The Tremble crew was lucky enough to catch up with Parisian electronic trio Chateau Marmont as they passed through Chicago on a rare U.S. tour.
TrembleTremble: What artist in the world of music do you feel has influenced your sound most?
Chateau Marmont: all electronic pioneers of the seventies, from pink floyd to can, kraftwerk to tangerine dream. and on top of this, californian classic pop and a lot of prog stuffs.
TT: Videos of your songs feature beautiful and almost trippy animations, or your songs are paired with found footage. Are these the kinds of images you imagine when composing or are you surprised by the visuals that accompany your songs?
CM: We’re always surprised by the vision people have of our music. When we compose we think and listen in terms of geometry or sensations, feelings, emotions. When someone manages to mix all the components of the way we think creation it’s really cool. We just officially worked with a director for our “100 hundred realities” song, but in the future we’d love to do more.
TT: What would you say is the most erotic song on the album and why?
CM: It’s possibly Maison Klaus, this kind of slow disco, alan parsons type of bassline, with a moog theme, a little bit cheesy. A lot of vintage french erotic movies have this sound.
CM: They’re made by our friend Sam, he’s on tour with us, always with his camera, discreet, funny, he’s trying to catch moments of daily life that seems interesting to show. At the beginning it was awkward to feel his presence, but with time he’s part of the environment. And we’re working on this with a big french magazine/blog so he sends material every 5 or 6 days. That will make a lot of souvenirs we’ll show to our grand children. “Look granpa, he’s vomiting in the tour-bus !” sorry for that one.
Chateau Marmont is currently working on their first full length album, which should be out in March. However, their collection of EPS “2008 2009 2010″ is out now, and available here. Listen to it when you want to melt your mind with inviting-yet-somewhat-sinister sounds, or when you’re playing Final Fantasy.
The week before last, Atlanta-cum-Augusta, GA band, Turf War, released their first LP, “Years of Living Dangerously” on Old Flame Records.
During my time attending college in Augusta, I was lucky enough to get to know the guys in the band. I went to many of their shows, I crawled into and out of bars with lead singer, John Robinson, and I even got chased around a small rooftop by a golf-club wielding Robinson whom I am relatively certain would have clubbed me had he caught me. So naturally, like most other Augusta rock-and roll show-goers, I anxiously awaited the release of some recorded material from these bawdy rockers.
When I received my copy of “Years of Living Dangerously” in the mail, I waited a few days to give it a listen. This was one of those albums to which I wanted to dedicate my full attention.
There are tons of nuanced intricacies present in the recording that transport me back to late, loud, drunken evenings at the Soul Bar watching great bands play great music at deafening levels to frenzied fans hungry for something to do. Ian St. Pé did a remarkable job capturing these details on the album. I was a bit concerned that actual studio production might lift some of the dirt out of Turf War’s sound, and it did, but only enough to show you that these guys actually know how to perform really well. I was certainly relieved that Pé didn’t inadvertently turn Years of Living Dangerously into a Black Lips record either. The recording seems to be a relatively honest, get-out-of-the-way reproduction of what Turf War sounds like live, and that is dirty, honest, rock and roll.
One of the things that struck me most about the record was Robinson’s seemingly torn stance on his roll as a balls-out, self-destructive rock and roller. At times, he seems to still glorify this side of what I assume to be himself, but there is an underlying sense of a need to put distance between himself and that lifestyle. Whichever path Robinson and Turf War end up taking, their songwriting road seems to be pathed with gold, and each time I hear them, they are better than the time before.
Years of Living Dangerously is an amazing and vitally important rock and roll album. It is one of the best rock records I have heard all year, and you should definitely give this band a listen. They will quickly become a part of the group of bands you love.
Interview:
Tremble Tremble – Coming from a somewhat smaller town that often gets overlooked musically, what kept you inspired to keep writing songs? Did you ever have any ‘what’s the point of continuing’ moments where you felt like no one was listening?
Turf War – yeah. i felt like quitting music before we started turf war. i even went to school to be an electrician. but then i finished and was all like. “fuck that” music is where my heart is. I’m compelled to make music. I really can’t help it
TT – Many of your lyrics seem to address directly or allude to a divorce from a life of all out debauch. Is this autobiographical?
TW – sort of. years of living dangerously is kind of our concept album minus a concept. but its a story. its just not linear and its not about anything other than being a mess and trying not to be such a mess. also there is a song about our friend Joe swindell that passed away.
TT- You have personally introduced me to a lot of wonderful music which I still listen to consistently. Have there been people like that for you along the way?
TW- yes indeed. my brother got me into the majority of the music i listened to when i was younger, so i got to be ahead of people that still thought korn was the cheezbiz. also i had some older dudes i met in athens and atlanta that turned me on to music i didnt know about. im also in love with music so i spent the majority of my teens and early adulthood trying to find new music.
TT – Who were some of your favorite groups back in Augusta?
TW – theyre all good. but from what i can remember i love me some nuklear blast suntan, shaun piazza, eat lightning and the cubists. i know im forgetting some people but this question is weird. ha.
TT – You guys have a very fun live show, but it still seems intimate and inclusive. Do you feel like moving into larger venues will detract from that vibe?
TW – i think in the beginning playing big shows will be weird but we will get a hang of it just like everything else. booze helps. and people having a good time makes me feel special. we still play small venues mainly.
TT – I used to be pretty scared of running into you in the bars. You would typically just punch me and then laugh, but you didn’t really know me. Honestly, it kind of hurt, and it was a little weird. Why did you do that?
TW – what does this have to do with anything. ya joik
TT – If you could curate any 3-band-bill right now with Turf War as the supporting act, what would be the lineup?
TW – blood sausage, pistol pussy, the cult, five guys hamburgers and turf war. is that to many
TT – If you could write a song with Springstein, but it had to be performed by Bieber, would you do it?
TW – if i got to meet both them dudes i wouldnt mind writing a song. i dont think they would wanna perform songs about drinking though. beiber too young. pyt
TT – How did you guys get hooked up with Ian from the Black Lips?
TW – we met him at athfest two years ago and he was on mushrooms. we partied with him. he told us to move to atlanta bc atlanta was like disneyland.”your dreams will come true”. i already lived here though. then we played with black lips and thats kinda how we got hooked up with him. he’s a good dude. helped us out alot. worked alot of free hours to produce our record.
TT – What’s next for Turf War?
TW – bowling. might go shotgun a beer. gay marriage. i dunno. hopefully this beiber thing works out.
My tape player wasn’t plugged in. That’s why it was so strange.
I walked over and cycled the play and stop buttons intermittently, but the whisper wouldn’t stop. I adjusted the volume down, but the whisper wouldn’t fade.
It was beginning to become more audible. My watch rattled against the glass-top table as I pressed my ear to the speaker.
“When the tall grass parts, you will be swallowed.”
I crept to the window, and the entire neighborhood was on fire.
My wife does this amazing thing I always forget to do which is buy other people things when she’s out. It’s this adorable thing she always does, and it often yields some of my favorite little keepsakes. I kind of suck at buying things in general. I once bought her a paperweight for Valentine’s day. The little homey, on the other hand, is remarkable at gift-giving. Recently, I came home to find several records lying on the table.
“The neighbor was having a yard sale, so I grabbed those for you,” she said just as sweet as you please. They all turned out to be really incredible, but one has really risen above the rest as a truly genius record, and I listen to it often.
First, the cover was absolutely incredible.
Second, the band is called “Malo.” That’s bad.
I had never heard of Malo, but this 1972 self-titled record really surprised me. Malo fuse American funk and Latin Jazz with Latin syncopation and vocal harmonies which seem to find roots in a rich array of groups from the Beach Boys to the classic beautiful Latin-American trios of the ’30s and ’40s (Los Panchos, Los Tres Aces, Los Tres Reyes, etc.) There are huge, heavy guitar riffs and screeching organ stabs that seem to harken back to early Grand Funk recordings. The production is very spacious with the percussion typically dominating only making way occasionally for a surprisingly familiar guitar solo. Turns out the main guitarist is Jorge Santana, brother of Latin guitar legend, Carlos Santana.
M83′s newest album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming makes me want to lay down and cry about the beauty of life. This album is a warm velvet blanket given to you in your childhood by your favorite aunt, not the drunk one. It somehow understands the pains and joys of growing up and relates to your individual experiences as you snuggle into it’s warm, loving, warming glow.
Here. Have a taste. Enjoy this slightly creepy strangely inspiring video of Midnight City:
This epic double album was released TODAY so hurry up and buy it (harharhar). If you need to wait until payday you can always download the Midnight City single for free to tide you over until you can afford the whole shebang. The whole, glorious shebang.
Well, it took Tennis covering The Zombies to shake me out of my music-writing hiatus. (Thanks to the fine folks over at Gorilla Vs. Bear for posting this gem.)
The cats at Fat Possum continue to sign pretty amazing bands who churn out amazing music at a rather dizzying rate. (Seriously, if Fat Possum were a baseball team, they’d be batting somewhere around .900) They are on a path to corner the market on good new music. This new effort from Tennis does not deviate an inch from that trajectory.
It’s a pretty bold undertaking for any band to cover such a recognizable and wonderful pop masterpiece, but I think Tennis does it rather well. Covering such a classic seems to be something many bands are afraid to do. It’s kind of like asking a pretty girl to prom. It seems really scary, so most people are afraid to try it, even though if it worked, you would end up at the prom with a super hot chick and not at home watching Beavis and Butthead re-runs and pretending I don’t want to be there anyway… What?
Perhaps the strength of this cover is that it does not steer too much off the path cleared so many years ago by the Zombies. Even the recording seems very true to form. Tennis’ recording, much like that of the Zombies, is subtle and nuanced really allowing the listener to focus on the band’s mature, scaled back performance. This subtlety in the recording as well as Tennis’ performance allows the song to come alive for the listener rather than distracting her or him with some overblown reinvention of the song.
The Tremble crew was recently granted the honor of interviewing the masterminds behind the incredibly moving documentary film, The Interrupters.
Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz have made great work before, remember? With The Interrupters, the duo manage to capture not only the desperation, but also the vibrancy and richness of an underprivileged community plagued by a pattern of violence that has recently rocked Chicago’s south side.
With assistance and training from the Ceasefire organization, violence interrupters (many of whom we were able to meet at the viewing), along with Steve and Alex explore the process of “interrupting” violent patterns within some of the most volatile communities in the United States. Read the full synopsis here, and GO SEE THE FILM!
Thanks to the lovely folks over at Kartemquin for allowing us the privilege of conducting this interview.
