 |
|
Bathysphere is a band based in Brooklyn, NY, led by childhood friends Trevor Bajus and Alex Minott. They met in a suburban Philadelphia geometry class in the mid-eighties. Rather than pay attention, Trevor wrote comics and prevailed upon Alex to illustrate them. They nearly failed geometry as a result.
Soon after, Alex discovered the Cocteau Twins and the Eno/Fripp tape loop collaborations. He found it difficult to pry the Black Sabbath and Gary Numan records out of Trevor's hands, but after a concerted effort, they found themselves fascinated by the Yamaha MT120 four track, analog delay, the Alesis HR-16 drum machine run through distortion, and the two seconds of sampling time on the Quadraverb+. |
Fed on a diet of 4AD and Dischord releases, the two filled what amounted to 6 cubic feet of cassette tapes in the early 90s before Trevor moved to NYC after graduating from college. Alex stayed in Philly to finish out the Cresson scholarship he was awarded in art school. Trevor soon talked him into moving to Brooklyn where Alex took up residence in Trevor's living room.
By this time, Trevor had formed/joined/broken up/gotten kicked out of several bands (Eiffel Tower, Skycam, Volley, Hayseed, among others), shared the stage with a lot of great bands (The National, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Joe Pernice, Nicole Atkins and The Sea, Clem Snide, Luna, Rainer Maria, Longwave, Poster Children) and played in a lot of great places (Irving Plaza, Mercury Lounge, Knitting Factory, Northsix, Brownies). He'd seen a quite a few faces, and rocked a sizable percentage of them.
After leaving Ben Wheelock's band Eiffel Tower, Trevor talked Alex into playing a minimal drum kit and programming for a backlog of slow minimal material that was equal parts Velvet Underground, John Lee Hooker, Low, 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' era Neil Young, and a warped Afghan Whigs 78 played at 33. Alex wasn't a drummer, but this did not prove to be an impediment.
The two form the core of Bathysphere's skeletal setup- Alex playing a snare, floor tom and ride cymbal with his hands and the subsonic bass parts on foot pedals, while Trevor sings and plays guitar and organ. The samples and noise loops of their youth rear their ugly heads. Alex's bass parts occupy the frequency spectrum below the bass guitar, tectonic and felt as much as heard, propelling Trevor's quavering, naive vocal. The songs crawl by at double digit tempos, the slow elegiac melancholy periodically shattered by corrosive guitar breaks and feedback.
They have finished their first EP, which can be downloaded online @ http://www.bathyspheremusic.com |