| Lovespirals | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | Dream pop Electronica |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Chillcuts Projekt reapandsow Loverush Digital |
| Associated acts | Love Spirals Downwards |
| Website | http://www.lovespirals.com |
| Members | |
| Ryan Lum Anji Bee |
|
| Past members | |
| Doron Orenstein Gabriel D. Vine Sean Bowley |
|
Lovespirals is a US Dream pop and Electronica band from Southern California featuring multi-instrumentalist/producer, Ryan Lum, and lyricist/vocalist, Anji Bee.
Contents |
The origins of Lovespirals began with a 1998 side project of Lum's Projekt Records band, Love Spirals Downwards [1] The new outfit found Lum teaming up with Doron Orenstein and Gabriel D. Vine, of Subliminal Records duo, Monkey Bars, for the instrumental track, "Beatitude." [2] Bee joined in as vocalist soon after.[3][4]
At first, Lovespirals' music picked up where Lum left off with Flux, the final Love Spirals Downwards' studio album, creating Drum and Bass and Downtempo compositions. The first song officially released to CD was a Jazzstep remix of Claire Voyant's "Bittersweet," for Time Again: A Collection of Remixes, in April 2000. The remix was attributed to Love Spirals Downwards, though the song was composed by Lum and Bee, with saxophone contributions by Orenstein.[5]
In July 2000, the band launched an Mp3.com page under the name "Lovespirals" which included the first song featuring Bee's vocals, "Ecstatic." [6] They followed up with a second digital single called "Hand in Hand" in August. These tracks were pressed to acetate for Lum's use in DJ sets during promotions for the Love Spirals Downwards career retrospective CD, Temporal: A Collection of Music Past & Present, released earlier that year.[7] In 2001, these songs were released via an Mp3.com Enhanced CDR called the Ecstatic EP, along with a new track called "Spanning Time," and their Claire Voyant remix.[8] StarVox Magazine listed the Ecstatic EP and Time Again in their Top 10 Staff Favorites of 2001, citing Lovespirals and Claire Voyant's "triphop-influenced grooves" as "Goth's Next Big Thing." [9] Mp3.com featured the EP in their "Hot Artist Spotlight" on January 25, 2002, stating:
By 2002, however, the band had eschewed Drum and Bass in favor of more Dream Pop focused territory - albeit with Jazz and World flavorings - for their first full-length CD, Windblown Kiss, released on Lum's long time label, Projekt. The album features two collaborations with former Projekt labelmate, Sean Bowley, of Eden, as well as sax contributions by Orenstein.[11] Oddly enough, Windblown Kiss was linked to another burgeoning Gothic subgenre, "slow teary-eyed Gothic Jazz":
After leaving Projekt to form their own label, Chillcuts, Lovespirals returned in 2005 with Free & Easy. This second album continued the band's exploration of Jazz, but in a much more Electronica-oriented style. As part of the album's promotion, Peace Love Productions held a remix contest for the album's first single, "Walk Away." [13] An entry by Bitstream Dream - whom Bee has collaborated with on several songs - was one of Lovespirals' first tracks deemed podsafe. Podsafe Music Network founder, Adam Curry, premiered "Walk Away (Bitstream Dream Remix)" on Daily Source Code #261 [35] on October 17, 2005.[14] This remix currently holds the #2 position on the Podsafe Music Network's Top Ten Most Played On Podcasts chart for the Downtempo genre. The #1 position is held by the second Free & Easy single, "Love Survives." Also in the Downtempo Top Ten is the 2004 Bitstream Dream song, "Phantasma," featuring Bee's vocals and lyrics.[15]
In June 2005, Lovespirals began a band podcast entitled "Chillin' with Lovespirals." [16] The show's theme music is the opening intro from title track, "Free & Easy." [17] In addition to band news, the podcast discusses "recent trends in music and technology." [18] Chillin' with Lovespirals became available on the iTunes store in July 2005.[19] In 2006, the podcast was signed on with PodShow with the extended the show name "Chillin' with Lovespirals: Insights of an Indie Band." [16]
Bee was signed to PodShow as a podcast producer in February 2006. Her first PodShow property was the weekly podsafe Chillout music podcast, The Chillcast with Anji Bee, which she originally launched in January 2006 on Ourmedia as "The Chillcuts Chillcast" as a tie-in to the band's label.[20] The show's theme song was created by Lovespirals.[17] The Chillcast was added to the Adam Curry's PodShow lineup on Sirius Stars in January 2007.[21]
Lovespirals' 3rd album, Long Way From Home, released October 23, 2007, was a return to guitar and vocal based compositions, more in the dream pop style, with Americana or alt. country influences. The CD was named after a lyric in the American Spiritual, "Motherless Child", which was the first single from Long Way From Home.[22] Lovespirals' rendition of "Motherless Child" was first released on the Podsafe Music Network on June 1, 2007, and has been featured on podcasts including Daily Source Code,[23] Accident Hash,[24] Financial Aid Podcast [36], PodShow Radio [37], and the Podsafe Music Countdown Top 10 [38]. "Motherless Child" currently holds the #3 spot on the Most Played on Podcasts chart for the Downtempo Genre on Music Alley (formerly known as the Podsafe Music Network),[25] while the album's second single, "This Truth," currently ranks #7 on the same chart.[25]
The two lead singles from Long Way From Home were also released as digital EPs, with Downtempo, House, and other Electronica genre remixes hearkening to the band's prior sound. The Motherless Child EP released September 16, 2007, contains remixes by Hungry Lucy, Karmacoda, MoShang, Chris Caulder (of Beauty's Confusion), The Black Channel Citizen, and Lovespirals' own Ryan Lum. A year later, the band assembled a 10 song collection of remixes culled from their second Peace Love Production remix contest [26] to create the This Truth EP. Artists include the contest winning producer, Pomatic, runner-up Kambronn, and Projekt Records labelmate, Soul Whirling Somewhere. All of these remixes, plus the still-unreleased Walk Away EP, are available on Mevio's Music Alley [27] for free download and use by podcasters and Internet DJs.
In 2009, UK dance label, Loverush Digital, released another set of "This Truth" remixes, branded as Damien.S VS Lovespirals. This 7-song single includes remixes by Juno Sinclair and Craig Bailey, Avatar One, Thomas Oldani, and Adam Fielding - as well as 2 mixes by Damien.S. There is also a radio edit of the Damien.S remix. The single reached number #2 on the DMC World Wide Trance Charts, #4 on the DMC World Wide House Charts,[28] #8 on the UK Music Week Club Charts [29] and received very positive DJ reactions: Paul Wilkins (Hed Kandi) 8/10, Pedro Del Mar (Germany) 8/10, Paul Hughes (Energy FM) 9/10, and Cliff Bush (Saint FM).[30] The single was also supported by Housesession with Denny Dowd on Juice FM.[31]
Lovespirals 4th album, Future Past, was released officially on January 1, 2010 [39], though the band offered the album in digipac CD format on their own webstore as early as November 16, 2009.[32] The album's first single, "Shine," received the Reviewer’s Pick Award for Best Female Vocals and the Track of the Day Award for the Alternative Pop genre.[33] Various songs from the album have received airplay from Groovera, Soma FM, the Properly Chilled show on WXGR FM, and WSUM.[34]
Lovespirals' music has been featured internationally on network television and cable shows and stations including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Martha Stewart Show, E!'s Gastineau Girls, VH1, MTV, and Logo.[35]