Circ - Love Electric (2002) & Madelin Zero - Dirty Purple (2005) DOUBLE POST!!

Though I can't remember exactly how, I recently discovered  American singer Madelin Zero.  Born  Madelin Lane, she grew up wanting to break into the music biz, having been classically trained as an opera singer, but was supporting herself as a talent scout.  In 2001 she moved to New York and met producer Alexander Perls at a Sonic Youth concert.  The two clicked and he asked her to do vocals on a track he had written called "Destroy She Said".  Taking the name Circ, the following year they released that track as their first single in Germany, where it became a club hit.  The song was picked up by Radikal Records in 2003 and became a club hit in North America as well.  That same year they released their second single, "Close Your Eyes", though it wasn't as big of a success.  The album Love Electric was released in Germany the following year, and they released the title track as their last single.  They split and Madelin was immediately enlisted by German trance producer ATB to write and provide vocals for three tracks on his album No Silence.  He returned the favour by producing the track "Perfect Day To Lose" for her solo album, which she soon set to work on.  She worked with several other German producers including Bill Hamel, who Madelin had provided backing vocals for in 1999 on the song "Waters Of The World" by his group Insight.  The album wasn't too far a departure from her work with Circ, though it was more electropop than trance based.  It was released on a small independent label in the US and two singles were released - "Goldstar" and "Gotta Know".  I prefer her solo album to the Circ album, in huge part due to the production talent behind her, but it took awhile to grow on me.  Though she was apparently classically trained in opera, her voice on the albums is very sweet and whispery.  The best I can compare it to would be Stacey Q (in fact "Goldstar" sounds like a lost Stacey track) or Annie.  I wasn't too fond of the album on first listen, but repeated listens have made it a favourite, a lot of fun.  Anyway, Madelin wouldn't be heard from again until 2008, when she collaborated with trance producer Roger Shah on the song "Alone With You" by Coastline.  She has since appeared on other trance tracks with acts like Kostya Veter, DNS Project, Adiva, and Pakka.  In 2011 she released a new solo track, "Love The Love", and chances are good that we'll be seeing some more new solo material from her again soon, so keep checking her website. 

Video for Destroy She Said

Video for Close Your Eyes

Download Love Electric

1		Love Electric
2		All Night
3		Destroy She Said
4		Danger
5		Close Your Eyes
6		A Soldier Now
7		Interlude
8		Somewhere
9		Don't Think About It
10		Revolution Song (Tonight, Tonight)
11		A Reason
12		Coming Down

Video for Goldstar

Download Dirty Purple

1		Gold Star
2		In The Morning
3		Don't Talk To Strangers
4		Perfect Day To Lose
5		On Top Of My Building
6		I Saw Your Video
7		Cold Professional
8		Gotta Know
9		One Exception
10		When The Future Comes
11		Anything Perfect
12		Your Mouth Is An Arcade
13		Cat And Mouse
14		Dirty Purple