Junior Boys Visit KDHX

Junior Boys (Jeremy Greenspan and Matthew Didemus) came to KDHX’s studio on Saturday, April 25 to perform an exclusive 30-minute DJ set. They were in town to perform a live set later that night at SLU’s Billiken Club along with Max Tundra. Junior Boys are on tour in connection with the release of their latest studio album, Begone Dull Care.

The DJ set, along with an interview, will be aired this Wednesday at 10:20pm CST during Beep Beep Boop Boop. Tune in at 88.1 FM in Saint Louis, listen live online, or peep the entire show streaming later on.

While Junior Boys are probably best known for their own electronic pop (”Like a Child” and “In the Morning“), it’s always interesting to hear what music an artist is digging – and during the DJ set at KDHX they did just that, playing only vinyl.

Their first time in Saint Louis, I pointed out that if the Arch is that big from Grand Avenue, think of how big it is closer up. Unfortunately, they would be closest to the Arch on Sunday morning at around 6am, sleeping in the tour bus on their way to a Daytrotter session in Rock Island, Illinois.

Check out Rob’s blog post interview with Max Tundra here.

Posted by | April 29, 2009 | KDHX, Music | Comment 

Max Tundra Interview

For fans of London’s Ben Jacobs, aka Max Tundra, six years is worth the wait. That’s because his new record, Parallax Error Beheads You (P.E.B.Y.) finds him meshing textured electronic music with slyly edited cut-and-paste soundscapes. All of this is then glazed over with catchy lyrics.

Every song on the record has its own life span which, when taken as a collective whole, makes a beautiful record of blippy lushness and lyrical emotion.

Max Tundra will be performing this Saturday night at the Billiken Club with Junior Boys.

KDHX: Why did it take so long (6 years) to record the new album?

MT: Because the music is very layered and complex, and I use very old-fashioned means to create it. Also London is a very distracting city, so it’s very easy to switch off my machines and go out to the cinema, the park, a restaurant, a show, or to see friends and family. And the songs themselves emerged very gradually – one pops into my head every six months or so.

KDHX: Do you make your music with software and computers?

MT: I really don’t! I use a computer from 1985 with a $1 piece of software for sequencing, and everything else is done on real synths, samplers and real instruments. I have absolutely no clue about the current music software and technology scene.

KDHX: Discuss your creative process. How do your songs come about?

MT: Very infrequently. They usually appear in my mind when I wake up in the morning. Then I hurriedly switch on a keyboard or two, and record a basic demo version of the song. Then I think about arrangements over the next few months, deciding whether a song might benefit from trumpet, banjo, drums, piano, bass guitar or whatever. The recording of one song takes six to nine months from start to finish.

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Posted by | April 22, 2009 | Music | 2 Comments 

Stuff To Do

This is the perfect time of year. The weather picks up, baseball starts and audiophiles become deluged with great music. There also are more bands coming to and fro our metropolis and the ones that don’t often are not that far away.

It is a complete sensory overload and I haven’t even talked about books and comics…

I’ve seen some concerts.

Mariza

Mariza’s show at The Sheldon was amazing and may be the best concert of the year. She is huge internationally and having her play The Sheldon is a coup for our city.

The Ting Tings

Their stage show transferred well to The Pageant. I wish the set would have been longer. It was almost the same as the Bluebird set they played on their last visit through town. Still the show had a lot of energy and the crowd ate them up.

Morrissey

The Pope of Mope returned to The Pageant on April 8th.His last show here was such an event that topping it would be impossible. “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” and “Death of A Disco Dancer” worked well within his set of solo material. The new material sounds amazing live and he has a terrific band behind him.

It is a great time to be a radio programmer because your sonics expand in so many ways. That is because there is a lot of really exciting new releases out across the musical spectrum. Lately I have become symbiotic with two of them.

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Posted by | April 18, 2009 | Concerts, Music, Video/Film | Comment