​​Last week, we asked Daniel Martin-McCormick, a.k.a. Ital, to choose a song for our Classic Cuts series (he went with Sonic Youth's "Society Is A Hole"). Well, while we were over at his Williamsburg, Brooklyn apartment, we also decided to tap him for a little Check-In Q&A... and it's definitely an entertaining read! Ital shared with us the list of books he went through while on tour, a couple of movies he's been digging as of late, and an awesome tale from the road. Continue on for the whole chat!

Real Name and Artist Name: Daniel Martin-McCormick, Ital

Hometown: Washington, D.C.

Last book you read: The last book I finished was Violence by Slavoj Žižek. I also did this H.P. Lovecraft selection of short stories I bought at a French bookstore, which had about 10 books in English. That doesn’t really count―three short stories. Oh, and Less Than Zero. I loved it. I was looking for American Psycho and they didn’t have it.

Last movie you saw: In preparation for this interview I watched Pi, the Darren Aronofsky film. I didn’t realize he directed it. And it’s almost identical to Black Swan: both feature sexless, obsessive virtuosos living in these confined spaces in New York whose obsessions put them in touch with a dark force larger than themselves... and a system that can either uplift or destroy them. And they destroy themselves. I was watching it and was like, I’ve seen this before! I loved the soundtrack, though―Massive Attack is all over that shit. The last great movie I saw was A Separation. I will say I was very tired and fell asleep during part of it. It’s not entertaining but it’s really good and riveting.

Last fun event or party you’ve attended: The last fun thing I was at was, coming home from Europe, I had a layover in London on Valentine’s Day and a bunch of people I knew were going bowling. And then we went to this intense Turkish billiards spot. So, yeah―that was fun. Also, I had a dream last night where I jammed with Throbbing Gristle and found out that Cosey [Fanni Tutti] was from the Midwest and had an American accent... and was in my parents’ front yard. I haven’t been to too many parties this year because I’ve been touring a lot, but last year, the three that stand out are DJ Harvey at Santos all night long. That was incredible. He’s such a phenomenal DJ. And on a similar level, going to a Dope Jams party that was fogged out the ass. They were playing so much crazy disco and, at their parties, people come to go to the zone [the store owners are in]. It’s not a bar and no one’s going to be like, Can you play any hip-hop? And then, like, seeing Hype Williams at Unsound last fall. It was one of the craziest shows and super confrontational but also really fun and ridiculous. Those were the three live things that impressed me the most.

Last crazy show you’ve played: There was one in Cleveland last year [at B-Side Liquor Lounge]. We did this little 100% Silk tour, which started in New York. We had one weekend in the middle of it that was, like, Detroit, Friday, Chicago, Saturday, Cleveland... Sunday. And I was like, Why? I figured it was going to be pretty raw and had zero expectations―but then it turned out to be awesome! Not a lot of people came but I think someone was dealing Ecstasy because there was this really sloppy crew of people who were just loving it. It was, like, bros and their girlfriends. I remember looking up during my set and this girl was severely grinding on her boyfriend to the point where he was uncomfortable and had this weird look on his face. Then there’s this footage of me playing, also, where there’s this girl in the background, writhing around in this short, white dress during a noise, no-input feedback part of the set.