Category Archives: interviews

Interview: The Antlers

Photo credit: Eleanore Park

Since the conception of The Antlers’ second full-length album, Hospice, Peter Silberman has lived in a bubble. Nearly a year after self-releasing and touring on Hospice, the rich, layered world of that album has in some ways come to define him. Silberman is an artist who is crucially honest about his own psychology and emotions. He attempts to learn and to differentiate the elements of fiction and reality from his own work, as vividly demonstrated by his lyrics. Continue reading…

Poetic Memory: Balmorhea (List)

Back in January, we described the sound of Balmorhea (pronounced Bal-mor-ay) as “patient and sprawling, meditative and mysterious…it speaks to the world we live in (and beyond).”

Since then, we’ve heard their entire critically acclaimed new album, Constellations, so we’re extra pleased to announce that they’ll be stopping in San Diego on May 6.

And we’re extra extra pleased to have received a list of Balmorhea’s Top 5 Country/Western Records. I’d like to personally congratulate them for putting Townes Van Zandt in the number 1 spot. Balmorhea’s Poetic Memory is below.

Interview: Seabear

If you haven’t had a chance to hear Seabear, drop everything and go purchase their new LP. Aptly titled We Built A Fire, it’s the perfect album to keep you warm on a chilly night. With its lush arrangements and soothing vocals, you can’t help but be whisked away to “Seabearia” on a wave of trumpets, strings, and pianos.

Sindri Már Sigfússon is the creative force behind the Icelandic band’s beautiful melodies and heartfelt lyrics. He took some time out from mixing the new album for his solo project, Sin Fang Bous, to answer some questions for us. Continue reading…

Poetic Memory: Oh Mercy (List)

Is Australia the new Canada? When its comes to up-and-coming young indie bands who pride themselves on intelligent lyrics and a multi-layered sound, it sure seems that way. First, I was stopped in my tracks by The Middle East, and now the next Aussie wave is Melbourne’s Oh Mercy.

They’ve gained a lot of attention lately with their album, Privileged Woes. It’s a quirky pop album with expressive vocals that draws inspiration from bands like The Velvet Underground and Dionne Warwick. That’s a large spectrum to cover, but singer Alex Gow explains it all below. Oh Mercy’s Poetic Memory is below. Continue reading…

Interview: Ron English

You may have seen Ron English‘s artwork before. Remember Super Size Me, the documentary by Morgan Spurlock, in which Spurlock bravely eats nothing but McDonald’s for a month straight? The 32-year-old gained 24.5 pounds, a 13% body mass increase. His cholesterol level also rose to 230 and it took him 14 months to lose the weight and get his body back to normal. Fun stuff.

Spurlock needed a representation of what Ronald McDonald would look like if he actually ate his own food. Enter Ron English, a notorious artist known for what has been coined as Agit-Pop, but which English prefers to call POPaganda. His painting of a super-sized McDonald made its way into the film and became one of the Oscar-nominated documentary’s most resonating images. Continue reading