Women I love: Part three

Billie Holiday

I think I'm pretty lucky. Growing up, my house was always full of music. Sunday mornings I'd wake up to the symphonies of Tchaikovsky or the crooning of Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole. After school we might listen to Glenn Miller or Louis Armstrong, and Carole King was always good for a Saturday afternoon. If my mum ever got to the stereo first, it would usually be a musical, maybe Cats or Oklahoma, and my dad has always been a big jazz fan. I always got to pick what we would listen to at dinner, and more often than not it was Billie Holiday. 

Billie had a truly unique and moving voice. She sang with such emotion, you can't help but hear the pain and sadness in her voice. It's a singing voice tinged with sweetness and vulnerability. And it is powerfully honest. Listening to her as a kid stirred a lot of feelings in me that I didn't quite understand. She made me feel happy and sad all at the same time. When I got a little older I felt bad for her, but I also felt her strength and I found that empowering. The first time I had my heart broken, I listened to Billie all day and night and cried. After a while I felt better, stronger and I knew that I wasn't going to die. That's the first time I think I really understood how her voice made me feel.

Billie was truly a gifted vocalist in the way that she could inspire such powerful empathy. I think she was amazing and is definitely one of my biggest influences (what? You can't hear that in my music?!)  

Ten songs that are significant to me

Let's Go Crazy - Prince - Purple Rain (1984):  My favourite track from the first CD I ever owned. I think I was nine. I used to dance around the lounge room singing into my hairbrush and pretending I was Prince. No way I could ever be that funky.

Drain You - Nirvana - Nevermind (1991): It was 1993 and I was 13 when I first heard Nevermind. 'Drain You' was my favourite song. It touched me in ways I can't describe and opened my eyes to a world of music that wasn't pop. I became completely obsessed with music and grunge in particular. I fell in love with Sonic Youth. It was the first time in my life that I realised music was a huge part of who I was and who I would grow up to become.

Wish - Nine Inch Nails - Broken (1992): I felt so strongly about this song when I was 16. I would turn it up loud and scream along to the lyrics in my bedroom. I felt so lonely and misunderstood. I wondered if maybe Trent Reznor did too.

Kiss Off - Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1982): When I was 16, at school one Friday a few of my friends and I organised to meet in the park that night for an impromptu party. Word spread and I was surprised to find 20 or 30 kids showed up. Some of them were kids that wouldn't even look at me twice at school. But here they were. I decided not to let that bother me in the interest of having a good time. We had no music, so at one point we all joined in for a sing along of Kiss Off by the Violent Femmes. We belted it out with so much enthusiasm and feeling that I was blown away by the experience. I had no idea that most of those kids even knew that song, let alone that they seemed to identify with it as strongly as I did. It was a rare moment of solidarity for a bunch of disaffected teenagers. And one of my only fond memories of high school.

Groove is In the Heart - Deee-Lite - World Clique (1990): This is my ultimate good time song. In my early 20s I would spend every Friday night at a Melbourne Goth club called Abyss. This song would get played every week and no matter where I was or what I was doing, I would meet my friends on the dance floor for a collective boogie within the first 30 seconds. Even now when I hear it, wherever I am, I have no choice but to succumb to the groove. I guess it's true what they say; Groove is in the heart.

My Red Hot Car - Squarepusher - Go Plastic (2001): This is the song that made me realise that electronic music didn't have to be just the soundtrack for a rave or some club. I love this song. Like Nirvana's 'Drain You' it completely changed the way I think about music and was the catalyst for Twinkle Noodle Star.

Ten Storey Love Song - The Stone Roses - Second Coming (1994): My husband and I share a mutual love of this song. And each other.

I Would For You - Jane's Addiction - Jane's Addiction (1987): This song was played at my wedding. Some people might think that it's an odd choice for a wedding song due to the politically charged nature of the lyrics, but I think it's beautiful.

Thank You - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (1969): The other song played at my wedding. My husband chose this song and it melts my heart whenever I hear it.

Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkle - Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970): I used to sing this to my daughter when she was a baby whenever she was upset or I was trying to get her to sleep. It's an incredibly catchy tune and enjoyable to sing. She was crying one day and I started singing it in and effort to settle her. It worked, mainly I think because of the 'Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh' part. After that it became a staple.

I suppose I should start by introducing myself....

My name is Lia and that's me in the photo below...

I make music under the name Twinkle Noodle Star. At least that's what I call it. Music. It's really just a whole bunch of sounds that I create and lay some effects over and then arrange in a way that sounds good to me. If you're interested here are some links to a few of my favourites...







I tend to use a lot of samples as a way to express my personality and my sense of humour in my work. Also, I really like movies. I love jazz too and that is evident in a lot of my earlier tracks. They are pretty rough and the sound is a bit amateurish, but I feel like this is some of my most emotive stuff. Or maybe it's just the jazz....



Originally this blog was going to be an account of my development as an artist. The idea was to begin blogging when I was just starting out, making music on my laptop and trying to figure out which dial does what and how to make that wub wub sound that's so popular nowadays. But I have to confess, I'm incredibly lazy and that is the reason that my first blog post is about two years late. And I still haven't figured out to how to make that wub wub sound. I guess you could ask me why I'm even bothering with a blog. I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I like to write and I guess this is something I could write about that's important to me. I don't know if anybody will read it, but that's OK. Mostly I write for me. Just like I make tracks that I enjoy listening to. If other people dig it, that's cool too.

I've been using FL Studio 9, but I'd like to be able to get my head around Reason or Ableton and so that is the challenge I've set myself this year. That and playing a set in front of people that's not in my lounge room. I guess we'll see how that goes.