Showing posts with label bonnie prince billy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bonnie prince billy. Show all posts

Monday, February 14, 2011

EIC'S10Q'S w/Geneva Jacuzzi

"..head first into a bath of Post("Pre" maybe?)-Electro Pop sounds infused with what sounds like/can only be described as Tropicana Goth music.."


Geneva Jacuzzi
Caliginous Electro Art

Geneva Jacuzzi Bio:
Geneva Garvin (aka Geneva Jacuzzi) is a songwriter, visual and recording artist from Los Angeles, California. In her music she has honed a blithe and cryptic wit filled with sultry puns, double entendres, and irreverent references to mysticism and the occult. From 2004 to 2007 she fronted the tongue-in-cheek goth band Bubonic Plague, an influential cult favorite in the burgeoning scene in LA’s Echo Park district.

Her music has used styles that range from Darkwave, Goth, Lounge and Tropicalia. She recreates these sounds in painstaking detail on a portable 8-track cassette recorder.

Her recent recordings have zeroed in on a discarded period in electronic funk and dance music associated with groups like Morris Day and The Time, El DeBarge and Zapp & Roger. She infuses these styles with elaborate instrumentation and harmonically complex textures that are technically difficult to achieve using her recording equipment. These distilled instrumental pieces often last under 30 seconds.

She has also developed a collage-art style that she uses to package her own music and Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti albums. Like her music, her album covers consist of other album covers, intricately re-worked and shuffled so as to give the impression of a sensuous time in contemporary music, while avoiding specific references or quotation.



Hello, how are you?

I'm as well as can be expected.

What are you currently listening to?
The sweet song of "My Cockatiel" (Norman). His melodies are quite unique. Tonight, he seems to be venturing off into a rather strange style of music. It sounds almost like a classic Zarzuela sprinkled with a hint of Mariachi. It's actually kinda good.

What's the story behind the band name?
Well, Geneva is my real first name and Jacuzzi is my fake rock and roll last name.

Which artist(s) influenced you the most when it came to creating your signature sound?
Oh how I wish I knew what my signature sound was!! Anyway, this is hard so I'll just list whatever pops into my head. Devo, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Human League, Sparks, Abba, Fad Gadget, Chrome, Prince, MJ, The Cure, Ministry, The Associates... this could go on forever and I know I'm forgetting all the Good ones.

Who is your favorite artist from the Los Angeles area?
Uh, Christian Death, Duh!

What's your least favorite genre of music?
GENRE MUSIC

Is there a tentative title/theme/release date for your next album?
What? Who said anything about a next album.

Will you be touring for said release?
Oh definitely!

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?

There are a lot of good albums out there. HA! but none that good

Are you living your dream?

No, My dream is to become a Jedi Knight and live out the rest of my days levitating in the magical ice caves of Hoth.

Thanx Geneva!

Geneva Jacuzzi is currently working on a follow up to "Lamaze"...maybe.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

REVIEW: Valgeir Sigurðsson - Draumalandið

7.5 out of 10

Valgeir Sigurðsson is one of the staple acts on Bedroom Community, Ben Frost's label. The music he creates is Classical music meshed with crunchy electronic samples (much like Ben Frost's music, only a little more organic/Classical). He's worked with Bjork, Mum, Kronos Quartet, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and Nico Muhly to name a few. And for his latest release (2nd full length) he was asked to score an Icelandic film titled "Draumalandið", which is a documentary about the exploitation of Iceland's natural resources. Yes, his resume is indeed quite impressive, but he is only just beginning.

The overall mood for the film seems to be dreary, and somewhat "dream like" as the title suggests however "Draumalandið" is more than just a score, it is warning to future/parallel societies. For the film's score Valgeir Sigurðsson has chosen the path of abase, dark, and ominous sounds accompanied by strings, horns, piano, minimal electronics, and a few drum pieces that sort of bring to mind Steve Reich. The whole composition is very forward moving, with a "slowly melting" feel to it. Is it contradictory to be fast and slow at the same time? Maybe. But I think that is the point Mr. Sigurðsson is trying to make with this piece.. All of our forward/fast thinking decisions are slowly corrupting and decaying environments around us. We never take a moment to look at our surroundings because we are so focused on our monetary goals. And it's because of these decisions that are world may be doomed. Classical music can be a hard thing to review/explain. There are so many sounds/moods/ambiances within that will give each listener their own personal experience. I do feel with this piece the message seems pretty obvious and it's something we should all take a moment to sit back and think about. I love the music, I love the message, and I love that Valgeir Sigurðsson was chosen to create such a dramatic "environment" as only he could. If you're at all a fan of the genre consider this a must.

If you're a sucker for serene/quiet string pieces that swell and buckle over and under forward thinking electronic atmospheres you're in for a treat. Recommended.

Standout Tracks: Dreamland, Laxness, Hot Ground Cold, Draumaland (love the piano on this track -- kind of reminds me of Philip Glass), Nowhere Land, Helter Smelter