ZOLA JESUS
TALK NORMAL, YUS
Wed, February 1, 2012
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
Crescent Ballroom
Phoenix, AZ
$13.00 - $14.00
Off Sale
This event is 16 and over
http://www.statesidepresents.com/event/82131/ZOLA JESUS
In the last three years Nika Roza Danilova has gone from being an outsider experimental teenage noise-maker to a full fledged internationally celebrated electronic pop musician. It was a huge feat to accomplish, and despite her age (young), her geography (mid-western, desolate), her accelerated scholastic requirements (high school and college were completed in three years each) and her diminutive physical size (4"11, 90 lbs) she has triumphed. She has emerged as a figurehead—a self-produced, self-designed, self-taught independent woman.
Zola Jesus is not a singer; she is a musician. Zola Jesus is not a band; it is a solo project. That is not to say the people who have helped her along the way were not deeply important. Her irreplaceable live band, who's drummer Nick Johnson lends a hand on several tracks here, and her friend Brian Foote who co-produced this album in addition to the live string players (Sean McCann, Ryan York) who contribute here were all crucial in the process. Nika however, is a woman who can command a room, any room, without needing a band, a stage, or even a microphone. Her voice is unmistakable; it cuts right to the core.
Conatus is a huge leap forward in production, instrumentation and song structure. It says it all in the definition of the title: the will to keep on, to move forward. From thumping ballads to electronic glitch, no sound goes unexplored on her new record. It is an icy exploration in refined chaos and controlled madness, an effort to break through capability and access a sonic world that crumbles as it shines.
Zola Jesus is not a singer; she is a musician. Zola Jesus is not a band; it is a solo project. That is not to say the people who have helped her along the way were not deeply important. Her irreplaceable live band, who's drummer Nick Johnson lends a hand on several tracks here, and her friend Brian Foote who co-produced this album in addition to the live string players (Sean McCann, Ryan York) who contribute here were all crucial in the process. Nika however, is a woman who can command a room, any room, without needing a band, a stage, or even a microphone. Her voice is unmistakable; it cuts right to the core.
Conatus is a huge leap forward in production, instrumentation and song structure. It says it all in the definition of the title: the will to keep on, to move forward. From thumping ballads to electronic glitch, no sound goes unexplored on her new record. It is an icy exploration in refined chaos and controlled madness, an effort to break through capability and access a sonic world that crumbles as it shines.
TALK NORMAL
Sarah Register and Andrya Ambro allied as TALK NORMAL in 2007, after years of friendship, and haven't stopped moving. Since their lightning-strike first appearance, TALK NORMAL's sound has stormed upward and outward, referencing few and relating to many, a jarringly songful gale of rhythm and noise supporting pleas and plaints, signal-calls and marching orders. Each show builds on past ones: up-to-the-moment updates of ideas previously stated, new phrasings of old upheavals delivered with increasing focus and joy. Darkness and light; fury, silence, space and sound.
TALK NORMAL is part of a long lineage of musicians who took their tools and ideas outside of the existing comfort zone and created a new one - DNA, Laurie Anderson, Sonic Youth, The Creatures, Public Image Ltd., Cocteau Twins - regardless of whether your ears perceive their presence or influence here. And after a couple of years having done-it-themselves - including self-released demos, the 2008 EP Secret Cog, and shows played alongside Marnie Stern, Major Stars, Boss Hog and Magik Markers, to name just a few - TALK NORMAL is releasing their debut album, Sugarland, on Rare Book Room Records. Recorded with Nicolas Vernhes and featuring guest spots from Sightings bassist Richard Hoffman (who sometimes joins TALK NORMAL onstage), Sugarland comprises nine original songs and a cover of Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." In every way, Sugarland represents a startling surge forward for the band - the clearest, loudest expression of TALK NORMAL's energy and language. So far.
TALK NORMAL is part of a long lineage of musicians who took their tools and ideas outside of the existing comfort zone and created a new one - DNA, Laurie Anderson, Sonic Youth, The Creatures, Public Image Ltd., Cocteau Twins - regardless of whether your ears perceive their presence or influence here. And after a couple of years having done-it-themselves - including self-released demos, the 2008 EP Secret Cog, and shows played alongside Marnie Stern, Major Stars, Boss Hog and Magik Markers, to name just a few - TALK NORMAL is releasing their debut album, Sugarland, on Rare Book Room Records. Recorded with Nicolas Vernhes and featuring guest spots from Sightings bassist Richard Hoffman (who sometimes joins TALK NORMAL onstage), Sugarland comprises nine original songs and a cover of Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." In every way, Sugarland represents a startling surge forward for the band - the clearest, loudest expression of TALK NORMAL's energy and language. So far.
YUS
Yus is the solo project of Youceff Kabal. Based in Phoenix, AZ, Yus records and performs some strange archetype of pop music. Palms, his first record was self-released digitally on Bandcamp, November 21st 2010. The sound showcased on it is a love affair between moving beats and buzzing bass lines that work alongside lush keyboard harmonies to support and propel catchy hooks. Youceff was born in Brussels, Belgium, on March 20th 1990, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona in September 2004. He started making music on his family computer during high school, putting together hip hop beats for his neighbor who was a rapper. The current sound came together after a successful streak of songwriting in late 2009. After months of producing, recording and starting over again, Palms was finally completed in late 2010. In support of it, Yus has opened for national acts such as Youth Lagoon, Phantogram, Balam Acab and more recently Zola Jesus. A new record is currently in production, with release planned for 2012.