Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
The group's name almost perfectly describes them. This is lush, sinuous pop with intelligent lyrics about the complexities of relationships, largely conveyed in richly layered vocal harmonies. Each song is complex in its rhythm and chord changes. It's all hypnotic and occasionally dreamy, like in "Golden (A New Song About An Old Girl)" with it's brushed snare, Parisian accordion and gentle strumming. That cabaret element is magnified in the operatic "Something Must Have Changed". There's nothing repetitive here. Each number offers something different. A lot of thought went into A Foggy Day in Brooklyn - its arty-cryptic leanings are challenged, though, by its earthy themes. - Eye Magazine
Populuxe mixes old with new, bringing diversity to music. I know this is a 'Love For Hip-Hop' column, but every now and then the rules are broken when my love for music overpowers all. That's just what happened in this week's 'On the Flip Side.'
'From old school players, to new school fools.' Those were the words of one of the most universally loved groups in the nation, OutKast. I guess the same words can be used to describe this group's style of song. When I first heard Populuxe's music, it brought back memories of old-school bands like The Beach Boys and The Monkees, with a touch of modern Rock 'n' Roll. Some songs like "lights out" and "sirens" may appeal to the taste of someone who enjoys listening to Nirvana or Red Hot Chili Peppers. While songs like "Complications," which is my favorite, may appeal to the senses of Blues Traveler or Beatles fans. All in all, "deep in an american evening ..." definitely has something for everyone with a diverse ear for music... - Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, TX - 10/21/04
The second album from this aptly-named LA-based trio is a polished and tasteful set of stylish rock tunes with a laidback vibe and a lush cocktail bar sound. These guys are evidently influenced by Sinatra, yet don't hesitate to drop the rock, as in the heavy and fuzzed-out rocker 'Twins'. POPULUXE's accent on clean vocals and upbeat guitar rock are refreshing and quite unlike anyone else I've heard lately. 'Deep In An American Evening' is a uniquely engaging and even fun disc that certainly steers clear of comparisons and carves a niche that could inspire others to follow. - Godsend Online
With influences ranging from Roxy Music to Tom Waits, LA-based trio Populuxe do not so much compose as engineer their songs from an assortment of raw materials. Their smoky, offbeat lyrics revel in thecomedy and tragedy of human relationships with self-deprecating humor, culling tales of vagabond optimism from the most mundanedetails of existence. Drawing on weighty guitar riffs and shabby chic keyboard stylings... Populuxe offer a heady combination of the strange and the familiar. - Flavorpill.com - Los Angeles Edition
To attempt to know the future you must understand the past; such is true with music. Artists must be aware of the pioneering sounds of yesteryear to truly expand the musical developments of the future.
Modern rock can definitely trace its broad roots back to the sounds of the 50's and 60's, and Populuxe's new album, Deep In An American Evening, is an obvious yet refreshing amalgamation of the sounds of the past while adding the necessary modern sound in order to propel its appeal into the future. The band seems Inspired by the crooning sounds of Frank Sinatra while sounding similar to modern rockers Weezer and early Dinosaur Jr., but without delving into the realms of "emo" rock.
...Deep In An American Evening is definitely on the lounge side of rock ‘n’ roll, but to classify this group as a rock band would not do them justice. It is apparent that these guys are very talented musically and it is quite refreshing to hear a band that understands the balance of melody, harmony and poppy hooks.
Populuxe's sound is lush, catchy and almost pop-like, which their name suggests; however, these guys can rock-out with the best of them. - KaffeineBuzz.com
The fine folks at AMP Energy, a Mountain Dew-based energy drink sponsor us for all of our college shows, and have distributed our work via a 6 minute band commercial to over 350 college stations nationally. Check it out at:
AMPenergy.com, and then click on the 6packs. - AMP Energy
If it weren't for the Thomas Hine book by the same title, you could imagine that a populuxe was some sort of jukebox that takes pop songs, churns them up, and spits them back out with different arrangements. That's because this SoCal band does a textbook job of sounding unique on nearly every one of these 10 tracks. It is rich, unpredictable pop at every turn--tight in all the right places - OutSmart Magazine, Houston TX
From the scratchy vinyl-era pops and ticks underlying the opening song, "Lights Out," to the wonderful lounge ambience of "Bust," Populuxe fashions a deliciously nostalgic mood on "Deep In An American Evening . . ." Yet the Los Angeles-based trio still sounds indisputably modern: mainstream rock and classic jazz elements meld with haunting lyrics and inviting melodies, yielding 10 tunes (plus a "hidden" bonus cut) that collectively exude an intoxicating and altogether blissful air. Simultaneously contemplative and cool, it's a truly timeless excursion. - Illinois Entertainer
Every song is unique, yet somehow familiar. I’m thinking Frank Sinatra meets the Doors but with an Indie twist of lemon to make your ears pucker up. Populuxe releases their second LP entitled deep in an american evening, which was conceived following a mechanical breakdown in their ‘60 Chrysler Imperial in Dayton, Ohio. The album is a travelogue of a nation, full of individual stories and contradictions, in transition from day to night. Songs of desperation, like “High,” an inside view of a self-immolating man giving up, balance against the loud lullaby charge of “While You’re Sleeping.” Along the way, the confusion of relationships wilting in “Sirens” and ‘”Twins” compliment pieces like the breezy, bossa-inflected Complications,” a California slice of sing-song pop about waking up bewildered by time; different, older, unsure. Populated by drunken teenage superheroes and faded vaudevillians, deep in an american evening captures everything from tin pan alley songcraft to Midwestern bar band bombast, from the soft glow of distant night radio to frenetic urbanity in its sights.
4 out 5 stars - JIVE Magazine
It’s refreshing to hear a band that understands melody, harmonies, poppy hooks. And live, they will ROCK you. Delicious stuff …
-- Loris Lowe,
Music Director KLBJ, Austin
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3/3/2005
At tonight’s Rebirth Brass Band show at the Knitting Factory, don’t be surprised if you find yourself heading into the Alter Knit Lounge at 8:30pm instead. You’ll catch the album release party for Populuxe, a
crew of local lounge lizards whose hipswaying sound is full of gravel, velvet, whiskey, and angst.
-- FlavorPill LA
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Those Los Angeles boys by the name of Populuxe are finally releasing the album that everyone's been ranting and raving about, "deep in an american evening." You may have gotten a sample of what Populuxe has to offer during their first two visits to Beaumont's The Vortex during their tours in Texas. Album "deep in an american evening" was released Tuesday, Feb. 22, but because of the love shown by we Texans, they've decided to grace us with their presence once again, this time, for their album release party.
-- Port Arthur Daily News
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...Razor sharp ... Populuxe challenges the staid pop/rock format by experimenting with time changes, a new lyrical approach pitting odd musical pairing against each other. . . .
-– COVER Magazine
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…The upstairs bar was a great venue for the club, which hosted two excellent bands. Populuxe, a gnarly pop-rock outfit from here in LA was up first, working their way through a set of supremely inspired tunes that recalled bands like School of Fish and Ween …
-– iN Magazine
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Populuxe from deepest Brooklyn play their music like it's for keeps. This, their first release, comes on very strong. It's a powerful brew of serious music. . . .
-– sledbag.com
- various
Discography
'deep in an american evening...' (2005)
'a foggy day in brooklyn' (1998)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Something Strange and Wonderful:
populuxe’s Fractured American Songbook
Once a decade or so — if we’re lucky — we stumble upon music that’s genuinely fresh. Music that echoes scarcely remembered classics in the mind’s ear, while striking a tone that we simply can’t remember having heard before. A band whose new releases we anticipate with breathless excitement, and whose inevitable passing we curse and mourn like the death of a loved one. We’re lucky; in 2005, we have populuxe.
Born in Brooklyn toward the end of the 1990’s, POPULUXE is the brainchild of frontman Rob Shapiro (formerly of 2.5D and THUNDERBATS) — musical polymath, vintage-gear fanatic and (reportedly) gleefully ruthless perfectionist. The band coalesced around the prodigious talents of drummer Pete Straub — multi-credited session player (Glenn Ballard, Cliff Magness, etc.) and formerly of Double-D Nose, and guitar/keyboard prodigy Josh Pickering, whose musical pedigree includes PODS (with ex-LEMONHEADS founder Ben Deily), and forays into everything from Drum & Bass to classic hardcore punk (THE LAST).
With a name borrowed from Thomas Hine’s seminal text on the space-age baroque style of the 50s and 60s, POPULUXE neatly defies any further categorization. Their sound suggests the Gershwin brothers writing for the New York Dolls; Count Basie reincarnated as Paul Westerberg; Big Star playing Steely Dan — yielding songs that are alternately sly and elegiac, hook strewn and haunting.
With the release of their second album, "deep in an American evening" — the follow-up to the 1998 debut "a foggy day in brooklyn" — the band has achieved a new level of musical depth, wit and sheer pop lushness. "American evening" weaves a Robert Altman-like tapestry of love in decline; of desperation, defiance and rueful humor; of familiar lives, tethered together by a thin thread of hope. And Populuxe gives us — as the somewhat jaded music listeners of the 21st century — something to hope for, too; that a band as rare as this will grace us with a long and unpredictable future.
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