INTERVIEW 71 Oscar Fernandez (Discos de Kirlian)

Named after the iconic Aventuras de Kirlian, a band that is among the pantheon of influential artists from the spanish indie scene, Discos de Kirlian is an independent label based in Barcelona.
Oscar started the label in 2011 with the objective of releasing 7'' for less than 5 euros.
Two years and a few releases later,  what we have is an interesting collection building up with artists from the diverse and effervescent spanish scene (plus a lovely re-issue of Armistice's debut EP).


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The origins, aesthetics, logistics and what the future holds for Discos de Kirlian follows below.

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INTERVIEW 70 jeremy jensen (the very most)

photos by MaryAnne Remer

For over 10 years now, Jeremy's The Very Most has been making pure, uplifting, simple and heartfelt indiepop.
Known as "the only indiepop band in Idaho" (which sounds pretty awesome because we rarely see "indiepop" and "Idaho" in the same sentence and because Idaho seems to be a pretty magical place), TVM crafts heartwarming melodies straight from a shed turned into studio.
With a playful way and with a diverse aesthetic - part melancholy, part shooting-smiles-at-sunshines - TVM is captivating and irresistible. The purest indiepop.

Do explore their discography, in case you haven't yet. Lots of EPs and two albums that are brilliant (A Year With The Very Most contains 4 songs for each season and 2 of my all time favorites 'The Motor-VU Lights' and 'You're In Love With The Sun').

Also, their new EP Just A Pup, will be out via Manic Pop! on June, 14th. Here's a sample featuring The School's Liz Hunt.

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My interview with Jeremy is below, he answered the questions before a concert from Yo La Tengo. 

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INTERVIEW 69. jessica weiss (fear of men)

photo by Jacob Lillis

Fear Of Men is a 4 piece from Brighton (UK).
Combining a unique aesthetic where art meets philosophy, their straightforward guitar pop dwells mostly with a somber look on love, the contradictions of being and living without falling into a Joy-Division-or-Morrissey-esque cliché. Their explorations sound fresh and  spontaneous.
It's "Existentialist pop". Somber, sinister and "human, all too human" with an unrequited sense for catchy, blissful melodies and odd, decaying and foggy imagery.
Their debut album/compilation Early Fragments is available via Kanine Records.

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INTERVIEW 68. thomas mendelovits (milk teddy)

Thomas
(All photos by Carbie Warbie)

To start talking about Milk Teddy, we have to mention their debut album Zingers, released last year.
Zinger - I've learned recently - means, "a sudden shock, revelation, or turn of events". A very fitting name when applied to Milk Teddy's music.
This album was #11 on my list for best albums of 2012... but if the list had to be made today, it'd rank way, way higher. When I discovered them I thought "Wow, this is good!" but a month ago I started listening to the whole album again and it was, indeed, a revelation. A superb, warm and vivid revelation.

This 5 friends from Melbourne (Australia) make pure guitar psych pop (what is it with Australia and its insanely good number of artists playing around with psychedelia?) combined with walls of sound, reverberations and delays. But there's something special about their melodies: something that I should be able to describe - since I have a music blog. But there are cases when you simply feel and can't quite put into words what is the experience to listen to certain groups or songs. That's the case of Milk Teddy.
While you keep reading, listen to the opening and title track of the album Zingers below... you'll understand what I'm talking about.


Ok, continuing...
Maybe the difficulty to describe Milk Teddy's music comes from the the abundance of genres in the fabric of their melodies - that goes from psychedelic vibes to punk, synthpop and 60s pop - and the way they're arranged to create something effortless, catchy and breezy. Wrapping all together, is Thomas' soothing and emotional interpretation of lyrics that - as their sound - aren't answers but clues, pieces of a bigger picture that we slowly unveil.

Music to discover. Rediscover. Carry along. And feel it.

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Now we get into a train in Melbourne to talk with Thomas... origins, processes, seriousness of creating music and experimentations are some of the topics.

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INTERVIEW 67. beach vacation

DIY escapism made in a small town located on Whidbey Island, Washington. That's Beach Vacation.
Their first EP, Maritime - released last Monday via Dufflecoat Records - is the debut EP that Captured Tracks will never release. It is such an exciting introductory piece! It's on the edge of surf and jangle pop with a very unique and fresh appeal.
With the opening track 'Waves', we dive into their melodies with the sound of the ocean, seagulls and a crystalline guitar strumming. Compared to the other tracks, it sounds quite conceptualized and contemplative, but it works perfectly preparing us for the what's next.
For the rest of the EP, we get a sound that's warm and with rich textures.
'Washington Weather' and 'Escape' are simply beautiful. Joyous in their melancholic yearning.
I like how you're are able to dive into their melodies and actually feel a breeze and really escape. Even though the EP has less than 10 minutes.
Fantastic release from an exciting new band.



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Read my interview with Tabor, Tyler, John and Justyn below.

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INTERVIEW 66. Vinnie Kircher (Jaill)

Anthropological pop. Is that a musical genre? Do you know any band that could fit right into it? If not, I suggest you take a listen - in case you haven't yet - to Jaill.
A band from Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA) that has been around since 2002, presenting an in depth view from the hipster-ish underground world in form of jangly pop with 90s garage rock guitars with a flair for "jump around" melodies.
With 'Traps' - their most recent album (their 3rd LP) - released via Sub Pop last year, we find their sound wandering through melodies embed in some psychedelia and an appealing (and often heartbreaking) laid back atmosphere.

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After the jump, you can get an insight of Jaill's universe with the fun answers Vinnie gave to my questions. We talked about Jaill's origins, inspirations, music evolution, SXSW, Jaill's songs in Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies and their anthropologic party music.

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INTERVIEW 64. nicola lampredi (brothers in law)

It's not hard to see how this three boys from Pesaro (a city located in the already famous east "indie" coast of Italy) are committed to music: their aesthetic is an ode to the music they love - think c86, early The Mary Onettes, dreampop, jangly guitars and surf music filled with sand - and there's a genuine feeling of amazement when they look at their short career and how much has happened since the beginning (from playing with bands like Dum Dum Girls, Wild Nothing and Still Corners to flying to the US and playing at SXSW a few weeks ago).
Last January - following the release of an EP and single - We Were Never Being Boring released their debut album Hard Time For Dreamers. A collection of energetic and dreamy songs that feed hearts aching for some jumping around and at the same time satisfy any desire for melancholy, darkness and contemplation.



Shortly after arriving back home from SXSW, Nicola answered some questions. You can read it below.

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INTERVIEW 63. masami tsuchiya (wallflower)

There's a group of artists in the roots of indie music, that decided to make music because they wanted to sound like their favorite band.
While some may see their sound as a simple copy or homage, I tend to approach this issue a bit differently.
I'm constantly talking about "universes" here. And the bands that I tend to fall for, usually are successful - at least in my subjective eyes - in creating this "musical zone" that is theirs.
If every person is different and everyone has an unique reality, is not stupid to think that what may sound similar actually holds an aesthetic that came from one mind in a particular environment that has no parallels with anything else. That's where you'll find the value of creation. And this may seem naive but, the simple fact of getting in touch with someone's creation is already a valid and worthwhile experience. Specially if that creation sounds good as hell and is catchy as a bubblegum stuck under your shoes.
This introduction leads us to Wallflower: a 4-piece band from Osaka, Japan creating catchy tunes and following the paths of The Field Mice, Brighter and  - the most direct and obvious comparison - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.
Wallflower's music takes me back to early TPOBPAH music - remember 'Orchard Of My Eye'? - and its naivety.
While the shadow of TPOBPAH is always there, Matsumi, Ryuka, Haruyo and Naohiro own their haven of noise and delicacy with jangly guitars, soft vocals and indie beauty.
Either way, never let comparisons lead you to rushed conclusions. Awesome, catchy music will always be welcomed and praised.

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After the jump, you'll find Masami's interview.

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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.

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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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INTERVIEW 60. the arctic flow

Making music is - among other things - an act of honesty. And while the concept is highly subjective, sometimes we run into artists that exude this concept by creating utterly personal universes. For some people (I include myself in this group) that's where they find truly musical gems.
That's the case of The Arctic Flow, a project created by Brian Hancheck from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Brian's music is his way of express his melancholy through dreamy pop hooks and shoegaze, ethereal landscapes. A place of his own that we are fortunate enough to be able to experience.
The Arctic Flow has several releases since its beginning in 2008 in labels like Holiday Records, Bubbletone Discos, Beko DSL and more recently Dufflecoat Records. You can check and get them all at his bandcamp page.
Long live the sensitive ones.

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Here's our interview.

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INTERVIEW 59. wool strings

Wool Strings is the delicate, minimal, dreamy and über organic project of japanese musician Ryohei Ameda.

Ryohei started recording his songs when he was a teenager and after being part of a few bands, he decided to release his solo work into the world.

He releases his music via Sea Song, his own label. And also appeared - and here's where I got to know his work - on A Good Crop - Eardrums Autumn Compilation, from 2008 and released via Eardrums.

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He creates instrumental landscapes, and it's impossible not to think about cherry blossoms, bamboo forests and calm streams hidden in the woods, somewhere in Japan's countryside. Not that his music sounds traditional or something; but it has an acoustic and - as I said before - organic atmosphere.



(Our Spring To Their Summer is a free ep from 2010 available on bandcamp). To learn more about his latest work - after blue - released last February, see the last question of our interview.

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INTERVIEW 58. jal nuñez del prado (plastilina records)

Moving away from the usual US-UK-Sweden indie scene, we find ourselves in Lima (Peru), where Jal runs the indiepop label Plastilina Records.
The label is a collaboration between Jal and Roque Ruiz (founder of Cloudberry Records) and for the past years released high class indiepop inspired by Sarah Records, Matinée and small DIY labels from around the world.
Their catalog features acts like Hari and Aino, The Bridal Shop, The Sunny Street, Twig... and also brings back from the past old recordings from Sarah Records' St. Christopher and C86's jangle pop from Bluetrain.
Apart from running the label, Jal is also a key figure in Lima when it comes to organize indie festivals.

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In our interview Jal talks about his friendship with Roque, the beginnings of the label, the Plastilina aesthetic, the independent scene in Lima and more...

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INTERVIEW 57. karibean

As you from the North welcomes the closeness from the rays of sun - commonly known as summer - and your days tend to get dark around 10pm, probably some of your musical habits may change. You let the more introspective things aside and go to more sunny, warm, outdoor-sy and upbeat places of your music library. And talking about sunny and upbeat: do you know Karibean?
To welcome the summer - even though I'm wearing double layered socks and a beanie - I decided to publish an interview with my favorite indiepop trio from Italy: as I said it before - Karibean.

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Last year, their first ep called 'Love Tears and Spiritual Blessings' caught - not only - my attention with its beautiful melodies soaked in sun, beach, DIY, 60s pop and late 80s/early 90s indiepop.
The EP was first released independently (and for free download) and later was reissued - also as a free download - via EardrumsPop.
Among the songs, 'Gregorian Spring' stands out as the track of the EP and could (should!) be considered an indiepop hymn for its uplifting effect, combining melody, harmony and an outstanding and moving dialogue between vocals and backing vocals.



At the moment, they're preparing the release of their new ep - Andersen - (out in 4 days - June, 27) in collaboration with MATTAlab and We Were Never Being Boring Collective.
'Off the Lip' is the first single.


Check the interview below!

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INTERVIEW 56. jonas börjesson (pool sessions)

In the past years, a number of musical projects following the sessions format took over the internet.
But the summer of 2011 gave us the first season of a video project that - we hope - will become a summer tradition for indie lovers throughout the world.
The Pool Sessions, created by Jonas Börjesson from Halmstad (Sweden), features artists playing live music around - and inside - the swimming pool of Jonas' parents house.
Throughout the summer, 18 artists - Marble Hill, De Montevert, Summer Heart, Slutet, among others -  spent some time there giving fun, adorable and amusing performances.

Now, with the summer approaching in the northern hemisphere, the second year of the sessions is coming back with some exciting news: under the name 'Pool Sessions: On Tour", they'll live the pool behind and take a road trip through the Halland region, featuring artists playing nice tunes surrounded by beautiful swedish summery sceneries.

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I talked with Jonas about the origins of the project, the logistics involved and what can we expect for this year's edition. You can read it below.

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INTERVIEW 55. tear talk

photo by Rosie Woods

Tear Talk is a band from Liverpool formed by 4 boys in their early 20's. They met in school and spend a lot of time together listening to Black Tambourine and all the C86/Sarah Records movement.
Beat Happening changed the perspective a bit and from music lovers they became music makers thinking that "if they [Beat Happening] can make it, why can't we?"

In January, Port Sunlight was released via Bleeding Gold Records. Six songs filled with reverbs, some distortion and indiepop gentleness (and sadness). Pop melodies soaked into a background of noise but also sparse elements. An atmosphere of fog and dust that suddenly let's the sun come out between melodic changes and pure, pure fragility.

Quoting them: "...awkward, introverted and melancholic". 'Broken English', the closing track, is a great example and an outstanding ode to melancholic times and the sad ones.


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Below's our interview. Time to Tear Talk talk....

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INTERVIEW 53. doble pletina

photo by Ramiro E

With a song made to close the discotheque, Doble Pletina took Spain by surprise and became one of the main promises of the colorful independent scene of the country.
'Música para cerrar las discotecas' is already a classic, an anthem for indiepop kids and - as spanish indie bible Rockdelux said - "a song to dance with tears in your eyes". With an apocalyptic atmosphere and a calm - yet strong - drumbeat the song goes 'Music to close the discotheque, something to dance if the end is getting close...' and suddenly you're under Doble Pletina's spell.
Mainly an acoustic act, this Barcelona based group delivers mesmerizing indiepop where love and everyday life are sung via a clever, melodical and charming perspective.
Emotional and extremely musical.

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Their first release 'Para que négarlo, si se puedes demonstrar' is available for free download on Bandcamp.

With a mixture of surprise, shock and a certain pride, I present you're next favorite spanish band in their first international interview...

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INTERVIEW 52. bad panda records

Our current 'digital age', allowed us to experience  the plurality of different perspectives. And by different perspectives I mean the act of producing cultural content and at the same time consume it, having in mind and at the distance of a mouse click that the other exists and is more real than ever.

More specifically about music, I think net labels and the way they think music has an extremely important role to define and rethink what we call 'music', being an important key to reshape (like independent labels) the cultural market idea that music is more what comes into a nicely done package and less a way of express creativity.

That being said, today CuC features an interview with a good example - or alternative - to distribute and consume music. 

Bad Panda Records is one of the most politically outspoken labels I know. With an eclectic catalog of artists from all over the world and giving away music under Creative Commons license, Bad Panda believes in free and democratic culture where "music IS politics" (but not necessarily has to talk about it).

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Below is my interview with Claudio, founder and headmaster of Bad Panda. 

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INTERVIEW 51. azure blue

For a long time, I hear people saying that we know more about the space than about the oceans. That always seemed odd to me since I can touch the ocean with my feet. As I grew older and smarter (?) I started to understand the reasons why’s that. Perhaps for the same reason – or infinite others – some people have this connection – maybe bond is a better word – with the salty water that surrounds us.

And maybe the idea of grandness is better understood with the ocean since the grandness of the space is too abstract to our little minds to understand.

From the deep ocean comes Tobias Isaksson. Actually Tobias comes from Sweden and Azure Blue – his electronic project – comes from the ocean. A dreamy and crystalline ocean with gentle  and warm tides. 

Tobias is no stranger to music fans, since he was part of Irene and Laurel Music. 

"If Laurel Music was the sound of a lost first love and Irene was the impossible dream of endless summer, Azure Blue is the night after the day after. "

Rule of Thirds is the name of his debut album and it'll be released next Wednesday (November 23) via Hybris. "The Catcher in The Rye" is the first single.

The Catcher in the Rye by Azure Blue

Here's our interview. Tobias talks about his love for the ocean, his debut album, pre-release anxieties and perfect pop songs.

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INTERVIEW.49 egil olsen

Egil Olsen is a singer/songwriter. He writes songs and sings. (And I'm practically quoting one of his songs...) And he does it pretty, pretty well.
Egil is from Norway and used to work as a filmmaker before starting his musical career (he spent a few years in California, all very well documented in his songs). Since then, 3 beautiful, clever and heartbreaking albums were released: I am a singer/songwriter (2007); Nothing Like the Love I Have For You (2009) and Keep Movin - Keep Dreamin (2011).
Egil is a storyteller. The kind of musician that has a very simple and almost naive way of expressing ideas and that's exactly what makes his music stands out and kind of leaves you unprepared for moments like "On Saturdays we'll go down to the Farmer's Market / Sundays we could go to church to kill away the darkness..." (You and I (and the dog); or like In the Middle of Norway's last verse "I don't mean to be mean, I mean / A guy like me a guy with dreams has needs you see / I'm not that brave I'm just afraid / To give up and go home / Get a life and a loan and get stuck in the middle of Norway".
Why would you need clever words when you have a sensible guy being sincere with his feelings and showing them in such a delicate and charming way?
He's songs wander around subjects like love, self affirmation, leaving Norway (staying in Norway) and pursuing dreams. Oh, have I mentioned that everything is wrapped around a crystalline indie pop with acoustic guitar accompanied by violins, flutes, trumpets, pianos, banjo, tuba... and Egil's fragile voice?
It doesn't take much to love Egil (I dare you to try and read his bio without smiling) and his music. It doesn't take more than a 2 minute song to relate with his lyrics. Song after song you feel his honesty and purpose.
Beautiful, unique and inspiring.

And read our interview now.

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