ARTIST: The Airborne Toxic Event
TITLE: The Airborne Toxic Event
LABEL: Majordomo
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 209kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 37m total
RELEASE DATE: 2008-08-05
RIP DATE: 2008-07-17
Track List
----------
1. Wishing Well 3:57
2. Papillon 3:17
3. Gasoline 3:20
4. Happiness is Overrated 3:11
5. Does This Mean You're Moving 2:13
On?
6. This is Nowhere 2:49
7. Sometime Around Midnight 5:03
8. Something New 3:07
9. Missy 3:39
10. Innocence 6:48
Release Notes:
The band was formed in 2006 by Mikel Jollett. During a one-week period in March
2006 while working on a novel, Jollett learned that his mother was diagnosed
with cancer, experienced a break-up, and was diagnosed with genetic Autoimmune
disease. Even though the disease encompasses over 70 different disorders,
Autoimmune led Jollet to develop 2 cosmetic conditions: Alopecia areata and
Vitiligo. Spurred by these events in his personal life, Jollett turned from
writing prose to writing songs, and soon realized he was composing an album
instead of a novel.
Jollett met drummer Taylor in the summer of 2006 and the two established an
immediate rapport. After working on original material together for four months
as a two-piece, Jollett asked classically-trained violinist Bulbrook and bassist
Harmon to join the band. With a background in orchestral and chamber music,
Bulbrook since taught herself to play viola and keyboard, while Harmon holds a
jazz degree in upright bass performance from the California Institute of the
Arts and taught in East Los Angeles as part of the schoolÆs Community Arts
Partnership. Jollett had met Chen several years earlier, when both lived in San
Francisco, and asked Chen to complete the lineup as the lead guitarist.
To supplement his fiction writing, Jollett had earned income as a freelance
writer, contributing to organizations such as NPR, Los Angeles Times, Filter
Magazine and MenÆs Health. Since the creation of the band, he has continued to
write only fiction and has a short story slated to appear in the Summer 2008
issue of McSweeneyÆs.
The Airborne Toxic Event played its first show in Echo Park in the fall of 2006,
less than a month after it was fully formed. Since then, the band has performed
extensively in L.A. and become well known throughout the greater Los Angeles
area. In December 2006, Rolling Stone named them one of the ôTop 25 Bands on
MySpace.ö They went on to receive positive responses from music blogs and
press, notably L.A. Weekly and Los Angeles Times, which named the group one of
the top three L.A. bands to watch in 2008. Previous bands to receive this
distinction include Cold War Kids and Silversun Pickups.
In a rare move, during the bandÆs January 2008 residency at the popular Silver
Lake venue Spaceland, Los Angeles Commercial Radio stations KROQ, Indie 103 and
Star 98.7 all officially added the as-yet-unsigned bandÆs song ôSometime Around
Midnightö to regular rotation. SeattleÆs KEXP, San FranciscoÆs Live 105, San
DiegoÆs 91X, and BostonÆs WFNX also showed significant support for the group.
After an extensive courtship from major labels, the Airborne Toxic Event signed
with the indie imprint Majordomo Records in April 2008. Their first full-length
record is scheduled for U.S. release on August 5, 2008.