ALEATORY #6: The Go! Team

Ian Parton could very well get a job as a professional juggler. Afterall, the founder and mastermind behind the U.K.'s party-starting sample-happy The Go! Team somehow finds a way to weave dozens of samples, tons of live instruments, and a genuine sense of fun all together on TG!T's albums, all without seemingly breaking a sweat. Already his band has produced a rising indie star (female rapper Ninja, who can be heard on the excellent Simian Mobile Disco single "It's the Beat"), a near-classic debut album (2004's Thunder, Lightning, Strike), and an equally-ecstatic crowd-pleasing follow-up (2007's Proof of Youth), all while leaving a trail of dropped jaws in the wake of the band's outrageous and exciting live shows. Amidst all this Technicolor insanity, however, Ian found time to sit down and become part of the sixth Globecat Aleatory, revealing dark family secrets (game shows!), incredible childhood boardgames (Assassin!), and how the dirtiest joke he knows is about two decades past its relevance (but is still fantastically funny).

+++

2. Favorite board game?

I'm not really a board game fan but when I was a kid, me and my brother designed our own board game called "Assassin" where you had to kill the president.

7. Favorite composer?

Phillip Glass.

9. Favorite song to start (or end) a mixtape with?

"Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" by Mr. Bloe.

12. Favorite band when you were in high school?

I'm ashamed to say I had a Simple Minds period in school but that turned into the Wedding Present, then the Pixies.

13. Favorite Shakespearean play?

Gawd knows -- maybe Othello.

19. Favorite foreign film?

À bout de souffle.

20. Favorite new band?

Ult Cult.

28. What instrument would you most like to learn to play?

The trumpet.

33. What's something you could teach anyone in an hour or less?

Harmonica.

34. What's the best joke you heard recently?

The only joke I know is the one about Michael Jackson's favourite song being "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" -- it must date from the 80's cos that's when he had the chimp.

43. What's the road ahead look like?

As long as there is the occassional little chef I'll be happy.

44. Something you've heard, know is false, but wish were true with all your heart?

Music can change the world.

51. What are you currently obsessed with?

Melody and the US office.

61. What's the best advice you could give to a young, upstart band?

Don't think about getting signed just think about create/making music that noone else is making.

73. Are there any songs that you're working on right now?

I work on little ideas rather than whole songs and kinda hoarde them away and whittle them down to the greatest hits. So I have the usual stash of ideas squrrelled away at the mo.

75. Very first song that you ever wrote?

First song I recorded in a proper studio I called "Assembly" 'cos it sounded like it was performed by kids in a school assembly -- it had recorders and glockenspeils in it so not much has changed.

92. Which venue are you dying to play but have not yet had the chance to?

I'd like to play Brixton Academy but I think we've missed our chance now.

96. The one thing that no one knows about you (yet)?

My family auditioned for Family Fortunes.

+++

Photo taken by Jamie Beeden.

Visit The Go! Team's website.

ALEATORY #1: Phil Elvrum

Few discographies are as intimidating as Phil Elvrum's. As The Microphones (and later as Mount Eerie), Elvrum crafts nothing but powerful, complex indie-rock epics that transcend their bare-bones recording environments to become something far more orchestral in nature. As a producer, he's helped create soundscapes for artists like Mirah, Little Wings, and Beat Happening. As an interviewee, he becomes the first subject of the Globecat Aleatory -- that famed list of 20 randomized questions -- and his responses are as wickedly funny as they are surprisingly insightful. Ladies and gentlemen: Phil Elvrum.

+++

1. Favorite word?

The word "favorite" is terrifying for me. I can not choose favorites. I can't say "best" except in ironic hyperbole. So all these answers are not favorite or best or worst or anything. They are just one answer of many. I hope I make sense.

4. Favorite person to have worked with?

Julie Doiron, recently.

5. Favorite piece of equipment?

Printing press.

7. Favorite composer?

G.I. Gurdjieff & Thomas deHartmann.

12. Favorite band when you were in high school?

Eric's Trip.

13. Favorite Shakespearean play?

Macbeth.

15. Favorite exhibit or subject at the museum?

The entire Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA.

29. Who do you wish more people were listening to?

Gary Snyder.

32. Best thing you learned this week/month?

French.

52. At what point did you realize that music was going to be your full-time occupation?

Still haven't.

60. What's the worst show you've ever played? What would you have done different?

So many horrible ones I can't choose. In many cases nothing could have been done.

63. Band/artist you're secretly envious of?

secret

66. Worst song you've heard recently?

"Lisa, It's Your Birthday" by "Michael Jackson" in that one Simpsons episode.

71. How well do you feel your music lends itself to remixing or being covered?

Poorly. My songs are too much about my own weird shit. It would seem weird coming from someone else. Remixes would be fine though I think.

73. Are there any songs that you're working on right now?

Yes.

82. Current pop song that you would file under "guilty pleasure"?

I feel no guilt. I love so much weird normal people stuff. It's just music.

89. You just died. I'm sorry. Fortunately, your will states that you want very specific music to be played at your funeral. What did you choose?

Sunn O)))

92. Which venue are you dying to play but have not yet had the chance to?

I would like to play on the Earth's moon.

96. The one thing that no one knows about you (yet)?

I just ate a burrito.

98. Would you say that there's somewhat of a political undertone to your music? If so, what motivates it?

Maybe, yes. I feel like we humans could do better. I am motivated to say what I think because people are paying attention to me.

99. Licensing your music out to companies for TV ads: good or bad?

In most cases bad. But what if it was a TV ad for something I really felt ethically obliged to help promote? Like a tall frosty Heineken?

+++

Visit Phil Elvrum's website.