🎰 Eleven PDX Magazine May by Eleven PDX - Issuu

our emotions and our relationships. Meanwhile, Greg Edwards announced a reunion tour with Failure and released a new album with the group, their first since Autolux has never fit neatly within genre anyway, even though they are often presented that way, constantly compared to My Bloody Valentine and other shoegaze supergroups. But trying to characterize Autolux as any one genre is to cheapen their sound and deny their ability to subtly borrow from many different kinds of music. Beyond their 17 ELEVEN PORTLAND www. Get ahead of the game. I think growing up listening to so much Menomena, and also Figley and I and Sam have been making music off and on since we were in eighth grade in a very communal writing fashion so it was just natural for us to do. kinda has its own story and own life that How do you feel about the genre title art-pop or art-rock being attached to you? Before I started singing to I enjoy for the song craft. Never really a break from Autolux, no matter what it feels like. TL: This feels important. of the Sonic Cloth Batholith Nu Shooz B. ST: Sama Dams is one of the best Portland bands, along with Chanti Darling and Yeah Great Fine. And when we met him, we realized his upbringing was with a hardcore band and that he comes from all these experimental rock bands, so he has all of these different elements in him. He also added another level—he has this whole dark hip-hop side of him, as well as electronic. He was a huge fan of ours, he knew all of our material, it was so effortless to work with him. We actually had a good show. The new album is filled with the unexpected: dominating synth melodies grinding up against addictive, aggressive rhythms that show a confidence and adventurousness not present on their prior releases. We wanted to do something short and sweet. This is not a straightforward album, and the delight apparent within the group throughout each song means that the listener is free to come along for a ride of crafted touch and effervescent songwriting that have been hallmarks of Animal Eyes. But that was the only limitation we put on ourselves. in that aspect. TL: I always look at it like a series of journal entries. It was our first really great show where Frank, or did you let Autolux go in that time to focus on your other projects? I guess that was still a while ago. Their latest album, Where We Go, is of the many shades of life; at least regarding their friends, lovers and family there have been few emotions with which it has not been closely colored. Colin McArthur: But it was great. You know they say being in a band is like having a bunch of girlfriends. We wanted to make a classic length album, no more than 40 minutes long, instead of something really drawn out. CA: With our last album, if we had met him at that point, we would have had him produce that record. What drew you to that? Drummer Carla Azar toured with Jack White during his Blunderbuss tour and acted in the movie Frank alongside Michael Fassbender. The one thing we did know was that we wanted to make a shorter album. NE HOLLYWOOD NE Sandy Blvd com ELEVEN PORTLAND 16 little more than 15 years ago, Los Angeles played matchmaker in the way that only a city so big and buzzing can, fating Eugene Goreshter and Carla Azar to meet, working on a movie score. CA: It was the latter. Because the other times one of us will just write a song in our bedroom and then take it to each other and say "hey what do you guys think? TL: Fleece? B Scotty ATL London Jae Life During Wartime Scott Pemberton 23 SW ASH ASH STREET SALOON 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 24 Cannabidroids Coloring Electric Like 9Skys Eastern Sunz The Nouns Bad Habitat DJ ATM Disenchanter Year of the Cobra Curse of the North The Stolte Boys Barret C. The album turns out to be a personal and multi-voiced diary, and the listener learns from the entries that Animal Eyes have something to share, a vision, that they are storytellers, that they have struggled music and being a young kid because there was so much community support, but it was still very limited as far as seeing live bands and going to shows. I totally get why, I just thought maybe if your new writing was going to go in a different direction you might want to work with someone else. Fortunately, drummer Carla Azar had time in between weekends at Coachella to chat with ELEVEN about working with Boots, the future of the band, and what inspires her most as an artist. CA: I would have to say yes. Its complexity mirrors ours. I mean, the press loves to categorize us. We started really writing for this record in , a little bit in com one you had produced by Boots. That word at this point in time is a joke. Around that same time Azar met Greg Edwards while he was touring with his band Failure. CA: There have been a couple. SE LADD'S SE 11th Ave com 21 NE GLISAN THEATER 22 STAR 13 NW 6TH CLUB 21 3 6 7 10 12 13 15 16 20 21 22 27 28 The Von Trapps Portland Funk Fellowship Shafty Nothing But Thieves The Wrecks Modern English Soft Kill Underpass Lunch Richmond Fontaine The Minus 5 Mike Coykendall Turkuaz Wild Belle James Supercave Witch Mountain Bros. Listening to their three full-lengths side-by-side, the evolution between each album is tangible. We want to keep felt confident after we played and like we were pulling off writing right now. And with us we are so comfortable Some the lighter situation where you can just break up. Do you worry sometimes that complexity might scare away fans looking for easy digestion? Comparatively, what were some of the benefits of having it produced by someone else? Photo by Todd Walberg we give it. The other songs were written after my tour with Jack White. We want new music the material. Just kind of now some portraits of the human making it up. I think we still make it pretty pop sensible. From top to bottom, the true highlights of Where We Go pop up on nearly every track. For sure. I feel like the toughest TL: Anchorage, which would be a four-hour drive to see a rock band. Totally DIY. TL: But I feel art-pop is a little misleading. TL: A super new band called Each Both is popping up on the scene. com deftness as musicians, each successive release conveys a new level of depth, a better perception of audience, and an adeptness in layering sound that can only be achieved with time, curiosity and passion. HM: We had to make the live music happen. The Third Man Records show was a great show. And then playing [The Late Show with Stephen to come out. Maybe this attitude was born from their time spent apart; although Autolux stayed at the forefront of all their minds, between and most of the group worked extensively on other projects. Figley: Fog Father. We organized a lot of band than this particular album.

very limited. Just get stoned and jam. He had a lot of incredible ideas as well. everything came together. com ELEVEN PORTLAND 20 features national scene What was the writing and collaboration process like CA: There were a couple inspiring things.

And it takes a lot of pressure off. Together, the three began writing and playing as Autolux, a band that has, for no good reason, flown mostly under the radar all these years. TL: We can really abuse each other and continue. CA: Always thinking about it. HM: The biggest show I ever saw growing up was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the high school auditorium when I was That was the guitar player and a singer it could still be big whoop-di-doo. Colbert] was another great show; we all really enjoyed that. I know some people do this and I would like to do it someday, where we set out to make a certain kind of record. I remember my mom played around a campfire and be a song. com TL: A lot of times those communal singing ones are also written based around a drumbeat. Haven will map out a full structure on the drums, the verse beat, the chorus beat, the bridge beat and this is how they all interact with each other. Someone, when we are doubting ourselves, to reassure us or to push us. Art enthusiasts will enjoy a variety of local artwork on display and sold comission-free! Especially somebody that brings something to the table like he did. com ELEVEN PORTLAND 18 Photo by Elliot Lee Hazel features national scene Autolux live at Coachella, Photo by The1point8 ELEVEN: How was your first weekend at Coachella? TL: It was fun growing up in Alaska because we were at a stage in music experience where jamming was still really fun and we did it all the time. We picked the best songs we could put together on the record and they ended up on there.