Imaad Wasif
Encyclopedia
Imaad Wasif is a Canadian
singer, guitarist and songwriter whose music combines elements of both folk and rock music. Wasif’s music has been described as “unbelievably intense with sparkling, raga-influenced guitar and a mystic bent.”
Wasif was born in Vancouver
, British Columbia
, Canada but was raised in Southern California. He began playing music in high school and formed his first band lowercase in 1994; “a guitar-drums duo that played a weird hybrid of lo-fi pop, post-rock and slo-core.” In 2001, he formed alaska!
in addition to joining Lou Barlow
’s New Folk Implosion. In 2006, he shifted focus to his solo career. Also during 2006–2007, Wasif played with Yeah Yeah Yeahs
for the Show Your Bones world tour playing acoustic guitar, bass and Wurlitzer. He performed his solo work as the supporting act for most shows.
. The record featured minimal, acoustic songs with psychedelic influences, reminiscent of Skip Spence
’s Oar
and Syd Barrett
’s Opel
, and was recorded by Mark Nevers in Nashville
, TN. This record introduced Wasif’s primary lyrical themes; love, madness, transformation, isolation, and spiritual influences, which continue through his subsequent albums.
Wasif’s second album, Strange Hexes, was self-released in 2008. Recorded in Los Angeles by Tom Biller with a new backing band, Two Part Beast, the record was a return to Wasif’s early rock driven compositions. Two Part Beast consists of Adam Garcia on drums and Bobb Bruno on bass. The album is a “tense, trippy collection of songs that become fiercely emotional explorations.” The songs incorporate Eastern modal tunings and drones, influences from the Indian classical music traditions passed on from his father who was a Ghazal
singer and harmonium player.
Wasif’s third album, The Voidist, was released in 2009 on Tee Pee Records
. Recorded in Los Angeles by Chad Bamford, The Voidist is at once “regal and exuberant. Its unique sonic tapestry is sprinkled with ragas, blues rock, and something totally new that exists at the apex of these varied influences.” The album includes both solo acoustic and full band rock tracks recorded with Two Part Beast plus guests Dale Crover
(Melvins) and Greg Burns (Red Sparowes
). Wasif has stated in interviews that some of the songs for this album came to him from parallel astral planes and that his androgynous soul enables him to inhabit a range of perspectives. Other influences that Wasif has cited include William Blake
, Robert Desnos
, Gérard de Nerval
, Patti Smith
, John Fahey
, Don Van Vliet, Vilayat Khan
, Ali Akbar Khan
, Bismillah Khan
and 13th Floor Elevators
.
Grim Tower - A collaboration between Wasif and Stephen McBean from Black Mountain. "Death Folk" songs written from an exploration into detunings on acoustic guitars. A full length album is in the works, slated for a 2012 release.
(2009), most notably the song "Hideaway."
Solo contributions on compilations
Bands, collaborations, and guest appearances
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
singer, guitarist and songwriter whose music combines elements of both folk and rock music. Wasif’s music has been described as “unbelievably intense with sparkling, raga-influenced guitar and a mystic bent.”
Wasif was born in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada but was raised in Southern California. He began playing music in high school and formed his first band lowercase in 1994; “a guitar-drums duo that played a weird hybrid of lo-fi pop, post-rock and slo-core.” In 2001, he formed alaska!
Alaska!
Alaska! is an indie rock trio from the United States. The band was formed in San Francisco by Russell Pollard , Imaad Wasif , with Lesley Ishino later joining as drummer.-Discography:The band released their debut album, Emotions, in 2003, and a second, Rescue...
in addition to joining Lou Barlow
Lou Barlow
Louis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
’s New Folk Implosion. In 2006, he shifted focus to his solo career. Also during 2006–2007, Wasif played with Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...
for the Show Your Bones world tour playing acoustic guitar, bass and Wurlitzer. He performed his solo work as the supporting act for most shows.
Albums
His first self-titled solo album was released in 2006 on Kill Rock StarsKill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
. The record featured minimal, acoustic songs with psychedelic influences, reminiscent of Skip Spence
Skip Spence
Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry...
’s Oar
Oar (Skip Spence album)
Oar is a 1969 album by the late Skip Spence. It is Spence's only solo album, recorded over seven days in Nashville, on which Spence plays all of the instruments.- History :...
and Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
’s Opel
Opel (album)
Opel is an album released in 1988, compiled from recordings made by former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett between 1968 and 1970. It consists of 8 previously unreleased songs and 6 alternate versions of already released ones....
, and was recorded by Mark Nevers in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, TN. This record introduced Wasif’s primary lyrical themes; love, madness, transformation, isolation, and spiritual influences, which continue through his subsequent albums.
Wasif’s second album, Strange Hexes, was self-released in 2008. Recorded in Los Angeles by Tom Biller with a new backing band, Two Part Beast, the record was a return to Wasif’s early rock driven compositions. Two Part Beast consists of Adam Garcia on drums and Bobb Bruno on bass. The album is a “tense, trippy collection of songs that become fiercely emotional explorations.” The songs incorporate Eastern modal tunings and drones, influences from the Indian classical music traditions passed on from his father who was a Ghazal
Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
singer and harmonium player.
Wasif’s third album, The Voidist, was released in 2009 on Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records is an independent record label located in New York City in the United States, made popular by the signing of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.-Artists :*Ancestors*Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound*The Atomic Bitchwax...
. Recorded in Los Angeles by Chad Bamford, The Voidist is at once “regal and exuberant. Its unique sonic tapestry is sprinkled with ragas, blues rock, and something totally new that exists at the apex of these varied influences.” The album includes both solo acoustic and full band rock tracks recorded with Two Part Beast plus guests Dale Crover
Dale Crover
Dale Crover is an American rock musician. Crover is best known as the drummer for Melvins and Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, and for a brief time, drummer for Nirvana. He is also guitarist and vocalist for Altamont...
(Melvins) and Greg Burns (Red Sparowes
Red Sparowes
Red Sparowes is a Los Angeles post-rock band comprising current and former members of Isis, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced experimental rock, with an otherwise uncommon extensive use of a pedal steel guitar.-History:Red Sparowes...
). Wasif has stated in interviews that some of the songs for this album came to him from parallel astral planes and that his androgynous soul enables him to inhabit a range of perspectives. Other influences that Wasif has cited include William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.- Biography :...
, Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...
, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, John Fahey
John Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
, Don Van Vliet, Vilayat Khan
Vilayat Khan
Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal...
, Ali Akbar Khan
Ali Akbar Khan
Ali Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...
, Bismillah Khan
Bismillah Khan
Ustad Bismillah Khan was an Indian shehnai maestro. He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna , the highest civilian honour in India and gained worldwide acclaim for playing the shehnai for more than eight decades....
and 13th Floor Elevators
13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...
.
Collaborations
Electric Flower - A collaboration between Wasif and Josh Garza, drummer for the Secret Machines. Their debut EP was released on November 8, 2011 on Narnack Records. The sound has been described as part Motorik, part psychedelic, with strains of post-punk, Japanese Group Sounds and East Indian drone. The band is currently working on a full length album, slated for a 2012 release.Grim Tower - A collaboration between Wasif and Stephen McBean from Black Mountain. "Death Folk" songs written from an exploration into detunings on acoustic guitars. A full length album is in the works, slated for a 2012 release.
Soundtracks
Wasif contributed to and co-wrote several songs for the soundtrack to Where the Wild Things AreWhere the Wild Things Are (film)
Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 American fantasy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and adapted from Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It combines live action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery...
(2009), most notably the song "Hideaway."
Discography
Solo albums- Imaad WasifImaad Wasif (album)Imaad Wasif is the debut solo album released by Los Angeles-based songwriter Imaad Wasif in 2006. The album was recorded in Nashville, taking only a week and a day, and was produced by Mark Nevers...
(Kill Rock Stars, 2006) - Strange HexesStrange HexesStrange Hexes is the second album released by Imaad Wasif, and the first with backing band Two Part Beast. It was self released in 2008...
(self-released, 2008) - The Voidist (Tee Pee Records, 2009)
Solo contributions on compilations
- “Other Voices” on The Sound the Hare Heard (Kill Rock Stars, 2006)
- “The New Year” on Kill Rock Stars Winter Holiday Album (Kill Rock Stars, 2006)
- "Ecstasy" on LA Collection 7" (IAMSOUND, 2010)
- "Not Immune" on RAISE Hope For Congo Compilation (Mercer Street Records, 2010)
- "The Fire" (ft. Lykke Li) on L'Aventure (remake of the 2nd Television album) (Aquarium Drunkard, 2010)
- "Go Insane" (Doors Cover) on Beat LA Compilation (Narnack Records. 2011)
Bands, collaborations, and guest appearances
- Lowercase – Your Wrists Can Wait, 4-song cassette (self-released, 1994)
- Lowercase – Two Songs, 7″ (Punk in My Vitamins, 1995)
- Lowercase – Brass Tacks, 7″ (Xmas Records, 1995)
- Lowercase – Cadence, 7″ (Amphetamine Reptile, 1995)
- Lowercase – “My Shame Your Shame” (compilation) (WIN Records, 1995)
- Lowercase – All Destructive Urges…Seem So Perfect (Amphetamine Reptile, 1996)
- Lowercase – Kill The Lights (Amphetamine Reptile, 1997)
- Lowercase – “Ringbleeder” on AmRep Equipped (compilation) (Amphetamine Reptile, 1997)
- Lowercase – Imbedded In Ice, 7″ (Punk in My Vitamins, 1998)
- Lowercase – The Open Sea / Don’t Cry No Tears, Mail Order Freak Singles Club #1–4, 7” (Kill Rock Stars, 1998)
- Lowercase – “Surefire Solvent” on Multi-Vitamin Compilation (Punk In My Vitamins, 1998)
- Lowercase – The Going-Away Present (Punk in My Vitamins, 1999)
- Alaska!Alaska!Alaska! is an indie rock trio from the United States. The band was formed in San Francisco by Russell Pollard , Imaad Wasif , with Lesley Ishino later joining as drummer.-Discography:The band released their debut album, Emotions, in 2003, and a second, Rescue...
– Four Songs (self-released, 2001) - Alaska! – Emotions (Flying Nun Records, 2003)
- Alaska! – “Lost the Gold” on Speed of Sound (compilation) (Flying Nun Records, 2003)
- Alaska! – “In My Time” on The Fold Comp (compilation) (Credit Records, 2003)
- The New Folk ImplosionThe New Folk ImplosionThe New Folk Implosion is the fourth album released by indie rock band Folk Implosion. Released on March 4, 2003, it was the first album by Folk Implosion without co-founder and writing partner John Davis.- Track listing :...
– Brand of Skin, 7” (Domino, 2003) - The New Folk Implosion – Pearl, 7” (Domino, 2003)
- The New Folk Implosion – The New Folk Implosion (iMusic, 2003)
- Alaska! – “r u listenin” on Tracks & Fields (compilation) (Kill Rock Stars, 2004)
- Alaska! – Five Songs (self-released, 2004)
- Alaska! – Rescue Through Tomahawk (Altitude Records, 2005)
- Alaska! – Kiss You/Pink Frost, CD Single (Altitude Records, 2005)
- Lou BarlowLou BarlowLouis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
– Emoh (Merge, 2005) - Yeah Yeah YeahsYeah Yeah YeahsYeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...
– Live Session EP (iTunes Exclusive, 2007) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mississippi Studios: Live, Vol. 3 (2007)
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs – "The Love I’m Searching For" (AOL Exclusive, 2007)
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Its Blitz! (Interscope, 2009)
- Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown (Merge, 2009)
- Where the Wild Things AreWhere The Wild Things AreWhere the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short in 1973 , a 1980 opera, and, in 2009, a live-action feature film...
, Motion Picture Soundtrack (Interscope, 2009) - Electric Flower - Electric Flower EP (Narnack Records, 2011)
External links
- Official Site
- http://archives.nodepression.com/2006/05/at-his-most-beautiful/2006 article in No DepressionNo DepressionNo Depression may refer to:* No Depression , a bi-monthly roots and Americana music magazine and now a music website.* "No Depression in Heaven", a 1936 song popularized by the Carter Family...
] - 2008 article in LA Weekly
- http://larecord.com/interviews/2008/04/05/sat-apr-5-imaad-wasif-with-two-part-beast-interview/2008 interview in L.A. RecordL.A. RecordL.A. Record is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In March 2008, it began publishing as a monthly magazine with a...
] - 2009 interview