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Interview
by SashaS
14-5-2004
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More on: Joy Zipper
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Album Review
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| Joy Zipper: a harmony in stereo & Godlin |
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Pearls before parasites
Joy Zipper - curious spellbinding: disc & live
It is awful work, this art, and prevents all a man’s projects of good and glory… Lord Byron could have written instead of reflecting on love. Or Oscar Wilde could have mused: An artist is a creator of impressions of beautiful things that become beautiful things themselves. Such noble thoughts are usually not evoked when radio-forcefed [recently dropped] Gareth Gates but whenever a disc by Joy Zipper graces my player.
It is a world of small but distinct universe called [this time] ‘American Whip’; or, perhaps a planet that Vinny Cafiso and Tabitha Tindale inhabit. It’s a place where it all happens, between the lost innocence of childhood (‘Ron’) and the enforced innocence of old-age senility (‘Alzheimers’): romances, tragedies, joy-eruptions counterbalanced by an inevitable downturn as the vicious circle continues… The one diagnosed as - living parasites.
Some songs are as fragile as sand-sculptures, some are as hard as the choicest Italian marble, others float in a fluid state of hypnosis… “Seductive, sunkissed melodies, peachy harmonies and luscious, woozy arrangements; their strong teeth, healthy bones and pinchable dairy-shade complexions; their male:female, blonde:brunette, WASP:Italian-American, very yin-and-yang-ness; their cryptic introspection, artistic agoraphobia and fear of finding out you’re actually a robot. Hang on, that can’t be right?”
The above is a quote from their Press Release; the usual exercise in baseless quality blows via hyperbole, this time is - an understatement!? This is an enchanted forest cut by the yellow brick road to the mausoleum of splendour, this is HAL 9000 re-booted…
How dare you make such gorgeous music when the world is in a terminal decline?
“Isn’t it terrible?” Cafiso replies with a worried smile. “Oh, boy… I think it is good to be able to switch off from the TV-driven reality and get lost into something else, different to your daily life. The times are really sh*tty now, so much going on every day, so much that people are stressed, not only on personal, but on the global level. It is nice to get away from it all for the duration of an album, or a good film.”
“I believe that’s why we do it,” he continues with a New York state of spirit, “it clears you mind, it takes you somewhere else for a little while.”
Striped apron?
Vinny Cafiso met Tabitha Tindale while he was in another band; introduced by mutual friend they hit it off immediately, spending hours listening to music and analysing, dreaming... leaving Long Island for New York City to explore similarity of their tastes. Tab was just out of high school and working in Manhattan - the two eventually leaving Long Island for NYC to explore similarity of their tastes - toying with some acting until one day he married her vocals to four tracks.
After the eponymous debut album (recently re-released) garnered excellent notices on both sides of the Atlantic, they recorded ‘American Whip’ two years ago and it was due to come out last year.
“It had all to do with label troubles,” VC explains with a huge sigh, “and we were left without a contract and had to wait until being picked up again… Luckily we managed to put another, mini-album, a live album, not much overdubbing, in meanwhile. We called it ‘Stereo & God’ [released in November 2003]… So, that lessened the feel of frustration.”
The period of these deal-less time was channelled into writing fury and the result is a bunch of new songs.
“We’ve got the next album all written,” Vinny states, “and we are looking for a studio. That’s one of the reasons we are in London; we’ve just looked at the Toerag studio where the White Stripes recorded… When we heard about it we weren’t sure because we didn’t wanna jump on any bandwagons but the place is really interesting, like a museum, and we will record some tracks there.”
Journeyman's compass
‘American Whip’ is an album full of American beauty [although recorded in different places but, you know - you can’t take American outta a human] that doesn’t correspond to the demands of the market and yet they get all the media and colleagues’ acclaims. What feelings do they harbour about it: puzzlement, annoyance, anger about sales not matching the critical plaudits?
“Well, now that the album is out we hope it will sell something,” Vinny appears to lag in search of a diplomatic [?] answer, “but we always wanna keep our standard up, we always wanna keep our integrity because I think it is more important than record sales. Still, there are bills to pay and live, so selling certain amount would be nice… Without compromising on quality and not trying to write for the radio because if you do that - you lose the plot, it becomes something else.“
“Hey, hopefully” Mr C sounds a note of optimism, “someone may catch on some day, or on the next album… But, you can’t fear, you can’t be too afraid to hang up your values. Money comes and goes, it is not the end, just the means.”
“You know, I think it is more natural,” comes a comment on a remark about making their life hard by not toeing the showbiz-line, “I believe that humans love to have a little struggle. If everything was easy and perfect, we’d get comfortable and bored… That wouldn’t be productive, it would simply produce mediocrity. A little, not too much, struggle is good.”
If you wondered about the duo’s name - as we have and hoped it would be some 1970s porn-terminology - get ready to be disappointed. It is apparently Tab mother’s name.
Joy Zipper: something strangely fascinating is going on here. Follow the sounds of beauty…
~ ~ ~
Joy Zipper show at 100 Club, London, on Thu., 13 May 2004
Augmented by bassist and drummer, Tab (behind keyboards) and Vin (guitar, centre stage), deliver selection of their Californian sun-kissed songs with New York attitude: no bull, little spiel, tighter, rockier…
Gentle, or riffy, or dreamy, or pent-up, Joy Zipper know the formula for magic potions they serve rougher edged because live it is inflicting and reacting to the occasion… Still, as delicious as their indecently beautiful songs.
Lost me-li’l-self on the way back, looking at heavens [from the communal gutter].
*
Joy Zipper play ULU, London, tonight, Fri., 14 May 2004
SashaS
14-5-2004
Joy Zipper album ‘American Whip’ is available now on 13 Amp/Vertigo
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