Halloween, Alaska is a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

-based

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

consisting of James Diers (voice,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, keys), Jake Hanson (brother of

Tapes 'n Tapes Tapes 'n Tapes is an indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. History Formed in the winter of 2003 at Carleton College, the band has released four albums. First came the self-released ''Tapes 'n Tapes EP'' in 2004, followed by the full-lengt ...

drummer Jeremy Hanson, guitar), Bill Shaw (electric bass guitar), and Dave King (acoustic and electronic

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s). All of the group's members live in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

. Original keyboardist and programmer Ev left the band in 2008. Original bassist Matt Friesen left the band in 2009. The group first formed in 2002, and work on a self-titled debut soon began to be recorded. Completed in 2003, the disc earned considerable acclaim not only in the Twin Cities but also from indie tastemakers and college radio programmers across the US, combining ambient electronic elements with moody alt-pop songwriting. Two tracks from the disc were featured in the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

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'': "Des Moines" in season one, and "All the Arms Around You" in season two. The track "State Trooper", featured on their self-titled debut, is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the song by

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reissued the album in 2005, adding remixes and bonus tracks. A second disc titled Too Tall to Hide was released in 2005 and features another cover song - "I Can't Live Without My Radio" by

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

. Champagne Downtown was released on April 7, 2009. (iTunes initially listed the album under the band "Alaska & Halloween." Amazon currently lists all Halloween, Alaska albums under "Alaska Halloween.") An EP of remixes by Twin Cities artists was released in November 2009. Their most recent album, Le Centre, was released in 2018. Members of the group are or have been part of the bands

The Bad Plus The Bad Plus is an American jazz group from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, formed in 2000. They were originally a piano trio, but became a quartet in 2021: founding members Reid Anderson on bass and David King on drums, as well as guit ...

, Love-Cars,

Happy Apple Happy Apple is an American jazz trio from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Initially formed in 1996 by David King (drums), Michael Lewis (saxophone), Anton Denner (saxophone) and Cully Swansen (bass), since 1998 the lineup has consisted of King, Le ...

, 12 Rods, Cowboy Curtis, Minneapolis Dub Ensemble, Post Mortem Grinner, and The Gang Font feat. Interloper. The band is not named after a real town in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. According to Diers, King "came up with the name ... before we even starting playing together, actually," and felt that the combination of the two words was "evocative of some of the moods and textures he wanted us to be looking at."

Discography

Albums

* ''Halloween, Alaska'' (Princess, 2003;

, 2005) * ''Too Tall to Hide'' (East Side Digital, 2005) * '' Champagne Downtown'' (East Side Digital, 2009) * ''All Night the Calls Came In'' (Amble Down, 2011) * ''Le Centre'' (Self-released, 2018)

EPs

* ''Liberties'' (Amble Down, 2013)

Remix albums

* ''Occasion: Remixes'' (2009) * ''Fake Mistakes: Remixes'' (2012)

Compilation appearances

* "Des Moines" (alternate version), ''Live Current Vol. 1'' (Minnesota Public Radio, 2005) * "Drowned" (VIC 20 remix), ''Twin Town High Music Yearbook Vol. 8'' (Pulse, 2006) * "Halloween" (Housewares remix), ''For Callum'' benefit compilation (Catlick Records, 2007) * "After the Flood" (Talk Talk cover), ''Spirit of Talk Talk'' (Fierce Panda, 2012)

References

External links

Halloween, AlaskaNational Public Radio profile, 2005
* AMG entry for "Too Tall to Hide", 2006br>City Pages article, 2003Spin Magazine review of "Champagne Downtown", 2009
{{Authority control Musical groups from Minnesota Musical groups from the Twin Cities