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New Music Mix: Diamond Rings Interview and Check Out Britney Spears' "Big Fat Bass"

INTERVIEW

I recently sat down with Canadian rocker John O., an

interesting guy who only came out two years ago at the embarkment of a new

persona. You might know him as Diamond Rings, an androgynous character who wears rainbow themed make-up

all-the-while making some of the coolest Depeche

Mode quality alt-rock on the scene right now. And with a baritone voice as deep

as The National’s Matt Berninger.

In his latest video for

“It’s

Not My Party” John is seen walking down the street in a dress singing in

one of the deepest voices that would put your granddad to shame. I’m digging

his whole package and I loved talking with him.

Going into my meeting with John, I found out he’s quite

tall, towering over me at 6’4. He’s incredibly intelligent and has these

striking blue eyes that I would have never noticed if we had not made our way

out of our dark little nook in his hotel lobby bar and into the light of the

hallway as our meeting ended. As we discussed the exciting announcement that

his debut album Special Affections is

being re-released in the U.S. because it’s just that good, John came across

humble, appreciative and very level-headed - a normal kid with an incredible gift for making original, quirky, slightly dark, pop songs.

AE: So you’re re-releasing your album Special Affections with Astralwerks, and I’ve looked at the roster

of artists you’re now teamed up with (Kylie Minogue, David Guetta, The B-52s),

it’s a pretty impressive list. I know that one of your heroes is Brian Eno, and

now you’re on the same label as him, were you excited?

DR: Yeah that definitely played a part in me being interested in working

with them for sure. The history of the artists that have been on the label.

Yeah it’s awesome, it gives me something to work towards for sure. What I think

I like most is that they’re all career artists and musicians who have been

doing it a long time and have worked really hard to get where they’re at. It’s

inspiring more than anything.

AE: So what’s

different now that Astralwerks has come into your life?

DR: It’s certainly motivated me more, not that I wasn’t motivated before.

Having a bigger team behind me supporting what I do is inspiring. It sort of

validates the efforts that I’ve made so far. And they’re all professional and

everyone really wants to do the best they can, sometimes that makes things more

complicated, but ultimately I think it’s for the best.

AE: So are there

going to be any new songs on the new release?

DR: We generally kept most of it the same. We’ve talked about revamping the

artwork but ultimately I really wanted the album to be able to stand on it’s

own for what it was. It’s very much a collaborative effort between me and some of

my friends on the packaging, like the cover photo, we made a lot of it in Garage Band. It’s very raw and if anything, I want to be able to inspire other

people who are just getting into making music - to just show them that you don’t

necessarily need a Kylie Minogue budget right away to get people to be excited

about what you’re doing as an artist. I thought that to change a lot would kind

of diminish actually what was already there as a record. I’m trying to keep it

very much so in it’s original context

AE: And they’re okay

with that?

DR: Yeah which is awesome too. That’s not to say that I’m “lo-fi or die” or

that that’s the sound that I always want to be known for, but for this

particular album to have it carry through from bedroom to a major label would

be kind of special.

AE: Special Affections was made in your

bedroom?

DR: Yeah totally, it’s possible right now with electronic music, it’s

really liberating that you don’t need a lot of space to record or rehearse or

do anything really. I live downtown and space is at a premium. It’s also nice

to get your ideas out and record them right away.

AE: I read where the

Gorillaz just released their new album made entirely on their iPad.

DR: Yeah, it’s crazy, I think it’s cool, too, why not if the technology is

there? Because that’s the way a lot of people are listening to music these days

– digitally. There is a sense of wanting to reflect the way the music is

changing and the way that we’re making it.

AE: Are you now

working towards a future project?

DR: Yeah I’m always working on new stuff. I’ve been doing remixes for the

past month, I’ve been doing a new one every week for other bands which has been

really exciting. It allows me to stay busy and keep working without necessarily

having to go so far into my own psyche and thoughts. To write an album

lyrically can be really taxing and not always the quickest process. It’s fun

during those times when I’m not feeling incredibly inspired to keep showing up

and doing something.

AE: Yeah and you’re

continuing to put your sound out into the world, artists like Calvin Harris and

Passion Pit have done the same. So what is your creative process?

DR: On the last album I wrote a lot of the songs on acoustic guitar and

piano. It wasn’t until after I had probably a good chunk of the album written

that I wanted it to sound differently and be electronic sounding, more popular,

and more fun to do it that way. Most of the music that I listen to has a beat.

It’s ultimately really nice that a tune can stand up as a great song. It’s

really easy the way technology is progressing to throw a lot of cool sound

effects and production techniques at something that isn’t necessarily the best

song to kind of trick people into thinking that it is. That’s not what I want

to do. It’s more important to me to write the words and make the chord

progressions and find something that really sounds nice and then worry about

dressing it up. So that’s kind of how I work.

AE: How would you

describe your fanbase?

DR: It’s really diverse. Short of bugging your own friends to come out and see

you, after that it’s out of my hands by and large who comes to my show. I can

only make the music I want to make, and present the image that I feel

represents me and hope that the right people get it. Not that there’s wrong

people. People who come to my shows are all over the place. Kids in high

school, 20 something downtown folks like me, people my parents’ age, which is

really cool. It’s all over the place. I‘m trying to reach as many people as I

can. I want to try and make the music and put on the kind of show that allows

anyone to feel like they can come and express themselves and be themselves and

be safe and have fun. I would be really worried if I had a demographic niche

and everyone were the same that comes to my show.

AE: So you just came

off a tour with Robyn, and she has an enormous amount of gay fans. Every time

I’ve been to a Robyn concert it’s like going to a gay bar. What is it like for

you to now have an entire audience of gay people introduced to your music?

DR: It’s great. A lot of the artists that I’ve grown up admiring and being

inspired by I think appeal to queer fanbases whether it’s Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue or Robyn.

AE: Do you have a

favorite Robyn song?

DR: “Hang With Me”

AE: Do you have a

favorite song of your own?

DR: I think the very first song I wrote as Diamond Rings -“All Yr Songs.”

It’s a little ditty and not really the direction I’m heading with my music

right now, it’s a little cute, but that was really what got the ball rolling

for me. To me it’s the beginning of this whole now way of conceiving myself and

my role as an artist.

AE: Tell me about

this persona you’ve created as Diamond Rings

DR: I think this is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time - ever since

I was in art school learning about music. I grew up in the suburbs and I don’t

have brothers or sisters so I didn’t have anyone bringing home cool cassette

tapes or records or going to shows so I really had to figure out everything on

my own. In my late teens I started buying records byThe

Smithsand TheHuman League

and kind of getting into synthy bands that presented a kind of androgynous, dangerous image. I wanted to see myself as an artist that was part of that

tradition but I wanted to do that in a way that was unique to me. I didn’t

really want to copy anything outright. It took a while to figure out what that

was going to look like, finding a way to do it that would feel right. I found

that when I started doing the shows, putting on makeup, being on stage, that it

was really exciting, and I wanted to do it all the time. Not all the time, all

the time, it’s a lot of work.

AE: Yeah right now

you’re not in make up.

DR: Yeah totally. I’ve done interviews before with people at 9 in the

morning and they said ‘oh I thought you’d have make-up on’ and I’m like ‘do you

know what time it is? What the hell? This shit takes time.’

AE: Well so you’ve

listed a lot of your influences. What are you currently listening to though?

DR: I just got the new Cut Copy

Album. I like Robyn. The newest Kylie Minogue album is really bad-ass.

There’s this electronic rock duo from Montreal called Handsome Furs that have a new album out that’s really wicked. My

friend Katie is in a band called Austra

and she sings back up on “Give It Up” on my record. My musical taste is pretty

all over the place. I likeSalt

n Pepa and Public Enemy.

AE: Yeah I noticed

that you rapped on your song “Show Me Your Stuff,” will you be doing more of

that in future works?

DR: I want to, whenever I perform live and I rap people go crazy. I definitely

think it would be fun to have more of that on the next album, not in the sense

that I’m a full on rapper, because I can’t do that. It’s a fun way to write but

it’s really hard and because there’s so many words there’s a bit less pressure to

be poetic.

AE: What are your

thoughts on other out male musicians right now?

DR: I guess in a way there aren’t many. For sure Adam Lambert, but his path is a lot different than mine, such a

different route doing the television shows, that I don’t really think of it as

being the same, maybe the end goal is. There are a lot of women right now that

I think are pushing a lot of boundaries in popular music, likeLady Gagaand even some of the

stuff that Katy Perry is doing, to me, is way more nuanced and interesting than what was going on in the nineties, but

there aren’t really that many men that are doing that in the same way, and most

of the artists that I look up to other than David Bowie or Prince,

are women, so if anything I would like to be able to provide a counterpoint to

that for whatever that’s worth. I ultimately identify with good music

regardless of the sex or orientation, but for sure if I can just show someone

who is 16, 17 and doesn’t know what’s going on in their life that things can

get better and that it’s okay to be yourself, then that’s great and that’s all I could

really hope to do.

AE: When did you come

out?

DR: I’d say pretty much this project [as Diamond Rings] essentially has kind of been in lock

step with me accepting and presenting myself as queer to a lot of people. I’m

really close to my parents and have never had to deal with a lack of family

support in my life which I’m really thankful for, I think it makes it a lot

easier knowing that the people who made my life possible by birthing me are

supportive of what I’m doing. That helps a lot. And it also helps that people

have responded so positively from the get-go to what I’ve been doing that it has really inspired me to keep going. For anyone out there: if you’re not afraid

to be who you are, whatever that is-- and I don’t think for everybody that means

playing music and wearing eye shadow-- and if you project what you are inside

outwards, then you’re going to find the right people.

Check out Diamond Rings Fall Tour Dates:

Tour Dates:

09/04 Making Time Warehouse

Project, Philadelphia, PA

09/06 Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ

09/07 Rock and Roll Hotel,

Washington, DC

09/08 Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

09/10 The Earl, Atlanta, GA

09/12 The Bottletree,

Birmingham, AL

09/13 Spanish Moon, Baton

Rouge, LA

09/15 Fitzgeralds, Houston, TX

09/18 Lowbrow Palace, El Paso,

TX

09/20 Casbah, San Diego, CA

09/21 Troubadour, Los Angeles,

CA

09/24 Henry Miller Memorial

Library, Big Sur, CA

09/25 Great American Music

Hall, San Francisco, CA

09/26 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland,

OR

09/27 Crocodile Café, Seattle,

WA

10/01 7th Street Entry,

Minneapolis, MN

10/03 The Mod Club, Toronto, ON

10/06 Paradise, Boston, MA

10/07 Webster Hall, New York, NY

ALBUMS

Beyonce’s hotly anticipated

fourth solo album aptly titled 4

dropped recently and having had the chance to listen through it a few times

now, I’m not as pleased as I had hoped. The album starts off with the track

“1+1,” a beautiful ballad with a resemblance to a Maxwell song in which B pours her heart out into every note. It’s a

very old school throwback, and I love it. The standout track on the album in my

opinion is “End of Time” it’s got heavy bass, drums, horns, - the works. Andre 3000 guests on “Party” and shows

his classic Outkast greatness.

As a whole, the album is a lot

slower than I Am… Sasha Fierce,

especially on the tracks “I Miss You.” And I kind of hate “Rather Die Young”

and “Start Over.” Beyonce has taken a very bluesy and soulful direction with

this album and unfortunately I didn’t hear many (if any) standout tracks on

it.

But move over Beyonce, on the same day that 4 was released Wynter Gordon dropped her debut EP With The Music I Die filled with 4 fun new tracks just in time for

summer. Lead single “Til Death” is infectious and fun, while “Buy My Love” and

Don’t Stop Me” sound current and are perfect pop melodies. Of the bunch though

I think I like “Still Getting Younger” the best.

Catch a peek of Gordon’s

performance at this year’s Pier Dance during NYC’s Pride

SINGLES

My five jams this week are:

London based pop/rock duo Graffit6 consist of singer/songwriter

Jamie Scott & producer TommyD. The duo are gearing up for their debut album

Coloursout later this year. Take a

listen to the latest single “Stone In My Heart”

A standout track off Wynter Gordon’s earlier, not quite

heavily marketed EP The First Dance is

the hit "Renegade" which in my opinion is as good as Rihanna’s “S&M.” Check it out!

On tour with Britney Spears right now are Australian

twins Liv and Mim Nervo aka NERVO.

The girls are the songwriters behind David

Guetta’sMega-hit “When Love Takes Over” and are gearing up for their debut

EP out later this year. Get a taste of their works here.

Speaking of Britney Spears, I had the chance to catch the artist on tour for her

Femme Fatale tour over the weekend in Chicago and this track was definitely one

of the highlights of her performance. Check it out: Britney Spears – "Big Fat Bass"

By now I imagine everyone and

their mom has heard the latest LMFAO

song out at the clubs or on radio, but I never saw the guys behind “Shots” and

“I’m In Miami Bitch” creating quite the catchy hit. To date this is my favorite

summer song.

VIDEOS

Estonian club sensation Kerli

performed her Billboard Dance Chart-topping single “Army of Love” on the main

stage of San Francisco’s Pride this summer, catch footage of that here and the

Official Video below.

Skylar Gray will

be performing this summer at Lollapalooza and she just recently released her

first single “Dance Without You” off her debut album Invisible. To be honest I’m a bit disappointed. I’ve loved her

collaborations with Eminem and Dr. Dre on “I Need a Doctor” and Dirty Money on “Coming Home” but I

can’t get into the sound of her first solo effort. What are your thoughts on this?

Lady Gaga’s fellow

Interscope labelmate Natalia

Kills releases the video for her latest single “Free” featuring Will.i.am. Now this I can dig.

Joe Jonas of

Jonas Brother fame is the latest Jonas to set out on his own and is taking the

pop direction… could he be the next Justin

Timberlake? You decide.

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