Eastern European female led bands invade LA
PostPosted:Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:26 pm
I see a lot of very interesting things going on in music lately; Janelle Monae (afro-punk/R&B/rock/alternative/opera/folk/others musician) has really impressed me.
Another thing that has my interest is the wave of artists from Eastern Europe. (CNN article from January covers the story)
Obviously the most interesting of the artists discussed in the article is Lena Katina; as I am already a longtime fan of hers (8-9 years or so). After a bit of drama, her and her former bandmate had a bit of a falling out. Lena moved to the US and began working on a solo project; and had her first solo concert last year where she performed some new material and some Tatu songs. Her former bandmate Julia/Yulia Volkova was heavily critical towards Lena in an interview last year; saying she hopes she fails, and that her (Julia's) solo career would have "all of Russia screaming once again". Then earlier this year Tatu officially called it quits.
(Nice plastic surgery.........)
Anyway, despite Julia's complaints of Lena singing Tatu songs on her solo shows, Julia has herself been "performing" Tatu songs as in this performance a month ago in Russia. She can lip-sync fairly well.
Anyway, Lena responded that she was upset to hear what Julia had to say, but that she still wishes her luck in her solo career; and hopes they are both successful. In interviews since, she has remained speaking very fondly of her memories with Tatu, whereas Julia seems to be more resentful.
Anyway, some differences in Lena Katina's band compared to Tatu is that she is a songwriter this time around; whereas Tatu was a performance act. Where Lena and Julia differ is that Lena plays and sings, where Julia appears to be limiting to pole-dancing + lip-syncing.
Here is an early rehearsal from the early parts of the band last year last year
And here is a 1 minute demo from the upcoming album (still in the works) released in January:
I am very interested to see how her solo stuff turns out. I really enjoyed Tatu's songs, Lena was the verse singer, whereas Julia was the screamer who usually did the chorus. Lena I believe has more of a chance than Julia: 1. Lena speaks English a lot better, 2. Lena has a wider vocal range. 3. Lena actually writes, sings, and plays in her performances. Plus I really like Lena's accent. The one thing I have against her is her persistence on sticking to her Indy label when she has the option of Universal/Interscope.
Next is Kerli who you may have already heard, she has found a fanbase (mostly among hipsters), but I can't really say I am a fan of her music. I first heard of her probably a year ago or so when she was accusing Lady Gaga of copying her "yellow hair" style. Although I think she did this to just get noticed; when you have two blonde chicks doing 260 different hair styles a year, there is bound to be some overlap. Here is her biggest song so far:
I am not really familiar with the other bands listed in the article, but I do like East European singing voices. It will be interesting to see if this movement will take off in the next couple of years.
Another thing that has my interest is the wave of artists from Eastern Europe. (CNN article from January covers the story)
The next wave of European pop stars invade L.A.
MUSIC
January 11, 2011|By Charlie Amter, Special to CNN
Los Angeles has long been a destination for artistic dreamers from Europe: Zsa Zsa Gabor moved to Hollywood from Hungary in the 1940s to act. Warsaw-born Roman Polanski moved to Southern California in the 1960s to direct.
Not to mention one ambitious actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger, who arguably has done more to boost California's image as a place receptive to Europeans than any tourism initiative the state might have dreamed up the past 30 years.
But for accented aspiring pop stars from the EU and beyond, L.A. hasn't generally been considered the place to launch an international music career. That honor fell to cities such as London and New York. Until now.
These days Manhattan is getting the flyover treatment as singers from all over Europe and farther east set their sights on the U.S. market via Hollywood as the new must-conquer gateway to American ears and eyes.
Artists such as Estonia's Kerli, Italy's Marco Bosco, t.A.T.u.'s Lena Katina from Russia, Slovakia's TWiiNS and Austria's Fawni are suddenly swarming L.A. with dreams of making it big.
Their presence is being felt at small clubs such as the Troubadour (Katina played a solo show at the venue last year) to red carpets (Fawni is now well known to Hollywood event photographers) to purchased billboards on Sunset Boulevard (Bosco recently bought expensive outdoor media to promote himself along the busy, high visibility corridor).
"I love being here...Los Angeles is my second home now," says Katina, who will release her first solo record this year and now splits her time between L.A. and Moscow.
Katina and other singers from Russia and Europe's timing couldn't be better: America has finally started to embrace the increasing globalization of pop music on a scale beyond the occasional super group (see ABBA) or German one-hit wonder (see Nena's "99 Luftballoons") thanks largely to Websites such as YouTube, which has leveled the playing field and cut out past gatekeepers such as MTV.
Swedish singer Robyn topped many critical lists in 2010, with Denmark's Medina set to make similar inroads in the United States this year with early adopters in the pop and dance music arenas.
But perhaps the most interesting singer ready to make the crossover in 2011 is Estonia's Kerli.
"When I first got here, someone told me 'there are no friends in the music business' and I was so hurt," the former winner of a Baltic version of "American Idol" said over coffee at a West Hollywood restaurant last month.
Obviously the most interesting of the artists discussed in the article is Lena Katina; as I am already a longtime fan of hers (8-9 years or so). After a bit of drama, her and her former bandmate had a bit of a falling out. Lena moved to the US and began working on a solo project; and had her first solo concert last year where she performed some new material and some Tatu songs. Her former bandmate Julia/Yulia Volkova was heavily critical towards Lena in an interview last year; saying she hopes she fails, and that her (Julia's) solo career would have "all of Russia screaming once again". Then earlier this year Tatu officially called it quits.
(Nice plastic surgery.........)
Anyway, despite Julia's complaints of Lena singing Tatu songs on her solo shows, Julia has herself been "performing" Tatu songs as in this performance a month ago in Russia. She can lip-sync fairly well.
Anyway, Lena responded that she was upset to hear what Julia had to say, but that she still wishes her luck in her solo career; and hopes they are both successful. In interviews since, she has remained speaking very fondly of her memories with Tatu, whereas Julia seems to be more resentful.
Anyway, some differences in Lena Katina's band compared to Tatu is that she is a songwriter this time around; whereas Tatu was a performance act. Where Lena and Julia differ is that Lena plays and sings, where Julia appears to be limiting to pole-dancing + lip-syncing.
Here is an early rehearsal from the early parts of the band last year last year
And here is a 1 minute demo from the upcoming album (still in the works) released in January:
I am very interested to see how her solo stuff turns out. I really enjoyed Tatu's songs, Lena was the verse singer, whereas Julia was the screamer who usually did the chorus. Lena I believe has more of a chance than Julia: 1. Lena speaks English a lot better, 2. Lena has a wider vocal range. 3. Lena actually writes, sings, and plays in her performances. Plus I really like Lena's accent. The one thing I have against her is her persistence on sticking to her Indy label when she has the option of Universal/Interscope.
Next is Kerli who you may have already heard, she has found a fanbase (mostly among hipsters), but I can't really say I am a fan of her music. I first heard of her probably a year ago or so when she was accusing Lady Gaga of copying her "yellow hair" style. Although I think she did this to just get noticed; when you have two blonde chicks doing 260 different hair styles a year, there is bound to be some overlap. Here is her biggest song so far:
I am not really familiar with the other bands listed in the article, but I do like East European singing voices. It will be interesting to see if this movement will take off in the next couple of years.