There are times in some artist’s careers where everything has to change. That time started a few years ago for Jeff Klein, who had led the Austin gothic-rock group My Jerusalem for close to a decade before the touring took its toll on his health. Klein wasn’t sure he’d ever get back to music, but a chance dabbling with orchestration for a friend’s ballet performance led to a new direction. Suddenly, the fire-and-brimstone rock of his youth didn’t feel as urgent. The romantic mid-century grandeur of Frank Sinatra, Serge Gainsbourg, and Julie London did.
Enter L.C. Franke, named for Klein’s grandmother Elsie, who introduced him to a lot of these orchestrated reference points when Klein was a kid. He describes the songs on his L.C. Franke debut Still In Bloom–out July 19th–as “uneasy listening.” They feel torn from some lost film noir, with Klein bringing his dark sensibility to a new, jazz-influenced sound.
You can see L.C. Franke (with orchestra) at a Waterloo Records in store performance on August 2, and then at the State Theatre on August 3. This week on My KUTX, L.C. Franke is our guest DJ and shows he’s a real student of this kind of music. He offers up a guest DJ set full of his particular influences, from dollar bin orchestra obscurities to enduring classics from Sinatra, Roberta Flack, and Scott Walker. Hear L.C. Franke’s My KUTX on Saturday, July 13 at 6 p.m. or listen anytime right here.
Playlist:
- Jimmy Durante – “I’ll Be Seeing You”
- Serge Gainsbourg – “La Chanson de Prévert”
- Jessica Pratt – “World On A String”
- Jim Reeves – “He’ll Have To Go”
- Julie London – “Sway”
- Antony & The Johnsons – “What Can I Do?”
- Swamp Dogg – “Good Better Best
- Frank Sinatra – “All Alone”
- Scott Walker – “The Big Hurt”
- Roberta Flack – “Do What You Gotta Do”
- Shannon Shaw – “Cryin’ My Eyes Out”
- John Williams – “Theme From ‘Valley Of The Dolls’”
- Jacques Brel – “Ne me quitte pas”
- Blossom Dearie – “Manhattan”
Episodes
