Posts tagged Jay Crossley

First there was Elvis.  Then Cher.  Then Prince.  Then Madonna.  Then Janet (Ms. Jackson if yr nasty).  Then Beyonce. And now finally, our own local scene has its own one named diva of up to the moment pop overproduction:  Jay.    Jay’s music is a combination of late-era LA Ried fused over the funkiest R&Midi-B Tommy Two Tone ever had the genius to compose.  Massively overgated snars, big ass hooks with lyrics that reference big asses and enough new dance grooves to send you back to the store searching for dat dutty wine.  FREAK MODE IS HIS STYLE!

Ok, so really not at all.  Superstar friend of the Skyline Jay Crossley (Woozyhelmet), as was previously noted, won one of those Anthony Foundation Grants, giving him the opportunity to record with legendary producer Frank Davis and his epic cohort Jerry Page.  And though the mixing was wrapped only weeks ago, it will already be available as part of a limited hand-crafted batch at the CD show Thursday at Walters Rudyard’s.  In the future, it will be coming out on other formats, including 7″, which we dig.  The show itself is somewhat of a fund-raiser to underwrite the venue cost for a number of shows Jay is helping put on during SXSW (part of the absolute TORRENT of H-Town related events carting their way up to the 512 this March.  More on that soon).

Shameless plug disclaimer: Our own ADR played bass on four of the songs on this record, which is why we can, unfortunately, never review it.  However, that should not take away from the fact that it’s a weird ball of wonderful sweaty beauty that makes us want to fall in love.  again.

Jay Crossley, left, in the studio recording with friends. Photo by Steph Wittels

HOLLA! There are two truths in this world: Even numbered Star Trek movies are superior, and odd years are better than even years. As part of our pledge to keep this fact facty, we’re presenting a new occasional series here at The Skyline Network called IN THE STUDIO, wherein we interview folks that are in the midst of, or have recently completed some recording work. For the inaugural edition, we are pleased to present a conversation with Mr. Jay Crossley (Woozyhelmet).

Jay was the recipient of an Anthony Foundation grant, which gave him the opportunity to record with renowned producer Frank Davis, known for his work with the 13th Floor Elevators and Mayo Thompson. There is little restriction on how he uses the grant, in terms of time, and at one point during the recording process, he invited a large number of friends in the studio to contribute to songs they had generally not heard previously (see photo above, and for a little context for when he mentions it in our conversation, below).

We caught up with Jay as he and his lovely lady Emily were standing in the National Mall waiting for yesterday’s inauguration.

PS: Jay is an old friend of the Skyline and he asked our own ADR to play bass on a few tracks, which he tells the rest of us was “totally dashekii saddle good times” and would do it again in spite of the massive conflict of interest in subsequently writing about it. Don’t worry, we’ll outsource the record review to India.)