Angie Reed

A former bassist for electro rockers Stereo Total, the multi-talented Angie Reed has since struck out on her own as a solo artist of many disciplines. Her debut, 2003’s The Best of Barbara Brockhaus was a concept album about a bored secretary going out on the town. The accompanying "Live Secretary Show” was a mixed media tour adventure, and Reed also incorporates her drawings and animations into her musical presentation. On her equally ambitious sophomore album (its theme is time and mind travel through different dimensions), Reed jumps genres and sounds like a kid in a candy store, sampling all of the flavours she can. Though her main style is the grimy electro pop that recurs throughout this disorienting run-around of an album, Reed dips her fingers into lo-fi sub-punk ("Dings Bums Bumst Dings Da”), elegant folk ("Dancing Tarantella to a Machine Gun”) and old school hip-hop ("Gold Chained Leopard of the Ghetto”). XYZ Frequency will definitely appeal most to fans of the mixed media art world and electro music, but there’s enough variety and experimentation here to reel in fans of the esoteric as well.