WINKIE

“My Eyes Are Closed When the Sun Comes Up” goes the title of the first song we heard by Winkie, a NYC duo with gothic tendencies and noisy propensities, coupled with a flair for creating melodic memories. It’s fair to say we were hooked from the very start.

Upon the release of Winkie’s debut full-length, “One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts,” it’s fair to say that the word “hooked” doesn’t quite cover it. Our response to this album feels less like discovering a new favorite for mix tapes and late-night lounge-abouts, and more like having the curtain raised on a barely remembered dream. Truly, it feels like an introduction to a ghost.

A wise man once said if you have ghosts, than you have everything. Winkie have everything – including an almost painfully perfect debut album and miles of road ahead of them. The duo of Peter and Gina were kind enough to provide their thoughtful answers to our ridiculous questions below. Enjoy.

What is your own personal definition of a ghost – and how does that definition differ from what might be called the “conventional” definition of a ghost? Do you think this concept of ghosts directly impacts the music you make, in either a literal or a symbolic way? How so?

Gina: My own personal definition of a ghost- a ghost is an unsettled soul that I never wish to confirm with a visual. Conventionally I would say that people tend to think of ghosts as messengers from above, or below, or in the middle, for the living and for the benefit of the living. I can’t really confirm whether or not the concept of ghosts has a direct impact on WINKIE but I can state with certainty that the living do. Speaking of ghosts- “The Ghost of Each Room” by cEvin Key is a really good album. I wonder how he would answer this question.

Peter: At times, we all become a living ghost. Whether we are going through the motions, being an “outsider,” blanking out in the middle of a crowd or getting lost in societies idyllic norms … I like to think our music allows listeners to momentarily separate themselves from one consciousness and enter another. On the album, we record all of our parts separately. Each time either of us open an incomplete song it’s a surprise to hear what new “ghost” may now reside within it.

WINKIE

Can you name a specific song or a specific band from the past – perhaps even one that predates your own lifetime – that communicated with you in such a compelling way that it’s as if the sounds were speaking directly to you? What was it about that music that you found so compelling? How has that sound – or that message – influenced the music you make today?

Peter: “Keeping Banging The Door” by Public Image Ltd. is one of the songs that flipped me on my ear. To this day, “Flowers of Romance” is a constant source of musical education. The repetitive drum patterns and Levene’s layered textures are almost perfection … really amazing. There is also a song called “Diseases” by Thrush and the Cunts. It was included in Richard Lowenstein’s film “Dogs In Space.” The song is all of 1 minute and 3 seconds but it informed me about everything I wanted to hear in a song: distorted tones, un-changing drums and a piano-line that takes me to John Cale’s presence on “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Years ago I found the record in a small shop in New Orleans and it is one of my most treasured records. Both songs resonated deeply and pushed my exploration of texture and rhythm patterns.

Gina: The song “Sometimes” by My Bloody Valentine. I was introduced to MBV when “Loveless” was released. I was a huge Jesus and Mary Chain fan and that’s probably how they came on my radar. The song has been floating in and out of my head on a daily basis for at least 20 years. There is a line in it where Kevin Shields says “turn my head into sound” which completely resonated with me and still does. I don’t know about a specific message, but if you think about having your head filled with sound – as a musician it makes total sense. You can hear his vocals enough to sort of understand what he is saying but he’s not overpowering the song with them. I also love how the keyboard line slowly comes into the song and becomes the dominant sound at the end- like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. I think that WINKIE has some elements of that. Peter would disagree though. He says there is no sun, only clouds.

Is there a single element or attitude that you feel ties the two of your together as Winkie in a way beyond being in a relationship together? Was this something you have experienced in other artistic endeavors, musical or otherwise? How do you think that feeling has evolved since Winkie began?

Gina: I think it helps that we have both always been a little bit delusional. Winkie has definitely heightened this ridiculous delusion to a whole new level. Peter is probably going to answer this question by saying something like, “we are from NY and both have an awesomely hostile NY attitude.” Being in New York has had such a deep impact on both of us and I think that staying here has, although it sounds strange, helped with the evolution of WINKIE

Peter: I cannot deny the impact my environment (New York) has had on what I do and me. Gina and I have worked together (musically) within many projects. We always had a sound in our head and Winkie is the first time we were able to actualize it. This was the result of being secure to exist among our differences and a commitment to the vision.

For the most part, we try not to inquire about the origin of a band’s name – but in the case of Winkie, we can’t resist. What can you tell us about the decision to name the band Winkie? What does the name represent to you? Is there a connection between the name and the way in which you choose to present yourselves visually when performing live?

Gina: We were trying to come up with something “fun” because we were scoring music for a short film and wanted to change our direction into a more ambient, electronic, pretty-sounding band. Clearly we succeeded – HA! WINKIE was taken from a David Lynch movie which I believe he took from the Land of Oz. I’ll let you research that one. Our current visual has no connection to the name but I love David Lynch, and”The Wizard of Oz.” And my late Grandma used to say I was Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.” And she is not an unsettled ghost. She is in heaven. Depending on our mood – we do like experimenting with colorful vs. black and white dreamlike visuals, and wearing veils and big hats … Ok, so maybe it does … I just realized that our current visual does tie in with our initial intention of making everything dreamlike.

Peter: Yes, originally, this was a project to provide music to our friend’s (Paul Natale) short films. We wanted a name that distinguished itself from our previous work. The name refers to the “I had a dream about this place” diner in “Mulholland Drive.” The way David Lynch allows dreams to shape sound, story and visual is inspiring. We had a dream … about this sound. Live, we attempt to bring the audience into the “dream” through backing videos, lighting and occasionally obscuring our appearance.

Would you care to comment on the rumor – the rumor that we are attempting to start right now – that you previously recorded an album that has thus far not seen the light of day, entitled “Goth Fonzie,” using the band name, “Henry Winkie”?

Peter: We cannot confirm or deny the existence of that album but it could have been the soundtrack for an unrealized Jim Jarmusch film staring Alan Vega in the lead role.

We won’t hesitate to say that we’re more than a little entranced by your debut full-length, “One Day We Pretended to Be Ghosts.” We find it to be a very nuanced album – the combination of somewhat delicate (?) vocal melodies with a bit of a harsh, noisy; almost Einstürzende Neubauten-esque landscape is particularly compelling, and ultimately very memorable. How do you feel about the album now that it’s complete and gone to live on its own in the world? Was there an overriding theme that you wanted to present with this collection of songs?

Peter: First, thank you for describing our music as delicate, harsh and a “Neubauten-esque landscape.” I think of it as a space between My Bloody Valentine’s “I Believe” and Brian Eno’s “An Ending (Ascent).” Musically, we wanted to achieve a collection that could also work as movie score. The listener could imagine each scene … being consumed by the ocean, driving a speeding car toward the horizon … I think we were successful at setting this environment – if you allow it.

Gina: Thank you. We are thrilled that you like it and I think it will be OK out there in the world and hopefully it will meet some friends while its out there.

I cannot say that we had any sort of plan when we wrote this album although I know that I had this constant horrible feeling being restrained by a myriad of things during the period of time when it was completed. New York City is wonderful but at the same time there is this constant feeling that you cannot simply just be. I think that the songs reflect a sense of that in some sort of strange and unintended way. I hate to be that annoying person who refuses to explain their work – I am not trying to be vague – but it was not my intention to create such a harsh sound. I was surprised when people started saying that it was a very harsh sound. I thought it sounded pretty and can hear pretty elements in our song although Peter completely laughs at me when I say that.

Picking a highlight of an album this strong is perhaps counter-productive, but two songs in particular – “Sometimes” and “Vacant”, struck us. Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration for these songs, both musically and lyrically?

Gina: We were just talking about these two songs yesterday at practice. I was telling Peter that “Sometimes” is one of those songs that I will never be happy with. I don’t know why but it never sounds finished to me. It has taken a really long time to complete and I take full responsibility for that. Peter wrote it and I messed around with it – for a few years, like a tease – leading it on but never committing. I love the word “sometimes.” Depeche Mode has a song on “Playing the Angel” where it is used in such a perfect way. Then again, Depeche Mode also has an amazing song called “Sometimes.” Then again, Depeche Mode is always perfect. I can’t tell you what the lyrics mean though. It’s my secret.

As for “Vacant” – that was the only song on our album where Peter put down some melodies and I immediately knew where to go with it. We have a different version of this song where the drumbeats cut out and it’s less fuzzy, and I think that version is really great as well as the one that ended up on the album. The words are really sad. I was extremely sad when I wrote this song. I don’t like being sad. I try not to be sad but sadness has a way of sneaking into your head and heart. Sadness is such a creeper … kind of like a ghost …

What music have you been listening to lately? If push comes to shove, what’s your favorite song by Bauhaus song and why? Please show your work.

Gina: I will leave the Bauhaus song to Peter because I am not a fan of Peter Murphy. I do adore Love and Rockets though. Lately I’ve been listening to Bryan Ferry (with and without Roxy Music), X and HTRK. When I’m on the train I like to think that I’m in a train car filled with Brian Ferry’s and they are all singing to me. It makes the commute much more tolerable. HTRK is one of those bands that have that sound that I wish I had. The vocals are so incredibly fox-tastic. They have an alluring and seductive quality about them that I am quite jealous of. I’m not very alluring. Maybe if I stopped trying to capture the sounds tornadoes make I would be alluring … OK, that “Who Killed Mr. Moonlight” song. I think David J. sings it. I like that Bauhaus song most.

Peter: HTRK! They have been in constant play for me. I am looking forward to hearing their new album. A friend turned me onto Wrekmeister Harmonies’ “You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me” … which is beautiful. Bauhaus is a funny topic with us – as Gina just mentioned. We both agree that Daniel Ash is an amazing guitar player. “The Three Shadows Part 2” may not feature his signature tone but it is a striking statement of what they were capable of (“Passion Of Lovers” would be a close second).

In his novel “Jitterbug Perfume,” Tom Robbins – a huge fan of Throbbing Gristle, we’re sure of it – writes the following:

“A mask has but one expression, frozen and eternal, yet it is always and ever the essential expression, and to hide one’s telltale flesh behind the external skeleton of the mask is to display the universal identity of the inner being in place of the outer identity that is transitory and corrupt. The freedom of the masked is not the vulgar political freedom of the successful revolutionary, but the magical freedom of the Divine, beyond politics and beyond success. A mask, any mask, whether horned like a beast or feathered like an angel, is the face of immortality. Meet me in Cognito, baby. In Cognito, we’ll have nothing to hide.”

Your thoughts?

Gina: My thoughts – “unhappiness is the ultimate form of self indulgence.” And THIS is why I try not to be sad.

I’m totally impressed. You completely get it. If you ever come to NY for a visit, I will buy you a martini.

Peter: A mask can allow the wearer to shape perception. It can also allow moments of freedom and imprisonment. Yukkio Mishima’s “Confessions Of A Mask” (I just started reading this) would support the later. The mask is held by a delicate string and must be worn with care (I wish we ran into Tom Robbins at TG’s Coachella performance).

What’s next for Winkie?

Gina: We actually started talking about writing some new material. I’ve been working on a song for the past few weeks – so far it has three layers so it needs work. I keep changing the direction of the third layer, which changes the direction of the rest of the song, and I’m not sure that I want to change the direction entirely. We have some shows lined up and look forward to meeting more awesome people and have wonderful experiences doing what we love to do. Hearts.

Peter: The album is out and we want to support it with more performances outside of New York and we hope to fill 2014 with many performances and another album. - Revolt Of The Apes

I’m not sure what Winkie means in downtown New York but round here it is another word for a love muscle, a if-you-will pork sword. Unfathomable name aside, here are a band successfully taking the blueprint from the early 90’s shoegazers and taking it to some kind of compressed, digitized next level. In a recent interview with Kevin Shields the shoegaze lord stated that his next album will be a wild affair, pushing things into hitherto unknown sonic territories. I do hope so as ‘mbv’ worked best when it was bonkers.

Similarly Winkie hit the bullseye when they they are producing white hot sonic blast of sounds with the best example being ‘Illuminated’. Built on a blinding sonic scree of guitars, the track is piercing but mesmerising with some thumping drums and Cocteau Twins like bass moves. They are no one trick pony’s though, ‘The Line Up’ churns along on a distorted Jesus and Mary Chain drum beat with pulsating bass and layers of distorted guitars. It sounds utterly mesmerising. ’Sometimes’ is almost poppy by comparison with fizzing synths added to the wall of sound, the guitars undulate wonderfully in the background, layers and layers of the stuff blasting away.

The more you dip into it the more the album becomes a swirling vortex of sound, a veritable smorgasboard of industrial shoegaze drones. Comparable with the best bits of fellow travellers A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Belong, harking further back to Cocteau Twins, Curve and The Cure yet they add a sonic harshness along the way which is just the ticket to blow away any New Years cobwebs. - Norman Records

Ride is one of the most influential bands in the world of shoegaze and that is something that every human being must know to perfection. Otherwise, we recommend that you give a look at the documentary Beautiful Noise, where even appear documents giving the roll band with Robert Smith as well as testimonials from other bands that talk about the legacy he built with My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive.

Leveraging the band announced their reunion and soon will be performing at Primavera Sound, the staff of The Blog Celebrates Itself was responsible for assembling a tribute album Ride, which shows a lot of emerging projects from around the world that naturally were affected by classic albums and Nowhere Carnival Of Light.

In Leave Them All Behind - A Tribute To Ride can find a noisy collaboration that made Oliver Ackermann of A Place To Bury Strangers with boys Ceremony to version "Black Nite Crash" as well as contributions Has A Shadow, Nothing.Existed, Crisis Arm and one that we recommend a lot, is the cover that the post-punk duo Winkie did to "Decay".

Súbanle the volume of your speakers and give play to this tribute to Ride.

(Translated from Spanish.) - Filter Mexico

In anticipation of Ride starting their US tour next month, The Blog That Celebrates Itself has released a fantastic tribute album to the band. You should definitely listen to this.

‘Leave Them All Behind – A Tribute to Ride’ features 24 tracks that will definitely appeal to Ride fans who liked the bands earlier recordings, there’s plenty of guitars and distortion. - Creation Records

Brooklyn's Peter Santiago and Gina Spiteri self-released their debut album One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts at the beginning of this month ,after an earlier release of album track My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up; in June. The duo's long, drawn-out, distorted guitar chords and whirring synths find parallels in music by The Soft Moon, or perhaps even Blank Dogs – it's a dark, intense excursion, fraught with shoegaze-y brooding and subtle sexiness.

Of course, as with many self-produced records, there are some problematic aspects to the album, namely the fact that at times the many layers of sound reach the roof of your aural tolerance, and on occasion become a little too intense to bear; Spiteri's vocals lurking too far away to relieve the tiers of noise filling up the space between your ears. On "Illuminated", however, which coincidentally sounds like it should be soundtracking a Harmony Korine-directed, strobing club meltdown, it works well, its fuzzy, ravaged guitar lines weaving in and out of vocal that seem to be coming from underwater. Elongation seems to be an integral part of Winkie's compositional approach - on "The Line Up" in particular, Spiteri's vocals compete with her own synth chords, building upon the towering layers of sound that become increasingly sullen with every stroke. Aside from the transitory moments that make you feel a bit like you're simultaneously experiencing a catastrophic hangover while lying in a pool of that stuff you roll on your forehead to relieve headaches, it's a promising effort. - The Quietus

Any number of adjectives can be bandied about in a short space to describe the squelching, blissed-out, psychic, slurry, spaced or abrasive qualities of Loveless-esque shoegaze, but guitar-less isn’t usually one of them. For their debut LP, this NYC duo–Gina Spiteri, vocals and keys, and Peter Santiago, bass—sought out ghosts, dark abrasion and sugary vocal melodies and recruited A Place To Bury Strangers’ Oliver Ackermann to master the resultant tracks. Though it’s often difficult to distinguish one shoegaze project from another in writing—better to just place the headphones over your own ears—Winkie’s inclination toward the melodic structure buried beneath the fuzz is what places them alongside their already established peers. Was mbv too full of love for your horizontal head? Eat at Winkie’s! –Christian Schultz

Winkie // One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts (Self-Released)
Street: 10.01.13
Winkie = The Soft Moon + Blouse - SLUG Magazine

Amid an intriguing sadness I found this decent tribute that several bands decided to make a Ride, which to some extent I think it makes all the sense in the world with its recent meeting. In addition, suffice to say that The Blog That Celebrates Itself were responsible for assembling each of the pieces that give life to "Leave Them All Behind - A Tribute To Ride", among which is a noisy Ceremony collaboration with Oliver Ackerman A Place To Bury Strangers and Nothing.existed and of course, one of the most interesting duos I've met in the last two years: Winkie. "Decay" is the song that decided versioning and honestly, I think it could not choose a better, since the structure of the original version fits together perfectly with the grainy darkness that usually manifests along their envelopes compositions. Listen to this cover commanding Winkie and chequen Bandcamp to hear each of the tracks of this tribute to Ride.

(Translated from Spanish) - My Blog Cliche

Here is the first single to be taken from New York band Winkie’s debut album ‘One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts’, already making waves on the underground scene with the album and selling bucket loads here at Norman Records, this little seven incher would be a perfect place to start if you weren’t familiar with there old school brand of new-wave goth/shoegaze.

A-Side ‘My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up’ is like The Cure meets Cocteau Twins with spooky keyboards, B-Side ‘Always To Be Around’ is an My Bloody Valentine channeling Adam And The Ants style punk/noise jam, this is limited and hand numbered to 100 copies so get into this band or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life! - Norman Records

Sorry Winkie ! I know it sounds like a paltry excuse , but I had like no idea ! No one told me . I know, I should have been more. I should have known that there was something big that I missed, something big was hidden behind information noise. I get the blame human error ( and that your name may not really sound like something you want to listen to ) .

I simply had no idea that you had made one of 2013 's best records when I put together my rating for 2013. I did not know that you should have been involved and been struggling up there along with the Savages and My Bloody Valentine !

Fy in hell what good is Winkie ! Depp rock and shoegaze (which I of course iofs decided also is a kind darkpop ) in perfect union !

While and listen !



Here is a little more used examples from the album:

The disc is incidentally produced (sic) by Oliver Ackermann who is a guitarist and singer in one of my favorite bands from the past few years - it is clear depp rockin A Place To Bury Strangers Thought give them their own blog post sometime, but we 'll take a little song with them even when we 're at :
- Depprock

The NYC-based dark-gaze duo of Peter and Gina reveal details about their recent storming melodic-noise album.


Hiya Peter and Gina! How are you both surviving all the snowstorms that have hit Brooklyn? I hope you stayed inside snug like bugs in a rug! Well, OK, maybe that’s not the most pleasant imagery…

Gina: If I stay inside I will for sure eat too much, so I make myself go out and tell myself that I like the cold. Also, our dog LouLou Reed chewed up our rug…so there’s that….

Peter: This has been an endless winter -- thanks Mr. groundhog. We were on a self-imposed performance hiatus for most of the winter, focusing on writing and preparing to make a video.


Speaking of imagery, what is the meaning behind your band’s name? It’s a head-scratcher for me – Does it refer to the novel by Clifford Chase, or the Scottish nursery rhyme “Wee Willie Winkie”, or the John Ford-directed film, or…something completely different?

Gina: Our name has been getting us in a lot of trouble lately. I had no idea it had a deviant meaning, I swear! We took the name from a David Lynch movie because we thought it sounded fun - and we really like the movie.

Peter: Yes, we choose the name while working on music for a few short films by our friend Paul Natale ("The Lesson" and "Cassie"). We didn't know what to call our "project". After watching David Lynch's “Mulholland Drive” a few hundred times, we picked Winkie (after the name of the diner). As in, "I had a dream about this place..."


You stir up a churning and immersive cyclic wall-of-sound on your songs that, at least to me, recall the textures of the band Curve, except that you accomplish this with nary a guitar in sight! Do you both have a perverse phobia of guitars or are you just drawn to the keyboards more?

Peter: Those sounds came straight out of the talents of Gina. When she started developing it (while recording "My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up"), I knew instantly where she was going and I loved it!

Gina: We did not set out to make a record with no guitars. Peter is actually an amazing guitarist. It just ended up like that. Sometimes you just have to go with it. I didn't think that what I was doing sounded like guitars to be honest, until it was pointed out to me a few hundred times. Then again, I also thought I was writing very melodic songs. Ha! As far as any sort of aversion to guitars – no - definitely not.


What’s so cool is that you don’t even miss the guitar sound. What type of keyboards/synths do you use and do you generate your dense and intense sonics all on this instrument?

Gina: I'm not trying to be all secretive, but I just use whatever keyboard/synth is closest to me when I want to record- to me it’s not necessarily the keyboard but the accessories that I can add to the keyboard to re-create the sound that’s in my head- I did use a few different KORGS, and at one point a NORD, though, if that answers your question a bit more directly. There were quite a few- we’ve recorded bits and pieces of this album all over the place and some of the instruments we no longer own. I like accessories- like diamonds and emeralds….


I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that you play bass, Peter. So maybe you’re not 100% guitarless…? Does your bass-playing feature on all of Winkie’s songs?

Gina: Peter- this is all you.

Peter: That is true - I do play bass guitar on all the songs. But, the tone most people interpret as guitar is actually Gina on keyboards.


Your mesmerizing debut album “One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts” is out now and was mastered by Oliver Ackermann of APlace To Bury Strangers. What was it like working with Oliver and how can we get a hold of your limited-run album?

Gina: If you want me to completely nerd out ask me about Oliver Ackermann. I still can't believe he likes our work. It's very surreal for me because I am such a huge APTBS fan and have been for such a long time. He rules. As for the album- you can get it directly from us!

Peter: We were beyond excited when he said he would work on the album. It was a huge honor for us. He is incredibly busy. He worked on it during his most recent tour. He is one of the nicest people to work with. He knew exactly what we were thinking.


You previously released a 7” for the awesomely, and possibly vampirically, titled song “My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up”. Did a specific film or book or band (like maybe early-era The Cure) inspire this song and its title?

Gina: I like that suggestion. I've heard so many interpretations of what that song means to people and it's wonderful to know that you are listening and thinking about it. Someone told me that they always listen to it before they head out for the night. It makes me very happy to know that someone out there is excitedly applying heavy black eyeliner, anxiously anticipating the night ahead while listening to us.


From my perspective, you channel the noisier side of the industrial, goth, and darkwave genres (i.e., the wasp-like buzzing, grimy grinding, siren calling-type noise) into something that enjoyably balances on the precipice with distorted and looping propulsion. Do you find that you’re attracted to raw and harsh sounds and want to smooth them out a bit on your songs?

Gina: I’m glad you find it enjoyable. Thank you for the compliment! I have learned through my own trial and error that I tend to add so many layers that it becomes difficult to hear what’s going on. Peter does a great job at telling me when to scale back, take stuff out, etc… To me though- it’s never enough, which is problematic. So I would say that Peter is the one who balances everything out. I’m not good at balancing.

Peter: We are definitely attracted to that Stooges "Raw Power" blistering distortion. It just sounds right. Overall, we're an "all levels in the red" type of band. Usually, I will smooth it out when we are mixing... just a little.


Gina, on some songs your vocals are light and sweet, but most other times they’re darker and distorted. How do you achieve that effect in studio?

Gina: The vocals seem to reflect how I was feeling at the precise moment they were record. So if my vocals sound angry - I probably was. I had intended for my voice to not be the focus of any of the songs, but more of a texture - that is not how it turned out though. Usually what happens is that Peter will listen a few times and take out a few of the thousand effects I've put on my vocals. We will also ask our musician friends to listen from time to time for an outside perspective.


You’ve played a lot of gigs in the Brooklyn area. Have you ventured outside of that zone yet? What is the live Winkie sound like compared to record?

Gina: We hope to venture out of our comfort zone this year actually. As far as the live show - I get really nervous before shows, so I have to practice beforehand and kind of have an idea of how it’s going to go down. You never really know what’s going to happen once it starts though - which I guess is the exciting part. We try to keep the live sound close to the record. We do like to make our live set visually interesting and frequently change that up. We also love to buy new things like clothes and gear, so this gives us a great excuse to go shopping.

Peter: We would love to! We did have one performance in Salem, but we are hoping to make it out to the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle) this May or June. Then, perform around the East Coast (Philadelphia). Bigger plans would include England. The album has had a lot of support over there. I think our music has a cinematic quality. Live, we attempt to take the audience into that “world” with backing videos, smoke, and lighting.


You both go to other bands’ gigs in the NYC area. What are some cool shows that you’ve attended lately?

Gina: Peter goes to more local shows than I do, but I saw Stargazer Lilies a few weeks ago at Mercury Lounge in NYC and they were great! A really fantastic band that I saw back in December was Factory Floor. They are coming back to NY soon and I cannot wait! I think there is a Swans show in our future because I saw the tickets in our apartment somewhere.

Peter: Some recent shows - Norman Westberg (Swans) at Union Pool, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at Brooklyn Night Bazaar, Dead Leaf Echo at Union Pool, and The New Lines at Mercury Lounge. I'm really looking forward to the performance based around Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Alive" happening in April at Santos Party House – and Swans.


Gina, I read in another interview that you’re mad for Skittles and Starburst. Are you a candy junkie? Are those still your faves? If you need a sugar fix in cookie form, you should try Black ‘n’ White cookies with the thick glaze of pure sugar icing on top. That’s my fave ‘sweets’ for the moment.

Peter: Black 'n' White cookies rule! I want to run out to get one right now...

Gina: Ah yes, black and white cookies. I used to eat them all the time - especially after late night parties - I was such a rebellious kid - staying out all night long eating black and white cookies. I’m going to make this story cooler by saying I chased the cookies with vodka… but nobody is going to believe that… I probably chased them with soda and pixie sticks.


Lastly, can you please list your official site(s) where we can find out more about you and your music?

Peter: Definitely! Our music is available on Bandcamp: http://winkie.bandcamp.com/ and you can stay in touch with us through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winkienyc , Twitter: https://twitter.com/WinkieOnline and: http://winkienyc.com/
- See more at: http://rebelnoise.com/interviews/interview-with-winkie#sthash.AZrkMNKM.dpuf - Jen Stratosphere

There’s something a little contradictory about a band who share their name with a slang term for a male member whilst also showing a penchant for doomy and dramatic song titles such as ‘To Die A Thousand Romantic Deaths’ or ‘Death At The Heart Of The Disco’. Such an incongruous proposition is offered by New York shoegaze/drone rock duo Winkie.

Winkie Album Cover

Most of the songs here consist of droning bass and repetitive drum patterns which often seem to be in direct competition with the group’s keyboard melodies and submerged vocals. The levels of distortion are pitched so high for ‘Illuminated’, for example, that any aspect of light is shut out by the claustrophobic walls of effects. However, if that doesn’t put you off there is actually a lot to recommend on ‘One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts’. Not least on ‘My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up’ where Peter Santiago’s gothic bass trades murky 4AD style shapes with Gina Spiteri’s sinister keyboard washes, the intense intro to ‘The Line Up’ builds up like The Chameleons’ ‘Less Than Human’ and on ‘Sometimes’ Spiteri gives her best vocal performance, soaring above the chugging bass and her own sparkling keyboards. Later on, in ’Death At The Heart Of The Disco’, the production is overplayed in favour of distortion but there’s clearly a shimmering tune underneath all the noise whilst the relentless ‘Killer Behind Those Masks’ and ‘Arrows’ build up impressive levels of seductive menace and evil.

All told, Winkie offer an interesting and surprisingly complex version of the shoegaze story. What is more, however impenetrable their music seems to be to the uninitiated, just like My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus And Mary Chain before them, there is always beauty to be found within. - Leonards Lair

With “One Day We Pretended to Be Ghosts”, Brooklyn, NY duo Winkieunleashed a thrilling adventure in October last year. Mastered by Oliver Ackermann (A Place To Bury Strangers), the album seduces with a nocturnal blend of post punk, cold wave and synths-colored shoegaze, flavored with a distorted twist and a haunting, ghostly whirring atmosphere. The musicians behind this impressive piece of music, Gina Marx (vocals, synths) and Peter Santiago (bass, percussion, synths), took the time for the Breakfast Revelations Q&A.


What was the first/last record you bought?

Peter: “13” by Norman Westberg. I recommend it and there are still a few copies available through his etsy page.

Gina: The last record I bought was The Prids “Chronosynclastic”.


What record did influence you the most, and why’s that?

Peter: This is a difficult question to answer but “Flowers Of Romance” by PiL is one of the top. I love the artwork, the title, the atmosphere, the drum work and odd instrumentation. This album shouldn’t work but it totally does.

Gina: Two albums: The first would be Depeche Mode’s “Music for the Masses” because that is when I really started to want understand how they were doing what they were doing. I would watch Alan Wilder’s tutorial during Depeche Mode “101” over and over and want to do that same thing. What an amazing musician. I still listen to this album all the time. The second is “Pretty Hate Machine”. I have to give credit to Trent Reznor here - when this came out it introduced me to a whole different realm of electronic music.


What classic/cult record or band in the music history did you for some reason never get into?

Peter: Japan. I keep going back to “Tin Drum” but it just doesn’t connect with me.

Gina: Rush. I’m sure I’m missing something here because they are apparently very talented but I am just not into them at all.


How much music can we find in your collection?

Peter: I don’t even know. I spent many years working in record stores so there is an enormous amount of music in my collection.

Gina: We have so much music that we have to buy furniture to accommodate it. We also have it stored in places like my old bedroom in my parents house. Peter has really amazing taste in music. The more silly stuff is probably mine.


Your most important or best music experience?

Peter: I have been fortunate to have many. Maybe, Throbbing Gristle at Coachella in 2009 or meeting David Bowie are two highlights.

Gina: Hmmm … I’ve answered this question before with three unrelated concert experiences, but adding another here (because there are so many shows). I think it was 1992 or 1993 - I was finally able to see The Jesus And Mary Chain after three prior failed attempts for the “Honey’s Dead” album. Bad things kept happening preventing me from getting to see them. When I finally arrived at the venue I situated myself right up front so I wouldn’t miss anything - and I didn’t! Back then security was a little more lenient and the crowd was pretty violent. I left that show a complete wreck but completely elated. I love them.


Your worst music experience?

Peter: Those “people” at every concert who are talking the entire show. I never know why they go… it’s a huge distraction.

Gina: More like the most regretful missed musical experience: There was a 3 or 4am Aphex Twin show here in NY. I’m not sure about the year but it was a long time ago. Anyway, I missed the performance and I can’t seem to get over it. Every once in a while I whine to Peter about how I can’t believe I missed that show.


What kinda music do you love/hate?

Peter: Hmmm… there are definitely a few genres of music that I don’t follow – like country or jazz. Outside of that, I have a special place of hatred in my heart reserved for Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen”.

Gina: Love: Today? Right now? At this moment I am loving goth music… and The Smiths… there is always room in my heart for The Smiths no matter what day it is. Hate: Today I am really hating Pitbull and his terrible music. I will probably feel the same tomorrow and the day after that as well.


The worst/best album artwork?

Peter: PiL’s “Metal Box” has to be my favorite. The 16mm film can is the perfect extension of the sound. As a designer, I really appreciate attention to material and incorporating techniques like letterpress, silkscreening… layering mixed textures. (Peter Saville… I do still love your work too.) Worst – maybe something like “Come On Pilgrim” by The Pixies – that photo. If the intension was to repel me from this album and incite vomiting… it worked. I just can’t get beyond the hairy back.

Gina: Best - Dead Can Dance “Within the Realm Of A Dying Sun”. Aside from releasing some of the most amazing music ever they have beautiful album artwork. This is my favorite though - the blue sky in the background continues to make me very uncomfortable and yet I am fascinated by the image. Worst - I don’t know actually. This is a really hard question. A lot of thought goes into the cover art.


If you’d have to compile a mix tape, what solo artists/bands would be on it? If you could cooperate with any musician or band, who would that be?

Peter: I don’t fair well with band members other than Gina. On the topic of cooperating with a musician/band I am going to say producer/engineer Gareth Jones. I would love to pick up a few of his Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Crime And The City Solutions studio techniques. My mix tape would include:
Harmonia – “Sonnenschein”
The Soft Moon – “Total Decay”
A Place To Bury Strangers – “Ocean”
Dead Can Dance – “The Fatal Impact”
HTRK – “Sweetheart (a.k.a. Love You)”
This Mortal Coil – “Fyt”
The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Hit”
Thrush & The Cunts – “Diseases”
The Birthday Party – “Kiss Me Black”
My Bloody Valentine – “Glider”
The Cure – “Lament”
Cluster – “Rosa”
Depeche Mode – “Stripped”
Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Overground” (version on “The Thorn”)
Public Image Ltd – “Home Is Where The Heart Is”
Big Black – “Fists Of Love”
The Screamers – “Eva Braun”
Swans – “Alcohol The Seed”
Cocteau Twins – “Musette And Drums”
Ashrae Fax – “Ectome”
Echo & The Bunnymen – “Nocturnal Me”

Gina: I run a lot and I think that it encourages my interest in repetitive sounds. With that being said - because I get caught up with this sort of building consistency - my mixtape would probably be an hour of MBV’s “Nothing Is” which is great for me but not so much for other listeners. Listen to that song now - like five times in a row - pretty cool right? I do tend to put Meat Beat Manifesto into the mix though whenever I have to compile something like a playlist for a race - like “Dog Star Man”, “Helter Skelter” or “Your Mind Belongs To The State”. The Soft Moon makes it on there these days as well. “Dead Love” or “Circles” - I love those songs. Peter used to make the best mix tapes. I will defer to him and his mix tape here as I’m sure its way better than mine would be.


What’s your format preference: cassettes, vinyl, CD’s, or digital? Why?

Peter: Vinyl – the larger artwork, those hidden messages etched in the vinyl … and the overall sound.

Gina: Vinyl. It sounds better, the album artwork is visible and I actually have liner notes in my hand to read, but I don’t read the lyrics while listening to the album. Jarvis Cocker told me not to.


First/last concert you went to (except your own band’s)?

Peter: The most recent concert was Dead Leaf Echo at Union Pool (Brooklyn). My first concert was Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam at a local college where I grew up.

Gina: First show I can remember is New Order. Last show - Crosses? Skinny Puppy? Jon Spencer? One of them was the last show I went to. I can’t keep track.


What’s your preference - club gigs or festivals?

Peter: I prefer club gigs. I like to “really” see the performers – take it all in. Festivals can be fun – running around trying to see as many bands as possible – I usually end up missing something.

Gina: I like smaller venues. Festivals are great though because I always discover a new band while wandering around.


Favorite music movie or live DVD?

Peter: My favorite music movie is Richard Lowenstein’s “Dogs In Space” about musicians in 1978 Melbourne, Australia – I am still waiting for a North American DVD re-release. Ministry’s “In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up” is my favorite live DVD… what a beautiful mess!

Gina: Depeche Mode “101” of course! I also love watching old Ministry videos. I never get tired of them. - Clank For Breakfast

One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts by Winkie is available today. Have a listen! It's a proper dark trip! - I Am Not A Musician

Winkie is a Brooklyn based post punk darkcore duo making quite amazing hardcore music using just bass and keyboards.

Fantastically titled debut album One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is available over on Bandcamp and streaming below. Pure synthcore noise, it is most comparable to uber music gods Cocteau Twins, especially their landmark album Garlands. - Fecking Deadly

Dark and demanding listening "One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts" by Winkie - Shoegazekid

Blown away by Winkie's–so noisy but NO FUCKING GUITARS?! Album was mastered by A Place To Bury Strangers' Oliver Ackermann so you know we dig! (Slug Playlist) - SLUG Magazine

If the Brooklyn duo chose to release an LP of awful music it would still be one of the coolest records of the year purely down to the unique distorted style of their music. This however is not the case as ‘One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts’ sounds excellent throughtout. The tracks are heavy and at times dark and it creates the effect of walking through a storm of sound but a storm which is calculated and percise. Every sound falls perfectly into place throughout the album and even if the distorted style doesn’t suit your taste you must appreciate the groups ability to create their own sound.

The third track ‘Illuminated’ contains one of the few moments when the heavy layering and distortion lightens up a bit and we remember what music usually sounds like. Once you plunge into this album it is easy to forget how simple and stripped down bands usually are.

The highlights of the album are ‘To Die A Thousand Romantic Deaths’ and ‘The Line Up’ which push colourful memory through the black and white haze and ‘Death at the Heart of the Disco’ which sounds like a futuristic version of the late 60’s Beatles.

A masterfully crafted powerhouse of an album from one of Brooklyn’s hottest bands. - The Underground Swell

With a nice retro sound and a lovely voice it resembles to The Cranes & Chelsea Wolfe versus The Cure ('17 Seconds'-period). Sometimes it sounds as if the studio could have done a better mixing or recording job, but maybe it was meant this way as it's all very retro? It's also very clear that the New York Scene is very active in this niche, so thumbs up for that scene to keep this sound alive!

Nice songs to remember are: 'To Die A Thousand Romantic Deaths' (only for the title, the wall of sound and the nice synth), 'My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up' (nice retro The Cure sound coming from demo tapes versus The Cranes and a nice bass), 'Vacant' (because of the dream pop sound of this song) & 'Killer behind those masks' (the voice is a bit distorted and the wall of sound reminds me of some unknown track from The Cure: 'All I had to do is kill here', with a nice bass line). This song also reminds me somehow of 'Demons' from Chelsea Wolfe.

I could call this one retro dream pop Wave, but I'll let you decide...

Judge for yourself on their bandcamp page:

http://winkie.bandcamp.com/album/one-day-we-pretended-to-be-ghosts - Peek-A-Boo Magazine

One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts shines a light on the shady, futuristic sound of shoegaze yet to come, ready for the new generation to step forward and zone out. This new musical generation is fortunate in that it shares some sonic similarities with the genre’s predecessors, the like of which flows through the life-blood of the music. A link to the past is there, but it is a faint one in this day and age. As essential as DNA, the blades of distortion and the candy-sweet vocals never leave the genre alone in the dark.

Admiration for the classic bands, such as pioneers My Bloody Valentine (who, on recent form, are still the kings) and Soft Moon are there, but One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is darker than both. The pitch-black sound is a refreshing wave in an already dark, almost psychotic hallucination, spiced with some laminated noise and the powerful surge of distorted guitars. Soft, dreamy vocals perfume the harsher points of light, and the beats pound from dusk to dawn.

The spiky distortion lashes out against conformity and the accepted social norm, and it revels in its rebellion, kicking out in unison with the rattling gunfire of the drum. Bursts of strobe lighting issue from a live current of raw electricity. It’s alive, and it has something urgent to say. Razor sharp despite the distorted blanket of fuzz, Winkie live on the noisy rocks just outside Brooklyn, New York. The neon night-life is waiting for you. The pretty pink dress of the outer female vocal cascades against the harsher wash of a jet black harmony, and a blockbuster beat rubs up against the abrasive tones and grainy textures.

“To Die A Thousand Romantic Deaths” tunes itself into the pulse of the drum, radiating a beacon of black light as if it were the apocalyptic siren of warfare. Trippy flanger effects hook up with passionate vocals that smash against the tribal drum. The layered fuzz and the steady, pounding drum brings back lovely memories of Belong’s Common Era. And as the drum thumps, it carries with it some kind of indistinct threat. And then, on ”Death At The Heart Of The Disco”, the rusty glitter ball crashes down and the synths start to lurch like a zombie. The pounding drum machine of “Vacant” loops on and on, shining the running red harmony onto the pink vocal shade. Shoegaze has mutated, and just as the present influences the future, its origins remain. - A Closer Listen

There is something about darkness that makes you hear better. Perhaps, it is the absence of visual distractions that allows you to be completely focused on the sound.

Through their music, Brooklyn based duo Winkie seems to create an extra layer of darkness, making the experience very condensed, and I happen to enjoy it greatly.

Peter and Gina merge soulful melodies, deep bass lines, and synths to create layered compositions filled with heaviness and emotional disarray. Winkie explore horizons of dark sound through rhythmic intensity, guitar distortion, and hollow vocals. There is a sharp contrast in Winkie’s sound that is set between intensity and gloominess of their music and softness of Gina’s vocals.

Currently Winkie are finishing their debut full-length album and I am really looking forward to it.

Listen to the band’s performance and interview on 91.5 WNYE’s The B-Sides that was aired earlier this month. - I Am Not A Musician

The name Winkie, which derives from a diner scene in Mulholland Drive, suggests a light pop almost childlike band. The Brooklyn duo give us something completely different however in the line of dark electronic music inspired by the likes of Soft Moon and My Bloody Valentine.

As well as their older tracks My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up and Always To Be Around, their website leads to a performance on WNYE’s The B-Sides on which Peter and Gina showcase two of their newer songs from their upcoming debut LP.

"To Die A Thousand Romantic Deaths" is a perfect example of the heavy distortion that's a trademark touch of Winkie and evolves into a raging electric storm at it's climax and "Arrows" is also a heavy track with a haunting feel to it.

Start waiting for the forth-coming LP which will be self released and of limited quantity. Also anyone in Brooklyn should keep an eye out for the possibility of an upcoming show in October alongside ‘a place both wonderful and strange’ - The Underground Swell

Winkie - The color is fading fast from Athens. Several trees now wave bare in the chilling winds; others droop with dull crimson and muddy brown leaves. And the morning skies are gray. Oh, so gray.

This is the time of year for Winkie. Regular readers have met the midnight duo before, when I introduced their first single – well, the new LP is out. It’s called “One Day We Pretended to Be Ghosts”. I received it some months ago, while in the thrall of my studies – and, might I add, while the sun was still bright and the temperatures still comfy and warm. Back then, the whole thing seemed like some distant fuzz, some abyss that I could safely stare down and not even fathom the chance of being swallowed.

But not any more. Christ, not any more.

Death must feel like this. At least, death when it’s due, when you’ve reached a ripe old age. Cold, immense, but bliss beyond measure. A bliss more transcendent than sex. A slow but welcomed drowning into black oblivion.

Never mind the long, blatantly doom-laden titles. Listen instead to the mangled, warped distortion. It’s great. It’s so great. It’s the primal drone, stretched into a throbbing massage of miasma, mutilated . It is love, heavy and embracing, and it’s induced many a moan from me as it steadily, imperceptibly, then overwhelmingly smothers me. WINKIE shouldn’t need a fog machine when they play live, especially not for “My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up” – between the icy synths and that savage drone, you can feel the mists closing in, enveloping everything. And, ohhhh, “The Line Up”. Ohhh, God. Those warbled sustains just kill me.

And OH MY BLOODY VALENTINE, “Sometimes”. It’s a track drawn from the ether, with ghostly guitars floating all around, while traces of bright synth accents stab through the fog. The pulsing bass that drives most of Winkie’s tracks fuels this one with a passion.

Now, not all of Winkie’s terrors assail you gently. “Illuminated” snarls with muscular brooding, pounding from all directions like a tune from Pornography. “Death At The Heart Of The Disco” also summons a thick, doom-laden beat – but ahhhh, now the fog descends upon us in double-folds, shifting now from silver to grey. This one’s a maze of smog, and if you’re not lost at first, you soon will be – and I tell you, it’s so lovely it hurts.

I can take or leave the lyrics – it’s the voice, the eerily pure and heavenly voice that floats gracefully over the blackening haze, that beckons like a siren to the weary Odysseus. Come, come hither. Come deeper into this maddening, razor-sharp fog, o listener. We know it’s a trick, we know that if we follow her, she will blacken out the sun and possibly even rob us of our life. But we follow, through the savage undulation of “The Safest Place Is Denial”, to the ominous and gloriously unsettling rattle of “Arrows” that ends the album, because we cannot grasp her, and because her traps have ensnared us utterly.

Winter will soon be here. Now’s the time to lose yourself in Winkie. Listen and buy their LP from their Bandcamp page. - Soundscape Memoirs

It is always a good sign when you listen to a new band and find you've listened to the entire album several times before realize you have. This was the case with Winkie's debut full length release entitled One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts. The drone shoegazing duo hailing from Brooklyn is comprised of Peter Santiago on bass with Gina Spiteri-Santiago with vocal and keyboard duties. So how much noise can two musicians make? A LOT! From the opening seconds of One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts until the end of the album 45 minutes later, there is no escape from the crushing whirl of drone and the eerie atmospherics.

The album kicks off with playful toms then sharp wavy noise descends into the mix. The tone lingers in the background sounding like an agitated swarm of bees trapped inside an empty Carlsberg keg. The tumult is well suited to a song named 'To Die a Thousand Romantic Deaths'. Gina's vocals are sung fairly flatly and altered to sound forlorn and somber. This gives Winkie a dark vibe as Gina's lyrics come across sounding rather desolate and cheerless. Even with the aforementioned thick heavy gloom the songs still have a bouncy edge to them. The consistent steady drum beat and lighter synth tones still make 'To Die a Thousand Romantic Deaths' a catchy head nodding track. The song closes with some ballsy distortion which re-emphasizes the band's striking ability to manipulate noise.

Next up is the track 'My Eyes are Closed When the Sun Comes Up' which reminds me of older Cure with its wispy/scratchy/plucky bass tones. 'My Eyes' has some striking and mournful synth which accompanies Gina's somewhat warmer vocals. The stripped away ending of the song is quite beautiful. It delicately decays the wall of sound into a satisfying and somber conclusion. The über gazy wall of drone hums again, smoldering in the mix of the next song 'Illuminated'. There is a section of the song toward the end where the drone is off and Gina's vocals are in the forefront with the drums marching along and it's magical. Many bands can bring the noise... but few know how to use it effectively. Winkie already understands the incredible auditory power of juxtaposing loud and soft passages.

If you're looking for a wall of drone to close your eyes to while embracing the reverberating shimmer, the track 'The Line Up' is for you. I found it curious how relaxing I found the music in spite of the massive tonal onslaught. You know that 'pop' your ears feel when a My Bloody Valentine's song ends? That sudden 'release' into silence? Winkie has that and it's awesome. The rest of the album is fairly consistent with plenty of creativity, catchy synth and highlights Gina's vocals with various vocal effects. My only gripe would be a few tracks on the back half of the album tend to run a little long but this was a minor concern. From the murky drone of 'Death at the Heart of the Disco' to the slower refreshing 'Vacant' which showcase a gentler sounding Gina, One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts offers the listener plenty of unique and interesting soundscapes to explore.

Winkie's sound often hits the right balance of dark swirling drone, atmospheric synth and mysterious vocal allure. One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is full of character and possesses' a powerful, confident musical presence. The album is certainly an impressive debut release for the New York duo. Those looking for a drone fix laced with melodic shoegazing goodness need look no further than Winkie. A recommended listen. - Echoes and Dust

I grew up on dark, moody music. It wasn’t forced on me, rather I chose this style because I found that it accurately reflected the “real me”. It was therapeutic to immerse myself in the dark somber tones of groups like The Cure and Depeche Mode. So it only makes sense that in my search for new bands I tend to gravitate to the ones that convey that same sense of musical emotion. Brooklyn based band WINKIE is one of those bands and they’re the focus of this week’s Extended Play Feature.

Gina Spiteri and Peter Santiago are partners in crime as the New York group WINKIE. Their music shares common a thread with bands like The Cure, Crystal Castles and even Chapterhouse. By essentially reinventing the darkwave genre, WINKIE pierces the air with noisy yet melodic synth heavy tracks drenched in ample reverb. Their latest LP entitled “One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts” is a dark and moody collection of songs that will satisfy even the most hard-core goth fans. The overall album production stays true to the darkwave theme featuring droned out lo-fi drum loops amidst distorted bass and cloud-like synths. And the dreamy vocals of singer Gina Spiteri tops it all off with cold wave style emotion.

Although every track is worth a listen there are definitely noteworthy tracks like “Illuminated“, “Sometimes“, “Death At The Heart Of The Disco” and “Vacant” that have the makings of true classics. They just seem to hit the right emotive buttons that bring out the dark and sexy from the innermost places for an experience worth lighting a few candles. All in all, “One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts” is an album I highly recommend to anyone looking for that perfect album to make you mess up your hair and lie face down on the kitchen floor. And it’s certainly one of the best I’ve come across this year. It’s available as a Download or on Limited Edition 12″ LP so head over to their Bandcamp page and treat yourself to a brand new musical experience. -Steven Newcastle - Dreamwave Radio

"WINKIE is a Brooklyn based duo creating dark, distorted electronic gaze music."


Check out the band at their official Website, Facebook, BandCamp, SoundCloud and Twitter. The NYC duo are husband and wife Peter Santiago (Bass/Keys) and Gina Spiteri (Keys/Vocals) and their latest album is the highly enjoyable "One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts". Their sound has been compared to The Cranes, My Bloody Valentine and Bleak. I really want to thank them for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.


The first album you ever bought?
Gina Spiteri: I think it was Stacy Q. I loved her. She was so skinny.
Peter Santiago: Hmmm… it might have been either “Number of the Beast” or “Powerslave” by Iron Maiden.


Your last album bought?

Peter: HTRK “Poison (Mika Vainio Remix)”.

Gina: Depeche Mode “Delta Machine”. My most recent listen however is Helen Marnie's (Ladytron) solo album "Crystal World" which Peter gave me. I love it.


Favorite album of all time?

Gina: This varies daily. I cannot narrow down one album as the absolute best ever however “Psychocandy” is always up there as one of my very faves... not sometimes... always....

Peter: My favorite album(s) will shift, depending on my mood. For this fall, it’s between: Nico “The End” / Cluster “Zuckerzeit”.


Least favorite/most disappointing album?

Peter: “Crystal World” by Marnie was initially disappointing. I was expecting a different album after hearing bits of “Submariner”. I put it away after two listens. Thankfully, after re-visiting it, I am really starting to enjoy the songs.

Gina: I thought William Reid was going to put out a prolific, life changing solo album years ago and he definitely did not deliver. It did not change my life like Love and Rockets did when I was 12.


First concert attended?

Gina: New Order, Public Image Limited, The Sugarcubes, 1989, Jones Beach, NY.

Peter: My older sister brought me to a Lisa Lisa and The Cult Jam concert (at a local college).


Last concert?

Peter: Dead Leaf Echo, The Stargazer Lilies and The Veldt at Paper Box.

Gina: I can't remember the last show because we are always at shows but within the past few months the most memorable was Light Asylum.


Favorite concert ever?

Gina: This is hard. A few memorable ones. The Twilight Singers, Warsaw, Brooklyn, 2006: We have seen Greg Dulli many times and he never disappoints. Really. Talented. Guy.

Ministry, Lollapolooza, 1992. There was so much going on during this performance which started as the sun was beginning to set in the middle of I don’t even know where? intense smoke on the stage, that crazy adorned microphone, industrial royalty weaving in and out of the fire eaters, acrobats, stage divers and everything else that was going on during their set. It completely sucked me in and I remember thinking that I wanted to be part of a band like Ministry. I was so young and I had no idea what was really up with this carnival of crazy... which was probably a good thing.

A Place To Bury Strangers, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 2008. THIS BAND RULES. If you have not seen APTBS you are missing out on amazingness. I hope they make a zillion dollars one day. They deserve it.

Peter: The Creatures and John Cale (1998 at Club Life). Swans (2011 at Music Hall of Williamsburg). We both agree on A Place To Bury Strangers (2008 at Music Hall of Williamsburg). It was the perfect concert moment (sound, visuals and crowd).


Least favorite concert?

Peter: The Body Lovers (the show was cancelled and I was never able to see them perform).

Gina: Ozzfest. Somewhere in NJ, no idea what year. I don't want to knock a band, its hard performing live however this event, in its entirety, was not a good one for me. I was so preoccupied with not getting puked on, spit on or inappropriately touched at this show that I did not pay attention to anything else so I have no idea what the bands sounded like. I don't blame the performers as I've been to many hard rock & metal shows without incident but I remember being relieved when we were in the car on the way home.


Any thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?

Gina: Pittsburgh holds a very special place in my heart- We played with Pigface during the "Preaching to the Perverted" tour. Prior to Winkie, Peter and I played in another band called "Coup d'etat". There was a wedding at the show and we were so excited to be there playing with them that we did not care that it took like a thousand hours to get there in traffic. It was Pigface, Gravity Kills and Godhead, who were really nice, and I remember joking with them about racing back to NYC because they had a show at the Limelight the next day. We all made it back to NYC in time for the show.

Peter: Yes, I remember Club Laga, not having enough time to visit the Warhol Museum and Martin Atkins saying our powder blue van (with painted bl - Hugh Shows Redux

Winkie from New York in the USA is the distorted electronics duo of Peter (Bass) and Gina (Vocals / Keys).

Industrial dance – as a marker – gives some idea of the music produced by Winkie, the effect being that on hitting play it seems they are coming from another building, never mind another room. The generous levels of distortion and blurring gives the material an oppressive dark mood which is compounded by an ever present salve of bass and percussion with the disambiguated vocal adding further to the unnerving qualities.

Whilst it may be expected that there would be a limited range to the out-put, the duo are able to take the listener on an ever darker journey with plenty of variance. Tracks seem to sweep the brain into a vortex where time stands still, demanding a gentle swaying of the body in time with the omnipresent beat. Despite the dark and dank atmosphere there is something luxurious about the sound produced by Winkie as the duo play with layers of interwoven fabric to produce music which has more to offer each replay of a piece. Whilst this works extremely well on recording, I get the feeling that live performance in a derelict warehouse is the natural setting.

With a debut ten track LP – One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts - recently released and a growing appreciation in the genre, I hope they gain wider traction, as Winkie produce sounds which resonate of the ’10s. - Emerging Indie Bands

One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is the debut LP from Brooklyn duo, Winkie. A measured balance between coldwave introversion and brutal industrial shoegaze, One Day... depicts a band as comfortable with stripped back drum loops as they are with wall-of-sound synths.

Following the success of 2012's My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up (a self-released 7"), Winkie turned to the noisecore nous of Oliver Ackermann to add the finishing touches to their first full-length release - and the result is one of typical intensity.

From the stark grind of Sometimes to the snarling reverb of Death at the Heart of Disco, this is dark electrogaze comparable with The History of Colour TV or late-period Curve. Highlights include Killer Behind Those Masks - an electroclash freakout told through glowering bass rolls - and The Line Up, a spellbinding slice of blissed-out drone-pop.

Whilst digital downloads of One Day... are available through Bandcamp, vinyl junkies can obtain physical copies from the same site. - Nugazer

My friend LindA introduced me to this brilliant sparkle who takes us into the land of cool. Gina fights for change by day, then follows her dream by night; as one part WINKIE. What’s WINKIE? You’ll see… come on in… you’ll be glad you did…

where are you from?
I am from Long Island, NY originally. After law school I moved to NYC where I lived in Hell’s Kitchen for five years. At present I live in Brooklyn with my husband Peter and our puppy LouLou Reed. I wish I had some cool story about how I traveled the world looking for a place suitable for habitation and ended up in NY but I’ve lived in NY for my entire life…so far….

what do you do, and do you love it?
I do lots of things and love most of them some of the time. Most notable however- I am an attorney and 1/2 of WINKIE. Being a lawyer has definitely made me a stronger, more confident person. Who doesn’t want to be strong and confident? Instead of merely complaining about the legal system I believe that I truly play a part, albeit a small part- in trying to change it and make it right. When I am able to advocate for those less fortunate or someone being bullied by the man- well- that’s a really great day in Ginaland. Being part of WINKIE is fantastic and this aspect of my life I love probably more than anything else that I have ever done. I am so pleased at how it has evolved into a strange and wonderful soundscape for Peter and I to share with whomever will listen and partake. The process of creating a song is very organic- we start with something very small and build on it until it’s a huge wall of swirling delightful noise with a melody buried inside. I love performing as well, but I get such insane stage fright that I’m usually completely sick right before a show. Performing also gives me an excuse to wear black lipstick. I love black lipstick. I don’t know why.

what did you want to be when you were a kid?
When I was really little I wanted to be a ballerina. I am probably one of the most ungraceful women you will ever meet. The thought of me as a ballerina is pretty frightening. I can run for days but I can’t dance at all. I also wanted to be a writer and play in a band. I have lived so many lives all in my head. Who said that? I think Trent Reznor said that- now there is a great segue- when I was around 13ish I opened up some magazine and saw Trent Reznor inside and his picture I will never forget- kind of not so clear skin, frizzy dark hair- leather jacket-and he was talking about being classically trained. I was like, this guy is just like ME! I can really be a musician and that is what I’m going to do. I also had dreams of becoming the fifth member of Depeche Mode.
ginabw

what kind of role did your family play in helping you set and achieve your dreams?
Growing up I was always encouraged with respect to my interest in the arts. Piano, saxophone, chorus, ballet, books. I played the saxophone. Why? I have no idea. I really don’t like the sound of the saxophone except when Daniel Ash plays it. Anyway, thanks to mom and dad I had every New Order album,12-inch and poster. My parents took me to see bands that they had no interest in seeing. They waited on line for tickets, drove me all over the place and let me stay out late to see bands in venues I was definitely too young to be in.

in terms of your career path, is there anything you would have done differently ten years ago?
I think that everything happens for a reason. I try not to question my life and my “life decisions” too much because that will truly make a person crazy- and I am crazy enough to begin with. Sometimes I wonder if I would be in a better position had I not done the law school thing however I always wanted an advanced degree and if I did not have one I would be telling you how much I wished I had gone to law school. With respect to music- no. I have learned so much about myself by the path I have taken to get where I am right now. I played in my own band, then in other people’s bands. I realized that I have something to say and I don’t want to be a vehicle for someone else’s vision because I have my own. That sounds horribly egotistical of me but alas it is so. I guess this means that I’ve learned that I am a huge egomaniac. HA!

what is your dream job?
I’m kind of happy doing the WINKIE thing. I would love to make that my full time job. At one point in my life I had this weird moment and thought that being a makeup artist was what I was supposed to be doing so I took some classes and worked on a few video shoots but I’ve realized that unless you want to look like a sparkly goth cowgirl I’m not the makeup artist for you. Oh wait-my dream job would probably have something to do with testing new flavors for skittles and starburst. I have a little addiction issue with those things.

if you could be a member of any band throughout history, which one would it be?
Depeche Mode! Getting into Kevin Shields (MBV) head would be pretty cool also. Or RAMMSTEIN- that would be amazing- Fire, plastic rafts, silver paint, surrounded by foxy German men all the time.

what are your top ten albums of all time?
AH! This is a very hard question!!! I can’t give you my all time top ten because that changes regularly however I can list 11 albums that I never seem to get tired of:

1) Iggy Pop- The Idiot
2) Depeche Mode- Music for the Masses
3) The Cure- Disintegration
4) Meat Beat Manifesto- 99%
5) The Smiths- The Queen is Dead
(this was hard because Louder than Bombs is also pretty awesome)
6) The Jesus and Mary Chain- Psychocandy
(this is another band I have been truly obsessed with from childhood-present).
7) Gary Numan- Telekon
8) My Bloody Valentine- Loveless
9) Joy Division- Closer
10) The Walkmen- Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
(this might not fit within the realm of the rest of my list but I love this entire record. The sound is so perfectly askew.)
11)Ministry- The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

what are your favorite brooklyn shops and eats?
Anywhere that has Helmut Lang on sale. This is not a joke. Barneys Co-Op near downtown Brooklyn is a good place to start. I also like to scope out OAK in Greenpoint. I could go on and on about how amazing the food is here in Williamsburg. I love 1 or 8 on the Southside for Japanese food. I think it’s the all white interior. No really, the sushi is really stellar. Mesa Coyoacan is a Mexican restaurant near our apt which is very popular so we try not to go on weekends when it’s packed. Everything is good here from the margaritas to the desserts. I love the Porto Rico Importing Company which- lucky for me –is now in Williamsburg. They have all different types of coffee from all over the world that they grind on the spot. No silly coffee pods for me. Coffee pods are for coffee babies! The lovely people at TUFFET make a fantastic martini- a real martini- not the pink kind. It’s great there because there is no pretentious “scene” going on. You can have a drink, talk to your friends and not have to worry about being too old or uncool.

what do you collect?
I try not to collect things. It makes me nervous and I always think that once I start collecting things its like the gateway to hoarding. I do however keep my concert tickets. Lately I’ve been waning on this though and there are tickets all over our apt from shows because Peter and I go see lots of bands. I also have this weird thing about keeping my National Geographic magazines after I read them. I have no idea why I do this but I ended up canceling my subscription for a year because I could not bring myself to recycle them but at the same time I did not want to become that crazy lady on the subway with newspapers and National Geographic magazines from 10 years ago! I am a current subscriber however and this month night gardens are featured. How can I throw out a magazine with such beautiful pictures of night gardens? I can’t. I hope I don’t start mumbling to myself while waiting for the train. If I start doing that it’s all over….. - Girl Crush

I was checking the mail of the blog, and I found myself with a very pleasant surprise in the inbox for part of this duo calling go Winkie. Peter and Gina are the names of the minds behind this dark passage of a carrier El Bajeo there that by them you can remind the Soft Moon, especially in this song you can listen after the jump in the form of "My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up". At the moment is the only thing that is of this project of New York, but I will try to contact them to see what is going on around go Winkie, since it seems that will be edited independently its next launch in an edition of 12" while his first single is able to listen with all the calm of the world below, as well as the b-side which accompanies it entitled "Always To Be around". Without further to add at the moment, let's look at what seems to them go Winkie, enjoy! - My Blog Cliche

Industrial dance – as a marker – gives some idea of the music produced by Winkie, the effect being that on hitting play it seems they are coming from another building, never mind another room. The generous levels of distortion and blurring gives the material an oppressive dark mood which is compounded by an ever present salve of bass and percussion with the disambiguated vocal adding further to the unnerving qualities.

Whilst it may be expected that there would be a limited range to the out-put, the duo are able to take the listener on an ever darker journey with plenty of variance. Tracks seem to sweep the brain into a vortex where time stands still, demanding a gentle swaying of the body in time with the omnipresent beat. Despite the dark and dank atmosphere there is something luxurious about the sound produced by Winkie as the duo play with layers of interwoven fabric to produce music which has more to offer each replay of a piece. Whilst this works extremely well on recording, I get the feeling that live performance in a derelict warehouse is the natural setting.

With a debut ten track LP – One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts - recently released and a growing appreciation in the genre, I hope they gain wider traction, as Winkie produce sounds which resonate of the ’10s. - Emerging Indie Bands

The NYC duo are husband and wife Peter Santiago (Bass/Keys) and Gina Spiteri (Keys/Vocals) and their latest album is the highly enjoyable "One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts". Their sound has been compared to The Cranes, My Bloody Valentine and Bleak. I really want to thank them for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?
Gina Spiteri: I think it was Stacy Q. I loved her. She was so skinny.
Peter Santiago: Hmmm… it might have been either “Number of the Beast” or “Powerslave” by Iron Maiden.

Your last album bought?
Peter: HTRK “Poison (Mika Vainio Remix)”.
Gina: Depeche Mode “Delta Machine”. My most recent listen however is Helen Marnie's (Ladytron) solo album "Crystal World" which Peter gave me. I love it.

Favorite album of all time?
Gina: This varies daily. I cannot narrow down one album as the absolute best ever however “Psychocandy” is always up there as one of my very faves... not sometimes... always....
Peter: My favorite album(s) will shift, depending on my mood. For this fall, it’s between: Nico “The End” / Cluster “Zuckerzeit”.

Least favorite/most disappointing album?
Peter: “Crystal World” by Marnie was initially disappointing. I was expecting a different album after hearing bits of “Submariner”. I put it away after two listens. Thankfully, after re-visiting it, I am really starting to enjoy the songs.
Gina: I thought William Reid was going to put out a prolific, life changing solo album years ago and he definitely did not deliver. It did not change my life like Love and Rockets did when I was 12.

First concert attended?
Gina: New Order, Public Image Limited, The Sugarcubes, 1989, Jones Beach, NY.
Peter: My older sister brought me to a Lisa Lisa and The Cult Jam concert (at a local college).

Last concert?
Peter: Dead Leaf Echo, The Stargazer Lilies and The Veldt at Paper Box.
Gina: I can't remember the last show because we are always at shows but within the past few months the most memorable was Light Asylum.

Favorite concert ever?
Gina: This is hard. A few memorable ones. The Twilight Singers, Warsaw, Brooklyn, 2006: We have seen Greg Dulli many times and he never disappoints. Really. Talented. Guy.
Ministry, Lollapolooza, 1992. There was so much going on during this performance which started as the sun was beginning to set in the middle of I don’t even know where? intense smoke on the stage, that crazy adorned microphone, industrial royalty weaving in and out of the fire eaters, acrobats, stage divers and everything else that was going on during their set. It completely sucked me in and I remember thinking that I wanted to be part of a band like Ministry. I was so young and I had no idea what was really up with this carnival of crazy... which was probably a good thing.
AA Place To Bury Strangers, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 2008. THIS BAND RULES. If you have not seen APTBS you are missing out on amazingness. I hope they make a zillion dollars one day. They deserve it.
Peter: The Creatures and John Cale (1998 at Club Life). Swans (2011 at Music Hall of Williamsburg). We both agree on A Place To Bury Strangers (2008 at Music Hall of Williamsburg). It was the perfect concert moment (sound, visuals and crowd).

Least favorite concert?
Peter: The Body Lovers (the show was cancelled and I was never able to see them perform).
Gina: Ozzfest. Somewhere in NJ, no idea what year. I don't want to knock a band, its hard performing live however this event, in its entirety, was not a good one for me. I was so preoccupied with not getting puked on, spit on or inappropriately touched at this show that I did not pay attention to anything else so I have no idea what the bands sounded like. I don't blame the performers as I've been to many hard rock & metal shows without incident but I remember being relieved when we were in the car on the way home.

Any thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?
Gina: Pittsburgh holds a very special place in my heart- We played with Pigface during the "Preaching to the Perverted" tour. Prior to Winkie, Peter and I played in another band called "Coup d'etat". There was a wedding at the show and we were so excited to be there playing with them that we did not care that it took like a thousand hours to get there in traffic. It was Pigface, Gravity Kills and Godhead, who were really nice, and I remember joking with them about racing back to NYC because they had a show at the Limelight the next day. We all made it back to NYC in time for the show.
Peter: Yes, I remember Club Laga, not having enough time to visit the Warhol Museum and Martin Atkins saying our powder blue van (with painted black flames) "…smells like coolant…".


Thanks, guys. I must say, that it's always fantastic when a band reaches out to me and I instantly dig what they are doing. Thanks so much for that. - Hugh Shows Redux

Brooklyn’s Winkie has dropped an intense, challenging, and darkly engaging full LP in One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts. Gazy, drony, always rhythmic, you might describe much of this album as an intriguing cross between The Cure’s Pornography and Belong’s Common Era. And that’s a pretty high bar. By the time you get to track three, Winkie really starts to tear a hole into your soul, and it only becomes more compelling after. There is a far more expansive review of this LP at Clank For Breakfast, but we had to share something of value here: Winkie has produced a dark but beautiful vortex once you fully immerse yourself. Enjoy the ride! - DKFM

Winkie “One Day We Pretended to Be Ghosts” (El Velo Negro Records, October 1st, 2013)
After serving the tasty appetizer single “My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up” last year, Brooklyn, NY duo Winkie now conquer our ears with their debut album. Gina Mrx and Pter Santiago celebrate a nocturnal blend of post punk, cold wave, and synths-colored shoegaze, flavored with a distorted twist. Think of a flirt between The KVB, Voodoo Church, Tropic Of Cancer, No Joy, Strange Boutique, Mephisto Walz,and early The Cure (Winkie’s “The Line Up” could somehow be the nephew of “A Strange Day”), maybe, only maybe it would sound a little bit like what Winkie unleash. Mastered by Oliver Ackermann (A Place To Bury Strangers), the haunting, ghostly whirring album somehow makes you feel like you’re wandering around through empty streets at night in autumn. Everything’s quiet, you feel the stinging breeze … and it’s dark, except for some low streetlights illumination. Your headphones are cranked up, and the otherwordly-drenched dimension of the songs enter your mind. Despite the opaque aesthetics Winkie use for their tonal painting, they still manage to include a remarkable airiness and juggle with enough and necessary contrasts by combining their swaths of reverb and distortion with beautifully shimmering melodies and kinda embracing upswings. Edges meet spacious, ethereal quality. Repetitive textures meet catchiness. Vulnerability meets power. All accompanied by Gina’s vocal colors that are spectral, sweet and sexy at the same time, and adding to the overall effect of drawing you into this passionate night ride. Speaking of, this ride is one of those that I’d recommend to listen to wholly, at night and with headphones. For the “I want a quick glimpse in advance” listeners: Try the apocalyptic-ally buzzing “Killer Behind Those Masks” and especially “Death At The Heart Of The Disco”, two songs that would fit really well as soundtrack addition to the “Blade Runner” movie. Definitely an exciting debut album, and a band to keep an eye (and ear) on. - Clank For Breakfast

It is always a good sign when you listen to a new band and find you've listened to the entire album several times before realize you have. This was the case with Winkie's debut full length release entitled One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts. The drone shoegazing duo hailing from Brooklyn is comprised of Peter Santiago on bass with Gina Spiteri-Santiago with vocal and keyboard duties. So how much noise can two musicians make? A LOT! From the opening seconds of One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts until the end of the album 45 minutes later, there is no escape from the crushing whirl of drone and the eerie atmospherics.

The album kicks off with playful toms then sharp wavy noise descends into the mix. The tone lingers in the background sounding like an agitated swarm of bees trapped inside an empty Carlsberg keg. The tumult is well suited to a song named 'To Die a Thousand Romantic Deaths'. Gina's vocals are sung fairly flatly and altered to sound forlorn and somber. This gives Winkie a dark vibe as Gina's lyrics come across sounding rather desolate and cheerless. Even with the aforementioned thick heavy gloom the songs still have a bouncy edge to them. The consistent steady drum beat and lighter synth tones still make 'To Die a Thousand Romantic Deaths' a catchy head nodding track. The song closes with some ballsy distortion which re-emphasizes the band's striking ability to manipulate noise.

Next up is the track 'My Eyes are Closed When the Sun Comes Up' which reminds me of older Cure with its wispy/scratchy/plucky bass tones. 'My Eyes' has some striking and mournful synth which accompanies Gina's somewhat warmer vocals. The stripped away ending of the song is quite beautiful. It delicately decays the wall of sound into a satisfying and somber conclusion. The über gazy wall of drone hums again, smoldering in the mix of the next song 'Illuminated'. There is a section of the song toward the end where the drone is off and Gina's vocals are in the forefront with the drums marching along and it's magical. Many bands can bring the noise... but few know how to use it effectively. Winkie already understands the incredible auditory power of juxtaposing loud and soft passages.





If you're looking for a wall of drone to close your eyes to while embracing the reverberating shimmer, the track 'The Line Up' is for you. I found it curious how relaxing I found the music in spite of the massive tonal onslaught. You know that 'pop' your ears feel when a My Bloody Valentine's song ends? That sudden 'release' into silence? Winkie has that and it's awesome. The rest of the album is fairly consistent with plenty of creativity, catchy synth and highlights Gina's vocals with various vocal effects. My only gripe would be a few tracks on the back half of the album tend to run a little long but this was a minor concern. From the murky drone of 'Death at the Heart of the Disco' to the slower refreshing 'Vacant' which showcase a gentler sounding Gina, One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts offers the listener plenty of unique and interesting soundscapes to explore.

Winkie's sound often hits the right balance of dark swirling drone, atmospheric synth and mysterious vocal allure. One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is full of character and possesses' a powerful, confident musical presence. The album is certainly an impressive debut release for the New York duo. Those looking for a drone fix laced with melodic shoegazing goodness need look no further than Winkie. A recommended listen.

Be sure to check them out on Soundcloud. - Echoes And Dust

One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is the debut full-length album from Brooklyn-based shoegaze duo Winkie. With only two members and no guitars–that’s right, no guitars–Winkie manages to create a huge, expansive sound that is their own. There is a lot of delicious fuzz and noise which combines with drifting keyboard tones and dreamy vocals. The effect is noisy, yet dark and haunting at moments.

Highlights include “My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up”, a cool, surprisingly catchy and wackily futuristic track with ethereal vocals; “Illuminated”, an earworm drenched in fuzz; and “Death At The Heart Of The Disco”, which lives up to its name. A great moment in the album is near the end–Winkie brings one of their loudest and fuzziest tracks, “The Safest Place Is Denial”. It’s then followed by one of their most relaxed, dreamy and vocally clear tracks, “Vacant”.

They know when to bring the noise and when to back off, and they know how to change it up while still holding onto a sound which is their own. It’s a great debut, and promises that great things lie ahead for Winkie. - Raw & Unheard

Has it really been that long? Sheesh. Well, after a criminal delay, I've cobbled out some reviews for you folks. If you've been a faithful listener of the radio show, though, these won't be anything new. (Or, perhaps, not TOO new.) But let's just say that these are long overdue. And, as the title implies, the drone prevails over all.
Picture
Winkie - The color is fading fast from Athens. Several trees now wave bare in the chilling winds; others droop with dull crimson and muddy brown leaves. And the morning skies are gray. Oh, so gray.

This is the time of year for Winkie. Regular readers have met the midnight duo before, when I introduced their first single – well, the new LP is out. It’s called “One Day We Pretended to Be Ghosts”. I received it some months ago, while in the thrall of my studies – and, might I add, while the sun was still bright and the temperatures still comfy and warm. Back then, the whole thing seemed like some distant fuzz, some abyss that I could safely stare down and not even fathom the chance of being swallowed.

But not any more. Christ, not any more.

Death must feel like this. At least, death when it’s due, when you’ve reached a ripe old age. Cold, immense, but bliss beyond measure. A bliss more transcendent than sex. A slow but welcomed drowning into black oblivion.

Never mind the long, blatantly doom-laden titles. Listen instead to the mangled, warped distortion. It’s great. It’s so great. It’s the primal drone, stretched into a throbbing massage of miasma, mutilated . It is love, heavy and embracing, and it’s induced many a moan from me as it steadily, imperceptibly, then overwhelmingly smothers me. WINKIE shouldn’t need a fog machine when they play live, especially not for “My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up” – between the icy synths and that savage drone, you can feel the mists closing in, enveloping everything. And, ohhhh, “The Line Up”. Ohhh, God. Those warbled sustains just kill me.

And OH MY BLOODY VALENTINE, “Sometimes”. It’s a track drawn from the ether, with ghostly guitars floating all around, while traces of bright synth accents stab through the fog. The pulsing bass that drives most of Winkie’s tracks fuels this one with a passion.

Now, not all of Winkie’s terrors assail you gently. “Illuminated” snarls with muscular brooding, pounding from all directions like a tune from Pornography. “Death At The Heart Of The Disco” also summons a thick, doom-laden beat – but ahhhh, now the fog descends upon us in double-folds, shifting now from silver to grey. This one’s a maze of smog, and if you’re not lost at first, you soon will be – and I tell you, it’s so lovely it hurts.

I can take or leave the lyrics – it’s the voice, the eerily pure and heavenly voice that floats gracefully over the blackening haze, that beckons like a siren to the weary Odysseus. Come, come hither. Come deeper into this maddening, razor-sharp fog, o listener. We know it’s a trick, we know that if we follow her, she will blacken out the sun and possibly even rob us of our life. But we follow, through the savage undulation of “The Safest Place Is Denial”, to the ominous and gloriously unsettling rattle of “Arrows” that ends the album, because we cannot grasp her, and because her traps have ensnared us utterly.

Winter will soon be here. Now’s the time to lose yourself in Winkie. Listen and buy their LP from their Bandcamp page. - Soundscape Memoirs

On Wednesday August 7th, WINKIE, Kam Kama, and Ray Creature all performed at Cameo Gallery. Ester Segretto was there to photograph it for us. - Impose Magazine

One Day We Pretended To Be Ghosts is the debut LP from Brooklyn duo, Winkie. A measured balance between coldwave introversion and brutal industrial shoegaze, One Day... depicts a band as comfortable with stripped back drum loops as they are with wall-of-sound synths.

Following the success of 2012's My Eyes Are Closed When The Sun Comes Up (a self-released 7"), Winkie turned to the noisecore nous of Oliver Ackermann to add the finishing touches to their first full-length release - and the result is one of typical intensity.

From the stark grind of Sometimes to the snarling reverb of Death at the Heart of Disco, this is dark electrogaze comparable with The History of Colour TV or late-period Curve. Highlights include Killer Behind Those Masks - an electroclash freakout told through glowering bass rolls - and The Line Up, a spellbinding slice of blissed-out drone-pop.

Whilst digital downloads of One Day... are available through Bandcamp, vinyl junkies can obtain physical copies from the same site. - Nugazer

"My Eyes Are Closed When the Sun Comes Up" opens on a heavy Cure style chorus effect from pTER which has always been a weird sound to have associated with this dark, oppressive sound. Crisp metronome drums pound back and forth under this airy melody running into itself, the added swishy phaser rips that layered sound up into a rolling haze of what used to be bass at this point. Gina leans on the lower end synth parts hollowing out a massive low end cavern that can only be captured on the vinyl medium, rumbling under the surface. Shrieking higher end synth comes in between Gina's breathy high register vocal that shouldn't be this graceful alongside their dark world. They also hit on this rhythm and repeat a melody structure to spiral it into the center of the earth. Both of them essentially working bass parts... why not take that rhythm section used in most bands as the structure to hang everything else on and make it the pure skeleton for naked minimal electronics.

B-Side's "Always to be Around" opens on crunchy looped bass, spiking in the red, peaking into the effect it came out of. Percussion toms pound rising into a heavy, heartbeat loop. The bass is folded over on it's slightly off chord structures, the melody is a bit warped with what must be a higher end guitar distortion at work on this one. It's all adding up to a scratchier static filled vision of Industrial Park's nod to shoegaze. Gina';s vocal is completely buried and like any successful somber stuff it's not another instrument, the lyric really can function to just set the mood, all distorted and a sort of mirage in the distance. I have no idea what Blank Dogs were talking about half the time but that never stopped me from singing along. They insist on mailing that Lust for Youth damaged sound first, you'll have to pile the context on yourself, it's better that way.

This one is on black vinyl with spray painted sleeves from the band direct. - 7 Inches

O dia em que Killing Joke, APTBS e Cure se encontrarem pra fazer uma jam certamente o resultado seria exatamente como a música do Winkie.

Densa, pesada, barulhento, arrastada e obscura, visões fantasmagóricas e cinzentas do cotidiano viriam a tona. O debute do ano passado One Day We Pretend to be Ghosts é tudo isso e muito mais angustiante e dá a sensação de caos profundo.

Depressivamente claustrofóbico e ao final estamos completamente a merce do mundo cruel do Winkie.

Absolutamente ACIMA.

Q. When did Winkie starts, tell us about the history.-
Gina: This project started as a soundtrack project and evolved into a band when we realized we had a lot of material and an offer to play outside of our studio.

Peter: Yes, we contributed music to our friend’s (Paul Natale) short films and it evolved from there.

Q: Who are your influences?
P: Killing Joke, Thrush and The Cunts, Ladytron, Big Black, Depeche Mode, Bill Jacobson’s photography and Jim Jarmusch’s film Permanent Vacation.

G: Oliver Ackermann musically, Patricia Morrison visually.

Q. Made a list of 5 albums of all time-
G: That's impossible! I always leave something out- Psychocandy, Loveless, Disintegration...You know, the usual suspects...

P: At this moment (a list like this changes all the time), my top five would include: Public Image Ltd.’s Flowers of Romance, Nico’s The End, A Place To Bury Strangers’ Exploding Head, Moebius & Beerbohm’s Strange Music, Siouxsie & The Banshees’ The Thorn.

Q. How do you fell playing live?
G: We put a lot of work into our live shows as we feel that it’s an integral part of WINKIE. I get extremely nervous before shows.

P: The moments leading up to a performance are the worst but once the music starts we’re either having the greatest time or going down in flames. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Q. How do you describe Winkie´s sounds?
G: Not as bleak and depressing as people say it is. Ok maybe sometimes it is, but not all the time.

P: Atmospheric. Also, drowning, suffocation and claustrophobic can accurately describe the sound we are trying to achieve.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs ?
G: We build on sounds. Separately. Sometimes it's a bass line. Sometimes it's a random buzzing sound coming from the TV. Peter usually fashions them into a cohesive song instead of an hour of jumbled sounds. We don't really have a set schedule for writing and recording. We kind of record things on a whim individually and go from there.

P: Either Gina or I will begin with a sound, drumbeat… and then take turns building up and tearing down layers sound until we feel the song is completed.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?
G: VANIISH

P: Not necessarily new — a few bands you should listen to: Vows, Vaniish, Prima Primo, Bestial Mouths, Bootblacks, Chasms and Ritual Howls!

Q: Which bands you love to made a cover version?
G: Covers are rarely as good as the original- although RevCo's Rod Stewart cover is pretty awesome.

P: At one show we covered Love and Rockets… maybe we should do that again?

Q: What´s the plans for future....
G: New album. Hopefully. Getting blonder.

P: Releasing a new album, pushing our live visuals even further, making our live shows even louder and touring.

Q: Any parting words?
G: “All our life is spent in this permanent brainwashed contempt.” - Jack Dangers

P: “Bring on the wave.” - Andrew William Harvey Taylor
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Thanks - The Blog That Celebrates Itself

1-Where you from?

ANSWER: We are from New York- to be more specific- we currently reside in Brooklyn.

2-How long have you been working together and who are the members of the band?


ANSWER: WINKIE is just the two of us. We have been working collectively together for almost 20 years on various musical projects/endeavors but this is the first project where it has been exclusively Peter and Gina. So far it's been working out pretty well.

3-What are your influences?

ANSWER: Musically there are so many- but I strive to be Depeche Mode so I guess you could say that's my biggest influence. Clearly we sound just like Depeche Mode so it is obviously working (joke). But in all seriousness there are just too many to name. I was just telling someone yesterday that when I played bass in a band I wanted to be just like Peter Hook and Paul Barker- two very similar sounding bass players don't you think (obviously that is a joke too). Then there is JAMC. So many people cite them and they should. But I am different because they influenced me so much that I had a room designed to match the Automatic album cover at one time (this is NOT a joke). Who does that? Only a crazy JAMC fan.

4-Could you describe the music project ? in your own way!!

ANSWER: I can't really explain it. I have no idea how it ends up sounding the way it does. It starts out one way and then ends up another. Its like this weird mix of my craziness and Peter's ability to tie it together and make sense of it. I wish I knew what I was doing but I don't- and that's probably what makes it sound the way that it does.

5-How this project was born ?

ANSWER: WINKIE was initially a soundtrack project. The intention was to create pretty electronic background music. After some film scoring we started writing more songs. Then one day the songs fell into a really deep dark place and decided that they wanted to stay there. So we let them stay there.
6- Do you work with your band in the independently way ?

ANSWER: At present we are a self run organization.



7-What is your opinion regarding the situation in Venezuela?

ANSWER: This is a question for Zack de la Rocha and not WINKIE. How amazing is Zack de la Rocha?

8-What is your opinion regarding the global economic situation?

ANSWER: This question makes me think of the song Ball of Confusion- the version by Love and Rockets. I think its on "Express" right? All of the rhyming words in the middle of the song- I totally can't remember how it goes anymore and I used to have it memorized. I have to listen to it now.

9-Any kind of political preferences?

ANSWER: I remain independent of any sort or political organization/affiliation.

10-Is this economic bad moment affecting your band? Organization, development etc..

ANSWER: We do what we do regardless of the economic situation.

11-What is your opinion about discography companies? Are they really killing the market?

ANSWER: what is a discography company?

12-Tell us about your plans for 2014?

ANSWER: We are actually writing new material and have been testing songs out live which we have never done before. So hopefully, if I can keep it together, we will have a new album completed soon.

13-This interview, will be read by people from many countries. What can you say about your band ?

ANSWER: We love to travel and visit different places. - Wave Noise Magazine