The Music Tapes and Other Projects
After Neutral Milk Hotel, Koster began to concentrate on his own solo project, The Music Tapes, for which he contributed banjo, singing saw, chord organ, and vocals, among other instruments. 1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad was released in 1999. Koster, together with Brian Dewan, recorded the story album 2nd Imaginary Symphony For Cloudmaking, which was distributed by Koster on CD but never officially released. After this, nothing was released by The Music Tapes until 2008, when Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes arrived, followed by extensive touring (including the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour) and an unprecedented level of public appearance by the formerly reclusive Koster.
Koster is believed to be a founding member of Major Organ and the Adding Machine, first contributing a cover of What a Wonderful World to the Kindercore compilation Christmas in Stereo, before releasing an album, Major Organ and the Adding Machine in 2001. He also appears in the Major Organ and the Adding Machine film which was shown on the Holiday Surprise tour and is set to be released with an expanded edition of the 2001 album in 2009.
In 2008, Koster released The Singing Saw at Christmastime, a collection of Christmas carols played on the singing saw. This was followed by a caroling tour, on which he played songs from The Singing Saw at Christmastime and selected tracks from Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes for free wherever fans invited him to play. This has evolved into an annual caroling tradition, most recently with the "Lullabies at Bedsides" house tour of 2010–2011.
Julian has reportedly been recording another new Music Tapes album in the fall of 2009, to be released in the next year along with the Second Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking.
Koster's father is noted flamenco guitarist, Dennis Koster.
Read more about this topic: Julian Koster
Famous quotes containing the words music, tapes and/or projects:
“People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around—the music and the ideas.”
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