Pages tagged “jenny lewis”

In honor of Paste’s new Lifestyle section (look for its debut in the Dec/Jan issue), let’s put together an outfit using seven of the best songs about fashion.

Start with the main attraction: a pretty dress. Pick a black one that gets you lots of compliments.

1.Sufjan Stevens “That Dress Looks Nice On You"

Photos taken at Apollo Theater by Sean Edgar

Two nights ago, I caught a great show at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse—up-and-comer Benji Hughes opened for one of my favorite artists of the last few years, Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis.

Review Haiku

Acid leaves me cold.
Bring me my rabbit fur coat.
Jen, you let me down.
—Rachael Maddux

Biiitch, please: Jen’s on fire!
Acid burns with spunk, pluck and
ambition. Cold? No.
—Nick Marino

Bring back Watson Twins.
This is campy and childish.
Nick: zero, Rach: one.
—Kate Kiefer

Listen to Jenny Lewis' "Fernando" from Acid Tongue:

Acony Records, label-child of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, has announced its first signing. The Whispertown 2000 is an indie-folk amalgamation from Los Angeles whose members include singer-songwriter Morgan Nagler, guitarist Tod Adrian Wisenbaker, little brother and bassist Casey Holden Wisenbaker and vocalist Vanesa Corbala. The group's first album, Swim, will be released Oct. 21.

The Democratic National Convention kicked off last night in Denver, Colo. with a tribute to Ted Kennedy and a heartwarming speech from Michelle Obama. All well and good, mind you, but it's the four-day bonanza of musicians set to perform that boggles the mind. While music has been prevalent in campaigns for the last few decades, Barack Obama and the DNC take the cake with a truckload of inspiring and interesting choices for this year's convention.

Balancing a solo career while you're in a band can be a difficult proposition. Oftentimes, artists use their best material for their solo albums, and their work with the band suffers as a result. Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis seems to have a real knack for it, though, deftly planting a foot on each side of that line of scrimmage and earning critical acclaim and commercial success for just about anything she lays her hands on. Having shed the Watson Twins like so many rabbit fur coats, Lewis has emerged from the Sound City Studios in the valleys of Los Angeles to unleash her newest solo offering: Acid Tongue.

There’s a little corner of the radio world called “triple A” music - it covers a lot of the stuff we at Paste like.  On the radio dial, that world is usually on public or non-commercial stations - often NPR-affiliated.  So these radio stations gather once a year to hear new music and discuss what's going on in the industry and sometimes we join them to eavesdrop on their annual “Non-Commvention” hosted by our friends at WXPN 88.5 in Philadelphia. It's a great chance to check out the bands showcasing for all these program directors. 

As Ben Gibbard ponders the meaning of life in our May issue, Brian Howe explores the nature of mother through the song lyrics of rap stars, indie rockers and, uh, Glen Danzig. Though the most important conclusion I drew from the piece is that I am really glad Danzig is not my son, it also reinforced for me the notion that, much like armpits, everybody has a mom—and like armpits, some people’s moms stink. Like, really stink—Ghostface Killah’s mom beat him for peeing the bed! Harsh, Mama Killah!

Quite unlike armpits, though, mothers are the subject of a few great songs. Iron & Wine’s “Upward Over the Mountain” and Smog’s “I Feel Like The Mother Of The World” are two of my favorites among the ones Howe mentions. Of course, it’s not just men that have immortalized and/or vilified their mothers in song. Plenty of female musicians have raised a musical glass to the women they came from (and may or may not, one day, become). Though lacking in Oedipal awkwardness, these songs still pack a punch.

Heaps and piles and loads of musical collaborations have been announced recently. TV on the Radio and The Roots are working on a track together. Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock recently went fishing with The Shins' James Mercer. The Grammy Awards live broadcast on Sunday will feature John Fogerty, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis rocking out together. The list goes on and on.

According to a Stereogum post, we can now add Jenny Lewis to the list. The Rilo Kiley singer has holed up at Sound City studios in the San Francisco Valley to work on the follow-up to her solo debut, Rabbit Fur Coat. If the location sounds familiar, it could be because it's the very same studio where Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers recorded Damn the Torpedoes and Nirvana recorded Nevermind. No pressure, Miss Lewis! Perhaps some sort of strange, spiritual collaboration will ensue, because surely the Sound City walls could tell more than a few stories. (After all, Elton John, Rage Against the Machine, Neil Young, Slayer and others far too numerous to mention make up the studio's client list.)

As for real-life, carbon-based musical cooperation, a number of notable folks have stopped by to contribute guest vocals. Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward (they of She & Him), Elvis Costello and the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson all contribute to the new, currently-untitled record. Lewis' boyfriend Jonathan Rice and Interpol touring member/indie-rock hired gun Farmer Dave have also helped out with the process.

Precious little else is known about the album at the moment, but expectations are high following Rabbit Fur Coat. Despite all the reported collaborations, no word yet if the Watson Twins will once again be involved.

UPDATE: Pitchfork has reported that Lewis' publicist calls the list of collaborators above both "misleading" and "inaccurate," but fails to clarify either of those descriptors. We'll keep you posted when we know more.

Related links:
Paste: The top albums of 2006
RiloKiley.com
JennyLewis.com

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

With dark, diagonal wood-paneling hugging rows of kelly green chairs, the Berklee Performance Center isn't shy about letting you know it was renovated in 1972. The retro atmosphere was spot-on, however, for Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, as they performed songs off Lewis' classic-country inspired album, Rabbit Fur Coat.

Opening the show with "Run Devil Run," the band transformed Lewis' startling hymn with new, bluesy verses and a steady, Motown melody for the chorus. Smooth, smokey-eyed lines like "...the devil came along/ in a long black dress" were winkingly self-referential, as both Lewis and the Watson Twins, (Chandra and Leigh, whom gracefully accompanied Lewis on harmony), stood confident and regal in black gowns, perfecting the stage presence of bandstand past.

Rousing an already enthusiastic crowd with the frenetic "Big Guns," the sparkling "You Are What You Love" followed, and the momentum gently distilled into the smoldering ache of "Melt Your Heart." Almost every song from Lewis' solo debut was performed true to original form, with auditory twists here and there for good measure.

Soon after, Lewis and the twins left the stage while guitarist Jonathan Rice introduced the band - Jason Boesel, (drummer for Rilo Kiley) Michael Runion, (an opener earlier that evening, on bass), along with Dave Scher on keyboards. Soon, the three ladies re-emerged from the draped curtains, decked in sequined mini dresses and cowboy boots, which was only appropriate attire for the new song that followed, "Fernando," an upbeat, wall-of-sound-ish number about the San Fernando valley where Lewis grew up.

"Born Secular" closed the show, with Lewis on lead keyboard, and drummer Boesel sealing the gospel number with a stirring drum solo. The encore included a lone Lewis, performing a still and solemn rendition of "Rabbit Fur Coat" while the band was ushered back in for a new song, the hardtimes-in-dixieland lament, "Acid Tongue." Arms draped over each others shoulders, the members of the group let out world-weary, uplifting harmonies, while the crowd rose for a standing ovation. Five minutes later, they were still giving that ovation - and it couldn't have been more deserved.

“This is the most honest that I’ve gotten. This is as close [as I’ve come] to who I think I am,” says Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis of her first solo album, pausing for a pensive moment. “That’s true right now, anyway,” she laughs. “I might change a few years down the road.”

Though elements of country, soul and gospel have poked through the seams of Lewis’ Rilo Kiley songs since she and guitarist Blake Sennett formed the band in 1998, the homespun intimacy of the stripped-down Rabbit Fur Coat might surprise those who only know her as the photogenic frontwoman of the band that opened for Coldplay. But to call it a departure seems inaccurate, as Lewis contends this album’s roots are buried deep inside her musical DNA, ingrained in the formative musical experiences of her childhood.

“I think there were a couple records that maybe because of the time in my life when I heard them for the first time, they still resonate with me, because I think of happy times growing up,” she says, explaining the inspiration for the warm, organic tones of her new record. “Laura Nyro [and] LaBelle’s Gonna Take a Miracle record was played a lot in the house growing up, and I was always fascinated with the backup vocals … And then, more recently, New Morning by Bob Dylan is one of my favorite records. Obviously, he’s awesome, but I love that one sound, as opposed to all of his other records.”

Recorded in 10 days (with first takes and spontaneity emphasized), Rabbit Fur Coat started taking shape after Lewis realized the album’s title track—a dreamlike marriage of Lewis Carroll imagery and Bobbi Gentry storytelling—wouldn’t fit on Rilo Kiley’s 2004 breakthrough, More Adventurous.

“That was the first of a batch of new songs that I started to write, really, without any intention. I just didn’t know where they’d go,” she explains. “However, I did know that there is quite a long period of time between when you write a song and record it, and I thought there was going to be a long time until the next Rilo Kiley record and that it might be a good opportunity to record some songs. And then Conor [Oberst] started his label a couple of years ago and said that if I ever wanted to make a solo record, he wanted to put it out, which I remember thinking was kind of far-fetched at the time. But remembering that, I thought, well, I have these songs and I should do something with them.”

A Collaborative ‘Solo Project’

With producer Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) and singer/songwriter M. Ward at the helm for this record, other friends were brought in to enhance the sonic backdrop. Lewis even drew some inspiration from another all-star project, enlisting Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and M. Ward to trade verses on Traveling Wilburys classic “Handle With Care.”

As much as the album benefits from its collaborative spirit, Lewis remains the dominant personality; her songwriting has never been so boldly autobiographical. “It’s hard to talk about,” she says, sounding frustrated. “I should have prepped myself a little better for these personal questions. It’s hard to talk about those songs that way, especially when the songs are personal. I haven’t found a great way to deflect those questions yet. Like when someone asks me, ‘Is that song about your mother?’ I could say, ‘No, it’s about your mother,’” she laughs, then trails into an awkward pause. “Well, I can say that the part about my parents getting back together again isn’t true, sadly. That’s the dream of every child of divorce.”

Apart from her achievements in songwriting, Lewis says that simply realizing she can make music outside the comfort zone of Rilo Kiley was an act of empowerment.

“I now know that I can do it alone,” she admits. “I never thought I could before. I had worked with Blake as my partner for so long, and I knew that he could do it alone, because he makes his own records. But I always thought, if Blake ever decides to leave the band, what would I do? I knew I could sing and play the guitar, but I didn’t know if I could make a record. It’s not that I don’t want to go back and work with Blake, it’s just a different process. And it’s really great to have both options. For once, I was happy, and I didn’t look back.”