Lower East Side electro-pop gets a shot in the arm this month with Jump Into the Gospel’s Wednesday night residency at Pianos. The good-natured fivesome churn straightforward hooks into expansive pop with an omnipresent sharp synth (it feels fresh, not ‘80s regressive), deft percussion and singer Louis Epstein’s preening David Johansen-inflected yelp. Currently performing in support of their first, self-titled EP, they play through June 29 at the Ludlow institution, as well as hit Brooklyn’s Rock Shop on Monday, June 27.
This band embodies Manhattan, all right. So we delivered our Band of the Week questionnaire to Epstein this Saturday, freeing up his bandmates (Ben Vescovi, Chris Stein, Erik Tonessen, Lakis Pavlou) to bask in the warm weekend. Epstein found his kicks in email format, as you’ll see:
What song says New York to you?
“Long Distance Call” [by Phoenix]
What artist or band?
Oh, ok, so Phoenix.
What's your greatest memory of experiencing music in NY?
I was watching Guided By Voices on the water by the West Side Highway, and they started to cover an early Pink Floyd song called “Fearless” off of an album called Meddle. Well, I knew it was off of Meddle, but my friend was like, "Whaaat?! No it's not it's off of Saucerful of Secrets!" and he said it like I didn't know anything, so we went home and looked it up and I was right. It was off of Meddle.
If you could give one album to everyone in this city - - what would it be?
Jeff Buckley's Grace... Haha...Just kidding.
What is your favorite venue to play in the city?
Well it's always more about the crowd than the venue. I'd hate to quote Steve Guttenberg again but, "My uncle had trouble carving the turkey. He complained about the sharpness of the knife. My grandma proceeded to rip the turkey apart with her own hands and throw a leg and breast on everyone's plate and said, 'There, that's Brooklyn style.'"
This is basically the brass tacks of how we deliver our songs to crowds that don't like our music.
What, or who, do you find exciting in the current New York music scene?
PBR. I think it's really helped people enjoy the scene.
