J.VIEWZ LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE— 11/6.

Catch J.Viewz friday night live at the Blue Note Jazz Club.  Below is a review of J.Viewz Halloween performance:

 

Last Friday night (Oct. 30th), I attended what was entitled as the Depeche Mode Halloween Extravaganza.  I really had no idea what to expect.  Was it going to be all 80s and 90s Halloween-themed music?  Several versions of Depeche Mode music with creaking doors and Vincent Price laughter thrown in?

 

When the first act went on, I was a bit worried that my suspicions were correct.  A band by the name of X: THC started the bill, with a man and a woman dressed in floor-length white garbs.  The male was the lead vocalist and struck me as a very toned-down David Bowie while the female band member accompanied him on the guitar, keys and acoustic interchangeably.  The whole set was performed with electronic music pumping in the background and a video projecting on a screen behind them.  The drummer who was almost entirely behind the screen, provided energetic rhythms to keep a dance vibe underneath the otherwise trippy, mellow music.  Overall, the show was enjoyable and artistically executed down to the last detail.  I was interested enough to stay through the set, but decided to leave and come back for the group I was originally there to see:  J.Viewz.

 

Returning at 11pm, I arrived just as J.Viewz was starting their second song.  Already, I noted the change in the audience and the energy in the room.  These guys knew how to get a party started!  With Noa Lembersky as the firey redhead at front stage center, she provided a captivating jazz vocal treatment of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” (the band’s current single off their Besides EP) which included a bright trumpet solo by the tall, dreadlocked Urijah.  Adding to the electic image of the group was the band’s frontman Jonathan Dagan who—dressed in khakis and a sweater vest—provided an energy all his own with vocals, electric guitar and turntables mixed in the various songs.  Accompanied by lively, incessant drums (Eran Asias) and the mystery man in the shopping bag mask on keys (Daniel Koren), the band kept the audience dancing their whole set, which ended with with a reggae tune “When Silent It Speaks”.  Urijah took the lead vocals this time, rounding off the night with a bit of Caribbean rap.  J.Viewz is a group of solid musicians with an amazing repertoire of jazz, funk, soul, reggae and trance that can keep crowds of people dancing all night.

 

J.Viewz is performing a longer set this Friday night (Nov. 6th) at Blue Note in the West Village at 12:30am.  I would highly recommend seeing them. They are definitely worth staying up late to watch!