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Yazbek Hailed: "Sulfurous and Often Despairing" "Edgy and Inventive" "Unusually Good"

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David Yazbek
Journalists have spent time with David Yazbek's complex pop-rock CD 'Evil Monkey Man,' and have come to appreciate the darkness beneath the album's deceptively catchy melodies. The New York Times, in an interview preview, described the music as “Sulfurous and often despairing...," adding: “What's no shock is that emotion doesn't capsize his craft. The words may be about the inevitability of decay, but the grooves include mellow bossa novas and uptempo blues. And he still has the wit to rhyme “soldiers" with “Folgers."

The New Yorker praised Yazbek's “Edgy and inventive pop," and AllMusic noted: “The titles, including “Monkey Baby Hanging on Chicken Wire" and “Bazooka Joe," hint at Yazbek's absurd outlook. He mixes up the arrangements, too, combining elements of jazz, rock, and pop, and keeping the overall soundscape intriguing."



The NY Post, in an interview feature, raved that the CD is “full of pop-rock hooks and quirky, occasionally harrowing lyrics. Look no further than “Monkey Baby Hanging on Chicken Wire," inspired by the ghastly experiments on Capuchin monkeys in the '50s..." Time Out NY buzzed: “Sporting influences ranging from XTC's Andy Partridge to old- school Broadway tunester Frank Loesser, Yazbek's music is full of bouncy riffs and hooks, as well as his trademark nasty-naughty sense of humor...," and The Journal News noted: “But what he can do is write songs, and the feelings come pouring out in tracks like the lilting “Terrible Thing" and the forlorn “Steps of Another Man's House" sounding like an extrapolation of the Sermon on the Mount."

Recently featured on AP RADIO and SIRIUS RADIO, and soon to be heard on STUDIO 360 with KURT ANDERSEN, David Yazbek juxtaposes themes of sadness and personal loss with inventive lyrics and catchy melodies that in many cases disguise the serious nature of the songs on 'Evil Monkey Man.' The CD will be released 2/26 on Ghostlight Records.

Those seeking an obvious stylistic thread may be confounded upon first listen to the music - but a keen ear will reveal a tormented protagonist, wrestling with anguish and loneliness, despite his overt irreverence. Mortality emerges as a consistent theme, as Yazbek comments: “These songs come out of a tumultuous time in my life when I experienced a personal loss and I touched some real darkness. That said, I can't help but find things funny, so there's a lot of gallows humor and regular old humor in these songs. But they're deadly serious and the place they come from is real."





About David Yazbek: Yazbek is an acclaimed writer, a two-time TONY Award nominee (for The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,) EMMY Award winner (for comedy writing on Late Night with David Letterman,) GRAMMY-nominated record producer, and more. Much in the way that trendsetting artists such as Elvis Costello have managed to simultaneously embrace and defy conventional labels, Yazbek has shifted from rock to more 'theatrical' music, and back again, throughout his storied career. With the release of 'Evil Monkey Man', he adds a level of raw emotion to the mix: “The anger and sadness and hysteria came out naturally. And the humor was revealed for what humor always is at bottom-- a way to survive it all."

A series of U.S. Tour dates are in the planning stages for Spring '08. Additional details will be announced soon.

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