by Amy Crocker

In the city of eliminating plastic grocery bags and library cards made of recycled corn, Ian Brennan’s music career has been, not surprisingly, organically grown.

Brennan, born in Oakland and raised in Pleasant Hill, began by playing small live shows of his own music. This transitioned smoothly into putting together gigs for other bands, which turned into producing larger shows for charities and then to producing records. As a producer, Brennan was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional Folk Album category for Ramblin' Jack Elliot's “I Stand Alone” in 2007 and again in 2008 for Peter Case’s “Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John.”

He is most recently the producer of the debut solo record of Kyp Malone of the indie rock band TV on the Radio. Malone’s album, “Rain Machine,” which was recorded in a Berkeley studio, will be released September 22 on Anti-records. SFist spoke with Brennan about recording “Rain Machine” in San Francisco, why a Grammy is no big deal, and why San Francisco’s music scene may be no more inspiring than Oklahoma’s.

SFist: How did you come to work with Kyp Malone?

Ian Brennan: Disney Hall in Los Angeles had a big event with luminaries of the indie rock world. It was a lot of people; they even took an intermission. Somewhere around three and a half or four hours in, Kyp had to play last. Some people had left at that point; everyone was tired. Kyp went up there with two songs and played one of the best performances I’ve ever seen musically. The next day I started the process of trying to get in contact with him, assuming there must a be solo act in the works, and convincing him that he should do it.
In a lot of cases, especially solo artists, they need a third party to give them support. They don’t have the other people in the band to give that ambition, competition and rivalry.

SF: So how did you help with the creative process?

IB: Some situations call for more direction than others. What happens with a lot of artists is they tend to be their own worst enemy. They disown the things that make them most unique and embrace things that aren’t as good as they think. More than getting them to do something, it’s getting them to not do something.

SF: Why did you and Malone decide to record in Berkeley?