FLOOD #2 SIDE A

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XANTHOS OF BAZOOKA

RESERVE 5-POCKET PANT

BREAKING: BØRNS, BULLY, SON LITTLE, BASEBALL CARD VANDALS

20

ADVICE FROM PARADISE: LOVE ADVICE (AND MUSIC) FROM NEDELLE TORRISI

22

BILL BRYSON’S GUIDE TO TRAVEL

26

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: KURT VILE

30

FREAKY STYLIN’: GETTING INTO BED WITH BIG GRAMS

40

NEW ORDER, NEW FAITH

46

TIME MAY CHANGE ME: THE EVOLVING ART OF MEL KADEL

Publisher Alan Sartirana

Editor-in-chief Pat McGuire

Art director Melissa Simonian

Senior editor Marty Sartini Garner

Editorial assistants Christian Koons, Nate Rogers

Associate editor Bailey Pennick

Editorial intern Jessica Lynn

Design intern Taylor waldschmidt

Writers A.D. Amorosi, Jessica Jardine, Kyle MacKinnel, Kurt Orzeck, Mischa Pearlman, Ken Scrudato, Laura Studarus, Nedelle Torrisi

Images Brian Thomas Grove, Lisa Hanawalt, Mel Kadel, Chad Kamenshine, Catie Laffoon, Timothy Saccenti, Emily Shur, Neph Trejo, Whitney Weir ANTHEMIC AGENCY Natalie Anderson, Mike Bauer, Sarah Chavey, Jacqueline Fonseca, Jeremy Gabriel, Amber Howell, Ed James, ADRIAN MOREIRA, Natania Reed, RICARDO RIVAS VELIS, Kyle Rogers, Robert Sanchez, ERIN YASGAR

ON THE COVER: BIG GRAMS PHOTOGRAPHED by Timothy Saccenti; THIS PAGE: ART BY MEL KADEL

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T H E

T H R E A D

U

N

F

I

L

T

E

R

U N P R E D I C T A B L E

E

D

breaking

BØRNS

By Mischa Pearlman

Photo by Nick Walker

THEY SAY THERE ARE THREE THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN IT COMES TO REAL ESTATE PROPERTY: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. It seems that adage can go a long way when it comes to music, too,

Before the bugs got it, though,

because it wasn’t until Garrett Borns

Borns

moved from New York to Los Angeles in

other songs—these with his good

2013 that inspiration for his first single

friend, producer/songwriter Tommy

as BØRNS, “10,000 Emerald Pools,”

English—resulting

struck and his dreamy, breezy, ethereal

EP as BØRNS, Candy. Released in

synth-pop sound was, well, born.

November 2014, its four tracks are

“The energy definitely felt right

sumptuous, serene slices of summer

out here,” says the twenty-three-

that simultaneously look back to the

year-old singer-songwriter over the

past and step forward into the future.

phone from Los Angeles, “as well as the

“Past Lives” starts off with a Beach

place I was living and the people I was

Boys-esque melody before heading

seeing…and my headspace. Everything

off in a totally divergent electro-pop

interconnected and it felt very inspiring

direction, while “Electric Love” is

managed

to

write

in

his

three

debut

for a new kind of sound to come out. a kind of sad, kind of happy, wholly It’s very enlightening, living out here. upbeat pop song.

California is definitely where I’m meant

to be right now.”

the time,” he explains. “I didn’t know

“That was just my headspace at

Although he moved to Silver Lake

anyone in California when I moved out

at the start of last year, Borns’ first

here, so I guess my kind of escape

place of residence in LA—where he

was to write these fantastical love

wrote “10,000 Emerald Pools” with his

songs about how amazing it would

friend Jack Kennedy—was a secluded

be if the woman of my dreams just fell

tree house that overlooked the city. from the clouds!”

Location, location, location.

“It was a beautiful environment,”

just yet, “Electric Love” hasn’t gone

says Borns, who’s originally from Grand

unnoticed—not least by one Taylor

While

that

hasn’t

happened

Haven, Michigan. “It was very open, Swift, who branded it an “instant there was no traffic, it was up a hill, and I

classic” to her millions of Twitter

didn’t really have any neighbors. I could

followers. With a debut album coming

pretty much just play music at any hour

this October, you’d think that might put

of the night, whenever I felt like it. I had

some extra weight on his shoulders,

an outdoor kitchen and fruit trees around

but Borns insists he isn’t feeling too

me. But it was definitely rustic and it also

much pressure as a result.

definitely needed some TLC. It was not

FROM: Los Angeles, via Michigan and New York

glamorous. It was very ramshackle. But

chuckles. “I don’t let it affect me in a

YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: Taylor Swift calling his song “Electric Love” an

it was also about time that I moved out, negative way, I kind of just use it as fuel. I

“instant classic” on Twitter

because it was starting to crumble and

don’t like to think too far ahead—I like to

NOW: Releasing his debut album, Dopamine, on Interscope

be eaten by termites.”

absorb as much as I can each day.”

BACKSTORY: A gentle soul who moved to LA, found new inspiration, and set out to take the music world by storm

10

FLOOD

“I think pressure’s good,” he

息2015 Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. FENDER速, JAZZMASTER速 and the distinctive headstock designs commonly found on these guitars are registered trademarks of FMIC. All rights reserved.

PURE VINTAGE

1965 JAZZMASTER 速 IN AZTEC GOLD

HANDMADE IN THE U.S.A. FENDER.COM/AMERICANVINTAGE

breaking

FROM: Nashville, Tennessee

This article being no exception, one of the first things you’re bound to hear about Bully is how they sound like a grunge band reincarnate. It’s not a

YOU MIGHT KNOW THEM FROM: The innate desire to scream at the top of your lungs

completely

NOW: Shaking hair out of their faces across the country in support of Feels Like, out on StarTime International/Columbia

guitarist/lead

BACKSTORY: Retro-progressive rock quartet led by Alicia Bognanno, one of the most honest voices to arrive since flannel became cool again MEMBERS: Alicia Bognanno (guitar/vocals), Stewart Copeland (drums), Clayton Parker (guitar), and Reece Lazarus (bass) FOUNDED: 2013

untrue singer

“which means more than two parts,” cracks Bognanno), the LP feels specific to a time and place, and its energy is impossible to ignore—the absolute antithesis of elevator music. Columbia

description—and imprint StarTime International signed Alicia

Bognanno Bully to release it, which may sound

would be the first to admit that—but fancy, but it’s 2015, and as Bognanno in simply summing up the gnarled and explains, “A lot of the contracts I’ve beautiful music of the group’s LP Feels Like seen between quote-unquote ‘major as ’90s alternative revivalism, you would labels’—or ‘indie labels that are owned be dodging the needle-sharp point of by a major label’—and ‘indie labels,’ the album’s very modern emotional core, the difference is, like, a tour van or and misrepresenting one of the freshest not.” debuts in recent memory.

And that’s really at the crux

“I guess I would prefer to be called of it, inevitably: Bully could have

‘grunge’ than ‘garage,’” says Bognanno, existed

in

1993, but

they

don’t,

sitting in a booth at Canter’s Deli in Los and their unintentional defiance of Angeles with bandmates Stewart Copeland, common twenty-first century genre Clayton Parker, and Reece Lazarus. “And I designations most basely indicates don’t think it’s ‘indie’ because I don’t know just how much they stand out from what the fuck ‘indie’ means. So I guess if what’s predominantly going on in rock I had to choose, ‘grunge’ at least makes and roll right now. sense. But if I didn’t have to choose, I would

“It’s

just...prefer not to.”

responsibility or whatever to know all of

Melvillian

preferences

not

our

immediate

aside, that,” says Copeland, speaking of their

Bognanno has every right to readily place within the industry. “Just kind of dismiss the “garage” label in particular, focusing on being a band presently, and given that she recorded, engineered, and writing decent songs, and playing well mixed Feels Like in Steve Albini’s Electrical is.” That’s no doubt the right answer Audio studio in Chicago, where she had (particularly on such a topic while previously interned before going on to form sitting in an establishment with Guns Bully in Nashville. And like the frequently N’ Roses posters looming on the walls), applied “grunge” descriptor, Albini’s name but a telling one, nonetheless, as the gets thrown around a lot in relation to the quartet jettisons into an unknown (but album, but Bognanno is quick to clarify that, in their case, promising) landscape.

B u l ly

By Nate Rogers

despite being “the best engineer ever,”

hosting it in his space.

Photo by CHAD KAMENSHINE

Arranged

to

match

roll and stuff.” And so we will. the

band’s

sincerely utilitarian live show, and captured takes (barring the more “elaborate” tracks,

FLOOD

“We have a manager and he can

with the actual production beyond simply “And people can write about rock and

predominantly in a minimal amount of

12

the In Utero producer had no involvement think about that,” Copeland goes on.

breaking

son l itt l e

By Christian Koons

PHOTO BY Anthony Saint James

Last year, while touring through Europe in the fall as Son Little, Aaron Livingston felt extraordinarily at ease.

rock, R&B, and soul with elements

Shows were going well and, without his

imaginative and entirely human.

phone, he felt happily disconnected,

A good example of this stylistic

free from the distractions of life back

blend is “Cross My Heart”—a cut

home in the States. “I was feeling

from his debut EP Things I Forgot

very unburdened, unusually so,” says

and the first song he wrote as Son

Livingston, remembering. “Then I was

Little—in which Livingston’s voice

just suddenly slapped awake.”

channels a young Stevie Wonder

The abrupt rousing came from a

while he strums a dusty blues lick

French journalist who caught him up

over blippy R&B percussion and a

on the news about Michael Brown in

driving hip-hop groove.

Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York.

“That was a buzzkill,” says Livingston,

Livingston’s process. “There’s so

a hint of sarcasm emphasizing the

much you can do without trying

understatement. It wasn’t long after

now,” he says. “It’s so easy to

his return to America that Livingston

sit at your laptop and make an

wrote “O Mother,” a spare, mournful soul

orchestral masterpiece without any

ballad in which he sings with a raspy

instruments. It forces you to mess

tenor, “Can I love the world and hate

around and try different things, if you

how it makes me feel? / ’Cause I don’t

really wanna make something that

wanna kneel / Is there anyone who’s got

sounds different.”

my back for real?”

for

The New Yorker called the song

FROM: Born in LA, grew up in Queens, lived for a stretch in Philadelphia, but now calls New Jersey home YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: His guest spots with The Roots, his work with RJD2 as Icebird, his production for Mavis Staples, or his 2014 debut EP Things I Forgot NOW: Releasing his soulful, exploratory debut LP on Anti-

14

FLOOD

a distinctive, incredibly modern sound—songs that are both highly

Sonic

invention

Livingston

honed

experimentation

is

key

his

to

taste

through

a sequel to Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City

collaborations with The Roots (his

Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” and

vocals appear on 2004’s “Guns Are

iconic gospel singer and civil rights

Drawn” and on 2011’s Undun) and

activist Mavis Staples—whose recent

RJD2, with whom Livingston released

EP Livingston produced—called it a

an album as the indie-funk act Icebird.

“masterpiece,” heralding the tune as

a sort of contemporary anthem for the

to putting sounds together that

disheartened ethos of black identity in

maybe most people wouldn’t think

America. In a recent interview, Staples

to combine,” says Livingston. “They

said, “I’m looking at the world seeing

both encouraged me to do my own

the ’60s all over again. These young

thing and not worry about what other

black men, and white men, too, they

people said.” Although so far, in

need to hear ‘O Mother.’”

Son Little’s case, the words of other

Despite BACKSTORY: The artist once known as Aaron Livingston commands as many genres as he does instruments with his new nom de rock, Son Little

of reggae and psychedelia to craft

the

apparent

timelessness of Livingston’s music, billing him as a throwback act would be a mistake. On his debut album Son Little, Livingston blends blues, southern

“Both of those artists are open

people have not been something to worry about.

ROUD

PROUD

breaking

BASEBALL card VANDALS

By Marty Sartini Garner

photo BY neph trejo

If you grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, you grew up in a world where Bo Jackson, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan could have their own cartoon. Ken Griffey Jr. could play a

card. That’s why we do so many cards with bizarre sentence structures and absurd statements.”

The brothers have amassed a

following impressive both for its quantity— they have over seventeen thousand

non-threatening movie villain. Real-life

Instagram followers—but also in its quality:

expansion teams could be named after

the Anaheim Angels’ C.J. Wilson and Josh

fictional children’s teams. In the post–Pete

Reddick of the Oakland A’s have both

Rose, pre–steroid era, sports marketing

posted pictures of themselves in Baseball

was, if not more innocent, at least still

Card Vandals gear, while people from

trying to work within traditional forms. Royals legend Bret Saberhagen to Lil Jon That included the baseball card, which

himself count themselves as fans.

companies were cranking out like peanuts

and Cracker Jacks well into the Clinton

though. After the brothers tweaked a

administration—by one estimate, as many

Dave Winfield card to say “If there’s

as eighty-one billion cards per year were

grass on da field, play ball,” the Hall of

produced at the time. In the same way that

Famer “made sure the Twitter universe

you have dead skin cells drifting around

knows that he is in no way affiliated

your room as you read this, you probably

with us,” the brothers say.

have baseball cards tucked away around

your house. You just don’t see them.

into paroxysms of anxiety over the

They’re not universally beloved,

And if your dad is currently going

That may soon change thanks to Beau

Abbotts’ dramatic devaluation of their

and Bryan Abbott, the two brothers behind

lifelong card collection, tell him to rest

Baseball Card Vandals. What they do is

easy. “Cards from the ’50s and ’60s

simple, if horrifying to men in their sixties

that are in decent condition are scarce,

who still haven’t gotten over their parents

so they were worth more money in the

ditching their own card collections: they

’80s,” they say. “But then, everyone in

scribble. They doodle. They deface. They

the ’80s thought their cards would be

remix old sports cards—the worthless

worth a ton of money in thirty years, so

“commons,” in the trade’s lingua franca—

they kept them in pristine condition

reshaping faces and bodies, rearranging

right out of the pack. Which means

words. The results are sometimes juvenile, there’s a fucking ton of those cards in

FOUNDED: Started on Tumblr/Twitter/Facebook in November 2012; added Instagram in March 2014 FROM: Originally Baseball Country, USA (i.e., St. Louis); now, Los Angeles YOU MIGHT KNOW THEM FROM: The irreverently defaced baseball cards that have earned them a healthy social media following NOW: Confusing Hall of Famers and frustrating collectors the world over as they near their 2,000th card

often nonsensical, and almost always

great condition, so they’re not scarce

hilarious. And while they’re not above the

at all, and not worth anything.”

occasional dick joke, their creations can

also be dark and oddly moving.

be an idiot to mark up a mint-condition

“We have a special affinity for sad or

Griffey Upper Deck rookie, one of the

embarrassing words next to confidently

most valuable cards of the brothers’

smiling players,” the brothers say via e-mail

day. In the meantime, they’ll stake their

from their home in Los Angeles, where their

reputation on their ability to vandalize

vandalized cards recently won them jobs at

the commons. Or, as they put it, “Our

a creative agency. “We never sit down with

brand is nothing without the unfortunate

any ideas beforehand. They’re all generated

bodies

by what’s on the card: the player’s facial

forgettable ’80s middle relievers.”

expression, their body position, and, most importantly, the words and letters on the 16

FLOOD

Besides, they say, you’d have to

and

faces

of

completely

Dear Nedelle, What if your partner is mega-religious and presses questions like “Do you believe Jesus died for your sins?” I kinda grew out of that stuff. It’s like being looked down upon and judged by a person that should lift you up but doesn’t.

I think the core issue here is acceptance. Can your partner love you unconditionally or not? It’s a simple question, but somehow it’s so difficult to put into practice. Sometimes people are good on paper but can’t make it work IRL. This is something that both of you should consider. If your core values are too then you may have hit a wall.

That said, I’m very different from my boyfriend in some ways, but we work hard at focusing on the things we have in common. We try to quell fights (in our case, heated philosophical discussions) before they start. No one is the perfect match for another person; you have to decide if they’re right enough to look past the differences. This may sound cynical, but Hi, My name is Nedelle Torrisi.

it’s not—I’m just a pragmatist! Someone you can have fun with, have good sex with, and not

I’m a musician with a bunch of albums out on different labels and under different

fight with is the new soul mate. Ha.

monikers: Nedelle, Nedelle and Thom, and Cryptacize. The most recent one just came out on Ethereal Sequence/Drag City under my full name. It’s called Advice From Paradise.

Good luck!

I began giving out love advice on my Tumblr a couple of years ago, and I’m happy to

Song recommendation:

have my column run in FLOOD. Have a question? Need some advice? Ask me anything at

“Fight the Good Fight” by Triumph

AdviceFromParadise@gmail.com or ask anonymously at AdviceFromParadise.com.

20

FLOOD

IMAGES BY WHITNEY WEIR; DERADOORIAN PHOTO BY BENNET PEREZ

different and they’re always causing fights,

Please allow me to welcome my newest guest columnist: Angel Deradoorian! Angel, who has played in Dirty Projectors and Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, just released her wonderful debut solo album as Deradoorian, The Expanding Flower Planet.

True Love Butterflies Dear Nedelle, What’s the secret to finding and keeping true love?

Dear Advice From Paradise, Straight to the point. Respect! I’d say that the answer to both

I really like this guy but I’m terrified to ask him out. I feel drawn to him, but the thought of

is the same—to become so happy with yourself and your life

talking to him makes me feel like I could throw up. It’s the worst. I don’t know him that well,

that you become a magnet for other positive people. Maybe

which is of course why I want to know him better. I know that the ultimate advice is to “just do

you’ve noticed that someone who is deeply unhappy and/or

it,” but I guess I’m looking for tips on how to psych myself up beforehand, or how to swallow

self-loathing can’t attract others. And if that person gets lucky

my nerves.

enough to attract another doom-and-gloomer, they might not be able to keep the relationship.

Deradoorian says: My first inclination is to have you ask yourself, “What is making me nervous?” Is it the anticipation that has built up over time, or are you fearful that your

So now that I’ve talked about attraction, let’s talk subtraction.

conversation might fall flat? Sometimes it’s nice to just say, “Hello, how are you?” and start

You should be so happy that someone who comes into your life

the communication slowly. Ask him about himself. People are drawn to self-confidence.

is just a bonus (OK, I know it’s easier said than done, but I’m

I know this does not come naturally to everyone, but we all have some of it, and we can

describing an ideal). You don’t need the person, but they are a

conjure it up. To me, part of self-confidence is not having expectations of others. Taking

great addition to your life. If they leave, you’re still doing your

the risk is the hardest part, but when you drop your expectations, you can just let it go.

thing and you don’t have a hole in your heart. Dependency and

I’ve found that when I like someone a lot and have this feeling, I am idealizing them.

neediness are major no-no’s.

I have to remind myself that they are a person just like me—that they aren’t better or stronger in any way, but just have a different energy, perhaps.

You might be thinking, “Society emphasizes happiness so much—it really stresses me out. Am I happy enough? What

I’ve heard it’s sometimes good to say something like “I’m a little nervous” aloud to lessen

if I’m a bummer?” Well, as long as you’re trying your best,

the feeling inside. It’s a very honest opening to a conversation, and sometimes it can

you’re doing just fine. Most of us don’t have the good fortune

defuse the anxiety.

of saying “I’m so dang happy” every morning when we wake up. Here’s a tip—you can fake your way into changing your

Song recommendation:

mind. Smile when you’re being negative. Replace a grunt with

“Come & Talk to Me” by Jodeci

a laugh. Go out and be with people when you want to be alone.

It tricks your brain.

Good luck!

Song recommendation: “You Make Loving Fun” by Fleetwood Mac

Bill Bryson’s

GUIDE TO

TRAVEL

By Pat McGuire

In the five-plus decades he has spent traveling the globe and recording his adventures, the award-winning author Bill Bryson has seen a lot of changes.

“So many things are easier now, but places are so much more crowded, too,” says Bryson. “It was a lot quieter when I first started. We didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I look back now and think of it as a kind of golden age. I bet the Louvre was a lot quieter in 1973 than today.”

Anyone who has fought through the merchant hordes hawking selfie sticks outside the Colosseum or haggled in grand bazaars alongside forty thousand of their closest iPhone-tethered friends has certainly experienced that rub.

An “observer more than a participant” in his own words, Bryson—no slouch of an adventurer, to be sure—has seen the travel bug spread far and wide, as accessibility, technology, and public interest continue to improve. But, as the author of myriad BEST-SELLING books on experiences abroad, he may in fact be partly to blame for certain international influxes. Surely more than one family has been inspired to renew their passports after reading of the Iowa native’s hilarious trips and travails through England and the rest of Europe, Australia, Africa, seldom-seen parts of America, and beyond.

This fall, the beloved account of his middle-aged attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods, is being released on the big screen, starring none other than Robert Redford as Bryson and Nick Nolte as his gruff partner in crime, Katz. In addition, a new book about his adopted home of Great Britain, The Road

to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island, is on shelves this winter.

FLOOD rang the author at his EUROPEAN residence for a guided tour of his seasoned traveling methods. Here, READ Bryson’s notes on how to see the sights, dismiss nosy seatmates, and pack enough reading material to endure a ten-hour delay on the tarmac.

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23

Packing and Preparing Because I tend to be disorganized, I like to be as organized for a trip as I can be. I’ll double check that I’ve got my passport and all the papers I need. [How I pack] depends on the kind of trip, whether it’s for research or vacation. I don’t feel like a master packer; I try really suitcase, it’s all wrinkled to hell, and if I’m doing something work-

In Transit

wise, I have to iron a shirt every day. The only thing I’ve learned

On planes and trains, I tend to read or work on my laptop. I find

over the years is to start with an empty plastic bag so you can put

it really valuable time to get work or reading done without any

dirty socks and underwear in so they won’t get mixed up with your

interruptions. I only watch television on a plane when I’m having

clean stuff. I used to take the dry-cleaning bag from the hotel but

my meal. In cabs, wherever I am in the world, I really love to

increasingly all these hotels use canvas bags as a sign of classiness.

watch the scenery and look at the cities. In Australia, they have

But they’re no good—I can’t steal them out of fear they’ll add it to

a wonderful tradition of passengers sitting up front with the

my bill.

driver, so you can see right out the front windshield.

[The day before a flight], I’ll go through the process of packing four

Dealing with Chatty Strangers

times as much reading material as I can possibly do in a week. I know

Boring people seem to have a real instinct for finding me. I’m

it’s foolish, but I just have to do it. I couldn’t bear to be somewhere

not very gregarious so I tend to not seek out conversations. My

and not have a lot to read. I’ve sort of gone to the digital world—I

general approach to life is to sit and watch the world go by and

have a Nook—but I don’t download books, just manuscripts and

spy on people, as it were, rather than wade into the middle.

magazine articles. I’ve just come from Australia and I took four

There are exceptions to that, but by and large I don’t like to

physical books; I read half of one of them. And I knew that I wasn’t

talk to strangers. If I’m doing a travel book, I tend to come up

going to read them, but I thought if we ended up stuck somewhere,

with a clumsy lie: I’m there for a funeral or to visit someone.

if an engine needed to be rebuilt and we’re stuck on the tarmac for

I’ll talk to a friendly cabbie, though; often, I’ll initiate those

ten hours, I wanted to make sure I had plenty to read.

conversations and just ask about things I’m seeing or how the economy’s doing. But on an airplane, I’ll be polite but I won’t

Researching Your Destination

initiate conversation. That’s my time.

I’m perversely more inclined to do research when it’s a trip for on a place, I don’t like to know too much [in advance]. I try and

Where To Stay and How To Get Your Bearings

fill in all the gaps afterwards. That’s sometimes a risk, but what it

I always try to stay in an old, established hotel in a historic part

means is you turn a corner and see something and you have that

of town rather than something fashionable or up and coming. I

wonderful sense of discovery, whereas if you’ve read a guidebook,

don’t particularly like boutique hotels. I do like to be somewhere

it tells you to turn a corner to see the Duomo or whatever. I think

in the thick of things where you can step out the door and walk.

that robs you of the excitement of the experience. And the fact is,

I tend to give myself a distant destination that will take me

if a city has a cathedral, you’re gonna stumble on it; you’re gonna

through interesting areas and I’ll walk to it by one route and then

work out where the big museums are. I do occasionally miss out on

come back by another. I check out a beach, or head for parks—

little treasures but at the same time I find things that I feel nobody

wherever the largest parks are, that’s generally a reliable way of

else knows about.

finding your way around a city you don’t know.

pleasure than if it’s for work. If I’m doing a travel article or book

PREVIOUS PAGE: “Bill Bryson on the South Downs Way in East Sussex” by Sam Bryson. Courtesy of Bill Bryson

hard to fold things neatly, but when I take something out of the

Required Tools and Gadgets I have never succeeded with digital maps; they’re convenient if you want to know how long it takes to drive from Las Vegas to San Francisco, but in terms of actually studying routes, I’d much rather a physical map. I usually take a little travel alarm clock because I’m completely bewildered by most hotel alarms and I never have any confidence that I’ve set it correctly. I don’t have a lot of confidence in wake-up calls, either. I’m not very attached to gadgets or devices. Nowadays, I take a laptop but that’s about

Recording Your Journey

it. I do have a collapsible walking stick I take if I’m going to be

Most times I take some kind of a camera and take a lot of

doing any walking out in the open or on trails. I find it kind of

really crappy pictures to aid my memory. I often roll the

comforting, but it’s also quite useful just to keep yourself from

car window down and snap a random picture with my arm

stumbling as you’re going down an embankment.

out the window, just so I’ve got a record of the landscape. I do take notes but not terribly well, and I try to sit down at

Language Barriers

the end of each day and take a half-hour to jot down basic

I’m conversant in all the different forms of English, which is

observations. But often I find the things I jot down turn

kind of like speaking another language sometimes, but other

out to be of no use to me when I write the book.

than that I don’t have any language skills at all. I do think that’s one of the fun parts of travel—that sense of being completely

Recognizing Your Journey’s End

bewildered because you don’t speak the language. Cyrillic or

Sometimes it’s just because you’ve come to the end; you’ve

Chinese or something adds an extra dimension. I quite enjoy

done a coast-to-coast journey or something. When I did

not knowing which is the drugstore and that kind of being lost.

The Lost Continent, the idea was to do two big circuits of the US, and both of them brought me back to Des Moines,

Sustenance

my hometown. So that’s how I knew it had ended. But

I like to eat, and it’s a big part of the day, but by no means am I

this book I’ve just done on Britain was a bit different. First

a foodie. I don’t go to huge amounts of trouble to get the best

of all, there isn’t really a natural way to progress through

possible meal, but I do enjoy a meal and I try to experiment

Britain. And also, because I live here, it didn’t really feel

a little bit with local cuisine. And alcohol—it can often seem

like a journey of discovery—I just felt like I was at large

[in a book] like that’s all I’m doing in the evenings, drinking

in the country I live in. So, choosing an itinerary and

and drinking, and in a sense that’s true. But it’s also because

deciding I’d gathered enough material were both slightly

I’m at a loose end, away from home and in a strange place, so

odd challenges. And in some ways, I didn’t need to make

what else are you gonna do? You’ve got two options, really: sit

the trip at all, because I live here—most of the things I was

in your hotel room and watch TV, or go to a pub and have a

concluding I could have done without leaving home. At the

drink or two. So I tend to drink a lot more when I’m traveling

same time, it also felt like I could have spent the whole of

around for books and articles than I would at home. I hardly

my life on the road, because even though it’s a fairly small

ever drink at home.

place, there’s just so much in Britain.

FLOOD

25

U n d e r the In fluence Kurt Vile, a father of two and self-described family man, is soaking up the comfort and company of his home in Philadelphia before leaving to

begin the press cycle for his sixth album, b’lieve i’m goin down.... “I write a lot at my parents’ house,

strangely enough,” he says. “I’ll drive to the suburbs, hang out with my dad, listen to music, play guitar on the porch and, driving back, I’ll get inspired.”

Despite his fondness for domesticity, Vile’s career as a widely acclaimed, incredibly talented, and

totally unconventional troubadour keeps him on the road a lot, even when he’s not touring. The

making of his newest record took him from the hills of Athens, Georgia, where he fleshed out song ideas with his band The Violators, to the barren desert landscape of Joshua Tree, California,

where he learned the mystical ways of West African world-fusion rockers Tinariwen, and, finally,

back to his home studio in Philly.

Here, Vile takes us track by track through a selection of songs from b’lieve i’m goin down... and offers an in-depth look at the writing process behind his idiosyncratic style.

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By Christian Koons Photos by Marina Chavez

T “P re t t y P imp in ”

always a little weirder, but I just wanted to go into classic mode. It’s got that kind of ethereal, dark thing.

It’s funny—for at least the last two records, the pop jams came latest. I had a lot It was a heavy song. The words are kind of sad, just talking about life and death. We

my bandmate, were essentially working on the record ourselves, totally insular.

were not resting very well that whole time; we’d stay up later and later, and it was

All of a sudden we had a swamp of material, and I knew I needed some kind of

definitely scaring me. I was like, “Man, this song’s too dark.” My favorite part is the

producer. Just when I thought I was going to drown in this swamp of digital mess,

way the horn synthesizers come in, in the middle; it just kind of explodes out of

Rob Schnapf [Elliott Smith, Beck] reached out.

nowhere—just this warm, emotional chord. I’m proud of that one.

R

of spaced-out, darker folk music before “Pimpin” came along. Me and Rob Laakso,

So I flew back to Philly and we were just going to mix with him, but then I was inspired by the situation, and I wrote “Pretty Pimpin.” It turned into this pop jam,

“Wh eel h ouse”

which we needed really bad. Those harmonies just came… I’ve never had a harmony just come down from the heavens into my head like that—it was just all there.

“Wheelhouse” is definitely my favorite song. I went straight from Athens to Joshua Tree to jam with Tinariwen at [famed desert recording studio] Rancho de la Luna.

It’s crazy because they don’t speak very much English. But they were teaching me

“I’ m an Ou t law ”

certain styles. On their guitars, they would just tune their low E up to a G, so they’d be playing chords, but they had this sort of drone—it almost sounded like they

This was one of the earliest recordings for the record. Down by the shore, I was

were playing two chords at once. It has this spiritual quality. I moved my strings

reading that book Blood Meridian [by Cormac McCarthy], which is just a mind-

around on my Jaguar—I don’t know how I did it, but it’s a really weird tuning. I’ll

melter. I was also getting back into my banjo. It has the high drone string that has

have to look it back up to relearn it.

U

this hypnotic, rustic folk thing—you can really get lost in it.

When [my] band showed up, the magic happened, we just played it live. It was this

I recorded that in my space; I call it the Red Room. We got all the basic tracks done

spiritual tune—a spiritual mantra of some sort. We did two takes and used the

on my reel-to-reel. I went down to Athens where my drummer Kyle [Spence] has

second one. That’s the key to playing with great musicians like Stella [Mozgawa, of

a home studio. He played drums on it and I added that Wurlitzer solo and some

Warpaint] and Farmer Dave [Scher, of Beachwood Sparks]. They were reacting in

really cowboy-esque lead acoustic guitar. There’s, like, subliminal Ennio Morricone

real time. Dave, one of his tricks is just to react to the lyrics that I’m singing, and he

vibes to it. It’s a ghostly tune.

tries to get that out of his instrument.

That’s my crowning moment so far in, like, real music. I mean, it’s all real music,

“T h at ’s L ife , t h o (a l m o st h at e to say) ”

but, something like “Pimpin”—you play it live, then you overdub, then you polish it off. But “Wheelhouse” was all done in real time. It’s the closest we could come to Pharoah Sanders or John Coltrane—that stuff is spiritual, but it’s all live. It’s not

pretty standard folk tuning. Most of my tunings I come up with myself, and they’re

second-guessing or fine-tuning or getting rid of your mistakes, it’s all there.

K

“That’s Life” is the first song that I recorded with The Violators in Athens. It’s in a

E “ L ife L ik e T h i s ” I was coming up with that simple piano intro—it’s just a couple chords, but it’s real pretty. I started hearing it as a pop song, mainly because the piano was so pretty and the drums were so tight. These days, the lyrics come pretty fast and I just jot them down. A lot of it spawns from having a good time and laughing

L

with friends. I incorporate funny sayings or funny jokes into it, not as a cop–out but because they’re a life force.

I belted out the lyrics really quick. I had this guitar riff in my head and I laid it down really fast, because we had limited time at the studio anyway. But, sometimes the faster you work and the less you think, you realize that’s the best stuff.

We were mixing it for three days—losing the point, basically. The whole song was birthed [from] off-the-cuff stuff that happened really fast. And then we found an early mix and it was clearly the best one. Thank god for that early rough mix.

“ Stan d I n si d e ”

I

I’ve had this song written for a super long time. I wrote it back in ’05, I think. It’s

got the hypnotic thing—fingerpicking those dreamy minor chords. It’s a simple love song with a humoristic side to it. Well, not humor, but, you know, “Don’t talk to me / Just walk to me”—if someone took it at face value, it would sound like you’re a complete dick.

I always had vague ideas for the song that never felt right. All throughout my life I would go back to it. It’s very real, done live—a natural folk song. For whatever reason I always imagined it at the end of a record. We overdubbed a bunch of stuff to it, only to take most of it away. That’s always a recurring theme: add all this stuff,

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overthink everything, only to get rid of it all for the stuff that’s really real.

BY KYLE MACKINNEL PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY SACCENTI

“I need another lover like I need another hole on the side of my temple,” unloads Antwan Patton—to whom “only the ladies” refer as Antwan and is better known anyway as Big Boi—in the opening moments of Big Grams’ “Run for Your Life.” Urgently delivered over Josh Carter’s jungle-swelled backbeat, the statement assumes a different posture as Sarah Barthel beckons with her choral refrain, “Tell me, where you wanna go?” The irony of the lyric lies in the fact that neither OutKast’s more sizable Boi nor Barthel and Carter’s Phantogram are exactly strangers to collaboration. As it happens, the trio comprising Big Grams were in bed together well before their debut project commenced.

Back in 2011, professed Phantogram fan Big Boi invited Barthel and Carter to his Stankonia Studios in Atlanta to work on what would become three of the more successful tracks from his second album untethered to OutKast counterpart André 3000, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. Despite representing relatively disparate strata of the musical landscape (Phantogram had theretofore released only 2009’s Eyelid Movies and a handful of EPs against Big Boi and OutKast’s extensive back catalog), a mutual respect swiftly formed, and the prospect of deeper collaboration became a foregone conclusion.

“We are just huge fans of one another,” says Barthel. “Big expressed how much of a fan he was to us, and obviously we were big fans of him. It’s like, you’re working with your favorite artist, and it’s bound to be really cool.” Hardly the type of emcee to absently fetishize an indie synth line via sampler, Big Boi has long demonstrated his admiration for all walks of musical life. He claims “Jig of Life” as his favorite Kate Bush song, bonded with Barthel and Carter over The Flaming Lips, and once even collaborated on a show with the Atlanta Ballet. But equally essential to the Big Grams recipe is the gusto of Barthel and Carter in their adept willingness to work with a high-profile artist while their own musical identity establishes itself. (The duo released their second full-length, Voices, last year and are currently working on the follow-up.) “There was no fear in the room,” says Big Boi of early Big Grams sessions. “On either side, everybody was willing to do whatever it took to make the jam.”

Further crystallizing Big Grams’ chemistry is their communal sense of humor. The rapport among Big Boi, Barthel, and Carter is especially apparent when they are goofing off, quip-cracking about such captivating topics as band lap-dances and psychedelic drugs.

Whatever the context, listening to Big Grams is an exercise in how music has the ability to overcome external circumstance. When done right, as it has been here, collaboration can escape the confines of its creators’ individual pasts. There is a dialogue of musical substance present on tracks like “Goldmine Junkie” or “Drum Machine,” and instead of becoming a stilted pissing contest, this collab album is the type that illuminates everyone involved. Speaking of dialogue, FLOOD has the ’gram portion of Big Grams on the line right now. It’s a labor of love and the sheets are drawn. Won’t you jump in?

FLOOD

33

How did you all originally meet, and how did the Big Grams

rooms, so once we got it going we’d go off into our separate spaces

collaboration originate?

and just embellish on the ideas and come back and be like, “OK, this is what I got.” Start laying things down like that.

Sarah Barthel: We met each other a long time ago. Around 2012, 2011 maybe? We started collaborating with [Big Boi] on his last

When you guys aren’t discussing music, what do you like to

record—three songs off of his Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors.

talk about?

We wanted to keep moving forward, keep releasing things, so this was a good opportunity for us.

Sarah: B-40, usually. [Editor’s note (just in case): B-40 refers to smoking a blunt while drinking a 40 oz. malt liquor beverage.]

Josh Carter: It was something that we planned on doing, where it was talked about a long time ago that we would make a record, and

Big: Yup. Strip clubs.

fortunately, we all kept our word.

Sarah: Strip clubs…

[Overcoming apparent technical difficulties, Big Boi jumps onto the conference call.]

Were there any strip club outings?

Big Boi: Man, what’s going on with these bogus-ass calls, man?

Big: Yeah, we had a couple. In Atlanta, we went to Diamonds [of

[Laughs.] How are y’all doing today?

Atlanta] on several occasions.

Sarah: Good, how are you?

Sarah: Dave Chappelle?

Big: Good, man, just got to Virginia Beach, just looking at the

Big: Oh yeah, we went to the Blue Flame with Dave Chappelle

waves splash. It’s dope.

after the Dave Chappelle comedy show. We had a good time.

Did you all work together in person much on this project, or did

Is there an inherent sexuality wrapped into artistic collaboration?

it involve lots of passing files back and forth?

Big: I think everything, to me, has got some sexuality to it, for the Sarah: We did a lot of both. We went down to Atlanta and camped out

fact that the music is freaky. I like to make records that you can

for about a week a couple of times, and then Big came out to LA a few

have fun to, you know what I’m saying? That’s what creates that

times, and then the rest was great because we could do it via e-mail,

vibe when you get somebody loose.

because we had other things to do as well. We were separated, so it worked great. It’s definitely more fun to be in the same room, though.

Sarah: Yeah, it’s, um…you have to take a bunch of mushrooms first, though. [All laugh.] Then you figure it out.

Big: It was pretty unorthodox. Sometimes, Josh would come up with a beat, or we might start saying something back and forth. He

Josh: I just think that it’s a record that’s good for making love, it’s

might make a joke, and that shit might turn into a line in a song.

good for driving to, it’s fun to skateboard to, it’s fun to shoot hoops

It was just the chemistry, just being in the same room and having

to. It’s sexy, it’s fun, it’s thoughtful, provocative…

music on that enabled us to pour all that creativity into one space.

In LA, we had two rooms, and in Atlanta, we had two or three

Big: It’s a good soundtrack to your life.

Do you find that you have challenged each other’s creative limits

across state lines, you’d get fifty years for the same thing that you

in a certain way?

don’t get no time for if you were in seattle or los angeles, which is kind of crazy. It’s not like we’re in different countries; this is

All: yeah, definitely.

the same country.

Josh: a lot of the project was us pushing our boundaries as artists

Sarah: What else?

and getting out of our comfort zone, and doing something brand new for all of us. and that’s what made it so fun for me; it’s not a

Big: oh, yeah: eliminate the income tax. how about that? Because

Big Boi record, it’s not a phantogram record.

that income tax is really…there’s no need for that. I just don’t like my tax dollars going to create weapons and things that kill people,

Sarah: It’s a Big Grams record, which is something completely

and babies, and innocent folks. yeah. I’m a humanitarian, by the way.

different. We just wanted to put a bunch of music out that we might not necessarily put on our own records. you know, there

Was there a certain moment when you realized that Big Grams

are songs that I rap on, which I never thought that I would do, but

would be a successful collaboration?

it’s fucking fun and it sounded really cool when the end came out.

Josh: I think that when Big had us come down to stankonia, we Big: right. Break down the barriers.

really hit it off right away. When we started working on songs it just kind of clicked. I knew deep down that we were destined to

If we manage to elect Big Grams for President in 2016, what will

make something really cool.

be its first order in office?

Big: In the studio when we were all working on Vicious Lies, we Big: Um…legalize marijuana, I think. might as well.

came up with the whole concept to do a record. people were really excited about the collaboration that we did. to see everything

Josh: yeah.

coming to fruition is amazing; it’s the brainchild of us just sitting in a room. and then now, the focus is done, the video’s done,

Sarah: yup.

people are excited and loving the songs, and it’s like fate. I feel good about it, man. these are two really cool people that I’ve been

Big: that’s the only thing left to do, really. We have to think,

blessed to be put with, you know what I’m saying? and I think this

we’re all on the same land mass, but if you go a couple of miles

is how things are supposed to be going right now.

STREAM MUSIC TO ANY ROOM FROM ANY DEVICE.

BACKYARD Methodology: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, December 3-8, 2014 and based on 417 online responses.

Sample National adult Internet population.

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FLOOD

New Order, NEW FAITH

By Ken Scrudato Photos by Nick Wilson

FLOOD

41

It’s been joked

that the post-punk generation is the first to lack the

“Writing and recording does become harder work as you get older,” singer-guitarist

slightest sense that it will someday grow old. And perhaps only lending fuel to those

Sumner admits of birthing their first new album in a decade. “It was very intense—at one

flames of denial, every new crop of buzz bands gushes with fawning homages to their

point, we were doing seventy-hour weeks. But, then, this is all I’ve ever done.”

most hallowed influences—name-checking Gang of Four here, Public Image there, and Joy Division everywhere. Said influencers are thusly inspired to stage seemingly

New Order, it must be said, is newer—and renewed. Gilbert returned to the studio for

perpetual reformations, carrying on as if the very idea of “ending” a band were an

the first time since 2001, and her touring replacement Phil Cunningham, as well as Tom

unthinkable absurdity.

Chapman—who filled the hole left by bassist Peter Hook’s animosity-charged departure—

are now fully colluding members. And perhaps poetically verifying the post-punk circle

“In the old days, bands used to break up," says New Order keyboardist Gillian Gilbert. “Or

of life, they have now signed to Mute Records, once surely the ideological riposte to the

the singer would die in a plane crash and that was it.”

band’s former label, Factory.

It’s perhaps a little jarring for her to put it exactly that way, considering how New Order

“Yeah, us and Depeche Mode—it’s weird,” Gilbert observes. “But it does feel like we’re

were literally borne from the aftermath of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis’ suicide. As the

starting all over again, which I think shows on the album.”

history books have it, remaining members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris bolted a few more synthesizers onto their musical manifesto and carried on under

What shows, in fact, are New Order’s exalted and long dormant technological

the starkly literal moniker New Order. Gilbert joined shortly after.

inclinations, informed by three years of live performances, and fans’ “apeshit” reaction to the trotting out of their dance floor classics. And if ever they could benefit from a bit

Now, it would be fairly impossible to argue that New Order haven’t actually broken up at

of self-referentialism, what more fertile ground than “Confusion” and “Blue Monday”?

least once since then. Five years of silence had passed before a reunion gig in 1998, and

2001’s Get Ready was vaguely hailed as a “comeback” record. Yet with the release of Music

Sumner enthuses, “Just getting back into electronics has been very exciting—it’s been so

Complete this fall, there ostensibly comes a promise that they now intend to carry on as

long. We’re doing all the things we dreamed of doing in the ’80s but couldn’t because of

long as is necessary.

the limitations of technology.”

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“Writing and recording does become harder work as you get older. But, then, this is all I’ve ever done.”

—bernard sumner

FLOOD

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What Music Complete does best is serve as a reminder of New Order’s sheer sonic power

Sumner a “twatto,” so best to not hold one’s breath for reconciliation.

when they get things right. Indeed, the explosive “Singularity” might be the most

successful marriage of trance and heavy metal yet. And returning to their early ’80s

Despite using words like “alienation” and “depression” to describe the atmosphere after

Damascus moment, “People on the High Line” and “Tutti Frutti” tap various veins of

the release of 2005’s Waiting for the Sirens’ Call, Sumner is stoical, if not a little relieved:

NYC club culture from that time, which forever propelled them onward from their

“[Hook]’s chosen what he wants to do, and he must be happy doing it, because he wasn’t

post–Joy Division gloom.

happy in New Order. He wanted things done his way, and if it wasn’t done his way, he

wasn’t happy.”

They even invited a couple of their most fervent acolytes—The Killers’ Brandon

Flowers and Elly Jackson from La Roux—into their normally tightly guarded recording

Yet with the band seemingly riding a new high, Sumner pauses for a strikingly

process. But easily the strangest track is “Stray Dog,” in which Iggy Pop recites Sumner’s

confessional moment, seeming to want to apologize for his own part in New Order’s

existential poetry over a sort of fuzzed-out Stooges update. “I can’t stop drinking / It’s

well-documented erraticism of days past: “I was getting fucked up all the time, drinking

in my blood,” Pop snarls, to eerie effect.

too much—though I’m not the only one in the band guilty of that. Some performances

would be amazing, and some just no good and I think it was down to how hungover

Still, while Music Complete decisively proves there was no problem summoning the

we were. So it was our own fault—we put ourselves in that position. But I guess nature

fabled New Order muse, there’s an undeniable sadness to the apparently permanent

sorts you out in the end. We still have a drink…we just don’t get shitfaced.”

departure of Peter Hook—with so much of their mythos having rested in the three

surviving members of Joy Division bravely carrying forward from tragedy. And

Expect many more such revelations when Sumner’s autobiography, Chapter and Verse:

melancholy epics “Academic” and “Nothing But a Fool” do sort of cry out for his

New Order, Joy Division and Me is released by Thomas Dunne Books this November. But

inimitable bass styling.

don’t expect it to send Hook running back into his arms.

Gilbert reckons, “I believe we do have a good sense of our history. But then, if you’re

In spite of it all, what New Order has always unfailingly managed is to galvanize new

always thinking about what happened in the past, I don’t think it gets you very far.”

generations of fans, as Gilbert is all too happy to verify.

To be sure, Hook’s assertion that his absence equates to a Queen without Freddie

“I’ve been surprised by how many young people are coming to the shows, especially in

Mercury is a quite good bit of enmity-tinged hyperbole. He’s also publicly called

Paris, Brussels, and Brazil. It’s all very exciting.”

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When looking at a piece of art by Los Angeles–based artist Mel Kadel, each brushstroke hits a nerve. Layers of striking reds, blues, and greens seep into sun-soaked parchment, forming the fanciful adventures of a dark-haired woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Repeated generations of canvases covered in intertwined knots and personified clouds champion Kadel’s painstaking commitment to detail. A finished work takes a significant amount of time, but the development of her psychedelic universe has taken Kadel’s whole life.

“I’m constantly absorbing,” explains the laid-back artist. Like her art, Kadel is constantly changing and growing. From moving across the country to making the leap to work as a full-time artist, Kadel has hit major milestones, but the brilliance of her art comes from the pieces’ unconscious changes—like when you look in the mirror and suddenly realize you’ve aged. Without her even noticing, Kadel’s art has matured right before her eyes and she’s struck by the small but significant changes that have developed over time. During a visit to her Los Angeles home, we talked about where she’s been as well as what’s on the horizon.

How did you decide that coffee-stained paper would be your preferred medium?

I used to make pen and ink drawings on old book pages—specifically those two first and last blank ones [in every book]—and I liked the old fashioned feeling.

It gave warmth to the drawings. Eventually I wanted to get into ink washes and get a little bigger, so I started mimicking that old paper by staining [new] paper. I had to find thicker, heavier paper to hold up all of the paint. I think I’ve got it down to a bit of a science; I know how [the coffee] grabs the edges of the paper and absorbs [the painting’s] color, so there’s this immediate natural softness and pastel quality to the pieces.

I’m perpetually struck by your protagonist—a darkhaired woman who always looks a little bit pissed off.

What can you say about her?

Well, I can’t really pinpoint why—and I think about this a lot—but once I started drawing her, she evolved into this constant in my work. I think I hit a certain point in my life and became more focused on the feeling of the painting: the look of the world she was in, and not so much who she is. I’ve tried to take her out of my work—there was a series I did where I just covered her up in knots and ropes—but I keep coming back to her. She’s aging now, along with me, which I’m finding interesting. She’s not as young as she used to be and she’s getting a belly! That’s something that might be a direct result of the last few years of my life. I don’t want these pieces turning out cutesy—I enjoy that she’s getting a little dirtier. She’s wearing weird makeup now, she’s dying her hair like crazy old women who dye their hair blue, and I’m happy that she’s going off into a more psychedelic aging world.

Sometimes your pieces have more than one character in them, and they’re always intertwined or interacting on a very communal level. What draws you to portraying these human relationships?

Maybe I’ve become more aware of our connections with each other? It’s the same way that when we walk into someone’s house, we also walk into someone’s mood. It directly affects you and then you move on with your day and sometimes you spread that [lingering mood] onto someone else. I want my art to be the feeling of those relationships—that could be male/ female, family, whatever. The interaction is what’s important.

If I drew [the dark-haired woman] with an old man, who may be her dad, the piece isn’t about [family], it’s about the feeling of interconnectedness. It’s about the relationship that she has with other people and, really, the relationships that we have with ourselves. That’s why sometimes you see her with her mirror image of herself and you’re not sure if she’s with another person or if she’s just interacting with herself. Sometimes I find that I don’t know which it is, either.

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PA I N T I N G. ”

And what about aligning oneself with a place? You grew up in the suburbs of Pennsylvania and now you’re in Echo Park in Los Angeles. How has the change in location evolved your art?

Messing around with staining paper was a direct result of being in California. I was sitting under multiple trees, so a bunch of foliage started popping up in my work. I still look outside and see palm trees and think it’s hilarious.

I feel so connected to where I came from and I’m close to my family, so I’m still very curious about this place, but I think my work is so “California” now: flowers and sunshine. The feelings can be dark at times, but I think that the color palette is brighter now. I noticed the playful nature that everyone had [in LA], like the artist community. On the East Coast I was so confused, but here, I just relaxed and started feeling comfortable with it…even if it was a little hippie. I just shut off the judgment that I was feeling. I think [my heroine’s] happier too, even though she’s still pissed off!

Mel Kadel's flower ball, photographed

by Emily Shur in Iceland, July 2015.