Liz Pappademas

Liz Pappademas says she was "born in the back seat of a Checker cab in front of Lincoln Center in New York" but grew up in San Francisco, where she wrote and recorded her latest CD, 11 Songs. It's a beautifully downbeat collection of piano-driven art-pop tunes reflecting on broken hearts, bitterness and murder.

Pappademas sings with a slightly raspy voice that's earned comparisons to Fiona Apple, and the production on her latest album is reminiscent of Apple's work. But Pappdemas's music is less theatrical and more introspective. There's little percussion on 11 Songs and the overall mood is one of pure melancholy.

Additional recordings for 11 Songs were made "in basements, closets, and other small dark spaces in San Francisco and Austin" says Pappademas. The album features Austin musicians Gary Newcomb on pedal steel, Jeff Johnston on bass and Rob Sanchez on drums.

Pappademas says she and producer Brian Kehew "had a great time... ...coming up with names for the record, among them: Downer, Take Prozac Before Listening, Lashes Long, Dork Hill, Saturate!, Tours, Not Wars, Enjoying the Lope, DelRubio!, A Rhodes By Any Other Name, Middle of the Rhodes, Dwarves, Ape Men and White Robed Giants (thank you, Ralph), and Scare the F*** Out of You." But after long deliberation I decided on 11 Songs.

This is the second time Pappademas has appeared on Open Mic. She was first featured with her previous and short-lived band, Hurts to Purr in early 2006. - NPR.org

Liz Pappademas says she was "born in the back seat of a Checker cab in front of Lincoln Center in New York" but grew up in San Francisco, where she wrote and recorded her latest CD, 11 Songs. It's a beautifully downbeat collection of piano-driven art-pop tunes reflecting on broken hearts, bitterness and murder.

Pappademas sings with a slightly raspy voice that's earned comparisons to Fiona Apple, and the production on her latest album is reminiscent of Apple's work. But Pappdemas's music is less theatrical and more introspective. There's little percussion on 11 Songs and the overall mood is one of pure melancholy.

Additional recordings for 11 Songs were made "in basements, closets, and other small dark spaces in San Francisco and Austin" says Pappademas. The album features Austin musicians Gary Newcomb on pedal steel, Jeff Johnston on bass and Rob Sanchez on drums.

Pappademas says she and producer Brian Kehew "had a great time... ...coming up with names for the record, among them: Downer, Take Prozac Before Listening, Lashes Long, Dork Hill, Saturate!, Tours, Not Wars, Enjoying the Lope, DelRubio!, A Rhodes By Any Other Name, Middle of the Rhodes, Dwarves, Ape Men and White Robed Giants (thank you, Ralph), and Scare the F*** Out of You." But after long deliberation I decided on 11 Songs.

This is the second time Pappademas has appeared on Open Mic. She was first featured with her previous and short-lived band, Hurts to Purr in early 2006. - NPR.org

by Jane McCarthy

When I first saw singer/songwriter Liz Pappademas, she was onstage at Bordello with marching band collective, Killsonic, wielding the accordion with such gravitas, I was charmed. Then I discovered her solo lp, 11 Songs, with its beautifully sad, painterly tracks, and I was smitten. She’s now got a concept album, Television City, on the way. It’s based on a fictional game show, “Who’s Your Neighbor?”, a bit more pop than piano-led 11 Songs, and its aces.

I got to sit down with Liz at the Casbah Café a few nights before Christmas to chat with her about ballads, A Chorus Line, and seeing LA through amber-tinted glasses.

Jane McCarthy: I saw you at the Hotel Café at the end of 2007, and you were singing stuff from 11 Songs.

Liz Pappademas: That was one of my first shows in LA.

JM: You told this anecdote about a teacher you had at Berklee who said, “No more dirges, Liz.” LP: I believe the phrase was, “STOP WRITING DIRGES!” It was very direct. You’re making him sound much nicer…

JM: What attracts you to dirges?

LP: As far as 11 Songs is concerned, I don’t know, I just play what I feel, and I guess I was feeling kind of slow tempo…It wasn’t really any kind of conscious choice to be like, ”I’m only going to write funeral tempo songs.” That’s just what came out. And you know, I love Elliott Smith and I love Gillian Welch. It’s powerful. I think if you can deliver a slow tempo song, that’s almost harder than beating out a pop tune that’s more veiled... And it sounds good. I like songs like that.

JM: I do, too. I love hearing a slow piano song.



LP: I’ve always loved the ballads on records. I seek them out. It’s not that I’m a sad person, per se. I’m a pretty upbeat person. I’m not generally depressed, but if I’m thinking about something, or I’m worried about something, or working through a problem, that’s when I’m going to sit down and write a song. Not when I’m having a great time, thinking, “Oh this is so awesome! I’m having so much fun! Let me write this down!”

But the (teacher’s) criticism was good at the time. You can get stuck in one type of writing and fall back on what’s easy for you or what comes readily. So when I did this new record, I did try to limit that a little bit. Just for the challenge of it.

JM: So the forthcoming LP is Television City, and it’s a concept album about a fictional game show called Who’s Your Neighbor?... Do you feel like you kind of did a musical?

LP: I kind of did, yeah. It’s funny, last night I was watching a documentary about A Chorus Line, and Television City is a lot like that- all these different people telling their story around this one event. With A Chorus Line it’s the audition for the musical and with this, it’s the game show…I did sort of think of it as a movie, in terms of characters.

JM: Did you think of Magnolia when you were writing this?

LP: I did. I’m a huge PT Anderson fan. And I really liked that storyline with the kid and the game show. Also, PT Anderson is a huge Robert Altman fan. So since finding out about that, I went back and watched a lot of Robert Altman to see what about Altman, PT Anderson pulls from and also, how he kind of weaves all the different stories in.

JM: Does the game show take place in a certain time period?

LP: I was thinking seventies, late seventies. Kind of that uncertain time after the summer-of-love sixties hippiedom but before the scary eighties. Still kind of amber-colored Hollywood. I watched a lot of game shows to write this. They started around the fifties and then in the sixties, there were some scandals around certain shows and then in the seventies, they kind of had a resurgence with the more color TV game shows like Let’s Make a Deal, those fun audience participation shows, and that’s how I saw this show.

The seventies has always been a fascinating era to me. And moving to LA, I saw things in a different light. In San Francisco there’s a certain light… it’s very windy and very clear and sharp. In LA, everything’s kind of clouded, hazy, and this might be totally off the wall, but the sunglasses I got right before I moved here are amber, so driving around LA, everything has this amber tint to it. It seems silly but if you’re driving around with that kind of filter, it inspires interest in that, you can identify with that era.

JM: I wanted to ask you... What you were listening to in 2009?

LP: I recently got this compilation album of Panamanian music, Panama! 3, so I guess this is the third one in the collection. It’s old stuff they’ve re-mastered. And it’s so cool because of the Panama Canal, there are all these different cultures there, and all of this different music passing through…all of these different genres mixing together. And it’s all like sixties, early seventies which is a great era for music anywhere.

I mean, I love older music. I love some of the stuff that’s going on now too, but I’d rather find those musicians’ influen - Radio Free Silver Lake

by Jane McCarthy

When I first saw singer/songwriter Liz Pappademas, she was onstage at Bordello with marching band collective, Killsonic, wielding the accordion with such gravitas, I was charmed. Then I discovered her solo lp, 11 Songs, with its beautifully sad, painterly tracks, and I was smitten. She’s now got a concept album, Television City, on the way. It’s based on a fictional game show, “Who’s Your Neighbor?”, a bit more pop than piano-led 11 Songs, and its aces.

I got to sit down with Liz at the Casbah Café a few nights before Christmas to chat with her about ballads, A Chorus Line, and seeing LA through amber-tinted glasses.

Jane McCarthy: I saw you at the Hotel Café at the end of 2007, and you were singing stuff from 11 Songs.

Liz Pappademas: That was one of my first shows in LA.

JM: You told this anecdote about a teacher you had at Berklee who said, “No more dirges, Liz.” LP: I believe the phrase was, “STOP WRITING DIRGES!” It was very direct. You’re making him sound much nicer…

JM: What attracts you to dirges?

LP: As far as 11 Songs is concerned, I don’t know, I just play what I feel, and I guess I was feeling kind of slow tempo…It wasn’t really any kind of conscious choice to be like, ”I’m only going to write funeral tempo songs.” That’s just what came out. And you know, I love Elliott Smith and I love Gillian Welch. It’s powerful. I think if you can deliver a slow tempo song, that’s almost harder than beating out a pop tune that’s more veiled... And it sounds good. I like songs like that.

JM: I do, too. I love hearing a slow piano song.



LP: I’ve always loved the ballads on records. I seek them out. It’s not that I’m a sad person, per se. I’m a pretty upbeat person. I’m not generally depressed, but if I’m thinking about something, or I’m worried about something, or working through a problem, that’s when I’m going to sit down and write a song. Not when I’m having a great time, thinking, “Oh this is so awesome! I’m having so much fun! Let me write this down!”

But the (teacher’s) criticism was good at the time. You can get stuck in one type of writing and fall back on what’s easy for you or what comes readily. So when I did this new record, I did try to limit that a little bit. Just for the challenge of it.

JM: So the forthcoming LP is Television City, and it’s a concept album about a fictional game show called Who’s Your Neighbor?... Do you feel like you kind of did a musical?

LP: I kind of did, yeah. It’s funny, last night I was watching a documentary about A Chorus Line, and Television City is a lot like that- all these different people telling their story around this one event. With A Chorus Line it’s the audition for the musical and with this, it’s the game show…I did sort of think of it as a movie, in terms of characters.

JM: Did you think of Magnolia when you were writing this?

LP: I did. I’m a huge PT Anderson fan. And I really liked that storyline with the kid and the game show. Also, PT Anderson is a huge Robert Altman fan. So since finding out about that, I went back and watched a lot of Robert Altman to see what about Altman, PT Anderson pulls from and also, how he kind of weaves all the different stories in.

JM: Does the game show take place in a certain time period?

LP: I was thinking seventies, late seventies. Kind of that uncertain time after the summer-of-love sixties hippiedom but before the scary eighties. Still kind of amber-colored Hollywood. I watched a lot of game shows to write this. They started around the fifties and then in the sixties, there were some scandals around certain shows and then in the seventies, they kind of had a resurgence with the more color TV game shows like Let’s Make a Deal, those fun audience participation shows, and that’s how I saw this show.

The seventies has always been a fascinating era to me. And moving to LA, I saw things in a different light. In San Francisco there’s a certain light… it’s very windy and very clear and sharp. In LA, everything’s kind of clouded, hazy, and this might be totally off the wall, but the sunglasses I got right before I moved here are amber, so driving around LA, everything has this amber tint to it. It seems silly but if you’re driving around with that kind of filter, it inspires interest in that, you can identify with that era.

JM: I wanted to ask you... What you were listening to in 2009?

LP: I recently got this compilation album of Panamanian music, Panama! 3, so I guess this is the third one in the collection. It’s old stuff they’ve re-mastered. And it’s so cool because of the Panama Canal, there are all these different cultures there, and all of this different music passing through…all of these different genres mixing together. And it’s all like sixties, early seventies which is a great era for music anywhere.

I mean, I love older music. I love some of the stuff that’s going on now too, but I’d rather find those musicians’ influen - Radio Free Silver Lake

"One of these days I'm going to rewrite your cue cards," Liz Pappademas sings slyly on her upcoming album, Television City. "One of these days I'm going to write for the big leagues." The local singer-pianist and former member of the Austin band Hurts to Purr should be in the big leagues already. Despite its plain title, her 2007 debut album, 11 Songs, was a mesmerizing assortment of passionate ballads that deftly combined Neil Young's gentle introspection with Fiona Apple's forceful piano pop. Even more impressive, Pappademas proved to be a masterful lyricist, playfully invoking Robert Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock and Harry Houdini as she spun dreamily poetic fantasies about soldiers' wives and earthquakes in Loma Prieta."You'll look like Sean Connery/and I'll get to be all the Bond girls," she promised a lover during "Vacation Romance". After performing solo or with minimal backing for the past few years, Pappademas appears tonight with her new band, the Level, debuting songs from Television City, which she describes as a concept album about a mythical game show called "Who's Your Neighbor?" (Falling James) - LA Weekly

"One of these days I'm going to rewrite your cue cards," Liz Pappademas sings slyly on her upcoming album, Television City. "One of these days I'm going to write for the big leagues." The local singer-pianist and former member of the Austin band Hurts to Purr should be in the big leagues already. Despite its plain title, her 2007 debut album, 11 Songs, was a mesmerizing assortment of passionate ballads that deftly combined Neil Young's gentle introspection with Fiona Apple's forceful piano pop. Even more impressive, Pappademas proved to be a masterful lyricist, playfully invoking Robert Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock and Harry Houdini as she spun dreamily poetic fantasies about soldiers' wives and earthquakes in Loma Prieta."You'll look like Sean Connery/and I'll get to be all the Bond girls," she promised a lover during "Vacation Romance". After performing solo or with minimal backing for the past few years, Pappademas appears tonight with her new band, the Level, debuting songs from Television City, which she describes as a concept album about a mythical game show called "Who's Your Neighbor?" (Falling James) - LA Weekly

One of this town's finest lyricists. - LA Weekly

One of this town's finest lyricists. - LA Weekly

Not to brag or anything, but I just got off the phone with my new buddyroo, Josh Schwartz, and we were talking about music, and I decided to pay him the compliment of talking at length about myself and all my various feelings about things pertaining to me, and afterward I was reflecting while checking myself out in a mirror and thinking that, as I was explaining to ol' J.S., music used to be such a big part of my life—I mean, I used to play in a band for crissakes—and it just isn't anymore. (Although I do really like the new Rilo Kiley album but I forgot to tell him that.) And part of loving music was loving going to shows. I can't even remember the last show I went to. It was probably the first Woodstock! (I can't remember it which means I was there.) Anyway, this is a long way of saying that you and I should go see Liz Pappademas this weekend because her music is dark and pretty (but not twee or tinkly, lest you get the wrong idea), and I bet her show wouldn't be annoying, if by annoying you mean packed with things that make you think, Yep, this is why I stopped going to shows. She's playing for free at 8pm tomorrow night at Pianos Upstairs Lounge. I'll be the one with fantastic hair talking to and about myself. - Time Out New York

Not to brag or anything, but I just got off the phone with my new buddyroo, Josh Schwartz, and we were talking about music, and I decided to pay him the compliment of talking at length about myself and all my various feelings about things pertaining to me, and afterward I was reflecting while checking myself out in a mirror and thinking that, as I was explaining to ol' J.S., music used to be such a big part of my life—I mean, I used to play in a band for crissakes—and it just isn't anymore. (Although I do really like the new Rilo Kiley album but I forgot to tell him that.) And part of loving music was loving going to shows. I can't even remember the last show I went to. It was probably the first Woodstock! (I can't remember it which means I was there.) Anyway, this is a long way of saying that you and I should go see Liz Pappademas this weekend because her music is dark and pretty (but not twee or tinkly, lest you get the wrong idea), and I bet her show wouldn't be annoying, if by annoying you mean packed with things that make you think, Yep, this is why I stopped going to shows. She's playing for free at 8pm tomorrow night at Pianos Upstairs Lounge. I'll be the one with fantastic hair talking to and about myself. - Time Out New York

Songwriter, pianist and lead singer Liz Pappademas teams up with Jeremy Bruch and Tom Benton to form Hurts to Purr. On their new self-titled release, Pappademas' husky vocals are gently juxtaposed against her band's rich pop landscape. Hurts to Purr's music is dense and confessional, taking influence from the weight of the stories and experiences Pappademas captures with her words.

bandEnlarge image
Hurts to Purr is (L-R) Jeremy Bruch, Liz Pappademas and Tom Benton.

The album is speckled with field recordings done while the band was mixing their record in Los Angeles with Brian Kehew, co-producer of Fiona Apple's latest release. From copy machines to trains at Union Station, the album combines a clean, polished production with the gritty, organic sounds from the streets of L.A.

The band's field recordings and "man-on-the-street interviews" that dot the album are a strong testament to the group's solidity and fine attention to detail. Their music is like a quilt, composed of small pieces layered one upon the other. The band eagerly awaits their upcoming South by Southwest performance in March, after which Pappademas will return to her hometown of San Francisco.

The featured track on Hurts to Purr's self-titled album is "I Didn't Mean It." - NPR.org

Songwriter, pianist and lead singer Liz Pappademas teams up with Jeremy Bruch and Tom Benton to form Hurts to Purr. On their new self-titled release, Pappademas' husky vocals are gently juxtaposed against her band's rich pop landscape. Hurts to Purr's music is dense and confessional, taking influence from the weight of the stories and experiences Pappademas captures with her words.

bandEnlarge image
Hurts to Purr is (L-R) Jeremy Bruch, Liz Pappademas and Tom Benton.

The album is speckled with field recordings done while the band was mixing their record in Los Angeles with Brian Kehew, co-producer of Fiona Apple's latest release. From copy machines to trains at Union Station, the album combines a clean, polished production with the gritty, organic sounds from the streets of L.A.

The band's field recordings and "man-on-the-street interviews" that dot the album are a strong testament to the group's solidity and fine attention to detail. Their music is like a quilt, composed of small pieces layered one upon the other. The band eagerly awaits their upcoming South by Southwest performance in March, after which Pappademas will return to her hometown of San Francisco.

The featured track on Hurts to Purr's self-titled album is "I Didn't Mean It." - NPR.org

Penetratingly personal, slow-burning lyrics (think Joni Mitchell meets Raymond Carver at the piano bar) benefit from bare-bones arrangements that cast sublime shadows behind the tawny-port richness of her voice.

Bearing the narrative agility of a class-act storyteller as well as the unhurried precision of a poet, Pappademas writes lyrics that carry impressive weight standing alone on the page. - SF Bay Guardian

Penetratingly personal, slow-burning lyrics (think Joni Mitchell meets Raymond Carver at the piano bar) benefit from bare-bones arrangements that cast sublime shadows behind the tawny-port richness of her voice.

Bearing the narrative agility of a class-act storyteller as well as the unhurried precision of a poet, Pappademas writes lyrics that carry impressive weight standing alone on the page. - SF Bay Guardian

Liz Pappademas's solo debut,11 Songs, is gorgeous and lush in a sparse sort of way. The uncluttered arrangements and production allow her songwriting, vocals, and piano playing to shine through. - Electronic Musician

Liz Pappademas's solo debut,11 Songs, is gorgeous and lush in a sparse sort of way. The uncluttered arrangements and production allow her songwriting, vocals, and piano playing to shine through. - Electronic Musician

When Liz Pappademas released her debut solo album, Eleven Songs, in 2007, its deceptively plain title gave no hint of the lush, restlessly poetic imagery that made her Fiona Apple–style pop ballads so incisive and multilayered. But now the local singer-pianist has changed things up in an even more dramatic fashion, backed by a full band on her second release, Television City. The ambitious album is a cycle of interconnected songs about a fictional game show called Who's Your Neighbor? The concept allows her to explore the inner lives of a fascinating set of characters. Pappademas' forceful piano accents frame the action stylishly on such sly, melodically rich pop gems as "Your Favorite Game Show" and "Grand Prize Winners," while the album-closing "Parting Guest" is a trippy sound collage of mesmerizing echoes. (Falling James) - LA Weekly

When Liz Pappademas released her debut solo album, Eleven Songs, in 2007, its deceptively plain title gave no hint of the lush, restlessly poetic imagery that made her Fiona Apple–style pop ballads so incisive and multilayered. But now the local singer-pianist has changed things up in an even more dramatic fashion, backed by a full band on her second release, Television City. The ambitious album is a cycle of interconnected songs about a fictional game show called Who's Your Neighbor? The concept allows her to explore the inner lives of a fascinating set of characters. Pappademas' forceful piano accents frame the action stylishly on such sly, melodically rich pop gems as "Your Favorite Game Show" and "Grand Prize Winners," while the album-closing "Parting Guest" is a trippy sound collage of mesmerizing echoes. (Falling James) - LA Weekly