q and also a :: Other Body
2/3’s of Miami heavy psych outfit Other Body (Andrew and Melvin) sent us these answers to our questions in this next installment of q and also a.
q: What is the last song you (really) heard?
melvin: Last song I heard was Charles Bradley’s “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” Very relevant to the times.
andrew: “Ending (An Ascent)†by Brian Eno. This song was playing at the end of an exhibit at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, soundtracking a video on the generational effects of atomic warfare. I think it was an excellent example of how ambient music heightens the immediacy of your surroundings. I never thought I’d ever experience such a personal connection with history in a way that is fundamentally distanced from the actual event. Music is powerful like that.
q: What is the first album you remember purchasing?
m: I bought two albums. Guns N’ Roses ‘Appetite for Destruction’ and Motley Crue ‘Dr. Feelgood’ on cassette. Before moving to the US, my family would visit every summer and I remember watching MTV a lot because we didn’t have that channel back home in Honduras. Those bands were on heavy rotation during that time.
a: ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ by the Smashing Pumpkins. That was my favorite band in 1996, as well as my first concert. I still have a soft spot for it, but prefer “Siamese Dream†in just about every way imaginable.
q: Is there an album you wished you knew about when you were younger?
m: Nah.
a: If I could do it again, I wish I’d discovered bands like Can, Les Rallizes Denudes, and Parliament at an early age. For the sake of picking a couple albums, I think they’d be “Sister†by Sonic Youth, “Machine Gun†by Peter Brötzmann, or “Sound Characters (Making the Third Ear)†by Maryane Amacher. Those albums cracked the dome wide open for me in my twenties. We take it for granted, but it’s so much easier to know good art now that the internet exists.
q: What is the last album that you purchased?
m: We recently opened for Merchandise and I bought their latest LP, ‘Corpse Wired For Sound‘. The new material live sounded just like they do on the record.
a: ‘Wuthering Drum’ by Public Memory, who opened the Merchandise show with us. Their pared down, almost spartan live show is also visually engaging. Highly recommended stuff. I habitually purchase albums from traveling bands. It’s easy to empathize with musicians when you’ve been there.
q: What piece(s) of culture are you really really excited about right now?
a: The democratization of knowledge via the internet is the most exciting cultural artifact of my generation. I constantly wonder what will take its place as the de facto source of open-ended exchange 100 years from now. Unless you’ve lived in it, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a pre-internet era because it has established itself as the most effective agent of change and propagator/agitator of culture. Social media alone has played a critical role in reducing uncertainty about people who are traditionally seen as “other.†I love seeing examples of the “New Normal†crack the mainstream every day, especially within LGBTQ communities and amongst people of color. But that being said, there’s a darkness there that I think we’re only beginning to understand, like dissociative disorders that are predicated on the internet’s existence and how we communicate. Regardless, very exciting.
m: Going with Andrew’s response on this one.
q: Anything we should know about your latest project (whatever that might be)?
a: There are a million projects in the pipeline, but, you know, ‘don’t discuss your plans until they’re happening.’ But I can say this: a major project of mine has been convincing bands I love and their booking agents to make the trek to Miami. Once bands and their booking agents get over their fear of diminished returns (which, let’s be real, happens all of the time in cities like New York), they realize that this city is actually really weird and inspiring and fun. Experience should always be celebrated over money. That and Other Body is out for blood.
m: Total Bust EP out 11/4.
(as seen)
You can (and let’s face it probably should just) preorder Other Body’s upcoming EP right now at otherbody.bandcamp.com
Other Body is on the internet
Other Body is on Bandcamp
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Other Body is on Moniker Records
Other Body is on Ramp Local