Dinosaur Feathers

01DinosaurFeathers_JessicaPerez
Songwriters

Greg Sulla
Derek Zimmerman
Ryan Kiley
Nick Brooks

Brooklyn’s Dinosaur Feathers look to Janet Jackson for spiritual guidance on their groove-laden third album CONTROL, released this fall by Ernest Jenning Record Company. Insistent drum machines & lithe pulsing basslines meet shimmering synths, coked-out horns & soulful vocals, dragging 1983 pop/R&B kicking & screaming into the new millennium. Master of ceremonies Greg Sullo hooked up with production gurus Naptimes to update (downdate?) & amplify what the NY Times called “[their] sinisterly effective pop melodies.”

Dinosaur Feathers first emerged from Brooklyn’s sweaty DIY scene as an irrepressibly upbeat synthesis of indie rock & world music influences, replete with intricate soaring vocal harmonies. The group then charted a course from tropical leisure to nervy beach rock via substantial touring with acts like Built to Spill and Peter Bjorn & John. Most recently, Sullo committed to an extended stay in Oakland, where he found himself progressively drawn toward Motown soul & funky R&B – from Smokey to Chaka, Prince to Janet. His vocal performances here clearly reflect an affinity for such material, supported by a catalog of disparate secondary influences, from Scott Walker to Drake.

Indebted to the grace & precision of songwriters like Harry Nilsson & Curtis Mayfield, these songs are the most direct & propulsive Sullo has committed to tape– err…digital bits. Lyrics deliver meditations on subjects at once intimate & divine, searching for meaning: “Do you think it’s true, what they say/We all will die alone?/But maybe that’s the only way to pass into the Unknown.” Even the most cosmically vexing elements prove eminently relatable — in the confessional, on the dancefloor & in the bedroom. All things considered, CONTROL offers up a rejoinder for those curious enough to ask, “What have you done for me lately?”

Releases

Dinosaur Feathers CONTROL

Afternoon Sun
Zeitgeist
When You Coming Out
Fools
For Jonathan
Anything You Want
On My Mind
Impossible
Trip

Dinosaur Feathers Whistle Tips

Young Bucks
SURPRISE!
Boats
Certain Times
City Living
Beatcha
Cure for Silence
Untrue
Pillars
Your Move
No Man's Gospel

Dinosaur Feathers Fantasy Memorial

I Ni Sogoma
Vendela Vida
Teenage Whore
Family Waves
Sleeping In
History Lessons
Crossing The Cannon
Holy Moses
Know Your Own Strength
Fantasy Memorial