Sweet Soubrette is really Ellia Bisker and her ukulele. This Brooklyn songstress’ debut album is as invigorating as ocean spray; Bisker has written a modern-day sea-chantey, but this time from the siren’s point of view.

Bisker’s lyrics are just as brilliant if not just as brine. Others have called her a “dangerous femme fatale” — tender then venomous, audacious then introspective, but never apologetic. In Bisker we have an honest woman of our generation, singing lyrics that remain confident in their unwillingness to be watered down or glammed up. Bisker taps at the edges of that part of the glass ceiling reserved for rock ‘n’ roll and smiles at you while she does it.

We caught up with Sweet Soubrette to talk about the songwriting process, the recording process, and the always-entertaining ukulele.

By: Nora E. Lindner

NL: What did you grow up listening to? Do you see any connection between it and the music you play today? 
SS: My dad likes to collect old stereo equipment at garage sales. You could play music in almost every room of our house, including the kitchen and one bathroom. So I grew up steeped in my parents’ music, which they played all the time — a cocktail of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, sixties rock and roll, folk songs, and show tunes from Li’l Abner to Andrew Lloyd Webber (I strongly recommend this combination to parents wishing to raise songwriter children — it’s like pop music primordial soup). When I was in high school I got really into the bad-ass women of 90s alternative rock, like Liz Phair and PJ Harvey and the Breeders. I have been hugely influenced by all these sources. The music I write is very lyrics-oriented and I use my songs to tell stories, like the folk and show tunes. The Beatles taught me a lot about melody and harmony, and Bob Dylan is an inspiring model of songwriter as poet (Leonard Cohen too). And my songs tend to have an edge to them, and a lack of apology, that I picked up from those cool lady rockers.     

NL: When did you start playing ukulele? Formal training? First performance? 
SS: I got a ukulele as a gift from a stranger at the end of 2005 and taught myself to play by using online chord charts to learn all the Magnetic Fields songs I knew all the words to, which turned out to be a lot. My first official performance was in the spring of 2006 at Galapagos Art Space in the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus’s Winter Cabaret variety show, which was appropriate since I had been working with the Bindlestiffs behind the scenes since 2003 and they had taught me basically everything I knew at that point about performing.    

But I had an unofficial debut a couple months earlier, when I went to the now defunct CB’s Gallery for an event a friend was hosting that was supposed to include an open mic. When I showed up, the friend said, “Oh, honey, you just missed it.” I figured, oh well, and started drinking scotch and sodas. After I had had two of them in quick succession, suddenly I heard my friend announce me as a special guest act. Surprise! My memory of the performance itself is a blur of swimming faces, bad tuning, and awkward fingers. It was at least brief. Then when I went backstage to put the uke away, Nick Jones (lead singer of serialized pirate puppet show rock opera band Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, and a total hero of mine) was getting ready to go on, and he looked at me and said: “Welcome to the small-time.” I think that was the moment I started becoming a performer.

NL: Where does the name Sweet Soubrette come from? What was your original concept for the band? 
SS: A soubrette is a stock character from comic opera — it’s usually described as the flirtatious chambermaid. The word comes from a type of soprano singing voice that those characters tend to have. On the vaudeville stage, young women who played and sang were also sometimes called soubrettes. This seemed in keeping with my act when I was mostly playing solo and trying out a very theatrical, flirtatious, over-the-top stage persona. My original concept for the band was really this alter ego as a solo act, singing songs of doomed romance, but I also wanted an alter ego as a performer that could later function as a band name. When I started performing I was in grad school and couldn’t work around anyone’s schedule but my own. Since finishing my degree I’ve put together a band, which has changed the music and the presentation, making it more rock and less cabaret.  

NL: What’s your song writing process? Where do you get your inspiration? What’s your favorite song of the EP and why? 
SS: My songwriting process really varies. The quirky ones come easiest, since I’m someone who does well with an assignment. Sometimes I come up with the assignment myself, like with “Unlucky in Love,” where I decided to make a list of every unlucky thing I could think of and apply it to a bad relationship. Other times it comes from somewhere else — for instance I participate in the Bushwick Book Club, monthly songwriting series where everyone reads a book and then has to write a song inspired by it. With my more serious songs there’s more of a process of trying to figure out what I’m actually trying to get at, which is sort of like when something is bothering you but you’re not exactly sure what it is. Sometimes a line comes into my head and I’ll carry it around for a while, let it run in the background and marinate, and then when it hits a critical mass I’ll build out from it in a more focused way, make myself sit and pick away at it. I like rules and structure and rhyme. I find a rhyming dictionary helpful for clues to where the song might go next. Some songs take a long time to write. Others fall out more or less complete. The process for each one is a little different. 

NL: Have you found any significant challenges in being a young woman in the mostly male-dominated music industry?  
SS: Well, I think in some ways you can be more visible as a woman in music, in that there are fewer of us getting attention in the field so if you can stand out you stand out more (of course this is totally a back-handed advantage, if it is one at all). Being respected and taken seriously as a musician, songwriter, artist, band leader can be challenging when you’re dealing with engineers, venues, bookers, other musicians. And as a woman you run the risk of having your music pigeonholed as “chick music,” like your songs would only be interesting to female listeners. But really I think the disadvantages are not so much the obvious things and more the things you don’t even know about — where you’re not being invited to play on a bill, not being suggested for a gig, not being asked to sit in on someone else’s set. Not getting opportunities to participate on equal footing.     

NL: In your song “Homewrecker” you explain your “disrespect for domestic tranquility” and how you are “messing with the social order” — refreshingly unapologetic. Do you see your music as empowering in that sense? 
SS: Well first of all, “Homewrecker” should be taken with a huge grain of salt. It starts out very unapologetic, even bragging, but by the end I think it’s clear this character is in over her head and suffering because of it. That said, I do like to write from the bad woman’s point of view — “Siren Song,” from the (possibly deadly) mermaid’s perspective, and “Pacemaker,” from the heartbreaker’s, are two other songs in this vein. And on the second album there’s a song called “All That Glitters,” which is sung by a gold digger. It is definitely fun to write first-person songs for these characters who are usually being sung about by other people, usually men. Giving them a voice can be empowering. 

NL: Your songs seem so personal, especially about the doomed romances of your life. Is it hard to expose yourself like that? Are there some songs you wish certain people wouldn’t hear? 
SS: As a singer-songwriter you are usually singing in the first person, and people assume that the songs are all about you and that they are all true. In fact it’s more like being a novelist — you take bits and pieces from your own life, but you also take other pieces from things you read, things you hear, things your friends say, conversations that stick in your head. The distinction between those bits and pieces isn’t obvious to the listener, and it shouldn’t be if you’re telling a coherent story — the fact and the fiction are all mixed up. That’s the saving grace for me. I try not to reveal which parts are the true ones. Especially when my parents come to my shows. 

NL: You’re in the process of recording your second album, Days and Nights. Tell us more about it.  
SS: Days and Nights really expands on what the producer of Siren Song (Tim Cohan of MH Records, formerly of the indie pop band Tryst) and I were doing on the first album. Siren Song started with just me and a ukulele, and then we embellished those tracks with additional instrumentation, programming, effects, some loops and beats. Days and Nights was recorded with my band — the arrangements on most of the songs are ones we came up with together in rehearsal and refined in performance, so the core tracks that we brought into the studio were already incredibly rich.   

I’m extremely lucky in my band — they have all trained at high levels and are far better musicians than I am. Heather Cole has played classical violin since she was a 4-year-old Suzuki kid. She also plays bluegrass, klezmer and Irish fiddle and comes up with parts that are just brilliant. Bob Smith plays upright and electric bass, toured with the indie rock band Trunk Federation in the 90s, and now is the director of a public school music program. Mike Dobson went to the Hartt School and Mannes College of Music for percussion, can play anything you can hit with a stick, and works mainly symphony orchestra and professional circus music gigs when he’s not playing with me. The combination leads to some really interesting arrangements. So Days and Nights has a sound that’s more developed and more full, with more people’s ideas brought together.   

The subject matter on Days and Nights is a little wider, too — there’s a song about girls growing up together, and a whimsical lullaby in French, and a song about being childless in your 30s that’s so devastating that people laugh when we play it in concert. Fun! Doomed romance still plays a major role, but I think it’s a little more thoughtful.  
 
NL: Any other future plans? 
SS: I’m always working on something. I’m hoping to play some gigs outside of NYC this spring. I’m also planning a trip to Italy, where hopefully I’ll get to play a show or two.  An Italian fan who wrote an amazing review of Siren Song two years ago has offered a place to stay in Rome, and a musician friend of his who plays ukulele is working on setting up a couple of gigs there. The international ukulele community is amazingly, surreally generous, and I’m continually amazed and grateful. 

By: Becky Firesheets

A night out on the Bedford Avenue strip doesn’t typically involve great jazz.  But on Monday nights at Spike Hill, the scene is alive and thriving.  Tenor saxophonist and composer Brian VanArsdale brings his “trio” to the weekly series on a regular basis, mixing standard elements of jazz with a more experimental, modern style.   His music isn’t self-indulgent nor too out there, yet he does go beyond the boundaries of tradition and openly explores wherever his horn will take him.  For the rockers who like an upbeat melody, catchy rhythms and fun solos, for jazzheads who appreciate complicated riffs and innovative compositions, or for those just looking to see an entertaining live show, Brian VanArsdale will most certainly satisfy.

Check out our Q&A for VanArsdale’s take on improvising and how it requires listening like a listener, his advice and thoughts on jazz in New York, how he put together and manages his trio + 1, and much more.

BF: Who are the core members of the Brian VanArsdale trio?  How did you all form?
BV: The current group features Dan Loomis on bass and Jeremy Noller on drums. This group was formed in 2005 and we recorded a record at that time (Cryptography). From time to time other musicians have been a part of the group - most notably Jared Schonig on drums and Jeff Hanley on bass. I met all of these fine players through various schools. New York has been a great place to reconnect with musicians I played with in school who are still playing.

BF: I hear you often play with more than just the three of you.  Who sits in with you guys?  How do you decide who to ask?
BV: The gigs this group is currently doing often involve a 4th member. We bill it as The Trio +1 because we try to keep the vibe and direction of our trio and simply include a fourth member. The idea originally came from a series of gigs we played with the amazing trumpet player Eddie Henderson. Instead of reading his music or our music, we decided to play music we were all comfortable with and let the musical situation dictate where the music went. He really let us do our thing and added so much on top of it, that we loved the idea of trying it again with him and others. Other guests have included trumpeters Eli Asher and Michael Cottone, and we plan to include a host of others in the future.

BF:  What is your songwriting process like?  How much of a typical performance is composed and how much is improvised?
BV: For me the songwriting process can take on many shapes. I tend to try to write melodies first and use traditional forms as a basis for new pieces. The current group is almost totally improvised. We're playing old songs from the American songbook - with the idea of playing music we are all very familiar with. Thus, we're able to take our combined experience with that literature as a starting point and really try to go interesting places from there. The key becomes listening. When you take your own trappings out of the equation and try to listen as if you were a listener, you find yourself playing MUSIC, not just the song. There is a trust that we have developed with each other that allows us to know that if someone plays something, they did it on purpose, so it is worthy of reply. We may not always go with that person, but it's not as if any of us are playing without regard for and from the other members of the group. That is a special thing that I think is unique about this group.

BF: How long have you been playing the tenor sax?  Do you play other instruments as well?  If so, how did you decide to focus on the sax?
BV: I started on the tenor back in 6th grade. I wasn't really serious about it until college, but I guess I thought I was. Going from being a big fish in high school to a very, very small fish in college really opened my eyes and made me aware of how high the level of artistry was. I play all the saxophones and double very badly on flute and clarinet.

BF:  Do you play with other bands or projects?
BV: I do, but I've tried to limit my participation in other groups to ones that I feel I really believe in. There's a lot of bad music being played right now, and while I'm sure that some of what I produce could be grouped into that category, I'm trying to really only be a part of groups that excite me. Dan and Jeremy are both members of a litany of groups around NYC and beyond.

BF:  The indie rock scene is dominating Brooklyn these days, yet there seems to be a thriving jazz scene.  What are your general thoughts on NY's jazz scene and how does The Brian VanArsdale Trio fit into that?
BV: I think the NYC jazz scene is very peculiar. There is such an influx of amazing musicians here - and while that means that you have an incredible breadth of people to make music with, it also means the supply and demand of clubs to musicians is such that the best musicians are often left without good gigs. Couple this with the unique monetary requirements of owning a club in NYC and you have a lot of places that are really just looking for people who bring in people. I can't really fault anyone for that, but when you are dealing with a music that has such a small audience, with an even smaller audience who are really into the 'cutting edge' of music being produced (which is much of what NYC offers), you end up with a strange paradigm. This paradigm sparks musicians to continue reaching for new music (especially since they won't get paid either way), but can leave the music baseless - as if everyone is trying to be 'unique' instead of just playing good music.

BF: Most of the audience at Knocks tends to be more geared toward rock-and-roll.  What groups and venues would you recommend to newcomers to the jazz scene?
BV: I think there are some amazing places in the city. I tend to categorize jazz venues into different groups - 'jazz club' and 'bar with jazz'. Great music can be heard at both, but they are very different settings, and should be seen as such. My favorite 'jazz clubs' would probably be The Jazz Standard and Smalls, both in Manhattan. As far as 'bars with jazz,' I'd have to say Barbes in Park Slope Brooklyn, Le Poisson Rouge in the city, and Spike Hill in Williamsburg. Check the schedules of these places, since the 'bars' feature music other than jazz often.

By: John Mabery
Rating: 2/11

When thinking of some of the biggest musical disappointments of recent memory, Woods is definitely atop that list. This Brooklyn trio welcomes you in with a warm and dainty sound reminiscent of 1960s Britpop groups like Chad & Jeremy. But then, for some odd reason, they dump a big bucket of noise over their collection of folk tunes, and we’re left with a band that is trying to pull you in two different directions at the same time. To me, this analogy describes precisely how discomforting listening to Woods can be.Their newest offering, Songs of Shame (2009), opens with “To Clean,” featuring a guitar solo so agonizingly disjointed that it would make even Tom Verlaine want to jump off the Queensboro Bridge. And that’s well before the vocals kick in, which signal the true nail in the coffin for this band. A far cry from the lush falsetto of Justin Vernon, the vocal stylings of Jeremy Earle are painfully irritating and completely devoid of soul. Think of Miss Piggy if she was strung out on heroin. It’s a shame, because underneath it all, you can hear a band that is trying to pay homage to its folk forefathers. That is until they decided to be inventive. Unfortunately for us, and our ears, this band is not comprised of any world-beaters.

By Liz Levine
Rating: 5/11

A clear image comes to mind when one is presented with the band Woods: there’s their name, their label Woodsist, and the bucolic cover of their latest album Songs of Shame that features, well, woods. This all suggests to back-to-basics return to nature, which in Woods’ case translates into your classic home-recorded DIY rock. They shift between weird noise tape experiments and folky, simple-structured songs with 90’s guitar jam scratching around in the background. Singer Jeremy Earl won’t be starring on Broadway anytime soon, but his pre-pubescent squeal might appeal to those who prefer silly or strange vocals. All in all, Woods’ songs are more exciting than standard-issue pop rock, of which there is so much these days that even the well-written, well-made stuff out there can get boring quite quickly. They aren’t mind-blowing, but they will appeal to those who listen to so much music that they bore easily, or who prefer their tunes be random and heavily experimental.

Shake Shake (self-released, 2007)
By: Ben Salvo
Rating: 5/11

Bugs In The Dark are channeling the early days of indie rock in their first EP, Shake Shake.  Remember those days?  It was back when the only person listening to indie was your best friend’s estranged older brother who played a lot of Warhammer and subsisted on a strict diet of Corn Nuts and Dr. Pepper.  The early nineties time capsule that is Shake Shake provides a little grunge relief for this digitally enhanced world we find ourselves in today, but, in the end, it stands more wholly as a reminder that we have traded our misplaced angst and open flannel shirts for something better.

These Brooklyn rockers are well tuned to their musical strengths.  The buzzing guitars create a net of distorted rhythm on top of nice, hard-hitting drums.  Problems occur when their strengths bend against their obvious weaknesses.  Karen Rockower’s vocals are perfect for every song, gently stinging each lyric with the appeal of the Pixies and the harshness of Crystal Castles, but Zach Glass’s run-of-the-mill, filter-laden, unsure in Seattle style droning vocals are an unfortunate addition to all but one track, “Silence Is A Treason.”

Another over-used resource on this EP is random amp feedback.  The squeals and squawks of angry equipment still have their place in rock-and-roll, but this album gets too much mileage from them.  Tracks “I Change” – featuring Rockower alone on vocals – a and the aforementioned “Silence Is A Treason” are the best ones to catch from this release.
 
Look for their sound to evolve in the next year or two, as long as they can tune their ears to hear when a song is too heavily layered or repetitive.  Bugs In The Dark could benefit greatly from simplicity, despite that fact that they are pretty skeletal already (two guitars and a drum set, with no digital mixing that this reviewer can hear).  Shake Shake is their earliest EP.  To see the progress they’ve already made, check out the review on their newest EP, Grand Avenue.

Grand Avenue (self-released, 2008)
By: Faetra Petillo
Rating: 8/11

Bugs In the Dark's latest release Grand Avenue is proof that the post-punk hard rock sector of the indie scene is still alive and kicking and has not been completely buried by the nu-vo electronica meets folk wave. Depending on how you feel about cold, hard, screaming vocals, killer dissonant guitars coming from every direction and drumming so hard and fast it could be heard from the grave, this could be a good or a bad thing. Either way, it’s music to be reckoned with and I, for one, am happy to still see glimpses of the rock I grew up on, the yelping girls on guitars like Karen O that got me through some hard times in high school and college.

And so I will start with making the obvious comparison: Karen Rockower sounds exactly like Karen O. Eerily so. Meaning, her vocals are calculated yet lacking in control. Emotive but technical. When you are a punk singer, it's an important balance to maintain lest your singing just starts to come off as unpleasant noise. She uses her voice as an instrument that compliments her band without being overpowered by them. Keeping with the notion of controlled chaos, Zach Glass and Zeph Courtney (guitarist and drummer) know how to let the song carry itself away without breaking the consistency and rhythm. Each song is a roller coaster and there's a lot of highs and lows, fasts and slows that need to be executed with precision without making the music sound like it's not free. And they do it beautifully, resulting in great pieces of symphonic rock, music you want to be banging your head along to in the front row but at the same time doesn't turn you aggressive and angry.

The album itself is well crafted. For the most part it is a punk album and most of the tracks, while diverse, fit into the mold. Fast and furious with a little build up here and there. What I like are tracks like "Ave M,” a song that switches the rhythm and tone around, and "Miles of Stone," a rock ballad that is as beautiful as it is painful.  When Zach lends his vocals he compliments Karen well whether it means singing along with her or providing the low to her high.

Here's to hoping the band doesn't just come off as a carbon copy of what already came. They certainly do what they do well, and their energy and talent is unmistakably through the roof. But have we moved on from this kind of music? In a scene that values innovation and is constantly changing, is a band like this even capable of being next year’s breakthrough sound? Who knows... but either way, it's good listening and if their live performances are half as energetic as Grand Avenue, watching them is bound to be a wild time.

By: Becky Firesheets

CSC Funk Band is bringing the real dance music to Brooklyn.  Forget the Nintendo-inspired electronica.  Forget the mustachioed indie rock bands.  Forget all the DJS spinning remixes of old funk and soul songs (who decided Curtis Mayfield needed remixing, anyway?).  CSC is the real shit.

Complete with congas and horns in addition to more standard instruments, CSC adds an Afro-Latin flair and a touch of experimental jazz to their slammin’ funk.  Wandering trumpet solos, jamband style guitar riffs and booty-shakin’ drum lines take their turn sharing the lead, hearkening The Talking Heads, Phish and The JBs all at the same time.  But don’t be deterred – CSC is not a band for arm-swaying hippies only.  With members formerly of USAISAMONSTER, Talibam and even Gwar, CSC Funk Band is loaded with talented musicians who know how to tear it up.

Dance your ass off to tracks “Bad Banana Bread” and "Caneca" on their myspace page, and check out drummer/DJ Jimmy T’s new 7” inch label Electric Cowbell Records for all the funkin’ details.  Next chance to see their killer live show in action: January 11th at Zebulon with The Wowz.