Village Voice (New York, NY)

D List Radio - Daniel Nardicio's show on the Internet airwaves needs to be seen to be disbelieved. A marathon of aggressively eccentric guest stars, it's taped in such a tiny storefront on First Avenue that it spills out onto the sidewalk, making for a combination street party, boho free-for-all, and nightmare for Mayor Bloomberg. The other week, the show featured an alleged talent contest, with three contestants belting out dance songs about stripping, fucking, and other high cultural pursuits, kicking gay culture in the crotch with every note. At least they practiced what they preached, thanks to Cristofe, the show's curly-topped British go-go boy who has way too good a face and body for radio. Cristofewhom I've spotted making out with various alkies at Splashstarted sticking that very puss in Sy Boccari's (of NYC group Naked Highway) underwear right out in the street and devouring his privates as Sy kept blithely crooning and rabid dogs gathered in search of the bone. - Michael Musto

Outsmart Magazine (Houston, TX)

The new-wave influence, which is so prevalent in a lot of mainstream music inside and outside of dance clubs, can also be heard making an impact in music by many up-and-coming artists. One-man-band, Naked Highway , personifies what I'm talking about. His album Novocaine Smile (nakedhighway.com) opens with the percolating video game energy of "We Can F--k," which is ideal for dancing vertically or horizontally. "Used to Be Friends" continues the trend, recalling the aforementioned Soft Cell, but minus Marc Almond's near-perfect vocals. "Driving at Night" would sound great blasting out of a car's speakers, especially after sundown, and the pumping "Better Off Naked" and "Peepshow" are reminders of the opening track's suggestiveness. As you might expect, "Ctrl Alt Del" tries for a Kraftwerk-like current, while album closer "TV Tonight" lets the listener down easy, as the feeling returns to any and all numb spots. - Gregg Shapiro

NEXT Magazine (New York, NY)

Naked Highway - the name alone is enought to conjure images of an eclectic audio-visual amalgam; as though the most esoteric of William Burroughs' writing shakced ip with the most eccentric of David Lynch films to produce a musical group twice as twisted as either. A bit difficult to wrap your head around, isn't it? So it Naked Highway.

Led by frontman Sy Boccari, the group has been making the rounds for quite some time, turning up at familiar fey fetes such as Siberia and Homocorps' CBGB rock-outs. Their latest single "The Substitute" continues the techno/electro/sex-tro angle of their album, upping the aural ante with a pair of remixes of the title track and a bonus club mix of "We Can Fuck." Re-rubs on the single tread a fine line between moody nu-new-wave and the hi-bpm bonanza of Limelight in its early-90s heyday. A bit difficult to wrap your head around, to be sure - but a fun spin if you're in the mood for something off the well-worn beat path. - Greg T. Angelo
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Music Connection (National)

Sy Boccari mans the controls of this synth-heavy New York project. The Substitute is a seductive, Velvets-influenced song with nice touches, including bells. Boccaris voice has a breathy-cool aura thats just right. Gears shift to a propulsive dance mode on Better Off Naked and the Kraftwerk-inspired Mr. Disco which features robotic vocals. Word has it that Naked Highway is a strong live act.

Read Magazine (New York, NY)

This is Sy Boccari's sleazy one-man electro fuckfest. Frankly, this music horrifies me, and his live show, usually featuring strippers belly dancing and gratuitous male nudity, horrifies me a tad bit more, but all in a good way. So, yeah, this isn't going to win a Grammy any time soon, but it will give you a flaring case of herpes, which is the way rock n' roll was meant to be. - Adam Liebling

Mandate Magazine (National)

Exciting sounds these days are mostly coming from independent bands. Naked Highway is one act that pushes the envelope every chance they get. A regular on the NYC circuit, Naked Highway infuses dance/electronica sounds with the spirit of early 80s New Wave. With songs like "We Can Fuck," "Better Off Naked" and "Peepshow" on their debut album Novocaine Smile, Naked Highway is not about playing it safe. Their remix EP for "The Subsitute" has just been released on iTunes and the band is appearing national beyond its East Coast fanbase.  In a word, they're a fun band and Sy Boccari is a vocalist that going to be around for a longtime.

We the People Magazine (National)

The name of this group may sound like a steamy porn flick (that's because it is), but Naked Highway's debut is also a vehicle for the new bad boy of Dance Electronica, Sy Boccari. Pulling lyrics from the sex and drug influenced club scene, Novocaine Smile, a is a no-holes barred dip into the cesspool of life in a young carefree house party. Early electronic dance and new wave (Kraftwerk, Human League, and Devo) are the base of the Naked Highway groove. Opening with a perky novelty track "We Can Fuck" sets the tone for the rest of the set. Along with the opening cut, highlights are the fun-loving "Mr. Disco" where popping beats meet rap in a frenzy and the Bobby Orlando influenced "Peepshow" with its after-sex slick vocals and Billy Idol snarls is a devilish treat. The alternative elements found draw from bands such as My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and the Lords of Acid. With its many comparisons Naked Highway has just about everything to offer to those into hot dance music. - Robert Lawrence


Outwords (National)

Everything old is new again, and while listening to Novocaine Smile, all I could think is how electroclash in the new new wave, and how in the 80s, for every Human League there was a Baltimora ("Tarzan Boy"), and for every Devo there was a — God help us —Taco ("Putting on the Ritz"). Naked Highway's front man Sy Boccari shows the same pop sense as Human League's Philip Oakey in the twangy campfire song "The Substitute." Unfortunately, Boccari is as untrained a singer as Oakey, and "Used To Be Friends" and "Out the Door" are good songs that are hard to listen to. Boccari does whip up a good head of sleaze on "Better Off Naked," better than it's first time around as Berlin' s "Sex (I'm a...), " and "Peepshow" could be anything from Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, only with the updated 21st-century invitation to "taste my seed." If you like your pansexual post-punk delivered with synths and drum machines, take a late night drive down Naked Highway and suck on a smoky stranger's Novocaine Smile. - Charles Melvin

ReGen Magazine (National)

One gets the impression that Sy Boccari, solo artist behind Naked Highway, might have felt quite at home in the Studio 54 days.To say that Sy Boccari is out of step would be inaccurate. To say that Novocaine Smile has a mostly retro sound would be more appropriate. From the first track, it is apparent that this is a self-released album from a still maturing artist. Musically, the album is a mix of neon-electro via the disco area and slightly edgier guitar-tainted electro-pop. While the programming and production displays a level of proficiency, the compositions never fully draw the listener in. Lyrically, Novocaine Smile reads at worst overwrought with the acuity of teenage sexual absorption, and at best like an individual on the cusp of dealing with something consequential.

"Used to be Friends" sounds a bit like a less poetic, harder-edged Erasure dance song. What's good about this song is the passion with which Sy sings it. "Driving at Night," has a Siouxsie and the Banshees Kaleidoscope feel to it. At this point in the album, it is well established that, like a lot of independently released material, it's the vocals that stand out as unpolished. That is not to say that Sy does not sing well, but that the mix and the treatment on the vocals leave something to be desired. Musically, "Better off Naked" is a fun electro-clash guitar-touched anthem. Lyrically, the humor in the song is sophomoric. "Out the Door" would be best described as a sounding like a more frank Bronski Beat. It's on this song that Naked Highway get closest to taking the listener on a voyage.

While the overall feel to the album is lacking, it speaks volumes that the proliferation of somewhat affordable and accessible recording equipment is allowing artists with energy and dedication the ability to reach a greater audience than once possible. There are hints on Novocaine Smile of better things to come for Naked Highway. All in all, Sy Boccari may be one to watch for in the future. - Damon Wilson


EXP Magazine (New Jersey)

The brainchild ofsinger/songwriter (and producer/mixer/multi-instumentalist) Sy Boccari, Naked Highway's debut album Novocaine Smile is an acquired taste seemingly not worth the effort; and at times almost too painfully awful to endure... An uninspired and amatuerish collection of sexually-charged and provocative techno-pop ("Better Off Naked" "Peepshow" "CTRL ALT DEL") Novocaine Smile often sounds like some sonic experiment gone horribly awry. And if not for the the album-ending instrumental, "TV Tonight" and post-breakup narrative - and the lead single - "The Substitute" all would be a nearly catastrophic loss. - Shawn Revelle

www.sexfetishsex.net (web site)

Naked Highway is the brainchild of New York singer/songwriter Sy Boccari who displays his love of new wave rock and electronica on his debut "Novocaine Smile." The album opens with "We Can F--k," which sounds like it was written and recorded by a foul-mouthed middle schooler playing with his Casio keyboard, among other things, in his bedroom. "Better Off Naked" is more rock than dance and the closest comparison I can come up with is "Cyberpunk"-era Billy Idol, if Idol were rendered mentally impaired by too many drugs at too many circuit parties. "Peepshow" contains some of the worst sex-related lyrics of all time ("Don't you know that I don't care? I want your face in my underwear"). While trying to be sexy, Naked Highway comes across like a sex-crazed high schooler bragging about things that have only happened in his dreams. While the CD is called "Novocaine Smile," even if Boccari had undergone the most major of dental procedures right before recording there would be no excuse for the absolute tunelessness of "Used To Be Friends." Most disappointing of all is the song "CTRL ALT DEL," and not just because it's terrible, but also because it does not, sadly, make the entire album go away. - D'Anne Witkowski

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Electrocore (web..site)

My first impressions of this album were based on the cover, sporting a sadly myspace- esque over contrasted picture of a tacky shirt, a cigarette, and a studded bracelet. Now what Greenday fan wouldn't love that? After I brought myself to open the case and look inside, I played the CD. Now I'm not entirely sure this is as complete an album as he originally thought. Like Peaches, this cd is very raw and undeveloped and generally lacking something. However, I think this may be a move by Sy Boccari to get his name on the map. Along with 'Novocaine Smile' I received a few Remixes by the likes of Pleasure Bot and DJ Chaoboi. This raised an interesting question; what if he was leaving gaps to be filled by more prominent artists and DJs? Now until this realization, I did not like this album. It sounds an awful lot like 98 Degrees getting spanked behind a drum machine and clowny synth. I'm still not sure what Boccari was trying to communicate with this album, but the one thing I have to come to accept is that he is leaving the message to be made by whatever DJ makes the best mix of 'We Can Fuck.' 'We Can Fuck' is the first track and one of the few that you can actually dance to. While it is nothing more than an electronic voicebox that lacks tone tweaking on top of a catchy bass hit sequence, it seems to work in it's original form, or remixed. (The remixes are better)

'Used To Be Friends' is a terrible song on all levels. This is the song that brought out the line about sounding like 98 Degrees (The picture on the inside of the insert even looks like Nick Lachey's face). The fact that in a song just under 4 minutes he uses the word 'Baby' 10 times is a bit annoying? 'The Substitute' is equally as painful to listen to. The keyboard is swoony and lingers too long. The lyrics a ctually sound like a breakup letter written in middle school poetry. ( i.e. "Cut me like a knife")

'Driving at Night' is identical to a failed '80s leisure suit rock anthem that didn't make it to Hawaii 5-0. It's bad guitar and slumpy vocals are dry and flavorless. I couldn't even listen to it all the way through...

Picking up a bit after is 'Better Off Naked' which, all though faster paced, is just as hard to listen to. If exhaling harder while pronouncing words makes you a badass, Boccari is out to kill. 'Mr. Disco' is actually two progressions off from the song 'Funky Town' He even quotes Britney Spears. Enough said.

Addressing 'Peepshow,' again, the exhaling portraying the essence of badass and sex god. As for all the other songs on the CD, they can all be related to at least one other song that came previously, because they are all equally as shitty and only slightly different. Wait for the next album if you even see one.. - Greydon Studer

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QBliss.net (Houston, TX)

QBliss Interview: Sy Boccari of Naked Highway
By C. J. Neumann

QBliss Senior Editor / Writer

Sy Boccari of the music group Naked Highway recently sat down with our Senior Editor and Writer C. J. Neumann for a chat about his life, their new album, inspirations, and much more.

Sy Boccari: So, whats up? What do you want to ask me?

C. J. Neumann: So, you live in New York City now?

Sy Boccari: Oh yes, born and raised here actually; my hometown.

C. J. Neumann: I have never known anyone who was born and raised in New York.

Sy Boccari: Neither do I, everyone I knew grew up and moved away, but some of them are still here.

C. J. Neumann: Where in New York City were you born?

Sy Boccari: I was born and raised in Queens. Right now I live in Manhattan, in Hells Kitchen. That is where Spider Man used to liveif you were ever into comic books.

C. J. Neumann: Let me get to your album. I listened to it and I thought that it was great. I wanted to ask, who inspired you to go into music as a career? Was it a single person or a band that made you say, Yes, I want to do thatthis is what I want to do?

Sy Boccari: I think that it was a combination of different things. Growing up I just needed an outlet. I tried different avenues, I tried going into writing, photography, I tried art, but music was the one allowed me the most freedom of expression. I dont know about you, but for me, music is constantly in motion, its not something that you can touch or hold on toif you do a painting it just, like, sits there. For songs, you can record them, remix them, you can sing them liveits living. It was that, and also my family is musical. I have two older sisters and they had a band, and that is where I learned to play instruments

C. J. Neumann: I am a kid of the 80s and I remember them very well, Novocaine Smile seems to be a fusion of many different styles, including New Wave, Dance, Electronic and it does remind me of the music of that time. With that said, what artists inspired you to do this album?

Sy Boccari: I am also a kid of the 80s and my sisters are 10 and 11 years older than me, when I was still kind of in diapers, they were already teenagers so a lot of their musical taste rubbed off on me, like the 80s New Romantic, New Wave, that was a huge influence on me. But also a lot of modern day Electronica, Rap Music, and Rock. New York City [has] so many different scenes as far as music, so I try to participate in all of them, but mainly music from my youth was huge for me.

C. J. Neumann: Who continues to inspire your work today?

Sy Boccari:.. I would say, even though I dont sound like them, my favorite band of all time is Siouxsie and The Banshees. Maybe not musically, but maybe in attitude, lyrically. A lot of the new stuff is really cool. What ever is current, as long as it has a beat and I can dance to it, I like it.

C. J. Neumann: Like I said before I have listed to the album several times and I love it...there is one thing that I did notice, obviously, that it is very sexual in nature.

Sy Boccari: Uh huh

C. J. Neumann: Does it concern you or have you had any problems with the albums release?

Sy Boccari: No, none at all. I thinkwell to me, its notwell I guess to me I have a standard of what I consider to be dirty is much different than everybody elses I guess. I thought that it was actually pretty tame in some respects. I think that is comes together in a live show. In the live show it is more humorouswhen we perform those songs, it is more of a tongue in cheek kind of humor. It is not like an aggressive, X-Rated, sexual kind of stance. We present it in almost a humorous kind of way. I dont think that I am as extreme as Peaches for example. But I am definitely not booking any all ages shows

C. J. Neumann: What is your favorite track on Novocaine Smile? Do you have a favorite?

Sy Boccari: I would say is Better Off Naked. Better Off Naked is actually going to be a single and I am working on a couple of remixes of it. It is my favorite track for a lot of reasons, I wanted to do a tribute to Stock, Aiken and Waterman who used to produce Bananarama, Rick Astley, Dead or Alive, and their signature sound was kind of that bouncy bassline. The way the song came together is that I had some studio time booked to mix the album, but for some reason there was a scheduling mishap and it got delayed for a month. During that month, I did Better Off Naked. So it is like the song that never was, but I could not have the album without it. It has a lot of sentimental value.

C. J. Neumann: Lets fast forward here a little bit, are you planning a new album, and if you are, are you planning something totally different or will it be similar to Novocaine Smile?

Sy Boccari: Its funny that you mention that because I actually started working on it last week. The main difference between Novocaine Smile and the one that I am working on is that I am not producing it myself. As a result of playing a lot of live shows, and Naked Highway getting a lot more notoriety, producers have been approaching me and they want to work with and write songs with me. I am working with two New York based Hip-Hop producers, DJ Swindle and Broken Neon Sign, it is kind of an interesting collaboration to have the reserved straight lacedlike hip-hop artists and dance music artists working together, it is a weird combination, but it works. I think that Hip-hop producers just do vocal arrangements a lot better, and I think vocally, I am much stronger now then when I recorded this album. Just having the outside input is really helpful. It will be more of the same, just a little more funkier.

C. J. Neumann: As your music career is going, do you have any other dreams that you would like to fulfill?

Sy Boccari: I dont really have an agenda. All I want to do is make some beats for kids to dance to. I am also a DJ in NYC and just love it. Life in NYC is really kind of stressful, I just want to create an escape for everybody.

C. J. Neumann: When you DJ, I was wondering do you remix your own songs, mix others, other peoples work or does it depend on the day?

Sy Boccari: It depends. I have done remixes for The Substitute, which is Track 3 on the album. Also We Can F*ck, which is track 1. I am working with one of Ambers producers to remix Better Off Naked. I am also doing remixes for some New York bands. For example, The Dead Betties, Breakup Break Down its just a lot of projects and opportunities to be creative.

C. J. Neumann: You were talking about artists and producers, are there any of them that you would like to work with in the future?

Sy Boccari: My favorite producer from about 1997 is Stuart Price, and I think that everyone has discovered him now, thanks to Madonna, New Order. He came out in about 97 and called himself Jacques Lu Cont (Les Rhythmes Digitales), ever since I heard that album, I have wanted to work with him, but now he is so famous hes done (Madonnas) Confessions on a Dance Floor, so he is probably way out of my price range... What I like about him is that he incorporates a lot of rock music elements into dance music. He takes rock and makes it dancey, and that is what I am trying to do with my music by combining New Wave with Electronica and make something new out of it.

C. J. Neumann: I was looking at your performance dates coming up and I noticed that a majority of them are on the East Coast, New York, and Canada, are you planning to go to the West Coast or anywhere else in the US or Europe?

Sy Boccari: YES! After the Canada Shows, I am going to San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is really just a question of coordinating all my dancers. The West Coast is very easy because I have a separate live line up for Naked Highway, so it is convenient. I dont have to pick everyone up go over there.

C. J. Neumann: Are there any comments you would like to make about the music scene today, anything good or bad?

Sy Boccari: I think that we are in sort of a dark age. Because of technology speeding up not just recording, but also distribution of music. I think that the music industry is sort of in flux between the way that business used to be done and to the way that it is going to be done in the future. The labels that have approached me so far want a total package. Before I think labels looked for raw talent, but now they want finished product. They want a finished album, the image and everything already set. American Idol has given people insight on how it is really done, about packaging and how disposable a lot of acts really are. I dont know. But I think that we are heading for a golden age soon, I hope!

C. J. Neumann: Is there anything else you want to tell our readers about yourself or about what is going on?

Sy Boccari: What ever dream you have, just go for it. No matter how ridiculous it might seem. If you want something bad enough and you take the steps to make it happen, then the stars will align and it will happen. This album I recorded it in my bedroom without any serious intent to release it or anything, and now people are asking me to go to Europe, flying me across the country to do shows. Who wouldve thought that this little think that I was doing for fun, like my little diary, would take me so many places and bring so many creative people into my life.

C. J. Neumann: It is a good way to look at life. I want to thank you very much for taking the time to chat with me.

Sy Boccari: It was great talking to you too.

Electroqueer.com (London, UK)

He's a "disco dancing man machine". He's Sy from New York electro band Naked Highway and we tied him up to a chair and made him answer a few questions we've had since cruising onto their MySpace. Their new single 'Better Off Naked' is a hot Nine Inch Nails-esqe electro fest and 'Pop It Drop It' is currently tearing up the EQ Chart. So EQ's...meet sexy Sy and find out what the meaning is behind his infectious dance diddy 'We Can Fuck'. Hey! Hey! Hey!

Electroqueer: So tell us how Naked Highway got it's start.

Sy: I played bass and synths in various bands here in NYC just for fun, 'til I decided to get serious and start my own thing. Early Naked Highway demos sound a lot like Atari Teenage Riot…distorted dance beats, lots of screaming and punk guitars. Soon enough, I ditched the guitars and assembled a live electronic band with mixed results. Finally, I took sometime off…wrote all new songs, which ended up becoming the basis of the first Naked Highway album 'Novocaine Smile'.

EQ: Your latest creation, 'Pop It Drop It' is amazing. How did this song come about? [Listen Here]

Sy: Thanks so much! NYC rapper BNS and I wrote the original version of 'POP IT DROP IT' after a week of nights partying in NYC with our San Francisco friends and West Coast Naked Highway dancers. BNS came up with an undeniably dance-y beat and the melodies were kind of melancholic. I wanted the lyric to convey a wild night of partying trying to avoid loneliness with a HOT stranger. The phrase....POP IT DROP IT...is something HOT bitches in Queens do...drop that booty to the floor and POP IT back and forth.

It's a no-brainer that this is going to be the next single…we're going to shoot the video in July when we return from our mini-tour.

EQ: Thanks Sy for answering our questions! We feel a little dirty now...excuse us while we go hose ourselves down...

Currently listening : Novocaine Smile By Naked Highway Release date: 11 January, 2005

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