JP Caballero (White Arrows) – Best of 2014

JP Caballero from LA’s  White Arrows shared a few of his favorite things from 2014 with us.

You can check out all our Best of 2014 lists here.

JP CABALLERO’S BEST OF 2014:

MUSIC: Ariel Pink – pom pom

It’s interesting to hear this guy evolve. he’s a student of pop music and pop-culture ephemera, and it definitely shows on this record. Surf rock nudist anthems, commercial jingles with Kim Fowley, ballads about iCloud/Instagram fueled alienation, prog workouts and the like-you get a sense of him in bits and pieces; like some weird modern Zappa. “Put Your Number in My Phone” is a wonderful exercise in MOR songwriting that comes off more as rejection informed fantasy than literal truth (the video, where he traverses the Eagle Rock Mall as a failed pickup artist definitely feels that way).

GEAR: Behringer X32 digital mixer

In 2014 we can pull off things that nobody imagined even 20 years ago. When we play live, we run all of our sounds into this smallC rack mount digital mixer, and using an iPhone app, everyone can control/customize an individual mix that goes into their own earphones. Granted we were supposed to have flying cars by now, but this is still pretty amazing.

MOVIE: Inherent Vice

Granted this hasn’t been released yet, but given the source material (Pynchon’s psychedelic detective novella of the same name), actors (Joaquin Phoenix with killer mutton chops) and director (Paul Thomas Anderson) this is gonna flip a lot of wigs. From the book, feels like it’s gonna play out as Big Lebowski had that film occurred in its protagonists glory days of the late 60’s/early 70’s.

BONUS! Listen to White Arrows’ “Nobody Cares” below. It’s lovely and trippy: