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CrackyMcCrackerson · Joined: 26 Dec 2007 Posts: 145 Location: Kansas

I actually heard Jeffrey Lewis on pandora radio when I created a station based on Stephen Lynch, weirdly enough. I'm not a huge fan of Stephen Lynch, it was just a whim. I discovered a few artists through that station but Jeff's "Back When I was 4" came on and i was intrigued by him more than anything else.

I came into age musically around the age of 13. I began listening to punk like NOFX, Fugazi, Anti-Flag and stuff like that. As I got older I sort of drifted to indie like Cursive and post hardcore. Also around that time i became a huge Dylan fan which sort of got me into folky music though now I'm a bigger fan of rock music. Bringing It All Back Home is my favorite and Love and Theft after that.

ANYWAYS, my girlfriend has tried to get me into the Moldy Peaches a few years before I discovered Jeff but I wasn't too much into it. I love Kimya now but I'm not much into The Moldy Peaches, I don't know why. But what I'm getting at is I'm gravitated to bands with a punk aesthetic and great lyrics and Jeff's music embodied that to me. After I heard "Don't Be Upset" I went out and bought all his records and have been a huge fan since. To be honest, hearing Jeff was like another musical awakening and those don't come along very often.

I'm curious about everyone else's music habits and how you discovered Jeff or why you gravitated to him.

P.S.- I sound like a fan boy which is kind of embarassing.

granfalloon · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 72 Location: Virginia

Very odd but I first heard a song of his on Pandora too. I want to say it was You don't have to be a scientist to do experiments on your own heart.

which is beautiful by the way. I couldn't say for sure but I was probably listening to "Camper Van Beethoven Radio".

Dav · Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 1:28 pm Post subject:

I read an article about nyc anti folk in a french magazine called "rock and folk", wrote down a few names from it and search for it on the internet, i happened to find the Jeff's Peel session, i was really impressed hearing the last time i did acid i went insane, i got hooked since....i also remember loving the man with the golden arm from the same session, was in 2002.
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misshelenc · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:22 am Post subject:

My friend Rhodri gave me a cdr and said 'this will be your new favourite record'. He was not wrong! Sadly we've since lost touch, but he did know me so well.
(and just to add, I have brought 'proper' copies of all the albums since, and gave the cdr to my sister, to spread the love)
xxxx
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Never trust a heart so bent it won’t break.

andylips · Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 75

I was friends with a Cure fan, i think he knew i played acoustic guitar but never heard my songs. He sent me Don't let the record label../Oral sex song/ but wasn't mega into it. Then Back when I was 4 and was blown away, slowly got hooked. that was 2005. very slowly got into the rest of his music. by 2009 i was totally hooked and hunted down some of the last pressings of his comics (have them all except Fuff #6). I love the comics more and more every time i read them and the songs are beyond incredible. I think I have about 10 songs where I mention Jeff somehow. He rocks.

Michael · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 133

He was over by the merch table.

Tshack · Joined: 23 Nov 2010 Posts: 13 Location: Calabama

Just about a month ago, I happened upon a review in the online NYT of some band whose name I forget that Jeff was touring with. The review ended with just a brief sentence or two about Jeff that meant nothing to me -- but for some reason, I clicked the link to the Williamsburg Horror vid.

That was IT. I can still feel my overwhelming gobsmacked response: my jaw literally dropped with bemused shock, just like in a cartoon! So that led me to hunt down anything I could find on the guy, and I ended up @ the illustrated history songs, which only confirmed my growing conviction of his "wild talent," as Charles Fort describes it -- just a sparkly brain that you can't find anywhere else.

Since then I'm dipping into all the delights here, as well as on youtube, and have not been disappointed by anything I've encountered. Because I listened to way too much loud stuff in my youth, my hearing is a bit off and I can't understand the lyrics in Jeff's band music so I don't appreciate that quite as much, though I enjoy the energy.

Altogether, I prefer the solo material (or with just one or two quiet backup instruments, as in the City album sessions) that features the vocals. I actually love his voice -- the cracks and quavers in it are so expressive -- but really, it all comes down to the lyrics. I've even check out some other antifolk artists, hoping to find some similar spark, but nothing else I've heard has grabbed me.

As a kid I loved the Beatles but stopped listening to pop when they broke up. Back in the day (postpunk L.A. c. 1978-82) I played bass (sorta) and sang (sorta) in what you might call an antifolk band called Monitor (www.myspace.com/worldimitation), which started out as an art project that got out of hand, so we started a label and produced a few records of our own as well as the Meat Puppets debut EP.

After that, I returned to listening to my usual early music (baroque and before) and middle Eastern, African and Indian pop as well as some garbage commercial crap. Most recently, we started our label, Tripleshack, to launch Brendon Alvord, a great young old-school Americana singer-songwriter; TBR this coming spring.

But there's NOBODY like Jeff Lewis. I simply cannot listen to his songs without getting a big, dumb smile on my face and shaking my head in disbelief and delight. NOBODY else's music does this for me, so I am profoundly grateful this guy exists.

That's about it. Talk about fangirly -- Sheesh! But it's just the facts, ma'am, and I stand by 'em.

lauragek · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 167

I saw the movie Juno and loved the soundtrack. A few months later I got it via-via-via, and I discovered Kimya Dawson. On Last.fm I listened to her "radio" while making homework. This way I probably already heard a few songs of Jeffrey Lewis, but Anxiety Attack really caught my attention between all the other songs.

It sounded so completely different from anything I'd heard before and I immediately noticed the great lyrics. I listened to the other songs on Jeff's profile, especially Don't Be Upset (I played it on loop for hours).

Then I listened to quite some of his songs on youtube and decided that I HAD to have a cd, even though it would take about two weeks to order it from my cd shop. I got it for Sinterklaas (sort of Dutch take on Christmas (the presents part)) and have been a big fan ever since.

Even the songs I don't really like at first, get to me after listening a few times. There has not yet been a Jeffrey Lewis song that I don't REALLY like!

AFB · Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 245 Location: Bristol, UK

If you want to know how I got into Jeffrey Lewis pretty much all you need to do is read CrackyMcCrackerson's post again!

Glowworm · Joined: 18 Dec 2010 Posts: 22

I think I was reading some blog post about anti-folk and i really liked the idea of it. i got really really into it and eventually discovered jeff lewis. i love how crackly and rough his voice is in a lot of songs. sounds great Smile

lucy · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 13

The stand up comedian Daniel Kitson used to host a graveyard shift on the radio station Triple R in Melbourne during the Comedy Festival. I was listening to him one night in the wee small hours and he played Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song and I loved it. Something about the honesty and the humour in it touched me. I bought the album the next day and that was me gone.

roszs · Joined: 10 Feb 2011 Posts: 1

I wandered into a Jeff Lewis gig in Yorkshire about five years ago and was totally blown away and have loved him ever since. Recently I saw him do a short set at the Tate Modern, am gutted there are no more UK shows coming up!

Ponchos Sweater · Joined: 16 Mar 2011 Posts: 11

Backyard FX.

I was a major film nerd, doing tons of videos and reading and learning about how to film.

I had just started listening to Neutral Milk during that time and then at the end of one of the videos I watched they had this "How to make a music video on $100" thing.. "To Be Objectified" was the video that was playing.

The line "Going bald is the most manly thing I'm ever gunna do" just caught me and a listened.

It was OK.

Listened to a few more songs.

Really didn't enjoy them.

Eventually I started noticing how amazing his lyrics were.

From that point on I remember reading/hearing an interview where he talked about how guitar is such an easy medium to express yourself.

That's about when I put down my camera and picked up a guitar too.

Fishkins · Joined: 31 Jan 2011 Posts: 18

I was riding in a car and my friend put on Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror. I immediately knew I had to get all of Jeffrey Lewis' music. I don't think any other song I've heard holds a candle to that one, lyrically speaking.

FupidStaggot · Joined: 14 Apr 2011 Posts: 1

I really had nothing to do, so I was just reading about Pitchfork on Wikipedia (yeah, I know), and lower in the article there's a Parodies section, and Jeff shows up there because of "So What". I clicked his name for some reason.

I thought "Hmmmm, folk singer-songwriter, eh? I like those fellas. Watchmen? Alright, I'm checking this guy out".

I heard To Be Objectified and kinda added him to my deck of people I hear occasionally. About a month later, i put on "Life", randomly. I payed attention to the lyrics and was just like "Holy. Shit." He's been one of my personal heroes since.