Escapade is a NYC
space rock
Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...
/
post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
band formed in 1996 by ex-Drunken Boat drummer Hadley Kahn. Their music is similar in spirit to Krautrock, while variously taking in influences of psychedelia, avant garde, minimalism, ambient and even jazz.
They're frequently noted for their strong improvisational abilities. Even the last minute substitution at a live show of a bassist who'd never before played with Escapade is said not to have affected the band's performance.
Early albums have more of a jam based character than later works. But instead of the
jam band
A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational "jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often cr ...
staple of individual members soloing over musical riffs, Escapade's approach is more akin to the
King Crimson or
Can
Can may refer to:
Containers
* Aluminum can
* Drink can
* Oil can
* Steel and tin cans
* Trash can
* Petrol can
* Metal can (disambiguation)
Music
* Can (band), West Germany, 1968
** ''Can'' (album), 1979
* Can (South Korean band)
Other
* C ...
style of improvising collectively from the ground up. 1998's ''Citrus Cloud Cover'' was the last album to strictly employ this method.
Following this album, the prominence of synths and electronics slowly gave way to a more guitar-oriented sound. Subtle editing and overdubbing also began to be used, though the music was still fundamentally improvised.
In 2003, a CD was released which was split between them and Japanese psych collective
Acid Mothers Temple, entitled ''A Thousand Shades of Grey''. Their contribution to the split CD and its 2006 follow-up ''But Distractions Abound'' both find Escapade increasingly focusing on hypnotic repetition ala
Neu! or Finland's
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
.
The band is seemingly disbanded or on hiatus.
Band members
*Paul Casanova - Guitars, Electronics
*John Ortega - Processed Bass, Synths
*Rob Giffen - Guitars, Effects
*Hadley Kahn - Drums
*Russell Giffen - Bass
*Paul Hilzinger - Synths, Sampler, Processing
*Joey Murphy - Bass, Guitar
Guests
*
Jane Scarpantoni
Jane Scarpantoni (born 1960)https://www.myheritage.com/names/jane_scarpantoni is a classically trained American cello player who has played on a number of alternative rock albums.
She was a member of Hoboken, New Jersey's Tiny Lights in the mid-1 ...
- Cello
*
Jon DeRosa
Jon DeRosa (born December 21, 1978) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He has been involved with several critically acclaimed acts, including Dead Leaves Rising, Pale Horse and Rider, and as well as his solo-project known as Aar ...
- Guitar, Tambura
*Robb Ross - Flute
Discography
*1996 – ''Searching For The Elusive Rainbow'' (CD)
*1997 – ''Inner Translucence'' (CD)
*1997 – ''Obscured Dialogues'' (CDR)
*1998 – ''Citrus Cloud Cover'' (2CD)
*1999 – ''Due to a Faulty Premonition'' (CD)
*2000 – ''Remembrance of Things Unknown'' (CD)
*2002 – ''Rule No. 3'' (CD)
*2003 – ''A Thousand Shades of Grey'' split w/ ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE (CD)
*2004 – ''If/Or'' (live, recorded 1996) (CDR)
*2006 – ''Just When, Just How'' (CDR)
*2006 – ''But Distractions Abound'' (CD)
Notes
External links
*
*
Escapade entry at AllmusicAcid Mothers Temple/Escapade page at Funfundvierzig
American post-rock groups
{{US-rock-band-stub