Jeffrey Lewis | |
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 Jeffrey Lewis performing at Super Happy Fun Land, Houston TX, January 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jeffrey Lewis |
| Born | November 20, 1975 New York City, United States |
| Genres | Anti-folk, folk punk, indie rock |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Rough Trade, Don Giovanni Records |
| Website | thejeffreylewissite |
Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist. [1]
Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. [2] [3] He attended State University of New York at Purchase, graduating in 1997 with a degree in literature. His Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen . [4]
Lewis also lectured on the topic of Watchmen at the Institute For Cultural Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2000, and the text of his lecture ("The Dual Nature of Apocalypse in Watchmen") was published in the book The Graphic Novel, edited by Jan Baetens, in 2001. [5]
Starting in 2000, he spent about two years living in Austin, Texas, playing open mic nights, working odd jobs and distributing his autobiographical comics to local coffee shops.
Several of his musical influences have been acknowledged in his songs such as "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror", and "The History of The Fall." Lewis' lyrics are complex and literate, often combining a nihilistic world-view with a hopeful message and sharp wit. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, his songs are also highly informed by his home surroundings, with songs name-dropping places such as Williamsburg, the FDR Drive and the East River.
Lewis is often regarded as part of the antifolk movement, [6] foremost because he was one of the many bands and performers (including The Moldy Peaches, Kimya Dawson, Diane Cluck, Regina Spektor, Major Matt Mason USA and Lach) who played in the 1990s at New York's SideWalk Cafe and its biannual antifolk festivals and open mic events. His music also possesses certain traits of a perceived antifolk style – a downbeat self-deprecating humor, an off-kilter singing style, a mixture of acoustic and 'punk' songs which feature themes of everyday occurrences and feelings. Lewis himself does not mind the 'antifolk' tag: "I think it's a cool title. The fact that no one knows what it means, including me, makes it kind of mysterious and more interesting than saying that you're a singer/songwriter or that you play indie rock." [7]
After being signed by the British record label Rough Trade in 2001, Jeffrey Lewis released his first official album The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane . Also that year (in February), Lewis was visited by Kimya Dawson while living in Austin, Texas. Over the week she stayed there, they wrote five songs. These songs were later re-recorded with a full band and released by K Records under the moniker "The Bundles," on an album of the same name, in 2010. [8]
In 2003 Rough Trade released the album It's the Ones Who've Cracked That the Light Shines Through, credited to Jeffrey Lewis with Jack Lewis and drummer Anders Griffen. His third Rough Trade record, City and Eastern Songs , was released in the UK in November 2005 and in the US in September 2006. Most of Lewis's albums also include his brother, Jack Lewis, who wrote or co-wrote and sang and played bass on a number of the songs. In October 2007, Rough Trade released 12 Crass Songs , a Jeffrey Lewis album consisting entirely of songs written by the British punk band Crass, reworked to match Lewis's antifolk style.
He has also performed and collaborated with Kimya Dawson of The Moldy Peaches as well as Diane Cluck. Some of his hand-drawn comics appear in the cover art of his CD releases.
In June 2008 Jeffrey was the support act for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks in Europe. Other well-known acts that Lewis has performed shows or whole tours with include The Presidents of the United States of America, Devendra Banhart, Jarvis Cocker, Black Dice, Adam Green, Thurston Moore, R. Stevie Moore, the Fall, Kimya Dawson, Beth Orton, Frank Black, the Fiery Furnaces, Daniel Johnston, Scout Niblett, the Mountain Goats, Dr. Dog, The Moldy Peaches, Cornershop, Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Wooden Wand, the Cribs, Danielson, Herman Dune, Los Campesinos, Roky Erickson, and Super Furry Animals.
The New York Times has published his writings and graphic works. [9]
The New York Times online Op-Ed page "Measure For Measure" hired Jeffrey Lewis to write a number of short essays on the topic of songwriting, some of which he drew in comic book form. All went up on The New York Times website at intervals from 2008 to 2013. [10] [9]
Lewis has created a number of illustrated historical songs, usually sung while flipping through accompanying books of color drawings, including ten such pieces which are in use by The History Channel on their website. [11]
In November 2011 The New York Times ran a feature article on Jeffrey Lewis in the Arts section of November 23, written by Ben Sisario. [12]
Lewis published a comic strip in The Guardian newspaper in London. It was entitled "What Would Pussy Riot Do?" and it was printed on the occasion of a new release of a single with the same title. [13]
In a January 2018 "MusicMakers" interview with Adafruit, Lewis announced he was working on numerous new projects, including "Writing a new issue of my comic book series, mastering an album I recorded of covers of Tuli Kupferberg songs, mixing an album I recorded in collaboration with Peter Stampfel, and working on writing and recording new songs with my band for my own next album. Remastering and repackaging my old 2005 album “City & Eastern Songs" for a deluxe vinyl re-issue." [14]
Jeffrey has his own comic book series titled Fuff (formerly called Guff). The series ended in 2020 with issue 12. In 2021 the Complete Fuff Comix Collection was released, a bundle of all 13 issues with an exclusive dust jacket and 3 page bonus comic. [15]
In March 2009, he designed the cover to the sixth issue of Bearded magazine.
Comics
Lach is an American singer-songwriter who founded the Antifolk movement, which is cited as a main inspiration by contemporary performers like Beck, Jeffrey Lewis, Hamell on Trial, The Moldy Peaches and Regina Spektor in the US and Laura Marling in the UK.
The Moldy Peaches are an American indie group founded by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson. Leading proponents of the anti-folk scene, the band had been on hiatus since 2004, but in 2023 announced they would be reuniting on Twitter. The appearance of their song "Anyone Else but You" in the film Juno significantly raised their profile; Dawson and Green made a handful of reunion appearances together in December 2007.
Adam Green is an American singer-songwriter, artist and filmmaker.
Kimya Dawson is an American folk singer-songwriter, one half of the anti-folk duo the Moldy Peaches. Dawson's work with the Moldy Peaches earned them a cult following and critical acclaim, with their 2001 song "Anyone Else But You" landing a spot in multiple acclaimed indie film soundtracks. "Anyone Else But You" as performed by Michael Cera and Elliot Page charted on the Billboard Hot 100 after its prominent inclusion in the 2007 film Juno, the soundtrack of which includes several songs by Dawson and her associated musical acts. The song remains Dawson's highest charting single to date. In addition to their work with the Moldy Peaches, Dawson has released seven solo studio albums and collaborated with various other artists from a diverse range of genres, including Aesop Rock, They Might Be Giants, The Mountain Goats, and Third Eye Blind.
A demo is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed format, such as cassette tape, compact disc, or digital audio files, and to thereby pass along those ideas to record labels, producers, or other artists.
Diane Cluck is an American singer-songwriter. She describes her music as "intuitive folk". She currently resides in Virginia.
Toby Goodshank is a musician and visual artist based out of New York City. In addition to his solo work, he performs regularly with New York City-based bands Double Deuce, the Tri-Lambs, and the Christian Pirate Puppets.
Jack Lewis is an American musician and artist. He was born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He is the younger brother of Jeffrey Lewis, whom he has often performed and recorded with. Jack Lewis is now based in Portland, Oregon
It's the Ones Who've Cracked That the Light Shines Through is the second album by anti-folk artist Jeffrey Lewis, with Jack Lewis and Anders Griffen. It was released in 2003 on Rough Trade Records and on vinyl in 2015 on Don Giovanni Records.
Major Matt Mason USA is the recording project of Matt Roth, an American musician and record producer active in the anti-folk and DIY music scene of New York's East Village.
12 Crass Songs is the fourth album by anti-folk artist Jeffrey Lewis. It was released on October 1, 2007 on Rough Trade Records. The title is literal, as all 12 songs on the album were written and first recorded by the band Crass.
Anticomp Folkilation is a 2-CD compilation album featuring a variety of artists from New York's anti-folk scene.
Music from the Motion Picture Juno is the soundtrack for the 2007 film Juno. The album compiles mostly indie rock songs from the 2000s, and was released by Rhino Entertainment on December 11, 2007. It received enough critical and commercial success that other compilations and expanded re-releases have been released in subsequent years.
'Em Are I is the fifth album by anti-folk artist Jeffrey Lewis, and the first credited to Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard. Lewis revealed the following in an interview with Audio Antihero Records.
'Em Are I is probably the one I feel best about as a representation of a well thought-out studio album, where I had the time to get things a bit more how I wanted them instead of just ending up with what I got accidentally. I think the "Mini-Theme" track at the end of 'Em Are I is just about the best song recording I've managed to do, I'm very happy with how that came out.
Audio Antihero is a British independent record label formed in October 2009 and based in South East London. They have been the centerpiece of several radio BBC, PRI and international radio stories.
Anders Griffen is a drummer, composer, and trumpet player from Brooklyn, New York. Griffen works in a range of contexts including folk, jazz, pop, improvised music, and modern dance theater.
Fighting Kites were an English instrumental indie rock band from North London, England. They have been praised by Indie press and BBC radio for their unique approach to contemporary instrumental rock music, taking their influences from '60s pop/R&B outfits like The Shadows and Booker T & The MGs as well as Japanese Noise acts.
The Bundles is the only studio album by the supergroup of the same name, released on March 9, 2010 on K Records.
The Bundles were an anti-folk music group formed in 2001 by Jeffrey Lewis and The Moldy Peaches' Kimya Dawson. Their members included, in addition to Lewis and Dawson, Lewis' brother Jack, Brooklyn-based drummer Anders Griffen, and indie rock musician Karl Blau. They released one eponymous album, on March 9, 2010, on K Records.
Brian Speaker is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer working in New York City. He has worked with many acts in the city's anti-folk scene, including Jeffrey Lewis, Peter Stampfel, Hamell on Trial, and Brook Pridemore.
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