Special Podcast: Ars Poetria 08/07/08 Live + Interview

Attention Deficit

An Interview with Attention Deficit's Michael Manring and Alex Skolnick

Interview by Clayton Walnum

There's no question of the appropriateness of the band's name. Attention Deficit's music is what you might expect from a bunch of guys who have forgotten to take their Ritalin. Not that I'm suggesting that Michael Manring (bass), Alex Skolnick (guitar), and Tim Alexander (drums) have ADD, but you gotta wonder. Often fusion-like in direction, but sometimes almost avant garde, AD's compositions are a complex collage of sounds that take you from spacey landscapes to power-driven jazz-fusion to pitch-black themes that would fit perfectly in an X- Files soundtrack. Having now released two albums -- the self-titled Attention Deficit and the newest The Idiot King -- these guys are developing a style that is as hard to label as it is to listen to alone with the lights off -- and I mean that in the best possible way. To dispel some of the mystery, Michael Manring and Alex Skolnick graciously agreed to answer a few questions for ProgressiveWorld.net's readers.

Clayton Walnum: Okay, let's take care of the most important question first, the one that all Attention Deficit fans want to know the answer to, and the one about which a lot of folks stay up at night worrying. What's with that goofy dog?

Alex Skolnick: The image of the silly dog was presented to us by Magna Carta, our label. We're not sure if he belongs to someone, or where they got the image. But somehow, he fits like a glove!

Michael Manring: He's the Idiot King! He's sort of our mascot and a good representative for attention deficiencies of all kinds, especially ours.

CW: Thinking of both the first and second album, I'd describe your sound as a cross between fusion and dark ambient. How would you describe your sound? What did you set out to do?

MM: I like the term "dark ambient," but we didn't think much about genres or labels when we recorded our records. We mostly just wanted to see what kind of sounds we could come up with by drawing on our collective experiences and preferences. I don't think we were consciously trying to come up with an unusual sound, but we all come from such different backgrounds that playing together gives us the opportunity to work in unusual ways. How about "Dark Ambient Fusion"?!

AS: I would describe it as instrumental improvisation that has elements of rock, jazz and avant-garde. I think we set out to bring forth all our individual qualities in a way that would compliment our unity as a trio. We weren't sure what the end result of this would be, so it has a very experimental element as well.

CW: How did the three of you come to decide to create Attention Deficit?

AS: We originally came together for Michael's release Thonk," although we didn't record together at the same time. A few years later, Magna Carta approached us about doing a trio album, somewhat along the lines of their other releases in which they put musicians together in various combinations that have never been recorded before, such as Bozzio, Levin, and Stevens.

MM: Magna Carta had asked Alex and me about the possibility of doing a record as part of the series of trio projects they've been releasing. I suggested that it would be fun to have Tim as the third member, and fortunately the folks at Magna Carta liked the idea, too!

CW: The second album seems to be more in the fusion direction than the first. Was that a deliberate choice?

MM: To some extent. We wanted the first record to be very jam oriented, very cut-up and disjointed with lots of attention deficiencies! Since we had taken that approach on the first one, we decided to be a little more organized for The Idiot King. Mostly we just wanted to have the opportunity to work in a slightly different way.

AS: We didn't set out to do a "fusion" album. However, there are elements of that which became apparent for a couple reasons. I think we all have an appreciation for some of the great jazz/rock groups of the 70's (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report etc..). Also, I recently got my music degree from the jazz program at New York's New School University, and I think these studies affected my contributions, both compositionally and improvisationally.

CW: Alex, a lot of fusion bands with guitarists -- take Scott Henderson's group Tribal Tech, for example -- spend a lot of time trying to blow their audience away with guitar pyrotechnics. You take a more restrained approach to your playing on the Attention Deficit albums. Your playing is wonderful -- no one questions that you've got the chops! -- but more subtle than one might expect. What are your goals as a guitarist in Attention Deficit?

AS: I really didn't want Attention Deficit to be just about my guitar solos. This project is about the three of us, not myself and a rhythm section backing me up. I'm much more interested in the compositions and communication between the musicians. Even when I release my own albums, this will be the case, although you'll probably hear more guitar solos. I should point out that I love Tribal Tech, and Scott's a real inspiration.

MM: One of the things that's fun about playing with Alex is that he enjoys exploring texture and vibe as much as soloing and blowing.

CW: Michael, I understand that you were a student of Jaco Pastorius. Pastorius's melodic style of bass playing pops up here and there on Attention Deficit albums. What was working with Pastorius like? How is his influence felt personally by you and the other band members?

MM: Jaco was a complicated guy, simultaneously admirable and pitiful. He had been my hero as a teenager, so I felt lucky to have the chance to study with him. It's a long story, but I found I got more personally than musically from spending time with him. He made a big contribution to music, and I feel that every bassist now has to come to terms with the depth with which he played the instrument. He came along at a time when the bass was just starting to define itself, and he helped establish the possibilities for the future. I hope that my playing will always show his influence, as well as the influence of all the other artists whose work has had a big effect on me. Alex and I have talked about Jaco's music a lot, but actually I don't know if Tim was ever particularly a fan or not.

CW: What other artists are you listening to these days?

AS: Lately, I've been listening to a lot of albums that combine world music with jazz improvisation. I opened for Strunz & Farah, the Spanish style guitarists and had forgotten how much I love them. Bassist Matt Garrison's new CD is amazing, with great guitarists that aren't widely known outside of New York, David Gilmore (not from Pink Floyd!) and Adam Rogers. I also really like African bassist Richard Bona's album, even though it's much mellower than his live shows.

MM: I listen to kind of a strange collection of folks: Morton Feldman, Egberto Gismonti, Gyogy Ligeti, Tarika Sammy, Srinivas, Clastrier/Riessler/Rizzo, Alban Berg, Bill Evans, Paolo Angeli, Little Feat, Mafua, Sly & the Family Stone, Harry Partch, Oregon, Charles Mingus, XTC, Ralph Towner & Gary Peacock, Patrick Brayer, Thinking Plague, Meshuggah, Bela Bartok, Elis Regina, Anton Webern, Morphine, L. Subramanium, Mozart, Nguyen Le, Adriana Calcanhotto, Shakti, Meat Beat Manifesto, Wayne Shorter, Squarepusher, Hermeto Pascoal.

CW: Alex, parts of the first album remind me very much of the sort of thing Hendrix was trying on Electric Ladyland's "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)." Really beautiful stuff (in a spacey way) and not as dark as most of the rest of the album, although the things do get more intense as they go on. Did Hendrix play a key role in your development as a guitarist? Who are your major influences? Whose playing blows you away today?

AS: Hendrix was and is a major influence on me. It's funny because I was never a hippie or a big psychedelic fan. But if you were studying guitar, you had to learn Hendrix, and I fell in love with a lot of his music, especially the live stuff. I was also a big fan of Jeff Beck and Leslie West. A lot of guys thought I was nuts because at this time (the early 80's) this was considered "old." However, I still liked the modern guys at the time, Van Halen, Michael Schenker, Malmsteen, and especially Randy Rhoads. It's interesting that nearly twenty years later, Hendrix's music seems the most fresh and timeless, not to take anything away from the others as far as playing ability.

For the past ten years or so I've gravitated toward more jazz oriented players. Today my favorites are: Jimmy Herring (of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Phil Lesh & Friends), Scott Henderson, gypsy/fusion guitarist Bireli Lagrene, Wayne Krantz, Strunz & Farah, Junion Brown, Dave Gilmore (of New York, although I love the English Dave Gilmore's playing, too), Dave Fuzinski, Paul Bollenback, Ron Affif, Pat Metheny (preferably with his trio and with Kenny Garret, Michael Brecker and others) and of course John McLaughlin

CW: What's your approach to composition? Much of the music sounds improvisational. Do you jam to come up with ideas? Do you write a loose framework for a track and just go with it? Or do you just run the tape and keep the best bits?

AS: I do all of the above.

MM: The concept of Attention Deficit is to keep things pretty open and collaborative. Certainly a lot of the first record was as you described it. We actually didn't want it to sound too focused! When we composed the music for The Idiot King, we took a little different tactic. We each brought in ideas in various states of complexity and preparedness, but nothing completely finished. Then we all worked together to try to organize the ideas in ways that would make sense and be fun to play. Everybody really contributed equally, and it was fun to see whose skills would end up bringing an idea into focus each time.

CW: Michael, you have a big following in the New Age genre. In fact, in that context is the first time I saw your name (a long time ago!). New Age music and Attention Deficit are kind of diametrically opposed stylistically, what with New Age being thought of as relaxing and Attention Deficit being energized and dark, even to the point of approaching sonic rampage. So, Michael, where does your musical heart really lie?

MM: Both places! I guess I'm a little strange, but I really kind of enjoy moving through different moods in music. One of the things that makes music so vital for me is that it has the power to express and process all kinds of human experience. Sometimes I enjoy the relaxing vibe of New Age music and sometimes I feel more like going more in that rampage direction! Music has a way of making sense and meaning out of all of it for me. I think all three of us are a little that way, actually. We have some pretty diverse listening habits.

CW: Where does Attention Deficit go from here?

AS: Hopefully every couple years or so we can get together to record a new record which reflects our growth both collectively and individually. We'd also love to tour and are hoping to make this happen at some point in the near future.

MM: We're not sure! It's always been kind of an experimental project, so we wouldn't want it to fall into any pattern that was too predictable -- even by us!

Thanks very much to Michael and Alex for taking the time to share their musical musings with ProgressiveWorld.net.

Attention Deficit - l to r: Michael Manring, Alex Skolnick and Tim Alexander

Discography

• Attention Deficit (1998)
  
• The Idiot King (2001)

Check out Attention Deficit on LastFM

Philip Glass

I cannot describe Philip Glass in a summary but all I can say is that this man inspired me to become a composer. So here's what Wikipedia had to say about Philip Glass:

Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is a three-time Academy Award-nominated American Western classical-music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late-20th century^{[1][2][3][4][5]} and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public (along with precursors such as Richard Strauss, Kurt Weill and Leonard Bernstein).

Glass's music is frequently described as minimalist, though he has distanced himself from that description, calling himself a composer of "music with repetitive structures."^[6] Although his earliest music could be called minimalist, his style has evolved enough that the label is inappropriate for many of his more recent works.^[7][8]

Glass is a prolific composer: he has written ensemble works, operas, 8 symphonies, 8 concertos, film scores, and solo works. Glass counts many visual artists, writers, musicians, and directors among his friends, including Richard Serra, Chuck Close, Doris Lessing, Allen Ginsberg, Errol Morris,Robert Wilson, JoAnne Akalaitis, John Moran, actors Bill Treacher and Peter Dean, Godfrey Reggio, Ravi Shankar, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon,David Bowie, the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, and electronic musician Aphex Twin, who have all collaborated with him. Among recent collaborators are Glass' fellow New Yorkers Leonard Cohen, and Woody Allen.

Glass describes himself as "a Jewish-Taoist-Hindu-Toltec-Buddhist",^[9] and a strong supporter of the Tibetan cause. In 1987 he co-founded the Tibet House with Columbia University professor Robert Thurman and the actor Richard Gere. He has four children: two (Zachary (b. 1971) and Juliet (b. 1968)) with his first wife, the theater director JoAnne Akalaitis (m. 1965, div. 1980); and two (Marlowe and Cameron) with his current, fourth wife, Holly Critchlow.^[10] Glass lives in New York and in Nova Scotia. He is the first cousin once removed of Ira Glass, host of the nationally syndicatedradio show This American Life. Philip Glass's father is Ira Glass's great uncle.

Check out Philip Glass's Official Website

Check out Philip Glass Videos on Youtube

Check out the Full Wikipedia Entry here

mewithoutYou

Not since hearing about the Deftones in '98 have I been so excited about a band. I got a call in '05 from my roommate when he was in Florida and he told me to check out this song called  'Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt' by mewithoutYou. At first listen, I noticed right away the soft vocal harmonies accompanying the bass line and the guitars adding that extra emotion to the drums that bring in the mood progression to the song. The band brings in the perfect climax where Aaron Weiss takes control of the song with his powerful spoken words. All the instruments there after add just the right emotion to make this song brilliant. I chose Disaster Tourism as the song to put on the Volume 6 because I love how the guitars start the song off and Aaron's lyrical approach.

Found this on Wikipedia about mewithoutYou:

mewithoutYou is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Christian experimental rock band. The band consists of vocalist Aaron Weiss, guitarist Michael Weiss, bassist Greg Jehanian and drummer Rickie Mazzotta. mewithoutYou's music is generally dominated by spoken-word vocals and free-ranging drums, bass, and guitar. In their most recent album, Brother, Sister, the band incorporates more varied instrumentation including percussion instruments, accordion, and harp. Aaron Weiss writes lyrics about issues such as unity or division in the church, suicide, money, war and love. They tour in a 40 foot 1976 MC8 Charter bus that runs on vegetable oil. ^[1]

The band was originally conceived as a side project. The Weiss brothers and Kleinberg were playing together in another band called The Operation (who released one album, 2001's There Is Hope for a Tree Cut Down, on Takehold Records), but Aaron wanted to start another band to experiment with new sounds. After picking up Rick Mazzotta on drums and Ray Tadeo on bass, Kleinberg and the Weiss brothers released their first EP (I Never Said That I Was Brave) in 2001 and shortly thereafter signed to Tooth & Nail Records after a show atCornerstone Festival the same year. Around this time Tadeo had moved on, Daniel Pishock picked up as the bass player, and The Operation disbanded soon afterward. mewithoutYou's debut full-length album, [A→B] Life, was released in 2002. The band garnered more attention for their second release, 2004's Catch for Us the Foxes, which was produced by Brad Wood(Smashing Pumpkins, Fire Theft). In December of 2004 Pishock had made a decision to retire as the bassist for the band and former Operation frontman, Greg Jehanian, was selected to replace him. In 2005, mewithoutYou won mtvU's "Left Field" award for most original artist. Their third album, Brother, Sister, again produced by Wood, was released on September 26, 2006. In late 2007, guitarist Christopher Kleinberg left the band, to pursue a career in medicine, however, he is still supporting the band with their summer 2008 tour, since school is not in session. He is currently working on becoming a Doctor. mewithoutYou posted a blog on their myspace page on Saturday, May 17, 2008 about them booking studio time to record the follow-up to Brother, Sister.

Check out mewithoutYou on Myspace | LastFm |Official Website

Check out mewithoutYou Videos for January 1979 |Paper Hanger | Nice and Blue (Pt. Two)

Penuckle

Something I found on Penuckle's Myspace:

Penuckle is a lyricist hands down. He has this way of reaching your ears and staying there for a while. He has many names in the industry: The iron lion, The sales man of Life, or just plain o'l P. Born in a drug infested neighborhood, the odds were already stacked up against him. He grew up seeing his Mother abused mentally and physically by the men in her life. His peers around the tender age of 9yrs began to explore the lifestyle of gang culture. Everything around young Tim Ballard was absorbed into his mind; instead of becoming his surroundings he opted to relate on another level. At age 9 he used his love of poetry to further develop his skills as a becoming lyricist. Fast forward thru the years of shcool and community talent shows and the many nights of banging beats out on the wall with his fists, and Penuckle arrived at age 20 when he released his first release. The independent album 'The Feminine Face of God' was considered classic material by the local community of hip hoppers. After giving out all 500 copies that were pressed, he began working on his next album Dysfunctional Ante Colony. This album was then re-released as The Sun Beckons which was embraced by the press world-wide for its honesty and subject matter. Now, he returns with Blunts and Roses and is enthusiastic with this latest effort. 'Being independent in this business means one thing, you have your work cut out for you for sure..." -penuckle With that in mind, he has nurtured relationships with key people in the business to ensure more publicity for his work. Enlisting the help of music supervisors and college radio promoters Penuckle is again bringing attention to himself and the fact that he is one amazing song-writer/lyricist. 

Buy Penuckle on Itunes

Check out Penuckle on Myspace | LastFm

Check out a Video of Penuckle for Hot Life 

Kaddisfly- Set Sail The Prairie

Happy Summer Solstice Day? Well in tribute of the day I'm sharing a full download of a quite clever album, which references specific months and locations in a year. The albums begins with the Summer Solstice and includes a Winter Solstice interlude within it's month. Kaddisfly put out Set Sail the Prairie in 2007 and showed us that their EP broadened their minds with experimentation.  Kaddisfly already releasing several different albums with different individual influences helped them define their sound today. Set Sail the Prairie contains many different textures showing us that Kaddisfly's ensemble of musicians are open to trying new ideas and still keeping their first nurtured sound. Enjoy!

Download Kaddisfly- Set Sail the Prairie from MegaUpload

Check out Kaddisfly on Myspace | LastFm | Wikipedia | Official Website

Check out some Kaddisfly Videos for Empire | Waves (Live) |

thanks to sordo music archive for the download and evasivetear, jeremyejackson for the videos.

Idiot Pilot

In 2005 I attended a show that I remember almost perfectly, the 3 groups performing in order were Scene Index, Idiot Pilot and Team Sleep. The base reason in why I attended this show was for Team Sleep and to catch some other tunes before their set. Scene Index, a band composed of 2 keyboardist, one guitarist and one drummer created such a melodic sound. The sound was very ambient I loved their strong influence towards keyboards. Next up Idiot Pilot, I was very much astonished by the vocal ability of the vocalist of Idiot Pilot, combing high pitched melodic vocals and loud shouts and screams by the guitarist brought to the sound. They have come out with a new album as of last year in titled 'Wolves'. Their electronics and rock sound come out evenly with 'Wolves' because of the addition of a drummer in the production and combining more guitars and keyboards it showed a different direction from their very electronic debut album. Check out their debut album 'Strange We Should Meet Here'. You can hear Michael Harris of Idiot Pilot on Deftones remix of 'Teenager' on their B-Sides and Rarities CD. Enjoy!

Buy Idiot Pilot albums on Amazon

Check out Idiot Pilot on Myspace | LastFm | Official Website

Check out Some Idiot Pilot Videos of To Buy a Gun | A Day in the life of a Poolshark | Planted in the Dark (Live)