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Sean Altman
New York City, New York, United States
Music
Press
Imagine Dion meeting Marshall Crenshaw at the Beatles' house, with the Kinks, Beach Boys, Four Seasons and Persuasions all dropping by for a song swap....The words have a cynical edge, but what really grabs you is the old-fashioned sweetness and punch of Altman's neo-doowop vocals playing off incredibly hook-happy tunes... - Philadelphia Daily News
His silky tenor voice produced chills....The Ricky Nelson of the New York City club scene. - New York Times
A quirky mix of killer hooks and cheeky instrumentation. Power-pop fanatics, check him out. - Time Out New York
This record rocks....Rockapella mastermind, Internet entrepreneur and recent divorce' Altman tells barbed, musically diverse tales of his romantic misadventures....A dark, funny, resilient, postmodern concept album about love and loss.... - Hits Magazine
One of the quirkiest albums we’ll hear this year, and one of the most unique....Altman’s ambitions are too much to contain on only one album....A pure popster...he maintains an eclectic and eccentric edge...both entertaining and engaging. - Goldmine
The album blows me away.... In terms of vocal talent, Altman is light-years ahead of most singers.... This guy is the anti-Kurt Cobain. - New York Press
Power-pop mensch and aspiring teen cult leader Sean Altman (yeah, he gets the press), of "Carmen Sandiego" fame, was another recent Loser's Lounge winner with his smooth, plummy "Golden Years" — better than Bowie's! - Village Voice
A work of effortless originality.... Altman has accomplished the rare feat of combining urban and suburban sensibilities, all within a dizzying musical encasement....A magnificent aural painting...Instantly infectious.... Uniquely funky...Simply wonderful! - Pure Pop
There is much that Seandemonium has in common with The White Album.... Both use vocals in revolutionary ways.... Altman puts his god-given gift through the wringer — melodically, harmonically and percussively....A genuinely great voice.... Hook-laden songs that are unbelievably catchy.... Best NYC Artist. Best Album. - Sound Views
RATING: ***** (5 out of 5 Stars)
Sean Altman, founder and former front man for Rockapella (of “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” fame) has written and performs a brilliant piece called “Unhappy Anniversary.” Sean sings his original lyrics in a clear, edgy style on his latest album, “alt.mania” from Chow Fun Records. This song is the real thing. The killer chorus just screams "wow", it hooks linger in your head for hours. You know it’s just a song and you know he’s just a singer, but the message pierces through and anyone who has ever been wounded by love will understand his pain. This artist is really the one to watch! We are bound to hear more about this remarkable singer/songwriter in the future. - International Acoustic Music Awards
Discography
Taller Than Jesus (Jewmongous, 13 originals, Chow Fun Records)
alt.mania (LP - 15 originals, Chow Fun Records)
seandemonium (LP - 19 originals, Chow Fun Records)
Losing Streak (LP - 22 covers, Chow Fun Records)
Unorthodox (What I Like About Jew CD 2006)
Glory (GrooveBarbers CD 2005)
1991-1997: Nine Rockapella CDs in the USA & Japan
Photos
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Bio
"Imagine Dion meeting Marshall Crenshaw at the Beatles' house, with the Kinks, Beach Boys, Four Seasons and Persuasions all dropping by for a song swap. The words have a cynical edge, but what really grabs you is the old-fashioned sweetness and punch of his neo-doowop vocals playing off incredibly hook-happy tunes" PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
The anti-Kurt Cobain (NY Press) and absurdly talented performer (Village Voice) has killer hooks (Time Out New York), a cynical edge (Philadelphia Daily News), and a silky tenor voice that produced chills (New York Times). Sean is New York City's golden-voiced rabble-rouser; the purveyor of perfect pop songs; the founder and former leader of the pioneering vocal group Rockapella; the composer of the "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" TV theme song; perpetrator of the JEWMONGOUS comedy song concert; and entertainer to the pop-starved masses. His three solo albums feature his signature angst gift-wrapped as pop confection.
SOLO ALBUMS
Altman's three solo CDs are available at www.seanaltman.com. He followed up his acclaimed solo debut, seandemonium (19 originals), with a more bombastic work: alt.mania (Chow Fun Records), which features Seans full muscular band blasting through 15 original songs of angst gift-wrapped as pop confection peppered with a dozen other bits of palate-cleansing sonic mayhem. alt.mania includes the song "Unhappy Anniversary" Seans ode to divorce that pop starlet Vitamin C covered on her platinum Elektra debut. Guests include Jian Ghomeshi of Moxy Fruvous, violinist Deni Bonet, and Elliott Kerman of Rockapella.
Sean's CD catalogue also includes Losing Streak (Chow Fun Records), a 22-song collection of his live-in-concert performances of songs composed by his song writing heroes McCartney, Costello, Brian Wilson, Nilsson, Paul Simon, Bowie, Bacharach, Carole King, and others in the famed Loser's Lounge tribute series, and JEWMONGOUS debut CD Taller Than Jesus, a collection of original comedy songs.
MR. ROCKAPELLA & BEYOND
Sean grew up in the Bronx, graduated from Brown University, formed Rockapella on a NYC street corner and orchestrated the groups rise to its current status as the worlds premier contemporary a cappella group. Seans credits with Rockapella include featured performances on the PBS documentary Spike Lee & Co - Do It Acappella; The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; five years (295 episodes) starring in the PBS daily series Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? (for which Sean wrote the theme song with David Yazbek, composer of Broadway hits The Full Monty and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"); nine CD releases; concerts with Billy Joel (Madison Square Garden), Sting and Don Henley; and numerous commercials.
His song writing credits include the off-Broadway musical comedy Minimum Wage (NYC Fringe Festival Audience Favorite Award); numerous featured songs for Nickelodeon and Disney TV; and a dozen songs for the comedy Connections, which enjoyed a long run at Theater For The New City in New York. Seans vocal arrangement credits include the feature films Leap of Faith, Joes Apartment, Meet The Parents and Sing Now Or Forever Hold Your Piece. Sean performs his songs in concert throughout the world with his five-piece band, as an acoustic-electric duo, or solo acoustic. He has appeared with Elton John, Billy Joel, Joey Ramone, Moby, Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, Fred Schneider of the B-52s, Styx, Dan Bern, Jill Sobule, David Cassidy, John Cale, Robyn Hitchcock, Take 6, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Persuasions, Chuck Berry, Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, and They Might Be Giants.
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