The influence of the Japanese electronics company Casio upon the history of contemporary pop music has been, well, … huge. Martha Rose is one of many songwriters who uses the products of the company, which evolved at a time when the term “artificial intelligence” still brought to mind friendly robots, and which still proves that electronic sounds can be warm and charming. And what else can we tell you about Martha Rose? In the current issue of The Chop, a magazine specializing in “Local Music & Deep Conversations,” the Berlin-based Englishwoman reveals the following: her first guitar was left to her by her first steady boyfriend, at a time when she still played the violin. It was on this guitar that she taught herself the three chords that comprise the core of her music today. She calls her music “English folk.” And she likes Shirley Collins (we do too!). She’s released the album Spit and the EP Affliction, and she’s currently working on a new album. She’s already written ten songs for it. She prefers touring America because she likes the vastness of the landscape. An early-childhood experience with the movie Halloween and the knife phobia that ensued still haunt her today. And, if she were to make a cover, she’d make one of a Kraftwerk song. That’s it for the background info. All in all: exceptionally fabulous songs by the exceptionally fabulous Martha Rose on June 9 at Torstraßen Festival—where else?!

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