The Twin Atlas have been around, you've likely just been too busy with some other form of life and may have accidentally overlooked them - we've come to help.

The Twin Atlas are Sean Byrne and Luke Zaleski, that is when they are not preoccupied in one of the many other bands they call fun or working the typical job.

The Twin Atlas make instantly fantastic tunes, and many of them are recorded in homes & apartments throughout the east coast. Along the way, they have found the time to release 4 full-length albums of choice offerings, a web-only CD-R and another handful of compilation appearances. Now, as we jet into February, they are looking to put the entire catalog back into action (for a reduced price!) and top it all off with an 'odds & ends' CD-R that will, as told by the band, "contain a slew of unreleased material".

People, quit yr' bitchin' and find "always fades" before your heart quits flickerin' - you need (at least) that tune in your miserable days & nights.

*T*H*E*T*W*I*N*A*T*L*A*S*

+ First thing - having personally been screwed by the "Authority" and her "Den" ( the place you go to reclaim your car, with all the other victims ) - what is / was the hatred for the Philadelphia Parking Authority (the Twin Atlas' first album was titled 'The Philadelphia Parking Authority Must Die')?

Sean: No hatred (hate is a strong word, right?) (- die is a stronger word I think!!), that title was just an inspired inside joke that everyone seems to relate to. In my youth there were points when I owed them a small fortune, but, I've since changed my lawless ways.

+ How much Twin Atlas material is there collected that we may never see? Such as the 'subtle citrus' 15-song companion album (which we did see)?

Not a whole lot really. There are probably just 4 or 5 things from every session or record that never see the light of day, for good reason. But, otherwise, I usually try to at least finish any idea that we begin, even if I know its not A-List stuff, because sometimes you hit upon some happy accidents along the way. I try to find a home for most things we complete, even if it is on an "outtakes" kind of record, or sent off to a compilation. I'm not the best editor in that sense. As long as it doesn't embarrass me, I'll let people hear it. We'll be releasing a CD-R in early '05 that will compile a bunch of unreleased tracks, mostly from 'Bring Along The Weather' sessions in 2002, and songs that appeared on compilations over the years.
Once that is out, the vaults are pretty damn clean.

+ Where does the Tascam 488 rank on the list of 'Greatest Inventions'?

The fact that I was able to learn how to record on it makes it a great invention in my book for sure, because I'm not that much of a tech-head. But, I am currently looking into switching over to digital recording next year. I may continue to start songs on the 488 (where I am comfortable) and then transfer & finish them on the computer (on which I have alot of learning to do). A decent number of songs from 'Bring Along The Weather' and 'Skate Scandal' were finished on computer with the help of my Lenola friends Jay & Dave, but, I need to learn how to do it myself at this point.

+ The move to release all of the catalog on CD-R (a GREAT DECISION) - what provoked it?

Well, the first 2 CD releases ('philadelphia parking...' & 'Kitchen USA') were simply sold out, but 'Bring Along The Weather' was knocked out of print prematurely this summer when my basement flooded and I lost a few hundred copies of it. I had done the 'subtle citrus' outtakes CD-R and enjoyed the homemade nature of it, so, it made sense to keep the music available this way. It wasn't doing me any good to have all of those releases unavailable, so, the CD-R route seemed ideal.

+ Yikes! Basement Floods are scary business (if, like me, you live down there!). Did you lose alot of precious belongings?

The usual stuff like hot water heater, furnace and washer & dryer had to be replaced. Our insurance didn't cover anything, so, that was kind of fucked. Music-wise, besides the 'Bring Along The Weather' cds, the biggest loss was probably the master tapes for all of the Twin Atlas recordings up to that point. (- NO!!!!) These were the actual cassettes that I recorded all the original tracks on. Lost 'em all. So, a remix album is now out of the question.. . haha! Fortunately almost all of my instruments & recording gear was not down there when we got flooded.

+ I guess we need to learn that the safe stuff should be upstairs!! I talked with Jonn Wozniak from Marcy Playground and needless to say his life got ruined. Like all master tapes to all recordings and instruments - sounded really rough.

Sounds alot worse than what we had. We had 5 feet of water in our basement, almost up to the ground floor of the house, so, EVERYTHING had to go, and unfortunately I had so many personal belongings down there that, as John said, "don't mean shit in the eyes of insurance companies". "But, you see sir, over 90 issues of Mojo magazine, a collection of rare homemade indie rock & comic zines from the early nineties and several hundred Philadelphia punk rock & hardcore flyers from the 80's are sorta hard to itemize value for. What's that? None of it is covered anyway.. and you don't care..?" I exhausted my bitching a few months ago, but, its still fun/sad to rant & reflect on it.

+ Is it fair to say GBV and / or Lou Barlow's Shrimper tapes are influences? If not - who ranks as influences to TTA apartment recording technique?

The GBV thing is a fair call. Hearing Bee Thousand & Alien Lanes back in the day really redefined to me what constitutes 'a song' and how fidelity can be used as another instrument (or band member?) in itself, just making the most of limitations and turning them into weird advantages. Other influences? Luke (who I co-write alot of the song foundations with) comes from more of a classic rock background like the Stones and maybe Neil Young. He brings a valuable simplicity to the stuff we write together. My tastes are a bit more scattered I guess. I'm not sure on exactly who to reference here, but, I can hear when things I am fond of make their presence felt in certain songs. I'm rarely aware of it when I'm recording our stuff, but I hear things in our songs later and often know exactly where it came from.

+ I am aware of the link to such bands as Mazarin & Lenola (over time) - who was where and are there any other bands you fellas contribute to?

I used to play drums with both Lenola & Mazarin, and also spent some time with Matt Pond PA. More recently, I drummed on a record by the group Audible (which features a few other Matt Pond alumni) which will be out on Polyvinyl later this year. I've also been drumming with BC Camplight for the last year or so. A full length by that group is due out sometime in the first half of this year on the One Little Indian label. Besides that, Me & Luke are also part of an extremely mysterious & dysfunctional 4 piece called Yalta, that pre-dates The Twin Atlas. We meet up 2 or 3 times a year to improvise & record some mean-spirited music spanning all genres, with topics usually revolving around food, bodily functions and obscure pop culture. It's alot of fun for us, and really miserable for anyone who happens to hear us.

+ What makes the Twin Atlas happy? (not already listed on the Top 10 archive.. .. .or hell, maybe a Top 10 of the Top 10?)

Our wives make us happy - low impact skateboarding makes us happy - Luke's new daughter makes us happy - coffee makes us happy - finding some time to write & record music together makes us happy. We're pretty simple in those respects.. .

+ Any peek at the better albums you heard in 2004? How about the albums you didn't hear?

I know Luke was big on alot of Pernice Brothers stuff this year. I gave him a few of their CD's and they didn't leave his car for months. Or maybe he was just too lazy to take them out of the cd changer.. . I thought The Concretes album was probably the best 'new' thing I heard this year. It didn't make an impression right away, but really got under my skin after a few spins. But, besides that 2004 was pretty crappy for new music, or maybe I am out of the loop at this point? I will recommend 2 records by Leo Kottke that I discovered this year, his self-titled one from 1976, and his 'Dreams and all that stuff' from 1974. Cal Tjader's 'Mambo' is also a favorite discovery of this year as well. ["thanks Dad!"]

+ Did you hear Bush won?

huh?