Tristeza is an American
post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...
band. The band is currently based in
Oakland, California
Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
, and was established in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
in 1997.
Biography
The group formed in San Diego in 1997, and included Christopher Sprague, Luis Hermosillo, Jimmy LaValle (
The Album Leaf), James Lehner, and Stephen Swesey. This line-up recorded all material that was released through 2003, including the albums ''Spine and Sensory'' (1999) and ''Dream Signals in Full Circles'' (2000).
The ''Spine and Sensory'' album was recorded at Tim Green's Louder Studios, a basement studio in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
It took one week to record and mix the album in the autumn of 1998. Green has since left San Francisco and moved his studio to
Grass Valley, California
Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...
.
In January 2003, Tristeza played its last concert with Jimmy LaValle as a main member, but he has joined the band occasionally since.
Their second album ''Dream Signals in Full Circles'' was recorded and produced in Chicago by
Dave Trumfio at
Kingsize Soundlabs
Kingsize Soundlabs are three recording studios in Los Angeles, California, run by record producer Dave Trumfio.
Background
Located in the Silverlake, Glassell Park, and Atwater Village areas of Los Angeles. The Glassell Park studio is in the ...
during the spring of 2000. The album was recorded and mixed in 10 days.
During 2004, the band enlisted guitarist Alison Ables and keyboardist Sean Ogilvie to begin writing songs for ''A Colores''. This line-up recorded all material that was released during 2005 and 2006.
''A Colores'' was recorded during three winter weeks of 2005 at Key Club Recording in
Benton Harbor, Michigan
Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County, Michigan, Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 2 ...
by Bill Skibbe and Jessica Ruffins.
The album was mixed during the summer of 2005 by
Alan Sanderson in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
.
At the start of 2007, the core of Tristeza (Sprague, Lehner, and Hermosillo) with the assistance of Ogilvie, began collaborating with various musicians around the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
, including Camaron Stevens on guitar, and released the ''Fate Unfolds'' mini album in 2009.
In 2010, Tristeza recorded the album ''Paisajes'' with Tim Green, who also recorded the band's first album, at Tim Green's Louder Studios in
Grass Valley, California
Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...
in the winter and spring of 2010.
Tristeza's many other various EPs, singles, tour CDs, demos, DVD, cassettes, etc. were mainly self-recorded by the band, as well by Matt Anderson, Alan Sanderson, Mike Hammel, and Pall Jenkins.
Critical reception
CMJ New Music Monthly
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...
described Tristeza's style in a review of their album, ''Dream Signals in Full Circles'': "A typical Tristeza track involves a down-shifted take on emo's rhythmic lopsidedness, beds of washy, behind-the-beat keyboards, and Christopher Sprague's arpeggiated, effect-drenched guitar melodies."
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
Spine and Sensory'' (1999)
* ''
Dream Signals in Full Circles'' (2000)
* ''Mixed Signals'' (2001)
* ''March of the White Lies'' (2005)
* ''
A Colores'' (2005)
* ''
En Nuestro Desafio'' (2006)
* ''Fate Unfolds'' (2009)
* ''Paisajes'' (2010)
EPs
* ''Insound Tour Support Series No. 1'' (1999)
* ''Are We People b/w When Morning Steals The Sky'' (2001)
* ''Mania Phase'' (2002)
* ''Tristeza/Lemko Hall'' Split-EP (2002)
* ''Espuma'' (2003)
Singles
* ''Foreshadow'' (1998)
* ''Macrame'' (1999)
* ''Are We People'' (2000)
* ''Bromas'' (2005)
References
{{Authority control
American post-rock groups
Musical groups from San Diego