2014
For about a decade the internationally staffed trio Jahcoozi has been dedicating their talents to their very own draft of bass-driven electronic pop music, and only a very persistent form of nightlife fatigue may have excluded Berliners from their presence. But now Sasha Perera, singer of the group, is elsewhere, namely with her solo project Perera Elsewhere. Her first album Everlast, released on the Los Angeles-based boutique label Friends of Friends and decorated with a substantial 7.8 on Pitchfork also sounds like it’s from elsewhere: smoky and eccentric, blurred and displaced, a washed-out sound guides Perera’s voice through dreamy folk-songs, rough-running beats and sloping sequences. Trip Hop, one might call it, not seldomly referencing the likes of Portishead, Tricky or Morcheeba. The result sounds deep, a little bit spooky, pleasantly sloppy, earthy for sure, quite trippy, and –even considering the accelerating circles of retromania– nicely out of time, which, considering the contemporay looks of the project is a highly interesting and also daring combination. So elsewhere Sasha Perera is also a very unique musician, well and equally schooled in the expansion of consciousness, digital aesthetics and good old songwriting.
Super Sunday 2017
When we invited Sasha Perera to Torstraßen Festival in 2014, she had recently placed herself, after her popular club project Jahcoozi, elsewhere. By now, three years later, she has shimmied back into the limelight—that elsewhere is here. Coincidentally, this will be a special record release concert: brand new output is around the corner. Album no. 2 is called All Of This and will be released by the California boutique label Friends of Friends. Sources report that on the album, Perera combines a washed-out pop sound bridging trip hop, ambient, and psychedelic with a post-digital aesthetic. In the process, she deals cleverly with political topics that fall within or between the themes of I, her, and we. We wouldn’t be suprised if a preview or two surfaces before the concert. The first single is called “Something’s Up”—we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. We’re happy to present one of the most interesting musicians this city has to offer.
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