Anyone Heard of Jeffrey Lewis?
Yes, I know, I know, I am the only person who had never listened to any Jeffrey Lewis until a fortnight or so ago. You can all stop laughing now. Sometimes, as with Neutral Milk Hotel, you hear a name again and again and just never quite make the time to investigate any further.
What can I say? Fucking brilliant. Far from the sensitive singer-songwriter I was vaguely expecting, there is a deranged fire-and-brimstone fervour to his hurricane of verbiage, which is delivered as little more than a barely-controlled stream of consciousness. For something that sounds so close to being out of control, it’s really amazingly well put together. The words roll around and wander off but they periodically return to whence they started, just to remind us all that actually little of this is accidental.
I think it’s fair to say that there’s a bit of an edge to everything Lewis does. Raw emotion seems to be simmering below the surface of all of it. On some songs it’s pretty obvious, as the electric guitar is frenetically bashed and he launches one polemic after another into the microphone. On the quieter, sadder stuff this kind of barely suppressed well of feeling is a little less strident, but still seems to be on the verge of breaking its chains and screaming at you.
Mrs. Toad and I were listening to the superb 12 Crass Songs on the way home from End of the Road, and she remarked that it must be hard work being so angry all the time. Although those are actually Crass lyrics, the biting cynicism of much of Lewis’ work does seem like it might just burn a person out after a while. There are songs, actually, where a weariness of this sort of nature does seem to be in evidence, but the fact that he feels so many things strongly enough to tire himself out is what makes his music so brilliant.
So, another very, very late discovery, but I am hugely pleased I finally get it!
Jeffrey Lewis – Back When I Was 4
Jeffrey Lewis – End Result
Jeffrey Lewis – If You Shoot the Head You Kill the Ghoul
Jeffrey Lewis – Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror
Website | More mp3s | Buy stuff from Jeff Lewis | Buy albums on Amazon
Now this is class. The video for “Williamsburg…” always brings a smile to my chops.
good stuff again. jeff lewis is gold dust. i’ve finished the washing up.
I blogged about his piece in the NY Times: steal this post
That’s a really nice piece, Dean. I’ve written a few things about creative copying and copyright myself – it really pisses me off, both the ill-considered accusations and the legal side of it.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jeff does an admirable job explaining his feelings. Yeah, it’s overdue that the copyright laws become more realistic, but the big problem is the people that have the most to lose – they have big bankrolls to make sure there’s no changes, or in the case of Di$ney, make it worse.
Did you know that Bambi is based on a rather brutal old German folk tale and once Disney bought the rights they forbade the reproduction of the original story. I don’t have a citation for that claim, but I am pretty certain it is true.
Check out ‘The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song’ from the Last Time I Did Acid I went Insane, which is rather fine…
So, DC, what do you make of Jeffrey Lewis then?
That sounds like Disney. It looks like they’re going to loose the rights to Steamboat Willie:
Disney’s rights to young Mickey Mouse may be wrong
Film credits from the 1920s reveal imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney’s long-held copyright.
not afraid or ashamed to say I’d never heard this guy either. enjoying what my ears are hearing.
I actually really like Jeffrey Lewis – he kinda reminds me of Moldy Peaches era Adam Green (2 boats on the same ocean, really, ain’t they?) & I love 12 Crass Songs – have you not heard us play them a number of times?
There is that slight tic of having too many words to fit the bar, so it’s all a jumbled tongue mess on occasions as he tries to squeeze an extra set of syllables in where there should be a natural pause/breath, but I do like his stuff. He has the knack of sounding like a professional geek. Which is a good thing, when done right.
I never made the connection, DC. Quite a bit of it is very familiar, but I somehow never quite twigged that it was all Jeffrey Lewis and that Jeffrey Lewis was Jeffrey Lewis. If you know what I mean.
Hmm.. The problem I get with this stuff is when I wonder how often would I really want to listen to it?
It’s got something of a novelty factor which initially grabs the attention so it’s entertaining on a first listen; but then it’s like “Okay. Heard that. Next?” which means the rewards it offers are limited overall.
I know some great jokes (Two goldfish in a tank, one says to the other, “You drive, I’ll man the gun.”) but you’d soon get sick of me if I told you the same jokes every time we met up.
Maybe this relates back to the discussion we were having the other day about good songwriting meaning getting the balance right between lyrics, music, arrangement and performance.
This does really well in some categories, but falls short in others.
I don’t know. I enjoyed it, but it’s finished now and I’m not in any hurry to put it on again.
without opening the ‘what the hell is antifolk anyway’ can of worms…(again)….the scene in NYC, and the whole ‘sidewalk cafe’ scene, has had some really interesting artists orbiting it although i get the impression it’s maybe dissipated a little now.
i agree that Jeff is very lucid and explains himself very well, which is so refreshing in this era of the kind of plastic ‘soundbite’ crap we have to put up with and alot of these guys are also quite politicized, which is a bit of a rarity for musicians these days unless yr talking bono.
If you want to dig further, and alot of this is kind of lo fi with a capital L, i would recommend people like Kimya Dawson, the rock band Dufus, Jeff’s Brother Jack Lewis and the Woodgrain (sometimes calls himself Lesser Lewis), Toby Goodshank, Stanley Brinks (Andre Herman Dune), Ish Marquez, Major Matt Mason USA, Double Deuce, Turner Cody (who you have blogged about already, much kudos), Schwervon, and Diane Cluck for starters. (toby g and kimya d used to be in the moldy peaches with adam green, strictly beats, steven mertens and another guy i forget the name of) (i am such a total sadcase)
So, Major Matt Mason has commendably recorded alot of these guys (essentially his mates i guess) in his flat in his home studio (sound familiar Matthew
) and still runs Olive Juice Music out of his apartment obviously more for love than money cos all of these guys seem to play to substantially bigger audiences when they visit europe than they do back home. The camaraderie and DIY spirit of the whole scene is very real (notebooks out cynics) and for me, as an artist, its a shining example of staying true to yr vision, supporting the music community around you, and why not to give up.
(wh666 and The Forest presents Major Matt Mason USA, Withered Hand and Les Enfant Bastard, upstairs at The Forest, November 2nd, for FREEEEE! (don’t ask how)
never heard of him….i know nothing about music full stop!!!
hurrah for wh666. diane cluck is incredible. easy to be around and bones and born again are beautiful beautiful songs. (has anyone listened to the new herman dune album though? i’m not convinced)
jeffrey lewis is on my top 10 gigs i’ve seen (the gig with him and nina nastasia a couple of years ago…JOY)
nb. sidewalk is still going and while maybe not as high profile as pianos and cake shop these days there are still some good things happening…jason trachtenburg for one!
I know what you mean D. But then, that’s the beauty of having a large record collection & having things that will inevitably tire or bore (on repeated listen) buried until one day they pop up to the surface & you go “ooh, haven’t heard that for a while” & it’s a nice surprise/reminisce.
I have to say Dylan that at first I felt the same. I was slightly put off by the fact all his vocals and songs have a similar ring to them, they feel a little rushed, a little ramshackle. But then I listened to ‘back when I was 4′ and I loved it lyrically and kept listening again and again and then I got hooked. it’s not necessarily an immediate full blown love affair, but it’s the beginning of some fumblings I feel.
hmm, i don’t really like this sort of chat..but…
jeff lewis? novelty? jeez, couldn’t be more wrong. i think if you start to quantify songwriting you end up goign down the terrible road of:
“great song = 2xlyrics(n)+arrangement/16.4…etc etc etc blah blah blah”
and you end up with some dull middle of the road americana. and who wants that?
it’s like the best punk. summing up the experiences of a generation in an eloquent and exciting way, not caring for making sure the “arrangement” is by the book. it really is fantastic, and i won’t hear otherwise.
hmm.
(lovely words there dan)
That’s not what I mean, Rob, and I think you must suspect as much or you would wonder why I’d be interested in any of the music that gets posted here.
And I’ve got no time for the Celine Dions and Bon Jovis of this world and their formulaeic songwriting.
I’d agree with you about “the best punk” and the manner in which it captured the energy of a generation; but, once you’ve skimmed the cream off, really how much punk was utter shite?
Not to suggest Jeffrey Lewis is “utter shite”, he clearly isn’t. He’s ticking some of the boxes in a very respectable manner, but he just isn’t ticking enough boxes for me to really be bothered whether I hear him again or not.
For me, good songwriting has to have a degree of craftsmanship to it, and I think that’s what I’m missing here. I do prefer the music I listen to be kept loose and spontaneous – but I think this pushes that element just a little too far.
It’s an amazing thing our species does, arguing the toss over a subjective value. Amazing, really.
The novelty talk is just nonsense. If the rhythm of his songs was less varied then that might come close to holding water, but unfortunately it doesn’t. If his lyrical content was focussed on one single subject it might hold water, but that is not the case either. And finally, if the mood and pace of the vocal delivery was always the same then it is possible it might hold water, but unfortuantely that is also false, so that whole idea is just rubbish.
Many many people have distinctive styles and if the obvious attention of that style was the crutch upon which their music career rested then the novelty accusation might have some substance, but that is a million miles from the case here.
wh666 – I’m aware of a few of the anti-folkies, but I still know very little about the actual scene. Kimya Dawson plays all through the background of our Wave Pictures interview from End of the Road (up before the weekend, promise) and I also know Stanley Brinks and Turner Cody. But as to having a real grasp of the scene, I still fall way short and have to rely on gnashing my teeth at people like Ruth with a bit more first hand experience.
I think that ramshackle, de-tuned sound is something I am really started to love. I am now getting to the point where production can turn me off not because it is bad, but actually because it is good. Which is not to say that deft under-production isn’t great production as well, but things which sound really nice can often just fail to hit the mark with me these days. Give me a crackly, distant bedroom recording over a studio recording any day.
yey!!!
Nope. I’m going to stick with the novelty thing. Mainly because people are latching onto it and misinterpreting what I meant.
Trouble is, when you mention the word ‘novelty’ in relation to music, people start thinking about Agadoo and songs from Spitting Image; and people immediately believe that you’re lumping every songwriter who possesses a witty turn of phrase in the same heap together.
And of course anyone who recalls which fucking band I play in would understand that clearly isn’t the case.
‘Novelty’ is simply the noun associated with the adjective ‘novel’. Which is derived from the latin word for ‘new’ (as of course is the word ‘new’ itself – same word stem). ‘Novelty’ is generally used in English to specify new, unusual or surprising in an especially interesting way. Apologies to condescend – you all knew that – but that’s the sense I was using the word in.
The point I was getting at was that, to me, the strength in Jeffrey Lewis’ music lies in its novelty (as in the definition above) and that it might not be as rewarding over repeated listens, and DC made a similar point.
That’s all. I didn’t say Jeffrey Lewis reminded me of The Chicken Song or the time Hoddle and fucking Waddle appeared on Top Of the Pops singing Diamond fucking Lights.
All of which would make sense if in any way his music was a/ all delivered the same way or b/ relied on some sort of bizarre delivery for its appeal. It does neither.
Even in this tiny sample, End Result is perfectly measured and lovely and cadenced and gentle. Shoot the Head Kill the Ghoul is pop punk and perhaps Back When I Was 4 and Will Oldham share some waterfall of verbiage similarities, but if the rollercoaster of words was merely a rollercoaster of words without a pleasing rise and fall of its own then it would not be pleasant to listen to. It’s like a lot of electronica in that respect – the tune itself pans out over the course of chunks of song, rather than individual notes.
Does Bob Dylan rely on having an unusual voice, or in any way use it as a selling point? No. For all it gets mentioned all the time, the Arcade Fire don’t rely on there being lots of them and the fact that they all use different instruments – the songs stand and fall as pop songs. This is the same – there is a lot of helter-skelter delivery, but there’s also a hell of a lot more than that and it would be ludicrous to say that he actually relies on this delivery as his selling point above and beyond the melodic and lyrical merits of his music.
And actually, if you read my response, you’ll find that I wasn’t misunderstanding your use of the word novelty to begin with.
If the apologies for condescension were sincere, wouldn’t it have been easier to phrase that paragraph in a less condescending way?
That all sounds a bit defensive to me. I haven’t mentioned having a problem with his delivery, and yet you seem to have an urge to defend that specific aspect. Is there actually something about his voice or delivery that’s actually bothering you?
I don’t mind if you like this. I actually don’t mind it myself. However, I wouldn’t miss it if someone told me I could never experience it again. I feel exactly the same way about boiled potatoes.
Yes, of course he does. He offers his own performances of his work to the general public for sale. Otherwise he’d just write the stuff and let other people perform it.
Of course, but not as much fun.
And they are sincere apologies – there are people who read and contribute to this site who are much cleverer than me, and I’m not about to get all up in their face about latin and etymology and shit for fear of making a fool of myself – nevertheless I had a point to make.
I’ve loved Jeffrey Lewis ever since I saw the gig that Tracer Trails put on an age ago at the Bongo Club. His illustrated “live music videos” are bloody amazing and 12 Crass Songs actually gets better with every listen.
Good places to start with antifolk are rough trade’s Antifolk vol. 1 and a compilation called Sidewalk Songs & City Stories on the German label Trikont. Plus this gig on 2nd November obviously.