Cul de Sac - Biography
By Marcus Kagler
Cul de Sac’s unique mixture of collage sound effects, surf guitars, Middle Eastern trance, and progressive song structures was so wholly different from the typical college rock of the early ’90s that they were dubbed “post rock,” a made-up moniker to describe the sound of the indescribable. Led by founding members Glenn Jones (guitars) and Robin Amos (multi-instrumentalist), Cul de Sac largely blended multiple musical genres into elongated instrumental pieces that not only made them critical darlings but the poster children of a post-rock movement that would slowly gather steam throughout the decade.
Equally inspired by ’70s prog-rock and the innovative guitar style of John Fahey, Cul de Sac came together in Chicago in 1990 when Jones and Amos began crafting ornate avant-garde noise experiments with drummer Chris Guttmacher and bassist Chris Fujiwara. After relocating to Boston, the group released its debut full-length, ECIM (1992 Northeast Records) to overwhelming critical praise. Around this time the band also began screening Fijiwara’s experimental film pieces while playing live, which quickly became a popular characteristic of Cul de Sac’s prolific live show.
Shortly after the release of ECIM, Fujiwara left the group to join Kustomized, and was replaced by Michael Bloom. Cul de Sac returned three years later with the lo-fi I Don’t Want To Go To Bed (1995 Flying Nun), but by the time China Gate (Thirsty Ear) appeared in 1996, drummer Guttmacher had been replaced by Jon Proudman. The reverie-inducing compositions of the album were full of discordant instrumental improvs and jazz-vein back-and-forth playing.
That same year Cul de Sac jumped at the chance to record an album with their hero, Jon Fahey, although the legendary guitarist’s difficult personality escalated tensions throughout the sessions. Fahey’s elegant folk-meets-avant-garde experimentalism of The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (1997 Thirsty Ear) was more subdued than most Cul de Sac material, but represents an inspired—although troubled—collaborative effort.
Before recording their next full-length, Jones and Amos began fashioning their own musical instruments. “The contraption,” a traditional Hawaiian lap-steel guitar designed by Jones to be played with kitchen utensils, was featured heavily on their fourth LP, Crashes To Light, Minutes To The Fall (1999 Thirsty Ear) along with bouzouki players, surf guitars, and early Appalachian string compositions.
Shortly after the release of their first live album, Immortality Lessons (2002 Strange Attractors), Cul de Sac took on bassist/violinist Jonathan LaMaster and sound collagist Jake Trussell. Jones said that at the time of the recording, with no soundcheck beforehand and tensions running taut, that he and his bandmates thought they’d played one of the worst shows of their career. Instead it was one of their best.
Their most critically-acclaimed album, Death of the Sun (2003 Strange Attractor), was inspired by the death of Fahey, with most of the tracks building upon leftover session material recorded for The Epiphany of Glenn Jones. The result was a full spectrum of mood and instrumentation, each player contributing to the whole with his own empirically gained touches and Jones himself supplying the flourishes.
Cul de Sac’s sixth full-length, The Strangler’s Wife (2003 Strange Attractor) followed a few months later. The double-disc live album, Abhayamudra (2004 Strange Attractors) was recorded on the band’s 2003 tour backing former Can vocalist, Damo Suzuki. Cul de Sac released their self-titled seventh album, Cul de Sac (Pinnacle) in 2005, but have remained relatively quiet ever since.
