Icy Demons is an experimental music project started by Bablicon's Griffin Rodriguez (credited as Blue Hawaii) and Man Man / Need New Body's Christopher Powell (Pow Pow). [1] A project of various Chicago musicians, they have released three albums, Fight Back! on the Elephant 6-associated label Cloud Recordings, Tears of a Clone on Eastern Developments Music, and Miami Ice on the label started by Rodriguez and Powell called Obey Your Brain.
Demons can be seen as a continuation of the Canterbury scene, which involved acts like Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt. They do, however, move into new ground by mixing this Canterbury style with a noticeable Krautrock influence, especially that of Can. [2] Some melodic lines and rhythmic patterns are strongly reminiscent of Frank Zappa's compositions. Other similar acts include Aksak Maboul, Pit er Pat, Pop-off Tuesday, Lightning Bolt, and Cheer-Accident.
Blue Hawaii also runs a recording studio in Chicago's south loop called the Shape Shoppe. [7] Besides Bablicon and Icy Demons, he has engineered and mixed many local and regional bands' records. He worked with Beirut to record the album March of the Zapotec and an LP with rapper Count Bass D. [8]
Blue Crush is a 2002 American sports film directed by John Stockwell and based on Susan Orlean's 1998 Outside magazine article "Life's Swell". It stars Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, Sanoe Lake and Mika Boorem. The film tells the story of three friends who have one passion: living the ultimate dream of surfing on Hawaii's famed North Shore.
2 Tone Records was an English independent record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone. It was founded by Jerry Dammers of the Specials and backed by Chrysalis Records.
Acrobatic Tenement is the debut studio album by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released on August 18, 1996, on Flipside. The album was reissued by Fearless Records in 2004, along with the band's subsequent albums In/Casino/Out and Relationship of Command, and was re-released again in 2013.
Kayo Dot is an American avant-garde metal band. Formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the break-up of Maudlin of the Well, they released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik Records that same year. Since then, Kayo Dot's lineup has drastically changed over the years. Toby Driver is the only founding member of the band still remaining, save for frequent lyrical contributions from former motW member Jason Byron. Up until 2011, the lineup was constantly shifting, and Kayo Dot's sound consistently changed over the years, featuring a wide variety of instrumentation including guitar, drums, bass, violin, saxophone, vibraphone, synthesizers, clarinets and flutes. Underground metal audiences warmly received the group upon its early existence, with the 2003 album Choirs of the Eye and the 2006 album Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue both becoming underground hits in the progressive metal scene.
Jeffrey David Fahey is an American actor. His notable roles include Duane Duke in Psycho III (1986), Pete Verill in Clint Eastwood's White Hunter Black Heart (1990), Jobe Smith in The Lawnmower Man (1992), and Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost (2008–2010). He is also known for his collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez, appearing in his films Planet Terror (2007), Machete (2010), and Alita: Battle Angel (2019).
Need New Body is an avant garde music collective band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and beyond, numerous members of which have gone on to become members of the band Man Man. The band was formed from members of the defunct progressive rock/neo-psychedelic band Bent Leg Fatima.
Kenneth Cordele Griffin is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder, chief executive officer, co-chief investment officer, and 80% owner of Citadel LLC, a multinational hedge fund. He also owns Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers in the United States.
Bablicon was an Elephant 6-related free-jazz band consisting of members of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw is an American folk duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico, currently signed to L.M. Duplication. The band consists of accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who was previously the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel and Bablicon, and violinist Heather Trost. The music is inspired by Eastern European, Turkish and Balkan traditions, and is mostly instrumental. They have released six albums and have toured internationally. The first four albums and an EP were released on The Leaf Label and afterwards on their own label L. M. Duplication.
Man Man is an American experimental rock band from Philadelphia currently based in Los Angeles. Lead singer, songwriter, and lyricist Honus Honus is accompanied by a group of multi-instrumentalist musicians and vocalists.
"The Diminisher" is the alter-ego of Chicago musician David McDonnell, who was a founding member of the trio Bablicon, bass player Griffin Rodriguez informally assigned the moniker in reference to McDonnell's liberal use of the so-called diminished chord in Bablicon songs. When Bablicon informally dissolved in 2001, he began or joined a number of experimental jazz/rock projects, such as Michael Columbia and Icy Demons, and continued composing in Chicago.
Christopher Powell is a musical artist from Philadelphia. He has been the drummer and percussionist for experimental rock groups Bent Leg Fatima and Need New Body, the equally adventurous music group Man Man, and the Chicago sextet Icy Demons. After Need New Body disbanded, Powell joined Man Man before recording the group's second album, "Six Demon Bag." He has played on all albums since as well as at all live shows, making him the second most consistent and oldest member. Christopher participated as drummer 11 in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on 7 July 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York. He participates in, what according to Obey Your Brain's website is his solo project, Endless Joy. He also participates in the band The Chewables. He co-presented with Brian Dwyer the 2010 exhibit, "Give Pizza Chance" which was one of the bases for museum and pizzeria, Pizza Brain. He also owns and operates the record label Obey Your Brain.
Sonny Thompson, born Alfonso Thompson or Hezzie Tompson, was an American R&B bandleader and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s.
Parades is the second full-length album by the Danish group Efterklang. It marks the first time that the band work with an outside influence; after eighteen months of recording, the band drafted in British producer/engineer Darren Allison to create the final mixes together with Efterklang's own Mads Brauer.
Scott Devendorf is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the bass guitarist for the American indie rock band the National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. Devendorf is also a member of the indie rock project LNZNDRF.
Chocolate Industries was an American record label. Founded in Miami, Florida by Marvin "Seven" Bedard and cofounder Edgar Farinas the label moved to Chicago, Illinois. The label has released studio albums by the likes of Push Button Objects, Diverse, and Vast Aire. In 1999, it was named by Miami New Times as the Best Electronica Label. In 2004, it was described by Billboard as "one of Chicago's most artful, high-profile indie imprints".
Wondrous Bughouse is the second album by Youth Lagoon, the stage name of American musician Trevor Powers. The album was released on March 5, 2013 on the independent record label Fat Possum Records. It peaked at No. 76 on the Billboard 200, No. 12 on the Independent Albums chart and No. 26 on the Top Rock Albums chart.
Dylan Ryan (drummer) (born 1979 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American drummer and composer. He led the progressive-jazz sextet, Herculaneum, and the Los Angeles–based guitar, bass, and drums trio, Dylan Ryan / Sand. He is a founding member, along with Dave (The Diminisher) McDonnell, of Chicago's experimental rock trio, Michael Columbia. He has also performed with Icy Demons, Tim Kasher, Cursive, and Rainbow Arabia.
Joshua Abrams is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the double bass and guimbri.
Charlie Edward Moore is an American basketball player for Pistoia Basket 2000 of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), whose college basketball career spanned four major conferences culminating with a year for the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 2021–22 ACC basketball season. He previously played a full season for the California Golden Bears and the Kansas Jayhawks as well as two seasons for the DePaul Blue Demons. At Morgan Park High School he won two Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state championships and Illinois Mr. Basketball.