Gastr del Sol

David Grubbs formed Gastr del Sol in Chicago in 1991 out of the dissolving post-hardcore band Bastro; when the rhythm section left to join Tortoise after 1993’s debut The Serpentine Similar, Jim O’Rourke became Grubbs’s sole ongoing creative partner. Across Crookt, Crackt, or Fly (1994), Upgrade & Afterlife (1996), and Camoufleur (1998), the duo moved between spare acoustic-guitar composition and chamber-scale arrangement, drawing in outside contributors including Tony Conrad, Kevin Drumm, Günter Müller, and Oval’s Markus Popp. The group dissolved after Camoufleur, each principal continuing separately into rock, pop, and experimental work.