1 Bat For Lashes
Scene & Unheard: Brighton, England
Issue #30
By Beth Capper
Published: December 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
LABEL:
Chrysalis/She Bear Records
PLAYERS:
Natasha Khan aka Bat (songwriting, singing, harpsichord, piano, autoharp, guitar, beat machines, percussion), Ginger Lee (autoharp, guitar, piano, drum, and harmonies), Abi Fry (viola, big drum, piano, claps, and harmonies)
INFLUENCES
: Kate Bush, Nico, Rachels, Björk, David Lynch,
Donnie Darko, Buffalo 66,slowed-down hip-hop, voodoo conjurers, weather phenomena
SOUNDS LIKE:
the sleek pop production of Madonna coupled with the haunting balladry of Antony and the Johnsons
THE LOWDOWN:Natasha Khan is the Bat in Bat for Lashes. She draws many of her musical and artistic influences from her early childhood in Pakistan but creates records in England. Bat for Lashes debut record,
Fur and Gold,was released on September 11 through She Bear/Echo Records, Khan’s own imprint of the British label Drowned in Sound.
URL:
BLOOD RED SHOES
LABEL:Jonson Family/Try Harder
PLAYERS: Laura-Mary Carter (guitar, vocals), Steven Ansell (drums, vocals)
INFLUENCES: Babes in Toyland, Q and not U, childishness, Delta 5, zombies and horror, Nirvana, the Bangles, blood and gore, dancing, knives, Huggy Bear
SOUNDS LIKE: a warring maelstrom of guitar and drums coming together to make bristling pop-tinged indie rock.
THE LOWDOWN: From the band’s Web site: “Once upon a time Ginger Rogers had to redo a tap-dance scene so many times that the cameraman asked whether she’d changed out of her white shoes into some red ones. She hadn’t. It turned out she’d danced so hard they were covered in blood.” Blood Red Shoes formed in 2004 from the debris of two bands – Southern Records’ Cat on Form and London’s Lady Muck. They started jamming together just for fun and played their first show with only three songs to their name two weeks later. Since then, they have been played on Radio One and XFM.
URL: bloodredshoes.co.uk
POLLY SHANG KUAN BAND
LABEL: Ecstatic Peace/Chocolate Monk
PLAYERS: Karen Constance, Caroline Lewis, and Maya-Victoria Kjellstand
SOUNDS LIKE:Polly Shang Kuen Band in their own words: “This coven of feedback worshipping witches spit and shriek audio hexes through yr skulls, using vocals, tapes, electronics and various junk.”
THE LOWDOWN: Started in 1999 by Karen Constance, the Polly Shang Kuan Band was originally conceived as an ever-changing all-female noise project, giving their male counterparts the runaround. Since then, the lineup has solidified into a trio with members Maya-Victoria Kjellstrand and Maureen Farrell.
URL: forcedexposure.com/artists/polly.shang.kuan.band.smack.music.7.html
THE...ALSATIANS
LABEL: unsigned
PLAYERS: Grace (vocals, bass, samples)
INFLUENCES: Metallic Falcons, Xiu Xiu
SOUNDS LIKE: A foreboding, howling emptiness formed from layers of bass piled heavily upon vocals suffused with sadness
THE LOWDOWN: Grace in her own words: “I am not a preacher. My purpose is only to try to give voice (with any conviction I can hope to possess) to some of those who never had the chance to express the pain inflicted upon them.” Grace has been playing under the aegis The… Alsatians since late 2004 and performed as part of Ladyfest Brighton in October 2005.
URL: myspace.com/thealsatiansmusic
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