Sample artist Deepak Mantena a/k/a Junk Culture sent us these answers to our questions in the latest q and also a.
q: What is the last song you (really) heard?
a: Here are some I listen to all the time. I’ve got a heavy band-crush on Oh Astro. ‘Candy Sun Smiles’ and ‘Empty Air’ off Champions of Wonder are two of my faves.
‘Before I Leave’ by Fennesz is my stuck on a desert island track. If you ever see me driving around I’m probably singing along to Javelin‘s ‘Oh! Centra’ or just cruising to ‘Tryouts’. It sounds like those guys know what’s up. And oh man, the tracks ‘Talamak’ and ‘Causers Of This’ off Toro y Moi‘s new record. Love those.
Listen: Candy Sun Smiles (mp3) by Oh Astro
Listen: Before I Leave (mp3) by Fennesz
Listen: Oh! Centra (mp3) by Javelin
Listen: Talamak (mp3) by Toro y Moi
q: What is your favorite food?
a: I’ll tell you my favorite drink: Milo’s Sweet Tea. You can get it in the south. The thing I love about it is that their quality control is kind of shitty. So sometimes you get a bad batch that makes you think “this isn’t so special” but that really wakes you up to to how good their good batches are, which are close to perfect.
q: What is your favorite band to see live?
a: How about some bands I want to see live? I can’t wait to see Dam-Funk, Angel Deradoorian (someone send me her phone number), Dan Deacon, both of my brothers’ solo stuff. Got to see my friends Pterodactyl practice for a show and it was killer. Finally got to see Javelin play a month ago.
I just recently saw my friend Colin’s band The Unwed Teenage Mothers play and that was amazing. His energy is incredible and the show was great. People should see them play if they get a chance.
Listen: Toeachizown (mp3) by Dam Funk
Listen: High Road (mp3) by Deradoorian
Listen: Get Older (mp3) by Dan Deacon
Listen: Esses (mp3) by Pterodactyl
Listen: If That’s Love (mp3) by The Unwed Teenage Mothers
q: What is your favorite venue in NYC (if applicable)?
a: In NYC I’ve only played at The Mercury Lounge, Union Hall, and Death by Audio. Death by Audio was definitely my favorite – such nice people. It was a packed house Valentine’s Day show with Nite Jewel, Blondes, and Class Actress. Half way through my set this absolutely blazed girl got up on stage and was dancing hard the rest of my set.
Listen: Want You Back (Phaseone Remix) (mp3) by Nite Jewel
Listen: You Mean So Much To Me (ACID REDUX CUT) (mp3) by Blondes
Listen: Careful What You Say (mp3) by Class Actress
q: OK, President Obama appoints you as the first Secretary of Culture, to whom do you give your first grant?
a: Twitter.
q: Anything we should know about your latest project (whatever that might be)?
a: I released an EP called West Coast that’s available pay-what-you-want here: http://www.illegal-art.net/shop#release119. I recently got back from a tour with Phantogram which was amazing. I’m working on a new EP and that’s gonna be out in October on Illegal Art. It’s quite a bit different than my old EP. Going to be touring this summer and fall. Also my brother Nitin and I are working on a comedy web series we hope will come out this fall (http://tv.celerystudios.com/). Damn I need to get to work.
Listen: Mouthful Of Diamonds (mp3) by Phantogram
Here a couple tracks off West Coast.
Listen: West Coast (mp3)
Listen: City Side (mp3)
Junk Culture is on the internet
Junk Culture is on Myspace
Junk Culture is on Facebook
Junk Culture is on Twitter
Junk Culture is on elbo.ws
Junk Culture is on Hype Machine
Junk Culture is on Illegal Art
Junk Culture is on Insound
Junk Culture is on Amazon MP3
Junk Culture is on eMusic
