Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann returns to Boston at the Berklee Performance Center with her full band on Saturday, November 3 with special guest Ted Leo (solo). Tickets are $42.50 and $39.50 (includes $1.00 theater restoration fee) and on sale now at the Berklee box office (located at 136 Massachusetts Avenue), or online at berkleebpc.com. Tickets may also be ordered by telephone by calling 617-747-2261. Summer box office hours are 1pm – 6pm Mon-Sat. Regular box office hours of 10a – 6p Mon-Sat will resume on Sept. 5. Berklee box office accepts Visa, MC and Discover. AMEX is not accepted.
Influenced by what Aimee Mann calls the “super pop” of the 70s and 80s, her long awaited new album, Charmer, is her first release since 2008’s celebrated @#%&*! Smilers, which the BBC called “undeniably beautiful.” Of Charmer, her eighth studio album, Mann comments, “I’m fascinated by charming people and the whole idea of charm. It’s hard to remember sometimes that there is usually an agenda behind the act of being charming, and that is what I’m most interested in. Is someone’s charm being utilized just to try and entertain people, make them feel special and interesting, or is there a more sinister purpose behind it? Sometimes I think ‘charm’ can just be another word for ‘manipulation.’” The album also includes a duet with James Mercer of The Shins on “Living a Lie.” Mann will support the new album with tour dates this fall.
Charmer was produced by longtime friend and band member Paul Bryan and recorded with Ryan Freeland (Ray LaMontagne, Bonnie Raitt) at Stampede Origin in Los Angeles. Bryan joins Mann on the album, among many other friends and collaborators including J.J. Johnson, Jebin Bruni and Jamie Edwards. Mann wrote all of songs on the album, though two, “Living a Lie” and “Soon Enough,” are collaborations with Paul Bryan and Tim Heidecker, respectively.
Mann began her solo career in 1993 with the album Whatever and made a name for herself through her independent success and the founding of her record label, SuperEgo. In addition to her solo work, she has appeared on many film soundtracks and composed the soundtrack for Paul Thomas Anderson’s much-lauded Magnolia. Since @#%&*! Smilers, Mann has performed for the President Obama and the First Lady at the White House, appeared as herself on the hit indie TV series Portlandia and fast become an internet darling. Named one of The Huffington Post’s “13 Funny Musicians You Should Be Following On Twitter,” Mann has gained a diehard social media following for her quick wit and stinging observation, much of which is reflected on the new album.
Ted Leo
J. Gabreil Boylan of the New York Observer writes, “While Mr Leo’s sound can seem derivative, he is expert at folding one influence into another, matching the earnest lyricism of Billy Bragg with the pop hooks or Paul Weller and the hard charging energy of Joe Strummer.” His band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists formed in 1999 in Washington DC and is signed to Matador records. The Bloomfield, NJ raised punk/indie rocker is a singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in his own right. Ted credits his parents amazing record collection as his strongest musical influences. “I became obsessed with the Who, and I would hear them trying different things out [like] a James Brown cover and I could tell that those songs were something different. Leo credits Curtis Mayfield and Al Green for affecting him in “a very serious and deep way.“
Links: Aimeemann.com – Ted LeoTickets – Box Office info – Directions – Map