Despite Mica Levi's best attempts to sound like a Pokémon, her musical background is anything but cartoonish. Having studied composition at both the Purcell School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as composing a piece performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, she's not exactly the next Katy Perry or La Roux. Obviously, that's a good thing. Her activities in hip-hop and grime circles has resulted in an unusual combination of influences that's developed into a reinvention of 'pop' for the 21st century.
With the saturation of female singer-songwriters in the last few years, Mica recruited Raisa Khan (keys) and Marc Pell (drums) to form [
Micachu & The Shapes]. Mica remains the creative driving force behind this project but by bringing in a band, she's wisely moving away from associations involving messrs Nash, Allen, Tunstall etc. Not that there's anything wrong with those artists but it's refreshing to see a more leftfield pop ideal emerging.
Post-modern experimental electro pop is one way to describe Mica's music. I guess that's a bit pretentious though. It's minimalist. It's glitchy. It's captivating. 'Jewellery', the debut Micachu & The Shapes album comes out tomorrow (9th March) and my [
Twitter] mates, Carl (from Illegal Tender) and Jamila (Fucking Dance) both gave it a massive thumbs up. Critical adoration is all well and good but will it make a dent in the pop charts?
Buy 'Jewellery' from [
Rough Trade] to get a bonus Micachu mix cd.
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Had my first Blogger takedown/DMCA notification for my Feb 2nd Futuresounds post. I've had some horrendous luck lately (debit card cancelled, phone in washing machine, coat stolen) but this was unexpected. Considering the post only contained radio session mp3s and complimentary remarks, I was surprised to say the least. Heavy-handed and unnecessary. I've been a big fan of Blogger but maybe it's time to move over to Wordpress.
We're a collaborative British music, film and TV blog. "Trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop."
