NYC Scene Report – Ginette Claudette, Shinobi Ninja, & more

This week's NYC Scene Report features new R&B from Ginette Claudette, blistering hip-rock-soul from Shinobi Ninja, a haunting, smoothed out, song from Stray Echo, and the latest from folk singer-songwriter Nick Nace.

* NYC-based R&B artist Ginette Claudette is only in her early 20s, but she's already experienced the full extent of the music industry roller coaster. The daughter of a Latin pop star in the Dominican Republic, whom she is named after, Claudette landed a recording contract with Universal Motown Records in 2010, only to part ways with them before releasing her debut EP, Everything's Coming Up Roses, in 2012.

Claudette followed up the EP with her first full length album, Tainted Emotions, in 2014, and this past December released an EP titled All The Way Back. The latest single off of All The Way Back is "Time." It's a smoothed out modern R&B song that can fit into both R&B, and pop, playlists.

Click play, and give Ginette Claudette a few minutes of your "Time." I think you'll find her radio ready, and on par with the young R&B singers making waves today.


* You'd be hard pressed to find a harder working band than Shinobi Ninja. Every time I turn around the Brooklyn based hip-rock-soul collective has another new single, video, or project, coming out.

For those who are uninitiated, Shinobi Ninja has created a sound that aims to inspire crazy amounts of emotion, and with their latest single, "Bang Bang," they do just that. The blistering punk rock, and metal, influenced song was built for mosh pits, and head banging. Of course, with a name like "Bang Bang" one should expect the latter!

"Bang Bang" is off of Shinobi Ninja's maxi-single, FunBang, and is available as a free download. Bang along with the video below.

Side note: I will take no responsibility for any damage you may cause to your desk. I'm not saying you may get so hyped you’ll smash a corner off of it, but I'm also NOT not saying that.


* Slowing things down a bit, up next is "Nu Erotic Ghost." No, that isn't the title of a Ghost Hunters show gone NC-17, it's the latest single from Brooklyn-based artist Stray Echo.

“Nu Erotic Ghost” was reportedly recorded in late night studio sessions, and started out as a ballad before turning into the smoothed out song that ended up being released. Speaking of its release, the song is off of Stray Echo's self-titled maxi-single, which came out in November of last year, and features two other tracks.

After listening to “Nu Erotic Ghost,” I’ve come to the realization that not all ghosts are scary, and the smooth erotic kind can really set the mood. Give it a spin, and enjoy a momentary haunting.


* You may remember that back in December I posted indie folk singer-songwriter Nick Nace's first solo EP, Avenue A & Heartbreak. The EP came after over a decade as one half of the indie folk duo A Brief View of the Hudson, and was inspired by Nace's desire to create something simple, direct, and from the heart.

"She May Be Insane (But I Love Her Like Crazy)" is the latest single off of Avenue A & Heartbreak, and Nace, along with director Victor Varando, and art director Amber Nigro, have created a heck of a video for the song. There are paper puppets, poisonings, and plenty of peril, all with Nace's "thrift store Leonard Cohen" vocals, as one of his friends once described his singing style, painting the picture.

Check out the clip. I'm absolutely sure you haven't seen anything like it before.


For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.