The Ladybug Transistor’s Gary Olson Explains The Session And The Austin:
“I met Marit (Bergman) a few summers ago in Brooklyn through Jens Lekman. I did a tour playing trumpet in his band. She was taking the summer off from being a pop star in Sweden and hanging around New York to write. We sat down at the piano one day and I helped with a song of hers called “Sun Goes Down.” It became a duet and was released on her last record I Think It’s A Rainbow. We’ve become friends and I see her a lot in New York. She was down in SXSW with her marvelous band, so we had to have her drop in to lend some vocal harmonies. Chris Deaner is sitting in on drums for this session. He plays with us often in New York. One of the best drummers I know. He is an Austin native and was great about showing us around during SXSW. Chris knows all of the best places to eat in town, for which I was very grateful. He is on loan from our dear friends Plus Minus. Chris is now playing with Kelly Clarkson (yes it’s true!) and is about to go an a giant tour with her. Thanks Kelly! Also featured on this session is Mark Monnone from The Lucksmiths — on acoustic guitar. We are old friends and Mark has sat in with Ladybug many times in Europe and Australia where he releases our records on his Lost & Lonesome l abel. He was down in Austin tour managing Architecture In Helsinki so we had him drop by to help out. A true saint. We opened the Merge showcase on the first night of the festival and were in good company with The Rosebuds, Spoon, Oakley Hall, and Imperial Teen. The Rosebuds transformation into a Russian disco band for a few numbers was surprising as it was enjoyable. Kyle and I did some moonlighting as the horn section for Architecture In Helsinki. They seemed to play a dozen shows over those few days. My biggest celebrity sighting was seeing Pete Townsend walk out of a barbecue restaurant. The non-stop Mexican food was half the reason we made the trip and we were sure to keep ourselves well fed. Apples in Stereo played the best show I’ve ever seen them do. I love their new line-up with the twin keyboards and close harmonies. Seeing an uncrowded Au Revoir Simone show under a white tent while sipping a margarita was the most refreshing experience of my Austin visit. It was great to run into the Zebras all the way from Australia . Along with the Go-Betweens they share that “Brisbane sound” I love it!.. and such wonderful people as well. Yes, certainly a worthwhile visit to Austin.”

The Ladybug Transistor’s Kyle Forester Talks Austin In Itinerary Form:
Wednesday — Arrival. Dissapointing first lunch in Texas. Soundcheck at Antone’s. Merge showcase at Antone’s. Our set is pretty fun. Rosebuds are awesome. I think that night I then snuck away to meet my friend at the Rapture show. The Rapture guy encourages everybody to kiss the person next to them. Kind of an awkward moment for me and my friend.

Thursday — Was that when we did the Daytrotter thing? Lots of fun. Then the little outdoor thing we played. Chris Deaner plays a drum solo cause Gary and I are late. It was really quiet in the little backyard. That night me and Gary played horns with Architecture in Helsinki. Awesome.

Friday — Drove to Lockhart with friend Rob to eat BBQ. Flight home cancelled due to Noreaster slamming New York. Call the airline and realize I can’t get on another flight till Monday! Go to Merge BBQ, see Rosebuds again, this time while drinking free beer in the sunshine. Funniest sequence of shows I’ve ever been to: Gary P. Nunn at Jovito’s, Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Buck at someplace on Sixth St., The Good, The Bad, and the Queen at Stubb’s. Watching Paul Simonon play the bass was way more thrilling than I thought it would be.

Saturday — I’m really having trouble remembering. Is that the morning we went to see the Nick Drake movie? That was great. I give up on trying to remember the rest!

Bergman was there looking mysterious and dressed up and the sunshine was extra bright on this afternoon as The Ladybug Transistor visited us in Austin. The guest of the Bug had curlers in her hair and we had a laidback affair with everyone as the most star-studded performance of the week happened. It felt so typically Ladybug Transistor. – Sean Moeller

First song
NY - San Anton (Ladybug Transistor) [4.91MB] [1873 downloads]


– original version appears on The Ladybug Transistor
A sort of road song. We developed a lot of traveling themes on that record. I wrote the words before I had even been to San Antonio. The line about palm leaves was partly inspired by Vashti Bunyan’s “I’d like to Walk Around in Your Mind” I went to see her at a church during the SXSW festival — a most welcome break to the chaos. Marit Bergman is helping out on the chorus.

Second song
Terry (Ladybug Transistor) [3.19MB] [1788 downloads]


– original version appears on Can’t Wait Another Day
Jeff Baron and I were obsessed with Terry Melcher’s first record for years. It really captures a broken early 70’s California feeling for me. It quickly infected many of our friends in Brooklyn to the point where we had a little Terry cult for a while. He produced all of those amazing early Byrds records. We had just been listening to the album together the night before he died. This song is our tribute to him and to California, really. Jeff Baron had been spending ages trying to write something with the feel of “Gentle On My Mind” and “Everybody’s Talking.” I think he finally accomplished it with this one.

Third song
A Burial At Sea (Ladybug Transistor) [3.15MB] [1866 downloads]


– original version appears on The Ladybug Transistor
A few lines of the song came from an article I read about old New York City subway cars being dumped into the ocean off of Virginia to help prevent the erosion of the shoreline. I guess I had a romantic vision of sharks and all sorts of sea life swimming through the old cars near and old Spanish shipwreck. Marit is helping us with harmonies for this one.

Fourth song
Always on the Telephone (Ladybug Transistor) [3.36MB] [1839 downloads]


– original version appears on Can’t Wait Another Day
Written with our friend James Hindle and arranged by us from his demo. I especially love Ben Crum’s guitar on this. We talked a lot about Knopfler and BOC when recording this for the album.