Azusa Plane

The Azusa Plane is essentially guitarist Jason DiEmilio from Clifton Heights, PA, near Philadelphia (or "Psychedelphia," as it's often referred to). For live performances, DiEmilio has been joined on-stage by guitarist Jason Knight (the Marinernine, China the Beautiful) and drummer Quentin Stoltzfus (Mazarin). In interviews, DiEmilio has said the Azusa Plane's noisy soundscapes are based on his struggle with depression and the band's name comes from Akira Kurosawa's epic masterpiece Ran; it's the name of the location where the family patriarch dies at the end. DiEmilio's original plan was to put out ten singles on his own Colorful Clouds for Acoustics label. The first, "Fall"/"Meander," arrived in late 1995. Since that time, the Azusa Plane has released more than 40 releases on various labels, including many split 7" singles with fellow space rock bands like Füxa, Grimble Grumble, Loren MazzaCane Connors, Roy Montgomery, and Windy & Carl. The Azusa Plane's first full-length release was 1997's Tycho Magnetic Anomaly and the Full Consciousness of Hidden Harmony, which was issued on the Australian Camera Obscura imprint. A double CD, America Is Dreaming of Universal String Theory, followed in 1998. That same year, Chunklet fanzine editor Henry H. Owings helped compile Result Dies With the Worker, Little Army, a CD of live the Azusa Plane performances he'd recorded on a hand-held DAT recorder. After Knight moved to San Francisco, CA, all live performances by the Azusa Plane were put on indefinite hold. Since then, Jason DiEmilio performs infrequently, sometimes playing stripped-down improvisational solo guitar under the moniker the Spires of Oxford. He also plays guitar in Stoltzfus' band Mazarin (whose Watch It Happen album was released on Victoria Records, an offshoot of DiEmilio's Colorful Clouds for Acoustics label). In 2001, the German Kraak label issued The Highway's Jammed With Broken Heroes, on which DiEmilio's compositions were beginning to have a jazzier, more avant-garde feel.
— Bryan Thomas , All Music Guide