RHUM

I admit I was nervous before interviewing Cristina Martinez (ex-Pussy Galore, Boss Hog frontwoman). We were supposed to be discussing her new album Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown! - a collaboration with her husband, John Spencer and Dutch electro artist Solex. Her shadow does loom large, along with Spencer's, over the NYC alt-rock landscape of many dreams. What, what, what to ask?

I checked my dictaphone before I left the house. Tape got plenty of inches left? Tick. Batteries working? Tick. Then later, oh wait, the mic's not working. What? How can the mic not be working? It's a dictaphone. What's the point of it if there's no dict.? I need dict. dammit!

Well, says the very charming girl sitting across from me, I guess you better take lots of notes. And so I did.

Interviewing Micah P Hinson is both fun and very easy. Easy unless you're taking notes and trying not to miss anything, then you can expect to get a real sore hand from writing really fucking fast. I consider it well worth the effort to go to the effort. Who else describes skateboarding as being like pornography that moves?

The high school band that got noticed by an independent label and thrust into international stardom. Album released and world tour in full swing before they’re hardly out of their teens. Except the label didn’t sign them in a flurry and then dump them when things didn't go to plan. Jamie Smith from The xx tells me someone from the Young Turks label came to one of their gigs, liked what they heard and soon after the label began to book them for shows. Free of charge. They also gave the band free rehearsal space in the building the company shares with XL Recordings. It wasn’t until a year and a half had passed that Young Turks actually signed them. Pretty heartening to find a label willing to give a young band that kind of time to develop.