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Ebn Ozn
ĒBN-ŌZN (pronounced EEBEN-OHZEN) was an American 1980s New York-based experimental new wave synth-pop duo, composed of Ned "Ebn" Liben (Fairlight CMI programming) and Robert "Ozn" Rosen, (sung vocals, rhymes, character voices). The duo, which pioneered the sound recording technique of sampling, is best known for the 1983 hit single and award-winning music video "AEIOU Sometimes Y", the first commercially released and charted American single recorded on a computer, a Fairlight CMI, which was inducted in the Alternative Music Hall of Fame Class of 2024 as a "Masterpiece Single."
ĒBN-ŌZN formed in 1981 in New York City when ŌZN met ĒBN through record producer and recording artist Jay Aaron Podolnick (who later founded Villa Muse Studios in Austin, Texas), a friend of OZN's Australian fashion-model girlfriend.[who?] Soon after meeting, they started spending time together in clubs listening to different types of dance music. Ozn was a Broadway actor/singer in the original casts of Shenandoah and Marlowe, had just come off the road from a tour of The Pirates of Penzance playing the lead opposite Karla DeVito, who was enjoying international acclaim for her work with Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman. Upon his return to NYC, he began recording hip hop demos in the Sugar Hill label style.
ĒBN was owner (along with Michael Ewing) and engineer of New York's Sundragon Recording Studios, which he created at the age of 16,[citation needed]. Talking Heads 77, Ramones Leave Home, and David Johansen - Here Comes The Night were recorded at Sundragon. When he was 16 years old he engineered for Jimi Hendrix at the Bitter End in New York City for one night. ĒBN was also a founding member of the guitar band Riff Raff (Atco/Atlantic Records).
Mentored by legendary New York City promoter Ron Delsener, in 1983, ĒBN-ŌZN was signed to the London arm of Arista Records-Ariola by A&R wunderkind Simon Potts and to Elektra Records in New York by Bob Krasnow, which released its only LP, Feeling Cavalier, and singles plus 12-inch dance singles "AEIOU Sometimes Y" and "Bag Lady (I Wonder)" both remixed by John Luongo. The album featured a wide range of musical styles and a sense of humor throughout; it also featured Latin jazz percussion legend Tito Puente on the salsa cut "Video DJ."
The band’s self-produced single—along with Ed Steinberg (founder of RockAmerica)—"AEIOU" became an international MTV(heavy rotation) and dance club hit, reaching #20 on the Billboard Club Chart. In addition to play on alternative flagship stations such Los Angeles's KROQ and Long Island's WLIR, the single also received significant Black radio play, including Stevie Wonder's KJLH in Los Angeles and WBLS in New York City and remains an ’80s alt rock and New Music/New Wave radio music staple on dozens of streaming channels such as SiriusXM and radio programs. AllMusic wrote that the song "combines intelligence, melody, and weirdness in just the right doses. Accompanied by a video that featured the multi-braided Rosen delivering a stream-of-consciousness rap about 'this incredible Swedish girl,' and with a more serious subtext about communication, it became a bizarre club music hit."
Moby, in a July 15, 2021, appearance on Rick Rubin's podcast "Broken Record said AEIOU Sometimes Y is "the strangest record in the world pop music history . . . the lyrics are phenomenal, like a graduate dissertation on semiotics with a story about picking up a girl in café."
Recorded in 1981, "AEIOU" has the distinction of being the first commercial single ever recorded entirely on a computer (a Fairlight CMI) in the United States and the subsequent album, Feeling Cavalier, the first such album. It was also the first hip hop record by a white emcee to chart in the US.
The second single was the uncharacteristically earnest dance-rock track "Bag Lady", the video for which starred Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actress Imogene Coca. The single became a dance club hit, reaching the Top 40 on the Billboard Club Chart, and a minor radio hit in the US, while gaining hit status in Canada, Oceana, and Europe.[citation needed]
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Ebn Ozn
ĒBN-ŌZN (pronounced EEBEN-OHZEN) was an American 1980s New York-based experimental new wave synth-pop duo, composed of Ned "Ebn" Liben (Fairlight CMI programming) and Robert "Ozn" Rosen, (sung vocals, rhymes, character voices). The duo, which pioneered the sound recording technique of sampling, is best known for the 1983 hit single and award-winning music video "AEIOU Sometimes Y", the first commercially released and charted American single recorded on a computer, a Fairlight CMI, which was inducted in the Alternative Music Hall of Fame Class of 2024 as a "Masterpiece Single."
ĒBN-ŌZN formed in 1981 in New York City when ŌZN met ĒBN through record producer and recording artist Jay Aaron Podolnick (who later founded Villa Muse Studios in Austin, Texas), a friend of OZN's Australian fashion-model girlfriend.[who?] Soon after meeting, they started spending time together in clubs listening to different types of dance music. Ozn was a Broadway actor/singer in the original casts of Shenandoah and Marlowe, had just come off the road from a tour of The Pirates of Penzance playing the lead opposite Karla DeVito, who was enjoying international acclaim for her work with Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman. Upon his return to NYC, he began recording hip hop demos in the Sugar Hill label style.
ĒBN was owner (along with Michael Ewing) and engineer of New York's Sundragon Recording Studios, which he created at the age of 16,[citation needed]. Talking Heads 77, Ramones Leave Home, and David Johansen - Here Comes The Night were recorded at Sundragon. When he was 16 years old he engineered for Jimi Hendrix at the Bitter End in New York City for one night. ĒBN was also a founding member of the guitar band Riff Raff (Atco/Atlantic Records).
Mentored by legendary New York City promoter Ron Delsener, in 1983, ĒBN-ŌZN was signed to the London arm of Arista Records-Ariola by A&R wunderkind Simon Potts and to Elektra Records in New York by Bob Krasnow, which released its only LP, Feeling Cavalier, and singles plus 12-inch dance singles "AEIOU Sometimes Y" and "Bag Lady (I Wonder)" both remixed by John Luongo. The album featured a wide range of musical styles and a sense of humor throughout; it also featured Latin jazz percussion legend Tito Puente on the salsa cut "Video DJ."
The band’s self-produced single—along with Ed Steinberg (founder of RockAmerica)—"AEIOU" became an international MTV(heavy rotation) and dance club hit, reaching #20 on the Billboard Club Chart. In addition to play on alternative flagship stations such Los Angeles's KROQ and Long Island's WLIR, the single also received significant Black radio play, including Stevie Wonder's KJLH in Los Angeles and WBLS in New York City and remains an ’80s alt rock and New Music/New Wave radio music staple on dozens of streaming channels such as SiriusXM and radio programs. AllMusic wrote that the song "combines intelligence, melody, and weirdness in just the right doses. Accompanied by a video that featured the multi-braided Rosen delivering a stream-of-consciousness rap about 'this incredible Swedish girl,' and with a more serious subtext about communication, it became a bizarre club music hit."
Moby, in a July 15, 2021, appearance on Rick Rubin's podcast "Broken Record said AEIOU Sometimes Y is "the strangest record in the world pop music history . . . the lyrics are phenomenal, like a graduate dissertation on semiotics with a story about picking up a girl in café."
Recorded in 1981, "AEIOU" has the distinction of being the first commercial single ever recorded entirely on a computer (a Fairlight CMI) in the United States and the subsequent album, Feeling Cavalier, the first such album. It was also the first hip hop record by a white emcee to chart in the US.
The second single was the uncharacteristically earnest dance-rock track "Bag Lady", the video for which starred Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actress Imogene Coca. The single became a dance club hit, reaching the Top 40 on the Billboard Club Chart, and a minor radio hit in the US, while gaining hit status in Canada, Oceana, and Europe.[citation needed]