Daniel Ouellette and the Shobijin

Each week, we take a look through our Sonicbids dropbox and let a band/artist tell us about themselves. This week, get to know Danielle Oullette. You can catch him at Jacques Underground on Sunday, December 7.

Artist Name: Daniel Ouellette
Hometown: Lakeville, MA
Releases:
Kaiju Carnival EP (2008)
Monsterland - The Revenge of Daniel (2008)
Daikaiju - Songs to sing whilst you evacuate the city (2007)
But Fujita I made the album for you! (2006)

Website:&
www.danielouellette.net&
www.myspace.com/danielruinseverything&

How did you start?

I have been writing songs since I was 15 by myself and with co-writers, but playing out in venues since 2003.

Who are some of your influences?

Grace Jones, Siouxsie Sioux, Mothra, the Dalai Lama, the Count, Cyndi Lauper, Eurythmics, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel,Burnt Fur, Allysen Callery, among others.& I love European, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern music of so many backgrounds;

Finish the sentence, someone would like your band if they like:

to be entertained, a little challenged by something that is partly mainstream and partly its own sound. Someone would like my musical act if they like the world of performance art, visual art and music to meet...if they like New Wave and New Age music to fuse together... if someone likes any of the artists who influence me.

What has your most memorable moment as a band been?

Singing around Europe was pretty fun. I busked with a synth which was not easy and got into a territory war with a 10 year old Italian accordion player in Rome...I almost got hit in the head with an amp playing at& Rob Jacks. It came flying off the wall and that would have been a show stopper had it hit me!

Walk us through your songwriting process:

The process is never the same...Inspiration can come to me after a nightmare, after reading a book or hearing a quote...the words will come into mind. Sometimes I write the lyrics first and sometimes the music comes first. There really is not one process. I get possessed by my own ego and make a song.

Who is the best musician in your band?

The drum machine... It never gives me a hard time!

What is your favorite local venue?

I liked the Sky Bar, but it is gone... The MIddle East is pretty nice in Cambridge and Jacques Underground is always fun.

What separates you from other local bands?

I am solo artist who plays a mix of New Wave and New age. I sing my original songs in English, Spanish and French. When I perform, I like to interact with the audience by getting off the stage, When I play, I sing live using my Laptop to play the music and an LCD projector to show images of art mainly by local Massachusetts artists like Oph3lia from Oph3lia.com, Archie Patenaude and Jason Guerette. I love mixing great vocals, good showmanship and visual design to my performances. It is not a very conventional Rock/Pop show and people tend to remember the show, I am told.

What do you have coming up that people should know about?

12.07.2008 Jacques Underground @ 6pm Daniel Ouellete with Scott Harrison of Burnt Fur, Bright White Lights, Mahi Mahi
12.13.2008 Alphabet Lounge @ 7pm Daniel Ouellette, Marissa Hansson
1.09.2009 Choice Treasures TV Show
7.22-26.2009 Provincetown Rocks Music Festival

Convince our readers to see your next show…

What about songs about lament and monsters? Do you like to dance, laugh and enjoy great singing? This show will be a divinely exciting and entertaining time! You can sing along to songs about ghosts, disappointment and Superheroes... all the things you will need to make you happy. The shows at the Cantab Lounge and Jacques are especially nice because I have my good friend Scott from Burnt Fur playing along on percussion and synth with me.

It will make you dance and sing and maybe even cry.
- Bostonmusic Spotlight

It's rare to find music that is humorous AND entertaining, but Daniel Ouellette's newest CD "Monsterland: The Revenge of Daniel" manages to come through on both accounts. Daniel's love of New Wave and Techno-Pop genres shines through on his laptop-based beats matched with a deep, Broadway-esque Bass voice. Add to that his love of travel and World Music and get a multi-lingual artist with a great sense of humor. From the hilarious lyrics of "I Want To Kiss Superman" and "Ghost In A Jar" to the playfully styled cover art, Daniel Ouellette is more than your average local band with an equally as interesting live show. - By Review by Alison Despres, southcoast247.com correspondent

Daniel Ouellette's Kaiju Carnival mixes industrial beats and smooth lyrics with electronic noise and a bit of funk. A good choice for house music or a techno party, Ouellette's EP is a relentless driving force with haunting words don't let up. "A Cup of Tea for the Dalai Lama" is a mystical journey through Ouellette's poetry while and "She Went To A Moustache Party" lands a quick punch to the solar plexus, then keeps on coming. The final track, "Euoplocephalus", is reminiscent of the darkest NES video game dungeon tunes. Guest collaborators such as Scott Harrison of Burnt Fur and vocalist Jillybean make this EP a quirky maze of unfiltered robotic exploration. - by Aaron Powers, southcoast247.com staff writer

Daniel Ouellette is an electronic solo artist from Massachusetts. He released 2003-2008 compilation Monsterland- The Revenge of Daniel last spring via his own label Meanie Jeannie, and the Kaiju Carnival EP (pictured at left) in October on the New Shiner label, co-produced by Scott Harrison (Burnt Fur).

The colorful and quirky cover of the crane reaching for the dinosaur toy prize seems oddly representative of the music inside, which is experimental, fun, and a little bit mysterious. From track to track, the genres blend and shift; from the electroclash-ified opener about non-conformity "She Went to a Moustache Party" through the grinding industrial end in "Euoplocephalus", would you believe you would also meet drifting new age psychedelia along the way? "LUST" guides the listener along with synth strings and Ouellette's deep-toned lyrics of desire, ending with a confession of "But I just don't love you" and a sputtering of sound. Bringing back the dancability present on track #1, "Stigmata and Cookies" reflects on the thirst for material possessions, "I want a television with a giant screen / And a plate of cookies...". "A Cup of Tea for the Dalai Lama" has a worldly, even spiritual charm, chugging away with Ouellette's echoed vocals and crimes whisping in, and providing a counterpoint to the angular electronics found elsewhere on Kaiju Carnival EP.

It is not surprising that Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Laurie Anderson are amongst his influences, all artists affiliated with the experimental and avant-garde, though there are few such enterprising new artists in the 2000s, making it an interesting prospect to see what new territory Ouellette explores in his curious brand of music in the future.
- by Marilyn Roxie - A Future in Noise

The Phantom of the Opera was a character who lived in an old opera house, creating

and playing bizarre music that was sometimes beautiful and sometimes grotesque. One has to believe that if the Phantom were around today, he’d be making music that sounds a lot like that of Daniel Ouellette on his new record Monsterland: The Revenge of Daniel. It is unclear upon whom Daniel is taking his revenge: is it the monsters? Is it himself? Is it us? The vocals, which sound as if they were delivered on an underwater 486-class computer, are no help. Random words flutter through Ouellette’s bizarre signal chain of reverb, envelope filters and more reverb.

Ouellette’s bizarre operatic delivery makes the experience all the more bizarre, he beats his chest and crows “Helicopter, stop ruining my life!” and we have to wonder exactly how and why this is happening. The vocal styling lies somewhere between Arthur Brown and Mike Oldfield, all grunting and growling and the occasional rising note that comes from the depths of ... somewhere. It would be easy to dismiss this record as simply a heathen with a drum machine and free recording software, but

Daniel Ouellette is an especially bizarre case of one man’s vision turning into sound with almost no filter in between. For all his weird artistry, Ouellette’s music is oddly catchy. You won’t be humming gems like “Go Cry Upstairs,” or the possible holiday favorite of “No One Makes You Happy at Christmas” in the line at Starbucks tomorrow morning, but you will find yourself thinking about it at the strangest times, oddly compelled by Ouelette’s “is-he-crazy?” record and his impending Revenge. Monsterland should be advised: Ouellette is coming, and he doesn’t sound happy. He doesn’t sound sad either. Just ... different. (self-released)

www.Danielouellette.net

-C .D. Di Guardia
- C .D. Di Guardia, Northeast Performer

Halo: Fall River's Daniel Ouellette (formerly a Florence resident) may be able to lay claim to the title "weirdest musician in New England." His mix of baritone vocals, electronica and performance art is a unique creation. Just wait till you hear him sing "She Went to a Moustache Party." - by Advocate Editors - The Valley Advocate

It's very hard to determine whether Fall River's Daniel Ouellette (formerly a Florence resident) is the Orson Welles or the Ed Wood of electronic music. In one Youtube video, a dancing, eyelinered Ouellette croons (and he really does croon, with a swampy voice down near that of Paul Robeson), "Yes, I love your car and all your fancy features" in front of an off-white sheet while a tiny mirror ball sways in the foreground.

This is instantly amusing, and the shabby set lends an air of the amateur. Yet there's something really compelling about Ouellette's music. It squirks and skronks along with staticky hits and chirped-out rhythms piling on to craft a glorious electronica concoction.

Ouellette seems to pay a lot of attention to the visual in his performances, and claims influences like multimedia artist Laurie Anderson (along with Mothra, the Dalai Lama, Siouxsie Sioux and Elvira). To witness his campy, playful style while his music derails expectations is to arrive at an interesting conclusion: he may be the Orson Welles and the Ed Wood of electronic music. Should you laugh? Cry? Worry? Who knows? It's a remarkable accomplishment.

As Northeast Performer said, "It would be easy to dismiss this record as simply a heathen with a drum machine and free recording software, but Daniel Ouellette is an especially bizarre case of one man's vision turning into sound with almost no filter in between."

Ouellette rides a wave of uncomfortable suspense, and his lyrics heighten that sense. On his album The Revenge of Daniel, he offers the cryptic "Helicopter you're ruining my life." On his recent release, an EP called Kaiju Carnival, you'll find titles like "She Went to a Moustache Party" and "Stigmata and Cookies."

Ouellette seems quite clear about his music. He told Boston Music Spotlight.com, "You can sing along to songs about ghosts, disappointment and superheroes... all the things you will need to make you happy."

He's definitely onto something. If aliens walk among us, I'm betting they're named Ouellette. And I, for one, intend to buy all their albums

To check out Ouellette's oeuvre, visit danielouellette.net. - By James Heflin, The Vallry Advocate