Erase Errata

The music of Erase Errata drew comparisons to Captain Beefheart, the Minutemen, and the Dog Faced Hermans, owing to the quartet’s remarkable ability to improvise an entire set on demand. Jenny Hoyston on vocals and trumpet, Ellie Erickson on bass, Bianca Sparta on drums, and Sara Jaffe on guitar came together in San Francisco during December 1999 after jamming in an empty room belonging to one of Sparta and Hoyston’s roommates. Their immediate rapport produced ten original songs in just thirty minutes. Following a six-week tour in fall 2000 that included dates with Melt Banana and Le Tigre, the band issued a split single with Brooklyn noise rockers Black Dice on the Troubleman label. Their first full-length album, Other Animals, appeared on the same imprint the next year. A split single with electro-rockers Numbers followed in 2002, and the remix collection Dancing Machine, featuring contributions from Adult., Kid 606, and Matmos, surfaced in spring 2003. That same summer Hoyston released the Paradise Island debut Lines Are Infinitely Fine on Dim Mak. Erase Errata’s second studio album, At Crystal Palace, arrived in fall 2003. Jaffe departed the following year, after which Hoyston, Erickson, and Sparta issued Nightlife as a trio on Kill Rock Stars in 2006. The same label put out the 7" Damaged in 2010 before the group entered hiatus. They reconvened in 2012 through the artist-in-residence program at Iowa City’s Mission Creek Music Festival. Working with producer and engineer Luke Tweedy, the remaining members improvised and refined seven tracks that became Lost Weekend, released in 2015. After touring in support of the album, the band stated in a press release that their two October 2015 shows in Texas would mark their final performances before disbanding.