Most people fell in love with Scottish indie rockers Glasvegas when they dropped "Geraldine" in 2008, and rightfully so. That international hit put the band (James Allan, Rab Allan, Paul Donoghue, and Jonna Lofgren) on the map (it's a cliche to say but it's really true), and matched an infectious melody with heartfelt - no, deeply-felt - lyrics. For me, the band really drove it home on their A Snowflake Fell (and It Felt Like a Kiss) EP, which resonated so much when I was going through a rough patch. It just encapsulated all the feelings one goes through around the holiday craze, and so much more. Music should mean something, and it never doesn't for Glasvegas. See what I did there? It's a double negative. Anyway, let's get right to the point. Glasvegas just wrapped some dates in the states in support of their third studio album - Later...When The TV Turns To Static, and if you caught them live you were lucky. I was fortunate to have two Glassies on A-Sides at a shoot within The Liberty NYC. Watch the performance below, and follow the link to the interview. Watch. Listen. Love.
To view the interview, click here.
Starwalker Postcards
A-Sides is typically a session with an artist or band in studio with one-to-two songs performed live followed by an easy-breezy conversational interview. It can also be a straight Q&A on video. When it came to booking the celestial music duo Starwalker, however, a different approach was needed. Since the duo were each on opposite ends of the world (Jean-Benoit Dunckel was in Iceland then Paris while Bardi Johannsson was in China), I decided to do something a little differently. Both Dunckel, whose also in the band Air, and Johannsson, an integral member of Iceland's Bang Gang, were each given the same questions to answer via email but I didn't simply want this to be a typical send-and-click piece. I asked each artists to send pictures from their respective spots. The images don't connect to the interview questions but they're not supposed to. They follow all the good things the duo's music captures: time, space, nature, and mystery. Speaking of which, Starwalker's debut EP Losers Can Win dropped last week, and it's a trippy, sonically poetry work that takes you places you wish you could go to ...and Johannsson and Dunckel have probably been to. Click here to view the photo album. Each image has a different question asked to the pair. (FYI - I wanted to embed a slideshow but coding wasn't cooperating!)
A-Sides "Delve Into Twelve" Countdown
Each week A-Sides unleashes its Top 12 tracks of the week AKA the "Delve Into Twelve"based on the following contributing factors: songs I'm playing out that particular week NO MATTER WHEN THEY WERE RELEASED (think overlooked songs, unreleased tracks, and old favorites), songs various publicists are trying to get me to listen to that I did and dug a bunch, posts and trends I've noticed on my friends' Facebook walls, and - most importantly - the songs my two-year-old son gravitates toward by stomping his feet in approval. Yeah, you read that right. This weeks follows below (LW= last week's rank).
12. "Young Heart" (LW-7) - Blondfire
11. "Sparklers" (LW-4) - Gemini Club
10. "Fall in Love" - Phantogram
9. "Doses and Mimosas" (LW-3) - Cherub
8. "Hemiplegia" - Haerts
7. "Far From Any Road" (LW-2) - The Handsome Family
6. "I Wanna Get Better" - Bleachers
5. "Top Notch" - Manchester Orchestra
4. "Peninsula" (LW-5) - Dinosaur Pile-Up (Watch the song performed live on A-Sides here.)
3. "Waves" - Sleeper Agent
2. "Texas" - Magic Man
1. "Blue Moon" (LW-1) - Beck
About A-Sides Music
Jon Chattman's "A-Sides Music" series was established in August 2011 and usually features artists (established or not) from all genres performing a track, and discussing what it means to them. This informal series focuses on the artist making art in a low-threatening, extremely informal (sometimes humorous) way. No bells, no whistles -- just the music performed in a random, low-key setting followed by an unrehearsed chat. In an industry where everything often gets overblown and over manufactured, I'm hoping this is refreshing. Artists have included: fun, Pharrell Williams, American Authors, Imagine Dragons Jake Miller, Gary Clark Jr., Sleigh Bells, Danger Mouse, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, San Fermin, and more!