Violetness is a local songstress whose voice is as hauntingly beautiful as it is prophetic. She initially came to Chicago (by way of California) to record an EP, but decided to stay when she found the music scene here too magnetic to ignore. Violetness wasted no time fitting in; she’s graced the stages of both Beat Kitchen and Empty Bottle, opening for some of the most revered indie acts touring through Chicago, including Eyedea & Abilities and Themselves. Centerstage caught up with the budding artist to get the skinny on how she got started in music and when we can expect the new EP.

Tell me a little bit about your background and how you got interested in music.
As long as I can remember music has been part of my life. When I was really young my father would turn on his record player and listen to Sinatra, The Ronettes, Tina Turner, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more of course. I can remember dancing and belting at the top of my lungs to the songs with my sister while my dad washed the dishes. By putting these divergent bands together in the same “session” he inadvertently paved the road to my eclectic approach to music.

How’d you come to the name Violetness?
I wanted a name that was genderless but still derived from my name. In this process I thought of my grandmother Violet who also was a musician. Unfortunately I never got to know her but she has always been this mystic and fascinating woman I would have loved to know. It’s a bit of an homage to her.

Do you remember the moment when you realized that music is the creative route you wanted to take?
I do actually. I don’t think I will ever forget it. I started singing in church at a very young age. One day after singing at mass this old man came up to me with tears in his eyes. He told me that my voice touched him so much it brought him to tears. After he left, this overwhelming feeling took over. I can’t explain it I just knew from that moment music was not only something I wanted to do but needed to do.

You moved to Chicago from California; tell me a little bit about the transitions from there to here.
I am definitely someone who adjusts quickly so when I moved back here my transition went seamlessly. The obvious issue might have been the weather but I actually prefer cold over warm.

You came to Chicago to record; who were some of the musicians you worked with and what studio did you record at?
I work with an amazing production company called Cassette Company. It’s made up of three extremely talented guys: Stefan Clark, Sean Geyer and Justin Eisenbraun. Ryne Estwing (Louis and the Hunt) and Baron Harper (Scattered Trees) also contributed to the recordings at Reel Sound Studio in Skokie.

Who produced the songs you have posted on your MySpace page?
Stefan Clark of Cassette Company produced those tracks. I had been looking to collaborate with a producer but everyone that I had met with never felt right. The problem was that I had a lot of ideas but as far as direction I was lost. Within our first meeting I knew he was the right collaborator; he understood the craziness going on in my head and saw the vision I was going for.

You mention that you have different artists that inspire you at different times; who are the ones that speak to you right now?
This question is really difficult to answer because it changes month to month or day to day. I kind of obsess over an artist for a few months, then I break up with them. Tomorrow it may change but today it would be Themselves. I opened up for them the other night and their set was unbelievable. Album-wise I would say Deep Puddle Dynamics,
The Taste Of Rain…Why Kneel is pretty mind-blowing right now.

Do you prefer a specific genre?
Hip-hop music definitely speaks to me; it’s been a genre that constantly re-enters my life. My very first tape was Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Unfortunately my relationship with that tape was short-lived because my dad heard all the profanities. I moved on quickly to my next idols, Salt ‘n’ Pepa. Evidently my dad was ok with profanities as long as it came from a female voice.

How does Chicago contribute to the overall development of your sound?
I think all of the people/musicians I have met in Chicago have helped me discover what sound was in me. The more like-minded people who hop on a project the better. It’s kind of like excavating with a group. I needed help in digging away at the crap to get to the gold. It’s taken some time to realize that.

Tell me a bit about the forthcoming EP. Do you have an official release date?
My forthcoming EP will be out by the end of January, beginning of February. It will be a four-song EP with additional remixes.

Being a relative newcomer to the stage, what sort of impact are you looking to make with your music?
I just want to make music that’s fresh and honest. I want people to feel emotion when they see me perform or hear my recordings. I like things that are raw and real to the moment and my only hope is that people can and will feel that from me.

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Experimental Industrial Electro-House with a humble IDM Rock background.

rough cut of a song i am in the process of writing

H20 Soul is a hip-hop collective made up of six members; Clever (MC), M.P.L.I. (MC), Mike Soul (MC), Just Nick (Guitar), Big T (Bass) and Cuz (Drums). The core (Clever, M.P.L.I. and Mike Soul) originally met in 2003 while attending Northern Illinois University, and it was there that they cultivated a strong narrative voice that would serve as the eventual backbone of H2O’s style. In 2006 they added a live band, which helped them develop a fuller, more organic sound. Since then the group has been on a steady rise, evolving its rhythms into a unique blend of hard-edged rock and classic ’90s boom-bap. Centerstage recently caught up with M.P.L.I. to get a better sense of what the budding group is all about.

How would you describe your style?
100 percent hip-hop. To clarify, hip-hop is a fusion of different musical genres, we just lean towards an edgier rock sound.

You cite an all-star line of artists as your influences. How does H20 build from that sort of history?
Good music is timeless. We only hope that the art we create will have that quality. We will always remain progressive and relevant as long as we keep living and having experiences to relate to our listeners.

You mention that DJ Slim Kid (of the Pharcyde) gave you some sound advice. What were some of the things he told you?
He told us to always stay true to ourselves and never to change for anyone. He assured us that we had something “special” and he liked our vocal textures. He also shared some stories from his experience as part of the legendary hip-hop crew the Pharcyde, inspiring to say the least.

Any other people that have helped you along the way?
Absolutely too many to count. We’ve been grinding side by side with many of Chicago’s aspiring and successful artists and help has come in all shapes and sizes. Columbia College Chicago, Genuine Music, Sticky, Lenny Gilmore Photography, ARS Studios, DuSable Museum, Partners in Comunity Building, our fans, our families, the list goes on and on.

Tell me a little bit about Class Is In. It’s got a heavy rock influence, was blending rock and hip-hop a natural thing for you?
Class Is In is our first full-length project as a band. It is our wishful thinking for the music industry. “Class” in this sense refers to a high standard. This album represents us finding our artistic identity, taking us to the next level of our artistry. The blend of rock influences was inspired by our band’s musical ability and us wanting to create a more edgy sound that would define us in the crowded hip-hop genre.

How was that project different from your prior work?
Because it is our first full-length project as a band, we had to make a major leap in our writing and recording process. This is our evolution, a definite turning point in our evolution.

Hip-hop is an ever-evolving style, even more so on a local level. What’s your take on the Chicago hip-hop scene?
Chicago is so diverse musically and hip-hop comes in all forms. It does, however, seem the city is following national and global trends more attentively than ever and that’s creating new opportunities for relationships in music and fashion and just lifestyle in general. It’s a good time to be in Chicago.

Hip-hop has gotten so big, sometimes it doesn’t recognize itself. It will continue to grow as long as there is music out there to inspire the next person to pick up a pen or a PDA and write.

Does Chicago play a big role in your sound?
From growing up on the South Side to recording downtown, from re-gentrification to Obama, we are products of Chicago so it is absolutely one of the major influences on our sound.

What was your first performance like together?
Oh wow. It was at NIU for our organization’s first informational, all of us had written poems to perform. At that point we were more of a spoken-word group. We had a full room of interests and the performance went over well.

Do you have any collaborations coming up? Adad mentioned that he would love to work with you guys.
For the record, we’d love to work with Adad too. We’ve reached out to a few people. Primeridian was a part of our album release in September. Just keep your eyes and ears tuned, you never know what we might do next.

Any forthcoming projects we should know about?
Right now it’s all about Class Is In. We’re always working on new music though and we’ll absolutely keep you in the loop.

Check us out at h2osoul.com and Facebook. And download the album for free at h20soul.bandcamp.com.

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So, you missed out on tickets for Girl Talk and Jens Lekman, huh? Join the club. Don’t worry, though, you can still hear some high-quality tunes on New Year’s Eve in Chicago. Here are our picks for the best of the rest:

Roy Hargrove Quintet
8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Jazz Showcase; $50
Trumpeter Hargrove just can’t stand still. Though he won much acclaim (and a Grammy) playing relatively straightforward jazz in the ’90s, he soon switched gears and expanded his sound to include elements of hip-hop, funk and gospel. You young’uns are just as likely to know him from his work on albums like D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Common’s Like Water For Chocolate and Erykah Badu’s Worldwide Underground as for his collaborations with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock. With his quintet, he’s been exploring a lot of soul-jazz of late, but come here expecting pretty much anything.

Todd Hembrook & The Hemispheres
9 p.m. at Bottom Lounge; $25
If you’re down with the new soul trend, but don’t want to spend an evening with a DJ spinning dusties, head on down to the Bottom Lounge, where Todd Hembrook’s band of revivalists will treat you to an evening of classic covers. Everything from the standards to obscure gems will be on tap. Openers the Lowdown Brass Band, whom we interviewed at the beginning of ’09, will add some funkified originals to the mix.

The Crystal Method
9 p.m.-4 a.m. at Green Dolphin Street; $40-$80
Want to dance? This massive club event is for you. In addition to electronic legends The Crystal Method (whose creations have been heard in clubs, on TV and in movies since the mid-’90s), you’ll find 13 other DJs throughout the space, including Mario Florek and Just Joey. Forty bucks gets you in the door, while another $40 gets you open bar from 9 p.m.-midnight.

The Fiery Furnaces
9 p.m. at Lincoln Hall; $20-$25
One of the most exciting new clubs of 2009 (from the folks behind Schubas’), Lincoln Hall closes out the year in style with this eclectic brother-sister duo. Though the band’s latest album, I’m Going Away (and its alternate version, Take Me Round Again), has something of a ’70s pop feel, expect a variety of styles, as these two have run the gamut from experimental psychedelia to soft indie pop (they have a lot of love for the Beatles, it seems). This is also something of a homecoming, as the Friedberger siblings hail from Oak Park. Cryptacize (featuring former Deerhoof member Chris Cohen and entrancing vocalist Nedelle Torrisi) will open.

The Jesus Lizard
10 p.m. at Metro; $50
The recently reunited rockers have been drawing rave reviews for their appropriately raucous shows (wow, that was a lot of R’s), and you can expect that David Yow and company will take the mosh-inducing energy to another level on New Year’s Eve. Whether you’re nostalgic for the ’90s or just a newbie looking to thrash around, this show will not let you down. Buzz band Disappears will open.

Not a fan of these picks? Check out more New Year’s Eve concerts.

More picks:
Kid-Friendly | Best Splurges
Dinners | Cheap Choices | Theater

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