What can I say except for I’ve really been sleeping on J. Cole. Not that I wasn’t aware of him, and his music. I definitely enjoyed the songs of his that made their way to mainstream hip-hop radio here in LA, but I had never stopped to really examine the artist, and who he was beyond the “pop-single” surface…
Well then there was yesterday, and after hearing yet another J.Cole “pop-single” on the radio, and thinking ,”there is something more to this dude, I feel like all his lyrics are kind of conscious…”, I started his new album KOD on Spotify from the beginning, and discovered my new current favorite rapper.
KOD the album was released this past 4/20/18, and in my opinion is up there with some of the rap/hip-hop greats; Doggystyle, The Chronic, E. 1999 Eternal, Enter The 36 Chambers, Etc., instantly for me.
Below is a sample of KOD, not the “pop-single” you may hear on the radio at the moment, a very conscious tune by the name of “Brackets”…
I was recently lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Southampton trio, Maths and the Moon‘s brand new sophomore effort Familiar Strange. The albums lead single ‘Futurist’ grabbed my attention right away with its neo-grunge heavy guitar tones, space-driven syncopated drumming, and striking vocal delivery. After listening, I just had to know more about the band so I reached out and asked the guys a handful of questions the album left burning in my mind. Below is our conversation as well as links to stream and purchase Familiar Strange via the bands official Bandcamp page.
What role does inspiring humanity’s conscious evolution play for you as a band with regards to your lyrical content, if any?
Without wanting to sound like a hippy, it’s a nice ideal that to look outwards properly, you need to look inwards first. A lot of our lyrics are introspective and deal with people’s emotions, states of mind, your connection to the world and yourself. If you were to get something from that to move forwards then, great. Writing can be cathartic and confrontational, so I guess that’s a good thing to help make sense of yourself or a situation.
Who would you say Maths and the Moon take their inspiration from musically; top 5 artists and why?
1. Can – They are a massive influence. They have such a great mix of grooves and space in their music. You can listen to a lot of it in the same way you can with some dance music – in that it has repetitions and drones – it really takes you to the same place. Way ahead of their time and completely out-there.
2. Bowie – the great man needs no explanation whatsoever.
3. Nirvana – We were impressionable kids at the right time, in 1991 and their influence is unquestionable. They are the reason we picked up instruments, much like everybody else the same age as us.
4. Deerhunter – These guys have been our modern day favourite band for years now. Their ability to mix great song writing with noise, ambience, punk, pop and psychedelia has been something we really aspire to. We love them.
5. Primal Scream – We have always been super fans of the Scream and they’ve sound tracked our lives ever since we were teenagers so we’d have to say them. The best thing about the Scream is whatever version of them you got, you were introduced to their record collection, which made you delve even further. If it wasn’t for them, we might’ve not been such fans of Neu!, The Orb, Can, Stooges, the Velvets, Suicide etc. Hugely influential on us as a band.
What has been your most unbelievable occurrence that you have collectively experienced as a band, touring or otherwise?
We had a lot of fun along with a lot of problems each time we’ve been out to play in Germany which definitely sticks out as a great experience. Broken trailer lights fixed with new bicycle lights stuck to the back once, breaking down with a ceased engine as we got on the ferry in Dover which left us stranded in France for two days another time, that kind of thing. All whilst having the best time as a band and playing shows in completely new places. By the time we got to Hamburg, we had strangers/fans shouting for us to play certain songs that we hadn’t yet played which really felt like an achievement. Playing a UK festival dressed as Patrick Moore and some aliens was also quite a highlight gig wise once too.
As a band, what would be your collective view of the Fermi paradox?
We were extremely close to solving the Fermi Paradox back in December, but unfortunately our assistant (as seen in this video here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ame4341QdHE ) left Planet Earth before we could get the final pieces of the jigsaw.
What are the next big things on the horizon for the group; any big dates lined up?
We have just released our new record ‘Familiar Strange’ and are looking forward to playing many more shows to promote its release – watch this space.
Where should people go to buy your music and support what you are doing as a band?
Our bandcamp page www.mathsandthemoon.bandcamp.com is the best place to find and support us – we sell digital and physical copies of our records there along with t-shirts. Both our albums ‘Night Train Daydream’ and ‘Familiar Strange’ are also available on all the other major digital sites. We also have active facebook and twitter pages too – check us out there and keep up to date.
What role does inspiring humanity’s conscious evolution play for you as a band with regards to your lyrical content, if any?