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Damon & Naomi | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Dream pop, indie folk |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Rough Trade, Shimmy Disc, Sub Pop, Rykodisc, 20-20-20 |
| Members | Damon Krukowski Naomi Yang |
| Website | www |
Damon & Naomi are an American dream pop/indie folk duo, formed in 1991 by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, formerly of Galaxie 500.
After Galaxie 500 completed a tour of the US supporting Cocteau Twins, guitarist and vocalist Dean Wareham quit the band, forcing the cancellation of an imminent Japanese tour. Damon & Naomi had recorded a few tracks before the split, and these were released under the name Pierre Etoile by Rough Trade (UK) in July 1991. [1] The duo then spent time working on their book publishing company Exact Change, with no plans to return to recording, until producer Mark Kramer urged them back into the studio. The resulting album, More Sad Hits was released on Kramer's Shimmy Disc label in 1992.
Following the release of More Sad Hits, Damon & Naomi were contacted by Kate Biggar and Wayne Rogers, whose band, Crystalized Movements, had recently lost its rhythm section. The two couples teamed up to form the psychedelic rock band Magic Hour, and released three albums between 1993 and 1996. At the same time, Damon & Naomi continued to record as a duo, releasing their second album, The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi on Sub Pop, in 1995. The album was again produced by Kramer, however there was controversy as Kramer's production recreated the psychedelic leanings of the band's debut rather than the acoustic approach the band now preferred. Kramer initially refused to make changes, and although he eventually relented, he refused to return the original masters, claiming that they were destroyed. In 2013, that initial mix (including a heretofore unreleased track) was released as The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi, Bootleg Edition on the band's own 20/20/20 label for Record Store Day. [2]
After the release of their second album, Damon & Naomi decided that they were ready to return to live performance. In a 1998 interview, Krukowski said "We never thought we would perform because there's no rhythm section, and us being a former rhythm section, we thought there's nothing worse than a band without a rhythm section." [3]
Their third album, Playback Singers, was recorded in 1998, at their home studio (Kali Studios) in Cambridge, MA, and was their first album recorded without the assistance of Kramer. The album included the song "Awake in a Muddle", written by Masaki Batoh of the psychedelic rock band Ghost, which marked the beginning of the ongoing relationship between the duo and the Japanese band. The album also included a cover of the Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine) song "Translucent Carriages", which the duo had performed with Rapp when he came out of retirement for the first Terrastock music festival, in 1997. Krukowski produced re-recordings of two Pearls Before Swine tracks that appeared on the compilation album Constructive Melancholy that was released in 1998. He also produced Rapp's 1999 album A Journal of the Plague Year , on which both Damon & Naomi appeared as musicians.
In 2000, they cemented the relationship with Ghost by releasing the collaborative album Damon & Naomi with Ghost, recorded once again at the duo's Kali studios. The tour in support of the album featured Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara. In 2002, the Live in San Sebastian album was released, which had been recorded in May 2001 with Kurihara; the album was released with an additional DVD featuring a video tour diary by Yang. Ghost singer-guitarist Masaki Batoh's post-Ghost band The Silence would cover Damon & Naomi's "Little Red Record Company" on their second album Hark The Silence.
During 2004, Damon had a book of poetry published (The Memory Theater Burned) and the duo also worked on pulling together a double DVD of Galaxie 500 videos that was released by Plexifilm. On Valentine's Day 2005, Damon & Naomi's fifth studio album, The Earth Is Blue , was released on their own |20|20|20 label, the duo having amicably terminated their relationship with Sub Pop. The album again featured Kurihara on guitar as well as the avant-garde brass section of Greg Kelley and Bhob Rainey of Nmperign. The supporting tour featured all the guest musicians and one of the Japanese dates of the tour was videotaped and released as a limited-edition DVD at the end of 2005.
In 2006, Damon & Naomi set about recording their next album at Kali Studios, once again with Kurihara guesting. The band's sixth studio album Within These Walls was released in September 2007, also on their own |20|20|20 label.
Damon & Naomi released their seventh studio album False Beats and True Hearts on May 9, 2011, once again on their |20|20|20 label and on Broken Horse (UK & Europe).
Galaxie 500 was an American indie rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three studio albums: Today (1988), On Fire (1989), and This Is Our Music (1990).
Tadpoles were an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1990 in New York City by Todd Parker (guitars/vocals), Michael Kite Audino (drums) and Josh Bracken (bass.) In 1992, Nick Kramer (guitars/vocals), David Max (bass) and Andrew Jackson (guitars) of the fledgling Manhattan group, Hit, joined the Tadpoles after putting Hit on hiatus.
Luna is an American rock band formed in 1991 by singer and guitarist Dean Wareham after the breakup of Galaxie 500. Described by Rolling Stone as "the best band you’ve never heard of," Luna combine intricate guitar work, traditional rock rhythms, and poetic lyrics.
Terrastock is a music festival organised periodically by Phil McMullen, formerly editor of the Ptolemaic Terrascope and since 2005 the publisher of the Terrascope Online website. The event typically features independent bands playing psychedelic rock. It has been held on six occasions in the USA and once in London, UK.
Mark Kramer known professionally as Kramer, is a musician, composer, record producer and founder of the New York City record label Shimmy-Disc. He was a full-time member of the bands New York Gong, Shockabilly, Bongwater, has played on tour with bands such as Butthole Surfers, B.A.L.L., Ween, Half Japanese and The Fugs, and has also performed regularly with John Zorn and other improvising musicians of New York City's so-called "downtown scene" of the 1980s.
Today is the debut studio album by the American indie rock band Galaxie 500. It was released in 1988 on Aurora Records.
Ghost was an experimental rock group formed in Tokyo, Japan, in 1984.
On Fire is the second studio album by American indie rock band Galaxie 500, released in 1989 on Rough Trade Records.
This Is Our Music is the third and final studio album by American indie rock band Galaxie 500, released in 1990 on Rough Trade Records.
Dean Wareham is an American musician and actor who co-founded the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. He departed from Galaxie 500 in April 1991 and went on to establish the band Luna. Following Luna's dissolution in 2005, Wareham has collaborated on albums with fellow Luna band member Britta Phillips, forming the duo known as Dean & Britta. They have also ventured into film composition, notably contributing to the soundtracks of Noah Baumbach's films The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Mistress America. In 2014, Wareham released a self-titled album and in 2015, he reformed Luna.
Naomi Yang is an American musician, graphic designer, photographer and filmmaker. She was a member of the dream pop band Galaxie 500, psychedelic rock band Magic Hour and is half of the psychedelic folk duo Damon & Naomi. She has also made videos for a wide number of artists including Future Bible Heroes, Waxahatchee and Julia Holter.
Damon Krukowski is an American musician, poet and writer. He was a member of the dreampop band Galaxie 500 and the psychedelic rock band Magic Hour, and is half of the psychedelic folk duo Damon & Naomi. He is also a published poet and writer.
A Journal of the Plague Year is an album released on CD in 1999 by American singer-songwriter Tom Rapp, leader of the 1960s/70s psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine. It was his first new album for 26 years, and included collaborations with Damon and Naomi and Nick Saloman.
Songs from the Pink Death is the fourth studio album by composer and producer Kramer, released on February 17, 1998, by Shimmy Disc and Knitting Factory Records. The album features backup musicians including drummer Damon Krukowski of Galaxie 500 and guitarist Sean Eden of Luna. The album is replete with obscure and obvious references such as to "Sunday Morning" in "Don't Come Around", John Malkovich's character's theory in The Convent in "The Opium Wars Have Long Ceased", and the sample from "Wipe Out (instrumental)" in "The Pink Death Song of Love". The album also includes a cover of The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away".
The Semibeings were an alternative rock band based in Mercerville-Hamilton Square, New Jersey, and active in the 1990s. The band released Sickness and Health on Shimmy Disc in 1995 and Three Pawns Standing on Seattle’s C/Z label in 1997, both produced by Mark Kramer and recorded at his Noise New Jersey studio. The band’s primary members were brother’s Joe and Pat Baker and Keith Monacchio. Playing numerous shows at the City Gardens club in Trenton, the group disbanded in 1999 to pursue other interests. The Semibeings' music was featured on a number of seasons of MTV's The Real World and Road Rules during the 1990s.
Helena Espvall is a Swedish–American musician noted for her participation in the post-millennial psychedelic folk and free improv scenes. Her primary instruments are cello, guitar and voice.
Magic Hour were an American psychedelic rock band from greater Boston, Massachusetts, USA and were made up of former Crystalized Movements members Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar and former Galaxie 500 members Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang.
More Sad Hits is the debut studio album by Damon & Naomi, released in 1992 by Shimmy Disc.
Uncollected Noise New York '88–'90 is a double album of archival material of the band Galaxie 500, released on September 20, 2024, through Silver Current Records. It was released as 2×LP, 2×CD and 2×tape and digital.
The Earth Is Blue is an album by the American musical duo Damon & Naomi, released in 2005 on their newly formed label, 20/20/20. The duo supported the album with a North American tour.
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