Between Prince writing horrible Vikings anthems, John Mayer not understanding the concept of TMI, or the mouth-breathing public continuing to heap adoration on gloried karoake stars, it’s an understandment that there’s a lot to be disappointed about in the music culture these days.
Which is why I get downright excited — high-fiving strangers excited — when I hear new material like that of Minneapolis-based experimental noise pop band Dada Trash Collage and their new Rain War EP.
Not conceptualized to sell records for the sake of selling records, Rain War won’t be the poppiest or most accessible album I’ve listened to 25 days into 2010. And that’s a great attribute. The best part about bands who hail from the school of Flaming Lips, Pet Sounds/Smile, and Animal Collective songwriting approach is when new material is refreshing, different, challenging yet compelling.
While I fall into various kicks on electronic, shoegaze, psychedelic, noise and indie rock genres throughout the year, rarely do I hear a band that touches on them all. To-boot, the group worked with producer Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire – “Neon Bible”, Animal Collective – “Feels, Strawberry Jam”) and have a full length, Neighbors, coming this spring.
To start the week off right, here’s an interview I did with Billy Freed (Samples, Vocals) about the group, the album, and the cult of musicality.
Who is the Dada Trash Collage?
It’s really a two person project of Richard Bell and Myself, but I think it’s no different then any band in that it takes more than just the people on stage or on the albums to make it happen. Specifically I would include Joel Cooper, Aj Jahnig, and Jessica Rae Williams as band members even if it isn’t from a musical standpoint.
How do you contribute to the MSP music scene? What’s your differentiator?
It’s so hard to say with the music scene in MSP. When we first started we had a lot of people telling us at shows that they liked what we were doing because it was so different than what a lot of people are going for in the cities. As we’ve been playing out over the last year and a half I’ve realized how much there is around here your not confronted with everyday. I think one thing that really separates us from other bands is the way we use our equipment. People aren’t used to seeing an electronic band without a laptop on stage. The samplers I use don’t run to a tempo clock, your triggering loops on the fly and if you fuck that up it’s real obvious to everyone listening. Also the combination of the samplers plus a live drummer isn’t something you see as often, it makes things feel less electronic and more like a band even if I’m not holding a guitar.
How would you define your sound?
If I have to I usually say experimental noise pop. The music is made for the most part with weird sounds and field recordings but when I go into the songwriting process, a good song is what I’m trying to write. I think that is something people are accepting on a much broader scale than in the past, and it’s great. There has always been bands that find an incredible balance between experimentation and good songwriting but these days it can get you more than just a cult following. It’s nice to see people appreciating both sides of things in popular culture, and it’s fueling some really amazing creativity in modern music.
When I hear the term experimental noise pop, there are few “breakthrough” artists in the genre. Name a few influencers and explain why?
I think first and foremost the Beach Boys or more specifically Brian Wilson stands out in my mind. What he was doing with the original Smile records was so ahead of it’s time that even 50 or so years later it took a few people to convince me it was worth wrapping my head around. Animal Collective has been very influential on my music as well. You listen to albums like Here Comes The Indian or Danse Manatee and its like someone trapped mental patients in a room who also happen to be incredible songwriters. Now one chorus of My Girls later M.I.A is talking about their influence on her new music and your thinking when the hell did that happen? The Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth have really helped things along, and I think The Books and Joanna Newsome are really incredible as well.
Tell me about your new Rain War EP. How did it come about?
We went out to Seattle in October of 09 to record a full-length album with Scott Colburn. Over the span of ten days we ended up recording 10 songs which was a little over an hour of music. Once the tracking sessions were sort of winding down and we started talking about a possible track listing, Scott was really the first one to say that we had too much music for one release.
We ended up dividing the songs from the Seattle sessions into 3 tunes for the EP and 7 for the full-length. The hardest decision for us I think when we were picking which went where was definitely the song Rain War. The version that ended up on the EP is actually a middle ground between the original version which was about two minutes longer, and a radio edit we considered for a single. When Scott was getting close to finishing the final mixes for the EP I had sort of a freak out moment and really hated the idea of a 3 song release.
There was this organ loop I wanted to use for the Seattle sessions, but because of an audio glitch halfway through never had time to work with. I sort of re-discovered it sometime in November and it took a few hours of editing the loop in Logic to remove the glitch. I spent the rest of the day writing and recording what would end up being “More To Life Then Surprise” the last song on the EP.
I sent the individual tracks to Scott and he did the final mix for the song. I wouldn’t in any way think of the EP as a collection of B-sides or weak tracks, but the full-length is definitely a more realized album.
How do you guys write songs? Is there a formula? How do work out the themes and expand on them with a producer?
I don’t really think there is necessarily a formula with songwriting, other then the songs starting with a general goal rather then a musical idea. Most of the time songs will start out with me thinking something like “it’d be cool to do a tune with a piano loop that doesn’t feel like it has a time signature, and then this heavy rhythmic thing comes in and blah, blah, blah” after that it’s sort of just finding that initial part and then building on it with field recordings and sounds and what not. I have a hard time accepting vocal melodies that I think people would expect over whatever is going on, so a good amount of the time I’ll end up re-writing the vocals over and over and then just combining all the idea’s into one thing. The lyrics on the EP and the Full Length are definitely more personal then things we’ve written in the past.
You worked with producer Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective) on your new Rain War EP. What was that like? How did he make your material better?
Scott Colburn is really an amazing producer, and an even more amazing person. I originally contacted him because of his work on “Feels” and the way he filled the space of the kick drum with Noah’s floor tom so well. He understood where we were coming from just by hearing the first demos I sent him of the new songs and before we even stepped in the studio he knew exactly how to accomplish it. He recognized that even though we use electronics we don’t like to think of ourselves as an electronic band and he made it a point to make things as organic as possible as it went along. I have a hard time picturing many
producers going “Oh your music is based on loops, well were going to record these songs live in the studio and we’re not going to use a click track.” Him and his wife Jaye are some of the nicest and most humble people I have ever met as well. I wouldn’t really mind recording anything I write with Scott.
The EP has some pretty sweet packaging that epitomizes your band name. Tell me about it. Where can people get it?
Because we were releasing the EP in January then coming out with a full length so soon in April we thought it would be really great to make the EP more of a limited special thing. I spent two months making the packaging by attaching Popsicle sticks to the outside of a regular jewel case. They turned out looking really cool, but it was also really boring and time consuming to do. I made 50 copies and those are pretty much gone at this point but we’re streaming/selling the album on our website as well as selling digital download cards at any shows we have coming up. We’re also going to make another 75 or so cd copies in more like a sleeve package.
You have a handful of gigs coming up. Where can folks hear you?
We’re playing on Feb 5th at the 501 Club for Lovelee Buttons Vigilante Justice shows. Dom from Dearling Physique asked us to do it and I’m super excited about it. It’s going to be sort of like a one night visual art exhibit with us, Hunting Club, and Phantom Tails playing as well as a DJ set from Dom and Midnight Energy.
After that we have a show on Feb 17th with Ghost in the Water who is amazing and another great band The New Monarchs. We’ve got a lot of shows coming up from now until April in the Twin Cities as well as some tour dates in March through the Midwest. We’re also going to be doing a small tour with Scott Colburn’s solo act Jabon, and a great band from Wisconsin Zola Jesus. That tour should be hitting Minneapolis on June 25th.
Catch Dada Trash Collage in the Minneapolis area:
- Feb 05 – 501 Club (w/ Buildings and Phantom Tails)
- Feb 13 – Club Underground (w/ Dissociate, Fische)
- Feb 17 – Sauce Sound Bar (w/ Ghost In The Water, more TBA)
- Mar 18 – Sauce Sound Bar (w/ Ultrachorus, more TBA)
Buy Rain War for $4 at DTC’s Bandcamp page.
