Everyone knows that traveling the world influences how you see everything. For Paul Wallfisch of Botanica, it affected how he hears everything. Paul has traveled throughout forty countries and performed in Indonesia, Finland, China, and Guinea, absorbing sounds and influences at every stop. With a gypsy's ear for collecting sonic souvenirs, Paul brought his velvet bag of worldly tricks back to Los Angeles to record his second album with the newly christened Botanica.

Malediction, (Checkered Past Records 016, released in June of 1999), is a dark, brooding album that rides the rail between romantic/fragile, (the sparkling "Beauty") and sultry/nasty, (the thrashing "Castration Tango"). It's the rarest of all recordings: One that sounds as if it could have been recorded twenty years ago or last week.

It's no wonder--just look at the cameos in this epic soundtrack: Daniel Ash, (Love & Rockets, Bauhaus); Kid Congo Powers, (Gun Club, Nick Cave, Cramps); Daniel Glass, (Royal Crown Revue), Frankie Infante, (Blondie); not to mention the band members themselves: Ivan, (Stan Ridgeway); Abby, (Beck, Elastica, KMFDM and her own Abby Travis Foundation).

Following Botanica1s recent relocation to New York, touring Botanicans Oren Kaplan, (also of Firewater), and Kid Congo have become full-time band members with Kid taking a turn at vocals on a couple showstopping numbers. After an interim period with ex-Jesus Lizard bass god David Sims, drummer extraordinaire Matt Flynn is joined by the man on the golden bass, Mr. Christian Bongers.

Paul has recorded and toured with Congo Norvell and Firewater, (his tambourine jig in the audience during Firewater's "The Drunken Jew" was an audience favorite) and produced/engineered tracks for Love & Rockets, Gene Loves Jezebel and numerous others as well as collaborating with the likes of The Friends of Dean Martinez, Stiv Bators and Anne Pigalle. He's been published in the Philippine revolutionary press, inteviewed Paul Bowles and spit in other people's mouths. All in all, a pretty well-rounded fella.

Malediction's lyrics feature what Paul allows are the "big struggles: religion, beauty, death, art and magic; the awareness of time...if we realized how small and insignificant we are, we'd have more fun creating something that lasts. It would free us to create beautiful things".

His earlier album, I Am Yours, was released by Acetate Records in 1996 under the stunningly catchy name Paul Wallfisch & His Band. For Malediction, the XXX romantic collected his friends and enemies (and a few people who just owed him money), hypnotized them with red wine, black sand and some voodoo candles until he got what he wanted. (Listen to the Middle Eastern allure as it manifests itself in Ray Davies' "Fancy", (the record's sole cover tune) to hear how he got it just right).

The wistful carnival of "The 14th Song" is a lovely farewell to Botanica's new album, but stay tuned for a hidden track: "Malediction" as heard through Daniel Ash's bubbleman mix. Paul is co-producing Kid Congo's next album which features "The 14th Song" with added guitar and lyrics.

The band's name is taken from those mysterious botanica stores that stock spells and religious artifacts, and the album cover photo comes with its own spooky touch. "When we got the photos back, each one had a different image of a ghostly hand near the statue of Jesus," Paul recalls. "It's not a lighting trick--it must have been a spirit trying to tell us something...We were blessed."

Botanica toured nationally in ‘99 and 2000 including support dates with 16 Horesepower, Super Furry Animals and Rocket From the Crypt. Archived webcasts and interviews can be viewed at Rollingstone.com, Knittingfactory.com & Digitalclubnetwork.com. Botanica recorded a cover of  "Broken Bicycles" for a Tom Waits tribute album released on Manifesto Records in May 2000. Other featured artists include Screamin'  Jay Hawkins, Carla Bozulich, Kid Congo's Knoxville Girls, Lydia Lunch, and Sally Norvell accompanied by Botanica ivory tinkler Paul Wallfisch. "Malediction" will be released in Germany on Cargo and a Spring 2001 tour of Europe is in the works. The Band's music has been featured in several films including "Men Cry Bullets" (Phaedra Films) and "The Takedown", (Miramax). Members of Botanica and their music is featured in Greg Pritikin's new movie "Dummy" starring Milla Jovovich & Adrien Brody. (release 2001) Botanica is currently recording a new album for release in early 2001.