Air, Boards of Canada, the KLF, Alex Reece, Pink Floyd, The Orb, Zero 7, Mozez, Orbital, Telefuzz, The Verbrilli Sound, Brian Eno, Afterlife, DJ Pathaan, Milky Globe, Rothko, Goldfrapp, Bjork, The Big Chill, Richard Kirk, Mum, Kinobe, BJ Cole, Chris Coco, Paul Oakenfold, Aphex Twin, Enya, Nova Nova, Nightmares on Wax, A Reminiscent Drive, Pete Namlok, Robert Fripp, Robert Miles,Alucidnation, Delia Derbyshire, Mira Calix, Fragile States, Morcheeba, Stereolab, the Starseeds, Biosphere, Robert Anton Wilson, the Cocteau Twins ...
Sounds Like
Moody, Atmospheric, Visual, Colourful, Abstract, Dreamlike, Cinematic, Modern Enya / early Aphex Twin / Orbital / Delia Derbyshire / Enigma /
'Laura B, is one of those artists who has quietly made their way to the forefront of their genre without having to court the kinds of media hype and hyperbole that many lesser artists seek. While you may not know her name, she has been playlisted by some of today’s most influential Djs. Included among her many supporters are the likes of Paul Oakenfold, Larent Garnier and Pete Tong to name but a few. Her unique brand of chilled, progressive, yet beatsy and organic electronica has graced live stages to critical acclaim across the globe including gigs in Japan, America, India and closer to home as a key part of the legendary Big Chill festival here in the UK. There is no doubt that she has brought a very inspirational slant to the ‘post-chill’ genre, mixing analogue bleeps and bloops with her own breathy vox, all mixed with deeply atmospheric soundscapes and textured breakbeats.'
The lineup: Laura B (vocals, bass and "anything with knobs and flashing lights that makes a sound").
The background: The Fantastic Laura B is the 400th New Band of the Day – and congratulations to us for being the first to tell you about White Lies, Abe Vigoda, Ladyhawke, VV Brown, Little Jackie, thecocknbullkid, Bryn Christopher, Broken Records, Iglu & Hartley, Wild Beasts, Gotye and Mumford & Sons in the last hundred New Band columns - but the first solo female electronic artist to feature here. This is less an indictment of any policy we might have towards musicians of her type (clue: we don't have one) than a statement about the dearth of studio whizkidettes in the music industry.
As though to emphasise Björk's recent defence of her, and the female musician's, role in the recording studio, Laura B (The Fantastic to her friends) is that rarity, a woman who not only writes, sings and performs her own material but also handles all the gadgetry in the studio and does the production (she also DJs around the world, remixes other acts and compiles chillout albums). She might have a breathy girly voice but she can hold her own in the man's world of knobs, plugs and wires. "It's been crazy because for ages I was just about the only girl in London - and possibly Europe and the world - working everyday in commercial studios," she says. "I had to be the best to survive in this man's world."
There are some female artists her brand of ambient electronica has been compared to. In some ways she's an Enya or Enigma with edge, a more chillaxed Alison Goldfrapp or a Björk without the kooky idiosyncrasies, even Massive Attack when they had Liz Fraser on wraith-like vox or the Cocteau Twins when they pursued a more electronic direction in the 90s. But more than anyone her textured atmospherica and lush cinematica recalls Aphex Twin circa the historic Selected Ambient Works, layers of synthesised vocals and sounds billowing across the stereo range. She recently featured alongside everyone from Tangerine Dream to Art of Noise on Radio 2's History of Chillout documentary and there are traces, too, of both those groups' pioneering laidback techno, as well as random FX, glitches, bloops and bleeps that take her music into experimental territory.
If her music evokes the glacial drift of early Aphex Twin, that's no coincidence – she'd most like to work with Richard D James (aka Aphex) as well as Air. And she's already collaborated with Pet Shop Boys and pedal steel guitar legend BJ Cole and managed to coax a decent performance out of Black Grape even though she spent most of her time with them trying to stop them getting wasted or going AWOL. But it's all good. Just don't call what she does downtempo. "My music is very uptempo. If anything it's hardcore chillout," she insists, before getting carried away. "My music is all about conscious teleportation to another space and time, into Laura B space and time, where people can experience my dream or their own depending on how they feel. I've got a very leftfield imagination. To me music = science fiction."
The buzz: "Luscious and lovely, dreamy and creamy chillout, like Zero 7 minus the bits that make you go "zzzz...'"
The truth: She's singlehandedly advancing the case for the do-it-all female dance technician.
Most likely to: Set adrift on memory bliss.
Least likely to: Come to daddy.
File next to: Aphex Twin, Mira Calix, Air, Delia Derbyshire.
Shuffle start, stop, repeat
Tate Britain
Room 9. 6pm-9.30pm. Friday 8 January 2010.
'Shuffle start stop repeat' by Laura B and Graina Mullins is an audio-visual project created as part of the Late at Tate event 'Quiet Voices' - conceived and curated by John Rixon for Tate Britain. John's inspiration for the name came from Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's famous 'Oblique Strategies' deck of cards. Each card contained a random phrase or cryptic remark designed to help break a deadlock and resolve a situation. Laura B and Graina Mullins have used the Oblique Strategies cards throughout the creative phase of their collaboration, to unblock a halted creative flow or to inspire specific aspects of their work.
BIOGS
Laura B
Born in France, but now resident in Shoreditch, East London, Laura’s full working moniker is ‘The fantastic Laura B’. Her varied career has included success as an engineer, producer and DJ and well as her achievements in the field of electronica. Laura has performed in Paris, London, Japan, India and the USA. She has worked with a diverse range of artists including Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, Pet Shop Boys, Finley Quay and the Spice Girls. Laura started making her own music in 2000 and her work has been described as ‘post-chilled’; with its strikingly atmospheric soundscapes and textured breakbeats. Her distinctive brand of elegant, organic electronica may be supremely chilled, but it is always uplifting. During 2009, she worked on German film soundtrack Heisse Spur. Laura is the granddaughter of the celebrated French painter Marguerite Bouisseau.
Graina Mullins
Video Artist Graina Mullins has a background in Graphic Design, which she currently teaches at Backwell School in Bristol along with Animation and Video Production. Graina has been producing music visuals for around a decade. Her work was originally inspired by avant garde film-maker and author Kenneth Anger, but she has gone on to encompass numerous creative disciplines: including poetry, film, photography, music and performance. Typically, Graina's video art is emotive and expressive with ingenious use of effects. Often figurative, she has been described as quirky, yet always sensitive, with a feminine approach that touches the heart. Under her alias as a Video DJ, ‘grainY’ has VJ’d for a wide variety of artists including; Sheila Chandra, Terry Callier, Lamb, Howie B and the Quantic Soul Orchestra, to name but a few. Her music collaborations include; Lightning Head, Broadway Project, Unforscene and most recently, the fantastic Laura B.
Why did John Rixon choose Laura B?
Laura B: “John wanted a wide range of styles and was much influenced by what he saw at the Big Chill in Naxos and Goa. I was playing at both these events. In fact, the line-up for the Tate Britain show is very much filled with artists who have performed at the Big Chill.”
So why did John put Laura B and Graina together?
Laura B: “John said 'it seemed like a good idea'. Because of his experience in teaching and supervising students, he has a good sense of what people can do and he knew that Graina and I would work well together. We have a similar outlook.”
the original soundtrack to 'shuffle, start, stop, repeat' (titled 'On The Sand') is available on CD on Laura B's Midi A Minuit EP (Fantastic Recordings FRCD01)
1- Midi a Minuit
2- On The Sand
3- Lovebleeps
4- Full Circle
"Luscious and lovely, dreamy and creamy chillout, like Zero 7 minus the bits that make you go "zzzz...'" The Guardian
"The deeply chilled outings from this French solo artist have already graced the nation's airwaves thanks to Pete Tong and Chris Coco. On the strength of this debut offering from her own Fantastic Recordings imprint, Laura B's rise won't be as gentle as her music." Indiestore
I've just been informed that 80.000 illegal downloads of my tracks have been made in just 2 months on just one U.S. website. I'm speechless... and disheartened.
I urge anyone of my fans to download my music from the following legal sources only
In All of the Galaxy, in all Lifeforms .. Self Replicating gender are accepted an flourish (a Hermaphrodite) .. If you could have distinguished that which would become Gay, You would have killed at birth as well .. Religion has brought you your Hell on Earth. To term Sex sinful and dirty, a natural activity for reproducing as well as a loving unifying act of amplifying energy, the deepest expression of Love !? Deemed so, has made it the breeder of rapist, child molesters, and deviants. In our world we consume as the Atlantians did, the Elixir of Gods third eye, female ejaculate added beverage as a Ceremonial drink, in terms you would perceive as Climax Whine. The power They used to brainwash you with, has been given reckoning over your immortal soul ?! Something that's as natural as eating sleeping, pissing an shitting, what a story to frighten children with ?! To have been inter-connected, emotionally and sensually aware since birth .. Never would a place be for the oldest profession on Earth, You have brought your GOD to life, and He is here to murder Thee ..
Bright Light EP on Urbantorque is now available on Beatport with support from artists such as Laurent Garnier, Slam, Hernan Catteneo, Matthias Vogt, Jody Winsternoff, Behrouz, Gorge, Miss Nine, Chloe Harris, Darren Epsilon, Scope, Harold Heath, Seva K and many more..
Tchou Tchou J'aurais tant aimé venir te voir et voir cette création Je t'envois plein d'amour et de bonnes vibrations pour le 8 Bonne année 2010 Santé Amour & Imagination
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