Lir
After taking the internet by storm with their blogosphere darling “Terracotta,” we were anxiously awaiting a chance to fire over a few questions to this Tel Aviv based trio. Luckily for us, Garden City Movement agreed to answer a few quick questions for us, giving us a better understanding of the brains behind the music.
Take a moment to read this quick Q and A sesh to check out what they had to say about turn of the century urban planning methods, Last Action Hero, and who they’d like to collaborate with in the future. When you’re all finished up, head over to iTunes to pick up their EP Bengali Cinema , which just dropped today.
TMN: So tell us a little bit about you guys. What got you into music in the first place? Were you classically trained as kids?
Johnny: We are three guys from Tel Aviv. Joe And Roi used to play in a band called Lorena B and as for myself I come from the music and nightlife scene, but I used to work as musical director and DJ for Radio Tel Aviv. I have my own show on KZradio and I am part of the “TEDER” crew, which is a really cool pop radio bar that works only in the Summers. Beside I used to work as a music journalist and was part of the evolving Tel Aviv nightlife scene. Interviewed and hosted a lot of the artists that came to TA in the past few years — let’s say I had some crazy dinners. I learned piano and guitar as a kid, but I didn’t take part in music really until GCM started.
Roi: At first I didn’t really relate to music given the fact all I heard as a child were only early 90’s pop hits.
I started playing guitar at 11 years old and getting to know some rock and blues artists brought the change.
A few years later after playing in a few bands i started to appreciate some electronic music, and began to teach myself music production
Yoav: I had a blind guitar teacher who taught me the basics and then I learned music at high school.
Johnny: Bauhaus was already taken..haha. We were just looking for architecture reference and the GCM method was perfect for us.
TMN: We covered Terracotta back in May and it was definitely one of the sexiest thing to grace our ears. Walk us through that production starting from inspiration heading all the way through completion.
Roi: We create music using fragments, and we chop our own samples to create those fragments. “Terracotta,” like most of our tracks, sounded completely different at first, the vocals and harmony sounded more like an R&B track.
Johnny: The lyrics is a mix of an Antonioni film and scene and what I was going in my real life at the time we created this track.
Roi: The eastern sound came last. We loved the song, but some edge was missing. And jamming a little with the Oud got us to this idea.
TMN: Your sound is really unique, comprising atmospheric elements, eastern influences, and R and B. Who are some of the artists you look up to?
Johnny: We appreciate and are inspired by many artists because in each one we like (and we listen to a lot of music) there is this special thing and vibe. If we need to drop on the spot five artists we like it would be: Sun Ra, Glenn Branca, Flying Lotus, Prince and Nikki Sudden; however, there are really so many more from different genres.
TMN: Who would you love to collaborate with? Give us one practical example and one completely impractical example.
Johnny: Again so many people, but let’s say practical one it would be Roy Ayers and the impractical would be mmm Frank Zappa
TMN: We know you guys have a lot coming up with touring and festivals, but if you could only say one thing to our readers, what would it be?
Johnny: She is beyond good and evil.
TMN: Alright, let’s switch gears and ask a few random Q’s. Let’s imagine a world where teleporting exists. Where would you teleport and why?
Johnny: The Happy Mondays auditions for the band..would love to go through the recording in Barbados era.
Yoav: i would teleport myself into Schwarzenegger’s “last action hero.” Why? Best movie ever.
TMN: If you had to pick any other career besides something music related, what would that be and why?
Johnny: Made a promise to myself as a kid that I will always work in stuff related to music, so I don’t think I would ever want to do something else. However, if I were at a gun point and had to choose maybe it would be something with gardening. I’m good with plants. Ask my Basil.
TMN: Speaking of work, what was your very first job?
Johnny: Building stages.
Roi: My first job was as a sound designer for TV and commercial ads. It taught me a lot about music and sound production.
Joe: selling beers at a black eye peas concert
TMN: If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?
Yoav: Moussaka
TMN: This one is really random, but if your music were an animal, what would it be?
Yoav: Johnny 🙂
