| Performer / Band Name |
estereo
Skip Allums: Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Vocals
Shane Robot: Drums, Random Noises
Heather Movius Wilson: Bass Guitar, Synthesizers |
| Original / Cover Material |
100% Original Material |
| History of Performer / Band |
Estereo began in the fall of 2000 in the sleepy state of Louisiana, as the brooding, bedroom side project of Skip Allums, the bassist for Baton Rouge fuzz-pop trio, The Becoming Orange. After playing much of the South Eastern circuit, and releasing an EP on The Awareness Program, Allums relcoated to sunny Northern California in 2002. Estereo has since become more permanent, and more fully realized as a dark, minimalist indie pop outfit, with driving boy/girl harmonies. Shane Robot (of Ambulance) contributes some light drum work, while Heather Wilson sometimes covers bass & keyboard duties. Estereo occasionally employs adjunct members to play cello, oboe, and brass arrangements.
Given our development in The Deep South, Estereo is deeply influenced by the Southern Gothic songwriting traditions seen in artists like Shannon Wright, Cat Power, Big Star, and Neutral Milk Hotel. With base themes of loss, desire, and displacement, Estereo's fierce wit and melodic songs force the listener to confront their own formative experiences.
Estereo has toured much of the South East and West Coast, opening for indie acts like Mates of State, Songs Ohia, Damien Jurado, Jonathan Richman, The Album Leaf, OneLineDrawing, and Barbara Manning.
Estereo released a weird and wonderful full length album, i always get what i want, as well as its supplemental live EP on The Awareness Program in the summer of 2003. The band will release a new album this fall, and tour the West Coast throughout 2004.
Skip Allums hails from the suburbs of of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He likes Nutella, and his dogs... but not at the same time. |
| Press Reviews / Credits |
"The music is quiet and reflective -- steeped in a sleepily atmospheric, lonesome quality." - Rachel Leibrock, The Sacramento Bee (read more)
"Louisiana transplant Skip Allums' band ESTEREO has become one of the area's finer low-fi pop delights..." - Jackson Griffith, Sacramento News & Review (read more)
"... Allums' voice tempers any looming cheer with its whispery essence of discomfort. Elsewhere, Writing Directions an eerie predatory tale of love, loss and longing that, sung in a raspy desperate howl, sounds disturbing lonely." - (from a review of A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy) Alive and Kicking,
"good boy/girl harmonies, and beneath the distressing introspection are some rather bouncy pop tunes." - The Synthesis
"The Canopy Club, dead quiet, sulked to his heart-felt music of loss. The keyboard, a gloomy midi-drenched creator of organ music, and his clean-toned guitar worked beautifully behind his words... bold and brave, Estereo posed a nice, diverse change..." - The Illini Buzz |
| Albums / Where Available |
I Always Get What I Want, 2004
Estereo Will Stab You In The Face, 2003
A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, 2001
Available at The Beat, ToneVendor, theawarenessprogam and direct from artist. |
= Music samples available for download