The Envy Index: 25 Under 25
by The EditorsPage 7 of 20
7.The Musician: Brad Oberhofer
21, Bushwick
Despite being one of this year’s SXSW hot tickets, Brad Oberhofer is not yet jaded. And it all started with the freestyle rap competitions he attended as a kid, in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington—because “I was never good at writing melodies,” he explains—a practice that kicked off what this son of an opera singer refers to as a “miraculous” series of events that would lead to touring alongside Sleigh Bells and Neon Indian earlier this year. So, hit by a car at age 13, Oberhofer suffered a severe concussion, got a melody stuck in his head, sat down and taught himself how to play it on the piano. Clarinet, drums, guitar and the like would follow, eventually evolving into the uncontained, post-punk tracks on his blog-praised demos. His debut LP is due out on Glassnote early next year (“They came to a show in March 2010, and made a point to come to every show since”), re-working a majority of the demo songs in his idiosyncratic, tension-rising, happy-go-lucky energy. “I think anything that I do is going to inherently sound like that because I have that feeling all the time,” he says. So, you see, there’s no reason for him to be jaded, really. (Photos by Crystal Gwyn)
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