Sub Pop Records

Damien Jurado / Rehearsals for Departure - SP440

Rehearsals for Departure is Damien Jurado’s second album on Sub Pop. And it’s a stunner.

Amazon’s review:
If you were to take the promising moments from Damien Jurado’s first album, Waters Ave. S., and factor in a few years’ worth of maturity, it still wouldn’t add up to this spectacular achievement. The Evergreen State’s self-tagged “urban folksinger” has sharpened his songwriting skills and streamlined his musical attack. Simple, finger-picked acoustic guitar graces most of the tracks and when matched with Jurado’s nasal whine (which shares a few adenoids with Freedy Johnston) creates a genuine emotional intensity. “Ohio” is the perfectly shaped tale of a girl abducted from her mother and made to live with her father in a faraway city. The lament is perfectly underpinned by the harmonica of Richard Smokovich, who also adds an extra-rough ferocity to the complete-band numbers (“Honey Baby,” “Letters & Drawings”). The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow produces and adds a full complement of instruments, ranging from guitar, organ, and piano to mellotron and concertina. One of the year’s best, for sure.—Rob O’Connor

Released: March 9, 1999

Damien Jurado / Waters Ave S. - SP374

MEDIUMS: LP, CD

TRACK LISTING:

1. Wedding Cake
2. Angel of May
3. Treasures of Gold
4. Yuma, AZ
5. The Joke is Over
6. Space Age Mom
7. Circus, Circus, Circus
8. Hell or Highwater
9. Independent
10. Purple Anteater
11. Sarah
12. Halo Friendly
13. Waters Ave. S.

NOTES: Released 1/21/97

Released: January 21, 1997

Damien Jurado / Waters Ave S. - SP374

MEDIUMS: LP, CD

TRACK LISTING:

1. Wedding Cake
2. Angel of May
3. Treasures of Gold
4. Yuma, AZ
5. The Joke is Over
6. Space Age Mom
7. Circus, Circus, Circus
8. Hell or Highwater
9. Independent
10. Purple Anteater
11. Sarah
12. Halo Friendly
13. Waters Ave. S.

NOTES: Released 1/21/97

Released: January 21, 1997

Damien Jurado / I Break Chairs - SP571

Heading off in yet another new direction with his 4th full-length, Damien Jurado has assembled a full band for I Break Chairs. And, the results here are twelve new songs, full and alive, with jangling guitars and rolling drums carrying Damien’s inimitable sense of narrative and powerful vocal delivery. Thematically, Damien visits ground fans will be familiar with: friends disappointed, abandoned whores and mermaids, boys ditching their girls, a modern-day love story rife with juvenile delinquency. Produced by David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), the new record shows Damien still capable of breaking more than chairs, so watch out for your heart.

Released: 2002-02-19 (CD), 2002-04-01 (LP), 2002-02-19 (MP3s)

Damien Jurado / Ghost of David - SP507

Damien Jurado is an urban-folk singer with his hand in the baskets of all the right fringe genres. He's a storyteller, and the stories have matured steadily since he first appeared on the scene with the perfect balance of lighthearted pop and saddest of the sad on his early singles and first full-length, Waters Ave S. Since then, (with his second full-length, Rehearsals for Departure, the Gather in Song EP (both from 1999), and this year's collection of found recordings, Postcards and Audio Letters) he's moved more toward the dark, and if you ask him, he'll tell you point blank that it's in the dark where you'll find us all.

Track Listing:

1. Medication
2. Desert
3. Johnny Go Riding
4. Great Today
5. Tonight I Will Retire
6. Ghost of David
7. Parking Lot
8. Rearview
9. Paxil
10. Walk With Me
11. December
12. Rosewood & Casket
13. Ghost in the Snow

Released: September 19, 2000