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Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Greatness All Around Us: Jon Brion



What does Kanye West's Late Registration, the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Punch Drunk Love have in common besides being masterful artistic works? It's as simple as looking up at the title above or the picture. But, just judging from the picture above you'd think he was a run-of-the mill caucasian man. Truth be told he's more like a musical genius. Jon Brion is multi-instrument musician, a producer and a composer. He started doing his thing around 17 when he dropped out of school to pursue music professionally. His mom was a jazz singer, and his father, a band director at Yale and both siblings heavily involved in music; even a dunce could see what the future held for Jon Brion.

He's worn different hats throughout his career. He's been a band member of The Bats (early 80s), Til' Tuesday (late 80s) and The Grays (mid 90s). He's also done the solo thing with a brief stint on Lava/Atlantic. During that time he released Meaningless, (97) his solo album. He played various instruments on Sam Phillip's LP Omnipop; produced albums for Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Eleni Mandell, Rhett Miller and Evan Dando. Brion also composed movie scores for Hard Eight, Magnolia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I (Heart) Huckabees and The Hard Break-Up. I can't speak for all of these movies but the score for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Punch Drunk Love are nothing short of incredible. The combination of the overwhelming visual aesthetic and the audio accompaniment combine to compel you to FEEL. I know it seems awkwardly phrased but watch and listen to either of those movies and you'll understand perfectly. I almost cried watching Eternal; no punchline intended thats simply the truth. Later in his career, he's moved on to production which seems like a natural transition. Besides the list above featuring the likes of Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwringht, he played a major part (executive producer) on Kanye's opus, Late Registration, and his upcoming release Graduation. He's currently working with Dido, Spoon and The Section Quartet. The guy's resume is nothing short of official. Still not convinced, the guy had tendonitis in his hand and performed his regular set of covers and original works at Largo (LA club) with one hand. If you're not impressed with that then you're either half god or a robot. Here's some tracks to preview.

Jon Brion-Eternal Sunshine Theme

Jon Brion-Punch Drunk Love

Aimee Mann-One

Kanye West ft. Cam'ron and Consequence-Gone

J. Burnett

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to read that poeple appreciate JOn Brion so much!

BUt people should be aware that Jon has been producing since almost the start of his carer -- the first major record being in 1993, Aimee mann's "Whatever."

Discography here
http://www.fairfax-avenue.com/discography.php

Anonymous said...

Ayo, the blog makes for a nice read. Some great original content. So I figured I'd return the favour and linked you up on mine.
Nice one,

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