Current Music Blog

Ben Harper and Relentless7
From the album White Lies For Dark Times:

• “Shimmer & Shine”
• “Fly One Time”
• “Number With No Name”
• “Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)”
• “Why Must You Always Dress in Black”
• “Boots Like These”
• “Lay There & Hate Me”

Death Cab For Cutie
From the album Narrow Stairs:

• “Cath…”

Grace Woodruffe
From her upcoming debut:

• “I’ve Handled Myself Wrong”

Fleet Foxes
From the album Fleet Foxes:

• “Blue Ridge Mountains”

Ben Harper and Heath Ledger had a little-known friendship that revolved around music. Ben was the first person Heath called to write a lullaby for his daughter, Matilda. They connected so much sonically that in 2007, Heath announced plans for him and Ben to start a record label together called “Masses Music Co.” Grace Woodroffe, who is featured in Embedded, was meant to be their first signed artist.

Heath is best known as an actor, but he also aspired to be a director. His ultimate goal had been to direct feature films, and he used his affinity for music in order to hone his skills behind the camera as well as get a handle on how to build imagery around individuals.

He directed a handful of music videos before his death, including Modest Mouse and an unofficial, haunting clip using music by the late Nick Drake. He also made one with Ben:

UPDATE: Ben Harper produces songs for Grace Woodroofe’s debut on Embedded.

Like many specialty magazines, Guitar Player has one focus: guitars. The magazine has produced over 100 issues, featuring in-depth interviews with popular and influential guitarists. It offers articles on technique, cool recording tricks, and must-have gear for any real guitar enthusiast.

In addition to Ben Harper and Jason Mozersky, Carlos Santana, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, and AC/DC’s Angus Young have all scored the cover of Guitar Player. In 2006, the magazine expanded its reached from print to television with Guitar Player TV, bringing fans even more content, including video guitar lessons for players at all different levels.

Guitar Player also hosts “Guitar Superstar,” an annual competition that used to be named “Guitar Hero” but was changed for obvious reasons. Started in 2005, the magazine pays for the travel and hotel accommodations for 10 finalists, who compete against one another, playing real guitars in order to claim the title of Guitar Superstar of the Year. The finalists are typically found the through SonicBids, and the final showdown takes place in Northern California in front of a panel of celebrity judges. This year’s event took place September 12th. Steve Senes from Myrtle Beach won it all, earning a feature story in Guitar Player and a host of gear and prizes provided by the event sponsors.

Want your chance to be included among the Guitar Player greats? Keep an eye on the website for 2010 registration!

UPDATE: Ben Harper and Jason Mozersky pose at Venice Grind Gallery for the Guitar Player Magazine photo shoot.

We couldn’t make Embedded without a huge team of people each doing their part. A huge thank you to everyone who helped bring this special to air.

Producer
Alex Simmons
Douglas Caballero

Camera
Justin Mitchell
Alex Simmons

Sound
Dan Peterson

Editors
Barry Penland
Ashley Wilson

Writer
Peter Grumbine

Narrator
Emily Foster

Designers
Michael Beynart
Arian Tibbs

Production Coordinator
Lauren Mendoza

Tour Stop Producer
Alex Simmons

Tour Stop Editor
Ashley Wilson

Tour Stop Camera
Daniel Gahr

Finish Editors
Carla Garcia
Mike Horn

Audio Mixers
Mark Behm
Matthew Patterson Curry

La Blogotheque “Fleet Foxes ” Producers
Chryde and Vincent Moon

Music Supervisors
Travis Kirschbaum
Manoj Gopinath

Director of Music Licensing
Charles Raggio

Music Licensing Coordinator
Jen Pray

Online Producer, Music
Shana Naomi Krochmal

Vice President, Design
Micah Hahn

Executive Producer, Current Music
Mark Rinehart

Vice President, Current Music
Davis Powers

Sr. Vice President, Programming
Justin Gunn

President of Programming
David Neuman

Ben Harper and Relentless7:

All songs performed by Ben Harper and Relentless7
Courtesy of Virgin Records
Under license from EMI Film & TV Music

“Shimmer and Shine”
Written by Ben Harper

“Number With No Name”
Written by Ben Harper, Jason Mozersky, Jordan Richardson and Jason Ingalls

“Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)”
Written by Ben Harper

“Fly One Time”
Written by Ben Harper and Jason Mozersky

“Why Must You Always Dress In Black”
Written by Ben Harper

“Boots Like These”
Written by Ben Harper, Jason Mozersky, Jordan Richardson and Jason Ingalls

“Lay There and Hate Me”
Written by Ben Harper and Jason Ingalls

Except:

“I’ve Handled Myself Wrong”
Written and performed by Grace Woodroofe

Pet Project – Nick Harmer:

“Cath…”
Written by Benjamin Gibbard
Performed by Death Cab for Cutie
Courtesy of Atlantic Records
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & Television Licensing

Impromptu – Fleet Foxes:

“Blue Ridge Mountains”
Written by Robin Pecknold

With Special Thanks To:

Shelby Meade
Sandee Gardner-Fenton
Brittany Pearce
Jordan Kurland
EMI Film & TV Music
EMI Music Publishing
The Masses
Aja Pecknold

BEN HARPER & RELENTLESS7

Ben Harper’s one of those guys most of us have been listening to since… well, let’s just say since we were much younger than we are now. Pretty much all of us have seen him play with the Innocent Criminals over the years, so when we got a chance to film him with his new band, Relentless7, we were all over it.

We covered a lot of ground with Ben. He took us in the studio with him as he recorded his protégé Grace Woodroofe, he invited us along on his cover shoot for Guitar Player Magazine, he brought us along as he inspected his fashion line—but most impressively, he gave us the royal tour of his family’s music store and museum, showing us how he got where he is today.

Senior Producer Alex Simmons was most struck by the store:

“The Claremont Folk Music Center, opened by Ben’s grandparents over 50 years ago is an amazing place, worth visiting if you are in the area.

When we shot the interview with Ben in the Folk Music Center, half way through this kid sits down pretty close to our set up and starts noodling around on a guitar. We didn’t want to tell anybody they couldn’t try out a guitar in the middle of a music store and it wasn’t very loud at first so we let it go. However, after a little bit the kid started playing Zeppelin loudly right in our direction to the point where it was getting really distracting. I think he was trying to impress Ben. Thankfully Ben politely asked him if he could take a quick break and we wrapped up the rest of the interview.”

Ben was a gentlemen and very polite the whole time, but after listening to songs like “Burn One Down,” some people maybe surprised how intense and motivated he is. Alex explains how driven Ben is:

“Ben Harper is focused and he does everything with intensity, whether it be playing music, designing clothes, overseeing his family’s music store or producing other musicians. And he has a low tolerance for bullshit. In interviews if he doesn’t like a question or disagrees with you he will tell you, which I appreciate.”

Often when you interview a musician, they only talk about themselves, but this was not the case with Ben. Ben was more than eager to thrust Jason Mozersky, his new guitar player, into the spotlight at their cover shoot, and was most excited to talk about the rest of his band, rather than himself.

While a lot of frontmen will give the obligatory nod to their band, Ben was intent on letting the world know how talented and deserving they each were. Not only did Ben share the limelight with his band, he also wanted to bring another musician onto the show: his protégé Grace Woodroofe, introduced to each other by the late Heath Ledger. The two of them allowed us to film, as Grace laid down some tracks with Ben at the boards. From Alex:

“Grace Woodroofe is really quiet and shy in person, at least when confronted with a television film crew, but when she starts singing she really transforms into a force. She has such an incredible voice and I can’t wait until her album comes out.”

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE’S NICK HARMER

The guys from Death Cab For Cutie are such talented musicians, you really wouldn’t expect them to be good at anything else. But it turns out, bassist Nick Harmer is also a really talented photographer.

Nick’s Tour Stop segment really captured the spirit of why we shoot those. When he’s on tour, he spends his days photographing the town he is in. We spent an afternoon with him, on the road, shooting San Francisco. (Here’s an outtake of him talking about the Full House houses they saw.) Then Nick taught us how to transform ordinary photos into tilt shift photography.

Alex, a photographer himself, seemed to enjoy shooting this segement more than most:

“Nick is one of the more energetic and good-natured people I’ve met in the last few years and it’s always fun hanging out with him. We spent a day walking around San Francisco taking pictures that Nick could turn into tilt-shits. Nick calls them “tilt-shit fakes” since he creates them with the aid of PhotoShop. You can actually use a tilt-shift lens if you want to do it the “real” way. Ever since the shoot I’ve started creating a few tilt-shift fakes of my own, not nearly as good as Nick’s, but still fun to do.”

Watch Embedded tonight at 11/10c.

UPDATE: Check out the full episode with Ben Harper on Embedded, and then head over to http://current.com/embedded to see more with Nick Harmer and additional outtakes.