Japancakes

Athens, Georgia-based musician Eric Berg originated the improvisational drone-pop orchestra Japancakes in 1997. His plan called for gathering ten players to perform unrehearsed onstage, sustaining only a single “D” chord across 45 minutes. The resulting variations and imperfections prompted Berg to launch further explorations along comparable lines, with the ensemble size sometimes reaching a dozen instrumentalists while Nick Bielli, Todd Kelly, Heather McIntosh, John Neff, and Scott Sosebee remained fixed members. Kindercore released the debut album If I Could See Dallas in autumn 1999; the EP Down the Elements followed the next spring, and Sleepy Strange appeared in early 2001. Darla issued Belmondo the year after that, while Waking Hours surfaced on Warm two years later. Japancakes returned to Darla in 2007 for two fall releases: a cover of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and the original collection Giving Machines.