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:: Kidz Without A Curfew ::

:: They're Coming To See Us ::

I first saw Jason Falkner with The Grays, at Slim's in San Francisco. They were opening for the suddenly-and-inexplicably-kinda-buff 80's former Haircut 100 front man, Nick Heyward. I came away more impressed by The Grays, a collection of talented songwriters whose ranks also included Jon Brion, who's since made a mark with his work on the soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and his fantastic anything-goes shows at the club Largo in Los Angeles. (He plays there most Fridays, and I highly recommend it -- he's funny, plays just about anything, and you never know who might show up to play with him, though chances are favorable that it'll be Grant-Lee Phillips...)

Jason's a Southern California kid who's also played with The Three O'Clock (on their parting album Vermillion,) with Jellyfish (on Bellybutton,) Brendan Benson , Air, Eric Matthews, and many others. He's got a bit of the Rundgren in him, as he typically records at home, and plays all the instruments himself. He's got the pop chops, looks, and hooks to be a famous person, but for whatever reason he's never become one. Even though he's not famous, lots of famous people go see him live. I've seen David Cross, Adam Duritz, David Foley, Newman from Seinfeld, and Aimee Mann with her Romeo in black jeans, Michael Penn, all rocking out to him at various shows. I get the feeling he's loved the most here in LA, and maybe Japan, but if he comes to your town, go see him -- he really puts on a good show. He recently did some session work on Paul McCartney's newest material, on a few album tracks and a b-side. He should hopefully have a new album of his own out some time this year.

The three non-title tracks from the 1996 Miracle Medicine Sub Pop double 7", to my surprise, have apparently never appeared on CD, not even on the double CD Japanese odds n' sods comp Everyone Says It's On. I'm putting up both sides of the 2nd disc, one of which (Kidz Without A Curfew) is one of my favorite songs by him.


Tony

This entry was posted on Friday, April 14, 2006 at 5:51 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.