Tag Archives: anji bee

Anji of Lovespirals In-Studio Video #5

The band return with yet another in-studio video! This time Ryan and Anji are in a vocal session for the chorus of new song, “One Of Those Days,” from their upcoming 4th album, Future Past. Anji is a little stuck on how best to do the harmony in the first chorus, trying to choose between two melody lines. This video gives you a different view into the new Lovespirals studio, including glimpses of Ryan’s amps and speakers and some of his guitar collection. Yes, some. Look forward to the next video, where Ryan points out that a 3-part harmony is not a good idea for this Dorian mode song…

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Anji and Ryan in a vocal session for “One Of Those Days”

Lovespirals to Release 'Future Past' Soon

Lovespirals are in the final stages of producing their 4th full-length album, Future Past. The 11 songs comprising this new collection include some of the band’s most ambitious work to date. Band founder, Ryan Lum, has achieved what he feels is truly a big-studio sound in his private home studio. His attention to detail in sound design is born of a true love of the craft, and he’s been perfecting these skills since his first indie release, Idylls, back in 1992. Lum has updated his musical equipment and recording system quite extensively since Lovespirals’ 2007 album, Long Way From Home. This might be most noticeable to the listener in the range of guitar and keyboard sounds used on this album. In addition to the Rhodes piano and Hammond organ featured in the past, Lum has enhanced his vintage keyboard palette with analogue synth and string machine sounds. And guitar tones too have been pushed into new future retro sonics, utilizing both vintage and modern boutique guitars, tube amplifiers, and effects pedals.

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Ryan Lum strums acoustic guitar in Chillcuts Studio

Band vocalist, Anji Bee, who began collaborating with Lum in the early 2000’s, has also worked hard to improve upon her sound and performances. Armed with a new microphone, cabling, and preamp, she has pushed her voice to new heights, exploring diverse vocal territory. From deep, sultry rhythm and blues soulfulness to bright, ethereal breathiness — and all points in-between — from a single voice to a 3-part harmony; Bee is the vocal equivalent of a one-man band. And lyrically, Bee has dug deep to unearth some of her most revealing and intimate lyrics yet. Though her song topics have always touched upon more than personal relationships, the abundance of such fare in the past has led critics to label Lovespirals as purveyors of “love songs.” Bee feels confident that will not be the case this time. Interestingly, the two songs most obviously tied to romance are not ballads, but upbeat numbers; “Feel So Good” is soulful funk with a distinctly retro feel, while “Love” is an atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass song, reminiscent of the duo’s earliest work together.

Lovespirals listening to a song playback in studio
Anji & Ryan of Lovespirals listening to a fresh take

Not that this new album is wholly composed of electronica vibes; on the contrary. Lovespirals have achieved a fine balance between their various influences, including moody classic-rock ala Pink Floyd or Fleetwood Mac; groovy late-period Motown soul & funk; bittersweet electropop in the vein of Air or Zero 7 — with a sprinkling of sensual slow-burning blues, and a dash of the soaring ethereality that the band has long been known for. Somehow Lum and Bee are able to take such disparate elements and combine them into an easily identifiable sound that can only be described as “Lovespirals.” Though it’s hard to label their music for today’s highly genre-defined culture, Lovespirals are not concerned. The joy of independent music is that it is not bogged down by marketing research and sales strategies; it exists because of the creator’s love of music. And Future Past is certainly a labor of love for Lovespirals.

Please add yourself to the official Lovespirals newslist to stay informed of release date, news, events, and specials. Check out the video section to view in-studio clips of the band at work on the new album.

Anji Bee of Lovespirals In-Studio Video #1

Lovespirals are hard at work back in the studio finishing up recording and mixing of their upcoming 4th album. Anji shares a bit of her vocal editing session for the song, “Let It Shine,” in this short video. This is the first of a series of videos the band hope to release as they get ready to master and release their new album this fall. You can look forward to a sneak peek of Ryan recording guitar and bass, and possibly keyboards, from another track on the album in a future video. The duo also perform a track or two acoustically for another video and who knows what else? Anyway, enjoy this first installment recorded with the Mino HD camcorder.

By the way, these videos are being hosted by the Lovespirals Facebook Page.

Anji in Lovespirals’ Chillcuts Studio working on a new track

Chillin’ with Lovespirals #62

Lovespirals finally take a moment for the first band podcast of the year! Anji starts it off with a quick overview of the past month, including seeing the band’s good pal, CC Chapman, get interviewed by CNN during the Presidential Inauguration — go CC! Then the band get into the nitty gritty of recent events like the latest neighbor noise torments and the big So Cal rainstorm, plus hating on Grammys, announcing the official release date and chart news of the Damien.S VS Lovespirals remix EP of “This Truth” on Loverush Digital (DMC is currently listing “This Truth” at #2 on the World Trance Chart!!!), rediscovering Atmospheric Drum & Bass (see: Blu Mar Ten and Below Zero), writing and recording songs for the new album, more cable & TV placements, pimping the new Lovespirals Twitter account, discussing how using a cute picture of a girl will get you more friends on Twitter, getting excited over the new Dalai Lama Twitter account (which was suspended at time of posting…), seeing BB King in concert, buying tickets for Robert Cray and The Dead, pimping the Lovespirals Facebook Page, and being confused if people communicate with us via site comment, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or email (Bente DID comment at the blog, btw!). The show closes out with a clip of “This Truth (Adam Fielding Chilled Out Mix)” which you can hear in full on The Chillcast #150 over at www.anjibee.com.

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Download Chillin’ with Lovespirals #62 MP3

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This Truth Tops Dance Charts

Hot new UK dance music label, Loverush Digital, is about to drop a “Damien.S VS Lovespirals” branded set of remixes of our single, “This Truth,” on February 9th. UK radio and club DJs, however, have already been spinning advanced copies the past few weeks. To our delight, the EP has been blazing up various club charts!

DMC is currently listing “This Truth” at #4 on the UK Club Chart and the World House Chart, #6 on the Club 2009 Test Chart, #10 for the UK Chart, World Commerical Chart, and World Chart plus #16 on the UK Monthly Chart and #18 on the World Monthly Chart.

We’re going up against some pretty steep competition from the likes of Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson, and being a spot ahead of “Single Ladies” on the UK Club is just insane and surreal…

[update: The single went on to reach #2 on the DMC World Trance Chart, #4 on the DMC World House Chart and #8 on the UK Music Week Club Charts!]

Damien.S VS Lovespirals "This Truth" #2 on DMC World Trance Chart
Damien.S VS Lovespirals "This Truth" #2 on DMC World Trance Chart

This Truth (Damien.S VS Lovespirals Radio Edit)


This Truth (Adam Fielding Chilled Out Mix)

Support for the track has been great and we’re excited to be played on shows and stations including Housesssions with Denny Dowd on Juice FM, PH Factor on Energy FM, Club Control with DJ Confusion, and Twilight on Pulse. Reactions have been fantastic, as well. DJs are reporting lots of dancefloor love and even requests!

John McCormick (Deep 6, Fury Murrys, The Hive, Yates) 10/10
This has created one of the biggest buzzes on the floors I’ve seen in ages. Its an enormous winner and packs the floors everytime without fail. Superb mix package. Top stuff all round!

DJ Crispian Aldis (Elemental, Havanah, Paradise) 10/10
This is good and is causing quite a stir in my sets. Loads of fab mixes to choose from. Top track, top label. I can see big things for Loverush in 2009.

Beaker (Berties, Bunters, Divas, Red Square) 9/10
I love the feel to this track, she has such a haunting voice. You can’t help but hear it. It’s such a smooth chill out dance track that works really well.

John J (Club DNA, Liquid Lounge, Wigan Pier) 9/10
LOVIN THIS! Quality vocal trancer with a wicked package of mixers. Fave is Juno Synclair vs Craig Bailey Remix.

Also available digitally via JunoDownload and AudioJelly and XPressBeats

Chillin' with Lovespirals #61

At the behest of Robert Fischer, Ryan and Anji sat down for a rather long wrap up show for the end of 2008. Lovespirals discuss their use of Twitter, Ryan’s continued tone quest including the Red Witch Deluxe Moon Phaser, Fulltone Mini Deja and Voo Doo Lab Micro Vibe pedals, the Nash Guitar “Do Not Play” list, favorite Will Ferrell films, Anji liking Paul Rudd, David Lynch,reliced guitars (see Jonathan Wilson AKA Greenwich Village Custom Guitars, see John Mayer’s Fender Custom Shop guitar), the persuit of perfection, their love of BB King and Robert Cray‘s tone, working on a new song (“Feel So Good”) with old lyrics, airplay of “This Truth” remixes by Damien.S and The Grooveblaster, the new Anji Bee Ringtone Set on MacMost, a recent Chandeen interview on Michael Floyd’s site, and more.

[audio:http://media.podshow.com/media/3839/episodes/137502/chillinwithlovespirals-137502-12-24-2008_pshow_281792.mp3]

Download Chillin’ with Lovespirals #61 MP3

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Free Anji Bee Ringtone Set

Just in time for the holidays; the gift of free Anji Bee ringtones! I met up with MacMost vidcast host, producer and blogger, Gary Rosenzweig, at the New Media Expo earlier this year and we got to talking about music. I was tickled when he said he’d like to feature me as the first in a series of podsafe musicians for his popular MacMost Ringtone collection.

It was fun creating loops of songs from my musical catalog in various electronica genres. I made a mix of ambient vocal passages, lyrical snippets and spoken word from my collaborations with Bitstream Dream, Chukimai, Kou Chou Ching, The Grooveblaster, Lovespirals, Moosefrog, Snoblind, and War-N of Hungry Lucy. Hope you find something ya dig!

Los Angeles artist Anji Bee, known for her smooth vocals and music podcasts, can now be heard whenever someone calls you on your iPhone. She is featured on the latest set of ringtones from MacMost.com, the Mac news, tutorial and iPhone content Web site.

MacMost began providing free iPhone ringtones earlier in 2008 as an alternative to pay-per-song downloads at the iTunes music store or illegal music downloads elsewhere. There are now 15 sets of ringtones in the MacMost collection. They feature everything from holiday sounds to short, original musical creations.

“One of the ideas we had for the free ringtones was to use them to promote artists,” said Rosenzweig. “We knew Anji Bee from her work as a podcaster and thought it would be perfect to begin with her.”

The Anji Bee Ringtone Set features sections of Anji’s work with various other artists, as well as her podcast theme and vocal recorded specifically for the ringtone set.

Chillin' with Lovespirals #60

Chillin with Lovespirals logo[audio:http://media.podshow.com/media/3839/episodes/134234/chillinwithlovespirals-134234-11-25-2008_pshow_278324.mp3]

Download Chillin’ with Lovespirals #60 MP3

Ryan and Anji get you caught up on the latest Lovespirals goings-on with topics that include Obama’s win, the quest for Tone, using Griffin iTalk to record song demos on the iPhone, recording a new Lovespirals album, Loverush Digital releasing a new set of This Truth remixes in December, Anji working with The Grooveblaster, our feature on the Music for Midnight podcast, a listener question via Seesmic from CocteauBoy, Lovespirals on Twitter and Blip.FM, Blip.FM’s policy change, and more. Plus the band share the working demo of their latest song in progress, “Future Past,” in it’s entirety. Other folks/things mentioned in this episode are Armin Van Buuren, KCRW, Hungry Lucy, Ed’s Mixed Bag, Speljamr, and CC Chapman.

Ryan @ Tone Merchants

Ryan checks out the pedal selection at Tone Merchants

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Chillin' with Lovespirals #59

Chillin with Lovespirals logo[audio:http://m.podshow.com/media/3839/episodes/131052/chillinwithlovespirals-131052-10-30-2008.mp3]

Download Chillin’ with Lovespirals #59 MP3

Ryan and Anji chat about El Dia de los Muertos, being excited to vote for Barack Obama at the upcoming the presidental election, contributing to the Rhythms in Black Satin “Get Out and Vote!” collabocast, high tech camping on Catalina with Ryan’s jailbroke first gen iPhone, and V-Moda Vibe Duo headphones, writing and recording for a new Lovespirals album, shopping at Tone Merchants (we called them Tone Vendor, which is an online music store who carries some Lovespirals album – oops!), the T Rex Replica delay pedal, Guitar Center being too loud, Damien.S VS Lovespirals coming out soon on Loverush Digital with remixes by Adam Fielding and Avatar One, Anji being a gues on the new album by The Grooveblaster, voting for The Chillcast with Anji Bee as the Best Podsafe Music Podcast at podcastawards.com, and using blip.fm to help promote your music utlizing the additional functionality of Twitter and Amazon Digital. The show closes with “Summer Days (ft. Anji Bee)” by The Grooveblaster from Cities, Streets, and Bebop Nights in full! This track is available to podcasters via Anji Bee’s Podsafe Music Network page.

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Music for Midnight Lovespirals Feature

Austin Beeman graciously invited band vocalist, Anji Bee, to guest host a special episode of his new chillout music podcast. Music For Midnight Episode #13 is a spotlight on Lovespirals, and in particular, the many remixes of Lovespirals found on the Podsafe Music Network. Anji comments between tracks about how the various remixes came into being and how the band feel about remixes of their music. Austin closes out the show with his personal favorite remix, the awesome Karmacoda Remix of “Motherless Child.” Download show mp3 from iTunes

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Stream Music for Midnight #13: Lovespirals Remixes

Lovespirals 'This Truth EP' on sale at iTunes & Amazon

This Truth EPLovespirals recently collaborated with loop producers, Peace Love Productions, on what turned out to be a very fruitful remix competition. As part of the contest, the band decided to release a digital “EP” of some of their favorite productions. The 9 unique remixes of this 2nd single from Lovespirals’ 3rd album, Long Way From Home, hail from an international group of producers who have all put their own unique stamp on this slightly retro-soul inflected tune.  From sultry downtempo to upbeat trance, each mix puts a different twist on Anji Bee’s heartfelt, soulful vocals. Many of the mixes cleverly include Ryan Lum’s bluesy electric guitar leads, as well, lending an intriguing counterpoint to the mostly dance oriented mixes. Remixers include the contest winner, Pomatic, and runner-up, Kambronn, plus The Grooveblaster (whom Anji has just collaborated with on his upcoming 2nd album), hEADaCHE, Lthrboots, TT&Yosh, donOesterby, and very special remix by fellow Projekt artist, Soul Whirling Somewhere. Rounding out the EP is the original mix of “This Truth.” The album is available now on iTunes + and Amazon Digital, as well as eMusic, Rhapsody, Amie Street, and Napster. Check out the full EP and download 1 free track from Last.FM.

Lovespiralsgasms: Ryan & Anji Host Auralgasms Radio

auralgasms radioIn case you didn’t hear the band’s 1 hour guest spot on Auralgasms Radio last night, don’t cry! While you did miss out on a fun chat session in the Auralgasms chatroom with Lovespirals at least you can hear a pristine archival copy of the show. Ryan and Anji chat between each song, giving not only track information, but a little insight into the music and musicians involved. The show seemed to be a big hit last night, so hopefully you’ll love it, too! Almost forgot to mention, this was the world premier of the completed SWS remix of “This Truth” – and boy, is it a goodie!!!

  1. “Sundrenched” Lovespirals Long Way From Home (2007) Lovespirals - Long Way from Home
  2. “Motherless Child (Karmacoda Remix)” Lovespirals Motherless Child EP (2007) Lovespirals - Motherless Child - EP
  3. “Walk Away (Bitstream Dream Remix)” Lovespirals Walk Away EP (2004)  Download Free Mp3
  4. “This Truth (Soul Whirling Somewhere Remix) This Truth EP (2008)  — unreleased
  5. “Depression Glass” Love Spirals Downwards Ardor [Remastered Reissue] (2007) Love Spirals Downwards - Ardor [Remastered Reissue]
  6. “Unraveling” Liquid State Late Bloom (2008) Liquid State - Late Bloom
  7. “Accomplice” Melodyguild Aitu EP (2008) Melodyguild - Aitu - EP
  8. “An Angel, Ameliorate” Falling You Human (2006) Falling You - Human
  9. “Tomorrow [Hidden Track following “Dreaming a Thousand Dreams]” Chandeen Teenage Poetry (2008) Chandeen - Teenage Poetry
  10. “Lazy Love Days” Lovespirals Long Way From Home (2007) Lovespirals - Long Way from Home

Thanks to Mikey for setting up this fun show and to everyone who tuned in and came by to chat – especially Riki and CocteauBoy! Music provided by the Podsafe Music Network, Projekt Records, and the bands themselves.

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Download Lovespiralsgasms Radio Show (mp3)