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Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra
Hilarious, twisted, sophisticated, schleppy and sad all at once…songs that take the mundane of life and twist it.” - NPR’s Weekend Edition
New York, NY - What smells like special and sounds like awesome?
Dubbed Best Lounge Act of 2009 by New York Magazine, Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra play a brand of uncategorizable folk/jazz/ country/lounge-lizardry that's drawn comparisons to the music of Leon Redbone, They Might Be Giants, Randy Newman and Tom Waits. They release their sophomore studio album HONKER on June 29, 2010. With melancholy wit and a cockeyed worldview, sepia-toned singer-songwriter Lipton and band-mates Eben Levy (guitar), Ian Riggs (bass) and Vito Dieterle (sax) deliver songs steeped in irreverent sincerity and soul.
Featuring guest vocals from Matt Berninger of THE NATIONAL and Cynthia Hopkins of GLORIA DELUXE, HONKER was funded entirely by fans around the world through funding platform Kickstarter, and continues Lipton’s unique gift of conveying thoughts and emotions most don’t want to admit.
Time Out NY affirms, “It’s always enjoyable when a singer-songwriter throws some humor into his misery."
"I'm worried about how the soul is doing, mine and other peoples,” says Ethan. “I'm worried about what the world is doing to the soul, how it's giving the soul a hard time. And I'm trying to give the soul a little comfort, a pat on the back, a reason to laugh at itself, or even just a clearer picture--a more compassionate explanation--of why, no matter how hard it tries, it's never going to win."
A fixture of the Downtown scene, Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra earned critical acclaim with their 2007 debut studio album MR. SOFTY, which was a staple on Vin Scelsa’s WFUV radio show. The fervent quartet has been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, sold out Joe’s Pub and performed at such magnanimous locales as the Prospect Park Bandshell (Celebrate Brooklyn), Bryant Park and the Camden Opera House. The band also contributed a memorable cover of “Corner Soul” to the Clash tribute album THE SANDINISTA PROJECT and performed five songs in The Shift, a feature film starring Portia De Rossi.
"We’re here to represent the half-empties of the world,” declares Ethan Lipton of his band, now entering its fifth year as a quartet. “We know there's some good news buried in all the bad, and we’re trying to dig it out and get it to the people who need it—on finger sandwiches of delight, if possible."
Join our email list and play on our website at www.ethanlipton.com.
“With his earnest brown suits, mournful eyes, and neat mustache, Ethan Lipton looks less like a silken-throated lounge lizard than he does a beaten-down ad salesman—an ordinary Joe singing gentle songs about everyday life.” - New York Magazine
“A sardonic voice that offers an unlikely kind of comfort against the vagaries of everyday life.” - Popmatters
"Ethan Lipton makes me want to hear everything he's ever done.” Orange County Register on the Clash's “Corner Soul,” off The Sandinista Project
“Tender, wise and occasionally hostile, Ethan’s like the tipsy uncle at the family reunion who spills the shameful family secrets—it's uncomfortable but hilarious, and everyone feels better once the truth is out.” - The New York Times Fall Preview, a quote from Matt Berninger
“Sad little songs packed full of absurdity.” - Fluxblog
“Big of schnozz, thick of moustache and dulcet of voice, Mr. Lipton croons unlikely urban haikus and wry ballads.” - New York Observer
“Instead of listing metaphors comparing Ethan Lipton to a Eucalyptus tree, or his music to a recently acquired dairy farm, I will instead list reasons why it is Ethan Lipton’s world, and you are paying the rent.” -
The Deli Magazine
"Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra are not your average band. They're not even your non-average band. They are out there. I'm talking past Pluto the non-planet out there. And that's a good thing. " -
Mainstream Isn’t So Bad
“Hysterical, poignant story-telling.” - Manchester Journal
