You can view the articles on their original pages with the external links, or read below.   Wildy's World Review (By Wildy Haskell) December 4, 2009 San Diego's Vanja James was a child prodigy, graduating from high school at the age of 15 and college at 19. Consequently her musical exposure was a bit different than most of the folks she grew up with. In her adult life, James continues to blaze her own trail, doing all of her PR and booking on her own in addition to making music that has earned her the reputation as one of the gems of San Diego's Indie music scene. James has a voice that's bigger than life, and a personality to match. Her debut album, Music, finds James creating music that runs across genre boundaries with distinctive instrumentation and an eye for detail that's rare in popular music. James opens with the vibrant acoustic rocker On Your Own, belting her way through a quintessential rock song with an anthemic chorus. James' voice is truly a treat, warm and lush but able to turn on the power at a moment's notice. Beautiful Mess is one of the more interesting love songs I've heard this year (or any year); an honest invitation from one imperfect person to another. I can imagine this tune ending up in a film or TV soundtrack without any difficulty at all. Craptastic is an amusing song about finding the good in even the worst of days. It's a great Country/Rock arrangement that's highly entertaining and even danceable. James displays a sort of hard-edged grace here that's very appealing in a performer while making you feel like she could be singing about your experiences as easily as her own. Deal With The Devil finds James on a jazzy turn that's surprisingly powerful. This might be her best vocal performance on the album. James turns highly personal on Won't Let Me Love You, one of the most emotionally moving songs on the album. The simple, compact arrangement of Won't Let Me Love You houses a melody with a simple, elegant beauty that stands out. James calls on listeners to get out of the doldrums on the bright, airy Sunshine. This is another track that seems destined for the licensing world; don't be surprised if you start hearing covers of this song down the line. The Bayou is an escapist fantasy in song that alternates between the peaceful moments of a getaway with the exciting pace of city life. I didn't necessarily like The Bayou the first time I heard it, but its one of those songs that grows on you with successive listens. Sandman is intriguing; a song that wants to have a distinct Latin flavor but doesn't quite get there. Nevertheless it is an amazing song, driven by the diva-esque vocal performance of James herself. Vocals aside, it's the best pure songwriting on the album, but James approaches the vocal veracity of Grace Slick without hesitation. On War Song, James makes some very astute and intelligent criticism of war without falling into anti-war hyperbole. It turns out to be a powerful song and the vocal line is killer. James closes out with Avalanche, a big-time rocker where she proceeds to rip off the roof with the help of Clyde Bromarepps of Laserwolf & Thunderbolt on vocals. Vanja James is a distinctive talent with a voice many performers would commit anti-social acts to have. As a songwriter she has some amazing moments but also a few that are more mundane. Her debut album, Music, is a great introduction to James as an artist. There are four or five songs here with serious commercial punch, whether for Radio or the licensing world. I expect big things of James in the future. San Diego's hidden gem can't stay hidden for long. ____________________________________ Album Review for Vanja James Music - (By LunaKafe) April 9. 2009 Vanja James makes fiery, independent music on her self-titled debut. Opener "On Your Own" sees her singing at the top of her amazing voice to a choppy beat. "August" is bluesy and a little like early Dar Williams, and all the better for it. "Deal With the Devil" comes along, a song with a jazzy highlighting her cool vocal. She's really a vocal powerhouse, but can rein it in when she needs to. "The Bayou" is energetic yet sunny and has an amusing lyric. It's a bit old-fashioned country and that works well. James has crafted an impeccable debut. ________________________________________________________________________________ Vanja James Showcases her Organic Music Style (By Bart Mendoza) February 4, 2009 There is no shortage of local performers who fall into the category of singer-songwriter, but there are precious few who work to subvert the genre. With much of the singer-songwriter boom coming in the wake of Jewel’s mid-90s success, it’s easy to see why so many artists rely on the simple guitar and vocals mix to get their message across. And yet, it’s artists who push musical boundaries that keep this music interesting. While it’s the road less traveled, for musicians like Vanja James, who performs at Dream Street today, Feb. 5, the quest to make their music a unique statement through arrangements and instrumentation sets them apart in an overcrowded field. James came to music through a church group, taking part in their worship services when she was 16. “They had a really good modern worship team with good guitars in the program and that sort of piqued my interest,” James said. Already in college, she quickly added classical guitar as part of her studies. Currently preparing her debut album “Vanja James Music” for release, she is also taking part in as many musical projects as she can. In addition to her own music, she is also singing with an another pair of bands — the Gift/Curse and Laserwolf and the Thunderbolt. “I’ve known them all for a really long time,” she said. “So it doesn’t feel like anything bigger than hanging out with my friends, but it is a lot of fun. So I’ll keep doing this sort of thing as long as they let me.” Her album has been over a year in the making, but James was determined to make a quality product, no matter how long it took. The 15 songs on the disc include contributions from over two dozen guest musicians. “It’s my recording debut,” James said. “It’s covering the span of what I can do stylewise. It took time, but getting it to sound good was more important than how long it took to do.” For James, it was important to use real instruments instead of using computer shortcuts. “You could describe my music as ‘organic,’” James said. “As in, real instruments played by real people.” The length of time spent recording could also be attributed to working on off hours. “I was working with my own money so I was paying as I went along,” she said. “The studio I was using was pretty busy, so I was at their mercy.” Additionally her choice of violinist went on tour in the midst of the project. “Sometimes people got scheduled over me, which can be a little frustrating,” she said. “But I did the budget plan, so I was willing to be patient and I probably saved a little money that way.” James is prolific to a fault, composing anytime, anywhere. “I carry a digital recorder in my car to capture any particularly good ideas,” James said. While a crucial part of her creative process, this practice can sometimes cause other motorists amusement. “I was doing a vocal warm up while I was on my way to a show downtown,” she said. “My mouth was open really wide when I looked over at the car next to me. They were laughing really hard,” she said. With a debut album imminent and touring planned for the year ahead, the future appears promising for James. But she is determined to make it on her own terms. “Music is sort of a universal language that you can use to connect with people,” said James. “I get pretty sad when I don’t sing or play music with people. It’s a happy thing for me.” She considers music to be her mission in life. “I’m blessed with it,” said James. “My life always seems to come back to that, so it seems like it’s something I was meant to do.” ____________________________________________ San Diego Entertainer Article About Vanja James (By Mary Leary) - May 21, 2009 Contributor Mary Leary profiles San Diego-based musician Vanja James and her life on the road. On the first of May, one of San Diego’s most beautiful, unassuming and determined musicians filled the tank of her beat-up SUV and started driving north. Her guitars, an egg cooker, and laptop were installed in the backseat. She also packed a few boxes of what has come to be known as merch, or, as Vanja enjoys saying, “schwag,” including Vanja James t-shirts, Vanja James CDs, and Vanja James posters. One of her most radio-friendly songs, “On Your Own,” seems to foretell the journey she inserted into a business plan years ago, even targeting the month and year of May, 2009. The stated mission: To get her sounds heard by as many ears as possible. I believe, as far as keeping expectations low, that she meant that statement. I also believe that her dreams around this tour went, and go, far beyond that stated goal. Here are some lines from “On Your Own:” ‘Navigating all these unknown roads / flying solo’s always best when not too far from home / while making all these brand new friends / I realized my old life had to end but I found one soul, one soul I had to mend.” Vanja James reminds me of a stealth bomber. Two years ago, I suddenly and spontaneously accepted the work of booking a new café. With about 10 days in which to find and select a month’s worth of quality performers, I was furiously MySpacing, where I bumped into Vanja’s profile. She’d posted a very Jackie O. profile photo of herself with an up-do, sitting as primly as the sort of woman who knows to stop at two cocktails, wearing a classic early ‘60s dress. I contacted her, thinking she’d be about some sort of vintage style (If you’re under 30, or new in town: San Diego has a tradition of musicians obsessed with vintage clothes and cars, who usually emit jazz, rockabilly, swing or something influenced by at least one of the above). Turned out that in person Ms. James is somebody different: for one, she’s even more striking than the Jackie O. MySpace pic. But her music is solidly contemporary, and her threads are pretty basic – with what I’d call hippie, or early ‘70s, leanings. When we were planning her show she had the sense to ask if several other female performers could share the bill, ensuring a good crowd. She had the sense to include the brilliant Gayle Skidmore. She took her place in the show as one of the lesser-known’s with noteworthy grace and serenity. She accepted the fact that, that night, if anyone was the star, it was Gayle. Vanja exhibited a sense of timing, the big picture, and how to help others while helping herself that seemed miles past her undisclosed but gotta-be-under-32 age. When she finally got her turn on the small stage, her song writing and juicy, gutsy voice, along with a sort of essential simplicity, managed to be memorable in a sea of talented, compelling women. Her sound differed from that of that evening’s other three female performers. Vanja’s a belter, with a medium-to-soft finish. “What she sounds like” is such a predictable music piece question, but you probably want to know – a bit like KT Tunstall, with maybe a dash of Amy Winehouse. Vanja has admitted her admiration of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Aretha Franklin – and while pretty, Vanja’s voice definitely has soul at or near its core. It sounds like she’s listened to all sorts of music. What I found most compelling was her onstage mixture of authentic vulnerability with intuitively-timed strength and chain mail, a balance some women strive to reach all their lives. Several years ago, Ms. James arrived in a scene dense with aspiring singer-songwriters, many of them female, and most of them far more talented than used to be the case in local coffeehouses. Yet I’ve rarely detected even a speck of uncertainty regarding her right to a place in the music world. In a rather quiet, very hopeful, sometimes sideways fashion, she has simply barreled forward, filling arid spaces with creativity and keeping a positive attitude. As such, her current solo tour is a natural outgrowth. We’ve all heard the songs and stories from touring bands about the exhaustion of nightly tour stops, crowded vans, crappy food, and sleep deprivation. In Vanja’s case we can add that she is doing all the driving along with booking nearly all her lodging (frequently, someone’s couch) and shows. As I am writing this, there is ongoing “breaking news,” to wit: an agent in North Carolina is interested in Vanja’s music and is giving it several listens. Someone else has invited her to join a year-long junket, complete with street teams and an official tour van. This is very quick success, and to other musicians it’s inspirational. It suggests that Ms. James is probably doing what she’s meant to be doing. To me, however, these high points may be less meaningful than her account of a stop at a biker bar in Reno where she only received $2 in the tip jar… to discover, later, a $100 bill someone had slipped into her purse. And a lot of kindness and camaraderie. Or the way a guy in San Francisco gave her a “Santa Claus bag” that included a skateboard. Or how she rides armed with merch with her pictures and names on it, saying her tour blog exists to keep her sanity and “as my gift to all of you,” which is a level of self-importance that has tended to elude me, personally – it’s rather fascinating in someone who seems rather humble and generally level-headed. Maybe most interesting, to me, is the latter coupled with how Vanja accepted the need, during a very dry point in the tour, to ask people to watch her show, and to give away CDs when they weren’t being purchased, and to be grateful, at one venue, for the attention of two or three people. The most startling lyrics I’ve heard from Vanja go far beyond the chutzpah of a performer some have chosen for comparison: Janis Joplin. From “Deal With The Devil”: “I said, ‘I would do anything for one ounce of the magic that you bring / Take my soul, take my heart, anything to make my mark’ / I made a deal with the devil today / the angel over my shoulder looked away / I made a deal with the devil today / I’m not compromisin’ any longer / I made a deal with the devil today / cross my fingers I am so sincere / it’s hot as hell but damn, it’s good down here…” When I asked Vanja how many phone numbers she’s been offered on this tour, I expected to hear that she’d received hundreds, or at least a figure in the double digits. Her typically somewhat cryptic answer, which was brief and included no number: “I’ve met like…one dude, who thinks he can make me famous.” Before a show in Olympia, Wash., Vanja decorated her own cupcake with three colors of purple sprinkles. That’s the kind of musician who may end up writing the first truly successful song about sunset. Or who will just keep surprising us — shifting colors, casting off what doesn’t work and shrugging into what does while maintaining a solid core of Vanja-ishness. It’s an interesting journey, one I’d recommend following – starting with her music. She says she’s already written two songs while on the road. I’m waiting to hear what arises from the stories she’s living right now. |
