q and also a :: Sleepies
Sleepies of Brooklyn sent us these answers to our questions in this q and also a installment.
q: What is the last song you (really) heard?
thomas: Arthur Russell “Losing My Taste for the Night Life” and “Kill V Maim” by Grimes.
josh: “I Am Very Far” by Amanaz, a psych band from Zambia active in the 70’s. Thomas had been in LA for several months and I usually rely on him for my dose of cool, weird stuff that I wouldn’t be able to find myself. This was a particular gem from the last batch of stuff he played for me when he got back to New York.
doug: “God’s on Vacation” – Black Tusk. I was supposed to see them at one of the last shows at the Acheron, which closed July 9. But their van broke down so I didn’t get to see them.
max: Swear to god, it was a song called “Mr. Rabbit” by Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Ballew from Presidents of the United States of America doing kids music). My son was born in November, and this is the sweetest little kids tune with the sweetest little chorus (“Every little soul must shiiiiiiine…”). I also cry every time I hear “Waves” on The Life of Pablo.
q: What is the first album you remember purchasing?
t: Probably a Boyz II Men cassette from warehouse music.
j: The first CD I bought was Totally Krossed Out by Kris Kross. The first LP was I bought was Boogadaboogadaboogada by Screeching Weasel, though it would still be a few more years before I had a functional turntable.
d: Vanilla Ice live on tape was the first album in any medium I can remember.
m: It was either the soundtrack to Reality Bites or The Sign by Ace of Base. Explains a lot!
q: Is there an album you wished you knew about when you were younger?
t: Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants
j: Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies. It would have been great to realize how weird punk can get and still be catchy and varied. Unfortunately I don’t think I was able to appreciate much else other than power chords and songs about hating jocks.
m: To be honest, a lot of what I appreciate now I probably wouldn’t have had the ears for when I was a teenager – I’ve always believed that you usually come to records at the right time. That said, an album I still don’t know very well at all but deeply wish I’d heard at the time of it’s release is Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt.
q: What is the last album that you purchased?
t: New York by Lou Reed and Elevator to Eden by Lives of Angels
j: Last week, I fell victim to drunk e-baying and bought Drums Along the Hudson by The Bongos on vinyl. I don’t regret it.
d: Empathist by Svffer – A German band I came across when I just trawl the Internet and try to find a bunch of new stuff to listen to.
m: Purple Rain. Prince and Bowie were two huge blind spots for me, so this year I tried to memorialize them by actually spending a lot of time listening to them.
q: What is your favorite memory of experiencing music in a live setting?
t: La Monte Young’s Dream House and a long list of DBA shows.
j: The entire last month of Death by Audio. Some highlights included painting my mural in for Death by Art while Deerhoof rehearsed for their show that night, the Halloween show in the Dude Ranch featuring a triple drummer Aa little set and Chat Logs dressed as three identical Neil Youngs, and playing the penultimate night with Nots, Protomaryr and Metz. Most of my favorite live music memories happened at DBA (RIP).
Ed. Note: I googled the phrase “Chat Logs dressed as three identical Neil Youngs” and the result is fairly disturbing.
d: One that stands out to me was seeing explosions in the sky in a church in midtown with this artist projecting film and burning it or altering it somehow as it was going. I think it stands out because it was a totally different setting I’m used to going to which is smaller, smellier spaces.
m: Seeing Against Me at an illegal show at a BART station sidewalk plaza in San Francisco right after Reinventing Axl Rose came out in 2002. That, and any time I saw either Abi Yoyos or Songs for Moms.
q: What is your favorite artist/band to listen to recorded (i.e. not live)?
t: If you play Kraftwerk really loud it’s actually amazing dance music. Maybe everyone already knows this, but I just figured it out. That band always seemed so cool and serious to me, but they can be really fun, too.
j: Maybe later period Beach Boys? I’m really looking forward to seeing Brian Wilson perform Pet Sounds at the New York State Fair at the end of the summer but I have my doubts that it ‘s gonna stand up to the studio version.
m: I’m going to ‘hot take’ this one: even though everyone (rightly) says, “You have to see Springsteen live to really ‘get’ it,” you also have have have have to listen to his albums, especially The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Those recordings are so dense you could spend a lifetime disentangling them.
q: What piece(s) of culture are you really really excited about right now?
t: This epic 1996 Neal Stephenson piece about the underwater cables that allow the Internet to exist.
j: Ever since Netflix added Bob Ross episodes I’ve been watching that before bed just about every night. I also can’t wait for the new season of BoJack Horseman.
d: I’m reading George Saunders’ Civilwarland in Bad Decline which I’m surprised I like. I haven’t read fiction lately and not normally short stories but some of the stories are pretty.
m: Ellen Meiksins Wood is a Marxist historian who passed away this year, and her shit is fucking flames.
q: Anything we should know about your latest project (whatever that might be)?
t: Thanks to Tom and Pat and Ben for helping us with our new record. Thanks to everyone who has cared about and supported our band over the years.
j: I think it’s fucking great.
d: what Josh said.
m: I think Til the Casket Drops by Clipse is maybe one of the more underrated great albums of the past ten years or so and that more than anything is what our new LP has always reminded me of since we put it to tape.
Listen to three tracks off of Natural Selection…
Chips Left:
Sky Chase:
Genetic Cousins:
The album comes out 7/16 via Mirror Universe. Preorder is available at https://mirroruniversetapes.bandcamp.com. The release show is at Silent Barn on Saturday!
Upcoming Show:
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AND make sure you check out Sleepies previous q and also a.
