Cherushii

Chelsea Faith Dolan, better known by her stage name Cherushii (September 14, 1983 – December 2, 2016), was an American electronic music producer, DJ, live performer, and radio host based in San Francisco.

Cherushii Chelsea Faith Dolan
Cherushii in 2016 performing at Run the Length of Your Wildness, a weekly dance music party she co hosted with Ben "Roche" Winans.
Background information
Born	(1983-09-14)September 14, 1983
Origin	Marin County, California, United States
Died	December 2, 2016(2016-12-02) (aged 33) Oakland, California, United States
Years active	2013–2016

Dolan was one of 36 victims of a fire that broke out at an underground venue and artist collective in Oakland, California commonly referred to as the Ghost Ship warehouse on December 2, 2016.

Biography

Cherushii was born Chelsea Faith Dolan on September 14, 1983. She grew up in Marin County, California^[1] and began playing music around the age of 6, when she was gifted a Casio keyboard. She was classically trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a teenager.^[2][3][4] After years of written correspondence with Japanese pen pals Chelsea traveled to Japan, where she adopted the moniker Cherushii because it was easier to pronounce than her name.

Her introduction to electronic music at raves in the early 2000s set the path for her career as an electronic musician. Cherushii was a champion of women in electronic music and recognized their contributions as a source of influence in a field that often lacks recognition for women. In an interview with Chicago's Reader about the influence of Detroit DJ and producer Kelli Hand (aka K-Hand) Cherushii said "I deeply admire her for all the work she's done, and yet her lack of recognition is so discouraging. In a culture as supposedly forward-thinking as electronic music, women are still so often invisible."^[5] From January 2014 to December 2016 Cherushii was host of radio shows on UC Berkeley's community radio station KALX, where she devoted sets to Italo Disco, Detroit techno, or contemporaries in the local electronic music scene such as David Last and Roche.^[6][7][8] In August 2015 Cherushii co-founded a dance music night called Run the Length of Your Wildness to provide a space for local electronic musicians to showcase their music.^[9]

Death

Cherushii was scheduled to perform at the Ghost Ship warehouse on December 2, 2016, as part of fellow music producer Golden Donna's (Joel Shanahan) tour. At approximately 11:20 pm a fire started inside the warehouse, trapping attendees inside. The Alameda County Coroner's Bureau confirmed 36 people trapped inside, including Cherushii, died of smoke inhalation.^[10][11][12] A public memorial was held on December 17, 2016, at Public Works in San Francisco.^[13] After learning of her death, Leor Galil wrote for the Chicago Reader, "Since then I've had the title track of her 2015 EP, Nobody's Fool, on repeat. Its bubbling percussion, cascading synth melodies, and four-on-the-floor hi-hat provide what feels like an endless supply of energy. This is the kind of music that inspires people to do things their own way, and I hope it will continue to encourage young artists excluded by mainstream touring circuits to create safe spaces for themselves."^[14]

Music

In 2013, Cherushii signed with 100% Silk and released Queen of Cups, a four track album described as an "expansive blueprint of slow-burn deep house but threads it through with waves of synth wash, acid flash, and simmering strobe glow, for a loose yet composed suite of 21st-century free-spirit pulse generation."^[15] In 2015, Cherushii released Starlight Express, Nobody's Fool, and Far Away So Close, 3 EPs. In 2016 Cherushii released Manic. Influenced by house music, Detroit techno, and disco, she released several recordings on the independent dance music label 100% Silk, including Queen of Cups, Far Away So Close, and Memory of Water, reissued in 2017.^[16] KQED named Cherushii's album Meow Wolf’s Arcade Soundtracks: Wiggy’s Plasma Plex one of the 10 best Bay Area albums of 2016.^[17] Fellow electronic musician Maria Minerva has called Cherushii "criminally underrated".^[2] After her death, 100% Silk released a memorial edition tape of Memory of Water, previously out of print.^[16] In 2019, the EP Cherushii & Maria Minerva was released, that had been nearly completed before Cherushii died^[18] and features repurposed tracks from previous Cherushii releases.^[19][20][21]

Gear

Cherushii opted for hardware analog gear at a time when laptops were transforming electronic music production and was known to carry heavy suitcases full of equipment to her shows.^[2] She used a Yamaha RS7000 before advancing onto the Elektron Octatrack of which she was quoted as saying: "Like most Elektron gear, learning to play it is an ongoing journey that you definitely won't complete in the first few months. But its ability to sequence both audio and MIDI makes it a great machine for live sets, and you can't beat its compact size for travel." Cherushii also used the compact Access Virus TI, a digital multitimbral polyphonic synth.^[3] Among her gear was also a hand built and highly modified X0xb0x (analog Roland TB-303 hardware clone), which she received as a gift from fellow musicians.

Discography

Albums:

• Memory of Water - 100% Silk, 2015
• Cherushii & Maria Minerva - 100% Silk, 2019 (posthumous release)^[22]

Singles and EPs:

• Queen of Cups (12”) - 100% Silk, 2013
• Far Away So Close (12”) - 100% Silk, 2015
• Starlight Express (EP), 2015
• Nobody's Fool (EP), 2015^[14]
• Manic (EP), 2016^[23]

Notes and references

1. Halstead, Richard (December 7, 2016). "Oakland fire victims: Chelsea Faith Dolan, 33, Marin radio host". East Bay Times. Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
2. Juur, Maria; Minerva, Maria (9 December 2016). "The Rave Queen Next Door: Remembering the Life and Legacy of My Friend Cherushii". thump. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
3. Mizek, Steve (4 January 2017). "Cherushii's Gear in Her Own Words: Remembering the Late Electronic Music Producer". Reverb. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
4. Rubenstein, Steve (December 8, 2016). "Chelsea Faith Dolan, musician and radio host, among victims of Oakland warehouse fire". SFGate. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
5. Galil, Leor (July 6, 2016). "The Daphne festival sings the unsung women of electronic music". Chicago Reader. 45 (39). Retrieved 10 March 2017.
6. "Oakland Warehouse Fire". KALX. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
7. "Italo Disco featured on Midnight Express". KALX. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
8. "Detroit Techno featured on Midnight Express". KALX. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
9. "On The Record With Cherushii And Roche, Hosts Of A Dance Music Night In The Tenderloin". Hoodline. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
10. Smith, Dakots (March 4, 2017). "All 36 people killed in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire died of smoke inhalation, investigators say". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
11. Hogan, Marc (December 7, 2016). "Cherushii and Nackt, Two 100% Silk Artists, Confirmed Dead in Oakland Fire". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
12. Hermann, Andy (December 4, 2016). "Update: 100% Silk Artists Cherushii and Nackt Among Confirmed Victims of Ghost Ship Fire". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
13. "Ghost Ship Memorial". KRON 4 News. December 17, 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
14. Galil, Leor (December 7, 2016). "Remembering Bay Area producer Cherushii, a victim of the Ghost Ship fire". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
15. "Sold Out Silk". 100% Silk. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
16. Gaca, Anna (31 January 2017). "100% Silk Reissues Tapes by Cherushii and Nackt, Artists Killed in Ghost Ship Fire". SPIN. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
17. Zadula, Chris (22 December 2016). "The 10 Best Bay Area Albums of 2016: David Last and Cherushii, 'Plasma Plex'". KQED. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
18. Moreland, Quinn (March 5, 2019). "How Maria Minerva Finished Her Record With Cherushii, Who Died in Oakland's Ghost Ship Fire". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
19. Brown, Harley (February 19, 2019). "Cherushii & Maria Minerva". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
20. Clements, Miles (February 8, 2019). "CHERUSHII + MARIA MINERVA: SELF-TITLED". L.A. Record. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
21. Matthew, Terry (September 4, 2019). "Days Without You: Cherushii and Maria Minerva Made Beautiful Music". 5mag. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
22. Bruce-Jones, Henry (January 15, 2019). "100% Silk to release posthumous Cherushii & Maria Minerva collaboration". Fact. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
23. "Cherushii Discography". Discogs. Retrieved 10 March 2017.