His Name Is Alive
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His Name Is Alive is an experimental pop music project from Livonia, Michigan, led by multi-instrumentalist Warren Defever. Their work utilizes a variety of musical influences, including electronica, art rock, avant-pop, funk, R&B, blues, jazz and soul.
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[edit] Biography
Defever began recording as His Name Is Alive in 1986, inspired by experimental artists such as Eddie Cochran, King Tubby, Jimi Hendrix, Leadbelly, and 4AD Records's Cocteau Twins. In the early years of the band the vocalists were first Angie Carozzo and later Karin Oliver, a classmate of Defever in his freshman year at Eastern Michigan University before he dropped out to concentrate on music. Three cassettes were released, which attracted the attention of influential British record label 4AD Records. Livonia, His Name Is Alive's first album, was released in 1990.
1991 saw the release of Home Is In Your Head. Here Defever moved from the ethereal atmospherics of Livonia to sparser arrangements. The album is noteworthy for its grim yet strangely humorous tone and the conciseness of its 23 tracks (some only a minute long). Defever once referred to the album as "23 one minute songs about how I got through a difficult adolescence."
Mouth By Mouth appeared in 1993 and saw Defever give more of a role to outside musicians, including new drummer Trey Many (who played on one entire song and one interlude). Half of the tracks on the album were actually provided by the band The Dirt Eaters, of which Defever was a member. The album features a more rock sound, in contrast to the acoustic sound of earlier efforts.
In 1996, after three years of recording, Stars On E.S.P. was released. Here the band changed styles yet again, providing an album influenced by oldies and surf-rock. 1998's Ft. Lake was similar, but new vocalist Lovetta Pippen contributed three soul-influenced tracks "No Hiding Place," "Wishing Ring," and "Everything Takes Forever." The Album also features vocals by avant garde artist, Dara. Dara is also a featured guest vocalist on numerous His Name Is Alive EPs as well as on the track "Library Girl" from the 4AD compilation "All Virgos Are Mad". In 1997, barely a year after the release on Stars On E.S.P. His Name Is Alive released Nice Day EP, which showed a considerably stronger surf rock influence than was demonstrated before on Stars On E.S.P. Nice Day EP is also a noteworthy release as frequent HNIA vocalist Erika Hoffman handled the lead vocals on five out its six songs, instead of Karin Oliver.
In 2000 Defever, after dismissing longtime vocalist Karin Oliver (she herself states she was kicked out in the band's ten year anniversary interview found at http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=893 though Defever states she decided to leave on her own) and moving Lovetta Pippen to the forefront, made a controversial move to a style influenced by psychedelic R&B such as Jimi Hendrix and the Isley Brothers. Someday My Blues Will Cover The Earth, delayed for over a year while the label was sold and restructured (although the delay was cleverly blamed on the design firm's v23 ambitious artwork), saw the light in 2001. Last Night, similarly shelved for many months, followed in 2002.
In late 2002 it was announced that His Name Is Alive were no longer on the artist roster of 4AD, with some rumors indicating the band was dropped, and others that it was an amicable parting. The activity of His Name Is Alive continued, however, through self-released and independent albums. By late 2003, a timeSTEREO CD release of a new, primarily instrumental His Name Is Alive album, Brown Rice - so named after one of Don Cherry's greatest LPs from the '70's, was available for sale at select shows and was later made available via the timeSTEREO site in 2004. Detroit River, a collection of remixes and alternate takes of recent material, was sold at shows in 2004.
In 2005, HNIA announced they had started a new label called Silver Mountain Media Group, and had found major distribution through Sony/BMG. The first release was called Raindrops Rainbow, followed by Detrola in January 2006.
[edit] Independent releases
Defever is a prolific musician, and His Name Is Alive's output is by no means limited to 4AD, though its most accessible albums were released by the label. In 1993 King Of Sweet a collection of three homemade cassettes limited to 2000 copies, was released by independent label Perdition Plastics. It remains highly sought by collectors. King of Sweet has been remastered and re-released (2005) for download from their official website.
After recording Stars On E.S.P., a grueling effort which required three years, Defever jokingly spoke of having an album which would appear in the event he was killed or incapacitated. This Emergency Album, recorded in 1998, was to be released by 4AD as a limited edition item, but instead appeared in 2000 self-released.
With his friend Davin Brainard, Defever provides a great deal of His Name Is Alive through his home record label timeSTEREO.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Livonia (1990) (4AD)
- Home Is in Your Head (1991) (4AD)
- Mouth by Mouth (1993) (4AD)
- Stars on ESP (1996) (4AD)
- Radio LP (1998) (timeSTEREO)
- Ft. Lake (1998) (4AD)
- Emergency (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- When the Stars Refuse to Shine (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth (2001) (4AD)
- Last Night (2002) (4AD)
- Brown Rice (2005) (timeSTEREO)
- Summer Bird LP (2005) (Ypsilanti)
- Detrola (2006) (Silver Mountain)
[edit] Singles and EPs
- The Dirt Eaters EP (1992) (4AD)
- Universal Frequencies EP (1996) (4AD)
- Nice Day EP (1997) (4AD)
- Melody Farm EP [split with Little Princess] (1998) (Shaolin Temple / timeSTEREO)
- Freebie Single (1998) (4AD)
- Can't Always Be Loved (1998) (4AD)
- Happy Blues / One Year (2001) (4AD)
- Nothing Special (2001) (4AD)
- Raindrops Rainbow EP (2005) (Silver Mountain)
[edit] Compilations and Remixes
- King of Sweet (1993) (Perdition Plastics, reissued in 2005 via timeSTEREO as MP3)
- Sampler (1993) (4AD)
- Radio LP (1998) (timeSTEREO)
- Always Stay Sweet (1999) (4AD)
- Early Music Volume 1 (1985-1989) (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- RMX's 1995-2000 (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- Rare Tracks in the Snow (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (2001) (timeSTEREO)
- Heart and Hand [10 CD box set] (2001) (timeSTEREO)
- Cloud Box [10 CD box set] (2004) (timeSTEREO)
- Someday RMX (2006) (Silver Mountain)
- Detrola Instrumental (2007) (Silver Mountain) (iTunes only purchase)
[edit] Live
- Sound of Mexico (1995) (timeSTEREO)
- Finer Twilights (1997) (timeSTEREO)
- Golden City (1997) (timeSTEREO)
- Great Lake States Blues (1997) (timeSTEREO)
- Ten Years Long Time (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- In the West (2000) (timeSTEREO)
- In the East (2000) (timeSTEREO)
