"The Jazz Funeral EP"

[jdogric12]

I got a 3-chip DV cam for $500 with a firewire cable at a big chain electronics store, I've been using it for a couple years now, and just recently got a computer with firewire and iMovie, and it's super easy to use and edit and post on youtube. I highly recommend it.

[kiramdear]

Just had to drop by again and say that your tracks are really growing on me. I have enjoyed repeated listenings (this moment, for one) and finding new pleasantries each time. You have some nice connection with several flavors of music that I already enjoy immensely. Hope to hear more from you soon.

[customxke]

Sounds good John.

[sloop_john_b]

Hey, thanks Kira & Jon.

[walker]

Hey Jon -

Congrats on the sweet write-upon, and the impending release! Putting out albums is still worth getting excited over, even in this new age of the soulless iTunes downloads. Looking forward to the official release! God speed, Mr Biscuti.

[sloop_john_b]

Looking forward to the official release! God speed, Mr Biscuti.

Look backward, Mr. Walker - it was December 28th.

Reception's been great and we're sold out of the physical copies. We've had some great shows and have a few more really cool ones lined up.

[winston]

See......... my faith in the strength of your recorded works was well placed John.......... I figured it would sell well.

[walker]

I sit corrected! Guess I should check in more often. Good news on the success - keep riding that wave!

[sloop_john_b]

The latest glowing review, this time via blog:

This cd has absolutely nothing to do with jazz and isn’t exactly goth, although it’s relentlessly dark. This is a terrifically intelligent, auspicious debut for these lyrically-driven Staten Island retro rockers. It’s a mix of jangly, 60s inflected songs with smartly understated vocals and excellent, brooding lyrics that contrast with the songs’ catchy, upbeat, frequently country-inflected melodies.

The cd kicks off with Annie’s Kitchen Table, a fast country shuffle with a slightly Blonde on Blonde feel and a bitter, anguished lyric anticipating a breakup, “the summer months coming hard,” the narrator chainsmoking and anticipating the worst. There’s a nice, tastefully bluesy guitar solo that works perfectly with the tone of the song. The next track, Pulling Off the Wings is a haunting, oldtime-flavored backbeat country song with pizzicato mandolin, all tension that refuses to break, “Clocks don’t stop and cars refuse to crash…it’s so plain to see I’ve been so unwell.” The sarcastic, angry Entry-Level Blues starts out fast and bouncy like the Kinks or the early Move but quickly builds to more of a country feel; Jolene, of the South Shore, a rueful ballad slinks along on a beautifully tense melody, chords shifting from major to minor with elegant restraint. The best song on the ep is its closing cut, Goodnight (Is How I Say Goodbye), begining ominous with layers of oldtimey blues guitar, suddenly jumping to a raging, staccato Weimar blues melody and then exploding into fiery janglerock:

If the ghost of Robert Moses came to talk to me
Would you demolish every brownstone in Bay Ridge
All the ghosts you see are real…
Walk toward the light but be prepared to say goodnight

Best thing about this cd is it’s free, download it here. Fans of the A-list of tuneful, intense lyrical rockers: Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann, LJ Murphy, Matt Keating, Ward White and the rest will devour this. A great ipod album, it screams out for headphones. The Jazz Funeral play Bowery Poetry Club on Feb 14 and then Feb 18 at Ace of Clubs.

I think it goes without saying that reading this made my freaking day.

[kiramdear]

Bravo, John. You deserve every word of it.

[walker]

Awesome, John. Nice job!

[antipodean]

Bravo, John. You deserve every word of it.

A-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y!!!!!!! It's a great EP and I'd line up overnight during a snow storm to put my greenbacks on the table for the album.

[deaconblues]

Love it!! Very Pet Sounds-esque, I think. 'Jolene' is brilliant. Is that the ES-125 on the last track?

[sloop_john_b]

Is that the ES-125 on the last track?

Great call, Dan! That is indeed the 125, mic'ed like an acoustic guitar, doing both the picking and the slide stuff. I loved the way it recorded - there was something far more dirty and guttural about it as opposed to my Martin, which was way too clean.

[deaconblues]

Is that the ES-125 on the last track?

Great call, Dan! That is indeed the 125, mic'ed like an acoustic guitar, doing both the picking and the slide stuff. I loved the way it recorded - there was something far more dirty and guttural about it as opposed to my Martin, which was way too clean.

The sound is perfect for the lyrics! I really dig that archtop sound, gotta get one one of these days.