Artists at Work is a podcast from Artstitution, which is dedicated to building the arts through storytelling. Thomas Breeden interviewed Quilla for this series and notes, “she weaves her love of music, language, and visual aesthetics to define her musical identity”. They discuss creativity, time management, and not falling into self-indulgence.
The podcast can also be found on Apple iTunes Podcasts.
Quilla performed at Castella: The Enchanted Music Fest at Castle McCulloch in Jamestown, NC, in August 2018. All photos are stills from videography by Brian Dowtin.
Johanna Breed’s debut neo-soul album delivers fun musical gems, notably “Mister” and “Is It Too Late?”. The album showcases Breed’s vocal skills and uplifting songwriting style, as well as catchy arrangements by Quilla. The album will be released on November 9th, 2018 on Quilla’s label, Ritual Fire Records. Listen to two tracks here.
Quilla has begun teaching workshops at her studio in Greensboro NC to help women and femmes become more self-reliant with their music technology and production skills. All production levels welcome. This is a safe space with no judgment about any hurdles or technical problems you may experience when trying to produce your own music.
Sunday Sept 30th, 2018. 1-3pm. Electronic Music Production Workshop for Women. We will cover introductory concepts about electronic music production, talk about gear, digital workflow and file management, reflect on mixing techniques and have group discussion about the hurdles and challenges that arise from composing and producing electronically.
Weds Oct 3rd, 2018. 1-3pm: Vocal Production Workshop for Women. We are going to talk extensively about the human voice, as well as how to record vocals, how to EQ, how to compress, how to get the most out of your recording equipment, approaches to mixing vocals with other instruments, etc. We will do a little bit of vocal test recording so we can discuss best practices.
Weds, Nov 21st, 2018. – details TBD
Weds, Nov 28th, 2018. – details TBD
For more information, email: moonwheel@gmail.com
Join us for First Friday festivities in downtown Greensboro, NC, with live electronic music and vocals by Quilla.
Venue: GreenHill Center for North Carolina Arts
Address: 200 N Davie St, Greensboro, NC 27401. (First floor gallery)
Date & time: Friday April 6th, from 6:30 – 7:30 PM.
On Feb. 17th, 2018, Quilla performed an original ambient electronic set at the Altria Theater in Richmond VA, setting the stage for tech entrepreneur / futurist Peter Diamandis. She also sang the national anthem.
The event was part of a monthly series, The Richmond Forum, whose mission is to bring leaders from the world stage to expand horizons, stimulate conversation, and inspire the Richmond community.
Diamandis’ talk was entitled, “FUTURE TECH: EXPONENTIAL CHANGE, INFINITE POSSIBILITIES”, and program synopsis was poignant: “Rapidly accelerating exponential technologies such as infinite computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, sensors, networks, and synthetic biology are transforming how humans will live and work in the future — in ways that are both disruptive and exciting. From human longevity, to the future of work, to the Singularity, Peter Diamandis will provide a tour of the future.”
Photos courtesy of the Richmond Forum photo stream.
Quilla’s new music video for “The Collector” was directed and produced by Brazilian visual artist Paula Damasceno, and was premiered by Amplifier Zine recently! This video features archival footage from North Carolina in the 1930s, used with permission from the H. Lee Waters Film Collection, housed at Duke University. “The Collector is a video made in Greensboro that weaves a modern and haunted electronic sound with a throwback to MTV visual styles from the ’90s.” Read more on the Amplifier Zine article.
A big shout-out to We Rave You for reviewing Quilla’s album “You Got It” and for exclusively premiering her new music video for the title track of the album. The reviewer, Shantanu Singh, had some great comments:
“When she is not studying endangered languages in her capacity as a linguist and an anthropologist, Anna Luisa Daigneault or Quilla is giving life to words in ones that we do understand. After having been recognized as a true talent behind the microphone, dishing out dreamy and ethereal lyrics in a serenading voice, Quilla took a turn beyond her vocalist image towards becoming producer herself in 2016.
[…] Kicking off with eerie drum-work, the listener is met with her spellbinding and ethereal voice – one that soothes the senses like silk would. Exciting more emotions in the listener, Quilla carries off the track well with her pitch perfect adeptness behind both, the microphone as well as the production desk.”
Read more here. THANKS We Rave You! 🙂
Just in! The title track to my new album “You Got It” is now available to stream on Spotify. You can pre-order the new album right here. It’ll be out on 04/14! This song goes perfectly with your morning coffee. Uplifting yet meditative, it explores the transcendental nature of being in love, and focuses on the good qualities in oneself and one’s partner.
A new version of this classic tune is out now! Sultan + Shepard “Walls feat. Quilla” (Deeper Shades Mix) was released by Tiësto’s deep house label AFTR:HRS on 10/28/2016.
The story behind this song goes back a long way. Sultan + Shepard and Quilla worked together in 2009 in Montreal to write the original version of Walls.
Back in those days, Quilla was a keyboardist and vocalist in an experimental pop band called Pamplemousse Explosion, and Sultan + Shepard were known as a collaboration between Sultan and Ned Shepard. They were busy playing in Montreal nightclubs, and had not risen to world-wide DJ stardom yet.
Ned Shepard had seen Quilla perform with her band in local venue La Quaie des Brumes. They also worked together at the same fundraising company in Montreal, raising funds for humanitarian aid organizations Doctors Without Borders, Unicef and Oxfam. Ned had asked her to come jam the studio and work on some track ideas. They had some delightful jam sessions with Sultan and Walls was born, but it stayed on the digital shelf for several years.
Sultan + Shepard reworked the track into an EDM banger which they later showed to Tiësto, who loved the track. He released it in 2012 on his progressive house label Musical Freedom as part of his compilation, Club Life Volume 2: Miami. The rest is history. Here is the original 2012 version:
The track became a staple in Tiësto’s festival sets from 2012 to 2016, and the song played on dance music radio shows around the world. Quilla performed the song live with Tiësto at his album launch in NYC in 2014.
Quilla also created an acoustic version of the track, in case you want to listen to a more contemplative version of it.
