VIA PRESS RELEASE | Groundbreaking slowcore pioneers Idaho are marking the recent arrival of their landmark anthology, The Devil You Know [1992-1996], with today’s release of “Star,” a rare gem from the band’s earliest days available now via Arts & Crafts.
An official music video featuring archival footage premieres today. The Devil You Know [1992-1996], a four-album five-disc Deluxe Limited Edition Box Set featuring vinyl reissues of Idaho’s long-out-of-print and highly sought-after first three records (originally released on Caroline/Capitol) with an exclusive bonus disc of hard-to-find material comprised of EPs and 7”s from this seminal era, is available now via Arts & Crafts.
Recorded in 1992, “Star” dates back to the “big bang that started it all,” says Idaho’s torchbearer Jeff Martin of his lifelong collaboration with John Berry, the band’s late co-founder who would leave one year later due to his struggles with drug addiction. The song’s combustion of guttural guitars, churning in distortion, laden with Martin’s plaintive vocals, captures what he calls the “beautifully sorrowful corner of this odd church” that he and Berry built—32 years later, the alien sounds of Idaho burn as bright as ever.
“Ah what to say about these early days,” says Jeff Martin. “Mid 92 perhaps it was? John was playing drums in a band I had formed called Drain with Wade Graham on guitar and yours truly on bass and vocals. We had sent the 4-song demo to some of our contacts in the music business only to be met with predictably lukewarm sentiments. John had stepped up the by then increasingly annoying salvos of elicitations to get me to record with him on our own, make some music like we used to…
With nothing left to lose, I relented and the following meanderings actually seemed to have something to ‘em. ‘Star’ was maybe the first one of the bunch to resemble an actual song. It just sort of appeared out of the birth canal sounding like it was forged by a band that had its uniqueness fully in place, but I guess it’s just that mood or feeling that John and I conjured and only conjured when we worked as a duo off and on since we met as teenagers in 1981. John’s time as co-founder of Idaho would be over due to drugs barely a year after this was recorded but his spirit most certainly lives on in some beautifully sorrowful corner of this odd church we built together for no one but ourselves.”
Led by Laurel Canyon-based singer-songwriter Jeff Martin, Idaho are the unsung cult heroes of ’90s slowcore. Though they are often grouped amongst post-grunge indie rock pioneers like Low, Songs: Ohia, and Codeine, Idaho is distinguished by the desert atmospherics of Martin’s four-string guitar, echoing out his elegant songcraft in a canyon of alien tones and melancholic feedback.
Idaho will further celebrate The Devil You Know [1992-1996] with a series of upcoming West Coast live dates, beginning February 19 in San Diego, CA. Highlights include a special The Devil You Know [1992-1996] launch event set for March 1 at Los Angeles, CA’s Gold Diggers.
