Friday, December 3, 2010

Top-20 Countdown - No.18

Stratos: No.18 - Zola Jesus - Stridulum II



I knew Zola from last year's album, The Spoils. I liked her voice more than I did her music. She reminded me of Siouxsie, so it made her songs sound familiar to my ears. This year she has an exceptional song in this album, Night. But she still needs lots of work to make a clear point of what she wants to do with her music. She still sounds to me like someone else, not herself. But she sure gives many signs that she's on the right track. Hope she lives up to my expectations - cause it seems for others she has already fulfilled them.

My review from Screw magazine, issue 22:

Nika Rosa Danilova was "baptised" Zola Jesus to make a career in music beyond the opera she begun to study. Aged just 21, from Winsconsin USA, she is part of a small team that brings back the Goth aesthetics at the forefront, visually as well as sonically. Obviously influenced by the priestess Siouxsie (even her voice reminds of her a lot), with the guidance and support of James Stewart of Xiu Xiu fame (with whom she makes up the group Former Ghosts), Zola writes epic compositions, with stirring vocals, her music impressive and evocative at the same time, dark, menacing, rhythmic but also romantic, in a hellish, cursed way.  
Selections: Night, I Can’t Stand, Lightsick.




Giannis: No.18 - Of Montreal - False Priest


1 comment:

  1. Της αξίζει μια θέση στην 20αδα ;)
    Ιδωμεν.

    ReplyDelete