David Grubbs

David Grubbs, recognized as a guitarist, pianist, and vocalist with deep roots in post-rock and experimental circles, exerted considerable influence across indie music while living in Chicago for a decade. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he participated in Bastro and Squirrel Bait before forming Gastr del Sol alongside Jim O'Rourke. The group produced several well-regarded albums throughout the mid-1990s until O'Rourke departed to concentrate on solo work and his Moikai imprint under Drag City.

Table of the Elements issued Grubbs' debut solo effort, Banana Cabbage, Potato Lettuce, Onion Orange, in 1997. His follow-up, The Thicket, achieved greater notice upon its 1998 arrival via Drag City. In 1999 came Apertura, a collaboration with Swedish improvising saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. The next year Grubbs rejoined Gustafsson, this time with Noel Akchote and John McEntire, for The Spectrum Between. The record paired incisive lyrics with understated guitar textures and marked another strong entry in his catalog. Although tracked near the sessions for The Thicket, The Coxcomb—an adaptation of Stephen Crane's short story "The Blue Hotel"—did not surface in the United States until late 2000 on Blue Chopsticks, a Drag City offshoot. Thirty Minute Raven appeared in 2001, yet 2002 proved especially active with the release of both Rickets & Scurvy and the instrumental Act Five, Scene One.

The subsequent year brought Off-Road, another Gustafsson partnership, plus a split single with Avey Tare of Animal Collective on Fat Cat. A Guess at the Riddle, which brought Grubbs back together with Rickets & Scurvy associate Rick Moody, emerged in 2004, followed four years later by An Optimist Notes the Dusk in 2008. In 2010 he joined percussionist Andrea Belfi and guitarist Stefano Pilia for the trio project Onrushing Cloud; Belfi and Pilia also contributed to Grubbs' sixth solo album, The Plain Where the Palace Stood, a predominantly instrumental collection of distinctive post-rock compositions issued in 2013. The three musicians reconvened the following year for Dust & Mirrors. Woodslippercounterclatter, capturing a performance piece created with poet Susan Howe, appeared on Blue Chopsticks in 2015. Grubbs returned in 2016 with Prismrose, comprising six new compositions for electric guitar, and continued in a similar vein with Creep Mission in 2017.