FASANO is Matthew Fasano. He sang with a bunch of us in the men’s chorus for those final LCD Soundsystem shows a couple years ago. “The Barn” is his debut cassette, with eight new songs that we recorded to four-track tape at the new Silent Barn studio. If you liked the first Waxahatchee or Grizzly Bear records I think you’ll dig this. 100 handmade, handstamped cassettes are available for purchase at shop.entergodmode.com.

Before I try to convince you that this record is my Bon Iver, let me start by saying: I hate singer-songwriters. The emotional ones, the literary ones, the ones that “understand the modern human condition” and so on. The ones that joke about how the Grammys don’t matter but still show up to accept the award. Pretty much all of them seem really desperate for me to take them seriously and it turns me off. Even the classic indie singer-songwriters that, as an educated contributor to the American musical underground (or something!), I’m supposed to respect, if not adore—it just never feels entirely genuine. What’s the rub? I want to know. It’s not their fault, but I always smell a rat.

And yet here is “The Barn”, which is very much the singer-songwriter debut by Matty Fasano, who records as Fasano. Matty and I recorded it in a day at the new Silent Barn, a DIY performance space in Bushwick. We did it live on a four-track cassette mixer, songs usually in one take, with vocals, drum loops, and electric guitar all stewing together in the room before hitting the microphones. A few songs were completely improvised. We didn’t know it was going to be a record until that’s what it was.

I’ve thought a lot about why I like this singer-songwriter record and not others. I’ve also realized that there are lots of people who feel the same way I do about singer-songwriters. And yet when I play them these songs, they all say the same thing: Something magical happened in that room.

You’ll either hear what I’m talking about or you won’t. What I respond to is the sense of voyeurism—like Fasano didn’t even realize he was being recorded. It’s evocative of a very specific kind of loneliness. The best bedroom recordings have an intimacy to them that’s almost accidental—like we’re not supposed to be hearing what we’re hearing. He’s singing these songs for himself. We’re just lucky to be hearing them.

Stereogum: http://stereogum.com/1306751/fasano-last-evening-nomads/mp3s/

"Brooklyn's most whimsical chamber pop outfit"- L Magazine

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Friend Roulette has been adding members to their ding dang of musical friends since John got back from summer camp. Sounding like a concoction of Van Dyke Parks, Robert Wyatt and Aaliyah, Friend Roulette creates somewhat of an whimsical psychedelic chamber pop con cojones. With 2 drummers, violin, bass clarinet, ewi (electronic wind instrument) & the occasional string quartet, its a ding dang of a live show.