The New Standards

The New Standards are an American group built up of John Munson (Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic), Chan Poling (The Suburbs) and Steve Roehm (Billygoat, Electropolis).

They are a trio of bass, piano and vibraphone - which sounds like it shouldn't work, but my God it does!

They've been around a good while, since 2005, and perform their favourite songs in their own style - a sort of jazzy, rock soul thing.

Their albums, The New Standards and Rock and Roll, are totally fabulous and well worth a listen to. Some tracks are available to hear on their site (linkage). Stand outs are their arrangements of Hey Ya by Outkast and Britney Spear's Toxic.

Below is a YouTube video of The New Standards playing Trip Shakespeare's Snow Days at their 3rd Annual Holiday Show at The Fitzgerald Theater 2008.

Beyond excellent.