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The Pass took the time to answer a few questions. Very soon they will be leaving the bourbon soaked lands of Kentucky and will be out and about touring the country… keep eye out for them coming to a town near you. Check out their EP Colors.
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Song: Saturn’s Ocean
Newdust: Will, Kyle, Brian, Neil… What brought you guys together to play music?
The Pass: Kyle and I had been kicking around the idea of starting a band with a dance and synthesizer influence to it. Once we had some songs together we called up Neil and Brian who are amazing musicians and friends of ours from different projects. Then it was like when PB met J.
ND: There are a lot of diverse sounds going on, what are some musical touchstones that influence all of you guys?
The Pass: There are so many bands that have influenced our sound rather it be consciously or subconsciously. We definitely have an affinity for 80s pop like Michael Jackson and Madonna which explains one half of our gear being put out by Roland in 1983. Brian listens to a lot of experimental electronic stuff like aphex twin, squarepusher, ect. which definitely brings its own texture. Then I think theres the modern element of our music which is influenced by artists such as Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, ect. Everyone brings something a little different to the band. One band we all like……ummm…….Maybe the Talking Heads. Does anybody not like them?
ND:Cross Walk Stereo is great song… I was listening to it with some buddies and we couldn’t help but notice the first 10 seconds is eerily similar to the first few seconds of Phoenix’s “1901″. Was this a an intentional homage or more sub-conscious?
The Pass: Ok…yea the 1901 thing was a huge accident. We were definitely listening to them around the time we wrote crosswalk stereo and I guess it was a sub conscious infiltration (sorry Thomas and gang). Once we realized the similarity we kind of like compared them to make sure we were good…like chords and rhythms. Its pretty much the same explanation as Vanilla Ice on Ice Ice Baby. Maybe one day we’ll cover 1901 and you wont even know until 10 seconds in…
ND: I know nothing about Louisville, Kentucky… How is it playing your style of music in a city that is not known for its electronic-pop scene?
The Pass: Well, we’ve actually been welcomed with mostly open arms. Louisville is a really cool open-minded town with a lot of diversity. Also, VHS or Beta are from here which I think warmed a lot of people up to the idea of a dance rock band. Theres really not a lot of similar bands to play shows with though so we kind of like the idea of playing with DJs.
ND: Give me 3 new songs and 3 old “dusty” tracks that our readers have to check out.
The Pass: 3 new songs?….. anything on the new Hot Chip album. Also dig that La Roux album and the new Friendly Fires vs Holy Ghost record. Three dusty tracks? ……..i can give you three dusty albums. Lou Reed – Transformer, Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense, and Nick Drake – Bryter Layter. Honorable mention, Madonna – Like A Virgin
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FaltyDL is ‘a veritable fountain of electronica, IDM, jungle, and drum and bass.’ This is trip hop at its finest. The album is short and sweet, and extremely addictive. Try listening to it just once. Click here to download the album.
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To be perfectly honest, I do not really know much about Games.  I know they are from Brooklyn and have released a few mixtapes via their blog.  They have that great chillwave (ugh hate that word, it sounds like some sort of designer drug) sound.  I scored these two tracks and I am pretty sure they are demos so… hopefully more tracks will be released very soon.  Enjoy!
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The Pass hails from Louisville, Kentucky and are cut from the same cloth as your favorite pop indie darlings Phoenix, Hot Chip etc. Â This track “Cross Walk Stereo” got my toe tapping so I figured I would share. Â Check out their EP Colors. Â Enjoy!
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If you can imagine a mixture of Noah Lennox, Thomas Mars, and maybe even a vague hint of Michael Franks (huh?), then you might have a close resemblance to the vocal stylings of Mr. Chazwick Bundick, aka Toro Y Moi. That combined with music that sounds very much like a mix between Junk Culture and Washed Out, this album makes for a must listen for any fan of the new chillwave takeover. Interestingly enough, Chazwick and Ernest Greene (aka Washed Out) actually formed a close musical relationship late in Chazwick’s school career at the University of South Carolina. What’s great about this album is that he throws in a few instrumental gems here and there as well, one of which is streaming to your right. Causers Of This is Boomkat’s album of the week, and has a release date of February 23rd (today), so check it out!
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Here’s another random Vimeo find, Video Marsh’s brand new music vid for Caribou’s “Odessa,” which will be on their 4/20/2010 release Swim. These guys nailed it with this video; I think it captures the feeling of the song perfectly!
I’ve really been enjoying Swimteam’s latest effort Harlem over this past week. So much so that I’ve decided to ask these guys some questions about the album & to share a couple more songs with you guys. These two songs paired with “Hound” & “Sun” (songs posted last week), show just how diverse Harlem is; no two songs sound the same, yet they all flow together fantastically. But they don’t give the album justice by any means; listen for yourself: stream & buy the album here.
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Newdust: How long have you guys been making music together?
Swimteam:
Mike and I started our first band in the spring of 2008, so it hasn’t been too long really.
ND: What did you listen to growing up?
S:
The first band I really loved was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But my main influences were bands like Brand New and Jimmy Eat World. Then about three years ago I discovered Radiohead and my musical taste experienced an explosion. Mike’s favorite band growing up was The White Stripes, which is a much cooler answer.
ND: What’s your favorite album as of right…….now?
S:
One of my favorites right now is ‘Vaudeville Villain’ from Viktor Vaughn. I just recently got into hip-hop and the two of us have been listening to a lot of MF Doom projects like Madvillain, Viktor Vaughn etc. I think this influenced Harlem a lot, in that we started using samples and loops extensively.
ND: How was the recording process for Harlem? Was it recorded at home? Studio? Were there any others involved?
S:
We recorded it in Mike’s bedroom throughout December. It was by far the easiest recording process we’ve done so far. The songs were written very quickly and we were constantly coming up with new ideas.
ND: What were some influences/feelings/emotions that had an effect on songwriting?
S:
Other than the music we were listening to, I can’t think of any other influences on the songwriting. Perhaps the cold weather? Also, many of the ideas were written long before we started recording Harlem, so it’s kind of surprising that the album is still sonically consistent.
ND: Is there any theme to the album?
S:
Going into the recording process, we didn’t have any theme that we wanted to present in the album. However, after the fact we’ve noticed it’s very melancholy overall, right in that position between happy and sad. This is probably due to the mixture between the Hip-Hop and Electronic influence in the synths and beats, and the influence of our songwriting which has never been too upbeat.
ND: How is this album different from previous ones?
S:
This was the first album where we really wanted to make something completely different from anything we’d heard before. We tried to blend all of our musical influences into a new sound, that most importantly, we would really enjoy. Interestingly enough, I believe this has been our most accessible album to date, based on the response from our friends and the large range of influences you can hear in Harlem. We are very proud of Harlem, and we really want as many people listening as we can.
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I’ve been saving this song for an Electric Saturday post, but I have yet to find a good song to pair up with such a standalone gem. So here it is. Jazica from Southampton just released their latest EP Cut Shapes featuring “Follow the Rhythm”, which was featured on Tom Robinson’s best of unsigned podcast, and has had numerous plays on BBC Six Music radio. You can stream the entire EP here.
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Swimteam is a couple of high school kids out of Illinois who just released their first full length, Harlem. I literally just finished listening to it and had to immediately share some songs with you guys. It’s awesome. These guys are extremely creative, their sound is uncommon among others in the electronic genre, and they’ve only just begun. I can safely say this is my new favorite album.
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