SIRIA’S SEPTEMBER PLAYLIST
This is the last time I’ll say this. I’m so glad Summer is over.
Ok, I’m done, I promise.
Well, maybe just once more…
YAY!!!!!! Summer is over!!!!!!
Ok, now I’m really done. Really. Pinky swear. All done.
I’m not sure if Fall will be any better, as when I went to check my e-mail inbox I had 666 unread emails (yeah I know, and this email account isn’t even the account that gets spammed, newsletters, nor most of the Facebook/Myspace alerts).
On a brighter note, here is some wisdom that was subliminally imparted upon me this morning via a song playing on KCRW that I thought I’d enlighten you with (I don’t know the song name and won’t look it up, as I actually didn’t really enjoy the song all that much), “the road doesn’t move, you’re the one that moves.” All thanks to Jason Bentley and his efforts in making my morning eclectic.
Alright, September’s 2:05pm list…here we go.
The Who – ” So Sad About Us”
I actually can’t decide if I like this original or The Jam’s version better. I think I’m going to go listen to this song as soon as I’m done posting this.
Also, have you ever seen The Who cover “Heatwave”? This song is one of my favorites for bands to cover. The New Fidelity still do the best live cover of this as far as local bands go.
Sea Wolf (more…)
Soundtracks to our Summer: Robotanists
all photos by Jessy Plume for TRAffIK
The darlings of our Summer Soundtrack, Silverlake based Robotanists enjoyed a whirlwind season full of sunshine, radio airplay (KCRW), and lots of new friends. Two of the band members Sarah Ellquist and Daniel de Blanke have taken a few moments to bring you firsthand some of the highlights of their summer, as well as how they feel they’ve grown as a band. They even let you us in on what songs they wish they had written.
Robotanists are:
Daniel de Blanke – guitars, keys, songwriting
Sarah Ellquist – vocals, keys, songwriting
Preston Scott Phillips – percussion, drums, iphone
Keith Boyarsky – bass
TRAffIK: Where can we learn more about your band?
DANIEL: Google “robotanists” or go to http://robotanists.com
TRAffIK: How did you come together?
DANIEL: We were all in other bands, and then left those bands and formed this one. The social lubricant was alcohol and a fondness for screaming at the television. That, and Dostoevsky.
TRAffIK: How would you describe your sound?
DANIEL: Up-tempo sad music for amoral intellectuals
SARAH: Make-up sex
TRAffIK: How does the songwriting process work for you? Where does the inspiration come from?
SARAH: Dan and I are a song writing team, but every song is born in a different way, from a different place. I write all of the lyrics, but sometimes, I write the melody and Dan builds harmony from there, or vice versa. If either of us ever thinks that we’ve written a complete song, the other is there to edit and refine. We take everything to the rhythm section for the final seal of approval… and the rest is history. Lyrics come from a very personal place, but I try to craft them in a way that the listener can interpret as they choose. Music is a personal thing, I want listeners to make our music theirs.
DANIEL: I have three thousand song ideas that are half crafted at any given time. I generally force Sarah to listen to them until she starts singing melodic material.
TRAffIK: Lately you’ve been performing acoustically a lot more than we’d seen previously. Do you have a preference for either performing unplugged or plugged in?
SARAH: I think we all prefer the energy of playing as a full band, but performing with just an acoustic guitar is a great way to really showcase our songwriting. It’s liberating to strip things down and just let the melody and harmony dance with each other.
TRAffIK: What started this trend for you?
SARAH: I suppose you could say that most of our music starts out “acoustic” during the demo phase, but we started performing them that way after some friends of ours (the band Vanaprasta) asked us to come to the Bond St. Lounge at the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills over the summer and play a few songs. The next thing we knew we were getting weekly invites to perform all over LA. (more…)