


Dessau is much more natural and noisy than the stark, slower, hyper-precise versions later recorded with Doug Scharin, the powerhouse drummer who replaced Chris Brokaw. "Jr." and "Realize" - later released on the Barely Real EP - are beautiful but somewhat faithful reproductions, while the songs that would eventually end up on The White Birch are startlingly different. Recorded in June 1992 at Harold Dessau Recording studio in New York City, the album consists almost entirely of alternate versions of songs that were later rerecorded. Listening to Dessau, a newly released "lost" album, is akin to reliving a memory I can no longer fully access: I know all the words and chords, the details are all the same and, yet, somehow everything is different. There was quite simply nothing else like it. Limited edition box set, includes extensive histories for each album, indroductory essays, unseen photography and a fold-out discography poster.When Codeine released the Frigid Stars LP in 1990, the New York City band single-handedly invented what would later - somewhat cloyingly - become known as "slowcore." Predating influential albums by kindred spirits Low and Bedhead by almost half a decade, Codeine's glacially slow, but immense songs supported lyrics that were like a disturbingly pure embodiment of depression.
Codeine frigid stars download plus#
'All three of Codeine's seminal Sub Pop records - Frigid Stars LP, Barely Real, The White Birch - newly remastered, plus 27 bonus tracks. The box set features no additional tracks, but does come with a 5' x 1' fold-out poster of the band's complete discography and a tidy box that holds all three albums National Geographic-style. Additionally, an ultra deluxe box set of all three albums is available in a limited edition of 1000 copies. Each album will be packaged as a double album with a CD of the same material. The albums have been faithfully restored from the original masters, and are accompanied by a plethora of singles, demos, live recordings, and Peel sessions. 1991's Frigid Stars LP, 1992's Barely Real, and 1994's The White Birch received much critical praise upon release, but Codeine dissolved before any of that hype would carry Low, Bedhead, and the Red House Painters to international acclaim.Īll three albums will have subjected to Numero's notoriously elaborate packaging and detailed liner notes, including essays by Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman, Love Child's Alan Licht, and the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd. Following the demise of Come, original drummer Chris Brokaw became a solo artist and itinerant guitarist, most recently (2007) with Thurson Moore Sonic Youth.įrom 1990-1994, New York City's Codeine were making somnambulant waves on a musical landscape reeling from Sub Pop's better known exports. Doug Scharin continued in Rex and June of 44, and later as the band leader of HiM. David Grubbs also participated on the album. A somewhat different full-band version of the song appears on Codeine's next album, now titled Wird.īrokaw left the band after the release of Barely Real to play full-time with his other band Come, and was replaced by drummer Doug Scharin.Ĭodeine's next and final release was the full-length album The White Birch, released in 1994. is a solo performance on piano by David Grubbs (of Bastro, Squirrel Bait and Gastr del Sol). Some of these songs would be re-recorded for the final album. Immerwahr rejected several of the songs after the recording session. Their second release, the short album Barely Real was issued in 1992.

The album was released on Sub Pop the following year.

The band's original tone, marked by slow tempos, Immerwahr's nasal vocals, and Engle's ringing Telecaster, did not evolve much during their career.Ĭodeine released their first album Frigid Stars on the German label Glitterhouse in 1990. Codeine pioneered the Slowcore and Sadcore subgenres of Indie Rock, but with a more experimental attitude than other bands in the genre, such as Low, Idaho and Red House Painters. Codeine is an American Indie Rock/Slowcore band formed in 1989 by members Stephen Immerwahr (vocal, bass), Chris Brokaw (drums), and John Engle (guitar).
