My Jerusalem - Demos, Live, and B-Sides

Seeing Jeff Klein and the Afghan Whigs in fairly close proximity recently made me realize that I should probably be revisiting their respective catalogs. The recent heat wave and subsequent ushering in of the air conditioning season has made darkly warm fare like said same and the new Crooked Fingers attractive soundtracks for indoor recreation.

I've seen My Jerusalem a couple times in recent years and am pretty sure I enjoyed them.  I bought this collection from the MJ web presence in the last couple months after Jeff played in town last and only recently got around to giving it some serious spins. The ten songs are as billed: demos, b-sides and remixes, with a couple live tracks from Daytrotter and NPR for good measure, all pretty decent for the most part.  The live versions of Sweet Chariot and Proposition are probably the most compelling thing here, but anyone that is a fan of My Jerusalem would do well to pick this up.

That said, I'm not sure how available this is anymore, but the My Jerusalem web presence is probably as good a place as any to start looking.

R

Live: Jeff Klein @ The Living Room 10.20.10

I got an e-mail at the last minute that Jeff was going to play a solo set at Living Room during CMJ. The previous night's The Riot Before showcase has been a scheduling clusterfuck of proportions that only CMJ could muster, but as the Living Room is close to my own living room, I figured it was worth the risk. His live shows can be kind of seat-of-the-pants affairs, and this one was no exception. Our hero arrived unrehearsed, on 100% borrowed gear and proceeded to level the crowd with forty minutes of amazing solo songs. Those that have seen Klein solo in the last couple of years have probably enjoyed his using loops and delays to compensate for the lack of a band. He's refined that technique to a remarkable degree. Few could pull such a feat off on borrowed gear, but Klein is seasoned well beyond his years at this point, touring heavily worldwide with Twilight Singers and My Jerusalem. The room was much closer to capacity than I've seen Klein draw in recent years and was pretty vocal about their enthusiasm. I'd say this bodes well for his recent EP doing ok and My Jerusalem getting some attention when Gone For Good drops 10/26. I just got a copy, so look for a review at JS-NYC soon.

Jeff Klein - Death Of The Fox EP

Jeff has been occupying his time not spent as a Twilight Singer of late with his My Jerusalem project, so it was news to me when I got an e-mail offering the new Death Of The Fox EP. I snapped it up in short order and have been pretty impressed. It reminds me a lot of The Hustler and the aforementioned Dulli/Lanegan helmed indie choir. There are percolating beats and lots of reverb, along with the quality songcraft that I'm continually amazed springs from Newburgh. My favorite is I Just Want My Fucking Life Back, but all of the tracks are pretty quality. Buy it here.

Further investigation reveals that this is but one of two EP slated to come out this year from Klein. There is evidently also a full-length from My Jerusalem, so if you're a fan, things look promising for 2010. Keep track of the possibilities here.

R

My Jerusalem - Without Feathers EP

My Jerusalem is the new-ish project from Mr. Jeff Klein, erstwhile Twilight Singers keyboardist, Newburgh native and all-around talented guy. Team TS is sort of the Ocean's Eleven of the up-and-coming set, what with Klein, Ed Harcourt and Joseph Arthur either currently or formerly tenuring in the fold helmed by Gutter Twins Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. My Jerusalem coalesced in New Orleans in Spring of last year, releasing Without Feathers and playing a handful of shows between NYC and the Midwest. The five songs here don't fall far from the tree, arriving darkly yet yielding strangely uplifting results. Sweet Chariot got some buzz early on and there was word of a twelve song full-length around the same time. No word on when the dirty dozen will be polluting our earholes, but My Jerusalem are playing CMJ on Saturday night at Fontanas around the 9:15 hour.

R

Ed Harcourt review up at PopMatters

Hey Kids:

My review of the new Ed Harcourt EP entitled Russian Roulette is now up at the PopMatters site. Check it out here.

Thanks to Sarah Zupko at PopMatters!

R