Amy Klein: folk/ rock musician, feminist, & writer releases new album

For Day 4 of our Women's History Month homage to artists and bands, I present you Amy Klein. A musician, writer, friend, feminist, and all around beautiful being, Amy is a true inspiration. I first meet  her in April 2010 outside of Maxwell's after seeing Los Campesinos and just before Titus Andronicus was loading into the venue to play a night show. She spent several minutes talking with me and was quite nice. Amy just self-released a digital solo album of folk tunes. 

There's the rock and punk side of Amy Klein that comes in the form of Titus Andronicus and Hilly Eye and then there's the folk side of Amy Klein that comes in the form of Solanin. Then there's the folk and psychedelic rock side of Amy Klein that comes in the form a new solo release called, I Know What You Want. Her songs simply put are pleasant, poised, and pretty. With this release Amy gets more musically involved, stretching her playing to include not just guitar, but piano, organ, and percussion, which I was told from her includes tambourine playing. Accompanying her on drums is Nick Shuminsky of Free Energy, a band she toured with in Titus Andronicus' last summer. The lovely sounds coupled with the natural imagery of the lyrics make it easy to get lost in the music.She cites influences like Joanna Newsom, Stevie Nicks, and Nick Drack, but I'm not familiar with these musicians. I can only compare her music to what I know and what I've heard. And though this may be odd to compare a self-described folk artist to a Celtic artist I will say that Amy's music reminds me of Loreena McKennitt. The comparison is mostly in the vocals and how calm and happy I feel after listening to the music. Amy Klein has a strong, delicate, and controlled voice that  is quite a surprise if you know her vocals from Titus Andronicus and Hilly Eye. I'm happy to say that I know this wonderful musician. A personal friend and fellow group member and founder of feminist group Permanent Wave, Amy is a true inspiration and I recommend checking out her awesome writings and posts here and familiarizing yourself with her musical work. On her blog she writes about her tour experiences with Titus Andronicus, thoughts on feminism, provides links to articles that touch on the human experience, and keeps you up-to-date on her music. One piece she wrote, which I found insightful and in-depth was on the Japanese punk band The Suzan, who play Santos Party House this coming Monday. Read it here. She writes about her own album here. I hope you enjoy.

Listen to Amy Klein here: http://amyklein.bandcamp.com/
Listen to Solanin here: http://solanin.bandcamp.com/
Listen to Hilly Eye here: http://hillyeye.bandcamp.com/
Listen to Titus Andronicus here: http://titusandronicus.net/videos

Pink Flag: post-punk + riot-grrrl + pop

For Day 3 of our Women's History Month homage to artists and bands, I present you Pink Flag from Durham, NC. Bassist Princess contacted me last month in hopes of finding them a Brooklyn show for their upcoming tour. Fortunately I had a tip on Tom Tom Magazine curated event happening exactly on the date they needed.

PINK FLAG

In February, Princess Ojiaku contacted me about getting help booking a Brooklyn show. She introduced the band as an all-girl, post-punk trio from North Carolina. Intrigued by the band's name and description, I headed over to the band's website and heard some of their tunes. What I heard was some pretty bass heavy, melodic punk rock. Princess is a Master's student in neuroscience and the bassist for Pink Flag! Her band moniker is Dork Flag. Then there's Betsy Shane (Lucky Flag) on guitar and vocals and Jessica Caesar (Sick Flag) on drums. Together they are Pink Flag. Taken from the namesake first album by Wire, Pink Flag seems to be both a homage to a band they love and also a poppy take on the raw riot-grrrl punk sound of the early '90s. The result is simply good.

Their most recent song is "3 6 9," a cute, poppy song about liking someone. "When I'm with you, I cannot keep my cool. When you're around I get stupid, but FUCK it." The song makes me want to dance around with a smile. "School" is another song with a heavy ass bass that simply rocks. They are playing a pair of Brooklyn shows and a Philly show with Trophy Wife, so make sure to catch them and have a good time. The band is releasing a full-length album soon, which I'm excited to listen to. I had the chance to conduct a short e-mail interview with Princess.

Who is Pink Flag?

P: Pink Flag consists of 3 ladies who came from 3 corners of the country (California, Louisiana, and New York) to find each other in the Triangle area of North Carolina (specifically in Durham, NC). We started playing together in late 2007, so we're a little over 3 years old at this point. This answer has a lot of 3's, but good things come in that number, right?

Plastiq Passion: all grrrl new wave rock

For Day 2 of our Women's History Month homage to artists and bands, I present you Plastiq Passion. I saw this 4-piece last month at feminist group Permanent Wave's first event at Death by Audio. Their performance was stellar.

Plastiq Passion is a band I've wanted to write about for a while. Since I first heard them on Rich Russo's radio program "Anything, Anything" on WRXP 101.9, I knew that they were something special. Their music sounded passionate, melodic, catchy, and danceable. A band this good deserves an apt description but honestly I'm not sure how to describe them much outside of simply what the band calls themselves: new wave/rock/pop punk. All I can really say is that this band is really good. Their stand out tracks on their album, To Be A Blade of Grass In Crached Cement, is "Girl," "Not Long Ago," and "I Can't Wait," which is my favorite." Not Long Ago" has some dancey guitar groove and drums that make you shake around with vocals that you want to sing along. "I Can't Wait" starts with an awesome audible bass line and steady drum beat and booms with a bold opening line: "And I'm done waiting for you/ So much time wasted/And now I'm through thinking of you." My best description of the band is like Team Dresch meets New Wave.

Mindtroll: not your traditional punk band

For Day 1 of our Women's History Month homage to artists and bands, I present you Mindtroll. I recently saw this 4-piece at Hank's Saloon in their hometown of Brooklyn. So here we have it. This band features 3 girls, and 1 guy. Open up your ears and enter Mindtroll. 

Mindtroll. More like mindfuck. Mindtroll is a band you can't easily categorize. However, one might call them "art punk." Mindtroll is like a musical protest with four people shouting about ice cream, jazz, being human, and suspicious packages. Oh yes, they go there.

The music is easily comparable to Bikini Kill with its spoken word revolutionary vocals and raw style; but, far more innovative with its use of accordion, saxophone, and megaphone beeps. In 2011, music even punk rock has become stale and boring. Mindtroll is a refreshingly fun band to come across. They also consist of a band who plays drums standing up, not sitting. This is only the second time I've ever seen this among any drummer period. Ellen of Mindtroll is only the second encounter of a drummer playing this way. The first encounter was Cupcakes from the duo pop group Hank & Cupcakes. It's probably more comfortable and fun, playing this way too. Also, hello, accordion player. How cool. They also rely a lot on their bass player to keep the groove. Their style is not traditional punk. And this is what I like about Mindtroll. They stand out and I don't think for the sake of standing out. But rather they just play whatever they are compelled to. And that, my fellow readers, is part of what punk is. Also, the short songs, partly political and social tone of the lyrics, and somewhat fast drum style.

Somehow they make their music sound both humorous and serious. This is seen through the song "Ex-Girlfriend's Never Gonna Get Her Bass Back." Vocals shift between bassist Zane, megaphone beeper and spoken word shouter Niina, and accordionist Eve. Their music also sounds both angry yet pretty light-hearted. "It is hard to be a human, when you have to learn so many things." Preach, Mindtroll! You hit the nail on the head. Their songs are loud and wholesomely hit and I think that's hard to come by with so many bands these days. If you're intrigued, download their EP for free here and check out a live video for "Suspicious Package" below. My ears are pleased when it listens to new music, so maybe yours will be too.

Women’s History Month Special Report: Part II

Female voices debunk stereotypes in music and discuss gender

The band name confusion

Vivian Girls. Morning After Girls. Theoretical Girls. Parenthetical Girls. Brazilian Girls. U.S. Girls. Shiragirl. GIRLS. WOMEN. Screaming Females.

Blogger Abbey Braden on Psychopedia.com pointed out that there are lots of new bands with a reference to ‘girl’ in their name, but does this mean more females in music? Maybe. But three of these 10 bands don’t have a female in the band.

Morning After Girls, Screaming Females, Vivian Girls, and Shiragirl explain their band name.

“People are very hasty to label something, and they really do believe everything they read,” Morning After Girls said on Psychopedia.Com. “I've always been interested in human beings’ tendency to take for granted ‘a priori’ meanings and definitions of words or a group of words. So, yes, many people do indeed do a double take [trying to find a female in the band]. But c'mon people, you can do better than that.”

Marissa Paternoster of New Brunswick, New Jersey’s Screaming Females said that her band’s name doesn’t mean anything in particular.

“We named our band after a random line in a book of poetry,” she said. Phonetically it sounds cool, it’s simple. It didn't have any kind of weird connotation that made us uncomfortable. To me Screaming Females means a rock ‘n roll band. I guess the first time you hear it you take it literally, as I am a screaming female or it’s an awkward name because I scream. I don't think I screamed ever, when the band first started, but at the time I was still female,” she said with a laugh. “People misinterpret it as a literal translation of what we are, when there’s one screaming female, and I definitely don't want all the attention on me because of a weird coincidence.”

Vivian Girls named their band after Henry Darger's Vivian Girls, the band notes on Braden’s blog entry, who “were actually girls with penises, so us naming our band after them is a pretty similar thing to male bands naming themselves Women or Girls.”
Shiragirl originally came from lead singer Shira’s name. Her name means “song” in Hebrew and also refers to “princess of power,” from the 1985 television series, She-Ra.

“A lot of people find it to be an empowering name,” she said. “I wanted a website and that’s one of the websites that was available. People started calling me Shiragirl, so it started organically, then I got into an all girl band and we stayed with the name. It’s telling of who we are. I was into riot grrrl, so it fits with that. I think that the word ‘girl’ doesn’t have to mean cheesy or weak, I think it can be an empowering thing.”

Women’s History Month Special Report: Part I

Female voices debunk stereotypes in music and discuss gender
By: Star Child

March celebrates Women’s History Month, a time where we look at the accomplishes of women in the fields of literature, politics, sociology, and so fourth, but I feel that we overlook musicians, particularly in rock music, who have shaped and paved a way for more females to come into the scene. It seems we brush over this. In this piece we hear from females in rock, punk, and hip hop music, as well as a music professor, book author, and riot grrrl enthusiast about the struggles women face, stereotypes, gender equality, and feminism, which sheds light on the importance of understanding and learning about Women’s History Month.


A little history & Women’s History Month

Since the origins of rock n’ roll, female musicians have made some headway. Men first started playing blues and jazz music, with females really focused on singing in groups, as opposed to playing instruments. But as time went by, more females started playing rock music and were picking up instruments. It’s interesting how far we’ve come in rock music and although we often don’t hear about many women rockers, there certainly are many, you just have to be proactive about seeking out the bands because they’re not in the forefront of the media and many are unsigned, d.i.y. spirited bands like Screaming Females, Shiragirl, and Throwing Muses who we talk to later.

Seton Hall University adjunct music professor, guitarist and vocalist Carol Hamersma says:

“I think it’s really important that the women who playing, are given a little exposure because it’s all about role models for young girls and women. You get the idea, ‘oh this is something I can do’ because at first women were seen primarily as vocalists, then pianists, keyboardists. Those were early acceptable role models for women. But now you see women really trying everything.”

Shira of the punk/hip hop group, Shiragirl thinks Women’s History Month is a great idea.

“I think anything helps as far as awareness and visibility,” she said. “You hear a lot more about Black History Month then you do about Women’s History Month. It’s not very well publicized or talked about it seems. I think it’s a great time to bring up awareness for charity causes, like women’s cancer. I don’t have anything against it. A lot of people might say, ‘oh, well, why do we need a month, is every other month men’s month?,’ but it never hurts to have a platform to discuss things.”

Lead singer/guitarist Kristia Moya of Exit She Calls thinks it’s unfair that Women’s History Month is not mentioned a lot. She said that when she was in high school “it wasn’t really brought up a lot and I think it should be, because it’s supposed to remind me of the accomplishments that women have made in the past and present, which helps make it possible for us to do the same for our future generation.”

Guitarist and vocalist Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave has a similar reaction.

“I certainly do get angry and bitter historically,” she said. “I would love for things to be different already and perfect for women now. I would love for us all to be considered humans and not our gender.”

“I am often compared to Patti Smith and Sylvia Plath, which is crazy to me. I think it’s very sexist. I have nothing to do with either of those people, taken as people, but because they’re my gender they group us together, as if that’s really all you need in order to be compared to someone is to have a gender in common. I can appreciate it if we need a month to start focusing on historical problems; say, ‘ok this is what needs change ultimately’.”

Part II on the band name confusion coming tonight at 5:30pm.