Hailing from her native Los Angeles, local legend Taleen Kali composes romantic punk songs wrapped in layers of shoegaze, psychedelia, and riot grrrl grunge, creating a cosmic sound that’s dreamy and defiant alike.
Influenced by melodies and imagery from her Armenian heritage and her parent’s birthplaces of Lebanon and Ethiopia, Kali fuses her lineage with sonics of the modern countercultures she grew up embracing, exploring everything from punk and the riot grrrl movement to C86 tape compilations and Brit-pop.
When her band TÜLIPS went out with a bang at their final headline show at The Regent Theater in 2016, Taleen went solo, sharing bills with indie luminaries such as Ex Hex, Alice Bag, Seth Bogart, and touring the country. Soul Songs was Taleen’s debut EP produced by Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls) and mixed by Brad Laner of Medicine. It was recorded at the legendary Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood and found Taleen’s riot grrrl ethos maturing into a polished punk sound with noise pop, shoegaze, and new wave influences. Soul Songs was lauded by Stereogum who likened the sound to a contemporary Blondie, BUST Magazine who called it “dark and danceable,” Pitchfork’s Guide to Summer Albums, and LA Weekly’s Best Indie Punk Albums, and was played on KEXP, KXLU, KSPC, KZSC, UCLA Radio, and many more. .
After the release of Soul Songs in 2018, the band followed up with an unplugged version of the album and two covers: “Baby Love” by The Supremes and “#1 Crush” by Garbage in 2019. In 2020 TÜLIPS released 2 unreleased singles from the vaults, “Love Chain” and “Panda,” and Kali also released a 2-song pandemic project called Changing with her TÜLIPS-era producer Greg Katz (Cheekface, LA Font). Kali’s second EP, a soundbath album called Songs For Meditation was released November 5, 2021, the first release on Kali’s own experimental label Dum Dum Records.
In the winter of 2022 Kali and her band entered The Cave Studios to record her debut LP “Flower Of Life” with producers Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins and Josiah Mazzaschi (Bizou, Light FM, Child Seat). The album will be the band’s first foray into releasing a full-length album 100% independently after divesting from their record label in 2020.
TALEEN KALI TOUR DATES
04.07 – Long Beach, CA @ Alex’s Bar
04.27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Resident
08.28 – Long Beach, CA @ Happy Sunday’s Fest
West coast tour dates to be announced