I don’t know if my toe’s been a-tapping due to a deep-seated love of swing, blues and doo-wop, but I do know where my current music obsession lies: Online, specifically where Scott Bradlee’s posting his band’s music on Youtube.
With covers galore and dripping with nostalgia and ‘Somebody Sign Me Now’-ness, Post Modern Jukebox are just… genius. And way more clever than penning tunes and then wiping a foam finger all over its performance, these guys and one girl are tastefully togging up in vintage, gently jiving in front of a ribbon mic and having us swoon round our computer screens.
Thinking “what would Nicki Minaj do for money during the 40s”? Well, if 1940s Nicki were into music, the band have imagined she’d sound like this. And yes, that’s a link to a cover of Justin Beiber and Nicki Minaj’s “Beauty and a Beat”. #Wow.
The group – formed in New York by 31 year old pianist Bradlee – is usually fronted by the vocals of Robyn Adele Anderson who, depending on the cover, will rap as fast as Macklemore, sing in Korean like Psy or draw out a perfectly velvety note in a drawl akin to the late Amy Winehouse. All this plus a live band and beautiful backing vocals (and sometimes, there’s dancing) for free, via the ScottBradleeLovesYa channel on t’choob.
The sudden recent surge to PMJ’s space on the internet is due to this gorgeous doo-wop rendition of Miley Cyrus’ record-breaker “We Can’t Stop”, which has helped the group reach second place in Amazon’s top MP3 downloads list (tunes people are paying for ) – a track that’s sure to help sell their new EP Introducing Postmodern Jukebox , which landed No. 9 on the Billboard jazz album chart.
In a recent Good Morning America interview, Scott Bradley talks of how he “thought it would be really interesting to take some of the biggest hits of today, put them through a time machine and see what they would sound like back in the 50s or the 30s or the 20s.” As we’ve found out, such time-machine treatment turns good songs into infectious toe-tappers, and a lot like the type of thing people would pay to have played at their wedding. Even Nickleback – one of the bands PMJ have given the ragtime rinse to – agree, calling their ‘motown tribute’ to “How You Remind Me”, “Killer”. Other amazing tracks include Robin Thicke’s “Good Girl” and Pharell’s “Get Lucky” – a must hear if you haven’t already.
News for the band can be found through their blogsite, though I’m sure we’ll be seeing and reading all about them via the press, anyway. Till then, toes stay a-tapping and my fingers firmly crossed for a “Hit ‘Em Up” by Tupac cover, which really would be pretty spesh, wouldn’t it?
Riled By Style | Cindy LGH 