Molino

Dam. With a sound that could have blown the roof off the Staples Center, these Echo Park rockers killed, absolutely killed their set @ the Silverlake Lounge last night. My ears are still ringing. I am talking about Molino.

Do not listen to these guys without ear plugs because they will leave your ears and the rest of your body reverberating like their sound does on stage. I wanted more last night only to realize their sound is TOO big for the spot they played at. Seriously, Molino has sheer power coming out this four piece band and well worth checking out. - Loudvine

Upon first listen, Echo Park's Molino seem as exciting as their band name, which is Spanish for windmill. Lyrical content for this quintet seems solely focused on the heterosexual love chase. This thematic one-noteism, however, does make the ensemble the perfect bar band to crank up to 11 at your local dive, especially given the band’s radio-ready, raucous rockers like “Everybody Needs Somebody,” an offspring of Oasis’ tambourine-heavy, 60s synth-infused anthems.

But once track three of the EP "Looking for You" hits, the album’s veritable theme becomes more evident as a lonely acoustic guitar strums helplessly between two minor chords, which are known to demonstrate the less happy of moods. These are songs that are really just about the yearning for love, which is elucidated through song titles: “Everybody Needs Somebody,” “When She Comes,” “Looking For You,” and “Salvation.”

It becomes clear that the band is more than just about rocking your socks off in your blissed-out hour of boozing. Perhaps it’s because inside every dirty, bad boy rocker, there’s a wounded, outcast soul who has turned to the rock gods for deliverance from any combination of heartbreak, rejection, repression, or the mundane realities of life. -Angela Lu - The Deli Magazine - Los Angeles

A new shoegazey act who are really worth keeping an eye out for. - Radio Free Silverlake

Los Angeles based rock band, Molino took the time to chat with me about their upcoming album. They will be performing live at the 13th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival this Saturday October 1st. Check out this special interview. - Vegan Cannibal

Molino is a motley assemblage of four interesting musicians who come together and create thoroughly spaced out music in a marvelous way.
Cliff on bass, Suki on keys, Jason on drums and Abraham, the creator, on guitar and extremely David Byrne-esque vocals - they play songs that are kind of about love - sucky love - and freedom that isn’t so free....like a relationship in which you're not really sure if you're in or out - all with a sticky rhythm like the gum on the bottom of your shoe on a hot afternoon. Between the vibe that suggests Talking Heads, B52s and Buddy Holly and the way they ride a groove to the edge of Pink Floyd, Molino is intriguing, relaxing and exhilirating at once, like a cat in and out of a paper bag.
The song, Everybody, opens reminiscent of Simple Minds' tune from The Breakfast Club.
At a short 5 minutes, its easy repetition feels open, like standing stripped at the edge of the ocean.
Salvation is an experience unto itself. The bass groove vibrates so deep you think maybe your tire’s blown, but in this state it wouldn’t really matter. Rushing trippy keys fly through like epiphaneal cracks of light. It sounds like the first sparks of life in a dark crisp universe.
The unhurried 8 minute lead-in gives way to a celebratory, revelatory jam galore that
culminates in a joyous release, returning to a spaced out but crunchy, charged, confusing satisfaction, all of which ends with a tiny revelatory reprise.
Think 2001, A Space Odyssey.
Space. Lots of space. Molino will give you the space to enjoy their nice ride.
Check out their upcoming Silverlake shows. - Luxury Wafers

by Joe Fielder

Fellow indie music blog Luxury Wafers writes about LA act Molino: "Spaced-out psychedelic shoegaze arrives in the time warp of [their] Salvation EP, which evokes images as deep as the sparks of creation and as entertaining as a virgin experience with Freshen-Up gum..."

We like the group too and recently corresponded with lead vox/guitar Abraham Rodriquez-Smith to learn more about them.

Hey, Abraham. How's it going? How was your holiday weekend?

Super chill actually, just rolled out to different friends's bbq's and drank copious amounts of beer and smoked some herbage, always a good time...

So how long has the band been together now?

The band originally formed back in 2008 with a slightly different lineup, we used to have a keyboardist, and a different bass player, over the course of that first year doing shows, we also picked up our second guitarist, dave. Now we no longer have the keyboardist and we've found a new bass player. It took some time, but in the end I'm really happy to be playing with our current line-up, and i think this is the tightest we've ever sounded...

How did you all meet?

When i first recorded the EP, it was originally just my solo project, and when it was finished i needed to put a band together. I've never really been a fan of putting out open calls to find peeps to jam with, its hard to find someone to connect with musically and to be able to hang out too, so i've been very lucky to just have a bunch of musician friends, in very incestuous ways we've all met just over the course of years playing in different projects together...

What are the backgrounds for everyone in the group?

Well i actually started playing music back in elementary school in orchestra (the violin), and graduated up to the stand up bass for jr and senior high schools. but i got really burnt on the practice time that goes into playing classical music, and just quit to teach myself guitar back when i was 16 and i've been rocking ever since. i hated orchestra back then, but i totally appreciate the background it gave me, i still do play bass in other projects too. our drummer, eddie, is usually a singer, he fronts a few projects of his own, but we don't hold that against him and he can still pound the skins. Jeff, our new bass player has also been playing music for years, and Dave is a multi-talented guitarist as well... i guess at the end of the day we've all just been playing music for a long time now, and when we get together to jam we always end up leaving with smiles on our faces...

How would you describe your sound?

I've heard other people compare us often with Spacemen 3, with a little love and rockets thrown in there, which is fine by me as i love both bands. we also kinda bring a "manchestery" (i think i just made up a word) vibe to our sound too...

Who are your influences? What bands made you want to make music?

in addition to the bands mentioned above, i'd have to say that when i heard "my bloody valentine" for the first time, kevin shields fundamentally changed the way i listen and play guitar... i was also really into sonic youth, jane's addiction, and of course nirvana when i was in my teens, and they all totally left their imprints in my musical sub-consciousness... but i also like how everyone in the band kinda brings in their own take on things, and everything just kinda works together...

What's the name of the band from? (Google brings up a town, a brand of bongs, and the word "windmill" in, I believe, Italian.)

Being as how things started as more of a solo project, molino is actually the name of the street i grew up on in long beach... there is an area in long beach called signal hill, which used to be filled with oil derricks and expansive oil fields, so everyday my school bus would drive past them, and i was always intrigued by them as a kid... so i wanted to use the image of the oil derrick for the band, and when i later found out molino also means "windmill", i relate to derricks being a kinda "modern" windmill and the name just stuck for me... although it would be fun if we were named after a brand of bongs, that has me thinking maybe we could hook up a band sponsorship from them...

When did you EP come out? Who did you work with on it?

The EP came out in 2008, i had taken a trip out to Sedona and met up with a native american healer and participated in a ceremony and sweat lodge out there in the arizona desert, and i have to say after that process something inside me freed up and i felt like i really had to make my own record... so when i came back home i pretty much recorded everything on it aside from the drums, and a few keyboard parts, which also Suki Ewers played on. my friend joe kennedy helped me record drums in his studio over in highland park, but the rest of the record was recorded in another friend's living room down in venice... in the beginning i didn't really realize how much work would lie before me in doing most everything myself, but in the end i really learned a lot about the recording process and engineering in general, and considering that everything was "DIY", i'm really satisfied with the end result...

What are you working on now? Another EP or a full album?

We've actually been writing a bunch of new material, and we'll be going into the studio to record a full album in December... i'm also really looking forward to doing things as a band this time around, i just think collaboration is a good thing, and you don't get too stuck in your own head... also i just wanna be able to focus on playing music this time around...

What shows do you have coming up? What else is next for you?

We have a free show coming up later this month sept. 28th at la cita in downtown l.a. which will be super fun. we also recently just got some of our music licensed for a feature film being distributed by IFC called "Macho". I'll be putting the finishing touches on our first music video which will be done soon too by the end of this month. just getting things ready to hit 2011 running and full steam ahead

Last question: what are you listening to these days?

Dan Auerbach's solo record and Spiritualized's "ladies and gentleman we are floating in space"... - Radio Free Silver Lake