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Artist Feature
Bela Karoli
Bela Karoli is an unorthodox chamber pop quartet from Denver, CO that “sets an imaginatively dark soundscape” (NPR). Combining upright bass, mechanical electronic percussion, two women singing, violin, accordion and keyboards, the band produces music that is undefined by genre. Bela Karoli swelled from a solo project to a quartet when Julie Davis (bass, soft instruments, vocals) began playing with Brigid McAuliffe (accordion, vocals), Carrie Beeder (violin and cello) and James Han (keyboard). Bela Karoli’s music has been described as nakedly beautiful, gorgeously affected, stunning and emotionally resonant, but most listeners agree that it’s hard to classify the band’s compelling mix of modern electronica with old-world acoustic music.
NPR’s All Songs Considered describes “Furnished Rooms,” Bela Karoli’s 2007 release, as “filled with beautifully structured dynamics and captivating sonic twists” as it “explores the connection between the organic and the machine.” Prelude 2, a song based on an excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s poem “Preludes,” “paints ominous images of being born in a modern, mechanical world” (NPR).
The Denver Post describes the album as “a marvel of sequencing and production—to say nothing of the songs’ quality—and already a contender for the best Colorado release of 2007,” and the Westword magazine describes “Furnished Rooms” as a “startlingly good” album that “effectively conjures Thom Yorke’s dour, Eraser-era landscapes as seen through the lens of Beth Gibbons.”
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- Count Basie Orchestra
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