CMJ » Nick Neyland

Robert DeLong: Going Global

Nick Neyland — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:00:18 +0000

Reflections on electronic dance music (EDM) reaching critical mass in the United States will feature prominently in recaps of 2012. Skrillex and Deadmau5 are already established as poster boys for a new generation of rave-happy kids sucking on pacifiers, but they’ve also opened the floodgates for like-minded individuals to grab a slice of the DayGlo pie.

Los Angeles-based Seattle transplant Robert DeLong has already gained a reputation as a player on the fringes of the EDM scene. But he may not remain there for long. He talks breathlessly of a show in Albany while speaking to me on the phone from a recent tour. “It was really cool to see thousands of people singing along to the lyrics. It was my first experience of that,” he says.

Songs like “Global Concepts” wrap a pop sensibility around house and electro rhythms, adding touches of subtlety lacking in the music of many of DeLong’s peers. His ability to seamlessly blur boundaries while working around a core EDM template could blow his potential audience wide open—something DeLong hopes to test out with the release of his debut album early next year.

EDM once seemed to be big everywhere but the United States. How did you arrive at it?
I was really into Pat Metheny and stuff like that. But then of course I got into the Seattle indie-rock scene when I was in high school. A lot of Death Cab and a lot of Modest Mouse, that kind of stuff. But all the while I was listening to ambient electronic music. I was into Boards Of Canada—that’s my favorite band. Then coming down to L.A. I started to become exposed to the EDM scene.

When you started making music, was it very different from what you’re doing now?
I suppose so, yeah. Every few years I’ve changed what kind of music I’ve been writing. But when I moved down to L.A. it was along the lines of indie-pop and indie-rock stuff that was happening in Seattle at the time. In L.A. I started listening to more electronic dance music and beats-based music. I just fused the two together, my two styles that I was into.

What do you remember about the first show you played under your own name?
I really only started doing my solo thing about two years ago. But I always wanted to do a solo electronic thing because that’s the future of music. So the first show I played was at some coffee house, and it was really weird. My computer didn’t work. It broke halfway through. It was terrible. That’s really my first show experience. But it was about two years ago that I started incorporating the dance element, and I remember the first show where it really clicked with people. A lot of people came up to me after the show and said, “That was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that.” So it seemed like something I should do.

And now you have a fan group with its own name: Tribe Of Orphans.
Yeah, well that was born out of me having an extended group of friends. We would all go to concerts or raves or whatever. We’d all go out together and party together, and it started catching on. So they were my friends, and they started coming to my shows, and other people saw that and loved the whole vibe and experience. And they joined in and started doing their own version of it. I’ve always wanted to make a show that’s fun for everybody and has a party atmosphere, where everyone’s friendly. That’s the vibe of all my friends, and we’re trying to perpetuate that.

Are you working on an album, or is touring taking over your schedule?
We just finished up mixing a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been mastered. So we’re just waiting until early 2013 to put that thing out. And the lead single will be out before then. Then I’ll be full time on tour in 2013.

Will the album be similar to the songs you’ve released already?
I don’t know if you’ve heard “Global Concepts,” “Happy,” those tunes? Those songs will be on the album. We will remix them. It’s a bunch of songs I’ve written over the last four years. It ends up being 12 tracks. It’s dance, but some of them are a little more on the folk edge and some of them straight house. It’s a cross section. It’s indie pop in the sense that it’s song-based and melodic.

What were you listening to while you were making the album?
A lot of things. I was listening to the EDM stuff that’s happening right now. To be honest, my biggest influence in all this stuff is going out. Since I moved to L.A. I’ve been going out as often as I can to electronic concerts. I’m trying to figure out how to re-appropriate that vibe into the hybrid thing that I’m doing. It’s nothing specific. It’s always just trying to find that moment that you can steal.

How long did it take you to finish the album?
It’s gone through so many different evolutions. A lot of these songs I wrote four years ago, and my writing process involves recording as well. So it’s just layers and layers and layers of new recording on top of new recording. But it’s the same base song. Really though this last six months was when we dialed everything in and threw everything together and made it a cohesive thing.

Why do you think EDM has blown up so big recently?
Music was traditionally dance music, at least initially. Recently it was sort of inevitable that electronic music would overtake everything at some point, just because of the way technology is moving and people always looking for the next thing. And when there’s a bad economy, people want to have a party. There are a lot of different factors to it. I’ve been looking forward to the moment when electronic music is the primary thing. It’s fun to be a part of it.

Do you see yourself as a part of it though? Your music obviously has a lot of other elements pulled from far beyond the EDM scene.
It’s a different take on that thing. It’s definitely a part of it. But the thing that I’m really interested in is taking these ideas, these genres that exist in people’s minds that are very specific, especially in the EDM world where everything is so fragmented that way, and being able to exploit those for whatever the coolest properties are. And hopefully make something new out of it.

This article originally appeared in the CMJ 2012 festival guide.

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CMJ 2012 Artist Q&A: Maria Minerva

Nick Neyland — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:21:42 +0000

Photo by Marek Chorzepa

The world that Estonian musician Maria Minerva inhabits is, by her own admission, highly unpredictable. She gained attention for a string of homespun recordings for the Los Angeles-based Not Not Fun label in 2011, all released while she was living in London. Minerva headed out of the bedroom and into a proper studio for this year’s Will Happiness Find Me?.

That new record is her clearest statement yet, although the music remains a chaotic grab bag of avant and pop influences. The chaos extends to Minerva’s personal life, too. When I talked to her on the phone, she’s trying to hail a cab in San Francisco to find a bank in which to deposit her tour profits. “We got robbed yesterday, so I’m doing damage control,” she says.

The fruitless search for a bank causes her to wander the streets, allowing her to pause and reflect on how the predicament mirrors her general existence. “I don’t know where I am,” she says. “This is an example of my everyday life. I’m just going somewhere without knowing where I’m going to.”

Are you living in New York now?
No, I’m not living anywhere to be honest with you. I came here and I went to Australia from London. When I finish this tour it’s very likely that I’m going to stay in New York because I’ve got recording to do and I’m doing more shows. The CMJ show is the last show of my current tour, but there are so many places I haven’t been to that I want to go to.

Is this your first time touring the States?
Yeah, it’s my first time. For many people it’s a very small step, but for me it’s really huge. I always wanted to come to the States and to be able to tour and see it like that. It’s kind of amazing. I’ve been to so many places already. It’s been great, it’s been crazy. Like I said, we got robbed, but otherwise it’s been fascinating.

What happened when you got robbed?
We were just loading in. We were like idiots. I think the car was open for 30 seconds, and someone saw us doing it and then jumped into the back of the car and took whatever they could take. Which was less than usual because we were just loading in our gear. I was lucky because they didn’t see my purse full of cash that I had.

How did you end up living in London?
I wanted to study at Goldsmiths, but I wanted to get away from home as well. So I applied to Goldsmiths and UCL, and I almost went to UCL. At Goldsmiths I met so many wonderful people. It was pretty much a magical year. It wasn’t so much about studies. It was more all about realizing how you can move from a country and have something to talk about with someone from Egypt and someone from Latin America and someone from California. It was pretty wonderful. I was also working and never had time to properly do anything. But I managed to do my degree and release six albums while I was in London. So I think it wasn’t that bad [laughs].

And you interned at The Wire magazine in London.
That was actually a bit before. That was like my separation summer. I was there for one summer way before I moved to London. I moved to London because my friend invited me over and I had nothing to do. That was my last year at college in Estonia. So I went to London, didn’t have any money, didn’t have any plans or a place to live. I was in East London, and I walked into The Wire magazine’s office, and I just said: “I want to intern.” And they took me. It was pretty cool.

Did working there have an effect on your music?
I don’t think it influenced me directly. I was dealing with issues such as how to speak English, just getting used to how England works, being around English people. In terms of music making, I did actually start making music around the same time. I didn’t really have anything to do in London except sit at home and make music, which is how I started.

How does it feel to read things people have written about your music?
It feels like an anti-climax because usually people don’t write anything interesting. It’s good to read, and in general of course I shouldn’t be complaining at all. I would be thrilled to read something I didn’t know that’s in the music or behind the music. I think if someone was really critical of my whole program, I would really appreciate it because I think I’ve come to the point where I can tell the difference between my stage self and my ordinary self. So I don’t really get offended. Even to try to be authentic or to put emotion into a song, even this is always a pose of authenticity. When you first start out everything’s so fresh and new, and you’re not used to getting reviews, and you take everything extremely personally. Now I feel more at ease, so I would really appreciate it if people said different things. But they usually don’t.

Is there anyone around now that you feel a kinship with musically?
It’s an interesting question. I have no idea. Everyone I’ve ever looked up to in recent years I’ve actually met by now, which is really funny. It hasn’t been superstars. It’s more like people like me who are releasing music before I was releasing music. I think I feel close to everyone who is just doing a whole range of things and that abuse them. I just went online this morning and James Ferraro is on my friend’s list, and he’d put up a ridiculous picture of himself. And I was like, “James, you do completely random shit, and I love you just for being different.”

What music are you listening to now? How do you discover new music?
All kinds of shit. I’m listening to the Love Of Life Orchestra. Usually I find it online, and I have good friends who always seem to know the coolest stuff. But all my music, I always got from someone, or someone lent me something that led me to more stuff. I try to keep it on a micro-personal level and avoid the waves or trends or whatever.

Can you remember the first time you went online?
Yeah, I think so. I remember the sound of the modem, the way it sounds. I forget where it was and how I checked out music. I remember the feelings of excitement but also restriction because my parents wouldn’t let me be online for too long because it was so expensive. I was like, one day I’m going to be online forever. That came the year after when we got the cable connection, and it led to a long time spent online. Now I’m operating more in the real world. I don’t even have time to sit online and Google myself and be aware of everything. But I’ve been doing a lot of traveling. This is the first period in my life when I’ve always been traveling.

How much time do you get to work on music? You released a ton of it in 2011.
Yeah, it was all old material, everything I had recorded. Now it’s become so different. I can’t wait to record again. I need to make it back to New York in one piece with all my gear—hopefully that happens. I’m thinking of taking four months off and traveling only within the States. I’m just tired. I went to Australia and New Zealand, and I’ve been dragging my shit around for a month now. It’s just going to be a few more weeks, and then I can unpack, get out of the suitcase and sit down and work.

Is the way you work different now? Do you focus on making individual tracks, or do you think of an overall concept for an album?
I do it track by track, and then it takes shape, but I think the next thing I want to do is an EP or maybe a 12”. Maybe four tracks. I haven’t decided, but I have some ideas. I’m excited about CMJ because it’s a huge New York festival, and it’s nice to be a part of it. Once that’s done I will probably lie in bed for a week and then get to work.

Maria Minerva plays Public Assembly on Wednesday, October 17, and the Delancey on Friday, October 19, as part of CMJ 2012.

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CMJ 2012 Artist Q&A: Daughn Gibson

Nick Neyland — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:47:44 +0000

Photo: Jay McCarroll

Daughn Gibson is caught somewhere between the past and the present, excavating elements of music history and filtering them through contemporary tools. He resides in a small Pennsylvania town, where he quietly constructed one of 2012’s standout releases, his debut solo LP, All Hell, by wrapping his gravelly baritone around loops extracted from old country and gospel songs.

It’s an album packed full of narratives you don’t usually find outside the best crime fiction and which seldom work when set to song. Fortunately, Gibson has the charisma to pull it off, landing a record deal with indie giants Sub Pop in the process. It’s a match that ties into his history. “My first show was actually Nirvana in eighth grade,” he says, on a phone from his home in Carlisle. “That was a big moment.”

Gibson worked in trucking prior to signing with Sub Pop, initially driving long stretches of road before moving into an HR position in the same industry. It’s an unlikely past for someone ostensibly working in indie rock but one that provided him with plenty of inspiration for future material, some of which may surface at the Sub Pop showcase he is playing at CMJ on October 18.

What was the first music you got into as a kid?
When I was really small I always just listened to rap music. It was the Fat Boys and Digital Underground and stuff like that. My big music moment was when my cousin lent me every Led Zeppelin CD when I was about 10 years old. I just sat around with headphones on, listening to one after the other on repeat. That was my breakthrough with seeking out other music, or really just getting into it and wanting to play it.

Metal often acts as a gateway to punk for a lot of people. Did you get into punk that way?
Yeah, I think so. I was leaning toward heavy metal, and then I was about 11 or 12 when grunge was becoming popular. A lot of it was sneaking out into the living room at midnight and watching Headbangers Ball and just taking in all that stuff. And, believe it or not, Beavis And Butthead too. They would play videos and comment on the stuff, so I actually got exposed to a lot of metal through that. I think just gravitating toward punk was the way I could participate in loud music. Because there weren’t so many big crazy metal shows going on, but punk was the thing you could actually go see and be a part of, so it was a natural move.

When did you start making music?
I did that pretty early on. I was playing drums. I got a drum set from a family member. A buddy of mine, my friend Randy [Huth] who plays in Pissed Jeans and played in Pearls And Brass with me, played guitar. So we just started making noise in the basement. From there, it was like other people [saying], “Oh, I play bass, I sing,” and then other people would come over and we would make up all different kinds of bands, mostly within the hardcore punk world. It just went from there, and I haven’t really stopped since.

Was it strange for you to go from playing in bands to going out on your own?
Yeah, it’s still strange. It’s still something I’m trying to wrap my head around. But more so when I’m doing things live. I’ve only really been doing the live thing for this for a couple of months. It took some time to get used to not being behind a drum set and not being deafeningly loud. And still, that’s the way I like it. When I play this live I want it to be as loud as humanly possible, even though that doesn’t necessarily make sense because it’s not necessarily loud music. I still want to feel engaged with the sonics of it. So yeah, it’s kind of a strange transition, and I’m going through it right now.

How did you get the LP together? Was it something you were imagining as an album, or was it individual songs you were gradually putting together?
It was really individual songs. I didn’t play it for anybody until I was maybe eight songs in. Then I played it for Matt [Korvette] who runs White Denim. We talked about doing something with it, maybe a 7” or whatever. Only when I had 10 songs that were done was he like, “Yeah, let’s just do a record.” There was never any intention of doing anything with it at all.

So you must have been surprised when Sub Pop signed you.
Oh, man. Yeah. Big time. Like, monumental shock. I’m not sure quite what it meant. You know, typically we all have an idea of what we’re going to do the next year or the next six months with our lives. I mean, I’m 32 now, so I had this idea like, “Ah yeah, I’m going to do this thing and work here and chill out.” And that kind of thing just whips you right the fuck up from whatever world you’re in and gives you a new idea and makes you consider a completely different year ahead of you.

Are you still working in the trucking industry?
I’m not doing that. It’s way too hard to do touring stuff and really do this the way I want to do it and work there. So I kind of passed on that.

Are there things about it you miss?
Nope [laughs]. No, I can’t say there is. What I was doing before was recruiting. Basically recruiting truck drivers. I guess the only charm it had was being able to talk to dudes who were in long transition from one trucking job to another. Hearing their stories or hearing what they’re going through are typically, as you can imagine, pretty wild tales.

What are some of the wildest tales you heard?
I would talk to so many dudes in one day, and the common theme throughout was these guys, and some females too, they were mostly living in a bad movie. You know, they had shit at home to deal with. But really because of the way things are with the economy, there aren’t a whole hell of a lot of choices. You know, guys who live up in bumfuck northern PA or southern Virginia, there’s not a whole lot to do, so it’s like, “Hey, I’ve got a truck, and I’m just going to keep doing it even though it’s killing me and it’s making my family life miserable and it’s a frustrating and hard job.” More or less, it was my job to soften the blow of this industry and be like, “Hey, we can get you miles and get you set up so it’s not so hard.” But in reality man, it’s a tough job to do.

Are you working on new material? Is there an album planned for Sub Pop?
Yeah, I’m working on stuff now. We’re going to do a record next year, I think. Middle of next year I’m hoping. So I’m just banging on it right now and getting it together.

Is it very different from the first record?
I think it is. Going back to the live thing, now I’m writing songs within this context of making it more live. So yeah, that’s a slightly different approach. There’s just a different energy to everything, and it might be in terms of live-r sounding drums or more upfront or louder melodies. But always with the understanding that this is going to be fun to do live and have a full band to do it live and not just necessarily a backing track.

Will you have a full band for your CMJ appearance, or is that coming later?
I’m going to start really hitting it later. Right now it’s myself and my friend Mary from Philly, and she plays keyboard. It’s the two of us doing it, and then hopefully next year it’ll be us two and other players. But we haven’t really had the time to go out on the hunt.

What music are you listening to now?
The Holy Other record is on repeat a lot. I’m a big fan of Holy Other, so I listen to that. And just an assortment of mixes. Basically, when I drive I put my old country mix on, and it’s like 500 songs. There’s a really good country station in Carlisle here. It plays everything from the ’60s on up, and it’s one of the best I’ve ever heard, so that’s what I pretty much listen to on the reg.

Is country something you got into by listening to it on the radio while driving?
Yeah, it definitely was. That’s one thing that was absolutely true. That’s one thing you can rely on being in places where there was nothing else going on, was some kind of country music station. So I just kind of gravitated towards it and started liking it and listening to it all the time. Once you start knowing songs and you start singing songs, before you know it, you’re hooked. I would definitely say that was a benefit of driving around and having road jobs.

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Tanlines, Sinkane @ CMJ 2012 Artist Announcement Party: 8/21

Nick Neyland — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:30:39 +0000

Here at CMJ we like to throw a party when good news is announced—so last night we held one to celebrate the announcement of the initial lineup of artists playing the 2012 Music Marathon. The Mercury Lounge in New York City played host to the event, offering partygoers an opportunity to be among the first people to find out who is playing this year’s festival. So check out the initial CMJ 2012 lineup, with plenty more updates to follow in the coming weeks.

The party was held in conjunction with Champion Athleticwear, the official apparel sponsors for this year’s event. Champion also revealed the official festival T-Shirt design at the Mercury Lounge show, which bears an illustration by designer and Les Savy Fav frontman Tim Harrington.

CMJ’s Robert Haber played the role of MC, taking to the stage at 7:00PM to introduce the first band of the night, which coincided with the unveiling of the initial CMJ Music Marathon lineup. Sinkane—essentially the fleshed-out solo project of sometime Of Montreal/Yeasayer percussionist Ahmed Gallab—played first, orienting their sound around dub-based rhythms that gently lean into rock, all topped off with suitably oblique vocals. Expect great things when Gallab brings this band to CMJ Music Marathon in October.

A short break followed Sinkane’s set, allowing everyone to refresh their drinks at the bar. CMJ 2011 alumni Tanlines quickly followed, effortlessly building on the potential they’ve shown in sporadic live performances around the city, and ultimately capitalized on with this year’s Mixed Emotions LP. Their take on electro-pop shows an intuitive grasp of the genre, providing just the right balance of studied grooves and willful abandon. Tanlines’ between-song banter was almost as memorable as the music they produced—the duo even mentioned how they’d put a fan on the guest list who had tweeted them about accidentally buying a ticket for the wrong show at the Mercury. Now that’s social media in action.

The rows of nodding heads that greeted Tanlines ultimately headed off into the night after the final song rang out. But that’s just the beginning of the festivities for this year’s 2012 CMJ Music Marathon, which takes place October 16-20 in New York City. See the initial round of artists playing the festival and purchase a badge for the event.

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