UK fans of Pin Me Down can get their hands on the 'Cryptic' EP from today on iTunes. The EP includes the original version of the single, plus three remixes:
1. Cryptic
2. Cryptic (Repuzzled)
3. Cryptic (Phones Materialisation Mix)
4. Cryptic (Dave P & Adam Sparkles Remix)
Everyone else will have to wait until next week, when the single gets it full digital and 12" vinyl release on Kitsuné Maison.
Labels: Pin_Me_Down
¶ 9:11 AM 0 comments links to this post
Labels: Pin_Me_Down
¶ 8:54 AM 0 comments links to this post
Follow the links to buy tickets for Pin Me Down's first-ever UK shows...
07.05.08 London Water Rats (£6)
08.05.08 London The Fly (£7)
The May 9th gig at Camden's Proud Galleries is part of a club night and tickets are only available on the door (so get there early)!
Labels: Pin_Me_Down
¶ 4:13 PM 3 comments links to this post
A1. Cryptic (original)
A2. Cryptic Repuzzled (Jamie Ellis & Russell Lissack mix)
B1. Cryptic Phones Materialisation Mix (Paul Epworth)
The digital single will feature the tracks above, plus an exclusive mix:
Cryptic (Dave P & Adam Sparkles mix)
07.05.08 London, Water Rats
08.05.08 London, The Fly
09.05.08 London, Camden Proud Galleries
Labels: Pin_Me_Down
¶ 5:29 PM 1 comments links to this post
Labels: Pin_Me_Down, Tour
¶ 5:59 PM 1 comments links to this post
And if you're really hankering after some Bloc Party news, click here to read Gordy waxing lyrical about the Novation Nio 2/4 (for musos only)!
Labels: Pin_Me_Down
¶ 4:47 PM 0 comments links to this post
Just a reminder that Kitsuné Maison's new compilation, featuring Pin Me Down's 'Cryptic', is out today in the UK...order it here
(UK) or here
(US)!
Edit: Read Pitchfork's review of the compilation here, featuring glowing praise for the PMD track!
And here's another Bloc Party mashup by ToToM...
[Download] 'Little Flux' (Bloc Party vs. Queens Of The Stone Age's 'Little Sister')
Labels: Mashups, Other_releases, Pin_Me_Down
¶ 8:59 AM 1 comments links to this post
Drowned in Sound have managed to grab an interview with both halves of Pin Me Down...read on or go here for the full article. Also, expect to see Russell donning a pair of headphones at Gatecrasher's Summer Sound System over the May Bank Holiday Weekend...it's just been confirmed that Bloc Party will be performing a DJ set there.
DiS: Why embark upon this new project now? And why has it taken a while for you to release anything?
Russell: We've actually been working on this since the time we first met, which I think was the very end of 2004. It’s just that I’ve been so busy with Bloc Party and we could only swap ideas over the internet, which has its limits. After a few years of writing and demo-ing, I finally found a two-week gap to go into a studio and record my parts of an album.
Milena: I think it took us a while to really focus and hone in on what we were doing. We wanted to make pop music that was challenging, that has big hooks, but that actually makes you think. I'd say half the songs we recorded are from our early sessions, but the other half are relatively new. I think we got better as time went on because we got used to writing and playing for the other person.
DiS: Are there any live or touring plans? I assume Russell is still a busy boy with Bloc Party in 2008?
Milena: Yes, Russell is a busy boy with Bloc Party, but we are planning live shows and touring in the near future. We will probably start in the UK and Europe. I can't really say much about the live show other than that you should expect sequins, roman warrior hats, Fender guitars used as weapons, and many cute faces on stage to ogle and Google.
DiS: We sense that Pin Me Down is evidence of your love of early 90's pop and dance rearing its head. True or false?
DiS: One more - is there a release plan, record label in place, etc?
Labels: Pin_Me_Down, Tour
¶ 5:56 PM 1 comments links to this post
Labels: Pin_Me_Down, Press
¶ 6:57 PM 2 comments links to this post
01. Fischerspooner - The Best Revenge
02. Late Of The Pier - Broken (Fairy Lights Mix)
03. Alan Braxe - Addicted
04. David E. Sugar - To Yourself
05. Pin Me Down - Cryptic
06. M.I.A. - XR2 (Silverlink V Kicks Like A Mule Aka 92juk)
07. The Teenagers - Homecoming (Gentlemen Drivers Rave Mix)
08. AutoKratz - Pardon Garçon
09. Digitalism - Pogo (Digitalism's Robotic Remix)
10. DatA - Aerius Light (Kitsune DJ Friendly Edit)
11. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Let's Make Out (Extended Mix)
12. Rex The Dog - Circulate
13. Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya - Fuck Friend (CSS Remix)
14. Friendly Fires - On Board
15. Big Face - I Wanna Be A Style Crusader (DatA Remix)
16. KID - I'll Never Know
17. Cazals / Yelle - To Cut A Long Story Short (Vicarious Bliss Mellotron Mix) / A Cause Des Garçons (Tepr Remix)
Labels: Collaborations, Pin_Me_Down
¶ 9:07 PM 0 comments links to this post
Russell's project with Milena Mepris, Pin Me Down, have a brand new song up on their Myspace...'Pretty In Pink'. Also, read BLOG PARTY's exclusive interview with the band here!
[Stream] Pin Me Down - 'Pretty In Pink'
Labels: Collaborations, Pin_Me_Down
¶ 7:31 PM 5 comments links to this post
Milena Mepris is a singer and guitarist from New York City. Her past bands include London all-girl trio The Revenge (lead singer/guitarist), with whom she toured the UK, received acclaim from the NME and had singles played on Steve Lamacq's Radio 1 show. She then went on to play lead guitar in the Brooklyn based electro-punk band Black Moustache who, after releasing their debut album, toured the US and Canada and played shows with Bloc Party, Avenue D, A.R.E. Weapons, and Fannypack. She also played guitar in NYC dance pop band Eskimobot and went on to form her solo band Milena Mepris (still alive and kicking). Her 2005 song 'Hot Model' was an indie cult hit, played everywhere from the Winter Music Conference in Miami to Istanbul to NYC rock clubs.
In addition, Milena Mepris writes for and collaborates with other artists. Two of her songs were recently recorded by young soul-singer Alice Smith for her critically acclaimed debut album, 'For Lovers, Dreamers & Me'.
So, yeah, Milena's a pretty busy girl. Quite how she manages to fit so much into her schedule is one of the modern world's greatest mysteries, but she still found some time to chat to BlocParty.net about Pin Me Down. Read on after the jump...
BlocParty.net: Milena, could you introduce yourself to the BLOG PARTY readers with a few Milena-related facts?
Milena Mepris:
1. While Russell plays mainly Fender guitars, I have always been a Gibson girl. My favourite guitars are the SG, my TV yellow Les Paul special and my pink Hello Kitty Fender strat (but that’s more based on its er…rather splendid appearance over its sound…hee hee). And there’s a new gold SG that I have my eye on – this becomes addictive!
2. I was in a Lou Reed video when I was 15 for the song 'NYC Man' (not the best song, but cool video).
3. I am partially Scottish, so I was overjoyed to play in Glasgow, but when I was onstage, no one could understand what I was saying because of my American accent (and vice versa). Now I am trying to brush up my Scottish slang - "Achei".
4. I've been writing songs since I can remember. I have a back catalog of over 300 songs.
5. I used to be a choir girl, singing professionally from the age of 6-13 and I still am a bit of one. You can take the girl out of the choir but you cannot take the choir out of the girl ;) I also played clarinet and saxophone.
BP.net: Describe each other in five words (or bullet points!)
Milena on Russell:
1. One of my favourite people on earth
2. Comedian
3. Musical genius
4. Partner in crime
5. Meerkat
Russell on Milena:
Guitar playing rock goddess woman!
BP.net: Milena...you live on the other side of the pond in New York. How did you come to meet Russell?
MM: I used to live in South London, in Borough, near Old Kent Road (I was a classy lass!) and Russell lived a few blocks away at the same time near Elephant and Castle. Even though we both attended many of the same gigs and parties and had mutual friends, we didn't meet until 2004 when Bloc Party first came to New York and played at the Knitting Factory. At the time, I was the guitarist in Black Moustache and we opened for BP along with A.R.E. Weapons. It was just an insane show all around, full of sweaty, irrational kids, who were jumping on the stage. Russell borrowed my amp and we just really got along from the first moment we met. He was amused by my collection of pink guitars and we both loved a lot of the same cheesy 90s records and 80s TV shows.
Russell and I kept in touch and he was on the East Coast a lot touring at that time, so we started writing music together, plus I was in L.A. and London at other points, so the project just naturally evolved; it was something fun for both of us, a diversion while we worked with our other bands.
BP.net: How did the project, 'Pin Me Down', come about and does the name have any significance?
MM: Neither of us took the project very seriously until we realized that we had something like 30+ songs just sitting around on our iTunes and thought that maybe we should record them properly. We did several sets of demos at various studios and decided we wanted to move away from a more rock-oriented style toward a darker, pop guitar/synth sound, since we both worship Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, 'Burning Up' era Madonna, and New Order.
We struggled with band names forever. One day Russell was on tour in Europe and, because of the time difference, we had to schedule when we could talk on the phone. I rang at a certain time, but he was in soundcheck and he sent me a text message saying "Pin me down at 7" or something to that extent, and a flashing light bulb went off in my head. The name was perfect and it stuck. We both liked the phonetic sound of "Pin Me Down" as well as all of its multiple meanings.
BP.net: Your first track, 'Cryptic', was posted on your MySpace a couple weeks ago to a great reception. What's the story behind this song and is it representative of your other material?
MM: Ummm…yeah, we're pretty pleased with the way people have been responding to it! We can't wait for some people to do remixes because it's quite dance-oriented.
Sometimes Russell titles our songs – he'll just name an instrumental track or idea and send it to me, so he initially gave 'Cryptic' another title that was very funny, but it didn't match the lyrics I was writing. So we changed the song in the studio. We must have three different versions. At one point we were sticking the names of people we knew into the lyrics – as a laugh. I'm praying those takes never surface! The real song deals with issues of celebrity and how, in this day and age, people can gain fame (the highest caste in our culture) for doing nothing at all, maybe just for being photographed. I find this disappointing and wish more people would be known for DOING and creating things.
We try to make our music coherent and eclectic at the same time – so it all feels of one piece, but there are many different kinds of songs and moods. There are several upbeat anthems, a few songs that are really dancey, some that are more rock, and a few slower songs too.
BP.net: What's the 'Pin Me Down' songwriting process? Do you record together in a studio, or send your parts to each other via email?
MM: It works a number of ways. Sometimes Russell will send me a fully formed instrumental song or idea and I will write the melody and lyrics to it; other times it's just a drum beat and keyboards and he doesn't flesh it out until I've created a vocal melody. Other times, I'll suggest a musical theme or idea for a song to Russell and he'll send me back his take on it. Sometimes I add keyboard or guitars to the tracks. Many may not know but Russell is an amazing keyboard player and bassist. He writes all of the bass lines and programs all the drums on our songs and our drummer Alex (the other guy in the first picture) plays those parts live.
When we met, we recorded all of our songs on my old digital 8-track which ran on zip disks - quite fragile and limiting! We'd have to be in the same place for that, but shortly after we both got laptops and I showed Russell how to use Protools (which isn't as hard as it looks), so we began to send stuff back and forth over the internet, which is useful since we're usually not in the same city. It's also great for editing and refining songs. For serious recording, we go to a proper studio together. It's funny because when I was a teenager, I wrote a song about how I dreamt of having a songwriting pen pal, and in a way, that has become the reality for Pin Me Down. Maybe I am psychic! Technology is amazing in that regard.
BP.net: Do you have any long term plans for the future...any official releases or tour dates?
MM: I guess the big news is that YES there is a record. We are mixing it at the moment and are figuring out how we want to release it. This is a scary but exciting time in music right now because albums are increasingly being distributed digitally and with that comes a whole new set of pros and cons. It changes the role of the record label and gives artists like us way more control. But we're also working in an untouched frontier, where album leaks and file sharing are the norm…so we have to be smart and do things in a strategic way.
We want to tour. I am most looking forward to playing in the UK as I haven't played a gig there in several years and England, Ireland, and Scotland have very enthusiastic audiences. I'd also love to go Japan because I've never been and I hear they love blond girls there! SCORE! It seems like such a surreal and magical place.
BP.net: And, finally, the last word goes to Russell…will you be taking time out from Bloc Party if Pin Me Down takes off?
Russell: Bloc Party is always my priority so I'd never take time out, that wouldn't be fair on anyone, but if there's a gap in the Bloc Party schedule (ever!), then I'd love to play some shows as Pin Me Down.
So, there you have it…Pin Me Down have been hard at work in their secret underground bunker creating future electro-pop anthems. Expect to hear much more from them in the not-too-distant future! In the meantime, stream their first track, 'Cryptic', over on MySpace now.
Labels: Collaborations, Interviews, Pin_Me_Down
¶ 3:01 PM 4 comments links to this post
Russell Lissack + Milena Mepris = Pin Me Down
There's no news on any official releases yet, but you can listen to their first track, 'Cryptic', on Myspace now!
Labels: Collaborations, Pin_Me_Down
¶ 2:37 PM 5 comments links to this post
