Interview: Lockett Pundt of Deerhunter/Atlas Sound

Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt is making his live solo debut this Tues. night when Lotus Plaza opens for the Books at Eyedrum.

Chad Radford: Tell me about how the Lotus Plaza album, The Floodlight Collective came together and what you had in mind as you going in to it?
Lockett Pundt: I didn’t really have a whole lot in mind when I sat down to write the songs on the album. I have a hard time getting things done when I have something specific in mind in regards to song writing. Most of them were just a simple idea that sort of blossomed into a song. They all sort of have their own environment. I would go into a song with a guitar loop or drum track and it would either take off, or nothing would come of it. I think the only song in which I had a very clear view of how I wanted it to sound was “Antoine.” I had a Joe Meek sample that I played at a few different speeds creating this crazy out of phase percussive thing and I heard the song from the beginning. Other than that, I just had fun writing songs and had enough to put together an album.

Did you write the songs on the album on your own or was it a group effort that involved anyone else?
I did everything myself. Brad [Cox] plays drums on “Different Mirrors.” He thought it might sound better adding drums over the drum loop in the song and he added it on the first take. I thought it sounded great.

How did you approach it differently from a Deerhunter record?
I write a lot more lyrics myself, which I don’t do all that much in Deerhunter. I tend to write more personal I suppose. I never really try to write a song either way, I think it just sort of happens that one is a better Deerhunter song than one I would use personally. In my songs, I definitely like the parts and instrumentation to remain as how they are, but with songs that are introduced to Deerhunter, I like the guys to write their own parts or do them how they would. That’s the main difference in the approach to me.

All Music says The Flood Light Collective takes its nam after one of your first bands.
It was a band that me Brad and our mutual friend Wes played in during high school. It wasn’t anything serious really, just sort of jam on stuff and have fun. It is a fond memory to name a album to. It was one of the first musical experiences that I shared with other people. It seemed to fit as a title to me.

Is there one piece of music out there – an album, or maybe just a song – that has resonated with you over the years; something that you think of as influence to your whole approach as a musician?
One of my favorite songs ever is “Prairie Rose” by Roxy Music. I listened to them a lot growing up since my mom was a massive fan. The song gives me goosebumps when I hear it. I think it’s a perfect pop song. I think another one would have to be “Sunrain” by Ash Ra Tempel. I guess these both are what I consider to be a Holy Grail of song writing. It’s hard to say that any one thing is a massive influence on what I do, but these are definitely on my mind a lot.

Is this the first time that you’ve made a live appearance with Lotus Plaza?
Yea it is. I’m pretty nervous.

What’s the line-up and instrumentation going to be for this show?
It will be just me and a guitar, a sampler and a loop pedal. Pretty simple for the most part. I would like to have a whole band play some new stuff someday, but I have been out of town for three months and haven’t had much time to get together a set including other people. I kind of want to do something a little different anyways. Something more ambient and loose in nature.

Will there be more Lotus Plaza releases in the foreseeable future?
I hope so. now that I’m back home again, I’m really looking forward to messing around with music for fun. When I get back from a Deerhunter tour and have a week or so downtime before we leave again, I generally leave my guitar in it’s case until it’s time to leave again. We have a little time off from touring now, so I’m hoping to relax and do it more for enjoyment. That’s about the only way I can write songs I like. I can’t force it.

Lotus Plaza “Red Oak Way” mp3

Lotus Plaza plays Eyedrum Tues., Sept. 22 with the Books. $13-$15. 9 p.m. 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 8. 404-522-0655.

(Photo courtesy Kranky Records)

DJing @ 529 on Tues., Sept. 15 w/ Pillow Talk, Parking Lot Paul and more. FREE 9 p.m.

I am DJing at 529 on Tues. night with Rachel and Michelle from Pillow Talk, Parking Lot Paul, Lindsay Long and GG King (I think).

We will be playing a good mix of punk rock, '60s frat rock, new wave, now wave, power pop, garage rock, girl group stuff, noisy stuff, good stuff.

I personally will be spinning a set of all local stuff from the 1980s to now, which covers everything from Neon Christ to the Balkans, Selmanaires, Nightporters, Electrosleep, Gaye Blades, Carbonas, Rock*A*Teens, Abby Go Go, Carnivores, Howlies, Coathangers, Herb & Jason Harris, Gentleman Jesse, ANDPW -- pretty much whatever I can pull off of my record shelves. Hit me up if there's any local stuff that you're dying to hear.

It's free and the records start spinning around 9 p.m.

B jay Womack memorial T-shirts

I have a box full of Bobby Ubangi T-shirts left over from the fundraisers that we held to pay for his funeral expenses at the beginning of July.

I have a bunch of Large and a few Medium sizes left. If you would like one of these shirts you should drop me a line and we'll hook it up.

I'll probably just hit you up for postage costs since we aren't really taking donations anymore. I'd rather see them go out into the world than let them gather dust in my apartment.

They are cool shirts nonetheless. They first appeared via Rob's House around the time that B Jay was diagnosed with terminal cancer. All props for this second batch go to Rob Downs.

Use Your Allusion: Black Moth Super Rainbow revels in mystique

Black Moth Super Rainbow crafts the kind of music you can see, feel, taste and touch, wrapped in album covers you can hear. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines this sort of sensory confusion as synesthesia, but the group’s elusive and soft-spoken leader Tobacco, née Tom Fec, isn’t keen on labeling the music anything at all. “I want it to be whatever you want it to be,” he offers with a lingering silence at the end of his words. “To me it’s just pop music. I don’t call it psychedelic and I don’t call it electro-synth music as some people have done. But if that’s what the listener wants it to be, then that’s what it can be.”

As frustrating as his passing of the buck seems, that open-ended mystery has bestowed BMSR with its greatest asset: intrigue. The group’s identity, and in turn the music, is so rich with abstraction that revealing too much information would do it a disservice.

Continue reading...

"Born On A Day the Sun Didn't Rise" mp3

(Photo by Jae Ruberto)

A Smoke reunion of sorts...

Hubcap City is teaming up with former Smoke cellist Brian Halloran to perform an impromptu soundtrack to Carl Dreyer's silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc at Opal Gallery in L5P on Sat., July 25.

There is a striking resemblance between Melle Falconetti, the actress who plays Joan d'Arc in the film, and Smoke's enigmatic frontman Benjamin shortly before he died, so it doesn't take much thought to figure out why HC gravitated toward this project.

With Bill Taft, Will Fratesi and Halloran all performing together, I think it's safe to say that this is the closest thing to a Smoke reunion we're ever going to see. I also hear that they've exhumed some old Smoke songs for the show as well.

The show is free and the music/film starts at sundown. Bring lawn chairs.

GZA + King Khan!

It's official: When the "Supreme Genius" King Khan joined GZA on stage in Toronto to tear it up on some Liquid Swords cuts he became the first Indian to join the Wu-Tang Clique.

Frank Mullen R.I.P.

I'm very sad to learn that Frank Mullen died this weekend. He was a good friend and a good photographer.

I first met Frank back in 2001 when I was working as the editor for Southeast Performer.

He shot covers for stories that I either wrote or edited on Of Montreal, Elf Power, Jucifer, Crybaby, Jet By Day, Psyche Origami and Stomped Out Like A Small Fire.

I had the opportunity to write about Frank twice for Creative Loafing. Once when his old school Florida hardcore band Roach Motel did a reunion show at Echo Lounge in 2004, which you can read about here .

The second time was back when CL used to run a column about local artists who had amazing homes. Frank's was one of the coolest homes I had visited in the city. We did a short interview that you can read here

He died of cancer at the age of 48. I will be writing about him for CL sometime over the next few weeks, so if you have any stories about Frank, please drop me a line.