El Jezel

One of our latest discoveries, now that the move has been made from the urban core and compartment/apartment life of downtown Cincinnati, to the quiet, tree lined streets of Norwood, is that of not having to hover over our laptops for music listening purposes. A quick new setup enables us to drink spirits outside and do yard work while listening to music. Do the neighbors like it? Who knows, but today's featured artist was a great way to spend one of our first evenings outdoors. El Jezel is a shoegaze-influenced three piece consisting of members George Flanagan (guitar, vocals), Jessica Flanagan (bass, vocals) and Dan Killoren (drums) from Astoria (Queens), New York. To start things off, we randomly decided to feature track number one from the brand new full length release The Warm Frequency. I think you will find Glow to be a good representation of what to expect from the new album, and an introduction to the music we have been enjoying.

MP3: Glow



Believe it or not, my initial thoughts when listening to the first seconds of that track instantly directed my brain towards some of the later material from The Afghan Whigs, but those old memories quickly faded as the band's solid, and equally delightful, personality invaded our ears. Some of the other songs have a decided Yo La Tengo feel, especially when George takes on vocal duties... and that is not a bad thing by any stretch. Here are a couple of songs, one of which is a Breeders cover, that belong to the 2008-released Champagne & Cold Coffee EP. These are really nice.

MP3: Champagne and Cold Coffee
MP3: Do You Love Me Now? (Breeders cover)

Not that we can imagine it, but if the lead song of the EP were not enough, here is an excellent YouTube version of the video for Champagne & Cold Coffee.



The next live performance will take place Thursday, July 17 at neighboring Brooklyn, New York venue Club Europa and more music can be heard/downloaded from the El Jezel website as well as the compulsory El Jezel MySpace page. As a final bonus, the following track, titled Michigan, features George Flanagan on vocals from the Spring 2006 full length release Elements Of Being Put Together. If you didn't get my earlier YLT reference, just listen to this... Lovely.

MP3: Michigan