Icy Demons

Started by Bablicon's Griffin Rodriguez (aka Blue Hawaii) and Man Man's Christopher Powell (aka Pow Pow), Icy Demons are a genre-spanning hypno-rhythmic indie project borrowing heavily from electro, Krautrock, and prog rock, specifically its Canterbury subgenre. Rodriguez takes bass and vocal duties while Powell drums, and the two act as the primary ringleaders of the band, roping in a rotating circus of musicians from their home cities of Philadelphia and Chicago. Upon initiation into the group, members adopt aliases like Graveyard P, Young Master Schneider, Ta-Freek-Ya, and the Diminisher. Cloud Recordings, a label with close ties to Elephant 6, another collective-friendly band of brothers, took a liking to Icy Demons' first record and released Fight Back! in 2004. Between touring with their respective groups and recording albums for other musicians at Rodriguez's Shape Shoppe studio, Rodriguez and Powell found time to piece together their second Icy Demons album, Tears of a Clone, in 2006, which was released by Eastern Developments. To add to their musical endeavors and house their creative output, the two started a record label called Obey Your Brain, and released Miami Ice in April of 2007. Plans followed to play live shows as a touring band with guitarist Russell Higbee of Man Man, guitarist Jeff Parker of Tortoise, upright bassist Josh Abrams of Prefuse 73 and Sam Prekop, and atmospheric improviser and cellist Tomeka Reid, in support of Slint and Arcade Fire, and as a main stage act at the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival. Miami Ice was reissued that summer. ~ Jason Lymangrover, All Music Guide