
Astrobrite at the Raccoon Motel -- August 12.
Saturday, August 12 8 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
A critically lauded shoegaze project headlined by founder Scott Cortez, the alternative rockers of Astrobrite headline an August 12 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the group's 11-album discography including Pinkshinyultrablast, which SputnikMusic called "rapture for the spirit ... bracing in the way of rock and immediate in the way of pop."
Astrobrite began in 1993 as a solo project for Scott Cortez and, in 1995, expanded in order to tour. Its musicians over the years have included Melissa Arpin-Duimstra, Andrew Prinz (Mahogany), Odell Nails (Majesty Crush), Rob Smith (Paik and Deep Red), Doug Walker (Xebec), Narasaki (Coaltar of the Deepers), Jason Baron, Andrew Marrah (Airiel and New Canyons), Laura Callier (Gel Set), and Sophie Brochu (Fauvely), as well as other members. In 2001, Astrobrite's first album Crush was released, composed of material from Coretz's '95-'97 period, and later that year, Astrobrite's founder flew to Tokyo to play the Seven Winters shoegaze festival. The trip fostered relationships with the Japanese shoegazer community and enabled a return to Japan to record a studio version of Crush titled Supercrush, a recording featuring Narasaki.
In 2004, Astrobrite was signed to Vinyl Junkie Records in Japan and released Pinkshinyultrablast, while three years later, a new studio album Whitenoise Superstar was released under Vinyl Junkie. Mastered by Narasaki and featuring Japanese singer Yukari Tanaka (from Hartfield) in several tracks, the album added atmospheric drum and bass elements to Astrobrite's sound. 2008 brought with it One Hit Wonder, a compilation album comprising previously unreleased songs and B-sides with a more lo-fi recording, with 2011 delivering the vinyl reissue of Crush on BLVD records. This prompted Cortez (who had taken a haitus to perform with STAR) to consider performing as Astrobrite again, and the project played several live shows in the summer of 2012, including the Part time Punks Shoegaze fest in Los Angeles and the Beautiful Noise festival in 2013. Since then, recordings have included 2011's compilation album Boombox Supernova, 2012's studio recording All The Stars Will Fall, and 2015's Deluxer, for which Astrobrite did a small tour of Japan in support of the release.
Astrobrite headlines their August 12 Davenport engagement alongside sets by Panda Riot and Muted Color, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $12, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.