The Sharp Things
Encyclopedia
The Sharp Things is a New York City
-based chamber pop collective led by singer/songwriter Perry Serpa (born 1965). Current members include Steve Gonzalez, Jim Santo, Aisha Cohen, Michelle Caputo, James Pertusi, Andrea Dovalle and Adrienne Day.
The band originated in the late 1990s as a recording
project of Serpa and drummer Gonzalez. The band's name was taken from the title of an unreleased demo tape, Here Come The Sharp Things, which in turn was taken from a lyric
to a never-recorded song, the title of which is now forgotten. Guitarist Santo (formerly of Jenifer Convertible), joined in 1997 and the trio adopted The Sharp Things as its name for performances at small clubs on the Lower East Side
of New York City.
The Sharp Things steadily added members over the next few years and began to broaden its musical palette with strings
, horns
, woodwinds, keyboards
and other instruments
. The group's first album, Here Comes The Sharp Things (an entirely different set of songs from the similarly entitled demo tape) was released in the United States
in 2002 on Dive Records.
Comprising songs recorded by two different ensembles in 2000 and 2001, and largely produced by Serpa and Santo in the former's basement studio in Queens
, New York, Here Comes The Sharp Things won critical acclaim for its lush, melancholy blend of British folk, classical music, jazz
and 1970s radio pop influences. Favorable comparisons were drawn to a diverse list of artists, including Burt Bacharach
, Brian Wilson
, Nick Cave
, Talk Talk
, The Left Banke
and Randy Newman
. A cassette-only release appeared in 2003 on the Italian label Best Kept Secret
, followed by a release in the United Kingdom
on Setanta Records
in the spring of 2004. In August of that year, the song "Demon Of Love" was released by Nettwerk
on Public Display of Affection: The Sound of Independent Radio, a compilation of songs chosen by program director
s from four of the most influential public radio stations in the United States. (The Sharp Things were picked by Rita Houston of Fordham University
station WFUV
.)
Foxes & Hounds was released in 2005 on Bar/None Records
. In contrast to the lo-fi, homemade approach of the debut, the second album was entirely recorded and mixed in professional recording studio
s in New York City. Foxes & Hounds also marked the emergence of The Sharp Things as a relatively stable line-up, and coincided with a stepped-up schedule of performances. R&B, blues
, disco
and rock
influences manifested themselves in the songs on the album.
The Sharp Things began recording their third album on October 14, 2006. Entitled A Moveable Feast, the album features performances by The New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. The 40-piece orchestra
, conducted by Sybille Werner, was recorded on November 9, 2006, at the Julia Richman Education Complex in Manhattan
. Other performers include Tony Award
-winning actor and musician Michael Cerveris
; Franz Nicolay
, keyboardist for The Hold Steady
; and tenor saxophonist Stuart D. Bogie
of Antibalas.
Returning to the homemade approach of Here Comes A Sharp Things, A Moveable Feast was recorded in various kitchens, living rooms and basements around New York City by producer Billy "Prince Polo" Szeflinski. The album was mixed March 8–12, 2007, by Alex Lipsen at Headgear Recording in Williamsburg
, Brooklyn
. At the urging of Bar/None owner Glenn Morrow, an additional song, "Cruel Thing," was recorded April 26–27, 2007, at Truth & Soul
, also in Williamsburg. Clay Wells Holley was recording engineer, and mixed the song with Szeflinski.
A Moveable Feast was released June 26, 2007 on Bar/None Records
. Reviews of the album are collected on the band's official web site.
On September 28, 2009, The Sharp Things began recording their fourth album. Again produced by Szeflinski, the as-yet-untitled album is the band's first to be recorded at The Kennel Recording Studio in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a facility co-owned by Santo and current Sharp Things bassist James Pertusi, with whom Santo previously performed in Jenifer Convertible. Between July 23, 2010 and September 15, 2010, the band sponsored a Kickstarter fundraising drive that received more than $3,600 in pledges to fund the album's recording.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based chamber pop collective led by singer/songwriter Perry Serpa (born 1965). Current members include Steve Gonzalez, Jim Santo, Aisha Cohen, Michelle Caputo, James Pertusi, Andrea Dovalle and Adrienne Day.
The band originated in the late 1990s as a recording
Recording
Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
project of Serpa and drummer Gonzalez. The band's name was taken from the title of an unreleased demo tape, Here Come The Sharp Things, which in turn was taken from a lyric
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
to a never-recorded song, the title of which is now forgotten. Guitarist Santo (formerly of Jenifer Convertible), joined in 1997 and the trio adopted The Sharp Things as its name for performances at small clubs on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of New York City.
The Sharp Things steadily added members over the next few years and began to broaden its musical palette with strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, horns
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
, woodwinds, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and other instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
. The group's first album, Here Comes The Sharp Things (an entirely different set of songs from the similarly entitled demo tape) was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 2002 on Dive Records.
Comprising songs recorded by two different ensembles in 2000 and 2001, and largely produced by Serpa and Santo in the former's basement studio in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York, Here Comes The Sharp Things won critical acclaim for its lush, melancholy blend of British folk, classical music, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and 1970s radio pop influences. Favorable comparisons were drawn to a diverse list of artists, including Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
, Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
, Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, Talk Talk
Talk Talk
Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....
, The Left Banke
The Left Banke
The Left Banke is an American baroque pop band that formed in New York City in 1965 and disbanded in 1969. They are best remembered for their two U.S. hit singles, "Walk Away Renée" and "Pretty Ballerina"...
and Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
. A cassette-only release appeared in 2003 on the Italian label Best Kept Secret
Best Kept Secret
Best Kept Secret*Best Kept Secret Known mostly for Music by Wale *"Best Kept Secret" , a 2010 song by Didrik Solli-Tangen*Best Kept Secret , 1983...
, followed by a release in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on Setanta Records
Setanta Records
Setanta Records is a UK Independent record label. The label was at the forefront of the indie Irish music scene in the late eighties and nineties as itchampioned young Irish groups.-History:...
in the spring of 2004. In August of that year, the song "Demon Of Love" was released by Nettwerk
Nettwerk
The Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg...
on Public Display of Affection: The Sound of Independent Radio, a compilation of songs chosen by program director
Program director
In service industries, such as education, a program director or programme director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services...
s from four of the most influential public radio stations in the United States. (The Sharp Things were picked by Rita Houston of Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
station WFUV
WFUV
WFUV, 90.7 FM in New York City, is Fordham University's 50,000-watt, non-commercial radio station, with studios on campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. First broadcast in 1947, WFUV has an airstaff which includes such New York radio veterans as Pete Fornatale , Dennis...
.)
Foxes & Hounds was released in 2005 on Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.-Early history:Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his native Ireland, Prendergast moved to Hoboken in 1982 and started Pier Platters...
. In contrast to the lo-fi, homemade approach of the debut, the second album was entirely recorded and mixed in professional recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s in New York City. Foxes & Hounds also marked the emergence of The Sharp Things as a relatively stable line-up, and coincided with a stepped-up schedule of performances. R&B, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
influences manifested themselves in the songs on the album.
The Sharp Things began recording their third album on October 14, 2006. Entitled A Moveable Feast, the album features performances by The New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. The 40-piece orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, conducted by Sybille Werner, was recorded on November 9, 2006, at the Julia Richman Education Complex in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Other performers include Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning actor and musician Michael Cerveris
Michael Cerveris
Michael Cerveris is an American singer, guitarist and actor. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including in several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Road Show, and Passion...
; Franz Nicolay
Franz Nicolay
Franz Nicolay is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He is perhaps best known for playing the accordion and the piano in The World/Inferno Friendship Society and playing keyboards in The Hold Steady from 2005 to 2010...
, keyboardist for The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
; and tenor saxophonist Stuart D. Bogie
Stuart D. Bogie
Stuart Bogie is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and producer. Originally from Evanston, IL, Bogie has become a staple in the Brooklyn music scene, as part of Antibalas, as well as TV on the Radio, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many other acts....
of Antibalas.
Returning to the homemade approach of Here Comes A Sharp Things, A Moveable Feast was recorded in various kitchens, living rooms and basements around New York City by producer Billy "Prince Polo" Szeflinski. The album was mixed March 8–12, 2007, by Alex Lipsen at Headgear Recording in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. At the urging of Bar/None owner Glenn Morrow, an additional song, "Cruel Thing," was recorded April 26–27, 2007, at Truth & Soul
Truth and Soul Records
Truth & Soul is a record label and production team based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was formed in 2004 by Leon Michels and Jeff Silverman.Truth & Soul was founded in 2004 and has recorded and released the music of El Michels Affair, Bronx River Parkway, Quincy Bright, The Evil D's, Lee Fields...
, also in Williamsburg. Clay Wells Holley was recording engineer, and mixed the song with Szeflinski.
A Moveable Feast was released June 26, 2007 on Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.-Early history:Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his native Ireland, Prendergast moved to Hoboken in 1982 and started Pier Platters...
. Reviews of the album are collected on the band's official web site.
On September 28, 2009, The Sharp Things began recording their fourth album. Again produced by Szeflinski, the as-yet-untitled album is the band's first to be recorded at The Kennel Recording Studio in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a facility co-owned by Santo and current Sharp Things bassist James Pertusi, with whom Santo previously performed in Jenifer Convertible. Between July 23, 2010 and September 15, 2010, the band sponsored a Kickstarter fundraising drive that received more than $3,600 in pledges to fund the album's recording.
Discography
- Here Comes The Sharp Things November 2002 (Dive)
- Here Comes The Sharp Things June 2003 (Best Kept Secret)
- Here Comes The Sharp Things May 2004 (Setanta)
- Public Display of Affection: The Sound of Independent Radio August 2004 (Nettwerk)
- Foxes & Hounds May 2005 (Bar/None)
- A Moveable Feast June 2007 (Bar/None)
External links
- Official web site
- [ Allmusic review of "A Moveable Feast" by Margaret Reges]