Posts Tagged ‘Drew Citron’

PUBLIC PRACTICE – ” Gentle Grip “

Posted: July 14, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Public Practice, the Brooklyn-based quartet who blends elements of new-wave, punk, funk and ’70s era New York disco in order to create uniquely danceable tracks, have the disadvantage of their reputations preceding them. Ever since the release of their 2018 EP Distance Is a Mirror, they’ve proven their penchant for clever song writing, instrumental prowess and, especially among New York fans, a live show that entrances so successfully that it’s almost physically impossible not to shake one’s ass. Yet, on Gentle Grip, the band’s debut full-length album, there’s a sense that the formerly embedded scrappiness and punk edge were sacrificed for slicker, more stylish sounds. This isn’t to say there aren’t gripping moments of sonic intensity on Gentle Grip that more than satisfy the more frenetic yearnings of Distance Is a Mirror.

While magnetic singer and lyricist Sam York and guitarist and principal sonic architect Vince McClelland (who both played together as members of the meteoric yet shortlived NYC post-punk outfit WALL) take an almost anarchic approach to song writing, Drew Citron, on synth and bass, and drummer/producer Scott Rosenthal (both previously of Brooklyn indie-pop favourites Beverly) bring a more traditional, pop sensibility to the table. These contrasting styles challenge and complement each other, resulting in a sound that is full of spiralling and exhilarating tensions. Lyrically, York explores the complexities and contradictions of modern life overtop grooves and choruses that disarmingly open up the doors to self-reflection. “You don’t want to live a lie / But it’s easy / Your house is important / Your car is important / Your shoes are important / Dinner’s important“ she sings on “Compromised,” begging the question: how does one balance material desires with the desire to be seen as a good person? Changing pace, the supremely groovy “My Head” is about tuning out the influx of external noise and staying true to your inner creative force.

But whether they are poking holes in commonly held ideas centered around relationships, creativity, or capitalism, Public Practice never lose sight of the fact that they want to have fun, and they want you to have fun too. After all, who needs a soapbox when there’s a dark, sweaty dancefloor out there with room on it for all of us?

From the debut album ‘Gentle Grip’, out now.

PUBLIC PRACTICE – ” Compromised “

Posted: March 9, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Brooklyn post-punk outfit Public Practice built up a wave of buzz with their debut EP, Distance is a Mirror, back in 2018, and for good reason—its New Wave-infused post-punk was as sharp as it was funky. The band, which features members of Wall and Beverly, recently announced their debut album Gentle Grip is out on May 15th via Wharf Cat Records, and the news arrived with one of their best tracks yet, “Compromised”—a motoring punk-pop romp.

Public Practice is band based in New York City
Members include Sam York = Vocals, Vince McClelland = Guitar, Drew Citron = Bass/Synth/Vocals, Scott Rosenthal = Drums

From the debut album Gentle Grip out 5/15 on Wharf Cat Records.

PUBLIC PRACTICE – ” Disposable “

Posted: February 17, 2020 in MUSIC
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We have been quietly working on a lot this year and here’s the first taste we can share! Public Practice release their first new single ‘Disposable’ since their critically acclaimed EP ‘Distance Is A Mirror’. ‘Disposable’ is the first track they have recorded in their newBrooklynstudio where they are recording their first album. before hitting the UK at some point later this year.

The Brooklyn band have channelled existentialism and post punk witin favour of their new track. The question that put this project in motion was: “How do you fight something seemingly so much bigger than yourself, for someone else?” The B-side ‘Extra-ordinary’, their take on the Yukihiro Takahashi’s classic recreated some sounds of the original track with some own sound design.

Public Practice wanted to pay homage to the song but also to the original synth programming which blends in perfectly with the subdued minimalism of their sound. The lyricism and eerie but soothing vocals of Sam York can be contradicting at times but it’s just one facet of the many interesting things about Public Practice.

Public Practice is band based in New York City
Members include Sam York = Vocals, Vince McClelland = Guitar, Drew Citron = Bass/Synth/Vocals, Scott Rosenthal = Drums

PUBLIC PRACTICE – ” Distance is a Mirror ” EP

Posted: March 8, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Brooklyn’s Public Practice burst onto the punk scene last year and subsequently made one of our favorite EPs of 2018, the electric Distance is a Mirror. Public Practice, the band featuring Samantha York and Vince McClelland of Wall as well as Beverly members Drew Citron and Scott Rosenthal, titled Distance is a Mirror and will be out via Wharf Cat Records. (two now defunct Bushwick bands), Public Practice make distorted, intoxicating rock, leading with the promise of a magnetic live show, their very danceable post-punk variant. There’s just a hint of southern swamp rock in there too, and the song zigs, zags and packs in lots of big hooks.

The full EP, “Distance is a Mirror” by Public Practice, Originally released in 2018.

01. Fate/Glory – 00:00 02. Bad Girl(s) – 02:38 03. Foundation – 04:45 04. Into the Ring – 08:26

PUBLIC PRACTICE – ” Distance Is a Mirror ” EP

Posted: December 25, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Catching Brooklyn-based punk band Public Practice live for the first time was an earth-shattering experience. Lead singer Sam York channeled Karen O throughout the performance, holding the crowd in the palm of her sweaty, beer-soaked hands as the rest of the band—a Bushwick DIY supergroup of sorts made up of members of the newly defunct Wall and Beverly—seamlessly transitioned between synthy post-punk and 70’s-esque, groove-inspired art-punk. All of that frenetic energy is clearly still on display on Distance is a Mirror,EP  the group’s first ever release, hinting that much more is on the way in 2019. With a funky breakdown here and blistering distorted guitars there, the EP has a distinct musical sound that’s entirely theirs, eclipsing their past work in other bands in just four tracks spanning twelve minutes. “Bad Girl(s)” sees York fight back at the industry and society that demands she look, act, and sound a specific way, screaming that “I won’t play your game.” That line dominates the ethos of Public Practice, a band that refuses to play by the rules, which in turn led to one of the best debut EPs of 2018, more than whetting our appetite for a full-length in 2019

Members of the bands Beverly & Wall doing punk-disco/danceable new wave that reminds me of Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Gossip, Radio 4, The Rapture and maybe LITHICS. The four members of Public Practice—singer Sam York, guitarist Vince McClelland, synth/bassist and vocalist Drew Citron, and drummer/programmer and producer Scott Rosenthal

The full EP, “Distance is a Mirror” by Public Practice,

01. Fate/Glory – 00:00 02. Bad Girl(s) – 02:38 03. Foundation – 04:45 04. Into the Ring – 08:26

PUBLIC PRACTICE – ” Distance is a Mirror “

Posted: August 26, 2018 in MUSIC
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Public Practice - Distance Is A Mirror EP

The debut EP from New York band Public Practice, “Distance is a Mirror”, is a confident, juried testimony of love steeped in dark optimism. Dry, dead pan vocals chant over skittish guitar and danceable 70s grooves—songs snapping like rubber bands—seesawing between post-punk and its insomniac twin sister disco. With contradicting references as overt as Talking Heads (without the shoulders), but as specific as Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra (with some polka dots), the band is carrying a funky torch that does not get lit too often.

The four members of Public Practice—singer Sam York, guitarist Vince McClelland, synth/bassist and vocalist Drew Citron, and drummer/programmer and producer Scott Rosenthal—are no strangers to song writing. A Brooklyn DIY super group of sorts, Public Practice combines members of freshly-dead punk project WALL and local pop band Beverly. Public Practice backs their ambitious song writing with serious chops, their live shows already pulling them into the sharp foreground of a scene growing all too warm-and-fuzzy.

Sam York’s lyrics reflect the city and it’s contradictions—they are personal, funny, cryptic and surreal, but never truly pessimistic, rotating around an individual’s toxic but symbiotic relationship with perception. Songs like the sarcastically-titled “Foundation” deep-fry Beach Boys guitars in ice-cold-but-somehow-funky Scritti Politti grooves. Add a dead pan David Byrney vocal, and Public Practice remind us again how integral it is to use honesty and self-reflection to bring some of life’s double-standards to light.

By the end of the short and bitter-sweet 4-song EP, punctuated by Sam York’s sign-off of “no you can’t take it back now,” Public Practice anchors themselves as a new band with wisdom like their influences, bringing songs distinctly fresh as they are familiar. Public Practice will privately change your mind about where guitar music is going. Tired of the familiar? Seeing dots? Wake up!

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Recorded and produced by Public Practice. Mastered by Carl Saff.

BEVERLY – ” South Collins “

Posted: December 8, 2016 in MUSIC
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Beverly the duo of Drew Citron ( The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Frankie Rose) and Scott Rosenthal, latest album, The Blue Swell. they’ve shared a video for the track “South Collins.” Directed and edited by Pitchfork the clip mingles shots of vast woodlands with footage of an eerie bar—which becomes “a wild and progressively sinister party,” according to Citron. Read her description below, and scroll down to watch the video.

I originally wrote the song “South Collins” as a noir film script, the music and lyrics describe a murder at an art deco hotel. One weekend after a friend’s wedding in the Catskills, I came across The Colonial Inn, and it was the perfect setting to film the video. It’s a 150 house replete with 150 years worth of taxidermy and tchotchkes. The place definitely had a surreal and creepy vibe, and the owner Steve was amazing. He has a friendly relationship with a brown bear named Baby, who comes into the hotel occasionally to eat leftovers, much to the dismay of the neighbors and wildlife protection service… Steve was totally down to let me and 20 of my friends take over the hotel for a weekend, and we ended up casting him as the older bartender.
The idea behind the video is that I walk into a hotel, and the sight of me triggers the bartender’s flashbacks to a nightclub singer he met decades before at the same hotel. A wild and progressively sinister party ensues. Years later he is still haunted by it – what happened that night? Director Jim Larson created the perfect look of an eerie “Twin Peaks” Shining-like world, without getting too overtly into ghost stories and the supernatural.

South Collins is from the Beverly album The Blue Swell.

 

 

BEVERLY – ” Honey Do “

Posted: July 21, 2014 in MUSIC
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beverley

Exceptional Shoegaze pop album from ex DumDum Girl and Vivian Girls vocalist player Frankie Rose project along with ex band mate Drew Citron from Avan Lava, the band based in New York has a wonderful album available “Careers”