Needles & Grooves AotM /// Vol. 36 - June 2022 /// Mexico City Blondes - Blush

debianlinux said:
Greg has said he's basically up for an AMA whenever. I think we're still waiting to get Allie's input. I wasn't at all clear myself on how best to do the thing. I figured I'll create a separate thread just for it. Should we preload questions, try to make it more or less live, or what?

Finally, here's a short interview I found that might help us stay off the beaten path a little:
www.ladygunn.com

LADYGUNN – Mexico City Blondes Is A Recipe For A Music Wonderland

WE ARE A COOL MAGAZINE SHARING ART + OPINIONS. WE LOVE YOU.
www.ladygunn.com www.ladygunn.com
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AMA next Thursday the 26th!
 
Lee Newman said:
I ordered this.
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Mine just showed up yesterday. Now to clean it and listen 10x before the AMA.

It's brand new to me, but initial impressions are that it's showing up at the perfect time weather-wise in the NE part of the US. Breezy, warm night, drink (or whatever) in hand, relaxing with friends music.
 
It's still early CA time but I'll start with a couple q's:

-Are there any outright samples on Blush? If so, care to reveal them?

-What genre represents the biggest overlap between Greg and Allie's respective record collections?

-What was the last vinyl record you listened to?
 
Tagging on to Deb's question. I get hip hop sample vibes from the beginning of the album like almost a Notorious BIG "Warning" / Isaac Hayes vibe on Addio. Would you say you're influenced by Hip Hop or Rap? And if so what would you say are your favorites?
 
Really love the music you all have made so far. Blush is such a vibe. I can listen to it while doing just about anything so thank you for that!

My question is a selfish one....I've been spinning this record for some years now, and have to know...Is the next album coming soon?!
 
debianlinux said:
It's still early CA time but I'll start with a couple q's:

-Are there any outright samples on Blush? If so, care to reveal them?

-What genre represents the biggest overlap between Greg and Allie's respective record collections?

-What was the last vinyl record you listened to?
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Greetings all! Yup still early here and I think Allie will be around this afternoon to jump in but definitely keep the Qs coming. Great questions Jeremy:

1.) Yes absolutely. As a producer I love working with samples. For me it always immediately sets the vibe a little better than starting a track with a drum machine pattern or basic guitar riff. I think there are samples on every track on that record, just off the top of my head. And honest to god, I can't really remember where each come from. I generally tend to mangle them up a bunch to suit what I'm looking for and also because indie rock doesn't pay enough for us to be able to clear samples :) "Addio" has probably the most prominent sample and that wah wah guitar and string hit came from a very old and obscure soul 45 rpm I've got.

2.) Biggest is probably the dreampop and trip hop stuff. The first time we met we really bonded over how much love we had for Beach House and Massive Attack in particular.

3.) Here's what I've got on my turntable! I went to a record fair two weeks ago and am still digging through all the stuff I got. This one had a ton of cool old breakbeat stuff so I'm working through to find some cool samples for inspiration. I love taking samples off of vinyl since it has such a lovely distortion that isn't there in the digital realm and I love the cracks/pops/air that hangs around those samples. Always makes a track sound much more cohesive when you've got a bit of that ambiance in.
 

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zomgbear said:
Tagging on to Deb's question. I get hip hop sample vibes from the beginning of the album like almost a Notorious BIG "Warning" / Isaac Hayes vibe on Addio. Would you say you're influenced by Hip Hop or Rap? And if so what would you say are your favorites?
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Yes absolutely. I love hip hop, in particular the production on a lot of hip hop records always seemed vastly more interesting to me than stuff in mainstream rock or pop. I also always loved how prominent the drums are on those records and that's what I aim for. I have memories of being in my first bands and whenever you'd sit in or play or hear a band live, the drums were ALWAYS just the loudest fucking thing because we had these tiny guitar amps. So for me I always want to capture that energy that comes when you hear a band in a room and the drums are a very big part of that. I always think that drums are mixed too quietly on lots of records, but that's changed a lot recently with how prominent trap music influences became in mainstream pop. As for hip hop records, Daytona by Pusha T is a big somewhat recent favorite of mine. Kendrick is always incredible, I loved TPAB. All the old school great hip hop producers still have a huge pull on my production style and those would mostly be Dilla (of course), Pete Rock, DJ Premier, RZA, DJ Shadow, Dan the Automator, guys like that. Q-Tip as well. That last Tribe record is hugely underrated IMO.
 
Jonathan Y said:
Really love the music you all have made so far. Blush is such a vibe. I can listen to it while doing just about anything so thank you for that!

My question is a selfish one....I've been spinning this record for some years now, and have to know...Is the next album coming soon?!
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Working on it :) We tend to take our time and not force things. All the best stuff we've done just flows, the stuff you have to grind out is just never as good.
 
My copy of Blush has a big "This is a Burger Record" hype sticker on it. It was indeed this sticker that brought my attention to the ill-fated label. You've insinuated that the implosion was quite the ordeal and while I have no intention of having you relive it or dredge up the worst aspects of it, I am curious to hear how some of the fallout affected you personally, what it's like to lose a label you chose for personal taste reasons, and what the future looks like now.
 
Greetings, @MCBgreg! 👋 I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to chat with our forum here, Blush is one of the albums I've gravitated to a lot in the last few years, especially since the start of COVID. It's a great record to be able sit down and submerge yourself in, it's been a big comfort to my ears (and my mind), so thank you for the amazing music!

I have a couple questions, hopefully not too many

1) I'm always interested in how songs evolve and change while an album is being made. Are there any songs on Blush that were drastically different in their early stages compared to the final version we hear on the album?

2) What are some of your guys' favorite movies? Are there any films that influenced the album at all?

3) What is the earliest example you can recall of a piece of music really connecting with you? Any specific songs or albums you can point to that had a major impact on you?
 
debianlinux said:
My copy of Blush has a big "This is a Burger Record" hype sticker on it. It was indeed this sticker that brought my attention to the ill-fated label. You've insinuated that the implosion was quite the ordeal and while I have no intention of having you relive it or dredge up the worst aspects of it, I am curious to hear how some of the fallout affected you personally, what it's like to lose a label you chose for personal taste reasons, and what the future looks like now.
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Was tough honestly for many reasons. I felt horrible for the victims first of all. And sad and betrayed that the label that we really enjoyed being part of had such a dark history. The music industry is brutal, there's no no two ways about it. It's a super volatile space filled mostly with bullshit artists but when we met with Sean (former label head) we really felt like we were dealing with someone who genuinely just loves music and lives and breathes it. Really felt like a good home for how we like to create (pretty much all on our own without any outside intervention) and it was sad to let that go. FWIW I don't think Sean was ever accused of any improprieties and he was always wonderful to work with. We loved Jessa too who took over briefly before folding it for good.
 
gaporter said:
Greetings, @MCBgreg! 👋 I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to chat with our forum here, Blush is one of the albums I've gravitated to a lot in the last few years, especially since the start of COVID. It's a great record to be able sit down and submerge yourself in, it's been a big comfort to my ears (and my mind), so thank you for the amazing music!

I have a couple questions, hopefully not too many

1) I'm always interested in how songs evolve and change while an album is being made. Are there any songs on Blush that were drastically different in their early stages compared to the final version we hear on the album?

2) What are some of your guys' favorite movies? Are there any films that influenced the album at all?

3) What is the earliest example you can recall of a piece of music really connecting with you? Any specific songs or albums you can point to that had a major impact on you?
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So glad to hear it!! Not too many at all:

1.) Oh yeah, lots were very different early on. Since we don't have a "band" that we write and work out the songs with, the production is always in flux. The one that probably changed the most was "Reasons Why". We actually wrote that track in like a basement studio at this middle school in Silverlake, Los Angeles with this great canadian guy and electro producer named Sam. He originally took the lead on the production and it was good. Had a very 80s tilt to it. He opted not to release on his record but we still really loved the song but felt like the vibe was way too different to include on Blush so I stripped it all back, just kept the vocal and rebuilt the track from the ground up to sound more like how we would've done it. Our collaborator, Sam, really loved how that came out which I was pleased and relieved about :)

2.) I love films but always blank when having to think back about my favorites! I'm a very visual person so I think when working on songs I have some kind of a visual idea in mind. One film that I loved recently was "Drive My Car". It's based on a short story by Haruki Murakami who is one of my favorite contemporary authors. The film adaptation moved me deeply. I've been thinking about it for weeks now. Not for everyone most likely, but I found it beautiful and deeply affecting.

3.) I feel like the first music I really connected with as a young kid (maybe like 1st - 2nd grade era) was musicals actually. I remember having a cassette tape of the original cast recording of "West Side Story" and I wore that tape out. I loved the songs and I remember trying to work out the melodies on our neighbor's piano at the time. That was the first music I can recall that really moved me to try and get inside it and replicate it. I got into rock music later on. My mom used to always play like Zeppelin IV and Dark Side of the Moon so those drew me in pretty hard.
 
MCBgreg said:
3.) I feel like the first music I really connected with as a young kid (maybe like 1st - 2nd grade era) was musicals actually. I remember having a cassette tape of the original cast recording of "West Side Story" and I wore that tape out. I loved the songs and I remember trying to work out the melodies on our neighbor's piano at the time. That was the first music I can recall that really moved me to try and get inside it and replicate it. I got into rock music later on. My mom used to always play like Zeppelin IV and Dark Side of the Moon so those drew me in pretty hard.
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This is so rad. I, also, fell in love with old musicals as a kid. Singing in the Rain was one of my faves.

Where’s your favorite place to play? Any cities you like the most?
 
MCBgreg said:
Greetings all! Yup still early here and I think Allie will be around this afternoon to jump in but definitely keep the Qs coming. Great questions Jeremy:

1.) Yes absolutely. As a producer I love working with samples. For me it always immediately sets the vibe a little better than starting a track with a drum machine pattern or basic guitar riff. I think there are samples on every track on that record, just off the top of my head. And honest to god, I can't really remember where each come from. I generally tend to mangle them up a bunch to suit what I'm looking for and also because indie rock doesn't pay enough for us to be able to clear samples :) "Addio" has probably the most prominent sample and that wah wah guitar and string hit came from a very old and obscure soul 45 rpm I've got.

2.) Biggest is probably the dreampop and trip hop stuff. The first time we met we really bonded over how much love we had for Beach House and Massive Attack in particular.

3.) Here's what I've got on my turntable! I went to a record fair two weeks ago and am still digging through all the stuff I got. This one had a ton of cool old breakbeat stuff so I'm working through to find some cool samples for inspiration. I love taking samples off of vinyl since it has such a lovely distortion that isn't there in the digital realm and I love the cracks/pops/air that hangs around those samples. Always makes a track sound much more cohesive when you've got a bit of that ambiance in.
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Allie here!

2.) Huge, lifelong obsession with Portishead and Elisabeth Fraser, especially when Greg and I met. More currently, our overlap is probably Khruangbin..and Roisin Murphy ha xx
 
nolalady said:
This is so rad. I, also, fell in love with old musicals as a kid. Singing in the Rain was one of my faves.

Where’s your favorite place to play? Any cities you like the most?
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Oh man, you guys..I was HUGE into musicals, I swear I know every word to The Sound of Music

I adored Austin the time we played there for SXSW, the people were rad and engaged...not too cool to say hey!
I would love to play the outdoor stage at Pappy and Harriet's someday..a unique venue near Joshua Tree, you can't beat the night sky backdrop
 
allie_3.8 said:
Allie here!

2.) Huge, lifelong obsession with Portishead and Elisabeth Fraser, especially when Greg and I met. More currently, our overlap is probably Khruangbin..and Roisin Murphy ha xx
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I get strong Portishead vibes from some of the trip hoppiness of Blush but also strong Beth Gibbons vibes from your melodies and inflections.
 
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