Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

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cortez the killer
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Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection.

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The Silver Jews is the brainchild of poet, cartoonist, blogger, and signer-songwriter David Berman. A man of many talents, Silver Jews was the vessel through which Berman expressed himself musically. The AllMusic bio for the band does an admirable job concisely summarizing their sound - “a beautiful mess of indie rock, country-rock and lo-fi with lyrics both witty and profound.” On several levels, the Silver Jews were not your typical band. For one, their lineup changed from album to album. The “band” was essentially Berman and whomever he decided to record with for a given project. These frequent, real-life games of musical chairs are the primary reason for the “beautiful mess” described above. Another reason why it was so easy for Berman to maintain a revolving door of musicians is that “The Joos” never played live. That all changed in 2006 following the release of the band’s fifth album, Tanglewood Numbers. But, for the first seventeen years of The Joos’ existence, they were strictly a studio band. Berman’s details his reason for not touring as follows:
“Fan reaction is so out-sized and hyperbolic in rock music compared to other arts. I don’t think any songwriter who comes up through playing clubs can really claim to have independently developed their art. All along the way so much information is coming, the writer inside the performer unconsciously reacts to all of that. By the time they get to be thirty, the writer is gone. I’m glad I did it this way. I taught myself to write without applause for a long time. This (Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea) is the first post-applause album I’ve done. Maybe that accounts for what’s so different about it.”

Formed in 1989, the original Silver Jews lineup consisted of Berman, Stephen Malkmus & Bob Nastanovich. The three musicians attended the University of Virginia in the late 80’s & performed in college as Ectoslavia. Upon graduation, the trio relocated to Hoboken, NJ where Berman & Malkmus found work as security guards in a museum and Nastanovich drove a bus. Once in the NYC-area, they decided to call themselves Silver Jews. Their initial “recordings” consisted of calling people and leaving songs on their answering machines. Around the same time Silver Jews formed, Malkmus started a more “serious” band (with Nastanovich playing drums) called Pavement. Pavement took off and quickly established themselves as a seminal band of the 90’s indie-rock scene. The success and visibility of Pavement functioned as double-edged sword for Berman. Pavement’s popularity initially brought a broader audience to the Silver Jews. However, The Joos, incorrectly, developed a reputation as a Pavement side-project, a perception that dogged Berman for years. Berman’s early attempts to protect the band’s individuality resulted in Malkmus & Nastanovich being credited as “Hazel Figurine” and “Bobby N” on early Joos recordings. While Berman made efforts to separate The Joos from Pavement, the connection led to the band signing & recording with upstart Chicago-based indie label Drag City. Silver Jews recorded two EP’s with Drag City - Dime Map For the Reef (1990) & The Arizona Record (1993). These recordings were incredibly primitive, with most of the material recorded directly onto a Sony Walkman. Both EP’s eventually went out of print, but were re-released by Drag City in 2012 with a new title, Early Times. Shortly after recording Dime Map and Arizona, Berman took a short break from music and enrolled in a graduate-level writing program at the University of Massachusetts. While studying at UMass, Berman met the members of local bands Scud Mountain Boys & New Radiant Storm Kings. He also spent time writing the majority of material for his upcoming debut album, Starlite Walker. And it is here, with Starlite Walker, that the legend of The Joos really took off.

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On the last day of your life, don’t forget to die. The things you do will always make your momma cry.
Starlite Walker represents the Silver Jews first full-length, full-fledged studio recording. Although recorded in an actual Memphis studio, the recording still retains much of the band’s desire to maintain its lo-fi charm. The album essentially sounds like a half-realized concept that played itself out as a jam session amongst a bunch of friends with (extremely) loose playing supporting the interesting marriage of Malkmus’ slacker, off-key falsetto and Berman’s detached, dry baritone.
Berman‘s take:
“With Starlite Walker it was like ‘can we do this?’ And it was fun trying. Our expectations were so low that anything that took the shape of an album would have been enough. I guess I was 26, or 27, but it sounds so much more youthful to me.”

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When I go downtown, I always wear a corduroy suit, cause it's made of a hundred gutters that the rain can run right through.
The Natural Bridge was originally recorded with Malkmus, Nastanovich, and members of the Scud Mountain Boys. However, Berman pulled a last-minute switch and headed to Studio .45 in Hartford, CT to re-record the album with Peyton Pinkerton and Matt Hunter from New Radiant Storm King. The change resulted in a slow, dirgey, country-sounding record. Additionally, the production on The Natural Bridge is more polished than its predecessor, Starlite Walker. Themes of loneliness, escape, heartbreak and loss are conveyed through Berman’s ever-growing knack for clever, bumper sticker-worthy lyrics.
Berman‘s take:
"When I made 'The Natural Bridge' I thought I'd made a terrible mistake. And I pretty much thought that once people heard it, the jig was up. And people weren't going to want to listen to a Silver Jews album that didn't have Malkmus on it ... I had to, out of pride, make a record without him on it."
"I couldn't listen to the record after it was over for a while. And when I did listen to it I wanted to jump out a window. I just didn't think I could let people here those kinds of things. The amount of pain I was in during the recording process."


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I know that a lot of what I say has been lifted off of men's room walls. Maybe I've crossed the wrong rivers and walked down all the wrong halls.
American Water reunited Berman with Malkmus and Nastanovich and has a much more upbeat and bouncy sound than The Natural Bridge. The album is widely-considered one of the most significant indie-rock recordings of all-time. It also served as my entry point into The Joos. Here, the strength of Berman’s witty one-liners are equally matched by the band’s musical chops, elevating the project to rarified status. If one is looking for where to dip their toe into the Silver Jew water, this is where to go/start.
Berman‘s take:
"It's very sassy. I was taking a lot of drugs at that time. And there were a lot of drugs in the studio. And all these things that would have horrified indie rock people, that I would never want them to know. I wanted to make a record that wasn't some terrible, big, painful experience. I wanted to make records like other people make records, where you're having fun when you're doing it."

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We’re gonna live in Nashville, and I‘ll make a career out of writing sad songs and getting paid by the tear.
After bringing back Malkmus and Nastrovich for American Water, Berman decided to go in a different direction on Bright Flight. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, Bright Flight revisits the twangy, country approach previously explored on The Natural Bridge (it goes even further as evidenced by a cover of George Strait's "Friday Night Fever"). The album also marks the introduction of Berman’s (future) wife, Cassie, as a full-time member of the band. On SW and AW, Malkmus falsetto provided the lyrical foil to Berman. Here, Cassie’s angelic Southern vocals provide a nice counterbalance to Berman’s blunt, deadpan delivery. While highly-regarded in its own right, Bright Flight never garner the same widespread adulation as its predecessor, American Water. I‘m sure much of it has to do with its lack of immediate accessibility when compared to AW. Accessibility aside, Bright Flight is my favorite Joos album and one of my favorite all-time recordings by any artist.
Berman‘s take:
"I think that 'Bright Flight' has a disconnect because people that I spent my time with and the people I was writing for were different. The people that I was writing for were for the audience from the last record, an indie rock crowd. But my companions were crooks and prostitutes. All manner of sick, sick, despairing, falling apart lives. And I think that there is a major problem in there because I'm not focused and I reached a point where a lot of my friends that year died, a couple friends. I didn't have any perspective. For instance, the idea of me being alive right now wasn't really feasible. It just wasn't possible to me. At that point I had just lost the plot and I didn't care."

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If it ever gets really, really bad… Let’s not kid ourselves, it gets really, really bad.
During the fours years between albums, the personal demons Berman had been battling for years finally caught up to him. Repeated bouts or rehab, relapse & sever depression fueled a suicide attempt in 2003. After this near-death experience, Berman kicked his drug habit, got married, and found God (via a conversion to Judaism). In light of these changes, Berman reunited with old friends Malkmus and Nastanovich (among many others) and recorded Tanglewood Numbers. This is the most polished/produced album in the Joos catalog. Expectedly, the record addresses Berman’s plunge into addiction and despair and his triumphant journey of finding salvation and happiness. This upbeat mood is immediately reflected on the up-tempo opening tracks - “Punks in the Beerlight” and “Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed.” While the music is decidedly more upbeat, thankfully sobriety has not dulled the razor-sharp edges of Berman’s ability to pen witty one-liners.
Berman‘s take:
"To be quite honest I think it's a record that a man made. Supposedly when you get sober you're the same age you were when you fell in. So maybe it was 1999 to me or something. I felt assertive and I was tired of apologizing for, in my own mind, being a non-musician. Or being not a beautiful singer."
"Talking about drugs and rehab and stuff, nobody wants me to do that. It's not something that I can't not talk about. I honestly feel like you have to talk about it to be a model for somebody else. Because I didn't have any models of artists getting sober and still doing well. I had models like Paul Westerberg."


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"Romance is the douche of the bourgeoisie," was the very first thing she imparted to me.
Shortly after Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea was released, Silver Jews disbanded. The production on the final album is not very good. This seems like an odd critique for a band whose roots are firmly planted in the lo-fi aesthetic. However, it doesn’t appear it was “lo-fi” the band was aiming for here. Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea ends the band’s streak of opening songs that knock it out of the park. Along those lines, the album really lacks any definitive Joos songs. Some songs are pretty good, but there is a noticeable absence of any great ones. In hindsight, this album, for me, provides some clues as to why the band hung it up. The creative well was drying up.
Berman’s take:
“I feel it's (the music) more balanced on this record. The different feel, I guess, would be a lot of different things. I think it's more post-applause music. It's the first music I wrote after first accepting affirmation from a live audience.”

"Old School" Music Videos:





Promo for the re-release of the 1st two EPs, Early Times:


Trailer for the documentary film, Silver Jew, about Berman's pilgrimage to Jerusalem to play some rare shows:


Pitchfork interview with Berman explaining (tongue-in-cheek) why the band never toured until 2006:


Random Rules (13 Trivial Facts About The Joos):
#1 - On American Water’s “Send in the Clouds,” the band was stuck on the pronunciation of “Game” when Malkmus suggested Berman channel Mick Jagger when saying it.
#2 - The cover photo for Tanglewood Numbers was shot by Memphis-based photographer, William Eggleson, who also shot the back photo for Big Star’s album, Radio City.
#3 - The title for Pavement’s debut album, Slanted and Enchanted, came from a David Berman cartoon drawing that once hung in their Hoboken apartment.
#4 - The original title for American Water was The Late, Great Silver Jews (some have suggested this was a nod to the 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt). Berman decided to change the name after seeing a poster in his veterinarian’s office and seeing a poster for American Water Spaniels.
#5 - That’s Berman answering the question, “Can you whoop it?” with, “Yes.“ on The Dexateens song, “Can You Whoop It.”
#6 - Berman announced the break-up of The Joos with a post on the Drag City message board.
#7 - Berman’s father is the much-reviled Washington lawyer/lobbyist, Richard Berman.
#8 - Berman & Malkmus became friends at UVA after sharing a ride to go see The Cure.
#9 - Back stage, at a Frank Black concert in London, Berman approached Black about having him produce the next Silver Jews album. When Black reacted like a “total bitch,” Berman threw a CD at his head which got him arrested for assault.
#10 - When Berman tried to commit suicide, he went to the Loews Vanderbilt in Nashville where Al Gore holed himself up for two weeks during the 2000 Florida recount. When a completely fucked-up, but impeccably dressed, Berman arrived at the hotel desk, he said, “Give me the Al Gore suite.”
#11 - Berman first saw his wife, the former Cassie Marrett, playing music in the magazine, Melody Maker. He was so smitten by her that he set out to meet her. The rest, as they say, is history.
#12 - In 2010, HBO approached Berman about turning a book he was writing about his father into a one-hour series. A screenwriter was hired & the plot was scripted, but Berman pulled the plug on the project saying he did not want to glamorize his father.
#13 - The most famous recipients of the band‘s early answering machine recordings were Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, whose telephone number Nastanovich was able to get from a store clerk who worked at the now-defunct, Hoboken record store, Pier Platters.

The Dirty Dozen (Essential Silver Jews Listening):
1. Random Rules
2. Tennessee
3. Punks in the Beerlight
4. How to Rent a Room
5. Smith & Jones Forever
6. Horseleg Swastikas
7. Black and Brown Blues
8. Buckingham Rabbit
9. Slow Education
10. Dallas
11. Send in the Clouds
12. I Remember Me

Odds 'n' Ends:
“I don't belong to the art worlds, and I don't belong to the music or poetry worlds either...It's like I have this little cheat going on. I can do one thing in those three places that's a bit good, but in all three of those places, I can't do everything good. I'm a bad drawer, I'm not a good singer, and in poetry I have no training or form. So, it's almost like I'm cheating...like a con man, who is presenting a little bit of one story…”

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A collection of Berman's poetry

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A collection of Berman's cartoons

"The Summer Before The Night Ecstasy Became Illegal In The State Of Texas"
A humorous article written by Berman

http://mentholmountains.blogspot.com/
A blog started by Berman in 2011

Some Silver Jews lyrics immortalized (by a fan) on eCards:
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by tinnitus photography »

A+ work, mr killer. A+.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Iowan »

It made my day to wake up to a Jews AOTW. Top notch stuff here, Cortez.

I've been digging into these guys slowly, but surely, since they started getting a lot of love around here back in January or so. I have "American Water" and "Bright Flight" and love them both. Haven't dug into the others at all really, but since dime pointed out that they're available to stream on Grooveshark, I'll be checking it out.

Berman is a fantastic poet who puts out wildly interesting, thought provoking lines. I love the guitar work on these albums and the loose shuffle that it seems whatever rhythm section he's put together puts out. Kind of reminds of Queens of The Stone Age, with the way the supporting cast is always changing, but the result is always a clear product of the leader (be it Berman or Homme).

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

Iowan wrote:I've been digging into these guys slowly, but surely, since they started getting a lot of love around here back in January or so. I have "American Water" and "Bright Flight" and love them both. Haven't dug into the others at all really, but since dime pointed out that they're available to stream on Grooveshark, I'll be checking it out.

If you click on the album covers above, it will link you to the Grooveshark page when you can listen to the entire record.

Also, if you click on any of the songs in the "Dirty Dozen" section, it will bring you to the Grooveshark page where you can listen to the song in its entirety.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Iowan »

cortez the killer wrote:
Iowan wrote:I've been digging into these guys slowly, but surely, since they started getting a lot of love around here back in January or so. I have "American Water" and "Bright Flight" and love them both. Haven't dug into the others at all really, but since dime pointed out that they're available to stream on Grooveshark, I'll be checking it out.

If you click on the album covers above, it will link you to the Grooveshark page when you can listen to the entire record.

Also, if you click on any of the songs in the "Dirty Dozen" section, it will bring you to the Grooveshark page where you can listen to the song in its entirety.


Very nice touch.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by TW_2.0 »

Top notch. Thanks for this. Excited to dig into those videos tonight.

The grooveshark links are fucking awesome.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by bovine knievel »

Excellent work, Cortez. You should quit your day job! Looking forward to your next writeup... maybe it will focus on the fine art of yodeling and the watershed moments of the craft.
“Excited people get on daddy’s nerves.” - M. Cooley


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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by 3milelake »

Great choice, great job. I've spent a certain amount of time with them, but not in the necessary consistent/obsessive way that causes a band to get under my skin. Thanks for the nudge. Excellent analysis & research. Pretty cool Scud Mountain Boys connection. Loved the Random Rules section...especially this cameo revelation.

cortez the killer wrote:#5 - That’s Berman answering the question, “Can you whoop it?” with, “Yes.“ on The Dexateens song, “Can You Whoop It.”

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by dime in the gutter »

just recently started in with american water being my only spinner. am digging. lots of cool shit happening all over. little sounds and snippets and licks. still absorbing the lyrics, but berman sounds like a complicated dude with a whole mess of issues to sort out. always a good combination for great rock and roll.

most excellent work up. across the board.

very groovy to have some cortezerazation and context for my foray further into the joos.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

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E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by 'Scratch »

Thanks Cortez, I've been trying to figure out how to approach getting into the SJs.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by beantownbubba »

This is excellent, cortez.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

tinnitus photography wrote:http://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/post/47282348422/the-non-definitive-guide-to-my-favorite-69-silver-jews

That's great.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

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Recent post on Berman's blog http://mentholmountains.blogspot.com/

Perhaps 3milelake can confirm this.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by TW_2.0 »

I can't dance a lick but sometimes I can flat rock and roll

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Shakespeare »

http://www.stereogum.com/1728068/silver ... ight/news/

i personally dont much care who else is in the band but berman maybe making music again is great


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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Smitty »

Quicklist(s):
Songs:

Punks in the Beerlight
I Remember You
I'm Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You
Slow Education
We Could Be Looking for the Same Thing

Album rankings:
Tanglewood Numbers > Bright Flight > American Water > Natural Bridge > Lookout Mt, Lookout Sea > Starlite Walker > Arizona Record
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Iowan »

Smitty wrote:Quicklist(s):
Songs:

Punks in the Beerlight
I Remember You
I'm Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You
Slow Education
We Could Be Looking for the Same Thing

Album rankings:
Tanglewood Numbers > Bright Flight > American Water > Natural Bridge > Lookout Mt, Lookout Sea > Starlite Walker > Arizona Record


Slow Education
Wild Kindness
Random Rules
Room Games and Diamond Rain
Punks in the Beerlight

In order

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

Bright Flight
American Water
The Natural Bridge
Tanglewood Numbers
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Starlite Walker
The Arizona Record


"Random Rules"
"Tennessee"
"Punks in the Beerlight"
"How to Rent a Room"
"Horseleg Swastikas"

Whittling it down to 5 songs was tough.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Smitty »

cortez the killer wrote:Bright Flight
American Water
The Natural Bridge
Tanglewood Numbers
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Starlite Walker
The Arizona Record

.


If I had done a ranking three weeks ago, it would've been identical to this, but since Tanglewood was my least listened-to Jews record (well, except for the Arizona Record, which I probably need to force myself to really listen to) I figured I'd give it a proper spin and considering I had kinda written it off as merely OK, I was shocked at how good it was. It hasn't left my CD changer in almost a month now.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by tinnitus photography »

what sort of world do we live in where _American Water_ isn't the default best record from Silver Jews?

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by Iowan »

tinnitus photography wrote:what sort of world do we live in where _American Water_ isn't the default best record from Silver Jews?


Bright Flight makes a strong push.

I'd probably agree with you on American Water being the best (full disclosure: I haven't listened to the other records nearly anywhere close to as much as I've listened to American Water and Bright Flight), but it's not a landslide, at least for me. Slow Education is Berman's finest moment in my eyes.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

tinnitus photography wrote:what sort of world do we live in where _American Water_ isn't the default best record from Silver Jews?

This one right here I guess. It most likely is their "best" record, but Bright Flight is my favorite.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by cortez the killer »

Smitty wrote:
cortez the killer wrote:Bright Flight
American Water
The Natural Bridge
Tanglewood Numbers
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Starlite Walker
The Arizona Record

.


If I had done a ranking three weeks ago, it would've been identical to this, but since Tanglewood was my least listened-to Jews record (well, except for the Arizona Record, which I probably need to force myself to really listen to) I figured I'd give it a proper spin and considering I had kinda written it off as merely OK, I was shocked at how good it was. It hasn't left my CD changer in almost a month now.

I've spent a fair amount of time with those top four records. To my ears, TN is the line for "essential" Joos albums, but still behind the other three. BF & AW are on a whole other plane. I consider those two all-time classics.
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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by tinnitus photography »

it's probably a time/place thing, but i spent so much time w/ Natural Bridge and American Water that all the others can't hit the same peak for me. lyrically and musically, they are almost flawless.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by tinnitus photography »

OK.... Bright Flight is ascending.

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Re: Artist of the Week 4/14/13 (Silver Jews)

Post by tinnitus photography »

update from Nastanovich:

Although Silver Jews are still a ways away from recreation, David has written songs and is contemplating the next step. I'd expect a recording session is more likely than live performance. Basically, as is the case with modern day Antarctica, the ice has been broken.


8-)

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