Well I am late today, but it is still Monday at least! Anyway, this is another artist I have happened upon in my various meanderings about here on the blog and hadn’t really had a chance to write on her yet so I thought this would be a good chance. Eleni Mandell’s new album “Artificial Fire” is a cool throwback alterna-style album that really reminds me of some of the girl fronted alternative bands back in the 90s. It has a cool fun sound to it and the songs are really pretty well done. The focus here is really on the songs themselves, and there is a great mix of kind of edgier raw songs with off-beat ballads that would have been right at home in alternative heyday 1992 (I mean that in a good way) and probably would have been all over the radio. She has a nice voice too, and clearly has some good songwriting chops. There are some nice ‘no note out of place’ solos throughout the record that just add the right touch. It may be a little hard to describe, but this thing is really good. Anyway, she has some tour dates coming up this March, and I notice she is playing one of my favorite venues ever, Schuba’s, and I think her sound would fit that place 100% perfectly. Very chill and groovy.

Eleni Mandell Tour Dates:
Mar 5 2009 9:30P Joe’s Pub New York, New York
Mar 6 2009 7:30P The Mod Club Toronto, Ontario
Mar 7 2009 9:00P Le Divan Orange Montreal, Quebec
Mar 8 2009 9:00P TT The Bear’s Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mar 9 2009 8:00P Tin Angel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 18 2009 9:00P Mercury Lounge Goleta, California
Mar 19 2009 8:00P Cafe du Nord San Francisco, California
Mar 21 2009 8:00P Mississippi Studios Portland, Oregon
Mar 22 2009 7:30P The Triple Door Seattle, Washington
Mar 25 2009 8:00P The Picador Iowa City, Iowa
Mar 26 2009 9:00P Schubas Tavern Chicago, Illinois
Mar 27 2009 8:00P Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 28 2009 8:00P Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 30 2009 9:00P Hi Dive Denver, Colorado
Apr 1 2009 9:30P Plush Tucson, Arizona
Apr 2 2009 8:00P Pappy & Harriets Pioneertown, California
Apr 23 2009 7:00P La Maroquinerie Paris
Apr 24 2009 8:00P Brotfabrik Frankfurt
Apr 26 2009 8:00P El Lokal Zurich
Apr 28 2009 9:00P Palace St. Gallen
Apr 29 2009 8:00P Zakk Dusseldorf
May 1 2009 9:00P Pumpenhaus Munster
May 2 2009 8:00P Oosterpoort Groningen
May 3 2009 8:00P O 13 Tilburg
May 4 2009 8:00P AB Club Brussels
May 7 2009 8:00P Vooruit Ghent
May 8 2009 8:00P Knust Hamburg
May 10 2009 10:00P Quasimodo Berlin
May 13 2009 8:00P Registratur Munchen
May 15 2009 8:30P Kino Ebensee
May 16 2009 8:00P Schlachthof Wels
May 17 2009 9:00P E-Werk Erlangen

Eleni Mandell – Needle and Thread – From Artificial Fire
Eleni Mandell – Don’t Let It Happen – From Artificial Fire