NEW MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCE PIECE “MEMORY AS A ROCK OUT OF REACH”

“Memory As A Rock Out Of Reach” is a new performance piece made in collaboration with visual artist Tabitha Nikolai. Commissioned by Amos Oaks at Knoxville Community Media, the piece contains visuals created by Nikolai using Unity, a software used to make video games. However, the visual language here does not look like a typical videogame, as we incorporate degraded scans, 80s media figure collages and impossible spaces. I provide the narrative and sound. Together we both “play” our instruments to create a live performance that is unlike any other I’ve seen. Here is the lil blurb - please be in touch if you would like to host this unique experience! (erikam.anderson@gmail.com)

Memory as a Rock Out of Reach is a new multimedia performance by Erika M. Anderson (EMA) and Tabitha Nikolai. Amidst a soundscape of modular synth, guitar, and spoken word, Anderson scrapes at the contours of what defined her femininity within 1980s material culture: bikini babes, Saturday morning cartoons, and the overlap between them. Using videogame technologies and commercial detritus, Nikolai creates a responsive virtual mindmap that is both humorous and disquieting. Playing their respective instruments, Anderson and Nikolai weave a novel audiovisual duet—a lush and surreal collage that seeks a path through ‘80s excess and away from American Individualism.

NEW BAND ALERT!!!

Happy to announce that I’m singing in a new band, Thrash Palace. AND we have a single out on SubPop as part of their Singles Club!

FROM SUBPOP - Introducing Thrash Palace: A Sonic Adventure in Improvisation

The Thrash Palace story begins in the fall of 2022, when guitarist Sarah Register, celebrated for her work with avant-rock band Talk Normal, Kim Gordon, and UK-based trio Better Corners, sought a collaborative outlet for her production, soundscapes, and evolving vocals. She found a kindred spirit in LA-based producer and XBXRX member Vice Cooler, known for work with Kim Gordon, Peaches, Louisahhh, AH-MER-AH-SU and Ladytron, and as a solo artist. United by their roots in the noisy end of DIY music, they embarked on an impulsive, improvisatory exploration infused with modern pop sensibilities.

The project blossomed into a powerful trio when Sarah invited former bandmate EMA (Erika M. Anderson, also of Gowns, Amps for Christ) to join them at Vice’s studio. The result was a 48-hour recording session in which Thrash Palace was born. Register, Cooler, and Anderson, with their shared histories in American underground music as fuel, found creative harmony – and sonic discord! – through improvisation and experimentation. Free from the confines of a traditional band, they quickly crafted a set of captivating and brash of-the-moment earworms.

Two of those songs form Thrash Palace’s debut single, out now on Sub Pop. On the anthemic “Go,” Anderson's growling voice rides alongside Register’s barnstorming guitar and Cooler’s stadium-ready drums, pounding out an urgent heartbeat. On the flipside, “Teenage Spaceship” twists and turns as Anderson and Register give voice to two narratives, expressed directly to and through the heart, while the music forms a third voice in a language of its own. Taken together, the spontaneous lyrics, distorted and repurposed voices, primal rhythms, melody, chaos, and mesmerizing soundscapes of these two songs offer a tantalizing taste of what’s to come from the trio.

Embodying and expressing the values and experiences of Register, Cooler, and Anderson, Thrash Palace is a celebration of the moment, an exhilarating musical game in which each member builds upon the others' impulses, and three multifaceted artists revel in one another’s talents. Most of all, Thrash Palace is a cathartic and joyous leap forward in the pursuit of sonic freedom.

ema italian film score

The most recent film I scored, Mi Chiedo Quando Ti Manchero, debuted at the Rome Film Festival last October (I got to walk the red carpet!). Since then it has been screening at film festivals across Europe, including Italy, Slovenia and Macedonia. Due to covid the release has been postponed until Spring 2021. The score uses processed autoharp, slide guitar, electronics and original songs. The film has a kind of Heavenly Creatures vibe, which I love. Keep your eyes peeled for release info!

SPRING 2019 - WEST COAST TOUR w LOW

DEPECHE MODE “GLOBAL SPIRIT” Tour 2018

ALBUM