Life and career

Before she began her singing career, Anika was a political journalist who spent her time between Berlin and Bristol, England. She met producer Geoff Barrow

Geoff Barrow

Geoffrey Paul Barrow is the producer, disc jockey, and instrumentalist for Portishead.Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the small town near Bristol where Barrow grew up...

 (of Portishead), who was looking for a female vocalist to work with his band Beak>. Anika joined the band in the studio and recorded nine songs, including a cover of Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

’s "Yang Yang

Yang Yang (song)

"Yang Yang" is a song by Yoko Ono, originally released in 1972 on the album Approximately Infinite Universe, and on the B-side to "Death of Samantha". The song was later included on Ono's compilation albums Walking on Thin Ice and Onobox...

" in 12 days with no overdubs. The result, Anika

Anika (album)

The album received generally favorable reviews. It earned a collective score of 65 out of 100 from Metacritic. Heather Phares from Allmusic stated, "Though the album is mostly covers, Anika imprints her identity on every track...

, was released by Barrow’s Invada imprint in Europe and by Stones Throw Records

Stones Throw Records

Stones Throw Records is an independent hip hop record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was started in 1996 by DJ/Producer Peanut Butter Wolf in part to release the music he made with Charizma who was killed at the age of 20....

 in the U.S. and Japan in October 2010. Anika received positive reviews from contemporary critics; according to the music review aggregation of Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, it garnered an average score of 65/100. The album also included covers of "Terry

Terry (song)

Terry is a song written and performed by British singer Lynn Ripley, AKA Twinkle. It was her first single, and reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1964, spending fifteen weeks in the charts...

" by Lynn Ripley

Twinkle (singer)

Twinkle is an English singer-songwriter, primarily in the 1960s. Twinkle's most famous songs were "Terry" and "Golden Lights".-Career:...

, "End of the World" by Skeeter Davis

Skeeter Davis

Mary Frances Penick , better known as Skeeter Davis, was an American country music singer best known for crossover pop music songs of the early 1960s. She started out as part of The Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually landing on RCA Records. In the late '50s, she became a solo...

, "Masters of War

Masters of War

"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962-63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town"...

" by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, and "I Go to Sleep

I Go to Sleep

"I Go to Sleep" was covered by The Pretenders and released as the fifth single from their second studio album Pretenders II. The song was later included on the Pretenders' compilation album The Singles...

" by The Kinks

The Kinks

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...

.

John Minton, who had previously directed music videos for Portishead, Robert Plant

Robert Plant

Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

, and Amusement Parks on Fire

Amusement Parks on Fire

Amusement Parks on Fire are a shoegaze band from Nottingham, England.The band was formed by Michael Feerick in 2004, who wrote and performed all the instruments for the self-titled debut album...

, directed the promotional music video for Anika's cover of "Yang Yang." The song was later offered as the "Free MP3 of the Day" on Spinner

Spinner (website)

Spinner is an AOL Music property, which bills itself as "the ultimate music blog for free MP3s, free CD listening, [and] discovering new artists."...

. On her choice to cover the song for her album, Anika explained, "I loved the way the words sounded and as an ex-politics student and political journalist, I thought the song would make a great cover. Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

 is renowned for her political views but I think there was a dark side to the lyrics that the original version had not fully explored. This is where we came in ..." Drowned in Sound

Drowned in Sound

DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...

 included "Yang Yang" on its list Singles of the Year 2010.

Several of the songs on Anika found digital success on iTunes. "End of the World" peaked at number seventy-eight on the iTunes Japan Top 100 Alternative Songs,
while "Yang Yang" peaked at number sixty-four on the iTunes Spain Top 100 Alternative Songs. Anika has been chosen by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror

All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)

All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....

festivals that they will curate in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace and in September 2011 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.