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La Otracina |
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Let's hear about the history of the band... how and when did La Otracina begin?
LA OTRACINA started
in 2003 by me and guitarist Josh Anzano. Josh eventually left the
band to form TITAN, who are on Tee Pee Records. The line-up has
gone through many changes and I am the only original
member.
It has been an exciting evolution. And like all evolution is has been painful, creative, and emotional, but we still ride on making our music after all these weird years!
The current members of the band, Evan and Phil, are the best line-up the band has ever had, we all share a very common goal musically and creatively. We all have a fun together when we play, rehearse, and tour, we’re all good friends!
It is economically the best thing for a rock band, and mostly musically it is perfect, but just sometimes a 4th person would be SOOOO awesome to have. But for now, we make a lot of sound for 3 people.
Colour Sounds Recordings is my own label. I started it as a way to release musical projects that I was working on and my experiments in avant-garde music. It grew into a ‘real’ label, but I only release my own music on the label. Eventually I will be starting a new label called Greene Disk to release music by other musicians and bands.
Right now we are all focused on LA OTRACINA. We don’t have time for much else. But I try to stay active with other musicians. I am on the only person with active side projects, I also play drums in my free-jazz group OWL XOUNDS (http://www.myspace.com/owlsounds) and my new duo with artist Clinton Wilkins (who did the cover art for “Tonal Ellipse Of The One”) where I play keyboards and he plays guitar, it is very hallucinogenic and dreamy experimental progressive-space-rock, influenced by people like Richard Pinhas (HELDON), Robert Fripp (KING CRIMSON), Klaus Schulz, Edgar Froese (TANGERINE DREAM), we are called DRAGONFRYND (http://www.myspace.com/dragonfrynd). I just make the time in my life to play music and make recordings, obviously music is the most important thing in the world to me. Right now I am very fortunate that many labels are interested in what we are doing so they will also be interested in our side projects. I also have a duo with Phil of LA OTRACINA called EMERALD WINDS and so far we have 1 song out on a compilation called ‘White Noise’ on the Dynamo Sound Collective record label. If you want to see how busy I really am, you can see all of my personal discography at http://www.vorg.net/csr/discography.html
John Whitson who owns the label contacted me and wanted to ‘officialy’ release the LA OTRACINA “Love Love Love” 2xCD-R that I had issued in limited edition on Colour Sounds Recordings. But I wanted him to put out a new record instead of re-issuing an older one, so I sent him the demos for “Tonal Ellipse Of The One” and he agreed to release it.
We are NOT signed to Holy Mountain ot any label. We are NOT supported financially by any record labels. We do not receive any money to do anything, we pay for everything that we do. The record labels just ‘lend’ us some money, sometimes. But as far as the recording process for “Tonal Ellipse Of The One”, it took about 1.5 years to record/mix because the guitar player who wrote and recorded all the music with me quit the band during the process and then the computer with all of the music files was broken for a long time, and then I went on a bunch of tours with other bands, so it took so long, but in the end, its one of the best albums of my life, probably THE BEST I ever made, EPIC!
People really liked ”Tonal Ellipse Of The One”, the reviews were all very favorable, BUT I don’t think many people understood the underlying complexity of many of the musical ideas within it. It is a very colorful album but it is also very intellectual and musically challenging, I don’t know if many people appreciate the amount of work that went into writing and recording the album. As far as other music we have made, most people really enjoy it, I think we make the kind of psychedelic music that most people only hear from the 60’s and 70’s, so they are excited when they hear what we do.
We have played with other Holy Mountain bands very few times, and really there is no relationship with those other bands at all, we don’t even know most of them. Some of those bands come through New York to play on tour and they never ask us to play with them, it is a VERY strange thing. There are a lot of problems with the contemporary music scene in the US now, that is what the song “Fight For the Night” is about on the new album ‘The Risk Of Gravitation’.
I don’t think so. I think there are only a few GOOD bands doing psych in the US, the problem is that there is no scene at all, nobody is connected, there is no solid network, and there are many MANY bands who are PRETENDING to be psych who are horrible.
WHITE HILLS are great! They are friends of ours. I have a project with Dave of WHITE HILLS to be recorded soon. Also there is the amazing PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT, one of the best heavy psych rock bands on the planet from NYC! Really there are not many good bands from NYC doing TRUE psychedelic music, most of them are bullshit and fake!
We haven't
heard about Psychic Paramount really...
Listen to music. Practice music. Have sex. Go to the ocean. Think. Smoke marijuana. Write music. Record music.
The improvisations are all just coming right out from us. Much of the back catalog of our old records are improvised, but lately we don’t do that, we only write music. Some of what we write includes improvisational ideas BUT we always know where the composition is and where the improvisation is.
This approach of structuring the songs but letting space for improvisation reminds me of the good old jazzmen... are they an influence at least in this aspect?
Of course, we reference jazz and avant-garde jazz in our arrangements, but we also go beyond that and are inspired by modern compositional/new music, electronic music, noise, etc. We really try to be diverse in our approach to writing and arranging, its not JUST rock n roll!
The bands that I listen to from the 60’s/70’s, they all combine these types of music together, we think it is OBVIOUS to do this, and we think it is stupid that most bands don’t do this anymore, they only have 1 sound, and it is BORING. Can you tell me any bands from the 60’s/70’s that had 1 sound? Of course not, bands from those days played everything, blues, rock, jazz, soft, loud, fast, slow, heavy, delicate, composition, improv, experimental, noise, pop music. We dedicate ourselves to being able to approach our music the same way.
We want to take the listener on a journey. We give them musical ideas to bounce around BUT in the end, they get to decide where the music will take them.
Drugs allow you to see things in a different way and to understand different possibilities. If you understand different possibilities, then you can do more interesting and creative things. I smoke pot at almost every show and rehearsal we do, for me it is a part of the music.
How much are lyrics important?
We have only had lyrics and vocals for a few months. I just started singing a few months ago. We were an instrumental only bands for many years, but we decided to change this year. I really love signing and drumming, a very real challenge, and I love the writing of lyrics, it is a new process for me, but it is similar to coming up with song titles, album titles, or cover art, really it is just all imagery and colors. I suggest some ideas with words and the listener can take them on their own journey.
We have a vinyl 12” album coming out in November on Holy Mountain called “Blood Moon Riders”. It is our LAST instrumental album! We will always release music on Colour Sounds Recordings because it is my label and we always release music in limited quantities when we go on tour or do a special project.
THANKS! That’s Evan’s song, he wrote most of the music. We did a big tour this past winter and we played the song as an instrumental piece, but now with vocals it is much more fun, even though there are only a few words. It is a fun song because we do some doom, some stoner riffs, some spacey-blues, some free-improvisational stuff, and the great jazz-rock ending which is so much fun to play!
I hope so, European touring is hard, we don’t have the connections, will you HELP US!!!!????
“Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 004. Released 11/03, edition of 50. Sold out. This is the first album we recorded. It was made at home on a 4-track cassette recorded, a very experimental process. It is 1 very long track called “Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements”. The line-up was Adam Kriney/Josh Anzano/Dan Bates. This release is out of print but it is included on the “Dawn Haze/Early Daze” 2xCD-R collection which is now available.
“Trinomy” 3” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 005. Released 07/04, edition of 19. Sold out. This was a short live performance we made in front of 6 people in a basement. It was awesome! There are 4 tracks on this disc: 1. Pulse R 2. Orange California Sunshine 3. Pulse S 4. Cornfield The line-up was Adam Kriney/Dan Bates/Nick Chapman. This release is out of print but it is included on the “Dawn Haze/Early Daze” 2xCD-R collection which is now available.
“Spatial” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 007. Released 09/04, edition of 30. Sold out. This was an interesting synthesizer heavy recording we made in our home. There are three songs on the disc: 1. Electric Worm Frenzy 2. Spiral Horizons 3. Sunshine Sister The line-up was Adam Kriney/Dan Bates/Nick Chapman. This release is out of print but it is included on the “Dawn Haze/Early Daze” 2xCD-R collection which is now available.
“Aren’t It Spectral” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 010. First released 05/05, 3 pressings, total edition of 100. Sold out. This was a cool mini-album when we were just a duo of guitar and drums. There are four songs on the disc: 1. Woven Wanderer 2. Green Birds 3. Cowboy And The Strawberry Queen
4.
Ever Reach The Sky
V/A “Here We All Are Sitting In A Rainbow” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 017. Released 10/05, unknown amount pressed. Sold out. Features 3 previously released LA OTRACINA tracks. This was a free compilation I released on Colour Sounds Recordings that had music by all of my musical projects. It featured 3 previously issued LA OTRACINA songs: "Cowboy And The Strawberry Queen" – from “Aren’t It Spectral” "Fauna And Animated Floral Arrangements (excerpt)" – from "Fauna And Animated Floral Arrangements” "California Orange Sunshine (Creation)" – from “Love Love Love”
“Love Love Love” 2xCD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 019. First released 03/06, 5 pressings, total edition of 429. This is the best selling LA OTRACINA release on the Colour Sounds label, it is 2 CD-Rs of music from the first 2 years of the band featuring all different line-ups. Tracks: CD 1 1. California Orange Sunshine (Creation) 2. Acide Cervau... 3. Hazy Mazes 4. There, The Infinite Between 5. Mu's Muse 6. Blurred Vision Netherworld 7. Freakbeat Eclipse Solar
CD 2 1. Sky Journey I. G.E. Rides The Octogone II. California Orange Sunshine III. Electric Worm Frenzy IV. Spiral Horizons V. Sunshine Sister VI. Cornfield 2. Blue Magnetic Time 3. California Orange Sunshine (Prism) 4. Freakbeat Eclipse Lunar 5. Neon Nova 6. Rated X (Miles Davis)
LA OTRACINA/HAT CITY INTUITIVE/BIG NURSE “The World Will End Yesterday” 3-way split CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 028. Released 08/06, edition of 107. Sold out. Features 1 LA OTRACINA track. This was a 3-way split CD-R with two of our friends bands. There is 1 long LA OTRACINA song on this, it is a very experimental track, similar to “Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements”, very sound-collage. It is all recordings made live on tour while the band was a duo of Adam Kriney/Matt Lavallee. The LA OTRACINA song is called: "Elliptical Envelopment Of The Other None" This release is out of print but the music is included on the “Dark Matter” CD-R collection which is now available.
“Dawn Haze/Early Daze” 2xCD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 029. First released 06/07, 3 pressings, total edition of 250. Comp of out of print releases: “Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements”, “Trinomy”, “Spatial”, and “Aren’t It Spectral”. This release is available and it contains 4 old EPs which are out of print, “Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements”, “Trinomy”, “Spatial”, and “Aren’t It Spectral”. Tracks are: CD-R 1 1. Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements 2. Electric Worm Frenzy 3. Spiral Horizons 4. Sunshine Sister
CD-R 2 1. Pulse R 2. Orange California Sunshine 3. Pulse S 4. Cornfield 5. Woven Wanderer 6. Green Birds 7. Cowboy And The Strawberry Queen 8. Ever Reach The Sky This release is available from Colour Sounds Recordings.
“Tonal Ellipse Of The One” CD, Holy Mountain 181106 Released 06/07. Our first full length album, released on CD by the Holy Mountain label. Only 1000 CDs pressed, it is almost out of print. Features music written by Adam Kriney/Tyler Nolan, but additional musicians played on the CD including Ninni Morgia/Jordon Schranz/Gene Janas. Tracks are: 1. Yellow Mellow Magic 2. Beyond The Dusty Hills (Cowboy In The Desert Part Two) 3. Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood 4. Sailor Of The Salvian Seas 5. Ode To Amalthea This release is available from Holy Mountain.
“Tonal Ellipse Of The One” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 030. Released 06/07, promotional only release, edition of 50. Sold out. A tour-only item, exact same music as the Holy Mountain version. This is a limited edition promotional version of the Holy Mountain album. Music is the same! Tracks are: 1. Yellow Mellow Magic 2. Beyond The Dusty Hills (Cowboy In The Desert Part Two) 3. Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood 4. Sailor Of The Salvian Seas 5. Ode To Amalthea
“The Silence Dimension” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 031. First released 06/07, 3 pressings, total edition of 105. Sold out. This was a limited edition EP similar to the sound-collage experiments on “Fauna & Animated Floral Arrangements” and "Elliptical Envelopment Of The Other None" (from the 3-way split). Some of the music was new recordings and some was from older EPs. Evan Sobel did the mixing and engineering. Tracks are: 1. The Silent Dementia 2. Hand On Sun 3. Pear-Born Thicket This release is out of print but the music is included on the “Dark Matter” CD-R collection which is now available.
“The Avocado Sunbeam Tapes” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 032. Released 11/07, edition of 100. Sold out. This is live recordings from our US 2007 summer tour. We made all the recordings on cassette tapes and these are all improvisational songs from various shows. The line-up was Adam Kriney/Evan Sobel/Ninni Morgia and on one song we are joined with Steve Krakow of PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND on guitar. Tracks are: 1, Babylons & Badlands 2. Of Sons, Suns, Clouds & Thunder 3. Plastic Otrasounds Swam Infinite 4. We Came Through The Mountains...And Dazed The Time 5. Manic Imaginarium Of Spells, The Magic Was Told, And Truth Still Known This release is out of print but the music is included on the “Dark Matter” CD-R collection which is now available.
“Dark Matter” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 033. Released 01/08, edition of 100. Comp of out of print releases: LA OTRACINA track from “The World Will End Yesterday”, “The Silence Dimension”, and “The Avocado Sunbeam Tapes”. This release is available and it contains the LA OTRACINA track from “The World Will End Yesterday” 3-way split CD-R, “The Silence Dimension”, and “The Avocado Sunbeam Tapes”. 1. Elliptical Envelopment Of The Other None 2. The Silent Dementia 3. Hand On Sun 4. Pear-Born Thicket 5, Babylons & Badlands 6. Of Sons, Suns, Clouds & Thunder 7. Plastic Otrasounds Swam Infinite 8. We Came Through The Mountains...And Dazed The Time 9. Manic Imaginarium Of Spells, The Magic Was Told, And Truth Still Known This release is available from Colour Sounds Recordings.
LA OTRACINA/THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO 2008 US Tour split CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 034. Released 01/08, edition of 60. Sold Out. Features 3 LA OTRACINA tracks. This was a limited edition recording we made with the band THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO. We went on a big US tour with them in Jan-Feb of 2008. This LA OTRACINA recordings is all improvisations from the Adam Kriney/Evan Sobel/Scott Prato trio period. The 3 LA OTRACINA tracks are: “The Got-No-Smoke Blues” “Moonbeat Interstellar Truckrock” “Purple Whales Of The Sun” This release is out of print!
“Cosmic Appreciation” CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 035. Released 01/08, promotional only release, edition of 34. Sold out. A tour-only item, features 2 previously unreleased tracks and 9 others previously released. This was a limited edition promotional CD we gave to friends on tour in Jan-Feb 2008. It has mostly previously released music but features 2 unreleased songs from the Adam Kriney/Ninni Morgia duo demos. The tracks are: 1. Cowboy And The Strawberry Queen – from “Aren’t It Spectral” 2. Meteor Truckin' – from LA OTRACINA/THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO 2008 US Tour split 3. Acide Cervau (edit) – from “Love Love Love” 4. Plastic Otrasounds Swam Infinite – from “The Avocado Sunbeam Tapes” 5. Blue Magntic Time – from “Love Love Love” 6. Earth Is Not So Close Today – previously unreleased 7. The Got-No-Smoke Blues - from LA OTRACINA/THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO 2008 US Tour split 8. Cornfield – from “Trinomy” 9. Watermelon Wormhole – previously unreleased 10. California Orange Sunshine (Creation) – from “Love Love Love” 11. Nine Times The Color Red Explodes Like Heated Blood – from “Tonal Ellipse Of The One”
“Crystal Wizards From The Cosmic Weird” CD-R, Ski-Fi Industries Transmission #1. Released 01/08, edition of 100. This was a crazy show we played in Italy as the Adam Kriney/Evan Sobel/Ninni Morgia line-up in front of 20 boring people. This album is improvisations only recorded live in concert in Bologna, Italy. The tracks are: 1. The Grid Stretches Around Us 2. Meteor Truckin 3. Ballad Of The Hot Ghost Mama 4. Screams From The Event Horizon This release is still available from the Sky-Fi label.
V/A "Peace Frog Rides The Rocket" CD with Peace Frog zine issue 2, Released 03/08, limited edition. Features 1 exclusive LA OTRACINA track. This is a Greek magazine that comes with a CD compilation. There is a previously unreleased LA OTRACINA song from the Adam Kriney/Ninni Morgia/Jordon Schranz trio period which was recorded live in New York City, it is an improvisation. The track is called: “Dolphy Rides The Comet Dust” The Magazine and CD is available from the Peace Frog Zine.
"The Risk Of Gravitation" CD-R, Colour Sounds Recordings 036, Released 06/08, limited edition of 300 copies. This is the current mini-album from us. With new line-up Adam Kriney/Evan Sobel/Phil Ortanez. This is the first LA OTRACINA album to feature vocals. There are some improvisations and some long songs too. The tracks are: 1. Walking With The Wild Walkers 2. Raze The Sky 3. Behind The Ocular Curtain 4. Crystal Wizards Of The Cosmic Weird 5. Incendiary Mind Delay 6. Fight For The Night 7. An Ancient Confusion This release is available from Colour Sounds Recordings.
Thanks
for the interview! Please visit our myspace page at
http://www.myspace.com/laotracina |
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