In the summer of 2014, IS TROPICAL set out across North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America on an extensive venture of touring and recording. The result is their modular third LP Black Anything—a project to be released in five installments via the newly founded New York-based Axis Mundi Records.After amicably parting ways with the electro powerhouse Kitsuné and enlisting Kirstie Fleck (singer of 2013's "Dancing Anymore" —aka that one with the superbly NSFW video) as a full-time member, IS TROPICAL have taken ambitious step into more conceptual territory. Working alongside producer and collaborator Luke Smith (Foals, Depeche Mode, formerly of Clor), Black Anything evolved over the band's tour period and saw them allowing the different environments to develop and craft the songs, rather than locking themselves in a studio.Black Anything will be released in five 10-inch transparent picture disc installments, with each vinyl displaying the continent in which the tracks were recorded. When displayed on top of each other, the five vinyls create the globe, unifying the concept as a whole. Noisey is pleased to premiere the opening track from the first taster tune, "Crawl/On My Way," which will be released on on 12.8.We also had a chat with drummer Dominic Apa about the nature of the forthcoming project and the beauty of taking yourself out of the traditional studio environment.
Dominic: There's always been a big pressure in a largely backwards-facing industry to "stick to the basics" when it comes to packaging your music and making it something you need to sell. We think a large part of that is an unwillingness to break from the industrial processes, which have been co-opted by the huge record labels of the past. For example, why would a band like us need to print huge volumes of CDs? There's more business sense to tailoring your product to something you can control and put out on your own terms. We've always thought it was important to make our artwork, design the merch, design the stage show. So it seemed like taking control of forming the actual "product" (record label jargon) was the greatest challenge in a way.I think aesthetically, an LP is something which a lot of people have expectations and vast affection and nostalgia for. A really great 35-to-40-minute record is something we've all grown up digesting at one point or another. There are more and more people though who choose to be entertained in short bursts—so the modular, double-AA approach might be more relevant to that. More importantly, it will give us a chance to put each song we record out in its own right, like curating an art exhibition. In this way, I think the 'single led' and radio playlist culture of making pop music really puts pressure on a group. It's also going to be a fun challenge exploring the visual and thematic elements of the release over the course of a few months instead of developing an idea and then 'living with it' as it largely gets translated and fragmented through different media.The fact that this release wasn't recorded in one place, as one record or on an established label gives it a great sense of freedom and scope. Was it difficult to narrow down ideas or concepts for the songs or did you have a specific vision before you started?
We've always worked in short, intense bursts. Bringing songs to the table is something which can always happen—melodies and ideas are always rattling around and trying to get out—but placing yourself in a really exciting or different context brings out that creative energy in different ways. Our concept for the album before we really started was just that we were again finding a way to use our music to get us around the world, meeting people and seeing things. I think for us, it's all a holistic process. There were definitely moments in New York—the first session of the new album's recording—where we felt the direction the song was being shaped was totally affected by where we were. With Luke Smith producing, his style lends to this kind of thing really well, as he's a naturally fast worker and is great at coming up with spontaneous ways to put things down to track. Whatever is available to us to play, or see, or record inevitably gets in there, whether it's foreground/background, intentional/accidental. I think we have a way of bringing our own musical and artistic personalities to the fore, so changing the 'set up' or the backdrop for what's going on just transposes those ideas in different and unpredictable ways.Thanks to globalization and the internet we're arguably more connected now than we've ever been. Considering that, what's the ideology behind your "band without borders" mantra?
It's just what seemed obvious. We want to be able to get to everywhere our music can, and to reflect that back at the people who allow us to exist. It's a loyal and obsessive concern of ours. People and nations are definitely more connected now, and that means that as ideas and culture moves so freely around the world we have to find ways to live up to that.Each installment of Black Anything was recorded in a different continent. Was there a particular place that resonated with you most? Or an unexpected moment that ended up influencing the project more than anywhere else?
As the album is taking shape and the songs are more and more evident in themselves, we've been seeing how it all will come together. There are definitely certain songs we knew had to maybe wait to get this certain 'touch' we think a continent might afford it. But there's also aspects of it which totally come out of nowhere and that's the real beauty of taking yourself out of the traditional studio environment. I think because this is our third album now, we're ready to see ways that we can push the process of writing, rehearsing and developing songs in the studio. We know, to a certain extent that we like this or that thing distorted; we'll write parts of songs with specific lacunae because we all know what kind of ideas or approach we can bring in individually.Did you find the out-of-studio experience altered the way you make music as a group?
Before we get into the studio together, we're actually kind of dissimilar when it comes to working out and putting down demos. But just like being in a van on tour for months on end, there's a really nice interdependence that can come from being together, and essentially the only coherent factor is that you're in a band together. You get closer to the 'intangible' part of what you do in that kind of situation. In a way, taking Black Anything and recording it in this way has made the whole thing much easier - sometimes capturing an energy, or joy for what we have is the main struggle. You're trying to commit to tape when making a record that one, fleeting, phenomenal feeling that's in the room; thinking back to that night in Accra or Tokyo when you're actually in an artificially-lit, acoustically sterile box in London. In terms of process it was like taking the Mountain to Mohammed: pretty complicated but Mohammed rocked out in the end.The first installment of Black Anything, "Crawl/On My Way" is out on 12.8 via Axis Mundi Records.
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Noisey: There's been a lot of chat about "the death of the album" over the last year. Considering you have approached Black Anything as an overall project rather than a traditional record, what are your thoughts on the current relevance and future of the album format?
Dominic: There's always been a big pressure in a largely backwards-facing industry to "stick to the basics" when it comes to packaging your music and making it something you need to sell. We think a large part of that is an unwillingness to break from the industrial processes, which have been co-opted by the huge record labels of the past. For example, why would a band like us need to print huge volumes of CDs? There's more business sense to tailoring your product to something you can control and put out on your own terms. We've always thought it was important to make our artwork, design the merch, design the stage show. So it seemed like taking control of forming the actual "product" (record label jargon) was the greatest challenge in a way.
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We've always worked in short, intense bursts. Bringing songs to the table is something which can always happen—melodies and ideas are always rattling around and trying to get out—but placing yourself in a really exciting or different context brings out that creative energy in different ways. Our concept for the album before we really started was just that we were again finding a way to use our music to get us around the world, meeting people and seeing things. I think for us, it's all a holistic process. There were definitely moments in New York—the first session of the new album's recording—where we felt the direction the song was being shaped was totally affected by where we were. With Luke Smith producing, his style lends to this kind of thing really well, as he's a naturally fast worker and is great at coming up with spontaneous ways to put things down to track. Whatever is available to us to play, or see, or record inevitably gets in there, whether it's foreground/background, intentional/accidental. I think we have a way of bringing our own musical and artistic personalities to the fore, so changing the 'set up' or the backdrop for what's going on just transposes those ideas in different and unpredictable ways.Thanks to globalization and the internet we're arguably more connected now than we've ever been. Considering that, what's the ideology behind your "band without borders" mantra?
It's just what seemed obvious. We want to be able to get to everywhere our music can, and to reflect that back at the people who allow us to exist. It's a loyal and obsessive concern of ours. People and nations are definitely more connected now, and that means that as ideas and culture moves so freely around the world we have to find ways to live up to that.Each installment of Black Anything was recorded in a different continent. Was there a particular place that resonated with you most? Or an unexpected moment that ended up influencing the project more than anywhere else?
As the album is taking shape and the songs are more and more evident in themselves, we've been seeing how it all will come together. There are definitely certain songs we knew had to maybe wait to get this certain 'touch' we think a continent might afford it. But there's also aspects of it which totally come out of nowhere and that's the real beauty of taking yourself out of the traditional studio environment. I think because this is our third album now, we're ready to see ways that we can push the process of writing, rehearsing and developing songs in the studio. We know, to a certain extent that we like this or that thing distorted; we'll write parts of songs with specific lacunae because we all know what kind of ideas or approach we can bring in individually.Did you find the out-of-studio experience altered the way you make music as a group?
Before we get into the studio together, we're actually kind of dissimilar when it comes to working out and putting down demos. But just like being in a van on tour for months on end, there's a really nice interdependence that can come from being together, and essentially the only coherent factor is that you're in a band together. You get closer to the 'intangible' part of what you do in that kind of situation. In a way, taking Black Anything and recording it in this way has made the whole thing much easier - sometimes capturing an energy, or joy for what we have is the main struggle. You're trying to commit to tape when making a record that one, fleeting, phenomenal feeling that's in the room; thinking back to that night in Accra or Tokyo when you're actually in an artificially-lit, acoustically sterile box in London. In terms of process it was like taking the Mountain to Mohammed: pretty complicated but Mohammed rocked out in the end.The first installment of Black Anything, "Crawl/On My Way" is out on 12.8 via Axis Mundi Records.