The brainchild of producer/guitarist Jim O'Rourke, Brise-Glace took O'Rourke's avant-garde leanings and melded them with the post-hardcore of bassist Darin Gray's Dazzling Killmen. The extremities of this combination were displayed well on Brise-Glace's first tour in 1994, where it drove the group Mount Shasta to the point of unplugging Brise-Glace's amplifiers after hearing 30 minutes of a repeated guitar riff. O'Rourke spent the early part of his career recording original compositions in his hometown of Chicago and sending the pieces off to composers whose work he admired. While he was doing this, he also became involved in the band Illusion of Safety in the early '90s. It was in the group that O'Rourke met drummer Thymme Jones, who was also known for his work in his group CHEER-ACCIDENT. O'Rourke and Jones befriended each other, and the seeds of Brise-Glace were slowly being planted. While Illusion of Safety was making the rounds of Chicago venues, O'Rourke saw the grinding group Dazzling Killmen, which contained Gray on bass. With Gray added to O'Rourke's and Jones' new band, the seed was fertilized that blossomed into the post-rock stylings of Brise-Glace. Deciding to bring in a second guitarist, the trio added the Flying Luttenbachers' Dylan Posa. This lineup recorded the In Sisters All and Felony/Angels on Installment Plan single, which was released in May of 1994 on Skin Graft Records. As Brise-Glace had been starting up, O'Rourke had simultaneously been working on another band project, called Gastr Del Sol, with former Squirrel Bait member David Grubbs. O'Rourke had also spent the early '90s recording avant-garde albums, such as Tomorrow Knows Where You Live with Henry Kaiser. Since Brise-Glace were in the midst of recording their full-length debut album for Skin Graft in 1994, O'Rourke took the opportunity to invite Grubbs and Kaiser along as the band's special guests. After the tracks were cut, O'Rourke wielded a razor blade to splice the freshly recorded music into fractured pieces. The outcome was the August 1994 release of Brise-Glace's When in Vanitas LP, which explored five lengthy instrumental passages engineered by Steve Albini. The band supported the release by taking to the streets on the Skin Graft Irritational tour that year. By 1995, the rhythm section for Brise-Glace, which consisted of Jones and Gray, returned to the studio with Albini. It was a slight departure for the duo, who were backing up Japanese noise-metal band Zeni Geva's frontman/guitarist Kazuyuki K. Null (aka K.K. Null) under the guise of Yona-Kit. Melt-Banana's lead singer, Yasuko O., even stopped by the studio to lend a hand. Yona-Kit's noisy self-titled album was released that July on Skin Graft. 1996 found Brise-Glace contributing to the May release of Skin Graft's tribute to AC/DC, the 7" Sides 1-4, alongside Chicago noisemakers Big'n, Shellac, and U.S. Maple. Brise-Glace also returned to the live circuit in November playing shows at clubs like Chicago's Lounge Ax with U.S. Maple, the Flying Luttenbachers, and Colossamite. Gray and O'Rourke now appeared as Brise-Glace's only two constants. On any given night, the rest of the band included a rotating lineup of guests, including the Scissor Girls' Azita Youssefi and avant-garde synth/guitar player Kevin Drumm. As 1996 turned into 1997, Brise-Glace continued playing out and even appeared on the Camp Skin Graft: Now Wave Compilation that September. The group slowly quit performing though, due to O'Rourke's increasing demand as a producer for various composers, electronic musicians, and indie bands, while Gray's involvement with Jones in the group You Fantastic! kept them both busy. As of 2001, there was still no word on whether or not Brise-Glace had ever officially broken up. Members did continue working together in various capacities though, as Posa joined Jones in CHEER-ACCIDENT
When In Vanitas… (1994)
In Sisters All And Felony 7'' (1994)
Ярлыки:
noise rock,
post-rock
Following the sudden demise of Rodan, guitarist Jeff Mueller kept Louisville's math rock flame burning with his new band, June of 44. Following in the footsteps of Mueller's earlier band, as well as scene progenitors Slint, June of 44 crafted loud, dissonant, complex guitar rock as intellectual as it was forceful. However, they weren't merely replicating what had come before them; June of 44's compositions usually followed more conventional structures, and their arrangements evolved into a more diverse proposition, augmenting the heavy guitars with electronics, sampled loops, and chamber jazz flourishes courtesy of strings, trumpet, and vibes. As such, their progression mirrored developments in some of the other branches of the post-rock movement. After several albums for Touch & Go affiliate Quarterstick during the latter half of the '90s, the band split up to concentrate on other projects.
June of 44 came together in late 1994, not long after the unexpected breakup of the seminal math rock outfit Rodan. Jeff Mueller, one half of Rodan's dual-guitar attack, teamed up with Lungfish's Sean Meadows (who switched from bass to guitar), bassist/trumpeter Fred Erskine (a veteran of Dischord bands Hoover and the Crownhate Ruin), and drummer Doug Scharin, who'd played in the groundbreaking slowcore bands Codeine and Rex. The band's name was inspired by a variety of factors, chiefly the date of correspondence between erotic fiction writers Henry Miller and Anais Nin; the month also coincided with the birth of Mueller's mother and the military service of Meadows' grandfather. With the members living in different cities, they first convened for a recording session in New York; the results were released in the summer of 1995 by Rodan's former label, Quarterstick, as the group's debut album, Engine Takes to the Water. Given the short gestation period, the music strongly recalled the angular riffs, extreme dynamic range, and shifting meters of Rodan.
With their second album, 1996's Tropics and Meridians, June of 44 established themselves as a top-notch experimental indie band, offering a more fully realized take on the sound of their debut. In the meantime, Scharin kicked off the solo side project HiM, pursuing dubby, experimental post-rock and recording at a prolific pace, often with assistance from Erskine. Meadows also started a side project called the Sonora Pine with Tara Jane O'Neil, one of Mueller's ex-bandmates in Rodan; they released two albums over 1996-1997. Erskine, meanwhile, moonlighted with the bluesy, D.C.-based the Boom. The members' outside exploits -- which were generally of a subtler nature -- soon began to make themselves felt in June of 44's music, starting with 1997's transitional Anatomy of Sharks EP.
1998's full-length Four Great Points signaled the band's even more experimental new direction, making greater use of Scharin's interest in electronic music and Erskine's trumpet-playing skills. That year, Scharin also debuted another avant-garde side project, the eclectic Out in Worship (aka Out of Worship). The fourth June of 44 album, 1999's Anahata, expanded on the model of its immediate predecessor, deepening the jazz influence and sampling techniques; there were also substantial contributions from violin/viola player Julie Liu. Anahata was followed later that year by an EP, In the Fishtank; it was part of a series from the Dutch label Konkurrent, which offered limited free studio time to intriguing bands on tour in Europe. It proved to be the final June of 44 release, as the band broke up in 2000. Meadows quickly embarked on two projects, the Letter E and the solo Everlasting the Way, while Erskine played trumpet in Abilene, in addition to several other sideman gigs. Scharin continued with HiM, also playing with Loftus and Mice Parade, among others. Mueller, for his part, subsequently reunited with Rodan guitar mate Jason Noble in the Shipping News.
Engine Takes to the Water (1994)
Tropics And Meridians (1996)
Four Great Points (1998)
In The Fishtank 6 (1999)
Anahata (1999)
The Lion (2000)
Ярлыки:
math rock,
post-hardcore,
post-rock
Reston, Virginia is one of the earliest planned communities in the United States. It's located about twenty miles south of Washington and the kids that lived there would regularly come into DC for gigs. However, the bands that formed out there did not get much notice in town, and this situation created a bit of a satellite scene. By the early 1990s Branch Manager had already made a name for themselves within this scene and were beginning to create an impact in DC as well. Those who saw them swore by them, and a cult-following developed. After releasing two singles on local labels (one on VHF Records, and the other on Level Records) Branch Manager eventually caught the attention of the folks at Dischord and released two albums on the label in 1995 and 1997. During these years Branch Manager toured extensively, including a number of dates with Fugazi, and it was after a particularly grueling trip in 1997 that the band cracked up and disappeared from sight.
Branch Manager (1995)
Anything Tribal (1997)
Ярлыки:
dischord,
post-hardcore
Skull Kontrol was formed in Autumn 1997 in Washington DC, and was originally based around the musical assault trio of Brooks Headly, Kim Thompson (The Delta 72 & Cupid Car Club) and Chris Thomson (Circus Lupus, Los Mordidas and Monorchid, Ignition, and the awesome one 7" only Fury). After the demise of the Monorchid Andy Coronado was added to the Skull Kontrol mix to avoid any lazy power-trio comparisons.
The group played its first few formative gigs as a real live band with Chris sharing both guitar and vocal duties. After deciding that most bands with a singer/guitarist were lame, Chris opted to be an unburdened singer.
Skull Kontrol toured the US graciously infecting locals with the concept that you don't need costumes, public relations, guarantees, or even a record to tour and perform music - just energy, attitude and the desire to rock.
The collective goal of the group was to avoid the prevalent "professional working band" attitude that had recently infected so many underground bands. They felt that something had to be done to strip away the layers of bullshit and corporate standards of performance embraced by so many of today's groups. Substituting instead a stripped down energetic sound and a solid punk dynamic they were more than able to meet this challenge.
Skull Kontrol says in all your forms of daily life please deviate beyond all means of capture. They want you to please think before you buy some contemporary "flavour of the month" thinking-person's music or some major label's idea of the emperor's new clothes, as it is only a matter of time before you discover your mistake and realise how right they were after all.
Deviate Beyond All Means Of Capture (1999)
Zzzzzz... (2000)
Midgets Tape
Ярлыки:
hardcore,
post-punk
High school friends Geoff Sanoff and Nick Pellicciotto met Sohrab Habibion in the Hung Jury Pub during a Lemonheads and Government Issue show in the spring of 1987. In the parking lot of a high school talent show that fall, the three first came across Steve Ward, whose band performed a particularly impressive rendition of "White Rabbit." They all agreed that Happy Go Licky was the best band in Washington D.C., and thus their musical alliance was sealed. After helping Nick's hardcore band, At Wits End, play their final shows, Sohrab joined Nick in forming a new group. Having been inspired by the DC hardcore scene and the classic British post-punk of Wire and Gang of Four, they asked Steve Ward to play bass guitar with them.In 1989 Edsel started DeSoto Records to release their first 7" ("My Manacles"/"Wooden Floors"). The label was borrowed by their friends in Jawbox, whose members continue to run it quite successfully today. After a few more singles, including a contribution to the first Simple Machines release, Edsel went into the studio to work on their first album. The band recorded 10 songs during July 1990 at Inner Ear Studios and April 1991 at Oz Studios. This material would make up Strange Loop, released on Merkin Records in 1992. Over the course of the recording process Eli Janney (Girls Against Boys), who was engineering and mixing the sessions, joined the band to handle sampler duties. He subsequently left early in 1992 to pursue Girls Against Boys full-time.Steve Raskin, a high school friend of Eli's who had previously helped the band with artwork, was added to the band, giving Edsel a second guitar player and backing singer. Soon after that Steve Ward decided to leave, making room for bassist Geoff Sanoff, who had just graduated from college. In September of 1992 and throughout the spring and summer of 1993, the group recorded The Everlasting Belt Co. in Arlington, Virginia at Inner Ear with Don Zientara and WGNS Studios with Geoff Turner. This experimental and very ambitious project was their first of two albums for Grass Records, a subsidiary of Dutch East India and sister label to the highly-regarded Homestead Records. With several releases in their catalog, Edsel began touring regularly, sharing the stage with bands like Shudder To Think, Engine Kid, Scrawl and Eggs. They also released a split 7" with Jawbox the same year ("Savory"/"Penaluna").In 1994, the multitalented Nick Pellicciotto stepped out to pursue other creative projects. His spot was filled by their friend John Dugan, who was temporarily on leave from Chisel. This lineup traveled all over the country in 1994, playing with indie rock staples Velocity Girl, Pitchblende, Polvo, Rodan, and Brainiac. After extensive touring, Edsel returned to the studio in August -- this time at a cabin owned by Sohrab's parents in Shenandoah National Park. Dubbed "Humidity Lounge," the cabin was uncomfortably hot and muggy, but the week spent there with engineer Steve Palmieri proved to be intensely creative. They finished up their work at Steve's Baltimore studio, Oz, and the resulting album, Detroit Folly, was their last release for Grass.When John Dugan returned to his fulltime drumming duties for Chisel, he was replaced by Bostonian Steven Albert, who had briefly played drums with Steve Raskin's sisters' band, Scarce. After touring the US with their new drummer, the group returned to DC and spent April of 1995 feverishly writing new material. Full of excitement and curiosity, the band flew to England to work with producer Anjali Dutt (My Bloody Valentine, Oasis) and engineer Andy Wilkinson (Stereolab, Spiritualized) in Liverpool to begin the Techniques Of Speed Hypnosis sessions at Parr Street Studios. After finishing the record Edsel played their only European show at the Bull & Gate in London.In September of 1995, Relativity Records released the album to great success on college radio. Unfortunately, due to corporate reorganization, Relativity Records was dissolved on January 1st, 1996 and Sony, the company that owned and absorbed Relativity, chose to drop the band from their hip hop and commercial pop dominated roster. Edsel, like many other indie bands in the mid-90s who signed with major labels, suddenly found themselves without a home.Though disappointed and slightly fractured, the band decided to carry on, recording a pair of songs with the help of studio wizard Geoff Turner at his new WGNS Studios location. These tracks became the Perched Like A Parasite 7" picture disc for Chicago's Thick Records. Later that year Edsel took those tapes to the Place Studios in New York to continue working. With engineer/producer Andy Wilkinson and engineer Gary Maurer they remixed the 2 tracks from the single and added two others, including a multilingual atmospheric duet with Ivy's Dominique Durand. This became the Extended Play EP on Radiopaque/Dischord Records, released in 1997. As the band members' lives began to move in separate directions this would prove to be Edsel's last official release.Edsel played their final show for a friend's going away party at the famous New York City indie rock club Brownies on Valentine's Day in 2000. The following summer the band flirted with the idea of recording and releasing some new material, but it proved to be too difficult to get everyone together in the studio. And though the members of Edsel are all currently busy with their careers and various music projects, they still remain in contact with one another.Strange Loop (1991)Everlasting Belt Co.(1993)Split with Jawbox (1993)Detroit Folly (1994)Techniques Of Speed Hypnosis (1995)Extended Play (1997)
Ярлыки:
indie rock,
post-hardcore
