Moon Taxi
The Ludlow Thieves, Great Elk
Sat, December 1, 2012
Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm
The Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY
$15
Tickets
This event is 18 and over
http://www.boweryballroom.com/event/174679/
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Moon Taxi
Moon Taxi is one of those rare bands that unites musical ingenuity with thoughtful lyrics and still somehow manages to wildly entertain and thrill a crowd. Their new record, Cabaret, is a layered, multi-dimensional endeavor that displays the band's maturing sense of their own musical identity. A follow-up to their live album, Live Ride, Cabaret illustrates the challenges of defining yourself in a world that seems to be suffering from its own identity loss. Lead singer Trevor Terndrup says, "It's about juxtaposition—putting together seemingly opposite ideas and finding a strange harmony." Inspired by surrealist artwork and novelist Tom Robbins, Terndrup says, "I guess we are trying to say that things are not so black and white, or good or evil, but relative to your own perspective."
Evoking the musical revolution of the sixties and seventies, Moon Taxi ignites their eclectic sound with unique melodies and energetic shows. The band has already formed a loyal fan base across the Southeast, selling out clubs and creating a strong grassroots following. Keyboardist Wes Bailey says, "It's an incredible feeling to see people who we've never met before in a town we've never played before, dancing and singing our lyrics at the top of their lungs. That's what really gets us off."
Evoking the musical revolution of the sixties and seventies, Moon Taxi ignites their eclectic sound with unique melodies and energetic shows. The band has already formed a loyal fan base across the Southeast, selling out clubs and creating a strong grassroots following. Keyboardist Wes Bailey says, "It's an incredible feeling to see people who we've never met before in a town we've never played before, dancing and singing our lyrics at the top of their lungs. That's what really gets us off."
The Ludlow Thieves
Staggering from the wreckage of a car accident that claimed seven lives and left him the sole survivor, The Ludlow Thieves’ front man, Danny Musengo, had a shift in perspective. He was finished working the midnight shift at a gas station on a highway in Iowa; he was moving to NYC and dedicating himself to music. Having grown up singing gospel songs in his church, music was where he found peace and purpose, especially after the accident.
The Ludlow Thieves are the realization of the sound, sensation, and dedication he had been pursuing since the accident.
Dan Teicher, the band’s guitarist and producer, had been looking—albeit, impatiently—for the right band for his entire life. With a master’s degree in classical music composition, he honed his craft while biding his time. He scoured NYC for band mates with similarly outsized ambitions that were capable of the enormous sound he dreamt of.
At a party, DT asked a friend if he knew any singers with a unique voice. The friend passed along the contact info for Danny Musengo, describing his sound as “Rod Stewart on two packs of smokes.” Within weeks, DT and Danny had met and were at work on The Ludlow Thieves, a moniker DT had cooked up while writing songs that would appear on the band’s debut.
Days before the duo was set to record some of the songs, the drummer scheduled for the sessions tore ligaments in his right hand. In a panic, DT contacted another mutual friend asking for a drummer that was “trained in jazz, had rock ferocity, and knows the pocket of a beat like a funk drummer.” He was given the name of Walker Adams, a Berklee Grad from the Upper West Side of Manhattan who had played with St. Vincent. The sessions went so well, musically and personally, that Walker was immediately asked to become a permanent member of the band.
Together, the trio have sculpted tunes equally at home in Nashville and Brooklyn. With a sound that is as enormous as it is exuberant, the music’s intensity can be traced back to a highway in Iowa where gratitude and purpose ignited a band.
The Ludlow Thieves are DT, Danny and Walker, but a revolving cast of hoodlums fleshes out their sound by shaking, scraping, banging, slapping, singing, stabbing, and seducing music out of their instruments. They have found friends in singers, pianists, string ensembles, orchestral brass players, jazz trumpeters and saxophonists, and countless audio engineers. These mischievous melodic mutts are essential to bringing The Thieves’ indulgences to musical fruition live and in the studio. All in all, there are over 30 instruments on their debut album.
The sound is occasionally lush and often covered in dust; it is a rustic exploration of the grand and the intimate through an American lens.
The songs and arrangements came easy, but the recording process was like trying to take a whale for a walk—a slow, challenging, and ambitious undertaking. Recalling the recording process, DT says, “Music is a demanding mistress, and this album had me asking for mercy at some points.” Sculpting the sound through a long process of trial, error, and trying again, the completed album is exactly what The Ludlow Thieves hoped it would be—an engaging, dynamic, experimental record with strong roots in the American songwriting tradition.
Still, before even releasing their first album, their music has been featured in commercials and films, and they have been voted Artist of the Month by New York’s premier independent music magazine, The Deli.
DT says he and the rest of the Thieves advise all listeners to keep a mop close by during initial listening sessions of the album—“there are going to be a lot of melted faces out there. Floors might get stained with the rock sauce.”
The Ludlow Thieves are the realization of the sound, sensation, and dedication he had been pursuing since the accident.
Dan Teicher, the band’s guitarist and producer, had been looking—albeit, impatiently—for the right band for his entire life. With a master’s degree in classical music composition, he honed his craft while biding his time. He scoured NYC for band mates with similarly outsized ambitions that were capable of the enormous sound he dreamt of.
At a party, DT asked a friend if he knew any singers with a unique voice. The friend passed along the contact info for Danny Musengo, describing his sound as “Rod Stewart on two packs of smokes.” Within weeks, DT and Danny had met and were at work on The Ludlow Thieves, a moniker DT had cooked up while writing songs that would appear on the band’s debut.
Days before the duo was set to record some of the songs, the drummer scheduled for the sessions tore ligaments in his right hand. In a panic, DT contacted another mutual friend asking for a drummer that was “trained in jazz, had rock ferocity, and knows the pocket of a beat like a funk drummer.” He was given the name of Walker Adams, a Berklee Grad from the Upper West Side of Manhattan who had played with St. Vincent. The sessions went so well, musically and personally, that Walker was immediately asked to become a permanent member of the band.
Together, the trio have sculpted tunes equally at home in Nashville and Brooklyn. With a sound that is as enormous as it is exuberant, the music’s intensity can be traced back to a highway in Iowa where gratitude and purpose ignited a band.
The Ludlow Thieves are DT, Danny and Walker, but a revolving cast of hoodlums fleshes out their sound by shaking, scraping, banging, slapping, singing, stabbing, and seducing music out of their instruments. They have found friends in singers, pianists, string ensembles, orchestral brass players, jazz trumpeters and saxophonists, and countless audio engineers. These mischievous melodic mutts are essential to bringing The Thieves’ indulgences to musical fruition live and in the studio. All in all, there are over 30 instruments on their debut album.
The sound is occasionally lush and often covered in dust; it is a rustic exploration of the grand and the intimate through an American lens.
The songs and arrangements came easy, but the recording process was like trying to take a whale for a walk—a slow, challenging, and ambitious undertaking. Recalling the recording process, DT says, “Music is a demanding mistress, and this album had me asking for mercy at some points.” Sculpting the sound through a long process of trial, error, and trying again, the completed album is exactly what The Ludlow Thieves hoped it would be—an engaging, dynamic, experimental record with strong roots in the American songwriting tradition.
Still, before even releasing their first album, their music has been featured in commercials and films, and they have been voted Artist of the Month by New York’s premier independent music magazine, The Deli.
DT says he and the rest of the Thieves advise all listeners to keep a mop close by during initial listening sessions of the album—“there are going to be a lot of melted faces out there. Floors might get stained with the rock sauce.”
Great Elk
“The Brooklyn rockers Great Elk display the control and restraint of a band with deep chemistry, as they sway gracefully between gentle ballads and mid-tempo indie-rock tunes.” – The New Yorker
"Lead single "I'm going to bend" is a slow-simmering pot of Kosmic American music that should find favor with fans of Band of Horses or the erstwhile Grandaddy." - My Old Kentucky Blog
"Great Elk's Autogeogaphy is a remarkably consistent and conceptually coherent record." - Adequacy.net
"Lead single "I'm going to bend" is a slow-simmering pot of Kosmic American music that should find favor with fans of Band of Horses or the erstwhile Grandaddy." - My Old Kentucky Blog
"Great Elk's Autogeogaphy is a remarkably consistent and conceptually coherent record." - Adequacy.net
