
All
the Queen's Men's new double CD Curvy Baby could have
been subtitled Explorations into Rocktronica, Volume Two.
On Curvy Baby, the Boston-based quartet continues its
experiment mixing rock and electronica, which they began on
their last album Madame Static.
"With
Curvy Baby, we dug even deeper into our vision of rocktronica,"
says drummer Tamora Gooding. Adds guitar goddess Catherine
Capozzi: "Our idea was to take our mix of rock and electronica
to the next level. Curvy Baby is similar to Madame
Static, only bigger and more realized."
Madame
Static received rave reviews in daily and underground
press and garnered radio airplay in Boston and Switzerland.
A reviewer for the Boston Globe wrote, "Combining tribal
beats with astral tones, the band offers an all-encompassing
buffet . . . this album is ready to go from the radio to the
rave tent."
All
the Queen's Men's groundbreaking rocktronic blend earned the
group a number of honors. FemMusic.Com called AQM "an
alternative band with a ferocious and risk-taking streak"
when readers voted it as one of the Top 5 Independent Bands
of 2001. In May of 2002, AQM received one of the coveted invitations
to perform at the prestigious 24th Annual Rock and Roll Rumble
sponsored by Boston's No. 1 rock radio station, WBCN.
The
group included three remixes on Madame Static. The
new release includes an entire second CD featuring remixed
versions of the Curvy Baby recordings by eight European
and two U. S. DJs.
"We
liked the remixes on Madame Static so much that we
were inspired to remix of all of the songs on Curvy Baby,"
lead singer/keyboardist Christine Zufferey says. The Swiss
native has a connection to the European electronic music scene
through her brother Andy, who is one-half of the techno duo
Hostage and who lined-up the other DJs featured on the album.
Capozzi
described the remixed CD as a "real ear-opener"
while Gooding says it was like a "second birthing"
of Curvy Baby. "It's interesting to hear what
elements the DJs emphasized and what their interpretations
were," the drummer adds.
The
new album's title was inspired not only by the feminine figure,
but also by AQM's unique musical blend. "Curvy Baby
not only describes the beauty of the natural curves of a woman,
but also the curves in our music," Zufferey explains.
"I like to describe what we do as 'curvy music.' Even
though some elements of our music are linear, there are curves
everywhere."
The
ability to "soak up influences from all different directions
and spin them into something that's not just a simple collection
of derivatives" attracted new bass player Joe Kowalski
to the group. "What I like most about Curvy Baby
is that it illustrates that boundaries, if they're even acknowledged
at all, exist only to be transcended, pushed beyond."
As
with their last release, Curvy Baby was produced by
the band, with Gooding and Zufferey handling the engineering
duties. The pair logged over 600 hours at the AQM's Electric
Space Blanket Studio. "This record took much more out
of us than expected," Zufferey admits. "We worked
on it from February till August."
Though
All the Queen's Men intend to make further explorations into
rocktronica, they are nonetheless pleased with the results
of their experiment thus far. "Curvy Baby is the
realization of an idea that we've been pursuing for a long
while," Zufferey concludes. "With the release of
this double album, we've taken another step toward our destination."