ASTEROID #4 (album release party!)
Ups and downs, twists and turns; this is an appropriate way to describe the path long traveled by The Asteroid No.4 since the latter half of the 1990's. Originally forming as a quartet in Philadelphia, they’ve since become a permanent five piece and now call Northern California their home.
Over the last decade and a half they've built a trove of eight full length albums, well over a dozen compilation appearances, digital-only rarity releases and multiple singles; a feat that many modern bands would certainly find daunting. They've impressively managed to grow this lengthy body of work while tenuously fostering a family of A4 alumni. What's even more impressive is that they've kept moving while remaining solidly underground, never garnering the more above-ground momentum from which a select few of their "psych" contemporaries have been fortunate enough to benefit.
For The Asteroid No.4, success has never been measured by on-line social media "likes" or "going viral", but rather the music in which they write. That, and of course, how history will retrospectively view their completed body of work, similar to the vast unearthing of obscure artists the band themselves cite as their greatest influences.
Clearly, the A4 sound is a hypnotic hybrid of several different genres filtered through the kaleidoscope of all things psychedelic, "Krautrock", "Shoegaze", folk and even 70s "Cosmic" country rock and despite never shying away from wearing their influences squarely on their sleeves, it’s their longevity that has matured them to the point of originality rather than simply homage. It is that same longevity that has enabled them to do whatever they want, when they want, allowing them the freedom to experiment, which certainly makes up the foundation for anything truly "psychedelic."
ASTEROID #4 (album release party!)
Ups and downs, twists and turns; this is an appropriate way to describe the path long traveled by The Asteroid No.4 since the latter half of the 1990's. Originally forming as a quartet in Philadelphia, they’ve since become a permanent five piece and now call Northern California their home.
Over the last decade and a half they've built a trove of eight full length albums, well over a dozen compilation appearances, digital-only rarity releases and multiple singles; a feat that many modern bands would certainly find daunting. They've impressively managed to grow this lengthy body of work while tenuously fostering a family of A4 alumni. What's even more impressive is that they've kept moving while remaining solidly underground, never garnering the more above-ground momentum from which a select few of their "psych" contemporaries have been fortunate enough to benefit.
For The Asteroid No.4, success has never been measured by on-line social media "likes" or "going viral", but rather the music in which they write. That, and of course, how history will retrospectively view their completed body of work, similar to the vast unearthing of obscure artists the band themselves cite as their greatest influences.
Clearly, the A4 sound is a hypnotic hybrid of several different genres filtered through the kaleidoscope of all things psychedelic, "Krautrock", "Shoegaze", folk and even 70s "Cosmic" country rock and despite never shying away from wearing their influences squarely on their sleeves, it’s their longevity that has matured them to the point of originality rather than simply homage. It is that same longevity that has enabled them to do whatever they want, when they want, allowing them the freedom to experiment, which certainly makes up the foundation for anything truly "psychedelic."
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