Releases
Rox - Memoirs Instores July 20th
Rough Trade Records is very pleased to present Memoirs, the debut longplayer from massively talented 21 year old South Londoner, Rox.
Available on UK import CD and LP, Memoirs features production from Commissioner Gordon (Lauryn Hill, Damian Marley, KRS One) and London born and bred, Al Shux (Jay Z, Lupe Fiasco, Sway).
Rox has had a clean sweep of critical tips for 2010 including the influential BBC Sound Poll and MTV’s 10 for 10. Amongst many others she has also been tipped in The Sun, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mirror, The Independent, The Guardian, The News of the World, Pitchfork and NME.
Described by The News Of The World as being an “electrifying’ live artist”, Rox has already amassed a handful of significant live dates. A string of summer UK festivals lay in wait before she makes her way across the pond for her live debut on these shores.
ROX has recently returned from LA where she shot the ground breaking video for the single ‘I Don’t Believe’ with last year’s MTV VMA Breakthrough winning Director Taylor Cohen.
From singing in the Churches of South London, to collaborating with Shux and Commissioner Gordon, ROX has achieved so much in her 21 years.
To hear music and for video clips, please visit www.myspace.com/roxmusik
For more information, please visit www.thisisrox.com www.roughtraderecords.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Produced by Al Shux, who created the track for what became Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” this sweetly retro number from the hotly tipped south Londoner sounds a bit like “Until You Come Back to Me”-era Aretha Franklin. Fans of both Keys and Adele in particular, and sweet soul music in general, should find a comfortable, and comforting, fit here.” – John Sakamoto on My Baby Left Me
(Toronto Star)
“Her vocals are elegant, and she never wastes a note, whether the song is a trip-hop weepie (Page Unfolds) or a Motown-influenced dance item (Do As I Say). This is incredibly catchy pop.” – The Guardian 4 Stars
“Rox is a class act.” – MTV
Roxanne Tataei brings conviction to your sound-system; A powerful voice on a stage with a tale or two to tell. Half Jamaican and half Iranian, at the tender old age of 21, her debut album entitled “Memoirs” is the
fortuitous result of hard graft and a singular minded headspace.
Miss Tataei’s youth wasn’t misspent; Saturdays were for Church, for singing, from 9am to 5pm, every week from the age of five to ten. It was here that her voice, love of performance and work ethic took shape. It was at various jovial Jamaican family gatherings that she sang above and beyond her stature, five part harmonies over fried fish and run-dung stew with a solo performance for dessert. These
attributes were eventually accentuated in school plays and a stint with the National Youth Musical Theatre ensured most school holidays were spent on tour. In Rox’s own words ‘It wasn’t long before all that Jazz-Hands stuff got on my nerves’; Chicago (the musical) got swapped for Portishead (the Dummy) and Lauryn Hill (the Miseducation).
And so to the finished album, it’s a game of three halves. It’s about saying goodbye to someone, saying hello to heartache and the putting of her big toe back into loves’ trepidation filled waters. Her lyrics undress her emotions, blatantly, constantly. Throughout the album you get the sense that this is to redress her, not in armor, but in a tailor made power suit. This catharsis isn’t delivered with malice nor weak-willed ‘woe is me’ undertones. It’s about process, working through something difficult, owning hurt and turning it into something to shake your tush to on a Saturday night; ‘My Baby’ is a perfect slice of up yours. The delicate beats driven stirrings of ‘Sad Eyes’ showcases heart, ‘Do as I Say’ is classic southern
soul and ‘Rocksteady’ is triumphant feel-good reggae.
A truly classic album remains perpetually timeless and can only be built upon rock steady convictions that spring from an unwavering ability; Rox has this in spades and by the bucket load.
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