Okkervil River

Okkervil River — The Stand Ins

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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) September 9, 2008 1:51 pm
The sequel to last year's The Stage Names was recorded in the band's hometown of Austin, Texas and produced by the group and longtime collaborator Brian Beattie. As the titles of this disc and its predecessor suggest, there's a cinematic quality to the material and there are three short instrumental pieces (all titled "Stand Ins" and...
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The Stand Ins
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Sasquatch 2008 Day One

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By Quinn Omori (CHARTattack) May 28, 2008 2:00 pm
For the first time in it's seven-year history, the Sasquatch Music Festival stretched over a full three days. Memorial Day might not sound like an appropriate excuse to party, but with nearly 100 artists and comedians sharing three stages, our American neighbours and hosts did a fine job of demonstrating how to properly celebrate a long weekend...
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R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe

Okkervil River And New Pornographers Make A Fine Concert Tandem

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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) April 10, 2008 4:30 pm
The New Pornographers and Okkervil River launched their 15-date tour with the first of many sold-out shows they'll play across North America over the next two weeks. Even though I've seen both bands within the past month, it was a double-bill I couldn't pass up. Okkervil hit the stage at 9 p.m. sharp, with all six members of the Austin, Texas...
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The New Pornographers

Okkervil River Are Too Big For This

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By Noah Love (CHARTattack) September 24, 2007 3:00 pm
For reasons unrelated to the band, I wasn't looking forward to Okkervil River's performance on Friday night. I had just come from seeing the Beastie Boys at the Air Canada Centre, where I had been standing on a concrete floor for the better part of two hours. While the floor of Lee's Palace is much more accommodating, I still didn't feel like I...
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Live Review
Okkervil River

Okkervil River — The Stage Names

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By Noah Love (CHARTattack) August 7, 2007 9:04 pm
The problem with making an excellent concept record is that bands typically have no idea how to follow it up. Perhaps that's why Okkervil River seem a little listless after the success of Black Sheep Boy and its accompanying — not to mention even better — Appendix. The album starts out strong with a trio of tracks that present Okkervil's Will...
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Okkervil River's The Stage Names

Okkervil River — Black Sheep Boy Appendix

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By Noah Love (CHARTattack) December 6, 2005 3:34 pm
What a year it's been for Okkervil River. With their breakthrough concept LP, Black Sheep Boy, they went from struggling musicians to indie stars. On this EP (or mini-album, hard to tell), eccentric singer/songwriter Will Scheff and his talented band wrap up the Black Sheep Boy story. Not content to simply throw together a fans-only EP, these...
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Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy Appendix

Okkervil River — Black Sheep Boy

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By David McDougall (CHARTattack) April 19, 2005 10:49 am
Just for the hell of it, Okkervil River take "Black Sheep Boy" — a song by minor '60s folkie Tim Hardin — cover it, then go a step further with a vaguely conceptual LP built around the mysterious titular character. The devilish young man, horned and hoofed, makes his way through 11 tracks of truly detailed storytelling that’s full of...
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Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

Okkervil River releases free-to-download EP of cover songs

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By Dan Busheikin (CHARTattack) November 28, 2011 2:06 pm
Texan folk rockers Okkervil River have presented fans with an early holiday gift: Golden Opportunities 2.The live-off-the-floor EP is comprised of five cover songs, following the tradition of their first Golden Opportunities mixtape, released in December of 2007. And, like the last mixtape, the release popped up silently and mysteriously, like all...
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WATCH: Okkervil River - "Your Past Life as a Blast” alternate music video

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By Maxim Morin (CHARTattack) November 10, 2011 5:42 pm
Okkervil River has gone for take two on their melancholic track "Your Past Life as a Blast" from their recently-released record I Am Very Far. The first music video consisted of family footage of frontman Will Sheff’s youth, but this second effort, directed by Isaac Ravishankara, serves as an aesthetically pleasing counterweight to the last clip....
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Video Of The Day: Okkervil River's "Wake And Be Fine"

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By CHARTattack Staff (CHARTattack) March 30, 2011 4:06 pm
Let's say you're having trouble discerning all the lyrics to Okkervil River's "Wake And Be Fine." Okay, no big deal. The band's new video for the tune should help you out, since it flashes the lyrics on the screen at the same time Will Sheff's singing them, kinda like those old Mickey Mouse Club TV shows used to do back in the day. "Wake And Be...
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Okkervil River

Song Of The Day: Okkervil River's "Wake And Be Fine"

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By CHARTattack Staff (CHARTattack) March 9, 2011 4:20 pm
Okkervil River will return on May 10, with the release of their I Am Very Far album. "Wake And Be Fine" is the disc's first single, and finds Will Sheff and company doing a little bit of a waltz before an epic string section and some sleigh bells arrive mid-song to boost things up a bit. Sheff's vocals are as impassioned as ever, and I bet after...
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Okkervil River

I Read The News Today... For Jan. 13, 2011

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By CHARTattack Staff (CHARTattack) January 13, 2011 4:42 pm
When bassist Carlos D left Interpol, it was looked at as an amicable split. But now singer/guitarist Paul Banks has called him an "a-hole." But he doesn't mean it in a jerky way: he thinks Carlos is a "genius," and says he's willing to put up with a lot of shit from people he considers to be brilliant. —Undercover Neko Case is raffling the muscle...
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Interpol

Okkervil River's Amplifiers Apparently Look Like Bombs

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By Kate MacRae (CHARTattack) May 26, 2010 2:59 pm
Terrorism paranoia has struck again — this time in the form of some very suspicious sound equipment and a rental van driver who just may have been up to something. That might sound like an article from a bad tabloid, but Okkervil River were caught up in some of that panic on Tuesday (May 25) night. They were touring as psychedelic rocker Roky...
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Okkervil River

Roky Erickson With Okkervil River — True Love Cast Out All Evil

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By Dan Lovranski (CHARTattack) April 20, 2010 3:44 pm
Roky Erickson's story has been brought to the forefront over the last few years. That culminated in the You're Going To Miss Me documentary, which detailed his time with psych pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators in the '60s, his subsequent mental health and personal issues, his eventual emotional rescue by his younger brother and son, and Erickson's...
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Roky Erickson With Okkervil River's True Love Cast Out All Evil

Okkervil River Are Roky Erickson's New Backing Band

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) January 12, 2010 4:51 pm
Psychedelic rocker Roky Erickson hasn't released an album in 14 years, but that will change on April 20 when Anti- Records issues True Love Cast Out All Evil, which will feature Okkervil River as his backing band. The disc includes unreleased tracks Erickson wrote throughout his over 40-year career. Some of them touch on "confessional...
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Okkervil River

Okkervil River, Ryan Adams On Norah Jones Album

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) August 21, 2009 1:54 pm
So much for "retiring" from the music business. Ryan Adams is one of the songwriters on Norah Jones' upcoming as-yet-untitled fourth studio album, which will be released in November through Blue Note. The disc also features a contribution from Okkervil River's Will Sheff. Jones has also enlisted members of Tom Waits' backing band...
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Ryan Adams

Okkervil River Connect The Dots

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By Noah Love (CHARTattack) November 21, 2008 3:49 pm
Will Sheff was lauded as one of this generation's best new songwriters when he pulled off the one-two punch of Black Sheep Boy and its ensuing Appendix in 2005. For an encore, he simply did it again and got famous as a result. The second concept package pairs last year's The Stage Names with this year's The Stand Ins. Both have gone a long way...
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Okkervil River

Okkervil River Not Cerebral

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By Noah Love (CHARTattack) October 24, 2008 1:02 pm
Over the past three years, Okkervil River have become famous for their stylish, two-part concept records. Starting with Black Sheep Boy and its subsequent appendix to last year's The Stage Names and this fall's counterpart, The Stand-Ins, singer-songwriter Will Sheff has crafted literary world set to barn-burning indie rock. But interestingly,...
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Okkervil River

Pumping: Okkervil River - The Stand Ins

Submitted by The Stereo on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 11:05am
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By The Stereo (CHARTattack) August 13, 2008 11:05 am
Entirely tolerable, despite the hipster taint that tends to cause that special brand of music prejudice...
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Okkervil River At Lollapalooza 2008

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Photographer: 
Rachel Verbin
Venue: 
Grant Park
City: 
Chicago, IL
Date: 
August 2, 2008
Okkervil River
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