Info on the upcoming DB collab sets in NYC (JUNE 2013)

Hi everyone, due to the expensive flights from Berlin to NY I was unable to fly my band here, and as a result unable to perform the new album on the upcoming mercury lounge and glasslands shows.

But instead of turning down the shows, I wanted to use this opportunity to collaborate with some of my friends and artists that I admire in NY, and we will be working on figuring out how to collab and present some new ideas to translate DB in a live setting.  (Its been a repeating theme anyways in DB)

A big part of Drifters/love is the devil's core value as a record musically, was to also abandon as much reliance on surface aesthetics, and to focus on presenting the material in its core form. As the material world we all live in is just fucking neck breaking and cut throat, theres not a lot of time to breathe or digest and let ideas bloom naturally in its pure form.  Instead we all rely heavily on coating it with sugar, to make it easier to ingest.  Very much like how cooking works, especially when its been presented to a "wider audience" (more on that in future posts. The parallel universe between cuisine and music....) The attempt to abandon aesthetics was not fully successful on my end, but I did try my best and went as far as I could and bled out what became love is the devil.  I think the primary focus of these 2 shows in NYC will be a continuation in that direction, to present work not in its record "form" or "skin" but to strip it down to its essence and core, and in hopes of still achieving the same potency in story telling with its content.  Or from another perspective, perhaps aesthetics are really all disposable, as we can freely change the exterior (like the act of shedding skin, or changing jackets) it is about what you are trying to present with engagement, at the core.

Mercury Lounge collaborator:

Parallel Pyres - Joshua Frank


Josh has been a long time friend, a Canadian currently living in NYC, like me he had a very weird childhood having been raised in India and China predominantly in his early years.  The opposite of me, pretty much.  haha

For the Mercury lounge show we will try and explore the songs on the "Drifters" side.  The core of this album really, is just the blues.  Far from home blues, ain't got nobody blues, I walk alone blues, etc.  Like John Lee Hooker once said, "Its all about the drift, the boogie, and the blues"

Glasslands Collaborators:

Heathered Pearls - Jakub Alexander



I first came across Jakub's music recently while on tour in Tokyo, my friend Maru played it in the morning while we drank coffee looking over the tokyo skyline.  I became a fan since, and am very stoked to have him on this collab set.

EOLA - Edwin White



You guys might know Ed from 1/2 of the band TONSTARTSSBANDHT, and Ed and I have known each other since the Montreal years, but I've always loved Ed's music and wholeheartedly like a brother as well after our Russia Tour together.

So in essence, Glasslands show will be focusing on translating the music from LOVE IS THE DEVIL to a live audience.  You might not recognize any of the songs for this night, because we will be tearing apart the songs completely into sections, reassemble them, and present this music in hopes of achieving the same potency of the emotions I caught on recording, alone at night, in Berlin, completely isolated.

The first time I performed any of these songs from LOVE IS THE DEVIL, was when I was in Tokyo during an in store performance at Big Love records.  During "alone at the danube river" I bursted out in tears in public.  Uncontrollably.  I don't wish to ever repeat that ever again.  Its unprofessional, and I apologize for the audience in Tokyo who witnessed it.

It will be a challenge to bring Love is the devil to a live setting, but perhaps, this is the only recording I've made, where I'm still confused about where and how it turned into what it is, in record form.  And as its creator, I'm still looking at it, bemused, and sometimes, painful, to see what this record represents for me at this time in my life.  Perhaps over time I will understand wholeheartedly what the hell I have created over that cold, long winter in Berlin.