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Lali Puna

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Location: Berlin, Germany

Website: http://lalipuna.de/

Bio: Lali Puna are from Munich, Germany. The band was brought to life by Valerie Trebeljahr(who sings and plays keyboards), because it was her (plus a ... (more) four-track-recorder) building Lali Puna's core in early 1998. Having a lot of time on her hands after her all-girl-band LB Page had split up, she used the four-track as a kind of band replacement. Then came Markus Acher, relaxing from his Notwist and Tied & Tickled Trio duties (and from living in a house with Mr. Morr) and thus he became Lali Puna's second member. After some of those early four-track-recordings were released on the beautiful "Snooze"- 7-inch-ep on Hausmusik, it became clear that this music should also be played on stage. And so drummer Christoph Brandner (Tied & Tickled Trio, Console) and keyboarder Florian Zimmer (ISO 68, Fred Is Dead) completed the band's second incarnation. Following another sweet single, "Safe Side" on the belgian Kraak-label, the band released their 1999 debut album "Tridecoder" featuring nine excellent examples of how nice things can fall into place. Words for all tracks were written by Valerie, partly in english, partly in portuguese which could be traced back to Trebeljahr's school days in Lisbon.

The album was recorded by Albert Pöschl (Echokammer) who also mixed it together with Mario Thaler (Uphon studio). Vinyl was released as a co-production of Morr Music and theHausmusik label, the CD was released by the renowned US label Darla. The album was an instant success, if not a quiet revolution in the electronic music world, being obviouslypop-song-oriented while still displaying a certain electronica aesthetic, and thus helping morr music finding its identity. It also brought Lali Puna to the attention of a lot of well-known fans and supporters of which some turned into collaborators. The band worked with Tim Simenon aka Bomb The Bass resulting in the release of the "Clear Cut" ep on MorrMusic. Lali Puna did some remix work with Two Lone Swordsmen and Lowfish as well. Being the great live act they are, Lali Puna played in places as distant as Bratislava, San Francisco, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Barcelona's Sonar festival.

Most of 2001 was spent working on their second album which finally appeared as "Scary World Theory" in september of that same year. Artistically as well as commercially, this album was even more successful than its predecessor. They also released a remix-7-inch for Morr Music's "a number of small things"-label and they have been touring Germany and Europe extensively at the end of 2001. In the fall of 2002 Lali Puna went on their first US tour and shared a van with Morr Music label mates and friends Styrofoam and Opiate. Only a few months later, Florian Zimmer left Lali Puna in order to focus on his main project Iso68. He was replaced by Christian HeiB.

In the summer of 2003, Lali Puna released their "Left Handed"-EP on Morr Music, which displayed a significant musical progression as Lali Puna started using electric, distorted guitars which could not be heard on earlier releases. This helped shaping a yet more diverse and dynamic sound without neglecting Lali Puna's past regarding their fragile and beautiful electronic compositions. All the way through 2003 Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Acher have been busy writing new material for their third full length album which was recorded at the Uphons Studios and eventually has been mastered at famous Abbey Road Studios in London in December 2003. "Faking The Books", as it is called, will be released in April 2004 on Morr Music, followed by an extensive European tour. Plans for the future include a remix 12-inch featuring some of Lali Puna's favourite artists as well as their second North America tour in fall 2004. (less)