Theo & the Skyscrapers: Reaching for new heights

You know Theo Kogan.

Whether it is through her acting – she played Theodora in Lloyd Kaufmann’s Troma classic “Terror Firmer” (“I did it because I loved the ‘Toxic Avenger’ film and it was a great thing, once,” says Kogan) – or through her high-fashion modeling gigs, you’ve seen the buxom blonde with the multihued tattoos before.

You’ve also heard her howl and grind as the frontwoman for the illustrious New York riot girl outfit Lunachicks. Their brand of madcap, high-energy punk rock has helped tile the floor for countless all-chick alternative acts blasting on the stereo today. So when someone, especially in the media, is unfamiliar with who she is or what she’s done, it comes as bit of a shock.

Case in point, an unflattering review of the 2006 self-titled debut from Kogan’s latest musical incarnation, Theo & the Skyscrapers, suggests she is no more than an replication of Karen O from the New York art-noise band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who has only shone brightly in recent years. “You can tell Kogan is shooting for that very kind of raw art-rock-punk aesthetic that the Yeahs seem to embody,” writes the critic. “Unfortunately, the fine art of imitation got lost along the way…” The reviewer does mention, quickly, Kogan’s stretch with Lunachicks but it doesn’t seem to give credit where credit’s due.

“What seems to happen throughout music history is that somebody is original and then somebody else takes it and bastardizes it and runs with it like a bandit and we see that over and over and over again,” Kogan says, who admits she’s a fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, even before they “blew up.”

Kogan gasps with a laugh when she hears the critic remarks that she resembles Miss O. “He probably means voice-wise, I guess,” she proposes, but her interpretation sounds loaded with cynicism. Nevertheless, his speculated accusatory stance raises one question: would Karen O exist if not for Kogan?

“I can’t be really that high on a horse about things. I think that guy probably doesn’t know where I came from,” says Kogan. “I can’t say there wouldn’t be no Karen O without me and I can’t say I didn’t help to basically move women along in music in my own way whether people know that or remember because I know I did. But that doesn’t say why Karen O’s here because it’s not.”

“It’s amazing because a lot of writers have no idea [who I am],” the 38-year-old Brooklyn native adds.

Musically, Brooklyn-based Theo & the Skyscrapers, who, formed in 2004, were originally a quartet but stripped down to a trio after parting ways with their bass player, are nothing like Lunachicks’ hard pounding ferociousness. Instead, their electronic sound is more rhythmic and keyboard-driven, leaning on new wave sensibilities and rock dynamics. Particularly, their second effort, So Many Ways to Die, which was released this past August, draws from the “sick, dark keyboard” effect of older artists like Gary Neumann, largely because, as Kogan puts it, without a bass player, their keyboard takes on its role.

The two bands also differ every other way, yet still maintain a similar “family” vibe, and for Kogan, it’s something that can never truly be explained. But she tries her best, offering that with Lunachicks, it was “almost another life” and now, her life is “incredibly different.” “It’s just part of growing up,” she says.

“Back then, when we had differences, there were moments where it was really not fun and there were moments playing with the boys that’s not fun but it’s usually because somebody’s in a bad mood,” says Kogan, who will be launching a new high-end make-up line this spring with partner Allison Burns called Armour. “I mean, a lot of it’s kind of the same but on stage, I think with both bands, you are always able to pull it together and have the show and suddenly you feel like everything’s fine.”

Not that her existence should rest solely on her work as a Lunachick. She is, in fact, human like the rest of us, subject to the irritating wait for the ambiguous cable guy. But it’s hard to deny that it’s a part of her and a major part of the music narrative. And now, with Theo & the Skyscrapers, whose DNA makeup also includes husband and Toilet Boys member Sean Pierce and drummer Chris Kling, she is already fashioning a similar dent, if not crater, in music today.

Just take a look at their supportive fan base and their busy schedule. First, the group has made it to the quarterfinals of this year’s Spin magazine/Music Nation Hot Pursuit contest, an online competition to discover the next big, breakout rock act. They were also voted as the challenge’s Geeks’ Choice for the week of October 1 (“I just thought it was some whatever section of people that decided they were geeks but then I heard it was the music geeks so I think it’s awesome,” says Kogan). And, on Wednesday, October 17, Theo & the Skyscrapers will be hitting the stage with Bloody Social, Excellent, Fresh Kills, and the Vandelles at Greenpoint’s Club Europa, 98 Meserole Ave, as part of the long-running CMJ (College Music Jamboree) Music Marathon 2007.

“I think it will be really fun,” says the charismatic Kogan. “I mean, [Europa is] a little out of the way but it’s a good room and I think the bill will be a fun bill for people to come see.”

“It’s amazing the amount of people that come to town to see bands during that festival,” she adds.

The Skyscrapers will also perform on Fearless TV, the 30 minute music block on the FOX channel that features up-and-coming musical acts. The air date for the performance has yet to be announced, but as Kogan assures, it will be sometime this month. And while she is glad to go against the grain, she’s not exactly thrilled with the channel on which the performance will be aired because, as Kogan puts it, FOX is the “right wing” and that’s something she’s not a part of.

For the most part, Theo & the Skyscrapers have received a tremendous amount of support from their fans, those familiar with Lunachicks and those discovering Kogan for the first time. She does confess, though, that she’s run into a few Lunachicks followers that aren’t necessarily encouraging of this new venture, but, for her, that doesn’t matter because why start a new band and do the same thing?

“If you’re going to have a new band that’s completely different with a different vibe and different people, why should it be the same,” Kogan asks.

Theo & the Skyscrapers perform Wednesday, October 17 at Club Europa, 98 Meserole Ave., (corner of Manhattan Ave.), Brooklyn, NY 11222, (718) 383-5723, www.europaclub.com

Musician Turned College Professor Convenes the School of Indie Rock

Through the daft obscurity of the October 18 installment of the Village Voice’s Best Of NYC series, where “Best Teapots That Look Like Chemistry Sets” is an actual category, Brooklyn has found its latest local Indie-Rock celebrity in David Grubbs, an assistant professor at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music.

Voted one of the “Best Teachers for an Indie-Rock Fan to Admire,” the humble Kentucky-born rocker-turned-professor laughs at the thought of pinching the vote.

“The running joke seems to be to come up with an overly specific, overly narrow category,” said Grubbs, who was one of the two that coveted the title. “Am I the best teacher for indie rock fans to admire? It’s not for me to judge! But I will say that I’ve spent years of my life inside libraries as well as years of my life inside rock clubs, so there’s that to consider.”

Maybe it is his irrefutable love of music that makes him so appealing to the Voice – according to the weekly, Grubbs is a teacher that “makes you want to go back to school.” And, despite his inability to vocalize his “lifelong love of music,” the 38-year-old finds teaching just as equally winsome.

“The thing that I like most about teaching music is to try to put it into an interdisciplinary context, where you’re not only talking about the music proper, but also about the sense that people make of it, what it has to do with technology, what it has to do with individual and group identities, and what it has to do with art generally,” said Grubbs. “And whether there is such a thing as ‘art generally.’”

And in the spirit of his philosophy — a Socratic type of thought process that has him questioning and experimenting with things otherwise untouched — Grubbs will be performing as a special guest with Stephen Prina on November 28 at The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street in Manhattan.

As for imparting his musically acumen on the students of Brooklyn College, it all began, he said, with one person in particular – director of the college’s Center for Computer Music, Professor Amnon Wolman.

According to Grubbs, before coming to Brooklyn College’s Conservatory of Music, he was most familiar with Wolman’s music and reputation for being a “fantastic teacher” – Wolman taught at Northwestern University at the time Grubbs was living in Chicago. So when word was announced that there was a job available at the college where Wolman taught, it caught his attention.

Grubbs otherwise admits Wolman was not the only thing that drew him to the campus. With a B.A. in English from Georgetown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago, he credits his interest in the conservatory partly to the newly established master’s program in Performance and Interactive Media Arts.

“Because I have degrees in literature, but also experience in composing, performing, and teaching music, as well as a strong interest in contemporary art, I knew that teaching in a multidisciplinary program like PIMA would be a dream job,” he said.

Like the graduate program, Grubbs is multidisciplinary himself – under his belt is his seminar in John Cage for both the Conservatory and the English Department, a radio production class for the Television and Radio department, and his teachings in the new master’s program.

For the spring semester, Grubbs plans to teach a special topics course in Music and American Studies entitled “Popular Music and Technology,” which will discuss the interaction between pop music and recorded sound technologies – a course, he said, similar to “The LP Era,” which he taught in his two years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

It seems, however, that Grubbs is most elated by the Cage seminar. With his background as a Cage aficionado – including a dissertation and book in the works on the experimental longhair — teaching material that is “near and dear” to him is something fortunate, especially in an interdisciplinary setting, he said, and to hear a music major say they’ve learned something from an English major and vice-versa, makes him “happy.”

“I’m constitutionally drawn to situations such as these,” Grubbs said.

Grubbs has also made a name for himself outside the classroom. Aside from a stint with the Red Krayola, a band built on the “revolving-door membership policy,” he was the founder of Gastr del Sol, a non-traditional band that, founded on the idea of flexibility and open collaboration, played anything from jazz, free improvisation, contemporary classical music, electronic, dub reggae among other genres – once claiming Jim O’Rourke, who has since gone on to play in New York noises Sonic Youth and to produce Wilco.

In 1997, he began recording under his own name, releasing nine full-length albums since then, and much like Gastr del Sol and the Red Krayola, Grubbs tends to play with a different lineup of musicians on each record. After moving to New York in 1999, he began performing music full-time, spending his first six years in the city on tour in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Earlier this year, Grubbs had received a $20,000 grant in Music/Sound from the non-profit organization the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, founded by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and John Cage in 1963. With the grant, Grubbs plans to produce a new album with poet Susan Howe, entitled Souls of the Labadie Tract, which he will release on his Blue Chopsticks label. He will also apply the money to producing his next solo album, which he hopes will be released by next summer. As for the grant itself, he said “it was a surreal experience to receive a check signed by Jasper Johns.”

But, it seems, if it wasn’t for his past – where all musical accumulations began – he wouldn’t be in the position he is in. At just six-years-old, Grubbs began tickling the ivories with classical music, only to pick up the guitar and play in the band at age 12.

“[It] was the early 1980s, when it seemed that the most relevant, most exciting music was new wave and punk, and which meant that you had to write your own songs,” said the musically-inclined professor. “Playing in a cover band was simply not acceptable, so I had to start writing music. The first record that I made came out in 1982, when I was fourteen, and I have to say that I’m happy that you’re unlikely to ever hear it.”

In the spirit of the Village Voice’s Best of NYC series, Grubbs took a stab at some of his best and like Sunn O))), John Cage and the slew of other experimental musicians that are overlooked and underappreciated, his answers include : Best venue – “Tonic.” Best music store – “[A tie] Other Music/Kim’s Underground.” Best instrument and what not store – “Main Drag Music.” Best electronics store – “J&R.” Best live act – “Animal Collective.” Best bar – “Barbes.”

And the best music school? “There’s no comparison. Don’t make me state the obvious.”

David Grubbs plays November 28 at The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street in Manhattan. Admission is $8. For more information call (212) 255-5793 or visit www.thekitchen.org.

(A version of this article, written by Annamarya Scaccia, has also appeared in Brooklyn College Magazine)

Dj Spooky Sends His Subliminal Vibes

On a boat sailing down the Rhine in Basel, Switzerland, media artist Paul Miller sits quietly, pressing down on the keys of his cell phone. He cannot be seen or heard, but instead his answers to the list of inquisitive questions before him can only be read.
And maybe, possibly, as he types words into the body of an email, he can be felt. Intuitively, of course.

Because, for Miller, life is all about the “vibe.”

“I like spots that have some kind of off-the-beaten-path flair…the basic vibe is that things should be fun,” he writes in his cross-continental response. “I really want to get to the point where music can mirror ideas like that.”

Miller extends this vibe to his own stage persona. Known best as DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid, Miller takes reference from “The Subliminal Kid,” a mutinous character shaped by the late author William S. Burroughs. And like Burroughs’ creation, Miller, who prefers to perform without labeling his music, formulates allegorical retorts through media-intensive means, ultimately shaping the music and art his fans have come to expect.

“I’m a sponge, anything goes. I want to see and experience anything that keeps life interesting,” said the 36-year-old turntablist, who resides in Downtown Manhattan. “We’re in such standardized times these days, it’s all so boring. People should realize that it’s about living NOW, not the future, not the past. That’s what makes life worth living.”

But this Washington D.C. native is more than a physical manifestation of Burroughs’ imagination. A true “jack of all trades,” Miller is a seemingly eclectic sort. Among being a writer, musician, and conceptual artist, Miller is considered to be the most intellectual turntablist of DJ culture with a formative influence on illbient music. And on June 30, fans could hear him spin tracks at Southpaw, located in the affluent Park Slope section of Brooklyn, for the opening weekend night of the 2^nd Annual Afro Punk festival, presented by BAMcinematek. An offshoot of James Spooner’s documentary “Afro-punk,” this five-day event, which ends on July 4, will feature countless hours of film and music that celebrates the African- American punk rocker.

As part of the opening night, Miller will battle legendary DJ Don Letts, who many believe single-handedly turned a generation of punks onto reggae. Set to follow the mêlée are live performances by the Eternals, Shawn Hewitt, and Nouvea Riche.

His performance at Southpaw will come three days after his new album “In Fine Style: 50,000 Volts of Trojan Records” has been released. Slated to drop Tuesday, June 27 on Trojan Records, “In Fine Style” is a two-disc complication of his favorite tracks from the record company archives. According to Miller’s website, Trojan Records had approached him and requested he handpick tracks from their collection and create a “selections” album. But for him, the trouble with such a feat hid itself in one simple question- how do you mix music that changed the world? His answer- represent the old and the new.

“The new album of ‘selections’ from Trojan is even more old school [then the last album ‘Drums of Death’],” said Miller. “So much electronic and pop music sucks these days and I think there’s so much undiscovered music from the past people should hear.”

In the midst of mixing old school and new school beats into one powerful vibe, Miller also produces work as a media artist, work that has appeared in the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennial for Architecture, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, among other places. In 2004, Miller held a solo show at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, which echoed his live performance of “DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation,” Miller’s remix of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “Birth of a Nation.”

Aside from his life as a turntablist and a media artist, Miller finds the time to work as a professor of music-mediated art at the European Graduate School, a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies, located in Switzerland. According to Miller, he was approached by the administrators of the European Graduate School via a “strange email that was very cryptic.” “I wasn’t even sure if it was real,” he said.

But once he realized that the email was as real as their desire to have him on board, he took the gig and it’s been good times ever since. “I loooooove the EGS. It’s a great environment for progressives.”

On top of working as a professor, Miller has had a heavy hand working in the journalism field. He has written various pieces on music, art and technology for The Village Voice, The Source, Slate.com, Rap Pages, and Artforum, and has published a collection of his essays under the title “Rhythm Science,” out now on MIT Press. He was also the editor of ArtByte: the Magazine of Digital Arts and is co-publisher of A Gathering of the Tribes, a periodical dedicated to the works of writers from a multicultural standpoint.

It is, however, of no surprise that a multi-tasking, multi-talented artist such as Miller would find himself dabbling in the world of the written word. “Well, it’s all about the stories, and like music, you can only say that it plays with memory and how we forget things,” he said.

In other words, “journalists, like DJ’s, help us remember the way things happened.”

For more information on Paul Miller, check out his website www.djspooky.com. Catch DJ Spooky live on June 30 at Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. For information on the 2^nd Annual Afro Punk festival, check out www.afropunk.com.