The Minders are a band currently calling Portland, OR home. They once associated themselves with the Elephant 6 collective but recentlly dropped that pyschedelic logo from thier packaging. The music at times recalls the Beatles, the Byrds, and a time when songs could be simple without being stupid or inane. More recent musical outings find the Minders experimenting further with samples and tape-manipulated song constructions. This is a good mix to the formula.
Discography
+---Albums
|
Hooray for Tuesday - (Elephant 6 /
spinART records)
1998
|
Cul-de-Sacs & Dead Ends* - (Elephant 6 / spinART records)
1999
|
Golden Street - (spinART records)
2001
|
+---Singles
|
Come On And Hear -
7" (
Elephant 6 Recording Company)
1996
|
Paper Plane - 7" (Elephant 6 Recording Company) 1996
|
Rocket 58 - 7" (Elephant 6 Recording Company)
1997
|
Black Ballon - 7" (
Little Army Recordings) 1998
|
Right as Rain - 7" (
Earworm) 1999
|
Down in Fall -
CDEP (spinART records)
2000
*
A collection of singles, b-sides, and compilation tracks.
The Minders started out in the collective by being friends with
Robert Schneider (producer of
Neutral Milk Hotel, and
Apples in Stereo founder) in
Denver, CO. After their fist album was released the primary band members, consisting of
Martin Leaper (guitars & vocals) and
Rebecca Cole (his
wife, drummer, keyboards, and vocals) moved up to
Portland. Members of the band have not been stable over the years.
Joanna Bolme eventually joined up with the band, releasing
Down in the Fall.
Down in the Fall is a dark affair, where the nearly bubblegum bag of poprocks was dipped through a bottle of cold, wet concrete. The samples start taking over, snippets from advertisements, conversations... Golden Street was recently on Magnet Magazine's must-own list of 2001.
I first saw the Minders opening for Elliott Smith. I did not think much of them. Their music is too simple to catch on to me in a state of immediacy--darker, more abstract instrumental music usually has more of a direct connection with my psyche. But after I began to listen, I realized how amazingly complete Martin Leaper is in executing his short proclamations. Recommended.
Works cited:
http://www.theminders.com/
Magnet Magazine, March 2002