The trip-hop outfit Wax Poetic may be just another blip on the map of the New York City music scene, but hell if its members don’t have friends in high places.
The six-year-old band formed by multi-instrumentalist Ilhan Ersahin is set to release its second album, Nublu Sessions (Ultra), on Feb. 10. It should make more waves than the group’s first, eponymous effort (on Atlantic), due to contributions from guest musicians and friends singer N’Dea Davenport, poet Saul Williams and-the kicker-superstar singer Norah Jones (pictured).
If you’re wondering what Jones, who is known for her country-ish, jazz-ish pop, is doing hanging around with a bunch of trip-hoppers, well, she’s saying “thank you” to them.
Landing in the Apple from her Texas homeland in 1997, Jones immediately began singing with the boys in Wax Poetic, beginning a musical kinship that still exists today, in spite of her massive fame and Wax Poetic’s relative non-fame. Jones performed with Wax Poetic all over New York for over a year before embarking on her solo career.
Jones renewed her musical bond with Wax Poetic by recording two of the songs she sang with the group back in the day: “Tell Me” and “Angels.”
She can’t spend much time with Wax Poetic, though. She has a sophomore album of her own to make. But the Waxies, who in addition to Ersahin include drummer Jochen Rueckert, bassist Jesse Murphy and guitarist Thor Madsen, have a new singer, Marla Tucker, who sings on five of Nublu Sessions‘ tracks. The band plays all the time at Ersahin’s downtown NYC club, Nublu, which has become a hotbed in the NYC DJ community.
For more information on Wax Poetic and to stream the song “Angels” for your listening pleasure, visit waxpoetic.net
Nublu Sessions track list:
1. Tell Me (feat. Norah Jones)
2. Girl
3. Flight in Dub (feat. U Roy)
4. Angels (feat. Norah Jones)
5. Oriental Wind
6. Brazilian Girls – Om
7. Sea Grass (feat. N’Dea Davenport)
8. Time (feat. Saul Williams)
9. Della (feat. Marla Turner)
10. Dreamin
11. Life
12. Love (feat. Marla Turner)
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