INTERVIEWS
Chuck D Talks Public Enemy Reunion, DJ Premier Collab, and His Least Favorite President
In a world where little makes sense anymore, Public Enemy suddenly reemerging to release a fiery new song on Juneteenth actually makes a lot of sense. Early on Friday morning, the legendary hip-hop pioneers released their latest song, “State of the Union (STFU),” with a video to go along with it. It marked the first time that Flavor Flav returned to the equation after a very public dispute over Public Enemy Radio’s appearance at a Bernie Sanders rally earlier this year. But as Chuck D sees it, it’s Flav returning to what the pair does best: An unflinching condemnation of what the scumbag administration of the day has done now. It’s something Chuck has been outspoken about ever since forming Prophets of Rage with Cypress Hill’s B-Real, and three-fourths of Rage Against the Machine (To...
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ill.GATES on Racial Injustice, SummerEyes Festival, and New Single “Trapezoid” [Q&A + Premiere]
Veteran producer ill.GATES has established himself as a vital figure in the bass community, consistently using his music and platform to help artists learn and do more. However, while working in the studio last week, ill.GATES, A.K.A. Dylan Gates, found himself in a position where he was admittedly afraid to speak up. “I’d been taking a break from the news when everything popped off,” Gates told EDM.com amid current nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer. “The day [of Floyd’s death,] I wasn’t really online much [because] I was focusing on my work,” said Gates. “[My friend Joy] called me up and basically said, ‘Dylan, you have all these political samples in your music, but you’re not usin...
An Oral History of Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Feature artwork by Cody Schibi (Purchase Prints + More). Few movies are written with a sequel in mind. That is, of course, if you have a franchise planned, in which case you’re being both ambitious and presumptuous. Even rarer is a movie that demands a sequel. Sure, there are a few rare gems that manage to further the storyline, or at least retain some of the magical elements that made their predecessor work so well. But, more often than not, sequels just feel like a retread and another sign that Hollywood is running out of ideas. Gremlins 2: The New Batch is an exception to that rule. In 1989, director Joe Dante was given complete creative control by Warner Bros. to followup 1984’s Gremlins — and he milked that control for everything it was worth. There’s breaking the fourth wall in an on...
Maja Ivarsson of the Sounds on Their New Album and Life in Sweden During COVID-19
It was the KB Theater, alright, no doubt about it, Maja Ivarsson recalls thinking one recent Friday night in April. The same red-hot nightclub in her Swedish hometown of Malmo where her band the Sounds had first cut its punky power-pop teeth over two decades earlier — same layout, same seating, same beer-dispensing bar. But as the group took the stage for its full-production livestream “Safe and Sound” concert to premiere its rollicking new Things We Do for Love hookfest — which was out on Friday (June 12) — there was just one small difference. Looking out on where the adoring crowd should be, the kinetic blonde sparkplug was rattled at first. “Because there was obviously no one in the audience, so it was super-strange because we’ve played that club so many times,” she sighs. “But I tried ...
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Maro Music on His Pandemic Experiences, New Music, and Award-Winning Audio Company Bettermaker [Interview]
We had the distinct pleasure of chatting with DJ, producer, audio engineer, and Bettermaker owner Maro Music about what music he has in the pipeline, his radio show, and his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. EDM.COM: You’ve just hit episode #100 of your weekly “Addicted To Music” syndicated radio mixshow….congrats! In an era, post-pandemic, when it seems the entire EDM world has gone online (because it has), how do you make your mixshow unique? We’re also diggin’ your new remix of Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now.” MARO MUSIC: My show is always about fun, about putting you in a specific mood. You cannot go to a club, so I can bring a little bit of club to you. Being on lockdown does not mean you are not allowed to have fun. Dance around your room, your car, outside your home. No on...
Bootsy Collins on James Brown’s Best Piece of Advice and Why Funk Will Always Prevail
Bassmaster Bootsy Collins is known for living his life “on the one.” Looking back on his legacy as an intergalactic, P-Funk pioneer, it’s easy to imagine him on his own planet floating in a galaxy of groove. But you’d be wrong. From his early days playing with James Brown to Parliament-Funkadelic and even his decades-long solo career, Collins always finds a way to attract talented musicians into his orbit. Even in a pandemic, he’s never stopped being Bootsy. With COVID-19 taking lives all over the world, the legendary musician and producer did his part to remind people through his music that even in quarantine we’re still able to come together as one nation under a groove. His latest song, “Stars,” features an eclectic virtual assemblage of virtuosos recording separately for charity to don...
Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil on Protests, Quarantine and Teaming Up With Brandi Carlile
Like most of us, Kim Thayil has spent the past few months more or less sheltering in place. Which, by his own definition, might not be something particularly out of character for the 59-year-old Soundgarden guitarist. “So many of the people I know who are writers and players, if they’re not the kind of person that jumps around and parties all the time, tend to live as hermits to begin with,” he says, calling SPIN from his Seattle-area home. But while Thayil, whose dense, twisted-metal riffs and noise-damaged, often frenzied solos belie his generally reserved public demeanor, would likely never be perceived as the jump-around-and-party type, he has managed to remain fairly active while also staying home and doing nothing much at all. “I think a lot of this shelter-in-place thing has really ...
Muzz’s Paul Banks and Matt Barrick on Their Genesis and Why They’ll ‘Definitely Continue’ to Make Music Together
Paul Banks swears that he never intended to form another band. The singer-guitarist had a busy enough work schedule with his main outfit, Interpol, not to mention other diversions like Banks and Steelz — his side project with rapper-turned-film-director RZA — and solo albums as Julian Plenti and under his own name, like Banks in 2012. But he couldn’t help himself with his new trio Muzz — the chance to work with his childhood guitar-whiz chum Josh Kaufman (of Bonny Light Horseman renown) and their mutual percussionist pal Matt Barrick just proved too tempting. And his instinct was on the money. The eponymous Muzz debut is a moody, melodic masterpiece, falling somewhere between the delicate melancholy of the Blue Nile and the sinister atmospherics of vintage The The, which is held ...
Sonic Boom Breaks Down His First Album in 30 Years, All Things Being Equal, Track by Track: Stream
In Track by Track, artists are given the chance to take their fans through their latest album one song at a time. Today, Sonic Booms details All Things Being Equal. Spacemen 3 co-founder Peter Kember is back with his first solo album under his Sonic Boom moniker in 30 years, All Things Being Equal. Out via Carpark Records, the 10-track LP in streaming in full below via Apple Music and Spotify. His first Sonic Boom full-length since 1990’s Spectrum, Kember laid the groundwork for All Things Being Equal back in 2015, recording a number of electronic instrumentals with no firm plans. Though Stereolab’s Tim Gane told him he should release the tracks as is, Kember felt “the vibe in them was so strong that I couldn’t resist trying to ice the cake.” When he moved to Sintra, Portugal in 2018,...
Hinds Give a Track by Track Breakdown of New Album The Prettiest Curse: Stream
With Track by Track, we give artists the chance to take their fans through their latest album one song at a time. Today, Hinds reveal how they cast The Prettiest Curse. After a delay precipitated by the ongoing pandemic, Hinds have today released their new album, The Prettiest Curse. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. While the band’s sophomore album, I Don’t Run, and its predecessor, 2016’s Leave Me Alone, were steeped in lo-fi indie, the Madrid quartet take a turn towards a cleaner garage pop sound with their third full-length. Producer Jennifer Decilveo (The Wombats, Bat for Lashes, Joseph) helped Hinds find balance between their raw live energy and crisp melodies for the tightest LP from the band yet. In a note posted to Twitter on Thursday (June 4th), Hinds ac...
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Shoffy Talks Quarantine Plans, Leaving Finance for Music, and New Remix Competition [Interview]
Three months ago, indie pop standout artist Shoffy was riding the high off the release of his third studio album, Flash, via his own Otherground Records imprint. He was set to embark on a headlining tour that would include his first ever performances in Europe. But instead of exploring a different city every night, Shoffy is now sitting alone in his apartment in Los Angeles. In the midst of a global pandemic, he’s staying busy by recording music in his home studio and listening to classical guitar, Frank Ocean, and Taylor Swift. To press pause on the monotony of social distancing, Shoffy today announced the launch of a new remix competition, hoping the experience will bring him closer to his listeners across the globe and spark some much-needed creativity, he told...
Inhaler’s Elijah Hewson on Influences, Debut Album Prep and New Single ‘Falling In’
Inhaler is one of the 2020 bands you need to know. After a Winter tour in the UK and Europe, where the foursome played sweaty sets of their hooky indie rock, the Dublin, Ireland foursome were perched to head stateside for a spring trek that would’ve seen them perform at some of the most iconic venues for on-the-verge artists – like the Bowery Ballroom in New York City and West Hollywood’s Troubadour. “That was one of the venues that we were really excited to play, obviously,” frontman/guitarist Elijah Hewson tells SPIN of the hotspot known for hosting important early gigs from The Byrds, Elton John and even Radiohead’s OK Computer release show. “We only had a small brush with L.A. when we were there [last fall]. We were kind of rushed from radio to all these kinds of interviews and press a...
