Ben Kweller S/D

nonetheless, i enjoy parts of the album. i have hope b/c even in spite of the blatant mimickry he's a solid songwriter. also: he's very young and his best/more daring albums are obv ahead of him

And I'm usually not so militant about things, I just hate having shitty music so aggressively pushed upon me, as I feel is that case with Mr. Sha-Sha.

he's a kid, wayne.

perish the thought that anyone should make the same music they did when they were fifteen!

IMHO.

most fifteen year olds ARE trendoids though!

But like I said, if his stuff is your speed, enjoy.

This is probably the best description of his context, but Sha-Sha (the song, not the album) is enjoyable...but as you go further, it only goes downhill, and you'll run into his "I'm Only Sleeping" rip-off in the end.

So curious whether 1½ years later, the reviews would be different ...

I'm revisiting "Sundress" right this minute and really enjoying it. The new country record really left me cold, but there's something undeniable about his clean-cut, well-crafted approach to pop and I've found at least a handful of tracks to love on all of his previous releases.

There is nothing worse in the world that people who move to Austin and then start making "country" music.

Austin yuppie country is the worst music ever. I can get with some low down honky tonk stuff, but I can't stand the polite stuff aimed squarely at college graduates. I would rather listen to blatantly commercial Nashville records, at least they are honest about what they are doing.

I'm not going to disagree with that at all, I've always hated the trend of singer-songwriters "going country" when the well runs dry. But, in Kweller's defense, he did live in Texas for most of his childhood and there has been a tinge of country running through a lot of his work ("Family Tree" off Sha Sha for instance). None of that means that his country record isn't ass, even if he is slightly more legit in approaching country than your average transplanted hipster kid.

Austin yuppie country is the worst music ever. I can get with some low down honky tonk stuff, but I can't stand the polite stuff aimed squarely at college graduates.

What artists are you thinking of (besides Kweller, evidently)?

The lukewarm stuff I hear on KGSR and KUT when I flip through Austin radio stations. I honestly don't care enough about the stuff to really tell you who is rotten. If you live in town you will know exactly what I am talking about. Singer-songwriters who listen to too much Gram Parsons and not enough Hank Williams. The kind of people who think country music needs to be elevated to "literature".

As far Austin stuff I do like; I watched Redd Volkaert and Dale Watson play good shows. Bear and the Essentials played some good shows but they sound pretty old school. I am not a huge country fan, so I haven't dug very hard to find the good stuff that happens in small bars. Ginny's Little Longhorn had some great bands come though.

I was just curious; I haven't lived in south Texas for almost a decade and a half (!), and so I wanted to see if I knew any of the artists you're criticizing. Austin has a weird scene, where there are artists big there that don't get much exposure elsewhere; I'm thinking of Lou Ann Barton and Marcia Ball for instance, but these are from a long time ago.

So his new record is pretty good! Glad he decided to not stick with that country detour, he's back to straight-up, punchy power pop.

I admit to indifference but this revival is amusingly timed: last night I was relistening to Wig in a Box, the Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute album he's on -- he does a version of "Wicked Little Town" with Ben Lee and Ben Folds (do you see) and he sings lead vocals. My girlfriend, a massive fan of the play and movie versions, came in, heard that, wondered who was singing and proceeded to excoriate Mr. Kweller completely. As she is a massive country nut I figure if I told her he 'went country' earlier she might want to hunt him down.

I had no idea of the existence of that track, that thing with all the Bens sounds truly awful. I'll admit the guy's voice isn't the best, but I think it works well when he's in power-pop mode.

that thing with all the Bens sounds truly awful.

It doesn't help at all that the final two songs on the album right after it are Cyndi Lauper and the Minus 5 absolutely killing "Midnight Radio" in all its Bowie-glam-anthem-styled glory and Jonathan Richman reworking "The Origins of Love" into something brilliant and in his own style. Makes Kweller and company seem like the world's worst undercard.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/kitbrash/recordcovers/The_Bens_-_The_Bens_EP.jpg

Sad news

https://consequence.net/2023/02/ben-kweller-son-dead/

Ugh. Awful, awful, awful.

I opened this link earlier expecting a little kid, not a 16-year-old. Turns out Kweller isn't 24 anymore like he is in my mind.

The right writer for the right moment.

https://www.vulture.com/article/ben-kweller-cover-the-mirrors-profile.html

I'm afraid to read that, Jayson's book was devastating.