KevinEGPerry has written the following articles:
On February 19th 2003, a band called The Postal Service released an album called Give Up. It was the product of a curious union between vocalist Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and the producer Jimmy Tamborello, known as Dntel. The pair had been exchan»
Jimmy Tamborello is a bedroom producer. At least he was until a couple of years ago, when he finally moved his studio out into its own room at his home in LA. Still, the man better known as Dntel didn’t do too badly out of that bedchamber. It was, as they used to perpetually say on MTV Cribs, “where the magic happened.”»
“If you love music, this is the place to come,” said Mikolaj Ziolkowski, the chief organiser of Heineken Open’er. We were sat backstage in a tent on the disused military airport in Gdynia, northern Poland, where his festival takes place.»
Shirley Manson remains very much a shrinking violet.... She talks to Kevin Perry about reforming Garbage, negotiating the perils of being a woman in the music industry, and mellowing out.»
The War On Drugs were about halfway through their set in the sweaty confines of Corsica Studios last year when band leader Adam Granduciel announced that they were about to play ‘Brothers’, arguably the centrepiece of their stunning last record Slave Ambient. “We usually invite someone from the audience up to play guitar on this one, but I don’t think there’s room,” he continued, glancing around the tiny stage. “Ah, fuck it! Who wants to play guitar?” The guy who cheered loudest was invited up, but his tentative strumming made it quickly apparent that he wasn’t as confident as he first sounded. There was just a trace of consternation in Granduciel’s voice when he told him: “Erm… this is a big show for us, dude.”»
I stepped off the plane into the dry heat of the desert morning a little over twelve hours earlier than planned. My trip to Abu Dhabi, at the invitation and expense of the Aloft hotel chain, had been moved forward at the last moment when the Islamic authorities sighted the new moon and declared Eid al-Adha for the following Saturday. The religious holiday, which commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son at God’s command – Christian and Qur’anic traditions differ over whether that son was Isaac or Ishmael – necessitates that the preceding night the sale of alcohol is prohibited. This is to ensure that believers approach Abe’s obedience in a spirit of sober contemplation. Aloft had been planning to host ‘Turning Up The Spotlight’, their Battle of the Bands competition, on the Friday. However, after apparently being caught unawares by the annual holiday they obviously realised that a spirit of sober contemplation would be wholly unsuited to a Battle of the Bands and scrambled to rearrange the show for Thursday evening.»
Drowned in Sound speaks to the 6 Music editor, Paul Rodgers, and Janice Long, one of John Peel’s former colleagues, about tonight's debate: ‘Can John Peelism survive the Internet?'»
Here, you will find all five-parts of Kevin Perry's fascinating feature with Björk, in which they talk about education, about feminism and Lady Gaga’s outfits, about why she’s like 'carrot soup and tequila' and Coldplay are like 'chips and sausages', about political activism and aluminum mining and even about the lack of punk spirit in proprietary software, a topic she acknowledges she probably shouldn’t talk about. We've compiled all the parts here so that you can read it all in one go or save it to your Kindle/phone using a text-only tool like Instapaper or Readability»
Björk discusses Lady Gaga, feminism, collaborations and her future plans in the concluding part of her interview with DiS' Kevin Perry. She also reveals her tour plans and her incredible roster of instruments including the vast barrel harp known as the Sharpsichord and then there are a further four 10-foot pendulum-harps whose strings are plucked by gravity’s pull. There is a pipe organ controlled by midi files and a celeste which has been re-fitted with bronze gamelan bars to create a hybrid called a Gamaleste. In order to play the bassline on ‘Thunderbolt’ she will have a twin Tesla coil system suspended over the stage. You know, because a single Tesla coil is just never enough, is it?»
Björk tells DiS' Kevin Perry about her involvement in environmental protests, her petition that 25% of Iceland signed, how she wrote her political manifesto and how the whole experience informed her work on Biophilia. She also discusses her own financial situation and how she managed to fund the unique and innovative instruments used in the Biophilia live show.»
Björk talks to DiS' Kevin Perry about piracy after he challenges her over whether working closely with Apple creates a discord with her 'punk ethos'.»
In the second part of Kevin Perry's interview, Björk describes in her own words her wildly ambitious Biophilia 'app album' for iPad and iPhone. Zeroing in on a star within the Biophilia galaxy enables you to hear the song as Björk recorded it, or to play a game which will involve you manipulating the music in some thematically-appropriate way. For example, on ‘Virus’ you play the part of a cell defending itself from viral attack, while on ‘Thunderbolt’ you draw Tesla coil charges which alter the bass lines you hear. »
Over the last two decades Björk’s vibrations have established her as pop music’s preeminent innovator, a fearless and restless proponent of the avant-garde whose discography defies the staid categorisation of genre. When DiS' Kevin Perry meets her on a summer afternoon in West London her enthusiasm for her work is infectious and the ebullient conversation as eclectic as you’d expect. We talk about education, about feminism and Lady Gaga’s outfits, about why she’s like 'carrot soup and tequila' and Coldplay are like 'chips and sausages', about political activism and aluminium mining and even about the lack of punk spirit in proprietary software, a topic she acknowledges she probably shouldn’t talk about. »
Below me, on what used to be ice, eighty tables full of music industry suits and Barclays bankers chilled out in places which reportedly cost £2,000 a head. Meanwhile I was swiftly escorted towards the press enclosure, where the only bar sold bottles of beer for £8 and a bottle of wine for over £30. Not being a banker, I reached for the bottle of whiskey I’d secreted about my person...»
The winner of the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize for Album of the Year will be announced tonight, Tuesday 6 September, at an awards show in London. PJ Harvey is the 6/4 favourite to take home the prize, which would make her the first person to win on t»
“I don’t feel like there’s much to be gained by admitting that you’re part of the wallpaper in a capitalist system that you help propagate.” Stephen Malkmus is lying on a sofa in the book-lined lobby of a self-consciously upmarket hotel in Soho. The erstw»
Björk will be honoured for her ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ at the inaugural AIM Independent Music Awards this November. The Association of Independent Music (AIM) also announced today that the ‘Pioneer Award’, which recognises an independent label founder, will go to Laurence Bell for his work establishing Domino Recording Company.»
October’s Iceland Airwaves festival grows curiouser and curiouser with the news that Björk will bring her her Biophilia live show to her hometown festival for a series of six performances at the Harpa - Reykjavík Concert Hall.»
Björk has responded to criticism of her decision to only release her new Biophilia app on Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPad touch devices by admitting she trusts software pirates will expand its availability.»
Ah, foresight, if only we knew Mojo would make this their album of the year, we wouldn't so much have considered it a lost album. Then again, we didn't review it, so here's to making up for that and for anyone this record passed by...»
I was just a boy, 19 years old and living in a rented room off Bondi Beach when I first heard Abbatoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus. I’d just spent several months in India, and, with apologies to Bollywood, I missed music. The first thing I’d bought wh»
Mark Oliver Everett is walking through Hyde Park to meet me. The man called ‘E’ is currently in the most prolific form of his life, about to release his third Eels album in just under two years. Then he’ll set off on a world tour that will take in Japan, »
‘Who in the hell is Tom Jones?’ spat Charles Bukowski. It’s a good question. The Tom Jones he wrote about in Hollywood is a slick Vegas showman, “his shirt is open and the black hairs on his chest show. The hairs are sweating.” The Tom Jones I meet is a w»
Tom Jones has reacted angrily to last week’s leaked email from Island Records vice president David Sharpe in an interview with Drowned in Sound. The email, which asked if the decision for Jones to record gospel and blues songs for new album Praise & Blame was a “sick joke”, was printed in the Sunday Times and the Telegraph. »
Mark Mothersbaugh is showing me his impression of Sid Vicious. He’s standing next to a coffee table, scanning the room and sliding the lid of a coffee pot towards the edge with his fingertips. It teeters for a moment, then falls. He explains: “When The Se»
When Charlotte Gainsbourg was 12 she made her musical debut dueting with her father, Serge, on a still notorious single called ‘Lemon Incest’. As an actress, she appeared last year as the unrelentingly sexually violent lead in Lars von Trier’s ‘Antichrist»
Anyone with a passing knowledge of the Red Bull company could be forgiven for thinking that their raison d’être is, firstly, to sell caffeinated soft drinks and, secondly, to sell more caffeinated soft drinks. Apparently this is not the case. The Red Bull»
Starting from tonight London's The Boogaloo is to play host to a regular series of live shows in aid of charity. The nights will go under the Nick Drake-inspired moniker of Brighter Later.»
Guess who just got back today? Those wild-eyed Libertines that had been away. But what brings them back? Money? Ego? Music? Love? »
The bottom line is that it’s a fun record. I’d say that’s definitely good news. »
