Brooklynites, Chairlift has just released their latest video for the single “Bruises”. Folks will recognize this song as the Apple iPod Nano commercial theme song, but trust me when I say that this isn’t even their best song, their album Does You Inspire You is definitely a must hear.

What you can expect in this video: some sort of make out session with a gang of peoples. I love Caroline’s voice in this jam, fuck it I love her voice period and she’s beautiful. For those that have not seen her in person, she’s just as beautiful and hella tiny, just wanna wrap her up and put her in my shirt pocket. If you haven’t checked out our interview with Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, be sure to read that here.

Near the end of 2008 one of the best albums of the year dropped and although it didn’t make any of our writers top 10 list, it did consistently come up 11th or 10b, we all loved it that much. That album, Does You Inspire You, is by the band Chairlift haling from Brooklyn-slash-Colorado. If you don’t recognize the name, then you would at least recognize their song “Bruises” as it was used in a North American iPod campaign for months on end. The band wrapped up a North America tour a few months back opening for Sebastien Tellier, but are scheduled to do a few more stops, including festivals. While on their busy schedule I was able to catch up with the beautiful Caroline Polachek, lead vocalist in the group.

Killahbeez: Hi Caroline, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Let’s start with the band name, Chairlift, why and what’s the significance / meaning behind it?

Caroline Polachek: A chairlift is a long slow panoramic trip over changing terrain.

KB: Interesting. How did Aaron, Patrick and yourself all meet and eventually make the move to Brooklyn?

CP: I sang in Patrick’s band for a while in 2005 after seeing them open for Cat Power my first day of college in Boulder. (The) Band broke up, and Aaron and I met and swapped demos in the back row of our economics recitation. I started singing backup on the folk songs he was preparing for a recording session at Elliot Smith’s studio in LA, but by the time we got there, we ‘d become a collaboration more than a solo project- we dubbed it Chairlift. Moved to NY shortly after since I transferred to art school there, and ran into Patrick randomly in the street, who came to our show and eagerly asked to join. Adding drums really changed our sound. We’ve been an equal trio ever since.

KB: Wow, that’s a pretty cool story.

KB: With such a great scene continually growing and transforming in Brooklyn and in New York City in general, how has that move influence the bands sound and songs?

CP: There’s a lot of young energy, a lot of entrepreneurship, and a lot of opportunities, but no ’sound’. The scene is by nature eclectic and experimental, but our particular niche shares a love of pop. We were lucky to have a supportive crew of bands like Yeasayer, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, Boy Crisis, Elizabeth Harper, Violens, Lights, Telepathe etc that were also making their own version of pop music. I don’t think this influenced the songs, but more the vibe and the live setting.

KB: With the whole Chairlift album, Does You Inspire You, I definitely get the sense of being taken on a journey, the music, your voice, it all puts me into this hypnotic state. Was that something intentional on the bands’ part?

CP: One hundred percent.

KB: The band has a distinct ‘80s sound to it, but refreshed and updated. Was that era an influence on the band members?

CP: We weren’t listening to much 80s music- all those sounds came into play because we liked the way they reminded us of the radio, our childhoods, or bad tv.

KB: The bands first video, “Planet Health” was directed by you, is directing music videos something that you want to explore more of down to road?

CP: Yes! I art-directed and wrote the treatment for our “Evident Utensil” video, and have since directed, shot, and edited a video for the closing song on our record, “Ceiling Wax”. I’m doing videos for Violens and Elizabeth Harper at the moment, and am working on the treatments for “Planet Health” and “Bruises”. I love video, and am psyched that art school paid off somehow. Thanks mom!

KB: Hahaha

KB: On the note of music videos, the latest one “Evident Utensils” is seriously trippy. At first I thought my computer was bugging out then I thought I WAS bugging out. What’s the whole concept / story behind the video and why did the band decide to use the data moshing special effect?

CP: Using data moshing was the brilliant Idea of director/international man of mystery Ray Tintori and producer/terrorist Bob Weisz, who we worked with really closely. The grounding concept of the video is a play between the naive eagerness and violent masochism. I was living in the apartment filled with paintings of bondage and torture instruments, so I suppose the imagery got into my bloodstream a bit, and I wanted to go out to the woods with my friends and whip the shit out of each other. Aaron baptized / waterboarded everyone in the river at the end.

KB: Earlier this year you collaborated with Flosstradamus for the record “Big Bills”, which sounds AMAZING. How did that partnership come about? Are there more collaborations for yourself down the road? I find your voice quite entrancing. Hahaha.

CP: Haha, cool. I love collaborating. (Hi Brian Eno )The Flosstradamus collaboration came together when they approached me out of the blue and invited me to sing on the one-off dance single they were to do for Greenlabel sound. With the exception of our friends HOLY GHOST!, I’d never worked with any dance-scene people, so I was into it. They sent me three 30-second clips to choose from as the starting point, and then two weeks later we met in the studio in LA to do the session with my friend Aaron Espinoza (Earlimart). I played the bass lines, synths, wrote all vocal parts, and added a verse and a bridge. It was two long days of work, but we’re all psyched about it.

KB: Wow, thats insane. The results definitely show as well. Have you always known that singing something that you always wanted to pursue?

CP: Yes, whether that meant in the shower or on stage.

KB: Going back to the band, are there any upcoming collaborations or remixes that fans can look forward to?

CP: Right now I’ve got collaborations in the works with an epic forthcoming pet project of Yeasayer’s, a full-length with Jorge Elbrecht (Violens), backup vox on Sebastian Blanck (former Black Dice), HOLY GHOST!, Acrylics, Boy Crisis, and a remix for Telepathe.

KB: Wow. Definitely a busy schedule ahead. In addition to this, the band has a hectic touring schedule essentially for the first half of the year. What else is on the plate for Chairlift and yourself? Thoughts of a second album being planned?

CP: Videos! New cool website, summer festivals, weird merch. We’ve already got 8 songs contending for the next record, can’t wait to get going on them and weaving them into our live show. As is, our record Does You Inspire You that came out last September is being re released in late April, remastered with two new songs that were intended for the original release but didn’t get arranged in time. I love them- they’re my favorites of the record, and I love watching people’s reactions to hearing these yet unheard chairlift songs.

KB: Very cool. Looking forward to hearing those at your concert. Thanks again for doing the interview. Is there anything you want to say to readers or something you want fans to take away from the album?

CP: It’s the official film soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t officially exist.

KB: Officially the coolest answer ever!

For more info on Chairlift check out their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/chairlift.

First off, I have to say that Peter Bjorn and John definitely know how to rock out. It was my first time seeing them live, and I was truly amazed by their performance. Their opening act was Chairlift, a trio from New York, which I thought sounded pretty good live. Considering I was only familiar with a few songs from their current album “Does You Inspire You,” I still enjoyed them overall.

Just like at their Vancouver show, they covered the Snoop Dogg song ”Sensual Seduction” which was a pleasant surprise for the audience and personally I think they pulled it off.  Some of the standout songs to me were “Evident Utensil,” “Bruises,” and “Planet Health.” Yes I find those three the most catchiest, but Caroline Polachek and Aaron Pfenning’s vocals were on point and I simply love it when the songs sound just like the record. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from Chairlift in the near future.

Did I mention the show was sold out and that this was Peter Bjorn and John’s last stop on their U.S. tour?  The moment the lights dimmed, the audience went into a frenzy. They walked onto the stage one by one, each displaying a different look. Peter Morén wore a white blazer with black slacks and a silk scarf around his neck reminding me of Hugh Hefner. Björn Yttling had an all black ensemble on, leather jacket included. And John Eriksson had a white button up shirt with suspenders, a leather jacket, and a hobo-looking hat.

They started the set with a song from their new album “Living Thing” called “Just the Past.” This song has an addictive beat and you can’t help but just bop your head throughout the whole song. Actually, I found myself doing that to practically every song they sang. What’s great is that they sang a lot of their old stuff from “Writer’s Block” which included “Amsterdam,” “The Chills,” “Objects of My Affection,” and of course their hit “Young Folks.” The crowd loved it, especially during “Young Folks” when Peter got the audience to sing Victoria Bergsman’s part.

What’s funny is that I didn’t expect Peter to be running back and forth across the stage presenting a variety of dance moves, but he did, and it was awesome. He also threw in random guitar solos during a couple of songs which was entertaining to say the least. But I can’t forget Bjorn and John because they definitely did their thing as well. Bjorn appeared to be the serious one in the group, standing still for the most of the show with a stern look on his face. He did crack a few funny faces though, and showed off his guitar skills and deep vocals. John played the drums effortlessly, tossing his sticks into the air and catching them through most of the set, and lending his vocals to certain songs.

When they played “Nothing to Worry About,” their first single off the current album, you could tell it was a crowd pleaser because people immediately started to dance. At some point, the group introduced their entire road crew, which demonstrated how grateful they were to have those people with them on the road. In fact, one of the “roadies” named Ross joined the band onstage to play the bongos for one of the songs, and it was quite amusing.

Soon the band bid their farewells and left the stage, leaving the audience only wanting more. All of the sudden the “roadies” were on stage and passing out masks to the front row so they could wear them when the band came back out for their encore. Since it was dark, I couldn’t make out what the masks looked like. Once Peter Bjorn and John returned back to the stage and the lights came on, you could see that the masks had the band members’ faces on it. They immediately started to laugh and point at the people in the audience who had the masks on. They began to play “Lay It Down,” another song from their current album, and all the “roadies” and even Chairlift came onto the stage and started dancing around, wearing masks of course. It was a great moment to witness, mainly because it was the end of something really beautiful.

And just when I thought the show was coming to an end, the band played a few more songs from their recent album and even did a cover of Joy Division’s “Transmission,” which was clearly recognized by the audience. When they said their actual goodbyes, it was bittersweet for the crowd and of course the band and their crew. I realized that what makes Peter Bjorn and John special is that you can really tell that they love doing what they do, which is making music and performing it in front of people. A special thanks to 9:30 club for letting Killahbeez attend this great show! Check out their site for upcoming shows.

Both Chairlift and Sébastien Tellier were recently on tour together and one of their stops was in Vancouver. The tour has since completed with Tellier finishing up his North American tour at Coachella, while Chairlift now joins Peter Bjorn and John on tour throughout North America minus Vancouver.

The night started off a bit slow. Chairlift was expected to be on stage at 9:30pm, but weren’t on til about 10:15ish. The crowd was treated with an appearance from lead vocalist, Caroline Polachek. She would start the set solo, playing on her Nord. Moments later Patrick Wimberly would join her on stage and made the announcement that we all dreaded to hear, that guitarist Aaron Pfenning couldn’t make it across the border. My initial reaction was, what the fuck? really? this shit usually happens to rappers. The sad thing is, us folks north of the border are generally use to US acts not making it across the border for various reasons.

But both Caroline and Patrick wouldn’t let that news deter them from playing for the crowd. Instead they announced that they were going to be playing a modified set that included some songs from Caroline, Chairlift tunes “Planet Health” and “Evident Utensil”, and some covers. One of those covers pretty much shocked the crowd, as a familiar baseline would drop and the synth kicking in. Attendees quickly realized that Caroline Polachek was singing Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction” (video below). It was actually pretty amazing, as she would sing the song, THEN proceed to rap the lyrics, Colorado represent what what.

Despite the fact that they weren’t able to do their normal set, the crowd seemed fairly satisfied with the performance, mostly because the band did at least put in the effort and I’m sure this won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing Chairlift in Vancouver.

Once Chairlift ended their set with “Sensual Seduction” and left, the stage was quickly dismantled and setup for Sébastien Tellier, the crowd in attendance was definitely buzzing as many people were talking about how epic they’ve heard his performance is and such. A few moments went by and the man himself came out, this was the moment of truth, and he wouldn’t disappoint, kicking his set off with the latest single “Kilometer”. Ladies in the house were going crazy and I think a few men also went crazy. With his signature disheveled hair, full beard and shades, he was full on serenading the attendees and all were eating it up. He would grab his guitar and play along with the 3 piece band in behind him.

He would sing an array of songs both in French and English and all at the same time sounding extremely silky smooth. Besides the singing the man would connect with the crowd by bantering but to be perfectly honest he would say incomplete sentences or random words like “Freedom”, but it didn’t matter, the crowd loved it all, whatever he was giving, they were willing to taketh. He was really great with us photographers in the front as well, by throwing poses or giving us angles to take shots of him.

The majority of the songs performed, as expected, were off of the Sexuality album. Playing crowd favourites “Divine”, “Une Heure”, “Fingers of Steel”, “L’Amour et la Violence”, but he would play “La Ritournelle” off of the Politics album and “Universe”.

During “L’Amour et la Violence” his showmanship would once again come out. As he was playing the piano and singing, he would take the mic and proceed to climb on top of the piano and layed down on top while continuing to sing for the crowd. Folks in the building were yelling and screaming and cheering for the man, females offering to be his baby momma and such. This song would end the set…for the brief moment that is. Until him and his band came back onto the stage to play “Sexual Sportswear” for the encore. The band and him would jam out on this 7 minute or so long set, but Tellier still wanting to entertain the crowd would pretend the mic stand was a woman. He would gently caress it, make love to it. Then at one point treated the mic stand as…well a penis, and proceeded to stroke it sensually (video below), people were going nuts and he was highly entertaining. And with that he ended the show. How one could not be entertained by the overall showmanship and performance would baffle me.

The concert was produced by Timbre Productions, www.timbreproductionsconcerts.com, check out their website for all upcoming shows. Like a lot of the mid-sized promoters in Vancouver, they’re always bringing in talented people.

Check out photos from past events at our Flickr page, www.flickr.com/photos/killahbeez, and of course don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, @killahbeez.