The Goat in the Sky

There's now an in-depth interview of my editor Kristopher Young and me - by the cool Martin Garrity - online @ Solarcide, regarding Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat.

Martin writes:

"TSMG is an odd sci-fi tale of corruption in a dystopian future, set in Melbourne, Australia. (Bergen is himself Australian, though he now lives in Japan) It features an immediately likeabe protagonist, Floyd Maquina, who is a government endorsed ‘seeker.’ Floyd’s job is to hunt the deviant menace that threatens the future of the last inhabited city on the planet. This could almost be a special edition, Vegemite-flavoured version of a certain Philip K. Dick story.

"But that ain’t even the half of it.

"TSMG is also homage to the golden age of film noir. It’s a cigar puffing, whiskey sipping, piano playing, bar lout, and the book may very well stir up memories of a black and white nature. Andrez makes a million and one references to movies (The Third Man and The Maltese Falcon, in particular, are heavily drawn on) and the settings are stuffed to the margins with inspiration from this classic era of cinema."

I actually really dug doing this interview; Martin was great to yack with and he asked some canny questions - and I really loved the head-to-head between he and Kristopher.

Anyway, you can read it if at all interested HERE.

Cheers, Martin! ;)

Iffy Bizness interview @ Elektrax

There's a brand new propaganda bomb/interview thingy with me up on the way cool Elektrax site, and I'm thinking one or two regular readers here may be curious - if, indeed, there are one or two people who actually peruse this site (slack-arse that I am, I never bother checking stats). Anyway, here's a sample of my crap philosophizing:

“Yeah, I’ve kind of lost count exactly how many names I’ve worked under,” Bergen acknowledges from his base of operations in Tokyo, Japan. “Most of them were conjured up either as a joke, or with specific musical perimeters in mind, but then the lines get blurred and I forget which category I’m supposed to be focused on. It’d be frustrating if I actually cared.”

The interview in its entirety, which some people may find relatively self-indulgent and/or inane, while others might perceive it as historically interesting, is online here.

Hype out.

Melt-Banana

I always was going to be a sucker for Tokyo-based all-girl group, Melt-Banana.

In a country famous for smacking you round in entertaining ways with its noise music (think Merzbow), Melt-Banana have - over the past 15 years, nine albums, and two-dozen EPs - taken that aural mayhem, and infused it with hyperventilatingly-paced punk rock and a swag of electronic styles, in often desperately brilliant ways.

Cell-Scape (2003) remains my favorite album for that year. And what can I say? John Zorn and Mike Patton (Mr. Bungle) are equally avid fans.

Stand out for me in showmanship, attitude, and (surprise) aptitude, has always been Yasuko Onuki, a.k.a. Yako - the group’s founder, vocalist, and writer.

“These days, we’re making songs for singles on several labels, and getting ready to do the next album,” Yako told me a few weeks back, then turned wistful. “I have a lot of other unfulfilled dreams, besides Melt-Banana—like going on vacation to some southern island, visiting my sister in Hong Kong, playing games on PS3, and movies I want to watch.”

On one particular tour of the U.S., Melt-Banana’s van famously hit a deer, with Yako behind the wheel. Instead of moping about the tragedy, the incident inspired Bambi’s Dilemma, the moniker for last year’s band opus - which also happens to be the singer’s first pick for best Melt-Banana album.

“It’s what we’re doing right now,” she assessed in clinical fashion. After that, she wavered.

“But I’d also like to pick Charlie [1998], because it was the first self-produced album we did on our own label, A-Zap Records - and Mr. John Peel chose it as one of his favorites.”