Grouper (musician) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Grouper is the solo project for electro-acoustic ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

/noise

Noise

In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...

musician Liz Harris, of Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. Harris' music is a mixture of softly-strummed guitar, Wurlitzer

Wurlitzer

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....

keys, and delicate vocals. Reverb and tape delay effects are used widely throughout Harris' recordings.

Harris’ first album was 2005’s Grouper, a self-released full-length CD-R

CD-R

A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....

, followed later that year by Way Their Crept on Free Porcupine (re-released in 2007 on Type Records). Other recordings include 2006's He Knows, released as a 3" CD, the 12" Weird Forest release Wide in 2007, and a 7" called Tried.

She released a collaboration album with Xiu Xiu

Xiu Xiu

Xiu Xiu is an American avant-garde group originally from San Jose, California. The band is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart, who has been its only constant member since its inception in 2002. His current bandmate is Angela Seo...

in 2006, entitled Creepshow, as well as contributing a remix of "Tonite & Today" to 2007's Remixed & Covered

Remixed & Covered

Remixed & Covered is a 2007 double album by Xiu Xiu. One disc contains cover versions of the band's songs, whilst the other contains remixes of their originals.-Disc one :#Larsen - "Mousey Toy"#Oxbow - "Saturn"...

compilation.

Harris released her third full-length album, Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, in 2008

2008 in music

2008 was a huge year in music history with the emergence of pop superstars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry into the mainstream. Also, this is the year that is widely agreed upon by critics as the start of the fall of hip hop from the mainstream and the rise of Synthpop into the mainstream due to acts such...

. Stereogum

Stereogum

Stereogum was one of the first MP3 blogs. It was created by Scott Lapatine in January 2002 with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Stereogum has received several awards and citations, including the 2008 Plug Award for best music blog, Blender's...

's Outsiders column included Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill in their Best LP's of 2008, and Gorilla vs. Bear

Gorilla vs. Bear

Gorilla vs. Bear is a leading mp3 blog for independent music MP3s, videos, news, and reviews from all genres. It was created by Chris Cantalini in March 2005, and David Bartholow joined as a contributor in 2006. Gorilla vs. Bear regularly features unknown, established, and independent unsigned...

ranked the album #2 of the year, noting that "2008 was a banner year for hazy, ethereal dream-pop (see Beach House

Beach House

Beach House is a dream pop duo formed in 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland, consisting of French-born Victoria Legrand and Baltimore native Alex Scally. Their self-titled debut, Beach House, released in 2006, was critically acclaimed. This was followed by their second release, Devotion, in 2008...

, Fight Bite, High Places

High Places

High Places is a band originating from Brooklyn, NY, recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA. The band is a duo comprising multi-instrumentalist Rob Barber and vocalist Mary Pearson.-History:...

, School of Seven Bells

School of Seven Bells

School of Seven Bells is a band formed by Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines, together with identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, formerly of On!Air!Library!. The band is named after the School of the Seven Bells, a mythical South American pickpocket training academy.-History:Curtis and...

, Chairlift

Chairlift

An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...

, etc.), with Grouper's devastatingly beautiful Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill firmly implanting itself at the pinnacle of the broad genre." It featured at number 37 of Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's 50 Best Albums of 2008 – a previous review on the site praised the album as "druggy and sexy and arty and pretty". A review on Drowned in Sound

Drowned in Sound

DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...

called it "deeply meditative, almost spiritual... one of the most delicate, affecting albums of the year".

In the spring of 2009, Grouper was the supporting act for the high-profile Animal Collective

Animal Collective

Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...

tour in support of the latter's successful 2009 album, Merriweather Post Pavilion

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor concert venue located within Symphony Woods, a 40-acre lot of preserved land in the heart of the planned community of Columbia, Maryland. It was named for the American Post Foods heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post...

. NBC Washington's "Concert Picks" column said of Grouper, "The ambient one-woman post-rock band Grouper also makes this show a must-see (if you have tickets or connections or luck – otherwise, sorry, it’s sold out, sold out a long time ago). Liz Harris’ spooky, ethereal and surreal sounds are based on her acoustic, often avant garde guitar plucking and her quiet, hazy vocals. The minor key melodies are pretty despite a suspenseful nightmare quality."

Grouper was chosen by Animal Collective

Animal Collective

to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties

All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)

All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....

festival that they curated in May 2011.

Albums

Grouper, CD-R (2005)
Way Their Crept, CD (2005), reissued on 12" Vinyl (2007)
Wide, CD and 12" Vinyl (2006)
Cover the Windows and the Walls, 12" Vinyl (2007), reissued on CD and Limited Edition Vinyl (2009)
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, CD and 12" Vinyl (2008)
A I A, two part vinyl consisting of Dream Loss 12" and Alien Observer 12" (2011)

EPs/Singles

He Knows, CD-R (2006), reissued on 7" Vinyl (2009)
Tried, 7" Vinyl (2007)
Hold/Sick, 7" Vinyl (2010)
Water People, 7" Vinyl (2011)

Split Releases

w/Inca Ore, Cassette (2007), reissued on CD and 12" Vinyl (2008)
w/City Center, 7" Tour Vinyl (2008)
w/Pumice, 7" Tour Vinyl (2009)
w/Roy Montgomery
Roy Montgomery
Roy Montgomery is a guitarist from Christchurch, New Zealand.He has played in several New Zealand bands, including Compulsory Fun, Murder Strikes Pink, The Pin Group, The Shallows, Dadamah and Dissolve...

, 12" Vinyl (2009)
Tsuki No Seika: Volume One w/Xela
Xela (musician)
This article is about the music artist; for other uses, see Xela .Xela is a British electronic music artist, from Walsall, who currently operates out of Malden, Massachusetts...

, 7" Vinyl (2009)

External links

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