About this project
Friends, we are making a new album. It will be full of handsome songs, some of them funny, others wistful, grumpy or sweet, one or two that are inappropriate, all of them rendered with love.
Would you like to own it? Would you like to look back years from now and say, Hey, I was a producer on that album? Well, here's your chance.
Call it a fundraiser, call it a pre-sale, call it an investment in your future happiness. We are inviting you to become a Micro Producer on this, our second full-length studio humdinger.
Just donate the dollar value of your choosing to our new CD. Then sit back, relax, and look forward to receiving a sweet little package this winter.
Everyone who donates will get a CD and be credited in the liner notes as a Micro Producer, regardless of how much they give. And the more you give, the more you get (see pledge treats at right).
Why are we doing it this way? Here are just some of the reasons.
(1) even in these technologically wondrous times, the process of recording and releasing a new album is costly;
(2) we want to put every available resource into making the album as great as it can be;
(3) record labels are going the way of the dodo (no offense, dodo);
(4), you, our fans, have been essential to the success we've had so far, so it only makes sense to involve you in our next big adventure from the start;
(5) a groovy website like Kickstarter makes funding this project surprisingly easy and painless (we get 100% of the money raised, minus the fee Amazon charges to process credit cards).
Tthe catch: Our new CD will only be funded if we meet our fundraising goal. If we fall short, your donations will be returned to you (free of charge) and we will end up with zip. It's a big risk, we know, but we think it's one worth taking.
And whether you donate for the goodies, for the cause, or for the chance to mock your grandchildren with the hard evidence of your lifelong support of the arts, we do appreciate anything you can give. If the minimum donation is too steep for you right now, send me an email and we'll find a way for you to contribute what you can.
On behalf of Eben, Ian, Vito and myself, thanks for your support, and for sticking with us all these years.
Now let's make some music together!
Yours truly,
Ethan
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
238
Backers
$12,805
pledged of $12,500 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on November 9, 2009.
Pledge $15 or more
You get our new CD and a credit as a Micro Producer.
Pledge $50 or more
Get an autographed CD, a credit on the album, and a brownie made by the band (please let us know if you are allergic to nuts).
Pledge $100 or more
All of the above plus a fantastic T-shirt that's available only to those who donate at this level or higher.
Pledge $500 or more
All of the above plus a Defonte's sandwich in Red Hook with Ethan.
Pledge $600 or more
A torta with Ian in Williamsburg, plus the shirt, brownie, credit and CD.
Pledge $700 or more
A bratwrust with Eben in Jersey City, plus the shirt, brownie, credit and CD.
Pledge $999 or more
A "date" with Vito.
Pledge $3,500 or more
A private performance by the band anywhere in the New York City area. Plus the shirt, brownie, credit and CD.
Pledge $5,000 or more
An original song with your name in it. (Your song will not be on this album, but we will play it at a show with you in attendance.)
Project By
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Dubbed the “Best Lounge Act of 2009” by New York Magazine, Ethan Lipton and his Orchestra play a brand of jazz folk country lounge that’s drawn comparisons to the music of Randy Newman, Leon Redbone and Tom Waits. With melancholy wit and a cockeyed worldview, sepia-toned singer-songwriter Lipton and bandmates Eben Levy (guitar), Ian Riggs (bass) and Vito Dieterle (sax) deliver songs steeped in mixed-message sincerity and soul.
A fixture of the Downtown scene, Brooklyn's Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra earned acclaim for its 2007 debut studio album, MR. SOFTY, the follow-up to two live albums (A NEW LOW, BABY I FEEL THE SAME WAY) on indie Home Office Records. The band shows up often at Joe’s Pub and has been featured locally at Celebrate Brooklyn, Bryant Park, the 92nd St. Y Tribeca, Roosevelt Live, Rockwood Music Hall and Barbes, around the Northeast at the Vermont Arts Exchange, Camden Opera House and MassMoCA, and in LA at Tangier, the Silverlake Lounge and the Derby. DJ Vin Scelsa made MR. SOFTY a staple of his WFUV radio show, helping to stir interest at independent radio stations across the country. The band has been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and contributed a memorable cover of “Corner Soul” to the Clash tribute album THE SANDINISTA PROJECT.
"Hilarious, twisted, sophisticated, schleppy and sad all at once…songs that take the mundane of life and twist it"
(NPR’s Weekend Edition)
"Tender, wise and occasionally hostile, Ethan’s like the tipsy uncle at the family reunion who spills the shameful secrets—it's uncomfortable but hilarious, and everyone feels better once the truth is out."
(National lead singer Matt Berninger, in the New York Times)
"Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra are not your average band. They're not even your non-average band. They are out there. I'm talking past Pluto the non-planet out there. And that's a good thing. "
(Mainstream Isn’t So Bad)
"With the distinct high warble of his voice, homespun folksy tunes, and gentle good manners, Ethan Lipton seems to have mistakenly wandered into the 21st Century directly from the Great Depression."
(Popmatters)
"It’s always enjoyable when a singer-songwriter throws some humor into his misery."
(Timeout NY)
“Ethan Lipton makes me want to hear everything he's ever done."
(Orange County Register)
“With his earnest brown suits, mournful eyes, and neat mustache, Ethan Lipton” looks less like a silken-throated lounge lizard than he does a beaten-down ad salesman—an ordinary Joe singing gentle songs about everyday life."
(New York Magazine)
"Sad little songs packed full of absurdity."
(Fluxblog)
“Big of schnozz, thick of moustache and dulcet of voice, Mr. Lipton croons unlikely urban haikus and wry ballads.”
(New York Observer)
