New interview and album review from Stereogum featuring Font, an Austin band that I saw at Hotel Vegas during SXSW. Stereogum praises the hell out of them and draws comparisons to LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead. Sonically, it’s hard to argue with that — Font truly does fit in that soundscape.
They were definitely interesting live, playing experimental synth-infused rock, leaning a little on the heavy side. Another thing I remember is that they all set up on one corner of the stage and took...
New interview and album review from Stereogum featuring Font, an Austin band that I saw at Hotel Vegas during SXSW. Stereogum praises the hell out of them and draws comparisons to LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead. Sonically, it’s hard to argue with that — Font truly does fit in that soundscape.
They were definitely interesting live, playing experimental synth-infused rock, leaning a little on the heavy side. Another thing I remember is that they all set up on one corner of the stage and took up a small amount of space all together. After reading the interview about how their music is largely improvisational, I’m assuming that stage setup was part of the improv.
Their debut album, Strange Burden, comes out this Friday July 12th.
“The act of recording can make ironclad ideas that you want to continue exploring,” Laurence explains. “As a band that operates mainly in a live setting, and from an improvisational perspective, being able to perform them live and refine them over periods of time allowed us to find new pockets and interesting new angles in what we were doing. Also, it made it so that we didn’t have to make final decisions on things that reside in the song.” Even though we’ll soon have the official versions of the songs on Strange Burden, these recordings still possess a free-flowing quality that emphasize their improvisational origins. Font always record their practices in case a potential song idea comes out of it, and they adopt Talking Heads’ approach on Remain in Light by laying down the rhythm section first and building everything else on top of it. That rhythmic prioritization comes through loud and clear, and it’s one of the defining characteristics of Font’s work.
Also, the Stereogum article explains the origins of the latest single “Hey Kekulé” – which comes from the 2017 Cormac McCarthy essay about the subconscious titled “The Kekulé Problem.”
PS – I can’t wait to get to Austin and operate in the same sphere as Stereogum…
Oh man – the best Bob Marley album is a purely subjective question. There are times when I would agree with you that Natty Dread is the best. I love the raw vocal quality on this record. But, I’m also a huge fan of a lot of his other music!
Did you know that he almost signed with Grateful Dead Records in early 1974? They talked about it on the latest episode of the The Good Ole Grateful Deadcast. With Natty Dread being released in ’74, perhaps this was the record that would have come out on Grateful Dead Records, had the deal gone through?...
Oh man – the best Bob Marley album is a purely subjective question. There are times when I would agree with you that Natty Dread is the best. I love the raw vocal quality on this record. But, I’m also a huge fan of a lot of his other music!
Did you know that he almost signed with Grateful Dead Records in early 1974? They talked about it on the latest episode of the The Good Ole Grateful Deadcast. With Natty Dread being released in ’74, perhaps this was the record that would have come out on Grateful Dead Records, had the deal gone through?
Brett Nash will also be playing with Columbia, SC indie rockers Dear Blanca at Extra Chill Fest on August 10th, as the band celebrates ten years of their sophomore album, Pobrecito.
Band of Horses plays Charleston on August 30th – catch Brett on the big stage at Firefly Distillery!
I’ve been keeping up with artists on the lineup for Extra Chill Fest and I saw that Hotel Hugo was featured in a new live session today, for their new song “Light On” 🙂
