Thursday, August 7, 2008

Interview with Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater
The shared area in the Venn-diagram of "cool rock stars" and "avid birdwatchers" is pretty thin. In fact, it may be occupied by just one man: Jonathan Meiburg.

Since I am not a music critic - and therefore not qualified to use terms like "heartbreaking" and "narrative acuity" - I will try to define the music of Meiburg's band, Shearwater, in birding terms: Think of a cross between the spiraling hymns of a Wood Thrush song and the lonely insistence of a Broad-Winged Hawk. Got it? It's fantastic, and the band is considered one of the most exciting acts in indie rock (if that's the proper term...I don't know).

Mr. Meiburg also loves birds. And not just the animals themselves, but the idea of birds, the world of birds and their history and evolution. His admiration comes across in the lyrics and imagery of Shearwater's new album, Rook, as well as in an incredible series of videos chronicling Jonathan's return to the Falkland Islands to study the Striated Caracara (aka the Johnny Rook).

As a big fan of Shearwater's music, I am beyond delighted that Mr. Meiburg was able to answer some questions I had about his dual life as a musician and a bird-lover.




Birdist: At what point did you realize you'd spend the rest of your life looking for birds?

Jonathan Meiburg: Like a lot of birders, I had a conversion experience, though I was lucky enough to have it in a really exotic place. After I finished college, I won a strange grant from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation to study human communities 'at the ends of the earth' for a year, and one of the places I ended up was the Falklands. I'd been there for about two weeks when I met Robin Woods, a British ornithologist who's been studying birds in the islands since he first traveled there in the 1950s. Our meeting was completely by chance - we were staying in the same little boarding-house - but when Robin told me that he was there to lead a survey of Striated Caracaras in the outermost islands of the archipelago, I started trying to convince him to take me as an assistant. Eventually I wore him down, though I hardly knew anything about Falkland birds, much less birds anywhere else! But the six-week crash course in field ornithology that followed beggared all description. When we weren't at sea, we were walking the coasts of wild islands, covered in giant native grasses and huge colonies of albatrosses, penguins, burrowing petrels, and some odd endemic waterfowl like the flightless Steamer Duck or the curious little Cobb's Wren.

And then there were the caracaras themselves - crafty, charismatic, social raptors with very little fear of humans, equally at home walking or running on the ground ('very much like pheasants', as Darwin says) or soaring on the never-ending westerly gales that buffet the islands.Needless to say, I had no idea that the world contained places like this, and I was completely bowled over by the experience. As I kept on traveling to other remote places throughout the year, like the far north of Australia's Cape York, the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, or the Inuit settlement of Kimmirut in Baffin Island, I kept encountering more strange birds (and people who cared about them), and I came home a year later with my circuits blown wide. I'd bought some binoculars and an NGS field guide within weeks.

But the caracaras in particular - and the mystery of why their range is so small compared to the ranges of their close relatives - were stuck in my mind, and I went off to graduate school with the idea of trying to find out more about them. I was delighted to find that one of the best early accounts of the species comes from Darwin - he wasn't especially enamored with the Falklands in general (they paled after the tropics), but he paints an endearing, bemused, and altogether lifelike portrait of Striated Caracaras in the Voyage of the Beagle, along with a line in one of the notebooks he kept on that trip that I took as a challenge: "This species, doubtless for some good reason, has chosen these islands for its metropolis". That sounded like a glove hitting the ground to me, so I spent six years writing a thesis about it.

How would you describe yourself as a birder? Lister? Scientist? In your Falkland videos you appear to have more of a scientific interest than most casual birders...

JM: How many ways can I fall in between those categories? I love seeing new birds, of course, but I've also been resistant to keeping a list. To me, listing can be a way to turn the momentary and ephemeral appreciation of an animal for its being - my very favorite thing about birding, and one of the most pleasantly egoless experiences there is - into a sort of acquisitiveness that can be pernicious. But my aversion may be because I know how easy it would be for me to go down that path...really, I just love birds for what they are, and I'm grateful that I'm able to be here on the planet while they're still here, too. We came too late to see so many incredible animals! I love seeing live birds in the field, I love seeing dead ones in museum cabinets, I love watching the feeder and I love reading about the evolution of the different avian families. I also enjoy standing on a beach with a spotting scope trying - and failing - to tell small shorebirds apart at a great distance. I'd say I'm an average birder, trying to improve. Songs and calls are my weakest point right now.


Touring with a band seems like an ideal life for a birder. How regularly do you bird while on tour? Do you find yourself scheduling an unreasonable number of shows in Portal, Arizona and Attu, Alaska?

JM: Sadly, touring often means long drives between cities where you see great birding spots only as you pass them at 70mph. That said, I always have my binoculars close by, and you'd be surprised how productive rest stops can be. I like pointing out raptors to the rest of the band since they're big and exciting, but for smaller birds I usually keep my mouth shut. On tours this year I saw my first Brown Creeper up in Vancouver, a Calliope Hummingbird in San Francisco, and a White-Throated Swift at a rest stop in Arizona.

In the liner notes for Rook you thank, among other creatures, Turkey Vultures. Why?

JM: There was a night roost of TVs near the studio where we made the album, and in the evenings there'd be huge columns of vultures circling in a thermal above the studio. One night I counted 65. We took some pictures of them and posted them on our web site - it was really spectacular. I should have thanked the Barred Owl that lived in the ravine behind the building, too - after a long night's work I could step outside and call to it, and it usually answered.

How did the Striated Caracara trip to the Falklands come about? Are those islands really as eerie as the videos make them seem?

JM: The first survey that I mentioned, which was my real introduction to the world of birds, was in 1997, and in 2006 Falklands Conservation did a repeat survey. Robin led it again, and I did my best to make sure I could be involved. It was wonderful to re-visit the islands and to see how the caracara populations had - and hadn't - changed, and we also made it to some new islands we hadn't managed to get to the first time around. I felt very, very lucky to be able to return, especially with a broader understanding of the birds and their world.As for the second question, I don't know about 'eerie'... I'd guess I just say 'wild', with all that word implies. There are islands in the outer Falklands that feel as if they've never known human presence, where the animals aren't afraid of you since they have almost no experience with you and your kind. To be there is humbling and strange. Those places are some of the last, tiny remnants of the pre-human world, which is fast disappearing, never to return. I think of Rook as a kind of meditation on that disappearance. By the way, the URL for the "Looking for Johnny Rook" videos is http://www.matadorrecords.com/shearwater/quicktime.html.

How do you approach the use of birds in your lyrics? Is there a struggle in your writing process between thinking of birds scientifically and thinking of them in an artistic or archetypal sense?

JM: Actually, I'd rarely used birds in my songs until Rook, when I figured that I should probably throw some of them in so that I could have a better answer to just this kind of question. But no, there's no dissonance for me between thinking of birds artistically and scientifically, just as I think there's often not really as much of a difference between art and science as people suggest. Art and science both rely on using your intuition to cast your line into the great unknowns...it's just that you use different techniques once there's a tug on the hook. Ø

Labels: birding, interview, Jonathan Meiburg, Shearwater

Okkervil River sits down with [X]press

by Ryan Fisher, staff writer
October 8, 2009 12:00 PM

The end is finally here for Okkervil River -- at least for the year. During their set Oct. 3 at the ninth annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, no lyric reverberated across the park more intensely than their version of, "I feel so broke up, I want to go home!"

The grueling confession came from a cover of "Sloop John B," originally recorded by The Beach Boys, and had just the right touch and style only Okkervil River could create.

Though the show had failing sound at times, broken microphone stands and other technical difficulties that come with playing a free festival, Okkervil River continued to give a true, hard rock performance to its fans.

The indie rock band from Texas finished a very long, extensive tour with one final stop at the free popular rock, country, folk and bluegrass festival at Golden Gate Park. They plan on taking a few months off, according to lead singer and songwriter Will Sheff.

With a critically acclaimed record, "Black Sheep Boy," Okkervil River continues to add notches to their belt as they win the hearts of independent music lovers and hipsters alike.

Sitting down with lead singer, Will Sheff, he reminisces about life on tour and his experience playing at this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

[X]press: How was your first Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival?

Will Sheff: It's real nice. There have been these festivals that we played recently that are folk festivals, or blues or bluegrass that, over time, have expanded their lineup with younger rock bands, and it's always nice to go to them, because they're a little more relaxed and a little less industry. It's more fun to see the other bands play. I get sick of seeing indie rock bands so it's nice to go to a festival and see different bands.

[X]: You mentioned during the concert that this was the last show of the year. Was it a grueling tour?

WS: It's just been a little busy. I've had so many experiences where I've been expected to perform on no sleep and have been cooped up in somewhere for a long period of time.

[X]: So when the microphone stand refused to stand up like it did today, is that something you have to learn to accept as part of life on the road?

WS: Those things used to drive us nuts or freak us out, but you can't let a microphone stand be your tormentor. You just got to roll with whatever happens. If something goes wrong, the audience is on your side. They want to see something different. They don't want to feel like they're seeing something out of Vegas with a band just going through the motions. When something goes wrong, it's a little glimpse into humanity and something always goes wrong with us so we're just used to it. [He lets out a laugh]

[X]: What's next? Taking a break?

WS: We're taking a break for the rest of the year -- that's my hope -- but we just recorded an album with Roky Erickson from the 13th Floor Elevators. That's coming out early next year. It should be fun.

[X]: Do you find time to write when you're on the road?

WS: I work a little bit on the road but what happens is often times my guitar is not physically near me except for when I'm playing so it's a little hard to write a melody on the road. I tend to revise or write additional lyrics on the road. Occasionally, I'll write a melody in my head and remember it.

[X]: Okkervil River has seen different lineups in the past. Does that change your approach to writing or making an album?

WS: It always changes things but I try not to be afraid of that, but welcome it. It's like a person. You change and you're not the same person you were two or 10 years ago. That's just the way it is. You can't get too hung up on the past. I think it's about the spirit of things. As long as we stay true to the spirit of trying to mean what we're doing, then it doesn't matter if the style changes.

[X]: Would you ever revisit an album like your concept record "Black Sheep Boy" for an entire show?

WS: That's very popular right now but I think it's just a way for bands trying to blackmail their fans to definitely giving them money. It also presents this false idea that an album is written like a musical or an opera. That said, I'd love to see shows like that but I don't think we're going to jump on the bandwagon anytime soon. An album's more arbitrary than that. It's like seeing Jerry Lee Lewis play his 1987 greatest hits together.

[X]: Any contemporary favorites?

WS: There's a hip-hop guy named Elzhi, from Detroit. I really like his record that he put out last year. I also like Elvis Perkins and his new record a lot too.

[X]: Finally, is San Francisco your favorite place to play, or what?

WS: I have too many favorite places to play to say that. But I love San Francisco. We're actually staying here for a couple days. We're going to see Muir Woods and the Redwoods and the Marin Headlands. It's beautiful.


» E-mail Ryan Fisher @ rafisher@sfsu.edu

Hardly Strictly packs in a crowd for music fest

The few hundred people that made the effort to show up early Saturday to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9 festival in Golden Gate Park were rewarded lavishly.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/03/BATK1A0UFF.DTL#ixzz0U1zIlSTA
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder offered traditional bluegrass on the Banjo Stage. Okkervil River did indie rock back at the Towers of Gold Stage. Old school country outlaw Billy Joe Shaver impressed himself on the Arrow Stage audience by declaring, "If you don't love Jesus, go to hell."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/03/BATK1A0UFF.DTL#ixzz0U1zPdET6

Announcing the World Premiere of Rocks Off's New Video Game, Indie Rock Band
By John Seaborn Gray in Digitalia, Playbill, This Just InWednesday, Sep. 23 2009 @ 3:21PM[Ed note: Until Indie Rock Band is released - we can't wait either - come play Beatles Rock Band with us in the Rocks Off Loft upstairs at Thursday's Best of Houston party.]


Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray
​

Harmonix Music Systems / MTV Games, March 15, 2011 - There have been a lot of rumors swirling about these past few months, and we want to take this opportunity at SXSW 11 to affirm that this time they are true: Indie Rock Band is real, and it's on its way!

We could ignore the pleas of desperate hipsters no longer. Jaded after hours of jamming along to Stone Temple Pilots and Boston, you asked for something better, and we are now answering.

After the success of last year's Eagles/Chicago-centric Lite Rock Band, we have accepted that niche Rock Band titles are not just viable, but actually clamored for. At long last, you will be able to step into the overpriced but cheap-looking shoes of all your favorite indie-rock darlings, including the New Pornographers (above), Broken Social Scene, Okkervil River and many, many more.



Which instrument will you choose to play with IRB's Broken Social Scene?
​


Give your IRB Feist avatar even more pitch control than the Canadian chanteuse has in real life.
​You will start out as a small, disorganized quintet from either Canada, Scotland, or Houston, Texas (why not?). Indie Rock Band includes the capability to expand your lineup to include up to 59 different instruments, including the zither, the squeezebox and glockenspiel. Gain points for wowing the local crowds with your insular lyrics and accessible stage personas; the folksier your demeanor, the better. In fact, a lot of your early scores will be based more on how nonsensical your interviews are with the local press than on your actual performances. Indie prettiness also counts, so practice building those avatars!

As your success grows, you will start to gain new fans from other cities, with about 98 percent stemming from your YouTube videos, and the remaining two from the narrow contingent of people still on MySpace. At this point you will be given the option to grow a beard and go on tour. Be careful, though! You'll need enough car space, gas and food for your growing army of musicians. You may have to abandon the sousaphone player somewhere along the way.


​

Before long, you will start to gain buzz within the indie community. Win Butler will mention you in NME. The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle will call you up to collaborate. You will make a guest appearance on the new Sage Francis album. You'll open for the newly reformed Pavement. Will you be able to complete the tour before they break up again? That's up to you! Finally, it will be time to head into the studio to record your very own debut LP, to be released on limited-edition vinyl only.

At first the excitement of the brand-new enterprise will carry you along swiftly, but soon the bickering for creative control will start, and thanks to Indie Rock Band's custom Hipster Logic Engine, you will be able to hold actual arguments in real time with your fellow players! Your arguments don't have to make sense, they just have to make you look like you're in control. Please be as petty and personally injuring as possible.


​

We won't give away much more, but what we've covered so far is only a tiny fraction of the game. You'll have to contend with side projects, the customary indie-scene feud - that Wayne Coyne certainly does love to talk some shit! - Pitchfork's arbitrary adoration of your first album and seething hatred of your second, the backlash, abandonment and jealousy when the callous, fickle indie community drops you in favor of the Next Big Thing and, of course, the road to selling out. There will even be extensive options to calibrate your very unique, custom drug dependency.


​

This fall, Become the Change You Want to See in the Music Scene™. Indie Rock Band drops on Karen O's birthday, November 22.

Also coming next year, in time for Halloween - Rock Band: Danzig!

Down by the river

Sep. 10, 2009
David Brinn , THE JERUSALEM POST
Any band that names itself after a short story by a Russian author (Tatyana Tolstaya) is likely to have something going for it besides good looks. And Austin, Texas-based indie rockers Okkervil River certainly prove that point, with their alternative folk-rock sound encompassing musical flashpoints as diverse as Joni Mitchell and Nirvana as interpreted through mandolins and accordions, and articulate lyrics worthy of the band's literary name. And they're not bad looking, either.

Since forming in the late 1990s, the band, led by New Hampshire native Will Sheff, has built up an increasing buzz-cult following, sparked by mainstream pushes via appearances on The Conan O'Brien and David Letterman shows. Along with the recent Tel Aviv shows by Calexico and MGMT, Okkervil River's upcoming concert on September 15 at the Barby Club cement Israel's new-found reputation for bringing in non-chart topping, critically acclaimed acts at the top of their games.

However, it took years of sleeping on couches and driving all night in vans for Okkervil River to achieve any kind of financial security, Sheff recently told a reporter in Ireland, where the band appeared this summer. Despite great reviews for 1999's debut, Stars Too Small To Use, 2002's Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See and 2003's Down The River Of Golden Dreams, he was on the verge of quitting, as his founding band mates gradually left the fold.

"I was completely broke, I hadn't a place to live, I was crashing on other people's couches. I was sick and sick of being broke and being worn down. I will always write for fun, but could I do it as a career?" he said.

Luckily, 2005's country-tinged Black Sheep Boy proved to be the band's breakthrough album, followed 2007's The Stage Names and last year's The Stand Ins. Now, people like Norah Jones are asking Sheff to write songs for them, and the guitarist presumably has his own bed to sleep in.

If you're tired of standing for six hours to watch a superstar on a video screen from 100 meters away, head down to the Barby Club on September 15 for some of the best rock & roll America has to offer.

Review: Okkervil River, Rescue Rooms
Friday, September 11, 2009, 10:34Comment on this story

They may not be a household name but the Texan six-piece Okkervil River have steadily built up a dedicated, diligent following in this country, especially following the critical acclaim that followed their breakthrough album, The Stage Names.
Returning to Nottingham after a well received show at the Bodega in 2007, the band started their set in a controlled, almost subdued manner, their melodic country-rock influences well to the forefront.
Just as the audience were settling into an evening of gentle, understated pleasures, the mood started to shift. The stark, poetic ballad A Stone silenced the chatter at the edges of the room, as band leader Will Sheff held us rapt with his confessional, bruised delivery.
Then it was straight into the exultant, galvanising John Allyn Smith Sails, with its crowd-pleasing lifts from the old Beach Boys standard, Sloop John B.
This signaled a second half of raw, ragged fervour, climaxing with Our Life Is Not A Movie Or A Maybe – still the band's best number – and the surging, riff-driven Unless It's Kicks.
Although the raggedness sometimes spilled over into unfocussed sloppiness, it was abundantly clear that Okkervil River's audience preferred them this way.
Mike Atkinson

Gig review: Okkervil River



« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryPublished Date: 11 September 2009
By Malcolm Jack
OKKERVIL RIVER ****

ORAN MOR, GLASGOW

TEXAN folkie indie-rock band Okkervil River's breakthrough was a long time coming – nine years and four albums, until 2007's critically-feted The Stage Names at last brought them to a wider audience. While they're a bit too rickety to be assaulting tADVERTISEMENThe mainstream anytime soon, they could probably comfortably sustain themselves forever on the tide of goodwill that stems from hard-core fans of the sort that packed this show – a captivating and celebratory affair.

Singer and songwriter Will Sheff is the scatty, charmingly dishevelled-looking and occasionally bespectacled (when he can find them) young bloke at the heart of their appeal. A wordy, confessional songsmith, his preambles spilled into long, unintelligible mumbles between songs; his obligatory solo-turn at the start of the encore – which saw him warble gorgeously, heart-on-sleeve, while scraping away at a twangy acoustic guitar – brought a pin-drop silence down on the room.

Yet Sheff's biggest success is probably in assembling such a great band around him – five versatile musicians on combination of bass, keys, guitars, drums, horns, banjo and mandolin. It's Okkervil River's busiest, blustered moments – all soaring choruses and Motown-y basslines – that are their best.

If Unless It Kicks was joyous Lost Coastlines was positively ecstatic. Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe took on the character of a Springsteen mini-epic, stretched out beyond the five-minute mark with audience clap-alongs, climactic whoops and a fizzing breakdown.






The full article contains 250 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.

Best Voices In Indie Rock

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Browse List of the Day Photo by Jeremy Cowart.

Brandi Carlile inspired this list. I’ve been listening to her fantastic new record nonstop lately—mainly because I’m addicted to her voice. But some folks prefer a calmer and steadier voice like Mark Kozelek’s, and others are partial to Neko Case’s clear-as-a-bell-ness or Chan Marshall’s sultriness. Here are my picks for the best voices in indie rock. Who did I miss?


Enjoy the playlist below, and stay tuned for next week’s list of the Best Worst Voices.

1. Brandi Carlile

Carlile sings from the bottom of her gut. Her voice rises and falls, cracks and warbles with a disarming intensity.


2. Chan Marshall (Cat Power)

Once a shambling indie-rocker, she’s now a dusky soul queen.


3. Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons)

How can so much heartbreak exist in one man’s voice?


4. Sally Ellyson (Hem)

Ellyson’s voice is the very essence of pretty.

5. Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

Yorke’s unmistakable tenor is strong when it needs to be and fragile when it needs to be. And how about that falsetto?


6. Neko Case

Her bright and boomy voice could fill an airport hangar.


7. Jim James (My Morning Jacket)

James has a high, lonesome warble that sounds best slathered in cavernous reverb. He also has surprising range and a lot in common with Marvin Gaye's vocal style.


8. Jonsi Birgisson (Sigur Ros)

Nobody knows what he's saying, and nobody cares. That ethereal sound is enough.


9. Gillian Welch

Welch has got so much spirit, and a voice as rich as the Appalachia clay.


10. Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon)

There’s no one I’d rather have sing me to sleep.

The Best Worst Voices In Indie Rock

Last week we debated the best voices in indie rock. But there’s another kind of great voice out there—the kind that isn’t classically good, but its technical problems just make it more lovable.


Here are my picks for the best worst voices—you can listen below. Feel free to add to the list in the comments section.

1. Will Oldham

Oldham has one of my favorite voices of all time because it’s so cracked and real, but let’s be honest—it’s pretty inconsistent.

2. Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel)

That nasally yelp at the beginning of “King of Carrot Flowers Part 2 & 3” gets me every time.

3. Karen Peris (The Innocence Mission)

She sounds like a little elf, bringing happiness wherever she goes.

4. David Berman (Silver Jews)

I would love to hear Berman’s vocal tracks alone. He sounds like some guy singing in the car—but that’s part of what makes his music so endearing.

5. Dan Bejar (Destroyer)

His love-it-or-hate it voice could carry a musical.

6. Joanna Newsom

Speaking of love-it-or-hate-it—Newsom’s screeches and squeaks are almost too much. But when it works, it works.

7. Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)

Oberst used to sound like a goat pretty much all the time, but his voice has evened out in the past several years, and now he trembles at all the right moments.

8. Colin Meloy (The Decemberists)

Meloy’s voice is strong and consistent, but its distinct, enunciated sound is a turn-off for some people.

9. Emil Svanangen (Loney Dear)

His incredibly high-pitched voice is a beautiful instrument in and of itself, even when he’s singing off key.

10. Matt Berninger (The National)

The sound of his voice is soothing and perfect for The National’s moody songs, but Berninger’s range must be squat because he only sings low and a little bit lower.

Mike Booher Recruits Turkeyz for Tour with Okkervil River


Booher & the Turkeyz
Wed., Sept. 10, 8 p.m., $6
Emos (603 Red River St)
w/ Hollywood Gossip
[info]While one of Austin's favorite indie rock outlets takes what seems to be a limitless hiatus, frontman Mike Booher adapts, forming a new group to live up to the tour plans already scheduled with Okkervil River. His Turkeyz, comprised of members of Zookeeper and Frank Smith, will kick off the tour in Seattle at the Showbox, a place Booher describes as " ... a massive and terrifying place for a first show, unless you're Pearl Jam. We're not really that much like Pearl Jam."
To warm up for the opportunity, the band has decided to play here at home with Hollywood Gossip at Emo's. The show is a mere six bucks, and since the money goes to help a local band head up to Seattle for a tour, it's well worth the cash. We know you can expect a healthy dose of Booher's Westerbergian charm, and chances are you'll hear the Turkeyz do a rendition of the new Okkervil tune, "On Tour With Zykos," a song that Booher has covered for the YouTube covers project in combination with the Stand Ins release.

As for the Turkeyz? Booher explains that the added 'z' is in honor of the band that won't be on the road with Sheff & Co. "I also hate it when people throw needless z's on the end of a word (i.e. that rulez), and I then figured I might as well try to become one of those people. I feel pretty ok with it so far."