EVENT CALENDAR
Friday, May 31, 2024
OUT NOW: Naïm Amor "Amorsonic" [Digital Single]
The third single "Amorsonic" from Naïm Amor's twelfth studio album Stories is out today on all digital music platforms. For fans of The Black Keys, Black Midi, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nels Cline, Edwyn Collins, The Cramps, The Fleshtones, Richard Hawley, King Krule, La Luz, Los Straightjackets, Man or Astro-man?, JD McPherson, Messer Chups, The Meteors, Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Shannon & The Clams, The Sonics, The Surfrajettes, Surprise Chef, Tijuana Panthers,The Tremolo Beer Gut, Whatitdo Archive Group, Jack White, and Link Wray.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
LET'S BEACH every Wednesday Night this Summer at The Sandspur in Carolina Beach NC
Fort Lowell Records is excited to partner with The Sandspur for this Summer Season and bring a very special edition of our Vinyl DJ Nights we are calling LET'S BEACH, to be held at The Sandspur every Wednesday Night from 7:00-10:00pm starting June 5th! Known for our LET'S DANCE nights held at various venues around Wilmington NC, as well as our weekly LET'S TUESDAY residency at the Satellite Bar & Lounge, we are looking forward to crossing over Snow's Cut once a week to share some of our favorite music on vinyl record with everyone in Carolina Beach, while you enjoy the vibes with family, friends, and neighbors. We will see y'all on June 5th and every Wednesday this Summer at The Sandspur! Now LET'S BEACH! 🏖
Monday, May 27, 2024
Female Gaze: Tender Futures
[Repost from Here Comes the Flood; by Hans Werksman, May 17, 2024]
Tuscon, AZ based trio Female Gaze goes in at the deep end with their album Tender Futures, a concept record inspired by the serious health issues of Nelene DeGuzman, who had to wait for months on end to finally receive long overdue surgery. Days and nights went by and it gave her plenty of time to come up with the idea of a continuous set of songs that should be enjoyed in one undisturbed sitting.
Taking elements of post-rock, shoegaze, indie rock and a few field recordings and radio broadcasts sprinkled on top, the trio created an intricate maze of transcendent drones and repetitive guitar motifs. It is an immersive listening experience, best enjoyed by either wearing decent headphones or in a room with good acoustics and serious speakers. There are barely any vocals, especially in two lengthy centre pieces, Broadcast and the album's title track, but when DeGuzman does step up to the mike, she makes every word count.
Female Gaze:
Nelene DeGuzman: guitar, piano, vocals
Kevin Conklin: bass
Nicky David Cobham-Morgese: drums, percussion, synths
Rosie Clements: Synth (track #2 & #3)
Tender Futures will be released via Fort Lowell Records (hand-numbered - 100 copies - red vinyl, digital). Release date: May 17.
Tracks:- Ghosts
- Broadcast
- Tender Futures
- In the Mezzanine
- Severance
Live dates:
- 05/17 Tucson, AZ @ MOCA - *Tender Futures Record Release Show*
- 05/24 Tucson, AZ @ Blondie's - *Tender Futures Film Screening*
- 05/31 Las Cruces, NM @ The Lighthouse
- 06/01 Lamy, NM @ Lamy Taproom
- 06/02 Silver City, NM @ Whiskey Creek Zocalo
- 06/05 Phoenix, AZ @ Linger Longer
- 06/06 San Diego, CA @ The Comet Theater
- 06/07 Ojai, CA @ Greater Goods
- 06/08 San Francisco, CA @ The Make Out Room
- 06/09 Los Angeles, CA @ Healing Force Records
- 06/15 Tucson, AZ @ Che's Lounge
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Out of the Crowd (Festival) back with a bang for 20th edition
![]() |
Red Dwarf Star; photos by Hughes Vanhoucke |
[Repost from RTL Today; by Charlie Stone, May 13, 2024]
Having truly curated a lineup that incorporated artists from all four corners of the globe, the day kicked off with the Americans Red Dwarf Star, who are the brainchild of Coley Dennis of Maserati (who performed later) providing a wide sonic landscape.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
PREMIERE | Female Gaze, 'Tender Futures'
Art and existence in our current era (and arguably other time periods) is not an inherently linear ordeal. While cycles and patterns can be observed in terms of how trends ebb and flow, earth science sequences analyzed, societal and civic fashions and fads parade in and out of style and so forth; nothing abides by a static algorithm. Our experiences are erratic, the best laid itineraries and plans are often met with diversions and interruptions that whisk us away from our otherwise regularly scheduled programming. We are beholden to the timelines that are outside of our own unique operations, and while we may be experiencing the slow steps of time in our own lives there are often cyclones of social circuses that buzz around our hives in a maelstrom of movements that are too innumerable to count. We witness these motions according to our time, the lulls of night and the lights of day as our consciousness absorbs the information and stimuli that arrives at our senses (while the unconscious grapples with the overwhelming deluge of external activities that exceeds the limits of our comprehension).
These non-linear sequences abound on the new record Tender Futures from Tucson, AZ trio Female Gaze. Bandleader Nelene DeGuzman, Kevin Conklin and Nicky David Cobham-Morgese create a 5 song cycle designed to be experienced like a Möbius film loop. The band prefaces it with the following:
…[Tender Futures] is a cycle meant to be listened to on a loop, starting anywhere but listening in order until you reach your starting point again…
A record that rose out of DeGuzman’s own health struggles where days and nights blended together into the arbitrary atmospheres of ambiguity, Tender Futures offers tangible textures that enrobe the constructs of time and spaces as we embark upon them. Female Gaze gives room for how we perceive our lives, minute by minute, moment to moment. Honoring these aspects of reality, DeGuzman surveys where we are, how we feel and how we are engaging in that very instance. Tender Gaze invites you to experience time not as a simplified flat line but as a circle, where the the rises and falls of solar and lunar intervals are heard and felt according to a planetary alignment that is outside of our own immediate purview.
Chronologically "Ghosts" begins the album with a journey through the paranormal where Nelene's voice echoes through chambers and is met by the found sounds of daylight where the ambience of wind and the chirps and cheeps of birdsongs fills the air. The voyage to the edges of night and the dams of daybreak collapses the conventions of calendars on "Broadcast" that transmits like a psychotropic journey to the places where time takes on new forms and new meanings. The title track runs shy of 10 minutes, an instrumental where the conventions of clocks, hours, minutes and seconds dissolves into a heady jam that entrances all who are brave enough to take the trip. "In the Mezzanine" employs lo-fi piano keys and field recorded sounds of evening where crickets and the rushing whooshes of traffic swim about the mix (replete with percussive car turn signal clicks and clacks).
Tender Futures is completed with "Severance" that transcends the pains of mortality. Transcends the trappings of 24 hour systems and cycles of bookkeeping. Transcends the movement of the planets. Transcends the trivialities of everything that we place meaning upon that are but chaff in the breeze as the wind adheres to its own wild code and convection trajectory that carries a compass of its own design and choosing. Nelene takes the listener on an out of body experience where everything and nothingness, day and night and other corresponding opposites find a cosmic and complimentary coupling like compatible constellations cruising up together in concert high above the sky.
Nelene DeGuzman of Female Gaze shared the following meditations on the new album:
Tender Futures is an experimental concept album that tracks an endless day/night cycle. I’ve struggled most of my adult life with pain stemming from chronic health issues.
Tender Futures was created while suffering through a particularly difficult health year, waiting 5 months in a painful limbo for a much needed surgery. Time seemed to slow to an intolerable pace but I also felt like everything was moving fast around me and I was unable to keep up.
My perception during this time became a fever dream of cycles, inhale/exhale, night/day, always a bit disoriented, like waking up from a nap that’s gone too long and now it’s dark and you’re not sure if it’s late at night or early in the morning.
Female Gaze’s Tender Futures arrives May 17 on vinyl via Fort Lowell Records and cassette courtesy of Totally Real Records.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Tercel - "Tiny Towns"
[Repost from If It's Too Loud; by Ken Spears, May 14, 2024]
Hailing from the Cape Fear region of North Carolina, Tercel are going to make you nostalgic for a slice of indie rock you may have forgotten a but. Their debut single, "Tiny Towns," is filled with power pop and melodies, but it also has a bit of the quirkier side of indie rock and plenty of dissonance. It's the kind of track that both repels you and draws you in, often at the exact same time. At various points I'm hearing influences ranging from Archers of Loaf to Sebadoh to Superchunk, with some Wussy thrown in. "Tiny Towns" is a great debut single from a band we're looking forward to hearing more from.
You can listen to "Tiny Towns" below. The single is out now via Fort Lowell Records, and is available for download over on Bandcamp. For more on Tercel, check out the band on Instagram.
Friday, May 17, 2024
OUT NOW: Female Gaze 'Tender Futures' [Debut Album]
Female Gaze makes immersive art to get lost in. Their debut album, Tender Futures, is an experimental concept record that tracks an endless day/night cycle, exploring meditations on mindless-ness as a coping mechanism.
Songwriter and guitarist Nelene DeGuzman and bassist Kevin Conklin met drummer Nicky David Cobham-Morgese in Tucson, Arizona where the band is based. DeGuzman, who has struggled most of her adult life with pain stemming from chronic health issues, created Tender Futures while suffering through a particularly difficult health year, when she was left waiting 5 months in a painful limbo for a much needed surgery.
“Time seemed to slow to an intolerable pace but I also felt like everything was moving fast around me and I was unable to keep up. My perception during this time became a fever dream of cycles, inhale/exhale, night/day, always a bit disoriented, like waking up from a nap that’s gone too long and now it’s dark and you’re not sure if it’s late in the night or early in the morning” says DeGuzman.
The new album is meant to be experienced on a loop, starting from any song but then listening until reaching your starting point. Tender Futures is now available on vinyl via Fort Lowell Records and tape via Totally Real Records, as well as on all digital music platforms.
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
OUT NOW: Tercel "Tiny Towns" [Digital Single]
The first official debut release — a digital single titled "Tiny Towns" — for Wilmington, North Carolina's own Tercel is out today on all digital music platforms. For fans of Archers of Loaf, Blab School, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Cursive, Desaparecidos, Fucked Up, Horsegirl, Japandroids, Jawbox, JEFF the Brotherhood, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Lifeguard, Pavement, Pissed Jeans, Sebadoh, Ty Segall, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Superchunk, The Thermals, Titus Andronicus, Unwound, Wavves, Wolf Parade, Yuck.
Monday, May 13, 2024
La Cerca 'Summer Tour'
May 24 - San Antonio TX - The Mix
May 25 - Austin TX - Chess Club
May 26 - Wichita KS - Kirby’s Beer Store
May 29 - Minneapolis MN- Cloudland
May 30 - Milwaukee WI - High Dive
May 31 - Chicago IL - Marz Brewing Community
June 1 - Lafayette IN - The Spot
June 2- - Akron OH -[tbd]
June 4 - Cleveland OH - Happy Dog
June 5 - Pittsburgh PA - [tbd]
June 6 - Brooklyn NY - Mama Tried
June 9 - Winston Salem NC - Monstercade
June 10 - Cincinnati OH - MOTR
June 11 - Louisville KY - B Sides
June 11 - Louisville KY - B Sides
June 12 - St. Louis MO - The Sinkhole
June 13 - Lawrence KS - Replay
June 14 - Kansas City MO - miniBar
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Female Gaze 'Tender Futures' Tour
May 17 - Tucson AZ - MOCA - *Tender Futures Record Release Show*
May 24 - Tucson AZ - Blondie's - *Tender Futures Film Screening*
May 31 - Las Cruces NM - The Lighthouse
June 1 - Lamy NM - Lamy Taproom
June 2 - Silver City NM - Whiskey Creek Zocalo
June 5- Phoenix AZ - Linger Longer
June 6 - San Diego CA - The Comet Theater
June 7 - Ojai CA - Greater Goods
June 8 - San Francisco CA - The Make Out Room
June 9 - Los Angeles CA - Healing Force Records
June 15 - Tucson AZ - Che's Lounge
May 24 - Tucson AZ - Blondie's - *Tender Futures Film Screening*
May 31 - Las Cruces NM - The Lighthouse
June 1 - Lamy NM - Lamy Taproom
June 2 - Silver City NM - Whiskey Creek Zocalo
June 5- Phoenix AZ - Linger Longer
June 6 - San Diego CA - The Comet Theater
June 7 - Ojai CA - Greater Goods
June 8 - San Francisco CA - The Make Out Room
June 9 - Los Angeles CA - Healing Force Records
June 15 - Tucson AZ - Che's Lounge
Friday, May 10, 2024
OUT NOW: Blab School "Small Simple Ways" [Digital Single]
The third single "Small Simple Ways" from Blab School’s self-titled debut album is available now on all digital music platforms. For fans of Bad Religion, Buzzcocks, Descendants, Drive Like Jehu, The Faction, The Fucking Champs, Gang of Four, Green Day, The Hives, Hot Snakes, Jawbox, The Jesus Lizard, Les Savy Fav, Lightning Bolt, Meatbodies, Melt-Banana, Metz, Osees, Pipe, Pissed Jeans, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Superchunk, The Thermals.
Thursday, May 9, 2024
What Rules Wednesday / TRK: Forest Fallows-Hotel Radisson
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyd9s-YPIi8GlehXn9vfcuRK9pddrOZhuf2Bjv9k0pos5SJOTxsIwsNnUC8USjIUiGxhkjDWAwJPJX8C-sCDFSPVHBACRTEGdT1a0QoRg-21UoEt3mdJJnsgZlgQVn6AzrYO_uPCz5uEo87dwmh2vU5yGrqXG1d0QL5bqI2irwdwD4pNsgBGIQ8UxXVkqf/s1600/Untitled%20design%20%2814%29.png)
[Repost from Small Albums; May 7, 2024]
Sometimes I find a project that sounds like the creators know me and know EXACTLY what I want to hear, and Forest Fallows is one of those instances.
The warmth but never overheat of summer air blows gently as Mike Barnett and Alex Morton strum soft chords, and sing like the fur of a rabbit in a straw hat.
Flute flutters that break up the quiet undercurrents layer just enough, but don't pull from the slow blinking eyes of car windows passing something monumental on the side of the road.
This new single follows up "Saturday Rose," with yet another splash in the same cooling pool. A tiny bicycle bell rings out off time, and falls back to sleep. Saxophone ends the track like a frosted pastry in an open window.
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Red Dwarf Star 'European Tour' starts today in Lausanne, Switzerland!
Red Dwarf Star |
- 05/07 Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Bleu Lezard
- 05/08 Besançon, France @ Antonnoir
- 05/09 Strasbourg, Franc @ La Grenze
- 05/10 Gent, Belgium @ Dunk! Festival
- 05/11 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Out of the Crowd Festival
- 05/12 Utrecht, Netherlands @ De Helling
All dates with Maserati
Friday, May 3, 2024
OUT NOW: Forest Fallows "Hotel Radisson" [Digital Single]
The second single "Hotel Radisson" from Forest Fallow's sophomore album Palisades is available now on all digital music platforms. —— For fans of Animal Collective, Ariel Pink, Atlas Sound, The American Analog Set, Beach Boys, Broadcast, Mac DeMarco, Destroyer, Drugdealer, Ducktails, Esquivel, Goth Babe, Richard Hawley, JPW, Lauds, The Ocean Blue, Peel Dream Magazine, The Radio Dept., Radiohead, Real Estate, The Sea & Cake, Stereolab, Sugar Candy Mountain, The Sundays, Kurt Vile, Yo La Tengo, Wild Nothing, and Woods.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
80s Dance Night in Wilmington NC - Friday, May 3rd at The Underfront Co.
LET'S DANCE is a Vinyl DJ Night hosted by Fort Lowell Records around various venues in Wilmington, North Carolina. This coming Friday, May 3rd, we are partnering with deejay / hip-hop producer RizzyBeats to bring you a very special 80s Night edition of our LET'S DANCE event at The Underfront Co. bar on Front Street in Downtown Wilmington NC. James Tritten, owner of Fort Lowell Records, will be swappin' joints with RizzyBeats on the ol' 1s and 2s from 8:00pm until midnight, spinnin' everything from 80s boogie, freestyle, hip-hop, new wave, pop, post-punk, R&B, rock-n-roll, synthpop, ...you name it! Plus, the dynamic duo is going to be rockin' it Egyptian Lover style with a real Roland 808 Analog Drum Machine from the 1980s on stage, live beat matching and remixing the vinyl records they'll be playing. So join us at The Underfront Co. this coming Friday, May 3rd... and LET'S DANCE!
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE
Monday, April 29, 2024
Red Dwarf Star: Lady Aurora Borealis
Maserati guitarist Coley Dennis flies solo with his Red Dwarf Star project. He doesn't stray all that much for the psychedelic post-rock that he has been creating with the Athens, GA band. His new single Lady Aurora Borealis - the Espresso Machine Mix to be precise - is a slow moving trip through outer space, with Dennis never revealing if it is a real or imaginary journey. He stacked the guitar parts way up high, with Kellii Scott from Los Angeles alt-rock band Failure playing up a storm on drums. It left him two ways to make himself heard: scream at the top of lungs or going for an almost spoken word part draped over the mayhem. He chose wisely, and picked the latter.
The B-side is a harsh reimagining of the Pink Floyd classic Fearless, turning it into a slowed down metal tune as if the Sisters of Mercy were picking a fight with Black Sabbath. Allen Epley from Kansas City indie rock band The Life and Times stepped up to the mike for this one. He got buried deep in the mix, but that is intentional.
Live dates (with Maserati):
- 05/07 Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Bleu Lezard
- 05/08 Besançon, France @ Antonnoir
- 05/09 Strasbourg, Franc @ La Grenze
- 05/10 Gent, Belgium @ Dunk! Festival
- 05/11 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Out of the Crowd Festival
- 05/12 Utrecht, Netherlands @ De Helling
Friday, April 26, 2024
OUT NOW: Naïm Amor "Freeway Race" [Digital Single]
The second single "Freeway Race" from Naïm Amor's twelfth studio album Stories is out today on all digital music platforms. For fans of The Black Keys, Black Midi, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nels Cline, Edwyn Collins, The Cramps, The Fleshtones, Richard Hawley, King Krule, La Luz, Los Straightjackets, Man or Astro-man?, JD McPherson, Messer Chups, The Meteors, Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Shannon & The Clams, The Sonics, The Surfrajettes, Surprise Chef, Tijuana Panthers,The Tremolo Beer Gut, Whatitdo Archive Group, Jack White, and Link Wray.
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Female Gaze "Severance"
[Repost from Stereobar; April 7, 2024]
Before even a single word is sung, “Severance” by Female Gaze casts its spell. The track, an enchanting blend of psychedelia and shoegaze, starts with a compelling bass line that immediately grabs your attention. By the time Nelene DeGuzman’s vocals drift in, you’re already deeply immersed in its sonic world. This song manages to take what sounds like an oxymoron – “trippy shoegaze” – and turns it into an alluring, cohesive sound that’s hard to resist. With its six-minute runtime, “Severance” teases its conclusion several times, only to dive deeper into its mesmerizing soundscape, inviting listeners to lose themselves in its depth. Each continuation feels like a gift, prolonging the warm, captivating experience Female Gaze has crafted. This track is a standout from their upcoming album Tender Futures, set for release on May 17 via Fort Lowell Records, showcasing the band’s ability to blend genres and create music that’s both innovative and deeply affecting.
Friday, April 19, 2024
OUT NOW: Red Dwarf Star "Lady Aurora Borealis" [Digital Single]
Red Dwarf Star is the brainchild of guitarist Coley Dennis of the long running Athens, GA Post Rock/Kraut band Maserati.
Located now in Lausanne, Switzerland — Red Dwarf Star that’s taken Dennis back to his roots in the early 90’s. Tapping into Creation Records bands like Slowdive, Swervedriver as well the Cure and Cocteau Twins, it has served as a sonic pallet for his first ever solo output.
Adding as well mid-90’s U.S. “Midwest Core” influences like HUM, Failure, Quicksand and Shiner, Dennis is creating beautiful but powerful sonic landscapes reminiscent of the lush shoegaze sounds aforementioned.
Drawing inspiration from leaving his home country in 2015 for a new life, starting a family, and a new career has inspired Dennis to write his most personal material to date.
For the recording Dennis enlisted the drumming duties of Kellii Scott (Failure) on his first solo Red Dwarf Star release.
In the live arena he enlisted the help of Leipzig, Germany post-rockers JeffK composed of Steffen Ziemann behind the kit as well as Matthias Poese (guitar) and Börge Meyn (bass) to round out the group.
The debut release for Red Dwarf Star — a digital single for the song "Lady Aurora Borealis", paired with a cover of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" — is out now on all digital music platforms.
Catch Red Dwarf Star live in concert:
- May 7: Lausanne, CH @ Le Bleu Lezard
- May 8: Besançon, FR @ Antonnoir
- May 9: Strasbourg, FR @ La Grenze
- May 10: Gent, BE @ Dunk! Festival
- May 11: Luxembourg, LX @ Out of the Crowd Festival
- May 12: Utrecht, NL @ De Helling
All dates supporting Maserati
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Suitcase Full of Emotions
[Repost from Aldora Britain Records; b Tom Hilton, April 10, 2024]
Tucson, Arizona is the home to post-rock experimentalists LA CERCA. Combining the disparate worlds of ambient
avant-garde, shoegaze, and spacey psychedelic rock, this Southwestern sonic
collective deliver something undeniably fresh and completely reinvigorating. Their original compositions are brooding and
unfolding soundscapes, pushing boundaries and gloriously disrespecting
borders. Records such as 2018’s Night Bloom and 2020’s A Nice Sweet Getaway are archetypal
snapshots of La Cerca’s delightful approach, stellar adventures through
creative worlds, a never-ending journey of discovery. With the fourth anniversary of A Nice Sweet Getaway fast approaching,
key bandmember Andrew Gardner agreed to chat with Aldora Britain Records about La Cerca’s experimentations so
far. We discuss the coming together of
the group, a selection of their recorded output, their approach to songcraft,
and much, much more. That exclusive
in-depth conversation is published here in full for the very first time.
La Cerca have previously contributed their track ‘Free of Expectation’ to
our independent, underground music sampler ‘We Didn’t Start the Fight’. Listen or download HERE.
If you enjoy this content, please consider
making a small, magazine-sized donation at the following link: https://paypal.me/aldorabritainrecords. Thank
you!
Aldora Britain
Records: Hello Andrew, how are you? I am
excited to be talking with such an experimental musician. I am a big fan of what you do! Let’s start off by rewinding the clocks. What are some of your earliest musical
memories and what was it that first pushed you towards pursuing this passion of
yours?
Andrew Gardner: Hello
Tom, I just got back from a thirteenday West Coast tour with La Cerca. It was eight shows. It rained a lot in Southern California, where
it’s not supposed to rain. We had a lot
of winter weather. In Tucson, spring is
starting, but not so much for the West Coast.
We jokingly called the tour ‘Prolonging the Winter 2024’.
I grew up in a small town in Ohio before we moved to Tucson,
Arizona. Our neighbours had a guest
living in their basement who had an organ.
I would be over at their house asking to go downstairs to watch the
player, but I was denied, so I would put my ear to the floor. Music was always a constant. My mom had a good record collection and I was
taught how to carefully handle albums and turn them over on the turntable at a
young age. Everybody knew that music was
the direction for me. I had opinions on
Jimi Hendrix records, Dark Side of the
Moon, and Sgt. Pepper. I loved the 1980s Top 40, at least up until
1987. The first album I purchased with
my paper route money was David Bowie’s Let’s
Dance. The Fixx, Reach the Beach was my second
album. I was lucky enough to have guitar
lessons. Within a couple of years, I was
drafting the neighbour kids to start a band.
Aldora Britain
Records: And now, let’s take a leap forward to the beginnings of the
brilliant La Cerca. The early days of
the group must have been such an invigorating time. How did it come to be? How did you meet the other members and what
was the initial spark that brought you all together on a musical level?
Andrew Gardner: La
Cerca evolved from my band called Wise Folk Malcontent, which played the
underground rock scene in Tucson from 1992 to early 2000. The musicians wanted a name change because we
had felt that we had arrived on a musical level and they were aspiring to be
permanent musicians. We were fans of
1970s punk rock and art rock, New Order, The Cure, and 90s
American indie rock. Within a year and a
half, those musicians had moved on to other projects only a few months after
the release of our first album Goodbye
Phantom Engineer, 2001 on Unlike Label.
It was again a revolving member band surrounding my songwriting.
Miguel Villarreal was my neighbour who loved La Cerca’s
music so much that he decided to play bass from 2002 to 2012. I decided to be in a band with my neighbours
as much as possible, but that limited us to not being able to tour. That was okay for a while, but touring
aspirations kicked in and I would go out by myself and then grab a friend or
two along the way and we would go play shows sporadically across the States,
then pairing down to just me playing solo shows. Bill Oberdick came onboard as guitarist in
2005. He is still a big part of La
Cerca’s sound. By the time he had
joined, I felt like the real band had started.
Aldora Britain Records: In 2020, you released
a fantastic record in the form of A Nice
Sweet Getaway. This was my
introduction to your work, so I look back on it very fondly. What are your memories from composing,
recording and releasing this set, and is there anything that you would edit or
change with the benefit of hindsight?
Andrew Gardner: In 2013 and early
2014, the band was in a kind of limbo waiting for mastering and pressing of our
third album, Sunrise for Everyone. I was working at a guitar shop and acquiring
better gear. I was learning how to use a
Tascam handheld two-track recorder. I
just got a monster delay pedal, the TC Electronic Flashback X4 Delay, with a
decent fortysecond looper. I was
obsessed with pedals. It used to be that
I had a chorus, fuzz, and delay. Now
there was much more on my palette.
After La Cerca band rehearsals,
I started these recording experiments. I
would place the recorder in different places to see how the room would
sound. I started making these ambient
mood jams. I didn’t think that much of
it, but in the back of my mind, I thought that some of the recordings were
listenable. I started treating them like
‘songs’, but I would improvise.
Sometimes, I had ideas in advance, like ‘Ice Cubes’, other
times, it was made up on the spot, like ‘Walking the Underbelly’. I would have my neighbours over to listen on
our porch while I was in the process. I
would go to our nearby venue, The Flycatcher, RIP, and record the jams in the
lounge, like ‘Gloomy Vista Way’.
Sometimes, the songs were sculpted for an hour before I hit record, like
‘Shimmering Peacock’.
At the time, I was just trying out ideas and creating new
ideas. I wanted to be spontaneous and
keep a performance feel. There were no
overdubs. I gave a burned CD to a couple
of friends and that was about as far as it went. I liked it, but I didn’t think it was good
enough to release. It was just some
ideas for later. By April of 2020, we
had to cancel a tour and the rest of the music world was on pause. I started listening to these lo-fi
recordings. It felt very fresh and it
still had a lot of melody to the noise.
It was interesting to see how I was nowhere near the state of mind, but
that state of mind was perfect for our pandemic world.
It became a soundtrack to strange times. I felt like it wasn’t too far off from the
noise and melody that La Cerca made. It
just wasn’t made with any bandmates. We
already had a project in the works, but I had many more actual songs and there
wasn’t a studio open for us to record. I
had not yet set up my living room with the studio that I have today. I had Jim Waters do some sonic treatments and
EQing. It has a new life and I wanted to
share it with the world.
Aldora Britain
Records: I am fascinated by the way you make these intense, immersive
soundscapes. There is just something
about La Cerca’s songcraft! How do you
approach this part of your creative process?
Is it a case of jamming away and striking gold, or is it a more
methodical and repeatable approach?
Andrew Gardner: For
A Nice Sweet Getaway, about one-third
of the tunes were improvised on the spot with very little or zero
planning. One-third were sculpted in
advance with a loop or two already crafted beforehand or had some editing,
post-recording. The remaining were a
little bit of both. Sometimes, I would
come up with a title first and go with how I was feeling. Other times, I thought about a feeling and
was seeing if I could recreate a sonic version of that feeling. The goal was to keep it ‘live’ as
possible. I had a lot of jams that
didn’t go anywhere, or so I was thinking at the time. By performing them and pressing the record
button, it gave me the pressure to figure out how to finish them.
Aldora Britain
Records: Previously, if we travel back to 2018, you unveiled another
stellar LP called Night Bloom. This is a brilliant earlier snapshot of the
band and your artistry. How do you
reflect on this set as a whole now, and how would you say you have grown and
evolved as a band since its initial release?
Andrew Gardner: Night Bloom is a widescreen version of the band. We started writing those tunes as early as
2012 or before. We were able to play
them at our shows earlier in the songs’ existence. We still play many of those songs in our live
performance. ‘Echolocation’ and
‘Tumbling Boulder’ have a bit of an ambient feel. As for the new material we have been working
on, there is a bit more of an ambient feel.
However, the new material also has older songs or ideas that have been
around since the beginning of the band.
Aldora Britain
Records: As you well know, I am a big fan of the La Cerca sound and your approach
to making music. That psychedelic
shoegaze wall of sound. Brilliance! How would you say this style of yours came
about, what goes into it for you, and who are some of your biggest influences
and inspirations as a band?
Andrew Gardner: In
the late 80s, Top 40 music was becoming boring for me, so I turned the dial
left to the college radio stations and watched MTV’s 120 Minutes. I discovered
bands like Ride, Pale Saints, Spacemen 3, Dinosaur Jr. I am still listening to those bands
today. I can’t speak for the other
guitarist, Bill Oberdick, but I know he had a similar experience with college
radio and discovering bands like Fugazi, R.E.M., and Minutemen. As music went in and out of fashion, I was
still into bands with loud noisy guitars and I made my own versions of that
music. We tend to go for vintage 60s
guitar and amps, but we use modern pedals.
We like our fuzz pedals, chorus and whammy or vibrotos.
Aldora Britain
Records: A broad question to finish.
We have been through such a unique time in history over the last few
years. Both politically and within
society, and that is before you throw in the pandemic. How have the last several years impacted on
you personally and as an artist? How do
you think this time has changed the music industry, both for the good and the
bad?
Andrew Gardner: When the pandemic
hit, I had a bunch of musical projects to explore. I had a bunch of half songs that I wanted to
finish because I felt they were worth finishing. Going through a backlog of material was
frustrating and yet informing me as a reminder of where I’ve been as a person
and where I wanted to go. I also felt
that I was a lazy songwriter. In the
past, I would start songs but not finish them and then the song would get
placed on tapes for later. 2020 was the
time to finish songs, and so I finished forty songs during the summer. And then twenty more a year later. Some of the songs were mostly written, some
were just ideas, others needed new lyrics.
The other issue was that I did not have a way to record the songs
properly. I had my handheld recorder
which worked for the time being. I saved
money and purchased some great mics and the rest of the recording gear, so I
didn’t have to go to an expensive recording studio for all of my songs. Having a session in the living room actually
works well for my lifestyle and the songs are more realised. I am more focussed than I have ever
been. I have been able to create a life
where I can go on tour more often.
As for changes in the music
industry, I feel as though music is not as appreciated as it once was. There is an idea that musicians should
release more frequently. I agree to that,
but I find that if we release something without promoting it properly or not
releasing it on vinyl, it may become lost in a digital haystack. I’m not the best at social media and
self-promoting is not my favourite thing to
do, but it has to be a big part of the promoting platform. So, now I have to be good at social media and
make better artwork for shows, make more videos, and learn how to edit. La Cerca is a touring band, we can’t only
release music, but there might be a future of not touring with the way gas,
food, and hospitality have gone up. It
seems there are less show venues and not enough people supporting live
music. Some of that might also be
generational. Young adults spend more time
on their phone at home with a much shorter attention span. Same can be said about people my age.
Quickfire Round
AB Records: Favourite
artist? Andrew: Too many favourites.
I am still a big fan of The Cure.
AB Records: Favourite
album? Andrew: Too many favourites!
Big Star, Radio City; American
Music Club, Mercury; Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde; The Cure, Disintegration. AB Records: Last album you
listened to from start to finish? Andrew: The Go-Betweens, Before Hollywood.
AB Records: First
gig as an audience member? Andrew: The Commodores or Cheap
Trick. AB Records: Loudest gig as an audience member? Andrew:
Tucker B’s. AB Records: Style icon? Andrew:
Skate shoes, flannel, Mark Gonzales.
AB Records: Favourite film? Andrew: River’s Edge. Not the best,
but hilarious and creepy.
AB Records: Favourite
TV show? Andrew: The Young Ones. AB
Records: Favourite up and coming artist?
Andrew: Null State.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)