Johanna Samuels
Jumpers, Money & King, Little Anchor
Sun, November 18, 2012
8:00 pm
Cameo Gallery$7 at the door
This event is 21 and over
http://www.cameony.net/event/173475/
Share This Event
Johanna Samuels
Johanna Samuels reminds us that pop music isn’t so bad. That, despite its sometimes saccharine, sometimes structured outer coat, it is raw on the inside, and full of ache. Johanna grew up on pop music. Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Paul Simon, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison, The Band. Johanna would play these songs on repeat and rush to the piano to find the melody on the keys. Chasing out a beloved lick helped her capture what she loved about each song, helped her understand the feeling behind the chord progressions. To this day, Johanna still plays by ear, but this is hardly a handicap—she approaches songwriting without the logic of measures and keys and time signatures. The result is a wonderfully pure collection of songs, melodically uninhibited and lyrically generous.
You’d never know that Johanna, now a darling of the music blog circuit, was the quiet one. Always the accompanist, the rhythm section, the backup. She liked to blend in, a skill she honed in choir. For Johanna, harmonizing in choir triggered a new passion for contemporary pop artists who thrived on melody: folks like Elliott Smith, Ben Kweller, Jon Brion, and Aimee Mann. Even though Johanna felt more comfortable sussing out the songs of her idols on the piano, she began writing songs of her own while attending college in New York City.
During that time, she wrote and collaborated with friends in her hometown of Los Angeles as she pieced together her first two projects, A Little Bit of Both and Lemonade. Both of which were little more than a collection of demos, produced and recorded on Johanna’s laptop. Upon returning to Brooklyn, she wanted to produce something cleaner, thus Giant Fantasy Life was born. Recorded at a friend’s studio on Sundays for the better part of a year, the album is named after a line from one of Johanna’s favorite Elliott Smith songs. The songs deal with the discrepancies between the physical world and that of the mind, and the complications that come with reconciling the two. “That’s what the mind is,” Johanna says, “a giant fantasy life.”
You’d never know that Johanna, now a darling of the music blog circuit, was the quiet one. Always the accompanist, the rhythm section, the backup. She liked to blend in, a skill she honed in choir. For Johanna, harmonizing in choir triggered a new passion for contemporary pop artists who thrived on melody: folks like Elliott Smith, Ben Kweller, Jon Brion, and Aimee Mann. Even though Johanna felt more comfortable sussing out the songs of her idols on the piano, she began writing songs of her own while attending college in New York City.
During that time, she wrote and collaborated with friends in her hometown of Los Angeles as she pieced together her first two projects, A Little Bit of Both and Lemonade. Both of which were little more than a collection of demos, produced and recorded on Johanna’s laptop. Upon returning to Brooklyn, she wanted to produce something cleaner, thus Giant Fantasy Life was born. Recorded at a friend’s studio on Sundays for the better part of a year, the album is named after a line from one of Johanna’s favorite Elliott Smith songs. The songs deal with the discrepancies between the physical world and that of the mind, and the complications that come with reconciling the two. “That’s what the mind is,” Johanna says, “a giant fantasy life.”
Jumpers
Jumpers live in Brooklyn, NY, where they enjoy playing music and jumping on the couch, among other places.
Money & King
Childhood friends, Brandon Goldstein and James Sparber, started Money & King after a decade pursuing other musical projects on opposite coasts. The singer-songwriters teamed up in Brooklyn with bassist John Loggins to begin writing and recording, and were joined by close friends and collaborators from New York and Los Angeles to create their debut album, Across The Cul-De-Sac. Released in 2013, the album is distinctly rooted in the album-based electric folk-rock and country of the late sixties and seventies and features lead guitars, keys, lap steel, and harmonica from Jeff Mensch (Bel Air), Sean O’Brien (Papa), Tyler Cash (Henry Wolfe), and Brady Bagger (Colonna Sonora).
Little Anchor
Little Anchor blends the storytelling and simplicity of the Northwest with New York influenced pop sensibility.
The Brooklyn-based four-piece was initially conceived over a long weekend in a cabin on the Columbia River Gorge as the solo project of Pacific Northwest native, Alexa Cabellon in May 2009. Upon her return to New York, the small front-woman with big ideas shared her material with friends and former NYU classmates Kendrick Lo (guitar), Thomas White (bassist), and Ian Chang (percussion), who now complete the group.
Following their first gig at a tiny café deep within New York City's Chinatown, Cabellon finished writing the group's debut EP Sunland in the early winter of 2010. Self-released on June 17, 2010, Sunland combines heavy melodies, thoughtful lyrics, and sweet yet versatile vocals.
From the Sunland EP, Little Anchor redesigned, rerecorded, and re-imagined the song "Until Our Eyes Adjust" at Galuminum Foil Productions with recording engineer and producer, Gary Atturio. The hauntingly delicate first single off of Yellow Lights, "Until Our Eyes Adjust" was released in February and features four-part string arrangements written by Gabriel Gall and Ian Davis of The Relatives and performed by fellow NYU classmates Josh Henderson on violin and viola, and Kristine Kruta on cello.
Following the release of "Until Our Eyes Adjust," the band returned to the studio with Atturio to record the rest of the EP in the spring of 2011. Yellow Lights showcases Cabellon's smoothly rich voice amid a collection of songs that vary from the smart, rhythm heavy opening track, "Don't Be Scared to Move," which includes pots and pans recorded in the kitchen of Cabellon's Brooklyn apartment, to her strength as a ballad songwriter in the lush and dreamy arrangements of "A Sentimental Way" and "SEA/MD," to the hard-hitting, anthemic closing track, "When You're Looking."
Yellow Lights – a reference to the reflective moments held within each track that serve as reminders to slow down – will be released digitally on September 6, 2011. Limited edition 12" 45rpm vinyl with hand-drawn artwork by Barclay Douglas will be released at the Yellow Lights EP Release Party at Glasslands in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 with Amy Klein (of Titus Andronicus) and Miracles of Modern Science.
The Brooklyn-based four-piece was initially conceived over a long weekend in a cabin on the Columbia River Gorge as the solo project of Pacific Northwest native, Alexa Cabellon in May 2009. Upon her return to New York, the small front-woman with big ideas shared her material with friends and former NYU classmates Kendrick Lo (guitar), Thomas White (bassist), and Ian Chang (percussion), who now complete the group.
Following their first gig at a tiny café deep within New York City's Chinatown, Cabellon finished writing the group's debut EP Sunland in the early winter of 2010. Self-released on June 17, 2010, Sunland combines heavy melodies, thoughtful lyrics, and sweet yet versatile vocals.
From the Sunland EP, Little Anchor redesigned, rerecorded, and re-imagined the song "Until Our Eyes Adjust" at Galuminum Foil Productions with recording engineer and producer, Gary Atturio. The hauntingly delicate first single off of Yellow Lights, "Until Our Eyes Adjust" was released in February and features four-part string arrangements written by Gabriel Gall and Ian Davis of The Relatives and performed by fellow NYU classmates Josh Henderson on violin and viola, and Kristine Kruta on cello.
Following the release of "Until Our Eyes Adjust," the band returned to the studio with Atturio to record the rest of the EP in the spring of 2011. Yellow Lights showcases Cabellon's smoothly rich voice amid a collection of songs that vary from the smart, rhythm heavy opening track, "Don't Be Scared to Move," which includes pots and pans recorded in the kitchen of Cabellon's Brooklyn apartment, to her strength as a ballad songwriter in the lush and dreamy arrangements of "A Sentimental Way" and "SEA/MD," to the hard-hitting, anthemic closing track, "When You're Looking."
Yellow Lights – a reference to the reflective moments held within each track that serve as reminders to slow down – will be released digitally on September 6, 2011. Limited edition 12" 45rpm vinyl with hand-drawn artwork by Barclay Douglas will be released at the Yellow Lights EP Release Party at Glasslands in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 with Amy Klein (of Titus Andronicus) and Miracles of Modern Science.