| Upgrade & Afterlife | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 17, 1996 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | Post-rock | |||
| Length | 49:12 | |||
| Label | Drag City | |||
| Gastr del Sol chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Alternative Press | 5/5 [2] |
| NME | 4/10 [3] |
Upgrade & Afterlife is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Gastr del Sol, released on June 17, 1996 by Drag City. [4]
The album cover is Wasserstiefel (Water Boots) by Swiss artist Roman Signer. [5]
Pitchfork writer Nitsuh Abebe characterized Upgrade & Afterlife as a post-rock album where "folk and avant-garde abstract each other into something warm, minimal, and slanted". [6]
"Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity"" contains a sample of the score from the 1957 science fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man . [7] The title of the track is derived from the name of a cheap perfume marketed in public bathroom vending machines. [7]
"Dry Bones in the Valley (I Saw the Light Come Shining 'Round and 'Round)" is a cover of a John Fahey song, and features Tony Conrad on violin. According to David Grubbs, the idea of having Conrad play on "Dry Bones in the Valley" came to fruition after a Gastr del Sol show in Atlanta, where Grubbs observed Conrad "literally dancing with excitement" while Jim O'Rourke played the song alone onstage as an encore. [8]
Several sources misidentify track 3 as "The Sea Uncertain". This title, correctly rendered, appears to refer playfully both to a track on Gastr's previous full-length release titled "The C in Cake" and to one of Gastr percussionist John McEntire's other bands, The Sea and Cake, a moniker derived from McEntire's mishearing of that title.
All tracks are written by David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke, except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity"" | 8:26 | |
| 2. | "Rebecca Sylvester" | 3:53 | |
| 3. | "The Sea Incertain" | 6:12 | |
| 4. | "Hello Spiral" | 10:40 | |
| 5. | "The Relay" | 5:49 | |
| 6. | "Crappie Tactics" | 1:48 | |
| 7. | "Dry Bones in the Valley (I Saw the Light Come Shining 'Round and 'Round)" | John Fahey | 12:28 |
Jim O'Rourke is an American musician, instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative music projects, many of which are instrumental, and has been acclaimed for his music that spans varied genres, including avant-garde styles such as ambient, noise and minimalism, and styles of rock like indie rock and post-rock. He has been associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene, as well as with New York City when he relocated to it in 2000 for his tenure as a member of American indie rock band Sonic Youth. He subsequently moved to Japan and has since been a Japanese resident.
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Gastr del Sol was an American, Chicago-based band, consisting for most of their career of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they released seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète.
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