Angel Ceballos

​Zola Jesus is in a playground at midnight, and she's mucking in the darkest places, searching out tiny pains and feeding them blood and chocolate until they're large and capable of decimating cities. She's a conjurer, cloaking her voice in a strata of black magic and divined emotion. Zola Jesus is shaking you, showing you the yoke of sadness hanging like a pimp chain around your neck, and asking why the hell you aren't facing it, admiring its facets and polishing it up for the world to see. Because that's what she's done -- why can't you?

This tiny wizard trapped in human form is one of the most exciting artists of the new decade. Born Nika Roza Danilova, she came up in rural Wisconsin, lost in daydreams and hyper-focused on pursuing a career in opera. The discipline didn't jive with her artistic aims -- she found singing other people's words to be creatively counterfeit -- but opera instilled a superhuman work ethic and a serious unwillingness to compromise. With her new album Conatus, she's evolved out of the lo-fi hiss and wheeze with ease and proved the old saw that every teacher teaches and no student learns -- practice makes perfect. A self-described control freak, Zola Jesus has set herself up as the harbinger of a quality revolution, one that places talent and drive lightyears above from the mantle of mediocrity plaguing music today.

We caught up with Danilova to talk about David Lynch's remix of "In Your Nature," what she was like as a kid, the worst cover she's ever done and her predilection for productive suffering. Catch her with Brooklyn noiseniks Talk Normal at the Luminary Center for the Arts (4900 Reber Place, 314-807-5984) on Thursday, February 23.

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via Gary Copeland

South-Fi studio

​We get very excited when there is a new recording studio in town. With each new studio comes the promise of new batch of local releases, so we checked in with Gary Copeland of the minty-fresh South-Fi studio for a glimpse of our future. Copeland gives us all of the important details.

Jamie Lees: Would you please describe your history with the local music scene?

Gary Copeland: I moved to the city about fifteen or sixteen years ago from Illinois. I played in bands and projects (Lofreq, Shame Club, Head on Collision, King City Pinks) around town for a number of years. I worked as the front of house engineer at a few clubs and recently left my last position as head engineer for a club in January.

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Gareb Shamus -- the founder of Wizard Entertainment -- may be down. But St. Louis' Chris Ward is trying to prop him back up.

​Gareb Shamus was a colossus among men, founding Wizard Entertainment and turning it into the go-to source for news and views on collectables. For years he was on top of his fantastical world, running a company that produced widely-read publications such as Wizard Magazine and Toyfare Magazine.

Yet like most high-flying pseudo-celebrities, Shamus eventually came back to Earth. Both of the aforementioned magazines stopped publishing in 2011. He eventually resigned as president and CEO late last year. And those that knew Shamus haven't exactly been complementary about his leadership style.

But just in time for Valentine's Day, Shamus has an unlikely ally. Chris Ward -- a former Wizard staffer who moved to St. Louis to work as marketing manager of 88.1 KDHX -- created a benefit album aimed at getting Shamus back in the saddle of power. WIZtory Vol. 1: Rock to Reinstate Gareb Shamus As the One True CEO of Wizard Entertainment -- which is available today -- features mind-bendingly awesome tunes such as "The Ballad of Gareb Shamus," "Top of Your Game (1991 Edition) and "Where Have All the Garebs Gone?"

RFT Music managed to catch up with Ward via e-mail to discuss this ambitious project, which may one day be on par with Live Aid or Hands Across America. Or at least equivilent with the time a bunch of Simpsons characters recorded "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well."

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Courtesy of Catholic Guilt

​Since 2007, Catholic Guilt's brazen brand of sonic warfare has become a staple in the experimental/noise rock community in St. Louis. Having won the title of the RFT's Best Noise Band of 2011, the band's raw gutter sound continues to emanate from venues all across the South Side area. Comprising the core group of Sean Burk (of Escalade), Joe Stein, and Nick Zengerling (of Maximum Effort and Bug Chaser), the band's constantly evolving take on feedback-laced dirge rock leaves audience with a different set each time.

This weekend sees the result of years of the band's hard work, in the release of their long-awaited debut LP, Beyond Pleasuredome. A rigorous exercise in audial decimation, the record explores the varietal atmospheres of Catholic Guilt's repertoire. With the addition of Shaved Women's Ben Salyers on drums, the current line-up is at its most effective and volatile state.

We caught up with the boys in Catholic Guilt at Sean Burk's Aquarian Magick Happening to talk about its debut LP, songwriting vs. improvisation and the many different trials of the band. Catch them on Saturday evening for their record release with Magic City and Shaved Women at El Lenador (3124 Cherokee Street)

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Brian Owens' Web Site

Ferguson native Brian Owens released a new single on Tuesday. He was formerly with Sidewinder, a U.S. Air Force outfit that went viral last year.

​Even though he's getting a chance to shine on a major label, don't call Brian Owens an overnight success. The Ferguson native has been making music on his own and with others for nearly ten years. And more recently, he was a lead male vocalist of Sidewinder, a U.S. Air Force band that effectively blew up the Internet last year. The group appeared on a number prominent television shows, including Entertainment Tonight and The Ellen Show.

Owens has since pursued a solo career after Sidewinder was decommissioned, efforts that paid off this week with the release of his song "I Just Want to Feel Alright" as a single. The song -- which is now for sale on iTunes -- was released on St. Louis-based Destin2B1 Records. It was distributed through New York-based BDG RED, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

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Jeremy Balderson

Craig Finn is taking some time to reflect.

​Most listeners know Craig Finn as the poetic frontman of The Hold Steady. His show Friday at Off Broadway (3509 Lemp Avenue, 314-773-3363) puts him in a quieter context as he plays songs from his solo debut Clear Heart Full Eyes. From a parking lot in Oklahoma City, Finn spoke to RFT Music about the topics dearest to his heart: booze, bands, flags and Jesus.

Ryan Wasoba: This is your first solo tour. How is the dynamic different than what you're used to?

Craig Finn: Basically, when I made the record in Austin the producer Mike McCarthy put together the band, and the live band is a combination of people who played on the record and people who were recommended by the guys who couldn't come on the tour. We know each other a lot less so it's really good, but we're just getting to know each other.

The Hold Steady has been together so long and we're so close and so tight. We've spent eight years together and played a thousand shows and I think the way we're approaching this and the way we're playing is a little looser. We just go up there and see what happens. We're throwing in new stuff in most nights. We rehearsed for one long day, but it's not the big loud tight machine that the Hold Steady is. It's a bit more sparse and the songs have more room to breathe. And the songs are a bit quieter too, and we're playing smaller rooms it's a more intimate thing. The Hold Steady's volume prevents any chatter from happening, so we're connecting at a different level. People aren't throwing beer in the air and climbing on top of each other. And the performance is more subdued from myself; it's more about connecting with the lyrics.

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American Voices

Marc Thayer, American Voices' director of education, plays at YES Academy in Iraq. The group has a presence in St. Louis.

​Diplomacy between nations doesn't always involve dignitaries or high-level negotiations. A group with a presence in St. Louis engages in "cultural diplomacy," which involves exchanging musical expertise between Americans and countries often hit hard by conflict. Since it became incorporated as a nonprofit in 1993, American Voices has been operating summer youth performing arts academies, workshops and concerts in dozens of countries around the world.

According to the group's web site, the American Voices has "performed concerts, workshops and master classes as well as interactive performance projects to over 200,000 audience members in 110 countries on five continents and reached tens of millions more through live television and radio broadcasts across the globe."

And the group took over the U.S. State Department's American Music Abroad program, which will send at least ten American music artists from a wide range of genres to roughly 40 countries. The group also donates music scores, method books and instruments to countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan.

RFT Music recently sat down American Voices' Director of Education Marc Thayer and Director of Communications Paul Rockower at a coffee shop on South Grand to discuss the group's programs in St. Louis and around the world. Thayer -- who spent nine years working at the St. Louis Symphony before joining American Voices full time -- also shared some surprising international perceptions of popular music in the United States.

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Courtesy of Cirque Du Soliel

Michael Jackson: Still filling arenas.

​Trumpeter Keyon Harrold has spent much of his professional life in the relatively laid-back atmosphere of jazz clubs and recording studios. But when the St. Louis native performs in his hometown this week, he'll be in the middle of a circus - literally. That's because Harrold is part of the live band for "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour," the tribute to the late singer produced by Cirque du Soleil that's playing the Scottrade Center (1401 Clark Avenue, 314-241-1888) on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sure, Harrold has been part of major tours before, as a musician-for-hire backing up prominent R&B and hip-hop stars such as Maxwell, Jay-Z, and Erykah Badu. But with a cast of 65 performers, including twelve musicians, and 38 semi-trucks filled with lighting and sound gear, video projection and special effects equipment, staging and scenery, the "Immortal" tour is another level of "big" entirely. "It's just massive," says Harrold. "It's one of those incredibly big productions that Cirque is known for."

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Photo provided by Adam Gillespie

Adam Gillespie -- who played bass with the hard rock group Sullen back in the early 2000s -- is the front man for the Black Bears. The group recently played Lemmons and the Way Out Club in January.

​Adam Gillespie has come full circle.

Gillespie was only nineteen years old when he joined Sullen, a hard rock outfit that created a pulsating array of grunge and hard rock music throughout the early 2000s. After naming Sullen the Best Hard Rock Band of 2002, the RFT described the group as having "well-crafted, intelligent, catchy songs that rock balls-out."

The band, though, eventually disbanded. And Gillespie -- who says he left Sullen before the breakup -- traveled on a winding personal path. He earned a law degree, temporarily relocated to Jefferson City, dabbled in solo work and started a family. Now he's the front man for Black Bears, an indie rock group that's been playing at venues across St. Louis.

"It's gratifying in a completely different way just to have your own songs," Gillespie said in a telephone interview. "And you know it might not be the hedonistic joy that Sullen was, but just totally satisfying in a different way."

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Dove Shore

​Mention Steve Aoki in a crowded room and watch the reactions; some will cross themselves in reverence, most will nod their recognition at the name, and the rest will know him only as "a DJ." But Steve Aoki has never been just a DJ; he's a modern auteur with his finger rammed in the proverbial sphincter of music and culture. Aoki got his start as the singer of a hardcore screamo band, but he's made a name for himself in indie, electro, EDM, pop and every musical mutation between. He started his own label, Dim Mak Records, in 1996, and he's broken artists from Bloc Party to the Bloody Beetroots. He's got more A&R skill in him than an army of big label drones. He's producing, opening a couple of nightclubs, touring the world, and this month he put out his first good and proper studio album, Wonderland. The kicker is, Aoki doesn't have to do any of this. The fact that he's the heir to the Benihana fortune barely merits a dependent clause in the larger Aoki narrative.

Wonderland has gotten mixed reviews -- mostly owing to the fact that it is an album of singles, by Aoki's own admission -- but the range is incredible: Rivers Cuomo, LMFAO, Kid Cudi and Lil Jon on the same disc as Nervo, Die Kreuzen and Blaqstarr. Aoki and Dim Mak have gone through so many about-faces in the past decade, the guy should probably consider a run for political office. For Aoki though, it's not flip-flopping to go from hardcore to indie to electro house. It's observing the ebbs and flows of popular music and predicting when and where the tidal wave will hit. Make no mistake, Steve Aoki understands music on a subatomic level.

We caught up with him in Salt Lake City to talk about Wonderland, band albums versus DJ albums, the great EDM schism of '07, Hipster Runoff, and what it was like to crack the Top 10 iTunes charts. Catch him on Wednesday with Datsik at the Pageant (6161 Delmar Boulevard, 314-726-6161)

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