Fans of unapologetic dance pop engineered to compel foot tapping, head bobbing and hand clapping (among other body part wriggling), are going to love Crisis Line’s materials. Drew Herder and Alex Proctor play off each other’s hooks with drum machine, synths and vocals — both harmonized, layered and proud falsetto in the mix.

Fans of Awesome New Republic, Alphabeat, My Dear Disco and even the Scissor Sisters will find a natural fit for tracks like “Personally” and “Dionne” in their Friday night playlists.

Speaking off playlists, here are my favorites off the new album…

This week we had the opportunity to sit down with the Crisis Line gents to talk about the missing sister in the line-up, influences and tonight’s big release show…

Perfect Porridge: In January 2009, I wrote, “Got a note from a new group called Crisis Line who really formed when a Central Minnesota brother and sister started chilling to Raffi back in 1984.” Now Crisis Line is Drew and Alex. I must ask – what happened to the sister?

Alex and Drew: My sister is alive and well, she (and my brother in law) just opted out of the project when it finally started to gather movement. We never found out exactly why, but the show had to go on. The loss took us from writing and arranging for a “boy/girl call and response” type format to a “boy singing like a woman to compensate” recording project that at times felt like a creative Chernobyl, but we just had to document the material that we had been working on for all that time. There are a couple of tunes on “Phones” that are written from a female perspective that were intended to be recorded and performed with a female lead, but shit happened. Anyway, the struggle defined the sound as we moved on. “Throwaway” is a declaration of desperation citing the hard times for the project and the mess that ensues when you decide to take the Partridge Family route only to lose your best friends and family over irreconcilable differences.

As you look back to 2009 and then forward to this new album, how would you say your sound and style have changed?
Being forced to adopt and apply a certain androgyny to the material thematically sort of eschewed in a complete revival of the initial idea. Though all of the material had been character driven from an almost ironic stance before, we soon came to the realization that it clearly made more sense when less opinions were involved and we could just seep our own stories into these songs and it would paint a prettier picture. Regarding our sound, we strived to steer it into a slightly more rhythmically focused yet hopefully somewhat genre defying niche. It didn’t work, it’s dark dance.

How long did you guys work on “Phones,” given that I know you were sharing “Piece of This” and “Dionne” last August?
Yes. Well, we thought we had a grip on what the record was going to be after starting work in late 2010, and then ended up recording around 20 more songs and revisiting some that we had abandoned, so technically if you consider all of the time and material we honed down into “Phones”, we have spent way the fuck too long working on it. 2012 will have us releasing “Phones” tomorrow, a summer EP soon enough, and a full length featuring ultra new material this fall.

Any significant milestones in that time?
The amount of amazing musicians that participated in the project was mind blowing at times. It took 4 amazing drummers to complete the record. Michael Bland (Prince), Baron Harper (Scattered Trees), Alex Budrow (Murzik), and we used CL’s original drummer Matt Alexander’s take on the closing track to the record, because he slayed it.

Who are your influences – both globally and locally?
Pop. No matter what the subtle confines or distant boundaries. Twyla Tharp said “I don’t really think of pop art and serious art as being that far apart.” This much is true. Melody, beat, and tones=The Mona Lisa.

You’ve got a big release show coming up Friday night. What should we expect?
Great bill. Alicia Steele, Villa Rosa and an Aaron & the Sea DJ sets between bands. Crisis Line headlines featuring the 6 piece band. A dead artists of 2012 tribute is rumored to take place in CL’s set. Too soon?

Crisis Line’s album release show is tonight at the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis’ Dinkytown. Buy Phones on Bandcamp for $8.

The program, which Raski hopes to have online in the fall, is being made largely with Max/MSP, with some Ableton Live thrown in. It will essentially let Raski determine specific parameters for which chunks of several new compositions can be altered, and how many variations can be made. Different parameters will then determine how the pieces can be glued together; the resulting .wav files will be given the same song name. Flash and PHP scripts on the server side will then determine which tracks go to which users.

Based on the success of freemium remix apps like Songify, I could envision a marketplace for an app version — with $1 remix track bases available on an ongoing basis. I would also tap bleeding edge innovators — like Trent Reznor and Thom Yorke (and Jonathan Davis, of KORN, who is already working with Huoratron) — to produce their own remix algorithms.

Here’s “Bug Party” off Huoratron’s debut album, Cryptocracy:

MP3: Huoratron – “Bug Party”

MP3: Huoratron – “Bug Party (Jdevil Catholic Nun Remix)”

I totally used this to scare the crap out an intern at 7 a.m. last week…

@gregswan should not be dancing in the office this early in the morning, or scaring innocent interns. #happyfriday

— Katrina Wollet (@katrinawollet) May 11, 2012

Here’s the little bugger in action.

The album may be 10 years old, but the songs are timeless.

[via]

Favorite episodes of mine would include Black Heart Process and Cursive…

The Kickstarter campaign will help the DL folks keep things going, plus expand a bit with live festival coverage and other goodies. For only $15 bucks you get a DL t-shirt, which is worth $20 by itself.

More:

Fans of Dan’s lauded 2007 EP, I was Searching and I Found will appreciate a continuation of the ambient textures and opulent vocal layering on this new effort.

City Pages posted a great 1:1 interview with Dan yesterday that gives insight into his writing process and his nonchalance to tackling the sophomore slump. Check it out here.

Check out the first track from Before Then here:

MP3: Weaver at the Loom – “We’re Wild Animals (We Always Were)”

I was fortunate to pick up a split vinyl of both albums, and it’s been the subject of sincere jealousy on Instagram. Now you can be jealous, too…

Weaver at the Loom’s album release show is tonight at Triple Rock Social Club with Avian Sunrise and Dan Mariska.

As I’ve shared previously, I was late to the show, and you know how that theater has ushers with flashlights to show you to your seat? I had no idea my tickets were front row, center.

So I’m ushered down the aisle, sit right in the front and watch these two gals weave an aural tapestry using their voices and minimal instrumentation, including children’s toys. The sold-out theater was mesmerized, and I feel completely head over heels for the French sisters.

I’ve been a huge fan since, and it’s an honor to share this new single.

It comes on a 7″ with “We Are On Fire” on the A-side and “Tearz For Animals” on the B-side. The single was recorded with David Sitek in Los Angeles this past Winter. Antony Hegarty sings on “Tearz For Animals.”

Here ya go…

Read previous Perfect Porridge coverage here.

This is serious, grown-up band material, my friends.

The band is tight. The synths are infectious. The vocals are energetic. And there are some lyrical moments here that merit attention (e.g., “The prodigal comes back stunning” and “Save me, save men – no worries… not when a perfect equal matches sin for sin”).

If the new wave revival continues nationally, and surely it will, these guys are poised to take it to the next level in 2012.

That will be good news for Friends by Fire and great news for the burgeoning electro scene here in Minneapolis. I can’t wait.

Here’s the single:

MP3: Friends By Fire – “I’m On Your Side”

If you dig this, check out these two tracks off their prior LP release, Borneo

MP3: Friends By Fire – “What Beast Shall I Become? (Hugs Onstage)”

MP3: Friends By Fire – “Magic Johnson”

And if you dig these, you must stream/buy the new EP here for $3.99 (dudes, buy it)….

Friends by Fire new EP, Sinister Waves, is out now. Read previous Perfect Porridge here.

I played Sigur Ros in the quiet darkness. First Saeglopur and then Takk.

I get to work earlier than most of the floor, and each morning the pregnant sense of isolation gives birth to the busy sounds of billability to match my morning soundtrack.

Solemn Sigur Ros fades into the background and a prescient energy filled the hallways. It was going to be a gorgeous day. We needed upbeat music, and we needed it now.

At the top of my starred emails was a note about a new band from Astralwerks, an Australian band called Gold Fields.

Their blend of glossy pop matched with tribal drums packaged in an accessible little four-track EP burst through the Icelandic gloom like sun rays at dawn.

And as if I’d planned it, the rain ceased, clouds dispersed, and for the second time today, the sun rose in the sky. It was a new day and ripe for Gold Fields.

Here’s “Treehouse”

MP3: Gold Fields – “Treehouse”

Gold Fields self-titled EP is out now. A full-length debut is slated for late summer.

[via 22 words]