THE YALLOPPIN' HOUNDS
This smokin' NYC combo mix street swing,
jazz and hip-hop. Dr.Dre meets Count Basie Orchestra, or theWu Tang jammin'
with Duke Ellington. G-clef Da Mad Komposa and his crew know Cab Calloway
and the zoot suited swing pioneers were the prototype for for today's rap
superstars. The Hounds' sound tougher than a Bronx street hood but tender
like midnight in Manhattan. Harlem Apollo meets the Rainbow Room. "Romantic
Thugz" is the East Coast anthem for the neo-swing generation, the cool
New York hipster flipside to Californian cats Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's hedonistic
West Coast sound. "Daddy Make It Feel Good" is another truly outstanding
track from The Hounds., true pioneers of swing/hip-hop/jazz crossover. Long
may they continue to innovate and inspire. For more info go to
www.yalloppinhounds.com
THE RAY GELATO
GIANTS
“Close your eyes and imagine the scene :
the time is the golden 1950’s era of Las Vegas, Nevada. You’re new in town,
just driving around, checking out what’s hot From the Desert Inn, the Sahara,
the Sands, and the other casino lounges you hear the sounds of Louis Prima
& Keely Smith, Dean Martin, The Treniers, Frank Sinatra and Nat King
Cole. If only you could have been there and heard that great music, felt
that excitement, tasted that electric atmosphere”
Revisit the halcyon days of the Las Vegas lounges with the UK’s very own
Ray Gelato and the Giants. This combo swings like Sam Butera and the Witnesses,
Louis Prima’s legendary backing group, in their prime. For more info go
to www.raygelato.com
HB RADKE &
THE JET CITY SWINGERS
This swingin’ Seattle septet swings most
righteously. Lounge lizards par excellence, HB Radke and the Jet City Swingers
are for the cocktail culture cognoscenti. Included here is a hipster take
on Bacharach’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and a showstopping version
of “I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane” which has become a set-closing classic at
Vegas. As a special bonus for this cd hepcat HB and Seattle’s most swinging
combo recorded a special version of “Viva Las Vegas” for our exclusive delectation
and delight. What a top guy and what a top band! For more info go to www.radke.com
THE GOOD FELLAS
The Good Fellas are a superb swinging combo
from Italy. Led by charismatic bandleader Lucky Luciano these guys first
came to attention in 1997 backing Ray Gelato on “Gangsters of Swing.” On
the cover of the Bologna-based swingers’ debut cd “Salute!” they look like
the cast from a Martin Scorsese movie : real Italian mafiosa style!, A nice
mix of indigineous Italian numbers and swing classics. Their main influences
are Louis Prima and Sam Butera and the Witnesses. The Good Fellas certainly
emulate the sounds of these dynamite Vegas swing outfits but their Italian
language vocals give their sound an interesting new dimension. For more
info go to ww.goodfellasitaly.com
DAVE’S TRUE
STORY
NYC duo DTS are musical maestro Dave Cauter
and beguiling chanteuse Kelly Flint, mainstays of the Big Apple’s cult underground
neo-lounge scene. Hipsters, bohemians and lounge lizards can catch Dave’s
True Story playing regularly at clubs like The Living Room, The Cooler,
and The Stinger Club. DTS create a beguiling jazz noir sound redolent of
smoky nightcubs and sultry sirens. DTS’s lyrics are literate, wordy and
ironic, evoking the heyday of bohemia but with a hip postmodern twist. Kelly
sounds like a latter day Julie London; conspiratorially cool as any fatally
flawed femme fatale should be she narrates the tale of the crazy chick in
the “Sequined Mermaid Dress.” For more info go to www.davestruestory.com
SOPHIE GARNER
& HER SWING KINGS
This hot UK swing combo go loco down South
America way with a sensational version of Earl Grant's classic "House
of Bamboo." The vocal duties are handled by a fabulous UK singer called
Sophie Garner who features on this track as her alter ego flamboyant Brazilian
chanteuse "Coco Calypso." Many great artists have covered this
tune including the incomparable Andy Williams, but Sophie and her 8-piece
backing band bring some new, decidely spicy, ingredients to the table and
succeed in supplying an already exotic cocktail with a sassy new kick. For
more info go to www.swingkings.co.uk
THE FAT CATS
Swinging stockbrokers from Sheffield. Charismatic
corporate raiders “united by a love of swing, jump-blues, ska, dirty skanky
beats and cold hard profit.” “Fat Cats on The Prowl” is taken from the
bands debut cd “Keeping Up With the Dow Joneses” and is a superb slice of
neo-swing with a street-wise UK sensibility. Like how Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
might sound if they came from Sheffield instead of Los Angeles and featured
in one of Guy Ritchie’s gritty gangster flicks rather than “Swingers”. These
guys put the “urban” in “urbane” and the “street” in “street swing.” For
more info go to www.thefatcats.net
JET SET SIX
NYC’s JS-6 take a full measure of lounge
lizard cool, add a liberal dash of hipster swing, lashings of catchy melodic
pop, witty lyrics, a great sense of humor and a twist of 60’s kitsch then
shake vigorously until the irresistible retro party sound of Jet Set Six
explodes like Vesuvius over Pompeii. JS-6 are not just a fun band -these
guys can play. Punchy horns and irresistible rhythms are their trademark.
And of course there’s the leader of the pack chief songwriter, vocalist
and guitarist John Ceperano, a smooth crooner with a gift for wonderfully
witty wordplay.
JS-6 featured regularly at the World Trade Centre Windows on the World restaurant,
where John also promoted kitsch retro nights like Spy-Fi Fridays. For more
info go to www.jetsetsix.com
SEKS BOMBA
Seks Bomba are an eccentric, eclectic combo
from Boston. Their music is an exotic cocktail of surf, lounge, exotica,
60’s psychedelia/ Hammond-led instrumentals and Lalo Schifrin/Quincy Jones/Hugo
Montenegro style soundtracks. Add a twist of bossa nova and garnish the
whole intoxicating combo with Bacharach’s pop sensibility and you have a
very pleasurable mix of cocktail cool, esoteric exotica and cheezy eazy.
Take The Ventures, Dick Dale, Booker T and the MG’s, Henry Mancini, Antonio
Carlos Jobim and Burt Bacharach, stir well and pour liberally over an imaginary
James Bond flick set in a 60’s go-go club and you might just get something
which sounds a little like Seks Bomba. For more info go to www.bomba.com
COCKTAIL ANGST
Cocktail Angst are a combo creating a commotion
on the NYC neo-lounge circuit. Beguiling chanteuse and songwriter Toby Williams’
style is reminiscent of Peggy Lee at her most world-weary and intoxicating.
Take a dash of “Is That All There Is” era Lee, add a splash of psychedelia,
a twist of mordant wit and garnish with a liberal sprinkling of urbane sophistication.
“Good Luck Charm”is as evocative an homage to the lure of Vegas as any,
ever. “Last Tango in Vegas” bemoans the conversion of Nevada’s magnificently
seedy oasis into a Disneyland-style theme park (“What have they done to
Bugsy’s town?”)
Cocktail Angst : wonderfully evocative, sinister,
literate lounge music for aficionados. For more info go to www.cocktailangst.com
SHAG
Cover art for "Vegas Swings" is
an original work by hip Californian lounge artist Josh Agle ("Shag").
Shag's work is influenced by avant-garde animation of the 50's and early
60's as well as commercial art of the same period and is sought after by
collectors worldwide, including the obligatory Movie Stars, Rock Stars and
Hollywood Producers eager to hang "Shag Art" on their walls. and
he exhibits regularly in galleries in New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo
and his native California. When not painting Shag spends his time "converting
his home/studio into a supervillian's hideout of space-age gadgets and martinis
at noon". For more info go to www.shag-art.com
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