Chappo -- Listen Up!

We're constantly getting turned on to new music here at Spinner HQ. Between our Free MP3 of the Day and weekly Free CD Listening Party, we hope you are too. To help further the cause, we're gonna bring you our personal must-hear music picks with Listen Up! -- Spinner's weekly spotlight on staff-approved artists who rock our world.

Who: Chappo
Hails From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Why We Love Them: These quirky space-cases push all the right buttons with their lively psych-garage compositions. A little bit Flaming Lips and -- one listener remarked -- reminiscent of '70s Elton John, this duo will leave you 'Sigh'-ing for more.
Essential Listening: 'Sweet Sigh' (MP3 Download)
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Exclusive Q&A with vocalist/guitarist Alex Chappo and vocalist/synthist Chris Olson:

What's your favorite album right now, and why?

Alex: As far as new things, Tame Impala ('Innerspeaker') was the hot summer jam while we were on tour on the West Coast. We got turned onto them by Jason Finkel, who mixed the EP. It sounds a little like Cream and Led Zeppelin meeting in the Australian Outback with psychedelic light sabers. Zac Colwell, our drummer who also produced the EP, continually turns us on to some '70s gems that we missed in our parents' vinyl collection. Also the Naked Hearts ('Mass Hysteria') who are friends of ours in Brooklyn.

Tell us about the first concert you ever saw and any stand-out moments.
Alex: A jumble of local and world famous artists at Jazz Fest in New Orleans as a kid. One of them that jumped out was Rita Marley. I immediately wanted to dance and was energized the rest of the day.
Chris: It might have been Kenny G, with my mom. Not really high up on the "cool" factor, but I think I remember him holding a note for like an hour or something.

What's your biggest vice?
Alex: The ADD information age. Smart phones, YouTube, e-mails buzzing in your pocket all day, text messages, phone-scrabble. While we're able to do more in some ways, it's also a struggle to stay focused on whatever is right in front of you. Makes us miss the '90s in some ways.

Other vices?
Alex: Eating too fast.
Chris: Throwing things

Which current major pop star do you identify with most closely?
Alex: Maybe a giant Arcade Fire ball riding a Phoenix with Daft Punk-rockers flapping their arms towards the Empire of the Sun with our MGMT team at our Beck and call trying to phone Bowie to see if he's finished the remix of 'Song for Bob Dylan' featuring Lil Wayne and Taylor Swift.

What's the story behind your band name?
Alex: Chappo actually means a bunch of different things: Wandering vagabond in Hungarian; phonetically, "to catch" in Italian; it's close to sounding like "hat" in French; and El Chapo means "shorty" in Spanish slang. We like the reference to the moon-worshipping Nordic Gypsies that lived in Greece, late in the Dark ages. "Chapp-owe" was the name of the drink that they used for communion.

When you stop making music, what's the one thing you want people to remember about you?
Alex: We're pretty early in the game, and I think we'll make music for a long time, but hopefully people will remember that we were pretty well-mannered young men most of the time, and that we tipped well.