The RFT’s music section isn’t the only rag fawning over everyone’s favorite Swedish hipsters, Peter, Bjorn and John.
Stereogum posted Pete Yorn doing a live cover of PB&J’s “Young Folks,” with Yorn joking that he’s been complimented so many times on the song which isn’t his (Get it? Peter Yorn and John?), that he figured he ought to perform it.
Pitchfork also reported on Kanye West requesting PB&J to be his backing band for the rapper’s upcoming performance in Sweden. The story includes an MP3 of West covering the pervasive “Young Folks.”
Still not enough to satisfy your PB&J craving? Check out these quotes from my interview with Bjorn that didn’t make it into the story. Keep in mind that English is his second language.
On why they included bongos in “Young Folks”: “We hate conga, but we already had maracas and we some needed more percussion on the chorus and we didn’t want to put tambourine on. So we added bongos and it fit perfectly, it’s a funky coincidence.”
On the recording process: “We aimed to keep all the dirty and the bad stuff, the sound that doesn’t necessarily sound great when you listen to it one sound at a time, but when you put it together it’s (whistles) it matches up and it’s a good meal. That’s something that’s fantastic in the music, as well. You get some distortion, some glue, but the music is very clean. It’s distortion or delay that’s going to keep it interesting for awhile.”
More on recording Writer’s Block: “We try more and more to be sparse and to choose one instrument and keep to that. We just try to keep just a few instruments and put some noises on to glue it together, that’s where distortion and delays come in.”
On performing live: “We try maybe to play ballads and softer songs and play them softer live, and we play the more heavier songs even heavier to make it more interesting over an hour’s time. It’s more fun to build up the set than to keep it normalized.”
On what their next album might sound like: “I hope more minimalistic arrangements maybe, maybe more middle east and African sounds. I’m thinking Turkish drumming.”
