Joel Jerome is the reigning king of LA’s underground music scene. You have probably heard about him recently for his work producing for some of the city’s brightest up-and-comers, such as Cherry Glazerr, La Sera, and LA Witch, among others. In a little under a month, we can expect to hear Cosmic Bear Jamboree, a full length record from Jerome, named after his current backing band. We are excited to premiere the opening track’s film treatment on Grimy Goods; take a trippy peek into the life of one man and the mind of another, below.
Jerome’s new record is the result of great chemistry between talented guys, though Jerome sees it more as the result of “a psilocybin full moon rehearsal.” Some tracks on Jamboree have been around in different iterations on past releases, but The Cosmic Bears give them all new life, which excited Jerome upon hearing playback of their rehearsals together. “I had been thirsting to have a keyboard player for so long that when I finally got ahold of Timi Ramsey on Moog and Mellotron, it gave the whole session a cool cosmic vibe,” he explains. “It was a keeper, I knew it had to be released somehow.” And he made it happen, with a release date set for August 11th on Elite Records. As expected, the record is marked by easygoing vibes of SoCal, with hints of Ariel Pink, Deerhunter, and other noise rock greats. Yet it’s hard to classify this sound anything but the breezy wonder of Papa Joel.
The opening single from the record is “Cosmic Dancer,” an ode to living without regrets. Jerome’s swirling reverb encapsulates his own free spirit, and for the accompanying video, filmmaker Annie Hardy set out to capture a sliver of the life of local handyman, Jimmy Chavira. The serendipity of the shoot was a force all its own, as Hardy explains:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“One day Jimmy Chavira was at my house doing handyman work with no shoes on and a handle of Jack Daniels. I realized I had a star in my midst so I grabbed my iPhone gimbal stabilizer and followed him on a walk. Everything that happened in the video I’m pretty sure would’ve taken place whether or not I was filming. … I feel like there’s a subtheme to the video that speaks to all musicians just being like really cool homeless people.”[/perfectpullquote]
Watch the video below and catch Joel Jerome live at the album release show at Delicious Vinyl in Hollywood on August 11th; more info.
Pre-order Cosmic Bear Jamboree here, out August 11th on Elite Records.
For more updates on Joel Jerome, follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
words by: Zoë Elaine
