Glass Candy | |
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Background information | |
Also known as | Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre |
Origin | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
Genres |
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Years active | 1996–2021 (hiatus) |
Labels | |
Past members |
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Glass Candy was an American electronic music duo from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1996 by vocalist Ida No and producer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel. The band is part of the Italians Do It Better label. While the band's early work blends elements of no wave, art punk, and glam rock, their later work incorporates synth-pop and Italo disco.
The band has evolved consistently through the years since their original collaboration, and experimenting with various musical styles. They have released a number of albums since the early 2000s, their most recent full-length being the B-side compilation album Deep Gems (2008). In 2010, the band released the six-song EP Feeling Without Touching. The band is working on their upcoming third studio album, Body Work, but with no information on the progress of the record before on hiatus.
Glass Candy was formed in Portland, Oregon by Ida No (born Lori Monahan), [7] from Vancouver, Washington, and Johnny Jewel (born John Padgett), from Austin, Texas, in 1996. [2] The two met the year before at a Fred Meyer grocery store where Jewel worked in Portland. [2] [8] They soon began producing music under the name Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre. [2]
No describes the band's early work as "droney and weird." [2] Their early releases drew heavily from no wave, post-punk, and art rock, [1] [9] as evidenced in their self-released first three singles, "Brittle Women" (1999), "Metal Gods" (2001) and a cover of Josie Cotton's "Johnny Are You Queer" (2002). [2] They toured with The Convocation Of... in 2001, and released a live album that year on the Vermin Scum record label. [1]
Their debut studio album, Love Love Love, was issued on Troubleman Unlimited Records in 2003. In 2006, Jewel founded Italians Do It Better with Mike Simonetti as a subsidiary of Troubleman. [2] In October 2007, Glass Candy released their second studio album B/E/A/T/B/O/X on Italians Do It Better to considerable critical praise. A compilation album titled Deep Gems was released in late 2008, containing rarities, B-sides, and remixes. In a review of Deep Gems, Spin magazine referred to the band as an "[e]ccentric Portland pair" that "spook the dance floor". [10]
Glass Candy's songs were used for a Chloé runway show, [11] as well as used by Karl Lagerfeld for the Spring/Summer '08 Chanel Haute Couture fashion show and the Fall/Winter show of '08/'09. [12]
Glass Candy's song "Digital Versicolor" was featured prominently in Nicolas Winding Refn's 2008 film Bronson , partially in a pair of scenes, and in full over the closing credits. An unofficial music video was made for the song in 2007 and starred Australian actress Rose Byrne.
On February 16, 2010, the band released the six-song EP Feeling Without Touching. [13]
In 2016, Glass Candy's song "Candy Castle" was used in the season one finale of the HBO series Westworld . [14]
Glass Candy revealed the title of their third studio album, Body Work, in September 2010, with No stating the title is "a tribute to acupuncture, yoga, Rolfing." [15] It was preceded by the single "Warm in the Winter" on September 1, 2011, containing the B-side "Beautiful Object". [16] [17] The song's music video was released on November 6, 2011. "Warm in the Winter" was used in Balenciaga's Fall/Winter 2012/2013 fashion show, [18] as well as in advertising campaigns and short films for companies such as Lucky Brand Jeans and Red Bull. [19] [20] A video for the track "Halloween", another teaser from the album, premiered on October 28, 2011, and is a homage to John Carpenter's 1978 film of the same name. [21] In July 2013, Jewel told Exclaim! that he was still working on Body Work, stating, "I have 17 sets of lyrics and vocals that we recorded that are just incredible." [22]
Glass Candy was invited to perform at a private Chanel party in Berlin on November 20, 2012 to celebrate the release of Karl Lagerfeld's book The Little Black Jacket. Symmetry, Jewel's instrumental project with Nat Walker, opened the evening with an atmospheric 80-minute set leading up to Lagerfeld's arrival.
In 2013, Glass Candy performed at a variety of private fashion/runway events in South America, North America, Europe, and Asia. The band also performed worldwide at a variety of music festivals, including Pitchfork in Paris and Primavera Sound in Spain.
On August 5, 2013, Glass Candy released a music video for the song "Redheads Feel More Pain", which appears on the Italians Do It Better compilation album After Dark 2 . [23] The duo released a cover version of Herb Alpert's 1979 instrumental track "Rise" via SoundCloud on December 4, 2014. [24] [25]
Glass Candy's song "Warm in the Winter" has been licensed for usage in many films, TV shows, and advertisements, including the American television series Scream Queens. The track is also used as the theme song for Air France's worldwide company advertising campaign "France is in the Air", including their safety video.
Glass Candy digitally released the "Naked City" and "The Beat's Alive" EPs in 2019. [26] [27]
No's vocals have been likened to 1960s German singer Nico and "a frightened Debbie Harry or a pissed-off Lene Lovich in a haunted disco". [2] Their work as of 2008 borrows from Italo disco, freestyle music, Krautrock, hip hop, and new wave. [2]
Jewel has cited Marilyn Monroe films, 1980s cop show soundtracks, [2] Goblin, and John Carpenter soundtracks as influences. [28] All music tracks are produced by basic analog equipment, without the use of computers. [29] Critics have also compared the group to Nina Hagen, the Shirelles, [30] David Bowie, James Chance, and Jarboe. [1] Glass Candy has covered songs by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, [30] Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, Belle Epoque, Dark Day, [31] the Rolling Stones, and Queen. The group has also said that stores could appropriately file their music "between Olivia Newton-John, Suicide and Schoolly D". [28]
Chromatics were an American electronic music band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2001. The band's final line-up consisted of Ruth Radelet, Adam Miller, Nat Walker, and Johnny Jewel. The band originally featured a trademark sound indebted to punk and lo-fi that was described as "noisy" and "chaotic". After numerous lineup changes, which left guitarist Adam Miller as the sole original member, the band began releasing material on the Italians Do It Better record label in 2007, with their style streamlined into an Italo disco-influenced sound.
"Heart of Glass" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It was featured on the band's third studio album, Parallel Lines (1978), and was released as the album's third single in January 1979 and reached number one on the charts in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
Tussle is an American four-piece band from San Francisco, United States, formed in 2001 by Nathan Burazer, Jonathan Holland, Alexis Georgopoulos and Andy Cabic. The band released its first album, Kling Klang, in 2004 on Troubleman Unlimited. Their fourth album, Tempest was released in September 2012.
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.
Troubleman Unlimited Records was a record label specializing in indie rock and similar genres. Founded in 1993, the label was based in Bayonne, New Jersey and owned by Mike Simonetti.
Italians Do It Better is an independent record label based in Portland and West Hollywood. It was started by Johnny Jewel and Mike Simonetti on July 20, 2006, to focus on Jewel's projects Glass Candy and Chromatics and later Desire, Symmetry and Mirage, in addition to other artists from prior releases. Genres from the label have been described as contributing to the synth-pop, post-punk, and Italo-disco revivals. They have released three label compilations, 'After Dark' (2007), 'After Dark 2' (2013), 'After Dark 3' (2020), and 'After Dark 4' (2022), all of which feature music from their roster.
B/E/A/T/B/O/X is the second and final studio album by American electronic music duo Glass Candy, released on November 6, 2007, by Italians Do It Better. The album received two limited-edition vinyl pressings in 2008, both including a bonus 7″, and one of them pressed on pink vinyl. A new blue vinyl edition was released in April 2010, including the same bonus 7″.
Deep Gems is a collection of singles, B-sides, and rarities by American electronic music duo Glass Candy, released in October 2008 by the Italians Do It Better label.
Night Drive is the third studio album by Chromatics, released on August 28, 2007 on the Italians Do It Better record label. The label reissued an analogue remaster of the album as a "Deluxe Edition" in 2010, on both CD and double LP formats. A limited print run of the double LP was pressed on colored vinyl: blue for Sides A and B, and red for Sides C and D. The "Deluxe Edition" restores five tracks that had originally constituted Side D of the album, but had been scrapped before the original 2007 release date due to technical problems and time constraints.
Desire is a Canadian electronic music band from Montreal, formed in 2009. The band consists of vocalist Megan Louise and producer Johnny Jewel. Formerly, Nat Walker is also on the band on synthesizer and drums. Their debut studio album, II, was released on June 30, 2009 on the Italians Do It Better label. Their lyrics are in French and English.
Bottin is an Italian composer, producer, DJ and music scholar, based in Venice, Italy.
Ian Schranz best known by the stage name Bark Bark Disco, is a Maltese indie musician. Schranz first began his career as the drummer of the band Beangrowers before establishing himself as a solo artist.
After Dark is a compilation album of tracks either performed by artists on the Italians Do It Better record label or remixed by the label, released in 2007 on CD and in 2008 on triple vinyl. Artists featured on the album are Glass Candy, Chromatics, Indeep, Farah, Mirage, and Professor Genius.
After Dark 2 is a compilation album featuring artists from the Italians Do It Better label. The album was released on May 17, 2013, and produced by Johnny Jewel. It is a sequel to the 2007 album After Dark. Artists and bands featured on the album include Glass Candy, Desire, Chromatics, Mirage, Appaloosa, Symmetry, Twisted Wires, Farah, and Mike Simonetti.
Symmetry is an American instrumental musical duo consisting of Johnny Jewel and Nat Walker of Chromatics.
Johnny Jewel is an American musician, record producer, composer, and visual artist. He is a multi-instrumentalist who is known for using all-analog equipment. Jewel has been recording and releasing material since the mid-1990s.
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Ruth Radelet is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She is best known for her work as the lead vocalist in the electronic band Chromatics, formed in 2001. A native of Portland, Oregon, Radelet joined Chromatics in 2006 after the band relocated to Portland from Seattle, Washington. The band's first album to feature Radelet as vocalist and guitarist was their cult release Night Drive (2007), the record which marked a notable shift in their sound, incorporating elements of synth pop and post punk.
Better Set Your Phasers to Stun is a 2009 EP by the American synthpop/electropop group Hyperbubble. The recording was in collaboration with the Welsh band Helen Love. The title tracks cover Love's 2000 song with the Star Trek reference. The cover art furnished images of the series' signature phaser weapon.
Lost River is the soundtrack to the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ryan Gosling and stars Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Iain De Caestecker, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, Barbara Steele and Eva Mendes. The film's musical score is composed by Johnny Jewel, featuring an original score with dialogues from the cast appearing as interludes in the score and contributions from Jewel's former bands Glass Candy, Chromatics, Desire and Symmetry. The soundtrack to the film was released on March 30, 2015 through Jewel's Italians Do It Better record label and further issued in triple LP vinyl editions on November 2015.