Josephine

Ilker Yücel
Editor, ReGen Magazine
http://www.regenmag.com


“Branching off from their Depeche Mode cover band, Violator, Xtina Rubino, Leigh Regan, and Tracy Thompkins formed Josephine in July of 2008 as an outlet for their original material. Listening to their debut four-track EP, one can immediately detect their influences from even earlier than Depeche Mode’s dark brand of synthpop, drawing primarily on the dreary post-punk styling of Joy Division and The Cure. But before you go thinking that they’re just another knock-off of the proto-goth movement, the trio mixes in some lovely and dreamy textures akin to Slowdive or Lush, sure to send the shoegazers into a psychedelic haze. One need only listen to the opening track, “Help,” with Regan’s bass playing a rhythmic melody so reminiscent of Peter Hook, the song building in intensity from a slow lull to an almost cacophonous lovelorn audio romance. Rubino’s vocals are deep and powerful, if straying just slightly off-key during the more passionate heights, although the bit of rasp and growl she exhibits in “Na Na Na” does add even more power to the song. Like any good post-punk guitarist, her six-string assaults range from ringing siren-like to grating like an amplified chainsaw, while Thompkins’ percussion provides an excellent danceable machine-like precision, even infusing a bit of tribal rhythms in “Down to the Sea.” What ultimately drags the EP down is the production quality, although this can be forgiven since it is a debut demo, and the songs do get stuck in your head in such a way that you feel you’ve heard them before somewhere, like the remnants of a dream, but you can’t quite place where or when. If nothing else, Josephine have the chops to make a name for itself in the indie rock and post-punk music scene.”
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- Regen Magazine

(from newly discovered Pigmint blog archive)
http://pigmint.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html

So last night was a good networking night at matchless. i met up with jessi and her LC partner, tanya buziak, and took a few photos of their featured musicians....all really fxxking talented, i was seriously shocked. one artist in particular who really knocked my socks off is the talented christina rubino, whose strong character is very clearly exemplified by her dominant voice and fearless stage presence. her performance literally awoke me from my mindless sketching and my concentration was so interrupted that i had no choice but to watch her perform and listen to what she had to say. i actually wrote down these lyrics which i liked very much, "I could see God in your face/Kiss the gods in their face," and "Desperate now/Hold the light." christina is also an artist too, and her work featuring her dead doll character can be seen in matchless's foozball room. needless to say, she has a new fan ;). - Vanessa Chan

Artist Cojo illustrates Xtina twice for revolvers August edition

[IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a224/pettycoat4/L-1.jpg[/IMG]

<a href="http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a224/pettycoat4/?action=view&current=L-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a224/pettycoat4/L-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
- Revolver

http://recoveringdj.blogspot.com/

Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday music musings

Song of the Day: "Friday I'm in Love" The Cure

I think I had a T-shirt that said "You've got the disease, we've got The Cure". Not sure where it is, and honestly....not completely sure the t-shirt ever existed. It's possible I made up the concept because I thought it would be a cool shirt to have.

Ahhh, the joy of losing brain cells. At least I'm pretty sure it was fun.

Speaking of The Cure , a friend of mine, who Robert Smith loves has got a new band together, an all-female fab trio called Josephine. Check 'em out online and if you're in the NYC area check 'em out live! They're gonna be huge, so you can say you knew them back in the day. That's always cool. - Susan Cruise