Here's the quick logistics:
- Thursdays - Saturdays: doors open at 6, 7 starts the pre-show cocktail hours, with featured performers starting at 8.
- Sundays: doors open at 6 for the cocktail hour, with featured performers starting at 7.
- Dixon Place is at 161A Chrystie Street.
- Free PBRs for the first 25 guests!
I like "Let's Get Loud!" right away, from the very first strums. The vocals are subtle and real, and the music is so... good. It's rock, without over-doing things or blaring speakers. The song is steady, even if it may not entirely match up with its name. It's a song, however, that somehow reaches to your heart with its very nature. I know my toes are taping, and I'm already plotting how to get out of work early enough to see these guys.
"Timid Stomp" from the album Country For The TImid is what I'm using to base an opinion off of. Things are a little slower and deeper for this artist, giving a more smokey-folk sound to us. Think Jonny Cash meets... John Mayer maybe? Someone who's doing some modern guitar/folk work. Whatevs. It's a little rough to get into first thing in the morning, but this fits right into a smokey bar in need of some lyrical guidance. Damn I'm poetic first thing in the morning.
I'm listening to "Relative Motion," a good strummed song. Lyrically, these guys seem like they're going to make you think about what they have to say - and probably get way to introspective like me. But hey, power of music, right? The music itself, at least for this one, is very simple, relying largely on the guitar for support, with is picking its own slight melody in the background. Very, very cool stuff here, and already seems like a show not to miss!
Nothing available on the base site, which gives a link to his MySpace and YouTube instead. I clicked on the first thing I saw - "The Corporate Bohemian." MySpace requires the updated Flash Player, which my Internet at home is not up for helping me get quickly. I finally came across a video of "Seasons of My Love" as a live performance actually from The Dixon Palace. Yes, this is definitely theatrical complete with an interpretive dancer. The band give s a fantastic sound, and the fact they give something to watch too just makes this all the more must-see.
I adore the title of this album: An Awkward Time with The Debutante Hour. I think these are girls I would totally click with. I'm taking a quick listen to "Parking," and this is really very cool. Think the Pips but set in the 20s, yet polished for the 2010's. Their style is so cool, and the sound so different. I think this is one of those groups you'd be lucky to stumble upon on a random night out. I'm taking the random out of the equation and saying go!
"The Magic Is You!" reminds me of Weird Al at the start, but let's give this guy his due. He has his own sound, for sure. The voice is sort of pushed, but it adds to the performance. Overall, the sound and lyrics are unlike anything I've heard ever before, or else a mesh of everything I've ever heard in my life.
What's on the site is a close to three minute teaser montage of the album. Basically, it comes across as an intense jazz/rock combo at first, then goes into a very funkadelic number. Next up is a slow ballad that sounds like an updated lounge crooner's work, and then an R&B song plays. The thing that holds these all together is a smooth voice that certainly does adapt. I'd be interested to hear the whole album back-to-back to see the flow - it's hard to rep so many genres in one place.
I think the song I'm listening to is "Kaleidoscope" but the title went away as I clicked and didn't note it. Anywhos, the sound is very light 90's reminiscent, like something you'd associate with "Pete & Pete." It's easy-going music, and their statement of maturity is warranted. It's not a sound you'd hear from younger folks very typically, but remains interesting enough to listen to for someone of the same group.
"Breaking all these Hearts" definitely proves every bit of the given description. This is a folky, country rocker who can keep an excellent beat and pull us in with lyrics and a slight grit voice. I'm really loving what's going on here - this is a classic sound, but there's a reason the classics are so good.
I sort of love the Tim Burton-esq nature of the piece I'm hearing, "Shiver." It's creepy, in the best way possible, telling a story. Each instrument really does take on its own part throughout, and the arrangement does strike me as a great film piece. Jason, if you're reading - I think I just found more scary story music for you!
I'm taking a listen to "Sergei Prokofiev - Suggestion Diabolique Op. 4, No. 4." It's a piano piece (duh) very cleverly played. There's life and spunk to it, which is so cool to hear in classical-sounding pieces. The dynamics are incredible well-handled for a song that requires so much movement, just making the performance that much more impressive.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way on their site to get a taste of their music, but this is a lineup I have not seen in a modern club atmosphere... ever - so take a chance and check them out!