Tapely blog

1. It would be nice to hear you describe the path to what you do today.

I’ve always been interested in the power of creative agency–how the belief that you can create things in your environment can dramatically change your relationship to yourself, your community and your environment. 

My first project after college was Thanda, a non-profit in South Africa combating the AIDS crisis through programs meant to increase the agency of youth in the critical time after high school. After we launched in 2008, I wound up back in the U.S. and in law school at Stanford. 

After working a bit in the Violent Crimes and Terrorism unit for the U.S. Attorneys Office (a frustrating and heartbreaking job) and in environmental justice (a frustrating and heartbreaking job), I realized I had no desire to be a lawyer. Instead, I pursued building things in classes at Stanford’s Design School and started exploring the idea of creative agency in the new world being created by Kickstarter and other companies. 

Upon graduation, I launched a start-up centered on building collaborative communities around projects. We were looking to work with creators before they got to Kickstarter and help them pull together a genuinely involved and helpful community around their project. In the end, we hit technical difficulties on core features and eventually ran out of runway.

 I’d been talking with the folks at Kickstarter for years about the vision of my company and we found we had a lot of common goals. When we shut the company down, Yancey reached out and invited me to join the team. It was the easiest and best decision I’ve ever made. It’s been a challenging, inspiring and magical year. I’m constantly inspired by the people I work with and by the creators we serve in our community.

2. What excites you so much about Kickstarter?

I love Kickstarter’s belief the we are all capable of creating amazing things. What’s changed over the last decade is the ability for individuals to access the knowledge, tools and resources to produce sophisticated cultural and consumer goods. This used to be limited only to large corporations. They were the means by which people could amass enough capital to pay for the recording studios, camera equipment, or manufacturing tools that could realize wild ideas for an album, a movie, or device. 

But now, we all have that power. We can create our own grammy-winning albums, oscar-winning documentaries or virtual reality helmets. It’s amazing. It’s a fundamental shift in the way our society can work that we still haven’t fully woken up to yet. Technological progress could stop today and society would still take decades to culturally and psychologically catch up to what’s possible for each of us to do in our lives.

3. Many artists and bands seek their fans’ financial support in Kickstarter and relevant sites in order to release new music. Do you think crowdfunding is the future for musicians and the music industry?

Absolutely. There’s just so much bloat, greed and waste that stands between creators and fans today that just isn’t necessary. Fans want to be closer to their favorite artists and to feel like they are a part of the creative process. Kickstarter gives fans that inclusion. Artists also want to have more direct lines to their fans but are stymied by middle-men who take most of the profit. Things are going to change.

4. What do you think is missing from the way we consume online music these days?

I think genuine connection to the creative process is still hard to come by. Most music is presented in “store” contexts, which are really only about purchasing and consuming music. I want to discover and consume music in a more meaningful and personal context. That might mean a context that lets me understand why these particular songs matter to the person who curated them, or understand the creative journey of the artist and the other people behind the music.

Thank you Jon for this inspiring interview!

1. What were those mind-altering experiences that turned you into a full-fledged creative?

Being stuck in a print factory and realizing the only way out would be doing something on my own and not relying on a wage every week. That was 1989 and it's been feast or famine since then but it's been worth it.

2. Share with us a phrase that comes to your mind when you think of these persons: Alan McGee, Irvine Welsh, Joe Strummer (The Clash)

Alan McGee is a madman who will simply never retire. Irvine Welsh is one of the most genuine and nicest people you could ever meet. Joe Strummer was a visionary who ripped up the rule book.

3. In a recent SXSW session called ‘Books Are The New Vinyl’, Public Enemy’s Chuck D described the vinyl album essentially as a ‘sonic poster’. How do you personally see the resurgence of vinyl and cassettes?

I've still got tons of vinyl and cassettes but I've totally embraced new technology. I just love the compact work space and ease of use. I totally understand what Chuck's saying. The thing is though you need people to keep constantly saying new things. Public Enemy have been vanguard of progress since year zero so he's the man to listen to.

4. What would your Desert Island records be these days?

That's a tough one. Essentials would be D'Angelo’s "The Charade", "Streets of Gold" by The Heptones, Cluster's "Hollywood", "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" by The Clash, Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" and album-wise it would have to be Neil Young's "After The Goldrush".  

5. You have witnessed music industry’s turn from physical to digital first hand. What was irreversibly lost? Do you think there is still value in combining music with visuals?

Record shopping used to be a great activity. I was a total crate digger and I loved the buzz of finding something no one had. You felt special. Time and technology waits for no man though so you just got to move on. Music and visuals will always complement each other. Look at all the great films and notice how well music is used.

Thanks Dean for this fantastic interview!

Cathedral Park is a series laced in glitter and doom, as Tom Waits so fittingly once said.

(Cathedral Park still, photo by Florence Holdeman)

Music is of primary importance for Cathedral Park and Travis (he has also a special eye for live music photography). A true lover of sounds and oddities, Travis is playing records quite regularly for secret gatherings, so when in Portland or Los Angeles, keep your eyes (and ears) open.

Without further ado we leave you to the hands of Travis.

1. How did you get started in the world of photography and the arts in general?

At a very young age, I started putting rectangles around everything I saw. I fell in love with the camera while hanging out on the set of Twin Peaks as a kid. I was fascinated by how existing locations were transformed into Lynch’s reality, then disassembled and reset to normal. It was like playing dress up with reality. The impermanence of it confused me and pushed me to think how the camera sees things. So my mother went out and bought me a Fisher Price PXL2000 camera that recorded 10 minutes of black & white video on an audio-cassette tape (forever linking audio and video in my head in a certain way). My dad would take me over to the Twin Peaks locations on weekends and I’d stage my own recreations. Mind you, this was before Twin Peaks even aired.

(Cathedral Park still, photo by Travis Blue)

2. Talk to us a bit about your Cathedral Park TV series, your latest creative adventure. What specific chord you want to strike with it?

Cathedral Park is my visual and aural love letter to my native Pacific Northwest. Each episode is based on a different person in the fictional town of Cathedral City, Washington. They all live along a suspicious wooded park and experience a vague sense of doom emanating from it, but no one can explain it.

The music will provide the primary texture to the dark mood that washes over the picture. The only thing that can truly express the Northwest atmosphere  is music; picture is secondary. In essence, Cathedral Park is a decisive melodrama.

If you go into the woods there and close your eyes, you can hear a song. The woods are scary to most people, but I hear a coded lullabye- it's metaphysical. People are already comparing Cathedral Park to Twin Peaks, but Twin Peaks established a Pacific Northwest setting that lacked continuity and disintegrated entirely. It was a huge disappointment. They filmed most of it in Los Angeles- you can often see palm trees and chaparral in the background if you look closely. And it's mysteriously sunny all the time. I’m trying to go upstream from Twin Peaks: I want Cathedral Park to exact the mood, colors, textures and feelings of what it's like to really be in the Northwest in response to how Twin Peaks failed at it. The setting is like no other place and I feel a duty to protect it, visually. People always say it's so gray there, but if you really pay attention it looks purple.

(Cathedral Park still, photo by Florence Holdeman)

3. Being a prolific music photographer, how differently artists & bands think on their visual appearance, now that music has gone full-blown in the internet?

I wouldn’t say I’m prolific- I’m probably the opposite. I do take tons of photos of live bands, but I only select an extremely small percentage of the work to share. I give myself a high standard for live music photography because so much of it out there sucks. To me it should resemble and be as precise as a film still. The feeling of seeing a transcendent band’s performance has that same feeling of walking out at the end of a movie with sublime acting. I love feeling like I’m wearing a performer’s persona on the way home. It's intoxicating. If I can’t replicate that feeling, I toss the picture out.

Bands seem to embrace the reality that there’s going to be ugly photos of them all over Instagram. The bands I know or have worked with seem to be taking more control of their ‘branding’ as a response to that. Some are better at it than others, but it must feel great to have that power as a performer. It's unfortunate that some musicians may not “make it” just because they don’t have the proper marketing skills.

(Cathedral Park still, photo by Tyler Osteen)

4. You are a very active DJ and have been also creating mixtapes. Having to battle with tons of potentially great music out there, how do you pick what to listen to? Why is it still so important to compile our favorite music?

These days it feels more like I just “play records” than “DJ.” I will often listen to a band with a crappy logo on Bandcamp over a glossy magazine-ready band on some cool blog. You also gotta dig in that dusty box underneath the others in the record shop. That's how I find most of the best weird stuff in my collection. I go for weird/obscure/dark pop music now.

If it weren’t for my friends’ mixtapes growing up, I probably wouldn’t have any of the tastes I have now. People pride themselves on discovering bands or whatever, but I pride myself on having friends who make the best mixtapes. There’s nothing better than paying attention to your friends.

Thank you Travis for this great interview!

Listen to a special mixtape Travis created for this interview, inspired by the Northwest and Northwest Passage documentary movie. Read Travis’s liner notes below and prepare yourself for a surprise.

SOME NOTES ON THE MIX:

This mix is an attempt to cinematically examine what it feels like in the Northwest… with music. Its dark and manic, it hypnotizes you and leaves you with mysterious scars. It hugs you while pushing you away and makes promises it can’t keep. It is intentionally manic-depressive and passive-aggressive. The advertisements are a comment on modern-day streaming services and the ads they force on you. I’ve replaced the ads (that usually have nothing to do with my interests or tastes) with Seattle-specific memory vignettes designed to elicit a hazy nostalgia for another era. One before Microsoft & tech took over to homogenize the city. A time before Kurt Cobain died. It was all better then. But then again, there’s nothing more modern than using nostalgia like a whore.

The mix was inspired in part by the documentary movie Northwest Passage that is currently in production:

Northwest Passage is the strange-but-true story of teenage Twin Peaks fanatic Travis Blue, tracing his obsession from his earliest memories visiting the set of the series, which shot near his hometown, obsessing over the cult TV show with friends, and in later years attending and working at the annual Twin Peaks Fan Festival. As Travis’ obsession with the show deepened, he became fixated on the show’s raison d’etre: the murdered high school prom queen Laura Palmer, who hid a laundry list of unsavory activities behind her good girl smile – drugs, prostitution, and violence.

In the years that followed the show’s premiere, Travis pursued a path as dark as Laura’s, all the while surrounded by an oddball assortment of fellow Twin Peaks fanatics. Drawing on a wealth of footage Travis shot as a child, as well as Lynchian re-enactments of some of his most impactful memories, Northwest Passage is a dark look at how one boy turned fiction into reality in an attempt to get through childhood.

2. Hip-Hop Queens

Hip-hop's golden age was a time from mid-80s to mid-90s "when it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre”, as Rolling Stone well put it. Major names like Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J produced groundbreaking albums that defined the genre’s future, but it would be criminal not to mention many female hip-hop artists that worked up their own musical style and universe. This is a mixtape with some of the most prominent ones, like Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill, Salt-N-Pepa, TLC, Missy Elliott and other simply phenomenal MCs.

Spotlight Song: Queen Latifah - Just Another Day

What a privilege to have a woman giving her own take on ghetto life and the dark side of the hood. ‘Just Another Day’ has the sacred tone of a street hymn and it will forever sound like Latifah’s love letter to her struggling community and every struggling community.

Listen to Hip-Hop Queens mixtape here.

3. Pop Divas 

What started with Madonna, goes on to this day in a phantasmagoric lineage of female pop icons that draw the best out of music, fashion, video, large-scale events and techno-culture overall, with a commanding presence; in other words, the reality of the artist as an enterprise. Listen to some major pop superstars of this era in a mixtape that includes FKA Twigs, Rihanna, Charli XCX, Marina & The Diamonds, Beyoncé, M.I.A., Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Shania Twain and otherettes.

Spotlight Song: Fleetwood Mac - Rihannon

It might not be contemporary, but Stevie Nick’s take on Welsh Goddess Rihannon remains transcendently powerful as ever and just shows how a pop tune can still make the world go ‘round.

Listen to Pop Divas mixtape here.

4. Punk Royalties

One of the great things with indie rock is that it worked as a hub for truly radical movements and sub-genres. Welcome then Riot grrrl, a genuine underground movement that relied both on feminism and hardcore - punk. The results were fascinating, as someone can see in this mixtape that features some of the most emblematic groups of the era like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre and other all girl/female-fronted bands that blew the roof off of...everything basically.

Spotlight Song: The Breeders - Cannonball

What more can be written about this song? One of the most famous bass-lines in pop history, bouncing all over the place, in an almost exotic punk rollercoaster of a tune that will grab you by the spine forever. Easily one of the top moments of the 90s.

Listen to Punk Royalties mixtape here.

5. Sensual Ladies

It is clear that one of the reasons we go to female vocalists is sensuality and a sense of the erotic that we can’t find elsewhere. You know, these incredible smoky deep voices with irresistible hushed tones, it’s clearly a lady’s game.

So here is an eclectic’s cup of tea, a mixtape collecting some of the most seductive singers and female-fronted groups out there like Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Portishead, Mazzy Star, Lana Del Rey, Hooverphonic and others. Oh, and if you spot some guys around, don’t worry, they are here to worship the ♀

Spotlight Song: Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

Oh boy, competition was hard here. Had to leave ‘Glory Box’ by Portishead out, god forgive us. But we did so to include this, a shimmering acoustic track featuring a honeychain of slide guitars and Hope Sandoval’s other-worldly voice. This is a song made to haunt all the wild hearts out there.

The Feed is your personal home inside the community of music lovers that Tapely is. Here’s what it looks like:

But you’re probably wondering:

'How do I find my actual friends on Tapely?'

Easy. Connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts and you can instantly find your friends on Tapely.

The bottom line?

Your Feed shows you a stream of relevant music and activity from your friends. 

Things that appear in your Feed:

Listens and likes: music that your circle of friends discovers and recommends.

Creations: new playlists that your friends create

Users: interesting people that your friends follow

Check your Feed regularly to fetch new music and recent activity. Music discovery becomes now much more social and personal. At any given moment, you have a live stream of fresh recommendations in your hands.

Tapely is a breathing music community and you are the center of it.

Sleater-Kinney

What naturally happens when you return after ten years with the best rock record of the year and your career? Answer: you headline festivals.

Charli XCX

The London queen and her hyperpop is made for exciting huge nighttime crowds. Just wait for ‘Boom Clap’ to go on. But it won't.

Kate Tempest

The hurricane called Kate Tempest hit hard this year’s SXSW and was discussed as few. It’s hard to imagine not seeing her fervent presence up on a larger outdoors stage.

Courtney Barnett

In another SXSW pinnacle, Courtney Barnett commanded every stage she stepped on with unbreakable cool and a handful of inspired indie hymns.

Jessica Pratt

The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter is one of the year’s discreet folk treasures and has the knack to be an absolute festival darling, right before sundown or in deep dark. ‘Back, Baby’ is an effortless proof.

Natalie Prass

Natalie Prass comes with the undenied charm of a natural. Her chamber, open pop is sure to blossom into something universal. Or at least we so hope so.

Laura Marling

Who held the audience in her palm with a magnetic performance at the Mohawk in SXSW? Well, not me, but the amazing Laura Marling with her edgy folk.

Ibeyi

Signed to XL Recordings, this duet of Cuban-born, Paris based twin sisters Lisa-Kaïndé and Naomi Diaz have steadily amazed crowds with their organic electronic sounds. And really, who wouldn’t want ‘River’ to blow through Coachella Valley like a sweet breeze?

Perfect Pussy

Punk never benefited more from a frontwoman in the past years. Girl-next-door and tiger-on-the-loose in one single body. You have been warned.

Here is a mixtape with all the above acts:

1. People Still Turn People Onto Music

It is profound that we are led inevitably to highly personalised music recommendations, while ‘curation’ appears as the only solution for surfacing the reality of digital music (a session titled ‘Why Curation Will Save the Music Industry’ we think is highly suggestive of this acknowledgement). Many panelists, like Gary Stewart of @Trunkworthy, admitted though that ‘curation’ remains a blurred concept or even a troubled word, as it sits better in an academic or museum context and certainly it doesn’t match the vividness of such a ‘live’ thing as music. Terms like ‘tastemakers’, ‘influencers’ or even ‘evangelists’ certainly highlighted the need for warm-blooded guides out there.

2. Quality Of Engagement Can Take You A Long Way

A word that kept resonating in rooms and sessions was ‘engagement’. The importance of involving meaningful social interactions and a sense of community into platform design proved to be a high point indeed; taking this a bit further, the introduction of emotional and physical interactions between users becomes the new way brands engage directly with their consumers. This fostering of community warmth through a certain empathy that feedbacks from end user to platform and from user to user can achieve this much-lauded sustain for brand and user-base respectively.

An Interview with Yik Yak's Founders

3. The Common Future Of Radio & Streaming services

A third challenge that seems destined to surface on next year’s SXSW edition is the relevancy of radio experience to the current digital landscape. The question of whether we can fuse hybrid habits of listening from lean-back and lean-forward modes was discussed in an excellent panel titled ‘Gear Up, Lean Back: Linear Radio Becomes Dynamic’, moderated by 7digital CEO Simon Cole (@uksimon). And while there seems to be a profound contrast between radio experience and music collection (as materialised in playlists and dynamic streaming services), most speakers shared the glimpse of touching on a frictionless experience of online music that will eventually combine the best qualities from both cases (the “Redefining ‘Radio’ for the Digital Age” session was exemplary of this approach).

4. Music’s Future Is Visual

But whatever shape this will take in the months to come, one of the hottest topics dominating the conference was the need to achieve a proper visual outlet for an appropriate online music experience, a chief issue cornered in ‘Viva Album Art!’ session moderated by The FADER’S Naomi Zeichner (@nomizeichner). Music is entering quite rapidly an interactive plateau where all senses are animated around the act of listening. Plain streaming is no longer enough to sustain the genuine need of listening and sharing music online, a thing wisely noted by Scott Snibbe (@snibbe) at ‘The New Interactive Music: Music's Visual Future’ session.

Honorable Mention

The best ideas always arrive when you go a bit (or a lot) out of your comfort zone. That was exactly the case with ‘Books are the New Vinyl’ session. Led by Chuck D. (@MrChuckD) of hip-hop legends Public Enemy, the panel discussed the cult of the physical in relation to the digital age. Mr. Chuck D essentially acknowledged the vinyl album as ‘a sonic poster’, while he entertained the notion of ‘booktracks’, consistent playlists that can accompany the plot and reading of a book. Well, we couldn’t be more thrilled to listen to his futuristic transmedia concepts. Hats off!

Music’s House Is In Austin

In an event that balances so gracefully fun with entrepreneurship, everything aligned when the Music festival officially started, with zillions of gigs turning the downtown of Austin in a crazy loudspeaker. In a snapshot, the reality of a Music City comes alive before your very eyes and it feels like the city is getting creative itself, with streets and venues glowing inside this music fever. They don’t call Austin ‘live music capital of the world’ for no reason, we can assure you for that.

So here are some concerts that we are destined to remember:

The Future Islands & The Flaming Lips (ACL Live at the Moody Theater, 03/15)

Heartfelt pop dramas and cosmic psychedelia, in a double bill that launched the Music festival two days ahead

Funkmosphere Party w/ DJs Dam-Funk, Peanut Butter Wolf and J Rocc (Empire Garage, 03/20)

Easily the coolest, funkiest, sweatiest party of SXSW, with Sir Peanut Butter Wolf and his Stones Throw gang on fire (don’t let the Mac mislead you. That was a vinyl night)

The Mynabirds (Mohawk Indoor, 03/19)

The ideal chanteuse for Twin Peaks circa 2016, if David Lynch is interested

Here is a mixtape we made with our favorite showcases. Enjoy!

What was your favourite takeaway from SXSW? Tweet it to us @tapely

So many themes, so little time

By definition, mixtapes are a thematic science. That doesn’t mean that you have to go full throttle in the Concept Store, but it’s better to be somewhere than nowhere. Themes are fun. So pick your theme carefully and love it; it’s going to be your mindset for the next hours or days (or months if you are that nutcase).

Never get too explicit with your theme. If someone gets your idea through non-verbal stuff, like textures and rhythms, then it’s done; you are the cosmic architect, the Great Tonesetter. And you have earned the right to be wholly obnoxious.

The end is the beginning is the end

No one can underestimate the importance of the first and last song in a mixtape. Things do move like that my friend. History picks out the landmarks and discards the rest of us. But! Where your mixtape truly gets ripe is in between (the geek inside me says right at the third song and after). Right there, you lay the foundation for a genuine listening experience, as you have put a certain mind in a certain state. And now you got its full attention. What you gonna do?

Nothing in the world yet has proven that using two tracks from the same artist is a good idea. Try to find an honest cover if you want so badly to include twice your favourite songwriter or band. Don’t take the shortcut when it comes to mixtaping. It’s insulting to your listener, but mostly to you as a curator.

Stay in tune

All the mixtape veterans in the world will tell you that a mixtape is not a place for egotripping. It’s not about you and you knowing how many guitar tracks Jimmy Page laid on ‘When the levee breaks’ (67, I guarantee you) On the contrary, it’s about your taste and how your taste is at this very moment the perfect medium to understand the other, the recipient. The unbeatable thing with mixtapes is exactly this element of shared experiences around certain songs. Don’t ruin it. Be an extrovert introvert. Build bridges. Meet the other in the middle.

Recognize your audience. Check his/her reactions to snaky basslines, reggae, fusion jazz, screeching guitars, anything. Be a discreet stalker of his/her music whereabouts.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

‘Are you a rusher or are you a dragger?’ Tempos are a hard fellow. They are such individual bastards, like inmates convicted for different crimes, smoking grudgingly yards away from each other in the prison yard. But you will do find that somewhere they click! And when different tempos and tempers click, it’s heaven.

Mixtapes don’t like comfort zones, they get bored easily. So play around with the rhythm and groove. Always follow the secret beat of your mixtape, there is always hiding somewhere, even among disparate selections.

Go with the flow

It’s all in the song flow. Make room for them to breathe, make it go clockwork. That way, you give your mixtape a subtle sense of motion and you let it swing gracefully. Then, arrange your peaks carefully or you will burn out all the joy. If a mixtape is like a rollercoaster ride, you know in your bones that the adrenaline rush is in the comedown. Keep it slow-burning. The reward will be pure silver.

The last 10 seconds of a song are so crucial. Right there, imagine what it would be cool to hear next. Visualise indeed the first seconds of the next song. Ride the momentum.

Fame is fleeting

A mixtape should not be a collection of hits or even great songs. You will find that sometimes a less spectacular song works better for your mixtape. It can make it more coherent and take the best out of the team, whereas the prima-donnas are so consumed with the spotlight and hitting the high note.

Pour some humour in the mix. There is nothing better than grooving a smile. That doesn’t mean you should use joke songs. Even children know that most funny things come impromptu.

Time is on your side

Time is not your enemy (some say it doesn’t exist, so get real). The length of your mixtape is a challenge though. When you feel that you overstayed your welcome, move away from your PC at least 10 meters and slap your face from both sides. You have to protect your creation from you.

Listen back and adjust accordingly. If struggling with a mixtape, drop out the thing you like the most. And take a cold shower.

You CAN judge a mixtape by its cover

When you are so lucky to get a mixtape, the very first thing you’ll get in contact with is the cover image striking the retina of your eyes. So try to pick one that sums up the ambience of your mixtape. Then give it a full blow of customization. It makes a huge difference if you pick the right fonts, sizes and colors for your ideal soundworld than surrendering yourself to convenience and random(n)ess (hell, you are a grown-up, assume responsibilities!)

If the mixtape is the new album, then we need a face for this new format, a sense of an identity. Let’s do it a dada.

Here is my head in a mixtape

Feel free to include creative liner notes and share some honest words on why you chose certain songs (hint: careful not to explain things too much and ruin the magic). Don’t hesitate to go personal. Own yourself. You are wonderful.

The final sound will be your punchline, your impression tattooed on everyone’s mind. Choose a killer closer and leave them bedazzled in the ruins of your passage.

Afterword

1. You started your very first band, Verbӧten, at the really mature age of 10 and you honour the stage up to this day. What’s the thing you enjoy the most in being a musician?

I can sometimes write music that is better than what I thought I was capable of. It's a unique moment that doesn't occur in other factions of my life so that is very fulfilling. Performing music with musicians I respect and friends whose company I enjoy is also gratifying for obvious reasons.

2. Along with top people you know from way back, like Dave Grohl, Bob Mould and Robert Pollard, you have defined the sound and shape of indie rock. What’s more, you gave it a sense of community. Are things that consistent nowadays?

I have not defined the sound and shape of indie rock but I have been fortunate to play with great musicians. I gravitate towards music communities that are supportive and positive and I try to do my part in contributing to that energy.

3. Split Single is a bright and tight unit. We really liked that the songs are short, with no dead weight on them. How would you like to see it evolving?

I appreciate the compliment. That was a goal of mine on this record: efficiency. Part of that is a simple arrangement decision to avoid bridges (sometimes referred to as middle eights). I think only 3 out of 10 songs have bridges. I'm not sure what will happen on the next record. The two new songs I've written will appear on a live Split Single EP due out in the spring. They are more in the mold of "Monolith" and "Made For Breaking". My guess is the next record has less power pop and more grit.

4. In the upcoming SXSW, there is a session called ‘Still Screaming About Streaming’ (laughs). As a recording/touring musician and expert listener, how do you see current streaming reality in music? Can we still be original in how we experience music online?

I understand why people listen to music on streaming sites but it is a terrible business model for musicians. The sites simply don't pay musicians. On Spotify, 1 million listens equates to $17. That is enough to buy a couple sets of strings. Maybe a guitar pick, too, if there is a sale that day.

5. Looking again at your bio, we were kept reminded of that unbeatable opening line: ‘Our band could be your life.’ Jason, what do you say to all the kids who dream of a life in rock ‘n’ roll?

Well it depends on the kid. I wasn't the type of kid who would take advice from a 43 year old! But for anyone that thinks they want to get into music as a way of life, I would recommend they be prepared to be told "no" 300 times for every time they are told "yes". Be diligent, courteous, and work hard. Be prepared. Be unflappable. And have fun.

Thank you Jason for this great interview!

Oh, and did we tell you the story about the most sexy elbows in rock? 

Jared Artaud: I remember I discovered Raw Power and The Velvet Underground & Nico albums in the same year when I was about 16. That moment changed my life. 

Brian MacFadyen: There was no single moment for me, but if there were, I’d like to think it all began in utero at a B-52’s concert in 1992.

2. You’ll share the stage with Suicide in a few months’ time. You also have a split release with singer Alan Vega. What did you learn from him and what did he learn from you?

B.M:  Most memorable for me was checking out one of his lyric notebooks. He creates such interesting motion with just how he writes the words, each page appears almost as a steady stream of consciousness, uninterrupted from top to bottom. 

J.A: I learned a lot about the process of making art from Alan. Everything he does, whether it is light sculpture or music, flows from his original artistic filter. He also taught us the art of not compromising or taking shit from anyone. Alan is one of the most honest and creative people I have ever met.

3. Music geek question fast approaching: as a two piece band, what’s your favourite duos out there?

J.A: The Black Ryder, The Kills, Suicide, Spacemen 3.

B.M: Silver Apples, The Knife, Screen Vinyl Image.

4. We are all streamers now. Do you think there are still original ways of listening and sharing music online?

B.M: One cool avenue that’s been opened with online music / hi-speed downloads is the ability to post stems and have people make their own remixes of your material. I got a lot of practice mixing early on with just stems from groups I found that offered this on their sites.  It can become a sticky area of “WHO owns WHAT,” but the most original development with online music is ease of manipulation.

J.A: I think this process is constantly changing. The digital subscription age is here and venues like Spotify offer listeners an experience that is akin to what Netflix does for movies. The direction of music listening seems to revolve around smartphones and laptops right now. But the hardest thing about subscription based services is finding a way for artists to get compensated fairly. I think buying and listening to vinyl is still original. You have your own individual experience with this medium. You can’t beat that.

Thank you The Vacant Lots! Now go catch them on tour in Europe on March and April. And expect that sweet vertigo in your veins.

2. Is there an artist you would die to design her/his underwear? I am excluding Madonna, as I know she is an all-­time favourite of yours.

Other than Madonna (obviously), I am a huge fan of Jessica Lange. She wore our lace eyemask/choker this season on American Horror Story and that was an all time 'celeb-high' for me. I would also love to dress Iggy Azalea as I think she is a unique and modern icon for empowered females.

3. You had a pivotal role in Playboy as a creative director/vice president of design. Talk to us a bit about that position.

I resigned my role of VP of Design from Playboy last Oct to launch BEX nyc but I did have an incredible time working there and found it to be a very female empowered work culture and brand.

4. Do you think there is still room for original thinking when it comes to how we listen and connect through music online?

Yes, I think more now than ever, as there are many unique ways (my fav is tape.ly!) to customize our music and playlists.

Thank you Rebecca for this great interview!

After graduation, I decamped to the West Coast without any real plan other than I wanted to live in a place that had more sunshine. For a year or so, I worked odd jobs (including checking bags at Rasputin’s Records in Berkeley) and during that period I saw an exhibition at the SFMOMA about four Bay Area graphic designers: MIchael Vanderbyl, Michael Cronan, MIchael Manwaring and Gerald Reis. That work—energetic, colorful, witty, multidisciplinary—made a big impression on me. When I discovered that they all taught at the California College of the Arts (then CCAC), which was also a few blocks away from where I was living, I decided to enroll in the graphic design program there. Within the first few weeks of classes, I knew I had found my calling. I’ve run on those fumes ever since.

Both my parents are very musical. My father plays both the saxophone and clarinet. My mother is a classical pianist and choral singer. Neither one does it professionally, but they still make time for it in their lives. My father plays in multiple jazz bands and my mother still sings in a choir. I regret that I never got very good at an instrument. I’m a so-so drummer and have never really played with a band outside of some jam sessions and one-off gigs at parties. I can cheat a bit on guitar if it it doesn’t require any finger picking and friends say I can carry a pretty good tune at our occasional karaoke outings.

'There was something so intimate and special about making a mixtape that was intended for one person and one person only. That’s almost altogether lost now. Maybe Tapely will bring some of that depth back?'

My obsession with collecting music and making mix tapes started in pre-adolescence when my family got its first cassette deck. Back then, the only ways to discover music were bad FM radio and MTV, so my playlists would veer from R.E.M. to Rush to Talking Heads to Steely Dan. In college I both DJ-ed big dance parties and co-hosted a weekly radio show. I was lucky to find likeminded people who had broader musical tastes—thanks to Phil, Rudy, Tim and Wes— and that open-minded eclecticism has stuck with me. I resurrected my dance music DJ career for about 5-7 years in the early 2000s which was fun, but it’s a young person’s gig and so now I just fiddle on my setup at home every so often. I still go to a lot of live shows, but increasingly I bolt for places to sit rather than the front of the stage. As Jarvis Cocker said, 'Help the aged.' Ha-ha!

2. Volume Inc., the design agency you co-founded, is a perfect example of a solid cultural station. How do you see the future of this endeavor and your own personal excursions in the creative fields you’ve explored so successfully? 

'Solid cultural station'? You’re making me blush. I’m not sure we fulfill the promise of that term, but thanks! 

Design is at an interesting crossroads right now. It used to be this secret select club of people and now it’s everywhere. “Design thinking” is the buzz phrase du jour. Every major corporation and tech company is setting up an in-house design department. We’ve arrived! But not everyone is comfortable with the spotlight, and I can understand why a lot of designers want to just keep making, say, silkscreened posters or letterpress art. 

The Volume studio (Eric is in the red hat in the background)

The recent, seismic shifts in technology have both enabled and marginalized designers, depending on the kind of work one does. If you’re a digital, product, or UX designer right now, the future seems very bright. If you’re a print designer, not so much.

'Music packaging doesn’t have the cultural cache it once did. It never will. That ship has sailed. We’ll all be streamers soon. What I love about streaming, though, is how easy it is to create comprehensive playlists and share them.'

I’m an unrepentant, unabashed print lover and I’m confident that print books, magazines, and limited run LPs will always be around in some capacity. Many small presses are flourishing in the face of all these Kindles and iPads. Jack White is a selling a lot of vinyl. But how long can these endeavors that are predicated on a lot of people (myself included) doing the work as a labor of love really last? I’d feel a lot more secure as an Etsy employee than someone who sells products on their site. But I doubt I’d love it as much as the makers who love their work making those wares. Such is the dilemma for many of us.

John Maeda summed it up really well recently: 'Designers who can go deep in technology like a computer scientist, and who can also understand people like a social scientist, are the designers who can think and create at the scale of millions of users. They are the ones who can manage the shifting standards and technologies that seemingly change every week. They are the ones the world needs right now.' 

I’m sure some designers are really empowered by this statement, while others are completely freaked out. For me it’s a little of both. How can I keep that craft, that tactility, that beauty, that soul in my work, and still create relevant design? Or even just make a living? These are exciting and intimidating times, my friends…

3. Can you name your favourite drummers and designers and say a word or two on your picks?

Much easier question!

Drummers, in chronological order:

-Stewart Copeland: sort of punk, sort of reggae, sort of prog. Usually drummers keep the beat, but Copeland was the hiccup in the Police’s music that wouldn’t go away. And they were all the better for it. 

-Neil Peart: If you were teenage suburban nerd in the 80s, this was a no-brainer. 'Tom Sawyer' was the holy grail of rock drumming.

-Bill Berry: I used to diminish his role in R.E.M., but after he left the band the music lost a lot without the idiosyncratic propulsion and drive of his drumming.

-Nirvana-era Dave Grohl: just listen to the live version of 'Scentless Apprentice' on 'From the Muddy Banks of the Wishka'. Jee-zus.

-Jimmy Chamberlain: just listen to 'Geek U.S.A.' on 'Siamese Dream'. Jee-zus, redux.

-Brian Chase: throwing syncopated jazz drumming into the punk chaos of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs really shouldn’t work as well as it does. 'Rockers to Swallow' says it all.

A still from Volume's YBCA you campaign

Designers, also in chronological order:

-Reid Miles: his now-iconic modernist take on the then-equally modern jazz music for the Blue Note sleeves of the 50s and 60s is a masterclass in minimum-means/maximum-effect graphic design. His sleeve for Jackie McLean’s 'Right Now' is probably my first graphic design-related memory. (Thanks, Dad!)

-Barney Bubbles: his witty, artful covers for Elvis Costello and other new wave bands were the wallpaper of my youth and a cornerstone of smart, postmodern design. (Sadly, he committed suicide in the early 1980s.)

-Peter Saville: the cool Britannia designer par excellence, his work for Joy Division and New Order has lost none of its alluring mystery. 

-Vaughan Oliver: the raging 4AD id to Saville’s composed Factory ego. I saw him lecture in SF in the 90s and the first image he showed was a photo of himself grinning into the camera as he held his wife’s placenta minutes after she gave birth.

-Tibor Kalman: as his former employee Scott Stowell recalled, “Tibor said, ‘Everything I do is motivated by this,’ and then thrust his middle finger in the air.” Design needs enfant terribles like Tibor more than ever. 

-Brian Roettinger: he’s managed to carve out a really original and idiosyncratic body of work including sleeves for No Age, art-related projects and running his own record label.

-Oliver Munday: everything this guy touches is gold. I could scroll through the images on his website all day…

-Jeremy Mende: he’s a good friend and we’ve collaborated in the past, so I’m a little biased. But every time I see a new project he’s done, I feel humbled by the talent, drive and intelligence that’s gone into it. 

4. As a restless creative individual, how do you assess the changes music has undergone in the digital landscape? What do you value personally in creating online mixtapes and curating your own soundworld?

Scarcity always makes something more valuable. Recorded music isn’t scarce anymore and with ubiquitous access, its value has inevitably waned. When I spent my hard-earned teenage money on an LP, I listened to it a lot, even if it wasn’t great. (And how many great albums actually take hold on the first listen anyway?) Yet with the deluge of music at my disposal now, if a piece of music doesn’t grab me in that first listen, I move onto the next album on my never-ending list of new music. How much great music have I missed because I didn’t give it enough time? (Or because it got a 6.9 rating on Pitchfork?)

Live music, though, seems to be thriving. I could probably go to a different music festival somewhere in the world every weekend of the year or to a great small-to-medium venue show every day of the year. And if you’re going to buy merchandise, why not do it at a live show where there’s no middle man?

Certainly I miss the experience of physical media—as a listener and a designer. The music of 'Imperial Bedroom', 'London Calling', 'The Joshua Tree', 'Unknown Pleasures', 'The Queen Is Dead', 'Kid A', 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' and countless others is inextricably tied to the memorable packaging that came with it. But with the deluge of music comes a deluge of imagery, too, and rarely at the size of a CD, let alone an LP. Music packaging doesn’t have the cultural cache it once did. It never will. That ship has sailed. Sure, a niche subculture of those who still relish the physical artifact will remain, but even the MP3 file is on its way out. We’ll all be streamers soon. 

What I love about streaming, though, is how easy it is to create comprehensive playlists and share them. No time limits, almost every song that comes to mind available to add to the playlist. If I want to create a best-of compilation for a favorite band, piece of cake. And if I really like the music from, say, the series, 'True Detective', someone inevitably has already created that playlist and made it public. 

A still from Volume's exhibition at the Western Gallery, Bellingham, Washington

Since the 90s, I’ve made a 2CD compilation of the year’s best music. It’s meticulously curated and paced. Up until a few years ago I would always design custom packaging and make individual copies for all my musically-inclined friends. I still make that mix, but more recently it’s assembled in iTunes and simply uploaded to a drive a few of us share. I also create a longer single playlist in Spotify shared with that network. The upside? It’s much easier, less wasteful of materials, and I can get it out to more people. The downside? That care I took in the packaging, that physical personalized gift that my friends received, is no more. I’ve sacrificed that personalization for convenience and overall reach, however anonymous. And how many of my friends still relish getting it? I really don’t know. 

Thanks to social media and the services like streaming that piggyback on it, we’re certainly more connected. I love having so many friends, opinions and resources at my fingertips at all times. But I sometimes wonder if that breadth is at the expense of depth. There was something so intimate and special about making a mixtape that was intended for one person and one person only. That’s almost altogether lost now. Maybe Tapely will bring some of that depth back? 

Thank you Eric for this great interview!

A Sample of Luke's work

1. What got you into the realm of type design? What do you find there that you can’t take from anywhere else?

When I was kid I guess my first real exposure to interesting type and lettering was through font books that I’d use for headings on school assignments, graffiti books and skateboarding magazines. I was pretty obsessed with skating growing up and the graphics used on boards, merchandise and in the ads were a big inspiration. Artwork by the likes of Jim Phillips and the way that lettering was incorporated in illustrative ways into his pieces really spoke to me.

I’ve been involved with a couple of magazine businesses over the years and type always played a really important role from the very beginning of my design career. I started experimenting with developing typefaces that helped to express a particular design theme to carry across the edition and also begun to play with different ways to treat particular typefaces to further express the content of the specific feature that the lettering related to. It was quite experimental really but a great way to learn. It’s only really been the last 5 years or so that I’ve discovered I can make a living from working exclusively with type.

I’ve found that I can work on a really diverse range of projects being a lettering specialist which keeps me interested in what I’m doing. It’s rare for my projects to last longer than a few days so I’m constantly working on different topics, in different styles and with different people, which is great, and being a freelancer it means that I can work to my own schedule.

2. Do you think there is a place where music and design imbricate to create a new world?

I don’t know about a new world, but design and music have long had a great relationship. Bands and artists communicate a lot about their tone through the way they’re visually represented in LP cover art and posters etc. and if treated well their design theme can become as recognisable as the music itself and contribute to the brand of that artist. There are so many amazing musician logos out there too. Music has a great influence over my state of mind and affects the way that I approach my work also. 

3. Share a secret inner thought that kept you safe and sound in the most challenging phases of your work.

I guess one of the fortunate things about the way I work is that if I am at a particularly challenging stage of a project, I can take solace in the fact that it’s all going to be over soon. My work doesn’t tend to drag on for too long and deadlines are often super tight, particularly with publishing clients. Another fortunate thing is that I can choose to take on a job or I can say no to it, so I have a lot of control on what I spend my days doing. If I think someone is going to be difficult to deal with or the brief isn’t something that I feel I want to be spending my time on, I won’t do it.

View of Luke's workspace

4. Did you ever use physical cassette tapes to make mixtapes? As an expert listener in the online era, why do you think we still love compiling our favourite music?

I remember when I was around 5 or 6, my sister and I used to religiously listen to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 and we’d record on our cassette deck different tracks and then with a microphone would back announce like it was our own radio program. Around my 10th birthday, I was given a double tape deck ghetto blaster and that changed everything. Once I was a teenager I would constantly be making mixtapes and listening to other peoples tapes too. That’s how I was exposed to a lot of the music I hadn’t heard before. 

Compiling a mixtape or playlist is kind of like planning a journey or something.  Regardless of the technology involved in putting it together, it’s a lot of fun and quite a personal thing to share with others. Each track has a unique relationship with the one that precedes it and the one that follows and depending on where it falls it can really change the way you appreciate the music.

I actually see it as a vital part of my overall creative process. I listen to music all day while I work so I try to put together a playlist every few weeks to carry me through and break up my days.

Thank you Luke for this great interview!

You can follow Luke Lucas on Tapely here.

1. Share some thoughts of yours on your award-­‐winning novel Us Conductors, now that it sees your tail lights.

Publishing my first novel felt like a privilege and a relief. So happy to be here, and also so relieved to finally have that first thing out in the world - all that labouring transformed into paper and ink. The story of the theremin is a haunting one and I'm delighted it's out in the world, singing a little louder. I'll also be happy not to have to keep hauling one around.

2. Can you describe that special moment when you decided to write on music?

There was no special moment. But I'm fascinated in that tiny instant where a song, made by musicians, touches an individual heart. What happens there, to that particular person? What story takes place?

3. What’s that song from 2014 that you are going to take with you?

 Tobias Jesso Jr's "True Love".

4. We now have an online ocean of sounds. How important is it to curate music after all?

 We desperately require human curators! To make sure that we don't just hear songs akin to the ones we've heard before, but others that are completely different. 

You can listen to Sean's playlist for his novel Us Conductors here:

Thank you Sean for this great inteview!

2) Six filtering dimensions: In case you know what you want, our new filtering tabs can be your best secret weapon. These are Genre, Mood, Activity, Location and two more playful and abstract filters: Colour (if you are a decided visual type and want to choose your music based on colours that dominate the mixtape’s layout) and Random, a filter that encourages chaotic walkabouts with many unexpected findings to be cherished.

3) Search: It all comes down then to the final feature, our totally new search engine. Designed to make ultra-accessible the thousands of mixtapes hosted currently on Tapely, the new search feature gives you unprecedented sharp reach to the full body of music collections with just a simple word search. Moreover, it encourages a deeper selection, as an initial artist search can lead you to a mixtape that will surprise you and reward you even more.

The right music

“On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music on the radio.” said Hunter Thomson.

Here at Tapely, we remain dedicated to bring back awe and extreme joy in the act of finding and sharing the right music.

Yours,