A bedroom songstress from Estonia, Maria Minerva has been making changes in recent years from hazy wafting jams to more clinical upended pop and dance. “Cabaret Cixous” was a major release for her, the first step out of limited-cassette territory, released by the always ear turning Not Not Fun label.
Maybe it’s the title that tips me off, but some of her “pop” songs here seem to share a sort of media collage kinship with Cabaret Voltaire in spirit if not sound. But it’s a modern update made in digital solid-state – new age samples backed with industrial clangor, serving many stylistic ends from track to track. Her voice is always hissing and panning and out of flux, veiled in digital sheen.
Where does this music belong? On vinyl and compact disc and cassette, and in little white earbuds, sure, but really it’s best where it was primarily made; on the lappy. This is the sound of growing musicians on the internet, where anything and everything can be explored and fashioned together. Like many artists on Not Not Fun, Maria Minerva is in a sea of style appropriators creating with abandon. Her prolific activity only allows us better access to her otherwise open/private world. -Wade
