As a child, Emanuel Ayvas emulated the mighty Superman — dressing up, playing the daring part — but his adoration didn't stop there. He was often caught playing the hero's theme song as he fiddled and tinkered with his family's piano. In those moments, how ever frivolous and spontaneous they might have been, the composer in him was in full gear.

Over the years, under the guidance and support of his musical family (his mother was in an orchestra, his father and grandfather in a Greek wedding band — parties were described as "jam sessions") he's added a litany of other instruments to his resume, as well as a number of scoring projects.

Truth be told, Ayvas, an insightful and serious, yet remarkably animated character, is at home, in his purest and most organic element when he's an orchestrator, a frontman. So it's no surprise that he has his own band: Emanuel & the Fear.

Typical band, it is not. That is, unless you consider an 11-piece, multi-instrumental collective run-of-the-mill. The Brooklyn-based group borrows from classical music as much as it does from contemporary orchestra outfits like Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire. Emanuel & the Fear's played and sold out countless New York City venues and made fans of many local and national music critics, especially after releasing the self-titled EP earlier this year. With all lyrics and music tailored by Ayvas, the effort is his dream come to fruition; the EP's rave reviews are just icing on top of the cake. For him and the band, the only way to go from that release was up...

Which brings Emanuel & the Fear looking ahead to 2010, wide-eyed and excited for what the new year will bring. What's in the works? A brand new 13-song LP titled Listen, scheduled to drop on Paper Garden Records in mid-March. Riding high on the EP's success, the full-length is shaping up to be a widely anticipated release. On a chilly Monday morning, Ayvas took the time to sit and talk with BRM about Listen....

BRM: What can we expect on the new album?

Emanuel Ayvas: There's a pretty big difference. There's a lot more songs obviously [laughs]. I think, it's sort of more, completed and developed, and further along as far as my thought patterns go. It's more so what I wanted it to be as compared to the EP. The thing is, we started recording the LP and the EP as one thing. We actually did seven to nine songs and pulled three of them for the EP. But the remaining five or six songs, we took and revamped.. I re-recorded a lot of the horns and re-sang all of tracks, went over the production, so half of the album was done at the same time as the EP, and the other half was written after.

Do you think, when you listen to it, it sounds like that? Can you tell what was written earlier and later?

I've been listening to it so much that I can tell, like to me it's very obvious. Like I can tell, "Oh I wrote those later, I'm much better at composing, like the arrangements seem more balanced." But then there are a lot of older ones that I was really happy with. I think overall it's a little bit more polished sounding, and we had a lot better mixing. The way we went about mixing was more focused, more balaned and more cohesive. And I think that one of the biggest criticisms we got on the EP was that it was a little kind of all over the place, which i sort of like to be intentionally — not that I want to be scatterbrained — but I want to listen to an album and not have all the songs sound the same, but like for everything to be in a different genre, so its kind of like "What the hell is this?"

I think it's great you were able to have such variety on an EP, being that it's so short...

The thing is the LP kind of does that too, but there's enough space that you don't notice it, it's not as abrupt. I feel like I go from one to the next pretty well. I love the way it goes and I'm very happy with the order of it. It's not a concept album or anything, but it definitely has a motion from start to finish.

You mentioned that it's not a concept album... but are there any recurring themes?

I think one of the bigger themes is the idea of fear. And the bigger thing about the album is the idea of talking about what it's like to be alive as a person, and sort of bringing up the good and bad things, and instead of harping on them, it's more of like, just talking about it bluntly: "It's like this, and like this, and like this," and to kind of leave it open. I have a song on there and it's about the Rapture, and it's about something that I don't really agree with. See, in the Bible it talks about the end of times, and there will be a Rapture where all the rightoues people will just disappear and then everyone else will be left here. There's a group of people who can't wait for that to happen.. I've even heard about some strange list that people check off like, "Oh, I did that and that!" while waiting for the end to come.

How did you even come across that?

I'm from a very religious family. I knew all about the Rapture, I was made terrified of the Rapture! But going back to the song, I wrote it about that and I feel like I put my idea in, but don't go as far as imposing it on anyone. The last line is all about: "Go ahead, go ahead and pack your things and light your candles..I'll be out here watching with everyone else. You can do what you want to do. I don't get it, but whatever." I think that's the bigger theme...it's sort of narrative and sort of abstract. I also think I had a big breakup when I was writing these songs. There's a lot of songs about love and girls, not that it's a bad thing to write about, but I'm kind of tired of it. There's a good 6 songs about those things [laughs]. 13 songs, 19 tracks. intro , bonus track. and a few betwee nthings... like little samples.

Listen has 13 songs, but 19 tracks, including an intro, bonus track and other little goodies in between songs. Why did you decide to go that route?

I definitely liked that kind of dramatic, theatrical thing I guess. I'm a sucker for those albums that slowly ease you in. The album starts off...well, one of the bookended themes is rain, thunder, you know something that happens at the beginning. And then it eases you in with this weird noise. I really like noise/avante-garde-influenced music. The whole thing feels complete with the in-between tracks. I mean, like I said it's not really a concept album, but it kind of is, I guess. There isn't a narrative, but thematically, I'd say it's conceptual because all the themes tie together and push into the next one. I'm really happy with what I said lyrically. it was definitely what I wanted to get out.

You even have a bonus track! Can you describe it a little?

It's very strange. Our album is really long... we are nearly four minutes away from being completely full. The bonus track is connected with noise. I'm really happy with the way that it transitions. I don't even want to say anything about it because I think it's very cool. It's like a spoken word, noise piece, and I say a couple of things on it. Most of it is an amazing friend of mine, he's a poet from Philadelphia.

What is it like practicing with the whole band?

I shouldn't admit this [laughs], but we have never really practiced that much. Before our first show, we practiced one time. Before that, I just sort of met the people and handed them the scores. We read through them once, it sounded okay, and then we went in and had a great show. But having scores.. it allows us to not have to practice so much, which is good because they are all professional mnusicians and I don't want to waste their time. We try to get at least one practice in before a block of shows [laughs].

Be sure to check out their MySpace (including a live version of a new song "Dear Friend")!

Also, below is their music video for "The Rain Become the Clouds" off their EP:

 

 

 

-words by M.Geslani

 

First things first, Foreign Born are actually American born and raised. “We used to live in the Mission District of San Francisco and we had a show coming up… booked it before we had a name,” singer, Matt Popieluch explains. “There was a parade in the Mission District and it said “Foreign Born” on the banner.”

Popieluch wanted to have a name that was almost bad, a name that was right on the fence. “Some of the best names of albums and bands, you’re not quite sure about,” he explains. “I like that uncertainty.” Their vague name also says very little about the music that this foursome, Popieluch, guitarist Lewis Pesacov, drummer Garret Ray and bassist Ariel Rechtshaid play.

Where their last album, On The Wing Now, was an anthemic folk album, their newest one, Person to Person, tries to capture their live show. “The first record felt stiff,” says Pesacov. “It’s still fun to listen to, but not as fun to perform live,” Rechtshaid adds. The band managed to make their newest album a very dense record with a little studio magic. “There are not a lot of layers, just a lot of things happening at the same time,” Rechtstaid explains. “It really wasn’t that much going on just drums, bass, guitar, vocal either percussion or horns or keyboards. It just came out quick and chaotic.” Often the guys recorded multiple parts, like having all three guys play acoustic guitars, around one mic. (“Seemed like a funny idea… a band of acoustic guitars,” Pesacov says.) These elements helped make this record a lot groovier.“I wanted to make a reggae record that didn’t sound reggae,” Pesacov admits, “just focusing on grooves, making it more body music than head music. The first record was a little more head music.”

While Foreign Born is the focus, it’s not really a job: “With the lack of money we’re making it would be a little depressing to call it a job,” Popieluch jokes. The guys balanced their time between Foreign Born and their various other projects, which only further fueled the changes on Person to Person. Popieluch, who’s a member of his girlfriend’s band, Glasser, is a groundskeeper in Echo Park and works with Tree People, an environmental nonprofit based in L.A. Rechstaid is a producer who worked on Cass McComb’s newest album, while Pesacov has been riding high with Fool’s Gold. Pesacov wrote the songs for Foreign Born at the same time he was working on the Fool’s Gold album. “There’s a Fool’s Gold song that is actually the ending of a Foreign Born song,” Pesacov explains. “The music all comes from the same spring.”

While some people will reference the Afropop connection between both of Pesacov bands, the guys think that people are focusing too much on “Early Warnings” high life guitars. “Rhythmically speaking there’s a lot of [influences] happening there,” says Popieluch. “But it’s not just from Africa.” Person to Person takes a lot from the music of New Orleans, an influence that no one seems to bring up, along with aspects from music of Asia, Cuba and Brazil. “There’s a connection between New Orleans, Africa and Brazil,” Pesacov explains. “The Triangle Slave Trade putting all the cultures together which is very interesting… a very weird, cultural melting pot.” Rechstaid admits there’s even some Krautrock in there.

Location also played a role in the band’s new and improved sound. The L.A. band has been described as bright and summery, which is true, but just like the City of Angels there’s a dark side underneath all the glitz and pop hooks. Popieluch compared the band to a David Hockney painting: “The bright colors, the California landscapes like [Hockney’s] pool paintings,” he says. “It’s really only on the surface very picturesque…if you look at it for longer you realize what is behind it.”

For their video for “Winter Games” they even decided to feature the infamous Crip Walker dance. “’Ain’t Nothing But a G Thang’ was like the biggest song when I was in junior high,” says Pesacov. “That’s a big part of our lives. We finally had a song that had a groove that you could dance to, that was the first thing that came to mind.”

Along with the obvious musical changes, this album is a new beginning for the band. Their official debut, came out on a record label that was the furthest thing from representing who they are as a band and what they’re about. “Despite the guy who owned the label loving our band, it was completely wrong. I don’t really want to work further with people who don’t represent us well,” Reichstad says. They also released an EP on a record label that was basically a party planning company and folded almost immediately after they released their EP. “Now they’re making porn, we jumped ship just in time,” says Reichstaid. Their new label, Secretly Canadian is a label they respect and doesn’t pressure them to put out hit singles. Instead they, like the band, want to put out albums that help connect them with listeners.

With an album called Person to Person, it’s no surprise that these guys want to stay connected with their fans. From their blog to Twitter to releasing videos of themselves on the road, there is a way to find out what the band is up to. Though they’ve been a little slow recently, they also read all the emails people send to their band account. “We got an email from this guy and it was really short,” Popieluch remembers. “All it said was, ‘You’re last album sucked. This one does too. Go back to your first EP.’”

As the guys gear up for their second round of touring, they hope things will go a little smoother than their last tour which involved two robberies, inclement weather and harsh smoke machine laws along the East Coast. Not that it was all bad; they did manage to have a little fun with a drunken man in Seattle and a lot more fun than they expected in Oklahoma. “We played in Oklahoma and it was one of the most boring nights ever, there was like 20 people at the show. It happened to be next to a hookah bar… there was an Egyptian man, and he happened to have drums,” Pesacov explains. “We played drums with him for two hours. We have that on tape somewhere, this drum circle with an Egyptian man while The Veils were playing next door.” There were also fireworks at some point. “Tequila and fireworks,” Popieluch adds. Turns out Oklahoma isn’t that boring.

Words by Shannon Carlin

www.myspace.com/foreignborn

 

Foreign Born 2010 Tour Dates:

02/26 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *

02/28 - Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey *

03/03 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry *

03/04 - Madison, WI @ The Frequency *

03/05 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *

03/06 - Bloomington, IN @ Video Saloon *

03/08 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern *

03/09 - Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo *

03/11 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge *

03/12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory *

03/13 - Philadelphia, PA @ Marathon Lounge *

03/14 - Washington, DC @ DC9 *

03/26 - Echo Park, CA @ Echo

*= w/ Free Energy

Paul Miller, known to his public as, DJ Spooky is a Washington DC-born experimental hip-hop musician, visual artist, film producer, author and postmodern intellectual. Miller eloquently told us about the root and depth of his inspirations, the message he is sending his audience, and the intricate thought process behind his creations. Miller’s thoughts on globalization and America’s role in the world speak directly through his multimedia. His works of art are custom made to connect with and speak to, a multinational audience. At the release party of his new album, The Secret Song, we talked about his latest projects including films, Rebirth of a Nation and Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica (The Symphony of Ice).

BRM: What is the first song you remember dancing to?

DJ Spooky: When I was growing up in the late ’80s there was a rivalry between Prince and this band called The Time with Morris Day…and there was a song called “What Time Is It” that he had. And yeah, I guess dancing to Prince, Purple Rain.

How has your perception of what makes people dance changed over the years?

I’d say people move to anything familiar. That’s why mashups are so important…people really get into the issue of memory and familiarity. What was weird when Michael Jackson died, is that everybody for the next couple of weeks played every single Michael Jackson song you could possibly imagine. I guess, they miss you when you’re gone.

What is your ultimate goal with your music?

I’d say my ultimate goal is to get people to dance as a kind of thought process…like thinking is not separate from moving. But somehow, a lot of dance cultures kind of form as anti-intellectual and I always have to deal with that. But, I grew up in a household that was about expression and about inquiry…about thinking. My dad was Dean of Howard University Law School in the ’60s and the ’70s and my mother was a black feminist, dealing with ’60s transition in Washington D.C. and I had a very multicultural scene. I had a whole world of people from the embassies that were near my house, me and my friends were from totally different cultures.

So, God, you know, who would have guessed, thinking or getting people to move is always such a puzzle because people respond to song, pop song, certain kind of voice, certain kind of rhythms. And I deal with globalization in my music, that’s what the new albums about. And so the new album is in different languages. So, each one, like there’s a song in Chinese and a song in Farsi and uh songs in Russian and so on…So each one takes a tremendous amount of research to figure out what makes people in that culture move.

What is the essential message of the album that you’re sending out worldwide?

I would say the album is saying that hip-hop is now… globalization, turned the American idea of R&B, jazz, dub, rock…into like, an architecture that people around the world, use in their own way, because of that, it’s freed up expression in all different ways. You have hip-hop coming out of Russia, you have Chinese breakdancing, you have Korean rock. You know I love the fact that globalization has made all these cultures…relate to America even while we’ve had the last eight years of politics with Bush, which is…probably the lowest aspect of American history. So for me, race and class and culture are all intertwined and music is a mirror for those issues. So with the album, I did stuff like remixing, and updating Led Zeppelin, for example. Or splicing and dicing turntable stuff with music from Iran. Why? Because that’s what is on my mind…dealing with the economic collapse and the credit markets, or looking at the way people are fostering all sorts of bizarre political issues like Obama vs. all these right wing political lunatics.

My film Rebirth of a Nation came out a little while ago, and I got the rights to D.W. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation from 1912. Birth of a Nation was sort of the DNA of American cinema, so I remixed that film a little bit before this album came out. Its been getting a lot of hype on the scene. So, you know, the thing that I think will break the American mood of race, politics, around black and white, is global.

Looking at complexity and saying that, I’d say, we’re all connected in radically different ways and Obama embodies that. But the mix is the same thing—they’re mirrors of one another. It’s very interesting to see how we can mix race in a person whose father is from Kenya and mother is white and…the right-wing types, they just can’t process that…their whole mental kind of architecture is collapsing and so that’s why they’re becoming more and more irrational. So, my mixes are kind of like that, but with sound.

Saying that, why do we limit the American notion of identity and what makes up the idea of American music, when really, everyone is mixing, everything is mixed. And that’s…the beauty of hip-hop and sampling. It’s about mixed culture, sampling this, this, this.

How do you choose what you’re going to sample?

Every project is different, but this album was all about, kind of, deprogramming myself about Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, looking at all theses cultures that America’s had as antagonists…And also, at the same thinking about African polyrhythm, about turntablism and sampling.

What do you think about when you’re sampling?

After I finished this album, I went down to Antarctica and I shot a film about the sound of ice. So…it’s a symphony of ice.

How did you record The Symphony of Ice?

I had a digital media studio down there, and basically the whole studio, we had these multi-firewire hard drives…editing and software were given to me by SONY so I got the whole thing in high definition Blu-ray. And each of these were projects, I mean the album is one project. The Antarctica thing, I’ve been thinking a lot about…it was something I just wanted to get out of my system. So, I went down there for four weeks…whenever I’m thinking about a project, what I sample is like my notes, my Cliffs Notes, about the issues that go into the project. So, with Rebirth of a Nation I did a lot of studies of blues and jazz, the turn of the century… and race, politics and the idea of black face, which the film Birth of a Nation from 1912 is primarily white people in black face… it’s a film of what used to define what is American African in the last century.

In the Village Voice, you said, “The whole issue of Birth of a Nation was the fear of exactly what has happened—that an African American was elected to highest office.” Can you expand on that?

Well, I think paranoia and the idea of, let’s put it this way, white supremacy is the operating system of America for the last couple of centuries. Let’s be honest, not only was it fear of colonialism through the English if you think about white Americans, you know, the Pilgrims and the Protestant work ethic. Slavery was the kind of economic equivalent of the work ethic, you know having people work—a lot of preachers would always say, “If you work hard in this life then you get to go to heaven.” Birth of a Nation is based on the plantation system; everything in the film is about nostalgia for when everyone knew their place. And whites and blacks and anybody who was outside of the plantation owner’s system needed to be defined as enemies of the system.

So the biggest films of the beginning of the last century were like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Birth of a Nation, and Gone With the Wind. And then later on, with the development of speech in film, like sound in film, we had Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer (1927), which was one of the biggest films of its time. The jazz singer was a white guy [who] wanted to be black and play jazz, so he painted himself a black face. So the arc of, again, like thirty or forty years of the beginning of the last century, we have reconstruction. We have World War II, World War I, to make a long, long, long story short, as a writer, artist and musician, what fascinated me with film and with sampling is the collapse of categories.

You have the records of different ethnic groups, classes and styles of music over here, here, here. Sampling blurs and blows all categories to smithereens. It takes the whole record collection, throws it in the air, and mixes anything with anything. And it sounds cool, and that’s why I think hip-hop really has been able to reach people around the world, because of that eclecticism and dynamic—sort of viral—like, takeover of people’s idea of the future. And yeah, I think that’s what my album is about.

You have collaborated with a lot of interesting people in the past. Who would you like to collaborate in the future? Who are your heroes?

I’d say probably, a lot of my heroes, regretfully, are dead. You know, I’m fascinated with Mahatma Gandhi for example, or Martin Luther King, or Miles Davis, or Jimmy Hendrix. But let’s update it and say that you can’t have all these dead heroes. You have to have living heroes. The people whose work I really like are…people from the turntable scene, like DJ Krush, he’s an old friend—we never formally collaborated together. I’m a big fan of Radiohead for example; I’m also a big fan of TV on the Radio…I’d love to do a collaboration with those guys…Actually, I did a collaboration with Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine, one of my favorite rock bands—you know who I would love to do a collaboration with, is Bad Brains.

What kind of advice would you give to someone just starting out, with the goal of becoming a successful DJ?

I’d say, be true to many voices and not to play one style. Because, I think, what ends up happening, is people will lock into just one style and they lose themselves and their ability to keep up with developments in music. Music is changing rapidly and this whole culture is about a kind of dynamic, like collaborative filtering. Pulling together all these things and filtering and cycling through them and updating continuously, is what makes music interesting, you know. So, that’s what I think I would advise anybody starting out now—blogs, forget normal newspapers, go read other peoples ideas and be open, constantly absorb.

How is your work as a writer, artist, and musician, interconnected?

I’m all about the idea of—literature is music. Music is art and art is literature. There is no separation, everything is combined, and kind of, like, flexible in a way that I think makes life interesting.

Which album are you most proud of and why?

I love ’em all. I mean, each one is different; it’s like saying, which toe do you like best? Or which finger? I don’t know…they’re all parts of my body and my ideas and my mind.

How have your albums changed over time?

They have voices. I used to do a lot more instrumental hip-hop, but then the whole lounge hip-hop thing took over, and a lot of people just like, chilled out, lounge, like, anonymous music and that starting driving me crazy. I was like, “Fuck man, how do we figure this out?” Because I don’t just want to make music for cafes, everyone’s just relaxing and going numb.

How did you come up with the name of the album, The Secret Song?

Well, I was going through all of the selection stuff and I was looking for a title and initially it was going to be called, The Invisible Hand…I changed my mind about that because I was thinking a little too much about economics. And I was like, “What connects everything?” I was like, it’s got to be something obvious and subtle…and I was thinking, thinking, thinking, and I was like, there’s a song that connects all of the songs. And that’s what this album is about.

Words by Ana Gak

myspace.com/djspooky

In 2009, after a six year break, Anti-Pop Consortium returned to the studio to record the follow-up to Arrhythmia, their delightfully unpredictable second LP. Fluorescent Black, their new album, reunites the boundary pushing rhymes of emcees Beans, M.Sayyid, and High Priest with the unorthodox mixes and arrangements of producer Earl Blaize. The quartet, who are currently on tour, recently met up with BRM to discuss their studio reunion, the new album and what’s been spinning on their players.

BRM: Your album, Fluorescent Black, has been out for over a month now. Do you feel like you’re back in your element?

Beans: Yeah, we’re back to being a group. We’ve been doing things as a unit for a bit so we define things as a unit.

Was that difficult? Getting into the groove of things?

It wasn’t difficult because we purposely waited to the point where it would be the most organic. Until it was that time for us so it wasn’t laborious.

So basically when you felt the time was right, you were going to make this record. How would you say this record differs from your previous efforts? Or does it differ at all?

This album is an attempt at reaching our older fans while introducing our music to newer fans. It’s also an indicator of where we’re going to be going next.

Did you make it a point to do that or did was it just a result of natural progression?

I think it was a natural progression. We had somewhat of a template of what we wanted to do, things we were trying to achieve, but this is just how things turned out with this record.

How do you guys work in the studio?

As far as the creation of the songs themselves, we each come to the table; we all bring production to the table. We all contributed to the production of this album but we each contributed individual songs as well. We listen and then we add, arrangement wise. And then at the final stage, I mix it, pull it all together and make it one cohesive project.

Was it refreshing to be back in a group setting after working on individual projects for a few years?

I like having the ability to do both in terms of individual expressions and the collective experience working with Anti-Pop.I like the balance of working on both craft forms.

What do you find the most different from working as an individual artist and working as a group?

The big obvious difference is in the decision making process between one person and four. Sometimes it’s refreshing just to be able to have something that you connect with from start to finish yourself but at the end of the day, we are stronger as a unit because we all can stand individually. That equation works because it takes our music to another level - the original level is multiplied by four.

You guys have very interesting touring counterparts. You’ve toured with Radiohead and Bright Eyes. Are you looking to tour with anyone in particular this time around?

Well, right now we’re doing a lot of headline gigs but we had the opportunity to tour with those acts because we simply picked up the phone and asked. We are open to the idea of playing with anyone because we have the ability to do that. Whether it’s Bright Eyes, Radiohead or whatever, we do what we do. It all depends on our abilities.

So here at BRM, we like recommendations. What are you listening to right now?

We’ve been listening to a lot of this Psych Funk compilation that we all really love. And we’ve also been listening to the Purple Brain mix. And then we’ve been listening to Flying Lotus and the new Raekwon album.

Any last words?

Buy Fluorescent Black!

 

Words by Nadia Collado

Photo by: Sarah A. Friedman.com

http://www.myspace.com/antipopny