Abhi the Nomad is an artist from Madras, India. He lived in 8 cities before he was 18 years old. He spent some time in LA before moving to Austin. He just put his album Marbled on Tommy Boy Records. He just put out a new single “Run” in August. We caught up with him before he goes on his first headlining tour, the American Alien tour, with Harrison Sands. READ MORE…
The funny thing about having an identity crisis as an artist is that you never really understand it’s happening until it’s over, because an identity crisis feels like inspiration, and inspiration feels like an identity crisis.
In the autumn of 2017, I found myself in the middle of such a state. That spring, I had quit my main gig as guitarist with a group (Two Cow Garage) that I had at one time considered “my favorite band,” and was struggling with having to find out who my identity was if I wasn’t “Todd from Two Cow.” I didn’t want to be a sideman anymore, and I felt like I had my own voice that couldn’t be loud enough while playing someone else’s music. READ MORE…
Mad Crush
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Mad Crush // Mad Crush (November 16)
You could say Mad Crush know a thing or two about music. Only years of experience can explain the wry wit and complimentary musicianship of the songs on the band’s forthcoming, self-titled debut album. One part June Carter sassing Johnny Cash along with two dashes of Itzhak Perlman on a midnight hayride, Mad Crush’s songs contain theatrical, back-and-forth performances between their singing protagonists Joanna Sattin and John Elderkin. Complete with humor and heartbreak, their songs are in fact bright little dramas about fussing, fighting, and occasionally making up—universal truths sprinkled with brand-new magic dust.
Hailing from Chapel Hill, N.C., Mad Crush brings together five talented players whose previous credits are widely varied. Drummer Chuck Garrison started as indie-legend Superchunk’s drummer, and he has toured the world with them and also with his later bands Pipe and Zen Frisbee. He has played in support of such luminaries as Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, and Mudhoney, among others. Violinist Laura Thomas has worked with a bevy of heavyweights, from Ray Charles, Jay Z, and Judy Collins to acclaimed R.E.M. producer Mitch Easter, Itzhak Perlman, and Hilary Hahn. Singer John Elderkin’s songwriting has been praised by SPIN, Billboard, Jon Pareles of The New York Times, R.E.M. producer Don Dixon, and Cashbox. He has recorded with such VIPs as Stuart Lehrman (The Roaches, Paul Simon), Brian Paulson (Wilco, Son Volt, Superchunk) and Chris Stamey (Whiskeytown, Big Star). Ingenious electric guitarist Mark Whelan is a stalwart of the local music scene, having played in The Popes and The Veldt, among many other bands. And newcomer Joanna Sattin brings the hot, remarkable vocal delivery that gives the band its “certain something.”
Mad Crush, the album, operates under the guise of indie-folk, oiled to perfection with lyrics inspired by Elderkin’s desire “to get to the heart of what matters—how we deal with getting what we want in life, and also how we deal with losing it.” In this way, songs that first appear to be about romance are also roadmaps to much grander stories. For example, in the smooth-talking opener “Time for a Love Song,” Elderkin’s braggadocious leading man declares his infatuation for Sattin’s cynical woman, in much the same spirit of Tony Award winning playwright and lyricist Joe DiPietro’s popular 1996 musical, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. In lieu of shaded caricatures of modern love, Elderkin plants his characters in real, relatable situations and repeatedly employs humor as a way to expose his own insecurities.
With “Northern Lights,” Sattin takes the lead for the set’s most emotional moment. Her first time recording vocals for a full band, her performance here is a marvelous demonstration of true talent. “Joanna just owns it. The song would not work without her,” says Elderkin. Violinist Thomas agrees. “She came in and knocked it out of the park. And within days, she became an expert in the studio,” she says.
“Stay in Bed” is a canoodling romp around the cherished moments when the power of love pulls the pair through all doubt. “You give me a reason to stay up past 10, now and then,” coos Elderkin. The balancing act he executes with Sattin is downright charming, and the gentle push and pull between the two throughout the album cuts right to the heart of what Mad Crush does best. Conversely, “My Pre-Existing Conditions” is almost an Avenue Q b-side, spliced with comedy and misery. “Frankly, I used the ongoing healthcare debate as inspiration. I ran with that and made up this list of pre-existing conditions that are a jumble of character flaws,” he explains. “A lot of what I’m listing is true of myself, and, some of it, I made up because it fits the theme of rejection. So, some are silly and others are meant to be freaking heartbreaking. The payoff comes at the end, when I beg to be accepted despite all these flaws, the way we all want to be.”
That theatrical element to Elderkin’s songwriting and performance grew out of his previous project, a high-powered rock opera that was an unofficial sequel to David Bowie’s 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. With that band, ¡Moonbeams No Mas!, he went for larger-than-life, majestic storytelling. “I have an MFA in fiction writing, and I was ready to write something big,” he says. “That double album felt like writing a novel, and I worked on it line-by-line in that way. I think the story holds up the same way a musical works.”
When Elderkin returned to the Triangle area of North Carolina a few years ago, he was ready to satisfy a different ambition—trying a new dramatic style and approach with a new band. “I am incredibly lucky to be working with top-flight musicians, and frankly, our sound is a result of everyone doing their own thing in service of each song. You can hear each personality emerge as the music unfolds,” he explains. “That means we all have a say in the stories we are telling, so there’s a richness and freshness you can’t plan for in advance. It’s exciting.”
Without a bass player, Mad Crush’s new album is pinned somewhere between the earth and the stars. Guitars, violin, and percussion predominantly make up the arrangements and create an almost floating sonic effect. “We consciously made it our project to write these songs in a way that they work without a bass,” says Thomas. “That’s another reason we sound a bit different.”
With such a tremendous lineup of talent, Mad Crush is a saucy, heartwarming, and tragically poetic watercolor of lust, hope, and uncertainty.
“An aural performance piece, nuanced and quirky.” – Billboard
James Houlahan
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James Houlahan // The Wheel Still in Spin
Four albums deep, James Houlahan is still reveling in the wonder and imagination of the record-making process. His new LP, The Wheel Still in Spin, drifts through varied states of being, musically and lyrically evoking the stillness against constant motion of that strange optical phenomenon the wagon-wheel effect, where a spoked wheel’s spin appears to cut opposite its actual rotation. It’s an apt analogy with Houlahan. In addition to the new album’s title, he alludes to the Tarot’s Wheel of Fortune on the record, and often makes explicit reference to wheels and circles as a means of processing his own journey. Influenced by icons such as Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell, Houlahan’s songcraft lends itself to a particular alchemy of Americana. It’s easy to understand how and why Houlahan has become such a staple of the Los Angeles music scene.
“I’m staying inspired, motivated and in motion, though there’s a disorientation happening,” he says, discussing headspace these strange days. “I don’t know really know where I’m going in the big sense of things, but I have to just keep going.”
With songs like “Faded,” written right around the time Houlahan first encountered Daniel Johnston’s drawing “Faded Dreams,” he makes cutting observations on getting older and realizing certain things are never going to come to pass. “This is more of a character song,” Houlahan says. “I’m not this despairing at all. I’ve done a lot of traveling, and the idea of travel was on my mind. It’s also about feeling disconnected from yourself. It’s a little psychedelic, too.”
Other tracks like “All I’ve Got” and “Spirit/Music”—featuring the hazy vocals and mystic aura of late-’60s psych-folk pioneer Linda Perhacs—spill out like campfire tales, rich, earthy and as free-flowing as the star-lapping flames. The Wheel Still in Spin, produced by Fernando Perdomo (Linda Perhacs, Jakob Dylan) and tracked at Reseda Ranch Studios, is a warm and enveloping affair. Perdomo also handles bass and keyboards on the record, while Houlahan supplies ample guitar and harmonica. Danny Frankel, known for his session work with Lou Reed, Fiona Apple and Nels Cline, among others, adds lush and fevered percussion and drums. Houlahan’s girlfriend, accomplished talent Esther Clark, can also be heard as background vocalist throughout the album.
“Some of the songs are a little more personal than on my other albums,” Houlahan says. “This process was a lot simpler than any other record I’ve made. It was great to work in the studio without any time constraints. I wasn’t working by the hour. It was more relaxed, and it seemed like these songs wanted to be together—more personal and stripped-down.”
A native of Concord, Mass., Houlahan’s story is a typically American tale of dream-seeking. He started playing piano at 8 years old, switching to guitar in his teens. He sharpened his craft in the basement for years before he felt comfortable performing, and it wasn’t until his 20s that he began playing his music in front of crowds. While living in Boston in the mid aughts, he played lead guitar in a few rock bands, but eventually knew he couldn’t let his solo work go unheard. “I realized that if I didn’t sing my songs nobody else would,” Houlahan says. He released his first two solo efforts Seven Years Now (2009) and misfit hymns (2012) before relocating to Los Angeles and releasing Multitudes in 2016.
Earlier this year, Houlahan landed his song “Going Home for Thanksgiving” in the feature film Little Pink House, starring Catherine Keener (Get Out, Capote, Being John Malkovich) and also featuring musical contributions from David Crosby. Originally, Houlahan’s friend, film composer Ryan Rapsys, approached him to cover a Johnny Cash song for the soundtrack. When that fell through, he put his nose to the grind and delivered in a big way.
On his new album The Wheel Still in Spin (out Sept. 21), Houlahan scratches out matters of the heart through a lens fogged with deep sorrow. His mood is often downcast (“Sunday Song,” “Let It Go”), but his voice is always laced with quiet hope. “It’s getting harder day to day,” he sings on “Stuck in Between,” one of the album’s darkest moments. But Houlahan carries his cross with a refreshing majesty. “I’m used to rejection,” he says, “I experience rejection all the time. My career is learning how to manage failure. It’s a feeling that I need to persevere through all these obstacles because the songs are still coming.”
That sobering tone ebbs and flows throughout the album, which is bookended by “California,” a harmonica-laden cry into the dusky evening shadows. “All my roads have run out of pavement,” Houlahan sings as he rides off into the sunset, tugging listeners along with him into the stunning western ambiance and leaving them reeling from the weight of permanent change. Houlahan’s charm seeps through his plainspoken nature in subtle yet masterful strokes. The Wheel Still in Spin is his best album to date, positioning him to take his place at the forefront of the vibrant Americana scene.
“The pain of human reluctance to let things go that we once loved is palpable in this little gem.” – Americana Highways
“A sound that is equal parts folk and dream pop.” – Americana UK
“Paints a stunning romanticized vision of the West.” – Cowboys & Indians Magazine
“his record is simultaneously forlorn as it is warm and enveloping. “- Folk Radio UK
Ben Fisher
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Ben Fisher // Does the Land Remember Me?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has rarely been addressed in American music. But on Ben Fisher’s latest release, the Damien Jurado-produced Does the Land Remember Me?, the Seattle-based folk artist—who spent three years living in Israel—dives headfirst into an entire concept album on the subject, a bloodcurdling and somber meditation that humanizes those on both sides of the divide. Fisher’s metaphorical and literal interpretations are wreathed together in a binding, barbed-wire circle as he tackles a complex and heavy narrative. His skill as a songwriter and storyteller is a big part of what drew the interest of producer Jurado, and it has landed him gigs over the years on bills with groundbreaking artists such as Courtney Marie Andrews, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Animal Collective, The Head and the Heart, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and countless others.
His voice equal parts frayed and sinewy, Fisher spurns complacency with tremendous urgency on Does the Land Remember Me?, his second full-length. He takes great care in his storytelling, especially on standout track “1948,” an evocative duet with Noah Gundersen that features Fisher singing from the perspective of a Jewish child and Gundersen from the perspective of an Arab child at the outset of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, known by Israelis as the War of Independence and in Palestinian society as the Nakba (catastrophe). “Are you scared of the men, Papa / They don’t want us here / Are you scared of the men, Papa / They’ve been here for years / Are you scared all of this will go,” Fisher sings over a plaintive fingerpicked guitar.
Fisher acts primarily as the record’s narrator, drawing from the three years he spent living in “No Man’s Land,” smack between predominantly Arab East and predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem. But the roots of the album date back to a 2014 excursion to Tokyo. It was there that Does the Land Remember Me?’s opening track “The Shell Lottery”—a musical history lesson on the 1909 founding of Tel Aviv—hit Fisher like a lightning bolt. “I started thinking about the scope of Sufjan Stevens’ records Illinois and Michigan,” he says. “It dawned on me that there was something to this song, and that there could be more.”
Does the Land Remember Me?— scheduled for a September 7 release—is a bleak but honest portrait of the Israeli and Palestinian people, who have been locked in a cycle of violence for the better part of the last century. “One of the biggest issues is that people are no longer interested in what happens there,” Fisher says. “It’s gone on for so long, the peace process is so gridlocked and there have been so many people killed. The world has become numb to it.”
As he searches for the right words, Fisher scours his conscience in search of hope—a hope that people will be moved and inspired to action through the record. “Passivity is much worse than taking a stand, even if I don’t particularly agree with that stand,” he says. “Young Americans, in particular, need to help moderate America’s influence on Israel.”
In an attempt to shed further light on the conflict, Fisher doesn’t shy away from the sheer brutality experienced by the Middle East and its people.“They Must Have Been So Scared” is one of the album’s glistening gems, but it’s also the most grim and heart-wrenching. In three verses, the ballad peels back the layers of three tragic stories. “The summer of 2014 was a particularly bloody and terrible time in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” Fisher says. Verse one of the song unspools the tale of a Palestinian family in Gaza who are killed by an Israeli airstrike; verse two exposes the kidnap and murder of three Israeli boys by Palestinian terrorists; and verse three tells the narrative of a Palestinian boy burned alive by a group of Jewish terrorists. Fisher later frames the hook, “They must have been so scared / Must have felt death chill the air / How could you leave them there?” around his atheist beliefs, offering up a bitter prayer “to a god I don’t believe in for all these insane deaths that happened that summer,” he says with a disarming matter-of-factness.
It’s not all conflict songs though; the second half of the record sees Fisher singing about Israeli folk heroes like astronaut Ilan Ramon and singer-songwriter Meir Ariel. “For Petr and Ilan” tells the story of Ramon’s doomed trip into space aboard the Columbia. He took with him copies of a drawing done by a young Czechoslovak boy named Petr Ginz, who was murdered in Auschwitz. With a style and lyrical form that pays homage to the American folk canon, Fisher sings, “The astronaut wore a flag patch on his arm / The little boy wore a yellow star / Got taken away in a cattle car / The astronaut wore a flag patch on his arm”
Born to a bacon-eating Jewish family and eventually majoring in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington, Fisher’s sudden obsession with Israel led him to leave his family for the first time, traversing thousands of miles across oceans and time zones. “It got to the point where I was baking pita and reading [Israeli newspaper] Haaretz in the mornings,” he says. “It’s much easier to be obsessed with something when you’re surrounded by it.” Not long after graduating from college, he packed up his entire life and moved to the ancient city, where spent his time bartending, and writing, reporting and traveling for The Jerusalem Post.
?In “Brave New World,” one of the few songs drawing on Fisher’s personal experiences, he sings about the foreignness of the Holy City: “Everyone I’ve ever known lives far across a sea / My brave new world can be old and cold but you struck a chord in me.”
His return to the U.S. in the summer of 2017 propelled him to finish Does the Land Remember Me?, the album spilling forth with an elusive humanity too often mangled by the evening news and the purgatorial bickering of social-media feeds. The title song, a melodic piano-anchored affair, presents the story of a Palestinian expelled from his home during the 1948 war. Minutes later, on the wretchedly radiant “Yallah to Abdullah,” Fisher peers through the eyes of an Israeli soldier during the same war, underscoring the album’s goals of humanity and understanding.
He later etches an equally affecting moment with “Abraham’s Song,” the track with the shortest run-time on the record but perhaps the most involved backstory. “This was the hardest song for me to write because I disagree so wholeheartedly with their mindset and political agenda,” says Fisher about writing from the perspective of a Jewish settler in the West Bank. “I wanted to portray this person in a sympathetic, human light,” he continues. “I tried to paint the narrative of the settler movement, which started as an arguably innocent thing, and evolved into something sinister, ugly, dangerous and evil.”
Fisher strikes a fitting balance between emotion and reality on Does the Land Remember Me?. By allowing himself to inhabit these real-life characters, he makes possible a deeper understanding of the dire state of this tiny strip of land and its people. And his experiences only seem to aid his desire for mercy, eerily feeding into each stark moment with enthralling insight. Does the Land Remember Me? is a career-making record, timely and crucial.
“This is an album that truly matters.” – Americana UK
“Like Randy Newman or Harry Nilsson or Nick Cave…” – Billboard
“A bloodcurdling and somber meditation that humanizes those on both sides of the divide.” – Dope Cause We Said
“Humanizes those on both sides of the divide with strong storytelling and narratives from different character perspectives.” – Earbuddy
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Press Contact: Steve LaBate – stevelabate@babyrobotmedia.com
BIOGRAPHY
Over the course of his career, singer/songwriter and Americana artist Tom Freund has released more than a dozen records, collaborated with legends such as Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne, pulled a half-decade stint on bass for alt-country pioneers The Silos, and has shared bills with everyone from Matthew Sweet to Guided by Voices. Freund’s intimate, heartfelt new solo album, East of Lincoln, chronicles a personal journey along the path from self doubt to enlightenment. “Time to take the wheel and turn this thing around / Time to make a deal and see what’s going down,” he affirms on “Runaround.” Freund takes his time and lets these new songs simmer, and that—along with memorable guest spots from longtime friend and collaborator Ben Harper and an all-star cast of session players—is a big part of the record’s charm.
Quietly reveling in its unhurried pace, East of Lincoln sticks in the mind long after listening. Within the record’s framework, Freund tackles progress, hope, and the corporatization of his beloved Venice Beach, which he captures as a bittersweet vortex of vanishing beauty and possibility. “I know I’m no saint, but I know when something is good and when it ain’t,” he sings on the title track, mourning Venice’s fading allure while basking in its once-electric atmosphere. The album dances on the edge of a stark duality: the sun-drenched SoCal beach town’s demise and Freund’s own eventual growth arc. “Better start swimming toward the shore,” he urges on “Abandoning the Ship.”
Much of the record—co-produced by Freund and Sejo Navajas (Smoke Season’s Gabrielle Wortman, Vintage Trouble)—is devastatingly raw. The primarily acoustic arrangements are livened up with some spectacular drumming from Matt Johnson (St. Vincent, Jeff Buckley) and Michael Jerome (Toadies, John Cale, Blind Boys of Alabama), pedal and lap steel from Ben Peeler (Dawes, Shelby Lynne, Father John Misty), keys from Rami Jaffe (Foo Fighters, Ryan Adams) and Chris Joyner (Sara Bareilles, Rickie Lee Jones) and violin from Jessy Greene (Wilco, The Jayhawks). But even with all these studio heavyweights on call, Freund is front and center on the record, singing and playing an eclectic mix of instruments including guitar, mandolin, ukulele, synth and his signature upright bass.
Ben Harper, who produced Freund’s 2008 record Collapsible Pains, lends his vocals to “Abandoning the Ship” and supplies steel guitar to ethereal closing track, “Dream On (Believe in Yourself).” Grammy-winning mixer Jim Scott, known for his work with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Wilco, Ron Sexmsith, Alejandro Escovedo, Lucinda Williams and many more, steps in for several sterling moments as well, leaving his sonic stamp on title song “East of Lincoln,” dreamy standout “Homer Simpson’s Clouds (Day of the Locust)” and dusky saloon romper “Poached Eggs.”
In many ways, Freund’s entire life and career have been leading up to this moment. He’s spent much of his time traversing genres, melding whatever sounds have happened to catch his whimsy with his unmistakable, earthbound songwriting. Back in high school, Freund played bass in the jazz ensemble and performed in productions such as Swing. A few years later, he enjoyed a brief stint in the off-Broadway scene and took classes at Columbia University in New York, later transferring to Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., but when music came knocking again, Freund answered.
His very first album was 1992’s Pleasure and Pain, a duo set with Ben Harper. For the next five years, he also toured and recorded with The Silos before releasing North American Long Weekend, his 1998 solo debut on Mercury Records. Moving ahead into the new millenium, Freund churned out several additional records while also assisting with projects from Mandy Moore, Rachael Yamagata, Graham Parker and other notable artists. From a handful of EPs to his 2007 kids record Hug Trees and 2011’s The Edge of Venice to his appearance playing alongside Parker in 2012 Judd Apatow comedy This is 40, Freund’s career has been a dynamic affair, and that includes plenty of work in film and TV.
His songs have been featured on series such as Better Things, Parenthood and One Tree Hill, and for his latest television project, forthcoming Amazon show Pete The Cat, Freund has co-written, sung and played songs with Elvis Costello, KT Tunstall, Dave Matthews and Diana Krall, and has also co-written the show’s theme song with creator Swampy Marsh (Phineas and Pherb). Costello takes lead vocals on each episode’s opening theme with Freund handling backing vocals and most of the instruments. Freund also co-wrote and sings the show’s end-credits song, “Go Pete Go.” All 14 episodes of the animated series are scheduled for release this September.
East of Lincoln builds on Freund’s legacy while pushing beyond his comfort zone. “Angelus” is a groovy, organ-doused opener, and “Freezer Burn” a vulnerable mid-tempo affair reflecting on personal flaws in the wake of a breakup. “I was running on hope and fumes,” he sings. And where “London Bound Lady” is feathery and sweet, “Broke Down Jubilee” is gutting and mournful, glimmering with tears and silver-lined strings.
Freund’s new record is a potent reminder that life is measured not just by our successes, but by how we choose to grow from our failures.
East of Lincoln is out now on Surf Road Records.
