Glass Candy
Encyclopedia
Glass Candy is an American
indie electronic band
from Portland, Oregon
that formed in 1996
. The band consists of vocalist Ida No and guitarist
/synthesist
/general producer Johnny Jewel. While the band's early work blends elements of no wave
and glam rock
, their later work incorporates Italo disco
. The band is known for evolving through the years since their original collaboration, and experimenting with various musical genres. They have released a number of albums since the early 2000s, their most recent being 2008's Deep Gems
.
, and Johnny Jewel, from Austin, Texas
, in 1996. The two began working together in Portland, Oregon
, just across the Columbia River
from No's hometown of Vancouver. No describes their early work as "drone
y and weird." Their first two singles, which they self-released under the name "Glass Candy & the Shattered Theatre", were "Metal Gods" (2001) and a cover of Josie Cotton
's "Johnny Are You Queer" (2002). They toured with The Convocation Of...
in 2001, and released a live album that year on Vermin Scum. Their first studio album, Love Love Love, was issued on Troubleman Unlimited in 2003. A second full-length followed on Troubleman the next year. Jewel founded Italians Do It Better with Mike Simonetti as a subsidiary of Troubleman. In 2007 Glass Candy released their third album B/E/A/T/B/O/X
on this label to considerable critical praise. In late 2008, a rarities, b-sides
and remix album was released under the name Deep Gems. In a review of Deep Gems, Spin Magazine referred to the band as "an eccentric Portland pair" that "spook the dance floor".
Glass Candy songs were used for a Chloé
runway show, as well as used by Karl Lagerfeld for the Spring/Summer '08 Chanel
Haute Couture fashion show and the Fall/Winter one of '08/'09.
Glass Candy's song, "Digital Versicolour," was featured prominently in Nicolas Winding Refn's film, Bronson
, partially in a pair of scenes, and in full over the closing credits. A music video was made for the song in 2005 and starred notable Australia
n actress Rose Byrne
.
and "a frightened Debbie Harry
or a pissed-off Lene Lovich
in a haunted disco". Their work as of 2008 borrows from Italo disco
, freestyle music
, Krautrock
, hip-hop, and new wave
.
Johnny Jewel has cited Marilyn Monroe
films, 1980s cop show
soundtracks, Goblin
, and John Carpenter
soundtracks as inspirational. All music tracks are produced by basic analog equipment, without the use of computers. Critics have also compared the group to Nina Hagen
, The Shirelles
, David Bowie
, James Chance
, and Jarboe
. Glass Candy has covered songs by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, Kraftwerk
, Roxy Music
, Belle Epoque
, Dark Day, The Rolling Stones
, and Queen
. The group has also said that stores could appropriately file their music "between Olivia Newton-John
, Suicide
and Schoolly D
".
Former members
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
indie electronic band
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
from Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
that formed in 1996
1996 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...
. The band consists of vocalist Ida No and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
/synthesist
Digital synthesizer
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing techniques to make musical sounds.Electronic keyboards make music through sound waves.-History:...
/general producer Johnny Jewel. While the band's early work blends elements of no wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
and glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
, their later work incorporates Italo disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
. The band is known for evolving through the years since their original collaboration, and experimenting with various musical genres. They have released a number of albums since the early 2000s, their most recent being 2008's Deep Gems
Deep Gems
Deep Gems is a collection of singles, B-sides and rarities by Glass Candy, released in October 2008 by the Italians Do It Better label.-Track listing:# "Introduction" - 0:47# "Feeling Without Touching" - 2:48# "Poison Or Remedy" - 3:42...
.
History
Glass Candy was formed by Ida No, from Vancouver, WashingtonVancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
, and Johnny Jewel, from Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, in 1996. The two began working together in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, just across the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
from No's hometown of Vancouver. No describes their early work as "drone
Drone (music)
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
y and weird." Their first two singles, which they self-released under the name "Glass Candy & the Shattered Theatre", were "Metal Gods" (2001) and a cover of Josie Cotton
Josie Cotton
Josie Cotton is an American singer/songwriter, best known for her minor hits "Johnny Are You Queer" and "He Could Be the One" from 1982...
's "Johnny Are You Queer" (2002). They toured with The Convocation Of...
The Convocation Of...
The Convocation is an American post rock band from Baltimore, Maryland.-History:As The Convocation Of..., the band was formed by George France, Tonie Joy, and Guy Blakeslee in August 1998...
in 2001, and released a live album that year on Vermin Scum. Their first studio album, Love Love Love, was issued on Troubleman Unlimited in 2003. A second full-length followed on Troubleman the next year. Jewel founded Italians Do It Better with Mike Simonetti as a subsidiary of Troubleman. In 2007 Glass Candy released their third album B/E/A/T/B/O/X
B/E/A/T/B/O/X
B/E/A/T/B/O/X is the second studio album by Glass Candy, released in 2007 by the Italians Do It Better label.-Track listing:# "Introduction" - 1:29# "Beatific" - 4:19# "Etheric Device" - 3:14# "Candy Castle" - 5:27# "Rolling Down the Hills" - 3:30...
on this label to considerable critical praise. In late 2008, a rarities, b-sides
B-Sides
B-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...
and remix album was released under the name Deep Gems. In a review of Deep Gems, Spin Magazine referred to the band as "an eccentric Portland pair" that "spook the dance floor".
Glass Candy songs were used for a Chloé
Chloé
Chloé is a French fashion house founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion. Its headquarters is in Paris.-History:Gaby Aghion was born in Alexandria, Egypt in the year 1921...
runway show, as well as used by Karl Lagerfeld for the Spring/Summer '08 Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
Haute Couture fashion show and the Fall/Winter one of '08/'09.
Glass Candy's song, "Digital Versicolour," was featured prominently in Nicolas Winding Refn's film, Bronson
Bronson (film)
Bronson is a 2008 British fictionalised biographical crime film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Tom Hardy. The film follows the life of notorious prisoner Michael Gordon Peterson, who was re-named Charles Bronson by his fight promoter...
, partially in a pair of scenes, and in full over the closing credits. A music video was made for the song in 2005 and starred notable Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n actress Rose Byrne
Rose Byrne
Mary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress.Byrne made her screen debut in 1994 with a small role in the film Dallas Doll...
.
Characteristics
Ida No's vocals have been likened to '60s German singer NicoNico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
and "a frightened Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
or a pissed-off Lene Lovich
Lene Lovich
Lene Lovich is an American singer based in England, who first gained attention as part of the New Wave music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her most popular hit single was "Lucky Number", first released in 1979.-Early years:...
in a haunted disco". Their work as of 2008 borrows from Italo disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
, freestyle music
Freestyle music
Freestyle or Latin freestyle, sometimes referred to as Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1980s. Mostly popular during the mid 80s to the early 90s...
, Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, hip-hop, and new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
.
Johnny Jewel has cited Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
films, 1980s cop show
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
soundtracks, Goblin
Goblin (band)
Goblin are an Italian progressive rock band known for their soundtracks for Dario Argento films ....
, and John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
soundtracks as inspirational. All music tracks are produced by basic analog equipment, without the use of computers. Critics have also compared the group to Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress.-Early years:Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen , a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer...
, The Shirelles
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, James Chance
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White , is an American saxophonist, songwriter and singer....
, and Jarboe
Jarboe
Jarboe is an American singer, songwriter, and keyboardist.Jarboe is a solo artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with the New York City based group Swans. With founder Michael Gira, the duo was the core of Swans until the group broke up in 1998...
. Glass Candy has covered songs by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, Belle Epoque
Belle Epoque (band)
Belle Epoque was the name of a female vocal trio, based in Paris, France. The group first rose to popularity during the mid to late 1970s with a disco remake of the song, "Black Is Black", originally a hit in 1966 for the Spanish group Los Bravos.-History:Belle Epoque consisted of lead singer...
, Dark Day, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. The group has also said that stores could appropriately file their music "between Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Suicide
Suicide (band)
Suicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....
and Schoolly D
Schoolly D
Jesse B. Weaver Jr. , better known by the stage name Schoolly D, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.- Career :...
".
Members
Current members- Ida No - vocals
- Johnny Jewel (formerly known as John David P.) - guitar, drums, programming
Former members
- Avalon Kalin - drums
- Jimi Hey - drums
- Dusty Sparkles - saxophone and drums
- Mark Burden - drums
- Ginger Peachs - Drums
Discography
- Smashed Candy (Vermin ScumVermin ScumVermin Scum is an Annapolis, Maryland-based record label founded by Kenny Hill of the bands Spastic Rats and, later, the Hated. The name was given to fit the theme of the label's first release, the Spastic Rats' "Rodentia."...
, 2001) - Love Love Love (Troubleman Unlimited, 2003)
- Life After Sundown (Troubleman Unlimited 2004)
- Iko (Troubleman Unlimited, 2005)
- "I Always Say Yes (12" Main)" (Italians Do It Better, 2007)
- After DarkAfter DarkAfter Dark is a series of computer screensaver software introduced in 1989 by Berkeley Systems for the Apple Macintosh, and later for Microsoft Windows....
(Italians Do It Better, 2007) - B/E/A/T/B/O/XB/E/A/T/B/O/XB/E/A/T/B/O/X is the second studio album by Glass Candy, released in 2007 by the Italians Do It Better label.-Track listing:# "Introduction" - 1:29# "Beatific" - 4:19# "Etheric Device" - 3:14# "Candy Castle" - 5:27# "Rolling Down the Hills" - 3:30...
(Italians Do It Better, 2007) - Miss Broadway (Vinyl, 12")" (Italians Do It Better, 2008)
- Deep GemsDeep GemsDeep Gems is a collection of singles, B-sides and rarities by Glass Candy, released in October 2008 by the Italians Do It Better label.-Track listing:# "Introduction" - 0:47# "Feeling Without Touching" - 2:48# "Poison Or Remedy" - 3:42...
(Italians Do It Better, 2008) - Geto BoysGeto BoysGeto Boys is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia...
(Italians Do It Better, 2009) - Feeling Without Touching (Italians Do It Better, 2010)
- Warm in the Winter EP (Italians Do It Better, 2011)