Interview with Negative Scanner

The debut, self-titled LP from Chicago band Negative Scanner saw the light of release last month from the best-in-class label Trouble in Mind. It rips with eleven burners: the longest song clocks in at a pi-mimicking 3:14 and the rest of the songs fall closely behind. While most bands will "diversify" a record (read: drift from their strengths) by putting in cringe-worthy ballads or slow jams, Negative Scanner instead plows through with memorable song after memorable song. What Negative Scanner does best is leave a hook rolling around your dome in record time, like garage rock nuggets cooked to juicy perfection through a darkening, postpunk frier. Bottoms up, motherfucker.

The four-piece (Rebecca Valeriano-Flores, Matt Revers, Nick Beaudoin, Tom Cassling) have been making the rounds through basements, record stores, and official venues since 2012, releasing a couple 7" singles and live sets before the eventual transition to long-playing record. The LP is Negative Scanner at their best. The tight, venomous energy seen live has finally transferred to a slab of wax and we're all the richer for it. I'll say it right now: this recordwill end up on my year-end list.

Not only are Negative Scanner an excellent band, but they might provide you with deep dish pizza and ice cream drumsticks if you interview them. How do I know? Because it happened to me, Jack! So before I go any further, thanks guys!

Jordan Reyes: I think I saw you guys for my first time on Record Store Day of 2014 at Saki. Have you guys always been a four-piece?

Nick Beaudoin: Well, for a couple months we didn’t have Matt, but we didn't play any shows or recorded anything, so for all intents and purposes we’ve always been a four-piece.

JR: Got it. And you guys have the two 7”s, a couple digital live sets, and now the LP?

Rebecca Valeriano-Flores: Yeah, there are actually multiple live sets that have been recorded. Two that are completely online - one from New York, when we played Rough Trade, and one from Young Camelot in Chicago. There’s another from the Owl that hasn’t yet been released.

JR: So tell me about recording the LP. You guys did the whole recording yourselves? Where was it recorded?

Tom Cassling: Well, we practice in the basement of my spot so we did it there. We tracked it to a Tascam and went from there.

JR: How long had you guys had those songs written before you put them on the LP?

NB: Some of them for a while, but others we finished a second before we recorded, literally. “Ivy League Assholes,” the first song on the record, is one of our older songs.

RVF: There were a couple songs we wrote as we recorded so we were making up our parts and recording them immediately. At least two songs were recorded somewhat spontaneously like that.

NB: “Low” was recorded like that.

RVF: Oh, so then there are three - “Gone Wild” and “Forget It” too.

JR: So is the practice space a creative space? Do you go in with the mindset of new things happening there?

NB: I think it’s more of a rehearsal space, but every once in a while there will be a moment or Rebecca will come in with an idea. I don’t think we go into practice thinking we will write songs.

Matt Revers: There’s not a lot of loose jamming.

NB: Also, as soon as we write a song, it’s incorporated into the setlist immediately.

JR: Had you guys played live before you recorded or did you record first and then play live?

RVF: We played live first. We recorded a few times and had demos, but we had probably played a handful of shows before we started recording.

MR: I think when I was approached to play, you guys already had five songs written or so. Was it just you two [points to Rebecca and Tom].

TC: Oh yeah, I guess that we had a quick demo before we had a band. We had done a five song thing with a member of Nick’s other band. Rebecca and I were splitting duties on bass parts.

JR: And y’all (Rebecca and Tom) played together before as Tyler John Tyler?

RVF: Yup, that was me and Tom.

JR: I don’t think I lived in Chicago when that was still active.

RVF: We were only around for a few years and we put out one LP and three 7”s but when that ended, it was very clear that Negative Scanner is a very different band. It’s always strange to me to hear people say that Negative Scanner came from that band because the songs are so different and Matt and Nick add a lot to the band.

JR: [To Rebecca] And you usually will come in with lyrics and riffs, right?

RVF: Yeah, I’ll come in with chords and lyrics before we hammer out the rest of a song in the practice space.

JR: Fairly personal lyrics - I think there’s an Empty Bottle mention on the album?

RVF: (Laughs) Yeah, that song ["Fan vs. Wild"] has some name-dropping, like Empty Bottle.

NB: And there’s a nice shout out to an Ocean Beach in that song, too.

RVF: The Ocean Beach in San Diego. There’s also Mission Street from San Francisco in there, which is a strip and even like a neighborhood, I’d say.

MR: How long did you live in Chicago before you moved to Miami? You grew up here?

JR: I spent like 7 years of my childhood here. I was born in LA, moved to DC, then Chicago, then North Carolina for college, back to Chicago for like two and a half or three years, and now I’m in Miami. I still plan on coming back to Chicago a lot. There’s just so much compelling art happening here. I think Chicago’s kind of spoiled actually. There’s such variety and also a history of experimentation: Sun Ra’s from here - he’s all-encompassing and no one’s caught up to him yet. Then you’ve got Thrill Jockey, and Trouble in Mind, and Hozac. I think there’s always something of merit happening in any city, but there’s just so much here. And there’s not really anything of the caliber of the street festivals we get here like West Fest, Do Division, and Green Fest.

RVF: Yeah, there’s so many in Chicago. It’s pretty cool.

NB: But that’s just the West side of town. There are really stupid, awful ones in Lincoln Park like Rib Fest. I had to bike there last summer and I swear I heard like a Fallout cover band once every few streets. And it was just like, “What? Where is this coming from?”

JR: Are there certain bands that you guys all like? I hate to say influences - it’s like “oh you guys just sound like this band."

RVF: Labels or reviewers will list our “influences” when they describe the band, but really the bands that we have in common are just like classic rock n’ roll bands or punk bands. I can say that I’m really influenced by Wire, which they might put on our record reviews, but only one or two of us are really into Wire. When you talk about something we all like, the common denominator between the four of us is like…

TC: The Stones!

RVF: Or Blondie? Or the Ramones! It’s funny. We don’t really think about it that way when people are talking about the “influences of Negative Scanner.” And someone will put Siouxsie and the Banshees. I mean, I like that band, but we all listen to different stuff.

JR: I feel like when people do that, they just go for the easiest reach. It’s usually not even true. Like, a lot of hardcore will be compared to some other hardcore band and yet, the person making it is like the biggest Nick Drake head. You never know what’s going on in someone’s mind.

MR: The bands that I listen to the most aren’t necessarily the ones that influence me the most, either. Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

JR: You guys are going to tour this record?

TC: Yeah - we’re going out the last week of August through early September.

JR: Where all are you guys going?

TC: I think, historically, Rebecca and I have a bad habit of booking Southern tours in August. (Rebecca laughs)

NB: That’s the only route that I’ve been on.

MR: I’m looking forward to this route - it’s different than the last one we did.

JR: You guys don’t go to Florida, do you?

RVF: We were hoping we could incorporate it, but this one’s only going to be about two weeks so no such luck.

JR: Atlanta?

RVF: Yup. We’re doing St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Austin for two nights, New Orleans, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, and Bloomington, IN. That’s all of them in order from memory.

JR: That’s pretty good! Never been to Texas.

MR: Austin was really fun last year - we played Beerland. Do you (Rebecca) know where we’re playing this year?

RVF: We’re playing Hotel Vegas on Saturday night and a place I’ve not heard of on Sunday night.

JR: Were you guys there for South by Southwest?

RVF: No, it was before South by.

JR: I imagine that’s more fun, like, not being there for South by.

MR: You can actually park the van - I’ve heard that’s impossible at South by.

TC: I’m too cranky for it. I’ve done it before and I don’t think I’d do it again. We all have jobs and Rebecca’s in school. It’s hard to schedule all the time off and I personally would rather do a proper tour, rather than be thrown into the mix with thousands of people who are burnt out by 2 pm. It’s fun to hang out with friends from across the country you haven’t seen in a while, but it’s so complicated.

JR: When you guys play live, do you have fun playing?

RVF: Yeah, definitely.

JR: I’ve been talking to a bunch of people about this lately. I do a solo folk project. And I feel fucking terrible when I play, but I do it because I think it’s important. It amazes me that people do it and have a good time.

MR: Sometimes it’s almost like how you feel good after you go for a run. I don’t like running all that much, but there’s a physical side to it. When you finish, your body’s tired in a way that’s specific to music.

JR: Cleansing?

MR: Maybe, especially if it’s some sweaty basement.

JR: There are no basements in Florida.

MR: So what do you guys do for DIY shows?

JR: Some are outside. Some are inside. There’s always go between. Sometimes there’s like a pool too. It amazes me that they aren’t shut down immediately. Here, people are more strict about DIY stuff though. You have to be discreet.

MR: The cops are pretty eager to bust up parties or illegal shows.

RVF: I wish we could play a pool party. We just played West Fest last weekend, and these big street festivals are the only places you can see music outside. In the past when DIY shows have happened outside, they get in a lot of trouble or people get a ticket.

NB: We had one friend pull it off where he had like four bands play. At the end, cops came in and shined a light, but the band was playing “Woolly Bully,” which is like a cop call I guess. (Everyone laughs)

JR: So when did you guys meet each other?

MR: OKCupid. (Everyone laughs)

TC: I met Rebecca about eight or nine years ago.

RVF: Yeah, right after I moved here - I was probably barely twenty-one. I used to go see Tom’s old band.

JR: Let's change things up a bit. What do you guys think makes music good? Why would you listen to a song?

RVF: I have no idea.

NB: Album art. Wizardry.

MR: Pitchfork reviews.

NB: Like, if a CD comes with something, I’ll pick it up.

TC: If the record has a cool color or swirls.

MR: I like too wide a range of music to answer that I think. I’m thinking about songs that are on the opposite ends of the spectrum of what you’d consider music and I don’t think there’s anything in common other than that there’s sound. I couldn’t tell you what unifies them.

RVF: There’s a something, but I don’t know what it is.

NB: You could come up with any adjective and like a song that’s the complete opposite of that. Something with a lot of attitude like Iggy Pop and then something with no attitude.

RVF: Or Television personalities. Or even Hooks! But there’s also noisy or no-wave stuff that I like too that doesn’t have hooks like pop music. Guitars! But there’s also bands I like that don’t have guitars.

JR: Hip hop doesn’t have guitar.

RVF: Klaus Johann Grobe doesn’t have guitar.

MR: Or Suicide. Do you have an answer to that question?

JR: Me?

MR: Yeah.

JR: Yeah, I think purity matters. The reason that I play music or support bands is because I think the stuff that’s really good isn't attached to the corruption of this world. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t reference it. A lot of punk or noise touches on ugliness, but it isn’t happy that it’s here. I get really sad about how the world works and it can be really debilitating. Sometimes when I listen to a song, it’s comforting to know someone else is in the same place. But I also like Madonna a lot. In the 80s, Madonna glorifies capitalist corruption, but then I start thinking “Well, you’re not happy either! Who are you trying to fool?”

MR: Yeah, solidarity’s nice.

NB: It’s like the opposite of listening to the Strokes.

JR: I hate that band.

MR: That makes sense. There are few reasons why I should like them but I do.

JR: Well, that’s the other thing because like…I listen to Madonna first and then I rationalize it, but no, that’s not everything. I like pop too and I'll run to a Katy Perry song occasionally. But the music that I support will be pure or that I can see myself in.

RVF: Now that I think about it, I like music that my friends make. You could say that there are so many bands now that are good in all sort of genres and cities. But with friends, I’ll already like it before it gets made. But, I can’t say that for music that was made before I was born.

JR: And noise always throws something in. I feel like everyone listens to noise, at least peripherally. It makes things interesting. I was talking to this guy in Florida, actually for like two hours, and he was like “What is music? What’s music, man?” And my answer is that it’s “Sound with form.” Some people are like “music needs rhythm and harmony and melody” and it’s like, well, you’re thinking too much. When noise was first made and someone was like (knocks on wood) okay, I recorded that, then someone hears it, and there’s an automatic reference. Subsequent experiments relate to the first experiment. They’re always refracted light from the first.

RVF: I see what you mean. For noise to be music, it has to have a start or an end. Or be limited. In time. Or in something else, perhaps.

NB: What was that band who put out a record that was like twenty-six records long? Like, side a and side b existed but there were 26 pieces of vinyl glued together.

MR: Who’s got time for that?

JR: Public Image Ltd. had that one record in the metal box too. And I know there was one record where the sleeve was sandpaper so every time you pulled the record in or out it fucks up the record. Well, that’s about all I got - anything else from you guys?

NB: I’m going on tour with another band this summer so I’ll be gone pretty much all of August. Getting ready for that.

RVF: We have a lot of shows in September and the tour.

MR: We have a song coming out on a compilation tape!

RVF: There are actually a few comps that we have. That one is by Not Normal, who are super cool. Then we have songs on compilations from Max Pelt from here and Dark Circles.

TC: Then we’ll start recording another LP in the fall.

JR: Wow. You guys have songs ready for that?

NB: We have a couple locked to be on there.

JR: Shit, that was fast. But I guess you guys had this record planned for a while.

MR: Right - six months now.

NB: Yeah, and we had gone in to record the record a while ago, but it didn’t sound the way we wanted. So we’ve had a chunk of new songs ready to go.

JR: Are you going to try and put that out next year?

TC: From the pace at which we work, it’ll take like six to nine months to record it.

MR: We’re no longer a “go into the studio for a weekend” band.

RVF: I’d say it’s probably six months to write and record and then six months to get it actually pressed. We should make that goal right now. We like deadlines.

NB: And now you’ve got that recorded so you can crack the whip if we’re late.

Release of the Day: Hogg - Bury the Dog Deeper

Samuel R. Delany, coincidentally my favorite author, has books of a great variety: science-fiction, non-fiction, theory, erotica, etc. Within the last six months, I had the pleasure of reading one of his most confounding, transgressive books, Hogg, for the first time  All you need to know is this: Hogg is the name of the central character in the book, the embodiment of everything perverse in human society - his paying job is to rape and break people, which he'd do without the promise of financial compensation.

This is a sufficient backdrop to Hogg - I think it's where they got the name because it certainly makes sense. The Chicago postpunk two-piece made of Emma Sims and Hanna Elliott released their first album Bury the Dog Deeper, a cassette on Andy Ortmann's Nihilist label, earlier this month. It makes me feel so terrible and goddamn I love it so much. At a live show, the duo changes formation and instruments - guitar, drums, drum machine, bass, and vocal duties - between songs. This is done effortlessly and efficiently.

There's an element of hypnotism to both performance and song, as Hogg builds its foundation on deep, dark bass and drum grooves. This is sinister music. This is unsafe music. Additionally, Hanna and Emma get a ton of mileage out of their instruments and their voices. Sometimes guitar sounds like guitar and sometimes like a factory line. Similarly, sometimes their vocals are siren-like, but at other times they recall The Keres, the Greek female spirits of violent death. The eight songs on Bury the Dog Depper are reminders that we have yet to squeeze every ounce of postpunk out of its drying husk and I personally can't wait to see what vice-gripping method the band comes up with next.

Release of the Day: Quittinirpaaq - Dead September

Quittinirpaq, the Austin-based psychedelic industrial project led by Matthew Turner, revels in a reeling, claustrophobic crunch. A drum machine provides the steady ground while feedbacking guitars and a sinister bass make up the filling. Vocals, as if croaked from a dying priest, come and go, occasionally lingering to swirl atop the psychedelic miasma. The only thing that someone resembles your mom or dad’s psych rock, though, and what Quittinirpaaq provides, are the deep grooves a la Kraftwerk’s first two albums, albeit through a dark filter.

Dead September appears to be Quittinirpaaq’s third LP, and the experience shows. The record appears fully structured, because it's so dirge-riddled and rhythmic, but the flurries of noise and other accoutrements give away the spirit of improvisation and experimentation. This is what keeps the record engaging: it is never a completely comfortable listen. Don't mistake your bobbing head with understanding - this is dangerous, chaotic movement. Just before the snake strikes, it rattles its tail as a dog greets its master.

Dead Septemer is out on Rural Isolation Records 

Interview with John Touchton of Severed + Said

Occlusions, the already-out-of-print newest release from Jacksonville musician John Touchton's Severed + Said, brings together profound mystery, analog synthesizers, and beats, daring the listener to dance through a lens, darkly. As with many instrumental electronic acts based around analog synth hardware, it's hard to separate the artist from a John Carpenter influence. Like Touchton points out below, a lot of the instruments composers in the 80s and 90s were using are still used today. That excludes many people who compose and make music on a computer, though, to be fair, the internet's a wild, dangerous place where no synth tone is ever truly hidden.

I got to meet John during International Noise Conference at Churchill's a few weeks after I moved to Miami while I was still shuffling around hotels in the area. The day after he played, we got into a thirty minute conversation about Philip K. Dick in Sweat Records and I immediately knew that he was another weirdo damned to spread the gospel of paranoia, just like me.

We caught up recently and talked literature, his newest tape, and upcoming music.

Jordan Reyes: Do you think science fiction has anything to do with how you make music for Severed + Said?

John Touchton: When I was doing Occlusions, I would have liked to think so. I’m not really a sci-fi nerd, though I appreciate it. At the time of writing, I was reading a lot of Haruki Murakami and Philip K. Dick. I thought I was channeling some sci-fi, but I don’t think the songs actually have much of a sci-fi sound. There’s certainly a lot of that profound, surreal mystery you’d find in a Haruki Murakami novel like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. In Murakami books, characters are deal with a life-reflecting mystery. It's communicating something to them, but it’s so shrouded that it almost drives them to madness. They can see the signs, but not what the signs are pointing out.

JT: The same can be said for the Philip K. Dick that I was reading: I wasn’t so much reading his sci-fi books: I was reading the Valis Trilogy, which consists of Valis, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, and then The Divine Invasion. Outside of that, Radio Free Albemuth actually connects more to Valis than the other two books. They were only considered a trilogy because he was dealing with something personally while writing books - a lot of disorienting mysteries where synchronicities line up in an effort to communicate. Valis is about Philip K. Dick and his personal experiences.

Photo by Rebecca Rose

JT: The album title Occlusions came about while I was in communication with Britt Brown from Not Not Fun. I was trying to pitch it as if it were sci-fi influenced. He suggested that we take our time with the album title. He was convinced that it was less of a sci-fi oriented album and more occult-influenced and explorative. As the release day was creeping up, we looked at the song titles, mostly Philip K. Dick references. The first track, “Occluded,” is an interesting word that implies being unable to see what’s right in front of you. You can be occluded from the truth. Even though Britt didn’t know it was a Philip K. Dick reference, he suggested we call the tape “Occluded” or “Occlusions.” I liked Occlusions.

JT: When we met, I was perusing the LPs at Sweat Records and I came across this obscure modular synth record, which appeared to be more like an academic exploration of modular synth. The album was called Occlusions! At first I was disappointed because I figured I’d have to redo the album title, and I was getting ready to e-mail Britt to relay the bad news, but then I thought maybe that was a sign for me. It started to make more sense that what I was feeling was the mystery. Maybe this was channeling something in my life that I hadn’t figured out. Maybe the music is an abstract interpretation of those mysteries. Through channeling those mysteries, maybe I can figure it out. I never told Britt about that album though (laughs).

JR: That’s really strange. I guess the sci-fi that I got out of it, and I think we discussed this when we met, is that it’s hard to think of sci-fi movies or, even beyond that, just movies of “the weird” without summoning John Carpenter. He’s sort of this overwhelming presence in how instrumental electronic music sounds and how horror/sci-fi movies look. Basically anyone doing that sparse, electronic instrumental music is automatically lumped in a little bit with him.

JT: Definitely. That’s what a lot of the comparisons that I’ve gotten have been. But even if I were to listen to a John Carpenter score or a Severed + Said album or an instrumental electronic artist, there are nuances. Maybe it sounds like a John Carpenter score that was never made. I understand the comparison. One of the keyboards that I use heavily is an early 90s Ensoniq. I actually just use the precuts because they sound so good. They sound like what I would hear from a John Carpenter film or that era of sci-fi/horror/David Lynch/Twin Peaks/Angelo Badalemente media.

JT: It has a lot to do with hardware. Those guys were using hardware rather than computers to make music, which is what people usually do now. But even on computers, the sounds emulate what was coming from those 80s keyboards. It may have to do with something more technical than someone trying to sound like that. But that’s great! I think John Carpenter is a better composer than a director anyway.

JR: Yeah, I think he’s more of the Stephen King of movies where the execution is secondary to the story. I mean, look, let’s put it this way: I’d never have anyone else direct a John Carpenter movie, but I’m not going to go into anything he’s directed with the expectation of understanding new things about film afterwards like you might when you see a Michel Haneke movie or a Kurosawa movie or a David Lynch movie or a Terence Mallick movie where you’re like “Holy Fuck! I didn’t know movies could do that.” But when I hear such an evocative and simultaneously cheesy soundtrack I can’t help but think it’s strangely effective and definitely new.

JT: And even without the film it stands alone. Like you said, it’s evocative: it can make you feel emotions even without seeing the context at times.

JR: Agreed. Anyway, how was your tour?

JT: It was good! we did eleven shows in eleven days. I don’t know if as many people would go as far as I did in such a short period of time. I didn’t want to book a long, extensive tour because I thought there was more risk of having to pay out of pocket. Matthew Moyer from PopNihil came with me, at first out of interest, but as I booked shows, there was room for him to play too. For the last month before I went on tour, I had provided backup sounds for Burnt Hair. We actually ended up putting Burnt Hair on three of the shows. He played in Athens, New York, and Savannah. I know he’s always wanted to play up North too so he got to fulfill that dream. It also meant that he wasn’t just tagging along, even though he had gladly signed up to just tag along.

JT: I really have to hand it to some of the promoters who were helping me out like Joe Mauro in Providence, who performs as New Bliss, called in a personal favor to Adam from Timeghost who played the Providence show. Craow played that show too - he’s another guy from Florida - along with New Bliss, and Mercy Gait, which is Ali from Power Monster. It was a really great show to be put on.

JT: I also got to play the Richmond, VA and Chapel Hill, NC dates with Holly Hunt and To Live & Shave in L.A. Tom Smith is such a nice guy and there's always Rat Bastard, who’s quiet, but has a strong presence. Additionally, there were two guys on tour with them: Graham from Atlanta who does Blossoming Noise Records and Patrick Spurlock. The last night of their tour was in Chapel Hill, which ended in an extended jam set between Holly Hunt and To Live & Shave in L.A.

JT: Barkev who does Bernard Hermann put the New York show on. We did it in the back of this bar called the Tandem Bar. It has a classic-looking back room area - seems like it may have been a popular cocaine bar in the 70s or 80s. That show was with Cienfuegos and a few others.

JT: Of course, there were a few shows that weren’t as well-attended. I can usually tell when the shows will be poorly attended if the people who are booking the show aren’t as communicative. The Atlanta show, for instance, was the first stop on the tour. I got in touch with what I guess is a fairly popular arts space called Mammal Gallery, but the guy I was in touch with expected me to round up the locals, which I did [laughs]. Matthew helped me get Death Domain on the lineup, which was awesome. There was no one there, but I played for Death Domain and Rin Larping, which is Lindsay Smith’s contact mic based experimental noise project.

JT: I also played in Dayton, Ohio, which is the only reason I went through Atlanta and Athens first. I’m sure you’re familiar with Dromez, which is Liz Gomez’s female-vocal based power electronics project. She used to be in Austin, TX. Her and her boyfriend John Maloney have a space together where they do intimate basement shows. She performed as her newer project Termagant - it’s more low tone, atmospheric, but still noisy and cacophonous. We got to hang out for breakfast the next day and she played me some unreleased Dromez stuff, which she described as more poppy than her other stuff, but I know it wouldn’t really qualify as pop music by any connection to the world.

JT: We also had all the costs covered too from tour. We didn’t make any money, but everything was covered.

JR: I feel like breaking even on a tour is a success.

JT: Yeah, me too. I realize how people can live life on the road. I’ve found that I wasn’t loafing off and spending money as I do in town while touring. I spend money when I don’t have something to do. It’s refreshing to see how that’s a viable, sustainable way to live. Selling merch, getting a little bit of money from the door, and putting it into gas and food.

JR: Did you sell many of your tapes?

JT: Yeah, I sold out of the ones that I had. I had forty of the Not Not Fun tapes and eighteen of the Crying in Dream tape from PopNihil. Some of them were traded for material. I would almost rather trade it because the person who gets it definitely wants the tape and I’m also getting something that I would like.

JR: I prefer to do things that way too. Record swaps. There are so many records that I really want to have. I’ll trade stock for them. I think that’s more fun and it’s a little anti-consumerist too: it proves that we can be a bit more collaborative in our society. There’s an element of hope in it too, I think. It’s a nicer way to have transactions.

JT: Yeah, it’s bartering. Maybe after the apocalypse, cassette tapes will be the new form of currency. And cassette players will be the ultimate commodity.

JR: I’ve got a walkman that I use all the time. That’s where I heard the Not Not Fun tape cause I can bring it to work when I’ve got office work. Actually, it’s how I heard the first PopNihil tape because when I first got to Miami, when we met, I was living in hotels and the only thing I had to listen to music was my walkman so I’d burn tapes all day. I listened to so many PopNihil tapes.

Photo by Rebecca Rose

JT: That’s awesome. I really like what PopNihil is doing. He must be getting close to his 60th release and he’s only been doing it for two years or less. He’s got a diverse catalogue too: he’s got obscure harsh noise, cinematic instrumental stuff, black metal, punk rock. As long as he keeps releasing the way that he has, PopNihil will continue to garner more respect and interest. I never met Matthew until I moved back to Jacksonville from California. Before I left, I put out a split tape with my last project Ascetic with Virgin Flower on another Florida label called Rainbow Pyramid. Matthew picked that up some time after I was gone. He knew that he wanted to put out Florida musicians. I’ve been doing music since I was a teenager, but I like to pretend most of those years didn’t happen (laughs). I’ve seen a lot of bad music and good music too that never got recorded or released. Since Matthew’s providing this outlet, at least some people will have their music documented. I’m really glad that my first release was on PopNihil, as far as Severed + Said goes. I remember when he came up to me after one of my first performances. I was just out of a long break up and because I had been in a band with that person, the band broke up too. After that break up I played the pre-INC show in Jacksonville of last year. Matthew was there and he came up after and said “I have dibs on your first release.” And, yeah, I was down. 

JT: It’s really only because of Ascetic, though, that I was put in touch with Not Not Fun. It was one of those things where Ascetic played a show in town after I moved back from California. And a guy at the show told me he really liked what we were doing and he told us a bunch of bands that he was interested in. I knew he wasn’t just a kook, but he didn’t necessarily have a ton of connections. And I was just like, “Yeah, whatever, dude.” So I sent him some stuff. And that guy got us in touch with Britt from Not Not Fun. We didn’t ever necessarily plan an official release, but we had a bunch of communication back and forth. Once we broke up though, there wasn’t really a reason to release anything. I never really e-mailed him back cause I was so disappointed. We had been working on material - in fact, all is done except for the vocals. After the PopNihil release, though, I sent him that and asked if he liked it. He didn’t confirm anything, but once I sent him the new material, he was stoked and we worked from October 2014 until the release date in May 2015.

JR: What do you have planned for the future?

JT: I have about twenty minutes of new material that I’m about to record. I talked to another band about doing a split and I talked to Britt about possibly releasing that split. I don’t want to say who or what cause I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a rad split coming out on Not Not Fun once I get my material recorded and once the other band gets their material recorded.

JT: For me, personally, other than that, I want to figure out how to do a set that I can travel more easily with. I want to minimize to the point where I’ll be able to fly somewhere to play. I’d love to go out to L.A. and promote some of my material from playing live shows. I have some friends in Oakland too and I’d love the play the venue Life Changing Ministries there - it’s a tiny church space that looks like a box with a small steeple. To avoid unwanted attention, they kept the name of the church and kept it looking like a church, but it’s actually a great experimental venue.

Interview with Dick Diver

Melbourne from the Australian state of Victoria boasts a population of more than four million people and is the second-most populous city in Australia & Oceania. Melbourne from the United States state of Florida has a bit over seventy thousand people and is nowhere near the most populous city of the Floridian state let alone the United States. With me so far? Dig: Melbourne, Florida is the third LP from Melbourne, Australia band Dick Diver, featuring gentle tones, pop songwriting, and effortless harmony. It's also the first Dick Diver LP to have a domestic release for a United States audience, by the ever-prescient, ever-tasteful Trouble in Mind Records.

Dick Diver has been on an American tour for close to a week at this point, starting in Chicago and making their way Southeast, passing through Texas en route to California before careening across the pacific Northwest. Tonight they play the Nightlight in Chapel Hill with one of my all-time favorite bands Spider Bags and if you're anywhere within the Triangle area, you need to catch this show or you're going to be kicking yourself later.

I got to bother Bill Roe (Trouble in Mind co-mogul and supreme overlord of band chaufferage) and Dick Diver for a few questions while they're on the road. Unfortunately, I will not be able to catch them on this tour, but that's no excuse for you!

Jordan Reyes: How is Bill Roe as a driver? I understand that he runs a mean record label, but if you had to give him a yelp review as a chauffeur, what would you say?

Alistair McKay: We thought Bill was coming for a holiday, but he just works from the wheel. The road is great for listening to new bands he says. I looked over at his phone one time after we'd just swerved to miss a goat and it said 'LOL. Thanks for sending. Love the sound of this :D got anything else though? :D'

JR: In all seriousness, how is tour going so far? Have there been any highlights so far?

AM: Tour is great. We've been looking up famous serial killers from each city we visit. Some real sickos. Show wise, New York last night was a blast. Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today.

JR: What are the logistics like for touring in Australia - is it feasible to tour by car? Do bands tour much outside of somewhat close cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane?

AM: Lots of places to play but people are spread pretty thinly outside the cities. Last year we played a show in a town called Cockburn. It's in the outback near where they filmed the first Mad Max. population 28. I think 17 people turned out. Cockburn has 2 pubs so I guess the others went there instead. Not a lot else to do.

JR: Tell me a little bit about your record Melbourne, Florida. You guys recorded this with Mikey Young [of Total Control & Eddy Current Suppression Ring] again, right? Is recording pretty quick and easy at this point after working with him so much?

AM: We rented a place on Air BnB near the beach and set up there for a week. We took a piano down and all our other gear. Rolling hills, miles away from anyone else. It was great. We did most of the record there. We did a couple of tracks - “percentage points” and “boomer class” - and some overdubs afterwards at mikey's house and al's girlfriend's house. 

JR: How did you guys decide to release your record with Trouble in Mind? I know you went with Chapter for a domestic release. How is it having more affordable international distribution? Does this change a lot for you?

AM: Al Montfort knew Bill through Mikey Young and suggested we send him and Lisa a copy of the record as they've done a bunch of stuff we like. It's great having a label based in the states. It makes it easier to tour and to get our records over here.

JR: When I listen to your new record "Melbourne, Florida," one of the things I notice quickly is that there's not one person singing all the songs. Beyond that, these songs cover a lot of ground. Do you each write songs for Dick Diver? Are there specific themes and ideas you guys cover in a Dick Diver song?

AM: Yep, we all write songs for Dick Diver. I think everyone just writes about whatever is holding their interest at the time. My current interest right now is 90's plush toys. Love is Rupert’s.

JR: In addition to the four of you all, you had some guest appearances by way of a synth, saxophone, and trumpet on "Melbourne, Florida." Had you written these parts in before recording? Did they just come to you as you recorded?

AM: We had a rough idea of where we wanted the horns to go but the parts themselves were mostly improvised by the players Gus and oscar.

JR: I know that the name Dick Diver came from an F. Scott Fitzgerald book. Do you guys get to do much reading while touring? Have you read any good books lately?

AM: I vomit if I read in the car. I'm writing this in the car now and am close to spewing. Zadie Smith's 'NW' is a recent highlight for me. Also Javier Marias's 'Your Face Tomorrow' trilogy.

JR: Have you guys ever seen Wake in Fright with Gary Bond and Donald Pleasance? That movie blew my mind and it actually still freaks me out when I think of it. Do you think it's at all a good representation of life in the outback areas of Australia?

AM: Top movie. Rupe and I went and saw it together when they rereleased it a few years back. I remember we came out of the cinema afterwards both stinging for a beer. It was very confusing. I mean how can you still want to drink after THAT? I don't think it's representative but it might not be too far wide of the mark of a couple of joints I've visited. There's some pretty weird places. But there's a lot of outback so thankfully it's various. Like men!

JR: What all is in the future for Dick Diver?

AM: We’ll keep writing songs and making records. Hopefully we'll come back to the states early next year. Europe beckons too.

JR: Anything else you'd like to say?

AM: Thanks to everyone who's come out to see us play so far this tour. We're here having a ball for another two weeks!

Tour Dates:

USA & CANADA TOUR 2015

Wed 07/01/15 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
Thu 07/02/15 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog
Fri 07/03/15 - Philadelphia, PA - Philadelphia Record Exchange instore
Mon 07/06/15 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs
Tue 07/07/15 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
Wed 07/08/15 - Baltimore, MD - OttBar
Thu 07/09/15 - Chapel Hill, NC - Nightlight
Fri 07/10/15 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
Sat 07/11/15 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
Mon 07/13/15 - Austin, TX - Mohawk (inside)
Tue 07/14/15 - El Paso, TX - Lowbrow Palace
Thu 07/16/15 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Fri 07/17/15 - Los Angeles , CA - Jewels
Sat 07/18/15 - San Francisco, CA - Make Out Room
Mon 07/20/15 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Tue 07/21/15 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project @ Local 46
Thu 07/23/15 - Missoula, MT - Real Lounge

Release of the Day: Shredded Nerve - Retention

Justin Lakes has been in projects like Friends with Corpses (with Joel Walter of Inbreeder) and the newly-formed Surgical Improv Ensemble (with JR Nelson of Saran Man and Chris Hansell of Ligature). He also has a history of solo projects, of which Shredded Nerve is the most contemporary. In addition to the Retention 7" on Torn Light Records, Shredded Nerve has released a handful of cassettes and digital files.

Retention features two pieces of collaged noise and musique concrète. The A-side "Mind Begins to Crumble as Dots are Connected (alternate)" begins with the sound of a yawning mosquito, which repeats and takes on the role of a rhythmic signifier before a nightmare clang, reminiscent of sounds Freddy Krueger's boiler room, jars the listener from an already discomforting atmosphere. Then things get chaotic. Harsh blasts of wall noise barrage with only tidbits of the original ambience cutting through static overdrive.

Side B, the title track, is equally unnerving. Rhythm in this piece takes on a monstrous quality, where screeching pulses eject a steady, chopped gurgling and sputtering from its central place. It calls to mind Donna Haraway's haunting essay "A Cyborg Manifesto," an absolutely essential critique on technology and how it affects daily life in the modern era, in that the piece begins with a sound that might be human. It is then distorted and manipulated into uncanny cacophony, which I can't help but think echoes man breaking from his old form, becoming one with the New Flesh.

Release of the Day: Mardou - Rimbaud/Bounty Hunter 7"

"Spring brought the laughter of the idiot," incants Mardou on the a-side to their phenomenal recent single "Rimbaud/Bounty Hunter" by the excellent Torn Light label. Strangely, with such bleak lyrics, "Rimbaud" manages to ingratiate itself into the hard-to-reach nooks of the cranium. That's a testament to the band's melodic prowess. Where lesser postpunk bands get caught up in standoffish diatribe, Mardou manages to make such sentiments communal. That's partly because the band tackles fairly universal themes, albeit with a loner mentality. This may seem like a contradiction, but it's not: in Mardou's world, we're all alone together.

"Bounty Hunter" might even be more catchy, with background vocal barks, a snaking, sparse guitar part, and its misanthropic mantra "Please leave me/I don't want to make a scene." As with "Rimbaud," a lot of "Bounty Hunter"'s power comes from that Jesus-Christ-I've-Had-The-Same-Thoughts feeling, which is unnerving, but enticing. Actually, that's kind of what makes the whole band work: there's this underlying dread against the constant, raging threat of awful people, but also a deep-seated appreciation for, well, pop songs.

The band itself hails from Cincinnati, OH and boasts Dylan McCartney on guitar and lead vocals, Aaron Watkins on guitar as well, Eric Dietrich on bass, and Legenjerry on drums. They have a full-length coming out in the future as well, which is sure to be equally provocative and enjoyable. For the time being, though, you really fucking need this 7".