Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer | Photographs by Bill Sallans
The Brooklyn indie-poppers spontaneous trip to upstate New York led to the release of their EP, The Adventures of Mr. Pumpernickel and the Girl with Animals in Her Throat.. Since then, after receiving positive feedbacks from friends, Savoir Adore has built a loyal fan base all the while crafting a collection of pop experimental gems. Our Austin-based photographer, Bill Sallans, was able to catch the band in between sets for an exclusive IN*TANDEM shoot during South by Southwest. Savoir Adore spoke to IN*TANDEM days after their official South by SXSW debut in Austin, and opened up about the Savoir Adore sound, scheduling their lives around Google Docs, and how Federico Fellini films and New York City landscapes inspired the group’s creative process.
IN*TANDEM: Can you talk about how you two got started? Was it sort of a fairytale moment in terms of musical collaboration or was your formation spontaneous?
Paul Hammer: A little bit of both I guess. Deidre, you’re really good at telling this story. You want to take it?
Deidre Muro: Paul and I we first met at college. We had both been doing sort of solo music work for a while and then kind of out of a desire to experiment or try something new. We made a little game for ourselves and challenged each other to collaborate—for the first time— writing original music. We went upstate New York to Paul’s childhood home. We promised ourselves to write and record a concept album in one weekend. That was about any plans of becoming a band. It all started very spontaneously in that way. After we made that and gave it to our friends, we were just encouraged to continue and it just pored naturally from there on out.
PH: At first we were just doing it purely to work on the project together to see what happen. We hand no idea what to expect and the result became kind of special.
IN*TANDEM: Deidre, you mentioned working on solo music projects before, when did you two first start making music of any kind?
DM: Paul and I both came from musical families. We both raised playing music. We were both classically trained on piano. I play violin as well and we both were just doing it since we were very small. By the time we were in college and actually met, we were both been making music for a long time already.
PH: We both were already writing in high school to some extent. I was doing classical piano when I was seven and I think Deidre was doing the same.
When Peaches posted on her MySpace blog in January about releasing “a video for every single track on I Feel Cream,” I knew she wasn’t kidding around. She has certainly kept her promise with her latest crayon-infused homage to The Wizard of Oz. L. Frank Baum may have just turned in his grave.
In “Billionaire,” Peaches, joined by Shunda K, make their way through a magical world of a talking scarecrow, cowardly lion, flying monkeys, and witches. Kansas City based artist and songwriter, Cody Critcheloe (from SSION), was the mastermind behind the art-video.
As a kid, I was terrified by the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz and after watching this video, I’m fully prepared for a psychedelic, acid-trip nightmare tonight. Clearly, we are not in Kansas any more.
Watch the Behind-the-scene footage of the making of “Billionaire” | Part One
You can find part two of the Behind-the-scene making of “Billionaire” here.
Byrne and Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) has teamed up on a musical collaboration called Here Lies Love about the life of former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos and looks at the relationship between Imelda and a servant from her childhood, Estrella Cumpas.
On his website, Byrne explains the concept, ” The story I am interested in is about asking what drives a powerful person — what makes them tick? How do they make and then remake themselves? I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if — as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music — one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!”
Byrne debuted the video to “Please Don’t,” featuring Santogold on vocals (above) yesterday. Roisin Murphy, Sharon Jones, Alice Russell, Sia, St. Vincent, and Tori Amos are among the other vocalists on this 22-track album.
The project, available as a 2CD set and a deluxe edition is due on April 6 on Todomundo/Nonesuch Records. The special edition is to include album includes two CDs of music, a DVD with six videos, and a 100-page hardcover book detailing the project and a DVD.
Additional information, track listing, and insight on the project can be found at: DavidByrne.com
Jean-Michel Basquiat is the subject of a new documentary by Tamra Davis. “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the festival. The project is a labor of love for Davis who met the artist in 1983. Davis filmed Basquiat in 1986 where Basquiat was at the height of his career (Basquiat passed away just two years later in 1988 of a heroin overdose). The Radiant Child captures never-before seen footage of the prolific artist. The OST features music from Mike D and Ad Rock (Beastie Boys). Unlike the 1996 film “Basquiat” by Julian Schanbel, Davis was able to use Basquiat’s paintings from the Basquiat estate. Schanbel had to recreate Basquiat’s painting shown in his film.
I had the chance to catch the Brooklyn Museum retrospective on Basquiat’s work in 2005. It was amazing! I had to go twice because there was so much to see. The exhibition gathered over 100 of Basquiat’s finest works, including some never before shown in the United States. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child was released on Feb 21. To those of you heading to SXSW this month now is your chance to catch this screening on Saturday March 20. Log on to SXSW.com for more details.
We’ve come to expect great things from Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. The video for their latest collaboration, “Telephone,” directed by Jonas Åkerlund, premiered during E! News yesterday (March 11). Featuring fantastic fashion, girl fights, make-out sessions, and cameos from Tyrese Gibson and Jai Rodriguez, it’s all exciting, intense, and over-the-top. She knows her little monsters well. The video ends with Gaga and Beyoncé riding in the P—y Wagon (Quentin Tarantino approved) with the text “To Be Continued … ” on the screen.
On October 11, the IN*TANDEM team made its way to Holy Ghost!’s home studio for a quick photoshoot and interview session for our ’70s Redux. Though tired from rehearsals from the previous night, Alex Frankel and Nicholas Millhiser were still in high spirits that day. IN*TANDEM’s Fashion Editor, Rebecca Teal, along with photo assistants Tim Romero and Alex Royle were quite excited to shoot the band.
“You look like a better looking shia LaBeouf,” commented Ms. Teal about Frankel. “You look like you could be his cousin or something.” she continued. It’s true! Frankel does remind me of Shia. Millhiser added that Frankel had been mistaken for other people like David Schwimmer and John Turturro. We loved hanging out with the band! You can catch them tonight at Webster Hall along with Neon Indian. ($1 Before Midnight with RSVP - Click Here).
It’s been quite a year for Jessica 6. Since our last check in with the band in September, they have since performed at the Icelandic Airwaves Festival, toured in the UK and opened for the legendary Peaches. Despite their busy schedule, Jessica 6, had time to do a video of “Fun Girl” directed by Bijoux Altamirano. You can watch the exclusive video premiere at Santos Party House. Deitch Projects will present the Jessica 6 ‘Fun Girl’ Video Premiere. It is hosted Bijioux Altamirano. Doors open at 7:30 and the video premiere is at 9pm followed by a performance by Jessica 6. It’s going to be a sexy night. Be sure to RSVP for entry by emailing: wwwevents@inch.com.
