Premiere: We Roll Like Madmen's "Needy AF"

Since their arrival in Columbia from Clemson a couple of years back, We Roll Like Madmen have continued to refine and allow their sound to evolve even as their trademark lush, slightly disturbed soundscapes remain defiantly central. 2014 saw 2 EPs that tugged in different directions, the hip-hop-laden of The Kids Must Die sitting alongside the more cerebral, searching Hermetic Vol. 1.

"Needy AF," their latest single from a still-unannounced LP that is likely to see a 2016 release. We chatted briefly with Madmen's Jordan Young about the new single and what direction the group might be headed.

https://soundcloud.com/post-echo/we-roll-like-madmen-needy-af-1/s-hiOer

So tell me about this new record. How does it evolve from what you did with your two EPs from last year, the hip-hop oriented The Kids Must Die and the more cerebral Hermetic Vol.1?

Both EPs helped hone our personal sound. TKMD involved a lot of artist friends and reflected on the state of the cultures that have influenced our music. Hermetic was more about introspective soul searching, something we had to do on our own. The next record makes use of that combined growth--the songs are more personal, and we’ve reached a point where we can really run with the ticks and weird shit that make us ‘us’. We’ve found our footing. We’re ready to start going new places with our people.

Your music always seems to produce a distinct tension between pop and abstract soundscape, warm dance vibe and dissonant dystopian ruptures. What exactly makes a tune a WRLM production?

That tension is really the defining element of a WRLM production. The best pop music is surprising and the best experimental music is relatable. Our goal has always been to push people to recognize the malleability between them. We’re after this marriage between mind and body… you should be able to cry and dance at the same time.

“Needy AF” in many ways seems like it has a few more organic elements than your songs typically have, with those prominent handclaps and close-to-piano keys in the intro, yet you also delve into a dubstep-ish sort of drop in there too. Are either of those progressions indicative of the rest of the record?

We feel like “Needy AF” is the most condensed example of our hyperactive arrangement and sound design tendencies. The record is diverse like past releases, but it abandons a lot of our old approaches in favor of charting fresh territory. There’s not a single strict genre track, and there’s more fluidity in our sound overall. A lot of surprises are in store for the people who have been listening since the beginning, and for fresh ears, well they get to experience our journey all at once.

Kimi Maeda premieres Bend - Saturday and Sunday nights at Tapps

November 15 and 16 Kimi Maeda will premiere Bend, the final installment in a trilogy of performances developed over the past fourteen years. Using sand, shadow, and projection Bend tells the story of two men interned in a Japanese American Relocation Camp during World War II: Kimi’s father, an Asian Art historian, and the subject of his research, Isamu Noguchi, a half-Japanese-half-American sculptor. In conjunction with this performance Tapp’s Arts Center will present Ephemera, a month-long exhibition of objects created in the development of the trilogy.

Kimi Maeda partnered with artist Lyon Hill in 2011 to form Belle et Bête, a puppet production and promotion company here in Columbia. The Spork in Hand Puppet Slams, evenings of short form puppetry that showcase artists from across the Southeast, have been a major component of their work. Slams allow puppeteers to test ideas and push the limits of the art form making them vital to the development of longer puppet endeavors, including Bend. Therefore, it is fitting that Bend will share each evening with Jenny Mae’s Playhouse - an all-local edition of the Spork in Hand Puppet Slam featuring house band We Roll Like Madmen.

Tickets available at:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/910229

Bend teaser video:

https://vimeo.com/110097232

Support for Bend was made possible by the Tapp’s Arts Center, the Jim Henson Foundation, the South Carolina Arts Commission, and the Kō Festival of Performance. Support for the Spork in Hand Puppet Slam was made possible by the Puppet Slam Network and the City of Columbia Hospitality Tax Commission.

In Jasper Vol. 3, No. 4: Record Review - We Roll Like Madmen's The Kids Must Die

"Recently signed to Post-Echo, this remarkably compelling experimental electronic dance music duo called Clemson home prior to their relocation to Columbia late last year. It’s a welcome addition to our local scene, particularly with the release of The Kids Must Die, a 5 song EP that sees the group adding hip-hop flourishes (and guest MCs) to their sonic arsenal. While the most characteristic part of their sound is Jordan Young’s emotive vocals, which are often pitched and processed in interesting ways, it’s the way the he and partner Chris Tollack build sonic landscapes of pulsating synths, roving bleeps and blurps, and oddball percussion to create a thoroughly heady mix that really excites. Bringing to mind the adventurous innovation of Daft Punk in spirit if not always in practice, their compositions always seem relentless more than anything, rarely stopping their idiosyncratic twists and turns to catch a breath.

Still, it’s the two guest MCs who are going to get much of the buzz here—scene mainstay FatRat da Czar sounds reinvigorated by the new territory of Tollack and Young’s beats, with his husky flow taking on a next texture in the reverb-y world of EDM. His wizened confidence sits somewhat uncomfortably next to Young’s pained vocals, but it somehow works to acknowledge the exciting distance the performance bridges. It’s a similar experience for Believe (Grand Prize Winner from Last Year), whose first verse on the opening cut “On” gradually builds the song to its riveting, dubstep-influenced climax, and then proceeds to skitter another verse over top of the throbbing riffs that constitute the song’s coda.

It’s not all pounding rhythms, though—WRLM try out everything here from spacey melodies and ambient white noise to clean dance grooves and genuine pop hooks over the course of these five songs, evincing a wide-eyed sense of adventure that should be fun to follow as the duo continues to evolve." –Kyle Petersen

For more record reviews, click through the image below:

SC Music Goes to SXSW - Guest blog by Greg Slattery

Jasper loves it when SC artists go forth and make our talent known so we asked Stereofly's Greg Slattery to write about their new project. Read on. South Carolina is teeming with fresh, exciting and unique art.  We've seen Main Street, a former district of wasted opportunity, turn into a vibrant street filled with businesses that promote art. First Thursday is one of the greatest events in Columbia, a monthly gathering of art lovers for wine, music and gallery openings.  In many ways the historical under-appreciation of the artists within South Carolina has led to where we are today.  The fight has made us stronger, and I think it will all be worth it.  Perhaps it is arrogance, but I believe we are surrounded with some of the greatest artists that ever lived.  Rather than wallow in the fact that the national view of South Carolina is not that of a progressive community when we can take to the streets and go on the national campaign to tell the world.  With enough people spreading the word about South Carolina's artistic merit, we will start to see the bigger changes Columbia needs that national recognition can help facilitate.

We have the foundation. With publications like Jasper, Free Times, SceneSC and Stereofly, artists have the opportunity for exposure and attention from a variety of viewpoints. We have great venues like Art Bar, New Brookland Tavern, Conundrum Music Hall, Tapp's Art Center, Foxfield and great house shows happening at Queen Punx Palace. Radio stations such as WUSC 90.5FM, The Palm 92.1FM and WXRY 99.3FM are constantly spinning local music. Columbia Arts Academy has two schools now teaching the younger generation guitar, piano, bass, voice and drums. Jam Room Studio is hosting a yearly free music festival on Main Street. With more attention on a national scale, we know that Columbia and the state of South Carolina can start building something more sustainable. More attention leads to more opportunities, and Columbia is ready to grow.

One of the steps we are taking to champion the musicians of South Carolina is featuring them at the Stereofly SXShowcase 2014 on March 11th and 12th in Austin, TX during SXSW at Javelina Bar. Tastemakers and music lovers from around the globe gather in Austin for one week in March to find new artists, and we have 22 bands from South Carolina (14 from Columbia) we're showing off. 

The Restoration - FatRat Da Czar - Rachel Kate - Say Brother - Carnaval - Megan Jean & The KFB - Mason Jar Menagerie - Shallow Palace - Stagbriar - Cole Connor - Grand Royal - Ran Bruce - Ned & The Dirt - Abacus - Sein zum Tode - Zonaea - Cancellieri - Signs of Iris - Slick - We Roll Like Madmen - Dear Blanca - Chadd Downing

We are hosting a Kickstarter to raise money to promote the showcase and make sure our message is heard. The more we raise, the more promotional campaigns we will be able to roll out to reach the 25,000 SXSW patrons.  We have the talent; we need to make sure they're heard.

We have split the two days and two stages into four categories of sound: Rustic, Fluid, Saturated and Aggressive. Pigeonholing artists into genres and subgenres is not what we have in mind, and these adjectives serve as an identifier in the most basic sense, leaving the listener the choice to further connect and identify with the artist.

If you're interested in checking out the complete lineup of artists performing, you can visit HTTP://KICKSTARTER.THESTEREOFLY.COM to read more about each artist and to preview music from each stage.