20 Minute Loop | |
---|---|
Origin | San Francisco |
Genres | Freak pop |
Years active | 1996–2009; 2014–present |
Labels |
|
Members |
|
Past members |
|
Website | 20minuteloop.com (Archived) |
20 Minute Loop is a San Francisco-based band notable for its self-proclaimed "freak-pop" sound which exhibits hook-heavy tunes and complex vocal harmonies. [1]
The band split up in 2009, but has since reformed.
In its most rudimentary form, 20 Minute Loop was founded innominately by Giles during college, circa 1995, as a home-recording project. He recorded a handful of demos to 8-track tape, but never officially released them. He did, however, have the opportunity to play them live to small audiences acoustically several times, usually with the vocal accompaniment of Kelly Atkins, who would later be the only consistent member in 20 Minute Loop besides Giles. [2]
Giles originally toyed with other band names, such as With God on the Dog Team Trail, Pierre Bon Bon, Kill Whitey!, and PSA Flight 182, before finally settling on 20 Minute Loop. The band's name alluded to the duration of cockpit conversation recorded by an airplane's cockpit voice recorder for recovery in the event of a crash or other accident. [3] [4]
The actual band was established by Greg Giles in 1996, and their debut EP, With God On The Dog Team Trail, was released on New Year's Day in 1997. (Apart from Kelly Atkins, the band lineup Giles recruited for the EP featured no members of the final lineup.) With God On The Dog Team Trail featured a lo-fi rendition of "Jubilation"—which was rerecorded for Decline of Day—as well as three other songs that were never released in any other form. With God On The Dog Team Trail was released on a small indie label, Trystero Records, which was run by a friend of Giles and has since gone defunct. [2] [5]
The band soon parted with Trystero, and struggled along for a while with no means of releasing their music. They had recorded their first, self-titled album, and were already in the process of recording Decline of Day, when Jim Greer of the small, Berkeley-based indie label Fortune Records (not to be confused with the defunct Detroit, Michigan-based label of the same name) approached and offered to sign them. This begun a long-lasting relationship with Fortune Records—Greer would go on to release their first 3 albums and a split 7-inch with The Monolith. [6] [7]
Their debut album, 20 Minute Loop, was released to mostly positive critical reception, [8] and thanks to positive publicity from local venues and indie distributor Aquarius Records, among others, they gained some recognition from the Bay Area indie scene. The band also played a great many shows in order to receive more publicity. [9]
With a label deal and an album to their name, the band quickly released their second album, Decline of Day. This album received much more publicity, with positive reviews from Pitchfork, Allmusic, and CD Universe, et alia; yet the group still remained fairly unknown. [10] The artwork for the album was provided by The Velvet Teen's lead singer Judah Nagler. [11]
The band's breakthrough would arrive along with their next album, Yawn + House = Explosion, reviews for which appeared in nearly a dozen printed publications, as well as countless indie blogs. [12] The artwork for Yawn + House = Explosion was of particular interest to many; the outside consisted of two different shots of a prepubescent girl grasping chickens, and the inside pamphlet consisted of the lyrics, many of which were determined using a dictionary game invented by the band, spelled out in such a way that it could be seen how certain words were strung together with the lyrics. This was the only album of 20 Minute Loop's to sell out; it sold a couple thousand copies. [13] [14]
The band parted from Fortune Records for unclear reasons to record their fourth album, Famous People Marry Famous People. The album, released in 2008, was arguably the band's most polished and intricate—it was recorded at John Vanderslice's renowned Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco, and featured over a half-dozen extra performers. The album featured highly conceptual songs, with sophisticated underlying themes explained on each song's individual Bandcamp page. [15] The album received slightly less publicity due to the loss of a label, but the band still did very well, receiving positive publicity from many well-known sites, such as PopMatters and KQED, [16] [17] amongst others.
The band played a few more shows before announcing a breakup on their Myspace, due to an inability to continue "outmaneuvering real-life contingencies". They announced that their "final show ever" would take place on November 15, but, untrue to their word, they reunited for Noise Pop 2012, opening for Imperial Teen. [15] [18]
In 2014, Greg Giles and Kelly Atkins reformed 20 Minute Loop with Kevin Seal of Griddle to unearth songs in a new stripped down format, including piano, guitar, viola and trumpet and focusing more on vocal harmonies and lyrical content. Jim Greer of Fortune Records was inspired to record this version of 20 Minute Loop. They released the album Songs Praising the Mutant Race in 2017, and have had numerous appearances since then, their most recent being in February 2023 at Great American Music Hall.
Guided by Voices (GBV) is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted of Pollard, his brother Jim, Mitch Mitchell, Tobin Sprout, Kevin Fennell (drums), and bassist Greg Demos. Noted at first for its lo-fi aesthetic and Portastudio four-tracks-to-cassette production methods, Guided by Voices' music was influenced by early post–British Invasion garage rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, punk rock and post-punk. The band has had a prolific output, releasing 35+ full-length albums along with many other releases, and has garnered a dedicated cult following. Their songs are known for their frequent brevity and for ending abruptly or intertwining with homemade sound effects.
Loop are an English rock band, formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson in Croydon. The group topped the UK independent charts with their albums Fade Out (1989) and A Gilded Eternity (1990). Their dissonant "trance-rock" sound drew on the work of artists like the Stooges and Can, and helped to resurrect the concept of space rock in the late 1980s.
Dr. Dog is an American rock band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its lineup consists of Toby Leaman (bass), Scott McMicken, Frank McElroy, Zach Miller (keyboard), Eric Slick (drums), and Michael Libramento. Lead vocal duties are shared between Leaman and McMicken, with all members contributing harmonies. In addition, each band member has a nickname beginning with the letter T, and they have explained that friends of the band also receive nicknames, which are drawn from aspects of their lives and personalities.
The Telescopes are an English noise, space rock, dream pop and psychedelic band formed in 1987 by artist, composer and musician Stephen Lawrie with band members David Fitzgerald and Joanna Doran joining later. The band’s line-up is in constant flux, there can be anywhere between 1 and 20 members on a recording.
764-HERO was an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. They were active from 1995 to 2002 and briefly reunited in 2012 and 2016. The group released three albums on Up Records, a fourth on Tiger Style Records, and several other releases, including a collaborative single with their frequent touring partners Modest Mouse.
Yawning Man is an American experimental rock band from La Quinta, California. The band originally formed in 1986, although they released no studio recordings until 2005. They have been noted to be one of the first influential bands in the desert rock scene.
Duncan Lloyd is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
Hacride is a French progressive metal band. Formed in 2001 with musicians coming from an array of different bands, musical backgrounds and styles their sound has evolved from the raw extremities and odd time signatures of technical death metal to one that is more progressive and avant-garde.
Ufomammut is an Italian doom metal band formed in 1999 by guitarist Poia, bassist and vocalist Urlo, and drummer Vita.
Be the Void is the seventh album by psychedelic rock band Dr. Dog. It was released on February 7, 2012. It is the band's second release on the ANTI- record label after moving from Park the Van, and was co-produced by Nathan Sabatino and Dr. Dog.
Hop Along is an American indie rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formerly known as Hop Along, Queen Ansleis.
Quilt is a four-piece psychedelic indie rock band from Boston consisting of Anna Fox Rochinski (vocals/guitars), Shane Butler (vocals/guitars), Keven Lareau (vocals/bass) and John Andrews (vocals/drums). They have released three albums, an EP, and a handful of singles through Mexican Summer. The band tours internationally. They write collaboratively and share vocal duties. They were born out of a local improv scene, and combine elements of folk-rock, psychedelia and dream pop.
Teen Suicide is an American indie rock band from Baltimore, Maryland.
Bosse-de-Nage is an American band from San Francisco, California, United States, composed of four anonymous members. Considered a part of the blackgaze scene, the band performs an experimental black metal style that draws from post-rock, shoegaze, post-hardcore, screamo, and indie rock, with influences from Slint, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. AllMusic critic Gregory Heaney wrote that the band "crafts a sound that's as comfortable expanding outward as it is contracting into a suffocating mass of needling guitars and frantic drumming." The band's lyrics touch upon various subjects, such as sex, filth, bodies, perversion, and death. Their name is taken from French symbolist Alfred Jarry's book Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician; it is the name of a monkey which may or may not have been a hallucination of the narrator.
A Giant Dog is an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas. It has been described by Bandcamp Daily as "one of Austin's most thrillingly irreverent bands". It consists of Sabrina Ellis, Andrew Cashen, Andy Bauer, Graham Low, and Daniel Blanchard.
Yawning Sons is a British–American collaborative musical project formed in 2008 by members of the psychedelic rock bands Yawning Man and Sons of Alpha Centauri. Often associated with the Palm Desert Scene, the project's nature has been compared to The Desert Sessions project founded by Josh Homme.
Lowtide is the debut album by Australian indie rock band Lowtide, released on 17 July 2014 by Lost and Lonesome Recording Co. and Opposite Number. It is their first full-fledged album release, after their debut EP, You Are My Good Light, in 2010 and their debut single, "Underneath Tonight/Memory No. 7" in 2011.
The Orielles are an English indie rock band from Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The band features Sidonie "Sid" B. Hand-Halford on drums, Esmé Dee Hand-Halford on bass and vocals and Henry Carlyle Wade on guitar and vocals.
Yawn Mower are an American rock band from Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Big Scenic Nowhere is an American rock supergroup from California.