MP3 Julian Velard - Make Me Feel

A Singer/Songwriter blending Rock, Pop and Jazz with a one-of-a-kind Voice. Praised by the New Yorker, LA Weekly, Village Voice, and Philadelphia Inquirer as one of the hottest young acts to hit NYC's Club Scene in years.

8 MP3 Songs
POP: Piano, ROCK: Folk Rock



Details:
Kids, Landmines, Dinner Plates, The Boogieman, What you left behind the couch - These are the things that concern Julian Velard. A twenty-five year old songwriter with a mish-mosh of influences from Jazz to Rock, Soul to Tin Pan Alley, making music that is uniquely Pop and entirely his own.

Son of a French ATM Designer and Queen-Sized L'eggs Model, Velard was born and raised in New York City. His first job was delivering videos to the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Marc Cohn. It was during these after school hours that Velard got his education. Criss-crossing sidewalks, a Walkman was his constant companion, blasting everything from Songs In The Key Of Life, to Tumbleweed Connection, to Outlandos D'Amour, to Abbey Road through 5-dollar headphones

College brought exploration - Miles, Mingus, Trane, and more Beatles. Here the songwriter inside was free to play, indulging in the artist-like behavior that girlfriends know too well. After holing up in a practice room all night with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of Yoo-Hoo, Velard wrote his first song: An ode to the TV show Pee-Wee's Playhouse. It wasn't long before his gaze turned inward, penning tales of heartbreak and the other injustices of being nineteen.

Armed with a batch of tunes and curly hair, Velard finished school and returned to New York City, looking to make his mark. There were left turns along the way - teaching Gym to Kindergartens in Brooklyn, a stint at the Paris Department of Sanitation. But soon it became clear he wasn't like all the other musicians at the open mics and late night blues jams. His lyrics were warm, endearing yet self-critical, with melodies that made you think, "Why can't I write that." I mean, this guy had songs.

Without a doubt, what hooked you instantly was his voice: A whisky baritone equal parts living room and bedroom, a one-of-a-kind blend of Rock and Jazz and Folk. Comparisons were drawn all over the map - Tom Waits to Tom Jones, Van Morrison to Jim Morrison, even Harry Connick and Lou Rawls.

Fast forward three years later, Velard plays the best venues in NYC (Joe's Pub, Living Room, Mercury Lounge), Boston (Paradise Lounge, Lizard Lounge) and Philadelphia (Chris' Café), receives praise from critics regularly (The New Yorker, Village Voice, LA Weekly, Philadelphia Inquirer), and tours Colleges up and down the East Coast. He's developed a die-hard following of fans, the type of people concerned with those all-too-important things: Kids, Landmines, Dinner Plates, The Boogieman, What you left behind the couch.

Make Me Feel is a live recording of Velard's original band doing what they do best - taking quirky pop tunes to new heights of improvisation. A highlight of the disc is the 7-minute version of the Michael Jackson tune - "The Way You Make Me Feel".