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Biography
Release Date: May 16th, 2000
ELWOOD
The Parlance Of Our Time
"It's sorta like time stands still when you walk by..." ELWOOD, "Picture of You"
ELWOOD is North Carolina-born Prince Elwood Strickland III, third in a long line of southern gentlemen so named, starting with his grandfather, whose wartime buddies originally tagged him with the ELWOOD moniker. "The Parlance Of Our Time," ELWOOD's Palm Pictures debut album, has a very lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer feel to it, an idyllic stew of edgy prog-rap, lushly melodic pop, smoky jazz, sinewy funk, loose-limbed country-blues and confessional folk that is the product of Prince and co-producer/co-writer Brian Boland. Think Everlast and the roots-oriented Beck crossed with the Beastie Boys of "Paul's Boutique," Steely Dan and British groups like the Chemicals, Portishead, Propellerheads and A3.
The first single, an unlikely cover of Gordon Lightfoot's 1974 smash, "Sundown," which comes complete with the a pull-out-the-stops video directed by rap auteur Steve Carr (director of Ice Cube's #1 box office smash, "Next Friday"), typifies the band's approach-take a memorable melody and put it through their "hip-pop" bag of tricks. Says New Jersey native Brian, who came up with the idea of doing the song: "I was driving in my car and heard the original version on the radio. As soon as the chorus hit, I heard Prince's voice." Elwood insists the song's no novelty, either. "Most of the people who hear it don't even know it's a cover."
The rest of "The Parlance Of Our Time"' lives up to the instantly memorable "Sundown," couching the most seductive riffs in a variety of lush pop settings offset by intricate production touches that stick in the brain-the languid acoustic guitar and techno-Delta of "Slow," the smooth Latin jazz horn and flute flourishes which turn "Red Wagon" into a combination of Hugh Masakela's "Grazing In the Grass" and Chicago's "Saturday In The Park"; the calliope-like carnival organ and mocking sax in "Picture of You"; the syncopated bass-and-drums underlining "Dive"; the Jamaican dance-hall dub and Looney Tunes synths of "Love Hook."
Three of the songs, including the single, "Red Wagon" and "Picture of You," were produced by legendary U.K. knob-twister Steve Lillywhite, who has worked with the likes of U2, Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, XTC, Simple Minds, the Pogues, Morrissey and Talking Heads, among others, and plays bass on "Red Wagon."
Lyrically, ELWOOD proves similarly complex. The album sees the past through a gauzy screen, as the songs speak of the tug of time, the persistence of memories, and the inability to overcome the past. "Picture of You" is an autobiographical meditation on the loss of innocence, while "Bush" is about a naive girl betrayed by someone who takes advantage of her, then is too insecure to accept the responsibility. "Peaches" oozes with the sexuality of a brief encounter ("It's about a hooker... Is that so wrong?" asks Elwood) and "Dive" deals with taking your chances, making that leap of faith. "I'm basically afraid to lay my emotions bare," explains Elwood. "That's why I use so many metaphors."
His studio expertise comes from a decade-long stint as an engineer at the Greene Street Recording facility in New York's trendy Soho. The place had become the home for many of the area's hip-hop elite and Elwood got to work there on records by Tricky, Mos Def, Pete Rock, De La Soul, Prince Paul, DJ Muggs, the The, Adam Yauch, Jungle Bros. and Black-Eyed Peas. Raised on his grandfather's country records and his own roots in East Coast prog-rap, Elwood gradually developed a musical sensibility of his own, further enhanced by hooking up with his eventual partner Brian Boland. The seven-track demo they recorded in Elwood's own studio attracted a horde of A&R interest, leading to a deal with Palm Pictures, the company formed by legendary Island founder Chris Blackwell, who scouted the band personally. "He didn't know what to make of us," laughs Elwood. "He couldn't believe the songs all came from the same band."
Now that the album is finished, ELWOOD has turned its attentions to honing their live outfit, so they can play the complex songs on the road, and to developing the group's image, since they have emerged, except for a few live performances to attract label interest, full-blown from the studio. The group is already causing a buzz on the Internet with a rather explicit, X-rated animated video created for their song "Bush" by Chris Prynowski, creator of MTV's acclaimed "Downtown" series. "It's a challenge to market ourselves," says Elwood. "It's a hard thing to pull off. I don't want people to look at us and think, 'These guys don't know who the f**k they are.' "I don't think we're too eclectic. The continuity Brian and I bring to it is the continuity. The range is there, but we're not too far left or right. We have any number of different ways we can go musically. We have the freedom to go wherever we want."
What they are is twang-hop or maybe rap & roll... a culmination of the history of pop music that speaks to who we are right now in a universal language, a syntax and style that is completely modern and up-to-date, yet touches on everlasting truths as ancient as a primitive beat. In short, ELWOOD's music is "The Parlance of Our Time," a phrase snatched from the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski." "The more I said it to myself, the more perfect it sounded," says Elwood. "It fits the whole record. It encompasses everything... Language, communication, a hook in a song. "It's just the greatest thing to work on music that you're excited about. And then to have the right lyrics to go with it that makes you feel something emotionally. And then when people tell me it makes them feel something, too, it's just the icing on the cake."
On the songs he calls "ear candy" which comprise his Palm Pictures debut album, "The Parlance of Our Time," ELWOOD has his cake, while lucky listeners get to eat it, too.
Press Contacts: Sonya Kolowrat or Diane Fortier at Ryko Palm, 212/506-5800 or Sonya.kolowrat@palmpictures.com
Radio Contact: Paul Langton, Ryko Palm, 212/506-5812 or paul.langton@palmpictures.com
ELWOOD
The Parlance Of Our Time
"It's sorta like time stands still when you walk by..." ELWOOD, "Picture of You"
ELWOOD is North Carolina-born Prince Elwood Strickland III, third in a long line of southern gentlemen so named, starting with his grandfather, whose wartime buddies originally tagged him with the ELWOOD moniker. "The Parlance Of Our Time," ELWOOD's Palm Pictures debut album, has a very lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer feel to it, an idyllic stew of edgy prog-rap, lushly melodic pop, smoky jazz, sinewy funk, loose-limbed country-blues and confessional folk that is the product of Prince and co-producer/co-writer Brian Boland. Think Everlast and the roots-oriented Beck crossed with the Beastie Boys of "Paul's Boutique," Steely Dan and British groups like the Chemicals, Portishead, Propellerheads and A3.
The first single, an unlikely cover of Gordon Lightfoot's 1974 smash, "Sundown," which comes complete with the a pull-out-the-stops video directed by rap auteur Steve Carr (director of Ice Cube's #1 box office smash, "Next Friday"), typifies the band's approach-take a memorable melody and put it through their "hip-pop" bag of tricks. Says New Jersey native Brian, who came up with the idea of doing the song: "I was driving in my car and heard the original version on the radio. As soon as the chorus hit, I heard Prince's voice." Elwood insists the song's no novelty, either. "Most of the people who hear it don't even know it's a cover."
The rest of "The Parlance Of Our Time"' lives up to the instantly memorable "Sundown," couching the most seductive riffs in a variety of lush pop settings offset by intricate production touches that stick in the brain-the languid acoustic guitar and techno-Delta of "Slow," the smooth Latin jazz horn and flute flourishes which turn "Red Wagon" into a combination of Hugh Masakela's "Grazing In the Grass" and Chicago's "Saturday In The Park"; the calliope-like carnival organ and mocking sax in "Picture of You"; the syncopated bass-and-drums underlining "Dive"; the Jamaican dance-hall dub and Looney Tunes synths of "Love Hook."
Three of the songs, including the single, "Red Wagon" and "Picture of You," were produced by legendary U.K. knob-twister Steve Lillywhite, who has worked with the likes of U2, Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, XTC, Simple Minds, the Pogues, Morrissey and Talking Heads, among others, and plays bass on "Red Wagon."
Lyrically, ELWOOD proves similarly complex. The album sees the past through a gauzy screen, as the songs speak of the tug of time, the persistence of memories, and the inability to overcome the past. "Picture of You" is an autobiographical meditation on the loss of innocence, while "Bush" is about a naive girl betrayed by someone who takes advantage of her, then is too insecure to accept the responsibility. "Peaches" oozes with the sexuality of a brief encounter ("It's about a hooker... Is that so wrong?" asks Elwood) and "Dive" deals with taking your chances, making that leap of faith. "I'm basically afraid to lay my emotions bare," explains Elwood. "That's why I use so many metaphors."
His studio expertise comes from a decade-long stint as an engineer at the Greene Street Recording facility in New York's trendy Soho. The place had become the home for many of the area's hip-hop elite and Elwood got to work there on records by Tricky, Mos Def, Pete Rock, De La Soul, Prince Paul, DJ Muggs, the The, Adam Yauch, Jungle Bros. and Black-Eyed Peas. Raised on his grandfather's country records and his own roots in East Coast prog-rap, Elwood gradually developed a musical sensibility of his own, further enhanced by hooking up with his eventual partner Brian Boland. The seven-track demo they recorded in Elwood's own studio attracted a horde of A&R interest, leading to a deal with Palm Pictures, the company formed by legendary Island founder Chris Blackwell, who scouted the band personally. "He didn't know what to make of us," laughs Elwood. "He couldn't believe the songs all came from the same band."
Now that the album is finished, ELWOOD has turned its attentions to honing their live outfit, so they can play the complex songs on the road, and to developing the group's image, since they have emerged, except for a few live performances to attract label interest, full-blown from the studio. The group is already causing a buzz on the Internet with a rather explicit, X-rated animated video created for their song "Bush" by Chris Prynowski, creator of MTV's acclaimed "Downtown" series. "It's a challenge to market ourselves," says Elwood. "It's a hard thing to pull off. I don't want people to look at us and think, 'These guys don't know who the f**k they are.' "I don't think we're too eclectic. The continuity Brian and I bring to it is the continuity. The range is there, but we're not too far left or right. We have any number of different ways we can go musically. We have the freedom to go wherever we want."
What they are is twang-hop or maybe rap & roll... a culmination of the history of pop music that speaks to who we are right now in a universal language, a syntax and style that is completely modern and up-to-date, yet touches on everlasting truths as ancient as a primitive beat. In short, ELWOOD's music is "The Parlance of Our Time," a phrase snatched from the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski." "The more I said it to myself, the more perfect it sounded," says Elwood. "It fits the whole record. It encompasses everything... Language, communication, a hook in a song. "It's just the greatest thing to work on music that you're excited about. And then to have the right lyrics to go with it that makes you feel something emotionally. And then when people tell me it makes them feel something, too, it's just the icing on the cake."
On the songs he calls "ear candy" which comprise his Palm Pictures debut album, "The Parlance of Our Time," ELWOOD has his cake, while lucky listeners get to eat it, too.
Press Contacts: Sonya Kolowrat or Diane Fortier at Ryko Palm, 212/506-5800 or Sonya.kolowrat@palmpictures.com
Radio Contact: Paul Langton, Ryko Palm, 212/506-5812 or paul.langton@palmpictures.com
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