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Indie + Alternative culture appreciates new rising artists that create diversity and new insights within their respective genres.
We constantly feature notable indie and alternative artists on the verge of success. Meet this week’s featured artist in an exclusive interview. Introducing You To Your Next Favorite Artist: Modern Aquatic |
We recently talked with Modern Aquatic to get their take on alternative culture. Read on to find out more about your next favorite artist, and stream their cool Beach Monster EP.
Comments From The Curating-Editor
That’s a difficult question only for the simple fact that there’s so many but probably The Strokes - Room On Fire, The Beatles - Abbey Road, and Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
What are your fondest musical memories?
As musicians, collectively playing at one of Cincinnati’s biggest club, Bogarts. It was a dream and goal of ours to play there before 2016 was over. It was a very unreal moment for each of us. We used to just be the guys you’d see in your friend’s basement playing a show, and now we’re playing at Bogarts, in Nashville, small Festivals, it’s really come a long way.
Another moment we’ll always remember is hearing our music not only on the local radio station, WNKU, but also on a radio station in the UK. As listeners we’ve gone to see some of our favorite artists perform and the way we felt is a way we want to make others feel. As a group we all went to a show back in Nov. and the band really brought the room together. They made us feel like nothing could ever be bad in the world and we really just want to make others feel that same way.
Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener?
We’re drawn to music with a surf/beachy feel, almost a bit ambient like. A lot of guitar driven pop/dream pop music appeals to us too. Anything that makes you want to move to the beat really. If it’s got a good bassline and solid guitar melody it catches our ears.
What is your creative process like? How do you approach the writing process? Is there a particular message or theme central to your creative works?
Geovanny wrote most of the stuff we have out right now, most of which was written in a span of two weeks. All the new music is written as a group where one person will give a guitar riff, bass riff or a catchy drum beat and we all just add to it. Most song ideas happen when we least expect it, late at night when we are half asleep, and during band practice. There isn’t really a theme central to our creative work, we kind of just let things happen.
We're a firm believer that the cities that artists are based in helps craft their sound. How would you describe your city’s music scene? How has it inspired you into crafting your sound?
Cincinnati’s music scene is very broad and open. There’s a lot of band around town that you can see almost any night of the week which is really cool. Everyone is friendly. We don’t think Cincinnati as a city has crafted our tone or style of music in a huge way. We have become more involved in Cincinnati’s music scene/community within the last 6 months and we think people see that and really appreciate it which then has inspired us to create music that people enjoy and want to come out and dance to with us.
We try to have a sort of sun-drenched, vibrant, hazy aesthetic. Our name came partially from a Wes Anderson movie because we love those visual aesthetics. We want to try to somehow capture that in our music, artwork, and videos more prominently in the future with our projects we’re working on. With the use of vibrant tones and reverb among other things. It does not however have any effect on our live shows, yet at least.
As an indie artist in the digital age, social media and streaming are essential tools for marketing and promotion. What do you think about online music sharing, both as a music fan and as a musician? How do you think social media/music streaming services impacts the rising musician?
Online music sharing is great tool for exposure we feel. It’s a good way to get your music into more hands and ears. Social media plays a big part in that as well, if you don’t have that presence in the modern age then it makes getting traction with fans much more difficult. We have fans in other states that have heard our music and want us to play a show in their town, that’s truly an amazing feeling to us. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the big players in that field and without them we wouldn’t be where we are today. Music streaming like Spotify allows people to share and listen to music whenever and wherever which is great, as listeners we love it and as a band we love it too because it allows anyone in the world to listen to us. Makes our voice feel heard.
What is your dream collaboration and why?
Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Justin Vernon, The Strokes, Mac Demarco, Alex Turner, Luke Pritchard. There’s so many reasons for each choice but they all inspire us individually and as a group. All those guys have achieved so much and done so much work in the music community it just makes us want to be more like them and strive for better.
Which songs are you currently obsessed with? What new acts do you recommend to our listeners? What bands do you believe are your best kept secret in the indie community?
Keeps - “Everyday” & Bombay Bicycle Club - “Always Like This” have been stuck in our heads lately along with The Greeting Committee’s - “Hands Down”. All really great up and coming bands. New acts everyone has to see in our opinion are Hippo Campus, Keeps, & Bad Bad Hats. The indie communities best kept secrets have to be The Yugos & MultiMagic. Both really good pop bands from Cincinnati that have made a huge impact on us and in the city.
What are you currently working on? Any new projects?
Basically everything a band could possibly be doing. We played our first out of town show in June which is really exciting for us. We’re also in the midst of recording our next EP and some more stuff for the future and we’re also making attempts to play outside of Cincinnati more this summer. Plans for a New York show and/or show in Minnesota are in the works too! We’re in the planning process of doing a small tour late this summer or fall, we’re looking for bands to play with in certain cities!