* New series called #OpenEarsInfluencers, highlighting an album that had a major influence on artists, music industry folks, and music fiends alike’s love for music, an album that was really a catalyst and started it all for where they currently are in their musical journey.
This is a special week as we celebrate the upcoming release of Oryx & Crake‘s long awaited sophomore album, Marriage, due out September 25th via Deer Bear Wolf Records. This Saturday, September 12th, Oryx & Crake has a very special “Marriage” release show planned at The EARL with a reception to follow at the Brigantine Beer Parlor and Recreation Hall with Dot.s. If you are anywhere near Atlanta, you don’t want to miss this celebration.
Your RSVP is requested here. Formal attire optional.
Check out one of the tracks from Oryx & Crake’s upcoming album Marriage “The World Will Take Care Of Me”:
Leading to the upcoming Marriage celebration this weekend, we’ve asked each member of the six person band to give us their influential album. Check back here throughout the week to get to know Oryx & Crake and some of the influential albums that helped bring the band to this stellar new album. Read the first entry from frontman Ryan Peoples on Sufjan Stevens here.
Today we have two entries from the strings section (2nd one coming this afternoon). One of the things that makes Oryx & Crake’s brand of indie rock so unique is the dense soundscapes provided throughout, and a big part of that is the way they feature the space cello. Matt Jarrard, the longtime cellist for Oryx & Crake and another favorite, Book Club (among contributing to many other amazing bands), talks about his influential album:
Oryx & Crake’s Matt Jarrard influential album: Pink Floyd’s Meddle
“Meddle by Pink Floyd is my pick. I inherited this record from my dad’s collection (I suspect he bought it in ’71), so it has sentimental value, in addition to being a great record. A lot of things about Meddle remind me of my favorite moments of Marriage…the soccer (football) crowd singing “You’ll never walk alone” at the end of Fearless…the winds…reversed guitars sounding like whales or seagulls…and countless other found-sound easter eggs that make Meddle and Marriage special. Like many great moments in music, they come about through experimentation, creativity, and not being afraid try something new.
Too much info about Meddle:
- Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (clearly) plagiarized the descending and ascending guitars on Echos for one of his best known melodies in Phantom of the Opera (DAAAA-da-da-da-da-da!). Not very Knight like if you ask me!
- For a fun trip you can sync Echos with the Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite part of 2001 A Space Odyssey!”
– Matt Jarrard/Oryx & Crake
More On Oryx & Crake:
Website: www.oryx-and-crake.com
Facebook: @oryxandcrakeband
Twitter: @oryxncrake
Instagram: @oryxncrake
YouTube: Oryx and Crake
Soundcloud: oryxandcrake
Bandsintown: OryxAndCrake
Bio: Crafted in the Goode-Peoples home over the course of four years (and blooming with little intimate Easter eggs, like a recording of their friends sining at a Christmas party, or the voices of the their children), Marriage sounds much bigger than the rooms it was made in. This is thanks in large part to strings form Matt Jarrard (cello) and Karyn Lu (violin), as well as Ryan’s sound design tinkerings with audio both “found” around the house and created.
Such big sounds, themes and richness of detail could have made the record sag under its own weight. But Rebekah – who did her masters work in epics – helped give it structure in the well-worn fashion of the classics. The songs, like the epics, move in cycles – from the first blush of a thrilling new thing to the “underworld moment” of the “The Well”‘s dirge-like crawl to the woozy singing saw and blistered toes of closer “The Road,” which tips its hat at – who else? – Cormac McCarthy.
Check out the gorgeous album artwork by Bo Bartlett:
