Ears Wide Open: Just an Animal (f/k/a Red Cortez)
Kevin Bronson on
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For Harley Prechtel-Cortez, Ryan Kirkpatrick, Diego Guerrero, and Calvin J. Love – the guys Los Angeles knew as Red Cortez – it was a matter of “recalibrating our ears.” That’s how Kirkpatrick described the quartet moving on and becoming Just an Animal, whose music bears only a faint resemblance to the amped-up rock-and-blues Red Cortez, a band that as recently as February did a residency at the Satellite. Few groups who carved out a niche in the L.A. scene in recent years tried as hard as Red Cortez, who started out as the Weather Underground, and their music was equally in-your-face, blue-collar but literate and challenging. “Basically, the situation just exhausted itself,” Prechtel-Cortez told host Zowie Vasquez on Moheak Radio last week. So the 11 new songs Just an Animal recorded with producer/guru Richard Swift mark a drastic change in dynamic – Prechtel-Cortez’s vocals are dialed back, arrangements are spare, the loopy textures brought to the table by Swift prevail. (Swift, who also did the Gardens & Villa album and worked on the forthcoming album by Everest, will join the Shins as a touring member, by the way.) Different? Yes. Says Kirkpatrick: “The only way it’s the same is that we’re the same four guys with the same four social security numbers.”
||| Download: “Bombs” (unmastered)
[audio:http://www.mediafire.com/file/w4v3jz0b1w51c1s/Just%20an%20Animal%20-%20Bombs.mp3]Photo of Just an Animal in Oregon via Facebook
tweather underground added a memebr so they felt they ahd to change their name to show they had moved on and became red cortex
red cortez wants to play a differant style of music with the same members and feels they need to change their name to just an animal??
i just don’t see the need
i loved red cortez and the satellite residency was 3 great nights of music (skipped the opener to see belle brigade) and every night red cortez took the stage at any club i saw them in, i felt i was moved and better for having been there and they even achieved it at universal citywalk. it seems with the names changes it is concessions to failure–they didn’t make it as weather underground so they’ll change the name and be something else more people will like–they didn’t make it as red cortez so they’ll change the name and be something else more people will like. they don’t need to change the name to play something alternate–trust in the audience that they will accept teh challenge and follow them on the new path. i would.
heard they didn’t like their last record (never released), which was produced by Ethan Johns, so they scrapped it. I also heard they parted ways with their management–which could have been a reason for a name change.
Just an Animal….reminds me of The Lonely Wild’s lyrics in “Right Side of the Road.”
Changing my band name to Red Cortex. Thanks for the lead, Mark.
burning bridges wherever they go. the constant name changes won’t make people forget.
Man! If the rest of the record sounds this fresh I’m a fan!
Tough industry the music biz…….fickle. Shit, scrapped the album by Ethan Johns? Wow, management crapped out on them? Geeez….that sucks. I loved Red Cortez’s energy and their tunes, however, I REALLY like this new direction…….very fresh.. One thing about these dudes they are really talented and prolific song writers. Incredible actually. I followed them as The Weather Underground, RC and I personally don’t care what they name themselves now or in the future, they are great musicians. Rock on Guys! Good luck and all the best for all of you in the future.
http://youtu.be/U0fVQ3i90zg