The Court & Spark | |
---|---|
Origin | United States |
Genres | Alt. Country Experimental rock |
Years active | 1998–2007 |
Labels | Absolutely Kosher Records Camera Records BB*ISLAND! |
Members | MC Taylor Scott Hirsch Alex Stimmel James Kim Dan Carr Tom Heyman Patrick Main Terri Loewenthal Wendy Allen |
Website | The Court & Spark Page at Dream Chimney |
The Court & Spark was a San Francisco-based indie rock band formed in the spring of 1998 by Scott Hirsch, Alex Stimmel, James Kim, and lead vocalist M.C. Taylor. [1] Between 1998 and 2001 the group was part of the alt-country Americana scene. [2]
Hirsch and Taylor had previously been members of a band called Ex-Ignota, [1] [3] before moving to San Francisco and forming the country-oriented group, which released their debut album Ventura Whites on Tumult Records in 1999. Court & Spark is the title of a 1974 Joni Mitchell album.
In 2001 the band released Bless You, which also featured pedal steel player Tom Heyman and vocalist Wendy Allen, as well as Gene Parsons, formerly of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. A review in Pitchfork by Christopher F. Schiel gave the album a score of 9.0, [4] later downgraded to 8.4, [5] and the album was also featured on NPR's All Things Considered by Sarah Bardeen in December 2001. [6]
The band returned in 2004 with Witch Season and the Dead Diamond River EP, featuring contributions from Linda Thompson and M. Ward. [7]
The Court & Spark disbanded in the summer of 2007 with an announcement on the band's website: "It's hard to say that The C&S is breaking up, as we still spend all our time together, but seeing as how we're all involved in different musical projects, it seems best to retire the C&S name for a while. We've had a good run and have had the good fortune to meet all kinds of wonderful souls as we've stumbled down the road. Thank you one and all for everything you've given us." [8]
Taylor and Hirsch moved to the East Coast—Taylor to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Hirsch to New York City—and started a new project together called Hiss Golden Messenger which has released seven albums.
I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings is a live album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 12 November 2001 in the UK by Parlophone and a day later in the US by Capitol Records. Recorded during Radiohead's 2001 tour, it comprises songs from their fourth and fifth albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). Radiohead rearranged the songs to perform them live. I Might Be Wrong received mainly positive reviews; critics praised the performances and rearrangements, but found the album too short.
Hella is an American math rock band from Sacramento, California. The primary members of the band are Spencer Seim on electric guitar and Zach Hill on drums. The band expanded their live band by adding Dan Elkan on vocals, rhythm guitar, sampler and synthesizer and Jonathan Hischke on synth bass guitar for their 2005 tour. In 2006 they reformed as a five-piece line-up including Seim, Hill, Carson McWhirter, Aaron Ross & Josh Hill. In 2009, the band was reduced back to core members Hill and Seim.
Khanate was an American drone doom supergroup that brought together James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, two members of the defunct band OLD, as well as Tim Wyskida of Blind Idiot God and Manbyrd and Stephen O'Malley of Burning Witch and Sunn O))).
Daughters is an American rock band formed in 2002, in Providence, Rhode Island. The band's current line-up consists of vocalist Alexis Marshall, guitarist Nicholas Andrew Sadler, drummer Jon Syverson, and bassist Samuel Moorehouse Walker.
The Wrens were an American indie rock band from New Jersey. The group consisted of Charles Bissell (guitar/vocals), brothers Greg Whelan (guitar/vocals) and Kevin Whelan (bass/vocals), and Jerry MacDonald (drums). They released three albums; a fourth album was recorded and mastered for a planned 2013 release, but was subsequently retracted. After reworking his contributions, Bissell teased a 2021 release for the new album, but the band broke up shortly after following disagreements over business arrangements. The band had a reputation for their intense live shows – following a gig at the University of London Union in London in March 2006, The Guardian declared that "on this form the Wrens are surely one of the best live bands in the world".
The Meadowlands is the third and final studio album by American indie rock band the Wrens, released by Absolutely Kosher Records on September 9, 2003, and in the UK two years later on September 19, 2005 by LO-MAX Records and in Germany by BB*Island. Recording of the album originally began in January 1999, but writer's block and a loss of faith in the tracks they were recording meant the band took four years to complete the album, with many songs being rewritten or scrapped as recording proceeded.
Arcade Fire is an extended play (EP) by the indie rock band Arcade Fire. The EP was recorded in Maine, United States, during the summer of 2002. Arcade Fire was remastered and repackaged for its 2005 re-release by Merge Records for fans after they had "grown obsessed" with the band's debut album, Funeral. It was initially released in 2003 by the band at their shows and website, and then re-released in 2005 by Merge. It received positive reviews from music critics, although some of them noted that it was inferior to their debut album Funeral. Lyrical themes of Arcade Fire consist of parents, suburbia, new love, dread, and drama. The EP's third track, "No Cars Go", was re-recorded for Arcade Fire's second full-length album, Neon Bible. No Cars Go has been played at the majority of live shows since the EP release. Arcade Fire have also played other songs from the EP, live on every tour since, however, it has become less frequent. On their recent tours, they notably played "Headlights Look Like Diamonds" and "Vampire/Forest Fire".
Grizzly Bear is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. For most of its tenure, the band has consisted of Edward Droste, Daniel Rossen, Chris Taylor, and Christopher Bear. The band employs both traditional and electronic instruments, and their sound has been categorized as psychedelic pop, folk rock, and experimental. The band is known for their use of vocal harmony, with all four members contributing vocals and lead vocals alternating between Rossen and Droste.
The Dead Science is an experimental pop band based in Seattle.
Franklin Bruno is an American singer-songwriter, academic and writer originally from Upland, California. He has been a member of Nothing Painted Blue since its inception in 1986.
The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up is a 5 piece band formed in 1997 in Oakland, California. Named after a high school friend of the band, their highly textured sound spans the range from indie to post-rock. They have released three full lengths on Absolutely Kosher Records. The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up has recorded with Christopher Walla of Deathcab for Cutie and Xiu Xiu. As of 2006, the band is on hiatus. Paul Gonzenbach is currently releasing albums under his own name. Noah Blumberg is in the duo Meanest Man Contest.
Frog Eyes are an indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada fronted by Carey Mercer. Their 2010 album Paul's Tomb: A Triumph was a longlisted nominee for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize. They have released eight albums and two EPs and are noted for their collaboration with Dan Bejar of Destroyer.
Ringworm is an American hardcore punk band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1989. Their name was derived from a Vincent Price movie. The band has toured extensively in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe and has released four albums via Victory Records. In 2013, the band announced they had signed with Relapse Records and that their next album would be released through them. Vocalist Human Furnace currently plays in the Cleveland metal band Gluttons and solo project Holyghost.
+/-, or Plus/Minus, is an American indietronic band formed in 2001. The band makes use of both electronic and traditional instruments, and has sought to use electronics to recreate traditional indie rock song forms and instrumental structures. The group has released two albums on each of the American indie labels Teenbeat Records and Absolutely Kosher, and their track "All I do" was prominently featured in the soundtrack for the major film Wicker Park. The group has developed a devoted following in Japan and Taiwan, and has toured there frequently. Although many artists append bonus tracks onto the end of Japanese album releases to discourage purchasers from buying cheaper US import versions, the overseas versions of +/- albums are usually quite different from the US versions - track lists can be rearranged, artwork with noticeable changes is used, and tracks from the US version can be replaced as well as augmented by bonus tracks.
Wesley Eisold is an American musician, poet and author. He records music under the name Cold Cave, and runs the publishing house Heartworm Press.
Azeda Booth was a Canadian experimental-pop band formed in Calgary in 2004, influenced by glitch, IDM, and experimental music. Self-described as "Cherry-Pop", Azeda Booth's music pulled from many genres.
Alexis Stephen Francis Marshall is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of American noise rock band Daughters and was formerly the frontman of the mathcore/grindcore band As the Sun Sets.
The Embassy is a Swedish pop duo consisting of guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Lindson and keyboardist/programmer Torbjörn Håkansson. Their music can be described as a blend of disco, twee pop and pub rock. Their music was first released by the independent label Service but is currently released via the bands own imprint, International. The group’s post-modernist attitude, anti-rock aesthetics and disrespectful live performances have made them both loved and loathed.
Sunbathing Animal is the third studio album by American punk rock band Parquet Courts, released on June 3, 2014 on What's Your Rupture? and Rough Trade Records.
Kristin Hayter, known professionally as Lingua Ignota, is an American classically trained multi-instrumentalist. In 2017, she self-released the albums Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him and All Bitches Die under the Lingua Ignota moniker, which spread through word-of-mouth. Lingua Ignota's music caught the attention of Profound Lore Records, who re-issued All Bitches Die and released her third studio album, Caligula, in 2019. She draws on her experiences as a survivor of domestic violence for musical and lyrical inspiration, and describes her music as "survivor anthems". Hayter is originally from Southern California and resided in Pennsylvania for a time before moving to Chicago.