art
Friday
Jul232010

The Good Listeners Collaborate on Documentary

 
The Good Listeners' Nathan Khyber and Clark Stiles are no strangers to unconventional recording conditions. The Los Angeles duo's 2005 debut, Ojai, was recorded in a marathon 10-day stretch, one song per day, in a makeshift home recording studio; their 2007 album, Crane Point Lodge, took shape in a creaky country lodge in the Adirondacks, straight out of The Shining. If both of these situations involved self-imposed isolation, The Good Listeners have made good on their name for their fascinating new project, Don't Quit Your Daydream. Khyber and Stiles took a month-long road trip across the United States, finding a new co-writer in each new town and filming the entire odyssey. They spend time with hippies and drunkards, riverboat captains and precocious kids. The band even takes a detour to the Kentucky Derby with co-producer Adrian Grenier, star of Entourage.

The result of The Good Listeners' adventures is more than just twelve new tunes and a document of the Good Listeners' journey. Don't Quit Your Daydream explores why music-makers feel compelled to create.

The Good Listeners' Nathan Khyber and Clark Stiles are no strangers to unconventional recording conditions. The Los Angeles duo's 2005 debut, Ojai, was recorded in a marathon 10-day stretch, one song per day, in a makeshift home recording studio; their 2007 album, Crane Point Lodge, took shape in a creaky country lodge in the Adirondacks, straight out of The Shining. If both of these situations involved self-imposed isolation, The Good Listeners have made good on their name for their fascinating new project, Don't Quit Your Daydream. Khyber and Stiles took a month-long road trip across the United States, finding a new co-writer in each new town and filming the entire odyssey. They spend time with hippies and drunkards, riverboat captains and precocious kids. The band even takes a detour to the Kentucky Derby with co-producer Adrian Grenier, star of Entourage.The result of The Good Listeners' adventures is more than just twelve new tunes and a document of the Good Listeners' journey. Don't Quit Your Daydream explores why music-makers feel compelled to create.

Via ASCAP

 

Thursday
Jul222010

The Good Listeners: Debut Don’t Quit Your Daydream

The Good Listeners make some of the best music you’ve never heard. I’m not exactly sure why they haven’t gotten as much press as they deserve, and they’re not sure either, but with the release of their documentary, Don’t Quit Your Daydream, we take a journey with Nathan Khyber and Clark Stiles as they narrate how the band began and mull over their musical future and aural odyssey with local musicians from different walks of life. Filmed over a month, the duo travel across the United States and meet up with a local musician at each stop for a jam session. 


Starting in Joshua Tree, Calif., they meet Bingo, a minimalist with a keen sense of vocal harmony. He takes them to the famed Integratron, an acoustic dome of – literal – biblical proportions. There, they lay in the structure and improvise melodies and lyrics, and before the end of the day, they’ve created and recorded a song.

One of the most profound statements of the movie comes from their first collaborator in Joshua Tree, who utters, “Just do what you really love to do, because that’s what you’re best at.”

The best parts of Daydream are glimpses into their minds when a note or lyric turns into melodies. When they enter a metal shop in New Mexico, they look at sheet metal and think about how they can integrate it into their music; as it turns out, a complete stranger integrates himself into their jam session and an amazing but sad track is produced. The art gallery owner/video game genius in Texas took what might be one of the most innovative approaches to music I’ve ever seen.

With their new album of the same name releasing in conjunction with the movie, the Good Listener’s “daydream” will soon become a reality, and they’ll finally get the recognition they deserve.

Music: Special Features
By Erica Carter
Adrian Grenier with The Good Listeners, Clark Stiles (center) and Nathan Khyber (right).
(Credit: Frank Micelotta)
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