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Aarktica

 
Artist: Aarktica
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Similar Artists:

Pale Horse and Rider, Mahogany Blue, Low & Slow
  • Genres: Electronica
  • Representative Albums: "No Solace in Sleep", "Bleeding Light", "Matchless Years
  • Representative Songs: "Out to Sea", "Ocean", "Williamsburg Counterpoint

Biography

Aarktica is one of several projects from Jon DeRosa. His other work includes the acoustic folk of Dead Leaves Rising, the country-esque Pale Horse and Rider, and playing guitar for Flare, a chamber pop band led by L.D. Beghtol (also a member of the Moth Wranglers and part-time member of Magnetic Fields). In addition to his recording achievements, DeRosa graduated from the music technology program at NYU, where he studied composition with Kenneth Valitsky, a former student of electronic pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Aarktica began in winter 1998 in Brooklyn, NY, and is part of the Clairaudience Collective in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. After playing in punk and hardcore bands while a teenager, DeRosa was inspired by artists on ambient goth label Projekt. He soon released No Solace in Sleep on Silber, followed by the Morning One EP on Ochre. Released in early 2002 as volume 18 of Darla's Bliss Out series, Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life and Be Happy Anyway featured contributions from Lorraine Lelis of Mahogany and downtempo/IDM DJ Aaron Spectre. In February 2003, Aarktica returned to Silber Records with Pure Tone Audiometry, an album that intersected gentle lullabies with atonal screeds and feverish percussion with sedate drones. Pure Tone Audiometry was co-produced by Flare's Charles Newman, and included contributions from Plexus bassist Ernie Adzentovich, and Mahogany's Andrew Prinz and Lorraine Lelis on cello and vocals, respectively. In February 2005, Aarktica released Bleeding Light, a conceptual dedication to New York, and after moving to Southern California, he began working on Matchless Years, which was released on November 13, 2007. ~ Kenyon Hopkin, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Aarktica
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Aarktica
Origin New York, New York, United States
Genres Indie rock
Years active 1998–present

Aarktica is a musical collective based in New York City which was initially a pseudonym for Jon DeRosa, the collective's principal member.

Contents

Origin

Aarktica was conceived in the winter of 1998 with DeRosa's permanent loss of hearing in one ear as a distraction from his other musical interests. As his hearing loss became less of a distraction and more of a new way of listening, Aarktica became a means to execute the soundtrack of the life in mono now thrust upon him. One of audio distortions, aural hallucinations and a reliance on painkillers. The outfit's debut album, No Solace in Sleep, was recorded on a dying 4-track cassette recorder in various New York University dorm rooms and released on Silber Records in 2000.

After releasing the now out-of-print Morning One EP on Ochre Records in the UK, Aarktica signed to Darla Records and released Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life and Be Happy Anyway (Bliss Out v.18) in 2002 and Pure Tone Audiometry in 2003. These releases would combine lo-fi electro and shoegaze, with the ambient textures of modern composers like Morton Feldman and Ingram Marshall, defining Aarktica's innovative drone-pop hybrid.

Roster

Over the years, Aarktica has evolved from a solo project into a collective. While DeRosa remains the principal member, the project regularly features a revolving lineup of musicians, so that drones and textures arise from the timbres of the ensemble, not solely from reverb units and delay pedals. Recent members include:

  • Aaron Spectre (beats/sequences, Drumcorps/AdNoiseam Records)
  • Chris Carrico (guitar)
  • James Duncan (trumpet, of Le Systeme Records)
  • Mike Pride (drums, of Dynamite Club)
  • Nate Wooley (trumpet)
  • Harry Rosenblum (saxophone)
  • Ernest Adzentoivich (upright bass, Plexus)
  • Seth Misterka (saxophone, of Dynasty).

Additional past contributors have included Andrew Prinz & Lorraine Lelis (Mahogany) and Gretta Cohen (cello, of Cursive).

Aarktica's fourth full-length release, Bleeding Light, was released in April 2005 on Darla Records, followed by a limited split 12" with Aaron Spectre on Berlin's Moonbunny Records. In 2007, Aarktica released their fifth full-length recording, Matchless Years, with producer Charles Newman, best known for his work with The Magnetic Fields.

Discography

  • No Solace in Sleep (2000)
  • Morning One EP (2001)
  • …or you could just go through your whole life and be happy anyway (2002)
  • Pure Tone Audiometry (2003)
  • Bleeding Light (2005)
  • Matchless Years (2007)
  • In Sea (2009)

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
Learn More
Morning One (2000 Album by Aarktica)
These Are the New Good Times (2003 Album by Pale Horse and Rider)
Pure Tone Audiometry (2003 Album by Aarktica)

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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Aarktica".  Read more

 

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