Clem Snide

Clem Snide取自Williams S.Burrough的著名cult小說「裸體午餐」中的人物名，樂團成軍于10年前的波士頓，玩的是后龐客噪音搖滾，移居到紐約后，1998年首張專輯「You Were A Diamond」卻轉(zhuǎn)型成帶點鄉(xiāng)村樂的另類憂郁氣息，即與Will Oldham、Lambchop…等共享相似的荒涼氛圍。
　　第2張專輯「Your Favorite Music」于2000年發(fā)表，主唱/詞曲Eef Barzelay以細膩印象表現(xiàn)的筆觸，時而嘲諷幽默、時而自憐開朗，及溫暖厚實的男中音，再加上眾所不同的樂器編制成員（Jason Glasser/弦樂器、伴奏、鍵盤；Brad Reitz/鼓；Jeff Marshall/低音貝斯），這些特色都讓Clem Snide多了閑適平靜的氣質(zhì)。
　　Clem Snide像是站在青蔥牧野，隨著歌曲（Exercise、I Love The Unknown…）跳著輕快的步伐，偶或跟著 "You Favorite Music" 打著清脆的percussion，但絕大部份你只看到Clem Snide一行四人，對著淡淡烏云的天空，面如表情地唱述一面面水彩暈漬色調(diào)的畫幅（Bread、1989、Sweet Mother Russia…），他們的另類鄉(xiāng)村樂就是予人這般不協(xié)調(diào)的畫面，而在Eef的歌詞里，更可找到各式樣荒謬有趣的奇想情緒，在你的潛意識里一點一滴地幻化。
Conjuring a sweet and lusciously melancholy sound that merges the tunefulness of vintage pop, the late-night vibe of cool jazz, the lonesome spirit of classic country, and the delicate touch of folk, Clem Snide are a trio who've gone through more than their share of changes since they first formed in 1991. Clem Snide were first assembled by singer, guitarist, and songwriter Eef Barzelay while he was attending college in Boston during the early '90s; the first edition of the band was created to perform his earliest attempts as songwriting, and the sound was dominated by noisy, punk-jazz-inspired dissonance with abrasive guitar lines and bleating saxophone. (Significantly, the band was named for a character in the challenging William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.) While this early lineup played out occasionally and released a pair of 7" singles on a local label, Barzelay became disenchanted with both the band and the city of Boston, and the group split up in 1994.
Two years later, Barzelay had relocated back to the East Coast after dropping out of school (he grew up in New Jersey), and he was living with his parents when he got the itch to start writing songs again. Barzelay reconnected with Jason Glasser, who had played bass for a spell with Clem Snide, and was now learning the cello while attending art school in New York City. Barzelay and Glasser soon began working up new material under the name Fruit Key; after adding Jeff Marshall on double bass, Barzelay opted to resurrect the name Clem Snide, and by the end of 1996 the group was playing small shows around New York. The following year, the band began recording a demo, and added drummer Brad Reitz to the lineup; the demo sessions eventually evolved into an album (with a variety of friends and contemporaries helping to fill out the group's sound, a practice that would continue on future recording projects), and Clem Snide's debut, You Were a Diamond, was released in 1998.
In 1999, Reitz left the band, and new percussionist Eric Paul stepped in during the sessions for the group's second album, Your Favorite Music, which was released during a short-lived tenure with Sire Records. The group's relationship with Sire was through by the time the band finished its third album, 2001's The Ghost of Fashion, but Clem Snide's career enjoyed a boost when a song from the album, "Moment in the Sun," was chosen as the theme for the hit television series Ed. Several tours across the globe followed throughout 2002; however, Jeff Marshall grew tired of the road. He left the band, but went on to participate in the recording sessions for the band's fourth album, The Soft Spot (2003), which also featured multi-instrumentalist Pete Fitzpatrick. Pete's cousin, Brendan Fitzpatrick, stepped in to play bass shortly thereafter. For the band's fifth album, 2004's End of Love, they brought in a crew including Ben Perowsky (the Lounge Lizards), Lara Meyerratken (Crooked Fingers), Paul Burch (Lambchop, Paul Burch & the WPA Ballclub), Tony Crow, and Ben Martin (Lambchop).