Quitzow $2.23

About Quitzow

Welcome to Erica Quitzow's debut album. Recorded and produced exclusively in the comfort of home, this LP formed itself from a body of work created during a relationship and band break-up. Songs were built on electric guitar loops, layered with live drums, bass, cellos, violins, and vocals, with the occasional acoustic guitar, Moog, and MPC programmed drums. Erica indulged in post-collaborative freedom playing almost all the parts herself, creating a high-drama palate, and always going for the extreme. While the use of strings in songs like 'Drink-Up' sometimes conjures images of Rasputina with a healthy dose of Sabbath-style heaviness, often comparisons are illusive as in the cartoon-like playfulness of 'R. Crumb'. 'Know Me' is complex and layered evoking a Todd Rudgren scape with passionate screaming vocals reminiscent of Patty Smith. Inspired and assisted by her friends and roommates, the body of work and this LP is a portrait of a community full of love and struggles.

Past projects include singing and playing bass in Heavy Pebble, a New York/ San Francisco based psychedelic rock band that loved nothing more than touring the west coast. More recently she lived and breathed the Los Angeles based band, Inner, in which Erica did some "mindblowing moog/rhodes/bass juggling" to quote the 2003 SXSW Showcase Directory, and as "bassist and backing vocalist really made the show" according to Internet Explorer's Music Cafeteria. This band also had a case of wanderlust and toured practically nonstop for its three-year incarnation. All the while, she'd sneak away from time to time to create this sonic collage art.

Erica is currently recording more material, as well as collaborating with various lovely musician friends. The time has come to release some of her cherished recordings from an inspired and emotional time in the form of this LP.