Editing an art magazine wasn't enough for Ihu Anyanwu, so she decided to become the next Grace Jones.

From a young age, New York-based artist Ihu Anyanwu learned to make the most out of life. Although these days she splits her time publishing her techno/art zine Repellent, DJing and preparing for her first full-length album (a cross-pollination of dirty booty bass, dubby No Wave and sexy, irreverent vocals under her G.rizo moniker), she spent many of her formative years in Nigeria.
Like many hopeful Nigerian ex-pats, armed with a Western education and a renewed optimism for social change, Anyanwu's parents returned with their daughter to their newly democratized homeland in the early '80s. As radio waves carried the revolutionary rhythms of Fela Kuti, the young singer-to-be dialed into the sounds of black America. Listening religiously to Soul Train and pop stars like Wham, DeBarge, Cameo and Michael Jackson, Anyanwu spent her leisure time making up songs and wild dance routines with her Lagos schoolmates. Growing up, she felt that anything was possible. But, as things sometimes turn out, it was too good to be true. "We thought we could have the best of it all, take what's good from the West and keep our traditions," she explains, "but somehow my parents generation was unsuccessful with the mix."
New York in the early '90s was much like Lagos in the '80s. With its bustling energy­packed with noise, people, smells, sensations, grime, crime, and passion­it too was a city of contradictions and infinite promise. A perfect adopted home for Anyanwu, who spent every free moment there after moving in with her father in New Jersey. "I was culturally and socially displaced when I first came to this country. I couldn't assimilate to any particular group and I had to make my own space. NYC was and is the place to do that," she explains. "I was attracted by the freaks. I used to think to myself 'How come these people are dressed this way, act this way, look this way?' It was so interesting to see that you had options and can paint your life how you want it."
And she has. While Anyanwu forward thinking zine Repellent and its event offspring Repellent Fest have already garnered praise from punters and pundits alike, her raw, soulful and somewhat husky voice on her G.rizo debut 12", "Je Me Mentis" (Codek Records), is equally impressive as it intersects Lagos and New York's "anything goes" attitudes (think Grace Jones versus Mad Professor soundclashing at the Mudd Club). Anyanwu spent the summer in Vienna preparing her solo album and collaborating with everyone from Sofa Surfers' Wolfgang Schlogl to Patrick Pulsinger.
She seems to be constantly challenging herself, describing her multitasking ethos as Freestyle Expressionism. "It's about expressing yourself in whatever channel is most effective," she says. "As you have the idea or the concept, then choose the medium that is most effective to communicate."
- XLR8R/ISSUE 83: The Best of 2004

brooklyn's codek crew uses a "diseases" sample to ill effect on a sharp, on-u meets esg uptown no-wave dub tune, with singer ihu anyanwu,s guttural, grace jones-ish french vocals.
- tomas, xlr8r march/april.03

This is a strange record. The female vocals are in French and English with a slightly punky feel and the odd bum note. A nasty acid line adds to the already eerie atmosphere created by the vocal and makes you wonder what's coming next. But the track doesn't go off on a horrible electroclash tangent, it comes together nicely with a deep dubby bassline and echoed drums. The insistent groove is sprinkled with melodica and more acid lines, leaving plenty of space for the vocals to work their magic. There's an accapella and a dub on the B-side so get 2 copies and make your own extended version. Original and highly addictive stuff from NY's Codek Records.
- dubfeathers, feb.03

Codek's think tank: Cosmic Rocker, Fa Ventilato, and Alex Gloor crank the motor on a rusty Victrola. The shellac roundabout spits sound signs from the street corner. Its dented cone blasts blessed ears with unusually low bass drops. Next door a ladder vibrates and shakes, dropping drums like falling paint cans on plywood planes. Heavy electric thumps. Between the thick spilled splashes curves a precisely annunciated message of dark emotion. Ihu Anyanwu inhales the ghost breaths of Edith Piaf, Eartha Kitt, and Nico. She recycles soul spirits into a new cosmology shrouded in echoes. Codek lo-fi hi-fi wins the day.
- frosty XLR8R Magazine

click on pic for large image

CRE.002 - VINYL 12"

g.rizo
JE ME MENTIS

1. JE ME MENTIS
2. ACCAPELLA
3. VERSION

PRODUCED BY COSMIC ROCKER, ALEX GLOOR
FA VENTILATO, IHU ANYANWU

Is g.rizo an electronic music crooner or
just crooning to electronic music?
This will be determined upon first listen.

Je Me Menti (Just like lying to myself) mimics
a Bond-ish Shirley Bassey karaoking to Johnny Halliday while stranded on an undisclosed
Caribbean island! Not your run of the mill
rub-a-dub soundtrack, it is a jagged colada
on a hot, summer's day.

Sung entirely in broken French, you won't have to pick up a Francais-English dictionary to get the irony, Lyrically, it reverbs with wounded, self-deprecation and sonically, it will rock you towards relaxation, another sweet contradiction!

g.rizo is Ihu Anyanwu.

From Nigeria, born and raised in the USA, Ihu has harbored a serious crush on pop music all her life, and in fact wrote her first song at age 8. Musical influences have been wide and varied, though all time favorites are Style Council and Everything But the Girl. Current crushes include old school bass, new style Technotainists and the endless possibilities of a recently purchased $20 casio keyboard. A self-proclaimed dilly dally expert, she is also the publisher of Repellent Magazine (a contributors' zine), which puts to good use her background in Communications and Photography. Finally!

Future plans: To take this music to the subways and other pedestrian locations, for the masses! So don't be surprised, instead just give her a quarter!