Tag Archives: david bowie

Poetic Memory: Alex Kemp (List)

Up and comer Alex Kemp has been in three bands — The Godrays, Small Factory, and Assassins — that have taken him from New York City to Rhode Island to Chicago and everywhere in between. Now, the nomadic Kemp has set up shop in Los Angeles — this time to pursue a solo career.

In a short period of time, Kemp has raised eyebrows with his smooth, breezy grooves and heart-on-sleeve lyrics. He is currently preparing a series of limited edition, hand-screen-printed EPs for release over the next year, to be followed by a debut LP. Kemp was kind enough to take some time out from all that recording to share a Poetic Memory with us:

There’s a lot songs, tied to a lot of moments, that make up a sort of weird musical mosaic of our own personal histories. Everybody’s is so different though, so I don’t expect that anyone would see these song/moments of mine and relate, necessarily. But maybe they’ll go listen to the songs again, which would be fine, because they’re pretty fucking great songs. And we would have that in common — I’ll go listen to them again too.

Alex Kemp’s list of songs that have inspired his love for music is below. Continue reading…

Interview: Shapes of Future Frames

Shapes of Future Frames may be a new band, but their faces are familiar. Featuring members of local powerhouses Scarlet Symphony and the Old In Out, the band’s epic arrangements and space-age guitar effects have already earned them a reputation as one of San Diego’s most exciting and innovative live acts.

The group recently finished recording their debut EP, The Minds of Tomorrow, Gone Today, and we caught up with band members Jamie Pawloski and Gary Hankins to talk about the record, the importance of brevity, and what an acoustic Shapes might sound like. Continue reading

Interview: Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo - Sunday, December 12, 2009

Fanfarlo have had a whirlwind year. They’ve played giant festivals and toured Europe, and then headlined in the United States in support of their terrific debut LP, Reservoir.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas and drummer Amos Memon before their intimate December 12th performance at the Brillobox in Pittsburgh. In the wide-ranging interview, we talked about David Bowie, burglary, and bladder control. Continue reading

Poetic Memory: Anna Ternheim (List)

Anna Ternheim

Anna Ternheim recently won Swedish Grammys for “Album of the year” and “Female artist of the year,” and she just released the Bjorn Yttling (of Peter, Bjorn, and John)-produced Leaving on a Mayday on August 11, 2009. Ternheim’s lyrical confidence and directness make he songs particularly refreshing in a climate often dominated by bands looking for someone else’s sound. For a sample of her style, check out this MP3 of “What Have I Done?

Ternheim is currently finishing up a North American tour, with four nights on the eastern seaboard through this Saturday. See below for her Poetic Memory and tour details. Continue reading

Review: Dirty Projectors – July 17, 2009 at The Earl; Atlanta

Dirty Projectors - July 9, 2009

I headed from my friend Andi’s pleasant apartment in East Atlanta to Flat Shoals for Thai before the show on a beautiful and surprisingly cool (for Atlanta) summer evening, so we walked around as long as possible, or so we thought. After they let us in, there was a long delay, which turned out to be because the The Dirty Projectors were still en route from Baton Rouge. Finally, Altas Sound opened the show with a five song set that surprised mainly because angel-voiced Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) added a band (three Selmanaires) two days before and they managed to crunch out a fine country-laced set, departing from Bradford’s more electronic Atlas Sound peregrinations. Listen to their set here. We both liked the effort, which I likened to country Radiohead and she compared to early Travis, if that tells you anything. These are definitely worth downloading, even if the band isn’t as polished as it will be by the time they tour in support of the forthcoming Logos EP. Bradford played with the confidence and panache of a salsa champion and the band couldn’t help but follow his lead, even if there was a misstep here and there. Continue reading