Fate may have brought Deerhoof’s John Dieterich and Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeremy Barnes together. TMT has learned that the two musicians formed Dieterich & Barnes after cordial handshakes and a sudden whisking-off by a man wearing a gorilla mask, who, without introduction, suddenly piled both musicians into an unmarked box truck. A mutual coming-to led to the quick realization of both their presence and their purpose, and the rest was history! Or, as the press release put it:
They met one day and the next they were in a blank room with unfamiliar instruments in their hands and zero expectations, each agreeing to do his utmost to ignore the other. Yes, their first forays into musical collaboration began with the stipulation that each had to improvise in a rhythmic manner while not listening to what the other was doing.
Okay, so the details about a gorilla-masked kidnapper were only included for dramatic effect, but that shouldn’t detract from the still-unusual circumstance that served as the genesis for this project. And the fact that actual songs resulted from such a scenario is a testament to Dieterich and Barnes’s coexistence on a shared musical wavelength.
“Childish and sophisticated” is the word on their upcoming album The Coral Casino, and it’s set for release May 6 on the label that Barnes partly runs, Living Music Dupli-cation. Also, Barnes is planning to formally revive his A Hawk and a Hacksaw project (with Heather Trost) some time this year, FYI.
The Coral Casino tracklisting:
01. Out and About
02. Special Questions
03. Philae lands on Comet 67p_Churyumov-Gerasimenko
04. Mummers
05. People Person
06. Parasol Gigante
07. Sandwild
08. What
09. Brain Envy
10. The Frost Pocket
11. Sales Tan, Part 2