Music
Press
By Frank De Blase on Jun. 25th, 2008 (City Newspaper)
As mild-mannered Mike James, he's skirted the big time with Longwave. He's sailed the seas of oddball pop with The Mercies, and now he has emerged from the House Of Guitars' dungeon as Mikey Jukebox. The demos that Jukebox has cut so far feature the man writing all the songs and playing all the instruments (work in a band long enough and you'll be tempted to do the same). His music is a perfect blend of where he's been, with Longwave's luxury and lush tempered with The Mercies' quirky pop sparkle. This is extraordinary stuff.
- City Newspaper
"Marcel Feldmar's review last issue of Rochester, NY's The Mercies tipped us to a band "somewhere between Death Cab For Cutie and The Shins," with further references to Marc Bolan and Elvis Costello. That band is already sayonara (joining forerunners The Blood and The Footage), but their leader, Mikey James (ex-Longwave), has morphed into the do-it-myself ("DIM?") Mikey Jukebox. Bill Racine, who did so much for Rogue Wave's first two LPs, produces this debut EP. And though three songs is too tiny a taste--an LP beckons this fall--the multi-influence of melodic rock history is unbowed. "Baby, Baby, Baby!" is stomping, post-glam, ELO-ish dancefloor rock, like Replacements covering Kiss; "Insatiable" bows to late '70s Eurodisco (after opening eerily like post-Generation X band Empire!), and "Together, Good Weather" is lighter fare, like Up R.E.M. A "jukebox" indeed--but a good one.
-Jack Rabid - The Big Takeover
New York City “It” man Mikey Jukebox is a one man band. It is an arrangement that, judging by his latest release, “Insatiable EP,” seems to be working just right for him. Before his three-song EP is finished, Jukebox will have you shaking to electronic dance music and then strutting to an upbeat sound that feels like it has been ripped straight from the 1980s and spiffed up for modern day consumption.
Sounds Like: Power pop, new wave, indie and electronic all rolled into one
Key Tracks: “Insatiable”
B
- Corinne
April 23, 2008 - pluginmusic.com
Discography
"Come On Along (single)"
-out 6-2010
"Mikey Jukebox" (full length)
-out 9-2010
Photos
Bio
You sometimes hear of a musician described as a �rock �n� roll lifer,� but few fit that idiom better than Rochester NY�s Mikey James. Literally: he�s been playing gigs since he was six (!), amassing a collection to die for of 2000 albums since. He�s toured the world as the drummer for respected New York City post-punk stars Longwave, for whom he wrote a few songs (and where he hung about with inspired period peers Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Strokes, White Stripes, Vines, Ok Go, Donnas, Walkmen, Flaming Lips, and Mercury Rev�not a bad life). He�s also launched a series of hard-hitting groups he�s fronted as guitarist and singer back in Rochester, going back to his first EP with The Blood nearly a decade ago, and another after his Longwave days with The Footage in 2005. These earlier forays culminated in his thoroughly infectious, punkish power-pop group The Mercies, whose self-titled LP produced by Bill Racine (Rogue Wave, Mates of State, Comas, etc.) garnered deserved favorable reviews last year. Quite a busy decade, indeed.
In fact, in an era where too many indie-pop groups sound like they�re merely pursuing a peer-approved lifestyle, one listen to James� estimable and growing catalog bears the heart of an artist who writes, sings, and makes music because he has to. Edgy melodic music is in his blood; there�s a beat, a tune, and a sound in his head at all times that must gain release, or, like the also prolific Robert Pollard, he will all but explode in creative expression looking for release. In short, James lives the music, and his energy, drive, and desire are products of that lifelong quest for a hook that won�t quit.
Which isn�t to say that James has no sense of fun, or is dourly po-faced. He just has a knack for a tune, that�s all. And his apparently boundless enthusiasm remains in no short supply, now that he has decided to strike out on his own as Mikey Jukebox, a one-man Brian Wilson, recording and playing everything himself (even piano). With nothing between him and his songcraft, he�s struck first with the Racine-produced Insatiable EP, and now follows on those heels with his upcoming Hello Dreamer! LP.
Inspired by his emancipation from the give and take of group dynamics, James uses that freedom on Hello Dreamer! to stretch out to encompass the greater totality of his lifelong passions� influences than ever before, from the �50s pop of the swingin� title track to classic �70s power-pop and glam, to the �60s R&B-like �Open Up Your Heart,� to even his pre-teen fixation with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack�see the white suit Bee Gees-channeling �Don't Stop ('Til the Kids "R" Dancin')"for a surprising change. And though many who have retreated alone in solo careers have gotten lost in the heightened sense of self-importance, what permeates Hello Dreamer! is not just the author�s multi-talents, but also his boundless sense of fun and unpretentious, exuberant pop music.
A mix of rollicking guitars, exhuberant textures, and snappy tunes is a combination that has never grown old, now has it? No, there�s no stopping him now. Who would want him to?
-Jack Rabid (The Big Takeover)
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