While reading, you can listen to some free mp3s by Lali Puna from other websites (epitonic.com/ insound.com): 603 (from tridecoder), Everywhere and allover (from tridecoder), nin-com pop (from scary world theory), together in electric dreams (from reproductions: songs by the human league, and also on this new compilation). You can also check out my review of this new album and my review of the single by John Yoko in the review section.
The German indie-electronica band Lali Puna released their new compilation “I thought I was over that” on the excellent Morr Music-label recently. On this new double-album, the band makes a re-visit to some of their older material, – rare stuff, B-sides and remixes.
We spoke to singer and songwriter Valerie Trebeljahr, who started the band back in 1998. She starts by telling us about the new album from Lali Puna:
” The compilation contains mainly all the EP’s and some songs we did for compilations and of course the remixes from friends and people we know like Two Lone Swordsmen, Dntel, Boom Bip and many others. There will be two new tracks on the compilation, one is very short. So it’s one real new song called “Past Machine”.”
The new song Valerie mentions, “past machine” was originally made for the late John Peel, who died last year. The song shows Lali Puna from their more rock-oriented sides, and could have fitted well in on their latest studioalbum “Faking the books” from 2004. Lali Puna has clear statistics of one studioalbum every second year: Tridecoder came in 1999, Scary World Theory came in 2001 and Faking the books in 2004. Can we expect another Lali Puna studio release in 2006, then, Valerie?
“- No, Lali Puna takes a break. I will continue to make music on my own for the next months. But till the next Lali Puna record it will take a while I guess.”
The main reason for the break is that Markus Acher, Lali Puna’s bassplayer and second songwriter, will be concentrating on his other band, The NoTwist.
When Valerie started Lali Puna , she had a quite outspoken goal with her project; – to combine the rythmic parts of techno with melodic pop-elements. She is quite happy with the way the band has developed.
“Lali Puna has become more than I ever expected. So I am absolutely satisfied with the developpment the band has taken. I don¹t really know where Lali Puna will go next musically. We will have quite a break because Notwist starts recording. After that we¹ll see, it always depends a lot on the music we hear at the time of making the record.”
Lali Puna recently came home from a small tour in Japan, – the first time in this country. They have made a nice slideshow with photographs from the tour on their website and on Morr Music’s website,here. From the photos, it looks like they enjoyed the tour, something Valerie confirms: “It was great! We liked it very much. We also had two good concerts, but to be honest: To discover Japan was much more important for me than the actual concert.”
- Tell us about how the songs are made and the process around it… It’s you and Markus who make most/all songs, isn’t it?
“The songs are all written by markus and me at home on our labtops, yes. we then take them to the studio and the other two of the band and the producer Mario Thaler join. we work a lot on the songs in the studio, we only do the very rough basics at home, like the structure, vocalmelodies and lyrics. All the arrangement and instrumentation is decided in the studio.“
Markus Acher and Valerie Trebeljahr trying to make money at the Paris metrostation…
(photo: lalipuna.de)
- What’s the differencies between you and Markus musically?
“I guess one big difference is that Markus can play various intruments and I don¹t. I play keyboards (not very good though), I programme drums and samples, I sing. But I don¹t know “the rules³, so I make a lot of things that you wouldn¹t do if you knew more about instruments, way of composing etc.”- Is there a main theme in your lyrics? How do you work with lyrics?
“I write about what concerns me, what¹s happening around me. There is no main theme. Unfortunately I can¹t just sit down and start writing lyrics. So I make a note if something comes to my mind.”
- Lali Puna is on Morr Music, – for me it seems to be a friendly and collaborate atmosphere among the artists there, – is it so? Do you all know eachother?
“I know most of the other bands, yes. Not all, but most of them. I think Thomas Morr works on it, you know, that all the bands get to know each other. We often tour together. I like that.”- The Morr-label has a very distinct sound on their releases. Does Morr affect the way Lali Puna sound?
“Mhhh, difficult to say. For us it is very important to be on Morr Music. But there were of course songs Thomas didn¹t like at first but we wanted them on the record so in the end they were on the record.”
This is Lali Puna, the band! (from Lalipuna.de)
Lali Puna is in many ways a rare flower in the world of music today. Nearly all members of the band have different side-projects, – some of them are very successful, so the band has to make their schedules accurately to fit each of the members individual plans.
“It¹s not easy to have all these bands together and to make schedules. But it¹s at the same time nice that there are so many bands and we found our way to deal with that situation. I think Markus main project is always the project he works with at that moment,” Valerie explains.Valerie Trebeljahr’s main band is Lali Puna, but she likes to work with other artists too, like she did on Styrofoam’s latest album “Nothing’s lost” (also on Morr). She has also worked with Anticon’s Alias. Her boyfriend and co-writer Markus Acher also has his own successful career in The NoTwist and the sideprojects Tied & Tickled trio and recently 13 & God. The drummer Christoph Brandtner is connected to Console, and the Lali Puna’s newest member Christian Heiss on keyboards is in the sideproject, the trio portmanteau.
Right now Valerie and Markus has a 7” single out on Morr Music’s sublabel “a number of small things” (released in june05) with their duo JOHN YOKO. Many of their friends have declared the couple as John and Yoko, so the name is a jokeful comment on this. The John Yoko single contains two coversongs, – one originally by The Magnetic Fields and one by Smog.
Valerie tells us how John Yoko started:
“It is really a project. We were invited from the belgien club Ancienne Belgique in Brussels to play a show just Markus and me, only 15 minutes. So we played one Notwist- and one Lali Puna-song and made two coverversions: Smog “Morning Paper³ and Magnetic Fields “Papa was a Rodeo³. We like these songs very much.”Valerie Trebeljahr ‘s top 5:
Love
peace
happiness
Nina Simone
stuffed animals who can talk.
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Lali Puna means “lali from puna” – Lali was the name used to be called when she was a child and puna refers to the city where she was born: Pusan in Corea.
Lali Puna’s music and all Morr Music releases are now also available from I-Tunes and Bleep.com.
I look forward to a new album one day soon , with maybe something in the vein of past machine on it.
Why not visit England & play The Thekla .
@R Banks – Yes, the news about the new album is fantastic. I will probably write about it soon here on Eardrums.