Flashback to April 21, 2011
Soup is good food, (crepes are good too)Another chilly evening in Santa Cruz, CA. The gentle 68 degree breeze sweeps misty fog through the streets of town. Denney Joints' band, Midnite Snack, is having a CD joint release party* with Ship of the Sierras and Rachel Fannan at the Crepe` Place, a local Santa Cruz music epicenter. Inside the venue, the show goers are taking their respective positions either at the bar, or standing on the hardwood floor in front of the stage. Among the attendees, but oddly nestled away, sitting on the floor, tucked beneath the counter where the soundboard operator reigns, is Tree in its infancy - Kirsten Artemecia and Oliver Tree, the familiar and seemingly inseparable duo for half a decade. Having recently established Tree as the name** for their new trio. Their first recordings are available to a few lucky people in town. To Tree, this show featuring family and friends is of special interest. Not only to socialize, but a good opportunity for recon too boot.
By 2011, Denney Joints had established himself as a favorite local performer with amazing, and well attended live shows plus a few CDs and shirts. Oliver was just beginning to record his unique style of dub-glitch electronica that culminated in Splitting Branches, his first full-length album. It was a time of great expectation and optimism for the future, (those were the days).
It may seem odd to flashback an entire decade to begin a joint review of two 2020 releases, but roots are important. A return to those earliest recordings help me to better understand the foundations and origins of Oliver and Denney. Drawing parallels (if they exist) to showcase their evolution as artists is not necessarily my goal here, but will be entertained nevertheless. It's difficult for me to remain objective since I have known both Denney and Oliver for many years. I can't entirely detach and review them objectively, therefore, I'm approaching it from my own personal perspective as a close, long-time friend, fan and observer. This requires a sensitive balance of disclosure while maintaining responsibility and respect for their privacy, therefore any personal information not previously established in other media is intentionally excluded. No spoilers here... unless you can read betwixt the lines.
Sometime in 2010, I stumbled across Denney's CD, Soup Samwich. I was astounded by the sophistication and musical expertise of his band, Midnite Snack. The songs are honest, powerful, fun and somewhat profound. And the band is tight, like a well tuned and maintained German dynamo. I met Denney for the first time soon afterward. Denney had recruited local legend, Mason, (a member of our household), to play bass in a new incarnation of Midnite Snack. I remember hearing the raw demos of the songs that morphed and came to fruition in BEDTIME, the celebrated inductee into Zenberg Blogue's Best Album of 2011. THIS "Joint Review" however does NOT receive the BEST OF 2020 designation because the entirety of 2020 was outstanding in and of itself; the BEST of everything. Picking a BEST in 2020 is impossible. It was all good.***
LISTENING: Comedy is Not Pretty
To prepare for this review, I put off playing the 2020 releases and instead, played the first tracks**** I had heard from both Joints and Tree a decade earlier. I found myself playing these songs repeatedly over the course of a few days. I listened a lot more than I thought I would and came away impressed, having a sense that I'm privy to some special music that most of the world will never hear.
Eventually, I got around to listening to The Beast and Ugly Is Beautiful (UIB) and immediately discovered subtle overtones and themes echoing back to to the early material. I was already familiar with most of the music on both UIB and the Beast, (much of it having been released previously), therefore it was refreshing to hear material that was new to me.
Both albums are well thought out with design in mind. The Beast has a raw, anti-commercial and serious punk attitude, while UIB is edgy commercial rock/hop. Both are anti-pop in scope.
Oliver Tree is a true Alien Boy in the world of commercial pop icons who overplay the tough sexy motifs we've come accustomed to seeing. In juxtaposition, Oliver arrives on stage riding a Razor Scooter, wearing an old nineties ski coat, exaggerated bell-bottom JNCO Jeans and sporting a bowl cut hairdo that sometimes falls off, (intentionally). To me, this persona is a kind of "in your face" to the music biz' pretty boys and tough guys, none of whom know any sweet scooter tricks. Oliver plays the fool, but he's no fool. He pretends to not take himself seriously, but Oliver is an artist who insists on perfection; be assured that his videos and songs are precisely how he envisions them. And he's influential too. Oliver has become a pop icon responsible for a new generation of fashion and scooter sport. It's become common to see folks of all ages on Razor Scooters and random people sporting bowl cuts and JNCO Jeans. There's even an Oliver Tree Scooter Army group on Facebook where fans can share thoughts, art and photos of their own personal emulations of Oliver. Razor Scooters are back too, in a big way, and by making it cool to scoot again, Oliver is partly responsible***** for that. The scooter plays an integral role in the Oliver Tree mythos and is a common theme on stage, in videos, memes and narrative from the many interviews he's given. A story he never fails to share is his explanation of the lyrics in his hit song Hurt. According to Oliver, while competing in a scooter competition, his long awaited ride was thwarted when his front wheel hit a tiny pebble at the base of the ramp, sending him crashing and breaking his hand in the fall. Obviously, (if you know Oliver), any real meaning of Hurt is intentionally obfuscated by this story, but personally, I prefer to think of it metaphorically and view Oliver as the pebble who temporarily derails commercial music industrialization. He's the surprise that no one saw coming. He mocks the machine while profiting from it.
Something that has always impressed me about both Oliver and Denney, is their keen sense of humour. In Denney's case, the comedy was more prevalent in his earlier works and reflects a certain amount of optimism for the future, whereas, (now that we live in the future), Denney's positivity has waned. The Beast is much more mordant than any of his previous releases, but can still make me chuckle. It's clear that Denney is pissed off, (and if you're not pissed off, then you're not paying attention). Denney is great at pointing out the obvious in an oblivious world, but unfortunately, there's "no one listening." The Beast does have some really personal moments that tug at the heart and Denney really knows how to write a great song. This album really rocks and makes you feel alive. One song that I want to highlight on The Beast, is the track, Walking With the Beast, a Gun Club cover that Denney handles marvelously. His treatment of the track is complementary to the original and I may love it more than the Gun Club version. The YouTube video of Walking With the Beast features Denney and friends jamming and hanging out in Santa Cruz. At one point in the video, Denney pulls out his cellphone and lets his fingers do the walking with the beast. Noice "touch" Denney.
Oliver is hailed for his comedic****** persona. His popular memes and videos are obviously humourous, but Tree's early releases are blatantly introspective, thoughtful and seemingly personal. UIB has its introspective elements too though. Bury Me Alive is one song from UIB that has a serious Tree flashback vibe with resurrected lyrics from the song, Rising Phoenix.******* For the most part, the songs on UIB are mostly inner-directed themes, shielded behind juxtaposed befuddling comedic videos. UIB seems like all fun and games, but BEWARE! These songs are addictive, and once you're hooked, there's no return. I got sucked in and find myself singing these songs regularly, (I like to make up my own lyrics). No wonder UIB made it to #1 on Billboard's Rock Chart and #1 on Billboard's Alternative Chart. Damn! That's impressive!!! It really is a great record, and I dig spinning my three different coloured versions of red, yellow, and orange.
Apocalypse Now? Why Wait?
The music of Denney and Oliver were a fitting soundtrack to remember 2020, the year that kept on giving. It seemed there was a new and frightening development every day, from Murder Hornets to mysterious monoliths. Late in the year, as UIB and The Beast were finally available in their completeness, the Bay Area beaches began to experience some beautiful bioluminescence dancing and sparkling in the dark waves along the coast at night. Unfortunately, the phenomenon was soon eclipsed by a ferocious and spectacular lightning storm, the likes of which has never been witnessed in the area. The lightning ignited numerous fires in the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond, while thousands of people evacuated their homes and entire communities. I couldn't help but consider the irony of the UIB album cover that features Oliver in a playground that's being consumed by fire. The I'm Gone video depicts Oliver surrounded by fire too. And then there's Denney's 2018 album, City on Fire, who's cover depicts a large, all-consuming warehouse fire. I've always associated this image with the fatal Ghost Ship fire in Oakland that killed many of Denney's friends in 2016. 36 people died in that fire. The 2020 fires******** and associated evacuations and ominous red skies were unprecedented. That no doubt weighed heavily on both Denney and Oliver as their communities, friends and families were being impacted by a strange mix of lockdown, evacuation and uncertainty. At least there was some great music to listen to, unless PG&E's roaming blackout program shut your electricity off. That was fun.
Who Are These People?
Denney and Oliver share many friends and experiences in Santa Cruz, they however express their vision very differently. With Denney, what you see is what you get. He lives in his car and views the decline of western civilization from under the overpasses and streets of Oakland. Denney's many projects have been mostly funded by himself and a handful of friends who contribute, either financially or by helping with performance, recording, production, and merch etc. This new release is minimalistic and anti-capitalist in essence and intent. There are no available CDs, tapes or any merchandise associated with The Beast which is exclusively available at Bandcamp.
Unlike Denney, Oliver maintains a guarded personal identity apart from his manufactured and carefully crafted public persona. The Oliver Tree mythos is layered in deception. Nothing is true and everything is true at the same time. Like Denney, Oliver's first album, Splitting Branches, was self recorded and realized by the helpful assistance of friends that he roped into the project. Things are obviously different now that he's well funded and enabled by the industry. Records and all manner of merchandise********* are available for purchase at the official Oliver Tree Store.
I've played both of these albums a brazillian times, and enjoy them more every time. I'm happy that I know about these recordings and can share them with you, the reader/listener. They're pretty amazing.
*Rachel, Ship and Snack are Santa Cruz supergroups that boast personnel from local favorites Birds Fled From Me, Mountain Animal Hospital, Sheena, Sleepy Sun, and the Vox Jaguars.
**Tree is the name adopted for the projects that became Splitting Branches (2012) and Demons (2013). Conceptually, Tree is a play on Trio and the triangle/delta symbol was adopted as the official Tree logo to represent the trio. It also resembles a tree and since Tree is Oliver's middle name, it's the obvious choice, and a good one imho. The original Tree/Trio is comprised of Oliver Tree, Kirsten Artemecia Rosenberg and Shelf Nunny who together recorded the first few songs before the project was expanded to include other contributors under the Tree Collaborations umbrella.
*** Santa Cruz lingo
**** Soup Samwich by Midnite Snack and Splitting Branches by Tree including Rising Phoenix, an early song that predates much of the Splitting Branches material but not included on the album
***** Oliver really does deserve credit for this. He was taking his Razor Scooter to the Santa Cruz Skate Park B4 anyone else ever had and pretty much initiated Scooter Sport. People thought it was weird, and it was... it was Oliver being Oliver.
****** Someone once asked me if I was surprised that Oliver became a famous musician. I said I'm not surprised that he became a famous comedian. Oliver is among the most witty people I've known and is genuinely fun to be around.
******* Rising Phoenix by Tree was recorded spring 2011 and features Kirsten Rosenberg and Shelf Nunny - the track is not included on the Splitting Branches album
******** The 2020 fires in Santa Cruz County destroyed more structures than the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake did.
********* Whether he knows it or not, Oliver has embraced the Rozz-Tox Theory of Obscurity.
