Cake #2

The Always Classy Charlotte Sometimes

Interview with Caution Children

Reviews of MONO, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Anni Rossi and MSTRKRFT

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Editorial

Housekeeping And SuchCover Photo : Barnaby Roper

Back Photo: Taylor McIntyre

Financier : Derek Rogers

Layout: Brad Collins

Title Design : Brad Collins

Copy Editor: Alex Palombo

Staff Photographer: Taylor McIntyre

Coloring Crew: Rose Cohen Westbrooke, Danielle Hendrick-son, Taylor McIntyre

Assistant Editor : Joanna Cook

Editor In Chief: Ryan Bryant

Special Thanks : Lisa DiAngelo, Charlotte, The Staff, Our Amazing Readership, Good Music

The opinions expressed within express those of the individual writers or interview subjects and not necessarily those of the publishers of the magazine as a whole.

As soon as we finished the first issue I sent it to These Electric Lives and other artists we would be interviewing. The fact that they loved it meant everything. The fact that people at IC who read the zine loved it meant everything. Thank you to all who picked up our first issue. If this is the first issue you’re reading, thank you. We’re a super super small publication and it takes so much work to make each issue. Luckily, it’s so worth it. Getting to talk to amazing people like Charlotte and Caution Children is worth all the time it takes. These people are making some of the best music around and they deserve to be heard. Amazing readers: do you have a small band or indie group that you keep thinking more people need to hear? Do you know some amazing song that just came out that people just have to download? Send us an email. Let us know, or better yet come to a meeting. We’re kind of stowaways in Bogart right now, but we hope to have our own room soon. We meet from 7-8 on Thursday nights. Come on over, hang out, share some music and be part of something delicious. -Ryan Bryant Cake Editor In Chief

Must Download 1. “On Trade Winds” – Air France

2. “Get Off” – Diplo and Blaqstarr

3. “Houses” – Great Northern

4. “Alone” – Dan Black

5. “Epiphany” – Chrisette Michele

Delicious Music Video “Happy Up Here” –Röyksopp

Artist to WatchWhere To BeFriday March 27thAfrican Children’s Choir @ The State Theater 8pmTicket Prices Available OnlineReserved Seating

Caution Children with Hugo and Jounce @ The Nines10 PM$5.00

Sunday March 29th:Keller Williams @ The State Theater 8PMTickets $22.50

Wednesday April 1st:Gomez and Josh Ritter @ The State TheaterReserved Seating. $22.50

Friday April 3rd:The Flatlanders with Joe Pug @ The State Theater8PMReserved Seating. Prices listed online.

Imagine if an indie-rock lover made themselves a music box. There would be melancholy melodies like those of early Coldplay. The

sweet tinkling of xylophone and chimes would dance over the melody, a raspy voiced singer would layer into the sound and a simple drum beat would keep the ballerina spinning in time. This music box of a band is Dignan, a Texan band inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “magical realism” and popular indie bands Arcade Fire and Sigur Rós. The band formed in the wee hours of the morning in a local church, with the group spending their nights with soda and songwriting rather than out being rebels without a cause. They released their first EP “The Guest” in 2007 and toured three times before 2008. By keeping their songs simple and pure in a world full of electronically-perfected competition, Dignan makes getting back to basics sound beautiful. -Alex Palombo

Courtesy of Astralwerks

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From releasing material on her own as a teenager to hosting her own playlist on VH1 and touring her debut full-length at Warped Tour, Charlotte Sometimes has come along way. She dishes about all the work she’s done, her blogging and all the excitement that is just around the corner.

Cake: You originally started releasing your own music independently before you got signed. What was it like working on your own?

Charlotte: It’s hard work, you know? When I was young, it gave me good focus in my life. I never got the chance to get caught up in high school, being really social and being mixed with the wrong crowd, since I was so focused on my career. I was doing everything with publicity and funding records. It took a lot of my time. It was a good experience. I’m glad I worked so hard for so many years when I was young.

Cake: “Waves and The Both of Us” came out last year. What was it like when everyone started giving you attention? You were on VH1! What was it like with that major change?

Charlotte: Yeah. A lot of things changed. It was weird. Especially when I went back to see my hometown. A lot of kids had seen [me] on TV. I was probably making it such a bigger deal then it was. If you’re an artist your never expect it to happen where you are. You always want to be more and do more. So, it doesn’t matter. I’m not that successful. It was really cool. I think my favorite moment was when I was recognized a few times. It was pretty hilarious. One time I was at Starbucks and this girl, looked like she was straight out of Hot Topic. She was maybe sixteen, with braces and long puffy hair. She was shouting, but I couldn’t hear her because of the window. She was like, “You’re Charlotte.” She just kept shouting it and came in. She came into the place and pointed at me, still saying it and I can hear her. I say hello and she runs away. It was probably one of my favorite moments.

Cake: You were at Warped Tour last year. What was it like touring with so many bands at one time?

Charlotte: It was intense. Warped Tour is intense. I feel like that word is the best to describe Warped Tour. Just, intense. It was really fun. You get to meet a lot of new people. I got to reach out to a lot of fans that wouldn’t normally see my stuff. It was a really great broadening experience for me. It made me grow as a person and not be such a, what’s the word, diva I guess. It made me learn how to be really dirty all the time. You might not be able to shave your legs when you have to play a show.

Cake: Is a new album the big thing you’re working on for 2009?

Charlotte: Yeah. I’m working really hard on it. We have tons of songs now. It’s kind of just weeding bad ones out… There’s just so many steps you know? We just want to get it right.

Cake: You’ve done a video with Adam of The Royal Chains and a cover of “Apologize” with New Atlantic. Do you have any desire to do any duets in the future, possibly on an album?

Charlotte: Yeah, definitely. I just put up the one with my friend Adam that we wrote the other day together. I would love on the next album if we have some other singers on it. I think it could be fun. I don’t want to do it in the way where it seems so forced, like trying to find people who I think will help my career...I want to do what’s right for the song, not what’s right for my career.

By Ryan Bryant Photographs by Barnaby RoperCharlotte Sometimes

Cake: Yeah. Your [duets] feel more like an experience than someone who has to have these eighteen producers and these people singing with her.

Charlotte: I think there’s a way that if you’re smart, you can make anything work. You have to be smart about it. You have to go into it with a business attitude, but understand that you can only be yourself. You can’t be anyone else.

Cake: You’re an active blogger. What’s it like being able to share material constantly with your fans?

Charlotte: It’s so much fun for me. It’s almost like when you know your parents don’t let you go out and you kind of sneak out, or you find some way to interact with the world? This is kind of like the label. The management are my parents, and this is my way of being able to escape it all and still be able to communicate with the outside world. The [fans] can hear the songs that I’m working on and have an opinion, or songs that would never make an album that I’m into. My biggest problem is that I’m not genre specific when it comes to writing. I write a song at least once every other day. They can be completely different that what’s going to be on my album. I’ll have an idea for the album and only write songs for that CD. Then, I’ll write other songs that are just for me. It’s nice that I can share that with people online. They can kind of get a different idea that I’m a songwriter, not just a performer.

Cake: You have quite a great style. I see you’ve done an apron thing. Do you have any plans to do any mini fashion projects on the side?

Charlotte: Yes, definitely. Fashion is really important to me. I think I will continue to try new things out… I can’t really decide on whether I’m tired of aprons for the next album or not. I have new ideas, so we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.

Cake: Are there any albums or artists you’re looking forward to in 2009?

Charlotte: Is there any? No, I can’t think of any. I kind of just let things find me. I feel like if I’m meant to hear it and meant to like it, it will end up in my hands or on my computer somehow.

Cake: Since you are such an independent person, is there any advice you’d like to give to new artists who are trying to start their own project?

Charlotte: You have to make it happen yourself. Create a goal that you want. If you don’t create a definitive picture of what you want then no one else is going to know how to help you. Don’t doubt yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will.

Cake: Is there anything else that you’d like to say to our amazing readership?

Charlotte: Amazing readers…please if you haven’t bought the album go get it. If you downloaded it illegally, buy a t-shirt off the web store. If you happen to blog, let’s be blogging friends.

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Caution ChildrenBy Ryan BryantPhotographs by Taylor McIntyre

Aaron Terkel, Steve Burton, Mike Grippi, Pat Haggerty, Alex Rosenblatt and Reece Lazarus, better known as Caution Children, are a pop rock outfit who offer catchy tunes that will certainly have you dancing like mad. The guys open up about their beginnings and the local music scene.

Cake: Do you want to talk about how the band started and how you guys all got together?

Steve: I started recording things on my own under the name Caution Children when I got to college in September of 2006. I did that for awhile, just doing my own thing. A year later a guy asked me if I wanted to do an open mic because he knew that I recorded stuff. I said “sure, but I don’t want to do it alone.” So, I assembled some people. We kind of kept going

because it was fun and I liked playing with the people. It evolved in various ways until it got to be the group that it is now.

Mike: When we played that first show it wasn’t a full band. Well, it was a full band but we were playing little kids instruments.

Alex: We played with [Mike] earlier than that. Pat, Mike and I had a thing. We tried to incorporate Steve but it just didn’t pan out…That’s how we got sucked into it.

Steve: We picked up Reece because he was in a band with me last year, the Tundra Toes. We kind of had to disband. I said, “We can use a saxophone player and somebody to dance around.”

Alex: It’s been cool to see… from the laptop beginnings, to toy playing with fucking xylophones and shit…Then we started adding instruments.

Pat: We’ve played with a lot of different people over the last couple of years.

Reece: That’s kind of how everything goes around here though.

Steve: You play with everybody until you settle into something that’s comfortable.

Alex: It’s kind of like hooking up. [Laughs] Cake: What do you guys think about the local Ithaca music scene?

Steve: I like it. I grew up around Ithaca, so I grew up with the whole thing. Bands that I wouldn’t sort of have any natural affinity for like the Sim Redmond Band and Donna the Buffalo…It was a formative experience listening to that stuff. I liked it. I’ve been involved in some way or another since tenth grade… It’s close to my heart.

Alex: I think it’s cool because Ithaca College has the Rozatones and Jimkata, and is a specific genre of music. We’re now playing out in the community as opposed to an Ithaca College audience. We’ve played at Cornell, we’ve played with downtown bands and we’re playing with some touring bands.

Steve: The thing about the Ithaca music scene that kind of makes it strange, is what would be considered alternative in a lot of places is kind of the mainstream. The world music is kind of the mainstream in Ithaca. To play something like we do, which is straight pop rock n’ roll is somehow kind of subversive in away…It’s strange how it works out like that.

Cake: Is there anything you’d like to see change in the Ithaca music scene?

Alex: I think it’s worth mentioning the Ithaca underground group…It’s this guy Bubba and some people who have added this new scene to Ithaca. It’s kind of like a smaller hardcore, almost metal scene… He’s putting on a show with us and he’s been bringing in college things. He’s doing the awesome thing of bringing the smaller bands together, providing spaces for them and setting that up.

Steve: I don’t know if it’s so much creating the scene as bringing together the resources and the willpower to collectively do these things. No Radio is closing. There’s another all ages opener there. But, other than that, the live music scene is dominated by bars…The all ages thing [is what] the Ithaca underground thing is championing a lot.

Reece: I heard they did 108 for the first all ages Saturday… I come from a real all ages music background... I had to go out of my way and search to find it. Having even like one [show] a month is more than a lot of people get in high school. That’s really important as far as I’m concerned.

Alex: And he’s really willing to do a diverse amount of genres…He’s really this gregarious, friendly dude. It’s cool to see him bring a lot of stuff to Ithaca.

Cake: If you guys had to pick a director direct a movie about your band, who would you pick?

Steve: I was thinking something stupid like Jerry Bruckheimer. [Laughs] That way it’s some stupid action shit. The person inside me who likes things aesthetic says Michael Ghondry, something nice. But, no.

Reece: We make blockbusters.

Alex: Jerry Bruckheimer!

Cake: If you guys had one band cover one of your songs, which band would you pick?

Steve: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I don’t know what they would cover.

Reece: They can cover “It’s Rock n’ Roll.”

Cake: If there’s a fact that not many people know about you, what is it?

Alex: You can put anything on a waffle.

Aaron: You can put anything on a waffle.

Alex: You can’t strike a match on a waffle.

Aaron: We can explain I’d drink that. Do they know about I’d drink that?

Pat: We all lived together in a house, the five of us and Reece kind of just had a bed in the basement. We’re going on about stupid inside jokes we had living together but if you want to sum it up, we’re a pretty close group of guys living together and playing music together.

Cake: Is there anything you’d like to say to someone starting their own band in Ithaca?

Steve: Do it, balls to the wall…Just go for it.

Alex: Pistols to the sky.

Cake: Any last insightful words to our readership?

Steve: I hope people like pop music because sometimes that gets overlooked. There’s something very valuable to music that has hooks and music that’s played with energy. Sometimes people get caught up in the idea of being a virtuoso, and trying to create a band off of a bunch of virtuosos. I think that that’s kind of boring. I like idea of being really melodic and catchy and rocking peoples asses off.

Mike: Play music with your friends. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, as long as you have fun.

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REVIEWSIt’s Blitz - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have returned from a 3-year hiatus with the dazzling new album, “It’s Blitz”. It’s an incredible fusion of their fanatical first album, “Fever To Tell” and their mellower second album, “Show Your Bones”. Throughout “It’s Blitz”, Karen O’s vocals have seem to complement the insanity the rest of the band offers. The first track and single, “Zero”, takes a more dance-club route than we’re used to hearing from this wild rock group. Synth-guitars take over the song as Karen O politely resonates overtop. The song quickly snatches you into the album and you’re unable to get away from it until the last track is done. A second stand-out track is “Dull Life”, where Zinner’s impeccable guitar riff leads us in and Karen O simply takes advantage of the melody provided. The two seem to dance together, creating a sound that’s not quite heard from this band before. It’s refreshing to hear her in sync with her band’s discord

instead of creating too much to listen to. Like earlier Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums, “It’s Blitz” also lags in-

between raving songs because we’re just anticipating which way they’re going to go next. “Skeletons”, “Runaway”, and “Little Shadow” are little calm bits before the storms that follow. But as they’d have it, it’s never a lull we don’t want to hear – they’re tender moments inside the mind of Karen O. “It’s Blitz” is the album every alt-indie-rocker has been waiting for. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have gone down an orchestral, astral yet still quirky road. We’re used to hearing Karen O squawk and yell with Zinner in the background. Luckily, this album offers something new. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have found a way to turn their unique sound into something the masses will want to hear and yet haven’t sold out. It’s a fine line to walk and Karen, Nick and Brian dance all over it.

- Danielle Hendrickson

Just ever so gently strings begin to be layered with the other instruments. MONO chose not to employ vocals but let the music speak louder than words ever could. Towards the end of the song the guitars build with resonance as drums com-plete the dramatic ballad. Over the course of the album, MONO seems to employ a similar approach to great success.

Each song starts soft and then builds by either imbuing the track with guitar, strings or both. The result is an affecting sonic rollercoaster. For those who want to loose themselves in an endless ocean of sound, this album is definitely worth a listen.

- Ryan Bryant

Hymn To The Immortal Wind - MONO

Japanese post-rockers MONO release their fifth full-length studio album with “Hymn To The Immortal Wind.” The album is the evolution of a band that takes its refined sensibility into new waters. The band employs a bassist, drummer and two guitarists. These talented musicians are backed by an orchestra that fleshes out the tracks beautifully. Long-time collaborating producer Steve Albini allows the band to be all their own, crafting modern day classical gems. The seven track album starts with “Ashes in the Snow.” A picture of a mystical land covered in ice is set up by muted guitars and gentle chimes.

9/10

8/10

Courtesy of Interscope Records

Courtesy of Temporary Residence Limited

Fist of God - MSTRKRFT

MSTRKRFT’s sophomore album has been a long time coming. After their 2006 release “The Looks,” the duo have focused their attention on remixing and touring. They

have been utilizing more and more dirty synths and powerful vocals. Finally, members JFK and Al-P have brought these new interests to their second album, “Fist of God.” Unfortunately, the product proves to be overwhelming disappointing. “Fist of God” is a borderline tedious listen, with no real focus. The songs start how they end, with the only real progression being the progression of time. In an attempt to hide the completely aimless nature of most of the tracks, MSTRKRFT enlisted the help of a myriad of guest vocalists. Performers include John Legend, N.O.R.E and Ghostface Killah. Unfortunately, the aggressive nature of MSTRKRFT’s synths seem to only clash with these vocals. Furthermore, the lack of any real hooks makes the tracks incredibly unmemorable: after my initial listen, I couldn’t remember a single melody from the entire album. The most rewarding songs on the album, however, are the ones that don’t rely on vocals, which include “1000 Cigarettes,” “Fist of God,” and the previously released “Vuvuvu.” For what it’s worth, “Fist of God” is fast and loud. There is absolutely no denying that it is a club album, and in that context it undoubtedly succeeds. Outside the club, though, it’s uninspired, meandering and self-absorbed. It’s not catchy (like their previous release “The Looks”), amusing (like Mr. Oizo’s far superior 2008 “Lambs Anger”), or innovative (like the many EPs of SebastiAn). It’s just one for the club. - Derek Rogers

Rockwell - Anni Rossi

In her sophomore album, “Rockwell”, Anni Rossi continues her quirky yet catchy style, but this time adds cello and drums to her

usual viola. Think Joanna Newsome

with more predictability and less harp. “Rockwell” opens with two tracks from Rossi’s EP, “Afton”. “Machine” and “Ecology” continue her traditional, and sometimes sharp, viola-based sound with a few drumbeats interspersed. Adding more instruments as the tracks progress, she keeps her vocals away from the focus of the songs, using them only as a compliment to the music. “Rockwell” transitions smoothly into carefree songs “The West Coast” and “Deer Hunting Camp 17”. She takes a truly original approach to the sounds in Venice, ditching instruments and using her voice to create a bubbling onomatopoeia sound. At the end the album, Rossi slows down the songs using only her viola and eventually sings acapella, creating numerous harmonies with her voice. Her raw sound closes the album gracefully and with a feeling of accomplishment. Rossi has progressed as a musician between her EP and full-length album, leaving her as one of the artists to watch; her music can only get better and more complex.

-Kelli Southern

3/10 7/10

Courtesy of 4ADCourtesy of Universal

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