Maserati

Yet another of the Athens, GA experimentalists, Maserati picked up where bands like Tortoise, Macha, and Labradford left off with complex, warmly textured instrumental music straying from the confines of rock to explore the ambient, jazz, and even modern classical traditions. The four-piece of Coley Dennis (guitar), Steve Scarborough (bass), Phil Horan (drums), and Matt Cherry (guitar) began playing together in early 2001. After several months, they recorded and self-released 37:29:24, a moody blend of space rock expansiveness and scatter-bursts of Slint-like aggression. In 2002, they met again in producer Andy Baker's Chase Park studio (where albums by Macha, the Mendoza Line, and Jucifer have been recorded) to record The Language of Cities, the band's first label-backed album on the indie pop clearinghouse Kindercore. The eight-song album continued their exploration of emo-tinged instrumental rock best exemplified by the track "The Language," a seven-plus-minute opus of sustained cymbal buildups, churning guitar, and John McEntire-style fills. In 2005, Jerry Fuchs replaced Phil Horan on drums. After signing to Temporary Residence in 2007, Maserati released Inventions for the New Season, which was followed by two remix albums. After starting on their next full-length, in 2009, tragedy struck when Fuchs suffered a freak accident and fell to his death in an elevator shaft. Carrying on, the rest of Maserati pushed through to finish the album. It was released in 2010 and named Pyramid of the Sun after a song Fuchs had conceived in his tour journal. In the years that followed Fuchs' passing, the band acquired new drummer Mike Albanese and worked out a new set of songs for 2012's Maserati VII.