If you have followed our coverage of Beat Radio then the story might sound all too familiar. We’ve discussed the realities of being a modern artist, coming to the conclusion that only a blend of quiet perseverance and an unquenchable need to create will ever allow musicians to survive the money-less, swamped music industry as it currently exists. Indeed, it was Sendrowitz who put us onto Heaven O’Clock, the result of Tim Lannen’s newfound fervour. The EP, existing as five average-length tracks, feels far more nourishing than your typical short release, the songs displaying admirable variety while remaining bound together by a common energy.

Opener ‘I’m a Solution’ feels like something of an introduction, a re-emergence, a tight melody rising out of a disorientating clatter as though Lannen is finally cutting through the confusing fog and finding his groove. “I feel like I should feel,” he sings in the opening verse. “I feel stranger than ever / I’m wandering tall weeds / I figure out falling”. ‘Same Light’ is more restrained musically, though the lyrics glow with the strange emotions of an important relationship, love and anger and pain brimming beneath the surface, never quite spilling.

“I see you trying
To tear out the pages
Ill throw you down a flight of stairs
Before you can finish

She made an impression on me
And all of it makes sense

I could never get enough

We wake up in the same light
And leave everything behind”

‘A Calm I Don’t Like’ pines for this turbulent passion, a song terrified of inaction, of drifting, of missing out on the highs and lows in favour of some bland median. Whether or not it’s his intention, it’s difficult to not apply the lyrics to Lannen’s musical story, the lines reading like the nostalgic thoughts of some sleepless early-night, the lack of tiredness and disappointment not enough to quell the desire to create, to get out and play. ‘Feel Song’ is an electronic-tinged follow-up, wistful but all the stronger for it. “Do you remember how I made you feel?” Lannen sings over and over, perhaps to himself.

Closer ‘Vein In Train’ bounces along with a garage rock clatter, Lannen vocals growling and soaring behind the raucous percussion. “I wanna scream,” he sings/shouts, “when I don’t see the train coming.” From here the song enters a mellow groove, the instrumentation paring back just so, allowing the wistful hope to appear again. Though from these words Lannen seems to draw energy, because he launches back into boisterous, confident noise once more. Heaven O’Clock is an album about taking chances, about enduring the dips in order to ride the crests, and when the guitar takes over to kick it once more, you understand why. He wants to be in a band again.

“There can’t be anymore ‘one more times’
I forget how good it feels to feel alright”

You can buy Heaven O’Clock, Part 1 now from the Tim Lannen Bandcamp page.

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Take It Forever plays like the manifesto of someone who doesn’t know all the answers but finds meaning in asking the questions, the words not of a revolutionary or prophet but an ordinary man striving to make life extraordinary, just as it should be.

Since Sendrowitz has continued to make great music, we endeavoured to come up with some new questions and pick his brains all over again. I think you’ll agree he did a marvellous job of answering them.

Hello Brian, thanks for speaking with us again! How does it feel to have released Take It Forever? Is it a milestone you are proud of?

It’s my pleasure! I really appreciate the work you guys do with Wake the Deaf. As someone who puts a lot into songwriting and lyrics in particular, I’m grateful that there are people who take to time to listen, dig into themes, and approach our music with a depth of thought and understanding. This record definitely feels like some sort of milestone, and maybe more than usual. I think you mentioned in your review that it felt like a culmination of ideas, and for me it was in the sense that I wanted to address very specific themes, articulate ideas as directly as possible, and then move on from them. My resolution for 2016 is “no more songs about the internet.” I had started writing about the subject way back with our song “Teenage Anthem for the Drunken Boat”, and have revisited it frequently. There’s been such a massive shift in our culture and the way we communicate. It feels generation-defining and to not address it in my art would have felt inauthentic to me. With Take It Forever I wanted to make an entire record dealing with the sort of questions I’m always asking myself: where does art fit into our culture now? What place does music have in my life, as both an artist and a fan? In a way it’s sort of a break-up album, in the sense that it chronicles my coming to terms with letting go of my own careerist ambitions, and also with the concept of music careerism in general. But it also tells the story of me finding my way back to a purely creative motivation, which is how this whole thing started anyway.

You have been making music as Beat Radio for over ten years now. How has your music changed since the early days? And are your reasons for making it still the same?

Looking back on the 5 records we’ve made with Beat Radio, I feel like each one was its own unique adventure with different motivations, goals, and perspective. It usually involves some sort of self-imposed set of rules. For this one I knew I wanted to create a more traditional “band” sounding record, guitar-driven and using primarily organic sounds. I think the earlier albums were more escapist in nature, lyrically. Songs were always a sort of fantasy world I could create and control, and exist in. The last record dealt with more personal subject matter but still mainly in an impressionistic way. Take It Forever is our most direct and autobiographical album. It’s also the first time since our first album that I had a band to rehearse and develop the songs prior to recording them, which changes the feel quite a bit and was a lot of fun. To answer the last part of your question, I think my reason for making records on a fundamental level has always been the same. I have ideas I want to express, and the process of writing songs and ushering them into existence is joyful for me. It gets me out of bed in the morning.

Point three of your Advice For Artists list suggests making your ‘peace with the capitalist yardsticks that you thought would signify creative success’. The idea is echoed in the opening song too, taking stories from television, being haunted by the resulting ambition etc., basically being a prisoner to dreams of greatness. So, assuming you have vaulted the problem (or are at least in the process of jumping), do you attempt to measure your success in any other way? Are there any goals (no matter how small/ludicrous) which drive you on?

Ha, I think to say I’m “in the process of jumping” is probably most accurate, if I’m totally honest. I read somewhere recently that when you’re giving advice, you’re really talking to your former self. I’m including that advice for artists list in the artwork for the new record because I sort of consider it a part of the same body of work. Looking back, I think I kind of believed it was too late to achieve a traditional version of music industry “success” before this band even started. The second song I wrote for Beat Radio was “Mexico” which contained the lyric “the dream I had was beautiful, but I let it get away from me.” For a long time though, I secretly believed that there was some mystical equation or weird alchemy that could bring me to that dream of success – touring, quitting my day job, acclaim and recognition, etc. Like, if I could reach a certain level of honesty in myself, and openness, I could magically overcome all the obstacles in my path. Who knows, maybe that’s still true. It’s strange to admit that now though, because it’s in contrast to so many things I believe on a rational level. We all know that you can’t equate commercial success with artistic success, but on some level we all seem to do it anyway. Like, the Bruno Mars song “Uptown Funk” just won the Grammy for record of the year. Do we know anyone who really believes that is the best record of 2015? I know a lot of musicians and we’re all generally conflicted about this stuff in one way or another. And I know so many brilliant musicians who exist almost entirely outside of the dimension of not only the Grammys but also Pitchfork, Stereogum, Noisey, and everything else.

I guess part of the manifesto of this album is to communicate that it’s okay, and it doesn’t mean the songs are any less meaningful, important, and valuable. It’s just a different dimension. In its own way, maybe a creative life outside of that world can be more authentic and valuable because it’s not compromised by the pressure of capitalism. Either way, the creative process is its own reward, and individuality needs to be celebrated. I believe our culture depends on that. Humanity depends on that. So I measure success by the way a record makes me feel when I hear it, and the degree to which I was able to express the idea or emotion that I set out to express. I’m motivated by a desire to make something beautiful, and feel blessed every day that I have the opportunity to create and share things that may inspire others in some small way. I want to build a great body of work and a legacy. I want my sons to know a father who stayed true to a creative vision, and worked at it. I want them to know what that means.

I’ve recently read Quicksand by Steve Toltz, a rather hyperactive novel in which a teacher has written a book to help creative people. There are lots of quotable one-liners, but one really stuck out. “We make art because being alive is a hostage situation in which our abductors are silent and we cannot even intuit their demands”. Do you identify with this? Would you say your creative process exists in such a desperate, awfully alive situation?

That’s a really powerful image. I think that it gets down to the heart of faith – the question of whether or not we can intuit our abductor’s demands. I’d like to believe that we can intuit their demands, and art is one of the ways we are able to do so. And maybe that’s what the author is implying? Or at least, maybe the implication is that we should ask the question? Art doesn’t feel like a stab in the dark for me. It feels like a healing, or a transcendence of the pain of that uncertainty.

You have a job and a family so this question will probably make you laugh, but I’m interested distractions from working creatively and was wondering if you find a particular thing gets in the way of making music? Like, besides general life stuff? I’ve purposefully not signed up to the internet at the library because I’m genuinely 5x more productive without it. David Foster Wallace lived without a TV in his home. Are there any specific things you have to avoid or deny yourself in order to make musical progress?

The internet is a big thing. It’s always there and it’s irresistible. Netflix is a big thing. Being married too – I love spending time with my wife, and it’s very easy to crash on the couch with her at the end of the day. I find that to stay on task the only thing that works for me is to give myself projects, set goals and a timeline for myself, and commit to a schedule. I write it down in my notebook and do my best to commit to it. I used to be much more manic about it, I’ve gotten better at finding the balance. Also – involving collaborators in the process is always helpful for me, because I feel a sense of responsibility to do my part and send them mixes to listen to, review, give feedback on, etc. The keeps momentum and drives a project forward.

Right, I don’t want to get too deep here but there’s something I often wonder and although it’s vague to the point of rhetorical I want to ask you because the album pokes at similar themes. Is the dissatisfaction and emptiness you battle right across Take It Forever a modern thing? Or is it just the by-product of being aware of our own mortality? I mean, do you think our parents/grandparents felt the same way we do?

I think there is something about the sort of dissatisfaction we experience that is unique to our time. I tried to describe that in the title track, with the lines: “Everyone is casting spells, and building myths around themselves. All we want is everything, and all we find is suffering.” It’s funny we have all these great tools to allow us communicate more easily than ever before, but people are probably more self-absorbed in general than ever before. I’m not religious in any dogmatic sense, but I have embraced and incorporated Buddhist philosophy into my life over the last few years, and that has changed my perspective a lot. I’ve become more aware of my own need for validation. I think every artist has that. Most people in general do. Part of that is the human condition but it’s also exaggerated by a modern need for instant gratification, and a feeling of lack. I think about my grandfather, who for the sake of brevity I will describe as a man who basically had the personality of Gene Hackman’s character in The Royal Tenenbaums. I can’t imagine him checking his Instagram to see how many likes his selfie got. I can’t imagine him giving a damn about any of that. I admire that, but then here I am, carefully curating my personal brand. It’s sort of hilarious. I guess the key is to keep a sense of humor about it, and not take anything too seriously. Nothing matters, everything matters. “How strange it is to be anything at all.”

I asked this last time but it was long enough ago to ask again. Could you name 4-5 bands you are enjoying at the moment? Who do you find yourself turning to?

I was really taken with Hop Along’s Painted Shut LP, and also Sufjan’s Carrie and Lowell. I was a little late getting to listen to Joanna Newsom’s Divers, but got that recently and it’s really something to behold. I dig that Nap Eyes record that everyone is talking about also. They remind me of a band my friend and old guitar player/producer Phil Jimenez produced called The Piltones, back in 2002 or so. I’m also co-producing a new record right now for my friend Tim Lannen, formerly of The Diggs, so I’m pretty engrossed in that. It’s turning out to be amazing.

You can buy Take It Forever now via Beat Radio’s Bandcamp page. Read our review here.

The post Interview: Beat Radio, Part II. appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Brian Sendrowitz’s Beat Radio, an act I previously described as “a band formed upon the notion of art as an undying passion” have always challenged that notion in some way, crafting songs which elevate what could be mistaken for small, mundane things to importance. As we wrote in a preview post back in December:

“[Their songs are] living stories boiled down to key scenes, playing out like small movies – packed with love and loss and life, the sorts of things that happen to everyone yet never fail to feel like the most important things in the world”

Beat Radio’s fifth album Take It Forever feels like a culmination of ideas, the product of some long, hard thinking on this topic. The title tracks opens the record with this very much in mind, diving head-on into the oncoming rush of disappointment and frustration and impossible dreams to offer a hand of comfort. “So take it easy,” Sendrowitz urges, “take it forever. I hope this song makes you feel better.” When the song lists NPR and premières and well-paid publicists it’s not some anarcho-punk cheap shot at our consumerist culture, but rather a warning to other artists that such measures of success (and the constant need for validation they bring) will only lead to the liquor cabinet. What’s more, the song isn’t blaming anyone for feeling such a way but rather explaining it, citing our conditioning through the modern fairy-tales of popular culture and self-improvement as the main source of dissatisfaction and hurt.

‘”We take our stories from television
we’re haunted by our own ambition
and no one’s looking out for each other
when everything is a competition

everyone is casting spells
building myths around themselves

and all we want is everything
and all we find is suffering

the point of everything i guess
is “don’t give in to bitterness”’

‘Lost in the World’, which we we lucky enough to première on WTD,  is what we called “an autobiographical song… [which] becomes a call to arms for creative people”. It offers an alternative to the money/fame malaise, a reminder that art can be justified in other ways. ‘Losing Time’ achieves the difficult task of feeling very much of the now without being ham-fisted, weaving modern references into the fabric of the song rather than having them front and centre. “You could open up your heart,” he sings, “to people that you’ve never met. A poet for the modern age, famous on the internet”. The song also opens up the idea of the art-based messages being applicable to life in general, or maybe that art and life are so entwined that they are one and the same. Either way, it wants you to know that disappointment and darkness are temporary, that small joys are abundant and to be celebrated.

“Build it up and watch it all come crashing down
when its over start to build it up again
Even if its not the life you dreamed about
everything you did was worth it in the end

celebrate the things you love
this is where you’re meant to be
try and keep an open heart
dream a little dream of me”

‘Art is a War, There Are Casualties’ attempts to breathe life into the “If I Manage To Reach Just One Person” truism, a wonderful idea that’s been repeated into cliché by false-modesty, and ‘Song for Camden Power’ follows up with a perfect example. As explained in this post over at Impose, the track is written in memory of Beat Radio fan Camden who kept in touch with Sendrowitz over the internet. Sadly, he lost his life too soon in a road traffic accident, and the song is part-elegy, part-celebration of his life, exploring how human connection brings meaning and value to what can otherwise seem a confusing and arbitrary existence. ‘We’ll Be Forgotten’ plays like an explanation for previous strife (“I was just searching for a feeling, something to keep me from unravelling”) and an attempt to come to terms with our relative insignificance, while ‘Dreaming of the West’ details how companionship can relieve the pressure of this in other ways, both in sharing the existential load and helping us forget it entirely:

“We were brightening the corners
we were dreaming of the West
we were moving over mountains
we were fighting loneliness
feeling was our sickness,
feeling nothing was our guilt
I’m a little lost without you
It’s the simple things you miss”

‘Elizabeth’ continues this idea. Part-apology (“I’m a little hard to read, even though I’m easy going”), part-expression of gratitude (“and sometimes I still wonder if I’m still dreaming”), the song is a bona-fide love song, denying emphatically that romance is dead (Sendrowitz met Elizabeth, his wife, in pre-school) and cementing the idea that the philosophies on Take it Forever extend beyond creative circles. ‘I Dreamed The Internet Ended’ barely breaks the one minute mark, before ‘Invisible Cities’ closes the album, a rousing, stripped-back love letter of a song sent from the edge of nothing, a realisation or admittance that we cannot do it alone, one final insistence that human connection makes it all worthwhile.

“I was in the basement of a bar
I was at the end of a subway car
I was falling asleep on a silver cloud
I was wondering where you are now
And I’m out on the edge of the world
Waiting for you
Looking out for your love”

With a large dose of hope and a pervading sense of goodwill, Take It Forever plays like the manifesto of someone who doesn’t know all the answers but finds meaning in asking the questions, the words not of a revolutionary or prophet but an ordinary man striving to make life extraordinary, just as it should be.

Take It Forever was release on Sendrowitz’s own Awkward For Life Records and you can buy it now from the Beat Radio Bandcamp page.

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Brian Sendrowitz of Beat Radio (who we have written about quite a few times) is working to put out more music on his label Awkward for Life Records this year, and this split 7″ with Kid in the Attic is the first to be released.

Kid in the Attic start things off with ‘Roles Reversed,’ a charged song of passion and wistful angst with lead Maia Macdonald’s intimate vocals reminiscent of Stars. Confronting relationships and self in all of their uncertainty, the song ditches the pop romance of True and Eternal Love in favour of something less clear and more true, emotions that are susceptible to the erosion of time. “This is how change begins” sings Macdonald, “little light little crack in the door gets in”.

Beat Radio’s offering sees Sendrowitz combine rock principles with electronics to create a track that sits somewhere between indie pop/rock and Architecture in Helsinki. Unlike many of his peers, for whom the use of synths is a self-indulgent flourish, Sendrowitz builds the track on his electronics, dropping the guitar and drums to a supporting role. As ever with Beat Radio, the lyrics are impassioned and somehow nostalgic, as if written from some time beyond the event where every circumstance, both good and bad, takes on an endearing glow.

The record is out on the 10th March and you can put your order in via the Awkward for Life Bandcamp page.

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The new album shows some definite changes from past Beat Radio releases. Yes, the music is still gloriously fuzzy and the words thoughtful and heartfelt, but the lyrics appear to deal with a different set of themes, as if Sendrowitz has changed his focus from a rose-tinted past and decided to confront the present. The explanation of the album on the Bandcamp page pretty much confirms this, with him detailing the circumstances under which he wrote the record and sounding very much part of ‘real’ life (with all the tedious and painful worries it brings), saying that the writing process was his way of dealing with the problems he faced.

Hard Times, Go! is doubly refreshing, firstly because it deals with a different aspect of relationships than the usual first love/loss of pop songs, and secondly in that it demonstrates that attentive and poetic lyrics can work in what is essentially catchy indie rock. Beat Radio show that pop music and literate lyrics aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

I think Sendrowitz’s achievement (and it is a large one) is successfully managing to transfer the feeling from his earlier nostalgic releases into a new record which deals with very adult issues. It is easy to write and sing about a sunny past and sound in love with so-called better times, but here he manages to still come across as warm and sincere when dealing with less romantic topics. The album is full of realistic but hopeful (and thus hugely endearing) songs about life. It is a personal record, a brave record that truly wants to let the hard times go. It is a triumph.

Hard Times, Go! is available on Bandcamp in a digital or vinyl, with a variety of nice merch items to get too (totes, tees, beer koozies etc.). Also be sure to check out the Hurricanes EP, a collection of B-sides and covers.

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Part 2 has been released today and the first few play throughs suggest that while this isn’t a bouncy, jangly summer record it is certainly more upbeat and again captures the time of the year. ‘East Coast’ and ‘Never Let You Down’ highlight this with optimistic lyrics and a pleasant sound reminiscent of a summer evening. The EP is capped off superbly with a cover of The Weakerthans’ ‘Left and Leaving’ (a personal favourite). Expect to see this on our next cover mix!

Both EPs (as with the majority of his work) are available for free on Bandcamp. As kind as a free release is, I’m sure a donation of any size would be warmly appreciated. Brian is a prolific artist who more than deserves a few dollars/pounds so try and give what you can. Plans are in place to release a full LP of Hard Times Go so keep an eye out for that.

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