John Lynch: Drums, Chris Barrey: Guitars, Organ, and lots of other stuff
Influences
Yanka Dyagileva, Kino, Auktyon, Alyosha Dmitrievich, Leonid Utesov, Alan Lomax field recordings, Black Ox Orkestar, Fat Possum records, Hildegard Von Bingen and Gnarls Barkley
Sounds Like
"Everyone Is Crying Out to Me, Beware, the second album from Ukrainian-born singer-songwriter Alina Simone, is utterly haunting. With bare-bones arrangements and Simone's powerful, poignant vocals at the forefront, the record burns through a collection of songs by Siberian punk-folk singer, Yanka Dyagileva, with cathartic fervor.."
--NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (NPR)
One of the "Top 12 Bands to Watch" at SXSW 2008, alongside Santogold, Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes
--BILLBOARD MAGAZINE
"A mesmerizing reinterpretation of tragic Soviet punk's laments...the Ukrainian-born Simone sings in the original Russian and brings an aching passion to the sinister lo-fi punk. It's a strange, hypnotic celebration of a defiant soul "
--SPIN MAGAZINE
"Simone has done a great service in bringing these treasures to non-Russian audiences. (Yanka’s recorded output included just twenty-nine original songs, all of which circulated on samizdat cassettes.) Simone’s innovative versions reveal her many similarities to her heroine—most prominently, her haunting voice."
--THE NEW YORKER
"She sounds as close to these songs as she does to her own, and the way she emotes through the whole album—an ebb and flow of restraint and clawing-at-the-chest outpouring—is beautiful and affecting. The album isn’t much louder for its fuller arrangements, but its quiet is very hard to ignore. This is not one of those albums that can just sit in the background. You may think so at first, but Simone’s voice fills the room, and even if you don’t speak Russian and don’t know what she’s singing, you won’t miss any of the emotion behind it. ."
--POPMATTERS
"Yanka's spare, rough-hewn songs are fleshed out with the evocative addition of trumpet, strings, slide guitar, and other favorable chamber embellishments..."My Sadness is Luminous", for example, perfectly encapsulates the part hopeful, part heartbroken track, which runs less than two minutes and features strings, quiet drums, and minimal acoustic guitar, plus Simone's wistful, sometimes whispered vocals."
--PITCHFORK
"I've never heard the two records Alina Simone has made of her own songs, but I'll sure seek them out after hearing the new Everyone Is Crying Out to Me, Beware. Simone's interpretations are wonderfully dark and turbulent. Though her breathy, slightly husky voice is vaguely like Chan Marshall's, she inhabits these intimate, brooding melodies with a smoldering intensity all her own. The lean, craggy instrumentation -- mostly guitar, with some drums, trumpet, and cello -- brings out the warmth and humanity in her singing as she fights her way through its bleakness."
--THE CHICAGO READER
"The language barrier is no hazard when it comes to Simone, whose voice quivers and hovers around its unfamiliar phonetic terrain while deftly conveying the dark, frustrated emotions of the songs — each one a cover of Siberian-born punk-folk singer Yanka Dyagileva. Along the way, searing guitars creep, trumpets swoon, moody backdrops unfurl, and scratchy hard-struck acoustics light up each track with arresting immediacy. It’s no act of tourism."
--THE BOSTON PHOENIX
I was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine and grew up in the suburbs of Massachusetts. I never sang in public until I moved to Austin, Texas where I started playing in the doorway of an abandoned bar near the corner of 6th and Congress. My music is about people that bring you to the brink of joy and despair and about having epiphanies in the most ordinary places.
I enjoy your music! Hope you can make it out to DROM in the East Village, NYC on Sat. July 25th @ 7pm for a fun night of the best of TULL as performed by WARCHILD!......Michael
Hi Alina, Still have memories of this crazy coincidences when we met in Berlin ? btw, I never told you that we really appreciate The Artificial Sea record you gave me .. I will also take some space down here to announce the release of my first album .. With warm greetings from Geneva..
The K Syndrome Goodbye Ivan's debut album is out now on Shayo Records. www.shayo.ch
Every time that we listen & write music... play an instrument... dance... act in a play... or work in some audio/image/video engineering process... something is healing inside...
When we share it with friends... something is healing all over...
cada vez que escuchamos o escribimos musica... tocamos un instrumento... bailamos... o trabajamos en procesos de ingenieria de audio/imagen/video.... algo se sana por dentro...
Cuando lo compartimos con otros... algo se sana en todas partes...
El Amor puede conducir... de manera simple... todo...
hey! how ya doing? we send you greetings from mexico, we are the Apolo Swing Club and we would really like it if you could check out our music, hope you can visit us soon, cheers!! take care!
hello! Just befor summer CardboarTowns we are planing in Moscow, Berlin and Helsinki. Small party about it in Berlin. Hope you can join one of next towns!
And now searching for artists in BErlin for next party! May be you can recomend someone?
21 march. Berlin. from 14-00. Create-Earn-Play - Cardboardia in BrotFabrik.
Hi New-Yorkers! I really like your songs and we almost met several times. Then, in case anyone here is curious of the French pop-folk scene, I wanted to tell you that I will play at Sidewalk Café (94 av. A, Manhattan) next tuesday at 11 pm. xxx Isabelle
