“Well we are Autodrone, we come from New York City and we make the only kind of music that we are capable of making.”
Hey Autodrone! Tell us a little bit about yourself: who you are, what you do, why you do it. Remember: Hype is for PR departments, honesty is for musicians.
Well we are Autodrone, we come from New York City and we make the only kind of music that we are capable of making. You needn’t be concerned because we can’t possibly hype ourselves. If I were capable of marketing Autodrone to a mass market, I would be in the business of selling cement blocks to drowning people. Not only is our music fairly depressing, but we as people have emotional problems, and for a significant amount of our CD there is nothing but completely atonal noise. I feel like it should be immediately obvious to anyone listening that this music is not intended to be in the top 40.
Do you have anything special you want to accomplish by coming to Iceland? What?
I want to meet beautiful, interesting people, eat sea creatures, play in nature, drink, be inspired, and leave an Autodrone-shaped bloodstain on the place.We won’t have you pin yourself down in a genre, but maybe you can tell us what musicians you hope your fans also like. What music inspires you?
Well I would somewhat expect our listeners to probably be into stuff along the lines of My Bloody Valentine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, perhaps Mazzy Star, Medicine, the Warlocks, Nick Cave, Sea Wolf, DeVotchKa, Beirut, Ladytron, Arab Strap, The Jesus Lizard, Man, Shellac, early ‘90s noise, IDM, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher etc…. ‘60s psychedelia, with a heavy handed touch of glam, and early punk rock, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mahogany, A Place to Bury Strangers, Fever Ray, Underworld, The Black Angels, Interpol, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It goes without saying that Bang Gang is certainly one of our favourites!
And what would you want to tell our readers, to convince them to come to your show (remember: you are not in marketing, you are an artist)?
We promise to be sparkly and sad and make your ass shake and your heart hurt.
What got you making music in the first place? What kept you playing?
The need for self-expression made us start. That, plus loving our band mates, plus the catharsis of writing and performing, keeps us playing.
What do you like these days? Anything we should know about?
At this moment in time I’ve been revisiting a lot of Alec Empire solo stuff, as well as the now defunct D.H.R label releases, some more up tempo dance stuff and grimy hip hop coming out of Brooklyn and Baltimore such as Ninjasonik, Murdertronic’s, and Dirty Finger. T-rex and Bowie are always a mainstay, as well as Sigur Rós, and some of the cold meat industry stuff from Scandinavia.
Make a five-track playlist for your plane ride over. Tell us why each track is there. Your scenario: you’re just about to land, and you want to mentally prepare yourself for whatever you think is going to meet you.
Aphex Twin – 54 Cymru Beats – as a sort of slap in the face after a long flight
Arden Heights – Leanord Way – to take a bit of the Aphex edge off
The Jesus Lizard – I can learn – for a slight attitude adjustment
Dinosaur Jr. – Out there – as sort of a mood stabilizer
David Bowie – Life on Mars – to prepare me for the first steps into the unknown
Your music sounds equal parts nihilistic and hedonistic. Are these philosophies you adhere to? Does the band have a philosophy, and if so, what is it?
“Ancient life was all silence. In the nineteenth century, with the invention of the machine, noise was born. Today, noise triumphs and reigns supreme over the sensibilities of men” – Russolo
Anything to add?
Looking forward to seeing you soon! We have wanted to go to Iceland for a very long time.
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Artist: Autodrone
Album: Strike A Match
By Bob Cluness
Music has the tendency to evoke certain memories when you least expect it. Take the debut album from American indie rockers Autodrone. Listening to it brought a PTSD-style flashback to being 17 years old, wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, drinking cider and black, while trying to chat up a girl with Catharine Wheel, Swervedriver and Ride records playing in the background. But then she crushes my soul as she laughs at me in front of her mates. This flashback made me sit in a darkened corner for hours.
‘Strike A Match’ essentially strip mines long forgotten seams of early ‘90s UK shoegaze and polishes it with modern US chunky rhythms. And it’s a heady gothic mix. The journey of ‘100,000 Years Of Revenge’ into ‘Kerosene Dreams’ takes the guitar splintering antics of My Bloody Valentine and folds it into Kristin Hersh style vocals.
While a lot of bands are still mining the post-punk sound, long after reserves have dried up, Autodrone brings helpful reminder of when guitars were loud and would rupture and indie kids’ ears at thirty paces.
Verdict: + Old School, white noise jangling. Bring it on baby!
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Autodrone are playing today, Wednesday 22:00 at Sódóma.
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