The DJ Takeover is a program for listeners to discover their favorite artist's favorite artists, working to foster connection to the music and makers inside and outside our city. For the entire hour, we go down the rabbit hole of stories from their past, experiences of the present and goals for the future.
Four immensely talented musicians, one overly curious on-air host and the song “Heart of the Sunrise” by Yes walk into a radio station. The result: our longest DJ Takeover to date.
Collections of Colonies of Bees mesmerized me and made the clock an afterthought when they joined me to share some of their favorite and most inspirational songs. Our conversation ran miles past our intended finish line, as we replaced silence with loud introspection.
How well do you know your bandmate?
How well do you know your music?
How well do you know yourself?
Paths we didn’t initially map out presented themselves as the only route through the minds of the five people present. What we collectively found is that these bandmates who have worked together or side by side for years help each other get to know themselves better as musicians and people.
Chris Rosneau, who has been with the band since their start over two decades ago, acknowledged how the experience helped him hear his music and the music he loves in a new way.
“This format, this DJ Takeover is super fascinating, just us sitting here right now, listening to these songs,” he opined. “If you just heard that song out of context, you wouldn’t put two and two together, but … listening to anything that a band chooses in the context of their record makes you listen to it really differently.”
This came to the conversation after CoCoBee’s shared “Ones All Over the Place” by Don Caballero — a nine-minute math-rock epic produced by Steve Albini. When listening to it, the presence of math rock in Collections of Colonies of Bees’ music became even louder. However, in this aspect being emphasized, it distinguished how many other elements the project ties in to separate themselves from settling within one genre.
To put it succinctly (something we happily struggled with in this supersized episode), it simultaneously became clear why Coco Bees used math rock yet were not a “math rock band.”
Marielle Allschwang, Ben Derickson and Dan Spack brought varied picks like “Trains and Boats and Planes” by Dionne Warwick, “Temptation” by New Order and “Just a Little Something” by Dead Rider. The songs pointed to soaring vocals, dance-style drum sequences and dark gothic frequencies — characteristics that are all found on the new CoCoBees album, Celebrities, that dropped June 3.
These bandmates are no stranger to working with talented musicians, like Justin Vernon, Steve Albini, and Nick Sanborn. They tapped Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso to collaborate on a country covers EP of three songs from Celebrities, a project fittingly titled, Rhinestones. That EP and the full-length record are out now on Castle Danger Records, and CoCoBees will play live Aug. 23 at the WMSE Backyard BBQ and Sept. 20 at Bayview Bash.
DJ Takeover: Collections of Colonies of Bees playlist
- Collections of Colonies of Bees, “Killerers”
- Dead Rider, “Just a Little Something”
- New Order, “Temptation”
- Don Caballero, “Ones All Over The Place”
- Dionne Warwick, “Trains and Boats and Planes”
- Brian Eno, “Dead Finks Don’t Talk”
- Yes, “Heart of the Sunshine”
- The Hallelujah Ward, “Manageable Oblivion”
