Today, we welcome back an old friend to the blog. That's right: It's the return of Aural Ambush, a feature we hope will be back and running regularly in these confines we call DC9. It's been a while, though, so, for those who may have forgotten the concept, a quick refresher: We grab an mp3 from an act stopping through the region, pop it onto our portable player, head out on the town, and capture man-on-the-street reactions to the track. Makes for a pretty decent time, actually, as the above clip, shot by Danny Fulgencio, more than demonstrates. Check it out.
The subject of this week's ambush: David Bazan, the former frontman of Pedro the Lion, and a group of bicycle polo (there exists such a thing, go figure) players and fans in Oak Cliff. As Daniel Rodrigue points out in this week's paper, Bazan's gone through something of a major religious transition of late...
A number of reviews have called his Barsuk debut a "breakup album" where God gets dumped--but, no disrespect intended, and God aside, Curse Your Branches comes across like a breakup album for a generation that's fed up with meaninglessness, unanswered questions and Bible-belt backwardness taking precedent over common decency. Continue reading...Even so, a couple of our ambush victims knocked the song immediately for its religious face value. Oh well--at least one guy thinks it's pretty "legit."
Catch Bazan tonight at Dan's Silver Leaf, where he'll be performing a set alongside his labelmates in Say Hi (which was formerly--and awesomely--called Say Hi to Your Mom, a band of which Marky Mark would no doubt would approve). And for those of you playing along? Enjoy a free stream and download Bazan's "Bless This Mess" after the jump, courtesy of Barsuk.
Bonus MP3:
David Bazan -- "Bless This Mess"
David Bazan -- "Bless This Mess"
