Wendy Reiboldt

A blend of myth and memoir, First There Were Feathers is an exciting album in which Wendy McNeill’s folk noir roots and passion for storytelling have grown to include elements of Jazz and World music as well as echoes of Beatles, early Bjork and Radiohead.

Having lent their esoteric funk-folk stylings to Prince & The Revolution during the late legend’s purple reign of the early-80s, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman left the band to pursue their own maverick musical path in 1986. Fan-favourite Eroica, their third and final album for Virgin Records, saw the duo hit a new creative peak – drawing on influences ranging from Sly Stone to Joni Mitchell to create a vibrant psychedelic-funk- folk sound that was uniquely their own.

In the late 80's, a group of friends who usually joined in an Amersfoort (the Netherlands) Pub to talk about music while taking some drinks shouted one day they wanted to form a band. After seven years Bert Heinen (one of the pub guys) had gathered enough material to release an album and he started to send some demos to different magazines and after a good response from Background Magazine and his lead to a contract with LaBraD'or records in 1997.
In 1998 with Bert in the Guitars, Keyboard and vocals plus Marien in drums and additional keyboards, Like Wendy releases "The Storm Inside" with a very melodic approach to Marillion, Pendragon, Pallas and IQ. The albums consisting of the demo tracks plus two new songs, was quite simple but pretty effective and received favorable comments of the critics…

Wendy Carlos released this on the Telarc label in 1992 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of her classic recording, Switched-On Bach. That recording, remarkably futuristic in 1967, is still a major milestone in the history of e-music. (It is also, alas, long since unavailable.) Carlos' mastery of the synthesizer in the '60s and her transcriptions of classical music were extremely instrumental in moving electronic music from its strict avant-garde classification to an acceptable and accessible form of musical expression. These are beautiful recordings, too. Given the composing and the performing talent, it is difficult to imagine anything else. This CD comes with a 28-page booklet full of wonderful technical, historical, and biographical data. It all comes back, however, to the music. This performance is damn near perfect. Carlos' meticulous attention to detail and her production skills serve this project well.

This CD is a hodgepodge of various tunes from Bach to Beatles supposedly requested by listeners after "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer" was released. The result may only only be mildly interesting to the occasional listener, but to followers of electronic music, it's like rediscovering a lost gem.

On this pioneering album the full resources of a Symphony Orchestra are emulated with the uniquely powerful GDS and Synergy Digital Synthesizers. Predating samplers, and in many ways still superior to that now omnipresent technology, these instruments combined additive and complex FM/PM modulation, with great flexibility. Carlos developed a surprisingly realistic library of most existing acoustic instruments plus many novel hybrids and extrapolated timbres that also sound "real." The two orchestral suites on this album comprise the debut performance and introduction of the aptly named LSI Philharmonic.

Improviser, composer and songwriter Wendy Eisenberg is a graduate of New England Conservatory and a founding member of the acclaimed band Birthing Hips. For her first Tzadik CD she is joined by the dynamic rhythm section of Trevor Dunn on bass and Ches Smith on drums and performs some of the nastiest guitar you’ve ever heard. The improvisations are powerful and intense and all styles and sounds are thrown into a cathartic blender as the trio channel an exciting new musical world. An outrageous project from these fabulous young lions!