Imagine
wandering into a nightclub somewhere on the outskirts of time. A classic
jukebox in the corner plays timeless music with oddly familiar modern lyrics,
incongruously marrying the 21st-century party vibe of Miley Cyrus or the
minimalist angst of Radiohead with the crackly warmth of a vintage 78 or the
plunger-muted barrelhouse howl of a forgotten Kansas City jazzman. The dance
floor is full of revelers twerking in poodle skirts, while at the bar,
well-heeled hipsters balance a martini in one hand with a smartphone in the
other.
If such a
place actually exists, no doubt the soundtrack is Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern
Jukebox. Founded by pianist and arranger Scott Bradlee in 2009, the ensemble
reimagines contemporary pop, rock and R&B hits in the style of various
yesteryears, from swing to doo-wop, ragtime to Motown – or, as Bradlee himself
puts it, “pop music in a time machine.” The band parlayed a series of YouTube
videos shot in Bradlee’s Queens living room into massive success, accruing more
than 450 million YouTube views and over 2 million subscribers, an appearance on
Good Morning America, and performances at packed houses across the globe.
The
Essentials, set for release on September 30 via Concord Records and Postmodern
Jukebox Records, collects 18 favorites from Postmodern Jukebox’s weekly
postings. Both the songs and the styles span decades – it just happens that the
decades in question are separated by about half a century. Bradlee’s choice of
material ranges from the ’80s hard rock of Guns N’ Roses to hits as recent as
last year’s Justin Bieber plea “Sorry.” They’re rendered by a rotating cast of
musicians and singers in fashions that date back to a time when Axl, Slash and
Bieber’s parents had yet to be born – a time of street corner harmonies and
torch singers, blues belters and golden-voiced crooners.
In his liner
notes Bradlee writes, “It’s my hope that this collection will lead you to
discover a world of nostalgia for the music of the past ─ regardless of when you were born ─ and welcome you warmly into our
community of amazing live performers, creative artists, and music lovers that
are dedicated to keeping #RealMusic alive.”
If that
hashtag denotes a modern-day mission statement, that’s no accident. Bradlee
conceived Postmodern Jukebox as a tonic for the auto-tuned vocals and
programmed beats that populate today’s radio soundscape. Postmodern Jukebox
combines a genuine appreciation for the melodies and songcraft of these recent
hits with a passion for talented musicians playing real instruments.
“I just
wanted to make music in the classic styles of ragtime, blues, swing, doo wop,
and Motown that I loved as a kid,” Bradlee writes. The album, he continues,
includes “breathtaking vocal performances, raucous horn solos, infectious dance
rhythms, and nostalgic melodies – all captured the way music was recorded in
the Golden Age of the record industry: with everyone together, in the same
room.”
In the early
days, that room was in the rather cramped confines of Bradlee’s small apartment
in Queens, NY, at a time when he was one of countless struggling musicians in
the city. The backdrop has grown along with the ensemble’s success, but the
spirit remains the same – a collective of musicians dedicated to the
timelessness of music, performing songs vibrantly and without a trace of irony.
And the media has taken notice: Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Scott Bradlee’s
group is known for retro-fying modern hit songs into viral success,” while
Yahoo! Music added, “if you’ve been on YouTube in the last couple of years,
then you’re familiar with the everything-new-is-old-again brilliance of the
viral phenomenon known as Postmodern Jukebox.”
In its seven
years of existence, Postmodern Jukebox has recorded literally hundreds of
songs, but this release compiles the best of them, the tunes that Bradlee
himself calls “most essential to the PMJ universe.” That includes the song that
put the band on the map, a vaudevillian distressing of Macklemore & Ryan
Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” fronted by Robyn Adele Anderson that garnered more than a
million views within a week of being posted. The pin-up styled singer returned
for the album’s opener, their ’50s doo-wop version of Miley Cyrus’ celebration
of an inhibition-shedding spree “We Can’t Stop,” which garnered more than 19.5
million views and was named one of the “9 Best Viral Cover Videos of 2015” by
People magazine.
Maroon 5’s
“Maps” flashes forward a couple of decades for a horn-laden ’70s soul sound
featuring the powerhouse voice of Morgan James, while American Idol alum Haley
Reinhart wrings the emotion from Radiohead’s breakthrough hit “Creep” as a
torch singer worthy of Julie London. And while Meghan Trainor’s “All About That
Bass” referred to the singer’s curves, Kate Davis takes it to another level
with a smoking upright bass performance to augment a coy vocal redolent of
Billie Holiday.
Heavy metal
and New Orleans jazz may seem to have little in common, but Bradlee finds the
thread connecting the two, rendering both “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’
Roses and the Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” as gutbucket Bourbon
Street blues numbers featuring the stirring voices of Maiya Sykes and Miche
Braden. Mykal Kilgore, meanwhile, rescues “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic
schmaltz to Jackie Wilson-style R&B.
Similarly
revelatory transformations mark every song on the album, which also includes
favorites by Beyoncé, the White Stripes, OutKast and Lorde, who praised PMJ’s
cover of her hit “Royals” as a favorite. That’s not even the most notable thing
about the song, which is sung in the gorgeous baritone of Puddles, the “Sad
Clown with the Golden Voice,” a performer in full face paint and ruffles that
Bradlee describes as a cross between Andy Kaufman and Tom Jones.
Postmodern
Jukebox is certainly a rebuke to the contention that “they don’t make ’em like
they used to.” The Essentials is an engaging and vivacious album that bridges
generations with a unique spin of its own. To echo Bradlee’s own invitation,
“Dust off the turntable, fix yourself a stiff drink, and get comfy. Welcome to
the world of Postmodern Jukebox.”
TRACK LIST:
1. We Can’t Stop starring Robyn Adele
Anderson & The Tee Tones (3:59)
2. Maps starring Morgan James (3:43)
3. Creep starring Haley Reinhart (4:43)
4. All About That Bass starring Kate
Davis (3:38)
5. No Diggity starring Ariana Savalas
(3:16)
6. I Believe in a Thing Called Love
starring Maiya Sykes (3:36)
7. My Heart Will Go On starring Mykal
Kilgore (3:22)
8. Royals starring Puddles Pity Party
(3:37)
9. Stacy’s Mom starring Casey Abrams
(2:59)
10. Rude starring Von Smith (4:06)
11. Sweet Child O’Mine starring Miche Braden
(4:10)
12. Thrift Shop starring Robyn Adele
Anderson (3:00)
13. Burn starring Cristina Gatti, Robyn
Adele Anderson and Ashley Stroud (3:53)
14. Seven Nation Army starring Haley
Reinhart (4:06)
15. Sorry starring Shoshana Bean (3:56)
16. Halo starring LaVance Colley (4:08)
17. Hey Ya! starring Sara Niemietz (3:23)
18. Such Great Heights starring Kiah
Victoria (4:03)
POSTMODERN
JUKEBOX TOUR DATES
2016
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND DATES
Aug 29 -
Christchurch, New Zealand; Isaac Theatre Royal
Aug 30 -
Dunedin, New Zealand; Dunedin Town Hall
Sep 1 -
Invercargill, New Zealand; Civic Theatre
Sep 2 -
Wellington, New Zealand; Shed 6
Sep 3 -
Palmerston North, New Zealand; Palmerston North
Sep 4 -
Napier, New Zealand; Civic Theatre
Sep 5 -
Auckland, New Zealand; ASB Theatre
Sep 8 -
Sydney, Australia; Enmore Theatre
Sep 9 -
Wollongong, Australia; Anitas
Sep 10 -
Canberra, Australia; Llewlyn Centre
Sep 11 -
Melbourne, Australia; Palais Theatre
Sep 12 -
Bendigo, Australia; Capital Theatre
Sep 15 -
Hobart, Australia; Wrest Point
Sep 16 -
Brisbane, Australia; Plaza Ballroom
Sep 17 -
Adelaide, Australia; The Barton
Sep 20 -
Perth, Australia; Concert Hall
2016 NORTH
AMERICAN DATES
Sep 29 -
Providence, RI; The VETS
Sep 30 -
Albany, NY; Palace Theatre
Oct 01 -
Hartford, CT; The Bushnell
Oct 03 -
Glenside, PA; Keswick Theatre
Oct 04 -
Baltimore, MD; The Lyric
Oct 05 -
Redbank, NJ; Count Basie Theatre
Oct 06 -
Boston, MA; Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre
Oct 07 - New
York, NY; Radio City Music Hall
Oct 08 -
Montreal, QC; Place Des Arts
Oct 11 -
Toronto, ON; Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
Oct 12 -
Buffalo, NY; UB Center For The Arts
Oct 13 -
Washington, DC; DAR Constitution Hall
Oct 14 -
Raleigh, NC; Duke Energy Center
Oct 15 -
Atlanta, GA; Fox Theatre
Oct 16 -
Jacksonville, FL: Florida Theatre
Oct 18 -
Orlando, FL; Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Oct 21 -
Clearwater, FL; Ruth Eckerd Hall
Oct 22 -
Birmingham, AL; Alabama Theatre
Oct 23 - New
Orleans, LA; Orpheum Theater
Oct 25 -
Nashville, TN; Andrew Jackson Hall
Oct 26 -
Louisville, KY; Louisville Palace Theatre
Oct 27 -
Detroit, MI: Masonic Temple Theatre
Oct 28 -
Indianapolis, IN; Clowes Memorial Hall
Oct 29 -
Rosemont, IL; Rosemont Theatre
Oct 30 -
Milwaukee, WI; Riverside Theater
Nov 01 -
Minneapolis, MN; Northrop Auditorium
Nov 02 -
Kansas City, MO; Arvest Bank Theatre - at The Midland
Nov 03 - St.
Louis, MO; Peabody Opera House
Nov 05 -
Grand Prairie, TX; Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
Nov 06 -
Austin, TX; Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theater
Nov 07 -
Austin, TX; Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theater
Nov 08 - San
Antonio, TX; Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
Nov 09 -
Houston, TX; Sarofim Hall
Nov 12 -
Broomfield, CO; 1STBANK Center
Nov 15 -
Boise, ID; Morrison Center for the Performing Arts
Nov 16 -
Spokane, WA; Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox
Nov 17 -
Portland, OR; Theatre of The Clouds
Nov 18 -
Seattle, WA; Paramount Theatre
Nov 19 -
Redding, CA; Redding Civic Auditorium
Nov 20 -
Sacramento, CA; Community Center Theater
Nov 22 -
Santa Rosa, CA; Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
Nov 23 - San
Jose, CA; Event Center at San Jose State University
Nov 25 - Los
Angeles, CA; Microsoft Theater
Nov 26 - Las
Vegas, NV; The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Nov 27 -
Mesa, AZ; Mesa Arts Center