A Frames were an American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band formed in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

in 1999. The trio consisted of Erin Sullivan, Min Yee and Lars Finberg. Finberg left the band in 2006 to focus on his other project, The Intelligence, and was replaced by Tommy Northcutt who remained with the band thereafter. The band was called Bend Sinister from 1996 to 1999. A Frames cites

Cows Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

Scientists A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

Stick Men With Ray Guns Stick Men with Ray Guns was an American punk rock group from Dallas, Texas. The group's name comes from a comic that Bobby Soxx (Bobby Glenn Calverley) had created called "Stick Man with Ray Gun". The Stick Man was a crazed, racist character who w ...

Scratch Acid Scratch Acid was an Austin, Texas noise rock group formed in 1982. One of the pioneers of noise rock in the 1980s, the band is best remembered as a stepping stone for its front man David Yow, and bass player David Wm. Sims, both later of The Jesu ...

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

, and 60's garage rock among its influences. A Frames started its own label, Dragnet Records, in January 2000 in order to release their music, and later the band signed with

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

Records in 2004 for the release of ''Black Forest''.

Band members

*Erin Sullivan:

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

*Min Yee:

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

*Lars Finberg: drums (1999 - 2006) *Thomas Northcut: drums (2006 - 2010)

Musical style

A Frames sing about

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

and apocalyptic cultural shifts, although many of the lyrics and themes are meant to be humorous. The band's style has also been described as experimental noise as the vocals are dark, monotone and bleak while the sound is aggressive. The drum beat is often mechanical and pounding, producing a raw,

minimalistic Minimalism is a movement in visual arts, music, and other media that began in post–World War II Western art. Minimalism may also refer to: *Minimalism (computing), a philosophy of programming and configuring computers *Minimalism (philosophy), ...

sound. The sloppy, chaotic and sharp

chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord (as ...

, however, are kept in line by the ever-steady rhythm.

Discography

Singles

* "Neutron Bomb/Radiation Generation/Test Tube Baby" 7" (2000, Dragnet Records) * "Plastica/Hospital" 7" (2001) (S-S Records) * "Crutches/Membrane/Weissensee (

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

)" 7" (2003, Royal Records) * "Complications/Frankenstein" 7" (2004, S-S Records) * "Police 1000/Traction" 7" (2006, S-S Records)

Albums

* ''A-Frames'' LP/CD (2002, S-S Records, Dragnet, re-issued on Born Bad Records, France in 2007) * ''2'' LP/CD (2003, S-S Records, re-issued on Born Bad Records, France in 2007) * ''Black Forest'' LP/CD (2005, Sub Pop Records)

Compilations appearances

*"Bumble Bee" on ''Babyhead'' LP, (S-S Records, 2004) *"X.M.A.S." on ''Surprise Package'' CD (Flying Bomb Records) *"I Wanna Hurt" on ''The Necessary Effect'' CD (Xeroid Records)

References

External links

S-S Records WebsiteS-S Records MySpace
{{Authority control American post-punk music groups Sub Pop artists Musical groups from Washington (state) Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Washington (state)