KÁRIN TATOYAN REACHES FOR A NEW SOUND
Kevin Bronson
Los Angeles Times
/2008/02/12/karin-tatoyan-reaches-for-a-new-sound/
Feb 13 2008
CA
Meet Karin Tatoyan. She’s the one who started her set Monday night at
Spaceland on her knees, not so much launching into song as breaking
into an incantation. Who jammed virtually breathlessly for the first
10 minutes, teetering between hysteria and rapture. Who commanded your
attention despite the fact the faces of her otherwise nattily attired
sidemen were streaked with glitter paint. Who had you believing,
straightaway.
Think of Tatoyan as a baroque Bjork. If her haunting vocals don’t
dazzle you, her odd music will – counterposing, as it does, weird
electronics, sound effects and loops with the very organic tones of a
French horn and cello. Seeing her is like watching an Escher come to
life. Almost-mathematical repetition gives way to chaos; melodies build
and build yet resist payoff, like stairways to nowhere. On Monday, she
started one number with an innocent comment that rang fairly large:
"I’m gonna make a new sound." (It referred to a noise she was trying
to loop.)
Her opening set for the Pity Party’s residency was only the 10th live
performance for Tatoyan, a 24-year-old of Syrian-Armenian descent who
studied experimental music at Mills College. It was as distinctive
(and almost improvisational) as anything you’ll see in an L.A. club.
She has only one DIY release, "The History of Stains" EP (which
sounds a bit restrained compared to the stage show), but there are
some labels snooping around. Stay tuned.
–Boundary_(ID_r06PKUn4sUCm661mXnquvA)–