Nadja

Nadja formed in New York City in 1995 around Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff. They built their sound through relentless touring and a DIY approach, releasing self-produced material that gradually found an audience. Their music pulls from shoegaze, post-rock, and ambient electronica, but it's hard to pin down to any one style.

In 2003, the album 'Amniotic' brought them wider attention. The record's long, droning passages and ethereal vocals created a dense, immersive atmosphere that defined much of their work. Songs like 'Breakpoint' and 'Flowers of Flesh' stretch out with hypnotic rhythms and layered guitars, while their cover of Slayer's 'Dead Skin Mask' reimagines thrash metal as something slow and heavy.

Baker's guitar work provides washes of texture and dissonance, with Buckareff adding vocals and ambient elements. They've worked with figures like Alan Moore on 'The Blue Room' and recorded a version of Kids in the Hall's 'Long Dark Twenties,' showing a willingness to experiment outside typical rock formats. Their catalog is large and varied, but it generally stays within that hazy, expansive territory they mapped out early on.