Arturo Sandoval Sounds His Horn

Story published in The Austin Chronicle.

“I gotta tell you,” begins Arturo Sandoval during a break from his morning espresso, cigar, and practice routine. “It’s impossible to fight the lack of support of our beloved music.”

His words sparkle through the phone with the effervescence typically permeating from the 10 time Grammy winner’s trumpet. Each sentence, like each note, illuminates candid projections of the Cuban-American’s lively conscious.

“I’ve lived in this country for 30 years and I’ve never seen one minute of jazz on television,” continues Sandoval’s diagnosis for why jazz free fell from mainstream popularity. “I really consider that a crime. It’s impossible to fight the lack of media support of our beloved music.”

The trumpeter says it takes deep concentration to appreciate such an improvised art form. Jazz has struggled to shake its classical canonization, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t evolving in exciting ways.

Just look at Sandoval.

The artist transformed trumpeting with high note virtuosity in the 80's, and since Dizzy Gillespie’s most vivacious protege has worked with countless icons from Tito Puente to Alicia Keys.

It wasn’t until this past year that Sandoval, at 69, put out his first duets project, Ultimate Duets. From Stevie Wonder to Pharrell, legends old and new reimagined their favorite classics under Sandoval’s tutelage.

The maestro gets most giddy reflecting on his newest passion, scoring films. He says he knew such was a calling when he’d repeatedly get shushed at the movies for humming the sounds swirling his head.

“I can’t help it man, every time” he says giggling. “I always do because I imagine melodies, sequences and things in my mind when I watch.”

The tick led Sandoval to score Clint Eastwood’s 2018 mystery, The Mule. Perhaps working on an Oscar nominee will keep him quiet, which at least he is when asked about what lies ahead.

“I don’t make plans for the future,” Sandoval says. "If you want to see god laughing very hard, tell him about your plans because at the end, he’s got plans for you.” -

Full Q&A Below:

Austin Chronicle: You’re coming off a busy year. How are you doing today, Arturo? 

Arturo Sandoval: I’m doing beautiful. I’m happy that I got up this morning and I’m still breathing without any machines. That’s a reason to be happy. 

AC: Let’s take things back a bit. Can you recall the moment in your life when you first fell in love with jazz?

AS: The first thing I did was play traditional Cuban Music. I was 11 years old. When I was 14, I got a scholarship to get classical training at the Conservatory of Music. I started playing in a big band, but I had never heard of any jazz music until a journalist asked me if I was aware of jazz.

I said, “No, no, I’ve never heard of that.” Then he played me a Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker record. Wow, that was it, man [laughs]. That turned my head upside down and since that day I’ve been trying to learn jazz. I’m still learning! It’s an endless career.

AC: How’d you go about listening to jazz and progressing as a player when it was such a restricted art form in Cuba? Is it true you were arrested once for listening to jazz?

AS: That’s correct, yes. You know, I listened to the The Voice of America Jazz Hour, which was a radio program broadcast every day from Washington and hosted by the late, great Willis Conover. That was the only way we had to listen to jazz and that’s what I did every day for so many years.

Jazz is a language. It’s something you have to put in your soul, your blood, and in your brain. I believe there’s only one way of learning jazz, and that’s to listen. A friend of mine used to say three words that have been very good to me. He said, “Imitate, emulate, create.” In that order.

You have to start imitating your heroes and then when you really feel you've grown up, you start to emulate your heroes, which is normal. Then you start to feel a little more confidence in your ideas and skills. The end of the process is to create – create your own voice, create your own style, create your own music.

AC: You lived through some of jazz’s golden age and were so instrumental to growing the genre. Why do you think jazz fell out of popularity and what will it take for it to return to its former status?

AS: I gotta tell you... It’s impossible to fight against the lack of support of our beloved music. I’ve lived in this country for 30 years and I’ve never seen one minute of jazz on television. I really consider that a crime, because I am positive that jazz is the most profound and incredible art form that has been created in the United States. There are people, young people, who are not aware of that and it’s not their fault, because they don't have a way to know that information.

AC: What advice would you give to a young music fan who’s interested in jazz but isn’t sure how to listen and appreciate it?

AS: You have to really pay attention to the stage and what the musicians are sharing with you. It’s not music you can be talking during or thinking about something else. It's like listening to Mozart or a symphony. You have to really concentrate to start to understand what’s going on, what improvisation means, and the value of creation on the spot.

The musician is giving the audience their soul, their feeling, their way of thinking, the message transmitted to them from the bottom of their heart. That’s something you have to learn how to listen to.

AC: You recently scored Clint Eastwood’s film The Mule. What makes scoring appealing to you at this stage of your career? Is it true you can’t go to movies without humming along to the film?

AS: Haha, where’d you get that? You know what? That's very true. I can't help it, man – every time. I always do it, because I imagine melodies, sequences, and things in my mind when I watch. I enjoy scoring so much you can’t believe it. I am so grateful and happy, because working with Clint was such an honor. 

You know, when you start looking at movies without music and you create something and include it, you start to realize what the music is capable to do. The magic of the music when you add it to the film; it's amazing how it can make such an incredible difference. It’s so rewarding when you play it back and see how the movie gets enhanced from the music.

AC: Are you interested in scoring more films in the future? What else are you curious to do that you haven’t yet?

AS: I gotta tell you my way of thinking. I don’t make plans for the future. I concentrate on these 24 hours. I enjoy very much what somebody told me once. They said, “If you want to see God laughing very hard, tell him about your plans.” Oh man, I love that one because at the end, he’s got plans for you.

Interview: Alina Baraz

Story published in The Austin Chronicle. Online version here.

Alina Baraz made Urban Flora, her lush 2015 electro-soul debut, with a Danish producer she only knew from SoundCloud beats and Facebook messages. Two years later, the EP’s island-time single “Fantasy” went gold. The Clevelander, now 24, hits the road in support of her more polished and sexy 2018 follow-up, The Color of You. Catch her Friday at Emo’s.

Austin Chronicle: You’re embarking on your second headlining tour. How are you feeling?

Alina Baraz: I feel absolutely prepared. I’ve worked my ass off to make sure this tour is everything I wanted it to be. I’ve added so many things that I love and I’ve put a lot of time into the set, so I’m just excited. And I love starting it out in Texas. It’s my favorite place.

AC: Why’s that?

AB: They just show love. Every time I go to Texas, the fans are not afraid to sing and dance. And the food!

AC: You convinced your mother to move to California so you could pursue a singing career there while in college. She had never heard you sing, so how did she react to your idea and when’s the first time she heard you sing?

AB: It was really bizarre that she had never heard me sing. Nor had I ever told her I could sing, but I grew up in a super musical family, so she wasn’t surprised. I was like, “I need to go to California, will you do this with me?” She said yes, quit the job she had for 12 years, and sold the place she was living in. It wouldn't have all gone down the same way if she hadn’t done that. I then invited her to this singing gig for college that I was doing and she heard me sing for the first time there. I think at that point she was very convinced.

AC: What’s it like being a female in R&B today, having to compete for ears in a male-dominated mainstream rap world?

AB: It’s not really competitive to me. The only person I should be competing with is myself. There’s so many women doing what they want right now, whether it be R&B, pop, electronic. I don’t really feel that it’s overpowered.

AC: Now six months removed from its release, how do you feel about The Color of You, and how does it compare to Urban Flora?

AB: It’s everything I wanted it to be. I was really anxious to put it out, because I love how everything is different. Change is my comfort. It’s not even comparable to Urban Flora. I made that in my room, and with that, you just have yourself for criticism. No one told me their opinion, because no one knew I could sing. And I had never written a song, so I could never criticize it. I could just put it out, so there was something really pure about Urban Flora.

With The Color of You being in a studio, it was really cool being with a bunch of collaborators in the room, just because a lot of times there’s some things you won’t notice about yourself and people will just point it out to you. It's very, very different. I can almost say I prefer the studio than just being alone. I think you need both though, finding the balance is important.

AC: Before this project and your first tour, a lot of your fans only knew you from what they heard and saw about you on the computer. What’s it been like coming out from that, letting fans see your face and you see theirs?

AB: It’s like with the meet and greets, too. It feels like family more than anything. Even though writing and sharing music is already so vulnerable, I wanted to show more of myself. It definitely changed everything. I used to write only for myself and now I write for myself and people that listen to me.

AC: How will this tour feel and look different than the last time you were in Austin, last spring?

AB: The biggest difference is really in myself. I learned so much about myself as a performer and I just dove into every single little piece of the band, the transitions, the lighting, the colors, and choreography. It’s night and day.

Meet Frederick The Younger

Swinging between piercing highs and slurring lows, Frederick the Younger frontwoman Jenni Cochran sings with the virtuosic gusto of a Seventies UK punk. She’s actually a Clevelander, who discovered her vocal range during a postgrad stay in Vietnam teaching English.

“It was such a musical culture,” offered Cochran by phone from Tupelo, Miss., first stop on FTY’s summer-ending tour. “Every school function would always involve a singing component. There’d be close to 1,000 people at these things, so I got up there and realized singing wasn’t as terrifying as it seemed.”

As she serenaded Vietnamese students with Lady Gaga covers, the duo’s other half, Aaron Craker, worked on a solo garage rock project in Louisville called Dr. Vitamin. When Cochran moved there with her parents after Nam, she stumbled upon a Dr. Vitamin show.

“She was the missing element,” says Craker of his former project, adding that they bonded over a shared love for David Bowie and the Beatles, so forging their own sound proved a work in progress. “She’d come up with fully formed songs, but it took me a bit to figure out the right chords to match them.”

The two became Frederick the Younger in 2015, and as they became closer, Craker slowly learned to accentuate, echo, and expand upon Cochran’s rich, wailing melodies with tremolo guitar sections and rich instrumentation brought to life by a dexterous rhythm section. It all manifests into a rockish, groove-pop iteration of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs combined with UK punk standouts Siouxsie & the Banshees.

“Someone said we’re like Jenny Lewis, but we rock out more,” proclaims Craker.

Hot Summer Nights Preview: Daphne Tunes

Story published in The Austin Chronicle. Online version here.

Daphne Tunes is “Sunday Pop” because “it has to do with what everyone does on Sunday,” explains Santiago Dietche. “I try to capture that feeling when you wake up late with someone you love, usually with not much going on, so the first cup of coffee tastes that much cooler.”

Volume 1, Daphne Tunes’ debut local EP from January, falls between Neil Young’s rootsy folk and Elliott Smith’s gentle introspection. It stretches sorrow into glee with breezy guitar soundscapes, and feels like putting your hand out the window on a road trip or, as its composer puts it, “looking up at the sky and just dazing.”

Dietche began sinking deeper into Daphne Tunes after a Hot Summer Nights performance with his now expiring garage-pop band, Growl, last year.

“I was between a band that was breaking up, this loud rock & roll band, and this sad pop band,” he says. “I wanted to write something in-between those that was more me.” 

As he scans this year’s Red River music festival lineup, he realizes he’s connected to just about everyone. 

Hovvdy is a “collaborator,” he says, his bassist Andrew Stevens records with Jess Williamson, and the guys in Holy Wave used to work with him in the Alamo Drafthouse kitchen on South Lamar. 

“Oh, there’s Daphne Tunes,” Dietche exclaims. “Fourth row down on the left, first name.”

The 25-year-old Austinite is sensible about placement. Although he’s connected to the local scene, Daphne Tunes is still new to it, but a busy start to the summer highlighted by a sold-out opening slot for local surf rock stalwarts Summer Salt means more and more indieheads are catching on. Even so, don’t expect Daphne Tunes to be in small print on future lineups.

Interview: Ezra Collective is Ready to Take on the World

Story originally published on GoodMusicAllDay. Read here.

It’s day two of South by South West and the Austin streets are about as packed with people as the sky is with the clouds covering the impending sunset. Visitors scramble to Airbnbs and hotels for naps before the evening’s concerts. Bands trudge along sidewalks dragging amps and instruments. As they pack in tour buses, others unload into venues across town.

At the Main II on Red River Street, a breeze of London jazz is flowing for the “Jazz re:freshed Outer National” showcase. While Moses Boyd sound checks and Nubya Garcia follows, the backbone of Ezra Collective, brothers Femi and TJ Koleoso, stand off to the side and watch. Referred to locally as “the chosen ones’,” Ezra Collective mixes jazz with contrasting styles such as afro-beat, reggae and hip-hop. Their experimentation has helped define the jazz invasion occurring across the pond.

Femi plays drums and TJ is on bass. The rest of the group, now out exploring Austin, consists of Joe Armon Jones on piano, Dylan Jones on trumpet, and James Mollison on tenor saxophone.

Tonight will be Ezra Collective’s first performance in the United States and they’re first opportunity to play in front of a SXSW crowd that’s usually ridden with music industry folk.

For Femi, it’ll be just another show.

“People been asking, ‘are you going to change your approach since it’s South By?’ a lot of industry cats,” he says. “I’m like nah, whether you work for Sony or Atlantic or Warner, you still like being happy and dancing.”

The brothers head for the venue’s back courtyard and sit down on a bench that gives way to a view of Austin’s growing skyline. Over drowned out jazz horns from inside, they explain how Ezra Collective’s music lends itself to jazz appreciation in the modern era.

Femi says they study not only greats before them like Sonny Rollins and Felt Kuti, but also jazz and hip-hop forces of today such as Robert Glasper, Kendrick Lamar, Giggs and Skepta.

The name Ezra Collective embodies the group’s musical philosophy, TJ says. He explains how they’re named after the biblical prophet Ezra who made wisdom of the past relevant in the present by teaching it through relatable elements. Femi decided Ezra was a fitting symbol for the group since they blend an legacy art form, jazz, with the genres the group and their peers grew up listening to.

“We have this melting pot of all these different influences,” Femi says. “You need an openness to letting them all come out, I think jazz music allows for that.”

Femi and TJ agree that London naturally breeds their style.

“London is one of the most multicultural places in the world,” TJ says. “When people say, ‘oh you got a mix of that a mix of this,’ yeah cool, we grew up on that, we just learned to play it with jazz.”

Femi and TJ first picked up the drums and bass in church, giving them a gospel foundation that they only wanted to expand upon. They started studying other genres and Femi fell in love with jazz after reading his favorite musicians quoting jazz drummers in interview after interview. TJ didn’t appreciate the music coming out of his brother’s room until he started to play it.

“As soon as I started playing jazz, I fell in love because I realized it was about how well I could get my message across with my instrument,” says TJ. “It’s so authentic and it’s so you.”

“I love that jazz music is one of the genres where people like Sun Ra, Yusuf Lateef, Louie Armstrong and Nina Simone are all doing the same genre,” Femi adds. “I love the freedom that the word jazz music can give.”

The brothers honed their jazz skill at Tomorrow’s Warriors, a London jazz development organization for teenagers of ethnic minorities. There they would meet the rest of what became Ezra Collective in 2012.

o put themselves in a position to tour the world playing jazz, Femi says it was important Ezra Collective stayed true to their roots.

“The moment we try to sound like Americans, that’s the end of everything because no one can be better at being an American than an American,” Femi says. “People in London recognize us as sounding and looking like London.”

For Femi and TJ, preserving that London feel also means not changing their fashion from the streets to the stage, even if past etiquette called for suits and tuxedos.

“Oh, I wear suits,” TJ says.

“A tracksuit,” the brothers say simultaneously and laugh before realizing they’re wearing the same Nike sweatsuit but in different colors.

“I think it might be weird if Wynton Marsalis turned up in what I’m wearing right now,” Femi says. “If I’m going to be honest with the sounds I’m making, the music I’m playing, how I look has to be honest. This is what we wear in London. This is me.”

London hasn’t only been an influence for their success, it’s also been a resource. Once Ezra Collective solidified as a group and started to carve out its sound at Tomorrow’s Warriors, they were introduced to their community through organizations like Jazz re:freshed and British Underground.

Jazz re:freshed is London’s leading alternative jazz label that gained its clout by putting on weekly live music events in Notting Hill. The brother’s appreciation for the organization manifests when our interview is interrupted by Jazz refreshed Co-chief Executive, Adam Moses who is filming with a camcorder.

“That’s mister. jazz refreshed himself!” Femi screams. “He’s a hero of ours.”

“Big ups!” TJ adds.

The brothers say Ezra Collective benefited from London’s vast ecosystem of online music broadcast companies like NTS and Boiler Room. They also credited American artists like Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi Washington for redefining people’s preconceptions about jazz. Femi says they helped open the floodgates for wider Jazz acceptance and hopes this will translate to Ezra Collective fans around the world.

“I want people in Asia screaming about this, in Africa, let it be a South American ting too,” he says. “Let everyone know the magic that happens in London.”

Worldwide recognition and a Giggs feature are among the goals for Ezra Collective. For any of that to happen, though, Femi says maintaining the group’s chemistry is top priority.

“As bandleader, I’ve got to keep people happy, keep us together, keep making memories, he says. “If we’re friends first, then the features, the albums, the tours, the gigs…all of that will take care of itself.”

Siblings and Austin Natives, The Bishops are Here to Stay

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The Bishops played at Austin City Limits in 2017, a year after going as fans. They’re only getting started.

Growing up as the only girl in the Bishop family made Cara tough.

She’s just rolled the blunt being passed in the parking lot outside Music Lab, a rehearsal space in South Austin. Her brother Troy grabs it. “I’m not going to mention any names, but one time Cara may or may not have beat one of my older brothers in a fight,” he says. “It was a quick one too.”

“I stick up for myself a lot,” Cara giggles.

“She earned her stripes,” their brother Chris adds, sitting to Troy’s right. Neither he or his older brother Josh confirm or deny the claim, but Josh isn’t there to do so. That’s because he isn’t in The Bishops, the experimental hip-hop group his siblings started nearly three years ago.

Since then, they’ve become one of Austin’s most prominent and promising young bands. They’ve played more than 75 live shows in the city, including an appearance at Austin City Limits Music Festival this year.

That show was something the siblings had dreamt about since they were kids. Chris, 24, and Troy, 21, were born in Houston but moved to Austin before they were old enough to remember anywhere else as home. Cara is 19 and has lived in Austin her whole life.

Now they’re relaxing after finishing rehearsal for another show in their hometown coming up over the weekend. They were only able to practice four songs because of mixer malfunctions, but they don’t seem even slightly worried.

Troy can’t stop talking about yerba mate tea before doing a fake backflip for his Snapchat Story. He keeps repeating “Yerba Gang.” It seems he’s had a couple today. He and his siblings all have curly hair, but Troy has the longest fro. He’s been growing it out for over a year now.

Chris shows me a video of Troy trying to freestyle on his phone. Troy makes beats for the group but is starting to write verses and rap over songs like his brother Chris. They both can’t stop laughing at the video; Troy’s raw flow is amusing.

Cara sits off to the side and writes verses with a silver Sharpie on trace paper. She’s the group’s lead singer and likes to write her verses on unusual surfaces.

Being together brings out the siblings’ goofy sides. They can’t stop clowning on each other.

Their manager, Saaya Temori, is there too. She describes this energy as normal between them, calling it a product of love and creation.

“There’s some kind of magic in creating with the people you love, especially with your own blood,” she says.

The siblings first discovered it when Chris and Troy were in middle school and their dad brought home a used piano from a garage sale.

Troy didn’t know how to read music but had good enough feel that he could figure out how to play songs just from listening to them. The first he learned was “Crank That,” by Soulja Boy.

“That’s when I knew I was the shit,” he says before harmonizing the song’s classic chord progression. “I was a young Mozart,” he says. They all burst out laughing.

Using the production software FL Studio, or FruityLoops, Troy soon began making full length beats for Chris to rap over. They formed a duo called DailyDos but Chris didn’t think they were any good at first. “We were terrible,” he says. “But then Cara came.”

Photo Courtesy of Ceci Sariol (@cecisariol on Instagram

Cara had always liked singing, but her brothers didn’t realize how good she was until she joined them at the studio one day just before 16th birthday. She went in the booth cold and blew everyone away. “She started singing and everyone’s jaws were like wide open,” Troy recalls. “She shat on us.”

With Cara in the fold, they started making songs as a family and released them on the internet as The Bishops. They developed a style that couldn’t be described by a single genre.

“They’re as if Outkast and MGMT had a baby out in Houston and the god parent is Anderson .Paak,” Aaron Trizna says, a good friend and gigantic fan of the siblings.

Their debut single “Blood Ring,” released in December 2015, encapsulates their unique sound and family bond. Cara’s toughness from growing up with three brothers shine as she sings about not being afraid to fight because her family has her back. Chris raps about his story over a bouncy production from Troy.

“When you listen to “Blood Ring”, you can tell we’re a family,” Chris says as the blunt becomes a roach.

Just two months after coming out, “Blood Ring” climbed to #1 on Spotify’s United States Viral 50 playlist. It did so without The Bishops playing a single show outside of Texas.

The siblings feel they don’t have to move anywhere to continue making it big. This kind of mindset is challenged by many in the music industry, including Lauren Bruno, a talent buyer who’s has booked shows in Austin for eight years.

She sees Austin as a good place for artists to start, but not a place for them to flourish. “I don’t think there’s a big industry here,” she said. “It’s imperative for people to travel to places like LA and New York to shop their art.”

But The Bishops feel they’re walking proof that the internet allows any artist to flip this paradigm on its head. “Hell yeah — we got the internet,” Troy says when asked if they can make it in Austin.

Although the siblings hope to travel the world touring, they plan to be in Austin for the rest of their lives. “This is home no matter what,” Troy says.

They aren’t so worried about material gains from their music because they feel that’ll come naturally if they keep doing what they’re doing.

When asked about his next goal, Troy initially says he wants an autopilot Tesla, but Cara soon helps him change his mind.

“I just want to work together and become better than we are. Definitely stay together as a band,” Cara says. “That’s how you get the Tesla.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Chris responds. “I don’t even want a Tesla, but my car is ass right now.”

Interview: David Wexler Talks VR, Making 3D Visuals for Flying Lotus, The Weeknd & More

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David Wexler of Strangeloop Studios gives us an in-depth look into life as one of the biggest concert visual artists in the world.

It was a strange sight. Not the usual mass congregation of hipsters wearing costumes. That was to be expected at a Flying Lotus concert in Austin on Halloween. People wearing costumes and 3D glasses to see live music, though? That was weird. Few concertgoers dancing during an electronic music show because they were so immersed in the background visuals? Even weirder. But this much is the norm at a concert with graphics made by Strangeloop Studios.

From partnerships with The Weeknd to Kendrick Lamar, Strangeloop is one of the leading concert visualist companies in the world. Their mind-bending visuals are created by David Wexler, the company’s founder, and creative director. David comes from a family of filmmakers and has been obsessed with manipulating visuals into video art since he was little.

Not a fan of “The Matrix” sequels, Wexler decided to make his own, combining his favorite moments from the 2nd and 3rd films into one that Wexler described to me as “far superior” when I met him prior to the Flying Lotus’ show last week.

Wexler brings this type of cinematic flair to the live concert arena. His application of narrative and concept represents a departure from the more decorative light shows that became common after the rapid rise of EDM called for more immersive concert experiences.

With each concert, Strangeloop continues to pioneer new standards for the art form. The Flying Lotus tour uses new technology from 3D Live to create an astonishing audio-visual experience. During each song, I felt like I was introspecting my own sub-conscious as I journeyed into that of FlyLo’s and Wexler’s. The visuals helped me achieve this by depicting abstract living elements and symbols of the human body being unwired and deconstructed. Each song existed in its own world with life forms conceived by beats in an atmosphere of melodies.

Flying Lotus’ silhouette occupied the bottom half of the screen, appearing to direct the experience as a conductor would his orchestra. In reality, the show is a collaborative effort. Although not visible to the crowd, David Wexler and visual artist John King A.KA. Timeboy are operating the visuals live, jamming with FlyLo using the video-mixing software Resolume as their instruments.

When I texted you asking to do this interview, a couple of days went by before you answered saying “Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I’ve been in VR for most of the past five days.” I couldn’t tell…were you joking?

No, I wasn’t. I spend a lot of time in VR.

What do you do in there?

I’ve been working on making concerts in VR. We’ve done Ash Koosha’s show, Tokimonsta’s show…There’s times I’ll be in VR for 5 hours straight.

When you say you’re doing these live shows in VR, what do you mean?

It’s a new kind of thing. We work with WaveVr to create VR shows. People can tune in from anywhere in the world. Basically, you can tune in and have an avatar with whom you see other people at the show. The musician can have an avatar, I can have an avatar.

It’s a shared experience. It’s like when you go to a real concert with a bunch of people, except they’re avatars. It opens up a ton of possibilities because you’re constructing these worlds from the ground up. Things you simply couldn’t do, or budget for at a real concert. You can have stages that are a mile high and it’s fascinating. You definitely can have a shared experience with people even if you’re in the same place as them physically.

It’s kind of an “Ah-ha moment when you actually experience it because it seems kind of out there otherwise. But we actually have the technology to do those things.

How has VR changed your art?

Basically, once VR arrived, I knew it was the medium I wanted to make audiovisual experiences for where I’m wielding the whole thing. Otherwise, I might make some music or visual shows for artists and that’s a collaborative thing. VR allows me to show more of my own audiovisual work.

We could talk VR for hours, but let’s get into Strangeloop. What was your original vision for it and has it become what you originally hoped it to be?

The basic idea is to make mind-blowing visual shows. Mind expanding art. It was always about trying to pull meaning out of all this chaos that you can discover through video experimentation and experimentation with graphics.

When I started out, the things I was really interested in were very esoteric. Underground stuff. It wasn’t mainstream at all, but now it is. We do shows for artists like The Weeknd. I didn’t foresee it exactly like this. It’s weird to say anything we do is mainstream because I want to be involved in the most esoteric experimentation of video. But it’s cool that we can bring those things to larger audiences with live shows.

When did VJ-ing become your profession? What was it like at first?

I started professionally doing video stuff for shows when I was probably 22. Initially, it was a process of discovery. To me, it was a completely wide open medium that people weren’t treating with the same reverence as cinema. You had people like Pink Floyd or a couple of groups that showed what you could do. Some artists that did their own thing that was really phenomenal and used video well, but it wasn’t the norm.

So I wanted to push it as far as it could go and think of it as something that was completely art. And now I feel like that’s more the norm, to have a visual show to go with the music, especially since the rise of EDM and big electronic music. The DJ’s needed to be able to fill out their presentation and bring people into their world using technology. I kind of got in at that time, where a lot of things were becoming possible. When people began desiring visual stimulation alongside the music.

I would go to those type of EDM shows growing up and I often thought the visuals were cool, but at times they appeared more like decoration than conceptual art. Do you think there’s still a lot of this in the field or are people starting to make live show visuals the way you do, with vision and concept in mind?

That’s a good way of putting it. Traditionally, I think it was an approach to do it decoratively. But now I think artists are realizing we have a universe that we can bring you into it at a show. So there’s a lot more conceptual stuff in there.

There’s still groups where it’s just decorative. But you know, there’s also an argument to be made, that sometimes you don’t want a visual show. Maybe it’s a certain group where it makes sense to focus on them over the visuals. But there is a certain kind of artist that benefits from having a visual component that is an immersive experience that you can be brought into.

Like Flying Lotus?

Yeah, Flying Lotus is great, he takes use of it very well. I love working with him because he’s such a cinematic fellow and is really into all these ideas we can bring into the visual show to sort of take you into his world.

http://strangeloop-studios.com/gallery/

So what’s the difference between how you approach a Flying Lotus show versus how you approach a show for The Weeknd?

I think Steve (Flying Lotus) wants to be embedded in this spectacle, and I think someone like the Weekend wants to go out and be the center of the show. Both are totally viable. Being a backdrop is not always bad. I respect those shows as well when it’s not about us trying to impose our vision. We can be a backdrop, but hopefully be a powerful vessel for what’s going on with the performance as well.

Let’s get into this Flying Lotus 3D Tour. In an interview with Pigeons and Planes, Flying Lotus described the show as a “live jam session” between you and him. How is it that?

When you see the Flying Lotus 3D show, it’s the whole thing, it’s the music, it’s the visuals, everything together. We’re taking the lead from Flying Lotus, but it’s in real time, building the syntax and the architecture of it as we go.

It’s a very natural process. As we play more shows, I start to get used to his material and absorbing it. I just get into the mindset of what he’s doing and eventually, we’ll know every beat of the track and we can match visuals to it. But it’s definitely an organic process. He changes the set all the time, so we need to be in a perceptive place. It’s just I’ve been working with him for so long, it’s rarely a stretch of my imagination. We’ve got to the point where we can read one another.

This is the first time we’ve done a real 3D show. In the past, we did different versions of a 3D show but it was almost fake 3D using multiple screens. Now we’re doing it with real 3D glasses, which I wasn’t interested in at all until I saw this new patented technology that’s not what you see in theaters. It uses a 3D LED wall, you’ll see it tonight, it’s pretty insane.

What do you expect the audience to feel while experiencing the show?

I think it’s very subjective. I hope people enjoy it, the whole thing is a big collaborative effort from a lot of people trying to make something that I think breaks through the noise a bit.

Ultimately, it’s about the ideas and the vibe. It’s a spectacle, but it’s not just about the spectacle. So I hope people walk away having questions, I love imagery where you can’t put your finger on it right away. That’s what I’m always looking for. Stuff where when you see it, part of you is going to wonder, what is that, what am I experiencing.

I want people to walk away, hopefully in awe of some kind. Wondering what they just saw, and wanting to see it again. Because it’s always different. The worse thing would be if you saw it and were like that was okay. Or to feel that you knew exactly what you saw. I want people to be pleasantly baffled.

I’d say that was an apt description for how I felt leaving the show last Tuesday. I was so satisfied I lost all my urge to trick or treat. Maybe next year…Until then, I’ll be keeping an eye out on the projects coming out of Strangeloop Studios and you should too. Speaking of which, check out their most recent work with Micah Nelson’s band, Insects Vs. Robots, whom Wexler collaborated with to create this genius video for the track, “THEYLLKILLYAA.”

Interview: Nai Palm Sees ‘Needle Paw,’ Her Debut Solo Album, as a Gentle Lullaby.

I talk to Nai Palm about her debut solo album, cooking wallaby, Australia, and more.

The late great Prince died with an unfulfilled wish. He adored the soulful quartet Hiatus Kaiyote and before passing, repeatedly asked them to perform live in his home. Unable to overcome logistical roadblocks, the show never materialized. With their genre-bending sound, however, Hiatus Kaiyote has honored and preserved Prince’s musical spirit and intention. The band’s heartbeat and energy are conducted by their lead singer, Nai Palm.

An orphan from Australia, the group’s front-woman sings from a heart pained by loss and tribulation. Nai lost both of her parents before the age of 14, resulting in a childhood of fluctuating homes and families. Detached from the love of kinship she found comfort through nature, writing, and song.

With Needle Paw, Nai’s debut solo album out today, she capitalizes on her opportunity for independent expression. After more than 5 years of releasing music and touring with Hiatus Kaiyote, Nai was ready to hone in and communicate her own vision. She describes Needle Paw as the “skeleton” of a Hiatus Kaiyote album. Stripped down to acoustic guitar and vocals, it’s a chance for listeners to appreciate Nai’s vocal range and ability.

The album is more digestible for the common ear without the layered instrumentation her bandmates bring to Hiatus Kaiyote. It’s simplicity, though, doesn’t take away from its impact. In today’s frantic world, sometimes all you need is a “gentle lullaby,” as Nai says below.

I had the chance to catch up with her in the midst of the Needle Paw North American tour, just two days before the album’s release. She hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, but as I call, she’s about to.

Let’s get right into it, I know you’re super busy. 

Well, I’m more just like, at a diner. The busyness is going to be me fitting heaps of food into my mouth.

Haha. Do you think Australian breakfast is better than American breakfast?

Our breakfast shits on your breakfast, hahaha.

Agreed, I noticed that while studying in Sydney this year. Speaking of food, you’re music and style is super cultured. Do you cook? I feel like you’d make some crazy multi-cultured shit in the kitchen. 

Yeah, I like cooking! My favorite thing to cook is wallaby, which is like a way cuter Kangaroo. You cook it in coconut oil with like sage, agave nector, paprika, garlic and it’s really yum.

And I love cooking with beet juice because I’m an improv cooker and I love color. I feel like if your food is too beige you’ll end up pretty fucked up. And I always cook with honey, because I’m obsessed with it.

I watched your interview with EricTheYoungGod, and you guys talked about why Hiatus Kaiyote may be more popular in the states than in Australia. I was in Melbourne this year and I was introduced to these fantastic soul groups coming out of the city like 30/70 and The Do Ya Thangs. To me, the city seemed like an up and coming epicenter of neo-soul. I was wondering if you noticed this too and how much this rise has to do with the city of Melbourne and or, Hiatus’ success? 

There wasn’t much of a scene for that shit when we (Hiatus Kaiyote) started out…and there is now.

Hiatus came up through house parties and jam parties with people playing lots of different styles. There was like a beat maker scene and then there was us, and no one really knew what to do with it because we performed in a live format.

All the heads that were into Dilla and shit we’re all just kinda making your Low End Theory kinda joints, ya know?

As far as those bands you mentioned, they are a couple years after Hiatus. It’s kind of weird I keep getting associated with them because we’ve been touring internationally for like 5 years, so this little soul scene that’s popped up there…I don’t really feel that connected to because it wasn’t there when I was around.

Got that. When I listen to those groups I definitely hear Hiatus’ influence. When I listen to you sing, in particular, it’s crazy, I feel like I can hear the influence of where you grew up. It’s so natural but at the same time, urban and hip. How did growing up in contrasting environments, a city, and nature, influence your work? 

I lived in a place called Mount Beauty which is more like an alpine valley. It’s very green and filled with rivers and mountains…I think it’s important for people to be exposed to lots of different ways of living and cultures, and of course, that’s going to influence you creatively.

If you just like go to the same place and eat the same thing all the time and then go to create…Humans are like sponges you know, we’re the byproducts of our environments and the more you expose yourself to eclectic living, the better you are.

It seems like you’re influenced by your dreams, you got your permanent gold tooth because of a recurring dream right? Is there a really vivid or crazy dream that you can recall that inspired any of the songs on Needle Paw or any Hiatus songs?

Yeah, it’s actually related to the teeth thing. The “World it Softly Lulls” was a reccruing dream I had a lot when I was younger and before my 25th birthday, I had it again, which is when I got my gold tooth.

In the dream, I woke up in a hospital room and all my teeth were silver and there was this massive colored glass wall where all the images were moving and my finger’s get hot, and then lightning comes out of my fingers and shatters the glass and the pieces move past me in slow motion.

The rest of the dream, I’m on the top of a skyscraper playing with lightning and my teeth are conducting the electricity and its really, really, um…fun. It’s something that I’ve dreamt about a lot.

So Needle Paw, your debut solo album, is coming out in just two days. What are your emotions like right now? Nervous, excited? 

I’m just really proud of it and I think it’ll help people. It’s helped me. It’s not an egotistical album, it’s an offering, a sanctuary for people because the world is kind of fucked up and sometimes you need to put on a record that’s like a gentle lullaby.

When I first finished the record I kind of forgot about the whole release thing. For me the release was having it completed and to be like I’ve done this, it was a milestone… It was a fucking crazy challenge. I had a hectic year. I really bled for that album, so it’s really humbling that it’s going to do what it needs to do for other people in the same way it did for me.

How would you describe the album? How is it different than what you do with Hiatus, how is it similar? 

It’s like when I write a song and bring it to the band. I wanted people to see the skeleton of the ideas and the power of the intention in that. Its kind of like the skeleton of our weird voltron magic beats that we make.

Also, sometimes with Hiatus, I put a lot of effort into to my vocal arrangements and sometimes it gets a little bit buried in the mix when you have a lot of other shit…so I just wanted to really celebrate and showcase that, and the other singers that sing with us in Hiatus because they’re a part of the story too. It’s kind of like a journal, with people I really love on the record. It’s very simple and not overstated, but there’s power in that.

You’ve been posting singles to your Instagram with the album artwork for Needle Paw. It has a very cultural, eclectic aesthetic, similar to your music. What can you tell me about the artwork? 

I found a really amazing artist. Her name is Jowy, iseejowy on Instagram. I just started following her work and I loved how deeply, spiritually feminine and punk it was, it’s like elegant and fierce at the same time.

Being in an industry saturated by men, being in a band with 3 other dudes who are the most emotionally centered people I know…I just wanted something that was very effeminate, but not in a polite, western conception of that. I wanted something that was really evocative and powerful. Jowy’s work really resonated with me so we started following each other, started chatting, and then she drew a series of portraits of me and I had a Skype with her. I feel like I’ve met another member of my global family.

Before I let you go, you’ve traveled everywhere. This a music blog for the people of Austin, so I was wondering what you thought about Austin compared to other places you’ve been and performed? 

Well, I’ve only really played there during SXSW so it’s usually a cluster-fuck. But Austin is a cool city, there’s good vintage, bars, and barbecue.

I don’t know if SXSW is the truest representation of a typical Austin audience, but I remember someone was burning palo santo in the audience, that was a beautiful moment that I remember from Austin.