Julian Koster Bio

Julian Koster was born in New York. Here, he recalls his first encounter with the infamous singing saw—an instrument which has helped set the many bands he’s been involved with apart from their competition, and which has peppered his personal audio projects with wailing whimsy. He says as a child, that the saw came to him in a dream in which it walked into his room and spoke in its woozy, wobbly voice and scared him because he didn’t understand what it was doing. Days later, he says, he took a walk with his father through Central Park and observed an old man playing the saw and he finally understood what he was hearing in his dream and was not scared anymore. “Now, this is how I remember it, in that order,” Koster said. “Any logical person would say that I saw the man first and had the dream after, that it happened in the opposite order. But I remember having the dream first because I remember not understanding what was going on, and when I saw the old man playing I understood” (Elliot).

After his magical encounter with the singing saw, he went on to learn how to play it himself, along with a slew of other instruments. This led to the formation of his first band in 1989, while he was still in high school in Tampa, Florida. The band was called Miss America, but after legal threats from the Miss America Competition, they changed their name to Chocolate USA. The band signed with Bar/None records straight out of high school and released All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today in 1992. Koster went to record and work with the band after high school, skipping college (Jensen). Chocolate USA then released Smoke Machine through Bar/None in 1994.

After Chocolate USA’s second album, Koster got involved with the Elephant Six Collective and released an album—Please Hear Mr. Flight Control—on their indie label in 1997 under the band name Music Tapes. Music Tapes has gone on to encompass many of Koster’s solo projects. In 1997, Koster also participated with the band Major Organ and the Adding Machine on an album which a lot of other Elephant Six bands (Elf Power, Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal) contributed to, called Christmas in Stereo. The album was produced by Kindercore and featured indie-rock artists performing Christmas songs.

Then Koster, in 1998, became an invaluable part of the sophomore album of another Elephant Six band: Neutral Milk Hotel. The band had released a record called On Avery Island in 1996. The album Koster worked on, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (released in 1998 through Merge Records), launched Neutral Milk Hotel into a higher level of fame than they were prepared for at the time and they disbanded during their first tour (Pequeno).

After the disbanding of Neutral Milk Hotel, Koster renewed his project, the Music Tapes and release an LP titled 1st Imaginary Symphony for the Nomad which is described as “a lushly landscaped, non-linear soundtrack to a dream, a more innocent "Revolution 9" with lo-fi indie-pop songs tossed in the middle” (Jensen). After the release, Koster did a bit a lighthearted touring in and around New York and reportedly instigated at least one impromptu parade through the streets after a show at The Knitting Room (Jensen).

In the next few years, Koster worked with Major Organ and the Adding Machine again on their self-titled album (2001). And he put out a free EP called Music Tapes for Dad in 2000 which was given out free with editions of Smile Magazine. In 2002, the Music Tapes’ 2nd Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking was released on a few CDs (but still has yet to receive a mass release—though it can be found on YouTube). The album is an hour long, fantasy audio drama scored by Koster, which hints at later projects of his many, many years from then in the form of narrative podcasts. This album also emphasized Koster’s passion and knack for storytelling.

But, after about 2002, Koster was fairly quiet for the better part of a decade. During that time, Koster says that he was mainly getting away from the city and exploring his inner consciousness (Elliot).

In 2008, Koster released an album through Merge Records under the Music Tapes that was nine years in the making and recorded at many different locations. It was called Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes recorded on antique hardware like 1895 Edison wax cylinder recorders, 1940s wire recorders, and reel-to-reel tape recorders (Montgomery). Around this time, through Merge, he also released an album under his own name called Singing Saw at Christmastime (which has a great NPR Tiny Desk concert).

In 2011, Koster released Purim’s Shadows: The Dark Tours of the World through Merge under the Music Tapes. Then, he banded back up with Neutral Milk Hotel for Ferris Wheel on Fire in 2011 to release a handful of songs that the band had written between 1992 and 1995. And finally, under the Music Tapes moniker, he released the album Mary’s Voice with Merge. This release was accompanied by the announcement of his upcoming tour, the Traveling Imaginary.

The tour captured many people’s attention as Koster was basically creating a travelling circus side-show experience where he would play his music and tell stories to crowds. He called this one of the biggest endeavors of his career as a performer (Pequeno).

Since then, Koster launched a podcast in 2016 called The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air) presented by the Night Vale network, who put out the wildly famous Welcome to the Night Vale. It star Koster as the innocent janitor of the Eiffel Tower who wants to be a part of the fictional radio show that broadcasts from the secret ballroom atop the tower. On the podcast, a wide array of his music is performed and many of his allegorical, optimistic stories are also showcased.

Works Cited Page

Pequeno, Ze. “The Music Tapes.” Tiny Mix Tapes, 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2012.

Elliot, Kevin. “Music Tapes: Know Surprises.” The Agit Reader, 2008. 13 October 2008.

Jensen, Bill. “Julian Koster’s loop-the-loop.” The Village Voice, 1999. 17 August 1999.

Montgomery, Matt. "Music Tapes For Clouds and Tornadoes," No Rip Cord, 2008. Web. 6 August 2008.

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