Rock 'n' Roll 'n' Blues Women!

One of the worst traditions we Australians have is claiming the most talented New Zealanders for ourselves. As an Aussie woman blogging about electronic music, I wish I could claim the wonderful Pip Brown for my native land. With her music swiping a big chunk of the 1980s, Brown fittingly named herself Ladyhawke after the 1980s Michelle Pfieffer movie. Her music is evocative retrofuturistic electropop, nostalgia without a loss. She released her first self-titled album on Australian label Modular (aha OURS!) in 2008, and it spawned several hits in Australia and the UK.

There's a lot to like about Ladyhawke; not only is her album great from start to finish, but she played four instruments on it and wrote and arranged the whole thing. Like I said in an earlier post, this isn't the only way to judge authorship and authenticity, but it's definitely impressive for a singer/songwriter
to take control of such a stylised project. In an interview an interview with The Guardian, she attributed some of her songwriting chops to her Asperger's and a childhood spent obsessively listening to The Beatles and The Pretenders.

MORE including lovely videos here

I am Ladyhawke. I'm from New Zealand. I'm a lady who loves to play. I love my guitars. Synths. Making noise. Pressing buttons. Wires. Cables. Solitude. Staring at screens. Movies. Collecting stuff.. mostly games. I love video games.MORE

Tom Tom Magazine: What is your favorite percussion set-up? Why?

Erica Garcia: I’m not a real percussionist, I’m a multi-instrumentalist. My friends asked me to play percussion, so I pretty much play whatever they put it in front of me- but I don’t necessarily know the name of the things I’m playing. I definitely don’t like those things that make rain sounds, or the curtain chimes, or however you call it.

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