i should tell you: Janine and the Mixtape

Well hello there, and welcome to the eleventh i should tell you, where I interview cool musicians who will answer my emails. The same three questions about food, every time, just to see what kicks can be achieved. This time I'm talking to the super duper fly Janine and the Mixtape, who is from New Zealand but has made Brooklyn, NYC, her new home. Lucky thing.

I seriously love this lady, not least because of her aspirational ways with eyeliner. That's quite a big part of it, really. She has one of the biggest, richest voices you'll ever hear, but uses it kinda sparingly and carefully and doesn't bust out the American Idol-style melisma just because, which is what I would do given the same set of pipes. She writes, produces, makes beats, does it all, and what you get is r'n'b with 90s excellence (let's face it, a lot of 90s r'n'b, even the most drum-machine-keyboardish stuff, is untouchably good) plus a lush yet moody spaciousness. I know that possibly doesn't make sense but I can't fight the adjectives that appear when I listen to music, okay?

I adore her song Bullets, but you should really listen to her new single Hold Me, which premiered on Vibe.com, what! It's way beautiful, and is from her upcoming album Dark Mind. (Love that name.)

Thanks, Janine! (Who signed off her email to me as Janine and the Cookbook, which I thought was pretty cute.) The interview will start...now.

Where's somewhere you've eaten that you kinda like to brag about or drop into conversation? 

Haha, so I'm gonna be honest with you. You'll quite often catch me bragging about "The Cherokee Spot" where I live, in Brooklyn. It's not exactly classy, but who doesn't love a breakfast burger and and a Sunny D (Orange Juice thats 5% Juice) for $2.75?

What do you fix for yourself, or where do you go to eat, when it's just you on your own?

I love cooking. I'm pretty experimental with whatever I have in the house. I make pretty sweet omelets, any time of the day and night. I also eat a lot of chocolate chip cookies! 

What's one of your favourite food memories from your childhood? 

Man, that's pretty tough. Living at home was always amazing for "the pantry" and still is when I go visit! But I'm gonna have to say my favourite memory is when me and my best friend Nikki used to make cooking shows and make mum film it. I can still hear her voice from behind the camera saying, "Janine, don't do that, stop being silly"...  

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i should tell you archives:

Coco Solid (April 19)

Michael Logie, Die!Die!Die! (April 5)

Watercolours (March 22)
Jeremy Toy, She's So Rad (March 14)
Hera and Jed (March 7)
Eva Prowse (March 1)
Jan Hellriegel (February 21)
Dear Time's Waste (February 14)
Flip Grater (February 7)
Tourettes (January 31)
Anna Coddington (January 24)