ROCK RECORD
PRESS CONTACT liz.pappademas@gmail.com
TRACK LIST
1. RESTLESS
2. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
3. WHY AREN’T YOU CRYING
4. REAL LIFE BENDER
5. THEY ASK ABOUT YOU
6. FIND MY WAY TO YOU
7. GARDEN GATE
8. GREAT EXPECTATIONS
9. I LOVE THAT SONG
10. STILL WANNA BE YOUR FRIEND
DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE
Press:
"Most rock operas tend to be clumsy and pretentious, but Pappademas artfully brings her characters to life with real wit and inventiveness." LA Weekly Music Pick 08/22/12
"I want messy memoirs and novels, and I want funky music, and I want art that makes me take notice without requiring the shock of deviance. Liz takes a good look at a peculiar part of our shallow culture-the game show-with her new album, Television City. I think she and her band do a pretty good job at pulling back the curtain." - Fact or Fiction
"Pappademas has said the album is a spiritual cross between Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets and Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, but it sounds like no one else." - LA Weekly Music Pick 11/29/11
"A concept album about a fictional game show that takes place in the 1970s might sound a bit strange, but Television City by L.A. band Liz Pappademas and The Level couldn't be further from that. With the piano, tale-telling lyrics and Liz's voice as the main driving forces, it's actually beautiful, soothing, lush, and really rather intriguing." - I Am The Crime
"The searingly poetic singer-pianist unveils tunes from her new album Television City, a suite of romantic songs about a fictional game show." - LA Weekly 'Go' 02/21/11
"Pappademas's forceful piano accents frame the action stylishly on such sly, melodically rich pop gems as "Your Favorite Game Show" and "Grand Prize Winners," while the album-closing "Parting Guest" is a trippy sound collage of mesmerizing echoes." - LA Weekly Music Pick 02/11
"Silverlake songstress Liz Pappademas and her crack team The Level put out Television City this month. The concept album follows various characters circling a fictional 1970's game show, "Who's Your Neighbor?". Thanks to Pappademas' considerable talent at telling whole stories in single songs, the record has a cinematic quality that's quite unforgettable." - Radio Free Silverlake Best of 2010
"The local singer-pianist and former member of the Austin band Hurts to Purr should be in the big leagues already. Her 2007 debut album, 11 Songs, was a mesmerizing assortment of passionate ballads that deftly combined Neil Young's gentle introspection with Fiona Apple's forceful piano pop. Even more impressive, Pappademas proved to be a masterful lyricist, playfully invoking Robert Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock and Harry Houdini." - LA Weekly Music Pick 04/10
"It also encompasses a wider range of pitches than many pop songs do; not lingering on a specific set of pitches adds to the somewhat freeform feeling of the song. In the way the melody is shaped (and perhaps also in the broken chord piano accompaniment), "Loma Prieta" seems to be toeing the line between pop song and art song." - harmonictremors
"'Bring back good art-pop!' Our yells must have been heard loud and clear through the window. We love a good story, a good painting, an intentional melodic swirling that creates landscapes and digs a tunnel for our innermost thoughts to tumble out of. Thanks a billion, Liz & Co., for the tripping keys, roundabout lyrics and welling orchestral components. With the auto-tune craze likely to last until 2012, it's even more likely you'll remain in a league of your own." - beatcrave.com
Radio Free Silverlake Interview
"Pappademas has such a gift for palpably poetic lyrics and evocative, soul-swept melodies, perhaps the mayor can appoint her as this city's Official Post-Earthquake Consoler to help us recover when the Big One inevitably lays us low." - LA Weekly 08/08
"Liz Pappademas's solo debut 11 Songs, is gorgeous and lush in a sparse sort of way. The uncluttered arrangements and production allow her songwriting, vocals, and piano playing to shine through." - Electronic Musician
"You and I should go see Liz Pappademas this weekend because her music is dark and pretty (but not twee or tinkly, lest you get the wrong idea)." - Time Out New York
"A beautifully downbeat collection of piano-driven art-pop tunes reflecting on broken hearts, bitterness and murder." - NPR
"Bearing the narrative agility of a class-act storyteller as well as the unhurried precision of a poet, Pappademas writes lyrics that carry impressive weight standing alone on the page. Delivered in her smoldering alto, evoking a cross between Jolie Holland and Fiona Apple, they burn with an almost disarming poignancy." - SF Bay Guardian
album cover by D. Norsen
photo by Jane Preston
photo by Jane Preston
photo by Peter Baker
poster by D.Norsen
photo by Jane Preston
Liz Pappademas is an American singer songwriter, pianist, and educator.
Born in a New York City Checker taxicab and raised in San Francisco, Liz graduated from Berklee College of Music where she won the SESAC Award for songwriting and a John Lennon Songwriting Contest scholarship.
Touring both solo and as a member of various bands, Liz began her professional career in Austin, Texas with her trio Hurts to Purr. She has performed three times at the South by Southwest music festival and has been featured on local radio and NPR’s All Songs Considered.
Known for poetic lyrics with affecting melodies, Liz is influenced by songwriters and film composers who share her interest in telling stories: Randy Newman, Ennio Morricone, Tom Waits, Aimee Mann, Joni Mitchell, and others.
In 2012, Liz returned to school to study special education at California State University, Northridge. Her master’s thesis explored parallels between academic homework and music practice and the inherent challenges in both for students with learning disabilities. She became K-12 Director of Learning Services at Sequoyah School in Pasadena in 2022. She lives in Los Angeles.