Ida Maria - Stella

Listening to Stella, you imagine that an Ida Maria gig would be full of sweaty people in leather jackets. She would have been back stage listening to the Stooges and the Replacements and when she comes out everyone holds their 2/3 empty bottles of whiskey in the air and recklessly pumps a fist. She's been listening to all the right people and her distillation of rock and roll royalty is quite competent. Still, her hoarse cries of "Stella / I wanna give you the world / if you just hold me tonight" doesn't quite sell. All the emphasis on Janis Joplin obscures her slightly. [Tobias Kahn]