Kurt Vile (born 1980 in Philadelphia) is an American guitarist and singer. Previously the lead guitarist in the band The War on Drugs, he began his solo career in 2008. Though his name is sometimes assumed to be a pseudonym due to its similarity to German composer Kurt Weill, it is in fact his birth name, as given by his parents Donna and Charles Vile. Vile began his musical career in 2003 creating lo-fi home recordings with frequent collaborator Adam Granduciel.
Complex organisms that continually evolve, shape-shift and then vanish entirely, only to re-appear in an altered form, can be challenging to define. What if an organism has never been dissected clearly understood or expertly marketed like a can of Coke or a Led Zeppelin? What now, if this organism avoids catchy mythical cliques like 'art collective' or 'super-group,' skating by these categories with more credentials than necessary to top each list.
John Aloysius Fahey (February 28, 1939 – February 22, 2001) was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitive Guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres.
Coil (1982–2004) was initially established in London in 1983 as an experimental solo outlet for ex-Psychic TV member John Balance, and became a full-fledged experimental sonic manipulation unit a year later following the arrival of keyboardist / programmer Peter Christopherson (Sleazy), a founder of Psychic TV as well as a member of Throbbing Gristle. After debuting with the 17-minute ritual recording How to Destroy Angels, Balance and Sleazy recruited the aid of Possession’s Stephen Thrower, J.
Mark Fell and Mat Steel formed SND in 1998 and were quickly placed at the forefront of new digital minimalism. With a series of influential releases on their own label SND and on the now defunct Frankfurt Mille Plateaux, SND pioneered a sound that combined the linear minimalism of Ryoji Ikeda and Oval, with the rhythmic geometry of techno artists such as Thomas Brinkmann or Derrick May. SND promote an approach to the organization of sound, space and form that owes more to origami than any time based medium.