Jet Black Stereo - Horseshoe Tavern - March 18th 2008


Out of all the bands that played at the Horseshoe on March 18th, it was Jet Black Stereo that showed the most promise. The band presented those casual music happy patrons with an interesting harmonic mix – a sound quality that managed to stand out and force attention on itself in an Indie scene where ninety percent of the bands sound the same. The originality of Jet Black Stereo’s sounds could be attributed to the, at times, lulling piano melodies that tended to weave in and out of the almost desperate insistence of the guitars, but in reality it is much, much more than that.

Coming from five altogether different musical backgrounds, the Vaughn-based members of Jet Black Stereo can happily boast their lack of musical discrimination as well as their desire to make “good music.” However, the most startling thing about this band is that as far as most bands go, Jet Black Stereo hasn’t even reached its “toddling to years.” Formed a mere 7 months ago, the band is literally a baby when compared to the relative ages of those other bands that rotated through the venue.

Presenting a powerful image and an even more powerful sound, the entity that is Jet Black Stereo was barely contained by the Horseshoe’s tiny stage. The dual power of two stunningly strong vocalists is almost too much at some points – these boys literally bleed music – but this is the kind of overdose that any rock/pop-punk/alternative junkie would happily dive into. The band also refuses to shy away from experimenting within their “as of yet to be fully defined” genre.

Burlesque music has been around since the 1950s, once finding home in dusky bars and girls with flapper dresses and flimsy head-scarves, but recently bands (both in and out of the mainstream) have been peppering their music with that good-old lilting piano – see The Dresden Dolls or Panic! At the Disco – and Jet Black Stereo doesn’t hesitate to dip their combat-boot or converse-clad feet into that that pool of creativity as well. The song is, fittingly enough, called “Not So Burlesque” and it opens with the age-old piano intro that screams saloons, bar-maids and burlesque dancers, and while thankfully not overdone, the song floats along in a rather lilting and almost hauntingly familiar manner before diving down into those heavy guitar riffs that resonate throughout your rib-cage and find a comfortable home at the base of your spine.

When asked to describe and/or define their band, founding members Dan and GM sort of look at each other before shrugging in a rather helpless manner. “We’re just a bunch of guys that get together to make music that we like…” and really, the fact that the band loves the music they play is not only extremely apparent in their live performances, but it transfers rather insistently to the crowd as well.

Maybe Jet Black Stereo is much too young an entity to really be able to define itself as a band, and maybe it’s this lack of definition that allows them to blur the lines between rock, alternative and burlesque but one thing that you can most definitely be sure about, it that Jet Black Stereo is a band to keep your eyes (and ears) on.
The band has been making plans to release an album sometime in the near future, but until then, they will continue playing venues that sometimes seem almost too small to contain them.


Review by Einat Brigler


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