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A Chat with Rodrigo y Gabriela

hamptonphish — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:54:31 +0000

Check out the spring U.S. tour dates with a full band here!

New Album

Reinvention is a tricky business. Veer too far from the known and one loses existing fans, stick too close to well trod paths and risk being predictable and safe. Rodrigo y Gabriela have gone their own way since they emerged with a bang in the early 2000s as a hypnotizing duo that mingled flamenco attack with metal accents, jazz seductiveness and more. With just two acoustic guitars (and some choice effects and smart use of volume), Rodrigo Snchez (lead guitar) and Gabriela Quintero (rhythm guitar) have become an international sensation, a position gained through raw talent, a unique vision and dedication to pushing themselves into new areas. This last point is shiningly evident on their new release, Area 52 (released January 24 on ATO), which finds them reimagining signature pieces like 11:11 and Hanuman with a group of skilled Cuban musicians and some handpicked guests like metal drummer extraordinaire John Tempesta and sitarist Anoushka Shankar. It is a lively affair, vigorously engaging with familiar territory and finding much new in these fresh hands, which layer horns, violin, piano and oodles of percussion onto their songs. The duo themselves similarly stretch, taking up electric instruments including lap steel and generally throwing hesitation to the wind in order to stir up new sounds.

We spoke with Snchez about the genesis of this project and what it means within the music thats established them as international stars.

Rodrigo Snchez by Mike Hardaker

JamBase: Theres been an appetite amongst some fans to hear what you two would sound like with a smoking band cooking behind you, but how did you end up in Cuba, which doesnt seem like the obvious choice on the surface of things?

Rodrigo: Honestly, the original idea I had at the beginning didnt turn out the way I thought it would. It was more like a project in the middle of two albums, but as my first approach to work with a Latin band – arrived and I told our managers, who liked the idea, it was interesting. But as we started to build the whole thing, I realized Cuba would be a good place to do it. I had been in New York and saw a show with a big Latin jazz band, and thought, Thatd be interesting to do.

At the same time, my management said, You have another year to go touring, so when after that are you going to jump into the studio for the next album? To me, that sounded crazy because weve been on tour for SO long. So, I had to come up with something to keep them happy AND get us a break. But, it didnt turn out to be much of a break [laughs]. Im happy now and embrace it because the results are good. I listen to it and like it. I dont listen to it the same way I listen to my other albums. I think of it as if I were listening to another band, which I enjoy.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

JamBase: Its exciting to hear your music, familiar pieces to any fan, take on new life. The new version of 11:11 is so fearless, so ready to go somewhere it hasnt gone before.

Rodrigo: Thats true, and its one of my favorite tracks. In fact, thats the kind of track I hoped wed go to. Going to Cuba was like taking a music course. We never went to music school, so we dont know how to read or write music everything is in our hands. So, we got involved with musicians who knew how to get into the music with their hands, too, but also knew how to read and understand music in both worlds. It was hard work but we learned a lot. We pushed ourselves to get to their level, and we got to change solos and add to and extend pieces. I got to play the electric guitar again!

Thats one of the more striking elements on this album, especially captured with a full rhythm section and the other instrumentation.

It was something I hadnt tried before on the other two albums and Gabriella as well. She added some of the wah-wah elements she uses onstage but normally doesnt do much on the albums. For her, it was an amazing experience to learn different rhythms that wouldnt clash with all the percussive elements but still retained her guitar as a clear part of the rhythm section. It was a challenge but it came out pretty good.

What did you find came up in your music as it came into contact with Cuban music? Cuban music has an energy and flow thats unique.

Gabriela Quintero by Mike Hardaker

When we were building the whole thing we were sent videos of all the musicians by this guy in Cuba who was setting up everything so we could pick [who would be involved]. If we were looking for a flute player, hed send us videos of five flute players that were available and well recommended. So, we looked for a balance between young and very experienced musicians, but we didnt want to go all the way with traditional musicians. We didnt want to do something like the Buena Vista Social Club [laughs].

Theres definitely a temptation to do something along those lines. Record labels love that sort of thing.

Exactly! To be honest, that was my speech when I sold [the idea] to labels. I thought theyd like that…and they did! I knew I didnt want to go so traditional, but they didnt know that [laughs].

Thats great [laughs]! I think its important with your music, which is young and coming from a different place than the usual corporate music industry, that you would also play with other younger musicians with the same mindset.

Yes! I know that and though we had a lot of young musicians, we also had, for example, the bass player Feliciano Arango Noa, who is a legend in Cuba where hes played on over 200 albums and with all the big stars you can imagine. Hes older than anyone, but even he said, I need to do something different.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

The younger musicians were SO happy. They werent aware of us because the Cuban people arent aware of anything really [due to state control of all imported news and entertainment]. These musicians watched what we did and really got into it. They were really fearless. They were willing to change the clave, which normally for them is a big, big deal.

Its always exciting when someone says there are no rules. This is often where the best music emerges.

Totally! In the classical world, they might not be that excited by this idea because they dont have the same kind of skills the Cubans have. When they go to school in Cuba, they learn classical music not Cuban music. In fact, they dont have schools to teach traditional Cuban music. Thats amazing to me. All the music they play is coming from generations on the street.

Its kept alive person to person.

But they also understand classical music, and everyone can read music and all that, which is why they are so good.

Are there any plans to tour with this group? Being from Cuba, I imagine there are all sorts of complications and challenges to making that happen.

Its very difficult, but we are going to do a couple of tours. The first one is in February in Europe, and then the second in America in April. Were not sure if well be able to bring them all but we want to keep most of the band together. A lot of them play with big bands in Cuba and have other commitments. But we dont want to just hire any musicians to just play. The idea is to add something to our show to reveal something of these tracks [to audiences]. Hopefully, it will be special.

Rodrigo y Gabriela Tour Dates :: Rodrigo y Gabriela News

JamBase | International
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Bon Iver: SNL Videos, New Live Dates

hamptonphish — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:53:04 +0000

APRIL SHOWS ON WEST COAST

This past weekend Bon Iver was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where they performed the Grammy-nominated “Holocene” and Bon Iver closing track “Beth/Rest.” Check out the videos below.

Bon Iver also announced a new set of live dates on the West Coast in April, including headlining performances at both weekends of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival as well as the New Orleans Jazz Festival and the Sasquatch Music Festival. All Tiny Creatures will open for Bon Iver on select dates.

Bon Iver Spring 2012 Tour Dates

04/12 Las Vegas, NV- The Joint @ Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas (w/ All Tiny Creatures)

04/14 Indio, CA- Coachella Music and Arts Festival

04/17 Davis, CA- Freeborn Hall @ UC Davis (w/ All Tiny Creatures)

04/19 San Francisco, CA- Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (w/ All Tiny Creatures)

04/21 Indio, CA- Coachella Music and Arts Festival

04/22 Santa Barbara, CA- Santa Barbara Bowl (w/ All Tiny Creatures)

04/23 Tucson, AZ- AVA Ampitheater

04/27 New Orleans, LA- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

05/27 George, WA- Sasquatch Music Festival

Bon Iver Tour Dates :: Bon Iver News

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Two Albums, 38 Min. Jam

hamptonphish — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:05:31 +0000

ONE ALBUM IN THE CAN, ANOTHER ON THE WAY

Neil Young

Last week, it was reported that Neil Young is recording new music with Crazy Horse. As a follow-up, Rolling Stone has posted a video of Neil discussing the project.

In the video, Young says he has already recorded one album with Crazy Horse entitled Americana, which he describes as having “a choir in it that sings with Crazy Horse. A very young choir of children. They’re songs we all know from kindergarten, but Crazy Horse has rearranged them, and they now belong to us.” The group is already working on the second record.

Neil Young fan site Thrashers Wheat points to a 38-minute video posted on NeilYoung.com, which contains close-ups of recording gear while the band jams on “Fuckin Up” and “Cortez The Killer”. Head over to Neil’s website to check out the video.

Neil Young Tour Dates
::
Neil Young News

A Chat with Big Gigantic

hamptonphish — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:24:43 +0000

By: Dennis Cook

Big Gigantic is currently on tour behind their new album, Nocturnal. The duo plays for the next five days at Mayan Holidaze and then return to U.S. on February 2nd in Tallahassee, FL. Find full tour schedule here.

Download the new album for FREE over here!

Big Gigantic

Big Gigantic is a great band name. It could be any kind of music, and it strikes one as funny and lucky for Dominic Lalli (keys, programming, sax, production) and Jeremy Salken (drums, programming, production) that no one got to it first.

I was walking down the street in Boulder [Colorado] and I thought, Big Gigantic. Thats a good name. No, thats a GREAT name! When I started on a side project [from his gig in The Motet] I was going to call it Dominic Lallis Big Gigantic, but as I thought about it I found it a bit weird and decided to leave my name out of it, says Lalli. I was pretty into Karl [Denson] and dug the Tiny Universe, so that may be why I wanted to put my name in front of it, but it didnt work out [laughs].

A lot of faceless music abounds in the electronica realm but Big Gigantic has quickly differentiated themselves from the sea of homogenous assholes with Abelton software and an 808, something abundantly clear on their brightly shimmering, booty activating new album, Nocturnal (released January 11 and available for free download here).

Big Gigantic by Brad Hodge

Thats the key to anything being successful, says Lalli. It just needs to be its own thing.

One of the big things about why we wanted to do this project was the two of us seeing all this live electronic music coming around four or five years ago. I was an intern at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, and I played music around town in random jazz and funk bands with Dom and different Motet guys, says Salken. We kept talking about the electronic scene and how nobody seemed to know how to play an instrument. It was all producers without the musical background of knowing melodies, chord structures, different modes, etc. and how that could elevate the music if they knew those things.

Theres so much we can do, remarks Lalli. Theres a production side of it EQing and trying to get the kick drum sound just right that Id never dealt with before, and just crafting the sounds themselves is like learning a new instrument. The music part, the piano parts is easy because I played keyboards all through music school. But in terms of creating synthesizer sounds and bass tones, thats a learning process every day, which is really exciting. I love to learn and grow.

Dominic Lalli by Chad Smith

One aspect of Big Gigantic thats become more surefire as theyve evolved is their understanding of electronic/DJ cultures obsession with build and release dynamics.

Thats also whats so appealing about the jam band world. Musicians and fans love when bands build and build. This is a different kind of build and drop, but were working hard to refine that. Its such an important part of the music, says Lalli. In terms of production stuff, it goes back to reading and watching videos on YouTube every day I cant believe how much stuff I learn on there all the time. Were working on getting the music to sound professional and to flow in our own way. With the new album, I tried to represent a whole bunch of electronic music styles, but perhaps put into a different tempo than normal so it feels like Big Gigantic.

[A lot of] electronic music is extremely repetitive. Theres a lot of tension and release with the builds, which is why a lot of jam band kids like it. Thats what they dig in Phish, where they do that on top of the songwriting, says Salken. In the 90s, younger people were really into the jam band scene and it was growing strong with Phish, Cheese and lots of band on the rise. In the later 90s, it was Karl D, Soulive and all those bands kicking ass and selling out multiple nights everywhere. Then the electronic thing came around and theres a new generation thats excited about this new kind of music. But somehow it got more mainstream [than the jam scene] with people like Skrillex and Pretty Lights.

New Album

I think having access to music everywhere is making a difference. Before, you had to buy a CD, or hear just part of an album on the radio, or trade with blanks & postage. Now, you can go online and get almost anything. It makes it easier to get music around to people, says Salken. Facebook is a huge tool for spreading music and giving it to people, and just for publicity and hyping stuff.

The generation thats most taken to electronic music is also a generation thats grown very comfortable not paying for albums, downloading most of their music for free, whether authorized or otherwise. This is a problem to some but Big Gigantic has some insights into this situation.

Because we have computers in our homes now, you can make an album for practically nothing, remarks Salken. Before youd have to go into the studio and spend 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars making an album. Now, its almost free except for your time. You can buy $600 of software or get it for free, so thats one of the reasons electronic artists can give albums away for free because were not going into debt. Its like a side bet to the live show. Its a bonus and an underlying thing that makes this whole scene happen. We just want to get it into the hands of everyone we can so that they come see us. The real thing is the live show.

As true as that may be, Nocturnal is still more musical than much of whats out there in this field, an album one can listen to and enjoy without the huge amplifiers and crazy light show of a concert.

Big Gigantic Audience by Brad Hodge

Dom definitely approaches each piece as a song with choruses, intros and bridges of traditional songwriting, says Salken. But he also likes using different techniques he finds in all kinds of music as well stuff in electronic music we find that works. Theres definitely stuff those guys do that works and people love and we love and it makes a song cool and interesting.

One of the elements that makes Big Gigantic stand out from the pack of DJs and electronica bands today is Lallis saxophone, which often emerges as a warming blast, a descendent of 70s FM radio redolent of Steely Dan, Gerry Rafferty and the like.

When I have a horn in my mouth and Im trying to do lead/solo stuff, my head is completely in jam band world. Im thinking of guitarists what would Trey do? As a saxophone player, my natural inclination is move like I do in the jam or jazz world, thinking about what I can do to kick it up a notch, says Lalli, spotlighting how the horn helps cut through some of the ADD stroking tendencies of most electronica. Its a different thing but its still music. Everyone is dancing but its a whole different mentality. The crowds are SO awesome. Im speechless about them. Our whole fall was basically spent opening up for Bassnectar and Pretty Lights, and even at those shows people came at 7 at night and were right up front ready to go. Very colorful audiences [laughs].

Big Gigantic by Brad Hodge

Theres a fear with younger kids that theyll get bored, but we like playing a show thats action packed all the way through anyway, says Salken. We like to go full force for two hours wear everyone out, wear ourselves out so it feels like a workout by the end. But we still want a flow to the evening. We used to dip down more into the mellow but kids get bored really quick. The bigger we get, the more we know that people are there to see us and we can take more liberties.

The evolution of the band has taken them from being an electro rarity in jam scene to a slot at Ultra, the worlds biggest electronic music festival, this March.

The music industry and music itself is changing. Everyone can see it, says Lalli. So, we dont want to count ourselves out of anything. The point for me doing this project was to get the music out to as many people as we can. So, were really trying to get it to the jam band people. Were really trying to get it to the electronic cats. Were really trying to reach a younger audience AND an older audience bridge a bunch of gaps. Thats why were really excited to reach people who dont know who we are, to get to them with some music they might really like.

Big Gigantic Tour Dates :: Big Gigantic News

JamBase | Gargantuan
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