Gorgeous perverts! Emo-fuckin’-clew to another installment of the All-Star Series: the Nostalghia Edition! Yes, this is another one centered on a female artist, because my All-Star Series podcasts up until late 2019 was all male. Totally unintentional, and frankly I’m fuckin’ ashamed of it, but I’m making up for it now, goddamn it!
Okay, so who is Nostalghia? Fuck, if you haven’t heard me yammer the fuck on about her on this podcast yet, I don’t know under which rock you’ve been living. I’ve played her songs countless times ...
Gorgeous perverts! Emo-fuckin’-clew to another installment of the All-Star Series: the Nostalghia Edition! Yes, this is another one centered on a female artist, because my All-Star Series podcasts up until late 2019 was all male. Totally unintentional, and frankly I’m fuckin’ ashamed of it, but I’m making up for it now, goddamn it!
Okay, so who is Nostalghia? Fuck, if you haven’t heard me yammer the fuck on about her on this podcast yet, I don’t know under which rock you’ve been living. I’ve played her songs countless times since I began this podcast back in 2012, but up until 2019, there wasn’t really enough material to make up a full edition. At least, not a full edition as I define it, which is somewhere over 2½-3 hours. Sorry if that’s too fuckin’ long for you, but you’d be surprised how quickly that time flies when you’re focused on something other than the goddamn clock.
Anyway, I digress yet again. Let me just read to you from her bio on her website, because I think it does her far better justice than even I ever could:
NOSTALGHIA’S MUSIC IS BEST DESCRIBED IN PALATE FORM; A VULNERABLE OUTPOUR OF ELEMENTAL EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE MARRIED TO ITS CINEMA OF SOUND, BIRTHING WHAT IS NOW COINED BY FANS AS, “MUSIC FOR THE IMPASSIONED CREATURE.”
JUST SIX YEARS AGO, CALIFORNIA-IRANIAN NATIVE, NOSTALGHIA, FOUND HERSELF HOMELESS IN NORTH SAN FERNANDO VALLEY. AFTER BREAKING INTO A DINGY PIANO ROOM TO SLEEP FOR THE NIGHT, HER LIFE WOULD CHANGE FOREVER. AT THAT TIME, THE UNTRAINED SIREN DIDN'T EVEN KNOW SHE COULD SING OR PLAY. BUT, THAT PIANO, IN THAT ROOM, IN THAT TIME, WOULD TEACH HER EVERYTHING SHE WOULD NEED TO KNOW. SOON AFTER, SHE MET COLLABORATOR ROY GNAN AND IN 2015, RELEASED THEIR FIRST INDEPENDENT ALBUM, CHRYSALIS. RECEIVING PRAISE FOR ITS INNOVATIVELY UNIQUE SYNTHESIS OF PRIMAL POP AND THE AVANT-GARDE, NOSTALGHIA WAS GIVEN ACCOLADE AS A STRONG FORCE ON THE RISE.
THIS LEAD TO NOSTALGHIA APPEARING IN AND WRITING FOR HIT FILMS AND TELEVISION SHOWS INCLUDING JOHN WICK, JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, THE FOLLOWING, THE NBA FINALS, AND SALEM. SHE HAS TOURED WITH 30 SECONDS TO MARS, TV ON THE RADIO, AFI, CHINO MORENO'S CROSSES, AND SERJ TANKIEN, AMONG OTHERS. NOSTALGHIA HAS PERFORMED AT MANY MUSIC FESTIVALS INCLUDING AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, SOUND WAVE, RIOT FEST, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, SUNSET STRIP MUSIC FESTIVAL, OTTAWA BLUES FEST, PEMBERTON MUSIC FESTIVAL, AND HUDSON PROJECT.
NOSTALGHIA'S LIVE SHOW IS BEST DESCRIBED AS, NAKED BENEATH LIGHTS. SHE TRANSPORTS THE AUDIENCE INTO A CATHARTIC DIMENSION, RIDING THE UNIVERSAL WAVES OF FEELING, INTENSITY, AND PASSION; A JOURNEY AND MOVEMENT INTO THE UNKNOWN, A SPIRITUAL TRANSCENDENCE, AND A PLACE WHERE ALL WALKS OF LIFE CAN CONNECT TO THE GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING OF LOVE, PAIN, STRUGGLE, AND TRIUMPH. AS ONE JOURNALIST PUT IT, "NOSTALGHIA HAS A TRULY AUTHENTIC VULNERABILITY THAT IS MOST RARE. I LITERALLY FOUND MYSELF WEEPING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE VENUE."
IN OCTOBER OF 2018, NOSTALGHIA IS SET TO RELEASE HER NEW FULL LENGTH RECORD, IMAGO, THE NEXT STEP IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR DEBUT ALBUM CHRYSALIS. NAKED, VULNERABLE, AND UNVEILED NOW, SHE EMBARKS THROUGH WOMANHOOD ON THE JOURNEY OF IMAGO, A SOUND WHICH COULD DRAW COMPARISONS FROM A DIVERSE AND ECLECTIC GROUP OF ARTISTS INCLUDING AGNES OBEL, FIONA APPLE, BILLIE HOLIDAY, AND BJORK. THE FIRST SINGLE OFF OF IMAGO, LITTLE WHITE MOMENT, BRIDGES THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE ARTIST BREAKING FREE FROM HER SILK COCOON TO THE UNVEILED YOUNG WOMAN IN HER PRESENT STATE OF EVOLUTION.
WHEN ASKED THE DAUNTING QUESTION, "SO WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE?"
NOSTALGHIA RESPONDS WITH A SMIRK AND A WINK, "ONLY A LIFETIME OF CELEBRATED TRANSFORMATIONS."
Pretty fuckin’ awesome, right? Check out her Spotify bio:
“Handwritten love letters. A long conversation with a stranger on the subway. Strolling down the Boulevard gazing up at the autumn leaves. Getting lost. Happy accidents. This is a forgotten time… a forgotten place. The romance of tangible, human contact, the sentimental notion of not being tied to your phone, to your social media feed, to your avatar. Have we all forgotten how to be human? Have we forgotten the notion of Romance? Or is #romance just another hashtag, another Wikipedia entry, another google search, another Tinder swipe? Nostalghia says it best: ‘I am bringing romance back into the tangible world. I want the world to fall in love with what it truly means to be human.’”
Fucking wonderful, in my opinion. I hope you agree. Nostalghia is an artist I would recommend to fans of Fiona Apple, Björk, Tori Amos and the like. Pretty much any particularly soulful female artist, ‘cause she could stand confidently next to any of them even though she’s a relatively newer artist compared to those mentioned. Speaking of which, because she’s relatively new, she deserves our fuckin’ support! Don’t just listen to this edition and hope she tours around your town sometime soon. Go to her webstore and buy some stuff. It’s all very reasonably priced, especially the stuff that’s autographed. Her brand Gorgeous Creature, which is named after one of the songs on Imagō (or vice versa), includes hand-crafted altar pieces, sacred stone jewelry, skincare products, therapeutic oils, all sorts of stuff. I think you might even be able to book what’s known as a metamorphic ritual consultation with her, too. I read about that somewhere on one of her social media outlets a little while ago and I’ve actually considered doing it, hardened skeptic though I am.
What else can I say about this lady? Well, the first time I heard about her was from an article published in LA Weekly in which she and her bandmate Roy Gnan talked about listening to their own music while tripping on mushrooms, and being thoroughly frightened. Of course, I was immediately intrigued, so I went on the internets and found her video for Cool For Chaos, and… FUCK! You’re gonna hear the song in just a bit, but FUCK! If that song doesn’t stick with you for a while, I don’t know. You might be actually dead. You might literally be a lifeless fuckin’ corpse. Even zombies would give it up for that track. In fact, I’m going to include the links to all her music videos next to the appropriate tracks in the tracklist. I haven’t bothered doing that in a while, and I actually should’ve done that for Otep too, so I guess I suck. I’m sorry! I just thought of it now. Ah well, I’m sure you’ll get over it.
What else? What else? Hmmm… Oh! Some of you motherfuckers might know her from John Wick 2! That scene where John goes to kill that lady in the club? The band that’s performing in that scene is Nostalghia! Did they kill it or what?! I was fuckin’ giddy during that scene, especially since I’ve never seen them live. They actually toured with Chino’s Crosses back in mid-2014, but I missed that for… reasons. To be honest, I don’t know how I dropped the ball on that one, because that should’ve been pinging on my radar somethin’ ferocious. That’s like a dream show right there. Anyway, yeah, she also lent her vocals to a Seven Lions track called Serpent of Old that played during the credits of Letterkenny S6E1. I actually knew the track before I saw the episode, and we’ll be hearing that one a little later. If you motherfuckers haven’t seen Letterkenny, fucking watch it. You won’t be sorry. Seven Lions is a melodic dubstep artist that I’ve played plenty of times on this podcast, too. You ought to remember seeing his name.
Anyway, a few audio nerd things to cover before we commence ze yojne:
1. Nostalghia has an album before Chrysalis, which was claimed to be her debut. An album and an EP, actually. The album is called I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch, and the EP is the Cool For Chaos EP.
2. Two tracks from I Am Robot… and two tracks from Cool For Chaos actually ended up on Chrysalis. Those tracks are You + I, I Am Robot…, Homeostasis and Cool For Chaos. Curiously, however, the former 3 tracks are each 20 seconds longer on their original releases than they are on Chrysalis. I guess Roy and Nostalghia felt like the tracks could use some trimming.
3. The track on Chrysalis called Homeostasis is actually called Homeostasis, Got My Gun on the original Cool For Chaos EP. To be honest, there’s a curious lack of information about her first two releases available on the internet. I’m not sure if they were/are trying to bury those releases for some reason, but they did/do exist, and I have physical copies.
4. If you sign up for her mailing list on her website, you can get an unreleased demo of her cover of Lovesong by The Cure. I suggest signing up simply because supporting this woman is the right thing to fuckin’ do, but she did great work with the cover too, and we’ll be hearing that a little later on as well. Actually, in the ID3tag for the song, it says Starshine in the album field, and there’s a track called Starshine on the B-Sides for the Brokenhearted EP. Perhaps Starshine is an upcoming album title? Perhaps it’s since been scrapped? I don’t fuckin’ know, but it’s got me curious.
Also, also, unrelated to Nostalghia but something that I mentioned I’d mention if I figured it out, that track from last week’s edition called Diary by Free The Robots… I did know it. It was one of the last tracks on disc 2 of a mix CD set that Sunny Rae made for me back in 2009. I’m actually quite surprised it came around again like that, and I had a sneaking suspicion that’s where I knew it from, so I put it near the end where I usually put the tracks that put me in mind of her. Put, put, Putty McPutPut.
Anyway, with.all.that.fuckin’.said.and.finally.fuckin’.over.with, do you know what fuckin’ time it is? That’s right. It is time, to yojne.
01 Nostalghia - Cool for Chaos (from Chrysalis & Cool for Chaos EP) {Video: https://youtu.be/we6YN_83Hj8} [00:07:45]
02 Nostalghia - Sunshiny Milk (from Chrysalis) {Video: https://youtu.be/stufDMtzelM} [00:12:17]
03 Nostalghia - Hallelujah (from Wicked Woman) [00:15:12]
04 Nostalghia - Imagō (from Imagō) {Promo video: https://youtu.be/i2Y8hrTu9wM} [00:16:54]
05 Nostalghia - God Be You (from God Be You) {Video: https://youtu.be/4TfFLaO1ZeM} [00:21:28]
06 Nostalghia - Golden Horse (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [00:26:08]
07 Nostalghia - Who You Talkin’ To, Man? (from John Wick OST) {Lyric video: https://youtu.be/-yF1e5FxDwQ} [00:30:02]
08 Nostalghia - I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch {Live video: https://youtu.be/BGRYOz4xkcY} (from Chrysalis) [00:34:38]
09 Nostalghia - Take Me To Your Leader (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [00:38:34] (*WTF?! Totally unintended timecode flip there, haha*)
10 Nostalghia - Little White Moment (from Imagō) {Lyric video: https://youtu.be/nPdH_v5e090} [00:42:22]
11 Nostalghia - Pink Skinned Reptilian: The Fallen Pillar (Poetry 1) (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube) {Video: https://youtu.be/3pqr-y1oiak} [00:47:02]
12 Seven Lions - Serpent of Old (feat. Ciscandra Nostalghia) (from Serpent of Old (feat. Ciscandra Nostalghia)) [00:49:19]
13 Nostalghia - Plastic Heart (feat. Tyler Bates & Joel J. Richard) (from John Wick: Chapter 2 OST) {Lyric video: https://youtu.be/2LaiBsm4DVI} [00:55:52]
14 Nostalghia - MechANICal (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [00:58:31]
15 Nostalghia - Between The Bars (Elliott Smith cover) (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube) {Video: https://youtu.be/93-OnWnaXGI} [01:02:22]
16 Nostalghia - They Don’t Love You for Your Mind (from Wicked Woman) [01:04:50]
17 Nostalghia - Nervosa Rex (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [01:08:27]
18 Nostalghia - Something In The Way (Nirvana cover) (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube and The Following S2E10: “Teacher’s Pet”) {Video: https://youtu.be/Gw68IrJK534} [01:12:44]
19 Nostalghia - Gorgeous Creature (from Imagō) [01:14:46]
20 Nostalghia - Be My Man (Demo) (from B Sides for the Brokenhearted, Vol. 1) [01:19:29]
21 Nostalghia - Heroin (from Wicked Woman) {Video: https://youtu.be/j4mn7YZE-oQ} [01:24:17]
22 Nostalghia - Opium Honey (Demo) (from B Sides for the Brokenhearted, Vol. 1) [01:27:58]
23 Nostalghia - Lovesong (The Cure cover) (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube and joining the mailing list on www.nostalghiamusic.com) [01:31:39]
24 Nostalghia - I Belong to You (Demo) (from B Sides for the Brokenhearted, Vol. 1) [01:36:03]
25 Nostalghia - Kingdom of Disturb (from Imagō) {Video: https://youtu.be/BauIfT4EqTo} [01:42:01]
26 Nostalghia - I’d Still Kill You (from Chrysalis) [01:48:25]
27 Nostalghia - Sue, I Cide With You (from Cool for Chaos EP) [01:52:02]
28 Nostalghia - Love Is A Suicide (from Imagō) [01:55:42]
29 Nostalghia - Love Will Make Me Insane (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [01:59:33]
30 Nostalghia - You + I (from Chrysalis) {Video: https://youtu.be/xxdMQj0r6KQ} [02:03:28]
31 Nostalghia - Fool (feat. Tyler Bates) (from John Wick: Chapter 2 OST) [02:06:55]
32 Nostalghia - Color Me Alive (from Imagō) [02:09:49]
33 Nostalghia - Homeostasis (from Chrysalis) [02:14:39]
34 Nostalghia - Drug Lord (from Cool for Chaos EP) [02:18:35]
35 Nostalghia - Lonely Angel (from Imagō) [02:21:16]
36 Nostalghia - Pink Skinned Reptilian: Sharks (Poetry 2) (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube) {Video: https://youtu.be/Jzqa9_Y3O8A} [02:26:20]
37 Nostalghia - Invisible Monsters (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [02:32:40]
38 Nostalghia - Naked As a Hand (from Chrysalis) [02:37:55]
39 Nostalghia - Nicoqueen (from Imagō) [02:41:36]
40 Nostalghia - Stockholm Syndrome (from Chrysalis) [02:45:22]
41 Nostalghia - Linger (*NOT a Cranberries cover, mind you*) (from Wicked Woman) [02:49:30]
42 Nostalghia - Meek (from Chrysalis) [02:53:17]
43 Nostalghia - Nicholas (from Imagō) [02:56:55]
44 Nostalghia - Chrysalis (from Chrysalis) {Promo video: https://youtu.be/uA0XL6_URpU} [03:01:45]
45 Nostalghia - Green Light (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [03:06:27]
46 Nostalghia - Wake Up (Arcade Fire cover) (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube) {Video: https://youtu.be/4L-BZja5FPQ} [03:10:39]
47 Nostalghia - Slow Fade (Demo) (from B Sides for the Brokenhearted, Vol. 1) [03:13:46]
48 Nostalghia - The Poetic Purge Session 1 (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube) {Video: https://youtu.be/EFMW2uC3DSA} [03:18:15]
49 Nostalghia - Bi-Polar Nation (from I Am Robot, Hear Me Glitch) [03:20:28]
50 Nostalghia & DannyDidit - Their Smiling Faces Want To Take You Home (from NostalghiasCorridor on YouTube) {Video: https://youtu.be/J_LrznSS4GU} [03:29:44]
51 Nostalghia - Starshine (Demo) (from B Sides for the Brokenhearted, Vol. 1) [03:34:38]
52 Nostalghia - Liminal (from Imagō) [03:39:52]
53 Nostalghia - The End (from Chrysalis) [03:43:12]
