Local avant-garde duo it foot, it ears it foot, it ears released their latest album, teeter, on Sept. 23 at Diabolical Records. Musical curator/guitarist/singer Jason Rabb comes to talk about his project it foot, it ears. Originating from specific ideas, each song is built by experimentation with the hope of creating some timbre or texture that is entirely new. Joining Rabb in the band is Nick Foster things like the upright vacuum cleaner with a filtration system and “toast.”
Both Rabb and Foster both went to school to study musical composition. During this time, Rabb stopped playing the guitar but revisited it upon his graduation, newly with the intention to experiment with the percussive, accessible nature of it. Because the music is so difficult to play it is also difficult to perform, leaving the duo to occasionally turn down gigs if there isn’t sufficient time to prepare a set.
So that he doesn’t forget an experience or an emotion, Rabb creates his songs to be like the little notes you leave lying around to remind yourself of something. The simplicity of his lyrics almost make them more difficult to understand—similar to looking at something in a microscope, you become so close to something that you can’t tell what you’re looking at, and his lyrics act similarly, as Rabb says. The boiled-down words parallel the music’s isolated, unforseen elements.
it foot, it ears’ next show is Dec. 6 at Twilite Lounge for Lounge Night. You can download teeter at itfootitears.bandcamp.com.
Thanks for listening to SLUGMag Soundwaves.
This podcast was created by SLUG Magazine and produced by Angela H. Brown and Secily Anderson
Associate Producers: Alexander Ortega, Joshua Joye, John Ford, Kathy Zhou
