CODEINE / BEDHEAD - ATMOSPHERE /DISORDER

American indie rock band formed in New York in 1989 by members Stephen Immerwahr (vocal, bass), Chris Brokaw (drums) and John Engle (guitar). Codeine pioneered the slowcore and sadcore subgenres of indie rock, but with a more experimental attitude than other bands in the genre, such as Low, Idaho and Red House Painters. The band's original tone, marked by slow tempos, Immerwahr's nasal and apathetic vocals, and Engle's ringing Telecaster, did not evolve much during their career. Codeine released their first album Frigid Stars on the German label Glitterhouse in 1990. The album was released on Sub Pop the following year. Their second release, the Barely Real EP was issued in 1992. Immerwahr rejected several of the songs after the recording session. Some of these songs were re-recorded for the final album. The song w. is a solo performance on piano by David Grubbs (of Bastro, Squirrel Bait and Gastr del Sol). A somewhat different full-band version of the song appears on Codeine's next album, but titled Wird. Brokaw left the band after the release of Barely Real to play full-time with his other band Come. He was replaced by Douglas Scharin of the band Rex. Codeine's next and final release was the full-length album The White Birch, released in 1994. David Grubbs also participated on the album. After this release the band broke up. Stephen Immerwahr has since then been playing with the band Raymond, while Douglas Scharin continued in June of 44 and later HiM. The band reformed in May 2012 for a Mogwai-curated ATP I'll Be Your Mirror in London. They played their final reunion show in July 2012 in New York. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Bedhead was a slowcore band from Dallas, Texas active in the 1990s (1991-1998). Their first album, WhatFunLifeWas, is often cited on critics' lists as one of the best indie albums of the 1990s. Bedhead's music was generally subdued, with a polyphonic sound based on the interlocking of single-line melodies played by three electric guitars and one electric bass guitar (often played with a capo), nearly always using clean (undistorted) tones. The group's vocals were often delivered in such a low key manner that they were quite difficult to decipher. This unusual sound was dubbed by some critics as "slo-core," referring to the slow tempos of many of the band's songs, a label to which band members objected in interviews. In reality, many of the group's songs do not remain slow and quiet throughout, instead beginning very slowly and quietly and gradually building in intensity and volume. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.