IVY ROOM PRESENTSFRIDAY JULY 18TH—Izaak OpatzBeautiful DudesLevi Thomas—Doors 7:30 pm / Show 8:30pmADV TICKETS AVAILABLE / $18 DOOR—lVY ROOM860 San Pablo Ave, Albany • 21+—Izaak Opatz—Like many of his favorite songwriters (John Hartford, Lucinda Williams, Jeff Tweedy), Izaak Opatz is an ungulate in life’s winter pasture, chewing on and metabolizing disappointment, heartbreak, and the other tough stuff into enjoyable musical carbohydrates. A compulsive metaphorager (and inveterate wordplayboy), Opatz breaks it all down with enzymes of wry humor, thoughtful simile and close observation - a therapeutic process of narrativizing his own life that, almost as a byproduct, turns out savory nuggets of literate, confessional pop.Where 2018’s Mariachi Static drew from Opatz’s fragmented love life as a seasonal Park Service employee and resonated especially with the sensitive dirtbag set, Extra Medium, his latest release, splits time between romantic Hindenburgs across his native Montana, up the East Coast, and in faraway Los Angeles...
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IVY ROOM PRESENTSFRIDAY JULY 18TH—Izaak OpatzBeautiful DudesLevi Thomas—Doors 7:30 pm / Show 8:30pmADV TICKETS AVAILABLE / $18 DOOR—lVY ROOM860 San Pablo Ave, Albany • 21+—Izaak Opatz—Like many of his favorite songwriters (John Hartford, Lucinda Williams, Jeff Tweedy), Izaak Opatz is an ungulate in life’s winter pasture, chewing on and metabolizing disappointment, heartbreak, and the other tough stuff into enjoyable musical carbohydrates. A compulsive metaphorager (and inveterate wordplayboy), Opatz breaks it all down with enzymes of wry humor, thoughtful simile and close observation - a therapeutic process of narrativizing his own life that, almost as a byproduct, turns out savory nuggets of literate, confessional pop.Where 2018’s Mariachi Static drew from Opatz’s fragmented love life as a seasonal Park Service employee and resonated especially with the sensitive dirtbag set, Extra Medium, his latest release, splits time between romantic Hindenburgs across his native Montana, up the East Coast, and in faraway Los Angeles. Montana and LA especially decorate the album, supplying wells of metaphor and scene-making, and as characters in their own right - LA’s alternately charming (“In the Light of a Love Affair”) and discomfiting (“East of Barstow”), and, in “Big Sandy”, Montana evolves from setting to subject as the girl’s feelings he traverses it to see prove less than his own feelings for the state.In LA, Opatz learned from and worked alongside Jonny Fritz at Dad Country Leather, and met bandmates and Extra Medium collaborators Malachi DeLorenzo (drums, producer, engineer) and Dylan Rodrigue (multi-instrumentalist, producer). He now lives in Missoula, Montana, where he runs his own custom leather shop, is writing the next album, and recently finished a master's degree in journalism at the U of M.Beautiful Dudes—The Dudes are Tom Bevitori, Robbie Landsburg, Art Echternacht and Zach Peach--all born and raised champions of Nevada City, California.When Beautiful Dudes’ frontman Tom Bevitori wrote the songs for their sophomore album Radio, he found himself finally confronting the demons of his past while also facing larger social ills through this personal lens. Covering his own relapse, feelings of disconnection and abandonment, the opioid epidemic, and facing America’s upswing of reactionary politics; Bevitori and the Dudes captured these serious topics the best way they knew: heavy riffs, catchy hooks, and an eye on catharsis. A deep dive, though, reveals acutely vulnerable lyrics that contrast wildly with the band’s brazen sound.“The intention behind what we are doing is not just about having a good time and getting fucked up. It’s about being okay with having emotions, getting pissed, and being real,” shares frontman Tom Bevitori of the Nevada City, California-based quartet. “My life is great right now, but I had this emotional pain I hadn’t talked about before. On this album, I felt ready to talk about it.”Levi Thomas—Born and raised in the Ozarks and currently haunting the west coast; Levi Thomas writes cosmic American folktales set to a backdrop of psychedelic rock and roll. Owing equal debts to the anthology of American folk music, the heartworn troubadours of the 70s, and the feedback laden heyday of SST records.
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