Kevin Salem

Last updated

Kevin Salem is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He began his career as a member of Dumptruck, and subsequently played with multiple artists on tour, including Yo La Tengo and Freedy Johnston, before beginning his solo career.

Contents

Biography

Salem grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he decided he wanted to be a successful guitarist. [1] Most of the bands in his hometown were cover bands, but he became interested in other types of music after traveling to New York City, where he saw Hüsker Dü, Tommy Keene, and The Replacements. His musical career began when he joined Dumptruck in 1986, after which he performed on their 1987 album For the Country (though not on any of their other albums). [2] During the early 1990s, he became a touring and session guitarist who played for numerous artists, including Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, and Chris Harford. He has also done session work for the Pooh Sticks, and produced albums by Giant Sand, Chocolate Genius, and Madder Rose. [3] [4]

Solo career

Salem released his first solo album, Soma City, on Roadrunner Records in 1994. [5] It was followed two years later by Glimmer , which was also released on Roadrunner Records. [6] He released his third solo album, Ecstatic, in 2001. [3] Artists who made cameos on Ecstatic included Vicki Peterson, Donovan, and Alice Temple. [7]

Critical reception

Peter Margasak, of Chicago Reader , wrote that Soma City was "impressive", writing of Salem, "While he offers nothing especially new, his emotion-drenched work is pretty darn close to impeccable. Among endless waves of novelty, this kind of solidity can be a blessing." [8] Patrick Kampert gave the album 3 out or 4 stars, describing it as "a strong outing, similar in texture to the Sand Rubies' stellar debut". [5] The album appeared on multiple critics' year-end lists for 1994, and Salem tied for first place in Rolling Stone 's "Best New Male Singer" poll that year. [9]

Discography

[10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thurston Moore</span> American guitarist (born 1958)

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weasel Walter</span> American drummer

Weasel Walter is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Avant-garde, experimental, no wave, free jazz, extreme metal, punk jazz, hardcore punk, noise, new music and free improvisation. He coined the term "brutal prog" to describe the aggressively dissonant strain of prog played by groups like his band the Flying Luttenbachers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Miller</span> British musician

Dominic James Miller is a British guitarist. With much of his career as a sideman and guitarist for singer Sting, he has also released several solo albums.

Christopher Charles Stamey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. After a brief time playing with Alex Chilton, as well as Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, Stamey formed The dB's with Peter Holsapple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Versus (band)</span> American indie rock band

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.

<i>Caught in a Trap and I Cant Back Out Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby</i> 1998 studio album by Mark Eitzel

Caught in a Trap and I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby is the fifth solo album by the American Music Club singer/songwriter Mark Eitzel, released in 1998. A starker follow-up to his previous album, it was the first album he released for the independent label Matador Records. The album has contributions from the Sonic Youth member Steve Shelley, the guitarist Kid Congo Powers and the Yo La Tengo bass guitarist James McNew.

<i>This Perfect World</i> 1994 studio album by Freedy Johnston

This Perfect World is the third album by singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston. It was released in 1994 on Elektra Records.

<i>Can You Fly</i> 1992 studio album by Freedy Johnston

Can You Fly is the second album by singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston. It was released in 1992 on Bar/None Records. Can You Fly appeared on Fast Folk's year-end list of the ten best albums of 1992, and The Village Voice's Robert Christgau later dubbed it "a perfect album".

Dave Schramm is an American musician best known for his stint as the lead guitarist for Yo La Tengo during the band's early years.

<i>The Sounds of the Sounds of Science</i> 2002 film score by Yo La Tengo

The Sounds of the Sounds of Science is a score written by Yo La Tengo for filmmaker Jean Painlevé. It contains 78 minutes of instrumental music to accompany his eight short documentary-style films shot underwater. The live performances are known as “The Sounds of Science.” The program debuted in 2001 at the San Francisco Film Festival. The entire score has been performed approximately twelve times. The band had not heard of Painlevé before being asked to work on the project nor did the band view the films much before writing the music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolly Varden (band)</span> American alternative rock band

Dolly Varden is a Chicago band built around the singing and songwriting of husband and wife duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen. Their music combines elements of folk, rock and pop and country. The band has released 5 albums, along with several collections and side projects.

Antietam is an indie rock band from Louisville, Kentucky formed in 1984 by members of the Babylon Dance Band, husband and wife duo Tara Key and Tim Harris. They released six albums between 1985 and 1995, and since the late 1980s have been based in New York. Their latest album is Intimations of Immortality, released on Motorific Sounds in 2017.

<i>Carnival Boy</i> 1996 studio album by Tobin Sprout

Carnival Boy is the debut solo album by the former Guided by Voices member Tobin Sprout, released in 1996.

Dumptruck is an American rock musical group formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1983 by composers, guitarists and singers Seth Tiven and Kirk Swan.

Cheri Knight is an American singer, songwriter, and bassist known for her albums.

Michael James Henderson was an American singer-songwriter. In addition to his solo career, which included five studio albums, Henderson was a member of the country band The SteelDrivers from 2005 to 2011 and was a songwriting collaborator of his former SteelDrivers bandmate Chris Stapleton.

<i>Bring It Down</i> 1993 studio album by Madder Rose

Bring It Down is the debut album by New York City-based alternative rock band Madder Rose. It was released in 1993 on Seed Records, an alternative-oriented subsidiary of Big Beat Records, and was produced by Kevin Salem. In the United Kingdom, the album was released by Revolver Distribution, and its song "Swim" was released as an import single there. "Swim" increased the band's popularity in the UK thanks to the single's promotion by John Peel of the BBC. As of March 5, 1994, the album had sold 10,000 copies in the UK.

<i>Triage</i> (David Baerwald album) 1993 studio album by David Baerwald

Triage is the second solo album by David Baerwald, formerly of the two-man group David & David. It was released in 1993 on A&M Records. Baerwald had wanted the album to come out before the 1992 United States presidential election, but it was pushed back several months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Irabagon</span> Musical artist

Jon Irabagon is a Filipino-American saxophonist, composer, and founder of Irabbagast Records.

<i>Glimmer</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Kevin Salem

Glimmer is an album by the American musician Kevin Salem, released in 1996. Salem supported the album by opening for the Connells on a North American tour.

References

  1. ↑ "Biography". Kevinsalem.com. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Jenkins, Mark (14 August 1996). "Ax Man of the Apocalypse". The Washington Post . Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 Cornell, Rick (31 October 2001). "Kevin Salem - Soul of gold". No Depression . Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  4. ↑ Gilmer, Vickie. "Kevin Salem". Trouser Press . Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  5. 1 2 Kampert, Patrick (17 November 1994). "Kevin Salem Soma City (Roadrunner)". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 26 June 2017.[ dead link ]
  6. ↑ Klein, Joshua (12 September 1996). "Kevin Salem Glimmer (Roadrunner)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 26 June 2017.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ Prato, Greg. "Kevin Salem Biography". AllMusic . Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Margasak, Peter (9 February 1995). "Kevin Salem". Chicago Reader . Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  9. ↑ Catlin, Roger (25 February 1995). "Rocker Kevin Salem's Lot Much Improved Since Overcoming Lyme Disease". Hartford Courant . Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  10. ↑ ^ Klein, Joshua (12 September 1996). "Kevin Salem Glimmer (Roadrunner)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 26 June 2017
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.