Author Archives: Anna-Lynne Williams

Anna-Lynne Williams

Anna-Lynne Williams is Identity Theory's music editor. She sings in the bands Trespassers William, Ormonde, and Lotte Kestner. She runs the record label Saint-Loup Records and lives in Seattle. Contact her at music@identitytheory.com.

Top Ten Albums of 2012

Beach House Bloom cover

Top albums for 2012 as selected by our music editor include releases from Sigur Ros, Beach House, Tame Impala, and more.

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Music Interview: Songwriter Mike Dumovich (Acres)

Mike Dumovich

“I like going to a show where everyone is into the music…Everyone’s on the same page for whatever, how long, twenty minutes. That feeling’s pretty cool.”

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Best Albums of 2011

In 2011 my listening didn’t have much to do with new music that was coming out. The only cds in my car were the works in progress of my friends which have not yet come out officially.

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Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers”: Song of the Month, January 2012

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Prey For Paralysis – Higher Brain

Brand new video debut from the new collaboration between Sadistik and Kristoff Krane. The album is now available for pre-order (with limited edition T-shirt packages as well) at both www.sadistikmusic.com and www.micheallarsen.com

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It’s not hard to love Bill Patton, whether he’s playing his own songs or someone else’s.

Bill Patton

Most of my favorite songs from the upcoming album by Bill Patton are originals, but the man has a way with covers that has revived my enthusiasm about artists playing each other’s songs.

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Black Tin Rocket: A New EP of Transmissionary Six Songs as Covered by Eef Barzelay

paulbychristophernelson

Due to pleasant coincidence and shared taste, Eef Barzelay (Clem Snide, and solo fame) has just recorded an EP of songs by Seattle songwriter Terri Moeller, the voice behind Transmissionary Six and Terri Tarantula.

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An Interview with Seattle Hip Hop Artist Cody Foster (Sadistik), on Films

Cody Foster Sadistik

“If I was an actor, I would only ever play villains.”  – Cody FosterInterview by Anna-Lynne WilliamsCody Foster (rap artist Sadistik) appeared at one of my concerts in Seattle about two years ago and gave me a copy of his debut album, The Balancing Act. He was young and his hair was shaved down and [...]

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An Interview with Seattle Hip-Hop Artist Cody Foster (Sadistik)

Sadistik

“For awhile I was like, ‘I’ll just make the most complicated thing that nobody else can do and then I’ll be the best.’ And now I’m kind of learning that sometimes the most difficult thing to make isn’t the best at all.”

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Best Albums of 2010

1. Damien Jurado – Saint Bartlett2. Kent – En Plats i Solen3. Beach House – Teen Dream4. The National – High Violet5. Eels – End Times6. Sarah Jaffe – Suburban Nature7. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Irm8. John Grant – Queen of Denmark9. Breathe Owl Breathe – Magic Central10. CocoRosie – Grey Oceans- Anna-Lynne Williams, Music Editor

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Best Albums of 2009

I end every year by making a list of my favorite albums. Some years there are as many as 30 albums that I couldn’t live without, but this year there were really only 10 for me. To be honest, the David Bazan and Fever Ray releases really monopolized a lot of my time. But there [...]

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A Week of Concerts in Denton, TX

This past February, I spent a month in the mythologized town of Marfa, TX, recording an album with Robert Gomez for a project which has since been named Ormonde. I returned to Texas last Friday (this time to Denton, where Robert lives) to work on final mixes. Since it’s his home studio and he has [...]

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Interview: Choir of Young Believers

Choir of Young Believers

“I think total democracy in bands can sometimes be a bad thing musically.”

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Snowshoes and Hunters: An Interview with Midlake

Midlake

“I guess we got into more of this British folk thing and a ‘fair maiden’ thing as I call it, but I don’t think we really sound like these bands, though there is more than a hint of it on the new album.”

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Eau de Colonia: An Interview with Nina Persson of A Camp

Nina Persson of A Camp

“Melancholy is not really the right word to describe the mentality. Swedes are more…serene and mellow, and not afraid of the dark, and this is something that I still think is a big part of my personality.”

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Sergius Gregory making quiet music in Homer, Alaska

Sergius Gregory has taken the musician-in-a-cabin experiment leaps farther than the likes of Bon Iver. After living in Hawaii, Oregon, New York, and Pennsylvania, he has spent the last few years in Homer, Alaska, holing away in the winters in his own cabin with an 8-track and a handful of instruments. And, finding Homer to [...]

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A Sight for Sore Eyes: An Interview with Klum

musician Klum

“I assume people don’t really know who is singing what because sometimes we don’t even remember who sings certain parts that are on the record. The most important thing to us is just that it’s good.” -Brock Flores

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Someplace New: An Interview with Uncle Owen Aunt Beru

Uncle Owen Aunt Beru

“If I can make anything that another person would want, then I must give it away. Sometimes other musicians want to trade music, or collaborate with me after hearing one of my songs, so sharing my music freely has given some very rich experiences.”

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Go to the Radio: An Interview with Psychic Ills

Psychic Ills

“People go places because they’re already heading that way, or because they give themselves over to be taken somewhere. If our music does that, that’s cool, but I wouldn’t say that it’s designed only for that reason.”

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Brave New Music: An Interview with Frida Hyvonen

Frida

"I could mention…Neneh Cherry’s Raw Like Sushi, on vinyl from the local store, and Michael Jackson’s BAD, which I stole from my brother. You had to learn to dance really smoothly to it or the vinyl would skip. I’m sure someone could find traces of all of those early loves in my music, and not least in the way I dance."

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Planting Seeds: 13 Questions with Mia Doi Todd

“I like to listen to the arc of a record, like reading a book from start to finish. I make records that way.”

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Only Love is All Maroon: An Interview with Bon Iver

“With all your lies, you’re still very lovable.”
- “For Emma” by Bon Iver

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Writers on Music: An Interview with Robin Benway

Robin Benway

"For a band that’s just starting out, it’s still fun and exciting and very Kerouacian to be in a van and touring the country. That’s the spirit I wanted for Audrey, and listening to that music definitely helped to infuse the book."

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You Know This Gloom: An Interview with The Notwist

“In the end it was all about finding a way to express something that you cannot express otherwise.”

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Writers on Music: An Interview with Mysterious Skin Author Scott Heim

Scott Heim

"I was just out driving in my car, and five totally different things came on–an old New Order song… a track from the new Portishead record… a Brian Eno Music for Films song… ‘Touch and Go’ by the Cars… and then this campy ’70s disco song called ‘Let’s All Chant.’ I love how this weird mix put me in five different moods within twenty minutes or so."

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Prickling All Over: An Interview with My Brightest Diamond

“Even if there is tension in a collaboration, that frustration allows you to further define your own musical ideas, why you disagree or what it is that is important to you…”

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“To Comprehend a Nectar”: 14 Questions with Peter Moren

“The things I go through, most people go through, so I think it communicates.”

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“Our True Love Finds Us When it is Time”: An Interview with Mark Kozelek

“Sometimes I write in the voice of someone who I believe is trying to get through to me, sometimes. But I never really understood that Nick Cave style of ‘I am a murderer on this album’ kind of thing. It’s just not me. I’d rather just cover someone else’s song.”

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Shared Islands: An Interview with High Places

“The whole idea of playing in a band as a way of paying the bills is a new concept to Rob and me. We come from a basement show, pass-the-hat-to-pay-for-gas mentality.”

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What Kind of Animal Are We: An Interview with Sara Lov

“It’s strange to me that so many hands can have a part in someone’s self-expression. It puzzles me that what I think is so bad can be considered to be so good by so many, and something that is so good can go undiscovered.”

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