Interview with Eli Crews, Owner/Engineer of New, Improved Recording

Recently celebrating its five-year anniversary, Oakland’s New, Improved Recording studio has not only kept its doors open but been responsible for capturing the sounds of seminal Bay Area artists like Deerhoof, Erase Errata, WHY?, Subtle, Thee More Shallows and Pink Mountaintops, among many, many others.

Q: How did you get involved with New, Improved Recording?

A: Before that, I was working out of my basement – but as soon as I had a kid, that had to change. So I pooled resources with an old friend John Finkbeiner, and we bought a 2” tape machine and found a commercial space about 10 blocks from my house that fortuitously had already been set up as a recording studio. We are able to operate relatively cheaply, so can offer bands a middle ground between the huge old expensive studios and somebody’s bedroom.

Q: Why the Bay Area?

A: Ha! I ask myself this all the time. (Only because living here is so expensive and we could live like kings in Boise, right?) I’ve lived in the Bay Area since 1991 and have established pretty deep roots here. Although it’s getting to the point where people can live anywhere – I’m mixing a record right now for a great band in Michigan called Anathallo, I just email them reference mixes and they get back to me with notes – I can’t think of a place, Brooklyn included, with as many

bands that I want to work with as the Bay Area.

Q: You’ve recorded a lot of experimental albums – do these projects require specific (perhaps unconventional) techniques or approaches?

A: Yeah, sometimes it’s hard to tell what a certain kind of music is ‘supposed’ to sound like. With a rock record, even an oddball one, your job is usually pretty clear: make the kick drum punchy, make the vocal nice and clear and warm and bright, etc. But, for instance, this record I’ve been working on recently with saxophonist Jon Raskin (from the ROVA Saxophone Quartet), a lot of it is electronic sounds or ‘extended techniques’ on saxophone and trumpet (getting sounds out of instruments via non-traditional methods). So, how’s that band supposed to sound? Ironically, there is somewhat of a tradition by now of producing this sort of ‘non-traditional’ music, but mostly I just make it sound as good as possible to both me and the artist; it’s a case-by-case basis at that point.

Q: Artists who have worked with you rave that you understood their sound to a Tand helped them achieve exactly what they were going for, or better. How you do that?

A: Wow, that’s great to hear. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at this over the years. I think a large part of it is that I don’t have a specific dogma; I’m not super set in my ways with regards to making records. I’m way more interested in what a band wants out of its music than what I want to impose on it. That doesn’t mean I don’t have ideas; in my best moments I can turn people on to new techniques and new sounds they hadn’t previously thought of using, or steer them away from things I don’t like or things that aren’t working. But at the end of the process, it’s their record – it’s way more important that they like it than that I do.

Q: Fun fact about Eli Crews?

A: At age 36, working on my first full beard. Wish me luck.

www.newimprovedrecording.com

The Treasure Island Music Festival Returns to the Bay

After a highly successful inaugural year, the Treasure Island Music Festival will return to the middle of the San Francisco Bay for its second annual celebration during the weekend of September 20-21. Hosted by Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment, billing picks up where it left off with both national headliners and local favorites gracing the picturesque Treasure Island locale.

Continuing in last year’s tradition, Saturday’s lineup will take an electronic and dance-oriented focus with CSS, Amon Tobin, Aesop Rock, Hot Chip, Justice, TV on the Radio, Foals, Mike Relm, Goldfrapp, Antibalas, Loquat and Chester French scheduled to perform. On Sunday, indie rock is the concentration with The Raconteurs, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, Okkervil River, Tokyo Police Club, Spiritualized, Dr. Dog, The Kills, John Vanderslice, Port O’Brien, The Fleet Foxes, The Dodos and The Morning Benders making up the bill.

“Our goal with the second installment of the festival remains the same,” said Noise Pop co-owner Jordan Kurland, “to present a diverse lineup of artists that you will not find at any other festival in a setting that is impossible to replicate.”

Earlier this summer, the social media network imeem launched the Mutiny and Mayhem competition, a nationwide search for two acts to play the festival. Both signed and unsigned artists from around the country were eligible to compete for opening slots at the Tunnel Stage. After an initial selection process where a panel of judges representing imeem, Noise Pop, Another Planet and The Independent chose 10 finalists for each day, imeem users voted and elected two winners.

Like last year, there will be no parking on the island in an effort to reduce traffic congestion and the negative impact of attendees on the historic site. Instead, free biodiesel shuttles will run continuously throughout the weekend, carting festivalgoers from Lot A of AT&T Park in San Francisco to the festival entrance. Along with a BART stop nearby and free car parking, there will be free valet bike parking at Lot A, courtesy of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Aside from the free shuttle, other transportation options include the Muni 108 bus, which will have an additional line running between the Transbay Terminal and Treasure Island between noon and midnight that weekend, and taxi or limo service.

Diverting 72% (9.2 tons) of waste to recycling and composting in its inaugural year, the festival will continue its greening initiative with waste reclamation stations for composting, recycling and trash. Compostable cups and utensils will be offered to vendors, courtesy of the SF Department of the Environment, and recycled paper will be used for all printed material. The TRASHED Recycling Store onsite will also accept water bottles, plastic cups and old cell phones in exchange for various prizes, including free tickets to upcoming Bay Area shows. Further, biodiesel generators will be used to power the festival, and ticket buyers will have the option of offsetting their CO2 emissions through Carbonfund.org.

New to the 2008 event is the Treasure Trove, a 2500 square foot interactive tent highlighting Bay Area artists and galleries. Here, festivalgoers will have the opportunity to compose their own music on the Octamasher, thumb through local zines and DIY print publications and enjoy local art. Adding to the interactive experience, the two-day celebration will also bring back the 60 foot tall ferris wheel, performance artists Big Nazo, free hairstyling from Madu Salon, a live painted mural wall and double dutch and hula hoop lessons.

www.treasureislandfestival.com

In the News

Following last month’s digital release, Birdmonster’s long-anticipated sophomore al­bum, From the Mountain to the Sea, will be in stores on September 2. The band will perform that night at The Troubadour in L.A. with Sons and Daughters and at the Great American Music Hall on September 3 with Nada Surf. www.birdmonstermusic.com

On September 9, Bart Davenport’s West Coast pop rears its head on the Honeycut frontman’s highly anticipated fourth solo album, Palaces, released via Antenna Farm. The album features contributions from local artists ranging from Kelley Stoltz to Angelina Moysov of Persephone’s Bees. www.bartdavenport.com

East Bay indie-pop darlings Audrye Sessions have signed to RCA/Black Seal Records, and have been busy re-recording songs from their self-released 2007 debut, Braille, with Andrew Scheps (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, The Rolling Stones) in L.A. Their label debut drops digitally on September 30 and will include new arrangements as well as three new tracks. The band just returned home from an eastern U.S. stint with Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s last month.

www.myspace.com/audry

esessions

Xiu Xiu will conclude their national tour with a series of shows on the West Coast this month. Making a beeline from Fargo, N.D., the band will hit Seattle on September 10, then head down to Portland for a show on September 11, and celebrate its homecoming at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on September 13. The band has been touring in support of its Kill Rock Stars release, Women As Lovers, which joined its discography of well-received albums earlier this year.

www.xiuxiu.org

After three months in the studio with engineer Tim Green, Tartufi emerge with their third full length in hand. The album, titled Nests of Waves and Wire, consists of one hefty 56-minute sonic adventure. The duo will celebrate its latest masterpiece with a Bay Area release show on September 18 at Slim’s with Built for the Sea and Low Red Land. The show is in fact a quadruple release party; both supporting bands are debuting new works and Thread Productions is releasing its third compilation, Dragon Slayers Vol. III. Nests will be released nationally on October 13, after which Tartufi will kick off a fall U.S. tour.

www.tartufirock.net

Little Teeth recently signed to Absolutely Kosher and will release their debut full length, Child Bearing Man, through the label on September 9. The pots and pans noise trio will hit the road early next month for a U.S. tour to support the album, ending with an appearance at CMJ in New York.

www.myspace.com/

littleteeth

Following the summer 2008 release of their new album Cream Cuts, Tussle is taking their lively dance-meets-experimental-meets-funk live show on a tour across the nation. Their route will be far from routine with stops including Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Tucson, Austin and Chico, among many others, and venues ranging from Comet Pizza and Ping Pong in Washington, D.C. to the Folkyeah! Festival in Big Sur.

www.tussle.org

Continuing to challenge the divide between electronic pop and punk, Vice Cooler, AKA Hawnay Troof, is scheduled to release his new album, Islands of Ayle, on September 9. The album features a slew of notable guests, including Randy Randall (No Age), Bretzel Goring (Stereo Total), Annie Lewandowski (The Curtains), Jenny Hoyston (Erase Errata), Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) and Carla Bozulich (Evangelista). A bonus disc of remixes, Remixes of Ayle, comes with first edition of the CD and features remixes from Xiu Xiu, Disaster (Brendan Fowler), Soft Pink Truth (Drew Daniel of Matmos), The Mae Shi and others. The Oakland-based artist has been touring around the U.S. for the past month and will wrap his tour on the West Coast before jetting to Australia for a stint down under.

www.hawnaytroof.com

The Monterey Jazz Festival will put on its 51st annual showcase of world-class jazz musicians on September 19-21. The event will feature over 500 artists appearing on nine stages spread throughout the Monterey Fairgrounds, and is commemorated by a six-volume release including unreleased works featuring Tito Puente, Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Shirley Horn and others.

www.montereyjazzfestival

.org

Hot off their recent sophomore EP release, Lacuna, Bay Area dark ambient rockers Empty Rooms have been busy recording two new songs for a split with locals Finest Dearest. The group’s song “We’ve Been Waiting For You” was also included on a downloadable compilation from Mp3hugger.com, titled Indiecater Volume One.

www.emptyrooms.us