Radical Face is a musical act consisting of Ben Cooper

Ben Cooper (musician)

Ben Cooper is a singer/songwriter from Jacksonville, Florida. He is currently a member of Electric President with Alex Kane, Radical Face , Iron Orchestra , Mother's Basement and Unkle Stiltskin can be found on certain music websites as well...

 (born c. 1982), a resident of Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, who also makes up one-half of Electric President

Electric President

Electric President is a Jacksonville, Florida musical duo started in 2003 by Ben Cooper and Alex Kane. Both were in Helicopter Project prior to its breakup though no music from this group was ever released. Afterwards the pair decided to continue to make music together. They subsequently completed...

 and Iron Orchestra and one third of Mother's Basement. He chose the name Radical Face because he "thought it was kinda funny".

On November 16, 2010 Ben released a six-track EP titled Touch The Sky which serves as an appetizer for an announced trilogy of albums called Family Tree. Leading up to the release of The Roots, The Bastards: Volume One EP was released track by track. The first album, titled The Roots was released on October 4, 2011. In August The Roots was accidentally released to users outside of the U.S on Itunes. The Roots will be followed by The Branches and The Relatives'.

The Junkyard Chandelier

Ben Cooper's first album to be recorded under the Radical Face pseudonym was The Junkyard Chandelier (2003). However, his first release was entitled Ghost.

Track listing

1. "Stitches In My Side" - 3:27
2. "The Scarecrows Are Marching" - 4:51
3. "Martyr" - 3:47
4. "Chewing Bottles" - 5:14
5. "Junkyard Chandelier" - 6:19
6. "Paper Birds" - 5:24
7. "Fog In The House Of Lightbulbs" - 6:38
8. "Runs In The Sidewalk" - 5:36
9. "Confidants And Fish Hooks" - 4:59
10. "Pockets Full Of Ink" - 5:20
11. "Burning Bridges" - 3:13

Ghost

Ghost, released in March 2007 on Morr Music, is a concept album based on the idea of houses retaining stories of things that have happened in them. Each song is a story and some of the stories are told from the house's point of view. Cooper cited an old house he lived in as one of the inspirations for Ghost. Most of his work on the album was conducted in an old tool shed behind his house. Emeral Cooper, Mark Hubbard and Alex Kane collaborated with Ben Cooper for some tracks on the album.

Ghost has been compared to musical acts such as The Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....

, Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...

, The Postal Service

The Postal Service

The Postal Service is an American electronic indie pop band composed of vocalist Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and producer Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel and Headset.-Background:...

, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in Carmarthen, west Wales in 1991. They sang songs in both Welsh and English. They split up in May 2006.-Biography:...

, Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

 and 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...

.

The song Welcome Home has been featured in several advertisements and films, including a Nikon

Nikon

, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...

 advertisement in several countries of Europe, an advert for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt

Chevrolet Volt

The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle manufactured by General Motors. The Volt has been on sale in the U.S. market since mid-December 2010, and is the most fuel-efficient compact car sold in the United States, as rated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency...

, as well as an ad for the University of Oregon that aired during the 2011 BCS Championship between Auburn and Oregon. The song appeared in the movie Humboldt County

Humboldt County (film)

Humboldt County is a 2008 comedy/drama film by Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs. It stars Jeremy Strong, Fairuza Balk, Frances Conroy, Madison Davenport, Brad Dourif, Chris Messina and Peter Bogdanovich. The film made its debut at SXSW on March 7, 2008...

. It is used in the emotional climax of the film The Vicious Kind

The Vicious Kind

The Vicious Kind is a 2009 drama film directed and written by Lee Toland Krieger. The screenplay was originally set in a small town in Rhode Island, but the film was shot in Norfolk, CT, which also became the character's hometown. The film stars Adam Scott, Brittany Snow, Alex Frost and J.K. Simmons...

. It is featured in the film The Swiss Machine as speed alpinist Ueli Steck

Ueli Steck

Ueli Steck is a Swiss climber. He is also a skilled carpenter and lives in Ringgenberg in Interlaken.- Career :...

 ascends the Eiger

Eiger

The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m...

. This film was part of the 2010 Reel Rock Tour

Reel Rock Tour

The Reel Rock tour is a film tour is organized annually, and features films about rock climbing, ice climbing, bouldering, and other outdoor, adventurous mountain sports. The goal of the film tour is to bring these movies to audiences around the globe...

 and Steck's ascent to the tune of Radical Face's Welcome Home is featured in the Reel Rock Tour

Reel Rock Tour

The Reel Rock tour is a film tour is organized annually, and features films about rock climbing, ice climbing, bouldering, and other outdoor, adventurous mountain sports. The goal of the film tour is to bring these movies to audiences around the globe...

 trailer. It was also used at the end of UK program Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man and in a mountain bike short movie of freeride pro Andi Wittmann. The song was also featured in the fifth season of the popular British show, Skins

Skins (TV series)

Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...

 and the second season of James May's Man Lab

James May's Man Lab

James May's Man Lab is a British television series presented by James May. The first three part series was aired on BBC Two between 31 October and 14 November 2010...

. The song reached number 92 in the UK Singles Chart in August 2010

Track listing

1. "Asleep on a Train" - 2:01
2. "Welcome Home" - 4:48 (Emeral Cooper on piano and Mark Hubbard on snare drum)
3. "Let the River In" - 5:07
4. "Glory" - 6:13 (Alex Kane on bass)
5. "The Strangest Things" - 4:26 (Alex Kane on bass)
6. "Wrapped in Piano Strings" - 3:38
7. "Along the Road" - 4:18
8. "Haunted" - 4:44
9. "Winter Is Coming" - 4:24
10. "Sleepwalking" - 4:43
11. "Homesick" - 3:44

Total album length - 48:05

Touch The Sky EP

Touch The Sky is an EP released in 2010 to bridge the gap between Ghost and The Family Tree Trilogy.

Track listing

1. "Welcome Home (EP Version) - 4:47
2. "Glory (Acoustic)" - 4:34
3. "Doorways" - 3:00
4. "A Little Hell" - 2:13
5. "The Deserter's Song" - 4:55
6. "Welcome Home (Reprise)" - 2:29

The Bastards - Volume One EP

The EP was released on August 19, 2011, and is the first of a number of free EPs over the course of the Family Tree-project, all of them part of a series called "The Bastards". So this is "The Bastards: Volume One". Available at the official website.

Track listing

1. "All Is Well (It's Only Blood) - 2:45
2. "All Is Well (Goodbye, Goodbye)" - 4:05
3. "We're On Our Way" - 4:08

The Family Tree: The Roots

Was released in October 2011. The first album of three in the Family Tree-project that follows the tale of a fictional family, the Northcotes, through its generations. It is dedicated to the first two generations of the Northcotes' family tree and is narratively based in the 1800s.

Track listing

1. "Names" - 1:15
2. "A Pound of Flesh" - 3:35
3. "Family Portrait" - 4:40
4. "Black Eyes" - 4:44
5. "Severus and Stone" - 4:28
6. "The Moon Is Down" - 3:18
7. "Ghost Towns" - 3:54
8. "Kin" - 4:04
9. "The Dead Waltz" - 5:23
10. "Always Gold" - 5:56
11. "Mountains" - 4:51

External links

• Official Page
• The Sounds & Sights of Radical Face - Documentary by Justin Mitchell
• Radical Face Live in San Francisco - By Connor Ellmann