By Sofia Ciechowska Illustration bi Basje Boer
Unruly Music Magazine October 2012
Food
What’s Cooking
The For Real Issue
Ducktails, oOoOO, Trust
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THE CHUCK TAYLOR ALL STAR SNEAKER
www.converse.nl/mixtape
The For Real Issue
This is a photo of Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, taken in 1991, right after he’d carved the words ‘4 Real’ into his forearm with a razor. He did this because a journalist questioned his band’s authenticity. This was his answer. Some answer, right? Why are we showing you this photo? Because we feel that questioning a band’s authenticity is something that could be done a little more often these days. Not necessarily, cause we want artists to slash up their forearms, but because, as music enthusiasts, we are always looking for some sort of intrinsic value to the music that we enjoy. What are we listening to, and why are we listening to it? Important questions in an era where success and failure are defined by a couple of random mouse clicks.
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Content
The For Real Issue
Ducktails
oOoOO
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Page 30
Trust
Agenda
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Top 5 New Music We Saw You DUCKTAILS tRUST oOoOO Featured Artist reviews Film
10 13 16 18 24 30 36 40 45
BOOKS Fashion FOOD horoscope Agenda subbacultcha shows other shows Free Stuff after midnight
46 48 50 52 55 57 63 76 77
4 Real or not 4 Real, yo? That’s the question. Or, what actually is 4 Real? Maybe that’s the question. Anyways, let us be 4 Real 4 a change. Let’s not try to be witty or smart in these few opening lines but simply tell it like it is: we feel that the true motivation to make music is shifting from personal emotion to fleeting and ironic comments on society and media. Nowadays, music (in our part of the spectrum) is about adding up music and style quotes from all eras, sometimes resulting in music of philosophical brilliance but often evoking spineless mud. But hey, spineless mud is real too... and nice to roll around in. Uhm... Page 6
SHOP ONLINE 24/7 WWW.URBANOUTFITTERS.EU
Colophon
Who we are and what we do
Subbacultcha! Magazine is made at our office in Amsterdam Da Costakade 150, 1053 XC Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.subbacultcha.nl. magazine@subbacultcha.nl We are Editors: Leon Caren and Bas Morsch Editorial Assistant: Megan Roberts Design: Bas Morsch Interns: Bram Nigten, Floor Kortman and Tjade Bouma Good Girl: Loes Verputten Good Guys: Keimpe Koldijk, Michiel Klein Printing: Drukkerij Gewa, Arendonk, Belgium Contributors: Carly Blair, Basje Boer, Koen van Bommel, Brenda Bosma, Leon Caren, Zofia Ciechowska, Bobby Doherty, Viktor Hachmang, Marc van der Holst, Kathrin Klingner, Bas Morsch, Carlijn Potma, Christopher Schreck, Mandy Sharabani, Gert Verbeek, Isolde Woudstra, Suzanna Zak. Distribution: Amsterdam: De Flyerman, Tessel Dekker, Bauke Karel, Sandrine Mary, Fedor Oduber, Stefan Stasko, Patrick van der Klugt, Dineke Tuinhof, Agata Bar, Charlotte van Brakel Utrecht: Freyja van den Boom, Jitske de Vries Groningen: Hedwig Plomp Den Haag: Leroy Verbeet Rotterdam: Nahry Dougarem, Lukas Dikker, Ilse van der Spoel Leeuwarden: Jan Pier Brands Leiden: Milou Laan Haarlem: Yannick Tinbergen, Bert Zaremba Nijmegen Arno de Vreng Tilburg/ Eindhoven: Kevin Jansen Deventer: Marjolein de Vliegher Delft: Daniel Enciso Breda: Christopher Freudberg Pick up Subbacultcha! Magazine here (among 500 other places): Amsterdam: Kriterion, EYE, Canvas, American Apparel, Episode, CREA, De Balie, Melkweg, Paradiso, OT301, De Nieuwe Anita, Restored, Zipper, Concerto Utrecht: Ekko, ’t Hoogt, Tivoli, The Village, Revenge, Plato, dB’s Rotterdam: Worm, Rotown, Lantaren Venster, De Witte Aap, Willem de Kooning Academie If you want your bar, venue, store or business to be on the distribution list, please send us an email. Advertising To advertise in Subbacultcha! Magazine send an email to magazine@subbacultcha.nl. Memberships Become a member of Subbacultcha!. For only €7 a month you get free access to all Subbacultcha! shows and the monthly magazine sent to your house. Plus, you get a fresh Subbacultcha! bag. Check the website to sign up. Cover: Baboon Loon by Geoff Kim Page 8
And we are kindly provided by
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Top 5
1
Last month at our office
Concert: King Tuff at De Nieuwe Anita
People crowd-surfing, people stage-diving off the balcony, a girl in the audience kissing lead singer Kyle Thomas on the mouth while the crowd screamed for an encore, and more, more, more. Yes, folks, it was one of those nights.
2
TV: Louie
Season three of Louie (written by and starring stand-up comedian Louis CK) just aired in the States and features some of the best episodes so far. Disturbingly hilarious and a must-see for fans of Larry David and Woody Allen.
3
Jiří Weil - Mendelssohn On the Roof
The Dutch translation of this brilliant 1950s novel by Jewish writer Jirí Weil came out earlier this year. The story starts with a rather comical anecdote about a statue and then unravels into a breathtaking account of the occupied city of Prague during the Second World War.
4
Chris Cohen - Rollercoaster Rider
Chris Cohen, who has worked with the likes of Deerhoof, Haunted Graffiti and White Magic, is releasing his new solo album on Captured Tracks and it features this incredibly groovy psych-pop song that we just can’t stop listening to.
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Food - The only pizza
Roast three shallots and three onions for 40 minutes at 200°C (until sweet and soft). Roll pizza dough into a thin circle. Cover with ricotta. Spread pancetta over it. Slice the onions and put on top. Bake for 20 minutes. Take out and cover with Reblochon (French cheese). Bake for another 5 minutes. Best you ever had.
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Hudson MoHawke live MachinedruM 2 CHainz | JaMeszoo Big sean | Lunice dope d.o.d. | a-trak hopsin | skip&die niCk waterHouse Modestep & many Joey Bada$$ e mor
By Zofia Ciechowska
This month’s recommendations
New Music
Mo Kolours
mokolours.bandcamp.com
If you’re experiencing summer withdrawal symptoms, Mo Kolours will restore the pink in your cheeks and the spring in your step with his dubby grooves and sega beats hailing from the crossroads of Mauritius and South London. Think a bit of Madlib, Gonjasufi and Sun Araw, y’know. This music is best experienced in a warm climate, hence adequate listening conditions can be recreated by blowing hot air down your T-shirt with a hairdryer whilst sipping a sweaty glass of rum and coke. Be sure to check out Mo Kolours’ EP1: Drum Talking and EP2: Banana Wine on One-Handed Music before the final part of his EP trilogy drops.
Boyfriend
www.soundcloud.com/boyfriend Declared the rising star of the tropical bass scene by the Internet, Boyfriend lives in the not-so-tropical city of Vilnius, Lithuania. Dropping the beats on Zebra Katz’s Winter Titty EP, including the mad dirty track ‘W8WTF’, Boyfriend is one to keep an eye on right now as he spins lethal webs of deep, throbbing rhythm that might send a mini earthquake through your flat. You might have thought getting a Russian wife online might be what you’d like to do when you’re 50, but we are so getting a Lithuanian boyfriend right now. Page 13
New Music
continued
East India Youth
www.soundcloud.com/east-india-youth The music of self-declared sound architect/sound gardener William Doyle, the young Londoner behind East India Youth, is quite simply pretty fucking ace. It pulsates with a startling rawness and glitch that makes you sweat profusely like you’re in one of those clichéd/legendary ’90s techno clubs somewhere in Detroit, sloshing vodka on your trainers and burning people with your cigarette, having a whale of an inebriated time. Check out Doyle’s album Total Strife Forever (‘Hinterland’ is a killer track). I don’t care if you’re at work right now and your boss is a total a-hole, turn this shit up to the max and bust out your best moves.
Pressed And pressedand.virb.com
Cruising through Technicolor deserts in their Mario Kart cars, Andrew Hamlet and Mat Jones of Pressed And have just released a little gem of an EP called Hyper Thistle on Mush Records. Recorded somewhere between Brooklyn and North Carolina, from its very beginning this release resonates with a beaming electronic vibrancy that flutters between meditative guitar hums and surges of abstract vocals. This is one musical labyrinth I would happily get lost in for ever. Check them out before they get all mainstream and boooo-ring. Page 14
New Music
Cabaret Scene
cabaretscene.bandcamp.com
Remember our good old crazy ukulele-strumming bros Flamingods from South London? Well, one of their band members, Charles Prest, has a great side project called Cabaret Scene, which is buzzing with ecstatically sunny drum beats, scratchy guitar riffs, tribal chants and tropical loveliness. It’s like skinny-dipping at sunset in a pool filled with deliciously cold mango pineapple lychee pomegranate orange dragonfruit smoothie and not having a care in the world. Get a load of his latest album Porcelain Swimmers, which is totally free, and start spreading the love.
Pop Winds
popwinds.bandcamp.com Experimental psych-pop trio from Montreal Pop Winds have apparently parted ways very recently, which is why I am writing this blurb to make them reunite and play some gigs in Europe so I can toss my bra at them with a big ‘Whooo!’ Their most recent album, Earth to Friend released on Arbutus Records, is drenched in reverb, hypnotic rhythms and stellar synth tones. I imagine this was the soundtrack Neil Armstrong listened to when he walked on the Moon. Keep your ears pricked for these guys’ new solo projects and in the meantime go through their amazing back catalogue. Page 15
We Saw You
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Spotted at Subbacultcha!
Photo by Isolde Woudstra
Are you for real? I am certainly not trying to pretend to be anyone else besides myself, and I care less and less what other people think of me. So yes, I can genuinely state that I am for real.
Yohji van der Aa, spotted at the Mmoths/The Haxan Cloak show in OT301, Amsterdam on 15 September 2012
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Features
The For Real Issue
Ducktails
For his forthcoming album Matt Mondanile, aka Ducktails, left his typical woozy bedroom psychedelia and used ‘real mics and drums and stuff ’. We talked about Woody Allen, death (of course), the new album being way more grand in ambition and a less ironic band name. ‘I really hate pretension in music, so I thought, Oh, if I call my band something cheesy then no one will think I’m trying to pull a wig over their head.’ Interview by Brenda Bosma Photos shot on film by Bobby Doherty in Brooklyn, USA
No one really says they’re in the music business for the girls. But if we were to be really honest: are you? Yes, totally. Girls inspire not only my music, but also my life and my pursuits. Girls are simply beautiful; my mother, my sister and all the Page 18
women I know. They really bring out certain nice qualities in me that men definitely don’t. Why do you do what you do, make what you make? To tell you the truth, I really don’t feel like working a nine-to-five job
Features
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Features
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The For Real Issue
Ducktails
Features
‘I don’t think of myself as an amazing musician, or even a musician, but I would like to do this for ever.’ for a boss. I don’t think of myself as an amazing musician, or even a musician, but I would like to do this for ever. My dream would be to be just like Woody Allen and make stuff at an insane tempo. He makes movies because he’s afraid of death. His films are also about that. Funnily enough he never really dies this way. I love his specific style. I hope to establish such a specific style with my records and music videos. How would you describe your style? It’s fucked up. It has changed a lot. Now it’s like this weird mixture of stuff that I can’t really put into words. I used to do more drone solo improviser pedal stuff. Then I got more into songs and started writing sketches of songs. Now I have full-blown recorded songs that have bass lines and guitars and keyboards and all of this stuff. Even back-up vocals. Sadly I can’t do that live in Europe because it’s too expensive to fly a band over. It is so real, it can’t be flown over to your continent! But will you keep death at a distance
with these new songs? I hope so. I would like to keep it as far away as possible. What about irony? My band name is super ironic. It’s a different spelling of a Disney cartoon. I really hate pretension in music, so I thought, Oh, if I call my band something cheesy then no one will think I’m trying to pull a wig over their head. Sometimes I feel I want to be taken more seriously, but then I realise: Oh my God, I named my band the stupidest thing ever. I just have to live with that. I guess that keeps me young also. And at a distance from death. What do you think of your own music? Would you give it a 7.4 as Pitchfork did? No way, I’d give it a 10.0! I’m getting 10s in my head. Inside my head is all that matters. Pitchfork is just a flatscreen website. Not even HD. You said you want to be taken more seriously sometimes. Do you get fooled a lot? I used to get picked on a lot. I Page 21
Features
Ducktails
‘Sometimes I feel I want to be taken more seriously, but then I realise: Oh my God, I named my band the stupidest thing ever. I just have to live with that.’
think it’s because I’ve always been a self-conscious, cautious little nerd. My good looks freaked out the bullies in school or they just didn’t like my face. It didn’t really fill in yet and so I looked fucked-up and crazy at a young age. I don’t know, but it was tough. My dad even made me take boxing lessons in Paterson, NJ, which is a ghetto. I boxed there twice a week. Finally as a freshman in highschool I proved myself and beat up the bully. It was classic highschool fight movie style. With a happy ending. No one picked on me after that. Now the fooling around is just innocent fun. Did you know Woody Allen was actually really good at baseball despite his fragile appearance? No way! He’s such a funny guy. And such a great director. I love every single one of his films. In one of the songs on the new album there’s this line: ‘Kiss Picasso, Woody Allen’. This is exactly what I think of life and art: Page 22
Just Live it Up. That’s sort of a Truth. And an answer. Would you say you are more serious with the new album? Definitely, and I’m totally excited about it. Lots of different people played on it. It’s not like a lo-fi homerecorded record; it was recorded in a proper studio with real mics and drums and stuff. Shouldn’t you change your band name into a more serious one before it gets released? ‘Kiss Picasso, Matt Mondanile’ of course! Ducktails play on 19 October at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.
The For Real Issue
Features
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Features
The For Real Issue
Trust
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The For Real Issue
Features
Canadian synth-pop duo Trust are touring on the back of their dark and groovy self-titled debut album. We talked to the band’s frontman Robert Alfons about the realest thing in your life. ‘Music is like the best language I can speak. It calms me down.’ Chat interview by Basje Boer Photos shot on film by Suzanna Zak in Los Angeles, USA
Hi.
Hi! It’s midnight here, weird. Oh. So, how are you? Great! How’s the tour going? It’s going really well. Lots of fun shows. We’ve been driving up and down the West Coast, searching for fairy sprites in the Redwood forests. Do you get a good response from the audience? People have been great. Are they dancing to the music? Yes! Except, they want it louder and bigger. And me too. But it’s so great to see people moving and float-
ing about. What’s the most authentic response you’ve ever got from the audience? There was one show where four people were wearing Spice Girls Tshirts they had cut up. Wow. Cut up how? Was it raunchy? Just to personalise it, give it flair. How was that authentic? They made it their own. So, Trust. That kind of sounds like a politician urging you to put your faith in him or something. What made you choose that name? I don’t think it was political reasoning. I liked the word, it was an important theme for a while. It’s bookended by two big Ts. [Pause] I feel Page 25
Features
Trust
‘You know what, I would care if people interpret my music as ironic.’ that ‘trust’ is the theme of this record. How’s that? It was my hope to finish this record and find peace with the idea of trust. Was it a hard recording the album? At times. I’m finding it much easier to write the next record. Things are lighter. So you’re already working on a new album? Something for the near future? I don’t have a date for you but... it’s coming. Wow. I’m always writing music. It’s the only thing that keeps me calm. What’s your natural state, then? Nervous? Neurotic? Sometimes. I think I’m just in my head most of the time, dreaming. What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t making music? Living in Hyrule! Oh man, I’ve been having a rekindling with all the ‘Legend of Zelda’ music. It’s just like nothing else out there! Ah, Hyrule is Zelda’s kingdom, right? Exactly. I played ‘Legend of Zelda’ for a short Page 26
while, but fanatically. That’s quite some time ago, though. Same here. I haven’t been able to extensively play anything since the ‘Wind Waker’. Okay. Something totally different. What are your thoughts on irony? I’ve always found that I’m too genuine. I catch myself being so gullible. You’re easily tricked? Maybe not that, but I have a hard time being snide or sarcastic. Would you mind if people interpreted your music as ironic? It’s so far from that. So not at all. It just seems that irony is such a big part of the music scene these days. You know what, I would care if people interpret my music as ironic. Do you think irony is the opposite of authenticity? It’s definitely a way to mask being authentic, for sure. What kind of music do you associate with authenticity? All the songs about dreams. Cocteau Twins, Aphex Twin, Nick Drake. You seem like quite a far-off guy.
The For Real Issue
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Features
Trust
Ha! What would you say is the realest thing in your life? I guess the friends who are still so close to me. Friends from way back? Yes, yes. Tell me about them.
Would you prefer an honest but moody person or a polite, fake person? Honest and moody, hands down. But you know, both kinds are out there. What is it that urges you to make music? It’s the creative outlet that makes me most content.
They’re people that I’ve been able to sit around and share dreams with. How do you choose your friends? I don’t think you get to choose so much. It’s more luck and treating them right. Can you tell when someone’s full of it? When someone’s fake? Oh, for sure.
So making music comes completely natural to you? Yes. It does. It’s like the best language I can speak. [Pause] It calms me down.
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Trust play on 06 October at Rotown in Rotterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.
The For Real Issue
Features
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The For Real Issue
Features
oOoOO
San Francisco producer Chris Dexter from oOoOO likes hiding away from exposure. Live, he pumps his syrupy-slow hip hop beats and dark drones topped with ghostly R&B vocal samples with a hoodie pulled low over his head. And then there’s that non-referential bandname. We spoke to the face behind the elusive project and tried to pull a thread from the veil surrounding him. ‘I don’t really trust the idea of authenticity or even identity, because I feel like a different person from day to day’. Interview by Brenda Bosma Film stills taken from a fresh video shoot directed by Chris himself
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Features
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The For Real Issue
oOoOO
Features
‘I get bored easily... I’m trying to push myself to do something different and better’
You seem to be shrouding yourself in mystery. Who are you? Well, oOoOO is meant to be about the absence of identity – or at least the absence of a name. I don’t really trust the idea of authenticity or even identity, because I feel like a different person from day to day. So I guess Chris Dexter is someone who is constantly getting rid of the past and then forgetting about it and moving on. So it’s hard to say. But if we were to uncover your essence, could you tell us your favourite chord, your favourite food/drink, favourite time of day? I like E minor a lot, drink loads of water, I love chocolate croissants but don’t eat much and I’m mostly up at night. Why are you in the music business? I started playing music when I was three or four and started composing in my early teens. It’s like talking. And there’s nothing else I am better at. I tried some other things, to be more ‘normal’, but it didn’t work out so well. That motivated me to really
push myself to make good music. Do you make yourself proud every once in a while? Yes. Once you achieve something, you want to push yourself to go further. Or at least I do. I get bored easily. I’ve been very happy with what I’ve done in the last couple of years, but I’m trying to push myself to do something different and better. Imagine where you will be in a few years. You’ll be floating! That’s the goal! Are you happy with the term Witch House? Honestly, I try not to think about genre. I just go where my emotions push me. Making music to me is like a type of dreaming. It wouldn’t make sense for me to wake up from a dream and try to decide what genre of a dream it was. Music is made more magical the less it’s defined. So you never wake up at night from a Goth Dream? I used to, but my sleep has been very peaceful recently. I make good songs when I am content, but I have Page 33
Features
oOoOO
‘I try to destroy my daily routine as much as I can, so that my experiences are as surprising as possible.’ to say that some of the best songs were made in total desperation. Do you feel like evoking that state of mind for the sake of art? The state of mind I try to put myself in is kind of a floating state. I try to destroy my daily routine as much as I can, so that my experiences are as surprising as possible. Sometimes I stay up all night; other times I go to bed early, some days I eat a lot; some days not at all. Basically, I like to make waking life as much like a dream as possible. I make music like that because I wish life felt more like that. So I invent it. I read that oOoOO is not meant to be pronounced. Don’t you have anything to say? I do, but it’s not easy to pin down. The music says what it says. But there are no words I can think of that the music is trying to give meaning to. Music is just music. I don’t want to translate it into anything else. It loses its essence that way, like when you see a great movie and you try to exPage 34
plain it, it never sounds like you are telling it right. But what about you? The music is very specific to my experiences personally, but again it’s like a dream. Dreams are specific to the dreamer, but they don’t really translate into regular words. Even I don’t really know what it means. Will there ever be a ringtone of an oOoOO song? I would actually love to make a whole record of 15-second ringtones. You just gave me an idea there! Well, ideas keep you going. I’m always thinking about music even when I’m not making any. I am working on an oOoOO LP right now, but there are a lot of other things I want to do also. They are a secret for now, but you’ll see. I won’t ever stop. oOoOO play on 21 October at Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam. The show is organised in collaboration with The Rest is Noise and entrance is free for Subbacultcha! members.
The For Real Issue
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Art
Featured artist
Geoff Kim
Geoff Kim is a collage artist from New York currently living and working in Amsterdam. Kim’s multi-layered abstract-realistic works are wonderfully mysterious and complex. The layers of paper cut from books and magazines contain snippits from reality, but they are—due to Kim’s intervention—distanced from their original context and have become part of a bigger image that seems to touch on things you know and yet are very hard to grasp. On 5 October Geoff’s work is on display for one night at the Kimchi pop-up store In Saint Germain (Oudezijds Armsteeg 28, Amsterdam) as part of a four weekend event spree hosted by Kimchi. During the exhibition there’ll also be some food and drink specials like live beer brewing and a BBQ by sausage masters Brandt & Levi.
flickr.com/photos/geoffjkim
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Art
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Featured artist
Geoff Kim
Art
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Music Reviews
New releases worth your while
By Carly Blair
Chris Cohen Overgrown Path
Woods Bend Beyond
Like a nameless but influential character actor in Hollywood films, Chris Cohen has been highly active in the music scene of his native Los Angeles, subtly contributing as a member or touring player to a long list of excellent bands: Deerhoof, White Magic, Cass McCombs, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and more. By relocating to the farmlands of Vermont, the 37-year-old singing drummer has apparently given himself the time and quiet necessary to focus on his own thoughts. Adding bass, a Casio MT65, piano and guitar to his repertoire, the psychedelic pop he proffers on his debut full-length, Overgrown Path, is so delicately dreamy and sympathetically idiosyncratic, I’m amazed that he took so long to step into the spotlight, but delighted that he finally did.
Part of me feels a swelling of admiration at the sight of a dude with a gigantic beard, and then that part of me is reminded that I’ve dated dudes with gigantic beards. Though magnificent in principle, they are occasionally flecked with disproportionately repulsive bits of food, and the extent to which their wiry little curls get in the way makes me wonder how similar kissing the mouth buried beneath them is to going down on a chick who keeps things au naturel. Which brings me to Woods. To my knowledge, falsetto-ed frontman Jeremy Earl remains as bearded as ever, but on his band’s latest album they’ve groomed their sweet but occasionally sloppy folk/rock, trimming away the outlying fuzz and brushing up their songwriting just enough to reveal their most refined and appealing album yet.
(Captured Tracks)
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(Woodsist)
Music Reviews
The Soft Pack Strapped
Thee Oh Sees Putrifiers II
Anyone who’s shared company with me and beer knows that I delight in discussing weird sex-related topics. Like-minded folks out there, rejoice: I just learned that a ‘soft pack’ is a squishy dildo designed for transgendered folks who want to come off as men. Hopefully this comforts those who were dismayed when San Diego’s The Muslims changed their name back in 2008. Their self-titled 2010 debut full-length as The Soft Pack was actually quite solid, but perhaps a bit too ‘missionary’ for those like me who prefer their rock ’n’ roll a bit kinkier. Again, like-minded folks out there, rejoice: though Strapped doesn’t keep it up for the entire record, it does find them experimenting, and occasionally hitting, just the right spot.
This extremely prolific nameand line-up-changing San Franciscan band never stays put for long. Mastermind John Dwyer & co have released no less than 14 albums and a mountain of EPs and 7-inches over the course of their seven-ish-year existence. If that doesn’t convince you Dwyer is a madman, then you should see him deep throat a mic during one of their legendarily wild live shows. All that restlessness has yielded a discography famous for shapeshifting. Appropriately enough, their latest album is like a sonic Rubik’s cube: at first listen, a scrambled mix of everything they’ve done before, from garage rock to psychedelia to pop to punk to folk to kraut rock to drone, but once you let your ears twist it around enough, you’ll find that every facet of Putrifiers II is solid.
(Mexican Summer)
(In The Red)
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Music Reviews
continued
Moon Duo Circles
How To Dress Well Total Loss
Moon Duo’s titular twosome of Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada are partners on and off stage who relocated from the bustling psych scene of San Francisco to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains prior to releasing their groovy 2011 album, Mazes. Started as a side project of Ripley’s main band, Wooden Shjips, the Duo has since earned its fair share of praise with songs built on a hypnotically repetitive foundation of organ, fuzzy guitar and simple percussion. Their new album, Circles, was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay of the same name, whose first line goes, ‘The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end.’ If you dug their previous work, then I’m guessing your turntable will see this album repeated without end too.
How To Dress Well is the oneman recording project of Tom Krell, a globetrotting lo-fi sortof-R&B crooner. His 2009 debut full-length, Love Remains, was instrumental to the shift away from chillwave towards witch house and ambient hip hop / R&B. Since Krell was an instigator rather than an imitator of this new style, not to mention one of its finest exemplars, I don’t mind that its follow-up continues in the same vein. According to Krell, Total Loss was made during a very unhappy and confused period, and finds him learning how to ‘lose in a meaningful way and sustain loss as a source of creative energy’. As his most accomplishedsounding and gorgeous work yet, it succeeds admirably in this regard.
(Sacred Bones)
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(Domino)
in oktober o.a.
Expanded Cinema: tentoonstelling Isaac Julien, Fiona Tan, Yang Fudong
Frankenweenie – Tim Burton 11-10 voorpremière
Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens 14-10 Live begeleiding op historisch orgel
E*cinema Academy: Surrealisme
9-10 o.a. Un chien andalou en platenspelerconcert
Amsterdam Dance Event in EYE
17-10 Woman in the Moon met live score Jeff Mills
Info & tickets: www.eyefilm.nl
By Gert Verbeek and Basje Boer
Film
New films and DVDs
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Damsels In Distress
Benh Zeitlin, 2012
Whit Stillman, 2011
A coming-of-age story is, basically, a story about emancipation. I never thought of it that way until I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild, a wild and imaginative movie about a six-year-old hero: a girl called Hushpuppy. Growing up in a bayou community of misfits called ‘The Bathtub’, Hushpuppy is learning how to take care of herself. And that means: no crying. Not even when Hushpuppy’s alcoholic father turns out to be ill; not even when a massive storm is coming to wash over the slums of the Bathtub. Beasts of the Southern Wild, which won debutant director Benh Zeitlin a whole bunch of prizes at both Cannes and Sundance, is easily the indiest of films coming out this year. And one of the best. (BB) In theatres 18 October.
Damsels In Distress follows Violet (Greta Gerwig) and her overly-eloquent smarty-pants roommates, who run a special programme for potential suicide victims – college girls mistreated by their boyfs – using doughnuts and tap dancing lessons, while trying to sort out their own floundering love lives. Rapid dialogue moves this low-key, lightweight college comedy forward, helping us forget the rather straightforward cinematography. ‘Talk faster, walk slower,’ director Whit Stillman seems to have instructed the actresses – ‘and use more difficult words.’ Greta Gerwig delivers her lines with deadpan precision, however, and her classic Hollywood looks fit the timeless setting perfectly. (GV) Out now on DVD (UK import). Page 45
Books
Page 46
Illustration by Viktor Hachmang
By Marc van der Holst
How to read...
Books
Bukowski Take a few days off from your job at the post office. Better still, just quit it. Do some shopping; a six-pack of beer (anything but Coors, ‘the worst beer in America’, will do), and/or maybe some bottles of wine, white Riesling from Germany for example, or some fine Cabernet Sauvignon from California (‘I’m on the good stuff now’). You’re also gonna need something to smoke. A pack of bidis, the thin, Indian cigarettes that Bukowski himself used to smoke would be perfect, but they might be hard to come by. Some regular fags will do just fine. Oh yeah, and some of Buk’s books of course...
the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit sounds great, don’t you think? Get that one, then. Or You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense, that one sounds good, too. I think I have What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through The Fire around here somewhere, you can come over to my place and get it, no problem. Bring along some of that booze though.
Now, go home. Crack open a beer. Smoke a cigarette. Put on some classical music and read some of those poems. Pretty good, right? Or try one of the novels, chances are you’ll finish The novels are all great. Post Of- it in one stretch... Don’t let that fice, Factotum, Women... I have a beer go to waste though. Here’s special fondness for Ham on Rye to The Big Bukowski. Cheers. – about his youth – myself, but who cares? Be your own man, man! (Or woman. Bukowski’s not nearly as misogynistic as he’s made out to be...) While you’re at it, get some of his poetry collections, too. It doesn’t matter which one, they’re all good. Play Page 47
Fashion
€15 outfit
By Mandy Sharabani
Every month we give €15 to someone to compose a full outfit for a good night out. Yes, quite a challenge. Creating a ‘Noise Collage Outfit’ inspired by Brooklyn band Black Dice is this month’s fashion challenge for recent graduate and illustrator Geran Knol. Ingredients? Hyper-crazy-energetic experimental rhythms... and clothes. Where did you start shopping? At a flea market in Lille. I found fancy looking ladies’ shoes and they happened to be my size! Coming back to Utrecht, I went to another flea market where an older lady was selling her son’s clothing. Did her son know? I’m not sure. But she closed a deal with me: five pieces for €1! On top of that, I found a pair of men’s shoes and a pink vest at my favourite thrift store, plus a shirt and two pairs of trousers at a give-away shop. Wow, I’m impressed! How many outfits did you score? Five! And I didn’t even spend all of the €15. Any tips on creating a ‘Noise Collage Outfit’ for our readers? Dare to mis-match! Page 48
Jacket Flea market Utrecht - €1 T-shirt Flea market - €1 ‘I had to make it more “Black Dice” by tie-dyeing it.’ Shorts Flea market - €1 ‘Customised by cutting them.’ Socks Wibra - €0.90 ‘Tie-dyed as well.’ Ladies’ shoes Flea market Lille - €1 Men’s shoes Flea market - €1
Wanna go shopping for a €15 outfit? Please send an email to fashion@subbacultcha.nl.
Photos by Isolde Woudstra
Fashion
€15 Outfit
Geran Knol (21) dressing up to go see Black Dice on 03 October at OT301, Amsterdam Budget spent: €5.90 Page 49
Food
Cooking with...
By Zofia Ciechowska
K-Holes’ Jack Hines What do you eat when you are in a k-hole? Jack Hines: A lot of gummy bears, I guess. We try not to make falling into k-holes a regular habit of ours though, ha ha. If you could fill a swimming pool with any food or beverage what would it be? Personally I would love to fill a swimming pool with cheese danishes and add a bit of coffee to make it swimmable. I take my coffee black so I wouldn’t have any of that frothy, foamy milk, that’s too much hassle. Just cheese danish and coffee. What have you been eating this summer? We’ve been spending a lot of time at Secret Project Robot Art Experiment, this art space-slashstudio complex in Brooklyn where we play together and record stuff. The weather has been great so we’ve been barbecuing a lot. Vashti makes these amazing tofu and pineapple shish kebabs, she marinades them in Page 50
something magic. You can add pretty much any kind of vegetable to them, we’ve had these with peppers, asparagus, onions. Tofu and pineapple and asparagus might sound like a strange mix but it actually tastes really good! We just eat these shish kebabs straight off the stick, sitting on a folding chair in this sunny communal gravelled lot right in the middle of Brooklyn. I guess that’s what our music is like too: a skewer of five musicians with some instruments, including a saxophone, making a lot of skronky noise, and somehow it all comes together! Now that you got me thinking about food and cooking, I might look into recording some mad-sounding kitchen appliances for our repertoire. Where can I find a blender around here? K-Holes play on 25 October at WORM in Rotterdam and on 01 November at dB’s in Utrecht. Both shows are free for Subbacultcha! members.
Food
Photo by Carlijn Potma
K-Holes’ Tofu & Pineapple Shish Kebabs
350g firm seitan tofu (not silken!) 1 small pineapple 1 green pepper 1 red onion 10 asparagus stalks ½ cup tomato sauce • Wrap the tofu block in a tea towel and place a heavy chopping board on top. Weigh it down with a tin and leave the water to drain for ten minutes. • Mix the tomato sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice and garlic in a pan and simmer on a medium heat until it thickens. Allow to cool. • Stick your tofu, pineapple, pepper, onion and asparagus chunks on some skewers and dip them in
¼ cup soy sauce 4 tbsp brown sugar ½ cup fresh pineapple juice 2 garlic cloves, chopped Wooden skewers the marinade. Leave for at least an hour but overnight would be best! • Fire up your barbecue! Grill the skewers for about three to five minutes on each side until nicely browned. Brush any leftover marinade on the skewers as they cook. • Eat straight off the stick on your sunny rooftop or alternatively looking out your window as the rain pours from the sky.
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Horoscope scorpio
23 Oct–21 Nov
Her eyes are more beautiful than a tinfoil-wrapped super burrito and her skin a marble sculpture of a peach. This is not a puppy love any more, this is supersized ‘hubba hubba’ love!
Sagittarius
22 Nov–21 Dec
Your partying will crescendo into true madness this month. Tell me, is your apartment a yellow submarine, Sag?
capricorn
22 Dec–20 Jan
You ring her doorbell. Is this something you want to pursue? Somewhere there’s a tickle in your skull. The door opens. You scratch that itch without really thinking about it. She hangs your raincoat on the hat rack. You place your boots in the corner of her living room. To gain dust.
Aquarius
21 Jan-19 Feb
Even a caravan of angry elephants could not hold you down. Commitment is just not in your vocabulary. This month you are Batman Bukowski.
Page 52
By Brenda Bosma
pisces
20 Feb–20 March
You’re fine with having lost your iPod filled with Celine Dion’s Greatest Hits and Luther Vandross’ debut solo album, you only want to hear that tune again that you once swayed to as a kid and made you feel so breathtakingly blessed. Now you’re kind of not sure if you dreamt it or not.
Aries
21 March–20 April
You don’t like returning the favour too much. You just like to take and take and take until you take some more and more and more. And then some. Your life is like a magic box of chocolates.
Taurus
21 April–21 May
When your mother says: ‘For the time being, a regular double decaf vanilla frappuccino will do just fine, but next time I want some chocolate soy and a hint of cinnamon in that bitch,’ you realise you are maybe spending too much time with her.
GEMINI
22 May–21 June
This month your partner is nagging you about stuff that needs to be done around the house – just when you’re comfortably on
Illustrations by Kathrin Klingner
the toilet deducting the shit out of a Sudoku. Please, Gem, try to deduct some shit out of a flask of Mr Muscle for a change.
Cancer
Horoscope
Libra
23 September–22 October
22 June–22 July
Love is... going to IKEA for a ‘piece of shit’ with a silly name. Love is assembling the ‘piece of shit’ with the silly name. Love is screaming over the ‘piece of shit’ with the silly name. Love is falling asleep together on the ‘piece of shit’ with a silly name.
Leo
23 July–22 Aug
What’s that tune your penis is humming? Is that REM? Is that from Automatic For The People? Oh man, that’s such a vibe killer. Come on, Leo, where’s that epic glamrock stuff you used to whistle? Where are your balls this month?
VIRGO
23 Aug–22 Sept
You feel like the working component in a homeopathic drug. In other words: you feel like a floating turd in an ocean of diarrhea. Luckily your friends don’t smell it on you.
You feel like eating a macaroon. Or a piece of chocolate cake. Or both. No, not both. Actually, you don’t feel like eating anything at all. You order a drink. The bartender asks if you want ice or not. You’re not quite sure. The bartender waits on another drunk. You walk out. You receive a box with a key. You open the box. There’s nothing in it. This is what you get, you think. It’s still not what you’d want.
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Subbacultcha!
Muziekgebouw Tip
Listen To This
Nicole Martens voor Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ — 17.08.2011 NM
Sinfonia Rotterdam iPad Concerto 19 October - 20:30
This instalment of the Listen To This concert series explores the influence of technique on music. Ned McGowan is using an iPad to create an enlightening sound collage of all genres imaginable, and US composer/performer Marko Ciciliani will be squeezing every last bit out of a vast array of synths and pedals. ADE and Gonzo Circus will be hosting a challenging and adventurous side programme. Go check it out.
The Listen To This concert series is a series of experimental contemporary concerts complemented with a cutting-edge side programme which explores the boundaries of modern classical music and is hosted by Amsterdam’s most adventurous music organisations. Call Het Muziekgebouw or buy tickets at the register 020-788 20 00 www.muziekgebouw.nl
Agenda On the following pages:
Subbacultcha! concerts and films totally free for members Page 56
Other shows Page 63 Free tickets Page 76
This is Ripley Johnson of Moon Duo. Ripley and his bandmate/partner Sanae Yamada were photographed for Subbacultcha! Magazine by Miranda Lehman in an empty home in Portland, USA. Moon Duo play on 21 October in EKKO, Utrecht. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.
See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.
Black Dice + Possessed Factory 03 October - OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €10 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Brooklyn’s Black Dice originally hail from the same Providence, Rhode Island School of Design noise punk scene that birthed Lightning Bolt and key noise label Load Records. Their latest album Mr. Impossible sounds like the sort of extraterrestrial electronic jazz punk I could imagine playing at a druggy afterparty of the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in Star Wars. Fifteen years of damaging eardrums and the need to balance music with real-life shit thankfully haven’t dampened these veterans’ innate enthusiasm for fucking around with weird noises, and their new material sounds as uncompromising and vital as ever. Possessed Factory is a Belgian noise duo featuring Mauro Pawlowski of dEUS and Evil Superstars.
Trust
06 October - Rotown, Rotterdam 21.00 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Though its music scene is diverse and lively in general, with Crystal Castles, Austra and now Trust, Toronto seems to have cornered the market on crossover-capable gothy synth pop. The latter duo of Robert Alfons and Austra drummer Maya Postepski avoid the aggressiveness and operatic indulgences of their fellow Torontonians. Rather, their brand of ’80s-channelling dance music is incontrovertibly introverted and gloriously gloomy. Page 56
See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.
Fujita Masayoshi, Mergrim, Usaginingen 07 October - LantarenVenster, Rotterdam 21.00 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Three fine Japanese live acts are performing tonight at LantarenVenster as part of the Camera Japan Festival. Expect some uncoventional Vibraphone sounds by Fujita Masayoshi; dark ambient electronics by Mergrim; and a dreamlike audiovisual performance by Berlin-based duo Usaginingen.
Ducktails + Bear Bones + Lay Low 19 October - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam 20.00 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile’s solo project Ducktails started out sounding pretty chillwavey, but has gradually become more refined, with cleaner production and a generally poppier feel. His upcoming new album was written collaboratively with Big Troubles, and features Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin, Joel Ford of Ford & Lopatin/Airbird, Madeline Follin of Cults, Sam Mehran of Outer Limits, members of Big Troubles, Jessa Farkas of Future Shuttle and Real Estate’s Martin Courtney. It’s doubtful the whole gang will come along on tour, so here’s hoping the whole Tupac Hologram thing extends to lo-fi pop.
Wolvon + Neon Rainbows
20 October - Roodkapje, Rotterdam 22.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Given that members of Rotterdam indie-rock band Neon Rainbows used to play in Feverdream (in addition to playing in various other bands), while members of Wolvon host Groningen’s beloved Lepel Concerts (in addition to playing in various other bands), it’s no surprise that there’s plenty of excitement and goodwill surrounding these two new bands. This summer they toured together through the Balkans, and the journey was glorious enough to commemorate in the form of a new split 7-inch, which is released tonight. Page 57
See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.
Sunday Noise ft. Moon Duo + Man Forever 21 October - EKKO, Utrecht 20.00 | €10 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Minimal psych twosome Moon Duo’s Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada are partners on and off stage who’ve recently relocated from the bustling psych scene of San Francisco to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. Originally started as a side project of Ripley’s main band, Wooden Shjips, the duo earned its fair share of praise with songs built on a hypnotically repetitive foundation of organ, fuzzy guitar and simple percussion. Their new album, Circles, is coming out on 02 October and it’s already been in heavy rotation here at the office.
The Rest is Noise ft. oOoOO + Moon & Sun 21 October - Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam 20.30 | €10 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ bills itself as a ‘Concert Hall of the 21st Century’. Such a simultaneously spectacular and mundane moniker would be enough for me to write them off as inaccessibly fancy or stiffly pretentious if they weren’t undertaking adventurous initiatives such as The Rest is Noise, a new series featuring forward-looking artists performing in the Muziekgebouw’s intimate Kleine Zaal. This edition features the darkly seductive beats of witch house stand-out/scene survivor oOoOO (aka Chris Dexter Greenspan) and apocalypso pop from Amsterdam’s own Moon & Sun. Page 58
As a member you will also receive this magazine every month plus a stylish tote bag
Balam Acab
24 October - OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Alec Koone, aka Balam Acab, got lumped in with the witch house coven early on, based on his use of slow tempos, warped vocals and releasing on witch-house stronghold Tri Angle Records. Though the hype bubble surrounding that microgenre-which-never-actually-existed has basically burst, Koone has since shifted his sound towards something more along the lines of Glinda the Good Witch house: not the least bit creepy, his newer material is more like a pastoral counterpart to Burial’s urban vibe, incorporating elements of hip hop, field recordings, folk and drone into a richly textured and meditative whole.
K-Holes
25 October - WORM, Rotterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members 01 November - dB’s, Utrecht 21.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Featuring members of Black Lips and Golden Triangle, it comes as no surprise that the K-Holes trade in swampy, ragged garage-punk. Based on how much they rip on their hometown of New York Shitty (their words, not mine), I’m wondering if the K-Holes chose their name because they feel utterly detached from the silver spoon hipster unreality surrounding them. Page 59
See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.
Octo Octa
27 October - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam 20.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
100% Silk, the prolific, LA-based dance label of Amanda Brown, has risen meteorically since its inception in early 2011, propelled by its savvy resurrection of the 12-inch format, au courant album art and its artists’ unconventional approach to dance music. Since the quality of their output is showing no signs of wavering, here’s hoping their trademark ‘basement luxury grooves’ take them all the way to the penthouse. Octo Octa, otherwise known as Brooklyn’s Michael Morrison, makes melancholic, retrosounding house music and is among the most accessible and danceable artists on the Silk roster.
Ignite 21
31 October - Mediamatic Bank, Amsterdam 20.30 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Fifteen minutes of fame? Mediamatic will give you five. Ignite is a fastpaced event hosting local speakers who are sure to spark your interest. Each person will get five minutes and 20 slides to pitch an innovative idea. Anything goes as long as it’s short and sharp, so come on down to the MePage 60
Shows in September
Agenda
As a member you will also receive this magazine every month plus a stylish tote bag
diamatic Bank to cash in on some thought-provoking entertainment. Check the Mediamatic website for a list of speakers.
Six Organs of Admittance
1 November - Effenaar, Eindhoven 20.30 | â‚Ź11 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Mesmeric new-folk from the ever-prolific guitarist Ben Chasny, blending acoustic prettiness with drones and psychedelic vocal harmonies. Away from Comets on Fire, his play is soft and lulling, but no less memorable. This year the Organs released Ascent, upping the psych-jam factor a notch further, and creating another sprawling masterpiece that harnesses both the sweet and sour.
All month: Foam Photography Museum Open daily 10.00-18.00, Thurs and Fri until 21.00 â‚Ź8.50 | Free for Subbacultcha! members
Subbacultcha! members get free entry to Foam Photography Museum. This month you can peep the very promising-looking Compulsion exhibition by Alex Prager, winner of the 2012 Foam Paul Huf Award for photographers under 35, as well as a selection of work from NYC photography legend Diane Arbus. Check Foam.org for more info. Page 61
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VR 5 OKT SQUAREPUSHER ZA 6 OKT A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS MA 8 OKT KID KOALA DI 9 OKT RICHARD HAWLEY ZA 13 OKT DEWOLFF DO 18 OKT ADE
MET O.A. EROL ALKAN, GESAFFELSTEIN
ZA 20 OKT ADE
MET O.A. 2MANYDJS, VITALIC
DI 23 OKT DIRTY PROJECTORS ZO 28 OKT HOT CHIP MA 5 NOV THE HEAVY LET OP: DIT IS SLECHTS EEN SELECTIE VAN HET PROGRAMMA. HET VOLLEDIGE PROGRAMMA IS TE VINDEN OP WWW.MELKWEG.NL MELKWEG AMSTERDAM - LIJNBAANSGRACHT 234A
Focus
Agenda
Amsterdam Dance Event If, on occasion, you find yourself covered in sweat, beer and saliva in a dark nightclub, while your body seems to neglect direct orders from the brain, moving uncontrollably to the sound of pounding beats, chances are you’ll want to visit the Amsterdam Dance Event. ’Cause this annual showcase festival is what you might call the Lourdes of dance music. But without the crying virgins. Since this year’s programme is insanely crammed with cool stuff, we’ve selected some of the highlights. 17-21 October - Various Locations, Amsterdam
Derrick May
Legowelt
Planetary Assault System live (18 October, MC Theater) If a concussion sounds like fun to you, then you’re gonna love Planetary Assault System. Luke Slater has been using this pseudonym to get froth on people’s lips for almost two decades. Not to be missed!
Dekmantel UK Special (19 October, MC Theater) The folks at Dekmantel have put together an impressive line-up featuring some of the best UK producers around. Expect sets by Julio Bashmore, Joy Orbison, Boddika, Space Dimension Controller and lots more.
Derrick May (18 October, Studio 80) The godfather of techno music is in town and tonight he’s behind the decks at Studio 80.
A Made Up Sound, Conforce, Legowelt & Xosar (19 October, Trouw Amsterdam) Clone, Delsin and Rush Hour team up for one hell of a party. Don’t plan anything for the next couple of days, you’ll want to take it easy after this one.
Ceephax Acid Crew (19 October, OT301) Ceephax is Squarepusher’s brother. But forget all that, this is way better.
More info: www.amsterdam-dance-event.nl Page 63
BINNENKORT O.A. WO10OKT
DO01NOV
B R E TON
BART CONSTANT
VR19OKT
UFOMAMMUT
+ INCOMING CEREBRAL OVERDRIVE
ZO04NOV
SAVAGES
ZA10NOV
KIM JANSSEN + RUE ROYALE
ZO21OKT
SUNDAY NOISE
MOON DUO + MAN FOREVER
DI27NOV + WO28NOV
OPENING LE GUESS WHO?
DO25OKT
I.S.M. GAUDEAMUS MUZIEKWEEK
COLIN STETSON
D E Z MONA + POPC O R N
VOLLEDIG PROGRAMMA & TIJDEN:
POPPODIUM EKKO | BEMUURDE WEERD WZ 3 | 3513 BH UTRECHT | WWW.EKKO.NL
Focus
Agenda
Rewire Festival This annual contemporary arts and music festival aims to rewire your old expectations. Rather than the same old stages, theatres and museums, Rewire will plug into unconventional locations such as an old warehouse or a parking garage, and rather than the same old line-up, Rewire presents an exciting mix of experimental rock and electronica with plenty of potential to spark your interest. 02-04 November - Around de Energiecentrale, The Hague
Diiv
DIIV This Brooklyn-based spin-off of Beach Fossils makes dreamy, retro-sounding indie rock sprinkled with grunge influences and drenched in reverb. Laurel Halo The otherworldly atmosphere and fleeting hints at melody in Ina Cube’s experimental electronic work make me think of listening to the radio with the dial just slightly off the correct frequency, in a good way. Errors On their latest material, Glasgow’s Errors finally shed the Mogwai comparisons, their mostly instrumental math rock now taking more cues from synth-pop, German kosmiche and the Cocteau Twins. Micachu & the Shapes This London outfit colours outside the lines
Young Magic
of pop with ultra lo-fi production, kitchensink instrumentation, infectious enthusiasm and a leading lady who holds the whole sloppy, lovable mess together. Lotus Plaza The solo work of Deerhunter guitar wizard Lockett Pundt is more measured and introverted than that of his main gig, but more consistent and emotionally moving all the same. Young Magic Fitting for the globetrotters they are, this trio’s indie psych sounds like a melting pot of influences from around the world, ranging from shoegaze to trip hop and world music. More info: www.rewirefestival.nl
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NOR DIC DELIGHT
PRESENTS A Nordic music and lifestyle expedition
I GOT YOU ON TAPE
CASA MURILO
SCHULTZ AND FOREVER ZONDAG 4 NOVEMBER
LEEUWENBERGH, UTRECHT AANVANG: 16.00 - OPEN: 15.00 ENT REE : €15 (E X . SERVICEKOS T EN)
NOR DIC DE L IGH T.NL NDF-A2-Flyer.indd 1
9/16/12 10:39 PM
Agenda
Shows in October
How To Dress Well Plays on 20 October at Paradiso. Photo: Christopher Schreck.
Esmerine
Black Dice
01 October - Muziekgebouw, Eindhoven
03 October - OT301, Amsterdam
Beautiful modern chamber music featuring members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion.
Brooklyn’s noisemakers Black Dice have been damaging eardrums for over 15 years, and their new material sounds as uncompromising and vital as ever. Read more on page 56.
Sleepy Sun 01 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam While Sleepy Sun are a psychedelic rock band from San Francisco, we’d hesitate to lump them in with the area’s other neopsych upstarts (eg Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall) since their sound resides not so much in the garage as in the nexus between black metal and classic rock.
Cold Specks 01 October - Rotown, Rotterdam 02 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam This young Canadian calls her sound ‘doom soul’, blending slow acoustic blues with a towering voice that’s seemingly tearing through the universe from another time and place, spreading her messages with an epicness that recalls Bill Callahan and Tom Waits.
Camera Japan 04-14 October - Various Locations, Rotterdam & Amsterdam The seventh edition of this festival devoted to Japanese film will celebrate one of Japan’s most essential ingredients: a unique food culture and the art of eating. Under the theme ‘Japalicious!’, the organisers will serve you countless delicacies, visual and otherwise. Read more on page 57.
Klub 470 ft. La Boum fatale 05 October - Goethe-Institut, Amsterdam Klub 470 provides a podium for exciting upcoming German bands inside the stunning canal house of the Goethe-Institut.This edition features Hamburg-based electronic duo La Boum fatale Page 67
Agenda
Shows in October
Trust
Rangda
06 October - Rotown, Rotterdam
07 October - Merleyn, Nijmegen 08 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam
This Toronto duo makes gothy synth-pop that goes as well with a druggy dancefloor as it does with moping on your own. Read more on pages 24 and 56.
Kim Ki O 06 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam You can’t really consider yourself an openminded, cultured, globalised citizen of the 21st century having never listened to a Turkish band, now can you? Istanbul girl duo Kim Ki O are here to rectify that situation. Their experimental pop with analogue synths and drum machines calls to mind Blonde Redhead and former tour mates Moon Duo. Since Kim Ki O means ‘Who is that anyway?’ in Turkish, and you know who they are, I’m secretly hoping that some ‘Who’s on first?’-style verbal shenanigans will ensue.
Islands 06 October - Bitterzoet, Amsterdam This Montreal band has retained only its founding member (Nick Thorburn) over its seven-year existence, and with his sweet lyrics and goofy antics, Thorburn provides the cornerstone of the band’s ever-evolving take on indie rock.
A Place to Bury Strangers 06 October - Sugar Factory, Amsterdam Though being nicknamed ‘New York’s loudest band’ isn’t necessarily the highest of accolades, being forerunners of the shoegaze revival is something APTBS can be proud of. Their new and entirely selfproduced album, Worship, delivers more of the shoedelicrockgazia they’ve used to shatter ears for years.
In the island of Bali’s mythology, Rangda is a child-eating demon queen. In the label of Drag City’s discography, Rangda is no less bone-chilling: a guitar-shredding stoner rock trio comprised of Sir Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls, Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance and Comets on Fire, and Chris Corsano, a virtuosic jazz drummer who’s played with Bjork and many others.
The Hundred in the Hands 09 October - Bitterzoet, Amsterdam This NYC duo take their name from a 19thcentury battle in which Native American chief Crazy Horse killed 100 Civil War soldiers. Since their sound isn’t so much a triumph of the primitive over the orderly as it is darkly atmospheric synth pop, and their instrumental set-up includes guitar and a miniKORG but exactly zero instruments made out of animal parts, I can only assume the connection is that they’re into peyote or some shit.
Breton 09 October - Effenaar, Eindhoven 10 October - EKKO, Utrecht Filmmakers and founders of the multimedia arts collective bretonLABS, London’s Breton can do more than just make a pretty music video (although they can indeed do that) – they can look pretty in it too, all the more so because their sample-packed indietronica is tight, ridiculously catchy and intriguingly moody.
Kunstnacht 13 October - Various Locations, Nijmegen The third edition of Nijmegen’s ‘Art Night’ is working with even more organisations Page 69
Agenda
Shows in October
DOOD PAARD speelt
IN DIE NAG 25 oktober t/m 13 februari Page 70
Agenda
Shows in October
this year to bring visitors a special programme so full of film, music, interactive performances, visual arts, theatre, photography, literature and dance, it’s hard to imagine there’s a better option in Nijmegen on a Saturday night.
Noveller 14 October - Exrapool, Nijmegen For lovers of ambient, noise and/or drone, this night will be a feast for the ears. As Noveller, guitarist and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate, makes relatively melodic and utterly beautiful guitar-based ambient music. Aidan Baker’s solo work draws from experimental, ambient, jazz, metal, post-rock and contemporary classical music. And if your heart belongs to noise and drone, then be sure not to miss opener Jason Lescalleet.
SLEAZE presents: Soirée Orgazmique ft. zZz & Mr. Quintron 14 October - OT301, Amsterdam The notorious Sleaze Fest is hosting a night at OT301 featuring some mean psychedelic organ fuzz provided by New Orleans based Mr. Quitron and Amsterdam duo zZz.
Erased Tapes 15th Anniversary ft. Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, A Winged Victory for the Sullen 15 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam Between the warm neoclassical piano work of Nils Frahm (a student of one of the last students of Tschaikowsky), the almostpoppy piano ambiance of Iceland’s Ólafur Arnalds and the droning soundscapes and melancholy modern piano compositions of A Winged Victory for the Sullen (a collaboration between ex-Sparklehorse and Stars of the Lid musician Adam Wiltzie and composer Dustin O’Halloran), this evening should make for a spellbinding experience.
Doomsday Student 16 October - Worm, Rotterdam 02 November - Winston, Amsterdam Providence, Rhode Island’s Arab on Radar cohabitated the same seminal noise rock scene as Lightning Bolt. Following their brief reunion in 2010, they collapsed upon themselves like a funeral pyre. Doomsday Student has risen out of the ashes of threequarters of that band, sounding similarly relentless but rejuvenated.
Amsterdam Dance Event ft. Gui Boratto, Planetary Assault System, Dekmantel, Derrick May, Ceephax Acid Crew and more 17 -21 October - Amsterdam Over the past 16 years, this event has grown into the world’s largest electronic music conference and festival. Read more on page 63.
Ruilen 19 October-23 December - Mediamatic Fabriek, Amsteram As always Mediamatic is putting a quirky spin on social, global and environmental topics. Ruilen is an exhibition and a series of events focused on swapping. For two months, Mediamatic Fabriek will be transformed into an arena where people will swap goods and services, such as massages, books, computers, toys, clothes, seeds, music, films, food, bikes, repair services and homes. For more information on how to participate head to Mediamatic.net.
Ducktails + Bear Bones, Lay Low 19 October - De Nieuwe Anita Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile’s Ducktails project features carefree and gloriously summery guitar melodies. Read more on pages 16 and 57. Page 71
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Agenda
Shows in October
How to Dress Well 20 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam How To Dress Well is the one-man recording project of Cologne-based American expat Tom Krell, a lo-to-no-fi sort-of-R&B crooner well-versed in chillwave tropes, but just distinctive enough to ensure himself a spot on a gorillavsbear monthly mix. His devastating new album, Total Loss, features an abundance of beautiful and romantic mixtape-worthy moments. One of the best releases so far this year in our modest opinion.
Wolvon & Neon Rainbows Split 7” Release Party 20 October - Roodkapje, Rotterdam Rotterdam’s Neon Rainbows and Groningen’s Wolvon are both relatively new projects, but their excellent résumés promise big things to come. Read more on page 57.
The Rest is Noise ft. oOoOO + Moon & Sun 21 October - Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam This edition of the new The Rest is Noise series features the darkly seductive beats of OoOO. Read more on pages 30 and 58.
Dirty Projectors 21 October - Doornroosje, Nijmegen 23 October - Melkweg, Amsterdam This Brooklyn-based experimental pop group have carved out a niche for themselves with their blend of ambitious experimentation, traditional instrumentation and harmonically-complex vocals. Their new fulllength, Swing Lo Magellan, is more playful and spontaneous than their earlier work, and that unguarded intimacy makes it their most welcoming and indispensable record yet.
Moon Duo
Balam Acab
20 October - Vera, Groningen 21 October - EKKO, Utrecht 22 October - Patronaat Café, Haarlem Moon Duo’s Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada build songs on a hypnotically repetitive foundation of organ, fuzzy guitar and simple percussion. Gaze at your shoes and see them dance. Read more on page 58.
24 October - OT301, Amsterdam Balam Acab’s newer material incorporates elements of hip hop, field recordings, folk and drone into a richly textured and meditative whole. Read more on page 59.
Steve Gunn 21 October - Extrapool, Nijmegen Steve Gunn is especially known for his work with Brooklyn improvisational trio GHQ. His solo work is a journey, not a destination, and his masterful guitar playing (both acoustic and electric) finds him travelling from slow ballads to simply-strummed ditties, lengthy raga/psych hybrids, twangy country meditations and sprightly bluegrass-inflected jaunts.
Impakt Festival 24-28 October - Various locations, Utrecht The 23rd edition of this prominent European media art festival heralds the end of the dominance of Western media culture and the rise of developing economies. Under the theme No More Westerns, visitors will be welcomed into the worlds of Afrofuturisme, Golly-, Bolly-, and Nollywood, cpop, j-pop and k-pop. Great acts like Toro y Moi, James Blake and Demdike Stare have taken part in their music nights during past editions, so expect something fresh and high quality in that department. Page 73
Agenda
01 okt 06 okt 09 okt
Shows in October
Esmerine Zoom ft. Zed Bias Breton
24 okt Club Cross-Linx met Canto Ostinato 01 nov
Six Organs of Admittance
kijk voor ons volledige programma op www.effenaar.nl
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Agenda
Shows in October
Zechs Marquise
Octo Octa
24 October - Willemeen, Arnhem 26 October - De Pit, Terneuzen
27 October - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam
Situated at the westernmost point of Texas, El Paso is a sort-of oasis in the midst of otherwise barren desert. Perhaps their tallest musical palm tree is Omar RodriguezLopez, of At the Drive-In and Mars Volta fame. Though Zechs Marquise is actually Omar’s little brother’s band, I’m sure they make him proud with their familial fros and proggy psychedelic stylings.
K-Holes 25 October - Worm, Rotterdam 01 November - dB’s, Utrecht Featuring members of Black Lips and Golden Triangle, the K-Holes trade in swampy, ragged garage-punk featuring some pretty awesome saxophone wails. Read more on page 59.
Oddstream Multimedia Festival 26-28 October - Valkhofpark, Nijmegen Oddstream is a communication and multimedia festival with an emphasis on viewer participation, and its second edition focuses on ‘Transformation’ as its theme. Days filled with music, performance art, interactive art and film and nights filled with dancing seem like a worthy way to kick it in the Netherlands’ oldest city.
Still Corners 26 October - Patronaat, Haarlem 27 October - Let’s Get Lost Festival, Zwolle Like many other bands of late, Still Corners mix ’60s and shoegaze inspirations. The fact that co-founder Greg Hughes is a big film buff explains not only the lovely projections that wash over their live performances, but also their particularly cinematic take on this fashionable set of influences.
100% Silk artist Octo Octa, aka Michael Morrison, makes melancholic, retro-sounding house music that’s among the most accessible and danceable on the Silk roster. Read more on page 60.
Hot Chip 28 October - Melkweg, Amsterdam This well-established London group has been cranking out the kind of catchy, rockinformed electronica that everybody seems to like. Their self-produced fifth studio album In Our Heads came out this past June.
Team Me 28 October - Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht 30 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam 31 October - Merleyn, Nijmegen 01 November - Rotown, Rotterdam This Norwegian band is huge in their homeland and they’re sure to build a following in more southerly parts of the world with their uptempo, richly orchestrated indie pop.
Tame Impala 29 October - Paradiso, Amsterdam These Australian psychedelic rockers blew their fair share of minds with their 2010 debut, the gorgeously hypnotic Innerspeaker. Their sophomore release, Lonerism, purportedly represents somewhat of a departure from their debut by relying on a broader sonic palette and more emotional and narrative songwriting.
Six Organs of Admittance 01 November - Effenaar, Eindhoven Mesmeric new-folk from the ever-prolific guitarist Ben Chasny. read more on page 61. Page 75
Free Stuff
Free tickets and goodies
To win, sign up to our mailing list on www.subbacultcha.nl. 3x2 TICKETS SLEAZE ft. zZz & Mr. QuintRon
2 pASSE-PARTOUTS aMSTERDAM DANCE event
3x2 tickets dirty projectors
14 October OT301, Amsterdam
17-21 October Amsterdam
23 October Melkweg, Amsterdam
3x2 Passe-partouts impakt FESTIVAL
3X2 Tickets rewire festival
2 passe-partouts museumnacht
24-28 October Utrecht
2-4 November Den Haag
3 November Amsterdam
We’re also giving away tickets to Bright, Kim Ki O, A Place to Bury Strangers, Klub 470, Kunstnacht Nijmegen, Doomsday Student, How to Dress Well, Moon Duo, Still Corners, Team Me and Oddstream Multimedia Festival. Page 76
Submitted photos
AFTER MIDNIGHT
Send photos that were taken after midnight to aftermidnight@subbacultcha.nl If your photo gets published, you win a good goodie This month’s photos were submitted by Mees van Amersfoort Page 77
Overview of all Subbacultcha! shows in October
Until 07 October
19 Oct - 23 Dec
25 October
Mediamatic Fabriek, Amsterdam Open daily 12.00-18.00 Free for members
Mediamatic Fabriek, Amsterdam Open daily 12.00-18.00 Free for members
WORM, Rotterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for members
Watertanden
03 October
Black Dice + Possessed Factory
OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €10 | Free for members
06 October
Trust
Rotown, Rotterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for members
Ruilen
20 October
Wolvon + Neon Rainbows
Split 7” Release Party Roodkapje, Rotterdam 22.00 | €7 | Free for members
21 October
oOoOO + Moon & Sun
K-Holes
27 October
Octo Octa
De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam 20.00 | €7 | Free for members
31 October
Ignite 21
Mediamatic Bank, Amsterdam 20.00 | €7 | Free for members
01 November
Six Organs of Admittance
07 October
(The Rest is Noise) Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam 20.30 | €10 | Free for members
Effenaar, Eindhoven 20.30 | €11 | Free for members
21 October
01 November
LantarenVenster, Rotterdam 21.00 | €8 | Free for members
Moon Duo + Man Forever
Fujita Masayoshi + Mergrim + Usaginingen 19 October
Ducktails + Bear Bones + Lay Low De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam 20.00 | €8 | Free for members
(Sunday Noise) EKKO, Utrecht 20.00 | €10 | Free for members
24 October
Balam Acab
OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for members
K-Holes
dB’s, Utrecht 20.30 | €7 | Free for members
All Month
Foam
Open daily 10.00-18.00 Thur and Fri until 21.00 €8 | Free for members
See all these shows for free. Join at www.subbacultcha.nl Page 78