Trevor Shelley de Brauw (Pelican)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2013? (In order 1-5)
It's tough to decide - there was an overabundance of great music this year and I'm still sorting through stuff that I missed as I type this. As it stands I think this is a pretty close reflection of the stuff I was most obsessed with this year:
- My Bloody Valentine - mbv (self released)
- Deafheaven - Sunbather (Deathwish)
- Black Boned Angel - The End (Handmade Birds)
- Jesu - Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came (Avalanche)
- Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge - Twelve Reasons to Die (Soul Temple)
2. What band did you discover in 2013 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
As much as I don't want to cheat here I think most significant RE-discovery I had this year was Jesus and Mary Chain. I've listened to them a bit in high school, but seemingly out of nowhere became obsessed with them this year, particularly the first three albums. I love how scrappy and noisy they were at first, but that they learned how to hone and control that from one album to the next - they had a keen sense of sugary melody and excellent songcraft that teetered on the brink of pop, but with menace. There's a lot of inspiration to mine there.
3. How will you remember 2013? (In terms of music)
One thing that stood out was that we shared a release month with Russian Circles, Grails, and Earthless. It felt like 2006 all over again when people got confused and thought instrumental music was a "movement." It's still not, but it's nice that so many of the bands from that era have stuck together and are making, arguably, stronger music than ever.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2014?
Snarky tweets. Hopefully we'll start writing more music again soon.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2014?
Alcest. I rolled my eyes when I read that they'd abandoned their metal elements for a pure shoegaze sound, since I typically think metal bands' attempts to break away from their genre turn out pretty poorly, but the song they just dropped is fucking gorgeous. Very excited to hear more.
6. There is a lot of debate over streaming sites and royalties, namely with Spotify. What is your stance on the economic policies behind the current streaming services? Do you have a preferred one?
The problem isn't the streaming services, it's an ingrained mentality amongst consumers that music is not worth paying for. I credit the major labels for their years of trying to suppress the tide of change instead of making efforts to roll with the punches and try to monetize digital music earlier. By persecuting people they painted themselves into a corner as villains and consumers gladly stuck it to them. Who knows how we'll dig ourselves out of this mess.
