From the Soviet Kitsch album, 'Us' has retained its charm and sharp wit amidst what has been a very different debate of late concerning statues. Contested legacies seem to have been Spektor's concern here too, albeit in a different way. If statues could talk, what would they say?
Showing posts with label Regina Spektor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Regina Spektor. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 July 2021
Monday, 10 August 2020
Regina Spektor - "Blue Lips" (Live at WFUV)
This is Regina Spektor performing 'Blue Lips' as part of her 2019 live session for WFUV. Other songs from this session are available on YouTube if you search under WFUV and 2019, but not alas as one stream. In the meantime, here's Regina's full live set from Soundstage 2016.
Thursday, 6 August 2020
Fantasy Festival number 12: The Lineup
Emma Back: Emma Back is a singer, songwriter, violinist, teacher and community musician from Vermont. Her music is strongly influenced by Greek and Balkan traditions, and I interviewed her for The F-Word back in 2018, shortly before the release of her debut album Little World. You can find out more here.
Julia Jacklin: Australian singer and songwriter Julia Jacklin is two albums into a steadily building career. She seems to lean towards the Throwing Muses end of indie rock, and as with fellow compatriot Hatchie, her songwriting is drenched in sunshine and makes for great feel good music. You can find out more here.
Half Waif: Nandi Rose Plunkett's fourth album, The Caretaker, the follow up to the critically acclaimed Lavender, was released back in March. Seemingly more electronic and textured than her previous album, it builds on the success of it's earlier sibling and should see a steady return in terms of more people hearing her and being aware of her sophisticated songwriting and voice, which is reminiscent of early Laura Nyro at times. You can find her on Bandcamp.
Laura Gibson: Singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Laura Gibson has been a staple of the US underground for some time now. Whereas 2012's La Grande had overtones of gothic Americana, her most recent album, 2018's Goners, showcased a spikiness and an anger that hadn't been as apparent in her earlier writing. She will continue to surprise us. You can find out more here.
Cat Power: From underground star to overground star, to well respected singer, songwriter and musician, an influence and touchstone to many of the current generation of musicians, Chan Marshall has more than earned her place. You can find out more here.
Tracey Thorn: The legend that is Tracey Thorn first came to the public's attention in post punk band the Marine Girls back in 1980. She and Ben Watt formed Everything But The Girl as students in Hull in 1982. Since EBTG finished in 2000, she's become a writer, and her return to music in 2018 with the album Record, marked a new exciting direction. You can find out more here.
Regina Spektor: Russian American singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor has been making delightfully clever, slightly off kilter records since 2001. She's one of those artists who just gets better and better, making music that is straightforward enough to not be out of place on Radio 2 ('Samson') to complex pop baroque's such as 'Small Bill$'. You can find out more here.
PJ Harvey: Polly Jean Harvey's debut album Dry was released 28 years ago this year. It is being re-released, along with her entire back catalogue of albums, over the next twelve months. As influenced by Captain Beefheart as she is compared to Patti Smith, she has twice won the Mercury Music Prize and she is one of UK music's quieter stateswomen. You can find out more here.
Julia Jacklin: Australian singer and songwriter Julia Jacklin is two albums into a steadily building career. She seems to lean towards the Throwing Muses end of indie rock, and as with fellow compatriot Hatchie, her songwriting is drenched in sunshine and makes for great feel good music. You can find out more here.
Half Waif: Nandi Rose Plunkett's fourth album, The Caretaker, the follow up to the critically acclaimed Lavender, was released back in March. Seemingly more electronic and textured than her previous album, it builds on the success of it's earlier sibling and should see a steady return in terms of more people hearing her and being aware of her sophisticated songwriting and voice, which is reminiscent of early Laura Nyro at times. You can find her on Bandcamp.
Laura Gibson: Singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Laura Gibson has been a staple of the US underground for some time now. Whereas 2012's La Grande had overtones of gothic Americana, her most recent album, 2018's Goners, showcased a spikiness and an anger that hadn't been as apparent in her earlier writing. She will continue to surprise us. You can find out more here.
Cat Power: From underground star to overground star, to well respected singer, songwriter and musician, an influence and touchstone to many of the current generation of musicians, Chan Marshall has more than earned her place. You can find out more here.
Tracey Thorn: The legend that is Tracey Thorn first came to the public's attention in post punk band the Marine Girls back in 1980. She and Ben Watt formed Everything But The Girl as students in Hull in 1982. Since EBTG finished in 2000, she's become a writer, and her return to music in 2018 with the album Record, marked a new exciting direction. You can find out more here.
Regina Spektor: Russian American singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor has been making delightfully clever, slightly off kilter records since 2001. She's one of those artists who just gets better and better, making music that is straightforward enough to not be out of place on Radio 2 ('Samson') to complex pop baroque's such as 'Small Bill$'. You can find out more here.
PJ Harvey: Polly Jean Harvey's debut album Dry was released 28 years ago this year. It is being re-released, along with her entire back catalogue of albums, over the next twelve months. As influenced by Captain Beefheart as she is compared to Patti Smith, she has twice won the Mercury Music Prize and she is one of UK music's quieter stateswomen. You can find out more here.
Wednesday, 19 July 2017
Regina Spektor - Après Moi Live (Bonnaroo 2010)
This is Regina Spektor performing 'Apres Moi' live at Bonnaroo in 2010. You can watch Regina Spektor's full set on KEXP online from earlier this year. You can also watch her 2009 set from Glastonbury online.
Sunday, 16 July 2017
Fantasy Festival #2: The Slightly Serious Festival - Lineup
Julia Jacklin: Julia Jacklin is an Australian singer/songwriter from the Blue Mountains, who has lived in Sydney for several years but is currently based in Barcelona. Her debut album, Don't Let The Kids Win, was released in October 2016. She makes catchy folk pop songs, and her voice is ever so slightly reminiscent of a young Kristen Hersh. She has just, in the past two days, played at Latitude, and is right in the middle of a load of European festival dates.
Kelsey Lu: Kelsey Lu is a classically trained cellist who combines sparse highly atmospheric musical compositions with a real stop-'em-in-their-tracks voice. Her back story is an interesting one, and she seems to have been quickly taken under the wing of a number of supportive artists, which bodes well. She has just played the Night + Day Festival in Iceland, and will be playing a series of US dates in the autumn.
The Staves: The Staves are a trio of folk rock singing sisters from London who have released two albums, 2012's Dead & Born & Grown and 2015's If I Was. Recent single 'Tired As Fuck' hinted at a more rock direction for the band, who are not currently touring, and are perhaps working on new material.
Estelle: Estelle, the London singer/songwriter whose musical output cannot clearly be tagged as purely soul when it also includes aspects of R&B, grime, hip hop and areas of dance music, has released four albums and has won several MOBO's plus one Grammy (for her Kanye West collaboration, 'American Boy') she is a musically versatile and commanding performer who performed a lot in 2016, but is not currently touring.
Regina Spektor: Regina Spektor is an American/Russian singer/songwriter who will be playing some UK dates in the next couple of weeks. Although best known for the song 'Samson', her musical output and style is more varied than that particular song would suggest, combining Russian folk elements on one hand and hip hop beats on the other.
Natacha Atlas: Natacha Atlas is an Egyptian-Belgium singer whose early work in the 1990s included collaborations with the global dance band Transglobal Underground. She combines Arabic music and western pop of a number of styles to create everything from atmospheric laments to global dance music. She will be playing two dates in France this year, one in August, one in October.
Patti Smith: The legendary Patti Smith released her debut album, Horses, in 1975 and has been written of as the 'Godmother of punk', thanks to the cataclysmic effect Horses had on a number of artists on both sides of the Atlantic. Since punk, she has continued to be a musical touchstone and inspiration, meaning she has inspired artists as far apart as The Raincoats and Florence + The Machine. She played British Summer Time last year, second on the bill to Massive Attack. She is currently touring Europe.
Kelsey Lu: Kelsey Lu is a classically trained cellist who combines sparse highly atmospheric musical compositions with a real stop-'em-in-their-tracks voice. Her back story is an interesting one, and she seems to have been quickly taken under the wing of a number of supportive artists, which bodes well. She has just played the Night + Day Festival in Iceland, and will be playing a series of US dates in the autumn.
The Staves: The Staves are a trio of folk rock singing sisters from London who have released two albums, 2012's Dead & Born & Grown and 2015's If I Was. Recent single 'Tired As Fuck' hinted at a more rock direction for the band, who are not currently touring, and are perhaps working on new material.
Estelle: Estelle, the London singer/songwriter whose musical output cannot clearly be tagged as purely soul when it also includes aspects of R&B, grime, hip hop and areas of dance music, has released four albums and has won several MOBO's plus one Grammy (for her Kanye West collaboration, 'American Boy') she is a musically versatile and commanding performer who performed a lot in 2016, but is not currently touring.
Regina Spektor: Regina Spektor is an American/Russian singer/songwriter who will be playing some UK dates in the next couple of weeks. Although best known for the song 'Samson', her musical output and style is more varied than that particular song would suggest, combining Russian folk elements on one hand and hip hop beats on the other.
Natacha Atlas: Natacha Atlas is an Egyptian-Belgium singer whose early work in the 1990s included collaborations with the global dance band Transglobal Underground. She combines Arabic music and western pop of a number of styles to create everything from atmospheric laments to global dance music. She will be playing two dates in France this year, one in August, one in October.
Patti Smith: The legendary Patti Smith released her debut album, Horses, in 1975 and has been written of as the 'Godmother of punk', thanks to the cataclysmic effect Horses had on a number of artists on both sides of the Atlantic. Since punk, she has continued to be a musical touchstone and inspiration, meaning she has inspired artists as far apart as The Raincoats and Florence + The Machine. She played British Summer Time last year, second on the bill to Massive Attack. She is currently touring Europe.
Saturday, 15 July 2017
Fantasy Festival #2: The Slightly Serious Festival
I have realised since creating this poster that I have spelt Natacha Atlas' name wrong. Sorry Natacha.
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