BRAIDS News, Interviews, Tour Dates, Videos, Photos, Reviews
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Las Vegas Weekly interview
Really nice interview with Austin & Raphaelle at Las Vegas Weekly. Nice to see some discussion of 'Sore Eyes'. Here's an excerpt:
“Sore Eyes” is more of a dancey track, but the lyrics deals with watching porn and feeling dirty and guilty afterward. That’s such a loaded topic to bring to the forefront, especially in music.
RSP: It’s cool that you recognize that, ’cause I feel like not a lot of people have really brought it up and sometimes I wonder if people really listen to the lyrics at all. It is kind of an interesting topic that isn’t really discussed within pop culture right now. Pornography is a huge thing in our culture—it’s just so dominant. It’s just an honest reflection on how I felt watching pornography, not that I have anything super against it.
Most pornography I find to be very demeaning towards women, and that kind of stuff I don’t like. That’s the kind of stuff that is very much on the Internet, and if you’re cruising or something that’s what you’ll find and I think that’s what a lot of people consume. I get afraid, I guess, of—and the song isn’t really about this—but how little discussion there is in schools about what people are viewing. I think it’s that fear that kind of makes the whole thing feel really gross and dirty.
But speaking of the song, it’s just about watching it and also feeling pressured to behave in that way. There’s a lyric, “Make believe that I’m in touch with myself, do the kind of things I watch from someone else.” So, thinking that you are in touch with yourself if you’re sexually active or if you’re explorative, being like “Oh yeah, I really get myself,” but it’s like, oh, actually I’m just trying to re-enact this image that I’ve seen over and over and over again. So I was just re-evaluating, like, “Am I actually being honest and true with what it is that I want to do?” Or is this me just trying to be sexy and be this image that I’ve seen?
“Sore Eyes” is more of a dancey track, but the lyrics deals with watching porn and feeling dirty and guilty afterward. That’s such a loaded topic to bring to the forefront, especially in music.
RSP: It’s cool that you recognize that, ’cause I feel like not a lot of people have really brought it up and sometimes I wonder if people really listen to the lyrics at all. It is kind of an interesting topic that isn’t really discussed within pop culture right now. Pornography is a huge thing in our culture—it’s just so dominant. It’s just an honest reflection on how I felt watching pornography, not that I have anything super against it.
Most pornography I find to be very demeaning towards women, and that kind of stuff I don’t like. That’s the kind of stuff that is very much on the Internet, and if you’re cruising or something that’s what you’ll find and I think that’s what a lot of people consume. I get afraid, I guess, of—and the song isn’t really about this—but how little discussion there is in schools about what people are viewing. I think it’s that fear that kind of makes the whole thing feel really gross and dirty.
But speaking of the song, it’s just about watching it and also feeling pressured to behave in that way. There’s a lyric, “Make believe that I’m in touch with myself, do the kind of things I watch from someone else.” So, thinking that you are in touch with yourself if you’re sexually active or if you’re explorative, being like “Oh yeah, I really get myself,” but it’s like, oh, actually I’m just trying to re-enact this image that I’ve seen over and over and over again. So I was just re-evaluating, like, “Am I actually being honest and true with what it is that I want to do?” Or is this me just trying to be sexy and be this image that I’ve seen?
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Photos from Portland
Thanks to @braidsmusic for your PDX set opening for @PURITY_RING—you sounded great! Full show review soon @QuipMag pic.twitter.com/k9lxWfodVG
— Dankey Kang (@EricJonEvans) June 18, 2015.@braidsmusic opening with something a little more ethereal before working their way into the dance jams for #PDX pic.twitter.com/aRT46tWvVQ
— Vortex Music Mag (@vrtxmag) June 18, 2015
Raphaelle on 'Jagged Little Pill'
On it's 20th anniversary, The Guardian is taking a look back at Alanis Morissette's 'JaggedLittle Pill' and asking young women in the music industry what it means to them. Here's what Raphaelle had to say:
Raphaelle Standell-Preston, 25, Braids
Jagged Little Pill was my first record. My dad bought it for me on tape. Listening to it again in my 20s, it has been hugely inspirational in cultivating confidence to “tell it like it is”; she is very unabashed in what she wants to say. I’ve never had to defend loving Alanis. I never knew it was uncool. Alanis is raw, she’s vulnerable, and her voice is extremely powerful and emotional. When I listen to Jagged Little Pill, it instills in me the desire to share what I’ve experienced. She remains one of my favourite female artists.
Raphaelle Standell-Preston, 25, Braids
Jagged Little Pill was my first record. My dad bought it for me on tape. Listening to it again in my 20s, it has been hugely inspirational in cultivating confidence to “tell it like it is”; she is very unabashed in what she wants to say. I’ve never had to defend loving Alanis. I never knew it was uncool. Alanis is raw, she’s vulnerable, and her voice is extremely powerful and emotional. When I listen to Jagged Little Pill, it instills in me the desire to share what I’ve experienced. She remains one of my favourite female artists.
Vancouver show review
Review of the Vancouver show from GrayOwl Point:
"Next up were Montreal (by way of Calgary)’s Braids. Their recently released Deep in the Iris LP was just long-listed for the 2015 Polaris Prize – a bit of recognition for which their debut full-length Native Speaker was also considered back in 2011. In light of the recent release, Braids’ entire set consisted of material from Deep in the Iris – not that I could complain, as is easily one of my favourite albums released so far this year! On both Native Speaker and its follow-up, Flourish // Perish, Braids produced dreamlike and ambient soundscapes that swirled and drifted around echo-laden lyrics to dizzying effect, conjuring both ethereal chills and intimate closeness with equal dexterity. Deep in the Iris has made a fundamental shift, pulling Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s dynamic vocals front and centre and letting them guide the emotional flow of each song. Deft live manipulations of reverb, reverse effects, sampling, grain-shifting and delay let the band ratchet up the complexity as needed, letting songs build from their fragile, whispery base structures into veritable skyscrapers of drums, vocals, chords and pads. Set highlights included some stellar work behind the drum kit during “Warm Like Summer” and a downright fierce performance of “Miniskirt.” "
DJ set at Q Nightclub in Seattle
It's no surprise that the club is filling up with @braidsmusic on the decks! This has been an awesome set. pic.twitter.com/vFOPnvVJDm
— Q Nightclub (@qnightclub) June 17, 2015
After the show on Tuesday night, BRAIDS, Purity Ring, and Born Gold, each did a DJ sets at Q Nightclub in Seattle. Lots more photos here.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Live on KEXP from Oct. 2013
Hoped we'd get a new live session on KEXP today, but no such luck. So let's watch that fantastic set from Oct. 23rd, 2013.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Clips & photos from Vancouver
.@braidsmusic are making us forget it's a Monday. pic.twitter.com/6p0KwgOJWo
— Vogue Theatre (@VogueTheatre) June 16, 2015
The @braidsmusic performing @VogueTheatre in Vancouver. Photos:https://t.co/QZuxOgctc8 @TimbreConcerts pic.twitter.com/zWk1dgSdHx
— Jenn McInnis (@CreativeCopper1) June 16, 2015
My photos up from @braidsmusic opening @PURITY_RING last week @VogueTheatre via @TheSnipeNews! http://t.co/q0HXKOryCZ pic.twitter.com/b8Ii8zlo3W
— Kirk Chantraine (@kchantraine) June 22, 2015BRAIDS heading to Singapore!
NEW: Montreal-based experimental pop band @braidsmusic will be performing live at Kilo Lounge on Sat 18 July, 8pm! pic.twitter.com/3nBE2Fd2K2
— Moonbeats (@MoonbeatsAsia) June 15, 2015
July 18th, 2015 Kilo Lounge Singapore
Facebook Event Page
Tickets on sale here
Use discount code 'lettinggo' to get 10% off your standard ticket. Promotion ends 26 June, 2015.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
BRAIDS in Nakid Magazine #2
BRAIDS will be featured in issue #2 (Spring 2015) of Nakid Magazine.
"We recently caught up with the band outside The Bomb Factory during their tour with Purity Ring where they blew the audience away with their mystical pop like performance, and we have the full interview coming up in our 2nd Issue. So keep your eye out for that!"
Edmonton show review
From Exclaim:
"If Born Gold were loud and exuberant, Braids were the definition of quiet storm. The trio were tight, and while each member played several instruments, the music was forceful and minimal. Drawing from their latest LP, Deep in the Iris, the songs were built up and quickly torn down only to be established again; the songs were as soaring as they were haunting, thanks to frontwoman Raphaelle Standell-Preston's vocals, and the the rest of the band — Austin Tufts on drums and Taylor Smith on bass and keys — were just as commendable. Tufts was especially impressive during a fierce coda during which he ended up knocking some of his kit over. But the set was Standell-Preston's for the taking, and the performance's core was the passionate, no holds barred performance she threw herself into during the anthemic "Miniskirt." "
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