Echo Orbiter

Echo Orbiter

Echo Orbiter performing at Johnny Brenda's Philadelphia, 2010
Background information
Origin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genres Indie rock, lo-fi, dream pop, shoegazing
Years active 1996–present
Labels Looking Glass Workshop
Associated acts of Montreal, The Three 4 Tens, Medicine, Lilys
Website Echo Orbiter on Myspace
Members Justin Emerle
Colin Emerle
Jeremiah Steffen
Rob Hart
Past members Bryan Michael (Alka)

Echo Orbiter is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, based indie rock band founded by brothers Justin Emerle and Colin Emerle, described by Philadelphia Weekly as being "Widely considered two of the most inventive songwriters on the Philadelphia scene."[1]

History

Early years

Echo Orbiter formed in 1996 in Westville, New Jersey when brothers Justin Emerle and Colin Emerle began performing with drummer Jeremiah Steffen.[2] Still in high school, the band entered Miner St. Studios in Philadelphia to record their first album, A Moment In Life That’s Right.[3][4] Engineered by Brian McTear, the album was “a consistent incorporation of pleasingly-textured pop tunes.”[5] with what one writer called a resemblance to “Guided by Voices when they made albums that didn’t suck.”[6]

Echo Orbiter performing in 2010

Soon after the release of their first album, the appearance of the track “Spring is Here” on a compilation of Philadelphia’s newly emerging indie bands helped EO gain a spot at the Philadelphia PopFest in 1998 and 1999, and a headlining spot at the PopFest in 2000.[7][8] The band received widespread coverage after “group members pummeled a giant cardboard robot head, obliterated a couple of guitars and violently dismantled their drum kit,” while destroying the venue’s stage equipment in a “Who-like” manner at the 1999 PopFest.[9]

The band re-entered Miner St./Cycle Sound Studios in 1999 and recorded their second album, Laughing All The While, which was again engineered by Brian McTear and partly co-engineered by Kurt Heasley of Lilys.[8][10] At this time, EO began to associate with the Elephant 6 Collective,[11] appearing on compilations with of Montreal, often performing with Beulah, of Montreal, and the Minders, and releasing a split-45 with Calvin, Don't Jump!.[12][13][14][15]

In 2001 the band was in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, touring with the Starlight Mints, when the September 11th attacks abruptly ended the tour. Following the broken tour, along with the theft of their instruments, EO discontinued playing live shows altogether, last performing in Providence, Rhode Island, September 18, 2001 and not returning until 9 years later to the day.[4]

2001 to 2010

Although no longer performing live, brothers Justin and Colin continued to record prolifically.[16] During this period the band recorded music for Eventide Production’s short-film Mortality and Get-Kinetic’s short-film 4.50 [17][18] and appeared on over a dozen compilations by various record labels,[19] including their “life affirming” cover of Medicine's “Never Click” on Never Lose That Feeling released in the United Kingdom and Japan on Claire Records and on Club AC30 in the United States.[20][21]

During this time EO also recorded 6 albums, 3 EP's, 5 singles, and 9 full-length compilation albums to accompany the albums and EP's,[4][22] “clocking up 15 years at the coalface of indiedom”[23] with a prolific "collection of superb three-minute pop bursts...."[24]

2010-present

In 2010 Echo Orbiter released their ninth Studio album, Euphonicmontage.[25] The album’s experimental nature mixed a range of influences from writer Ayn Rand to The Flaming Lips.[15] The album was recorded to reflect the same Cubist style of Picasso’s paintings in music form and was described as “an innovative landmark in the world of indie rock.”[26] In 2010 EO also appeared on Sick of the Radio’s New Wave Moons: R. Stevie Moore Tribute along with Ariel Pink and XTC’s Dave Gregory,[27][28] and represented the United States on Indiecater Record’s Fast Forward compilation for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[29][30]

Working along with Green Light Go Publicity to promote Euphonicmontage,[31] Echo Orbiter played their first show in 9 years at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia with Joe Jack Talcum of The Dead Milkmen on September 18, 2010, 9 years to the day of their last show, and were highlighted as a Cover Story in the Music Issue of the Philadelphia City Paper.[4][32] They followed up the year with More Batteries, an EP recorded entirely on a hacked iPhone.[33]

In 2012, EO appeared along with artists including Sean Lennon, Matt Pond, Cornershop, Elf Power, and Ra Ra Riot in Rock Torch Volume One, a book of artists on artists,[34][35] and released a free EP called Aerosol Power, which was recorded in a cabin in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania during the winter of 2011 on a four-track reel-to-reel.[36][37] They are working on their 10th studio album set for release in 2014.[38]

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Compilation appearances

Short-film music

Echo Orbiter full-length compilations

References

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