Sinister: Not good news at all ...

[Ian Turton]

Just read this on the Galaxie 500 mailing list, guess some of you'd want
to know. Apologies if some one has already posted something with similar
content.


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Rock Experimentalist Epic Soundtracks Dead At 37

Former Swell Maps co-founder influenced Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and
others. Pictured on cover of a recent album.

Epic Soundtracks -- the pioneering drummer and keyboardist of the band
Swell Maps
whose influence was palpable among American rockers such as Dinosaur
Jr's J Mascis and Sonic Youth -- was found dead in his London apartment
on
Saturday (Nov. 22).
A cause of death has yet to be determined; a coroner's report is
expected later this week.
Soundtracks was 37.  "They're not quite sure how long he was dead," said
Tom Prendergast, a spokesman for Bar/None Records, the label for which
Soundtracks recorded. He said authorities have not ruled out suicide as
the cause of death for the musician, who was presumed to be in good
health. The spokesman said he had not known Soundtracks to be depressed
of late.

Prendergast said he had spoken with Soundtrack's brother and partner in
Swell Maps, Nikki Sudden, but said only that, "(Sudden) was very sad --
he was his brother."

Soundtracks, born Paul Godley, formed Swell Maps at the tender age of 12
with Sudden in
Solihull, England. The pair, along with bassist Jowe Head and guitarist
Richard Earl, developed a reputation as confident experimentalists who
loved the German avant-garde rock band, Can. Although the group recorded
only two albums (A Trip to Marineville and Jane From Occupied Europe)
before disbanding in 1980, they later proved to be quite influential,
especially among American artists on the vanguard of punk and indie
rock, including R.E.M. and Pavement.

In the late-'70s, Soundtracks played with Mayo Thompson's reformed Red
Krayola before moving on to play with Sudden again in a band known as
the Jacobites. He also logged time as a drummer for Australia's Crime
and the City Solution. Eventually, Soundtracks and his partner in Crime
Rowland Howard (ex-Birthday Party) left to form These Immortal Souls,
who issued Get Lost (Don't Lie!) in 1987 and reunited for I'm Never
Gonna Die Again in 1992.

When Soundtracks surfaced as a solo artist that same year, he abandoned
his drum kit to
refashion himself as a singer and songwriter, and enlisted many of the
stars who he'd influenced to lend a hand. His first disc, Rise Above,
featured contributions from Howard, Mascis and Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo
and Kim Gordon. After releasing Sleeping Star 1994, Soundtracks embarked
on a tour with the Lemonheads' Evan Dando. His most recent record,
1996's Change My Life, was produced by Primal Scream's Henry Olsen.

A funeral for Soundtracks will be held in his hometown of Leamington
Spa, England, on Monday Dec. 1).

         Chris Nelson [Tues., Nov. 25, 1997, 9 a.m. PDT]




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