Photo by Andrew Dowd. More on Flickr

For the past 25 years, Yo La Tengo has produced genre-defying music that has received nearly universal critical praise yet little mainstream success.  In the decades since guitarist Ira Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley formed the group, they have released 12 studio albums, including 2009’s Popular Songs.  The back album art of that most recent album – a striking array of beautiful buttons- graced the enormous stage backdrop on Sunday night at the Pageant as Kaplan, Hubley, and bassist James McNew ventured through a perfectly paced exploration of Yo La Tengo’s impressive repertoire.The band emerged onstage unceremoniously and immediately entered into the instrumental jam “And the Glitter is Gone.” Forty minutes and many songs later, Kaplan finally paused briefly to introduce the band before plunging back into the remainder of the two-hour set, punctuated only occasionally by banter from the stage. The three moved seamlessly from instrument to instrument, each contributing vocals on various songs, with Kaplan extracting not only melodies and rhythms but also waves of feedback from everything he touched. Throughout the set, melodic pop emerged only to be followed by frenzied, driven, rock. The pace slowed in the middle of the set with Hubley’s mesmerizing vocals on “I Feel Like Going Home” and acoustic versions of “Black Flowers” and “When It’s Dark” before rising again.   The show culminated in a massive wall of noise and percussion in the midst of closing track “Little Honda,” an onslaught that gave way to one final chorus of the Beach Boys classic to conclude the night.

However, returning to the stage to answer the insatiable crowd’s ovations, the band delivered an encore of contrasting styles, including a song with openers Times New Viking, a Bob Dylan cover, and a cover of “Emulsified,” a grooving track by the 1960s Mexican soul singer Rex Garvin.  Despite departing on that high note, the band returned for a second encore –  and a powerful version of the crowd-pleasing “Autumn Sweater” – that concluded a memorable performance by the veteran trio.

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Peter Bjorn and John can’t sit still.  The three Swedes have created indie-pop anthems, remixed tracks by artists ranging from Depeche Mode to Miike Snow, and collaborated with Mick Boogie to release the hip-hop infused Re-living Thing.  And, as anyone at their recent St. Louis concert can confirm, PB&J can play a mean cover of “Roll Over Beethoven.”  We had the chance to talk with drummer John Eriksson about his favorite influences and why the hip-hop world can’t get enough of his band.

Peter Bjorn and John – Objects Of My Affection

It’s been ten years since Peter Bjorn and John formed. What does it feel like to have been playing music together for a decade?

John Eriksson:

It feels a bit surreal but we are dealing with it in a very adult way. We´ve been having spontaneous miniature meetings all year where we remind ourselves that we actually are doing what we have always wanted to do. In three more years our band will hit puberty, so we are trying to figure out how we want this three headed boy to act in the future. 10 years ago some of us couldn´t connect a guitar to an amp, and 10 years ago we couldn´t drink coffee after 5 in the afternoon, but we have learned some stuff since then.

Things like “Young Folks” are a world apart from the stuff on Living Thing. Was that progression natural or was there some event or inspiration that altered your musical path?

JE:

I think that our inspiration comes from doing things in a difficult way. That, combined with spurts of total freedom, stress and improvisation sort of drives our music forward. It might have been easier if we had been a band like Motorhead, but I think we need to reinvent ourselves all the time. For instance, I hope Lemmy could produce our next record.

In between Writer’s Block and Living Thing, you released Seaside Rock. What role did that album play as a link between the other two?

JE:

Seaside Rock was very important for us. It was, like, you wake up on a Sunday with a nice perfect hangover and start to refurnish your apartment (or castle). It´s the same stuff that you move around, but the result feels new. Also, we went back to our Swedish childhood roots looking for forgotten feelings and sounds from the past. It was like a restart or something.

How have other styles of music influenced the music you create? How have your influences changed since Writer’s Block?

JE:

There is a constant flow of new influences. Everything you see, read, taste or hear something it changes you. I like it when you go back and listen to a song that you hated two years ago, only to discover that you now love it. For the moment, I´m always looking in the “other” section in record stores, searching for some music I never thought I would hear. Like Tibetan Monks singing, Japanese courtyard music, and Finish soul.

Is there anything particularly challenging about combining different styles of music? What about it is particularly rewarding?

JE:

Well, we don’t try to mix different styles of music, like “lets combine a grunge song with a Frank Sinatra big band ballad,” even though that might sound fantastic. It´s more like you use some spices from different things we’ve heard.  It could be a piano sound inspired by John Cage or a drumbeat from Afrika Bambaata. There are a lot of hip-hop elements that can be heard on Living Thing.

Was that always a big influence, or is that a more recent development?

JE:

Well, I´ve been listening to hip-hop more and more during the last 10 years, and when we recorded Young Folks, for instance, we wanted to create a James Brown kind of groove. A lot of the hip-hop beats are samples from James Brown records, so it´s kind of a development. When I think about it, that´s kind of our sound… some wierd Swedish sort of soul-funk indie-pop. It´s just that on Writers Block, it sounded a bit dirtier and on Living Thing, we wanted it to sound luxurious.

What do you think it is about your music that attracts hip-hop artists to it, like Kanye West with “Young Folks” and Drake with “Let’s Call it Off?”

JE:

I dont know, it might be the minimalistic drum patterns and our sparse arrangements. We have always put a lot of work into the beat, groove, and the drum/percussion sounds of each song, and if I was making hip-hop, I would sample our stuff all the time.

After the release of Living Thing, Mick Boogie put together Re-living Thing. What role did you play in that?

JE:

Just before that project, I had been in contact with the awesome hip-hop record label Stones Throw,trying to get Madlib or MF Doom to do something out of a PB&J “rap-track” that we recorded for Living Thing. So when the idea about a PB&J hip-hop remix album came up, we were all in. We wrote down a list of MCs and rappers that we liked, and Mick had his list – and then Mr. Boogie curated the whole thing with bravour. I think it´s amazing!

Most of the artists who worked on Re-living Thing are American. What’s the hip-hop scene like in Sweden?

JE:

There is a small hip-hop scene in Sweden, one group is called Latin Kings and another one is called Rune Korv Stroganoff, but since they rap in Swedish, we will save their remixes for our Swedish album in 2041.

Some of the top rappers from different eras have mixed with your songs, such as Kanye, GZA, and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Is there any artist in particular you’d like to hear work with your music?

JE:

Well, just having the persons you mentioned doing something with our music is mindblowing. I almost cant believe it. We are up for working with a lot of people in the future. Benny Andersson, Brian Eno, or Daft Punk would be some of our dream producers for instance. And doing the opening theme for a James Bond movie is another dream. Or even better, being James Bond…

Recently you’ve done some remixes and producing in several different genres, with Kidz in the Hall, Depeche Mode, and Miike Snow. How do those things come about?

JE:

Sometimes people ask us and sometimes we ask people. The Depeche Mode remix we did as a special feature – that would have been fun to have during the tour that we did with Depeche this summer. But I think it´s gonna be released now instead. It´s very nice, and it felt very cool sitting by the computer working with files, combining sounds from us and Depeche Mode.

Do you feel that work across genres, like Re-living Thing, is something that’s going to continue to grow in the future?

JE:

Maybe.

Where does Peter Bjorn and John fit in? Do you see a lot happening for yourselves in terms of collaboration with hip-hop artists and producers in the future? If not, in what direction can your listeners expect to be led toward?

JE:

We still got that PB&J “rap-track,” so we might start a TV-show called “Are you sure you can make Peter Bjorn And John rap.” The winner gets all the credit, and we might get a good sounding song. Apart from that, we will start rehearsing new stuff in a couple of weeks, and I think you will be surprised when you hear our next record…

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Photo by Andrew Dowd More on Flickr »

Despite the inquisitive nature of their name, WHY? made it a point not to leave many questions unanswered on Wednesday night at the Firebird. Armed with tambourines, maracas, and a distinct vocal style combining singsong melodies and fast-paced rhymes, lead singer Yoni Wolf swayed with the mic and delivered, compelling the audience standing only a few inches away in the intimate venue.Wolf and the other members of WHY? led the audience on a journey including songs from all three of the band’s full length albums and displaying an impressive range of sounds, from the driving bass and rhythmic vocals of “The Vowels Pt. 2” to the xylophone-heavy and melodic “January Twenty Something.” The band worked their way through the well-sequenced set quickly and skillfully, stopping only to exchange jokes or for Wolf to freestyle and sing several bars from “Meet Me in St. Louis,” which appropriately evoked a loud cheer from the crowd.

Songs from the band’s sophomore effort Alopecia had a particularly galvanizing effect on the audience, but even during tunes from their latest release Eskimo Snow they maintained the same intensity.  Their ability to recreate live the sudden transitions between the soft and melodic and the loud and rhythmic in the studio was displayed notably in “These Few Presidents,” as the soaring guitars dropped out and the crowd sang along with Wolf: “Even though I haven’t seen you in years, yours is a funeral I’d fly to from anywhere.” After an entire performance full of these moments illustrating WHY’s high level of musicianship and energy, the band returned for the encore – an unexpected version of a song from one of Wolf’s old projects.  Having further demonstrated their range of abilities, the group called it an evening, and the crowd was left with only one question: why stop?

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