When I walked into this show, Jeffrey Lewis (right) was onstage and had just begun a song about seeing Will Oldham on a train in Williamsburg. This song soon turned out to be incredible. It was like a young Bob Dylan singing a song about Woody Guthrie. "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" is a stream-of-consciousness folk ramble that captures the extensive range of excitement, curiosity, paranoia, etc. inspired by seeing a glorified idol in your own mundane human world. Lewis, whose band is composed of his brother (who looks like a supporting character in a Wes Anderson film) and their friend, has a mesmerizing stage presence that combines a delivery like John Darnielle meets Adam Green on Aderall, with the accidental-genius of Daniel Johnston and the ambition of Sufjan Stevens. He sang his story steadily for almost six minutes, never pausing for more than a second, and by the end I was like "this guy is the best opening act I've ever seen." And immediately after saying this, I realized it was true.
And the fun didn't stop there. Lewis and friends rocked like Pavement before they gave a fuck, with lots of wierd pedal noises and feet jumbling on piano keys. Lewis even incorporated his other art form, comic book drawing, into the show. Introduced as a "video," Lewis sang about the history of communist China while paging through a giant book of related drawings. He called it the History of Communism Part 5, and I have to say, I learned a lot. Lewis also has a song called "The Complete History of Punk On The Lower East Side," in which he recounts the transformation of NY folk into NY punk complete with musical reenactments. This guy might be some kind of genius.
Lewis' heavily-likely-to-be-awesome record "City & Eastern Songs" comes out in the US on September 26. For now, I'd recommend taking a look at this video for his song "Anxiety Attack," by French company Kidam. Visually, it's like Michel Gondry but darker. Hey, Gondry's French, too. Maybe this is like a New French New Wave. These guys should make an army of Frenchmen and take over the cinema back (that's an 'FDR' reference, for those who got no game). There's also a more light-hearted video for Lewis' song "Posters," by Fort Mark Films. And then, of course, there's the Jeffrey Lewis official site and MySpace page. Now listen to this goddamn song:
Jeffrey Lewis - "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" (MP3)
And next time on ART*HEAD: an exclusive interview with Adam Green, including photos of his expansive, explosive 7th St. Entry performance.
your friend, Beck DeRobertis
7 comments:
Great song. Really quite great. Reminds me of "satan gave me a taco" you like your allmusic don't cha?
not great good I guess
i mean, i like allmusic as a resource, but i rarely look at it anymore since they made it so you have to register. i'd say my allmusic use pretty much peaked around '02.
A little late Beck, I've been on the J Lewis train since o4.
Oh isaac just because shane made you a mix you never listened to with a JL song on it in 04 doesn't mean you've been in on the treat. Just admit it you owe arthead much credit. You'd still be grooving to Marley and early Floyd if it wasn't for the Head. Good call about allmusic. Its a commercial utopia. If you want the facts come on back and get arthead for the boys.
It's a new york song dude (jamie.) You west coast kids aren't in the now.
i never heard you mention jeffrey lewis, isaacs, what next? did you also invent the popcorn ball? also, you gotta get back on the posting scene pal, I'm starting to seriously doubt your commitment to sparklemotion. (i hate to make a donnie darko reference, but it's the only way)
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