Tag: Sean Lennon

My Top Published Works with Performer Magazine


I’m currently seeking a position in editing and content creation. If your company needs someone to manage their social media presence while creating original (and ridiculously good-looking) written features, please check out my resume and let me know! I’ve compiled a list of some of my publication achievements below for quick reference.

Additionally, I was recently featured as a Found Local in The Bold Italic, a wonderful online publication covering every facet of what makes San Francisco great. This isn’t related to my qualifications as a candidate. I just thought you should know ;)

Interview with Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl)

In mythology, the concept of duality follows closely with creation. Day and night, good and evil – the balance between two opposite pairs defines the human existence. This is a relevant citation when discussing The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, a two-person band balanced between opposite, yet complementary parts.

The pair in question is Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl. He, the only son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, has both the benefit and curse of being associated with two of the greatest artists of our century. She, a professional model with deep poetic flair, performs vocal harmonies with him. Their first album, Acoustic Sessions, finds its release on their own label, Chimera Music, named after an equally mythical creature.

Sean is in bed and Charlotte, having just woken him, apologizes if he might sound groggy. The two have been dating and living together for the past year, a relationship that explains the intimacy of their debut. The origins of their project are similarly intimate: “I was looking through her stuff,” Sean recounts regarding Charlotte, “and I found this play called ‘The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger’ from when she was seven. And I called out that I had found it, ‘Hey, what’s this? It would be really cool if we started a band called The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.’ It was kind of a fluke idea, and she was like, ‘Sure, why not?'” (more…)

SF MusicTech Summit (12.06.10)

The SF MusicTech Summit opened for its seventh year on December 6. The conference, focused on the convergence of music and related technologies, featured a total of 19 expert panels and new product demonstrations. The list of speakers included notables from both the music and tech worlds: reps from Universal, Avid, MOG, SoundCloud, RootMusic, Talenthouse, Gracenote and Blip.fm, to name a few; and musicians like Del the Funky Homosapien, Evan Lowenstein and Rana Sobhany, New York City’s iPad DJ. Attendees flew in from all around the world, making SF MusicTech a hot networking spot for both up-and-coming musicians and app developers. (more…)

Interview with Maus Haus

“Serendipitous” would be an appropriate word to describe the formation of Maus Haus. From their initial meetings to their creative process, everything about this San Francisco electro-synth sextet seemingly fell into place. To achieve the eclecticism in their albums, the band of multi-instrumentalists undergo extensive experimentation in the studio. Anything can happen. Their reversal of the traditional songwriting process has yielded the unique (and very catchy) results presented in their debut, Lark Marvels and their new EP, Sea-Sides. Having already gained considerable regional attention, the band is poised for their first East Coast tour this summer. (more…)

Treasure Island Music Festival 2008

The sun broke free and fans flocked to the middle of the San Francisco Bay for the second annual Treasure Island Music Festival this September. With a green bent and a breezy, beach party theme, the two-day celebration of music and art did not cease to amaze with its excellent booking, immaculate views and all-around smooth-sailing execution. (more…)

Xu Xu Fang – Seven Days Now (record review)

It requires no less than seven members to produce the broad soundscape exhibited by Xu Xu Fang’s latest EP, Seven Days Now. The Los Angeles psychedelic septet follows their successful previous release, The Mourning Son, with five ambitious and bold tracks that define the phrase, “larger than life.” The record already ranks high on several distribution sites and even includes a song featured in the hit show, Gossip Girl. (more…)

For a complete list of my published works, please click here!

Happy New Year! Favorite Songs and Top 10 Posts of 2010

TOP 10 SONGS OF 2010

If you have an rdio account, click here for a more convenient playlist. And please be sure to add your favorite songs to the comments below!

MOST VIEWED POSTS OF 2010

1.) My High School Senior Project: The Myth
2.) PLAYLIST – Yelp Holiday Mixtape Banger
3.) “Everything Is Meaningless” / Joseph Campbell, Ants, and (since it’s me) Radiohead
4.) “In the Movies” / Giants win the World Series!
5.) La meglio giovent๠– My favorite film that’s not Inception
6.) PERFORMER MAGAZINE – Interview with Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl)
7.) Chopin, Piazzolla, The Temper Trap / The most beautiful music in my life right now
8.) Merry Christmas!
9.) PERFORMER MAGAZINE – RECORD REVIEW: Mikie Lee Prasad, Jukebox Folktales: Volume Two
10.) ARTIST ADVICE – The First Gig – Setting your head for a proper performance

PERFORMER MAGAZINE – Interview with Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl)

Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger
GOASTT Official

INTERVIEW: Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger
Sean Lennon Expounds on New Project
By: Keane Li

In mythology, the concept of duality follows closely with creation. Day and night, good and evil – the balance between two opposite pairs defines the human existence. This is a relevant citation when discussing The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, a two-person band balanced between opposite, yet complementary parts.

The pair in question is Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl. He, the only son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, has both the benefit and curse of being associated with two of the greatest artists of our century. She, a professional model with deep poetic flair, performs vocal harmonies with him. Their first album, Acoustic Sessions, finds its release on their own label, Chimera Music, named after an equally mythical creature.

Sean is in bed and Charlotte, having just woken him, apologizes if he might sound groggy. The two have been dating and living together for the past year, a relationship that explains the intimacy of their debut. The origins of their project are similarly intimate: “I was looking through her stuff,” Sean recounts regarding Charlotte, “and I found this play called ‘The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger’ from when she was seven. And I called out that I had found it, ‘Hey, what’s this? It would be really cool if we started a band called The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.’ It was kind of a fluke idea, and she was like, ‘Sure, why not?'”

The phrase “my generation” was prevalent during the discussion, as they bounced profound ideas back and forth on topics like creating political art in an age of “subterfuge and obfuscation” or the irony of diminishing human connections in an increasingly digitally connected age. Charlotte, having grown up in a small town in Atlanta, had a significantly different upbringing than Sean, a native of New York City and twelve years her senior. After becoming a model at age 13, she traveled the world and, admittedly, had little connection with mainstream media.

“My only exposure to pop culture was really horrible,” she recalls, “like techno music in Milan. So when I met Sean, I had a lot of catching up to do in terms of musical references and learning everything that happened since.” Sean regards this as a positive quality. With a life surrounded by great musicians, he has what he calls a “library of pop culture” in his head; with a variety of influences from jazz fusion to hip hop to The Beach Boys. “Charlotte really isn’t poisoned by every Duran Duran single and Boy George comeback,” says Sean, praising her ability to create original work without influence.

Their dual natures continue into their songwriting process. Sean, with his penchant for melodies and chords, may be the most experienced in terms of instrumentation, but says he needs to “catch up” with Charlotte in terms of lyrical construction: “I used to just write about how I felt,” he says about his previous albums, “It was more like diary entries. It was sort of like documentaries of Sean’s feelings. And then I met Charlotte, and she was already a lyricist. She won all these poetry awards when she was young and she sort of pushed me to actually take lyrics seriously, as its own art form.”

Currently completing their upcoming “electric” album, the two are often distracted by side projects: “We’re going to put out a little mini-album for France,” Sean says when mentioning their European tour, “We’re still getting around to finishing our opus, or whatever you call it, for next year.”

“Our ‘magnum octopus,'” adds Charlotte. When asked if that will be the actual name, she replies, “It should be.”

Despite an increase in administrative duties associated with running Chimera Music, Sean describes the transition from a major label to self-publishing as “logical” for artists, as it offers more control over creative output. “Now that we have our own company, I think I realize how lucky I am in terms of artists who are less mainstream like myself, who are more indie or left-of-field.”

Charlotte laughs at his comment and cuts in, “I just had a horrible image of you performing with all these back-up dancers behind you in leotards.”

Sean replies, “What do you mean ‘horrible’? That sounds beautiful…”

Throughout the discussion, they readily offer opinions on every topic except one. When asked if they had any advice for other independent artists, they paused. “I don’t know. I think we need advice. I don’t think we have any advice to give,” says Sean. “Yeah, I don’t think we have the right to give any advice because we’re very much like Bambi on ice,” Charlotte seconds, then adds, “I think it’s very unoriginal to try to be obsessed with being original in a day when there’s such a confluence, a critical mass of every variation of everything happening right now. So I think it’s just really important to sort of stick to what you love, and really just try to execute it in a way that feels true to your artistic vision and not be so concerned with the image of it.”

Not bad advice; do what you love. “Yeah, it’s harder than it sounds. It’s a cliche, but it’s hard. You need to succumb to insecurity or the pressure to make a certain type of product.”

At its core, Acoustic Sessions is an exposed experience between two life partners, a joint effort that Sean describes as being more meaningful and fun than any of his previous collaborations with the great artists of his past. Their songs describe a view of the world from two contrasting perspectives, as a lyrical admission from a pair of nostalgics, written from the quietness of their home.

“That’s my favorite time,” Charlotte comments, “to play guitar in bed with you.”

“Yeah, those are the good times,” Sean replies.

http://chimeramusic.com

Photographer: Sean Lennon

Performer Magazine November 2010