This is the second part of the first installment of Portrait of an Artist.  D. Crane will interview musicians and artists who blow his mind.  Read along and see him sharpen his interview skills to that of a slightly sharp pencil.  Fred Schneider was the inspiration for the song “(do the) Magic Centipede,” off of BOAT’s  Setting the Paces LP.  His new band is called the Superions.  They make the most ridiculous surreal/silly dance music around. Read part 1 here.

 

Fred,  here is my attempt to ask you some clever/wacky/personal questions.  The level of cleverness/wackiness/personal-ness seems more minute now that I know that you appeared on Howard Stern, last week!  But here I go anyway!

 

Assuming you go to Totally Nude Island, what piece of clothing would you miss the most?

 

My wallet!  To buy all the fabulous things at the gift shop!

 

Are you vegetarian?  How long?

 

Since ’72.  A friend talked me into it after I dropped out of college.  I never liked fish anyway!

 

Where should I eat when I visit Athens for the Popfest?

 

In Athens there is a great vegetarian restaurant called the Grit, and a lot of other places that are really vegetarian friendly.

 

What happened with the ham in the video?

 

We bought the ham and were gonna donate it, but it fell on the floor during the video.

 

Do you like the song "Monster Mash"?  It’s maybe my favorite song of all time.

 

Yes!  I love everything Halloween.  I love old school Halloween.

 

What is Sprechstimme?

 

Talk singing.  When I started I am just singing as I go along.  If you listen closely there is hesitancy.  It is not for dramatic effect.  I’m trying to think of what to say next.

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Adam Green has recently released his sixth solo album, Minor Love, and he's coming to town. Newly signed to Fat Possum Records the new album is at once haunting and playful. The lilt in his sparse vocals, reminiscent of Lou Reed, on the first half of the album is accompanied by finely place organ, guitar and bass, the drums skittering around in the background. The second half of the album takes on more of a Leonard Cohen feel, growing a bit darker and unfolding a seriousness that flatters the singer/songwriters skills while expanding his scope.

I can only imagine how the slight kitsch of a song like “Goblin” and the video game sound clips on the lo-fi “Oh Shucks” will translate to stage. Find out by emailing us for these tickets!

Send an e-mail to tig@threeimaginarygirls.com by Monday, March 26 with "AdamGreenWonder" in the subject line. If you win these tickets, I'll see you there and together we can wonder whether or not Greg Rogove of Megapuss is going to be playing on this leg of Adam Green's tour.

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Or:  How I Got to Interview Fred Schneider for 25 Minutes---SPONTANEOUS—BASIL LOVER—HERO OF THE SILLY AND ABSURD

 

This is the first part of the first installment of Portrait of an Artist. D. Crane will interview musicians and artists who blow his mind.  Read along and see him sharpen his interview skills to that of a slightly sharp pencil. Fred Schneider was the inspiration for the song “(do the) Magic Centipede,” off of BOAT’s Setting the Paces LP. His new band is called the Superions, and they have a brand new self-titled EP/LP on Athens, GA's Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. They make the most ridiculous surreal/silly dance music around. Stay tuned for the second part later this week.

 

How did you get in touch with Mike from Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records (HHBTM)?

 

I am a record nut and he runs a record store, so naturally we hit it off. I heard that he runs a label with two of my favorite acts, Cars Can Be Blue and the Lolligags. I knew he was an honest guy and a hard worker, so  I suggested to the Superions, “Hey, let’s put this out on a small label.” Originally, it was going to be a single, but there were some remixes that I thought turned out great, and I couldn’t be happier.

 

How long ago did the Superions start?

 

We started about 5 years ago as the Del Morons.  The first song we did was a song called “Totally Nude Island.”  Dan and Noah came up with the music and I just went in the bathroom and came up with the words off the top of my head.  We thought it was fun.  People said they liked it and told us to put it on Itunes, and that they’d buy it. Most of the HHBTM recordings were recorded soon after.

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During the holidays, the Parenthetical Girls released a feisty vinyl 45 The Christmas Creep with two songs, a Sparks cover (the viciously witty "Thank God It's Not Christmas") and their own awesome anthem, "Flowers For Albion." (Consider it a double A side.) This was preceded by a generous EP, a strange melange of spoken word and singalong art song dedicated and based on the lyrics of the acerbic, angsty Jewish Glasgow word-lover/performer Ivor Cutler.

I was pretty satisfied by these flirting releases, being a transfixed fan of the band's die young stay pretty passion plays and morbid preoccupations with the language of the body, performed more melodically bracing and compositionally daring since their crucial album Entanglements (2008).

They might dread such a modern comparison, but think of the Parenthetical Girls as the David Foster Wallace of indie rock; a peculiar, acquired taste that a fan would insist should be universal, but probably will be due to their boldness in music and marketing. Sometimes their arcane musical footnotes bring more pleasure than whole albums by more accessible "craftsmen," and even when things get wordy and mystical the wild sweep of emotion brings the listener back.

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I can't stop listening to Casual Victim Pile. It's a compilation put together by Matador co-head Gerard Cosloy and features some of his favorite Austin, Texas bands of the last few years. Incidentally, and cutely, the anagramic album name was contrived from Austin's nickname "live music capital". Cosloy put this comp together out of love, and you can tell. These aren't bands you find gracing the charts or garnering much attention, in the indie rock scene or otherwise. These are locally lauded underground bands, and they most definitely deserve a little exposure.

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In case you missed the trending topics on twitter, news blasts, or fireside interviews; here's the dirt: Sade is back. She's got a new album that's getting widespread attention, from the big tastemakers all the way down to my barista blasting some tracks in a Fremont cafe this morning.

Apparently, she's a long-standing favorite of our own Blue Scholars' Prometheus Brown as well -- read on:

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In case you were refilling your cup during the Super Bowl when Denny's announced today is FREE GRAND SLAM DAY (6a-2p), get out there and claim your free breakfast platter!

But that's actually not the BEST thing about today. Out of the blue, I was just emailed a new Thermals song, "Canada" -- and it's brilliant and wonderful and makes me feel all Winter Olympics inside.

You can go hear it for free right now and then head to iTunes to purchase it.

Here's the full scoop behind today's highlight:

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at The Sunset

Early shows are always fraught with a wee tension: Will fans turn out early to hear the bands, while many people are just finishing up their happy hours and lining up the soirees and situations for later in the evening?

The music of Terri Tarantula in particular seems to call for deep dark past midnight status, but that's because on craggy trouble in mind maps of alternate Seattle like "Mulligan" and pendant whispers like "Bag Of Bricks," this is all precise biomapping. Vocalist and new-keyboard enthusiast Terri Moeller has taken everything brisk and bitter about her last band Transmissionary Six and freshened it with a creamier, less heavy sound.

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It's a big big day my friends. It's so big that as far back as a month ago I had friends emailing me asking if my head was going to explode on this very day. It's not that absurd of a question considering two of my very favoritest bands ever are both releasing brand new full on albums today:

Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
(in town at the Showbox / Market on May 4)

Magnetic Fields - Realism
(in town at Town Hall on Feb 23 and 24)

 

One saving grace preventing new album overload is that Los Campesinos loaded their entire new effort onto their MySpace page last week (it's their third masterpiece) so that I could listen to it wherever I could find an internet connection (however rickety). It's given me a chance to ease into all the new stuff all demanding priority in my iTunes. Once I get my copy of it on vinyl, the circle will be complete.

The Magnetic Fields tracks have proven a little more elusive. It's all fine though, a mountain of anticipation can be a good thing for a girl.

What new release are you looking forward to?

 

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Uneven albums by your favorite artists are like spending a uneventful, sort of boring evening with your very best friend. You could criticize the night, but you're still really glad she was there anyways, and it's not like you would take those hours back.

In the wake of roots-soulful indie rock band Grant Lee Buffalo, singer/songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips recorded his most recent solo album Little Moon in just four days with a small tribe of veterans, including Jay Bellerose (the drummer from the Allison Krauss/Robert Plant Raising Sand album). Jamie Edwards puts a cozy wash of keyboards and sweet fills between Phillips' coy and wizened vocals and Bellerose's drums, with Sebastian Aymans adding more clickety-clank style percussion as well. Bass player Paul Bryan is hardly there in a good way.

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