DIRTY PROJECTORS
Article written for SHIFT, read it here
2009 was an impressive year for art-pop, Brooklyn-based band Dirty Projectors. Their single ‘Stillness is the Move’ seemed to be streaming on every indie music blog imaginable and the band received amazing press for their harmonic melodies, eccentric riffs, and joyful beats. Dirty Projectors frontman and songwriter Dave Longstreth has managed to create nine very distinct and inviting tracks on Bitte Orca and he is finally getting the recognition that he deserves.
Dirty Projectors played their first show in Tokyo last week and it is safe to say that the audience at Shibuya’s Club Quattro got their 6,000 Yen’s worth. I had a chance to sit down with Longstreth the day after the show to hear his reaction to playing in our city.
You played in front of your first Tokyo audience last night, what was it like playing to a Japanese crowd? Was it different compared to U.S. crowds?
It was really different. The crowd last night was very attentive. I think that New York crowds are notoriously upbeat. I felt like we were on a different order of magnitude playing here.
Yeah, Japanese crowds tend to be extremely quiet in between songs…
It can definitely be a little awkward. I feel like if a hair fell off Amber’s head, you could hear it drop on the ground. It was intense.
There was an interesting mix of people at the gig as well. I saw a few Japanese business men in suits dancing along.
Awesome. We went to this bar in Harajuku where the lady serving us beers knew us once we told her who we were. She owned Rise Above.. which was surprising
You mentioned that Tokyo is a great place to finally visit. Did the reality of the city meet your expectations?
Yeah! Everybody from America has a picture of Tokyo in their head from what we have seen in films and we think ‘no, it can’t actually be like that’… but it is. We’ve only been around Shibuya and Harajuku so far but it’s amazing. We got a bunch of food at the Tokyu Food Show, under Shibuya station. Fish, dumplings, octopus balls… it was pretty surreal.
Dirty Projectors used to be a collective of revolving band members and now you have a permanent group. Tell me about your current members and how you met.
I met Nat when he was opening for Kyle Fields’s band Little Wings in 2004. And I kept crossing paths with Amber on tour because she was in another band, we became friends and she joined DP when she moved to New York. Angel was playing music in the same house where we recorded Rise Above and we became close through that. You just meet amazing people, become friends, and create projects through common interests.
You received tons of recognition on Bitte Orca. Did you expect to gain this much success?
No. It was just this private thing we labored on for a really long time and it suddenly became public.
What is your favorite song to play live?
It varies from show to show. Knotty Pine was really fun to play last night, I enjoyed it.
You are based in Brooklyn, which seems to be the mecca for experimental bands. Do you think living in New York influences your sound?
I just make the things I make, not too much thought of location goes into it. But I’ve been living in Brooklyn for about 5 years and being in New York City is like living in the internet, everything is accessible, all the time.
Are you currently working on any new projects?
I’m writing a lot of songs. I don’t know what they are for just yet. They are just scattered melodies for now.
WORDS: MONIKA MOGI
PHOTOS: TEPPEI
PAUL JAMES
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED ON SHIFT, READ IT HERE AND IN JAPANESE
VANITY has been the ideal party to the artists, models, and hipsters of Tokyo since 2004 and with a guest list filled with internationally renowned bands and fashion designers, it has become the place to be. This interview is with the man behind VANITY, Paul James. Paul is originally from Canada and with DJing in Paris, London, and L.A. under his belt; he brings creativity and gratification to the Tokyo electro nightlife.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have an alter ego, I party and I work in fashion but I’m also a very private person. I spend a lot of my time at home reading and listening to acoustic music. There are two sides of me.
How did VANITY start?
I was doing creative parties in Vancouver before I came to Tokyo. I visited Japan for a holiday and I decided that I was going to live here. So, I came back for a year not knowing any Japanese and not having any friends. It took me a long time to get stuff going but in 2003 Vanity started.
How did you start getting all these exclusive people like Steve Aoki, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, etc to attend VANITY?
One of the first parties we did with big guests was Peaches. During that time, Jeremy Scott came because he was friends with her. So, I met him, and Bloc Party was there as well. Basically you start meeting people through socializing and they start contacting you.
Out of all the parties you’ve thrown which has been your favorite? Is there one that beats them all?
I think the best one was in summer of 2007, when the Klaxons and The Horrors came. That party was special because CSS and Steve Aoki were DJing. It was a GOOD party. Jamie from the Klaxons had a broken leg and went up the DJ ladder. It was amazing.
What is your favorite type of music to play?
It’s a mix. I don’t like it when DJs play the same exact sound for an hour, it gets boring. I really like it when people mix stuff up and throw something crazy that you wouldn’t expect. It’s harder to say what my favorite type of music is now because there are so many bands. I think about 4-5 years ago there was a certain wave of music but now there’s SO much that tracks are just downloaded off the internet.
Vanity draws in a lot of the fashionable people of Tokyo. What’s your opinion on style?
I don’t like it when some people copy the magazines. It’s good to be influenced but in Japan they sometimes go a little too far. People should just be confident, know what looks good on them and what doesn’t.
What’s in the future for Vanity? Are you planning on expanding to other cities?
No, I never really thought about expanding outside of Tokyo.
WORDS: MONIKA MOGI
THEE VICARS
Shouting, kicking, thrashing, sex drugs and GARAGE.
Drink beer and start a band, simple as that. A short
interview with THEE VICARS.
Who are Thee Vicars? Where are you guys from?
Thee Vicars are four young lads ages between 17-19 from a small town in Suffolk called Bury St. Edmunds.
How and when did the band start?
The band started in April 2007. We were terribly drunk at the time, at a gig in our town. We were appauled at the bands, not just that night, but every gig in the town. We’d already played together in other bands (though not playing outside of sleepy Suffolk) and we rambled on about starting a band that would actually be exciting and fun. Surprisingly we remembered the conversation and followed up on it the next day! From then we discovered that not all live bands are bad, just most of them.
What bands have influenced your sound the most?
Mostly 60’s bands such as The Chocolate Watchband, The Kinks, The Stones, The Standells, The Remains, The Sevens. And obviously there’s Billy Childish who has an amazing sound.
What can an audience expect from a Thee Vicars gig?
Loud, LOUD raw sounds, dancing, rambling…all kinds of mischief.
Are there any crazy stories or gigs that you would like to share?
Our guitarist threw up on himself outside Patronaat in Haarlem recently after too much beer mixed with magic mushrooms and our manager drew a swastika on his bell-end in Berlin and flashed it around…
So, you have an upcoming tour with the Black Lips. That’s amazing. How did that happen, are you guys excited?
King Khan told them about us and they came to see us play at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes in London before they flew home. Jared begged us to play some gigs with them, we said yes. Hell yeah we’re excited!!
MARCELINA AMELIA
Marcelina Gawrońska is a Polish illustrator whos work is heavily
based on pretty girls and high fashion.
Tell us about yourself, how old are you and where are you from?
I’m 20 years old. I was born in Czestochowa which isn’t a very big city, it is in the south part of Poland. I studied in a local Art school for six years and I graduated it as graphic designer. About year ago I came to London to study. I just finished my first year at University of Westminister with an Illustration course.
What inspires you the most when creating your artwork?
Faces, emotions and bodies. Thoughts and dreams. Sensuality and sadness. To my way of thinking, an artist never has a break from his work. Every day is an inspiration, creative ones have their eyes always open. I look very carefully at the people around me.
Are there any special techniques you use?
I like to mix a lot of techniques at the same time. I like to draw with black pen, and do a lot of expressive colorful watercolor splashes. And I use black ink and water a lot. I not afraid of experimentation, even digital editing.
Most of your drawings are of girls, are these your friends/models or do you make them up?
A lot of my girls are based on me, I can look very different if I want to, every day is a different feeling for me. I like doing self-emotion portraits. I draw girls who sometimes look more or less like me but her emphasis is on the same emotions that I have. But I draw my friends too, sometimes just strangers, some interesting faces that I see on the street. I love to look for beauty in a very wide context, I have collected millions of pictures of faces that inspire me.
What is your philosophy?
“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.” – Robert Bresson
Three things you can’t live without are…
Something to draw with, Love, and eyeliner
What do you do when you’re not drawing/painting?
Making photos, Animations, Filming everything around me, Having very long baths, Watching movies, Reading books, Laughing, Kissing my boyfriend, Drinking a lot of coffee, Doing nothing, Thinking, Dreaming, Running bare foot
Do you have any advice for young artists?
I’m a young artist also but one is be sure to do what you love, never give up, be strong and don’t be scared of who you are.
INÉS ESTRADA
Inés is an artist from Mexico who keeps her work fun, strange and
trippy. She has a library full of colorful zines and
hand made trinkets that are just really, really cute.
Hey Inés! Describe your artwork in 3 words:
psychotic fruit punch !!!!!!!!
When did you first start creating zines?
i’ve always liked drawing and making stuff. i remember when i was around 6 i made activity books for my friends. i grabbed empty notebooks, numbered the pages and filled each of them with letter soups, join the dots, and all kinds of drawings and other stupid things to do.
What is your favorite thing about living in Mexico?
the beautiful weather of non-existent seasons and the delicious food. also the illegality of law, but that’s kind of a double edge sword.
Tell us about the project, Café con Leche, that you started with your boyfriend:
we’re always fooling around, like 5 yr olds with paint and glue. we make up a million joke projects and sometimes actually end up doing them.
In spring of last year, we made up this big plan: sigur rós was coming to méxico and we were going to buy an LSD blotter for re-selling, so we could afford our tickets AND eat acid at the show………but things twisted up and we ended up spending that money on a lot of textiles and pretty buttons to make plushies.
…and since then, we’ve been doing bastardines (that’s how we called them). Roi (my boyfriend) thinks we’ve done over 200 already!
What are you currently working on/ any plans for the future?
I’m looking for a job. I want to travel. I’m also working on this comix anthology with my canadian friend Ginette Lapalme, featuring comics from the american continent. We hope it’ll be printing in January 2010.
NO AGE
WORDS: MONIKA MOGI
I met and interviewed NO AGE at Daikanyama Unit in Tokyo before their show awhile ago..
Randy Randall and Dean Spunt make up NO AGE. Interviewing people from L.A. was refreshing since I grew up in Huntington Beach and overall they were really nice guys. Talked about California, smoking weed, tofu and 90’s jams.
Hey guys, are you liking Tokyo so far?
Dean: I like the food.
Anything specific?
Randy: FRESHNESS BURGER
D: So good, they have a tofu burger. We’re both vegan so eatings a little difficult but yeah Freshness Burger is awesome, we went there today.
What do you think about the Japanese audience? Most bands think that the crowd here is usually quiet, like when you pause inbetween songs..
R: But we don’t really pause inbetween songs much..
D: It’s a little more quiet than most American audiences
R: I don’t know, last night they were grabbing my guitar. They were cool.
D: I think if anything its just the cultural difference, like maybe they’re more polite with the shouting?
What’s your favorite song to play live?
D: Hmmm, that’s a good question…
R: Well we have two new songs on the set so it’s more fun. The rest we’ve played quite a bit.
We have a new one called Fever Dreaming, it’s fun.
D: I like playing ‘Teen Creeps’.
I think thats my favorite. I also like your instrumental You is My Hot Rabbit, what is that about anyway?
R: That’s the myspace jam! I got the name from a translation into french. My girlfriend at the time wrote me a letter all in french and I had to go to google translator, cut and paste it because I didn’t know how to read it.
That’s super romantic..
D: Awww
R: At the end of the letter it said You is my Hot Rabbit, I don’t know what that meant… I’m not sure what she actually meant to say in french but I thought that was the best phrase ever, so I named the song after that. We actually only played that live once.
What’s your favorite song in general than?
R: Ahh man probably “Wild Combination” by Arthur Russell. He’s amazing. Electronic cellist from New York in the 70s. It’s very hauntingly beautiful.
D: Ace of Base.
D+R: Allllll that she wants is another baby, she’s gone tomorrow..
I know you guys support all age bands and gigs. Did you ever have any fake IDs when you couldn’t get into venues?
R: I had a fake one. I worked at a movie theater in Hollywood and somebody had dropped their ID. It belonged to some 35 year old guy from Florida. So, I was 19 with this guy’s ID..
D: It’s hard memorizing the birthday
R: Yeah, they sometimes ask ‘Are you a Scorpio or a Capricorn?
D: Or your height!
How were you guys like when you were teenagers? Dorky… gangster..
D: Hmm, GANGSTA. No, I was kinda cool? I was a music dork and skateboarded alot. But when I was like 12, I was a little bit of a gangster..
Me too! Like listening to Biggie, Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest…
D: YEAH!
And than I got into the Smiths, Joy Division..
D: Aw man, thats a big thing when you hear The Smiths for the first time.
R: 16, clumsy and shy..
I went to London and…
One word to describe NO AGE is…
R: ROCK!
What? Pick a cooler one..
R: Ballsagna.
D: No, breathtakinglyloud.
Three things you can’t live without are..
D: tofu
R: guitar strings
D: and good shoes
What’s your favorite kind of shoe than?
D: I’m reaaaally into Zig Zags.
How many pairs do you own?
D: Umm probably about 20.
What was the craziest thing to happen on tour?
D: This is gonna take a while..
Pick something out there, something psychedelic..
R: I know. Smoking weed with Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine.
D: Or smoking weed with GZA from Wu-Tang Clan.
I’m jealous. What makes the perfect party?
D: 90’s jams and Boone’s Farm, the wine that comes in a box!
Any last words or advice?
R: Start your own band and fuck shit up
D: If you play music, keep playing music and don’t let anyone tell you not to.