Press
Pulsenow
Brendan Turrill - June 2006
...When I get back to my apartment, I want to continue the Gainsbourg vibe I had going in my car, but instead of doing the obvious thing and pulling another Gainsbourg CD from my collection, I put in the latest EP of NINOTCHKA, an eccentric pop band from London with Anglo-Chinese singer/guitarist Karen Holland, French keyboardist Yannick Muet, guitarist Richard Carlisle and electronic drummer Maxime Seiter. NINOTCHKA claims to have Gainsbourg as one of their main influences, so I measure it as a smooth transition.
From “One Girl Rhumba” to “Ninotchka Part 2” the album has a whimsical, airy feeling to it. It sounds pop, but the lyrics probe the darkness of fantasy killed by reality. Like Cinderella standing in line at a crack house in a candy-striped alley reeking of piss, the songs meander through a dark maze of toxins, rehabbing innocents, pissed off clothing store clerks, and French existentialist lamentations such as, “Adieu galères et misères je me fous du monde entier…” ...
...The lyrics from their song “The New Drug” highlight the engaging mix of pop sounds with underground lyrics, “You can burn me I don’t mind… take me down, take me with you… you can hurt me I won’t cry… take me down, take me with you…” Their sound has been described as Blondie meets Air, The Carpenters meets Goldfrapp, and Gainsbourg meets Stereolab. Their name comes from the 1939 movie “Ninotchka” about a Russian spy, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring Greta Garbo. NINOTCHKA’s pop sound distracts you from the dark undertones, and if you aren’t paying attention to the lyrics of their song “Cinderella” for example, you might think it was a breezy song about Cinderella and her prince charming, but once again the lyrics pleasantly contradict the pop sound, and we’re told what really happens to Cinderella after midnight, “Detox… Retox… Cinderella take it easy… you know it couldn’t last forever… Cinderella broke and lonely… your prince has gone away forever…which wicked fairy said you should be on every screen and every cover?”
The album finishes with the techno-pop-trance sounds of “Ninotchka Part 1”. It’s a nice way to finish the album, “Take my hand Ninotchka… we don’t need your paradise… to get high in the sky… allumes-moi Ninotchka… allez viens danser avec moi… et faire n’importe quoi…” I would have liked to have heard more songs like this on their album to break up the pacing a bit, but they did, however, just come out with a new song, “Capricorn” that has a grittier, harder, less pop more indy sound much like that of “Ninotchka Part 1”. ...
Glasswerk London
Jasmin Qureshi - February 2006
Ninotchka's fizzy kooky indie pop will charm and befriend you. Their EP displays perfectly formed classic pop songs, from the wistful balladry of Queen of London to the upbeat, absurdly catchy One Girl Rumba. Lyrics such as "I broke up with a guy again... like a real Greek tragedy" is demonstrative of their tongue-in-cheek seriousness that produces songs with a nostalgic veneer.
But what really gives Ninotchka the edge is the ability to sound terribly British while mixing in a flavour of France with accordians and lilting French lyrics.
Mike Bond 11-04-05
"Ninotchka are the perfect antidote to all the dull pop music that's bombarding the world on a daily basis at the moment, this is pop music the way its supposed to sound - fun, interesting, colourful and quirky. To anyone who says pop is dead, just point them in the direction of Ninotchka and let them know that its saviours have just arrived."
"Anyone currently trawling through the daytime radio schedules and listening to the endless drones of manufactured pop acts, karaoke tv stars and dull indie bands would well be within their rights to proclaim pop is dead. From the first instance you hear Ninotchka though, your faith will be restored.
Pop music doesn't have to be dull by-the-numbers cliché, it can be fun and colourful and quirky and interesting and new. ONE GIRL RUMBA, has a sound that's all over the place - one minute its clinical electro, the next the theme tune from some imagined surreal 1970s kids TV show and the next accordions and washes of piano. With its heart in pure pop majesty and its mind in Air like dance beats, this is the sound of a band creating music that's brimming with inventiveness and a sense of joy.
With, THE NEW DRUG, Ninotchka manage to sound like Goldfrapp if they didn't deal in measured cool and wrote songs that you could love rather than respect. In fact, mix Goldfrapp with Saint Etienne, Abba and Cibbo Matto and you'd be extremely close to what you're listening to here. Karen Holland's voice is a blend of reserved Englishness and bubbling sexuality while the frothy keyboard work, light guitar picking and shuffling drum beats are the perfect soundtrack.
QUEEN OF LONDON, another slice of pitch perfect quirky pop, is a song that constantly threatens to build to massive choruses that never quite materialise. Keeping things understated and darkly subtle, Karen Holland sings in a hushed pout while the music flits between gentle keyboard playing, jazzy guitar solos and Gallic accordions."
SAM METCALF
Single reviews - April 2005
Sexy, cute and somewhat irresistible. But enough about me! Ho, ho, ho…..Ninotchka make the sort of sophisticated bubblegum pop as Death by Chocolate and are very, very good indeed. A duo from London and all over the place, this boy and girl have me smiling, dancing and generally falling over the place happy. They sound like St Etienne for the twee generation. Only more handsome. Embrace them!
Sam Metcalf
Mark Barton
Missive 33, 16-04-2004, Singled OutNinotchka ‘EP2’ (Self Released). I’ll say right from the word go that this is as sexy as things get for these particular musings. Ninotchka hover between the line of fire that sees Stereolab at one end and Pizzicato 5 at the other, well at least that’s what the opener ‘Sunday Gangster’ sounds like. They describe their music as progressive candy pop – between sugar and experimentation, and we really couldn’t have put it better. (…) Ninotchka just flutter, its an amazing thing to behold, but how else could you describe what they do. Strictly happy pop for happy people, dreamy, fluffy and above all, catchy. ‘Sunday Gangster’ (originally titled ‘Little Wanker’ this lot have a devilish sense of humour especially when you notice their music is registered under the name Chinky Frog Music geddit, one Chinese lady and one French male), has you recalling the bubblier exotic moments of Stereolab’s ‘Sound Dust’ except mixed with the sultry down tempo edge (…), wickedly crooked pop that you gather would dozily mooch across a late night dance floor rather than strut. ‘Queen of London’ is tigerishly tender, imagine ‘Gregory’s Girl’ / Altered Images in agony aunt mould and those broken hearted picture story boards that would appear in old time girl’s comics all weaved together and set to the sound of an accordion, dippy, dizzy and weepy, in theory it shouldn’t work but damn them they are good. Ending it all with a slice of tripping 80’s ‘Pretty in Pink’ style twee girly love pop, ‘Don’t turn your eyes on me’ is one of those cuts that you’d probably feel embarrassed to play real loud in the company of friends but in the safety of head phones intact you’d secretly love to bits pretending to passers by you were listening to Radiohead’s latest intellectual intones.
April 2004
Given the enduring appeal of St. Etienne and the impeccable cool of Mono, it’s a wonder that more bands haven’t embraced the delights of Gallic pop. I know, the words ‘delights’ and ‘pop’ don’t belong on the same page, but when did you last listen to this stuff? Here’s a reminder, and it comes in the shape of Karen Holland and Yannick Muet; she English and on vocals, he French and responsible for keyboards and beats. Together they create what they call ‘Progressive Candy-Pop’. (...) the candy offered by ‘Sunday Gangster’, the opener of their second self-released EP, is sweet and irresistible.
(Claire Sturgess, 22/04/04) – playing ‘Queen Of London’
“This is definitely different, it has a certain naive charm and a great sense of spatial awareness. (…) From an Anglo-French band with a name that sounds like a Japanese martial arts film”