Ryan Walker - vocals, guitar, piano Brian Kent - guitar, vocals John Rapoza - bass, vocals Mike Fellenbaum - drums, occasional inappropriate song-titling
The Beanstalk Library Orchestra has included but is certainly not limited to:
Keli Burke, Campbell Charshee, Phil Chow, Gabriel Fry, J. Tom Hnatow, Emily Hsu, Susan Hsu, Brett Niederman, H. Kate Rears, Natalie Tedder & John Thayer
Influences
Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wilco, etc.
Sounds Like
The Beatles and The Band had a bratty baby in the polluted Atlantic Ocean that washed up on the Carolina coast and hitchhiked to Washington, DC.
Born of soul-touching melodies, rich vocal harmonies, and the restlessness of growing up in Washington DC, The Beanstalk Library's debut album, America at Night, is an intoxicating musical canvas created by songwriters Ryan Walker and Brian Kent.
The Beanstalk Library's lineup includes Walker (vocals, guitar, piano, organ), Kent (guitar, vocals), Mike Fellenbaum (drums), John Rapoza (bass), and a large cast of friends and fellow musicians who add horns, strings, and vocals to the eight songs on America at Night.
Self-produced with mixing duties handled by Chad Clark (Fugazi, The Dismemberment Plan), America at Night opens with the gorgeous piano ballad Bleak House in which Walker intones, "Let's go out tonight." And from there, the rest of the album plays like a night on the town, effortlessly weaving together a variety of styles heard in music clubs across the country.
The second track, Fake It, mixes and matches early Who with a country twang, while Elephantitis, serves up a pop sprint anchored by its giddy organ hook and propelled by the athletic rhythms of Fellenbaum and Rapoza. Female Form is a standout built on lush strings and driving guitars to reach its anthem peak, and Fog Over My Mind is a pure sing-along gem.
The Beanstalk Library has built a loyal following, playing regular shows at DC venues such as Black Cat, Iota, Jammin' Java, and Rock and Roll Hotel, and sharing bills with, among others, Retribution Gospel Choir, Cloud Cult, The Teeth, Illinois, The Eames Era, Meredith Bragg, Exit Clov, Jukebox the Ghost, Warm in the Wake, The Winter Sounds, The Subjects, The Hall Monitors, and Vandaveer.
-Dallas Hudgens, author (Drive Like Hell, Season Of Gene)
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Don't take our word for it:
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"For fans of Big Star and Teenage Fanclub...songs like 'Fake It' and 'Elephantitis' burst out of the speakers, bright and jangly guitars at the forefront, supported by piano, horns and cascading backing vocals. 'America At Night' is rooted more in classic rock than nineties alt-rock and that helps give the songs a timeless feel--well-written, well-performed...extremely tuneful and immaculately produced."
-David Malitz (Washington Post)
"A package of tightly crafted songs...draws upon Dylan and The Band with the modern sensibility of Wilco...not the meandering experimentation of many freshman efforts."
-DC Magazine
"The one-two punch of 'Elephantitis', a rushing, gushing power-popper and 'Fake It', with its requisite jangle and harmonies, was the perfect antidote to mid-summer malaise. Worth the wait...a refreshingly straight forward band."
-DCist
"Wonderfully done record...Catchy, driving music, well-written lyrics and beautiful harmonies. Tracks can go from piano heavy to guitar thunder, from sleepy chill to jarring, all seamlessly...these tracks sound big time. The wait for this effort has been worth it. 3 1/2 (out of 4) Beer Mugs."
-On Tap Magazine
"...one of the strongest local records of the year" and "a great live band"
-Instrumental Analysis (instrumentalanalysis.blogspot.com)
Below, enjoy a video of The Beanstalk Library, at Iota, performing the new song "It's Made All The Difference", featuring Beanstalk Library Orchestra members Brett Niederman on guitar and H. Kate Rears ..o.
Elephantitus is such an awesome song. Listening to it inspires me to dust off the Fender P and get looking for a rock band for geezers. I might have to find a place for one of your songs in my documentary on the sport of lawn mower racing.
Thanks for adopting Grandpa. Perhaps the "beanstalk" analogy references the achievement of extreme heights that rock grandeur entails. As for the "library" I'm stumped at this point. More reading may be required.
Despite knee pains and mild indigestion I too yearn for rock immortality, or to at least play onstage somewhere.
Hey Beanstalk Library! It was good to see Ryan and Brian at the Black Cat the other night at the Greenland show. I hope you guys danced better than I did and had a safe, good time.
The reason I'm writing, though, is to announce Second String and the B-Team's first ever "win your jacket" contest. According to inside analysts, front-runners in the competition appear to be John Rapoza and Brian Kent, although some pundits still believe it could belong to a member of The Alphabetical Order.
The winning entrant will describe the grand prize, and then make arrangements to get it back.
Second String and the B-Team or its affiliates are not responsible for your fashion decision, nor are SSATBT or affiliates responsible people in general, especially in leadership roles, but sometimes we see somebody's jacket at a house we're moving out of and we talk our roommates out of giving it to charity, take it with us, give it a quick, cold wash and hang it out to dry. Then we forget we ever saw it for a few months, find it at the back of our closet, wonder whose it is and put some comments on the internet.
Hey, while I've got your attention, I just put the live album up on GarageBand.com. Ryan, you're mentioned by name on track 1, so check it out.
