Music paste up: Zola Jesus, EMA, or Angry Women part 2

ZJ_Angel Ceballos 5 web.jpg

EMA from flickr.jpg

Last week I went with friends to see the amazing Zola Jesus at Manchester Academy 3. I was expecting a lot from her, and she certainly didn’t disappoint: Soul searingly powerful vocals and equally powerful pounding, pulsating, hammering drums. The otherwordly character of the music, and lyrics, coupled with the frenetic flashes of the light show made it feel like you were being transported to another world, and thanks to her ‘not a goth’ policy, there was no smoke machine…

Her support act for the tour is EMA, or Erika M. Anderson, formerly of South Dakota, more recently of California. Noisy and articulate, and most definitely angry…

The clip below is the song she finished her set with, a recent single called ‘California’. Not all the songs were in this stream of consciousness style, but this one really caught our attention.

The following two clips show her range. The first one is not for people prone to migraines or who have epilepsy though I feel compelled to warn you, and the second one may be triggering to people who have a history of self harm…

We discussed her after the gig and we all felt she was someone who’d probably listened to Sonic Youth and taken a lot from Kim Gordon, but we were quite happy with that…

Zola Jesus picture by Angel Ceballos, EMA picture by Ikrory21, from flickr, used under a creative commons licence