catapult magazine

Anybody out there heard of him?

I just hosted Damien Jurado at our university for a concert. He was really incredible. The students really enjoyed him and several alumni and local people who know him as an indie artist showed up as well.

I’ve been listening to his album on and off but I haven’t really focused on it. There’s some interesting things going on in the first track, a feeling of passiveness as he’s singing about murdering someone else. How was he in concert?

yeah im definately a fan of damien jurado. kind of folk with something new….

Does he ever do anything more on the uptempo, energetic side? When I listen to the whole “Where Shall You Take Me” album, I feel like he’s weighed down by too many sleeping pills. I just want to kick him in the ass and wake him up. It’s so dog-gone
s-u-p-e-r-s-l-o-w.

hey grant, it sounds like you would like the previous album a lot more, it’s called “i break chairs”. it’s very rock/folk-rock oriented and, in many ways, seems to be very opposite of “where shall you take me”. actually, “…chairs” is the oddball in his discography…it’s a departure musically at least. “where shall you…” is a return to his style. i guess it’s easy to see why him and david bazan (pedro the lion) work well together when they do.

Speaking of Semi-Christocentric bands that don’t suck, who’s into Starflyer 59 (nudge, nudge, fashionfocus)? I think they’ve done some great stuff. Of course, I also have a hard time listening to a whole album because it starts to sound a little prosaic and repetitive. I like their best hits collection muy mucho.

If I ever start a band, I’m going to name it “Semi-Christocentric.”

I do like Starflyer 59. My favorite is the “Fell in Love at 22” EP. I also just heard “Iron & Wine” for the first time. There was a discussion topic on them (him) a while ago. I usually don’t go for the very quiet, breathy vocals and acoustic sound (what Jack Black’s character in ‘High Fidelity’ calls ‘sad bastard music’. But I do like ‘Iron & Wine’ a lot.

starflyer has done some great stuff, i agree. they are probably my favorite band right now. i can understand complaints about the sound of both damien and starflyer….but i am really into mellow, even sad, music. so i love it. starflyer’s newer stuff though has been pretty rocknroll (for them anyway).

i going to go ahead and take this opportunity to suggest a few other bands im into….pony express, richard swift, or anything on velvetbluemusic. and ester drang……any thoughts?

Damien’s new album is a contender- it’s his most solid work in quite a while. You may also want to check out Headphones, the Electro-dark of Pedro the Lion hucksters Dave Bazan and TW Walsh.

Jurado puts on a great live show. I’ve seen him about four or five times and it’s always a very different experience. Sometimes he’s rocking, sometimes he’s sad and quite. Check ’em out if he swings by your town.