Check out a new feature I am going to start doing. I get way too many submissions to ever, ever listen to them all. It takes me all day just to answer my emails! So, I thought I would send out some of the stuff I get to some friends and let them tell you what they think. Or you can just ignore this whole post and just download the song and decide for yourself…

The New Rags - Your Room - MP3

They Said:

The New Rags reissue Take Jennie To Brooklyn EP: May 1, 2007!

New York City, Jersey City, and Brooklyn - The New Rags, a Fender Rhodes and drums stride piano-based garage-pop duo, is reissuing its Take Jennie To Brooklyn EP (previously only available locally) on Silent Stereo Records, their label devoted to the purity of analog recordings and the de-sterilization of the digital recording era. The New Rags have found recent success following prominent placement in an Australian Nike commercial featuring a DJ Z-Trip remix of the duo’s Japanese hit, “Your Room”.

Take a ragtime loving Scott Joplin disciple and a multi-talented musician and songwriter in the style of Brian Wilson and put them in a room with Fender Rhodes piano and a drum kit. The result is The New Rags, the world’s only pop-rock-ragtime duo. Tom Merrigan and Andrew Pierce bring their distinctive musical talents to a band that sounds like no other-stride piano playing, agile drumming, and enduring pop melodies. The New Rags have astounded crowds at such New York hotspots as Piano’s and Sin-e, while making instant fans of bands they have opened for - The Dansettes (which feature Pierce on drums), Locksley, and God As My Co-pilot.

The New Rags’ first EP, Take Jennie to Brooklyn, re-releasing on Silent Stereo Records, captures all the manic pop energy of Tom and Andrew’s music. This six song musical joyride starts off with The New Rags signature crowd pleaser, “Your Room,” blasts through the gritty East Coast surf sound of “Surf the Seven Seas,” and closes with the rich sound-scape of “Love of My Life.” Listen to The New Rags and experience something truly different and new in pop music.

The EP is truly an embodiment of the Silent Stereo philosophy:

The Beatles recorded on a four track tape machine. The Beach Boys’ albums were in mono. Led Zeppelin only used three mics to record the drums on its first record. The recordings of the greatest bands are vibrant and alive–you can hear all sorts of mistakes and background noises. But the emergence of digital recording technology has resulted in an increasing sterilization of music. No longer do you hear pure, raw vocals like those of Elvis or Otis. And there are no more bass drum pedal squeaks, or flubbed notes, or any other of those tiny little things that make music real. The major labels have contributed to this sterilization by putting out ever more slickly produced rock albums which are ironically devoid of everything rock and roll should be. Consider that if Keith Moon were alive today, no major producer would let him do his thing. Silent Stereo Records is committed to bringing the integrity back to modern music recordings. Silent Stereo artists recognize the preeminence of feeling and soul in music and refuse any digital enhancement of their music.

Recently, a DJ Z-Trip-remixed version of the New Rags’ “Your Room” has found its way into an international ad campaign for Nike, run primarily thoughout Oceania and the Pacific Rim.

What Others Are Saying…

“This six-song EP seems to take the best of The Black Keys, Death From Above 1979 and the White Stripes - maximizing the best of two musicians…Piano and drums is what makes this interesting judging by the groove-riddled “Your Room” that soars on the chorus into a great vibe that hits you in the gut.” -Popmatters

Band website: http://www.thenewrags.com
Label website: http://www.silentstereorecords.com

What Galen Gower Said:

This is modern pop’s answer to the rap anthem; instant comparisons include Beck, The White Stripes, and maybe a little of The Rosebuds thrown in, too. I can’t speak for the rest of their EP, but this particular song sounds bred for advertising use. Measuring in at just over a minute and a half of catchy, simple rhythms, it’s the kind of gem that makes marketing guys’ mouths water. It’s got the raw, “we-just-threw-this-together-in-the-garage-a-couple-minutes-ago” quality that makes you hate yourself a little after you realize you’re dancing… to a commercial for a cell phone. Maybe this is indicative of a trend I’m as of yet unaware of, but I thought rock music used to have lyrics? There are two whole lines in this song, and while cleverly crafted and surely thoughtfully penned, they left me wanting for a little more in the way of substance and authorship. I blame the Internet; we’re slowly reaching the saturation point with instant gratification and our popular music reflects it. This is almost the musical equivalent of musical pornography: simple, shallow, and fun to listen to, even if you do feel guilty later.

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