radioSpin

PACIFIC UV
Chrysalis

Clay Jordan and Howard Hudson formed pacificUV in the late 1990s in Athens, Georgia. One of them wanted the band to sound like a psychedelic Jesus and Mary Chain tripping on Nyquil, while the other wanted to play one chord for 45 minutes to determine its color. Somehow, what emerged from these disparate goals was their self-titled debut album that Rolling Stone called a “masterpiece”. The perfect mixture of noise and melody, the first L.P. was a sprawling ambient landscape that revealed a myriad of influences, from shoegaze to 60’s rock, to slow core to post-rock. Skip ahead a few years (and a change of location to Portland, Oregon) and Longplay 2 is released, again to ardent critical praise: the sound of the debut record has been refined, with a more assured command of dynamics and tighter songwriting, but still sounding like it was beamed in from a distant planet. Their newest full-length, Weekends, is set to be released in January 2012 and it will feature a host of Athens music luminaries including BP Helium (Of Montreal), John Fernandez (Olivia Tremor Control), and Heather McIntosh (Lil Wayne, Azure Ray). Chrysalis EP (which includes two remixes, a fantastic cover of The Smiths and the special vocals of Carolyn Berk on one track) can be seen as a precursor of Weekends and it’s the perfect stuff to make our mouths water.

ARTIST: pacificUV
TITLE: Chrysalis EP
LABEL: PopHeart
RELEASE DATE: September 19, 2011
TIME: 19:17 min.
WEB: http://www.pacificuv.com/

01. Ballerina (remix) [05:05]
02. Lakes [03:41]
03. Sunday Night Dream (remix) [03:39]
04. Please Please Please [03:28]
05. The Archduke [03:24]

pacificUV – Please Please Please

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LAVA LAVA LOVE
A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies

Debut album for Italian combo Lava Lava Love. A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies is a fantastic tiny collection of tracks about love… and zombies of course. Starting from the title, the key-word of this first full-length seems to be “contrast”: a cynic romanticism permeates this bunch of songs and sometimes scary themes inside the lyrics magically come up from tiny, sweet and playful sounds. And that’s the point: how these two different but naturally merged aspects impact and inflect each other becomes a great (wonderfully reached) deal of the lyrical substance of both the album and the band. Vittorio Pozzato and Florencia Di Stefano voices perfectly follow the electro-acoustic paths created together with the rest of the band (Oliviero Farneti, Massimo Fiorio, Luca Valentini), made up from former members of some previous bands risen from the italian indie-underground (the unforgotten Canadians, Fake P, Slumber). While drained of its beauty and poise, the echo that resides between these melodies is a strange, eerie comfort that echoes Elephant 6 collective’s bands. Sing-along’s, meaningful stuff, pop riffs and great lyrics: it’s not so often that an album hits the ground running on a complete lineup of good solid song after good solid song, without a filler or crap single. Grandaddy will be proud of them.

ARTIST: Lava Lava Love
TITLE: A Bunch of Love Songs and Zombies
LABEL: The Prisoner
RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2011
TIME: 33:53 min.
WEB: http://lavalavalove.tumblr.com/

01. Another Happy Song [04:01]
02. Dry Tongue Lies [02:14]
03. An Invitation [02:54]
04. Nothing Special [03:18]
05. Your Lite [02:57]
06. Last Night [03:00]
07. The Grey Lines [02:50]
08. Tomorrow Will Be the Worst Day of My Life [04:42]
09. Kenosis [02:05]
10. Sparkling Wine [02:26]
11. Morning Dew [03:26]

Lava Lava Love - Kenosis

removed by request

BLISSES B
Thirty Days, Sixty Years

Ladies and gentlemen please let us welcome Blisses B, with their second (following 2009 You Should) full-length album Thirty Days, Sixty Years: a brand new compilation of genre-crashing rock and psychedelia, recorded, produced, and engineered entirely by the San Francisco-based quartet. Thirty Days, Sixty Years explores the mathematical parameters that define our lives and the personal equations that result from the many caveats that can extend and shorten most of these time frames. Using electric and acoustic mandolins, piano, Leslie speakers and banjo, Ben Keegan (guitar, mandolin, keyboard, vocals), Noah Libby (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin), Matt McBride (drums, percussion), and Nick Testa (bass, twelve string guitar and back vocals) escape the boundaries of any categorization, playing what they want and what they love, reminding to The Decemberist becoming Broken Social Scene, watching Wilco staring at Neil Young and composing folk with a punk attitude. A nice surprise.

ARTIST: Blisses B
TITLE: Thirty Days, Sixty Years
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: December 21, 2010
TIME: 36:00 min.
WEB: http://www.blissesb.com/

01. Regal Goodbyes [03:20]
02. Your Own Growl [03:54]
03. Thirty Days, Sixty Years [03:18]
04. Valley Low [03:02]
05. Fine and Dandy [03:22]
06. Cattywompus [02:52]
07. Yeasteryear [04:34]
08. I Was Around [03:08]
09. Spirit [02:42]
10. Decimal Point [02:34]
11. IWHBYWW [03:14]

Blisses B - I Was Around

removed by request

FREEDOM OR DEATH
With My Own Hands

Freedom Or Death don’t seem to want to stop growing. The Canandian collective has been incredibly prolific during this year and (this is the point) without losing a bit of quality: on the contrary, every new release signs a step forward towards the perfect songwriting. As for the last news: they released a new video (shot on the Phantom camera ar 1200 frames per second – stunning slow-motion, check it out) premiered by Rolling Stone, decided to start their own label, called Liars+Thieves (inspired by Q-Tip lyric Record Company People Are Shady) and now, in honour of their first European and cross Canada tour, present this EP, featuring both old and new songs plus a great cover of the 80s classic Don’t Stop the Dance by Bryan Ferry.

ARTIST: Freedom Or Death
TITLE: With My Own Hands Tour EP
LABEL: Liars + Thieves
RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2011
TIME: 21:45 min.
WEB: http://www.liarsandthieves.tumblr.com/

01. Don’t Stop the Dance [05:06]
02. Inside [04:04]
03. Lost in Dances [04:46]
04. Meter Maid [03:56]
05. This Crowded Room [03:53]

Freedom Or Death – Don’t Stop the Dance

get it here.

CALISOTA
Calisota

Do you remember Jeniferever? The Swedish band is one of our favorite, here at radioSpin (and there at S.Box some years ago): Olle Bilius plays bass for the Uppsala-based combo and now he’s ready to share with us his first solo tracks: a mini EP under the name of Calisota. Everything is written, recorded and produced by Olle himself but the songs features guest appearences from Ida Peterson Hallmén (vocals, piano), Rikard Linder (drums, vocals, percussion), Mattias Jonsson (acoustic guitar) and Ellinor Peterson Hallmén (clarinet). Obviously the EP feels the influence of Jeniferever sound, but that can’t be seen as a fault: Olle writes and plays his solo stuff in a very personal way and gives to Jeniferever‘s atmospheres a new softness.

ARTIST: Calisota
TITLE: Calisota EP
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: January 16, 2011
TIME: 18:13 min.
WEB: http://calisota.bandcamp.com/

01. Opalbell [06:32]
02. Pine Grove [05:33]
03. Hearts of the Yukon [06:08]

Calisota - Opalbell

get it here.

FREEDOM OR DEATH
Ego

And so here is the brand spanking new 7 tracks album/EP (who knows what constitutes wich anymore?) by Freedom Or Death! Released on the band’s label Liars & Thieves and distributed by Arts & Crafts, the album was recorded over 5 months in Toronto and is a progression from their debut self titled EP, seeing the Canadian duo acquire the perfect conciousness of the inner mechanism that lies behind songwriting.
So why Ego? Because “we all have one and have to deal with our and other people’s egos every day” and surely it is “a compelling  subject point to write songs about”.

But stop talking: take a look at the video teaser by Hugh Suh and listen, listen, listen.

ARTIST: Freedom Or Death
TITLE: Ego
LABEL: Liars & Thieves
RELEASE DATE: April 26, 2011
TIME: 40:00 min.
WEB: http://www.freedomordeathmusic.com/

01. Eight [00:37]
02. Inside [04:04]
03. This Crowded Room [03:53]
04. Elefant [03:59]
05. Gesprach (talk) [03:06]
06. Human [04:58]
07. Virginia Woolf [03:10]
08. Nobody Listens [04:31]
09. TCR acoustic (hidden track) [11:42]

Freedom Or Death - Inside
Freedom Or Death - Human

removed by request

RESEARCH TURTLES
Mankiller (pt.1)

A lot has happened since the release of Research Turtles.  A gulf-coast tour, an official website, a new guitarist/vocalist. In the end, this past January, Research Turtles returned to Dockside Studio with Justin Tocket, whom the band had worked with previously on the debut album, and the brand new member, Joseph Darbonne.  The Turtles spent all of 2010 writing and recording new material for the upcoming album Mankiller which will be released separately as a two part series: Part 1 of 2, already dubbed MK1 by fans, will be released on May 31st of 2011; Part 2 of 2 (MK2) is set to come out in September of 2011.
If you can, try wait for it: in the meantime enjoy this 5-song-anticipation of an almost perfect southern-power-pop-rock.

ARTIST: Research Turtles
TITLE: Mankiller (part 1 of 2)
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: May 31, 2011
TIME: 15:35 min.
WEB: http://researchturtles.com/

01. Girl Like You [01:14]
02. You Are So [03:08]
03. Bugs in a Jar [03:56]
04. Mankiller [03:08]
05. Rhinestone Gal [04:09]

Research Turtles - Bugs in a Jar

removed by request

RAISED BY TIGERS
Reunion Parts

Raised By Tigers is an indie-rock band hailing from the musically vibrant college town of Denton, Texas. Mike Canzano, Jason McMullen, Rob Peters, and Tyler Walker comprise the group: their music can range from post-punk leanings with swooping guitar textures to ambient acoustic/electronic pops and buzzes. Aside from a few compilation appearances, Raised By Tigers’s first proper album LED was released in 2007 by the label TXMF and was mostly a collaboration between McMullen and Peters.
Here comes the second one, Reunion Parts, which features the work of the full band as well as former members Nate DeYonker (Dark Meat) and Pat Ferguson (Deep Snapper). During these years the band has shared billing with bands like Karate, Dismemberment Plan, Calla, Les Savy Fav, The Paper Chase, Deerhoof, and from each of them Raised By Tigers have taken something to mix in a very personal way to get their actual complex but still direct sound.

ARTIST: Raised By Tigers
TITLE: Reunion Parts
LABEL: TXMF
RELEASE DATE: February 28, 2011
TIME: 41:38 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/raisedbytigers

01. Pictures of Books [05:15]
02. Song for Bob [02:38]
03. Enemy [04:25]
04. Kill Some Time [02:58]
05. Sunspots [04:45]
06. Pulling Punches [04:31]
07. New Absolute Shape [04:37]
08. Fake Museum [02:24]
09. SB [04:44]
10. Two Fronts [05:21]

Raised By Tigers - Sunspots

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ERASER
Ation

Eraser is a new media artist and musician that plays with “unconventional” instruments: electronic toys and musical devices rewired and turned in new sound generators through the art of the circuit bending. His experimental electronic music is a mix of unusual sounds, ambient loops, glitch and distortions.
His EP Ation is the result of an experimental process, a new electronic music concept, a trip through actions and effects combined with uncharted and hidden weird sounds coming from “rewired” innocent electronic musical toys and instruments: something absolutely new, reminding (but in an extremely personal reinterpretation) some atmospheres in between the kraut-post-electronic scene (Autechre, Alva Noto) and the japanese ambient-glitch school (Koji Asano, Ryoji Ikeda).

ARTIST: Eraser
TITLE: Ation
LABEL: Snowy Peach
RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2011
TIME: 25:58 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/mydataeraser

01. Incipit Noir (premeditation) [02:52]
02. Echoes of Collapse (detonation) [03:58]
03. A Short Story (hesitation) [01:27]
04. The Ghosts Inside (hallucination) [04:00]
05. Celestia (constellation) [05:48]
06. 60 Hz (fibrillation) [07:53]

Eraser - Celestia (constellation)

get it here.

FENECH-SOLER
Demons

Fenech-Soler‘s Ben Duffy, Ross Duffy and Daniel Soler began making on their laptops and synthesizers as teenagers tucked away in the small village of Kings Cliff, several hours north of London. They shared a burgeoning love affair with dance and club music from The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Soulwax, and Simian Mobile Disco and drew inspiration from a diverse group of influences, including Queens of the Stone Age, Michael Jackson, George Benson and N.E.R.D. . After adding Andrew Lindsay‘s live drums and synths to the band, their passion became fully-formed with the creation of crowd-moving festival and club anthems, ready to smear their melodic electro-art-rock with the flourescent goo of vintage rave and to make a big, freaky splash in the music scene with this almost perfect EP, Demons.
radioSpin release also includes a bunch of White Versions.

ARTIST: Fenech-Soler
TITLE: Demons / White Versions
LABEL: B-Unique
RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2011
TIME: 30:41 min.
WEB: http://www.fenechsoler.co.uk/

01. Demons [03:44]
02. Stone Bridge [04:31]
03. Lies [03:19]
04. Demons (white version) [03:58]

01. Stop & Stare (white version) [04:03]
02. Battlefields (white version) [03:40]
03. Demons (white version) [03:58]
04. Contender (white version) [03:28]

Fenech-Soler – Demons (drums of death remix)

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REBERY
Rebery

Rebery was formed in 2006 when Matthew and Elisabeth recorded their first demos, the first one I am a Tear. From there they produced and self-released their first album Dying Species (2007), where all the instruments and programming were recorded by them: a mix of alternative rock with elements of blues, pop, metal and electronic music. Live, Rebery has three aspects, one is more electronic, Matthew and Eli guitar voice, respectively, accompanied by prerecorded bases; another more acoustic, with a warm, intimate sound, just with guitar and voice and finally, one more rock with drums, bass and synthetizers. Their second self-titled album Rebery define all these aspects into a darker but still sweet sound where Black Heat Procession meet Devics, The Gathering meet Massive Attack or simply Matthew meets Elizabeth, and vice-versa.

ARTIST: Rebery
TITLE: Rebery
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: August 17, 2010
TIME: 39:32 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/rebery

01. Inside of Silence [04:39]
02. Rain Ghost [03:46]
03. Let Me Stay [04:31]
04. Dying Species [04:07]
05. On the Quiet [04:18]
06. Promised Land [06:02]
07. Peeping Angel [04:23]
08. Song for Klaus [05:00]

Rebery - Rain Ghost

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EVI VINE
… and So the Morning Comes

Evi Vine has been a prolific songwriter and performer operating both over and under the radar for the past few years, when continued radio support and a tireless live schedule continue to enhance her considerable reputation. To date, Evi has released just one solo 4 track EP Human Remains: a dark, sparse home demo which sold out of its limited run. Throughout her musical travels and trials, she had been creating songs that feature on … and So the Morning Comes, during which time they morphed and evolved into the beautifully crafted songs you hear today in her full-length debut. Her petite voice led to many comparisons to Björk and Emiliana Torrini, but while her vocal phrasing sometimes did bear a strong similarity to the ever-enigmatic Ms. Guðmundsdóttir, her compositions have a more sweet and soft appeal: sharp jolts of beauty, delicate little flourishes and unexpected oddities hidden in the (only) apparently simple song structures.

ARTIST: Evi Vine
TITLE: … and So the Morning Comes
LABEL: White Label
RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2011
TIME: 48:11 min.
WEB: http://www.evivine.com/

01. For the Dreamers [04:30]
02. Down [04:33]
03. Inside Her [06:46]
04. Colours of the Night [04:53]
05. For You [03:38]
06. Kiss [06:22]
07. I Let You Leave [05:50]
08. In This Moment [05:51]
09. All the Beauty [02:34]
10. How Time Flies [05:34]

Evi Vine - Colours of the Night

removed by request

NASH SMITH & GANGES
As Heard On radioSpin (interview)

So it’s time to talk with Nash Smith & Ganges: this mid-west trio recently released its debut self-titled EP, getting positive reviews from various blogs, such as Music That Matters, Dead As Digital, Neon Waves, and Everything Is Chemical, as well as radioSpin, of course. It’s a really interesting collection of songs: that’s why we want to know them better and now we’re happy they accepted to answer a couple of questions.

ARTIST: Nash Smith & Ganges
CITY: Blacksburg
LABEL: Pretty All Right
LATEST ALBUM: Nash Smith & Ganges
MEMBERS: Mark Arciaga, Rob Kenagy, Melissa Smith
WEB: http://nashsmithganges.tumblr.com/

RADIOSPIN - A very classic and over-abused question to break the ice: why the name Nash Smith and Ganges? You are a three-piece band, right? Maybe each words has something to do with each one of you, or there is another reason?
ROB – I’ve been performing as Ganges for a while now. It’s the name of a small town in Michigan, and obviously a river in India. My friend Steve came up with the name and it stuck. Both places are interesting, holy pieces of the globe.
MELISSA – I was Nash Smith as a solo artist: I guess it imparts some gender ambiguity, and ambiguity is always good. The Nash part comes by way of a town which was my email address, which a friend started calling me, and it stuck, much like in the Ganges case.

RADIOSPIN - Your bio is quite unusual (“[...] combine one part of honey with three part of whiskey, add a borderline Vaudevillian temptress, a backwoods noise junkie, a musical bibliofreak, and a dash of lemon [...]“) and radioSpin really appreciated to read something different form a list of people/places/musical genres: it sounds at the same time ironic and poetical. Who did write it down? Melissa? And why did you decide to take this solution? Is it only a way to try not to be ordinary or these are the only exact words to describe Nash Smith & Ganges?
ROB – A friend of ours, poet Megan Moriarty wrote that. She just has a good ear for sound, I reckon. It’s not really an attempt to seem ironic, but the band its self is a collaborative process, so why not get other artists involved, too?
MELISSA - We wanted a bio that, in fact, was somewhat unusual. We have a friend, a fantastic up and coming poet called Megan Moriarty, who writes poetry that is expressive, charming, funny, and evocative in surprising ways. We thought she would be perfect for writing our bio since she knows us and we knew she’d come up with something very unique. I added a bit of prose after the EP was released.

RADIOSPIN - Tell us something about the mid-west indie music scene: is simple/difficult making music round there? Some noteworthy bands/labels/clubs?
ROB – It’s simple in that there’s no lack of imagination in the mid-west and folks for the most part are interested in live music regardless of what you’re playing: so that’s cool. I’m mostly familiar with the Chicago scene, and there’s an abundance of cool, interesting music coming out of there.
MELISSA – The mid-west indie music scene is really, really different depending on where you live. Some places, like Milwaukee, are very insular, with only a handful of artists breaking through. I think, in part, this has to do with the presence of so many “homegrown” artists. In the case of Chicago and Minneapolis, people actually move there to pursue music or other artistic endeavors, but I think it’s pretty difficult to stand out in larger cities like those because there are so many talented musicians and, frankly, there’s just lots to do! Milwaukee has, surprisingly, lots of experimentation with music, lots of weird jazz. There’s a DIY venue there called Borg Ward that’s really great. Chicago has so much to do: the Hideout is such an amazing place because of its diverse offerings. I’m also a fan of the Numero label (and wish I had enough money to buy everything they have on vinyl). Permanent Records is a super record store around the corner from where I used to live and recently a small, cool label. Right now we’re in the South which has a different feeling altogether.

RADIOSPIN - Let’s start speaking about your debut EP. It has been recorded inside a former general store turned into restaurant in Eggleston, Virginia, right? Why this choice? Tell us something more about these recording sessions.
ROB - That place is haunted in the best way imaginable.
MELISSA - We also really wanted to get away from our own places. There are too many distractions if we try to work at home, I’ve learned, and we have roommates/dogs/etc. The Palisades is really in the middle of nowhere and a regular haunt for us. You have to drive up a winding road up a mountain and across the New River (which, by the way, flows northward) and into Eggleston to find it. Blink, and you’ve missed it. We spent two weekends recording (one for recording the music, one for the vocals and miscellaneous overdubs). Basically, we set up in different locations in this huge room and ran through several takes of a song and moved on. It was a lot of work. I was very, very sick and couldn’t speak for two-three weeks, so that comical at best and taxing at worst. Occasionally a train would go by while we were playing. We wanted to keep it really minimal. We had a mic set up across the room to pick up the amazing reverb in the room: I think it comes through best in Dress.
MARK - Melissa had played solo piano there and loved the acoustics of the room, so when we were trying to think of an interesting place to record, she suggested the restaurant. We all agreed that it would be both fun and different. The recordings were done primarily in the morning, while the restaurant was closed, although kitchen staff were working and occasionally a train would roll by! The recordings were done live and it took a while to position ourselves in such as way as to maximize the sonic potential of the room. Ultimately, we’re really pleased with the end result!

RADIOSPIN - The cover art of “Nash Smith & Ganges” reminds of the good old cassette-case. Who did have this idea? And why? Only a nostalgic/vintage solution or there is something more behind it?
MELISSA - We didn’t want to do a CD and we’re all analog junkies in one way or another, but we couldn’t afford vinyl, so a cassette became an interesting option. As a touring band, we also needed to have something to sell at concerts, so a digital only format seemed wrong for us. The cover art is meant to evoke the old 4AD covers of the 80s. I played with loads of ideas for the cover art, but the one that stuck was the warmth and nostalgia of this one.
MARK - The cover art IS a cassette! The physical release of our EP is on cassette. Since the EP was self-released (i.e. funded by ourselves) we had to be creative about a physical product (we would love to have released it on 12″ vinyl, but the cost was too high). None of us were really interested in releasing a CD and the audio on tapes has a warmth and unique hiss in the background that sort of adds to the overall listening experience (much in the same way that vinyl has its own unique pops and hiss).

RADIOSPIN - What about your musical path? Why did you start playing? When/where did you learn playing? Are you self-taught or did you studied somewhere?
ROB - I’ve been messing around on instruments for a long time, just trying to make noise. I had a fantastic guitar teacher in high school: I learned all the Nirvana songs, and needed someone to show me something else to do.
MELISSA - I’ve been piano since I was 3 and it’s just laziness that I didn’t study music in college. I’m a Suzuki kid. I also play guitar and flute (I taught myself guitar when I was 15 by listening to PJ Harvey and the Beatles).
MARK - I started playing drums at 14 in a punk band (I’d started on guitar, but no one needed a guitarist). The people I played with basically put me behind a drum kit and I learned by listening to lots of Minor Threat and Black Flag and copied what their drummers did. As my musical influences expanded, I began incorporating them in my drumming also. I’ve played with several different bands and I wouldn’t say I have any particular style: I just listen to the song at hand and come up with something tasteful that fits its style.

RADIOSPIN – And what about musical influences? Choose three albums you love and three band/artists you’d say your favourite.
ROB - Right now, here are my albums:
1) Spacemen 3, “The Perfect Prescription”.
2) Van Dyke Parks, “Discover America”.
3) John Fahey, “The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death”.
and my three bands (artists):
1) Chuck Berry.
2) Jim O’Rourke.
3) Neil Young.
MELISSA - Right now, I love:
1) Peter Gabriel, “3″.
2) Peter Gabriel, “4″.
3) Siouxie and the Banshees, “Hyaena”.
favorite bands/artists:
1) Spiritualized.
2) Kate Bush.
3) Randy Newman (especially after that awesome Oscars speech).
MARK - Great albums that just popped into my head:
1) Stereolab, “Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements”.
2) Spiritualized, “Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space”.
3) Cocteau Twins, “Heaven or Las Vegas”.
three all time favorites:
1) The Smiths.
2) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.
3) Tom Waits.

RADIOSPIN - Could you briefly describe your music-making process?
ROB - Melissa comes in with completed songs. I come in with little fragments of songs and make Mark and Melissa suffer through intense, often incomprehensible changes until it feels right.
MELISSA - Ha, Right. I often try to finish a song in an afternoon, arrangements and all. Sometimes I have a notion of what Rob/Mark will do with them, but I end up being completely surprised. The songs often end up morphing after several months of playing due to new ideas in sound. It’s all very deliberate for me, in the beginning, though.
MARK - Some of the songs already existed in solo incarnations: we all contributed to new (sometimes radical) rearrangements of those. For the newer/new songs, we talk a bit about how we envision the song and how we can attain the particular qualities we imagine. Sometimes, Melissa will have a drum beat in mind or I might have some structural ideas, or Rob will improvise an amazing guitar part: it all comes together somehow. We’re all very close and have a good intuition about what each other wants, sonically: sometimes, we just start making a lot of noise/guitar loops/synth drones and see where that takes us.

RADIOSPIN – I hope I’m wrong, but I guess you aren’t able to live with what you earn with music by now, what’s your secondary occupation?
ROB - Right now I teach English composition to college freshmen.
MELISSA - I used to teach English composition, but most recently I worked in a library.
MARK - Not yet, anyways! I work as an assistant cataloger at a university library.

RADIOSPIN - The EP has been released on a small Chicago label (Pretty All Right). Why this one in particular?
NASH SMITH & GANGES – Our friend Tom runs the label: Rob and Tom have been working together on various projects for the past few years, so we wanted him to be involved. He was gracious enough to say yes.

RADIOSPIN – Are you interested in some other form of art besides music (painting, poetry/literature, film/video etc.)?
ROB - I’m studying towards a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry at Virginia Tech.
MELISSA - I’m particularly interested in film and applied arts. I often write with a vision, more or less, in the back of my head. I actually just wrote a song that was specifically inspired by the film Metropolis: not simply the words, but the ambiance and feeling (cold, mechanical, urban alienation and so forth). I also studied literature, so I sometimes approach songwriting under the influence of a particular writer/setting/theme.

RADIOSPIN – Do you have the shooting of a music video on your to-do-list? Some idea about it? Which of your songs are you planning to choose?
ROB - Nope. But now that you mention it…
MELISSA - Our friend, Natalie Gibbs, who took some photographs for us also has a stop-start video in the works.

RADIOSPIN – radioSpin is a music-blog, so let’s talk about web and music: do you think that free music sharing on the internet is a bad or a good chance of promotion for new bands? Are there more pros or more contros?
ROB - The cons are that people have stopped absorbing music: I’ve listened to that new Radiohead album at least 5 times now, and all I can remember is that it was interesting. I was too busy e-mailing my sister and trying to identify a bird online, I never actually listened to the complexities of the album. I guess if you take the tracks offline it’s different, but streaming music online (while I do it daily) never feels like a full experience. Maybe I’m alone on that, though.
The pros are that more people get to hear your music, and its easier to find more obscure bands than it used to be.
MELISSA - I agree. I remember waiting in line to buy both Kid A and Amnesiac at midnight of their release and then went home and listened to them twice: no distractions, laying down, headphones. A con is that there is a deluge of bands/artists, making it difficult to sift through them. That’s where blogs come in, as arbiters. I really love that there are blogs out there specifically aimed to find new music, not simply the music everyone else is writing about; but, good blogs like that are difficult to find. Ideally, in our case, putting our music online would encourage people to see our shows, not necessarily to get signed/be famous. The ultimate goal for a band is longevity, which isn’t possible without sustainability. Unfortunately, we live in a place which is so small that we don’t have a chance to see bands: in this case, music sharing is especially valuable for us. We also buy music in its finished, product form, which is important, especially if it’s released on LP or cassette.
MARK - I’m a big fan of music sharing and always have been since the days of dual cassette decks, so naturally, perhaps, I’m a huge supporter of music sharing on the internet. We are a new band and we’ve been really lucky to have some blogs (yourself included) support us by showing us to their readers. I can say that it’s an incredibly effective means of getting your music out to a lot of people very quickly: in the 80s, DIY band promotion was primarily via word-of-mouth and ‘zines, which, although wonderful and revolutionary (not to mention truly independent) were structurally limited in their scope; with the internet, a band can get an unbelievable amount of exposure with a computer, email address, and internet connection! The debate over music sharing is certainly complex and subtle: I can appreciate both viewpoints, but for us, with the band’s nascency, it’s hard to find any cons.

RADIOSPIN – What social networks are you using to promote your work?
MARK - Our primary online presence is a Tumblr page which links to most all of our social networking sites, including, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, BandCamp. The Tumblr page also has review, a link to buy the EP, photos/artwork, upcoming tour dates, etc.

RADIOSPIN – So, in the end, give us three links we should click on absolutely.
MELISSA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON8lVgJxMQA (Peter Gabriel plays with a Fairlight: amazing) and http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/ (this is not far from us, and I just learned of its existence: it is the only place in this country like this)
MARK - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKPGzX5kZd0 (amazing BBC documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop).

Nash Smit & Ganges – Hunters

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CROOKED MOUNTAIN, CROOKED SEA
What’s There to Write About It?

After a couple of EPs released during the last years (It’s the Falling That Counts, Not the Landing / I Watched It From the Roadside) it’s time to debut with a full-length album for Brighton-based four-piece Crooked Mountain Crooked Sea. These guys have grown up perfecteing their post-hardcore sound on this bunch of short, killing, mangled and explosive tracks.

ARTIST: Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea
TITLE: What’s There to Write About It?
LABEL: Box Social
RELEASE DATE: February 23, 2011
TIME: 27:00 min.
WEB: http://www.crookedmountaincrookedsea.com/

01. Faults [02:56]
02. Drawing Details [03:25]
03. Plans [02:24]
04. It’s the Same [02:57]
05. Chances Scattered [02:33]
06. Second Guessing from an Armchair [02:00]
07. Other Places, Other People [03:18]
08. Hours in the Frame [02:16]
09. It Should [02:20]
10. Graces Think Pit [02:51]

Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea - Faults

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NASH SMITH & GANGES
Nash Smith & Ganges

Nash Smith & Ganges is a trio based in Blacksburg, Virginia. Melissa Smith (keys/vocals), Rob Kenagy (guitar/vocals), and Mark Arciaga (drums/programming) have played in bands such as the 60s-tinged garage/pop Distractions (Chicago) and ambient spacerock outfit Puritan (Minneapolis). Their current project, making its debut with the self-titled EP Nash Smith & Ganges, means of unifying their previous solo ones: moody synthpop (Mark), psychedelic noise/folk (Rob), and hazy pop (Melissa).
An ambitious goal, but this beginning promises really well.

ARTIST: Nash Smith & Ganges
TITLE: Nash Smith & Ganges
LABEL: Pretty All Right
RELEASE DATE: February 18, 2011
TIME: 27:29 min.
WEB: http://nashsmithganges.tumblr.com/

01. Hunters [04:28]
02. Black Cadillac [05:09]
03. Kill the Light [02:54]
04. No Names [05:23]
05. Dress [05:11]
06. California [04:24]

Nash Smith & Ganges – Dress

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