Tag: st marie records

Mixing it up with Andrew Saks of FLDPLN

You’ll remember Andrew Saks from Sway and the seminal track ‘Fall.’ which came out way back in 2003 and remains a cult shoegaze classic to this day.

Andrew aka ASAKS is defined by his experiments with audio. As Sway he didn’t hesitate a moment as he moved from classic shoegaze on The Millia Pink and Green, to game-changing bleepy-bloops on This Was Tomorrow. If there’s anything that defines his music, it’s that it has remained undefinable for a decade and a half.

Today, Andrew is FLDPLN and he’s just put out his first album, Let You Down. In this interview, He’s going to tell us about his evolution from Sway to FLDPLN, how he conquered uncharted territory (again – this time it’s hip-hop), and if we’ll ever see him shapeshift back to the Sway we once knew.

AE: OMG you’ve lost your vowels! What is FLDPLN?

ASAKS: Ha! FLDPLN is vowel-free for “field-plan”, which is derived from my other life/day job where I’m a utility a designer or planner. I thought it would be kind of a funny way of branding my music –  a weird way of bridging dimensions. The day job is such a big part of my life, and it really keeps me from doing as much music as I should be or would like to, but I can’t escape it.

I know it’s my job, but I’m having trouble defining your sound. Could you do it for me?

I’m not really sure what to call it or how to define it either. I guess it’s primarily electronic music with maybe some lo-fi hip hop? I sort of look at it like sound collage. The other night I was trying to think of a food that would be metaphor for the sound of what I’m doing. The best I could come up with was some sort of parfait, but then I thought of Halo-Halo, a Filipino dessert. It’s like a big cup of shaved ice, some cheese ice cream, prune or taro ice cream, condensed milk, coconut, gummy candies, sweet corn, dried fruit, mochi… and pretty much anything else that’s sweet. It looks like a parfait when you get it, then you mash the hell out of it and mix it all up. It’s amazing – all these layers and textures mushed together. FLDPLN is kind of like that. A couple of hip-hop guys told me my stuff was ‘chill’. So… noisy chill-hop?

Talk me through the evolution from The Millia Pink and Green > This Was Tomorrow > Let You Down and why you felt you needed a new identity for the last one.

With The Millia Pink and Green I was still very much enamored with huge, dramatic guitars and swirly Robin Guthrie-ness. I just wanted to make music that was like windy+carl but with really melodic bits to it. I loved Slowdive, and at that time (maybe like 2000-2003) I felt like that whole shoegaze thing was so dead that the handful (or so it seemed at the time) of bands doing it were unique in a sense that we were holding on to these sounds when so many other bands were going very snappy, pop-punk and all that. Or like rap-metal shit. I wanted to do something that reflected what I liked and made me feel nostalgic.

In about 2004 or 2005 I had a couple of friends that were messing with electronic stuff, like Fruity Loops (pre-audio FL) and they got me into it. I got into Ableton Live, which is THE greatest instrument/audio workstation ever made. This Was Tomorrow as Sway and the ASAKS singles I did for Saint Marie Records compilations were meant to be a bridge between the shoegaze stuff and my love of electronic stuff.

I was always fond of 80’s pop stuff, even some of the cringe-worthy, sugary sweet stuff. I’m also a die-hard old-school video game nerd, so I love chiptunes sounds. I’m a decent guitar player, but for some reason the whole guitar thing annoys me a lot. How many pedals do you have? What kind of pedals do you use? What guitar? I feel so ordinary as a guitar player – it just bores me. With electronic music and synthesis, I feel like there’s this whole endless universe of sounds that one can create. When you start smashing sounds together, it’s kind of like the whole shoegaze/noise thing but using digital tools. I’m completely captivated by the possibilities. FLDPLN is going to be my outlet for the things I’ve been experimenting with on my own since 2006 or so. My Northern Two album with Seth from Sway was kind of a beginning to this I suppose.

I think many of us loyal Sway fans saw something along these lines coming our way since This Was Tomorrow. But I have to admit, the hip-hop component is a welcome surprise. What’s the story behind that?

I was really hoping NOT to lose the Sway fans with this. I feel like shoegaze/dreampop fans have the potential to be really open-minded about mixing sounds and stuff, so I’d hoped I really wouldn’t alienate anyone that’s been following Sway for so long. Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved rap music. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with the genre these days. There’s a lot of really cool, more underground stuff out there. You know like more indie rap than the big, over played shit you hear on hip hop radio. A lot of that stuff annoys me because of the really basic, crank-it-out production and over the top misogynist lyrics. I’m an art guy, so I won’t fault peeps for making their art, just some of it’s not for me. I love the artists featured on the Let You Down and picked them out because of their varied and unique sounds. The idea of featuring some hip hop artists came from one of the first times I did a little street performance/busking deal, just out making my beats when I had a few dudes with their crew come by and start freestyling over my shit. It was kind of a ”um, yeah… that kind of sounds legit!” moment. I’m excited about the potential to do more production for others.

Do you think you’ll ever go back to your shoegaze roots and one day we might hear another ‘Fall’?

Hmmm. I dunno. I feel like that’s kind of flown, as far as the guitars thing. MBV is back. Slowdive is back. Ride is back. I feel like the time for homage is over. There’s ways I can make music and sounds I can explore that don’t necessarily have to step in on that territory. I will always have those sounds and the Sway sound as part of my production, so you will absolutely hear more huge swirly textures. The next FLDPLN release will feature some downright ambient stuff, but it will be mostly synth stuff. I love dramatic soundscapes. It’ll be in the mix.

I know I’m not the only one to think this but we’re all happy to have you back on the scene. What’s been keeping you busy since This Was Tomorrow?

My day job. I’ve been desperately trying to tough it out and make music for years but it’s been slow going, and I’m a very harsh critic when it comes to my own stuff. The FLDPLN album is actually the second album I’ve done since then. The first one started out very This Was Tomorrow-ish. I put it on ice. I started doing a lot more field recording stuff and sampling and stuff and that led to what you have with the Let You Down. I also used a lot of sounds that I made on my phone using music apps and stuff. If you listen really close, and I hope some folks will, you’ll even hear some Sway samples from The Millia Pink and Green in there. I sampled my own stuff! I’ve just been plugging away. Last year, I got a new position at work (field planner) and I now work closer to home and have more time to make music so there will be more on the way. I already have a rough framework for the next FLDPLN release, which will probably be an EP.

Tell me about what inspired the music and the songwriting on Let You Down.

Like most of the stuff I do, nostalgia is the main driver. I love mid-century modernism and while it’s become super hip over the last ten years or so, I still really notice the beauty in things that were once supposed to be part of the future, and were so contemporary at the time, but have been abandoned and neglected. I’m really influenced by architecture (a field I wish I would have studied professionally) and print art.

I absolutely love 50’s and 60’s jazz. I love Expressionist art and things that experiment with texture. Street art gets me going. I’m just very interested in making very textural, layered but not necessarily chaotic music. I like fuzzy, broken sounds. For the past five or so years now, a lot of what I’ve done is experimenting either in my home or out busking. I’ll improvise using synths and collected samples and just make a mess. These sessions usually have their golden moments, so with Let You Down I tried to do an album that sort of captures that feeling. It’ll be an ongoing challenge. The improvisational spirit is a focus with this project. I love the accessibility of electronic music, and the potential for textural experimentation. Making sonic collage really makes me happy. I just hope people enjoy listening to it!

Perhaps it’s too early to ask this question, but what’s next for FLDPLN?

I’m going to be working on a follow-up EP with about 5-6 songs that I hope to release by the end of 2018. It’ll be a similar vibe, but there’s definitely going to be some very ambient stuff in there. I do love my ethereal stuff, so I have some pieces that I’ve already put together with some really pretty stuff. I’m not sure if the next release will feature any guest artists yet, but I’m open to it. I’ve already discussed with a couple of different peeps. We’ll see. For now, I’m looking forward to playing versions of the tunes on Let You Down out at some shows and just enjoying having something new out!

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Let You Down released on 23 March, 2018 and can be bought here.

serve cold: bloody knives

bloody knives are a band after my own heart.

There’s never been a group more suited to soundtracking the cold-blooded crime I will one day commit.

Not since ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head‘ has a group succeeded in capturing the serenity that accompanies a perfectly planned and executed retribution.

In fact, Preston Maddox‘s languid vocals only serve to enhance the careless loathing a typical bloody knives track spits out.

Similar to how Oliver Ackermann’s vocals on ‘To Fix the Gash…’ are less furious and more disconcertingly calm when he declares ‘I’ll just wait for you to turn around/and kick your head in‘.

And not unlike Archive‘s disaffected chant ‘there’s a place in hell with your name on the seat/with a spike through the chair just to make it complete‘.

So does Maddox ever so serenely dare you to ‘tell me I’m wrong‘ on Burn it all Down

Or politely inform you that there’s ‘blood in your mouth‘ on blood.

Or sweetly croon that he’s ‘waiting for you to die‘ on DEATH.

The fulfilment that comes with the manufacture and execution of pre-meditated violence is a recurrent theme throughout the bloody knives discography.

[Pre-order I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This]

bloody knives do not make music for the hot-headed – those who might not hesitate to throw themselves headfirst into a shouting match or a street fight.

They do make music for the sort of person who, on seeing you looking a bit high strung, offers you comfort and a coupon for a relaxing spa session and then bakes you alive in the sauna.

Because isn’t the glee on ‘Buried Alive’ not just the smug contentment that comes with suffocating someone to death while simultaneously disposing of their body?

You only attain this clean efficiency with time and reflection. Not through impulsive action.

There’s a lesson to be learned from all of this.

Guard your fury.
Plan its release.
Let its consequences stretch across weeks, months or years.
And let your parting note read:

‘This will be your last mistake‘


 

Buy albums.

Pre-order I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This.

Messy days and crosswords: Tatooine Returns

Let’s be clear.

‘Hey’ is the greatest shoegaze track to emerge out of the 90s.

I would listen to ‘Hey’ before I listened to ‘Soon’ or ‘Alison’ or ‘Pearl’ or ‘Black Metallic.’

And Blind Mr. Jones are only the most exotic group to ever walk the earth.

Because Blind Mr. Jones are the only the only group I have ever known to have a flautist as a band member.

Yet no one has a damn clue where they got to.

How many flautists could there possibly be in Marlow?

(filling in crosswords on park benches)

——

Shoegaze community, you have let me down.

Your tenacity is a delusion. Your loyalty is an illusion.

Anyhoo, St. Marie Records are reissuing Tatooine.

I’ve only been playing nothing else for 4 days.

Hang your heads and soothe your conscience.

Maybe don’t listen to anything else for a while.

St. Marie Records Rampage: Drowner

The last of the Rampages! The Grand Finahlay as a non-francophone might call it.

However, I’ll have you know Anna Bouchard of Drowner IS a francophone. Something I discovered quite unexpectedly on twitter while I was subjecting my poor, unsuspecting followers to a barrage of pidgin French transmissions in the interest of ‘practice’. Sometimes I wonder how many twitterers are dejectedly shaking their heads at me and my simplistic French phrases. I don’t think Anna is one of them. In fact, she helped me settle on ‘tous les jours’ instead of ‘toujours’ for ‘everyday’ and then even understood the questions I asked her immediately after.

I interviewed Darren and Anna almost exactly a year ago. At the time I was introduced to the band as a two-piece consisting of Darren and Anna. When I spoke to Anna about this feature she spilled the beans (were they not meant to be spilled?) and revealed that six people constituted Drowner. I visit their tumblr and the number there stands at three. The Twitter bio says four. Since the only number between two and six that hasn’t shown up is  five, I’m going to assume that is how big Drowner really is.

At the time of the interview I also made the observation that Drowner sound a lot bigger than you expect them to considering they’re just two people. If there ARE, in fact, five (or six), then I’d like to amend that statement to say they actually sound a lot lighter than the cacophony that I’d re-conditioned myself to expect. I don’t know why I thought that more people would mean more noise. And sure, there is noise, but it’s understated and Anna’s voice usually winds up on top – it’s like a blade it just cuts through the sounds beneath it. It’s not the cloudy voice – the kind so suited for sparkly music. And it’s (obviously) not a baritone, the likes of which would blend with the bassline on a rigid post-punk inspired track. It’s confident and sits solidly, visible on the sonic cushion beneath it.

The EP they released last year is now a full-length with the same name, the same art, but two fewer letter (E and P). You can listen to it on Bandcamp.

And with that, I’m going to wrap up the SMR Rampage. You know, if I was a normal person I would have wrapped this up in a week (7 posts, innit?), instead of two months.

St. Marie Records Rampage: The Patience

I hadn’t listened to The Patience before I spoke to Wyatt aka St. Marie Records about the bands I should include in this feature. Now I have and I’m wondering why no one apart from SMR had pushed me in their direction sooner.

It could be because they don’t have a steady sound. I’m working here on the basis of the two EPs they put out within six months of each other – separately but together – The Sun Is Always Pt. I and The Sun Is Always Pt. II. I wish I had had the chance to ask why they didn’t just wait a bit and put out the one especially since there’s no sign of a physical release to make it a collectible. It could be that they’re realists who are aware of how easily distracted internet listeners are. It’s wiser to put out a few small releases a year (less commitment on the part of the listener + less chance of falling out of an audience’s collective memory) than one or two biggies (longer download/stream time, more commitment required from the listener + greater odds that a lot of them will go ‘who?’).

‘Space Farewell’ – the first song on the first EP couldn’t have a more apt name. It’s about five different styles of song in one and fiercely reminiscent of the Nineties.  Just what part of the Nineties it is reminiscent of, I can’t place, but I can tell you that it’s not the shoegaze bits. The song isn’t exactly what you’d call simple in structure – its pop base is interrupted by sounds from outer-space whose alienness is only heightened by the patient voice with HALlike  intonation talking down to you.

‘I’m Going’, the track that follows, is barely anything like its predecessor. This is your standard Slowdive-tinted shoegaze – but the later one – the one that uses pauses, false percussion, loops and echoes. It’s Pygmalion all over the place – some sounds from ‘Rutti’, some from ‘Crazy for Love’ and some from ‘Miranda’. The rest of the album might be in there as well. The title track that closes the EP, nicks a guitar line from The Who (or it could be I’ve been watching too much CSI), a mild vocal hook from A Storm in Heaven and glues it all together with percussion that throbs so violently it makes the track feel like a remix.

The opener on Part II is another runner. Can’t tell if that percussion is real or engineered but if ‘Moving Through The Echoes’ had feet, the drums are the sneakers pounding. ‘In Vain’ is a bonkers track compared to the others, with the possible exception of ‘Space Farewell’. If ‘Space Farewell’ is Dissociative Identity Disorder, ‘In Vain’ is Mania. Not bipolar disorder but all out mania. It’s energetic, overactive, and can’t stop talking at (AT!) you about itself until it tires itself out. Finalement, you’ve got ‘Solar Fields’ – the song to sleep to. Soft, drawn out vocals, endless pauses between beats, small little beepyboops, and your standard shimmery. sparkly, ethereal, <insert shoegazeadjective> waves of sound to cushion it all.

If all this sounds convincing, you know where you have to go to try and buy. Both albums are available on SMR’s Bandcamp for less that $3 apiece.

Voici: The Sun Is Always Part I.

Voilà: The Sun Is Always Part II.

St Marie Records Rampage: The Sunshine Factory

Seriously now, what do you expect when you hear that name? The Sunshine Factory. Me, I expect bright, sunny – and given the album art – acid-laced exhilaration (I was going to say ‘ecstasy’ but that could be confusing).

They are joyful, you know. But they are not nauseatingly happy in the Katrina and the Waves sense. Sorry, I don’t exactly hate That Song, but there’s only that much positivity us normal folk can stand to have shoved in our faces. What makes ‘Walking on Sunshine’ (and its ilk) so excruciating is that it doesn’t share the happiness – it just flaunts itself without inviting the listener to bask in the same joy.

Of course we haven’t brought Katrina and the Waves into the picture for a musical comparison, but more to bring home the point as to how positivity is meant to be brought out in music. You have to really involve the listener – make him or her feel how you (the musician) are feeling. Instead of making a song for a listener to ‘use’ only in appropriate and/or unique circumstances where it can be most effectively ‘applied’ (that too to the individual alone), it is far more endearing to make a song that, more honestly, reflects your own experiences. That way, when we listen and nod in agreement, you can be assured we honestly sympathise with how you feel.

That’s the kind of sound The Sunshine Factory have –  they make introspective, but engaging neo-gaze, tinged with the sound of the classics, but still unmistakeably recent. Their album, Sugar, is very open, very honest and consequently, very  inviting. You’re not forced to echo the songs’ emotions, you’re not compelled to wait for a certain mood or ambience to set in before you listen. They make Anytime Music so it’s no wonder they’re such favourites within the Shoegaze Set. And it’s even less of a wonder St. Marie Records picked them up. Listen to Sugar on Bandcamp and try to tell me I’m wrong.

St. Marie Records Rampage: The Spiracles

You know, I keep wondering if this should be called St. Marie Record Rampage, but that title throws me off, because the Proper Noun is plural, but with ‘rampage’ you should use the singular, so I am a bit befuddled and you are all just going to have to put up with the slightly shaky on the ears plural form.

Today I’m listening to the Spiracles. Do you remember Resplandor from a few years ago? Peruvian shoegazers caused quite a ruckus in their time with Pleamar which is now a classic in Gaze 2.0 circles. Any aglet-eater worth his or her salt had Resplandor on their Dream Lineup (together with the likes of Malory, Ariel, Highspire et al).

I’m not sure why I’m referring to Resplandor in the past tense. It may be because Luis Rodriguez, guitarist and songwriter for the band, is one of the two Spiracles I’m talking about. Don’t expect the breathy vox off Pleamar, because we’ve got Aracelli Fernandez doing the singing here. ‘Fireflies’ is the song to watch out for. They may have experience, yes, but for all practical purposes, The Spiracles are a new band, yet ‘Fireflies’ is overwhelmingly well-produced. I daresay, it’s so professionally presented its virtually pop music. There is nothing rough or jagged about it. It’s crisp, sleek and even has an expert video to match. The Spiracles have also gone and done the world a favour by reminding them ofThe Field Mice via their, admittedly a bit safe, version of ‘The End of the Affair.’

The EP  you’re meant to pick up has the tongue twisting title How Things Went Well When I Met You. Listen to these two tracks, a third called ‘Mercy’, and two mixes of ‘Fireflies’ (told you it was popular). If you are so intrigued or inclined, the St. Marie Records bandcamp page is the place to be.

St. Marie Records Rampage: Elika

Elika are so quiet.

Outside of music that is.

I barely hear a peep from them.

Yet somehow they’ve turned out half a dozen records at the regular rate of one a year.

Yet somehow, even in shoegaze circles, they skulk quietly in corners. Not ignored as much as aloof. Appreciated by the similarly silent and elusive.

Even the music isn’t particularly obtrusive. It just sort of clears its throat and starts to speak. It’s got a voice like ‘Ray of Light’ era Madonna’s – a fact that most publicity for the band tries to avoid. Even their set-up isn’t particularly protuberant. What’s there? A laptop? a keybpard? Maybe a guitar? Two people? There aren’t any drums that’s already reduced the physical space they’d take up as a musical entity by 75%.

If only there was some way to be whispering this post. Whatever I say about Elika feels like interference in a private project. I fear they might come across this post and narrow their eyes at the interruption (soz!). I’m going to wrap up and slink out, but I think you need to hear the zen for yourself. Listen to Always The Light. It came out in March this year. It’s determined, but not bullheaded. Concentrated, but not heavy. Come to think of it, the lightness and simplicity of it all makes me wonder if, rather than being cross at me for so impertinently judging them, Elika would just ignore me altogether.

St. Marie Records Rampage: bloody knives

Oh, St. Marie Records, your timing is impeccable. For those of you who were following XD Records while they were around, you probably know bloody knives from their time on the label. XD Records were as discerning as St. Marie Records are, so it’s no surprise that when the former folded, the latter came along and whipped up bloody knives before they could even hit the floor.

I know this sort of thing goes without saying, but bear with me. I am totes a bloody knifer. They make My Kind Of Music (M-KOM) – or one of My Kind of Musics. I don’t have many M-KOMs, but I love each one passionately enough to be convinced that there is no other M-KOM. Until one of the other M-KOMs shows up and again I pledge my undying allegiance etc. etc. But in all fairness there are only, like, three (3) that I cycle through.

If I’m not terribly wrong, their full-length blood is their first release on SMR. It’s not unlike their previous releases at all which is great because if it was it wouldn’t be M-KOM anymore. They call this kind of sound ‘industrial’ and they also call it ‘pop’ in the same breath. In addition, you’ll find tracks dappled with 8-bitty beepyboopies. Me, I love it because it’s NOISE! I love the lazy CBF vocals, I love how the synth tramples all over them – easily, because they’re obviously not going to put up a fight, and I love the how the percussion acts as the gruff sidekick to the hulking bully synths, poking its out from behind them just to make its presence felt. Far be it for me to support aggressive schoolyard behaviour but you know what they say about your first taste of blood (bad puns R us).

blood comes out today and you can pick it up from the SMR store. If you’d like to taste it before you buy it, you can do that over on SMR’s bandcamp. Also, do appreciate how consistently I maintain the desired lowercase letters across band name, album titles, and tracks. Makes it a bit difficult to pick out the proper nouns in a pile of text such as this, but maybe it’ll teach you to read more carefully.

Clench your jaw, grind your teeth, narrow your eyes and turn on bloody knives. This is what’s known as a best practice.

St. Marie Records Rampage: Panda Riot

St. Marie Records have been lapping at the Fountain of Eternal Shoegaze for some time now and in the process managed to pick up some of the most – at the risk of sounding Hipster Runoff-y – relevant – bands around. One of those bands is Panda Riot.

It’s presumptuous of me, but since I’ve admired Panda Riot from afar, I was apologetically surprised to learn that they had signed on to SMR. I wanted to know how this had happened, so I did what any Normal Person would do when they want something – I asked. I got a response immediately and it turns out Wyatt, too, is a Normal Person. He wanted to sign Panda Riot on to his label, so he asked them.

You know – this is a life lesson I wish they’d taught me when I was still in school.

I believe the Serious Radical Girls EP is their first release on SMR. I’m having a ball listening to it. There’s only that much to say about it since it’s two and a half songs, so I have to play it on repeat but it’s a small price to pay.

I like how Panda Riot appeal to a conventionalist like me. I like how refreshing their sound is. Not refreshing like ‘oh here are some people doing this new unique thing no one has ever done before!’ I mean refreshing as in invigorating. At the same time the EP is also impossibly calming. Not Slowdive/Fauns/Tears Run Rings style calming – the noise-fragility balance is tilted too much in favour of noise to qualify. Calming, as in you don’t need to concentrate to listen to it. The complexities in the compositions are all intricacies you cannot and are not expected to pay attention to. I hear a bit of Ringo Deathstarr in the title track – contrary to popular belief this does not necessarily imply I hear My Bloody Valentine. In any case, the Imagine Hearts Ringo Deathstarr is nothing like the Sparkler Ringo Deathstarr and it’s the Imagine Hearts RD I hear. It’s the same delicate-but-firm female vox set against a backdrop of noise, but here the noise is less scrapey.

I wonder how many people reading this would imagine  ‘scrapey’ are negative adjectives to use when talking about curtains of sound in shoegaze…

It’s a funny, mathematical kind of EP. The title track you have to bounce about to a bit – it’s undeniably a mover. The next – and if you don’t have the SPC ECO bonus mix, last – track is inexplicably called ‘Golden Age Precursor’. I am all like ‘wtf is this precursing if it’s the last track, this band doesn’t make any sense…’ and then I find myself flat on my back on the Persian carpet and I’m wondering how I got there and why are all these stars around me.

The SPC ECO mix of ‘Serious Radical Girls’ is the sum of the first two. Do you want to dance to it? You can! Do you want to lie on your back and look at the stars in the sky or in your head? You can! Choices, choices, everywhere, and the entire EP only has three tracks on it!

The more I listen to Serious Radical Girls the more I feel like I must tell you to AT LEAST listen to it. I understand why, in these difficult economic times, you might be reluctant to buy it (but look! vinyl!), so if, based on what I say, you decide to give it 15 minutes of your time, I can say I have succeeded, and so have they.