Sonic New York
| Sonic New York | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Sxip Shirey | ||||
| Released | May 24, 2010 | |||
| Genre | Experimental music | |||
| Label | Peer Music LTD | |||
| Sxip Shirey chronology | ||||
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Sonic New York is a studio album by Sxip Shirey. The album met with largely positive reviews, with reviewer Holly Cara Price writing that the songs "range from chanted poetry to raw blues to ghostly choirs to folk songs to a postmodern dance track and more."[1]
Production
The 17 songs on the solo album[1] were written by Sxip Shirey of New York City, who was living in Brooklyn at the time. Guest musicians included beatboxer Adam Matta, accordionist/clavioliaist Rachelle Garniez, and vocalists Rhiannen Giddens and Aimee Curl.[1]
Excluding the track "Dreamland," which was engineered by Sammy Rubin, all tracks were recorded in Shirey's living room in Brooklyn. His friend and roommate, engineer and bassist Joe 'Bass" DeJarnette of the Wiyos, helped in the recording process and is considered by Shirey to be a "co-creator." Many of the songs address specific locations in New York City, such as the Brooklyn Bridge. According to Shirey at the time, "I live in a neighborhood that's really filled with sound - there's a lot of Jamaican autobody shops and the guys next door play hip hop... Sometimes I sit on the subway and I can hear all these different layers of sound....[The record] kind of subtly takes you thru the arc of a day."[1]
The album cover was created by designer Evan Rosen, and was described as "austere and noir, both gloomy and glorious" by The Huffington Post.[1]
Release
 Animation for "Brooklyn Bridge Song" off Sonic New York |
Some of the songs were performed before the release in June 2010, in a cabaret also featuring Evelyn Evelyn.[2] Shirey at the time was serving as the shows master of ceremonies and opening solo act.[1] Released in July 2010, the album's track "Dreamland" purportedly became a hit with clubs in Sydney, Australia.[1] The song, which also featured the vocals of Rhiannon Giddens of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, was described as a "70s funky summer dance number." [2] The album also includes a cover of the 1979 disco song "You Can Ring My Bell," with Curl's guest vocals described as "full of wistful anticipation, sadness love and pride."[2]
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Huffington Post | (positive)[1] |
The album was reviewed positively by Huffington Post, with reviewer Holly Cara Price writing that the songs "range from chanted poetry to raw blues to ghostly choirs to folk songs to a postmodern dance track and more."[1] She also dubbed them "tone poems."[1]
In a second review by Huffington Post, Jesse Larner wrote that "it's the kind of album that will appeal to people who don't think about music in terms of categories... Stylistically you can hear everything from funk to big band to rap to Bossa Nova to 20s torch songs to spoken word performance to carousel to Middle Eastern and Klezmer music, but to say so is to bring us back to categories, and that's not quite right. It is what it is. It's about New York, an extended haunting eclectic sound poem attached to very local parts of this big city."[2]
NPR reviewed the song "In Awe Of The City Skyline" in August 2010, describing it as "wistful," explaining that it "captures a singer's unique, complicated romance with New York City." The review also praised the duet between Shirey and Aimee Curl.[3]
Track listing
- "15 Punk Rockers Pounding A Piano Into Junk" - 0:35
- "Live In New York City" - 4:42
- "Grammercy Park" - 1:38
- "You Can Ring My Bell" - 4:20
- "Ghosts of the Gowanus Canal" - 4:23
- "Dreamland" - 3:38
- "The Bed Bugs Are Back!" - 1:11
- "Lizzie Miss Lizzie!" - 3:50
- "Asleep On the Subway" - 5:23 10
- "The Choir Is Underground" - 0:34
- "Mehenatta" - 3:49
- "Clothes of My Man" - 4:08
- "Bergen and Grand" - 2:19
- "A Young Man Walks In Brooklyn" - 4:02
- "Caterpillar Crawls Through Chinatown" - 4:37
- "Brooklyn Bridge Song" - 1:49
- "Sunday Dub" - 5:21
Personnel
- Sxip Shirey - primary artist
- Adam Matta - human beatboxer
- Rachelle Garniez - accordionist/clavioliaist
- Rhiannen Giddens - vocals
- Aimee Curl - vocals
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Price, Holly Cara (July 18, 2010). "Sxip Shirey's Magic Journey: Sonic New York". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
- 1 2 3 4 Larner, Jesse (July 22, 2010). "Sxip Shirey and Sonic New York". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
- ↑ Percy, Lily (August 13, 2010). "Sxip Shirey: In Awe Of The City Skyline". NPR. Retrieved 2015-02-15.