Send "Emika " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The idea of a British-born, blue-eyed Berlinite turning Aaliyah's "Try Again" into an industrial-dub robot dirge seems pretty suspect. But somehow, 25-year old Bristol-bred Emika pulls off "Common Exchange" with flying Grisaille colors. Chalk its success up to the electronic composer/sound designer's belief that life and dance music alike are fatally boring when you stick to the blueprint.Emika's self-titled debut is one of those rip-it-up-and-start-again records. That's not to say that she isn't descended from a tradition of pitch-black and borderless artists, but rather that her influences are varied enough to strand you on Spotify for several hours. There are the obvious trip-hop antecedents: Portishead, the artists on Ninja Tune (Emika's label, where she once interned); there's the THC residue of the dubstep pioneers with whom she's collaborated: Pinch, Mala of Digital Mystikz. Then there are the Bauhaus grooves absorbed during innumerable nights at German techno tabernacle Berghain, where she developed a close working relationship with club resident Marcel Dettmann. If the above paragraph sounds like gibberish, let me re-translate: To the European underground, Emika is a golden child in somber pose. Even the eternally sober Thom Yorke recently endorsed Emika on the BBC and said, "I hope she gets really famous." She's not there yet, but it's not inconceivable. After all, few artists emerge as fully formed and self-sufficient. She writes, she produces, sings, plays piano, digital sequencers, and synthesizers. Her old day job was fittingly in sound design for the music software firm Native Instruments. The professional inclination is revealed amidst the poison fog of Emika, a record that's both experimental and precise, well caffeinated and focused, yet always deliberate in its approach....full text |
| Guardian |
| This long-gestating debut by Emika, a UK-born singer and producer of Czech origin currently residing in Berlin, is an intriguing work: dark, seductive and as hard to pin down as its creator. Her atmospheric sound, slow-burning and bass-heavy, owes a debt to Bristol, Emika's former home, and the influence of Portishead can be heard in her crystalline vocals, but it doesn't define her. Berlin has had an effect, too, and the care with which she has programmed the sonic landscape of tracks such as "Drop the Other" speaks of an immersion in that city's techno scene. No bad thing....full text |
| Contactmusic |
| Emika releases her self-titled debut 'Emika' on Ninja Tunes. Born in UK but from Czech heritage she has spent much of her time exploring sound in Bristol. She currently lives in Berlin, fitting for an experimental artist who wants to push the boundaries of sound and voice. Indeed her debut is a dark brooding electronic soundscape that reminds me of many prolific artists from Bristol like Tricky and Portishead. Music is so diverse these days and there's so much opportunity to push boundaries with recent technology that I have admire Emika's debut for. She is indeed experimenting with electronic music and voice dexterity that creates a compelling mix on this album, however it's certainly will not appeal to everyone. There are some nice dubstep influences, certainly from the Burial school of thought, that creates some deep sub base sounds on some parts of the album and 'Be My Guest' is pure dubstep. 'Emika' starts softer but gets more brooding and darker, although ends with a piano piece. The fusion of experimental sounds, piano and Emika's haunting and angelic voice, mixed with original compositions is aurally challenging to say the least. It's classical to the sublime, with loads in between. It's a difficult one for me to pass judgement on Emika's debut as maybe I'm unqualified to give a fair critique on this type of music or maybe I'm too old for this kind of sound. I cannot deny the originality or uniqueness of what she's doing and Emika keeps you guessing all the way through, however it does get a bit too much, although there were some definite highlights. 'Emika' is edgy and unnerving with a dark sense of looming techno aplomb and possibly Emika may well be the new Portishead for the youth? What's missing from 'Emika' is that sense of soul and song structure I got from Portishead but possibly music has moved on. Challenging stuff!...full text |
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