Jesca Hoop - April 2008 Flower-Powered Artist @ KGRL.fm.

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Official Website: http://www.jescahoop.com
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/jescahoop

It must have been fate that played a huge role in the musical career of our April 2008 Flower-Powered Artist of the Month. The events leading up to her break in the music scene are a good relief, knowing that good music no matter what has a way of getting out. We are proud to present our April 2008 FPA, Jesca Hoop.

Jesca was born in California to strict Mormon parents. She lived most of her early years in the foothills of Sonoma County, listening to and singing murder ballads and church songs. She had her training and guidance in the fundamentals of using the voice through her mother, who is a classical operatic singer. Later on, she was formally trained in choral music, where she learned to sing in harmony.

Songwriting started for Jesca at an early age of 6 or 7. At that point, coming up with original songs wasn’t a serious deal yet - and as such, she waned off it for a while--that is, until she joined a band when she picked up songwriting once more. But it wasn’t until fate delivered her to the doorsteps of the Waits family when her songwriting was heightened, thanks to the prodding of the legendary Tom Waits.

The road to her destiny took a lot of twist and turns as she has traveled across Northern California, to Wyoming, then to Arizona where she worked for a rehabilitation program for children. And then came the time where she became a nanny for Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's three children. It was at the same time that she came to work for their family that Jesca decided to make music a career. In her own words, "I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into. I might have taken very different steps if I hadn’t met them." "The steps that I took were very much influenced by my relationship with Tom and Kathleen."

The turn of events that was the foundation of Jesca’s musical career happened around 2004 when Tom sent an early version of Seed Of Wonder to Lionel Conway who then passed it on to the host of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, Nic Harcourt. The raw version of the song was then played on the radio and it immediately raised attention - enough attention to actually make it into one of their most requested song in KCRW's history. With the instant success garnered by the song’s exposure, Jesca exploded into the music biz.

A lot more songwriting, gigs, an EP called Silverscreen Demos, and a record deal with 3 Entertainment / Columbia Records ensued. The next step was to record a full-length. For this, she collaborated with her co-producers Damian Anthony and Tony Berg. The result was a dreamy landscape of musical oddity, Jesca’s debut: Kismet (meaning fate). The album was released on September 2007 to critical acclaim.

The musical journey traveled by Jesca that led to this moment in her newfound career makes Kismet a meaningful title for her debut. Several notable artists were on-board Jesca’s first, including: Police’s famed drummer Stewart Copeland (playing drums on the polished version of Seed Of Wonder) and David Baerwald (co-writing the song Love & Love Again).

More and more ears turned towards Ms. Hoop’s eccentric music. Gigging was elevated from playing small venues to headlining with various popular acts, like the Polyphonic Spree. Also notable was the numerous live performances shared with the Ditty Bops. Currently, she is still busy playing gigs and constantly writing new materials for what is to become the second full-length.

KGRL is very proud to present our April 2008 Flower-Powered Artist, Jesca Hoop. Exciting features await you in this month’s edition, including: a CD review of her 2007 debut album Kismet, , exclusive photos, video streams of Jesca’s February 2008 performance at Temple Bar, as well as our very comprehensive interview with Jesca Hoop in video, audio, and transcribed form.

Don’t forget that we are, as usual, giving away 3 signed Kismet CDs! I know that you know what to do, just e-mail us at (contests @ kgrl.fm – remove spaces) and tell us why you deserve to win. Visit the contest page now for more info!

KGRL had a chance to go on a one on one interview with the ever-so-quirky Ms. Jesca Hoop right after her performance in Temple Bar - 02.19.08.

Watch the exclusive Jesca Hoop video interview using the player below!
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Jesca Hoop Video Interview (Click to launch the player!)
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Listen to Jesca Hoop's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:

Transcription excerpt from the interview:

KGRL: How did you get started with music?

Jesca Hoop: You know what? I was just thinking about it the other day. I remember writing -- and this hadn't occurred to me before just the other day -- I remember writing or coming up with songs when I was six or seven [years old]. I dropped it for awhile (the writing). I mean, I don't know if I ever dropped it, but I didn't recall until just the other day that I had started coming up with my own original songs back in that time period, when I was in preschool.

KGRL: Your music is a bit hard to classify as it crosses over a lot of genres. How would you describe your music to someone who has not heard you yet?

Jesca Hoop: I just say it's kind of Outlaw music . . . It's defiant in terms of . . . It's a real kind of spontaneous combination of flavors and things that u would not expect to be connected to each other. I feel like that's the world in general right now. You can meet any person and find unexpected connections with that person. Things that influence them in their lives and the kind of music that they listen to. What you expect them to listen to is very unpredictable right now. The music is unpredictable.

-> READ the full transcript along with high/low quality mp3 of the Interview by Clicking Here! <-

Kismet, a derivative word - meaning fate, is an apt title for the debut album of an artist whose musical career abruptly exploded into the music scene. One may easily surmise that it refers to how a single song caused so much a stir that there was already a buzz before even having a full album. For Jesca, the title bears on a more personal reason. The album cover includes a framed photo of her mom. And she is why the record was named as such, a tribute to the fate of her mother. Reviewing this record is pretty much like unraveling the journeys of Miss Hoop. Shall we begin?

There’s nothing better to start a journey than the sound of summer. Summertime opens the record with a crow singing along to pendulous beats of an effects-processed guitar. The yodelly melody highlights the atmosphere created by the simplistic nature of the background music--that is, until the middle of the song where the drum kicks in and everything is turned up a notch, just like how the musical poetry elicits a playful turn. Whatever your take on the lyric is, you can opt to forget about the words and still get sucked into the joyous charm the melody radiates.

Seed Of Wonder is simply a wondrous musical treat. There is a reason for the buzz it created when the song came out years ago in its very raw form. The album version was blessed with the drumming excellence of Police’s Stewart Copeland. The drumbeats add flavor to the already complexly-patterned rhythm. The song doesn’t have much in the way of singing, but to its merit, it is graced with wonderfully phrased poetry in motion that keeps it interesting throughout the entire six minutes.

Enemy follows up with a laid back melody that is almost meditative. The back-up vocal harmony gives a Gregorian chant-like atmosphere. This track presents a stark contrast to the previous two tracks that are upbeat. While the next track Silverscreen is presented in a more playful manner, playful and spooky at the same time. Playful it is in the words that smoothly roll out of Jesca’s tongue. It is spooky in some parts of the vocal delivery as it is with the theme. The song talks of a myth Jesca was taught as a child, regarding an afterlife screening of the bad things one did in life.

Money picks up the pace and lays the smackdown on artist sell-outs. No holds barred lyrics, fanciful rhymes, and deliciously upbeat rhythm makes this one a standout. "Money… Money makes the world go round. Money… Money will make you change your sound, if the price is right. You forfeit your style without a fight." Music box-inspired track titled Dreams In The Hollow prances around merrily right after Money. The guitar up-picking somewhat mimics the music box playing in bits throughout the song. The song is not much of a standout but still is a pretty good listen.

The tribute song to the Katrina Hurricane victims, Love Is All We Have, is appropriately somber and emotional. The lyrics and melody paint a vivid imagery of the tragedy. This is probably one of the tracks where we hear a distinct singing voice from Jesca – perfectly soothing. Like a rollercoaster ride, right after a gloomy track, we are thrust to a sudden upbeat track that feels very different from the rest of the album--different in a way that this track, titled Intelligentactile 101, is the most poppy sounding. Admittedly, Jesca wrote the track because she wanted to express how plastic she can sound. The song reminds us a bit of Tegan & Sara. In the end, pop is good – this song is good. It gives the album quite the variety Jesca desired.

Havoc In Heaven takes us back to the quirkiness. This folksy acoustic-guitar driven track is probably the only song on the CD that failed to arouse our musical taste buds. It tastes a little bland. But don’t throw your hopes for the last tracks out the back door yet. The next track, Out The Back Door, gets us back into the groove. This song is almost hip-hop sounding but the only difference is that I actually enjoy listening to this one.

Finally, just when you think that Jesca has run out of curveballs to throw at the listeners, we are thrown her version of "The Sound Of Music." This song was co-written with David Baerwald. This track sounds truly majestic - a fitting closure to an album of grand musical oddity.

Some listeners may have a hard time digesting the eccentricity of Jesca’s musical creations. But to those who savor a delightful meal of exotic musical cuisine, this one is a definite must-have. Two thumbs and toes up to Jesca Hoop for successfully accomplishing the goal of bringing in music that sounds completely different.

Kismet CD - Buy It Now (Click Here)!

Tracklist:

Summertime
Seed Of Wonder
Enemy
Silverscreen
Money
Dreams In The Hollow
Love Is All We Have
Intelligentactile 101
Havoc In Heaven
Out The Back Door
Love And Love Again

These wonderfully detailed photos were provided by our good friend Koga.

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KGRL proudly presents the Jesca Hoop performance @ Temple Bar 02.19.08. The streams can be viewed using our embedded flash player. We do hope you enjoy these wonderful videos.

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