the batterie

"Aubrey Smith has the true voice of heartache and pain. …. instrumental riffs weave together perfectly to create the melancholy backbone for each track …." - WQFS, Guilford College Radio, Greensboro, NC

"Sorry You Missed It, this edgy rock band's debut, crashes into the music scene brimming with passion and power....." - Marie Claire

The Batterie are a fusion of moody rock and roll, trip hop, electronica, lounge, and technical chops. Often the music is fueled with a kind of hinted malevolence in the form of growling guitars that play long sustains. This band is good. O.K., so a broken heart emitting radio waves from the top of a radio tower may not make for the best or most subtle cover art, but you could say the band wears their hearts on their sleeves (or on their radio towers?) Frontwoman Aubrey Smith’s sexy vocals certainly show no emotional restraint. The band’s other principal songwriter, Gabe Hays, gives the album a lounge meets rock feeling with the constant presence of his cool keyboard and laptop work.
Sorry You Missed It is the Batterie’s debut album, and judging from the late publishing of this review, if you haven’t heard of the release yet, the album’s title almost could have been speaking to you. Luckily for you, you’ll take my advice and give this album a listen after reading such a savvy review. Here’s 10 reasons why you’ll follow my advice:

-This album aches with desire.
-Lovelorn and tragic, you can groove to this album if you’re nursing some of your own heartache, or if you just want to hang loose.
-Women-fronted bands are sexy.
-Sorry You Missed It features moody slow-burns like “Wise” and “If and Only” that were written for world-weary souls like yourself who’ve seen too much and need to hear some commentary on the world that isn’t senselessly simplistic.
-The band can also rock out—listen to “Isn’t It In You” for proof.
-“Sorry You Missed It,” the opening track.
-This album is arguably embarking on a new genre whose nickname should include “New York” in it somewhere. I’m not clever enough to figure out what this nickname should be just yet.
-This album marks the beginning of what promises to be an interesting career for four talented people.
-You’ll have an excuse to wear sunglasses at night.
-Because you need to bolster your jazz holdings in your CD collection to gain some more credibility with the hipsters, but by buying this CD you can work towards your goal without actually buying any of that boring jazz music.
-The melodies and song structures are without reproach.

There, I hope that makes you happy. Now be a good junky and go feed your addiction to original music.

Written by Joel Dunham


- CDreviews.com

Aubrey Smith is happy to say the citrus-colored dress she wore as a young singer in the ensemble Sunshine Generation is a thing of the past.

“We had to wear these yellow-and-orange outfits,” said Smith, a 1995 Glenwood Springs High graduate. “My brother, Micah, was in the band, too, and he hated it. It was embarrassing.”

Now 28 and living in New York, Smith and her rock band, the Batterie, released their first album today titled, “Sorry You Missed It.” The CD has already received national acclaim with a rave review in the August issue of Marie Claire magazine.

Smith, a singer and piano player since age 5, met bandmates Gabe Hays and Joaquin C. de Baca while the three were students at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. After two years, she transferred to the Mannes College of Music at New School University in New York City while Hays and de Baca graduated and started the Batterie in Denver. They later moved to New York and added drummer Phil Kester, who lived in Smith’s building in the Bronx, to the mix.
“We started out playing small jazz clubs,” said Smith, who described the band’s music as funk-fueled neo-soul and indie acoustic trip-hop. “Right now we’re just feeling it out. We have a couple of offers from labels.”

Experienced in working with big-name labels, including Sony Music, Smith said the band is looking for the right fit in terms of representation.

“I’ve worked with big record labels before, and they always wanted me to play what they wanted,” she said. “A lot of record labels have a cookie-cutter idea of music. We definitely want a label that will let us play the music we want.”

The high school all-state choir member, who is in the Glenwood Springs Community Center’s Hall of Fame for her music achievements, said she would enjoy success — but not to the extreme.

“I do want people to hear my music,” she said. “I would want to be more like an underground rock star. I don’t like acting like someone I’m not.”

For the last year, Smith and her bandmates have collaborated with veteran rock producers Joe Blaney — who has worked with the Clash, the Ravonettes, Lauryn Hill and Prince — and engineer Dan Grigsby to independently release “Sorry You Missed It.” The Batterie recorded the album in April 2004, and it took a year for the band to mix the tracks and fund its release.

“We definitely put our hearts and souls into it,” she said. “It took us a long time because we were on a minimal budget, but we had some good help.”

On the CD Baby Web site, where “Sorry You Missed It” is available for purchase, Grigsby said he anticipated working with the Batterie because of its distinctive musical approach.

“… It’s progressive but without the pretense that most new bands have,” he said. “Aubrey’s voice is like a Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday mix, and her sexy lyrics make you want to reach out and touch her. These guys are real close to it.”
A child of the ’80s and ’90s who started out signing with the international children’s performing group Sunshine Generation, Smith said her influences range from Holiday and Bjork to Jeff Buckley and Sonic Youth.

“We’re all definitely into funk, blues, rhythm and blues and avant-garde classical stuff,” she said. “And definitely jazz has an influence on all of us.”

To learn more about Smith and her band, visit www.thebatterie.com. Preview tracks from the band’s debut CD at myspace.com/thebatterie. “Sorry You Missed It” is available from www.cdbaby.com/cd/batterie or at Glenwood Music - Glennwood Springs Post Independent

"....an album reminiscent of Hooverphonic and ealry Siouxsie and the Banshees. Smith's haunting voice complements the crunching melodies of her band mates. The title track exemplifies the angry but mature melodies this band of lovelorn misfits can create ... the Batterie's debut album will leave you sorry - if you missed it, that is." - Rob DeWalt - Pasatiempo (Santa Fe New Mexican Weekly Arts Magazine)

"The Batterie has a great and interesting musical approach. Progressive but without the pretense most new bands have. Aubrey's voice is like a Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday mix and her sexy lyrics make you want to reach out and touch her…” - Dan Grigsby (the Pretenders, Keith Richards), independent producer/engineer NYC

The dynamic vocalist Aubrey Smith fronts the Batterie and they play tight, soulful music.

"Isn't it you" is rockin' and suspenseful all at once. Gabe Hays plays an expressive guitar on it.

"Angry Happy" is a nice title for a groove-oriented atmospheric track. Smith's lovely vocal recalls Skye from Morcheeba.

"Wise" is a slow-burning song with a nice soulful mood. This is a nice and varied debut by a gifted band.

a Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell - Collected Sounds Women in Music