Bedhead

Slowcore pioneers Bedhead took their cues from guitarist brothers Matt Kadane and Bubba Kadane, whose partnership stretched back to childhood years in Wichita Falls, Texas. Even after Matt departed for Dallas schooling in 1985, the pair kept writing and tracking songs, and by 1990 they performed with drummer Trini Martinez plus occasional guitarist Tench Coxe. That configuration became Bedhead proper in 1991 once bassist Kris Wheat joined, and the five-piece gave its first concert early the next year in Austin, issuing the debut single “Bedside Table” shortly afterward. King Coffey of Butthole Surfers heard the release and placed the group on his Trance Syndicate roster, resulting in the April 1994 album What Fun Life Was and, that autumn, the EP 4-songEP19:10. Although reviewers everywhere lauded the band’s intricate, hauntingly intimate textures, touring remained impossible until mid-1995; by then Matt had moved to New York and Coxe was teaching English in Russia. During the same period the musicians stockpiled tracks that became the EP The Dark Ages and the album Beheaded. Transaction de Novo arrived in early 1998, yet ongoing logistical hurdles prompted an August breakup announcement. The posthumous 10-inch “Lepidoptera”/“Leper” and a split release with Macha followed. In 1999 the Kadane brothers formed the New Year, extending Bedhead’s slowcore approach across several sporadically issued albums throughout the ensuing decade. The Numero Group compiled every studio recording—three full-lengths, all known EPs and singles, plus assorted b-sides and outtakes—into the 2014 box set Bedhead 1992-1998.