Parks

Last week, “Sweater Weather” — a wind-blown blast of reverb, guitars, and sun-streaked harmonies — won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, officially putting Parks on the fast-track to something big. Today, the Boston-based pop/rockers are debuting the song’s music video, which puts an indie spin on those old-school beach party movies from the ‘60s.

“I wrote “Sweater Weather” on a typical, blistering summer’s day in Boston,” says Brian E. King, who shares frontman duties with keyboardist Liz McBride. “The Smiths-y riff came out of nowhere, and it was the fastest song I’ve ever written. Lyrically, it’s based on the optimism of a new romance surrounded by the beautiful — yet decaying — autumn season. Crisp late nights and pumpkin beers.”

And what about the video?

“There are a lot of beaches on the East Coast that are total ghost towns,” King continues. “I thought it’d be fun to have a winter beach party with a bunch of our brave friends. The shots of us driving in the open-roof Jeep were pure torture, as it was maybe 20 degrees and we’re wearing shorts and t-shirts. Our amazingly talented director Kristen Casazza dealt with our whining and shivering for two days at Hampton Beach and shot it on both HD and Super 8. It was worth the borderline pneumonia.” - American Songwriter Magazine

The excellent Hospitality is playing a show at Great Scott. And if you happen to go to see our friend Brian King’s great Boston-based band, Parks, when they open for the excellent Hospitality, good on ya! And the always fantastic Bowery Boston is presenting it. - Dig Boston

After disbanding his longtime indie-pop band Oranjuly, Brian E. King quickly resurfaced late last year with Parks, taking his keen songwriting craftsmanship and penchant for jangle-pop into a more structured, sun-salted, and faster-paced direction. The result was fancy-footed "Sweater Weather," and the reaction was immediate. "I've personally gone through hell in the past two years," King says, "so it'll be exciting to share what I've put all of my energy (and really, my well-being) into." His band includes members of Spirit Kid and the Motion Sick, and you can certainly hear it within this well-heeled union of sugary pop magic.
- Boston Phoenix

Considering what a stellar year 2012 was in local music, it feels almost unfaithful to be scanning the horizon for new musical fortunes so soon. But the new year upon us is already shaping up to be a rich one. For starters, here are few local noisemakers to keep an eye on.

PARKS

Pop songsmith Brian E. King (of Oranjuly) has been cultivating a secret arsenal of thorny tunes over the last two years. King has always had an uncanny knack for Beach Boys harmonies and layered chord progressions, and Parks brings the added promise of a full-time band at his back. The five-piece includes members of some of this town’s more dependable groups (Spirit Kid, the Motion Sick, and This Blue Heaven), so that interaction will be a welcome new experiment. Parks dropped its first single, “Sweater Weather,” in November as a teaser for the full-length that’s on its way later this year. It’s a crisp, precise take on garage pop, eschewing production red herrings like muddy reverbs and digital echoes, and shaping thoughtful, retro songcraft into a sleek, modern delivery. King’s icy vocals glide over the top like a breeze. Parks open for Hospitality at Great Scott on Tuesday. - The Boston Globe

The songs on Oranjuly are crafted to pop perfection. For thirty-three minutes Mr. King’s tunes manage to call to mind Brian Wilson, Wings, Todd Rundgren, Ben Folds and Weezer (before they found Rick Rubin). The production is stellar. Oranjuly pulls out every pop trick in the book without making it sound like they’re pulling out every pop trick in the book. No afterthoughts or gimmicks. There’s nothing but pure love for the song on display here. - Day Kamp Music

There is a certain amount of genius needed to make the kind of music Brian King does under the moniker Oranjuly. Lucky for us, he has enough and then some. - Music. Defined.

Winner of Best Combination of Orange and July: Oranjuly

http://www.bostonbandcrush.org/2009/12/boston-music-awards-crush-boston-band.html - Boston Band Crush

In the land of lazily written rock bios for piano-led bands, Ben Folds is forever having illicit relationships with other bands and then having children and/or doing drugs. Whoever this Mrs. G. is, she seems to have some sort of sordid relationship with Mr. F., although the sentiment comes across through the vocal arrangements and not so much the piano playing.“Mrs. G.” brings to mind late era Folds, where he really started getting creative with his vocal harmonies, bringing to the ear an expanse of fully fleshed-out vocal harmonies. Oranjuly’s Brian King brings a warm blanket of vocals to each chorus – what’s he singing? Who cares; so well-realized is the full chord sung by his cloned vocal chords. If this is more than one person singing and they are not relatives, people should immediately begin mailing their wallets to Oranjuly in submission.

The song itself is a pleasantly bumpy affair, punctuated by high-register quarter-note chords on the piano and Motown-style up-jumps on the guitar, both of which jostle playfully with the 1-2 beat of the drums and King’s Folds/Rivers Cuomo clear-as-a-bell vocals. This is just a demo? - Boston Band Crush

Oranjuly's Self titled debut is Ranked #11. - Pop Underground

Three years is a long time to make an album. A band could either neuter every nuance that might have existed on the tape or patiently polish their songs like little gemstones. Oranjuly have pillaged the recording studio and created some gems here with their full-length debut. Although this Boston group aren't the first in recent years to take a bunch of classic-pop influences and mold them into a good-time summer album (the Thrills, the Shins), originality isn't really the point here. Oranjuly remind us just how right retro-fitted pop music can feel (see the Freeways, above) when it's approached meticulously in the studio.

So, yes, "I Could Break Your Heart" has a driving verse that recalls the Cars, the Foo Fighters, and, yes, yes, Weezer. (It must be said that mighty fine singer Brian E. King does a grand Rivers Cuomo.) But with its cheeky Merseybeat and minor-key harmony on the chorus, it sounds like a song from the That Thing You Do! soundtrack — enough like the Beatles, but canny enough to pass on its own. And not all the songs here are so derivative. "Hiroshige's Japan" has an ad hoc classical approach with a lilting melody that reminds us of those cool oddball songs that seem to appear only on debut albums.

- The Boston Phoenix

Deli readers, pull up a seat and get comfortable, I have something to tell you: This is the best album I've received since working as a music journalist. I like difference, I like melody. I like good fucking music. - The Deli Magazine

Every track just shines with no filler to be found makes it a slam dunk to be the best power pop debut of the year. (rated 10/10) - Powerpopaholic

Boston's power pop sensation Oranjuly, is perhaps an unlikely new force in the New England music scene. - Performer Magazine

If the names Carmen (Eric), Rundgren (Todd), and Hinkley (Ralph, not the other one) mean anything to you, Oranjuly’s impeccably crafted, unabashedly retro-minded debut has your name on it. Singer-songwriter Brian E. King spent several years writing and polishing (but, crucially, not over-polishing) the gleaming melodies that carry the 10 tracks here, before enlisting the live band that would become Oranjuly. The moniker is reportedly an amalgam of the Bri-guy’s favorite color and birthday month, and like fellow power-popaholic autocrats Jason Falkner, Brendan Benson, or Boston’s own Mike Viola, King has a knack for making artfully constructed arrangements sound vivaciously in the moment (e.g., the bopping piano-to-soaring guitar segues of “Mrs. G’’; the brisk Raspberries-flavored crush that buoys “I Could Break Your Heart’’). Warmly nostalgic production flourishes (hand claps, creamy choruses) and AM Gold-style touchstones abound. The placid chords that open “207 Days,’’ for instance, offer (for listeners old enough to remember) a sense-memory rush of the soft-rock staple “Believe It or Not’’ — better known as the ubiquitous theme song to ’80s TV’s “The Greatest American Hero’’ (not to mention George Costanza’s answering machine message). While King has already garnered a few Rivers Cuomo comparisons — thanks to twists like the darkly comic kicker residing inside the Mr. and Ms. Lonelyhearts number, “Personal Ads’’ — Oranjuly’s lushly layered, smart but not smart-alecky pop is far more Fountains of Wayne than Weezer. (Out now) - The Boston Globe

GENRE | TROPICAL PUNCH POP
VERDICT | EAR-TO-EAR RAINBOWS
LABEL | SELF-RELEASED
RELEASE | 7.2.10

We can’t decide whether we’re feeling nostalgic for the drive-in or the original Super Mario Bros. game, but either way, Oranjuly’s debut album has us whistling and skipping to its beat. Think Weezer meets the Beach Boys, with occasional harpsichord.

A comprehensive approach to the powerpop genre that leaves no bright and smooth stone unturned, Oranjuly’s consistent, euphonious harmonies keep me pinching myself.

But don’t mistake artifice for artificial talents; Brian E. King, their innovative singer/songwriter (and occasional Dig scribe), balances each track’s convivial piano sounds with unlikely rhymes, creating a final product that will stay on repeat all summer long. Bring a copy to your next potluck barbecue—Oranjuly is nothing less than dessert. - The Boston Globe

Up in Boston, mad genius Brian E. King creates classic American pop music, with knowing and loving nods to his forebears (Brian Wilson, Alex Chilton, Elliott Smith, among others). This concise, tuneful album introduces him to the masses, and, with any luck, will be only the first entry in a long discography. - Popdose

Armed with an arsenal of catchy, hook-laden melodies, rich harmonies, and musical twists, Boston power-pop band Oranjuly could almost be modern-day Beach Boys. Coincidentally, Oranjuly's chief songwriter is also named Brian. And like the legendary Beach Boy Brian Wilson, he also knows a thing or two about writing a good song.

=====
See full article in April 2010 issue of SOCO magazine.
http://www.socomagazine.com - SOCO Magazine

Last week, “Sweater Weather” — a wind-blown blast of reverb, guitars, and sun-streaked harmonies — won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, officially putting Parks on the fast-track to something big. Today, the Boston-based pop/rockers are debuting the song’s music video, which puts an indie spin on those old-school beach party movies from the ‘60s.

“I wrote “Sweater Weather” on a typical, blistering summer’s day in Boston,” says Brian E. King, who shares frontman duties with keyboardist Liz McBride. “The Smiths-y riff came out of nowhere, and it was the fastest song I’ve ever written. Lyrically, it’s based on the optimism of a new romance surrounded by the beautiful — yet decaying — autumn season. Crisp late nights and pumpkin beers.”

And what about the video?

“There are a lot of beaches on the East Coast that are total ghost towns,” King continues. “I thought it’d be fun to have a winter beach party with a bunch of our brave friends. The shots of us driving in the open-roof Jeep were pure torture, as it was maybe 20 degrees and we’re wearing shorts and t-shirts. Our amazingly talented director Kristen Casazza dealt with our whining and shivering for two days at Hampton Beach and shot it on both HD and Super 8. It was worth the borderline pneumonia.” - American Songwriter Magazine

Upbeat, quirky, and surging with summer, Oranjuly’s indie power-pop songs form the perfect soundtrack for a celebratory day in the city or at the beach. - Foundwaves

Some indie-pop is about as enjoyable as flossing way too hard, but Oranjuly truly fulfills indie-pop's promise. They've got punchy rhythms, lovable hooks, and smile-inducing stylistic twists and turns to spare. - Boston Phoenix