Omega Love

Omega Love's music is quite original, especially for Pittsburgh. Its been quite a while since weve seen a really good dance band. A sentiment, it seems, that is shared by quite a few people around town. Omega Love is adding a much-needed element to the Pittsburgh music scene.
- Hallie Pritts, Music Writer - The Front Magazine

I heard them play at Pittsburgh's Thunderbird Cafe last week, and they smoked. Jazzy chord changes, beautiful lyrics, lock-tight arrangements, blistering solos, and beats that you can't help but groove to, that's Omega Love. Omega Love plays regularly throughout the Pittsburgh area, and to rave reviews. They're gradually expanding their gigging radius to other eastern cities and have just released their first CD...you must see this band live.
- ~Jim Heid, Contributing Editor - Macworld Magazine

"Musebird is quite dynamic, it takes the listener on a trip. I applaud the musicianship and effort to reach outside the box...additionally Jocelyn draws you in with her caressing vocals, the combination makes for a fresh sound. To sum it up I would say its like where Jill Scott and Norah Jones would meet."


- Taxi - A&R

If you're on "the MySpace" (as the kids say) you know that aside from perverts, spammers, and foreigners who want to send you million-dollar-checks, much of the site's traffic is bands who want to be your "friend." Sadly, most of these band-requests come courtesy of automated scripts, not members of the band or their promotional team who really think you'd like their music. This is especially frustrating to somebody like me who works in radio and writes about music. If you send me a friend-request and expect me to listen to your music you should also expect me to ask you for some of your music to play on the radio or write about. Unfortunately, many bands merely hunger for a higher friend-count and aren't on their grind when it comes to networking or promoting themselves.
One band who was on their game when it came to getting some extra publicity is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based five-piece Omega Love, a dance-band with a sort-of Acid Jazz (I'm taking it back) flavor, complemented by Disco, electronic Dance Music, and Pop overtones. I became aware of them after getting a friend-request, and liked what I heard enough to reach out. I was soon playing demos of their tracks "Walk" and "Diabolical Genius" on the radio. They self-released their debut self-titled album last year and have been selling it through CD Baby and the iTunes music store. I was psyched when they released it, and was happy to give new album tracks like "Oh So Free" love whenever possible. I've recently received word from band-member Joe (whose solo side-project is awesome) that they're currently recording their sophomore LP, and there are three new live songs, "Loretta," "The Show" and "Imagination," on their MySpace page which I assume are set to appear on the new record when it drops

Though Omega Love had a Jam-Band-meets-bar-Jazz thing going on, their use of synths and electronics, and their dancefloor-friendly Disco-isms set them apart from many of the similar bands you might find playing around college campuses across the country. Their style fell right in line with other bands that play live electronic Dance Music with traditional instruments rather than computers and sequencers who I really dig, namely the now-defunct Moonraker from Boston, and Los Angeles-based The Rebirth. Comprised of Berklee College of Music graduates, Moonraker flirted with Trip-Hop, Disco, House, and Drum N Bass, while maintaining a traditional band format that embraced the musicianship of a diverse array of popular music styles, topped with the vocals of Kelli Scarr. If you can get your hands on their self-released album Nada Brahma, don't hesitate to cop it. The Rebirth's CD This Journey In actually hit around the same time as the Omega Love demo, and caught my ear for similar reasons, namely the organic Disco/House sound evident on tracks like "Talking Me Down." I haven't heard anything from them recently, but vocalist Noelle Scaggs has been known to make the occasional guest-appearance on outside projects here-and-there.

You can find them all on MySpace. I'm sure they wouldn't mind getting a friend-request from you.

-El Keter - Okayplayer.com

Weird but tasty news: Spacey-soul outfit Omega Love is gearing up for a pretty intimidating task — participating in the debut of a high-end virtual concert broadcast system … while opening for legendary jazzman Wynton Marsalis. OK, it’s a little complicated: On Oct. 6 and 7, the group will play opening and closing slots for Marsalis while being filmed at WQED’s studios. That, in turn, gets broadcast live in HD and 7.2 surround sound to — naturally — private dining rooms throughout the Morton’s Steakhouse chain. (You follow? Me neither.) Quite a coup for Omega Love, though: The show’s sponsored by the venerable jazz rag Downbeat, and is the brainchild of Pittsburgh-based Velocity Broadcasting. If you’ve got $250 to burn, take some friends out to Morton’s and cheer on lucky talent. You don’t even need to be local yourself: I count about 70 Morton’s locations, including Hong Kong and Honolulu.
Writer: AARON JENTZEN - Pittsburgh City Paper

"In Geisler, Omega Love found a sonic grounding: Her warm vocal style has more of an old-timey, simple jazz and blues sound than the usual modern-day diva histrionics. That proves an effective counterpoint to the bands propulsive, synth-washed sounds. Omega Love walks a tightrope musically, between accessibility and eccentricity...If anything, the groups eccentricities give it a subtle edginess, both musically and lyrically."



- Aaron Jentzen, Music Editor - Pittsburgh City Paper

"Prime gigs: Omega Love has been a regular presence at clubs like the Shadow Lounge and Club Cafe. They've been landing some of the sweet gala-type gigs. Last week, they played the Hothouse party, and before that, the Mattress Factory."
- Scott Mervis, Weekend Mag editor

If you’re less forgiving than I, and need to wash the thought of such an “homage” out of your memory you might want to jump into the tub with previous Blogarhythms featurees Omega Love, a five-piece organic Dance-band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and their brand new sophomore LP Ava. I mean, it’s not like there are that many things more relaxing than a bath. And relaxation is what I’m all about this week.

While the group has for sure stepped up their production, recording, mixing and mastering game not much has changed musically between their self-titled debut (which I profiled last year) and Ava. They still play a unique brand of Sophisti-Pop made over for the dancefloor, marrying jazzy instrumentation, fuzzy Rock guitars, electronic bleeps and a sinuous rhythm section fueled by thumping drums & funky basslines. It just sounds better this time around. And the album artwork, design and packaging absolutely kills the bare bones duplication of it’s predecessor.

So, what does a blender full of Jazz, Cabaret-Pop, Punk-Funk, New Wave, Synthpop, Shoegaze and Disco sound like? Well, points of reference include Everything But the Girl, ESG, Sade, Liquid Liquid, Joe Jackson (think “Steppin’ Out”), The Gossip and Chin Chin among others. I understand if that might be difficult for some to wrap their heads around though, so why not do the easy thing instead and peep the “Ennio Morricone and Nelly McKay are playing at James Murphy’s house”-sounding jam “My Dear” below.
- El Keter

What do I like about Omega Love? They are nothing short of great. Although they have a long list of seemingly desparate influences (Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, The Jackson 5, Jamiroquai, Bjork, The Roots) they are clearly far more than a genre grab bag. While the deplorable likes of Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit bank on their ability to mix and match flimsily contrasting persuasions of teenage pop culture, Omega Love composes an ensemble that sparks. And I don't mean on the level of accessorizing a black jersey with gold mardis gras beads, I mean, queer-eye-for-the-straight-guy, Bravo channel, "holy hell, everything in my life is more in focus now" coordination.
Plus, they all do what they do exceedingly well. Jocelyn Geisler's croon is clean but sassy, lilting upwards at the end of each infectious hook like a raised eyebrow, while the band lays down grooves with enough chops and psychedelic moodiness to stir even the most jaded jam band junky or stoner rock advocate. Together, the outfit sings. It sings a melodious, sultry seduction that makes a person want to dance, hum along, bite his tongue in concentration or run it across his neighbor's exposed clavicle.
The whole performance is so cohesive and complex that I'm convinced Omega Love would be outstanding even if they covered Milli Vanilli. Thankfully, they do not, instead opting to explore the strange and wonderful regions twixt their gallimaufry of inspirations. - Jack Busch