Release of the Day: The Chicago Triangle - Emergence

Face the facts: we're in the golden age of reissues. Hard to find records are getting their dues by labels like Light in the Attic, Numero Group, Sundazed, and 4 Men with Beards (though with somewhat all-over-the-place results on that one). I personally think some of this has to do with the success and limelight of Searching for Sugarman, but I'll take it - oodles of documentaries and reissues and reads are coming out with the same story: someone with a ton of talent got looked over. And General Public Steve and Sally declare "Oh my god! How could they do that to good ol' Sixto?" before resuming a scheduled listen to the new Katy Perry single. That ain't news! Talent gets passed over because talent might be unfamiliar or at least different from the most popular form of tuneage. For people like me, though, it just means getting to see some good flicks and finally being able to buy coveted wax.

So let's talk about The Chicago Triangle. These Latino cats came out of Chicago in the late 70s before disco pissed away all the guitar bands, playing their own amalgamation of funk, soul, prog, and rock n' roll to anyone who would listen - allegedly, they played to about five hundred people at their album release show so why did this album take so long to become possible? I mean, this band isn't even on discogs at the moment of writing - this is more elusive than elusive and don't that just make your inner music nerd squeal? To make a long story short, people didn't know this record but people KNEW OF this record until it was found at a record fair in Austin, TX. From there, the dudes at Permanent did their magic with Rob Sevier of Numero to track down the original band members who turned out to be true lifers! Longhairs with bandanas and first class tickets on the rad times express. These guys are even playing a free show at the Empty Bottle on November 3. A total pipe dream that became reality.

And man, the music really speaks for itself. For my money, there's no better word for the record than "lively." There's a real energy to the music here that could only possibly come from true belief in what they were doing. And now you can get your filthy meathooks on the dang thing!

Interview with Marissa Nadler

New Englander Marissa Nadler makes ghost folk music of the highest caliber. Her siren-esque voice couples with a honed, finger-picked acoustic guitar to lay out surreptitious Americana fairy tales. Her new album July, released on the consistently great Sacred Bones label, came out in early February to critical acclaim, and rightly so. Miss Nadler has released music since 2004 with her first LP Ballads of Living and Dying, which was put out on Eclipse Records, which boasted the likes of Charilambdes, Jack Rose (RIP), Acid Mothers Temple, and other excellent acts.

Nadler's albums are consistently highly-regarded and seem to effortlessly build on each other. There's a yearning - something unmistakably reaching - in her music. There are some big things at work in Nadler's music, as if she distills Cosmic American Music and weaves it into a synthesis of old and new. To me, her music possesses a mystique - pardon the hyperbole, but it seems bigger than big and it hits me very hard.

That's why I was more than ecstatic to have the opportunity to interview Miss Nadler. She is playing Chicago at the Empty Bottle (my favorite venue in Chicago) on May 11 at 7 pm. You can also pick up her record July from Sacred Bones' Website and keep up with her by "liking" her on Facebook.

I'm more than honored to feature her on here and can't wait to see her at the Empty Bottle!

Jordan: What kinds of music do you listen to? Do you have any artists that you've been listening to consistently for a long time?

Marissa Nadler: Sammi Smith, Catherine Ribeiro, Tammy Wynette – those are my current three favorite vocalists. I love the Dirty Three. I like any music with heart and passion.

J: Are there any lyricists who you think are particularly important to you?

MN: Leonard Cohen is at the top of my list in terms of lyricists that have impacted me. 

J: I know it's a bit like picking a favorite child, but do you have any songs or albums that you're more particularly proud of than others?

MN: I’m very happy with JULY. I’m also very happy with the self-titled record of 2011. I think with July, I’m making some of the music that I’ve always wanted to make. 

J: You seem to have been playing and touring a lot - what is the appeal of the live show for you?

MN: The raw energy, nerves, and grit make for a more emotional experience for the audience. 

J: Do you enjoy collaborating with other musicians? Do you have any dreams collabs?

MN: I definitely enjoy collaborating with other musicians. Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, Angelo Badalementi are at the top of my list. 

J: What all is in the future for Marissa Nadler?

MN: I’ll keep touring for July, the new record, and then I’ll write another record. I’m interested in doing soundtrack work as well.

J: Tell me a little bit about your time in art school. What do you think of the role of schooling for art? Should people be "trained" about art? Does that affect the individuality of creation?

MN: I think in many ways its important to learn the rules before you can break them. I'm grateful for my background in the fine arts as it's helped in many ways with my music career. I think having a clearly defined aesthetic helps to create a complete artistic vision. Having continuity visually throughout years of photographs and videos helps to define the musical world which I've tried to create. 

J: In many interviews you mention film directors. What, in your opinion, makes for a good director? What is the role of film in regard to music? What overlap exists and how should that overlap be used to maximize the artistic effect?

MN: I take a lot of inspiration, at least indirectly, from cinema. It's such a complete art form and therefore provides endless possibilities. I hope to get into scoring films and contributing vocals to soundtracks in the future. 

J: You often talk about honesty and truth in your lyrics. There's a lot of different ideas about lyricism, like the storytelling of Nick Cave as compared to Mark Kozelek's autobiographical bend. Where some songs are fictional, there is also an underlying ethos lying in being genuine. How do you personally walk the line of poetry and honesty? And in general what do you think is the difference between being honest/truthful and genuine/real?

MN: I think there's a fine line between sincerity and sentimentality. That's where it can be tricky. I try my best to say what I mean and avoid purple prose. I try to use economy of language these days and get to the point as quickly and directly as possible. 

J: Similarly, a person's identity often gets interwoven with his or her songs. Is this true for you? How do you identify with your musicianship? 

MN: I try to write honestly. I think that's all I can say. 

J: Do you dream vividly? Do dreams/sleep/surrealism impact you or your music? How?

MN: Sadly, no! I wish that I remembered more of my dreams. I do think that real life often feels very dreamlike. To me, it's not so clear what's real and what isn't. For an imaginative person, the real world can seem like a dream and a nightmare. 

J: Do you like sleeping?

MN: Yes, it's one of my favorite things to do. 

J: I’ve heard you talk about "dark" music a lot. It's an adjective that reflects mood more than sound, in my opinion. Something I struggle with a lot is having people ask why listen to "dark" music. Why surround yourself with negativity. I usually say something about realism, but I'm skeptical of it. I also think of how it can be a tool for empathy, but I'm skeptical of that too. What role do you think "dark" music plays? What is its purpose? Do you think there is a positive outcome of creating or listening to "dark" music?

MN: I think my music hits on many different emotions. There is darkness in my songs, but also a lot of light and hope. I try not to pigeonhole myself into a particular genre as It can really limit the reach of my music to certain subcultures. To me, a good song is a good song. Writing the best songs that I can possible write has always been my main priority and always will be. I try to favor substance over style at all times. 

J: I often think there's something somewhat spiritual in your music. Is this purposeful? Is spirituality a big part of your life?

MN: I’m not a particularly spiritual person, strangely. That may change. 

J: You’re from the East coast, and have mentioned being from Providence, home of H.P. Lovecraft. Has the location there affected your music?

MN: I’m actually from Massachusetts, though I went to school at RISD and lived in Providence for many years. I live in Boston now. I think there's definitely an east coast vibe to my music. I'm absolutely influenced by the landscape, as well as the antiquity here. 

J: If you could have dinner with any single person living or dead, who would it be?

MN: There are so many people. Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Lars Von Trier, Joni Mitchell. 

J: If there were an apocalypse today (say a non-zombie/infection scenario) what would your role be after? What weapons would you have? Where would you go?

MN: Well, if there were truly an apocalypse, nobody would survive. If for some reason I managed to survive, I'm honestly not sure! Perhaps matches for fire. I'm not a violent person so I have a hard time imagining using any weapons. 

J: Who would you say is your favorite Dictatorial leader? Would you guys be besties?

MN: I have no favorite Dictatorial leaders! They are called Dictators for a reason. I'm a big fan of free will. 

J: Are wax museums overrated or underrated?

MN: Wax Museums? I think they're pretty cool. 

Interview with Zack from Oozing Wound

Oozing Wound slays. If you know that and see what the album cover looks like on their upcoming debut LP, then you should have a pretty good idea of the music that they make. In case you still don't, it's heavy riffage with pounding drums, quick-witted bass lines, and unforgiving throbbing vocals. Thrash metal done extremely well. Their music is entertaining as it is pulverizing. There's a tongue-in-cheek candidness to the band, as is clearly visible in their COMMERCIAL for Retrash, their debut LP coming out on Thrill Jockey, home to the likes of Liturgy, Tortoise, White Hills and more.

The band plays regularly in Chicago at all sorts of venues from DIY squats to venues. I've never been able to see them to be honest, but I'm definitely looking forward to their show at THE EMPTY BOTTLE with The Body, Running, and Toupee on October 24. I've heard good reports on all accounts and I'm always down for some ol' fashioned face-melting.

You can check them out on FACEBOOK for updates.

Honestly, I'm not going to sum up this band as well as they do. Here's what Zack (guitar/vocals) said to me.

Jordan: Who all is in Oozing Wound? How did you all start?

 Zack: The wound is Kevin, Kyle, and I (Zack)--we started as a side project I was going to do for songs that didn't fit into my other bands.  At the time I was in Cacaw with Kyle and a thrash band called ZATH, both of which had some riffs and shit that didn't really fit with what I was writing.  It just kinda snowballed from there, we've had low expectations and it's been paying off.

J: How did you get the name Oozing Wound?

Z: I don't remember the moment but I do remember walking around work asking friends about two band names that I had thought of.  Oozing Wound won by a pretty unforgiving landslide.  Maybe we all just kind of morphed our expectations of what we were going to do from the name?

J: Define "slay"

Z: Well, some bands just wanna rock which I think is admirable, but we wanna take it up that extra dinosaur.  Slaying drains electrolytes.  Slaying requires bloodshed.  If it still doesn't make sense I suggest trying diet-slay.

J: What kind of bands or ideas have had an impact on your music? Anyone or anything specific that you can think of?

Z: Metal-wise I am really into Teutonic thrash like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Exhumer-- they have this forward momentum feeling in their songs.  Matt Pike, specifically High on Fire has been a huge influence on me, in the beginning there was definitely more Pike worship.  Beyond that, you know, Nirvana, ABBA, Gary Glitter, Beach Boys.  I think of my best heavy stuff listening to pop.

J: How do you all write songs? What sorts of roles do you have for the songwriting process?

Z: Standard process is I usually come up with a back log of riffs that I show the dudes and we'll find something and jam on it for a while.  That's where most of the slower/longer songs come from, the shorter dudes are a similar process but I usually have them more formed out.  Kevin and Kyle are necessary to make this shit work though. It takes all three of us to write an Oozer.

J: How do you record your music? Do you use a particular studio?

Z: We jam econo.  We've only been in the studio twice and for one day at a time.  First time we recorded the four songs from the Vape and Pillage tape, did that in one night session in Studio Chicago which isn't really a viable option these days.  2nd time was a full day at Electrical Audio where we did 6 songs.  We'd like more time in the studio, but shit's hard.

J: The artwork on your releases is really awesome. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Z: Sam Nigrosh, man.  He is a killer fucking artist and deserves like 90% of the credit for all the visuals.  He takes our really stupid fucking ideas and makes them into something badass. I have like no visual artistic ability so it's great that we have this guy who can turn this shit out.

J: How did you guys get linked up with Thrill Jockey? How was it been working with them? Do they let you guys still have autonomy behind your music?

Z: Total luck.  We played a show with Black Pus and I shit you not that's all it took to get signed.  We also already had our record done so that probably helped.  TJ is my favorite thing I've ever been a part of.  Like the best dudes and Bettina is fucking great.  We've never had a label with a support network in it, with people who have a job to actually make your band go somewhere.  It fills me with little happy bubbles or some shit.  TJ has never once told us we couldn't do something.

J: Tell me a little bit about the video for "Welcome to the Spaceship, Motherfucker." What was the idea behind that? How did you guys make it?

Z: We needed two video ideas and had kinda spaced on coming up with one for this song.  We were looking through a gallery of photos we took (also a weird moment in our lives) and thought it would be a fucked up video to watch if it was all glitched out gifs and shit.  That's as much as we did, Joe Martinez and Leon Kelsick did the whole video and we saw it when it was finished.  It made me wanna puke and cry at the same time, it was so beautiful.

J: You guys are in a lot of other bands and projects. Give me a brief rundown of who all is doing what.

Z: Right now?  Uh Kyle runs Rotted Tooth Records which takes up a lot of his free time, Kevin plays in his other band Unmanned Ship, and I from time to time have been known to play with ZATH.  We've been really focused on the Ooze lately, so it's kinda been it.  The list of projects that follows us is more cumulative at this point than active, we've just been doing shit in this city for a while.

J: What all have you guys been listening to lately? Any noteworthy artists that have stuck out recently? What about Chicago artists?

Z: Best bands in Chicago?  Well, no matter what this is going to be incomplete with a city this vast.  The usuals are bands like Running, Heavy Times, Basic Cable, Rectal Hygienics, Unmanned Ship, Toupee, Sky Maul, CAVE, SINE/Psychic Steel...the list is fucking endless, seriously.  Look at the Rotted Tooth roster of bands that's all good shit.  I usually listen to pop rock from the 70's and 80's, lately it's been Dust, Jerusalem, Badfinger, The Troggs, Iron Claw...others I am sure.

J: How often do you guys get to play live?

Z: About once a month right now, but we've got a tour coming up.  There aren't a ton of spaces to play that work well for us, but we'll probably start doing more shows once all this record shit quiets down.  Playing shows means you have to steer away from writing new material which we're pretty focused on at this moment.

J: Tell me a little about the upcoming tour.

Z: East Coast Rippers and Burners tour, bro!  Hitting up the Halloween parties up and down the coast.  Wish there was more exciting things to say, but I imagine there's more to talk about after.

J: What all is in your future?

Z: Robots, bank collapse, probably defaulting on our national loans, uh bachelorette degrees, maybe a sun tan, giant crab people, an anthropomorphized bong, mutant woodchucks, an MTV VMA statue, a pitchfork 10.0 rating, a rolling stone feature, a failed military coup, maybe some ice cream.

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

Z: We are here to slay, get with it.