Pocahaunted

All Music Guide:

Founded as a willfully naïve improv duo in 2006 by Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino and issuing nearly 25 releases in their first three years of existence, Pocahaunted built a sound from shambolic drifts, drifting half-remembered funk grooves, and liberal use of dub-like reverb. Founded in Los Angeles after Brown had a dream that she and Cosentino started a band called Pocahaunted, the duo was near the center of the West Coast psychedelic scene, in large part because of its affiliation with Brown's Not Not Fun Records, founded a year before Pocahaunted.

Though ultimately woozy and slathered in echo, rhythm was an important part of the duo's earliest releases. Improvising around concepts and pre-chosen titles, Brown and Cosentino moved between "Pocahaunted does Tom Tom Club" (2008's Chains) to "dark raga" (2009's Passage) and "tribal soul" (2008's Mirror Mics). There was also a steady stream of cassette-only ephemera, including 2006's What the Spirit Tells Me and 2009's Gold Miner's Daughter. Associated with the Wire magazine-dubbed "hypnogagic pop" of Emeralds, Ducktails, and Sun Araw -- many of whom released discs on Not Not Fun -- Pocahaunted's half-songs and drone-happy ethos fit in perfectly.

In 2010, Cosentino left the band to attend college in New York (where she founded Best Coast). Brown returned with a reconfigured Pocahaunted quartet, including husband Britt Brown on guitar. The new Pocahaunted continued on logically from the duo improvisations, using much of the same vocabulary, but solidifying it into more proper songs, with sections, audible lyrics, and even refrains.

Wikipedia:

Pocahaunted (often shortened by the band to P-haunt) was a psychedelic/drone/dub band based in Los Angeles, California founded in 2005 by Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino.

History [edit]

Amanda Brown co-founded Not Not Fun Records in 2006; she and friend Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast) formed the duo Pocahaunted the following year. The group has released over a dozen albums, a few EPs/singles, and several split releases, generally preferring the vinyl and cassette formats over compact disc. Their releases often have handmade/hand-painted artwork. The group has toured heavily since its inception and has had its music released by a wide array of experimental record labels, including ones based in Europe. They disbanded in August 2010.

Music [edit]

Pocahaunted's sound has undergone many stylistic shifts. Their early music was primarily based on improvised drones and filled with disorienting reverb and dub production techniques. During this time, they often called themselves "The Olsen twins of drone," in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Cosentino left for New York to focus on her sunshine pop project Best Coast ca. 2009, necessitating a lineup overhaul for Pocahaunted, including the addition of Brown's husband Britt Brown (a.k.a. Robedoor) on guitar, Diva Dompe (of Blackblack) on bass guitar and vocals, Leyna Noel Tilbor (Psychic Reality) on keyboards and vocals, and M. Geddes Gengras on drums. The band re-emerged in 2009 with a more upbeat, funk rock-based sound, while retaining dubby bass lines and a tribal overall sound.