Karmacoda
| Karmacoda | |
|---|---|
| Origin | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | Trip hop |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Labels | Sola Musa Music |
| Members |
Jessica Ford B. Eric Matsuno Mark Pistel |
Karmacoda are an American electronica group based in San Francisco, CA. Karmacoda features lead vocalist Jessica Ford, vocalist/guitarist B., DJ/Keyboardist Mark Pistel and bassist Eric Matsuno.
History
Karmacoda (whose name is an homage to Karmacoma, a song by British trip-hop collective Massive Attack, a nod to their impromptu formation (karma) and a description of their loop-based musical style (coda)), began as a studio project effort between founding members B. and Heather Pierce when they met in 2000 and realized their mutual interest in trip hop and drum and bass. A few months earlier B. had played friend and drummer Bruce Fulford new material he had written in an attempt to explore new electronic music territory. While working on the new instrumental tracks both B. and Bruce agreed that adding vocals could complete the sound they were searching for.
A few weeks later in August 2001 the trio met at B's studio. Their first meeting and studio work resulted in the song, Frail and what would become many evenings spent writing and recording Karmacoda's debut album, Reco mended, meshing elements of trip hop, electronica and rock with melodic vocal lines.
The release of Reco mended garnered inquiries as to when the new group would begin performing live. Because the band began primarily as a studio project, the challenges and limitations of performing live were not of capital concern during the writing and recording of the debut. But following Bruce's move to Los Angeles, Heather and B. began work on creating a live show. B. called upon friend and San Francisco for bass duties and Rafael Acevedo as DJ.
Karmacoda's second disc Evidence, featured more extensively the vocals of Heather and B.
In early 2004, Karmacoda's "Swan" won in The 3rd Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Film/TV Song.[1] Also in 2004, the band released Altered Evidence: Late Night Remixes. In 2005, original bassist Brian Templeton relocated to New York and was replaced by Bay Area bassist Eric Matsuno.
In 2004, Karmacoda began work on a third album of original material Illuminate, which was released in March 2007. The band recorded and released a "live in studio EP" in 2009 titled "Ultraviolet Live" which featured an all acoustic version of their song Chapel. Follow 3 years of extensive writing and recording Karmacoda completed and released the album Eternal on August 2, 2011 which features 12 new songs. The first single released from 'Eternal' is the song Love Will Turn Your Head Around (released April 8, 2011) which featured guest vocals by Beth Hirsch (Air - Moon Safari) and Anji Bee (Lovespirals, The Chillcast).
Original vocalist Heather Pierce left the band in 2012 citing personal reasons and a desire to focus on her teaching career. The band chose to continue on using a number of female vocalists which were friends and acquaintances to provide female vocals. Beth Hirsch, Anji Bee, Tyler Stone, Shannon Hurley and Artemis Robison each contributed to vocal duets on a number of songs on the album. In May 2015 the band's fifth studio album Love and Fate Volume 1 was released.
In the fall of 2015 Karmacoda brought on board Jessica Ford as the group's full time female vocalist. In December 2015 the band recorded and released a cover of the Sara Bareilles song "Winter Song" on YouTube. In the summer of 2015 Mark Pistel (Consolidated, ) joined as a keyboardist and Ableton Live DJ. The band is currently writing it's sixth album and also performing San Francisco.
Discography
- Reco mended (2001)
- Evidence (2003)
- Altered Evidence: Late Night Remixes (2004)
- Illuminate (2007)
- Lux Life: Illuminated Remixes (2008)
- Ultraviolet Live (2009)
- Eternal (2011)
- Love and Fate Volume 1 (2015)
Singles
- Love Will Turn Your Head Around (ft. Beth Hirsch & Anji Bee) (2011)
- We Don't Have a Lot of Time (ft. Beth Hirsch) (2015)
Filmography
- Neverland (2003)
- Paris (2003)
- The Last Run (2004)
- Hellbent (2004)
- Voyeur" (original soundtrack) (2006)