Justine Electra (born Justine Beatty) is an Australian-born multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and tech house DJ. She is based in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. Her debut album, ''Soft Rock'' was released in June 2006 to a positive reception. The second album, ''Green Disco'', appeared in December 2013.

Biography

Justine Electra grew up in Melbourne and attended Wesley College. From 2000 she has been based in Berlin where she was to "hone a style of acoustic guitar-driven electro-pop that welcomed comparisons to

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...

and

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...

." She was signed to

City Slang Records City Slang is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. History The label was founded in 1990 by former tour agent Christof Ellinghaus, exclusively to release The Flaming Lips' '' In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine S ...

in 2006. Her debut album, ''Soft Rock'', appeared on 9 June 2006. Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

rated the album at four-out-of-five stars and observed, "with her smooth, breathy alto and acoustic guitars gliding over synths and understated electronic rhythms, she comes across as a more lighthearted cross between

Cat Power Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and model. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a ...

and

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

, or

Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician, known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall, ...

with a more eccentric songwriting style." ''Soft Rock'' was voted one of the top ten most important albums of 2006 by

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

, and Andreas Borcholte wrote that "there really hasn't been a more unagitated record this exciting this year." Clash magazine observed that "hissing percussion and soft strummed guitar sit behind Electra’s rich, bluesy American-influenced voice, but this basis is transformed track by track by imagination and experimentation." Justine Electra's music has featured in several films, TV series, and documentaries, including episodes of

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...

, and acclaimed German fil
Mein Vogel Fliegt Schneller
(2009). Her cover version of Will Oldham's

I See a Darkness ''I See a Darkness'' is the sixth album by American musician Will Oldham, released on Palace Records on January 19, 1999 as the first album under the name Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The album features appearances from Bob Arellano, Colin Gagon, Paul ...

closes out the credits of Till Kuenzel's documentary ''SubBerlin - Underground United'' about iconic techno club Tresor. Electra's second album, ''Green Disco'', was issued on 6 December 2013 via Neun Volt Records. Justine Electra has collaborated with many prominent musicians in Berlin's music scene, including

Robot Koch Robert Koch (born 7 October 1977), best known by the stage name Robot Koch, is a German, Los Angeles-based artist, composer, and record producer. Koch made a name for himself as a member of the band Jahcoozi before launching as a solo artist. H ...

, Robert Kretzschmar, Jens Friebe, Andre Abshagen, Julie Miess, Juli Holz,

Lars Eidinger Lars Eidinger (; born 21 January 1976) is a German actor. Eidinger started his career at Deutsches Theater in 1997. Before his breakthrough, he played minor roles in German television shows like ''Schloss Einstein'' (2002) and ''Berlin, Berlin' ...

Masha Qrella Masha Qrella (real name Masha Kurella, born 1975 in East Berlin) is a German singer-songwriter. Her music has been described as belonging to the genres of indie pop and "a mixture of electronics and indie rock." Biography Qrella's father was a R ...

Schneider TM Dirk Dresselhaus (born 28 August 1970), better known by his stage name Schneider TM, is a German musician from Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a pop ...

, Vredeber Albrecht, Stephan Rühl, and Gerd Krüger. She records her music either at home in her studio or at Gerd Krüger'
Tritonus Studio
in Berlin Kreuzberg or at Soundtrax Studio in Schoeneberg.

Discography

Albums
Soft Rock
(2006)
Green Disco
(2013) Singles and EPs
Blues & Reds
(2006)
Fancy Robots
(2006)
Killalady
(2007)
Petting Zoo
(2012)
Great Skate Date
(2013)
Christmas In Berlin
(2018)

Soundtracks

* ' (2007) * ''SubBerlin'' - Underground United (2008) * ''

'', Season 6, Episodes 02 and 03 (2009) * ''Mein Vogel fliegt schneller'' (2009) * '' Meine Freiheit, Deine Freiheit'' (2011) * ''Von Bienen und Blumen'' (2018) * ''Electric Girl'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Electra, Justine Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian singer-songwriters People educated at Wesley College (Victoria)