These United States
Electronica / Indie Rock
These United States is the new DC - a wide-eyed amalgamation of psyche-
folk and the punk rock ethic, a band of merry pranksters spinning something
fiercely, unapologetically positive out of the sinking reality of an empire gone
Titanic. At the helm of the lifeboat, Jesse Elliott, gonzo-journalist-turned-
troubadour, whose rag-tag States have criss-crossed the continental U.S. and
Europe for nearly 300 shows in their first two years of operations, supporting
and sharing stages with the likes of Califone (Thrill Jockey), Richard Buckner
(Merge), Page France (Suicide Squeeze), Someone Still Loves You Boris
Yeltsin (Polyvinyl), Catfish Haven (Secretly Canadian), Karl Blau (K), Jesse
Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter (Barsuk), and Georgie James (Saddle Creek).
For his project’s debut release, Elliott called upon an old friend – David
Strackany, known to the music world as Paleo, author and sole executor of last
year’s remarkable Song Diary (365 songs in 365 days, what Paste Magazine
called “a streetfight of freakish prolificacy”). The result of this collaboration,
A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden, is a 36-
minute allegorical whirlwind through time, space, and sound – think Paul
Simon narrating an Andrew Bird master-minded break-in of Bowie’s near-
infinite Labyrinth – to be released in March 2008. Between them, Elliott and
Strackany roped in upwards of 30 DC- and Midwest-based musicians, and the
mixing prowess of District stalwarts Chad Clark (Beauty Pill, Smart Went
Crazy, producer for Fugazi, Dismemberment Plan) and T.J. Lipple (Aloha).
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