Ray St. Ray, The Singing Cab Driver Presents: "WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH" from Forthcoming Concept Album, FUTUREMAN vs. THE WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH


"It started out as an attempt to write an early Bob Dylan kind of song, but as I wrote it, I heard Tom Waits in my head. It ended up sounding like a cover of Talking Heads covering Waits and Dylan, I think," Ray St. Ray somewhat unsurely wrote in a batch of exclusive emailed pull-quotes sent directly to The Witzard; although, it's a rather bold, yet befitting description of The Singing Cab Driver's zany Cabaret-leaning "WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH." "Over the last 40 years, our future was stolen by corporate interests. Now, too many people are on the wrong side of enough. I feel strongly about this. It's what my concept album, FUTUREMAN vs. THE WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH is about," Ray's email passionately continued. I initially heard about the infamous Singing Cab Driver a few months ago through my friend, crate-digger extraordinaire, and Now-Again Records founder, Egon. He spoke of one particularly interesting Madlib-accompanied late night Chicago cab ride wherein Ray St. Ray "sang [them] a – very, uh, spirited – rendition of a Dusty Springfield classic, but turned [it] into an ode to a preacher's daughter, who, "when she comes/screams in tongues.'" Stones Throw's former general manager, who was partly responsible for helping re-launch J Dilla's career as an electric rapper-producer, adds that he "seriously cannot wait for his debut album, 'FUTURE MAN vs. THE WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH.'"


Simply billed as The Singing Cab Driver, "WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH" serves as the inaugural upload launched across Ray St. Ray's sparse newly-minted YouTube page. It's more or less your standard run-of-the-mill in-studio performance-style clip effectively co-starring members Ray's own self-described "performance art band," Chameleon World; however, its focus instantaneously switches to Ray St. Ray's famed taxi cab with two of his female backing singers accompanying him as "passengers" on a tour throughout the colorful streets of Chicago. Ray St. Ray & Chameleon World are still currently hard at work writing, recording, and assembling FUTUREMAN vs. THE WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH, which Ray tells me he hopes to have completed soon after launching his crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign. Thus far, Ray St. Ray's highly conceptual album has only been preceded by its two quasi-title tracks, "FUTURE MAN 1980" and pseudo-lead single, "WRONG SIDE OF ENOUGH." "Sorry... You can't just call Ray St. Ray for a ride... Who gets The Singing Cab Driver is a cosmically selective process. When your karma is due, he'll arrive to make your day, shamelessly promote his career agenda, and deliver you to your destination in one piece, right side up," reads Ray's unique calling card attached to his wildly colorful "Love! Sex! Social Significance! Dreams!"-deemed and shamelessly self-promoting old school Chicago area flyer.

Previous
Previous

Saturday Night Live Presents: Chance The Rapper, R. Kelly, Jeremih & Purity Ring Beatsmith Corin Roddick's "Somewhere In Paradise" (chanceraps.com self-released)

Next
Next

Charles Bradley & The Budos Band Deliver a Riveting, Hyper-emotive Soul-Funk Rendition of Black Sabbath's "Changes" (Dunham/Daptone Records)