Best Coast | |
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 Best Coast performing in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, US |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2009–2023(hiatus) |
| Labels |
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| Past members |
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| Website | bestcoast |
Best Coast is an Americanrockduo formed inLos Angeles,California in 2009, currently on hiatus. The band consisted of songwriter, guitarist and vocalistBethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. Cosentino, a former child actress, began writing music as a teenager and was formerly a member of the experimentalistdrone groupPocahaunted. After a brief stint at college inNew York City, Cosentino returned to the West Coast and began recordinglo-fi demos with Bruno, whom she met in the Los Angeles music scene.
After a string of7-inch andcassette-only singles, the band signed toMexican Summer, who issued the band's debut,Crazy for You, in 2010. It became an unexpected commercial success following Internet buzz surrounding the duo.Lewis Pesacov ofFool's Gold andForeign Born produced, engineered and mixed the album. Best Coast added a touring drummer, Ali Koehler ofVivian Girls, and spent much of 2011 on the road for festival appearances and tour dates. Best Coast's sophomore effort,The Only Place, was released in 2012 and featured a cleaner sound than their previous releases. In 2013, the duo released an EP,Fade Away, and their third studio album,California Nights, was released in May 2015. More recently, Best Coast released their fourth studio album,Always Tomorrow, in February 2020. In 2023, Cosentino put the band on hiatus to explore a solo career and Bruno went to play bass forshoegaze bandNothing.
Best Coast was formed in 2009 byBethany Cosentino (born November 3, 1986) and Bobb Bruno (born May 10, 1973) in Los Angeles, California. Cosentino had been around the Los Angeles music scene from a young age, and had been involved in talent competitions, musicals, audition tapes, and commercials forLittle Caesars.[2] She began writing music at age 15, inspired byJoni Mitchell,Joan Baez andBob Dylan, as well asWeezer andBlink-182. Cosentino began uploading her music toMySpace under the name "Bethany Sharayah".[3][4] She was approached and offered record deals from major labels in her teens, but resisted as they desired to mold her into a "pop princess" type.[3][5] In the mid-2000s, she met Amanda Brown at the downtown LADIY venue the Smell. Brown attempted to act as a "big sister" to Cosentino, who seemed "sort of depressed, missing music, [and] feeling a bit weird about some of her friends."[2] The two began playing together in the experimentalist,drone groupPocahaunted.[3][4] Pocahaunted's music had no traditional lyrics, and instead contained wordless vocalizations from Cosentino and Brown.[2] The collaboration began in 2006 and released several cassette-only recordings on local label Not Not Fun. The recordings were supervised and produced by Bobb Bruno, a multi-instrumentalist stalwart in the city's music scene.[2]
Pocahaunted achieved minor success (at one point opening forSonic Youth), but Cosentino left the project to pursue creative writing at theEugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts inNew York City.[2] Studying journalism and creative nonfiction, she readJoan Didion,David Foster Wallace and other authors she enjoyed and she interned atThe Fader, where she penned a fashion column.[6] Cosentino lived inBrooklyn and all but abandoned her musical pursuits, and soon fell into a mundane routine andseasonal depression in her second semester, feeling miserable.[4] Having grown up on the very sunny and warm West Coast, she found the city "stressful, congested and cold," and based much of her nonfiction on California.[2] Although she felt she would be letting her family and friends down bydropping out, she phoned her mother to come help her gather her belongings and return to Los Angeles over the course of a weekend in March/April 2009.[2] Returning toLa Crescenta, she lived with her mother and began work as a part-time sales associate forLush, but felt immediately inspired to write new music, using her acoustic guitar to cope with anxiety.[6] She informed Bruno, and the two began laying down demos in his home studio.[3] The band's first release, "Sun Was High (So Was I)", was released by Art Fag and was the first of a string of 7-inch singles.[2]
The band's second 7-inch single, "When I'm with You", was financed by Black Iris, which functioned as both a music and film production agency.Lewis Pesacov oversaw the production, engineering and mixing of "This is Real" & "When I'm With You." After their first experience recording with live drums and "real" production, they made a conscious effort to stray away from their original, more lo-fi and hazy sound.[2] A collection of 7-inch singles on Art Fag and Black Iris alerted Adam Shore, owner of buzz-generating website The Daily Swarm, who became the group's manager. Jeffery Kaye, label manager of Mexican Summer, discovered the band's music online.[2] These releases included a cassette tape release,Where the Boys Are, on the U.K. label Blackest Rainbow; a split 7-inch, "Up All Night", on Atelier Ciseaux; and an EP,Make You Mine, on Group Tightener.[3] Margaret Reges writes that Best Coast had "become something of a sensation by the time 2009 came to a close"; the band enjoyed a bit of attention from the media (notably fromNylon), andMake You Mine made its way onto a few year-end lists.[3] The band embarked on its first U.S. tour early the following year, sharing the stage with theVivian Girls.[3]
The duo recorded their debut album,Crazy for You, for Black Iris at Mexican Radio Studios in Echo Park, California from January to April 2010.Lewis Pesacov ofFool's Gold andForeign Born produced, engineered and mixed the album. "Boyfriend" was released as the lead single from the album on June 29, 2010.Crazy for You became a mainstream success upon its July 2010 release as a result of Internet buzz. It entered theBillboard 200 at number 36 with 10,000 units sold and debuted at No. 10 on Digital Albums.[7] The album's success led to maximum exposure: "the blogosphere was suddenly abuzz with talk about her album, her tweets, her personal life, her daily habits and even one of her cats."[2] Alongside the quick success came an intense level of scrutiny, Internet haters and venom from selected critics, some of whom viewed Cosentino's material as anti-feminist.[8]Crazy for You and its sound, "simple and pungent songs [...] toying with 1950s and '60s melodic structures," had become something of a touchstone for Best Coast and adopted by several other bands. Cosentino hid her vocals behind layers of reverb and distortion, which was an extension of her onstage anxiety.[9]
The band continued to gain popularity over the course of 2010 and 2011, due in part to touring and festival appearances.[3] Ali Koehler ofVivian Girls became the band's interim touring drummer, but was ousted from the group at the end of 2011. During this period, much of the band's press consisted of details on Cosentino's relationship withWavves' Nathan Williams. The two collaborated and toured together throughout 2011[3] in a joint effort dubbed theSummer Is Forever tour.[10] The extensive travel schedule subsequently inspired the lyrical content of the band's sophomore effort,The Only Place (2012). Cosentino felt that her life had dramatically changed in the two years following its release, having never spent so much time away from home.[11] The duo had a desire to create a record that "nobody was going to call lo-fi," and Bruno reached out to his former boss, producer/composerJon Brion, known for his work onKanye West'sLate Registration (2005).[12]
The Only Place, released in May 2012, was recorded at Capitol Records Studio B inLos Angeles, California.[13] While previous recording sessions were marked by goofing off and studying, the duo took their sophomore effort more seriously and strove to create a different sound.[14] The decision to work with producer Jon Brion was an effort to bring polish to the mixes. Brion, who admiredCrazy for You and its production, planned to stay out of the way during sessions, hoping primarily to bring out Cosentino's vocals and emphasize the low-end of the mixes. Brion noted that the duo "were curious to not use the reverb thing as a crutch."[9] Brion equipped the duo with vintage analog gear, and attempted to make use of the studio'sLes Paul-designed reverb chambers.[15] Brion noted that Cosentino and Bruno "have a secret language," and he merely suggested a few different guitars.[12]
Best Coast's next release, an EP entitledFade Away, was released on October 22, 2013, on singer Bethany Cosentino's new label, Jewel City.[16][17] In October 2013, the band produced a charityt-shirt for theYellow Bird Project to raise money and awareness for the L.A. Animal Rescue.[18] The shirt was launched at their Animal Rescue benefit concert, which took place atThe Fonda Theatre on October 21, 2013. The duo toured with thePixies in early 2014.[19]
The duo released their third studio album,California Nights, on May 5, 2015. It was recorded, likeFade Away, with Wally Gagel at his Wax Ltd studio.[20] The album was completed in April 2014. The album was initially reported to be produced byButch Walker.[19] On March 10, 2015, the duo shared a lyric video for "Heaven Sent", a cut off the LP.[21]
In early 2016, the band embarked with Wavves on another extensive concert tour, billed asSummer Is Forever II and including the California indie rock bandCherry Glazerr.[10]
On September 11, 2017, Best Coast began touring as support onParamore's tour for their new releaseAfter Laughter. In October 2017, the band headlined the first VintageVibe Festival with groups such asBlack Joe Lewis & the Honeybears andNick Waterhouse inPalm Springs, California.[22]
In June 2018, Best Coast released their first album targeted to children calledBest Kids. Besides covers like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", it also contains originals such as the lead single "Cats & Dogs".[23]
In May 2019, Best Coast was announced as the house band onaftershow parody TV seriesWhat Just Happened??! with Fred Savage.[24]
On January 17, 2020, Best Coast released a new single, "Everything Has Changed".[25] On the same day, they announced in an Instagram post the release of their fourth album,Always Tomorrow, which was released on February 21, 2020, viaConcord Records.
In May 2023, Cosentino decided to indefinitely put the project on hiatus as she explored a solo career. In a press statement regarding the decision, she wrote:
My identity as a human being, and as an artist, has been so wrapped up in Best Coast for over a decade. The decision to pause the project indefinitely, and explore a new side of myself, was a very difficult one to make—but it felt necessary for me. Life is too short to not give yourself what you feel you need and want. I am excited about being just Bethany Cosentino for a while and figuring out who I am outside of the "Bethany from Best Coast" box I've lived in for such a long time.[26]
Cosentino's debut solo album,Natural Disaster, was released on July 28, 2023, via Concord Records.[27]
Best Coast was originally loosely inspired byThe Beatles andThe Beach Boys, as well as straightforward 1950s/1960s pop music.[4] The band's music was described byThe Guardian as "like a lo-fi 60s garage rock and surfing band fronted by a girl group singer".[28] "Drawing inspiration from '60s surf rock and girl groups, Best Coast's noisy lo-fi sound gave a nod to contemporaneous acts like Hot Lava, the Vivian Girls, and Brilliant Colors," wrote Margaret Reges ofAllmusic.[3]Weezer andBlink-182 partially inspired Cosentino's songwriting, and Best Coast have covered the Blink-182 song "Dammit" in concert.[8][29]Pitchfork Media writes that "Best Coast carry enough influence from 90s Californiapop punk that they would've been right at home on a late-90sWarped Tour stage."[30] Some genres they have been tagged as includesindie pop,[31][32][33][34]surf/surf pop,[35][36][37][38]indie rock,[39][40][41]alternative rock,[42][43]power pop,[44][45][46]noise pop,[47][48]garage rock[49] andjangle pop.[50]
The band's second album,The Only Place, was developed with a variety of influences: traditionalcountry music (such asLoretta Lynn,Dusty Springfield andPatsy Cline),Eagles,Fleetwood Mac andDrake'sTake Care.[12][14][15][29]Fade Away, the band's 2013 EP, was primarily inspired byMazzy Star, Patsy Cline andMy Bloody Valentine.[16] For their third albumCalifornia Nights, Cosentino citedGwen Stefani,Sugar Ray andThe Go-Go's as influences.[51]
Former touring musicians
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