Ezra Furman & The Harpoons - "Mother's Day"
Ezra Furman is the kind of character you make a documentary about. He's the perfect embodiment of the idea of "an artist will emulate their heroes in their early stages". He's a teenager (I'm guessing from photos) with an amazing ear for melody, a natural talent for writing, and a bunch of hard-working and competent friends to be in his band. But all of his music sounds like Bob Dylan. On the Ezra Furman MySpace is a pitcure of one of the band members sitting casually on a stool with a big Dylan poster behind him, and an actual home-movie-mockumentary of Ezra as Dylan, talking about "when Ezra went electric." The groundwork is laid, filmmakers, all these kids have shown they like being on camera, and the movie would have a pretty rad soundtrack. I'll do it if no one else does.
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons - "God Is A Middle-Aged Woman"
I'm not done yet. I really like this guy. In a damn-I-can't-help-but-be-charmed-out-of-my-head kind of way. This has more of a "Perfect Day" feel to it, but doesn't stray too far from the original thesis. The lyrics just scream "adolescent portrait of sad grown-ups", and one group suddenly says just as much about the other, it's kind of gorgeous. Friday's verdict: Ezra Furman's unabashed excitement and unapologetic wet-behind-the-ears-ness is the most tender, fresh, inspiring thing I've found in a while.
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I did an interview with Tune-Yards for Ajisignal, and it went up yesterday.
Posted by Dan at September 28, 2007 1:26 AMpretty dan bejar-ish too
Posted by dave at September 29, 2007 12:14 AMmaybe a drunkish-slurring bob dylan :DDD
Posted by cox1356 at September 29, 2007 8:32 PMA fine pick, sir. I couldn't even listen through the whole thing because I had to stand up and clap my hands a single time in anexcited outburst.
Posted by Altman E. at September 30, 2007 4:19 PMI would play God is a Middle-Aged woman for my mom, but I think it would make her cry.
It is currently, my very favourite song of many very favourites.
It makes me miss Dylan, or the first time I heard him play. me sitting on the floor of our living room and liking the sound of what I associated with my parents.
I'm rather fond of 'I just wanna be a sheep':
http://snipurl.com/1rm8d
Listening to Ezra reminded me of Alice Walker's Nineteen Fifty-five, in which Gracie Mae Still laments of a thinly veiled Elvis figure, "Well, Lord have mercy, I said, listening to him. If I'da closed my eyes, it could have been me. He had followed every turning of my voice, side streets, avenues, red lights, train crossings and all. It give me a chill."
But even if the tics and the timbre are the same, there's a substance, a love of words and a clever turn of phrase. Listening to Ezra, it's clear that he's chosen a particular path, but one hopes it takes him an interesting direction, as much as Dylan's appropriation of Guthrie's music and mannerisms was the start of something special.
Posted by kieran at October 1, 2007 6:08 PMyou get me completely, kieran.
Posted by dan at October 1, 2007 9:29 PMHe had me at "whore." Seriously, some of the best stuff you lot have posted, and that's really saying something.
Posted by colin smith at October 1, 2007 9:31 PMI think he has more of a Lou Reed feeling. I dig it.
Posted by Joey at October 7, 2007 1:38 AMThis is really good! I just bought the album off iTunes (yes, BOUGHT) and loved it! When is this guy gonna tour?
Posted by The Skunk at October 9, 2007 1:16 PMI'm a big fan of Ezra as well & just found something else I think is cool off of the Minty Fresh site- a band called White Shoes & the Couples Company. It's a band from Indonesia, I believe. Thought fans of Ezra might wanna check them out- you can get a free MP3 from their website- www.mintyfresh.com
Posted by Lauren at October 9, 2007 1:19 PM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
