Castor was an American indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

/emo

Emo (music)

Emo is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace...

 band from Champaign

Champaign, Illinois

Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...

-Urbana

Urbana, Illinois

Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. Formed in 1994, they were known for their "fluid" sound, often changing time signatures several times in a song while maintaining the flow of the music. They released two albums, the first self titled in 1995, the second Tracking Sounds Alone posthumously in 1998. Both albums are now out of print and only available in digital format online.

Singer/guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist Jeff Garber and bassist

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 Derek Niedringhaus recorded an album under the band name "Big Bright Lights" in 1997 which was not released until 2001.

During their existence they toured with other influential Champaign-Urbana acts Braid

Braid (band)

Braid is an influential emo/post-hardcore band from Illinois that formed in 1993. After forming, the band went through several line-up changes but eventually settled on: Bob Nanna on guitar/vocals, Todd Bell on bass, Chris Broach on guitar/vocals and, Roy Ewing on drums. Roy was replaced in 1997 by...

 and Hum

Hum (band)

Hum is a post-hardcore band from Champaign, Illinois. They are best known for their 1995 radio hit "Stars." Hum has not been consistently active as a recording or touring group since 2000.-Founding and early recordings:...

 amongst others.

Garber went on to play in the bands National Skyline

National Skyline

National Skyline is a rock band formed in late 1996 by Jeff Dimpsey of Hum. Dimpsey originally formed the band in order to perform a 45-minute long song that he had written. They were initially an indie rock supergroup of sorts, with a rotating cast of prominent Champaign/Chicago area musicians...

 and Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit is a rock band assembled and fronted by Ken Andrews, formerly of Failure and ON. After the commercial disappointment of ON, Andrews and ON's touring drummer Tim Dow first recruited Dow's friend Jeff Garber , and Solomon Snyder Year of the Rabbit is a rock band assembled and...

. Niedringhaus also joined National Skyline, later forming Centaur

Centaur (band)

Centaur is a band formed in 2000 by Hum founder Matt Talbott, with Jim Kelly of Sixteen Tons on drums and Derek Niedrignhaus of Castor on bass. Their debut album, In Streams was released on Hum's label, Martian Go Home Records in late 2001....

 with Hum singer/guitarist Matt Talbott, the producer of their only single.

Discography

• Castor, album - 1995
• Cover The Earth, A Mud Records Compilation (Repousse, Silent Type) - 1996
• The Basement Recordings, Live at Cicero's (Brand New Room - alternate lyrical version of The Halo Befriends Me) - 1997
• Carnival/Miss Atlantic, single - 1997
• Tracking Sounds Alone, album - 1998

External links

• [ AMG - Castor]
• Tracking sounds alone review