Nite Jewel | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Nite Jewel is the alias of Los Angeles musician and multimedia artist Ramona Gonzalez, whose lo-fi, synth-based compositions filter 80s freestyle and electronic disco and early-90s R&B; through the haze of shoegaze and an experimental approach to recording. Born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley by musically inclined parents, Gonzalez studied philosophy at Occidental College. She remained involved in music throughout her studies, playing in a series of rock bands with her husband, Cole M. Grief-Neill (later a member of Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti), creating ambient synth pieces for sound-based installation art, and eventually starting her solo career as Nite Jewel. Despite production help and occasional co-writing assistance from Grief-Neill and live reinforcement from Emily Jane, she records exclusively on a portable eight-track cassette recorder, building up her songs with layers of analog synths and drum machines before adding her ethereal vocals. After a self-released six-song CD-R titled My CD, which caught the ear of New Yorks taste-making Other Records, and the What Did He Say 12" in 2008, Nite Jewel issued the full-length Good Evening through Human Ear Music. In 2009, Nite Jewels profile grew among the indie rock community with the release of the Want You Back 12" on Italians Do It Better, a self-released CD of demos called You F O, and two 7" singles. In 2010, she collaborated with Dâm-Funk on a single for Stones Throw and released a late summer EP, Am I Real?, on her own label Gloriette. 2011 saw Gonzalez busy with more collaborations. Various 7"s and the It Goes Through Your Head EP on Mexican Summer added to her discography, along with collaborations with sound artists Julia Holter and Jason Grier. Following this slew of tracks on various labels, Nite Jewel inked a deal with Secretly Canadian and began work on her least-murky set of recordings to date. The highly polished full-length, One Second of Love, arrived in March of 2012. The following year, Gonzalez worked with Bay Area rapper/producer Droop-E on the song "N the Traffic"; they expanded their collaboration as the duo AMTHYST, releasing the Euphoria EP in 2016. Gonzalez also returned with her third Nite Jewel album, Liquid Cool. Released on Gloriette, the album reflected the more independent, experimental side of her music. Later in 2016, she reunited with Dâm-Funk for the Nite-Funk EP, and worked with him again on the following years Real High. A more pop-oriented set, the album also featured contributions from Grief-Neill, Droop-E, and Julia Holter. The companion EP Obsession, which featured alternate mixes and B-sides, arrived that year via Italians Do It Better. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 11 Title: Good Evening Released: 2008 Tracks: 10 Duration: 33:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bottom Rung (02:33) 2 Suburbia (02:32) 3 What Did He Say (04:26) 4 Weak for Me (03:34) 5 Heart Wont Start (02:52) 6 Universal Mind (02:12) 7 Artificial Intelligence (03:50) 8 Lets Go (The Two of Us Together) (03:15) 9 Chimera (03:42) 10 Lover (04:18) |
| Good Evening : Allmusic album Review : The home recording project of an L.A.-based multimedia artist/philosophy student who wields an eight-track cassette recorder and cites freestyle divas Lisa Lisa and Debbie Deb as among her primary influences, Nite Jewels effectively self-released debut album holds the potential to be many things, few of them particularly promising: dryly intellectual, artily indulgent, self-consciously ironic, vapidly modish, unlistenably amateurish. Indeed, it can be a bit off-puttingly stuffy, with an occasionally discernible whiff of pretension that may incline some more critical-minded and discriminating listeners to dismiss it out of hand, and its production values are undeniably negligible, but taken on its own terms Good Evening is a good deal more singular, intriguing, and difficult to characterize than one might initially suspect. A perplexing conflation of rudimentary electronic dance-pop with wobbly lo-fi experimentalism, it lacks the energy and melodic distinctiveness to be effective as either pop or dance, but it works quite nicely as mood music, maintaining a similarly beguiling, woozy atmosphere across its ten tracks. Ramona Gonzalezs analog synthesizers and high, swooning vocals, swathed in tape hiss and bleary-eyed reverb, offer a warmth and tenderness that are largely absent from her darker, moodier cohorts in the Italians Do It Better camp, and though she may have all the right 80s signifiers in place to evoke that labels achingly stylish post-disco mode, theres something guilelessly genuine and personable about her approach, knowing as it may be. (The inimitable, idiosyncratic Arthur Russell has been tossed around as a reference point, and while she cant measure up to his uncanny appeal, its a surprisingly relevant comparison in terms of both sonics and overall effect.) Good Evenings weakest point, aside from the non-issue of its non-danceability, is its songs: as an undifferentiated half-hour mass theyre perfectly fine, but apart from the meekly melodic "Artificial Intelligence " and a wormy synth line or two on "What Did He Say," nary a hook pokes out from the haze, and not simply because Gonzalez keeps her vocals smothered and distant. So its a welcome change of pace when the album concludes with a cover of Roxy Musics "Lover," which might qualify as the albums best track simply by dint of having a perceptible tune and structure. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 11 Title: What Did He Say Released: 2008 Tracks: 2 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 What Did He Say (?) 2 Lets Go the Two of Us Together (?) |
 | Album: 3 of 11 Title: Want You Back Released: 2009-08 Tracks: 4 Duration: 16:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Want You Back (04:09) 2 Want You Back (vocal mix) (03:59) 3 All Out of Order (04:10) 4 All Out of Order (Spanish version) (04:11) |
 | Album: 4 of 11 Title: Am I Real? Released: 2010-08 Tracks: 6 Duration: 26:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Another Horizon (04:25) 2 We Want Our Things (04:15) 3 Forget You & I (04:43) 4 Falling Far (03:58) 5 White Lies (03:48) 6 Am I Real? (04:56) |
 | Album: 5 of 11 Title: It Goes Through Your Head Released: 2011-02 Tracks: 4 Duration: 19:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 It Goes Through Your Head (03:19) 2 Natural Causes (04:43) 3 It Goes Through Your Head (Dam-Funk’s Club dub) (05:11) 4 Natural Causes (Samps Showerstation remix) (06:46) |
 | Album: 6 of 11 Title: One Second of Love Released: 2012-03-06 Tracks: 10 Duration: 37:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 This Story (02:36) 2 One Second of Love (04:05) 3 She’s Always Watching You (03:38) 4 Mind & Eyes (03:33) 5 In the Dark (04:22) 6 Memory, Man (03:28) 7 Unearthly Delights (02:52) 8 No I Don’t (04:05) 9 Autograph (04:01) 10 Clive (04:34) |
| One Second of Love : Allmusic album Review : Nite Jewels 2009 debut LP Good Evening felt like a homespun soundtrack from some imagined 80s movie. Its faded colors and bedroom murkiness fell somewhere between Arthur Russells least completed disco sketches and the gauziest moments from Nite Jewels own late-2000s contemporaries like Grouper or Panda Bear. The songcraft was strong, but the questionable recording fidelity obscured the records strengths from some ears, earning tag-lines like "Mush-funk" and "Murk pop" from some critics. In the years that followed, Nite Jewel brainchild Ramona Gonzalez worked track by track, releasing mainly EPs and singles, and notably collaborating with L.A. producer and beat-sculptor Dam Funk. All of this led up to One Second of Love, a second record worlds away from Nite Jewels out of focus beginnings, and easily the most produced thing shes done to date. The classic story of stepped-up production values stripping the charm from what was a magically quirky artist doesnt really apply here. The synths are vivid, beats booming, and most importantly, Gonzalezs voice is more distinct than ever before, breathing character and tension into the songs where before the vocals could easily be filed away in the catch-all "ethereal" bin. Especially on songs like the lovelorn synth pop title track or the bouncy "Memory, Man," confessional vocals with ten times less reverb give us the sense that these songs are actually about something, not just textural crowing from a disembodied ghost voice somewhere. One Second of Loves main issue is not one of sonic fidelity, but consistency. If the murk of earlier recordings hid some of Nite Jewels intentions, they also succeeded in hiding slightly forced stylistic leanings. In moments of dark yet upbeat synth pop, Nite Jewel sounds inspired and provocative, occupying a space as disturbing as it is engaging. Likewise, Gonzalezs collaborations with Dam Funk have apparently influenced this record some, with more groove and fluidity on tracks like "Shes Always Watching You" or the sophisti-pop syncopation of "Mind & Eyes" than anything that came before. However, these tracks are interspersed with drifty detours. The wobbly low-end synth of "No I Dont" represents the albums most experimental material, with an almost dubstep bedding rumbling beneath empty vocal clouds and jagged drum programming. None of the elements really come together as much as they hang out in some weird waiting room together for about four minutes. Gonzalez has long referenced 90s commercial R&B; as an influence on her sound, and this comes into view on the summery funk of "Autograph," a song that could have been a TLC hit in an alternate reality. When juxtaposed with the Kate Bush-flavored drone of album closer "Clive," "Autograph" goes from a fun jaunt to sobering disjointed. While none of the songs on One Second of Love are lacking on their own, they take on an awkwardness in album form. Its not quite enough to make you miss the subaquatic murk of Good Evening, but it may suggest why Nite Jewel has always excelled in bite-sized increments. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 11 Title: FACT Mix 320: Nite Jewel Released: 2012-03-12 Tracks: 1 Duration: 37:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 FACT Mix 320: Nite Jewel (37:40) |
 | Album: 8 of 11 Title: Liquid Cool Released: 2016-06-10 Tracks: 9 Duration: 33:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Nothing But Scenery (03:20) 2 Was That a Sign (03:53) 3 You Now (03:38) 4 Kiss the Screen (03:30) 5 Over the Weekend (03:28) 6 Boo Hoo (03:34) 7 I Mean It (03:15) 8 Running out of Time (05:51) 9 All My Life (03:19) |
| Liquid Cool : Allmusic album Review : It could be easy to forget that Nite Jewels Ramona Gonzalez was at the forefront of some of the sounds that dominated the 2010s. Dreamy electro-pop tinged with R&B; exploded during the four years between 2012s One Second of Love and Liquid Cool, and during that time many of Gonzalezs contemporaries opted for glossy approaches that blurred the boundaries between the indie and Top 40 versions of this style. With her third album, Gonzalez redefines that line -- for herself, at least. Gonzalez felt One Second of Loves shiny surfaces and emphasis on pop diluted her music, and at times, the album bordered on overworked. She reclaims her independence on Liquid Cool, a term shes used to describe her aesthetic: Gonzalez recorded it on her beloved eight-track in a studio she built herself, and released it on her own label, Gloriette. Just in case anyone was unclear on her intent, "Nothing But Scenery" and "Was That a Sign" begin the album with the kind of mood-setting washes that defined her early work. Indeed, theres a slight murkiness to Liquid Cool that feels like a throwback to Nite Jewels debut album, Good Evening, but these songs feel more cohesive even as they threaten to evaporate -- perhaps a lingering influence from the One Second of Love days. "You Now" layers Gonzalezs voice into something both driving and delicate, while she gives just enough structure to "Over the Weekend"s breezy laments. As she proved on her previous album, Gonzalez can deliver irresistible hooks as often as her contemporaries when she wants to, and Liquid Cool boasts some of her freest-sounding pop songs yet. "Kiss the Screen" and "Boo Hoo" are shimmery fantasies of longing and disconnection, and while its tempting to imagine what theyd sound like with more deluxe production values, the slight amount of sparkle Gonzalez gives them is arguably more effective than full-on glitz. Likewise, its not hard to imagine Kate Boy or even Carly Rae Jepsen performing "I Mean It," but Gonzalez turns it into a song more appropriate for the bedroom than the dancefloor. At times, Liquid Cool teeters between sounding restrained and sounding unfinished: "Running Out of Time" doesnt quite hit the epic heights it should, and "All My Life" is one of the few times when Nite Jewels drifting feels meandering instead of transporting. While Gonzalez still hasnt hit the perfect balance between her experimental leanings and undeniable pop skills, Liquid Cool turns the strengths of her debut and One Second of Love into her most consistent album yet. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 11 Title: Liquid Cool (Remixes EP) Released: 2016-11-25 Tracks: 4 Duration: 17:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Was That A Sign (Elusive Remix) (03:27) 2 Boo Hoo (Cole M. G. N. Remix) (04:20) 3 Kiss The Screen (Hardland Remix) (04:08) 4 Running Out Of Time (Julia Holter Remix) (05:42) |
 | Album: 10 of 11 Title: Real High Released: 2017-05-05 Tracks: 11 Duration: 41:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 In the Nite (02:47) 2 Had to Let Me Go (04:27) 3 2 Good 2 Be True (03:43) 4 Real High (04:06) 5 The Answer (03:41) 6 I Don’t Know (03:20) 7 When I Decide (It’s Alright) (03:37) 8 Who U R (03:59) 9 Part of Me (03:24) 10 Obsession (04:10) 11 R We Talking Long (03:46) |
| Real High : Allmusic album Review : Nite Jewels Rachel Gonzales hit upon an inspired creative streak with 2016s Liquid Cool album and Nite Funk EP that continues on Real High. Arriving less than a year after those releases, Gonzales fourth full-length reunites her with longtime collaborators Dâm-Funk, Cole M.G.N., and Julia Holter, who help her make this some of her most engaging music yet. Nite Jewel has always had more personality and hooks than many of the artists making this kind of dreamy, R&B-indebted; music, and Real High shows Gonzales still has a flair for filtering the sounds of the 80s and 90s through a dry ice haze on songs like "2 Good 2 Be True," where she takes the blasé side of freestyle to another level. This time, however, the songs are more intricate and more substantive than before. The lilting melody of the title tracks quiet storm balladry and the synth counterpoint on "I Dont Know" give listeners a little more to grab onto, musically speaking, than some of Gonzales previous work. Similarly, she balances pop songs and mood pieces ably on Real High; the sultry "Had to Let Me Go" reflects how her vocals have evolved along with her songwriting and production skills, and this level of polish makes songs like "The Answer" even more transporting. Meanwhile, Gonzales proves that the more delicate side of her music is still powerful, with the gauzy "Part of Me" and Droop-E duet "R We Talking Long" bringing the album to a gentle close. An artful mix of focus and atmosphere, Real High may be Nite Jewels finest moment to date. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 11 Title: Real Low (B-sides) Released: 2017-07-05 Tracks: 10 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Answer (Alternate Mix) (?) 2 So Sick (Unreleased) (?) 3 Take You Down (Demo) (?) 4 Obsession (Demo) (?) 5 Try & Try (Demo) (?) 6 Show Me (?) 7 Never Show (Unreleased) (?) 8 Without The One (Unreleased) (?) 9 How It Was (?) 10 Real Low (?) |