Press

"Best Band that I saw at SXSW or the first time: The lovely Shilpa Ray could be our generation's JANIS JOPLIN. Big words? Perhaps, but that raspy growl, that sweet inspiration, her contagious enthusiasm for music gives her a fighting chance."
- Future Sounds

"L's and G's, dudes and duds, Ms. Shilpa Ray is your next great Rock and Roll Singer."
- Heart On a Stick

"What was previously a joyously sloppy hodgepodge had coalesced into a super tight, efficiently noisy four piece. Shilpa was going especially hard at her songs with everything from a gentle croon to a dramatic, burlesque scream, and I thought: this girl wants it bad, deserves it, and will hopefully get it."
- NY Press (on SXSW)

"Following the demise of her previous band, Beat the Devil, Ray has struck out on her own, further showcasing her seemingly indestructible vocal chords. She screams, growls, and snarls her way through the screeching muck of oil-stained garage rock and backwoods blues, cresting just above the waves of a sonic tumult that threatens to consume her minuscule frame. This tenuous command of a raucous sound makes for a volatile breed of rock and roll."
- New Yorker

"an unsigned Brooklyn singer with a powerfully raw voice and a fierce technique on the harmonium"
- New York Times

"That scream is primal!"
- New York Times ArtsBeats Blog

" Shilpa Ray & Her (male) Happy Hookers are pretty much blowing my mind these days and this show was no exception. Shilpa has an addictive rasp that screams Fuck-all attitude "
- Brooklyn Vegan

" a psychedelically grooving show with an incredible frontwoman with one hell of a voice, screaming and bouncing onstage, with a harmonium and some really great songs. "
- BBC, Radio 1 Blog

" Among those primed for another Brooklyn breakout is rugged songstress Shilpa Ray of Beat the Devil, who rocks a mean harmonium like nobody's business. "
- Time Out Chicago

" I only saw her for ten minutes, four years ago, but I haven't forgotten a second. "
- Drowned in Sound, Emmy the Great

" With a deep voice that's pure grit, Brooklyn's Shilpa Ray is quickly gaining a rep for flaunting in-your-face vocals. It's hard to believe that such a powerful sound comes from such a small person, but Shilpa Ray defies her physical expectations by talking smack at shows, working her accordion with fervor, and bellowing vocals that sound the like an Ida Maria/PJ Harvey explosion. "
- Flavorpill

" She's a woman of distinct personal experience who is forging a sound I've never heard before. It's a sound that's not kitsch but current, a rare feat for a South Asian American making music today. "
- MTV IGGY

" This gal, Brooklynite Shilpa Ray, is the next Janis Joplin. If Janis Joplin had a love child with Ella Fitzgerald. Her aptly-named band Beat the Devil broke up, but she's the part that counts: that voice roars through the air, exorcised from her body with impossible grace. "
- GL Music

" Half the fun in seeing this volatile NYC jazz-folk-blues-punk outfit lies in watching the unfamiliar react the first time lead singer Shilpa Ray opens her mouth. Typical reaction: shock and awe. She looks tiny and jovial (especially surrounded by her menacing, dudely band mates), but goddamn can she ever shriek, alternating jazzy, evocative moans (she's inspired Billie Holiday comparisons, and for once they don't sound totally ridiculous) with a nuclear-grade, paint-evaporating, continent-shifting howl loaded with more volume, rage, and pathos than the entire Ozzfest lineup combined. "
- Village Voice

" Shilpa Ray is the best raw female vocalist to emerge from the depths of NYC since the 70s "
- Bumper Shine

" The top 21 performances at SXSW
2) Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers "
- The Monitor (Austin)

" She's an itty-bitty Debbie Harry with a crack pop-punk band behind her, who also happens to be Indian-American, and who plays a harmonium onstage-sometimes sensually. Yeah. I was definitely impressed. "
- Indy Week Blogs - Scan

" she's gonna be huge "
- Brooklyn Vegan

" a punk Ella Fitzgerald. "
- Stranded in Stereo

" The music started, then she opened her bombast. It all began to coin message. wide-ranging. Every energy of this piece of produce comes pouring off of that bombast. She contorts her lithe congress into all sorts of shapes and twists to be six feet high as much rosy as workable off of that bombast, communal wide-ranging. And folks, that's a helluva heaps of rosy. "
- Keyboarding

" This woman had a voice that was as big as New Jersey! "
- Love Shack, Baby

" Shilpa Ray had a screamer's voice, all shrieks and rough edges to set your neck hairs up. Pumping her harmonium for a backing drone, she howled in the best Jim Morrison "wailing my way to dissolution" tradition. "
- Ape Mind Transcripts

" be prepared to turn to the person next to you and say, 'I can't believe that voice comes from that girl.' "
- Musicology NYC

" Ray did spend a lot of time screaming "fuck you" repeatedly into the microphone - not at the audience, but rather with them (at least in spirit).

After SXSW, the general consensus is that this band is headed for great things. I told ya so. "
- Radio Flyer

" She stirs up trouble on stage and captivates the rowdiest crowds. What do you think of this raw talent, can it be tamed? Is this underground singer breaking surface? "
- Desi Hits

" She then started telling a story of how her uncle taught her how to put a shoe in the face of a guy at a fish market. "And I was six!" With a playful ferociousness, gesturing the Bengali technique of shoe-threat, she growled at the audience, "You're enjoying our music, right?" The crowd was sold on her stage charisma. "
- Yellow Buzz

" As the band wound the songs up into a frenzy, Shilpa went pretty crazy this show swallowing her microphone, spitting on the crowd, falling on the floor. "
- Kevchino's Indie music blog

" Harmonium hasn't had such wild company. "
- Indian Express.com

" charismatic and compelling, and the chorus of voices people speaking highly of her/them is almost certain to keep growing. "
- Chromewaves

" Shilpa was uh.mazing and her hookers were indeed happy. My socks were blown off. "
- Good Girls and Geeks