Beulah: Biography

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• Discography
• Biography
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• Bishop Allen
• Secret Square
• The Olivia Tremor Control
• Clay Bears
• The Apples in Stereo
• Pavement
• Marbles

• Beat Happening
• Love
• The Silos
• Yo La Tengo
• The Apples in Stereo
• The Free Design
• The Beatles

• Let's Get Out of This Terrible Sandwich Shop
• Cinderpop
• The Sneaks
• Throw Me the Statue
• The Shaky Hands
• Marching Band

• Bill Evans

Formed:

Jan 1, 1996 in San Francisco, CA

Disbanded:

Jan 1, 2004

Genres:

Pop Music, Rock Music, Alternative Rock Music

Decades Active:

1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

Low

Ratings Guide

Beulah's Miles Kurosky and Bill Swan first started off as officemates, working the mail room at a security firm in their native San Francisco in 1994. While having a small dislike for one another, Kurosky and Swan did share a fondness for music. They two put their animosity aside and spent the next year and a half mastering a lo-fi, indie rock style and recording songs. This resulted in the release of the A Small Cattle Drive in a Snow Storm 7" in 1997. Anne Mellinger joined the group in time to record the Handsome Western States EP for the celebrated Elephant 6 label that same year. By 1998, Beulah's rotating roster was comprised of Kurosky, Swan, Steve LaFolette, Pat Noel, Steve St. Cin, Bill Evans, and Ana Pitchon. Tours with Neutral Milk Hotel and Apples in Stereo brought Beulah to the indie forefront in both the U.S. and the U.K., but they found themselves back in the recording studio by year's end. A second Beulah record, 1999's When Your Heartstrings Break, was issued on Sugar Free to critical acclaim, and exuded a more indie pop sound for the band. They were backed by 18 additional musicians, and the grand bombast of strings, horns, and organs composed a bright and bold sound on When Your Heartstrings Break. Two years later, their sweetly personal third album, The Coast Is Never Clear, appeared and marked their first for defunct Capricorn label, Velocette. St. Cin and Pitchon had also departed by the new millennium, and drummer Danny Sullivan was now a part of the Beulah family. The much more darkly romantic effort, Yoko, appeared in September 2003.

- MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide