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[sound bites] avant indie<br />
North Highlands<br />
www.myspace.com/californiahometown<br />
North Highlands By Nancy Chow Keepaway By Dale W. Eisinger<br />
Recorded primarily in a friend’s<br />
basement, the “Sugar Lips” EP<br />
is the sound of a young band<br />
testing out its waters. Previous<br />
to the formation of the band,<br />
Brenda Malvini recorded a few<br />
songs using GarageBand, but her<br />
peers took these rough sketches<br />
and fleshed them out into lush,<br />
pastoral movements. <strong>The</strong> quartet<br />
flirts with different styles and tempos,<br />
but the common thread and<br />
the strength of the songs is the<br />
heartfelt, sincere sentiment. North<br />
Highlands provoke emotional<br />
centers with their personal lyrics<br />
and striking instrumentation.<br />
Where do you find inspiration in<br />
such a hectic city?<br />
Part of it is where our rehearsal<br />
space is; it’s near the East River.<br />
I also live in industrial Bushwick.<br />
That area reminds me of San<br />
Francisco. I really enjoy that energy,<br />
Fang Island<br />
www.myspace.com/fangisland<br />
the slowness of the neighborhood.<br />
When you write songs together,<br />
do you guys argue a lot as most<br />
of you were music majors?<br />
Surprisingly, no. I’m constantly<br />
telling my friends how excited I am,<br />
because this is the first band I’ve<br />
ever been in where everybody has<br />
this apparent ability to kind of just<br />
have an idea of what sounds great.<br />
How has your music changed<br />
since Brenda’s personal lo-fi<br />
recordings?<br />
When our friends come up to us<br />
who have been to every show,<br />
[they say], “When I first saw you<br />
at the Market Hotel, it seemed like<br />
a girl and a piano and this band.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> fact that we’re starting to<br />
write as a band is really nice.<br />
Nancy Chow’s full interview here:<br />
www.thedelimagazine.com/artists/<br />
northhighlands<br />
<strong>The</strong>re probably isn’t a better moniker<br />
than Keepaway for this Brooklyn<br />
band on the rise - their music<br />
bounces with a childish delight,<br />
addictive in the way of their namesake<br />
game, somehow both sadistic<br />
and good-natured. <strong>The</strong> three-piece<br />
uses samples, synth, guitar, driving<br />
percussion, and howling harmony<br />
to create their tunes. <strong>The</strong>re’s plenty<br />
of blog buzz for their track “Yellow<br />
Wings,” a simultaneously dark and<br />
infectious rocker garnering a 9/10<br />
by perennial tastemaker Pitchfork.<br />
It seems like you came out of<br />
nowhere.<br />
Frank: We did. We used to be<br />
called In. And we thought having<br />
an un-google-able name would<br />
end up being a strength. And it<br />
was, because being able to lay<br />
low and not have people find us<br />
allowed us to really focus on the<br />
project only musically.<br />
Fang Island By Dale W. Eisinger<br />
<strong>The</strong> members of Fang Island are<br />
notoriously snarky in interviews,<br />
but that sort of goes along with<br />
the playful nature of the band’s<br />
powerful tunes. No matter what,<br />
they’re funny to read. Fang<br />
Island is poised for surfing some<br />
cosmic waves of joy in the next<br />
few months.<br />
How are you being received at<br />
smaller venues?<br />
<strong>The</strong> smaller venues have been<br />
going great, but larger venues are<br />
what we intended the songs off<br />
our newest record to be played<br />
in. <strong>The</strong> largest venue we have<br />
played so far is the Great American<br />
Music Hall in San Francisco.<br />
On the flip side, how stoked are<br />
you to tour with <strong>The</strong> Flaming Lips?<br />
We are very excited to play with<br />
the Flaming Lips. We are huge<br />
Photo: Aaron Blumenshine<br />
Keepaway<br />
www.myspace.com/keepaway<br />
Nick: We thought it was an<br />
interesting experiment to subvert<br />
the Internet’s strengths with its<br />
strengths, using a one-syllable<br />
language unit to actually obscure<br />
ourselves rather than be searchable.<br />
But it didn’t really pan out.<br />
As a result, there’s very little<br />
research I could do about you<br />
guys. What’s your story?<br />
Mike: Nick and I grew up together,<br />
Frank and Nick went to college<br />
together and spent some time in<br />
San Francisco playing music. We<br />
started playing together in this<br />
formation last fall. I’ve been making<br />
music most of my life, electronic<br />
music for half of it. I started<br />
playing turntables and keyboard.<br />
Now it’s more digital stuff.<br />
Dale W. Eisinger’s full interview here:<br />
www.thedelimagazine.com/artists/<br />
keepaway<br />
fans and can’t wait to be slaughtered<br />
by them every night.<br />
Just how many high-fives do<br />
you plan on giving over the<br />
course of this band?<br />
We will never be sick of high five<br />
questions. Your question is very<br />
respectable, thank you. We have<br />
played shows where we can’t get<br />
through our fifth encore because<br />
our hands have been turned to<br />
jelly from the constant high-fiving<br />
our audience expects.<br />
Who’s a better audience: Kindergartners<br />
or hipsters?<br />
We prefer Hanksters: a member<br />
of the crowd who resembles Tom<br />
Hanks.<br />
Dale W. Eisinger’s full interview here:<br />
www.thedelimagazine.com/artists/<br />
fangisland<br />
Pearl and the Beard<br />
www.myspace.com/pearlandthebeard<br />
Pearl and <strong>The</strong> Beard By Christina Morelli<br />
One of the first things you’ll<br />
notice about Brooklyn-based<br />
band Pearl and the Beard is their<br />
innately warm, friendly attitudes<br />
and quirky sense of humor that<br />
instantly triggers a smile. Don’t<br />
be fooled by the simple, happy<br />
façade, however, this folk trio<br />
creates music drenched with<br />
emotional depth and exquisite<br />
harmonies.<br />
<strong>The</strong> musical style of Will Smith<br />
is notably different from the<br />
genre associated with Pearl<br />
and the Beard. What made<br />
you select his songs as the<br />
medley for your video and<br />
how did the creative process<br />
unfold?<br />
Jocelyn: We had done a lot<br />
of album recording and were<br />
ready to write something new.<br />
We started playing around with<br />
melodies and I burst out with<br />
“In West Philadelphia born and<br />
raised…” just for fun, and then<br />
someone else jumped in with<br />
“Men in Black,” and it just kept<br />
building on itself.<br />
What aspects of life does your<br />
lyrical inspiration come from?<br />
Jocelyn: It’s a very collaborative<br />
process for every song.<br />
Emily: We try to make it extremely<br />
equal. We each come<br />
with something, and we each<br />
have a role in our specific<br />
strengths, and we balance it out<br />
after that.<br />
Jeremy: With all of the songs<br />
that we have, particularly the<br />
new ones, they’re never too<br />
one-sided on the spectrum. You<br />
may have a feeling of elation,<br />
but there’s still that weird anger<br />
that brings you back to reality or<br />
some past hurt.<br />
What do you think the key is<br />
to maintaining your unique<br />
identity and yet still appeal to a<br />
wide audience?<br />
Jocelyn: <strong>The</strong> songs that come<br />
out of you are the songs you<br />
should be making, and that’s<br />
what I feel really confident about<br />
with this band. <strong>The</strong>re’s never<br />
intent of a means to an end. It’s<br />
just this is us this is who we are.<br />
Jeremy: If you cut any three of us<br />
open that’s what would come out.<br />
Christina Morelli’s full interview here:<br />
www.thedelimagazine.com/artists/<br />
pearlandthebeard<br />
Sticklips<br />
www.myspace.com/sticklips<br />
Sticklips By Lauren Piper<br />
<strong>The</strong>re’s nothing quite straight-forward<br />
about this four piece’s slippery,<br />
somewhat dissonant, winding folk<br />
music. With sounds of fingers sliding<br />
up and down acoustic guitars, crystalline<br />
vocals and blatantly strange<br />
electronic interjections, Sticklips’<br />
tunes leave listeners curious as hell.<br />
What is the history of Sticklips?<br />
Johanna: I met Jim and Jonathan<br />
in an ill-fated Motown cover band.<br />
That was short-lived, but the<br />
three of us immediately started<br />
making jokes about bodily fluids<br />
and knew it was meant to be.<br />
Later Jonathan approached me.<br />
What’s the deal with lion taming?<br />
Johanna: I guess it is a metaphor<br />
for being an artist. Sometimes<br />
this wild animal takes to clawing<br />
at your insides and the only way<br />
to calm it down is to write a song,<br />
or paint, or write a novel, whatever.<br />
You are constantly in danger<br />
of that animal eating you alive.<br />
VHS, DVD or blue ray? CD, record<br />
or cassette? Mashed potatoes,<br />
french fries or home fries?<br />
Johanna: I’ll be honest: I have<br />
no idea what blueray is. I just<br />
found a record player in the trash,<br />
so I’m pretty excited about that,<br />
although right now my record collection<br />
consists of one scratched<br />
copy of Peter and <strong>The</strong> Wolf.<br />
Home-made french fries with olive<br />
oil, black pepper and rosemary.<br />
What is the songwriting process<br />
like for you guys? Any<br />
power fuel foods?<br />
Johanna: Generally I bring in a song<br />
for acoustic guitar and vocals, and<br />
everyone else writes their own parts.<br />
Each of us has a certain area of expertise<br />
and a very different musical<br />
background and taste, so fromour<br />
collective mind this crazy hybrid<br />
brain-child is born. It’s kind of like<br />
we’re the Planeteers and Sticklips<br />
is Captain Planet. We go to sketchy<br />
Latin restaurants and diners.<br />
What is the most exciting thing<br />
coming up for Sticklips in the<br />
nextcouple months?<br />
Johanna: Right now we are raising<br />
money on Kickstarter to fund<br />
our second album, which we will<br />
be recording in July and August.<br />
Making an album is definitely<br />
the most fun thing in the world. I<br />
recommend everyone try it.<br />
Lauren Piper’s full interview here:<br />
www.thedelimagazine.com/artists/<br />
sticklips<br />
the deli_10 summer 2010 the deli_11<br />
[sound bites] folky
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