Subbacultcha magazine – Issue 01 by Subbacultcha

Hopelessly Devoted to Music and Art â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Subbacultcha quarterly magazine Fall 2015

Editors’ note

Dear reader, It’s been six months since our last magazine. Frankly, we’ve missed it. Everything about it: encountering new artists, hearing their stories and sharing them with you. We’ve missed the unassuming exchange of texts, photographs, and art, as well as the occasional morsel of wisdom. We realised how profoundly indebted we are to this exchange and how it guides all of our other endeavours here in Amsterdam. And so, we felt compelled to make another magazine, one in which we begin by saluting the musicians and artists who inspire us. For this first issue, we sought out those who make us strive to be progressive, like Jenny Hval and M.E.S.H.; those old friends who continue to walk the less beaten path, like Cate Le Bon, Tim Presley and Larry Gus; those who are undeterred and unapologetic, like Elias Bender Rønnenfelt and The Homesick; and the few who never cease to amaze us, like Jip Piet and Micachu & The Shapes. We hope their words spark something new in you too. This is Issue 01, stay tuned for more. 03 3

Rotterdam

Het Nieuwe Instituut

curator Guus Beumer

exhibition design EventArchitectuur

graphic design Maureen Mooren

photography Daniela Dostรกlkovรก

programme Things and Materials

project Temporary Fashion Museum

What would a museum about fashion in the Netherlands look like? Het Nieuwe Instituut is investigating the possibilities by temporarily transforming itself into a fashion museum. For a forward-looking institution fashion offers a unique perspective on innovation. For eight months Het Nieuwe Instituut is programming exhibitions, installations, performances and events around one of the most influential design disciplines.

Subbacultcha See all these shows for â&#x201A;Ź8 a month.

DRINKS Lonnie Holley Juan Wauters M.E.S.H. Lust For Youth Cities Aviv Laraaji Larry Gus U.S. Girls Braids Protomartyr Join Subbacultcha and get first-hand access to everything we do. Sign up online at subbacultcha.nl

Contents

For your consideration

Portrait: Larry Gus

Interview by Brenda Bosma Photos by Konstantinos Duompenidis

Elias Bender Rønnenfelt Interview by Brenda Bosma Photos by David Brandon Geeting

Featured artist: Jip Piet Text by Floor Kortman

Portrait: Jenny Hval

Interview by Zofia Ciechowska Photos by Tommy Larson

Lonnie Holley’s Third Eye

Text by Marc van der Holst 71

M.E.S.H. Interview by Deva Rao Photos by Ina Niehoff

Text by Andreea Breazu

In conversation with Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley

N.A.A.F.I. State of Mind

Interview by Zofia Ciechowska Photos by Suzanna Zak 36

Field trip: Home of The Homesick Text by Roxy Merrell Photos by Isolde Woudstra 42

Michachu & The Shapes Interview by Sander van Dalsum Photos by Lottie Bea Spencer 52

Going Back to ZERO

Text by Stefan Wharton 75

Classifieds 77

Colophon

Subbacultcha quarterly magazine Issue 01, Fall 2015 On the front and back cover: Elias Bender Rønnenfelt photographed by David Brandon Geeting in New York, USA Editors in chief: Leon Caren and Bas Morsch Editors: Andreea Breazu and Phil Krogt Copy editor: Megan Roberts Art direction and graphic design: Marina Henao Advertising: Agata Bar (agata@subbacultcha.nl) Partnerships: Loes Verputten (loes@subbacultcha.nl) Contributing writers: Brenda Bosma Andreea Breazu Soraya Brouwer Leon Caren Zofia Ciechowska Maija Jussila Floor Kortman Phil Krogt Ayesha Linton-Whittle Roxy Merrell Deva Rao Koen van Bommel Sander van Dalsum Marc van der Holst Stefan Wharton Contributing photographers: Konstantinos Duompenidis David Brandon Geeting Tommy Larson Ina Niehoff Lottie Bea Spencer Isolde Woudstra Suzanna Zak Contributing artist: Jip Piet

Printer: Drukkerij GEWADRUPO, Arendonk, Belgium Distribution: Patrick van der Klugt This magazine was made possible with the kind support of GEWADRUPO. Thank you: Francesca Barban, Jan Pier Brands, Loïs Chloe, Alex Christodoulou, Bashar Dawoody, Cherelle de Graaf, Daniel Encisco, Saar Gerssen, Karolina Howorko, Maarten Huizing, Lisa Hupe, Laura Huppertz, Maija Jussila, Ilias Karakasidis, Niels Koster, Crys Leung, Jacopo Manelli, Anna Marzec, Bas Minnema, Léonard Roussel, Zsuzsa Nagy-Sàndor, Marlotte Nugteren, Davina Shell, Randy Schoemaker, Carra Thompson, Orla Tiffney, Aglaya Tomasi, Marilon Tresfon, Jan van der Kleijn, Ilse van der Spoel, Merinde Verbeek, Bart Vogelaar, Andrew Warfield, Marijn Westerlaken and Sandra Zegarra Patow Subbacultcha office Da Costakade 150 1053XC Amsterdam Netherlands Contact: editorial@subbacultcha.nl © photographers, artists, authors, Subbacultcha quarterly magazine, Amsterdam, September 2015 Subbacultcha We are an independent, Amsterdam-based music and art platform devoted to emerging artists. We organise progressive shows, make print publications and curate art exhibitions. We are supported by our members, who for €8 a month, have first-hand access to everything we do. Sign up online and we’ll love you forever subbacultcha.nl

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CENTRAAL MUSEUM

MATTHIJS MUNNIK

UTRECHT PIEKE BERGMANS

LEKKER LICHT

IVAR NAVARRO

NAVID NUUR

KUNST, DESIGN & MODE

JAN ANDRIESSE

AMY WINEHOUSE

BASTIAN VISCH

GERRIT RIETVELD

ROLAND SCHIMMEL

WIEKI SOMERS RADIOHEAD

GABRIEL LESTER JAN TAMINIAU

17 OKT 2015 T/M 24 JAN 2016 CENTRAALMUSEUM.NL

VIKTOR & ROLF

Subbacultcha quarterly magazine

For your consideration Recent finds from our editorial team Artist: Elysia Crampton

With a challenging near-manifesto spanning geology and complex racial dynamics underpinning her latest works, let’s just say Elysia Crampton isn’t short of artistic ambition. But to place focus entirely on the surrounding concept doesn’t do her justice: newly released debut full-length American Drift stands on its own, a mind-blowing, near transcendent masterpiece blending Latin cumbia, Bolivian saya, tribalistic crunk and a healthy dose of DatPiff-worthy mixtape narration. After years of crafting sample-dependent (though no less incredible) sonic mosaics under the E+E moniker, she’s finally come into her own, and we’re reaping the benefits. soundcloud.com/eande Artist: Peptalk Having grown up in Tokyo, Los Angeles and San Juan, Shayna, Mike and Angelica of Peptalk merge their disparate worlds by creating small musical islands of dreamy, exotica-inspired melodies with bird calls, synthesizers and orchestral instruments. The Brooklyn band brings an old fruit crate to their live sets, which when opened reveals a tiny jungle filled with fauna, flora and lights that is magnified and projected onto the walls, enveloping the crowd in an otherworldly glow. Their debut album Islet is out on Home Assembly Records. soundcloud.com/peptalk_music Magazine: Zweikommaseiben When we first stumbled across Issue #10 of Swiss magazine Zweikommaseiben, we were dumbfounded. Featuring in-depth interviews with the likes of M.E.S.H., Lena Willikens, Vessel, Powell and Torn

Hawk, it was as though we’d found our soulmate. Someone somewhere else in the world knew exactly what we were thinking and what we’d want to read. For the Summer 2015 issue, they’ve turned their attention to another bevy of recent favourites: Beatrice Dillon, TCF, Danse Noir and Oneohtrix Point Never. Needless to say, we can’t wait to get our hands on it. zweikommasieben.ch Label: Melody As Truth When visionary Jonny Nash isn’t recording with Young Marco and Gigi Masin as Gaussian Curve, or writing ambient lovemaking tracks for Land of Light, the musically gifted Londoner curates his own label, Melody As Truth. Releasing his solo work as well as that of his contemporaries, the label breathes new life into the healing music that the legendary Windham Hill Records put out in the ‘80s. The latest offering sees Los Angeles-based Suzanne Kraft stepping outside of his comfy disco bubble, exploring New-age acoustics and digital enlightenment. melodyastruth.bandcamp.com Artist: Nidia Minaj

Bordeaux artist Nidia Minaj once proclaimed her biggest wish is to be the best DJ in the world, and ‘to be recognised by people on the street – even David Guetta!’ Minaj is well on her way to usurping the Frenchman’s throne. Her mixes work hard, jumping from kuduro and tarraxinha to ghetto funk and hip hop. As well as being a DJ on the rise, Minaj is also a skilled kuduro producer and runs the Principe label, which focuses on producers from Lisbon, its suburbs, projects and slums. Among the

g n i r a h Keith ical line XXX

the Polit

ÂŠKeith Haring Foundation

20 september 2015 t/m 7 februari 2016

For your consideration

label’s most interesting releases are DJ Nigga Fox’s Noite E Dia and Nidia Minaj’s very own Danger EP. soundcloud.com/nidia-minaj Genre: Gqom

disappeared as quickly as he appeared, but recently emerged out of nowhere as Lanark Artefax. This time, his efforts come in the form of a new EP entitled Windox Rush released on UK label Cong Burn Waves. The music sounds darker and draws more from ambient than ever before, but his trademarks remain unchanged: the tracks are loopy, they’re disorderly, and best enjoyed as loud as possible. soundcloud.com/lanark-artefax Social: Alex Calder

Bare and organic but powerfully intense, gqom is a new movement emerging from the South African city Durban, which resembles a progressive, deconstructed version of local house derivatives. Leading the charge are acts like DJ Lag and threeman crew Rudeboyz, who have found an international audience by dumping their enormous back catalogue on sharing platform Kasimp3.co.za. UK label Goon Club Allstars have taken note, putting together a selection of Rudeboyz’ finest tracks for the physical release of a self-titled EP. soundcloud.com/goon-club-allstars/sets/ gca004-rudeboyz-ep Label: Codes Technically, Codes isn’t a new label. By getting rid of the first half of its former name, the rebirth of the now defunct grime imprint Lost Codes has found a new home on the experimentalist PAN. The first release of the sister label puts UK-based artists Acre and Filter Dread up against each other on a mind-shattering 12”. The outer reaches of grime get meshed with shadowy techno and fragments of jungle – all served with the sonic smudge of a dystopian future. soundcloud.com/codesact Artist: Lanark Artefax All Caps’ Calum MacRae first caught our attention through Jaded Laur’s layered house cuts back in 2010, one of which appeared on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Electric compilations. The Glaswegian

Montreal artist Alex Calder is a particularly accomplished individual in the field of internet lyfe. You’d have to be blind not to recognise the blatant virtuosity displayed on his many Instagram accounts. Our favourite is the conceptually simple but visually effective alexcaldereats. This is where the artist documents the exotic nourishments he consumes, such as frozen pizzas from Italy, fries from France and beef between breads from the Americas. Calder’s classic character is best portrayed on alexcalderama, where not only the striking photographs, but also the textual accompaniments are compelling. We still mourn the tragic deaths of alexcalderbathes and alexcalderbathesagain, but if you’re reading this, Alex, all we really want to say is: Keep it up. For us, your fans. We’re counting at least seven right here in this office. instagram.com/alexcalderama instagram.com/alexcaldereats Blog: Nevver The absence of explanation can be a wonderful trait in a music blog, if content is well executed. Forever loyal to a plainspoken delivery, Nevver has been posting a film-still coupled with a track ever since August 2006. Sometimes paired as a story, other times a random fit, the visual & aural treats drift in daily. The subtitle, don’t got nowhere to go, is more than a cheap slogan, it’s an invitation: those with nowhere to go should travel within the archive uncovering commendable songs and screenshots. nevver.com

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For your consideration

Artist: Roshell Anderson Aside from being a trusted news anchor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Roshell ‘Mike’ Anderson is a pretty badass singer. Or at least, he used to be. On his YouTube channel (roshellmike12) you can find some gems he recorded in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Check out, “Wild Dreams”, a coked up vision of a life of luxury that sounds like a perfect summation of the Reagan era. Or the sensual, “Bodies Talking”, an ‘80s computer funk gem with a bass line that drips like candle wax. Roshell’s favourite colour is blue and his favourite food is collard greens with neckbones and okra.

to albums before they get released, but a book?! We downloaded the file on an iPad and read with sweaty palms, mainly for fear of leaking it unintentionally. What if someone steals the iPad? Or what if we accidently store it in a shared folder? Then again, what random thief or hacker would get excited over a 900-page PDF text file? You’d have to really be in the know to see the potential value of this baby. But not for long. It’s being released in October, and we’re guessing it’ll cause quite a stir. Seriously. This book is incredible. Read it. penguinrandomhouse.com Artist: Organ Tapes

youtube.com/watch?v=WQRTA3yPe1w Film: A City Is An Island It’s no secret, we’re in a hot and heavy love affair with Montreal and its vibrant music scene. Revisit the archive of our shows and you’ll notice a disproportionately large number of acts from the city: Suuns, Braids, Sean Nicholas Savage, Mac DeMarco, No Joy, TOPS, Tonstartssbandht; they’ve all come through and left their mark. Directed by Timothy George Kelly, new documentary A City Is An Island is an ode to the independent Montreal scene and all of the artists we’ve come to love. Seriously, what more could you want?

Never content to stick with a single sound, Londonvia-Shanghai producer Organ Tapes (aka Tim Zha) is on the rise, traversing incredibly diverse territory betraying both a keen melodic sensibility and a nose for abstract, occasionally abrasive experimentation – occasionally all within the same song. With a back catalogue skirting effortlessly between bittersweet laptop R&B, club-ready found sound pastiche and vaporous, bass-y futurepop, his forthcoming WORD LIFE mixtape promises to elude the constraints of genre compartmentalisation while breaking hearts and moving butts in equal measure. soundcloud.com/organtapes

acityisanisland.com Artist: Rice Milk Book: City on Fire

For reasons too complicated to explain in under 100 words, we had the honour of reading a copy of the manuscript of Garth Risk Hallberg’s New York punk scene epic City on Fire a couple of months back. We’ve often been in the position of listening

Despite their lack of choruses, atonal interludes and never having released a full-length album, Newcastle’s Rice Milk are the pinnacle of pop. Andrew Lowther’s intensely tight drum beats and Craig Pollard’s distinctive shrill vocals are condensed into two-chord, two-minute hits and are resounding on tape. Also worthy of mention is Pollard’s tape and zine label Good Food, where he exclusively releases his friends’ music and art, rekindling pop culture’s passion for cassettes and self-published communities. goodfoodtapesandzines.bandcamp.com/album/ weird-year

Interview

The Iceage frontman and conductor of Marching Church on beauty and the violence thereof

Elias Bender Rønnenfelt Skype interview by Brenda Bosma Photos shot by David Brandon Geeting in New York, USA

Not even four years ago, the release of New Brigade galvanized the international punk scene and shot Iceage, then four brash and angsty teenagers from Copenhagen, into the limelight. It also brought them under considerable, if unwarranted scrutiny, at the risk of overexposure. At the center of the controversy, the typical PC internet hysteria went off about the band’s dubious use of imagery while another side of the internet ranted about the lead singer’s unabashedly homoerotic side project, Vår. Their thrilling live shows were rife with conflict, never without a few chipped teeth or punches to the face. But all that fell to the wayside with the 2013 release of the even more acclaimed followup, You’re Nothing. And though Iceage really seemed to have come into their own, in late 2014 they made a singular sonic shift in the form of Plowing Through The Field of Love. 16

Changing course towards a vein of melancholic post-punk has allowed them to find beauty in the rough and has given Elias Bender Rønnenfelt the impetus to take centre stage. Perhaps it is Rønnenfelt who had to come into his own. For not even six months later, he brought forth his other band, Marching Church, and the obscene exercise This World Is Not Enough, equal parts narcissism and self-hatred, punctuated by wailing trumpets. There’s no mistake about it though, Rønnenfelt is at the center of the very adventurous Danish underground scene. As the moment builds yet again and everyone wants a piece of his attention, rumours are picking up, brandishing him difficult or disobliging, to say the least. What we found was not a megalomaniac, but someone in love with the idea of megalomania. We talked beauty and the violence thereof.

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Elias Bender RĂ¸nnenfelt

Interview If we could talk beauty for a minute, is there anything you see around you now that strikes you as beautiful? Beauty? It comes in many shapes. I don’t know. I think most things have the potential to be beautiful, but it depends on whatever state of mind you’re in, whatever hormones are racing through your body, I don’t know how the brain works. You can look at the same thing on two different days. One day it would be clear and beautiful, and the next it’s plain ugly. I don’t know how these kinds of things work.

trapped in the calendar. Touring is not normal life, it’s a routine that goes with driving, soundchecking, drinking, playing, drinking and sleeping, and repeat that about 30 times. It’s not a life, but living can go on anywhere. I’ve been in NY for the past couple of weeks, it’s just life continues somewhere else. But Copenhagen is where I’m based and where I want to be, because all the playmates and collaborators that I’ve spent years getting to know are there. You can’t just find that anywhere, I’m dependant on those people. They helped me achieve the things I want to do.

The mood sometimes hits you and passes you by, that kind of thing? Yeah, but doesn’t everybody get mood swings? I guess so. How come you’re in NY? Did you move there? No, I live in Copenhagen. I’m killing some time in between tours at a friend’s apartment, with lovely company.

‘I don’t think too much about truth. A table is truth, a chair. I’m sitting on one’

Is there anyone in particular that you’re grateful to?

Maybe that’s where the beauty is, in the company.

I think I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can make records and go play. Grateful… I don’t look at success that way, I don’t think Yeah. [Laughs] When I look around this room the amount of people that take interest in there are quite a few things going on. There’s a bunch of white rose petals scattered every- you is an indicator. I mean, it’s tempting to where, because we had a little incident. I have start being thankful for where you are, but instead you should be focusing that energy my friend here who I don’t get to see very on the craft. often, but it’s always a pleasure. That sounds both sweet and dramatic.

Did you always want to be a songwriter?

I can show you on the video. [Turns on webcam] No, not really, I never really thought too much about what direction life went in. I didn’t even want to start a band in the first place. I don’t So many rose petals! You make touring look know, I never really tried to push life in any good. Do you enjoy the constant change of direction, it’s just kind of unfolded itself. scenery? I’ve come to a point where I rarely miss home as much as I just wish the touring routine would stop. I think being on the road is like an autopilot-inducing lifestyle. You’re kind of

It’s intriguing how you can still stay close to your feelings. Yeah, that’s important. It’s usually good to 19

Interview stay in the moment, if you can manage to. It’s often not good to reminisce. That’s a sign you’re maybe not doing a whole lot of living at that moment. But I don’t think anybody can live in the moment all the time. Those things happen when you don’t expect or think about them.

or repulse them. I like it when things can go both ways.

There’s this certain immediacy (along with honesty, urgency and bravery) in your music and shows. Is the truth in the explosion?

How about yourself, anything you’ve fallen for recently?

No. Well, also maybe. There’s truth to everything, the dramatic and the not-so dramatic. There’s truth in people lying to themselves as well. I don’t think too much about truth. A table is truth, a chair. I’m sitting on one. And this eagerness to experiment and learn – with every record you’ve made you’ve tried something new – where does that come from? I don’t know, I just find writing hugely interesting, it’s my main focal point. I write songs that make sense in the middle of all this. All the rest is circling around it. In the statement for This World Is Not Enough, you wrote something about you liking to be served champagne. Do you feel you deserve to be served? God, I’ll say yes. [Laughs] I mean that thing was just kind of not anything to be taken too literally. There are some people who don’t deserve to be served, but I think most people do.

Yeah? Yeah, I think people will either fall for it or be disgusted by it. Hopefully.

I tend to have obsessions in periods. Lately it’s been Henry Miller, before that it was Marlon Brando. Also, I like watching videos of bullfighting. I’m not completely clued in on the subject, it’s just such a wild and beautiful thing on some epic, gladiator-like level. It’s deeply cruel to the animal, of course, but I can’t help but look at it and admire it. What do you think of people kicking each other in the face at your shows? If people already decided to punch around before the band even starts playing, because that’s what they’ve heard the band is about, I feel that’s insincere, but if it’s something that’s naturally provoked, I’m not against that. Any hope for straight teeth? I don’t know. I’ve had a few bits and pieces knocked off, but I’ve never broken a bone.

You’ve also called yourself the ‘King of Song’. Yeah, I did call myself that. I think I’m the only one who calls himself that. But it’s not really me saying that I’m the best singer in history, it’s more about delusion and megalomania. It’s hardly about any kind of reality. I like the idea, though: the idiot who can’t see himself through other people’s eyes, who has deluded fantasies about himself. I wanted to create something that could either draw people in 20

— Iceage’s Plowing Through The Field of Love is out now on Matador. Marching Church’s This World Is Not Enough is out now on Sacred Bones Records.

Jana Hunter

Portrait

With a progressive album championing soft dick rock out on Sacred Bones, a magnetic live act that borders on performance art and an insatiable appetite for poetry, Jenny Hval embodies everything we want to be by 33. Read religiously

Jenny Hval Skype interview by Zofia Ciechowska Photos shot by Tommy Larson in Oslo, Norway 22

Jenny Hval What got you out of bed today? It depends on whether I’m home or on tour. My body is always begging me to take it home when I’m on tour. When I’m home, what gets me up is books and newspapers and coffee. I get up to read. Reading and books and people creating poetry and theories of resistance constitutes the meaning of life to me. Books make me really happy. Sometimes people get to show their most human qualities in writing, it’s a great way to be friends. I actually have a book waiting for me at the library, but I can’t pick it up because I lost my card. It’s a novel about machine work by a Norwegian writer that I really want to read. In the meantime I’m reading a poetry collection by Danish author Olga Ravn. She’s great. Even if you can’t read Danish, you should look at her online presence, she uses great imagery. What’s your home like? I live in Oslo, close to the city. It’s very easy to walk a short distance and find yourself in the forest. I grew up in the south of Norway and have been living in Oslo for the past ten years, but I actually went to university in Australia. I didn’t really want to go to Australia initially. I wanted to go somewhere that seemed more prestigious (I was pretentious). At first I didn’t like it very much – the outdoors, swimming and stuff normal people like. But I grew to love living in Melbourne and getting to know the wonderful people there. It was an oasis of sorts. It’s taken a while to get rid of thinking that I should still be in Australia – or at least, away from Norway. When you’re young and you leave your country, you think you’ll never come back. Part of you will always be away, which is good. You’ve been on tour in the US where you’ve been performing with people dressed in peroxide blonde wigs and tight clothes who hold fake flowers and dance with bananas. What’s that all about? I’m not sure that there’s anything hiding behind my live performance. What happened was necessity. I was recording an album with a producer and I started to realise it would be hard to perform the songs 24

with live instruments because there are so many of them. I’ve been performing with many instruments for years, but with this material I didn’t feel like the multi-instrumental dimension was what I was trying to express. I was going to have backing tracks and just stand on stage, but instead I invited the filmmaker Zia Anger to perform with me, because she and I are both focused on creating a space that is very feminine in nature. I think that’s needed on stage because there aren’t enough women in the alternative music scene that I belong to. But the performance extends beyond creating that space, doesn’t it? There are certain characteristics that come out when I perform. Like when I wear a wig, it’s like being in drag, but not quite – but perhaps it is. I’m interested in these blurry lines. I’ve always been a non-girly person, even when I was growing up. And as an artist, I’ve had issues with things that are very girly. Feminine things, female bodies, have always been presented as objects that are owned by someone else. For me, sexuality is not just that flat dimension. We’re trying to expand that world in our performances. I can get into a very feminine universe on stage, which I’ve not been able to access before. I have no instruments so I can interact with the other performers, we can look, touch, pay attention to each other. Before I was closing my eyes and playing music. You now accompany your live performances with a lot of visual imagery, close-ups of female bodies, dangling bananas, trance-like states. What’s the story behind this? When Zia made the taster video for Apocalypse, girl she was interested in tele-evangelists, megachurches and mass religious ecstasies that huge crowds succumb to during large group prayers. There were a lot of questions around defining emotions and states during the shoot. She’d made a film about the experience of having an epileptic fit before making the video for me. She’s very interested in these movements and states. I thought the footage matched my music and the voices I inhabit on the album.

Portrait

‘I just want to take it down a notch. No middle fingers, just soft dicks’

How do you translate the feminine into your new album Apocalypse, girl?

Just one more thing, those T-shirts that say ‘soft dick rock’ on the front...

I made Apocalypse, girl purely just to make something that made me feel happy, something that was very beautiful. I didn’t know whether any of the songs would materialise as an album. Then I realised that some of these things I would skip in a normal album-making process, and they coincidentally inhabited that feminine space I’m exploring. A friend told me that many of the melodies on the album sound like melodies you’d sing at home but never put on an album. I wanted to understand which parts of myself I usually edit out of my music-making and I wanted to bring them back into that process.

I’m surprised when someone wants to buy one – they’re brave. Even though it’s a dick, and not a cunt, it’s very related to what we’re creating on stage. The dick is always presented as a sexual, powerful, hard symbol. I wanted to put these sexual terms in everyday, relaxed contexts, like doing the dishes. A flaccid penis doing the dishes. There’s so much sexual harassment today, the soft dick rock is the friendly relationship you can have with this charged symbol, you can hold hands with it and it won’t get hard. It’s not a parody, though, I just want to take it down a notch. No middle fingers, just soft dicks.

Having been an artist for such a long time, I’m sick of the idea of having to present something that represents your identity. I know I’m not the only one who feels like that. So I put these songs out to see what that would feel like. When we started recording I recruited a producer who interviewed me a while ago. He’s a noise artist and he’d never made an album like this before. It worked out great because it was so relaxed, we recorded and mixed over five months. If the album was finished today it would have been different. Then again, when is something ever finished?

— Jenny Hval’s Apocalypse, girl is out now on Sacred Bones Records.

Interview

The Berlin-based producer on the melodrama of Piteous Gate and club music

M.E.S.H. Skype interview by Deva Rao Photos shot by Ina Niehoff in Berlin, Germany

With the techno and minimal house scenes continuing to consolidate their reign over Berlin’s nightlife, one club night stood in unwavering defiance: Janus. Originated by artist-turned-producer M.E.S.H. (aka James Whipple), the night came together with the object of transcending the constraints of the ‘Hype, Hate, Copy’ trend cycle, garnering a league of like-minded contemporaries in the form of Lotic, KaBlam and Total Freedom. Said residency is now sadly defunct, but Whipple continues to channel its spirit via his own musical endeavours – exhibit A is 2014’s Scythians EP, a singularly brilliant release treading sonic territory between grimy and glossy, as conducive to Berghain’s monstrous sound system as it is to headphone-mediated soundtracking of late-night transit. And so we called up the man himself, fully intending to discuss newly released and eagerly awaited full-length debut Piteous Gate and his attraction to the melodramatic. We emerged with both musical insight and an urgent need to re-evaluate our familial priorities. 26

Considering the melodrama of your new album, Piteous Gate, I’m curious as to whether this theatricality extends to your day-to-day. Shit, that’s a good question. I guess it’s an interaction between sort of histrionic feelings, the feelings you can have in a nightclub, social anxiety and the opposite, having a dopamine rush off being with people you like or hearing good music. These places where we experience music are places in society where we’re kind of allowed to feel these things – things you wouldn’t necessarily feel sanctioned to be able to feel in your daily life. I don’t get the sense that you’re a particularly histrionic person. Maybe I am mentally, but my social persona is a little bit more streamlined, I guess. So you’re not throwing hissy fits regularly? No, but I guess I’m maybe surrounded by

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M.E.S.H.

Interview people that are. Sometimes I feel like that [Laughs]. So who would you say influenced you in making the album? That’s pretty hard, man. I mean, all my friends and the people I know that are making music right now. I mean, everyone from the Janus people like KaBlam and Lotic, to Elysia Crampton, TCF, Amnesia Scanner. Just the whole crew.

Speaking of which, I was wondering where that vocal sample, the guy with the English accent in “Kritikal & X”, came from. It’s actually two professional Counterstrike players arguing on some livestreaming progaming YouTube channel. Okay. You’ve totally appropriated them, man. Yeah, absolutely. No respect for gamer culture. You have to stay in your lane. I’m a shitlord.

‘People are so ready to demonise people and make outrage their hobby’

You’ve spoken before about producers making unconsidered use of samples. Do you feel a responsibility to ensure sounds are recontextualised respectfully? Yeah, absolutely. As a DJ, I draw from so many different genres and it’s important for me to represent that with the way that I DJ. But at the same time, as an artist and music producer, I’m not really interested in quoting other people’s voices in that way. It’s more about drawing influence where I can, but trying to also stand on my own two feet and have my own point of view. I’m not gonna go release a conceptual ballroom vogue record, you know?

What does [Piteous Gate track] “Methy Imbiß” refer to? Well, “imbiß” is the German word for a snack bar. Berlin has all these 24-hour gambling places and snack bars and smoking bars and stuff like that. And just, the vibe of that track, I can’t even listen to it any more ’cause it hurts my head, but there’s a lot of these late-night, bright, fluorescent places still left in Berlin and it’s this really particular Berliner culture. And then methy… obviously, the feeling of coming out of a club and going into one of these places. Right. I assumed it was, like, some methbased snack. Tiding yourself over with some casual meth between meals. But yeah… so I was thinking, the other day, about the impact your music had had on me personally, and concluded that it’s changed a couple of things in my life. Yeah? Let’s hear it!

I mean, you could… I definitely could. It wouldn’t be very good [Laughs]. But it’s tricky. People are so ready to demonise people and make outrage their hobby. But at the same time, it’s a really important debate. And it’s really important to be sensitive about context.

First off, you broadened my perception of what club music can be, especially when I first heard Scythians. Do you intentionally challenge your audience during your live sets? It’s funny because I find the whole thing of, like, a DJ ‘educating’ a crowd sort of preten29

M.E.S.H. tious. But it’s more like, when we do Janus parties in Berlin, they’re not these austere music nerd kind of things. It’s more a houseparty vibe, you know what I mean? It’s less about challenging people in this boring, serious music way and more like opening up what you can do as a DJ in terms of what you’re going to allow yourself to play. But not in the sense of punishing or educating people. It’s more about an expanded palette of sounds you can draw from. That’s the way I see it with my own DJ-ing.

That’s the way it should be. So… back to my life. Besides broadening my musical horizons, your music’s had a direct impact on my relationships. Yeah? How? I played my girlfriend “Epithet” the other day, and she said it made her feel like she was being shot. And my parents, when I made the mistake of playing some of your tunes to them, they shook their heads in a way that conveyed both disappointment and concern. Oh no…

‘It’s nice to go out and not know what to expect, not know who you’re going to meet’

Yeah, the idea of, like, 50 dudes stroking their chins, shaking their heads, squinting and trying to get a glimpse of the decks is pretty unappealing.

So, through your music I now resent some of the people closest to me. My question is: should I emancipate myself from them? I think family and romance come before music. I think it’s important to be a good son and a good boyfriend, so you should conform to what they want you to do. For sure. I was expecting your advice to be much more radical.

I find that really stressful to be honest. I’m happiest if I’m DJ-ing in a club that’s a really good mix of male, female, gay, straight – just people from different backgrounds. That feels like an actual social mix, as opposed to all these dudes caught up on the music press just stroking their chins. I mean, bless those guys, they’re great, they buy albums and stuff [Laughs]. But, like, in terms of a fun party, it’s nice to go out and not know what to expect, not know who you’re going to meet, what’s going to happen to you that night.

I’m pretty traditionalist, I guess.

But you’re still more than willing to exploit these nerds.

Wow, that’s brutal. But best of both worlds, I guess.

[Laughs] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I am a music nerd, I fucking obsess about things. When I get into something, I really get into it. But I try to leave that at home when I go out.

Yeah. ‘Family first,’ says M.E.S.H. You can put that in the subhead. I have some nice stuff too, you know. It’s not all “Epithet”. There’s some pleasant stuff in the catalogue.

But… they’re plebeians. You just have to say the word and it’s done, they’re a thing of the past and it’s just me and “Captivated” on repeat. There’s always the option of fucking off and then, in the middle of your life, realising everything you’ve done [wrong] and making amends with the people you were closest to and leaving my music behind.

XXX

Interview

M.E.S.H.

M.E.S.H. Actually, in attempting to win over people who might not necessarily gravitate naturally towards your ‘scene’, how would you have me describe your music? Wow, that’s a hard one… But I had this idea that, for my next record, I’d write a different press release for each press outlet it’s sent out to, and then just see what people write. I’m just curious if that would force people to write about things in different ways. And then what would happen if all the reviews came out and it’s like writing about completely different music that’s actually the same music. That’s diabolical… I read that you recorded a lot of the album in a state of isolation. True? I wouldn’t call it isolation, I still had healthy relationships with my friends and stuff. But I guess I was going out slightly less during that period, for sure. So you’re not, like, a hermitic misanthrope. No, no. It’s interesting that that’s come up, ’cause I’m not a super extroverted person, but… I like people, man. I leave the house a lot [Laughs]. Leaving the house is good; people are as well. It’s good to establish you’re okay with humans, set the record straight. Yeah, absolutely. All right, man, that just about wraps it up on my end. Any shout-outs? Closing statements? I’ve made enough shout-outs this time. Shout out to everyone. My mum… Yeah. [Shouts out to M.E.S.H.’s mum.] Yeah. — M.E.S.H.’s Piteous Gate is out now on PAN. He plays Discovery Festival at Science Center NEMO, Amsterdam on 25 September.

Jana Hunter

Dialogues

In conversation with

In conversation with Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley The idea for DRINKS was hatched in the back of a tour bus when Cate Le Bon played guitar for Tim Presleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band White Fence last autumn. It would take a while before the two put their heads together as Cate and her boxes had to make their way across the Atlantic. Once those were unpacked, the two made a pact: bring unfinished songs to rehearsals and serendipitously piece them together through their common love of guitar-strumming and word play. The moment it felt good, they recorded these happy coincidences for others to hear

Skype interview by Zofia Ciechowska Photos shot by Suzanna Zak in Los Angeles, USA 37

In conversation with

Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley C: There was no intention necessarily. It’s The cover of DRINKS’ new album Hermits on Holireally just two people who love each other’s day – out now on Heavenly Recordings – depicts music, working together for the sake of workthe silhouettes of both musicians looking onwards, ing together. It’s music for music’s sake. It’s drawn in Presley’s unique black, scraggly hand. something that we as people and musicians After a lengthy career spent working on their own, wanted to explore for our own nourishment. the two insist that DRINKS is not a collaboration but a new form of solo project. And as the drawing Z: Has it allowed for you to have ‘the time of each suggests, it’s a game of follow the leader, where other’s lives,’ as you like to say? the leader doesn’t know where they’re going and the person following is actually leading – or maybe T: We both respect each other so much and they aren’t. Your guess is as good as theirs. It’s funwe’ve become really good friends, everything is ner and funnier that way. fun and exciting. And Cate loves playing guitar. We ring Cate and Tim on a Wednesday morning. C: We love playing guitar! We’ve grown used to When they pick up, we find ourselves in Cate’s working on our own. But now we have someapartment in Highland Park in north-east LA. They one egging the other on whenever we’re doing tell us the weather’s a little shitty and murky. Both something borderline ridiculous. Having a of them like it that way; it reminds them of the partner in crime is the best, the best! Without rainy days back home – Wales and San Francisco. that there’s much more self-doubt and reignAfter moving, it turns out they miss those wet, ing yourself in. We’re both big fans of playfulbroody days. Cate and Tim let their sentences ness, the ridiculous and taking things to that trail so that the other can finish them, like a verbal extreme. game of exquisite corpse. It’s precisely their revelry in the unexpected and embracing of the absurd that makes DRINKS so glorious to observe as a Z: What makes you believe in this partnership? project, or more so, two friends having the time of C: The fact that we’re both excited by it. I’d just each other’s lives. come off a really long touring cycle and you’d think making a record would be the last thing I Zofia: You’ve mentioned DRINKS is a solo project wanted to do, but making this album reignited and not a collaboration. What makes it one and not this hidden passion in me. You make music the other? because you want to, not because you have to. It’s nice to have someone like-minded like Tim Cate: I think the way we chose to work was to to do that with. We sat around playing music have a project that went down an unknown for each other excitedly, which I hadn’t done in route. It was very much the two of us operatyears. It never felt like a chore, it just naturally ing as one system; we just went with it. There happened. was no map, no right or wrong. We were just so consumed with being excited and energised by T: I want to tour with Cate. I respect her so where it was going. We were moving in the same much – she’s so talented, great and like-minddirection, no push or pull between us. Just ed. This just feels so new and refreshing. To be holding on to each other for dear life. doing that with someone who I admire so much is just damn exciting. We’ve become unstuck Z: What are you exploring with DRINKS that you’ve from our old routines. And when you’re excited not been able to do before? like that it feels like a very pure experience. Tim: Because Cate and I have been making music Z: Your album teaser features rapid flashes of dogs on our own for so long, this was an exciting way snatched from internet clips and a split second of for us to get away from that. 39

In conversation with a kitten. How do you come up with the ideas for your somewhat hilariously absurd videos? C: Tim’s not entirely sure what a dog is. T: I google-searched “dog” and that’s what came up. I dunno. I dunno any more. C: I have some animals that I left behind in Wales. An old horse called Teifi, named after a Welsh river. He’s being taken care of by the family. Blythe and Tommy are two small dogs we have too. T: Tommy’s actually going to drive the van on our next tour. C: But he’s having some visa problems at the moment. All those drugs… Z: I couldn’t stop grinning when I watched the “Hermits on Holiday”. Who are the two older people dancing with you in it? C: We didn’t want a disparity between how the video and record were made. We wanted the videos to come directly from us, there’s no grand plan for them or their plots. Somehow they just unexpectedly fall into place. We were supposed to spend the whole day shooting, but we looked at our watches and it was already 4:30pm. We’d been drinking coffee and eating all day in the city instead. So we quickly darted around San Francisco and ended up in some pretty rubbish places. We got kicked out of a mall because Tim was wearing a black poloneck and shooting with a VHS Camcorder. Apparently 35-year-old men in that kind of attire who are carrying that kind of equipment don’t inspire much trust in shoppers.

ried about what to wear, but it didn’t take too much coaxing to get them to play along. Z: Looking back at the road you’ve taken, do you feel like you owe anyone anything? C: No. I’m grateful for many things, but I don’t feel like I owe anyone anything. T: No. I don’t feel indebted. For instance, if I struck it rich, I would shower my mom with gifts even though she probably wouldn’t want them. I don’t have any debts. Debt seems like a scary word. C: It’s an unresolved word. I know there are many wonderful people who’ve done wonderful things for me on the road and I’ve tried to show them gratitude and I’d reciprocate the favour if they ever needed it. But neither side would ever see it as a debt. It’s genuine kindness, not something that needs to be repaid. It’s not an equation that needs to be resolved. T: I try to show as much gratitude as I can to, say, Jeremy at Woodsist, or Eric from Make a Mess Records. There’s so many people throughout my life who’ve showed me kindness, it’s a long list. But I don’t feel like I have a debt. I don’t feel guilty. C: I’ve had many friends who’ve helped me out. You can’t keep a tally of things that you do for each other, friendship is a constant give and take. You do things when they matter and when you can, but there’s no deadline or anything numeral at play. I don’t believe in the notion of debt. What goes around comes around. Also, when someone owes you something, it’s liberating when you can write it off and see it come back to you in another way.

T: I looked in the mirror and saw the security guard’s point.... C: So we got back to Tim’s mother’s house and decided we needed more footage. We asked Nan and her partner Donald to dance and play guitar on camera for us. At first she was wor40

— DRINKS’ Hermits on Holiday is out now on Heavenly Recordings. They play a show at OT301, Amsterdam on 02 September.

Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley

Field trip

Home of The Homesick

Field trip

‘Find the most beaten-up car out front Utrecht CS, and it’ll be me,’ Isolde texts me. A dented Peugeot 205 cracks around the bend and she beams at me, ‘Get in!’ We’re on our way to the depths of Friesland – a 12,500-inhabitant town called Dokkum, home of The Homesick, the fresh-faced three-piece whose unruly disposition and enthralling guitar-pop bangers have gotten us absolutely hooked. They’re also the whizz-kids behind Yuko Yuko and the groundbreaking netlabel Purple Noise Record Club. But first and foremost they’re a Dokkum band. We travel way up north to find out what that means

Story by Roxy Merrell Photos shot by Isolde Woudstra in Dokkum, Netherlands 44

Home of The Homesick

We find Jaap van der Velde (18), Erik Woudwijk (18) and Elias Elgersma (20) eager to show us the sights. Armed with an infectious enthusiasm, the bleached bass player, vocalist and brains of the operation Jaap takes the lead, followed by zany guitarist-slash-vocalist Elias. Erik resonates calmly in the background, both unmistakably present and to himself – a fitting parallel to his place on stage. We head out to pick up our ride, Erik’s unimog – a titanic orange oblong vehicle that makes out at 80km per hour and has no obvious purpose other than instilling joy in the drummer’s heart. We scramble into the back and make our way to our first attraction – the statue and chapel of St Boniface. Jaap knows the parochial tale by heart: ‘He was a Roman Catholic missionary. He came here to destroy our Germanic churches and kill its followers. He was stabbed here, through the Bible he held over his head, in 754.’ ‘He was a dick,’ Elias interrupts Jaap’s passionate account. ‘He chopped down all our oak trees and ruined all our Pagan temples. But he left us these healing springs.’ ‘People come here to rub water on themselves, hoping it’ll heal them.’ Erik adds: ‘It comes straight from the gutter.’ As we round the bend to our next highlight, edging towards Holland’s smallest hospital, the epic noise this vehicle is making suddenly becomes especially apparent. It huffs and puffs and bangs. Standing in the drizzle out front of the soon-to-be shut down Sionsberg Hospital, I ask them earnestly whether they’re the biggest thing that has ever happened to Dokkum. A jaunty harmony rings out: ‘Yes’, ‘Yes’, ‘Yes’. 45

Home of The Homesick

They’re kidding, of course, but it can’t be far from the truth. Their achievements speak volumes beyond the scope of their backdrop and includes their rave EP Twst yr Wrsts (Subroutine Records), being booked for this year’s POPRONDE line-up and receiving inexhaustible acclaim for this January’s Eurosonic show. And they’ve only just got started. The darkening skies release a sudden downpour, so we run for the cover of the dark bicycle shed in front of the hospital. Thinking we might be here for a while, we take the opportunity to start from the beginning. How did they get into music? ‘Young people don’t experience a lot of live music here, so we discovered things through the Internet,’ Jaap recalls. ‘Once I had enough of the shit on the radio, I started uncovering things like Deerhunter and Sonic Youth. And Elias used to play me tracks over Skype.’ ‘Most people around here don’t really get what we’re doing. They don’t really like our music. They show up to shows because there’s not much going on,’ Erik says, adding that ‘people at my work ask me all the time: “You play quite a lot right? And you get paid to do that?”’ The discord is hilarious to them. These guys obviously don’t take themselves too seriously, yet at the same time their commitment to music is striking. In their salad days, they not only find themselves at the forefront of the Dutch scene, they’re also blazing a trail with their eclectic lo-fi sound, merging critical postpunk sentiments with sweet dream-pop hooks. All the while they find the zest for other musical endeavours too. Surely they must feel isolated in this town? Or is that exactly what determines their unparalleled sound? ‘Listen, Amsterdam is more fun, but I don’t need to live there,’ Elias sets the record straight. ‘I’ve felt misplaced at times, but the thing is, we’re not outsiders here. We’re down-to-earth and no less Friesian than the next guy.’ And they don’t plan on going anywhere: ‘The mentality is good around here,’ says Erik. I ask them if that mentality affects their sound and Jaap calls it: ‘Yeah, ’cause we make good music.’ They all laugh. 46

Home of The XXXHomesick

‘Backed by their drive and confidence, they’re ready to conquer the world, yet they don’t plan on leaving this town’ Their love of this place is clear; its humble charm runs through their veins. We draw closer to our final stop, De Lantaren. ‘This is our favourite bar, and there’s a snack bar next to it. So, you can order fries at the bar – no problem!’ Jaap grins. We dive in and take a seat at the bar. ‘We played our first ever show here,’ Erik recounts. ‘There’s a small stage in the back.’ They’ve come a long way since then, now booking shows of their own. They booked Rotterdam’s brash Rats on Rafts here not too long ago after touring together, exults Elias; this sparks a conversation about influences and local bands on the rise. ‘Our taste is pretty diverse. We all like Mac DeMarco or Ariel Pink. Personally, I’m a huge Krautrock fan, things like Can and Nau! whereas Elias is a big Beach Boys fan—’ ‘I’m into trap,’ nods Elias.

49 49

Dialogues

PleaseHome Return ofto The Highlighted HomesickRoute

‘There’s a few small-scale things in Holland that really stand out. Like, take Floris Bates or Boner Petit – oh, and Sante Fé from Groningen.’ Elias continues: ‘One of the most authentic bands in Dutch history; this ’80s post-punk band called It Dockumer Lokaeltsje from Leeuwarden. It’s wild, they sing in Friesian and each song lasts about a minute and a half. They’re definitely the all-time favourite Friesian band… after us that is.’ Again, they laugh. As the day draws to a close, it strikes me: who would’ve thought that from the depths of this small town, you’d find three cool-headed guys delivering a sound with such international appeal. Backed by their drive and confidence, they’re ready to conquer the world, yet they don’t plan on leaving this town. Just before Isolde and I head back, Jaap steps outside the bar for a second. Elias leans in and boasts in a hushed voice, ‘Look, so they have running tabs at this bar, right? Sometimes, when Jaap is the first to leave, we order beers on his tab. He has no idea!’ Erik and Elias titter away. Little did they know that this would be their unveiling.

— The Homesick’s new 7” Stereo Lisa/Boys on Subroutine Records on 12 September. They play at Rotown, Rotterdam the same day.

Interview

The reunited avant-pop trio on being Good Sad Happy Bad and reaping what you sow

Micachu & The Shapes Skype interview by Sander van Dalsum Photos shot by Lottie Bea Spencer in London, UK

Press days must be tiresome. Having to put up with the same old questions about what moved you to record the album, the story behind your band’s name, and to top it all off, having some would-be quirky journalist ask if your karma is in check. Still, Micachu & The Shapes proved to be the epitome of patience. At the end of a long day of interrogations, the three Londoners – Mica Levi, Raisa Khan and Marc Pell – remained gracious when asked nonsensical questions and readily engaged in conversation. Even though the connection of our Skype conversation was abominable and my room was filled with an ear-shattering reverb. We’re all pros at this. 52

After three years spent composing a sinister minimal score for sci-fi film Under the Skin and hosting a consistently unassuming leftfield show on NTS Radio, Mica returned to her band to record an album that was born purely out of improvisation. The avant-garde outfit is now about to release Good Sad Happy Bad, a collection of drudged pop rhythms, where uncanny samples mingle with jaunty instrumentation. It’s shapeshifting music: prodigious, genre-bending compositions that could just as easily be enjoyed by the masses as by the tall heads. We decided to improvise a conversation about good deeds, getting rich quick and sticking to deadlines.

Micachu & The Shapes

‘Our karma balance is neutral right now. The world doesn’t owe us anything, and we don’t owe the world anything’

Interview Hey there! What have you guys been up to today?

What was the last good deed you guys have done then?

Marc: Lots of interviews, photos and things. We’re currently in the Kafri rehearsal studios where we recorded Good Sad Happy Bad. We’re just hanging out here all day, talking to people about how the album came to be.

Marc: Raisa made everyone’s tea today! Raisa: Yes, I put the teabags in the cup, but you added the water. Mica: And I drank the tea. But I just do good deeds so much it’s hard to pinpoint one particular good one. Hmm… I opened the door for someone?

Ah, a good old press day. What question did you hear the most this time?

How nice of you! Mica: There is this sound in the song “Unity”, and people are asking what that is. It’s not a pig! Oh, wait. It’s not? Mica: No, sorry… Raisa: It’s close… Mica: Oi! It’s me! [Laughs] I’d like to talk about the album as well, but also about some stuff not directly related to that. Here’s one right off the bat: do you believe in karma?

Marc: That’s a good one! Mica: That’s not really a deed though, is it? It’s nice, but it’s also just practical, you know? Well, you could have also let the door shut in their face... Mica: Yeah, but who would do that? [Laughs] That’s going to give you some bad karma. But a really decent selfless deed… Hmm… I don’t know. When you do a really good deed, it feels kind of gross to talk about it. You don’t really want to admit to it.

[All together]: Yeah! Why are you such confident believers? Marc: What goes around, comes around, innit? That’s just how life goes. That sounds pretty down to earth. But do you also believe in it on a spiritual level? Marc: Well, you know. You win some, you lose some – on some days you find a tenner on a platform, but that means you should do something nice on that day for somebody. Do good you get good! Raisa: Guess I’d rather do good because of people instead of do good because God is telling me to be good. Karma makes a bit more sense to me than that. Does that make sense? Mica: You can get instant karma. So if you call someone a prick, you might fall over immediately after that. That happens.

That’s true. It’s nice to stay humble. Maybe Marc and Raisa can recall something you did that made them very happy? [It stays silent on the other end for a few seconds] Mica: Wow, they can’t think of anything! What a surprise! [Laughs] Let’s look at it another way then. Do you guys owe the world anything? Marc: Well, we were in Bristol and Mica and I found a fiver on the floor. And she said: ‘Ah, I can buy us some coffees!’ And then I said: ‘Maybe we should do something good with it. We should give it to someone who needs it.’ But then there was no one around who clearly needed a fiver at that moment in time. We were like, we want Raisa to benefit from this fiver as well. So we were talking about 55

Interview that and it was quite a long walk back to the venue and it got really complicated. So we just put the fiver back down on the floor. Our karma balance is neutral right now. The world doesn’t owe us anything, and we don’t owe the world anything, you know? Mica: Hear, hear, man. So you’re not keeping tabs on all the good and bad stuff you’re doing? Mica: Good and bad make you remember what good and bad are. Raisa: And being sad makes you remember what being happy is. That sounds a little like the new album title, Good Sad Happy Bad. I read that while recording this album you felt the most free you’ve ever been. How free can you be as an independent musician, when you want to live off your music? Mica: A hundred percent free. If you’re not getting any money for it, you might as well get as much life out of it as you can. Have you ever been tempted to change the style of your music in order to reach a bigger audience?

How would one make money with Lego’s? Marc: I’d take my boxes of Lego’s, to like, kids’ parties or a big fair, to have, like, the sickest corner and rent unlimited Lego for a pound. Kids will eventually get bored and move on, and then other kids will come. Everyone’s happy, parents can go off and go on the big rides, kids play Lego. Raisa: You’re on to something here… Marc: You’d have to pay extra for the gold bricks though – 50 pence per brick. I didn’t even know there were gold bricks. Mica: We’ll spray paint those. Marc: Exactly! That sounds like the perfect get-rich-quick scheme! I had one last question: are you guys good at keeping promises? Mica: I just never make promises. But I try to keep my deadlines. You’re actually pretty good at that. I think you’re the first band ever that showed up on time on Skype! Mica: There you go! Hey, well done, all!

Mica: We would if we could, but we can’t. How’s that? Mica: We want people to hear our music. We want people to enjoy what we think is good music. I guess that’s why we put it out because we reckon some other people will like it. If a million liked it, or I don’t know, eight billion people liked it, that wouldn’t be a bad thing though. How about doing some other kind of art that earns you more money? Marc: Yeah! I’ve thought about Lego, sketching, videos, cooking. 56

— Micachu & The Shapes’ Good Sad Happy Bad is out now on Rough Trade. They play a show at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam on 06 October.

Micachu & The Shapes

Portrait

Three encounters in, we can safely say that Larry Gus confounds and converts wherever he goes. Live, the unbridled energy of his performances induces a moment of mass hysteria. In person, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shamelessly inappropriate

Larry Gus Skype interview by Brenda Bosma Photos shot by Konstantinos Doumpenidis in Athens, Greece 58

Larry Gus How are you doing?

But your music is very, very groovy.

Well, my one-year-old son hit his head, and because he hit his head in the same place two days ago we had to go to the hospital. He’s alright – he’s a fucking baby; babies don’t care. And ten days ago we moved from Milan back to Athens. It’s the worst timing in the universe. It’s really weird.

Thank you. I don’t know, but about my wife. She’s like an amazon. She’s the man of the house, in all aspects. Literally, she’s amazing. Even when it comes to political actions, she’s much more opinionated and does stuff to be part of the solution. I’m always more hesitant, not reluctant. It’s weird, with my own stuff and life decisions I was always very confident, but when it comes to social scenarios, it becomes a problem.

Does the Greek crisis filter into your new album? This big hero of mine, Robert Wyatt, who’s extremely on the left politically, somehow manages to give you the idea his music is all about the greater good. For me, I can talk about politics all the time, but when it comes to my music, it’s mostly about my personal failures. At this point I use music as an escape. Life is so bad anyway, so at least I have my music to escape. I do feel bad about that.

Do you mind when people call you weird? No, not at all. I’m just extremely bad, but still it’s something different. To paraphrase Woody Allen, ‘If I have to listen to people telling me I’m good, I have to listen to them telling me I’m really bad.’ Yeah, this’ll never happen for me. I still google myself every fucking day.

You’d like to be more selfless?

All these distractions...

Yes, but of course that’s really hard, I have all these things to fight. When it’s about my music, it’s all about my insecurity, feeling humiliated and intimidated. Then I can also feel extreme admiration and extreme jealousy for other musicians. Ideally, I’d like a dominatrix to kick my ass every day.

It’s amazing that in a thousand years we’ll just use our brains for different things, ’cause we won’t have any memories anymore. Memories suck. We tend to remember different things and get sad about them.

Aren’t Greek mothers... Well, I try to persuade my wife. It’s not easy, but I try. As for my mother, in Greece children get this huge amount of love. Most of my generation is so used to this love, but at the same time despises it. It’s this weird and unhealthy balance.

Yes, let’s talk memories! You use all these samples that must have all these references throughout the history of music, so to speak, but your previous record, Years of Not Living, doesn’t sound like a nostalgic album. I have so many samples, pre-existing and also made by me. I really like the temporality of it. You

‘I still google myself every fucking day’ 60

Portrait get these references, like, ‘Oh, this is a ’70s drum sound’, but on top of the other it sounds like nothing really. Ideally I like it like this. People like Holly Herndon have a strict view on how their music presents the actual present. For me, I’m a nostalgic person, I try to get all these memories to make it sound weird and somehow not refer to anything. Most of the time I fail miserably. And then comes the jealousy? Yes – extreme jealousy, and bitterness. It comes from a good place though, because they are so amazing and I admire them. It’s weird, because we have the same set of tools, resources, spend the same time at it and we live in the same age, but somehow it’s never enough and I will never achieve this level of greatness. Woody Allen says it best: ‘I had the best situation to work on everything, like the best crew, the best financial resources, best opportunity, but I never reached this kind of greatness. The only thing that was standing between me and greatness was me and only me.’ I will always try hard, work hard – very hard, I must say – but still I would never reach that. Some people just have it in them, they’re so talented, so crystal clear about what they’re doing. If I keep on working maybe I can change. If I fail I can take this failure and wear it or have it as my girlfriend. I can say that they’re mine, my failures, that I did my best. Maybe some day at the right moment. For now I think I fall short, always. You can only hope that people will be affected by what you’re doing. Some people are confident or just don’t care, for me the weight and the vastness of greatness is oppressive.

other people get into the equation. You get intimidated or feel that something is wrong. Do you wish you could control the others as well? No, I don’t want other people at all. I tried. I had this band with this other guy, but it didn’t last. Since then I can’t trust anyone, at least not for the core. I want to change that, but you know these trust issues reappear. Like a love relationship? Oh, they always betray you. [Laughs] Reality crosses your expectations, that kind of stuff. At least you can have some happiness while working. If you can always be happy while working, nobody can take that away from you. Once you start paying attention to what other people are thinking about you and your work, you’re fucked. This all will end, and this will end badly, so hopefully you can still have the happiness and creativity when you’re working alone, like working for five hours, then stopping to go to the toilet, to masturbate, to eat something. You’ll be happy just with that. This is all you need, and if you never forget that this is where it all ends, you’d be happy. This is what I try to do, like, every day, along with playing shows and then going back to the hotel to masturbate and sleep. Thank you.

Is that why there’s more freedom in constraint? Would you otherwise become overwhelmed? Always. This is the best way to work. There’s this saying by Oulipo that goes something like, ‘We’re the rocks that we use to build our own labyrinths with which we try to find our escape.’ This is how I feel, I try to make it hard for myself and find my way out. At least you’re having fun working at it. When you’re secluded and working on your own, it’s always perfect, the problems appear when

— Larry Gus’ I Need New Eyes is out on DFA Records/[PIAS] Collective on 02 October. He plays Amsterdam Dance Event at Melkweg, Amsterdam on 17 October.

Featured artist

We dive into a world of visual violence with the recent KABK graduate

Jip Piet Text by Floor Kortman

Jip Hilhorst, better known by his pseudonym, Jip Piet, is a proven winner. Recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, he won the Fine Arts Department award this past July. Truth be told, we already had an inkling. Working with him on several occasions already, like The Wrapping Paper Project, we thought it was about time we tried to shed some light on the elusive character. Jip Piet never fared too well in school, not all that surprising considering we once witnessed a group exhibition of his graduation year, where he ended up painting a wall black and calling it art. Not necessarily reluctant, but probably just too defiant to conform. Jip Piet marches to the beat of his own drum, and you never really know what you’re going to get. Luckily for us, when asked to make a 62

mural for our Le Mini Who event in Utrecht last year, he decided to spare us the black and instead made room for dreamy little clouds. For the present occasion, Jip Piet sent us a few unique drawings, displaying the magical madness that ensues when he puts pen to paper. He uses visual violence not for destruction, but for an explosive act of creation. He draws as if possessed — crude lines, colourful patterns, and absurd creatures, all infused with the artist’s spirit. It’s hard to talk about Jip Piet’s work without discussing the person. He is one of those artists who will not compromise no matter what they do. He just can’t help himself. — jippiet.com

Jip Piet

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Point of view

Lonnie Holley’s Third Eye by Marc van der Holst I don’t know Lonnie Holley. I know he was born in 1950, the seventh son of his mother’s 27 children. I know that he claims to have been traded for a bottle of whiskey at the age of four. I know he started out as an artist carving tombstones after two of his sister’s children died in a house fire. I know he sings while making his paintings and sculptures, and started recording those songs on tape to pass around among friends. I’ve seen some of his art. I’ve listened to his records. I’ve read about his life story and I feel like I now know more about his life than I do about my own. Yet still I don’t feel like I know him. I feel like he knows me, though. Like he knows you, too. The closest I feel to knowing Lonnie Holley a little is when I listen to his music. It’s soulful music. His songs sound like prayers from space, saying grace to the universe. Apart from his reportedly watching a lot of science-fiction movies as a kid, the music doesn’t seem to be influenced by anything or anyone. When I listen to his music I feel like someone’s watching over me. Or something. What the hell. I think I’ve figured it out, though: Lonnie Holley must have a third eye. I don’t know where it’s located, I haven’t seen it in any of his photos. Nor have I read or heard any mention of it anywhere. But I know it’s out there. It’s watching over me. And it’s watching over you, too. Editor Richard Cavendish’s authoritative Man, Myth and Magic has it that the third eye (also known as the inner eye) is a mystical and esoteric concept referring to a speculative invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. The third eye is often associated with stuff like visions, clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences. Knowing Holley’s life story, I’m pretty sure he

grew it the year he was tied down and made to sit on a pile of white rocks. In his own shit, piss and blood, with no one to talk to. Imagine. After a few months, you’d start having visions, too. You’d want to know when this torment was gonna end. And you’d very much welcome an out-of-body experience. So Holley grew a third eye. It may not be a physical eye. Or if it is, it’s located underneath his skin. Or underneath my skin, your skin, everybody’s skin. Maybe he has seven billion eyes. But in all likelihood it’s a metaphysical third eye. It doesn’t really matter. Just buy the guy’s records and listen to his music. Can you feel his third eye watching over you? I think it just winked.

— Lonnie Holley’s Keeping a Record of It is out now on Dust-toDigital. He plays a show at BIRD, Rotterdam on 03 September.

46 RijksakademieoPen ( inter ) national 2015 artists invite you to visit their studios

Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten sarphatistraat 470, amsterdam

Saturday 28 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday 29 November 11.00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 19.00

Point of view

Going Back to ZERO by Andreea Breazu If you’ve ever delved into a book of avantgarde manifestoes, radical art poems and other obscure documents, you know that a lot of the time it feels like you’ve been left out of the joke. It’s the same with those ‘happenings’ and demonstrations: no matter how well-documented the event, you can’t help but feel that it must have been one of those ‘I guess you had to be there’ situations. Not to mention that the more time passes, the less radical radical art seems. What’s so radical about a canvas of white nails? (Günther Uecker, White Field, 1964) Or wandering through the desert draped in an aluminum cape? (Heinz Mack, Tele-Mack, 1968) It’s been 50 years since the first ZERO group exhibition at the Stedelijk. That’s 50 more years of contemporary art; no wonder dust has settled. How to recapture what was so radical about ZERO? How to get in on a joke so old? In their defense, most of their work is pretty straightforward. ZERO was moment zero. Light, fire, movement and space were the topics at hand. White canvases, mirrors, and light bulbs, innovative materials like aluminum and plastic, as well as basic cranks, levers, motors; these were the preferred materials. They merged uncomplicated technology with very ordinary and non-mechanical natural phenomena like windswept grains and reflective water. Simple aesthetic pleasures. The change they brought about was not one in style but in attitude. Being ‘against an expression-oriented society’ (Otto Piene), they shifted attention from the art object to systems — as observed in nature, as mimicked by technology and as rediscovered in the interplay of both. Take Otto Piene’s Licht Ballet (1961): it’s light bouncing around the room, that’s the artwork. The material setup, however, is an electric motor that rotates a perforated steel box around hidden light

bulbs, thus shining light around the room. It deflects attention from the material manifestation of the artwork to its immaterial qualities. It does this by making the viewer aware of the artwork in space, revealing it as a very sensitive system dependant on its environment. Needless to say, cybernetics was just around the corner.

While the ZERO group was dissolved within a few years of its formation, its heritage lives on in dematerialised art. It’s a strand of art that similarly focuses on ways of behaving, responding and interacting. This is particularly relevant today, in the pervasive digital age, when systems and processes have been moved to the cloud, out of sight, out of mind. Young interdisciplinary artists like Lisa Park, Marco Donnarumma and Florence To incorporate technology in experimental and often performative ways. Using body sensors, biotechnology, software algorithms, and sound design, they seek new means of expression and representation to make visible that which has become increasingly impenetrable. It’s perhaps not a funny joke but still a joke you should get in on. Then again, inside jokes are never as funny as they’re made out to be. — ZEROnow is a two-day symposium at Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 24 September) and The Pier, during TodaysArt.NL Festival (Scheveningen, 25 September).

Point of view

N.A.A.F.I. State of Mind by Stefan Wharton ‘Subculture’ is a tricky word. While we often use it when talking about music, it regrettably involves categorising youth, music and style into fixed subdivisions. Instead, we could better think about music as a great big roaring mass of tribes. As some of those white-coat musicologists argue, thinking about music in this way at least helps us to recognise the temporal nature of identity, hinting rather at a particular feel or state of mind. In this sense, one such tribe is N.A.A.F.I., who have exploded this year from Mexico’s impressive underground, and whose roster includes artists like Smurphy, Lao, ZutZut and Javier Estrada.

Smurphy — aka Jessica Smurphy — recently released the mesmerising A Shapeless Pool of Lovely Pale Colours Suspended in the Darkness on LA’s Leaving Records, who have also released inspiring tapes from High Wolf, Ahnnu and Belgium’s Ssaliva. The album represents her bizarre, watery take on love: “Love is not only pink ribbons and sugar, it is a living thing, it is sudden, it is insane,” she says. Smurphy’s fluid dub and hypnotic songs merely scratch the surface of N.A.A.F.I.’s divergent output. Their releases extend to the baile funk of bass producer ZutZut, whose music sounds closer to club acts like Dinamarca or Nguzunguzu, and the distinctly Mexican ‘tribal’ sounds of Javier Estrada and DJ Tetris, which combine club mechanics with elements of post-emo culture and traditional folk song.

While each act has their its distinct sound, there’s an underlying spirit that spreads throughout N.A.A.F.I. The collective’s latest compilation, entitled Pirata 2, is a perfect example of their essence. Here, the likes of Lao, Imaabs, Smurphy and ZutZut present edits birthed from seeds of microcosmic club producers like recent Tri Angle Records godchildren Lotic and Rabit, Jersey club queen Uniiqu3, Norway’s Drippin and Lisbon’s Principe Discos protégés Nigga Fox and Marfox. Highlights include Lao’s “sensual bootleg” of Drippin x Puerto Rican duo Plan B, which merges icy clicks and bubbling synths in a reggaeton guise. ZutZut’s edit of Lotic’s “Phlegm” alternatively takes the off-kilter mechanics found on the latter’s Heterocetera LP and gives an added bounce. The track ends up falling somewhere between a cinematic sci-fi soundscape and deranged ballroom house, but with a Latin twist. N.A.A.F.I.’s Tomas Davo describes the compilation as ‘Latin electronic hits for the dancefloor,’ but this music feels more liberal than the confines of the club. To take Smurphy as an example, her remix of Garcia’s “G 006” serves as an emblem of N.A.A.F.I.’s ethos, with its acidic synths, melancholic chords and jittery drum machine. Sure, there’s robotic, machine-like beats, but it somehow goes against the rigidity of most club music; it has to do with a moody, swinging, unstable state of mind that’s full of emotion. Even if it’s a romantic suggestion, N.A.A.F.I. represents an exhaustive, all-inclusive disposition that more realistically speaks for the culture of music today, as it sweeps from one spotlight to the next.

— N.A.A.F.I.’s Pirata 2 is out now on soundcloud.com/naafi/sets/pirata-2.

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