Electro bowerbird LaDonna Rama’s debut self-titled release fuses a heady combination of experimental house, dark, campy techno, new wave and perverted pop. In these thirteen self-penned sample and synth based tracks, LaDonna relies heavy on drum machines, streetsmarts and artificial beats to design a bizarre and sometimes demented electronic soundtrack for the future. LaDonna tilts her fascinator to early 80s post-disco on “Daddy Daddy”. On an unmade bed of analog synths and a pulsing percussive groove, she coos about her daddy issues, victim status and the possibility of forgiveness. On the payoff she reveals, “My Daddy didn’t love, so what am I gonna do?/Just sit around and rat my hair… and paint my nails blue.” “We Are the Children of the Stars” opens with a distraught LaDonna waking up from a dream. In the dream she’d been communing with her cosmic sister Nikki Infinity and longs to return to Xanadu. Nikki Infinity is an extraterrestrial Goddess entity with whom LaDonna shares a special bond. Based around cute, tinkly toy piano samples, unsettling modulated vocal loops and far out spacey synths, the song takes its title from a 1970’s book by Binder and Flindt, who argue that human evolution couldn’t have occurred naturally and that we’re all descendants of ancient extraterrestrials. On the lead single “Secondhand Rose”, LaDonna wallows in the depths of her own empty heart, lamenting her inability to love herself just that little bit more. She slows it down, licking her wounds and crooning over deep funky stabs, a distant, yearning 80s pad and a relentless slowhouse beat. The steadfast and almost stubborn bassline signals LaDonna’s determination to break free of the cycle that binds her. What's she been doing? Where's she been doing it and who's she been doing it with? Ladonna was born in 2005 on a playful afternoon during a Wild Boys art collective residency in the penthouse at Hibernian House, Sydney, with a little help from Sydney drag legend Miss 3D. The Wild Boys (with Richard Gurney and Trevor Fry) went on to display their wares for It's a New Day at Artspace, Sydney. She did her first ever proper show for the original cLUB bENT at Performance Space, Sydney, danced for Peaches at Home nightclub, played her videos for Chicks on Speed at Art Theatre in Köln, and DJed and warbled for Ben Drayton and The Naked Barber's Knob at the Oxford Hotel, Sydney. She's performed at various club nights and special events around town including Sleaze Ball (with the Hoopaholics), Velvet Hammer at the Oxford Art Factory, Monsta Gras for Glitta Militia at the Red Rattler, Lovecult2000 at the Metro, Sydney, Harvest Festival, Secret Garden Festival, Art Bar at the MCA and legendary Club Kooky. She's guest DJed for Peter Lovertits' House of Mince and Handlebar parties, headlined a few of Yiorgos Zafirou's Trannii Panic parties and wobbled her bits for Apocalypstik's Glamour Pour le Hammer at the Colombian Hotel, Sydney. She's also been seen at Glitta Supanova's Pretty Peepers at the Imperial Hotel, Newtown with Bunny Hoop Star, Regrette Etcetera and Lori Keat. As one half of offbeat performance troupe screwsLoose with artist Sari Kivinen, she's performed at Carriageworks, Sydney and Ptarmigan in Estonia. With New Lover collaborator, Sydney sound artist Christina Harvey she's slutted about at Oxford Art Factory and Tokyo Sing Song. More recently she's performed at legendary queer fetish event Department H in Tokyo, Japan, for John A Douglas' FreeFall program at Oxford Art Factory both solo and with her gal pal Pan Flute and done some stuff at Newtown's Tokyo Sing Song, on her own and with her sister Aaron Manhattan. One half of the Motel Sisters, Sydney artist Naomi Oliver, features on vocals for "Sword My Lord". Noting strong comparisons to La Toya Jackson, Denise from Five Star, trailblazer Boy George and 80s icon Vanity, Ms Rama cites her main influences as art star Andy Warhol and pop superstar Madonna. No surprises there. A ravishing pint-sized techno songstress, who traverses genres and genders, LaDonna forges a polymorphous path through Sydney’s alternative performance art scene. With her kooky pop posturing and often menacing disco grooves, she’ll have you eating glitter for breakfast.