I became a Peter Gabriel fan(atic) after seeing “Digging In The Dirt” on VH1 in the dog days of ‘92. That September, prior to the release of Us (i.e., Peter’s followup to one of the greatest albums of all time) Peter participated in “An Intimate Conversation About Us” for Westwood One, discussing and previewing clips from the album. I stayed up late to tape it off WDRE. I was enamored.
Back in the ’90s, people like me (music nerds) would go to a record store to buy albums the day they were released. Two weeks before Us came out, I entered freshman year of high school. I didn’t yet have a driver’s license so I asked my mom to take me to Record World in Manhasset on 9/29/92. Us was the first album I bought on the day of its release.
Flash forward to last Monday 4/26/10. It’s 11:20AM and I’m standing in the rain outside Other Music, waiting for them to open the store so I can buy Scratch My Back on vinyl. I thought it would be a nice prop for a video piece Peter Gabriel had agreed to do with Stereogum that afternoon.
My vision was that Stereogum would film Peter having an “exchange of ideas” with a like-minded young artist, much in the spirit of Scratch My Back and its forthcoming companion I’ll Scratch Yours. I heard that Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo was also a PG fan, and he agreed to participate. Late last month, Alan, Amrit, and I met for tacos to talk Fairlight CMI, Frippertronics, WOMAD, WITNESS, ApeNet, Real World, gated reverb, etc. We then breathed Security for a week.
We were to meet Peter at a studio space in midtown where his 50-piece orchestra was rehearsing for this week’s Radio City gigs. My friends Sam and Ari handled logistics for the production, bringing a crew of three to handle cameras, lights, sound. Everyone worked for free.
At 1PM, a half hour early, Peter rolled into our makeshift interview room, no handlers, no publicist. I introduced him to Alan, breaking the ice by pointing out that my friends bought me Xplora1 for my 15th birthday, whereas Alan was too young to know what a CD-ROM is.
Amrit moderated their talk because (A) I suck at interviews, and (B) Amrit is much more handsome.
Peter and Alan hit it off immediately. They spoke for over an hour, and Peter Gabriel could not have been more gracious or forthcoming.
I hope you enjoy this video, it was a passion project for me and a dream realized to all involved. (Peter now has Psychic Chasms on CD, vinyl, and MP3.) In a nod to Scratch we’ve titled this video Exposure with the expectation that it’ll be the first in a series.
Amrit and I will be attending Peter’s show at Radio City tonight. It will be my first time seeing him live since Woodstock ‘94 (where yes, I rode The Mindblender). There will be a special guest joining Peter tonight so if you’re going, don’t leave early. To our LA readers, the New Blood American tour concludes Friday at Hollywood Bowl on Friday.
If somehow you missed our breathless coverage of Scratch My Back/I’ll Scratch Yours, check out the archives.
Thanks to our camera crew (Sam Carroll, Ari Issler, Colleen Hennessy, Ron Beach, Josh Isaac), to Peter’s team (Harvey Schwartz, Gary Trew, Nate Auerbach), to Alan Palomo, and to Peter Gabriel, still my hero.
Woodsman is an experimental ambient post-psychedelic band based in Denver, CO. The quartet contains two totemic percussionists and two sonic animators who employ electric guitars, feedback loops, and recorded samples to build the dreamy astral soundscapes that define Woodsman’s sound. Influenced by hazy mountain passes, the cinema of Stan Brakhage, and early 1970’s improvisational recordings by Miles Davis Woodsman has crafted aural offerings that are uniquely their own.
Tour Dates:
May 16 Quixote’s Denver, CO
May 26 Hi-Dive Denver, CO
Jun 01 Astroland Boulder, CO
Jun 05 House Show Denver, CO
Jun 07 Revlis Albuquerque, NM
Jun 08 Universe City Norman, OK
Jun 09 Cheer Up Charlie’s Austin, TX
Jun 10 The Cavern Dallas, TX
Jun 11 The Groj Fayetteville, AR
Jun 12 The Tavern Jackson, MS
Jun 14 Wonderroot Atlanta, GA
Jun 15 House Show Charleston, SC
Jun 18 tba New York, NY
Jun 19 87 Guernsey St. Brooklyn, NY
Jun 20 Copperworks Pittsfield, MA
Jun 21 Embassy Vinyl Scranton, PA
Jun 22 Believland Cleveland, OH
Jun 24 tba w/ Campfires Chicago, IL
Jun 26 Hexagon Minneapolis, MN
Jun 28 Public Space 1 Iowa City, IA
Jun 30 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA
Jul 01 The Slowdown Omaha, NE
Jul 02 Replay Lounge Lawrence, KS
Woodsman
Mystery Tape EP
(Lefse)
Street Date: June 01, 2010
1. Beached
2. When the Morning Comes
3. Hocus Pocus
4. Balance
5. Smells Like Purple
From Pitchfork:
Tom Krell leads a double life. During the day, he’s a research fellow currently translating a book of “post-Kantian philosophy” in Cologne, Germany. But after work he’s making narcotized, below-fi R&B as How to Dress Well. In October of last year, Krell started posting batches of his clouded tunes to his blog. They’re marked by his piercing voice, which bears a resemblance to Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, or even Justin Timberlake at his most fragile and falsetto-y.
At this point, he’s got nearly 30 songs up for download, and the recently P4k-highlighted tracks “Decisions” and “Ready for the World” (which is due out as a 7″ single on Lefse soon) are great places to start. Krell plans to make his live debut with a few European shows before returning to the U.S. in August.
I recently chatted with Krell about Kanye West’s blog, The-Dream, and trying to escape yourself.
From Sweden’s PSL:
In last week’s The Music we are proud to welcome Brooklyn trio Keep Away , a band that in recent months we have had many reasons to come back to.
Nick Nauman, Mike Burakoff and gothenburg descendant Frank Lyons has played together in little more than a year and a month released their debut EP Baby Style on the label Lefse. The label itself describes Keepaways music as the midpoint between Black Dice and Lady Gaga as we return to the name as Modest Mouse and Animal Collective.
A little later we found in our ‘Keep Away for an interview where they’ll tell you why they really sound like they do.
From RCRDLBL:
Since Animal Collective have contained their recent activities to movie screenings and museum-installations-masquerading-as-”performances”, those in search of buoyant, sampler- and drum-bruised summer flings can find solace in Brooklyn’s Keepaway, who, honestly, had us at the ESG shirt. Their debut EP, Baby Style (out May 18 through Lefse) opens with “Yellow Wings,” which sounds like a picnic in the park turned friendly roman candle fight aka what we want to do every day once it gets warm out. Glad we’re all on the same page.
Tour includes two dates w/ Massive Attack, Bonnaroo, First Fridays show in LA, Sasquatch, and more!
Neon Indian is Alan Palomo, the 21-year-old synth-wizard who first created waves as VEGA. After writing a batch of off-the-cuff recordings that weren’t quite right as VEGA songs, Palomo released them as Neon Indian and what started as a careless outlet for ideas too offbeat to fit the VEGA mold has since gone on to define a genre. His critically acclaimed début album Psychic Chasms, which was released in October 2009, has been featured in SPIN, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal and FADER among others. In Feb. 2010 he made his late night TV debut with a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. “Sleep Paralysist,” the recent single for Green Label Sound was written by Neon Indian lead-man Alan Palomo; the track was recorded and produced in collaboration with Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear in Brooklyn at Taylor’s elusive musical dungeon, Terrible Studios. Here, Neon Indian is remixed by new outfit BRAHMS, which features Eric Lodwick, Drew Robinson, and Cale Parks.
05/12 New York, NY Terminal 5 *
05/13 Boston, MA House of Blues *
05/29 Calgary, AB Hi Fi Club
05/31 George, WA Sasquatch
06/02 San Diego, CA Casbah
06/03 Costa Mesa, CA Detroit Bar
06/04 Los Angeles, CA Natural History Museum / First Fridays #
06/05 Corvalis, OR Flat Tall Music Festival
06/07 Austin, TX Emo’s
06/09 Atlanta, GA The Earl
06/10 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo
06/11 Cincinnati, OH Fountain Square
06/12 Pittsburgh, PA Brillobox
06/13 Baltimore, MD Sonar
06/17 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/19 Denver, CO Westword Music Showcase
07/17 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
Lefse Records will be at SXSW next week in full effect! Check out the schedules below, we’ve got some great shows coming up and would love for you to come join us!
Neon Indian
Friday, March 12th - Buffalo, NY @ Big Orbits Soundlab
Sunday, March 14th - Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
Wednesday, March 17th (3 pm) @ Red 7 (Force Field/Terrorbird Party)
Thursday, March 18th (Time TBD) @ Fader Fort
Friday, March 19th (5 pm) @ Emo’s (Pitchfork/Windish Party)
Friday, March 19th (10:15 pm) @ Club DeVille (Green Label Sound Showcase)
Saturday, March 20th (8 pm) @ Mess With Texas
Monday, March 22nd - Monterrey, MX @ Autocinema Las Torres
Friday, March 26th - San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
Saturday, March 13th - New York, NY @ Piano’s w/ Banjo or Freakout, CasioKids, A Classic Education
Wednesday, March 17th (1:30 pm) @ Shangri-La (Brdg Club Party)
Wednesday, March 17th (8:25 pm) @ Buffalo Billiards (Time Out New York Showcase)
Thursday, March 18th (2 pm) @ Iron Gate Lounge (Party Ends Dirty Work Party)
Friday, March 19th (Time TBD) @ Vice (Lose Control Party) Keepaway on MySpace
The Delta Mirror
Saturday, March 13th - Las Vegas, NV @ The Bunkhouse Saloon (Neon Reverb Festival)
Monday, March 15th - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Wednesday, March 17th (1:30 pm) @ Lamberts (QuinnStorm & C3 Presents Party)
Thursday, March 18th (3 pm) @ End of an Ear
Monday, March 22nd - Las Cruces, NM @ Equinox
Tuesday, March 23rd - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rhythm Room The Delta Mirror on MySpace
Tape Deck Mountain
Friday, March 12th - Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space w/ Abe Vigoda & Lovvers
Saturday, March 13th - Prescott, AZ @ Sundance’s
Sunday, March 14th - Albuquerque, NM @ Atomic Cantina
Monday, March 15th - Las Cruces, NM @ El Patio
Tuesday, March 16th - El Paso, TX @ Take Two
Wednesday, March 17th (4 pm) @ Lustre Pearl Bar (San Diego Party)
Thursday, March 18th (1 pm) @ Rusty Spurs (MuseBox Party)
Friday, March 19th (7 pm) @ Lamberts (Friendly Fires Showcase)
Saturday, March 20th (4:15 pm) @ Shangri-La (Future Sounds Rumble)
Sunday, March 21st - Tucson, AZ @ Brootal Sun Fest/The HangArt
Monday, March 22nd - Tempe, AZ @ Sail Inn Tape Deck Mountain on MySpace
Neon Indian is Alan Palomo, the 21-year-old synth-wizard who first created waves as VEGA. After writing a batch of off-the-cuff recordings that weren’t quite right as VEGA songs, Palomo released them as Neon Indian and what started as a careless outlet for ideas too offbeat to fit the VEGA mold has since gone on to define a genre. His critically acclaimed début album Psychic Chasms, which was released in October 2009, has been featured in SPIN, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal and FADER among others. In Feb. 2010 he made his late night TV debut with a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. “Sleep Paralysist” was written by Neon Indian lead-man Alan Palomo; the track was recorded and produced in collaboration with Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear in Brooklyn at Taylor’s elusive musical dungeon, Terrible Studios. This is Neon Indian’s first new offering since the release of Psychic Chasms.
It’s shaping up to be a big 2010 for Neon Indian, just as SPIN predicted. The band made its network television debut last Thursday night, Feb. 11 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Now they are playing their biggest NYC headlining show to date on March 5 at Webster Hall. The band was also recently announced as part of the Bonnaroo 2010 line-up and will be hitting the US and European Summer festival circuit with a vengeance (stay tuned for more on that!). Neon Indian recently remixed Grizzly Bear’s track “Cheerleader” not once, but twice, if you haven’t heard those remixes yet, listen here, stay tuned for many more high profile remixes to be unleashed throughout the year. The band’s Laundromatinee session was also recently posted on My Old Kentucky Blog. VIDEO: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
NEON INDIAN - Tour
02/19 Philadelphia, PA Voyeur *
03/05 New York, NY Webster Hall
03/09 Allston, MA Great Scott
03/10 Montreal, QC Le Belmont
03/11 Toronto, ONT Lee’s Palace $
03/12 Buffalo, NY Big Orbit’s Soundlab
03/14 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves
03/17 Austin, TX RED 7 (Force Field PR & Terrorbird Media SXSW Day Party)
03/17 - 03/20 Austin, TX SXSW
03/22 Monterrey, Mexico MtyMx Festival
03/26 San Francisco, CA Mezzanine #%
06/10 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo
