The Great Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice

I'd never thought that I could realize my dream of meeting my favorite indie artists in the UK. When I first arrived here, I missed out on Uh Huh Her and Tegan & Sara. I was especially sad about the Tegan & Sara one because being a big fan for so many years and knowing how impossible it is for them to ever perform on a stage in Malaysia; I didn't manage to get a ticket to see them in Manchester.

I was lucky to stumble upon the opportunity to see She & Him live in London. Not many people heard about them and I wasn't about to advertise Indie in front of my friends and asking them to fork out money for a band that they don't even know. So, I went alone. That's when I started loving traveling and attending concerts alone. Especially the indie ones because bringing a non-fanatic friend would mean B-O-R-E-D-O-M.

This evening, I'm going to meet one of the pioneers of indie music. Her indie history spanned from indie rock, indie alternative, indie folk and indie country. She's been making good indie music for more than 10 years. Now, she's partnered up with Johnathan Rice; another cult indie singer.


Together, they're Jenny & Johnny. Many of you wouldn't know (as in you really don't know him at all!) Johnathan Rice but he's actually British. His music once appeared in The O.C. and The O.C. is the pioneer of indie music in teen TV shows. Not even One Tree Hill can top The O.C.'s mix tapes. They introduced me to Death Cab for Cutie, Johnathan Rice, Nada Surf and a lot more. Johnathan's "Further North" album was so hauntingly good. I'd always say that his voice is haunting. The album was made possible with collaborations from Jenny's Rilo Kiley and other indie big guns such as Bright Eyes and Johnathan Wilson. He even inspired Ben Gibbard to write "Little Bribes" for the Death Cab for Cutie's EP, Open Door.



When Jenny was a solo artist, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie didn't get a chance to collaborate with her but his then-girlfriend, Zooey Deschanel did. He once collaborated with her for The Postal Service's "We Will Become Silhouettes". So he wanted to hear her new music so badly and when she finally let him listen to her album, he was really fascinated with the title song. Matt Ward said this is the best album that Jenny had ever made. It might be overproduced a little but she really had a fun time collaborating with many other indie artists such as Johnathan Rice, Zooey Deschanel, Matt Ward, Elvis Costello, her old bandmate Jason Boesel and many others.



Her debut not-so-solo album was with The Watson Twins, "Rabbit Fur Coat". If you're a Rilo Kiley fan, you'd be thrown away by this album. The songs are mostly indie country and folk. They're so easy on the ears and you'd be swayed far and deep before realizing the album had finished playing.


The Watson Twins are creepy in some way but they performed so well in complimenting Jenny's voice in the album.

And who would forget the great indie band Rilo Kiley. I was hooked on "The Frug" when I heard it on that old teen movie Desert Blue. Then for some reason TV started infusing indie music into their shows and the culprit here is Grey's Anatomy. They loved putting in Tegan & Sara songs and also Rilo Kiley's most famous song; "Portions for Foxes". Their follow up album and their last was also so amazing. Fans were wondering what they're doing with the new album because it was no longer indie rock; more to indie alternative. The fact of the matter, they're just so good in what they do and anything that Jenny touches turn to gold.

She had contributed her voice to many other artists' songs and the recent was Brandon Flower's "Hard Enough". There is no end to my admiration for her... and I still remember Michelle Branch's twitter update:

Michelle Branch: Jenny Lewis is on my flight to Vegas. I'll try not to fan girl her. Sigh.