Cordelia's dad

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Concert in April 2007

Cordelia's Dad is a music group from Northampton , Massachusetts , which became internationally known in the early 1990s for their music influenced by folk and punk rock and with their albums on OKra Records (distributed in Germany by Normal Records ) helped create the genre that later called " No Depression ". The band was founded in 1987 and was active until 1998. After that, the band members relocated to different parts of the United States . After releasing an album of older material in 2002, the band reformed in 2007 to mark their twentieth anniversary.

history

Cordelia's Dad was founded in 1987 by three Amherst College students: Tim Eriksen (bass, vocals), Peter Irvine (drums) and Tom King (guitar). Although all three had come into contact with traditional American music before, the band's original sound was more similar to the alternative rock of bands like Dinosaur Jr. Their first, as yet untitled album was therefore also recorded at the Fort Apache Studios in Boston , in which the Pixies , Uncle Tupelo and others recorded their albums at the same time . The main differentiator from their Fort Apache comrades was that Cordelia's dad's first releases, with only a few exceptions, were based on Anglo-American folk songs, which were listed as feedback- heavy rock songs. Their second album How Can I Sleep , which was recorded by Dave Schramm, continued the use of traditional material, but increased the proportion of such pieces that were interpreted as acoustic folk songs. This shift led to the trend of calling the band's music " schizophrenic ".

The change to a folk band was completed in 1993 with The Joy Fun Garden , a mini-album only released in Germany in a limited edition (on the Normal Records sub-label "Return to Sender"). King left the band after recording and was replaced by bassist Cath Oss. Eriksen then switched to the guitar. The third regular album Comet (Omnium 1993) received - apart from the last track "Jersey City" and bonus tracks on international releases - only acoustic recordings.

The band said goodbye to their rock sound for the time being with the 1996 live album Roadkill (Scenesof). After that, Cordelia's dad was continued as a purely acoustic project; the rock songs were delegated to a side project called "io". The members of the main band had started to revive the form of " Shape Note Singing" at this time . The new influence was felt on the fourth album Spine (Appleseed 1998), which was recorded by Steve Albin and for which violinist Laura Risk joined the band. Spine became the band's best-reviewed album. But it was also the last for four years after the band members started leaving their West Massachusetts base. Irvine moved to Portland, Oregon to practice as a music lawyer. Oss moved to Newcastle upon Tyne and later played in the band Spraydog. Eriksen moved to Minneapolis and began a career as a musicologist, during which time he was invited to shoot the film Cold Mountain and its soundtrack.

The previous album What It Is (Appleseed) was released in 2002, but only contained recordings that were not included in the two previous albums because of their rock format. Thereafter, the band remained inactive until two of their founding members - Eriksen and Irvine - returned to Massachusetts and played a number of local concerts, partly as a rock and partly as a folk band, for the band's 20th anniversary.

Discography

  • 1990: Cordelia's Dad (OKra)
  • 1992: How Can I Sleep? (Okra)
  • 1993: The Joy Fun Garden (Return to Sender, limited release)
  • 1995: Comet (Omnium)
  • 1996: Road Kill (Scenesof, live album)
  • 1998: Spine (Appleseed)
  • 2002: What It Is (Kimchee)
  • 2003: Jane / Promise / Closing Year (3-song EP; Dark Beloved Cloud)

Web links

credentials

  • Colin Larkin: "Cordelia's Dad" (band profile), The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music , p. 938, Guinness World Records Limited; 2nd Rev Ed (1995). ISBN 0-85112-662-6
  • Irwin Stambler, Lyndon Stambler: "Cordelia's Dad" (band profile), Folk and Blues: The Premier Encyclopedia of American Roots Music , St. Martin's Press (2001). ISBN 0-312-20057-9
  • Stewart Mason: Cordelia's Dad Biography , Allmusic [1] .
  • Michael Ruff: " Cordelia's Dad " (review), Spex December 1990, pp. 55f.
  • Jörg Heiser: " How Can I Sleep " (review), Spex January 1993, p. 80.
  • Paul A. Harris, "Quick Change Act: Cordelia's Dad Moves From Pure to Punk," St. Louis Post-Dispatch , March 10, 1995. (via Factiva)
  • Wolfgang Doebeling : " Comet (Vinyl)" (Review) Rolling Stone (German Edition), April 1995 [2] .
  • Bill Eichenberger: "Playlist: Comet Leaves Dark Trail From Our Past", The Columbus Dispatch , July 6, 1995. (via Factiva)
  • Edinburgh Evening News : "Reviews - Tim Eriksen - Folk ready to be punk-rocked to its foundations", April 3, 2002. (via Factiva)
  • Larry Katz, "The shape note of things to come," Boston Herald , December 26, 2003. (via Factiva)
  • Randy Harward, " What It Is " (Review) CMJ New Music Monthly Issue 765, June 3, 2002.
  • Chuck Eddy: "Cordelia's Dad; A Thousand Times Yes; Sullen" (Reviews), Village Voice 8-14. October 2003 [3] .