Desire Avenue

There are always a few interesting stories on how fans be came aware of an artist's music, and i figured since Stina's a relatively rare/obscure artist, it's make it even better. Even if you're storie's not all that interesting (like mine), at least it educates us on how Stina is introduced to people...

So how did you discover Stina Nordenstam?

In 1992(!) I heard 'Alone at night' on a radio show devoted to unusual music.Hmmm,that's interesting,I thought.But i didn't follow it up.
In 1996 I heard 'Under your command' on the same show.Wow!!!,i thought,must follow this up.Trouble was,I was following up 2,781 other musical enthusiasms (and had a baby son,and running my own business, and two bands).So didn't.
In 2001 in a very short space of time,heard 'Purple rain','People are strange','Under your command' again,and then 'Stations' which delivered the killer punch.Well I had 7,423 new enthusiasms,a 6 year old and a business to support and three new bands but what the hell-I ran out and followed up everything in sight which had 'Stina Nordenstam' on it.
(Simultaneously I made my first acquaintance with computers and the web and the first website I ever negotiated was the Barbieboard,just as everyone was relocating to CQD)
And NOBODY else in my acquaintance,except folk on the internet,has ever even MENTIONED Stina.Even the musicians,of whom I know dozens.
[:xx]

Sound world- would that be Verity Sharp's Late Junction on BBC Radio 3? That is how my dad heard a track from MOAC around 1992, then he bought the album and that is how I heard it. Then I slowly bought the rest of the albums over the last 5 years.

First ever was seeing 'Little Star' on MTV (1994 i guess), when they still showed music videos.
I recorded it on tape cause i loved it; however didn't look further into it. I lateron came across the Yello single and bought that and it fitted right in my collection that previously consisted only of 'german' electronic music.
When i first came to scandinavia i finally bought ASCHE and loved it so much i have pretty much been listening to her songs every day since and gradually bought all the albums.
I really got into the internet Stina exploration since i got a solid connection, at the time CQD was almost at it's end..

heather wrote:Sound world- would that be Verity Sharp's Late Junction on BBC Radio 3? That is how my dad heard a track from MOAC around 1992, then he bought the album and that is how I heard it. Then I slowly bought the rest of the albums over the last 5 years.

Nearly right Heather-I think your Dad might have listened to the same programme as me in '92 or whenever,which was 'Mixing it'-'Late J' started up a few years later,and that's where I heard all the PAS and This Is tracks.I think 'Mixing it' might have played a track from ASCHE in '94 but I must have missed that one because i would have started being a Stina obsessive then
Well,good on your Dad.Why don't you get him to come here too?

They played Murder in Mairlyland park on Mixing It. Funnily enough, they first time I remember Mark Radcliffe playing Little Star it was right after MI finished on the other channel. There had been another track with Stina's voice on MI not long before. A Norwegian folk-crossover band I think. Those of you with the full back catalog will probably know the one I mean.

I discovered Stina in 1992 or 93, can't remember exactly, on a french radio show "C'est Lenoir" where they played "Another story girl". It stroke me, the childish voice, the nice music, so I went to my favorite disc shop (fnac at that time) to get the first album that became available some months later... til then, I followed her discography...

The first time I ever heard Stina was on a tape some girl made for my brothe while her was in high school, while i was in CA. Pretty freakin' good tape. I heard it and found out it was Stina Nordenstam that sang it, and forgot about it. I think i was about 12(?)
Years later, when i lived in NY, I discovered many many of her songs and i have to day Thank God for Napster! I got almost every song of all her albums and then more from Morpheus/Kazaa when Napster died
Then more years later i bought the Romeo & Juliet soundtrak (silly me, thinking it was gonna be good) then returned it. But in the same used cd store i found Memories of a Colour. I was so happy:D (it had a hole punch in the corner of the cd book, if anyone here marked it).
I visited California in 98 i think and found PAS in a cd store, again i was syked. I blasted it at my cousins house (who wanted to know why in the world i liked it so much) every chance i got.
I bought This is... at the Virgin record store in Times Square and lost it.
But recently I've bought all her albums, thanks to the internet and a debit card;) I'm currently trying to dig up videos and everything i don't have. (btw, i love you dave!) Being in the states is NO advantage to the
quest, let me tell you...

Fin

ruth1998 wrote: But in the same used cd store i found Memories of a Colour. I was so happy:D (it had a hole punch in the corner of the cd book, if anyone here marked it).

A hole punch/sawmark/corner cut in a CD or LP is usually just a sign that it's been deleted and remaindered.

ruth1998 wrote:I'm currently trying to dig up videos and everything i don't have. (btw, i love you dave!)

I love you too,hon [love] Have they arrived??

[quote="sound world] A hole punch/sawmark/corner cut in a CD or LP is usually just a sign that it's been deleted and remaindered.
...I love you too,hon [love] Have they arrived??[/quote]

wait...what? meaning what's been deleted and remaindered?

not yet! hopefully they'll be there when i get off work today....*smiles with anticipation*

....The CD/LP! ie your copy of MOAC is probably NOT secondhand.

sound world wrote:....The CD/LP! ie your copy of MOAC is probably NOT secondhand.

My US copy of TWIS came like that too.

My discovery of Stina Nordenstam was an accident in 1994.

I was listening to a radioshow by Carola on the Dutch Radio 3 FM. At the time I recorded my favourite songs on tape. I recorded a song from that radioshow (can't remember which one it was) and while recording I had to go to the toilet. When I returned I heard Carola talking and stopped the tape.

A few days later when I listened to the tape it turned out that I had recorded another songs by a lady called Stina Nordenstam.

In 1996 I was living in Apeldoorn and I found an album by Stina Nordenstam. I remembered the name from the tape and decided to listen to the album. I recognized Murder in Mairyland Park as the song I had accidently recorded. And so I went home with And She Closed Her Eyes.

Before I went home I asked the guy from the cdshop to search for more Stina albums, two weeks later Memories of a Colour and Dynamite were also in my possesion.

Was working in a record shop when This Is Stina CD was released - all I played for about a month!

Back in 1995, I found the 'Something Nice' single in a bargain bin for 50p, so I bought it and really liked it, but considered that Stina's voice might start to grate across a whole album. So I didn't buy anything else yet, but I ended up using those couple of songs on quite a few mix tapes - they just kept recurring... then my best friend heard them and immediately fell head-over-heels for Stina. He went straight out and bought 'Memories Of A Color' and 'And She Closed Her Eyes' and began to convince me that her distinctive voice could be used to startlingly different effect and that it's angelic/innocent/child-like qualities were quite deceptive, especially when offest by some of the darkest lyrics and unsettling arrangements I had ever heard. By that time, 'Dynamite' was just about to be released and I followed the reviews, but it wasn't until I heard my friend's copy of the album (thank you a million times, Peter, for showing me the light!) that I realised that Stina was not an artist to be ignored and went out and bought everything I could lay my hands on - no looking back.

I love reading these sort of accounts - especially for an artist like Stina because her music is somewhat off the beaten track and inspires such personal responses that even a relatively straightforward journey to find her is usually a little bit skewed somewhere along the path.

Great topic!

- Sally