Geri X Gossip page - what people are saying
Geri X - Anthems of a Mended Heart
this comes from "Musicians for Impeachment"
http://www.myspace.com/pledgetoimpeach
Geri X - vocals, Guitar; Greg Roteik - Guitar, bass; Anthony Zollo- Percussion
2008 Geri X
She is not on eMusic or iTunes, so I had to actually order and wait in the mail
for an actual CD. I was thrilled when it was hand addressed, with "limited
Edition print" on the cover.. There was no personal message signed with xoxoxo,
however.
I have been raving about Geri x for a few months now, but this is the first full
length work I have listened to. I was worried that I had just heard her best
music so the filler stuff might not cut it. Even if that turned out to be true
she is still a major talent that I predict national recognition for in the near
future.
Well I was not disappointed. I won't say she blows everyone else away. In fact I
only gave four stars to 7 songs of the 14, but all the rest got three stars.
There is not one bad track or one that doesn't deserve to be on here.
It starts out with "3,000 lines of Defense". A fantastic song that highlights
everything that is so great about her voice, music, song writing, and
orchestration (2 guitars and a drum). It is some sort of anti war song, but it
may be about relationships too. Hard to tell. But there is this vaguely baltic
guitar rhythm that runs straight through and a mandolin-like sound that flutters
around in counterpoint to her alternating firm and wandering voice. Beautifully
evocative and powerful. This is followed by "Paint Yourself Crazy". A more
typical song, simple interleaving guitars that back up her strong vocals. But
the rhythms and counterpoint of all the instruments are totally engaging. with
"When I Die" the intensity of Geri's voice takes complete control of the music.
So simple and so moving. About death I think. ALMOST the best song on the album
After these three songs, I am amazed that she is not already a household name.
The next 4 songs are ONLY really good. "Two Birds Sittin' On A Bridge" is the
first 3 star song (maybe 3.5). Just a beautiful fun ballad, with her own
background vocals adding depth and warmth.. Then "Mom", which should be special
to me since mine just died. But since I didn't feel that close to her, maybe it
doesn't resonate personally. Still it is another beautiful song. "Talent Is a
Torture". Needs the lyrics listened to carefully. Just another good song about
being an artist and human being. "Monument" is a light chord filled song about
an engineer? maybe a woman? But it is a solid 3 stars
"Astral Planes" kicks the album back into high gear, with a snare drum, and
rolling chords and just Geri's almost stream of consciousness views on how we
should all just get along. But it is great. "In a Body That is Cursed" is a soft
beautiful ballad about struggling through the damage of relationships and how
that affects reaching for love. "The Devil" is a song about the devil. The devil
that follows you around and keeps telling you "you ain't got nothing coming to
you child". It shouldn't be as good as it is, but man her voice just lifts the
song.
So from two simple, but deep, pretty songs we go to "End of The World". I am
typing the entire lyrics to the song below. And while they are provocative when
read, there is nothing amazing about them by themselves. But again, when Geri's
voice and the intertwining guitars fully are engaged I am transported to musical
heaven. She brings such a feeling of fatalism, deep into your heart. It is not a
terrible feeling. though certainly sad. But it is a journey that forces you to
go with her and create your own images.
"When the end of the world finally comes, there'll be no one to listen. ...All
my words, really writes, What I have made of my existence. Walk along all the
time down a street of busy people. I don't think I'm invisible. They won't look
at me anymore. Never felt so bad, loving something so much. Pushing, pushing,
pushing, me away. Pushing, pushing, pushing, me away."
"When the end of the world finally comes, there'll be no more music. What I've
built will burn down. Slow slow. it's the same when you die, all the things in
your life just stop at once. I don't think I'm invisible. No one looks at me
anymore. Never felt so bad, loving, something so much. Pushing , pushing,
pushing, me away. Pushing , pushing, pushing, me away. pushing, pushing,
pushing, me away Pushing , pushing, pushing, me away. Pushing , pushing,
pushing, me away. Pushing , pushing, pushing, me away."
The best song on the album. and I am fascinated by just how the lyrics, voice,
and music combine to create something almost supernaturally powerful. I am
tempted to give it 5 stars
"Where sleep is King" is maybe the least of the songs on the cd. It is fun and
easy to listen to. "Jack's song" has more range, and there is a vague acoustic
Neil Young quality to the music, except when her voice kicks in and brings you
back to the story
Finally "Kiss on Both Eyelids" At First I thought this was ok, but listening to
the album just a couple of times made this another of the stand out songs. it is
a straight rocking love song, with muted pounding guitars, and muted horns. A
fitting ending to a great album, that I shall with full confidence call a "Tour
De Force".
______________
Geri X. - Creative Loafing article - 3/5/2008
CD Release show for "Anthems of a Mended Heart" at the Globe
"Near midnight, the crowd sat at Geri’s feet, crammed on couches, and stood
pinned against the walls while she lulled them with Anthems of a Mended Heart.
She may or may not have given me a shout-out by dedicating a song to the people
she hates. No matter what barrage of descriptions music critics invent to
characterize her album, there’s no denying her gift for tapping into the
wellspring of human emotion and performing songs that listeners can’t help but
suspect are written about them or about their fated coffee-shop romances."
Click
here for the full story
"Geri X, whose neat, evocative style possesses its own
interesting sort of swing; " -weekly planet.
Geri X returns - Creative Loafing,
1/30/2008
Brand X
"Splitting time this past year between the Sunshine State and Wisconsin, Geri X
returns to her St. Pete digs to thaw out and perform numerous, highly
anticipated local dates, including this show in downtown Tampa. The prolific
singer/songwriter brings along her newly recorded full-length, Anthems of a
Mended Heart. Like Geri X's previous releases, this outing finds the
Bulgarian-born vocalist/guitarist deftly juxtaposing confessional details with
intriguing allusions."
Click
here for the full story
"Who is she? Bulgarian-born singer-songwriter Geri X. has a
sweet but tough vocal style, somewhere between Kim Deal and Fiona Apple. Unlike
most singers wielding acoustic guitars, Ms. X. doesn't fall on folksy cliches.
She instead performs with a stirring and often haunting delivery, backed by
spare and eclectic arrangements. We chatted with her by e-mail."
Click
here for the full story
Geri X -Tampa
Bay Times - March 23rd, 2007
There's both a soft and strong appeal to Bulgarian-born Geri X's singing,
similar to Fiona Apple's. When she moved to Tampa as a teen, she barely spoke a
word of English, and in fact even wrote some songs in Bulgarian. She made St.
Petersburg her home in 2005, and her sultry alt-folk ballads, such as those
found on her CD Can't Make You Happy, quickly struck a nerve. Pray that her
April 6 show at the Globe Coffeehouse in St. Petersburg, billed as her "last
Florida show," really isn't."
www.myspace.com/gerix
X marks the spot - Creative Loafing -
March 27, 2007
St. Pete's Geri X is a woman of mystery
"I don't understand the big deal about my age," she snaps. We're sitting in Geri
X's favorite haunt, the Globe Coffee Lounge in downtown St. Pete, and our
interview has started off a bit tense.
A petite woman who could pass for a teenager, Geri X is perhaps the most heavily
buzzed performer of original music in Tampa Bay. She also might be the
pluckiest. "People come up to me and say: 'There's all these rumors about how
old you are,'" she says. "I just tell them that I'm 15 -- this week."
Click here for the full story
Staff Picks
Best Singer-Songwriter: Geri X - Creative Loafing
"Whether alone or with inventive, intuitive drummer Anthony Zollo, 22-year-old
Bulgarian-born Geri X never fails to move attentive listeners. Her deceptively
straightforward lyrics draw you in, and her hypnotically precise fingerpicking
style turns the heads of the other acoustic players in the crowd, but it's her
voice that seals the deal. By turns fragile and bold, and always tinged with an
alluring hint of accent, Geri X's vocals perfectly fit her music's combination
of the timeless and the contemporary — it's uniquely hip and eclectic American
post-folk, but sounds like it learned about love and heartbreak somewhere
unfathomably older than here."
www.purevolume.com/gerix.
Gaze into the crystal ball: 2007 Predictions creative
Loafing:
"Local: Singer-songwriter Geri X returns from her first world tour completely
covered from head to toe in tattoos. She's still sweet, though."
Geri X - Creative Loafing 2007
"Yeah, we know, Geri X has received ample ink in Creative Loafing --
especially lately. And, yes, she's currently living in Wisconsin playing cities
like Milwaukee, Madison and Beloit. But St. Petersburg is still her home -- at
least part-time -- and she did spend the past year or so here as the leading
lady of the local coffeehouse circuit.
Geri X earned her dedicated fanbase with detailed tales delivered in an
impassioned whisper across sparse acoustic guitar plucking -- and occasional
backing from her bassist/boyfriend Greg Roteik. The prolific 22-year-old has
written hundreds of songs and released several CDs, including her latest, Can't
Make You Happy, which came out on the local indie imprint Mekka Records.
"I write every day," Geri X says. "I could probably release a CD every week. I
write a bulk amount of material and then at a certain point I just pick and
choose certain ones that are more fun for me to play -- the ones I get more
into. I record those and put them on CD."
The Bulgarian-born artist with the intricate tattoo running down her left
shoulder writes frankly about past experiences. She covers the rather touchy
subject matter with a poet's eye for specifics. The intimacy of the material
endears Geri X to listeners, especially the many women who follow her from show
to show. For the artist, it's a cathartic endeavor. "It's a form of therapy,"
Geri X says. "[But] it can be very frustrating sometimes."
Enthusiasts nationwide pepper Geri X's MySpace page with glowing comments. The
singer attributes her widespread popularity to the persistence of her fans. "I
love how they share my CD with people," she says. "They'll come to a show and
buy five copies and say how they're mailing it to places like L.A. I'm so
thankful that people want to share my music with their friends."
So, what does the future hold for Geri X?
"I've gotten offers from major record labels but what they had to offer didn't
make sense to me -- so, they kind of turned me off," she says. "Right now, all I
really want to do is tour. I want to be on the road. I want to play shows.
That's the only way I can reach people."
Open creativity- North of Tampa- St Pete Times- March 25th, 2005
" Open mike night has begun at Javatropolis, and if the song's chorus is any
indication, the delicately pretty teenager onstage just might be singing a
heartfelt ballad about... Mao Tse-tung.
Okay, so it turns out this particular chorus, at least on this particular
Tuesday night, is no indication. The chorus' repeated phrase actually is "Bil Si
Tam", also the song's title. Its definitely not Mao Tse-tung, confirms Geri X,
the song's composer and performer.
To be safe, Geri writes it down: Bil si Tam(You've been there). She dots the I's
with X's, and she highlights a single, bit wide, stretch of her long brown hair
with a green coloring. Geri is not so easily categorized. And really she would
not be hanging out on Tuesday night with this crowd if she was. "
