Brazzaville Biography
Led by Beck saxophonist David Brown, Brazzaville's exotic, globally minded indie pop was as much a product of Brown's extensive travels as it was the Los Angeles coffeehouse scene from whence most of its members came. Born in L.A., Brown had been a teenage runaway and heroin addict before cleaning up and finding a new lease on life from his love of traveling the world on the cheap. He criss-crossed Europe, South America, and Asia, picking up musical influences from the Far East, Brazil (bossa nova and Tropicalia), Africa, and France (cabaret pop), among others. Eventually, he returned to California, where he studied the saxophone at L.A. City College. There he first met Beck, and was introduced to a community of artists and musicians centered around the Los Feliz/Silver Lake area of L.A. When Beck hit the big time, he tapped Brown as the saxophonist in his touring band, and invited him to play on the Odelay album.
In 1997, during the world tour supporting Odelay, Brown conceived the idea for Brazzaville, taking the name from the capital of the Congo, which in a recent study had been branded with the worst quality of life of any major city in the world. Brown added guitar to his instrumental repertoire (which grew to include piano, trombone, and percussion as well), and when he returned to Los Angeles in 1998, he put together a diverse lineup of musicians -- scenesters and session men -- that reflected his own wide-ranging tastes. Trombonist/saxophonist David Ralicke worked with numerous acts, including Natalie Merchant, Ozomatli, Ben Harper, Macy Gray, and Ziggy Marley, and later joined the L.A.-based Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever. Guitarist/bassist Kenny Lyon, who'd grown up in Zaire and Spain, had performed with alternative bands like the Lemonheads and the Divinyls, as well as singer/songwriters like Mark Curry, Jann Arden, and David Baerwald. Guitarist Smokey Hormel was another Beck regular who also performed and recorded with Cibo Matto, Sam Phillips, John Doe, and Tom Waits, among others. Percussionist Danny Frankel had played with musicians from Victoria Williams to Luscious Jackson to bluesman Ted Hawkins. Pianist Mike Boito was another Beck cohort who'd also played with Ralicke in the ska band Jump With Joey.
Together with turntablist DJ Swamp and several other players, this version of Brazzaville recorded a self-titled debut album and released it on Brown's own South China Sea imprint in 1999. It received favorable reviews of its hybrid of indie pop, lounge jazz, world music, and noir-ish atmosphere, and was most often likened to Tom Waits or Morphine. Later that year, the Engine label picked up the record's distribution rights and reissued it under the title 2002. The follow-up Somnambulista, released in 2001 on South China Sea, welcomed several new members, including Guadalupe-born/Paris-raised percussionist Joel Virgel Vierset (who'd worked with Nina Hagen), bassist Joe Zimmerman, and Latin-influenced trumpeter/accordionist Mick Bolger. Brazzaville's third full-length, Rouge on Pockmarked Cheeks, appeared in 2002 with much the same cast of characters. Afterwards, Brown relocated to Barcelona and assembled an alternate European lineup of Brazzaville, which included guitarist Paco Jordi, keyboardist Richie Alvarez, bassist Brady Arthur Lynch, and drummer Ivan Knight. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
Popular Biographies:
Boiler room Biography: New York alt-metal quartet Boiler Room was formed in 1996, featuring vocalist Chris Lino, guitarist Rob Caggiano, bassist James Meselsohn, and drummer Mike Meselsohn. The band gigged around the local...
Adult Biography: Of the innumerable electro-techno acts to arise from Detroit during the 1990s, Adult. may be the most unique, instantly recognizable for their starkly grim visual style as well as their...
Dj laz Biography: A prominent name in Latin bass music, rapper/producer DJ Laz (aka Lazaro Mendez) started his musical career at age 15, spinning, mixing, and scratching at local clubs in South Florida. This led to...
Pinhead gunpowder Biography: It would be easy to label Pinhead Gunpowder as a supergroup, considering that the lineup features four players from other well-known bands. There's drummer Aaron Cometbus, formerly of Crimpshrine,...
Hilltop hoods Biography: Australian hip-hop outfit the Hilltop Hoods formed in Adelaide in 1993. MCs Suffa and Pressure met as classmates at Blackwood High School, recruiting DJ Next through a mutual friend. While inspired...
African head charge Biography: Led by percussionist Bonjo I, African Head Charge formed in the early '80s and has released seven albums with a shifting lineup that also includes Prisoner, Crocodile, Junior Moses and Sunny Akpan....
Solitaire Biography: The brainchild of German keyboardist Elmar Schulte, this recording entity is based in the small town of Paderborn, yet draws inspiration from foreign landscapes, particularly the wide open spaces of...
Living sacrifice Biography: Living Sacrifice's long and impressive history stretches back over a decade. The Arkansas-based metal band has evolved from their early death metal-inspired rumblings into a crushing,...