Annie

Annie Working With A Brit, A Frenchman And A Pumpkin On New LP

27 Mar 2006 06:00:00 EST

Pop princess also preparing new single, remix LP.
By Jennifer Vineyard

AUSTIN, Texas — Norwegian DJ/singer Annie may have taken three years to record her dance-pop debut, Anniemal, but she plans to shorten the window considerably for her second album and have it done by this fall.

How's she going to do that? By throwing herself into madcap sessions with a slew of different producers, including ex-Smashing Pumpkins/ A Perfect Circle guitarist James Iha.

If that combination seems odd, then consider that Iha has already remixed Annie's "Me Plus One" single (giving her electronic pop more of an indie-rock flavor; see "Annie Steps Away From The Turntable, Mans The Mic Full Time On Tour") and Anniemal has been embraced more by the rock crowd than pop — in the U.S., anyway.

In the past, Annie has worked with dance-pop-friendly collaborators, such as Richard X (M.I.A.), Röyksopp's Torbjørn Brundtland and Op:L Bastards' Timo Kaukolampi. She reteamed with British mash-up master Richard X on two songs for the as-yet-untitled new LP, including a cover of Stacy Q's '80s hit "Two of Hearts" and an original called "Remind Me of You."

"The new songs are more club-oriented — still '80s-sounding, but different," Annie said at the recent South by Southwest music conference. "But to be honest, I never really know what things will sound like until I finish the album. I'm sort of in the middle of the album. There's going to be a lot of different people, it's going to be more diverse, but I'm not quite sure which direction the production will go."

Annie's not too worried about losing her core fanbase if she goes in a new direction; after all, "it's not going to be a blues album or a country album," she said, even though she's already teased that just that very thing could happen (see "Stunning Norwegian DJ Makes Pop Even Hipsters Can Love"). "Maybe it's because I'm a DJ myself [that] a lot of DJs are into my music," she said.

After she finishes recording with Iha in New York, she'll team up with French techno producer Alan Braxe (who worked on Stardust's 1998 hit "Music Sounds Better With You") and then some yet-to-be-named collaborators.

In the meantime, she's putting out a new track called "Crush" (which she wrote as a teenager) as a single this summer, and she hopes to release another DJ Kicks-style remix compilation, for which she's still getting the music cleared. "I'd like to put some Death From Above [1979] on it, but we're just putting it together now," she said. "I'll be going back to Norway in a month and record it then, so we can put it out as soon as possible."

The wait shouldn't be too long for her album, either, since she hopes to put it out by the end of 2006. "The record company might have a different idea," Annie said, "but I'm in a hurry."

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Annie Steps Away From The Turntable, Mans The Mic Full Time On Tour

11 Sep 2005 14:48:00 EDT

Norwegian electro-pop artist's eight-date trek kicks off Tuesday.
By Jennifer Vineyard

Most European pop singers would be in a rush to get famous in America. Not Norwegian electro-pop artist Annie; she's taking it slow. The 26-year-old singer did a quick four-city mini-tour in the U.S. a few months ago, and she'll be doing eight more dates starting Tuesday. But there's a reason for her smaller steps: Annie's only been performing live since January.

"It's quite a big challenge for me," she said. "It's completely different than if you're a band. Going into the studio, it's like you're practicing. But when you're doing electronic music, it's a totally different thing to take it out live, play it live. I was really, really scared [the first time], and had to think for a long time about how it would be, but it went OK. I'm becoming much better."

Annie — who started off as a DJ (see "Stunning Norwegian DJ Makes Pop Even Hipsters Can Love") — first bolstered her live performances with a bit of turntable maneuvering, singing for half the set and spending the other half spinning Blondie, M.I.A. and Peaches records to offset her bubblegum electro-funk. Gradually, she built up to singing a full set, leaving turntable duties to her partner, Timo Kaukolampi. And for her next tour, Annie's adding a guitarist. She won't have to look far for moral support, either — she's going to be the opening act for her pals in the Norwegian duo Röyksopp, who helped produce her debut album, Anniemal.

"They're really good friends of mine, and we've been talking for a lot of years about doing something together," she said. "And I think they are really, really good at combining good melodies and exciting production, so I like working with them."

Annie's also recently worked with James Iha, the Rapture, MSTRKRFT and Death from Above 1979's Sebastien Granger, who've all done remixes of her songs (the Rapture, for instance, did a take on "Me Plus One"). She additionally has an entry in the DJ Kicks mix CD series due October 25, featuring Le Tigre and Bow Wow Wow along with two new Annie tracks, "Gimme Your Money" and a live version of "Wedding," a song she debuted on her last U.S. tour. However she presents the new material, though, she promises it won't be boring.

"I've been partying and partying, every day," she laughed. "Not a day without a party. It won't be [just] me and my laptop. I want to do more than that!"

Annie and Röyksopp tour dates, according to her label: