The Jim Bower Page
The facebook home of musician/songwriter Jim Bower, previously frontperson for the band Shatner. Bri
NO-ONE'S LISTENING
Not even you
OBSOLETE
Embrace your irrelevance.
WHISKY THIEVES
Well, this bottle didn’t empty itself.
QUANTUMENTANGLED
A subatomic romance
CONCEPT ALBUM
Saving the world with 100 YouTube views
HEY, AI!
Dependence and transcendence
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Computer says no
THERE’S NO NARRATIVE
Despite this press release
THE FOURTH WALL
There’s no way back
LITTLE LIFE
Perspective
Happy New year to everyone who has supported my musical endeavours. 2023 was the year of The Fourth Wall for me - hope you liked it, or if you haven't heard it yet, get yourself over to Bandcamp, Spotify or the streaming service of your choice. Looking forward to an interesting side project in Spring 2024 - will keep you posted on that. Cheers!
18/12/2023
THE FOURTH WALL IS OUT TODAY!
It's on all the evil streaming services and can be physically bought from the not-quite-so-evil-but-still-a-bit-evil Bandcamp.
The Fourth Wall, by Jim Bower 10 track album
15/12/2023
"Obsolete" has been honoured by BCB as the 11th best track of 2023!
Bradford Beat 7 December 2023 The second part of our Christmas Countdown features the likes of Laura Groves and Jim Bower - plus there are new tracks by Starsailor, J Mascis and Lee 'Scratch' Perry
11/12/2023
With one week to go until you can hear "The Fourth Wall" in full, how about some nostalgia - namely a performance by my old band Shatner in the week before the launch of "Thirteen O'Clock" in 2007. How (it's) time flies!
Shatner - It's Time, Wardrobe, Leeds, Oct 07 Shatner playing 'It's Time' just before the launch of the "Thirteen O'Clock' album in October 2007.Shatner's YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com...
09/12/2023
Unboxing The Fourth Wall...there's only 30 physical copies in the first box, so when your copy is on the Antiques Roadshow in 100 years time, it'll be a super-rare first edition worth a zillion pounds...or maybe Earth-dollars...or perhaps one chicken and a goat, who knows. Available from 18th Dec!
01/12/2023
A play for 'Concept Album' on Simon Ashberry's always excellent BCB show (it's the first track)
BCB Listen Again - BCB Listen Again BCB 106.6fm. Listen again to your favourite radio programmes.
27/11/2023
3 weeks until "The Fourth Wall" hits. Here's the back cover and tracklist!
Just in time for Xmas!
10/11/2023
"CONCEPT ALBUM" - the second release from "The Fourth Wall," which led me to discover the incredible power of A.I. video. Be amazed!
Jim Bower - Concept Album Like..subscribe...feed that algorithm!'Concept Album' is the second video release from the new album "The Fourth Wall," available December 2023 in the usual ...
The second track from "The Fourth Wall" is almost ready to go. Be prepared for a visual spectacular!
26/10/2023
Not heard 'Obsolete" or seen the video yet? These people have!
"Music that doesn’t sound like anything else we have heard before.....at the crossroads between indie and electronica." Mesmerised
"A defiant ode to human existence in a digital world" TJPL
"Trickled with humour...vibrant atmosphere...glorious" Less than 1000 followers
"A special groove, always veering in a mystical and unreal direction, listen now!" Berlin OnAir
"Original, art-rock intensity...intoxicating." Indie Dock
"Pioneering...thought provoking...evocative." Jyla Blog
"A profound exploration of the human condition in an increasingly digitised world." Musikepool
Jim Bower - Obsolete The first video release from the new album "The Fourth Wall," available December 2023 in the usual ways.Streaming: https://jimbower.ffm.to/obsoleteWebsite: h...
21/10/2023
"Jim Bower is able to conceptualize music that doesn’t sound like anything else we have heard before.....at the crossroads between indie and electronica."
Thanks to Mesmerized for the coverage :-)
Jim Bower Shares Quirky and Hypnotising Record ‘Obsolete’ - Mesmerized ‘Obsolete’ is a pretty quirky offering. Built over hypnotising post-punk tones and psychedelic textures – with a touch of math rock thrown in for good measure – the record is a clear example of how there are still people willing to experiment and pursue their own path. Leaving behind modern ...
I'm a fan of Blokeacola, who lives in Hangzhou, China. Here's a lovely little window on his world and local scenery, interspersed with some of his dreamy psychedelic music (minus the bonkers lyrics which also often feature). Go buy his things!
Thanks again to Simon at BCB Radio for playing 'Obsolete' and saying nice things (at around 35 mins). I very much recommend listening to his show, some real nuggets in there.
12/10/2023
More 'Obsolete' feedback and some words about the album here:
Jim Bower’s 'Obsolete': A Defiant Ode to Human Existence in a Digital World Jim Bower, the musical veteran behind Leeds band SHATNER, grapples with the existential quandaries of our digital age in his upcoming album 'The Fourth Wall.' His new single 'Obsolete' is a prelude to the philosophical journey ahead.Music News, Underground Artists, Independent Artist Press For Indep...
11/10/2023
“I only want to make great art, I do not care about a career, my goal is simply to make everything I do better than the last thing I did, which is hard, and better than most other music, which is easy.”
I forgot I said that...but I really like the quote!! Gonna use that again. Thank you to 'Less than 1000 followers' blog for the coverage!
Jim Bower's new single "Obsolete" extends its arms towards humans stuck in advancing technology - Less Than 1,000 Followers "Obsolete" is the second single arriving from Jim Bower's upcoming album "The Fourth Wall", a release that will also look into the position of humans in the world where more machines start to think.
10/10/2023
If you can't wait to own your very own audio copy of 'Obsolete' you can now get one via Bandcamp. If you intend to eventually buy the full album, I suggest you wait for that...although you are most welcome to buy it twice!
Obsolete, by Jim Bower track by Jim Bower
09/10/2023
Quite a lot of positive attention coming in for 'Obsolete,' which is lovely! Here's an example, thanks to Nick at Is This Thing On podcast
October72023 And then it stops with this being our last show for a while. This selection should keep you going Nick Tann and The Whole Family – Had It All, Jay Groovara – Just Call, Jim Bower & #8211…
07/10/2023
Coffee shop rock
06/10/2023
Ladies and Gentlemen - and others - I hereby proudly present the video for my new track OBSOLETE!
Is it the sound of an old duffer losing his grip on technology...or a commentary on the human condition as we lurch blindly toward a future dominated by thinking machines?
I dunno - probably both. But there's one thing we can be sure of, this is the first release from my brand spanking new album THE FOURTH WALL which will be available in December.
Jim Bower - Obsolete The first video release from the new album "The Fourth Wall," available December 2023 in the usual ways.Streaming: https://jimbower.ffm.to/obsoleteWebsite: h...
Prepare your eyeballs... tomorrow the video for 'Obsolete' hits YouTube!
29/09/2023
It's a big day folks! Today you can hear the first "single" release from my new album THE FOURTH WALL.
OBSOLETE is on all the streaming services right now.
Obsolete Jim Bower
Norwegian wood? Norwegian would!
Announcing...
25/08/2023
Song of the week: We Go Woo (2018)
"Woo" (as an abbreviated form of 'woo-woo') describes the narratives spun to persuade us to join a religion, believe a conspiracy theory, buy into an idea; often peppered with mystical language in order to impress theatrically. In my youth I believed and followed a lot of wacky stuff; no more. In the post truth world you have to set the bar high. As a wise man once said "my mind ain't so open that anything can crawl right in."
The song seemed like one of the obvious lead tracks from Shatner's "Enlightenmental" album. It was a fun song so we made a fun video, with way more energy and resources put into it than anything before or since.
Shatner - We Go Woo From the new album "Enlightenmental"Pledge campaign now closed (it was oversubscribed...thank you!)CDs now available from:Web: http://www.shatner.infoLike us...
Song of the week/fortnight/unspecified time period: "Meteorite" (1995)
One of many post-relationship breakup songs which I wrote around 1991 but weren't released properly until a few years later. The message, I suppose, is don't fear change, you can get through it and emerge stronger. I was quite pleased with the line 'there's never a rainbow without any rain' until I discovered there is a Dolly Parton song with an almost identical line. I did actually have a dream about being hit by a meteorite - I was hit by a metaphor.
At the time, myself and the band (Freud Squad) were chuffed with the production on our album, though in retrospect that guitar sounds wafer thin doesn't it?
27/07/2023
Song of the week*: "Fascinating Facts" (1986 and 2018)
This one has a special place in my heart. In the late 80s my band Act Natural was on a roll, and for a short time it seemed we were really going to get somewhere. As well as being the chaotic high point of the gigs we did at the time, it was the 'hit' that never was! It also felt like a time where I was hitting my stride and finding my own voice as a songwriter with the confidence to really tackle life, the universe and everything.
Shatner re-recorded it in 2018 which was pure nostalgia for me, and when we played it at the Unity Day festival in Leeds, some teens came up to the front and shouted "Act Natural!" which was very surprising.
* I was going to do this weekly but keep forgetting... so it's song-of-the-when-I-remember-to-post-one
Fascinating Facts (Bonus Track), by Shatner from the album Enlightenmental
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