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IRVING

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Irving



Last Updated: 12/15/2009

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Status: Swinger
City: LOS ANGELES
State: CALIFORNIA
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/14/2004

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Tuesday, December 05, 2006 
Hey, we're up for the Top Videos of 2006 on MTV2! Go to http://sub.mtv2.com and click on Vote, then pick "Situation". Thanks everyone.

love, Irving
11:53 PM 
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Wednesday, November 29, 2006 
Oh, the endearing petulance of indie rockers. What with playful song titles and inaccurate comparisons to Interpol, there are a lot of redeeming qualities in bands operating today. Imagine when they actually do sound like Interpol and their song titles are funny. "If You Say Jump, I Will Say No"? Hell, that's my new mantra. How about the sweetened up "I'll Write The Song, You Sing For Me"? These bashful (cool?) attempts at romance, once filtered through guitars, drums, a bass, and a vaguely Anglophile singing voice, become the key ingredient to a musical "cake" that will actually rise. Allow Irving, who toss in a couple of Dandy Warhol inflections, a pinch of salt, some Pulp, a Spoon, and half an Interpol to satiate your appetite.

The burning question: does "If You Say Jump" deliver? Can you tell who you're listening to? Yes and yes, because when you get a Slender Means vocal throwback (all the way to 2005,) a kind keyboard posing as more attitudinal version of itself, and a thick, bubbly guitar chorus, you're not going to say, "Hey, this sounds like Int--." You wouldn't get farther than that, even if you were right, because your companions would maul you for being so close-minded. But don't expect me to come up with anything more than an ingredients list, because Irving don't list their influences on MySpace, and comparing is an overrated critic's habit, anyway.

The quiet explosions of percussion and vocal harmonies that occur on songs like "I'll Write The Song, You Sing For Me" are as far as Irving get from the general air of nonchalance and distance that permeates the album. The lyrics are affecting, but when they're sung with an invariable tone of "just don't care," it's hard not to see them as tongue-in-cheek, or like the band has performed the song fifteen hundred times before and no longer believe their own insights. But that's part of the charm: "I want you to save a winter thought for a cloudy day / I have a poorly written song that says / I think you should / and a sad and lonely friend telling / me you're no good / I wish my brain had a map to tell me / where my heart should go."

Irving's production is super clean, lacking the reverbs of The Killers or the grittiness of The Strokes. They have an almost Weezer-via-Beach-Boys sound on "Situation," where the vocalist changes to employ softer but equally unenthused inflections. But there I go comparing again. The use of synths and keyboards is minimized and a traditional drumset holds its own on most tracks, but when the former two make their mark, it's hard to resist wiggling in your desk chair. Irving's music is mature in the most innocuous way and exhibits a very metered playfulness.

Veterans of the impossibly competitive L.A. circuit, this relatively aged band fool us into thinking they're diffident when in fact they're probably just above it all. The final track, "The Look Of Flowers That Are Looked At" is so rebellious in its twinkling beauty--rebelling against genre definitions and the rest of the album--that you know the band are languishing in a tour bus somewhere muttering, Influences, schminfluences.
7:19 AM 
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006 
See us live on Music Plus TV this Friday at 5pm (8pm Eastern!) We'll be interviewed and play live on "Rock This" by Jen Meola. You can actually request songs on AIM too, screenname: MUSICPLUSTV.

Tune in and tell us what you want to hear!

love,
Irving
11:14 PM 
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Wednesday, November 15, 2006 
Seduction At The Rock And Roll Hotel



Irving's song "I Want To Love You In My Room" is nothing if not straightforward. Here's the first few verses:

"I want to love you in my room,
I want to take off all your clothes
I want to see you in the daytime,
I want to see you in my room."

With an addictive mix of keyboard riffs, angular guitars and cooing background vocals, it's an indie-music geek's booty call. By the time you hit the chorus of "You can have your way with me, yes, you can have your way with me," you'll be unable to resist Irving's charms.

There's more experimental yet catchy synth-pop where that came from; you can see Irving tonight at the Rock and Roll Hotel. The L.A. band is opening for White Whale on Monday night, but if you can't see them live, give their newest CD "Death In The Garden, Blood On the Flowers" a spin.

Listen to the song and see the video for "I Want To Love You In My Room" here on YouTube. Warning: The video is not pornographic in the technical sense, but it might raise some questions if you watch it at work.
1:10 AM 
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Wednesday, November 15, 2006 
September 25th, 2006

Irving, Death In The Garden Blood On The Flowers

Posted by sabas in Pop

Irving is a union of five talented musicians - Alex Church (bass), Steven Scott (guitar), Brian Canning (guitar), Brent Turner (drums), Aaron Burrows (keyboards) - so, as a matter of fact, in 2002, this Californian quintet decided to create a 10 out of 10 EP ('I Hope You're Feeling Better Now'). They repeat the dose with this new release. From its opening notes, we realize that 'Death In The Garden Blood On The Flowers' is a stunning record, without being pretentious. Irving deliver a pop masterpiece with songs like "She´s not Shy" and "Situation". There is an astonishing aural space to these songs containing aching vocals, shimmering arrangements, intricate orchestral pop sounds and infectious guitar hooks. They love a little bit of everything: mid-60s dreamy pop, prog rock, boychoirs and heartful lyrics. As a whole, the songs provided on 'Death In The Garden Blood On The Flowers' resonate as a work of art. Unpretentiously unique, challenging and brawny collection of art pop songs. Record of the year? Highly Recommended. @ Eenie Meenie Records and Irving

1:08 AM 
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006 
Check it out! Click here to watch our new video on MTVU. Directed with love by the amazing Sharp-Ford.

love,
Irving
7:31 PM 
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Monday, October 30, 2006 
6:14 AM 
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006 
Irving Take Death... On Tour Again
by Staff | 10.17.2006

Silver Lake's Irving have been the lucky band selected to have their newest video for "Jen, Nothing Matters To Me" premeired as a choice cut on mtvU.com. The video starts running on the site beginning Monday, November 6.

Coinciding with the release of their new video, Irving will be hitting the road for a month-long headlining winter tour in support of their acclaimed modern-yet-retro pop-tinged sophomore album, Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers on Eenie Meenie Records. Additionally, Irving has accepted an invitation from LA's trendsetting and favorite morning dial radio station KCRW to perform live at their New York City showcase during the CMJ Music Conference on Halloween night at Piano's (158 Ludlow St., 8 pm) along with Run Run Run, Birdmonster and Monsters Are Waiting. Confirmed tour dates are all presented by KCRW.com:

Irving Fall Tour

October
20 @ Towne Lodge, Portland, OR.
21 @ Paradox, Seattle, WA.
23 @ Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, UT
25 @ Hi Dive, Denver, CO
26 @ Vaudville Mews, Des Moines, IA.
27 @ Independent Media Center, Urbana, IL
28 @ Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL
30 @ The Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
31 @ KCRW CMJ Showcase, Pianos, NY, NY (w/ Run Run Run, Birdmonster + Monsters Are Waiting)

November
2 @ Cake Shop, CMJ Juryrig (day), NY, NY
3 @ Collage Center Cro's Nest, New London, CT
4 @ Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY (w/ Monsters Are Waiting, LaRocca)
5 @ Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA
7 @ The Earl, Atlanta, GA
8 @ Bottle Tree Café, Birmingham, AL
10 @ Hailey's, Denton, TX, (w/ +/-)
11 @ Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX (w/+/-)
14 @ Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ (w/ +/-)
15 @ Plush, Tucson, AZ (w/ +/-)
16 @ Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA (w/ +/-, KCRW Presents)
17 @ Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA (w/ Whysall Lane)


Related Links
» Irving official site
» Irving on MySpace
» Listen to "Jen, Nothing Matters To Me" here
10:13 PM 
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Friday, October 06, 2006 
review from rocknworld.com  by Patrick Muldowney
Irving - Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers Review

by Patrick Muldowney

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It is very frustrating to listen to Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers by Irving, because it is such a fine album that is currently indie pop, but could easily be buzzworthy mainstream alternative. If you can listen to the current thoughtlessness of Weezer, The Killers excluding the mascara, or anything created by Violent Femmes and They Might Be Giants this century, then tell me that Irving is not more deserving of accolades and large audiences than any of them in 2006, I would have difficulty respecting your opinion. Irving has pop intelligence that is experimental enough to separate from the normal, while keeping all the hooks of its counterparts.

It would be possible to place Irving in the same fold as all the retro-80s bands flooding the market, and the space age keys will easily assist the argument, but such a placement would ignore the originality with which this album was created. Their sound seems in no way forced to match the current trends, but comfortable and natural. This is part of the attraction for Death in the Garden.... "Jen, nothing matters to me" is a song that could perfectly introduce Irving. A western movie twang to an eastern sounding guitar riff creates a universal pop mood, which is further enhanced by keys reminiscent of The Cure's best singles. The music is only surpassed by the genius of the lyrics, which instead of pining and whining for Jen, as we've been led to expect from music, frankly dumps Jen. It is great to know there is room in pop for words like, "I have a basic unwillingness, to commit, to anything substantial, and I am emotionally unavailable."

The strangest moment on the disc is during "hard to breathe", the second to last track. The music is eerily similar to a song I tend to hear every time a karaoke bar crosses my path. The song is Clarence Carter's "Strokin'", and it is up there in the most awful songs of all time, singing about stroking east and west with "the woman I love the best." I wish I had been a fly on the wall when that song was written, and know if any of the band members expressed the same fear I would have when that idea was introduced. Surprisingly though, they pull off this resemblance, and like the rest of the album, create a good song. Great bands can take any sound and make it their own successfully, and "hard to breathe" is the perfect example of the greatness of Irving.

All of the 13 songs on Death in the Garden… display a degree of quality, although I am least impressed with "Situation", which clearly shows the Beatles' influence. Other than the bands mentioned above, there are moments where you will hear Life's Rich Pageant R.E.M., The Zombies, and Pavement in the album. Irving reminds me what is great about pop rock; it's connected by brilliant simplicity, which allows the listener to recognize connections without feeling any thievery has occurred. This band deserves a great deal of recognition for Death in the Garden..., and should be complimented with a number of appearances on Top 10 lists by the end of the year.


CD Info and Links

Irving - Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers

Label:Eenie Meenie Records
Rating:

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12:56 PM 
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Friday, October 06, 2006 

Maybe the Southern California man..s aversion to neckwear will abate now that the offending article has been narrowed, constricted and made almost syringe-like in size. At the fall shows, Ralph Lauren paired a slender tie with jeans and a blazer, as well as with Wall Street-esque tweeds and pinstripes. Givenchy knotted ties underneath sweater vests, bombers and overcoats. Kim Jones turned one model into the Michelin Man, with an isthmus of a tie made from quilted nylon. Brian Canning, who sings and strums for the inde-rock group Irving, dons a Band of Outsider silver model. Knot bad.
(Randee St. Nicholas)

Skinny Ties

12:51 PM 
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