ESOPUS MAGAZINE ::: Archive

ESOPUS CD #11: ADVICE

This issue’s CD concerns itself with something many people can never seem to get or give enough of: advice. We asked participating musicians to choose an item from an advice column or any other source offering some type of counsel, then use it as the basis for a song. Cicero once declared, “Advice is judged by results, not intentions.” Listening to the tracks inspired by these myriad reflections on the human condition, you'll likely consider them how-tos of the highest order.

TRACK LIST:

1. The Muslims, "Inside Job" READ ITEM
2. Shearwater, "Helix" READ ITEM
3. Wye Oak, "In Defense of Fetish" READ ITEM
4. Brazos, "Passenger" READ ITEM
5. Faca, "Two Tango"
6. Nina Katchadourian, "Castaway" READ ITEM
7. Lucky Dragons, "To Lilly at Age 15 20 25" READ ITEM
8. Jenny Owen Youngs, "Thanks, Mesopotamia!" READ ITEM
9. The Wingdale Community Singers, "Never Ever Fall"
10. Come Rad Comrade, "Spinning Us Around" READ ITEM
11. Stuart Dahlquist, "New World Order Rising" READ ITEM

MUSICIANS' BIOS

Austin, TX–based Brazos was founded by singer songwriter Martin Crane (Tonewheel Collective) and includes Nathan Stein, Austin Jenkins, Andy Beaudoin, and Paul Price. The band has released two EPs—Feeding Frenzy (2006) and A City Just as Tall (2007, Autobus)—and is currently working on a full-length album.

Located in New York, Come Rad Comrade is the collective project of T.M. Davy and Peter Zuspan. Zuspan is the founding principal of architecture firm Bureau V, and Davy is a painter whose work has been shown at Eleven Rivington in New York and Taylor De Cordoba in Los Angeles.

Now based in Long Beach, CA, Stuart Dahlquist formed the drone-rock collective Asva in 2003 in Seattle. The band has released two albums:
Futurists Against the Ocean (Mimicry, 2006) and What You Don’t Know Is Frontier (Southern, 2008).

Faca are Facundo Delgado and Valeria Leyva, who hail from Bariloche, Argentina, and Tijuana, Mexico, respectively. The two musicians met online in 2002 and produce their music via email and instant messaging. Last year, Nuevos Ricos released their debut album, Mi Deporte Favorito.

Nina Katchadourian is primarily a visual artist whose works incorporate photography, sculpture, video, and sound. She is represented by Sara Meltzer Gallery in New York and Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco and has exhibited at PS1/MoMA, Serpentine Gallery in London, and the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. In June 2006, the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY, mounted a survey of her work and published an accompanying monograph, All Forms of Attraction.

Lucky Dragons is the collaborative undertaking of Luke Fischbeck, Sarah Rara, and others. They live and work in Los Angeles and have thus far recorded 19 albums, including Widows, their 2007 release on Marriage Records.

The Muslims were formed in San Diego by Matt Lamkin and Matty McLoughlin, who were more recently joined by David Lantzman and Brian Hill. Currently based in Los Angeles, the quartet released its debut, The Muslims, earlier this year on 1928 Recordings.

Named after a long-winged seabird by part-time ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg, Shearwater (originally cofounded with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff) also includes upright-bass player Kimberly Burke and drummer Thor Harris. The band has released five studio albums since its inception in 1999, including Palo Santo (Misra, 2006) and this year’s Rook (Matador).

Novelist Rick Moody (The Ice Storm) and songwriter and film composer Hannah Marcus formed The Wingdale Community Singers in 2002 and were joined in 2003 by guitarist David Grubbs (Red Crayola, Bastro). An eponymous album was released in 2005 on Plain Recordings, and in 2006, the band expanded to include artist Nina Katchadourian. The group is currently at work on a new album.

Named after Maryland’s state tree, Baltimore-based Wye Oak features Andy Stack (drums and keyboards) and Jenn Wasner (guitar and vocals). The duo’s debut, If Children, was released this past spring on Merge.

New Jersey native Jenny Owen Youngs is a graduate of Purchase College with a degree in studio composition. Nettwerk Records released her first album, Batten the Hatches (2007), as well as the 2007 EP Take Off All Your Clothes. Her single, “Fuck Was I,” was featured on the television show Weeds.