Check us out Easter Weekend!

Victoria: Thursday April 9th @ the 50/50 Collective
Saltspring Island: Friday April 10th @ The Duck Creek Gallery
Vancouver: Sunday April 12th @ Little Mountain Studios

please note: Laura & Phonemes will play at Blim on Saturday the 11th. I will be singing backup that evening for Rose Melberg at the Media Club, opening for Marissa Nadler.

You can find out more about Laura and The Phonemes' Western Canada tour, including dates, here.

The Phonemes

The Phonemes prove that incredible things often
come in small packages. The musical project of Magali Meagher, the
Phonemes’ sinewy lyrical imagery finds purchase in simple, melody
driven songs and layered rhythm. The Phonemes latest recording released
on Blocks Recording Club "There's something we've been meaning to do"
was recorded by Efrim Menuck (A Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed you black
emperor) at thee mighty hotel2tango (Arcade Fire, Vic Chesnutt) and
features ubiquitous wunderkind Final Fantasy.

Magali’s musical
career has seen her recording and playing guitar and drums in The
Hidden Cameras, backing up American indie music icon Daniel Johnston on
drums, touring across Canada with Bob Wiseman and Kids in the Hall
Scott Thompson and collaborating with a host of musical projects from
off-kilter 60’s-girl-pop-inspired outfit HANK to playing assorted found
objects and singing in John Tielli’s Metal Kites.

You can look forward to a brand new record from Magali in 2009.
http://www.myspace.com/thephonemes

Laura Barrett

Compact
and effervescent, Laura’s music is the antidote to the concrete and
crystal architecture of her native Toronto. Melding the vibrant tones
of the kalimba (an African thumb piano) with her earnest and intimate
voice, she crafted a debut EP, Earth Sciences, that received both
national radio airplay and critical acclaim. “Deception Island
Optimists Club,” a single from this EP, was a finalist for the 2006
SOCAN ECHO songwriting prize.

Always trying to engage an
audience torn between taxonomy and techno-babble, Barrett live
performances are a spine tingling delight. She has toured from Halifax
to San Francisco in support of The Hidden Cameras and Henri Fabergé
& the Adorables.

Since the release of her first EP, Laura
has incorporated bass pedals, glockenspiel and piano into her live
performances, allowing her to balance the liquid nuances of her earlier
songs with pieces that display macabre, carnival-esque, or classical
tendencies.

Laura’s full length album Victory Garden and her
re-released EP Earth Sciences, both on Paperbag records saw great
success in 2008, both praised by music critics and fans alike. Barrett
even won a prestigious award, The (cheeky) Bucky Award for Canada’s
Sexiset Musican!
http://radio3.cbc.ca/
http://www.myspace.com/laurabarrett

Final Sequence from Michelangelo Antonino's "Zabriskie Point"


First Sequence from Daft Punk's "Electroma"

Adrian Arratoon from Different Class Radio called me up last week to chat! He also featured a couple of Kellarissa tracks, as well as songs from p:ano and the Choir Practice! The show can be downloaded here:

Different Class Radio March 13

Please visit their website here.

The Kellarissa-related content starts around the 1hr 35min. mark. The show also features Miles Davis, Anthony and the Johnsons, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Neko Case. Enjoy!

(reproduced without permission)

from Bitch Magazine "The Noir Issue"

     Kellarissa--the Finnish term for "in the basement"--is the aptly titled brainchild of Larissa Loyva, the campy songstress who contributed to P:ano and the Choir Practice before recently transitioning to her solo path.

     As her stage moniker suggests, Kellarissa's Mint Records debut, Flamingo, is the product of basement-bred sonic experimentation, genre-jumping, and bouts of introspection. In the blink of an eye--and with remarkable vocal clarity throughout--Flamingo transitions from uncomplicated, whimsical pop fare to gray-tinged, epic material reminiscent of an art film soundtrack.

     The purest effort, "I'll Sing of Kings," introduces the album with nothing but a perfectly unadorned piano performance and heartfelt vocals that solidify Loyva's songwriting abilities from the get-go. The looping keyboard and haunting choral vocals of "Night Wind" collide into the upbeat, singsong "Flamingo," giving the album an eclectic flavor in its first three tracks alone. Clocking in at a little over one minute, the foreign-tongued, guitar-laden "Pienet Sanat" resembles the experimental-folk flavor of popular Welsh outfit Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

     Flamingo's material denies theconfines of genre, opting to combine the wandering dissonance of "Carrying On," the island aesthetic of synthesizer-infused "Tiny Things," and the dark, Gregorian chant of "Virta Vie." With an inspired debut effort, Kellarissa investigates many musical paths throughout Flamingo in search of her own signature sound.

Corssing the Finnish Line: Loyva often sings in her native tongue.
The sure cure for: Attention deficit disorder, seasonal boredom, and cabin fever.

by Claire Ashton

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I've posted a few live tracks recorded at Pub 340 this past July. Included are "Sisu" and "Old Money", a couple songs from my (maybe, one day) upcoming EP. At the controls is Brad Lynham. Thanks!

What a bleak November day. I just want to go back to bed and watch old movies.

This is also a reminder about 2 shows I'm playing tomorrow.

Charles H. Scott Gallery at Emily Carr (Granville Island) 3:30pm. Josh Rose will also play a short set after me.
That evening, I'll be playing at Fake Jazz at the Cobalt with Les Beyond, Aja & Gabriel, and Kathleen Yearwood.

See you there!!

Larissa

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gifixzukldhe

Larissa Loyva's debut album as Kellarissa is an assured, challenging, and yet entertaining work, a surprising feat made easier to understand, of course, considering her work during the previous ten years for P:ano and the Choir Practice. It's a record of two halves, some tracks consisting of studio recordings and others recorded in Loyva's home (after all, "kellarissa" is Finnish for "in the basement"). The studio songs consist of primitive indie-electronic pop utilizing organ, drum machines, vocal loops, and synthesizers, while the home recordings are very sparse works with an atonal combination of Loyva's vocals (often doubled) and effects or percussion. The fact that this study in contrasts comes together as well as it does is a tribute to Loyva's talents for performance and arrangement. The album opens simply, with a piano figure and Loyva's crystalline vocals contemplating, with a cheery fatalism particular to Nordic regions, "I'll drink to you; I'll drink to health/But I know I'll drink to death." Also very Nordic is Loyva's interest in the stoic power of nature, a recurring theme throughout the album — "Night Wind" ("Oh, Glass breaks, glass shatters/The wind shakes the shutters"), "Sun Song" ("Sun strokes me"), and "Flamingo" ("I'm a bird on a wire/My wings are on fire" and "We are leaves in the breeze/As we swerve and careen"). Loyva had already proved the beauty of her voice with her P:ano recordings, but Flamingo is more engaging, more unified, and even more fun to listen to than her previous work.

John Bush

Thursday, September 4, 2008

By R.C. JOSEPH, 24 HOURS

I knew it was the first day of school because there was a student's car parked
in my reserved spot. I blocked the culprit in and went inside to call the tow
truck company I keep on speed dial.

The tow truck dispatcher said it would be about an hour. Seems lots of my
neighbours were having the same problem. I figured I would kill the time
listening to Flamingo, the debut full-length release from singer, songwriter and
keyboardist Larissa Loyva, who now performs under the moniker Kellarissa.

Within just a few minutes of spinning the new Kellarissa disc (to be released
Sept. 9) surprisingly a certain peace fell over this crotchety 30-something. I
should have remembered what a soothing and angelic sound Loyva was capable of from having enjoyed her work with her last band, indie darlings P:ano. I also
knew Loyva to be a member of The Choir Practice, and let's face it, any woman in an adult choir is pretty much bound to possess a "soothing and angelic" voice.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that the disarming, lo-fi goodness of that
gripping Kellarissa debut soon had me forgetting all about getting revenge on
that free parking felon. Before I knew it those synthesized pop ditties had me
dialing up the tow truck company and telling them to cancel the call. Hell, I
even told the tow truck dispatcher he should give the new Kellarissa record a
listen himself. He told me he only listens to CFMI and that I should go screw
myself. Fair enough.

So, with the hazy and loving sounds of Kellarissa dancing around in my head, I
grabbed my keys and one banana and headed out to move my car. And though the late morning air was rather chilly, I felt a warmth inside my heart - not only from the magical reverb of Loyva's Candied Yamaha SK15, but also from the knowledge that I had let my anger go and had been the bigger person.

http://discorder.ca/?p=791

Hey all, there's a mention of me in this week's CBC Radio 3 podcast! Click here http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2008/09/Pop-Montreal-Preview-Wintersleep-Hawksley-Workman-Bonjour-Brumaire-all-in-Podcast-175 to get it! It's a preview of next week's Pop Montreal Festival. I'll see you in la belle province October 2nd!!!