Undiscovered Band Of The Month: Music For Headphones
We can't get enough of our new Band of the Month! Filter is proud to announce the discovery of Music for Headphones. The droning psychedelic soundscapes reminiscent of Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols, The Secret Machines and The Velvet Underground. The electronic-based sound and distorted guitar juxtaposed against grating vocals makes this a band best enjoyed at maximum volume or, for lack of a better term, through headphones.
Started by Jonathan Allen as a recording project in Athens, Georgia in the summer of 2000, the band has made a home-base of at least 3 cities. To this day, there's not much in the way of a permanent lineup as members come and go from time to time creating a fluctuation of style spread amongst the bands recordings. Sound and style has ranged from Rugby space rock to London shoegaze, ("go.see.girls.rock" 2006), from delay-drenched Creation sounds ("Kosmonaut" 2006) to a more aggressive, American-psych inspired sound ("Frequency of Oscillation" 2007). music.for.headphones' most recent EP, Preface/Alternate, was released January 30th, 2008 and starts bringing all of the it together. You can check out their music on two different MySpace pages.
Recommended tracks include:
"Hard To Love Me" - www.myspace.com/jonathanmono
"Doctor" - www.myspace.com/musicforheadphones
Who are your main influences?
The sound has jumped all over the place, but my song writing influence have always stayed consistent. I learned so much about simplicity and soul from Spacemen 3. Spacemen and Spiritualized are probably the overriding influences in everything I do. The Ronnettes and the Crystals inspire me to feel. Bands like the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Jesus and Marychain give me style. My Bloody Valentine for texture. Sonic Youth and early Mercury Rev for manipulation of noise. The band as a whole is also greatly influenced by the rhythms of Neu!, late Boredoms, and Stereolab.
How did you meet?
Aaron and I met while working in a guitar store in 2005. It was a summer job for him before he went back to New Orleans for school. Sometime after Katrina had sent him back to Philadelphia, we ran into each other in West Philly and he joined my infant project. My younger brother, Patrick, signed on playing drums. We have had a seemingly endless list of fourth members as guitarists, vocalists, drummers, and organists having all come to us through friends or internet ads. Our most recent member, Phil, was brought in by one of our past drummers last fall.
What is your biggest achievement as a band to date?
Last August we debuted a two drummer line up playing with Sonic Boom and Spectrum, which was a dream come true. Sonic has been such a huge influence on me and his review of our performance was fantastic ("You sounded like a Stereolab mind-fuck!"). Patrick caught him stealing our sushi.
Where did the band name originate?
In 2000 I was living outside of Athens, GA in a house we had converted into a make shift studio. I was mixing a record with an old band of mine when someone remarked that my mixes sounded like "music for headphones." I immediately started calling everything I recorded "music for headphones," releasing a record that fall called "Dreaming through this Coma Life." I didn't assemble a live band at that point, but six year later I found myself mixing similar, textural music. When I began putting the band together, it seemed like a logical choice.
Favorite Bands?
Well most of my favorites are listed above, but my current favorite band is probably Secret Machines. I have been following Brandon Curtis' music since his days in UFOFU, seeing him play at the Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma when I was in high school, through Captain Audio, and onto Secret Machines. His musical growth has nearly mirrored my changes in taste over the past ten years.
I am also in love with some friends of mine, The December Sound out of Boston. They are doing more for American Psychedelic music than anyone else, bringing back black leather and sunglasses back to the North East. They inspire me to be a better musician.
Plans to Tour?
If all things go as planned, I would like to do an East Coast tour in the fall, but nothing is concrete yet. For now we are just playing in Philadelphia and continuing to recording.
Plans for next release?
A few things planned, first will be a full length album, "Secret History of the World," which focuses pretty heavily on west coast psychedelia. We are also talking to some people about doing a film titled "EXIT (or still in the light)." That's not gotten a green light as of yet, but we would like to use a visual medium to compliment our more atmospheric recordings.
