Ear of the Dragon | |
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Compilation album | |
Released | 15 May 1995 |
Recorded | 1993-1995 |
Genre | Indie rock |
Language | English |
Label | Fortune 5 |
Producer | Ben Kim, Sooyoung Park, William Shin |
Compiler | Sooyoung Park |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | (not rated, no review) link |
Entertainment Weekly | (B) link |
Ear of the Dragon (1995) is a CD album released on the Fortune 5 label in collaboration with A Magazine. It is a compilation of tracks by American and Canadian indie bands which contained Asian-American members. The album contains a broad range of American indie music styles and notable indie artists from the early to mid 1990s including indie rock (Versus and The Dambuilders), punk (J Church and aMiniature), ska punk (Skankin' Pickle), slowcore (Seam), cuddlecore (cub), and key players in post-rock (David Pajo was a member of Slint and both he and Bundy K. Brown (aka Slowpoke) were members of seminal post-rock band Tortoise).
The track running order listed on the CD cover is incorrect-the list below shows the actual running order of the CD.
Some of the bands represented on this compilation (including Seam, aMiniature, Venus Cures All, Cub and Versus) toured together in support of the "Ear of the Dragon" compilation in 1995. [1] This tour included major US and Canadian cities including Toronto, Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. According to Billboard Magazine, the tour began April 28, 1995 in Toronto and ended May 27, 1995 in Chicago. [2]
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. The band incorporates krautrock, dub, minimal music, electronica and jazz into their music, a combination sometimes termed "post-rock". Tortoise have been consistently credited for the rise of the post-rock movement in the 1990s.
The Decline is an EP by NOFX. It was released on November 23, 1999. The CD version consisted of only the 18-minute title track, but the vinyl included a different version of "Clams Have Feelings Too" on the B-side. The Decline is largely a satire of American politics and law, with an overwhelming concern for blind behaviors of the masses, such as complacency, indifference, gun violence, drug-use, and conformity, as well as destruction of constitutional rights, and condemnation of the religious right. Although the lyrics are somewhat disjointed, they all refer back to the unifying theme of the "decline" of America. The trombone is played by Lars Nylander of Skankin' Pickle.
Commander Venus was an American emo band from Omaha, Nebraska. Fronted by Conor Oberst and Tim Kasher, the band also included Todd Fink and Matt Bowen of The Faint, Ben Armstrong of Head of Femur and Robb Nansel, executive producer of the indie label Saddle Creek. Kasher subsequently went on to front the band Cursive, and Oberst later became famous as the core member of the indie folk collective Bright Eyes, and later the punk band Desaparecidos.
Cub was an indie pop band from Vancouver, British Columbia that formed in 1992 and disbanded in 1997. They played a melodic, jangly form of pop punk they called "cuddlecore".
Skankin' Pickle was an American ska punk band formed in San Jose, California that was active from 1989 to 1997.
Mike Park is a Korean American musician and progressive activist. His musical ventures include Skankin' Pickle for whom he both played the saxophone and sang, The Chinkees, The Bruce Lee Band, and Ogikubo Station, as well as an acoustic solo project under his own name. After his time with Skankin' Pickle he went on to found Asian Man Records, a label which he has run out of his garage in California since 1996 with only help from his parents and friends. Asian Man Records supports mostly ska and punk bands. Park will support any band as long as it is "anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-prejudice". Park has used Asian Man Records to release his own music, in addition to providing a start for smaller bands to allow them to grow, including Less Than Jake, Alkaline Trio, and The Lawrence Arms. In 1999 he formed the Plea for Peace Foundation an organization whose aim is "to promote the ideas of peace through the power of music", something which Park has been trying to do with his own bands and with the help of other groups.
David Pajo is an American alternative rock musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his guitar work, most notably with Slint. He is currently a member of Gang of Four.
The Dambuilders was an indie rock band that began in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, in 1989 and later relocated to Boston. They released seven LPs and a number of EPs before breaking up in 1998. Members have gone on with other musical projects, including the band's violinist/vocalist, Joan Wasser, as Joan as Police Woman. Kevin March also became well known in indie circles as the drummer of the band Guided by Voices, which he joined in 2002. Dave Derby is the leader and main songwriter of the New York City-based collective of artists known as Gramercy Arms, which has included collaborations with both Wasser and March.
Versus is an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 1990 by vocalist and guitarist Richard Baluyut, bassist Fontaine Toups and drummer Edward Baluyut. Richard Baluyut and Toups remained the two core members throughout the band's history. The band was noted for their marriage of indie pop songwriting and vocal harmonies to the "loud-soft" dynamics of grunge and alternative rock. They were also noted for their proficient and disciplined musicianship and for their credo of "meat, sports, and rock", none of which had much currency in the early 1990s American indie scene. The band was named after the Mission of Burma album Vs.
The Cog Factory, formerly located at 2224 Leavenworth Street in Omaha, Nebraska, was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provided a punk rock music performance space for the area. The facility opened in 1994 with bands Ritual Device, Sideshow and Mousetrap. Musician Conor Oberst began making public performances there in the 1990s. Cog Factory closed permanently in January 2002.
No Brain is a South Korean punk rock band widely considered one of the godfathers of the Korean punk scene. Originally part of Korea's homegrown underground punk movement, known as Chosun Punk, in recent years the group has enjoyed mainstream success both with their music and their emerging acting and hosting careers. Their name comes from their desire for concert-goers to leave their rational minds at the venue doors.
Rachel Carns is an American musician, composer, artist and performer living in Olympia, Washington, U.S. Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A. in 1991. Carns began her career as drummer for Kicking Giant, later collaborating with several bands, including The Need. She is a celebrated graphic designer, working under the name System Lux, and plays drums and percussion with experimental performance art group Cloud Eye Control.
The Rudiments are an American ska punk band from the East Bay, California, United States.
Sing Along With Skankin' Pickle is the third studio album by the American ska punk band Skankin' Pickle. It was released on Dill Records in 1994. Four of the bandmembers contributed to the songwriting. The band supported the album with a North American tour.
Skankin' Pickle Live is a live album by American ska punk band Skankin' Pickle, released on Dill Records in 1995.
The Green Album is the fourth and final studio album by American ska punk band Skankin' Pickle, released in 1996 on Dr. Strange Records.
The SnoCore Tour, occasionally typeset as Sno-Core, was an annual festival tour of the United States. It features performances by some of the most popular groups largely of the alternative rock and metal spectrum. Other than 2008 and 2016, the event has taken place every year since its inception in December 1995. SnoCore is marketed towards the winter sports culture.
George Fraska (Hosni) is a songwriter and producer, who was born in Monrovia, Liberia, Africa. He is known for his role as lead vocalist, guitarist, and drummer for several underground bands such as Startled Calf, The Smiley Kids, Four!, the Scooterz and many other projects. Including an Operation Ivy coverband called The Freeze Up's and a Minor Threat coverband called Minor Treat.
Murk Time Cruiser is the second album by the American indie punk band aMiniature. It was released in 1995. The band promoted the album by touring with Seam, Versus, and Venus Cures All, bands, like aMiniature, that included Asian-American members.
Lynette Christine Knackstedt was an American punk and ska musician, as well as a member of the band Skankin' Pickle.