#anna enfield

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I mantain that S1 Jon would besties with Anna Enfield. I can absolutly see an alternate reality where Sasha survived the worms and convinces the Archival Crew into suing the Institute for Workplace Endagerement and Anna ends up being their lawyer. Bonus points for Sam Enfield and Martin bonding.

[I can also easily see Anna as Gwen's lawyer. They have a mostly professional relationship buy Gwen has a crush on Anna and, as things worsen for Gwen, Anna's older sister instincts turn her a little protective over Gwen's well being. Bonus points for Alice deciding to buy Sam Khalid a poted plant as some joke and becaming friends with Oliver]

[nonesuchrecords]

The Way Out of Easy, the first album from guitarist Jeff Parker and his long-running ETA IVtet—saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose—since their 2022 debut Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, which Pitchfork named one of the Best Albums of the 2020s So Far, is due November 22 on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records. You can pre-order the album and watch a video for the track "Late Autumn," made by Mikel Patrick Avery, here.

Like the previous album, The Way Out of Easy comprises recordings from LA venue ETA, where Parker and the ensemble held a weekly residency for seven years. During that time, the ETA IVtet evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form journeys into innovative, groove-oriented improvised music. All four tracks on The Way Out of Easy come from a single night in 2023, providing an unfiltered view of the ensemble, fully in their element. 

[acepodcastweek]

Don't know any of these podcasts? Pick one and go listen!

Did I forget your favourite? Are they a canon aspec character from a fantasy podcast? Let me know! There might just be a part 2...

Want to know more about the event? Click here!

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

SML - Small Medium Large

Regrets, I've had a few — and one of the more recent regrets is missing SML at Zebulon the last time I was out in Los Angeles. Just couldn't make it happen! Somehow, life goes on. And at least we've got SML's insanely good debut LP. Who the hell is SML? They're a supergroup of sorts — bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann. Small Medium Large sees this stellar quintet coming together at the recently shuttered Enfield Tennis Academy nightclub in Highland Park for a series of mindbending improvs that have been expertly edited down, Teo Macero-style, into bite-sized form. The result sounds something like Ornette Coleman's Prime Time band filtered through the beat science of J Dilla; extremely groovy, extremely experimental, extremely nice.

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

The threads are so loose now

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ISWemnq by WD_Gaster A radio host. An archivist. A private investigator from the 40s. A government worker. The end of the world. (its explicit because I don't know enough about ratings) (also, explanation for the title which may spoilery the fic so do watch out: basically, after the whole- uh- Watcher's Crown, and DURING the Watcher's Crown, the arcane strings are really, really, REALLY malleable. and so: guess who helps little old sims? sam! and, of course, arthur is scared of being alone- but not even the fears can rip john out of him so he gets immunity from the fears as he is not scared of what they have to offer. not with john with him. and this results in- you guessed it- everything being way different! oh, also, the OIAR is immune to the Watcher's Crown. don't ask why. or do, actually, because it's due to a funny arcane circle. yes, i'm merging it all together! wahahaha!) holy shit that is a lot of parenthesis Words: 1262, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Spirit Box Radio (Podcast), Malevolent (Podcast), The Magnus Archives (Podcast), The Magnus Protocol (Podcast) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M Characters: Sam Enfield, Samama "Sam" Khalid, Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Alice Dyer, Basira Hussain, Oliver Boleyn, Arthur Lester, John (Malevolent), Kitty Enfield, Anna Enfield, Indi (Spirit Box Radio), Ingra (Spirit Box Radio), Bliss (Spirit Box Radio), Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood, Sasha James, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Melanie King, Georgie Barker, Arlo (Spirit Box Radio), Faroe Lester Relationships: Oliver Boleyn/Sam Enfield, Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James/Tim Stoker, John/Arthur Lester, Anna Enfield/Arlo (Spirit Box Radio), Ingra/Bliss, Kitty Enfield/Indi Additional Tags: I made Sam Enfield into a god to be a massive fix-it, Fix-It read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ISWemnq

[dustedmagazine]

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet — The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem/Nonesuch)

The Way Out Of Easy is the second album by Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet. The combo, which comprises Parker on guitar and electronics, Anna Butterss on double bass, Josh Johnson on alto sax and electronics, and Jay Bellerose on drums, took its name from ETA, the Highland Park, Los Angeles oyster bar where it held down a periodic gig on Monday nights devoted to open-ended sets that were both unscripted and unified in intent. Like its predecessor, Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite), it’s a double LP that captures the band stretching out and seeing where the vibe takes them.

The fact that the IVtet was able to sustain such a run says something about what making music this way means to its members. Not only does it take commitment to reconcile calendars beholden to the touring schedules of Tortoise, Robert Plant and Makaya McCraven, among others. It’s absurdly difficult even for players working at that level to get a regular gig in LA. It’s an industry town, and anyplace that capital concentrates, it’s liable to hog art’s oxygen. ETA, which had neither a stage nor a PA, was one of the very few places in LA where one could go to hear bands make music in real time, and when it closed at the end of 2023, the city’s heads mourned.

One ETA regular was a lapsed studio engineer named Bryce Gonzales. Burned out on the computer-bound processes of modern recording, he had dropped studio work in favor of hand-building compressors and preamps. When he heard Parker and crew at ETA, he found himself lured back into recording by the challenge of capturing a live band in a very particular and unforgiving setting. Gonzales’ liner notes for The Way Out Of Easy go into detail about the mixer that he built specifically for this job, which he has now performed twice for the IVtet, but you don’t need to know anything about signal paths to grasp what he ultimately learned from the journey; that in order to capture the band’s essence, you have to keep out of the way of their real-time rapport. Producers tend to be dubbed honorary bandmembers when it is obvious how they’ve shaped a record’s sound; Gonzales earns said honor by making sure by leaving no trace of his fingerprints.

Played back-to-back, the new album doesn’t sound drastically different from Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy. Once more, Parker’s unfussy and adroit guitar playing suspends lyric phrases within a matrix bound by Butterss’s supple lines, the peanut butter and jelly tonal compound of Johnson’s combination of sax and signal processers, and Bellerose’s endlessly inventive rhythmic variations. But the feel is different, not in kind but in quality. The quartet’s already natural grooves and spaces feel more like the product of a single organism, breathing and flexing in response to collective effort. Each reed + circuit smear, each contrapuntal bass figure, chain of plucked phrases that don’t change until they do, and each shift of percussive emphasis adjusts the music as inevitably as a rock thrown into one end of a pond ruins the sleep of the frogs on the other side. Parker gets plenty of cred for the production acumen he has exercised with Tortoise and the New Breed; his work with the ETA IVtet affirms his mastery of making music that feels and is felt in real time.

Bill Meyer

[bikebound]

The One Moto 2023: Trackers, Scramblers, Dirt Bikes, and More! • 1969 Triumph T120 Trackmaster by Caleb Grissom • Royal Enfield @build.train.race Tracker by Anna Serena (@dontstop) • 1992 Suzuki GSX-R750 hillclimber by Richard Crist • 2002 Honda "CR140" by Erik Bender (@bender_built) Photos: @astronaut_bear for @bikeboundblog. More today on BikeBound.com! ⚡️Link in Bio⚡️ https://instagr.am/p/CsYev0KuE_S/

[still-single]

Daniel Villarreal – Lados B LP (International Anthem)

Second solo album from Dos Santos percussionist Daniel Villarreal, in a trio with Jeff Parker on guitar and Anna Butterss on bass. Villlarreal’s previous solo album Panama 77 was fully embellished Latin fusion with funk and jazz and synths, yet he achieves similar, perhaps superior results in this stripped-down lineup from the same sessions (which tracks, given Parker’s esteemed pedigree of Tortoise and reams of others, most recently with the groundbreaking work he and Butterss achieved with their Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy album). Villarreal is a disciple of the 16-beat, a very busy drummer who fills each bar with hi-hats, congas, cowbell and various hand percussives all draped around an easy groove, perfect backgrounds for Parker to phrase around. Buttress' bass takes the lead on the pensive, lounge-borne “Bring It,” a highlight, as is pretty much every other track here. At no point does it feel like the strings are taking over, so if you wanted that, get lost – Daniel’s got a record to do here, and do he does. As some manner of challenge, the penultimate track is called "Things Can Be Calm," with Villarreal exchanging his kit for a thumb piano while Parker and Butterss meditate over top for a full nine minutes, which provides a nice breather around solid work by a vibrant Chicago talent on display. (Doug Mosurock)

[common-man]

Good one.

A share from another group..

Today is Madras Day Some details on Madras (Chennai):

Chennai - MADRAS

Chennai is the only city in India which will have 3 international ports, Chennai port, Ennore port, 3rd one coming up at Kaattupalli.

Chennai is the only city where ROYAL ENFIELD Bikes are manufactured, in the World.

Chennai has the Longest Beach in india, 12 kms urban beach, 2nd Longest in the World.

Chennai is the only city which houses a National Park within city limits. The Guindy National Park.

Chennai is the only city which has three rivers flowing through it, Adai aaru (Adayar), Coovum Aaru, Kottralai (Kosasthalai) Aaru. Aaru — river.

Chennai's OMR - Old Mahabalipuram Road is the Single Largest IT corridor in India.

Chennai is the Single Largest Automobile Manufacturer in Asia. Fondly called the Detroit of Asia.

Chennai is the 2nd city in the world to become a Municipal corporation next to London, in the year 1688.

Chennai houses the Largest Bus Terminus in Asia at Koyambedu.

Chennai is the birth place of Chicken 65, Hotel Buhari.

Chennai has the Largest Library in Asia, Aringnar Anna Centenary Library.

Chennai's Vandalur Zoo is the Largest Zoo in India.

Chennai's Guindy Engineering college, the Oldest in India, 1794.

2 of the Top Ten Engineering Colleges in India located in a single road, IIT Madras, CEG(College of Engineering — Guindy / Guindy Engineering College), at Sardar Patel Road, Chennai.

Chennai houses the Oldest Shopping Mall in India, Spencer plaza, 1863.

Oldest Human Habitat, in the world found at Athirambakkam, Chennai

The Madras High Court is the World's second Largest Court Complex.

Chennai is the only Indian city attacked during World War.

Chennai, City of Flyovers, Largest number of Flyovers in India.

Kathipara Flyover, is the Largest Clover Leaf Fyover in Asia.

Chennai is the Indian city with most number of Foreign Visitors Annually.

Chennai is the Health Capital of India, with most number of foreign and domestic foot falls.

Chennai has the Highest number of GrandMasters in chess.

Royapuram railway station, is the Oldest Functioning Railway station in India.

Integral Coach Factory(ICF), Chennai is the World's Largest Rail Coach Manufacturer.

Madras Medical college, the Oldest Medical College and Oldest Hospital in India, 1664.

The first ever flight in Asia flew in and around Chennai, 1910.

Oragadam is the Largest Automobile hub in South Asia, with 22 Fortune 500 Companies.

Chennai has the Highest number of Cinema Theatres in india. Quite obvious, Tamil Film industry has given 4 Chief Ministers to the State.

Chennai has the Oldest race tracks in India, both Horse Race, Motor Race (obviously, being the Auto capital of Asia).

Madras School of Art is the Oldest Fine Arts Institute in India(1850).

Higginbothams, Mount Road, Chennai is the Oldest Book Store in India (1844).

EID Parry, Chennai is the Oldest company in India (1780).

MRF, Chennai is the largest Tyre Manufacturer in India.

Madras Regiment is the Oldest Infantry Regiment of Indian Army(1750).

AVM Studio is the oldest surviving Film Production house in India.

St. George's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School is the oldest School in India (1715).

❤️ CHENNAI 🌹

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Sam and Anna relationship just makes me insane. How different they are and how it is at the same time so easy and so hard for them to have an honest conversation. How they love each other and worry for each other. How they are at the same time super close and almost strangers. How Anna remembers things and by consequence a Sam that Sam himself doesn't. I love all the Enfiled dinamics but this two just hit hard for me.

[sigappurojakal]

*Today is Madras Day*Some details on Madras (Chennai):*Chennai - MADRAS*Chennai is the only city in India which will have 3 international ports, Chennai port, Ennore port, 3rd one coming up at Kaattupalli.Chennai is the only city where ROYAL ENFIELD Bikes are manufactured, in the World.Chennai has the Longest Beach in india, 12 kms urban beach, 2nd Longest in the World.Chennai is the only city which houses a National Park within city limits. The Guindy National Park.Chennai is the only city which has three rivers flowing through it, Adai aaru (Adayar), Coovum Aaru, Kottralai (Kosasthalai) Aaru. Aaru — river.Chennai's OMR - Old Mahabalipuram Road is the Single Largest IT corridor in India.Chennai is the Single Largest Automobile Manufacturer in Asia. Fondly called the Detroit of Asia.Chennai is the 2nd city in the world to become a Municipal corporation next to London, in the year 1688.Chennai houses the Largest Bus Terminus in Asia at Koyambedu.Chennai is the birth place of Chicken 65, Hotel Buhari.Chennai has the Largest Library in Asia, Aringnar Anna Centenary Library.Chennai's Vandalur Zoo is the Largest Zoo in India.Chennai's Guindy Engineering college, the Oldest in India, 1794.2 of the Top Ten Engineering Colleges in India located in a single road, IIT Madras, CEG(College of Engineering — Guindy / Guindy Engineering College), at Sardar Patel Road, Chennai.Chennai houses the Oldest Shopping Mall in India, Spencer plaza, 1863.Oldest Human Habitat, in the world found at Athirambakkam, ChennaiThe Madras High Court is the World's second Largest Court Complex.Chennai is the only Indian city attacked during World War.Chennai, City of Flyovers, Largest number of Flyovers in India.Kathipara Flyover, is the Largest Clover Leaf Fyover in Asia.Chennai is the Indian city with most number of Foreign Visitors Annually.Chennai is the Health Capital of India, with most number of foreign and domestic foot falls.Chennai has the Highest number of GrandMasters in chess.Royapuram railway station, is the Oldest Functioning Railway station in India.Integral Coach Factory(ICF), Chennai is the World's Largest Rail Coach Manufacturer.Madras Medical college, the Oldest Medical College and Oldest Hospital in India, 1664.The first ever flight in Asia flew in and around Chennai, 1910.Oragadam is the Largest Automobile hub in South Asia, with 22 Fortune 500 Companies.Chennai has the Highest number of Cinema Theatres in india. Quite obvious, Tamil Film industry has given 4 Chief Ministers to the State.Chennai has the Oldest race tracks in India, both Horse Race, Motor Race (obviously, being the Auto capital of Asia).Madras School of Art is the Oldest Fine Arts Institute in India(1850).Higginbothams, Mount Road, Chennai is the Oldest Book Store in India (1844).EID Parry, Chennai is the Oldest company in India (1780).MRF, Chennai is the largest Tyre Manufacturer in India.Madras Regiment is the Oldest Infantry Regiment of Indian Army(1750).AVM Studio is the oldest surviving Film Production house in India.St. George's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School is the oldest School in India (1715).❤️ CHENNAI 🌹

[sinceileftyoublog]

Anna Butterss Interview: Los Angeles in 2024

Photo by Samantha Lee

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For much of their career, bassist Anna Butterss has constructed bridges between musical worlds. The classically trained Australian musician moved to Los Angeles a decade ago, not too long after beloved experimental guitarist Jeff Parker relocated there. Like the versatile Parker, who has made his mark in both the jazz and post-rock worlds, Butterss quickly became an in-demand player in the jazz and indie rock spheres, both as a session and touring musician. Shortly after moving, Butterss connected with Parker, joining his now long-running quartet, alongside saxophonist Josh Johnson and drummer Jay Bellerose. (I first heard Butterss' nimble work on Makaya McCraven's landmark 2018 album Universal Beings.) At the same time, Butterss, always on the periphery of hyped indie music through their friends, found themselves alongside Aughts stalwarts Jenny Lewis and Andrew Bird and then-up-and-comers like Phoebe Bridgers. Over the past five years, Butterss has buoyed career reinventions and risen alongside their peers.

2024, then, feels like the first year where Butterss is moving to the forefront. Though they released their debut album Activities and helped Parker immortalize the Enfield Tennis Academy in 2022, this time, over the span of a mere six months, they've been a part of three major improvisational jazz records. First, Butterss is one-fifth of SML, who I profiled earlier this year after their debut record release in June. SML Songs like "Industry" showcased Butterss' ability to steadily drive a track alongside freewheeling bandmates, while "Dolphin Language" gave them a turn to have fun splintering. The quintet played two sets at the inaugural Warm Love Cool Dreams festival at the Salt Shed in September, one performing material from Small Medium Large, the other backing Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer Sister Nancy.

Butterss delves deeper into the world of grooves on the just-released new Jeff Parker ETA IVtet album The Way Out of Easy, a follow-up recording to Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy. Like the latter, The Way Out of Easy was recorded at the ETA and mixed live by engineer Bryce Gonzales, on a night in January 2023. The four longform tracks that make up the record are certainly opportunities for Parker and Johnson's expressions, but don't discount Butterss' understated and underrated adaptability. Throughout "Freakadelic", an extended version of a long-time Parker composition, Butterss and Bellerose provide a hip-hop groove underneath Parker's prickly and sinuous lines, only to wake up a little bit as Johnson's saxophone whirrs and hypnotizes. Butterss mirrors Johnson's rounded mournfulness on the otherwise beatific "Late Autumn", while on "Easy Way Out", they emulate Parker's slow cascades, a perfect contrast to Johnson and Bellerose's expressiveness. Of course, closer "Chrome Dome" ends up a blissed out dub song, Butterss once again a masterfully stable counterpart to Johnson's garbled notes and Bellerose's polyrhythms.

It's clear, then, that all of Butterss' experiences informed their second solo album and International Anthem debut, Mighty Vertebrate, released last month. In early 2023, Butterss found themselves wanting to create while balancing their busy schedule. In order to force themselves to write freely without succumbing to their own judgements and internal monologue, Butterss adopted constraints similar to Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies. "Pokemans", for instance, arose from the goal to use the bass in a way that belies the instrument's typical role. But Butterss was careful not to let Mighty Vertebrate be an album solely reflective of its process, and it sounds loose. They created the stems of the songs before fleshing them out with percussionist Ben Lumsdaine; at that point, the songs were ready for tracking at Chris Schlarb's BIG EGO with Johnson and another SML bandmate, Gregory Uhlmann. As a result, Mighty Vertebrate is diverse and extensive. "Ella" creates a world out of a two-note guitar line and saxophone processed through a synthesizer. "Lubbock" juxtaposes wiry guitar and swirling woodwinds atop raining percussion. "Saturno"'s warped bells give way to a percussion and saxophone groove, Butterss leading the evolution into a rich tapestry. Standout track "Dance Steve" mashes up Malian desert blues and synth punk, a collage of samples, syncopated 808s, synths, and in a full circle moment, a Jeff Parker guitar solo. Perhaps most impressive is that Mighty Vertebrate is cohesive through natural patterns that emerged throughout its creation, Butterss paring its songs down before building them back up, just like on their work with SML and Parker.

In September, a week before the album's release and just before SML's sets at Warm Love Cool Dreams, Butterss did get to try out Mighty Vertebrate songs live with their band at Marz Brewing. They then played a proper record release show in Los Angeles at 2220 Arts + Archives, the day the album came out digitally and on vinyl. A few days later, I spoke to Butterss over Zoom about the making of Mighty Vertebrate, the L.A. scene and International Anthem, post-rock, album and song title meanings, and misheard lyrics. Next week, starting on Monday, Butterss will take a victory lap to celebrate their stellar year, playing in a three-night International Anthem residency at Public Records in Brooklyn: with Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, SML, and their band. It's safe to say you'll be continuing to hear Butterss' name a lot for the next several years. Not only is SML set to return in 2025 and Butterss working on their next record, but they've been a full time member of none other than Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit for a year. Add the Americana/alt-country genre to the list of worlds among which Butterss has built connections.

Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: Why did you decide to make a record using Oblique Strategies-inspired tactics? Was it out of necessity, or was it something you always wanted to do?

Anna Butterss: It's the former for sure. Writing music, I enjoy doing it, but I also find it very hard, because I'm incredibly judgmental, and it's hard for me to think in the moment and follow an idea without already judging it. I'm like this with other things as well. I've always practiced the bass with these very specific restrictions in mind, very structured, so this was a way to get myself to be creative.

I started writing music that way a few years ago. It was a little challenge to myself called "one-hour beats," which is exactly what it sounds like. [laughs] How much of a beat can you make in one hour? If it's bad, if you don't like it, you've only spent an hour and have probably learned something. I started [Mighty Vertebrate] off like that. I spent a lot of time working on the music, but I'd go back and open up one of the ideas and ask, "Is this one cool?" I'd work on that one for an hour or two hours and put it away. I spent the whole year doing that.

SILY: Did you ever fully stray from your initial goal? Or were the finished songs pretty faithful to their original restrictions?

AB: I strayed away. The restrictions were a means to an end, to get something written. Once you get an idea down, it's much easier to manipulate it and try different things, but getting an idea down firstly is the hardest part. Once I felt like I had a strong or compelling idea, I'd let myself do whatever I needed to do. If I was having a good time working on something, I wouldn't put more restrictions on it.

SILY: What ties all of these songs together? Is it the process you used to make them?

AB: Hmm...that's a good question. It's a pretty eclectic record. I think the thing that ties them together for me is that they're songs I wrote during a period of my life, during 2023. A lot of them have similar sonic tendencies, a lot of guitars because it's an instrument I can kind of play, and drum machine. But the thing that ties them together is emotionally how I was experiencing that year. With the band, we all play together a particular way, and that ties them together, too. If I listen back to them, I can hear melodic tendencies I have and forms I gravitate towards, but I wasn't trying too hard to push them all into the same zone.

SILY: At what point did you bring in the band in the process of making Mighty Vertebrate?

AB: Quite late. I brought in [co-producer] Ben Lumsdaine...almost a year after we started writing it. I tried to get as much of it done by myself as I could. I had demos that were in pretty good shape. All the parts were there, but I wasn't trying too hard to get quality recordings. Some of the songs don't have a live band on them, like "Bishop" or "Dance Steve". Ben and I worked on them a lot. We tracked drums, bass, and more guitars. The other two guys in the band, I wrote charts for everything and we rehearsed one time and recorded in the studio for two days. Ben and I did some more overdubs, and that was it.

SILY: The songs on the album that do have a live band don't sound too different from the ones that don't have a live band. That is, if you were to listen to the album without paying the utmost attention, you might not necessarily realize which songs had a band and which didn't. There's an abstraction to the aesthetic. Was that something you were going for?

AB: In a way, yes. I had experimented a little bit on Activities with blending live drums, and we did synths with live bass. I had that in mind when I was making the record. Also, the fact that you have Greg playing guitar on some of the tracks, me playing on some of them, Jeff playing on some of them, Ben playing on some of them, it blurs the lines. Both Greg and Josh use effects in an organic way when they're playing, so it gets blurred a bit in a way I find pleasing. I wanted it to be its own world, not just an acoustic jazz record or an electronic record. I wanted it to live in a between space.

SILY: Do you think the individual musicians' playing styles started to blend, too? For instance, there were some guitar solos that sounded like Jeff Parker that might not have been Jeff Parker.

AB: Definitely. Jeff's been a big influence on the four of us, for sure. We've all played with him, and when I started messing around with the guitar, I thought, "Oh, this is just me sounding like a very cheap version of Jeff," because that's the guitarist I listen to the most. I think I sound a little less like him on the guitar now. Playing together for a really long time in different combinations, there's a shared language, sonic world, and tendencies. I hope other people hear this record and think, "This sounds like something that came out of Los Angeles in 2024." I like records where we can still have that sense of place, even though we're making music in such a globalized way. I feel like we have a little scene in Los Angeles that has a distinctive sound.

SILY: Certainly. The International Anthem family, while based in Chicago, has so many artists who are based in L.A. There's also the Enfield Tennis Academy and its branches. It's like one of the last remaining active scenes.

AB: [laughs] I hope not! It's definitely an International Anthem-sounding record as well. Greg's from Chicago, Josh grew up near Chicago, Jeff spent a lot of time in Chicago, and Ben, Josh, and I all went to school in Indiana, so we have a strong Midwest connection.

SILY: Where did the vocals on "Breadrich" come from?

AB: The ones that are a little sing-song are me. It's [inspired by] a character from a Mexican TV series called La Casa de las Flores, a Netflix series I've watched about three times during the pandemic. It's like a telenovela, but it's very modern and revolves around a lot of drag queens. There are trans people and bisexual main characters, but it's also a telenovela, so it's very dramatic and the plotlines are kind of ridiculous. One of the main characters, Paulina de la Mora, is kind of iconic and has an iconic way of speaking. I was also listening to a lot of Madlib and MF Doom, and MF Doom has so many cartoon and comic elements, so "Breadrich" was my hint at that, with me reimagining what it would be like if [Paulina de la Mora] had a spinoff.

I got into hip hop...in my 20's, having come from a very jazz background. It fascinates me and I love it. I'm not super directly hip hop-influenced, but it's something I think about a lot when working on things.

SILY: I was going to ask, since you collaborated on this record with John Herndon on the video for "Pokemans" and the album art, whether you were influenced by any of his A Grape Dope material.

AB: Not directly. Also, I get a ton of Tortoise comparisons, and I get why, but I really tried to steer clear of listening to that type of music when I was making this record because I didn't want it to sound too derivative. But I love John and am happy he did such great art for the record.

SILY: The Chicago post-rock connection to this current wave of jazz is palpable, because Chicago jazz preceded Chicago post-rock.

AB: Definitely. I've spent a fair amount of time in Chicago but have never lived there. I'm listening to all these records 10-20 years after they came out, so I'm getting a picture and sense of it. I also play a lot with Jeff and am close with people who have been involved in those scenes, so I'm getting a secondhand version of it. But I think it's cool that music that's been around for a while is still very relevant and current sounding.

SILY: How did you come up with the track titles on Mighty Vertebrate?

AB: "Bishop", my grandfather was a bishop. [laughs] What else do we have? "Dance Steve", I put a dance beat under a sample I thought sounded like Steve Reich. It was stuff like that. I do have a note in my phone where I collect phrases people will say, if they sound interesting, which is where "Breadrich" came from. My partner said that we were "bread-rich" after a friend gave us a bunch of bread, which I thought was funny.

SILY: It can be somewhat of a Rorschach test. Some of the titles on Small Medium Large were working titles or joke titles that ended up being perfect. It adds a levity to the project.

AB: I remember talking with Greg when trying to come up with titles and being like, "It's hard to come up with song titles that are original," and he was just like, "Oh, don't worry about that. There will always be another song [that shares a title.]" I don't think it matters that much. The record title, more so. But at the end of the day, it's instrumental music. It's already pretty abstract, and I want people to be able to have their own experience with it, instead of saying, say, "'Seeing You' is about the time I saw this person." Anyone can interpret it their own way and have their own relationship with it.

SILY: So what's the meaning of the record title to you?

AB: That came from an Andrew Bird lyric I misheard and was singing wrong when I was touring with him. [On Inside Problems' "Stop n’ Shop", it's] supposed to be "Mighty bird of prey," and I didn't realize that until he mentioned it. [laughs] I think it's evocative of a lot of different things. It can be a made-up or fantastical creature, or a way of describing humanity or the dichotomy of humans being so powerful but at the end of the day, vertebrates who will die just like everything else. There's an element of that. It doesn't mean one specific thing to me. I like that it's open-ended.

SILY: The fact that it came from something misheard, but still makes sense, is cool.

AB: [laughs] Yeah. I tried to convince Bird to change the lyric. He wasn't interested.

SILY: Do you pretty actively listen to new music?

AB: I'm trying to more these days. KCRW's morning program, Morning Becomes Eclectic, plays a lot of different genres, and I listen to that pretty religiously. It's where I find a lot of new music. That's probably where I heard Jenny Lewis. I remember driving on the freeway, hearing it and thinking, "What is that?" It turned out a bunch of my friends played in her band. These days, I'm trying to listen to records right when they come out, because otherwise it gets overwhelming.

SILY: What's your approach to playing the songs on Mighty Vertebrate live?

AB: There's more room for expansion. All of the tracks on the record are pretty short; I like to get in and get out, not have anything excessive. [Live,] there's more improvisation involved. A lot of the songs, the way they're structured, the bass line holds everything together statically, and everything is moving around it. I love that. As a bass player, that's what I want to do. I want to be the center of things and everyone else swirling around on top. I had the easiest time playing it live while demanding a lot of everyone else. [laughs]

SILY: Do you foresee these songs taking new shapes the more you play them?

AB: Definitely. That would be ideal. I don't know how many opportunities I'll get to play them. Unfortunately, it's really hard. Everyone's super busy, and I feel like it needs to be these specific people playing the music, and our schedules are all packed. After our show at Public Records, I'd like to continue to play it live and tour, but I don't know how that would work. I don't feel a need to adhere strictly to what's on the record, because if people want to hear the record, they should listen to the record. That's always been my feeling about it.

SILY: What else is next for you in the short and long term?

AB: Some SML stuff, definitely, in the new year. I'll start thinking about the next record. But right now, I'm trying to get through the rest of this year without having an emotional breakdown. [laughs]

SILY: You're very prolific.

AB: I'm a bass player. It's a blessing and a curse.

SILY: Is there anything you've been listening to, watching, or reading lately that's caught your attention or inspired you?

AB: Let me pull up my listening journal...I've been all over the place. My friends have a band called Twin Talk, [based] in Chicago. It's a great trio. They just put out a new record I've been heavily spinning. It's very beautiful. A lot of Brazilian music. We're reorganizing our record collection, so I've been going back and finding a lot of things. Honestly, it's all over the place. I like starting with my friends' records and going from there. Michael Mayo just put out a great record last week. I feel like a bunch of people put out records when I put out mine. Every Instagram post was about a new record.

[hangingslothcentral]

supporters on patreon just got early access to SBRR: a retrospective on Spirit Box Radio! This time around, I'm focusing on the Enfield Siblings, Anna, Kitty and Sam, with a particular focus on their response to their less than stellar upbringing

[acepodcastweek]

Did I miss your favourite? Let me know!

Wondering where Jon Sims is? He is too powerful and would skew the poll, but rest assured I have not forgotten.

Don't know any of these? Pick a show and go listen!

Want to know more about Ace Week Fiction Podcast Festivities? Click here.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Thanks for the tag : )

Doing this again cause I rly only neeedes an excuse (also cheating and using a bit more than 5 characthers this time still only one per fandom cause if not I would use all pool options lol).

Tagging the usual suspects:

@girlbossgoroakechi, @sillymanwithocs, @phoenixyfriend, @riddlrz, @fatgumsurpremacy-remastered and whoever wants to play (for the first time or the second)

Challenge: make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters, and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favourite. (five OF, not top-5-of-all-time)

tagged by: @raceispunk (thanks for the tag!)

no pressure tags: @mossy-stormcloud, @rustyelias, @ambiently-80s-gay, @vvanillavveins, @atrashmammall