SHE MAKES WAR – her debut album Disarm, out July 11

Is the title of Laura Kidd's debut album a combative command to yield to her dystopian gloom-pop or the key to what lies beneath its prickly demeanour? Shouldering a quiver of appealingly grainy, grunge-inflected songs, Disarm fires off lyrics of arrowhead sharpness and emotional upheaval – thirteen tales of love, loss, crap mates, betrayal, homicide and genocide, inspired by the likes of Sleater-Kinney, The Breeders, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Carina Round and hula hooping.

Almost everything about She Makes War comes from Laura; she writes, records and produces the songs, designs the artwork, makes the videos and performs without a backing band, looping with fiendish precision and never missing a beat. Having honed her skills as co-writer and vocalist for the likes of Amanda Palmer collaborators The Young Punx and dance artist Michael Gray, and as touring bassist for the likes of Tricky and I Blame Coco, Laura gathered together all her own song-thoughts and set about creating the multimedia experience that would form the basis of Disarm.

The album was recorded at a studio in London Fields with co-producer Myles Clarke (Cocknbullkid, Sparkadia, The Who) between December 2009 and February 2010, with guest appearances from harpist Kat Arney and Djevara frontman, Bass. An early, limited release in September 2010 made fans out of industry veteran Midge Ure, BBC 6Music’s Nemone, writer Everett True and Viv Albertine of The Slits, who has since recruited Laura to play and sing on her own album due later this year. 

To celebrate the album's completion, Laura took to the much-maligned but blessedly cheap Megabus to travel up and down the country to meet and play for fans and loyal Twitter followers, and was profiled alongside writer Neil Gaiman as a member of the BBC's 'Tweet Elite'. In November 2010, she blazed through the competition to win a coveted slot at Ladyfest Ten, and a few months later added Soundcloud's hotly contested Backstage Pass Cloud 9 Award to her growing pile of accolades. She was also invited to speak alongside BBC 6Music's Tom Robinson and bass supremo Steve Lawson on a panel at industry conference Unconvention, where she shared her thoughts and experiences on making it as a fully independent artist.

Already in the studio recording album #2 having completed a memorable tour of South America with Tricky last month, Laura is drawing a line underneath Disarm with the full UK release it deserves. Going straight for the angst-pop jugular with an appealing directness, her one-woman Telecaster-ukulele-vocal-looping extravaganza won't be stopped. Love is the message, and war – for once – is the answer.

For all press inquiries, please email alan@peaknuckle.fm
_________________

Praise for Disarm:

"I like the fact the music is direct, unadorned. There's no hiding from She Makes War." – Everett True

“With a tone reminiscent of psychedelic indie band Warpaint with the grungy lean of Shirley Manson, Kidd uses her Telecaster and trusty looping pedal in such a way that a backing band is not necessary” – Wears The Trousers

“Politically aware, emotionally pertinent and touching, crunchy punk, grunge pop. If you’re looking for ’sound-alikes’ try Nirvana crossed with Veruca Salt and PJ Harvey, with a little sprinkling of fairy dust. It’s ace.” – Cementum

"Whilst many of her contemporaries spend their time trying to fit in, Kidd is unashamed in her desire to stand out from the crowd. Whilst Disarm is far from un-radio friendly, it is also effortlessly distinctive” – The Kaje

For more information, please visit shemakeswar.com


She Makes War - Slow Puncture

SHE MAKES WAR – her debut album Disarm, out July 11

Is the title of Laura Kidd's debut album a combative command to yield to her dystopian gloom-pop or the key to what lies beneath its prickly demeanour? Shouldering a quiver of appealingly grainy, grunge-inflected songs, Disarm fires off lyrics of arrowhead sharpness and emotional upheaval – thirteen tales of love, loss, crap mates, betrayal, homicide and genocide, inspired by the likes of Sleater-Kinney, The Breeders, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Carina Round and hula hooping.

Almost everything about She Makes War comes from Laura; she writes, records and produces the songs, designs the artwork, makes the videos and performs without a backing band, looping with fiendish precision and never missing a beat. Having honed her skills as co-writer and vocalist for the likes of Amanda Palmer collaborators The Young Punx and dance artist Michael Gray, and as touring bassist for the likes of Tricky and I Blame Coco, Laura gathered together all her own song-thoughts and set about creating the multimedia experience that would form the basis of Disarm.

The album was recorded at a studio in London Fields with co-producer Myles Clarke (Cocknbullkid, Sparkadia, The Who) between December 2009 and February 2010, with guest appearances from harpist Kat Arney and Djevara frontman, Bass. An early, limited release in September 2010 made fans out of industry veteran Midge Ure, BBC 6Music’s Nemone, writer Everett True and Viv Albertine of The Slits, who has since recruited Laura to play and sing on her own album due later this year. 

To celebrate the album's completion, Laura took to the much-maligned but blessedly cheap Megabus to travel up and down the country to meet and play for fans and loyal Twitter followers, and was profiled alongside writer Neil Gaiman as a member of the BBC's 'Tweet Elite'. In November 2010, she blazed through the competition to win a coveted slot at Ladyfest Ten, and a few months later added Soundcloud's hotly contested Backstage Pass Cloud 9 Award to her growing pile of accolades. She was also invited to speak alongside BBC 6Music's Tom Robinson and bass supremo Steve Lawson on a panel at industry conference Unconvention, where she shared her thoughts and experiences on making it as a fully independent artist.

Already in the studio recording album #2 having completed a memorable tour of South America with Tricky last month, Laura is drawing a line underneath Disarm with the full UK release it deserves. Going straight for the angst-pop jugular with an appealing directness, her one-woman Telecaster-ukulele-vocal-looping extravaganza won't be stopped. Love is the message, and war – for once – is the answer.

For all press inquiries, please email alan@peaknuckle.fm
_________________

Praise for Disarm:

"I like the fact the music is direct, unadorned. There's no hiding from She Makes War." – Everett True

“With a tone reminiscent of psychedelic indie band Warpaint with the grungy lean of Shirley Manson, Kidd uses her Telecaster and trusty looping pedal in such a way that a backing band is not necessary” – Wears The Trousers

“Politically aware, emotionally pertinent and touching, crunchy punk, grunge pop. If you’re looking for ’sound-alikes’ try Nirvana crossed with Veruca Salt and PJ Harvey, with a little sprinkling of fairy dust. It’s ace.” – Cementum

"Whilst many of her contemporaries spend their time trying to fit in, Kidd is unashamed in her desire to stand out from the crowd. Whilst Disarm is far from un-radio friendly, it is also effortlessly distinctive” – The Kaje

For more information, please visit shemakeswar.com

She Makes War - Let This Be

From the debut album, Character Assassination, coming September 2011.

www.facebook.com/danaimmanuelmusic

Dana Immanuel - John Wayne

Dana Immanuel - Motherfucking Whore

MARISSA NADLER – Self-titled fifth album, out June 13

Seven years into her musical calling, it seems that everyone has his or her own version of the real Marissa Nadler. Almost uniformly, these versions relate to some sort of gothic folk chanteuse locked in an anachronistic, possibly unearthly, existence; a woman peering through the looking glass darkly. Death and dangerous liaisons have followed her through the mysteries and mists of four critically adored albums – most recently 2009’s remarkable Little Hells, whose ghosts and lovers certainly fulfilled their promise to haunt.

Looking beyond the compelling mystique, however, a clear and corporeal progression can be traced. With each new recording, Marissa has taken steps, then strides, and now, excitingly, bounds outside of her internal world of interwoven stories to embrace the twisted carnival of the physical thrum with what she’s calling “the most honest, natural record I’ve ever written.”

Recorded over a three-week period in January at Philadelphia’s Miner Street Studio with producer Brian McTear, the purposefully titled Marissa Nadler is the Bostonian “mistress of the murder ballad” as we have never heard her before. Traversing through dream-folk and cosmic country, this is Marissa out in the open, her trademark vocal reverb pared away – in the case of two songs, completely. “I’m no longer hiding,” she says. “The mystery still exists in the music as an aesthetic tool, but the songs cut harder because of the vocal mix, with more varied colours than my other records.”

Breaking with the music industry machinery having cemented her reputation for illuminating, individual songwriting with releases through such hallowed imprints as Peacefrog, Kemado and Mexican Summer (who named themselves after one of her songs), Marissa is taking matters into her own hands by releasing this album through her own Box Of Cedar Records (also named after one of her songs). 

A Kickstarter campaign launched in November 2010 received unprecedented media support and achieved its $11,000 fundraising target in less than one week, allowing Marissa to fully realise her vision for the record (the full amount raised was $17,000). She also raised money the old-fashioned way, by selling handmade crafts and a range of home-recorded albums through her online shop.

This, then, is the closest Marissa Nadler has come to revealing her true self, and for once the reality is better than fiction. She may be shedding her cloak of black lace but her songs strike even harder at the heart with that old familiar dagger.

For all press enquiries, email alan@peaknuckle.fm

* * * A four-track companion EP, Rain Arrangement, recorded during the same sessions, will be released later in 2011.

________

Praise for Little Hells:

“a true original” – Q (4/5)
“an enchanting record” – Mojo (4/5)
“beautiful and merciless as diamond bullets” – Drowned In Sound (9/10)

“Little Hells moves Nadler well beyond easy categories, thanks to a newfound clarity in her words, a compelling link between her songs, and production that sharpens her old strengths while brightly exposing new ones” – Pitchfork (8.3)

Marissa Nadler - The Sun Always Reminds Me Of You

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