Kevin Blechdom

One of the most irreverent and gifted producers of experimental electronic music, Kevin Blechdom (Kristen Erickson) got her start with partner Blevin Blectum in Blectum from Blechdom at Mills College while studying computer music. With their custom-made programs, the duo stripped the normally academic field of experimental music of its studious mentality and replaced it with child sounds, cartoon effects, and intentionally brutal compositions. Under much protest from formalized and academic composers, the duo won a second-place prize from the prestigious Ars Electronica organization in 2001 for The Messy Jesse Fiesta, which was released on Deluxe Records. After the duo's rather public and tumultuous split in 2002 (they reconvened six years later), Kevin went on to record several solo endeavors for small limited-run labels and Tigerbeat 6, this time with more of an emphasis on blending acoustic instrumentation with computer programming. Many of those recordings were compiled with new ones (including a moving version of Tina Turner's "Private Dancer") on 2003's Bitches Without Britches for Chicks on Speed Records and 2005's Eat My Heart Out. In late 2008, she teamed with Eugene Chadbourne for The Chaddom Blechbourne Experience, an amusing set of banjo-dominated material including traditional songs like "Alabama Jubilee" and "Graveyard" and deliberately bizarre "fused" covers (the Beach Boys and Violent Femmes, Kylie Minogue and Mystikal). ForGentlemania, which Sonig released in spring 2009, Blechdom continued in a largely acoustic direction.