INTERVIEW 62. nate martinez (thieving irons)

Thieving Irons is the project of Nate Martinez, based in Brooklyn (NYC), and started after his former band Pela broke up.
His first album - The Midnight Hum - was released in 2010 and last year Behold, This Dreamer! came out.
His music has an atmospheric, idyllic quality that could fit on a journey at the sea or a walk through uncharted territories. It's organic like a
waveless ocean that reminds us of its force through grandiosity and subtle movements, not intensity.
With a delicate approach to melody and an almost solemn songwriting, Behold, This Dreamer! takes its time to tell us a story (the one about the journey).
It echoes, it shimmers and transforms itself. Always connected to an aesthetic of dreamy imagery and storytelling, foggy atmosphere and slow burning sentiments.

Behold, This Dreamer! is not only one of the greatest albums I've heard last year: the closing track "Swimming With Minnows" is one of those gems... A finding or revelation, in the middle of your journey, if you will. It has a restraint, quiet and atmospheric feeling with amazing lines - "The silence is the loudest in my head since last May" and "Can I spend time to watch? Can I spend time to drown?" -  that every now and then pop into my head.

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Below is my interview with Nate. Inspirations, music in physical forms and a look inside his "subterranean cave"/studio after the jump.

village green

VILLAGE GREEN A VILLAGE TEN COLLECTIVE COMPILATION 2013

Here's a pretty concept executed by pretty indie bands that are part of an even prettier group that goes by the name Village Ten.
In their own words...

"Village Ten Collective is an artists collective. Village because we dig villages, Ten because we started with ten people, and Collective because “Super-Friends” didn’t fit in the logo.We are not a record label, but neither are we independent artists – we fit somewhere in between, nicely cradled in that grey area, a place where we have some of our needs met that a label provides while maintaining the flexibility and freedom of being independent. Our dear friend Ashley Mae said it best, “The collective is a grassroots operation to create and promote good music which inspires us to love our own human story.”"


The artists populating Village Ten are The Very Most, Canoe and Adam and Darcie. All wandering through sweet melodies of indiepop. With Village Green, a 6 track EP released early this week, their "super-friends" status creates new bonds that words cannot express (they are kind enough to share it with us, listeners). With each band covering two songs from the other two groups, what we end up getting sounds like a testament, a reassuring feeling of love, familiarity and appreciation.

Beautiful, smelling like leaves and nature, fresh and profound. The ending track, You're In Love With The Sun - originally by The Very Most and here performed by Adam and Darcie - is a tearjerker in its simplicity, minimalism and honesty. Again, a testament.
A special release put together by - no doubt - special people, that goes way beyond the idea of "covering someone else's music". It's true friendship proved by and in form of music.

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INTERVIEW 61. Lisle Mitnik (Fireflies)

Lisle lives in Chicago. He makes music in his home and has a few different projects. Holding them all together, there's a delicate and fragile sense of melody with roots in classical music and dreams of being part of The Beatles.

Throughout the years - wether as Fireflies, Very Truly Yours (where he plays guitars), Tiny Fireflies (a duo with Kristine, also from Very Truly Yours), or Edine Avec Lisle Mitnik Et Son Orchestre (with Edine from The Marshmallow Kisses) - Lisle's been crafting melancholic gems that are a hybrid of infectious, addictive indiepop with the prettiest - sometimes guitar, sometimes mellotron, sometimes piano - strums, a DIY aesthetic resembling lo fi acts from the 80s and an imagery field with hopeless love and winter scenarios.
All in all, his music is a celebration of beauty in a world where classical music goes very well with indie pop guitars and winter wonderlands.

Below you'll be able to go even deeper into Lisle's world and aesthetic. Get a cup of coffee or tea, put on your headphones and just let Fireflies music be your companion as you read his words.

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breathe

TEAR TALK BREATHE bleeding gold records 2013

Tear Talk's debut EP Port Sunlight (2012), was a tribute to melancholy, sound textures and gloomy - but also sunny - days. A whole universe presented in 6 songs, created by guys that a year before the release of the EP, didn't know how to play their instruments.
Music, indeed, comes from within...
A year has passed since their debut. It got raving reviews, passionate followers and was called the best EP of 2012 by this humble blogger.

Now they're back with B R E A T H E, a 7'' featuring 3 songs also released via Bleeding Gold Records.
Their already signature melancholic, texturized sound gains more depth and goes darker. While 'Port Sunlight' features a Galaxie-500-meets-the-C86-movement kind of sound, B R E A T H E comes with a darker take on post punk-ish melancholy. The songs take their time to build up and create a feeling that reminded me of the expression "the calm before the storm" (the restraint, almost spoken vocals help to build the mood).
At the end of the hypnotic 5 minutes of 'Parallel', it's impossible not to think that there's this band making music for a couple of years, with 2 very distinctive releases - one made for sunny winters and the other for apocalyptic nights. I was curious to hear what would come after 'Port Sunlight': would it be more of the (beautiful) same? What I got was a sense of movement and cinematic expansion.
As I said before, Tear Talk's universe is a cohesive collection of brights and darks, feelings and cold hearts painted with talent, distorted guitars and a sense of direction.

Worth of mention:  the amazing cut out artwork and colored vinyl. If good music wasn't enough, beautifully made vinyls and artworks are also a signature of Bleeding Gold releases.


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the chaotisch days. 5

Today is this little boy's birthday.
He turned 29 today.
He runs this blog and wants to share 29 songs with you.

A little boy in 29 dreams by Chaotisch Und Charmant Blog on Mixcloud

nectarine

COLOURED CLOCKS NECTARINE (independent, 2013)

Heartfelt progressive pop psychedelia. Or as the band defines it: augmented pop. From Melbourne, Australia.

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