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Posts tagged The Young Republic
New Young Republic: ‘Bows In Your Arms’
05 years ago
in MP3s
The Young Republic were the very first band I ever wrote about on this blog, so it’s always fun to check in with what they are up to every now and again. Being the busy student musicians types that they are, new material doesn’t appear all that often, but it seems that they are getting back into recording mode again. They are currently putting together a new EP which will be released soon, and will shortly begin work on their newest full-length album, which will be their biggest release to date.
‘Bows In Your Arms’ is a brand new demo, and it sounds nothing like anything I’ve heard from them previously. While most of their previous material was orchestral indie pop, this has much more of a dirty, blues rock kind of vibe going on. It felt so different at the start that it didn’t appeal to me at all, but after a few plays, I’ve warmed to it considerably. I still prefer their older, more classical twinged pieces, but there’s certainly something interesting about this. Hopefully the band will keep experimenting with their sound to see just what they can do when it comes to laying down an album.
MP3 The Young Republic – Bows In Your Arms (expired)
Old Young Republic:
MP3 The Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States
MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays
The Young Republic: Website || Myspace || AFoR Interview
Other stuff
There’s a nice little competition over at Nothing But Green Lights where you can win some lovely Sky Larkin artwork. Think of how cool you’ll be when you’ll be with that on your wall when they make it big.
Proving that deserving talents are sometimes recognised, Another Form of Relief favourite Kate Nash has signed a publishing deal with Universal. You can read all about it on her Myspace blog.
Those of you that haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Los Campesinos! live can get a little taster of the experience from a couple of live videos that have been posted to Youtube. Both ‘We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives‘ and ‘Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Broken Breakbeats‘ are songs that are only played live at the moment, so you can also sample a couple of new songs at the same time.
Sadly, two of my favourite music blogs have decided to call it quits over the past few days. Both rbally and Clever Titles Are So Last Summer were always well written and packed full of great music. It’s very sad to see them go, particularly given how many other great blogs we seem to have lost of late.
The Young Republic: Live on WOXY
05 years ago
in MP3s
I adore The Young Republic. I gushed about them in my very first post on this blog. I even had a chance to interview them a couple of months ago, and I try and get a mention of them on here at any oppurtunity. This is mostly because I see them as the second coming of Belle & Sebastian. While I absolutely B&S, nothing they do seems to come close to their first two albums. The Young Republic to me feel as if they have picked off where those two albums left off. This isn’t to say they are a mere clone, as they do bring their own sound, it’s just a fair comparison. As for how they describe themselves, their website puts it the best:
When asked to describe our music, we generally say orchestral-folk-rock because that is the description that tested best with our sample audiences. If you look like the kind of kid who listens to Pavement we put indie in front of that description. We can’t really get to into detail about what we sound like because it would most likely be long winded and self-nullifying and our publicist told us just to stay quiet and show humility. We just enjoy playing music and are happy if you like it.
The Young Republic are made up of nine music students from Boston, who have already released several CDs, all while still getting on with their studying. That their sound is already so refined is all the more impressive. The reason for this post though is that they performed a set for WOXY back in May, which nobody seemed to blog about. WOXY themselves put their five song set up on their website as one long file, which I’ve split into the individual songs. At least I think I’ve done it properly. I’ve never tried any kind of editing like this before, so apologies if it’s all gone wrong. They all sound fine from a quick listen though.
The set itself sees them play a bunch of new songs, which all of which are rather good, particularly opener ‘If You Are A Salesman’. Also included is ‘Blue Skies’ from their latest release, ‘Modern Plays’, and all-too-country closer ‘Goodbye Town’ from earlier release, ‘Your Heart Belongs In Tennessee’. All of the songs are performed with record quality tightness, aside from the awesome conclusion to ‘Goodbye Town’, which seems to just turn into a very cool jamming session.
MP3 The Young Republic – If You Are A Salesman (expired)
MP3 The Young Republic – Autumn’s In The Trees (expired)
MP3 The Young Republic – Blue Skies (expired)
MP3 The Young Republic – Girl In A Tree (expired)
MP3 The Young Republic – Goodbye Town (expired)
The Young Republic: Website || Myspace || AFoR Interview || WOXY: Website
Adrien
06 years ago
in MP3s
So yesterday was pretty crappy all round. My car finally gave up and decided to properly breakdown, which caused no end of hassle. The positive part is that it was a relatively small fault, which was fixed pretty cheaply. The negative is that this took hours to do and led to me being massively late for work and being exhausted by the time I started. By the time I finished it was all I could do to collapse into bed and sleep for the best part of ten hours. Which for me is about double what I would usually get. Still, everything is right again now, so it’s time to get back to the music.
I’d like to introduce you to Adrien. That simple name doesn’t give anything away about what he does musically, and believe me, it’s something special. Adrien is actually the younger brother of Julian, the singer from The Young Republic (who I interviewed here). He makes music that wouldn’t sound out of place if performed by The Young Republic, but also has a unique sound of his own. He also likes his orchestral indie folk music, which is great because, let’s be honest, there’s nowhere near enough of it in the world.
He plays his music with varied bands supporting him, at the moment utilising three violinists, a cellist, a drummer, a keyboardist, some more singers, and one guy who plays harmonica, bass and the banjo. Presumably not all at the same time. Adrien himself plays guitar and sings, with a voice that is far beyond his years. It took me a while to accept the voice on these mp3s is from the same guy who is in the picture up there.
MP3 Adrien – Bright Lights (expired)
MP3 Adrien – A Ghost You Know (expired)
MP3 Adrien – Lazy Bones (expired)
MP3 Adrien – Awake In Providence (expired)
All of these songs are taken from his recently released EP entitled ‘A Ghost You Know’, which you can seemingly only buy from emailing him via his Myspace and arranging some kind of monetary payment.
Q&A: The Young Republic
26 years ago
in Interviews, MP3s
The Young Republic are an orchestral indie folk-rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Forming in 2004, the band already has five releases under their belts, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Which is all the more impressive given they are still all in school. The band has nine members, allowing them to make use of just about every instrument possible, from regular pop band staples like guitars and drums, through to more unique pieces like violins, trumpets and flutes. All of this means that The Young Republic end up bringing a sound that is almost entirely different from most bands around them.
Eagle eyed readers may recall that The Young Republic were the first band that I ever wrote about on this site, back when I was still finding my feet. Therefore it’s only fitting that they should end up being the first band that I get to conduct an interview with. Four members of the band, Chris (bass), Nate (viola, djemebe), Julian (vocals, guitar) and Kristin (violin, vocals) were all kind enough to answer a few questions about the evolution of the band, their songwriting process and just what they will be up to in the future.
How did The Young Republic originally come about?
Julian: We all met in Boston during our first month in college. Mostly in the cafeteria.
Kristin: I’ve been told that Julian and our first guitar player Jeremy bonded over their devotion to the Beatles one lunch in the cafe. That would have been like the first week or two of everyone’s freshman year at Berklee. Julian played him some of his tunes which then led to the idea to form a band. Apparently there was at one time a sign on Julian’s door for strings and winds and a bunch of random instruments but I never saw it. I joined because I met Nate (viola) at lunch one day and he told me that the band needed another violinist. I went to one of their rehearsals like that night and have been going ever since.
Chris: Julian had the original idea. I was his room mate at the beginning of school, so I kind of got roped into the whole deal. The rest of the kids we either met in the cafeteria, got recruited by other band members or answered a flier that Julian and I put on our door asking for people who played oboe, flue, cell, theremin, bassoon, etc.
Nate: Julian had songs, we had instruments, and we all ate lunch together in the cafeteria.
Where did the name The Young Republic come from?
Julian: The way most band names do. We had a show booked so we needed a name.
Nate: Shortened version of I believe “The Young Republicans Teenage Symphony.” We have no affiliation with the trouble-making yet popular American politcal party, however.
Chris: Its derived from part of a quote from Brian Wilson about Smile. The name started out as The Leaders of The Young Republics Teenage Symphony but was shortened due to issues of pretension.
Kristin: It just seems to fit since we probably have enough people in the band to break off and start our own country.
You list The Beatles as an influence on your Myspace page. When I first heard your music, I got the same kind of feel from it that I do from Belle & Sebastian. Are B&S an influence in the music you make? Who else would you cite as your influences?
Julian: The Beatles are an influence for me personally because I’ve listened more to them than anyone else and they are in my opinion the greatest musicians of any genre or time period. If we have decent songs I think it’s because of their melody writing. They’re the biggest influence on every band that came after them – like Bach or Mozart or the Velvet Underground – which includes us and Belle and Sebastian. I think that obviously we’re similar to Belle and Sebastian in our instrumentation and that might be what you said gave you the same feeling. When we were forming I knew that this mixture of instruments would work because of Belle and Sebastian. And I do think that Stuart Murdoch is one of the 20 best songwriters of all time.
Chris: Yes, the majority of us are big belle and sebastian fans. A bunch of us went and saw them a month(ish) ago and Stuart gave some girl a bowl of strawberry’s because she asked for them, it was pretty great. As far as other influences go, we all come from different backgrounds (musically) so we all have our own influences, along with all the obligatory indie rock back I could cite I listened to a lot of mowtown and oldies growing up and started to listen to a lot of jazz before I got to school. Having been in the band for almost 2 years now, I would say a big part of our sound comes from (as a reference to the Beatles) George Martin and Phil Spectors production styles. Wall of sound, lush arrangements and what not, its all great.
Kristin: Everybody comes from a different musical place. As a player I come mostly from classical and bluegrass but I also listen to rock and oldies and jazz and folk. Since coming to Berklee I’ve definately gotten into B&S and other indie rock acts because of Julian. Also Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Some of us listen to B&S (I think they’re great). But we don’t try copy them. It’s easier to talk about Julian’s songwriting influences: Dylan, Beatles.
Nate: I’ve never listened to Belle and Sebastian before besides a few songs here and there, so I can’t say they influence me a whole lot. I know thats not the case for a lot of our band members, however…my influences come from film music, thats really the music I’m passionate about. Orchestral Indie Folk Rock is just a charming little side project. (That takes a hell of a lot of work…love it though)
How does a band with nine members go about songwriting? Is it primarily driven by one or two members of the band, or is there a more open, democratic style to it?
Julian: The songs usually come in naked from one person but what is on the record is the orchestration of all 9 of us. We all arrange and write the music. Fleshing out the skeleton is a group effort from the drummer to the flautist.
Chris: Julian writes a song. He brings in lyrics and melody and chords. We all orchestrate it together. Figure out the dynamics and flow of the song and write parts together. Sometimes there is yelling, but mostly its a group effort.
Nate: Julian busts out some tunes and words on his acoustic guitar, and then the band stands around in a room yelling at each other until we all find something to do. The arranging process is quite collaborative.
Kristin: Julian usually brings in a finished tune with a general form and we take it from there writing string parts, vocal parts, guitar parts, etc. and arranging it. Definately democratic.
The orchestral arrangements on ‘Modern Plays’ seemed to be more extravagant than on the previous releases. Was this a conscious decision or just the natural evolution of the band?
Kristin: The songs just called for it.
Chris: Always Together/The Painter was our pop record, Your Heart Belongs in Tennessee was our Country/Folk record and Modern Plays was our rock epic. We didn’t make a conscious effort to put the bombastic parts in those songs, but the songs on there didn’t belong with the other ones, so it just kinda fell into place that all the big songs ended up together.
Nate: The songs on “Modern Plays” were written and arranged at the same time as our previous two EPs, so there isn’t much evolution going on, just exploration.
Julian: It is one of the more arranged pieces that we have. I really just wanted to write a rock song that would be fun to play on stage because everything we had up to the point when it was written – winter holiday freshman year – were folky. I had learned more about modulation, some seventh chords, etc at music school and so I incorporated it into some of my songwriting. Modern Plays was a victim of that.
How helpful, if at all, do you think the Internet has been in getting the word out about your music?
Nate: Very. Blogs like yours are wonderful little naturally-generated hype morsels.
Julian: Well, you probably wouldn’t be interviewing us if not for the internet and whoever is reading my answer right now probably wouldn’t be reading it if not for the internet. That said, I don’t like mp3s and i wish kids still bought 45s and danced in their living rooms, leave a lone at a show.
Chris: Almost completely. We’ve booked both of our tours pretty much elusively through the Internet, and as lame as it may be, myspace is a place people can easily access the music. I have no idea where we would be, as a band or as a culture, without the Internet, but I’m pretty thankful for it.
Kristin: Any mention of us is helpful and appreciated!
The band was formed while you were all in school. Are you still in school? If so, do you see the band as a full time project for you once you’ve finished?
Nate: We are still in school, and have 2 more years of it. The band differs on the second part of the question, but I’m in school for music so if the YR is still making good music and I feel rewarded by it than sure why not. A career in film scoring can be put on the backburner for a little bit without anyone getting too burned.
Chris: We are still in school, and I plan on taking this as far as it will go as long as it keeps going.
Kristin: Yes we are still in school and only time will tell. We’re taking it one tour at a time. Personally, I could see it as a full time project once I leave school.
Julian: We are still all in school. We all have other interest musically and everyone will pursue other avenues aside from the band in the future – solo projects, film scoring, composition, producing, etc. In most bands, the membership is comprised of kids who’s main musical outlet is said band, but the majority of us had never listened to rock or ‘indie’ music before we joined this band, so it’s not like this was a goal coming into our first semester. It’s nice that we’ve stuck together this long with nine people and no cash, just for the music. We have a tour booked this summer and we’ll all be back at school in the fall, but I’m not sure about after that.
What does the future hold for The Young Republic?
Julian: Practice in half an hour, a couple of shows before school is out and a tour this summer. We’ll be recording more as well.
Chris: We’re going on tour this summer for 6 or 7 weeks. After that, I don’t think anyone really knows what will happen. Ideally, some one fly us to Europe and put us on tour, buy us a house in the middle of nowhere to let us record and buy us a bitching bus. Also, more immediately, band practice.
Nate: World domination. Uncompromised world domination. And a 40-date tour this summer around the eastern half of the US!
Kristin: World domination!
MP3 The Young Republic – Always Together
MP3 The Young Republic – Seeing People You Know
MP3 The Young Republic – Everybody Looks Better In Black And White
MP3 The Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States
MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays
MP3 The Young Republic – Blue Skies
To aid in The Young Republic’s plans for world domination (or at least help them get that bitching bus), get yourself over to their website. You’ll find, as well as even more free mp3s, some CDs and other cool stuff like t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale. You can also be their new friend over at their Myspace.
Myspace & (kind of) new Young Republic
1I’m just going to come straight out and say it. I’ve joined the corporate whoring machine that is Myspace. I don’t particularly care for the place, although it’s growing on me a little. Mostly I’m just interested in using it to find some good new music, and there does seem to be plenty of it on there. That said, other cool stuff seems to happen, like Cult Of Sue Todd asking to be my friend! Not the other way around, they asked me! Which is pretty damn awesome. Oh god I’m so easily pleased by shit like this.
Anyways, I know I’m only there for the music, but if you feel like friending me, go right on over to my crudely put together Myspace page.
And if you’re entirely unaware of the cultural phenomenon that is Myspace, here’s a handy primer from the good folks at the Daily Show:
Something that isn’t self promotion..
The two of you that were here from the start will recall that the very first band I ever wrote about on here was The Young Republic. I wandered back onto their site today, and for some reason ended up streaming ‘Modern Plays’, one of the songs I included last time around. I was just a tad surprised when I noticed that an entirely different version of it was playing
MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays
While there was nothing wrong with the original version of the song, this new one is just so much better. The sound is much more crisp, the vocal clearer and a ton of new instrumentation added, which makes it line up far better with other Young Republic tracks. If you’re looking for more of them, there are still a ton of mp3s available in their music section. Apparently to throw off those who click “Media” looking for songs.
Next Big Thing alert: Pitchfork have jumped onto the Voxtrot bandwagon, giving their two EPs a 7.8 and an 8.2. Which will probably make them the indie darlings of the month to those who hadn’t already found them.
Now I’m going to go to bed as I haven’t slept more than about five hours in the best part of a week and can hardly stand up. Actually, before I do, I just like to come back to Myspace for a second. How long will it be before everyone in the world is on the damn thing? Apparently 7000 new users signed up in the time it took me to write this post. Which is just downright scary.
The Young Republic
16 years ago
in MP3s
I spent quite a while debating exactly who I should use as my first entry on here. After all, first impressions are vital. There are a ton of bands I want to cover here, and narrowing it down to one just to start was a very difficult job. Eventually though I found my answer, The Young Republic.
I first discovered The Young Republic through a couple of other mp3 blogs, so it seems only fair that I would start my time here with them.
You wouldn’t think it to look at them, but these nine people are putting out orchestral indie rock of the highest order. The obvious comparison would be a slightly less twee Belle & Sebastian, but even that feels like I’m doing them a massive disservice. Lyrically their songs are simple, these are melancoly tales of love, but the beauty is in the delivery.
MP3 The Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States
MP3 The Young Republic – Always Together
MP3 The Young Republic – Seeing Someone You Know / Seventeen Miles Away
MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays
You’ll find a ton more mp3s for your enjoyment on their website, where you can also purchase their cds.
