The San Francisco International Film Festival has made a tradition of assembling a live musical group each year to score a silent film. In the past, this has included artists like Stephen Merritt, Yo La Tengo, Deerhoof, and Black Francis. In 2013, the festival has put together an ensemble including Mike Patton (Faith No More), Scott Amendola (Nels Cline Singers), Matthias Bossi (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), and William Winant (Mr. Bungle) to score the 1924 fantasy-horror classic Waxworks, directed by Paul Leni.
Music
Video Premiere: Marco Benevento’s harpsichord-driven “This Is How It Goes”
Marco Benevento: TigerFace (The Royal Potato Family, 9/11/12)
Though still within his melodic, keyboard-driven wheelhouse, the first two tracks on Marco Benevento’s TigerFace might have thrown fans for a loop last year. Featuring warm, poppy vocals from Rubblebucket’s Kalmia Traver, “Limbs of a Pine” and “This Is How It Goes” added a new wrinkle to Benevento’s catalog, showing what he can do with a strong front-woman.
One-man band Mylets does Sargent House’s Glassroom Sessions
Henry Kohen, also known as Mylets, has been hanging out at Sargent House since February as the artist in residence. Now, as part of the label’s Glassroom video series, he has released “Ampersand,” from his first full-length to be recorded later this year. Check it out try to keep track of his array of pedals, flying fingers, and drum-machine abuse.
MP3 Premiere: Hudson Mohawke’s remix of “Ageless” by Free Moral Agents
Condensing its original eight-minute running time into a little over two, Hudson Mohawke’s remix of Free Moral Agents’ “Ageless” is a minimalist, ’80s-inspired groove.
Interview: Black Moth Super Rainbow on lyrical masks (on masks)
Black Moth Super Rainbow: Cobra Juicy (Rad Cult, 10/23/13)
“Hairspray Heart”
Black Moth Super Rainbow: “Hairspray Heart”
If the eccentric, lo-fi style of early Black Moth Super Rainbow releases seemed to destine principal member Tom Fec (AKA Tobacco) to permanent cult status, the last two BMSR albums have been marked by a dramatic shift toward production polish. And even though Fec has gone back to producing himself for latest album Cobra Juicy, the new material delves even further into pop than its 2009, Dave Fridmann-produced predecessor, Eating Us. The new album’s sound may surprise longtime fans who were drawn to Fec’s rough-hewn approach, but Fec himself is surprised that anyone took interest in his work in the first place.
“When I first started out making tapes in high school,” he explains, “I just knew that no one was going to like what I was doing. So I always made shit just for me. I never planned on doing shows; I never planned on doing anything. I was trying to make shit that no one else was making that I wanted to hear. [Third album] Dandelion Gum was the epitome of that, but that’s why the audience came to the table in the first place.”
Q&A: Wild Belle on familial dynamics, schmoozing, and using loss as inspiration
Wild Belle: Isles (Columbia, 3/12/13)
“Keep You”
Though eight years apart in age, siblings Natalie and Elliot Bergman have a long musical history. Whether playing together in church in their youth, hearing James Brown and Neil Young records from their parents, or soaking up influences on trips abroad, the two have a shared musical heritage that has manifested itself in Wild Belle, a multi-cultural pop project that was born from Natalie’s demos and rounded by Elliot’s professional experience in Nomo.
Isles, the group’s debut full-length, is a blend of pre-1980s reggae and rocksteady, dub, R&B, rock, and African influences, all held together by Natalie’s airy vocals and lovelorn lyrics. Here she speaks about familial dynamics, quickly signing to a major, and using loss as inspiration.