Brooklyn singer/songwriter Chuck Criss has a name that could have been that of a character from "The Goonies" or an admiral in the KISS Army, but the music that he makes glistens with highly bouncy bubblegummy-ness that aligns with some of the great basement/bedroom troubadours – Owsley, Bart Davenport, Devin Davis, Self -- who all have made tunes cursed by anonymity, but which are no less spectacular. They make you think – ice cream's ice cream – and a good song is a good song even if no one wants it or can't get it on iTunes. "Same Old Situation," a song from Criss' album featuring what appears to be a mutated, aviator koala bear on its cover, has been hanging in the top five of OurStage's indie rock rankings for the majority of the month of April and that can only mean good things as strangers have to be voting for it to stay there. We know this because Criss has just 149 friends on his MySpace page. He's getting adopters to his piano and banjo-loaded tune about magic in modern times – which perhaps is just his way of describing optimism and effort, going for things that wouldn't normally be tried. Criss comes off sounding like the friend you'd call up to get you out of the dumps. He'd come over, you'd order in, he'd bring the beer, he might play you a new song he's been working on and then you'd watch movies you've seen too many times already. He's a chum and he writes music you can be friends with.
....contains elements of indie/folk/rock/pop that blend together into banjo arpeggiated and piano heavy songs focused on interesting structure and melodic ideas. Lead singer Chuck Criss's voice is unique and recognizable and his lyrics of youthful optimism and pessism help round out there sound. - The Deli Magazine
....he simply recorded banjo, acoustic guitar, piano, bass, and drums which sounds great altogether. Without the presence of an electric guitar, the tunes are much more piano driven, which is always a good thing for piano suckers like me. Criss and the rest aren't signed yet, but that doesn't stop them from working hard and preforming all over Manhattan. - 8hands.com
So, if you made it this far, thanks for listening. Tell your friends.
If you are in the area, come check out our CD release party this Friday at Blake's on Telegraph in Berkeley. CLICK HERE to buy advance tickets and receive a commemorative beer koozie!
Hi...
Thanks for your friendship...
Hope we meet you soon...
Maybe on the road...
We start our International Tour this month...
HAPPY NEW YEAR OF 2010...
All the best for you...
Cheers from Portugal...
a Jigsaw...
Hey! I loved Lwl soundtrack! Keep going! You should come up to Albany sometime! My favorite songs on the sountrack are Teething and We Wish We Were Kids :)
thank you so much for the add :) your music in LWL was AMAZING (teething and same old situation are my faaavorites), and so was darrens :D i wish he would check his friend requests though, i sent him one ages ago! haha (: oh and i'm following you on tumblr now, you're awesome
absolutely!! i'm moving there in september and i'm so excited. Darren showed me your music and I really like it, can't wait to be able to see you guys play all the time!
Hi, I just heard some of your songs- they're really good. I'm now buying "The Break" from iTunes, and can't wait to listen to it. Thanks for accepting me as a friend :)
* 
![mae [jm*]](http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/131/s_e9ad19cdc1964b9394c541bb55f18c23.jpg)
