Band: Takka Takka
From: Brooklyn, NY
Sound: laid back layers of guitars upon percussion upon vocals upon percussion that ranges from bar band rock to tribal and new wave influences to folk and then back again
Similar Artists: Orange Juice, Talking Heads, The National, Peter Gabriel, Yeasayer
Listen Now: “Silence”

The first time I saw a Takka Takka show was a real treat. Not only did the band deliver a performance that coupled the sound of Orange Juice (the band, not the beverage) with the hazy swagger of Lou Reed, but they were also really nice guys. Which might sound like the music writer’s equivalent to “oh she’s got a great personality” but it’s not. Not always. I swear. Anyway, after the show they handed me an EP which I immediately placed in a safe place to save for when Takka Takka hit the big time. It was just a CD-R, I believe, but it came in its own handmade felt sleeve that made it seem pretty extra-special. Plus, they’d nestled into a very comfortable place sonically and I knew it was only a matter of when, not if, Takka Takka would find much larger audiences across the US.

Over the two years that have passed since that first show, Takka Takka showed noticeable signs of maturing as they started writing the songs that would follow the material from their debut LP, We Feel Safer At Night. They changed their bassist and added two new guitarists as fresh songs started making appearances here or there at various concerts. I noticed more punch, a more guitar-driven approach, and a subtle shift in song structure. However, as they were developing this material that would eventually become their second LP, Migration (out tomorrow, 7/29, on Ernest Jenning), I somehow missed the true metamorphosis that Takka Takka had been going through to arrive at this new sound. The moves they’d made, the shifts, the changes, subtle evolutions - both prior to the record and presently - none of it really clicked until I was given an advance copy of the album and had a chance to listen over and over again on headphones. That’s when the world of Takka Takka truly revealed itself to me and I realized that they were about to release one of the best records I’d heard so far in 2008.

This record of theirs, Migration, owes a debt to the greater world of World Music in much the same way as recent offerings from Vampire Weekend or Yeasayer do; but Takka Takka hasn’t outright focused on one singular source of inspiration in the way that (say) Paul Simon did on Graceland or The Rhythm of the Saints. Where Simon, and/or Peter Gabriel and Vampire Weekend, borrowed heavily and directly from sounds and textures of a certain music of one set of people, the songs on Migration combine a variety of cultures and influences in a manner that seems to be more about reflecting the various cultures on our ever-shrinking planet. It’s as if the album isn’t a final destination, but rather a stop along the way as the band continues its journey towards the next version of itself. In this sense, the titling of the album is obvious: at one moment they’re dipping their feet into the watery sounds of Africa, at another they’ve traveled due east and arrived at Qawwali vocal sounds and Asian textures. Migration. Don’t be frightened, Migration is still very much rooted in an overall Western sound and a definitively rock and roll percussive approach that delivers on multiple levels. It’s pleasant enough to exist as background music in mixed company (and thus, should appeal to everyone from longtime fans of the band to even -gasp- your parents), but is also an adventure of an album that keeps on giving when you ask it to.

EAR FARM was fortunate to catch up with all five members of Takka Takka (Gabe Levine, Rene Planchon, Grady Jurrens, Conrad Doucette, and Drew Thurlow) for an interview before one of their recent shows during their July residency at Pianos. We started the interview checking out brand new Takka Takka merch at Pianos before migrating elsewhere…

EF: I was originally hoping to do something gimmicky here like have you guys over to my place to try some blind beverage taste tests or something. A game: can you tell the Coke Zero from regular Coke. Or maybe a wine tasting? Something interesting or daring…

Drew: Well the other idea we had for doing an interview like this was a bar hop around Manhattan in chain restaurants.

Gabe: It was Conrad’s Midtown Barhop…

Conrad: Like the Olive Garden bar, Applebee’s, T.G.I. Friday’s…

EF: The bar at Red Lobster? I’d actually love to do that kind of thing sometime. The bars at those places, honestly, really appeal to me. But for now our booth at Local 138 will have to do. So, Takka Takka has come a long way since I first met you guys…

Gabe: Yeah, we’re actually not that far off. We’re a couple of feet from where you first met us…

Drew: Where’d you guys first meet?

Gabe: At the Delancey.

Conrad: Beg Your Pardon #2.

EF: That’s right, exactly.

Drew: We have moved four blocks northwest.

EF: But really, you’ve gone through EPs and a debut album, lineup changes, you’ve been on some tours… what do you guys think of when you think about where Takka Takka is now compared to when you started?

Gabe: We constantly look at each other and say, “look at where rock brought us.” We played a show recently at BB King’s, and it was a little bit of a ridiculous show. I mean it was fun, it was this charity show, but every once in a while rock will bring us to Chicago or something and we’ll be drinking a beer and having a Chicago hot dog and it’s just really nice. Nice to get out of the house. Nice to get out of town and play music and do the thing you want to do.

EF: And what have been some highlights, or favorite shows, for you guys?

Gabe: We just recently played the Black Cat and it might’ve been the best Takka experience EVER. It was a packed crowd, two great bands - we played with Oxford Collapse and Frightened Rabbit and they were just awesome. I feel like they were at the top of their game… whatever game it is that they’re doing right now… and it just felt great.

Grady: The crowd in DC was super attentive. They were just, eyes on us the whole time. No conversations just watching and listening. It was really a great experience.

Drew: Yeah, they show up early and they show up ready to hear music. We got a great SPIN review out of it.

Gabe: Another good show was that Pianos show we did, the Brooklyn Vegan show, that was a really good time. Every once in a while we hit… well I feel like I’m an erratic personality in general, but I’m trying to slowly find a consistent lane to be in live. You want to be overcome by some sort of spirit when you’re playing, you want it to be that kind of experience. Not in a contrived way, but in a genuine way. And I feel like there are some nights when all the stars are just like perfectly aligned and it really just happens well.

EF: I think that’s one way I’d consider describing your new record Migration… it sounds as though “all the stars were just like perfectly aligned” - the percussion throughout, the Johnny Marr-esque tremolo on the guitar/synth whatever it is at the beginning of “Silence” - did you guys go into the studio thinking “we’re going for a different Takka Takka here”? Did you have an idea of the sound you were aiming for?

Gabe: The first thing we wanted was to challenge ourselves, and each one of these songs has had a lot of different lives. Like, last time we were at the Black Cat, “Silence” had this long percussion jam. Was that in ” Silence”?

Drew: Yeah.

Gabe: It had like this five minute percussion jam where we’d stopped playing our instruments and were jamming on percussion for a while. And it was definitely a conscious effort for us to try and not sound like we did before, to push ourselves into new sonic spaces. There were sonic guideposts… like, I love Brian Eno. In terms of what we wanted the recording to sound like, there were definite sonic guideposts that we talked about with Sean, the producer. But in terms of the songwriting, we didn’t go in there thinking “we’re going to write a lullaby song” or whatever. And, just for the record that is a guitar there at the beginning of “Silence”. That’s Rene’s guitar at the beginning.

above: Rene Planchon (left), Grady Jurrens (middle), Gabe Levine (right)

EF: Tell me a bit more about your producer, Sean Greenhalgh. Because, one of the things that stands out to me, and in a great way, is that the production work on the record is really strong. How’d you guys decide who to go with as a producer?

Gabe: Well it’s the first time he’s done that really. I mean, Sean is the drummer for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and he’s one of the original friends of the band… you know, he was the one who suggested us for that tour, and then when we were on tour he was like our guitar tech and he’s been such a good friend of ours and when we started out we were originally going to produce the record ourselves but then we thought it would be good to have an outside opinion, an outside ear. And our recording budget was not like a million dollars so we’re not going to get Brian Eno to come in and produce the record, right? So if it’s not Brian Eno or Daniel Lanois, who’s it going to be? We wanted someone who we felt comfortable with, who we could spend a lot of time with, whose opinion we respected, whose ear we respected… so we just sat down with Sean and were like “what do you think of becoming our producer?” And he was like “I don’t want to fuck it up!” He said he didn’t want to fuck our next record up, but he fucked it up in a good way.

EF: Now I know there are a few other guest musicians on the record but I don’t have official liner notes yet. Who else fucks up the record in a good way?

Gabe: The person that played the most on the record, who’s not in the band, is Bryan Devendorf from The National. Conrad and Bryan are really good friends and then Sean and Bryan are really good friends. He’s just a friend of the band.

Conrad: Bryan just likes playing music. He’s a total music nerd and he’d come to shows - he actually played a few shows with us as a secondary percussionist - and he’s just a good friend who likes doing that sort of thing. So he was very excited and kept wanting to hear what we were doing and it became “hey, do you want to play something?” and he was very eager to do it. He came into the studio a few times and went into the rehearsal space with Gabe and Sean…

Gabe: Yeah, it’s crazy. He would come with a lot of ideas for stuff. He’s just that kind of guy… he’s kind of more of a percussive songwriter. He doesn’t just lay down a backbeat, but instead he understands the dimensions of a song.

Conrad: And it was fun because Sean is a drummer too and also Charles our engineer is a drummer… we had like four, five drummers.

Gabe: We had like five drummers going into it; and because of that, primarily as a function of that, we were thinking of this in terms of a rhythmic record. And it kind of made sense that way as I was writing.

EF: And, now that this record is just about to be released, are you already on to writing songs for the next one?

Gabe: Yeah. I’m listening to a lot of classical music, writing some songs for the next record. Doing a lot of writing and recording… I’ve just been, kind of, done with this set of songs. So I’m kind of moving into the next sonic space, whatever that is. Which, there’ll be a lot of classical music in there… been writing a lot with violins and piano sounds, that whole palate. But short term we’ll be doing a lot of mini-tours to get this record out there.

EF: Right. You’re just getting ready to head out on a mini-tour of the Midwest that’ll be finished right when this interview is published… any special plans for your trip? Any shows you’re really looking forward to?

Gabe: Schubas in Chicago is going to be nice.

Drew: Yeah, we’re playing there on a Friday, it’s going to be awesome.

Grady: We’re going to see Batman together, and hopefully see the Cubs too, right? And then, of course the shows are going to be awesome…

Drew: And the Daytrotter Session on Thursday, which we’re really excited for. It’s going to be a treat. It’s going to be a real treat.

(long collective pause)

Gabe: You guys are in for a real treat over there in the Midwest.

(the entire band erupts in laughter, then another pause)

Conrad: That’s an internal band thing. The phrase ‘a treat’ gives us all the heebie-jeebies.

Gabe: It’s a real treat.

Drew: …an unexpected treat.

Conrad: I was telling them when I saw Grizzly Bear in Cincinnati in April and Ed was tuning, and it was taking a long time so he was talking, and he said “so…… I saw Andrew Bird’s sound check…. and I think… we are all… in… for a real… treat” and I just suddenly thought “I really hate the phrase ‘a real treat’”. That’s when I realized it.

Drew: You thought, “oh I have to get home and tell my bandmates about this!”

Grady: That was an abbreviated version too. Usually there are much longer pauses than that.

Conrad: Because it’s audio only! If it were video I would’ve engaged the camera…

EF: Well, I can go back and add ellipses, don’t worry… So, I have one more thing for you. I’ve printed something here and I’d like to show it to each of you and get a one word to one sentence reaction… (I present them with a printed copy of the painting you see below)

above: Takka Takka by Roy Lichtenstein, 1962 (found HERE)

Gabe: My band! The band… this is the original…

Drew: When I see that my first thought is always how to pronounce his last name… Is it Lishen-STEEN or Lishen-STINE? Lick-ten-STEEN? Lick-ten-STINE.

Rene: I’m just going to say The Simpsons.

Drew: That would be his answer for anything you held up.

Grady: Makes me think ‘early Takka’.

Conrad: Makes me think of July 2005 and when I joined the band and when we practiced without playing a show for nine months.

EF: Alright, well that Lichtenstein surprise is the last of what I have for you guys. Thanks for taking a few minutes to do this interview for EAR FARM…

Gabe: Wait. Now do we get a chance to rebut? I’d like to rebut everything Drew said. Have it stricken from the record.

(laughter)

Rene: Yeah the original members of Takka can strike anything from the record.

Drew: They have veto power over our thoughts, our statements… “you’re not wearing that, go home and change!”

Gabe: That’s never happened. Look, I’m wearing shorts!

Grady: Tonight might be the first time…

Gabe: Yeah, I’ve never played a show in shorts before. It’s going to be liberating. Just like a nudist camp.

EF: Is that the name of the next record, Nudist Camp?

Gabe: Yep. Takka Takka, Nudist Camp.

Conrad: Haven’t you heard Nudist Camp yet?

Gabe: They bare their souls AND their behinds.

Drew: Yeah, you are in for a real treat!

Listen:
“Silence”
“Everybody Say”

See Takka Takka Live:
29 July - New York, NY @ Pianos
07 Sep - Cambridge, MA @ TT the Bear’s Place
10 Sep - Washington, DC @ DC9
12 Sep - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506

Visit Takka Takka on MySpace.
–
See the list of bands recently featured as EAR FARM’s Band of the Week HERE.

*above slideshow created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR