Gastr del Sol was a U.S. band consisting, for the majority of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out six records ranging in genre from post rock (the scene they were most associated with) to avant-garde jazz and Musique concrète. United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... David Grubbs, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, a 1980s Louisville, Kentucky punk rock group. ... ORourke in Stockholm 2005 Jim ORourke (born 1969) is an American musician and producer. ... Post-rock is a music genre characterized by nontraditional use of instruments and high musical density. ... Avant-jazz (also known as avant-garde jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines elements of avant-garde art music composition with elements of traditional jazz. ... Musique concrète (French; literally, concrete music), is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ...

Grubbs, a former member of Squirrel Bait and Bastro, formed the band in Chicago in 1991, and they released their first album The Serpentine Similar in 1993. This early line up saw Grubbs joined by Bundy K. Brown and John McEntire, both members of Bastro's final incarnation, on bass guitar and drums, respectively. Though John McEntire continued to contribute drums and percussion to Gastr Del Sol recordings for their entire career, this album is the only one in which McEntire is credited as a full member of the group. In 1994 Brown and McEntire left to join Tortoise and Grubbs was joined by the guitarist, composer and producer Jim O'Rourke. It is at this point Gastr del Sol became mainly a collaboration between Grubbs and O'Rourke. Squirrel Bait were a mid 1980s (1983-1988) punk band from Louisville Kentucky. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area    - City 606. ... The Serpentine Similar is a 1993 album by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. ... John McEntire is the drummer of post-rock outfits Gastr Del Sol, Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, and is affiliated with several other bands. ... Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Tortoise, an instrumental rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. ... ORourke in Stockholm 2005 Jim ORourke (born 1969) is an American musician and producer. ...

The bulk of this line-up's catalogue was released by Chicago's Drag City Records, beginning with 1994's acoustic guitar-based Crookt, Crackt, or Fly. "Work From Smoke", the centerpiece of this album, fused Grubbs and O'Rourke's penchant for atonal guitar interplay with bass clarinet and Grubbs's increasingly surreal lyrics. Drag City is a Chicago, Illinois based independent record label. ... Crookt Crackt Or Fly is a 1994 album by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. ... The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. ... Surrealism[1] is a movement stating that the liberation of our mind, and subsequently the liberation of the individual self and society, can be achieved by exercising the imaginative faculties of the unconscious mind to the attainment of a dream-like state different from, or ultimately ‘truer’ than, everyday reality. ...

Crookt, Crackt, or Fly was quickly followed by a pair of releases in 1995. The Mirror Repair EP added elements of electronic music, and The Harp Factory on Lake Street, released on the experimental Table of the Elements label, was a piece for chamber orchestra, with sparse appearances from Grubbs's voice and piano. Electronic music is a term for music created using electronic devices. ... The Harp Factory on Lake Street is a 1995 recording by Gastr del Sol released on Table of the Elements. ... Table of the Elements is an Atlanta-based American record label. ...

1996's Upgrade & Afterlife included a would-be film score by O'Rourke, "Our Exquisite Replica of 'Eternity'", and an extended interpretation of the John Fahey piece "Dry Bones in the Valley". Upgrade & Afterlife is a 1996 album by Gastr del Sol. ... John Fahey ( February 28, 1939–February 22, 2001) was an American guitarist and composer, and one of the first guitarists to perform solo instrumental steel-string acoustic guitar. ...

With the release of Camoufleur in 1998, Gastr del Sol veered further into the realm of conventional melodies and chamber pop, creating their most accessible and popular album. In its intuitive chord patterns and melodies, and its flugelhorn and string-heavy arrangements, it prefigures some of O'Rourke's future solo releases. Camoufleur is a 1998 album by Gastr del Sol released on Drag City. ... Baroque pop as a style originated in the mid 1960s as the flipside of sunshine pop. ... A standard 3-valved Bb flugelhorn. ...

After Camofleur the band split up. Grubbs and O'Rourke both continued producing music as solo musicians, Grubbs with 1996's Banana Cabbage, Potato Lettuce, Onion Orange and O'Rourke (who had also released many solo and collaborative albums prior to and during his time in Gastr del Sol) with Eureka. Eureka is an album by American musician Jim ORourke. ...

Discography

• The Serpentine Similar (Teenbeat/Drag City 1993)
• Crookt, Crackt, or Fly (Drag City 1994)
• Mirror Repair (Drag City 1995)
• The Harp Factory on Lake Street (Table of the Elements 1995)
• Upgrade & Afterlife (Drag City1996)
• Camoufleur (Drag City 1998)