Artist: Essex Chanel
Title: Dancing at Weddings
Website: http://www.essexchanel.com
Style: Indie Rock/ Dance Electronica
Rating: 8.3 out of 10
By C.W. Ross
Essex Chanel is the brainchild of Travis Lee Wiggins. The multi-instrumentalist is an artist in the truest sense of the word; besides his music he also has published his own zine, written full-length novels, done short videos, and done some performance art including a 72 hours stint in a box with sensory deprivation.
You can learn more about Wiggins at his website, http://www.travisleewiggins.com .
Dancing at Weddings is Wiggins’ latest musical project. A self-described ‘Record-A-Holic‘ this is already his ninth musical project since 2005.
The first thing I have to do is mention the unique and very well done packaging for this release. It’s set up to look like a wedding invitation complete with rsvp card to send back stating whether or not you liked the music.
Wiggins likes to experiment and use different musical styles from release-to-release, sometimes even from song-to-song. On Dancing at Weddings he combines an Indie rock sound with dance electronica that’s filled with tons of looping and added in sound effects.
While at first it may seem a little strange the music quickly grew on me and I found it both interesting and enjoyable.
The first single from the release is track-1, “Get Up and Dance.” This dance/rock number really set the tone for the rest of the release with its upbeat electronic style filled with sparse, repeated lyrics.
Wiggins has also made a very well done video for this song that can be viewed on YouTube. Charles Borowicz from AncMovies directed the video.
Here’s the url to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqoLDy8aY4k
You can buy a DVD of the video for $5 (including shipping) and signed by Travis at his website. There is also a poster available for $10 (including shipping). The 11×17 poster has 160 still shots photographed by Charles Borowicz during the filming of the video.
Wiggins not only played all of the instruments found on Dancing at Weddings , he also produced and mastered the release at his Beware of Dog studios located on the north side of Chicago.
Dancing at Weddings is a nice release that’s slightly off the beaten musical path, and that fact only adds to its charm. Expand your musical horizons and give it a listen.
