Black Fortress of Opium profile picture

Black Fortress of Opium

AFYONKARAHISAR

About Me

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New self-titled debut album produced and recorded in NYC by Martin Bisi (The Dresden Dolls, Sonic Youth, Live Skull, Lydia Lunch, CopShootCop, Foetus, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Bill Laswell, + more) NOW available for download through iTunes and on disc at http://cdbaby.com/cd/bfofopium.
The new album is available through Newbury Comics & Looney Tunes stores in the metro Boston area, Other Music in NYC, and other select stores throughout the country. Distribution through Carrot Top.
Press Quotes:
"Black Fortress of Opium are a brawling, dark monster of a band that seems like it should be playing shows with, say, Nicki Jaine or the Dresden Dolls rather than Gogol Bordello." – Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
"Would suit a David Lynch bar scene" – Muruch
"Intensity and dark regality… dominant feelings of haunting, other-worldliness and mystique…Black Fortress of Opium truly makes you believe that you just may be listening to something highly monumental." – Northeast Performer Magazine
"This album's a great and daring thing." – collectedsounds.com
"The group plays hypnotic, often mesmerizing songs that unwind with a darkly slinky sensuality, sometimes exploding in rage. Think Elysian Fields, Bee & Flower or Botanica at their blackest and bleakest, with a more ambient sensibility. This is a sensationally good ipod album. And if the band only plays the cd's basic tracks onstage, they should be awesome live." – Lucid Culture NYC
"You needn't be a visitor to a drug den to be carried far, far away by this album's potent blend. BFO don't sound quite like anyone else, and their sense of dynamics and urgency makes them a truly interesting new band…coming through loud and clear on this amazing debut, and if its exotic stylings were any stronger, they might induce hallucinations...or at least permanent rejection of conformity" – Playback STL
"The music is simultaneously exotic and familiar yet it transports me to an older world." - Noise Magazine
"Ajda the Turkish Queen lures you with her voice, tells her deepest secrets, and generally draws you in to a gorgeous netherworld. But Black Fortress of Opium is also a flesh-and-blood band that teams her with some of Boston's more creative players; they can haunt with melody and rock with abstraction. This one is a pleasure to get lost in." - Brett Milano, Boston Phoenix music writer & author of The Sound of Our Town
"BFO's music is filled with shimmering darkness, pierced by Ajda's often wraithlike vocals, and marked by dynamic tension." - Nick Zaino, Boston Globe
Biography
In 2006, lyricist/multi-instrumentalist Ajda the Turkish Queen, originally from Houston, Texas met up with Boston, Massachusetts guitarist Tony Savarino. Inspired by the lore surrounding a little town in Turkey - Afyonkarahisar, which means 'Black Fortress of Opium' – they shortly thereafter formed the band Black Fortress of Opium together with Joe Turner (drums). Much lore surrounds the history of this place, Afyonkarahisar, where an ancient fortress is perched atop a hill.
Uniting Black Fortress of Opium's songs is the distinctive sound of female vocals, varying from powerful and soulful to soft and plaintive, combined with American folk instruments and a heady brew of electric guitars that float, swoop, and soar over fluid drumming.
The songs speak of life, love, misery, and the human condition.
View Black Fortress of Opium's EPK

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/4/2006
Band Website: cdbaby.com/cd/bfofopium
Band Members: Ajda the Turkish Queen, Tony Savarino, Joe Turner, Rich Cortese
Influences: PJ Harvey, Nico, Diamanda Galas, Reverend Horton Heat, Congo Norvell, Pain Teens, Rolling Stones, Primal Scream, Nick Cave, The Cure
Sounds Like: Something dark and ecstatic that you instinctively want to protect...
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Tonight 10/2 at Squawk

Black Fortress of Opium warms the cockles of your skulltonight...we are featured at...SQUAWK Coffeehouse, an open-mike venue for musicians, poets, & other performing artists every Thursday night, from...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:37:00 PST

9/6 Sexy Boots & Hot Guitars

Rock show:::Saturday night 9/6Black Fortress of OpiumO'Brien's Pub3 Harvard AveAllston, MA9PMOther acts:The Newtz, Aeolian Race, Black PyramidIs that enough blackness for you?Come linger in the shadow...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:43:00 PST

Terrascope Review!

Terrascope Review! http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Rumbles_August08.htm Treading a darker almost gothic path, probably though a Victorian cemetery at dusk, Black Fortress of Opi...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Sun, 31 Aug 2008 07:48:00 PST

Ink 19 review of our record!

http://ink19.com/issues/august2008/musicReviews/musicB/black FortressOfOpium.htmlFrom Ink 19 online 8.23.08Black Fortress of OpiumBlack Fortress of OpiumBy Matthew MoyerI'm not exactly sure how this al...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:45:00 PST

Podcast link

Electrical Language -podsafe indie music in a weekly show presented by Gabor Kovacs from Hampshire, UK...No. 135http://electricallanguage.libsyn.comThe first in a series of podcasts pre-recorded for i...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:30:00 PST

Plough Thursday~

Dear friends,Come hear us do our thing at the Plough & Stars this Thursday evening, August 14th...Plough & Stars912 Mass Ave between Central & Harvard Squares, CambridgeMusic starts at 10PMTemper open...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:36:00 PST

Chvrch tonite

Black Fortress of Opium 9pm toniteJuly, 31 2008 at Church69 Kilmarnock St, Boston, Massachusetts 02215w/: The Singhs, Bangalore
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:13:00 PST

7/31 @ Church :::

Hello friends,Hope you're surviving the dog days of summer ~Black Fortress of Opium will be playing some new songs, and ones we don't bust out so often, come check us out::: Thursday July 31st, 2008Ch...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:09:00 PST

New album review

From http://www.blog.collectedsounds.com/?p=1417:Black Fortress of Opium - Black Fortress of OpiumReview by Anna Maria StjärnellThe musician known as Ajda the Turkish Queen has made this her new album...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:52:00 PST

7/12 acoustic show

Hey friends,Just want to let you know about a truly special performance we're doing this upcoming weekend...Saturday July 12th, 2008Black Fortress of Opium acoustic duo performance (Ajda & Tony on cla...
Posted by Black Fortress of Opium on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:50:00 PST