The Redwood Plan celebrated the release of their second album, Green Light Go, at Neumos on February 15. Adding electronic elements to their dance-punk sound, Green Light Go is more textured, more dynamic, and if it’s even possible, more energetic and fun than their debut Racing Toward the Heartbreak. We were lucky enough to chat with their powerhouse front-woman Lesli Wood before the band took off on a Midwestern tour to support the new album.

TIG: How was the CD release show at Neumos?

Lesli: It was a little overly ambitious to try to have our CD release show there, but we worked really hard, and of course having Head Like a Kite on the bill made a big difference because they’re a headlining band. Everything just came together really well, and everyone was super responsive. I spent the weekend completely elated.

TIG: Do you DIY everything?

Lesli: I brought on Riot Act Media for publicity on this album. It gave me a chance to focus more on tour booking. Otherwise, everything is completely “do it myself.”

TIG: Beside the electronic element, was there anything else you approached differently on the new album?

Lesli: With the first album we didn’t really know what our sound was going to be. Over the years, everyone created their own distinct voice in the band. Syd, the guitarist, has a very distinct guitar style, and Betty is a machine on the drums, and Larry is this amazing Mike Watt-style bassist. Incorporating all the electronics, I was writing a lot of parts on my own and hadn’t really left a lot of room for individual voices. That was something for me to learn, not just psychologically giving everyone space, but actually making room within the song for another bass line. The songs ended up really showcasing everyone’s individual sounds to create what is now the Redwood Plan.

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What happens when a black-metal kid grows up and expands his musical horizons? If he’s Birgir Thorgeirsson, you get Kontinuum. Recorded at Sigur Rós’ Sundlaugin Studio, Kontinuum’s genre-bending debut Earth Blood Magic draws from influences as varied as neo-folk and industrial. Somehow these sounds that shouldn’t go together all melt into a dark, intense, atmospheric beast that just might rip your face off. I met Birgir in a Reykjavík coffee shop, where we talked about his new band and dished on some of Iceland’s biggest musical exports.

TIG: Maybe just start with the background.

BT: Yeah, that’s a really short story because we are so recent. I moved back to Iceland in 2010 and I didn’t have a working band. I had been working on ideas and searching for something; like a frustrating search for a voice. I kind of felt that I found something I believed in; because you really have to believe in it to dedicate everything to it and for it to be something you’re proud of. Then I just called up my drummer and we started on the album right away.

TIG: So where were you before?

BT: We were in a band called Potentiam which was a kind of underground, black metal band. It was one of the first bands in Iceland to release albums internationally – well in this genre – and all the other members had other bands. We have a long list of bands that we used to be in.

TIG: Are you all just focused on this project now?

BT: I think drummers are excluded from the question because there are always too few drummers. Our drummer’s in another project, but I think we are all quite focused on this now. You know, it was quite a good start. We got signed with a label that’s quite known and so we have an opportunity to do something.  

TIG: You really hit the ground running.  

BT: You could say that, because it’s a new name. But you know, as individuals [we] haven’t been the most productive people on earth. We should have been doing this in 2004. But I think with this one, it came just like when you are a lot, lot younger; when you’re somewhat obsessed by it. It’s kind of hard to explain. You just have that overwhelming feeling that you have to do it. We didn’t really expect anyone to like it, actually. That’s the funny thing. It’s kind of a diverse thing. But I never really imagined that people would like it and we’d get signed and get all this…we’ve had a fair amount of attention already, so maybe there are more people like us out there.

TIG: A lot of cross-genre bands sound jumbled up, or else it’s like, “Here’s the metal song and here’s the indie song,” but Earth Blood Magic is very cohesive.

BT: I don’t know how to explain that. Someone asked me this before. It’s not that conscious. It’s not a clinical process. You just end up with a mix of a lot of things in your head, and stuff you want to say, and mixed with your own style it comes out. I just can’t really explain how.

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So, we'll jump right in. I follow you on Instagram, and I remember a series of posts not too long ago from the Bani Love (Columbia City Theater's recording studio, run by Gary Mula). How's the new album coming? When's the release date? What can we (as your fans) expect so far as the sound goes -- a continuation of your existing trajectory? A totally new direction? Fill me in!

The process for making this new record has been quite different from Burn the Boats. Last time there were numerous sessions (and upwards of fifteen different players involved) over a year’s time. We tracked and re-tracked and layered and removed layers -- over and over until we got exactly what we wanted. It all happened very honestly and I love the finished product, but it was a long process of trial and error. This time around, Damien Jurado produced and he had a very definite plan about how he wanted to do things going into it. I’ll go into more depth about “the big plan” when the record comes out, but the short version is that he wanted me LIVE (on vocals and guitar), in a big room, with very few “do-overs” -- which is exactly what we did. We did track at Columbia City Theater with Gary engineering and recorded everything in a week. Most of it consists of live, first takes with my band, and then we added keyboards, cello, backing vocals and various other overdubs later (all done in a week though!). The resulting sound is quite different from my last record and I think some people will be shocked. It feels and sounds a lot more dangerous and raw, but there is just so much life in it. It’s astounding. Damien nailed his vision perfectly and we really did capture a “moment in time.”

No definite release plans yet. We’re just finishing up mixing and then I’ll be shopping it to labels for a bit before I decide how and with whom to release it. Stay tuned!

How was Damien to work with? I appreciate him as a recording / multi-faceted artist, and I'm curious as to what he was like in that role.

Working with Damien was spectacular. We didn’t know each other well at the start, and I respect him immensely as an artist too, so I was pretty nervous going in. But he was incredibly supportive and encouraging and such a strong leader in the studio. He put me at ease right away. He’s opinionated, but at the same time so respectful of my artistry that I never felt clobbered. He only suggested changing song feel or arrangements when he really felt strongly about it. And I can tell you this: he was right in every instance. He has a wonderful gut sense about things so it was easy to follow his advice. I trust that dude a lot now -- both personally and artistically -- and I think he has an awesome future in producing ahead of him. I’m so excited for people to hear what we made together.

How did the experience differ from the previous process -- didn't you work with John Roderick on that album?

Yes! Roderick produced Burn the Boats. We, too, had a fabulous working relationship and Roderick’s imagination was wide open in the studio. It was exciting! I was about six months into making BtB when he came on board and he really helped to bring the whole project into focus and to completion. Eric Corson engineered that one and the thre of us made a great team (lots of experimentation and lots of silliness in those sessions). John helped to add so much of the character of the album, which is what I think ultimately set it apart from other songwriter records. I am so proud of BtB and will be forever indebted to J-Rod for investing in me at that stage of my career.

On a related note, a lot of people have asked me “why work with another songwriter instead of a more seasoned producer?” I’m sure I’ll get the same question this time around with Jurado. But here’s what I can say about that; other artists understand what it’s like to stand behind the microphone themselves, and these two dudes in particular have walked ten miles in my shoes as singer-songwriters. They know the ropes, they know the fears, they understand the vulnerability required to put your heart on tape, and BOTH of them know how to do it right. Jurado summed it up perfectly when he said to me “It took me ten records to figure out how to do this right, let me save you some time.”

Tell me about how you hooked up with the Team Up for Nonprofits / Gigs4Good folks. How did that collaboration come to life? What's the driving force in working with them / what strikes you about their organization?

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When I met Óttar Birgisson and Hlynur Hallgrímsson on a Sunday afternoon in Reykjavík, they were quite literally wiping sleep out of their eyes – sleep and greasepaint. They were recovering from a Halloween party the night before; Hlynur had attended as a bust of Socrates, and the white stage makeup still lurked on his eyelids. Óttar was No-Face from the Hayao Miyazaki movie Spirited Away. He was surprised how many people didn’t get it, “Yeah, it’s a cartoon, but it won an Oscar.” Displaying shaking hands, Óttar considers whether a single night of heavy drinking could cause DTs, and announces that their next album will be titled, Too Old for Headbanging. “We might still be drunk,” he adds.

We were there to talk about their band, 1860, and its current album Sagan. Their drummer Andri Jakobsson showed up briefly, ostensibly to help us stay on track. But staying on track wouldn’t be nearly as much fun with a pair whose conversation references Bob Ross and Elizabeth Gilbert while namechecking bands from Mumford & Sons to Cradle of Filth. The conversation ranged from American holidays {Halloween good, Valentine’s Day bad} to Honey Boo Boo {in America, if you are dysfunctional enough you get your own TV show} to Icelandic attitudes towards alcohol {Icelanders drink like American teenagers}. But I’ll try to keep the write-up related to the music. In the words of Inigo Montoya, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

“None of us actually listen to Cradle of Filth, or really Mumford & Sons, either,” says Óttar. “That was just to be funny in an interview.”

“No, Gunnar used to listen to Cradle of Filth a lot,” Hlynur contradicts.

In fact, 1860 are an ensemble folk-pop band composed, like Tilbury and Of Monsters and Men, of multi-instrumentalists who all join in on infectious sing-along choruses. Notable for using mandolin (don’t call it a ukulele!) on most of their songs, they would fit on a bill with Fleet Foxes and Hey Marseilles. So basically, they are awesome.

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I discovered the Bedroom Community label and its founder, Valgeir Sigurðsson, from the Iceland Airwaves lineup. Although these names were new to me, I had already heard Valgeir’s work – a lot of it in fact.  Valgeir Sigurðsson is best known as a producer and engineer for a who’s-who of indie artists, including Björk, Nico Muhly, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Sam Amidon, among many others. The richly layered melodies and the glitchy crackle and pop of Valgeir’s own compositions are like chocolate torte beside the EDM Twinkies currently dominating electronic music.

Valgeir is a tonmeister, a German word that translates literally to “sound master,” and loosely to “holds a graduate degree in everything related to music.” His first two full-length solo albums feature luminous guests; the second one, Draumalandið (Dreamland), served as the soundtrack to the biting environmental documentary of the same name. In late September, Valgeir released his third album, Architecture of Loss, consisting of music he wrote for Stephen Petronio’s newest ballet.

If anyone is capable of creating a soundtrack to a dance about architecture, it is Valgeir. Frankly, I am still awed that he took the time to speak with me over coffee at Greenhouse Studios.

TIG: When Stephen Petronio approached you about Architecture of Loss, what drew you to the project?

VS: Well, I knew of his work, and actually had worked on a score that Nico Muhly  did for him a couple years earlier, released on Bedroom Community; a piece called “I Drink the Air Before Me,” and I saw that piece performed in London. So immediately there was a connection, and I knew that he was doing good stuff. I was intrigued when he called me up; just the concept, the idea. He had the title in his mind already and it suggested so many things. So we started talking about the possibilities of that in sort of sound and music terms and it just seemed like something that I really wanted to explore.

TIG: Is that how you usually decide on new projects? Is it the artistic concept, or is it about the people?

VS: I find that these two things go hand in hand. If there’s an interesting angle to the project, and the people are interesting, it usually hangs together. First of all, I think, I have to feel that I can fit into it, like find a place in the project in a way that is interesting and especially new or challenging. It’s always fun to sort of throw yourself into a situation that you haven’t been in before and this was my first dance score. In general the people are as important as the content and vice versa.

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It is a little-known fact that skill in poetry was valued just as highly in Viking society as skill in battle. Perhaps this explains why Iceland, a nation founded by Vikings, has more than its fair share of brilliant songwriters. Unless you were listening to KEXP at 3 pm on Thursday, or made it to Neumos on Friday night, you probably have not heard of the latest musical conqueror to sail out of Iceland – Ásgeir Trausti.

His debut album, Dýrð í dauðaƥögn, sold out in about a week in Iceland. Its understated, acoustic folk melodies interwoven with electronic thread landed him on KEXP’s radar. Ásgeir Trausti Einarsson and collaborator Julius Róbertsson were kind enough to talk to us on Friday before opening the Reykjavík Calling show at Neumos. Although he could probably throw a spear as well as any saga hero (no really, keep reading) at our interview the soft-spoken Ásgeir looks more Ave-rat than Viking as he leans forward in his chair, drumming  on his knees.

TIG: First of all, let me start by apologizing. I am sure that I am going to butcher the pronunciation of the album title and all the names of the songs. Please correct me! Can you tell me about the name of the album?

AT: It is the name of one of the songs on the album, “Dýrð í dauðaƥögn.” The direct translation is “Glory in Dead Silence.” The meaning is not straightforward, even in Icelandic. There is no one meaning behind it. It’s for everyone to think about.

TIG: So it’s not an Icelandic expression?

AT: No, he [nodding at Julius] came up with it.

JR: I didn’t write any songs on the album, I only wrote the lyrics to “Dýrð í dauðaƥögn” and two others.

TIG: You are planning to release an English version of the album. If even translating the album title is a challenge, how is it going to be for the whole album?

AT: John Grant is doing that. I think he hasn’t finished any lyrics yet, I haven’t seen anything yet. I think he is not going to do the translation straight, he is going to try to get the meaning out of the lyrics.

TIG: Are you going to work with him on that, or is he doing it all himself?

AT: We have not been working with him that much. I’ll probably see him a few times. But we have handed the straight translation to him.

TIG: So you have the direct translation, and he will work it into an English lyric?

AT: Yes.

TIG: Besides the three songs that Julius wrote lyrics for, your dad wrote all the lyrics on the album. How does that work? I don’t think a lot of Americans would be making music with their parents.

AT: He is just a great lyricist. He has been writing since he was a young boy. He also has written lyrics for my brother’s band, Hjálmar.

TIG: So does he just write lyrics and you make a song to fit, or…

AT: No, it’s just the opposite. I write a song and give it to him.

TIG: The name of the project is Ásgeir Trausti, which is your name, and tonight you are playing as a duo. On YouTube, I see seven or more people on stage with you. Is this a solo project?

JR: It is his solo project.

AT: Julius has played with me for some years. It is nice to have the option for the two of us to play acoustic. Sometimes there is the full band.

TIG: How do you adapt to play a different configuration for every show?

AT: It depends how big the show. With the full band, we prepare a lot. There are electronic samples, and it is more complicated. But we [points to Julius] used to play together. We can just play the songs.

JR: Maybe there is some improvisation when we play just the two of us.

AT: We try to have it be different every time. It’s more fun that way.

TIG: A year ago, you were in The Lovely Lion, maybe even considering an athletic career, and now you are playing international shows with your solo project. How did that happen?

AT: Actually, The Lovely Lion started at the same time [as Glory in Dead Silence]. I was a javelin thrower from age 13. Then I was injured at 17. So I tried to keep up training, and hoped to compete again. I was still learning classical guitar, and about a year and a half ago, decided to focus on music. The songs on the album were written over a one year period. Actually, I thought that The Lovely Lion would be the main thing. We are still working on some songs when we can, and hope to release an album next year or the year after.

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Lemolo, the duo comprised of Poulsbo natives Meagan Grandall and Kendra Cox, has been taking the world by storm lately, and can we just say, “We told you so?” Lemolo blew us away at the first show they ever played as a duo, and we have been singing their praises ever since. Their CD release party at Columbia City Theater on June 29 sold out so fast, they added another on June 30 – and that one sold out, too. Their self-released debut album, The Kaleidoscope, dropped on July 3 and since then life has been a whirlwind of touring and festival performances. It’s only a matter of time before Lemolo’s silken melodies wrap themselves around the collective shoulders of the music world and start haunting dreams nationwide. We were lucky enough to snag an interview with Meagan and Kendra in between gigs at Rock Camp for Girls and Doe Bay Fest. As we chat over coffee, they finish each other’s sentences, interject commentary, and generally weave their thoughts together in a way that's almost musical.

Imaginary Gemma: You came straight here from playing Rock Camp for Girls. That sounds like something awesome – can you tell me about it?

Kendra Cox: It is awesome. There’s two camps every summer, each a week long from like 9-5 every day. The girls form a band, choose a name, design a logo and play music. At the end, they get to play at a real venue. I think last week’s camp performed at the Crocodile. It’s so impressive because they’re learning life lessons at the same time.

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It’s no exaggeration to say Of Montreal main man Kevin Barnes has been around the block a few times. His act’s latest, Paralytic Stalks, which is out now from Polyvinyl Records, is their eleventh full-length release. The album builds on Barnes’ trademark indie pop formula, which traces its roots back to the Elephant Six collective’s heyday in the late ’90s. Although many of the familiar elements resurface, from Barnes’ witty, sometimes nutty vocals, to the vaguely Beatlesque sense of melody, Paralytic also features orchestrated instrumental stretches and an intricate songwriting hitherto unknown in Of Montreal albums.

It also pulls Barnes away from his recent habit of crafting a persona to serve as his album’s central figures. Paralytic is chock full of first-person narratives, a lyrical tactic Barnes hasn’t employed since 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? It should come as no surprise, either, that it also dabbles in the darker, more psychologically tortured themes that last appeared on Hissing Fauna. Oddly enough, Barnes still seems to be the happy-go-lucky character at the center of his last albums.

TIG: You’re one of the few bands left around from the indie-rock underground of the ’90s. Does that give you a different perspective on making music or navigating the industry?

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{The Divorce. Photo by Breanne Koselke.}

Some of Three Imaginary Girls' favorite (and some infamous) moments of the first five years of our tiny lil web existence (from 2002-2007) involve The Divorce.

Over the course of an introductory EP, two full-length albums (2003's There Will Be Blood Tonight and 2005's The Gifted Program), and countless live shows, the Divorce embodied the both the sweet and salty of the Seattle music scene of the time. On stage they were fresh and fearless, belting out beautifully destructive pop songs to packed crowds. Then, in 2007, they decided to call it quits (the 'D' word if you will) and dispurse into different bands and projects.

On Saturday, July 30, 2011, they will once again take the Crocodile stage together to Divorce it up and of course we'll be there. What a better time to chat with the four Divorce fellas (Shane Berry-lead vocals, keyboard, guitar and tambourine, Garrett Lunceford-lead guitar, Jimmy Curran-bass, and Kyle Risan-drums) to find out why they are reuniting now and offer some more insight into the band for those that might have missed them the first time around. To do so, I thought it a great opportunity to resurect our original interview series (circa 2002-2006): Coffee with a Rockstar.

TIG / Liz: I can't believe in all of our Divorce fandom TIG never sat down for a Coffee with a Rockstar imaginary interview with you guys. It's surely a sign of our shyness. This chat is a long time coming and there's a lot to catch up on, but first, we have our ice breaker traditional first question:

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{photo: April Brimer}

Virgin Islands is one of Seattle’s best live rawk and roil bands, souped up on speed-ball breakneck paces and reeling through the gears left behind from The Cops. Fronted by Michael Jaworski (vocals and guitars), and tuned in by two-lane blacktop hard by Aaron Ball (drums and percussion), Charles Keller (bass and vocals), and Christopher Meyer (guitars and vocals), they’re bringing dapper mayhem to the Vera Stage during the Capitol Hill Block Party (2011!) on Sunday, starting at 3 p.m. sharp.

I spoke with Mikey about the festival, the band’s recent full length debut, and love for Cap Hill!

TIG / Chris Estey: Is it a particular thrill to be playing the Block Party? What is it that's more special about playing the CHBP than a usual show in the area?

MIKE: It is thrilling to play the Block Party! It really does feel more special than a regular show in the area. In my opinion, the Block Party is the coolest and most grass-roots festival in our area and it's an honor to perform for it. It takes place in an extremely cool and vibrant neighborhood and it caters to such a great cross-section of humanity. It's just a great street party with awesome bands and we're honored to be a part of it! Not to mention, Jason Lajunesse and crew book artists that truly represent the diverse music scene in Seattle and some of the best national touring acts around. I think you'd be hard pressed to find another music festival that does it so well, especially in a block party setting.

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