NPR Music Project Song: Chris Walla and J. Robbins
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- Not everyone can write and record a song in two days, but that's the Project Song challenge faced by Chris Walla (of Death Cab for Cutie), J. Robbins (of Jawbox and Burning Airlines) and Darren Zentek on drums. What made this project especially difficult was that the two had never even met before they stepped into NPR's performance studio.
But it didn't take long for Robbins to pick up his bass guitar, for Walla to pick up a guitar, and for the two to begin their musical friendship.
Some inspiration was supplied as the pair were given photo collages created by artist Tom Chambers. They chose a photograph of a house in a canyon filled with water, tilted and flooded. Not far from the house is a dog on a boat, floating either toward or away from the house.
From this image, the two were able to create a song they call "Mercury." You can hear the music and watch a video documenting the creative process
![2022-10.15 J Robbins @ the Black Cat (Washington, DC) | [FULL SET]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AH0fY2PdQ-M/mqdefault.jpg)
Anything with J Robbins is going to be great and this song is fantastic. Chris Walla superb too.
J. Robbins' bass line is the best thing ever.
J. Robbins' self-awareness during the interview part is both excruciating and hilarious.
Beautiful song! The mix between these 2 people is just PERFECT!
Their voices sound absolutely perfect together. It makes me melt.
goosebumps when J Robbins sings his first line!
Even as a songwriter I'm in awe of their progress to what is a great song in such a short space of time! Really impressive!
Robbins is a genius.
Its mad to hear the influences and directions of like minded musicians. J. Robbins is to me such a huge influence and i can hear his stamp literally over every part of this tune. Chris Walla is a great pairing fairplay. Its a shame that Darren Zentek (drums) doesnt get more of a mention as he is such a rad drummer and fits very much in there with Robbins' style. Kerosene 454 were great. These are musicians with no bullshit and incredible musicality. A rare combination. I hope I hear more. Peas
holy words dude...saw Jawbox just once in 1994 during their only european tour, then Burning Airlines in 2000...so talented musician and very influenced my band Snowfall, check out our tunes on You tube ua-cam.com/video/0GcdnIHsgbY/v-deo.html
This video/song still blows my mind and I've been watching it for over 5 years.
I keep coming back to it, too. I really wish they'd so more stuff together.
Like seeing two great people you really miss from college... 😊
J. is wearing a Government Issue shirt. Awesome!
wow. they make it look so easy. Chris has such talent, he inspires me.
This can be an A side for a 7" single on Polyvinyl in 1998. I dig it!
Moby was like, "fuck this shit."
These guys made a good song.
Chris Walls is a genius.
makes you rethink its possible to write something amazing just only in two days, dang. Walla you kick ass.
What a great song.. Pure talented musicians
Simply beautiful.
This video amazes me because the songwriting process is completely alien to me. It really is an art.
Anything J Robbins touches will instantly turn into a J Robbins song
Music Project Song is an inspirational series of videos, and I hope they will keep coming.
All of this hinges on the mercury
Rising red stripe in front of me
From 32 to infinity
All of this hinges on the mercury
[Spanning spades on maturity]
A million years and still so new to me
Every small thing, any small thing
[Many it's over the _ globe]
[It's snow] about to ring
Every small thing, any small thing
[Any inarmable] the alarm
All of this hinges on the mercury
Rising red stripe in front of me
From 32 to infinity
Superb. Thanks.
I'm fading, I'm not built to last
It's now a dozen feet deep on my porch side
I'm making toothpicks out of a mast
I'm calm, still, calming down at least
It's a gift of the kind that I'm giving
Decrying the life I was living
If I was living at all (x2)
A photo, those things we know
And the plastic [now on a slipped up]
Safe and warm in a blanket of mold
Well I'm, I'm calm, now the bilge pump is on
The water that's washed on this wash plate is gone
And I'm cooling down even though it got warm
Amazing guys!!!! =>> I loooooooove this song!!!!
, Chris Walla♥ soooo cute.
Where can I find this song to listen to? It's so good.
Wow... He's innovative :)
Impressive
Wow, what creative and inspirational artists.
That was great see how it all worked in such a short time.
it gets easy when you have 2/3 of channels on the band. haha
the refrain reminds me a lot the type of melodies j. used to sing on jawbox's "novelty".
I can't believe how amazing this song is. But since it's so new I can't seem to find the lyrics anywhere. So...I've tried to transcribe them, taking into account NPR's transcription for the accompanying article. I've put the words I'm not sure of in brackets. Don't laugh (or do, whatever) because I just transcribed them as close to phonetically as I can. Please post any corrections or suggestions!
This is so cool
Love the LP released with BELLS
Awesome!
Yeah the man is a legend. Shame nothing else came of this session. So good
Really cool to see this process, very inspiring!
All of this hinges on the mercury
[Expand explains on machinery]
A million years and still so new to me
I've got a list a mile long of things I've never said
But I'll spare you 'til at least you've gotten out of bed
I think I left the water on
It might be a little wet out on the lawn
I can't help feeling that this year of mine's a total loss
With all these [standardized] connections [and my albatross]
I hope they'll go off to anywhere--I do
Hello, could you give the continuation of the words from 3,48 ' please ? thank you so much if you could !
Great vid! Thanks
Put J. Robbins with Jim Ward for crying out loud..
Love J....
Did somebody notice the unmentioned creepy woman at the house who by the way is not reflected on the water?
For real? Where?
Upper left window
Where is this song available??
@Stundek umm. the song is Geometry &c by Chris Walla :)
Creative Casting Couch
Where can i download this?
Awesome song
Amazing. Download link please!!!!
Ive been wondering, does anyone know what kind of guitar that green schecter is? Ive looked around and i cant find anything like it?
Linda Butler
I realize I'm 5 years late here, but it's a Schecter PT Standard. For anyone who might be wondering.
When he picked up the 12 string I knew it was a dead horse
I guess Channels isn't good enough to/would make Chris Walla's two bands look less important to mention it at all despite Channels being like...uh...J.'s band right now? Weird.
This lack of crediting is making me ask really stupid questions that hopefully NPR etc. DID THINK OF and opted to report selectively.
LOL. Maybe Channels isn't a cool enough sounding name. Wow. I think as I type this I am coming up with more stupid reason why NPR would choose to not mention the other band.