Dangerbird

Minus the Bear

Review: Minus the Bear’s Infinity Overhead

Minus the Bear: Infinity OverheadMinus the Bear: Infinity Overhead (Dangerbird, 8/28/12)

“Lonely Gun”

Minus the Bear: “Lonely Gun”

Minus the Bear was one of those indie-rock bands that experienced “synth creep” as 1980s-style music came back into fashion over the past decade; its last two albums, Planet of Ice and Omni, increasingly utilized synthesizers at the expense of the mathy guitar rock for which the band was known. Its newest, Infinity Overload, is a step back towards its roots, with moments of quirkiness and energy that were largely missing from Ice and Omni.

The One AM Radio

Guest Spots: The One AM Radio on self-portraiture

The One AM Radio: Heaven is Attached by a Slender ThreadThe One AM Radio: Heaven Is Attached By A Slender Thread (Dangerbird, 4/12/11)

The One AM Radio: “Sunlight”

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LA-based multi-instrumentalist Hrishikesh Hirway is the force behind dream-pop band The One AM Radio. On the day before his new album, Heaven Is Attached By A Slender Thread, is released to the world, Hirway took the chance to get introspective with ALARM. Below, he explores the alignment (or misalignment) of various expectations and realities, including those of his own songwriting process, through the lens of self-portraiture.

On Self-Portraiture
by Hrishikesh Hirway (The One AM Radio)

Everyone confronts this question every day: how do I present myself to the world? This process is so ubiquitous and so fundamental that it often goes unnoticed, a blip in the subconscious. But when dealing with any work that’s declared to be a self-portrait, the process of figuring out who you think you are, and how you want to reveal that to others, becomes paramount.

For my new record, I wanted to make a conscious effort to step away from the adjectives that were often used to describe my music: somber, melancholy, introspective, East Coast. I thought, “I’d like to make something buoyant, happy, fun, LA. Dance music.” When the record was done, I realized that I hadn’t accomplished that at all. There was a huge divide between what I thought I could make and what actually came out.