Jason Falkner

Jason Falkner
Born (1968-06-02) June 2, 1968
Origin Agoura Hills, California
Genres Power pop
Occupation(s) Musician
Years active 1988–present
Website www.jasonfalkner.net

Jason Falkner (born June 2, 1968) is an American pop and rock musician. Active since the late 1980s, he has performed with several bands. In addition to releasing several albums as a solo artist, he is a prolific session musician and producer who has contributed to dozens of other recordings by other bands and musicians.

Three O'Clock

While still a teenager, Falkner joined The Three O'Clock, as a guitarist (and composer of one song) on their final album Vermillion, released in 1988 on Prince's Paisley Park Records label. However, the band broke up shortly afterwards."[1]

Jellyfish

After The Three O'Clock folded, Falkner's friend Roger Joseph Manning Jr. convinced him to move to San Francisco to join his new band, Jellyfish. The band's 1990 debut album, Bellybutton, was a minor chart success and received some radio and MTV play. Falkner, however, had a number of disputes with other band members, primarily concerning his lack of songwriting opportunities, and what he considered the band's over-reliance on its influences instead of cultivating its own image. He left the band shortly after touring the world in support of Bellybutton, vowing never to join another band.[2]

Other groups

In 1993, Falkner worked with Fabulon as a guest musician. This led to jobs as a session player for several other bands, and he worked in this capacity when he met Jon Brion. Reluctantly breaking his vow against joining another band, he found himself in The Grays with Jon Brion, Buddy Judge, and Dan McCarroll. Composed of three separate songwriters/lead singers/multi-instrumentalists and a drummer, the band fervently disliked the pitfalls and self-imposed politics of most rock bands and did all in their power to avoid them. In spite of this, musical differences led to a rift between members. They released only one album, 1994's Ro Sham Bo, before disbanding.

Afterwards, he continued recording in his home studio, with the intention of releasing an all-covers album; however this album, and most of its songs, was left unreleased until 2001, when, titled Everyone Says It's On and augmented with demos of songs released and left over from his two solo albums, it was issued by Air Mail Recordings, a small Japanese independent label.

In 1995 he worked with Eric Matthews on his album It's Heavy in Here, which led to a recording contract as a solo artist with Elektra.

Falkner also collaborated as a songwriter, producer, instrumentalist and backup vocalist with singer-songwriter Brendan Benson on Benson's first two albums, One Mississippi (1996) and Lapalco (2002). Benson is currently a member of The Raconteurs.

Falkner produced "The Tourniquet" by the Norwegian singer-songwriter called "Magnet" in 2006.

In 2009, Falkner collaborated with Dutch singer and guitarist Anne Soldaat on the album "In Another Life", co-writing several songs and getting credit as the album's producer and mixer. The same year he also produced the acclaimed Daniel Johnston's new album Is and Always Was. Johnston wrote all the songs and Falkner added guitar, bass and keyboards.

In 2011 he produced "Franklin 101" 2nd album of a French pop band "TV Guests" and a Norwegian singer "Thom Hell". He also has recently recorded with lo-fi pioneer R. Stevie Moore and Ariel Pink.

Solo artist

In 1996, he released the album Jason Falkner Presents Author Unknown, which was produced, written, and performed almost entirely by Falkner (the only exceptions being a string section heard on several songs, and a guitar overdub on one song by Alain Johannes). Although it received strong critical reviews, it was not a commercial success. During that same year, he wrote several songs on Brendan Benson's album One Mississippi, and played various instruments on Susanna Hoffs second solo album, released in 1996. In 1997, he worked with Eric Matthews on a second album, The Lateness of the Hour, co-producing and assisting on five tracks.

In 1999, Falkner released Can You Still Feel?, another album written and performed as a completely solo effort, aside from the horns and strings. This album was produced with Nigel Godrich. In 2000 Jason kept very busy, touring and contributing to various projects. He recorded a song for a tribute album, and performed on Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Brian Reitzell's album Logan's Sanctuary, conceived as the soundtrack album for an imagined sequel to the film Logan's Run.

In 2001, he worked with Air on their 10 000 Hz Legend album, and toured with the band during the summer and fall as its bassist. During that time, spinART Records released Necessity: The 4-Track Years, a disc composed of old 4-track demos. Falkner's projects that year included an instrumental album of Beatles songs, and he contributed a track (Do Ya) to a Jeff Lynne tribute album Lynne Me Your Ears. While in France with Air, he worked with Roger Manning and Brian Reitzell again, this time performing under the band name, TV Eyes.

Falkner spent the summer of 2002 touring with Air, and contributed on albums for other artists, including Beck, Aimee Mann, and Travis. He began working on his third studio album in June 2003, and worked on albums for Beck and Air. In early 2004 he joined Travis on tour, as their opening act, to debut his Bliss Descending EP. He also contributed guitar parts to two songs on Paul McCartney's 2005 album, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. He is cited as playing assorted instruments on several tracks of Beck's 2006 album, The Information and 2008 album, Modern Guilt.

His third solo album I'm OK, You're OK was released in Japan, on Noise McCartney Records on April 18, 2007. It was released in the U.S. on February 16, 2010 with alternate versions of two tracks, "This Time" and "The Knew". Falkner's second album of instrumental Beatles covers, Bedtime with the Beatles 2, was released on June 17, 2008.

Jason Falkner's fourth solo album, All Quiet on the Noise Floor, was released in Japan on September 2, 2009. During a March 2013 interview, Falkner indicated that he is working on a new solo album and has already written five new songs. He hopes to release the new album in the fall of 2013, shortly after All Quiet on the Noise Floor is finally released in the U.S., perhaps digitally.

Jason Falkner has cited XTC, Elvis Costello, and The Beatles as personal influences.[3]

Discography

Solo

Other

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic.com Biography: Jason Falkner
  2. ↑ Myers, Paul. Review: Jason Falkner Presents Author Unknown. Crawdaddy, March 31, 2009. Accessed September 22, 2009
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0VXSTqv_xc
  4. ↑ http://by-legend.info/album1521961/jason-falkner/eloquence/

External links and references

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