Hip hop
Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites on their formative experiences…
Wishy came of age in Indianapolis, a city with a deep heritage of hardcore and punk culture generally. Tapping into those DIY ethics, the group sit apart from this – infatuated with melody, they sit more in line with prime emo, or even indie rock.
Led by songwriters Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites, the band’s new album ‘Triple Seven’ is excellent – music fraught with emotion and daring, it melts together personal revelation with sonics pilfered from grunge, power pop, shoegaze, and beyond.
Out now, the record brings their mutual influences to the surface – CLASH caught up with Wishy to discuss their Foundations, the albums that made an impact.
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Kevin and I really bonded over the album ‘A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness’ by Rocketship. We had always talked about starting a twee pop band back in the day so this album really ticked all the boxes with all the things we like about twee music. This whole album has such a feel-good quality about it– the songwriting is truly next level. It’s a very brief album but every song has a distinct, unique quality. – Nina
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One of my all-time favourite albums has got to be ‘Any Other City’ by Life Without Buildings. I truly have not heard another album that comes close to it in its likeness. This was the only album they ever released in 1999 which is a shame because I would’ve loved to hear a follow-up record.
However, I think this album just offers up so much more to love in that way. Everything about it from the whimsical/bratty vocals to the unique cadence of the chord structures really gives this album so much to think about. – Nina
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The Yuck self-titled album from 2011 was really huge for me as far as a true example of how you could pull off the “90s rock” thing without being too kitschy or over-the-top.
Don’t get me wrong there are moments on that album that are like full-on indulgent pay-off (especially with a lot of former singer Daniel’s vocal delivery, which I love) but it’s matched with a very solid foundation of songwriting and melodic intent. I just think it’s terrific, front to back. – Kevin
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‘Oh, Inverted World’ by The Shins was a really huge album for me back in the day. I don’t listen to it too often nowadays, but it was in heavy rotation for most of high school. I love how all the melodies move through all the key changes.
It was the first indie rock album I heard that was, like, fun and interesting. I also love how wordy James Mercer’s lyrics are on this album. He has a way fitting the, like, basically perfect amount of words and syllables in a melodic line in my opinion. I think I unconsciously try to emulate that style when I write. –Kevin
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The one album who’s foundational influence on this band cannot be understated is ‘Daddy’s Highway’ by the Bats. Can’t really count how many times we’ve thrown this on in the van or while we’re just chilling. It really is the perfect album – I don’t know, every song is just so fun and unique and has this energy that feels so refreshing and so familiar. It never fails to get me bobbing my head and singing along every time I listen. – Kevin
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Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius
