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Slowcore

Atlanta, San Francisco, 4AD

Red House Painters

Mark Kozelek and drummer Anthony Koutsos started Red House Painters in Atlanta in 1988 and moved to San Francisco a year later, where Jerry Vessel and Gorden Mack joined. Mark Eitzel of American Music Club passed their demo to journalist Martin Aston, who sent it on to Ivo Watts-Russell at 4AD. Ivo remembered a tape ninety minutes long, and he phoned Kozelek after hearing it. The band signed in 1992, and their first album was built straight from those demos. In 1993 they released two albums both called Red House Painters, which fans tell apart as Rollercoaster and Bridge. Ocean Beach followed in 1995. A later album finished in 1998 sat on the shelf through label mergers until Sub Pop put it out in 2001.

Duluth, Minnesota, 1993

Low

Low started in Duluth, Minnesota, early in 1993, built around Alan Sparhawk on guitar and Mimi Parker on drums, a married couple who sang together. Parker played a stripped-down kit, often standing, and their harmonies over very slow tempos defined the band. Kramer produced the first two albums, Steve Albini recorded Secret Name and Things We Lost in the Fire for Kranky, and Dave Fridmann made The Great Destroyer, their first album for Sub Pop, in 2005. The bass changed hands several times over the years, from John Nichols and Zak Sally to Steve Garrington. Late in their career Double Negative and Hey What broke the songs up with distortion and noise. Parker died in November 2022, and Sparhawk later confirmed that Low had ended with her.

San Francisco, Mark Eitzel

American Music Club

Mark Eitzel founded American Music Club in San Francisco in the early 1980s. Over the years the band settled around Vudi on guitar, Danny Pearson on bass, Tim Mooney on drums and Bruce Kaphan on pedal steel, with Tom Mallon producing and sometimes playing. Their early records came out on small labels and the British label Demon. After Everclear in 1991, Rolling Stone named Eitzel songwriter of the year. Major labels followed with Mercury in 1993 and another album in 1994, both of which charted in Britain, but the band split in 1995. Eitzel also passed Red House Painters' first demo to 4AD. AMC reunited in 2003, made two more albums on Merge and Cooking Vinyl, and finally stopped in 2010.

The Collection