Dirty Beaches
I went to Johnny Brenda's last night with the Dum Dum Girls as the main act. However, I went to see the very first act, Dirty Beaches. I came across his music while checking out new vinyl selections on the insound website. I've always been into 1950's style easy going, rockabilly surf music and when I listened to his music for the first time, I was blown away. He has a very unique style, combining styles of Johnny Cash and Elvis with vocal comparisons of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen.
Dirty Beaches
Dirty Beaches aka Alex Zhang Hungtai uses minimal guitar riffs and loops them so he can focus more on the emotion in his lyrics and voice. When he does play the guitar, it is something to be admired because there is so much passion and he individualizes each note. His music is more than just a catchy song. It is filled with nostalgia and memories while still possessing a modern flair.
Dirty Beaches
At the end of the set, the crowd yelled for him to play another song. He played 'True Blue' which he dedicated to his girlfriend. He even found time during this song to pull out a comb and slick his hair back.
Dirty Beaches. Badlands LP
I purchased his 'Badlands' LP as well as the single. 'Badlands' is not on sale until March 29th so of course I was ecstatic that I could pick up a copy at the show.
You can pre-order a copy at Insound. here. Alex also maintains a blog: http://dirtybeaches.blogspot.com/ as well as a myspace to check out his music: http://www.myspace.com/dirtybeaches
Beautiful.
ReplyDelete