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  • From: Larry-bob <larrybob AT io.com>
  • To: typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [TypicalGirls] Autonervous Album Out June 6, 2006 (fwd)
  • Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 10:37:36 -0500 (CDT)

Here's a press release on Autonervous, the project of
Bettina Koster (Malaria!) and Jessie Evans (The Vanishing / Subtonix)

---

Autonervous: Bettina Koster and Jessie Evans
Album out June 6, 2006 on Cochon Records.
Distributed in the USA by Revolver/ Midheaven Mailorder

"Possibly the best concert of the year"
-Paris

"Street theatre and grand opera at the same time" Richard Fantina, The
Village Eye, NYC

"Symbiotic and erotic"
-Ressurection, Amsterdam

"With Bettina Koster and Jessie Evans two outstanding personalities have been
looking for and finding each other... Both singers and saxophone players, they
compliment eachother like Ying and Yang. During the whole set every sound, every move
was perfect. Where Jessie seems vulnerable , Bettina is forceful, while Bettina pulls
her hair, Jessie pulls the seam of her dress, natural and unchoreographed. Musically on
the highest level of no-no-no dance, they spawn their own cult, and I assume that also
in the future they will move on the other side of packaged taste."
- Oliver S, Dorfdisco, Berlin

Bettina Koster, singer/sax player from Malaria! and Jessie Evans, singer/sax
player from The Vanishing, met when Jessie moved to Berlin in September 2005.
They were introduced by a mutual friend and both were struck with awe at the
similarities of each other's music... Although from different generations
and cities it seemed that there was no gap in between the 80s Berlin
underground that Bettina had reigned over and San Francisco that Jessie had
recently left, that musically one began where the other left off. The two hit
if off so well that Jessie convinced Bettina to pick up sax again and come
on tour with her, which led to them spending the fall recording... .

The album 'Autonervous' was recorded at Fraulelein Studio in Berlin, mixed
and mastered by Ingo Krauss at Lost in Space Berlin. Musically it is very
unique and cannot be easily categorized, with influences ranging from pop,
new wave, rocksteady, krautrock, latin, disco, deathrock, film and free
jazz.. Both women sing and play saxophone and have created the sound
organically, so even though it is electronic its much more natural; the
atmosphere is loose yet gripping, inviting visitors to come closer - like
they want to catch you in their web but once they do they will shower you
with kisses and if your lucky throw you on the floor. Bettina has a very low
and sultry voice, Jessie's voice is a snake who cries out and laughs in
between wrapping around the solid yet off tempo timing of Bettina's.
If it is too easy to say that the lyrics are mostly about love, getting together, and lust in
general, to touch, to reach out of our cages, that what we have been induced into or reduced to
isn't necessary... then listen: "We can break these chains, we can skin this cat"
"You don't have to wait to come outside, we know you'll feel better in the light."
Live, from stoic to 'a wild shimmying extrarvaganza , a deranged caberet
experience' they will always dare the audience to break out of their
perceptions, to see something they may be afraid to see.
In 'Still Kaltes' Bettina rewrites Jessie's song 'Still Lifes' from Vanishing, in the dark
dance track 'Anchors Aweigh' Bettina sings "I was the object of so many desires, but now Im
stranded on this beach" to which Jessie replies "You're not a mute and you know how to
move it!"
As the two are so different the interaction on stage is sometimes like the
old comedy duos of film noir, as playful as it can be serious. The music is
also very theatrical, taking the listener deep into surreal and unexpected
places with each track. 'Sax New Age' is an industrial jungle that exudes
sensuality, 'Hello Lovers' playground pop which might as well have been sung
by the children in Fritz langs M, 'Gold', a remake of the Amanda Lear hit
from the 70s.. 'Prescription', a dark and dizzying film piece, 'Easter
Bunny' a brazilian techno acid trip. 'Why Shiver', a slow ride into the
wild, saxophones like birds screetching mysterious invitations for thrills
to come..

In the past few months Autonervous have played concerts as diverse as the
Drop Dead Festival in New York to Moment Theatre in Stockholm , to the V and
W Design Matrix at the Marta Herford Museum in Germany.

Out on cochon records coch025 on June 6, 2006, a track will also be on the
upcoming Chicks on Speed compilation 'Girl Monster' which 60+ tracks of
women in music .

They are currently living in Berlin and planning record release parties this
summer in Rome, Paris, Miami, Puerto Rico, Madrid, San Francisco, Los
Angeles, etc.. as well as many more to come.


A BRIEF HISTORY...

BETTINA KOSTER

Bettina Koster, born in West Germany moved as a child to Berlin where huge
mounts of coal were strategically placed all over to be prepared for another
soviet blockade of the walled-in city. In 1979 Koster and fellow visual
communications student and punk musician Gudrun Gut opened the hip new wave
store Eisengrau. There they joined all girl band Mania d. The band performed
at the tier 3 in New York.. John Peel named the group his Queens of Noise and
track 4 was single of the year on his radio show. In 1981 Koster and Gut
founded all girl band Malaria, which went on to have a not huge, but very
cult following, They played with Nina Hagen at Studio 54, John Cale at the
Mudd Club, with Souixie and the Banshees, New Order, and with The Birthday
Party. They played at Danceteria in NYC, Les Bains Douches, and the Bat
Cave in London. Malaria has become a definite influence for younger girl
bands as seen with the Chicks on Speed version of Malaria's 1981 hit Kaltes
Klares Wasser .. In 1984 , Koster, sick of the music industry and not wanting to
taint her true love of music moved to NYC where she remained for over a decade.. In
1998 she composed the music and co-wrote the script for the film Peppermills, which
won the teddy award at the Berlinale Film Festival.. She also co-produced a
documentary about the military regime in Burma, "Burma: Anatomy of Terror"
directed by Isabel Hegner, narrarated by Susan Sarandon. After September 2001 she
returned to Berlina..Koster is also currently writing a book for German publishing
house Rowohlt about the Burmese opium queen, Olive Yang.

JESSIE EVANS

Jessie Evans was born in a small town in northern California, the oldest of
9 children.. By the age of 4 she had outrgrown her training violin and began
her education through the rest of the instruments in school band.. At 15 she
dropped out of high school, played bass and saxophone in San Francisco
underground bands Subtonix , Knives, Deep Throats, etc...However, she
quickly grew bored with standing with the bass as well as taking instructions
from divas , and thus started her group Vanishing in 2001. The band quickly
amassed a cult of loyal fans , gripped by the bands sultry goth dance rythms
and Jessie???s manic, unpredictable live presence. Between 2001-2004 she
worked with Manuel Gutierrez in helping to establish his label Cochon
Records. Together they did the compilation 'Nostalgia del Buio'- 40+ tracks
of artists from all over the world. The Vanishing toured the US and Europe
several times, released 3 albums and numerous singles and were voted by
Italian
magazine Zero as best new act of 2004,. They also received the Lifestyle
music award at the 2004 SF Weekly music awards and in September 2004 moved
to Berlin. Jessie has been compared to everyone from Josephine Baker, Iggy
Pop, Siouxie, and Pauline Black.

BETTINA KOSTER DISCOGRAPHY

Malaria 'Zensor' 12??? EP
Malaria 'New York Passage' 12" Cachalot, Eric Dufaure
Malaria 'How do you like my new dog???' Single Les Disques du Crepuscule
Malaria 'White Water'12???"Les Disques du Crepuscule
Malaria 'Emotion' LP/CD Les Disques du Crepuscule, Moabit, Jochen Huelder
Malaria 'Beat the Distance', Rebel Records, Dimitri Hegemann
Malaria 'Revisited', Roir, also out on Danceteria Rights lie with Malaria Life
John Peel Session BBC radio
Kid Jensen Session BBC radio
Malaria 'Cheerio'LP/CD Moabit
'Peppermills', directed by Isabel Hegner,
'Burma: Anatomy of Terror' , directed by Isabel Hegner
Berlin Insane 2, compilation 'Crime Don't Pay', Pale Music

JESSIE EVANS DISCOGRAPHY

Subtonix 'Trophy 7" 2001 No Love
Subtonix-'rich boys' 7" ???2002 Vida Loca
Subtonix/Glass Candy -split 7"-2002 Troubleman Unlimited
Subtonix-Tarantism lp/cd-2002 Troubleman unlimited
Troubleman Mix tape 2001 Troublemanunlimited
Troubleman Sampler 2003
Knives-Cassette Ep2002
The Vanishing 'In the Bat Haus'-Ep/cd 2002 Cochon Records
The Vanishing/Lost Sounds ???split 7???- 2003 Cochon records
Skyscraper Magazine Compilation 2003 GSL/Skyscraper
The Vanishing ???Songs for Psychotic Children??? Lp/cd 2003 Gold Standard
Labs 2003
Naked Kiss of Death Split 7" Release the Bats 2004
The Vanishing/The Phantom Limbs split 7"-2003 Hungry Eye
The Vanishing/Sixteens split 12"/cd 2003 Gold Standard Labs
The Vanishing/Von Iva split 12" Princehouse Records 2004
Nostalgia del Buio- Cochon Records 2004
Witches Of The West- 2004, This Starcraft
Vanishing-Still Lifes are Failing LP/CD 2005 Gold Standard Labs and
Fatal-Recordings
Autonervous/Zonetech split cassette EP
Autonervous-Fetalities12" EP, 2004 Duchess Archive
Berlin Insane 11 Compilation (rmx of ???Lovesick???) ???2005 Pale Music
Glass Candy- 5 song EP, spring 2004
Glass Candy-Life After Sundown, 12 Single/EP 2005 Troublemanunlimited
Hanin Elias -Future Noir , Remix of ???Idle Eyes???, 2005 Invisible recordings

TOUR DATES

June 8 Kaskelot, Stockholm
June 25 Le Club, Paris
Sep 1-3 Drop Dead Festival, NYC
Sep 7 Bottom of The Hill, San Francisco
Sep 8 Red Light, Los Angeles
Sep 16 Puerto Rico

CONTACT:
www.autonervous.com
www.myspace.com/autonervous
www.cochonrecords.com
fetalities AT yahoo.com


  • [TypicalGirls] Autonervous Album Out June 6, 2006 (fwd), Larry-bob, 05/25/2006

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