It seems that everything comes from childhood, though I can’t
remember my very own childhood feelings well enough. Looks like it all begins
while you are sixteen or seventeen and by the time you are thirty it is
completely formed. But these are things which are the most difficult to be
described on paper – feelings and sensations.
I know for certain that I do love my daughter, I do love my
mother – it’s something that we originally have inside. But how could you
possibly describe love itself? In Russian word “lyubov” (which is “love” in
English) originally was in ancient Russian language and means “Lyudi Bogov
Vedayut” (which is “People Wis the Gods).
Could it be that music is Love? In that case it should be
ethereal, Empyreal Love. Perhaps...
I remember the moments when I listen “Halo” of Depeche Mode...it
feels like “piercing” me, “turns me inside out”, while some songs throw me into
melancholy – “Je Te Rends Ton Amour” by Mylene Farmer makes me to pipe my eye.
And the voice of Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance brings me to heavens and makes
me fly above the clouds, I close my eyes and her godlike voice takes me to
unknown places. Lots of examples, their list is endless...
Perhaps, music is Gods, and Gods are Love for certain, while
Love is Life itself. However, I delude myself by saying that “music creates
feelings that never existed”.
There is me, and there is life, and I can feel this life, I’ve
experienced the love to woman... Looks like music is life itself, as for me and
for many people like me.
LAST LEAF DOWN, a Swiss outfit, have been on the scene for over a decade
now, but their debut album ‘Fake Lights’ was released only last year. The album
soon became popular and became one of my favourite albums of last year (#7
@DieSeele’s top 25 albums for 2014). It's time to get to know this band better.
How do you describe Last Leaf Down’s sound? Which bands have affected
your music?
In general, I would say
we produce a melancholic, dreamy sound with influences of Shoegaze, Post-Punk,
Ambient and Gothic-Metal. We have drawn
comparisons to the likes of Katatonia, Anathema, Slowdive, late Harold Budd,
Blake Neely, Feeder, Saybia and even Deafheaven.
What does inspire you most?
The things that happen in
our personal lives, special moods and situations.
Last Leaf Down have been around for quite some time [since 2003], and
over the last few years you took a turn in your music from doom and dark-driven
to more dreamy and ethereal, shoegaze melodies. What was the driving force for
this change?
Well, I was always
listening to Post-Rock and Shoegaze, but in 2007, following the change of two
Band members, we chose to develop a more ethereal sound.
You label your music very specifically as "Shoegaze from the
Woods", and your videos and the cover of the album show images of woods.
We wonder how you conceived this aesthetic -- how does nature or environment
affect your music?
The pictures and videos
are taken were we live -- in the woods ;). I always liked the aesthetic of Post
/ Depressive Black-Metal, and wanted to create a softer, dreamier version for
our sound. I think the place where you live will always affect your music. For
us, the woods inspire the more ambient, dark and mystic side of shoegaze.
Could you tell us about the concept behind ‘Fake Lights’?
It's not a classical
concept-album, but all of the lyrics represent a certain desire. It’s about the
"unlived lives", and the things that only exist in our minds and
dreams. These elements can bring great strength and influence to us if they
unfold, yet on the other hand they can also lead to disappointment—as is the
case when you realise your illusion was just a "fake light".
On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music?
Most of the reviews were
very good, and our fans are really enjoying the album. So we are very happy
with the reception.
What about the Swiss music scene? Have you any recommendations?
Fans of us should listen
to Nyctalgia. Nyctalgia is an ethereal,
ambient act out of Basel.
Which other musicians/bands do you admire?
In addition to the ones I
already mentioned as influences, I’m also a fan of Petter Carlsen, An Autumn
for Crippled Children, Daughter, and Alcest.
And what about the shoegaze scene nowadays? Are there any new bands that have caught your
attention?
I would recommend seasurfer
from Germany.
What about your future plans? Are you preparing any new releases?
We have already written
some new songs and are always writing music, but it's too early to discuss a
new release date.
In early July 1991
I was driving back from Los Angeles, through the desert towards Phoenix. After
nearly a decade of being involved in music I had just finished the mix of
Lycia’s first official release Ionia. It was a major thing for me, it was
something that I dreamed of for years, and something that always seemed so
distant, and maybe even unattainable.
I lived in Tempe,
Arizona. And Tempe, Arizona was not New York or London. The type of music that
I listened to, and strived to make, didn’t go over too well in my home town. I
was always on the outside...but not looking in. I was comfortable being on the
outside because I was passionate about the music I loved. So playing in bands
during this time meant my ideas were often overlooked, or just plain dismissed.
I began to hoard my better ideas and I worked on them alone at home, in a
makeshift studio, recording cheap demos that only I listened to. For years.
This was the foundation of Lycia. This was the beginning of Lycia. But it
seemed such a stretch to go from the rough muddy recordings that I was making
then to actually recording a releasable and solid album. But now it was
happening. The mix was done. The cover was designed and it was ready to be sent
off to the plant. And there I was driving through the desert late at night,
listening to a cassette of the just completed mix.
I felt horrible. I
didn’t like what I was hearing. It was different than I expected. I was
disappointed. I felt as though I had failed. I still saw and heard Lycia as it
was in the 80s. Lycia still felt to me, at that moment, like it had always felt
throughout the 80s. But the cassette sounded, and felt, different. It seemed a
bit foreign. It wasn’t radically different from what I had envisioned Ionia to
be while writing and recording it. In fact it was only slightly different in
retrospect. But that difference felt uncomfortable to me. Very uncomfortable. I
was clearly in a very new place as I was absorbing everything during that late
night drive, listening to the final mix.
Tired from the long
day of mixing and driving, and a bit disoriented from a growing musical self
doubt, I pulled off at a rest stop. It was a completely stoic and isolated
place in the flat western Arizona desert. It was late at night and I was the
only one there. I just needed a brief break and a couple of cigarettes. I sat
outside on a bench smoking in that hot middle of the summer desert air. It
smelled like summer. It reminded me of previous late night walks along the
canal that cut through my old neighborhood in east Tempe, back when I was first
envisioning what I wanted to do with music. It seemed so peaceful, so balanced.
For the first time in hours I felt relaxed. The tension and self doubt about
the Ionia mix temporarily faded. I looked off to the far eastern horizon and I
could see the sky and clouds flashing on and off as a distant monsoon storm was
raging. It hit me then of the irony of the situation of that immediate time and
place. There I was, in a sense living out the major themes of the album I just
mixed. I was staring off toward a Distant
Eastern Glare. I was fixated with the Monsoon
storms off to the east. I was in the comforting escape of the Desert, proceeded during my drive by the
lonely isolation of it. I sat out for a short while longer and absorbed it all
a bit more, and then I got back in my car and headed home.
I’ve thought back
to that evening quite a bit over the years. In retrospect I realize what an
important transitional moment it really was. That was the night that the Lycia
that was ended, and the Lycia that most people know now formed. I no longer
hate that mix of Ionia. In fact I like It and I am quite proud of it now. I
think that Sam Rosenthal and I captured it almost exactly the way it needed to
be. Looking back it seems as though that night, and that drive, was the break
point. At the time it was just the moment I was in, but looking back things
really changed. My perception changed. The musical style of Lycia moved in a
new direction. My friends and collaborators drifted away, and some just started
to get old. I moved on initially alone but soon I was headed in a completely
new direction, with a new group of friends and a new set of collaborators. It
was the beginning of Lycia as Lycia is now known. Only months before I felt old
and left behind, and I felt as though my music life was coming to the end after
nearly a decade of obscurity.
Quite a number of A
Day In The Stark Corner songs were written then, and you can feel an ‘ending’
in the flow and mood of the music and lyrics. But a few months later I was
headed in a new direction. There were still flashbacks of course (and they
continue to this day)...but for the most part it was like looking towards the
glaring rising sun on a new and fresh day. Lycia’s rebirth, a new start, the
beginning of what Lycia still is.
The B.H.D. “The black Hotel’s Doorkeepers” is a project from Nimes in France and their music is in the new wave / cold wave vein of Joy Division, but there are also some goth rock influences . On September 2014,The B.H.D. released their first album “Nothing is Colder than You”via the German label “Cold Insanity Music” and it caused my attention with their Joy Division influence. Early 2015, The B.H.D. released their second album “Dancing in the shadow’’ via the French label “Manic Depression records”.
Since 2012, David Droz has twisted his personal demons into songs, quietly breathing new life into post-punk. On his new album he pushes his foreboding post punk even further.The last album “Dancing in the shadow’’ has a strong 80’s wave feeling to it carrying the melancholy and dust of 80’s post punk and coldwave music. It is a lot in the Joy Division and Siglo XX vein.
The most captivating song is ‘"The stranger in the garden", the piece that opens this album. Moody bass, elegant synths and crisp drum machine accompanying with Droz’s baritone voice,a song that coming close to ‘the Cure'. Another great moments are: the emotional "Nothing More To Give" with a haunting synth melody for intro , the most joy-division influenced songs "Into the Shadow" and ‘Too Many People’ where David's urgent vocals collide with the nervous guitar rythm, creating music that draws on eighties post punk and the soaked of darkness and torments ‘Requiem’.
In conclusion,this album may be excessively morbid and dark for some tastes, but it's a darkness that feels honest. Those that have listened to Joy Division's material will know what to expect going in. Sometimes soul-crushing and sometimes nervous rythmic post punk melodies. Among the list of bands being inspired by the early years of POST PUNK, ‘’The B.H.D’’ is one of the few that comes that close to the real and original spirit of that legendary decade. This is a very good work in the genre and I sincerely hope that this band will get a deserved and wider recognition.
It’s the fourth time that Lebanon Hanover
performed in Athens.The band is composed of a couple: Larissa Iceglass on
vocals, guitars and synths and William Maybelline on vocals, bass and synths,two
musicians that are not like others as they don't like the star system and they
give priority to their integrity and authenticity, a kind of modern age
romantics. Last night Lebanon Hanover presented "Besides the abyss",
their 4th regular album(the first Lebanon Hanover album to be recorded in a
professional studio ever) on the stage
of a full of people DEATH DISCO. The duet had no difficulties creating gloomy
romantic atmosphere and awakening the emotions of the audience. Inner and
romantic rhythm melodies driven by the melancholic voice of Larissa Iceglass, elegant
guitar parts, sad and slow basslines ,icy synths, poetic lyrics , all parts of a unique presentation and a perfect combination to express the poetry of
emotionalism, detachment, longing, love, melancholy. They played the last album
and some favourite tracks from previous works(gallowdance) for a little more
than an hour (with the encore).Best moment ,in my opinion, was the last song ‘sunderland’
which closed the encore and the gig and which
larissa and William performed theatrically ,saying goodbye to us in the best
way. Well,they are already famous here ,larissa and William love Athens so I think we
will enjoy them again soon.
In 2009 we released “The stones of Naples”. It was a
very productive year for the band.
We went for a concert in a very small town in Germany
called Nordhofen. It was a very long trip. We rent a car at the Frankfurt
airport and we still had 400 kilometers to run. After 150 kilometers our
percussionist, Francesco Manna, said: "hey guys, can you stop the car,
please? I'm not sure I took my riq. I am afraid I left it at the car parking of
the airport". (the riq is an egyptian frame drum). We were all disappointed,
but the driver (Alfredo Notarloberti, our violinist) stopped the car.
Francesco checked everywhere and the riq was not in the car! So Francesco said:
"please, I must go back to the airport's parking because I want to try to
look for hoping to find it, I just bough it in Egypt, I can't miss this special
instrument!" It was around midnight, we all started to keep Francesco on
his leg and to blame him for his lack of attention. it's been three hours since
we leaved and we were sure that the riq would not be there any more! Simply
impossible.
We went back at the parking area and the riq was still
there instead! We were very surprised, also because it was a public
parking, so we could not believe it!
We arrived at our hotel in Nordhofen extremely late.
The town was so small, but pretty. The day after we reached the venue. It was a
beautiful church, quite far from the town. I was really worried about the
audience because the ticket was quite expensive. Moreover the place seemed
quite isolated and last but not least it was the first time we played in
Germany. But all at once many people crowd into the church. It was a very
unusual sensation for me to hear the public applausing just any time onee note
was silent. I had performances in other countries before, but the German
audience really impressed me for its attention.
I guessed that we were transmitting our mediterranean
feeling to them. They have always appreciated our culture and things have not
changed. By the way, I remembered what Johan Wolfgang von Goethe said about
Naples: he was deeply impressed and shocked by a so different world, but
at the same time, there was something attractive to him ("forgive those
who loose their minds in Naples" he wrote in 1787).
We went to Nordhofen with two important singers of our
band: Annalisa Madonna and Claudia Sorvillo. I can vividly remember pleasant
moments of friendship and energy. I should still have a recording of an
improvisation we made after the concert, with Edo at the piano and Claudia and
Annalisa singing.
After the concert I realized that Germany was one of
the best music audience I had ever played in front of, and every time we
perform there, I believe it again.
Adàn Ilse is a synth project signed by USHERsan (ex-Norma Loy, Die
Puppe, currently in command of the Black Egg), Pedro Peñas Robles (HIV + ,
Fluxus) and Peter Rainman (People Theatre). Pedro runs the french label Unknown Pleasures Records. A discussion with Pedro,Peter and Usher is always interesting.
What does the name of the band mean?
Pedro
: It wasaprivate jokebetweenUsherandme. Whenwestartedthebandwewereaduo,Adan(me)andIlse (him).WemadeSpaceFactory(french techno label) believethatweweretwohomosexualloversandthey signedus ontheircatalogforthereleaseofour first EP
“FromTheWaves »in 2013.
Peter : When
this all started we were named Adan & Ilse feat. Peter, because i joined
the team few weeks after they created the band. David Carretta suggested we
removed the « feat. Peter » bit because it was too long. I'm supposed
to be the « & » now, hehe.
Tell us a few words about ‘Adan & Ilse ‘
start . At what point did you get attracted to music? How do you meet each
other and if there is someone that helped you in the beginning.
Usher
: I'm attracted to
music since I'm born. After my birth my “third uncle” gave me a small toy
guitar with a sticker of the Beatles on it as a present; and I’ve never stopped
having music in my head since that.
Pedro and I met via FB a few years ago. He saw me
when I was in Norma Loy and he asked me about a Suicide cover. I don’t why I
agreed and recorded “I Remember” on which he sang before, and we started doing
things together. “I Remember” was on our first “Ushersan+HIV+” record on the
Black Monolith EP.
Pedro : Adan&IlsewasbornfromthemusicalencounterbetweenUsherand mein2012.The
arrivalofPeterallowedusto haveanewwayofworkingonarrangementsandmixes, o make them soundmore modernandtechnical.PeterenablesourrecordingstosoundcleanerbecauseUsherandmein the studioaretwooldpunkstorturinganalogmachineswithouttryingtoplease. InourbandmainlyI amthe singer&performerbutIalwaysgiveprecisemusicaldirectiontoPeterbecausehedidn'thaveexactly thesamemusicalandculturalrootsthatus.
Peter
: Yep, i'm not from the underground world,
basically, though I tend to go darker and darker nowadays. The guys had
marvelous songs but everything was disynchronised and required strong knowledge
in mixing, because these machines we use need to be precise and respectful.
They have soul, you see.
As you are three members, how does it work and
which is everyone's participation in the project? Since you have other
projects, what determines when the time is right to return to Adan & Ilse?
Usher
: Generally I compose
the music, the general idea of the song, sometimes its together with Peter and
then Peter did the arrangements and mastering process, and Pedro and I put the
lyrics and vocal on the music. But we had some exceptions, the process is not
always the same.
What determines it will be an A&I track? Hard to
say. Some tracks are more Adan & Ilse than Black Egg (my other project) for
example (less dark, less industrial) and so the destination is here!
Pedro : Idolyrics and counter ténor
backing voiceswithmore darksvocals,Usheralsosingswithacold wave crooner voice.SometimesIdoalsothemixingofoursongsason"SadiscoR3mix3d". Ialsoproposethenamesofremixers, external musicians collaborators& ideas of our artworks.
Peter
: There isn't any classical recipe, no habit,
actually. Sometimes Pedro comes with an idea, we make it real working together.
But most of the time it comes from Usher. Then we use to play some kind of
musical ping pong, exchanging mp3s all the time. When we three are crying on
the result, we know it's a good song we shouldn't touch anymore. I bring ideas
too, especially tips on the production and mix. The new thing, since the third
album is we built Usher and I a kind of laboratory to create sounds that will
be included in the songs. “Boys in eyeliner” and “Failures” for instance
started that way. That's for the irrationnal side. The more rationnal one comes
from Pedro : he brings time schedule, photos, ideas and songs he's heard. He's
very good at motivating us, trying to catch what we are reluctant to show
sometimes.
What is your creative process to compose you
music? Can you explain what ‘Adan &Ilse’ is all about?
Usher
: I don’t know. Its
things I hear in my head, it comes from the inside.Adan & Ilse is about
pleasure, loss and knowledge.
Peter
: It's hard to explain actually. The more we work
and exchange together, the more we think as a trio, capturing each other's
feelings. That is an inspiration. But most of all that band is a kind of
alchemy no one can change. Separated, we work and sound differently. United it
gives those special sounds, atmospheres... Magical... Dark magic, I would say.
As I see some great artists have collaborated
with you (Gabi Delgado from D.A.F.) and some others have remixed your songs
(David Carretta, John Lord Fonda, Motor, Haujobb) so I think the feedback from
the other artists has been very good so far. From the audience side, on a
worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music?
Peter
: We could say we had very positive responses
from serious and real artist. Now it's easier. In the beginning, we were
totally knew to the audience a lot of pros even didn't replied to mails we
sent. Later they recognised they were jealous or didn't realised what it was
all about. Too late guys ! We always work with people that say “yes” from the
very start. David Carretta has the guts to sign what he likes and not
what should be signed to please some people in the little world of
music. Usher, Pedro and I have strong connections with talented artists, and
they give us the best of them (Thanks John Lord Fonda, Melanoboy or Daniel
Meyer!!), but for others, though we were totally unknown, they said yes just
because they listened and liked our work. Gabi Delgado was the perfect example,
and so did Oly from band Motor.
Well, I do love the new album (‘Cold
Diamonds’), it appears to be consistently good all the way through and in my
opinion it is your best album to date. Do you feel the same?
Usher
: “Cold Diamonds” is
the most coherent and mature album we did I guess. Its also the one where our
new wave roots are the most obvious. But I like the others as well. Its hard to
say. I feel its different but I cant explain why. It was not something
conscious.
Peter
: The thing is they all sounds different from
each other. The two first ones were more based on demos from Pedro &
Usher, now we are first experimenting, thinking, trying, we go deeper and
deeper in our soul. What is clear to me is the fourth album is the rel first of
a trio, not two plus one or one plus two, etc. The best proof is I often listen
to it, thinking “my Godness, how did we manage to make this bit?”and the answer
is simple : we surprised each others all through the sessions.
Could you discuss about the concept behind
‘Cold Diamonds’?
Usher
: In this for the
first time we have integrated our gods. I mean Ian Curtis with the JD song,
using his real voice, Bowie with the cover, Cure with the very“Robert Smith
like” voice on Sun king, and others less obviously. The Cold Diamonds are
inside the music, and its like some re-generation.
Peter
: I think we now are ready to play with our
icons, instead of thinking about them as the
unreachable top. It's like playing with jewels, diamonds in our hands :
they show us a different image according to the move and the light.
In the last album there is a cover in ‘love
with tears apart’ and also your label’s name is the name of Joy Division’
album. In addition to,the cover of ‘Cold Diamonds’ is similar to the cover of
Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’. What do ‘Joy Division’ and ‘Bowie’ mean to you?
Usher
:Joy Division and
Bowie mean a lot to me. I started to love rock music listening to Bowie (and
then Iggy), he was so different, he had the perfect “sound and vision”
attitude. And then with joy Division emerged the sound and soul of the
generation. My inspiration is close to Joy Division’s inspiration, I mean
Bowie, Iggy, Velvets.Icons.
Peter
: I've never had the chance to discover them at
the right moment, I guess. I'm more into electronic music, but some tracks
fascinate me a lot : i'm fond of Bowie's trilogy, or “outside”. For Joy
Division, it came after I bought some early New Order tracks. Anyway, what i'm
looking for, whatever the style, is SOUL. And no one can say Bowie or JD don't
have.
The last album brings me a nostalgic new
romantic feeling.Is your music looking back to the past?
Usher
:Well I think that
actually the music of today is the music of the past, less the spirit. We put
the spirit in again, and try to change something from the inside.
Peter
: We have to look on what' been done in the past
to understand how and why they created such songs. On the other hand, the most
important for me is to have tools that “talk” to us and inspire us, whetever
the tool is old or brand new.
Having been in the industry for sometime,
what’s your reaction to how it’s changed, and what about the Internet and file
sharing activity?
Usher
:Yeah it changes a lot
with the FSA : people who never met can do music together, that was totally
impossible before. And it goes faster as well.
Peter
: Good thing is we can communicate easily. Bad
thing is lots of people are pretending, acting, but lie and just duplicate what
they see or hear.
Could you mention some of the bands or musical
styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening
to nowadays?
Pedro
: early Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, Kraftwerk,
Coil, Yazoo, Klaus Nomi, Suicide, Joy Division, The Cure, Liaisons Dangereuses,
DAF, Nitzer Ebb, Norma Loy, Trisomie 21, Ultravox, Mute Records, Internatioanl Deejay Gigolo, and more electro
clash, ebm, synth pop, dream pop, cold wave, dark techno...
Peter : without Vince Clarke, Alan Wilder and Kraftwerk,
i'd be nothing.
‘Unknown Records’ is a label that growing day
by day and some interesting artists have already joined it. Tell us a few words
about your label.
Pedro : Unknown Pleasures Recordsisarecord
labelofpassionatepeopleforpassionatepeople
! There's noplacehereforthecynicism,thecultofpersonalityorthe greed.
Weseektoproducefromthebestpossiblemusicthatwe'vealways liked,outsidescenes, musical hype. WhenartistslikeAlanVega,DavidCarretta,Haujobb,TheHorrorist,DaveClarke, Dominik Nicolas orÉtienneDahosupportourmusicweknowthatweareontherightway.
What about your future plans with Adan &
Ilse?
Pedro : I'm currentlyworkingwith the label on « Chirurgie Plastique » an
special remix album ofsongsfrom"ColdDiamonds" with amazing
versions by PSYCHE (« Boys In Eyeliner »), HAUJOBB (« Sun
King »), NEON ELECTRONICS (« LosT Overdrive »), IN DEATH IT ENDS
(« Red Star »), ELECTROSEXUAL (« Like Me »), MATERIA
SUSPIRIA VISION (« Stardust ») and more remixes by THEREMYNT,
DIMEUHDUZEN, JAPAN SUICIDE, LAAG, MELANOBOY, WATERWALLS, PHLLOX.
Peter : We already are trying new tools and ideas, but
i'm also packing things in order to be ready
for some eventual dates and tours.
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