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SXSW review: Alyssa Suede
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SXSW review: Alyssa Suede
By John T. Davis | Sunday, March 22, 2009, 02:34 PM
(9 p.m. Saturday, li...SXSW review: Alyssa Suede
By John T. Davis | Sunday, March 22, 2009, 02:34 PM
(9 p.m. Saturday, live.create.lounge)
Alyssa Suede is Beck’s sister.
OK, that’s out of the way. She is also a young singer-songwriter from Los Angeles who made her South By Southwest debut on Saturday night at the live.create.lounge, an art gallery on Neches Street that was pressed into service as an SXSW venue.
On the one hand, combining art and music is a great idea. On the other hand, the space was an abysmal acoustic space, tall and boxy with a metal ceiling. One might as well try to sing in a silo or an oil tank.
Oh, well. Suede was a gamer, performing an eight-song acoustic set accompanied by her father, David Campbell, on violin.
One thing that struck this listener was how fast the young 23-year-old is progressing musically. According to her bio, she only began her career two years ago. One of her earliest songs, “A Thousand Times,” was full of earnest and overdone imagery, the sort of thing many fledgling songwriters begin with.
But the song that followed, “Anybody Out There,” which she was performing for the first time, was more melodically sophisticated and more mature and fully realized lyrically. The two songs, she said after her set, were written only 15 months apart.
“Everywhere you go in Austin,” she said at one point, “people are making music in the street and … and … in elevators.” That was as charming a summation of SXSW as yours truly heard all week.
Suede’s set was drawn for the most part from her debut album, “Black and White In Color.” Singing in a jewel-like voice (some might say a Jewel-like voice, but that’s neither here nor there), she moved with assurance between the upbeat pop of “Ferris Wheel” to the floating, dreamy “Jack and Jill” to the somber, contemplative “Hollow.”
One hopes she will return soon, perhaps with a band, definitely to a more forgiving performance space. On the other hand, there are always those elevators …
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A hodgepodge of influences mix melodiously
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A hodgepodge of influences mix melodiously
Alyssa Suede, the lastest in a long line of family mus...A hodgepodge of influences mix melodiously
Alyssa Suede, the lastest in a long line of family musicians, strikes out on her own with the release
With brother Beck and a father who has written songs for blockbuster movies such as “Rent” and “Dreamgirls,” it’s no wonder why breakout artist Alyssa Suede has always had an affinity for music.
“I have been around [music] since I was born. I guess it was kind of normal for me,” Suede said. “My brother moved out to New York when he was 18, so I wasn’t surrounded by him too much. But I worked with my dad, and I listened to all ranges of music like classical Beethoven and Chopin, and my mom was into Broadway. I love music and it was awesome growing up with a musical family.”
What’s in her blood might have helped spark her current career path, but Suede’s early years consisted of a passion of another kind.
From age 5 to 14, Suede trained as a competitive figure skater, skating with the likes of Olympian Sasha Cohen.
“One of the reasons I picked skating is [because] I loved the performing aspect,” she said. “You get to communicate what you want and choose your style and no one gets to tell you what to do.”
After an accident that broke her tailbone, however, Suede realized six hours a day on the ice and waking up at 4:30 a.m. just wasn’t for her.
Instead she drew on her natural showmanship to create her recently released six-song EP, Black and White in Color.
“My dad and I actually came up with that [name],” Suede said. “Well, first of all, I had come up with how I wanted the artwork to be — I wanted to have graffiti with everything in black and white and I would be in color. The name is based on that idea.”
The EP was created under extreme time restraints at the Mad Hatter Studios in Los Angeles. With only 10 days to record, mix and master, narrowing her vast collection of songs down to just six was extremely difficult.
“I’ve written about 30 songs in the past year. It’s amazing to have all these song written. In your head, you have it played a certain way, but to have it come to life so others can hear what you envisioned is a really good feeling,” she said.
Revealing her range of musical influences, Suede’s EP is a hodgepodge of genres that she describes as “melodic folk pop.”
Trained by her mother, Raven Kane, who is a singer and theater composer, Suede’s voice soulfully blends mainstream pop lyrics with splashes of alternative rock, a reflection of her love for The Beatles.
Her heart-wrenching single “Falling from Mars” has already generated buzz in the music community, winning Best Original Song at the 2008 Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood.
The music video for the song is an eclectic four and a half minutes showcasing a bizarre, yet surprisingly relatable, style reminiscent of an after-school Bjork special.
While also highlighting Suede’s talent on the ice, the short video provides a glimpse of Suede’s own personal connection to her music.
“When you listen to [the EP] you will be like there’s quite a range of different styles,” Suede said. “I’m using this as a tool to take myself down another direct path. It’s definitely just me and I didn’t have the label saying you have to sound like this and sing these songs.”
After finally recording her CD, Suede won’t stop at getting signed by a record label, or even making the music world fall head over heals for her. No, she is ready to jump into a variety of other artistic endeavors.
“I love fashion, directing and editing. I would like to get my musical career to where I’m going on tours in Europe and stuff. And I’d like to expand to maybe starting my own fashion line,” she said. “I have a lot of different goals that I want to do. I’m just taking it one at a time.”
Alyssa Suede is performing at Hotel Café (1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd.) on Nov. 14 at 9 p.m.
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Beck's Sister Makes Her Own Musical Mark
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Beck's sister, singer-songwriter Alyssa Suede Campbell, didn't always want to follow in her family's...Beck's sister, singer-songwriter Alyssa Suede Campbell, didn't always want to follow in her family's musical footsteps. The 23-year-old was once a young championship figure skater who became involved in the sport since the age of five. Campbell was preparing for the Olympics but her goal ended at an early age.
"When I was 12, I broke my tailbone," she tells Spin. "I did continue to compete for another year but it just became more stressful and painful than it was pleasure at that point. So I decided to quit the skating and I went to boarding school in Oregon to get an education."
It's not that Campbell, who hails from Los Angeles, happened to stumble upon music. After all she grew up in a musical family: her father, David, is a composer and an arranger; mother Raven Kane is also a composer; and, well, we mentioned Beck. Now Campbell is, in her words, "joining the family business" with the recent release of her debut EP, 'Black and White in Color' (under the name Alyssa Suede).
"Growing up, when I was two months old," Campbell recalls, "my mom performed at the Hollywood Bowl with Paul McCartney and I was onstage. She had me strapped to her stomach. So from a really early age I grew up in the recording studio with my mom and dad."
If one can detect pop and theatrical influences in her songs, it's because Campbell's musical tastes are very eclectic, which includes Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Broadway and classical music. "When I was younger I did a lot of musical theater, so that's kind of where that comes from," she says. "And then classical [music came] from both my dad and figure skating because I used to skate to Rachmaninoff, Beethoven and Chopin."
Campbell co-wrote a majority of 'Black and White in Color''s songs with her father, who also produced the EP. "My dad and I always have a blast together" she says. "I love working with him because he knows me so well. He's able to arrange the songs and produce them in a way that brings out the best in me."
As she is still somewhat new to the music business -- she is planning to seek management after her tour -- Campbell did learn something from her famous musical brother. "One advice he gave me was to go out and just play anywhere you can and as much as you can, because that's what he did at a young age," she says. "He was in New York, and he literally played everywhere. When he was starting out in these tiny little coffee places, and sometimes there would only be two people and sometimes there would be twenty people. But he just played everywhere. It's definitely good advice."
She would like to do one thing in her musical career that had already been done by Beck recently, which is "to perform at the Hollywood Bowl with my dad conducting the L.A. [Philharmonic] behind me. I saw Beck did that two weekends ago, and it was incredible [and] so beautiful. So I definitely want to do that at some point."
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Alyssa Suede Podcast Interview
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copy/past link below to listen to interview:
http://odeo.com/episodes/23823396-Alyssa-Suede-Podca...copy/past link below to listen to interview:
http://odeo.com/episodes/23823396-Alyssa-Suede-Podcast-Interview
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Genuine Suede
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Genuine Suede
Beck's sister follows her own musical path
By Bill Locey
Thursday, November 13...Genuine Suede
Beck's sister follows her own musical path
By Bill Locey
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Alyssa Suede is just a girl with a guitar, a new CD and a big brother named Beck. Yep, that Beck, the eclectic rocker who has released hit albums like "Odelay," "Sea Change" and 2008's "Modern Guilt."
New at the rock 'n' roll thing and not yet jaded, Suede is enjoying her first lengthy tour, speaking from the midst of all those hippies in Chico — a long way from her Glendale home. While not exactly capitalizing on her famous brother, she is following his advice and playing as often as possible. To that end, she's booked dates at Mai's Café in Ventura on Saturday night, the Beachcomber in Oxnard on Sunday and SOhO in Santa Barbara on Nov. 20.
Suede's new release is actually an EP, "Black & White in Color,'' and this is what Miss Suede had to say about things so far.
@TO 1-Text Ragged Right no indent:How's the new CD doing? You're a rich rock star now, right?
I wish, but it just came out about three weeks ago so it's brand new.
And it sounds like what?
Oh, man, this is the worst question people ask me. It sounds like me?
Yes, it does. Very good.
It sounds like me if you mixed this with this and threw in a little something you've never heard before. It's very melodic, so I guess you could call it melodic folk-pop or alternative melodic pop.
Any prior 805 adventures?
Yeah. I played there once about two weeks ago and it was cool. It was my first time in Ventura. I live in Glendale.
How does a girl and a guitar make it in the music biz from Glendale?
Well, write some tunes on your guitar, get out and play wherever, and just hope people like what you're playing.
When did you know you wanted to do this?
You know, I've only been actually playing guitar for a year, so I've been at it for a year and a half.
Then you're doing great.
Yeah, it's definitely a newer thing for me in a way, even though I've been surrounded by it all my life. It's been a year and a half, but since I decided I wanted to do this, it's been 24/7 since then.
How far from Glendale have you ventured on road trips?
This is my first time touring and I'm actually in Chico right now, where they have pre-sold 100 tickets. The other night, I was in San Francisco and Sacramento, then Fresno and back to San Francisco. I really like Beale Street in San Francisco. There were 70 or 80 people there, and I sold 30 CDs, so I was very happy about that.
And life on the road suits you?
Oh, I love it. On the road, it's usually just me, but I'll be playing the Hotel Café in Los Angeles on Nov. 14 with a full band and a string quartet. I'll probably just be solo in Ventura.
How do you handle all the groupies?
I haven't had that happen yet, but there's still time.
Where did those classical influences come from?
I was a competitive figure skater for a good eight years and at the rinks, I always used classical music, so I definitely love Rachmaninoff, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky — all that stuff. I also love all that Broadway stuff; my mom is actually writing a Broadway play right now. Growing up, I also did a lot of musical theater and, of course, I'm into everything. I like certain country, certain hip-hop and R&B. I love artists like Regina Spektor, Feist and John Mayer. I'm all over the place. Jason Mraz is my new favorite.
Any advice from your brother?
His advice would be to play anywhere and everywhere, even if it's for a bartender, which he did a lot of when he was younger.
Now he can afford to buy the whole bar.
Exactly.
What do you know now that you didn't know when you started this adventure?
You have to be very persistent. It's not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. You have to be very outgoing. Different people have their opinions as to what music should sound like, what they personally like, but you can't give into everyone who says, "Oh, you should sound like this.'' You have to keep your integrity and play what you love and how you see yourself.
Does bad love make for good songs?
Exactly.
How many Alyssa songs are there?
I have about 35, but this is my first EP. It was tough deciding which songs to put on this first EP, but this was more for management and press, which is why we put a variety of stuff on it so they could see which directions I could go in. I'm going to do a full-length album, which will hopefully be in the spring. But for now, it's tour, tour, tour and hopefully land a spot as an opener on a major tour.
— E-mail music writer Bill Locey at blocey@pacbell.net.
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The angelic voice of Suede
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"She may be the sister of Beck, but Alyssa Suede sounds more like a mix of Jewel and Alanis Morriset..."She may be the sister of Beck, but Alyssa Suede sounds more like a mix of Jewel and Alanis Morrisette. I have to agree with Suede on "Ferris Wheel;"love does have its ups and downs, yet you still want to go round and round convincing yourself this time will be different. Alyssa's angelic voice dominates the emotionally torn ballad "Fallout."
Suede borrows some progressive elements from her eccentric brother Beck on the track "Puppet on a String." "Jack and Jill" is another vocal showcase for Suede. Alyssa pours out all of her emotions and pain on "Falling From Mars." She may not be the alternative maverick that is Beck, but Alyssa Suede has the singer-songwriter thing down pact."
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The Hollywood Reporter news on Feel Good Film Festival winners
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'Jonathan' takes top Feel Good honor
Fest included 15 features, 31 shorts, and 7 student films
By ...'Jonathan' takes top Feel Good honor
Fest included 15 features, 31 shorts, and 7 student films
By Gregg Kilday
Aug 25, 2008, 10:23 PM ET
Jim Pasternak's "Certifiably Jonathan," a look at comedian Jonathan Winters, won the grand jury prize for best feature film at the inaugural edition of the Feel Good Film Festival, which was held Friday through Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
Michael Berry's "Mira" received both the jury and audience awards as best short film.
Christopher Watson's "The Rainbow Tribe" picked up the audience award for best feature.
The cinematography award went to Jim Orr for his work on Rocco DeVilliers' "The Flyboys."
Noah Edelson's "Hear, Boy!" won the screenplay competition, and Alyssa Suede Campbell won the original song competition for her song, "Falling From Mars."
The student awards went to Philip Hodges' "First Bass" in the 20-21-year old division, and Lisa Kowalski's "The Last Cherry" in the 19-year and under division.
Paul Germain's "Speedy Delivery" earned the IndieFlix Award.
The fest showcased 53 films, including 15 features, 31 shorts, and 7 student films. Rainn Wilson served as host for the opening night gala.
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Alyssa Suede To Release Debut EP
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"'Black and White in Color' turned out exactly how I had envisioned it!" Alyssa Suede says, who has ..."'Black and White in Color' turned out exactly how I had envisioned it!" Alyssa Suede says, who has been singing and performing since the age of three. "Recording my EP could not have been more surreal." Well-known arranger/composer and Suede's father David Campbell produced the EP and co-wrote a number of its songs, including the song for her music video "Falling From Mars" with talented cousin Phil Frechette. Campbell had a great time with his daughter in the studio.
"It's not a casual comment to be able to say that Alyssa and I have an all around hilarious and fun time working together," Campbell states. "This project was no different. Prior to the studio we had many very rewarding writing sessions and demo sessions. Then, when we got down to business with the band in the brilliant Mad Hatter Studio with Brian Vibberts engineering, the whole process roared ahead full steam."
Suede's musical vision while in the studio made for an overall great vibe for all involved in the recording process. As Campbell puts it "One of Alyssa's strong points is infecting everyone with enthusiasm and the search for something fresh and exciting. That's the ideal way that an artist should relate to any recording. Although she's relatively new to recording, she naturally assumes the role of a pro, all the while maintaining the excitement of doing something for the first time."
Suede also had a terrific recording experience. "I was surrounded by the most incredible musicians and crew, got to work with my brilliant dad, and even had my friends come and clap on one of my songs, titled "Ferris Wheel". This process couldn't have been more fun or have gone more smoothly." Suede also describes the EP's feel of being "Unconventionally Mainstream." "My dad knows me extremely well, so he was able to arrange it and produce it in a way that brought out my best characteristics, and then twisted them in this cool way that's different than anything out there. Yet I think people will still be able to relate to it."
Suede's music video for the song, "Falling from Mars" was an official selection in a number of film festivals including the San Diego Film Festival, the Queens Film Festival, and the Memphis Film Festival (winner Jury Award). The Video also won Best Original Song at this year's Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood, where she performed live at the Egyptian Theatre. In the video, Suede is seen skating, flying and singing, pulling from her days as a gold medal champion figure skater, having trained with John Nicks alongside World figure skating champion Sasha Cohen.
"Falling From Mars" has recently been added to the Tucson Film & Music Festival, and the Vacant Era Film Festival, The video will also be screening at the historic Rialto Theatre as part of the Tucson Film & Music Festival, and the historic Sooner Theatre in Norman, Oklahoma as part of the Vacant Era Film Festival.
Alyssa Suede will start her West Coast tour starting in late October. "Black and White in Color" will be released October 5
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Alyssa Suede
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On some level, most of us know the pressure of following a family member’s successes, and how long-c...On some level, most of us know the pressure of following a family member’s successes, and how long-cast familial shadows hold their own sets of benefits and pitfalls. I reason that it must hold doubly true for Alyssa Suede, whose famous relations include father (and well-known composer) David Campbell and brother Beck (yes, that Beck.) Even her mother, Raven Kane, is an accomplished theater artist. So, it goes without saying that Suede has some very deep footprints laid out in front of her. Luckily, debut album Black and White in Color is a fairly auspicious first step, a singer/songwriter folk-driven project in the vein of a more experimental Jewel. The highs aren’t too high and the lows aren’t too low, but it’s undeniable that there’s substantial promise amid Suede’s trips and stumbles.
The Los Angeles-bred Suede comes from a family of musicians, both famous and otherwise, so it’s no surprise she’s fairly confident with regards to artistic poise. Still, there’s a stark dichotomy between her voice – a more traditional, country-flavored swoon suited for radio – and her musical style, which is about a dozen different flavors of pop, folk, alternative rock, and string-influenced experimental rumblings. That same two-level drama plays out amid Color’s track quality, where Suede alternately amazes and bores, varying between dark, brooding pieces and sappier, chart-friendly fare. The lasting effect is a little schizophrenic and disorienting, but not without its merits.
“Ferris Wheel” introduces us to Suede on a more traditional road, a corn-husking ditty out of the Nickel Creek/Alison Krauss songbook. Things are delightfully perky and fun during verse refrains (singing about Ferris wheels and lemonade helps), but the track’s joy is derailed by a tacked-on chorus obviously designed to hook in listeners like a friendly party host. Perhaps there’s a fear that being associated with Beck will turn off more casual audiences, but that’s misplaced: Suede is stronger when pursuing more serious endeavors, such as the moody “Fallout.” Pairing her breaking, twangy voice with quartet accompaniments and various electronic flourishes, Suede finds a superior niche that evokes more intimacy and feeling.
With that being said, Suede’s musical likeness to Jewel is often startling. Though “Puppet on a String” sounds like the trademark Psycho string line blended with stabs of fuzzy guitar, drums, and other instruments, it might have been ripped from one of the Alaskan crooner’s more polished albums. Ditto on “Jack & Jill,” a storytelling effort whose bluesy, stuttering aura cannot escape the same similarity. While these are not subpar entries by any means, they fail to carve out the distinctive identities managed by tracks such as the wonderfully slow “Jaded and Strange” and the jazzy “Falling From Mars,” both a part of the gloomy camp that “Fallout” claims.
It goes without saying that Black and White in Color is neither a resounding success nor an abject failure; it is, if nothing else, the first go of an artist trying to find her voice, complete with the necessary bright spots and black marks. That quest is especially difficult amid the established success of her precursory relatives, but Alyssa Suede manages to hold her head high and sculpt a fairly satisfying semi-identity.
Kevin Liedel, MuzikReviews.com Sr. Staff Editor
December 4, 2008
© MuzikReviews.com
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Sister act: Meet Beck's little sis
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Did you know Beck had a half-sister? Neither did we.
And no, her name is not Debra.
Well gue...Did you know Beck had a half-sister? Neither did we.
And no, her name is not Debra.
Well guess what? She is also a musician. Alyssa Suede, who shares a father with Beck, dropped her debut EP, "Black & White in Color," this week (although technically it came out last month, according to her MySpace blog, where she previously posted that the disc was on sale at "this dope men's clothing store called Traffic" inside the Beverly Center).
Make no mistake: Suede did not get Beck's innovative songwriting gene. Tracks like "Ferris Wheel" are far too conventional and certainly won't win over serious fans of her brother's work. Still, Suede got a nice assist from her (and Beck's) dad, noted composer-arranger David Campbell, who produced and co-wrote songs on "Back & White in Color," making the EP worth a listen.
"Fallout" in particular shows potential; with impossibly understated minor-key string arrangements and Suede's measured vocals. But the rest of the offering reveals that Suede, who was once a competitive figure skater, may have spent more of her formative years listening to the Cranberries and Sarah McLachlan instead of her brother's work (not that there is anything wrong with Sarah McLachlan or the Cranberries, mind you). Regardless, Suede has chops that show promise in the future -- if paired with the right song, that is.
--Charlie Amter
supersonic
