The Bundles: Anti-Folk's Answer to the Supergroup

Sarah Cass

The Bundles

Though it seems every other week brings a new collaboration between members of several different and famous bands, anti-folk scene it-kids Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis, Jack Lewis and Anders Griffen have been writing songs together for a long time -- pretty much ever since Kimya Dawson was in the Moldy Peaches and Jeffrey Lewis was a young and relatively unknown artist living in Austin, Texas.

But it is only in 2010 that those songs will be available for widespread public consumption. Dawson and Jeffrey Lewis wrote five songs together in 2001: "A Common Chorus," "Pirates Declare War," "Klutter," "Shamrock Glamrock" and "Ishalicious." These were released on a limited CD-R along with some collaborations with Diane Cluck (who played Gallery 1412 not too long ago, if memory serves), and if you own one of those, well, you're one of a lucky, select few. Anyway, once Jack Lewis and Griffen joined the line-up, they decided to call themselves the Bundles, then proceeded to take their sweet-ass time recording anything whatsoever.

No matter: The Bundles' self-titled debut will finally come out March 9 on K Records. Along with the five songs Dawson and Lewis wrote in 2001, the record contains a bunch of new songs the band wrote and recorded in the span of a few days at K Recs' Dub Narcotics studio. Karl Blau, who was originally enlisted as a session engineer, wound up contributing to those songs and unsurprisingly, is now a member of the band.

Complete with handclaps and cracks about taking craps, The Bundles is the sort of playful, quirky little record you'd expect from a collaboration betwixt all of these anti-folk folks. In short, if you liked the genre before, you will like The Bundles, and if you didn't, this album won't change your mind. So far, the band's only got some shows scheduled in the UK, but I suspect that will change once the album's release date draws nigh.