Sex Mob

When Steven Bernstein, Briggan Krauss, Tony Scherr, and Kenny Wollesen rolled together their multiplicitous talents, a duplicitous team was in the making. Their main commitment: "to bring the sexy thing back into instrumental music." Steven Bernstein is one of the best-known figures on the Downtown New York scene, from his work as music director of John Lurie's band the Lounge Lizards, and as co-leader of the trio Spanish Fly. In addition to his work in bands and ensembles, Bernstein has filled his rTsumT with significant extracurriculars: he has arranged for the Academy Award-nominated score to the film "Get Shorty" as well as Robert Altman's history-drenched "Kansas City." Bernstein describes Sex Mob as "the workingest band in New York no one has ever heard of." In Sex Mob, Bernstein has assembled a band of equally eclectic and impressive players. Alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss has, in a few short years in New York, become one of the most in-demand young players in town, and has recorded two albums with his band Good Kitty and current project with Wayne Horvitz and Kenny Wollenson, "300." Bassist Tony Scherr, Bernstein's bandmate in the Lounge Lizards, played with Woody Herman while still a teenager, and has since performed and recorded with such artists as Maria Schneider and Sophie B. Hawkins. Drummer Kenny Wollesen is one of the busiest drummers in New York; a founding member of the New Klezmer Trio, Wollesen has played with John Zorn, Tom Waits, Madeleine Peyroux, Sean Lennon, and countless downtown ensembles. Featured guests on Din of Iniquity include organist John Medeski of the outrageously popular Medeski Martin & Wood, Tracy Chapman guitarist Adam Levy, and guitarist London McDaniels, who has previously worked with Duff McKagan of Guns 'n' Roses. Sex Mob covers songs from Prince to Sly and the Family Stone, from the Beatles to Smashing Pumpkins. Din of Iniquity mixes five Bernstein originals with such familiar hits as "Goldfinger," Prince's "Sign o' the Times," "Been It" by the Cardigans, "House of the Rising Sun" and even the "Macarena." Sex Mob delivers a smart, fun, musical orgy for the masses.