No Journalists Allowed: Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale talks to noise-pop musician Dan Friel

Black Pus: All My RelationsBlack Pus: All My Relations (Thrill Jockey, 3/19/13)

“1000 Years”

Black Pus: “1000 Years”

Taking noisy and experimental music out of the basement and into the mainstream has been a long journey. From Brian Eno and Lou Reed popularizing it in the 1970s to the current generation performing at large festivals, we’ve reached a point where it’s not only critically praised but a genre with a serious following.

Dan Friel and Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt, Black Pus) — creative souls each with challenging yet accessible new solo albums — recently sat down and talked about the freedom of solo work, performing on the street in the United Arab Emirates, and drunk viking synthesizers.

Dan Friel: Total FolkloreDan Friel: Total Folklore (Thrill Jockey, 2/19/13)

“Thumper”

Dan_Friel_Thumper

Brian Chippendale: You just made a super pop record that opens with a 12-minute song, and you didn’t have to bounce the song order or album direction off any band members! Do you feel mega-liberated by that? Or trapped because you had to make every decision?

Dan Friel: 100% liberation. Zero trap. And the track order was an especially fun call to make. With that said, I always end up bouncing ideas off of the same few helpful friends as my solo-project research panel (even if I reserve the right to then do whatever I want).

Wu Fei: Experimental Expression of Chinese Traditions

Wu Fei‘s work is a marriage between the East and West. Using traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng and erhu in unconventional ways, Fei strays from the strict, painterly elegance of the instrument’s usual genre, instead introducing improvised and experimental elements.