Before we get into this interview. Adam & I sat down last night and listened to Oblisk's latest release, "Weather Patterns." As we sat on the floor listening to this, I felt a bit of a Joy Division rebirth also hearing similar elements of neo-psychedelia and a desert rock feel. This band reminds me of the Black Angels meets Joy Division. Yes that could be a weird mix but Oblisk can pull it off splendidly. I also hear the 90s shoegaze sound in there with droning guitars and layered fuzz. I especially like the drumming on this album, it compliments everything very well. The album is melodic yet experimental. You don't know what trip you're on but from the start you know you're taking one when you listen to this album. By the end of this record you feel like you've come out of an acid trip. (In a good way of course.) This interview should explain the album more in depth and give you the listener more insight to the band. Congrats on the new album Oblisk! Hope to hear more from you in the future!
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1. How did this band start?
i had a vision for a sound i wanted to create years ago i felt there wasn't enough of it in detroit at the time so i asked certain good friends of mine who had similar tastes to be a part of it. they said yes and it has evolved ever since.
2. Who are your influences?
we are influenced by a lot of stuff. some of the artists are the verve, portishead, ride, spacemen 3, boards of canada, koushik, bjm, loop, joy division, my bloody valentine, four tet etc.
3. What is your favorite venue in Michigan?
i like playing the lager house. it's a good size and our sound really translates more over there. i tend to have the most fun whenever we play anywhere in the crofoot complex though.
4. What is the craziest show Oblisk has played?
last summer on tour in illinois we played a show in a kitchen and there were at least 100 people there. we were cramped in this little space with all our gear and lights with people literally 5 inches away from our faces. they were going crazy stomping their feet to the beat and clapping hands. it felt like the floor was bouncing. you could feel all the raw energy. whenever our strobe lights would go off, someone would turn off the the kitchen lights and it was visually great. it was pretty epic.
5. Where did Oblisk record, " Weather patterns" ?
weather patterns was recorded in our old practice space which was a tiny room. it was much different than recording tune in/tune out because that one was recorded in over 25 different places. having one solid place was nice.
6. Describe the recording process for the album.
basically our drummer was leaving to go live in north carolina for a year when we started it so we began with recording as much of the drums as we could. he left and we kept adding our parts and writing new songs. he would fly back once a month to record newer songs and work on things. a lot of it was done late at night in an isolation mode. we got a new bassist in the middle of it too so half the bass flavor was from dave and half was from manan which was interesting.
once the recording was done we sent all the tracks to be mixed/mastered to our label in philly and they did that part of it. we kept all the recordings secret until we released it. not even our friends heard it until the album was out.
7. What was the highlight of recording & releasing the album?
i'd say all the creative energy, ideas and focus that was going on during the whole process was inspiring. it was an adventure in itself. also, having it be well received and making a lot of best of 2009 lists all over the world was really rewarding. we love having listeners world-wide.
8. How do you feel about the end result of "Weather Patterns" ?
we are very happy with it. there is a lot of subtle stuff going on there that i feel people will appreciate the more they listen to it. it covered a lot of ground sonically, so its diversity it's also something we like. next time we will record in a proper studio after 3 releases doing it ourselves though. a lot of the details would come out sounding better and we will be able to translate it our sound the best way possible.
9. Lastly, What does Oblisk have in store for us in the future?
we are going to release an EP and and album in the future. we are concentrating a lot on trip hop style beats and concepts. ideally take our psych/shoegaze style into a different realm. hopefully creating a more unique sound by taking some risks. i feel these will be our best releases to date. we also are planning to tour the uk/europe.
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WHERE TO FIND OBLISK?!
www.myspace.com/oblisk
www.facebook.com/oblisksound
BUY THE ALBUM AT:
http://candycoloreddragon.com/roster.htm
