David Bazan — Blanco (May 13, 2016) |
David Bazan — Blanco (May 13, 2016)■ The creative force behind Seattle’s Pedro the Lion and a highly respected solo indie singer/songwriter. Born: January 22, 1976
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Album release: May 13, 2016
Record Label: Barsuk
Duration: 39:15
Tracks:
01. Both Hands 3:34
02. Oblivion 3:58
03. Kept Secrets 4:54
04. With You 3:24
05. Trouble With Boys 3:30
06. Teardrops 4:03
07. Little Landslide 3:50
08. Someone Else’s Bet 3:48
09. Over Again 3:23
10. Little Motor 4:51
Written by:
■ David Bazan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
■ David Bazan / Andy Fitts 8
Credits:
■ David Bazan Composer, Engineer, Programmer
■ Andy Fitts Composer
■ Yuuki Matthews Engineer, Mixing, Producer, Programmer
■ James McAlister Cymbals, Percussion, Synthesizer
■ Ryan Phillips Guitar, Synthesizer
■ T.W. Walsh Mastering
Description:
■ Having spent half of the last decade on tour, away from home, David Bazan’s new album reflects the wandering life of a traveling troubadour. And while there is joy in that life, Blanco is born of its challenges. It’s what, and whom, he leaves at home that you hear on Blanco. Made up of tracks that were previously available in a very limited edition 7” vinyl series called Bazan Monthly, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Bazan turned to northwest indie–rock veteran Yuuki Matthews, who both co–produced Strange Negotiations and co–founded celebrated indie band Crystal Skulls, to help craft the endeavor. “I walked in thinking that we would have to scrap all the ideas I had as garbage once he heard them,” says Bazan. “Instead he said these are great, let’s get started.” Over the next twelve months the pair would record over a dozen songs together, ten of which comprise Blanco.AllMusic Review by Timothy Monger; Score: ***
♦ Blanco, the third solo album from indie rock wayfarer David Bazan, finds the singer working from home in a mindset of deep personal introspection. Comprised of tracks from his Bazan Monthly 7” series that he and collaborator Yuuki Matthews launched in 2014, the intimate home–recorded affair is a largely guitar–less pastiche of experimental synth pop and programmed beats that mostly recall his 2005 side project Headphones. Rather than the ragged–voiced, six–string troubadour logging miles on the D.I.Y. house concert circuit, this is the ragged–voiced basement pop experimentalist trying his hand at a new format while the family sleeps upstairs. While Bazan has never been one to shy away from difficult self–examination, his concerns here feel more provincial, revolving around family life and approaching middle age rather than the religion or politics that populated much of his work with Pedro the Lion. But, if his tools are now synthetic ones, he still presents a very raw, human edge on tracks like “Kept Secrets” and “Someone Else’s Bet,” with their blown–out drums and woozy synth lines. Aesthetically, there is little in the way of soft–synth EDM ambience, and some of the more heavy–handed new wave–inspired tracks like “Oblivion” and “With You” almost veer into early Magnetic Fields territory, with Bazan’s deep (and deeply sincere) baritone vocals making him come off like a humorless Stephin Merritt. But droll humor is not Bazan’s bailiwick, and in spite of some of Blanco’s near–misses, it’s nice to hear him put down the guitar and insert himself into less familiar environs.
Review
By Raz Robinson | March 31, 2016 | 8:40am
■ David Bazan is one of those rare birds with a consistently impressive almost 20–year career, during which he seems to have made sport of challenging himself artistically. You never find yourself saying anything like, “he’s still doing the It’s Hard To Find A Friend thing in 2016.” Bazan’s own penchant for growth while keeping a handful of staples at his core makes him a guy whose music you don’t just listen to because he makes songs you like, but more often because he makes songs laden with practical insight. “Trouble With Boys,” the first single from his upcoming release Blanco, is no exception.
■ Sonically, the song deviates from Bazan’s typically guitar–driven stylings, replacing them instead with layers of shiny waltzing synthesizers and audibly pitched percussion. It’s different to hear him doing something that feels this stripped down, but that for all its simplicity, seems to reach far and take up a lot of space. Even as loops and melodies get lost in clouds of delay and feedback, Bazan can go deeper into the instrumental chasm, because holding together “Trouble With Boys” is his penchant for simplistic melodies that don’t relent in terms of memorability.
■ “Maybe you’re at a parking lot carnival at magic hour with your two best friends, and just before the first big roller coaster drop, you go under a sign that says: ‘YOU ARE WORTHY OF LOVE,’” said Bazan of the track. “But actually, you’re on tour and in a hotel room in Nashville on your night off recording a song with a tiny synthesizer you just bought and a delay pedal, and you’re really proud of your new song.”
■ While the melody holds the pieces together nicely, what’s most fascinating about the song is the way that it’s constructively parent-like. Lyrically, the song isn’t meant to berate you. It comes off more like your dad tapping on your bedroom door and saying “Ohh nothing, I just wanted to talk” than getting a real lecture. Bazan drops lines like “Still you really don’t know why I treat you so, so bad/Your step brother smirks that it has nothing to do with your dad”, and you don’t exactly know who the narrator is. That’s wild considering how apologetic his delivery comes off as. Regardless of what perspective shapes it, “Trouble With Boys” sees Bazan deadpan, morosely shouldering some responsibility for someone’s — or maybe his own — shortcomings in some narratively introspective way, while trying his best to be sweet about it. ■ http://www.pastemagazine.com/
Also:
By Jessica Hopper
■ http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-passion-of-david-bazan/Content?oid=1169181
Albums:
■ Curse Your Branches (September 1, 2009)
■ Strange Negotiations (May 24, 2011)
■ Blanco (May 13, 2016)
DVDs:
■ Bazan: Alone at the Microphone (October 21, 2008)
EPs:
■ 7 song demo (1994)
■ Fewer Moving Parts (June 13, 2006)
■ Live at Electrical Audio (March 15, 2010)
Label: http://www.barsuk.com/
Website: http://www.davidbazan.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidbazan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbazan/?fref=nf
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David Bazan — Blanco (May 13, 2016) |
David Bazan — Blanco (May 13, 2016)■ The creative force behind Seattle’s Pedro the Lion and a highly respected solo indie singer/songwriter. Born: January 22, 1976
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Album release: May 13, 2016
Record Label: Barsuk
Duration: 39:15
Tracks:
01. Both Hands 3:34
02. Oblivion 3:58
03. Kept Secrets 4:54
04. With You 3:24
05. Trouble With Boys 3:30
06. Teardrops 4:03
07. Little Landslide 3:50
08. Someone Else’s Bet 3:48
09. Over Again 3:23
10. Little Motor 4:51
Written by:
■ David Bazan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
■ David Bazan / Andy Fitts 8
Credits:
■ David Bazan Composer, Engineer, Programmer
■ Andy Fitts Composer
■ Yuuki Matthews Engineer, Mixing, Producer, Programmer
■ James McAlister Cymbals, Percussion, Synthesizer
■ Ryan Phillips Guitar, Synthesizer
■ T.W. Walsh Mastering
Description:
■ Having spent half of the last decade on tour, away from home, David Bazan’s new album reflects the wandering life of a traveling troubadour. And while there is joy in that life, Blanco is born of its challenges. It’s what, and whom, he leaves at home that you hear on Blanco. Made up of tracks that were previously available in a very limited edition 7” vinyl series called Bazan Monthly, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Bazan turned to northwest indie–rock veteran Yuuki Matthews, who both co–produced Strange Negotiations and co–founded celebrated indie band Crystal Skulls, to help craft the endeavor. “I walked in thinking that we would have to scrap all the ideas I had as garbage once he heard them,” says Bazan. “Instead he said these are great, let’s get started.” Over the next twelve months the pair would record over a dozen songs together, ten of which comprise Blanco.AllMusic Review by Timothy Monger; Score: ***
♦ Blanco, the third solo album from indie rock wayfarer David Bazan, finds the singer working from home in a mindset of deep personal introspection. Comprised of tracks from his Bazan Monthly 7” series that he and collaborator Yuuki Matthews launched in 2014, the intimate home–recorded affair is a largely guitar–less pastiche of experimental synth pop and programmed beats that mostly recall his 2005 side project Headphones. Rather than the ragged–voiced, six–string troubadour logging miles on the D.I.Y. house concert circuit, this is the ragged–voiced basement pop experimentalist trying his hand at a new format while the family sleeps upstairs. While Bazan has never been one to shy away from difficult self–examination, his concerns here feel more provincial, revolving around family life and approaching middle age rather than the religion or politics that populated much of his work with Pedro the Lion. But, if his tools are now synthetic ones, he still presents a very raw, human edge on tracks like “Kept Secrets” and “Someone Else’s Bet,” with their blown–out drums and woozy synth lines. Aesthetically, there is little in the way of soft–synth EDM ambience, and some of the more heavy–handed new wave–inspired tracks like “Oblivion” and “With You” almost veer into early Magnetic Fields territory, with Bazan’s deep (and deeply sincere) baritone vocals making him come off like a humorless Stephin Merritt. But droll humor is not Bazan’s bailiwick, and in spite of some of Blanco’s near–misses, it’s nice to hear him put down the guitar and insert himself into less familiar environs.
Review
By Raz Robinson | March 31, 2016 | 8:40am
■ David Bazan is one of those rare birds with a consistently impressive almost 20–year career, during which he seems to have made sport of challenging himself artistically. You never find yourself saying anything like, “he’s still doing the It’s Hard To Find A Friend thing in 2016.” Bazan’s own penchant for growth while keeping a handful of staples at his core makes him a guy whose music you don’t just listen to because he makes songs you like, but more often because he makes songs laden with practical insight. “Trouble With Boys,” the first single from his upcoming release Blanco, is no exception.
■ Sonically, the song deviates from Bazan’s typically guitar–driven stylings, replacing them instead with layers of shiny waltzing synthesizers and audibly pitched percussion. It’s different to hear him doing something that feels this stripped down, but that for all its simplicity, seems to reach far and take up a lot of space. Even as loops and melodies get lost in clouds of delay and feedback, Bazan can go deeper into the instrumental chasm, because holding together “Trouble With Boys” is his penchant for simplistic melodies that don’t relent in terms of memorability.
■ “Maybe you’re at a parking lot carnival at magic hour with your two best friends, and just before the first big roller coaster drop, you go under a sign that says: ‘YOU ARE WORTHY OF LOVE,’” said Bazan of the track. “But actually, you’re on tour and in a hotel room in Nashville on your night off recording a song with a tiny synthesizer you just bought and a delay pedal, and you’re really proud of your new song.”
■ While the melody holds the pieces together nicely, what’s most fascinating about the song is the way that it’s constructively parent-like. Lyrically, the song isn’t meant to berate you. It comes off more like your dad tapping on your bedroom door and saying “Ohh nothing, I just wanted to talk” than getting a real lecture. Bazan drops lines like “Still you really don’t know why I treat you so, so bad/Your step brother smirks that it has nothing to do with your dad”, and you don’t exactly know who the narrator is. That’s wild considering how apologetic his delivery comes off as. Regardless of what perspective shapes it, “Trouble With Boys” sees Bazan deadpan, morosely shouldering some responsibility for someone’s — or maybe his own — shortcomings in some narratively introspective way, while trying his best to be sweet about it. ■ http://www.pastemagazine.com/
Also:
By Jessica Hopper
■ http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-passion-of-david-bazan/Content?oid=1169181
Albums:
■ Curse Your Branches (September 1, 2009)
■ Strange Negotiations (May 24, 2011)
■ Blanco (May 13, 2016)
DVDs:
■ Bazan: Alone at the Microphone (October 21, 2008)
EPs:
■ 7 song demo (1994)
■ Fewer Moving Parts (June 13, 2006)
■ Live at Electrical Audio (March 15, 2010)
Label: http://www.barsuk.com/
Website: http://www.davidbazan.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidbazan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbazan/?fref=nf
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