#jasminerodriguez

[floopiceleramos]

So happy that I had the pleasure of meet one of the most awesome women in the tattoo industry today 💖 #TattooShow #TattooShowExpo #BuenosAires #TattooArtist #JasmineRodriguez #TattooLover #InkLover #TattooNightmares #LifeImitatesArt (en La Rural, Predio Ferial de Buenos Aires) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuxOaEogIr2/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18tytqgy101g0

[electricdazemag]

Espresso: Interview

By Jasmine Rodriguez

photo by Steve Martinez

Bands that evoke an abstract sound are a rarity to come across, yet Espresso, a band hailing from Los Angeles, has found a way to compose otherworldly instrumentations. The masterminds behind Espresso include Alex (bass), Dashley Dupuy (guitar), and Colin Martin (drums). Their latest cohesive project, Bobe, is an example of the band’s dexterity and their ability to transverse listeners into another realm through the medium of sound. The guitar fuzz entrenched in a variety of their songs on Bobe bring forth a perplexing tempo that will gravitate a listener's’ attention. The genre-defying Espresso is currently crafting on some new projects, as well as planning some tours out of the LA area in the summer. As their Facebook bio says, Espresso has successfully accomplished the ability to “melt minds and cream jeans” via the arrangements and melodies on Bobe. Espresso talks to Electric Daze about playing backyard parties, the making of “Twealer,” and the songs that made them realize the power of music.

Electric Daze: For those who are barely discovering your band, what track would you first recommend they listen to? 

Espresso: Ballad of Bobe, because not only does it bang, it encapsulates all of our different styles.

ED: And what brought all of you together to collectively form the band?

Espresso: We were in a band together a few years before with a few other people that broke up, but the three of us missed playing music so we all got back together to form this band. That was about 2 and a half years ago.

ED: The LA DIY scene often gets a bad rep due to the kids that perpetuate certain stigmas, how has LA shaped who you are as a band? 

Espresso: First and foremost... LA city bangers. Because the history of our favorite bands, that have a profound influence on us, happen to be from our city. The LA scene itself has shaped us as a band because we've learned to play under any circumstance, from raw backyard parties to sick ass legit venues. And from crowds that act like statues in a museum, to crowds that go wild like "Night at the Museum" (Starring Bend STILLer)...but there is nothing STILL about it) 

ED: Are there any misconceptions associated with LA bands that you’d like to break? 

Espresso: Some LA bands think they're too cool, but ay, we're down with everybody.

ED: What was the process behind creating your song, “Twealer”? What makes the song special to you?

Espresso:  It started with the bass line, Dashel put a ska guitar part on top of it, and Colin came up with the vocal and drum parts. The whole middle section was created to fuck with people, especially live. The trombone was added last when we hit up Cole Davis through one of our friends. We thought the song needed something extra like that. The song is special to us because it provides nutting capabilities.

ED: For kids who are barely looking to play the electric guitar, would you recommend the Fender strat or the telecaster? 

Espresso: Telecaster.

ED: What is the most gratifying aspect of being able to make music with some of your best friends? 

Espresso: Being able to come up with ideas and not being worried about judgement. Also, playing shows is always sick because no matter where you are, you're going to get real steamy because you're with your best friends.

ED: What’s a song that recently moved you enough to realize the power behind music?

Espresso:  Here's eight: Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees, Lady Day and John Coltrane - Gil Scott-Heron, The World is a Ghetto - War, I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor, When the Music's Over - The Doors, Homeboy- Psycho MC, Chickenhead - Project Pat, Walk in the Park - Beach House.

ED: When recording music videos, do you have the concept of the music video already ingrained in your brain when you’re writing the lyrics? Or is it just spurred upon by spontaneous thoughts? 

Espresso: Kind of, when we are filming we use a lot of on the spot ideas. A general idea is always in place though.

ED: If you’re going through a musical rut, is there anything you do to get inspired to go record? 

Espresso: just smoke about it..

ED: Do any other artistical mediums inspire you (art, film, literature)? 

Espresso: Definitely, Alex (Alzin) loves to draw, Colin is in a movie club with some of his friends, POV Nog, and Dash is a genuine craftsman who constructs stage pieces.

ED: After you finalized “Bobe”, did you get a cathartic feeling when you were able to listen to the whole project in full? 

Espresso: Ahh g, we're not religious, but after the album we felt a great psychological relief when it was finished.

ED: What’s next for you guys? Any new projects we should look out for and maybe shows outside of the LA area? 

Espresso: We are going to start working on new music, and continue to play shows, in and out of the Los Angeles Area. If all goes as planned, we'll be going up California at the end of March, and a tour this summer.

Follow Espresso on Facebook and Tumblr at @espressoband3, and on  Instagram and Twitter at @espressoband 

[electricdazemag]

Streets of Laredo: Wild

by Jasmine Rodriguez

Streets of Laredo’s latest release, Wild, takes one into an abyss of whimsy percussion and lyrics pondering on wanderlust and romanticism. The New Zealand natives bring forth the eccentricity of their current hometown Brooklyn, New York to their sophomore album, a follow-up to the first release of Volume I & II.

The ability to fuse the synthesizers’ undercurrents and folk instrumentals on tracks piques a listener’s intrigue when listening to tracks such as “Silly Bones.” The meticulous formatting of each instrument layered with textured vocals on each singular track gives the capacity for earworms to completely capture the mind. The enlightened approach of “Laying Low” unravels the dream-like sequencing of the overall album. The single “Trap for Young Players” brings a recollection of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” with a hint of dynamic synths. The sentiments delivered in the momentous closing track, “Gold” are transcendentally poetic, as it laments on a story of an alluring relationship. The combination of lyrics reminiscent of campfire songs and rustic horns in “Caught The Fire” offer an inner escape to a serene Mojave Desert landscape. Consider Wild an array of signature folk ballads embellished with upbeat riffs and acoustic lullabies.

Wild pursued the exemplary balance of heart aching lyricism and enchanting ambiance. Streets of Laredo were able to escape the infamous sophomore slump trope with an endearing album that encapsulated human expression. The escalation of artistic maturity from the previous Volume I & II is vividly displayed through the further rhythmic and vocal experimentation. Siblings Dan and Sarahjane often exchange lead vocals allowing for listeners to experience a range of minimalist notes. Wild is the quintessential autumn album, one to repeatedly play while lighting up pumpkin scented candles, and peacefully basking in simplistic sounds.

Show Streets of Laredo some love on Twitter and Instagram at @streetsoflaredo 

[electricdazemag]

Jasmine Rodriguez

Writer

My mom often recounts these stories of my need for music to be played before I eventually fell asleep as a child or else I’d drain her of all energy by screaming. That fact still holds truth today, well the screaming part usually occurs when I’m at a show yelling right back to the band. Despite not remembering any of the times where I had to be cradled to sleep while listening to Lionel Richie or Romanian singers, I recall the first time I ever fell in love with music, and that was when I heard my uncle play his X&Y Coldplay record. Ever since, I fell into a black hole of living my life through music. The first ever show I went to was Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark Tour at the age of ten, and I was in awe with that performance and all the fans singing along to every verse. After that show, I attended everything from 2009 Justin Bieber shows, rapping along on the barricade to Tyler the Creator, seeing Catfish and the Bottlemen in a two hundred capacity room, to moshing along to SWMRS’s garage show in SB. During my first year of college, I realized that I loved writing about music and putting a person that has never been to a show or has never seen a certain band live, experience the concert through my words. Soon, I transitioned to writing for Local Wolves Magazine and interviewing so much creatives that I decided I loved listening to artists talk about their passions and how much of their lives they dedicate to mastering their craft. Now, I’m so excited to work with all the awesome people on Electric Daze Mag and bring forth more interviews and reviews that will make others fall in love with all the great musicians we get to work with. Cheers, Jasmine.

Jasmine is based out of Santa Barbara, California.

Follow Jasmine on Twitter at @jemriot63.

You can view her work for the magazine here.

[electricdazemag]

Hippo Campus: Interview

By Jasmine Rodriguez 

Hailing from Minnesota, the four-piece, Hippo Campus, embrace their eccentricities through their colorful musical arrangements on their EP, Bashful Creatures. The band is composed of vocalist and guitarist Jake Luppen, bassist Zach Sutton, drummer Whistler Allen, and guitarist Nathan Stocker, who all fused together to form an ode to a charming adolescence in Bashful Creatures. The ambiance seeping from every reverb and the effortless flow of Luppen’s vocals combine to form an EP fit to blast the speaker to the highest volume. The introductory bass pulsing from the track “Suicide Saturday” serves as an entrée for the textured foot-tapping anthem laced with breezy rhythmic drumming. Hippo Campus have quickly transformed from “that band you shared a beer with after they played in your neighbor’s garage” to entering the festival realm by securing their own spot on the Lollapalooza lineup. The band’s teen years were spent manifesting their energetic spirits into numerous EPs and are currently investing their time curating an album that reflects both the mature artistic and personal changes they have subsequently endured. For this new album, the band hints at a more evolved sound that has come as a testament to the dark realities of a newfound adulthood. Electric Daze got a chance to interview the four-piece themselves on their dreams of being featured on the Air Bud soundtrack to the beauty they found while touring the West Coast for the first time.

Electric Daze: Was there a defining moment when you realized that you wanted to be in a band?

Hippo Campus: No, it seemed to formulate gradually over our high school years as something we needed to do instead of a simple want.

ED: What did you learn from playing small garage shows in Minnesota? And how did the lessons you learned from playing these garage shows apply to the larger venues you play in now?

HC: Networking is convenient in small intimate settings, it’s easier talking to someone in a living room or a driveway with a beer in hand. Homely environments are something that cannot be replaced by venue attendance.

ED: Are there any downsides to being young musicians in this generation?

HC: None that can be justified. It comes down to hard work and the will to overcome whatever trivial conflict arises. There will always be problems, no matter how old you are.

ED: How was your first time headlining the West Coast?

HC: It was a beautiful, sunny dreamscape of a time. It's difficult seeing so many attractive people walk around. Like, whoa, I wanna be the boyfriend of twenty west coasters at any given moment.

ED: If Bashful Creatures could be the soundtrack for any film, which film would you choose?

HC: It's a tie between Air Bud and The Shawshank Redemption.

ED: I’ve heard a few new songs off this tour (“Tuesday”, “The Way It Goes”, and “Conviction.”) What can we expect from the new album?

HC: Expect a change. We're not the same people we were a year ago and we approached that truth with open arms in terms of songwriting. We don't want to be resistant to oscillation as long as we stay grounded in who we are, both individually and as an entity.

ED: Were there any names you were set on naming your band before settling on the name Hippo Campus?

HC: Tarzan Reject was the initial name. Swings was an option we had going along with Hippo Campus but it seemed like a lot of BACK AND FORTH we didn't have the conviction to entertain.

ED: I can sense an underlying Bombay Bicycle Club and Twin Peaks influence in your music, is there any particular artists (visual or musical) that inspired you before forming the band?

HC: Wu Lyf from Manchester had a part to play. Their marketing strategy as well as their music caused us to rethink the industry and we thank them for that. Our high school friends were the biggest inspiration for us though.

ED: The video for “Violet” is so interesting, how did you come up with the concept of matching your clothes to pastel-colored backgrounds?

HC: The concept for the video belonged to the director, Connor Gilhooly. All we had to do was show up.

ED: I really appreciated the paint-splattered shoes in the South video, sort of an homage to the Suicide Saturday video, do you guys sometimes come up with the concept of a music video before contriving up lyrics?

HC: Music videos are very awkward for us to take part in. the music itself is always priority and it’s been tough finding a constant aesthetic we’re comfortable with.

ED: Will you ever release the track “Sula” on an upcoming album?

HC: We have no idea. We'd like to hear that song professionally recorded but we don't want to force it.

ED: Most of your songs are very upbeat, do you think it’s harder to portray happiness in a song vs making really emo nihilistic songs?

HC: Whatever is to be portrayed must be done honestly, and honesty is hard for some.  

ED: Is there a singular moment of your career so far that made you realize how happy you are to have taken the route of being in the band vs. sticking to the college life and waiting to get a dreadfully boring job?

HC: We wouldn’t do things differently. This is the route we’ve chosen. But we’re not going to act like all things are dandy every day just because we have the privilege of doing the work we want to do. Sometimes we want to crawl into the void. Other times the sun is out and smiling feels permanent. Both instances are necessary. We’re incredibly thankful for the opportunities that have presented themselves thus far.

As fans frantically anticipate a new project from Hippo Campus, they are often tempted with an impatience to listen to new music. Art is not something that is merely rushed, therefore Hippo Campus fans must patiently wait as the band formulates their upcoming cerebral, compelling album.