Thursday, August 2, 2007

‘KENNEDY FOR PRESIDENT’—THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM KENNEDY—NOW TO BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 25

Cordless Recordings--the label releasing KENNEDY FOR PRESIDENT, the debut album from KENNEDY, purveyor of a new genre of music called DirtyPop--has announced it is moving the CD’s release date from August 19 to September 25. This move will coincide with the album’s release in the U.K. via Atlantic Records on September 24. KENNEDY is already receiving a huge buzz in Britain, with The Guardian tapping him as “a fellow who looks like John Denver's sleazoid twin brother and who may be to clubbing what the Darkness are to metal.” View the complete article at:

The lineup: Jack Kennedy (vocals, gadgets, brass balls).

The background: Kennedy is the new nerd-narcissus of faux funk and ironic disco, although god help us if he's playing it straight, in which case, he is to clubbing what the Darkness are to metal. He looks like John Denver's sleazoid twin brother and wears a white flared jumpsuit, the sort Evel Knievel had clinging to his body when he negotiated the Grand Canyon on a rocket-bike. "My music will touch you... inappropriately," he warns. Karate, the opening track on his debut album Kennedy For President, borrows from Oliver Cheatham's Get Down Saturday Night, while Let It Out samples the same 70s classic as did Stardust's Music Sounds Better With You. There is eau de Weird Al Yankovic on this man's muse. He's even got a track, Oh Yeah, that is pure Glitterband stomp, and you can bet your bottom dollar he'd pay good money to be in the witness box saying nice things about The Artist Currently Doing Thai Porridge As Paul Gadd.

His forthcoming single, Your Mama, is not to be confused with another track from his debut album, Mama Made Me A Pimp, itself a supremely authentic, synthetic glitterball pastiche from an alternate universe where Moroder or Cerrone - one of those moustachioed boffin-genius disco types at the macho/gay interface - ranks above Dylan. Your Mama, about seducing MILFs (don't ask), is an internet sensation, apparently having been viewed over one million times on YouTube. Now, this may or may not be true, but the fact is the song could do a Groove Is In The Heart, Deee-Lite's 1990 camp club in-joke that became a bona fide worldwide smash. It's already been featured on YouTube's homepage - on Mother's Day! - was named one of iFilm's viral videos of the year and beat Timberlake, Fergie and OutKast in Fuse's Oven Fresh competition, so put that in your crackpipe and smoke it.

Born Jack Kennedy to a dad named John Wayne, this flared-pant funk geek is a raconteur and provocateur, although probably not a secateur, and equal parts Woody Allen, Mark Mothersbaugh and Dirk Diggler. After being booted out of US indie rockers Silversun Pickups for setting the singer's sweater on fire, he was invited to record with engineer Tom Biller (Kanye West, Sean Lennon) before being spotted by Gordon Raphael (the Strokes, Regina Spektor) while supporting Bloc Party in London. Two tracks were recorded in a day and the rest is, frankly, a mystery. Gregg Alexander (New Radicals. Sophie Ellis Bextor) discovered him in a café in Santa Monica and immediately flew him to London to record three tracks at Mayfair Studios with George Shilling (Blur, Primal Scream - names in brackets, we got 'em). Recently, he's become a favourite among LA's hipster cognoscenti, sharing the stage with Fiona Apple, Tenacious D and more. In 2007 he signed to WEA offshoot Cordless. His album Kennedy For President is to slow-ballin' what Ghandi was to the burger.

The buzz: "I once saw Kennedy play at Spaceland during his Maharishi, fire-eating, Diet-Red-Bull-and-Ketamine phase. He snorted PCP on stage off of some hipster's mesh trucker hat and then shot up cars in the parking lot!" - The Wall Street Journal.

The truth: All of the above is true, apart from the bit about Diet Red Bull - no way would he not go for the full sugar variety.

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