Poetic Memory: Bazile (List)
Photo credit: Caroline Poe
Bazile is a solo artist from Austin, TX who writes music that he calls “Space Folk.”
Originally from Mississippi, Bazile grew up listening to film scores, and that appreciation has greatly contributed to his style of songwriting. And although his songs are often cinematic, Bazile truly shines when it’s just his voice and guitar.
Bazile took two years to record his debut album, The Sojourn of Professor Narducci, and it was a long, deliberative process. The end result, however, is a captivating work that succeeds in balancing the music with his often melancholy lyrics. For a sample of the album, check out “Solder City” and the Sufjan Stevens-esque “Life of Particles” (MP3s). Bazile’s Poetic Memory is below.
O&B’s Guide to Bonnaroo 2010, Part 1: Survival
Since its inception in June 2002, Bonnaroo has become the premiere North American music festival. This year’s outing will be my third excursion to the farmlands of Manchester, Tennessee — I was there for Wilco and Bob Dylan in 2004, and I returned for Beck and Radiohead in 2006.
Each year challenges attendees to survive three days of camping, sweating, and drinking with 80,000 of your strangest friends. So, in part one of Owl and Bear’s Bonnaroo preview, we’ll let you in on a few secrets to surviving a sweltering — but inevitably fun-filled — weekend at Bonnaroo. Continue reading…
Tobacco – Maniac Meat (Review)
Tom Fec, the mastermind behind O&B Best Of 2009 alum Black Moth Super Rainbow, is back with his other project. Tobacco is a psychedelic, glitch-pop, one-man supergoup that’s one acid trip from the loony bin — in a good way.
With Maniac Meat, Fec continues the electro buzz-saw sound he created on his first full-length, Fucked Up Friends. Shying away from the ambient, slowed-down grooves of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Maniac Meat is, well, meatier. The more robust, aggressive sounding effort leans on Beastie Boy-ish beats and tons of synth layers.
Lending an air of prestige to the proceedings, the one and only Beck (who Fec has said produced his favorite album ever, Mellow Gold) appears on two tracks. Continue reading…
The Judgment of Conan O’Brien
In the final moments of Friday’s The Tonight Show, the now former host, Conan O’Brien, grabbed an ax (that’s slang for guitar) and joined The Max Weinberg 7 to perform “Freebird,” which also included one of the dudes from ZZ Top (the long-bearded guy), Ben Harper, Beck, and Will Ferrell on lead vocals. The spectacle turned an otherwise melancholy moment into something amusing (the segment, along with the rest of O’Brien’s final episode at the helm, can currently be viewed, with limited commercial interruption, at Hulu). The supergroup’s competencies notwithstanding, there were two remarkable things about the performance. First, O’Brien’s ability to shred (that’s slang for play ax); and second, his alternating expressions of joy, sadness, and, more interestingly, relief.
He’s been through a lot (frankly, we all have). O’Brien was having fun jamming, for sure, but by the end it was like watching someone who, after coming to terms with the fact that there’s nothing more the doctors can do for him, happily dies in his sleep while dreaming and, once dead, ascends to heaven. Or something to that effect. (more…)
Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Heaven Can Wait” (Video)
It’s hard not to love Charlotte Gainsbourg. Even the film Antichrist, with its disturbing imagery, rampant misogyny, and charming genital mutilation couldn’t lessen our love for the lovely lady. She may not be the only indie musician/actress out there, but she is the only one who does both things well (take that, Deschanel). The ambidextrous Gainsbourg has once again put on her songwriter’s cap for her forthcoming album IRM. Her gorgeous debut, 5:55, was produced by none other than the great Nigel Godrich, but this time around Gainsbourg has enlisted Beck to produce and cowrite all the songs.
The star-crossed pairing has just yielded its first video, the Keith Schofield-directed “Heaven Can Wait”. Beck’s vocals feature strongly in the song, lending further weight to the idea that the record is a Gainsbourg solo album in name only. In the surreal clip, mundane interactions between people and bizarre creatures are interrupted by bizarre bouts of food fetishism and sudden acts of violence. IRM will be available stateside on January 26th via Elektra, and the smart money says it’ll be a good one.
Beck’s Scientology Benefit
There’s a little Internet controversy a-brewing over Beck’s benefit tonight (3/11) in Los Angeles. A couple of blogs have “raised a flag” over a statement that the event’s net proceeds would be donated to a charity called “Educating Children International.” Sounds harmless enough, right?
Well, these bloggers have inquired about the incredibly obscure under-the-radar charity, knowing that a) Beck is an alleged Scientologist and b) the charity is run by Mohammad Khalil Ullah, a Scientologist. You get the idea.
When asked if Beck had a statement about the organization or tonight’s show, his representative in New York declined to comment. What to make of this? I don’t know. Somehow it seemed noteworthy, if not a little shady.
Download: Owl and Bear’s Honorable Mention of 2008
Owl and Bear’s list of albums that almost made the cut in 2008.
Review: San Diego Street Scene; September 19, 2008
San Diego’s annual Street Scene festival was truly a sight to behold. A large section of San Diego’s downtown and West Village was sectioned off and made home to four stages, forty bands, and thousands upon thousands of voracious music lovers. From bros rolling joints to cute hipster chicks with flasks taped to their thighs, the surroundings were cramped, but everyone was in such a good mood that no one seemed to mind the lack of breathing room.
San Diego Street Scene Releases Schedule
^^ TV On The Radio ^^
The showtimes for next week’s massive Street Scene festival have been released. People with great taste will have the agonizing task of choosing between staying at The New Pornographers’ show or defecting to TV On The Radio halfway through, and dance fans will have to choose between MGMT and Hot Chip, but for the most part things are spread out pretty well. The festivities start one week from today, so be sure to snatch up some tickets if you haven’t done so already.
Showtimes after the jump:
San Diego Street Scene Lookin’ Awfully Pretty
For the scant few who haven’t heard yet, San Diego’s annual Street Scene festival will once again be rearing its enormous head on September 19th and 20th.
The colossal all-ages event brings a whopping forty bands on four stages to downtown San Diego, including Beck, Spoon, TV On The Radio, MGMT, The New Pornographers, The National, Cold War Kids, Justice, X, and longtime Owl&Bear favorites/interviewees Man Man. And for anybody who feels overwhelmed by the sheer number of great bands performing and would like to introduce a little suckiness into their diet—and would like that suckiness to sound like Paul Simon vomiting—have no fear, because Vampire Weekend will also be performing.
Beck – Timebomb
Ugh. I’m not the biggest fan of Beck‘s so-called hip-hop side (I can’t stand most of Odelay and don’t care much for Midnight Vultures), but I can at least appreciate his ironic and insightful lyrics.
