Brooklyn Industries Mega Band Night January 6, Lafayette St Location

Brooklyn’s own clothier of record Brooklyn Industries has an exciting event coming to their SoHo store in the New Year. Brooklyn Industries Mega Band Night will be rocking their Lafayette Street location on January 6, 2012 from 7-9pm and there are loads of reasons to come out and party.

Brooklyn Shakedown’s own Zoe Wilder will be guest hosting the event and Mega Band Night doesn’t get more mega than with Brooklyn’s own electro-dance-punk band Tayisha Busay.

The Mega Band Night will also feature a Mega sale in effect for all to enjoy. There will be giveaways, drinks provided by Sixpoint, snacks provided by Brooklyn Salsa, and an all-around night of Mega Fun.

As part of the lead in to this event Brooklyn Industries is hosting the MEGA BKI Twitter Giveaway. Between now and January 6th Tweet “@BKLNIndustries how you style your plaid for #MEGABANDNIGHT” for your chance to win all kinds of cool prizes.

You’ve got to Tweet to enter and you’ve got to be at Mega Band Night to win so come on out!

Brooklyn Industries SoHo - 290 Lafayette St

RSVP to PR@BROOKLYNINDUSTRIES.com

Dar Williams at the Bell House Brooklyn

Dar Williams is one of the most prolific folk singers in the American popular/folk market. A longtime favorite of mine, she never takes the easy road and has been rewarded for it with loyal followers and ardent supporters. Williams has taken a long and tumultuous journey for her turn in the spotlight. In early November 2011 I was fortunate enough to be able to interview her and we spoke at great length about many things. She told me of the choices she has made, the road less traveled, her devotion to and from her fans, and even her struggles with depression.

But on this night after Christmas 2011, out in what appeared to be some of the less traveled spaces in Brooklyn, there was nothing but positive energy in the room. For those loyal enough to cross over 4th Avenue and head out to this vacant industrial area, you were rewarded. The Bell House was the space and Dar was here to spread her gospel according to her acoustic strumming. By the time Williams hit the stage the energy had reached its own organically mellow vibe.

The setup of the room we were in at The Bell House really took me back to my mid-90's ska infatuation as these shows were always invariably in stone floored former warehouse spaces. The Bell House had a small stage elevated maybe four feet with microphones, musical instruments, floor spotlights, and tangled cords. The connection with the audience and the performers was immediate though; audience could quite literally reach out and touch the performers from the floor.

That said the seating at The Bell House was not really any seating at all. Audience stood and before things got going in a large section of the floor simply sat around in cross-legged clusters of 2-10.

I stood off to one side and took in the whole of the space. Audience formed an ever-growing semicircle around the front of the stage. At the apex of Williams set there were maybe 250-300 people in the crowd. Above the stage there was cross paneled frontage, crossing wood beams which ran the length of the room, and a buffalo image on a six foot semi-circle. On the other end of the space from where I was sitting there was a bar. Towards the rear of the room there was also an elevated portion which had a few tables and chairs. Hanging above were two ghostly chandeliers which cast their glow on the crowd.

The evening started out energetically enough with Pearl and the Beard. They were a trio of two girls on standup bass and a snare and tom-tom drum and a guy with a beard who played acoustic and electric guitar. All three musicians also sang.

I had never heard these three perform before and while their energy started off toe tapping enough; they quickly reached back towards indulgent world music melodrama. I felt like I was listening to 8 ½ Souvenirs meets Fleet Foxes.

A couple of their songs involved an accordion player/violinist. One song in particular with the accordion was memorable. The standup bass player began doing some kind of a slap technique which punctuated the bleak waxing and waning of the accordionist.

If I were going out to see Pearl and the Beard, I may have been satisfied with their set (they also came on later and played with Dar) though for an opening act who didn't even begin their set for a full 10 minutes later than the shows scheduled starting time, their set was two or three songs too long.

When Dar finally came out onstage, she looked great. She was dressed in black leggings, black boots, and a short sleeved blouse peppered with sparkly glitter. She hustled onstage and seemed almost out of breath. She began the set with 5 boroughs favorite "Spring Street."

She right away began telling the stories that we all love her for. Her cadence was rhythmic and breathy and familiar. Before the second song she spoke of her own "very folkie songs which come back to this world." She then gave a particularly tender and poignant reading of "The Beauty of the Rain."

For those who have seen Dar before (which was most everyone at The Bell House) her command of the room was a controlled chaos which was very admirable. Rather than dictating from her bully pulpit her set seemed more like a conversation. While she did have an open notebook with what was presumably her set list, she seemed satisfied to let the audiences sway have their say.

Before bringing out Pearl and the Beard she spoke about her choice to sign with an indie label (Razor and Tie), her connection with her husband, her alumnus Wesleyan (and how 100% of her graduating class moved to Brooklyn), and her decision to write her forthcoming album based on Greek mythology.

Some more tunes from her set included "The Easy Way, "Buzzer," old-favorite "The Babysitters Here," and her newest song "Crystal Creek."

Unfortunately for me I don't live in Brooklyn so the pressing need to wake up tomorrow prevented me from enjoying all of what Dar had to offer tonight. But the whole of the evening was a satisfying enough engagement and was an enjoyable end-cap to an exhausting Christmas weekend. The Bell House is a space which I will definitely return to. Stay tuned for whatever's next from our favorite flummoxed folkie; check out her Facebook page for all the latest news that's fit to print.


https://www.facebook.com/DarWilliamsOfficial

http://voices.yahoo.com/on-record-dar-williams-10400339.html?cat=33

https://www.facebook.com/thebellhouseny

https://www.facebook.com/PearlandtheBeard

Rich Robinson at City Winery; 10/11/11

Rich Robinson is a musician whose licks you know, even if the name draws a blank. If you were presented with him, you'd definitely be able to identify his brother, Chris. The brother tandem head out the band "The Black Crowes ." Rich Robinson shot up to fame at a very young age and rather suddenly came back down to earth. Robinson has suffered his own set of setbacks; travails which are faced square on in his new solo record, "Through a Crooked Sun." Robinson's solo music was the name of the game for his recent set of shows at City Winery .

Robinson's early show at City Winery was full of pathos as he tried out some new material on the uniformly enthusiastic audience. The crowd was densely packed and rather animated for a Tuesday night early show in October. While the City Winery space at 155 Varick Street certainly wasn't full at the outset, by the time the set was well underway many of the empty spaces had filled in. As I surveyed the scene I surmised that The Black Crowes appeared to be some of the livelier songs in the collections of this crowd. Many of the audience were done up in work shirts and dainty dresses but once the music got thumping, this audience let the band whisk them away.

Robinson appeared onstage basically on time. He was dressed in drab corduroy or some kind of beaten down denim, button up shirt, jacket, and comfortable looking flat footed shoes. His hair was tied back and he appeared ready to lead a Sunday school class. Maybe the look was all part of the lull; get people thinking they're going to get one thing and then attack them with something else.

While Robinson's shaggy haired keyboard player, Afro-haired drummer, and diesel looking bass player got set up, Robinson made some last minute adjustments and teased out the crowd. He commented on what the City Winery crowd were eating, drinking, and he tried to gauge the audience enthusiasm. Either he's a bad gauge or the audience held their ace in the hole because before the music kicked in, the audience seemed comatose.

That all changed when the beats came rollicking in though.

Before they began playing Robinson promised the audience that the music would be "loud." Boy was that an understatement. During the outfits first song the bass players grooves nearly tore a hole in the post which shielded me from him. Robinson played a jazzy/bluesy guitar at the outset which bordered on screeching mania by the time the song was over.

The bridge in the second song sent this listener into a redundant psychotic trance. Once the song got going it seemed to go into overdrive with Robinson taking the lead and showing off some lengthy chops. Robinson wound up trading licks with the underscoring of the ecstatic organ line. This occasion would not be the last for this to happen. The "thunk/thunk/thunk" of the bass drum kept on like a heartbeat and directed Robinson's solo from going too far afield.

On Robinson's new album, "Through a Crooked Sun," the bandleader does a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song "Station Man." He and the band played this tune in his City Winery appearance. Fans of both bands appeared to be in the audience and both were very pleased.

Many of the songs this evening felt as though lurching along while one of the members of the band showed off their best. Robinson was the consummate bandleader though; acknowledging the keyboardist for when to take his turn, cutting off the drummer to his rear and at one point even extending the song by waving his hand in a small circle and indicating he wanted to go again.

Let me be clear though; Robinson behind the microphone is not his brother. With his straight up delivery, Robinson could almost be called brother Chris' inverse. That may be some of the reason why Rich decided to get off on his own for a while. If The Black Crowes and Chris Robinson's delivery could be described as pleading with Rich's guitar playing and pleading with the audience then his own singing personage honors the guitar skills and gets out of the way of things.

I really liked Rich Robinson's solo show and will likely get his record. A few notes though about the show; it was very loud. City Winery is not a restrictive, sheltered, or really all that small of a space. Still, the way Robinson had everything cranked up to the hilt, it made the modest City Winery space feel like his concert should be playing the bigger stages of Madison Square Garden. Only reinforcing that was the fact that Robinson had a stagehand bringing him out a different guitar for every song. He's been playing a long time and he likes what he likes but all the tweaking seemed, to me, unnecessary (probably because everything was so loud!)

Still Rich Robinson is out on his own and for that he should be commended. It probably would have been easy for Robinson to retreat and take the solitary road. The fact that Robinson has lain it all out there on the line and offered up himself and his story for his audience only makes the catharsis that much more real coming out into the crooked sun of the new day.

City Winery is located at 155 Varick Street.

Sources:

www. richrobinson .net
www. citywinery .com

Eddie Vedder Ukulele Songs at Beacon Theatre

Eddie Vedder has been a musical, spiritual, and social leader in his 20 years in the public spotlight. As the frontman for Pearl Jam, Vedder and his band mates helped carry the grunge/alternative rock banner forward into the new millennium. Vedder has done everything that anyone in a rock and roll band could possibly want; except do a solo tour with his microphone and a ukulele. Now the grunge rocker has got that chance.


We were lucky enough to break it out here at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to see the Ukulele Songs tour; headlined by ukulele master and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. Music has always been in Vedder's bones having fronted Pearl Jam for the last 21 years. The singer has played guitar with his band for many years and is now ready to break out on his own for this summer set.

Eddie Vedder's temperament towards performing has certainly evolved over the last several years. Many of Vedder's one-off recordings or solo works for soundtracks and such have taken a much wider view of things. He's older, a little more reflective, but no less passionate and energetic. This is where this Ukulele Songs tour fits in so well with the evolution of the performer. Much of the strum of the ukulele is passive and very tropical feeling; don't be mistaken though, Vedder still tears that ukulele up during songs on this tour.

The playbill for the show revealed "Eddie's Gear" consisting of 6 electric guitars, 8 acoustic guitars, 5 different ukuleles, a mandolin, and a banjo. I lost count but I'm pretty sure Vedder didn't break out all 21 pieces of equipment. He did fall back on the mandolin, a couple ukuleles, an electric and acoustic guitar or two each. Also onstage with him was a suitcase, a large stuffed toy bat (the animal), two very old looking speakers, an organ and a reel to reel.

The evening began with a few ukulele songs which were not very well received. Much of the crowd was talking throughout and pleading with Vedder to play one song or another. The first song he played off the ukulele was the Neil Young collaboration "Long Road," from Merkinball. That song wound up being a sing along.

"Long Road" actually wound up as a call and response which was pretty neat. Vedder also played "Sometimes," (sing along), "Better Man" (sing along), "Rise" (mandolin-sing along), and a bunch of other songs; all of which were sometimes over powerfully sung along by the enthusiastic audience.

Just then it occurred to me that this was the first time I'd ever seen any of Pearl Jam play live. I'd seen their second drummer, Dave Abbruzzese play at a Modern Drummer event, but I'd never seen any live performances in the flesh before. And I've been a fan since the beginning. I used to think I was going to be the next Eddie Vedder. Luckily for us there is but one Eddie Vedder; even if many of his fans seem bored through his performance at times.

When he began telling the story of the first show he'd ever seen as a 16 year old in Chicago, dozens of audience members finished the story for him; relaying his Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band experience as though they had heard it before; because they had heard it before.

Eddie Vedder is playing tomorrow night in Manhattan at the Beacon Theatre and a few more places including Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Diego, before winding up in Seattle at the end of July. If he's in your neck of the woods you should check him out.

Source:



http://www.thegarden.com/events/eddie-vedder0611.html

The Music of REM Tribute Concert A Michael Dorf Presentation at Carnegie Hall

On Wednesday night in March 11 at Carnegie Hall in New York City the legendary alternative rock band REM were paid tribute to from a wide swath of artists from generations past and generations pending. That REM has long been a favorite of many people; from as far back as the early 1980s all the way up through 2009; should come as no surprise. REM continues to test boundaries and challenge their listeners to think and appreciate and respect and endure. This surprisingly diverse group of artists all brought their A game to the table, even when they sometimes fell short. The artists came out, one after the other, each playing a song from the REM catalog; the following is as brief as I could get.

British DJ turned folk musician Fin Greenall (aka Fink) did his number on REM's newer The Apologist. The Apologist is admittedly not one of my favorite new REM songs however Fink did his own remix of it. Fink had his acoustic guitar and he created sounds with that guitar; I have no idea what effect he was using, but it was really cool. He also took the tempo down a little bit which, in this instance, was to good effect.

Calexico has been around for almost 20 years and have been playing all over the world. With their introduction the continuity and energy had been injected into the remainder of the evening. They played REM favorite Wendell Gee, even leading the audience in the signature call and response whistle, which was a lot of fun. Calexico was the house band for most of the other musicians and the guitarist and the bass player also added their vocal backup when needed.

Fans of alternative rock all know who Bob Mould is. An integral role in voice in the alternative rock movement, Mould has played with post punk rabble-rousers Husker Du as well as the college campus favorite Sugar. Many fans though who have fallen out of touch were not aware that Mould is still recording even to this day having just released two new albums in 2008 and 2009. Regardless, the varied audience of older fans as well as younger all rocked out when Mould got behind on the mic to perform 1,000,000.

Another treat for classic rock fans was the next performer, The Feelies. Rocking all through the late 70s and early 80s, The Feelies broke up in 1991 and just recently reunited on July 4, 2008. However the real treat for the classic REM fans was listening to their interpretation of Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars) from their breakout EP Chronic Town. The Feelies did not disappoint and they have kept that intoxicating energy about them.

Out from the wings, barefoot and beautiful walked Staten Island's own jazzy favorite Ingrid Michelson. Ingrid performed one of my favorite songs of all time, Nightswimming in about as unconventional way as anyone who is familiar with the song can imagine. She had a vocal playback loop which she recorded before our eyes of herself echoing the piano lines in the song. She dubbed one line, then a second, then a third; then played the three of them through control by a foot pedal. I found this approach unconventional and thrilling; I was, though, apprehensive to see my wife's reaction. You see Nightswimming was our wedding song; the first song we danced to as a married couple; and I was a little bit anxious at this unconventional presentation of the song. Again my fears were allayed when my dear wife turned to me at the song's conclusion with tears in her eyes. Ingrid Michelson also was the whole reason we were even at this REM tribute concert. Up until a few days ago, I hadn't heard a thing about this show. I had been doing some rudimentary research about musicians and came across Michelson's MySpace page which of course announced that she would be performing at this awesome event. For that, and for her brave rendering of a favorite song, I am grateful to her.

Taking it down a notch following the creative reimagining of Nightswimming was Scottish songsmith Glen Hansard. I had never heard of this gent before, but his completely beautiful and modest rendering of Hairshirt was glorious. Glen Hansard will definitely pop up on radar screens soon. Not just his delivery of this great song, but the song itself has always scored highly with me. On the record, the song fades out; on stage, Glen Hansard hunched his shoulders and inched off the stage, all the while sparsely playing his lone mandolin. It was a beautiful move but he had every reason to bask in the spotlight a little longer.

Indie-college fave The Apples in Stereo also played. I hadn't heard much from the Apples since Tone Soul Evolution, yet here they were with their rollicking rendering of So. Central Rain. The Apples in Stereo had two guitar players, a bass player, drummer, and keyboardist. However the lead singer also had a guitar; the only thing I thought about this was that his plucking along was a little distracting and I felt, unnecessary. He ended up violently thrashing the guitar at the songs end which was also a little bit out of place.

Marshall Crenshaw has been around for a long time. He is still turning out new work with his latest record coming out June 2, 2009. However this night, rather than dwell on the past Marshall Crenshaw looked to the future with the new REM cut, Supernatural Superserious. This song felt a little garbled, probably not least of which because this is a song from an album with which I am not very familiar. I was speaking to a gentleman after the show and we were talking about our impressions of the show. Both he and I were very impressed with the depth and breadth of the REM catalog so much so that, as he says it, REM is his favorite band emeritus. That was largely the impression I got from most of the fans there that were a lot more receptive to the earlier works and the elder musicians. However Crenshaw fused the two with a powerful rendition of a newer song from the REM catalog.

Kimya Dawson entered the stage with a colorfully dressed troupe of dancers. Dawson then sat down on a wood backed chair next to her cross-legged xylophone player on the floor and admitted to the audience what probably a lot of these artists were feeling this night; she was so nervous. She said the song she was about to sing, "means the world to me. So I better not mess it up." Dawson went on to sing World Leader Pretend, which is about as political as we got this evening. The dancers were all done up in comical dinosaur garb and authortarian police regime and faux battled with one another. Kimya Dawson is going to be one of those names that's going to be around for quite some time, much like the next artist.

One of the real treat to being able to go to this REM concert was to be able to see one of my favorite artists up close. Dar Williams has long been shaking things up in the folk music community and speaking her mind and we could not love her more for it. She came out onto the stage and made one of the only announcements before singing of the evening. "It's really great that we're able to the raise this money for the arts." Dar Williams then dove into the very sweet, At My Most Beautiful. To know her is to love her and enough good can't be said about this folksy superstar. I've long felt as though she were an intimate friend just from her involved manner of storytelling. Her singing of the REM tune evoked much the same.

When Hootie and the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker got up and belted out "I Believe," I thought that maybe Michael Stipe had influenced him more then he would like to admit. Darius Rucker was the only singer of the evening who did the Michael Stipe on the microphone. Fans of REM know exactly what on talking about; the gyrating and thrusting hips; his arms spread out open wide and then collapsing around and caressing the whole of the microphone; it were as though the spirit of Michael Stipe had inhabited the body of Darius Rucker. Regardless it was a beautiful rendition of this amazing song.

For fans of alternative music there are really a few names that everybody knows. David Bowie, Perry Farrell, the Pixies; however there is one name that lives in infamy in the alternative rock scene and has for such a long time. Patti Smith is about as respected a musician as any. When she came out to pay tribute to Michael Stipe and REM, she was as humble as can be. Her set closed out the night, but she stated by praising her friendship with the singer, "Michael Stipe was there for me when I was down and I haven't been down so low since." Patti Smith came out and sang a newer REM song, and New Test Leper which really brought the whole evening to a wonderful close. Patti Smith has so much heart that even when she gets lost in the words she is still stunning.

That was when Michael, Mike, and Peter came on stage! Michael's Stipe has grown a very long, gray beard, if you can imagine that. Mike Mills and Peter Buck appear essentially the same and the three of them got up with Patti Smith to sing one last song before the evening really ended out. Patti Smith did some background vocal work on REMs New Adventures in Hi-Fi record. Hi-Fi was from where her New Test Leper was from and Hi-Fi also included the Billboard Hot 100 song E-Bow: The Letter. E-Bow is an emotional apology to River Phoenix regarding a letter and written but never sent by Michael Stipe to the actor expressing concern for his substance abuse. As always, Stipe, Mills, and Buck were amazing and the evening crested to a beautiful crescendo of applause where all the musicians came out on stage.

While sitting there in Carnegie Hall, soaking up the memories of where I was when I heard all those songs for the first time, hearing them again in a completely different way; it suddenly occurred to me why REM are such a great band. The really beautiful thing about REM and the really beautiful moment I had while sitting in Carnegie Hall was how long and deep a catalog of songs the band actually had. These are such different songs, spanning almost 30 years and they touch people in ways that are as different as can be. For the artists listed above and the other performers of the evening Rachel Yamagata, Guster, Vic Chestnutt, Rhett Miller, Kristin Hersh, Keren Ann, Jolie Holland, and The Db's; I wish I'd had more room to praise you all.

The one common thread to all these musicians and all of the crowd in Carnegie Hall is that they were influenced and inspired by this one amazing band. REM transcend boundaries and categorization and have always encouraged their fans to do as they and march to a beat all your own.

REM Tribute Concert After Party in SoHo

While the REM Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hall was amazing, the after party downtown in SoHo at City Winery immediately afterwards was perhaps even cooler. While watching my favorite musicians perform is exciting, standing amidst them, laughing and sharing stories while sipping champagne from flute glasses is even more of a thrill. The event space at City Winery was also a pretty cool place; musicians got up on stage, performed their own stuff, sang more REM songs, and Mike Mills even hoisted himself onstage at one point with Irish folkie Glen Hansard and sang the Kate Pierson line from Hansard's telling of "The One I Love." It was truly thrilling.


The party at City Winery was truly amazing. They had tables set up, a couple of open bar areas, waiters walking around with champagne glasses, and a buffet table which consisted of a menu composed by Mario Batali. The event itself was packed and the folks inside all crowded alongside one another.

Some have spoken wryly of REM in recent years; they're not relevant anymore, they're just filling out their contract with sub-par music. Say what you will, but music like the stuff they put out for years and years; maybe "Fables of the Reconstruction" onward maybe to "The New Adventures in Hi-Fi," are all legendary! (Some purist fans would exclude "Monster" in that list, but come on! How do you follow up "Automatic for the People"?) Be that as it may; whatever you think of "Up," "Around the Sun," and "Accelerate," it's tough to fault this band for much. I believe that when all is said and done, history will smile down favorably on REM for many, many years.

So we stepped in to the Varick Street location of City Winery and this swanky after party and were literally thrust into the mix. "There's Mike Mills and his beautiful wife!" "Look, there goes Peter Buck!" "Is that Patti Smith?" - Yes, they were all there. My wife and I also chatted up Dar Williams and her husband; met Smith, Buck, and tried to get to Mills on a number of occasions (he was perhaps the most sought after of the band).

Even though I've been a longtime fan of Dar and the opportunity to meet all these fab famous people; Darius Rucker, Ingrid Michelson, Bob Mould; the real treat of the evening and the singular goal I set upon the evening was getting to shake the hand of one Michael Stipe.

Think what you want about Mr. Stipe; he's strange, he's predictable, he's introverted, he's extroverted; there are more divergent opinions about this singer than many others. But, he is the face of this band, the voice of the band, and the reason for their success. And he's really just a nice guy! Or he was on this evening when my wife and I met him.

He stood in pretty much the same spot, surrounded by some friends of his but always quick to step aside with a fan and chat. I approached him, congratulated him for the honor of being honored and thanked him very much for his contribution to music and his influence on my life. I also told him that my wife and I had used one of his songs; "Nightswimming," for our wedding song. He seemed a little surprised and commented, "that's a pretty tough song to dance to!" little does he know, I can't really dance to anything! So the fact that I swayed to a song that had personal meaning to my wife and I was what was really important. We said a few other words and I am not usually very star-struck by much of anyone, but I was totally flummoxed from the meeting.

We hung around for a few hours; the party was only supposed to go until 1AM but by ¼ till 2AM, with the rocking still going strong, I suggested to my wife that we leave (we both had to work at 8AM). We walked out the door with the revelry and partying still behind us going on only to see Michael get into a taxicab himself and speed away. We waved towards him, being the only other people out on the corner and we caught his eye because he turned, smiled, and reciprocated.

It's the little things which stick the most. If I never get to meet another famous person as long as I live, I will remember this evening with a room full of my favorite musicians, so many good vibes, and so much warm feeling all cobbled together to celebrate this band from Athens, Georgia.

Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings - Velour on the Floor

I recently was lucky enough to meet the guys in Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings in an unrelated place, literally still sweating from the stage lights after they had played a show at a downtown venue in Manhattan. I was immediately drawn in by the loose, upbeat, positive vibe I got off of these guys; it was only then that I introduced myself as a writer and reviewer of music.

My initial impressions of these guys were not made disingenuous by the flavor of their tunes. Danceable, upbeat, rollicking, splashy, loud, soulful, militant. The singer, Seth Casana, tries to pull off a John Popper but sounds a little more like early Anthony Kiedis or Les Claypool. It’s almost as though he’s still searching for that one sound he will call his own (or I could be still searching for that one perfect adjective to anoint this band; it won’t happen) The sound he spews will no doubt mature as his songwriting does.

This is sort of an album which starts out with seemingly bold ambitions and then descends into the wild party that it always planned on being. Just listen to the song “Don’t Mind If I Do;” the protagonist singer’s devolution into a sexual encounter with just about anyone who passes by.

What always keeps this singer from becoming too self-congratulatory is the fact that he’s backed by some wipe-the-floor-with-your-ass musicians. The driving kick drum, the steady backbeat bass, the underscoring organs, and the triumphant horn section all add to the melding of worlds. An instrument that sometimes gets lost in jazz is the guitar but not on this record (if you’d call this record “jazz”) as it trades the lead line pretty evenly with the horns.

While this is not a traditional record by any stretch of the imagination, that’s probably what makes it so damn interesting to listen to. If you’ve bored of the standard fare on Hot AC Top 40 Radio or if you’ve heard all of your top 10 favorite Lil’ Wayne songs and you’re ready for the symbiotic dissonance of crashing, splashing, happy times, you should check out Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings.