RED STEPPES
Where red steppes’ debut A Mouth May Grow was rooted firmly in the topography of California, this sophomore release, Arcs (Native Cat Recordings, out May 31 2019), is the fruit of a series of displacements, disturbances, and reorientations. Stylistically diverse, the album delivers minimalist guitar pop, mathy folk, and even a Peter Gabriel-tinged meditation on loss. I tried to build on the photographic lyricism I began exploring with A Mouth May Grow; songs fondly addressed to lovers are mindful of an inevitable transience, lullabies keep account both of the world’s smallest gestures and its great ruins, and a series of scenes unfold as a prayer of sustenance, a knowing salutation aimed at fellow travelers and sailors-by-the-wind.
All songs written by Nika Aila States and recorded to tape at Tiny Telephone SF. Produced by Jamie Riotto and Nika Aila States. Engineered by Jamie Riotto. Mastered by Dave McNair.
Nika Aila States: electric & acoustic guitar, lead & backing vocals. Jamie Riotto: bass, synths, piano on "Leonine." Andrew Maguire: Percussion, vibe. Rob Shelton: keys, synths. Carly Bond: backing vocals, electric guitar on "the Armistice." Adam Hirsch (Abe Hollow): clarinet. Mateo Lugo: guitar on "Leonine." Ian McArdle: piano, hammond b3. Danhy Lubin-Laden: trombone. Abigail Shiman: violin. Helen Newby: cello. String + wind arrangements: Will Stratton ("A Careful Garden" and "Cricket Songs") and Jamie Riotto ("High Growth")
Recorded and mixed to tape at Tiny Telephone in Northern California, the songs move through mapped points on the Western coast of the US, explore growth and decay, and interrogate narrative tropes surrounding love, gender, and industry; their imagery nods to a yearning for a sense of place, the positioning of botany and landscape as teacher and translator, and the pregnant silence of uninhabited spaces. "A Mouth May Grow" pairs each song with a 35mm photograph of the space which informed and framed its music and lyrics. The salt marshes of Alviso - at the terminus of the concrete-bound Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek - feature twice. The regional parks east of Oakland provide grounding for an inquiry into sex and morbidity, and Bodie - the site of a ghost town high in the eastern Sierras - asks questions about religion, dislocation, gender, and decay. In the fine details of common weeds, in barred windows, and small-town cemeteries, the songs watch as much as they speak.
All songs written by Nika Aila States. Co-produced by Nika Aila States. Engineered and co-produced by Jamie Riotto. Mixed by Jamie Riotto. Mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service. Recorded at Tiny Telephone's A and B rooms in San Francisco.
Nika Aila States: Vox and guitars. Jamie Riotto: bass, synths. Rob Shelton: keys. Andrew Maguire: percussion, mallets. Teddy Rankin Parker: cello. Ben Goldberg: clarinets. Owen Adair Kelley: electric guitar on "I Did Not Speak It." Jason Slota: percussion on "I Did Not Speak It." Mateo Lugo: guitars on "Bixby," slide/electric guitar on "Ashton."
TOTONOKO
This release includes two songs recorded at Tiny Telephone in Oakland, with the wonderful Tim Kim adding a third harmony and violin on “Free to Find” – a frequent live configuration for Totonoko at the time. The second song, “Sewn Well” was written with cathedrals in mind. It was Totonoko’s last release before time and distance split the band apart. We said goodbye with one old song (“Free to Find” was built from one of the first songs I ever wrote, even before I started playing guitar), and one new one, each questioning modes of certainty and stagnation.
Words and music by TOTONOKO (Mateo Lugo & Nika Aila States)
Additional performers: Tim Kim: Violin & Vocal Harmonies. Mia Bella D'Augelli: Violin. Marissa Deitz: Cello. Andrew Maguire: Percussion/Drums. Brett Carson: Organ/Piano. James Riotto: Synth Bass
Arranged and produced by TOTONOKO. Co-produced and engineered by James Riotto at Tiny Telephone Oakland. Mastered by John Cuniberti .
These songs were recorded over the space of a few summer and winter months in Silverlake, Los Angeles, during a period of long drives, great attention to birdsong, nights spent on various floors and various bright mornings thereafter, and a good amount of laughter. What resulted is traveling music, bird music, night music, new music, joyful music. Informed by the inheritance of a world made increasingly smaller and by a shared love of both traditional and non-traditional music forms, we followed a heady range of musical trails, from Neil Young and Nina Simone to Radiohead and Sigur Ros, all the way over to Iannis Xenakis and John Cage. Armed also with a profound appreciation for the words of Woody Guthrie, Octavio Paz, and Marcel Proust, with an eye to the brilliant spectacle of everyday life, we wrote and performed a collection of music that we hoped would be a sonic and lyrical invitation. Harmonies and guitars are backed by a host of vivid sounds collected from the studio and from the streets.
Words and music by TOTONOKO (Nika Aila States & Mateo Lugo, except Mulberry Hurricane (TOTONOKO & Daniel Wright).
Performed by TOTONOKO, Daniel Wright, the sea and the sounds of Los Angeles. Rudi Schmidt (Charango) and Clinton Patterson (Trumpet) joined us on “Old Mexico,” and Michael Calabrese (Drums) joined us on “Wake Up, Kind Water.”
Co-produced by TOTONOKO and Daniel Wright. Engineered by Daniel Wright. Mastered by Manuel Jimenez (Arimaka).
Over the years, I have also contributed to recordings by artists including John Vanderslice, Samantha Crain, Holly Muñoz, Cazadero, Nate Baker, Noah Kite, Sucker Crush, and Song Preservation Society.