Debut album, "LOVE OR INERTIA" features Amy on Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Flute, Accordion; Dony Wynn (of Robert Palmer fame) - Drums and Percussion (including the infamous "Goat Scrot"); Patrick Warren (Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann) - kaleidoscopic keyboard magic from Chamberlain to Pump Organ to Grand Piano. Milo DeCruz (Duncan Sheik, Ryan Adams) on Bass; Stevie Blacke on Strings. Bliss-inducing harmony vocals from Renee Stahl and Erin Kamler (a.k.a. MantraGirl). Gar Robertson on just about everything else, including (but not limited to) Bass, Acoustic, Slide and Electric Guitars, and a rusty old canteen he found in the desert.
Influences
Jane Siberry, Patty Griffin, Rickie Lee Jones, PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Shakespeare, Debussy, Bach, Mozart, James Galway, YoYo Ma, Theodore Roethke, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Byron, Heather Raffo, Sredni Vashtar, big weather.
Sounds Like
"Love child of Jane Siberry and Elvis Costello;"
"Grimm Fairy Tales for Adults;"
"Joni Mitchell meets Ryan Adams;"
"Jane Austen of Rock 'n' Roll"
Record Label
"One of the top unsigned artists in L.A."-M.C. Mag
"She's got her own inner groove; nothing tentative about it. A force to be reckoned with.”
- Don Was
“Sophisticated, solid and comfortable like the seats of a Rolls Royce...Miss Raasch opens delicately for us the doors to her kingdom. One would have to be deaf -- and blind –
to stay outside.” - Hector Zazou
Her music is extremely inventive & narrative; it turns me on.”
Michael Mollura, Music Connection
"In a world full of derivative artists, she has a sound all her own."
Paul Ill (Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry
“LOVE OR INERTIA is a love letter to the lost, and a shy note to the soon to be found. Are the dreams of those left behind stronger than the realities of the empty spaces? How do we cope with abandonment, how do we survive the silence, where there was once enough laughter and noise to fill our most scared moments? Do we follow a ‘wild blueprint’ (as Raasch herself puts it) and try block out the creeping thoughts of isolation, do we smash into trees to get a super hero to save us, or dive deep into steamy seduction and let sweat and touch confuse us? Or do we write brittle beautiful songs and confront the shadows? Raasch has an actors focus on the tiny movements of the soul, and enough belief in the hope that shines out every new dawn, to create songs of truth and regret and ultimately salvation. No pity here, either for herself or the wounded heroes and heroines in her seductively sung stories, but so much compassion and understanding.” - Next Big Thing
Amy Raasch came to songwriting as a surprise. She needed to learn a couple of basic guitar chords when cast as a folksinger in an indie film, and shocked everyone on set (including herself) by spontaneously writing her first song. Penned on location at a tombstone bearing the name “BLISS,” the song became her character’s theme song, and ended up on the soundtrack.
After years of quietly continuing to explore songwriting in the haven of her Venice Beach apartment, she began to dip her toes into live performance, and immediately found an enthusiastic audience. Cut to her debut album, “Love or Inertia,” which features her award-winning, signature song, “Missing,” the story of a missing child told from the perspective of the child’s best friend. Gut-wrenching in its innocence, the friend’s bewilderment at the loss of a summer filled with lemonade stands and skipping stones holds hands with unquestioned hope. This is trademark Raasch: no tragedy is without its revelation; no loss without newfound strength. Rendered in achingly gorgeous detail, from raindrops on the brow of a troubled lover whose “brain turns like the leaves to rust” to the powerful cinematic punch of a woman who crashes her car into a tree to get the attention of her beloved in “Man of Steel,” each song unfolds like a cliffhanger of humanity: often disappointed, sometimes brilliant, but always striving to love fuller, deeper and with more abandon while fighting to stay ever true to self.
So easy it is to get caught up in the tension of this breathless struggle that we may miss the astonishing role played by Raasch’s distinctive guitar sound. Based on open tunings of her own invention, her deceptively simple-sounding guitar work masterfully weaves a gorgeous tapestry of emotion against which her raw poetry shines. A self-taught guitarist, Raasch found herself restless in the face of “Standard” guitar tuning early on, and took matters into her own hands. “I just move the strings around until I find something that hits me in the gut. It’s very specific, like hitting a tuning fork. But it changes with every song and so, usually, does the tuning. That’s why when I play live, you’ll sometimes see me with four or five guitars!”
Joining her and her guitars on "Love or Inertia" and occasionally on stage is an ideal chemistry of musicians. Drummer Dony Wynn (Robert Palmer, Brooks & Dunn) laid the foundation for the album at Music Lane Studios (Sheryl Crow) in Austin, Texas alongside crack production team Emile Millar (Kelly Dalton, Postfontaine, The Lapdancers), engineer Thom Flowers (Bad Astronaut, Sugarcult, Tim Cullen), and multi-instrumentalist Gar Robertson (Valentine's Revenge). Patrick Warren (Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann) contributes lush, vintage keyboard sounds, with Milo DeCruz (Ryan Adams, Duncan Sheik) on bass and Stevie Blacke on strings.
For 2008, Raasch embarked upon an ambitious project called “52 Songs in 52 Weeks.” The extensive writing has taken her in new directions, both musically and lyrically, and fans are able to immediately offer feedback on each individual song as it is born by subscribing to youtube.com/amyraasch. Standout songs thus far have tackled subject matter from racism in the California Inland Empire (“On the Shores of Elsinore”) to the struggle of Iraqi war veterans (“The Rooftops of Babylon”), defiant coming of age (“Version of Me”), and the simple but moving tribute to MLK, “Nearness of the Blade.” Videotaped just minutes after composition, each new song displays a raw charm and often ventures into surprising stylistic territory. Swashbuckling from blues to rock to jazz-folk and even a touch of country twang, Raasch never fails to filter all through her distinctive lens. This makes the prospect of her next album an exciting one, as it will feature favorites culled from the 52, chosen with help from her fans. Sign on to the mailing list to help design the new project, to be embarked upon in 2009, at amyraasch.com.
Amy, thanks for the friendship. Don was absolutely correct!!! Inxcredible voice, great songs, sparce and innovative. Loved them all, but "Merry Go Reel" really sums up innovative fro the first note. And "Man of Steel", loved the lyrics and your delivery is so wonderful. Thanks again for the friendship. Good luck with everything. Be well
The Anima Obscura is a haunted camera that has been stealing souls for more than a hundred years. Legends and myths have grown around it, but there is only one camera that has been causing all this destruction. Read about it or watch the movie at:
Michael Brunnock's in depth interview with journalist Suzanne Connolly is uploaded and available to watch. It can be seen either on Michael's front page www.myspace.com/michaelbrunnock or on Fairplay Collective's video page http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=64241695
Just wanted to invite you to have a listen to my new track 'Say My Name' which is also being aired on radio stations in my country :) Tell me what you think about it ;)
Would love to keep in touch with you. If you have any of the following accounts you can also add me there! - Facebook, youtube and twitter. The links are on my myspace profile.
I just want to tell everyone about the blog I have for my novel 'The Table of Truth', which is selling on Amazon.com right now. The blog is excerpts from the book, which is about a prostitute's life and struggles in Tijuana.
2/3rds of the profits go toward helping girls and women of the Tijuana area get educations and start small businesses.
'Stolen Souls' is at last available on Amazon as both a book and a movie! It's the story of a haunted camera that steals people's souls. The book follows the camera's history from 1885 when it was invented and stole the souls of Indians in the old west all the way to the present day as it circles the globe. The movie tells the story of a modern day photographer who gets obsessed with the camera as it slowly kills all of his models.
You can see more information about it at:
http://www.stolensoulsmovie.com
Or you can go directly to Amazon and find it by typing in "Stolen Souls". I hope you enjoy it!
Be careful who takes your picture, it could be your last.
I hope you don't mind me announcing that I'm releasing the comic book I've been working on for a year now. It's called 'Stellar Arcana', about an anthropologist searching for lost alien civilizations. I just wanted to let everyone on my friends list know about it. You can find it at:
www.stellararcana.com
Or bug your local comic book store! :) Hope you're well!
Hi! I have a new song- its called "End of the Day". Click on my profile & give it a listen, let me know what you think! Hope you like it =) ~~Amber Lily~~ <3 <3 <3
I'm happy to announce that my new album "Songs From The Films Of David Lynch" is out now.
"Truly unsettling and perplexingly brilliant... testament to both the quality of Lynch’s soundtracks and Truax’s talents" - The Skinny
"Truax is paying homage to a kindred spirit with this album. It's the best kind of tribute – affectionate and respectful, but with its own quirks and imaginative leaps and its own distinct identity." -The Scotsman
Hi, Great to have you as a friend!! Best wishes, Mike (Brett Huckfield's promo team). PS Please check out Brett's debut release 'Here Again' (available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster etc.) Hope you enjoy the music!!
Beloved Amy Raasch ji, Hello/Namaskar, Thank you so much for your add me in your friends list in myspace. With best wishes ,and much regards.Happy to see your info. Keep in touch. Pt Hindraj Divekar.
Home: Pt Hindraj Divekar. 82,Budhwar peth, Ramsukh Tulsi build, 3rd Floor,Flat no 301-302. Ganapati chowk, Tulsibag Ganapati, Pune 411002.M.S.India.
Rudra Veena (Khayal style & Dhrupad style) & Sitar Sadhak of Pune India. www.hindrajdivekar.org for audio and video recording. www.youtube.com. For Vidio and Audio Live concerts Rudra Veena & Sitar Recording.- Logon in search Hindraj Divekar.
www.esnips.com For Audio long 32 minutes.each recording of Rudra Veena and sitar of Hindraj Divekar
Hey Amy, how are you?! I've updated my page so click on my pic to take a look! Also www.lexyloola.com is now up and running so you can visit my new website. Yay! Lots of love, lexyloola xxx
