Lo-fi indie rock forged by David Berman with Pavement's Malkmus and Nastanovich, turning wit and heartbreak into cult classics.
MOODS · melancholic · witty · lo-fi · literary · country-tinged · wry · intimate · weathered · deadpan · plainspoken · hushed · rootsy
BIOGRAPHY
Silver Jews formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1989, when David Berman joined with Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich, later of Pavement. The trio had played together as Ectoslavia at the University of Virginia before moving to New York. Drag City founder Dan Koretsky signed the band after meeting Berman at a Pavement show, releasing early lo-fi EPs recorded largely on a Walkman.
Berman remained the band's only constant member, steering albums from 1994's Starlite Walker through 1998's American Water, on which Malkmus returned for some of the group's most acclaimed work. After a 2003 suicide attempt and recovery, Berman toured for the first time behind 2005's Tanglewood Numbers, before retiring Silver Jews with a final 2009 show at Cumberland Caverns in Tennessee.
WHY THEY'RE COOL
Long mistaken as a Pavement side project, Silver Jews were really David Berman's vehicle for lyrics AllMusic called witty and profound, set within a lo-fi mix of indie rock, country and noise. American Water marked what Pitchfork's Matthew Strauss called a 'sea change' toward melody, while Tanglewood Numbers earned near universal acclaim, scoring 81 on Metacritic. Berman's parallel career as a poet, publishing the acclaimed Actual Air, underscored the literary weight behind the band's songs, cementing Silver Jews as one of indie rock's most quietly influential and idiosyncratic outfits.
GEORGE'S PLAYS
First time on the station.
PLAYED ON WOKE1
