Oregon Music News

It is 9pm and Logan Lynn and The Gentry are scrambling to sound-check in a cavernous warehouse space in Portland’s NW industrial district. “We’re in the Dandy’s kingdom,” Lynn says of The Odditorium, the sprawling studio of the Dandy Warhols.

The main room has giant murals leaning on almost every surface, a small fleet of motorcycles in the rear. There’s a kitchen outfitted better than most restaurants. The oddly placed nooks, crannies, windows and doors suggest a building cobbled together from several smaller ones.

The band is setting up for an early morning video shoot at The Odditorium with local CBS affiliate Koin 6. They’re shooting promo videos too, for a tour they’re kicking off this Thursday, May 27th, at the Doug Fir Lounge with DoublePlusGood and Fleshtone.

Logan Lynn is known for his emotronic, electro-pop, and OMN has profiled him before. In the past he’s mostly performed alone, sometimes bringing along a producer like Cars & Trains, while he stood out front crooning into a mic over layers of soft electronics. But for this Thursday’s show, and this summer’s upcoming tour, he’s brought along a full band: slamming dance-electro rockers The Gentry.

He calls himself a “bad hostess” as the band hurries to set up. He seems anxious, but affable. Will an act that’s gained popularity for soft, emotive electronics sit well with an accustomed fan base after adding a full, raucous band?

“I was scared about what people were gonna do,” Lynn says. But after their first performance at Blow Pony in February, “We had every single ear and eye on us. They were into it. I checked the video just to make sure. It’s real.”

The transition began in December “and we just went full force, we started practicing 30 hours a week.” OMN caught up with Logan Lynn, and Gino Mari (vocals, guitar), Steve Taylor (synthesizers, bass), and Andrew Carrion [A.C.] (drums) of The Gentry between rehearsals to talk about the change. Plus, there’s a new live track of their collaboration below.

Logan Lynn and The Gentry rocking out on “Bottom Your Way to the Top” (LIVE at the Dandy Warhol’s Odditorium on 5/25/2010):

Looking at some old stuff, I noticed that Gino had done a remix for you. Is that where the relationship began?

Logan: Well kinda. The remix relationship had happened because they had played a show with us when we played with Dhalia  [at East End]. I was impressed with how they were. It was the first I had sort of seen of electronic rock or something that made me want to dance, but with live instruments. Back then… there were a lot of people trying to do that and [The Gentry] were wild enough to entertain me. When it was time to do the remix record I hollered at them cuz I knew that they would be able to do something good… A couple weeks into doing the remixes I got a weird licensing deal from my label, and it was for some new Cedric the Entertainer show [laughs]. It was for this scene where, they’re like in the car “rollin’ up” and it was supposed to be some sort of hip-hop in the car, and then when they open the door it needed to get really “gay” [everyone laughs]. It was from Dreamworks or something.

Gino: Yeah, I think it was like a cop or something.

Logan: It’s like a cop rolls up there, and then they roll down the window, and it sounds really gay. So I was like if anyone can do something weird… out of the 28 guys I had doing remixes, these guys could do it. None of them are gay, but I knew that they had dirty minds. So I just picked the people that I thought were most perverted on the list.

Gino qualifies.

Gino: I’m perverted? You think I’m perverted? I’m just a sweet guy, what are you talking about? I am a gentle giant.

Logan: I disagree

[Laughter]

I’m wondering, where was the approach?

Logan: You came to my listening party.

Gino: Yeah that’s right.

Logan: I had a hell of a time figuring out my live show, from the first time I started playing until now. It has taken a while.

With your live show before, it was pretty much pre-programmed with you singing?

Logan: Yeah. The idea initially was a “singing DJ” and then somewhere along the line it turned more into like…

Being the performer versus being the DJ.

Logan: Right, I took the headphones off and stepped up. It just took me a while. I have crippling stage-fright, historically. That was my problem I think. So I was gradually getting more recognition, and feeling less comfortable as more people were looking and having opinions about what I was doing on stage. And it became clear that I needed a band, and I wanted to work with somebody who I respected. And these guys came to my…

Gino: Aww. [laughs]

Logan: Listening party and something clicked, and I was like “What are you guys doing? Are you guys really busy right now?”

How long was that transition in your career?

Logan: From 2000 when my first record came out.

So really that long, almost ten years before you decided: “I need to get a band.”

Logan: Yes. But there was like 6 years where I was like in party town, living in an alternate universe. I lost some time to the party wagon. I think I got serious about all this in 2007. Since [then] it’s been one thing after another. It started with my producer from Pillar to Post. I kind of dragged him on stage an said “You HAVE to do this, we’re gonna go and play shows!” And he ended up moving. Then, I worked with Cars & Trains. He’s an indie, electro-pop, one-man show and it was great, I did that for a year. And then it was just time to make it louder and wilder. I needed something to pull me out of my shell, I think, and the loudness has done that. And with Gino, these guys on stage, it’s way less scary, it’s fun instead of being terrifying.

From seeing past Gentry shows, Gino is a hell of a frontman.

Logan: Totally.

Gino: Aww, guys.

Logan: I’m shy and he’s not.

But for this project at least, Logan, you’re the actual frontman, so you have to sort of step up, beyond somebody who is used to having that role.

Gino: But what’s good is that I kind of force him to. Because it’s not like I sit back. I’m still me.

Logan: He’s still Gino out there.

Gino: I’m still all about that rock ‘n’ roll, escapist raaaa, crazy.

So what are your roles now. I mean A.C., he’s quiet in person, but he’s a monster on drums. For Gino, are you playing mostly backup stuff?

Gino: I play guitar, and I sing backup stuff, and I’m gonna do keyboards. But mostly just harmonies and guitar.

Steve, what’s your role.

Steve: I play mostly synth and electric bass. I don’t really play leads or anything like that now, it’s all bass.

For The Gentry, as a band, do you have a dedicated bassist right now?

Gino: It’s a machine.

Logan: We like computers.

Steve: After seven of them we replaced them with a machine.

[Laughter]

Logan: The way that the show goes, just to give you an idea, we’ve merged the units. We’re going on tour together as kind of one band, but it’s two bands. The Gentry sort of starts off the set, and plays their set… and they kind of bring me on stage. [Then] we play a whole other set where they don’t really change their position, except that Gino sort of slides over, and I pop out… Once I pop on, they’re still The Gentry, but it’s my songs. But they’ve been totally reworked by these guys.

And are you gonna do anything by yourself, or is everything formatted for a band?

Logan: No, it’s all brand new.

Steve: There was talk…

Logan: There are some times where its calm, and it’s just me singing. But there’s not really time where I go and clutch the mic in anticipation of something happening.

Going back and listening to your stuff, Logan, it seems really sensitive. The emo thing gets tagged to you a lot.

Logan: Sure.

But I think of The Gentry as being really macho. Even though it is dance music and ’80s, there’s a certain machismo to it.

Logan: Its chick bangin-rock.

Yeah so now its chick-bangin’ rock mixed with dude-bangin’ rock.

[Laughter]

Gino: It’s just an appreciation of sex.

Logan: Just bangin’ all around. I’ve been called the “Ambassador of Bisexuality” before, and I’m not bisexual. But my imagery that I put out in my videos… I had the first gay kiss on MTV, well man-to-man.

Are you worried about alienating people who came to like your through your softer sound?

Logan: I don’t know, I’m kind of in the business of alienating people. In the beginning, I was making records that I didn’t think anybody was going to listen to. And then when they started listening I changed it up again and then made some weird electro-clash record. I think the common element in all my work is me, and my words, and my songs, and my melodies. That stays the same no matter what the energy behind it is. This is just like a brand new energy that’s been worked into the same songs. People are going to recognize the songs. They just hit heavier and have grown large and epic instead of soft and sweet.

But do you think it still is dance-y?

Logan: Oh, it’s so dance-y.

Gino: It kind of like [an] electronic Buzzcocks, Stooges. Really primal simple parts.

Steve: We really tapped into ’70s punk for a lot of these songs.

Logan: It’s like dance-punk.

’70s punk is the last thing I would ever think when I heard your stuff.

Logan: I am not punk though. That’s the thing, that’s what I’m saying. I haven’t changed the way I’m singing necessarily. It’s them, they’ve brought their Gentry. That’s the thing. I’m still soft. They’re hard, I’m soft and it comes together in this new way. But it’s familiar. I think we’ll hold on to my fans, and [The Gentry] are gonna get some new ones.

And you’re comfortable now, or even excited.

Logan: I’m so excited, everything rules. And even A.C.’s energy back there… That alone versus some programmed beat it changes the whole fucking scope.

Steve: It changes the whole dynamic entirely.

Gino: Well the three of us have been playing [as The Gentry] for so long we have a natural…

It’s been like six years.

Gino: Even longer. What’s cool is that we get to try out a lot of things that we’re interested in the moment. And it’s nice to not be the frontman, cuz I’ve always been the frontman. I’ve always had to be the singer. To just be a guitar player… it’s fun, the simplicity of being able to leave [the mic]. I’m not attached to a microphone, though I do sing vocals I can leave, and the song isn’t done [just] because I’m not singing.

Logan: You can jump off the stage.

Gino: Exactly, I can do my crazy thing and it lets me take that exhibition further because I’m not trapped to the center of the stage and singing into my mic [where] if I miss my cue everything is fucked.

Logan: That’s my job.

Gino: It’s cool too, because we’ve been really into dynamics lately and we get to do some experiments with some really soft parts of songs and then big, loud. Just experimenting with playing as a band rather than being an electronic unit. I mean we still use computers and we still…

So there’s still a lot of programming there, but some of the songs are free form.

Logan: Some have [no programming].

Gino: And they’re totally different from The Gentry.

Logan: Its working, but its been an adjustment.

Especially as a DJ where you have a record, a program, something else in front of you the whole time.

Logan: Definitely. It’s a new world. It’s a more enjoyable world from what I’ve experienced so far… There’s not one sound within our band or within our set that makes it pinpointable, but it’s all one thing. It’s all hard, fast, rock, dance, wildness.

Are you working on any new material that you’ve only just started with the band, or is this all old material?

Logan: No, no. Yea, I finished making a new record, which we’re mixing now. So I’d say half the set is stuff from this new record that nobody has ever heard before. They’re gonna hear it the first time as The Gentry’s version of it.

Is there anything from that you’d be willing to share with OMN?

Logan: Sure, yeah definitely, but I have to check with some people on that [laughs]. I’m not in charge of me anymore.

Logan Lynn seems anxious but confident about the new sound. “I’m in contact with the people who are listening to my music. That’s how this whole thing started, that’s how its built up to this point. That’s how I know somebody’s gonna be there tomorrow.”

It’s those relationships that fuel Lynn’s music. “It’s great that I get good reviews or whatever, but the people who I actually care about are the people I’m talking to online, that are coming up to me after shows, that are interested in what they just heard. You gotta feed the tree.”

Logan Lynn and The Gentry will be playing this Thursday, May 27th at the Doug Fir Lounge, 9pm with DoublePlusGood and Fleshtone.

Here what’s in the electro-dance-madness forecast starting this weekend and continuing into next week.

Saturday, April 3rd:

NIGHTCLUBBING at Holocene welcomes you into their special club with warm acid-house from Miracles Club, mysteriously cold disco synths from Soft Metals, and mood-modification from Brkfst Sndwch, all ending with hot, hot, hot love rolling from midnight till 3 AM with DJ duo Linger & Quiet.

$3 (free before 11 PM), 9 PM, 21+

Sunday, April 4th:

Back at Holocene for the second night in a row?  Why not when local electro-geeks DAT’R hang out with touring NY electro-jokester-art weirdos Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt (there’s gonna be some seriously kooky antics… possibly a stuffed animal suit and bizarre light show–see video below) and get some synthy indie-pop to balance things out (Reverse Dotty) and finally add a little bluesy punk (The Shakes).  Like I said, why not?  It’s all pure entertainment.

$8 advance and day of show, 8:30 PM, 21+

Tuesday, April 6th:

Electro-pop duo (with live drums!) DoublePlusGood bubbles over at The Woods along with one man electronica, laptop show Cars & Trains who melds natural and mechanical beats.  DPG is currently recording a new album–their first as a duo.  Hear their poppy synth sound and read about how remixes are keeping them busy in the OMN interview.

$5, 9 PM, 21+

Wednesday, April 7th:

Rotture presents happy synthesizers and dance-y electro-pop.  Sunny duo Van Go Lion pump out straightforward retro-electro-pop with Amy Paige’s assertive vox flying over the tapping, nimble fingers of Josh Loerzel on the synth and Mac.  Electro-psych makers Pegasus Dream blast transforming jams with a pinch of experimentalization while retaining their pop sensibilities–never meandering too far.  Keys and drum machines, download their free EP here.  Hip-hop wisecrackers Thuggage drop hyphy punch lines on cuts about marshmallow Peeps and “Pimpimagery”–their brand of satirical social commentary.  Today’s hip-hop is a joke, so why not laugh at it?  But their music is no parody.  Electro-beats ring from the NES-sampled “Bomberman” to the bobbing “Buttz.”  Don’t take it too seriously, enjoy it.

$5, 8 PM, 21+

Matt Harmon and Kali Giaritta are original Junkies.  These two Junkies are connected at the hip.  They do everything together and now they’re engaged.

But as the two Junkies have grown closer together, they’ve also allowed others to sneak into The Ascetic Junkies–a band that started as two in Boston but has organically swelled to five in Portland.

Matt and Kali arrived in Portland two years ago with an indie-folk album written and recorded in Kali’s bedroom.  Two thousand eight’s One Shoe Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was “almost entirely Kali and I,” says Matt, adding that they often had to coax friends to fill in the instrumental gaps on stage as there was no fixed line up for the East Coast Junkies.

Listen to “Dracula” (from their first album), which was written on All Hallows’ Eve during a train ride in Romania approaching the home of Vlad the Impaler.

Beginning a new stretch on the West Coast, their sound has filled out to pack the room with their distinct blend of pop, country, folk, bluegrass, and indie–it’s a boot clompin’ hoedown driven by rock’n'roll with harmonies and lyrics that will meander your mind for days.  Any attempt to whistle or hum will automatically reveal a Junkie tune stuck in your subconscious.

Kali and Matt are more than happy to try as much as possible, especially with the steady additions of bass, banjo and drums in the form of Ryan Hilton, Graham Houser and Stephen Colvin, respectively.

“The band is much more collaborative now,” states Matt.

“We still write the core of the songs (lyrics, melodies, harmonies),” says Kali, “but we all work together to come up with the final version of the song.  The Ascetic Junkies are all five of us.”

The Junkies are letting their sound evolve as well; their first release featured electric guitar, which Matt says he doesn’t even play anymore.  But the most important growth has come from the new Junkies, like drummer Stephen.

“He’s much more of a rock drummer and he puts an energy in the songs, something rougher,” says Matt.  “We still write what we want but then arrange it with the band.”

Much of the old material was influenced by old bluegrass and folk music and written with a duo in mind, which ultimately limited the final output.  “We didn’t have a band and the old songs were written specifically for the two of us,” explains Matt.  “But now we’ve realized we can make a lot of noise.”

Kali says the songs are still “lyrically folksy” but the Junkies now have an “urge to rock” as a complete band.

Their latest EP Don’t Wait for the Rescue Squad features two new tracks, written for two old friends back in Boston, and two remixes by two new musician friends in Portland (Cars & Trains’ Tom Filepp and Leigh Marble).  Matt and Kali didn’t plan a theme for this EP but “we realized a theme after the fact,” says Kali, and “it worked out more cohesively than we realized,” adds Matt.

They’ve also been influenced by exploring new genres like electro, rock and jazz while experimenting and discovering “how to transfer the music to banjo and bass,” says Matt.

“People go crazy over the banjo,” Kali smiles, “asking Graham to take his shirt off.”

“He hasn’t done it yet,” laments Matt.  “But I’ve been trying to convince him lately.”

Most importantly, The Ascetic Junkies’ music is intrinsically fun.  Kali leans toward calling it “whiskey stomp” and their live sets feature both.  They love to bring people on stage to stomp and sing along, especially during their vehemently demanded closer “French Girls,” off the new EP.  (Listen below.)

Matt claims the “newer stuff is what we sound like live” which is “louder than you think,” while still “danceable and clap-able” adds Kali.

“My very favorite thing is having people dance and stomp around,” proclaims Matt.  “We love to make noise and share that.”

The band is busy sharing their noise with Portland during February beginning with their Wednesday, happy hour residency at the LaurelThrist Public House where they’ll collaborate with a new artist every week.  All the Junkies will be there playing originals, traditional bluegrass, covers, and trying out some new material.  With two hours of stage time (6 to 8 PM), you can expect experimentation, backing, and solos from Sam Cooper of Horse Feathers (2/10), The Glyptodons (2/17), and Leigh Marble and Ezra Carey (2/24).

The Ascetic Junkies also signed with Timber Carnival Records and Pet Marmoset (literally just signed the papers before our interview) to help them do “the stuff we’ve been doing on our own,” says Kali, which means promoting their music to press and radio, booking gigs, and “hopefully we can play shows together,” says Kali.

Which is exactly what’s happening on Friday night at Holocene.  The Ascetic Junkies share the bill with history laden, new label mates The Dimes as well as openers Goldfinch (minimalist folk rock) and singer/songwriter Kelli Schaefer.

Gigs like this are exactly why Kali loves Portland.  “On any night of the week, you can see seven different bands, really talented local bands,” exclaims Kali.

“So what’s next for The Ascetic Junkies?” I asked.  “Touring?  Full length?  Wedding?”

“It will be a really busy, fun year doing all of that,” says Kali, including more local touring with stops in Eugene and Seattle in the coming months.  But for now the original Junkies are writing and playing music, allowing new Junkies to grow right alongside them.

—
Download : Don’t Wait for the Rescue Squad EP for free on Bandcamp.  “These songs are like gifts to friends, so we felt silly charging for them.  Enjoy!” says Kali.

See : Friday, February 5, 2010 at Holocene with The Dimes, Goldfinch, and Kelli Schaefer.  Doors at 7:30 PM, $8 day of show.

The combination of Logan Lynn and Cars & Trains playing together at the Doug Fir last Thursday was as fresh as I’d hoped, and The Gentry added an element of power.

The show represented the Portland showcase of Lynn’s already nationally acclaimed fourth album, From Pillar to Post, and the debut of Cars & Trains’ sophomore album, The Roots, The Leaves, which comes out on January 24th.  The Gentry, now sharing backup duty for Logan with Cars & Trains, showcased this new synthesis last week as well.

The performance, with Lynn backed by Cars & Trains, was honest and a little gritty but fresh, while at the same time evoking a throwback to Mates of State’s My Solo Project. Lynn’s soulful, slightly melancholy vocals were contrasted with happier, upbeat backup, creating a push-pull phenomenon, which gave the music depth and interest. The sound this duo produces is more than superficial–you have to think deeper to get it as a whole, which is refreshing, and likely why it’s frequently awarded the emotronic title–emotionally open, complexly happy-sad.

At the end of the show The Gentry joined the rest of the musicians on stage for a finale. While The Gentry opened the night with their own set of sucker punching beat-infused rock, they closed by backing Lynn and changing the overall story. The combo of Lynn and Cars & Trains says, “Here are some painful things, but what the fuck, let’s dance it off!” The combo of Lynn and The Gentry says, “Here are some painful things, let’s break a hoe… what?”  Exhibit A: What one does. Exhibit B: What one’s Id would do.

The whole experience left the audience eerily aware of Lynn’s inner workings, which I think is why he’s so relatable.

The mixing together of electronic and acoustic instrumentation is nothing new, and, frankly, there aren’t that many people out there doing something new with that concept. So when you do hear a group that transcends the rabble, you do well to listen up.

One such project is Cars & Trains, the music nom de plume of Tom Filepp. His artful melding of shambling mechanical beats – many of which sounds like they were constructed meticulously from samples of someone hiking through the woods, shuffling and crinkling and splashing as they do – and the ramble of folk elements (acoustic guitar, viola and glockenspiel) feels absolutely natural. As if these pieces were lying around for someone to finally have the smarts to stick them together at long last.

Filepp is gearing up for the release of his second full-length, The Roots, The Leaves with some shows at the Doug Fir Lounge (with Logan Lynn) and at Mississippi Studios (with Lymbyc Systym and Helios). The multi-instrumentalist spoke with Oregon Music News about the new album and looking for the grass that grows up through cracks in the pavement.

On your website, the header refers to as simply an “electronic music project” but your music seems much more complex than that. Was that you just trying to sum it up as simply as possible?

When I first started the project, it was definitely a lot more electronic based. Over time I’ve figured out ways to better and more subtly to integrate my folk side of things. There are definitely a lot of electronic elements but I’m very particular about the way sit. I like them to be as organic as possible so you have a hard time telling what is actually live instrumentation and what are samples and found sounds. Long story short: I should probably update that.

Were you playing a lot of folk stuff at the same time you were trying your hand at electronic music?

That’s essentially what happened. I used to play in a bunch of bands when I was younger, but when I went to away to college, I didn’t really have access to that same sort of environment. I ended up playing lots of stuff acoustically which I did begrudgingly at first but it grew on me. I started to acquire a taste for the different kinds of folk stylings. So when I was approaching these things, I was envisioning a way to integrate them at some point.

What attracted you to electronic music?

It was the possibilities more than anything. I grew up listening to a lot of different kinds of music. I started listening to hardcore and metal and worked my way into industrial and then electronic music through there. I was always sort of intrigued by the process and how you could manipulate things and really just make them whatever you wanted them to be and to be able to do it on your own.

The new record – both in the title of it and the lyrical content – references the natural world quite a bit. What was the inspiration behind that?

I’ve always been obsessed with the relationship of nature and urbanity. A lot of the different juxtapositions of nature breaking through into urban life whether it be grass coming up through sidewalk cracks or decaying rusting things, its always fascinating to me. Because all of these things have been paved over but in the end nature is more resilient than any steamrollers or plows that we have. It’s something that I really love. There’s a wealth of imagery that I like to build around.

Are you involved in the environmental movement at all?

It’s a big part of my life. I’m definitely not quite as active in that area as I’d like to be. But I am a very avid vegan and try to be involved with that stuff when I can be.

The song “Asleep On A Train” really stood out for me, particularly in this expression of the mark that someone leaves behind them. Is that speaking of the environmental impact or are you talking about mortality?

A lot of stuff gets kind of muddy. It’s the combination of personal experiences that I’ve had and just wondering what their impact is and I guess it’s into questions of immorality via what survives you after death. I’m a strong adherent of the belief that ultimately no matter what we do here, at some point in the very distant future nature will intercede and correct itself.

How has it worked trying to combine these acoustic and electronic elements in a live setting?

That has been an interesting process that I’ve been working on for a couple of years now. When I play live, I do everything. It’s all live looping. I use a laptop and put an audio interface through that. I use some MIDI controllers for some of the more percussive elements and then usually run in a synth, guitar, viola and some toy instruments and stuff like that. I just kind of build it all up. The idea has been being really adamantly opposed to just hitting play and singing over things. Really having my hand in everything. It’s been interesting seeing it come together over the years and being able to do things like live looped harmonies with the vocals. I think it really makes it more of an intimate experience. It’s been created in real time. Usually translates really well in an intimate setting. Sometimes less so in very large clubs. On the whole it’s very interesting for me and keeps me on my toes.

Do the songs then change drastically from their recorded versions?

Depending on the complexity of them they tend to be more interpreted versions of them. If you’re familiar with some of the records, you’ll recognize the songs but either structurally they’ll be different or I’ll be using some of the samples from it. When I play a song live, it’s usually not exactly the same every time I play it. Some of those tracks I love the little details and so I’ve got easy 70 or 80 separate tracks on of those song arrangements. It’s almost like I’m covering my own songs. I definitely have to reinterpret them there’s no way I could do that.

You’ve also done a lot of remixing work. Is this from people seeking you out or are you chasing down this work?

It’s been sort of a mix. Definitely stuff early on that I went out and sought after the projects. In the past couple of years, it’s been people asking me whether its friends or friends of friends or just random people. I really love doing remixes. It’s really a great way for me to try new stuff that I probably wouldn’t otherwise when I’m working on my own things. There’s sort of a longstanding tradition with a buddy of mine we were friends back in Boston when I lived there a few years back. He plays under the name Boy In Static. He would always release an album right before me and I would remix one of the tracks for him and that track would always the techniques and the feeling of them they would always set the tone for my next record. It didn’t happen this last time around but there was this development process that was interesting to the two of us. I have to say I owe a lot to him inspirationally and doing the ping-pong thing back and forth helped me grow quite a bit.

What is next for you?

It’s been a one man band for such a long time I would be very interested to try to get some other folks involved somehow. I’ve got these fantasies of enlisting a cello player even some other strange instruments. Even if it wouldn’t end up developing itself into an actual band, just something to mix it up. There’s that and I want to I would really would like to produce music for other folks as well. I’ve definitely done a couple of things for some hip-hop artists and could potentially have some things on the horizon. This past record that I did, I obviously recorded everything myself but it was the first time that I did all the mixing and everything from beginning to end which was a huge achievement for me. It was something that I’ve battled for years and years now. I feel a lot more confident in my production and mixing skills and would really love to take that into a different context and work with other people just to see what that experience is like.

The Ascetic Junkies started out as a jumpy folk pop outfit, acoustic guitar and banjo front and center as real life couple and band mates Kali Giaritta and Matt Harmon harmonized, stomped and shimmied through a series of songs about their charming relationship and their travails and travels together.

With their latest release, Don’t Wait For The Rescue Squad, the band is embracing electronic music, as programmed beats and warping synths start to make their way into the music. The group also relinquished control of two tracks from their first album to remixers Cars & Trains and Leigh Marble.

The band (whose name comes from Kerouac’s The Subterraneans) will be celebrating the release of this EP on Friday December 11th at Backspace, and they will be giving this new music away as a free download at the concert. So bring your iPod, USB drive or laptop to the show and pick it up (virtually speaking).

Oregon Music News caught up with Giaritta and Harmon at their Portland home to get the lowdown on their musical and personal partnership and the inspiration behind the two original songs on Rescue Squad.

What are your musical backgrounds?

Matt: I have been playing music since I was little and my parents are both musicians so I’ve been around it my whole life. I’ve been in a lot of louder alt rock bands in my day. But when I was in college, I started getting into folk because it was a lot easier to play without lugging an amp around. I could just sit around my apartment and play acoustic guitar.

Kalli: I grew up doing musical theater that’s how I first got into music. I joined my first band when I was 16 but it was more of a hardcore, loud screaming band. When I got to college I pretty much did the same thing as Matt. I needed to play in my dorm room when I learned to play the guitar and started to do a more folksy thing. As far as musical interests, when I was growing up my dad always listened to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix so I really like that kind of stuff. In college, I got into a lot more modern indie and folk and just recently started listening to a little bit of bluegrass.

M: We listen to pretty much everything. I know that’s kind of a cliché but it’s true.

How did you two meet up and start playing together?

K: We met our freshman year of college. We met at a party and I think I asked Matt if he would be my best friend when we met. I’m sure we were both a little bit drunk but we pretty much held to it. We started playing music together for fun and Matt recorded some of my songs for fun. My senior year of college we decided to move into a big house together with a banjo player and just by luck had a cello player come and live with. We started playing around Boston and writing songs together. After about a year of that, we decided to move out to Portland and do more of a rock outfit. We picked up a bass player and a new banjo player and drums. And since then, we’ve changed our songs a little bit. Our first album was maybe a little more folk-y. Our newer songs are kind of a little bit more almost punk influenced in the way they are loud and energetic and we’ve got keyboards now so that kind of changes things a bit.

What was it about Matt that made you want to be best friends with him?

K: Well, I thought he was really cute. I probably wanted to be more than just a friend. But we just got along really well right off the bat and had a lot of fun together. We went through college as friends doing a lot of silly things and having a lot of parties and a lot of fun. I just thought he was such a good musician. I used to listen to his songs a lot and thought it would be cool if we could play songs together because I thought his were really good and I thought mine were good, but would be a little better if Matt were helping me out.

How did you end up moving to Portland?

M: One day we both came home from our jobs and had both randomly been looking at Portland and researching Portland. We were looking into it more and it just seemed like a good idea to move somewhere new and try a new place. It was kind of between Portland and Austin, just going off good music city stereotypes without having been there.

Why just an EP now? Did you have just a couple of songs you wanted to get out?

M: We’re actually working on an album but we’ve been procrastinating on recording. So, we started feeling like, “Oh man, we’ve really have to put something out.” It’s been a while since we’ve put anything new out and our live set has a lot of stuff that hasn’t been recorded.

K: Plus the two songs that we recorded they fit together thematically. But they’re the two that we keep playing and people keep asking us if we have them recorded. So we figured while we have them recorded, we’d better do something with them and give them to people. We’re giving them away for free.

Those two songs are interesting as they are both about a particular people. So, I have to ask, is there a Jenny?

K: Yes! Jenny is a friend back in Boston. When I wrote that song, I was thinking that I wanted her to feel a lot better and I wanted her to know what a cool person she was and she didn’t need her shitty boyfriend to make her feel better.

So what about the second song (“French Girls”)? Is there a Paul in your life?

M: Paul is one of my best friends he and grew up in the same small town in Massachusetts. The subject matter is obviously a lot lighter. Its kind of a collection of impressions and memories of hanging out with Paul. I hadn’t seen him in a while so I thought I’d write him a song.

Have either of them heard these songs?

K: They have. Jenny apparently just finally broke up with her shitty boyfriend and has been listening to the song a lot, so that’s good. It served its purpose. Paul came out for a visit and he got to hear the song live for the first time.

You’ve been introducing a lot more electronic elements into your sound lately. What inspired that move?

M: Kali and I both play some keyboard and when we found our current drummer one of the first things he asked is whether either of us wanted to buy a Micro-Korg. The Micro-Korg synth has been showing up a lot in songs just because we have it and it’s fun to play and fun to create sounds on it. We both listen to a lot of music. I think, in general, the stuff that seems like the obvious influences for a lot of our songs is what we listen to least right now. Lately a lot of rock and electronic stuff and our drummer’s really into dance music and trying to get us into that. I think a lot of the sounds… we’re trying to look around for various things we can stick into the framework. Our instrumentation kind of dictates what we’re going to sound like.

The other two songs on the EP are remixes. Did you seek out these folks or did they find you?

M: We sought them out, although it was an idea we had for a while. We were talking to our manager about it and he’s really good friends with Leigh and also knew Tom. Both of them seemed pretty excited to do it, so we ended up hooking up with them. We’re really psyched about those. It’s something that we’ve been excited about the idea of for a while and when we finally got to hear them… it was very cool.

So you’re working on a new full-length now. What can you tell me about that?

M: It’s going to be pretty much the whole backlog of songs that we’ve been playing live for the last year but haven’t had recordings of and a few new ones that really Kali and I have been messing around with haven’t really worked out with the band yet.

K: We’ve been recording it in the house with wires running to the basement to the bathroom to the bedroom. We’re trying to do it similarly to the first one in that we’re doing it in our house and making it the best of what we have. At least we have a lot more as far as recording tools go this time around.

Logan Lynn makes emotronic, electropop.  A gay man from America’s heartland, raised in a family of cult-like, born-again Christians, he’s found a way out of some dark, lost days.

Influenced by folk music growing up and DJs in Chicago, Logan’s demo was titled This Is Folk Techno.  Sentimental lyrics paired with capricious electro-beats, Logan’s sound ranges from dejected to dancey, creating moods that resemble The Postal Service.

Relishing in Portland’s creativity, Logan is signed to The Dandy Warhols’ label Beat The World and is becoming a people person.

He celebrates his new album From Pillar To Post with a listening party on Sunday, November 22nd at Jinx Bar with The Dandy’s Zia McCabe spinning records as DJ Rescue, but before the drinks, Logan chats about being emo, hiding under the sheets, and grandma’s adages.

Listen to “Feed Me To The Wolves” from the new album.

Well, that depends.  If “emo” is short for “emotional” and you are asking if I think my music is that, I would answer “yes.”  If you mean “emo” in the traditional sense of the word (aka 18-year-old high school kids wearing shit tons of eyeliner and whining about their girlfriends and parents), then the answer is “no.”  I’m fine with the word having been slowly attached to me over the years… I think that, as the definition changes with the addition of “emotronic” and other sub-categories within the genre, it makes more sense.  I have made peace with the fact that I am hard to categorize at times, both in music and in life.

Who is Logan Lynn personally?  Musically?

Well, I’ve spent years trying to make those two match up.  I think I am finally there these days, or at least on my way to being there.  My main goal for myself both musically and personally is to exist in a place of transparency and truth.  I believe that the only way we can ever really be free is to look at ourselves honestly and project that truth into the world, however ugly or beautiful it might be looking or sounding at any given moment.

Similarly, musically, I am an open book.  I want people to either connect to me and my tunes with the full story or decide that it’s not their bag, having heard me as I really am.  I’m pretty sure that the day I start candy-coating my lyrics will be the day I stop caring about music and having listeners.  Bottom line: I’m an imperfect work in progress and am fine just being that during my time here… so long as I am always learning, always growing, and doing my best to not repeat the same mistakes over and over, I’m into it.

I have always fallen into the electropop category, though I tend to move around within that genre quite a bit.  By 1996 I had DJ’d other people’s music in the Midwest party scene for years and always listened to folk music and sensitive female vocalists growing up, so when I started writing songs of my own there were elements of both worlds of inspiration brought into the mix.

I hooked up with a Portland producer named Pfog in 1998 who had gotten his hands on a demo I had self-released called This Is Folk Techno.  We spent a year or so working on GLEE, which was released in 2000, and I have since worked with a bunch of producers, each time changing the sound of the music a bit.

The instrumental side of my sound develops as I get the opportunity to work with other talented folks who know how to do and play things which don’t fall under my expertise.  My lyrics and vocal work tend to grow sonically as I push myself out of my comfort zone, let go of my deep-seeded fears about being exposed or rejected, and grow personally.

Yeah, I’m guessing that is partially about my dance music influences creeping in and partially a protective mechanism for myself.  I write about my feelings as they are (as opposed to how I wish they would be) and it’s scary to put that out there with people you know, much less the world at large.  With my songs, I tend to dive headfirst into my darker parts at times and let people just crawl into my head with me to check things out for themselves.  The idea that people can go there in an enjoyable way makes it easier for me to put my words onto paper or into the air in the first place.

I like that I can have more than one type of listener and that the songs themselves can be absorbed in different ways by the same listener, depending on the day.  If you feel like dancing or if you feel like going fetal in your bed under the blanket with headphones, it can work for both.

I make music to clear my head, to shrink my world to a manageable size, to not feel so fucking all alone all the time.  It’s nice to know that other people are finding a home with my songs and feeling these same sorts of feelings.  The connection that is made there goes both ways and has been really life-changing on this end.

It used to be that the only time I was able to be truthful about how I felt was through my songs and writing.  That’s not the case anymore, but I started making records for that reason alone, never really thinking anyone would ever hear them aside from my friends, family, and people who I could not otherwise communicate with.  It started as a safe way for me to get the shit that was literally killing me out of my skull so I could move past it, and has continued to be that sort of outlet for me.  Once I have turned my broken feelings into a story or a physical product of some sort, they tend to start to fix themselves.  It’s like therapy, only super public.

Tell me about Portland.  We all love it here.  Why do you?

Yeah!  I love it here too.  I moved here in ‘96 back when what is now The Pearl looked like an abandoned railway system and the air smelled like rotten Spaghetti-O’s from all the breweries.  I got here just as the current music scene was really starting to form and got to watch it grow into what it is today and be a part of it as it formed.  I’ve moved away a couple of times since for brief stints in bigger cities, but I always come back.  It’s clean, beautiful, quiet, inexpensive, you don’t have to pump your own gas, and there’s tons of stuff going on.  How could I ever move?

I moved here from Kansas City to go to school.  My parents lived out here and I had come out to visit.  It took one magical night at The City nightclub during that trip and I had decided that PNCA was the only school in the entire world.  I ended up moving here shortly after.

I was raised the son of a preacher in the Church of Christ, which was a very cult-like section of the born-again world… at least where I was in rural Nebraska.  Most of the fears and difficulties I have faced as I have tried to move into adulthood were adopted back then.  I grew up feeling alone, hidden in plain sight.  I could not be myself in that environment so I had to lie about who I was, which led me down a really dark path for many years.  That darkness and those feelings of isolation and regret all play into my writing now and always have.  I think, in general, it’s unsettling to turn your back on everything you’ve ever known and break out on your own.  It certainly was for me.

What’s the connection to the Dandys?  How’d that happen?

In 2007 I was working with a company in Portland that was designing and building stores for American Apparel.  I was in Los Angeles on business for a photo shoot with photographer Ray Gordon and gave him my CD.  He liked it and it just happened to turn out that he was good friends with Courtney (Taylor-Taylor) from The Dandy Warhols.  Ray ended up passing the CD along to him and, from there, they came to my show for MusicfestNW and we set up a meeting.  I came by The Odditorium later that week and Courtney told me about the record label they were starting and asked if I’d be interested in making my record there and releasing it on Beat The World.  I think I said “Hell Yes” or something and the rest is totally awesome history.

Yeah, it’s confusing.  I was about to release the record on my own in 2007 right when I got signed with Beat The World.  Courtney’s advice was that I “shut it down” and re-make the thing properly in their studio with their engineers, which I did.  It had the same title and a few of the same songs, but it ultimately turned out completely different than it was before.  Listening to Mr. Taylor-Taylor in 2007 was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  Anyway, it got pushed back and we ended up taking our time with it.  From there, the release has changed, bigger players have come on board for distribution and such, dates have changed, etc… but the end result is light years beyond what it would have been and I’m really glad it has worked out the way it did… confusing pushbacks and all.

Listen to “Write It On My Left Arm” from the new album.

What’s the significance of the album title?

My grandma used to say the term From Pillar To Post when describing her busy day, or someone whose life had run amuck at church or in the family or whatever.  It stuck with me through the years and it took on some personal meaning as I started to run amuck in my own life, burning bridges as I crossed them, hurting everyone in my path.  The record is about my journey through the ending of my relationship, my struggles with addiction, and my determination to find truth and light amidst lies and darkness, both internal and external.  The record is all one story broken up into segments with song beginnings and endings, but is a snapshot of my life from that time.

I fancy myself a singer/songwriter and I can play very basic keys and guitar, mostly from having lessons when I was a kid… just enough to build the framework.  I played most all the instruments on my records before 2007 rolled around and I started working with Carlos Cortes from Portland-to-Brooklyn DJ Collective Assemble The Empire.  Our connection was fast and he was on-point with what I was wanting to see happen with my music.

We worked well together and, through our network and The Dandys’ network, we were able to work with TONS of people on the record and even more people after the fact with the remix project.  I got loads of help this time around.  That’s why it sounds so much better than the old stuff.  I stopped being a control freak and let other people do what they are good at.  It worked out.

MySpace basically lit the fire for what is happening in my world now.  I was super behind the times until 2006 when my friend forced me to get a MySpace page going.  Within a few weeks I had started building up an online group of listeners and started booking shows… the first of which was at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco.  There were over 400,000 people in attendance and it was wild but turned some key people onto my music.  Things snowballed from there.  I have, since then, been building relationships with fans and listeners and the sea of people has grown quite large at this point.  I owe a lot to that direct connection with the people and tend to put most of my non-musical energy into that side of things these days.

I’m influenced by all sorts of stuff.  I’m obviously influenced directly by the bands around me these days.  Aside from the other bands on my label (The Dandy Warhols, The Upsidedown, Spindrift, and 1776) I’m surrounded by other artists in town who are doing their thing authentically, getting noticed, and making it happen.  I’m lucky that I am in such close proximity to them.  I get to learn their music industry lessons vicariously.

At the root, much of my writing influence stems from years and years of listening to bands like The Innocence Mission, The Sundays, and whatever folksy stuff my parents had playing in the car while I was a kid.  Blend in the early years of singing a capella in the church and the wild partying techno days which followed and you get my sound.  I spent a lot of time listening to solo artists like Tori Amos, Elliott Smith, and Liz Phair as I was growing up, and I’m sure that being drawn into their heads during my formative years influenced what it means to me to be a songwriter in many ways.  I was like a sponge back then, and I still feel a deep connection with many of their songs.

Emily Haines…always.

Grateful, Hopeful, Irrepressibly Optimistic…. wait, that was 4.  Sorry.

Atmospheric, Moody, Electro-pop.  Whoopsies… that was kinda 4 too.

It’s similar to what you would see if you went to see a singer-songwriter, only instead of guitars and pianos accompanying my voice, I have someone running computers, drumpads, loopers, and gadgets.

I have PDX show with Cars & Trains and The Gentry at the Doug Fir on January 7th.

Any awkward moments on stage?

I exist in a place of supreme awkwardness in my life lately as I’ve been doing things on the sober tip and sorta re-learning how to be, but my shows have actually gotten less awkward as a result.  I think the strangest show we had was in New York City in 2007.  We played a Dlist.com party called Cornhole County and there was a drag queen running a petting zoo as the opening act.  It was bizarre, to say the least.  This baby goat kept chewing on our cords and we spent most of the night trying not to sneeze and picking tiny pieces of straw off our clothes.

—
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Logan Lynn : Listening Party From Pillar To Post
Featuring DJ Rescue (Zia McCabe from The Dandy Warhols)
Jinx Bar
8 PM
Free
21+