Crescendo
Crescendo’s Olive, Gregory, & Jess; courtesy of Jorge Meza Photography.
Some might recall when Crescendo began as a project of Gregory Cole, releasing the beautiful album Lost Thoughts that provided drawings and sketches of great things to arrive. The LA artist made a local and international name for himself from throwing lucrative DIY home parties, to launching the DreamGaze Festival (in LA & SF), and eleaborating the Crescendo to nearly unimaginable heights with the talented assists from Olive Kimoto, and Jess Rojas. As of today this newly realized form and sound of Crescendo is here thanks to the Italy by SF label We Were Never Being Boring‘s release of the magnificent album Unless, and we are proud to present the world premiere listen.
The second awaited album from Crescendo opens with a sparkling, celestial blessed synth “Intro”, complete with analog percussive rumblings that keep the intro organic. Then you are hit with the mega-lithic single “Repulsor” that people have been talking about/tweeting about/blogging about/txting about/and more and will continue to as it stands as the scepter in the band’s sound trophy case. The sound that Unless dwells and dotes in throws the entire Lolipop/Burger catalogs at you while making bright musical statements that stand in an aesthetic order that is situated and sitting pretty next to the recent spate of prolific releases from their northern California style cousins The Bilinda Butchers, Jay Som, the Confident Hitmakers collective, Satan Wriders, Surf Club, Nicholas Fisher, and practically anything that Justin Paul Vallesteros is producing right now. The even bigger Crescendo spell is cast on “Tell” that kicks up the rhythm tempo with an expressive sound of ever-shining and everlasting warmth, while “Last” could have been an alternate track from the Butchers’ Heaven sessions where Crescendo falls and rises in ways that rock and feel like a favorite family wooden chair that comforts one on the porch after a difficult day. By the time you arrive to “Haunted”, the band lives up to the track’s name by fully immersing the listener in a refined 8-bit wonderland that imagines your favorite 80s video game heroine/hero dancing on their own pixelated grid in some far away dream world.
LA’s new DIY hitmakers, Crescendo.
The dances of discourses and exchanges continue on with Crescendo’s comet storm rainfall of endearing ambiance that play with the he said, she said back and forth ping-pong matches that caught in the whirlpool refrain of “it’s all I do” in a guitar blizzard that could have been the sequel to Surf Club’s “Heaven”. Film samples and sound collages roll out on the “The Morning Sonata” and into the vignette galactic-guitar and rhythm machine valleys of “Space Cadet”, right before you brought to another big time single with “Pressure”. Like Crescendo’s previous referenced nod to favorites and friends, Frankie Soto from Surf Club shows up that further catapults the entire song into something that could have been the Factory Records golden band, the Sarah Records group that got away, or the late 80s Creation it-sound that McGee never signed, etc. And Crescendo keeps that Lush/Ride drive of guitars coated with feeling in high gear on “Transformer” that rolls right into the slip-stream portal of “Yet”, as the closing “Softly” delivers Crescendo’s endearing style of sleepy lidded duet styles that carry on with guitar hooks and title chorus refrains that keep the dream world affects alive in the awakened state.
For more on all this and much more, read our following reflective interview with Crescendo’s Gregory Cole & Olive Kimoto:
Tell us about the histories from playing festivals in the backyard, to events at The Smell, warehouses, the DreamGaze festival, to how Crescendo first began.
Gregory: Last year Be Forest from Italy played in my backyard (so we threw a DreamGaze festival), and the cops came and they were talking to me and I was just like hey whatsup, this band came all the way from Italy to perform, and they were super cool about it! They were even cooler about Young Lovers performing a cover of “Tonight Tonight” by Smashing Pumpkins, and enjoyed it from their squad SUV later mentioning how good it was, all the kids were hanging from my roof legs hinged over the stage singing along with Jonny Higa under the stars. The weather always tends to be exceptional when we throw events. So yeah it started there, and then we moved onto 10 band bills in Los Angeles & San Francisco with the SF co-founder Jared Padovani of Balms (whose DreamGaze Festival Debut in SF sold out), which Millionyoung from Florida flew in to headline. I imagine by the time this article is published, we will have revealed the 25+ band bill for this year in Los Angeles 3/31-4/4 with Part Time, Brothers in Law (Italy), and Millionyountg headlining over 25 bands including favorites from Impose. I have always been obsessed with monumental gatherings of people having a great time, so we work daily to recreate these life changing gatherings. Most of all DreamGaze Music & Arts festival is community focused, we draw inspiration from The Smell and Coachella, and the bands that perform end up getting real serious into record deals and label representation, its incredibly rewarding to see everyone grow.
A backyard happening with Pesaro, Italy’s Be Forest crashing the LA festivities; photo courtesy of Crescendo.
Man, the house shows are always the best. Sure its impending doom of the cops rolling it are always a drag for a reason, because they’re so outrageous you don’t want them to end. I remember we threw a rad house show with some DJs on the roof, and it didn’t get rolled by the cops it was awesome. The police have been very nice to us anyway, and that particular party went on til 5am. The Smell is legendary like, if you’re playing the smell you’ve contributed significantly to the venue and to the community. The venue has so much clout and history that volunteers gladly operate it daily with leadership from Jim Smith the founder & GM. The Smell is great in so many ways, from being community focused to a guaranteed teenage mosh pit every weekend, whats not to like? The bands are some of the hardest working because they literally come from DIY and The Smell creates a place for people to grow infinitely through mentorship & teaching. Jim Smith is just one of those community leaders that pays it forward and is action oriented.
Doing it DIY in mom’s living room; courtesy of Crescendo.
Like most dream pop gaze projects, Crescendo started in my bedroom as I used my guitar and instruments to create sounds that would hopefully allow me to escape Los Angeles, I thought of my bedroom as a landing pad for NASA. It wasn’t long before I met Olive Kimoto, since we were both some of the most passionate people about Dream Pop, Post Punk, and Gaze in Los Angeles. Everything was pretty automatic between us, including our deep deep appreciation of The Radio Dept from Sweden. Then one day our mutual friend posted about my favorite video game, Final Fantasy 7, and Jess Rojas publicly displayed her appreciation for it. I thought to myself wait a minute theres no way, what a small world for someone to appreciate the same monumental video game as I, and then we found out she played guitar and sang, it inevitably led to her becoming Crescendo’s lead guitarist. Final Fantasy 7 is one of those intricate storyline games that teach people life lessons and pierce your hearts to inspire you to do great things, I’ve met nothing but powerful people who have had the chance to play it. It’s never a coincidence that if you’ve played the game, you’re incredibly ambitious or considerate.
Describe the creative development from your own frontline perspectives on the progression from illustrious Lost Thoughts to the dream machine overdrive vision-pop of the ambitious Unless?
Gregory: Okay, two completely different worlds. It’s kind of like two debut albums, two freshmen releases from the same band, and I say that because I didn’t even know Jess & Olive when Lost Thoughts was released, Unless was a full on collaboration between all of us and our producer John Kunkel of The New Division, whom is an absolute workhorse and could make anything we said a reality in the production, even in life at times. It’s crazy how you write a record that you don’t understand until years later after its release, its a powerful way for the subconscious to communicate with your future self. I used to think that Lost Thoughts was about me trying to escape my bedroom in Los Angeles through space travel, romanticism, and science fiction, then at the shows people started dancing and crowd surfing, then I stopped falling in love with women and started falling in love with music and growing the community. Unless til this day continues to surprise me, I literally had no expectations, I was just like okay, I’m going to just be myself, were going to write this record, if people like it great, if not that’s fine too. So in short, Lost Thoughts was a solo bedroom project for healing and travel, and Unless was a monstrous collaboration all the way up to former Craft Spells founder and Surf Club frontman Frankie Soto. Hopefully you can give me your perspective as we’re genuinely interested.
Crescendo’s Olive Kimoto; courtesy of Jorge Meza Photography.
Olive: After performing Lost Thoughts with Greg, an album I had a lot of fun dancing to on stage, I was really ecstatic when he asked me to join him creatively for the second album. I think we were able to keep some of the signatures of the Crescendo sound, but I was able to supply some hazy, moody melancholy to it as well. Greg really brings out the pop-sensibilities in me, and I hope I was able to bring out some of the darker parts in him!
Gregory: Olive totally did, “Haunted” and the diabolical dark dance of “Said”.
I’m interested in hearing insight to the Crescendo style, as your music feels reminiscent of the new dream-pop adventurers of today with an ear and heart for so many great 80s underachieving heroes. What sorts of influential considerations and perhaps inspiration osmosis is at work when it comes to composing Crescendo songs?
Gregory: Okay, so either Olive, Jess, or I will come up with a skeleton for a song via keys or guitars, and well take the initial feeling we get from it whether its spooky, punk, or fictional, and go full blast on it. It’s no mystery that I’m addicted to fast drumming and BPMs, it’s always what drove crowds in the backyard at shows or at The Smell, so a lot of energy also inspires the writing. We know right away when we hear something that has potential, and well stop everything and record it and move forward. Huge fan of the 80’s, I was introduced to The Smiths at a very young age, there’s too many inspirations to choose from but we can all certainly agree on The Radio Dept. Certainly our lives have a huge impact on the songwriting, for me I always put my heart into it, influenced once again by science fiction, space travel, romanticism, and our love for people.
Backyard balls, & more crowd surfing; photograph courtesy of Crescendo.
Olive: I remember the way “Haunted” came to be, was that the band was over at my apartment, and I was sort of just fucking around with my Yamaha keyboard and playing whatever felt right at the time, and Greg just stopped me and said ‘Olive; What were you playing? We’ve got to make that a Crescendo song.’ I’ve been playing the piano since I was four, but was always very reluctant to call myself a musician. Greg has always really fostered my creativity and voice as an artist, and “Haunted” might have never been written if it weren’t for that! As far as what influences me, it’s always been pretty eclectic. Whether it be films, my day to day interactions with living in this city, strangers, dreams, idealizations, my upbringing, the ocean, the weird parts of the internet.
How were you all able to channel the multitude of feels and striking emotive audio inflections of familiarity created in pop note-coated hooks?
Gregory: We were just being ourselves, there’s no secret, this is actually all new to me, thank you so much.
Olive: I think just being in an emotionally vulnerable state while writing always helps. Metaphorically vomiting out your feelings come pretty naturally in such a case.
Crescendo’s Olive, Gregory, & Jess playing DreamGaze Festival SF; photographed by Christina Marie Klein.
And what kinds of developmental process have you all adopted as your regiment from sketch to conceptualized and realized form?
Gregory: Honestly we just always go with what feels right, were grateful that people appreciate the science fiction, romanticism, space travel backdrop. Huge fans of the twilight zone and such.
Olive: Honestly, it seems we sort of just dive in head first and see what happens. It usually works out okay.
Give us the lowdown on everything the entire world needs to know about the LA DIY scenes right now.
Gregory: Let it happen. I’m no expert, there’s people that are fully submerged into the DIY world, however if you want your venues to sell out, it starts here, so don’t hold artists and bands back that are doing everything they can to grow, the way they know how. Also DIY teaches people so many things, so many principles that prepare artists for whats to come. Respect being one of them, as well as being considerate of others. This isn’t just for LA this is for the entire world. DIY events are where people fall in love with live music in the first place, its where it all begins. Also the vibe is always righteous and punk, then the pit breaks out which is one of the most important channels in live music. I am very proud and appreciate everything happening in LA right now DIY or venues, I don’t know how it is on other parts of the world, but LA has unlimited opportunities. The city certainly does and has the characteristics to champion artists.
Olive: The low down? It’s lit.
Thoughts, concerns on the state of the scenes in LA, and what must be done to keep these movements and scenes flourishing?
Gregory: I don’t consider myself in a position to answer something like this but for any situation, paying it forward and being considerate of others is a great recipe. What works for DreamGaze Festival is working directly with the community, inviting everyone to participate even if they are bound to their relationships, and creating a place where artists and people can grow infinitely. Ignore all the hearsay/negative energy, and make something happen. Very inspired by everyone nonetheless. If you don’t do it, no one will.
Olive: I suggest we allow puppies into venues.
Crowd surfing at DreamGaze LA; photo courtesy of Crescendo.
Tell us about the process of making DreamGaze 2016 happen, what that’s been like, and what sorts of struggles and breakthroughs you’ve experienced thus far.
Gregory: It’s actually a labor of love. I love throwing shows, and it sucks when all your friends cant be on the same bill you know? ‘Cause its like usually three to four bands play per night, so when everyone can play, the energy is indescribable. Planning, planning, and more planning. Biggest struggle is juggling this with our lives, full-time school or work, the band, getting enough sleep. The breakthroughs never end, its unbelievable how many friendships and people you meet through these events, I guess that’s why its so easy to keep doing it because it feels so freaking good. It’s a lot easier to book too when you know all the bands, we went from 5 to 25 in one year. Just never ever, for any reason at all, ever go back on your word, reputation is everything.
For you all what is the importance of bringing so many communities and groups together from all over the world over shared things from DIY festivals, to just local shows?
Gregory: Growth. I’m obsessed with growth for everyone, imagine music festivals never happened? What a tragedy that would be? One day, there will be events for music even bigger than a festival. Why would anyone wanna stop that from happening? There is literally so much growth opportunities from the show goers to the people who perform, everyone wins. Also imagine you’re touring from thousands of miles away and you end up at a music festival surrounded by hundreds of people that wanna dance to your music and hang out with you? It’s a fantastic feeling that takes a lot of hard work to replicate.
How can everyone actively making an international impact by contributing on a local scale?
Gregory: THROW A DIY MUSIC FESTIVAL FOR YOUR COMMUNITY! VOLUNTEER AT YOUR DIY VENUE! they all start at these places, including your backyard. BE A GOOD PERSON! Create magical realms that people can enjoy themselves in.
Olive: Be kind. Don’t—cool guy/gal/nonbinary—people, be inclusive. I don’t know.
Crescendo playing DreamGaze SF; photograph courtesy of the band.
What is the 2016 to-do/must-do list looking like?
Gregory: Hang out with my mom, Tour nationally, play more music festivals, make more music festivals, dance as much as possible, write music, get more college degrees, eat really amazing food, tour europe, meet people, love people you already know, and pay it forward.
Olive: Play the jams to peeps who care, make pals that will last a lifetime, have conversations that go on til eight am, get Greg to eat his vegetables, pet puppies, acquire the meaning of life and keep it a secret.
Crescendo’s new album Unless is available now from We Were Never Being Boring.
