Cloud Boat first caught my ear with their tune “Lions on the Beach” which is finally getting its release on R&S Records this fall. Sam & Tom were kind enough to answer some questions about themselves and their music in hopes of painting a clearer picture of Cloud Boat, but I think their blurry and reverb soaked sounds are all you need to understand them.
1. Who is Cloud Boat? How would you describe your music?
We’re Sam Ricketts and Tom Clarke, and we live in North London. Describing music with words is always difficult, even more so when it’s our own. We just try to make emotional music without constraints in a way that feels right.
2. What is your first musical memories?
Sam – My earliest memories include an assortment of children’s TV themes, video game soundtracks and 70s/80s compilation tapes in my Mum’s car. I’d say beginning to listen to and be involved with classical music were the first instances that began to shape who I feel am musically today.
Tom – One is my dad singing Irish songs at parties when I was young, it never embarrased or annoyed me and I always listened intently. Another being me and my sister recording ourselves trying to harmonise nursery rhymes and singing songs in weird accents onto tape with an old knackered stereo that I still have. We’ve both recently realised that we were really fucking weird. [Read more]
When I listen to Fort lean I imagine it is a hazy summer afternoon and that their music is that refreshing summer breeze carries you into a lovely summers evening. There is something refreshing in the familiarity and vibe of Fort Lean and the the way they execute their music to-the-point Pop Rock.
“Dreams (Never Come True)” is my favorite cut off their 4 song EP that they are giving away on their Bandcamp. There is a touch of Roy Orbison thrown in with some 60s Pop vibes, but in the end just dig it y’all.
1. Who is Fort Lean? How and why did the five of you come together to form the band?
Fort Lean is Keenan Mitchell on vocals and guitar, Jake Aron on bass, Sam Ubl on drums, Will Runge on synths, and Zach Fried on guitar. We all met at college and have played together on and off for the last few years. We were all at a point at the beginning of 2011 where our other commitments had come to an end, and we’d all been meaning to get something going together. The timing worked out so we jumped on it.
2. As I browsed the official Fort Lean tumblr fortlean.com, I noticed a theme of “NYC Bum’s Living the Dream aka sleeping on the warm asphalt of the city”. Is this a metaphor for Fort Lean itself? A true meaning of the “sounds of the streets”? Discuss.
That is a actually part of an ongoing series that Keenan is working on titled “Guys Chillin.” . We are working with Gagosian Gallery on an exhibition of selected work in late fall 2011.
3. “The weather’s perfect all the time.” dominates the header of the Fort Lean website. What is this perfect weather you speak of?
At Fort Lean, which is a place you can go, the weather is perfect all the time. Hot but not too sticky, and you can sleep in the park comfortably without getting hassled by the cops. Fort Lean is about getting too drunk at your own picnic. Fort Lean is about leaving the city. Fort Lean is a place where you can still see the skyline but you can’t hear any cars and you can put all your stolen wine in the stream to keep it cool and when the fire dies out you can see some stars and not too many airplanes. [Read more]
Jim-E Stacks’ Lemme has been on repeat for me during these warmer times and I am sure it will be well into the end of the summer #summervibes. Mr. Jim-E was kind enough to answer a few questions revealing why cassettes are the ideal musical medium, that Leighton Meister’s music and Drake’s beats are the future and that he <3’s Jerome from LOL Boys with all his <3.
Check out Jim-E Stack’s latest remix of Chaos in The CBD’s “Birthday Song” – a feel good bumper of a tune that includes some lovely chopped up RnB vocals.
Club music. I guess my music is stuff you’d hear and dance to in the club…I hope. If I tell my aunt and uncle from Indianapolis that I make “club music” they can understand it in a general sense, so that’s cool. So many heads say they make this future-post-house-step-bass or whatever it is, but how are your aunt and uncle from Indianapolis supposed to understand that? Maybe they don’t need to. I dunno.
What was your first musical memory?
My little brother and I used to share a bedroom back in San Francisco, where I was born and raised, probably in 1998 or 1999. I remember our family didn’t seriously bang with CDs and stuff yet, only our parents had a CD player. But my brother and I had this lil cassette player boom-box in our room. We’d hit up the Warehouse Records in the neighborhood to get cassettes every once in a while. When we were going to sleep at night I remember popping in the Eiffel 65 cassette or the Backstreet Boys cassette. I’d chill in bed like, “Yep, this is dope.”
What are your biggest influences, musical or otherwise?
People. I think there are people or whatever that influence me musically, and then there are people that influence my music. My favorite musicians, whether they’re DJs, producers, or singers like Leighton Meester, all influence me musically. I hope people get my dumb jokes. But anyways they shape who I am as a music listener and lover, not so much a music maker.
My boy Jamilio is gonna call me a groupie for this but whatever I guess I am one. Noah “40” Shebib has seriously influenced me musically, as a listener. The stuff he’s done with Drake in the last few years, and some recent stuff with Lil Wayne opened me up to a deeper, more ambient side of hip hop, or hip hop/rap in some iTunes libraries, that I didn’t really get down with before. Listening to 40’s mellower productions brought me back to some records with more R&B vibes that I’d owned for a while but kind of put aside. Like Aaliyah or Cassie. All that obvious R&B shit that everyone is wet for. As much as I sometimes wish I was a devout, self-righteous R&B head or whatever, I’m really not. I didn’t grow up listening to SWV records or anything. I got into it backwards.
There are also the people who directly influence my music. They have an impact on the way I make music. Some of these people aren’t even musicians. They’re just the kids I want to see having a good time dancing to my tunes, or some girl who I’m thinking about while making some beat on my computer. NGUZUNGUZU is a group that has really influenced my music and the way I make it. Shout outs to Asma and Daniel. Their music is so weird and crazy, but it’s totally their own. Sometimes I hear them ignoring some subtle production standards and just doing shit their way. That really helps push me towards doing my shit my way on my own tracks. NGUZUNGUZU always inspires me to be myself with my music, so I’m really making songs for me, not just the listeners. I think that’s what counts ultimately too. If I’m not trying to make music that’s uniquely me, and special to me, it’s never going to stand out to listeners, so why bother.
Jerome P of LOL Boys has probably influenced my music the most out of any artist or porn star or animal. I met him two years ago in San Francisco and ever since then he’s been putting me on to the weirdest music and been pushing me to make my music distinctly my own. I would not be the DJ/producer or musician I am today without him. Respek Jerome. Love you. [Read more]
COLT+RANE is my other blog project I run with a few buddies and we were fortunate enough to have teamed up with The Blind Barber here in NYC to put together this mix.
As NYC fights for the summer and sun to finally come out and play, let this latest edition of “The Cut” mix series presented by the The Blind Barber and COLT+RANE be your soundtrack of the fun to come. COLT+RANE has teamed up with The Blind Barber to release this mix that embodies all things that -look good and feel good. Here’s to Summer 2011!
What more of an appropriate day for a Mini mix from the LOL Boys. The LOL Boys officially have one of the greatest names for a duo out today. Jerome P. & Markus G. are the LOL Boys – 1 part LA and 1 part Montreal, a potent mix of cities and characters that contribute to their version of Bass music. LOL Boys “123” was a track I discovered a few months ago that really caught my attention with its Pan Flute hook. Jerome and I spoke via iChat about his love of Memes, .gifs, and all things Internet.
BTW if you want to stalk Jerome and want to know what he looks like he is actually the Car Wash Kid that makes a cameo in SebastiAn’s “Embody” music video.
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/MARCH%202011/LOL%20BOYS%20APRIL%20FOOLS%20DAY/LOL%20Boys%20-%20Asian%20Dan%20presents%20LOL%20Boys’%20April%20Fool’s%20Day%20Mini%20Mix.mp3] Download: Asian Dan presents LOL Boys’ April Fool’s Day Mini Mix
The lovely folks over at NETWORK AWESOME site were kind enough to let me take over their airwaves (bandwidth/wi-fi?) for the day for their “Live Music Show”. I picked some of of my fav live music moments on YouTube as well as some other Youtube gems such as “James Brown Miso” and “The Johnny Cash Machine”. Let me know what you think and enjoy!
NT89 is no stranger to the blog. NT89 was the first DJ to create an exclusive mix for the blog. We are officially now 26 mixes into the exclusive Asian Dan mix series and here is NT89 with a tech-house mix.
In no specific order I present you with my Top 10 of 2010. I listened to Jai Paul and James Blake way too much this year and cannot wait for what they have in store for 2011. Yeasayer’s “Ambling Alp” and “Penguin Prison’s “Golden Train” are perfect Pop songs that I wish I wrote. Flying Lotus “Do The Astral Plane” is the perfect sunny summer jam. Chromeo’s duet I Could Be Wrong (Feat. Ezra Koenig) is what happens when the Doobie Brother’s “Minute By Minute” is mashed up with Philip Bailey & Phil Collin’s “Easy Lover”. Jamie Lidell never made 90s RnB sound so cool and futuristic with “Completely Exposed”. LCD Soundsystem’s “I Can Change” is quite a sad dance tune. Late of the Pier’s “Blueberry” and “Best in Class” IS what the Future sounds like. Jamaica’s “Short & Entertaining” is my favorite song in 5/8 of 2010.
2010 was quite an exciting blog year for Asian Dan, especially what occurred IRL because of the blog. Thank you all for reading and listening, only bigger and better things will happen in 2011. Happy New Year!
Top 10 Tracks of 2010
Jai Paul – BTSTU
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp
Flying Lotus – Do The Astral Plane
Penguin Prison – Golden Train
Late of the Pier – Best In Class/Blueberry
Jamaica – Short & Entertaining
James Blake – CMYK
LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change
Jamie Lidell – Completely Exposed Chromeo – I Could Be Wrong (Feat. Ezra Koenig)
Jai Paul – BTSTU
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/April%202010/Jai%20Paul%20-%20BTSTU%20-%20Free%20Download%20from%20Myspace!.mp3]
Chromeo – I Could Be Wrong (Feat. Ezra Koenig)
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/DEC%202010/I%20Could%20Be%20Wrong%20(Feat.%20Ezra%20Koenig).mp3]
The Pop maven, Penguin Prison aka Chris Glover compiled his favorite tracks of 2010 for the blog giving us some insight into what he looks for in good music. Enjoy!
Asian Dan’s Guest List: Penguin Prison’s Top 10 of 2010
1. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I love Kanye. He can be annoying definitely but he is making great music and is the most interesting pop star around right now don’t you think?
This album is great. I can listen to the whole thing all the way through and listen to it again right away. The production is very sophisticated and tasteful.
Maybe the best remix of the year. If I were at a dance club and wanted to dance and someone asked me what song I would like to dance to I would say this song.
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/DEC%202010/Midnight%20Magic%20-%20Beam%20Me%20Up%20(Jacques%20Renault%20Remix).mp3]
4. Holy Ghost! – Static on the Wire
I helped make a few of the songs on this so I am biased but I think it would still be one of my favorites even if I weren’t involved.
5. Lykke Li – Get Some
I am sure her new album will be amazing but this is the only song out yet. I think its my favorite song she has ever done. She is going in a good direction.
6. Vampire Weekend – Giving up the Gun
I like the whole album but this song is my favorite. One of the best songs of the year in my opinion.
The best 90’s slow jam of 2010.
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/July%202010/Active%20Child%20-%20When%20Your%20Love%20Is%20Safe%20(Classixx%20Remix).mp3]
8. LCD Soundsystem – Home
This is my favorite song on their new album. It makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. That’s a good quality in a song.
9. Breakbot – Baby I’m Yours
I heard this song and I was wondering whether it was from the 80’s or something and I just never knew about it. No it’s new and it’s very amazing.
As you all know Jamaica is no stranger to this blog/twitter since I have supported them and their music in numerous ways. Antoine was kind enough to compile a list of his Top 10 of 2010 that surpasses just any tracks that he listened to throughout the year. Twenty-Ten was just the beginning for Jamaica – watch out 2011!
Checkout this Jamaica Unplugged set we played for mtviggy.com
[audio:http://diestruktur.com/asianmandan/music/DEC%202010/01%20Short%20&%20Entertaining%20(Acoustic%20on%20Virgin%20Mobile%20Live).mp3]
Jamaica – Short & Entertaining (Acoustic on Virgin Mobile Live)
All music shared on this site is copyrighted by the artists and are only meant as samples, please buy their music,
buy their merchandise, see them live, support them, tell your friends about them, love them, cheers.
