Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.
Perhaps it’s a sign of these chilling, uneasy times, but there seems to be an opera-meets-electro thing happening right now (looking at you, Austra), and I’m not about to complain. The removed digital synth laid over with dramatic, emotion-packed operatic vocals is a shivery, highly effective combo. Local digi-folkster Prize knows this firsthand. A classically trained musician, she fled the world of strict opera and meshed her given skill with the digital toys of the future. Plus, she threw in a dash of Victorian cabaret.
This weekend at Hotel Utah she premieres the music video for her song “Terror Machine” – machine, check, high drama, check – off The Split EP, recorded by Ian Pellicci at Tiny Telephone. At the show you can expect a gothy carnival of lasers, lights, and shredded lace.
Year and location of persona origin: I had been writing my own music while studying at the conservatory for a bit before I came up with Prize. It was probably around 2010, when I started becoming sick of the tightly-laced opera world, when I came up with my deconstructed Victorian aesthetic.
Performer name origin: I came up with the name as I was falling asleep- I had a story running in my head about a young child finding a Crackerjack prize. I thought it captured a feeling of curiosity and excitement, and I had a feeling that the name would make me feel sparkly.
Performer motto: Drink more water than whisky.
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Minimal, electro-orchestral arrangements of siren songs. Primadonna folk-punk.
Instrumentation: Vocals, guitar, drums, synth, violin, cello.
Most recent release: The Split EP.
Best part about life as a Bay Area performer: I have performed at the coolest places even as a young singer, and I didn’t have to live in LA.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area performer: Well, I have a Master’s in Music and I still had to live out of my van for four months to make things work.
First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: I had the entire Madonna discography on cassette tape by the time I was 11.
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/borrowed from the Web: I recently downloaded ill.Gates’ free track, a freakybass remix of Die Antwoord.
Favorite local eatery and dish: Millenium for overall vegetarian dining experience, and the garlic spread from Stinking Rose for the best actual thing to put in my mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeVDVGUYAII
Prize
With the Cuss, and Deeper
Fr/13, 9 p.m., $8
Hotel Utah
500 Fourth St., SF
(415) 546-6300
www.hotelutah.com