After noticing Parts & Labor featured on the front page here at Uncensored Interview, it got me thinking about other knob twiddlers and pedal pushers. So in the same way I approached the Smell Scene and sampling, I will be taking a bite out of the noise scen–or at least the pop side of the noise scene.
DAN FRIEL/SHOOTING SPIRES/NOVELLER
It only makes sense to start this off with the side projects from the various Parts & Labor members. Keyboardist Dan Friel, bassist BJ Warshaw and guitarist Sarah Lipstate all have their own solo endeavors (Dan Friel, Shooting Spires and Noveller, respectively), and each one has bits and hints of their collective effort. However, each one has it’s own flair, from Shooting Spires lo-fi bedroom pop to Dan Friel’s noisy instrumentals to Noveller’s guitar opuses. Below, Parts & Labor talk about coming together as a band to create their latest record, Receivers, which is out October 21, 2008, on Jagjaguwar:
MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED
I ran into Dan from Parts & Labor at a Mincemeat or Tenspeed show recently where he said how, from a musician’s standpoint, it was amazing to see someone craft songs with absolutely no instruments. Mincemeat or Tenspeed takes know twiddling to the extreme as the entire compositions are crafting just using various pedals feedbacking and making noise. The sounds generally create a rhythm that rival more traditional synthesizers and dance music software.
NEPTUNE
Neptune, on the other hand, take the creation of music to a whole other level. They use instruments, sure, but they created all the actual instruments themselves. The giant, heavy instruments give new meaning to the term “heavy metal,” even though the band’s music hits more in the noise vein with a bit of a harsh tin-sounding edge.
DAN DEACON
One of the biggest names to twiddle knobs, hit pedals, and flip switches recently is Dan Deacon. Though much of Deacon’s music is pumped straight through an iPod, his vocals are FXed in strange and unworldly ways. Though many of his switches may just turn off and on various lights, it certainly adds to the image of a madman pushing and playing with an assortment of junk.
LUCKY DRAGONS
When Lucky Dragons sets up to perform, it can be a little vague. Simple movements of rocks somehow create sounds as they are rearranged or Luke Fischbeck from the band may hand out wires to the audience, encouraging them to grab or release hands. While technically not the same thing as pushing a pedal, it has the same effect of connecting or breaking a circuit, changing the sound in a uniquely interactive experience.
TOPICS: poingly