Suzanne’s band Melodyguild will perform at Club Violaine again on March 28th, this time with The Arrogants. The club is doing a giveaway of their third Violaine compilation CD to the first 100 patrons.
DJs Doomie, Wednesday & Matthew + special guests spin 2 rooms
of the best in Shoegaze, Ethereal, Indie, and Dream Pop
Violaine is located at Basswerks
5411 Adams Blvd. Los Angeles Ca 90016
(Between La Brea and Fairfax)
$5 with flyer or e-mail. $7 without.
9:30pm-2:00am 18+ with ID
Suzanne’s new band Melodyguild will perform on January 23rd at Club Violaine with Bethany Curve. DJs Doomie, Wednesday & Matthew + special guests spin two rooms of “the best in Shoegaze, Ethereal, Indie, and Dream Pop.” 9:30pm – 2:00am 18+ with ID.
Violaine is located at Basswerks
5411 Adams Blvd. Los Angeles Ca 90016
(Between La Brea and Fairfax)
Official Melodyguild Bio:
Melodyguild formed with members of various local bands. Matt, who was the drummer for LA indie/dreampop band The Von Trapps began collaborating with their ex-bass/guitarist John, and Love Spirals Downwards singer Suzanne in 2002. Nicholas, who is also the lead in local band The Battle of Lake Erie, soon joined on drums. John left the band in 2003 and was replaced by Von Trapps guitarist, Rod, on bass. Cris, with a soon to be released album on Clairecords under the name Silver Screen, soon joined on guitar to complete the lineup.
Combining stylings from these bands, among other personal influences, Melodyguild comfortably fit into the LA dreampop/shoegaze/indie scene.
Wow, what a great week we had in Mexico. Thank you to everyone who came to see us in Leon, Morelia, and Puebla. And very big thanks all of the show producers and especially Aldo, our tour manager! This was by far the busiest of the several times I had played in Mexico before, having to travel several hours each day to get to the next city in time for radio and television interviews followed by soundchecks. We were lucky if we could get five hours of sleep each night. But the enthusiastic crowds every show energized us for some of our best performances yet. We’ll be back!
Projekt has paired up with Hot Topic for a special holiday CD, A Dark Noel: The Very Best of Excelsis, which includes Love Spirals Downwards’ 1995 recording of Dr. Seuss’ “Welcome Christmas” from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Lovespirals‘ cover of John Denver’s “Aspenglow”. This CD is sold at the budget price of $3.98 from Hot Topic stores nationwide. Read a review of the comp by MusicTap.
The following is a transcription of Lovespirals November 9, 2002 interview Iohann Rashi from Frequenicas Alternas airing on Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico stations WRTU 89.7 FM and WRUO 88.3 FM. The questions of the DJ been translated from Spanish to English. Apologies for how rough they are.
Lovespirals is a group that has had a long history and is currently in a process of transformation, formerly known as Love Spirals Downwards. They face a new change, a new facet and new perspectives in their way of creating and producing music. For tonight, listening to the cuts of the album ‘Windblown Kiss,’ we will have Ryan Lum and Anji Bee, the members of Lovespirals, talking to us about this new creation. We will listen to Anji Bee, commenting in a brief and summarized form the historical process that Lovespirals has suffered from Love Spirals Downwards to today with this new production, ‘Windblown Kiss.’
ANJI: Let’s see, Lovespirals first started, I guess, in 1999. Ryan had started working on some solo material with the saxophone player, Doron Orenstein, who appears on our album, ‘Windblown Kiss.’ He was working on some drum and bass club songs. He and I had met through KUCI when I interviewed him for the album ‘Flux’ –I think I also interviewed him somewhat after ‘Ever’ came out– and we kept bumping into each other at different events around L.A. and we had a lot in common. I dunno, somehow he invited me into his studio to show me some of the music he was working on, such as a song called “Beatitude,” which is an instrumental, and the song that later became “Love Survives.” So he played me two tracks and we just kinda started talking about the possibility of me singing on some of his new tracks.
Continue reading Frequenicas Alternas Interview LovespiralsPlans are underway for us to do a few shows in and around Mexico City next month. It is unnerving waiting until the last moment like this, but our manager assures us it is happening. Right now, talk is that we’ll do Mexico City, Guanajuato, and now possibly Morelia and Leon, as well. The show dates fall between the 12th and 15th so far. Looks like it will be a full week!
Projekt is releasing another new budget priced compilation! The Arbitrary Width of Shadows features Lovespirals’ song “Dejame,” alongside tracks from black tape for a blue girl, Audra, Mira, Voltaire, Unto Ashes, More Syphilitica, and more. This 13-tracks CD retails exclusively at Borders, with over 380 locations nationwide.
The Arbitrary Width of Shadows is our second budget-priced compilation cd created exclusively for the Borders Chain. 2001’s within this infinite ocean was a huge success, selling through its limited edition pressing within five months. Borders was so pleased, that they asked us to create a follow-up compilation, intended to introduce the music of the Projekt label to their customers. Of course, it’s also a great CD for the hardcore Projekt fans, capturing some of our best music together on one disc.
— Projekt.com
Projekt just released a new budget priced compilation for Hot Topic. Called Projekt:Gothic, it features Lovespirals’ song, “Swollen Sea,” as well as tracks from Audra, Mira, Voltaire, Attrition, This Ascension, Lycia, and more.
Through March 11, 2003, Projekt: Gothic will sell exclusively at Hot Topic, with over 425 locations nationwide. It’s available on the counter at all of their stores across the nation. After March 11th, Hot Topic will be joined by Borders and all other cool stores large and small with this title.
— Projekt.com
Here’s a partial transcript of the interview Tom Schulte did with Anji recently on his Internet radio show, for those that aren’t able to stream audio. Outsight is a featured archival broadcast of the Music Sojourn site so go listen to it if you can!
Tom: Been enjoying ‘Windblown Kiss.” Been playing it for the audience here. Ya happy with it?
Anji: Yeah, yeah it turned out a lot differently than probably people might have expected, but… You know, we kinda started out one way… at first we were working on a trip hop song, and then we wrote, uh, the first song, “Oh So Long,” and we realized that we were kinda on to something a little different. We just kinda went with it. Made kind of a rock album. With jazz.
Tom: Yeah, definitely, and, um, some sort of flamenco, soul, folk touches — it’s beyond retro, it’s almost vintage at times.
Anji: Yeah, you know what? I’m actually really into vintage styles, I guess you’d say. I love antique furniture and vintage clothes, and I listen to a lot of old albums. I think that rubbed off on Ryan while we were making the album.
Continue reading Outsight Radio Hours InterviewLovespirals have returned from their West Coast mini tour with Mira, and are busy scheduling additional dates for this year. So far, Los Angeles has been added for October 2nd at the Knitting Factory. The band plans to include saxist, Doron Orenstein, for this date.
DJ Victoria Star, of KZSC in Santa Cruz, CA wrote the following review of the first show date:
San Francisco Projekt fans were given a spectacular treat last night when artists Mira and Lovespirals joined together for an evening of musical bliss at The Pound.Once again changing musical directions, Anji Bee and Ryan Lum presented their lush new sound as a taunting and swanky invitation to sing along. Taking the stage with a smile that never left her face, Anji’s vocal mastery was particularly poignant on new tracks “Oh So Long” and “Swollen Sea.”
In Music We Trust called Mira and Lovespirals “the sexiest concert bill of 2002” and had this to say in their review of the show at Portland’s Paris Theatre:
Next came the technical difficulties but delicious music of Lovespirals. While guitarist Ryan Lum and singer Anji Bee clearly seemed displeased with how their show was going, it did not stop them from presenting a lovely display of some obvious hard work. Closing out the set with a few jazz numbers, the audience weaved back and forth with Bee as she appeared as a nightclub chanteuse a little out of her element. Bee acknowledged this by remarking, “We don’t know how Mira does it. They’ve got like twelve shows left. This is only our third, and we’re like, ‘O, we want to go home.'” Nevertheless, Lovespirals presented their new material, which is absolutely marvelous, and sparked some interest.
Photographer Adam Michaud sent in these great photos from our Portland concert.
During their time in Portland, Ryan and Anji also did their first ever in-studio radio interview with DJ Carolee of A Strange Choice of Favorite on KPSU. The duo also performed a short acoustic set live on-air.
