interview
Lady Lamb The Beekeeper's debut album has garnered a lot of buzz since it came out at the start of 2013. No Ripcord spoke over the phone with the project's mastermind as sole member, Aly Spaltro, about Ripley Pine, touring and what's next.
Wilder Maker are on a mission to break down the boundaries of folk-rock. You should hear how they're doing it.
Wilder Maker, the band led by Brooklyn’s Gabriel Birnbaum, have been picking up some serious heat in the latter half of 2013 thanks to the release of their Years of Endless Light LP. What might sound like a normal folk-influenced rock record to begin with gradually reveals itself to be a multi-layered tour de force, drawing on elements from widespread and disparate genres.
6 January, 2014 - 13:25 — James McKenna
The shifting economics of the music industry have been tough on bands like American alt-rock group Man Man. Here, Dominic James Stevenson talks to the band in Berlin about the challenges they face.
After a recent show at Berlin’s Astra Kulturhaus, Dominic James Stevenson caught up with Honus Honus of Man Man to talk about frustrations of life on the road and what makes it all worthwhile.
Dominic: Do you feel like you should be headlining such nights and playing to bigger audiences?
2 January, 2014 - 08:32 — Dominic James Stevenson
The outspoken performer has had a typically busy and controversial 2013. Plenty to talk about then.
Amanda Palmer has rarely been out of the music press in 2013, and you suspect that’s just the way she’d like it. As one half of avant-cabaret pop duo Dresden Dolls, she delighted and shocked in equal measure, but it wasn’t until she went solo that she began to garner widespread acclaim.
10 December, 2013 - 23:21 — Joe Rivers
As they prepare to play the fourth, annual Norwich Sound & Vision festival, locals Wooden Arms talk to Carlos Dávalos about their music, their inspirations and making CDs out of wood.
Norwich Sound & Vision is back! The festival that combines up-and-coming bands with speakers and delegates from the industry is now in its fourth year, and is bigger than ever. Acts such as AlunaGeorge, Drenge and Ghostpoet will be playing in venues around the thriving East Anglian city from 10-12 October.
10 October, 2013 - 19:30 — Carlos Dávalos
Following a meteoric rise during 2013, People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck hitmakers Drenge talk to Joe Rivers about what inspires them, from boredom to cassettes to David Beckham.
It’s been a crazy 2013 for Drenge. Practically unknown just a few months ago, the Derbyshire duo, consisting of siblings Rory and Eoin Loveless, have been gaining plaudits and impressing festival crowds throughout the summer. Then, of course, came the name-check in the resignation letter of notable Labour MP Tom Watson.
24 September, 2013 - 06:12 — Joe Rivers
Electro-queen Little Boots has spent the last few months promoting her second album, Nocturnes.Before jetting across the Atlantic for a headline tour, she spoke to No Ripcord's Joe Rivers.
Lancastrian Victoria Hesketh, better known as Little Boots, is slap-bang in the middle of an exciting phase of her career. Freed from the pressure that winning the BBC Sound of 2009 poll brought to the release of her debut album, Hands, she’s been able to spend the time to perfect her well-received follow-up, Nocturnes.
19 September, 2013 - 17:34 — Joe Rivers
Carlos Villarreal caught up with Blitzen Trapper's Marty Marquis ahead of the release of their new record to talk major labels, songwriting techniques and the more unusual aspects of life on the road.
Portland's neo-folk rock heroes Blitzen Trapper are set to release their seventh full-length, VII, on September 30, and are also about to embark upon a US tour. Before hitting the open road, the band's Marty Marquis answered a few questions for No Ripcord's Carlos Villarreal.
Carlos: How’s Portland? How are you?
Marty: I'm doing pretty well, just enjoying the good part of summer. Just hanging with the family and getting ready to hit the road.
16 September, 2013 - 08:22 — Carlos Villarreal.jpg)
Following the announcement that he's been nominated for two Association of Independent Music Awards (for Best 'Difficult' Second Album and Independent Album of the Year), Obaro Ejimiwe, better known as Ghostpoet, spoke to Carlos Dávalos and learnt his music has reached further than he thought.
Two years have passed since Obaro Ejimiwe's great first record, Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam, was released. Today, after moving to a bigger label and leaving behind bedroom studios for proper ones, Ghostpoet's second album, Some Say I So I Say Light, comes out of the grimy fog with a fist up high.
2 September, 2013 - 05:53 — Carlos Dávalos
Eight years after Arab Strap went their separate ways, Aidan Moffat is making more music than ever. As he prepares to release the Surface Noise EP, his third collection this year of new material from his alter-ego L. Pierre, he talks to Joe Rivers about the songwriting process, releasing an album that could literally last forever, and how the new Katy Perry single is "brilliant".
It’s hard to believe that Aidan Moffat has now been part of our lives for seventeen years, ever since Arab Strap’s seminal The First Big Weekend was released as a 7” single on Chemikal Underground.
19 August, 2013 - 06:54 — Joe Rivers