Takka Takka
Kickoff July Residency @ Piano's Tomorrow Night in Support of New Album, Migration, out July 29th on Ernest Jenning!
There's been some lineup shifting, and sure that's probably at play here, but more fundamentally the band's aiming for new rhythmic structures entirely. It's not to say their native Brooklyn's not still on their mind -- just see the LP's credits: produced by CYHSY's Sean Greenhalgh and featuring that band's Lee Sargent, along with Olga Bell, Charles Burst, and the National's drumkit ace card Bryan Devendorf. And while clearly they're still hearing their neighbors play (if the Clap influence is played down this album, it's only been substituted with a newfound -- and timely -- fondness for the National's stately swagger), they're drawing far outside their zip code, too. Let the Broken Social Scenester element play out in "The Takers," and know that it's a very new look. - Stereogum
Falling somewhere between Fugazi's dubbiest moments and the culturally duplicitous percussion of fellow New York upstarts like Vampire Weekend, Takka Takka appear headed in directions far from your standard indie-rakka. - Spin.com
Fresh off the ever-growing buzz of their new album, Migration, New York's Takka Takka are ready to celebrate one of this year's most spell-binding releases, by bringing it to their fans ears in the form of a month-long residency at their city's East-Side venue, Piano's. Joining the band will be some of their closest friends, including PWRFL Power, Get Him Eat Him, The Black Hollies, and some other very special surprises. See full lineup below:
Writer Alex Bemis describes Takka Takka's New Album, Migration:
I listened to this album once out of obligation because Takka Takka are my friends, but found myself re-listening to it many times because it was pleasurable to do so.
The band didn’t provide me with any names for the songs, and it’s a record that works really well that way. It plays less like a series of songs than one big idea with one pulsing rhythm. There are no singles; rather it strikes me as one long thought cut into twelve individual sections. Maybe music is better that way? Maybe any music that aspires to the condition of namelessness -- that works at one idea so relentlessly -- is the only music that truly deserves the name.
The album is called Migration and I’ve come up with a notion about where that migration might be taking us. To me, this band are part of the wave of emerging young musicians who have been pulling in ideas from world music, but without adopting the colonizer perspective which previous generations of Western artists brought to such borrowings.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. Among that older generation of musicians/colonizers are some of my favorite artists: David Byrne, Paul Simon, Joe Strummer. But it’s hard to argue that these artist weren’t engaged in a kind of creative theft (or at least creative misappropriation) when they jammed out with collaborators from South America, South Africa, the Caribbean, et al.
This new wave of musicians – Takka Takka included – have brought to the table an egalitarian respect for their sources, be it obscure underground rock bands like The Feelies, composer Philip Glass, or the tradition of Balinese Gamelan. It doesn’t sound like Caucasians from the West raiding the world for influence; it sounds like Caucasians from the West realizing we don’t own this planet but are along for the ride just like everybody else.
Singer / Guitarist Gabe Levine speaks about the personal importance of Migration:
Sometimes this record is about existing in a place you don’t belong. Conversely, it is about where you came from and how you got there.
Sometimes this record is about my Balinese mother. She recently decided to become a Pamangku, a Balinese holy person. This has brought us to do a fair amount of talking lately, more than we have ever had the chance to do before. Some of those conversations made their way into these songs—myth, prayer, offerings, gamelan music (oh such sweet music), poverty, volcanic eruptions, Communist purges, cultural misunderstanding, racism, family and abandonment.
Sometimes this record is about a band experimenting with sound and form, trying to honestly say things in song it has never said before.
Sometimes this record is about not going back and staying in the place you don’t belong.
Migration was lovingly produced by Sean Greenhalgh of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. It was recorded in Brooklyn and features performances by Bryan Devendorf of The National, Lee Sargent of CYHSY, Olga Bell of Bell, and Charles Burst.
Click here to listen to two new tracks off Migration!
Tracklist for Migration:
Monkey forest road
Silence
The takers
Everybody say
(the optimists were right)
Homebreaker
Fall down where you stand
Lion in the waves
One foot in a well
(the optimists were wrong)
Change, no change
You and universe
Takka Takka Live!
Tues July 15th: Pianos (Record Release Residency) - New York, NY 8pm
Tues July 22nd: Pianos (Record Release Residency) - New York, NY 8pm
Fri July 25th: Shubas - Chicago, IL 9pm
Sat July 26th: The Frequency - Madison, WI 9pm
Tues July 29th: Pianos (Record Release Residency) - New York, NY 8pm
Sun Sept 7th - TT the Bears - Cambridge, MA 8pm
Wed Sept 10th - DC9 - Washington, DC 9pm
Thur Sept 11th - Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC 8pm
For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/takkatakka
www.ernestjenning.com
