Indian-Summer
Indian Summer was a band from Oakland, California. They existed during 1993 and 1994.
Their sound leaned heavily on loud-soft dynamics, pushed to the extremes on either end. Many of their songs built up to chaotic, cathartic climaxes; in which the singer screamed the lyrics (often past the point of easy intelligibility) while the band tore into their instruments. The other end of the spectrum involved spoken or whispered lyrics, coupled with delicately picked single note guitar lines and light drumming. This sound can be traced to current bands such as Envy and Life at These Speeds, who aim for similar cathartic heights.
The band released a self titled 7”, a split 7” with Embassy, and split 7’ with Current and Ordination of Aaron. They were also featured on Tree Record’s “Eucalyptus” 2x7” comp, Slave Cut’s “Ghost Dance” 2x7” comp, as well as a Food Not Bombs compilation LP that came out on Inchworm (same label as the split with OOA). They also released a live-on-the-radio CD entitled Live Blue Universe, which is necessary listening (there are also two live shows floating around, one at Pitzer College, the other at 924 Gilman).
Around 2002, one of the members compiled Indian Summer’s studio songs and pressed a limited-run 9-song discography CD, and in 2006 they reissued the Live: Blue Universe CD featuring the aforementioned previously unreleased live set recorded at Pitzer College, and a radio session from 90.1 KZSU (Stanford Radio) recorded in 1996