Interview

The new video for "Monte Alban," by Berlin and New York-based duo PALMS (Nadja Korinth and Ryan Schaefer), looks a little like what might have happened if Koyaanisqatsi had been less teleological, and about ambience. Like Godfrey Reggio's film, PALMS' video rejects straightforward narrative in favor of a hodgepodge of brief, deeply evocative shots—fists clenching a bedsheet; a sunset revealed and hidden again as Venetian blinds are turned; a face on a computer screen laughing and then screaming. Rather than advancing an agenda, though, the aim is solely to create a mood: it's beautiful, eerie art for beautiful, eerie art's sake. 

The mix of clips, directed by Brett Milspaw and Tina Tyrell, is well suited given the song's musical content. Milspaw says, "Ryan's cold spoken vocals seem to communicate through the ether to some distant figure, while Nadja's strange combination of hysterical screaming, yodeling, and violent breathing, conjure up a feeling that something occurred, is about to occur, or never occurred at all." (Actually, Nadja's voice doesn't sound as bad as all that—there's a definite melody in her caterwauling; it's terrifying and comforting at once.)

Milspaw continues, "We wanted to further these feelings in a visual memory/flashback/flash-forward-a sort of trailer for a dream gone bad, something primal and elemental with just a touch of intrigue." He might just as well be describing the video for M83's "Run Into Flowers," which is a happy coincidence—M83 fans will find something to identify with in PALMS' dreamy synth and slow chk-chk buildup.

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I had always had Stone Phillips pegged as the "hip" network news anchor, especially after his gravitas-off and subsequent rematch with Stephen Colbert. But if NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has his druthers, he'll soon be usurping that title: he's launching a new online indie-music interview series. And it's called—wait for it—BriTunes.

Williams himself writes: "Okay, so I didn't name this thing, but I did come up with the idea. I have always loved identifying good music and good groups—discovering them early (bar bands are best) and following them through their journey. While we'll interview some established musicians, mostly I'd like this to be a place where people can sample some of the great music being created every day, by talented musicians who wouldn't dream of doing anything else."

The inaugural episode features an interview with Deer Tick, which is a great choice. The best moment is when Brian Williams asks lead singer John McCauley how he'll know when his life has changed. McCauley responds, "Probably when I get a phone call, ‘John, I'm pregnant.'"
You can find this and future episodes at BriTunes.  Williams hasn't announced which other acts he'll profile, but around the 13:15 mark of this interview with Michael Phelps, he reveals that he's a Lil' Wayne fan. We can hope...

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If you already know about Brooklyn-based pop trio Chairlift, chances are good it's because of their single "Bruises," one of the catchiest songs of 2008 and the star of its very own iPod Nano commercial. But if all you've heard is "Bruises," you might have the wrong impression; you might think that the band is somehow a band caught up in the preciousness of its own delicate hooks and looping vocals. And you'd be missing the rest of Chairlift's sophomore album, Does You Inspire You, originally out on Kanine Records last year, and freshly reissued by Columbia, remastered and up two new songs. You would have missed the fuzzy guitars of "Earwig Town" and "Dixie Gypsy," the desolate horns of "Chameleon Closet," and the wry millennial send-up of ye-ye music, "Le Flying Saucer Hat." You'd have missed "Planet Health," some of the best free association poetry about health class ever set to a Pentatonic Scale (or at least that I've heard): "Our intercourse was well protected/we made love each others eyes/I'm feeling great tonight." A big component of why Chairlift can do all this without getting ridiculous—or worse, boring—is singer Caroline Polachek's chameleonic voice. It's no small feat to channel Kim Gordon, Amy Millan, and Francoise Hardy all on a single album, but Caroline makes it look easy.


ALEXANDRIA SYMONDS: How's the tour going?

CAROLINE POLACHEK: The tour's going great. We were on tour with Sebastian Tellier for about a week, and then Peter Bjorn and John for a couple weeks, and now we're out with The Killers.

AS: What are the crowds like to see the Killers?

CP: They're so young. Normally we're used to playing kids like, our age, a little bit older, a little bit younger-generally, in their mid-20s. I was just at the merch booth looking out over the crowd and it's flip-flop-wearing, fake tanned, 15-year-old girls lined up at the merch booth to buy Killers shirts. It's insane.

AS: Is it weird that those crowds can't drink at shows?

CP: They have a natural enthusiasm, so it doesn't matter. 15-to-18-year-olds will go crazier than drunk 30-year-olds any day. They have the attention span of goldfish.

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I first met Larry Tee on April 22 at a dinner party in his honor, and everyone was talking about Miss USA. At the pageant a few days before, the California contestant, Carrie Prejean, was asked by judge Perez Hilton to supply her views on gay marriage. Perez didn't like her answer that "marriage should be between a man and a woman," and the exchange sparked a national conversation on the subject.

It so happened that Perez had recorded a song for Larry Tee's latest album, Club Badd (out May 5 on Ultra Records), "My Penis," which was meant to have premiered the next day. It's a funny little song, imminently danceable, in which Perez intones repeatedly: "My penis. My penis. My penis. Is famous." When Perez did premiere the song a day later, he was one of America's most-discussed personalities. It was a PR dream.

Larry Tee couldn't have predicted his good fortune, but he has a knack for being in the right place at the right time—with the right people in tow. He's got an impressive resume: Over the last twenty-something years—he's vague about the 80s—he's played with The Fans, who produced the B-52s' "Rock Lobster," co-founded the famous 90s Club Kid scene made of Fenton Bailey's 2003 film Party Monster, coined the term "electroclash," and helped to launch the careers of RuPaul and Scissor Sisters-and those are just the highlights.

On Club Badd, Larry plays host to a number of up-and-coming acts-among them Jeffree Star, Roxy Cottontail, Mel Merio, and Jodie Harsh—as well as Larry's longtime—don't call her "old"—friend, transsexual icon Amanda Lepore, and YouTube sensation Kelly (you know: "Shoes. Oh, my God! Shoes!"). The result is an album that is dense with personality. Princess Superstar's "Licky," below, had already gotten attention in DJ sets for weeks before the album was released.

It's easy to see how Larry made all these friends. You can hear the exclamation points at the ends of some of his sentences, and there's still a faint drawl left over from his days in Georgia. When I got back in touch with him a few days before the album's release, he was eager to talk about everything from his collaborators to Miss California's boob job.


ALEXANDRIA SYMONDS: What are you doing in Tucson? Are you DJing out there?

LARRY TEE: I'm going between Tucson and Phoenix. Basically, it's hot out here.

AS: Do you find that doing DJ sets is different from state to state? Do the crowds look different and respond differently to what you play?

LT: Oh, my God. You don't even know. I try to bring a little bit of everything, because you just never know what kind of crowd you're going to get. Sometimes I get more of a mainstream crowd that just is not moving to what I'm playing. I have to have crossover secret weapons.

AS: Can you give me an example of one, or is that a trade secret that you can't divulge?

LT: [Laughs] Oh, it's a trade secret. For example, I have this trashed version of "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones that usually works. If they're really being stubborn, I can go and do that one. It turns Justice-style in the middle, but they're already dancing to it before it turns all crazy.

AS: Sounds like a good move.

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