Jon Brion: Boogie Nights, etc

I finally watched PT Anderson's wonderful movie Boogie Nights (1997). Anderson is almost famous for Magnolia (1999) and Punch Drunk Love (2002), two movies I love very much. The music in Anderson's movies are always fantastic, and for the last two, it's in a large part due to Mr Jon Brion.

For those who might don't know, Jon Brion is a pop extraordinaire. In fact, he just hit pay dirt with Kanye West, the hottest musician on the planet, as Brion produced a majority of his new album Late Registration. Other productions include the Finn Brothers, Aimee Mann, Beck, Evan Dando, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, Rhett Miller, Fiona Apple and more. He's also a performer in his own right - he's been going strong for I think almost ten years, a Friday night residency at the LA club Largo.

It seems last, but not least, is Brion's own solo work. He has one independant solo album to date - Meaningless - which was recorded for a major label but rejected. Most of the soundtracks he works on has at least one original composition. There's talk of a second solo album, but it's mainly talk.

Brion comes to mind today not only because Meaningless has been getting continous play 'round these parts for the last week, but it turens out that in the scene in Boogie Nights where Dirk Diggler accepts his prizes during the Adult Film Awards, it's Jon Brion fronting the band that is supplying the music.

Meaningless is somewhat hard to get. But well worth it. It will go down in history as something like the first Emitt Rhodes album. A classic lost pop record. As for his soundtrack stuff - none is more beautiful than the song he wrote for Punch Drunk Love, Here We Go.

SITE: Jon Brion's Official Site

MP3: Jon Brion - I Believe She's Lying
- From the album Meaningless (independent, 2000)
MP3: Jon Brion - Here We Go
- From the original motion picture soundtrack Punch Drunk Love (Nonesuch, 2002)