Codeine was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band formed in 1989 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They released two full-length albums—''

Frigid Stars LP ''Frigid Stars LP'' is the debut album by American indie rock band Codeine. It was released in August 1990 on Glitterhouse in Europe and in Spring 1991 on Sub Pop in the US. The album was released to generally positive reviews and is regarded ...

'' in 1990 and ''

The White Birch ''The White Birch'' is the second and final album by the New York City band Codeine. Released in April 1994, the album is considered by many to be the band's best album and a clear influence on Low, among other bands. Background On their debut ...

'' in 1994. The band broke up in 1994 shortly after the release of ''The White Birch'', but reunited to play a handful of shows in 2012. The band will be reuniting for a show in Los Angeles in 2023. Due to the band's slow and depressing musical style, they are credited as a pioneering act of what is known as "

slowcore Slowcore is a subgenre of alternative rock and indie rock. The music of slowcore artists is generally characterized by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies, slower tempos and minimalist arrangements. Slowcore is often used interchangeably with the t ...

" or "

sadcore Sadcore is a subgenre occasionally identified by music journalists to describe examples of alternative rock characterised by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies and slower tempos, or alternatively, songs with deceivingly upbeat melodies that are simu ...

History

Codeine was formed by members Stephen Immerwahr (vocal, bass),

Chris Brokaw Chris Brokaw (born August 1, 1964) is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come and Codeine. Life and career While studying at Oberlin College, Brokaw met many people who became figures on the American indie rock scen ...

(drums), and John Engle (guitar).Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 679-680 Codeine pioneered the

and

subgenres of indie rock,Mason, Stewart
Codeine Biography
,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Retrieved 26 June 2011 Retrieved 21 July 2012 but with a more experimental attitude than other bands in the genre, such as Low,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and Red House Painters. The band's original tone, marked by slow tempos, Immerwahr's nasal vocals, and Engle's ringing

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bod ...

, stayed consistent during their career. Codeine released their first album ''Frigid Stars LP'' on the German label

Glitterhouse Glitterhouse Records is a German independent record label and mail order company based in Beverungen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in the mid-1980s. From the late 1980s until the mid-1990s it was the European branch of the American la ...

in August 1990. The album was released on

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 ...

early the following year. The ''

Barely Real ''Barely Real'' is the 1992 extended play (EP) by the American indie rock band Codeine. After releasing their previous album ''Frigid Stars LP'' in 1990, the group accepted an invitation from the quartet Bastro to tour in Europe in 1991. Followin ...

'' EP was released in November 1992. Immerwahr rejected several of the songs after the recording session. Some of these songs would be re-recorded for the final album. The song "W." is a solo performance on piano by

David Grubbs David Grubbs (born September 21, 1967) is an American composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingdale ...

(of

Bastro Bastro was an American post-hardcore band which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's main line-up consisted of David Grubbs on guitar, Clark Johnson on bass guitar, and John McEntire on drums. The band also experimented wit ...

Squirrel Bait Squirrel Bait was an American punk rock band from Louisville, Kentucky active from 1983 to 1987. Squirrel Bait's dense, moody, melodic hardcore sound, featuring pronounced tempo shifts, foreshadowed the grunge sound of the late 1980s as well a ...

and

Gastr del Sol Gastr del Sol (derived from a combination of the name of a race horse (Gato del Sol) and David Grubbs' previous band Bastro) was an American, Chicago-based band, consisting for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 19 ...

). A somewhat different full-band version of the song appears on Codeine's next album, now titled "Wird". Brokaw left the band after the release of ''Barely Real'' to play full-time with his other band

Come Come may refer to: *Comè, a city and commune in Benin *Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music *Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 *Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979 **Come ...

, and after Josh Madell of

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union ...

replaced him temporarily for a US tour, he was replaced permanently by Rex drummer

Doug Scharin Douglas Arthur Scharin is an American drummer and percussionist. He has served as a member of a multitude of bands, including Codeine, Rex, HiM, Enablers, June of 44, Loftus and Mice Parade. He currently resides in San Diego, California. ...

. Codeine's final release was the full-length album ''

'', released in May 1994. David Grubbs also participated on the album. After this release, the band broke up. Doug Scharin continued in Rex and

June of 44 June of 44 is an American rock band which was formed in 1994 from ex-members of Rodan, Lungfish, Rex, and Hoover. The band's name refers to the period during which writers Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1 ...

, and later as the band leader of HiM. Following the demise of Come, original drummer Chris Brokaw became a solo artist and itinerant musician, including playing drums for The New Year and playing guitar with

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

and with

Christina Rosenvinge Christina Rosenvinge Hepworth (born 29 May 1964) is a Spanish singer. A veteran of the music industry with a career spanning more than thirty years she was a member of the Spanish groups Alex y Christina and Christina y Los Subterráneos, whic ...

Reunion

In February 2012, Codeine announced it would perform on the request of

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

' sister event,

I'll Be Your Mirror "I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico. It appeared on their 1967 debut album ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966. Lou Reed wrote the so ...

, on 26 May 2012 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

, along with other shows, to commemorate a comprehensive reissue of their recordings by

The Numero Group The Numero Group is an archival record label that creates compilations of previously released music, reissues original albums, and creates album reconstructions from a variety of musical genres. The label, known as Numero, was founded in 2003 b ...

in June 2012. Codeine's final reunion show was at Le Poisson Rouge in New York on 15 July 2012. In September 2022, the band will release ''Dessau'', an album of 8 songs recorded at Harold Dessau Recording in 1992 that was originally intended to appear on their second album, but was scrapped due to production conflicts. Chris Brokaw would leave the band shortly after the album was shelved. Tracks from these sessions would later be released on ''

'', with some being re-recorded for ''The White Birch'', while four songs from the Dessau sessions were first released on their 2012 compilation ''When I See the Sun''.

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (1990), Glitterhouse * ''

'' (1994), Sub Pop * ''Dessau'' (2022; recorded June 1992),

Extended plays

* ''

'' (1992), Sub Pop

Singles

* ''Castle/Losida Slide'' Codeine/Surgery split 7-inch (1990, Glitterhouse) * ''Valmead/Pea''

Bitch Magnet Bitch Magnet was an American post-hardcore band who formed in 1986 at Oberlin College in Ohio and later moved to North Carolina, United States. They released their first record in 1988. All of the band's albums were released on Communion Records ...

/Codeine split 7-inch and 12-inch (1990, The Communion Label) * ''Pickup Song'' 7-inch (1990, Glitterhouse) * ''D'' 7-inch (1990, Glitterhouse, Sub Pop) * ''A L'Ombre De Nous (In Our Shadow)/Produkt''

/Codeine split 7-inch (1991, Sub Pop, Glitterhouse) * ''Realize/Broken Hearted Wine'' 7-inch (1992, Sub Pop) * ''Sassy'' Codeine/

Velocity Girl Velocity Girl was an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in College Park, Maryland, and active in the Washington, D.C., area. The band released three albums before splitting up in 1996. History The band started as the duo of Kelly Rile ...

Beat Happening Beat Happening is an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi mo ...

Sebadoh Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his ...

split 7-inch (1992, Sub Pop) * ''Ides/Working Holiday'' Codeine/

The Coctails The Coctails were a musical group from Chicago, who formed while its members were attending the Kansas City Art Institute. The band was active from about 1988 to 1995, with reunions in 2000 as the last band to play on stage at Lounge Ax before th ...

split 7-inch (1993,

Simple Machines A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. Usually the term refer ...

) * ''Tom''/''Something New'' 7-inch (1993, Sub Pop)

Compilations

* ''A Means to an End'' (1995),

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

* ''When I See the Sun'' (2012), The Numero Group

References

External links

Official Codeine site, full discography, lyrics, etc.

Semi-official Codeine site, full discography, lyrics, etc. - new host

Codeine biography on SubPop's website
* Codeine entry on Allmusic website
Codeine entry on TrouserPress website

Web site for former guitarist Chris Brokaw

Web site for former drummer Doug Scharin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codeine Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1994 Musical groups reestablished in 2012 Musical groups from New York City Sub Pop artists Shoegazing musical groups Sadcore and slowcore groups Glitterhouse Records artists