Zapruder Sequence
Dallas, Texas, United States
Music
Press
"At Texas colleges, from the hippest to the most redneck, there's always the one guy who gets it. Listens to the best deep cuts in country, blues and even punk rock; is the youngest kid in the crowd at the old C&W gigs; wears Western shirts not because he's being cool, but because he got 'em from his dad. The Zapruder Sequence is like that one guy--swagger and drawl, but with enough young blood to pump some pop and rock into Texas' deepest wells of inspiration--and their latest disc, Pretty Girl Charm Lies, is a heartbreak roadtrip from El Paso to Dallas, from Austin to Marfa."
-Sam Machkovech
former Dallas Observer Music Editor - Sam Machkovech
True indie spirit: no record label graces any of the sleeves of the indie/country-rock band Zapruder Sequence's latest album release, Pretty Girl Charm Lies. Produced by Grammy Award-winning Stuart Sikes (White Stripes, Cat Power, Loretta Lynn), the CD boasts 11 upbeat to mid-tempo rockers injected with doses of country music flavors that make the 'ZS' sound easily accessible, with sound influences ranging from such luminaries as The Replacements to lesser-known popular acts such as Old 97's.
Formed in 2002 in Dallas, Texas, musicians James Binford (bass/vocals), his brother Jon Binford (guitar/keyboards), Michael Karnowski (drums), and Jordan Munn (guitar/lead vocals) first came onto the scene with their 2003 self-released, self-titled debut album. They have remained consistent with the indie/country-rock sound ever since, and it shows on Pretty Girl Charm Lies, an album themed on love/relationships between a man and a woman, strewn with dark and embittered sensibilities.
The release opens with the thumping, bitter-laced 'Straight Line' and follows up with a few spirited numbers before diving into the slow country swagger of 'My Reply.' The album picks up again toward the conclusion, ending with the rolling, easy-paced 'Surf City,' an ironically dark tune, which is the antithesis of what one might expect from the Beach Boys or Jan and Dean lyrically (the title 'Surf City' was a 1963 number one pop hit by the latter duo).
The feel of songwriter/guitarist Jordan Munn's angst-driven vocals and bleak, menacing imagery, fueled by the infectious framework of musicians Karnowski and the Binfords, are all exercised in Pretty Girl Charm Lies. Munn is able to tell ear-catching anecdotes and confessional rants such as the hustling 'Marianne' to the spewing 'Crossfire.' One will find that dark and ill willed phrases such as 'son of a bitch' ('Straight Lines'), 'death of innocence' ('Foreigner') and 'sun sinks and dies' ('Nobody's Baby') are peppered throughout the album.
Perhaps the strongest track off Pretty Girl Charm Lies is 'Mason Jar,' showcasing Munn's songwriting craft set to a radio-friendly groove. The song's laid-back rhythm and Munn's amiable, relaxing vocals undermine the shocking imagery that lies underneath it: 'I'd slit my wrists,''I'd cut my tongue,' and 'I'd stick my finger down your throat and make you choke,' a clever concoction. 'Makin' Eyes,' a runner up, is punctuated by its lively trumpet blasts accenting Munn's affirmation of independence: 'I don't need your pretty girl charm lies so you can pack it in and save it for someone else.'
While the Zapruder Sequence may be similar to other indie/country-rock bands in the Dallas music scene, the boys do a pretty good job at focusing their theme on bitter love and failed relationships while still maintaining enough pop/rock thrust to be appealing, helmed by the successful hand of producer Stuart Sikes. Ironically, Pretty Girl Charm Lies is lilac colored to symbolize love and its charms, but underneath its face is a dark synopsis of love's hardships, highlighted by dark lyrics in print within the jacket cover. This album will keep prospective pop/rock fan's ears ringing with its ear-catching energy and convincing emotions. - Jupiter Index
The Zapruder Sequence take their name from the infamous amateur footage shot in their hometown of Dallas on November 22nd, 1963. It might be tempting, for anyone who didn't know better, to assume that The Zapruder Sequence might be a troupe of wilfully provocative punk rockers in the vein of, well, the Dead Kennedys. This would be about as big a mistake as one could make. The Zapruder Sequence are, rather, a soulful and thoughtful alt-country act, nonetheless engaging for their orthodoxy.
The best moments of Pretty Girl Charm Lies — and it contains many — are those at which the inspirations fuelling The Zapruder Sequence and songwriter Jordan Munn — Slobberbone, Wilco, the Replacements, (especially) the Old 97s — are at their least imposing. "Cougar" is a terrifically deranged howl of anguish, underpinned by furious guitars and the kind of clattering drums which are something of a Zapruder Sequence feature (see also the pummelling fills on "Marianne" and "Shots"). "My Reply," the most straightforward country tune here, is an appealingly maudlin lament abetted by the judicious application of pedal steel. Mason Jar" hints that the Zapruder Sequence should try backing their ambition more heavily: it's an exquisitely paced, six-minute-long, banjo-blessed lament that wrings buckets from a simple, definitively country sentiment: "I don't think that things are gonna work out how I planned." - Andrew Mueller
Discography
Pretty Girl Charm Lies (2007 LP)
Assassination City Derby - Watch Your Head Vol. 1 (2006 Comp.)
Zapruder Sequence (2003 EP)
Photos
Bio
Hello. We are the Zapruder Sequence. We like to strum big chords and shimmy and shake to poppy beats. Pop songs, rock songs, country songs, cover songs are all fair game - we do as we please, although we do aim to please you, that is, oh fair listener.
We're all from Dallas, East Dallas (The EDT), Texas, and like to play music and Trivial Pursuit. James plays bass, and he'll drag out the saxophone when the mood strikes him. Jon hits guitar strings, keyboards and band mates. Jordan keeps up with guitaring, singing and breathing. Michael does a fair job of merging the disparate fields of drumming and architecture and Sean keeps it all together with some fat chords. The five of us play songs about women, life and Spain.
With the completion of their second album, Pretty Girl Charm Lies, the East Dallas band The Zapruder Sequence have crafted a document that touches on their influences yet also builds upon them to forge a distinctively “ZS” sound. Recorded by Stuart Sikes, mastermind behind such heavy-hitters as The Walkmen’s Bows and Arrows and Cat Power’s most recent classic The Greatest, the album distills much of what the band values in the rock, country, and pop communities into a seamless whole.
Says Jordan Munn, songwriter for the quartet: "Every person or band that I've loved musically has been an innovator in some way. Whether it's Neil Young, the Old 97's, the Pernice Brothers, Califone, or Calexico, they all have managed to balance making appealing music and pushing their art into new places. So that's the tradition I buy into, the tradition of innovation."
With comparisons to the late great Replacements, the aforementioned Old 97's, the Lemonheads and current popsters the Long Winters, the Zapruder Sequence successfully incorporates those punk, country, rock, and pop sounds into its repertoire.
"At Texas colleges, from the hippest to the most redneck, there's always the one guy who gets it. Listens to the best deep cuts in country, blues and even punk rock; is the youngest kid in the crowd at the old C&W gigs; wears Western shirts not because he's being cool, but because he got 'em from his dad. The Zapruder Sequence is like that one guy--swagger and drawl, but with enough young blood to pump some pop and rock into Texas' deepest wells of inspiration--and their latest disc, Pretty Girl Charm Lies, is a heartbreak roadtrip from El Paso to Dallas, from Austin to Marfa."
—Sam Machkovech (Dallas Observer)
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