So here comes another band from Los Angeles with a self-titled debut album and a really pretentious sounding band name. Probably taken some from high brow novel? Oh it was? I’m not surprised…

Oh, wait — this band is actually awesome. To be honest, the first time I heard The Airborne Toxic Event, I sort of wrote them off. It took me a long time to actually give their material a listen and even when I did, I wasn’t initially extremely fond of it. But present me takes a look at past me and wonders what past me was thinking. The Airborne Toxic Event is a quality rock band that displays expert musicianship and makes sure that songwriting always comes first.

The sound that The Airborne Toxic Event displays is simply well balanced. The band is made up of several classically trained musicians. The bass player, Noah, not only has the ability to play the bass, but also the cello and the double bass. The violinist, Anna, often takes on several responsibilities in live performances, including background vocals, percussion, and keyboards. Each member adds his or her own personal flare to lead singer Mikel Jollett’s thoughtful songwriting. The sound is reminiscent of a modern day adaptation of The Cure if The Cure had a violin player and used straight pianos instead of synths.

The opening track on their debut album is actually a simple layering process. Obviously built on a piano riff that front man and lead singer Jollett wrote, “Wishing Well” talks about a pretty common theme: wanting a night to go somewhere special or significant. Jollett writes touching lyrics where he is obviously being very personal, but still trying to get in touch with the listener.

Other standout tracks are “Gasoline,” “Happiness Is Overrated,” and the short-and-to-the-point “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” The title just about says it all as far as the subject matter of the lyrics goes. The music has a simple backing that serves the addictive melody of the chorus. A wonderful video of the band playing the song in the back of their van is posted here (check out more of these videos on YouTube. They did one per song on this album and they’re all fantastic.)

The lead single, “Sometime Around Midnight,” is this amazing five-minute epic, which has no chorus and simply tells a heartfelt narrative. The story is stereotypical: see your ex at a bar, get really drunk and upset, stumble through the streets with the need to see her. But Jollett puts his own spin on it and you believe every line. I would suggest this as a wonderful gateway into the rest of the album (which is why I have provided a video for you! How convenient!)

It’s pretty clear how I feel about this band. Go get yourself this album. I need to say no more.

The mixtape is a criminally underappreciated art form. You have probably seen them used as novelty items — goodie bags at Sweet Sixteens and Bar Mitzvahs — that will never be played again. Such a waste of potential.

A mixtape can be so much more than just a playlist of songs. As a narrative medium, it is just as legitimate as the short story or the painting. By making a mixtape, you act as a curator, compiling an anthology that extends well beyond the reach of any time period or genre. You can draw on everything from Top 40 to proto-punk to chillwave to construct a unique narrative that connects its constituent parts in a manner that transcends their superficial stylistic differences.

You can weave a plot with the prodigious guitar playing of Michael Hedges and the visceral voice of Björk. Or you can construct a scene with the overly emotive Bright Eyes coupled with the soft, detached piano playing of Nils Frahm. Either way, there is intentionality to your work that is not often acknowledged in a mixtape.

But there is more to a mixtape than just intentionality. By creating this anthology of music, you are distilling the most intimate parts of yourself, just like any other art form. From your music library, you search for the songs that not only sound most appropriate, but also those that you have attributed significance to through repeated listening. By placing them in your mixtape, you again change their significance. Just as a writer conveys his or her own unique voice through words, you convey your own unique voice through the selection and arrangement of songs.

This mixtape that you create could only ever be made by you. You may not like writing or be able to draw a straight line, but you can listen. When all is said and done, you will have a piece of art that is yours and yours alone. All you have to do is listen.

Back in March, Dusted performed at Emo’s East for the Polyvinyl Showcase during SXSW. The duo is the new effort of Brian Borscherdt, previously of Holy Fuck, and it shows Borscherdt turning to a softer, indie-rock side, turning away from Holy Fuck’s more electronic sound. I got the chance to sit down with Brian after Dusted’s set, which happened to be their first official show as a group. Dusted’s first record is coming out in July on Polyvinyl.

So you said that this was your first show as Dusted? Can you tell us how that experience was for you?

Brian Broscherdt: Oh it was great. It was great. We’re from Toronto and just before leaving we kinda bum-rushed a friend of ours’ show and sort of tried out a bit of this, but it didn’t go so well and now here we are so it’s sort of like that last show was maybe like half a show, so this was our first full show. First official one.

How was it playing at Emo’s for that first show?

BB: It feels like it’s a little bit backwards, it feels like we’re supposed to work our way up here after maybe 20 shows or 200 shows so it really felt like we were lucky to jump so many steps to get a really great [venue] the first time. Mind you we were also very nervous, of course.

Well, it went great.

BB: Aw, thanks so much, thanks. It was fun! It was a lot of fun.

So you said you’re from Toronto?

BB: Yeah, Leon and I are both from Toronto.

Dusted is just a two piece band, with you on guitar and vocals, and Leon on drums. What made the decision to go with just two members?

BB: Um, that’s a good question, basically I started the record with Leon, like he has this studio in Toronto it’s like an old just a little garage, where I was working out these songs with him sort of as a creative process and we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. Then when the time came that we decided we were going to start playing live, obviously he was my first choice. Let’s do this, we already did it together in the studio, let’s make it happen. And I think, I dunno, there’s always the potential to add another person but in the meantime I think it’s nice to just start out very minimal because it’s really making us be extra creative, like, some of the things that you would intuitively want the third person to do, a guitar line or something, suddenly you can’t do that and you can’t rely on it, so it’s making us sort of be really creative. Leon, for instance, is not only playing drums but he’s playing basically kick and snare but also playing keyboards at the same time, so he’s doing all the baselines on his keyboard. So things like that, it becomes fun, and I think it makes it a special thing for us, makes it a nice challenge

Yeah, for sure. And I think it kind of stood out as something special, it just being you two.

BB: Yeah, and I hope so. I always enjoy seeing that. I like to see, I mean I like bands in all the configurations possible but I think there’s something special about two people, two friends, you see the camaraderie and it makes it a fun experience, I think.

Is this your first time at SXSW?

BB: No, I actually play with another band, and we’ve been here a handful of times but, uh, I dunno, to tell you to the truth the last time we were here I don’t even know if I had a good time because we played too many shows in too few days. Essentially I think it was like 11 shows in 3 days and it was really stressful. So to come back, and do something new, and kind of start from the bottom and just get a couple shows, it’s a lot of fun, it’s kind of refreshing.

So you’re playing at the Polyvinyl showcase, how’d you get involved with Polyvinyl?

BB: Well very fortunately they got a hold of my record, and liked it. And we got in touch and yeah we’re going to be putting our record out in July with Polyvinyl. So it was a fairly organic process, just sending it out to special labels and hoping they dug it. I feel like that’s a real shot in the dark with so much out there, so many bands. And although of course there’s many many labels, there’s also very few labels when you think of a certain tier or certain status that some of these bigger indie labels have so I don’t know how it was that they came to listen to my record, out of everything, but I feel very honored that they did.

Have you had time to check out other bands here at SXSW? What are you excited for?

BB: Well, I really hope to. I showed up to get my bracelets and everything and get my credentials and then I was told that I’m not playing SXSW, I didn’t realize that this wasn’t an official showcase. So I didn’t get anything, I didn’t even get a guide, so I’ve been borrowing guides from people and I don’t even know who’s playing. But one of the things that I’ve learned from the past, is that you can have really big ambitions to see some of your very favorite bands and check things off of your “life list”, but at the same time that also means a lot of lines and a lot of frustration. And I’ve had much more fun with my South By experiences, when I’m here to see my friends. And even if they’re friends I see all the time back home in Canada, there’s something fun about being here, in a new city, in a new place where it’s summer all of a sudden. I really do enjoy being at my friends shows, so so far that’s more or less what we’ve done. I’m trying to think… I went to this weird wine tasting last night and watched my friends Wintersleep play, and it was like we all got drunk on free wine. It was really special, actually, it was fun. And I saw Lower Dens last night, they were great. I ran into some friends of mine, so I’m seeing them on the streets, but I haven’t seen them all on stage yet. So hopefully there’ll be more time.

And what’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at SXSW over the years?

BB: Oh wow, that’s a good question. On the spot here. Well, not so crazy, but one of the things I enjoyed doing was I met up with my friend who plays drums in A Place to Bury Strangers, a couple years ago. And they had forgotten their fog machine, so he went back to the venue to get it so here he is walking down 7th and Red River with his fog machine. So we all got this bright idea that we’re going to run around and ambush various stranger’s shows by plugging in the fog machine. So we just kinda went in, like guerilla style, fogged out all these random bands’ shows. And it was really fun and most people thought it was cool, but it provoked one fight where we almost got beat up. They weren’t too happy about getting, like, heaps and heaps of fog piled onto them. Yeah so that was pretty fun. There’s always crazy things going on. But it’s mostly just a lot of like, hip young beautiful people walking around looking cool, and eating gross food.

Well thanks a lot for talking with us. Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival

BB: Absolutely, thank you. Yeah, I hope to come out to Pittsburgh soon.

Interview by Eden Weingart