Poetic Memory: Gun Runner (List)
After returning to San Diego from Berklee School of Music, Sean Davenport wanted to get a band together, so he got in touch with his old friend Diego Rojano. In late 2009, Davenport and Rojano recruited local songwriter Tommy Graf (guitar) and Carlos Ortiz (drums), and they formed Gun Runner.
Since then, they’ve drawn from a variety of influences — including Wilco, Pavement, and Sonic Youth — to create a unique sound. This year, they released the excellent EP Bad Neighbors, an interesting work that evokes the psychedelic blues of Bob Dylan’s 2007 masterpiece, Time out of Mind.
Davenport’s soulful voice isn’t much like Dylan’s though, and that’s a good thing. Tracks like “Zelda” find him repeating “I can make this all better for you,” as if he’s been telling it to a few beers. Meanwhile, the reverb-laden instrumentation frames his half-drunk delivery. On the nostalgic “2 out of 3,” where choral intro harmonies are juxtaposed against Rojano’s lilting bass and Davenport’s voice, Gun Runner creates a kind of zombie R&B. It’s well worth a few listens, and you can stream it on MySpace or purchase it on iTunes.
Gun Runner will open for Maren Parusel at the Belly Up Tavern on Tuesday, August 31. While you wait, check out their Poetic Memory (below).
Thrill Jockey Plans Jack Rose Memorial, Posthumous ‘Luck in the Valley’ (MP3)
Thrill Jockey Records calls Jack Rose “the most profound exponent of acoustic guitar playing of his generation.” (more…)
Jemina Pearl with Iggy Pop – “I Hate People” (Video)
It’s been over a year since ragtag teenaged punkers Be Your Own Pet parted ways, and they’ve been missed. Luckily, former front woman Jemina Pearl has just released her first solo album, the aptly titled Break It Up, to help fill the void. The album finds Pearl continuing to imbue her raucous pop ditties with refreshing doses of optimism and heart. Pearl has just released the video for album highlight “I Hate People”, a duet with none other than James Newell Osterberg, Jr., aka Iggy Pop.
Unfortunately, Pop doesn’t appear in the video—except in photographed form—but apparently less is more: Thurston Moore, to be exact. The Sonic Youth front man appears on Break It Up and costars in the video as a haplessly skittish coworker at Pearl’s diner. Pearl and Moore previously collaborated on a cover of The Ramones’ “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” for the edgy CW series Gossip Girl.
We’ve got the video for you, as well as Pearl’s tour dates, after the jump. If you’re lucky, she might spit on you during the show. I speak from personal experience when I say that being spit on by Jemina Pearl ain’t so bad at all. (more…)
Poetic Memory: The Rest (List)
The last time Ontario, Canada’s The Rest played at the Casbah, we missed it. But we won’t make that mistake again. After all, according to their MySpace page, The Rest like all the things that we like: doing push-ups, shooting each other with water guns, howling at the moon, and delicious Thai food. (More details below.) We have other reasons, too. For one, their new album, Everything All At Once, is amazing. For another, they graciously agreed to write the latest installment of Poetic Memory. Also, they use the word “rascal” in their lyrics.
We’ve featured The Rest on our podcast a few times, but in case you missed it, here are a couple of MP3s. The wondrously haunting “Drinking Again” is definitely one of our favorite songs of 2009. Also, be sure to check out “Everything All At Once“, the epic titular track from their new album.
Poetic Memory is a regular Owl and Bear feature in which musicians disclose their influences—whether it’s albums, songs, artists, or something random. If you’re interested in being featured here, send us an email. (more…)
Glossines Singer Sells Her Breasts
The lovely Amber Everson, front-woman of local punk favorites The Glossines, has decided to sell you her breasts.
Pitchfork Music Festival 2007 (II)
Note: Photos in this essay depict re-enactments of actual events, not the events themselves.
Thursday, July 12
McCaskill picked me up at my folks’ house at 9PM. We weren’t planning to leave Jackson until about 1 or 2AM, but we’d decided to hang out a while and say goodbyes because, naturally, we may never come back.
Instead of going to the bar, for obvious reasons, we opted for dinner. Regardless, as with alcohol, we are both bottomless pits for food. The meal was uneventful, save for the fact that our waitress had apparently served McCaskill once before, and had taken offense to a conversation about foreskins. Despite this, the food was palatable and (hopefully) spit-free.
Pitchfork Music Festival 2007 (I)
Let’s get this out of the way: fuck the Chicago Tribune. They messed up a lot of indie fans this past weekend by printing completely wrong directions to the Pitchfork Music Festival. Despite having lived in the Chicago area for nearly eight years and being with two people who attended the festival last year, I still managed to take the Green Line L train all the way to the end of the line (as per the directions), nearly five miles south of Union Park. A long string of expletives and one forty minute bus ride later, we had missed nearly all of Slint, the first act of the first night. It’s a shame, too, as they sounded pretty damn good.
Sonic Youth – Destroyed Room: B-Sides And Rarities
2006, Geffen
In the past, after an initial taste, Sonic Youth virgins might’ve expressed anything from intrigue to a fight-or-flight reaction.
