Posts Tagged ‘Ben Kweller’

BEN KWELLER – ” Cover The Mirrors ” Recommended Albums Of 2025

Posted: June 28, 2025 in MUSIC
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The most common strategies for coping with grief is to surround yourself with loved ones and lean on your support network when you have trouble standing up on your own. And though Ben Kweller’s “Cover The Mirrors“, an album he recorded as a way to reckon with his grief over the death of his 16-year-old son, 

Ben Kweller is back and he’s not the same. Who could be after the heartbreak he’s endured since the sudden passing of his 16-year old son, Dorian Zev. Instead of hiding away, the beloved indie-rocker is walking through the fire of grief with intention and purpose. Kweller’s latest album “Cover The Mirrors”, arrives on what would have been Dorian’s 19th birthday, May 30th. ”This is the most personal, emotionally raw project I’ve ever worked on,” Kweller says. He has been an open book throughout his illustrious career. His songs hold a nostalgic quality that takes you to a time and a place, happy or sad. Despite all of the heartache and sadness surrounding this story, Kweller’s open-eyed honesty about grief and loss has been an inspiration to people around the world. His new musical chapter is a chance for all of them to witness a great songwriter at his creative peak.”

“I can’t wait to hang with you again.” If you know the tiniest bit of backstory about Ben Kweller’s upcoming album “Cover the Mirrors“, there’s no way the closing line from his new song featuring MJ Lenderman won’t leave you with at least a knot in your throat.  There’s a warmth to it, but that waiting feels like staring right into the sun.

The album features several guest musicians (Waxahatchee, Coconut Records, The Flaming Lips, and MJ Lenderman), it never feels as though he’s relying too heavily on them. Instead, they contribute to the album’s somewhat unexpected uplifting atmosphere; it’s not exactly a party, but it does feel more like a celebration of life than a meditation on despair. Even “Letter To Agony,” possibly the album’s most downbeat song (it opens with the line, “Oh, darling / I’m not doing so well”), leads into the poppier “Save Yourself,” with a chorus that implores, “Don’t let it beat you up / When the rose you have / Is a faded color.” “Oh Dorian,” the album’s closer, ends with the heartbreaking but optimistic line, “I can’t wait to hang with you again.” “Cover The Mirrors” isn’t always an easy listen, but it is, ultimately, deeply rewarding.

2025 The Noise Company Released on: 2025-05-27

BEN KWELLER – ” Heart Attack Kid “

Posted: April 1, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Ben Kweller Returns After Near-Death Experience, After five years of unintended “hibernation,” indie rock icon Ben Kweller returns with some of the strongest music of his career. He didn’t go away just to go away. Instead, Kweller went on hiatus after being fifteen minutes away from death. “We almost died,” Kweller says. “Me, Lizzy, our two boys. We wouldn’t be here if Liz hadn’t woken us up that night.” Kweller refers to a trip to the mountains of New Mexico in 2013 when his family went on what should have been a winter wonderland vacation and instead resulted in acute carbon monoxide poisoning.

Now at last, he has a new record, which in addition to his good health, comes as a relief to Ben Kweller fans, who, for over 15 years, have endlessly sung along to his anthems and cried to his ballads. They know his gift for jumping through genres while remaining heartfelt and authentic. They also know that nostalgia and optimism were his trademarks long before his run-in with mortality. Now, with the forthcoming release of Circuit Boredom, we are reminded that a light really is at the end of the tunnel, we just have to listen for it.

We’re glad our main main Ben Kweller’s back.

BEN KWELLER – ” Sha Sha ” Record Store Day Release 2018

Posted: April 19, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Ben KwellerBen KwellerThe first ever US vinyl pressing of Ben Kweller’s classic 2002 record Sha Sha, a monumental album for both Kweller and ATO Records. At the time of it’s release, Rolling Stone said classic pop, power pop, alt-pop, indie-pop and anti-folk are all at home on the album… capturing both the loneliness and freedom of early adulthood. Remastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound from the original 1/2 tapes, packaged in a gatefold jacket and pressed on 180 Gram white vinyl. Underscoring the songwriting skill he’s been working at since age eight and over the course of 11 songs, he plays acoustic, folk-rock, alternative, power pop, and straight-ahead rock; his lyrics are consistently heart-sung.

Sha Sha was the debut album by American indie rock singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and former Radish member Ben Kweller. The album was originally composed of outtakes from sessions for Radish’s unreleased album Discount Fireworks. It was self-released by Kweller, via CD-R, in 2000. In 2002, ATO Records released a second version of the album with a radically different track listing featuring many new recordings and songs. What 20-year-old Kweller lacks in crafting his own sound, he makes up for in crafting virulently infectious hooks.,