After three co-written and self-produced indie albums, two Billboard club singles, and several international chart topping EP's Jaidene Veda has become a recognizable voice in both the underground house community and top 40 club circuits around the world. Often described as "Bjork meets Sade", UK's 'Kula Records' recently dubbed her a "modern day Tracey Thorn". There's no doubt anyone who hears Jaidene's sultry, glowing vocals will be hypnotized by them, so it's with great excitement that I'm able to do a feature on such a talent as she unveils her latest indie project, 'Pisces Pendulum Anniversary Remix LP'.
Her path to this point has been marked by her drive to succeed and littered with big names, kicking off with the 'Flow' EP remixed by Pete Heller and one time Pete Tong 'Essential Buzz Chart' selection. Three indie albums including, 'Pisces Pendulum' (a compilation of deep house singles as well as Down Tempo, Lounge, Nu Jazz, Spoken Word and Neo Soul) caught the ears of DJ Spinna, Danny Krivit, Ralf Gum, and the likes of Bugz in the Attic, receiving international radio support including Pacha and Global Ibiza.
There's very little about the woman behind the voice out there. How did it all begin for you?
My mother said i was singing before i was talking - I'm not sure if that's just a story she likes to tell me but i love hearing it! I was trained on the piano, I played guitar, I sang informally, but I was a sub-pop baby - music lover very early, passionate grunge artists and poets inspired me!
Then Bjork and trip hop threw my world, Sade and Me-Shell Nedgeocello molded me eventually, but when my big brother (DJ at the time) introduced me to house music, I "knew" what I wanted to do.
It was Blue Six 'Sweeter Love', the dance floor was so hypnotized, and this lush but anonymous voice was weaving in and out of the dance floor. Aya's voice was in my head for hours after the club. I was 17 and very impressionable, but I knew I wanted to be that voice on a record not even in the room, but so everyone could feel you. And of course the 4/4 was like your heartbeat, I've felt it ever since.
My mother said i was singing before i was talking - I'm not sure if that's just a story she likes to tell me but i love hearing it! I was trained on the piano, I played guitar, I sang informally, but I was a sub-pop baby - music lover very early, passionate grunge artists and poets inspired me!
Then Bjork and trip hop threw my world, Sade and Me-Shell Nedgeocello molded me eventually, but when my big brother (DJ at the time) introduced me to house music, I "knew" what I wanted to do.
It was Blue Six 'Sweeter Love', the dance floor was so hypnotized, and this lush but anonymous voice was weaving in and out of the dance floor. Aya's voice was in my head for hours after the club. I was 17 and very impressionable, but I knew I wanted to be that voice on a record not even in the room, but so everyone could feel you. And of course the 4/4 was like your heartbeat, I've felt it ever since.
You've been to some wonderful places as an artist since those early days, which of them will stay with you forever?
Ooh! hard to pick. New York will always be my favorite place in the world I think. However, the European stint with 'Pisces Pendulum' allowed me to make London my home for almost two months and it was a thrill, just like Paris - but I was able to visit my Fathers family in the Czech Republic for the first time - so Prague feels like the most memorable.
Having collaborated with many of the industries finest, including Joaquin 'Joe' Claussell, Josh Milan, Glenn Underground, Jimpster, Reelsoul and the Ananda Project, her body of work has continued to bring her closer to working with all of the artists who inspired her early in her career. 2010 ended with a two-month touring/recording stint across Europe, spanning several areas of Britain, as well as Paris and Prague where the collaboration with Peng/The Rurals legend Andy Compton was born that gave us the Ocean.
How did the collaboration 'Ocean' with Andy Compton (The Rurals) come about?
I'll preface this with the fact I've been a Rurals fan for ages, I can remember singing 'That Feeling' at gigs when I was 18 and not that comfortable freestyling, ha! Eleonora from Stilnovo was a big part of 'Pisces Pendulum' and my first show in Europe was her big birthday bash in London, just by coincidence Andy saw the performance pics, he said he peeped my music on Myspace and Youtube after that, and it made him call Eleonora to see if I was still in the UK - what a blessing - we ended up in studio for a whole month together after that, completely unplanned and feeling like inspiration full circle! Big love for Andy, what a musician at heart. 'Into Life' is a gem to me, but his mix of 'Soul Size Love' was a lovely cupid cut for the album!
I'll preface this with the fact I've been a Rurals fan for ages, I can remember singing 'That Feeling' at gigs when I was 18 and not that comfortable freestyling, ha! Eleonora from Stilnovo was a big part of 'Pisces Pendulum' and my first show in Europe was her big birthday bash in London, just by coincidence Andy saw the performance pics, he said he peeped my music on Myspace and Youtube after that, and it made him call Eleonora to see if I was still in the UK - what a blessing - we ended up in studio for a whole month together after that, completely unplanned and feeling like inspiration full circle! Big love for Andy, what a musician at heart. 'Into Life' is a gem to me, but his mix of 'Soul Size Love' was a lovely cupid cut for the album!
And this latest Pisces Pendulum Remix Anniversary album?Essentially, I'm celebrating the anniversary of my mini European tour back in the Fall of 2010. However, performing with Pisces Pendulum overseas led to more of a recording stint for me and various new connections to people that were all so enthusiastic about the project. That's how all of these remixes came about, as well as an opportunity for me to create something that felt like an album, not the compilation it stemmed from. I wanted to experiment more and enjoy the growth in my sound and studio skills, going way off the 4/4. I would say half the project is soul and nu-jazz, there’s even a rendition we stripped down to solely the piano and me - real music!
It's really special to me, that's for sure. Sunday on the dance floor is where this whole journey started. Osaze and I wrote that track in 2004 or something though, so the long journey to the SA and UK (MN2S) releases, then the monster remix by Jimpster (absolute fave mix on the floor!) coming years after! Well I'm lucky. It was something that resonated with people, but I knew it would - there's an entire global community dancing religiously on Sunday nights, look at Shelter too, right? I really wanted to sing about it, but I'm so happy people feel it.
Those lyrics are 'sung back to me' the most, it's so moving to share that with people... what I've done on this album is produced an "Ode to Sunday", so i actually feature four of my singer sisters all hitting an original approach to the acappella, then I designed the story from home to New York to Chicago (with the help of Thomas Osaze and Vick Lavender). There's a deep tribute to the Pioneers of the scene on that piece that we're all really proud of!
Tell us about Jaiveda Productions?
I'm just a little indie mama who likes to do it all i guess, so when I was making records, or producing shows, projects, films... I just threw a title on it and it stuck. I think people think I run a record label, it makes me giggle (and blush;).
Again, I'm just an indie chic. This e-world we're in is what it is, and that means it's everything! Promoting the original 'Pisces Pendulum' was pretty much purely Facebook, I've only recently linked with Twitter, and Myspace is dead - sad to say it cuz it felt like a really genuine connection to your listeners - peeps were very enthusiastic about sharing music and providing feedback.
The mushroom effect seemed to really be there. but I'm a pretty mad promo monkey, self promo is awkward as hell but I had to do it from day one and really it's so much more rewarding connecting face to face or at least somehow directly with your audience. I used to see Tiesto footage of my early dance singles with thousands of people going off at some European gig, but I never felt that as much as people calling or writing to me to tell me they just made love to my album, or fell asleep to it - it's not the compliments you seek, it's the connections. We're human and artists need reciprocity. Social networking is a GEM in that manner.
I have a huge soft spot for producers who are not afraid to sing. MR.V killed that jam! So did Reelsoul - their production is heavy too. Choklate had some sexy numbers on the floor all summer, but I'm proud of my girl, Hosanna Littlebird, for resonating so much soul simultaneous to sultry in all she's doing - people associate us with each other (music and our friendship) but she is truly a unique woman - watch out!
Otherwise I think we all couldn't be more impressed by everything Josh Milan touches of late, 'Soul Size Love' finally coming out with my big brother in the biz meant the world to me, but I'm grateful to be inspired by his vision with Honeycomb and how deeply he is involved on all levels. On a much smaller scale I see our parallels but I can learn from him on every level of the business - seeing that you can do it all, wear all the hats you want, touch all the genres you want, build a musical family.
But most importantly, we may be in love with this thing called house - but we are music lovers first! With the abundance of labels, artists and constant releases in the underground now you have to dig, but soul music lives, and the giant souls behind all of it are always the most humble people I meet, those are the artists and labels that will preserve the integrity of house music because they are the real musicians.
Links
Buy the album here
