Jim O'Rourke is an American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene. Around 2000, he relocated to New York City before moving on to Tokyo, Japan, and then, more recently, to Yamanashi, near Mount Fuji in the mountains where he currently resides. O’Rourke is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative projects, many of which are entirely instrumental, and for his tenure as a member of Sonic Youth from 1999 to 2005.
Codeine was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in New York City. They released two full-length albums—Frigid Stars LP in 1990 and The White Birch in 1994. The band broke up in 1994 shortly after the release of The White Birch, but reunited to play a handful of shows in 2012.
David Grubbs, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, is an American musician. He was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingdale Community Singers.
John McEntire is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist based in Chicago. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake.
The Red Krayola is an American underground rock band from Houston, Texas, formed in 1966 by the original trio of singer/guitarist Mayo Thompson, drummer Frederick Barthelme, and bassist Steve Cunningham.
Mayo Thompson is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the avant-garde rock band Red Krayola.
Gastr del Sol was an American, Chicago-based band, consisting for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they released seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète.
Brise-Glace was a 1990s instrumental avant-rock "supergroup" composed of Jim O'Rourke, Darin Gray, Dylan Posa (guitar), and Thymme Jones (drums).
Upgrade & Afterlife is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Gastr del Sol, released on June 17, 1996 by Drag City.
The Sea and Cake is an American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Camoufleur is the fifth and final studio album by American indie rock band Gastr del Sol, released on February 23, 1998 on Drag City.
The Serpentine Similar is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Gastr del Sol, released on June 1, 1993 by TeenBeat Records. The album was re-released by Drag City on June 16, 1997.
Squirrel Bait was an American punk rock band from Louisville, Kentucky active from 1983 to 1988. Squirrel Bait's dense, moody, melodic hardcore sound, featuring pronounced tempo shifts, foreshadowed the grunge sound of the late 1980s as well as math rock. Squirrel Bait, along with Hüsker Dü, are often noted as precursors to the emocore sound that arose from the D.C. hardcore punk scene with bands like Rites of Spring, Beefeater and Fugazi.
Squirrel Bait signaled the second coming of American punk - bands of little brothers and sisters who got to grow up on Black Flag and Hüsker Dü without a preparatory course in Supertramp. ... Like a hundred other little Düs across the country, Squirrel Bait managed to make a couple of records before spintering off to form five more bands. Unlike most of that punk rock loam, the members of Squirrel Bait chewed up their legacy and shat out something curious and consequential.
Bastro was an American post-hardcore band which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's main line-up consisted of David Grubbs on guitar, Clark Johnson on bass guitar, and John McEntire on drums. The band also experimented with use of piano, organ and musique concrète compositions, foreshadowing McEntire's and Grubbs' subsequent musical projects.
Drag City is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It was established with a Royal Trux single release in Chicago in 1990 in by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn. It specializes in indie rock, experimental rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, and alternative country.
Ombarrops! is the third and final studio album by Polish alternative rock band The Car Is on Fire. It was produced and mixed by John McEntire and recorded in Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago. Guest appearances are made by McEntire himself and Aleksandra Tomaszewska.
Bundy Kenneth Brown, also known Ken Brown or Bundy K. Brown, is an American musician and recording engineer. He is best known for being a founding member of Tortoise and for his production, engineering and remixes in the Chicago post rock scene.
Mirror Repair is a 1995 EP by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. The album was written and performed by David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke.
Pullman is an American, studio-only, folk and predominantly acoustic rock supergroup, formed in Chicago by Ken Brown, Curtis Harvey, Chris Brokaw, and Doug McCombs in the late 1990s.
Boxhead Ensemble is a musical collective founded by composer Michael Krassner. The project began in 1991 to record music for the independent film The Original Pantry Café. The group features an ever rotating line-up, which as included Edith Frost, David Grubbs, Glenn Kotche, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim O'Rourke, Doug McCombs, Scott Tuma, Mick Turner, Ken Vandermark, Jim White. Krassner is the only consistent member and Lonberg-Holm has contributed the most frequently to the project.
