Kimbra- Plain Gold Ring
Meg Myers- After You
ZZ Ward- Morphine
Zambri- Places
La Sera- Break My Heart
2:54- Revolving
Lissy Trullie- It’s Only You, Isn’t It
Sleigh Bells- Crush

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Breakups suck. If you’re anything like me, sometimes music can help get you through the stages of grief. I realize several of these are pretty mainstream, like Adele, but they just had to be included.

Nothing- Katy McAllister (The Script cover)
Last Love Song- ZZ Ward
Everything I Ever Had- Lindsay Fuller
Lose You- sami.the.great
Once You’ve Loved Somebody- Dixie Chicks
The Last Day of Our Aquaintance- Sinead O’Connor
Jar of Hearts- Christina Perri
Somebody That I Used To Know- Ingrid Michaelson (Gotye cover)
Over You- Miranda Lambert
Someone Like You- Adele

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Rubblebucket is an amazing psychadelic, afrobeat, dance band from Brooklyn by way of Vermont. If you haven’t heard them, you should go right now and check out their latest album Omega La La. Front woman Kalmia Traver took a few minutes to answer a few questions for the Friday 5.

Where did the name Rubblebucket come from?

A Rubblebucket is what certain english dialects call that tool used in construction and stone masonry- a bucket or giant dumpster which holds…. rubble! We met our bandmate Craig at a art opening one summer night in Burlington Vermont- we were all supposed to be the band together, but we just made it up as we went along. We were billed as Rubblebucket that night, and afterwards when we decided to take the recordings from the night and start a serious project, the name totally just stuck.

You’re the only girl in a band full guys. How do you deal with that on the road?

The question should probably be how do they deal with ME on the road!? Haha. That’s a joke…. I’m probably one of the more free-spirited members of the band, and I get into my own pockets of existence. I go off on my own and eat my own meals a lot, and have Kalmia’s arts and crafts hours. I really love all the guys in the band and they are my brothers, but it’s hard for me to keep up with their constant playfulness and brand of humor at times. Luckily we all connect deeply on stage every night, and spend parts of everyday analyzing and evaluating the last night’s performance- so we have a lot of work to all dig into together.

Who does most of the writing?

Usually Alex and I draft songs either together or separately, but then we’ll take them to the band and work through them to create a performance together. Band members will contribute to creating the instrumental parts, and feels and vibes of the music.

Who is your biggest musical influence?

If I had to pick one, personally I’d say Moondog. The Viking of 6th Avenue. American composer active largely in the 60s and 70s, who built his own magical instruments and wrote for them and orchestras and singers. Very rhythmically-focused, cyclical music that incorporates rich acoustic sounds, polyrhythms and chanting, and results in meditative but playful feels. These are so many of the fundamentals I start with when I write music. For the band I’d say the 3 most important influences are Fela Kuti, the Talking Heads and Phil Collins.

What’s your favorite song to play live?

It shifts from week to week! I’m currently very excited about one of our newest songs called “Pain From Love” – Alex wrote it. It has a lilting dark melody over straight soul, and then a really fun outro where we 3 singers get to flex our harmony skills.

I’ve been a fan of Alyson Greenfield’s for over 5 years. In that time, I have seen her evolve as an artist and it has been an amazing thing to watch. She’s a multi-instrumentalist and she is constantly pushing boundaries and trying new things. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know her on a personal level as well as work with her on her project, Tinderbox, an annual music festival that benefits organizations whose mission is to help develop the next generation of female artists.
It seems only fitting that Alyson Greenfield be the one to kick off the Friday 5 feature.

What was the first concert you ever attended?

Tom Petty

If you could form a band with 3 other people in it, who would those 3 people be?

Peter Gabriel, Thom Yorke, Billy Corgan

What are you listening to lately?

Lady Sovereign, Sufjan Stevens, Bjork, Dizzee Rascal, MIA, Michael Franti, Foster The People, Zambri, Regina Spektor

What’s the song(s) you’re most proud of writing?

“Uncharted Places” (my next single!) and “Spirit Soul” (a 10 minute song with a string trio and drums that hasn’t been recorded yet).

Your music has what I would consider to be a lot of feminist themes. Do you write about these things intentionally?

I feel like I used to write a lot about these themes intentionally a few years ago. Lately I feel like my scope of inspiration is wider, and while I still have songs with feminist themes I don’t feel as if I’m quite as focused on them as I once was. I’m more inspired lately just by being a human in general.

Alyson is currently working on the video for her single Uncharted Places and recently released a video for her brilliant cover of LL Cool J’s song “Mama Said Knock You Out” as well as “Michael Cera C​*​ckblocked Me at SXSW”. Check them out below!

Find Alyson at alysongreenfield.com, Facebook, and YouTube.

This is a random episode. I had my friend Katie pick out a bunch of random numbers and then I looked in iTunes and the corresponding numbers made it on the list. Turned out really random, but that was the whole point. Follow Katie on Twitter @masdemoore or check out her blog Life With Arie.

Asobi Seksu- Trails
The Civil Wars- Poison and Wine
Madi Diaz- Let’s Go
Bess Rogers- All In Good Fun
India Arie- Heart of the Matter (cover)
The Hundred In The Hands- Young Aren’t Young
Mika Miko- Beat The Rush

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Sleigh Bells is releasing a new album called Reign of Terror in February. This is the first single Born to Lose.

Love them!

Joss Stone- Back In Style
Follow That Bird!- The Ghosts That Wake You
Molly Rankin- Bombshell
Elizabeth & The Catapult- Go Away My Lover
Azure Ray- Silverlake
Rebekah Higgs- Asleep All Winter
Skittish- Through the Woods

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This turned into an electronica episode.

Robyn- Call Your Girlfriend
Alyson Greenfield- Cult Spell
Scanners- Salvation
Sophie Ellis Bextor- Party In My Head
Roisin Murphy- Momma’s Place
Ladytron- Ghosts
Nitty Scott- Work (grustlin)

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Bess Rogers- Favorite Day
KaiserCartel- Worn Out Nervous Condition
Oh Land- Son of a Gun
Hayley Stark- Pour Me A Drink
Joanna Newsom- Good Intentions Paving Company
Las Robertas- Back to the End
Beach House- Zebra

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