Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
Largely passed by in the alternative music sweepstakes of the mid-'90s, Acetone pursued indie rock with influences from two of their Southern California forebears, the Beach Boys and Gram Parsons, with plenty of the Velvet Underground thrown in as well. Officially formed in 1992 by guitarist Mark Lightcap, bassist Richie Lee and drummer Steve... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s
Slowcore pioneers Bedhead were led by guitarist siblings Matt and Bubba Kadane, whose musical collaboration dated back to their years spent growing up in Wichita Falls, TX. The brothers continued writing and recording together even after Matt left home in 1985 to attend school in Dallas, and by 1990 they were playing in a band which also... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
Following the 1991 breakup of the seminal trio Galaxie 500, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang planned to retire from music; stung by the group's bitter disintegration and left without a label due to the bankruptcy of Rough Trade, after issuing a lone 1991 EP under the name Pierre Etoile, the couple opted to concentrate on running... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s
Gastr del Sol was the most prominent vehicle of indie-rock stalwart David Grubbs, a former member of Squirrel Bait, Slint, and Bastro. With Gastr del Sol, the Louisville, KY-born vocalist/guitarist/pianist's evolution from conventional rock music into more intricate and sophisticated tone patterns became complete; debuting with the 1993 EP The... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s
Helium is essentially the project of Mary Timony, formerly of the girl punk band Autoclave. Helium formed in 1992 with Brian Dunton on bass and Shawn King Devlin and started releasing 7"s like 1993's The American Jean. 1994 saw the band release the Pirate Prude EP, an interesting but somewhat inaccessible exercise in mixing radical feminism with... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
Indie folk-pop band Ida formed in New York in 1992 around the core duo of singers/guitarists Daniel Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell. Littleton emerged in 1985 as a member of the Annapolis, MA-based punk group the Hated; after their 1989 demise, he continued in a series of bands including Three Shades of Dirty, Choke and Slack, which also... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
One of the most prolific, consistent, and unsung acts of the slowcore movement, California's Idaho centers itself around four-string guitarist and vocalist Jeff Martin, a talented songwriter who has gained comparisons to Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), and Neil Young from the few journalists that have paid... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 90s, 00s
Singer/songwriter Lois Maffeo long reigned as one of the most respected voices in American indie-pop -- a key proponent of the Pacific Northwest's love-rock scene, her spare, lo-fi sound and steadfast adherence to underground ethos blazed a trail for the countless female acts to emerge in her wake. A native of Phoenix, AZ, Maffeo began attending... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
Formed in Duluth, Minnesota in 1994, Low was perhaps the slowest of the so-called "slowcore" bands -- delicate, austere, and hypnotic, the trio's music rarely rose above a whisper, divining its dramatic tension in the unsettling open spaces created by the absence of sound. Initially comprising the husband and wife team of guitarist/vocalist Alan... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
Seam began as a trio out of Chapel Hill, NC, with Sooyoung Park (guitars/vocals) and Lexi Mitchell (bass) of Bitch Magnet and Mac McCaughan (drums) of Superchunk. Their first album, Headsparks, released in 1992, was filled with the slow, affecting melodies and vocals that would become their trademark. After the release of that record, McCaughan... [+] Read More