Dead Air

DEAD AIR is the DIY futuristic musical guise of Rainy Orteca, already familiar to many as an integral member of New York trio Joan As Police Woman.

Self-taught guitarist and general purveyor of musical excellence, Rainy Orteca comes to the fore with a frankly intimidating musical CV; previously working with such visionaries as Antony & the Johnsons, Lou Reed, Lloyd Cole, Lesley Gore and the aforementioned Joan As Police Woman.

Deftly diffused between atmospheric filmic ballads, and sonorous electronica...'DEAD AIR' is a profoundly startling collection of charmingly abstract digital diorama and wanton storytelling from another time and place - all gently cloaked with a voice that will make you come undone.

Rainy Orteca: "Mostly, I think with DEAD AIR that I'm trying to tell stories that might exist in another place. It's abstract, sometimes edgy & futuristic but accessible too. It's like if that female computer voice in the film "Alien" made a record. The one that says "T-minus 60 seconds & counting...". It's at the end of the movie & she's telling everyone they have 60 seconds to live - the information is coldly delivered but at the same time she sounds so warm & inviting..."

Raised in Maine, Rainy's pre-teen musical diet included Bowie, Zappa, Fleetwood Mac and T-Rex. Her teenage years brought a wider musical influence: Jazz, Folk, Punk and inevitably New Wave - The Pretenders, The Clash, The Cars, Blondie, B-52s, The Ramones.
By the time she reached college DEAD AIR was born, initially as a name for her late-night radio show, lucky listeners would hear her play The Violent Femmes, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Kate Bush....

Finding herself in Philadelphia in the early 90s with the US Grunge scene at its height, Rainy heard that Courtney Love's band HOLE had lost their bassist, and brazenly submitted a tape to their manager. Courtney came calling and learning bass guitar started days later with rehearsals for `Live Through This' and although the Hole gig never happened, she was soon in demand with other musicians, finally accepting an offer to play with Joan Osborne on a tour of Japan. For the next three years, Rainy toured the world, appearing on Top Of The Pops & The Grammys, and co-writing songs with Ms.Osborne before quitting music (temporarily) to settle in New York.

It was comic Sarah Silverman who coaxed Rainy out of her early musical retirement and Rainy tip-toed back in, playing for Lloyd Cole and Dave Derby's band Brilliantine before a call from Joan Wasser who had just started Joan As Police Woman ....

So here we are in 2008, the year when Rainy Orteca will step out on her own with the DEAD AIR mini-album, filled with 6 breathtaking songs from a true artist with a highly skilled, innovative and unique musical mind

There must be something in the New York air: nearly 30 years on, Dead Air's music has undertones of the Velvet Underground. Listen to the guitar on Elephant Decision and to Rainy Orteca's sung/half spoken vocals recalling those of Lou Reed and let them take you back. But this CD has a robotic, electronic and controlled mood that is all about the future.

In the space of six tracks, Dead Air gets close to dance on Forever; travels through the surprisingly tender Tin Drum and peaks with the cold and very sexy Electrical Hearts, an ode to a girlfriend lost somewhere in Europe.

The layers of sound on this mini-album suggest a band of accomplished musicians; all the more amazing to know that everything on the CD is written, sung and played by one woman. At one end of the scale, female pop might be too sugary; at the other end, Dead Air stands out as a rich, dark liquorice.

A stunning and unique debut that left me wanting more, from another quality signing on Reveal Records, home to the equally uncompromising and uncompromised Madam and Joan As Police Woman.