Derde Verde

Local indie rock trio Derde Verde named itself after the sleepy town of Val Verde, a rural valley enclave an hour north of L.A. Like it’s namesake, which is known for its big sky, soft rolling hills carpeted wih honey-colored grass and nighttime coyote serenades, Derde Verde is slow, delicate and gentle in its approach. Nothing is jagged or hurried on its new self-released EP, Let Me Be A Light, which presents four quietly melodic soundscapes that twist and turn like a wild stream, refusing to be pigeonholed. One theme runs reliably through the EP’s veins: a sense of loss and an acceptance of things ending, exemplified by the final lyrics of “Secret”: “Could I go back to how it was when I was growing up/I would sit beside the creek, protected by the trees/Tracing patterns in the leaves like silent symphonies.” The record kicks off to a rousing start with the album’s clear hit, “Tower,” which boasts soaring falsetto vocals and a rising and falling crescendo of drums and guitar. ”Secret,” showacases a bouncy introductory rhythm line and then breaks down into a mournful refrain about lost love before once more kicking into second gear with a wall of cymbals, drums and fuzzed-out guitar. ”Let Me In boasts noisy guitar rhythms and dreamlike vocals before dissolving into the introspective trickle of the mournful eight-minute epic, “I Still Want Someone.” -Jason Gelt - LA RECORD 111

Derde Verde's second release, Moon/Mirror, shows significant creative growth since 2009's introductory Sleepy EP. Building on Sleepy's solid indie-pop, the self-produced Moon/Mirror (with mixing by Laurence Schwarz and mastering by Tom Brissette) tosses a number of new sonic tricks into the bag. Derde Verde now blends its experimental elements into reliably respectable subgenres (shoegaze, Can's particular brand of krautrock) while still retaining enough of a pop foundation to be instantly engrossing, buoyed by excellent arrangements and impressive vocal harmonies. The album sounds expansive and lush and confident, and rewards a run or two through the headphones. Nearly every element sounds carefully crafted to sound precisely as the band intended. Standout track "Mirror," over the course of its nine-and-a-half minutes, encapsulates the band's great strengths and influences. Beginning very much like it could have been a song from Caribou's Andorna or early AIR, with tidal washes of unidentifiable sound underneath Jon Schwarz's bass, Matthias Wagner's drums and Dylan McKenzie's vocals, the song hazily washes over you until about four minutes in, when McKenzie sings "How long, how long till I am born," and the music erupts into a Yo La Tengo-esque wave of distorted fuzzy warmth. Listening to "Mirror" is like swimming in soft flannel. Moon/Mirror proves that Derde Verde may be the closest thing Los Angeles has to its own Radiohead right now. The album is a tremendous achievement and a standout in this year's crop of indie rock.

-Tom Child - L.A. Record ISSUE 105

L.A.-based trio Derde Verde will bring their melodic and texturally experimental brand of indie rock to the Pacific Northwest over the next two weeks (dates below). They are touring behind their new EP, Let Me Be A Light, featuring the standout single, “Secret.” Listen to “Secret” and preorder the band’s new EP on vinyl, CD, and digital formats at: http://derdeverde.bandcamp.com/

With a range of influences from shoegaze, to krautrock, to indie electronica, the band’s music has been described as “instantly engrossing, buoyed by excellent arrangements and impressive vocal harmonies… Derde Verde may be the closest thing Los Angeles has to its own Radiohead right now” Tom Child (LA Record).

Derde Verde’s compelling and spontaneous live shows earned them slots in 2012 opening for iconic krautrock pioneers Faust, P-Funk/Talking Heads keyboardist Bernie Worrell and San Pedro punk legend Mike Watt.

Derde Verde’s 2013 Spring Tour:

3/23 – 50 Mason – San Francisco, CA
3/25 – The Knockout – San Francisco, CA

3/26 – Kelly’s Olympian – Portland, OR
3/27 – Le Voyeur – Olympia, WA
3/28 – Kenton Club – Portland, OR
3/29 – The Mix – Seattle, WA
3/30 – New Frontier Lounge – Tacoma, WA
3/31 – Hi-Fidelity Lounge – Bremerton, WA
4/2 – Checkerboard Bar – Spokane, WA
4/3 – The Grail – Coeur d’Alene, ID
4/4 – Red Room – Boise, ID
4/5 – Horned Hand – Bend, OR
4/6 – Chapel Tavern – Reno, NV - Northwest Music Scene

On it’s 2011 full-length “Moon/Mirror,” L.A. trio Derde Verde displayed an idiosyncratic mix of influences characterized by warm textures, shape-shifting rhythms and oddly compelling song structures. The restrained, almost inscrutable indie rock made by Jon Schwarz, Dylan McKenzie and Matthias Wagner adds another chapter with their “Let Me Be a Light” EP, which for all its post-rock tendencies is sprinkled with some pretty intense lyrical imagery. The single “Secret” does a lot with a little — an off-kilter guitar riff that vaguely recalls Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” a dramatic slow build and a crescendo of crashing cymbals. Artfully done. - Kevin Bronson (Buzzbands.LA) - Buzzbands.LA

Derde Verde continues the grand journey set forth by bands such as Radiohead and Hawkwind. The LA-based band's new EP, Let Me Be A Light, glows with the organic warmth of the band's indie-electronica, while possessing the mechanical propulsion of Krautrock bands like Neu!. If those names don't pique your interest, then Bobble Tiki can't help you. Intentionally dense, minimalist, electronics-heavy, post-rock opera with layers of blips and synthetic sounds blending into lush orchestral pieces and starkly original compositions just isn't your thing. Bobble Tiki understands. He will not think of you when he turns down the lights, put on the headphones and takes Let Me be A Light into the night. - Bobby Tiki (Weekly Volcano) - Weekly Volcano

L.A. three-piece Derde Verde are just about to release their new EP, Let Me Be a Light, and the first track, “Tower,” is the stormer — it’s all noise and melody and then noise as melody, like something off Guided By Voice’s Isolation Drills. (Which, as you’ll recall, was part of their not-quite-so-lo-fi era.) And while Derde Verde don’t so slow down as much as they open up on the rest of this release, that same fractured pop sensibility persists all the way until EP closer “I Still Want Someone” ends with a crescendo of guitar-mangling feedback that doesn’t so much fade as evaporate. The spirits of bands like Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo and Spoon are all at work here, but not always in the way you’d expect. It’s nice to see a group putting some independence back into indie rock. — Chris Ziegler (LA WEEKLY) - LA Weekly

California Institute of the Arts rocks out for the second concert in the 2012–13 Wild Beast Concert Series. For Art/Rock/Orchestra, the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts presents an evening of orchestral rock featuring Faust, Derde Verde and the CalArts Orchestra.

Art/Rock/Orchestra takes place on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 at 7 p.m. at the Wild Beast’s S. Mark Taper Foundation Courtyard on the CalArts campus in Valencia, California. Concert admission is free. Advance registration is suggested. Festivities begin with pre-concert options for al fresco dinners provided by classic Los Angeles food trucks.

Highlights of the evening under the stars include The CalArts Orchestra playing rock-orchestral works; Derde Verde, a trio of CalArts alums, called “the closest thing Los Angeles has to its own Radiohead right now” by the L. A. Reader; and a set by the legendary, highly influential Faust, ur-krautrock once described by Melody Maker as a “radical mix of musique concrète, Stockhausen, the Velvet Underground, and moments of almost pastoral beauty.” - SCVNews.com

"psych-pop band Derde Verde have been playing great shows around L.A. for a while now, just capping off a residency at Echo Park’s Lot 1. Artist Yelena Zhelezov directed this whimsical trip on fake wings through grimey eastside haunts for their song 'Go to Sleep.' It’s pretty irresistibly sweet." - Amoeba Records

"Another new surprise was opening act Derde Verde, a three piece band from LA whose melodic sense of feel really set them apart from the modern rank-and-file of indie music. I could hear bits of 60's pop mixed with 80's post-punk; a bit of Neil Young with Radioheadish textural electronics to boot. A shoegaze VU perhaps? Regardless of categories, they delivered an impressive performance and their debut album is a delight." - Last Exit Music

"...Derde Verde blew everyone’s mind by channeling the heart-on-sleeve songwriting of Neil Young, the minimalism of Spoon, the squall of Sonic Youth, and the blissful meandering of Built to Spill. Yeah, really. This band rules. I can’t be poetic enough about them." - Beat Necessities

This is one of those times a band’s description of its own music fits: “Like swimming in soft flannel,” Derde Verde says of the tunes on its new “Moon/Mirror” album, and it’s true. The Los Angeles trio of Jon Schwarz, Dylan McKenzie and Matthias Wagner trade in the subtle melodicism and warm textures to craft headphones-worthy excursions into ’60s psychedelia, the softer tip of ’90s shoegaze and experimental, ambient pop. More than anything, Derde Verde’s serpentine arrangements are their calling card — you can get lost and found and lost again in their 9 1/2-minute “Mirror” — and their single “Sunshine” recalls equal parts the Go-Betweens and the Clientele. Not bad references to pop into your head when you’re contemplating the moon, or mirrors. - Buzzbands.LA