Ronika unveils video for ‘Marathon’ (out now)
Collaboration with Mighty Mouse (‘See Through You’) and Groove Armada (‘Late Night Tales…’)
LIVE: The Human League Tour, November 28 – || Ace Hotel, March 25 (Headline Show)
“A Nottingham-born disco alchemist…refracting everyday life through the escapist prism of pop” Guardian ****
“One of the most exciting new British pop stars (and producers) in years” NME
“Summoning the feel of a Greatest Hits…a triumph” Mojo ****
“One of 2014’s most assured and fun-filled debut albums” Mixmag ****
“It’s not clear whether Ronika knows how good she is…’Selectadisc’ is the real deal” FACT
“Ronika. What a woman.” Popjustice
Ronika has unveiled the surreal video and a brand new remix from The Penelopes of new single ‘Marathon’, her first solo cut of new music since this summer’s debut album ‘Selectadisc’, hailed as an album of the year across NME, The Quietus, and picking up support across Radio 1 and 6Music. With a new collaboration with ‘Mighty Mouse’ – ‘See Through You’ – also out in December, Ronika heads out on a twelve-date tour of the UK alongside The Human League this month (Eventim Apollo, December 6) whilst a headline show at London’s Ace Hotel has been confirmed for March 25.
Describing the video, Ronika writes: “The Marathon video was inspired by watching celebrities on chat shows acting like sexy, bitchy, egomaniacs. I wanted the video to have a similar feel to British comedies like ‘Look Around You’ and I chose an 80’s Italian chat show for the setting; partly as nod to Italy’s love for disco in the 80’s and partly because my husband is half-Italian and they gesture better than anyone else on the planet.”
Warm, joyful and immediate, ‘Marathon’ is the sound of an artist and producer whose craft is taking new strides. Befitting her DIY ethic,Ronika wrote, produced and played every instrument on ‘Marathon’, and the result is an uplifting mix of classic Disco and Electro-Soul – Imagination, Chaka Khan – with contemporary, clubbier electronics (Aeroplane, Breakbot): all held together by Ronika’s sweet but tongue-in-cheek vocal. Lyrically, ‘Marathon’ is about that rush of energy you get when you fall in love, and the feeling that you can do anything when you’re on that kind of high (even, perhaps, run a marathon, though this is something Ronika admittedly has no experience of).
Ronika is a singer, producer, remixer, DJ and video maker originally from Nottingham, before relocating from Barcelona to London. As a teenager she developed a love of electronic and dance music inspired by her big brother’s vinyl collection, which lead to her starting to blag her way into clubs from the age of 13. Her teenage years were spent going to squat parties run by house soundsystems around inner-city Nottingham, techno all-nighters down in Brixton, and hip-hop shows put on by producer/promoter Joe Buhdha (who she would later collaborate with on ‘Forget Yourself’). She continued to study the technological side of music making whilst working as a sound engineer in a local music venue. Slowly developing her solo output and DJ’ing across the city, Ronika traced the lineage of her favourite hip-hop songs back to the records they sampled, and sought out the originals at her local record independent record shop, Selectadisc. The store closed its doors for the final time in 2009, though its shaping of local and musical identity is paid tribute to on Ronika’s debut album, which she named after it (with the owner’s blessing). And it’s an appropriate nod: as if by browsing through the shelves themselves, ‘Selectadisc’ assimilates a crate-digger love of disco, hip-hop, house, R&B and electro-soul, and appears occupied by small-town frustrations as it is daydreaming over the hedonistic sounds of Chicago or New York.
The ‘Marathon’ EP is the first taste of new Ronika material since this summer’s ‘Selectadisc’, which was released to significant critical acclaim. Producing and co-producing most of the record (“nothing will change for women in music if they give up on their own work”), setting up her own label RecordShop (which she is now looking to develop new artists on) and building a unique visual aesthetic around these songs (all hazy VHS tape, day-glo early-MTV saturated colours, and imagery from science and technology magazines). The musical results are as uplifting and fresh as they are full of depth, detail and emotion. This is, after all, no sprint – the stuff that matters is always a ‘Marathon’.
RONIKA TOUR DATES (* with The Human League)
December 8 O2 Academy Leeds *
December 9 Theatre Royal Nottingham *
December 10 Memorial & City Hall Sheffield *
December 12 Brighton Centre Brighton *
December 13 The BIC Bournemouth *
December 14 Pavillions Plymouth *
December 15 Colston Hall Bristol *
March 26 Ace Hotel London (Headline Show: http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/ronika/ace-hotel/2014-11-26-19-30)
Buy ‘Selectadisc’ via digital download and limited edition 12″ vinyl via www.recordshoplabel.com
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