CAPYBARA
Kansas City, Missouri, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
If you're like me (and be glad you're not), you were probably a bit disappointed when you went to go see Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are" and didn't hear any Arcade Fire songs playing behind footage of the mopey nine-foot beasties wandering around in the Outback.
Not to worry. In addition to the excellent Karen O and the Kids-fueled official soundtrack to the film, skate rat Jonze has taken a cue from recent collaborator Kanye West and cooked up a street-legal mixtape of songs he has posted on his "Wild Things"-related blog, We Love You So. The site, a Kanye-style compendium of amazing things, features instructions on how to make your own Max costume, images of "Wild Things" cakes and cookies, amazing outsider art and a great "We Were Once a Fairytale" mock outtake in which Jonze slaps 'Ye for acting like a stuck-up celebrity during the shoot.
According to the post announcing the tape, it was created as a request of the "Sound Advice" crew and curated by Jonze and collaborators Dallas Clayton, Graham Kolbeins, Molly Young and Matt Rubin. The best part? It includes snippets of the version of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" that appeared in the "Wild Things" trailer, which led many to believe that the Canadian collective would be scoring the film.
The rest of the selections are pretty much what you'd expect from the peripatetic Jonze, with plenty of selections we know and love (Girls, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Mika Miko, Jens Lekman, Times New Viking, Kurt Vile, Lee Hazelwood), and a bunch more that even we've never heard of (Pamela Blue, Mulatu Astatke, Green Bean, Mort Garson, Alaska Y Dinarama).
I'll tell you this: I had never heard of Capybara before, but "The Wimp" is totally the soundtrack to my day now. Thanks, Spike. - Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)
Giant basketball player heads and sombreros? Yes, please. Capybara, you just made my day.
<http://vimeo.com/6857578> - Sean Cannon (Buzzgrinder.com)
Is it fair to be especially impressed when a new band you fancy come not from New York, Toronto, Los Angeles or Montreal but Kansas? Capybara have succeeded in wooing me to their Midwest vantage with their nice guy energy, falsetto harmonies, limber syncopation and keyboard/banjo duelling. Try Brother kicks off with three back-to-back bursts of energy that push and pull at your neck muscles like a tractor loaded with melodies. Little bits of everything from Snailhouse at their herky-jerkiest tempered by Bon Iver-esque wistfulness click together with the surefooted instrumental detail of Loney, Dear. They cool things off midway through on "Happiness/Let Child Roam," which has the languid kitchen sink drama of vintage Rock Plaza Central. Named after the largest living rodent (up to four-feet in length), Capybara combine the modesty of mice with the scrappiness of city squirrels, and Try Brother is one of this year's biggest little albums so far. (The Record Machine) - Eric Hill (Exclaim.ca)
Discography
Dave Drusky (2012)
1. Late Night Bikes *streaming
2. Rain Apollo Trees
3. Neighbor Crimes
4. Pierre Bensusan
5. Wild
6. Bill Dabbler, Lorn Line
7. Ruby Eyelids
8. Kimberly Lydell
9. Vandals
10. Leaflet
Try Brother (2009)
Tracklisting:
1. The Wimp *streaming, airplay
2. Hello City Glow
3. Cutaway Kid
4. San Francisco, 1906
5. Soft *streaming
6. Happiness / Let Child Roam
7. Magpies
8. Dynamite Dare
9. Birthday Song for Bridgegirl *streaming
10. Waves in the Wire
Photos
Bio
Capybara is bent on making authentic music in spite of the odds.
In the first few weeks of 2009, four lifelong friends slipped jobs and leases in Portland, Brooklyn, and Kansas City to form a band in a frozen pueblo in Taos, New Mexico. The result was Try Brother, the group’s delicate, introspective debut that propelled a breakneck three-month, 44-city tour later that year.
Suddenly, the Kansas City quartet was flooded with opportunity: A nod on Spike Jonze’s official mixtape for Where the Wild Things Are; an invitation to compose the feature-length soundtrack for Sundance 2010 pick One Too Many Mornings; a rewarding run on Kickstarter, and the honor of backing legendary cult songwriter Daniel Johnston at the inaugural Middle of the Map festival in Kansas City. With a litany of accomplishments behind them and their eyes (and hearts) set on the future, Capybara is bringing its lush creative process to new heights.
In 2011, Capybara will release its sophomore album, Dave Drusky. It’s a very accessible and human record – an intersection of the warm and familiar, and the quirky and unpredictable. The gents of Capybara — Mark Harrison, Jared Horne, Darin Seal, and Joel Wrolstad — craft their art with wit and sunshine, illuminating a sound that’s both simple and catchy, conceptualized and personal.
Wrolstad’s lead vocals are brutally honest, while song narratives take gentle turns for the unexpected. Some songs on Dave Drusky ebb and flow, but others will linger long after the song – and the album — is over.
Capybara will be performing at CMJ in NYC this October in support of Dave Drusky.
Press
“I’ll tell you this: I had never heard of Capybara before, but “The Wimp” is totally the soundtrack to my day now. ” – Gil Kaufman, MTV
“Capybara won’t long be an unknown commodity with its jittery, percussive, freakout folk pop. No xylophone is safe when the foursome takes the stage with at least as much pep as Arcade Fire and with songs that are way more fun than anything on Neon Bible.” – The Pitch Weekly, Kansas City
“If your hearts didn’t swell with emotion from watching the legendary musician[Daniel Johnston}, then they should have at least swelled with immense pride for Capybara. This was a beautiful, once in a lifetime moment, and we were all a part of it” – I Heart Local Music
“Capybara seem to have tapped into the sharpest fragments of the contemporary alt scene with kaleidoscopic expertise. They master every sound they make and never sound like pretenders, always like musicians; original, diverse, vibrant. Not that I mean to gush. Take a tour for yourself.” – Monkton VS. Plankton, UK Blog
“A kickass mish-mash of folk-rock, folk-pop, indie-pop, you name it.” – Indie Shuffle
“The way Capybara boom-in that fuzz guitar halfway through and end with their stick-clacks and sailors’ choir, maybe that’s it, maybe that’s all I need.” – Said the Gramophone
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