Sign up for our mailing list Real artists creating records on their own terms
Close

Sign up for our mailing list

Press

Monday, April 11th, 2016

Xenia Rubinos Bio

Visionary singer and music maker Xenia Rubinos dips in and out of genre and structure to create movingly powerful songs with her O.G. signature sound. Xenia’s powerhouse vocals are at the center of her music which grows from a wide range of influences from R&B to Hip-Hop to jazz all delivered with a soulful punk aura. Pitchfork lauded the radiant singer as “a unique new pop personality” while a profile in The New Yorker described her work as “rhythmically fierce, vocally generous music that slips through the net of any known genre.”

Xenia grew up in Hartford, CT wailing along to Mariah Carey songs on the car radio. “My mom would drive around the block a couple extra times just so I could finish singing along if my favorite song came on. My parents weren't musicians but both really loved music and encouraged my interest, when I was 4 they got me a piano and by age 8 I was using a karaoke machine to record songs and make mixtapes of stuff off the radio.” Xenia’s middle school crush on a trumpet player lead her to discover jazz when he played her a Miles Davis record. She was awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston where she went to study voice inspired by the music of Nina Simone and the romantic spooky drama of singers like Billie Holiday and Judy Garland. “I was supposed to write a horn arrangement for this class. I had no idea what I was doing but I wrote it by singing each of the lines and rhythm section parts. I was completely terrified to have it recorded by the band in class. The only thing the teacher said afterwards was, ‘Wow, you must listen to a lot of Mingus!’ embarrassed I didn’t know who he was talking about, I just nervously nodded and when I got home looked up all of Mingus’ music. I was floored, never heard anything like that. It was so soulful and adventurous, I felt like he could do anything with his music. I wanted to find my own voice so I quit singing and delved into composition. My first band was a big loud mess of horns and percussion instruments. That’s when I met drummer and producer Marco Buccelli who would go on to be my main collaborator for nearly the next decade.”

After a move to New York, Xenia began working her voice into compositions and improvisations. Feeling an urgency to perform new music, she started experimenting with vocal looping and worked up the courage to play keyboards in public. She self-released her debut album Magic Trix in 2012. By the following year the album had generated a lot of interest from artists and critics alike and caught the attention of Ba Da Bing! Records who licensed the album for official release in 2013. Xenia went on to tour the US & Europe extensively both as a headliner and support act for such bands as Battles, Deerhoof, Man Man, Coco Rosie and others. Her energetic live show and presence echoes some of the larger than life icons she admired as a child like Nina Simone while her powerful vocals recall the soulfulness of Erykah Badu while wielding a space in music that is utterly her own. “I think my signature sound is a collage of different musics coming together on a visceral level, connecting the dots with my voice and imagination.”

Xenia Rubinos' artist page

Browse by Artist

2389All Artists 67Mavis Staples 57Neko Case 56Dr. Dog 55The Milk Carton Kids 52Son Little 51Sean Rowe 50Tinariwen
44Glen Hansard 43Lost In The Trees 41Andy Shauf 37Saintseneca 36Delicate Steve 33Michael Franti and Spe... 33Galactic 32Xenia Rubinos 31Jolie Holland 30The Drums 30Calexico 28Doe Paoro 28Tom Waits 28William Elliott Whitmo... 27Yves Jarvis 27Madi Diaz 27Man Man 26Girlpool 26Half Waif 25Christian Lee Hutson 25Bettye LaVette 23Christopher Paul Stell... 23Jason Lytle 23The Antlers 22Gary V 22Sage Francis 22Booker T. Jones 22Cass McCombs 21Japandroids 21Danny Elfman 21Islands 21Lido Pimienta 20Daniel Lanois 20DeVotchKa 20Leyla McCalla 20Jeremy Ivey 19Combo Chimbita 19M. Ward 19Purr 19The Dream Syndicate 18So Much Light 18Wilco 18Joe Henry 17Jade Jackson 17Moor Mother 17Grinderman 17Tim Fite 17Darrin Bradbury 16Peter Silberman 16Porter Wagoner 16High Pulp 15Glitterer 15Alfa Mist 15Yann Tiersen 14John K. Samson 13Busdriver 13Rain Machine 13Ben Harper 13The Coup 13MJ Lenderman 12Deafheaven 12Hey, King! 12Josiah Johnson 12Richard Reed Parry 12The Melodic 11Keaton Henson 11Beth Orton 11Rafiq Bhatia 11Bonny Doon 11Kelly Hogan 11Curtis Harding 11Ryan Pollie 10Os Mutantes 10Wynonna 10Katy Kirby 10Xavier Rudd 10Ben Harper and Charlie... 10Dead Man's Bones 10Bob Mould 10Beat Connection 10Fleet Foxes 10Roky Erickson 10Slow Pulp 10Jasmyn 9Ezra Furman 9Cameron Avery 9Waxahatchee 9The Tallest Man On Ear... 9James Brandon Lewis 9Kate Davis 9Kate Bush 9Marketa Irglova 9The Locust 9Mose Allison 8Art Moore 8The Frames 8Kristine Leschper 8Greg Graffin 8Deradoorian 8A Girl Called Eddy 7Alec Ounsworth 7sunking 7Solillaquists of Sound 7Scott McMicken and THE... 7The Field 7Foxwarren 6Sparklehorse 6Marc Ribot 6Kronos Quartet with Br... 6The Good Ones 6Ramblin Jack Elliott 6Broken Twin 6N.A.S.A. 6Pete Philly & Perquisi... 6Pops Staples 5The Swell Season 5Jackson+Sellers 5Mothers 5Walter Wolfman Washing... 5Cadence Weapon 5The Weakerthans 5Tweedy 5Plains 4Antibalas 4Arc Iris 4Muggs 4case/lang/veirs 4Petra Haden 4One Day As A Lion 4Eddie Izzard 3Mavis Staples & Levon... 3Danny Cohen 3Simian Mobile Disco 3Marianne Faithfull 3Sam Akpro 3Sierra Leones Refugee... 3The Book Of Knots 2Savath & Savalas 2Lyrics Born 2Title Fight 2Various Artists: RANGO 2Chuck E. Weiss 2Blackalicious 2Spoon (Europe only) 2Screaming Lights (Euro... 2Billy Bragg 2Jeff Tweedy 1Taylor Vick 1Various Artists: ROGUE... 1Nick Cave & The Bad Se... 1Solomon Burke 1Rogue's Gallery
See Full List+