Gastr del Sol

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Gastr del Sol
General information
Genre (s) Post rock , musique concrète
founding 1991
resolution 1998
Founding members
David Grubbs

Gastr del Sol was a band from Chicago ( USA ) that consisted of two members David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke for most of their existence . Between 1993 and 1998 they released seven albums, stylistically ranging from post rock (with which they were primarily associated) to musique concrète .

history

David Grubbs, a former band member of Squirrel Bait and Bastro , founded Gastr del Sol in 1991. The first album, The Serpentine Similar , was released in 1993. The original constellation of the band was briefly expanded by Bastro's bass guitarist and drummer Bundy K Brown and John McEntire, who left the band in 1994 to join Tortoise . That same year, Jim O'Rourke joined Gastr del Sol. The band was now mainly carried by Grubbs and O'Rourke, who expanded them with constantly changing guest musicians. John McEntire also continued to work on various recordings, although he was no longer an official member of the band.

Most of the releases were on Drag City Records , starting with the 1994 album Crookt, Crackt, or Fly . Work From Smoke , the central piece on this album, also includes Grubbs and O'Rourke's penchant for atonal guitar sounds and grubbs accompanied by bass clarinets increasingly surreal song lyrics.

Two new releases followed in 1995. Elements of electronic music were incorporated into the Mirror Repair EP . The Harp Factory on Lake Street can be considered their most experimental work; it is a work for chamber orchestra with sparsely interspersed vocal passages and piano sounds recorded by Grubbs.

On the 1996 album Upgrade & Afterlife , O'Rourke and Grubbs vary their musical approaches in further directions. The piece Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity" is reminiscent of film music (there is also a longer sample from the film The Incredible Story of Mister C. ). It also contains its own extended interpretation of John Fahey's piece Dry Bones in the Valley , with Tony Conrad as a guest on the violin .

With the release of the album Camoufleur in 1996, Gastr del Sol ventured further into the realm of conventional music, producing their most easily accessible and most popular album. His chord patterns, melody sequences and the use of the flugelhorn already give an idea of O'Rourke's later musical development towards Future Pop . Markus Popp, a member of the Clicks & Cuts project Oval , put his electronic stamp on the album.

After the release of Camoufleur , Gastr del Sol broke up. Grubbs and O'Rourke continued to release albums under their own names in the fields of rock , pop and experimental music.

Discography

Albums

  • The Serpentine Similar (1993)
  • 20 Songs Less (1993)
  • Crookt, Crackt, or Fly (1994)
  • Mirror Repair (1995)
  • The Harp Factory on Lake Street (1995)
  • Upgrade & Afterlife (1996)
  • Camoufleur (1998)

EPs

  • Mirror Repair (1994)

Singles

  • The Harp Factory on Lake Street (1995)

Web links