Stereo Embers calls these songs, “Dreamy and soulful
shuffles that have all the night-kissed grace of Julee Cruise and the poetic
finesse of The Jazz Butcher.”
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Dani Meza of the crushedvelvets as photographed by Cristopher Cichocki
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PLAY, POST & SHARE
the crushedvelvets | “Neon Nights (Chinatown)”
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“The vibe is reaching levels of ultimate leisure... Dani Meza and company have captured the
purest essence of this backdrop with utter confidence.” — Ghettoblaster
Dani Meza has just released the third in his three-song EP
series as the crushedvelvets. Hear “Neon Nights (Chinatown)” now via Ghettoblaster Magazine or at
the link above.
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In describing Meza’s
music, his producer, Chris Schlarb —
known for his work with Mike Watt, Sufjan Stevens, Nels Cline, and others — says, “Dani Meza is a throwback to the musical iconoclasts of yesteryear,”
adding in reference to Meza’s
hometown of Indio, California, “If you’re looking for oblique sounds, you’ll
find them in the desert.”
Meza explains, “These new songs and style came about from
necessity. After my medical incident (an aneurism and two strokes) it changed
my perspective on how to write and perform.
“These songs were written while I was healing. My
vocal delivery has to be more laid back, so the slow, grooving pace of these
songs were built and written as to not over stimulate myself. At times, you can
hear the tension in the music and in my voice when I have to hold back.”
Stereo Embers Magazine calls the crushedvelvets track “Dig To Me,” “a perfect example of Meza’s new musical identity. A smooth
number that’s set against an astral soundscape. Dreamy and soulful shuffles
that have all the night-kissed grace of Julee
Cruise and the poetic finesse of The
Jazz Butcher.” Hear “Dig To Me” here.
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the
crushedvelvets
EP 3
(S/R)
Out Now
Streaming Link:
the crushedvelvets
Track Listing:
02. A Hero's Sin
03. The Way You Were Made
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the crushedvelvets
EP 1
(S/R)
Out Now
Streaming Link:
Track Listing:
02. Intertwined
03. Mosaic
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the crushedvelvets | About
After citing Al
Green, Marvin Gaye, and Prince as influences, it is only
natural that Dani Meza of the crushedvelvets concludes, “These
songs are all about the groove.”
The nine new tunes by the crushedvelvets are presented three at a time, as if placed on a
dark club’s bar like mixed drinks over the course of a mild summer evening.
For Meza, getting
to that stone cold groove meant first getting his own groove back, and not just
in the sense of the popular turn of phrase. Meza literally lost his ability to write and perform following an
aneurism and stroke.
“These new songs and style came out of necessity,” Meza confides. “The incident forced me
to change my perspective on how to write and perform. My vocal delivery had to
be more laid back and the groovy pace of these songs keeps me from over-stimulating
myself.”
The circumstances surrounding these recordings are out
of the ordinary, but for listeners, they are even more alive with Meza’s soul and survival because of it.
“These songs were written while I was healing and the
influences on this sound and these songs comes from the variety of musicians
and bands that I listened to while I was recovering,” he says.
In addition to the aforementioned artists, Meza also mentions Serge Gainsbourg, Julee
Cruise, and Erik Satie.
“I wanted to combine my love of R&B and Soul music
with surreal sounds and imagery,” he explains.
With this concept in mind, Meza knew he should reach out to producer Chris Schlarb, an artist in his own right with several releases on Sufjan Stevens’s Asthmatic Kitty label, as well as
production credits for releases on Asthmatic
Kitty, Joyful Noise, Jealous Butcher and many more.
“Chris knew
exactly what I was trying to achieve and gathered the players he knew would
bring my new songs to life,” Meza
says.
Musicians Davin
Givhan (Bass & Guitar), Ben
Lumsdaine (Drums & Percussion), and Heather Sommerhauser (Keyboards & Backing Vocals) join Meza on Guitar, Keyboards, and Vocals.
“At our very first session, the songs seemed to fall
into place on their own. I had no ambitions other than capturing the groove,” Meza remembers.
In conclusion, Meza
drops an inspiring reveal of his continuing ambition on the other side of
emerging from recovery.
Following the release of these three EPs, he plans to take
the songs he amassed during his healing and head back into the studio to start
working on “one of the many albums I have ready to record.”
Dani Meza of the
crushedvelvets is available for interviews. Contact Josh
Bloom at Fanatic for
more information.
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the crushedvelvets | Links
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact
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