INTERVIEWS
Animal Collective ‘Drive Through a Certain Mist’ on New LP Time Skiffs
“Raw,” “free,” “loosey-goosey” — these are adjectives no one would use to describe Animal Collective‘s Painting With, an album so bright and intense it often feels like staring into a solar eclipse without the proper eyewear. Six years later, Animal Collective has returned with Time Skiffs, which feels more like gazing casually into a psychedelic forest — the scenery is more textured and detailed, hidden with colorful surprises. And, as the band’s Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Brian Weitz (Geologist) describe, it’s, well, a lot more “raw,” “free” and “loosey-goosey.” “It’s pretty typical with us for the new thing to be some kind of reaction to the previous thing,” Lennox tells SPIN over Zoom, making gentle eye contact as he swivels in a brown desk chair. “We’ve completely gon...
Panda Bear on Animal Collective’s Unceasing “River of Creation,” Eleven Albums In
It’s been nearly six years since Animal Collective released Painting With, their tenth studio album — but according to Noah Lennox (AKA Panda Bear), the time flew by. Each member of AnCo is immensely collaborative, constantly working on projects either in a solo capacity or with other members of the band. And now, on Friday (February 4th), Animal Collective are gearing up to release the gorgeous, captivating Time Skiffs. It’s their eleventh (!) studio album, and one of their finest to date. Time Skiffs was initially hyped to be something akin to 2007’s Strawberry Jam (which turns 15 years old this year), but upon listening, there’s an ease with which Animal Collective can pull off the most complicated and intricate patterns. On the album are meditations on growing older and parenthood...
Murderville: How They Made Will Arnett’s Wild Improvised Cop Comedy for Netflix
The premise for Netflix’s new semi-unscripted comedy Murderville isn’t actually that hard to explain, on the surface: Each episode, shot in the style of a classic police procedural, features a new mystery being investigated by a tough mustachioed cop (Will Arnett) and his trainee partner. The catch is that said trainee is a celebrity, and they don’t have any idea what’s going on, because only Arnett and the other actors have the script. This leaves famous folks like Season 1 guest stars Conan O’Brien, Marshawn Lynch, Kumail Nanjiani, Annie Murphy, Sharon Stone, and Ken Jeong to improv their way towards solving the case — which they may or may not do correctly. If that sounds complicated to you, showrunner Krister Johnson (Medical Police) would agree. “I certainly had never figured this out...
Erin Rae Breaks Down Her New Album Lighten Up Track by Track: Exclusive Stream
For our Track by Track feature, artists open up about the stories behind each song on their latest album. Today, Erin Rae takes us track by track through her new album, Lighten Up. After releasing her debut effort, Putting on Airs, in 2018, Erin Rae was living as the troubadours do. She spent the years between that release and the start of the pandemic on the road and, like any other artist, found that life come to a screeching halt. On Friday, February 4th, she’ll return with her new album, Lighten Up, an appropriate title both for our times and for the album. This latest collection is an amalgam of dreamy, psychedelic country, indie-rock, and believably vintage folk. Thematically, too, the album is a bit like an old kaleidoscope — social commentary and musings on gender equality mor...
Murderville Showrunner Wants Dave Grohl for a Potential Season 2
The upcoming Netflix series Murderville stakes an early claim to the title of “wildest comedy of 2022,” bringing together a number of elements, including cop parody, improv comedy, and famous people being pranked, to deliver something remarkably unique. And while the first season has yet to premiere, if you ask showrunner Krister Johnson who he might want to involve in Season 2, he has an answer: Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Each episode of Murderville features a trainee detective (played by a celebrity) being paired up with senior detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) to solve a crime — the catch being that while everyone else involved has a script, the “trainee” has no idea what’s going on, and has to improv their way through each scene before ultimately coming up with the answer to w...
Claude VonStroke Talks Experimentation, Surrealism Art and More: “I Don’t Think There’s Enough Risk-Taking In Our Scene”
Claude VonStroke wants your weird music. The Dirtybird co-founder and esteemed house music producer is currently on the hunt for the weirdest and most innovative music out there. “I listen to every track that is submitted for consideration on Dirtybird,” VonStroke told EDM.com in a recent interview. “It’s a crucial part of my day. But I feel like everything that’s been submitted recently sounds the same. I want to hear some new, weird stuff. That’s what I’m currently looking for right now.” This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows and listens to VonStroke’s music. Throughout his last 17 years spearheading Dirtybird’s events, apparel sales, and musical endeavors, he’s also managed to release six albums. While the tech house genre is known to be somewhat ...
Community of Remixers: How Audius’ Platform Is Driving Remix Culture In Dance Music
This feature was co-authored by Lev Kotia, Nakul Sharma and Bayleigh Bogan. As the streaming landscape competition continues to get more competitive between the likes of Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others, finding competitive advantages to drive paid subscribers has never been more complex. Despite a crowded landscape, some platforms have carved out a unique place for themselves in the world of music streaming that creates a focused and unique value proposition for creators and fans. One such platform is Audius, which uses blockchain technology to offer clarity and transparency for artists. Through Audius’ disruptive platform, artists can upload their music and have an immutable record of owning that content. If the content is misused, musicians can easily prove ownership of the intell...
David Bazan Lets Go of Grief on Pedro the Lion’s Surprise Trip to Havasu
If you’ve been a fan of David Bazan’s music for the past few decades, you know that releasing a surprise album is a sign of personal growth and acceptance. The veteran indie rocker has released numerous albums — both under the Pedro the Lion moniker and as a solo artist — that have dealt with his messy break with Christianity and the psychological damage the Church caused him. Keeping close tabs on his emotional state both with himself and his fans is something that he has always valued. But when it came time to release his new Pedro the Lion album, Havasu (which he spent the past year quietly recording), the idea of presenting this batch of songs all at once without advance singles seemed like the right thing to do. Since reviving Pedro the Lion after nearly 15 years, Havasu marks his sec...
We Need to Talk About Cosby: W. Kamau Bell on Having “The Bigger Conversation,” and If He’d Do a Sequel
It’s probably possible to spend an entire decade discussing Bill Cosby, the comedy legend who was eventually revealed to be a serial predator. For We Need to Talk About Cosby, director W. Kamau Bell got four hours. “Showtime was great about giving us every minute they could, to let us push it as far as we could. Some of these episodes are like 59:59,” he tells Consequence in a Zoom interview. Bell, who also currently hosts CNN’s United Shades of America, brought his insight as a comedian who grew up as a “child of Bill Cosby,” as well as his experience working in documentary television, to the four-part series, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival before its Showtime debut. The series tracks the entirety of Cosby’s career, putting into context the importance of the strides he...
Action, Murder, Musical and Romance: The Afterparty Cast and Creator on the Art of Genre-Bending
Technically, The Afterparty is one show, a murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie that tracks what happens when the celebration following a high school reunion becomes the site of tragedy for an obnoxious pop singer (Dave Franco). But it also could be said to be many different shows, as every member of the all-star cast, including Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, and Jamie Demetriou, is a suspect, and as Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) interviews them, their version of events mimics a popular genre of entertainment. Each episode thus focuses on one genre, from rom-com to action movie to musical and more, as meticulously recreated by creator Chris Miller, which he says evolved organically out of his original concept for the series. Advertiseme...
Måneskin’s La Dolce Vita
Stacked heels, glam Gucci ensembles and delightfully lascivious asides, Måneskin’s Saturday Night Live debut stunned. It was tamer than the quartet’s club show at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom gig in October, where bassist Victoria De Angelis played with only black electrical tape over her nipples and frontman Damiano David spat water (Iggy Pop-style) into the eager mouths of the rabid young female crowd. De Angelis and David then gleefully leaped into the arms of their adoring acolytes to crowd-surf, before David invited the entire audience on stage. They accepted. [embedded content][embedded content] Everyone who could fit clambered onto the stage and squeezed in next to the band as they played. Dozens of thrilled, disbelieving women shimmied onstage. Possessed of the smolder of Elvis ...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Lena Scissorhands of Infected Rain
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself and will release a new single, “Scars,” on February 4th with Upon Wings. This month’s piece features an interview with Lena Scissorhands of Infected Rain. Moldovan metal band Infected Rain released their fifth studio album, Ecdysis, on January 7th. Created during lockdown, the new record covers the gamut of themes, from the strength and power of the female experience (“Fighter”) to tumultuous world events that took place during pandemic (“The Realm of Chaos”). Infected Rain also just announced that they’re returning to North A...
