soulRocks » garage rock

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

soulrocks — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:08:13 +0000

Discovered in the wake of the Strokes‘ popularity and the subsequent garage rock revival, New York’s art punk trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are comprised of singer Karen O, guitarist Nicolas Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. O met Chase at Ohio’s Oberlin College and met Zinner through friends after she transferred to NYU. Zinner andO formed the band in 2000; originally, they were a folky duo called Unitard, but they went electric after being inspired by Ohio’s legendary avant punk scene. After the drummer they recruited initially bowed out, Chase joined the lineup.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs wrote a slew of songs at their first rehearsal and soon wound up supporting the Strokes and the White Stripes, earning a significant buzz for their arty yet sexy take on garage punk. In late 2001, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their self-titled debut EP, which they recorded with Boss Hog‘s Jerry Teel, on their own Shifty label. Early the next year the band stepped into the international spotlight, appearing at South by Southwest, touring the U.S. with Girls Against Boys and Europe with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and headlining their own U.K. tour. Wichita Recordings distributed the group’s EP in the U.K. and Touch and Go reissued it in the States.

www.yeahyeahyeahs.com

The Strokes

soulrocks — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:46:20 +0000

Equally inspired by classic tunesmiths like Buddy Holly and John Lennon as well as the attitude and angular riffs of fellow New Yorkers Television and the Velvet Underground, the Strokes were also equally blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype — particularly from the U.K. music press, whose adulation for the group rivaled their fervor for Oasis in the early ’90s. Barely in their twenties by the time their debut album, Is This It, arrived in 2001, singer/songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti‘s success wasn’t quite of the overnight variety, but it still arrived pretty swiftly.

www.thestrokes.com

Cody ChesnuTT

soulrocks — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:02:09 +0000

Cody Chesnutt was beginning to live the life every struggling musician dreams about. His band The Crosswalk was signed to Hollywood Records and had completed a debut album “Venus Loves A Melody” when problems arose. Victims of label politics, The Crosswalk was sent packing and Chesnutt’s band broke apart. Cody retreated to the comfort of his bedroom studio; the Sonic Promise land. Alone and armed with an array of instruments, one microphone and a 4-track, his project developed. This informal, lo-tech setting allowed the Atlanta-native to capture the honest passion of his creative energy on his debut “The Headphone Masterpiece” The Roots’ album ” Phrenology” featured him collaborating with the band on their version of his song “The Seed.” Chestnutt also produced and co-wrote two songs on “Southern Discomfort”, the debut album by Epic Records Artist Rehab.