The Dansettes

9/28/05

The first release from New York combo The Dansettes sounds comes across as a kind of showcase for the band, but it’s certainly one that impresses me.

Single opener ‘Oh My!’ is probably the strongest track, a nice piece of funky soul that mixes vintage groove with contemporary edge thanks to a strong production job from Gabriel Roth, known of late for his work with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

‘Money Tree’ changes the tempo to an easy, almost loungey groove (without the cheese and with a bit more bite). Some nice harmonies and catchy hook.

‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ is a nice piece of bluesy soul that would certainly appeal to the Hideaway crowd in the UK.

The last two tracks are instrumental re-visits of the first two on the single, giving the backing of Bourbon Dynasty their chance to shine.

‘Oh My!’ has enough kick to carry without the vocal, but ‘Money Tree’ for me becomes a little bland.

But that’s a minor gripe. Overall this is a really impressive first release from the band on a label that rarely disappoints.

I look forward to the long player. - David Walker

10/2005

Modly soulful work from the Dansettes -- a surprisingly great group with a really wonderful little groove! The trio take us back to a sound that was bubbling strongly on the London scene over 40 years ago -- a color-blind style that didn't care if it was rock, soul, or jazz -- just so long as the end result was nicely grooving and deeply soulful. Of course, a good part of that sound is the right sort of backings -- and fortunately the girls are working here with support from an organ combo recorded at the Daptone studios -- who help to keep the spirit of the album in the right place, and even bring in a bit of funk. 5 track ep features vocal and instrumental versions of the nicely-breaking "Oh My", plus "Money Tree" and "I've Got A Feeling". - Dusty Groove

9/28/05

The whole modern take on old music is a funny concept. Largely influenced by something which is particularly popular, these things tend to get beaten into the ground pretty quickly. I don't know about you, dear readers, but it is rare nowadays when I can give repeated listens to new bands trying to sound old. But when a group can take their collective talent out of the accepted, no, expected boundaries of their influences, something special happens. Oh, and by the way, it helps when they have particularly good taste.

New York, my friends, is a particularly nice spot for creative endeavors concerning 60s soul music lately. The entire Daptone orchard has continually harvested a fruit-forward, yet earthy blend of soul and funk, Antibalas delivers a healthy mix of music of African, Latin and funk oriented,and maybe by now you've all become somewhat familiar with The Dansettes, a razor sharp band fronted by three soulful sirens who have just released their debut EP on the nothing-if-not-dedicated Hammondbeat label.

The press one-sheet on the band cites the influences one might expect from a, dare I say it, girl group. You know, Brill Building this, Stax/Atlantic that. But to my bourbon soaked Georgia ears, I'm happy to report that the very likes of Shelby Singleton, Rick Hall, John Richbourg and Willie Mitchell would have been perfectly happy to have produced this record in Nashville, Memphis or even the legendary Fame Studios of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This is meant as nothing but a compliment to both the style and instrumentation of the group, and also to the skillful ears of producer Gabe Roth over at the House of Dap (yeah, that's him).

The CD opens with the funky sweetness "Oh My!" with, Jaime Kozyra's lead vocals touched with the subtle twang Dennis Pierce's guitar, J.B. Flatt's Hammond and the rolling, New Orleans back beat provided by Tom Ward and Andy Pierce.

As the rose of love is fragrant and lovely, so is it thorny we are reminded in "Money Tree", where Jennie Wasserman takes lead vocals in this mid-tempo lament-slash-warning from a confident woman who knows how fallible we men can be.

The third of the vocal tracks is a particular treat. Jeanette "Baby" Washington is a particular favorite of your humble reviewer, and with Leah Fishman handling lead vocals, she leads the group through a tastefully sped up version of the R&B classic. And luckily, All three of these women are strong enough in voice to take a cover of this caliber.

No, I didn't think three songs was going to do it either. Luckily, the fellas known independently as The Bourbon Dynasty (nice name, boys) round out the CD with instrumental versions of "Oh My!" and "Money Tree", which oddly begins to take on something of a mid-period Zombies-like quality sans vocals. Maybe it's just the electric piano.

Now what's this we hear about a full-length? - Brian Poust

“A wonderful debut….this EP is a little treasure to guard jealously.”
-RadioCoop (Italy)
- RadioCoop

4/4/06

Whenever I spent a night out imbibing large amounts of alcohol, I always balance it with an equal amount of hydration, and often food bookending it on either side. This way, I have more or less been able to keep myself to less than five hangovers per year, which considering how many drinks I have over the span of a year. (500? 600?) I think is rather impressive.

A dance hangover, is something completely different.

This past Saturday evening, I got my groove on (no sexual inuendo implied) for nearly eight hours straight.

It all started at The Dansettes show at Magnetic Field, a cute pseudo-dive in Fort Greene with a small stage in the back. Didn't seem like enough to handle the vocal tripple threat of said band, but sufficed quite nicely with the boys in the band respectively standing behind the epynomous leads.

The Dansettes are Jenny Wasserman, Leah Fishman, and Jaime Kozyra: Three cute, petite, pale-skinned white girls with deep-down soul-filled voices that hit their highs and lows every time. Their band consists of Tom Ward on Bass, Andy and Dennis Pierce, on drums and guitar resp. and of course Jay B. Flatt the main man behind the keyboard, and from what I can tell, the mastermind behind the highly stylized band.

Their music is genre, that genre being 50's - 60's soul/rock and roll. It's not original, it's not revolutionary, but when it's good, it's damn good, and the Dansettes are damn good. Matching outfits are also a key aspect to their image. Leah informed me before the show that they own three matchings sets of dresses. I have so far seen them in the maroon and the sky-blue. Both sets, right out of a 1950's mod-squad action flick. The fellas were all proper in their black suits and shite shirts.

The bar was packed to the gills which helped fuel the band's energy, already on a kick from their triumphant return from SXSW (South by SouthWest music fest for ye ignoramus'). Unfortunately, it severely hindered the dance efforts of the small pack of groovy-cats right in front of the stage.

The crowning moment occurred when the band invited their surprise guest out on stage: None other than the Queen of Brooklyn Soul, AND the feature in this week's L magazine, the indominable Sharon Jones. a 4'11" powerhouse vocalist who brought the show home like a space-shuttle re-entering orbit and of course, invited a couple of the smoothest gents in the crowd to get down with her up on stage.

Oh yes I did. See the images section.

The Dansettes are riding a wave of momentum, and with their EP "Oh, My!" now available at shows, I suggest you check the sensation to get a blast from the past gettin' you up to shake yo' ass. And do it before they get to big for places like Magnetic Fields. Cause according to my friend who showed up late, they're selling out fast. - Gideon Levy on Urbanist Journal

3/17/06

It's a quick cab ride across town to The Continental Club, the kind of Rat Pack-style velvet walls-and-formica tables dive that suits New York's Dansettes perfectly. The Dansettes are three girls in slinky cocktail dresses backed by four guys in button-down shirts and spy film suits that sound like they should be playing the Harlem Apollo on the same bill as The Supremes in about 1963. I order a marguerita and try and pretend to be suave. - Pat Long

6/8/06

Squint, and the Dansettes become figures from the past. The instruments--guitar, drums, bass and a prominent juicy organ--are played by somber men in the type of crisp suits now worn mostly by businessmen and corpses. The Dansette singers--Leah Fishman, Jaime Kozyra and Jennie Wasserman--stand at the foreground garbed in matching dresses, bracelets and in a painstaking touch lost on those audience members beyond the first few rows, high heels. It’s upon closer inspection that modern touches, like stray tattoos, slip through the facade.

The local group’s music leaves a similar impression. Though the Dansettes are a scrupulous nostalgia act, with eyes trained on the prehippie ‘60s, their songs share a fetishistic sensation with oldies-obsessed contemporaries. The music has the lilt of classic R&B, but there’s no prospect of chart success, which adds a comfortable loosness. _Oh My!_ (HammondBeat), the band’s debut EP, features three songs and three lead vocalists. In concert, the trio employs a similar rotation, with a new Dansette assuming center microphone for each song. (J.B. Flatt, the keyboardist who writes much of the group’s material, also sings.) The approach reveals different personalities as well as styles: Kozyra is soulful and full of sharp, throaty turns, while Wasserman and Fishman lean toward the girl group pop intimated by the singers’ coordinated dance moves. All should be on their heels for tonight’s two sets, which are being recorded for a forthcoming album: don’t yell anything stupid. - Jay Ruttenberg, TONY

8/9/06

Imagine a girl group produced by Phil Spector for Stax Records, and you have an idea of what to expect from the Dansettes. These N.Y.C. women harmonize about love, sex and everyday life, backed by the slow-burn Hammond organ sound of the Bourbon Dynasty. While the music on their debut EP _Oh My!_ doesn’t tread new ground, it doesn’t need to; these are timeless sounds, and these women do it with skill and style. This isn’t just some ironic art project; these ladies have championed soul music for years as DJs, and the passion they bring to their songs takes us back to the time when these were the sounds of Philadelphia. - Jack Schonewolf

5/24/06

The Dansettes aren’t quite sassy or twee enough to fit in with the ccurrently fashionable girl-group revival; their warm, organ-primed sound is more akin to the retro soul of the Daptone Records crew. - Phillips