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Kristi Martel

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"...a fine musician...Incomparable!" -- Utah Phillips
"Kristi Martel loves life, and the joy she gets out of it exudes from her every pore. She can be singing about the darkest things in the world -- betrayal, self-hate, death -- and yet somehow, coming from her, it feels hopeful and uplifting." -- Marion Davis, Motif Magazine
"She grins when she sings. Watching her perform, it's impossible not to get swept up in the sheer joy of music -- in her deft piano playing and soaring, soul-rhythm-and-blues voice, love emanates from every note." -- Vienna Teng
"Martel proves that she's a powerful storyteller, with meaningful lyrics, passionate performances, and an emotional mission." -- Bob Gulla for The Providence Phoenix
Kristi Martel’s Ravengirl: "In this arresting, intense and surprisingly uplifting album, Martel works out some of her feelings about her lover's suicide...raw awareness, bemused and hurt but grateful and joyous, ...makes Ravengirl so compelling. The album begins with the eerie instrumental "Oya," a sort of rite of passage easing us into Martel's psyche. Martel then wraps us in the gentle "Day of Rain," a song about the day you realize the crying is finally over and are able to look back, calm and clear-eyed. The collage of memories that follows is tinted with the full spectrum of emotion, and Martel's nimble voice constantly shifts with the music... "I am doing fine, I am doing fine," she bubbles; it's not some ironic mantra or attempt at manifesting, just a cheerful chorus of simple truth. She's doing fine indeed, and the album soars way above fine." -- Brian Jewell for Bay Windows
Featured on NPR, WERS, in Curve Magazine, and voted Rhode Island's Best Female Alt-Rock Vocalist, award-winning songwriter and avant-soul piano diva Kristi Martel grew up in New England and earned an ASCAP grant and two music degrees (Bard and Mills College) before beginning her touring and recording career. Her sweet presence and fearless songwriting endear audiences nationwide. Her piano playing combines her love of blues dissonance and syncopation with her classical training. Her powerful voice is at once sweet and bitter, emotional and visionary, articulating prayers and quirky autobiographical narratives in the same breath. Through Sealed Lip Records she has released six CDs. Ravengirl is Kristi's goofy joke superhero name for herself, her recognition of the crazy blessing it is that she felt joy everyday, amidst the profound grief, after her former life partner's suicide in 2003. This newest album is full up with that joy, with the healing and transformation Kristi has undergone to be singing still so powerfully today. Ravengirl received a "highly recommended" from the Providence Journal and stellar reviews from Motif Magazine, Bay Windows, Curve Magazine, and the Providence Phoenix. Kristi has just recorded demos for her next full-length CD, with its much-anticipated secret title track. The work is more jazz and soul, and focuses on the universal in our human experience and our need for inner and world peace.
Discography:
Ravengirl (LP 2006)
Quaint & Curious Ravendemos (LP 2005)
The Mule (LP 2004)
bound (single 2003)
brave enough (LP 2001)
give me a little... (EP 2000)
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Music:

Member Since: 11/28/2005
Band Website: kristimartel.com
Band Members: The Kristi Martel Trio:
Kristi Martel - vocals, piano, & other keys
Nisha Purushotham - Afro-Cuban & West African percussion
Kurt Meyer - fretless & upright bass

The Kristi Martel Band:
Kristi Martel - vocals, piano, & other keys
Angela Romans - backing vocals
Kevin Silvia - guitar
Miya Perry - cello
Kurt Meyer - 5-string fretless & upright bass
Nisha Purushotham - Afro-Cuban & West African percussion
Rich Kulsar - drums
Influences: Tori Amos, Laurie Anderson, Bach, the Beatles, Beethoven, Bjork, Brahms, Jeff Buckley, Kate Bush, Chopin, Ani Difranco, Sheila E., Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Diamanda Galas, Kristin Hersh, Billie Holiday, Incubus, Jane's Addiction, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, Bobby McFerrin, Joni Mitchell, Meredith Monk, Meshell Ndegeocello, Peter Paul & Mary, Prince, Sade, Skryabin, Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, the Sugarcubes, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Throwing Muses, Tuck & Patti, Vinx, Craig Werth, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder...and writers Denise Duhamel, Bell Hooks, Keri Hulme, Audre Lorde, Marge Piercy, Alice Walker
Sounds Like: CLICK ALBUM COVERS TO BUY ON CDBABY.COM!
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Record Label: Sealed Lip Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

The tour diary final installment...

Hallo my good friends,We are really home! We are tired and still settling in, but we just finished the major cleaning and laundry that we needed to do, so we are starting to feel more and more home. ...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:56:00 PST

KPFA Exclusive & Notes from Fairfield, Iowa...

Hallo Lovely People!We just found out that Lewis Sawyer at KPFA (Berkeley, CA), played the ENTIRE demos for the next album, entitled "Sacred Whore." Kim handed Lewis the demos at the San Francisco sh...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Sat, 31 May 2008 10:28:00 PST

Notes from Ashland, Oregon...

Hallo Beautiful People!We are in Ashland Oregon. I am sitting in a lovely Great Room withpanoramic windows overlooking fields, oak trees, mountains, a saltwater pool, and a fish pond with blooming lo...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Fri, 23 May 2008 06:21:00 PST

Notes from Santa Monica...

Hallo Good People,We are in Santa Monica, blocks away from the beach, a healing artscenter, an organic market, and a beautiful yoga studio. Because oftheir first-time student special pricing, I have ...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Tue, 13 May 2008 09:03:00 PST

Notes from Taos, New Mexico...

Hallo Beautiful People!Here is just an excerpt. Notes from the whole entire trip are up on my website: www.kmetal.net/blogger.html . I hope you will go visit and read them all! We are going to get ...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Thu, 01 May 2008 12:42:00 PST

Tour, tour, tour... (Buffalo, LA, The Bay, Oregon, Missouri, Iowa)

Hallo Beautiful People!We are very excited about our upcoming cross-country tour! We leave Little Rhody on TOMORROW(!), and will be gone 41 days. Our trip will include at least 9 shows, a week in the ...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:50:00 PST

Cross-Country Tour!

Hallo Beautiful People!We are getting really excited about our upcoming cross-country tour! I can't wait to revisit all these people and places I haven't been to in way too long, and Kim can't wait to...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:54:00 PST

Cali postponed...

Hallo Beautiful People!I am so so sad to tell you that I will not be performing in California and Oregon in February as we had planned. Some of the very important dates fell through, so we are postpon...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:37:00 PST

Demos & True Brew!

Hallo Beautiful People!Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were spectacular. We had amazing food at home for the holidays. We said goodbye to the old and welcomed in the new. We marveled at our famil...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:41:00 PST

July 27th in Little Rhody

Hallo myspace friends!We had so much fun last month playing at True Brew in Wakefield RI, that Kevin and I are playing there again on Friday July 27th. We sure hope you will join us at this favorite l...
Posted by Kristi Martel on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 02:13:00 PST