If you’re mourning the demise of Pocahuanted, as I was in yesterday’s post, a pretty good alternative lies in Zola Jesus from Madison, Wisconsin.
This is the alter ego of Nika Roza Danilova who on record creates layers of sound by herself in the studio but performs live with a band. She looks like a Goth and says she’s inspired by No-Wavers but I hear a lot of similarities with Weird-folksters like Pocahaunted and Grouper.
Her original record label asserted that this is music which occupies “a sphere of sparse industrial rhythms, no-fi drones, and ethereal femme vocals” .
When she contributed a track to a Mid-West compilation album Xxperiments she coined the label ‘Crimson Wave’ as a joke but the name seems to have stuck (it’s used in her Last.Fm bio for example). The derivation of the name , as Urban Dictionary tells us, is linked to menstruation so has the women only aspect. Not one of the world’s greatest genre labels that’s for sure but the music is great.
A useful introduction to her and the band is via the (Make The) Product show on WYNU (New York University Radio) recorded on 17th December 2008. You can try her music via the usual blogspots or legally at E-Music.
Here’s a neat video to whet your appetite:
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- Will Zola Jesus herald the second coming of goth? (guardian.co.uk)
