Kellen & Me: “Joann’s Great Big Noose” (exclusive download!)

Kellen & Me: “Serenity Song” (exclusive download!)

if you’ve frequented Chicago’s local songwriter venues, you might have been fortunate enough to catch one of the scenes newest best kept secrets… experimental folk songsmith Kellen & Me. amidst preparation of his first full length album, b3science caught up with the multi-tasking instrumentalist between sets, night jobs and excessive pondering for a brief Q&A.

b3sci: so you’re a one man band?
kellen: yeah, i use a loop pedal for spontaneous rhythms and abstract elements, but i do so that the focus isn’t on the pedal- it’s more on the song and the melodies.

b3sci: do you prefer flying solo, or do you one day wish to rock a band?
kellen: at first i thought having a band was the ultimate goal, but what i was looking for wasn’t coming, so i said fuck it, it’s not gonna stop me. in the future a band could be great, but only the right band will do.

b3sci: have to ask. what’s you favorite dental instrument?
kellen: umm, gotta go with the mirror.

b3sci: the big one or little one?
kellen: the little one they go in your mouth with. i wish i had one of those… i think spys use them to look around corners.

b3sci: while were on the subject, who’s your favorite globalist front group?
kellen: you mean like the free masons? yeah them. really anybody that uses symbolic imagery. you know the whole marketing of symbolic things using subconcious imagery. i actually grew up in a town with a whole bunch of masons. their were a bunch of temples with no windows and stuff. they were always kind of interesting to me.

… they never let me in, but i did meet a mason when i was pruning apple trees in wisconsin. he’d told me they’d been watching me ever since i was a young child. he was a very serious man. i didn’t believe him, but it peaked my curiosity.

b3sci: haha do you think their watching you right now?
kellen: it’s flattering, i wouldn’t mind if they were. i could definitely use their support.

b3sci: how did you make that incredible video for “Batteries and Frequencies”
Kellen: i stumbled on this technique when i was in high school and just kind of started messing with it.. you plug a video camera directly into the audio video output of a television, and then shine the camera into the television. you’ll get all sorts of images from the light feeding back depending on how you hold the camera. you’ll get all of these free association kind of images.

b3sci: what are you looking to accomplish with your music
kellen: i’m playing music to make some sort of interpretation of my own inner world and to bring it out into reality, and hopefully people will want to listen to it.

b3sci: when can we expect a record?
kellen: yeah i’ve been working on new songs. i have a batch of stuff and hope to have a full albums worth of new material out soon.

b3sci: looking forward to it. thanks for chatting
kellen: thanks for having me, bye.

get music from kellen & me here. and check out his video for “Batteries and Frequencies” below..

Yourself And The Air - So You’ve Come to Mingle (exclusive download!)

Yourself and The Air - Sick Days (Daytrotter Session) (download here or at Daytrotter.com!)

Yourself and The Air - Stardust Motel (exclusive download!)

Youself and The Air - Lost and Found (exclusive download!)

hot off the heels off their Daytrotter Session, and amidst the preparation of their upcoming tour with Thing One, and Pomegranates, blahblahblahscience caught up with frontman Erick Crosby of Yourself And The Air to talk music, inspiration, el trains and pastry..

b3sci: Erick - as a young band finding their way through the masses, what obstacles have YATA overcome and what have come to be your general feelings about the music industry?
Erick: well. when we first started out, everybody in the whole world was like ‘yeah right, the music industry is one of the most difficult to be successful in, so make sure you have a back up plan’ and i was like what the fuck is this, back up plan? that’s just like telling yourself that you’re gonna loose. we came in with that mentality, swinging pretty hard… and after a lot of really hard work, here we are today with a great team of people… i also really like the uphill battle of the music industry, it makes every time that you actually accomplish something that much better.

b3sci: what’s at the top of the hill?
Erick: building a long steady career and having the ability to travel and play… then living would be pretty solid.

b3sci: let’s talk glockenspiel. how did it become part of your sound?
Erick: we found it on craigslist. i’ve always been a very huge fan of the glock. we had made this plan that every month we would buy a new instrument and bring it into the band. that was the first, and believe or not, i think it was the last? the glock is its own mystery.

b3sci: you seem enchanted with the glock?
Erick: yeah it sits in my room, i write on it.. even eat on it too. it’s become an interesting part of my life.

b3sci: nice. so what influences you in your life? it doesn’t necessarily have to be music, really anything that influences you to do what you love?
Erick: nature. living. hearing stories about people doing extra ordinary things. not being on your death and wishing that you could’ve done this or that. just everything man, there are always down times, but then you can just see something, anything, and that can change your life.

b3sci: right, think about how many people live their lives wishing they could’ve done this or that? think of all the “greats” and how they lived their lives..
Erick: yeah and even when they (the “greats”) are doing it, they are just human beings. they are no different then you or me. ANYBODY can do something, they just made up their mind and decided to do it… it’s about doing stuff. doing what you want to do and going through it.

b3sci: what other than music must you do during your life?
Erick: i want to ride my bike, from here to all over the continent. and i’d like hitchhike across the country too. haha i’m gonna videotape it and then sell it to the travel channel. i have it all made up too.. it’s called “the fat of the land”.

b3sci: haha hell yes! you will inspire sooo many hitchhikers.
Erick: haha. man, they’ve inspired me!

b3sci: dig it. so Chicago’s in the house. which el train wins in a race? blue, orange, brown??
Erick: i think, would the brown? i dunno, i think. honestly i never take the el. i’m like bicycle man.

b3sci: when people hear Yourself and The Air for the first time, what do you guys want them to walk away thinking?
Erick: hmm, i’d want them to walk away thinking ‘wow, i didn’t expect that’. i don’t want them to walk away thinking ‘oh these guys sound like them‘ which is hard because that’s why we know music, because of what’s been done before. but to be surprised and have someone appreciate it, even if they don’t like the music, if they can appreciate it still, that’s always the best.

b3sci: what makes a great song?
Erick: movement man. it’s gotta give you the chills. you know, those songs. songs that can make you forget where you are. they take you on their ride, be in their world for that moment in time.

b3sci: what songs do you come back to that have that effect?
Erick: “Thru the Eyes of Ruby” Smashing Pumpkins. being from Chicago I have so much love for them, what they used to be and what they’ve done. “Space Oddity” is my all time favorite song of forever. and all The Beatles, it’s all like that you know?.

b3sci: what’s your fav numetal group
Erick: what is that?

b3sci: haha you know, like your linkin parks, limp bizkets, blahblah late mid-nineties radio. that’s all i got, I was hoping you’d know…
Erick: umm shit man, i have no.. i don’t know.. i don’t rock that way dude. ask my bassist and you’ll get a legitimate answer.

b3sci: what’s your favorite italian pastry
Erick: hmm, i only know the one, it’s the one that i eat. its got a cream in it..

b3sci: is it a cannoli??
Erick: yeah that the one. that’s pretty good. i dig that. i feel bad, i don’t know any italian pastries..

b3sci:it’s cool man, you, me, Major Tom - we’ll grab a beer sometime and talk italian pastries. i’ve got the book on it.
Erick: oohhhoooo, it’s on! i need the education.

b3sci: so Daytrotter = new music?
Erick: yeah it was a great experience, i’m a big fan of the site. we decided to track a few of the new songs that we’ll be recording for our new album in November.

b3sci: they sound great man! we’ll be looking forward to the record. bowie and pumpkins going out to YATA. keep it real.
Erick: peace!

myspace buy

The Smashing Pumpkins - “Thru the Eyes of Ruby”

David Bowie - “Space Oddity”

Hot Chip - Transmission

seriously, someone needs to euthanize this band.

The Giving Tree Band - Which One (exclusive download!)
The Giving Tree Band - Eventually (exclusive download!)

The Giving Tree Band are a Chicago based bluegrass group well deserving of their growing attention amongst bluegrass and indie folk enthusiasts. Not only do they write great songs, they have a particular eco-friendly dedication. For example, The Giving Tree Band recorded their new album Great Possessions in a solar powered studio, using recycled instruments, wearing clothing made out of recycled materials, with only bikes for transportation, and are releasing the album on CD’s made out of recycled materials… Blahblahblahscience got the chance to catch up with Giving Tree’ banjo player Todd Fink to chat music, lifestyle and of course science fiction:

b3sci: Todd - what’s your favorite sci-fi flick?
Todd: The original Star Wars Trilogy. I love the Force, Light Sabers and lifestyle of the Jedi. In fact I seek to become one after my time in the band… you know, bands are basically the closest thing we have to the Jedi nowadays..

b3sci: If the way of the Jedi is the ideal lifestyle, then how would you describe the way of The Giving Tree Band?
Todd: Our band offers people a way to live. All the greats… The Dead, Sex Pistols, Ramones… the genre of music doesn’t matter, they all offered a lifestyle. The Giving Tree Band seeks to inspire and educate the public and artists about a healthy lifestyle, but with a business sensibility. Every single person is unique and has their own unique qualities… which can be connected on a variety of different levels.

b3sci: epic!
Todd: Really, we just seek to remind people what they know about themselves and what they aspire to be.

b3sci: so why then is music your inspiration?
Todd: I feel like playing music was inherited. My father played the piano and my mother is a HUGE concert fan. In fact I was named after Todd Rundgren, it seemed to just become natural that I play.

b3sci: So who musically inspires you?
Todd: I have been inspired by British jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, in particularly by his attitude and lifestyle. He stood up and said no to alcohol and drugs and is the only one from that Miles Davis Bitches Brew era still performing. Music was his drug. I am also inspired by Stravinsky, especially the way he was able to break his day up into specific times and dedicate them to music. Inspiration today? Artists like Fleet Foxes come to mind, with less of an influence but more of an appreciation for what they do musically… the rock and roll with folk elements.

b3sci: Todd, The Giving Tree Band are kickin. Thanks man!
Todd: Peace!

Great Possessions is due out August 18, 2009. Get Giving Tree Band music here. Learn more and listen more here.

Hot Chip - Sexual Healing