LAETITIA SADIER

Best known as the lead vocalist for Stereolab, Laetitia Sadier was born in France and was working as a nanny in the late ‘80s when she met McCarthy member Tim Gane at one of the band’s gigs in Paris. She followed Gane to London and the duo formed Stereolab soon after McCarthy disbanded in 1990. The pair was inspired by lounge-pop, bossa nova, film music, and Krautrock, but Sadier's hypnotic vocals and leftist lyrics made the band’s sound even more distinctive.

Stereolab earned critical acclaim for albums such as 1993’s Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements, 1995’s Mars Audiac Quintet, and 1996’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup; around that time, Sadier began working on her own project Monade, recording with Pram's Rosie Cuckston. In 1998, she gave birth to her and Gane's son Alex, and the following year she returned with Stereolab for the group’s Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night and 2001’s Sound-Dust.

Monade's first album, Socialisme ou Barbarie: The Bedroom Recordings, appeared in 2003. Despite Stereolab member Mary Hansen's death in 2002, the band continued, releasing Margerine Eclipse in 2004; the next year, Sadier was busy with the full-band Monade album A Few Steps More and Fab Four Suture, a compilation of limited-edition Stereolab EPs. Likewise, 2008 saw the release of the third Monade album, Monstre Cosmic, and Stereolab’s most accessible album in some time, Chemical Chords.

Stereolab went on hiatus in 2009 and Sadier began work on her first solo album, working with the Spinanes’ Rebecca Gates, April March, Richard Swift, and former Monade players Julien Casc and Emmanuel Mario. The Trip was released in 2010, the same year that another Stereolab collection, Not Music, arrived. Sadier’s immediately recognizable voice also appeared on many other collaborations over the years, including songs with Blur, Luna, the High Llamas, and Mouse on Mars. Heather Phares, Rovi



Laetitia Sadler on Myspace

ALAN LACROIX

London based guitarist and singer/songwriter Alan Lacroix has been experimenting with different styles and musical settings for a number of years. Five years ago a decison was made to explore the possibilities of writing for voice and solo guitar, an idea initially inspired by Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' album. That decision lead to a great deal of experimentation with open tunings, a fingerstyle approach to playing and eventually a decision to embrace the 12 string guitar - a move initially inspired by the work of James Blackshaw - which lead to a collaboration with former Sneaker Pimps singer Kelli Ali on a cover version of Odetta's "All the pretty little horses". He has recently completed a cycle of 24 pieces for the 12 string guitar and supported Rumer at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall.

Alan Lacroix on Myspace

ALEX MONK

Alex Monk is a musician and producer based in London, once described as a ‘fringe psychedelicist operating in the realms of concrete ambience.’. His shows are often improvised though Monk often uses song and chant as the centre-point; a means to invoke new melodies, mood and space during live performances. His work has been compared to that of Moondog, Brian Eno, Roy Montgomery and Laurie Anderson.

Recorded over a 2 year period, new double album, ‘The Safety Machine’ is Monk’s first vinyl release and limited to just 300 copies and digital download. Though the free, hypnotic and repetitive approach to composition is still apparent on ‘The Safety Machine’, the album is also interspersed with more popular forms of song, inspired by the rich compositional approach of Robert Wyatt and Franco Battiato.

Alex Monk website