Biography
Lullabye Arkestra emerged in 2001 as a male-female duo whose raw defiance and rejection of norms fused Motown soul with hardcore punk. Drummer/vocalist Justin Small from Do Make Say Think and bassist/vocalist Katia Taylor launched the project, capturing an eight-track CD-R called Bzaster (not a typo) that same summer with horn contributions from Small’s Do Make Say Think colleagues. By 2002 the lineup grew to incorporate organist Shelton Deverell along with a revolving cast of players. Whether appearing as a stripped-down pair or augmented by as many as twelve musicians, the group’s sonic density increased sharply in subsequent years. Their Constellation Records album Ampgrave, issued in 2006, required two years of work and featured more than twenty guests adding violin, Hammond organ, horns, and further instruments atop Taylor’s fuzz bass and Small’s pounding drums. The year 2009 proved especially active: amid live dates, a new deal with Vice Records, and backing vocals on Fucked Up’s The Chemistry of Common Life, Small and Taylor married. Shortly after their honeymoon the newly named Katia Taylor-Small and Justin Small delivered the heavier sequel Threats/Worship, whose video for “We Fuck the Night” drew from George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead by showing spectators morphing into zombies torn apart by the band’s sound.
Albums