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The October issue of The Believer includes my second interview for the magazine, this one with the composer Nico Muhly. I wanted to talk to Nico not just because I like his music, not just because he's such a good, er, talker, and not even because I admire the people he's worked with, from Antony to Bonnie Prince Billy to Bjork. Mostly I wanted to talk to him because he is 26 - and I relished a conversation about classical music with someone whose background, and context, resembled by own. Someone who browses MySpace sites & watches dumb Youtube videos & gets Cam'ron mp3s emailed to him, just like me.

Anyway, the Believer has generously put the whole interview online here.

And here is part of the conversation that was left on the cutting-room floor.

Nico Muhly: If working with classical musicians is like with dressage ponies, then working with someone like Sam [Amidon] is like working with a zebra. What's so genius about Sam is that his musicianship is so formidable but his so path to expressing that is so completely Other to mine. His is unintentionally elaborate, almost Javanese thing about expression, how much you're going to get, where it's going to come from...

The way that he sings so flat, his eyes are always sort of dilated – black eyes in cartoon almost, the way he looks. So working with him feels like a totally different zoology. When I was doing his album, his technique informs the way that I make decisions. He has this affectless way of going about these songs that are very beautiful.

If you take a song like "Saro", I was like: okay, what am I going to do? I want to go with machines, like early choo-choo train Americana, and I want a really heart-rending but sort of corn tone and folky, almost inappropriate trombone solo.

You just think more iconically and more definitely. You can be more towards the front of the stage with what you're doing. Just three images: a trombone that is only playing the interval, countermelodies from "Sweet Caroline" [buh buh buh], this little machine string thing, and then Sam.

When I have him play with me, we completely reverse it. We do this borrowed, weird fake soundscape minimalist genre. We wild out in early Americana sacred harp loud bellowing. And we have whale butchery, and knives, and all this crazy gothic over-the-top stuff. The complement is like the inverse from his album.

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"The Only Tune" came to America from England. The fundamental narrative is that there are two sisters and for whatever reason, probably jealousy, one of them pushes the other one into the river that they’re walking alongside. And the one who is pushed into the river, her body floats downstream and she is washed up in a mill pond, a deep mill pond. Her body is fished out by a miller with a long, long hook and left on the bank to dry. And a fiddler comes walking down and sees the body and basically butchers it on the site, and turns it into a violin. And so the hair becomes the strings, the nose-bridge becomes the bridge, the finger-bones become the finger pegs, and it’s incredibly macabre – and the whole time, after every line, there’s this refrain: oh the wind and the rain, oh the wind and the rain. And of course when the fiddler finally makes the violin, the only song it can play is "Oh the Wind and the Rain". But the fiddler’s song "could melt the heart of stone". It’s this crazy line.

For me there are three icons in it, which are: the hook, the first image of the girl, and this last image of a completely desiccated, a pile of scraps, a field dressing of a girl – and a bone violin. It still gives me chills just to describe it.

And I was like: okay, I’m going to do three sections in this piece. And I want the first one to be very old timey, banjo, straightforward any old song about anything, and the second section – the butchery, wants to have actual sounds of butchery, wants to be aggressive, wants to be a psychopath. And then the third section I wanted to turn into this sort of Water Music. The scraps of the girl looking up at this violin being played, and it’s this very melancholy, straightforward guitar, all these different constant pitches, and behind it there’s a landscape of marimba, farfisa orange – like if you washed ashore in New York in the 60s. Glassy. All the comfort food of my vocabulary – celeste, bells, glockenspiel, and at the end it has the sound of a gentle rain in Iceland.

So I made this emotional plot of the three sections, I sent it to him and we figured out the relationship of the keys that I needed each one to be in. You start in A, then you get jacked up to B-flat and they you sink down to G in the end – it’s always the story. And then I had him sing it a couple of different times against nothing. I didn’t share with him anything of what I was planning. I gave him instructions and he was looking at the lyrics. And I had him put these irregular rests between all the phrases, so it always gives it this anxious feel – and once I had that I mapped it onto a grid and then I composed out all the accompanying figures and then he did some sort of background vocals, all those pulses, also raw in Iceland – so I had those separate and I knew they were going to fold in. And that for me is a great moment – when you just load it into ProTools and everything lines up.

Writing the song was the opposite of what happens to the girl’s body – you take these scraps and put her back together in a sort of resurrection. It’s very satisfying. And I have a real infanticide fetish, I guess.

Devendra Banhart - "At the Hop".

PUT ME IN YOUR SUITCASE.

A MENDING MOAN.

Passion Pit - "Cuddle Fuddle". Sometimes I think of hearts like gas-lamps. I don't understand how gas-lamps work, so bear with me. Anyway, you got a big container of ether & spirits & fumes, and then you got all these tubes and valves to manage the stuff. And if a valve blows out, well - uh, yikes. Suddenly there's glowing fiery gas just going everywhere, shooting you in different directions like an out-of-control hot-air balloon. And boy, it goes to your head.

Anyhow, I bring all this up because "Cuddle Fuddle" is that perfect example of a song about gas-lamp hearts going bust, of violet & rosy flares just gustin' all through your chest, perfumed breaths loosed into your lungs, and the poor sod in the middle getting heaved around lurching by the leaky heart-valve, different bits of his insides all lit up with ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

(Passion Pit play Pop Montreal tonight.)

[buy]

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Vampire Weekend - "Ottoman". I was talking to Steve R from Young Galaxy today about Chairlift's "Bruises", the really wonderful song that festoons Apple's new iPod commercials. "Bruises" doesn't rely on songcraft, on the songwriting structure & lessons & genius of Spector-Robinson-King-McCartney et al. It's not a brilliantly written song - it's just a beautifully, beautifully interpreted one. A song whose beauty is in the singing (particularly of the chorus). That's not something you can be taught - it's something you simply gotta do. The genius of McCartney/Lennon ooooohs, James Brown's uhs, Jonny Greenwood's guitar-fuckup on "Creep". And yet while these moments are stunning, more marvellous still are the acts who have these instincts for delivery & performance, as well as for songwriting. Who can, like the Beatles or Herman Dune or the Knife, play a solo that's just right and just rightly placed. Who can assemble a string of wonders into a single perfect whole. Who write song after masterpiecing song.

(Vampire Weekend wanted tens of thousands of dollars to play Pop Montreal, so they aren't.)

[buy]

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Lykke Li singing "Dance Dance Dance" together with Bon Iver: video.

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John Maus - "Do Your Best". If the motels had voices, if the motels were kind, here is what they'd sing. You swing through the hills with headlights silver, alone & the forests darkly. Dreams of stags and music-boxes. Down below are a thousand black Mercedes, men with watches, women in sequin dresses. A satellite passes over your head. The motels lie docile as you pass them, singing in low voices, trying to make sure you're ok. Singing the things they've seen since the days their drywall went up, since the day their makers stuffed pink fibreglass into their hearts. [John Maus also plays with Panda Bear and Ariel Pink. / Thank-you julie. / MySpace / buy]

Duchess Says - "Black Flag". If failing brakes had voices, if failing brakes were mean. [buy]

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Elsewhere:

Justin from Muxtape reappears with a thorough, candid look at today's behind-the-scenes music biz.

Midnight Poutine weighs in with some Pop Montreal preview podcasts. See also our Guide. T-minus 2 days...

The Amazing Gift of Woo Lai Wah.

A marvellous post at Bows + Arrows, making connections between two of my favourite things: Songs:Ohia and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.

[Photo from So Weiss by Simone Decker]

Next week is Pop Montreal, the city's largest & magnificently madcap music/film/art/&c festival. We will be there, bumbling like bees from venue to venue, blossom to blossom, and if you're lucky you will be too. There are some 350 bands playing Pop, and about 150 concerts, so everyone's cup runneth over. Of these hundreds, there is a ton of stuff I do not know - even after helping on the Pop listening committee. But of what I do know, well - here are my tips.

Everything listed here is highly recommended! Anything listed in bold is basically CAN'T MISS. I've also included sections at the beginning of every day's breakdown:

Staying put: For people who want to stay in one spot all night rather than bumblin' from spot to spot.
Rolling the dice: Shows that might be the most remarkable works of art that have ever been experienced... or not.
Sure bets: Good shows, essentially guaranteed.

ALL-WEEKEND MUST-DO
Puces Pop Marketplace - a terrific art/craft fair [St Michel Church Hall]
Record Sale and Gear Swap - indie labels/shops with wares, and random musicians with gear to trade [Sport Benefica]
Kids Pop - bee-yoo-tiful games, concerts, workshops for kids. Hopefully some adults can sneak in too. [Ecole Lambert Close]
Film Pop - amazing films (and tons of shorts) every night at Cinema du Parc. I highlighted a few features below.
Laser Pop - projected laser art every night [Ubisoft building's walls]
LopArt live drawing - visual artists will be projecting live drawings to accompany every evening's bands [Divan Orange]
La Menagerie du Deja Vecu - amazing light and installation art [Lumenarium]

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1

• Staying put: You could do a lot worse than spending your night at Sala - though I think the headliners, Vetiver, are mediocre.
• Rolling the dice: Baby Dee could either be eye-rolling or life-changing.
• Sure bets: Mixylodian's manic indie-pop may peel yr eyelids back. And Dark Meat's psych-blues choir will sound lunatic in Lambi at 1am.

9:30 pm - Mark Berube and the Patriotic Few [Cagibi]
9:30 pm - Katie Moore [Sala Rossa]
10:00 pm - Duchess Says [Maison de la Radio]
10:00 pm - Baby Dee [Ukrainian Federation]
10:30 pm - Valleys [Sala Rossa]
12:30 am - Mixylodian [Balattou]
1:00 am - Dark Meat [Club Lambi]

THURSDAY OCTOBER 2

• Staying put: The folk/country show at Cinema L'Amour, topped with Lil' Andy's Neil Young covers, will be really special. For fans of different shades of full-feeling indie rock, tonight's Sport Benfica gig is also solid.
• Rolling the dice: Have heard really good things about/from The Bug, Weather Station, Consonant C, the Rothschilds and Black Hat Brigade. It's also hard to pooh-pooh the Dears at the beautiful Masonic Temple.
• Sure bets: Irma Thomas is a legend for a reason. And I'm already fond of Ravens & Chimes, Angela Desveaux, Receivers and Mussaver.

12:45 pm - Indie Strategies panel (with Julie Doiron, Brendan Reed) [Main Hall]
9:00 pm - Irma Thomas [Ukrainian Federation]
9:30 pm - The Weather Station [Cagibi]
9:30 pm - Hooded Fang [O Patro Vys]
10:00 pm - Receivers [Sport Montréal Benfica]
10:00 pm - Kweku & the Movement [Club Lambi]
10:15 pm - Smothered in Hugs [Barfly]
10:30 pm - Zeroes [Zoobizarre]
10:30 pm - Mussaver and Coal Choir [Cagibi]
10:30 pm - The Rothschilds [Cahibi]
11:00 pm - The Consonant C [Sport Montréal Benfica]
11:30 pm - Silver Apples [Sala Rossa]
11:30 pm - The Bug & Warrior Queen [Portuguese Association]
Midnight - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble [Club Lambi]
Midnight - Ravens & Chimes [Sport Montréal Benfica]
Midnight - Black Hat Brigade [Jupiter Room]
Midnight - Angela Desveaux [Cinema L'Amour]
Midnight - The Dears [Masonic Temple]
12:30 am - The Winks [O Patro Vys]
1:00 am - Lil Andy & Ideal Lovers do Neil Young's Tonight's the Night [Cinema L'Amour]

FRIDAY OCTOBER 3

• Staying put: Herman Dune and Akron/Family are two of my favourite bands in the world. But the UK Fed's Julie/Chad/Women line-up is just as sure a choice.
• Rolling the dice: Burt Bacharach is a genius - will he prove it? Love what I've heard of Saskatchewan's These Hands. And PDF Format is chiptune/comedy wildness (poss. ft. our Dan Beirne).
• Sure bets: Our cup runneth over! See above! I also love local acts My People Sleeping and Orillia Opry, and I bet anyone at that (sold out) Ratatat show will emerge delighted. Don't miss Vincent Moon introducing his own Take-Away Shows, and An Albatross' late-night headache is a rad opportunity to catch what "live drawing" artists are doing at Divan (all night are the amazing James Braithwaite and Tyler Rauman). B-b-but finally it's totally worth scrammin' to Throw Me The Statue (despite my fuck-up in the program description), flying under the radar with their remarkable live show.

7:30 pm - Matrix LitPop Award Presentation [Ukrainian Federation]
8:00 pm - Women [Ukrainian Federation]
8:00 pm - Vincent Moon / Take-Away Shows screening [Main Hall]
9:00 pm - Chad Van Gaalen [Ukrainian Federation]
9:00 pm - Died Young, Stayed Pretty (gig poster doc) [Cinema du Parc]
9:30 pm - Hi, Lonely Oak [Cagibi]
10:00 pm - Burt Bacharach [Eglise St-Jean-Baptiste]
10:00 pm - Julie Doiron [Ukrainian Federation]
10:30 pm - Herman Dune [Sala Rossa]
10:30 pm - These Hands [Gymnase]
11:30 pm - Shugo Tokumaru [O Patro Vys]
11:30 pm - Akron/Family [Sala Rossa]
11:30 pm - My People Sleeping [Les Saints]
Midnight - Orillia Opry [Sport Montreal Benfica]
Midnight - Socalled & Owen Pallett, Stef Schneider, etc doing the soundtrack to a gay porn movie [Cinema L'Amour]
12:30 am - Throw Me The Statue [Le Gymnase]
1:00 am - PDF Format [Barfly]
2:00 am - An Albatross [Divan Orange]

SATURDAY OCTOBER 4

• Staying put: The Dan Deacon-organised Round Robin shows are something really special. Bands arranged along the four walls, crowd in the centre, rotating song by song. Saturday and Sunday have different line-ups but get yerself to one or the other. Pome Records' showcase at Casa is a marvelous opportunity to see Montreal's three best undiscovered bands - and just $5.
• Rolling the dice: I will be spending my evening watching revelatory Bruce Peninsula and the legendary acapella of the Sunparlour Players, and McGarrigle-kin the Mittenstrings.
• Sure bets: Like I said, the Luyas, Tune-Yards and Adam & the Amethysts are probably my three favourite "new" Montreal bands. And the Dodos did a great show here earlier this summer - add Au and it'll stun.

1:45 pm - Music Journalism panel (moderated by me!) [Green Room]
3:00 pm - We Are Wizards (wizard rock film) [Cinema du Parc]
4:00 pm - The Luyas [Divan Orange]
8:00 pm - Boats [Saphir]
8:30 pm - Echoes Still Singing Limbs [Cagibi]
9:00 pm - Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell (film) [Cinema du Parc]
9:00 pm - Baltimore Round Robin (Beach House, Jana Hunter, etc) [Eastern Bloc]
9:00 pm - Bruce Peninsula [Portuguese Association]
9:00 pm - Dominique Leone [Academy Club]
9:00 pm - A Sunny Day In Glasgow [Saphir]
9:30 pm - Forest City Lovers [Cagibi]
9:30 pm - Ryan Eugene Newman [O Patro Vys]
10:00 pm - Tune-Yards [Casa del Popolo]
10:00 pm - the mittenstrings [O Patro Vys]
10:30 pm - The Persuasions [Portuguese Association]
10:30 pm - Sunparlour Players [Cagibi]
10:30 pm - Au [Sala Rossa]
10:30 pm - Alex Lukashevsky [Barfly]
11:00 pm - The Luyas [Casa del Popolo]
11:30 pm - The Dodos [Sala Rossa]
11:30 pm - The Youjsh [Parc des Princes]
11:30 pm (ish) - K-Os [Portuguese Association]
Midnight - Adam & the Amethysts [Casa del Popolo]
Midnight - Darren Hayman (Hefner) [Gymnase]
Midnight - Golden Hands Before God [O Patro Vys]

SUNDAY OCTOBER 5

• Staying put: Either the Round Robin or Casa del Popolo's indie-pop!
• Rolling the dice: The Pied Piper of Hutzovina, a documentary mostly-about Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz returning to Eastern Europe, looks good enough for even non-Gogol fans to love.
• Sure bets: The mighty Jem Cohen! Dan Deacon will bring the house down. And Black Feelings at a 2pm BBQ will shake yr hangover loose.

2:00 pm - Black Feelings (+ bbq!) [Friendship Cove]
3:00 pm - Jem Cohen master-class [Ukrainian Federation]
3:00 pm - Welcome to Nollywood (film) [Cinema du Parc]
8:30 pm - Wedding Present [Le National]
9:00 pm - Baltimore Round Robin (Dan Deacon, Deathset, Cex, etc) [Eastern Bloc]
9:00 pm - Pied Piper of Hutzovina (film) [Cinema du Parc]
9:45 pm - WIRE [Le National]
10:30 pm - Ghost Bees [Casa del Popolo]
11:30 pm - Mordekai the Falcon [Casa del Popolo]
11:30 pm - Liam Finn [Sala Rossa]

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What did I miss? Add your own Pop tips & plugs in the comments.

UPDATE 30/9: See A worthy Pop guide from the Phonopolis record store.

UPDATE 1/10: Various additions and amendments.

School of Seven Bells - "Face to Face on High Places". Fly to Greenland in a twin-engine plane, your pockets filled with Jolly Ranchers and freshwater pearls. Set down on a flat of snow, like the back of some vast arctic hare. Leave the propeller going & dig. Put your back into it. Yes, the Northern Lights seethe, yes there's much to explore in Nuuk & Kangerlussuaq. But dig. After two long winters it's time to dig. The airplane's roaring beside you, the sky teeming above you, the sting of sweat in your eyes. But sooner or later you'll hit spring.

School of Seven Bells play a music that is intermittently, vastly splendid. Like the Knife dredged in honey.

I don't think this song has anything to do with High Places, but you know it might.

[MySpace]

Smothered in Hugs - "Blank Test". Black bears in the forest, playing a rock song. Boulders in an avalanche, playing a rock song. 16-year-old best friends at the airport, hiding in the Duty Free, waiting to leave on a 2-week exchange in France... playing a rock song. There are a lot of ways to hear this great song by a band with an abysmal name. But none of these ways involve me imagining some dudes in Prince Edward Island, shining out a hit while ankle-deep in red dirt. I can't figure out if this song is more influenced by the National, the Everly Brothers or Better Than Ezra, & that's all kind of good thing.

Montrealers should come out to this week's M60 Film Festival screenings - on either Wednesday or Thursday - to see a cavalcade of teeny-tiny short films, by everyone from amateurs to an Oscar winner, and featuring films by Dan and myself (not to mention Anna McGarrigle!). Do come early or buy tickets in advance!

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Rye Rye & MIA - "Tic Toc". Someone snuck into Versailles, stole all the dancing dames' dresses. They kept dancing. Someone snuck into my party, stole all the laughter. We kept hot-glancing. Someone snuck into my watch, stole all the gears & cogs. It kept ticking. Someone snuck into my week, stole all my favourite songs. Looks like I got a new one. Damn. [Rye Rye MySpace]

Angela Desveaux and the Mighty Ship - "Shape You". I've found this song hard to write about. Been trying for days. No analogies come springing. Can't figure out if it's an indoor or outdoor song, daytime or night, flowery or dry. Can't tell if it's pretty or serious. But every time I listen, I'm caught by that guitar solo - like someone sneaked into my apartment and set a record playing in the corner. I walk in the door and can't tell what's going on - can't tell if it's good news or bad, a friend or a foe, just that I'm running toward the turntable, dropping the bags from my hands, not saying anything until the track comes to an end. [website/buy The Mighty Ship: US/Canada ($7.99 for mp3!)]

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This weekend's Ottawa reading for The Art of Trespassing has been postponed. Will update when I know more!

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