Interviews | one times one
opinions were like kittens i was giving them away. -modest mouse
there's nothing as something as one. -e. e. cummings

Interviewer: Eric Rankin
Interviewee: Alex Brown Church of Sea Wolf
ER: First of all, is the band’s name taken from the Jack London book, or do you just like the words “Sea” and “Wolf” together?
ABC: Yes, it’s taken from the book. But I also like those words together.
ER: Although many of the lyrics in your songs seem [...]

To start off, I would like to congratulate you guys on the release of Boxer, which I can already tell is going to be at the top of everyone’s list for album of the year.
(Eric Rankin, Interviewer) The orchestration on Boxer is one of the stand out characteristics of the album. How did Padma Newsome [...]

      A specific air surrounds every Moonbabies release. It is something engrained in the nothing, something etched in the oxygen. The wait for the first drum to hit is like being on a different bus route for the first time. Life whizzes by but you’ve taken temporary root and can’t lift a concrete foot until [...]

OTO contributor Joel Armato caught up with Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists to discuss moving to a major label with The Crane Wife, working with Chris Walla, and adjusting to a much bigger fan base.
What sort of transition has there been from working with Kill Rock Stars to working with Capitol? Was there an added [...]

In this feature Joel Armato reviews the re-release of Hello, Dear Wind and interviews Michael Nau of Page France.
      The story of Hello, Dear Wind is just beginning to unfold. It is a rousing tale of two coasts, good friends, and a school of amorous water dwellers. What began in Maryland after the record’s author [...]

      Carey Ott has a quality that no amount of marketing could embellish or hide. He is a hard working musician that lets his music do all the talking. His songs have a way of sounding familiar and inventive while at the same time reaching listeners with substance, not lumping them in the head with [...]

      Nine Black Alps: with a name borrowed from a Sylvia Plath poem, you’d expect some dark, soul-searching pondering best suited for a dark corner with a Smiths album. But, to my pleasant surprise, the boys from the Alps are not only clever and engaging, but also make some rather kickass rock music. And they [...]

      Comparison is the new Explanation, or so it goes in the world of pop culture 2000 and beyond. To achieve Good (i.e. approval) resemblance to two or more variables already deemed Good is the only requirement. When factoring in a new band to one’s already keen musical sense, one merely needs to ask themself, [...]

      You sit on an uncomfortable wooden chair, your beer is warm, your glass was dirty when the last guy had it, and more than one tough hombre has his eyes fixed on the back of your neck. If there wasn’t a band taking the stage you would probably run out of here and not [...]

A band that’s sure to go somewhere due to its unbelievable talent and breathtaking abilities, The Elanors excitedly have a lot to talk about. Ranging from musical influences (with graciousness towards various stagemates as well as Rufus Wainwright) and the incorporation of love, The Elanor’s multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and vocalist Noah Harris also discusses the band’s [...]