CNET’s brand new Music.Download.com site has posted the Top 50 Downloaded Songs for Week 2 on their forum, and it turns out that “Psyche,” from Flux, is #1! This 1998 track featuring the vocals and lyrics of Suzanne’s sister, Kristen Perry, has already had over 4,000 downloads from May 3rd to May 9th – not too shabby! LSD is featured on the site’s front page with this editor’s review:
Have a hit of Love Spirals Downwards, which otherwise goes by LSD. Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry make music that will set your mind drifting, inspired by such beautiful dreamers as the Cocteau Twins and Mojave 3. The difference is that this duo drops drowsy beats over their acoustic guitars.
Love Spirals Downwards’ 1998 Flux track, “Psyche” – featuring the vocals of Kristen Perry – will be used in an episode of Dawson’s Creek on October 10th, 2001. Dawson’s Creek airs Wednesdays at 8 PM, on the WB Network.
Ryan Lum may have tamed the breakbeat. His duo with vocalist Suzanne Perry, Love Spirals Downwards, has turned out three brilliant albums of majestic, guitar-wash dream-pop on the Projekt label, rife with heavenly ballads that conjure images of exotic cultures. But on Flux, the group’s fourth album, Lum adds breakbeats to the mix without compromising the band’s signature sound.
A follower of the dance music scene since the acid house of the late ’80s, Lum had wanted to do a more electronic Love Spirals Downwards album for years, but never found the right style. “When I first heard the more ambient, ethereal breakbeat stuff, I was amazed,” he says. “I haven’t heard music that moved my soul like that in years.” So when work began on Flux, the multi-instrumentalist/producer built many of the tracks on breakbeat foundations. “I’m used to making pop songs, like an A section, a B section,” Lum says, “but half the songs on Flux don’t follow that traditional pattern. It’s like having all these different parts and having them make sense as they flow together.”
LOVE SPIRALS DOWNWARDS FOUNDER RYAN LUM DISCUSSES USING THE SONY MDM-X4 FOR THE BAND’S LATEST ALBUM, FLUX.
I got the MDM-X4 mainly to record vocals, figuring that four tracks of audio would be plenty for our vocal tracks. But soon after I started using the MDM-X4 for recording Suzanne Perry’s vocals, it became apparent to me that I could get much more out of this unit than I first thought I could from a 4-track recorder. By planning my editing, I found I could free up a track or two, which then gave me ideas to add more guitars to many of the songs, which I did. Using the MDM-X4 gave me more creative options with my guitars, which in the end helped make the songs better.
THE DARLINGS OF PROJEKT Interview & photos by Anji Bee
Love Spirals Downwards are known as the darlings of Projekt Records. And with just cause; they are the best selling band, with the hottest moving new release of Projekt for 1998, “Flux.” This latest of 4 popular full-length albums marks a turning point in the band’s ever-fluxing sound. Whereas the last album, “Ever,” showcased several electronic-based songs in the mix, “Flux” concentrates almost completely on the electronica side of band mastermind, Ryan Lum’s musical influences. There has been some slight controversy over LSD’s “sound change” and band member relationships, but all of that seems ludicrous to the mellow, well adjusted Lum. He’s always created the music for Love Spirals Downwards using whatever inspiration happened to hit him, be it a fine dining experience, an exotic vacation, a shamanic vision, or just simply a new piece of gear to fiddle around with. Although a philopsher at heart, searching for his own personal truth in life, Ryan isn’t a terribly serious artist with an attitude or an agenda. He just likes to make music like anybody else does, for the fun of it.
Anji: What are you working on now? Ryan: I’m working on getting live stuff together for us to do some shows soon. Not sure where or when yet, but you can check our web site for updates on that at the Projekt web site. I personally update our news, so there’s no rumors — everything is confirmed and absolute and will happen. Anji: Playing live is not a usual occurrence for Love Spirals Downwards… Ryan: We usually play a few shows a year. I don’t know what happened last year; we only played one — the Projekt Fest in L.A., at the El Rey. That’s why I always tell people not to flake out on us; ’cause you don’t know when — or even if — we will play next. Anji: It’s always difficult to take such a studio based project to the stage. Ryan: Yeah. The way we work is kinda backwards. Most bands typically have a song first, then they go into the studio and record it. We’re the total opposite of that. We have no song first. I just start messing around in my studio, coming up with ideas, and at the end of a long process, finally, a song emerges. So, it’s kinda weird. We don’t rehearse ever, a song just gets created, almost through chance accident and goofing around. Anji: It’s mostly just you, isn’t it? Ryan: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Anji: You’re the man! Ryan: I am. (Laughs) I put a lot of work into it. Yeah. It takes me a long time to make a record.
Projekt is selling ‘flux’ tees in a very non-goth green over at www.projekt.com. Sam has encouraged fans to send in photos wearing their favorite Projekt t-shirt, so Anji got in on the action.
An interview with Ryan Lum of Love Spirals Downwards by Gary Thrasher
Call it post-shoegazer, call it ethereal majesty… call it post-apocalyptic drum ’n’ bass trance… just don’t cal lit goth. Love Spirals Downwards, darlings of the Projekt label, are a blissful masterpiece of hypnotic rhythms and swirling guitars, topped off with angelic vocals… all with a tinge of dark moodiness and Middle Eastern mysticism. With their fourth album, Flux, a foray into the hazed world of melodic drum ’n’ bass, Love Spirals Downwards are poised on the brink of world dominance… it was on this cliff that I spoke with the mastermind behind the music, Ryan Lum.
How did Love Spirals Downwards come together in the beginning and how did you first become involved with Projekt Records?
It’s so long ago. Suzanne and I knew each other and we just decided to try it out… see how it worked with her singing on stuff I had made. I’d been making music for ages. I’m always just recording and making my own music, as opposed to doing the band thing. I don’t mind rehearsing for shows, but I like to record… that’s where my heart is. I sent a few demo tapes out for the hell of it. I didn’t know who Projekt was. One of my friends, the guy who shot our cover for the first album, knew someone in his art school… Susan Jennings (Projekt owner Sam Rosenthal’s former girlfriend). Somehow they got talking and she said, “Why don’t you have your friend Ryan send his tape in?” We sent a few others out, I think 4AD and Creation were the other two, and Projekt was the first and only to respond. It just evolved from that.
Thanks to everybody that came out to Nightnoise last weekend. I’ll be doing some more DJ’ing in conjunction with Flux giveaways over the next few months. The next one will be in San Francisco at La Belle Epoque (at The Top) on January 30, and possibly Mexico City in March.
And a very big thanks to everybody who has bought Flux, making it the most sucessful new album launch in the label’s history! It’s well on its way to surpasing our previous albums, which are the label’s top selling releases. Thanks!
Live shows: people keep asking us what’s up and we still have no confirmed shows to report. We are talking with several promoters, so hopefully soon there will be some set dates. In the meantime, Suzanne and I will be doing one live performance on radio, and there are several radio interviews coming up as well.
So here’s the complete rundown of confirmed things that we will be doing:
Ryan of Love Spirals Downwards DJs Saturday, January 30, 1999
La Belle Epoque, located at The Top, San Francisco, CA
Ryan will be DJing, spinning records that are in a similar mood as well as an inspiration to Love Spirals’ album Flux. There will also be a giveaway of Flux CDs and stickers. More info to come soon.
Ryan and Suzanne perform live
Wednesday December 16, 1998 at 8PM – 10PM PST.
On “Space Disco For Fish Tacos” KUCI 88.9 FM, Irvine, CA
Space Disco For Fish Tacos has been on the air for three years, featuring weekly live performances and interviews by electronic musicians from southern California and abroad. KUCI is now broadcasting via the internet! KUCI broadcasts 24/7 on the internet through java-based streaming technology. All you need is a net connection (the faster the better) and a modern browser (AOL may not work) — try it out at www.kuci.org
Radio interview with Ryan
Friday, December 4, 1998. 8PM EST.
On WRAS 88.5 FM, Atlanta, GA
Ryan will be talking live on the air! WRAS’ phone set up does not allow callers to ask Ryan questions directly, but you can e-mail your questions (in advance) to Jez and she’ll pose them for you.
Radio Interview with Ryan
Saturday, December 5, 1998. 10PM to midnight PST.
“Oblivion” on KLYK 105.5 CITY, Longview, WA
The show can be heard in parts of Portland, OR as well.
Radio Interview with Ryan
Sunday, December 6, 1998. 8PM to 10PM PST.
“The All-Purpose Nuclear Bedtime Story,” KUCI 88.9 FM, Irvine, CA
With DJs Anji B. and Justin J. KUCI broadcasts 24/7 on the internet through a java-based streaming technology. All you need is a net connection and a modern browser (AOL may not work). Try it out at www.kuci.org
Today is Suzanne’s birthday! Happy Birthday Suzy!!!
The article on us in the November issue of Keyboard is out and I’m excited about us and Massive Attack sharing the same page. If you don’t have their latest, Mezzanine, get it! It’s my favorite release of the year.
Lots has been going on with the release of Flux, which continues its great run on sales and radio. If you still haven’t bought Flux yet (you’ve all got it by now right?), you should be able to find it at most stores including Tower, Virgin, and Borders. Plus, Flux is featured in Borders listening stations now until November 16.
There’s still no shows to announce as of yet. The good news is that Suzanne and I have now started rehearsing and working on music again, after a several month break that both of us needed after finishing Flux.
Love Spirals Downwards – Constantly In A State Of Flux
By Daniel Bremmer
Love Spirals Downwards has always had a problem fitting in to any specific category. As on the first artists signed to Projekt, Ryan Lum and Suzanne Perry have been lumped in the same ethereal category as label mates Black Tape for a Blue Gil and Lycia. “I think our music is somewhat melancholy. Some goths really get off on it, some don’t,” remarks Perry. A friend introduced the duo to Projekt, which at the time were a small Pasadena label which largely served to release label owner Sam Rosenthal’s band, Black Tape for a Blue Girl. “I’ve seen the piles of demos from bands that would give their left arm to be on Projekt, and we had never even heard of them. They were really small then, we were at the right place at the right time,” says Lum.
While the swirling guitars, dreamy female vocals, and lush atmospheric landscapes of their first three releases have not exactly clashed with other dark wave artists, the duo have certainly not considered themselves to be a goth band. Nowhere else has Love Spirals Downwards experienced the effects of being considered a goth band as when they perform live. With the exception of a few small shows, a majority of their performances have been promoted as goth shows. One recent example was ProjektFest 96, hosted by Coven 13 and billed as “An Evening of Gothic Music.” When remarking on Coven 13’s resident DJ, Jason Levitt’s rather unethereal and wholly uninspired teeny-bop top 40 set, Perry laughs and states that “He’ll play the same records next week, and the week after, and the week after that! As though he has not been playing them since 1985 or something? That’s pathetic. I’m embarrassed for those people.”
