Biography
Griffin Rodriguez of Bablicon, also known as Blue Hawaii, and Christopher Powell of Man Man, also known as Pow Pow, launched Icy Demons as a hypno-rhythmic indie outfit that spans multiple genres and draws substantial influence from electro, Krautrock, and prog rock, with particular emphasis on the Canterbury school. Rodriguez handles bass and vocals while Powell covers drums, and the pair function as the group’s central organizers, enlisting a fluid lineup of players drawn from their base cities of Philadelphia and Chicago. New participants receive stage names such as Graveyard P, Young Master Schneider, Ta-Freek-Ya, and the Diminisher.
Cloud Recordings, a label connected to the Elephant 6 collective, issued the project’s debut album Fight Back! in 2004. While maintaining tours with their primary bands and producing records for others at Rodriguez’s Shape Shoppe studio, the two completed a second album, Tears of a Clone, which Eastern Developments released in 2006. To manage further output they founded the Obey Your Brain imprint and put out Miami Ice in April 2007.
The same year they scheduled live dates as a touring unit featuring guitarist Russell Higbee of Man Man, guitarist Jeff Parker of Tortoise, upright bassist Josh Abrams of Prefuse 73 and Sam Prekop, and cellist Tomeka Reid, whose atmospheric improvisations round out the ensemble. Those performances backed Slint and Arcade Fire and included a main-stage slot at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival, after which Miami Ice received a summer reissue.
Cloud Recordings, a label connected to the Elephant 6 collective, issued the project’s debut album Fight Back! in 2004. While maintaining tours with their primary bands and producing records for others at Rodriguez’s Shape Shoppe studio, the two completed a second album, Tears of a Clone, which Eastern Developments released in 2006. To manage further output they founded the Obey Your Brain imprint and put out Miami Ice in April 2007.
The same year they scheduled live dates as a touring unit featuring guitarist Russell Higbee of Man Man, guitarist Jeff Parker of Tortoise, upright bassist Josh Abrams of Prefuse 73 and Sam Prekop, and cellist Tomeka Reid, whose atmospheric improvisations round out the ensemble. Those performances backed Slint and Arcade Fire and included a main-stage slot at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival, after which Miami Ice received a summer reissue.
Albums
