Grand Royal presents the Kostars debut album. "Klassics With a K," a vibrant and sultry collection of summertime singalongs to be released this winter (Feb. 1996). Kostars is a side project of Luscious Jackson members Jill Cunniff and Vivian Trimble, who needed an additional outlet for the transistor radio hits they were writing.

The Kostars started during a headlining tour in May, 1995. While waiting to play a show in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, they headed into the woods with two acoustic guitars, and the rest is herstory. By the end of the tour, they had written an album’s worth of songs inspired by such greats as Bobbie Gentry, Astrud Gilberto, Nancy Sinatra, and Joni Mitchell, and decided to record it all as soon as they got home to New York City. They tried to capture that lonely, slow town, nothin’ goin’ on around here feeling that seems to accompany the touring life. By that time, the band had traversed much of the country, and the girls had perfected their romantic fixation with small town dreamers, schemers, and castaways that would become the subject matter of their songs.

A lot of sweat went into Klassics (literally! -- it was one hot summer in the city). The Kostars album was recorded and mixed in 25 days at the Meat and Potatoes Studio, a 16-track home studio put together in the Luscious Jackson rehearsal room. The album was engineered by Josephine Wiggs of the Breeders and Ladies Who Lunch, and marks her first full length engineering project. Much of the accompaniment was written on the spot as an experiment in spontaneous human combustion, and Josephine’s patience and super mellow vibe aided the process immensely. The drums were played by Luscious Jackson member Kate Schellenbach, and Gabby from LJ also came and lent a guitar lead. Other friends, including Dean & Gene from the musical group Ween, stopped by to contribute licks & tracks.

So, when the cold winds are blowin’ and it just won’t stop snowin’, wrap yourself in these sunny freewheelin’ tunes. They’ll set your hotpants on fire.

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