Artist:
Atlas Sound |
Similar Artists:
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Formal Connection With:
Discography:
Atlas Sound |
Wikipedia:
Bradford Cox |
| Bradford Cox | |
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 Bradford Cox performing in Boston, April 25th, 2007.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bradford James Cox |
| Also known as | Atlas Sound |
| Born | May 15, 1982 (age 27) |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Genres | Experimental rock, ambient, shoegaze, electronic, pop, psychedelic |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Voice, electric and acoustic guitar, percussion, bells, tape, electric bass, drums |
| Years active | 1994 - present |
| Labels | HOSS Records, Rob's House Records, Kranky, 4AD, K Records |
| Associated acts | Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Lotus Plaza, Ghetto Cross, Black Lips |
| Website | Deerhunter blog |
Bradford James Cox (born 1982 in Athens, Georgia), is an American musician who is the lead singer of Atlanta, Georgia-based psychedelic and ambient band Deerhunter, and is known for his solo project Atlas Sound. Cox formed Deerhunter with drummer Moses Archuleta in 2001. The band has released 4 LP's and several singles and EP's. Atlas Sound is a name Cox has used since he was ten to refer to his own music, but his first full-length produced under the name was Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel, released in 2008. Cox's method of creating music is stream-of-consciousness, and he does not write lyrics in advance.
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Cox founded Deerhunter with bassist Paul Harper and drummer Dan Walton (who named the band) in early 2001. The band expanded after Cox met a teenage transient, Moses Archuleta, who was sleeping on the floor of Cox's friends. Archuleta initially played Acetone Organ and electronics. The bands first shows were experimental and based on improvisation. Cox continued recording slightly more structured material and releasing it on CD-R and cassette usng the name Atlas Sound. Paul Harper moved to Ohio and was replaced by Justin Bosworth. At this point Colin Mee also joined the band on guitar. Dan Walton left and Cox suggested Archuleta move to drums. The bands live shows and recordings became more song-oriented. They recorded their debut 7" for Die Slaughterhaus. Josh Fauver joined the band in 2004 after Bosworth died in a freak skateboarding accident. This lineup recorded Deerhunter's debut LP on Atlanta label Stickfigure. Cox suggested Lockett Pundt, who he befriended while attending Harrison High School (Georgia) join the band on guitar so that he could concentrate on vocals and electronics. This lineup recorded their breakthrough record, 2007's Cryptograms. Colin Mee left the band after failing to show up for a North American tour. The band are now a four piece consisting of Cox on guitar and vocals, Pundt on guitar and occasional vocals, Fauver on Bass, and Archuleta on Drums.
"Atlas Sound" is the musical solo project of Cox, although he has used the name to represent his music since he was a child. He had access to a cassette player with two tape decks, which he used to layer guitar and drum sounds, and his own voice. In listening to some of these old tapes (of which Cox believes he has over five hundred in storage) he found "Some of it is absolutely, terrifyingly bad, but sometimes I'm just like, 'Wow, that's cool.' That's actually how some Deerhunter songs happened. 'Spring Hall Convert' [from Cryptograms] was like that. That was a tape I made in ninth or tenth grade." Cox writes his music stream-of-consciousness, not writing lyrics in advance, and constructing songs by adding more parts until he feels "it's getting crowded."[1] The name of his project is derived from the brand of tape player he used, Atlas Sound.[2]
Cox began Atlas Sound in the wake of his work with Deerhunter because "I have ideas that I can't make work with a five piece rock band...There's kind of this palette of sounds that I use that I don't necessarily get to use with Deerhunter."[3] Because the music Deerhunter makes is a collaborative effort, Cox does not want to assert himself as its principal songwriter. "I might have an idea for a fragment of a song, but I want to leave it skeletal so the guys can fill it out. Whereas with Atlas Sound, everything is done in an hour." Cox created the music for his first record in the software Ableton Live, utilizing an array of computer-based instruments, as well as his own live recordings.[4]
To date, there have been two full-length releases by Cox as Atlas Sound: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel in 2008, and Logos in 2009. The lyrics of Let the Blind Lead are autobiographical in nature, reflecting life experiences of Cox.[4] In discussing his second album, Cox characterized his first as being a "bedroom laptop type thing" and "Very introverted." In contrast, Logos was written in several parts of the world, and is "not about me. There are collaborations with other musicians. The lyrics are not autobiographical. The view is a lot more panoramic and less close-up. I became bored with introspection."[5] An unfinished version of Logos was leaked onto the internet in August 2009, two months before its intended release date.[6] In response, Cox almost ceased production on the record, later saying "I did not react well to the leak, in retrospect. It became the kind of internet-fueled drama that I was quickly learning to despise."[5]
Cox has also recorded as part of other bands, such as the short lived "Wet Dreams", an otherwise all-girl garage / noise band in which he played drums. He also recorded several tracks on the Black Lips second album We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow, playing drums on the song "Notown Blues" from that album. Regarding this album, Bradford said in an interview: "People look at what’s successful, and what’s successful is what’s easy on the ears, things that aren’t challenging," he says. "Nobody wants to listen to something that sounds awkward and makes you cringe because it’s real personal or idiosyncratic. People just want to hear things that sounds familiar already to them. I make really accessible pop stuff, but at the same time I have no problem making something creepy or just odd."[7]
Cox was born in 1982 in Athens, Georgia with the genetic disorder Marfan syndrome.[8] As a teenager, he dropped out of high school (although later earned a GED) and his parents divorced, leaving him "to live in my childhood home alone. I literally lived in this large suburban house by myself." Cox has called his changing music taste growing up reflective of his life and mental state. Around the age of ten, Cox's disorder began to affect his body in more visible ways; this is the point at which he "first started looking awkward." With no friends, Cox became interested in how music could sound "heartbreaking or nostalgic or melancholy"; he identified with the character Edward from the film Edward Scissorhands, and especially enjoyed the soundtrack, which was composed by Danny Elfman. Cox's tastes shifted to music that was more "monotonous or hypnotic", such as the Stereolab album Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements. Around twenty years of age, his life situation brought about "a period", during which he became "only interested in this certain sort of suburban psychedelic pastoral thing. It was escapism. I didn't want as much emotional manipulation. It's kind of the opposite of Edward Scissorhands."[9]
With Deerhunter:
As Atlas Sound:
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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