Todd Goldstein might be better known as a member of the now defunct Harlem Shakes, but he's been crafting indie pop/rock gems as ARMS since 2004. Mixtape Muse's first encounter with ARMS was way back towards the end of 2008 when I reviewed and did a write-up for the song "Kids Aflame." ARMS debut album, the Mixtape Muse-approved Kids Aflame, finally received its American release on October 27th through Gigantic Music. The album had previously only been released in Europe.
Shortly before his recent Kids Aflame release party/show at Pianos NYC, I had the opportunity to talk with Goldstein via e-mail about everything from his first musical experience to the end of Harlem Shakes.
Interview by Quinn S.
Photo courtesy of ARMS
Mixtape Muse: How long have you been writing and performing?
Todd Goldstein: I've been playing music since I was a little kid, but I picked up the guitar when I was 13 and started writing songs around the same time. So...14 years? Yikes, that's a long time ago. You'd think I'd be a little more secure in my abilities with that kind of experience.
MM: What was your first real experience with music? Was there a moment that made you decide to pursue music as a possible career?
TG: My first real experience was probably when my parents took me to a Bobby McFerrin concert when I was 6 or 7. The sounds he made! What a comedian/virtuoso. I think I decided I wanted to do music as a career in 8th grade. My elementary school music teacher's brother was Mark Sandman of the Boston band Morphine, who I loved. Mark came in and spoke to my class about his life as a musician. I remember him mentioning he grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, which was my favorite band ever at the time. I realized, hey, I could do that! I wanted to do that.
MM: As a musician myself, I’m always curious…have you been able to support yourself solely off of your music or do you hold down another job, too?
TG: I work as the copywriter/editorial director of a record label called Ghostly International. I spend my days writing about techno, ambient, and IDM, which is an interesting contrast to my own music. I enjoy the shit out of it.
MM: You recorded Kids Aflame in a very lo-fi way using one microphone and a laptop in what you refer to as a “series of rickety bedroom recording spaces.” Did the atmosphere of these rooms affect your mentality going in to record the songs?
TG: Yeah, definitely. It's like raising fish in cube-shaped tank so they all grow up shaped like cubes, too. I worked on my music exclusively in my home, so a certain amount of conforming to fit the domestic space was inevitable. I think the small scale of the songs--the simplicity and directness of the writing--came from the modesty of my surroundings at the time. Put me in a big fancy studio, and I'll think big. Put me in my tiny bedroom, I'll pull out the ukulele.
MM: How long has the material on Kids Aflame been around for?
TG: I wrote "Ana M" about 5 years ago; "Sad, Sad, Sad" I wrote about two years ago. So yeah, a long time. Suffice it to say I have a shit-ton of new stuff lying around now.
MM: ARMS is a bit of a departure from your work with Harlem Shakes. The songs cover a wide range of genres but manage to possess a unique sound. What would you say are your primary influences?
TG: When I was working on Kids Aflame, I was very into Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon, Galaxie 500, your 90s indie rock standard-bearers (Pavement, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Magnetic Fields), Low, UK shoegaze bands like Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and a lot of Brian Eno's pop records. Scott Walker, too, and Arthur Russell. Bigtime.
MM: For Kids Aflame, was there anything outside of music that had a deep impact in the composition of the songs?
TG: I was coming off a couple of years of pretty intense depression, so once the new songs started coming they tended to be a lot of messages to myself, calming myself down, telling myself everything was going to be okay.
MM: Your songs sound layered with instrumentation but not overbearingly so. What is your songwriting process like?
TG: Pretty painstaking and frustrating. My process is always changing, and it varies from song to song. Some of the songs on the record came in flashes of inspiration, but most of them came from high-intensity trial and error, looking for the stuff that just felt right.
MM: Your lyrics tend to be straightforward in a way but are also wrapped in a certain amount of symbolism. What is the inspiration behind your lyrics? How do you approach writing lyrics?
TG: Again, always changing. On Kids Aflame I was sort of abstracting my internal world and writing from various characters' points of view... now, I write mostly fiction about characters in terrible, supernatural peril.
MM: Harlem Shakes seemed to have some good momentum going with the most recent album but you guys recently broke up. May I ask why the band ended?
TG: Nothing too big - everyone just wanted to be doing different things, and we realized we were happier as people away from the band. Life's too short to not love what you're doing, and I think we all just fell out of love with the band.
MM: Now that the Harlem Shakes chapter of your career has closed, what are your plans now? I notice you recently put up a new demo for a song called “Homelife” on your MySpace. Is ARMS your primary focus or do you have other projects you plan to work on?
TG: ARMS is the only focus now. I'm writing new material, working it out with the band, and trying to get a tour together.
MM: If you could tour with any band/musician alive or dead, who would it be and why?
TG: Mark Kozelek. His music just always sounds good to me.
MM: Now that Kids Aflame is out on both hemispheres of the globe, do you have any hopes for what might happen with the album or has the material been out for so long you’re ready to move on to the next album/project?
TG: I just want people to hear kids aflame and feel something. The new record will be ready as soon as they're sick of the old one.
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My thanks to Todd Goldstein.
You can purchase Kids Aflame here or on iTunes.
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