best new year ever

I'm sitting in starbucks dragging out my lunch hour, bleary eyed and blue. The kids have colds, me and liz are tired. Ready for a night out. Did you ever hear jolie holland? I really love her second record, escondida, but I just heard a newer song of hers called mexico city and it totally knocked me out. I've been sketching out the track list for the new beat radio record. I think I'd still like to call it "safe inside the sound" which is the title I've been kicking around since we finished the great big sea. I'm having my friends sarah and russ seeger come over to help me out this week with some violin and vocals on a new song called hard times for dreamers. I'm excited because it can get sort of lonesome being a home studio basement recluse guy, even when you have a family upstairs.
So I got this blackberry for christmas from liz, I hope it's a good thing for this blog instead of just a source of lots of boring rambling!
Hope you guys have like the best new year ever.

Fondly, bri

colors and the kids

i've been a bit quiet the last few months, fell off the map a bit. it's been a wild wild year. liz and i bought a house over the summer and welcomed our third little baby boy into the world. his name is quinn, he's awesome. i've caught up a bit on things, read a bunch of books. my favorite was the brief wondrous life of oscar wao by junot diaz. i'm back to making beat radio songs by myself now, for the time being. i've been building up my home studio and working on lots of writing and recording. i'm really excited about the new songs. i'm hoping to put out a new beat radio full length in early 2009 and then get together with the new lineup to start playing out again. i just want to thank everyone who has supported beat radio over the last year and wish you the best for the holidays. i feel really blessed to have an audience for my work and i can't wait to share more music with you.

with love, bri

lovin's for fools

i stumbled upon this clip today via the brooklyn vegan message board. i like the bon iver record a lot. this is a cover song, really beautiful and haunting:

cheers, bri

Sunday Matinee EP!

this is the new Beat Radio ep, sunday matinee

1. teenage anthem for the drunken boat (mp3)
2. stranger flowers (mp3)
3. sunday matinee (mp3)

featuring: brian sendrowitz, phil jimenez, brian ver straten, and paul rovira
produced by philip a. jimenez
songs by brian sendrowitz

lyrics available here.
hi res-cover art here.

if you guys read this blog often, you probably know these songs from the demos. hope you enjoy the new studio versions. would love to hear what you think!

best,
brian
brian@beatradio.org

breakthru radio interview, acoustic set

i got to do a 10 song acoustic set and interview with the lovely DJ Maia at Breakthru radio the other night. You can find it over here. we i had a really great time and got to try out a bunch of the new songs.

here is the Setlist:

00:00 Brian Sendrowitz of Beat Radio

00:44 Treetops

04:21 Interview

06:41 Another Loveless Anthem

09:38 Interview

10:51 Lonely From Rock And Roll

14:10 Interview

15:39 Behind The Blue

19:00 Interview

19:40 Stranger Flowers

23:12 Teenage Anthem For The Drunken Boat

26:52 Interview

29:03 What I Love The Most

33:07 Sunday Matinee

36:01 Interview

38:05 Closing Scene

42:02 Elegy

best,

bri

behind the blue

this is a picture by robert frank from his book the americans. and here's another new song. it's kind of a good time. it's sort of autobiographical. it's a bit long winded and freewheeling.

beat radio - behind the blue (demo)

alternate title: "your mother loves a man in uniform"

here are lyrics:

i heard the kick drum and the melody
but it doesn't compensate for company
so i threw out my confession like it was a mixtape of a memory
there's an exodus upon us now
from the outside looking in
and it's a song about a super 8
a short story of a violin

and it's a long hard road ahead
i don't know what we're gonna do
but if you're holding out for me
i'll be holding out for you

at sunset there's a marching band that plays the requiem for radio
and the patron saint of electric light sings a song on the last stereo
me i'm singing with these sailors now
your mother loves a man in uniform
when i was shipwrecked on the shoreline she was my shelter from the storm

and i won't forget the thing she said
it hit me like a bolt of blue
i hope you're holding out for me
cause i've been holding out for you

i'm in a place that i don't recognize
fighting in a civil war
and every night i close my eyes and i feel more lonely than the night before

i wanna smash in every tv set to hear the wind come whistling through
i wanna cut through all the LCD's
i wanna see the blue behind the blue
i wanna graduate to more than just the sleepy crash of nine to five
i wanna be the one to show you how to feel a little more than just alive

when you were young you dreamed your dreams
some faded away and some came true
and if you're holding out for me
i'll be holding out for you
i'll be holding out for you

new poem

he was writing his own history
it was a feel good documentary

destroyer of lunchboxes
swallower of bright verandas
a beard growing on a beautiful vista
conquistador of the jersey shore

pounding his sonnets into typewriter keys
about girls in their blue jeans and tattoo sleeves

the words are spilling over now
"you're gonna miss me when i'm gone."

phil, brian and i have been in hiding as of late, working hard on new recordings. the first few will being coming out soon on a 4 song ep called sunday matinee. phil and i took a break a few weeks back to play an acoustic benefit show for our friends with the green party. thanks again to ian for posting this video. hope you guys like it. see you soon!

everything is temporary (now)

thanks to our fan jason for making this really awesome video to our song "everything is temporary."

we made a transient connection

here's a video of me and phil playing "television" at a recent green party benefit:

thanks to ian for putting this together.
thanks to phil for bringing his cittern.
this song is from my last solo record when it comes on like a dream.

cheers!

save union hall!

I honestly don't think beat radio would have continued to be a band over the last year and a half without the amazing people at union hall. it is the best small room for live music in new york.

Tonight (Wednesday, May 14) could change Brooklyn nightlife as we know it.
Community Board 6's advisory board lead by Lou Sones (the owner of Brazen Head) is taking action against Union Hall of Park Slope. They are recommending the removal of their liquor license based on a group of about 5 people from Union street, with no facts generated to prove any violations. I repeat... THEY ARE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY UNION HALL'S LIQUOR LICENSE WITHOUT A SINGLE VIOLATION! If this is allowed it could set a chain-reaction through the night life scene. If they can deny the renewal of a liquor license for an establishment with no violations they will be able to close down anyone they like.
DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!

The General Board will be meeting on this and other matters at the address and time listed bellow. Show up in numbers with signs stating your support for Union Hall and Brooklyn Nightlife. The press will be there and we have to put the pressure on.

Borough Hall Court Room / 6:30PM

209 Joralemon St

Brooklyn, NY

top 10

i still make mix tapes and top ten lists. here are some songs i've been rocking lately:

kim and jesse - M83
i live for that look - dinosaur jr.
chakka - shudder to think
ctrl-alt-del - the diggs
rave on, john donne/rave on part two (live) - van morrison
stop breathing - pavement
everybody's gotta learn some time - beck
unsatisfied - the replacements
car - easy anthems (daniel johnston cover)
whose authority - nada surf

enlightenment/non-attachment

i don't know what hapens
i don't know what happens
i don't know what happens
i don't know what happens
i don't mind what happens
i don't resist what happens
what happens is what happens
i don't know what happens
i just know it happens
if i know
if i don't know
if i mind
if i don't
i don't know what happens.

lonely from rock and roll

lonely from rock and roll is a song tim lannen and i were working on together in 2002 but then that version of beat radio broke up and i never really felt like the song was finished. i'd pick it up from time to time, i sort of never really let go of anything. anyway, a couple weeks ago i picked up a guitar and randomly started playing it and before i knew it i'd written a new bridge and chorus and i think i can finally put it down. here's a demo i made in my basement:

beat radio - lonely from rock and roll (demo)

here are the lyrics, some of them ended up going into other songs i've written in the last few years, but i guess it doesn't matter:

I got a broken heart
So come and cover me with wings
I got it in my mind
To turn away from everything
I'll sing a song for you
About the shape that I was in
When all your basement clothes
Are wearing thin

this feels like something's missing
i'll talk but no one's listening

but if you feel like hiding out
i know a place where we can go
i changed my mind i miss the life we used to know

I got a broken heart
So come and carry me away
I got it in my mind
To fall down to my knees and pray
But I'll sing a song for you
About the shape that I was in
When your designer clothes
Were wearing thin

In all my dreams too long to tell
I hit the ground with broken wings
And when the morning comes
I can't remember anything

(instrumental)

but if you feel like hiding out
i know a place where we can go
i changed my mind i miss the life we used to know
In all my dreams too long to tell
I hit the ground with broken wings
And when the morning comes
I can't remember anything

hope you guys like it.

here's and old blurry picture of me and rob at the mercury lounge:

closing scene

here's another new song i finished up this week. kind of a sad one:

beat radio - closing scene (demo)

hope you like it. here are the lyrics:

you could storm through a wasteland, believe what you want to believe
set your sails on a ship that could carry you over the sea
you could fold paper airplanes that fly to the edge of the world
close your eyes and imagine a beautiful girl

maybe i bet my future on the dreams i chased
but you traded your dreams for a safe safe place
and i don't feel free
and you don't feel safe
now the colors are flashing in a fever dream
and the tension in building for the closing scene
and i miss the way
that we used to be

there is no security
there are no mistakes
there is only destiny
there is only fate

you stayed home for weeks with your records alone in your room
so i said "let's go out cause it's springtime, the world is in bloom."
and we can go walking the backstreets we once knew so well
i can still hear the sound of the church tower bells

what if i bet my future on the dreams i chased
you traded your dreams for a safe safe place
you've got your fears
i've got my faith
now the colors are flashing on your tv screen
and your senses unravel in a fever dream
and i miss the way
that we used to be.

there is no security
there are no mistakes
there is only destiny
there is only fate

this photo was taken by our drummer brian ver straten. you can find more over at his vacant photographs myspace page.

the lion and the lamb

here's a demo for another one of the new songs, i've been working on this one for a really long time, for some reason i kept coming back to it.

i put that picture of kerouac here because the title of this song reminds me of his essay "lamb, no lion."

beat radio - the lion and the lamb (demo)

here are the lyrics:

in the morning i was walking where the ocean meets the land
i was thinking about the lion
i was thinking about the lamb
i guess i hoped you'd see the truth that i disguised inside these lines
i hoped that i could take your blues and make them mine

i'm feeling listless
i'm shiftless i don't know what to do
i've got no religion
but you
but times gonna change us
we're never gonna feel this way again
so lets let the candle
burn at both ends

i was caught up in the moment
i was safe inside the sound
i could see the castles burning
i didn't let it bring me down
but now my record players broken
and my blankets on the floor
and i can't tell which way i'm turning anymore

there was a moment
i wasn't feeling anything at all
i was the sound between heartbeats
i was the ghost in the hall
everything changes
when i was in the basement making noise
and my fears unraveled into joy

i used to think
i could go on this way forever now i know
it's now or never

i'm feeling listless
i'm shiftless i don't know what to do
i've got no religion
but you
but times gonna change us
we're never gonna feel this way again
c'mon let the candle
burn at both ends
there was a moment
i wasn't feeling anything at all
i was the sound between heartbeats
i was the ghost in the hall
everything changes
when i was in the basement making noise
and my fears unraveled into joy

i used to think
we could go on....

hope you like it. i'd love to hear what you think. the comments and emails people have been sending are really great and inspiring. i love how having this blog has contributed to and sometimes driven the creative process for me over the last few months. more soon.

thanks. brian.