Under 21 with Guardian


Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello - Graham Parker - Pretenders - The Damned), songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart, short - lived career as a pop star, and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician. But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver - haired, tender - hearted but sharp - tongued singer - songwriter, he has no equal.

Starting with 1995′s ‘The Impossible Bird’ through to 2011′s ‘The Old Magic,’ Nick has turned out a fantastic string of albums, each one devised in his West London home, and recorded with a core of musicians who possess the same veteran savvy. Lowe brings wit and understated excellence to every performance, leading Ben Ratliff of the New York Times to describe his live show as “elegant and nearly d evastating.” His new 4 song EP “Tokyo Bay” features Los Straitjackets as his backing band .

Los Straitjackets
Los Straitjackets are the leading practitioners of the lost art of the guitar instrumental. Using the music of the Ventures, The Shadows, and wi th Link Wray and Dick Dale as a jumping off point, the band has taken their unique, high energy brand of original rock & roll around the world. Clad in their trademark Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling masks, the “Jackets” have delivered their trademark guitar licks to 16 albums, thousands of concerts and dozens of films and TV shows. Their most recent album “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love & Los Straitjackets” consists of instrumental covers of Nick Lowe Songs.



Paul Cebar

Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound are the latest in Fresh Venerable. Benefitting from years of unassuming and understated hipness, they bring forth a funky, lyrically charged racket that sits comfortably with soulful sounds the world over.

Intricate but free-swinging, explosive yet intimate, fresh and green as grass.

Taking cues from the dance bands of western Louisiana (and his native Midwest,), the streets (and 45’s) of New Orleans, touring African and Caribbean combos and the soul, funk & blues of his youth coupled with early , teeth-cutting experience in the verbal hotbeds of  the coffeehouse scene, Cebar is a masterful synthesist of rhythmic culture.

Tomorrow Sound are an elite crew of offhand adepts who bring plenty of their own wood to the fire. Drummer Reggie Bordeaux, casts his nets with a mystifying subtlety bringing his own fleet-footed refinement and grease. Multi-instrumentalist Bob Jennings, lends his bandleader the luxury of implying a much larger ensemble with his multi-hued contributions on keys and reeds. Bassist Mike Fredrickson (a distinguished singer-songwriter in his own right) anchors and prods with the best of them.



http://nicklowe.com/

http://paulcebar.com/