BEACH HOUSE: Teen Dream [amazing] STREAMING inside

[MrMagpie]

^excellent vids

[the_gloaming09]

this Beach House album is so amazing!

 

It's definitely going to be in my top 3-5 albums of the year at this point (and that's taking in consideration upcomng albums by Radiohead, Coldplay, Arcade Fire, U2, Broken Social Scene, MGMT, etc)

[Myra]

Great album! Victoria Legrand's voice is amazing.

Zebra is my favourite. :nice:

[the_gloaming09]

Beach House Plan Record Store Day EP

 

 

Record Store Day, which falls on April 17 this year, gets closer and closer every day. And now we can add Charm City float-poppers Beach House to the list of bands making new releases available exclusively at independent record stores in honor of that day.

 

Sub Pop has announced that the duo will release the new EP Zebra for RSD 2010.

 

Zebra will feature four songs, including new versions of two tracks from Beach House's BNM'ed new album Teen Dream. Maybe the most intriguing inclusion is "10 Mile Stereo (Cough Syrup Remix)". Since virtually every Beach House song already sounds like a syrup-dazed remix of itself, we can only begin to imagine how that might sound. Tracklist below.

 

Zebra:

 

01 Zebra (UK Radio Edit)

02 The Arrangement

03 Baby

04 10 Mile Stereo (Cough Syrup Remix)

http://pitchfork.com/news/37909-beach-house-plan-record-store-day-ep/

[The Escapist]

^awesome

[Lizzybear]

Im so exited, they are opening for Grizzly Bear and I am going to see them both in March! :dance:

[the_gloaming09]

^ I saw both of them together... what an amazing show!

[MrMagpie]

Known until recently for a hazy, reverb-laden take on indie rock, Baltimore duo Beach House have widened their sonic palette considerably with Teen Dream, their excellent new record and first for Sub Pop. For bandmates Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, the album represents the artistic growth that came with playing hundreds of shows and a desire to break out of the woozy style they cooked up almost four years back when they recorded their first LP, Beach House, on four-track in Scally's basement.

 

We caught up with Beach House during a very busy week for them that included their first-ever late-night TV performance, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and the release of Teen Dream. Just a few hours before they would play a cracking live set to celebrate the album's release (a "birthday party," Legrand called it) at Brooklyn's Bell House, Scally and Legrand chatted with us backstage at the venue and the pair seemed equally thrilled and overwhelmed at how far they'd come over the past few years. Among other things, they talked to us about creating Teen Dream, the move to Sub Pop, and what it means to find themselves now playing to a much bigger audience.

 

Pitchfork: Teen Dream marks a shift in sound for you guys. Did you intend for that going in or was it something that just came about organically while recording?

 

Alex Scally: Looking back on it, it wasn't really something we were conscious of happening. But I think touring all of 2008 on a record [Devotion] that was very much still-sounding and difficult to convey to an audience, it really drove us toward something different, almost wanting to take those songs as we play them live and making them surge and pulse more. Every night, turning up the volume, every show getting louder and louder. When we started to write these new songs, there was always this feeling that needed to be there in order for us to be excited about it.

 

Victoria Legrand: We were almost feeling tied down by certain things.

 

Pitchfork: You've talked in the past about working within a set of self-imposed limitations. Did you feel the need to break out of that this time around?

 

AS: It's a lot of the same limitations. We try to write just with two instruments mostly and keep it really simple. And, actually, most of the same instruments for Devotion were used on this record. I think we just recorded and utilized them in a kind of drastically different manner.

 

VL: We were thinking about stripping things away and pushing them further. There was a kind of constant feeling of not settling for things that we may have done in the past. We pushed ourselves harder.

 

AS: And also, in performing live and recording, I personally feel, and I think Victoria feels the same way, that we started to grow really tired of the kind of sloppy or fast sound of lo-fi that we were so into in the beginning. Just that really fast thing where you try to catch a sound really quickly and try to capture this energy to it. It's really amazing and so many people do it so well and it can be such an interesting thing. But for me, it just started to get really boring. I really felt like, "If we record this sound, this tone, you know, it might sound awesome if we did it on a four-track cassette right now, it would sound really cool. But if we recorded it with this really nice mic and maybe stereo-panned it, what would it do?" Just trying to go for sophistication. Which sounds a little elitist, but that's really what a lot of it was. Probably our demos for this record were as good or better sounding than Devotion. Before we even really went to record.

 

VS: For example, vocally, with reverb it was never about hiding for me. But when you look back, as you grow, you start to see that reverb is this mask. It's a style. It's like a lace curtain or something. But it works. It worked on the first record and it worked on Devotion, and it's still there on Teen Dream to some degree.

 

AS: There's actually very little reverb on the record. But the feeling that reverb gives you is all over the record. Which is expansion of sound. You know, reverb does that thing where you make one sound and it grows to 20 times its original size and fills everything up. Whereas with this record, I think we were trying to get that same sensation with arrangement and actual sounds. And loud. Volume. We try to play really loud now. You get the same feeling as reverb, you get the same explosion, but from a different place.

 

VL: I'd like to imagine people would to listen to the album really loud. Or on headphones so it's like, there's no space left anywhere in your ears.

 

Pitchfork: Did the shift in style or sound have anything to do with a reaction to the prevalence of lo-fi?

 

AS: I don't think it was a reaction to how many lo-fi bands there are now, it was more of a reaction to our own past, just being bored of something. Because so much of the stuff happening is awesome. I'm not like, "this stuff sucks!" I really like a lot of it.

 

VL: It's a reaction to ourselves, and who knows what will happen in the future? There may very well be another reaction to something.

 

Pitchfork: I tend to think of Teen Dream as an immersive listen, in that it really works front-to-back as a whole album. In the MP3 era, how important to you guys is the album experience?

 

VL: We're very song-oriented; we believe in songs. It's very important to us that every song is treated with great care. So in that sense, the album, beginning to end, is very important to us. Not that it's a concept record that must be listened to in its order or anything, but that at any point you would pick up the record and feel that you're in this universe. We would never be happy with ourselves where only one song stood out, that's not even part of our hemisphere.

 

AS: Something that Victoria started on the first record that we've really gotten into is calling songs "families". Like, we'll be writing, and we've done this on Devotion and this one, we'll come up with a song and say, "You know, this really isn't part of this family." And what I think it means for us is that it just doesn't fit with where we are. So I think albums very much matter for us, because all three times they've been a statement of a very short amount of time, a three-to-six month period, where these songs were the most exciting things for us to work on. For instance, with this record, there were a few songs that we started to write and they just weren't right. It's not that we didn't like them, we just thought, "No, let's just not even entertain them because they're not part of this family".

 

VL: And it's not an overly intellectualized thing. It's literally a gut feeling. Like when you walk into a room and you just sense that something's out of place.

 

AS: Yeah, and I'm actually really obsessed with song sequence. I think that's very important and spend a lot of time thinking about what will be the opening song, what will be the closing song. You know, how the energy goes from one song to another. It's a really big part of our recording process each time. We were even writing fantasy song orders as far as two months before recording. I'm basically really obsessed with it, actually.

 

Pitchfork: I think it has a very natural rhythm to it. The thing that stands out to me is that there are plenty of tracks, like "Silver Soul" for instance, that are single-worthy, but they also work within the context of the record.

 

AS: I think we wanted every single song to be a single on this record. That was kind of the idea.

 

Pitchfork: So how did the move to Sub Pop come about and how has it been working with them so far?

 

VL: We've sort of been in loose contact with them and Susan Busch since the beginning. When the demo was being passed around through friends she received it. So there was an acknowledgement of what we were doing. But as artists we were not going to wait for anyone and just wanted to start working and touring. But then three and a half years go by, and now that we're on our third record, they approached again and it just really felt like the most natural fit. It felt like this could be the right time to widen our artistic channel.

 

AS: We've been DIY since the beginning and only in the last few months did we get, like, a manager-type person. We've done everything ourselves. We did our first recording in my basement in like three days, we loved it and some friends in Baltimore, bands you may know like Celebration and Jason Urick just gave it to people they knew in the music industry. And there was some interest from above, but I think all those people thought they were, like, demos. We were, like, "What? This is our music!" We were so unsophisticated and young with what we wanted out of music. We just wanted to start playing and touring. So we just put out our record on the first label that would put it out and who seemed like a cool guy and it was Todd at Carpark, who rules.

 

So we just started touring and it was really great because rather than, like, getting a lawyer and trying to refine those songs and try to make them something they weren't, we just started. And now we've played over three hundred shows. The playing and constant touring and working has been the best thing for us. So going to Sub Pop was, like, we want to get more out of this record. We wanted to make be able to make this DVD. We wanted to get all of these things that were expanded parts of our vision accomplished and it seemed like that was the best way to do it. Because they were like, "Look, we believe in you guys, we have believed in you guys".

 

VL: Moving to a bigger label isn't about making things easier. It's about going to someplace new so that you can continue to challenge yourself. Because I think we sort of outgrew a certain place that we were in.

 

AS: We don't have any more money than we had when we started Devotion.

 

VL: We have less. I have a lot less...

 

AS: Every bit of money we got, we spent. The recording was insanely expensive. Every single step of the way, we've just tried to go more, go further. So that's a large part of the Sub Pop thing. And also with things like the packaging they gave us for the CD and record were so crazy, I don't think any other label would have let us do that. Todd definitely wouldn't have let us do that! They're kind of famous for not saying no to artists.

 

Pitchfork: How did the idea for the accompanying DVD come about? Did you want to have a visual representation for each song?

 

VL: The DVD idea was something we've had for a while. If only because we thought that would be so crazy if you could actually get that to happen. Then with Teen Dream, it fit because the album had that energy to it. It would hopefully continue the excitement, both for fans and for us. Just as something else to think about. Not in a definitive way, just more entertainment.

 

AS: And more than entertainment, too, and I don't want to make this a bigger deal than it was, but I think there was definitely some frustration of kind of getting pigeonholed into these certain categories all the time. And one goal of this project was to give these songs to artists that we really respected and liked, with very little budget, and just see what came back in an effort to just expand the visual iconography associated with our music. Because we don't think it's as limited to, like, girls in fields with sundresses or a beach scene or whatever. Some of the videos are very dark, and they all react to the music and expand it. I think that was one thing that I really wanted to have happen from it, was that it stimulated new types of reactions.

 

VL: They don't expand the music in a definitive way, which is something that I like. Maybe the immediate reaction might be, "But this isn't the Beach House that I put my headphones on and fall asleep to and think about girls in floral dresses!" But at least it's something that goes off into another direction. It might be a little more ugly or violent than you might think. Buy why not? Visually, music can be anything, and it is, for every person that listens to it, something different. So I like that this is a reminder almost, to ourselves as well, that music has infinite potential.

 

AS: Yeah, it's been awesome. I think the other records were more monochromatic in energy too and this one entertained a lot more feelings and a lot more shined through. And there is a lot of sickness, and there's sexuality and depravity, that's all there. So much of that is in there.

 

VL: And there's probably still innocence, and there's still love and heartbreak. It's just a wider spectrum.

 

Pitchfork: Right, even though it's more energetic, there' s also a sadness to the record. Did you intend to explore these more somber themes?

 

VL: I think that just comes out. Like, we don't have real control over that. When you're writing, you just literally write what's ready to come out. It's something that's very subconscious. That's the only thing I can really think of when someone mentions [the sadness]. Because I think it would be impossible to concoct something like that, to say, "I want this to be sad". The minute you would try it you would get something else. Often times you get what you didn't expect.

 

Pitchfork: So what were you listening to when you were thinking about making this record? Was there a specific kind of music that stood out as a jumping-off point?

 

VL: More than anything, the jumping-off point for me personally was just having played so many shows. Just the live performance and the live energy. When we got back, there was all this stored-up energy. I don't even remember what I was listening to at that time.

 

Pitchfork: Sure, but with regard to songs like "Real Love", there seems to be a heavy vintage soul and R&B quality to it. Was that an inspiration at all?

 

AS: Yeah, I mean there's really no ending of the type of songs that we or I loved over the last year. It's more like that than types of music. I'll find a song or a half of a record and just love the shit out of it. One song that I was deeply obsessed with right before we recorded was "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted". That song, I love it. If you just heard the beat alone, you'd probably dance. But no one would ever dance to it. And if they did dance they'd be, like, crying, drunk at a funeral. But yeah, there's really no end to those realms of influence for me.

 

Something that I think gets forgotten a lot in modern press is that it's more just songs that inspire. The songs always come first. When I listen to music, I'm looking for songs. I'm looking for an incredible feeling in a moment. Not a music movement. Movements can be cool because there can be a lot of bands that are maybe grouped together by a region or some kind of sonic texture. They can all be doing cool things, but only if they're all writing good songs. I guess I'm really obsessed with songs.

 

Pitchfork: Victoria, you've been singing since you were young, but was there a specific point that you sort of found yourself vocally? When you realized you could do this with your voice?

 

VL: I think a lot of things started with singing Devotion and playing live. You play a song night after night and you just start to reach further. It's natural, you know, the artist wants to go further. I can remember singing "Gila" so many times, and I just started to make these little changes, doing different things with my voice and finding my brain changing. It's the same thing with music, you just very naturally don't want to repeat the past. And I think that's what's happened vocally; I've fallen into something that's going to continue to grow but that's very much myself right now.

 

Pitchfork: It's interesting because people always talk about your sound and your voice as ethereal, but I think there's a real earthy, powerful quality to it.

 

VL: Yeah, it's not waif-y, for sure.

 

AS: For me, easily the most compelling part of what we do is Victoria's voice. And I think the biggest step from the last album to this artistically has come through the voice. The power, ability, melody, all of that.

 

Pitchfork: Who are some vocalists, Victoria, that you look up to? Are there singers that you hear and think, "Wow, I'd like to do that with my voice"?

 

VL: Well, lately whenever I hear [beyoncé's] "Halo", I'm always like, "Wow, she's doing really cool things with her voice." But I don't know, I have a weird process when I listen to other female vocalists. I either love the voice or I hate it. In the past, women's' voices that I loved growing up were like Stevie Nicks, Kim Deal has an amazing voice, even Joan Jett on something like "Crimson and Clover". But it's not even consistently; it's song to song almost. Because you don't necessarily love a voice on every song, you just love the voice in that particular song. I probably love the same female voice that everybody loves. They do the same thing to me.

 

Pitchfork: I guess I wonder if you're more inclined to like someone with an incredible vocal talent or just a distinctive voice?

 

VL: Yeah, I don't even look at the talent. I don't even listen to it like that. It's melody. If the melody does something to me, then I'm there with it. But I also don't like to listen to certain things because I don't want to be influenced too much; I'm kind of weird about that. I try not to reach from the outside in. I try to preserve and construct from the inside out. Like, I didn't listen to Kate Bush for like, ever. And I didn't like her. But I didn't know. I just had this thing where I kept it at bay for years and years.

 

AS: Victoria's just liking now all the stuff that I've liked for ages. All the stuff that I was obsessed with in my early twenties-- Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Kate Bush. She always made fun of me constantly for liking this, like, predictable crap. And now she likes it all.

 

VL: I finally let Kate Bush into my heart, but only certain songs. I'm just weird like that, very protective of certain things.

 

Pitchfork: Have your listening habits changed much from spending so much time on the road? Do you get as much time with music as you'd like?

 

VL: It's a lot of radio. We still don't have an iPod. We sort of borrow the sound guy's iPod. It's kind of like when you can get it, you can get it. But I think that you become impatient with stuff that doesn't do anything for you.

 

AS: This is a song that we loved this year. [The Magnetic Fields' "California Girls" playing on the venue's stereo.]

 

VL: Yeah, that's a good example. I can remember when we heard it for the first time when we were in California. But yeah, things just really have to grab you immediately, make you feel something because you don't get that much time to spend with records.

 

AS: We do listen to a lot of music, though. Both our drummer and our sound guy have great iPods. Like, they listen to the weirdest, most obscure music all the time.

 

VL: We got super into Italo disco. Like Ryan Paris' "Dolce Vita".

 

AS: Yeah, and that kind of stuff is almost more of a relief to listen to than current stuff. It's cool to have people around with their own really specific tastes. Because that kind stuff, you can either go really far in or just not pay attention to it at all. It would be harder to listen to more current stuff on the road, people who are our peers or who we tour with.

 

Pitchfork: So back to the record, obviously Teen Dream probably opens you up to a wider audience. You've played some of the late-night talk shows, for instance. How has that been so far?

 

AS: I think it's fun to try to take on the challenge of expressing the songs outside of people who you know listen to the same music as you. But it was funny, we had a song on iTunes, it was like the iTunes Single of the Week. And there was this multitude of people freaking out, being like, "What the fuck is this shit?!"

 

VL: They were like, "I hate this! My stereo's broken!"

 

AS: People who had never heard our music before. Our own fans tend to be really lovely, though. We have total sweetheart fans.

 

VL: Yeah, these were total strangers who'd probably never come within 20 feet of us. I like the hate, though, because it's real. The world is not just your nice, sweet fans. People that hate us, maybe they need music that doesn't do anything to them.

 

AS: Well, who knows what they need. But I think it's awesome to create, good or bad, some kind of intense reaction like that. There's nothing wrong with hitting that audience and seeing what sticks.

 

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7762-beach-house/

[the_gloaming09]

bumpbumpbump

 

 

they did a live acoustic show in an apartment... you can watch it here:

 

http://liveweb.arte.tv/en/video/Soiree_de_poche___Beach_House/

[ivet]

^Oh my :love:

 

 

Julie, I feel your pain... I saw they're doing a show in Dallas in April and i was like :dance: I CAN GO!! Then I checked my calendar... It's on a Thursday night... fml....

[the_gloaming09]

i can't wait to see them live in May... this new album is so amazing! Quite possibly my favorite album in the past 2-3 years

[MrMagpie]

Its okay, you can just say it is one of your favourite post-In Rainbows albums :P

[the_gloaming09]

ahaha.

 

I was actually thinking about saying that it might be my favorite or at least top 3 favorite albums since In Rainbows... but I decided to refrain :P

[Julie]

^Oh my :love:

 

 

Julie, I feel your pain... I saw they're doing a show in Dallas in April and i was like :dance: I CAN GO!! Then I checked my calendar... It's on a Thursday night... fml....

 

Yeah, that was the one I wanted to go to. Washed Out was supporting too! :bigcry:

[HorrificAttack]

They are so good live :nice:

[the_gloaming09]

They are so good live :nice:

 

Yes!

 

 

I saw them live in a chapel and they sounded amazing. The natural reverb of the venue made them sound even better

[HorrificAttack]

I saw them in the Sage in Newcastle

 

which is one of the best modern buildings ever

[the_gloaming09]

bump...

 

they did a radio interview/performance

http://ow.ly/1wBal

 

 

less than a month till i see them live!

 

 

edit:

on Beach Houses's official facebook page they posted a link to a child chorus cover of Zebra:

[ame=

]

[/ame]

[deaths_friend]

i really hope they come down to australia. it is easily my favourite album of the year

[ivet]

:lol: @ 2:00 :lol: that kid is singing with passion!

[the_gloaming09]

new beach house song:

http://soundcloud.com/subpop/beach-house-the-arrangement

 

this song is coming out w/ their single for record store day

 

The single's tracklisting is:

 

Side One:

1. Zebra (UK Radio Edit)

2. The Arrangement

 

Side Two:

1. Baby

2. 10 Mile Stereo (Cough Syrup Remix)

[fietssleutel]

:cheesy:

 

I'm gonna see them in August. :dance:

[the_gloaming09]

i'm seeing them in less than a month! :dance:

[fietssleutel]

I already missed them two times this year, going on three. :dance:

[MrMagpie]

I'm hoping to see them in July.