Baby Dayliner

THE CONCEPT:
Brooklyn's Baby Dayliner is upbeat, joyous, earnest, and romantic, all at once. He combines Leonard Cohen's songcraft, the electronic pulse of New Order, and the jiggy performance style of Al Green. He's also been compared to Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie, James Brown, Tom Jones, The Smiths, Daft Punk, and Stephin Merritt's Magnetic Fields -- influences which he gratefully cites alongside the classical and jazz of his formal musical training, and the street sounds he absorbed while growing up in New York City.

Imagine wooshing and plinging synths, trip-the-light fantastic pianos, catchy beats, highly literate lyrics, and the low tones of one man's melodic voice. We're calling him a 21st century Frank Sinatra.

THE ACT:
Baby Dayliner is first and foremost a performer. He does a one-man karaoke kind of thing a la FischerSpooner or Har Mar Superstar, gyrating along to his pre-recorded electronic/organic songs -- accompanied on stage only by a mysterious, antique suitcase. Unlike the Electroclash crew, however, "the act" is earnest, romantic, and highly musical -- even if he moves like Elvis and looks a bit like Kevin Bacon. He refers to his stage show as "cabaret."

Brassland's latest signing came to the label's attention in part via The National, who are avid fans of his New York performances. Over the past two years he has developed an intense cult fanbase, and now draws hundreds to his monthly gigs at clubs like Mercury Lounge and Luxx and bigger rooms such as the Bowery Ballroom. In March, he'll be doing his first European shows. In 2004, Baby Dayliner plans to take "the act" on the road. Extensively.

THE NAMEDROPPING:
Make note that Baby Dayliner has shared the stage with performers such as The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Stills, The Realistics, The National, Metric, Rasputina, Wesley Willis, MC Paul Barman, Quintron, and Rene Risque. He is childhood friends with the rap producer Blockhead. Previous credits include mixing and co-production on "Music by Cavelight," an album of Blockhead instrumentals to be released on Ninja Tune Records in March 2004, and "Party Fun Action Committee," a parody album released on Def Jux.