Yearly Archives: 2002

Interviews

Lovespirals Interview with DJ Carolee

The following is a transcript of our recent in-studio radio interview at KPSU 1450 AM in Portland, OR.

“A STRANGE CHOICE OF FAVORITES” WITH DJ CAROLEE

DJ CAROLEE: We’re talking with Anji Bee and Ryan Lum, a project recording artist, Love Spirals. As a member of the audience for your Portland show, I have to say one of the songs that I really loved the most… you did a cover of a Billie Holiday tune?
ANJI: Oh no, that was actually our own song.
DJ CAROLEE: It was.
ANJI: It’s just inspired by the music such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
DJ CAROLEE: Oh you’re kidding! I was telling someone at work today, “Oh, they sound like Billie Holliday.” Or “She sounds like Billie Holliday.”
ANJI: That’s right, I mentioned, I don’t know why, like, “You know, like Billie Holliday,” just to put it out there what kind of jazz it was, as opposed to smooth jazz… Kenny G.
RYAN: Like they wrote in the paper about us. [Referencing the Willamette Weekly article]
ANJI: I was like, “No. It’s bebop jazz! This is the good stuff.” (Laughs)
DJ CAROLEE: Yeah, it’s true. It’s interesting that kind of reaction, the Kenny G. jazz reaction is coming out.
RYAN: He was the only one who said it so far.
ANJI: He must not have heard it, is all I can figure out.
DJ CAROLEE: Yeah, I’ve gotta wonder. ‘Cause that song, to me, that was an amazing moment. I mean, first of all, because I think you made a comment during the show about performing that to a gothic audience? At the same time, I really felt like it was perfect for the audience.
ANJI: Great.

Continue reading Lovespirals Interview with DJ Carolee →
Blog

Email List Overhaul

Lovespirals are currently attempting to recreate their fan email list, due to yet another computer meltdown at Lovespirals’ Headquarters (boo hoo). Anyone who has signed up since the new site launch (April 2002) should still be on the list, but older listees may have been lost in the shuffle. To make sure that you receive official Lovespirals updates, please go to the
CONTACT US page to sign up now!

Blog

What a drag…

My old iMac really bit the dust, so I had to get a new one. That’s actually a pretty cool thing, except that I can’t import my contacts into this new email program. So… getting the email list back together is going to be a real pain in the tush! I can’t tell you how many times I have recreated the Lovespirals mailing list since joining the band. Sheesh! Computers!

Man, being in a band is certainly not all glamour. Its more like non-stop work with a little bit of fun thrown in when you’re lucky.

Blog

Back from the road

It’s been a week since we got back for our week on the road, and it’s taken me this long to finally have a chance to write here about it. Anji and I had a great time and want to thank everybody that came out to see us. And also big thanks go out to Mira for getting us off our “we’re too busy to tour” butts and on the road. Mira rocked each night, and whether or not your familiar with them, I highly recommend seeing them. Plus they are nice and friendly people.

We’ll be doing at least one more show, and that’ll be in Los Angeles on October 2. Check our news page for more info on that.

News, Press, Reviews

New 'Windblown Kiss' Reviews

A number of positive reviews have gone online at the following music sites:

JazzReview.com: “With a touch of soft blues and world music motifs, this entry into the smooth jazz category is a surefire hit and should appeal to a wide listening audience. The music is refreshingly original and likeable, enjoyable in all ways. Ryan Lum is a master of guitar, his techniques fresh and pleasant, and the sensual vocals of Anji Bee perfectly reflect the high quality of the musical compositions. Windblown Kiss is a magical listening experience, and filled with sensitivity and beautiful soft jazz sounds. Lovespirals is topnotch.”

AmbientTrance.org: “What’s in a name-change? Just by dropping the ballast of “downwards” from the previous moniker, Lovespirals drifts upward into the light (and surprisingly “straight”) musical forms which float like a Windblown Kiss. Rather than prior scenes of swirly guitartronic etherality, Ryan Lum with new vocalist, Anji Bee, spin up sweet, bouncy, loungey songs which shift between various flavors of exotica, often with nostalgic airs. Lovespirals soars on Darkwave’s lightest mists, arising with only a few shadows tainting the warmth and intimacy of Windblown Kiss. So nicely done I don’t much flinch at the “normalcy” as it’s obscured by lush artistry and sensuality. “

MusicReviewer.com: “Founder and long time force behind Projekt band Love Spirals Downwards, Ryan Lum has a new partner, a new band name, and a new style. Leaving long time partner Suzanne Perry — and quite a bit of the Love Spirals Downwards formula — behind, Lum and Bee have come up with an album that grabs you from the first note. Anji Bee has an incredible voice that moves from sultry to sensual to surreal to earthy, that winds its way around the guitar work of Ryan Lum like smoke. Where Perry always sounded sweet and ethereal no matter what she was singing, Bee showcases a wide variety of vocal styling, which, in my opinion, gives the duo much greater latitude on this and future albums. I totally respect what Lum and Bee are trying to put across here and I think this partnership may go much farther than Love Spirals Downwards did – and that’s saying a lot!”

GothicVixen.net: “A strange blend of diverse cultural influences, Windblown Kiss is an eclectic collection of gothic-flavored world music, featuring vocals from Anji Bee and the songwriting and instrumentation of Ryan Lum… Overall, the album is engaging, and successful in creating a dark and dreamy mood. Anji Bee handles both lead and backing vocals with equal grace, displaying excellent range and control. Lum’s songwriting continues to improve, making this release perhaps his most impressive to date, and his guitar work is precise and crisp throughout. More importantly, the musical chemistry between the artists is obvious, more so than in Lum’s previous work with Suzanne Perry in Love Spirals Downwards. Spanning four languages, more than a dozen instruments, and too many cultures to count, Windblown Kiss is a definite must-have for fans of Love Spirals Downwards, other Projekt releases, and world music.”

Blog

KPSU Interview

While in Portland, we hooked up with Carolee, a new DJ at Portland State University’s college radio station. She was nice enough to burn us a CD of the interview and acoustic set. I edited the interview down from a half hour to 14 minutes, and added in backing music, to put up on Mp3.com for everyone to hear. That should go up pretty quickly, so keep your eye out at http://www.mp3.com/lovespirals. Maybe later I’ll try to put up one of the acoustic songs we did, too.

Poor Carolee was so nervous having us up! I guess we were the first band she’s had to the station, so it was all new for her. I’m used to college radio from my 3 years at KUCI. Ryan’s been at quite a number of college stations (including KUCI) that it’s old hat for him, as well. So it was probably good that we were the band to break her in. : ) Oh yeah, she mentioned on air that she’d read our journal, so if you’re reading right now, Carolee — HI!

Interviews

Outsight Radio Hours Interview (2002)

Here’s a partial transcript of the interview Tom Schulte did with Anji recently on his Internet radio show, for those that aren’t able to stream audio. Outsight is a featured archival broadcast of the Music Sojourn site so go listen to it if you can!

Tom: Been enjoying ‘Windblown Kiss.” Been playing it for the audience here. Ya happy with it?

Anji: Yeah, yeah it turned out a lot differently than probably people might have expected, but… You know, we kinda started out one way… at first we were working on a trip hop song, and then we wrote, uh, the first song, “Oh So Long,” and we realized that we were kinda on to something a little different. We just kinda went with it. Made kind of a rock album. With jazz. 

Tom: Yeah, definitely, and, um, some sort of flamenco, soul, folk touches — it’s beyond retro, it’s almost vintage at times.

Continue reading Outsight Radio Hours Interview (2002) →
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Kenny G.? Really?!?

There was one downer moment in the tour I forgot to mention… In Oregon, the Willamette Weekly printed the most preposterous preview of our show possible! We were stunned to read this guy’s outrageously incorrect summation of our sound:

Lovespirals evolved from it’s former incarnation — Love Spirals Downward[sic], a perfectly listenable Cocteau Twins clone — into a shimmery, soft-focus New Age monster who think Kenny G saxophone and smooth-jazz piano are signifers of a newfound maturity. No dice.

What???? We don’t even use piano in our music — unless you count the one song with funky Rhodes electric piano, which hardly qualifies as “smooth-jazz” or “new age”!!! Doron is certainly not like Kenny G., and he wasn’t on the tour, anyway… Gads! Even the promoter of the Portland show was expecting the worst after reading that review; he came up to us right after we finished playing to say that we were much, much better than he expected, and we “didn’t sound jazz at all!” Haha!

Man, you drive all the way out from L.A. to do a special performance, and get totally panned before you even arrive. Thanks a lot, John Graham, you jerk!!!

Blog

Back from Tour

Lovespirals have returned from their West Coast mini tour with Mira, and are busy scheduling additional dates for this year. So far, Los Angeles has been added for October 2nd, at the Knitting Factory. The band plans to include saxist, Doron Orenstein, for this date.

DJ Victoria Star, of KZSC in Santa Cruz, CA wrote the following review of the first show date:

San Francisco Projekt fans were given a spectacular treat last night when artists Mira and Lovespirals joined together for an evening of musical bliss at The Pound.

Once again changing musical directions, Anji Bee and Ryan Lum presented their lush new sound as a taunting and swanky invitation to sing along. Taking the stage with a smile that never left her face, Anji’s vocal mastery was particularly poignant on new tracks “Oh So Long” and “Swollen Sea.”

Blog

Back home from tour

The mini tour is over, and boy, are we exhausted. So much driving! The shows all went well, as did the radio interview and show. We saw a lot of friends and family along the way, and made a few new friends. Some CDs were sold, fans made, sights seen, and the like.

Sadly, when we returned home, my beloved iMac would not power up. I do all the band work from my iMac, so this is very bad news. We took it to the local Apple store, and we’re praying that the Geniuses there can mend it back to health. If not, we’ll have to have the data transferred out onto another computer… But let’s keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t come to that! Send my iMac your prayers!

Press, Reviews

In Music We Trust Portland Show Review

A brief, but largely positive review of our performance at Portland’s Paris Theatre on August 23rd has appeared on the In Music We Trust site:

Next came the technical difficulties but delicious music of Lovespirals. While guitarist Ryan Lum and singer Anji Bee clearly seemed displeased with how their show was going, it did not stop them from presenting a lovely display of some obvious hard work. Closing out the set with a few jazz numbers, the audience weaved back and forth with Bee as she appeared as a nightclub chanteuse a little out of her element. Bee acknowledged this by remarking, “We don’t know how Mira does it. They’ve got like twelve shows left. This is only our third, and we’re like, ‘O, we want to go home.'” Nevertheless, Lovespirals presented their new material, which is absolutely marvelous, and sparked some interest.

You can read the full piece, which is mostly about the headlining band, Mira, at the In Music We Trust SHOW REVIEW: Mira, Lovespirals and Summerland page. Very happy to have them call this “the sexiest concert bill of 2002, btw.”

Anji Bee of Lovespirals performing at the Paris Theatre in Portland, OR
Ryan Lum of Lovespirals performing at the Paris Theatre in Portland OR