The Kin / Alexis & the Samurai November 16, 2012

One night a little over a year ago, two young men burst into New York City’s Lower East Side mainstay Katz’s Delicatessen and held the joint up. Sort of. Brothers Isaac and Thorald Koren, musicians who, along with drummer Shakerleg, make up New York City band The Kin, were looking to rob ears, not wallets. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a musical robbery!” shouted Isaac as he strode in with Thorald on his heels strumming a guitar. The duo launched into an original song, “Downtown Train,” for the restaurant’s patrons, winning them over with their energetic performance, rich harmonies, and sheer nerve. By the end, the Korens had the restaurant’s unsuspecting patrons whistling and clapping along — no easy feat as anyone who’s ridden a NYC subway and tried to ignore a spectacle unfolding in front of them knows.

The Kin has launched several of these “musical robberies” over the last year, including at the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Soho House in Los Angeles, and even at a French airport. “We’re looking to surprise people and give them a musical experience,” Isaac says. “Or maybe we’re just adrenaline junkies, because it feels like a drug the body is releasing when we make that connection with other human beings based on our music. Even if it’s just for a split second, it’s a rush for everyone involved.”

Visit their website: http://thekin.com/

It’s fitting you might have caught a glimpse of Alexis & the Samurai's members Alexis Marceaux and Sam Craft on Treme, HBO’s pantheon to New Orleans musicians. The soulful, young artists are lifelong New Orleanians, with credentials that best that of the cast. The pair's star has since risen even more furiously with Marceaux's recent announcement of being a contestant on this fall's season of NBC's The Voice. The duo plans to capitalize on the exposure by taking their multi-instrumental spectacle (strings, guitars, keys, foot percussion, vocal harmonies, often all at once) on the road, as well as by working on a new EP, set for release this winter.

Visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/alexisandthesamurai?fref=ts