Jesse B. Marchant, also known as JBM, is a singer/songwriter from Montreal. A classically trained guitarist, he only recently began to write lyrics, sing, and record. His debut album, Not Even in July, was written in Los Angeles but recorded in New York’s Adirondack mountains, and it proves that he’s capable of sitting with other indie favorites like Bon Iver and AA Bondy.
JBM will open for AA Bondy at the Casbah on September 1. His Poetic Memory is below.
Tomorrow marks what’s becoming, in some ways, more inevitable than death and taxes (the latter of which, in my case, are now officially delinquent). Yup, Record Store Day is again upon us. Continue reading
Fact: there are more albums in existence today than ever before, and, as more albums are released in the future, that number will most likely increase. We, the intrepid writers for Owl&Bear, stand at the frothy frontline of this constant deluge of new music, bravely filling buckets with the good stuff and presenting it as sweet sustenance to our parched readers. We perpetually receive music from PR people, begging us to check out undiscovered artists, and a lot of it is, quite frankly, underwhelming. But once in a while we come across a diamond in the rough, something that grabs us by the ears and doesn’t let go. And so it happened that, mere seconds into hearing “If You” (MP3), I became a fan of Boy Without God.
Hailing from Massachusetts, famed home of the sassy Congressman, Boy Without God is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Birnbaum. His new album, Your Body Is Your Soul, which sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel if they’d been fronted by Johnny Cash, has been on constant rotation in the Owl&Bear offices lately and is shaping up to be one of the best albums of the year. Birnbaum was kind enough to share his influences with us for our newest installment of Poetic Memory.
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. Continue reading
As we gear up to publish our list of favorite albums from 2008, we’d like to offer up an extra-special contest for Owl and Bear readers.
For Emma, Forever Ago is so good that it deserves accolades, but because the album made our Top 20 of 2007 (though not officially released at the time), our high journalistic standards prevent its inclusion For Emma in this year’s roundup.
In lieu of praise, we’re offering one (1) vinyl copy of For Emma, Forever Ago to the third-to-last person who emails us by January 2, 2009 at 11:59 PST.
To enter, email admin@owlandbear.com. That’s it!
Also! Don’t forget that our Sound of the Smiths contest ends on December 31, 2008 at 11:59 PST.