Gregg Yeti & The Best Lights: Laughter Be Your Slave

Posted by Charles Stepczyk on Mar 19, 2010 in IR: Daily Dose | 160350 comments2010-03-19+14%3A00%3A52Charles+Stepczyk

On Monday we presented you with a great track called Yeti, and since its Friday we thought we’d sandwich in the wintery cryptic named cousin who they might have been singing about: GREGG YETI & THE BEST LIGHTS:

From underground ‘zine publisher and promoter, to musician, to running his own record label, Gregg Yeti has been a fixture in the Syracuse, NY music scene since the mid-90s. It’s only over the past few years that he began performing solo, however, primarily a result of the 2002 breakup of his former band The Flashing Astonishers (New Red Archives/Substandard).

Had you visited Gregg’s myspace page shortly after FA’s demise, you’d have seen the following self-penned description of his new project: “Gregg Yeti plays all of the instruments on his recordings, writes and sings the lyrics and music, records it all at home on his ancient PC, produces and reproduces the releases, arranges the cover art, and lives the d.i.y. ethic because he trusts no one to ever do anything right.”

Gregg did eventually entrust a few friends to help piece together his first proper full-length release (which is a culmination of work from his earlier EPs along with a few new gems), namely Shawn Stoyle (Gracer, Sleepaway) on drums for four tracks, and most notably Jessica Rudy on lead & backing vocals. Rudy sings on the epic opener “Deal With You Perfect” with Syracuse friends Ashley Cox & Lisa Romano, and she leads with her lilting voice on the tragic “Half On The Way” (a song originally written by the great Massachusetts songwriter Jesse Sterling Harrison) and the airy “Colonize Your Eyes.” “I love women’s voices and I fully intend to include them whenever I can, even if it means giving up the singing spotlight,” he says.

A compilation of Gregg Yeti’s earlier EPs is planned for later this year, to be called Wonder Buckets.