« Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 6.16 - 6.22 | Main | Long Nights and Early Mornings- Bonnaroo 2008 »
June 16, 2008
Bell's Jukebox
The New York City five-piece Bell, lead by singer Olga Bell, was the first act to ever grace the stage of D's and my little Neon Lights concert endeavor. I use "grace" purposefully. Olga's soaring vocals and her band's sharp musicianship even managed to render Skee-Lo's "I Wish" a tender and moving ballad that fine December evening. Of course we knew (or more accurately D knew and I was quickly schooled) that she'd not be our secret opening act for long. Web influence mongers Pitchfork and Stereogum soon took up the band's side, with the latter site placing Olga's laptop version of Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet" alongside acts like Liars and the Dirty Projectors on the tracklist of their Post cover project.
Well, this Saturday, at the much-mentioned After the Jump Fest, New Yorkers will have a chance to catch up, as the lovely Ms. Bell and her (also quite lovely) companions will take one (of four) festival stages, noon sharp at Galapagos on Williamsburg's North 6th Street to play a free set. For now, I asked Olga to fill us in on the songs currently dominating her headspace and she graciously obliged. It's less creepy than reading the iPod screen over her shoulder on the subway, anyway.
Her list, some brief chatter, and a track from Bell's self-released debut EP follow...
--
Olga Bell: So, I love being just a few yards behind the bandwagon, that's sort of how I love to be. That said, since...oh...last March, or even earlier, I've been listening to that ol' Yeasayer record non-stop. My current favorite track from that wonderful album is "Forgiveness." So that's 1) Yeasayer, "Forgiveness." Because it builds these delicious little polyrhythmic labyrinths in the guitar and bass and drum parts. A'ight?
JK: Do you secretly want to be a drummer sometimes?
OB: Yes, but I more often secretly want to be a bass player. More specifically, THAT bass player.
Nexto...
This is a song which i think I'll be covering very soon. Through a series of very bizarre associations, which I can't explain, nothing says "summer vacation" to me like early 90s raps about basketball...
Bell Biv Devoe - "Above the Rim"
...and it's not just the Bell thing, I swear!
JK: How's your jump shot?
OB: I'm lousy at basketball. I used to be OK when I was the tallest person in the fifth grade, but then I jammed my finger, and was never allowed to play b-ball again. But it remains an awesome song, with an amazing bass sample.
JK: So are the basketball songs like a "Rosebud" thing for you? Commemorating something you left behind in youth?
OB: Yeah, maybe. Basketball was pretty huge at my high school, and a lot of my family went to Duke. So, hooping just makes me happy, even just as a spectator. And it's one of the more positive things you could rap about... nobody's ever pissed off in songs about basketball.
JK: Very true. # 3?
OB: #3 is a trio of remixes...
Bjork - "Innocence" (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)
Aphex Twin - "Richard's Hairpiece" (a reworking of Beck's "Devil's Haircut")
Fleet Foxes - "Sun it Rises" (Jason Nazary Remix)
OB: Remixes are the only thing I habitually slurp up right as they come out. In other words I'm a little more hesitant with new bands or new records, but new remixes I love. Rather, I love to be the first to hear them even if eventually I don't love the track per se. Remixes are really just covers, right? It's an electronic musician or DJ covering something.
JK: Is there a bar you think a remix has to clear to count as a new piece of art? Or can a subtle variation be just as compelling as a complete re-imagining?
OB: Hrmm...I think there's a spectrum there, as there would be in visual art, but I think it would be silly to demand a certain percentage of the music 'changed' in order to make it legitimate.
JK: in light of your remix affinity, I wanted to ask you about "Echinacea" off of your EP. The demo that was floating around was sort of spare, if I remember correctly, just piano, voice, and beats. The finished version seemed like a bit of a remix of that original, with the sampled elements added in. Was the production a way of reinterpreting your original song? Or was the final a realization of where you'd always hoped it would go?
OB: I think that nearly all production, for those whose first instrument isn't laptop, is interpretation...and the ideas weave themselves together as you go. The original demo of "Echinacea" consisted of me playing around with my friend Chris' laptop, specifically with Redrum. I already had this little progression of chords I loved, but the lyrics and everything else came together on the spot, just over the beats I was building on a morning when Chris was feeling sick...it became a little serenade for health.
When I got together with (band members) Jason and Mike and Grey, and we put the electronic version into parts, the song changed some more. We recorded our respective parts, I took them and tinkered around with the pieces some more, added sprinkly synths and clapping and crowd noise and buckets of vocals, and it changed again.
It must be good for your brain to keep mixing and remixing ideas, right?
--
Order Bell's debut EP here, and we'll both see you at After the Jump this Saturday. A sample before we go...
Bell - "Chunk"
(Live @ SXSW 2007)
Via Earfarm
Posted by Jeff Klingman at June 16, 2008 10:30 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.merryswankster.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/1638
Comments
Good piece... Bell is awesome.
Posted by: Max Heering at June 16, 2008 02:47 PM
