Column: Gordon Raphael #5, Feb 2002
By: Gordon Raphael
Hey again - I'm back in London, for my third visit over in the UK, to hang out with The Strokes, and hustle new work recording worthy UK and European talent.
Back home in New York, though, I have been operating out of another Lower East Side basement-studio called Melody Lanes. I have worked with nine New York bands so far in 2002, much like a factory cranking out three-song-demos for unsigned bands in the same fine tradition that brought us 'The Modern Age EP' by you-know-who! There have been a few bands - Ritual Licks, Soundtrack, Unisex Salon, Anthony Ellis, and Mantik - that I'd like you to be aware of; their demos rocked very well, and I wouldn't be surprised if good things happened for them.
By the way, I am very pleased to also announce that there will be some really cool articles coming out in the UK about... me! The one I'm very excited about is a feature in a magazine distributed at Virgin Megastores, which is available in early March; check it out..?
Anyway, today's column features a singer called Anna Mercedes, who I have worked closely with for almost six years. Her brother Ryan is a famous Seattle area producer/engineer, who has recorded The Afghan Whigs, Foo Fighters, Blonde Redhead, The Black Heart Procession and Queensryche. I met Ryan at The Crocodile Café in Seattle, while I was trying (in vain) to capture the attention of a certain band-manager who was sitting with him. I was in Sky Cries Mary back then, Seattle's premier tribal-space-rock band, playing synthesizers, samples and guitar. Ryan liked our band, and I liked the fact that he worked at Bear Creek Studios: a picturesque state of the art studio located on a horse farm, surrounded by giant pine trees, pastures and babbling brooks.
I had written and recorded a hot batch of freaky sonic tracks. These were very industrial sounding, with eerie grinding noises, lush warbly string sections and crunchy explosions, extracted from synthetic nightmares. I wished to spice up this turbulent blend with some crazy, out-of-control female vocals. These pieces were very 'basement-sounding', 16th note rhythms quantized into place from my DMX drum machine, layers of Arp Odyssey synthesizer, metallic drills and saws, and even over-amplified silverware drawers dropping onto the floor! Ryan heard this description, and suggested that I meet his little sister Anna, suggesting that she had the kind of creativity that would really be perfect for my terror-fried music. He assured me she could make 'unusual sounds' with her voice.
She was seventeen years old at the time, and the vision of me grueling over noisy machinery, while she stood onstage singing and posing, stomping her boots, seemed like just the ticket to get me in as much trouble as possible! So, of course, I did it.
I had Ryan give her my phone number in case she was interested in working with me, for I didn't want to appear too creepy by calling her directly. She did call, and told me to meet her at Café Paradiso. In a disturbingly seductive voice-tone, she added, 'I'll be wearing a red dress.'
I brought cassette tapes of my latest wrecked songs, and she brought a photo/poetry journal she was working on. I was concerned that the dark nature of my music and the slightly sick song-titles might be a bit much for Anna; I didn't want to frighten her, or have her think I was too weird. But, her photos of unfortunate friends taking injections in rehab-centres, or semi-nude with tic-tac-toe boards scrawled on their stomachs with lipstick... 'Hmmm,' I thought to myself. 'Maybe we are on the same wavelength!' Her poetry itself contained power, despair and urgency far beyond her years, most certainly.
I heard some recordings she had made with her father Joe playing Hammond organ, and was instantly struck by the stellar quality of her voice. It started out so frail and broken, then blasted into this gigantic wide tone that I don't hear very often at all. Sometimes she sounded like a classic jazz legend, such as Ella Fitzgerald, and then she'd reach out for these exotic melodies and huge jumps, creating emotional impact all the while. I told her then and there that she should wait for a real big rock band to come her way - and remember, Seattle was a headquarters for rock bands and record contracts in those years! I already knew that her voice would be unstoppable and very popular once it got presented in the right context. She smiled and asked to hear my home-demos, replete with blurping and beeping sounds, Mellotrons and distorted reverbs. 'Ahhh,' she exclaimed. 'Skinny Puppy and Legendary Pink Dots style - very good, I like it!'
Ten days later, she had composed lyrics and melodies for six of these songs. Each time I recorded her singing over these dark dirges, I would literally laugh out loud because of how great she sounded, and how she took these scratchy backing tracks into such new and high territory. Anna's contributions transformed the pieces, and put them in a direction I never even considered. It was so different than I imagined, but way better.
Anna was going to the Cornish School of the Arts when we met, creating oil paintings, photographs and poetry. We formed Absinthee as our band, and recorded about thirty songs together - many at Bear Creek Studios in Seattle, and later at the Transporterraum in NYC, as she and her family originally helped me build it. Eventually, Anna and I moved to New York together in 1998 to kick some musical ass there, and get some fresh ideas. We played small shows in Manhattan, had about six band line-ups, and had three songs actually go out into the public ear. 'A Million Days' went on a Seattle compilation called 'Genre-Fest' (Ivy Records), '100 Crymes' want out on Cleopatra Record's Black Bible, and there is a Cocteau Twins cover 'Shallow Then Halo', also out on Cleopatra Records.
Miss Mercedes now has a new uber-hot band, with three other lovely ladies, which really rocks. The music is a step beyond Absinthee, and I am quite sure that this vehicle will take her very far indeed. Happily, I have produced demos for her new project and an EP will be emerging soon.
I always enjoy recording Anna's voice because she never fails to put on quite a show while she's singing, and the sounds escaping from her being are usually like driving too fast in a fine car, when the lines on the road start to get blurry: lots of huge peaks, and many sudden turns - with the tires almost skidding off the surface... The girl likes to let out these little yells which combine sexy, little tart, horror-movie starlet and massive rock 'n' roll - simultaneously.
In Absinthee, she would often sing as high and as low as her wide vocal-range would allow - the thrill being in the danger of falling off of the note, into an abyss of chaos. Now, in her new band, she's singing in a more comfortable, hardcore tone, almost like a female Iggy Pop or Jim Morrison. This new style allows the audience to relax a little more, though the voice still possesses the exciting escape velocity to cut through even the loudest of guitars and most brutal drum mixtures.
Well, then; that's it until next time! I'm going to try and stick around England and Europe for a while now, recording bands and championing my favourite artists and their music. Might catch The Strokes several times along the way - and we may even receive a Brit Award or two soon.
As usual, thanks for reading.