Astral Boutique's blog

Satyrs, Nymphs, and a Meadow in May with Lasher Keen

Last week, on the most perfect May day ever created, me and my friends dressed to the nines and headed out to a gorgeous meadow with our friends Bluebird and Dylan from the band Lasher Keen, to shoot their new music video. Without giving anything away, I will say that there were nymphs, satyrs, chasing, dancing, and magic... here are some behind-the-scenes shots to wet your appetite!

Big meadow, and big oak

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Creature feature

our hostess, Bluebird, getting punchy

me and Summer, making eyes at the camera again

scene from a surreal picnic

Beautiful Bluebird and Summer

Bev stuffs the satyr's pants

Crystal ball gazing...

 

beast, reclining

the masked dance

Serenading us while we dance

walking back to the road at the end of a long, inspiring day

I'll post the video here when it's done (you know these things take time!) but meanwhile, you can enjoy the INCREDIBLE new Lasher Keen album here. 

additional photos by Bev La Fae, Julia Boorinakis-Harper, Bluebird Gaia, and Jessica Henry

New Video and EP From Mount Whateverest!

My band, Mount Whateverest, has been hard at work to bring you some rather psychedelic new material- we just released a new EP for "Flaming Eye" on our Bandcamp, downloadable for free, and a new music video made by our own Steve Melendez. Huge thanks to my friend Jessica Henry at Brightest Star on Etsy, who was the source of the amazing gold dress that I'm wearing in the video. I hope you enjoy! 

EP artwork by Chris Streng

The Return of the Sylvanaut

 I did manage to make a solo album this winter, but I had no plans on playing live until my friend Sara Zahn asked me to be on a bill with the amazing Future Twin from San Francisco. I thought they were so cool that I said yes before my logic could intervene (aka "you're a busy girl!" "you have enough going on!"). I definitely experience some stress leading up to the show, because since I don't usually play under the Sasha Sylvanaut moniker, I didn't initially know exactly what I was going to do. 

 

I considered trying to recreate songs off of my latest album, but sitting on stage working a bunch of pedals just didn't seem visceral enough for this rising Spring energy that's all around and in the air and in my blood. Eventually I decided that stripping it down to the absolute basics felt like the strongest performance option. I write songs on the acoustic guitar, but it is very rare that I get up in front of anyone and play it. I've done it around the late night campfire at the Northern California Women's Herbal Symposium, which is pretty much the most supportive and nurturing environment on earth, but I just never really considered doing it on a stage.

 

The guitar you see here is my old and trusted friend, known as The Mardou. She is named after the girlfriend in the Jack Kerouac book The Subterraneans, so I guess you could say she respresents the (often-unsung) women's perspective on the world. 

 

My dress is also an old favorite- 1960s Hawaiian psychedelic. The head piece is a vintage devil mask with added fringe.

My friend Mike Meals filmed this number, which is a somewhat Americana-flavored piece called "Oh! Marianna": 

For more of my work, both solo and with backing musicians, you can visit the Sasha Sylvanaut Bandcamp site.

Land of 1000 Trances

It turns out that The Twist is very popular in Spain right now... some things never die. In 2013 I danced my way across many rooms, many stages, and the occasional Spanish dance club floor, which is where I gleaned this important piece of information. 

"The Twist" is one of the many popular dances mentioned in the 1965 hit, "Land of 1000 Dances", performed by Cannibal and the Headhunters, which comes from an era when knowing the latest steps could mean the difference between getting to third base and getting nowhere. I love everything about this song, including the wildly screaming girls that almost obscure the main vocals, the spooky low horn punches, but I especially love the repetitive "oo-oo-oo-oo" vocal melody at 1:50. My album, "Land of 1000 Trances", grew out of this single melody. My first track was recorded with just my voice and a grand piano, repeating that mesmerizing sound for as long as I could. 

I spent most of my year as a backup singer and dancer, immersed in the modern rock song with its verse-bridge-chorus structure, so for my solo experiment I completely broke with structure and chose to rely only on what grew naturally from the layering of loops and other repetitive sounds. Some of the songs could have gone on for twenty minutes, but I kept them short so that they could flow in and out of consciousness like rapid-fire dreams before waking. Others stretch out and allow you to breathe inside of them, with the idea that you could lose track of time altogether. 

If there is a resemblance to nursery rhymes, jumprope songs, or lullabys, this is on purpose; I have always liked simple, haunting, repetitive melodies. You will hear race cars, indian drums, guitars, banjos, piano, a Russian nesting doll used as percussion, a Casio MT70, and layers and layers of voices-- babbling commentary, whispered confessions, and helium-breathed divas. Once I allowed myself to electronically manipulate the timbre of my own voice, a whole world opened up for me.

I share the frustration of many artists in that I cannot incriminate the living- including myself- by offering more detailed explanations of my lyrics, but I can sum them up as Driving-Dancing-Loving-Praying... the four big Trance states in my life.

Do with them what you will. 

album cover (self portrait)

Land of 1000 Trances by Sasha Sylvanaut is available digitally here, or as a physical CD on my Etsy site.

RIYL: Austra, Grimes, MIA, Goldfrapp, Lorde

Catching Up

It's been an amazing year so far... and it's just whooshing right by! It's almost April, and New Year's Eve feels like just yesterday. 

I like to put some of my favorite pictures on this blog, as a record for myself more than anyone else, probably. One day everything is going to be one big blur, I just know it.

Here are some images from the trip the Sugatroll and I took to Santa Cruz last month. This was at the beach in Soquel, just south of Santa Cruz:

This boat was a nightlife hotspot in the earlier part of last century, hard as it is to imagine now. There was drinking and dancing and loose women... but the boat was made of concrete, and eventually it cracked in two. Now it's a private estate for the birds.

It was an especially beautiful day on the coast... one of those dream days that makes a gal never want to go home. I am such a beach girl at heart.

The coast always draws in some characters, and their vehicles:

And carrying on with the coastal theme... a few weeks later, Mount Whateverest did a mini-tour of Southern California. We happened to go during a rare February heatwave, which meant that it felt like mid-summer. Here in the beach city of Ventura, a warm breeze was blowing through the palm trees:

A visit to the beach before we doll up for the evening:

The gang, getting ready to head out to the show:

We played with the most glamtastic bands, Zachary James and The All Seeing Eyes and Alexandra and the Starlight Band. They even had swaroski crystals on their musical gear! 

All together now!

It was still t-shirt weather at 3am after we'd played the show and come back to the hotel. We were just a few blocks from the beach, so we decided to do some night wading:

In the city of Los Angeles, we played a Dada Art Opening at a dollhouse-sized, adorable art gallery called Museé 16 that was located in an old fish canning factory. They did vintage film projections on the stage:

Our hotel in Los Angeles, the Hollywood Hills Best Western, was so awesome- the whole place was covered in Hollywood memorabilia. Even the kitchenette had a touch of glam:

The best was that they had an amazing restaurant downstairs that was open until 3am. Everyone in there looked like a movie star to me. Eating breakfast:

Here we are about to head North again, posing in the lobby mirror:

The band has been super busy since then- we recorded a 12 song album! We also had several more shows, including one at a "Burnal Equinox" festival- the midway point between Burning Man events. We were joined by my bestie Linda on the far left. 

Dirt + tarps = country glamor: me and the Sugatroll.

In other news, I've been practicing piano at at least a few times a week, for the first time in years (thank to my friend who is letting me use her grand piano!), which is making me very, very happy. I also started doing Zumba, a latin-inspired exercise dance class, at a local studio. My cardiovascular systerm is very happy about this, and I am loving the dance steps.

I hope all is well with you and yours... happy Spring!

Glitter On

I think that this little mini (one minute) video of last night's Mt. Whateverest show illustrates our aim in life- to make people have a good time! Enjoy the sparkles:

Our album is available for free download for a limited time here. We are going back into the studio next month to record our newest songs... super exciting! 

Jonah, Sugatroll, Cynthia, me, and Steve

 

A History of Hair

The other night it was raining cats and dogs and I found myself getting incredibly sentimental about my old band- Sasha and the Shamrocks- the band that used to be my BABY. It's funny that I really felt the loss of it so keenly now, when a new and exciting musical project is starting in my life. Maybe it was just that in the craziness of the past few years, I didn't have emotional space to deal with it. Or maybe it's the rain.

flyer from 2007

Anyway, it made me want to celebrate what we'd accomplished, and spread it out in the world a bit more, so I assembled this little "montage" video for one of my favorite songs, "I'm A Witch". It was amazing how many of these photos I'd forgotten about- I had to go to Myspace to find them! I love the parade of hair, outfits, and members. Come along with me, if you care to ramble...

Head Full of Stars

On Halloween weekend, our band, Mt. Whateverest, rocked the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City with an all-glam rock tribute show (KISS, Queen, T Rex, and David Bowie). I was an unearthly blend of Marc Bolan and David Bowie, and the Sugatroll was, of course, Ace Frehley from KISS. It was out-of-this-world fun!

Singing "Ziggy Stardust"

 

Catching Up With Agent Ribbons

Natalie and Lauren at Agent Ribbons have a fantastic new 7" single for "Let Them Talk" and "Family Haircut" out on Antenna Farm Records. I can't stop playing it. 

You can order it right here.

They made a really wonderful video for the song "Family Haircut"- it's one of the best music videos I've seen in a dog's age.

Love those girls. Go see them on tour!

Girls on Film- Cat Martino

My friend Cat spent the last week hanging out with me and the Sugatroll, making music and accompanying us on last-swim-of-the-season river adventuring. Before she left, we did an impromptu photo shoot on the hill behind my house, starting out somewhat serious and quickly degrading into giggling 8-year-old girls. It was the most fun I've had with my camera in a long time.

Seriously now:

My personal favorite:

A unicorn appears in the forest:

And other creatures as well:

Cat is an incredible musician- I know you'll love her work. Check out her cover of The Cure's "Love Song", filmed live on her roof in New York City:

Cat Martino - "Love Song" [Live Cover of The Cure] from Consequence of Sound on Vimeo.

Thanks to Cat for being my playmate this week!