teacups began when elizabeth and chelsea started to busk to earn enough money for dinner. the only songs in their repertoire were those of the jenny lewis record 'rabbit fur coat'.
eventually chelsea made elizabeth promise that they would be a real band instead of spending friday nights competing with the newly erected henna tattoo stall.
fate/dumb luck led them to their first real gig in a beautiful circus tent.
unfortunately, while they would pretend to be a real band, calling it nap club would probably be more appropriate since they would spend many a 'band practice' sleeping on chelsea's heated carpets, having discussions about harry potter and fantasizing about having another star wars marathon.
one day talita found them. like MAGIC she brought the fun and a double bass to practice. chelsea whispered to liz that they should invite her to join because she was super pretty and didn't like sleeping. liz agreed.
after that the trio wrote a handful of new songs which they peddled around town, playing gigs and offering home-made cupcakes wherever they went.
they played on the radio and even went on a road trip to buy an accordion. tears were shed after talita's band-wagon was broken into and goodies were stolen. but after writing an angry rap addressed to the thieves and securing a new and improved keyboard, all was forgotten and teacups carried on, recording six songs intended for an EP entitled 'sleepy ep'.
teacups were lucky enough to be featured on an entire page of the groove guide. chelsea's grandma was pretty impressed even though she couldn't read the tiny print.
unexpectedly, teacups were asked to open for swedish born songwriter josé gonzález. the big day arrived after months of anticipation and rehersing in chelsea's bathroom.
they survived talita driving on the wrong side of the road and chelsea driving herself crazy screen-printing deer onto fabric pouches to play to a large audience of josé gonzález fans.
the pouches containing limited edition singles were sold out on the night and teacups heads were spinning with glee just like the carnival ride sharing their name.
later, teacups had a smashing time opening for cat power and kimya dawson.
teacups trivia: teacups is exactly half indonesian [talita full, liz half, chelsea none], talita moonlights in jazz, elizabeth never rides shotgun, chelsea has great hair.
by chelsea in the third person.
ps. we've just released our debut album "forest fiction" into the wild. please take one home with you, it needs love. you can find them now in record stores in new zealand, or online if you're too far away:
-amplifier -smoke cds -marbecks
thank you x
OUR VERY FIRST MUSIC VIDEO of 'lily's eyes', made by the WONDERFUL Jessie Taylor Smith:
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our fourth LP release...
LEILA ADU has been described as 'A Nina Simone for the Noughties', and her two acclaimed albums infuse a broadly 'art-rock' approach with elements of torch song, speakeasy blues, avant garde jazz, gamelan, post-rock textures, and a David Lynch style dreamlike b-movie melodrama. As her website has it, exploring the "dissonant edges of familiar forms", but with that kind of 'dissonance' that they once accused Thelonious Monk or Debussy of, the kind that soon betrays it's own compelling melodic and harmonic logic to the attentive listener...
'Dark Joan', Leila's third album as a solo artist, was recorded in Chicago with the legendary Steve Albini (PJ Harvey, Joanna Newsome, Nirvana, Pixies), and Albini's genius has been to strip her sound back to it's essence, and hold it's most distinctive qualities up to the light. It doesn't hurt that this is by far Leila's most powerful set of songs to date, and if anything we are lead even deeper into her world by the pictures painted with just piano (or in some cases harpsichord or a grime-encrusted electric piano) and that voice...
Capable of anything from delicate heartbreaking purity to a fearsome dramatic power, her powers are seemingly limitless, yet unlike most other singers of her calibre, never does she resort to melodrama or show-boating, or any kind of pastiche, instead she employs her resources fully in the expression of her distinctive musical vision and the deep well-spring of her imagination. Nothing ever sounds as though it could have not been sung...
Yay your albums coming out finally! Excellent news. Thanks Chelsea heaps for the CD and corresponding lovely things that you posted down a while back. It was really exciting to get such a nice present!!
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our second official LP release...
"Modern Mediaeval" is the third LP from singer-songwriter DAVID GARSIDE, and the first to receive the full Frizz Records vinyl treatment. It’s also clearly the most fully-realised statement of his distinctive vision so far…
It’s an easy route to locate David in the tradition of his ‘classic’ influences (McCartney, Nick Drake, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, The Beach Boys, Love, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Dexy’s…), but there are few songwriters working today that have absorbed these influences so fully, and arrived at a mature style as David has…
This is ’singer-songwriter’ music in the sense that it’s focus is on song-craft and the unfolding of the lyrical vision of a single individual, but if so then it’s definitely at the sophisticated end of the scale (’progressive’ if that term isn’t too loaded…), filed alongside ‘Bryter Layter’, ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’, ‘Pretzel Logic’ or ‘Surf’s Up’...another FRIZZ RECORDS instant classic!
"Modern Mediaeval" can be downloaded from the iTunes Store
The album is also available on heavyweight vinyl LP, or on Digipack CD from www.FrizzRecords.com & all good retailers
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our first official LP release...
"It's Not The Wand, It's The Magic" is the debut release from AUGUST, the London based band centred around the songwriting partnership between vocalist VEDINA MOSE and multi-instrumentalist / producer RAPHAEL MANN (MR HUDSON / JOY JOSEPH / ART TERRY), with master drummer CLEAN CUT MARK and clarinetist / vocalist MAREE CHOIE completing the core line-up, and a supporting cast including ART TERRY (keyboards), SHOHEI KAWAMOTO (AKA Japanese producer Baraki, Bass clarinet, soprano sax and flute), and KAI HOFFMAN (French horn)
Always an act that juggled a diverse set of influences, the album has been compared to artists as diverse as KATE BUSH, PRINCE, DE LA SOUL, SLY STONE, MADLIB, SERGE GAINSBOURG and THE DELFONICS, for its concoction of wild experimentation and traditional song craft, organic production and futuristic electronic touches, funk bass & drums and jazz & orchestral references, infectious melodies and lyrical flights of fancy...with nods towards classic soul, JB funk, Studio One, 60s pop, psychedelia, left field hip hop, new wave, doo wop, tropicalia, high life, & avant garde jazz, without any song ever fitting squarely into any of those categories...new music, basically...and an instant classic!
"It's Not The Wand, It's The Magic" can be downloaded now from the iTunes Store
The album is also available on heavyweight vinyl LP in a sumptuous gatefold sleeve, or on Digipack CD from www.FrizzRecords.com & all good retailers
your chickens are n00bs! They are broody and try and sit on their eggs even though they're not fertilised. Also they haven't had their wings clipped and they sit on the fence and roam around the garden from time to time haha.
