Big Stir Records proudly announces the upcoming release of the debut album from LA singer-songwriter-rocker GARY CALAMAR. The new collection ODD NUMB3RS AND SLANTED RHYMES covers Calamar's full recording career, from his most recent indie hit singles “Who Are We Gonna Be Today?” featuring Robyn Hitchcock and “I Got An Idea” featuring DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh, back to his first acclaimed EP in 2014. The album sees release on CD and Streaming worldwide on October 23 and is for pre-order/pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/garycalamar-numb3rs

As a long-anticipated debut album, ODD NUMB3RS AND SLANTED RHYMES has been twelve years in the making, as GARY CALAMAR has been steadily releasing well-received indie singles ranging from last year's raucous, culturally-aware “Distractions” to 2023's tenderly empathetic “Rough Patch” ever since his debut EP YOU ARE WHAT YOU LISTEN TO over a decade ago. Calamar's presence on the Los Angeles music scene extends back even further, though: he's been a Grammy-nominated music supervisor for television (Six Feet Under, True Blood, 3 Body Problem and more), a popular and influential radio DJ since the '90s with his show The Open Road (first at KCRW, and currently on KCSN), a band manager (The Balancing Act, Eggplant), author (Record Store Days) and record store manager (Rhino, Licorice Pizza, Moby Disc), and when nobody was looking, he would write and record songs for himself... and they were good.

The overall sound of the fifteen tracks (plus two bonus remixes) on ODD NUMB3RS is hook-heavy guitar pop of a sly, witty variety. Calamar adopts a winning approach that blends the literate storytelling of Lou Reed with the pop hooks of Tom Petty, the power chords of Pete Townshend, and a touch of surreal whimsy reminiscent of modern psych-folk master Robyn Hitchcock, whose harmonies on the single “Who Are We Gonna Be Today?” gel brilliantly with Gary's lead vocal. Likewise, new wave pioneer Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO sounds right at home on the jittery machine-pop landscape of “I Got An Idea,” and the sweet tones of Azure Ray's Maria Taylor light up the colorful neighborhood of “Little Tokyo.” It's safe to say that Calamar has picked up a trick or two from the indie rock luminaries with whom he rubs shoulders in his day jobs as well as his long-standing influences – “I attended the school of lyric writing by listening to greats like Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, Lou Reed, Tom Waits and Smokey Robinson to mention but a few,” he says today – but the songwriting on display demonstrates that he's forged an identity that is uniquely his own.

“I love songwriting and twisting words over, under, sideways and down,” Calamar continues. “I'm not a great musician. I know a handful of chords and play guitar about as good as I did in high school, but I ROCK those chords... and fortunately I have great players backing me up.” He's also got ace producer John Would (Warren Zevon, Fiona Apple), whom Calamar calls a one-man Wrecking Crew, on hand for all of these tracks, lending a consistent and empathetic touch that makes it feel more like an album than a compilation and helping to bring Calamar's melodic prowess and quirky worldview into focus. Many of the songs are steeped in the texture and geography of his native LA, including the album-opener “The Prince Of Pico Blvd” (about a scrappy, benevolent rock and roller who’s forever rolling down one of L.A.’s signature streets) and the sweet father-daughter excursion “Little Tokyo.” The latter is one of several songs that find Gary exploring the joys and importance of family life throughout good times and bad, also including the pure pop pep talk “Rough Patch,” the infectious and appropriately-titled jangle pop love song “Giddy,” and the swampy blues workout “Minimum Day,” co-written with his daughter, Zoe, who also belts put-upon pre-teen backing vocal.

Elsewhere, Calamar delivers sharp-eyed, Kinks-worthy character studies including the keenly-observed lo-fi outing “Looking For A Job,” on which Calamar essays both sides of soul-crushing work interview looking for a job (“I’ll be a barista, a teamster a captain of industry any chance of a health and retirement plan”), “She's So Mid-Century” (paying homage to a ‘50s fixated femme-fatale who's “got all the Wright angles and all the Wright curves” and “digs the Jazz and Bossa Nova on Blue Note and Verve”), and the heartbreaking but beautiful (and brand new) “A Place To Hang,” on which a pastoral arrangement nearly camouflages the melancholy lament of a striver who’s had a run of bad luck. Add to them the starkly folky but ultimately redemptive “Forgive Yourself” and a picture of Calamar's emotional intuition comes sharply into focus.

Some of the album's humorous, cathartic highlights, come, though, when Calamar trains his rapier wit on the absurdity of the modern world. The cultural references come fast and furious on tracks like “Who Are We Gonna Be Today?” (shouting out JFK, The Fab Four, Mohammed Ali, Sam Cooke, DW Griffith, The Kinks, and a “despicable leader”), “Distractions” (citing Greenland, the Gulf Of Mexico and a “battleground state of mind”) and the ode to the end of the vinyl age “The Last Revolution”: “I was born in '45, turned 33 in ’78 and I subscribe to life and Billboard.”

On the flipside, some of the record's most bracing moments are its most direct, as heard in the unbridled enthusiasm of “I Got An Idea,” the clever automotive-themed cautionary ballad “Severe Tire Damage,” and the closing, crunchy garage rock of “Back Door Man.” As its growly guitars and stabbing organ fills pinball through the coruscated psychedelia, Calamar proposes a sneaky way to get ahead in life. “There's two sides to every story, I suppose sometimes there's even more: You can stand in this line in all your glory while I'm sneaking in the backdoor.” He even name-checks himself on the track.

It’s a freewheeling finish to a very satisfying album, as GARY CALAMAR definitively takes his place alongside many iconic artists he's championed along the way. All of it's here on ODD NUMB3RS AND SLANTED RHYMES, as much a songbook as an album, and ready to be enjoyed in a one sitting at last.

Expected release: October 23, 2026

Los Angeles singer-songwriter GARY CALAMAR joins the Big Stir Records roster with a new single featuring guest vocals from DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh and the promise of a long-awaited debut album on the way this Autumn. The single “I Got An Idea” is a literal burst of inspiration in every sense, celebrating the creative spark and previewing what's to come on the full-length album, and it's out September 11 and up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/garycalamar-idea

GARY CALAMAR has long been celebrated as a true music scene Renaissance man. You've seen his name as a renowned music supervisor in the credits to acclaimed television shows from the iconic Six Feet Under to the recent hit 3 Body Problem, and LA residents have, since the '90s, known him as a popular DJ on the the influential radio program The Open Road (originally on KCRW and now airing weekly on KCSN). In the 21st Century, Gary has been increasingly heard as a songwriter and recording artist as well, starting with his acclaimed 2014 debut EP You Are What You Listen To on Atlantic Records and continuing ever since with a well-received series of independent singles, all produced by John Would (Warren Zevon, Fiona Apple). He's won fans with an approach that blends the literate storytelling of Lou Reed with the pop hooks of Tom Petty, the power chords of Pete Townshend and a touch of surreal whimsy reminiscent of Robyn Hitchcock, while forging an identity that's all his own.

This year, things are accelerating rapidly for Calamar, and this new version of the catalog standout “I Got An Idea” serves brilliantly as an emblematic starting point for this next phase. With an infectious abundance of giddy excitement over a creative breakthrough packed into its two-and-a-half-minute run time, it's nearly perfect as a statement of intent for what's to come. Veteran LA scenesters may even recall this Calamar original from its first appearance on beloved alt-rock band Eggplant's second album back in 1990 (Gary was the band's manager) or as the leadoff manifesto on his own debut EP 24 years later, but the new version on this single is most certainly the definitive rendition.

“It's a song that was partly inspired by DEVO, so I was thrilled to have Mark Mothersbaugh add his distinctive vocal stamp over the robotic rhythm and clangorous instrumentation on this newly remixed track,” says Calamar. The tune is a driving and extremely catchy pop rocker, ornamented by machine-like flourishes that evoke Krautrock and of course Mothersbaugh's iconic band as well, all framing lyrics from the perspective of an inventor waxing enthusiastic over his latest brainstorm. “He keeps the details under wraps,” Gary adds, “ but he knows, as the words say, that 'it’s the design of the times, it’s very simple and completely streamlined, read all about it in tomorrow’s headlines.'” That utterly appropriate point of view makes the single a wonderful gateway for diving into the world of GARY CALAMAR, whose album will encompass his entire songwriting career from early works like “Idea” to recent singles like “Distractions” and “Rough Patch” and previously unheard new tracks, including guest shots from more of his friends from the indie music world. Stand by for details!