a couple nights a week in between football games and karaoke. It definitely feels like home when we play there.

MIA: Do you enjoy to perform live? How does the band like to get ready and is there a favorite song that you like to play for your audience?

JONNY: We usually listen to the Getto Boys before we play. We always play Parting Song for The Torn Sky, even though it’s the first song we wrote a few years ago.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

JONNY: Someone last night at our show in Denver told us they were inspired to play music after watching us, hearing things like that is always encouraging.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

JONNY: I would say that feelings often change and are reflected in our songs. We are going to record and mix our record in 9 days this November in San Francisco.

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

JONNY: I want them to notice things that I don’t even notice, and for them to tell me about them.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

JONNY: We’ve been really busy working on our own stuff and haven’t had much time this year to check out any of the new bands records. We’ve played a couple shows with Abe Vigoda lately and I would like to check out their record.

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

JONNY: I find the works of Christo inspiring because his work is seemingly impossible, free form and ethic.

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

JONNY: The theme is B-sides of Less-Successful R&B & Rap singles produced by Russel Simmons in the late 1980′s:

Your Song by Oran “Juice” Jones
Yes We Can Can (Dub Version) by Alyson Williams
Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC
Let’s Rock by Davy D
Super Fight by Hurricane

ATJ presents the MUGGABEARS, Wednesday October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 12:00AM inside the Old Office (Best of NYC), along with the Beets, the Lisps, Inlets, Motel Motel and Alina Simone.

Listen :: The Goth Tarts

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

Gabi tripped on an accordion, fell into Emily, who braced herself by grabbing onto my arm, and we started playing music. Actually, it’s been an evolving thing for a long time now; it’s a band I started with a friend in high school in a way.. but the way it is now, is so distant and different from the way it was even two years ago.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

Both living and making music in New York are much better in fall and winter. Those seasons come with possibilities the other two seasons could only dream of. I feel mostly at home when I’m in bed, covered with covers. Also, sometimes at Death by Audio.

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

We love to play live, and prepare for such live playing in the traditional way of just playing things over and over again until it’s good enough to present. I like to play a new song of ours, “At the Pool” the most.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

Someone recently said something so hyperbolically positive about our music, that I’m almost embarrassed to repeat it. That doesn’t really answer the question. Criticism: someone said I played guitar like a trash bag once.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

Not any one element, no. A few concepts have informed it more now than at the beginning, things you learn from instrumental music mostly, jazz specifically. Even if you don’t know how to technically understand it. I suppose the peace/fear dialectic is the most driving element, if I had to pick one. Recording is ongoing still. Its actually kind of maddening to try and decide when a record is ready, so I couldn’t answer that one!

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

I just hope they feel something strongly when they hear it. That’s more important than them coming away thinking of how cool it was.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

Portishead – Third: I think of this as a really really great psych/krautrock record. I love the drum sound.

Joan of Arc – Boo Human: This one brings out lots of feelings that you have to focus on to be able to give words to, and features the amazing line, “the only impossible thing has happened.”

Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual: being a kid. And really lovable lovely people make the music.

High Places: I like how, when I listen to their stuff, I have no idea how it’s made.

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

Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm” and “Number 1, 1950″ are like a language primer for seeing music when you hear it.

MIA: Please share a mix-tape within a theme of your choice.

Fall’s here, so the theme is fall.

1. Red Apples – Smog
2. Lonely Woman – Ornette Coleman
3. Dead Flag Blues – GYBE
4. Ghost Hardware – Burial
5. Subterraneans – David Bowie
6. Pet Politics – Silver Jews
7. Remember a Day – Pink Floyd
8. This Night Has Opened My Eyes – The Smiths
9. Mystery – Olivia Tremor Control
10. Brother – Beck

ATJ presents MOTEL MOTEL, Wednesday October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 10:30pm inside the Old Office (Best of NYC), along with the Beets, the Lisps, Inlets, Alina Simone, and the Muggabears.

Listen :: Coffee

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

Musically we formed in Journal Square, NJ, so um, Bruce Springsteen and Thursday? Also the pipes in the house resonated at about the A above middle C, so Born to Run in the key of A I guess. My past brings a lot into it; I came from the cutest punk rock scene you’ve ever seen. It was in Hawaii, and had about 6 bands, and twenty people total, so incest ran rampant like the Mississippi delta. But it was great and loud and fast, and I’ve always wanted to keep that desperate energy of punk rock, stranded on a desert island wherever music takes me.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

Parking tickets. Incorrect license plate placement tickets. Incorrect Inspection card tickets, because the god damned mechanic we paid 100 bucks to forge us one, because lord knows we cannot afford a legal van, didn’t glue it on right and it melted off in the hot Brooklyn sun, moved an inch from where it should be and became a hundred dollar fine. Midnight street cleaning tickets, we’re talking 3 AM cleaning? I have never seen a street cleaner, have you? Oh, and we’ve gotten two flat tires thanks to nails, in the street, guess the midnight cleaner didn’t see them, maybe because it was nighttime, and dark, and hard to clean, in the dark. This all makes me feel like 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?

We do enjoy playing live! I ration out Jeremy’s drink tickets to him, he gets one per 30 minute, usually give mine out to cute girls, Mickey’s uses his to buy Soda-Pop, and I have no idea what the hell the Eric(k)s do with theirs. That’s pretty much the closest thing we have to an opening ritual we have. Favorite song depends on the night, but usually favors something where we are all singing.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

Someone told me the music made them feel both happy and sad at the same time. It sounds ridiculously simple, but makes the most sense to me and what I get from great music. That’s what I want. A sadness deep enough to pull some joy out.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

I really like this first question. Well certainly the element of pressure, we’re not 3 kids in a basement anymore, and all those feelings of maturing as a band have been placed on the back of our songs, and thus songwriting to the point where we can spend hours debating little, seemingly meaningless chords, transitions, etc. That’s probably the most extreme change, the weight we are putting on our music now. The recording process took forever and then some, thanks to us being full time students. It ended up being almost a year, and we certainly felt it was ready then. Although, maybe only for the fact that we wanted to run far far way and never hear the songs again, haha.

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

A sense of place. By that I mean, a setting, landscape, feeling — something that triggers a moment from their life.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

The New Walkmen album is fantastic. I think my favorite of theirs. I’m bad with dates, the new national album, I think that is from 07, but I don’t care because it is fucking amazing. Tom Wait’s Bawlers Brawlers and Bastards, that might be an 06, haha, but again I don’t care because it is amazing.

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

Andrew Wyeth. Not the Christina’s world stuff, I’m talking boat, beach, and sometimes an old guy with a serious beard. I really want to write more about the sea. Furthermore and along those same lines, Casper David Frederick’s Monk by the Sea; same deal, sea, person, more sea.

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

Theme: (By the way I love this kind of thing) Railroads, at Night

1. Full on Night by the Rachel’s

2. Arizona by Sharks Keep Moving

3. Swansea by Joanna Newsom

4. Lonesome Whistle by Hank Williams

5. Goodbye Desolate Rail Yard by A Silver Mount Zion

photography by Julie Hagenbuch

ATJ presents ALINA SIMONE, Wednesday October 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 11:15pm inside the Old Office (Best of NYC), the Beets, the Lisps, Inlets, Motel Motel, and the Muggabears.

Listen :: Half of My Kingdom

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

My band is pretty much just me, so forming it was the easy part! I had wanted to be a singer my whole life. Other people’s expectations of me, and overpowering stage fright, held me back. That’s something I never quite forget and that definitely informs my music.

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

I love Brooklyn. It’s the only place on Earth that I have ever truly felt at home. For the past couple of years, I’ve been writing the lyrics to my songs while walking the streets of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Hoboken. If I think of something I like, I call my cell phone and sing it into my voicemail.

MIA: How do you like to get ready to perform for a live show?

I actually don’t enjoy performing live at all. I wish I did, but I don’t. I’m a really private person and have never liked being the center of attention. Getting ready for a show usually consists of drinking a vodka tonic and bracing myself. I like performing my straight-up rock songs. Then I can just close my eyes and holler.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, you have ever received?

Wow, good question! I think I’ve lost count of both. After so many people have told you that your music is terrible and you will fail or told you that you’re the best or whatever, it all starts to feel like it’s coming from somewhere very far away. The key to being able to keep going, for me at least, is not to give a fuck about what other people say. I was so paralyzed by stage-fright and other people’s opinions that I couldn’t even sing in public for the first 25 years of my life.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

I think the feeling I start with, when writing a song, is the same feeling that I end with. I generally record my albums pretty fast. I’m not a tinkerer. With my songs, capturing the intensity is the most important thing. I wish I was one of those studio people that had the patience to spend hundreds of hours making minute adjustments, but that’s just not me. I would be happy recording my songs live and solo on a handheld cassette recorder in one take.

MIA: What qualities do you hope listeners may take from listening to your music?

Rawness, honesty, immediacy. The feeling that this is something handmade and even somewhat primal.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

I am really, really bad at answering this kind of question because I rarely listen to new music. And I’m not much good at explaining why I like anything. I can say that I really love the new Gnarls Barkley record. I listened to it constantly on tour. Some songs off of Santogold’s record have really stuck with me. And I’ve been liking N.E.R.D.’s ‘Seeing Sounds’ too – it’s good and it’s fun.

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

I love the large-scale color photographs of Katy Grannan and Jenny Gage. Their hyper real photographs portray what look like ‘documentary’ scenes that are actually staged and I am obsessed with.

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

(instead of listing specific songs with titles that are all in Russian, I will just list musicians and groups that folks interested in Russian rock/folk music should check out)

Amazing Russian and Soviet-era music:

1. Yanka Dyagileva (A perestroika-era cult icon. The most important woman in the history of Russian rock. Her music is a beautiful mix of rock and traditional Russian folk influences.)

2. Auktyon (Russia’s greatest living rock band. Their sound incorporates everything from Klezmer to jazz to Brazilian music)

3. Kino (Now defunct, due to the death of lead singer Victor Tsoi, this legendary lo-fi indie band is Russia’s answer to Nirvana)

4. Dina Vierny (Recorded one amazing record of her versions of songs written in the Soviet gulags during the 50’s. AMAZING!)

5. Alioha Dmitrievich (Russian gypsy whose versions of Soviet prison songs are so boisterous and intimate you feel that you are transported to a café table at some seaside club in 1920’s Odessa)

ATJ presents SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW, Wed, Oct. 22, 2008, for After the Jump’s CMJ Showcase at the Knitting Factory NYC, performing at 10:30PM inside the Tap Room, along with Best Friends Forever, the Depreciation Guild, My Teenage Stride, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, & Ringo Deathstarr.

Listen :: Ghost In The Graveyard (Ulrich Schnauss Remix)

MIA: Describe the feeling of living and making music in your city, feel free to share a memory or a certain place that makes you feel like home.

Philly is really the only place I can make music, at least that’s what I’ve found. there’s nothing to do here, or i’ve already done everything there is to do here, so i’m left with making music. but i’ve lived in a couple of different cities and not been able to get anything done musically in those cities, which i think is due to a combination of loneliness and being somewhere new to explore. riding my bike around philly makes me feel at home. also going to kingdom of vegetarians or clark park, riding the R2.

MIA: Do you enjoy to perform live? How does the band like to get ready and is there a favorite song that you like to play for your audience?

I do like playing live. We practice a lot to get ready. I don’t know what my favorite song would be we play live. It probably changes from show to show, but generally I am most excited to play the songs we’ve played the least.

MIA: What has been the most impacting compliment, or criticism, your band has ever received?

Simon Raymonde from the Cocteau Twins wrote us a myspace message last year saying how much he liked our music. Thinking about that now still blows my mind. The Cocteau Twins are one of my all time favorite groups for sure.

MIA: Within your songwriting, is there some type of element that has brought about a certain mood in yr writing, making you feel more/less different than when you started? How long has the recording process taken to complete your album and to finally believe that it’s ready?

I don’t know, but I hope I’m different from when we started. A lot has happened to me personally and us as a band since our record came out last year. The last record took about 6 months of serious recording and maybe a few months of fooling around. We started recording the new record in September and it absolutely has to be done by mid December. I think when we record a song, I listen to it and usually want to make changes or the things that are missing kind of jump out at me. When this stops happening, the song is done. This time though, I am making a conscious effort to keep everything simpler, so I don’t really know how I will know when stuff is done. It will probably be dictated by deadlines.

MIA: Any recommended records so far of ‘08?

They haven’t put out a record yet, but Telepathe is probably the band I am most excited about in 2008. I saw them play back in May and it was probably the best show I’ve seen all year. We just got to play with them last week too and they had some serious sound problems but were still great. I am totally in love with their music though and I am basically just wanting 2008 to end so it’s January 2009 and their record comes out. Otherwise, I’ve really enjoyed the Crystal Stilts EP because it’s really moody and poppy; the Tickley Feather record because it’s really moody and poppy, and the Hercules & Love Affair record because it’s really fun but still has this sadness to it that I really like.

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

Edvard Munch, Keith Haring, Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock, Yoko Ono, Bruce Charlesworth, David Levinthal, the K Foundation. I can’t really say what inspires me, so I have no idea if these people ever have done so, but I like their work and their ethos. Keith Haring did this performance piece where he painted himself into a corner and I think art history has overlooked the importance of this work. Yoko Ono’s stuff is pretty amazing too, but most people tend to think of her as the person who ruined the Beatles. Edvard Munch’s woodcuts are some of my favorite pieces of art ever. Marcel Duchamp and the K Foundation thought so much bigger than almost everyone else.

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

My favorite songs from records I’ve bought this fall:

1. Devil’s Trident by Telepathe
2. Hear/Bleed Philharmonic by Serena Maneesh
3. Birdmen by Felt
4. Hybrid Moments by The Misfits
5. Sleepwalker by Faun Fables (I didn’t actually get this one, but Josh always puts it on in the car when we leave the recording space)