The Flaming Lips, Molly Drake, This Is Lorelei: New York-based enigma Grumpy talks the tracks (and movie) that influenced their new project, “Piebald”.
A fresh and mystical presence, Grumpy is a Bayonet Records signee and NYC-based project led by Heaven Schmitt. Visually striking and musically eclectic, their new EP “Piebald” is a dazzling amalgamation of dream pop, indie rock and hyper pop tendencies. Ethereal and cascading, the searing musical vision and sharp songwriting makes them an exciting new addition to the Big Apple’s thriving scene. Below, Heaven drops by Wonderland to share what she had On Repeat whilst making her new body of work.
Listen to the EP…
Grumpy Is On Repeat…
Magnetic Fields – “Andrew In Drag”
This song is right in line the humor and sincerity that we have in Grumpy songs. We often say that Grumpy songs are “haha-hmm..” This song is really funny but also really sad in a way, a classic “haha-hmm.”
Harry Belafonte – “Banana Boat Day-o”
The hallway in our practice space is very resonant and we are conditioned to sing this song after every practice.
Bobby “Boris” Pickett – Monster Mash
This song speaks for itself.
40 Year Virgin (the movie)
The band minivan has a DVD player and for years we have only had this movie in the car. We could quote along to this movie at this point.
The Flaming Lips – “She Don’t Use Jelly”
This was one of my earliest favorite songs. The lyrics are goofy and quirked up. One of the things I value most in a song is humor. All of my favorite artists have such comedic lyricism.
Ween – “The Mollusk”
This is my (Heaven) karaoke song even though no one ever has it. The first music video I ever remember watching was a fan-made stop-motion Lego video acting out the lyrics and it’s great.
This is Lorelei – “Bring Back My Dog”
Nate Amos is the greatest artist of our time. This is one of my favorite songs of his. All we ever try to do is copy This Is Lorelei.
Molly Drake – “I Remember”
Beautiful song by Molly Drake, Nick Drake’s mom. I fell in love with our bass player to this song.
CSS – “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex”
When I was in middle school, and a dork ass virgin, this song made me feel like a baddie.
Prefab Sprout – “Music Is a Princess”
What more can I say, music is a princess and I am a boy in rags.
