MP3 J. Ted Potter - Straight Jacket Escapes

Eclectic smart-pop with folk, electronica, and a little ska & punk influences thrown in. Strong melodies and witty, literate lyrics overtop everything from soulful acoustic guitar to lush epics. And stuff.

20 MP3 Songs
POP: Folky Pop, POP: Power Pop



Details:
The coolest radio station I've ever heard is WBER out of Rochester, NY. I guess they're a kind of rarity in the U.S., since they play a very eclectic but inspiring and extremely listenable mix of alterna-acoustic, electronic, power-pop, and rap-metal, along with the more obscure & tasty nuggets from the 80's.

I think I've been listening so long, they've altered my DNA or something, since Straightjacket Escapes is a slightly mellowed version of that eclectic mix. It's like a music smoothie, blended with love for you to ensure you get your full-day's supply of Crowded House, Ben Folds, and Barenaked Ladies, with acoustic guitar flavor crystals thrown in for good measure. My boss said to me "I haven't heard that many keyboards since the 70's". Refreshing concept, isn't it?

If you don't go away humming the tune to 3 or 4 of these tunes, while still going either "huh?" or "nifty!" over the lyrics, well then, my friend, I'm simply not doing my job. Either that or YOU JUST DON'T GET MY ART, YOU CRETIN! (Ahem. Sorry, got a little crazy there.) Plus, let's say you don't like my voice. Well, there's a couple of guest vocals by some friends of mine. And they're good, too. Running out of reasons to not buy the CD, right? I thought so. All the tracks are good, but check out Distant Early Warning, Nothing, and Trees. A friend of mine said they were the most amazing tracks on the album, but I was treating him to lunch at the time, so you'd best check it out for yourself, just to be safe.

All CD purchases come with either 1) a calico cat, 2) me coming to your house and giving every member of your fam a warm hug, or 3) an answer to any geography question you can come up with. Your choice.