Brian Lopez Band
presented in Association with the New Music Seminar

Show Description

"Brian Lopez is making Tucson a new source for irresistible music. With his charming voice, great sense of humor and enough energy to do it all, Brian is giving a new name to world music – indie-world?"
-Indie Rock Review

“It’s 11 tracks of sweeping, sometimes-haunting, always-romantic melodies in English and Español. Lopez and his backing band make full use of their instrumentation (string section, lap steel, accordion, etc.) to create a lush sound that sounds like the soundtrack to a late-night horse ride under a full moon and starry sky on a summer night in Arizona…directed by David Lynch, of course!"
-Remezcla Musica

“The Tucson-based singer-songwriter has an awesome fro of corkscrew curls that lends him a sort of outlaw Bob Dylan vibe. His music could be classified as Tex-Mex folk-rock (sounds tasty, right?); the sweeping melodies, Latin beats, and sighing cello are reminiscent of Tucson collective Calexico (one of my favorites), who, unsurprisingly, he's played with.”
-Nylon Magazine

With his latest effort, “Ultra”, Brian Lopez has begun the work of going inside himself to find out what he has to say to the world. Ultra is the product of Brian Lopez's rock n roll heart. Yes, there are the Spanish language songs, and as all the best foreign language songs do, these transcend language barriers and move the spirit with the force of their feeling. But there is more, much more to behold on Ultra, and this reveals Lopez to be very much a product of his times, speaking to his times. On Ultra (his first full-length solo effort), Brian's infatuation with the sonics and atmospherics of Radiohead's OK Computer is evident, as is his scrutiny of how Thom Yorke goes about making the personal public without losing either his dignity or his soul. Like Yorke, Lopez is a thoroughly modern young man who has deep roots in a certain traditionalism that enables him to get his points across much in the manner of a folk singer while presenting his findings in an undeniably modern setting. In Brian's case, though, the music is a heady synthesis of brute force rock n roll (he does after all, lead a highly regarded three-piece band, Mostly Bears, that has won plaudits for their rousing live shows) and Beatles-like classicism (literally, in that his current band configuration for Ultra includes violin, cello, accordion, upright bass and lap steel) centered in rock, country, pop, and traditional folk all at once. He's played with Calexico, and recently he's been touring with Howe Gelb and his band Giant Sand, who've helped to build the careers of artists such as M. Ward, Neko Case, Granddaddy and Scout Niblett. Ultra is the product of a long and winding music highway Brian Lopez has been traveling for years through some interesting byways of song and style, with more than a little personal growth occurring along the route.

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The New Music Seminar’s mission is to create a music business in which talent can rise to its highest potential based solely on its merit, without regard to its financial resources or connections. To help artists and their representatives achieve success. To create a new economic model that better rewards both artists, their investors and those in artist services.