Animal Collective

Selling records is not nearly as fun as running around and having a good time with each other.

story by Cliff Berru
photo by Do Lee

August 19, 2004: Can’t remember what I did, what I wore, or what I was on that day, but everything made sense as I hustled through the doors of Chicago’s Empty Bottle. As my friend Tommy dragged behind with a basket full of circuit-bent toys he wanted to show the band, I swam through the crowd almost stumbling backstage to finally meet this mysterious band known as Animal Collective.

For the previous two months I had been relaxing in the glory of 2004′s Sung Tongs (Fat Cat), the most universally accepted Animal Collective release to date. Although only recorded by Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and Avey Tare (Dave Portner), it still exists as the creation of remaining band members Conrad Deakin (Josh Dibb) and Geologist (Brian Weitz) – who have mixed and matched with each other as Animal Collective beyond the past decade.

For two months I tried every possible approach for listening to this record. I tried sleeping to it, which just brought forth an unusual amount of pleasant dreams. I tried cooking to it and ended up losing my appetite. Then I drove to it just before getting pulled over. Finally I tried understanding it, and just ended up back where I started.

The record almost completely inhabited my mind. This is not to say that I was a huge fan of the music at that point, I was more trying to distinguish what the purpose was behind these sounds. What’s going on with all this chanting and hollering, and how is it all in perfect harmony? These sounds suggest chaos, with tribal pounding and salient melodies, yet they somehow hypnotize you into enjoying yourself.

It’s not just something new, but something real…something simplistic and yet completely psychedelic. Eventually, everything just becomes natural, as if the music whispers into your ear. It’s a secret, but you can’t help but share it with all of yourself. You are, in a sense, revolving around the new world that was created by letting the music into your mind.

Backstage at the Bottle, Geologist, being the electronic wizard he is, finally fixed the problem I was having with the mini-disc recorder so we could get the interview into full swing. Of course prying into the creation of the band was necessary, but Deakin quickly responded by telling Chicago Innerview, “It is all part of a really long story. There is no date to point out or way to sum things up. It just happened to be that the first collaborative release was between Dave and Noah,” and the very first, according to Panda during a recent telephone follow-up was, “on a label we started called Soccer Star – just to put that one out. Soccer Star sort of became Animal, and that ultimately transformed into Paw Tracks.” Thus Animal Collective is not concerned with a historical date, but recognizes the lifelong friendships they all established as adolescents in Maryland.

Animal Collective proper has been around for five years as far as releases are concerned, their first being the lush yet deviously charming Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished (2000) – released originally on the Animal imprint, but reissued on Fat Cat Records recently along with Danse Manatee. It was also around this time that, “people in New York were very supportive,” mentions Panda. “They were really psyched and into what we were doing. It got to the point where people would put the record in their displays with a nice review under it.” Quite impressive for a band that ran everything themselves.

“Here Comes the Indian [Paw Tracks] was the first record that was handled properly,” expressed Conrad about the 2003 release that actually featured all four members. “We had been pushing pretty hard in our own way [prior]. We were excited to make music so we fucking did it, we wanted to tour so that’s what we did…no matter how hard it was. We got started running our own labels and booking our own tours so we could achieve what we wanted. I feel people really connected with that energy.”

To which Avey adds: “Selling records is not nearly as fun as running around and having a good time with each other.”

Sung Tongs seemed to grab the independent music world by its reigns and smooth it over into tranquility. It’s the majestically harmonic chanting that invades the cranium. It seems to be a symphony of native ritual chanting, but in the end it is as simple as the vocal talent of Avey and Panda. “The chanting is sort of the way we like to play together,” says Avey, “like this free form, celebratory behavior. The guitars and vocals are kept to how they could have been done live.” No samples here folks – just an element of Animal Collective’s behavior, where they rehearse intensely but pound out entire takes in the studio. Here Comes the Indian being a major example where, as Geologist mentions, “we recorded it into two pieces, for both the purpose of thinking of it as two sides of an LP and also to represent the way we played those segments live with two different parts strung together. Live, we would do two sets back to back.”

An Animal Collective live show is beyond explanation. This Empty Bottle performance in particular featured a firing squad of speakers, two guitars, Geologist using every sound on his mini-disc recorder, and Panda beating the hell out of a 3-piece drum set – all the while unleashing a fury of melodic chanting. Seeing Animal Collective that night was like dropping acid but without the guilt and minus the paranoia, with no commitment and double the bliss. The notes actually felt as if they were re-creating my perception of reality. Eight months later and I am still smiling.

“I certainly didn’t feel like when we were recording [Sung Tongs] people were going to like this more than the other stuff,” says Panda by phone. “It’s sort of a surprise, but I understand considering the shorter and sometimes tighter nature of the songs.” Yet one can almost never expect to witness their favorite Animal Collective song live, at least the way it is pressed on a record.

“As soon as we record a record we start working on new songs,” said Avey. “It’s really important that the music we make comes from what’s happening in our lives at that particular time. Even though we love all the songs, it’s sort of like rehashing old feelings we don’t really connect to anymore and recreating those sounds just isn’t relevant.” Like a painter who leaves his painting in a museum, Animal Collective recognizes the intrinsic value of their music, but always strives for more beauty and depth. “In a way,” says Avey, “having reservations and a repertoire for your music is almost like a commercial for yourself, where you are just showing off the record. We like to be excited about what we are playing at one particular time.”

2005 is already shaping up well for these young lads – with a hearty tour around the corner, a May 31 release of the Prospect Hummer EP (Fat Cat) and an album in the process of being recorded in Seattle from where I contacted Panda. “[Prospect Hummer] is almost like a companion to Sung Tongs in that it was written during that period of time,” expressed Panda. “We didn’t feel like it fit the album or the way it was coming about, but then again time was also an issue where we only had a month to do all of Sung Tongs.”

One month and my entire perception of reality was blown to pieces. I can’t imagine what they’ll do with a whole year, and I’m a little afraid to find out.

Animal Collective :: with Ariel Pink :: at Empty Bottle on April 27 (two shows) :: and at University of Chicago’s Hutch Commons on April 29.

Dizzee Rascal

I never made music with the world in mind.

story by Nicholas Clar
photo by Dean Chalkley

Let’s face it. You routinely drive home on the expressway every weekday afternoon, strenuously navigating through traffic. Hip-hop used to be an escape from the accumulating daily grind. But now it merely contributes to the insanity with its mysteriously successful, formulaic tracks played ad nauseam on the radio.

There are, admittedly, a few rays of light which pierce through the monotony amidst the dense fog of shit engulfing today’s hip-hop. Ironically, one of these sources of illumination penetrating the bubblegum, hip-pop mundanity exists in the land known for its fog – as well as its afternoon tea, strange comedies, distinct beers, punk rock and the Beatles: the U.K. Well, maybe it shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise that the mold-shattering rapper, Dylan Mills, better known as Dizzee Rascal, hails from the United States’ bizarro world older brother.

Played out like a made-for-TV movie, Dizzee’s life has emulated the phrase “from rags to riches”. He grew up in East London with his mom and was expelled from three schools only to be immersed in even more trouble along the way, thus justifying the latter part of his rap moniker, Rascal. Ultimately he found solace in music, a good thing for both Dizzee and for audiences around the world. His first release in 2003, Boy in Da Corner, won him critical acclaim as well as a solidified fan base. The following year, wasting no time gallivanting, Dizzee was back on the grind releasing Showtime, proving that his success and talents were no fluke.

“All I’m looking to do is get better with my music,” Dizzee explains to Chicago Innerview. “Anything I can do to keep making it better.” The multi-talented Dizzee utilized both trades as a rapper and producer with his shortly lived group, Roll Deep Crew, before each member diverged on separate career paths and Dizzee went solo.

Dizzee attributes his influences to the U.K.’s garage, grime and 2-step scenes that are beginning to garner a more mainstream audience. These U.K. manifestations are mutations of the drum and bass and jungle genres. Dizzee also likens his music to a raw, crunk sound and sees himself, rightfully so, as the spark to the newfound interest in garage music.

While observing that by simply staying inside the box has spelled success for numerous commercial rappers in the United States, U.K. rappers, pre-Dizzee, were notorious for not deviating from the norm and mimicking many U.S. emcees’ styles. Dizzee, however, melded his grimy, unique sound to the hard, condensed, underground garage beats and molded the resulting popular crossover music. “Molded in a sense where I was on the forefront,” Dizzee claims. “I never made music with the world in mind.”

With interviews in The Source magazine, XXL and Blender, among others, as well as music award accolades, performances across the globe (notably at South By Southwest last year), tracks for an upcoming soundtrack to a British gangster movie and collaborating with The Neptunes, the hard working Dizzee is now starting a new chapter in his musical career by headlining a North American tour aptly titled, “Showtime.”

Touted as offering an explosive live show with the ability to improvise his unrehearsed, live performances like no other, Dizzee simply describes his sets as “raw.”

Thus far, this U.K. rapper has provided audiences with enough room to cut into the fast lane, circumventing suckers left in the stop-and-go monotony of modern day hip-hop. He has offered a breath of fresh air in the indistinct fog and an outlook into reality as he sees it – a reality that doesn’t involve glitz and glamour, one that serves as the template for his music. And Dizzee Rascal keeps it just as dirty and grimy as his life.

Dizzee Rascal :: Double Door :: April 30.

Erasure

I don’t want to make HIV my whole life.

story by Charley Rogulewski
photo by Dirk Lindner

Flashback. Later ’80s. Radio is playing heavy on Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. R.E.M. is being hailed as one of America’s best rock and roll bands. George Michael is using his frosted hair and sex-eyes face to sell Faith on cassette. Tucked sleeveless t-shirts next to boom boxes blasting L.L. Cool J’s Bigger and Deffer is what’s fly, yo. But what’s not flying amongst the big hair and jive speak is Erasure, a London synth-pop duo whose 1986 debut Wonderland has been overshadowed by the electro-tweaked piano of dance track predecessors New Order and Pet Shop Boys.

After the downfall of Wonderland, Erasure started playing gigs at universities to build its fan base. In those early days band members Vince Clarke (formerly of Depeche Mode) and Andy Bell (who joined after answering an ad from Clarke) had to face some intense public scrutiny. For one thing, Bell was openly gay way before it was one of those things you could get high ratings on a TV show for. People also weren’t accustomed to electronic staccatos and riffs.

“People had this idea that electronic bands didn’t write music, that computers did, which isn’t true,” Bell remembers. But Clarke and Bell continued and in 1988 the group had their first American hits with “Chains of Love” and “A Little Respect”. Their next two albums Wild! and Chorus became hits in Britain, but in the U.S. their electro-synth hipness soon faded thereafter to the laud of hip-hop and grunge.

But as they’ve proven in the past, Erasure can bounce back. With the resurgence of the electro-clash punk scene, Erasure has come back as a mighty influence to a new genre. “I saw the Scissor Sisters in London and they dedicated one song to me. It was really touching. They saw us for the first time when they were 12 years old. I kind of look at them like little puppies you have to look after.”

Bell has been looking after himself these days. Diagnosed with HIV in 1998, he just went public with the announcement last November. Whether it was for the sake of selling records or for peace of mind, I don’t know. You could ask Bell. He’d probably tell you. He is extroverted and open. But he definitely didn’t announce it to be some sort of model for the virus. “A lot of my friends are HIV as well. Usually once you announce something like that, you become a spokesperson. I don’t want to make HIV my whole life.”

Bell’s life today is mostly touring to promote Nightbird, Erasure’s latest release. In true Erasure fashion, the band entices live audiences with its usual theatrical spectacular. “Think Elvis lost in a fairytale singing Erasure songs,” Bell describes. As for groupies and late nights, Bell says it’s mellower this round. “I’ve had my fair share of boy groupies. It’s not really fair to get somebody that’s a big fan because you have an advantage over them.” This is the late ’80s we are talking about here – when people bought aerosol hairspray and didn’t know it was bad for the environment. No Internet. No cell phones. “It really doesn’t seem that long ago because we’ve been going on the whole time. I do feel quite boyish at heart still.”

Erasure :: Chicago Theatre :: April 29 and 30.

Handsome Boy Modeling School

One of the main goals we had was to open up a vineyard, a vineyard that’s run by naked women. It’s part of the goal process and we’re almost there. We’ve got the women in bras and panties now.

story by Spencer Lokken
photo by Terry Richardson

Handsome Boy Modeling School is Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and Prince Paul, two gentlemen responsible for creating some of the most avant-garde music ever put on wax. Paul is most well known for his production of De La Soul’s classic 3 Feet High and Rising album, and Dan for his collaboration with Kool Keith on the Dr. Octagon project in the mid-’90s. Both men are wildly imaginative and have consistently kept urban music fresh by being involved with a multitude of conceptual projects and forward-thinking ventures.

Paul’s affiliation with Gravediggaz, BDP, Stetsasonic, Big Daddy Kane, 3rd Bass, and countless other hip hop notables propelled him to legendary status long ago, and his Prince Among Thieves album will go down in hip hop history as one of the few times where a producer has dared to create his own identity – while watching the majority of his peers stick to the same tired trends. After the success of Dr. Octagon, Nakamura beefed up his resume with production credits for The Eels, DJ Krush, and Primal Scream, amongst others. It was his work with Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Kid Koala on the Deltron 3030 project, however, that helped him gain his widest audience. And those wicked animated creations the Gorillaz? Yep, Dan was the brainchild (along with Blur frontman Damon Albarn) behind that concept as well. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though…

Dan and Paul hooked up as the 20th century came to a close and formed the Handsome Boy Modeling School (a reference to an episode of the Chris Elliot sitcom, “Get A Life.”) In 1999 they released So…How’s Your Girl?, a mixed bag of trip-hop, hip hop, and turntablism with a superstar guest artist list three miles long. The album was well received by fans and critics alike, making their newest record, White People, a refreshing listening experience for those of us in search of something a bit off the beaten path. When Chicago Innerview got a chance to catch up with the duo, Dan and Paul were nowhere to be found, although I did get the chance to speak with their slick alter-egos Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather. Note to self: keep the Monday morning interviews reserved for ugly people. Handsome folk need their beauty sleep.

Chicago Innerview: I’ve always considered myself to be quite the handsome fellow, but I feel like I could benefit from your teachings. What will I get by paying the required $60 fee and enrolling in the Handsome Boy Modeling School?
Chest Rockwell (Paul): It’s the gift that keeps on giving. You know, a promotion at your job, you might get a brand new car…it’s amazing how things happen. First and foremost though is hygiene. No matter how good you look, or no matter what your game is, if you smell bad and you’re not clean, it’s not working for you. Also, fashion is always important. We’ve got to make sure that it’s always appropriate for the area you live in. You can’t just walk around wearing leather chaps.

Chicago Innerview: Clearly. Now, how did the whole concept of the Handsome Boy Modeling School come about? Did one of you have to sell the other on the idea or was it a case of style recognizing style and you two were a match from the get go?
Chest Rockwell (Paul): See, that’s perfect. You just answered it, it’s exactly that. You know, you’re traveling, you see this gentlemen in the same circles, and you’re like ‘wow, why are all these women around this one guy?’ I mean, I had seen him at this poker tournament and then in Milan the week before, I had seen him at Hugh Hefner’s parties…you realize your powers are similar. It’s almost like the Justice League of America. You want to pull them together. You don’t want to work against each other because you’re out there for a common cause: to work against the foes.

Chicago Innerview: It’s been awhile since you asked how my girl is (by the way, she’s fabulous), but it seems that in your time away from making music together you’ve gotten to meet quite a few other handsome individuals. Can you tell me about any special or memorable moments you had recording this album with the slew of guest artists you chose to work with?
Nathaniel Merriweather (Dan): I think everything was a special moment.

Chicago Innerview: What goals did you have going in to the creation of this album?
Chest Rockwell: One of the main goals we had was to open up a vineyard, a vineyard that’s run by naked women. It’s part of the goal process and we’re almost there. We’ve got the women in bras and panties now.

Chicago Innerview: Whoa. I hope to some day learn where this vineyard is located. Now, the hip hop community and really just music lovers in general have a lot to thank you two for. In general I think we’re all just appreciative to you guys for keeping things fun and fresh. Other than the Handsome Boy Modeling School, I’m curious to learn from each of you what your proudest career moment would be.
Chest Rockwell: Hmm, well…The Handsonium Institute. The original is located in Palm Springs. If you’re down there and you’ve got an extra 60 bucks, you need to go visit. Other things we’re proud of? I think one cool thing is the making of the Handsome Boy signature Bentley.
Nathaniel Merriweather: I’m really proud of entering the Guinness Book of World Records for the first 17-some.

Chicago Innerview: Nice! I top out at 15, I guess I can’t beat you.
Chest Rockwell: Hey man, if you do you’ve got to log it. No pun intended.

Chicago Innerview: What drives you as producers? What inspires you?
Nathaniel Merriweather: I think life inspires us. Being handsome, all that stuff…that’s our life. Making music and being inspired by just day to day stuff…
Chest Rockwell: Like the ‘Celebrity Fit Club Marathon’. That was on last night.

Chicago Innerview: Speaking of what was on last night, I actually saw your video for ‘The World’s Gone Bad’ on MTV2′s ‘Subterranean’. Del, Alex Kapranos, and Barrington Levy on the same track and it works perfectly. Is this because they’re all graduates of the school?
Nathaniel Merriweather: Well that has a lot to do with it. Once you’re a graduate, you’ve polished off all the rough edges. It all kind of goes together.

Chicago Innerview: So how will the tour work when you used so many guests on the new album?
Chest Rockwell: We’ve got a combination of everything. We have DJs, we have visuals, we have some live performances as well…we’re not going to say exactly who yet. We can’t get everybody, because since a lot of people graduated they’re doing print ads and runway shows. We couldn’t get everybody but we do have some key people involved. There’s going to be a lot of makeovers and frontal nudity.

Chicago Innerview: Can either of you give me a quick overview of where you think hip hop is going?
Nathaniel Merriweather: A quick overview? How about…to hell?

Chicago Innerview: Works for me. I think a lot of up and coming producers would love to learn a few of your secrets. Would either of you care to describe your creative process in the studio?
Nathaniel Merriweather: Well, I would say this. The main thing that our making a Handsome Boy track would involve is a lot of interaction. We have dinner parties, we get together, we hang out…a lot of wine, women, song, music, food. It’s an organic process in the sense of it’s a social gathering where we kind of like, talk politics, women, business, whatever. It kind of forms a bond and forms the way that we go on to make the record.

Chicago Innerview: You two gentlemen have undoubtedly traveled to some pretty amazing cities. What’s the most handsome of them all?
Nathaniel Merriweather: That would be…not Chicago.
Chest Rockwell: But that’s okay, that’s why we’re coming there.

Handsome Boy Modeling School :: House of Blues :: April 9.