Yourself and The Air are heading out on tour again in September and will be making their way to MusicFest Northwest in Portland, MidPoint Music Fest in Cincinnati and more… including LAs beloved Knitting factory 9/10. Which we will in fact be at, but only after we snap our picture out front with big bird and rock that step circuit class upstairs at la fitness. concert venues + shopping complexes = why the fuck not
b3science had the chance to chat with this up and coming group from Chi-town not too long ago, hot off the heels of their daytrotter session. they do it proper. check it
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..
a true independent artist that radiates personality. the alter-ego of adam weiner delivers “tell me again” with the soul and conviction of his rockabilly, soul and folk predecessors. all while embracing his unique cabaret motif
YYYEs. The Red Rhythm is the debut full-length from atlanta’s Winston Audio. and slaves to rhythm they are on “hey ann”. mr writer why don’t you tell us like it really is???
off their latest …And the Ever Expanding Universe, “catharsis boo” amiably mixes counter-melodies, harmonies and syncopated layers of traditionalesque instrumentation in less-traditional ways. and while sooo many others don’t, these canucks actually justify all 7 pieces of their band.. they’d make a mean hockey team my friends
an ode to snaggle tooth’s everywhere. you know who you are. my college roommate had a bad case of the snaggle tooth girlfriend. said it hurt like hell. from their June self-titled release, those darlins sound is unapologetic
yes. and yes. “sugar sugar” is the title track off french trio Diving With Andy’s new and second full length. they’ve just became my favorite new french thing, which is good cos La Petite Boulangerie was starting to piss me off anyway. does mustard really need to go on everything? btw any translators in the house? EVERYTHING i find on this band is in french, and i’ve no idea what they’re on about..
this obviously is what it is. so we wont yak about the obvious, rather we’ll yak about what it is… minus the obvious. right, so isn’t king of the hill hilarious? thx to rave for the heads up.. muse’s new track is no doubt good and f’ing rocks, but is it really theirs? something tells me The Resistance due September 14 will be a whole lot more like Black Holes and Revelations, and a lot less like Origin of Symmetry.. just a hunch
the deeper we dig into Fanfarlo’s debut album Reservoir, the better it gets. this UK based band simply make indie pop that does what it wants, and as contradicting of a statement as that should be, we all know what it means. they’ll be at the Troubadour in LA on September 15 and so will we.
sounds exactly like something pj would rock nowadays. a catchy tune with a forced and fairly uncomplementary bridge. but there’s hints of improvement from their ‘06 self titled release..
so is anybody surprised that their new record Backspacer will be released exclusively through target? no?? are we suprised that there will be promotional commercials directed by none other than Cameron Crowe? nope, but we’ll definitely watch. now, are we suprised that the first we heard this song was 30 seconds during a commercial during the All Star game? nada. BUT are we surprised that this anti-establishment band hates BP Amoco. yes. my guess is that they didn’t give PJ free gas for their world tour. bastards. still, regardless of how you feel about them, eddie vedder is clearly one of the best frontmen and rock vocalists of all time. watch his performance of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” on VH1 rock honors, and tell me he’s not a natural. btw anybody know if page/plant got royalties for “given to fly”?
the b-side from “hang you from the heavens” and the only tune we’ve heard from these guys where everyone else in the band isn’t trying to sound like multi-instrumental alter-ego’s of jack white. perhaps a direction for the next album? and without a doubt have to agree on the media shit.
so the story goes… iceland’s Toggi bought his first guitar when he was 17. he had always dreamed of making music, and one day he decided it was time to make things happen. his natural songwriting talent shines on “i built this house” which will be released on his new record due early 2010. don’t you love happy endings?
Citizen Cope is the pseudonym of Clarence Greenwood. off his self-titled debut LP in 2002, “Let the Drummer Kick” is a good example of how solid music will remain relevant. synched on So You Think You Can Dance, an Acura commercial and many others 6+ years after it was released, Greenwood is clearly an early proponent of the licensing that so many today seek. is that a bad thing? as Iggy Pop puts it, “If people want to use my songs to sell sausages, that’s fine because they weren’t made for sausages.” will this song be used for sausages? only time will tell.. but the good news is “you don’t even have to wait”
“Sixteen” is the first single off The Heavy’s new album The House That Dirt Built due this october. these uk cats play a pretty mean soul on “sixteen”.. makin’ the Grandfather proud - ughh hit me!
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