THURSDAY JAN 09, 2020
The Van Allen Belt
The Van Allen Belt is the pop concept of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Benjamin Ferris. The project enlivens a style of patchwork storytelling in an experimental electronic environment as fronted by vocalist Tamar Kamin, and engineered by sound designer Scott Taylor. Recordings involve many other musicians, notably including bass guitarist Tom Altes who toured with the project from 2007-2013.
The project started in 2007 with a 20-song debut “Meal Ticket to Purgatory.” This home-recorded, lo-fi album includes vocalists Tamar Kamin & former member Martine Mancini. Steeped in a twisted, awkwardly wry lyrical nostalgia for 1960's girl group pop a la Burt Bacharach/Phil Spector, the album received strong critical and underground approval. An invitation to play with Stereolab and Atlas Sound catalyzed the members to create a live band capable of pulling off a heady concept.
In 2009, the sophomore album “Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug” was an evolution further into the sphere of pop social commentary, grabbing the complementary attention of Julian Cope at Head Heritage. In support of this record the members embarked on a visual vessel that would cut a new jib to their productivity in media. Two self-produced music videos were released for the songs “Lovely In Akron” and “Out To Lunch” in 2010.
Visual accompaniment would become a permanent addition to the live show as Scott Taylor became the group’s sound designer and engineer. Once they had refined a live concept, they began touring more frequently and between national performances the group continued with home recordings. Fluctuating between psychedelic arias, grandiose cinematic scores, off-kilter jazz and swirling breakbeats, the “Songs” EP (2013) received international reviews from The Wire Magazine. Opportunity surfaced for another full-fledged video production in The Knox Building - at the time, a vacant commercial space in Youngstown, OH - now a thriving hub of activity in the area. This music video for the title track “Songs” premiered on the Decoder Magazine blog.
The 3rd LP "Heaven On A Branch" (2014) is a continuation of patchwork production, using manipulated turntable channels that are chopped up and reconstructed to conform to chord structures of instrumentation. Vocals work as another unique instrument in themselves with a soulful delivery. The quirky bubble-gum pop single “One On The Board” is calculated psychedelic ride with an array of switches in production style. The third video from the album “Afternoon Walk Of Shame” premiered at The Manor Theater in Pittsburgh - December 2016.
The group continue to work on multiple new albums, with an upcoming European tour planned for the fall of 2017 in support of the "Songs" 7" vinyl being distributed in this territory through Wild Kindness Records.
The Van Allen Belt is the pop concept of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Benjamin Ferris. The project enlivens a style of patchwork storytelling in an experimental electronic environment as fronted by vocalist Tamar Kamin, and engineered by sound designer Scott Taylor. Recordings involve many other musicians, notably including bass guitarist Tom Altes who toured with the project from 2007-2013.
The project started in 2007 with a 20-song debut “Meal Ticket to Purgatory.” This home-recorded, lo-fi album includes vocalists Tamar Kamin & former member Martine Mancini. Steeped in a twisted, awkwardly wry lyrical nostalgia for 1960's girl group pop a la Burt Bacharach/Phil Spector, the album received strong critical and underground approval. An invitation to play with Stereolab and Atlas Sound catalyzed the members to create a live band capable of pulling off a heady concept.
In 2009, the sophomore album “Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug” was an evolution further into the sphere of pop social commentary, grabbing the complementary attention of Julian Cope at Head Heritage. In support of this record the members embarked on a visual vessel that would cut a new jib to their productivity in media. Two self-produced music videos were released for the songs “Lovely In Akron” and “Out To Lunch” in 2010.
Visual accompaniment would become a permanent addition to the live show as Scott Taylor became the group’s sound designer and engineer. Once they had refined a live concept, they began touring more frequently and between national performances the group continued with home recordings. Fluctuating between psychedelic arias, grandiose cinematic scores, off-kilter jazz and swirling breakbeats, the “Songs” EP (2013) received international reviews from The Wire Magazine. Opportunity surfaced for another full-fledged video production in The Knox Building - at the time, a vacant commercial space in Youngstown, OH - now a thriving hub of activity in the area. This music video for the title track “Songs” premiered on the Decoder Magazine blog.
The 3rd LP "Heaven On A Branch" (2014) is a continuation of patchwork production, using manipulated turntable channels that are chopped up and reconstructed to conform to chord structures of instrumentation. Vocals work as another unique instrument in themselves with a soulful delivery. The quirky bubble-gum pop single “One On The Board” is calculated psychedelic ride with an array of switches in production style. The third video from the album “Afternoon Walk Of Shame” premiered at The Manor Theater in Pittsburgh - December 2016.
The group continue to work on multiple new albums, with an upcoming European tour planned for the fall of 2017 in support of the "Songs" 7" vinyl being distributed in this territory through Wild Kindness Records.
Sister Sai
"There’s an amorphous spiritual quality driving Sister Sai’s latest offering, Extempore. From song titles such as “Devotional” and “Glossolalia” to “Wanderer” and “Incarnate,” the album taps into a deeply mystical musical trajectory that reveals itself through the sounds she makes, and the seamless motion of each song drifting into the next. The album is comprised mostly of a one-take, largely unedited session of mind-melting cello loops that, with each listen, reveals layers of depth at work within cellist Saira Raza’s natural musical instincts. Embracing her unorthodox sense of repetition is key to zeroing in on the zoned-out head space that each of these songs occupy. “Glossolalia” is the first immediately arresting number here. Sounds bend and swoop as though they’re being pulled down a drain, moving deeper into her unseen, subconscious mind. The album requires a heady, meditative concentration, as Extempore is more an exercise in automatic writing than it is a collection of composed works. Musically, this is Raza’s equivalent of speaking in tongues. The results are a somewhat convoluted journey into minimalism. Song structures change with each passing listen as the recording moves forever forward, drifting at a dreamlike pace. This is a much different approach from the style on display throughout previous works such as 2016’s Inertia, and 2014’s First Flight EP. This is the unrestrained and unrefined product of what happens when her mind is left to wander — left with nothing more than her musical devices. As such, it’s an experimental album. It’s not the easiest point of entry into Raza’s work, but it’s certainly the most revealing of her musical reflexes, her instincts, and the insights she has to offer." -Creative Loafing Atlanta
"There’s an amorphous spiritual quality driving Sister Sai’s latest offering, Extempore. From song titles such as “Devotional” and “Glossolalia” to “Wanderer” and “Incarnate,” the album taps into a deeply mystical musical trajectory that reveals itself through the sounds she makes, and the seamless motion of each song drifting into the next. The album is comprised mostly of a one-take, largely unedited session of mind-melting cello loops that, with each listen, reveals layers of depth at work within cellist Saira Raza’s natural musical instincts. Embracing her unorthodox sense of repetition is key to zeroing in on the zoned-out head space that each of these songs occupy. “Glossolalia” is the first immediately arresting number here. Sounds bend and swoop as though they’re being pulled down a drain, moving deeper into her unseen, subconscious mind. The album requires a heady, meditative concentration, as Extempore is more an exercise in automatic writing than it is a collection of composed works. Musically, this is Raza’s equivalent of speaking in tongues. The results are a somewhat convoluted journey into minimalism. Song structures change with each passing listen as the recording moves forever forward, drifting at a dreamlike pace. This is a much different approach from the style on display throughout previous works such as 2016’s Inertia, and 2014’s First Flight EP. This is the unrestrained and unrefined product of what happens when her mind is left to wander — left with nothing more than her musical devices. As such, it’s an experimental album. It’s not the easiest point of entry into Raza’s work, but it’s certainly the most revealing of her musical reflexes, her instincts, and the insights she has to offer." -Creative Loafing Atlanta