Jeffrey Lewis '12 Crass Songs' album

Jeffrey Lewis was raised in New York City and is a maker of comic books, tragi-comic folk narratives, and lysergic garage rock. With brother Jack on bass and David Beauchamp on drums, the Jeffrey Lewis Band mixes 60s acoustic psychedelia like Pearls Before Swine with the experimental art-punk of the Fall and the urban lyricism of Lou Reed, sounding a bit like if Woody Guthrie fronted Sonic Youth. Live shows also incorporate "low budget videos", Jeff’s large illustrations displayed to accompany certain songs. In 2001 Jeffrey Lewis signed to Rough Trade Records and has since released four albums.

The Jeffrey Lewis Band has toured the US, UK and Europe, sharing bills with Devendra Banhart, Black Dice, Thurston Moore, the Fall, Beth Orton, Frank Black, the Fiery Furnaces, Daniel Johnston, Scout Niblett, the Mountain Goats, the Moldy Peaches, Cornershop, the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Wooden Wand, the Cribs, the Danielson Famile and others.

The album Jeffrey Lewis: 12 Crass Songs was released in the UK and Europe in October 2007 on Rough Trade, with US release slated for January 2008. The album is a collection of songs by the legendary anarchist punk band Crass, reworked by Jeffrey into glorious folk, rock, psychedelic, orchestral and electronica productions which dazzle the ear while losing none of the political power of the originals. For the recording of 12 Crass Songs Lewis was joined by Helen Schreiner on back up vocals.

12 Crass Songs follows in the footsteps of the critically acclaimed Jeffrey & Jack Lewis: City & Eastern Songs, which was produced by Kramer (Galaxie 500, Butthole Surfers, Low, Daniel Johnston, etc) and was selected as one of 2006's best albums in Time Out NY, the Boston Globe, CMJ Monthly and elsewhere. Jeffrey's most recent comic book series Fuff is currently up to issue six.

press quotes
"Jeffrey Lewis’ talents appear without end… (on 12 Crass Songs he) magically makes the anarcho-rockers’ anti-establishment savagery his own, by wrapping their barbed sentiments in his trademark mottled tea-towel warmth” - NME

"12 Crass Songs succeeds utterly... eerily beautiful and strangely affecting" - Plan B Magazine

"He’s taken hold of any number of my old stormy favorites and breathed fresh life and fire into them. . . Man, I’m in awe of Jeffrey right now. Who’d have thought he could have done that?" - Everett True/ Village Voice

"Quite brilliant" - (4 of 5 stars) MOJO

“What could be sacrilege is actually a small epiphany: the gorgeous instrumentation…proves a deft counterpoint to the lyrical rage. The Man probably said it would never work but The Man was wrong” - (4 of 5 stars) UNCUT

4 of 5 stars – The Sun

9 of 10 stars – Vice

“It's no mean feat to transform such abrasive harangues into lush, tuneful folk… without defusing their righteous anger… but Crass's intelligent and indignant screeds could not hope for a more sympathetic translator.” (4 of 5 stars) - THE GUARDIAN

“His sung and songwritten folk stunts function on more than one level: as neurotic story-telling, hearfelt rap, and footstomping song craftsmanship… his latest album seems to be Mr. Lewis at his most accessible.” (8 stars) LOWDOWN Magazine

“Remarkable” – (“Five Best” pick) Daily Standard

“Lewis has a gift for making classics out of classics, and throughout this smart, inspired album, there’s rarely a wrong note hit.” – Stylus

“It shows that [Lewis] can turn his hand to almost anything, and if anyone wanted to know how to re-adapt someone else's work in order to make it entirely your own, they should listen to this record… Connoisseurs may be aghast, but it's testament to Lewis' talents that, amid punk's sweat and turmoil, he finds so much bruised beauty.” – (9 of 10 stars) – INFOSHOP

“Does it really work, does it really achieve its purpose? Am I enjoying this as a Jeffrey Lewis record? Well, sure I am. His style is stamped all over it. But has the message sat well, has my mind been opened, if only a little? Will I get myself some Crass records? Of course I f**king will.” (4 of 5 stars) – Rock Feedback

“What I saw of [Lewis] live ranked alongside the highlights of the [End of the Road Festival] weekend, and on record the same combination of dry wit and incredible musicianship is evident - even when turning his hand to songs originally recorded by seminal 1980s anarcho-punk band Crass. Lewis makes them his own, and rarely has a covers album been pulled off with such aplomb.” – Thurrock Gazette

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Jeffrey Lewis - 12 Crass Songs