Kristeen Young – Music for Strippers, Hookers and The Odd On-Looker
The piano is a bit of a weird instrument when you think about it. It has a lot of range, and a lot potential but it is kind of rare for someone to do something different. Sure Ben Folds messes around with it a bit, but it is still just boils down to a blending of genres. However there is one person doing some interesting stuff with it and that is Kristeen Young.
Kristeen Young is an experimental group made up of Kristeen Young on piano and Baby Jef White on drums. What stands out Kristeen Young from other piano plays is her amazing use of dissonance. She plays the notes that shouldn’t go together in any way but makes it work beautifully. It doesn’t seem like she is fallowing any kind of rule what so ever but it makes some awesome music. Her latest album Music for Strippers, Hookers and The Odd-onlooker does this beautifully does everything wrong perfectly right. The album will blend notes from all over the keyboard to make an amazing mix.
The piano isn’t the only great part of the album, Baby Jef white has keeps it going with an awesome steady drive using over powering drums. This combined with the spastic piano playing makes for an amazing wall of sound. This is all over top of Kristeen’s awesome vocals, sounding a lot like Kate Bush or Tori Amos at times. Her voice is extremely powerful and booming and just adds to the awesome mix. The Lyrics are pretty good as well, although a little hard to make out at times, with some fairly heavy Morrissey like themes in them.
Overall this album isn’t really like anything I’ve heard in a long time. I know I might say that a lot but really it is completely different. It’s not like some albums that are different that are only a blend of two groups this is something completely different and extremely awesome. It may not be for everyone but everyone should still at least give it a listen.
Kristeen Young – Son Of Man
Kristeen Young – Everybody Wants Me To Cry
Kristeen Young – You Must Love Me
I agree for the most part. I don’t think this album is for everyone, but there is a certain slice of the music-listening public that will absolutely love it.