Lawrence.com

Making Movies/Facebook by Chance Dibben

Making Movies are making waves. The Kansas City four-piece has received recent acclaim and exposure for its sophomore album “A La Deriva” (Adrift), which expands greatly on the group’s signature synthesis of Latin, Afro-Cuban, Peruvian and indie-pop into one palatable mix. Known for invigorating performances, “A La Deriva" capitalizes on Making Movies’ infectious live energy and growing strengths as songwriters and musicians, with a big assist from respected producer (and Los Lobos player) Steve Berlin. Ahead of their May 10 performance at The Jazzhaus, Lawrence.com chatted with Making Movies vocalist and guitarist Enrique Chi about translating complicated songs for the stage and making music until the day you die.

When Lawrence.com last spoke to you guys in July of last year, you were preparing for the new album, “A La Deriva,” to come out. Now that it’s out, how do you feel?

We’re excited, man. We definitely noticed that everything has grown for the band. The part that’s most rewarding is just artistically it has grown. The music is more challenging, more challenging to perform live, and it’s pushed us to really make ourselves better musicians. At the end of the day that’s still the most fun part of the process.

The media people that get the record and our fans that get it are really getting connected to the songs. And that’s been kind of a growth in it of itself, where [people] are really taking in to account the work and appreciating it […] for what it is. That’s been encouraging. We’re a month into the record being in the world and those are the signs that I see the most growth in, outside of ourselves.

These songs have a lot of life to them, both performed and on record. How do you balance the spirit of the song from record to stage and back and forth?

We’ve done that by trial and error. Most of the recordings were [made] in a very live setting. There are a lot of overdubs, but when you hear the bass, drums, guitar, percussion and lead vocals on 95 percent of the record, all of that happened in one take. So the album already contains kind of a spirit that we have live, but with these extra textures, we have to figure it out. Like, all right, we only have two hands per person, how do we get all these noises to come out? Which ones matter […] and which ones are OK to leave out live? And I feel like the best way to do it is just play. This month as we’re in the middle of 20-something shows, those lessons you learn them as you go.

There are only four members in the band, but it almost sounds as if you are working with a huge ensemble. How do you four achieve such a fluid and rhythmic sound?

A real huge part of that goes to Brendan [Culp, drummer] and Juan Carlos [Chaurand, percussionist] and the creativity [they use] to write their parts. Years ago we were at some Latin club and they were playing a salsa record. Salsa is usually an ensemble of nine people — seven to nine people is the usual standard. We were listening to it through a live PA, and I’m sure if you’ve ever gone to a rock show with a big band, with rare exceptions do you actually hear every instrument and the character it brings. Through a live PA you kind of get the bass stuff, some of the trebbly stuff, and some of the other stuff washes in the middle. So we’re listening to this music in a dance club and I went to Brendan and Juan Carlos and […] said, “Listen to this song, you know what’s happening in this music and know what the conga player is actually playing, you know what the bongo players are supposed to be playing, what the compana players are doing — because you know it. Just listen, what can you actually hear. When we play our music, we should just play what people hear.”

They’re actually leaving out a lot of elements and only playing the accents to create a perception of three or four percussionists. So Juan Carlos will be doing a bell pattern with one hand and hitting the accent tones on the covas and it creates that illusion that there’s two people playing those instruments. Between that, we’ve all had to start singing a lot more — the background vocals make a big difference. My brother [Diego Chi, vocalist/bassist] runs his vocals through guitar pedals and will loop things and sample things. He basically gets to be another instrument that way.

Basically it’s just compressing and having a magician’s touch to make all the elements continuous or seamless...

That’s what people started saying — magicians — about our band. When I was a kid I wanted to be a magician so bad. It’s cool that become a new adjective. It’s our goal to keep the stuff that matters that people hear and focus on that, and I think the rest of it is carried over by the visceral energy of being at a live show.

“A La Deriva” was produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, who actually sought the band out. I know that you’ve talked about his influence in getting a looser sound. What do you feel like is going to be the lasting influence of that experience though?

A couple things are really lasting for me personally and as artist. He is a dude who’s nearly 60 but he’s played music for 35 years, he’s on tour with Los Lobos — this year they did a whole year of touring with Neil Young. That’s amazing [stuff] to do, but on his off time he makes records — with young bands like us, [or] Los Super Seven, [or] with Deer Tick — and he works with such fire and passion. That’s something that I worried about. I love making music but am I going to be able to sustain this kind of energy into in 30 years? He’s created a catalog of music that has his imprint on it — and I think that is amazing. Seeing his energy inspired [me to think] that I can do this.

The lyrics to “La Dia De La Muerte” — I wrote that the morning we recorded it and ended up writing some of those ideas into that song. Man, it is possible to be this excited and passionate about me creating music until the day that you die.

“A La Deriva” is somewhat of a concept album about a family falling apart. Was that something that stitched itself organically or was that something you had set out to create?

It was a little of both. I think it was more organic than preordained. A couple of things happened in my life: I had a relationship fall apart and was dealing with a family that had a bunch of insane stuff happen. At the same time we were working with this youth organization that we ended launching a summer camp with for inner-city kids [and we had] some experiences with kids there that impacted us… just seeing their struggles… so those things [filtered through]. I had a shift, too. I realized that I needed to write songs that voice those stories. People don’t realize as we travel, they’re like does Kansas City have Hispanics? Where’d you shoot the video for “Tormenta” [with] that Mexican neighborhood? Did you have to go to California to shoot that? No, we shot that in our backyard, we shot it in Kansas City in the neighborhood I live in. So I realized that we have this opportunity to be a voice for that community.

And as the songs started coming out, I sent them to Steve — we sent him 20 tunes […] and I was hoping he would pick out the ones that I felt had a theme running through them. He was whittling them down based just on how he liked them and we just wound up on the exact same page.

Aside from the lyrical connections, you have these almost suite-like interludes. There’s a lot of ambient flourishes and swells that connect the songs together. Was that something you were focused on when you were recording the album, too?

Yeah we did. We were definitely more cautious about including some of those interludes and having them tie to each other. We were conscious of trying to make it feel like it ran together. Then that’s where Steve’s influence — I’ve talked about this a little bit before — he allowed us not be afraid of that, to not trim the weird reverse guitar solo on “Ciego Sin Querer” into a shorter thing or to allow the intro for this song to be long and take a minute to get all the way into the tune.

If you go: Making Movies, 10 p.m. Friday, May 10, at the Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St., $5

Farmer's Ball is KU student-run radio station KJHK's annual battle of the bands — a competition held since 1994 that has crowned winners ranging from rapper Stik Figa to funk band the Will Nots. This past Saturday, eight bands performed and more than 250 audience members voted at the Bottleneck to choose the four finalists below, who will compete in the finals this Saturday.

Brain Food

With ties to local band Quiet Corral, Brain Food aims to bridge "the gap between electronic and song-based music."

Forrester

Instrumental, shoegaze rock. Forrester performed a recent KJHK in-studio performance in atypical low lighting. Nice.

Spirit is the Spirit

This five-piece rock band has a trippy music video for their song "Pillows" and an energetic stage presence that usually sparks a dancing crowd.

Y(our) Fri(end)

One woman and her guitar — though she'll play this weekend with a drummer, second guitarist and keyboardist. Y(our) Fri(end) has played everywhere from Middle of the Map Fest to SeedCo Studios.

You can see all four bands perform at the Bottleneck this Saturday starting at 10 p.m. — the show is 18+ and costs $5. Vote for your favorite band at the end of the night. The crowd favorite — announced shortly before 2 a.m. — will win $3,000 in cash, and second place will win $2,000.

This is the final article in a series looking back at past winners of KJHK Farmer's Ball, retelling the artists' memories of winning and their musical endeavors since. This year's Farmer's Ball will take place April 20 and 27 at the Bottleneck.

In the words of a Panda Circus fan, according to lead singer Quinton Cheney: This band sounds as "if They Might Be Giants were a Doors cover band."

And according to Panda Circus' Facebook page: "if Elvis Costello, Ben Folds and Frank Black got stuck paying off their debts in a middle-of-nowhere bar band."

The Lawrence band formed in 2007 and went on to win KJHK's annual battle of the bands, Farmer's Ball, four years later. Now, they're finishing their second album and preparing to play their final show before they go on hibernation.

Of the lineup — Travis Arey, Ben Barthell, Quinton Cheney, Caroline Lohrenz, Erin Zingré — three of them will be working on separate music projects. Arey, Barthell, and Cheney have started a punk project called Something and the Whatevers; Arey also plays with Stiff Middle Fingers.

See Panda Circus at its final show May 21 at the Bottleneck, with Kansas City band Not a Planet.

This is the second article in a series looking back at past winners of KJHK Farmer’s Ball, retelling the artists’ memories of winning and their musical endeavors since. This year’s Farmer’s Ball will take place April 20 and 27 at the Bottleneck.

Tyler Francis and Braden Young formed the self-proclaimed “boogie ‘n soul” band, the Will Nots, in 2005 — but it wasn't until 2010 that the band really gained a footing in Lawrence. It was that year when the band (with additional members Adrian Reese, Hugh Naughtin, and Vincent Williams on board) embraced funk influences, served as the backing band for KC hip-hop artist Approach, and won KJHK’s annual battle of the bands, Farmer’s Ball.

Braden Young, Vincent Williams, and Tyler Francis make up the Will Nots, a funk band that won KJHK Farmer's Ball in 2010 and has since relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. Photo by Spencer Goertz-Giffen. by Jessica Sain-Baird

“We all grew up in the area and definitely knew about [Farmer’s Ball],” Francis says. “It’s dope to be named with some of the other performers that share the title, like The Capsules, Reach, Stik Figa, and Suzannah Johannes.”

The Will Nots has continued with Francis, Young, and Williams, who all relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area this year. The band is working on a series of digital EP releases, Fingerprints.

Though on the West Coast, the members’ solo projects still contain many Midwestern influences. Francis is continuing to make music under his producer guise, Starjammr, collaborating with local artists such as Ebony Tusks. Young performs with Bay Area-based bands and the Lawrence-originated folk band Hello Biplane. Williams writes and produces songs for the Will Nots and plays drums for Mt. Zion Church.

Much like a Farmer’s Ball win inspired Topeka rapper Stik Figa, taking the top spot at the battle of the bands encouraged Francis to keep pursuing music. “[I thought] I can keep following my heart on this one; no reason to keep it for the rehearsal room anymore,” he says.

“Growing up in Lawrence, I really only ever had two goals: become a walk-on for the Jayhawks or win the Farmer’s Ball. So it’s cool to have at least accomplished one of those things.”

This is the first article in a series looking back at past winners of KJHK Farmer’s Ball, retelling the artists’ memories of winning and their musical endeavors since. This year’s Farmer’s Ball will take place April 20 and 27 at the Bottleneck.

It was 2007, and Stik Figa had moved back to Topeka, his childhood hometown, after spending some time in Memphis, Tenn. He had been making music in pursuit of a career for a couple of years. “I just wanted to be the best rapper,” Stik says, “especially in a live setting.”

In November of that year, he competed in KJHK’s annual battle of the bands, Farmer’s Ball, which has been held since 1994. Audience and panelist votes decide a winner, and the prizes, over the years, have ranged from studio time to professional photo sessions to cash.

Photo by Anthony Elrod. by Jessica Sain-Baird

Stik Figa, preparing to perform in the first round at the Jackpot, was nervous. “I was a rapper up against a lot of talented bands,” he says, “and remember being very worried I was gonna get booed by those fans of indie rock and other genres that come across better live.”

So his performance took a bad turn when his CD of backing tracks stopped working. He worried about how the audience would perceive his performance.

“‘This is why [rappers aren’t] real musicians!’ That’s what I was afraid of,” he says.

Off the cuff, he started performing a cappella. Audience members told him after his set that he had ingenuity. “That’s a cool word for it,” he says. “I thought I messed up really badly, but I’ll take ‘ingenuity.’” He went on to win that weekend, which he says encouraged him to continue pursuing a serious music career.

Taking advantage of one of the competition’s prizes that year — studio time at Black Lodge Recording Studio — he recorded his album As Himself, which was recently released internationally by Mello Music Group.

“Had I not won Farmer’s Ball, I don't think I would have had the confidence to keep going in this direction,” he says. “Winning Farmer’s Ball meant everything to me.”

Stik Figa says he’s working on a handful of projects, but wants to keep a little “surprise” with the details. In the meantime, you can see him perform at the Middle of the Map Fest in Kansas City, Mo., on April 6.

With each iteration every year the Austin, Texas-based arts and technology festival South by Southwest proves to be an important cultural test kitchen and showcase for music, film, interactive games and social media. The 2013 conferences, as they are often referred to, recently started March 8, and every year a host of regional, national and international acts make the trek to Texas’ state capitol, often raising the necessary injection of funds by playing SXSW launch parties like the SXSWFest, recently held at the Jackpot Saloon.

Breaking this year’s acts into demographics, The Atlantic’s Richard Florida and colleague Patrick Adler, analyzed official SXSW musical acts and arranged them according to geography, as a way to chart the “geography of indie music.” Austin of course dominates with the most acts, given the city's hometown advantage, with other metro centers like New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and Chicago representing large as well.

Map by Zara Matheson of Martin Prosperity Institute. From the article "What SXSW Can Tell Us About the Geography of Indie Music" http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/03/what-sxsw-tells-us-about-geography-indie-music/4836/ by Chance Dibben

But Adler also analyzed the number of official acts per 100,000 people, and something surprising (or perhaps not) shines through, with college towns like Athens, Ga., and Bloomington, Ind., rising to the top. Our own fair city gets a pretty sizable representation using this metric, coming in at sixth place. But this doesn’t account for the number of unofficial shows, like the MidCoast Takeover, which features Lawrence and Kansas City acts like Cowboy Indian Bear, The Dead Girls, Spirit is the Spirit and The Soft Reeds.

Of course this representation probably does not surprise Lawrenician music lovers. We have known for some time that our small college town, and the region as a whole, has an awesome, thriving music scene. The New York Times even noted in 2005, “Lawrence is now perhaps the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver.”

Not that any of this makes you feel better as your lucky friends tweet and Instagram from Austin all week. There’s always next year.

Just how old is Cowboy Indian Bear member Martinez Hillard anyway? Although Hillard has decided to downplay the conceit of Marty is 47? — an inside joke used to promote his birthday shows — he won’t give me a straight answer. “I decided to go ahead and opt out of the theme this year…It was a fun joke that even had a couple of people fooled for a couple years.” Rugged estimates mark the man as early to mid 30s, but when I press him he recommits. “Quote me. 47.”

Fair enough. Hillard may be more than a few years shy of 47, but the hardworking musician/rapper continues his annual tradition of celebrating his birthday by doing what he does best; hustling a show together. This year’s event, on Saturday, features Hillard’s own band, about to release its second album, "Live Old, Die Young," Cloud Dog, Kansas City’s The Soft Reeds, and Paper Buffalo. This is the fifth time Hillard has celebrated his birthday in concert.

It also marks Hillard and co.’s return to fundraising for Family Promise, an organization that provides direct support for homeless families in Douglas County. In previous iterations of his birthday bash, Hillard donated portions of the cover charge to the group, after becoming aware of the organization through a friend and former employee. “Getting acquainted with the work she had done over the years, [fundraising] was something I thought would be fun to do… It was something I had always wanted to revisit, but hadn’t had the chance until now.”

Family Promise is national network of direct support affiliates that began nearly 20 years in New Jersey and has since spread to 174 cities in 41 states. Since opening in October 2008, the Lawrence affiliate has garnered a 92 percent success rate of graduates of the program maintaining permanent housing, says Executive Director Dana Ortiz. Ortiz says the reason for success is social capital — “people connecting with people” and the organization’s “practicing the lost art of hospitality.”

The program maintains a circuit of churches and congregations that offer temporary housing to a limited number of families — four families, or 15 individuals, the maximum allowable by city ordinances. The program also focuses on reinforcing necessary life skills to secure permanent housing.

“We try to help come along side them. It’s not us doing for them. It’s us coming along side the families,” Ortiz says.

Having recently visited the organization’s outreach center, Hillard remarked “it’s very evident that a lot of the work they do is very hands on.”

Ortiz expresses it as “doing life together,” a particularly rich phrase that encapsulates the organization’s focus on making their guests feel comfortable and arm them with the skills to graduate through their program and secure housing.

Hillard reflects “it’s something that really resonates with me on a personal level. The more I learn, the more I want to help in the ways that I can. For me as a musician this is definitely one of the ways I can get more hands on.”

You can come celebrate Marty’s Birthday featuring Cowboy Indian Bear, Cloud Dog, The Soft Reeds, and Paper Buffalo starting at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. Cover is $6-8, with portions of the door going to Family Promise, as well as donation bake sale.

Cowboy Indian Bear's Martinez Hillard will celebrate his birthday with a concert Saturday at the Bottleneck. by jralston

• Soft Reeds has released a new single, "Pregnant Actress," with a mesmerizing accompanying gif cover. The band's new album, "Blank City," will be released April 23 and is available for pre-order on vinyl.
• Cowboy Indian Bear's new album, "Live Old Die Young," will be released April 23. The announcement and tour dates are in the video below. If you're a fan, you likely know guitarist Marty Hillard will celebrate his birthday at the Bottleneck this Saturday. Cowboy Indian Bear, Soft Reeds, Cloud Dog, and Paper Buffalo will perform. A portion of the show's cover will go to Family Promise, an organization that provides support to homeless families in Lawrence.

• The ACBs are celebrating the release of their album "Little Leaves" with a show at the Record Bar this Friday with Fourth of July. You can pre-order the album, to be released March 5, or get it at the show.
• Fourth of July’s new album, "Empty Moon," will be released April 9 and is also available for pre-order as a CD or vinyl. Here's a single from the album to tide you over in the meantime—"Drinking Binge."

Rolf Petermann prepares for a Karma Vision practice at SeedCo Studios on Sept. 26, 2012. Photo by Jessica Sain-Baird. by Jessica Sain-Baird

Rishi of Whatever Forever Tapes will unveil a four-headphone listening hub for its new cassette tape, Phantasmagoria, at a Fresh Produce Art Collective open studio event Friday at SeedCo Studios.

Rolf Petermann of Karma Vision and Brian Miller of Broken Fader Cartel and Ad Astra Arkestra spearhead Rishi. A variety of other local musicians contributed to the making of Phantasmagoria: Bobby Sauder, Ben Kimbal, Danny Barkofske, Sam Mitchie and Carey Scott. Listen to a song from the tape, "Gray Me," below.

Petermann calls Rishi "a trial-and-error blend" of old and new technologies — the tape incorporates an early-'90s Casio keyboard, a student-model alto sax, snare and floor tom drums, a cymbal, and live and post-production effects. Rishi will also perform at a Live @ KJHK studio session at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

In addition to the display of Rishi’s music project at SeedCo Studios this Friday, local bands CS Luxem, Dean Monkey and the Dropouts, and Mau Bones will perform starting at 9 p.m. as part of a Final Friday after-party.

Update: Despite the rescheduling of many Final Friday events, the open studio event at SeedCo Studios has not been canceled.

Craig Boliver. Contributed. by Chance Dibben

Vinyl maybe experiencing a resurgence in popularity, but it is still up to audiophiles, graphic designers, boutique labels, collectors, and appreciators of the art form to keep it alive through cult care. One such caretaker, Craig Boliver, 24, a Pittsburgh, Penn. transplant, has run the small label I Am Shark in Lawrence for the past two years. With a wealth of experience in the music industry that belies his youth — he worked for Jim Recor’s Clear Entertainment, which was purchased by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants; has served as manager and distributor for several bands, including emo punk heroes Hawthorne Heights — Boliver has put out a small roster of bands' music from groups across the country.

But the hard-working and restless individual always seems to have his eyes set on the next big thing. Right now, Boliver is focused on establishing I Am Shark as the independent label for film, television and video game soundtracks, a pocket of the music industry that seems to be under the radar, even with the vinyl’s growing sales. Improbably, Boliver’s first project is about as big as it gets for film soundtrack releases and reissues: I Am Shark will be reissuing the soundtrack to "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace". The limited edition run will feature different colors that correspond to specific characters from the films, and is the first in the prequel trilogy to get the vinyl reissue treatment (with Episodes II and III on the way, and talks of the original trilogy).

“I’m going to have my logo on something that’s Star Wars. That was a dream come true,” says Boliver, a lifelong Star Wars fan. Read more from my interview with Boliver below.

Contributed. by Chance Dibben

On how he got the idea for this: “I needed something refreshing. I’m surrounded by bands and everyone around me is in a band, every weekend there’s a band coming in on tour. So I was like, let’s do movies. I love soundtracks. I’ve been listening to a lot of post-rock stuff lately — Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Sigur Rós — I think that triggered, 'Oh I really like score compositions a lot.' I can listen to that and get a lot of work done at home and not really know about it, and if I want to I can sit down and just listen to that and be captivated.

I went through my DVD collection and my LP collection all at the same time and said, 'I have this. Why don’t I have this? So I would get on my computer to see if that [soundtrack] was available on vinyl. Star Wars was not. I don’t know why. They did release a very small run for 'The Phantom Menace'. It was on picture disc and it was bad quality. After you play a picture disc three times, it’s done. It gets all just scratched.”

Courtesy of Craig Boliver. by Chance Dibben

On the importance of doing vinyl right: “I do a lot of publishing work too, as far as getting bands' songs into TV and film. So that made a nice connection as far as, 'oh, I need you guys to my songs in your movie? I want to put your movies out on records and you’re gonna like it.' It’s that give and take relationship that I wanted to create as well. Not only am I going to give you songs, I’ll put out your [soundtracks] too. People now, with the vinyl resurgence, everyone wants to do it, but no one wants to take responsibility into putting that much money into an initial project. Or take the time to do it well. I think now since there are so many LPs coming out no one's really taking the time to sit down and say these colors make sense with the artwork and the film, we need to make really creative packaging, maybe all of the sides fold in. You can do anything.”

How it came together: [This] was the first [soundtrack]. That was really the first film, which is super surprising. I hit up — I think I did go straight to Sony Classical, who I’m working with on this release, because they released the CD versions and just never got a ‘no.’ This has been a year-long process — I think up to about now it’s been a year — and, yeah, I just never a heard a no. It was like, 'OK, I’ll give you some more information on what I want to do. OK, send this over.' Then it was at the point where [they] said you can announce this. Really? I got it? That was great.”

On the Star Wars prequels’ maybe, less than stellar reputation and connecting with Star Wars fans: “I know that people hate The Phantom Menace—they hate a lot of the prequels, but the music’s great. I feel like that’s sort of the catching point: a lot of the fans [could] say I listened to soundtrack, alright I don’t hate [the film] as much as I thought I did. I can stand Jar Jar Binks if he just shuts up."

On future projects: “Some reissues and new films that are coming out. I can’t really say anything yet. There are a lot of things I can’t say. I have plans for a lot things. Like I want to do 'Jaws' on Shark Week. Shark Week and it’s sold on that week only. A lot of weird movies. I love the Wes Anderson films. None of those are out and I would love to do them. Especially those soundtracks — they are meant for vinyl. ... I don’t have anything for the future yet. Star Wars is the big thing.”

Courtesy of Craig Boliver. by Chance Dibben

On his ambitions for I Am Shark: “I want to be the independent face for movies, music, TV scores, comedy — I love comedy records — video games too…I think my parents' record collection had a big impact on me. I would go through all the blues stuff, all the Motown, the comedy records… That’s all I want to do, is be that guy that puts records into people’s hands.”

You can pre-order the limited 2xLP reissue of the "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" soundtrack here:

http://iamshark.limitedrun.com/products/508090

Making Movies/Facebook by Chance Dibben

Making Movies are making waves. The Kansas City four-piece has received recent acclaim and exposure for its sophomore album “A La Deriva” (Adrift), which expands greatly on the group’s signature synthesis of Latin, Afro-Cuban, Peruvian and indie-pop into one palatable mix. Known for invigorating performances, “A La Deriva" capitalizes on Making Movies’ infectious live energy and growing strengths as songwriters and musicians, with a big assist from respected producer (and Los Lobos player) Steve Berlin. Ahead of their May 10 performance at The Jazzhaus, Lawrence.com chatted with Making Movies vocalist and guitarist Enrique Chi about translating complicated songs for the stage and making music until the day you die.

When Lawrence.com last spoke to you guys in July of last year, you were preparing for the new album, “A La Deriva,” to come out. Now that it’s out, how do you feel?

We’re excited, man. We definitely noticed that everything has grown for the band. The part that’s most rewarding is just artistically it has grown. The music is more challenging, more challenging to perform live, and it’s pushed us to really make ourselves better musicians. At the end of the day that’s still the most fun part of the process.

The media people that get the record and our fans that get it are really getting connected to the songs. And that’s been kind of a growth in it of itself, where [people] are really taking in to account the work and appreciating it […] for what it is. That’s been encouraging. We’re a month into the record being in the world and those are the signs that I see the most growth in, outside of ourselves.

These songs have a lot of life to them, both performed and on record. How do you balance the spirit of the song from record to stage and back and forth?

We’ve done that by trial and error. Most of the recordings were [made] in a very live setting. There are a lot of overdubs, but when you hear the bass, drums, guitar, percussion and lead vocals on 95 percent of the record, all of that happened in one take. So the album already contains kind of a spirit that we have live, but with these extra textures, we have to figure it out. Like, all right, we only have two hands per person, how do we get all these noises to come out? Which ones matter […] and which ones are OK to leave out live? And I feel like the best way to do it is just play. This month as we’re in the middle of 20-something shows, those lessons you learn them as you go.

There are only four members in the band, but it almost sounds as if you are working with a huge ensemble. How do you four achieve such a fluid and rhythmic sound?

A real huge part of that goes to Brendan [Culp, drummer] and Juan Carlos [Chaurand, percussionist] and the creativity [they use] to write their parts. Years ago we were at some Latin club and they were playing a salsa record. Salsa is usually an ensemble of nine people — seven to nine people is the usual standard. We were listening to it through a live PA, and I’m sure if you’ve ever gone to a rock show with a big band, with rare exceptions do you actually hear every instrument and the character it brings. Through a live PA you kind of get the bass stuff, some of the trebbly stuff, and some of the other stuff washes in the middle. So we’re listening to this music in a dance club and I went to Brendan and Juan Carlos and […] said, “Listen to this song, you know what’s happening in this music and know what the conga player is actually playing, you know what the bongo players are supposed to be playing, what the compana players are doing — because you know it. Just listen, what can you actually hear. When we play our music, we should just play what people hear.”

They’re actually leaving out a lot of elements and only playing the accents to create a perception of three or four percussionists. So Juan Carlos will be doing a bell pattern with one hand and hitting the accent tones on the covas and it creates that illusion that there’s two people playing those instruments. Between that, we’ve all had to start singing a lot more — the background vocals make a big difference. My brother [Diego Chi, vocalist/bassist] runs his vocals through guitar pedals and will loop things and sample things. He basically gets to be another instrument that way.

Basically it’s just compressing and having a magician’s touch to make all the elements continuous or seamless...

That’s what people started saying — magicians — about our band. When I was a kid I wanted to be a magician so bad. It’s cool that become a new adjective. It’s our goal to keep the stuff that matters that people hear and focus on that, and I think the rest of it is carried over by the visceral energy of being at a live show.

“A La Deriva” was produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, who actually sought the band out. I know that you’ve talked about his influence in getting a looser sound. What do you feel like is going to be the lasting influence of that experience though?

A couple things are really lasting for me personally and as artist. He is a dude who’s nearly 60 but he’s played music for 35 years, he’s on tour with Los Lobos — this year they did a whole year of touring with Neil Young. That’s amazing [stuff] to do, but on his off time he makes records — with young bands like us, [or] Los Super Seven, [or] with Deer Tick — and he works with such fire and passion. That’s something that I worried about. I love making music but am I going to be able to sustain this kind of energy into in 30 years? He’s created a catalog of music that has his imprint on it — and I think that is amazing. Seeing his energy inspired [me to think] that I can do this.

The lyrics to “La Dia De La Muerte” — I wrote that the morning we recorded it and ended up writing some of those ideas into that song. Man, it is possible to be this excited and passionate about me creating music until the day that you die.

“A La Deriva” is somewhat of a concept album about a family falling apart. Was that something that stitched itself organically or was that something you had set out to create?

It was a little of both. I think it was more organic than preordained. A couple of things happened in my life: I had a relationship fall apart and was dealing with a family that had a bunch of insane stuff happen. At the same time we were working with this youth organization that we ended launching a summer camp with for inner-city kids [and we had] some experiences with kids there that impacted us… just seeing their struggles… so those things [filtered through]. I had a shift, too. I realized that I needed to write songs that voice those stories. People don’t realize as we travel, they’re like does Kansas City have Hispanics? Where’d you shoot the video for “Tormenta” [with] that Mexican neighborhood? Did you have to go to California to shoot that? No, we shot that in our backyard, we shot it in Kansas City in the neighborhood I live in. So I realized that we have this opportunity to be a voice for that community.

And as the songs started coming out, I sent them to Steve — we sent him 20 tunes […] and I was hoping he would pick out the ones that I felt had a theme running through them. He was whittling them down based just on how he liked them and we just wound up on the exact same page.

Aside from the lyrical connections, you have these almost suite-like interludes. There’s a lot of ambient flourishes and swells that connect the songs together. Was that something you were focused on when you were recording the album, too?

Yeah we did. We were definitely more cautious about including some of those interludes and having them tie to each other. We were conscious of trying to make it feel like it ran together. Then that’s where Steve’s influence — I’ve talked about this a little bit before — he allowed us not be afraid of that, to not trim the weird reverse guitar solo on “Ciego Sin Querer” into a shorter thing or to allow the intro for this song to be long and take a minute to get all the way into the tune.

If you go: Making Movies, 10 p.m. Friday, May 10, at the Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St., $5

This is the final article in a series looking back at past winners of KJHK Farmer's Ball, retelling the artists' memories of winning and their musical endeavors since. This year's Farmer's Ball will take place April 20 and 27 at the Bottleneck.

In the words of a Panda Circus fan, according to lead singer Quinton Cheney: This band sounds as "if They Might Be Giants were a Doors cover band."

And according to Panda Circus' Facebook page: "if Elvis Costello, Ben Folds and Frank Black got stuck paying off their debts in a middle-of-nowhere bar band."

The Lawrence band formed in 2007 and went on to win KJHK's annual battle of the bands, Farmer's Ball, four years later. Now, they're finishing their second album and preparing to play their final show before they go on hibernation.

Of the lineup — Travis Arey, Ben Barthell, Quinton Cheney, Caroline Lohrenz, Erin Zingré — three of them will be working on separate music projects. Arey, Barthell, and Cheney have started a punk project called Something and the Whatevers; Arey also plays with Stiff Middle Fingers.

See Panda Circus at its final show May 21 at the Bottleneck, with Kansas City band Not a Planet.