Friday Monkey House

• 1 10,000 Hours 03:38
• 2 Nine O'clock Friday 05:45
• 3 Shotgun 03:58
• 4 Welcome to the Rest of the World 05:05
• 5 Book of Liars 04:28
• 6 The Jazz Life 05:33
• 7 I'll Drive, You Chill 05:50
• 8 Say It for the Last Time 04:06
• 9 When the Mud Men Come 05:25
• 10 Because You 04:20
• 11 Brainyard 03:44
• 12 Island off the Coast of America 04:45
• Total Runtime 56:37

Info for Friday

Raffinierte Musikalität, einfallsreiche Texte und ein Gespür für Melodien sind Signaturen für den Sound von Monkey House, die der Band Anerkennung, Respekt und eine stetig wachsende internationale Fangemeinde eingebracht hat.

Diese Eigenschaften werden auf Friday wieder deutlich. Es ist die fünfte Veröffentlichung der LA / Toronto-Combo, die gerade ihr 25-jähriges Bestehen gefeiert hat. Diese seltene Langlebigkeit hat zu einem unschätzbaren Einfühlungsvermögen in die musikalischen Interaktionen der Kernmitglieder bestehend aus Sänger / Songwriter / Keyboarder Don Breithaupt, Schlagzeuger Mark Kelso, Bassist Pat Kilbride und Gitarrist Justin Abedin geführt.

Zu den prominenten Mitwirkenden zählen auch die Elite-Bläser von Toronto, William Sperandei, Vern Dorge, John Johnson, William Carn und Tony Carlucci sowie der Perkussionist Art Avalos.

Das Album klingt zusammenhängend und bietet genug musikalische Wendungen, um die Dinge interessant zu halten. Einige Songs zeigen den Einfluss aus den 80er Jahren von Bands wie The Police und XTC. Dennoch klingt es immer noch nach Monkey House, aber es macht Spaß, jedes Mal ein paar zusätzliche Zutaten einzurühren und zu sehen, wie sie sich mischen.

Gastmusiker: Wie es bei Monkey House-Alben mittlerweile üblich ist, sind einige bemerkenswerte Gäste enthalten: Der Gitarrist Drew Zingg (Boz Scaggs) und der Trompeter Michael Leonhart (Steely Dan) und leisten hier geschmackvolle Beiträge, ebenso wie François D'Amours (Gino Vannelli) und Snarky Puppy Gitarrist Mark Lettieri. Die Sängerin Lucy Woodward (Rod Stewart) fügt durchgehend Background-Vocals hinzu, während das Vokalquartett The Manhattan Transfer den Refrains von »The Jazz Life« ihren Zauber verleiht.

Don Breithaupt, keyboards
Justin Abedin, guitar
Pat Kilbride, bass
Peter Cardinali, bass
Mark Kelso, drums
William Carn, horns
John Johnson, horns
Perry White, horns
Christian Overton, horns
Vern Dorge, horns
Michael Leonhart, trumpet
William Sperandei, trumpet
Donny McCaslin, saxophone
Elliott Randall, guitar
Drew Zingg, guitar
David Blamires, vocals
Lucy Woodward, vocals

Monkey House (Don Breithaupt)
is perhaps best known for composing the music for the animated series 6teen with Anthony Vanderburgh. In 2009, the duo won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for their theme to this series. Since 2007, they've won three SOCAN Awards, two for Domestic Animated Television Series music and one for International Television Series music. They're currently working on the animated series Sidekick, which airs on YTV. Breithaupt has also composed original themes and/or scores for HGTV’s Home to Keep, Fresh TV’s Really Me!, CBC’s Disability Network and TVO’s Benjamin’s Farm.

Breithaupt also composes songs with his brother Jeff, which are featured in their revue, The Breithaupt Brothers Songbook, which has regular performances in New York. He's the current keyboard player for the Kim Mitchell Band, and he tours with Rik Emmett and Sass Jordan. In addition, Breithaupt leads his own group Monkey House, who have released two well-received albums with strong airplay, and have just finished recording a new one, Headquarters, to be released in early 2012. The band makes melodic pop with a sophisticated, jazzy twist, clearly influenced by Steely Dan.

In fact Breithaupt is the author of Steely Dan’s Aja, Vol. 46 of Continuum Publishing’s 33-1/3 series of books about albums. His previous books include Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early '70s and Night Moves: Pop Music in the Late '70s. He received his musical education at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and his literary education at Queen's University in Kingston. He has written extensively on music and film, most often for The National Post.

As a songwriter, Breithaupt has had his work covered by such artists as Alfie Zappacosta, Marc Jordan, Dione Taylor, Sarah Slean, Denzal Sinclaire, Patricia O'Callaghan, and Chris Smith, and he's currently co-writing new material with Rik Emmett, Kim Mitchell and Wendy Lands.

Booklet for Friday