What’s black and white and can crush you like a bug? A piano. These monsters weigh anywhere from 300 lbs for a small upright, to four or even five times that for a concert grand. So why do artists let them sound so wimpy? KRISTEENYOUNG wants the piano to kick your ass. Their new album, Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-Looker, feels like it was born in the boxing ring, not some sun-dappled Laurel Canyon living room. “I wanted to create a new sound for piano on this album, and for it to be just as powerful and creative as any guitar-based record. I wanted it to sound like a wall of pianos, but like the wall in the film, Caligula: a wall that moves and decapitates everyone,” says Kristeen Young. The singer and composer has played since her childhood in St. Louis, and she knows what the piano is capable of. She sought to recapture the fiery, dangerous noise early rockers like Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino wrought from the instrument’s eighty-eight keys, albeit in a wholly modern way. Young’s foil in KRISTEENYOUNG is drummer “Baby” Jef White, whose energy and fills bring to mind the great British drummers, but whose groove is undeniably American. Think John Bohnam meets Timbaland on Keith Moon Street. Together, the duo has forged a sound full of percussive impact and melodic grandeur. You think the White Stripes make a big ruckus for a two-piece? Bah!

Young’s fascination with the raw sound of words can result in emotional interjections that sting sharply, be it a rapid-fire blitz of fairy tale staples (“Son of Man”), or the slow downward pull of reiterating the word “gone” throughout “Halfway Across the Atlantic Ocean.” On “Protestant,” she evokes not only realms of sight and sound, but smell and touch as well. Young fashions her lyrics with surgical precision throughout Music For Strippers…, but this time out, sex and death share the spotlight with—gasp—love! The bulk of Music For Strippers… was composed during the two year stretch KRISTEENYOUNG spent touring the world, first as the support act for Morrissey and later, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Alyson Greenfield is a Brooklyn based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who experiments with pianos, guitars, glockenspiels, autoharps, chord organs, synthesizers, and vintage Casio beats. Alyson's music has been recognized by Paste, Relix, Beyond Race, The Deli, and more, and her music has been heard on Fox Television, Rubyfruit Radio (SPIN Magazine's Essential Mix), and at festivals such as the CMJ Music Marathon, Estrojam, Ladyfest, and EarthFusion. She recently released her first full-length album, "Tuscaloosa," engineered by Denise Barbarita (David Byrne, Mary J. Blige), and featuring Jason Mercer (Ani DiFranco) on bass. As well as performing on her own, Alyson also performs with the electronic band Future Rock (Matisyhau, The Disco Biscuits), as they cover/remix her songs "Understand the Sky" and "Make Believe." Alyson is currently hard at work on an album of covers, an album of originals, and a women's music festival she recently founded called TINDERBOX, which will happen at the end of Summer 2010 in Brooklyn, NY.