climatastophu*k!

phunk, phunk, plunk plunk. sorry guys, i'm way behind updating all this, and on finishing up my album. life intervenes. summer's hot. please keep checking www.myspace.com/jonbraman for the latest while i get my oh my together...meanwhile check this recent review and thanks for all the support... from In-Tune magazine:
http://www.northeastintune.com/index.php?bd=reg&sb=land&article=080613

text: By: Lauren Proctor
No one is quite sure where the next cult hit will come from but there’s one thing that’s sure. There’s always a cult audience out there, patiently waiting for a new inspiration for their obsession.

Jon Braman has the potential to become a new figurehead to whom these fanatics can cling. He found his instrument in a trashcan and decided to teach himself to play. The playing evolved into writing songs about life, and now Braman raps and croons while strumming a ukulele; producing music that falls into the genre he calls Acoustic Hip Hop and Rap.

While it seems that those who listen to rap wouldn’t ever listen to folksy acoustic songs played by a hippy, and that the folksy audience wouldn’t dare bother with rap, Braman has an indiscriminate way of blending the sounds of each genre in a way that might draw a completely unpredictable niche audience of its own.

When explaining how Braman’s music developed he writes, “I felt like people needed these songs – songs that are unabashedly political but also intimate, funky music to move to, laugh to, get dumped and fall in love to, music that got to the heart of what was happening to us.”

As crazy as a twangy ukulele rap song might sound on the surface, or as much as it sounds like this unfamiliar genre might distance us, Braman’s warm ukulele and lyrics that fall so close to home are actually quite welcoming. He sings about everything from politics and the environment to his grandma’s car.

Braman’s wife joins him in some of his songs about life. Braman describes his wife’s voice like “a mermaid” but for a more tangible sense of her contribution, her voice resembles the vocals of Bill Frissell’s recent duo partner, Petra Haden. Regardless of how much Mr. Braman raps, Ms. Braman tends to shy away from the rap to sing in a more harmonious role.

The music Braman produces, including songs from his debut album “Sprouting Daisies Out of My Hair,” isn’t touched up to sound professional. Sometimes Braman’s voice isn’t very impressive either. But Braman isn’t concerned about that. He’s all about making music about the human condition from the people, for the people.