The Oregon Voice staff, we’re no strangers to the flashing red and blue lights. Tonight, it was my turn to face the siren.
There I was, mindin’ my own business, atop my Schwinn Continental (thanks, Cara), taking in the brisk summer sunset when out-of-motherfucking-nowhere a DPS officer flicks on his lights and siren behind me. The siren seemed excessive to me too.
But, it was a Tuesday night, what else to do other than pull over light-less cyclists?
Fuckin’ with me cause I’m a teenager
With a little bit of gold and a pager.
It’s a bizarre feeling, getting pulled over on your bike, almost surreal. Once to the curb I put my kickstand down, unbuckled my helmet and awaited my fate. A second officer soon rolled up, this one of the bicycle variety.
Questions poured in. Even with much of my short-term memory seriously compromised, I answered ‘em like a champ. Your god damn right I know my address and phone number.
Then shit got serious. My following responses took required more than regurgitation of information.
‘Alcohol?
‘No, no drinking for me.’
‘I smell like smoke?’
‘Well, I just left my buddies house, he was smoking a cigarette…’
All in all, it was about fifteen minutes of some Grade A Hasslage.
Two tangents helped lighten the mood.
The first was about the giant felt rubik’s cube mounted on my bike fender — which the bike cop was totally digging on.
The second was about bike auctions. Turns out, most of the stolen bikes that recovered at UofO, (there’s a lot) that aren’t registered to students are auctioned off for crazy low prices. The bike cop once got two bikes for eight dollars! Who knows, though, maybe he just made that up. Cops are good at that.
To the police I’m saying fuck you punk
Reading my rights and shit, it’s all junk
Before I was let go, I was reminded one last time how lucky I was to be getting off with just a warning. He could have sighted me for $300 in fines.
‘Yes sir, thank you officer, I do realize I’m fortunate not to be written up for failure to signal on my bicycle … in the middle of campus,’ as five helmet and light-free riders speed past.
Yeah, I’m a gangsta, but still I got flavor
Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?
An occupation void of purpose?
photo by Carolina Riveria
Phantogram’s haunting, post-electronic dream pop oozes a certain amount of intoxication, and the epic performance by the New York duo at Eugene’s Willamette Valley Music Festival last Saturday was comparable to watching globules in a lava lamp. I pity any one who wasn’t in attendance. It really was a seductive—if not spellbinding—show.
I recently had the chance to interview Josh Carter of the group. Here is what he had to say on the West Coast, the music industry and the future of Phantogram.
Fond memories from your last visit to Eugene?
Indeed! We had a great time playing the Willamette Valley Fest. The crowd was awesome!
Any thoughts on the West Cost vs. your native East?
So far, we have enjoyed playing the West Coast very much. We’ve had awesome response to our music on both coasts – the Midwest is great too! We haven’t really gotten to play a lot of shows in the South yet. We are looking forward to getting down there soon. There are nice people and jerky people everywhere we go… We prefer meeting friendly, sincere people.
We definitely miss home on the East Coast right now, because we’ve been on tour for a month and will continue to tour for a while.
How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it?
Beat-heavy pop, with spacey synths, swirling guitars, chopped up samples, honest, emotional lyrics, and a lot of texture.
What are major influences to the band, musically and otherwise?
Musically- everything from Debussy to Talking Heads, Curtis Mayfield to Slowdive, The Beatles to J Dilla…. We like all kinds of music. We draw a lot of inspiration from film and movies, too. Some of our favorite directors are David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Michel Gondry…
And what’s your favorite thing about music and the industry today?
My favorite thing about music is that it is as close as you can get to spirituality or the heart and soul of an individual. Music can touch people in ways that most other things can’t. It gets under your skin.
What’s the meaning behind the word ‘phantogram’?
A phantogram is a two-dimensional optical illusion that appears in three dimensions. We thought that ‘Phantogram’ would be a good name for our band as we are a two-piece that creates a stereophonic sound – a sound much larger than you would expect from two people.
Any acts you would like to collaborate with?
We would’ve liked to collaborate with Sparklehorse. RIP Mark Linkous. It would be cool to do scores for films too.
What are your three must have songs on a dance party mix?
EMF’s “Unbelievable”, Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, and “I Would Die For You” by Prince.
Besides a wealth of tour dates, what does the future have in store for Phantogram?
Lots of more music and albums!
“Nancy! Come quick. There’s trouble on the University of Oregon campus!” Noah exclaimed. His brow was furrowed, he looked concerned.
“Oh my goodness!” Nancy yelped.
“I biked all the way back to the Campbell Club after leaving the Dance-Off just to tell you about it, since you’re such a super mystery-solver,” added Scot, Editor-in-Chief of the Oregon Voice. He was exasperated.
Nancy Drew’s blue eyes twinkled. “Tell me the details!” she urged them.
The two boys explained to Nancy that there had been a Dance-Off between the Oregon Voice and Ethos Magazine that night. On his way home after celebrating a glorious victory, Noah had come to find that the Voice distribution box near the library had been broken.
“It was fully intact when I left work at the library this afternoon,” Scot related.
“Let’s not be hasty,” Nancy insisted. “After all, while it seems we have an idea of exactly the kind of person who would do such a thing, we can never be sure.”
The boys agreed. Alas, Nancy had another case to solve, and she would not rest until she brought the culprits to justice.
Until the next chapter… I leave you all with this image of a very sad Noah the next morning when we scoped the scene in the daylight…
That’s meant as the “Gee wiz” or “How interesting” form of the sentence, not asking if people would hypothetically look at something. But while there’s talk of looking, check out our very own Grace Pettygrove’s column in today’s ODE.
Happening on 10/21, you say?
The summer isn’t really winding down. It’s just sitting there. Don’t read our progress report. Anyway, with days between now and the beginning of the ‘09/10 school year becoming fewer and fewer in number, it seems like an appropriate time to look in the direction that isn’t backwards.
Our first issue will need reviews, and the fall has some interesting releases:
-9/8- Andrew WK’s 55 Cadillac
-9/11- Jay Z’s Blueprint 3
-9/22- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s Higher Than the Stars
-10/13- The Flaming Lips’ Embryonic
-10/13- Thao With the Get Down Stay Down’s Know Better Learn Faster
-10/13- Wolfmother’s Cosmic Egg
-10/27- Weezer’s mysterious seventh
Looks like the late 2000s are a lot like the early 2000s. The question remains, will we be able to review them? Probably. In advance, depending on our yet-to-be-determined printing schedule?
Maybe.
We will have a review for the new Blitzen Trapper EP up ahead of the August 24 release. “In advance” just may be my new favorite phrase.
Hi all,
Now that the Summer sun has burned many of our ears, necks and backs, we write to you with an update – a progress report of sorts. As noted in our last post, we have a plethora of projects that we’re trying to accomplish before Fall rolls around and here’s where we stand thus far:
Revamp website
Acquire new distribution boxes
Paint new distribution boxes
Replace broken Plexiglas in boxes around campus (About 1/3 fixed.)
Scan and archive Volume 14 and others not on website
Create master distribution list, distribute to more places (It’s still growing, but we have a good start.)
Clean/Reorganize office (It’s reorganized but not clean. Does it need to be?)
Plan Rent-a-Pooch IV (Set for October 21st.)
Organize U of O Student Media Summit
Bind and archive volumes not already in library
Blog, blog, blog
Build roller-coaster (It’s very rickety.)
Drink beer (Can we ever really cross this one out?)
While there are some items that have been taken care of, there is much more to accomplish. If you’d like to get involved and help us help you and the entire student body, give us a shout via the contact form.
Let’s just all get along, seriously. Poor Grace getting the flack for whatever those crazy newsies are trying to get out of this “strike.”
Were all brothers and sisters here in the J-school and we all hear about things in those labs that we spend our days and hard nights in.
So read our magezine and be our friends, not enemies because here at the OV we just want to have fun!
And produce quality hard-hitting journalism.
As a publication, the Oregon Voice stands behind its writers in print and online. Our blog post in response to the widely publicized and intellectually taxing Oregon Daily Emerald strike has apparently been a source of controversy for both the people involved and the one that wrote it. The fact that relationships between students [Get that? we're students] are being affected by this petty, bombastic strike is disheartening and doesn’t bode well for the future of journalism. Are these upset Emerald-ers that out of touch with what really matters? Have they already bought into the bickering journalism for journalists machine? At this age?
For shame.
Scot
Contrary to what you may have read (hopefully not) in today’s Daily Emerald, it’s actually Shave-Shave-Shave-November. It is certainly not No-Shave-November. Please ladies and gentlemen, let not the ol’ wizards at the Emerald convince you otherwise. Please continue to shave your legs, armpits and faces. We need not bearded women. Thank you.
