A week ago I gave The Elwins’ upcoming album Play for Keeps a listen, and right off the bat I liked it, but I felt too lazy to write a review. Today, a week later, I was browsing through my music library and saw that I had played the album through in its entirety … 22 times. I’ve listened to this album 3 times per day for the past week. Time to put pen to paper.
On the surface everything about the Elwins’ second studio album is whimsical, light, and fizzy, from the colorful building blocks on the album cover (which read all the way through says “The Elwins Play For Keeps” – Baller) to the first bouncing beats of “Bubble.” The fivesome from Ontario produce indie pop that brings to mind Pop Rocks and Coke: crunchy, sweet, sizzling with good humor and fun, and crackling wickedly with energy.
But like any semi-explosive concoction, there’s an element of complex and dark inner workings to the tracks. While the Elwins produce a form of breezy, infectious pop with ease, it’s layered over an underlying current of darker questions and revelations, and it’s this pairing of light and dark that makes the music stick with you.
The album kicks off with “Bubble,” an effervescent tribute to love, but love that takes you too high too fast, Icarus style: “You fill me up, I fly away/you get me high, I feel the rays/I know I’ll pop, I know I’ll fall/but in this flash, I’ve got it all.” With its deceptively summery beat and addictive rolling gait, the song sends you headlong into the album with abandon.
And abandon is a necessary component if you’re listening to the album – this is not background music. As much as the tracks may have a darker side to them, it never obscures the fun of the music – in fact it enhances it. Spilling over with vibrant and hooky guitar, the tracks are nothing if not catchy. Every time I listen to track 5 of this album “Bringing Out The Shoulders” no matter where I am, in public or private, I have to give a back and forth hair whip at 0:34 to the beat drop that comes along with the question “how much longer/will I have to wander?”. Track 4 “So Down Low” also plays into the breezy but dark theme, with the band explaining that it’s about trying to do the right thing, but ultimately failing and knowing that you’re failing.
Much like the shining star in the last track, or the bubble floating into the sun on the first track, at under 40 minutes Play for Keeps is a short but brightly burning thing of beauty. The album drops February 24th on Hidden Pony Records. Give it a listen. Or 22.
Standout tracks: “Bubble”, “So Down Low”, “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”, “Bringing Out The Shoulders”, “Is there Something?”
The Panic Manual sat down for a pre-show interview with B Side Shuffle members Jasper Drisko, Carter Jones, Geoff Browning, and Nik Sus before they take (and dominate) the stage with White Ford Bronco at DC’s venerated 9:30 Club on Friday, December 19:
No better place to start than the beginning! Can you tell me a little about how you guys teamed up, why you’ve made Washington DC your home, and where your name comes from?
GEOFF BROWNING: In 2009, I moved to DC to work in the House. This was right after the financial crisis, and there were a lot of big legislative fights going on – it was an intense time to be here. The year before that, though, I had been completely captivated by my first trips to Bonnaroo and the All Good Festival. My heart was really drawn to that world. But it felt oddly incompatible with this one. And I assumed the two would never really jive.
That all changed when my friend Corinne Baker convinced me to reconsider. Guitars came out of their cases for the first time since high school. Eventually I wrote a song and played it at Barney Frank’s wedding. That same week, I ran into Jasper at a reunion in Vermont. Then we started trying out bandmates. Then Corinne booked us our first show. Then we met Carter. Then Nik found his way to us, blew us away in his tryout, and convinced us we needed a lead guitar player rather than a keys player. Then a real-life Rube Goldberg machine of amazing events happened, and we started playing shows all over the place. And now we’re playing a sold-out 9:30 Club for the second time this year. It’s kind of crazy.
I think there were a few extra steps in between, involving jello shots, figure skating, and Carter dressing up like Sesame Street characters. But I can say this definitively: the B Side Shuffle is an elaborate mating dance performed by penguins at the North Pole, which Jasper discovered when he was working on his Ph.D. in penguinomics. He has published several scholarly articles about it. And he knows how magnets work.
So here’s a fun fact. When I Google B Side Shuffle the first hits have taglines that include “B Side Shuffle is a highly collaborative, good-times musical collective”; “It’s more than just music – it’s an experience”; and “B Side Shuffle are one of the most exciting and kinetic up-and-coming bands hailing from Washington DC.” Awesome all around. Combining this Internet commentary with the fact that you’ve played our District’s most-revered 9:30Club three times in 2014 makes me think you guys are on to something good. Can you tell me a bit about these shows and what you think has prompted all this super positive commentary?
JASPER DRISKO: I think “good-times” is a key phrase there. Every time we play, we try to put on a really fun, energetic, engaging show for everyone who comes to see us. We’re doing this because we love music and we love playing our music for others. So when we’re on stage, we’re just having a ton of fun sharing that music with the world, and I think the audience really picks up on that and responds to it.
NIK SUS: It’s been a true honor to play 9:30 twice this year already, and now a third time. Over the years, I’ve seen some of my musical heroes grace that stage, so it’s surreal being up there. Each of our shows there in 2014 has been very different, too. Needless to say, we’re really excited to close out the year with a sold-out show at 9:30. We’re bringing a full horn section and have some surprises in store that we think the crowd is gonna love.
Speaking of the 9:30 Club and all that is the DC music scene, let’s hear a bit about how you see the Capitol City’s music landscape and where you find yourself fitting in among the musical crowd. Are there any specific venues where you really feel at home?
NIK SUS: I think we’re able to fit ourselves into a variety of musical settings. Indie crowd, professional crowd, jam crowd, whatever. We just want to get the music out there and for people to have a good time. One stage I feel really comfortable on in DC is Rock and Roll Hotel. It’s the definitive rock club. Intimate, great sound, intense crowd energy. Love the staff, too.
CARTER JONES: This city has very eclectic musical tastes: from jazz to punk, indie rock and gogo – there’s a local band to fit the tastes of pretty much everyone in DC. We see ourselves and our music as a reflection of that diverse listenership. Just like this city, we try to bring all of those influences together in each of our songs to make something that appeals to the differences among us.
Maybe 9:30 Club will feel like home eventually after a few more shows there, but I’m not going to count my chickens before they hatch. I still get chills every time I set foot on that stage. And that’s unlikely to change.
Your newest album Farmalade is great. I love how diverse the sounds are, while remaining cohesive and true to the B Side Shuffle ethos. (I especially love Gauntlet.) What is the process in putting together such an ambitious work? Do you take on specific roles or is it more of an artistic free-for-all?
JASPER DRISKO: It’s a long process, very collaborative and democratic. It really started about six months before we even set out to record on the farm, with actually writing the songs. Then we played them all summer and really developed each one of them, tweaking things as we went along, seeing how the audiences responded, giving each other feedback about what we liked and didn’t like, and getting more comfortable with them. When fall came around, we felt ready to put them down. We spend an amazing weekend on the farm doing basic tracking, and then another few months putting the finishing touches on. It took a whole team of awesome, creative people, more than just the guys in the band, all working together to create the final product. I think we are all really happy with how it came out.
Looking ahead, what’s after Farmalade? What types of plans are you crafting for 2015?
NIK SUS: Look for some live releases, some brand new material, studio releases, and bigger festival appearances. B Side plans our moves strategically. I’m looking forward to working on new songs. In a busy band like ours, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of generating new material, yet it’s the most important thing you can do to keep the train moving.
CARTER JONES: Writing new songs and giving them a chance to fully form. We have lots of new songs already written, but the process is now about filling in the gaps and leading the songs to become the best they can be. That takes making more time to write and jam out new parts rather than just rehearsing for shows. The writing and songcrafting is where the real fun is for me.
You’ve had several awesome partnerships with other, mostly local, musicians (Frank Mitchell of Thievery Corporation, Jason Hann from the String Cheese Incident and Washington DC based saxophonist Ron Holloway as well as Danny Davis and Mario from Yellow Dubmarine). How do you identify possible partners? Can you give us a high-level idea of what that type of partnered collaboration looks like (is it structured? Impromptu? More or less challenging than keeping the creativity to the band alone?)? Is it a learning experience for you or more an exchange of ideas?
JASPER DRISKO: First off, I just want to say that having a drum duel/breakdown/jam with Jason Hann was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. It was an amazing experience to get to play with such a prominent and accomplished musician, but also someone who was extremely cool and down to earth. We had a ton of fun on stage without ever having met before and then after the show I talked to him and he was just a really nice guy too. I’ll never forget that experience.
NIK SUS: Have to give a big shout out to our horn section, which is anchored by Will Sautter (alto sax) and a recurring cast of players including Danny (trumpet), Mario (tenor sax), Frank (tenor sax). This is the first band I’ve worked extensively with horns and it’s actually helped me grow a lot as a musician. It definitely takes a lot of work to do the arrangements, but once you get there, it’s amazing how a well-orchestrated horn section can breathe new life into a song. All around it’s been a game changer, and I’m glad we’re moving in that direction.
The sit-ins have ranged from being meticulously planned to impromptu. When Danny joins us, he usually has everything charted out and it’s very polished and structured. But other sit-ins are completely spontaneous, like the one with the Ron Holloway. He was the artist-in-residence at a great festival we played this past summer in West Virginia, the Mad Tea Party Jam. In the middle of our set and seemingly out of nowhere, our buddy Marc Worden rides up to the stage in a golf cart with Ron and we’re like “What? YES.” He jumped on stage and killed it, of course.
GEOFF BROWNING: In each one of those cases, the circumstances were different. But each was amazing for its own reasons. Frank Mitchell has been part of the Thievery Corporation team for a long time. His sax-slaying skills are mindboggling, and he has a very distinct style. He has been playing and practicing with us a lot recently. Ron Holloway has played with literally everyone—the Allman Brothers Band, Dizzy Gillespie, Government Mule, Gil Scott-Heron, you name it. It’s a privilege to play with these guys, and they each a lot of lessons to impart on younguns like us.
As for how it effects our creativity, it’s always a net positive. We always learn something, and it’s really exciting to think these people actually want to play with us. Sometimes when Frank’s ripping a solo, I almost forget I’m on stage and not in the audience, because he just has such a mastery of sound, and I’m rocking along so hard with my ear monitors. We’ll be playing more with him in 2015 for sure.
What is the question (and corresponding answer) you most wish interviewers would ask?
CARTER JONES: A perennial favorite question for me is “What are you currently spinning/listening to?”
To answer my own question: Lettuce, The Pimps of Joytime, Moon Taxi, Opeth’s latest album “Pale Communion,” and Blood Orange – just to name a few.
NIK SUS: You know when you find a band you really like and you dig deep into their catalog and want to tell all your friends about them? For me, both Tame Impala and White Denim fit that description. Also Chromeo and St. Vincent put out killer albums in 2014.
GEOFF BROWNING: There have been a couple times where we played with a band, and I got to know them, then got into their music afterwards. It’s cool, you can almost hear people’s personalities reflected in their songs. Tauk, Moon Taxi, Big Something, the Revivalists, and ELM come to mind in this category. Also, Rubblebucket is amazing. And Tune Yards. And the Daktaris.
“No point to making plans/the wild life is human nature”
With that lyric and some amazing tropical beats, Vacationer caught my ear with their heavenly 2014 sophomore album Relief. Everything about this Philly/NYC based ‘Nu-Hula’ band is chill – from their name to their lyrics to their sound. My plan to survive the 2015 Chicago winter is to just close my blinds, crank up the heat to 80, put their albums on repeat and envision palm trees.
Lead singer Kenny Vasoli was kind enough to respond to some questions I emailed his way:
You told EO8 that you enjoy touring because you like to see how people on the road react to your songs – that it provides inspiration for new material. How does the crowd’s reaction influence your future songs?
I once heard James Murphy say in an interview (and I’m paraphrasing here) that he likes making dance music because he can see people visibly enjoy it. Like a chef making food that people devour. I identify with that mindset. I’m not aiming to read minds, I really have minimal insight on what the masses want to hear. So it always come from a place of wanting to make music that I want to exist. Seeing how well a crowd reacts to something only strengthens my instincts. I don’t overanalyze it, though I definitely want our music to be a key component to an enjoyable experience.
You have an EP of remixes from other bands of your song “Good as New.” How did that project come about and how did you decide which bands to collaborate with? Do you have a favorite remix? (Also I understand that the song was inspired by your dog – that’s awesome that your dog had an entire album created around him. Most people will never be able to claim the same).
We love to remix other artists and we had a chance to pick some artists who we’re fans of to rework our tunes. It’s a fresh excitement hearing how those will turn out. My favorite is definitely Geographer’s mix. I’ve been a fan of them for a while and I really dig what they did with our song.Good as New is indeed about my dog, Ollie. It blows my mind how sweet he is. He’s my first dog. I wrote that song within the first month of adopting him. I love him so much.
How has it been touring with St. Lucia? Any funny stories from the road?
We’ve only had two shows with them so far and just had a proper hang with the members for the first time last night in Calgary. They are totally sweet people who have only been friendly and welcoming to us. As far as funny stories, we in the band are always barreled over with laughter cracking each other up. It’s hard to pinpoint or retell what makes us lose it, we are such tight friends it’s usually absurd nonsense. For example one morning we were just having fun switching out one word in common questions. Such as: “How do you think you are??” or “Where is the matter with you??”
You all are based out of Philly and NYC – do you find that the city influences your music at all? Do you have a favorite venue in either city to play?
Most definitely. Growing up in the Philadelphia area made discovering music very easy, and I was always searching. We made our bones playing in NYC when we first formed. We also record up there. I find that it’s a terrific place to create music. The frequency of creativity around there is operating at such a high level that I can noticeably feel it.I love Underground Arts and Union Transfer in Philly. Music Hall of Williamsburg and Brooklyn Bowl are my favorites in NY.
Does being based in two different cities make it at all difficult to collaborate on writing and recording?
Not really. We only run into rehearsal issues once in a while. For recording, it’s nice to head up there to work with Matt and Grant. Since I’m making a bit of trip, we waste no time. Also with the technology today, we can pass each other ideas from virtually anywhere and we often do.
One of the first songs I really got into was “The Wild Life” off your 2014 album Relief. The chorus of that song is “No point to making plans/the wild life is human nature” which I love, although I think I’m probably the antithesis of it. Is that pretty true to form for your lives? Or is that more an idealized representation? The music video for the song is also lovely and looks like it was a lot of fun to make – where was it filmed?
I really believe in that lyric, it’s nearly a mantra for myself. It’s been a breakthrough in my life learning how to be present-minded. It’s just in stints at this point, but I love it when I’m dialed into the moment. Planning is a tendency that is not unique to humans and is often unavoidable. I definitely try to avoid them any chance I get. I want life to take me on a ride and I’m exhausted at the thought of trying to completely control it. Over-planning is just projecting a future, and that has been a surefire recipe for disappointment in my experience. Living primarily from moment to moment has been a much better fit for me. My outlook is filled with considerably more wonder and ease these days. It’s been a welcome change in my life.We got to shoot the video in Nosara, Costa Rica. A remarkably beautiful village. It was exactly as much fun as it looks.
Obviously relaxing and de-stressing and vacations are a big part of the ethos of the band, from the tropical sound to the band name to the song names to the lyrics – was there a specific vacation that inspired the band’s ethos? What have been some of your favorite vacations?
I did have a week long vacation in Amsterdam during the making for the first record. It was an enlightening and cathartic trip for me to take. I explored myself and the city during that time and I returned with so much inspiration that had fueled the songs. Now we seem to be in perpetual vacation, we keep getting sent to amazing places. Since we’ve started touring we’ve gotten to play in Iceland. That was a goal I never expected to reach. We were there for 5 days and played one show. We had so much free time to explore and experience the land. I love that we are afforded those opportunities. I want to keep this adventure going.
Vacationer is on tour right now with St. Lucia and they’re playing Chicago this week! Dates below:
Just call it Old Man Week here at the Panic Manual. This week has seen live reviews of Tom Petty and April Wine along with Ricky’s reminscences of mail order music clubs and ’90s Canrock footnote Zuckerbaby, so in keeping with that vague theme (it’s like Shark Week, but with grey hair and guitars), let’s take a look at the latest release from another veteran performer, Robyn Hitchcock.
For The Man Upstairs, Hitchcock partnered up with famed producer Joe Boyd, known for his work with Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, and Nick Drake among many others and in some ways it shares the spirit and the sound of those records. As they began working together, Boyd suggested a “Judy Collins” album, referring to the folk singer’s tendency to feature a mix of originals and covers of both well known and lesser known songs on her 60s and 70s records. Instead of an album full of Dylan, Lightfoot and Phil Ochs songs, however, Hitchcock tries his hand at songs from the like of Grant Lee Phillips, Roxy Music and The Doors. Of the covers, opening track “The Ghost In You” is the highlight with Hitchcock wringing some real pathos out of the Psychedelic Furs’ 1984 hit and transforming it into a beautiful ballad. He follows that up with “San Francisco Patrol,” the strongest song of the entire collection with it’s memorable refrain of “I can’t take my eyes off you.”
Sure, I may joke about the fact that we’ve covered mostly music by “old men” this week, but The Man Upstairs, the product of a musician who’s been playing and recording since the ’70s and a producer with an even longer tenure, is evidence of a still vital and compelling artist.
