Kristen Toedtman
Los Angeles, California, United States
Music
Press
On Sunday night at Hotel Café, Kristin Toedtman carried listeners passionately through eight distinctive moods, courtesy of a vibrant eight-song set.
Opening with sassy/jazzy “Bad News,” leading into a Salsa-inspired “Chasing the Dance” and then through bluesey burlesque “Just Trust,” Kristen proved an appreciation for and mastery of multiple genres. While artists and songs are often described by stylistic allusions or emulations, Kristen’s music seems to step beyond this. When she plays a song that is rooted in tango, the temperature of the room is heated a few degrees; when she follows with free-spirited and island-inspired “Day I fell,” you can feel an ocean breeze and visualize birds flapping by.
Although Kristen’s voice has a formally-trained operatic quality to it, it never borders on pretentious or over-worked; she does “effortless” in the way that a true professional should. It is a real gift to make people in the audience feel like “anyone can do what I’m doing”, because when people believe this sense of ease, they are empowered to sing along, tap their feet, and experience the music by giving back to it.
Kristen classifies herself as an Acoustic/Soul/Pop artist, yet this is a bit of a pigeon-hole description for someone who successfully conducts herself, 2 other vocalists, a dancer, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, Wurlitzer, tambourine and maraca for her first solo show at Hotel Café. As if these talents are not enough, Kristen is also a storyteller. In “Too Soon,” a tender track with chilling guest vocals by Katie Cole, Kristen shows how life can give you all the right answers but at the wrong time. As one moves gradually or swiftly towards a new home, there is much to be missed and found: the pieces of life and of yourself that you have to leave behind, and also the identity that the future needs you to belong to.
The set’s final song “Wrong Time of Year” coupled sensual guitar components with gospel-driven piano and vocalized audience sentiments with lyrics “when can I see you again?” To answer this question, check www.myspace.com/kristentoedtman for upcoming shows. In the mean time, purchase Kristen’s first EP “I Say Tedman” due out this summer.
Review by Bre Goldsmith ( www.bregoldsmith.com ) - LA Acoustic
On Sunday night at Hotel Café, Kristin Toedtman carried listeners passionately through eight distinctive moods, courtesy of a vibrant eight-song set.
Opening with sassy/jazzy “Bad News,” leading into a Salsa-inspired “Chasing the Dance” and then through bluesey burlesque “Just Trust,” Kristen proved an appreciation for and mastery of multiple genres. While artists and songs are often described by stylistic allusions or emulations, Kristen’s music seems to step beyond this. When she plays a song that is rooted in tango, the temperature of the room is heated a few degrees; when she follows with free-spirited and island-inspired “Day I fell,” you can feel an ocean breeze and visualize birds flapping by.
Although Kristen’s voice has a formally-trained operatic quality to it, it never borders on pretentious or over-worked; she does “effortless” in the way that a true professional should. It is a real gift to make people in the audience feel like “anyone can do what I’m doing”, because when people believe this sense of ease, they are empowered to sing along, tap their feet, and experience the music by giving back to it.
Kristen classifies herself as an Acoustic/Soul/Pop artist, yet this is a bit of a pigeon-hole description for someone who successfully conducts herself, 2 other vocalists, a dancer, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, Wurlitzer, tambourine and maraca for her first solo show at Hotel Café. As if these talents are not enough, Kristen is also a storyteller. In “Too Soon,” a tender track with chilling guest vocals by Katie Cole, Kristen shows how life can give you all the right answers but at the wrong time. As one moves gradually or swiftly towards a new home, there is much to be missed and found: the pieces of life and of yourself that you have to leave behind, and also the identity that the future needs you to belong to.
The set’s final song “Wrong Time of Year” coupled sensual guitar components with gospel-driven piano and vocalized audience sentiments with lyrics “when can I see you again?” To answer this question, check www.myspace.com/kristentoedtman for upcoming shows. In the mean time, purchase Kristen’s first EP “I Say Tedman” due out this summer.
Review by Bre Goldsmith ( www.bregoldsmith.com ) - LA Acoustic
Discography
The Fall by Kristen Toedtman
available on her website and also at iTunes and cdBaby and Amazon.
I Say Tedman, debut EP available at iTunes
Photos
Bio
"Slow-burning soul" is what Kristen brings to her new EP The Fall, released at the top of 2010. Recently chosen as the April Artist of the Month at Music Zeitgeist, their editors say in addition to Carole King and the Band at a gospel picnic, "after six months of exhaustive testing [we] also found traces of Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, two runaways from the Boys Choir of Harlem and a quarter bottle of Southern Comfort."
Kristen and her 7-piece band regularly perform at the Hotel Cafe and Room 5 in Los Angeles and are starting plans on a west coast tour.
On the heels of releasing her self-produced EP 'I Say Tedman,' Kristen knew she had to record her newest songs: classic Soul with gospel & pop flavors. In a word, American. Backed by an all-star band that reads like a Hotel Cafe scene Who's Who, and a formidable choir to boot, first on the list to record was the crowd favorite, "Wrong Time of Year." "It started out as a country song when I sang the first two lines. But then as I wrote the first verse that same day, BAM! it was a Soul song." Not surprising for someone who counts as her influences Otis Redding, Bill Withers, & Jackie Wilson to name a few.
The truth is, Kristen lives a double musical life. She emerged from the classical conservatory world with a degree in operatic singing with a penchant for singing twentieth-century compositions. Fortunately for Kristen, she was able to let go of the rigidity of vocal technique and embrace the voice that would emerge in the twilight hours.
Nowadays, a real-life working musician in Los Angeles, Kristen can find herself performing at the prestigious Hotel Cafe with her band or singing back-up for The Brendan Hines & Holly Conlan one night and at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles with the LA Master Chorale and the LA Phil the next!
And all of it is synthesized into her style, her command of phrasing, her ear for style and her discipline to do it right. The Fall is available at her website, on iTunes, cdBaby and amazon.com.
Links
