On Wednesday, January 28, Bandland Productions, a Hoboken-based consortium of artists promoting artists, and Rodeo-Ristra will be presenting a showcase of unique and varied solo acts. The line-up runs a gamut of styles and types of instrumentation, consisting of Alina Simone (folk, punk and three-chord rock shot through with threadbare, sandblasted vocals), Happysonic (laptop computer-based music that combines dark electropop vocals with lush, organic synth parts and beats) and Bit Shifter (low-bit, high-energy music composed and performed on a Nintendo Game Boy.)
The show begins at 9pm and is free. Rodeo-Ristra (http://www.rodeoristra.com/) is located at 230 Washington Street in Hoboken, NJ.
Below you will find info on all the acts, as well as links to music samples and their websites.
Thanks!
Bob and Alina/Bandland Productions
bandland@chaoscontrolnetwork.com
Alina Simone
Alin Simone’s compositions are comprised of folk, punk and three-chord rock shot through with threadbare, sandblasted vocals. Influences include almost anything on K records and all that indie rock that makes good use of a few spare chords. Most of these songs are about wanting people you know are bad for you - some are about willfully forgetting where you came from. Born in the Kharkiv, Ukraine and raised in Massachusetts, Simone moved to Hoboken, NJ from Austin, Texas three years ago, where she sang on the street under the awning of what is now a bar called Buffalo Bills. She started playing alone and with various bands in NYC clubs in February of 2002. A raw little EP was completed in July 2002 and produced by Steve Revitte (The Liars, John Spencer Blues Explosion). It was recorded at Steve’s apartment in Brooklyn.
"Alina Simone, a Ukrainian-born singer with a potent and ethereal voice, writes wistful songs laced with spare guitar playing that have a Cat Power-like quality." - The New Yorker, November 2003
For more info, visit Alina's website at : http://www.girlwithguitar.net
Check out her songs "Cash America Pawn" at :
http://www.chaoscontrolnetwork.com/girlwithguitar/music/cash...
Happysonic
Based in Hoboken, NJ, Happysonic uses a laptop computer as the primary instrument for creating retro-futuristic music that combines dark electropop vocals with lush, organic synth parts and beats. It's the solo project of Bob Gourley, whose other musical endeavor, xo100, was called "the future of darkwave" by Singapore-based music magazine The Big O. While there are many other laptop musicians out there, Happysonic stands out because the music is vocal-driven and places more of a strong emphasis on song structure (as opposed to the more experimental, free-formed nature of many laptop-based acts.) A long-time electronic musician, Gourley had been yearning for the day when he could throw his instruments into a backpack and go perform a show. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, it's now possible to replace racks of equipment with a laptop and have the mobility of a guitarist.
For more info, visit the Happysonic website at :
http://www.happysonic.com
Check out Happysonic's (radically different) rendition of "Winter Wonderland" at:
http://www.chaoscontrolnetwork.com/happysonic/wonderland.mp3
Bit Shifter
Bit Shifter explores low-bit, high-energy music composed and performed on a
Nintendo Game Boy. The result is a deliberately and unapologetically fun
foray into the unique and evocative soundset traditionally reserved for
video game sound effects and background music, all done on a console
generally misperceived as being technically limited. Bit Shifter's music
adopts the playfulness inherent in the familiar Game Boy soundset and
subverts it, repurposing it into the service of new and unexpected idioms.
Bit Shifter's debut CD Life's A Bit Shifter is available on 555 Recordings,
and he has performed at events and venues including The Knitting Factory,
The Tank, Galapagos, Northsix, élan, OpenAir, Remote Lounge, Unity Gain, and
the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
" This CD is so fucking fat, you must own it now. I can't wait to rock this in my car. It makes me wish I had a Hyundai."
- for an AUTOreverse review of Life's A Bit Shifter
For more info, visit the Bitshifter website at : http://www.bitshifter.cc/
Check out Bit Shifter's track "Time Machine Go!" at :
http://www.bitshifter.cc/audio/bitshifter_timemachinego.mp3
