Monika H. Band
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Monika H. Band

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"Pick of the Week"

We’re going out on a limb and saying that MONIKA HEIDEMANN’s self-released Bright is the jazz-vocal debut of the year . . . make that the jazz debut of the year . . . make that the debut of the year. Most young singers are lucky to score with one of three: material, vocal control, tone. Heidemann’s got it all: originals that span and mix avant-jazz and art rock plus spot-on hip covers (Steve Lacy settings of poems by Brion Gysin and Herman Melville); unwavering pitch through leaping melodic lines and harmonies; a confident vocal tone halfway between girlish and diva that packs an emotional wallop without overselling. - Boston Phoenix


"Monika H. Band-"

"Humor and gloom stroll hand in hand on Monika Heidemann's new album, Disguised As Umbrellas, We Slept. Heidemann works her incantatory magic within a limited yet compelling vocal range, and she's smart enough to get out of the way and let her excellent band -- which includes members of Charlie Hunter's and Me'Shell NdegeOcello's groups -- explore spacier regions of the prog-jazz continuum." 10/17/08 - Village Voice- NYC


"Monika H. Band "Bright""

"Something this non-trite and non-cliche should be every musicians' final hope for any creative project's outcome. Bright is a conceptual venture that reveals an understanding of where songs come from." - Jazz Improv Magazine


"Monika H. Band- "Bright""

"Heidemann is busy creating her own totally engrossing musical world that must be heard rather than read about. Bright might just be the beginning of a new jazz genre in search of a name. Highly recommended." - All about Jazz


"Celebrities Increase Each Year at the Vilnius Jazz Festival"

(Translation) Those fond of conventional music were horrified by the band's spontaneous, unpredictable potpourri style of music; others, however, were dazzled by the group's creativity and originality.

The young Monika Heidemann who recently had an album debut, is an interesting, attractive personage who, one day, will perhaps become one of "Vilnius Jazz" celebrities. - "Rytas" (newspaper of Vilnius, Lithuania)


"More Song, Less Art(ifice): The New Breed of Art Song"

"On her debut CD, Bright, Monika Heidemann gracefully and clearly delivers her deliciously off-kilter prosody. She has cultivated her own unique style with such conviction that more than one writer has proclaimed the discovery of a new genre." - New Music Box


"Concert Review- Monika H. Band"

Ever listen to night radio? Caffeine-addled DJs play pretty much whatever the hell they want in those hours, like B-sides and obscure 10-minute mixes from bands you only thought you knew well. That’s the kind of feeling I got from listening to the Monika H. Band during their Jan. 27 appearance at the Melody Inn.

The Monika H. Band’s sound is best described as alternative punk jazz, although it doesn’t quite fit into any of those genres. It’s a ceaselessly shifting syncopation of hard-driving guitars and drums, fronted by Monica’s versatile vocals, which are reminiscent of both Bjork and the torch singers so closely associated with smoky blues halls. It’s an “in-between moments” style that rewards patience, and compels you to let yourself roll along with the highly unorthodox, borderline-unearthly sounds.

It’s extraordinary stuff — the band is airtight, running great sprawling sounds through what only seem to be wide-open structures, with such unusual techniques as rolling two separate guitar solos at the same time, right over the vocals. At times it was hard to believe they were pulling off the tripped-out licks with only an ordinary guitar and bass.

It’s Sunday night live all right, stripped of the constraints usually placed on live music by the realities of filling up a big Friday or Saturday night.

Monika summed it up pretty concisely in the opening: “We’re the Monika H Band, and we’re from the East!” As good an explanation as any, I suppose.

- Nuvo (Newspaper-Indianapolis)


"Monika H.- Changing the way we think about Jazz"

"The instrumentals are weaved seamlessly with the lyrics and provide beautiful textures that you can peel back endlessly. Keep your ears open for Monika H. (Heidemann) because you are going to be hearing a lot of good music from her in the days ahead." - Jazz Review (interview)


""Let 'em Sing""

The opening track — “Organs” — hits you with rock-guitar rhythms, angular dueling vocals, a jazz-vibes solo, and jarring poetry (“I’ve got some friends who are living inside me. Organs and flesh. Bones bones!”). Which is one way of saying that this debut by NEC-to-Brooklyn transplant Monika Heidemann is surprising in every way. When she isn’t writing her own lyrics, she’s setting poetry by Allen Ginsberg or covering Steve Lacy’s settings of Herman Melville and Brion Gysin. The latter, “Somebody Special,” was my personal hit single of the year, with its droning bass, Jeremy Udden’s stunning slow-boil alto solo, and Heidemann’s ardent, comic vocals.
- Boston Phoenix (top 10 of 2006)


"Monika H. at Nublu"

Seriously gifted vocalist-composer Monika Heidemann, a jazzer with the heart of a rocker (or is it the other way around?), celebrates the release of her new CD, Disguised as Umbrellas, We Slept, which includes a whole faceful of new songs that combine literate verse, smart attitude and punchy psychedelic-rock textures. 10/22/08 - Time Out NY


Discography

"Bright" 2006
-songs on college radio
"Disguised as Umbrellas, We slept" 2008

Photos

Bio

NYC based Singer and writer, Monika Heidemann creates mysterious melodies over the grind of bizzaro rock and the fringes of jazz, not to mention enough spontaneous ruminations to still question where her music could have come from.

In June 2006, Monika H. independently released her first solo album, "Bright," which has received outstanding reviews and rated one of the Top 10 Albums of 2006 by the Boston Phoenix. The CD features her original songs and two by the late Steve Lacy.

The band now consists of Simon Lott, (the drummer from Charlie Hunter's trio), Rob Jost, (bass player with Tony Sher and Imogen Heap), Gray Mc Murray,(guiter with The Exit) and Erik Deutch, (keys with Charlie Hunter, Erin McKeown).

2007 was an extremely busy year. The Monika H. Band completed two European tours in Spain, Portugal, Lithuanina and Latvia and was the recipient of a travel grant from "Meet the Composer" to perform her music abroad. She recorded her second album (awaiting release!) at Studio G in Brooklyn, recorded/mixed/co-produced by Joel Hamilton (Tom Waits, Book of Knots, Giraffes, Dub Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum). She also filmed and co-produced her first music video, "Your Doom".

Heidemann is the leader of this self-titled NYC based project, the Monika H. Band - now in its third year. Her music and lyrics are a platform for her band to tell the ever-changing musical story of her songs. The music gives a sensation of being perched on a high cliff at a perfect angle of repose, where the fall is visible but not inevitable, sitting just outside of dissonance, barely safe from chaos.

Monika and her band have played NYC stages such as BAM, Luna Lounge, Zebulon, Cornelia Street, Barbes, Tonic, Makor, Sweet Rhythm and, Roulette Intermedium (to name a few) , She has toured the UK, Europe and the US with her various projects. She resides in NYC where she collaborates with many wonderful musicians in projects such as Sam Sadigursky’s “The Words Project” (2007-New Amsterdam)