Pages tagged “Jose Gonzalez”

Swedish indie-folk darling José González has released a new EP, Live at Park Ave. 

After he wraps up a string of European tour dates this month, softspoken Swede José González will hit U.S. shores to bring his music to American fans for a mere five shows in September.

Maybe you've heard of a little ol' "four-day, multi-stage camping festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn." called Bonnaroo. We went, saw and conquered the damn thing and have a neat little video to show for it.

Back from the land of six-dollar beer, port-o-potties and hippie folk, Paste editor-at-large Jay Sweet appeared this morning on Boston's Fox 25 to wrap up the highlights of  Bonnaroo 2008.

When Swell Season played "Falling slowly," and Glen Hansard asked the crowd to sing along “because we’re really quiet,” and thousands of people took him up on the offer, I remembered why I love music festivals. When Hansard and Markéta Irglová, a pair of actors who became one of recent cinema’s most intriguing fictional couples, then became one of music’s most intriguing actual couples sang Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” into the same mic, looking at each other lovingly, I remembered why I love music festivals. When Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood told a six-minute maybe-true, maybe-not six-minute story about his mother with the band playing behind him; when Jack White fell into his microphone stand and knocked over one of the monitors, but kept on tearing into his guitar; when M.I.A. had an overflowing crowd pumping their fists to "Galang,” I remembered why I love music festivals.

With his sophomore album, In Our Nature, singer/songwriter José González proved he had more to him than the brooding covers he was known for, which included renditions of the Knife’s “Heartbeats,” Kylie Minogue’s “Hand on Your Heart,” and Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Songs from the album, his most recent release, are featured on a new remix EP, which comes with the announcement of a summer headlining tour.

The In Our Nature Remixes EP is available only as a digital download and features songs remixed by Todd Terje, Penchenga Nord, Beatfanatic, Landberg & Skogehall and others. González begins his summer tour with a June 13 performance at Bonnaroo, with the first headlining show the following night in Louisville. Concerts are planned for 17 cities through July.

June
13 - Manchester, Tenn. @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
14 - Louisville, Ky. @ Headliners
15 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
16 - Asbury Park, N.J. @ The Stone Pony
17 - Northampton, Mass. @ Iron Horse
18 - Boston, Mass. @ Museum of Fine Arts
20 - Guadalajara, Mexico @ Teatro Estudio Cavaret
21 - Mexico City, Mexico @ Lunario
23 - Newmarket, N.H. @ Stone Church
24 - Burlington, Vt. @ Higher Ground
25 - Quebec City, Quebec @ 400 Anniversary Festival
26 - Halifax, Nova Scotia @ St. Matthew’s Church
27 - Hamilton, Ontario @ Casbah
28 - Calgary, Alberta @ Sled Island Festival
30 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan @ The Broadway Theatre

July
2 - Winnipeg, Manitoba @ The Park Theatre
3 - Ottawa, Ontario @ Ottawaa Bluesfest

Related links:.
Jose Gonzalez on MySpace
Review: In Our Nature
Jose-Gonzalez.com

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Okay, so it's easy to make fun of entertainers who try to "go green." Very easy. But to paraphrase the eternal wisdom of Ian MacKaye and Minor Threat, at least some folks are friggin' trying. What the hell have you done, wise-cracking pundits?

So let's give José González a round of applause for stepping up to the plate and embarking on an eco-conscious journey of North America this coming Leap Day. González will team with Reverb, an organization that specializes in helping rock stars negate the carbon footprint that their tour schedules create. The group's clients include the Dave Matthews Band, Aimee Mann and Stars.

For González's tour, Reverb will provide biodegradable catering products (no more of those styrofoam burger containers for you, José!), reusable water bottles, and support for renewable energy initiatives to offset all of that tour-bus fuel and venue electricity usage. It will cost fans an extra 50 cents per ticket, but come on, you'd have to be pretty cheap to refuse to chip in for the good fight against global warming.

Dates:

February
29 - Miami, Fla. @ Airtime Theater

March
1 - Orlando, Fla. @ The Social
2 - Atlanta, Ga. @ Variety Playhouse
3 - Chapel Hill, N.C. @ Great Hall (UNC)
4 - Asheville, N.C. @ Orange Peel
5 - Washington, D.C. @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
6 - New York, N.Y. @ Terminal 5 (PLUG Awards)
7 - Tarrytown, N.Y. @ The Tarrytown Music Hall
8 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ World Cafe
9 - Morgantown, W.V. @ WVU Creative Arts Center
11 - New York, N.Y. @ Highline Ballroom
12 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
13 - Boston, Mass. @ Paradise
14 - Montreal, Quebec @ Musee Juste Pour Rire
15 - Toronto, Ontario @ Phoenix
17 - Chicago, Ill. @ Lakeshore Theater
18 - Milwaukee, Wisc. @ Pabst Theatre
19 - St. Louis, Mo. @ Graham Chapel (Wash. U)
20 - Omaha, Neb. @ Sokol Underground
21 - Boulder, Colo. @ Fox Theatre
22 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ Union Ballroom (U. of Utah)
24 - San Diego, Calif. @ San Diego Women's Club
25 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Wiltern
27 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore Auditorium
28 - Portland, Ore. @ The Aladdin Theatre
29 - Seattle, Wash. @ The Triple Door
30 - Seattle, Wash. @ The Triple Door
31 - Vancouver, B.C. @ St. Andrew's Wesley United

Related links:
José-González.com
Paste: José González talks touring, In Our Nature
YouTube: José González - "Teardrop"

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An album to lull you to sleep and trouble your dreams

Born in Sweden to Argentine parents, José González’s music hews closer to the sounds of his ancestral continent than those of his native country. The sad, nylon-string sway of album opener “How Low,” the gentle tug of “The Nest,” “Down the Line’s” sideways bossa nova—they all waft by with a melancholy lilt reminiscent of South American troubadours like Caetano Veloso and Eduardo Mateo. But González’s words, sung in his whispy, intimate voice, carry the arctic chill of his homeland, betraying the calming music with a pervasive, accusatory darkness: “How low / Are you willing to go / Before you reach all your senseless goals”; “When it all comes down / Cycling trivialities.” In Our Nature’s fingerpicked reveries, sonic gentility and lugubrious vibe might tug at your eyelids, but be warned: Its heavy-hearted sentiments are hardly the stuff of dreams.

We finally understand why Miss Piggy is such a floozy—her selection of swine is pretty grim.

Stereogum revealed José González’s video for “Down the Line,” which features a lonely, car-burning pigman. We’re quite unsure as to why director Andreas Nilsson would choose a demented grown Muppet as his protagonist—or why it’s pining for “Ella.”

But the music! The glorious music! “Down the Line” is fresh off In Our Nature, scheduled for a September release.

See for yourself here.

Related links:
José-González.com
José González talks touring, In Our Nature
Paste review: José González live

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Five continents and four years later, Swedish-born José González is hanging up his touring hat until In Our Nature, the follow-up to his 2005 debut Veneer, is released on September 25.

The guitarist, whose bare, sentimental sound is oft-compared to Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, was thrown into the European spotlight after his cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats” was used in a Sony BRAVIA TV line commercial. The retinal party of an ad featured every kid’s dream: a parade of 250,000 bouncy balls set loose in the streets of San Francisco. Since then, Veneer has sold over 700,000 copies, and was crowned with platinum awards in the UK and Ireland.

González, who calls Gothenburg, Sweden home, is heading back to record some b-sides and shoot a couple of videos. But first, he spoke with Paste about his penchant for cover songs (from Kylie Minogue to Joy Division), the new album, and why bioscience has recently piqued his interest.

Paste: You’ve been touring for the past four years. When exactly did you have time to write your new album?

José González: I hoped to do it on tour, but it didn’t really work. So last year in November I just went home and decided not to do any shows until I had the album ready. So I ended up just doing trips that felt like fun. We went to South Africa. We went to Singapore and Japan. I had some songs from touring but most of the songs got together when I was home.

Paste: Why do you end your sets with cover songs?

JG: At first when I was doing my first shows in Sweden, I didn’t have that many songs so I needed to fill up the set with more music. Since then it’s been especially from playing for a crowd that doesn’t know my music. It’s a nice way of connecting with people. The main reason is because you can stop with songs that are already good so you don’t need to do that much.

Paste: Is there any particular reason why you cover Massive Attack on the new album?

JG: Not really. Not more than I like it very much. I like the melody of her singing, and I think it’s been kind of a live favorite. At first I didn’t think of recording it. It had similar, very vague and general lyrics. So I thought it fit well with the rest of the album.

Paste: You’re sticking to a similar sound. You have simple recording processes, and your packaging isn’t flashy. And your album’s going to be released in 35 countries. Why do you think this sort of simplicity translates so well into so many cultures?

JG: I don’t know, exactly. [In] many of the countries, guitar and vocals are very basic and very universal. At least for Europe and America. It’s something that people are familiar with. I don’t know. It’s a bit of a mixture, I think. Also, just the fact that if one culture likes it, it’s not that strange if another culture likes it too.

Paste: You studied biochemistry and you recently read The God Delusion (by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins). Are there any biology themes on this upcoming album?

JG: Not biology in that sense. It’s only comments. Many of the songs have a similar theme of this sense of being angry about something. Angry about the human race and the stupidity about us.

Paste: What kind of stupidity?

JG: In general, I picture myself if I was an alien looking at Earth and seeing what we’re doing to each other as a population and how much suffering there is and how much fighting there is. It’s probably laughable in a dark kind of way.

Paste: Tell me a little about some of the symbolism in your lyrics. Is there anything that’s very prominent that you are trying to get across to your audience?

JG: No…I mentioned The God Delusion in the biography [on my website] is because it’s one of two books that I’ve read. I haven’t read more than two books in more than a year. The other book is Practical Ethics Peter Singer. It’s not like a message. I just needed to get it off my chest in a way. I’m talking about the stupidity and the way cultures are treating each other is very unhealthy.

Paste: The BRAVIA commercial propelled your career. Are you surprised at how large an audience you have now?

JG: Yeah, definitely. But also I’ve seen other bands having a song in a commercial and there’s a whole bunch of Levi bands. Levi jeans. So it surprised me, but not totally.

Paste: Bands like Wilco and Of Montreal are catching come negative attention for selling their music to VW and Outback Steakhouse commercials, respectively. You seem to maintain your fanbase, though. Thoughts?

JG: I’m not sure of any artist that actually thinks it’s the best way to promote your music. It’s just a convenient way if they’re offering a lot of money or a lot of promotion. I think for a lot of artists it’s a mix between a necessary evil and just convenience. For a band that spends a lot of time on tour and is not earning that much money on record sales... I wouldn’t be too aggressive towards people that try to make a living from what they find fun in life. It’s important to make sure you’re not doing it... Did you say "steakhouse"? That’s a criteria I would never do. And Volkswagen is making cars, and I don’t think I would do that either, unless they would put out a car that’s super good for the environment, which I don’t think is the case. I wouldn’t sell my soul to the devil completely.

Paste: Do you ever think about deviating from your sound in the future, making it more full?

JG: Yeah, definitely. Not if it’s solo. Not under my own name. I don’t think I’d do it. I’ve already done some things with Junip. I would love to try new instruments and just have fun. But my solo thing—it’s kinda nice to be straight and know I’m going to do it with one guitar and nothing more.

Related links:
Jose-Gonzalez.com
José González on MySpace
Artist of the Week: José González

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Currently at home in Sweden recording the follow-up to his debut album Veneer, Swedish tunesmith José González will give fans stateside a chance to hear songs from his forthcoming record at seven shows scheduled for late April and early May, including a stop at Coachella in Indio, Calif.

As for the album, no release date has been set yet, but according to Mute Records, the LP will drop sometime in 2007.

April
26 - Marfa, Texas @ The Marfa Ballroom
29 - Indio, Calif. @ Coachella

May
1 - Grand Rapids, Mich. @ Ladies Literary Club
2 - Urbana, Ill. @ Courtyard Café
3 - Madison, Wis. @ UW Madison Memorial
4 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ Cedar Cultural Center
5 - Colorado Springs, Colo. @ The Smokebrush

Related Links:
José González’s homepage
José González on MySpace

Jose Gonzalez is anything but bombastic. Those familiar with his excellent first CD might correctly suspect his concert performance would be a low-key but lovely experience. That’s just what transpired in the intimate confines of Chicago’s Lakeshore Theater. You’d never guess (particularly judging by modest audience size) that Gonzalez is something of a sensation in Europe.

Aside from the fact that his songs are spare, acoustic pieces, the artist himself is a reserved and quiet performer to boot. Other than the occasional ‘thank you’ to the crowd, Gonzalez focused on his carefully structured picking (often using one hand for rhythm and the other for melody). While some solo performers develop a stage patter almost as a defense against their vulnerable position (how would you like to face a crowd with only a guitar to protect you?), Gonzalez lets his songs do the talking. It wasn’t until his encore when an audience member shouted a song request that Gonzalez let a bit of humor show, replying simply, “No.” He then stated it was a custom in his native Sweden to be hard on people to keep from being soft. Considering the source, it was a moment of ultra-dry humor that hinted at a certain sly wit.

The songs themselves were particularly affecting in person, with the Spanish-flavored arpeggios of “Lovestain” and folky meditation of “Post Mortem Boredom” standing out as particular highlights. With only a single disc to draw from, it was an all too brief evening (with Gonzalez augmenting his catalog with a quirky Bronski Beat cover), but it was clear that this was a rare chance to see an important artist developing.

Swedish musician José González will soon kick off a North American tour alongside British band Zero 7. Beginning Aug. 26 in San Diego, González will open each show and perform during the band's sets.

Zero 7’s latest album, The Garden, consists of four tracks featuring González, including a cover of his song “Crosses.”

After wrapping up that tour, the singer/songwriter will begin a set of solo dates, which will include stops at Paste's Rock 'N' Reel Festival, Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival and the Austin City Limits Festival.

González, whose album Veneer was reissued April 4 via Mute Records, will soon pay a visit to NPR’s All Things Considered. The run date has yet to be announced.

For more information, including tour dates, click here.

Hometown: Gothenburg, Sweden
Why You Should Listen: It’s under-produced, heartfelt and real. It’s self-engineered and worth it.
Fun Fact: Gonzalez recently quit his doctoral research in Biochemistry to start playing music full-time.
For Fans Of: Nick Drake, Geoff Farina, The Frames, Elliott Smith

A publicist might tell you José Gonzàlez is poised to take the world by storm. But if you ask the Swedish singer/songwriter, he’s more likely to take a thoughtful pause and say, “I like playing the guitar.” Someone who has played shows to captivated audiences and also traveled 13 hours through a Norwegian snowstorm to play for one man who was really just there for the coffee, the 27-year-old Gonzalez is getting used to riding the ups and downs of road life. The last few years have been a beta test for him—working out the kinks in a bigger project to figure out if it’s worth the trouble.

On his first full-length album, Veneer—which was released earlier this month in the U.S., after previously being available only in Sweden and the U.K.—Gonzalez simplifies and deconstructs traditional folk instrumentation, reducing the songs to their most basic elements. A classical-influenced guitar and two-part indie-folk harmonies keep it clean and understated.

Sung in English, Gonzàlez’s lyrics can be melancholy, and his voice can be both comforting and haunting, leading to Nick Drake comparisons. But it wasn’t until after these comparisons were made that Gonzàlez went back and listened to Drake’s music. After discovering Pink Moon he says he found inspiration in Drake’s picking style. His song “Stay in the Shade” was greatly influenced by Pink Moon’s signature sound, but Gonzàlez is quick to add, “I wouldn’t call myself a copycat.”

The soft-spoken Gonzàlez attributes his early steps toward success to his environment, saying that a lot of that Hives-ish Swedish garage-rock sound gets lumped together and ignored because it’s everywhere. But “playing folky music,” he says, “has been nothing but positive.”

Gonzàlez comes from an Argentinian family that “didn’t do music,” but supported his decision to pursue it. At 14, his first musical endeavors sprouted from two songbooks—a fat Beatles anthology and a compilation of bossa nova tunes. These influences are still evident today, most notably on “Remain,” the second track from Veneer. The Beatles manifest through harmonies and a call to action, which bounce atop the guitar’s rhythmic strum-and-drum pattern. The roots of his heritage and the memory of the songbooks transform what might’ve been straight classical guitar into something retro-modern and worldly.

Because his sound is based completely around one guitar and one voice, Gonzàlez says it was easy to record at home. “When I recorded this album, I didn’t know that much about recording. I just bought really cheap microphones and started recording on my computer.” He’s done all his albums this way, and for Veneer, had his friend Mikko Hellsing help with the mixing process.

The quality of Veneer is such that you’d assume either Gonzàlez had help or he’s a perfectionist, but neither is true. He insists that he prefers recording alone because of the “laidbackness” that studios and ensemble groups suck out of the artistic process. Each song starts out with hours and hours of playing around on the guitar, which he says he has the most fun doing. For Gonzalez, recording is nerve-wracking and performing is frustrating. When he creates music it’s a solitary experience—you could say he’s a loner. He writes, records and performs by himself. He admits to being a quiet guy. “I suppose I was kind of a sad young boy,” he proffers before suggesting that some people find his lyrics comforting. But of course, “other people hate it too. It just depends.”

Gonzàlez is grounded. He’s stuck in today, a bit uncertain of what his musical future will bring. He’s a little less on the cusp of stardom and a little more a 27-year-old kid with a chemistry set. But that’s what makes him appealing. The marriage of classical guitar and bossa nova can be unpredictable, and set to crisp, quiet lyrics the whole sound offers a sincerity many songwriters lack. Much like his attitude toward groups of people, audiences and studios alike, he wants to keep his music modest and restrained. “I like the idea of having just one guitar and nothing more. That’s how I’ve felt the most comfortable,” he says. “I think I will keep it that way.”