Nadja (band)
Encyclopedia
Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker
(guitars/vocals/piano/woodwinds/drums) and Leah Buckareff (bass/vocals). Nadja began in 2003 as a solo project for Baker to explore the heavier/noisier side of his experimental
/ambient music
performed mainly on the electric guitar. In 2005 Buckareff joined in order to make the project more than just a studio endeavour and to allow Nadja to perform live.
The duo combines soundscape
, electronics and atmospheric vocals with slow, epic riffs and dirge
-like percussion, creating a slowly moving grand wall of music that has been described as drone
, ambient-doom, and shoegazer-metal. Aidan noted that they prefer to call their style of music "ambient metal" or "ambient doom", though he's fond of the term "dreamsludge" as well.
After several limited edition CD-R releases on various small labels worldwide, Nadja released its first official album Truth Becomes Death on Montreal's Alien8 Recordings
in 2005. The duo has since released material on wider distributed labels and went through re-releasing older recordings either remastered or completely re-arranged, such as the newer Touched 2007 version back on Alien8
or the Bodycage album on Profound Lore Records
/LP version on Equation.
They have performed in Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, sharing the stage with, among others, artists as Kayo Dot
, Knurl
, Khanate
, Francisco Lopez
, Isis
and Mare
. They successfully toured Europe in Spring 2007 and are currently touring through Europe in Spring/Summer 2010.
The band's name comes from Aidan's name spelled backwards in order to match the concept of a musical style different from his own work. The J replacing the I, is according to Aidan a "reference the Nadja character from Breton
's book and Elina Löwensohn
's character from the vampire movie
."
Aidan Baker
Aidan Baker is a musician from Toronto, Canada who has released numerous records both as a solo artist and with his groups Nadja, ARC, and Mnemosyne. He has also written several books of poetry....
(guitars/vocals/piano/woodwinds/drums) and Leah Buckareff (bass/vocals). Nadja began in 2003 as a solo project for Baker to explore the heavier/noisier side of his experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
/ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
performed mainly on the electric guitar. In 2005 Buckareff joined in order to make the project more than just a studio endeavour and to allow Nadja to perform live.
The duo combines soundscape
Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
, electronics and atmospheric vocals with slow, epic riffs and dirge
Dirge
A dirge is a somber song expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. A lament. The English word "dirge" is derived from the Latin Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam , the first words of the first antiphon in the Matins of the Office...
-like percussion, creating a slowly moving grand wall of music that has been described as drone
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
, ambient-doom, and shoegazer-metal. Aidan noted that they prefer to call their style of music "ambient metal" or "ambient doom", though he's fond of the term "dreamsludge" as well.
After several limited edition CD-R releases on various small labels worldwide, Nadja released its first official album Truth Becomes Death on Montreal's Alien8 Recordings
Alien8 Recordings
Alien8 Recordings is an independent record label founded in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded by Sean O'Hara and Gary Worsley...
in 2005. The duo has since released material on wider distributed labels and went through re-releasing older recordings either remastered or completely re-arranged, such as the newer Touched 2007 version back on Alien8
Alien8 Recordings
Alien8 Recordings is an independent record label founded in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded by Sean O'Hara and Gary Worsley...
or the Bodycage album on Profound Lore Records
Profound Lore Records
Profound Lore Records is an independent record label founded in May 2004, which "began as the 'hobby-like venture' of a few friends, but over the past six years the label has evolved into a one-man enterprise, shaped a distinct 'aesthetic identity,' and provided owner Chris Bruni with a full-time...
/LP version on Equation.
They have performed in Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, sharing the stage with, among others, artists as Kayo Dot
Kayo Dot
Kayo Dot is an American avant-rock/experimental music group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik Records label that year. Tzadik's descriptive label on that album reads: "Kayo Dot powerfully integrates elements of modern...
, Knurl
Knurl (band)
Knurl is the noise music project of Alan Bloor, Canadian experimental composer and sculptor. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Bloor has been performing and recording Knurl material since 1994, when his seminal harsh noise releases "Nervescrap" and "Initial Shock" were recorded and released...
, Khanate
Khanate (band)
Khanate was a drone metal supergroup that brought together James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, two members of the defunct band OLD, as well as Tim Wyskida and Stephen O'Malley )) fame)....
, Francisco Lopez
Francisco López
Francisco López or Francisco Lopez may refer to:*Francisco López 16th century, Spanish Renaissance painter*Francisco López , Spanish Renaissance painter*Francisco López Contreras , Guatemalan footballer...
, Isis
Isis (band)
Isis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
and Mare
Mare (band)
Mare were a Canadian band from Toronto who fused sludge metal with more experimental traits such as jazz, unusual time signatures and Gregorian Chant. Mare consisted of Tyler Semrick-Palmateer on vocals and guitar, Rob Shortil on bass, and Caleb Collins on drums. The first release of a demo was...
. They successfully toured Europe in Spring 2007 and are currently touring through Europe in Spring/Summer 2010.
The band's name comes from Aidan's name spelled backwards in order to match the concept of a musical style different from his own work. The J replacing the I, is according to Aidan a "reference the Nadja character from Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
's book and Elina Löwensohn
Elina Löwensohn
Elina Löwensohn is a Romanian-born American actress.-Biography:Löwensohn was born in Bucharest, Romania. After the death of her father, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, her mother emigrated to the United States with her, where her mother went on a hunger strike in order to get a visa for...
's character from the vampire movie
Nadja (film)
Nadja is a 1994 film by Michael Almereyda starring Elina Löwensohn as the creature Nadja and Peter Fonda as Van Helsing. As the character's names suggest, Nadja is a vampire film, but treating elements of the genre in an understated arthouse style....
."
Full-length
- Touched (2003), CD-R: Deserted Factory Records
- Skin Turns to GlassSkin Turns to GlassSkin Turns to Glass is the second full-length album by drone doom band Nadja, it was released on October 27, 2003 by NOTHingness Records which was limited to 120 copies...
(2003), CD-R: NOTHingness REcords - CorrasionCorrasion (album)Corrasion is third studio album released by the Canadian drone doom band Nadja. Originally released in 2003 and limited to 200 copies, the album was rerecorded and re-released with three bonus tracks on August 13, 2007.-Track listing:# Base Fluid - 11:45...
CD-R: (2003), Foreshadow Productions - Bodycage (2005), CD-R: NOTHingness REcords, (2006), CD: NOTHingness REcords, (2008), 2LP: Equation Records
- Bliss Torn from EmptinessBliss Torn from EmptinessBliss Torn from Emptiness is the fifth full length album by drone doom band Nadja, first released on June 15, 2005 by Fargone Records. This album consists of one 48 minute instrumental track, also this edition of the album was limited to only 60 copies....
(2005), CD-R: Fargone Records - Truth Becomes Death (2005), CD: Alien8 RecordingsAlien8 RecordingsAlien8 Recordings is an independent record label founded in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded by Sean O'Hara and Gary Worsley...
, (2008) 2LP: Conspiracy Records - ThaumogenesisThaumogenesisThaumogenesis is the seventh full length album by drone doom band Nadja, it was released in January 2007 by aRCHIVE recordings. It consists of only one long instrumental track lasting over 60 minutes, and the album was limited to 600 copies....
(2007), CD: aRCHIVE Recordings LP + unitled CD: IMPORTANT RECORDS - Radiance of ShadowsRadiance of ShadowsRadiance of Shadows is the eighth full-length by Canadian drone doom band Nadja, released on October 8, 2007 by Alien8 Recordings.-Track listing:#"Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds" - 23:27#"I Have Tasted the Fire Inside Your Mouth" - 27:26...
(2007), CD: Alien8 RecordingsAlien8 RecordingsAlien8 Recordings is an independent record label founded in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded by Sean O'Hara and Gary Worsley...
, (2008) 2LP: Conspiracy Records - Desire in Uneasiness (2008), CD: Crucial Blast Records
- The Bungled & the BotchedThe Bungled & the BotchedThe Bungled & the Botched is the tenth full-length studio album by drone doom band Nadja, released in July 2008 on ConSouling Sounds and limited to 500 copies....
(2008), CD: Consouling Sounds, (2009) LP: Black Recording Club - Belles Bêtes (2009), CD/LP: Beta-lactam Ring Records
- When I See the Sun Always Shines on T.V. [Cover album] (2009), CD: The End Records
- Under the Jaguar Sun (2009), 2CD/2LP: Beta-lactam Ring Records
- Autopergamene (2010), CD: Essence Music
EPs
- I Have Tasted the Fire Inside Your Mouth (2004), CD-R: Deserted Factory Records
- Base Fluid (2007), Digital: Foreshadow Productions
- Guilted by the Sun (2007), CDEP & LP: Roadburn Records
- Long Dark Twenties (2008), LP Single: Anthem Records
- Trinity (2008), CD: Die Stadt
- Trinitarian (2008), LP: Important Records
- Clinging to the Edge of the Sky (2009), LP: Adagio830/ Vendetta a.k.a. xmesserx03
- Ruins of Morning (2010), 10" : Substantia Innominata
- Sky Burial (2010), CD/LP: Latitudes/ Southern Records
Splits and collaborations
- Split with MossMoss (band)Moss is a three-piece English doom metal band that formed in 2000. Influenced by H. P. Lovecraft and the occult, songs usually average the 20 minute mark and incorporate dense and otherworldly atmospheres...
(2003), CD-R: Foreshadow - Absorption with Methadrone (2005), CD-R, NOTHingness REcords
- We Have Departed the Circle Blissfully with Fear Falls Burning (2006), LP: Conspiracy Records
- 12012291920/1414101 with Atavist (2007), CD: Invada Records/ LP Kreation Records
- S/T Nadja with Fear Falls Burning (2007), CD: Conspiracy Records
- Live collaboration with Datashock (2007), Meudiademorte / Hlava Temple
- magma to ice Nadja/ Netherworld (2008), CD: Fario
- Untitled release with Year of No LightYear of No LightHailing from Bordeaux, Year Of No Light is a French band formed in 2001. With their first album, Nord, "Year Of No Light have proven adept a shifting seamlessly between genres, balancing post-rock, sludge, somber psychedelics and crushing dark and depressing atmospheric shoegaze".In 2010, now...
, Fear Falls Burning and Machu Picchu Mother Future(2008) LP: MusicFearSatan - Christ Send Light with Black Boned AngelBlack Boned AngelBlack Boned Angel is a Wellington-based drone metal project of New Zealand experimental musicians Campbell Kneale and James Kirk . Originally a duo with Kirk, recently Black Boned Angel has expanded to include Jules Desmond...
(2008), CD/LP: Battlecruiser / Sound Devastation - II: Points at Infinity with Atavist (2008), CD: Profound Lore
- Infernal Procession...And Then Everything Dies split with Atavist and Satori (2008), CD: Cold Spring
- tümpisa" nadja / 5/5/2000 -(2009), CD + LP accident prone records
- Primitive North with A Storm of LightA Storm of LightA Storm of Light is a band from Brooklyn,which is sometimes referred to as post-metal. Critic Leech has described them as "Doom Metal/Post-Rock".- History :...
(2009), Split CD/LP: Robotic Empire - S/T nadja / Black Boned Angel (2009), CD/LP 20 Buck Spin
- Pyramids with NadjaPyramids with NadjaPyramids with Nadja is a collaborative album by the bands Pyramids and Nadja.-Track listing:# "Into the Silent Waves"# "Another War"# "Sound of Ice and Grass"# "An Angel Was Heard to Cry Over the City of Rome"-Other:...
with PyramidsPyramids (band)Pyramids is an experimental rock band from Denton, Texas. They are currently signed to Hydra Head Records. They have two albums, Pyramids and Pyramids with Nadja.- Albums :- External links :* *...
(2009), CD: Hydra Head Records - Nadja/ Kodiak (2009), CD/ LP Denovali Records
- The Life and Death of a Wasp NADJA & OVO (2010), CD/ LP Broken Spine Records/ Adagio 830 & Vendetta Records
- Dominium Visurgis Nadja & Troum (2010), CD Transgredient Records
Rerecordings
- Touched (2007), CD: Alien8 RecordingsAlien8 RecordingsAlien8 Recordings is an independent record label founded in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The music label was founded by Sean O'Hara and Gary Worsley...
, (2008) LP: Conspiracy Records - CorrasionCorrasion (album)Corrasion is third studio album released by the Canadian drone doom band Nadja. Originally released in 2003 and limited to 200 copies, the album was rerecorded and re-released with three bonus tracks on August 13, 2007.-Track listing:# Base Fluid - 11:45...
(2007), CD: Foreshadow Productions, (2009) LP: Basses Frequences - Bliss Torn from EmptinessBliss Torn from EmptinessBliss Torn from Emptiness is the fifth full length album by drone doom band Nadja, first released on June 15, 2005 by Fargone Records. This album consists of one 48 minute instrumental track, also this edition of the album was limited to only 60 copies....
(2008), CD: Profound Lore Records - Skin Turns to GlassSkin Turns to GlassSkin Turns to Glass is the second full-length album by drone doom band Nadja, it was released on October 27, 2003 by NOTHingness Records which was limited to 120 copies...
(2008), CD: The End Records
Live albums
- Trembled (2006, rereleased 2008), CD: Utech Records
- Thaumoradiance (2007), CD: aRCHIVE Recordings
Line-up
- Aidan BakerAidan BakerAidan Baker is a musician from Toronto, Canada who has released numerous records both as a solo artist and with his groups Nadja, ARC, and Mnemosyne. He has also written several books of poetry....
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, woodwinds, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(2003–present) - Leah Buckareff – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
(2005–present)
External links
- Official homepage
- Concert photos (2009-06-01) by Laurent Orseau