Artist description Songs, less and less traditional, but: still songs. A story told by sampled string quartets and horn sections, transparent rhythms (both acoustic and electronic) some hypnotizing loops, some guitar pop guitar riffs, baroque melodies and sometimes melancholic voice(s), all of this built up layer upon layer, in order to reach a state of uneasy ecstasy in the post-pop era-area.

Music Style Alternative Rock, Dream Pop

Musical Influences Radiohead, David Bowie, Pixies, dEUS

Similar Artists Radiohead, Grandaddy, Sparklehorse, Motorpsycho

Artist History Before becoming Miss Universe, the band was called Girlfriend Misery (1992-1996). This quintet made several 'successful' demo-tapes and an album called On the Sofa, which was released officially in Spain on Chambi Records. The band was often compared with artists like American Music Club, R.E.M., The Smiths and the Dutch band The Nits. After quite a few changes (both personally as musically) and more very successful demo-tapes, Miss Universe released Club Tabú in 1998 on their own Dutch label Skipping Records. In Spain, the album was released in spring 1999. A few months later, PAR, the record label of the famous venue Paradiso in Amsterdam, launched a live single (The Belong Song / Welcome to the Show) on the Dutch market.

Group Members Rick Treffers, Ivar Vermeulen, Erik Verhoef and Jaimy Quite

Instruments Guitars, Drums, Bass, Keyboards, Samplers, Sounds

Albums Club Tabu, On the Sofa, Death to the Pixies: We're Better (comp)

Press Reviews "Amazing, soaring and thickly orchestrated pop from across thepond, augmenting guitar-drums-bass with an assortment of electronicand acoustic sounds. You can feel the lost loves and lost livesrunning through this melancholy but beautiful music." (Full review here) (David Morris, AudioGalaxy.com, May 2000) . "Popping, reverb-heavy, aquatic percussion loops, janglingguitar riffs, simple keyboard lines and brooding vocals that singdeliberately repetitive lyrics all work together to entrancingeffect. When the songs incorporate big drums and guitars, it doesn tsound contrived - rather, the effect is cathartic." (Will Lerner, Listen.com, March 2000) "Miss Universe oozes pop ambition with modern technology. ThinkRadiohead fronted by David Bowie." (Jon Bream, Star Tribune, Minnesota, March 2000) "Miss Universe delivers refined tunes that waver betweenAutomatic for the People-era R.E.M. and slightly tweakedBeatles-influenced pop." (Greg Beets, Austin Chronicle, March 2000) "Club Tabú is a beautiful record and approaches the atmosphereof the slower Radiohead songs. Most arrangements have been keptdaringly bare, which works out very well in the agonizing RightKind of Love. This cd goes deep, and will easily get under your skin." (Gert Verbeek, FRET magazine, April '98) "Miss Universe alternates ingenious guitar miniatures with grubbyguitars, supported by the fiercely rocking rhythm section. Inhis lyrics Treffers shows a delicate sense of humour and self-irony. One who's able to brew such catchy songs deserves a farbigger audience." (Jan van der Plas, Music Maker. Cd choice of the month, March '98.) "The band willfully unravels and streches songs. Very slowly, they add layer on layer. An example of this meditative approach is the beautiful song Trumpets. A promising debut." (John Oomkes, Haarlems Dagblad. Cd choice of the day, March 6, '98)

Location Amsterdam, N-H - Netherlands

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