In our latest edition of Silk Screens, Matias Tellez of Bergen, Norway’s Young Dreams discuss the “back and forth” theme of Between Places standout “When Kisses Are Salty”.

During the making of ‘Between Places’, most of the tracks on the album took on a lot of different shapes and forms before they settled into what one can hear now. “When Kisses Are Salty” is perhaps the track that was sent back and forth the most before we were satisfied. The idea was to try to make a track with a lot of different parts and with a hip hop-like chorus. The song is sewn together using different musical ideas that had the same kind of feel. The big a capella segment was for instance recorded around 6AM when I had been kicked out from an after-party or “nachspill” as we call it here in Norway. The synth segment in the middle was originally meant to be the verses but it didn’t really work as that. This is the first demo version of the song.

Then I added some more ideas, like the vibraphone part ending of the track. I sent the vibraphone score to a friend of mine called Alexander Von Mehren (responsible for all the vibraphone you hear on the record) and he recorded it in his home studio.

The structure was changed a few more times, and we also tried a lot of different lyrics. I sent Chris Holm (vocalist and he tours with us) this version for him to write some lyrics to. This is close to the structure we ended up with. The only thing was that the opening didn’t really work.

After we had worked on the lyrics for a long time, we almost gave up. So I sent it to Emilio Sanhueza (Emilio is one of our lyricists – he doesn’t play any instruments) for some fresh ideas and lyrics. But we wanted to keep the chorus. This version is with Fredrik Vogsborg (Fredrik sometimes sings on the recordings – he has done some choir and sings the lead on “First Days Of Something” – he plays live with us on special occasions) on the chorus. It was originally meant for him to sing. On this version the opening has been changed. With the melody and instrumentation that are on the last version.

We met a couple of days later in the studio and we started writing the new lyrics. I think we wrote most of it in half an hour. It was really inspiring and we had a lot of “poet slam” moments (that’s what we say when we write something good). We tried one more time with Fredrik on vocals but it didn’t really work. So Chris gave it a shot. We tried many different approaches, but it was hard to get what we wanted. It didn’t seem to have the same feel as the backing track. So I suggested: “What if you just sing it really quiet and we overdub it like 20 times?”. It was the opposite of what we had been trying out before, which was to get one very present vocal take. After we had recorded all the tracks and pressed play, we just thought, shit, it sounds really nice now. It sort of just blended right in. This is the final version with my rough mix.

In our latest installment of Silk Screens, Stephen Ramsay of the Montreal-based band Young Galaxy details the history of their strikingly beautiful single, “Pretty Boy”.

Ultramarine is out April 23rd via Paper Bag Records.

In March 2011, right before our son Fergus was born, the band did a small tour of the eastern seaboard which included playing a couple of shows in the New York City area, which meant a chance to visit one of our favourite haunts in St. Marks Square on the lower east side, The Angel’s Share – a cocktail bar run by Japanese ex-pats that’s hidden in the back of an Izakaya restaurant on the second floor above St. Mark’s Bookshop at 3rd Avenue between 8th and 9th streets.

If I recall correctly, it was an early evening visit in order to avoid waiting to be seated – so afterwards we had a little time to pop into the bookstore which, though small, is renowned for it’s stellar selection. After a visit to The Angel’s Share I always feel a bit expansive, and I remember buying three books that evening that were a little outside my usual reading material – which is modern fiction. The first two were science fiction novels, and the third was Patti Smith’s autobiography, Just Kids.

Just Kids sat on our bookshelf at home until late winter, 2012, when I finally got around to reading it. It was the first book in a long time that moved me to tears – the account of the relationship between Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe and their commitment to each other and their art struck a chord in both Catherine and me and were the main influence for the lyrics for ‘Pretty Boy’. We rarely write lyrics without the song being in place first, but having freshly read the book we felt real love for these characters and were very inspired by their story, so the lyrics happened quickly and naturally. They were written from a place of simplicity and love.

When we were lost
We found each other
And headed sightless
For the city

We had no way
Misfit and stray
Living beyond both
Means and pity

And I know you feel isolated
And I feel what you won’t say
I don’t care if the disbelievers
Don’t understand
You’re my pretty boy -
Always

I felt your pain when
You changed your name
We were each other’s
Only family

Walking away
Would shift the weight
But never make your pack
Less heavy

And I know you feel isolated
And I feel what you won’t say
I don’t care if the disbelievers
Don’t understand
You’re my pretty boy -
Always

I had a musical idea kicking around which was in the vain of ‘We Have Everything’ off our previous album, Shapeshifting. I have always been a huge fan of songs like ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer, and ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ by New Order, which feature hypnotic, strobing, and insistent arpeggiator lines. I wanted to build on the previous attempt at a similar effect with ‘We Have Everything’, but strip it down and refine it more. I like the idea of marrying Catherine’s super emotive voice to machines, to combine the emotional with more hypnotic and robotic elements. Like most songs I’ve started in the last couple of years, the ideas begin in Logic Pro using soft synths and programming. This particular melody was kept simple and sweet so the insistent arpeggiator wouldn’t grate on the ears… the Pretty Boy lyrics were the only lyrics tested with the music, it came together very easily. Here is the demo we came up with:

After demoing, we took the idea to the band to work out the parts, arrangement, dynamic, etc. as we always do – here is an example of a very rough, early full band take on the demo, recorded at our rehearsal space. We decided to strip away the arpeggiators at this stage to make room for more ‘analog’ instrumentation, and to work on the dynamics and arrangement of the song, mostly.

In May 2012 we went to Gothenburg, Sweden to record with Dan Lissvik. When it came time to record ‘Pretty Boy’, elements of the original demo were used, but we added parts we had worked out in rehearsals, such as Andrea’s added live drums and Matt’s added pianos. We also worked with Lina Molander, a brilliant violin player from Gothenburg who we met through Dan. In one afternoon, she recreated the synth string parts and improvised a bit as well – which added some beautiful flourishes to the song and solidifies the final, emotional impact, in my opinion.

In our latest installment of Silk Screens, Asheville, North Carolina’s Jackson Scott details the creation of “Evie”, a new single from his TBA LP, Melbourne.

So I’ve been in Asheville, NC for a couple years. Started living in this house with some friends back in June. There’s no cable and we didn’t have internet until a few weeks ago. Really the only thing to do is listen to records and make art and well, gosh anyway, I’ve been into recording music for a while but started to really get obsessed with it a few years back. I haven’t been going to college since last spring because my parents wanted me to take a year off and work and get in state residence in NC, but I’ve basically been spending my college funds on avoiding getting a job, thinking about music, writing songs and other things…

My roommate got this Tascam 4-track cassette recorder last summer and I started to dig the idea of recording to tape. In September we saw Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees in Nashville, which was really sick, been a fan of both of them for a good while now. During the show, I found Ty and asked him how he recorded his album “Melted”. He said that he did it all on an 8-track.

So we got back to Asheville, and the campus bookstore I was working at fired me. So I started spending every day recording to the 4-track in my basement. Every time I grabbed an acoustic guitar I just wanted to sing creepy campfire songs so I decided to make an album’s worth of them…only a few ended up sounding like real campfire songs though. I think I got inspired after this campfire I was at last year, during which my friend put an empty liquor bottle with the cap on into the fire. I tried to take it out and it exploded in my face, I almost went blind in my left eye…

I think “Evie” sounds like a campfire song, it’s supposed to be about religion and different things associated with religion like Adam and Eve…it’s also supposed to be about evil and innocence, it’s not our fault humans are so fucked up you know. I started by recording the guitar with this kooky little nylon I have, then added bass, drums, tambourine and all that stuff…I also added this creepy old toy piano for the intro. I used a compression sustain pedal through the 4-track for pretty much everything, and then an echo pedal for some of the guitars and vocals. Then I played back all the cassette tracks into Garageband and converted all of them to mp3.

True to form, Marnie Stern sporadically discusses the creation of “Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling”, the closing track from her 2007 full-length debut, In Advance of the Broken Arm.

Bella Foster gave me the idea to build a world through sound. Her first idea was for me to build a body, but this was the song that came first. It’s called “Patterns Of A Diamond Ceiling” (stream above). Some of the lyrics are from things I had been listening to and looking at. The song is basically about building fantasy worlds for yourself. I didn’t want the song to be like spoken word, so I spent a long time trying to attach different sounds to different words. The imagery I had for the lyrics “idea of the north” were sharp and cutting, whereas Gould seemed to see them as playful and fun. I like that our experiences differed, as did I’m sure, most of my associations.

Using music to choreograph a scene. Putting musical identifiers onto objects to build character through sound…

These are some of the other ideas that I drew from when writing “Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling”:

Bella Foster paintings: Her artwork is the single biggest influence on all of my music. I can’t imagine making music without her in my life, or living for that matter. She is the single most talented person I know, and I owe almost everything to her. Thank You B!

DANA SHUTZ: I liked the idea of the performer confronting the viewer, which is what her paintings are about, and I loved the title, “Self-Eaters”. I loved the image of people eating their hands and feet, and the deeper symbolism there.

Sylvia Plath Diary: Eloquent and gorgeous. This specific part is what I loved the most.

Arthur Rimbaud: Learning that he began using what he coined Synesthesia: his Sonnet of the ‘Vowels’ (1871); In which each vowel is assigned a color. This was exactly in the vain of what I was trying for, just with music instead of color.

Patti Smith —”Horses”: The poetry and visualization in this song is amazing. it’s a ‘go-to’ song for so many musicians, but the build kills me. I love it.

The Glass Slipper: Bella and I liked the idea of the glass slipper in fairy tales…A glass slipper itself is cool and we liked the symbolism.

And lastly, this background image was pinned to my computer wall when I wrote this song:

Pre-order Marnie Stern’s new record, The Chronicles of Marnie, here and stream the lead-off single below:

Curated by Speaker Snacks.

Lexington, Kentucky’s James Friley aka Idiot Glee gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Pinkwood”, the lead-off single from his forthcoming EP, Life Without Jazz (out February 26th via Atelier Cisieux/BureauBureau).

In 2011, as Paddywhack was about to come out, I got pretty hooked on Fleetwood Mac…’Tusk’, ‘S/T’, ‘Rumours’, ‘Mirage’, etc…it was my next discovery after the Beach Boys‘ ‘Smile’ and ‘Pet Sounds’ albums. Couldn’t get enough. Some Lindsay Buckingham stuff, too. Check out ‘Trouble’…I think I must’ve been listening to it the day I wrote “Pinkwood”.

Haha…this is how “Pinkwood” began.

It was midnight the night before I was heading out on a European tour to support the album. I’d recently re-united with my ex. I found a good beat to sample and put it in my loop pedal, started playing around with some chords. I was supposed to be practicing for my gig the next night in London…now that I think about it, that gig wasn’t very good. But at least I got this song out of it. I had a bunch of gibberish for the verses, but the chorus came to me immediately. “I Finally Got A Loverrrr”. I kept singing it over and over again. It seemed a little off lyrically, but the timing was right.

I remember when I first played with a Casio SK-1. I was at Robert Beatty’s recording “I Did It Sober” for the Resonant Hole compilation. Going through the sounds, I came across human voice. I remember him laughing and saying, “that one’s awful, you shouldn’t use that one”. I ended up using it…and again and again over the years. I think it’s beautiful. Especially the deeper tones. That’s the echoey back and forth lead part from “Pinkwood”. It fit right in, I had to include it.

Also…

…uses only human voice sound.

I played my early version of “Pinkwood” a few times on that tour, and then started layering more and more over time…more harmonies, real lyrics. Then my gf and I split again. I never felt comfortable with the way the chorus sounded. When I write lyrics, often I put more time into making sure the sounds of the words fit the song than I do the meaning of the lyrics. It’s always been like that.

So, bummed that she and I split, I tried out “I think I need a lover.” Man, it SOUNDED better. So much better! And the lyrics in the verses fit right in, too. Most of the time I’ll write a song, all of its parts, and be done in a day. A week. Maybe a little longer. This one took a while to get right…

Curated by Speaker Snacks.

Jeff Walls of Portland’s Campfires opens up about the fragmented recording process behind his (forthcoming) debut LP Tomorrow, Tomorrow and shares “Gone Country Dream (For Bill Doss)“, a brand new track from the release.

Recording alone is simultaneously a great and terrible method of making music. There are no outside hassles or distractions but it can get tedious setting things up and re-taking tracks over and over to get the instruments to sync just right. I still love it though, even if it takes a long time. The goal is to make the song pass through as few of filters as possible between what I hear in my head and what someone else will hear. So no verbalizing the “feel” of it or explaining the chord progression, no one improving it or changing it (for better or worse). Sometimes when things work out right the song just takes its own direction, and my job is just to follow it. I still use pretty much the same method I did when I started recording when I was in high school– Get an idea, strum it out, record a drum loop, layer all the guitars and vocals, and then re-record drums at the end so that it has more dynamics. Sometimes it can take an hour or more to make a minute of music, but sometimes it just tumbles out and I can’t get it down fast enough. My favorite part of recording is that its really just dozens of little moments all melted together to form something that becomes completely different from each of them on their own. It almost feels like it comes alive by the end.

The image I made (below) to help illuminate my process is based on that idea: that the moments all get pieced together to form something bigger.

“Gone Country Dream (For Bill Doss)” is one of the many aural creations on Tomorrow, Tomorrow that further represents the image and thoughts detailed above.

Curated by Speaker Snacks.

Just last week, Chrome Sparks released an incredible new song titled “Send The Pain On”.

It’s no surprise to anyone that in a short time, this has become a huge jam on the blogs and now thanks to Mr. David Burkhart, this song is getting the much needed visual treatment.

The video features two beautiful dancers, as they glide and pirouette their way through time, space, random events and multiple orgasms and explosions. As the duo’s sub-conscious dance number takes them through nostalgic vibes, other clips manage to match the climatic rises in the song perfectly; often using bright flashing images of complete and utter devastation.

It seems fitting for a track with cosmic synth energies so supreme, it’s hazy sonic waves cause the mind to explode on impact, leaving your memory bank in an endless frenzy of both good and bad.

Chrome Sparks forthcoming EP is due out this winter.

More about this gorgeous track is revealed in our latest installment of Silk Screens.

In the sixteenth installment of our Silk Screens series, Kyle Reigle of Cemeteries, guides us through the creation process of “A Real Gust of Wind”. One of the hauntingly gorgeous gems featured on his newly released, record label debut, The Wilderness.

When I was done with the initial writing process for ‘The Wilderness’, I had about fifteen songs to sift through but I didn’t have a satisfactory closer. I attempted to write a handful of “closing songs” but they all fell short of what I had in mind until I started going through old demos and came across “A Real Gust of Wind”, which I had written more than a year before.

The demo was recorded when I was both homesick and literally home sick. I spent the miserable day creating rough sketches in an open D tuning, writing quick lyrics and recording them in one or two takes. It was an exercise in stream of consciousness and “Gust” was the only one that really came together.

Most of ‘The Wilderness’ is inspired by certain films and vague memories but “A Real Gust of Wind” is the most personally straight-forward. I had moved from my hometown to Pennsylvania, back home, and then to Buffalo. It was disorienting and I tried to put those feelings into the lyrics. It’s about loss. When I listen to it now, there’s this mental image of my childhood home growing more and more distant as the song progresses and coming to terms with it in the end. While the rest of the album is about wandering and feeling more lost than found, this was more about realizing certain things are gone, destroying and re-building. In a way, it ends things on an uplifting note.

When I decided to re-record it for the album, I had a tough time figuring out how to translate it (I’m still having trouble translating it) for a live setting. The original demo had this rhythm-setting acoustic guitar part that didn’t really fit the tone of the rest of the album, so I decided to strip the verses down to a half-drone so that the choruses could swell.

When the song was finished, I still didn’t feel like it ended correctly. Lyrically, “…this isthe end” (a coincidence) is the most conclusive you can get, but the song felt abrupt. I started going through more demos and found some test-recordings I did on my parents out-of-tune piano. The last thing you hear on ‘The Wilderness’ is me playing the chords of Deerhunter’s “Like New” on the first instrument I ever learned to play, so for me, it all really circles back around.

Curated by Flashlight Tag.

In our most recent installment of Silk Screens, the otherworldly dreamers that are OMBRE guide us through the alluringly foreign world of their song “Tormentas“. For those of you who don’t know of their charm, OMBRE is the meeting of minds between Asthmatic Kitty labelmates Julianna Barwick and Helado Negro. Their most entrancing debut album Believe You Me is out now via Asthmatic Kitty.

…

Julianna Barwick:

“Tormentas” for me is a very memorable time in the studio with Roberto (Helado Negro). I instantly loved the feel of the guitar and the mood of the song when Roberto showed it to me. It was one of those songs that sort of unfolded in a really easy, natural way. I remember having Roberto write down the lyrics he came up with so I could sing with him. As we went along we would playback the song and I would pickup some of the stuff laying around the studio. I basically couldn’t keep my hands off the vibraphone through the entire recording of the album so I’m not surprised the vibraphone ended up on the song. We would both improvise when we were recording and some of the stuff just came out off the top of our heads. I remember playing the electric guitar for the first time in a long time for those parts, again improvised, but it had been so long since I had played the guitar it was kind of killing my fingertips and I wussed out a little. Luckily we got what we needed. Roberto worked his magic on the rest of the song, piecing it together and asking friends for contributions. I think the song is totally beautiful and it was such a easy, pleasant journey getting it finished.

Helado Negro (aka Roberto Lange):

“Tormentas” began when I made this really short piece of me plucking chords on my guitar making rhythmic pulse with it. I recorded that then played something of a melodic lead that I mimic’d with my voice. These words came to me:

corren las tormentas de mi suspiciones (the storms of my suspicions)

conocen las problemas de tus condiciones (run wild knowing the problems of your condition)

Under the guitar I layer down a really short rhythmic pattern that was something of bossa nova pattern with only a kick drum running through a snapback delay.

I was looking at the session today of when it was started and it was part of these group of songs I was writing during the time I wrote the last Savath & Savalas album with Eva and Guillermo.

In terms of influences the of the song I wouldn’t say there is really an exact something but I remember around 2008 discovering Congregacion, who were a group from Chile and had a couple members from the better known group Los Jaivas.

This song was usually on repeat around that time :

When I showed the idea to Julianna she had an immediate reaction to it so we just began tracking.

The first thing we did was add Julianna’s voice to double mine for the second half of the song. So this unison phrase in her register. After that I added a bass line to make the rhythm a little more concrete. Julianna then added doubled guitars tracking 2 different wandering guitars over each other.

We then both wrote some ideas for additional melodies. Before we got together again I sent the song to percussionist Matt Crum (from the group ROM & Feathers) to do this driving straight beat that wasn’t a bossa move beat.

Waiting for that I had Matt Bauder, who plays saxophone, to translate some of the additional melodies Julianna and I wrote for horns. We also had violinist Jamie Reeder supplement the horns with a string arrangement.

The last stretch of completing this song involved adding a vibraphone part and some additional percussion.

That is the break down.

…

(Curated by Verb/Re/Verb)

Our good friend David Levesque aka Gainesville, Florida’s Levek details the conception of “Black Mold Grow”, the lead-off single from his forthcoming debut LP, Look a Little Closer:

David L. here with the exclusivenesssss. I’ll hopefully crystallize the process of creating the single “Black Mold Grow” (stream below) off the upcoming LP, ‘Look A Little Closer.

The track “Black Mold Grow” was hands down the most labor intensive track I had been involved with to date. I had met up with Dave Melosh in a local bar to discuss the possibility of recording in his studio for the album. Unbeknownst to me, he had quite the set-up. The catch was that I had to record the whole album after all of the sessions were done for the day, which also meant I had to learn how to run a professional setup without his help.

Over the next few months I spent time with Dave learning the ins and outs of his studio. He taught me everything about recording other than what I had previously learned from messing around in Garageband. I sat in on many recording sessions learning everything from using the editing program Logic, pre-amps, mic set up, to using his analog gear (which was most of the same equipment Toots and the Maytals used in the 70′s). It was all so inspiring, and rustled me into the mood to create. Dave couldn’t have helped me out more. He was a huge sigh of relief to work with.

It finally came time to get my shit together to record the first song on the album. I had been messing around with lyrics a little bit but generally wanted to go into the studio with a fresh foundation. It makes me more comfortable learning the song as I’m making it. The first challenge that I had to overcome was finding a way to be in the mixing room and in the studio at the same time to be able to hit the record button to do the takes. I ended up screen sharing my Mac to Dave’s whole system so I could carry my laptop around to different instruments in the studio without running to and from the mixing room. I also had my external hard drive connected to his setup so I could take the recordings home and mix them there as well. Somehow it went flawlessly and I continued this for the entire recording process.

This opportunity allowed me to use all of his awesome setup with the familiarity of my laptop. His mics were these crazy prototype mics from Sweden. Apparently his buddy Martin Kantola makes each one by hand. I had never experienced that kind of quality. Of course I had to dumb down the sound to create my stupid “used” aesthetic. Dave would be questioning my producing and engineering moves at every turn when I would ask for critique.

The inspiration came primarily from the friends around the Gainesville area and all the incredible projects their all involved with. The collective that we’re all involved with is called Milagros. It has turned into the most magical collaboration between artists and musicians that I have ever known. The art that the Church of Holy Colors has created has taken visual inspiration to a whole new meaning for me and others around me. The other inspiration came from my relationship with my sister. That continued throughout the entire album. Bringing my friends in the recordings and involved with the artwork helped represent where I am right now creatively.

Their was a ton of instrumentation on “Black Mold Grow” by itself too. I used the Fender Rhodes in the studio along with my friend Jason Gottfried’s vibes and drums recording through the Universal Audio pre-amp that Dave had. That first track, I knew that I wanted all of my friends involved because I knew if I wanted to progress I couldn’t do it without my fellow Floridians. The whole song was created section by section, bringing in new friends for each new part. I was initially playing drums but in the end I had Jason play on top of what I was playing. He, along with Tristan Whitehill (of Orchal and Vir), helped so much in the process of getting opinions on chord progressions – to helping make electronic sparkle transitions.

Once I had a solid instrumental on a given section I would start working on the melodies for the lyrics. Humming them along with the song or even making lyrics up on the spot gave me a place to start from. I had previously listed words and even lines that I wanted to fit in, but it mostly came sporadically. After the initial vocals were recorded I brought more friends in to help with harmonies. Added percussive/synth twinkles on top and the first section was done. After that I would start working on the next section’s percussion while mixing the last section. And just rinse and repeat. It might sound confusing but it worked for me.

During the recording of the album, Dave had twins and he became very busy with them throughout the night. He was up all night taking care of the babes and I was downstairs all night working on the album. When he would get the kids to sleep we would meet up and just talk about stuff other than what we were both concentrating on at the time, to get our minds off of stuff and clear our heads, we called them “safety meetings.” I was typically buzzed on 120 Cab Sauv and Cafe Bustelo by the time we actually got together and he just had that “I-just-had-two-babies” look.

It was a doozy of a recording process but it was all worth it in the end.

Now I have five other members of Levek interpreting this song and the rest of the album along with me in the live show and I’m really excited at the thought of recording with them in the near future.

Thanks David!

Dig the single? Here’s another gem from the record for your listening pleasure:

(Curated by Speaker Snacks)