Anika - EP - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Anika channels her frustration, anger, and confusion with the world into her third album, Abyss. Recorded live to tape at Berlin's legendary Hansa Studios, the album captures raw energy with minimal overdubs, resulting in a visceral and urgent 10-track journey fueled by intense emotions. The recording process, done in just a few days with a live band, emphasizes immediacy, offering a sound that's both physical and direct. Abyss reflects Anika's desire to create a space where people can unite and feel free to express themselves amidst the chaos of the world. With influences ranging from 90s grunge and Courtney Love to Patti Smith and Genesis P-Orridge, the album is driven by a rebellious spirit. Tracks like InchOne Way TicketInch critique the rise of fascism, while InchHearsayInch takes on the divisiveness of fake news, revealing Anika's determination to confront the complexities of our current moment. The album's raw, emotional power is matched by it's physicality. Anika's goal is to take listeners out of their heads and back into their bodies, offering a through the music and live performances. This is a space to reclaim the connection between mind and body-something she feels is increasingly lost in today's world. Her desire to create that energy on stage is reflected in Abyss's dense, pounding rhythms, which build on the energy of 90s alt-rock. Abyss also delves into the intense tensions between the left and right in contemporary society, exploring the complexities of human imperfection and healthy debate. From the thrashing intensity of InchOxygenInch to the melancholic InchButtercups,Inch the album refuses to shy away from uncomfortable truths. Anika boldly confronts her own raw emotions, as exemplified in the candid lyrics of InchWalk Away,Inch where she reflects on discontent with herself and the world. With Abyss, Anika invites listeners into a space for ,

Mille Fleurs - Codex Las Huelgas Music from 13th Ctry Spain [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/27/2004

When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson - better known simply as Anika - quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art - or simply tried to live through - the recent global pandemic. InchIt's a moment caught in time,Inch she says of Change, her much-anticipated new record. Given that it has been 11 years since the of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite Anika, the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. InchThis album had been planned for a little while and the circumstances of it's inception were quite different to what had been expected. This colored the album quite significantly. The lyrics were all written there on the spot. It's a vomit of emotions, anxieties, empowerment, and of thoughts like-How can this go on? How can we go on?InchRecorded at a time when literally everyone in the world was being forced to take stock, rethink, and reimagine their own place in the cosmos of things, Anika provides the wisened perspective of an outsider. It's a perspective that is not lost on the British ex-pat and former political journalist. Inch'Sand Witches' is about England. My old home,Inch she says. InchI gave up my UK passport when I moved to Berlin 10 years ago. Now I am a foreigner in both lands, belonging to neither. Sometimes I find it hard to recognize the place I came from.InchDespite the subject matter and the circumstances around it's creation, Change itself is ultimately a treatise on optimism. The title track presents the album's message writ large I think we can change, we all have things to learn, about ourselves and about each other. To end the record on such a sanguine note might be one of Change's most revolutionary gestures. InchAnother book that affected the brain of this album wa