Pitchfork

Sometimes you want to kick-box and flip-out and frequent demolition derbies with your music--that's why your iPod is loaded with Mu and Test-Icicles and Xenakis. Other times you just want to take your music out for a misty evening's cup of tea and wistful reverie. Such nights your click-wheel need navigate no further than Masha Qrella.

Bassist for Berlin-based electro-pop act Contriva, the solo Masha concocts warm, looping acousti-pop decorated with her lovely vocal musings and light electronic flourishes. Berlin's venerable Morr Music, home to Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, Isan, and Styrofoam, issued Qrella's mellifluous second record, Unsolved Remain, last February. Now the lady's intent on wooing the American dive-bar set with her first-ever U.S. tour, beginning tonight. Cue fanfare, trailed by soft, ethereal blips:

12-01 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
12-02 New York, NY - Tonic
12-03 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop #
12-05 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
12-07 Portland, OR - Holocene ^
12-08 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
01-12 Groningen, Netherlands - Simplon (EuroSonic Festival)

* with Safety Scissors
# with ADULT.
^ with Tracy + The Plastics

Miss Qrella ventures to the wild western hemisphere with trusty guitarist/bassist Rike Schubert and keyboard/laptop guru Michael Mühlhaus at her side. Will she be able to hold her own against ADULT. and Tracy + the Plastics? Turn up and show love to find out.

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