Noga Erez is an Israeli musician, singer-songwriter, keyboardist and producer.
Born and living just outside Tel Aviv, multi-instrumentalist Erez’s grainy textures and potent atmospheres forged with her synths and ingenious beats bravely straddle genres, energized further by the environment in which she’s grown up.
While the music she makes in collaboration with her partner and co-writer, composer and producer Ori Rousso exploits many of the more physical dynamic elements of electronic music, it also embraces a cerebral sensitivity that’s made her one of her home city’s most exciting, idiosyncratic artists to date.
FACTS:
1. For my 12th birthday I got 6 (SIX!!!) copies of the album ‘Black and Blue’ by the Backstreet Boys and I exchanged them for heavy metal records.
2. As a child I used to have nightmares about snakes coming out of the toilet. I used to fear that whenever I flushed the water a snake would jump on me. I wrote a short thriller about it with the sophisticated name ‘There Are Snakes In The Toilets’.
3. My family used to move houses a lot, and each time we moved I got rid of a lot of stuff like letters and pictures and today I am very light in terms of “stuff” and don’t carry any sort of documentation of the past with me.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
The biggest inspiration for my music is music. I do get inspired from other things, things I read, people I meet, things that happen around me. but when I listen to music that I like it has a different effect. It puts me in the state of mind that I need in order to open up and be creative. Whenever I start a session in the studio I listen to a song, and if i have the time, to an album.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I was always a music lover, and my family is into music as well. So, listening to music, talking about it, analysing it is something I always did. I discovered that music was my happy place at a very early age and was always very curious about it. It’s hard to say at what point I started because it was always there. At the age of 18 is when I decided that this is what I want to do as career.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Currently:
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Modeselektor – Monkeytown
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Radiohead – King Of Limbs
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
A lot of love and care for culture and the arts.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
My studio is in this building that has an artist’s resort, where you have studios of painters, tattoo artists, musicians, sculptress… all on one floor of the building. It’s very communal but gives a lot of privacy and space. It’s called ‘Sussies Art Bay’
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Cook or do films.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Honestly, the last record I bought was a children’s song CD for my nephew
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Kate Tempest. I have been saying that so many different times in different interviews so I hope that she will notice eventually.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Paul Mccartney did a show in Israel a few years back. I don’t know if it was the best most interesting musical experience. But it meant a lot to me to watch one of the Beatles play live, I went there with my family, we all knew the lyrics of most of the songs. It was an exciting experience.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Very. Using the computer and creating music with technology allows me freedom that I didn’t have before. I can drift away with my ideas to wherever I want, there are almost no boundaries, and for me it makes all the difference.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I do. One older sister, an older brother and one young brother. All big supporters, super proud and happy for me. I was blessed with the family I was born into and my younger brother who is a real music geek has friends who are true fans, so I think he is really happy about that.
