Pelican

Interview: Pelican stretches far, geographically and acoustically, on Ataraxia / Taraxis

This content appears in the iPad-exclusive ALARM 39. Download it for free and subscribe to our new print edition.

PelicanAtaraxia-TaraxisEPcoverartworkpackshot400pxThrashHits-47074_200x200Pelican: Ataraxia / Taraxis (Southern Lord, 4/10/12)

“Lathe Biosas”

Pelican_Lathe_Biosas

Ten years is a time frame in which anything can happen, especially in the music industry. Relationships begin and end, bands come and go, and trends begin and overturn, causing new heroes to rise and the kings of yesterday to be left in the shadows. But sometimes bands remain on top of their territory past this milestone and beyond.

Enter Chicago’s Pelican, whose ten-plus years on the circuit have taken it around the globe and left it in the higher ranks of post-metal acts. Though 2010 marked the band’s tin anniversary, 2012 is a year of progress, reflected in its new EP, Ataraxia / Taraxis.

No Journalists Allowed: Tim and Mike Kinsella, the brothers behind Joan of Arc and Owen

This content appears in the iPad-exclusive ALARM 39. Download it for free and subscribe to our new print edition.

Growing up in the northern Chicago suburbs, brothers Tim and Mike Kinsella began the indie-rock cult favorite Cap’n Jazz at the ripe young ages of 15 and 12, respectively. Though the idiosyncratic quintet didn’t garner most accolades until a few years after disbanding, its founders and cohorts all have gone onto productive, overlapping careers. Tim has been the force behind Joan of Arc; Mike has released six solo albums as Owen; and both regularly collaborate with a small army, including cousin Nate Kinsella (Birthmark), Sam Zurick (Owls), Bobby Burg (Make Believe), and Victor Villarreal.

Mike Kinsella

Tim Kinsella

Here the brothers take turns questioning each other about being musicians, coming off like an asshole, and feeling your age.

Interview: Dirty Projectors songwriter David Longstreth achieves discovery in seclusion

This interview appears in ALARM #40. Subscribe here to get your copy!

Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan (Domino, 7/10/12)

“Gun Has No Trigger”

Dirty Projectors: “Gun Has No Trigger”

Dave Longstreth has one hell of a view. Slumping his lanky frame in a plush leather chair, the Dirty Projectors front-man has been given a room in Brooklyn’s Wythe Hotel that has a massive floor-to-ceiling window, displaying the island of Manhattan in stunning panorama. The funny thing, as Longstreth points out, is that the accommodations are a bit superfluous. “I live just a couple blocks that way,” he notes.

Despite the junketed overkill of the meeting place, Longstreth can attest that time away from home can really clear one’s head for answers. Last year after touring behind his band’s breakthrough 2009 album Bitte Orca, Longstreth hid himself away, renting a house in upstate New York for the sole purpose of writing and recording new songs. Narrowed from more than 50 demos to 12 final tracks, the resultant Swing Lo Magellan is Longstreth’s attempt at concentrated songcraft. “This album, for me, is just about the songs,” he says, “this idea of a verse and a chorus and lyrics and melody.”

A war to reclaim the sun in Mr. Gnome’s “House of Circles” video

Mr. Gnome: Madness in Miniature (El Marko, 10/25/11)

Mr. Gnome, the Cleveland-based rock two-piece consisting of vocalist/guitarist Nicole Barille and percussionist Sam Meister, has a lot of ideas. Its 2011 album, Madness in Miniature, tells an epic story that the band wanted to translate into some other form of media, be it graphic novel or film. They eventually scaled their ambitions back to a music video, which we previewed for you earlier this year.