Epic Soundtracks

For Christmas this year, one of my brothers got me one of those Visa gift cards for $25 that are good anywhere, and that night I went to Cheapo Discs (open 365 days a year till midnight) to spend it. One of my finds was Epic Soundtrack's first album entitled "Rise Above."

Epic Soundtracks was the stage name of Kevin Paul Godfrey, drummer in the Nikki Sudden fronted Post-Punk band, Swell Maps. Epic was also the real life brother of Sudden, and an accomplished solo artist. Between 1992-1997, he released 3 solo albums, each consisting of a kind of simplified, piano-based Orchestral Pop. "Rise Above," his first album, in it's sparser moments, reminds me of the His Name Is Alive/Pale Saints side project, ESP Summer. In it's more intricate parts, the album's sound leads me to believe (though I have no real reason to suspect this) that it could of been a major influence on the song-writing style of modern Pop Balladeer, Badly Drawn Boy.

Sadly, Epic died in his sleep in 1997.

The song below has J. Mascis on drums, Martyn P. Casey (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) on bass, and a sly guest vocal by Kim Gordon.

Big Apple Graveyard (WMA) – Epic Soundtracks

To download, follow link to Mediafire, wait a second for it to load, then hit "Click here to start download."

--Popkoff