Alternative, Indie

ICE QUEEN: Gena Olivier
BAND: Midnight Movies
ORIGIN: Los Angeles, CA
GENRE: Indie
ACCOMPLICES: Larry Schemel (guitars), Ryan Wood (bass), Sandra Wu (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Midnight Movies" (2004), "Lion The Girl" (2007), "Nights" EP (2008)
INFLUENCES: Whatever their influences are, Gena is a reincarnation of Nico

IMHO:

FAVORITE SONGS: "Souvenirs"
FAVORITE ALBUM:

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Rachel Stolte
BAND: Great Northern
ORIGIN: Los Angeles, CA
GENRE: Indie
ACCOMPLICES: Solon Bixler
DISCOGRAPHY: "Sleepy Eepee" EP, "Trading Twilight For Daylight" (2007), "Remind Me Where The Light Is" (2009)
INFLUENCES: Elliot Smith, P.J. Harvey

IMHO: My Romantic idea of apocalypse is driving around thru vast fields of nothing in the aftermath listening to Great Northern. Obviously, this is just an idea, but behind it is the notion that GN is great driving music, maybe the best ever, along with Markus Schultz's "Travelling Light". I remember driving back from upstate NY listening to them in the fall, observing the leaves and thinking I was on my way to paradise. I am so beyond excited about their new album... Maybe I shouldn't, so it doesn't become a disappointment later, but judging by the first single "Houses", I have every reason to be about to jump off my seat. Pure... love...

FAVORITE SONGS: "Telling Lies", "The Middle", "Low is a height", "Houses"... etc
FAVORITE ALBUMS: "Trading Twilight For Daylight", but I can't wait for the new one.

WHAT OTHERS SAY: Rachel is interviewed by The Scenestar here.

ICE QUEEN: Karen O. (born Karen Lee Orzolek)
BAND: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
ORIGIN: New Jersey, USA
GENRE: Indie
ACCOMPLICES: Nick Zinner (guitar), Brian Chase (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" EP (2001), "Machine" EP (2002), "Fever To Tell" (2003), "Show Your Bones" (2006), "Is Is" EP (2007), "It's Blitz!" (2009)
INFLUENCES: Sonic Youth, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, New York's No Wave

IMHO: The first time I heard the YYY's was when I was helping my friend Scott to edit his documentary "Kill Yr. Idols", a mise-en-scène of the New York No Wave versus the Yes Wave. He had gone to see them play in some very small venue, and came back and said "these kids are going to be the next big thing, I must interview them for my documentary." He was obviously right. At the beginning I saw Karen O as a female version of Marilyn Manson meets Freddie Mercury meets Morrissey meets Jack Skellington, a spasmodic stick figure jumping, stretching and screeching all over the stage... It took me a while to get used to her stage persona, but I quickly loved the music, the simplicity of a guitar, drums and a voice (what a voice), and the endless creativity and ideas that came based on those three elements. Three studio albums later, I can't wait to listen to "It's Blitz!", and although they have departed a bit from the raw lo-fi punk of their beginnings, their electronica era sounds very promising.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Pin", "Miles Away", "Cheated Hearts", "Y Control", "Way Out", "Cold Light", "Art Star", etc etc etc.
FAVORITE ALBUM: Really, all of them.

SEEN THEM LIVE: At Irving Plaza, NYC, back in 2003. I don't remember much about that show, I should go see them again.

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Ninja (born Nkechi Ka Egenamba)
BAND: The Go! Team
ORIGIN: London, England
GENRE: hmm, how to describe it?
ACCOMPLICES: Ian Parton (electric guitar, harmonica, and drums), Sam Dook (electric guitar, banjo, bass, and drums), Chi Fukami Taylor (drums, vocals), Kaori Tsuchida (vocals, electric guitar, keys, and melodica), Jamie Bell (bass)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Thunder, Lightning, Strike" (2004), "Proof of Youth" (2007)
INFLUENCES: A mixture of early hip-hop, cheerleading squads, Saturday morning cartoons, '70s TV theme music and '90s noise-pop.

IMHO: The Go! Team are one of the most exciting bands of the moment, if not the most, in the indie world. They have been able to create and consolidate their own sound in only two albums, and it never gets boring. I could try and describe their music, but isn't it easier if you just listen to some of their stuff? It's a collage of styles, and Ninja's voice is just one more element in this salad of sounds. Really cool, fresh and lo-fi stuff.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Bottle Rocket", "Grip Like A Vice", "Huddle Formation"
FAVORITE ALBUM: Both, really, they are great

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Liela Moss
BAND: The Duke Spirit
ORIGIN: London, England
GENRE: Brit Pop
ACCOMPLICES: Luke Ford (guitar), Dan Higgins (guitar), Toby Butler (bass), Olly Betts (drums, percussion)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Cuts Across the Land" (2005), "Neptune" (2008)
INFLUENCES: Sonic Youth, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., P.J. Harvey, The Jesus and Mary Chain, motown music

IMHO: This band follows a pretty standard and formulaic alternative British rock style, but the extra kick to their songs and Liela's raspy velvety voice got my attention. They remind me a little bit of Catatonia and Cerys Matthews, but the Duke Spirit is considerably darker and more instrumental. Very enjoyable!

FAVORITE SONGS: "Lasso", "My Sunken Treasure", "The Step and the Walk"
FAVORITE ALBUM: "Neptune"

SEEN THEM LIVE: At Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ on Feb 15th, 2009. The Duke Spirit kicked some ass, old school fast beat rock and roll, made lots of noise and played an excellent live show! The only inconvenience is that it was a little bit too short (1 hour), but I had a blast. The stage was way too small for Liela and the band. I hope they get a better venue next time.

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Kim Deal (born Kimberly Ann Deal)
BAND: Pixies, The Breeders, The Amps
ORIGIN: Dayton, Ohio (USA)
GENRE: Alternative rock
ACCOMPLICES: Pixies: Frank Black, Joey Santiago, David Lovering; The Breeders: Kelley Deal, Tanya Donnelly, Josepine Wiggs, Jim McPherson, Carrie Bradley, José Medeles, Mando Lopez (these last two on the current lineup along with Kelley); The Amps: Jim McPherson, Luis Lerma, Nate Farley.
DISCOGRAPHY: Pixies: "Come On Pilgrim" (1987), "Surfer Rosa" (1988), "Doolittle" (1989), "Bossanova" (1990), "Trompe Le Monde" (1991), "Pixies at the BBC" (1998), "Complete B-Sides" (2001); The Breeders: "Pod" (1990), "Safari" EP (1992), "Last Splash" (1993), "Head To Toe" EP (1994), "Live in Stockholm" (1995), "Title TK" (2002), "Mountain Battles" (2008); The Amps: "Pacer" (1995).
INFLUENCES:

IMHO: I discovered The Breeders in college. I saw a girl wearing a t-shirt with the Last Splash record cover on it, which I always thought it was a strawberry. I must say I have discovered a lot of music because I saw an album cover I liked, the most notorious examples being Portishead and Elastica. I saw the cover of Last Splash and thought "now there is something I have to listen to". I can't remember what we listened to at that point, but we were probably at the birth of the Brit Pop phenomenon, Pixies, Smiths, etc. I've probably mentioned it ten thousand times in this blog, but the year 1994 was the biggest musical year of my life. Blah blah nostalgia etc. So in that year I discovered The Breeders thanks to a t-shirt. That's why cotton is so important in our lives. I soaked Last Splash, Pod, Head to Toe, Safari... anything I could get my ears on. I liked Kim Deal because she was cool. Her band was cool. Her music was cool. I could be totally wrong, but it was one of the first indie all-girl-except-for-the-drummer bands (the Throwing Muses too). And they rocked! So that's pretty much it. I see that they are publishing a new album in 2008 and that gives me hopes I'll see them live again.

I actually just saw them live again this past weekend! Read my droolings in the section below.

I know at least two songs inspired on this muse, which are "Cool as Kim Deal" by The Dandy Warhols and "Ohio Girls" by Spanish indie band El Inquilino Comunista. Do you know any others?

FAVORITE SONG: "Gigantic" (with Pixies), "Saints", "Doe", "Safari", "Do You Love Me Now?", "No Aloha", "Tipp City", "Overglazed", "It's The Love", "German Studies" and so forth
FAVORITE ALBUM: Hmmm, so hard to decide...

SEEN THEM LIVE:
The Breeders: February 11th, 2002 and August 1st, 2002. Both times at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC. The Breeders came twice to NY that year, first to present "Title TK" and then to squeeze the juice out of it. I went to see both shows, and they can squeeze my juice all they want, because I adore them. I remember Kelley Deal came out to the stage with a pink feather handbag and a 2-litter Mountain Dew bottle. Kim is so passionate about her music that is a pleasure to see her perform. And the drummer they had with the black thick glasses rocked too! For me it was so great to see in person these people I had idolized in my early twenties... I don't care if their glam-and-glitz years are all gone: seeing them in the flesh being who they are was really great. I hope they keep touring because I will continue to go see them.

I saw them again, and twice! this past weekend! July 12th and 13th, 2008. First, at the Starland Ballroom, in Sayreville, NJ. I missed the Webster Hall show last june due to a work conflict, so I found this show conveniently scheduled on a Saturday, and my friend Annie, my husband and I got in a car and went to see them! It was a great venue, because it was fairly small and we were literally on the first row by the fence, and no pushing, no trampling. It was pretty much like they were giving a show in their living room, and the feeling was awesome. It seemed like the band felt comfortable too, and Kim didn't leave the stage during the encore break, she stayed and played the drum riff from Shocker in Gloomtown with drummer José Medeles on the guitar. I will never forget this show. They have a 2nd guitarist for the road shows, "her name is Cheryl, and she is from Florida" -Kim dicit.
The second show, The Breeders at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. It was a free show, so you can imagine the pool filled up with people who were there for the music and people who were there for the pool party, which is a total opposite feel to last night's intimate show. They played the same songs as the day before, but I enjoy any energy I can get from KD. I absolutely love this band.

Pixies: November 30th, 2004. Mullins Center, Amherst, MA. It was spine-chilling to see the Pixies (the Pixies!) live at their alma matter, UMass. Yeah, they have some more pounds and less hair than in the last decade, but they rocked my nostalgia.

WHAT OTHERS SAY: I had no idea about this, which I found at wikipedia: "The Breeders are an American rock band, formed in 1977 as a folk rock duo featuring twin sisters Kim and Kelley Deal of Dayton, Ohio which played country covers at truck stops and bars and dissipated in the early 80's. only to be revived as a side project in 1988 for Kim who by then was playing bass for Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses."

ICE QUEEN: Björk Gudmundsdóttir
BAND: The Sugarcubes, Björk
ORIGIN: Reykjavík, Iceland
GENRE: She should have her own genre, but, you know, alternative, electronica, jazz, trip hop...
ACCOMPLICES: TS: Einar Örn Benediktsson (vocals, trumpet), Sigtryggur Baldursson (drums), Þór Eldon (guitar), Bragi Ólafsson (bass), Margrét (Magga) Örnólfsdóttir (keyboards).
DISCOGRAPHY: TS: "Life's Too Good" (1988), "Here, Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!" (1989), "Stick Around For Joy" (1992); SOLO: "Björk" (1977), "Debut" (1993), "Post" (1995), "Telegram" (1996), "Homogenic" (1997), "Selmasongs" (2000), "Vespertine" (2001), "Greatest Hits" (2002), "Medúlla" (2004), "Drawing Restraint 9" (2005), "Volta" (2007).
INFLUENCES:

IMHO: Björk's imagination is so beyond this world that I have a hard time catching up, and sometimes I need to take a break and get back to her later. Aside from her capabilities without boundaries as a visual artist, I do enjoy very much some of her albums, specially if I listen to them with my good headphones full blast, so I can grasp all the sounds and textures: "All Neon Like" would be my favorite song to do that.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Birthday", "Hit", "Venus As A Boy", "Violently Happy", "Play Dead", "Big Time Sensuality", "Isobel", "Unravel", "Bachelorette", "All Neon Like", "All Is Full of Love", "Jóga", "Pagan Song"...
FAVORITE ALBUMS: "Debut", "Homogenic"

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Polly Jean Harvey
BAND: Solo Artist
ORIGIN: Somerset, England
GENRE: Alternative Rock
ACCOMPLICES: Rob Ellis and Steve Vaughn until 1993
DISCOGRAPHY: "Dry" (1992), "Rid of Me" (1993), "To Bring You My Love" (1995), "Dance Hall at Louse Point" (1996), "Is This Desire?" (1998), "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" (2000), "Uh Huh Her" (2004), "The Peel Sessions 1991-2004" (2006), "White Chalk" (2007)
INFLUENCES: John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, Soft Cell, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Pixies, Television, Slint, Patti Smith, Ennio Morricone, Arvo Pärt, Samuel Barber and Henryk Górecki.

IMHO: I have always been a little bit skeptical with P.J. Harvey. During my college years, my classmates kept praising how good she was after her first three albums, and I scratched my head, listened to them over and over, and nothing. Maybe I didn't have the special gene to like her. But then "SFTC, SFTS" album came out in 2000 and I really loved it. And after that, with the following albums, I went back to scratching my head. Long story short. Maybe we're not compatible. I'm open to suggestions.

FAVORITE SONG: "The Dancer", and the whole "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" album
FAVORITE ALBUM: "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea"

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Charlyn "Chan" Marshall
BAND: Cat Power
ORIGIN: Atlanta, GA (USA)
GENRE: Folk, indie, blues, and so forth
ACCOMPLICES: a guitar, a piano
DISCOGRAPHY: "Dear Sir" (1995), "Myra Lee" (1996), "What Would The Community Think" (1996), "Moon Pix" (1998), "The Covers Record" (2000), "You Are Free" (2003), "The Greatest" (2006), "Jukebox" (2008).
INFLUENCES:

IMHO: Cat Power has always been in my playlists but kind of in the background; every once in a while a song will pop up and I will listen to it. But lately, and since I started playing "The Greatest" in my bedroom stereo, I have become more aware of the real power of Cat Power. I am being seduced by Chan Marshall. It was also because of a stupid jewelry commercial that featured a snippet of a song that I believed she recorded for that commercial. This voice requests special attention. I really want to see her live. On a side note, Chan is one of these performers who, like P.J. Harvey, you'll hear them sing and you'll be like "Wow! What a voice!" and then you hear them on interviews and their voice is so different... Oh, well, that was the side note. Spanish singer Luz Casal is one of those cases too. I can never match the spoken voice with the singing voice. It doesn't sound like the same person.
Anyway, I'm planning to do some serious listening of this lady and shall write more afterwards.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Rockets", "He Was A Friend of Mine", "He War", "The Greatest", "Willie".
FAVORITE ALBUM: "The Greatest"

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Natasha Khan
BAND: Bat For Lashes
ORIGIN: Brighton, England
GENRE: Hmm, what do we call that... alternative?
ACCOMPLICES: Abi Fry, Lizzy Carey, Caroline Weeks (Live performers)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Fur And Gold" (2006)
INFLUENCES: Children's fairytales, Sun Ra, Neil Young, Lou Reed, The Cure, Bruce Springsteen

IMHO: Among this unstoppable cascade of new and ephemeral acts, I keep an eye (or an ear) on Bat For Lashes, because in her album "Fur And Gold" there are a few interesting things ("Horse and I" being my fave). Let's see if she lasts and what she comes up with.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Horse and I"
FAVORITE ALBUM:

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Shingai Shoniwa
BAND: The NOISEttes
ORIGIN: Zimbabwe and London, England
GENRE: Alternative rock
ACCOMPLICES: Dan Smith (backing vocals, lead guitar), Jamie Morrison (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: "What's The Time, Mr. Wolf?" (2007)
INFLUENCES: The circus, Nina Simone, old films and Peter Sellers

IMHO: I hadn't listened to a band with such raw energy in a long time. I actually had a dream last week (Feb 2008) about rocking out to The Noisettes. I am pretty sure I dreamt the song "I WE". Strange. I doubt Freud would have an explanation for that. Shingai has a voice that reminds me of Skin (from Skunk Anansie), but Shingai's is more velvety, with more texture. What a little gem. If you like short, fast, punked out songs, this is your thing.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Scratch Your Name", "Sister Rosetta", "Bridge To Canada", "I WE"...
FAVORITE ALBUM: "What's The Time, Mr. Wolf?"

WHAT OTHERS SAY: "Their music is a chameleonic mix of anthemlike ballads, high-pitched 1970s glam rock, distorted guitar riffs, and grungy headbanging rhythms, with Shoniwa's jazzy voice leading the march", taken from this webpage.

ICE QUEEN: Kristin Hersh
BAND: Throwing Muses, 50 Foot Wave, Solo artist
ORIGIN: Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
ACCOMPLICES: TM: Tanya Donnelly (vocals, guitar), Georges Bernard (bass), David Narcizo (drums); 50FW: Georges Bernard (bass), Rob Ahlers (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: TM: "Untitled" (1986), "House Tornado" (1988), "Hunkpapa" (1989), "The Real Ramona" (1991), "Red Heaven" (1992), "University" (1995), "Limbo" (1996), "In A Doghouse" (1998), "Throwing Muses" (2003); 50FW: "50 Foot Wave" (2004), "Golden Ocean" (2005); Solo: "Hips and Makers" (1994), "Strange Angels" (1998), "Murder, Misery And Then Goodnight" (1998), "Sky Motel" (1999), "Sunny Border Blue" (2001), "The Grotto" (2003), "Learning To Sing Like a Star" (2007).
INFLUENCES: The Raincoats, Talking Heads, Violent Femmes, Meat Puppets, Dead Kennedys, Hüsker Dü, Velvet Underground, R.E.M., Patti Smith, the Carter Family, Stevie Wonder, Robert Johnson, Talking Heads, The Clash, Steve Miller, Mary Margaret O'Hara, The Beatles, Philip Glass, and traditional music

IMHO: "Bright Yellow Gun" is one of the best songs I've ever heard! They used to play it at Panam's, a club we used to go in Barcelona circa 1995, and every time it came up the whole dance floor would go crazy... Such a powerful song... Of all the projects this hard-working lady has been involved in, Throwing Muses is my favorite. I love the fight of her voice against the electric guitar in their last albums. I love the confrontation, the energy, the power, the spark... hard and rough, yet beautiful melodies. I don't really like acoustic music, so I had a harder time getting used to her solo stuff.

FAVORITE SONG: "Bright Yellow Gun", "Tar Kissers", "Freeloader", "Shark", "Cowbirds", "Not Too Soon"
FAVORITE ALBUM: "Limbo", "University", "The Real Ramona"

SEEN THEM LIVE:
Kristin: May 4th, 2002. The Knitting Factory, NY. Again, not a fan of the acoustic thing, but I had to see Kristin live, so I went. I admire this woman and her impressive creative output.

Throwing Muses: April 26th, 2003. Irving Plaza, NY. I was so looking forward to this show. It was the Muses' big comeback with a special appearance by Tanya Donnelly... But I never got into the show. I was disappointed. Maybe it was me.


WHAT OTHERS SAY: "Some interviews have described Hersh's early drive to perform as due to hearing sounds in her mind so that her songs began to "write themselves", becoming at times their own separate presences in her life, inner voices haunting her. She has stated that hearing these "pieces of songs" clanging together in her mind compelled her to take the pieces apart and craft songs from them. "If I don't turn ideas into songs", she has said, "they can get stuck in me and make me sick". from wikipedia.

"Throwing Muses are known for performing music with shifting tempos, creative chord progressions, unorthodox song structures, and surreal lyrics. The group was set apart from other contemporary acts by Hersh's stark, candid writing style; Donelly's pop stylings and vocal harmonies; and David Narcizo's unusual drumming techniques eschewing use of cymbals. Hallucinatory, febrile songs by Hersh occasionally touched on the subject of mental illness, more often drawing portraits of characters from daily life or addressing relationships. Throwing Muses' angular, anguished, mercurial sound had much to do with Hersh's mental illness (she suffered from a form of bipolarity that caused her to hallucinate)." also from wikipedia

ICE QUEEN: Dolores O'Riordan
BAND: The Cranberries
ORIGIN: Limerick, Ireland
GENRE: Alternative pop
ACCOMPLICES: Noel Hogan (guitars), Mike Hogan (bass), Fergal Lawler (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Everybody Else Is Doin' It, So Why Can't We?" (1993), "No Need To Argue" (1994), "To The Faithful Departed" (1996), "Bury The Hatchet" (1999), "Wake Up And Smell The Coffee" (2001)
INFLUENCES: Sinéad O'Connor, The Smiths, U2

IMHO: Like Corin Tucker from Sleater-Kinney, Dolores O'Riordan has a very unique voice that people either love or hate. If we take "Ode to my family" as an example, she can sound really sweet, like she does at the beginning, and then she gets into Irish yodeling until she blasts out with her own interpretation of phonetics and her icy screams... I guess "Zombie" makes a great example too. All in all, I think the Cranberries have made such great songs, and when I saw them live in Barcelona too many years ago I had a blast and so did the rest of the audience with Dolores' energy and her quirky dance moves (and her flawless live singing).

FAVORITE SONG: "Daffodil's Lament", "Dreaming My Dreams", "Pretty", "Dreams", "Ridiculous Thoughts", etc...
FAVORITE ALBUM: "No Need To Argue"

SEEN THEM LIVE: Pavelló Olímpic de la Vall d'Hebrón, Barcelona. It was last decade, but I don't remember when... I loved every minute of it.

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

ICE QUEEN: Justine Frischmann
BAND: Elastica
ORIGIN: Twickenham, UK
GENRE: Britpop
ACCOMPLICES: Donna Matthews (guitar), Annie Holland (bass), Justin Welch (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Elastica" (1994), "The Menace" (2000).
INFLUENCES: Wire, The Stranglers, The Fall, The Buzzcocks, Adam and the Ants, Blondie

IMHO: Justine is a perfect definition of cool. I hate that adjective, because I find myself using it too many times instead of thinking a little more and trying to find a better word, but if I take into consideration the common understanding that we all have for this word, Justine suits it at its perfection. Elastica came around 1993-94 and rapidly climbed to the top within the Britpop charts. It is widely known and publically admitted by the band that they ripped off songs from Wire and The Stranglers, but how can a band that rips off other bands be so successful and be liked also by the followers of the copied bands? Because they were cool. And Justine was such an inspiration for fellow band frontwomen with her agressive and careless attitude. If I could just imagine what they could have become if drugs hadn't delayed their second album for 6 years before a long announced death... When the long awaited second album came out ("The Menace"), they were just not cool anymore, I just didn't care, I had moved on to other bands with more history and depth (Curve, hell yeah!). However, Elastica and Justine, the rebel girl of Britpop who seduced Brett Anderson, Damon Albarn and the rest of the world, have a privileged spot in my musical history and I will always play them gladly.

FAVORITE SONGS: "Car Song", "Never Here", "Love Like Ours", "Waking Up", etc
FAVORITE ALBUM: "Elastica"

SEEN THEM LIVE: December 12th, 1995, in Sala Zeleste 2 (Barcelona, Spain). 40 minutes of coolness. My friend and I got there early (the perks of public transportation), and while we were eating peanuts by the door waiting for time to pass by, Justine came outside to smoke a cigarette and we got an autograph in the peanut can label.

WHAT OTHERS SAY: If you are into Elastica, I deeply recommend this long and detailed interview published in The Guardian, and find out what Justine is out nowadays.

ICE QUEEN: Sonya Aurora Madan
BAND: echobelly
ORIGIN: London, UK
GENRE: Brit Pop
ACCOMPLICES: Glenn Johansson (guitar), Debbie Smith (guitar), Alex Keyser (bass), Andy Henderson (drums)
DISCOGRAPHY: "Everyone's Got One", "On", "Lustra", "People Are Expensive", "Gravity Pulls"
INFLUENCES: Shiv Kumar Sharma, Zakir Hussain, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, The Beatles, The Smiths, Frank Black, Kid Koala, Charles Mingus, Shane McGowan, The Dandy Warhols, Leftfield, Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Morrissey, Ben Harper, REM, Ravi Shankar, Pixies and all the others...

IMHO: The mid-nineties were great, musically speaking. Brit Pop was the soundtrack to many of my nights out with friends, and bands like Echobelly made you happy to be alive. I remember we used to go dancing on Thursday nights to clubs like "New York New York" and "Panam's", downtown Barcelona, and danced the night away to "Great things" and other great anthems thinking life was beautiful. Yeah... Friday mornings were not so popular in the university... We had a tendency to skip the first class and show up droopy-eyed around 11a. Those were the good times, when you think life awaits for you with great surprises. For all I know, "Panam's" became a prostibule later on.
Sonya Aurora Madan sings so well. She's been called a female Morrissey, but I don't see that resemblance anywhere. I just know that the first two Echobelly albums are masterpieces of powerpop and every song is great in them. Skipping and bouncing around guaranteed. If Justine Frischmann from Elastica was the enfant terrible of Britpop, Sonya always played the role of the cute-happy-go-lucky girl next door. Was she? That we don't know.

FAVOURITE SONG: "Insomniac", "Call me names", "Give her a gun", "Today Tomorrow Sometimes Never", "Car Fiction", "Natural Animal", "Dark Therapy", blah blah blah
FAVOURITE ALBUMS: "Everyone's got one", "On"

WHAT OTHERS SAY: