Tuesday, March 28, 2006

R.I.P. Nikki Sudden


I just came across this on Billboard. I never had the chance to see Nikki Sudden live, but I got hooked on the Swell Maps during my time at WVXU’s Nightwaves. I never really followed them much outside of their music, but every time I came across a record or a CD in a record store or a used bin someplace, I always bought it despite having never heard it before. Their albums never disappointed. I was saddened several years ago to learn that Nikki’s brother and partner in the Swell Maps, Epic Soundtracks, had passed away. Nikki wanted to ensure Epic’s legacy lived on and see that the Swell Maps records were re-released. Secretly Canadian has been more than willing to release some of them as well as Nikki’s solo albums and other projects over the last several years. Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks were both very influential to early alternative music as well as a lot of the newer crop of bands emerging today, whether they realize it or not.

Nikki Sudden:
Fall Any Further
Great Pharoah
Mafeking Blues
Back to the Coast

with The Jacobites:
Shame for the Angels
Big Store
It'll All End Up in Tears
When the Rain Comes

with Rowland S. Howard:
Wedding Hotel

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