Beyondo

I never heard of music like Beyondo's before. Initially, I thought I had his music pegged for something too Avant-Garde, basically weird. But, as I listened I caught myself bobbing and getting into the groove. There is a lot to say about real artists. You can never really underestimate what they bring to the listening ear. If you take the time to hear out any real good artist you will find a special and unique appreciate for their music. For those who may be used to listening to R&B, Hip-Hop and so, you may want to get a taste of what Beyondo has to offer.- Shinobi Muhammed
- Urban Mainstream Magazine- Issue #25

Beyondo EMOTIONAL COMPASS (self-released)

by Naomi Beard

With rapier wit, stunning musicality and wacky stage antics, Eric Biondo a.k.a. Beyondo performs with music acts ranging from trancey-fusion jazz groups to Monkees reunions, and his association with Davy Jones goes so deep that people have been gossiping if Eric is actually Davy's "lost" son.

After laughing out loud at Beyondo's ultra-funny web site photo journal, I put his EMOTIONAL COMPASS CD into the machine, expecting something brainy and satirical like Frank Zappa. Instead, Beyondo revealed yet another side, and it's wonderful!

There's levity in Beyondo's material in a "space age bachelor pad" way, but Beyondo goes a step beyond. He composes sophisticated pop songs simpatico with Burt Bacharach, Steely Dan and Tears for Fears ("Heart of Gold"), with vocalese and lead instruments that twist and turn around enchanting melodic hooks.

Violin and trumpet are the main solo instruments, with Beyondo on trumpet, flugelhorn, keyboards, percussion and some rather organic and pleasant beat boxing. While the musicians obviously have chops, the emphasis is on the songcraft.

All of the songs have their own merits and peculiarities, and his lyrics lean towards the philosophical fallout of love lost and love found. With one foot in "trance," stand-out titles include "Show a Pretender" and "Jumping off the World."
- The One Magazine (www.theonemag.com)

Eric Biondo, best known in some circles as a trumpeter with the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, has long been making oddly arresting music as a singer-songwriter. He indulges that interest best with colleagues like the violinist and vocalist Caleb Burhans and the bassist Rob Jost, two of the seven sidemen enlisted here.
(August 3, 2007) - The New York Times

This guy is pretty crazy. Crazy and amazing. He programs the beats, plays the trumpet, writes unbelievable hooks and sings. I would have never thought to write about this track if I hadn’t run into Eric Biondo at a Halloween party/jam session in Brooklyn two weeks ago. Walking up to the space, I heard a trumpet playing an incredible hook over a slammin’ drum beat and remember how much I like this music.

He has a jazz pedigree, but like so many guys in his scene in NYC, and more specifically Park Slope, he is making music that is hard to categorize. It makes you want to sing along, bob your head and analyze the shit out of the production. Now check out Caleb Burhans. This guy can really do everything as well. He’s playing violin and singing a bit of backing vocals on this track. But he composes, plays guitar, has a great falsetto, improvises, etc. His solo is great. And listening to it over and over, you realize the tastiest thing about it is that the violin is doubled with voice too. Very subtle, very cool sound.

Listening to the track again. Everything is doubled and layered. The seemingly straightforward trumpet solo toward the beginning becomes less and less the more you listen. This track, like mostly everything I’ve heard of Beyondo, can be peeled away endlessly.

But his hooks make everything all right. And of all the super weird music I’ve played, a hook is a hook. “Friends are lovers, they just have a different name.” Cue casio synth sound and funky outro. The track never gets old. The weird-ass outro houses some of the best moments. I thought it was a synthed-out melodica for a second. Whatever the messed up, cheesy, Middle-Eastern-rip-off riff is makes it. Listen to it four it times in a row, like I am right now, and I guarantee you happiness. - JASON TREUTING
Nov 14 - Paperthinwalls.com

One Step Biondo

Eric Biondo graduated from Hutchinson Central Technical High School in 1995, and his jazz outfit Straight Forward, opened for Grover Washington Jr. a short time later. But like so many of our finest musicians, Biondo bailed for greener pastures promptly, studying music at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and eventually landing in New York City, where he scored a gig playing trumpet with The Monkees, brought his horn to bear on the renowned Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra and played a major role in the Festival of New Trumpet Music, an event curated by trumpeters Dave Douglas, Jon Nelson and Roy Campbell.

Somewhere in the midst of all these gigs, Biondo also found time to lead Miles Davis Producer Teo Macero's Big Band. Not a bad resume to be boasting at a mere 27 years of age.

But it's with his avante-garde jazz/pop boy band Beyondo that Beyondo marks his Buffalo homecoming Wednesday in Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St. The daring, ambitous bill also features performances from the Genkin Philharmonic West and Thought, Beyondo will be digging in to tunes from the hilarious, irreverent and decidedly Zappa-esque "Invisible Love" disc. Expect it to be raucous, funny and bizarrely musical. - Buffalo News