Who is this musical gymnist?
September 7, 2005 9:13 AM Subscribe
Help me identify this LA based musician and find some of his recordings. Jon Brion perhaps...
About six months ago I caught the very end of a segment on NPR about an LA based composer/arranger/session player who does a weekly house show at some club in LA. During this show it seems the audience "pitches" him challenges that he then executes. Things like "play a Dolly Parton song in the style of Nick Cave" or "play Bay City Rollers and Radiohead simultaneously" (like a live mashup).
I think this person may be Jon Brion, though I am not sure. If it is Jon Brion, is there a source for club recordings (bootlegs for example) If it is not Jon Brion, who is it and where might I find said recordings.
About six months ago I caught the very end of a segment on NPR about an LA based composer/arranger/session player who does a weekly house show at some club in LA. During this show it seems the audience "pitches" him challenges that he then executes. Things like "play a Dolly Parton song in the style of Nick Cave" or "play Bay City Rollers and Radiohead simultaneously" (like a live mashup).
I think this person may be Jon Brion, though I am not sure. If it is Jon Brion, is there a source for club recordings (bootlegs for example) If it is not Jon Brion, who is it and where might I find said recordings.
Sounds like Jon Brion. He plays every Friday night at Largo on Fairfax. It's worth a trip to LA just to see him. He takes requests and does impromptu mashups like "Smoke on the Stairway to Freebird". My husband is a ginormous fan and if you email me (in profile) I can pass on links to where to find his stuff online.
He also scores a lot of music soundtracks, for example, "Punch Drunk Love" and "Magnolia", so that's another avenue to check him out.
On preview, luriete beat me to it. He did release one CD "meaningless" on an independent label, but I think it's out-of-print/hard-to-find.
posted by ambrosia at 9:32 AM on September 7, 2005
He also scores a lot of music soundtracks, for example, "Punch Drunk Love" and "Magnolia", so that's another avenue to check him out.
On preview, luriete beat me to it. He did release one CD "meaningless" on an independent label, but I think it's out-of-print/hard-to-find.
posted by ambrosia at 9:32 AM on September 7, 2005
It's not hard to find at all - you can listen to samples and pick it up at CD Baby.
posted by Jart at 11:03 AM on September 7, 2005
posted by Jart at 11:03 AM on September 7, 2005
damn. should have previewed first. Jart beat me to it.
posted by horseblind at 11:21 AM on September 7, 2005
posted by horseblind at 11:21 AM on September 7, 2005
Also, you can get a torrent of demos from 1995 and 1991 at dimeadozen.org. You need to register if you haven't already. Here's the direct link.
posted by horseblind at 11:36 AM on September 7, 2005
posted by horseblind at 11:36 AM on September 7, 2005
Jon Brion also did the I Heart Huckabees Soundtrack. Funny how you bring this up. It was a soundtrack day for me. Bottle Rocket on the way to work and I Heart Huckabees on the way home.
Jon Brion is AWESOME. Meaningless is great. You should check out Ro Sham Bo from The Grays. Yummy stuff. Jon Brion and Jason Falkner (whom I adore) with Buddy Judge (FINALLY got Profiles In Clownhenge. Now that it isn't $100 on ebay. It is awesome) and Dan McCarroll.
posted by nimsey lou at 5:26 PM on September 7, 2005
Jon Brion is AWESOME. Meaningless is great. You should check out Ro Sham Bo from The Grays. Yummy stuff. Jon Brion and Jason Falkner (whom I adore) with Buddy Judge (FINALLY got Profiles In Clownhenge. Now that it isn't $100 on ebay. It is awesome) and Dan McCarroll.
posted by nimsey lou at 5:26 PM on September 7, 2005
Yeah, it's definitely Brion. Everybody wants him to produce their albums, he packs 'em in at Largo, but he can't get his own albums released. I created a Wikipedia article for Cafe Largo just to document the Brion "scene".
The owner of Largo, Mark Flanagan, is Brion's manager, which is how this mutually beneficial arrangement came about. Brion's ex-girlfriend Aimee Mann (he was in the last line-up of 'Til Tuesday) and her husband Michael Penn are regulars at Largo, as are a variety of Brion's musical acquaintances ranging from Fiona Apple to the late Elliott Smith to Rickie Lee Jones to Neil Finn. Brion describes the bond that holds them together as the genre of "unpopular pop", and says "We're all song sluts here". Most of Apple's Extraordinary Machine was tested and reworked over multiple Largo appearances. Brion, of course, produced the original version of most of those songs, though it ended up being largely reworked by another producer.
Brion has also recently produced -- hold onto your hat -- much of Kanye West's Late Registration.
A detail from the NYT article Lost in the Music is probably a way to guess the over/under on whether you'll like him or hate him:
It's not uncommon to hear “it” on a Jon Brion-produced song many years after buying the album. More than a decade has passed since I first listened to Aimee Mann's “I've Had It,” from her 1993 album, “Whatever,” Brion's first major production. The subject of the song, as is often the case with Mann, is the music industry. The troops gather for a pointless New York gig as Mann muses that her chance at the brass ring may have passed. On perhaps the 400th listen, I pick up a ticking clock that moves from left to right in your headphones and underscores the fatalism of the lyrics. When Mann sings “And Dan came in from Jersey,” Brion plays the opening bars to Springsteen's “Born to Run” on a glockenspiel.
From a great archvie of Jon Brion press.
Is this the NPR segment?
Psst. Last.fm members may join my Largo group.
posted by dhartung at 8:23 PM on September 7, 2005
The owner of Largo, Mark Flanagan, is Brion's manager, which is how this mutually beneficial arrangement came about. Brion's ex-girlfriend Aimee Mann (he was in the last line-up of 'Til Tuesday) and her husband Michael Penn are regulars at Largo, as are a variety of Brion's musical acquaintances ranging from Fiona Apple to the late Elliott Smith to Rickie Lee Jones to Neil Finn. Brion describes the bond that holds them together as the genre of "unpopular pop", and says "We're all song sluts here". Most of Apple's Extraordinary Machine was tested and reworked over multiple Largo appearances. Brion, of course, produced the original version of most of those songs, though it ended up being largely reworked by another producer.
Brion has also recently produced -- hold onto your hat -- much of Kanye West's Late Registration.
A detail from the NYT article Lost in the Music is probably a way to guess the over/under on whether you'll like him or hate him:
It's not uncommon to hear “it” on a Jon Brion-produced song many years after buying the album. More than a decade has passed since I first listened to Aimee Mann's “I've Had It,” from her 1993 album, “Whatever,” Brion's first major production. The subject of the song, as is often the case with Mann, is the music industry. The troops gather for a pointless New York gig as Mann muses that her chance at the brass ring may have passed. On perhaps the 400th listen, I pick up a ticking clock that moves from left to right in your headphones and underscores the fatalism of the lyrics. When Mann sings “And Dan came in from Jersey,” Brion plays the opening bars to Springsteen's “Born to Run” on a glockenspiel.
From a great archvie of Jon Brion press.
Is this the NPR segment?
Psst. Last.fm members may join my Largo group.
posted by dhartung at 8:23 PM on September 7, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bobot at 9:26 AM on September 7, 2005