Interviews page
Interviews
 Norway's Casiokids are aptly named. The band's floaty, contemplative pop sound has at its core a rich bedrock of synth sounds and tones,... |
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 Attempting to gauge the level of sexual tension that may or may not exist between two people can be a tricky business, whatever the circumstances. It's a task made... |
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 One of Ragged Words' personal highlights from this year's ... |
 Back when Ragged Words first started intermittently transmitting from London around the middle of the last decade, ... |
 Artist bios can sometimes make for dull, formulaic reading, as one generic adjective after the next is trotted out in a bid to elaborate upon a band's 'unique sound'. To say that such a... |
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 Dave Reid co-founded the Choice Music Prize - a sort of Irish equivalent to the Mercury Music Prize, only fairer - in... |
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 In dealing mainly with the great and the good of the indie community, Ragged Words doesn’t tend to come across too many big egos. In fact, we're pleased to report that most interviewees... |
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 "Sorry, my brain isn't working very well. I've been off anti-depressants for five days, but I just took one about two hours ago, so now I actually feel like I'm tripping on acid (laughs).... |
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 When Ragged Words caught Two Door Cinema Club at Dublin's Crawdaddy with a couple or so hundred others this time last year, we knew they... |
 It's hardly surprising that London should have its fair share of quality independent promoters on the go. Eat Your Own Ears have grown considerably... |
 We know it's already been said many times both here and elsewhere, but 2010 has been an exceptionally strong year for Irish music. It's been a year that's seen Conor O'Brien's... |
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 With a debut album that looks set to feature in many end-of-year lists, and several of 2010's finest... |
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 There are very few acts in music these days who can sell records by the multi-million and still make critics swoon almost universally. But then ... |
 Less than a year ago, 18 year-old Dylan Baldi was just another Cleveland college student who dabbled in recording songs in his parents' basement during evenings and on weekends. When a course... |
 It's high time Ragged Words sat down with (or, more accurately, got its phone card out and called) James Blackshaw. Ever since the Hastings resident's magnificent Cloud Of Unknowing... |
 Penny Sparkle may be the eighth album Blonde Redhead have released in an illustrious career but don't think for a second that life for the... |
 When renowned politicians are long settled into their retirement, with press intrusion into their everyday lives all but behind them, at a certain point something strange tends to happen: interest... |
 As you're hopefully well aware by now, all this week we're busy counting down to the Dublin leg of the Brainlove Records Tour, which we have... |
 The great and the good of Iceland's Bedroom Community label roll into town this weekend to complete some volcano-delayed business with Ben Frost, Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon and Valgeir... |
 “I’m sorry that I’m far too lazy to type,” a knackered-sounding Will Wiesenfeld told Ragged Words last week, answering a few emailed questions by MP3. Given Will, AKA... |
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 Whether you look to old hands like Caribou and Four Tet or thrilling youngins like Gold Panda and James Blake, it’s abundantly clear that UK-based electronica is in a very good place right... |
 Debut albums so rarely come as complete as She Was Coloured In, the first effort from Irish electro duo Solar Bears that has had Ragged... |
 Here We Go Magic's self-titled 2009 debut album showed off the many, many talents of Brooklyn's Luke Temple, pushing the limits of four track recording in the process. As its brilliantly...
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 Two albums that have really caught this writer's ear of late were released on the same label (Captured Tracks), on the same day (May 24) and for a short pre-sale period, available on sexy,... |
 "That's a really tough answer to question. Answer to question? Actually it's just like that, 'answer to question, how can you answer a...' and so the song begins! Ragged Words has just... |
 Dustin Payseur isn't just another Brooklynite armed with a fuzzed-up guitar and a penchant for lo-fi recording. His self-titled debut album as ... |
 Ragged Words met with Josh Ritter ostensibly to talk about the release of his fifth album, but we soon found ourselves having desultory discussions on literature, society and history with the... |
 Ragged Words is starting to wish it had paid a visit to East London electro haunt Plastic People during the past year. Not just because the Shoreditch club, currently ... |
 Ragged Words first caught proper sight of Lone Wolf when he was just a cub, or more accurately still trading under his real name of Paul Marshall.... |
 In Wayne's World, when Wayne and Garth stumble out of an Alice Cooper concert and onto Frankie Sharp from Sharp Records limousine, a cameoing Chris Farley proceeds to give them a ludicrously... |
 With their second LP, Sea Lion, The Ruby Suns proved Panda Bear wasn’t the only one who could take The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds template and play around with it to thrilling effect...
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 "Even when we're not doing Besnard Lakes, I'm recording bands. My life is full of music 24 hours a day." Jace Lasek is not so much living the Rock n' Roll lifestyle as simply... |
 We don't quite have the resources to review EPs on Ragged Words at the moment, which is more of a pity than ever this week because it sees the release of 2010's best so far. After, in true... |
 Coming bounding out of the blocks as the new year gathers speed, Dubliners The Cast Of Cheers unleash a ballsy post-punk racket that's every bit as impressive as their moniker. Describing... |
 Our Choice Music Prize preview week continues this time with Valerie Francis whose debut Slow Dynamo is among the 10 nominees. Knee-deep in awards season, we emailed a few question over to... |
 Neil Hannon: "Oscar Wilde knew the English better than themselves because he was looking in from the outside and was able to study them like a race apart. It's a bit like that for us because... |
 "I certainly can’t see us doing a Field Music album in the very near future," David Brewis told Ragged Words... |
 While it may have been "rough around the edges" Race Horses debut Goodbye Falkenberg demonstrated "potential that was unquestionable", the kind that unquestionably makes... |
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 After slaying all before them at last October's CMJ festival, Surfer Blood inched their way up most tipster's cards for '10 but before anyone had a chance to say "don't believe the...... |
 Last time we spoke to Beach House, they still had day jobs and were feeling the strain of balancing real-life obligations... |
 Of our 'Under The Ragged Ragged' outside tips for 2009, Sounds Of System Breakdown deservedly topped the pile. Even then, The Dubliners' demos lived up to the 'Ireland's answer to James Murphy... |
 It's been four years since Four Tet, aka Kieran Hebden has released a new album. Doesn't seem like it, right? Well that's because he's been busy collaborating on a number of albums with jazz... |
 The last time Ragged Words spoke to Yeasayer, almost two years to the day in fact, we were urged to embrace the...
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 There are certain interviews that really should be done justice with a full write up but just don't allow it. For all the good reasons. Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison is that kind of... |
 Continuing our extra-time round up of interviews with the best bands of last year, we turn to Fuck Buttons who rather blew this writer away for one a couple of months ago with the release of Tarot... |
 We' were lucky enough to corner some of our favourite acts for a chat last year. We had ... |
 We've been lucky enough to corner some of our favourite acts for a chat this year. We had The xx telling us about the... |
 In the first of a new series where we speak to those responsible for the newest sounds that are making our ears prick up, Hunter-Gatherer tells us about making music for watching Ceefax to.... |
 In the midst of their largest UK tour to date, Rhode Island's Deer Tick answer a few Ragged Words email inquiries. The band's final run of dates include Whelans in Dublin this weekend and don't... |
 Where do you start? How do you open an interview with a band who have outlasted their contemporaries to such an extent that once retired piers are now on the reunion money-grabbing trail...
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 An album that will "kick you up the arse, steal your girlfriend and leave you crying out for more", Wild Beasts new album Two Dancers, released in August, is among the year's best. While... |
 “The most unexpected win in Mercury prize history,” said Amazon’s head of music buying while watching a 4,000 percent increase in sales on the morning after the night before.... |
 Under his own name, Chad VanGaalen has released three albums of inventive and eclectic folk-pop, each one gaining him more attention than the last - his most recent, last year's Soft Airplane...
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 “I remember one time I was at a Pantera show and the bassist signalled to one of the roadies to bring out a bucket and he threw up in it, without missing a beat, live on stage. They are one... |
 Controversial (we’ll get to this) Choice Music Prize winners in 2008, Super Extra Bonus Party certainly showed the blogging mud slingers a thing or two with the May-released Night Horses... |
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 An album "head and shoulders above its contemporaries", The XX's self-titled debut cames out today on the... |
 After catching Ragged Words' eye with a storming support stint with fellow Scots Frightened Rabbit late last year, We Were Promised Jetpacks subsequently recorded their debut album,... |
 In a world of meddling politicians and lacklustre musicianship, Ragged Words' Shane O' Reilly takes a little time out to cheer himself up by asking one of his hero's all those important questions... |
 It’s a blustery afternoon in London Fields, where Ragged Words aims to meet Wavves’ Nathan Williams and Ryan Ulsh for a chat ahead of their show at London’s the Old Blue Last... |
 ‘The Wishing Seat’ - a shining moment among shining moments on Adrian Crowley’s latest album Season Of The Sparks... |
 Ahead of next week's release of Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest, an album which has become the most eagerly-awaited from a Brooklyn-based experimental pop band in at least, oh, four... |
 With We Be Xuxa, LA five-piece Mika Miko's second album just released and the band about to his our shores, vocalist/saxaphonist Jenna Thornhill (aka Jet Blanca) talks So Cal punk, telephone... |
 Ask a few long-winded emailed questions, expect some short and snappy answers . Ahead of Antipop Consortium's first European headline shows in seven years, Beans keeps it brief. ... |
 Papercuts is the work of San Francisco resident Jason Quever, singer, guitarist, producer and performer of elegant, melancholic pop music. His third album You Can Have What You Want, due to be... |
 About to embark on a UK and Irish tour and with new single 'Die Slow' out later this month and album number two in the pipeline, HEALTH's bassist/noisemaker John Famiglietti talks Lovepump love... |
 Midway through a UK stint with Doves, The Invisible's Dave Okumu talks Ragged Words through one of the most inventive and original albums of the year, working with Matthew Herbert and those... |
 Ragged Words are meeting Ponytail at the Lexington in North London where, tonight, the band will perform the penultimate leg of their European tour. Ponytail are Molly Seigel on what you might... |
 “I’d rather deliver pizzas than work with someone whose music I don’t love,” says Stephen Shannon from behind the control desk at Experimental Audio, the studio built in... |
 Fight Like Apes have enjoyed a couple of particularly triumphant nights at home in Dublin these past six months. There was September’s album launch at Whelans in January, a show that, by all... |
 With their truly excellent debut Golden Spike out this week (review to follow), Leeds three-piece Sky Larkin - Katie Harkin (vocals, guitar), Doug Adams (bass) and Nestor Matthews (drums... |
 Over the coming weeks, Ragged Words will be running features with some of our favourite nominees for the Choice Music Prize. Here we chat to Oppenheimer's Rocky O'Reilly |
 Their debut EP troubled the higher reaches of our best of 2008 and first UK shows (review to follow) were similarly, overwhelmingly impressive. Jonny Bell, frontman of Californian psych-... |
 With Brooklyn duo Telepathe, pronounced 'Telepathy' as we were quick to find out, releasing their Dave Sitek-produced debut album next week, Busy Gangnes - one half of the intriguing pair... |
 For those lucky enough to be Stateside, the next ten days represent the last chance to catch Department Of Eagles live for quite sometime with Daniel Rossen returning to day-job duties with... |
 Villagers, whom we recently featured in our Ragged Recommends section, are unquestionably one of the most exciting bands that emerged on the... |
 Ragged Words is meeting Vivian Girls in a quiet nook of Korova – Liverpool’s renowned electro-pop club. Chatty, outgoing and showing no signs of fatigue, it’s amazing to look at... |
 Having been wowed into submission by the intricacies of High Places self-titled debut album, we caught up with Mary Pearson... |
 No Age’s Randy Randell and Dean Spunt are trying to recall how many gigs they’ve played this year. It’s doesn’t last long because even if they had been counting, they... |
 It’s slightly hard to comprehend that the Kevin Barnes being smothered in red paint on Camden’s Koko stage on a Thursday night is the same mild, almost gregarious Kevin Barnes who... |
 "Being arrogant for a second, there are bands who wish they could do that, who wish they could be so diverse but they couldn't because they'd fall flat on their face," Messiah J. ... |
 They don't have a MySpace, a manager, a booking agent or even a photograph taken together. They've only played two shows – the same number of days they've been practicing a week since... |
 Richie Egan is one of the good guys. An ever genial and engaging interviewee - just a great laugh if we’re honest - the part-time Redneck Manifesto/ full-time Jape man is in fact one of the... |
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 Having been seduced en-masse by Micah P Hinson’s third and most recent album Micah P Hinson and The Red Empire Orchestra’ (review –... |
 With their debut due before the month's out, “clumsy geeky flourishing" (more below) Texans' White Denim electronically answer our questions about hidden 17 minute opuses, having an... |
 Quicksmartly following last year's Sharp Teeth, Texan-born David Karsten Daniels released the equally fine Fear of Flying last month and over the dodgiest of Transatlantic phone lines,... |
 When we speak to Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison days before his bands second record hits the shelves, he’s got the pre-release jitters. You imagine even the most cocksure of... |
 Having just released his second album, White Wonder, Crayonsmith maestro - Dubliner Ciaran Smith - talks about moving from the bedroom to the recording studio Do you feel... |
 We’re standing outside Ginglik – that very odd underground west London venue – awaiting Super Extra Bonus Party who are currently negotiating the challenges presented by TFL... |
 For the most part, Victoria Legrand is the perfect interviewee – courteous, friendly, and happy to answer any question. But when I make the mistake of referring to Beach House as a "... |
 Describing Chicago-based maverick Cass McCombs as "a musical magpie, hopping between musical eras and genres with unconcealed glee", we declared his latest record , Dropping The Writ... |
 Throw Me The Statue write melodic songs of summer that, like all good pop music, remind you of youth – though perhaps I’m getting a little nostalgic. It is not necessarily the music as... |
 When we speak in early March, Markland Starkie is excited. He has the next weekend off – his first in a long time – and he plans on doing very little, maybe some washing. Such are the... |
 Having recorded her debut album, Wind-Up Canary, under her own name in 2006, Massachusetts-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Casey Dienel has adopted the moniker White Hinterland for her... |
 “Genius, aghh… I think anybody that relies on it and thinks, ‘yeah I’m just a genius’… Well anybody who says that about themselves is obviously a complete... |
 Adrian Crowley looks dazed. It’s been two weeks since the nomination he thought he’d “no way” of receiving for next week’s Choice Music Prize was announced, and the... |
 There were some great records in 2007 – The National’s Boxer, Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, Burial’s Untrue – but among the most thrilling release of the year were... |
 Pete and the Pirates are a godsend. With UK indie battle lines drawn firmly between the ultra-banal (The Wombats, The View…) and the ultra-hip (Foals, The Ting Tings…), the Pirates... |
 Everyone bought some dodgy cassettes when they were younger, right? The trick is to find a good shoebox, maintain the most selective of memories and under no circumstances to volunteer the... |
 It’s approaching the beginning of June, and ten days have passed since Columbia were declare the winners in the battle for the four signature of GoodBooks. To the untrained eye, it would... |
 Rule one of journalism; no matter how fancy your dictaphone may be, always make sure it’s working. Six weeks ago, Ragged Words left Ryan’s Bar in North London with possibly its finest... |
 The scene is the Brixton Windmill’s solitary male cubicle and I’m ankle deep in I don’t care to know what. The reason being that three-fifths of The Mules, whom I have just... |
 Ferry Gouw, Adriana Alba and Chris Steele-Nicholson have crowded around three Cardiff pub dinners and, perhaps more curiously for the locals, their attention is focused solely on Ferry’s... |
 Ask the lucky few how Absentee initially grabbed their attention and they’ll tell you accordingly: ‘that voice’. Because before any of the four other Absentees can reel you in... |
 The last time I spoke to John Fitzgerald- the deistic half of Irish hip-hop duo Messiah J & The Expert- he left us hoping that rapping would soon be his day job. Two years later his... |
 You never really want to talk to the drummer, now do you? Let’s face it, there were never enough Keith Moon’s to go around. Ten long minutes in the company of Athletes’s drummer... |
 Twenty-four hours have not yet passed since Caribou came off stage at London’s Scale and I’m still struggling to come to terms with the whole experience. The ease with which Dan Snaith... |
 Hastily arranged interviews rarely run like clockwork and journalists can expect to wait for any number of reasons. However Kieran Hebden’s reply of “I’m actually doing the... |
