Brokeback

Douglas McCombs, the bassist from Tortoise, launched Brokeback as a side endeavor. After issuing two 7" EPs, the project delivered its initial full-length release, Field Recordings from the Cook County Water Table, in 1999, presenting a somewhat more open take on the post-rock approach that Tortoise had popularized.

McCombs anchored the sound with a Fender six-string bass, shaping Brokeback's early work as a spare blend of low-end jazz and multiple strands that drew from rock, ambient music, and hip-hop. The album Field Recordings from the Cook County Water Table enlisted several figures tied to Chicago's ambient scene, among them Stereolab vocalist Mary Hansen along with trumpeter Rob Mazurek and percussionist Chad Taylor, both of the Chicago Underground Duo. During the tour that followed the debut, McCombs joined Taylor, Mazurek, and upright bassist Noel Kupersmith in exploring improvisation more freely, prompting a shift in the group's direction.

Kupersmith joined the core lineup ahead of the second album, Morse Code for the Modern Age: Across the Americas, turning Brokeback into a two-bass project; what had begun as a solo outlet had become a deeply collective enterprise. Additional contributors to that more open-ended session included Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar, James McNew of Yo La Tengo, and Mary Hansen of Stereolab once more. In 2003 a fresh configuration of the band tracked the third Brokeback album, Looks at the Bird.

Activity under the Brokeback name then tapered off for an extended stretch until McCombs formed a new ensemble in 2010 to revive the project. The players recruited for this phase were Pete Croke of Tight Phantomz and Head of Skulls!, Chris Hansen of Pinebender and Head of Skulls!, and James Elkington of the Zincs. The quartet spent the following year in intensive rehearsal and frequent live appearances, refining its approach before entering the studio to capture Brokeback and the Black Rock, the proper fourth album that surfaced in early 2013. With a revised roster that now featured Areif Sless-Kitain of the Eternals on drums, Brokeback issued Illinois River Valley Blues in 2017.