Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Living Things Release New Free Mixtape, 'Malocchio'

St. Louis four-piece band Living Things today released their brand new mixtape, Malocchio, for free on their website, livingthingsband.com Malocchio is a 9-song mixtape by Living Things influenced by the sounds of afrobeat and psychedelic era Nigerian dub.  The mixtape was recorded during a 7-day recording session from Jan 4-11 2011, produced by Lillian Berlin with co-producer/engineer Bill Skibbe (Fiery Furnaces, The Dead Weather, The Kills). The sessions took place in Los Angeles at the band's studio, Berlin Family Basement, which is situated in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood, and in Kingston, Jamaica at Militia Sound. Malocchio is the first of two mixtapes by the band (Malocchio,Ayin Ha'ra )each to be released in spring and summer 2011. The series will end with a release of Living Things' still untitled third full-length album out this fall. Track listing for Malocchio is below. 

The band went on a very inspiring and eventful trip to Jamaica, where they recorded 33 songs in six days. While getting very little sleep on their trip, they would take breaks to listen to Miles Davis'Bitches Brew, Parliaments' Maggot Brain, Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, Bruce Sprignsteen'sNebraska, Tupac Shakur's entire catalog and Odd Future. The band set up a makeshift studio in three hotel rooms in the city of Kingston, and the sessions yielded new material for the band to play. These sessions yielded material for the band's new mixtapes and forthcoming album.

Starting on Monday, March 7, St. Louis band Living Things will begin a four-week residency at Los Angeles' Satellite theatre (formerly Spaceland) for the entirety of March. The band will play every Monday night at the Satellite in Silverlake, CA.

Living Things consists of three brothers, Lillian, Yves and Joshua " Bosh" Berlin, along with childhood friend Cory Becker. They have been playing together in a band since grade school. As young kids, the Berlin brothers piled into their father's Chevy wagon and traveled up and down the Midwest performing politically driven punk songs inspired by their mother's long rants about feminism, the abuse of authority, and Jerry Springer culture. Rolling Stone noted that "Living Things are a band of fighters determined to make us all feel like winners," while Spin Magazine hailed "the strength of Living Things is not the defiant antiestablishment fist pumping (though there is plenty) but the tunes!" Similarly, USA today rained praise upon the band's "contagious defiance and swaggering garage-rock might."

Most bands play their first gig in a bar, a friend's living room, or some other traditional location, but not Living Things. The brothers performed their first gig as a trio in a cave along the Meramac River. "There are a lot of caves all over St. Louis," says Yves. "We'd go down to the caves after rehearsing, hold parties, barbecue, and bands would play. Two to three hundred people would fit into the caves, and the music would go on until either the power generators blew, the cops came or the sun came up. Then we'd all go skinny-dipping in the Missouri River blasting Nirvana and Tupac out car radios."

Living Things will also be playing at SXSW this year. The band will be playing at the Rusty Spur at 10 pm on March 19th.

 

Malocchio Track Listing

1.Pollen Path
2. Post Mortem Bliss
3. Gang Banksters
4. Terror Visions
5.  Unemployment Line
6. Honest Abe
7. The Stupor

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