Keyboard Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 14) INTRO RUMOUR INNUENDO & LIBEL Zut alors! If you can only take off one month this year, make it March, poppets. Why? Well, while the kiddies are enjoying the debauchery of spring break, musicians and techies around the globe will be absorbing the wonders of both South-by-Southwest and Musikmesse. Then, a week or so later, the bacchanal continues at Winter Music Conference. Throw Easter into the mix and you have a recipe for candy-coated madness all month long. Here are some of the highlights in store for revelers. music makers MUTEMATH SXSW Austin’s week-plus media and technology extravagasm — Southby-Southwest — kicks everything off. Running from March 7th through 16th and covering interactive technology, film, and music, the annual conference features something for absolutely everyone. This year, the music conference will include a keynote by alt/glam/rock legend Lou Reed, along with showcases by upstarts and classics of all shapes and sizes. But the real inside gossip comes in the form of whispers and buzzes about the interactive keynote. Will a hardcore synthesis legend take the stage to discuss the current technology landscape? By the time you read this, the truth will be told, so hit sxsw.com for the specifics. Mutemath (Warner Brothers) For more of our conversation with Mutemath’s Paul Meany, surf to www.keyboardmag.com. MUSIKMESSE In parallel with SXSW’s music conference, Frankfurt’s Musikmesse (musik.messefrankfurt. com) will kick into high gear with brightly colored bon-bons that For more on the band, visit www.mutemath.com. Any number of things about Mutemath could grab your attention: their Grammy nomination, their remake of the Transformers TV theme for the movie, or the fact that last September, they deftly reproduced the backwards movements from the video for their hit single “Typical” in front of an amazed Jimmy Kimmel Live audience. What got our attention, though, was not just the keyboardist-as-frontman factor the New Orleans rockers have in Paul Meany. It was that their self-titled album interweaves obvious “singles” with instrumental interludes so well that you get the best of two worlds: There’s a stretching-out and tension that keeps things interesting, but this regularly resolves into a taut, hooky listening experience. The same is true of their aggro-energetic live shows — this band always knows when to shift gears. Paul Meany confirms that this was all quite intentional. “Did that create challenges with our label?” he grins. “Yes. Our whole story with Warner Brothers, at first, was trying to win them over. There was just one guy there who, from the beginning, embraced us making the left turns that come up as we write, as opposed to trying to follow some pop formula. Sometimes songs call for that, but sometimes they don’t. So, we have created some difficulties with A&R and radio people. Fortunately, when the audiences started showing up, the label began to Stephen Fortner 14 keyboard 03-2008 Photo by Tony Clucas realize we were on to something.” Live, Meany’s keyboard work employs a real Rhodes and samples of various analog synths played from a Kurzweil K2661. Most unusually, he tours with a rare Helpinstill electroacoustic upright piano. Live or in the studio, what he does with his rig recalls the best songs by bands such as the Police and the Cure: Guitar-driven rockers though the songs may be, there’s harmonic maturity and emotional impact that just wouldn’t be the same without Meany’s moody piano, swirling synths, and aggressive Rhodes. Asked about the songwriting process, Meany confides, “For me, it usually starts with some kind of sequence or sample. We’ll record ourselves jamming to it, and at some point, light bulbs will go on about where to take it structurally. Where the piano comes in is at that stage. It’s a litmus test — if I can compose a melody or chord part on piano that fits, then we know we’re on track to come up with a decent song.” Meany bought his first Rhodes in a consignment shop after hearing the instrument on the Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication, and the Rhodes he plays on tour lives front-and-center onstage, separate from his other keyboards. “The Rhodes has always been my lead instrument in every band I’ve ever played in. For me, to be onstage without a Rhodes would be wrong — like having no pants!” http://www.keyboardmag.com http://www.keyboardmag.com http://sxsw.com http://musik.messefrankfurt.com http://musik.messefrankfurt.com http://www.mutemath.com
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