Name AJR (Adam, Jack & Ryan)
Best known for Firstly, for getting heckled that one time opening for the Smashing Pumpkins. Secondly, for writing songs such as “World’s Smallest Violin,” “Bang!,” “Weak,” “The Good Part,” and “Burn the House Down.”
Current city New York City.
Really want to be in Would love to move to Hawaii at some point and open a poke/surf shop.
Excited about Our new album The Maybe Man was just released, and our upcoming (and first) arena tour (The Maybe Man Tour) is on sale now. We try to create a kind of concert you’ve never experienced before, so we hope you all can make it.
Our current music collection has a lot of Folk.
And a little bit of Vibey Instrumentals (Aphex Twin, Daft Punk).
Preferred format Vinyl has a special place in our heart. Every morning before school our father had a tradition of playing a different album on his beloved record player. We discovered all of our favorite artists this way.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne
This album shaped a large part of our sound. Fountains of Wayne manages to do something unique and unprecedented with this album, taking a topic as mundane and flat as a simple suburban life, and drawing loads of emotion out of it, which, in our opinion, resonates harder than any average love song or emotional track would. They create fully three-dimensional and empathetic characters through their storytelling and make you long for a life both this simple and this complex. In short, this album is so one of a kind, it truly never gets old.
2
Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
Brian Wilson is our biggest songwriting influence. The Beach Boys’ ability to disguise sad topics with joyous production almost tricks the listener into accidentally feeling something. This album is full of un-skippable songs that were all way ahead of their time. You can really hear that Brian Wilson didn’t care about appeasing the charts or mainstream listeners, he truly wrote what he felt.
3
Piano Man, Billy Joel
Piano Man holds so much nostalgia for us. Billy Joel was one of the first artists we truly fell in love with, and this album was our instant favorite. The range in tone is huge throughout the record. There are songs with influences from, country, classical, rock, etc. Even though the genres vary, he ties all the songs together with incredible hooks. The chord progressions/choruses on this album taught us how to write catchy melodies/hooks. It’s a really unique album. You can’t quite pigeon-hole which, for us, are the albums we keep returning to.
4
Good Kid M.A.A.D City, Kendrick Lamar
This is one of our favorite hip-hop albums ever made. The lyrics are poetic, genius, and cover stories from such a real perspective. Even more impressive for us is the production. We’ve taken so much production influence from this album – everything from huge soundscapes, to individual drum sounds. In an instant Kendrick can transition from the hardest hip-hop groove you’ve ever heard to the most emotional classical string arrangement. It’s a great lesson in following your gut to achieve the most unique sound possible.
5
I and Love and You, The Avett Brothers
This album holds a special place in our heart. It’s the album our dad would play most frequently while we were getting ready for school in the morning as children. The Avett Brothers strike a great balance between whimsical and emotional lyrics, with endlessly catchy hooks to go with them. Every song on this album is great and the blend of their two voices is magical.
