Some Q+A With Dischord Records

Jason: Now that anybody can easily get your releases for free digitally online, does it still make sense to sell recorded music at all?

Alec: Absolutely. We have never felt like we were simply pushing sound waves out there and have always understood and respected the idea that punk bands and labels represent a community and a conversation as much as anything else. In other words — people like to feel connected to the people and ideas behind the music and there has always been something distinctly impersonal about the digital medium. Social networking sites are clearly an attempt to personalize this space but they still have a ways to go before they can up-end a 12″ LP.

But isn’t commerce a barrier to communication and community? If (now or in the future) an artist can record a quality album on a cheap laptop and distribute their music to fans for free as a digital medium, why shouldn’t they?

They can they absolutely should. I am only saying that we live in both worlds right now and there is not immediate need for every label to roll over and play dead. Also — this digital age has not yet established a medium for all of these artists to break beyond the static. Labels offer a filter and so far that is still useful to people. I am not fighting the alternative — I am still looking for it to emerge.

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Interview: It’s A King Thing

I was turned on to It’s A King Thing after they were mentioned along with The Color Wheels over at Sound As Language. We’ve since done a couple of shows with those guys and kept in touch. I’ve really enjoyed their full-length album Proper Nouns, which you can download for free. Below is an interview with front-dude Brian Meitz:

Most of your lyrics seem very personal. You even make references to people by name. A few of the songs are addressed to people (usually, girls) almost as letters. Are you making up stories or are these based on real experiences?

All of the songs are based on an experience. Mostly about friends, girls I’ve hooked up with or girls I want to hook up with. I’m not deep enough or poetic enough to write about anything serious either and if I tried I wouldn’t be able to pull it off without sounding like a dummy. So I stick to what I know. Hanging out and being a total pussy.

How do the other members contribute to the songs?

Everyone came up with parts for the new album. Johnny came up with some neat guitar stuff. Mike came up with neat bass stuff on songs where I probably would’ve just played the root note. Jay wrote some really neat keyboard parts and Steve helped arrange a few of the songs. If someone came up with an idea, we tried it out and would decide whether it was right for the song or not.

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Artist Interview: DM Stith

Interview by Nick Belle.

David Stith is a multi talented artist from Buffalo, New York; he is a gifted painter, designer, writer, and musician. His blog showcases some of his work, both in progress and completed. In late 2005 Stith created artwork for My Brightest Diamond and Asthmatic Kitty Records; through this relationship he was encouraged to submit some of his own music. Last year he signed a deal with the label and released two records: Curtain Speech EP and Heavy Ghost, both of which we highly recommend. Stith is also currently teaching 3D design and working towards an MFA in Graphic Design at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art. Recently Stith took some time to correspond with us about his music and his creative process:

Both Curtain Speech and Heavy Ghost are made up of songs that are incredibly layered, dense, and dynamic in structure; can you explain a bit on your writing and recording process? Do you build these songs layer by layer or do you have a general idea of what a song is going to sound like before you start?

The writing process feels to me a little more like painting than maybe song crafting… I deal with something like shapes — you make a sound, you record it and then you deal with it and with the space around it. Sometimes that initial sound shape is a rhythmic guitar pattern or a chord progression, sometimes it’s a vocal arch, sometimes it’s a lyric. In any case, you take that piece, appreciate it for a while, and then compliment it with another and then another and so on and so on. By about a 3rd of the way through I start to have some concept of where this thing is going and then I can begin making bigger decisions about the piece, what other musicians to incorporate, what kinds of textures… This was the process for the EP and LP — I still work this way somewhat, though I am now beginning to hear songs more fully formed and am able to skip some of the initial searching.

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Artist Interview: FOX Japan

Interview by Jon Sebastian.

FOX Japan is an indie rock band from West Virginia. The first record I heard of theirs (And Now This!) reminded me what it really means for music to be infectious. A week after hearing it, I literally had trouble getting to sleep because I had the chorus to A Nursing Home stuck in my head on infinite repeat. Or was it the verse? Or was it the pre-chorus?

See, that’s one of their tricks. Upon first listen, it’s hard to tell whether you’re hearing a verse or a chorus or a pre-chorus, because what you’re hearing in every case is too damn catchy and big to be anything other than the chorus. It has to be the chorus. But then the REAL chorus kicks in, and you can’t believe they’ve topped themselves in the same song, but they just did.

Most bands who stumble across hooks this good handle them with forceps, place them carefully into track 2 or 3 or whatever their single is going to be, and post a huge flashing neon sign nearby that says BIG CHORUS RIGHT HERE!!

FOX Japan uses the same hooks so liberally and so nonchalantly, they make it look easy. Like they have a tree in their backyard that grows hooks. They’ve been here before, and they act like it. They didn’t happen to stumble upon them, they’re not strangers to them, and they didn’t crap their pants when they found them - it’s just what they do.

I recently interviewed lead singer Charlie Wilmoth via email.

As a songwriter, what are your biggest influences music-wise?

I think our instrumental style owes a little to the Pixies and Pavement. Also, for our first couple of records I was interested in the idea of writing these really jagged, nervous, topical pop songs like Devo did–”An Investigative Sentence” is probably the best example. I think after that we got a little more comfortable stretching things out.

Also, hip-hop has been a really big influence on the way I write lyrics. I tend to like lyrics that are very specific and direct, and am probably more willing than most rock lyricists to cram lots of syllables into each line, the way an MC does. All four of us were really into the Dismemberment Plan as kids, and I think we liked that they were an indie rock band who said what they meant (often with tons of words, like us) and tried to integrate lots of styles besides rock into their music. That last part sounds obvious now, in 2009, but there was a time in the 1990s and early ’00s when indie rock mostly seemed to be talking to itself.

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Artist Interview: Jon Itkin

Jon Itkin contacted me a couple of months ago, saying he had recently moved back to Rochester and was looking to get plugged into the music scene, describing his music as “raw, old-school Americana.” I checked out his MySpace page and liked his songs, so I invited him to open a show at Abilene. I’ve seen him play out a couple of times now. He’s a friendly, down-to-earth guy and he really puts his whole heart into his performances. He’s going to be teaching a songwriting workshop in Rochester, check his MySpace for details. His self-released albums Big Gold Guitar In The Sky and Oregon are available from iTunes, CD Baby, and at shows.

Do you come from a musical family? What were your experiences with music as a kid?

My parents aren’t very musical at all, though my dad has a great collection of old records which he keeps in perfect shape. One of my earliest recollections of listening to music was my dad playing “Johnny 99″ off Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska record. I thought the song was about me. I forgot about that record for a long time, then it came back to me somehow. Now it’s one of my major musical touchstones.

Though my parents we’re musical, they always encouraged my sister and I to play. She played violin and I started on cell in the 2nd grade. I hated it. Eventually, I wound up playing clarinet in 5th grade or so (sax was taken), and I wound up hating that too. About the end of middle school I got an acoustic guitar and started learning to play. My sister continued with violin, then switched to voice and got her BA in music.

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