Greetings from the charred lands of Rescued From The Fire; the series in which we aim to explore the music of a particular album so incredibly important to the author that he/she would risk life and limb to save it from the hellish glow of an underfunded fire department. This time, in what may be our scariest edition yet, we hear from the queen of goth-infused operatic pop, Nika Roza Danilova (aka Zola Jesus), as she walks us through the Luciferian, Baudelaire-influenced soundscape of Diamanda Galas. Join us if you dare...

 In the event of a housefire, I would save the record "Litanies of Satan" by Diamanda Galas. This record I found in a local record shop in Madison, Wisconsin called Good Style. It was pretty much the most unexpected find I could have ever found in Madison, let alone anywhere in the world. The record itself has played an immense role in helping me overcome my tainted relationship with my voice after a debilitating 10 years of vocal training. When I discovered Diamanda, she showed me the other side of the voice, and that it doesn't have to fit a certain mold or even be used to recite 18th century operas. By that time I was already so frustrated with my voice not being what I wanted it to be, I would scream just to damage it, to unlearn my studies. But Diamanda made me realize what you could do with that training, or with even no training at all. Also that record in particular is such an unsettling one. She's not even in the room, yet has this force over you and the needle. It's completely awe-inspiring.

- Nika Roza Danilova, 2011

Stay tuned for Zola Jesus' new 'Conatus' LP to drop October 4 on the Sacred Bones label in the US and Souterrain Transmissions in Europe. Finally, stream a live show from her recorded at the Primavera Club below...

Zola Jesus

Not for the faint of heart. You've been warned...

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