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The Ambassador

by Gabriel Kahane

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H. W.
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H. W. Gabriel Kahane is some new kind of master.
Michael Peng
Michael Peng thumbnail
Michael Peng Wonderful evocative and atmospheric album. Another great album!
Stephen Mlinarcik
Stephen Mlinarcik thumbnail
Stephen Mlinarcik Combining the density of classical composition, the expressionism of jazz, and the structure of pop, Gabriel Kahane crafts an unequaled world of bygone memories and active decay, painting it with sounds that hit right in the tear ducts, creating a sensory reaction of despair and wonder. Favorite track: Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.).
cartoon-raccoon
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cartoon-raccoon beautiful song commemorating a heartbreaking story. Favorite track: Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.).
krwhite
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krwhite It's absolutely genius, forgive the grammar
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    **We have resumed regular shipping (24-48 hours from placement of order)**

    "One of the year's very best albums." — Rolling Stone

    Includes complete lyrics, an essay by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, and code for digital download. Despite what bandcamp says below, this purchase does NOT include automatic immediate download.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Ambassador via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 1 day
    Purchasable with gift card

      $18 USD or more 

     

  • Sheet Music

    **We have resumed regular shipping (24-48 hours from placement of order).


    132 pp. piano/guitar/vocal songbook for the 2014 album "The Ambassador". Contains all ten songs from the album in piano/vocal score with a guitar tablature appendix.
    ships out within 1 day
    Purchasable with gift card

      $35 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    "One of the year's very best albums." — Rolling Stone

    CD contains booklet containing an essay by Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne as well as the complete lyrics.

    Despite what it says below, this purchase does not come with a digital download. Please visit iTunes for the digital album, or feel free to rip it onto your computer after you buy this gorgeous art object!

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Ambassador via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

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Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.) When the black and whites arrive I am lifeless on the floor, Crumpled dollars in my hand In my hand, in my hand. The lady in the fishing vest Has dropped the gun. Who wears a fishing vest When they’re working at a liquor store? I float up to the corner, Just above the ice cream and the frozen food. I perch beside the surveillance Camera... Only days after the trial You could feel the tension rise In the street and in the rhythm Of despair, of despair. It was war after a while In each neighbor’s tired eyes. There was nothing to persuade them To stand down, to stand down. I float higher and higher, Friendly with the clouds That cover Southland... * * I watch the tender skyline Dancing, oh the terror— On the long night, On the long fight, Blood, glass, burnt hair. These angry armies quick ad- vancing, in position: On the rooftops, In the culverts, Stores are sacked while no one’s there. Now two kinds of light From fires and fixtures They fill the sky— It was never so bright When I was young, I was Too young to die. On TV sets, in houses Effortlessly done in fancy colors, All the righteous, All the newsmen Speak of end times. Why should they give a fuck some Angry little black girl took a bullet? Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy On the ones who’ve done the crimes. Now two kinds of light From fires and fixtures They fill the sky— It was never so bright When I was young, I was Too young to die. If I float even even higher, Pattern and procession are uncovered: Flood and fire, Flood and earthquake Keep folks unmoored. And the occasional celebrity car chase Woo woo woo woo! Just to keep God From getting bored. Now two kinds of light From fires and fixtures They fill the sky— It was never so bright When I was young, I was Too young to die. *** When my Grandma was a young woman, East St. Louis, She thought the town was No good to us. She took a Greyhound Just as far as it could take her, Felt her maker in the waves— You know, how God moves through us. I was six years old when we followed, My mother was twenty-two. The light was magic, The light was true. She thought we’d moved moved beyond a sharecropper’s debt, But we were just a pawn In the accuser’s bet. Nobody reads from the Book of Job At the church where me and my grandma go. Nobody sees the trouble I know, But I know that trouble’s gonna find me. Three years later on a Thanksgiving, The light turned bitter; My grandmother didn’t know what hit her. We got a chill From the cold white sun, Momma found herself staring At the barrel of a gun. That weren’t enough, My uncle died too— Shot through the chest Back in East St. Louis, So one fine day, My grandma lost two, Took me in her arms, said, it’s just me and you. Nobody reads from the Book of Job At the church where me and my grandma go. Nobody sees the trouble I know, But I know that trouble’s gonna find me. *** So when I say that my un- timely death was Something certain, What I mean is that these tragedies are a kind of a family tradition. So when I walk into the Liquor store that morning, bright and angry, In a daydream Of a boyfriend I was fifteen, Pick up a bottle of orange juice And put it in to my backpack, Head toward the counter with dollar bills And she accuse me of stealing that— She pull my sweater And so I hit her, Put down the bottle Don’t want no trouble— Now two kinds of light From fires and fixtures They fill the sky— It was never so bright When I was young, I was Too young to die. I suppose it’s no surprise To find myself about to die. But how long that silver moment from the bullet to the floor. That right there was a lifetime...
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about

"One of the year's very best albums." — Rolling Stone

Bruce Willis’ hair, detective fiction, modernist architecture, and the 1992 Los Angeles uprising all provide fodder for Gabriel Kahane’s major label debut, The Ambassador (Sony Masterworks), a meditation on the underbelly of Los Angeles seen through the lens of ten street addresses. Gabriel was born in a modest bungalow in Venice Beach, California, but spent his childhood in New England, upstate New York, and Northern California. Now, with the release of The Ambassador— produced by Kahane along with Matt Johnson (St. Vincent), Casey Foubert (Sufjan Stevens), and Rob Moose (Bon Iver)— Gabriel turns his gaze toward his birthplace with his most focused album to date.

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released June 3, 2014

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Gabriel Kahane Portland, Oregon

Gabriel Kahane is eating chocolate bread.

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