The Bedroom Philosopher

Music:

Member Since: 10/03/2006
Band Website: www.bedroomphilosopher.com
Band Members:

Management:
The Bedroom Philosopher with an American accent.

The Awkwardstra are:
Andy "Nature Boy" Hazel - Bass
Hugh "Mad Dog" Rabinovici - Drums
Gordon "Gordon" Blake - Sitar/Electric
Michael "Flutes McGee" O'Connor - Flute
Jamie "Hitz Rodriguez" Power - Percussion

Hear BP on Melbourne's 3RRR every Monday night from 7pm. New sketch radio show 'Lime Champions.' 102.7FM or stream it at rrr.org.au.

Winner! Director's Choice award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for 'Songs From The 86 Tram.'

CLICK HERE TO BUY NEW STUDIO ALBUM 'BROWN & ORANGE' FROM iTUNES! (Though with a 16 page colour booklet you'd do well to go old school and buy the CD.)

REVIEWS JUST IN FOR 'BROWN & ORANGE'

“There is a fine line between madness and genius, separated only by the thinnest of margins of subjective taste. From the opening lines of Strange Piece of Music, you are immediately introduced to the core elements of Brown & Orange. The shaky vocal delivery, self-referential lyrics and schizophrenic musical arrangements that move through folkish verses and flute solos only to end in a psychedelic sitar-driven outro. It's a confronting introduction, and one that will deter as many listeners as it will entice to persevere further. But for the brave souls that weather the seven-minute introduction piece, there is a treasure trove of gems that unfold over the course of the album.

From the rollickingly jaunty Party In My Head and What Am I supposed To Be Doing? To the introspective For The Love I Have For You, Brown & Orange traverses a broad palette of styles, melting them down into a fine soup of entertaining and predominantly poppy moments. And sure enough, there are some fantastic lyrical moments, as evidenced from Jesus On Big Brother and the melancholy Circus Bear. But the highlight of the album comes with the penultimate track, YouTube “hit” Wow Wow's Song. Over a verse progression that sounds eerily similar to Coldplay's God Put A Smile On Your Face, The Philosopher adopts a Cookie Monster voice, only for it all to break down in the most ridiculously catchy chorus this century has produced. Six minutes chock full of sublime gimmick pop.

Brown & Orange is a dense, multi-layered affair documenting, at least for the moment, The Bedroom Philosopher's unique perspective on the world around him. It's a lavish production and a thrillingly entertaining and equally exhausting listening experience. And while comedy concept records are few and far between in today's marketplace, The Bedroom Philosopher may just be the dapper dresser to start a whole new fashion.”
Symon JJ Rock, Inpress.

"The Bedroom Philosopher, aka Justin Heazlewood, revealed himself as an hallucinogenic hybrid of Tripod and Syd Barrett on his 2005 cult hit I’m So Postmodern, inevitably putting him in danger of becoming a one-novelty-hit wonder. The BP’s second album Brown & Orange is less explicitly bizarre than the tune that brought him (sort of) fame, placing his eccentric streams of consciousness and oddball stories amidst an apparently earnest style of folk-rock and gentle experimentation (such as placing a taped ‘70s monologue alongside hypnotic Phillip Glass-style repetition).

The swelling orchestral ballad For The Love I Have For You sounds like a straight, serious song, but closer investigation reveals Heazlewood cramming lots of syllables into tiny song spaces, at one point blurting out "Okay, granted, that’s not a very romantic lyric". Tongue still wedged in cheek, then. The spoken-word short story Jesus On Big Brother is fun as well ("More people watched Jesus than The Simpsons and the news and the CSIs combined"). The record is less successful when he goes deliberately ‘wacky’, such as the "comedy" Muppet vocals in Wow Wow’s Song (La La La). But the record’s charm is revealed in the almost Dylan-esque rant Party In My Head and the laid-back country-rock strum of What Am I Supposed To Be Doing?"
Matt Thrower, Rave.

“It is (like the man himself) entirely enjoyable, entirely likeable, and entirely odd. Only The Bedroom Philosopher would try and make brown and orange chic, only he would write the lyrics “I want a Missy Higgins film clip (for Christmas)/I want a long term relationship with an Irish optometrist”, and only Heazlewood would tell us all that “La, La, La, can only take you so far” (there are a lot more great lines, probably better than the ones here – just go and get the album to find your own favourites). Henceforth he proves that he is a master at word-smithing and clearly can’t get enough of being different. The surprise, highlight and almost religious experiences on the album are the tracks (Brown and (Orange), where The Bedroom Philosopher has sampled a recorded letter and joke, respectively, over simple music, and by doing so, the one and only, the wonder kid, The Bedroom Philosopher, has made Brown and Orange chic.”
Timothy Bocquet, BMA.

"The fact that The Bedroom Philosopher is a talented musician with a highly polished production is obvious from the first few bars. A folk-guitar style, the sound of fingers slipping from chord to chord along the strings throughout a ballad with seventies-style jazz flute (a double flute solo, no less) makes me want to weave daisy-chains and skip through the nearest field. The music jumps from song to song between seventies styles, raw old-school Brit pop, folk guitar chords, and psychedelic sounds created by the Philosopher and his Awkwardstra. I laugh out loud on at least four occasions during the first song (Strange Piece of Music) alone. I’m won over by the lyrics –one of a few songs on the album to employ story-teller narration, backed up with beautiful guitar.

The Bedroom Philosopher is a particularly talented and funny writer. As a listener I identify with every single word – which is the hook. But the usual brash take-the-piss Aussie comedy-music style is replaced by the gently hilarious musings of a poet. I almost fall in love. The original 1970’s home-recordings (apparently discovered by the Bedroom Philosopher in a Canberra Op Shop) peppered between a few songs make for some compelling listening. Really, really odd, and really funny.”
Emma Johnston, Artshub.

Wow Wow's Song film clip by Charlotte George (Director) & Leigh Ryan (Animation).

The Happiest Boy film clip by David Blumenstein.

I'm So Post Modern film clip by Dan Ilic.

Purchase In Bed With My Doona from iTunes.

Purchase Folkstar/I'm So Post Modern Maxi-Single from iTunes.

Influences: Beck. Eels. Baterz. King Missile. Dave Eggers. Bonzo Dog Band. Edward Lear. Guru Josh. Gary Numan. Donovan. Aimee Mann. John Lennon. Ted Egan. Graham Garden. Radiohead. Ken Heazlewood.
Sounds Like: Wow Wow's Song (La La La):
“Complete genius or utterly terrifying.”
(Inpress)
"Wow Wow is basically a depressed, mildly retarted, reasonably hip version of the Cookie Monster. It's the novelty rock equivalent of burping the alphabet, with sexy accompaniment. All very jolly and hilarious."
(Beat)
“The Bedroom Philosopher has dealt up a deliciously enjoyable slice of childlike eccentricity.”
(Rave)

The Happiest Boy:
"It's woozy/cute combination of deadpanned witticisms and a sublime flute breakdown make it one of the better indie pop songs of recent memory."
(Inpress)
"...a grassroots hit..."
(Rave)

The Bedroom Philosopher:
"Endearingly sweet, hilarious and occasionally heartbreakingly sad in a glitteringly beautiful way."
(DB Magazine)
“If Bob Dylan had spent his time growing up in Berwick he might have more in common with the Bedroom Philosopher…one of the few artists making a genuine attempt to explore the oddness of our age.”
(The Age)
"Something Different."
(Nan & Pop)

LA LINEA - AS FEATURED IN "GENERATION ABC"
THE ORIGINAL METAPHOR FOR LIFE
Record Label: Nan & Pop Records
Type of Label: Unsigned