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Oxbow (band)

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Oxbow
The band on stage in 2004
The band on stage in 2004
Background information
Also known asOx Bow (1988-1991)
OriginSan Francisco, California
GenresExperimental rock, noise rock
Years active1988–2024
LabelsHydra Head, Neurot Recordings, Ipecac Recordings, SST Records, Brinkman Records, Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records, CFY Records
Past members
  • Eugene S. Robinson
  • Niko Wenner
  • Greg Davis
  • Dan Adams
  • Tom Dobrov
Websitewww.theoxbow.com

Oxbow was an American experimental rock band from San Francisco, California. Founded in 1988, the band released eight studio albums, disbanding in 2024.

History

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Oxbow began as a recording project of Eugene Robinson who wanted to record a solo album as his planned suicidal note. Eugene started to record bass and drums by himself but realized that he's not good at either instrument. Eugene started to work on the album with sound engineer Bart Thurber, who was a former guitarist in Eugene's band Whipping Boy. But Eugene, after realizing that he "had zero musical skills", asked Niko Wenner, the guitarist in Whipping Boy, to help with the record. In 1988 Eugene Robinson (vocals, lyrics) and Niko Wenner (guitar, bass, keyboards, music) wrote songs with an approach decidedly different from Whipping Boy. Wenner concocted an underlying musical architecture for his abrasive-then-plangent music, through use of arch form and musical palindromes unusual in the noise music genre the band was often placed. This organizing structure later grew to encompass the second Oxbow recording as well, and drew relationships between the two.[1][2] For his part Robinson changed his vocal approach to include in-the-studio improvisations and extensive vocal multi-tracking. This first record, titled Fuckfest has drumming split evenly between Greg Davis and Tom Dobrov. The record received positive response, so Eugene Robinson decided to continue. Dan Adams (bass in Oxbow, drums in Whipping Boy) joined immediately on completion of the first recording. All but Davis were at various times members of Whipping Boy, Wenner and Dobrov had been bandmates in the hardcore band Grim Reality[3][4][5] Dobrov departed amicably after the band's 1995 European tour, but performed as guest second-drummer, with Davis, for the studio recording of "Shine (Glimmer)" on the 2002 album An Evil Heat.[6][7]

The first album from Oxbow, Fuckfest, was released in 1989. It was described as "one of the most unique first statements in modern avant-rock" by Rock-A-Rolla magazine, "staggeringly eclectic" by Simon Reynolds, and "a fierce, rigorous album that challenges almost every preconception rock listeners might have" by Allmusic.[3][8][9][10] Fuckfest was followed by King of the Jews (1991) and then by two Steve Albini-recorded albums: Let Me Be a Woman (1995) and Serenade in Red (1996–97), the latter featuring guest vocals from Marianne Faithfull.[3] An Evil Heat followed in 2002 on Neurosis' Neurot Recordings label.[5][11] Oxbow's 2007 album The Narcotic Story was named the number one album in the "Best of 2007" by Rock-A-Rolla magazine, and was listed with three other bands' albums in the nomination of Joe Chiccarelli as 'Producer of the Year' at the 50th Grammy Awards.[12][13]

In May 2017 Oxbow released Thin Black Duke their seventh full-length album, like The Narcotic Story produced by Joe Chiccarelli and Niko Wenner and again on Hydra Head Records, to critical acclaim.

They returned in 2023 with Love’s Holiday, released July 21.

On July 7, 2024, Robinson announced his departure from the band.[14][15]

Later, on July 11, Wenner released a statement regarding allegations that had been made against him following a show in France, announcing that, until further notice, Oxbow was no longer a band.[16]

Musical style

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Oxbow's material is musically varied and has been compared both to bands such as Neurosis and The Birthday Party, and modern classical composers such as Penderecki and John Luther Adams.[3][17] Elements of blues, noise rock, heavy metal, jazz, and contemporary classical music are consistently mentioned.[17][18][19][20] Allmusic writer Jason Ankeny identified elements of free jazz and musique concrète.[3]

Members

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Final line-up

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Former members

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Timeline

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Dan Adams: Bass Guitar

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Dan Adams, multi-instrumentalist, engineer who worked on animatronics in films such as Free Willie and Anaconda, and award-winning jazz drummer also used to drum for North Carolina's hardcore punk band the Ugly Americans.

Niko Wenner: Guitars, Keyboards

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Oxbow composer, arranger, and producer Wenner "a master of sculpting noise and tone"[10] has also toured and recorded as part of the bands God, Swell,[3] Celan,[21] and Jellyfish.[22]

Wenner has engineered recordings for Oxbow and others, composed and performed music for contemporary dance,[23] and appeared performing in an Academy Award nominee for best short film.[24]

Eugene S. Robinson: Vocals

[edit]

On Fuckfest "Robinson howls in a high-pitched, anguished voice somewhere between Robert Plant and Birthday Party-era Nick Cave", although his lyrics sound incomprehensible.[10]

Robinson has provided guest vocals for several bands, including Soothsayer, Xiu Xiu, Black Sun, Old Man Gloom, DJ /Rupture, Ultraphallus, Dead Kennedys, and his notable side project Bunuel,[25] among others.[26][27][28][29][30]

Vocalist Robinson, also an amateur fighter and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Leopoldo Serao, has on several occasions dealt with misbehaving audience members with physical force. He is also known for shedding his clothes on stage.[5][17][18][31][32][33] Robinson is the author of the books "Paternostra", "Les sons inimitables de l'amour: un plan à trois en quatre actes", A Long Slow Screw and Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking, and worked as an Editor-at-Large at OZY OZY.com, in addition to being a video host of the now-defunct Knuckle Up and his own The Eugene S. Robinson Show Stomper, as well as The Care/Don't Care Preview on Bloody Elbow and a regular contributor to Vice magazine. He has a blog on Substack called Look What You Made Me Do.[34] He has also had his written work appear in the Los Angeles Times, GQ, the New York Times, the LA Weekly, Ad Age, The Quietus, PC Gamer, Hustler, Code, Revolver, Decibel and The Wire, among others. His infrequent film and television work has also seen him appearing in Leonard Part 6 with Bill Cosby, NBC's Midnight Caller, ABC's King of Love, MTV's Liquid Television's Las Apassionadas, and commercials most notably one directed by Gus Van Sant for Miller Genuine Draft, along with winning an Online Journalism Award for Online Commentary, Small Newsroom.[35][36]

Discography

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Albums

[edit]
Year Title Label
1989 Fuckfest CFY Records / Pathological Records / Hydra Head Records
1991 King of the Jews CFY Records / Pathological Records / Hydra Head Records
1995 Let Me Be a Woman Brinkman Records / Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records
1996 Serenade in Red Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records / SST Records
2002 An Evil Heat Neurot Recordings / Concrete Lo Fi Records
2007 The Narcotic Story Hydra Head Records
2017 Thin Black Duke Hydra Head Records
2023 Love's Holiday Ipecac Records

EPs

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1996 Insylum/The Stabbing Hand

(with Marianne Faithfull / Kathy Acker[37])

Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records Limited Release Picture Disc EP
2009 Songs for the French Hydra Head Records Limited Release Vinyl EP

Compilations

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1992 The Balls in the Great Meat Grinder Collection CD (compiles the albums King of the Jews and Fuckfest on a single CD, in that order) Pathological Records
1997 Fuckfest/King of the Jews 2CD (compiles the albums Fuckfest and King of the Jews in a two CD package) Crippled Dick Hot Wax Records
2006 Love That's Last CD/DVD (CD includes new, and previously released songs; DVD includes two live performances, a documentary, two 5.1 surround re-mixes, etc., see "DVD" below) Hydra Head Records
2007 Remixed & Covered CD (Two CD package of remixes/covers of the band Xiu Xiu; Oxbow acoustic duo perform "Saturn.") 5 Rue Christine

Live albums

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2008 Oxbow presents: Love's Holiday Orchestra Oxbow duo live at Supersonic 2007 (featuring Justin Broadrick and Stephen O'Malley) (12" vinyl only) Capsule Records
2008 Fuckfest/12 Galaxies (12 Galaxies: Oxbow acoustic quartet recorded live at 12 Galaxies club, San Francisco, 2008) (limited, hand signed two-cd package) Hydra Head Records
2009 Songs for the French (Side "There" live recordings, Europe, 2008) (12" vinyl only) Hydra Head Records
2011 : : stone & towering edifice : LIVE at the BAM (Oxbow acoustic quartet live at UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, 2010) (CD only) Hydra Head Records
2022 An Eternal Reminder Of Not Today - Live at Moers (Oxbow & Peter Brötzmann live at Moers Festival, Moers, Germany, 2018) Trost Records / SGG

Splits

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1999 Oxbow meet White Tornado Wallace Records
2011 Oxbow / Kill Kill Kill (Oxbow song is previously unreleased alternate version of "Daughter" from 1991 LP, King of the Jews. Mastered 1991/2011 Golden Mastering / Kill Kill Kill song recorded at Paul Terrace, Los Angeles, CA, 2011) (Vinyl 7") Hydra Head Records

Music videos

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2006 S Bar X (video + 5.1 audio mix on Love That's Last DVD, song from An Evil Heat (2002)) Hydra Head Records
2017 Cold & Well-Lit Place (song from Thin Black Duke (2017)) Hydra Head Records
2017 Other People (song from Thin Black Duke (2017)) Hydra Head Records
2017 Host (song from Thin Black Duke (2017)) Hydra Head Records

DVDs

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2006 Love That's Last: A Wholly Hypnographic and Disturbing Work Regarding Oxbow Hydra Head Records

DVD included in the CD/DVD compilation Love That's Last: A Wholly Hypnographic and Disturbing Work Regarding Oxbow. There are six selections included on the DVD:

  1. Music For Adults (documentary film)
  2. Music For Adults (outtakes)
  3. Oxbow live in Diksmuide, Belgium, Muziekclub 4AD May 19, 2002
  4. Oxbow live in San Francisco, USA, Great American Music Hall November 14, 2004
  5. S Bar X (video + 5.1 audio mix)
  6. The Snake &... (5.1 audio mix)
2011 The Luxury of Empire Flowerskull

DVD based on Oxbow's 2009 European tour. Contains three selections:

  1. "The Luxury of Empire" by Mariexxme (documentary film)
  2. "Still Before" by Manuel Liebeskind (documentary film)
  3. Oxbow live in Paris, France, La Maroquinerie November 8, 2009
2012 oxbow in camera Hydra Head Records

16mm film, multi-camera, three selections are performed live, one selection is performed to the studio recording. There are 4 selections included on the DVD:

  1. The Snake...
  2. She's a Find
  3. Ecce Homo
  4. Bomb

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Wenner, Niko (2009). Fuckfest. CD reissue liner notes: Hydra Head Industries.
  2. ^ Wenner, Niko (2011). King of the Jews. CD reissue liner notes: Hydra Head Industries.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Ankeny, Jason "Oxbow Biography", Allmusic, retrieved July 17, 2012
  4. ^ Blush, Steven (October 1, 2001). Petros, George (ed.). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. p. 130. ISBN 9780922915712.
  5. ^ a b c Pehling, Dave (2002) "Uneasy Listening: Oxbow drags experimental rock into the heart of darkness", SF Weekly, September 11, 2002, retrieved July 17, 2012
  6. ^ Wenner, Niko (1995) "Tour Diary: 1995 (Niko) Archived November 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine", retrieved September 15, 2012
  7. ^ Oxbow (2012) "[1]", http://www.facebook.com/OXBOW, August 1, 2012, retrieved September 15, 2012
  8. ^ "Classic album: Oxbow ‘Fuckfest’", Rock-A-Rolla, April 15, 2010, retrieved July 17, 2012
  9. ^ Reynolds, Simon "[2]", Melody Maker, 1989, retrieved August 1, 2012
  10. ^ a b c Freeman, Phil "Fuckfest Review", Allmusic, retrieved July 17, 2012
  11. ^ York, William "An Evil Heat Review", Allmusic, retrieved July 17, 2012
  12. ^ Rock-A-Rolla "[3]", retrieved September 9, 2012
  13. ^ "50th Annual Grammy Awards Nomination List" (archived version), retrieved July 19, 2012
  14. ^ [4]"The Last Tour Diary You'll Get Out of Me", retrieved July 8, 2024
  15. ^ [5]"If you're one of those TLDR types the deal is this I'm quitting OXBOW, retrieved July 8, 2024
  16. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  17. ^ a b c Dare, Christopher (2002) "Oxbow An Evil Heat", Pitchfork Media, December 31, 2001, retrieved July 17, 2012
  18. ^ a b Howe, Brian (2007) "Oxbow The Narcotic Story", Pitchfork Media, June 21, 2007, retrieved July 17, 2012
  19. ^ Chainey, Ian "[6]", Last Rites, July 1, 2007, retrieved March 20, 2018
  20. ^ MacGregor, Adam "[7]", Dusted Magazine, May 18, 2006, retrieved September 5, 2012
  21. ^ discogs.com/artist/Niko+Wenner, (2012) "[8]"
  22. ^ Omnivore Recordings (2012). "[9]", Omnivore Recordings (official website), retrieved July 29, 2012
  23. ^ Aquarius Records (2012) "[10] Archived November 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine" 2012, retrieved July 29, 2012
  24. ^ Swell Fansite Damien (1998) "[11]" 2012, retrieved July 30, 2012
  25. ^ BUNUEL
  26. ^ Drever, Ryan (2010) "Black Sun – Twilight Of The Gods", The Skinny, August 30, 2010, retrieved July 17, 2012
  27. ^ "Old Man Gloom Christmas", CMJ New Music Monthly, August 30, 2004, retrieved July 17, 2012
  28. ^ Drever, Ryan (2011) "Ultraphallus Sowberry Hagan Archived December 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine", Drowned in Sound, January 20, 2011, retrieved July 17, 2012
  29. ^ Beta, Andy (2005) "1 + 1 = 3: Turkish composer and Harvard grad pump up the volume", Village Voice, January 18, 2005, retrieved July 17, 2012
  30. ^ Fight Math "Fight Math", Bandcamp, January 13, 2015, retrieved January 15, 2015"
  31. ^ Spicuzza, Mary (2008) "Oxbow's Eugene Robinson chokes rowdy concertgoers", SF Weekly, January 9, 2008, retrieved July 17, 2012
  32. ^ "Eugene Robinson", Decibel, Issue No. 39, January 2008, retrieved July 17, 2012
  33. ^ Newton, Edmund (2008) "Heartwarming Story", Broward Palm Beach New Times, July 31, 2008, retrieved July 17, 2012
  34. ^ Look What You Made Me Do
  35. ^ Reade, Frances (2007) "SFist Interviews Eugene Robinson Archived February 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine", sfist.com, November 8, 2007, retrieved July 17, 2012
  36. ^ Ranta, Alan (2008) "Eugene S. Robinson: Fight", PopMatters, February 29, 2008, retrieved July 17, 2012
  37. ^ Wenner, Niko (March 2009), About "Acker Sound/Read All Over"
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