Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Shade of Melancholy is one of the best songs I've heard this year, by artists large or small. It's the track Ben Harper has waited his whole career to make, and by the end of its smoggy-jazz exaltations that "everything's gonna be all right," you're guaranteed to believe it regardless of your mood. - Joseph McCombs, Writer
Be prepared to be impressed. The music not only resonates with a contemporary freshness, but revels in the influences of their organic fathers of funk and groove. This is some very exciting new music. - Chris K., Pro Critic Radio
I thought that the kind of groove was great and the overall vibe of it was really cool. It kind of had a little bit of Neville Brothers or Los Lobobs or maybe even Latin Playboys. - Joe Chiccarelli, producer & engineer (Frank Zappa, Oingo Boingo, Tori Amos, Beck, U2, Counting Crows
Discography
Buh Ba Ba Ba (2005)
Peach EP (2000)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Originally formed in Brooklyn in 1997, Shagg combines classic R&B and soul with modern pop/rock songwriting.
Shagg started humbly with apartment jams and coffeehouse performances. As our lineup grew, our writing evolved from folksy, roots-based songs to full-blown compositions borrowing liberally from jazz, funk, soul, and world music. Our sound has been compared to Curtis Mayfield, the Neville Brothers, Los Lobos, Al Green, and Stevie Wonder.
We recorded our first demo in early 2000 with producer Stephen Shirk (Marc Ribot y los Cubanos Postizos, Michael Maxwell), whose apartment studio was the perfect setting for our homegrown sound. Those sessions resulted in the Peach EP, featuring the songs "Shade of Melancholy" and "Just Ain't Enough," both finalists in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest that year.
We returned to the studio in 2002 with producer Joe DeVico (Joe Elefante, Dave Murphy), best known for his work with jazz ensembles. The goal was to make a record that captured our live sound, with a minimum of overdubbing. The record took three days to record and three years to mix, but it worked out in the end! The result is Buh Ba Ba Ba, a set of 12 songs ranging from the exuberant funk of the title track to the aching "Shade of Melancholy."
Based on rough mixes from the Buh Ba Ba Ba sessions, we were selected by the editors of CMJ to compete for the Coca-Cola New Music Award, which is the unsigned artist category of Dick Clark's American Music Awards. We didn't win, but we're doing all right.
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