| What People Are Saying About UNCLE MOON's album "Homestyle"
"Maybe you do want to see how the sausage is made, especially if the ingredients include strange bedfellows like Willie Nelson, the Butthole Surfers, Thelonious Monk, and Doris Day, to name but a few. Homestyle, Red Hook-based quintet Uncle Moon's smorgasbord of a debut, is a savory blend of roots music, smoky cabaret, spoken word, and the potently dark and funny images of leader Trey Kay's devilish id. It's a heapin' helpin' that'll stick to your ribs."
Robert Burke Warren, Chronogram, Hudson Valley, New York
http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2007/3/Music/CD-Review-Uncle-Moon
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"Homestyle is sincere and convincing throughout. In each genre they tackle, the musicians use their instruments as extensions of their personalities, demonstrating serious prowess in their ability to access the genres within the context of their acoustic format, while never attempting to reproduce them. Judging by the sense of humor conveyed on their studio recording, Uncle Moon's live performances cannot be anything short of hilarious."
Bill Carbone, New Haven Advocate
http://www.ctnow.com/music/reviews/events/hce-unclemoon12.artjan11,0,845536,print.story?coll=hce-headlines-musicevents
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"Uncle Moon sounds like a poorly-lit homebound junk store orchestra. You might recognize some of the melodies, you might recognize some of the lyrics, but I guarantee it'll take you a minute to place them. I wish I could hear it again for the first time. It sounds like a roving pack of stringed and reeded instruments plucking, puffing, and wheezing their ways though songs that emulsify genres. Clear influences are jazz, country, bluegrass, klezmer, Cajun, cabaret, and spoken poetry (and there's even a little bit of political motivation in some of those lyrics). All in all, the title says it better than I ever could... Homestyle. Grab your jug and meet me on the porch."
CD Baby
http://cdbaby.com/cd/unclemoon
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"In a Downtown music scene known for amped-up bands playing within clearly defined genres, the all-acoustic Uncle Moon stands out for its willingness to obliterate such distinctions and send the drummer packing. Formed in March 2000, the eclectic-five-piece art band featuring acoustic guitar, accordion, violin, saxophone and bass blends a variety of styles -- including jazz, country, punk, bluegrass, klezmer, cajun, cabaret and poetry. The result: haunting, theatrical originals, along with inventive reinterpretations of songs by such disparate artists as Thelonious Monk, Butthole Surfers, Liz Phair and The Velvet Underground."
Lawrence Lerner, The Villager http://www.thevillager.com/villager_188%20/unclemoonsgoodbye.html
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"In a Downtown music scene known for amped-up bands playing within clearly defined genres, the all-acoustic Uncle Moon stands out for its willingness to obliterate such distinctions and send the drummer packing. Formed in March 2000, the eclectic-five-piece art band featuring acoustic guitar, accordion, violin, saxophone and bass blends a variety of styles -- including jazz, country, punk, bluegrass, klezmer, cajun, cabaret and poetry. The result: haunting, theatrical originals, along with inventive reinterpretations of songs by such disparate artists as Thelonious Monk, Butthole Surfers, Liz Phair and The Velvet Underground."
Lawrence Lerner, The Villager
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_188%20/unclemoonsgoodbye.html
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What People Are Saying About UNCLE MOON
"What music would Kurt Weill be making today? Uncle Moon is the answer to that question. Cutting, exuberant, by turns ferocious and lyrical, parodic and wildly original. Uncle Moon features Trey Kay's vocals against a seething background of sax, violin, guitar, accordion and bass. Rich in thrilling discords, the band can sound like a palm court quintet, or the same quintet on acid, or the scene of a multiple freeway crash at night, complete with police sirens. This performance art rock with a level of musical accomplishment to match its dazzling literary wit. Frontman Kay performs in the guise of a Confederater cavalry officer on vacation in Hawaii, with a stunning fiddle diva by his side, be it Deni Bonet or Claudia Chopek, and saxophonist Frtiz van Orden bobbing and weaving like an Afrika Korps deserter hiding out in Tangiers. Uncle Moon is auditory theater you will never forget."
Carey Harrison -- winner of the 2006 WorldPlay award for his play for voices, 'Hitler In Therapy'.
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"Uncle Moon! My favorite creepy uncle!"
Grey DeLisle -- Grammy-winning singer and cartoon voice artist extraordinaire
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"Uncle Moon exists in that other world where the Velvet Underground might be playing at your Junior High Halloween Party. It's a world where violins and accordions are heavier than Metallica and where stream of consciousness spoken word rants are more rock and roll than Robert Plant. It's a beautiful, sweet, wonderfully melodic world that is only slightly disturbed and slightly disturbing. It's a very nice place to visit and it's good that they want to live there."
Michael Cerveris -- 2004 Tony Award winner for Assassins and star of Sweeney Todd
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"A carnival of sounds, from the carousel to the horror show."
John Bright -- Purple Fiddle, Thomas, WV
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"Kurt Weill at the Grand Ole Opry."
Anonymous Fan
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[Uncle Moon] sings in every known genre, and invents some of [their] own! These guys genre-hop within a song. A sultry version of Patsy Cline's "Crazy" or a tender "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" turned into something totally original with [Trey] Kay telling a story from his childhood. A German polka tune could morph into bluegrass. Imagine Frank Zappa and the Marquis de Sade becoming the creative directors behind Firesign Theater.
Jane Birdsong - Highland Noize, Elkins, WV
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Uncle Moon performed everything from Django Reinhardt to Cole Porter with a swinging mix of jazz and Appalachian folk - with some Klezmer thrown in.
Libby Rojas - Capital Noize, Charleston, WV
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Uncle Moon is not like any uncle that you know. Their music can shock you, even though members of the band look perfectly normal, two of them are lawyers. The lead singer, Trey Kay, has the dynamic personality of a Nick Cave without the ego getting in the way of the audience. Trey's roots are in West Virginia, but if you try to dig them up you'll notice that they spread to every state. The band plays a wide assortment of instruments, from the accordion to beer bottles. One band member walks among the audience so much that you feel like offering him your seat but the energy he puts into his saxophone can't be accomplished from a sitting position. Their music makes you want to jump up and down and sing along, but it's best to leave the singing and the playing to them.
Hal Sirowitz, Author of Mother Said and former Poet Laureate of Queens, who moved to Brooklyn partly so he can hear Uncle Moon more.
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"Imagine if They Might Be Giants and Ween were a man and a woman, got married and had quintuplets -- that would be these guys. The songs ranged from Cole Porter through Patsy Cline to Butthole Surfers. These guys aren't in it for the money. They couldn't possibly be that crazy. Well, maybe they could. At any rate, they are out of the box, off the wall, and over the top. Excellent, excellent show."
J. Michael Mollohan - Charleston, WV Fan |