Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
FYF Festis coming up on Saturday, and I can’t wait to bake in the sun, wait in line for whatever meatless food is available, and use stinky port-a-potties. Namely because the annual show has a killer lineup with a lot of GR favorites including Descendents (canned coffee drink reviews as ALL way back in GR12), Strange Boys (mag interview), OFF! (online interview), and Weakerthans (Robot Power). And then there’s Jason Chung a.k.a. Nosaj Thing, whom I met through the Free The Robots guys and interviewed at The Crosby prior to the release of his debut album. On the cusp of seeing Jason play in a huge festival setting, I felt like this was a good time to catch up with him. MW: You just played with LL Cool J and De La Soul. Now you’ve got the Descendents. Has playing with legends gotten old yet? JC: No way, it’s been an amazing experience. I never thought I would be sharing stages with artists like that. MW: You always adjust your sound for the audience or occasion but are there certain changes you makes for these sorts of punk or rock situations? Like Coachella… JC: I do like to change up my sets for different shows. Depending on the show, I’ll make some quick edits or remixes, but I tend like to keep most of the song songs true to the original sounds. MW: As everyone gets bigger and tours more, is it hard to keep in touch with local peers like the Glitch Mob, Free The Robots, Daedelus, etc.? Or maybe I’m just projecting that there’s this scene of friends/group of artists coming up together at this time… JC: Not at all. I usually stay in touch via chat and see them at Low End Theory when I’m in town. MW: It does feel like you’ve been on the road nonstop since the album came out. How do you carve out time for new music? JC: I toured non-stop last year and focusing more on recording this year. I hope to be done with the next album really soon. MW: Who are you excited about seeing or meeting at FYF? JC: I’m looking forward to checking out Four Tet, Girls, Simian Mobile Disco, Decendents, and Explosions In The Sky. Hear Jason’s music and find out the latest at nosajthing.com and then say hi to him (and me) at FYF. His set will freak you out!
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Kill Rock Stars at 20. Free Album. I normally won’t point people to the multi armed hegemonic website that’s the destroyer of small business, but this is a label many of us grew up with. They supported GR from way back and if our worlds weren’t colliding with the changing tides, we’d keep supporting each other, old school style. But for now, here’s a free album. (KRS)
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Disappears gets a lot of run for carrying the torch of Krautrock, but there’s more to the Chicago band than that. Behind the metronome-like rhythms and droning riffs is a garage rock energy that shares the rawness of The Fall as much as the calculation of Neu! Following the release of the group’s latest EP, Guider, its original drummer quit. Then Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley stepped in not only to play the new songs live but to start a new run of deceptively repetitive sounding, absolutely addictive, and just plain ripping music. I caught up with singer, guitarist, and co-founder Brian Case and the crew toward the end of Disappears’ West Coast run with Obits. MW: I love how the newest EP is droning but succinct, brainy but not boring. Are those sorts of struggles ongoing for the band or is it pretty effortless for you guys at this point? BC: It’s taken us a while to learn how to cut the fat from our songs, so to speak, but it’s certainly not effortless yet. That said, the more time we spend writing and working together it becomes easier to see the final song. We usually start with a song crammed with a lot more than it ends up with, just play it over and over and simplify, extract. MW: One song clocks in at more than 15 minutes, but I feel like any one of the others could have just as easily been expanded upon. Why “Revisiting”? BC: “Revisiting” was the one song that we hadn’t been playing before we recorded. I think we only played it once, and it was pretty conceptual from the beginning. We wanted to have one side of the album be this piece or whatever–just try and stretch it out and see what happens. It turned out great. We used the first take, and I think we really captured something. MW: There must be a greater appreciation for playing and touring after a band faces a possible demise. Is there a sense of mortality? A feeling of a second chance? BC: I’ve been in lots of bands. They could end at any moment for any reason, no matter how good or bad things are going. Actually, the last two bands I was in stopped playing when things were going as good as ever! So there’s no sense of mortality or second chance; you just play and hope that people can get along and appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that everyone is making to be a part of something together. MW: Now that Steve Shelley is in the band, would you say that there are more fans wearing Sonic Youth T-shirts at Disappears shows or ones wearing Crucifucks T-shirts at Sonic Youth shows? (You might have to ask Steve about this.) BC: Ha ha, I’d have to ask Steve if Crucifucks ever even made shirts! There are definitely people checking out the band based on Steve’s involvement, but most of them seem to be leaving...
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Midori, the child prodigy from the early 80s was thrust upon the world when she was 11. Her face was plastered onto concert advertisements, and although many young stars burn out, or just plain disappear, she’s sustained in her classical music world. She’s created foundations, chair the USC strings department, has a Psychology MA from NYU. It’s funny how she’s a former prodigy. We’d think that those titles don’t really go away. In her case, at 40, perhaps the “Child” part gets dropped. Here’s a round up on Midori. (SignonSanDiego – Midori)
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Since 1993, Flattbush has been cranking out super heavy, highly technical, and politically charged thrash sung in Tagalog. Held down by Enrico Maniago (vocals) and Arman Maniago (bass), the unit has unleashed three intense albums on Billy Gould’s Koolarrow label and played with heavyweights such as Brujeria, Asesino, Rahzel, and Napalm Death. Earlier this year, they brought their anti-imperialist brand of grindcore to the Philippines for the first time. I caught up with the brothers from Bellflower, CA afterward…
Art by Enrico Maniago