Joy Zipper is an indie pop duo from Long Island, New York, made up of Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso. Partners in songwriting, as well as in real life, the duo have been crafting summery, ethereal dream pop since the late 1990s. The band is named for Tindale's mother. Their songs are underpinned with darker scarred lyrics (suggested in interviews to have been inspired by the death of Cafiso's father) causing them to be famously compared to, 'a candy apple with a razor blade inside'.
The Residents is an experimental music and visual arts group from Louisiana, United States, largely shrouded in mystery and myth. The Residents began recording in 1967, although many of these recordings from their early years have still gone unreleased to this day. The earliest material from the group, traded among bootlegs, was recorded around 1969. In 1972, the group adopted the name The Residents and issued their first official release, Santa Dog.
Craig Leon (born 7 January 1952) is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many recording artists including The Ramones and Blondie Active in pop music production from 1974–1998, Leon has focused on classical composition, orchestration, arrangement and recording from 1998 to the present. His work appears on many classical recordings with artists including Luciano Pavarotti
Bill Callahan, born in Silver Spring, Maryland. Callahan followed the lo-fi genre of underground rock, with homemade tape-albums recorded on four track tape recorders. Later he signed a record contract with the label Drag City. Callahan started out as a highly experimental artist, utilizing sub-standard instruments and recording equipment. His reason for using the lo-fi approach was not so much an aesthetic choice, rather it came from his lack of knowledge of recording studios, and fear of giving up control to professional engineers.