Macha (band)

Macha was an experimental post-rock band from Athens, Georgia composed of brothers Josh McKay (founder/singer/multi-instrumentalist), Mischo McKay (drums/percussion), Kai Reidl (multi-instrumentalist) and Wes Martin (multi-instrumentalist).[1] Macha's music combined the precision tension-and-release post-rock of Mogwai with the lush, hypnotic grind of My Bloody Valentine, along with elements of post-punk, kraut-rock and especially Indonesian Gamelan. The CMJ New Music Report opined that the band "may have invented a new genre - call it Indo-rock."[2] They incorporated a variety of instruments into their sets: Javanese zither, Balinese bamboo flute, hammered dulcimer, Hawaiian slide guitar, talempong nipple gongs and Nepalese shawms, vibraphone, and a 1970s-era thrift-store organ called the Fun Machine.

The band released their self-titled debut album in 1998 for Jetset Records. The album made the top five on both the CMJ and Gavin College Radio Charts.[3] In 1999 they released See It Another Way (Jetset), which held the #1 position on the CMJ College Radio charts for 3 weeks that year. They also teamed up with Bedhead a year later for the mini-album Macha Loved Bedhead (Jetset 2000).[4] Four years since their last full-length, the group returned with Forget Tomorrow (Jetset 2004) expanding their sound and venturing into more dance-music territories.

Josh McKay is currently a member of the indie rock band Deerhunter, and records solo material under the name Abandon the Earth Mission (A.T.E.M.) in Athens.

  1. ^ Wiegand, David (1999-07-11). "Coming Up: What's New This Week". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  2. ^ Martin, Richard (1999). "On The Verge". CMJ New Music Monthly (68). College Media, Inc.: 19. Archived from the original on 1998-02-20. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  3. ^ Wiegand, David (1999-07-11). "Coming Up: What's New This Week". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  4. ^ Sweeney, Joey (2000-05-17). "Sharps & Flats - Music". Salon. Retrieved 2011-12-23.