#coastgaard

[somereallygoodmusic]

Switchblade Coast: Coastgaard

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/4dY98cgtLfPuOapVzM1XIG?si=4RCl0yOlQXetR4jiGg8GzA)

[somereallygoodmusic]

Kings: Coastgaard

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/6f09pjnTydkTdB4pUUPVwD?si=c1JeSnr6SvWKBSuymkVsow)

[somereallygoodmusic]

Beach III (Ocean Blue): Coastgaard

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/5I11I1d3V9PBMfGOlCaAnX?si=IKDc_6mRQRm4OhiSKtg_1Q)

[somereallygoodmusic]

A Well Adjusted Man: Coastgaard

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/3BAhA4wNxnCa8kdenLSNpH?si=rFlcXn4lQP6jWRxpxoH9tQ)

[theseventhhex]

Coastgaard Interview

Coastgaard

There is something timeless about the music of Coastgaard that, while playing to a listener’s sense of nostalgia, still feels innovative. On their latest stellar release, ‘Devil On The Balcony’, the band has accurately arranged dynamic chord progressions over immediately engaging rhythmic motifs, reminiscent of 50’s and 60’s rock and roll, to form the foundation of what is undoubtedly a breakthrough record. Coastgaard’s music takes on a very cinematic quality. Each song on ‘Devil On The Balcony’ takes the listener through a distinct scene, or moment in the overall story of the record. The influence of surf rock luminaries like The Beach Boys and The Ventures (as well as the recent surf rock revival) is apparent in the beachy vibes scattered throughout the record. With ‘Devil On The Balcony’, Coastgaard is poised to send a warm wave of nostalgia through the hearts of a much wider audience… We catch up with Matt Miller to discuss creative control, TV shows and future plans…

TSH: Now that it’s been out for a while, when you look back and assess the record, ‘Devil On The Balcony’, what comes to mind?

Matt: Well, I’m actually taking a breather from it, I haven’t listened to it for a while and it’s something I did with the first album too. I like to come back to our records and this allows me to not criticise the collection of songs. You know, I definitely appreciate it more and the elements within, I’m very proud of it overall. We wrote a bunch of songs and we weren’t sure if everything was going to flow as an album, we didn’t know until we took a step back and it was pleasing to hear as a cohesive body of work. I look back on the record and lyrically I can really relate to it. Also, I feel the genre hopping we did worked out well too.

TSH: You incorporated some soul and reggae, was this type of direction something you felt compelled to pursue?

Matt: Yeah, I feel it was key. I mean there wasn’t much of it on the first album and these are genres I’m very influenced by. I really admire and am a fan of Bob Marley and Toots. Maybe it was a risk - a white guy doing reggae, ha! But, hey, why not?

TSH: Does the live instrumentation feel in the studio allow the band to excel?

Matt: That’s certainly a big part of our sound to date and it’s important, for sure. We like to aim for this vintage and organic kind of instrumentation that you can play with your hands and that sounds like itself, I feel it gives us a flexibility that you can’t duplicate with electronics – a realness if you will. It’s the same way that you watch an old movie shot in film, it’s just kind of richer, you know? It’s nice to have these small flaws in one’s music; it’s almost as if the flaw has to be appreciated.

TSH: Was ‘Ruminator’ identified early on as album opener?

Matt: I wanted it to be the opener for a while, for some reason it just struck me as an opener. You know, I’m not sure what quality it is about a song that makes it feel like a natural choice as an opener, but this song just had that quality, kind of like ‘Airbag’ for OK Computer. The guitar chops on ‘Ruminator’ act as a welcoming for the listener to experience and get a good feel for the rest of the record.

TSH: The excellent ‘Bloodlines’ ended up as a b-side…

Matt: That song is one that we had so many different versions and arrangements of. We could just never nail it down and be happy with it. We scrapped it a few times. We call it our Coldplay song, it sounded like a Coldplay groove, I mean there’s nothing wrong with Coldplay, especially their early material, ha! Anyhow ‘Bloodlines’ just felt straightforward, however, as we were mixing the album we realised we really loved the melody of the song, so we came up with a version that was more stripped down and chilled out.

TSH: With this record you explored a vastness of sound direction, was this aspect one of the most pleasing factors?

Matt: Yeah, for sure. I mean what also pleases me is that even though we took some leaps with the album, we still didn’t get pigeonholed. People like to pen a certain sound to a song, you know? This album proves that we aren’t one-dimensional, we don’t sound like the same band like we did on the first record. It pleases me that we showed variety and it makes me want to delve more into an assortment of different soundscapes.

TSH: Having full artistic control is also vital…

Matt: Absolutely! A couple of years ago, a record label approached us and this guy at the head of it all was like a record wasn’t done until he said it was done and until he decided it could come off the shelf! This was a big no no for us; we really can’t deal with that. We already put restrictions on each other with the direction of each song, so more restrictions via record labels are certainly not a good thing. As a band, we work meticulously and require creative control.

TSH: With the craziness of the modern world being more intense than ever, does this type of subject matter creep into forthcoming Coastgaard music?

Matt: It’s funny you should say that because the first two albums have really been about myself – my personal issues, my childhood, my situations etc. The upcoming record that we’re currently working on makes me feel like I don’t want to write about that kind of stuff. I feel like there’s more important stuff in the world to be talking about. There are so many upsetting topics, like Trump being president, shootings, the penal system, the environment – these are all things that are on my mind, and the rest of the band too. As an artist, it seems like a good time to make your music relatable to something more than yourself. That’s what I love about Anohni, she’s such an amazing artist and her material is really resonant of the times. Thematically, her latest work is such a formidable record.

TSH: You’re also a huge TV show type of guy…

Matt: Oh man! I’m a TV show person through and through! I love ‘Making a Murderer’, ‘The OA’, ‘Westworld’, ‘Fleabag’ – these are all current shows I’ve been watching. Most movies suck now! I feel like all the good talent and writing is in TV shows nowadays. 90% of the time when I see a film these days, I’m disappointed. I’m constantly dissatisfied with movies, which is a shame, because I used to love going to the movies. Now I never go to the movies, I know l I’ll be disappointed all the time. Actually, you know what, screw Trump and all the negativity; they need to get some good fucking movies out there, ha!

TSH: What’s your biggest drive as you look ahead with Coastgaard?

Matt: My biggest drive is to never give up on the meticulous way we go about writing songs. It’s also important to always have melodies that don’t just sound like they are inserted, but the melodies sound like they are fitting and inspired. A good melody defines a good song for me. We’re in the process of deciding what sort of release we want to go for next, it could be an EP, a full length or even some singles. Overall, I’d like to shake it up a little bit, but I don’t know what that means yet.

Coastgaard - “A Well Adjusted Man”

Devil on the Balcony

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: The Radiohead "Paranoid Android"-like Visuals for Coastgaard's "A Well Adjusted Man"

New Video: The Radiohead “Paranoid Android”-like Visuals for Coastgaard’s “A Well Adjusted Man”

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Brooklyn-based quartet Coastgaard, a band that over the past few years has seen increasing attention across the blogosphere for a jangling, guitar pop sound that draws equally from 60s garage rock and surfer rock, and in a way that compares favorably to Raccoon Fighter and Vampire Weekend, The…

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[lprnyc]

Interview with Coastgaard

In describing Coastgaard, you welcome listeners to "imagine inheriting [their] parent’s old vinyls, speeding up the RPM and setting it as the soundtrack to a summer drive". Do you feel retrospection plays a particularly large role in your music? I think largely that's up to the listener. We have drawn inspiration from previous eras to an extent, but, what would forward-thinking rock actually sound like? Playing "Rock" in general may be inherently nostalgic given this era's obsession with Electronic, R&B, and Dance styles. We play music that we like, and hope there are others that share our enthusiasm.

From the band's name to its videos, Coastgaard clearly has a strong relationship to the ocean. Can you speak to this relationship? Is it one of fascination? Admiration? Well, when we started, all four of us had very demanding day jobs, trapped fifty to sixty hours in NYC. I suppose normal people vacation to alleviate that stress, but we got in a room together and just played what we felt a vacation might sound like.

Surf rock is a broad genre marker which is ascribed to many bands which often have different sounds but cover similar songs; take, for example, the sonic contrast between Dick Dale's Miserlou and Agent Orange's album, Living in Darkness.  What is your band's relationship to this term? It's been a departure point, but much less a destination. We certainly respect and revere all those that have trail-blazed that path before us, but we don't consider ourselves surf-rock per-se. It's more capturing a kind of coastal zeitgeist and arranging the songs with what fits the spirit of the song. A Well Adjusted Man is probably as clear and as close to "surf-rock" as we'll ever venture.

When one thinks of surf rock, their imaginations are usually directed towards the West Coast; what is it like being a surf rock band on the less sunny coast? Bands from Southern California have to imagine what cold weather is like but we don't have to imagine. Aren't we lucky?

You've said in the past that your new album, Devil On The Balcony, aspires to a live sound untouched by overproduction and electronics; this it is evident in its straightforward, raw production. Why do you feel that it is important to replicate 'live' sound in recording an album? It's definitely not as raw as it appears haha. Doing something completely reflective of four guys in a room performing with little embellishment is a dragon we're still chasing, I'm afraid. But it all starts with getting the drums and bass right, in the studio, live.

[odditystew]

Hey everyone! Remember how I was on hiatus from Hero+Plus for most of February/March? That’s because I was working with the indie band Coastgaard on their latest music video “Well Adjusted Man”!

I storyboarded and animated all of it within a two-three month timeframe, and had friends onboard who did most of the backgrounds for me so I wasn’t overworked! Still, I think it came out really good considering how fast we had to churn it out!

Check it out!