Interview: Mark Kozelek
Posted: June 4, 2008 Filed under: journalism, music | Tags: mark kozelek, red house painters, sun kil moon Leave a comment »What Mark Kozelek; Davey von Bohlen of Maritime opens
When 8 p.m., Saturday, June 7
Where Turner Hall Ballroom, 1032 N. 4th St.
How much $15
When I was a teenager in the Philippines, my friends and I would listen to Red House Painters songs whenever we fancied ourselves as poets. We would lie in hammocks by the beach and get drunk on rum and Coke. Mark Kozelek’s songs comforted us after break ups, stayed with us in manic phases, was the soundtrack to typhoon season and hot and humid summers.
We felt that his music made us feel much intensely, with more depth.
When I moved to California, I was surprised to find out that many Red House Painters fans — who turned into Sun Kil Moon fans, and also fans of Kozelek’s solo work — had very similar experiences to mine, growing up. The settings were different (Laguna Beach, Costa Mesa parking lots, backyard swimming pool) but the feelings were the same
Now I live in Milwaukee where half the year, the ground is frozen. And fans still feel the same. So over e-mail, I asked him a few questions.
Q: Do you think there’s a universal thread going through your music that fans really connect to?
A: There’s a universal thread with all music. Andres Segovia played all over the world, so has AC/DC, and I guess I have, too. My favorite audiences have been in Asia. Like in South Korea and Japan, where people speak and understand little English. People are tied together by the emotion and the feeling of the music.
Q: Many of your songs are thought of as soundtracks for sad emotions. What makes you happy?
A: Lots of things – New Orleans, food, fishing, good conversations with friends, laying in bed and watching a good movie.
Q: What is your songwriting process like?
A: Some days I write songs, and some days not. Sometimes they come to me at once, sometimes I work at them a little at a time. There’s really no set process, they happen in different ways.
Q: What differentiates your Sun Kil Moon and Mark Kozelek songs? When do you decide which songs go to certain projects?
A: There’s momentum with Sun Kil Moon, so for the moment, I’m sticking with that.
Q: What do you listen to when you’re sad?
A: Noises from the streets at 3 a.m. when I’m in hotel rooms on tour.
Interview: Mac Lethal
Posted: April 20, 2008 Filed under: journalism, music | Tags: atmosphere, mac lethal Leave a comment »
Kansas-bred Mac Lethal says Milwaukee reminds him of home a lot — a fact he noted onstage both times he’s performed here with Atmosphere.
“I’ve never grown up in a place with a lot of music and bands,” he said of Kansas’ music scene. “I know that here there’s a lot of gangster rap…there’s not a lot of people who believe in themselves here.”
But impressing the citizens of Brew Town wasn’t the only reason he moved from philosophizing about phonies (i.e., goofy-smart “Tell Me Goodbye”) to his all-out goofy beer-drinking anthem “Pound that Beer.” “I don’t know if I care about deeper songs…anymore,” he said over the phone.
“I grew out of it. I don’t find that music is something that makes you think deeply and feel. I think it’s about letting go and having fun.
I don’t care about about engaging peoples minds anymore.”
Maybe he was being slightly facetious, but his songs validate the truth in this statement: “I just make it entertaining, make sure that I have fun, make sure that people that are there have fun as well. And I don’t mean like happy…I mean like real fun like an entertaining time for everybody.”
His new album, which he’ll work on after touring this spring, is “really ignorant.” Mac Lethal added, “The concepts (behind it) are deeper than beer, but the production doesn’t take itself seriously at all. The beats are weird. People are going to be troubled by it.”
Mac Lethal’s mix of commercial, bombastic pop lines with dirty beats makes sense after he cites Tom Waits and Young Jeezy as his main influences. “Honestly that’s all I listen to. Tom Waits, for the lyrics, creative visions and trying new stuff for his voice. Young Jeezy makes the hardest, most gangster music.”
Oh, and here’s another reason Mac Lethal could be biologically tied to Milwaukee: “Yeah, I don’t consider myself an alcoholic, but I drink everyday. I’m guilty of pre-gaming it … I drink more than I should before a show. But I can handle it; most drunk people on stage are no good.”
Mac Lethal performs with Kid Millions at Mad Planet (533 E Center) , 9:30 p.m., Monday, April 21
Division Day @ Mad Planet
Posted: February 21, 2008 Filed under: journalism, music | Tags: Cactus Club, division day, milwaukee Leave a comment »
Singer Rohner Segnitz‘s band Division Day has never been to Milwaukee, but he knows what local music sounds like; he was a big fan of the Promise Ring (and also Dismemberment Plan, which isn’t local but whose bassist was in Maritime). In the last year, they’ve also been compared Davey Von Bohlen’s Maritime. “None of (the comparisons) is stuff that bothers me…it’s innovative and held up well over time, but I haven’t listened to Promise Ring in about a million years, even though in my formative years I spent a fair amount of time listening to them,” he said.
As a musician, that’s all you can hope for your music to do — have staying power.
For the band, at least, “Beartrap Island,” the debut recorded in 2005, does just that. After it was released independently in 2006, Division Day was signed by an indie label that went under. “”It has been around for awhile, we’re totally aware of that,” he explained. “We’ve been living with the record for a while, but we didn’t have an interest in doing it over.”
Luckily, the record label execs at Eenie Meenie agreed, and reissued it last year. “We wanted to give the album a sort of a proper release to give it justice.” The re-release is remastered, with three new songs and an iTunes exclusive. Still, the band is looking ahead: “We’re writing for the next release after we finish touring this,” Segnitz said.
What will it sound like? “The sound is always changing, but it’s not like the next one is going to be a house record,” Segnitz laughed. “If I had my way, it would be like an avant metal band. I’m really into that, I’m obssessed with death metal and black metal.”
If you go
Division Day
When 9:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 25
Where Mad Planet, 533 E Center St.
How much $8
Best of 2007
Posted: December 31, 2007 Filed under: concert photography, journalism, music Leave a comment »
I live for lists. My friends and I make the best-of music lists every year for shits and giggles. I started writing this list in September, mostly because last year I didn’t have a top 10. It was more of a top 6, because I didn’t like as many albums as I thought I would. ( Here’s 2005, I think I lost my 2006 entry). This year was the exact opposite…Here is my top five followed by ones that spent a lot of time on my iPod
1. Battles – Mirrored
Watching Battles live — twice — was one of the biggest pleasures of my year. I love how their music is so cerebral yet hits your gut everytime. That they’re able to channel emotion, intelligence, wit, and intensity through thier instruments, without having to say a word. (Well, OK, sometimes they do.) And Tyondai is hot. Actually they all are. So there.
Battles, Lee’s Palace, Toronto
2. The National – Boxer
My favorite kind of music puts me in that in-between state of waking and dreaming. Where you don’t know where you are, exactly, you just know that you’re lost. But not in a bad way. This album did that for me, many times over.
The National, Pabst Theater, Milwaukee
3. Feist – The Reminder
Oh, Feist. My idol, my forever girl-crush. No song of hers could ever disappoint. Even though Justin thinks she’s a female John Kerry, I think she can do no wrong.
Feist, The Vic, Chicago
4. Radiohead- In Rainbows
Sometimes I go through Radiohead phases, where I want to listen to nothing but Radiohead on repeat. And the more albums they have, the longer that phase gets for me! YAY!
5. Brazzaville – East LA Breeze (2006, but I just discovered it.)
I love David Brown’s voice. And I love that his music is neither organic yet urban, Oriental and Western, here nor there.
Brazzaville, Bay View Bash, Milwaukee
Other CDs I totally loved:
J Todd vs. Milwaukee
Maritime
Andrew Bird
The Bird and the Bee, Again and Again
Explosions in the Sky, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Bright Eyes, Cassadega
Blonde Redhead, 23
Ryan Adams, Easy Tiger
Interpol, Our Love to Admire
Sharon Jones, 100 Days, 100 Nights
What Regina Spektor Said: An Interview
Posted: October 10, 2007 Filed under: journalism | Tags: milwaukee, regina spektor, the rave Leave a comment »A few weeks ago I spoke to Regina Spektor over the phone while she was in a Baltimore hotel room. It was a teeny little girl voice she spoke with, a far cry from the super strong projection of her voice during her live show at the Rave yesterday. (Read Justin Shady’s review later today.)
Anyway, she said that:
1. She always freaks out before her own concerts, even though the venues are always different. “Some shows are really connected and doesn�t matter where you are…It’s more of how much can you relax and be in the moment,” she said. Actually, “the freaking out happens prior to the show, once I start I feel really good usually.” She compared it to jumping out of an airplane, where “everything is perfect and everything is ecstatic. It has no logic.”
2. She is fluent only in English and Russian, even though she uses other languages in her songs. When she gets a feeling from language, she uses it as color, “In a very ignorant way. It’s sort of that way when you reference something but you’re not an expert,” she said.
So what language does she dream in? “I think it changes�it depends � when I’m speaking Russian, I think in Russian,” she said. Also, she has not written any songs in Russian. “I want to do it… I came to New York when I was 9 and a half from Russia. I�m a composite, not a true Russian…Maybe someday I will become more comfortable with it. English is how I express creativity, Russian is a home language with family and close friends�it’s more for life, not for art,” she said.
3. And then there are all those onomatopeic devices in her songs. “I love sounds,” she explained.
“I think a lot of it is just playing around. A lot of it comes out of necessity, like making beats because it�s only me and a piano, and it comes out of the arrangement needing other things. I end up doing things with my mouth. I don’t take anything that seriously, I love doing stuff and kind of reminding myself that it�s not that serious. It�s playful.”
4. She’s planning to tour until the end of November, then write a new album. “To write I need peace and quiet. (During a tour) lots of things are happening, and you’re using your energy towards something else.”
5. She thinks being named one of the hottest women in music is funny. “I definitely don�t think of myself that way, I’d nominate Karen O. She’s incredible.” Aside from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spektor also listens to Gogol Bordello, the Arctic Monkeys and her support act Only Fun. “I’m all over the place music-wise,” she said.
Maritime drummer Dan Didier’s Bad Art Collection
Posted: October 3, 2007 Filed under: journalism | Tags: dan didier, maritime, milwaukee, promise ring Leave a comment »
Not only can Maritime drummer Dan Didier kick ass on a kick drum, he also houses a veritable treasure trove of “bad art” (he says so, anyway) at the Maritime practice studio downtown.
During our interview for this week’s cover story I asked him to show off his collection, which amused him greatly, I think. Above Didier can be seen holding a quilted framed thing. (Note: all photos were taken with my camera phone. If I remember correctly, the works look better in person.)
This is a creepy painting above the entrance of their studio door. Of a grandmother on a couch. Or something.
Here he is again holding it before their very organized peg board. Those Maritime dudes are helluv neat. (Note the properly coiled guitar cables.)
Here is a geometric neo-mod tree that is actually pretty cool, he says.
He doesn’t know who this dude is.
But I thought I would show it in relation to the peg board.
Other than pedals and guitars and keyboards …
There’s also a photo of Chevy Chase as “Fletch” (I think), Simon and Garfunkel, and a cute little poodle.
There’s the ubiquitous “Take-my-rock-band-seriously-cause-I-have-a-non-ironic-Iron Maiden-poster-up-in-my-studio poster”
Didier by his drum kit
The most awesome painting in the stud — oh wait, it’s a Maritime set list.
Actually this is the most awesome thing in that room. A big 3 and a half foot-by-5 foot painting of Guy Picciotto from Fugazi. Made by Dan Didier’s ex-girlfriend, this painting has traveled from studio space to studio space and always takes the Maritime wall of honor.
Thoughts on The Super Noble Brothers
Posted: October 3, 2007 Filed under: journalism | Tags: andy noble, lotus land records, marc escribano, milwaukee, super noble brothers Leave a comment »Mark Escribano’s documentary, “The Super Noble Brothers,” was a trip. I saw it screen at the Milwaukee Art Museum last Friday with MKE photographer Christine Taylor, and we really enjoyed it.
It was obviously a photographer’s movie; the footage was gorgeous. It was also obviously a musicphile’s movie. The soundtrack — which Escribano gave away to the viewers — was an excellent mix of rare funk and local tracks (from the Pacers and the Thousandaires, bands the Noble brothers were in, and acts like Eric Blowtorch) — both of which featured prominently in the film.
Now that I know it’s basically a story of how three brothers in Riverwest pursue their music and art from 1999 to 2006, I can say that it absolutely works. It works as documentation of Riverwest’s art scene, and of the Noble family’s struggle. There’s also fleeting moments of the lifestyle intrinsic to Milwaukee that I think both the filmmaker and the family are lucky they captured on celluloid.
Other than the fact that watching movies in one sitting is really a struggle for me (I think I have A.D.D.) my one complaint was that the sound gave me a headache, because it didn’t seem mixed down.
After I wrote the story on Escribano for a previous issue, someone raised the question of the Noble brothers selling drugs to set up their business. Obviously nothing of the sort was ever discussed with me, but the film did feature a few scenes with gigantic marijuana plants. It was talked about, though.
Another point that wasn’t really brought up in the 80-minute film was how Andy and Tommy, the two older brothers, were really early purveyors of the old-school funk revival. When they were making the film, he said, that kind of music was really obscure. Their record label and store Lotus Land Records helped bring that sound out of basement bins and onto dancefloors, Andy said.
The day after I saw the movie, I was playing the soundtrack in my car when my sister said, “I want to go to a club where they play music like that.” So we headed over to the Redlight where I knew Andy Noble was spinning, and I got to ask both Andy and Mark a few more questions.
Even though the film was shot over seven years, Escribano only went through about 80 hours of film for the movie, which was a lot less than expected. Davey and Andy’s girlfriends weren’t named in the movie, and they weren’t too pleased with that fact. The bad sound was attributed to the theater. Otherwise, Andy said, everyone generally liked how they were represented.
And now that it’s all done? We bumped into the Noble’s dad after the screening, and he said it was a relief, after eight years of work.
Sonya disses Ryan Adams; I just took the photos
Posted: September 26, 2007 Filed under: concert photography, journalism | Tags: milwaukee, riverside theater, ryan adams, sonya jongsma knauss Leave a comment »Blog Party guest contributor Sonya Knauss talks about Ryan Adam’s show at Riverside Theater on Tuesday, Sept. 25
I should’ve guessed how moody Ryan Adams can be just by listening to his lyrics. I only own one of his CD’s, “Heartbreaker,” and it’s full of, well, heartbreak. Painful.
He’s the guy who wrote the song “Come Pick Me Up,” which Tim Cigelske described to me as “the most depressing love song of all time.”
A lyric sample:
I wish you would
Come pick me up
Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends behind my back
With a smile on your face
And then do it again
You can watch a version of it here:
Unfortunately, he didn’t play that one last night, even though the crowd asked for it on several occasions, which visibly pissed him off. I’ll get to that part in a minute.
But let’s backtrack to the beginning…
I walked into the Riverside just before Ryan Adams and the Cardinals started playing around 8:30. Perfect timing. The set-up included a starry-night backdrop, with a big disco ball hung high above the band.
They launched the show with an energetic “Wild Flowers” and went right into the next few songs pretty seamlessly. After “Games,” which was charming with its spare lighting and haunting harmonies over lyrics like “You ain’t but a fire on my sad estate / Burning my house to the ground,” the band picked up the tempo and amped up the sound for a crowd-pleasing rendition of “Cold Roses.”
At that point I was thinking to myself, “this band is really having fun!”
Someone yelled out, “Thanks for coming to Milwaukee!” The audience was really responsive, and I settled in to enjoy the concert.
But at some point, Ryan Adams got pissed off. I think it was after the sixth song, “Rescue Blues,” when some loud chick yelled out “take your shirt off!” in the midst of some other song requests being called out by the audience.
Ryan Adams, who mumble-yelled into the microphone just about every time he addressed the audience (except when he was inexplicably whispering) said something like, “Don’t feed the animals unless you want to get bit!”
People laughed a little, and they got on with the concert. After a few more songs I noticed just how little he was engaging the audience. There was no banter or friendliness, and I sensed an increasing hostility towards the audience, who was good-naturedly yelling out requests for his older songs from his solo albums or “I love you”- type comments between almost every song.
At one point during a set change he encouraged the audience (whispering the whole time) to “observe the cardinals in their natural habitat,” and led a ridiculously elaborate sound-along with the audience pretending to make jungle noises.
But two songs later, he’d had it with audience participation.
“I’m starting to think that maybe people of my generation don’t have any patience,” he grumbled after a third request for Pick Me Up was yelled out. “I’m not even relatively that good, and you don’t have any patience,” he said, clearly exasperated.
Then he got on with it, but the message was clear. Shut up and listen! I don’t want to hear from you.
I think at this point I leaned over to Lille and whispered, “I don’t really like being in a concert where you’re afraid you’re going to make the singer mad!” and she told me about a show her friend went to where he got pissed off at the audience and just left after only a couple songs. (Lille’s note: We also couldn’t take photos close to the stage — clear instructions were given to take them from back of the theater, and nothing else.)
He reminded me of one of those aloof, mysterious guys you get a crush on in high school because they’re just so unavailable and show no interest in you. The audience kept trying to shower their love on him even after he made it clear he was just not that into them.
Regardless of his bad attitude, the concert was worth going to. The music was great, especially the songs from his new CD, “Easy Tiger.” His jeans were way too tight, but I guess that’s rockstar fashion for ya…
I’m a sucker for a good steel guitar, and there was plenty of it in this concert. The Cardinals are a good fit for Ryan Adams, and he spent most of his time playing guitar along with the band rather than sitting at the piano.
I hope for his sake he starts enjoying what he’s doing a little more, because he certainly didn’t seem happy to interact with a friendly and welcoming Milwaukee audience who clearly adored him.
Even though I don’t feel like the concert was a rip off, it seems fitting to end with these lyrics from the song of that name on “Easy Tiger:”
I make these promises but all my promises hurt
It’s like they never get a lift off
So if i’m being honest with you and i seems like i’m being cruel
At least you didn’t get a rip off, a rip off, a rip off
And you’ll know how i feel
Like a rip off, a rip off, a rip off
Dites Donc! Is The Shizzzzz
Posted: September 23, 2007 Filed under: journalism | Tags: dites donc, milwaukee, riverwest Leave a comment »The reason I am still up at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning is because Dites Donc! is the shizzzz. I am still dancing to their party jams in my bedroom, singing into my hairbrush. And everyone who missed the dynamic duo (whom I have dubbed Milwaukee’s secret weapon) perform at Riverwest Audio Video or whatever three hours ago should cry themselves to sleep everynight for voluntarily missing such awesomeness, including, but not limited to:
1. Seeing a pregnant lady in a glittery black dress jump around the performance area (i.e., video rental floor with the shelves for videos pushed to the side) with her giant belly, and also lay down and do leg lifts and such.
2. Seeing same pregnant lady and her choreographed-dance partner do the “Matrix” dance, where they rotate their torsos like they were avoiding bullets like Keanu Reeves did in the movie, except they’re dancing and they want you to do it too…and everyone did
3. Seeing the Dites Donc! half who was not pregnant, but was wearing a headband made of yarn (you know, that kids’ project called “God’s Eyes”), throw come-hither looks and gestures to our editorial assistant Adam
4. Watching the dynamic duo dress audience members in brown gloves with felt leaves on them so they looked like branches, and the people were trees, and the whole crew standing all together was a forest, and encouraging them to wave their branches in the breeze while they frolicked in the forest
5. And then having these ladies sing and dance in their leotards and flashdance boots about the irony of their feminist song called “I’m On The Pill” while eight months pregnant.
6. And previous to them watch Batten Revue play party jams with a synth and drum kit, in gorilla masks.
I mean seriously I could go on and on but you would think I was making it all up, especially since FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER I DIDN’T BRING A CAMERA TO A SHOW AND I HAVE NO PROOF OF THIS AWESOMENESS. But ask Tuc, Shari and Adam — they were all there. They’re the only people who don’t suck, other than the 30 or so members of the Dites Donc! audience last night.