Friday 19 November 2010

Download: Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers – “Venus Shaves”

Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers

People might insist that MySpace is dead but it is the first place I go to when I am trying to get a “feel” for a new band.  In a glance, I can see what genre the band falls into and I can easily listen to one or two of their tracks without the headaches that other sites present.  Imagine my confusion then when I visited the MySpace of Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers and saw that they class themselves in the genre of ‘Chinese traditional / Comedy / Club’.  I decided to give them a chance, nevertheless and I’m happy I did.  I quickly learned that there is nothing comedic or Chinese about this band’s music and Shilpa Ray has an incredible voice.  Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers sound like a cross between Throwing Muses, Ida Maria and Florence and the Machine but there is a heavier, darker side to them that really appeals to me.  In fact, they sound a bit like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but with a female lead and when asked what new band got him going, Nick Cave is said to have replied, “Have you heard of Shilpa Ray?”

Hailing from New Jersey but currently residing in Brooklyn, Shilpa Ray has teamed up with Andrew Bailey on guitar, Nick Hundley on bass and John Adamski on drums and percussion.  Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers will be releasing their second album Teenage and Torture on January 18, 2011 on Knitting Factory Records.  They are offering a free download of their single “Venus Shaver” to get old and new fans warmed up for the release next year. 

Venus Shaver (mp3)*

 

This is "Coward Cracked the Dawn" from their 2009 album A Fish Hook An Open Eye:

 
Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers links:

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers @ MySpace

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers @ Facebook

Shilpa Ray's website

Buy Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers at Amazon.co.uk ¦ Amazon.com ¦ iTunes

* This is a legal download provided by the PR company for us to post and share. If there is any question of an infringement of copyright, please contact me at missus dot emm at gmail dot com and I will remove links immediately. Affiliate links are used in this post.

Article first published as Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers Offer Free Download on Blogcritics.

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4 comments

  1. Yay Emm..another fab band! I agree with all the names you mention..especially Nick Cave..i also hear PJ Harvey alot in her style too!
    Great post! shine on!

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  2. Oh Victoria! You like PJ Harvey too? I like you even more now. How did your own recording go?

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  3. Love this sound - thank you for sharing them.

    Strangely, I find MySpace slow and difficult to use. I far prefer using Last.fm for music discovery (and I am not a paid subscriber) - is there a reason you no longer use it?

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  4. Hi V! I do still visit Last.fm a lot. they went through a stage where they stopped you being able ot listen to music straight from the site and it was linking to Spotify and Hype Machine instead. I just gave it a try again this morning and was able to get a song preview to work. I'll keep trying, I guess. One of the reasons for going to MySpace is that artists are allowed a lot more freedom there than Last.fm and so it helps me get that immediate "feel" for an artist. My number one method of discovering music is from PR companies though - I find an email with a nice photo or free mp3 and then I try to find out how they sound.

    ReplyDelete

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