Taleen Kali/Tuff Bluff/Galleries/Princess Dewclaw

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 the C86 tape compilation 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 unveiled 2 unreleased singles from the vaults, “Love Chain” and “Panda,” and Kali also did 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.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Hi-Dive, 7 South Broadway, Denver, United States