Citay is one band of many sounds. It is also the brain child of one Ezra Feinberg. Here, Ezra shares the inspirations behind the fusion of sounds that make up Citay, how one U2 cover utterly changed his life and why the NYC scene is easier to appreciate for him now that he's a San Francisco resident. To hear songs by Citay, check out their Myspace page here. Citay's album Little Kingdom happens to be both fantastic and available at Amoeba Music.


Miss Ess: How did you develop the sound of Citay? It sounds like many elements coming together seamlessly -- did you consciously bring together different sounds and influences, or is Citay more of an amalgamation of sounds you hear in your head, or something else entirely?

Ezra: Well I started by layering acoustic guitar chords in open tunings with harmonized electric guitar leads. I wanted it to have elements of spacier acoustic music with elements of heavier rock in the way that a lot of acid rock and early heavy metal bands did in the early 70s. But I'm really into vocal harmonies and pop songs, so I added those and it gave it an airier feel. I just started putting these elements together and the songs took on structure as I worked them through. I started working on Citay in the summer of 2004 and it's the same writing process now. I definitely think Citay is an amalgamation of sounds I hear in my head. It's basically my favorite aspects of my favorite music rolled into a new song.

        

It was a Bay Area weekend in New York with a bunch of different artists from the Bay Area in New York City over the weekend each doing their thing (Bay recognize Bay mayn).  These included the 30 member San Francisco Leonard Cohen-covering men's choir the Conspiracy of Beards who literally took Manhattan (as well as other parts of the area) as they blew everyone away during their six-gigs in two days.

These half a dozen shows included performances at  the Bowery Poetry Club, the Highline Ballroom,  Grumpy's Cafe in Greenpoint, the Box,  and on the air at both WFMU and at Neighborhood Public Radio's (NPR) interactive installation part of the Whitney Biennial 2008.   Part of their NPR (coincidentally another Bay Area artist outfit in New York & who were recently profiled here on the Amoeblog) concert/broadcast included all 30 members (as pictured above) singing both inside and outside the sidewalk of Madision Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where they did a moving rendition of none other than Leonard  Cohen's beautiful song "First We Talk Manhattan."


Other Bay Area peeps in the Big Apple over the weekend included the mash-up party DJ/promoters Mysterious D (pitcured below) and Adrian from Bootie SF (profiled here on the Amoeblog last year) in town for their monthly Bootie NYC party at the Vault (an annex of the club Element) in downtown Manhattan on Friday. That same night a few blocks away at the Cake Shop the the amazing SF rock group Citay, who had driven up from a gig in Philly the night before after being at SxSW the week before, were in the New York area Friday and Saturday  doing a  few gigs including one on WFMU (on Bay Area transplant Liz Berg's great weekly show) and one at the Lower East Side club (as pictured above in the low-ceilinged basement performance space) in which they won over everyone in the house with their rich, crisp and clean sound and perfect mix that highlighted their vocals and layers of guitar.  Also over the weekend longtime Bay Area DJ Spun, who actually lives in New York these days, was representing Rong Music and spinning at both APT and Easy Lover Loft.

Miss Leah
Cashier Manager
3 Years Employment

ME: Hi Leah.  So, what music was playing around your house when you were a kid and before you had a choice?

L.B.: The Beatles.

Which albums?

I don't remember any specific one, just kind of all of them.

Do you remember a song or artist in particular that you really attached to and that became an obsession when you were a kid?

There wasn't really any particular artist but there are songs I always remember hearing and I associate with be a kid, two specifically:  One was a Supertramp song and one was "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty.

Wow, I have no idea what that is.

You probably would if you heard it.

Do you remember the first show you ever went to?

The first show I went to was REM when I was in 8th grade, the first like bigger show.  It was in Worcester, Mass.  I can't remember who they played with-- I think it was the Indigo Girls!

I just interviewed Sabrina, who is also from Boston, and I asked her about the scene.  What is your take on the scene and what are/were your favorite bands from there?

Well, when I was in high school a lot of my friends were in local hardcore bands and that scene at the time (like the early 90s) was totally fun.  It was a good time in Boston.  Lots of good times, good energy and at the time we thought it was good music.  Lots of kids were straight edge then and they weren't like preachy about it.  A lot of the bands I liked when I was in high school broke up cause they were local bands and they went to college and got into different things.  I would go to tons of shows and they weren't all hardcore shows, like I saw lots of "alternative" rock shows at the Orpheum.  It's kind of like the Warfield but more decrepit.  They closed it down for a while, so when Sabrina started going it was a totally different generation of shows there.  I saw the Sugarcubes and Sonic Youth there and stuff like that.