Fashionista

"Rock is dead. Listen to Fashionista.."

-90.3 WZBC, Boston College Radio

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Bio:

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"Fashionista was concieved during the Summer of 2004 in Cambridge, MA when Indrayudh Shome and Daniel Rolnik (and Cameron Collings, the original programmer) were attending a film workshop at Harvard University. The two core members later resurrected the project in their respective homes in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, seeing it as an opportunity to experiment with styles and sounds that they would not be able to use in their other bands. 'Fashionista' is used by both Shome and Rolnik and the two joint together to produce a full length collection of demos in April 2005.

In terms of sound, 'Fashionista' cannot be defined, perhaps because the band's purpose is to experiment with styles. Shome's songs exhibit a stressful blend of loose structure, industrial landscapes, and dissonant hooks, while Rolnik has been known to mix emotional, minimalist pieces that explore the manipulation of various sounds. However, the group is sometimes referred to as 'Fringe Rock', a classification that ironically means that while the music borders many different styles, it hesitates to fall into one."

"Fashionista is mostly a departure from our individual bands to make whatever the hell we want to because we want to. The goal is not to please the audience, it is an attempt at honest music without the molding criticsm that playing in a live band brings. Whether its a complicated solo or two piano chords, it doesn't matter. This is made for us, and whoever else happens to enjoy it. There are only a few lyrics, but we hope that the instruments speak to you just as clearly." -Shome on the Demos April 2005.

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Discography:

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89268: Do you remember the first time?

(May 2006)

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1. Dead Gypsy March

Guitar, Vocals: Indrayudh Shome, Stomps and Claps: Caravaggio Loria, Acoustic Guitar: Guthrie Jones, Guitar: Justin Lee, Bass: Kevin Kung, Cello: Daniel Butler, Accordion: Matthew Tanaka, Samples from National Geographic

2. Packaged

Guitars, Bass, Vocals, Percussion: Indrayudh Shome, Cello: Daniel Butler

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Demos April 2005

(Apr 2005)

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Side A (Indrayudh Shome):

1. Muse

2. Petroleum

3. Seizurematic

4. Perhaps Halcyon

5. You Got Me

6. 1 (Featuring Danny Quinn on cowbell)

Side B (Daniel Rolnik):

7. Sleepty

8. Dented

9. Shudderlove

10. Axou

11. Rap Along

12. Orch Keys

13. Chamelionface/Riverfish

14. Zombie Flesh Eaters

Bonus tracks: Packaged (Demo), 2, You Got Me (alt.), Piano Jam, Goddamntechnojam

All songs by Shome or Rolnik except 1, 5 by Shome and Allaluminumcan.

Artwork by Adrian Dexter.

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Daniel Rolnik, Cameron Collings, and I started this to play music during a film workshop at Harvard in the Summer of 2004. Between Cameron, a hip hop enthusiast, Daniel, at the time devulged in Feotus, and myself, somewhere between deep in Sonic Youth's mid 80s-mid 90s discography and Jane's Addiction, we plays some fucked up music. [Collings, Fruityloops, Rolnik; Acoustic Guitar, Vocals; Shome, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals].

Then about 9 months later, when Daniel and I had our own stuff going without anything to do with it, we put together in the collection "Demos April 2005". It got a surprisingly big reaction. People were picking it up, listening to it, and digging it. After Hong Kong label 89268 got their hands on it, dug it, but decided it was too unfocused to release, they asked me to do a few songs for a 5-band collection. I recorded Dead Gypsy March with a plethora of friends of mine and Packaged in my Harvard dormitory by myself in the span of 2 days (it's my favourite song that I've written) based on a demo I had recorded with my mom in June.

The new album is due out Summer 06.

I guess we play each other's songs at our own regions and over the summer we busk at Harvard Square. Other than that Fashionista plays semi-regularly in Hong Kong.

New album: Anywhere from Mark Lanegan, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Boris, John Lennon, and the other stuff is always there.

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I'm not certain about Daniel, but my influences on this album come from Radiohead, Queens of the Stoneage, and a lot of other less big names I guess.

For the first album, I used a Mac and the freeware Garageband that comes with it to record all my stuff. In fact, all my percussion on the first disc are just loops fromm that program (shh). Yeah, the guitars sound plain becasue they're DI. Pay me.

However, the second disc is recorded with all sorts of different people in all sorts of different continents.