2008 Woodie Awards
Berman to make a homecoming
By Ian Nelson
Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: Arts & Living
It's been 15 years since David Berman enrolled in a graduate-level writing program right here at the University of Massachusetts, but he'll be coming back to the Pioneer Valley this week.
Berman's Silver Jews will play the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton Thursday night for the seventh show of their fall 2008 tour supporting their new record "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea." The band has played nearly every night from its kick-off last Thursday in Columbus, Ohio across the U.S. and back, finishing up in Nashville in mid-October.
The Silver Jews, founded by Berman in 1989, bring a lo-fi aesthetic to the concept of country and other rock genres, first playing together and recording songs on friends' answering machines. The other original members were Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich, both eventual members of indie-deities Pavement.
The Jews' first release came in 1990, a 7 inch titled "Dime Map of the Reef." When the band was still getting its start, after Pavement begun its rise to indie-prominence with 1992's "Slanted and Enchanted," rumors were abound that the Jews were merely a Pavement side project, though Berman consistently held the Jews' main songwriting duties. This worked to the band's advantage, however, with Berman meeting the founder of the Drag City label Dan Koretsky at a Pavement show, who agreed to release Berman's tapes.
In 1993, Berman made the trek to the Pioneer Valley to enroll in the aforementioned (and currently hotly debated) graduate program at UMass after the release of the "Arizona Record" EP (recorded on a Walkman, as was the previous 7 inch).
During this stint at UMass, Berman found time to write what eventually became The Silver Jews' first full-length, the 1994 album "Starlite Walker," which found Berman again working with Malkmus and Nastanovich after their break recording Pavement's first LP.
After this debut, Berman worked with some other acts (War Comet, Silver Palace) as well as working on a Silver Jews follow-up, 1996's "Natural Bridge." Demos featuring Malkmus and Nastanovich were scrapped, as Berman opted to record with members of Hampshire College's New Radiant Storm King as well as Drag City's Rian Murphy, shifting his sound from his earlier recordings' DIY grit to a cleaner, to-the-point style with Berman's lyrical and vocal work constantly at the helm.
Berman's Silver Jews will play the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton Thursday night for the seventh show of their fall 2008 tour supporting their new record "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea." The band has played nearly every night from its kick-off last Thursday in Columbus, Ohio across the U.S. and back, finishing up in Nashville in mid-October.
The Silver Jews, founded by Berman in 1989, bring a lo-fi aesthetic to the concept of country and other rock genres, first playing together and recording songs on friends' answering machines. The other original members were Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich, both eventual members of indie-deities Pavement.
The Jews' first release came in 1990, a 7 inch titled "Dime Map of the Reef." When the band was still getting its start, after Pavement begun its rise to indie-prominence with 1992's "Slanted and Enchanted," rumors were abound that the Jews were merely a Pavement side project, though Berman consistently held the Jews' main songwriting duties. This worked to the band's advantage, however, with Berman meeting the founder of the Drag City label Dan Koretsky at a Pavement show, who agreed to release Berman's tapes.
In 1993, Berman made the trek to the Pioneer Valley to enroll in the aforementioned (and currently hotly debated) graduate program at UMass after the release of the "Arizona Record" EP (recorded on a Walkman, as was the previous 7 inch).
During this stint at UMass, Berman found time to write what eventually became The Silver Jews' first full-length, the 1994 album "Starlite Walker," which found Berman again working with Malkmus and Nastanovich after their break recording Pavement's first LP.
After this debut, Berman worked with some other acts (War Comet, Silver Palace) as well as working on a Silver Jews follow-up, 1996's "Natural Bridge." Demos featuring Malkmus and Nastanovich were scrapped, as Berman opted to record with members of Hampshire College's New Radiant Storm King as well as Drag City's Rian Murphy, shifting his sound from his earlier recordings' DIY grit to a cleaner, to-the-point style with Berman's lyrical and vocal work constantly at the helm.
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