Last night I experienced disco rapture by having the pleasure of witnessing live for the first time the 17 piece line up one of my favorite contemporary disco bands Escort. I have been loving them ever since they released "Starlight" in 2006 and on to getting every release to date and yes, I was in the front row during yesterday's performance at Williamsburg's Brooklyn Bowl. I knew I was in for a treat upon reading the sticker on their drum set that read: "drum machines have no soul". This amazing Brooklyn band was founded by Dan Balis and Eugene Cho featuring lead singer/songwriter Adeline Michele whose voice is a delightful cross between Jody Watley (Shalamar era) and Nona Hendrix. The girl can sing and dance and sure knows how to camp it up while working the crowd along with backup singers Joy Dragland, Karlie Bruce and Angelica Allen. As the story goes, Escort started during the early 2000's as a studio project with Dan and Eugene experimenting with house and the yearning to make original records in the spirit of the old ones they were sampling during college. Their self titled full LP released this year succeeds cleverly in encapsulating the full spectrum of late '70s disco from the campy to the early high energy and even some the elements of disco that carried over early house music. Despite being a self-proclaimed disco band, their sound doesn't feel old and feel quite relevant with the Dj's and listeners today. Their live set was full of nice surprises and they are not afraid to do covers by doing an amazing rendition of Machine's "There For The Grace of God Go I" and Gino Soccio's epic "Dancer". Overall I'm very excited for Escort and wish them more success. Here are two of my two new favorite among the many from their recent release. Enjoy
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| Escort performing live at Williamsburg Brooklyn Bowl. |
