To my own party, that is.
Sunday was my birthday. I turned 52 and thus remain older than dirt. So let’s celebrate. Better late than never.
One of my birthday presents came all the way from Brooklyn. My friend Alan Wilkis is just out with his new EP. As he’s done before, Alan has taken all kinds of musical influences, tossed them into the blender and come up with new sounds that nonetheless sound familiar.
“Pink and Purple,” made in 2009, is straight outta 1984. Alan explains:
“I consciously tried to be more focused stylistically on this record (than on last year’s “Babies Dream Big,” his debut). … I will inevitably jump through five different genres in any given song, but overall … (I) tried to be a bit more disciplined, set more stylistic rules, and as a result it’s definitely much more decidedly ’80s.”
It sounds that way to me. This is the record of my summer so far.
From “Pink and Purple,” Alan Wilkis, 2009:
This sounds like the single to me: “Dance With You.” On which Kool and the Gang — no, that’s Earth, Wind and Fire — meet Jeff Lynne and Harold Faltermeyer.
This one lives up to its name: “Time Machine.” As the years float past, so do echoes of Peter Gabriel, Queen and Prince.
I mention the influences only as a guide. Alan has reimagined them in remarkable fashion.
3 Comments
June 24, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Happy belated birthday, hope it was a good time!
June 24, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Happy belated, Mr Jeff! You’re the man!
June 29, 2009 at 3:23 am
[...] AM, Then FM – “Alan has taken all kinds of musical influences, tossed them into the blender and come up with new sounds that nonetheless sound familiar. Made in 2009… straight outta 1984… This is the record of my summer so far… Kool and the Gang — no, that’s Earth, Wind and Fire — meet Jeff Lynne and Harold Faltermeyer… Echoes of Peter Gabriel, Queen and Prince… I mention the influences only as a guide. Alan has reimagined them in remarkable fashion.” [...]