...plays a Roland Juno 60, Korg Poly-800, Yamaha CS-5, the Backwards Records NW Korg 770, and an Alesis Micron Synthesizer, performs vocals, sequencing, piano, percussion, guitar and tapes alone and in collaboration. As vocalist spans the divide between operatic and harsh. As instrumentalist and composer, experiments range from symphonic & operatic music to power electronics, electro to ambient.
Upcoming Performances Include:
"Joy Von Spain combines avant-garde (de)compositional knowledge with noise...provocation, resulting in intriguing, often unsettling music that sounds like a dream/nightmare collaboration between Karlheinz Stockhausen and Coil, or Iannis Xenakis and Lustmord..." - Dave Segal, The Stranger's blog 12-22-08
Joy Von Spain's recordings are available in person at THREAT
Collaborations include: 100PIECES, Son of None, The Noisettes, Slow Children, Nasty Hunter, Empty Remains. Do not question her patriotism. Please kill yourself. Compositions recorded since 1993. Releases on Backwards Records NW, Scatological Liberation Front, Festival of Failure, Soccer Mom Ebonics, Smell The Stench, Ladyz In Noyz, & Extreme Volume Pop.
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Influences
"Some people just don't know when to say no. Usually, I'd say to let these people suffer, and that they would learn the paces on their own one day... However, some people never say no because they have so much mental excretion of such a high potency that it would be nothing less than murder to imbibe by that which they so very much need cleaned from their bodies...Joy Von Spain is one of these such people. So, go to see her perform; Never use the excuse "She always plays-I can catch her again some time," because every time is different - and that one show you miss out on is probably the one you, stern listener, needed to hear."
- PATRICK URN / SYPHILIS SAUNA
Some Past Performances Include:
Sounds Like
Art Song, Noise, Electronic, Doom, Electronic, Avant-Garde Classical, Experimental
The Scatological Liberation Front / SLFcd56
Guest artists include Noah Nine, Herpes Hideaway, MURDER, Veronica Heat, & Lemur. Engineering, mix & mastering by Gerald Hansen with Joy Von Spain.
On LADY LAZARUS each piece is the result of collaboration: multitrack studio recordings, chamber music, and an orchestral performance. Analog synths, vocals, digital production & effects, live instruments & percusssion, guitar effects, noise and sampler action create a landscape of mystery and dread.
"Von Spain makes some of the most menacingly beautiful music today, and deserves as much love (and press) as, say, Diamanda Galas, or Tom Waits or Carla Bozulich. Or even Gorecki. “Lady Lazarus” makes us uneasy by easily mining the classical and the experimental to create gritty, fearlessly emotional music...
These are songs that wait in the dark for the right moment to attack themselves...'Lady Lazarus,' like its author, is genius. Difficult and harrowing, but honest and therefore holy, the songs of Joy Von Spain cant be forgotten if you tried, unless you exorcise them out of you." 9/10 -- Mike Wood, foxy digitalis
Read entire review here
Backwards Records NW 2007 / BR0036
Composed and performed by Joy Von Spain / Mastered by Patrick Urn.
"Highbrow neoclassical composition meets antagonistic noisician instincts in Joy Von Spain's compelling pieces. Her 2007 disc Seeking Stockhausen's Moustache comes shrouded in a bracing darkness and distinctive tonalities. It will one day be regarded as a classic in Northwest avant-garde music—if it isn't already. Her new work, Lady Lazarus, is going to flip some wigs and trigger some seizures, as well." - DAVE SEGAL - The Stranger 1-7-09
"What might happen if cevin Key, Blixa Bargeld, and Phillip Glass were locked in a studio and told to produce a follow up album to Michael Gira's Body Haters...it might sound something like Joy Von Spain's Seeking Stockhausen's Moustache." - Chris Miner, Mind Altering Records 4-28-09 (Read the entire review here)
limited to 100 copies
PHYSICAL RELEASE SOLD OUT
Digital Release available now through:
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Net Releases:
FREE DOWNLOAD:
* NASTY HUNTER "Beast Blob Parasite"
* SON OF NONE "The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions"
on Audio Ugly 4 net comp from Extreme Volume Pop
FREE DOWNLOAD:
* JOY VON SPAIN "Nite-Mary" on Audio Ugly 5 net comp from Extreme Volume Pop
* SOUND SIX SYMPHONY Sycophanticide An electronic symphony in three movements primarily composed by manipulation of a sample of a solo violin piece recorded in 1996.
* "MAGNIFICAT" For Soprano & Harp Soccer Mom Ebonics 2009 Slated for release this year on installment 4 of the infamous Sparkle Girl Mix Tapes
* ROMA X. MANKILLER Backwards Records NW Vocals by Joy Von Spain with music, hardcore beats, noise, covers & more by MURDER, In The Age Of Terminal Static, Vankmen, Syphilis Sauna, Noah Nine, Amphetamine Virus, and others.
* "THE SOFT CAGE" cover of "The Soft Cage" by In The Age Of Terminal Static, of HARSHFEST 2009 compilation, and The Soft Cage maxi-single, ItAoTS. Backwards Records NW
Article in Data Breaker - The Stranger June 23, 2009
"Joy Von Spain...occupies an integral position in the city's noise-music underground as half of 100Pieces with Murder, while also collaborating with various sonic brutes around town, most associated with Backwards Records. It's kind of like if Ruth White were moonlighting in Wolf Eyes. While writing compositions of great subtlety and unconventional beauty, Von Spain also shapes extreme frequencies into experimental noise pieces that show formidable thought regarding dynamics..."
Greetings. I just wanted to thank you for your continued support and invite you to have a first listen on myspace to the tracks off the new EP "Monster & Minstrel" due out later this month. Bright stars to you! Ahmond
Work? My lazy arse barely did a thing. Cant believe i danced to Eminem! funny stuff.
I can help tomorrow if need be, plus i want to see Nym perform again! I shall call you tomorrow dear, and again, great performance, but that is always the case with you! You are Murder are the Queen and King of the Seattle noise scene.
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