Artist bio

See also: Pixies, The Amps

The Breeders began life as the high-school band of twin Ohio sisters Kim and Kelley Deal. By the late '80s, Kim was playing bass in underground icons Pixies, but her songwriting was increasingly being pushed aside by frontman Black Francis. Kim decided to use some of the songs she had been writing to fuel a side project, and enlisted Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donnelly, Slint drummer Britt Walford and Perfect Disaster bassist Josephine Wiggs to flesh out the Breeders' first record, Pod, without her twin sister.

Three years later, the Pixies were no more, disbanded officially when Francis sent a release to the press. When Kim heard the official word, she was on her way to California to record the Breeders' second album, Last Splash, which would ironically go on to outsell each of the Pixies albums in good time. The band now reintroduced Kelley, as Donnelly moved on to start Belly. Walford was replaced by sticks stalwart Jim MacPherson.

The group found big success and toured Lollapallooza with George Clinton and the Smashing Pumpkins that summer, but had trouble keeping the ball rolling, disintegrating into the Amps, the Kelley Deal 6000, and other groups over the next few years. Kelley had bouts with heroin addiction, MacPherson bolted for Guided By Voices and then family life, and Kim struggled to write and record a new Breeders album many times. But in 2002, the sisters finally got it back together, and with the help of three friends from their new home of East Los Angeles, Breeders MK 3 released Title TK and wrote another chapter in their musical careers and lives.

Albums by this artist

Title TK (2002)

Last Splash (Recommended) (1993)

Safari (1992)

The Breeders

Safari

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» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

The Breeders Safari 4AD/Elektra, 1992 RiYL: Belly, Veruca Salt, The Amps

Yes, it's only four songs long. Does that mean Safari is any less an important document of '90s rock? Well, OK, the Breeders were never about being "important". But they are a damn good band, in all their many incarnations. And this is one of the best.

Safari is an EP released between the Breeders' first (and only, to date) two albums. Tanya Donnelly is still in the band, but so are new members Kelly Deal and drummer extraordinaire Jim McPherson.

The most impressive factor in these songs is that all four are as good or better than the best tracks on Pod. And while follow-up Last Splash is generally considered the band's apex, Safari is just a bit cooler. It's shorter, so there's no sinking into potentially boring traps like Last Splash's "Roi" and "Mad Lucas". And the wonderful range of Kim Deal's songsense is efficiently explored within the record's 12 minutes.

The version of "Do You Love Me Now" on Safari is a little rawer than the version on Last Splash, exposing the song's transitions better. The surf-pop of "Don't Call Home" shows a fun, cutesy Deal riding happily along on Josephine Wiggs' bassline. The EP's title track is one of the band's best songs, and probably one of the very few Frank Black wishes Kim had brought to the Pixies. Its playful distortion and breathy, surreal vocals fit in very well with the tune's dynamic sense of rhythm.

The EP closes with a cover of the Who's "So Sad About Us," the breakup sentiment of which eerily reflects the fate of the Pixies. But the boisterous, sunny mood in the song seems to suggest that Kim actually isn't all that sad, since her new band is busy kicking ass.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.