Interview :: Red Wire Black Wire [5.28.10]

Red Wire Black Wire hit our radar last summer and haven't left since. From the same synth-finishing school, Wesleyan, as MGMT, Boy Crisis and Amazing Baby, Red Wire Black Wire traded some emails with us about insecurity, 1990s action flicks and their commitment to honesty, even in moments of amorality. You can enter to win a copy of the band's debut LP by sending us an email until 5pm today with "RWBW" in the subject.

32feet: Top five Desert Island Records?

5. The Cure – Disintegration
4. Sparklehorse – It’s A Wonderful Life
3. Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
2. Modest Mouse – The Moon And Antartica
1. The National – Boxer

For people who don't know your music, how would you describe it in two sentences or less?

Lots of synths, guitars, up-front vocals, and other random shit layered over syncopated drum grooves and hard bass lines. Some of it is really poppy, other songs are slower, darker, and weirder.

Do you have a threshold for Wesleyan references in write-ups or interviews, where at some point you're going to flip out and scream, "We are not MGMT, okay!"? If this helps get us all closer to that moment, glad to help.

I really like Wesleyan and I really like MGMT, so it doesn’t bother me. Both of those things probably had an impact on the music we’re making. I assume 4 years of life experience and really famous contemporary bands impact most musicians making pop music. I do think we differ from a lot of the Wesleyan bands and specifically MGMT through our general avoidance of irony in our music and lyrics. Our version of "Time To Pretend" is more like, "Time To Be Disconcertingly Sincere, But First Please Poor Me A Drink So I Can Calm My Nerves."

Let's say Red Wire, Black Wire is on a sinking cruise ship and there are only two life jackets; who gets them and why?

I guess I’d throw the jackets to Zac and Dave (guitar and drums) who have been with me through the different line-ups this project has had. They are also probably the most likely ones to read this interview so that’s a factor. I’m definitely going down with the ship in this band, though.

Clear up the name for us; in my mind it's a reference to awesomely bad 1990s action-movies with explosives and disarmed bombs.

Actually, that’s pretty much it. I’m sort of a nervous wreck much of the time so I resonate with the sweat-dripping, bomb’s-gonna-blow, evacuate-the-building, vibe of those scenes.

What is one thing people don't know but should absolutely remember about your band?

We might do wrong by you, darling, but at least we won't lie about it.

Listen :: Red Wire Black Wire - "Breathing Fire

[Contest] Red Wire Black Wire :: Robots & Roses

We're giving away three copies of Brooklyn synth-dealers Red Wire Black Wire's debut record, Robots & Roses this week. The album features first single, "Breathing Fire", a stomping bit of buzzing, glittery electro-pop. To enter send an email over to 32feet(at)gmail.com with "RWBW" in the subject line. We'll be picking our three winners at random on Friday. Until then, thanks for playing, and go back to read absurd 1990s movie-references regarding the band from July.

Listen :: Red Wire Black Wire - "Breathing Fire"
Listen :: Red Wire Black Wire - "Locked Out"

Preview :: Red Wire Black Wire and Beat Radio @ Glasslands [Tonight]

Tonight, two of New York's finest young bands are playing Glasslands in Williamsburg. Red Wire Black Wire are hot on the heels of their September release, Robots and Roses (and a July write-up from us) as Beat Radio prepares a series of monthly singles, the first of which can be found here.

Sonically, Red Wire Black Wire is exactly as explosive as the reference to bomb-defusion in their name would indicate. Emanating from the same Wesleyan-milieu that churned out MGMT, Boy Crisis and Amazing Baby, RWBW make dark, synth-driven music that manages to critically wink at genre while still taking a considerable dose of seriousness with their spoonful of sugar. Beat Radio, a drastically different animal, provide the kind of reflective tomes that come from quivering voices, shimmering lyrics and a working knowledge of Ben Gibbard's earliest work. The soundscapes are rich and moving and lead singer Brian Sendrowitz's voice sometimes whispering, other times yelling into the void.

Listen :: Red Wire Black Wire - "Breathing Fire"
Listen :: Beat Radio - "Sleepwalking"

Top 50 Songs of 2009 :: 50-41 [Have some courtesy and keep it in your sleeve]

50. The Sweet Serenades - "On My Way"

There is something vaguely aerobic about The Sweet Serenades' "On My Way." It pounds out of the gate and the back-beat panting manages to hold out just long enough to tumble into a quivering, crystalline chorus. It is fragile, shabby, and entirely propulsive. Turn yourself, and this, up.

49. War Tapes - "Dreaming of You"

An American Editors mixed with a Cure cover-band, up the drama a little and you're in the zip code of War Tapes' "Dreaming of You." That is, of course, until the 3-minute mark when the whole arrangement grinds to a halt, only to explode in one of those, "Is My Heart Going To Pop?" chord progressions. At that point, there is an edge to this band, an aggression that isn't common to a first sentence rife with comparisons to other bands. War Tapes are going for broke, and for that, no one can fault them. And for that, they gave us one of the biggest moments of the year.

48. New Roman Times - "Smoke In Your Disguise"

New Roman Times have a publicist who likes to compare them to Airborne Toxic Event. I like to compare them to Sweden's Moonbabies. The power is in the imagery, an imagination that places us as conspirators needing to get away together. The boy-girl vocals of the chorus, repeating, "But you are breaking my heart," aren't the killer. But the image of being the smoke in someone elses' disguise, the image of being the the getaway car for someone elses' robbery, is powerful. They wax philosophical, "I'll be there when you fall apart/I'll be the smoke in your disguise." Fair enough, as the guitars crash and the arrangement spills over the top of the glass.

47. My First Earthquake - "Cool In The Cool Way"

My First Earthquake, for the record, are cool in the cool way. But in that more terrifying conception of "coolness" where having a creative disdain for what is "cool," in effect makes you cool. Their single, "Cool In The Cool Way" is all about embracing your nerdiness in a world that forces American Apparel and Urban Outfitters down the the throats of unsuspecting and confused American youth. Are you afraid of slap bracelets because someone told you they could cut your wrist off? But then later you embraced them in an attempt to keep up and despite your fears, only to find that "cool" had moved on? Well, this is the opposite of that. You've got a robot name, Becca, and that's awesome.

46. Red Wire Black Wire - "Locked Out"

"Locked Out" is a tumbling piece of synth-rock by a band with a name that implies exactly the kind of explosiveness that reveals itself in the down, down, downbeat of the second verse. Of course, the narrative is about a suffocating moment when you lose the girl you're with to some older, strong, behind-closed doors guy. If you listen closely, it's depressing. But, there's an element of "we don't have to take this" in the midst of all the self-conscious anger and micro-management. But you'll find yourself singing along to "I know that I'm a bother/and it's hard to refuse an offer/and you've already got a father/and I always play the martyr/But I'm locked out." Now, it's time to blow the place to bits.

45. Alex Metric - "Head Straight"



There are times when, especially in the indie rock circle, you feel like you're going to lose it. Everything is so carefully done and even the dance music isn't always Dance Music. So, with relief, Alex Metric storms out with a straight club banger. "Head Straight" charges out of the gates with no other purpose than to explode in a chorus with tumbling drums, synth-stabs and not an ounce of self-reflection. Metric intones, "I keep up/I reach out/Crying, 'Get my head straight.'" He's all about getting yourself together, about not losing your mind. With a humming, buzzing, breakdown the doors cut, "Head Straight" does it.


44. Deleted Scenes - "Fake IDs"

"Fake IDs" takes on the challenge of identity in a world becoming rapidly more and more dishonest. Instead of bemoaning this loss of connection to Truth, Deleted Scenes head the other direction, insisting, "I don't mind you lying to me/if you think you're right, you must be." Later, they reflect that, "We all have fake IDs." They aren't talking about breaking the law but they are talking about the lies we tell each other and ourselves. Who we are is far more contextual than it is independently real. With ethereal, powerful vocals Deleted Scenes are like a more credible Fleet Foxes with a bubbling keyboard riff to drive your mind through a series of, frankly, tough conversations about the veracity of the universe.

43. Stricken City - "Small Things"

An angular, pissed-off, echoing post-punk record, Stricken City gave us Songs About People I Know. The centerpiece was the turn it up and turn it out, "Small Things." The track doesn't fully take off until after the bridge but, from 2.20 on, it turns into a stumbling, chanting, sweaty sing-a-long. Lead-singer, Rebekah Raa leads us down alleyways and we find something that, at volume and the right time of night, might just break you in half.

42. Deer Tick - "Easy"

Deer Tick are from my hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. When they perform, they raise the state's flag with them and it is emblazoned with only one word, "Hope." Of course, lead-singer, John McCauley, doesn't sound particularly hopeful; more like he's been up half the night drinking Beam and smoking Reds. And this is the charm: Hope amidst the backdrop of disappointment, hurt and anger. On "Easy," McCauley is himself, gravely and propulsive. The guitars clatter around him and the harmonies sound like they were written on the back of a cocktail napkin at Captain Seaweeds. That's a Providence-reference and I hope you know it.

41. The Thermals - "Now We Can See"

I spent most of the summer in Los Angeles, California driving around in a rented Kia with a sattilite radio hook-up. Between driving down to the ocean and out east to Silverlake, we spent a lot of time in the car and got awfully comfortable with the college radio feed that came through XM. The Thermals cut "Now We Can See" was in heavy rotation and, without exaggeration, Noah and I probably heard it 40-50 times in the month of July. I didn't love it - until I did. By the time I was hitting the airport back east, the song's hook-infested chorus, and its "oh-way-oh" group-vocal, were firmly planted in my mind. This is power-pop at its finest. And if you get through without wanting to growl, "Now we can see/the warnings and signs/read in between the lines/like writing on the wall," well, you might need to listen to it again. Say, 40 or 50 times.

Red Wire Black Wire :: "Locked Out"

Brooklyn's Red Wire Black Wire have a name that intimates decisions from a bad action movie. Just how many films relied on the trite (and yet?) ending sequence where the protagonist must choose which wire to cut? My personal favorite? Executive Decision, a deceptive Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal (he eats it in the first 20 minutes) vehicle where bombs are seemingly autonomous, ever evolving, cryptic instruments. When oblique Arab villains aren't enough, just put a blind guy in the baggage hold and let him try to figure out complex explosives. High comedy.

Red Wire Black Wire probably don't care which one you cut. In fact, I suspect, they prefer if you rip the whole mess out of the box and let the thing explode. Drafting themselves out of Wesleyan (you make the MGMT comment, I won't) and rolling into Brooklyn, they are a rock band with a sense of propulsion. On "Locked Out" they harness synth-rock at its most mobile. Lyrically, they're talking about going to find your girlfriend (who is off the reservation) at a house party you're neither invited to nor welcome at. You can imagine this lyrical sequence ends with the protagonist having to fight his way out. Well, unless he cut both wires and blew the place to high hell. Dirty secret, explosives are dangerous as they are useful. Now cut.

Listen :: Red Wire Black Wire - "Locked Out"
Bonus :: Red Wire Black Wire - "Compass"