The Thursday Night All-Stars have been playing around town for about a year and the band just released its first EP, Ayatollah Fancy and the Thursday Night All-Stars. The band combines middle-eastern flavored jazz/world music with humor, political commentary and satire that ends up in an amalgamation that is part Frank Zappa and part Sic F*ucks.



The band's new 5-song EP serves as a good indoctrination into "Doctrine of the Thursday Night All-Star". All of the tracks prominently feature the electric Persian Tar (played by front man Piruz Partow) which is accompanied by drums, saxophone, keyboards, electric guitar, bass guitar and an upright bass. It is a very Zappa-ish mix of instruments and sounds. Lyrically, the band ranges from a mix of serious subjects (condemnation of middle-eastern and home-grown suicide bombers on "Mahmoud" and the lack of relevance of the current educational system on "I Hate Homework") to a tongue-in-cheek 70's-style love ballad (on "Being With You"). "Jihad Jam" and "Zionist Breakdown" are both instrumental jams that showcase the band's musical abilities.

The Thursday Night All-Stars' next show is at the Knitting Factory on (Thursday) July 24th.

Links:
Thursday Night All-Stars MySpace Profile