UPCOMING EVENTS //

NITE JEWEL / SPILLY WALKER / ANGKORWAT

Skinny Wolves Presents

NITE JEWEL (Usa, Italians Do It Better)
w/ SPILLY WALKER
ANGKORWAT

Thursday 10th September
Twisted Pepper, Dublin
Doors 8pm / ADM 12e for one night / 20e for both nights

NITE JEWEL

Currently on tour with TELEPATHE and with releases on Johnny Jewel from Glass Candy's label.
Labels : No Pain in Pop, Italians do it better, Human Ear Music

http://www.myspace.com/nitejewel
http://www.nitejewel.com/

Occupying the twilit space between ARIEL PINK’s lo-fi avant pop and the codeine beats of JOHN MAUS, Nite Jewel – the performing moniker of California native RAMONA GONZALEZ – brings a gloriously original new slant to the golden age of disco with “Good Evening”, her debut record.

Although still a student at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles (coincidentally the alma mater of one Barack Obama), Gonzalez has been making music on an 8-track for a number of years now, slowly evolving from ambient pieces and sound and video installation art to her gradually writing proper songs with Cole M. Grieff-Neill, of HAUNTED GRAFITTI, and selling self-produced demo CDR’s at shows. Eventually, her music caught the ears of one Johnny Jewel, head honcho of the venerated ITALIANS DO IT BETTER, who released her debut single “What Did He Say” on his label last year.

Later teaming up with multimedia artist Emily Jane, the Nite Jewel project became a two-woman band and then a three-piece band, touring alongside the likes of DEERHUNTER and GLASS CANDY. The Nite Jewel sound has been likened to that of a warped, lo-fi version of Late-80's Freestyle Electro sensation DEBBIE DEB or LISA LISA & THE CULT JAM and has also found appeal among not just the 'indie rock' & 'experimental' crowd but also among avid listeners of hip hop, funk, disco, & soul. While very fond of these aforementioned genres and artists, Nite Jewel gathers much of her inspiration from the likes of Los Angeles Free Music Society's avant garde experimentalist TOM RECCHION, obscure UK hari krishna new age electro-acoustic duo WOO, and the sublime ambient electronic music of groups like Germany's CLUSTER and Italy's SENSATIONS FIX. Nite Jewel never hesitates, however, to cite 90's R&B pop groups such as TLC & SWV as influences who left an indelible mark on her music sensibilities as a teenager.

The easy metaphorical place to go with “Good Evening” is memory – the 10 songs here have the dusty, cobwebbed quality of your older cousin’s 12” collection, but the lo-fi haze signifies more than an easy nostalgia – it resonates with a certain kind of universal L.A. gloom, ringed in smog, which seems to echo throughout the entire album, and ultimately ground it in the present. However, the music is anything but cold and detached – it vibrates with warmth, from the low hum of tape hiss to the way Gonzalez’ ethereal vocals and humid analogue synths tips its hat to past greats like ARTHUR RUSSELL, SA-FIRE and even ROXY MUSIC. Ultimately, for what can be ostensibly termed dance music, “Good Evening” is a delicate, intimate affair, a beautifully sustained exercise in mood and tension, and far more precious and intriguing a record than most others at the moment.

The Nite Jewel project is a remarkable combination of revisionist Bronx pop and hazy musical impressionism. Like her ex-pop peers, Ariel Rosenberg and Geneva Jacuzzi, she records solely on portable 8-track cassette deck, often composing her songs by layered tape edits. In Nite Jewel’s case, however, the quality of her chosen medium seems to be neither a means nor an end, but rather a device to lend an ethereal kind of efficacy to the golden age of alternative disco. As influences, she has cited dance floor greats Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and Debbie Deb, 90’s R&B, as well as Experimental, New Age, and Shoe Gaze.

SPILLY WALKER

www.myspace.com/spillywalker

Spilly Walker emerged in 2007 on the Donal Dineen curated Foggy Notions compilation Small Hours Summer Mornings. The song “Let the Freak Come Out at Night” was an awesome marriage of pop-craft and electro intensity. Although a departure from his back-catalogue, the voice was unmistakably that of David Kitt. His accomplice is younger brother Robbie Kitt (Schooly Walker). It soon became apparent that Spilly Walker had more bangers where that came from when they took the stage at the Electric Picnic in the Foggy Notions tent and treated us to forty minutes of immense Ibiza synths and disco soul tracks with huge choruses and emotive singing.

ANGKORWAT

http://www.myspace.com/angkorwatwat

Angkorwat is a one-person bedroom project from dublin, ireland. niamh is a classical violinist who went back to square one, typing out basic melodies on macbook keys. it’s reflection of several obsessions including synesthesia, Romaine Brooks, hidden history, Mozart and Cambodian temples.